MacKynzie
5/6
A Hidden Past Part 5
Questions
Lucas Wolenczak exhaled in furious irritation as he gazed at the computer screen. Punching his fist on the desk did nothing to alliviate the tension. It was the next day. The day after that disatrous meeting in the mess. Lucas had thought that he would die right there and then. "Oh, my God! Lucas?!" Gaia had exclaimed. Lucas' blood pressure had shot up to about lethal levels with just that simple cry. She had been so excited about seeing someone that she knew, that Gaia had altogether missed the lightning bolts that were practically shooting out of Lucas' eyes. "Lucas, I can't believe this. Why didn't you ever tell me that you worked on SeaQuest."
Lucas had never gotten oppertunity to answer, however, for the crew jumped in. "You two know each other?" Krieg had asked, interested. "Yeah, we met in New York." Gaia had replied, making the situation ten times worse. Only she hadn't seen it that way and neither had any other of his friends. They never saw anything the way he saw it. They always saw the best in everything. Only Lucas thought it was tradgedy.
Yeah, well, his whole day had sucked big time after that, and Lucas had the feeling that whole week would suck. Actually, the next 6 months would no doubt suck. Gaia wouldn't leave for another 6 months and it wasn't that he didn't like her, or that he didn't enjoy seeing her again, it was just that he never wanted to see her on the SeaQuest. Never wanted her to talk to any of his crewmates about him. She had, after all, seen him smoking. What if she asked Bridger or anyone else about that? It was a moot point, anyway. The big thing was the scar that adorned his hand. When questioned by his crewmates, Lucas always said that it was a sports injury. Sports!? The SeaQuest crew were all either blind or stupid, or maybe both. Seriously, Lucas looked like he played sports about as often as the Detroit Lions won 2 games in a row.
There had also been a couple of bruises on his neck that were faint and barely visible now, but a few a days ago were quite noticeable. What if she thought about it and put two and two together. After all, it wasn't that hard to figure out. Oh, Lucas was a master at hiding his feelings and would never give anything away, but he wouldn't have to.
4 things: he'd been ordered by his mother to leave SeaQuest. It would only take a simple question to Bridger why he had been told to go home and that he'd gone to good old mommy's. A little research would show that Cynthia had a new husband and Gaia would remember the bruises, she was very observant, that much had been obvious to Lucas; and it was a must in the science field. Lastly, everyone knew the elder Wolenczaks hated their son, they'd dumped on a freaking submarine for God's sake!
There was no use rehashing it, Lucas knew that much, but he couldn't stop thinking about it. After the mess hall scene, Gaia had insisted they catch up. Catch with what, Lucas hadn't been sure; they's seen each other less than a week ago! So they'd gone to the Sciece Lab and the moonpool. Gaia had been estactic about Darwin and the vocorder, barely noticing Lucas' frosty looks and attitude. He soon snapped out of it, however, knowing that he had to be normal. So he'd slapped a big smile on his face and made small talk until he thought he was going to puke from all the smiling. Mercifully, Kristen had called Gaia away on some 'urgent' thing that she needed done. He knew how Kristen was and could only pray that she wouldn't talk to Gaia about him and that Gaia wouln't ask any questions. But, then again, Lucas hadn't seen any pigs flying, or swimming, rather, out the portholes, so he knew the chances of that happening were zero. Lucas could only hope to avoid Gaia and somehow not be obvious about it.
Lucas cringed at the thought of Gaia finding out of the abuise and confronting him and then running off to tell Bridger. Bridger probably wouldn't care anyway. He, the rest of them, only saw what they wanted to see. They'd no doubt laugh and yell at him for making a big deal out of nothing. "Nothing." No matter how hard he tried, Lucas couldn't stop thinking about that word. So small, so insignificant, so...empty, so........Nothing. That pretty much summed up his life. Hell, that summed up everything about him. Everything he wasn't and could never be. Bridger said differently, but he knew the truth, they all did. His mother and father sure as hell did, they never had any doubt.
Lucas jumped out of his seat and yanked the long, narrow, foot locker out from underneath his bed and pulled a pack of cigarettes out of it. 'Definitly time for a smoke,' he thought to himself.
He stuffed a lighter in his pocket and put the pack in a little tool box that he needed to look real. As he walked down the corridor to the MagLev, Lucas smiled to himself at his computer genuis. He got off on one of the lowest level and made his way to an old closet-like room that no one ever went down to. It held emergency food rations and the like. Hacking into SeaQuest's main frame, Lucas had managed to disable the smoke detectors and fire alarms and hide the fact that he had done so. If anyone checked, the computer would tell them that all was functioning normally and completely pass over the disabled one. Even on the off chance that someone discovered the hacking, Lucas had made it untraceable to himself. It would look like a simple computer glitch. Maybe a left over result of the virus Lila, the computer virus that had caused so many problems a while back.
Lucas smiled to himself as he produced the key that he managed to swipe from Ben and then replace once he had made a copy. He opened the door to the closet-room, relocked it behind him, and lit a smoke. He even carried a small tool box down with him in case anyone wondered why he was down there so often. He smiled again in pleasure. There was just something pleasing about all the toxic poisons and chemicals circulating inside his lungs. Or maybe he was happy with the knowledge that he was slowy killing himself. That in 50 years he'd be dead. 'That's way too long' he thought, now frowning. He lit another one and chose not to think about it right then. He had other concerns.
How could he ensure that Gaia would never say anything if she found out? Assuming she did, of course. He could kill her. Well, somehow Lucas thought that someone would probably notice. Or.....maybe something else. Maybe Gaia had a secret of her own. Maybe something in her past. Something that would humiliate her and that she would never tell a soul. 'Hmmm, this definitly has possibilities.' Lucas muttered to himself. He quickly squashed out the cigarette and carefully checked to make sure that he had all the butts. Throwing them in the tool box, Lucas grinned to himself. He shut and locked the closet-room behind him. He almost laughed as he made his way to the MagLev. "Well, Miss Romanov, let's go see what you're hiding."
* * *
3:00 a.m. and a certain doctor was still awake. That doctor happened to be one Gaia Romanov. She turned over yet again and looked at the clock. She had been tossing and turning for about 5 hours now. It wasn't that she wasn't tired, it was what she was thinking about, or rather, whom she was thinking about. One Lucas Wolenczak to be specific. Lucas Wolenczak. The name and the face just kept ricocheteing throught her brain. She couldn't stop thinking about the first time they had met, in that little diner. She couldn't stop thinking about the picture of him sitting in the stool smoking and drinking coffee. She couldn't stop thinking about these things, but the one thing that just stuck was when she had the odd scar on his hand and the black and blue bruise that she had seen on his neck. That was what really stuck.
Gaia turned over again. She knew that she had to do something. There was no mistaking the darts Lucas had been shooting out of his eyes, darts that were aimed right at her. He obviously didn't want her to say anything about the smoking. But what if there was something else that he was hoping she'd forget?
Then, something struck her. Something that she hadn't thought about in awhile. She remembered thinking about her past. Something about Lucas had reminded her of herself many years ago.
(From A Hidden Past part 3)
Gaia looked at him. She accepted his answer, and both were left with his or her own thoughts. There was something about him that was very familar. Something she had seen before. Something she could identify with. Something she reconized. Something that she had seen in the mirror every day of her life.
Something she....... hated.
Gaia frowned, she had to talk to Bridger.
* * *
Tim O'Neil frowned as he studied his console. There! Something.......or maybe nothing? There had been an odd beep and when Tim studied his readings there was nothing. He looked at the computer and frowned again. Typing, he called up the sensor readings from only a moment or two ago. The furrow in his brow deepened further as he gazed at the readings. There had been a slight burst of...something. But of what, he didn't know.
Tim checked the current readings and found nothing. 'Hmm,' he thought,'must be my imagination.'
* * *
Lucas' eyes gleamed as he studied the glowing screen intently. He had been up all night working on other computer problems and he had just started his search only 20 minutes ago. Lucas grinned devishly, he had her!
* * *
Gaia's heart raced as she knocked on the door that read Captain Nathan Bridger.
A deep voice called, "Enter."
Gaia slowly turned the handle, as if to delay the inevitable as long as possible. "Captain, do you have a minute?"
Bridger looked up,"Certainly, Doctor, what can I do for you?"
"Well, I'm kind or curious about something, if you're not busy of course." she continued at his nod,"Umm, could you tell me where Lucas went on his shoreleave?"
Bridger looked at her curiously, and suspiciously. "Why do you ask?"
"Umm, just curious. Everyone else was talking so excitedly about their breaks, and when I asked Lucas, he was all hush-hush about it, you know? Is it like a big secret, or something?" Gaia smiled impishly, as if to diffuse the question.
"Lucas went to his mother's for the break. I can't imagine why that would be a secret."
"How long has Lucas been on SeaQuest, exactly?"
"Well, about 10 months. Why do you ask?" Bridger looked suspiciously at her, and Gaia knew not to push her luck with another question.
"Captain, if you must know, I'm really interested in Lucas. How often do I meet a teenager who's got a higher I.Q. then half of the U.E.O. put together?"
"Yes, I guess you're curiousity is understandable, but I suggest that you ask Lucas if you have anymore questions, Dr."
"Thank you, Captain. I understand. I appreciate your time." Gaia smiled at him and backed out the door.
'Whew! That was close,' thought Gaia. She turned around to look at the door. Even the door was imposing. She spun around, only to bump into the one person she most wanted to talk to and avoid at the same time. Confronting him would mean confronting herself again. Remembering things that were best left forgotten. 'Might as well get it over with,' Gaia thought. She had to talk to him, however, no matter her own emotional baggage. She had to see if her suspicions were correct. It was curious, however, the way he was looking at her, grinning like a cat who had just eaten a canary. 'Uh oh, this can't be good.'
* * *
5/6
A Hidden Past Part 5
Questions
Lucas Wolenczak exhaled in furious irritation as he gazed at the computer screen. Punching his fist on the desk did nothing to alliviate the tension. It was the next day. The day after that disatrous meeting in the mess. Lucas had thought that he would die right there and then. "Oh, my God! Lucas?!" Gaia had exclaimed. Lucas' blood pressure had shot up to about lethal levels with just that simple cry. She had been so excited about seeing someone that she knew, that Gaia had altogether missed the lightning bolts that were practically shooting out of Lucas' eyes. "Lucas, I can't believe this. Why didn't you ever tell me that you worked on SeaQuest."
Lucas had never gotten oppertunity to answer, however, for the crew jumped in. "You two know each other?" Krieg had asked, interested. "Yeah, we met in New York." Gaia had replied, making the situation ten times worse. Only she hadn't seen it that way and neither had any other of his friends. They never saw anything the way he saw it. They always saw the best in everything. Only Lucas thought it was tradgedy.
Yeah, well, his whole day had sucked big time after that, and Lucas had the feeling that whole week would suck. Actually, the next 6 months would no doubt suck. Gaia wouldn't leave for another 6 months and it wasn't that he didn't like her, or that he didn't enjoy seeing her again, it was just that he never wanted to see her on the SeaQuest. Never wanted her to talk to any of his crewmates about him. She had, after all, seen him smoking. What if she asked Bridger or anyone else about that? It was a moot point, anyway. The big thing was the scar that adorned his hand. When questioned by his crewmates, Lucas always said that it was a sports injury. Sports!? The SeaQuest crew were all either blind or stupid, or maybe both. Seriously, Lucas looked like he played sports about as often as the Detroit Lions won 2 games in a row.
There had also been a couple of bruises on his neck that were faint and barely visible now, but a few a days ago were quite noticeable. What if she thought about it and put two and two together. After all, it wasn't that hard to figure out. Oh, Lucas was a master at hiding his feelings and would never give anything away, but he wouldn't have to.
4 things: he'd been ordered by his mother to leave SeaQuest. It would only take a simple question to Bridger why he had been told to go home and that he'd gone to good old mommy's. A little research would show that Cynthia had a new husband and Gaia would remember the bruises, she was very observant, that much had been obvious to Lucas; and it was a must in the science field. Lastly, everyone knew the elder Wolenczaks hated their son, they'd dumped on a freaking submarine for God's sake!
There was no use rehashing it, Lucas knew that much, but he couldn't stop thinking about it. After the mess hall scene, Gaia had insisted they catch up. Catch with what, Lucas hadn't been sure; they's seen each other less than a week ago! So they'd gone to the Sciece Lab and the moonpool. Gaia had been estactic about Darwin and the vocorder, barely noticing Lucas' frosty looks and attitude. He soon snapped out of it, however, knowing that he had to be normal. So he'd slapped a big smile on his face and made small talk until he thought he was going to puke from all the smiling. Mercifully, Kristen had called Gaia away on some 'urgent' thing that she needed done. He knew how Kristen was and could only pray that she wouldn't talk to Gaia about him and that Gaia wouln't ask any questions. But, then again, Lucas hadn't seen any pigs flying, or swimming, rather, out the portholes, so he knew the chances of that happening were zero. Lucas could only hope to avoid Gaia and somehow not be obvious about it.
Lucas cringed at the thought of Gaia finding out of the abuise and confronting him and then running off to tell Bridger. Bridger probably wouldn't care anyway. He, the rest of them, only saw what they wanted to see. They'd no doubt laugh and yell at him for making a big deal out of nothing. "Nothing." No matter how hard he tried, Lucas couldn't stop thinking about that word. So small, so insignificant, so...empty, so........Nothing. That pretty much summed up his life. Hell, that summed up everything about him. Everything he wasn't and could never be. Bridger said differently, but he knew the truth, they all did. His mother and father sure as hell did, they never had any doubt.
Lucas jumped out of his seat and yanked the long, narrow, foot locker out from underneath his bed and pulled a pack of cigarettes out of it. 'Definitly time for a smoke,' he thought to himself.
He stuffed a lighter in his pocket and put the pack in a little tool box that he needed to look real. As he walked down the corridor to the MagLev, Lucas smiled to himself at his computer genuis. He got off on one of the lowest level and made his way to an old closet-like room that no one ever went down to. It held emergency food rations and the like. Hacking into SeaQuest's main frame, Lucas had managed to disable the smoke detectors and fire alarms and hide the fact that he had done so. If anyone checked, the computer would tell them that all was functioning normally and completely pass over the disabled one. Even on the off chance that someone discovered the hacking, Lucas had made it untraceable to himself. It would look like a simple computer glitch. Maybe a left over result of the virus Lila, the computer virus that had caused so many problems a while back.
Lucas smiled to himself as he produced the key that he managed to swipe from Ben and then replace once he had made a copy. He opened the door to the closet-room, relocked it behind him, and lit a smoke. He even carried a small tool box down with him in case anyone wondered why he was down there so often. He smiled again in pleasure. There was just something pleasing about all the toxic poisons and chemicals circulating inside his lungs. Or maybe he was happy with the knowledge that he was slowy killing himself. That in 50 years he'd be dead. 'That's way too long' he thought, now frowning. He lit another one and chose not to think about it right then. He had other concerns.
How could he ensure that Gaia would never say anything if she found out? Assuming she did, of course. He could kill her. Well, somehow Lucas thought that someone would probably notice. Or.....maybe something else. Maybe Gaia had a secret of her own. Maybe something in her past. Something that would humiliate her and that she would never tell a soul. 'Hmmm, this definitly has possibilities.' Lucas muttered to himself. He quickly squashed out the cigarette and carefully checked to make sure that he had all the butts. Throwing them in the tool box, Lucas grinned to himself. He shut and locked the closet-room behind him. He almost laughed as he made his way to the MagLev. "Well, Miss Romanov, let's go see what you're hiding."
* * *
3:00 a.m. and a certain doctor was still awake. That doctor happened to be one Gaia Romanov. She turned over yet again and looked at the clock. She had been tossing and turning for about 5 hours now. It wasn't that she wasn't tired, it was what she was thinking about, or rather, whom she was thinking about. One Lucas Wolenczak to be specific. Lucas Wolenczak. The name and the face just kept ricocheteing throught her brain. She couldn't stop thinking about the first time they had met, in that little diner. She couldn't stop thinking about the picture of him sitting in the stool smoking and drinking coffee. She couldn't stop thinking about these things, but the one thing that just stuck was when she had the odd scar on his hand and the black and blue bruise that she had seen on his neck. That was what really stuck.
Gaia turned over again. She knew that she had to do something. There was no mistaking the darts Lucas had been shooting out of his eyes, darts that were aimed right at her. He obviously didn't want her to say anything about the smoking. But what if there was something else that he was hoping she'd forget?
Then, something struck her. Something that she hadn't thought about in awhile. She remembered thinking about her past. Something about Lucas had reminded her of herself many years ago.
(From A Hidden Past part 3)
Gaia looked at him. She accepted his answer, and both were left with his or her own thoughts. There was something about him that was very familar. Something she had seen before. Something she could identify with. Something she reconized. Something that she had seen in the mirror every day of her life.
Something she....... hated.
Gaia frowned, she had to talk to Bridger.
* * *
Tim O'Neil frowned as he studied his console. There! Something.......or maybe nothing? There had been an odd beep and when Tim studied his readings there was nothing. He looked at the computer and frowned again. Typing, he called up the sensor readings from only a moment or two ago. The furrow in his brow deepened further as he gazed at the readings. There had been a slight burst of...something. But of what, he didn't know.
Tim checked the current readings and found nothing. 'Hmm,' he thought,'must be my imagination.'
* * *
Lucas' eyes gleamed as he studied the glowing screen intently. He had been up all night working on other computer problems and he had just started his search only 20 minutes ago. Lucas grinned devishly, he had her!
* * *
Gaia's heart raced as she knocked on the door that read Captain Nathan Bridger.
A deep voice called, "Enter."
Gaia slowly turned the handle, as if to delay the inevitable as long as possible. "Captain, do you have a minute?"
Bridger looked up,"Certainly, Doctor, what can I do for you?"
"Well, I'm kind or curious about something, if you're not busy of course." she continued at his nod,"Umm, could you tell me where Lucas went on his shoreleave?"
Bridger looked at her curiously, and suspiciously. "Why do you ask?"
"Umm, just curious. Everyone else was talking so excitedly about their breaks, and when I asked Lucas, he was all hush-hush about it, you know? Is it like a big secret, or something?" Gaia smiled impishly, as if to diffuse the question.
"Lucas went to his mother's for the break. I can't imagine why that would be a secret."
"How long has Lucas been on SeaQuest, exactly?"
"Well, about 10 months. Why do you ask?" Bridger looked suspiciously at her, and Gaia knew not to push her luck with another question.
"Captain, if you must know, I'm really interested in Lucas. How often do I meet a teenager who's got a higher I.Q. then half of the U.E.O. put together?"
"Yes, I guess you're curiousity is understandable, but I suggest that you ask Lucas if you have anymore questions, Dr."
"Thank you, Captain. I understand. I appreciate your time." Gaia smiled at him and backed out the door.
'Whew! That was close,' thought Gaia. She turned around to look at the door. Even the door was imposing. She spun around, only to bump into the one person she most wanted to talk to and avoid at the same time. Confronting him would mean confronting herself again. Remembering things that were best left forgotten. 'Might as well get it over with,' Gaia thought. She had to talk to him, however, no matter her own emotional baggage. She had to see if her suspicions were correct. It was curious, however, the way he was looking at her, grinning like a cat who had just eaten a canary. 'Uh oh, this can't be good.'
* * *