Notes: Glimpses is a series of short pieces exploring the complications and struggles that would arise from instantly missing ten years. 2032 never satisfactorily addressed just what it would be like for the crew to come back from Hyperion like that. The stories are not directly related in that they do not build upon each other and can be read in any order but they do belong to the same SeaQuest universe.
Currently there are five stories in the series.
Glimpses of a Brave New World:
Life's Work
Lucas gaped at the vocorder in disbelief. They'd changed it; updated it along with the rest of the boat. There was an updated version of the vocorder that he, Lucas, had had nothing to do with building. That reached him more than anything else he'd seen so far in this crazy messed up world. It didn't matter that they were at war or that he'd been held prisoner. All of those horrible statistics and news stories they'd been flashing at him since he walked into that board room could have been made up. It could have all been a horrible prank. But this couldn't be denied. Someone had taken his design and his research and continued his project without him. It was all true. He really had missed out on ten years of his life.
His mind whimpered softly. Ten years. So much would have changed. He couldn't begin to contemplate the enormity of what this meant for him. He didn't dare try. Lucas wrapped himself in his arms, hugging himself tightly. He closed his eyes blocking out the horrifying sight of the vocorder. An hour ago he would have still said that it was his proudest accomplishment. Now it mocked him. He didn't want to see it anymore. Ten years, it said. Ten years.
"I couldn't believe they bothered either."
Lucas whirled to face the intruder. His mouth moved but no sound would come out.
"The silly things caught on for a brief time about five years ago but there weren't many boats equipped to carry dolphins." The speaker's nose wrinkled. "The navy's no place for marine life." A shrug. "Now you just find a few at aquariums and research facilities. Not that there are many dolphins left. I can't imagine why they thought this one needed to be upgraded."
"I-" Lucas glanced to the vocorder and back. "I-" He swallowed hard. "I'm sorry. Excuse me."
He hurried from the room. He needed to escape. He had to put some space between him and the moonpool, the vocorder, his crumbling dreams. Lucas stopped taking a shuddering breath. He needed a computer. He had to know if it was true. Had it all really been for nothing?
In a daze, Lucas found himself seated at his computer trying to pull up SeaQuest's databases. There was supposed to be open access to all the general files. Lucas frowned. There was open access to the general files from ten years ago but nothing more recent. He leaned forward beginning to break down the layers of encryption. Someone didn't want them to have access to the data from the past ten years. Conspiracy theories flitted across his mind but he pushed them aside with annoyance.
It shouldn't be this hard to break through the encryption he realized with a fluttering in his stomach. Sweat broke out on his brow from the effort of staying focused on his task. He pushed his distant panic down, locking it away. He didn't have time to deal with it or its cause. He broke through with a sigh of relief. See, that wasn't so hard. Only because you wrote most of SeaQuest's computer systems, whispered the doubt that Lucas refused to hear.
He pulled up the directory opening a dozen or so files for his perusal. The first article was about him and the invention of the vocorder. His smiling picture stared at him from the page, looking frightfully young. Lucas felt old. Even though the picture had only been taken a few months after he joined SeaQuest, he had a hard time imagining himself that young and innocent. At the bottom of the page was a small thumbnail of the man who had continued the research. The man reminded him of Bridger somehow and that made him feel a little better about him taking over the project.
The other articles on the vocorder were discouraging. Most of the authors seemed more focused on how the vocorder worked or its vanished inventor than what the vocorder did. Society hadn't blinked at all at the announcement that interspecies communication had been achieved. A few research facilities had been excited but they didn't seem to have produced much in the way of results. From what he could see none of the enthusiasm remained. It was horribly, numbingly true; the world really had forgotten about the vocorder as a passing fad.
Lucas pulled his knees up against his chest and rested his chin on his knees as he read further; this time focusing on the dolphin populations. Dolphins had been on the endangered species list for longer than Lucas had been alive. It had been one of the main reasons he had gotten into the vocorder project. He'd hated the idea of a world without the graceful, mysterious creatures. Naively, he'd thought the vocorder would make a difference but the dolphins were in more danger of extinction than ever. According to these papers, only a quarter of the world's dolphins lived in the wild.
Lucas closed his eyes as a few hot tired tears trickled down his cheeks. It was all useless. None of his research mattered. No one cared that they could sit down and hold a conversation with a dolphin. No one cared that they were killing sentient beings just so they could have a tuna sandwich or another stupid mining facility. Lucas pressed his face into his knees drawing long shuddering breaths. He'd failed. It was all for nothing.
A gentle tap at the glass broke the silence. Lucas looked up. Darwin floated at the glass watching him, and then butted his nose up against the glass again.
Darwin.
Lucas stood, moving to place his hand up against the glass. Darwin nudged at it. Lucas smiled tentatively.
"Hi," he whispered. Darwin gazed back at him, friendship shining in his eyes. Sometimes words weren't necessary for communication. The smile grew stronger.
It wasn't for nothing. It didn't matter what they did or didn't do with his invention. The vocorder gave him his friendship with Darwin. Nothing the scientific community did could take that away. Lucas leaned his forehead against the cool glass, luxuriated in the comfort of not being alone. Darwin was his friend; his vocorder mattered.
