A/N Thanks for reading along faithful readers. This chapter is not all that exciting but had to be written. It was part of the episode, and we need you to meet Dr. Wise. Pay close attention because he just might be someone you will see much later in the story. Some of this comes from the episode Abalon, but I plan to go in many directions differently than the actual show. Stay tuned :)
Special thanks to Jujuone23 and Darkaccalia520 for your continued support. I appreciate you both!
Nathan stood in Med-bay peering out the window towards the moonpool. He watched as Katie and Mika petted and played with Darwin. He was glad he had waited until the morning to send Darwin back to his island. The mammal had a way of endearing people to him. He could be very charming when he met new people. Mika seemed delighted with him and at ease in Katie's company. Nathan was struck by Mika's child-like innocence. Her eyes greedily took in everything around her. It was almost like everything she saw was for the first time. The young woman was merely a girl in many respects. Nathan guessed that she wasn't much older than 18 or 19, if that. She timidly came aboard SeaQuest, and Nathan knew that she was frightened. He couldn't put his finger on why she seemed so fearful, but he knew something wasn't right. Mika's fear was real. It didn't fit in his mind that she was an unruly teenager running away from home. She was a young, frightened girl, and his gut was telling him to protect her at all costs. Kristin and Katie had spoken with the girl for awhile before he suggested Katie introduce her to Darwin. The mammal had still been busy dragging debris inside the boat, and Nathan had given up and grounded the dolphin to the boat until morning. Nathan simply couldn't convince the creature to stop his interior decorating obsession.
"Nathan, are you listening to me?" said Kristin, waving her hand in front of his face with a smirk on her own.
He turned to face her. "I'm sorry, Kris, I was thinking about Mika. She certainly seems to have taken a liking to Darwin."
"Darwin has that effect on people, particularly children. She isn't that much older than Lucas," commented Kristin, concern on her face.
Nathan smiled lightly. He knew that Kristin has a soft spot for children and teenagers. "So, what did you find out?" replied Nathan, getting right to the heart of the matter.
"Well, she says her name is Mika Wise. I'm guessing she is roughly 18 years old, but she doesn't seem to know exactly how old she is. She's terribly frightened, Nathan. She's afraid her father will find her and force her to stay with him."
Nathan nodded, casting a glance towards the moonpool again. "I won't allow that," he mumbled softly. He watched as the young woman laughed at Darwin's antics.
"She wouldn't tell us much else, and anytime I tried to encourage her to share, she would shut down,". replied Kristin. "But I did discover this much; her father is Dr. Franklin Wise."
Nathan turned to look at Kristin with a shocked expression on his face. "That's impossible. Why, he'd be over 120 years old by now."
"135 years old, to be precise."
Nathan's jaw dropped in disbelief. He turned to look at the screen as Kristin projected some pictures.
"This is Dr. Wise. He headed up a project where they grafted primitive gills onto the backs of subjects, and then their body tissues were completely saturated in highly oxygenated water. The subjects were able to survive for approximately 24 hours. Of course, these were just the initial experiments done in the 1940's, before animal experimentation was outlawed. Apparently, he tried the experiment on humans, and there were some fatalities. As a result, his credentials were pulled. According to our records, he committed suicide in 1953," informed Kristin, as she flipped through an abundance of photographs of Wise and his experiments.
Nathan remained quiet as he pondered the information. Did this mean Mika was one of his human experiments? That in fact, for all intents and purposes, she was a sort of Mermaid: a human with the capacity to breath under water. He walked towards the doorway and stared at the girl with compassion. He wondered what kind of secluded life the young woman had lived up until this point.
Kristin and Nathan walked out to the moonpool together. Nathan smiled as he watched Darwin work his magic. The woman seemed much more at ease then when she had first boarded SeaQuest. Nathan heard her innocent laughter, and it made him smile as well. He gave Katie a grateful smile. He was thankful that she had been so willing to lend a hand. Mika had taken to Katie rather quickly. Katie had a quiet spirit about her, and Mika had been drawn to that.
"Bridger, Darwin has new friend," chirped the dolphin when he saw Nathan approach the pool.
Nathan reached into the moonpool and rubbed the mammal on his melon head. Darwin closed his eyes, obviously enjoying all the attention. "I see that, fella."
"He's so delightful," murmured Mika shyly.
"He's a real charmer," laughed Nathan. "You better be careful, or he'll convince you to swim with him and play football."
Mika chewed her lip in confusion. "Do you want me to swim with him, Captain Bridger?" Her eyes looked at him, almost like she was awaiting an instruction.
"No, Mika, not unless you want to. Actually, what I really need is for you to tell me where we can find my friend. Do you know how to take us there?" Nathan saw her eyes cloud, and she dropped her gaze to the floor. Katie rubbed her arm supportively, and Mika seemed to relax from her touch.
"I can tell you," she whispered as tears spilled down her cheeks.
oOoOoOoOseaquestOoOoOoOo
Ben expertly balanced a box in his hands as he nimbly ran up the stairs. Once he reached B-deck, he dropped the box to the floor to catch his breath. He had managed to commandeer enough pizza, junk food, and candy to feed a small third world country. He checked to make sure he hadn't dropped anything. In his pockets, he had stuffed in a couple DVDs chock full of good, solid action flicks and several video games, including Halo 5, the newest first person shooter game out. He was sure it would bring a smile to Lucas' face. The kid had been talking about it endlessly for months. On top of the pile of food was his personal favourite: War heads. He had included enough of the sour candies to permanently injure their tongues for days. He felt a twinge of guilt as he took stock of his treasures. It was his peace offering. He had been so busy all week with supplies and inventory that he had found himself out of the loop. Plus he was very confused because he had spoken with Lucas earlier in the evening, and the kid seemed pumped to be jumping ship for the weekend. Ben had been very surprised when he found out Lucas hadn't gone to see Julianna. He didn't have any idea why, and he intended to find out what was going on. Just as he stooped down and reached for the box, Miguel and Shan rounded the corner.
"Whoa, Krieg, do I smell pizza?" asked Shan, snooping in the box curiously.
Ben pulled the box away and grinned. "Yes, I smuggled in some of the best pizza around, and it's for my man, Lucas. Hands off!" Shan reached towards the box again and received a shove for his efforts. "No Touchy. This smorgasbord is for a certain depressed teenager we know and love. He needs his energy, and it's my job as the Morale officer to deliver and help consume all said pizza."
"Lucas' isn't even here," commented Miguel, grabbing at the box to see what was inside it. He managed to steal a root beer from the box and crack it open.
Ben frowned and set the box on the floor in confusion. He watched as Shan and Miguel ransacked the fruit of his labours. "The captain said Lucas was in his room tonight."
"Nope," replied Miguel, unwrapping a candy bar and shoving it in his mouth. "I figure he's with Julianna about now, and they're making out as we speak."
"Something tells me he's not thinking about Bridger or Westphalen, breaking rules or any of us," laughed Shan, popping a handful of skittles in his mouth.
A smile crossed Ben's face as he digested the news. He felt much better knowing the teenager wasn't moping in his room like he thought.
"But Bridger is going to bust his chops when he gets back, and that's only if Westphalen doesn't get her hands on him first. The little nut-bar got his sorry carcass grounded and still decided to go AWOL," Shan added with his mouthful of candy.
"Grounded?" echoed Ben, raising his brows at the news. "What did he do? Why am I the last one to know anything on his tub?" moaned Ben, reaching down and cracking open a root beer as well.
Miguel laughed. "Stop hiding in your quarters watching Beach Girls of Barcelona." Miguel high fived Shan, and the two of them shared a hearty laugh at Ben's expense.
Ben made a face at Miguel and groaned. "Can't a guy have any secrets on this sub? Geez."
"Stop hiding stuff in your cowboy boots," suggested Shan, grinning and rummaging in the box again, scoring some peanut M&N's.
Ben's mouth dropped open. He was going to throttle Lucas when he returned. The little snitch was giving away his best kept secrets. The boat was definitely closing in on him. He shook his head and chuckled to himself. He needed to find better hiding spots or change his locks on his door. "What did the kid do to get himself grounded?" reiterated Ben, trying to focus the two practical jokers in front of him.
"You really have been working hard," stated Miguel unable to keep the surprise from his voice. "Westphalen busted his butt for not meeting some deadlines. She lost her funding."
Ben blinked a few times. "Oh," he said with a grimace. "Raw deal."
"I know, right. Anyways, I promised the kid we would cover his butt until tomorrow night. You in?" asked Miguel, grabbing a piece of gooey, pepperoni pizza.
Ben smacked his hand. "You bet! Geez, you two are like a pair of hungry vultures. Fine, have at it. I'm heading back to the games room. Crocker challenged me to a game of Pool: double or nothing, and I need to earn back some of what the Captain stole from me. Momma needs a new pair of shoes."
"Kreig, your momma…" began Shan.
Ben held up his hand with a big grin. "Shut-up William."
The three men grabbed hands full of pizza and headed back down the stairs laughing, leaving the box behind.
oOoOoOoOseaquestOoOoOoOo
Nathan stood on the bridge watching as the Lieutenant Hitchcock navigated the boat to the coordinates that Mika had told them. Katie had graciously joined them to help out. Nathan was grateful for her expertise plus having her there seemed to help relax Mika. The two women had seemed to form a bond.
"Come left sixteen degrees, back off power," stated Nathan.
Katie echoed his command. "Coming left sixteen degrees."
At that moment, the boat hit against the rocks. Nathan glanced at the monitors to see how narrow the opening was and grimaced. Where on earth was Mika taking them? Mika looked nervous but insistent that her coordinates were correct.
"Reverse thrust, Commander. Go gentle, ten percent," he commanded, leaning over her shoulder watching her monitor closely.
"Reverse thrust ten percent," she echoed again.
Nathan patted her on the shoulder. "We don't want to dent the fenders," he stated with a smirk. He saw Katie throw him a pained look.
"We can't seem to get off the rocks, sir. It's a tight fit down here."
Nathan patted her shoulder again. "It's a tight fit for sure. Full astern, fifty percent, Commander."
Katie nodded. "Aye."
"I'm picking up communications, sir," Lt. Strahan called out suddenly, causing Nathan to look up in curiosity.
"On screen," commanded Nathan.
Nathan looked at the screen to see Dr. Franklin Wise on his screen. Nathan felt dumbfounded. So, it was true. All of it.
"Welcome to Abalon," said the grey haired man in a friendly but commanding tone of voice.
Nathan crossed his arms. "Thank you. I'm Captain Bridger of the SeaQuest." The man held up his hand to forestall Nathan from further commenting. "Oh, I know who you are Captain Nathan Hale Bridger."
Nathan's brows rose in curiosity at the man's apparent familiarity with him and SeaQuest. "I've come for my Commander," stated Nathan firmly. The man seemed to look right past Nathan, and it was then Nathan realized he had focussed his attention on Mika, who stood behind him.
"And you, Captain, have my daughter. Thank you for bringing her home." With those final words, the video screen when black.
Nathan frowned in annoyance. "Strahan, get him back!"
The lieutenant hit several switches on the board to no avail. "He's got a communication block on, sir."
"Damn," mumbled Nathan. He put his hands on his hips as he thought about the situation. He glanced at Mika who stood close to Kristin. She had a terrified look on her face, and Nathan's heart went out to her. He cast a look of uncertainty at Kristin, who shrugged her shoulders. "Mika, can you take us to your father?" inquired Nathan. He knew she was frightened, but he didn't know how else to proceed. The young woman blinked back tears that formed in her eyes. Nathan hadn't seen such a haunted look from one so young. It made him wonder what happened to her for her to look so wounded. He cast a pleading look at Kristin who wrapped an arm around the girls' shoulders.
"I promise you, Mika, you will be safe," assured Kristin warmly.
Mika swallowed as tears ran down her cheeks. "Yes."