Disc: All rights belong to the maker of seaQuest DSV and I will not earn
any money from writing this story.
This fanfic was my first seaQuest story. Writing it was good therapy to deal with Jonathan's death, and I discovered my love for writing again. Some dialogues and events will be changed from the German version, but the story itself is still the same. I have loved science fiction ever since I can remember and that was the reason why I chose this story to write down. Have fun!
I like to thank KatKnits and Refur for their beta reading!! I am glad to have you two.
Coming Home by Yury Julian
"Status?"
"All quiet, sir," Lieutenant O'Neill answered.
"What are they doing there?" Captain Hudson leaned nearer to his monitor. Directly in front of the seaQuest were some Macronesian Alliance warships at the bottom of the sea. None of them were moving. The circumstances – they were in international waters – bound the seaQuest's hands.
"Perhaps we should hail them again," suggested Commander Ford.
"They didn't answer the last six times. Why now?" O'Neill said sarcastically, with a look at his friend seated on his left.
"I don't like this situation. The Alliance aren't known for their peaceful breaks on the seabed." Hudson straightened up again and looked at Lietuenant Henderson. "Scan the surroundings for more ships. If there are none, then keep your eyes open for anything at all. Something is wrong here, and goddamnit I want to know what." He was irritable. The UEO was neutral, as always, and McGath was still wondering why more and more international waters were falling to the Alliance. He was trying so hard to prevent a war, he didn't realize that this war had already begun.
"Captain? There's a tanker to the south-east on a direct course with seaQuest," reported Henderson.
"A tanker?"
"Yes, Sir. I'm sorry, but my sensors aren't giving me any more information."
"Hail them!"
"Aye." After a brief moment the dark-haired woman reported. "No answer, Sir."
"Try again."
"The tanker has stopped," said Henderson.
"Maybe it belongs to the Alliance?" speculated Commander Ford.
"There's a shuttle heading for us."
"From the tanker?" Captain Hudson asked Lieutenant Henderson.
"Yes."
"Uhm..., sir," O'Neill had one hand on his headset. "The shuttle is asking for permission to dock with seaQuest."
"No-ones coming on board this ship until they identify themselves."
"They say don't have to identify themselves," the lieutenant said.
"They're preparing to dock," noted Ford with a quick look at his console. An light shudder went through the ship. "Correction: they've started the laser docking maneuver and they'll break through soon."
"Commander, you go with a security team to the docking bay. Close the whole section. We'll see if anybody comes on board without my permission."
The commander left his position immediately to carry out Hudson's order. No signal was sent out from the tanker, which lay half a seamile away from seaQuest as quietly as the Macronesian Alliance ships. The bridgecrew were all tense.
At the helm sat two young recruits, who had come on board a few days ago directly from the Academy. Now they were exchanging nervous looks. This was their first mission.
"Why aren't they moving?" whispered Henderson to herself after a while.
"They have no reason to, since seaQuest has walked straight into their trap. Congratulations Oliver. You did it. At this moment President Bourne is drinking victory champagne."
Hudson turned around immediately. Nathan Bridger stepped onto the Bridge, followed by Commander Ford and some other security men, and stood behind him.
"Nathan! I could have shot down your damn shuttle. Why the Hell didn't you identify yourself?"
"It was too risky. I'm sure they're listening into your transmissions. In any case, you should put some distance between you and them immediately. Your sensors haven't picked it up yet, but they've hacked into your systems, and I must say I am very suprised that it was so easy for them. What's Lucas doing?"
"Ensing Wolenczak is currently off duty, and I still give the orders round here. Right now I want to observe these enemy ships some more. Could you explain how you know they've hacked into our systems?" Captain Hudson was awaiting an answer.
"Call Lucas, Oliver. He'll show you straight away. After that I'll tell you everything, but get away from these ships as fast as possible. I don't know what they want with seaQuest, but if I know the Alliance, it isn't looking good for you."
It wasn't his usual custom, but to argue with Nathan Bridger would take an eternity, so he summoned Lucas.
Five minutes later the young ensign appeared, with shaggy hair and eyes red from sleep. He was wearing only blue jeans. As he saw Bridger a pleased little smile flitted over his face. "Captain."
"Later, Lucas. Firstly we have to convince this pigheaded man that he should get his boat away from the Alliance ships as soon as possible."
Lucas looked over Commander Ford's shoulder at his screen. "What kind of an anomaly is that?"
The Commander was looking at him, confused.
"Let me use your station." Now Jonathan Ford had to stand up from his seat and give the young man some space.
"What did I say? He hasn't been on the bridgefive minutes, and he's already found your leak." Nathan said to Oliver. It was pleasing that his young friend was giving him the confirmation he needed to convince Oliver.
"We're always having anomalies. That doesn't mean anything."
"I'm worried about this one." Lucas sounded concerned. "How did they manage to get through my barrier?" he said, angrily.
"What are you saying, Ensign?"
Ah, Bridger thought, now his successor was beginning to hear alarm bells.
"To prevent unauthorised access to the seaQuest's systems, I've written a programme which prevents every log in attempt. But unfortunately somebody's managed to get in. And I can't follow his trail. This can't be happening."
"You should give the order to come about," Bridger advised Captain Hudson.
Hudson turned to Captain Bridger sceptically. "Not before you tell us your secrets. For example, why you believe these ships are the ones who accessed our systems, and best of all, what you know about their plans."
"I don't know much more, except they've managed to develop a new technology. With it, it's child's play to get access to the systems of other ships. At the moment this technology is not fully developed. You have to be very near your target. I have no other information. From the first, the seaQuest was their preferred target, and that's really all I know."
"Captain, we should follow Bridger's advice. There's an incoming signal from the middle ship. I think that's our uninvited guest." interrupted Lucas. The urgency in his voice could not be ignored.
Hudson nodded to his helmsman. "Get us as far away as possible. Full thrust."
The boat was moving, but it suddenly stopped again. The officers who were standing had to search for support, otherwise the impact of the abrupt stop would have knocked them down.
"What the Hell was that?" Hudson shouted.
"I no longer have control over our sensors, sir," reported Henderson.
One after the other each station reported loss of control. "Wolenczak!" Hudson leaned forward towards him. Lucas was typing like crazy on his keyboard, but finally his monitor faded to black as well. He was able to get it back, but the second time it faded, it stayed black. "Damn! They cut me off!" He jumped out of his seat. "But I have still some cards up my sleeve." He hurried to his normal station on the right, on the upper level of the Bridge. Henderson oberserved her young colleague curiously as he went to the free seat beside her and began to open the panels under the station.
Captain Bridger came up to him and knelt down. "I hope you have something very good in store, kiddo."
"I hope so too." Lucas finished fixing some connections and sat down at his station. After typing in some commands his monitor turned on. "It's working – for now." He ran his hand nervously through his hair. He loved difficult challenges, but not when a few minutes before he had been sleeping peacefully on cloud nine. Besides, he would have preferred to face this challenge under a little less pressure. He was against the clock. The longer the enemy was in their systems, the more information and secret files they could gain access to. And that was not even taking into account the possibility that they might manipulate the system, which could prove a major problem. "Let's see if I can't discover our visitor's secret."
"Can you establish control again?" asked Hudson.
"I'll try, but it would be better to get rid of this intruder."
"And who could be better for that than you?" Bridger whispered behind the computer genius.
"Somebody who knows what kind of technology they have access to. I have no clue where to begin. One moment they're here, the next it seems like no-one was ever there. If this is a normal programme to hide their tracks, than I should get a copy urgently. I'm currently working undercover. If they aren't specially looking for me, I should have enough time to find our visitor. Then it..." He stopped speaking. "This is impossible!" Lucas' fingers flowed over the keyboard. "I have as many security barriers build around me as possible. They couldn't have kicked me out without setting off an alarm!"
Someone cleared his throat. "Uhm... It would be great if somebody could help me." Tony was being dragged onto the bridge, a weapon to his temple. Several Macronesian soldiers followed the kidnapper and the crewman.
Lucas rose slowly out of his seat. How did these men get on board?
"What do you want?" asked Captain Hudson in a harsh voice.
"Don't ask stupid questions, Captain. You know exactly why we are here. The seaQuest is the only reason why Macronesian growth is not proceeding according to the desires of our esteemed president, and we are the special unit who will take the problem away." The enemy soldier stood stiffly in front of Hudson. "Your weapon, please!" As Hudson hesitated, the voice of his opponent became sharper. "Believe me, in contrast to you UEO weaklings, my men will not hesitate to shoot." As he said this he nodded in Piccolo's direction.
Reluctantly Hudson pulled out his weapon and threw it on the floor. "Order your people to lay down their weapons, too," ordered the Macronesian.
After a short nod from the captain the crew followed the example of their superior. As the weapons were laid on the floor two more Macronesian soldiers collected them. "Very nice. But we aren't finished yet." A slimy grin appeared on the enemy commander's face. He groped for his PAL and held it out to Hudson. "Your crew will leave the boat immediately. My men are waiting at the docking bay and will be pleased to help you with leaving."
"By shooting at unarmed shuttles after they have left the docking port?" interrupted Bridger.
"By no means! We have orders to take over seaQuest and get the crew out. No killing this time, it'll be completely peaceful." The Macronesian officer's eyes narrowed to slits. "We are only allowed to use our weapons if someone does something stupid. Get your crew off the ship. Or would you rather we shot them all?" He said the last sentence in a harsh voice to emphasise it.
Hudson took the PAL. "Attention all crew. We are leaving the ship. Assemble at the docking bay. I repeat: we are leaving the ship." When he gave back the PAL his face was full of hate. "Satisfied? Now you've got what you wanted."
"Yes, that's correct." Lucas wanted to punch his big fat grinning mouth. Normally Hudson would never give up his boat so easily. Why was Bridger doing nothing?
"My men will bring you to your shuttle."
"No need. I'm quite at home on my boat, I don't need your escort," said Hudson, pushing his way through to follow his people, who were also being pushed along by some enemy soldiers.
At the docking bay were most of the crew, who were following their captain's orders to leave the boat. Bridger got in first before Hudson, who was turning again and looking questioningly past Lucas at the still grinning Macronesian. "What will you do when we're gone? Will you attack any UEO colonies?"
"We aren't bloodhounds! What are you thinking?"
"That you are precisely that. Your esteemed president takes whatever he wants and never considers the men that he ruins. The UEO has always tried to keep peace." Hudson stood up straight. Lucas wasn't able to pass by and Bridger was looking out of the shuttle door, interested. All he could do was wait.
"You're right. This isn't going to be finished without some bloodshed by the Alliance. Congratulations. You managed to end it this way. We said that if you went without arguing, nobody would be hurt, but you didn't keep your side of the bargain." The Macronesian commander grabbed a weapon from the soldier on his right and pointed it at the door of the shuttle.
"DOWN!" Bridger yelled in panic.
Hudson jumped into the shuttle, Lucas directly behind him, then two shots sounded, one after the other. Hudson closed the door immediately. "Get us out of here right away, Henderson," yelled Hudson to the cockpit as he entered it. "Set a course for New Cape Quest and give it everything this thing's got."
Captain Bridger was staring speechless at Lucas' torso. Tony Piccolo, who had come on board the shuttle together with Commander Ford and Tim O'Neill, and had only heard, not seen, what had happened outside, knelt down on the floor. "That's..." he wasn't able to say anything else.
"Lucas..." Bridger knelt down as well and took Lucas' head into his lap. His voice failed.
"Was he hit?" asked Hudson, who was coming back out of the cockpit. "What the Hell?"
The young science officer had been shot, but there was no blood flowing from his wound. A blue liquid was spreading across his white t-shirt. Lucas himself looked like he was feeling no pain. It seemed as if he was simply lying there on the floor, watching clouds pass by.
The shuttle was under fire. Everybody had to grab on to something to stop themselves falling down. But everyone was too bewildered by the strange sight of their fallen comrade to worry about their own safety.
Once the immediate danger was over, Nathan Bridger carefully touched the blue liquid. "It's ice cold!"
"And it doesn't smell good," Tony wrinkled his nose.
"Lucas?" Bridger looked into his young friend's blue eyes, but they weren't responding any more.
"What's happening?" Commander Ford carefully took a few steps back. Lucas began flickering and shimmering violently.
"I have no idea. I've never seen anything like this." Bridger said weakly. There was a whizzing noise and Lucas' image faded away, as if somebody had pulled out the plug. What was left in his place was a riddle for all of them.
"A... robot?" Tony said incredulously.
"Hey, guys, what happened down there? Is somebody hurt? I could do with some help, if you haven't noticed the impacts. We're under fire again," yelled Henderson.
Commander Ford relaxed from his rigid posture. Slowy he skirted the machine in human form which still lay on the floor, and went to the cockpit.
"That's no robot, it's an android," Bridger corrected Piccolo.
"Well that makes sense. Wolenczak was simply too perfect to be human." Hudson had regained his sense of sarcasm.
"No, Lucas is a human being. At least, the one I met on seaQuest after getting command of it is," said Bridger.
"We all thought that, but he isn't." Tony tapped gently on the metal fingers. They were still moving.
"I have a bad feeling about this," said O'Neill, who had had to sit down with all the excitement. "Could the real one, I mean our one, still be there?"
"Be more specific, Lieutenant!" ordered Hudson impatiently.
"Hyperion," answered O'Neill in a low voice.
Bridger followed Piccolo's example and investigated the mechanical body. "That's impossible. Scott would never have allowed one of us to stay behind. And this doesn't look like it's like it's from another planet."
"Of course, Nathan. You're an expert in extraterrestrial technology." Captain Hudson knelt down beside him.
"I didn't say that. But I think it's unlikely. Why would anyone want Lucas...." Hudson interrupted: "He is of above-average intelligence. A real treat for someone who might need that level of skill. He was constantly pushing the limits. You don't really believe that an alien wouldn't take advantage of such an opportunity? "
Bridger shook his head. "This is absurd."
"Where is the real Wolenczak? Tell me!" urged Captain Hudson.
Nathan didn't answer. He was inwardly furious. But Oliver was right. Where was the real Lucas, if he wasn't on board seaQuest? More importantly, when had he been lost and this machine appeared in his place?
"We made it! In three hours we should arrive at New Cape Quest harbour," said Ford as he came back from the cockpit.
"Well, perhaps they'll know what we should do." Hudson stood up. "Until then we'll leave it alone." Bridger glanced at Hudson with a pained expression before he turned to stare at the android again. He still held the head which a few minutes ago had been that of his young friend.
To be continued...
But I don't know when. I started the translation of the second chapter yesterday. Hope I finish it soon.
This fanfic was my first seaQuest story. Writing it was good therapy to deal with Jonathan's death, and I discovered my love for writing again. Some dialogues and events will be changed from the German version, but the story itself is still the same. I have loved science fiction ever since I can remember and that was the reason why I chose this story to write down. Have fun!
I like to thank KatKnits and Refur for their beta reading!! I am glad to have you two.
Coming Home by Yury Julian
"Status?"
"All quiet, sir," Lieutenant O'Neill answered.
"What are they doing there?" Captain Hudson leaned nearer to his monitor. Directly in front of the seaQuest were some Macronesian Alliance warships at the bottom of the sea. None of them were moving. The circumstances – they were in international waters – bound the seaQuest's hands.
"Perhaps we should hail them again," suggested Commander Ford.
"They didn't answer the last six times. Why now?" O'Neill said sarcastically, with a look at his friend seated on his left.
"I don't like this situation. The Alliance aren't known for their peaceful breaks on the seabed." Hudson straightened up again and looked at Lietuenant Henderson. "Scan the surroundings for more ships. If there are none, then keep your eyes open for anything at all. Something is wrong here, and goddamnit I want to know what." He was irritable. The UEO was neutral, as always, and McGath was still wondering why more and more international waters were falling to the Alliance. He was trying so hard to prevent a war, he didn't realize that this war had already begun.
"Captain? There's a tanker to the south-east on a direct course with seaQuest," reported Henderson.
"A tanker?"
"Yes, Sir. I'm sorry, but my sensors aren't giving me any more information."
"Hail them!"
"Aye." After a brief moment the dark-haired woman reported. "No answer, Sir."
"Try again."
"The tanker has stopped," said Henderson.
"Maybe it belongs to the Alliance?" speculated Commander Ford.
"There's a shuttle heading for us."
"From the tanker?" Captain Hudson asked Lieutenant Henderson.
"Yes."
"Uhm..., sir," O'Neill had one hand on his headset. "The shuttle is asking for permission to dock with seaQuest."
"No-ones coming on board this ship until they identify themselves."
"They say don't have to identify themselves," the lieutenant said.
"They're preparing to dock," noted Ford with a quick look at his console. An light shudder went through the ship. "Correction: they've started the laser docking maneuver and they'll break through soon."
"Commander, you go with a security team to the docking bay. Close the whole section. We'll see if anybody comes on board without my permission."
The commander left his position immediately to carry out Hudson's order. No signal was sent out from the tanker, which lay half a seamile away from seaQuest as quietly as the Macronesian Alliance ships. The bridgecrew were all tense.
At the helm sat two young recruits, who had come on board a few days ago directly from the Academy. Now they were exchanging nervous looks. This was their first mission.
"Why aren't they moving?" whispered Henderson to herself after a while.
"They have no reason to, since seaQuest has walked straight into their trap. Congratulations Oliver. You did it. At this moment President Bourne is drinking victory champagne."
Hudson turned around immediately. Nathan Bridger stepped onto the Bridge, followed by Commander Ford and some other security men, and stood behind him.
"Nathan! I could have shot down your damn shuttle. Why the Hell didn't you identify yourself?"
"It was too risky. I'm sure they're listening into your transmissions. In any case, you should put some distance between you and them immediately. Your sensors haven't picked it up yet, but they've hacked into your systems, and I must say I am very suprised that it was so easy for them. What's Lucas doing?"
"Ensing Wolenczak is currently off duty, and I still give the orders round here. Right now I want to observe these enemy ships some more. Could you explain how you know they've hacked into our systems?" Captain Hudson was awaiting an answer.
"Call Lucas, Oliver. He'll show you straight away. After that I'll tell you everything, but get away from these ships as fast as possible. I don't know what they want with seaQuest, but if I know the Alliance, it isn't looking good for you."
It wasn't his usual custom, but to argue with Nathan Bridger would take an eternity, so he summoned Lucas.
Five minutes later the young ensign appeared, with shaggy hair and eyes red from sleep. He was wearing only blue jeans. As he saw Bridger a pleased little smile flitted over his face. "Captain."
"Later, Lucas. Firstly we have to convince this pigheaded man that he should get his boat away from the Alliance ships as soon as possible."
Lucas looked over Commander Ford's shoulder at his screen. "What kind of an anomaly is that?"
The Commander was looking at him, confused.
"Let me use your station." Now Jonathan Ford had to stand up from his seat and give the young man some space.
"What did I say? He hasn't been on the bridgefive minutes, and he's already found your leak." Nathan said to Oliver. It was pleasing that his young friend was giving him the confirmation he needed to convince Oliver.
"We're always having anomalies. That doesn't mean anything."
"I'm worried about this one." Lucas sounded concerned. "How did they manage to get through my barrier?" he said, angrily.
"What are you saying, Ensign?"
Ah, Bridger thought, now his successor was beginning to hear alarm bells.
"To prevent unauthorised access to the seaQuest's systems, I've written a programme which prevents every log in attempt. But unfortunately somebody's managed to get in. And I can't follow his trail. This can't be happening."
"You should give the order to come about," Bridger advised Captain Hudson.
Hudson turned to Captain Bridger sceptically. "Not before you tell us your secrets. For example, why you believe these ships are the ones who accessed our systems, and best of all, what you know about their plans."
"I don't know much more, except they've managed to develop a new technology. With it, it's child's play to get access to the systems of other ships. At the moment this technology is not fully developed. You have to be very near your target. I have no other information. From the first, the seaQuest was their preferred target, and that's really all I know."
"Captain, we should follow Bridger's advice. There's an incoming signal from the middle ship. I think that's our uninvited guest." interrupted Lucas. The urgency in his voice could not be ignored.
Hudson nodded to his helmsman. "Get us as far away as possible. Full thrust."
The boat was moving, but it suddenly stopped again. The officers who were standing had to search for support, otherwise the impact of the abrupt stop would have knocked them down.
"What the Hell was that?" Hudson shouted.
"I no longer have control over our sensors, sir," reported Henderson.
One after the other each station reported loss of control. "Wolenczak!" Hudson leaned forward towards him. Lucas was typing like crazy on his keyboard, but finally his monitor faded to black as well. He was able to get it back, but the second time it faded, it stayed black. "Damn! They cut me off!" He jumped out of his seat. "But I have still some cards up my sleeve." He hurried to his normal station on the right, on the upper level of the Bridge. Henderson oberserved her young colleague curiously as he went to the free seat beside her and began to open the panels under the station.
Captain Bridger came up to him and knelt down. "I hope you have something very good in store, kiddo."
"I hope so too." Lucas finished fixing some connections and sat down at his station. After typing in some commands his monitor turned on. "It's working – for now." He ran his hand nervously through his hair. He loved difficult challenges, but not when a few minutes before he had been sleeping peacefully on cloud nine. Besides, he would have preferred to face this challenge under a little less pressure. He was against the clock. The longer the enemy was in their systems, the more information and secret files they could gain access to. And that was not even taking into account the possibility that they might manipulate the system, which could prove a major problem. "Let's see if I can't discover our visitor's secret."
"Can you establish control again?" asked Hudson.
"I'll try, but it would be better to get rid of this intruder."
"And who could be better for that than you?" Bridger whispered behind the computer genius.
"Somebody who knows what kind of technology they have access to. I have no clue where to begin. One moment they're here, the next it seems like no-one was ever there. If this is a normal programme to hide their tracks, than I should get a copy urgently. I'm currently working undercover. If they aren't specially looking for me, I should have enough time to find our visitor. Then it..." He stopped speaking. "This is impossible!" Lucas' fingers flowed over the keyboard. "I have as many security barriers build around me as possible. They couldn't have kicked me out without setting off an alarm!"
Someone cleared his throat. "Uhm... It would be great if somebody could help me." Tony was being dragged onto the bridge, a weapon to his temple. Several Macronesian soldiers followed the kidnapper and the crewman.
Lucas rose slowly out of his seat. How did these men get on board?
"What do you want?" asked Captain Hudson in a harsh voice.
"Don't ask stupid questions, Captain. You know exactly why we are here. The seaQuest is the only reason why Macronesian growth is not proceeding according to the desires of our esteemed president, and we are the special unit who will take the problem away." The enemy soldier stood stiffly in front of Hudson. "Your weapon, please!" As Hudson hesitated, the voice of his opponent became sharper. "Believe me, in contrast to you UEO weaklings, my men will not hesitate to shoot." As he said this he nodded in Piccolo's direction.
Reluctantly Hudson pulled out his weapon and threw it on the floor. "Order your people to lay down their weapons, too," ordered the Macronesian.
After a short nod from the captain the crew followed the example of their superior. As the weapons were laid on the floor two more Macronesian soldiers collected them. "Very nice. But we aren't finished yet." A slimy grin appeared on the enemy commander's face. He groped for his PAL and held it out to Hudson. "Your crew will leave the boat immediately. My men are waiting at the docking bay and will be pleased to help you with leaving."
"By shooting at unarmed shuttles after they have left the docking port?" interrupted Bridger.
"By no means! We have orders to take over seaQuest and get the crew out. No killing this time, it'll be completely peaceful." The Macronesian officer's eyes narrowed to slits. "We are only allowed to use our weapons if someone does something stupid. Get your crew off the ship. Or would you rather we shot them all?" He said the last sentence in a harsh voice to emphasise it.
Hudson took the PAL. "Attention all crew. We are leaving the ship. Assemble at the docking bay. I repeat: we are leaving the ship." When he gave back the PAL his face was full of hate. "Satisfied? Now you've got what you wanted."
"Yes, that's correct." Lucas wanted to punch his big fat grinning mouth. Normally Hudson would never give up his boat so easily. Why was Bridger doing nothing?
"My men will bring you to your shuttle."
"No need. I'm quite at home on my boat, I don't need your escort," said Hudson, pushing his way through to follow his people, who were also being pushed along by some enemy soldiers.
At the docking bay were most of the crew, who were following their captain's orders to leave the boat. Bridger got in first before Hudson, who was turning again and looking questioningly past Lucas at the still grinning Macronesian. "What will you do when we're gone? Will you attack any UEO colonies?"
"We aren't bloodhounds! What are you thinking?"
"That you are precisely that. Your esteemed president takes whatever he wants and never considers the men that he ruins. The UEO has always tried to keep peace." Hudson stood up straight. Lucas wasn't able to pass by and Bridger was looking out of the shuttle door, interested. All he could do was wait.
"You're right. This isn't going to be finished without some bloodshed by the Alliance. Congratulations. You managed to end it this way. We said that if you went without arguing, nobody would be hurt, but you didn't keep your side of the bargain." The Macronesian commander grabbed a weapon from the soldier on his right and pointed it at the door of the shuttle.
"DOWN!" Bridger yelled in panic.
Hudson jumped into the shuttle, Lucas directly behind him, then two shots sounded, one after the other. Hudson closed the door immediately. "Get us out of here right away, Henderson," yelled Hudson to the cockpit as he entered it. "Set a course for New Cape Quest and give it everything this thing's got."
Captain Bridger was staring speechless at Lucas' torso. Tony Piccolo, who had come on board the shuttle together with Commander Ford and Tim O'Neill, and had only heard, not seen, what had happened outside, knelt down on the floor. "That's..." he wasn't able to say anything else.
"Lucas..." Bridger knelt down as well and took Lucas' head into his lap. His voice failed.
"Was he hit?" asked Hudson, who was coming back out of the cockpit. "What the Hell?"
The young science officer had been shot, but there was no blood flowing from his wound. A blue liquid was spreading across his white t-shirt. Lucas himself looked like he was feeling no pain. It seemed as if he was simply lying there on the floor, watching clouds pass by.
The shuttle was under fire. Everybody had to grab on to something to stop themselves falling down. But everyone was too bewildered by the strange sight of their fallen comrade to worry about their own safety.
Once the immediate danger was over, Nathan Bridger carefully touched the blue liquid. "It's ice cold!"
"And it doesn't smell good," Tony wrinkled his nose.
"Lucas?" Bridger looked into his young friend's blue eyes, but they weren't responding any more.
"What's happening?" Commander Ford carefully took a few steps back. Lucas began flickering and shimmering violently.
"I have no idea. I've never seen anything like this." Bridger said weakly. There was a whizzing noise and Lucas' image faded away, as if somebody had pulled out the plug. What was left in his place was a riddle for all of them.
"A... robot?" Tony said incredulously.
"Hey, guys, what happened down there? Is somebody hurt? I could do with some help, if you haven't noticed the impacts. We're under fire again," yelled Henderson.
Commander Ford relaxed from his rigid posture. Slowy he skirted the machine in human form which still lay on the floor, and went to the cockpit.
"That's no robot, it's an android," Bridger corrected Piccolo.
"Well that makes sense. Wolenczak was simply too perfect to be human." Hudson had regained his sense of sarcasm.
"No, Lucas is a human being. At least, the one I met on seaQuest after getting command of it is," said Bridger.
"We all thought that, but he isn't." Tony tapped gently on the metal fingers. They were still moving.
"I have a bad feeling about this," said O'Neill, who had had to sit down with all the excitement. "Could the real one, I mean our one, still be there?"
"Be more specific, Lieutenant!" ordered Hudson impatiently.
"Hyperion," answered O'Neill in a low voice.
Bridger followed Piccolo's example and investigated the mechanical body. "That's impossible. Scott would never have allowed one of us to stay behind. And this doesn't look like it's like it's from another planet."
"Of course, Nathan. You're an expert in extraterrestrial technology." Captain Hudson knelt down beside him.
"I didn't say that. But I think it's unlikely. Why would anyone want Lucas...." Hudson interrupted: "He is of above-average intelligence. A real treat for someone who might need that level of skill. He was constantly pushing the limits. You don't really believe that an alien wouldn't take advantage of such an opportunity? "
Bridger shook his head. "This is absurd."
"Where is the real Wolenczak? Tell me!" urged Captain Hudson.
Nathan didn't answer. He was inwardly furious. But Oliver was right. Where was the real Lucas, if he wasn't on board seaQuest? More importantly, when had he been lost and this machine appeared in his place?
"We made it! In three hours we should arrive at New Cape Quest harbour," said Ford as he came back from the cockpit.
"Well, perhaps they'll know what we should do." Hudson stood up. "Until then we'll leave it alone." Bridger glanced at Hudson with a pained expression before he turned to stare at the android again. He still held the head which a few minutes ago had been that of his young friend.
To be continued...
But I don't know when. I started the translation of the second chapter yesterday. Hope I finish it soon.
