Dark as Daylight Ch. 01

"The supplies for the turkeys are in the room next to mine?"

"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

"You are some piece of work Gordon. Keep in shape, exercise a lot, that's the only thing I can tell you to do."

"I know; I am in complete isolation. No books to read, no writing materials, no conjugal visits. I'm not even sure if I'm allowed to touch anyone. How could I have been so stupid, and disobey a direct order."

"Pride goeth, before the fall. Your father means it when he says if you do it again he's going to put you over the side. Don't test him, because you will lose."

"I know that now. I wish I knew what an hour ago."

"You did know it an hour ago, but you decided to play chicken, and you lost."

"Do I get a bed at least?"

"No, just a blanket."

"This is going to be a very long six months."

"You'd better hope it's only six months, because your father was really hot. I've never seen him that hot before."

"Maybe my mother will talk some sense into him."

"I wouldn't count on it. Remember, she is a Captain also, and she may have to give the same instruction to someone else. I'm going to check on your little feathered friends. I'll take them out of isolation, since you are in here."

"Thanks Monty."

****************

As they were walking around the fourth floor, Adam spied the kitchen. He said to Laura, "Since we are here, we may as well eat."

"You have a choice of popping my cherry, or eating dinner, and you choose eating dinner. What does that say for your decision making prowess?"

"Look at it this way Laura: we are here in the dining hall. We can have a bite to eat, go back to our room, undress, and stay that way for rest of the evening.

If we do it your way, we go to our room, and fuck like bunnies for two hours. Then we get hungry. We have to shower, dress, and walk all the way back here to get something to eat. Then we have to walk all the way back to our room, undress, and start all over again. We are restricted on the amount of water we can use, so we must be very careful about that too. Which is the more practical way for us to deal with upcoming evening's events."

"I hate when you are right Adam."

"You will get used to it darling, it will happen very often."

"I wouldn't bet your tools on it."

"They are not my tools; they belong to the ship."

As they reached the assortment of foods that was laid out for them, Adam said, "I knew we were going on a health food diet, but does it have to look like sand."

The cook asked him when was the last time he ever saw green, yellow, or red sand. These were all natural foods, without any preservatives or additives, so our bodies would purify themselves as we proceeded through the galaxies. We would get rid of all the toxins in our bodies, and rid ourselves of many of the dangerous antibodies that are lurking inside us.

Adam smiled at her and asked, "Can I have a 2-inch-thick Texas sirloin, baked potato with a stick of butter, a stack of onion rings, and a cold beer."

Adam fell to his knees and began to shake. Laura was smiling at the cook ordering their dinner. Her left hand had Adams' right hand at an angle only a snake could attain. When she was finished ordering Laura asked, "Did you like the dinner I ordered for you?"

"Very much, I thought it was terrific, I think it was the best thing on the menu. Can I have my hand back now?"

"I'm sorry I didn't realize I was holding your hand."

"In another minute, you would've had three hands."

"You say the sweetest things."

*************

Adam was picking at his meal, when Laura said, "If you don't finish everything on that plate, there will be no sex this evening."

"This not only looks like sand, it tastes like sand, and it will probably come out like sand."

"We are going to be eating this food for the rest of our lives Adam. What are you going to do about it? There are no Wendy's, or Jack-in-the-Box out here. Did you sign up only because I was coming, or because you wanted this adventure also?"

"I would have done anything to get you, but I also wanted to come along on this trip for me."

"So here you are Adam; you have me for the rest of your life. What are you going to do about you living? I'm willing to eat what they put in front of me, without complaint, are you?"

"I hate when you're right."

"Get used to it. It'll happen very frequently."

He got up, walked around the table, and was about to kiss her, when he heard, "Adam Schiff check with maintenance please. Adam Schiff check with maintenance please."

"Oh no, something's wrong with the system. I'll go check it out, and I'll meet you in our room later."

"Try not to take all night."

"You can be absolutely certain I'll be playing with pipes. If you want to talk to me call me on my communicator. After 9 PM, that's the only way you're allowed to speak to anyone on the ship anyway."

"It's a funny rule, because it's always dark outside."

"I'd better go; I'll see you in a bit." (It was 6:45 P.M.)

*********************

As it happened, a young mother flushed two diapers down the toilet at the same time. It was bad enough that she didn't follow the rules, but it caused an expansion joint to split. Water and feces was leaking, in globules, all over the inside of the ship.

Initially, he wanted to ring the mother's neck, because there was a sign behind each toilet advising them not to put diapers into the system. He didn't have time to kill her, because he had to get into his jumpsuit, and get into the bowels of the ship to determine the amount of damage she caused.

At first when he saw it, he wanted to scream, but he knew it wouldn't help. Sewage was leaking everywhere. Fortunately, he brought gray tape with him, and used it to stop the leak temporarily. As he was finishing up with the tape, he heard the offending toilet flush.

He screamed loud enough for them to hear him. "Are you fucking people out of your mind? I'm down here trying to fix the damage you've done, and you flush the toilet? I will speak to the Captain about you tomorrow, and see what the appropriate punishment is."

A squeaky female voice replied, "I'm terribly sorry, I didn't think about what I was doing."

Adam responded, "I'm down here watching your feces float all over the ship. I know what you were doing."

It was a little white lie, because he had the expansion joint temporarily sealed and nothing was coming out of it.

He called the maintenance supervisor and told him what he needed to repair the pipes, and how many plastic bags he would need to attempt to catch all the crap that was floating around in the area.

Frank Dietrich was very sympathetic as he laughed that Adam.

"Would you like me to take care of your beautiful new bride for you?"

Adam replied, "From what I've heard Frank, she wouldn't feel you."

"Now that wasn't nice Adam. Should I give it a try? After all, she is all alone."

"I would love to see you walk into my room Frank. When Laura got finished with you, there would not be a bone in your body that was not broken."

"I am a black belt in karate."

"I wouldn't care if you were a black belt in everything Frank. Laura would take you apart as if you were a Lego set."

"I must set up a match with her in the gym. It sounds like it would be fun."

"It might sound like it would be fun, but Doctor Finch would be very busy with you afterwards."

"She's that good?"

"No, she's better than that."

"I have to set up a match with her, before we go into stasis."

"That's a marvelous idea Frank. It will give you seven years to heal."

"I have your stuff ready, where do you want me to meet you?"

"Level 2, access port 719. Make sure you put the bag in the right way, otherwise, everything will go floating away as it gets in here."

"If we have 1G in here, why don't you have 1G out there?"

"If I was a scientist, I wouldn't be out here fixing pipes, and trying to catch shit. Would you put a move on it please?"

"I will be there in five minutes."

"Have you been eating your Wheaties?"

"Don't I wish."

"Me too."

**************

"Hello baby how are you?"

"I wish I was with you instead of being in here."

"I know. When are you going to learn that your father is smarter than you are, and not argue with him?"

"I think I've already learned it, but that's not going to help. I made a fool of myself up there, and I'm going to be in here for six months. I've hurt you, I've hurt my mother, I've hurt my father, and all my friends. Most of all, I've hurt me, and my reputation. How could anyone be as stupid as I was to disobey a direct order? No one in his right mind disobeys a direct order, and I did it."

"Miss, no touching the prisoner."

"I'm sorry, I forgot."

"Mom took me to the doctor today to check on the pregnancy."

"You told her?"

"Your dad guessed."

"He is an amazing man. What did you find out?"

"I am healthy. They did something called an internal on me, which was not at all pleasant. In a few days they will do a sonogram to check on the baby, to see how it's doing. They will be able to tell its size, health, approximate date of delivery, and its sex."

"I hope it's a girl so it is as beautiful as its mother, and smarter than its father."

"There is nothing wrong with how smart the father is. It is his common sense that's the problem. Your dad is furious with you. I don't believe he's angry with you as much as he is disappointed in you. Of all the people around him I don't think he ever thought you would be the one to defy him openly.

Delicious was always the powder keg, and she may have gone off at any time, but not you. He depended on you. You've been replaced on the bridge permanently by Newton. He has acknowledged he knows nothing about your engines or your tasks, but he told your father he would not let him down. You know Newton, he will keep his word.

Monty will be training alongside him. She will not learn as fast as he will, but she will learn just as you wanted her to. Things will be a lot different when you get out of here in six months, and I don't think you'll be very happy with them."

"Miss your time is up."

"I'll see you in three days Gordon. I can't even bring you anything, except my love."

"I love you Zoey, you don't deserve this."

****************

Hello Gordon, two hours down, 5 months 29 days 22 hours to go. Are you still feeling like big man on campus?"

"Thank you, mom, you are exactly what I needed right now."

"What did you need right now Gordon besides a good swift kick in the ass?"

"How about a little motherly love?"

"What did you do to deserve it?"

"When a son fucks up royally, a parent is supposed to make the son feel better. It's not what you're doing right now."

"When the son takes on the parent as an enemy, and disobeys him or her, do you really believe the parent is going to say, "oh my poor baby?"

"I guess not."

"I want to ask you a question Gordon. "Name me one thing about this ship your father does not know about?"

"I can't think of anything."

"Do you want to know the first thing your dad did after he arrested you?"

"No, what did he do?"

"He sat down at your position, and extended the nuclear engine."

"He did what?"

"You heard me correctly. He extended the nuclear engine. He baited you, and you swallowed it. You thought you had him by the neck, and all he did was give you more rope to hang yourself with. He asked you, asked you again, and asked you a final time to extend the nuclear engine. Then he issued you a direct order, and you refuse it. How stupid could you possibly be? How self-centered could you possibly be? You thought you were more important than everything he put his life's work into for the past nine years and you didn't give a shit. He nearly died during the building of this ship, and his only thoughts were to get this completed. He didn't name the ship 'The Good Luck', everyone who worked with him at the nest NEST did, because they saw his devotion to it. If it was anyone else sitting in this cell, I would hope you would rot in hell for what happened today. However, you are the son of my body, and I'm not sure if six months is enough to teach you the lesson you so richly deserve. Goodbye Gordon, I'm not sure when I'll see you again."

After she left Gordon yelled out, "Guard, I don't want to see anyone else today. I think I've been kicked down as far as I care to go."

"Your sister is here to see you."

"Tell her thank you, but I'm too upset to speak to anyone else today."

"As you wish."

*************

"Fred give me a hand with this desk please."

"Where are we going to put it Monty?"

"Against the wall just to the left of the door."

"Can I ask why the move?"

"Gordon told me where his turkeys are."

"Gordon has his turkeys in the security office."

"We will be sure in about a minute."

"That kid has some pair of balls."

"That kid is in the brig for six months."

"I can't believe he disobeyed a direct order from his father."

"He did, and I can guarantee you no one else will ever do it."

"Roger that."

Monty bent down and picked up the tile which was directly under the center of the desk. She moved it aside, and moved the one to the left of it. She moved forward, and removed the two tiles further back. She looked over her shoulder and said to Fred, "Behold 'Turkey City.'

"How did he do this Monty? There were workers all over this place 24 hour a day 6 days a week, and security was here on the 7th. He's got wiring to the heat lamps, motion sensors, moving mother hens and programmed food dispensers. The electricians should have picked up a drop in energy along the lines."

"They would have picked it up if the lines were energized. However, the lines never were. The electricians were finished in the middle of the summer, and all this stuff didn't come into play until about a month ago. Gordon and his team may have started moving stuff into position well before then, but the eggs only take between 26 and 30 days to hatch. The heat lamps would be on only for those days. We don't stay in the office for any period of time to feel the heat on the bottom of our shoes. That sneaky sonofabitch thought of everything. When the birds hatch the motion sensor would have activated the mothers to start moving around. The chicks would move to the mothers where the food and water is. He is amazing. Get a cart and another man, and go up to room 515. In the shower you will find everything these birds need to survive, plus bailing wire to keep them in place. We are going to have our own little turkey nursery in here. Don't laugh at me, I was the one who was going to kill them all. If Gordon wasn't in the brig, I would have. Now I can't, I just can't."

After thinking a moment Monty smiled. "Get Janet down here now. Her I can kill, or she is going to be in charge of the nursery."

"Be careful Monty, there are only 66 people on this boat, and things have a way of turning around on one another."

"Yes, but it could be years before that happens."

******************

As Adam exited the bowels of the ship, into the engineering section, the men and women there yelled, "Get into the decontamination unit, you have shit all over your head, and you smell like it."

Adam laughed. "Welcome to the wonderful world of plumbing. Would you like some?"

Jack Daniels said, "Been there done that son; get into the 'Decon' unit now."

There was one good thing about being a plumber. Every time you went into the bowels of the ship, regardless the reason, when you came out you went into the decontamination unit. First you stood on a little point on the floor, closed your eyes tightly, and were pummeled from every conceivable angle with high pressure, antitoxin laced, steaming hot water. The problem was, except for your head, you are still fully dressed from your neck down.

After one minute, the water stops, and you take off the rubberized suit, and invert it, because it was full of your sweat. You place it in a vat of the water that was used to clean you off, except for the solid material waste that is discarded and used to fertilize the plants in the Arboretum, after it goes through the tertiary treatment process. You returned to the center of the decontamination unit and are treated to a one-minute-long, hot scented shower, and a 30 second cool down. When you are finished, you feel human again.

Adam walked out of the unit naked, and reached for a towel. Nearly every member of the engineering, security, and scientific staff was there to greet him. There were cheers, applause and catcalls as they looked at him in all his glory.

A few of the female members consoled each other. "Why the hell did he have to get married? With the size of that thing, he could have taken three of us on at one time."

Adam bowed to all of them, but especially to the ladies in the group. "Girls you underestimate me. While I was young and free of my obligations to Laura, several times I took on five ladies during one evening. I tried six once, but I couldn't count it, because the sun came up."

All the men laughed, but the women in the group blushed scarlet. A few of the men called him a liar, but Adam told them to ask Laura, because she met several of the young women he was involved with, prior to their marriage.

"You let your future wife meet some of your past girlfriends?"

"When you live in a relatively small area, there is no way to avoid it. I told Laura about my background, because I wasn't ashamed of it. I wasn't about to lie to her about it, and get caught later. She found some of them very entertaining, especially the ones who wished to join us in bed."

"Now I know you're lying Adam. No man would allow that to happen with his future wife sitting there."

"You can't filter what your former girlfriends are going to say. You can ask Laura if I'm lying, but do it privately, so you don't embarrass her please."

"You do realize you're still standing there naked, don't you?"

"If it doesn't offend you, why should it offend me?"

"Your bride is upstairs waiting for you to be in that exact condition. Why don't you join her?"

"I think I will. Thank you everyone for your kind reception."

Adam wrapped a large towel around his midsection, which covered him to his knees. He took his uniform, shoes and socks and walked to the elevator. When it opened, he stepped in, pushed the button, waved goodbye and went to join Laura.

He closed their door silently, and looked at her. She looked so beautiful lying in their bed, he did not want to disturb her. He put his clothes on the chair, and as quietly and softly as he could lay down next to her.

"Am I going to have to teach you how to read?"

"I didn't see a note when I came in baby."

"It's on the bathroom door."

"I shower in the decontamination unit as soon as I finish my work. I didn't go into the bathroom."

"Okay, you are forgiven. The next time I will put the note on your pillow."

"What did the note say?"

"Wake me up regardless of what time you get in. You smell funny."

"It appears I have woken you up, and I smell better like this than smelling like antiseptic lotion."

"Again, you are forgiven. You have more work to do tonight, if you have enough strength left in your body."

"Did you see the way I got into bed?"

"No I didn't."

"I am naked, and was hoping to ravish my wife if she was in the mood."

"Why do you think the note was on the door?"

"You are so beautiful; I don't know why you picked me out of all the other men who must have wanted to court you."

"You haven't figured that out yet have you? You are the only man that ever grabbed me, pulled me away from an important function, and told me what we were going to do. You didn't ask me, you told me what we were going to do. You didn't care about my parents or grandparents. You didn't care about my money, you only wanted me. Do you realize how refreshing that was? Even when I beat the shit out of you, you kept coming back from more, because you loved me. Do you realize how strong you are to put up with me? The only other men that could do it were my father, and George. It puts you in some very rarefied company, and I love you for it."