Alternative End To "Bad Water"
By Kiddo
Disclaimer:
I don't have any rights to the TV show "seaQuest DSV" or its characters. Additionally, I am not making any money by writing this.
A "Thank you" goes to Jackie for beta –reading.
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A short while later, Captain Bridger, Commander Ford, Dr. Westphalen, Lt. Krieg, and Lucas Wolenczak were sitting around a round table in the Mess Hall.
Maggie, the cook, came over carrying a tray with 5 cups on it. She set down a cup of coffee in front of the captain; the other four all got big cups of hot chocolate with whipped cream. The MR-7 crew looked up in surprise.
Maggie smiled warmly. "It's good for the soul!" Then she tucked the tray under her arm, ruffled Lucas's hair, and disappeared into the kitchen.
Krieg took a spoon, scooped up some whipped cream, and put it happily in his mouth. "Lucas, you are worth your weight in gold. Your simple presence is enough to get all of us something this delicious." He looked at the others. "I tell ya, without him, we'd all be stuck with coffee or tea."
The others didn't say a word, but they knew that Ben was right. Bridger looked longingly at the others' drinks.
The computer genius shrugged his shoulders and put his cold hands around the cup. "I don't know what cooks always see in me." He also knew that Krieg was right, it had always been this way. Even in the school dining hall he had also always gotten the biggest dessert.
The supply officer grinned. "You are blond, you have big blue eyes, and you could also do with having more meat on your bones. That pretty much explains it."
The others followed the conversation with amusement. Who knew where this would go?
Lucas raised his eyebrows critically. "How does that explain it?"
Krieg rolled his eyes. "Oh don't tell me that every time you look in the mirror you are totally dissatisfied with what you see."
"Well..."
"Ha! Women love cute little guys like you. You are exactly the kind of guy who is always on the cover of some teeny-bopper magazine. And with your innocent looks I'm sure you tend to bring out the motherly feelings in a lot of women. And all the female cooks in the world have the urge to fatten you up. You just have to love somebody like you."
The red-haired doctor held her cup up to take a sip but also to hide behind it a bit. The morale officer had hit the nail on the head. Lucas evoked the motherly feelings in her whenever she looked at him. And if you also knew his background, the feelings increased.
Kristen didn't know anybody that didn't like the teenager. He got along with everybody on board, no matter if they were scientist or military. The boy had befriended the whole senior crew. Ben thought of him as some kind of little brother, and the captain had fatherly feelings for him. She knew this for sure because Bridger had talked with her about it.
Lucas felt akward being the topic of conversation and tried to change the subject with a little joke. "Could we talk about something else now?" He looked openly at Krieg. "I wouldn't want you to get an inferiority complex because of me."
For a brief moment, the moral officer was speechless. Then, he just grinned and for once, kept his thoughts to himself.
Dr. Westphalen immediately jumped to change the subject. "What name have they given the hurricane?" she now asked the captain.
"Hurricane Sheila," said Nathan.
"Sheila," said Ben thoughtfully. "That's fitting, I once had a girlfriend with that name. When she got mad, you really had to watch out."
Ford casually shook his head and muttered, "Why am I not surprised?" Then he took a sip of his hot chocolate.
Lucas looked questioningly at Bridger. He wasn't keen on a story about one of Ben's ex-girlfriends, he'd heard them often enough. "How bad was the lightning bolt that hit the seaQuest?"
"Very bad. We really were lucky that only a few people were hurt. It could have easily been much worse." He paused briefly and sighed. "The seaQuest, on the other hand... A few systems are failing or are totally gone. It will take some time to get everything working again." The questioning looks on the others' faces told him that they wanted a bit more of information. "To bring the bridge systems back online again, we brought one of the Whisker's, Junior, on the bridge and tapped into the power."
Ford nodded in understanding. "Good idea."
"Anyway, all available crew members are working on the repairs so that we will be fully operational as soon as possible." The captain looked pitifully at Lucas. "Nothing really happened to the bridge computers, but I'm afraid that all the other computers will have to be re-programmed, unless they weren't fried." Nathan prepared himself for an outburst from the teenager. After all, the blond boy had been giving the UEO an earful about the fact that not only the bridge computers and the main computer had to be protected for catastrophes like this, but Lucas's suggestion kept getting turned down.
To everyone's surprise, Lucas just nodded. "Oh, it's probably not as bas as it seems."
Krieg waved his hand twice in front of the teen's eyes. "Hello? Earth to Lucas! It's not as bad as it seems?"
The computer genius smiled. "I wrote a protection program and installed it on every previously unprotected computer. I just need to reboot the computers and input a password, that's all."
Bridger didn't know what to say. Should he be happy about this, or should he lecture the teenager because he had done this without permission? "Lucas, you know you shouldn't do things like this..."
The teenager rolled his eyes as only a person his age could. "I'm sorry, Captain, but I just had to do something. It's not my fault that the UEO guys can't see how important this is. I had to take action."
The captain nodded. "It's okay, I can understand why you did it."
Dr. Westphalen observed the teenager inconspicuously from time to time. She was worried about him. His lips still had a slight blue tinge that just wouldn't disappear. The boy really was far too thin. An extra layer of fat could have protected him against the rain and cold wind. She really had to keep an eye on him.
Then the red-haired doctor turned to the captain. "Did you know that two of your senior officers have no knowledge of seaman's knots?"
Bridger nodded. "Yeah, I know that a lot of young submariners are not able to tie knots. It isn't taught at the academy anymore. But when you ask an old warhorse like Crocker or me, you will see that we know every knot."
Kristen nodded. She believed that without question. "That's really sad. But why isn't it taught anymore?"
"Because some people are of the opinion that seaman's knots are not needed on modern submarines, and therefore, valuable lesson time shouldn't be wasted."
The doctor looked questioningly at the captain. "Well, we certainly needed them today."
Bridger had expected something like that, otherwise the doctor would have never brought up the topic of knots. He looked encouragingly at her. "What did you need the knots for?"
"We tied ourselves to the rubber dinghy with ropes. The waves were quite big, and we wanted to stay on the safe side," she explained.
Krieg confirmed her statement with a nod. "It was actually really, really helpful. Otherwise, the commander would be fish-food now."
The captain looked at Jonathan Ford with interest. "I'm all ears."
"Oh, there was a little situation where I briefly went overboard."
The supply officer nodded. "Yup, Ford was overboard." Then he grinned. "Wow, that even rhymed."
The commander shot him a dark look. "Funny, very funny. You've just been dying to say that this whole time."
Ben smiled and looked at his watch. It was already 1:30 a.m. He downed the last of his drink. "If you'll excuse me, my bed is calling me, or I might just start falling asleep here."
Lucas grinned wickedly. "I believe that."
The supply officer pointed his index finger at the teenager reproachfully. "Hey! Have you never heard of treating your elders with respect?"
The teenager was still smiling. "Only if they've really earned the respect. And besides, you've already demonstrated that you can sleep during any situation life throws at you."
Since the captain hadn't been with them, he didn't really understand that comment. "Did I miss something?"
Ford shook his head. "No, just that the lieutenant was the only one who managed to sleep in the rubber dinghy."
"I have healthy sleep habits. You are all just jealous." And with that, he stood up and left the Mess Hall.
It didn't take long for the others to do the same.
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to be continued ...