Some chapters seem to flow effortlessly and others have to be forcibly removed from my imagination. This one just didn't seem to want to come together because everything seemed either too cheesy or not detailed enough.
Sending the family off to the footy while I had a 500 decibel Linkin Park fix and a huge bowl of ice-cream with chocolate Ice-Magic seemed to finally do the trick. My cat has gone into hiding but I'm sure he'll come back when he's hungry. Given that he's a teenage boy that will probably be in the next ten minutes or so.
Chapter Ten
Bridger stood and watched the image on the viewscreen. His heart pounded in his chest but his face gave no indication that anything was wrong. If he held onto the railing before him a little more tightly than usual nobody seemed to notice. Nothing would be noted in the ship's logs and nobody would question his professionalism but he alone knew just how close he had come to defying Noyce's order. Sending the shuttle on its way had been one of the hardest things he had ever had to do. If the delay in getting Lucas to his father and the antidote meant that … he gripped the railing harder and refused to allow the thought to continue. If he did he feared he might order the helmsman to turn them around and chase after the shuttle.
As Miguel tried to look, without appearing to be looking, he frowned slightly at the captain's face. He turned back to his WSKR display and busied himself with watching the readout.
Captain Bridger had never been the textbook idea of a UEO captain and his senior crew suspected he had earned more than one rebuke from superiors over his personal attachment to his subordinates. It had never made any difference before to how Bridger chose to function in his role but what worried Miguel now was the completely unemotional mask that covered his captain's face. Being able to stare down an enemy without flinching was one thing but this was something entirely different.
On the screen the shuttle could be seen pulling away from the seaQuest and Miguel glanced up again as it powered up and headed away. He looked over towards O'Neill and as they made eye contact he smiled briefly. Tim just nodded back at him. No words passed between the two friends but a silent sense of encouragement flowed back and forth anyway.
Miguel was shaken out of his reverie as he heard the captain speaking.
"Commander, what's our ETA at Longman?"
Ford stepped up beside his captain. "Just under an hour, Sir."
"Any further updates from the facility?"
"They've managed to seal off the lower levels and evacuate all personnel and guests out of the affected areas. It seems they got onto it fairly quickly, as soon as they knew there was a problem with the aquatubes."
Bridger nodded. "Knowing that nineteen other underwater facilities have suffered aquatube failure would encourage anybody to act quickly." He sighed as he mentally recounted how many people had already died. Not to mention the number of businesses and research facilities that were now either damaged or beyond repair.
The admiral rubbed a hand through his thinning hair as he listened to the report. "So basically we have made no progress?"
The agent on the other end of the vidscreen nodded at him. "Yes, Sir. I'm afraid that Perez needs a psych, not an interrogator. I've had people turn on an act before but this guy deserves an Academy Award if he's faking it."
Noyce stood up and walked around the desk towards the screen. "OK. Tell me what you have so far."
"Nothing we didn't already know. He clearly blames Wolenczak for all he's lost. I don't think he had any problem with the idea of revenge. He feels quite justified in what he's done."
"So he's not going to give us any clues on the toxin or antidote?" Noyce glanced back up at the screen. Something kept niggling at his thoughts but he couldn't quite decide what it was.
"No, Sir. He feels that the doctor had no right to take an innocent person's life and this is just an eye for an eye."
The admiral suddenly realised what was bugging him. "That's it! That's the angle you need to keep working!"
"Sir?"
"The whole idea of an innocent life. Perez has always claimed Doctor Wolenczak took an innocent life but he is doing exactly the same thing. You need to keep working at that and maybe you might find the chink in his armour. Keep reminding him that an innocent sixteen year old is paying the price here for something that happened before he was born."
"I have been, Sir but he doesn't seem to care. The doctor said he had also been poisoned. Perez went after them both."
"And gave Lawrence the choice of saving his son or himself. In his mind Perez believes Lawrence will save himself just like when the accident at 214 occurred. You have to keep reminding Perez that Lucas is just as innocent in all this as Marta was back then. Work on his sense of justice. You have to convince him to help Lucas, by telling him that Lawrence already took the antidote. Play into his beliefs. Either way we need that antidote for one of them and we have no way to know how long we have left. The seaQuest medical staff are working on the blood work they have but aren't having any success so far. We need answers from Perez and we know he won't give us help for Lawrence but we have to keep reminding him of Lucas."
"Yes Sir."
Noyce watched as the UEO symbol filled the large screen and he let out a long sigh. He debated calling the seaQuest again but realised he really didn't feel like facing Nathan Bridger until he had some better news. At least holding out some hope rather than the current stalemate. He had hoped that sending a special-ops team after Perez would yield better results but interrogation apparently didn't seem to work so well on the criminally insane.
Agent Morton paced back and forth across the small kitchen. The man seated in front of him seemed to shrink back into himself. The earlier display of aggression seemed to have dried up and all that was left was the shell of a man. Wary eyes darted around the room but other than that there was no sign of emotion.
"I've just been on the vidlink with Admiral Noyce. It seems you were right about Wolenczak. He took the antidote for himself." Morton leaned on the doorframe in an apparent posture of defeat.
The eyes followed his movement but there was still no response.
He turned back to Perez and leaned down into his face. "What kind of man allows his own son to die?" He straightened up and turned away again, waiting to see if he could provoke an answer.
Nothing.
"Doctor we need your help. A young man is dying from the poison you sent him and we have no antidote for him."
Nothing.
This wasn't going according to any kind of script that any of the team had come across before. Usually interrogations went in fairly standard and predictable patterns once they found the subject's weak point but this was just bizarre. Threats were totally useless against someone who felt they had nothing to lose. Any sort of moral compass seemed to have gone adrift so appealing to a sense of right and wrong wasn't making any difference. Inflicting pain was the last resort the admiral had authorised. As the agent turned back to Perez he was stunned to see the man grinning at him.
"We've been in lock-down Captain since one of our maintenance people discovered the first micro-fractures."
Bridger nodded at the man on the screen. "How have you managed to keep people from leaving? And panicking?"
"We told them it was a possible bio-security issue that wasn't life-threatening but needed to be contained and we are doing a thorough sweep of the facility before anyone is cleared to leave."
"Any objections?"
"Several from a group of businessmen who claimed we were going to bankrupt them if they couldn't leave! Another from a man who told us his life wouldn't be worth living if his wife found out he was here. Something to do with a certain redhead."
Bridger smiled slightly but suddenly turned serious again. "Has there been any further flooding?"
"Nothing more than what we first reported. We've been on alert for weeks now and the aquatubes have been inspected on an hourly basis. At first we didn't know if it was a design flaw but once it became clear the accidents were the work of saboteurs then we went on high alert. Security has been tripled around here and the first micro-fractures were reported within minutes of appearing. The person who found them managed to clear the maintenance tunnel before it collapsed and she sealed the area before any further damage could be done. We evacuated all the lower levels and began sending in maintenance crews."
"Have you found any sign of how the damage was done?"
"Well, actually we found something strange on several levels. There is a residue of an unknown substance on different areas of various tubes. We've taken samples and cleaned it off but it was also found around the area where the first tube failed."
"Do you have any ideas on what it is?"
"No, Captain. We were hoping you could help us identify it."
"Well we will be there in less than fifteen minutes so I'll assign a team to it as soon as we arrive. In the meantime I want you to send us your staff and guest list so we can start running background checks. You got your facility into lockdown so quickly that there's a good chance whoever did this may still be there. We'll also need names of anybody who has left there in the last week."
"I'll have someone get onto it immediately."
It was eerily quiet in the shuttle as the only sound came from the unsteady beep of a monitor. Ben cast an eye over the instrument panel before turning in his seat. Again.
Crocker nodded towards the back of the shuttle. "Go. I think I still remember how to pilot one of these things."
Ben smiled ruefully at him as he climbed out of his seat. "Thanks, Chief."
Kristin glanced up as he approached but there was nothing encouraging in her face.
"How's he doing?"
"No change. He hasn't woken since we left the seaQuest."
Ben reached out a hand and pushed a stray hair off Lucas' face. "Well I promised the Captain I'd bring you back so you can't make a liar out of me."
Lawrence tentatively rubbed a hand along his jawline. The earlier tingling in his face had now turned to numbness. He prodded at the side of his face but his skin felt as though he had just come from the dentist. He pushed at the inside of his cheek with his tongue but it too felt as though he had been given a shot of anaesthetic.
He rubbed his hand further up his face and began circling his temple. The headache had come out of nowhere and he rubbed at his eyes as specks of light danced across the floor in front of him. He tried to call out to one of the crew in the front of the shuttle but for some reason his mouth just wouldn't form the words. As he looked up he was frightened to see the space directly in front of him seemed to disappear into a dark blob. His peripheral vision still seemed to work but the image directly ahead was blanked out.
He vaguely heard a noise beside him but never saw the officer heading towards him as he pitched forward onto the floor.
Morton stared at Perez as the man began to laugh.
"He needs a psych all right!"
"I knew it! I knew he'd look after himself first!" Perez stopped laughing for a moment but quickly began again. There was no humour in it though and Morton found it slightly unsettling. He stepped up closer to Perez and waited for the laughter to subside.
"So what about Lucas? They don't have any antidote for him. Are you going to just let him die?"
Perez stared back at him, pursing his lips as though he was thinking it over.
"He isn't going to die. But Lawrence is!"
"What?"
"Lawrence could always be counted on to do whatever was best for Lawrence. Only this time his selfishness will be his undoing."
Morton glanced at the two agents across the room and could see that it wasn't making any sense to them either.
Perez started to laugh again. "I knew Lawrence better than anyone. He fooled many people over the years that he was a changed man but I knew. I knew! By choosing to save himself over his son he sealed his own fate. That vial didn't contain any kind of antidote."
Morton stared back at him as he finally began to understand what was unfolding. "It contained the poison didn't it?"
"Well industrial strength cleaner actually, but it doesn't react well with human body chemistry." The look that spread across Perez' face was chilling.
"So why claim you had sent an antidote to save Lucas when you were really planning to kill him?"
"Either way, Lawrence pays. If he gave the antidote to his son he would be responsible for his death. Imagine living with that for the rest of your life. But even better, he did what I thought he would and took it himself. Selfish to the end. So now he can die an agonising death … just like Marta." His voice trailed away as his eyes seemed to lose focus.
Morton grabbed the nearest agent and whispered an urgent directive to get the new information back to Admiral Noyce. They had to stop anybody administering the "antidote".
"Captain, we've got an incoming call from the shuttle carrying Doctor Wolenczak."
"Put it through, Mr O'Neill."
"Captain, this is Lieutenant Markham." Bridger scanned the face on the screen. The young man had a military bearing about him but there was something in his eyes.
"I'm afraid I have some bad news, Sir."
"What's wrong, Lieutenant?"
"Captain … Doctor Wolenczak is dead. We tried CPR but there was nothing we could do. I'm sorry, Sir."
Bridger drew in a sharp breath and leaned forward on the railing in front of him. "Do you still have the antidote with you?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Then you still need to rendezvous with our shuttle as planned. Maybe there's still time for Lucas. We'll notify our people of what's happened.
"Aye, Sir. We are less than thirty minutes out."
"Understood, Lieutenant. seaQuest out."
Ford watched as the captain seemed to sag against the railing before pulling himself back up. He struggled to find something helpful to say. If Lawrence was poisoned after Lucas then there was clearly very little time left. He didn't know if half an hour would push the limit.
"Captain, Lucas is young and healthy. They will get there in time."
"Thankyou, Jonathan. Contact the shuttle and put it through to the Wardroom."
He turned and walked off the bridge before anybody could say anything else.
OMG – I killed Lawrence! I wasn't sure if I was going to right up until I wrote it!