Sherlock: Lover Mine [Book II]

Sabotaged

It had been a silent trek to the Communications Room for Susanna and Sherlock, both of whom strained their ears for any suspicious noises. Sherlock had elected to carry both seabags so to allow Susanna, who carried the backpacks, ease of motion since she was leading the way. Now that they'd located the room, Sherlock was ready to dump the bags.

Susanna opened the heavy door and slowly entered. She looked around and then gestured for him to follow, "Clear."

He heaved the bags into the room and dropped them on the floor. Susanna shed the backpacks and approached the radio instruments. Sherlock busied himself with examining the room for signs of a struggle, etcetera, "The door was opened from the inside by someone making a hasty getaway. Slight scratches inflicted by a ring and the knob is pulled to the left side." He announced. Susanna looked around the communications instruments and hummed before moving to look behind them. Then she tsked.

"The instruments themselves are untouched. Their wires, however, are missing."

"What?"

"Somebody completely removed the wires from every single piece of equipment," Susanna explained, "Sabotage."

"They did so in a hurry, then. But where did they take the wires?"

"They could have just disposed of them in the trash or overboard. Or they might have repurposed them."

Sherlock looked at the instruments for himself and agreed with Susanna's findings, "I think that is all we can find in here, love."

"Agreed. Now, let's find the lab and set up a basecamp there." She grabbed the backpacks and he lifted the seabags up again.

It took a while to maneuver up and down the ladders and stairs but eventually they got to the laboratory. When they did, Susanna's first order of business was to lock it down. So as she directed her attention to the conputer systems, Sherlock opted to poke around.

It was a very large laboratory for a boat of its dimensions; well equipped and organized. Sherlock walked the perimeter and checked all doors and cupboards to assure that there was no one hiding. He also busied himself with looking at the experiments, most of which required a microscope. So he carried one to the island near Susanna and set it up. One corner of his lips tweaked upwards when she began to sing, indicating she had lapsed into a zone of complete focus. Nothing ultimately discernable, but the light improv melody was calming when combined with the sounds of her fingers clicking across the keyboard.

"That should do it," She said as the doors, which had previously been opened wide, started to lock down and seal. Sherlock was impressed and permitted a proud smile, "I changed the passcode. Here." She carefully handed him a small sticky note with 4R28A21B written on it. Sherlock quickly committed it to memory and then tore up the paper, disposing of the shreds immediately.

"What next?" Sherlock asked. Susanna puffed as she exhaled.

"We need to figure out how the crewmen died and whether or not we are alone onboard."

Sherlock inhaled, "It's time to explore, then."

"Mm-Hmm." They each retrieved a flashlight and made sure that their guns were loaded and had backup. Then they powered on the earpieces for a test run before exiting the lab and locking it behind them.

"Where would the bodies be?"

"Either in the Galley's freezer," Susanna replied, "Or in sickbay, which is just down this corridor. I'll check the galley."

"We shouldn't split up, Susanna."

"We have to cover an entire boat, darling. It'll be faster for us to separate. Besides, we have earpieces. We will still hear each other."

"Fine. But," Sherlock stepped in front of her and cupped her face, "If you sense any danger you must tell me."

"Sherlock, I'll be okay," She reached up and brought him down for a kiss. They lingered for several seconds before stepping apart from each other, "Now, Sickbay is that way." She nudged him forward with a smile and turned, walking in the opposite direction.

Sherlock watched her until she turned down another hallway before he approached sickbay and opened its door. The smell of death escaped the room and engulfed him, "I believe that trek to the galley is unnecessary, Susanna."

"Did you find the bodies already?"

"The smell of decay is coming out of sickbay."

"Go on and check, then. I'm still going to look in the galley and wardroom."

"Very well," He relented and stepped into the sickbay. Sure enough, there were three dead corpses deteriorating. Two males and one female, "The three bodies are in sickbay, Susanna."

"What can you deduce from them?"

Sherlock locked the door and grabbed a pair of surgical gloves and a mask, knowing that the bodies could be contagious if they had died of disease. He pulled out his magnifying glass and started to examine the bodies and the room, "The bodies were dumped here. Must have expired shortly after they arrived in sickbay, when the ship's doctor got an order to abandon ship-" He heard Susanna gasp on the other end, "Susanna, what is it?!"

"Sherlock, there's three more in the galley. One is dead, but the other two are breathing."

"I'm on my way."

Sherlock grabbed a first aid kit and a few other assorted supplies before racing out of sickbay. If two are still breathing, then we are not alone on the boat. Someone has an agenda and is willing to kill to keep it.

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