Sam helped Sierye out the best he could. Luckily, it didn’t seem like she’d need to go to the hospital for stitches (or to get Beau to do it on the quiet), but she’d need to be careful and keep an eye out for infection seeing as she’d injured it in the shark tank, which wasn’t necessarily the most hygienic of places.
A heaviness dwelled in his chest as he stepped out of the bathroom where Sierye still was, and into the sun. The day had barely even started, and already they’d had what had psychological warfare in the canteen, relatively high levels of gore, and broken pipes to fix. Luckily Max had stepped in for that one. Sam was many things, but better at fixing stuff than Max was not one of them.
He continued on, heading towards the stock room to pick up breakfast for their resident pinnipeds. Four adults and a calf amounted to a
lot of food. Add that to the additional task today of weighing and measuring them to monitor their health, and Sam and the handful of animal care specialists assigned to help out today were already behind schedule due to this morning's kerfuffle. He needed to focus on the task at hand, otherwise there'd be chance they'd be done by this evening.
But still, Elizabeth Camwell's offer to Charlie still smarted, in spite of her blunt and clear refusal. The whole situation felt... wrong. Like it wasn't fixed yet. It was a bit like when your a kid, and you scrape your knee, and all the adults are telling you that it'll be fine, but your knee still
hurts, and nobody seems that bothered by it.
To be honest, he wasn't really sure what he should be thinking. Rich people scared him, even the nice ones like Miriam. One person with that much power was surely a recipe for disaster, right? Power corrupts and all that? And Elizabeth hadn't even seemed like one of the 'nice ones', whatever that meant. She'd wanted to close Haven. To take away... everything.
He slowed, before stopping still, a sick, twisting sensation clawing at his gut.
Yes, the offer had been Elizabeth's. But those... those
thoughts had been all Sam's. What did that make him? That he'd
thought about it, and he worked here! Elizabeth didn't, she didn't see the pain and the suffering these animals experienced on a day to day basis, she didn't come face to face with the impact humanity was having on some of the most
incredible creatures on Earth every single day of her life. Sam knew what was happening, he'd dedicated his life to studying it, and know that he had a chance to actually
do something instead of just watching the news and feeling a bit useless, he'd had the
audacity to even dare to think about-
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Lost in thought, Sam nearly jumped out of his skin at the noise, which was coming from... the ocean? What? It sounded like an engine backfiring - maybe it was Elizabeth's boat? He squinted, raising his hand to his forehead to pear across the glistening abyss. A hulking white object, tall and
loud, was hauling itself across the crystalline waters, it's engine chugging and thruming, audible even from where Sam was stood on the little path snaking towards the supply shed. It was a mega-yacht, he realised dimly, probably Elizabeth's, and probably pumping out more crap than a small town.
As Sam watched it approach, his radio crackled to life. Charlie, talking about releasing one of the island's reptilian residents, and Josh replying. In spite of all the other things going on at Haven right now, Sam couldn't help but smile. This was what it was all about, after all. Even if it only ever helped one animal (and he knew for a fact it had helped more), then every single person here would have to be dragged away kicking and screaming before they let someone like Elizabeth Camwell get in the way of their work, no matter how big her boat was.
He should probably let Max know that there was a giant boat on their doorstep though. It seemed like it might be a security...
issue.
He picked up his radio,
"Hey, err, Max, this is Sam. Thought I could do with letting you know that there's a really, really big boat parked on our doorstep, it seemed like it might be a security issue, I don't know."
On a whim, after he'd finished feeding the pinnipeds, Sam wandered over to the where the cetaceans were kept. They'd had more time than they thought, and now he had a spare half hour to maybe try out that photography trick he'd been reading about. A small buzz of excitement tingled through his system - whilst the prospect of a career in academia had filled him with existential dread, the little bits and pieces of cutting edge
stuff they got to do at Haven never failed to be weirdly thrilling, not least of all because it always made them that little bit better at actually helping.
His stomach dropped when he saw Copper.
Maybe he was just resting? Although... what Charlie had said earlier... he looked so
ill. Sam waded over and crouched near the animal, warm water lapping at his calves. Copper seemed very lethargic, not playing with his brother, and the wound looked angry and inflamed. Beau must still have been checking the sharks.
Immediately he reached for his radio,
"This is Sam, Beau, I think you should get over to Copper and Slate's pen right away if you can, Copper's took a bit of a turn - there's some nasty inflamation going on with his wound, and he seems very lethargic - like he's starting with a temperature." Sam reached down, petting Copper in a way the animal usually found to be soothing,
"Don't worry, Beau'll get you feeling right as rain in no time," he said, trying to conceal the worry in his voice.
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