Chapter 73
Nathan slept like a rock after the luau. But somewhere in the fog of morning he heard Kristin's voice whispering, "Are you awake?"
He glanced at the bedside clock and yawned. "We're in port, Doctor. I was planning to sleep in."
She snuggled close, spooning her front against his back, and answered playfully, "Don't you 'Doctor' me in our bed, Captain…" She paused to heave a contented sigh. "Well, unless it's to play doctor like we did last night."
Nathan grinned and took her hand. He did have some paperwork to do and he'd promised Hitchcock he'd come by the shipyard where she was working on Project Calypso, but nothing was so pressing that he couldn't enjoy a few minutes of snuggling with his wife. "What are your plans for the day?"
"Wendy and I are going shopping and we're meeting Katie and Lonnie for lunch." She pulled her PDA off the nightstand and started touching the screen icons.
Nathan issued an exaggerated groan. "You and your estrogen gang."
She ignored him, keeping her attention on the small display screen. "Nathan, do you have some time to meet Mary?"
"Special Agent Watkins?"
"Yes. I have a cute little email here from Tim asking me when it might be convenient for the two of us to meet his fiancée in a quiet, private setting. It's really quite sweet."
"Email? Why didn't he just ask us?"
She gave him a playful swat. "Because we're in Hawaii and on leave, and he's trying not to 'bother' us. He did copy you on the email though."
"Does it say how she is going to handle her…uh…"
"Gift? Yes, Tim says he'll be present for her to use as a focus point so she can keep from reading our thoughts. He also suggests we don't try to shake hands or touch her as that makes it more difficult to block us."
He rolled over to look Kristin in the eyes. "How do you feel about someone invading your mind?"
"Nathan! The reason she hasn't met us before this is she's so worried about overhearing our thoughts by accident. Savannah tried to get in deliberately and you forgave her for it. And she never saved your life or helped you monitor a dangerous mission."
"But I was able to keep Savannah out. You weren't here when Clay Marshall came aboard. You didn't see what he did to Lucas. I think Mary is just as strong as he was, maybe stronger."
"Well, you can bow out if you want, but I told her I wanted to meet her. I'll do it off of seaQuest if you think she's some kind of security risk." Her tone was biting and sarcastic.
"I never said she was a security risk. I'm just not so sure that having her aboard as a guest is a good idea. Wendy says Tim has good 'walls' guarding his military secrets, but I'm not so sure about the rest of us."
Kristin narrowed her eyes and arched a brow. "I could get any military secret out of your head I wanted," she boasted. "So could Wendy. Does that mean we're not welcome?"
A heavy dose of sodium pentothal and there was no telling what he might say. He didn't really think she could get any secret she wanted, but that wasn't really the point. Dammit, why did she always have to be right? "It all comes down to trust, doesn't it?"
She nodded. "Mary has proven herself. But more than that, I trust Tim. He'd never suggest a meeting if we'd be violated or embarrassed. Your lieutenant is giving his fiancée free rein inside his head just to keep us from feeling uncomfortable. Would you let me do that?"
Nathan hadn't had a choice when Wendy was drugged by Beauregard, but he hadn't fought her either. And he did open his mind to Savannah after she asked. That was one of the reasons he'd asked her to do this auction thing for him. She already knew he wasn't interested in her. Still, this idea of a stranger reading his private thoughts was disturbing. "A man's mind should be a sanctuary, Kristin. But I'd let you in if you really wanted it."
"Don't worry. I usually know what you're thinking anyway," she said with a sassy smirk. But then she hardened her expression to serious again. "My only point is that Tim is giving up his sanctuary just so Mary can meet a few of his friends. I'm not going to take that sacrifice lightly."
"No, you're right. I want to meet her too, but I hope this makes you think twice about whatever plot you have brewing."
Her face became a mask of total innocence and she batted her lashes. "What plot?"
"Were you not paying attention the last time you checked my hearing? I'm not deaf. You've been scheming with Wendy and Savannah to get Mary aboard seaQuest for more than just meeting a few of Tim's friends."
"That's legitimate scientific interest, Captain."
"Then you'd better understand, Doctor, that Lieutenant O'Neill is not available to hold her hand indefinitely. Has anyone even asked Tim how he would feel about having her aboard for more than just a short meeting?"
Her eyes told him she hadn't, but she wasn't going to concede. "Why wouldn't he want the woman he loves to be close?"
"Maybe so he can have a private thought every now and then? Maybe so he can concentrate on his job, or did you forget this is not the Love Boat?"
Her hand slid over his chest and she knew right where her touch would get his attention. She leaned in to whisper seductively in his ear, "Not the Love Boat? Really?"
He waved his index in her face. "You know what I mean and you're trying to distract me on purpose."
She withdrew and gave him a curious look. "Am I too much of a distraction for you?"
He drew her forward, into his embrace. "No, Kristin. I think we both have a good handle on keeping our professional and private lives separate, but we're older than Tim and Mary, not to mention Mary has other challenges we never have to worry about. Remember, I wanted you on seaQuest. When I 'saved the world' and could have asked for anything, you were the first thing I asked for, even before I asked for funding for the new sub. And you said you left England with the intent of seeing if you could get back on as a staff scientist, before you found out CMO was vacant and before we talked about getting married. You wanted to be here too. I don't want Tim or Mary pressured into anything."
"You're right, Nathan." She kissed his cheek and pulled herself away and out of bed. "But we're still going to encourage her. Mary's psychic healing ability is worth study, not to mention her telepathic powers. Wendy says her reluctance has nothing to do with desire and everything to do with an abusive past. And we're not forgetting that we'd need to work out solutions to her challenges. Wendy and I want her to know she is welcome and not just as Tim's girlfriend."
"Fair enough. Ask when they want to meet and I'll clear my schedule."
Kristin's fingers danced over her PDA, taking more time and movement than would be needed for replying by email. She had to be using text messaging.
"Why don't you try a PAL?"
She rolled her eyes at him. "What were you doing when you were on leave and your fiancée was in town, hmm?"
He waved a surrender. Of course she was right. He often forgot that despite his encyclopedic language base and nearly robotic devotion to work, Tim was human. He'd used email out of respect, it was only fair to return the courtesy.
Nathan got out of bed and started searching for his civvies. Kristin had 'reorganized' his drawers again and they weren't where he'd put them. Without looking up from her PDA, she said, "Third drawer, left," before he had a chance to ask. He had on everything but his shoes when she looked up from her screen. "Zero-nine-thirty?"
"I can do that. Where do they want to meet?"
"Father Baker's office. Tim says you know where it is."
Nathan nodded. "Admin building. Does that time work for you?"
"Perfectly."
"Go ahead and confirm for both of us then."
Kristin typed a little more and then set her PDA aside and got dressed. Nathan was thinking of a quiet, unhurried breakfast in the mess and then a nice walk to the chaplain's office to meet his special agent. The knock on his hatch door startled him. He looked down at his watch. Who would be up at 0800? "Who is it?" he called through the door.
"Commander Ford, sir. I can come back another time if you're busy."
He glanced at Kristin to make sure she was fully dressed and didn't mind the intrusion. She nodded back. "Come on in, Commander," he said.
Ford was dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, shorts, and sandals. He gave a greeting nod to each of them. "Sorry to bother you on leave, sir."
"It's no bother. What can I do for you, Jonathan?"
"You remember Mika Wise from our first tour?"
"Of course. I don't think I ever apologized for not believing you about her."
He waved off the apology. "Her father is missing and she suspects foul play."
"Franklin Wise is over 135 years old. Maybe he finally died."
Ford gave a tight-lipped nod. "Possible. But the timing is suspicious. She mentioned his real name to some scientists at Woods Hole—people who would know who he was and how old he should be—and shortly thereafter, his emails stopped."
Nathan turned on his diplomacy button. "This is a private matter between her and her—her—"
"Father. That's the term she uses. She's still not on great terms with the guy, but she doesn't hate him or want him dead."
"Why doesn't she just report this to the authorities?"
The commander cleared his throat. "I could ask you the same thing, sir. Mika tells me that Dr. Wise believes you never reported his existence or his whereabouts."
Kristin beamed a smile at her husband while Jonathan waited patiently for an answer. Nathan shrugged. "You didn't want to press charges, so what was the point? He was taking a big enough risk by letting Mika leave."
"It appears his fears were well-founded."
"Surely no one would be after gill technology," Kristin put in. "That's already been duplicated. And they can't really expect secrecy when they used prisoners as their test subjects." Piccolo had probably kept his mouth shut, but who knew about the character of the others.
"Mika is more worried about the lure of a Fountain of Youth." Ford spoke the last three words with a heavy tone of sarcasm and rolled his eyes at the same time. Clearly, he didn't think the mythical fountain existed, but that didn't mean someone else didn't.
Nathan frowned. "But Dr. Wise said it was cold temperatures and the high ion content of the air that had extended his life."
The commander cleared his throat. "How many other undersea colonies have the same conditions and yet no one else has demonstrated his longevity?"
Kristin's eyes flashed with recognition. "He's got a point, Captain. Either there is something special about the cave where he made his home or he did experiments on himself and didn't tell anyone." Probably no one else could hear the way her voice changed when she was talking about science and medicine, but Nathan could always hear it. She was in full science mode now.
"Mika doesn't trust anyone on the surface." Ford said. He turned and looked Nathan straight in the eyes. "You told her after she helped us that if she ever needed anything, that seaQuest would be there for her. She's calling in that card."
Me and my big mouth. Nathan shook his head and started to pace. "SeaQuest is not my personal fishing skiff, you know. I can't just take off anywhere I want to check on some random old scientist who faked his own death sixty years ago."
"Which is why I'm asking you instead of Mika. I think this is a lot worse than she realizes."
"How so?"
"Captain," Ford said with a tone of patient urgency, "how dangerous would it be if our enemies got their hands on his depth-tolerance technology? The stuff we haven't been able to duplicate. Do we want those…Macro-netians…" he stumbled over the name of the Alliance they'd only ever heard spoken by a Temporal Agent from the future.
"Macronesians," Nathan corrected quickly.
Ford nodded. "Do we want to take a chance they could breed an entire navy that could swim around unassisted at 34,000 feet?"
"And live forever," Kristin added.
Damn. "You're right. But I'd better let Admiral Noyce in on this."
Another nod from the commander. "Mika trusts you, sir. If you say the admiral can be trusted, I don't think she'll argue."
"She can't stop us now anyway," Kristin observed.
Nathan stopped his pacing and looked at Ford. "Will she come with us? We'll have to take a shuttle launch once we get there. The first seaQuest was scraping the walls of his cave and this one is twelve feet wider."
Ford cracked a ghost of a smile. "I think she'd like to come, yes. But you should ask her yourself. I think she only bid on me to get to you."
Kristin narrowed her eyes at Ford and shook a finger at him. "Don't pull that nonsense on us, Commander. I've been trying to get her on seaQuest since January. Nathan would have taken a call from her too. She bid on you because she wanted to go to the ballet. With you. How was your date anyway?"
"No ballet for miles, so we went to see 'Pirates of Penzance'. I haven't had such a good time since your wedding."
She smiled warmly at him. "That's lovely to hear, Jonathan. You should take her out again while we're here. Even if Admiral Noyce approves of searching for Dr. Wise, he probably won't deem it an emergency." Kristin looked at Nathan to catch his reaction. He nodded agreement. The admiral might move their departure up a few days, but probably not to immediate.
Ford nodded to her and then to Nathan. "Thank you, sir."
"Not at all. If she wants to talk to me, bring her by later this afternoon. Unless you're going somewhere."
"She won't relax until she's talked to you. Is thirteen hundred too early?"
"That's fine, Commander." So much for a nice break.
"Should I come?" Kristin asked.
Ford nodded. "She said you were kind to her, Doctor. She may even be open to that fellowship if we find her father."
The commander let himself out. Nathan turned to his wife to see if she was ready for breakfast. She was giving him one of her devious smiles. "What?" he asked nervously.
"Not the Love Boat indeed."
