OGENUS EARTH 🌎 🌊 {Dystopian Sci-Fi Adventure}

Way Down We Go

All eyes were glued to the digital viewer in front of Harrison and Big Joe as the ship swam deeper and deeper into the inky nothing. Outside was a barricade of water; so mercurial it may as well have been a black hole.

Oddly, Meg did notice a small oval dot in the far right corner of the ship's screen that seemed to be growing quickly. As the opaque spot grew, so too did everyone else's awareness of the apparition-like thing rushing out from the ominous obscurity.

Meg and the others ducked down for impact as the shape morphed into a sleek torpedo-shaped fish with rows of deadly razor-sharp teeth peeking from behind its gash of a mouth. Before the creature could ram them, it banked upwards. The white of its belly flashed the outline of a monster at least twice the size of Big Joe.

Midge let out a great sigh of relief at their close call and  Big Joe burst into a knee-slapping guffaw. These hitchhikers had no idea of the beasts that ruled the deep. 

Midge, however, was quivering with excitement. While it was something that she wouldn't ever admit out loud, Midge had long-dreamed of the world outside of the safety of Arc City One. Those thoughts gnawed at her more as Arturo got older.

"And just where the hell are we supposed to sleep?" Olivia demanded, stalking down the grated floors from the back of the ship.

She'd disappeared only minutes ago, and she was barely aware of the hush that had fallen over the rest of the motley crew.

"Already checking out my bedroom, eh?" Harrison grinned back at Olivia from his relaxed position, propping his feet nonchalantly on the console. "Like what you see?"

Olivia skidded to a halt. Words failed her as she sputtered. Her hair tightened on her skull with indignation, itching for her to tear it out.

Meg watched the scene with novelty, enjoying the agitation of the woman who had been so callous towards her. Her eyes drifted over to Arturo, who also was holding back a chuckle at the brief exchange.

"There are three extra bunks." Big Joe informed the rest. "Finders keepers."

"But there are four of us," Midge exclaimed, counting the heads as she looked around the circle of bodies. "I'll sleep on the floor if it gives Arturo a bunk near me."

"No harm in bunking up." Big Joe threw back with a hoot. "It can get pretty cold down here."

The innuendo hung in the air, shocking Olivia. Meg enjoyed the volley of conversation immensely and her eyes danced from one individual to the other.

"Gross." Olivia declared, having finally found her voice.

Midge wasn't as disgusted as she was entertained by his jovial way of making dirty jokes. She didn't mind a little chauvinistic attention if it was harmless and brought levity to a situation. It had been at least thirty years since a man had spoken any sort of devotion that wasn't rooted firmly in friendship, so this was an interesting development to be sure.

"You couldn't handle it." Midge lobbed back, much to Big Joe's amusement.

"Gross," Olivia repeated, rolling her eyes and flopping down onto the only cushioned surface in the entire pressure cooker of a ship.

The shiny plastic seat squeaked unfortunately under the weight of her bottom, sounding like a singularly happy toot, and throwing everyone but Meg and MAX into raucous laughter.

MAX attempted to describe with his metallic digits what had just occurred, but the picture of the shock and horror in Olivia's face was so much better than any description, and Meg dissolved into giggles.

Through the merriment, Harrison watched the mysterious girl who looked to the bot before joining in. She can't hear us, the thought clicked in his mind before he'd even realized he was still staring at her. 

Then, their eyes met. Her tiny frame was shaking, making the waves in her hair dance under the light. Harrison decided to play this off as accidental and folded over himself, pretending to be overtaken by absurdity.

Olivia couldn't contain her temper any longer. These insensitive morons were using her faux pas to laugh at her? But as she opened her mouth to unleash her fury, a flood of bubbly laughter tumbled out, startling everyone, including her.

"Do you have extra blankets?" Arturo asked when the hilarity died down.

"We've got a few under the bunks," Harrison replied. "And I've got some subzero sacks in the emergency kit, that should do us."

"Did I hear your mother call you Omega?" Olivia asked, pointing her face in Meg's direction to zero in on an easy target.

"Yes," Meg replied, her face devoid of laughter now. "And Laura is not my mother."

Olivia's lips twitched up in a delicate flicker. "You're a Tinker, and your name is Omega?"

A defensive heat flared up in Harrison's chest at exactly the same time, he couldn't stand for someone needlessly singling out the weakest of the herd, and he planted his feet to watch the viper priming to strike.

"I am aware of the irony." She signed as she spoke, the pleasant drone of her voice disarming Olivia completely. "Most people are too polite to point it out." 

Arturo snorted at the response, which Olivia mistook for support of her mockery until she saw the glint of disappointment in her mentor's eyes.

"I don't understand the irony!" Big Joe shouted exuberantly as if he was further than four feet away.

"Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet." Midge rattled off absentmindedly while she studied the interesting switches and dials on one of the paneled walls. "It is commonly denoted as the end in line, or last."

Midge realized a split second later that she had been explaining the obviously cruel satire as it pertained to a real person's name and feelings.

Sorry, she mouthed to Meg. 

Meg shook it off and bowed her head in thanks for Midge's delayed sensitivity. She liked the plump woman who was so dedicated to Arturo's care and didn't take offense at the inherent truth in her name.

"Ohh." Big Joe caught on and immediately felt bad that he'd asked for clarification at the expense of another. He'd hoped for something slightly derogatory that would be a source of future merriment, not something unnecessarily harsh.

"Hey, it's ok," Meg replied before everyone started to squirm on her behalf. "At least I'm not the one who farted so loud a deaf girl could hear it."

That set everyone off again, save Olivia, shattering the tension like glass. 

Olivia was inwardly crestfallen. She'd managed to upset Arturo over a petty subject that was meant to draw their attention off her. Now, she felt crushed under the weight of everyone's judgmental gaze, and worse, that little freak had managed to best her, yet again.

"Look we've got three rules on this ship!" Harrison shouted over the laughter to quiet everyone down. "Don't take a shit without using the blue lever next to the pot. Next, don't knock on my door and do not enter my quarters unless it is an emergency. And finally, don't touch the little yellow button on the console, ever."

"What does the little yellow button do?" Midge couldn't help herself, calling out the question as if this was some sort of pantomime.

"You press that little button and you better start praying," Harrison warned, the humor of her flippant question never reaching his eyes. "That thing gets triggered and we're all as good as dead."

"How are we on food supplies?" Midge followed up somberly.

Big Joe twisted around this time to look the adorable older woman in the face. "We've got enough to feed me for twenty days."

"Translation." Harrison supplied. "That means we've got enough to feed this group for approximately five days if we're careful."

New update coming next Friday! Thank you so much for reading :)