Author Note: Hey, why didn't anyone call me on messing up canon references? Jonathan offered to take Mika to the ballet, not the opera. My bad. Somehow it got filed in my brain as "one of those high-falutin entertainments for rich folks" and I messed it up. All previous references should read "ballet" instead of "opera". They're going to end up at the opera, but only because there's not a lot of ballet troupes in Honolulu (or there won't be in 2023). Hope you like the new plot twist.


Chapter 72

Jonathan Ford tried to hide his excitement at seeing Mika Wise, but he suspected he was doing a poor job of it. He'd thought about her after she'd left seaQuest to explore the world she'd never known, to be, as she called it, 'a real person'. He'd wanted to see her again and take her to the ballet, but he didn't have so much as a telephone number and he had no idea where she disappeared to. When she didn't look him up, he assumed she found other distractions or that she reconciled with the man she called "father". Jonathan didn't like Dr. Franklin Wise for several reasons, not the least of which was he tried to force him into gill surgery. Since Jonathan was also indirectly responsible for Mika's decision to leave Abalon's underwater sanctuary, he would bet the elder doctor didn't like him much either.

But here she was, bidding on him at this crazy bachelor auction until she won. Not that he got as many bids as some of his fellow officers, but he went for a respectable price and he got to go out with a girl he was actually interested in. There was no ballet running anywhere on Oahu, so she took him to a University of Hawaii production of "Pirates of Penzance" and then out for a late dinner afterwards. He found himself humming "I am the Pirate King" while perusing the menu.

"You liked the show then?" Mika asked.

"Yes. Thank you. Have you ever seen it before?"

"Father had a movie disc in his archives, but I've never seen it live, no."

He couldn't help wincing at the mention of her father. He tried to hide it by quickly raising the menu. He spoke from behind the erected screen. "So what have you been doing since last I saw you?"

She chuckled with a demure laugh that was sweet and melodious. "Don't you know?"

Her soothing manner disarmed him and he lowered the menu again. The look in her eyes said she thought he was joking. "How would I know?" he asked. "I haven't seen or heard from you."

"Your experimental."

He'd only ever heard that word used as a noun for one thing. "Piccolo?"

She nodded. "Who do you think they studied before they recruited volunteers?"

Volunteers? They found guys in military prison and lured them with 'get out of jail free' cards! But she probably had no control over who was chosen as implant guinea pigs. "They?"

"I'm an intern at Woods Hole." She frowned. "Well, maybe 'intern' isn't the right word. I did learn a lot there, but they weren't as interested in my research as they were interested in studying me."

Jonathan knew Woods Hole was an outstanding institute, devoted to cutting edge research and exploration. They wouldn't have forced her into medical probes any more than Piccolo was 'forced' into getting gills. "The experiments were a success. Piccolo was released to us over a year ago. Weren't they done with you after that?"

She looked around, and this time it wasn't out the window or at the tropical flowers scattered around the room. She was looking at the people. Her voice lowered to a whisper. "Jonathan, the gills were only part of the experiment."

She had his undivided attention. And now that his eyes were glued to her face, he couldn't help thinking how beautiful she was. She was intelligent, but she'd also retained some of that childlike innocence from growing up in the sea, isolated from society.

"Do you remember where we first met?"

How could he forget? He'd thought she was an illusion, a mermaid conjured by his carbon dioxide-saturated mind at 34,000 feet. The pressure suit. Of course. "They want your depth tolerance."

She nodded. "But so far, none of the experimentals has had any success with the pressures. Some of them can swim very deep, but they can't go as deep or come up as fast as I can, or they get the Bends." Her eyes searched his. Her face radiated concern or perhaps fear. "Jonathan, I have a confession."

He waited, but she seemed hesitant to trust him. He took her hand. "What?" he prodded gently.

"I wanted to go out with you, but I had another motive for trying to see you. I need to ask you a favor."

If anyone at Woods Hole was threatening her, he'd bust their chops right now, just like he'd tried to defend her from Abalon's two 'sons' when she came up on land the first time. He gave her an encouraging nod.

"I think something has happened to Father and I think it's my fault."

"You're not responsible for him, Mika."

"I told the researchers things, Jonathan. Things he didn't want people up here to know. I trusted every scientist who came to Woods Hole, that they were all seeking knowledge for the good of mankind. But that's naïve, isn't it?"

He sighed. "Unfortunately."

"I didn't know it was so unusual to live to be 138 when I told them Father's real name. I forgot all about it until his emails stopped coming." Worry creased her brow. "He and I disagreed about me living up here, but I still love him. He wouldn't just stop writing to me. Something's happened."

"Woods Hole has several submarines. Why can't they go check on him?"

"Because then I'd have to reveal where he lives and I don't know who I can trust… except you."

"Why trust me? Your so-called brothers kidnapped me and Abalon intended to force implants on me. I'm the last person you should trust."

"If you don't care about Father, I understand. But what if he has found some kind of Fountain of Youth? And what if that secret falls into the wrong hands? Surely the UEO would care about that, wouldn't they?"

"Yeah, they probably would."

"Captain Bridger didn't report him, Jonathan. Father told me himself. He hears every transmission that goes on in the sea. If anyone had a motive to do him harm, it was seaQuest. But you haven't gone anywhere near him, have you?"

He shook his head. He'd dropped all animosity when Dr. Wise told his 'sons' to let the seaQuest crew and Mika leave in peace. He didn't have room to hold grudges and neither did Bridger. "Have you talked to the UEO?"

She scoffed lightly. "And tell more people how old he is and where to find him?"

"I see your point. But you're not expecting me to not tell the captain, right?" Jonathan would never withhold anything from Bridger ever again, not even under orders from an admiral. He might vehemently disagree with his captain and even tell him to his face, but that was different. The captain respected that. Bridger demanded very little, but he deserved honesty and Jonathan would never give him anything less.

"No. I trust Captain Bridger." She released a nervous chuckle. "I heard he and Dr. Westphalen married. If I didn't win the auction, I was going to accept Dr. Westphalen's invitation for a fellowship so she could get me close to him."

"You paid $65,000 to get an audience with the captain? But he would have talked to you without me or Dr. Westphalen."

She shrugged. "I saw him on C-SPAN during his Congressional hearings. He doesn't seem the same as when I met him."

Jonathan laughed. "But he hates giving speeches and schmoozing with politicians. That's not him. That's what he had to do to try to raise money."

She quirked a brow at him. "Like you had to stand up there and let women bid on you."

He shrugged. "It was for a good cause."

"And exactly why I didn't mind paying." He wondered where she came up with that kind of cash, but then he figured scientists would have paid her handsomely to question her and run endless tests on her physiology. "Besides, I didn't want to see 'Pirates of Penzance' alone."

"Do you want to try to find the captain now or can it wait until morning?"

"We should let him enjoy his date."

Jonathan had heard who won the captain and while the date might go all right, he couldn't help but think Nathan Bridger would have hell to pay to his fiery-spirited wife over it. Dr. Westphalen had bid until she ran out of money. Sure, she pushed him into this stupid auction, but that probably wouldn't be enough to save the captain from some kind of tongue lashing for enjoying himself with a woman half his age. The commander pulled a PAL from his pocket, his finger hovering over the transmit button. "Enjoy? We'd probably be saving him grief. Say the word."

"No. You're not getting away that easy this time." The room lit up with her sparkling smile and Jonathan returned the PAL to his pocket.

He smiled back. "Good. I'm starved."

They set aside the subject and ordered food, which turned out to be excellent. They talked about some of his non-classified missions and she told him about her adventures in the world above sea level. Time stood still and Jonathan discovered he was really enjoying himself. All too soon, the restaurant shooed them out to close for the night.

"Where are you staying?" he asked.

She gave him an unreadable look. He realized she thought it was some kind of come-on.

"So I can contact you for meeting the captain," he explained.

"Oh." She melted back into that sheepish shyness of hers. "The Queen Kapiolani, room 617."

"I'll call you as soon as I get it set up. Do you want Dr. Westphalen in on this or not?"

"Dr. Westphalen was kind to me. And I may still take her up on her offer to come work on seaQuest, but I have to look for Father first."

"Good. The captain doesn't like to keep secrets from her, unless they're military."

She leaned in and kissed his cheek. "Thank you, Jonathan. For the date and for being willing to listen."

"No, thank you. I had a great time. I'll call you."