My Photonic Friend
By
James Doyle
Chapter Ten
Jackson and McGee materialized in mid-air near the stern of the ship, which rudely rose to meet them as the ship rose with the waves.
"McGee?" croaked Jackson, still waiting for his cheekbone to cease throbbing before disengaging it from the deck. "You okay?"
"Yeah," croaked McGee in reply. "I think so."
The two men rose to a crouching position. Each then stuck a hand down his respective pants and fumbled around a bit.
"All there; all mine," reported McGee.
"Same here," replied Jackson.
The two men quickly armed themselves and took cover as they heard two sentries approaching them. Not expecting any trouble, the sentries made a cursory examination, then left. McGee scrambled toward a nearby hatch as Jackson took position, ready to lay down cover fire. On McGee's signal, Jackson also scrambled for the hatch.
Together, they made their way down the stairs quietly, and quickly took cover in a storage locker.
"You're pretty good at this," whispered McGee.
"Just common sense," answered Jackson. "If you take out a guard and he doesn't report back, they figure something's wrong."
"Good thinking," commended McGee. "Now to find Lilly."
McGee and Jackson began a deck-by-deck sweep. Doing so while avoiding detection took the better part of two hours. Three decks below where they'd started, they found a hatch manning by two heavily-armed guards.
"Think they have Lilly in there?" asked Jackson.
"I think that's a pretty safe bet," replied McGee. "We should wait until their relief comes."
"What for?"
"They look pretty tired, so they're probably close to the end of their shift," explained McGee. "If we take out a couple of fresh guards, there's a good chance they won't be missed for awhile. It'll buy us some time."
"Good plan," approved Jackson.
Surely enough, their replacements arrived about twenty minutes later. As soon as the retiring guards were out of sight, Jackson and McGee swiftly took out their replacements with one phaser shot each. McGee determined that the hatch had a double key-card lock. He and Jackson each inspected the person of one the guards. When they'd found the guards, they positioned their cards for simultaneous entry.
"Ready?" asked McGee.
Jackson nodded.
"Three...two...one...hack!"
The hatch opened, and McGee and Jackson propped the guards up on their chairs before entering. Upon entering, they found Lilly strapped to a hospital bed, with some sort of a band around her forehead, connected by wire to a terminal on the adjacent counter-top.
"Do you think she's okay?" asked Jackson.
McGee took a moment to examine the readout. "Not my field of expertise, but if I'm reading this right, she's only mildly sedated. We should be able to wake her up."
"Lilly?" said Jackson, shaking her gently to rouse her. "It's me."
"Oh, you're a sight for sore eyes!" greeted Lilly as she began to emerge from her stupor.
"This is Special Agent McGee, NCIS," introduced Jackson. "Miley called in a few favors and got him to help us."
"Good to meet you," said Lilly. "Get this thing off my head."
"What is it?" asked McGee as he removed the device.
"Near as I can tell, it's some sort of neurogenic interface," explained Lilly.
"Sounds less painful than torture," commented McGee as he helped Jackson undo the rest of the restraints.
"Yeah, but a lot more effective," noted Lilly. "I don't think they got much out of me, but we can't risk them keeping what they have."
"Way ahead of you," said Jackson, pointing to his backpack. "This baby will get us out of here and blow this tub out of the water."
As soon as her restraints were undone, Lilly sat up, embraced Jackson, and gave him a quick kiss.
"Can you walk?" asked McGee.
"I think so," answered Lilly as the two men helped her to her feet.
Just then, the hatch popped open, and Jackson and McGee quickly fired upon the two men at the door.
"I think our secret's out," noted McGee.
As the three of them made their way to the lower decks, Jackson and McGee fended off attackers coming from both directions.
"How many do you have left?" asked Jackson.
"Three," answered McGee. "You?"
"Two," replied Jackson.
"I've got an idea," said McGee, handing his phaser rifle to Lilly. "Do you think you can handle one of these?"
"Not a problem," assured Lilly, wielding the weapon with finesse. McGee signaled for the two of them to watch astern, while he drew his sidearm and watched forward.
The three of them took out several more men with bullets and phasers before reaching the lowest deck. They found a hiding place amongst the boilers, where Jackson made ready the power pack, placing the converter between Lilly's thighs.
"Now I'm really glad you didn't bring Rico along," snarked Lilly. Jackson threw the switch, and the power pack made a whine that continuously increased in pitch.
"Okay, Doc," said Jackson to himself. "It's up to you, now."
"We have you surrounded," announced one of the men. "Come out and we'll spare your lives."
Jackson and McGee fired upon a few more men who tried to flush them out. They threw their hands up as they ran out of ammo and phaser power. Just as the men came in to take them prisoner, the three of them disappeared in a transporter hue much less dramatic than that which had brought Jackson and McGee there. A few seconds later, the power pack detonated. The shock wave killed several men, and the heat blast killed the rest of the men on that deck. A few minutes later, before anyone could evacuate, the ship sank.
Upon their arrival back in California, Miley ran up to the pad to hug both Lilly and Jackson, and was soon joined by Robbie Ray. They all contemplated for a moment before letting Rico join in.
"Oh my gosh!" cried Lilly, as she ran toward the van. "What about the Doctor?"
"I'm quite alright," assured the Doctor as he appeared on the monitor. "Unfortunately, your kidnappers made off with most of our power reserves. Even with the additional shipment of nuclear batteries, there will be insufficient power to sustain my holo-buffer for the required amount of time."
"Don't worry, Doc," assured Rico. "We'll find another way."
"Excuse me?" interjected McGee. "Would this help?"
Lilly and Rico turned to find McGee holding up a small device about the size of a cell-phone battery.
"Where did you get that?" asked Lilly.
"I found it in the lab," explained McGee. "I didn't know what it was, but I thought it might be useful in case we got into trouble."
"Is that one of those mobile emitters you were talking about?" asked Jackson.
"Exactly," said Lilly. "The data storage module doesn't need any power as long as the emitters are inactive."
"So we can use this to send the Doc back to the future?" asked Robbie Ray.
"Theoretically," added Rico. "But we'd have to read the Doc's program into it using our computer systems. It'll be tricky, and if we screw it up, his program could be irretrievable."
Miley walked over to the van and addressed the Doctor. "So I guess it's up to you, Doc."
The Doctor nodded. "I believe it's worth the risk."
Lilly frowned. "Unfortunately, I'm not all that familiar with twenty-first century computer systems."
"Yeah, this might be a little out of my depth as well," lamented Rico.
"Maybe I can help," volunteered McGee.
Back in Malibu, the three scientists labored for several days. They their knowledge and problem-solving skills to the limits as they worked to create an interface between the emitter and the van's computer systems, and a program to safely move through the computer from the holo-buffer.
They conducted several failed tests that involved transferring several fairly simple holographic programs, having to return to the drawing board several times. Finally, after a number of successful tests, they declared themselves ready to proceed.
"Are you sure you want do this, Doctor?" asked McGee. "Our tests were successful, but the objects we tested are nowhere near as complex as you. There's still no guarantee this will work.
"As I said," reiterated the Doctor. "I believe it's worth the risk. You may proceed."
Even with all of the enhancements and optimizations they'd come up with, the transfer took several days. During that time, the group did their best to go about their business, but found it hard not worry.
"So what's McGee up to?" asked Jackson as he and Lilly walked along the beach.
"He's helping out at the Los Angeles bureau while he's here," informed Lilly.
"Good," approved Jackson. "At least he has something to occupy his mind."
"Yeah," agreed Lilly. "I wish we'd said something to the Doctor before starting the transfer."
"In case he doesn't make it?"
"Yeah," sighed Lilly.
"He did say there was a duplicate of him out there," noted Jackson. "So he won't be completely lost."
"Yeah, but a big part of who he is and what he's become will be lost," argued Lilly."
"I guess I never thought of it that way."
"So, anyway, that's what's eating me," said Lilly. "What about you?"
"I'm keep wondering if walking out on the beach is such a good idea," pondered Jackson. "Or being out in the open at all. There might still be people out there who want to get their hands on you."
"Maybe so," granted Lilly. "But I can't spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder. I have a rough idea of where we have to go and what we have to do in the next fifty years or so. Other than that, I'm just as unsure as anyone else. And I'm okay with that. All I want to do now is life my life." Lilly turned to face her boyfriend. "And for as long as possible, I want to live it with you."
Jackson smiled, then leaned in and kissed her. No sooner had they done this than Rico came to find them.
"It's time," he said solemnly.
The group stood silent as Lilly entered the house, carrying the mobile emitter. Without a word, she held it up and tapped one of the controls with a jeweler's screwdriver. The emitter worked its way out of Lilly's hand and hovered at an appropriate height. After a brief flicker, the Doctor appeared. Miley and Lilly ran up to hug him.
"Welcome back, Doc!" greeted Miley.
The Doctor smiled. "It's good to be back."
End of Chapter Ten
Not as good as I'd have liked, but I wanted to move the story forward. Final chapter coming up. Stay tuned!