Captain Hudson and Commander Ford were supervising the new arrivals when Tony came running up to him.
"Something wrong, Mr. Piccolo?"
"Captain Bridger is on that shuttle!"
There was a moment of shock.
"Well, I guess now we know where he's been all these months."
They watched as the passengers came on board. Captain Bridger was accompanied by a pretty young woman that Hudson would place in her mid-twenties.
"Oliver, Jonathon, good to see you again!"
"Nathan."
"Captain Bridger, welcome aboard."
"This is a friend of mine, Stephanie West, we've been working together for the past few months."
At their inquiring looks, he elucidated, "we're just friends."
"He's been like a father to me," she said, looking at him with something bordering on adoration.
They exchanged a glance and hoped that Lucas hadn't witnessed that.
Dagwood approached them.
"Dagwood! How are you?"
"I'm good, thank you Captain Bridger, Sir. How are you?"
"I'm well, thank you Dagwood."
"I came to see if Lucas needed any help."
Captain Bridger looked surprised. "Why would Lucas need help?"
The others looked at him in surprise, as they realized that Lucas still hadn't told him about the accident.
Dagwood looked over at the docking bay and waved. "Hey Lucas!"
Bridger turned, and his world seemed to stop. Lucas was wheeling himself out of the docking bay in a wheelchair, Lonnie walking beside him with a face like thunder. In the full light, he could see the sharp angles of the boy's gaunt face and dark shadows under his eyes. He looked emaciated and sickly.
Sensing an atmosphere, Tony walked over to his friend. "Hey, Hotshot, how'd it go? All good?"
Lucas answered the unasked question. "Yeah, it's all good. Let's get out of here."
He shot a quick, angry glance at Bridger, and then left the room. Tony called back to Dagwood as they left.
Bridger found his voice as Lonnie walked up to the group.
"The crewmember he was talking about...it was Lucas?"
"Yes." There was a sharpness in her reply. "He was the fool."
There was an indrawn breath.
"I didn't mean...I didn't know...I wouldn't have..." Bridger didn't seem to be able to form a complete sentence.
Hudson looked at them both. "Lieutenant, I think you'd better tell us what happened."
When she finished speaking, there was a shocked silence.
"I didn't mean it like that." Bridger tried to explain. "I didn't know about this."
"I did try to contact you."
"The colony discourages outside contact, I haven't been getting any messages. How bad is it?"
"It's bad enough, although he's doing better now."
"Can you tell me about it?"
"I'm sorry Nathan, Commander Ford and I have to get back to work, obviously we have a lot to do right now. Doctor Westphalen is on board, perhaps she could fill you in."
Bridger looked at Lonnie in surprise. "Why is Kristin on board?"
Lonnie was still fuming, she never had been able to master her temper.
"Lucas needed stronger painkillers and she helped get them for him." And then, with emphasis, "he's been in a lot of pain."
"Could you take me to Doctor Westphalen please?" He turned to his companion. "I'll join you later, okay?"
Stephanie didn't look pleased, but agreed. She wondered who this 'Kristin' was, and why he seemed so affected by what happened to Lucas. She decided to ask around and find out their history.
Lonnie walked silently with Captain Bridger until they reached the med-bay, where Doctor Perry and Doctor Westphalen were deep in conversation. Kristin registered shock as Nathan walked in, whereas Doctor Perry's expression seemed closer to disapproval. As Kristin and Nathan greeted each other, Lonnie took Perry aside, and told her of the conversation in the launch.
Perry's face set into a hard expression, and she turned to one of her assistants. "I'm going to get coffee."
Kristen was surprised. "Where did everybody go?"
"I think they're all avoiding me."
"Why, what did you do?"
Bridger sat on one of the beds with a sigh, and rubbed his hand across his face. "It seems I told Lucas that he has no idea about suffering, and then called him a fool."
She looked horrified. "Oh, Nathan, whatever possessed you to do that?"
"I didn't know. We were talking about the colony, I was telling them about our desire for peace. The discussion got out of hand. Lucas started talking about a crewmember who was injured during a mission...I didn't know he was talking about himself. Lonnie kept asking us to stop talking...why didn't I listen to her?" He buried his face in his hands.
"Well, you'd better tell me all of it."
He repeated the whole conversation. She grimaced.
"Well, when you get an idea in your head, there really is no shaking you, is there? Even without knowing about Lucas, they were two members of the military rescuing you all from danger, you could have been a little more tactful."
"I know. Stephanie and I have these discussions all the time, I guess I just got carried away."
"Stephanie?"
"I've been working with her at the colony. And no, it's nothing like that. I've just been mentoring her, she doesn't get along well with her stepfather."
"Oh, Nathan, not again?"
"What?"
"How much of that did Lucas pick up on?"
He was puzzled. "I'm sorry, I have no idea what you mean?"
"Nathan, it wasn't that long ago that you and Lucas were like father and son. Then, as he sees it," she thought to herself, as everyone sees it, "you abandon him as soon as you find Michael. He's hurt, but he understands, because Michael is family. But then he sees you with Stephanie, behaving just the way you used to with him. What should he think? When was the last time you contacted him?"
Bridger looked guilty and defensive. "I sent him a card at Christmas."
"Which arrived late. Honestly, Nathan."
Realization washed over him. "Oh my God! It was when I called her Kiddo. That was why he started telling us the story."
She looked at him with a mixture of pity and disapproval.
"What happened Nathan? What went wrong between the two of you?"
He thought for a moment.
"It was different, after you left. It didn't seem so...it was different. There was more of a military presence, for a start. I had more to do, more people to manage. I started spending time with Wendy...," he looked embarrassed.
"That's okay. I haven't exactly taken holy orders, you know. I assumed we'd been seeing other people."
"Well, Lucas and I saw less of each other. He started hanging around with Tony and the others. We started to drift a little." He looked shamefaced. "Maybe it was just that I started to drift a little."
"And then there was the business with Hyperion. Terrible things happened there, and he was only eighteen. Eighteen! And it was my fault that he was there. When we got back, I could barely look at him, I felt so guilty. And I had Michael to take care of, so I thought I should just leave, I'd done enough damage. So I did. I thought that if I left, he could straighten things out with his parents and maybe go back to school, finish his doctorate. Make a different life for himself."
"And then I came back and I found out he'd enlisted. I was furious! All that potential...We parted on good terms, but like strangers. Then, when I came back again, it was to fix something I wasn't very proud of. I wasn't nice to him, I was ashamed. We exchanged words. I knew I'd disappointed him. The next couple of times he called, I pretended to be out. Then I heard about the colony, and Michael and I decided to try it out."
Kristen was surprised. "Michael's here? Where is he?"
"Oh, he has a nanny that looks after him, he's fine."
She looked stern.
"This is exactly what we've been talking about Nathan! Don't assume, go and check on Michael, right now! When you've finished, you can come to my quarters and I'll tell you about Lucas. But now, go and take care of your grandson!"