Seymour Niples "Backseat Captain"

Seymour Niples
Medi-bay, recovery room
 
Seymour laid on the recovery bed after his operation. He was feeling much better but Nurse Tara was being really strict and not letting him go home. Katrina had left him so that she could tidy the place up, apparently DK and someone going under the guise of "Vinny Soprano" had left it in a bit of a mess.
 
He'd requested a book to read for something to do, but Dr. Keto has said that the Captain's books were too heavy for him to hold as he never bought paperback. As a substitute, Tara brought him a headset with "Tess of the D'urbervilles" on tape.
 
As soon as the nurse's back was turned, Seymour unplugged the headset and plugged in into the communications port on the wall so that he could listen in to what was being said around the ship.
Apparently there all of the skutters were rebelling (even though they were needed to fix the rotating meat machine in the kebab shop.)
He heard acting-captain Allie Fletcher's voice trying to command people around the ship.
 
Flicking the input/output switch of the headphones he turned them into a microphone as well.
"Miss Fletcher, how's my ship?"
"Captain?" she said in surprise. "I'm erm... a bit busy at the moment, I'll brief you later. Just get better soon okay?"
"Are we still in the parallel universe?" He pushed asking questions.
"Yes, but..."
"Are we clear of that huge black hole yet?"
"Well.... not exactly."
"What's happening to all of the scutters? How are you handling the situation?"
"We're....dealing with it now, its a little complic-"
"Have you found Commander Whitewolf yet? I need him to have a word with Phil about getting us back to our own universe."
"I think he's still quite small..." Said Allie, hoping that the Captain wasn't probing her with questions to decide if she is a good Captain. Being under that kind of pressure made her nervous.
"What about Major Harris? Is he back y-"
"Captain!" Allie butted in.
There was silence. "I have it all under control, I know you're worried about the ship but I can handle it."
Seymour sighed deeply and hoped she was right. She seemed certain enough. He smiled and his voice because more relaxed. "That's good to hear Miss Fletcher."
"That's 'Acting-Captain Fletcher' to you Mister!" She joked.
Seymour turned off the transmission and plugged his stereo back in. He began listening to the audio novel for about half an hour when Tara came back in.
 
"Ahh, Miss Cleavage. Can I be so bold as to ask you to swap tapes? I'd prefer to listen to some Tsikovsky, or perhaps a little Bach if you have it?"
 
"You can listen to it in your quarters if you'd like, I think you're well enough to go home. Besides, Katrina just rang in to say that she's got a surprise for you."
Seymour's left eyebrow raised about two and a half centimetres with curiosity.
 
Tara helped Seymour into a wheelchair and took him back to his quarters.
 
<So what's this surprise then Nic?>
*****************************************************Captain Seymour Niples, JMC Blue Dwarf   www.BlueDwarf.co.uk*****************************************************"WE'VE LOST THRUSTERS!" Jay announced.."I've lost control of the shuttle....were gonna crash..EVERYBODY TO THE BACK! NOW!...except you Keto come sit on the dashboard..."                          (Andy Longman, Jay Chrysler, JMC Blue Dwarf)---------------------