Aquaria - 4. Aqu Chapter 4

Trenton stared at the note for a few minutes, as it was the first time that the Captain had been so informal to him, also he was not aware that there are any guests on board, but he smiled as he looked at his watch and saw that it is 1855 hours, so quickly he worked out what to wear for dinner, before heading for a shower.

Trenton made sure he was dressed perfectly, before making his way to the Bridge, to meet his Aunty Natalia for the first time.

Returning to his cabin after a very enjoyable evening, Trenton laid on his bed, with a big smile on his face, thinking how everything has changed for the good in just a few weeks. During the evening, Jonah and Natalia were very relaxed and happy, which made it easier for Trenton, who had felt uncomfortable at first to be having dinner with the Captain and his wife.

Near to the end of the dinner Trenton mentioned that he had been in touch with his former boyfriend, who was wanting to get together again, and Trenton said that they could possibly meet up in the Falkland Islands, without mentioning the name of the island.

Trenton also informed his Aunt and Uncle how the education programme was going, including the recently established online classroom lectures via satellite video link. As Jonah listened to how well this project was going, he suggested to Trenton that maybe they could organise with the grammar school, for a small group of students to spend some time on the vessel as cadets, while the vessel is in the Falkland Islands, if it fits in with the schools’ timetable.

The following day, while talking to James online, before the start of the online classroom lecture, Trenton mentioned the idea that the Captain mentioned, saying that although the Corporation couldn’t contribute to the costs of travelling to or from the Falklands, it would be able to assist with the accommodation and feeding of the 42 students and 7 teachers, that would be permitted to be on the vessel.

James was thrilled with this exciting news, and he said that he would speak to the Headmaster and the School Board when they have their monthly meeting in a few days’ time. Trenton mentioned to James that the cheapest journey from Perth is a 3-hour flight to Sydney, a 4-hour flight to Auckland, a 19-hour flight to Santiago in Chile, and finally a once a week 3, hour flight to Stanley in the Falklands.

Leaving Perth at 11.00 am on a Thursday morning local time, the final flight arrives in Stanley at 2.30 pm on the Saturday afternoon, local time with a time difference of 11 hours between the two locations of Perth and Stanley.

Trenton said that it was a very expensive trip, as well as being a very long one, and he suggested that the Grammar school consider everything before making a final decision on whether they would be coming or not. James ensured his friend that he would get all the information required before presenting the idea to the school board.

Over the next few days, Trenton was kept very busy with research work, reviewing all the data that was collected while they were on Marion Island, and it wasn’t till after he noticed that he had a waiting email from James, that he remembered about the School board meeting, which would have been held the evening before Perth time.

“Trenton, I am happy to say that the School Board is extremely thrilled with the success of the education programme that we are partnering with you, and with the news of this trip to the Falklands, they are looking forward to this new adventure for some senior students and a number of adults.

The School Board has suggested, there be 2 parents and 5 teachers, to travel with the 40 students, which will consist of the top science students from each of the two senior grades, that being 16 and 17-year old boys.We already have a draft list of who those students are, and a letter has been sent to the parents of those 40students. I will let you know more once we have that information. Regards from James”.

When the Aquaria arrived at Gough Island, the Captain had a briefing with the current South African research team, which is working on the island. Once this was done, a timetable was set with the research teams some working with the South African team, and some would be assigned set research projects during their stay on the island.

For the next two weeks, everyone was kept extremely busy, and this meant Trenton had limited time for the Education programme. At the start of the third week on Gough Island, Trenton took half a day off work to try and catch up on his school science education project, the first thing he needed to do was to reply to the several ignored emails, that had been waiting for him from James.

“Trenton, I have some great news regarding the trip to Stanley, contact me when you can, for all the details, James”, “Trenton, I haven’t heard from you in a while, hope all is ok, James”, “Trenton, please contact me, Mitch and I are getting worried that we haven’t heard from you, and we have missed two online classes now, James”.

After reading the third email, Trenton began to write a reply to the last one, “James & Mitch, I’m sorry that I have missed two class lessons, it has been very busy here on board the Aquaria. I haven’t had a day off in three weeks now, but now managed to get half a day off to try and catch up.

I am in the process of putting together the next Science lesson for you, I’m sorry I won’t be able to do any online classes for a while, as we have so much happening here on this island. I will be in my office writing the class lessons for the next few hours so if you see this email soon enough maybe we can have a quick chat online. Regards, your friend, Trenton.”

It was just after 5pm, local time when Trenton sent the email, and that is just after 6am in Perth, so he hoped that maybe James would see the email when he gets up to get ready for school, then he remembered that it was Saturday morning in Perth, and decided not to wait for a reply, and concentrated on what he needed to finish, before heading to dinner.

After completing the class lessons, Trenton went to the gym for an hour to do some exercise which he had been neglecting recently, and after a shower and change, he went to have dinner in one of the main crew dining rooms for a change, where he was surprised to see the Captain and Natalia eating, and Trenton was asked to join them.

During dinner, the captain said that he had noticed that Trenton had been working very hard over the past few weeks, and not taking time off to rest and relax, and suggested to Trenton that he return to having two half days off work and stick to those days and times, with no exceptions.

Trenton reluctantly accepted the Captain’s request, and promised to abide by it, and so after dinner instead of going back to the office, he went to the main recreation area, to play some darts and relax.

It was almost 10.30pm by the time Trenton returned to his cabin, and on seeing his open laptop still on, he glanced at it quickly before going to bed, and stopped as he was about to turn as he spotted a reply from James was on the screen.

“Trenton, it is great to hear that you are well, and thank you for the newest class science lesson, I was hoping we could chat online, but alas I have classes all morning, and I’m not sure if I will have any time to squeeze in a chat, it is so difficult with the large time difference to speak to you face to face. Mitchell sends his best wishes and he says he is relieved that you are alive and well.

All is going well with the plans for the trip to Stanley, we have 40 very eager students looking forward to the trip, along with myself and Mrs Jenison, a Biology teacher. It will now be three parents that will be joining us, the other 2 staff members have yet to be finalised.

The parents are, Mr Martin Godfrey, a university lecturer in Marine Sciences, who is taking time off work for the trip, he has a 16-year old son attending the trip, also Miss Leanne Kidston, who is also the school’s 2nd librarian, and Mr Ali Shan, who is a Doctor, and he had a 16- year old son attending the school.

We have a further 12 senior students who would really like to attend, as well as 4 more parents, but I guess it really depends on the availability of accommodation onboard, I will leave that up to you and the Corporation to decide. Look forward to hearing from you soon, Regards from James”.

Trenton looked at his watch, and worked out that it was 9.30am in Perth and he decided to see if he could get a video link up with James, when he saw the screen come on he saw and heard James in the middle of a science class, and he remained silent but indicated to the students to remain silent, and for the next twelve minutes Trenton watched and listened to the lesson, but when James said something to the class that he didn’t agree on, he had to speak up to correct the error.

“I disagree with that last statement Dr Brighton…” Trenton said, which made James jump in fright, and the whole class started to laugh. “Holy she…, where did you spring from Mr Blackthorn” James said making the boys laugh even more, and Trenton motioned for the boys in the class to settle down, till everyone was quiet again.

“I’m sorry for the intrusion Dr Brighton, I have been watching your class for the past twelve minutes, thought I would try catch you before I retired for the night” Trenton replied with a sheepish smile on his face.

For the next half an hour Trenton participated in the lesson, and after the bell rang and all the boys had left, Trenton and James had a quick ten-minute chat before the start of the next class.

Trenton spent another half an hour with the next class as well, before signing off and going to bed, and he was pleased with the very constructive day he had today, and he slept very peacefully that night, waking up only with a knock on his door, with Natalia bring him a tray of breakfast.

Looking at his watch, Trenton saw that it was nearly 10am, and ask Natalia placed the tray on the desk, she relayed a message from the Captain, to say that he was to take the rest of the morning off, since he was working until very late at night with the school project.

Trenton asked Natalia to ask the Captain for a twenty-minute meeting at some time in the morning if possible, and she smiled and nodded that she would do this as she left the cabin.

For the next hour and a half, Trenton started working on his next batch of lessons for the school, and he was interrupted just before noon with the arrival of the Captain and Natalia, with a steward following close behind with a meal trolley for lunch for three.

During lunch, Trenton mentioned the list of names of the parents and teachers that would be coming on the trip and that there would be 20 students from year 11 and 22 students from year 12 attending. He also mentioned that the school was asking if it was possible for a further 6 senior students and 2 more parents to attend the trip.

The Captain didn’t need to think about this at all, and he said that there were cabins free in the cadet’s area and the regular guest cabins could be used to accommodate the extra parents, if they all pay for their own travel expenses to and from Stanley.

At the end of the meal, as the Captain was standing to leave, he made a comment to Trenton that he was not expecting, “As you are aware, one of the senior officers resigned recently due to ill health, and I would like you to take over his position and residing in his cabin, so we can spend more time together as a family” and the Captain left without a reply, as Trenton stood there stunned, until Natalia gave him a peck on the cheek and said to him to think about it and let them know.