Four

"Course is steady, captain," Officer Chen reported from his post at the helm.

"I'm not reading any unusual communications, sir. Just a fishing trawler, a couple of farming transports--local traffic," Lt. Tim O'Neill reported.

"Keep me informed," Bridger responded, knowing his communications officer was doing the best job he could. "Any news, Chief?" he turned to Chief Manilow Crocker, another of his old friends that he more than accepted on the SeaQuest as her chief security officer. Though he should have retired this Year, Crocker took this chance to be with his first love--the sea. He was perhaps the only member of this crew who knew every sea chantey created by man, and could feel the moods of the ocean simply by smelling the salt air.

"Nothing yet, Cap. I've got my boys on it and if there's anything to find, they'll find it," Crocker answered, his hands clasped behind his back.

Bridger nodded. "I'm sure you'll turn up something." He gave his friend a friendly pat on the shoulder and left the bridge to the command of Jonathan Ford, who was more than willing, but far from taking it for himself.

Once the captain left, Tim turned to Miguel. "What's got the captain on edge?"

Miguel tapped his consol. "You know Sam was beginning to warm up to him, and then this happens."

"I know, but I don't think that's all of it." He and Sam had started a friendship because they were the only two people on board who could speak Gaelic, and because of that, had developed numerous inside jokes. "There's something else about this mission that he's not telling us."

"It's probably something we're not suppose to discuss," Miguel answered, looking back at Tim. "The last thing I need is to be reprimanded for sticking my nose in the UEO's private business." He'd already had that privilege a month ago when Ben had convinced him to use a WSKR as surveillance for yet another get-rich-quick scheme.

"Good point," Tim nodded with forced acceptance and went back to monitoring the communications lanes. He'd go see Sam on his break.

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Somewhere in the bowels of the SeaQuest DSV, a brown haired figure clothed in the uniform of a UEO officer sat scrunched under the same panel that had shocked Lucas the day before. Spirals of curly hair trailed along the side of his face to his chiseled jaw line.

Lt. Hitchcock called to the figure from above. "Try it now."

Ensign Jeffries flipped the switch and that portion of the main computer came back online. "It's working like a charm, Lt," he announced contentedly.

"Good job, Jeffries."

Jeffries scooted out from under the consol. "Not a problem. She'll run as slick as sweat on a doorknob." He closed the panel hatch and wiped his hands on the pant legs of his uniform. Replacing his tools in their proper places in his instrument kit, he left the computer core outlet with a tip of his regulation UEO issue baseball cap. "Ma'am."

Hitchcock shook her head amusingly at the Texan, and went back to the minute work of repairing the neural interface on the VR helm.

Hidden deep in the core panel, shaded by wires and placed within a small cubby space, a round silver object clung to the backside of a motherboard, blinking a single green light in ready for the moment its purpose would be fulfilled.

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A silver streak cut through the sea water like a knife through butter in the spacious confines of the moon pool. The smooth shape of a bottlenose dolphin bobbed its head above the surface enough to take a breath of air, then sunk beneath the water again.

Lucas patted the water with his uninjured hand to call Darwin's attention and was rewarded by a bump from the dolphin's beak. "Hey, buddy." Lucas stroked the smooth rubbery melon. Ever since he had met Darwin, the two had bonded as friends, and it strengthened the more he worked with the vocorder. They were birds of a feather, Lucas would say, left floundering by their families only to be saved by Captain Bridger. Though Lucas' life was rarely in peril, he couldn't see now how being sent to the SeaQuest would indeed save his life. In more ways than one.

"Lucas sad," Darwin's beak moved slightly. The vocorder responded to Darwin's clicks and whistles as it had been programmed to. Other than being beta software, it was doing its job in interpreting dolphin speech to a form understanding of human ears.

"Add that to being a little used and confused, Yeah, Darwin." Lucas always felt he could talk to the dolphin about anything, almost like one would a pet dog or cat. A true and loyal friend.

"Sam sick. Big fire in heart."

Lucas had to think a moment to decode the riddle. [Note to self: update noun syntax. "Yeah, the computer core was hit. Sam was caught in it."

"Sam ok?"

He wasn't sure how to explain the concept of mind/body sharing to a dolphin, so he decided to just leave it. "She's doing better. She's still in a coma, but the doc's going to take good care of her, so don't worry, all right, pal?" A part of him knew the comfort went to Samantha herself, though she hadn't spoken to him since the argument, and her image had disappeared from his sight. She'd been there only in her constant presence, which stayed a slight whisper in a far corner of his mind.

"Swim," the vocorder's tone matched the playful splashing. Lucas gave a small half-grin. Swimming was Darwin's solution to everything.

"Not now, Dar. Maybe later."

"Lucas swim. Sam swim," he insisted.

Lucas arched an eyebrow in question. "Sam's not here. She's in med bay, remember?"

"Sam and Lucas swim," the dolphin insisted. "Darwin see."

Lucas looked closely at the Dolphin's eyes, trying to see how he could know about their situation. "See what, Darwin?"

"Darwin see."

Samantha made Lucas blink as she watched where his eyes remained focused. His train of thought flew around her almost as if she could reach out and grab it. He hadn't bothered to keep it hidden as he had been trying to in the past few hours to give them both a sense of some privacy, but thinking around each other was a challenge just like everything else had been.

In an instant, he saw her beside him, leaning against the moon pool. I think he can sense my presence, Lucas. I wouldn't put it past him. She remembered Malcolm Landsdowne describing marine veterinary medicine as being "about as sophisticated as voodoo," and she'd attributed that to just about anything involving cetaceans.

Lucas could tell she was still pulled back into that far corner of his mind, but the images from her memory came as clear as if they'd been his own. "What-- Sam? You're saying you can sense her?" he repeated Samantha's thought.

"Sam, Lucas. Lucas, Sam. One." Darwin's beak bumped his hand again.

Lucas blinked, then exhaled. How does he do that? Somehow, Darwin had been able to detect Samantha. Maybe it happened through touch, or a sort of extra sensory perception, but it had Lucas stumped. "I don't know how you figured it out, but you're right," Lucas gave in and stroked the dolphin's forehead. If humans could ever fully understand the intricacies of a dolphin's mind, they'd be nothing short of gods. "I'm glad someone understands this."

"Darwin understand."

Lucas splashed water on the dolphin's head with a soft half-grin.

"Sam hear? See? Touch?" Darwin's innate curiosity about anything came through no matter where they were, or what was going on. By nature, dolphins were a curious species, and he was a prime example of the bottlenose sort.

Lucas nodded. "D: All of the above."

"Speak?"

"When she wants to, but she's a little upset with me right now."

"Why?"

"We had an argument."

"Argument?" the dolphin repeated curiously.

Lucas searched for the best way to describe it. "Uhm...a fight; an inside storm; a disagreement. She's not exactly thrilled to be me."

"Sam alive."

Darwin had a point. Sam was forced to realize this and pressed down her anger. Like it or not, Lucas had saved her life, and in not pushing her out of his body into oblivion, he'd reluctantly agreed to maintain her survival, though it meant giving up his own privacy in return. Suddenly, she felt like a parasite, though a humbled one.

Lucas felt her emerge forward again, taking over his speech. "We don't know if it can be fixed, but I am grateful to him."

"Sam swim."

Lucas saw his left hand reach down to untie his black sneakers, but he held it back.

Please?

He glanced up at the image of her looking down at him. For a moment, the two were at a stand still. The tone in her voice wasn't demanding like before; it was an honest request.

Feeling him holding her back, she allowed a private memory to creep into his consciousness. Lucas blinked at the vivid image of Samantha swimming alone in the moon pool with Darwin deep in the late recesses of the night when only a skeleton crew operated the boat for eight hours. He knew from this that she use to swim with the Caicos Key Dolphins as well. It's one of the few things that gives me peace, Lucas.

Taking a deep breath--"I'm gonna regret this,"--he nodded.

In an instant, he felt Samantha's energy surge through his system, and he retreated. He knew that he was allowing her to take complete control of his body, of all its movements, but she had convinced him she deserved at least that much time to be independent. So smooth was the shift in control, so cleanly they swept past each other, that the mergence of their two souls was as intense as a sunburn blasted with icy air. He inhaled, his sharp blue eyes closing. For that moment, he knew her and she knew him. Memories, emotions, experiences, likes and dislikes, all revealed as the shields between them fell. No more than a second later, Lucas found himself standing in what appeared to be a small circular room hued in blue with webs of electricity coursing along the walls. It wasn't real, he realized, but an image created to deal with only being a passenger.

The tingle he'd felt began to fade as he took to recovering from the total switch, which still felt like a calming adrenaline rush. He was still breathing, that was a good sign, but he wasn't breathing. Samantha was. For the first time since the accident, he knew exactly how she'd felt, though to a lesser extent since he didn't have to get use to a new body, just a new personality living with him.

Samantha opened his eyes. "You still with me?"

He felt his mouth form the words, and from his small, imagined prison he spoke, though his lips ignored his commands. Yeah, I'm still here. I haven't gone anywhere. Well,--not really.

Samantha took a testing breath, mostly to get use to being in the foreground again and examined his hands, turning them over and flexing in full control. Content, she slipped off the shoes and socks, and stepped barefoot into the moon pool. The water felt cool and welcoming to her/his skin, and she was more than willing to just let it take her away. She drew in a deep breath.

The shirt, Sam.

She had to force balance to keep from falling in. "What? Oh no, I am not taking my shirt off," she objected, folding his arms. She was already standing waist high in the water.

For one: it's my shirt. And for two: I don't see the problem.

"I'm a woman, Wolenczak," she argued.

Not anymore. He felt his cheeks flush and had to try very hard to keep from laughing. Even though she'd been a man for a day, she still reacted as a woman every time she was reminded of their reality, and he found a wicked humor in that.

"Aisteach," she cursed in Gaelic. Tugging off the blue plaid flannel and black t-shirt, she tossed it by the shoes and unwrapped the bandage around Lucas' right hand. Second degree burns covered most of his hand, and it still caused pain just to clench a fist. She knew the salt water would sting like a cut doused in alcohol, but in weighing the odds, she'd rather take her chances. She crouched slightly for a leap.

Oh, this is going to hurt. The thought had barely left his mind when Samantha dove under the water near Darwin. Quickly after, a searing pain shot through his hand and up his arm in near paralysis. "OW!"

Samantha screamed underwater, but held her breath and his hand, waiting for the endorphins to kick in. When all sense left his hand completely, Samantha surfaced for a breath of air. She felt Darwin bump by her legs and took off after the dolphin, swimming under the surface.

Darwin darted around her in a playful manner as she slipped into her old routine. She twisted through the water like a top. Lucas' body followed her commands easily, though didn't feel quite natural.

Only a few times did Lucas have to remind her to breathe. His lung capacity wasn't as resilient as hers, but she'd also had her own reason for that, and that she kept hidden even now.

She reached out and caught hold of Darwin's dorsal fin as he swam sideways by her and was towed along, the water pulling at his soaked jeans. The moon pool reached a depth of around eight feet toward the outer edge by the hatch leading to the ocean, and Darwin took him all the way to the bottom. Samantha didn't know how, but Darwin knew it was her in control, so he played as he had with her before. Samantha flipped around in the water, kicking to keep up with the dolphin.

For a moment, she hung suspended in the water, watching Darwin swim around her, then swam up for a breath of air. In an act worthy of water ballet, she leaned backwards, dipping beneath the water, spun, and barrel rolled with Darwin. Breaking the surface, she tossed her head, flinging water from Lucas' short blond hair, and chuckled.

She was totally at ease.

That is until she heard someone clapping.

Ben Krieg leaned on the edge of the moon pool, clapping lazily and watching Lucas with amusement.

"Ben!" she hollered with Lucas' voice, and attempted to cover his bare chest in a very angry, shocked, and feminine way. "You little pervert!"

"Is this a new thing?" he gestured at the surroundings, then to Lucas himself. "Cause some of the women may start to get jealous," he joked.

Samantha realized where she was and pealed his arms away from his chest. Despite the fact that all Ben could see was another guy, she couldn't stop the heat rising to his cheeks and blushed, then cleared his throat. "Don't you have somewhere else to be? Like a torpedo tube?"

Ben's response was light, semi-amused laughter. "Look, I could care less what you do in your spare time, twinkle toes, I just wanted to know if we were still on for tomorrow--Ya know, with Murry." There was more behind 'Murry' from the tone of his voice. Very secret agent stuff worthy of 007. "But it seems you're busy now. Maybe I'll just leave you to dance with the mermaids."

Murry? Samantha quickly thought.

One of his contacts, Lucas sighed irritably. He wanted an encoded transmission sent tomorrow afternoon. And no, I don't ask why, I just program it.

Samantha blinked and cleared his throat. Oh lovely. Accessory to a crime. "Yes. I'll see you, uhm, later about Murry," she answered quickly, combing his hair back with his fingers and fighting the urge to cover her/his chest again. Lord knows she didn't need Ben knowing about the little accident.

Ben nodded and gave Lucas a thumbs up. When he started to leave, he turned and slid Lucas a glancing stare just as he saw the boy muttering something to himself. "Something's up, Luke. What's going on lately?"

Don't call me Luke.

"Uhm, what do you mean?" she asked in the most calm voice she could find. She climbed out of the moon pool.

"You know what I mean; you acting funny all of the sudden, and I want to know what's going on." Ben's insistence grew and he walked back toward Lucas, who was busy putting his half soaked shirt back on.

Samantha felt Lucas stir uncomfortably, and it made her skin crawl. "I don't know what you're talking about. I've just had a long couple of days, that's all. Nothing's wrong, so go away already." She messed with Lucas' hair out of habit of fussing with her own.

Ben noticed. "That, for one, is not like you. Are you wimping out on me, Lucas?"

No. Lucas' answer was only heard by Sam.

"Ben, what part of 'Buzz off' don't you understand?" she retorted.

"The 'buzz' part. I could never get it right," he answered sarcastically. "Ya know, I'm not the only one who's noticed your changed behavior."

Ben, turn around and walk away.

"Mollaght!" she cursed between clenched teeth.

"Are you speaking Gaelic?" Both Ben's eyebrows migrated toward his hairline.

In the back of his own mind, Lucas groaned and buried his head in his hands.

Samantha searched for words to answer; any words (Lucas was no help), but all she got was, "I have to go. I have work to do," and brushed passed him, leaving his socks and shoes in a pile on the floor by the pool. His wet feet slapped against the floor grating as he escaped out the main hatch.

Ben Krieg was a smart man. A devious man. He knew how to get the dirt on someone, and he had more ways than one to go about doing it. Lucas had been acting more like a chick at times, sometimes fighting his own movements, correcting his speech frequently, speaking a nearly dead language, had been to the med bay twice today, and didn't object to being called 'Luke.' Something was defiantly amiss.

A crafty grin tugged at the edges of his lips.

He would find out what was going on. Oh yes. He would find out.

tbc