Therapy part VII – May 9th Part 1: Eels

Richard tried to pretend he didn’t know why the men had tried to attack them, so Lenny pretended he hadn’t punched Richard in the face after the man regained conciousness.  Feinging indignance, after Lenny ignored the attempt to fire him since Sam had hired them, the scientist went to his room to repair Navrim. 

Arnold told everyone what he’d heard Penelli saying to the captain.  The others nodded and it seemed they’d all heard it themselves, but the cook was a bit more taken aback.

“Well…he can’t believe her right?” Marcus asked a little nervously.  “I mean…I’m not hiding anything!”  Arnold didn’t believe that, and he didn’t think the captain would either. 

“She’s been talking to him like that for years though…I don’t think he believes everything she says,”  Lenny whispered.  “If he did we’d all be dead.  Just try to stay out of it…the captain threw the last person he heard talking about this off the ship and let him swim to shore.”

Arnold grimaced and nodded.  If this had been going on that long then he hoped it would never come to anything or came to a head after he was home.  The Captain and his assistant returned from the bar an hour later, and Sam got back near the end of the day.  He looked excited as a man followed him with a large wooden box. 

Arnold looked at it questioningly as the scientist shook his paw excitedly, “Thank you, Arnold!  Thank you!  I had to search all over the city, and I finally found one in a freak show!”  Arnold stared at him confused for a few moments and when Richard never noticed he asked what he’d found.  “An electric eel!” Sam gestured up at the wall grandly with one arm forward and the other cocked back, “Just think, all of the world’s energy problems will be solved!  Imagine powering an entire city with only one eel!”

Arnold stared at him incredeuously, “That’s… not possible… there were several eels powering the hospital-”  But Sam was obviously not listening as he began to talk about purchasing a giant aquarium.  Arnold shook his head and let the man ramble on excitedly as the scientist made his way to his room, the man with the box following him.  

True to his word he had someone come clean all the dead rats out of his lab, tossed out half of his furniture, and made room to construct a giant aquarium.  Arnold just took the time to rest and recover from everything that had happened to him, and to enjoy fresher food despite Marcus’s inability to cook.

“I spent the next three days like that.”  Arnold explained.  “I tried not to speak with Richard or Marcus, and I was assured that we were now on a direct course for Babbage.  Everything was tolerable until I heard loud banging on the third day from Sam’s room.”

Sam was standing outside of his lab looking flustered, but he was still smiling as he turned towards the group approaching him from the mess, “Everyone, I have wonderful news to share with everyone.”  They all gave him their attention, except the Captain and Penelli who weren’t there yet.  “As you all know the chemical formula that enlarged the rats was a complete success that had only one distinct draw back!  I have found that it is even more effective on electric eels!”

Arnold felt his eyes go wide with surprise, though if he had bothered to think about it he should have realized that was what the man had been talking about, but it was the rest of the thought that worried him, “You created a giant killer electric eel?!”

“Well, I was hoping that being cold blooded we could avoid the rabbies like symptoms,” Sam admitted, and then looked at Arnold hopefully. “I don’t suppose you’re also an expert eel killer?”