**Action** "Meeting- So, what now?"

**Action**
The meeting
All Department heads, and everyone eho could be bothered to turn up
 
There were many ideas passed around, but very few serious ones.
 
Cerebrum's idea was bold, he spoke with confidence.
"I propose that the engineering department construct a great big shield made out of neutronium, rendering it indestructible, that we attach to the underside of the ship. That we detonate fifty nuclear bombs at the same time under the shield, which will shoot the ship right into orbit. It might be bad for the land value of the surrounding region, but I'm sure that nobody here owns real estate on this planet. So the only other problem is that it would irreversibly irradiate most of the water on the planet, cause a nuclear winter on the planet, contaminate most of the atmosphere and kill ninety-five percent of all living things on the planet. But since we don't know anybody on the planet, there are no problems there either."
 
"Hmmm, slight problem" said Katy Roskev, the new Chief Engineer. Who had recently seen how much work she now had to do around the ship and was instantly regretting her promotion.
"where do we get enough neutronium, and fifty nuclear bombs from? Plus the fact that we've already nearly torn the ship apart and we're taking on gallons of water by the minute, making us heavier."
"There's always a pessimist." moaned Cerebrum.
"But if we do get into orbit of this planet, where next?" said Jay. "I can't find any star or constellation in the sky that matches anything on our starcharts. We're just completely lost."
"Did you try turning the starcharts the other way around?" asked Harris out of curiosity in a sarcastic tone.
"I did twice actually, and turned them upside down. We're still lost!"
"...So has anybody got any more suggestions?" said the Captain changing the subject."Get a lot of buckets and start bailing out and learn how to swim" said Joe, his mind wasn't working very well at the moment he still had a hangover from the party.  Everybody gave Joe a puzzled look."Sorry, that's a stupid idea" said Joe "We could cut down lots of trees and strap them to the bottom of the Blue Dwarf so it can float""Do you have any idea how much this ship weighs" said Jay, "We would need at least 60 Amazon rainforests to do something like that""Sorry, i'm not thinking straight this morning, we could fill the Dwarf with helium and..." Joe idea was cut off by a slap round the back of the head.More suggestions were voiced, but Seymours head was already spinning. He took a deep breath and cleared his head of all thoughts.
"First things first" he said, although it seemed a little odd to say this at the end of the meeting. "We need to stop the ship from sinking. Despite patching up all of the holes, we're too heavy to rely on air pressure alone, sooner or later something will snap, and the main hull will rip apart like a giant christmas cracker. Our engines are dead and are not powerful enough to get us out of the water anyway, so theres a good chance we'll be here for a while at least. AndI'd rather be on top of the water than drowning in Davy Jones' locker."
 
Suggestions of helium and 'Cerebrums hot air' had already been suggested, but Niples wanted to give someone the job to find the best solution available. He saw Larry Trisees' holier-than-thou attitide and wanted to see if the man could work as good as he said he could. After all, he was supposed to be a scientist... although Seymour kept thinking he was a doctor like Shakespeare who previously owned the same body.
But he dodn't know whether of not to trust Trisees on his own and wanted a responsable pilot on the operation too. So he picked the Helm officer Jay Chrysler.
 
"Ok, Jay and Larry. You are now both 'officers in charge of flotation' it is your duty to make this ship float anyway you see fit. The operation will be called OPERATION: FLOATEE."
The two looked at each other and scowled. Larry now wondered wether his dig at Jay for craching the ship earlier had been worth it, no doubt he'd never hear the end of it now.
"how...erm...what can we do?" asked Trisees.
"Whatever it takes" said Niples simply. "Use any of the crew who are currently job-less because of the crash. Build a raft, make a structure to distribute the weight of the ship, use empty oil drums, tie helium party balloons to the top of the ship if you have to, anything!"
 
The two stood up,
Now carrying a lot more weight on their shoulders. "Oh, and find chief engineer Katy Roskev if you need anything done engineering-wise. I'm sure she'll be happy to help.
 
OOC- sorry so short, everyone should have something to keep them occupied. WW's away team know what they're doing, everyone else can either join Trisees+Jay's Operation: Floatee or be chased by Harris' sea monsters. Theres been some great posts, keep it up!
I'll be on holiday in Crete all next week so I'm hoping you all behave for the team leaders.
 
Katrina + Jo, I'll try to post wit hyour characters before I go, if not then feel free to use my character when I'm away.
cya all next week :-)