Nine
The next day...
It was hotter than high noon on the summer equinox in the middle of a seven year drought. And Katie had to sit in the middle of it. At least she wasn't alone. "We should have power to the engines soon, captain. Assuming this works at all."
"Jury-rig depends greatly on skill, craftsmanship and a lot of faith, Lt." Captain Bridger climbed down a metal ladder by where she crouched in the cramped corridor--this one not yet affixed with air conditioning. With the maglev down, it was all they had to get around the ship. "With enough of the latter, the other two will fall into place easily."
She gripped a fuse and yanked it out, picking up its replacement. "It's a mess. Some of these conduits have fused together. It's hard to see where one ends and another begins. All goes well, we'll be able to go topside in a couple more hours."
"Good job, Lt. Keep it up," he patted her shoulder in reassurance, and made his way to the bridge.
Tim turned from his station. "Sir, I'm intercepting a signal. It's Corvain. He's ordered two subs to reconvene on a direct course to our location."
Bridger's adrenaline spiked. "How long till they get here?"
"Approximately one hour."
"Keep me informed. Make sure we don't loose that connection."
"Aye, sir," Tim obeyed.
Bridger wiped dirty sweat from his brow. "Commander, I want updates of our progress every five minutes. Get as much power as you can to navigation so we can steer ourselves out of this hole. Use whatever you have to."
"Yes, sir."
Bridger walked to the pool where Darwin had been watching the goings on of the Bridge. He rubbed the dolphin's rubbery melon, then leaned on the edge, feeling resolution slip away. He sighed lightly. "Damn." This was his fault, his mess. If he had been more careful, they wouldn't have walked into that trap. As the captain, he was responsible for everyone on board, and he felt that responsibility strongly when any of them were in trouble. He should have seen it coming.
Darwin chirped and whistled at him, and even though the vocorder was still partially inoperable, Bridger knew comfort when he heard it. He knew his dolphin better than any machinery ever could.
Deftly, he turned at the sound of sneakers thumping on deck plating, and forced himself to return to the real world.
"Captain," Lucas ran onto the bridge and stopped to catch his breath.
"Lucas, why didn't you use the PAL?"
"The battery died and I couldn't find a spare." he answered between breaths. "We did it."
"The VRN?"
"Up and running. I realized last night what the problem was, well, aside from some fried circuits. Jeffries took the layers of KL-24p from the wires in order to cause the surge. We've been down there all morning repairing it, so it's isolated from the rest of the ship." He took a breath, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
Bridger nodded, an idea forming in his brain. "We may need it. Ortiz."
"Sir?"
"Do we have weapons?"
"Just came online, sir."
"Good. Keep sensors on those subs and tell me if either of them changes course or speed. If they even flinch, I wanna know about it."
"Aye sir."
Bridger turned to Lucas. "Can you wire it into navigation, propulsion and weapons?"
You want him to slave the systems? Samantha's image looked from Lucas to the captain.
She blinked but Lucas spoke. "Uhm, Yeah, I can do that." He's planning something extreme, I know it.
"Get on it."
Lucas waited for an explanation, but from the captain's look, he figured he wasn't going to get one any time soon. "Ok." Lucas turned to go, but held back. Man, he looks like hell. "Are you all right?"
Nathan gave a forced half grin. "I should be asking you that question."
"It's not your fault." Because of Samantha's feminine nature, he put in more soothing emphasis than he intended, and hoped the captain didn't notice.
Nathan faced the young sixteen-Year-old. "Is that Sam talking, or you?"
He'd noticed. "It's me, but she agrees with me. Sir, there's no way you could have known any of this would happen."
"I know."
Lucas faced the captain. "We're not going to quit on you. And I mean the crew this time." He chuckled. "Hell if I'm gonna die at the bottom of the ocean in an oversized tin can," he joked, then turned and ran off the bridge back to D deck.
Nathan watched him go and envied the willful strength of youth. Lucas had taken on a glass-half-full approach and tried his hardest to remain strong in this crisis. He knew the boy had been put through many trials in his short life, and with this on top of being paired with the only other teenager on the boat, Nathan began to wonder who was being the role model for whom.
He smiled.
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"Ok, that should do it." Lucas flipped the switch and the board lit up green. "Yes!" he clapped. "Oh Yeah, I'm good."
You know, talking to yourself is getting a little redundant.
"I can always plea insanity."
Samantha laughed.
Lucas activated the spare PAL on the panel beside him. "We got it, captain."
"Just in time. Company's here." Bridger watched as the onboard sensors showed a hulking dark mass streaming through the water toward them.
"Why did they come back here?" Lucas asked.
"Maybe to finish the job. Get ready. We'll need everything you and Sam have."
"Aye, captain." The comlink beeped again and the transmission ended.
Commander Ford turned to the captain, his eyebrows arching questioningly. "Sir?"
Bridger let out a breath. "It's a long story."
"Can't wait to hear it," Ford answered in interest as he turned his attention back to the screen.
Lucas slipped the VR helm over his head and leaned back in the seat, his hand hovering over the activation button. He heard the captain's voice in his ear piece.
"On my signal, Lucas. No sooner."
"Yes, sir," Lucas replied with forced bravado.
"How are you doing?"
"A little nervous," Lucas answered.
"I'd be worried if you weren't," Bridger said, hoping that would make Lucas, and most likely Samantha, feel somewhat more comfortable with having to pilot the SeaQuest on their own.
Tim's fingers went to his headset. "They'll be here in less than a minute."
"All of their tubes are flooded, sir," Miguel reported.
Bridger turned to Miguel. "All of them?"
"Yes sir. Sir, we only have firing capability for one, maybe two shots."
"I don't want any 'maybes', Lt. I want a confirmation. Can we fire two torpedoes?" Bridger's face had gone ridged, and the adrenaline in his blood began to rush.
Miguel feared the too long hesitation that lingered between the captain's question and his response. "Targeting grids can only contain one. The second has to be manual."
"So we make the first one count," Bridger nodded, mentally placing the pieces of this crippled chess game in his mind, and silently praying they'll only need the one. "Make sure nothing happens to the connection with Lucas. "
Miguel responded strongly and turned back to his consol.
Bridger pressed the com. "Lucas."
"I can hear you," his voice answered.
"We have one torpedo with targeting grids and one blinded. If you get the shot, take it, but make it good."
"Understood, sir," Lucas cut the com and sighed. "Sure. No pressure."
Samantha felt his growing apprehension and bit his lip. You'll do fine, she whispered.
Lucas glanced to where she stood behind him, then back to the control panel. He thought he felt her hand rest on his shoulder in reassurance.
Bridger's voice came clear. "Now."
"Let's do it." Lucas pressed the activation button and immediately jerked back from a sudden sting to his temples as his vision switched from the yellow hued goggles to a tunnel of crystal clarity. The connection propelled him through a short wormhole of colors that whizzed passed him, swirling around him so fast he was feeling the pangs of vertigo. Then suddenly it opened outward like a flower and disappeared.
He looked out through the goggles at the virtual reality created around him, wrapped in awe at the realism. It was different than how Samantha had described it. Instead of being on the bridge, he found himself floating freely in the water. He could move, and breath, yet he found nothing was holding him in place. The sensations were too real to be a vision, and he wondered for a split second if he had been transported outside to the sea, then realized the experience must be unique to each individual connected to the VRN. It struck all five of his senses at once, bringing to mind the dreams of flying he use to have as a kid.
Shifting out of this trance, he concentrated on a matrix of translucent screens around him. The controls surrounded him like a digital glove. Propulsion, navigation, targeting and weapons controls were all laid out before him within easy reach. He felt as if he were in the core itself--a hacker's dream. He studied the controls around him, touching the propulsion screen lightly. It felt smooth as glass, and just as thin as air. The approaching sub was framed by a green box, the distance scrolling off as it counted down.
Hello, Dorothy. Welcome to Oz.
He looked where the voice came from and saw Samantha next to him. He smirked. Nodding, he could only reply, "It's Breathtaking." Reaching out, he touched the glowing box of the approaching sub, affixing it with a red targeting reticule. "Enemy sub targeted, Captain."
"Prepare to fire tube two on my mark," Bridger ordered.
Lucas was about to respond when a rapid series of beeps caught his attention. Looking over his shoulder, he called out just before the main sensor officer reported the same. "Captain, we have another sub." He twisted in the surrealistic water with ease.
"Roger that, Lucas. Get ready to move us as fast as possible," he said, wincing slightly. With only two torpedoes--and one in bad shape--he knew immediately that he had a math problem. "Range on the second sub?" he called out.
"1,600 Meters," Tim informed.
"Lucas, concentrate on the first sub, when it gets into range, full speed ahead. Match bearings and fire. Sam, you keep track of the second sub. The moment it launches anything, inform me and we deal with the problem from there."
"Confirmed, Captain," Lucas said over the comm.
Here we go. The words were a prep for action in herself.
Lucas took a deep breath, clenching his hands into fists, and readied himself. His heart quickened with adrenaline and gave him a thrill of excitement.
They're firing, Samantha announced quickly as she turned her head to Lucas.
"Hard to starboard," Bridger's voice came over the comm. "Lucas, bring us up to speed and open fire on the first sub."
Touching the control, he pressed the speed indicator up to full, and waited, but nothing happened. He swam forward to reach again for the indicator when he immediately felt the once dormant sub lurch to life. I must have to move for the boat to move. Cool, he thought.
He reached out and double tapped the first sub, a glowing green trail shot from his screen at the target. He veered off to the side as the two missiles approached quickly, aimed directly at him. Wide eyed, he swam hard, spinning once. The two torpedoes missed him by a margin, collided, and exploded in a shower of liquid fire. That's when it hit him like a ton of bricks.
He was the ship.
In reality, the only fully functioning weapon the SeaQuest held shot out of the tube through the water. The sub attempted to veer away, but its sluggishness allowed it to narrowly avoid a direct hit. Clouds of explosion erupted from their starboard engines, leaving them dead in the water.
Bridger nearly cheered when he saw the first sub heel under by the impact. Sonar reported sounds of water flooding the rear compartments and that the sub was sinking rapidly.
Samantha glanced at a screen to her left. The second sub is firing two torpedoes. Old fashioned Mark 80's from what the computer is telling me
"Captain, we have two fish in the water, Mark 80's from the look of them," Lucas repeated.
However, when Bridger heard Lucas' report he nearly swore. The Mark 80 was designed to be tough to shake. "Lucas, blow the ballasts and bring us above the temperature barrier," he ordered.
"Sir," Lucas swam up as another sphere of controls encompassed him, "that torpedo will follow us right through."
"Exactly."
Both teenagers exchanged glances. Samantha gave the smallest semblance of a smile.
Lucas grinned as he realized what the captain had planned, and immediately touched the controls to blow the ballast tanks, angling the now rapidly rising sub away. He looked up and saw a red mesh--the temperature barrier--in a quickly approaching grid. The second he passed through it, he heard Samantha report from below him.
Torpedoes lost their acquisition.
Quickly he swiveled in the water and kicked hard away from the mesh. The controls followed. In sync with his movements, the large--yet surprisingly agile sub--turned back around to its new heading, and just in time. Not two seconds passed when the torpedoes burst through where Lucas had been, their primitive onboard sonar searching for their target and--finding it behind them--turned around to reestablish the signal, but lost their target again as Lucas dove the sub back below the barrier. Doing only what they were programmed to do, they plunged after it.
Lucas willed the stressed engines of the SeaQuest to push just a bit faster. In front of him, the second sub grew larger. "Sam where are the torpedoes?" he asked, growing anxious.
200 Meters...and gaining, her voice echoed with rising fear and tension.
Lucas looked ahead, and although he sounded calm, he felt the exact opposite. "Oh, the enemy sub is a lot closer than that."
It's what!? she yelled, concentrating on the now large sub ahead of them Lucas, you bonehead, your gonna hit that thing!
"Not today, Sam!" he yelled back, and made a quick dip, bringing the SeaQuest's nose beneath the enemy sub, wincing as he heard a few scrapes and clangs as he traded SeaQuest's paint with the other sub. He felt the thing skid along his back and grit his teeth. Opening the comlink with the other sub, he reported with a smart-alec grin, "Hey buddy, I think you lost these."
Yes!
The SeaQuest speed away as the two torpedoes slammed into the sub, cutting it in half.
The bridge erupted in cheers as the onboard sensors showed the second sub's destruction. Pockets of air spewed in great bubbles from the sub that billowed toward the surface far above.
Slowing the SeaQuest down to a slow crawl and leveling it back out, Lucas stopped and took a quick second to close his eyes and pat himself on the back. The back of his flannel shirt had a rip in it. "Ah, great," he cursed.
Not bad flying, Wolenczak, Samantha said, and turned back to her air consol. So, uh, tell me, what do you plan to do about him?
Snapping his eyes open he looked in horror as the first sub rose back up out of the depths to eye level. The VR system showed heavy damage, but also that one torpedo tube was still open.
"Captain..."
A bright stream of red light cut through the water like butter, aiming directly for the bow of the ship--directly toward Lucas' head.
"Brace for impact!" Bridger yelled. Everyone grabbed hold of something bolted down. Most just clung to their stations.
In a moment of panic, Lucas swam up as fast as he could, willing the ship to follow his movements. He felt something burn past his foot and spun quickly, but the torpedo had already turned and was racing toward him again. Lucas had enough time to shut his eyes before it slammed into him--the underbelly of the SeaQuest. He lurched back and rolled in the water, feeling as if he were on fire.
Outside the VR system, Lucas doubled over in pain.
Lucas! Samantha swam up to him. Lucas, are you all right?
He fought for breath, and thought he saw blood in the virtual world. Protectively, he wrapped his arm over his stomach.
"I'm ok. I'm fine," he gasped, but his middle hurt like hell. He had no idea he would be this connected with the computer that he would feel whatever the ship experienced. He gathered his courage. "Thank god for armor. The targeting systems--Sam, get the manual controls and target the sub. We'll only get one shot at this."
Samantha looked worriedly at him a moment, not wanting to leave him, but knew this was the VR--all in his mind.
"I'll be fine. Go."
She set her jaw and nodded, turning away. Manual controls online. Activating sensor grid. Her fingers flew over the wispy air controls. A green grid appeared before her with the enemy sub outlined in orange. She reached out to grip the controls to zero in on it, but saw Lucas' hand instead.
In reality, Lucas' hand extended out, mimicking her motions. His palms began to sweat. They had traded places.
Lucas' watched as she gripped the controls, following the sub until the reticule had locked on, blinking in ready. He felt a sense of reassurance and guiltless support from her, and his resolve tightened.
"Target locked on."
Bridger glared at the sub's image on the main screen, his jaw tight. "Fire."
He felt a pulse as the second torpedo sped through the water toward its target.
Both teenagers watched eagerly for impact, when at once an alarm sounded from the consol and the torpedo dropped off onto another course. "It's lost the target." Lucas swam up to the consol and peered intently at it as he worked the controls feverishly, his hands shifting quickly from one to another. "Reestablishing the connection." Two more reticules appeared, both settling over the primary one as his fingers flew over the controls, rerouting power to the manual systems. In seconds, both lit up green. "Target reestablished!"
Samantha bit his lip.
The operator of the enemy sub used his stolen VRN system in an attempt to avoid the weapon, but the vessel was too old to contend with his quick commands. The operator screamed as a bright streak of green light sped toward him.
In a plume of fire, the torpedo ripped through the sub's hull like a dagger, cutting a gash large enough to expose the innards of the ship, while decompression made quick work of the rest. Reverberations of the explosion resounded through the water.
"Yeah! Woohoo!" Lucas threw off the goggles, cheering. "We did it!" he leapt up and hugged an equally exuberant image of Samantha. Part of him was glad no one was in the room.
Immediately, the SeaQuest crew erupted into a roar of applause. People patted each other on the back, and some threw their arms into the air, while others just clapped hard; all thankful they had survived.
"Great job, kid," Bridger happily spoke into the comm.
Samantha would have kissed him if she could, she was so happy. "Thank you, Captain."
Lucas took a deep breath, suddenly remembering the blast the ship took and quickly lifted his shirt to check his stomach, but saw no wounds. He heaved a sigh of relief. "Wow..." He flopped back into the chair and glanced to Samantha. "Why do you get the easy one?"
She could only chuckle.
No one on the bridge heard the booted footsteps approaching a joyful Nathan.
"Captain, we have a problem," Dr. Levin stood with a heavy leather bound book in his arms. Yellow post-it notes marked numerous places in the pages.
"What is it?" Bridger turned to him, regaining his composer.
Levin pulled him even further away to talk privately. "We need to separate them soon or they'll merge. It might even be too late."
"Merge? What do you mean?"
"A person's identity--their personality--is what defines them as being an individual. Samantha and Lucas have been sharing the same body for a week. If they remain trapped together for much longer, they may become too integrated into one another to separate without being harmed."
All exuberance left Nathan and his color paled. "You mean..."
"There's a chance we'll loose one, if not them both."
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Lucas paced the captain's quarters running his hands through his hair, more than a little agitated. "What do you mean no one on this ship can do anything? What about Dr. Levin? Isn't his specialty the paranormal? He has to know something."
A moment ago, he was the happiest person on earth, but as of fifteen seconds ago, nearly every piece of joy he'd felt evaporated like steam from boiling water. He felt the weight of weariness press on him as soon as he'd been told the news.
Bridger and Westphalen both watched him pace back and forth, each wondering in their own way what to do, and both knowing only one answer.
"Levin does know of one way, Lucas, but it'll mean you'll have to leave the SeaQuest for a while," Westphalen spoke up.
Leave... Lucas finally stopped and gave her a resigned look. "Ok. Ok, so what it is?" he asked
The two adult scientists exchanged glances, then Bridger faced Lucas, speaking as though he were in a briefing. "It's an institute for the study of psychic phenomena."
Lucas couldn't have acted more surprised if he tried. "You're talking about the Chatton Parapsychology Center," he stated as he walked the space between the small chair and coffee table opposite the couch where he saw Samantha perched on the back.
Bridger nodded. "You know about it." Why was he not surprised?
The teenager stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, I know about it. Their security system is almost as advanced as a priority-one UEO file."
Westphalen stared at him, her voice sharpening. "Don't say what I think you're going to say."
You hacked into their system? Samantha smiled. Sweet. Hope it was worth it.
"It was a long time ago," he argued, feeling as if he had to clear this case. "I didn't take anything, I just did it just to see if I could. And...I won fifty bucks from Wolfman."
Kristin's irritability showed as she rolled her eyes and rubbed her hands on her pant legs lightly. "All legality in past aggressions aside, we both think it's the best course of action for you two to take."
Lucas blinked, withdrawing his hands. "You're going to send us to a bunch of spoon-benders?"
"Right now, those 'spoon-benders' may be your only chance," Kristin added.
"Great. So I become a guinea pig for the next 'Wonders in Spyer Science' convention." Lucas flopped down into the chair and leaned against his hand for a moment almost pensively, his eyes down and off at an angle to the distance.
"They have resources and techniques that are more effective than anything we have on the SeaQuest." Nathan approached Lucas calmly and rested a hand against the back of the chair in which Lucas sat.
"Do you wanna talk to Sam?" Lucas breathed.
Nathan nodded. "Sure."
Samantha glanced up with Lucas' eyes for less than a moment.
"I'm sorry, Kiddo."
She nodded his head, accepting it but keeping his eyes on a ship-in-a-bottle sitting on a table against the far wall. "Sounds like you've figured it out. What could you do?"
"Levin told us what happened in his quarters. You did what you could and you tried, Lucas, that's all that matters," Bridger consoled, taking a seat in front of the dispirited teenager.
"It's Sam," Samantha dropped Lucas' voice to a near whisper. "Lucas is resting."
Bridger patted Lucas' leg, keeping in mind that the one he was addressing was use to being a woman, and use to actions like that. "I wish there was some way to tell which of you was speaking so I wouldn't feel like such an idiot," he tried with a small grin.
Samantha glanced up at Bridger with Lucas' blue eyes and a serious mien. "We're going to be stuck like this forever, aren't we."
"You know that's not true," Westphalen interjected.
"Yes it is," Samantha snapped, sitting up. "The transfer can't happen because my brain's been fried, there's no way to get back except for a bunch of psychics who probably have no idea what to do anyway, so all I have is the rest of my life in the body of someone I've known for only two months with the original owner still occupying it."
"You haven't merged yet," Nathan began, exuding hope in that statement.
"Yet," Samantha allowed. "But we're sharing each other's dreams now, and switching control is becoming easier every day, and when we used the VR--," she stopped. She couldn't tell them how detailed the experience had been. "Tell me that's not a bad sign."
Bridger stood, setting his jaw. "Give it a chance to at least see if it works. If not we'll try again, and again, and if that doesn't work we'll try something else, but I'm not giving up on you, Lucas."
"I'm not Lucas, I'm Sam!" Samantha shot up and slammed Lucas' fist down on the table, rattling the glass set there before the meeting. "Samantha Haley Kinkade, born April 18th, 2000 to a Lawyer and an Egyptologist in San Francisco!" she jabbed a finger at Lucas' chest. "Speak to me like I'm here!" She paused, taking a breath and speaking softer, her--his--voice quivering slightly. "Speak to me like I have an identity."
There was silence for a moment. The thrum of the ship's engines grew to encompass the entire room in a thickened liquid sound.
"You do have an identity, Samantha, and that's what separates you from Lucas," Westphalen broke the uncomfortable edge and stood as well, facing Lucas as he turned away. She could tell that he--or rather Samantha--was trying to hold back emotion because she was biting his lip hard enough to turn it white.
Bridger gently placed his hand on Lucas' shoulder. "Go to the institute. If anything, it might help you learn how to deal with this."
Samantha turned toward Bridger, peering into his eyes, then did something Lucas would have never done--she laid his head against the captain's chest. "I'm afraid. I don't want to die," Lucas' voice trembled as well as his body as the tears she was fighting failed to remain in check. She felt Lucas emerge slowly from the depths of his mind as he came awake, but didn't move. She didn't want to move. She needed understanding and comfort, and the captain had given it to her.
Nathan wrapped his arm around the youth, reminding himself it was Samantha, and rubbed Lucas' back in comfort. "We won't leave you. You can trust us on that, Samantha," he told her softly, reminded of just how much he missed being a father, and as such how much he missed his own son, Robert. Lucas had adopted Bridger as his surrogate father, though both never actually voiced it. And now he felt that--although he held one--he now had two children to guard, two people who turned to him when they could go nowhere else.
Lucas slid back into control and looked up, briefly wondering why he was crying. He pulled away, wiping at the unexpected tears and wrestled with what bits he'd caught of their conversation. "Uhm...," he began
Bridger cocked an eyebrow. "Lucas?" he asked, making sure it was really him.
"Yeah, here. I was just..." Was I asleep? Ah man, I must have zoned. He wiped a tear off his cheek, somewhat confused, "Why am I crying?"
"Samantha got a little emotional." Westphalen moved to stand by the captain. "You don't remember any of what just happened?" she asked curiously, shaking her head slightly with worry.
Lucas frantically searched his memory, finding bits and pieces of the conversation that--when put together--made absolutely no sense. "Er...some." He sighed in irritation. "She does this to me sometimes--messes with my emotions. When I feel her getting oversensitive, I sit back and ride it out. It's kinda what I use to do with my mom when she'd rant to my dad."
Bridger felt now he was on safer ground. "We heard what Samantha thought, but what about you?"
"What, the institute? If it's the last chance we have, then I'm game. Just tell me what to do," Lucas stated assuredly, feeling the familiar tingle that was Samantha solidify into an image only he could see.
She stood beside him, wiping at her eyes. Sorry. I'm with you. Really, I am, Luke, she turned away and looked out the windows, arms folded across her chest. It surprised her a little that he hadn't objected to being called Luke.
"She agrees," Lucas relayed, then looked after her, ignoring the others in the room for a brief moment, and--to them--looked to be talking to thin air. "Ok, but you didn't have to cry about it."
I know, but I think I needed it, her image turned to him. Or rather, you needed it. We've been through hell, Lucas. A few tears never hurt anyone.
"Maybe in private."
Samantha pasted on a half grin, determined to bring herself out of this sudden dejected hole she'd dug in the last few minutes. Come on. Don't tell me you don't feel like someone just took an anvil off your shoulders.
Lucas had to give her the benefit of the doubt. He did feel better. "All right. Ok."
Bridger simply waited, watching until the teen turned back to them.
Lucas took a deep breath. "When do we leave?"
"In two days."
Lucas glanced at them, scratched the back of his neck in thought, then stuck his hands in his pockets and resigned a shrug of acceptance. "To Oz."
tbc
