Swamped

You think you'd better not push this any further right now. It's too easy to stumble onto a subject that makes her nervous. Best to excuse yourself and start actually pursuing some of these leads.

"Well, it's been fun catching up, but I'm starting to really worry about Lex. I think I'll head to the infirmary and see if something's holding him up there."

"Good luck," Colleen says. She seems visibly relieved. "If he turns up here before I'm done, I'll tell him that's where you are."

"Thanks. See you whenever we next work together."

"Ah, yeah. See you!"

You probably gave her a lot of stress. Still, you gossip with her often enough that she probably doesn't suspect you were looking for information. You hope she's not too deeply involved in whatever's going on.

You walk off and head down to the infirmary. There seems to be a bit of a line, with Lex in the middle of it. And strangely, the main door is closed.

You walk up to Lex.

"What's the delay here?"

"Hells if I know. The others say the line hasn't moved in an hour. I was just thinking of heading back anyways..."

Suddenly, the door opens, and the captain walks out holding a cloth over his eye. He walks off without a word. Donnie glances out at the assembled crowd.

"Oh dear. Um, terribly sorry for the delay. Well, I'll try to move this as fast as I can, depending on how serious the problems are of course..."

"I'm thinkin' we shouldn't bother hangin' around," Lex says. "We'll just slow things down for the people who really need to be here."

"Probably for the best," you agree. But you haven't thought about what to do instead yet.