Balancing on the edge of the moon pool, Lucas let his hand skim the surface of the water, and then let the water drip off his fingers. He was wasting time till his computer could complete the search program he running. Totally convinced that the last audio transmission was fake, he was checking on the employees of the ship yard where the shuttle had been housed and hoped that would open a new door for him to work with.
"A penny for your thoughts ?"
Startled out of his thoughts, Lucas whirled around to see Ben's smiling face. "Ben, you trying to give me a heart attack ?" He settled back on the floor, playing with his shirt sleeves.
"Hey, kid, how are you doing ? Ford asked me to check on you. He wanted to come himself but he's up to his neck in paper work." Kreig make himself comfortable on the floor next to the teen. Lucas stared off into the distance for a few minutes, wondering what to say. He knew the others were worried about him, but if he told Ben that he was looking for evidence that Bridger was still alive, they'd send the men in white coats to cart him off to the funny farm.
Ben studied the teen's face, wondering how to tell him that the others were concerned. The teen had been too quietly lately, working late into the night, missing meals and avoiding the rest of the crew. "When my father died, I cried for days, then I became very angry at him for leaving us." Ben put his arm around the youth, hoping that if he shared his experience, the boy would be able to talk to him. "I realized later on that it made my father's death that much harder on my mother, that I was hurting her too because I couldn't accept what had happened. I distanced myself from my family for two year and that was the biggest mistake I ever made. I know this is difficult, but you have to accept reality. The Captain is dead."
The teen turned to stare directly in Ben's eyes. "I thought you were an optimist, Ben. What if it's a mistake, what if he's still alive ? What would it take to convince you ?"
Ben sighed. Well, he tried. Patting the kid on the back, he replied sadly, "Not this time. We saw the explosion, saw the body. It's time to move on."
Lucas muttered quietly, "You're just like every other adult" as Ben walked towards the door. After Ben had left, Lucas bent back over the moon pool, playing with the water again, thinking about the last time he and the Captain had played basketball with Darwin. A fin headed towards him, cutting through the water and he jumped up to grab the vocorder.
"Darwin ! Where have you been?" Reaching back into the water, he rubbed the melon of his mammal friend. "I was worried, you were gone so long. Did you find anything ?"
"Bridger fuzzy." Darwin slapped the water with his fin, sending a splash of water through the air. "Not light, not dark. Need Lucas, need Kristin. Bridger sad, Darwin sad."
" Are you saying the Captain is still alive ? Did you see him, Darwin, do you know where he is ? Lucas tried to remain calm and patient, wrapping his arms around his body trying to contain his excitement.
"Bridger send pictures of bad lady, of buildings, of pain. Pictures now sick place. Lucas help Bridger ? Bridger fuzzy. " The dolphin sent another deluge of water flying as if to emphasize his words.
Exhilarated by the news that the Captain was alive, Lucas gave the dolphin a quick pat. "Thanks, Dar. I have to go find Ford and bring him back here. Maybe together we can find Bridger and help him." The teen left the room in a flying run to the bridge.
********
Kristin tiredly raised her head from it's resting place on the table and yawned as a greeting when Ford marched briskly into the room.
"How do you do it, Commander ?"
Ford gave her a confused look. "Do what, Doctor ?"
"Look so military prim and proper all the time. You're pulling double shifts, doing your job and the Captain's job, and dealing with all the emotional upset swirling around this boat and you still look fresh as a daisy."
Dropping in a chair, he stated honestly, "It's my job, Kristin. It's what Nathan would expect me to do. If I stop working, and start thinking, I won't be an effective leader. I'm as upset as Lucas is about this but some one has to be in charge, and everybody is depending on me. I can't crawl up in a ball and pretend it's not real."
Reaching out to pat his hand, Kristin said softly, "Nathan would be proud of you."
The screen beeped and Noyce's weary features appeared on the screen before them. "We found him," he announced solemnly.
"Please, Bill, he's alive, isn't he ? Please, tell us he's alive." Kristin whispered the words, scared to hear what Noyce would say next. Ford took her hand in his to give her emotional support.
"The police found him in an alley in a small town about twenty miles from here, mistaking him for a drunk at first. He's .... in bad shape. The doctor says he had so many different drugs in his system that it will take days to clean his blood." Noyce had been horrified to see the needle marks in Nathan's arms, and the bruises on his body. "He has two broken ribs, various cuts and scrapes, and is suffering from memory loss."
Ford and Kristin gave each other a big hug and smiled happily.
"Where is he ? We're coming to see him !" Ford exclaimed excitedly.
"Right after we tell the crew the good news." Kristin added.
"Didn't you hear me ?" Noyce asked in disbelief. "Nathan is not himself and is not ready for a stream of well wishers. He's confused, disoriented and emotionally disturbed. Obviously, some maniac has made every effort to destroy him for the last two weeks. There are also security concerns since we have no idea who's behind this and what the purpose was. It might be better for now if Nathan Bridger stays dead."
"No." Ford's voice was full of emotion. " I cannot keep lying to this crew. They deserve to know the truth."
Kristin chimed in,"Neither can I, Bill. I feel like a traitor, knowing the Captain's still alive. I can't go on like this."
"You knew ?" The angry voice behind them made them whirl around to see the beet red face of an enraged teenager. "You knew the Captain was alive but let everyone wallow in their grief ? Did you sit behind closed doors laughing at everybody's pain ?" Lucas knew he was being unreasonable, but he had been riding an emotional edge for two weeks and he was exhausted. Thinking that they had been playing mind games was more than he could take. "Did you think it was some sort of experiment ? I tried to convince you that something was going on, Doctor and you wouldn't take the time to listen. I never thought that you could be that cruel, either of you." The last part of the sentence trailed off with a sob, as the teen turned and ran.
Kristin stood up to go after the boy, but Jonathan restrained her with a hand on her arm. "Wait, give him some time. He's not thinking right now, didn't mean what he said. Once we explain, he'll understand it was the only way to do it."
Kristin sat down again. "We're coming, Bill. Don't order us not to or you'll have a mutiny on your hands. Where is he ?" she demanded in a no nonsense voice.
******
The car pulled up outside St. Anne's, a small hospital in the town of Wenonah, thirty miles from New Cape Quest. Ford and Bill Noyce got out of the front seat while Kristin, Lucas and Ben Krieg piled out of the back seat.
"...now that employee, um, White, has not reported for work for two weeks, hasn't even come for his pay check." Noyce finished briefing Ford and Kristin on the employee check at the UEO dock while Ben and Lucas trailed a few paces behind.
Lucas still wore a scowl on his face, refusing to speak to Kristin and Ford, even after they had apologized and explained their side of it.
"Hey, too bad you missed the party last night. You could have danced with Katie." Ben put a friendly arm around the teen. "Bet you're feeling really happy right now. Are you ready to see the Captain ?"
At that thought, Lucas' mouth widened into a happy smile, relieved that the nightmare was over and things could get back to normal. "Darwin was not happy when I told him he'd have to wait. I thought he was going to throw himself on the land and try to walk to the hospital."
Walking into the cool, peaceful hospital, they stopped at the front desk to ask about the Captain's room. The nurse gave them a distracted smile and shuffled through her papers. Frowning, she looked closer at the paper and moved to pick up a phone, talking in whispers. Finally, she hung up and said, "Uh, Dr. Ryan will be down in a minute to brief you on the Captain's condition if you would wait over by those chairs." The group shuffled over to the waiting area.
A few minutes passed as the small group sat quietly, exchanging small smiles, pats of comfort, while they casually passed the time examining the other visitors and the hospital. Soon, a slight bald man dressed in hospital scrubs approached them hurriedly, tightly clutching papers. "Yes, hello, you're the group from the UEO here to see about Captain Bridger," he asked in a slow southern drawl, holding out his hand. Noyce shook it and introduced everyone. "I'm Dr. Ryan." The Captain is doing as well as can be expected after such heavy drug use. I'm surprised that the UEO hasn't done anything about his substance abuse before now." He looked at them with a long frown of disapproval. "To think he was in charge of nuclear weapons..."
Noyce cut him off with an angry voice as the others stared in shock at what the Doctor was suggesting. "Nathan Bridger is not a drug user. He was involved in an undercover mission, was captured and probably drugged for interrogation. Please keep your comments to his medical condition and recovery."
Ryan shifted uncomfortably. "I'm sorry, but after what Mrs. Bridger had been telling us..." "What!" The word emerged out of five mouths simultaneously, using the same tone of disbelief. Noyce held up his hand to signal the others to be quiet. "Doctor," Noyce began in a hard tone, "Bridger is a widower, there is no Mrs. Bridger."
"But... a lovely blonde woman has been visiting him every day since he was brought here three days ago. She seems quite devoted to him, asking when he can come home."
Ford was bringing his PAL up to his mouth even as Noyce turned to him and demanded, "We need to secure this hospital quickly."
"Already on it, sir." The Commander moved to the side to speak quietly to the boat.
Kristin turned to the Doctor with her best smile. "Do you have security cameras set up ? Maybe we can get some pictures of the mystery women?"
Flustered by this sudden turn of events, the Doctor replied, "We have one camera at the main entrance...we're just a small hospital and we've never had any problems before..." He trailed off in confusion.
"Until Captain Bridger leaves this hospital, no one will be able to sneeze without UEO security knowing. If you have some one escort me to security, you can take Kreig, Lucas and Dr. Westphalen to see the Captain."
"Um, yes." The doctor signaled to a nurse, gave whispered instructions. "Nurse Brenion will take you up, Admiral. If the rest of you will come with me." He headed down the hallway with the others trailing behind until he stopped, pulling Kristin alongside of him. Whispering confidentially, he said to her, "Perhaps it would be better for the child to wait. The Captain's condition may disturb him and ...."
Kristin glared at him with displeasure. "The young man is one of the Captain's closest friends, this week has been an emotional ordeal for him and I refuse to make him suffer any longer." She returned Lucas' smile of relief with a small grin but her eyes threw crystal daggers at the Doctor.
Clearing his throat, the Doctor began a run down of his patient's medical condition. "Short term memory loss, ten stitches on the forehead, broken ribs, broken nose, puncture wounds on the forearms, dehydration, and seizures..."
With a small sigh, Ryan opened a door and stood back to usher the others in. Lucas practically knocked Kristin and Ben out of his way, rushing in, excited to see the Captain. He came to a quick stop at the foot of the bed, aghast at the haggard, frail looking figure in the bed. This had to be a mistake, this couldn't be his energetic, charismatic Captain that could produce shivers down the spine with a look.
Kristin moved to the head of the bed, moving carefully around the monitors that were pumping medicine into the Captain's body, helping him breathe, counting the beats of his heart. "Oh, Nathan," she sighed in a small sad voice. "Who did this to you?" She softly caressed his hand as Ben wrapped an arm around her waist.
"It's going to be all right, Kristin. He's back with us now, and everything will work out." Ben glanced up to see the look of alarm in the teen's eyes. "Come here, Lucas. It's still the Captain, under the bandages and the stitches. Sure, he wouldn't win a beauty contest anytime soon but before you know it, he'll be bellowing at you to fix the computers or clean your room." Kreig reached out to pull the teen to the bedside.
The teen stared down at the unshaven, pale face of the Nathan Bridger, pulled a chair closer to the bed and plopped down in it. The Captain had always been there when he needed him and now it was time to return the favor.
Several hours later, the teenager was still sitting in the chair flipping through a magazine. Krieg and Westphalen had gone to the cafeteria to get food and coffee, Ford had returned to the seaQuest and Noyce had gone back to headquarters. A security guard had been posted outside the door, checking everyone who visited the room. The blonde woman had not reappeared and her image had not been captured on the security camera, which left everyone to assume that she had known about the camera and had avoided it. Which left everyone very nervous, not knowing what her next move would be or what sort of threat she posed.
A groan from the bed made Lucas look up, into dull hazel eyes squinting at him.
"Are you a friend of Robert's?" Bridger stretched carefully on the bed, yawning.
Lucas wasn't quite sure of the proper response to a question like that. "Ah, no, Sir. How are you feeling ?"
"Like a ten ton dolphin ran over me," the Captain mumbled. "Where's Carol, she's always here when I wake up, where did she go." His voice raised a couple of octaves, crying, "Carol?" Lucas rose from the chair, confused as he approached the bed. "She's not here, sir. Don't you remember? Your wife and your son are...."
Pushing slightly upward, dragging his body, Bridger started to panic, twisting and turning his head. "Who are you? " he demanded, a wild look on his face. "What have you done to my family?" He collapsed on the bed, body racked with spasms. "No, not again, Carol...." The groans died out as his eyes rolled back in his head and the monitors started beeping.
A nurse and a doctor rushed in followed, by Kristin and Ben. Lucas backed slowly away from the bed, in horror, as Kristin wrapped him in her arms. They moved into the corner, out of the way, as the doctor worked on the Captain.
Sadly, Lucas said, "He doesn't remember. He thinks his wife and son are still alive, didn't know who I was."
Kristin rubbed his back comforting. "Confusion is to be expected after the drugs. His kidnappers are probably counting on that. That's why the women is here, saying she's his wife. Who knows what she told him."
"He was in pain and now, who's going to tell him that his family is dead ? The loss drove him away last time, what's going to happen when he has to recover from the deaths again?" Lucas was furious, at the kidnappers for causing the pain, at himself for acting hysterically.
"Lucas," Kristin demanded sharply, to get the teen's attention. "Last time, he didn't have anyone to help him, this time he has a new family. I'm not saying it will be easy but he'll get through it. We have to help him and, while his memories from the last week may never return, his life will get back to something resembling normal." Seeing the commotion around the bed had ended, leaving a sedated, resting Nathan Bridger comfortable in bed, she moved to follow the doctor out of the room. "I'm going to speak to the Doctor and see about transferring him back to the boat."
Ben collapsed in the chair, patted the Captain gingerly just to reassure himself and settled back with the magazine Lucas had been reading. "She's right, you know."
Lucas paced across the room, giving Krieg a scowl. "She's usually is," he said with an irritated grunt.
*****
The sun had set before the Captain awoke again. A feeling of deja vu swept over Lucas and he tensed up, even though Kristin and Ben were with him this time.
Waving the others off with a hand, Westphalen approached the bed cautiously. "Nathan ?" Bridger blinked a few times, wiping at his eyes with his hand, trying to clear his head. "Kristin?" His voice was stressed, hoarse. Turning his head slightly, he saw Lucas, who looked like he was ready to jump any minute, and Krieg, who looked like he was ready to hold the teen down. "Lucas...I thought Carol was here...she was sitting there, talking to me..." He cleared his throat a few times, studying faces, machines, the air. "What happened?"
"We were sort of hoping you could tell us, Sir," Ben replied with a crooked grin.
There was silence for a few minutes as the Captain looked off into the distance, organizing his memories, suppressing emotions that came flooding to the surface. "I had left the conference dinner, heading to the dock..." he started haltingly. "I was looking for a taxi when a man came barreling up the sidewalk, knocked me off balance, and kept going. Two other men approached, and helped me up, apologizing for their friend, saying he had drunk too much. The man who had run off must have come up from behind and all the sudden there was a gun poking into my back. The two who were supposed to be 'helping' me were actually blocking my way, pushing me back into an alley." He took a deep breath, the helpless feeling overcoming him. "Next thing I know, I'm lying in the backseat of a car." Grabbing a glass, he drank thirstily. "Everything else is still pretty hazy... there was a women...and a doctor with sharp pointy things...and lots of voices droning in my ear."
Krieg threw the others a worried look, concerned for the Captain's tenuous emotional hold after reliving his experience. "Maybe we should wait till tomorrow..." he suggested.
"No, no, I need to get it all out now. I know about drug withdrawal and I imagine that I'll be having some really incredible nightmares for weeks to come. If I talk now, maybe I'll get some version of the truth.
"How did you escape?" Kristin prompted.
"I was back in a car again, the woman said 'we were going home and wouldn't I *enjoy* that." He grimaced at the memory. " I couldn't see her face clearly; she was wearing a hat, sunglasses. I played possum, like I was sleeping, which was too far from the truth. Amazingly, I found the door handle and, when the car felt like it was slowing, I threw myself out." Nathan grew quiet again, thinking about the alley and the terror that had coursed through his body when he thought he had been captured again. "There were two police officers in an alley, they must have brought me in. I've had crazy hallucinations... that Carol was here, sitting, talking to me...." Turning his head slightly, his eyes watering, he took a couple of deep breaths. His emotions were raw, from thinking Carol had still been alive. Then the sweeping agony of realization that she was gone engulfed him and the grief was almost as overwhelming as the first time.
Lucas slowly moved over to the bed, timid but not liking the awkward quiet that suddenly consumed the room. He thought back the when the Captain had first awoke, looking for his wife. The teen had not, up to that point, lost anyone close to him until they thought Bridger was gone. He had slowly realized how much grief must occur at the death of a loved one, how Bridger had managed to turn his back on the rest of the world. It had been a thunderbolt that had rocked his world and it hurt even worse to see the Captain in pain again. He gave the Captain a warm smile, putting his arms around him, just for a second, for a quick squeeze. It was enough, he thought, to express the relief he felt, and maybe give the Captain some comfort. "We thought you were dead," he said, by way of explanation, a slight flush on his cheeks for such a gesture.
Ben tousled the teen's hair with a laugh. "Hey, kid, you're getting soft on us."
Lucas threw him a playful punch, but settled more securely on the bed next to Bridger as the Captain wiggled over to the edge to make more room.
Putting a hand on the boy's shoulder, the Captain simply gave him an affectionate smile and then flashed an amused glance at the two other adults. Wondering if he had earned himself a temporary shadow, he made a note to talk with Kristin about the teen and how he had handled the whole incident.
Kristin was pretty sure she knew what Nathan was thinking, as they tended to share the same 'parental' thoughts when Lucas was concerned. "We do have a problem, Nathan. There was, or is, a blonde women involved somehow." She waited for a few seconds for this to sink in, and continued, "She's visited several times, claiming she's your wife, wanting to know when you could go home." Krieg chimed in, " Ford and Noyce have security beefed up to the gills but it's making the hospital very nervous. They haven't been too shy about asking how soon we could be out of here." Nathan played with the edge of the blanket, chewing on his lip, questions starting to swirl in his brain. "Lay out all the cards here, Kristin. Is it safe for me to return to seaQuest ? Someone is out to destroy me; I may be putting everyone at risk. And there is the whole medical question: what about side effects from the drugs? I can't retain my command authority if I'm reduced to a babbling idiot. It might be best if you tuck me away in a UEO safe house."
"Now, Nathan, you know that I know that isn't your style. You'd go stir- crazy away from the action. From what you told me, your memory is pretty much intact, which is better than we expected. The only way you're going to get better is by accepting what happened and by moving past this point. Frankly, the crew won't be able to settle down until you're back on seaQuest, in your usual spot."
Seeing that Bridger wasn't reassured by the Doctor's words, Ben added, "Besides, what can happen on a boat in the bottom of an ocean? I don't think you could get better security."
Bridger still wasn't happy about the whole thing, but the others were right. He was already tired of laying flat on his back in a hospital bed after being awake for only an hour but he had no delusions that Kristin would not be hovering over him every minute of the day. On the other hand, he'd at least have the freedom to move around seaQuest, and he would feel more secure on his own boat. If he was lucky, who ever had started this whole thing would crawl back under the rock they had come from.
Kristin moved towards the door. "I'll go make arrangements for transport back to the boat. I also want to make sure I have enough supplies, just in case you decide to pull any medical surprises on me." She hustled off down the hallway, glad to have something to do.
Yawning loudly, Nathan settled back in the bed, feeling exhausted from the conversation. Taking the hint, Lucas moved off the bed into a chair while Ben settled into another chair.
"Sorry, I need to go back to sleep for awhile," Nathan slurred, already half asleep.
"We'll wake you when it's time to leave," Lucas reassured him as started rummaging through the newspaper, feeling better about life.
>Part three to come!!<
**** Karel Black 1999