Deep Sea

Chapter 4: Simulations

Chapter 4: Simulations

"Alright, let's try tapping that cable line over there." Ilia said, standing behind Joe as she worked.

As promised, Ilia had come back for Joe the next day to take her down to the sub room and teach and reteach her all she needed to know about working the manned and unmanned subs. What Joe was working on at the moment was a simulation that, while it didn't have the best graphics, was very realistic. It counted in water currents, sea life, energy left in the sub, and every now and then it would randomly throw in a problem that you had to solve.

Joe lost the sub a few tries ago because of a leak that had sprung into the sub that she hadn't known how to deal with. At the moment she was going through a few basic maneuvers that the unmanned subs performed like tapping underwater cable lines.

And if a badly rendered shark didn't come and attack the sub, like Ilia swore had happened to her once, then she would be able to bring the sub up successfully.

Joe was concentrating, in all her sub simulations, she had only ever tapped a cable line, successfully, once.

"Ilia!" Josh, who Ilia called Team Geek leader, called to her from the door. "You have a phone call. Said his name was Edric."

"O-oh!" Ilia beamed. "See you later, Joe. Love is calling is calling on the other line."

"Wait what?" Joe wanted to turn to her in disbelief and she would have had she not been trying to focus. "I thought you were interested in Kai."

"No, sweetie." Ilia winked. "I said I wanted to play with Kai. The same way I'm playing with Eric and Lee before him."

"I thought it was Edric?" Joe asked.

Ilia waved her hand. "Details, details. I call them all honey anyway I don't need to remember their names. Keep practicing, sweetie!"

Joe rolled her eyes but didn't look away from the screen. Ilia seemed to play with men like a spoiled child played with toys. Joe happened to know that there was a sailor on board who walked around drunk stupid because he was Ilia's current boy toy. However, none of them seemed to mind at all. It was kind of a sad thing for Joe to see.

But Ilia seemed perfectly happy and she never promised on what she couldn't, or wouldn't, deliver so Joe figured it was none of her business.

"Hey, Joe." Josh appeared at her elbow. "How's it going?"

"It's going." Joe said. Josh was a nice guy. Where as Ilia was the poster child for hot, night out and didn't look at all like she belonged on Team Geek, Josh had clearly been created for the role. He had a large forehead, thick glasses, even a lisp that was kind of cute. He was the kind of guy Joe would have used to date and she would have expressed an interest in him.

Except her mind was currently full of the white haired merman who was downstairs helping with scuba lessons.

It was so strange. Joe had always been analytical. Able to file and sort pretty much any and every thing that entered into her head. Her apartment was neat, she vacuum packed her clothes when she traveled and organized every thing.

But she just couldn't organize Kai. He didn't fit into any pre-set mental files. And whenever she was doing something important, such as practicing her sub simulations, he would pop into her head at random moments. She just couldn't escape him.

She had barely known him at all and it already felt so natural to have him invading her thoughts at the most annoying times.

He was even in her dreams. She had rested last night with images of him and her swimming together in the ocean and it had been wonderful.