Science station, Penny's P.O.V.

I'd been through the entire science station asking anyone if they'd seen Darwin, and no one would talk to me. Something weird was going on. Suddenly, my PAL went off.

"Yeah," I said into the PAL.

"Penny, Bridger wants us back on seaQuest," Lucas said.

"Have they found Darwin yet?" I asked hopefully.

"No, they want to head out and see if Darwin might have swam further away from the boat, but they want us back there first," Lucas replied.

"All right, I'm on my way; I'll be at the launch in a minute," I said. I passed by Dr. Bender's office. He was the only one I hadn't talked to yet. I walked into his office, but he wasn't there. Huh? I was just about to leave when I noticed that there was a crack in the wall next to his book shelf, and I could see light coming from behind it. I walked over to it and slid it over. Okay; secret room behind the bookshelf. That's not weird at all. I walked into the room and looked around. There was a desk on one side of the room, a chair in the middle of the room, and a pool behind the chair. I could see Darwin floating near the edge of the pool. He was being held in place by some sort of device.

Darwin saw me and shook his head, splashing water all over the place. "Darwin!" I exclaimed, running over to him. He wouldn't stop splashing, and he was moving his head back and forth at me.

"Hold on, buddy; I'll get you out of here," I told him, grabbing my PAL. Then, something hit me, and I fell into the pool and accidently swallowed a gulp of water. Then, someone was pulling me out of the pool. I coughed up water, then looked up to see Dr. Bender. He grabbed my arms, and yanked me over to the chair and roughly forced me down into it. I coughed again. He put my arm on one of the arm rests of the chair and tied my hand to it, then did the same with the other side. I was too busy coughing up water to do anything about it. When I was done coughing up water, I looked up at Dr. Bender.

"What the heck are you doing, and how did you even know about Darwin?" I gasped.

"Experiments; just like I always do," he said, walking over to me and picking something off my shoulder. It was small, and I couldn't tell what it was. "And I found out about Darwin with the help of my little bug that I put on your shoulder earlier."

"Experiments on animals-wait; you bugged me?" I yelled questioningly. I was a bit annoyed that he'd managed to plant a bug on me.

"Animals and people," he corrected.

"People? You've been experimenting on the people here? How could you?" I yelled.

"Research, of course, and now you and that dolphin are going to help me with one of my most recent experiments," he replied, walking over to the bookshelf and pulling it shut. I pulled against the ropes tying me to the chair. He walked over to the desk and picked something up. Then, he walked back over to me.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Well, I've been working on a way to allow people to communicate with animals, but not in the same way you do on seaQuest," Dr. Bender said.

"Huh?" I asked.

"You'll see what I mean in a little bit," he said, attaching a set of monitors to my head and arms, then he did the same to Darwin. He turned on two monitors, and I looked over at them.

"They will monitor yours and Darwin's brain waves throughout the experiment," he explained. This man is insane! Then he walked back over to the table and picked up two syringes. Man what is with people always wanting to stick needles into me? I'm starting to hate needles. Oh wait, strike that; I've always hated needles. He walked over to me and stuck the syringe into my arm. Then, he walked over to Darwin, and did the same…

Lucas's P.O.V. {Launch/science station}

I looked down at my watch. Where is she? "Penny, where are you? I've been standing here for almost five minutes now," I said into my PAL. I waited a minute, but she didn't respond.

"Penny, where are you?" I asked again after a few more minutes, but there was still no response. After another minute, I buzzed Bridger.

"Yes, Lucas?" Bridger greeted.

"Uh, Captain, Penny told me that she was going to meet at the launch five minutes ago, but she's still not here, and now she's not answering her PAL," I told him worriedly.

"All right; I want you back on seaQuest right away. I'll send Commander Ford and Lieutenant Krieg over to look for her," Bridger assured me.

"All right," I said, getting on to the launch…

Back on seaQuest

"Do you have any idea where she might be?" Ford asked me. I shook my head.

"No we split up to cover more ground, then after the captain told me that we needed to come back to seaQuest, I told Penny, and she said she'd meet me at the launch," I explained.

"Don't worry; we'll find her," Krieg said.

"Why can't I help you guys look?" I asked.

"Because we've already lost two of our crew members; I'm not losing you too," Bridger said. I sighed. Where the heck could Penny and Darwin be?

"Hey, maybe whoever took Darwin has Penny," I suggested.

"That's if someone did take Darwin," Ford reminded. I sighed. Ford and Krieg boarded the launch and headed back to the science station. I walked to the moon pool and looked down at the water. I felt terrible. Darwin was missing, and I felt as if Penny and I had been ignoring him recently. He saved our lives, and we still wouldn't play with him. Maybe if we'd played with him, he wouldn't have gone missing, and then Penny wouldn't be missing.

"Don't worry; Commander Ford and Lieutenant Krieg will find Penny and Darwin," Kristin assured me, putting her hand on my shoulder.

"What's this?" she asked after a moment, pulling something off my shoulder.

"I don't know," I said, taking the thing from Kristin.

"It looks like some sort of tiny camera," I stated, squinting at the device.

"But how did it get on your shoulder?" she asked. I shrugged my shoulders.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling that this has something to do with Darwin and Penny disappearing," I said angrily…