Chapter 26: The Sargasso Sea Part 2
"It couldn't get thick enough to trap us, could it?"
"That's one question I'd rather we not answer the hard way. A ship this big is hard to row."
The captain finished his soup and left the mess as Monky walked in.
"Heh, Missy. How're things topside?" He fetched a mug of tea and sat across from her.
"Lots of seaweed and small creatures. Crabs mostly. I didn't know there were that many kinds of crab. Fish too, under the weeds. Prof. Orthin has a periscope he uses to look under water."
"So the trip's worth yer while?"
"I'm not doing much but sketching whatever they ask me to. Oh, I almost forgot." Cal dug through her satchel. "Here I thought you'd like this." She handed him a page from her sketchbook showing him beside the boiler. The fire glowed fiercely as he shoveled coal into its maw. "I wanted to thank you for teaching me about the engine."
"Well now." Monky held the paper by the edges. "Ain't nobody gave me art before." He peered at it closely as if memorizing it. "Could ye keep it safe for me, Missy? There's nowhere fer me to stow it." He handed the drawing back. "It should be me thanking you. Ye saved us a good bit of trouble. Did a right sweet job of it too."
Cal carefully replaced the paper in her satchel. "In the engine room you called me Cal, why have you gone back to Missy?"
"In the engine room, ye were Cal, apprentice engineer. Now, ye'r Missy, artist for the passengers. Two different people, see?"
Cal laughed and shook her head. "I'm still on call if you need me. I'll get the drawing back to you when we get home."
"Ye'r a wonderful lass. Me wee ones'll love t'see what their da does fer a livin'."
He finished his tea and nodded at her before leaving the mess. Cal looked at where he'd sat. She hadn't expected such a strong reaction to a simple sketch. It reminded her again of the gulf between the crew and the scientists.
For the next few days, Cal surreptitiously drew portraits of each of the crew at work. Sam tidying ropes on the deck. Bran checking the pressure in the engine room. When she'd finished, she started on the scientists. Dr. Franklyn poking at a clump of seaweed. Prof. Orthin bent over a fish on the dissecting table. Lahdin crouched on deck, eye to eye with a crab. The assistants too, who had specialties of their own. Sir Shillingsworth she drew in discussion with the scientists pointing away to the west.
The advantage of drawing portraits was her mind didn't keep trying to add numbers and equations in the margin.
As she put the last drawing in her journal for safe keeping, they arrived at a mat of seaweed which spanned as far as they could see to port or starboard.
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