"I don't think so," Lucy replied. "I think he's gonna have the salon lady bring her shit. Maybe they'll just give us a special after-hours session..."
"That's what I'm thinking," Tory said, nodding. "That would be a lot easier than her having to drag all of that shit up to our room."
"I hope we didn't get Kiyana and Raeni into trouble," Lucy said.
"I think we're okay," I told her. "The safety-guy seemed pretty happy to hear that I was gonna be able to solve their problem."
"Can you?" my sister asked. "You've welded that stuff before?"
"Should be just like the shit we did in school," I told her. "That was like a whole day of instruction in the classroom and then a couple days of practice in the shop."
"Cool," she said, grinning at me. "That's kind of amazing, actually."
"I know," I said. "I'm nervous and excited all at the same time. It'll be the first real test of my skills."
We sprinted down the ramp, jogged up the pier, cut through the checkpoint, and headed into the melee of vendors. We scooted past them, hardly slowing down, ignoring them all. I caught a glance of a hand reaching for Tory's waist and slapped a kid's fingers away. He disappeared into the crowd as quickly as he had appeared. The girls looked around a little harder. Lucy shifted her wallet more towards the center of her chest.
We got through the hawkers and hucksters and I slowed up to let the girls figure out where they wanted to go. Tory pointed to the right - down a fairly clear street - with tourists browsing at shop windows. The other girls nodded. We headed that way. I slowed to a fast walk. The girls gathered around.
"Keep your heads on a swivel," I told them. "Assume everyone is out to rob you."
The girls found a shop with some jewelry. We browsed for a moment but they didn't find anything they liked. We ended up at the straw market.
The girls found some friendship bracelets they liked - and got two extras for Kiyana and Raeni. They got one for me as well. They found a few more little souvenirs and then we moved to another street and worked our way back towards the docks.
We passed up and down a couple more streets - doing the same we had been - before the girls wanted something different.
I took off - like I had in the Bahamas - assuming that the towns were built similarly - at least the tourist parts. I found a small restaurant and we ordered some food that we could carry with us. Everybody got something different and we each stole bites from each other - figuring out which things we liked better.
We found a little department store thing that didn't match a brand that we knew from the States - but obviously looked like some kind of chain. We slipped inside. The girls found some nail stuff that would work - if the salon deal went bust. We also got some locally-bottled beverages, some funky snacks (both sweet and salty) and a few more little trinkets that were kind of cute. I found a small chunk of a semi-precious stone - carved to look like a sea turtle. Tory grabbed it from me and added it to the handful of things she intended to buy. She also grabbed one that looked like a porpoise and another that looked like an elephant. The girls paid for their purchases and we left the store.
We found a street vendor with a little cart and tried a few more finger foods. We'd been gone for about an hour. The second time I checked my phone, Tory suggested that we head back. I worried that they hadn't really had a good time - but the three of them told me that they'd actually gotten more done here - in a shorter amount of time - than they had accomplished in the Bahamas.
I got eyes on one more attempted pickpocket before he could make his move and then we passed through the island's customs checkpoint and headed for the simpler one at the pier. The guard checked our IDs and our purchases and then waved us on - reminding us which ship was ours. I had already picked it out but I appreciated the assistance just the same.
As we came up the ramp, I saw the safety-guy standing there. He was smiling. I hoped that meant good things.
He walked with us towards the stairs.
"We have coveralls," he said, "but you may want to change your clothes."
"If you can just follow us," I told him. "It won't take me long."
We got to the room. He stood in the hall. I ducked inside, threw my clothes on the bed, and pulled on sleep shorts and a T-shirt. I was back out of the room in under a minute. He smiled.
"It is probably best you dressed lightly," he said. "The place where you must work is hot and cramped."
"I kind of figured...," I told him.
He took me a different direction than normal. He swiped an ID card and we were suddenly very much behind the scenes. We took a ladder down several levels. I was surprised that he could manage and still keep his clothes as spotless as they were - but he obviously knew his way around.
He brought me to their locker area. We found coveralls, gloves, and boots that would fit me. He showed me to the equipment room. I grabbed a helmet, a small portable welder, and a variety of rod - with twice as many of the kind that I expected I would need - just to make sure I didn't have to come back to get more. It's always better to be over-prepared than to have to make another trip.
We traveled down a long passageway, ducking the whole way. We took a ladder down two more levels and then came to a guy that looked like a dude who knew steam. The safety-guy handed me off to this gentleman after a quick introduction. He told the guy to help me in whatever way he could - and then for us to come find him when the job was either done or we determined that it wasn't doable.
The safety guy was agile. This guy was a fucking monkey-man. I continually had to shift the load in my hands as we crawled in, around, over, under, and through a maze of small passageways. We ended up in a space that was only navigable by crawling. We followed that for several yards before I was just pushing my stuff ahead of me and then pulling my body along behind. Somewhere, monkey-man had come up with a huge electric cable. He unrolled it behind us.
I came to the place where the leak was. I could see it leaking. I pulled out a yellow grease-pencil and marked it. Monkey-man hollered back over his shoulder. The hissing steam lessened - and then stopped. A male voice hollered back. Monkey-man told me that I was cleared to proceed.
The tear in the pipe was narrow - but longer than was safe - which was (obviously) why they needed it to be repaired.
I studied the pipe to make sure it was what I had expected. I picked the rod that I would need. Monkey-man handed me the end of his cable. I plugged in my welder. I donned my protective mask, decided that I couldn't see well enough, and pulled out my phone. I turned the flashlight on and propped it up so that it shown on my yellow marks. I flipped the visor back down, got myself ready, and warned Monkey-man that I was going to start. He acknowledged my warning.
I ran a small bead along the pipe well ahead of the crack that had formed. My reasons for doing so were two-fold - to make sure that my materials were working the way that I had expected - and to start the repair far enough from the failure to try to help head-off future problems.
My bead looked good to me. I eased into the tear in the pipe and used the molten-metal to glue the wound shut. The rod in my welder - with some help from the flux - merged with the metal in the steam pipe - and I slowly created a new narrow seam of metal that replaced the part that had been ripped in two.
I finished the weld, popped up my visor, and visually inspected my work. I was confident that my repair would hold. I was less confident that I'd extended my bead far enough to strengthen the pipe that had ruptured in the first place. I warned him that I was going to run two more small beads and he nodded and turned away. I dropped my visor back down and sewed up the ends of my original bead - doing my best to make sure the pipe wouldn't fail again - at least not at this location. When I finished, I popped up the visor, removed my glove, and turned off my flashlight. I should have asked safety-guy for a headlamp but I'd gotten by without it - so I was happy that it had all worked out.
Monkey-man asked if I was ready for them to reapply pressure to the pipe. I scooted away from where the torn section had been and he chuckled at me. I shrugged at him and smiled. I gave him a thumbs-up and he hollered back down the tube we were lying in.
I heard pressure building in the pipe and held my breath. A couple minutes later, the guy at the end hollered back at us. Monkey-man pulled out his phone, snapped a picture of the pipe (and my work), checked the image, and then put away his phone.
He held his hand out to me and grinned. I shook it and grinned back. I unplugged my welder and started gathering my things. He scooted himself backwards, taking the power-line with him. I took advantage of a small void in the narrow space to get myself turned around so that I wouldn't have to slide myself backwards. I still had to push the welder ahead of me as I exited. When I got to the end, he grabbed it and moved it. I scooted the rest of the way out and then groaned as I stood - if only to a crouch. He laughed.
He gathered the cable and I gathered my shit - and we headed back the way we had come - crawling for a bit - then walking while bent in half - and then finally standing. I found the guy he'd been yelling instructions to. The guy held his fist up, grinning, and I bumped it with my own.
Monkey-man handed the cable off to some guy we passed a bit later and then got me back to where I'd borrowed the welder. I put everything back the way I found it (minus the rod that I had mostly burned up - which went into the scrap bucket.
I got out of the coveralls and replaced the boots with my tennis shoes. Monkey-man led me back through passages until we came to a service elevator. We took it to the main floor, popped out of an employee's-only door, and headed for the safety-guy's office.
When we got there, Monkey-man told him how it had gone and showed him the picture. He then texted back to the steam guys down below to confirm that things were still holding - and they answered back that it was. Safety-guy dismissed Monkey-man with his thanks and then turned to me.
"You have done us a great service," he said. "I owe you more than you have asked."
I shrugged and told him that I appreciated the chance to prove that I knew what I was doing. He stood, shook my hand, and told me that he would be contacting the salon. The salon would get a hold of Kiyana and Raeni and those two would coordinate with us for their exclusive session. He seemed more than happy with my request - as well as with our appreciation for Kiyana and Raeni. He never asked what they had done and I never mentioned it. Maybe he knew; maybe he didn't.
