Swamped

Well. You shouldn't worry too much about being spotted - you've got permission to be here, so better to act like it rather than act like you're snooping around.

"Excuse me," you say, startling the sailor. He turns around slowly to face you. "Have you seen the cutting board?"

It's a gamble, since it's actually right at the cleaning station. But if he hasn't been over there, he won't know that, and you can always say you just overlooked it.

"Uh, no," he says. Looks like it paid off.

"Any idea where it is, then? I'm supposed to be peeling carrots."

He just shrugs.

"I ain't been in this kitchen before, sorry. No idea where anythin' is."

You glance at the cloth.

"Could it have ended up under there, perhaps?"

He starts looking nervous.

"You really oughtn't look there. The cook's workin' on something for the end of the party, and if you peek you'll spoil the surprise."

"It's fine, I'm not here for the party," you reply, briskly walking over. "Just helping out by peeling carrots. I'll just do a quick check and I won't say a word about what I see."

He seems thrown off, but manages to shout "No, don't!" just as you've lifted up a corner.

You put it down right away, acting as though he startled you. But the truth is, you've already seen enough. Just have to bluff that you didn't.

"Okay, fair enough. I'll give the back one more sweep in case I missed something. But if I don't find the cutting board over there, I'm coming back."

"Uh, yeah. Really don't think it's under the cloth, though."

"Well, I've got a pretty good view of everything else over here and I don't see it," you say calmly. "Under there seems more likely than it ending up in the pantry or the galley proper."

"I suppose," he mutters.

Well, luckily for you he's much more subdued than the other sailor you saw here. You head back without incident.

You figure that in a couple of minutes, you'll 'find' the cutting board and tell him about it as an excuse to go back over there. Maybe you can even think up some way to get a peek into the galley out of that.

But first things first. You grab the sack from the trash again, and this time you grab one of the onions. You aim for one that isn't giving off much smoke, and stick it in your pocket.

Now you can wipe your hands again and "discover" the board. But you're also thinking about what you saw under that cloth.

Why in the hells would the cook have a printing press? And what does it have to do with this supposed party?

Well. You suppose you should think about how to find that out.