Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter.
Don't panic if one of the minor characters looks a bit like a Mary Sue for a few lines – keep reading and you'll see that she's not – I promise.
Chapter 2.
'He doesn't look entirely enthusiastic,' Ford commentated as they piloted the launch away from the boat.
The other men turned to look at the teenager. He had his earphones on, his eyes closed and he'd wedged himself into a corner. As they set the course to the Dome Lucas appeared to have fallen asleep.
'He looks exhausted,' Tim said.
'That's what happens if you spend all your time playing computer games on the boats main computer,' Ford told him.
'Playing video games,' Tim nodded, 'and working on the vo-corder, and helping Dr. Westphalen and the rest of the science team with their experiments, and fixing the computers and working out ways for the whole system to run more smoothly, and…'
'OK, Tim, we get it, the kid does work hard sometimes.'
Tim sighed to himself. The idea that Lucas "Sometimes" worked hard didn't sit well with him. Tim O'Neill had spent too long in an unappreciated job not to wonder if there wasn't more to it than that. Fixing the computers was like working the comms station: no one really noticed your job unless you weren't doing it. Yes, Lucas could be an idiot sometimes, but he was only fifteen, well, sixteen as of today.
'Enough talk about working hard!' Ben cut in, 'we're hear to enjoy ourselves.'
'You are here to enjoy yourself,' Ford told him, 'I'm here to make sure that Lucas gets back to the ship in one piece.'
'Did Dr. Westphalen tell you that?' Shan laughed.
'Dr. Westphalen, and the Captain, and Commander Hitchcock, and Chief Crocker and…'
'Katie told you that?' Ben asked, 'doesn't she trust me?'
'No, Ben, she knows you too well to do that.'
'Hey!' Ben said, nudging Miguel in the shoulder in mock annoyance, 'I'll have you know that Katie has a very high opinion of me.'
He saw their sceptical looks. 'She wouldn't have married me unless she thought I was pretty damn brilliant.'
'Yes, Ben, but she divorced you when she came to her senses,' Miguel said. Ben laughed good naturedly along with the rest of them.
They were silent for a few moments all enjoying the feeling that was settling over them of being on leave and free to have a bit of fun.
The quiet was broken by Ford, who hadn't relaxed into the feeling the same way the other men had, 'Krieg?'
'Yes, Jonathan?'
Ford knew he would look like an idiot if he protested about the use of his first name, they were on leave, the man could call him whatever he wanted, so he stayed with the thought that had prompted him to speak. 'What exactly do you have planned for this weekend?'
'Fun.'
It seemed like a very ominous word to the others. 'Could you be a little bit more specific?' Ford pressed.
'What, specifically, would you like to know?'
'Lets start with how many laws do you intend to break?'
'None!' Ben protested.
They all looked at him sceptically.
'It just so happens that the Dome is far enough into international waters that no countries laws apply to it. There are no laws to break.'
'That isn't a comforting thought, Krieg,' Ford told him with a dark look.
Ben decided to give the Commander a break. 'I'm not planning anything too wild,' he told them, but their looks showed their disbelief.
'I haven't even booked tickets into the best areas of the dome,' he protested, 'I mean, the kid's just spent the last few months on a UEO sub with no girls his own age. I don't want him to have a heart attack!'
'Ben, details, what have you got planned,' Ford demanded.
'We'll have a few drinks, without letting Lucas have too many, of course, then we'll watch some of the girls dance on tables, eat some illegal food, have a few laughs, nothing that will cause Kristen to scalp anyone.'
'You'd better be right, Krieg, because if she comes after me I will be pointing her firmly in your direction.'
It was a few hours later and they were over half way to the dome. Without explanation Krieg went to the back of the launch and opened up one of the storage compartments. The others, all except Lucas, who was still wedged into his corner of the launch asleep, exchanged wary glances.
The supply officer came back to them a few moments later holding several bottles and a bottle opener. 'It's time to get the party started!' He called into the back of the launch for Lucas to wake up but the headphones appeared to have drowned out the words because the teenager didn't react.
Working on opening one of the bottles Ben nodded to Tim to wake Lucas up. Tim O'Neill wondered how he was always the one sent to wake the boy – it was never a very easy or very agreeable task. He put his hand on his shoulder and shock Lucas gently. Still half asleep Lucas tried to shrug his hand off his shoulder.
'Wake up, Lucas.'
'It's there anyone else on the boat who can fix it?' Lucas asked sleepily, as he yawned and opened his eyes. Looking around he seemed to have trouble remembering where he was, but the details soon came back to him.
'Another all nighter?' Tim asked, as Lucas took his earphones off.
Lucas smiled a little, he knew that Tim was the only one who really guessed how often he did work all the way through the night. That was one of the things about comms officers, it was very difficult to keep things hidden from them. Lucas had answered the messages Tim relayed to him in the middle of the night too wide awake too often. Instead of trying to lie he shrugged, 'I slept some.'
Tim made no comment on just how much he thought that "some" meant. 'Ben's starting the party,' he told him instead and led the way back to the front of the launch.
'And here's the birthday boy!' Ben announced as he saw Lucas come through the hatch that separated the front of the launch from the storage area at the back.
Lucas raised an eyebrow, but accepted the bottle his friend offered him. The liquid inside was purple, Lucas gingerly sniffed the open top as Ben passed the rest of the bottles around the group. Most of them looked suspiciously at the coloured liquids, each one a different shade.
'Do I want to know what is in this?' Shan asked
Ben gave him an innocent look, 'probably not.'
He raised his bottle in the air, 'to Lucas.'
The others raised their bottles too and toasted Lucas. The teenager blushed and raised his bottle in silent response.
He took a swig out of the bottle to cover his embarrassment and then tried not to cough as the rough liquid slid down his throat, the other men caught the checked cough and laughed good naturedly at him. When they lifted their bottles to their own lips they took small careful sips.
The rest if the trip passed quickly as they teased and laughed at each other, even the Commander joining in as the few small sips he had taken from the bottle relaxed his nerves slightly. If the others noticed that Lucas was a little bit quiet they put it down to the boy spending his birthday with men who were all several years older than him.
Soon the dome was visible before them. From the outside it appeared to be nothing more than a black shell on the ocean floor. As they docked and the doors to the launch opened the seaQuest crew blinked at the sight before them. They walked out into a huge circular room. One side of the circle was filled with hatches where launches could dock but the other side was covered with neon lights displays in every colour that could be created. They flashed and flickered all out of time with each other, each one determined to attract customers to the part of the dome they advertised.
Half way across the room there was some sort of battered reception area that you had to pass through before you could enter into the entertainment areas of the dome. Ben hoisted his bag onto his shoulder and led the way across to the desk.
They heard the voice when they were half way there. 'Lucas?'
Lucas looked over his shoulder and saw the woman approaching him.
'This is all I need,' he muttered. As Lucas plastered a pleasantly surprised expression onto his face the other men took in the full picture of the woman who was walking up to them. The dress was the first thing that caught their attention or rather the lack of one – there would have been more material in bathing suit.
At first glance she appeared to be in her teens but as she came closer to them those members of the party who were thinking clearly enough to remember their manners looked up to her eyes and the faint creases at the corners put her in her late thirties or older. They had little chance to take in much beyond the high heels and hour glass figure before she was right in front of them and hugging Lucas.
When she finally released him she held him at arms length for several seconds. 'I haven't seen you in years,' she told him, 'you're all grown up!'
Lucas tried not to blush and hoped that, against all geological probability, the ground really would open up and swallow him.
'How long has it been?' the woman asked him.
'About nine or ten years,' Lucas hazarded.
'So Stanford wasn't the only thing he started early…' Miguel's comment was only just on the edge of hearing, but it did remind Lucas that his friends were still there.
Taking the chance to put some space between himself and the woman Lucas introduced his friends to her. In turn she was introduced to everyone as "Brandi".
'So, Brandi,' Ben cleared his throat, 'how do you know Lucas?'
'Oh, we've known each other for years! That reminds me, I'll have to have words with your father – he should have told me that you were bringing guests with you!'
'Dr. Wolenczak is here?' Ford asked.
'That's right,' Brandi told them cheerfully, 'he arrived this morning.'
'Brandi, we aren't actually here with my father,' Lucas hinted.
'That's even better! It will be a surprise!' the tone of Lucas's voice going completely over her head.
She sounded so happy with the idea that Lucas didn't have the heart to tell her he would much rather his father didn't know they were there. There wouldn't have been much point anyway – the facility wasn't so big that he could hope to hide for the entire weekend without someone telling his father he that they had seen him.
Brandi looped her arm through Lucas's and walked them the rest of the way to reception, once there she left them and walked into the staff area and the offices behind.
'Is there anything you want to tell us, Lucas?' Ben asked, as soon as she was outside hearing distance.
'Not really, Ben,' Lucas leaned tiredly against the reception desk and pushed his fringe out of his eyes hoping, against all his prior knowledge of his friends, that they would drop the subject.
'Oh no, you just can't leave us wondering how you've been coming to this place for years, we want some answers,' Miguel protested.
'My father designed some of the computer programmes they use here, security, things like that. I came with him when he installed it,' Lucas said, as casually as he could.
'It didn't sound like, um, Brandi, had only met you once,' Tim pointed out.
'Yea, well, the system had a few bugs in it, it broke down a lot. I came to help fix them.'
'But, if this was years ago…' Tim let his voice trail off, 'just how old were you when you used to come here?'
'Young enough not to understand that this was one project my mother didn't need to know about,' Lucas said.
'You told your mother?'
'I was about six at the time, Ben,' Lucas pointed out, 'it was just another place with computer programmes in it.'
Brandi prevented any further questions by re-appearing from the offices with brightly coloured plastic wrist bands. 'These will give you access to whatever areas of the dome you want to visit,' she told them, handing the bands to the rest of the crew before slipping one of the bands over Lucas's wrist and fastening it in place herself.
'Gold passes?' Ford queried to Krieg under his breath so Brandi couldn't hear them, 'I thought you said we would be restricted to certain areas of the dome?'
'I think we've been upgraded,' Krieg said. He saw the Commanders concerned expression and added, 'I don't think we need to worry about Lucas being too young anymore, do we?'
Ford wasn't sure he was comfortable with the way this leave was going. He had the distinct feeling that it wouldn't matter how many times Lucas had visited the place – if anything happened he would still be the one explaining it to the Captain.
Tim was more worried about the news that Lucas's father was there. He could remember putting a call through to Dr. Wolenczak for the Captain and being told that the good doctor was too busy working to visit his son on his birthday. All the comms officer could do was hope that Lucas didn't know that the Captain had tried to arrange for him to spend some time with his father or that he had been turned down so his father could visit this place.
The other three weren't quite sure what to think – they were still trying to deal with the fact that they would probably find the Pleasure Dome more shocking than their young friend.
Their rooms had been upgraded too and when Brandi showed them to the door she gave Lucas a peck on the cheek and said she hoped to see them all in the Blue Bar later. Her leaving was the crew's cue to start the interrogation.
They all followed Lucas into his room but before they could ask him anything the teen spoke first. 'Guys, I know you want answers but we are only going to be here for two days. Do you really want to spend your leave asking me questions that could just as easily be answered when we get back to seaQuest?'
This did cause the other men to pause and consider their options.
'Why don't we go down to the bar and have a drink?' Lucas asked, wiping the smudge of lipstick off his check.
Whether it was Lucas's logic or the knowledge that it was almost impossible to pry information out of the teenager once he decided that he wasn't going to talk was uncertain but a few minutes later all the men had dropped their bags in their rooms and were walking towards the bar.
If Lucas seemed to be looking over his shoulder a lot they put it down to the boy staring at the people who were walking past them – mostly women and mostly barely clothed. The Blue Bar was, well, very blue. All the lights were low and tinted blue so the whole room looked like it was made out of twilight. Platforms some three foot high were dotted around the room each one supporting a pole and a girl, each one was lit by more blue lights.
The found an empty table and sat down. A waitress appeared carrying a tray of blue drinks. She one down in front of each of the men. They all looked at Ben and he took his wallet out with a sigh, 'I'll get the first round, shall I?'
But the waitress shook her head and walked away. Ben shrugged and put his wallet back in his pocket. If they didn't want him to pay for the drinks he wasn't going to argue. Ford was suspicious – people didn't just give you free drinks for no reason. He looked to Lucas; as much as Ford would never have admitted it out loud the boy did know more about the place than any of the others.
'It's not a bribe, Commander, Brandi probably ordered them for us,' Lucas said, catching Ford's expression.
Ford didn't see any choice but to accept the drinks since the woman obviously knew Lucas, but he had hoped to find a way to put himself and Lucas, if not the others, on milder or alcohol free drinks for most of the night. As it was he planned to keep the one drink going for most of the night. If he knew the men with him, someone was going to need a clear enough head to explain something to whoever was in charge by the end of the night.
Lucas's seat meant that he had his back to a large part of the room. He sat sideward on the chair, scanning the room and trying to look relaxed. After a while he seemed satisfied that he had seen everyone in the room and he turned his attention back to his friends.
Another round of drinks had arrived and Ben was working hard trying to chat up the waitress who had brought them. The girl, who looked to be in her late teens, smiled at him but didn't say a word.
'Give up it, Ben,' Lucas laughed, 'the waitresses aren't allowed to talk to the customers.'
'Why not?' Miguel, who had also tried to talk to the girl, asked.
'Probably in case they tell you what they think of those old lines you use!' Lucas said. They laughed again, fully relaxing for the first time in months with the help of the second glass of blue liquid.
Ben was in the middle of a story about how the exact same line had worked for him when he was on leave in Sydney four years ago, the others laughing disbelievingly, when another voice interrupted.
'So, this is what the UEO thinks is such a good use of your time, Lucas?'
To be continued…
I hope you like the way this story is heading. I'll update again as soon as I can. Any comments are welcome – please do review.
Cadi.
