The IT #7

by KaitlynRose

Cross over, Jonathon Brandis did such a good job in the movie IT, that I thought it was time for Lucas to have a run in with the monster. SeaQuest is exploring an unusual island and find something strange. They bring it on board, not knowing the danger.

Lucas walked across the beach lugging the box of samples Kristin had gathered this morning with
his help. He, Kristin, Dr. Levin, and Dr. Barnes had been on the island for three days studying it's
formation. Every evening they would return to seaQuest, only to get up the next morning and head right
back.

At first he had been excited to come and help out, but he soon learned that it was very boring,
labor intensive work. But Kristin was very interested in the island and the reason for that was simple. Two
months ago it didn't exist. That in of itself wasn't unusual. Islands had been known to form that quickly
when an underwater volcano erupted, suddenly sending forth a massive amount of lava and rock to the
surface. What made this island different was the fact that there was no volcano under it. There was no
scientific explanation for it's sudden existence. The island wasn't located too far away from the coast of
Maine. That was how they were so sure that it hadn't existed before. It would have been pretty hard to
have not noticed an island that was two square miles big after having people sailing and fishing these
waters for the past several centuries

To add further confusion, the island was already covered with plant life. Since it was early
November in Maine it made it even more unusual for the growth of so much vegetation. But then again, it
had been a bit unseasonably warm this year. It was about 60 degrees today. Lucas hadn't even worn a
jacket, just his usual turtle neck, jersey, and jeans. So for the past three days they had taken core samples to
see what type of soil and rock was under the island, and all kinds of vegetation samples to see why
everything seemed to grow so fast here.

The work hadn't been that difficult so far, but today was a whole different story. They were on
the north side of the island today, and it was basically a big giant marsh. The ground was wet and consisted
of thick black mud. Usually you could walk on the big tufts of grass but every now and then they would
come to an era where you had no choice but to walk in the mud.

Lucas was doubly frustrated because he was wearing his brand new sneakers, which were hardly
new now. Dad was going to flip. He had just bought them for Lucas and had them delivered in the last
batch of supplies. Lucas didn't know he would be ankle deep in mud today, but he already knew dad
would tell him he should have worn his old ones anyway.

He looked up at Kristin, she was a mess. Her hands were dirty, as was her face from where she
had wiped the sweat from it. Her clothes were dirty from trying to wipe her hands on them.

"Lucas, I have another crate for you to carry," she called.

"Okay, I'll take it in just a second," Lucas said. He sat down on a large rock and took a moment
to relax. Kristin saw him sitting and decided to join him.

"I can't believe how dirty I am," Kristin said. "I haven't played in the mud since I was six," she
laughed.

"Dad's gonna kill me for ruining my new shoes."

"Well, you should have worn your old ones," she replied. "But I highly doubt Nathan will
actually kill you."

Lucas rolled his eyes. All grown-ups thought alike.

"So do you think this will be our last day here?" Lucas asked.

"I think so. We have more than enough samples to study. What interests me the most is the core
samples. I'm dying to figure out how something that should have taken thousands of years, if not longer,
managed to happen in only two months."

"I have to say, that as much as I'm looking forward to getting off this island, I'm curious to now
the answer to that too."

"Hopefully," she added, "when we get back I'll have the readings from the global satellites. It will
help to clarify any irregularities in the core samples."

"Well, I guess I better carry your crate back to the beach," Lucas said. He got up and lifted the
heavy box and left Kristin sitting on her rock. He sat on the beach for a minute staring out at the ocean. He
felt the water in the ground seep up and soak his jeans.

"Oh, great," Lucas said standing up. Nothing like walking around with a soaking wet butt!! He
couldn't wait to get back on seaQuest. He turned to walk back to Kristin. He was about halfway there
when he heard something. He stopped to listen. It sounded like whispering. He tried to focus on the sound
to see where it was coming from. It seemed to be coming from his right. He walked over that way.

"Hello," he said. If it was members of the science team he didn't want to sneak up on them and
scare them. No one answered, but the whispering seemed louder. He walked about another twenty yards.
He saw one of the markers Dr. Levin had put around their work area. The ground in some areas was
considered to be dangerous so Dr. Levin and the geologist, Barnes, had put up markers.

Lucas was about to turn back when he heard the whispering again. This time he heard it more
clearly. It seemed to be just one voice, but he couldn't tell if it was male or female. It almost sounded like
the voice of a child. He looked behind him to see if anyone was around. He was alone.

"I must be nuts," Lucas told himself. He stepped past the marker and continued to look for who
ever it was who was talking. It didn't take long for the ground to become a lot squishier. He tried to stay
on the grassy tufts because the mud was pretty deep in some places. Lucas was standing on a tuft and
stretched his leg to reach the next one. When he put his weight on the tuft he was surprised when the grass
simply sank into the mud. His leg went with it all the way up to his knee.

"Huh!" Lucas said. He lost his balance and plunged his other foot down into the mud. He raised
his left leg, but all that happened was his right leg sank even deeper. He struggled to get his legs free. If he
could just pull one of them out then he could step back and pull himself out of this. The only problem was
each time he tried to lift a leg all that happened was he wedged the other one in deeper. He saw that he
didn't sink as long as he just stood still.

He looked for something to grab to pull himself out with. The thought of calling for help had
crossed his mind, but he quickly put that thought out of his head. He wasn't in any real danger and he
didn't want to hear the lecture Kristin and Dr. Levin would give him for not following their directions.

There were no trees around him. All he had was tufts of grass and long swamp weeds. He
reached over and grabbed a handful of weeds to pull on. The weeds just popped out of their muddy home.

"Oh good grief!" he exclaimed. He didn't want to do it, but he realized that the only way he was
going to pull his legs out was to sit down on his rear and lift them up out of the mud. Then he'd be able to
crawl on his belly back to more solid ground. He was pretty sure that was the way you were supposed to
do it. By the time he was done he was going to be covered head to toe in mud.

He sat down and started to lift his legs up. It looked like it was going to work fine, but then
suddenly the mud seemed to get thinner. His movements must have churned up more water. He felt his
rear sink into the mud and the next thing he knew he was standing up again, only now he was up to his hips
in it.

'Okay,' Lucas thought, 'this is not good. This is definitely not good!' Once again he stood still.
He gave up on the idea of getting out of this on his own.

"Help!" Lucas called. "Kristin, Dr. Levin! Somebody help me! I'm stuck!" He waited for
someone to answer him, but no one did. They must be too far away, he realized. Great, this just keeps
getting better and better. Now it looked like he was going to have to wait until someone realized he was
missing and started looking for him.

"Help! HELP!" Lucas tried again. "Damn it, somebody help me!" He wanted out of this. He
was embarrassed for having gotten himself into this situation in the first place. He could just hear it now
when this got around on the boat. Ben and Miguel would tease him for weeks for this screw up!



Kristin walked down to the beach and set down another box of samples. She saw Dr. Levin and
Dr. Barnes there.

"Well, gentlemen, I think it's safe to say we have samples of just about everything we could
need," she said.

"I agree," Levin replied. "I say we get out of this swamp and go home."

"Sounds wonderful," Kristin said. "Where's Lucas?"

"We haven't seen him in hours. I thought he was with you," Barnes told her.

"He was, but he brought a crate to the beach and he never came back. I assumed he ran into you
and was helping you now," she replied.

"Looks like we better go find him," Levin said. "Barnes, stay here just in case he comes back. I
don't want him to take off again if he doesn't see any of us." Actually, Levin just didn't want to spend
another minute with Barnes. The man might be a great geologist, but he was a real pain.

"Okay," Barnes said. Traipsing off through the marsh looking for the Captain's brat wasn't
something he wanted to do anyway.

"We should head back in the direction I was last in. He might have tried to get back to me and
gotten turned around or something," Kristin said. They started walking.

"Lucas," they both cried out once they had went a little ways.



Lucas figured he'd now been stuck for at least a half an hour. His voice was getting hoarse from
yelling. He noticed he had sunk a couple of more inches, but he didn't pay it much mind. He knew there
was no such thing as real quicksand. That was only in the movies. He might sink a little more, but
eventually his buoyancy would allow him to float.

Maybe he could still wiggle his way out of this, he suddenly thought. He had been staying still out
of fear, but if he would eventually float, then he really had no reason to be scared. If he churned up more
water he might be able to swim out of the mud.

He began to move his legs again. It was difficult to do since he had settled in so deep. He grunted
with the effort it took to move. He started to rock side to side. He could see it was working. The mud was
starting to get more watery. All his moving had caused him to sink to his waist. It made him nervous, but
he found that he could now move his legs easier, almost like treading water. He tried to grab at something
to pull himself out with but everything he pulled came lose in his hands. He felt himself losing his balance
and he put his arms down to steady himself, submerging them up to his elbows.

"That was smart," he said to himself. He was growing tired from the exertion so he held still
again to give his muscles a chance to relax. The mud now touched the bottom of his rib cage. He figured
he'd be floating now any second. He started to move again, using his legs and arms to stir up the mud. He
stopped when his hand hit something solid under the surface.

He wrapped both hands around it trying to figure out what it was. It was in the shape of a
rectangle from what he could feel. He began to pull at it, trying to work it to the surface. His curiosity
temporarily displacing his unease about his situation.

He found that he had to move the rectangle thing slowly. If he lifted to fast he forced himself
down farther. The thought of sinking even deeper than he already was made him nervous. Fear took hold
again.

"HELP! PLEASE, KRISTIN, DR. LEVIN, HELP ME!!"



"Did you hear that?" Levin asked.

"What?" Kristin replied.

"This way," Levin said. Kristin followed him. They stopped when they got to a marker.

"He wouldn't have gone any farther," Kristin said.

"Help! Help me!"

"Lucas!" Kristin said. She and Levin continued on towards Lucas' voice. "Lucas, where are
you?!"

"Here! I'm here! Help me. I'm sinking!" Lucas wasn't exaggerating. He realized that he really
was sinking. Stirring up the mud must have been a mistake, but still, why wasn't he floating. 'This is
crazy,' he thought. He was holding completely still but he was slowly moving down. The mud was
climbing up his shoulders. It seemed that he was sinking faster now.

"Lucas!" Dr. Levin called.

"Hurry!" Lucas yelled. "Please, I'm here." He lifted his head up as he felt the wet muck creep up
his neck. 'God, they're not going to find me in time,' he thought. "HELP ME!"

Just then he saw Kristin and Levin come into sight.

"Lucas," Kristin gasped.

Levin was already down on all fours pushing himself towards Lucas.

"Give me your hand," Levin said. Lucas stretched his arm as far as he could.

"I can't reach," he said desperately. "I'm gonna go under." It was touching his chin. Levin
crawled out further until he could finally grab Lucas' hand. Kristin had her arms wrapped around Levin's
legs acting as an anchor.

"I've got ya!" Levin said as he grabbed Lucas' wrist. He began to pull Lucas forward. "Lucas, I
want you to grab my arm and use me to climb out."

"Okay," Lucas said timidly. He grabbed the man's arm and pulled as hard as he could. He felt the
suction break as he started to make progress. He reached at Levin's back and grabbed a handful of his
shirt. When he was about halfway out he grabbed the man's belt. Levin then wrapped his arms around
Lucas' waist and gave a good jerk and finally Lucas was lying flat on his belly like Levin was. Lucas
crawled to Kristin and together they pulled Dr. Levin back.

Kristin hugged Lucas fiercely and kissed his forehead. "Thank god we found you in time," she
said as she planted another kiss on top of his head.

"I'm sorry," Lucas said. "I shouldn't have wandered off."

"You better be sorry," Kristin said, releasing him. She was now in full maternal mode. "Just what
the hell were you thinking? You knew what the markers were for and yet you still wandered away! You
almost got yourself killed!"

"I'm sorry," Lucas repeated, looking at the ground, to ashamed to look her in the face. "Thank
you, Dr. Levin, for pulling me out." Levin didn't reply, he seemed to be looking at something.

"Come on," Kristin ordered. "We're going home."

"Wait," Levin said. "What's that?" He was looking at something that was floating in the mud.

"It's a box or something," Lucas said. "I felt it when I was stuck. I don't know what it is." He
looked at the box and the thought crossed his mind that the box was floating. Why didn't he float? What
had he done wrong to cause him to sink like he did?

"You two hold on to my legs again," Levin said. He didn't wait for them to say anything, but just
started crawling out again. He wrapped both arms around what ever it was. "Pull," he said.

Kristin and Lucas had to struggle to pull him back since they had the added weight of the box, and
the fact that Levin couldn't help them at all since he was holding the box. Finally Levin was on somewhat
solid ground again. He wiped the mud off the box to get a better look at it. The box wasn't very big, only
about a two feet long and maybe a foot wide.

"What is it?" Kristin asked.

"Well," Levin said. "it's a metal box. Looks to be made out of steel. He tried to open it but it
was locked. I guess we can open it when we get back to the boat."

The three of them walked back to the beach, careful to retrace their own footsteps so they didn't
end up in any more quicksand. They were all covered in muck, but Lucas felt like he was carrying an extra
twenty pounds on him. He had mud in places he didn't even want to think about. So much for his
sneakers. They had decided to stay in the bottom of the mud pit he had been in.



"What happened to you?" Barnes asked when he saw the three approach.

"Later," Levin said. He placed the box on the ground next to their samples.

Lucas walked over to the water and plunged right in. He shot up out of the water and gasped at
how cold it was, but he finally adjusted to the temperature. He started scraping the dirt off of him. He
pulled off his shirts and tried to rinse them out. Seeing it was a lost cause he used it instead to wash the
mud off of him. He also took off his dirty socks and let them sink under the water. He walked up on the
beach again, soaking wet but at least somewhat cleaner, clad in his jeans and nothing else.

Kristin had washed her arms off in the water and wiped away some of the grime on her face.
Since she couldn't strip down like Lucas could she guessed she just have to wear her dirty clothes until they
got back.

"Ready to go home?" she asked Lucas.

"Yes," he replied. He was shivering slightly. "Are you going to tell Dad?"

"Yes."

"Do you have to?" he asked her.

She gave him one of her famous glares and said flatly, "Yes, I have to. Besides, look at us. Don't
you think he'll figure something happened."

Lucas nodded. He saw the launch surfacing on the shore. His dad got off along with Ensign
Woods and Ensign Burk. He watched Levin and Barnes start passing crates to the Ensigns who then put
them into the shuttle.

Why did his dad have to come pick them up? He hadn't on the other days. He had simply met
them in the launch bay. Lucas would have to mark this down as one of the most pathetic days of his life.
Nathan walked over to Kristin and Lucas with a confused look on his face. "What happened?" he
asked.

"Lucas," Kristin said.

"I, uh, well, I had a little accident?" Lucas said.

"What kind of an accident?" Nathan asked.

"I fell into a mud pit. Dr. Levin and Kristin pulled me out."

"How did that happen? I thought the ground had been marked off," Nathan asked, looking at
Kristin. Kristin elbowed Lucas.

"I went past the markers," Lucas confessed. "I heard whispering. I thought someone was there. I
thought I was being careful, but then I got stuck. I tried to get out but I guess I should have held still, cause
then I started sinking, and, well, anyway, I'm okay." Lucas was talking a mile a minute.

"Just how far did you sink?" Nathan asked, not sure if he really wanted to know.

"Up to my chin," Lucas replied quietly.

Nathan went white as a sheet. "Why did you go past the markers? It's a wonder you didn't drown
out there. How do you think I would have felt if you had and we never found you, if I had never known
what happened?" Nathan didn't mean to yell at the boy, but his fear at what had almost happened made
him lash out. "I expect you to use better sense from now on. Do you hear me!?"

"Yes, sir," Lucas replied. "Uh, I also lost my new sneakers." He figured he may as well get that
out of the way, too. Why wait just to get yelled at again later.

"Lost them?" Nathan replied, raising an eyebrow.

"When I got pulled out of the mud, they sorta stayed behind."

Kristin tried to keep her face straight but she couldn't help the small smile that was forming in the
corners of her mouth. Lucas was squirming under Nathan glare. Nathan ran a hand through his hair and let
out a long sigh.

"Get on the launch, now!" he ordered in no uncertain terms. Lucas quickly scurried off, head
hung low. He almost looked like a dog with it's tail between his legs.

"I swear, that kid's gonna be the death of me," Nathan exclaimed. "I can feel a whole new patch
of gray hairs forming as we speak. Was it really as dangerous as it just sounded?"

"When we finally found him he really was sinking. I don't know why he didn't float. All I can
guess is he panicked and started to thrash around. I hate to think what might have happened if Levin and I
hadn't gotten to him in time. But he's okay. I think he's more upset that he made you angry than he is
over what happened."

"He's too curious for his own good."

"No he's not. When you were fourteen didn't you do things and go places your parents forbade,
just to see what was there?" she asked him.

Nathan suddenly had a very guilty looking face on. The memory of him and his friends playing
on the railroad tracks, dodging trains suddenly came to mind. "Yeah, I guess I did my fair share of really
stupid things as a kid, too."

They walked back to the launch and helped the others to finish loading up their materials. When
they were done Nathan boarded and saw that Lucas was sitting in the back by himself. He had his knees
drawn up and his arms wrapped around his legs. Lucas stared at the floor, careful to avoid Nathan's gaze.

Nathan grabbed a blanket from one of the overhead compartments and went to sit next to Lucas. He
wrapped the blanket around Lucas' shoulders.

"Thanks," Lucas said, still not looking at him. "I'm sorry I wandered off, and I'm sorry I lost my shoes."

"Don't worry about the shoes, they can be replaced. You on the other hand, well, I'm glad to say
that there's only one of you, and that I can't replace. I'm sorry I yelled at you, but"

"It's okay," Lucas said. "I deserved it."

"Maybe, but I'm sorry anyway, and Lucas, you are so totally grounded." Nathan said, smiling now.

"Yes, sir," Lucas said. He felt a little better when his dad wrap an arm around his shoulders.


________________________________________



Lucas stepped out of the shower in med bay. This was the only one on the entire ship that actually
used water. Kristin had told him to use it since it was pretty obvious an ion shower wasn't going to cut it.
He quickly toweled off and put on his clean clothes.

He walked out of med bay and headed to his room. When he walked inside he was surprised to
see Tim messing with his computers.

"Tim, what are you doing?" Lucas asked.

"Captain's orders," Tim replied. "I was ordered to come and take all the keyboards out of here. I
take it you did something bad today to get punished."

"Yeah, I sorta screwed up big time," Lucas admitted.

"So what did you do?" Tim asked.

"Promise you won't tell anyone," Lucas asked.

"Promise."

"I ignored the markers set up telling where the ground wasn't safe. I ended up falling into
quicksand and getting stuck. Dr. Levin and Kristin had to come get me out."

"I bet that was no picnic," Tim laughed.

"You can say that again! I got reamed by Kristin first, and then dad, too! Plus, I lost my shoes.
They're sitting at the bottom of a mud hole. Now I'm losing my keyboards. I doubt this day could get
much worse."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, Captain said that these could come back in three days, so he
must not be too mad. Last time you lost them for a week if I remember correctly."

"Uh huh," Lucas replied.

"Well, see ya later," Tim said. "Are you coming to Krieg's movie night?"

"No, I don't think I should. I think I better play it safe and just go to sleep tonight," Lucas told him

"That would probably be wise," Tim said, then he left the room.

Lucas sat on his bed. Great, he was supposed to log on tonight to play a game against Wolfman
and Juliana. Oh, well, there was nothing he could do about it now. He pulled out his old shoes and put
them on. He might as well go to the lab and see what Kristin was doing with the samples.

He left his room and smiled as he saw Darwin following through the corridor. "Hey Darwin,"
Lucas waved at his friend. He walked into the moonpool to pet the happy dolphin.

"Lucas play," Darwin said.

"Not now, Darwin. Maybe later. I'm sorta in trouble," Lucas told him

"No trouble, play," Darwin said.

Lucas smiled. He picked up Darwin's ball and tossed it to him. Darwin whacked it with his nose
and tossed it back to Lucas. Lucas tossed it once more. This time the ball landed in the water and Darwin
played by himself with it. Lucas went next door into the lab.

He saw Barnes and Levin looking at the metal box they had found.

"Haven't opened it yet?" Lucas asked.

"No, not yet. We were just getting ready too," Levin said.

Barnes ignored the boy. He couldn't figure out for the life of him why a kid was on a UEO sub.
So what if the kid was good with computers? Who cared? Truth be told, he resented the kid being here.
He had to work for fifteen years to get a good position like this. Then here comes a kid who hadn't even
turned fifteen and just gets set in the middle of the best ship in the navy cause his IQ was through the roof.
He didn't care who Lucas' father was, Wolenczak or Bridger, it just didn't seem fair to him.

Lucas moved a little closer to Levin to get a better look. He didn't like being around Barnes,
mostly cause he knew Barnes didn't like him. The box had been cleaned off and he could see that it was an
ordinary steel lock box, the kind you'd keep your important papers in. Across the top was wrote a single
word. "IT" The word had been scratched into the metal.

"What does "it" mean?" Lucas asked.

"I thought you were the genius," Barnes said.

Lucas ignored the remark. He was used to some grown-ups treating him like that. Kristin on the
other hand didn't seem to appreciate it too much. She had just walked in and caught the flippant comment.
She glared at Barnes, but he just returned the look.

"Lucas, why don't you go and start cataloging some of the plant samples," she told him.

"Yeah, sure," he said. He turned to leave when he suddenly heard a familiar sound. It was the
whispering again. He turned back to see where it was coming from. "Do you hear that?" Lucas asked.

"Hear what?" Kristin questioned. She watched Lucas move over to the box. He put his ear to it.

"Something inside this thing is talking," Lucas said.

"Lucas, that's not possible," Levin said. He didn't say it in a condescending way or anything, just
matter of factly.

"Can't you hear that?" Lucas asked again. There was definitely something alive in there.

"Lucas, darling, go on and start the cataloging," Kristin said. "The box will be open soon enough
and then we'll know what's in there."

Suddenly, Lucas didn't want the box opened. He wished he could take it and dump it back into
the pit it came from. 'Why don't they hear that?' he thought to himself. He turned and left the room. He
didn't want to be there.


_______________________________________



Alex Dembrough was sitting in front of his computer working on his new story. Like his father,
he was a writer, and like his father Bill, he wrote horror novels. He knew where his love for the work came
from. It came from a town call Derry. He had never even been there, but he knew the town well.
It was strange that his dad didn't even remember the events of his own life. He had wrote a book
all about the 'it' and the seven Losers, using different names of course, but he truly thought it had been a
story of his own imagination. He didn't even remember ever living in Derry. None of the remaining
Losers remembered what they did in the summer of 1956, and then again in 1985. But somehow he did.
He had always known. It had been like he was born with the knowledge from birth. Mike Hanlon had
been the light house keeper for over thirty years, but then when they beat "it" in '85 he had been released
from his curse. When Alex had been born in '86, his had just begun.

As a child growing up he had had dreams, nightmares, about seven kids fighting a monster, and
trying to survive the local bullies. Then came the dreams of the five adults who once again went into the
sewers of Derry to fight their it once more. They thought they had won this time. Unfortunately, a single
egg had escaped undamaged. As time passed, Alex realized that they weren't dreams, but memories.
Somehow his father subconscious memories had been given to him. His whole life he had known that a
time would come when he would have to fight it. It seemed to happen about every 30-35 years. The last
battle had taken place in 1985. The new battle was about to happen in 2018. It was 33 years later. It was
right on time.

As usual, he didn't know how or why, but he just felt it was happening. Someone had found it.
He stood up and turned off his computer. He went to the phone and called the air port. He needed a flight
to Maine tonight.

Once the ticket had been ordered he ran upstairs to pack, quickly tossing his dad's book "The It"
into his carry on. He would reread some of it on the flight. He wanted to have all the details fresh in his
head before he had to face it.


____________________________________________



Kristin watched as Levin and Barnes finally managed to unlock the box. She wouldn't be
surprised to find it full of junk. It was probably something someone tossed over the side of their boat and it
sank to the ocean floor. When the island rose up out of the water it lifted the box with it.

Levin put the tool kit down and started to lift the lid. Just then the top flew back and something
jumped out of the box. Kristin screamed when she saw a strange looking spider walking on the work table.
The spider was at least a foot tall and about a foot and a half wide.

"Trap it," Barnes yelled.

Kristin couldn't move. The thing scared her terribly. Levin picked up an empty aquarium and
tried to set it down over the arachnid, but it was too fast. It scurried off the table and across the room.
Kristin screamed again and found herself jumping up on the table to avoid the thing. Even the two men
backed away from it. The spider scrambled up the wall and into the heating duct.

"Oh no!" Kristin groaned. "We'll never find it now. There are miles of duct work on this boat."

Levin pulled a chair over to the ducted and looked inside. He could see the spider making its way
through the duct. It was strange, but it looked like the spiders stomach was giving off light.

"What the hell was that?" Barnes asked.

"I've never seen anything like it," Kristin replied.

"Me either," said Levin.

"We have to inform the Captain," Kristin said. "We don't know what that thing is, if it's
poisonous, or what." She quickly grabbed her PAL and ordered Nathan to the lab, along with a security
team.

Lucas was sorting the plants when he saw all hell break loose. Security was racing through the
corridor, and then he saw his dad with Commander Ford following after. He wasted no time running out of
the room to catch up and see what was happening. He hurried into the lab and saw Kristin talking to dad.
Levin and Barnes where telling security about something in the heating ducts.

"Where did it come from?" he heard his dad ask Kristin.

"It was in the box. It was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen," she replied.

"I told you that something was talking in that thing but you didn't believe me!" Lucas exclaimed.

Nathan and Kristin both turned to look at him.

"Lucas, it was a giant spider," Kristin said. "Spiders don't talk."

"A spider?" Lucas was confused. "You called security for a spider?"

"Lucas, the thing is a foot tall and twice as wide. It's hardly just an average run of the mill spider.
We don't know if it's poisonous, or if it's even a spider for that matter."

"Lucas, I want you to go to your room," Nathan said. The world was crazy enough at the moment.
He didn't have time for Lucas' stories of hearing the thing talk.

Lucas rolled his eyes. "Fine!" He marched out of the lab and stormed off. He headed into the
moonpool first. As usual, Darwin was there waiting for him.

"Bad thing," Darwin said.

"What's a bad thing?" Lucas asked.

"It's here," came the dolphin's response.

"What's here?"

"It."

"Darwin, you're not making sense. What is the it?"

"It," Darwin said again. "It hurt Lucas."

"Darwin I'm not hurt," Lucas said.

"It hurt Lucas," Darwin repeated. Lucas was surprised by how agitated Darwin was.

"Darwin, calm down. I'm okay, see." Lucas made a point of standing up and turning around so
Darwin could see that he was fine.

"It," the dolphin said once again, and then he swam off, leaving a very confused and slightly
unsettled Lucas behind. He slowly walked out of the moonpool and went to his room.

He changed for bed, but he realized that he didn't want to be alone in his room. Between almost
drowning in quicksand, hearing that a giant spider was loose on the ship, and Darwin's strange behavior,
Lucas definitely did not want to be alone tonight. He pulled on his robe and his slippers and headed for
dad's room. He knew that he wouldn't be there, but somehow just knowing that he would be coming
helped.

Lucas opened the door and stepped into the room. He turned on the holo-projector so he would
feel like someone was with him.

"Good evening, Lucas," the professor said.

"Hi," Lucas replied. It always felt a little strange talking to this thing.

"What can I do for you tonight?"

"Talk to me," Lucas said.

"What do you want me to tell you?" the professor asked.

"Do you tell stories?" Lucas asked.

"Yes, I have 532 different works of fiction stored in my program. Is there anything specific you
would like to hear?"

"Um, do you have Mutiny on the Bounty?" Lucas asked.

"Yes, I do. Shall I start at the beginning?"

"Yes," Lucas told him. He laid back on his cot, snuggling under his blankets, and listened to the
story. He stayed awake for quite some time, but eventually the professors words lulled Lucas to sleep.


______________________________



It was late when Nathan finally decided to turn in. The security team had been unable to trap the
spider so far. It made him nervous knowing that thing was on his boat. He hadn't even seen it, but Kristin
had been truly frightened of it, and she usually didn't scare easily over things like this. He walked to
Lucas' room to check on him. He had been rather short with Lucas in the lab, but he really did need him to
leave so he could focus on organizing the search for what ever it was running through the ducts.

He opened Lucas' door slowly so as not to wake him if he was asleep. He was shocked to see that
Lucas' bed was empty. He looked up to see Darwin in the aqua tube. The dolphin was behaving strangely.
Nathan found himself heading to the moonpool. Perhaps Lucas was there and that's why Darwin was
acting like he was.

Darwin followed him as he moved through the corridor. Finally he rounded the door and saw a
familiar gray head poke up out of the water.

"Hey, fish face, what's up?" Nathan asked him.

"It," Darwin said. "It here. It here."

"It what?" Nathan asked.

"It. It hurt Lucas. It hurt Lucas."

"Darwin, what hurt Lucas?" Nathan asked, already reaching for his PAL.

"It," the dolphin responded.

Nathan turned on his PAL, "Kristin."

In a moment her heard her voice, "Nathan what?"

"Is Lucas with you?" he asked.

"No. I haven't seen him since you told him to go to his room."

"Alright, thanks. Mr. O'Neill, please page Lucas' PAL," he ordered.

"Aye, sir." After a moment O'Neil came back on, "He's not answering his page."

"I want a security team to start looking for Lucas. Darwin says he's hurt."

"Yes, Captain."

Forty minutes later there had still been no sign of Lucas. Nathan was just getting ready to order a
second team when suddenly he thought to check his own room. He took off running down the corridor and
threw the door open. There he saw Lucas sound asleep. The lights were on and the professor was still
narrating the story. He breathed a sigh of relief and grabbed his PAL.

"Cancel the search. I've found Lucas," he said. He felt like smacking himself upside the head.
He should have thought to look here first. He walked over to the professor.

"What story are you telling?"

"Lucas asked me to read Mutiny on the Bounty to him. I am currently in chapter 6 if you would
like me to continue."

"No, that won't be necessary," Nathan said. Then he turned off the projector. He walked over to
Lucas to check on him. His heart was still beating rapidly from the scare. He wondered why Darwin had
said that Lucas was hurt. Lucas was fine. Lucas was in better shape than he was at the moment. God he
was exhausted. He went to the bathroom to change and then came back out. He gladly turned out the
lights, climbed into his bed and went to sleep.


_______________________________



It walked through the tunnels of it's new home. It was weak. It needed to feed and soon. Only
then could it gain it's strength. It was young, so it's abilities were untrained, but that would change now
that it was free. It looked out the duct into the dark room. It heard it's victim breathing. It climbed down
the wall and across the floor to where it's meal lay. It stopped when it sensed movement, but after a second
the prey lay still once again. It climbed up on the bed and moved towards it's victim's throat. Like all life
it had been born with it's basic knowledge of survival.

It smelled the blood that lay just under the flesh. Moving carefully so it's prey wouldn't have a
chance to fight back, it positioned itself, and then bit down savagely into it's throat, hitting the vein.

The prey let out a gurgled scream, and then fell silent as the blood was quickly drawn out. It felt
it's body grow as the liquid filled it. This had been it's first taste. The liquid was good, but it knew there
was better. This one was full grown. The blood of the young would be better. When it was stronger it
would seek out the young and devour their life force. Then it would truly grow strong. Then it would be
unstoppable.


_______________________________



Alex departed his airplane. He walked over to a newsstand to buy a local paper. He quickly
scanned through the pages to look for any stories that were unusual. On the second page he saw it. The
headline said, "UEO is Investigating the Strange Appearance of New Island Off the Coast." He quickly
read the article and saw that the island had only been there for two months, that it appeared to have grown
right out of the seafloor. 'The ocean,' he thought. What would it be doing in the ocean. He knew that it
had protected one of it's eggs. It had been afraid of the five that attacked it. It had known there was a
chance it would lose even though it didn't want to believe it, so it had put the one egg in a safe place. But
he had always thought that that safe place would have been underground, in the many sewers and tunnels
under Derry.

Then he understood. Of course, it flooded. The tunnels flooded and it washed the egg out to sea.
It had 33 years to drift in the currents. He could take a boat out to the island, but something told him it
wasn't on the island anymore. It was free, and it was getting stronger. He could feel that the thing was
growing. Who ever the UEO sent to the island now had it, or rather, it had them.

He needed to contact the vessel inspecting the island. He needed to call a certain friend of his.


___________________________________



"Dad, help!" Lucas cried. He was chest deep in the quicksand.

"Lucas, hang on," Nathan told him. He was trying to reach the boy. He stretched his arm as far
as it would go.

"I can't reach you," Lucas said. He was sinking fast. Nathan grabbed some of the vines growing
around them. He tossed it out to Lucas.

"Grab it," he ordered. "I'll pull you out." Lucas grabbed the vine and held on. He was in up to
his chin. Nathan started to pull. Lucas rose about an inch when the vine broke.

"NO," Nathan yelled.

"Dad," Lucas cried. His face went under while his hands grasped at the air. Nathan tried
desperately to reach Lucas' hand. He watched in horror as it finally disappeared under the surface.



"Lucas!" Nathan shouted as he sat up in bed. He drew ragged breaths and tried to get the image
out of his head.

"Dad," Lucas said, startled. "Are you okay?" He was sitting up in his cot staring through the
darkness.

"Yes, yes, I'm okay." He turned on his bedside light and stood up. The adrenaline was pumping
through him and he need to stand up and walk for a second.

"What happened?" Lucas asked.

"Bad dream. I'm okay, you go back to sleep," Nathan told him.

"That's a switch," Lucas said.

Nathan smiled. He walked over and sat down on Lucas' cot. "I'm sorry I woke you."

"Considering how many times I've done it to you it only seems fair," Lucas smiled. "Are you
really okay?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry I ordered you out of the lab last night. Seems like I spent the better part of the
day yelling at you yesterday."

"That's okay," Lucas said. "I know the difference between 'I'm yelling at you cause I love you'
vs. 'I'm yelling at you because I'm going to hurt you."

"I'm glad you know that I would never hurt you," Nathan said.

"I do. Did you find Kristin's spider?"

"No, security is still looking for it. It's going to be a job trying to find it. There's miles of ducts
for it to use."

"I think Darwin knows something about it."

"Why do you say that?" Nathan asked.

"When you told me to go to my room, well I went to the moonpool to say goodnight to Darwin.

He was acting really weird. He kept talking about it. He said it was here. Then he said that it hurt me. I
tried to tell him that I was okay, but he wouldn't listen. I never saw him act like that before. I think Darwin was
scared."

"Darwin just about managed to give me a heart attack tonight. I went to your room to check on
you. You weren't there."

"Oops," Lucas interrupted.

"Oops is right. Darwin was there and I went to the moonpool. He said the same thing to me.
That it was here and it hurt you. You didn't answer you PAL when I had Tim page you."

"It must still be in my room."

"I had security spend the next forty minutes looking for you before I finally thought to look in
here."

"I didn't want to be alone. Between what happened on the island, the spider, and then Darwin, I
just felt better coming here."

"I figured as much when I saw Professor Martin reading you Mutiny on the Bounty."

"I figured the professor could keep me company until you got here. I managed to stay awake until
chapter three, but I must have nodded off after that."

"Well, kiddo, we better get back to sleep. I've got a shift in four hours."

"Okay, pleasant dreams," Lucas said, laying back in his bed.

"You too."


_______________________________



It was resting now. It had fed two mores times. It grew fast. It was now twice the size it had been
when first released. It curled itself around the wires and conduit. It would be safe here. It wouldn't need
to eat again for quite a while, now.


_______________________



Kristin was in the lab. She had actually had to make herself enter the room. She found herself
looking into corners and checking cabinets before she put her hand in them. She had always hated spiders
and that thing yesterday had scared the bloody hell out of her.

"Hello," Lucas said, entering the lab.

"Good morning," she replied. "Where were you last night? I heard half the ship was looking for
you."

"I didn't do anything wrong, honest. I was sleeping in dad's room, but unfortunately he went
looking for me in my room."

"Cynthia did that to me once when she was about eight years old. I thought she was outside
playing with her friends. I didn't know it, but she had come in the house and laid down and fell asleep on
my bed. When I went outside to find her, she was no where to be found. I spent two hours and had half the
neighborhood searching for her. Then, she wakes up and comes out on the porch and asks what's up. I had
searched the entire house twice, but never thought to check my room. I don't know who was more
embarrassed, her or me."

Lucas smiled and nodded at the story. "So what do you want me to start with?"

"Well, you could start working on the plants. I need to have them put in the centrifuge and have
the computer look at them at the cellular level to see if there are any differences in them that might explain
for their rapid growth."

"I can do that," Lucas said. He looked up to see Barnes enter the lab. He said hello and headed to
the work table that held the core samples. Kristin walked over to him and started talking with him.
Lucas went to the store room and grabbed a crate of plants.


___________________________



Crocker marched over to Weapons Officer Matthew Phillips quarters. He pounded on the door.
This was the third time in two weeks that the man was late for his shift. The other two times had only been
about ten minutes, but today he was two hours over due. "Phillips, wake up!" When there was no answer
he opened the door and stepped inside. He saw Phillips laying in his bed still. He walked over to the bed
and shook the man's shoulder.

"Wake up, young man." Crocker clicked on the light. "Sweet Mary mother of Jesus," he
exclaimed as he quickly made the sign of the cross. He grabbed his PAL. "I need a security team and a
med team to officer Phillips room. Phillips is dead."



Kristin grabbed her PAL and responded, "I'm on my way." She left the lab with two of her
assistants and hurried off. Lucas really wanted to follow, but he stayed put. He'd just be in the way.
Besides, he'd find out soon enough what happened.

Kristin arrived and entered the room. "My God," she exclaimed when she saw the body. "Is this
the way you found it?"

"Yes, ma'am. I didn't touch a thing," Crocker said.

Kristin leaned over the body and with a gloved hand she touched the dry and shriveled corpse.
She turned its head and saw the massive puncture wound on it's throat, and the small spot of blood on the
pillow case.

"It was a vampire," Crocker said.

"Nonsense," Kristin said. "There are no such things as vampires. We need to move the body to
the med lab where I can perform an autopsy. Chief, I want this kept quiet, at least as quiet as can be. I do
not want the crew thinking that a vampire is on the boat."

"Sure," Crocker said.



Nathan met Kristin in the med lab. "What happened?"

"I've never seen anything like it. Phillips has a deep puncture to his neck, and his body was
drained of blood."

"What did this?"

"Well, while Chief Crocker believes it was a vampire, I have a different idea. Nathan, don't
laugh, but spiders live by sucking the fluids out of other insects."

"You're not saying…"

"Yes I am. Believe me I know how preposterous it sounds, but honestly, there is nothing else I
can think of on this ship that could have done this." Kristin grabbed her PAL when it went off again.
"Westphalen," she said.

"Doctor, we have a problem," came Crocker's voice. "I have two more bodies for you."



Kristin and Nathan took off running. They stepped into Ensign Donna Curtz's room and saw that
her lifeless body looked very much like that of Matthew Phillips.

"Next door Helmsman Amanda Davies is also…" Crocker said. "When they were late for their
shifts Ensign Swift came to get them.

"Where is Ensign Swift?" Nathan asked.

"Throwing up," Cocker replied.

The next several hours seemed to go by quickly. The rooms were searched for evidence, the
bodies moved to the med lab after pictures of the scene had been taken. Nathan couldn't believe that three
members of his crew were dead. It was too unreal, not to mention that they had probably been killed by a
giant spider. This had to be some kind of nightmare.

"Captain," Tim said over his PAL, "You have an incoming call from Admiral Johnson."

"Put it through to the wardroom. I'll take it in there." Nathan went in the room and turned on the
vid-link. "Admiral," he said,

"Captain Bridger, I'm sorry to bother you, but I need to talk to you about something and it's going
to sound a little odd."

"Admiral, after the day I've had, you'd have to work very hard to sound odd right now," Nathan
said,

"Very well, I have an Alex Dembrough who wants to talk to you."

"The horror writer. With all due respect, if he's looking to gather research for a book or
something I really don't have the time for this."

"No, it's not that. He says he can help you. He seems to be under the impression that you have a
problem."

"How so?" Nathan asked.

"I'm going to transfer off and let you talk to him directly." The Admiral disappeared and in it's
place was a man in his 30's.

"Captain, My name is Alex Dembrough and I need to know if you are experiencing anything
unusual right now."

"Define unusual?" Nathan said.

"Sir, you are probably going to think I'm crazy, but I have a feeling there is a monster on your
boat. I don't know if it has killed yet, but if it hasn't it will soon. Did you bring anything on board when
you investigated the island?"

"How do you know about this?" Nathan asked.

"It's a very long story. In fact, it started over 60 years ago with my father. I would very much
like to come aboard. I really need to talk to you."

"Where are you?"

"Maine, I'm on the coast, right across from he island."

"I'll have a launch pick you up in an hour."

"I'll be there," Alex said. "Captain, what ever you do, don't let that thing off your boat. It can't
get on the main land, not again. How many has it killed so far?"

"Three. I'll see you in an hour." Nathan cut the link. He didn't know how this man knew what
was happening here, but he needed answers, and hopefully Dembrough could give him some.



Lucas carried a cup of coffee over to Kristin. "Here, I thought you might need this." She took the
cup form him and smiled.

"Thank you," she said.

"What's going on? Why are three of the crew dead?"

"How did you know about that?" she asked.

"It's a small boat," Lucas replied. Nothing stayed a secret very long on seaQuest. "There's talk
that a vampire is on board sucking the life out of people."

"It's no vampire, Lucas. I think it's the thing that was in that box yesterday."

"But you said it was only like a foot or two big. How could something that size consume so
much, you know, blood?"

Neither Lucas nor Kristin saw that Nathan was standing right behind them in the doorway
listening.

"I'm not sure. Lucas, I want you to hang out around here today. I don't want you alone in your
room at all. Make sure you sleep in Nathan's room tonight."

"Okay," Lucas said. "What about you? Are you going to get a room mate?"

"I'll think of something," she said.

"Stay in our room."

"Lucas, I don't think that would be very appropriate."

"So, you'd be safe."

"Lucas it's not that simple. I'll buddy up with Katie. I'm sure she won't mind."

"Why don't you and dad get married?" Lucas asked. "You love each other. You have for a long
time. What are you waiting for?"

"Whoa, Lucas, listen, it's…it's complicated."

"Why? Why do grown-ups always make things complicated? Sometimes I think I don't ever
want to grow up."

"Lucas, maybe one day Nathan and I will consider getting married, but it's a decision we will
make when it feels right. Getting married isn't something you just jump right into."

"But you two have been together for a long time now. You wouldn't be jumping into it."

"Lucas, it means a lot to know that you want me for a mom, but really, your father and I haven't
even talked about this yet. I don't really think I should be talking about this with you if I haven't talked to
him first."

Nathan quickly stepped away from the door. He didn't want them to know he'd been
eavesdropping. He couldn't stop the smile that crossed his face. He found life so ironic sometimes. He
had been thinking about asking Kristin to marry him, but he hadn't done it yet because he was afraid of
how Lucas might react. He didn't want Lucas to feel threatened by Kristin, that she was replacing him
somehow. As much as he had been thinking of asking her, he knew it was more important for Lucas to
have some stability, so he had decided to wait until he thought Lucas was ready to handle another big
change in his life.

But truth be told, marrying Kristin wouldn't change Lucas' life in any way except that he'd be
able to call her mom. Having Kristin around only helped to make Lucas' life stable. He looked at his
watch. Dembrough would be there in thirty minutes.


_________________________________



It woke. It wasn't hungry, but it felt it needed to move. To start to develop it's abilities. It
crawled through the ducts until it came to a room that would suit it's need. It found what it was looking
for. Inside the small bedroom was a solitary man. The man was tired, so it should be even easier for it to
play. It carefully probed the man's mind, searching what he feared the most. An image began to take
shape in it's mind. Yes, that was it. It carefully crawled out of the duct and down the wall.


Tim O'Neill was getting ready to go to bed. He had just worked a shift and a half and he was
beat. He hated when he pulled night duty. Even though night on seaQuest was a simulated night,
somehow his body still knew when it should be sleeping and when it should be awake.

He unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it on the floor. He was starting to unbuckle his pants when he
felt that something was behind him. He turned around and froze. He blinked his eyes. Surely he was
seeing things. The exhaustion was making him hallucinate. He opened his eyes and saw it was still there.

"Hello, Timmy," the devil said. "You've been a bad boy. Your punishment will be eternal
damnation."

Tim screamed. He turned and ran out the door still screaming. Miguel and Ben were walking by.

"Tim," Ben said. He grabbed Tim by his shoulders and tried to get him to calm down. Miguel
pulled his stunner and went into Tim's room. He looked around but nothing was in it. He stood in the
chair and looked into the heating vent, it to was empty. He went back into the hall.

Tim had crumpled to the floor and Ben was trying to talk to him.

"Ben, it was the devil, I swear. The devil was standing in my room. It came to take me to hell."

"Uh huh," Ben said. "Tim, I think we need to get you to med bay."

"I'm not sick!" Tim shouted.

"I believe you, but your heart is beating a mile a minute and your white as a ghost. Let's just take
you down and get you check out just to be on the safe side," Ben coaxed.

"Fine, then you'll see that I'm not sick and that I'm telling the truth."

"Sure thing, buddy," Ben said. He and Miguel helped him up and walked him down.

Kristin and Lucas were still talking when the three men entered med bay.

"What's wrong?" Kristin asked. She prayed that no one else was dead.

"Uh, Tim seems to have seen something that upset him," Miguel said.

"Was it a giant spider?"

"No," Tim said. "It was the devil. I swear, the devil was in my room."

"The devil? What did it look like?"

"Exactly what I always thought he would look like. Big, red, horns, half bull. I know I sound
nuts, but I saw that just now and I was wide awake when it happened."

"Okay, I tell you what, why don't you just lay down for a minute and relax." She grabbed a blood
pressure cuff and her stethoscope to check his vitals. "Everything seems fine other than an accelerated
heartbeat which is from the fright you just had."

"I told you," Tim said to Ben.

"Is it still in your room?" Kristin asked.

"No," Miguel replied. "I already searched the room."

"I'm afraid that I don't know what to tell you, Mr. O'Neill. If you wish your welcome to sleep
here. Other than that I can't really do anything. I will tell the Captain what happened. Let him look into
this."

Tim just nodded. "I think I will sleep here."

"Fine, you can use that room back there," Kristin pointed. "I'll see that no one disturbs you."

Tim went into the room and shut the door. After a moment the light turned off.

"Doc, you don't really think he saw the devil do you?" Ben asked.

"Honestly, I don't know. Yesterday morning if someone had told me that I'd be blaming the death
of three crew men on a giant spider I would have said they were crazy. I recommend that you two stick
together. Try not to be alone. They both nodded at her and left med bay.

"What's next?" Lucas said, "flying saucers? Little green men?"


______________________________



It laughed quietly to itself. That had been fun. It had fooled the unsuspecting man so easily. The
overly religious and the superstitious were as easy to deceive as children, simply because they believed.
Most adults were too old. Their sense of wonder had long since passed. It didn't know how it knew that,
only that it did. It looked forward to trying it's powers again.

It wished it had a child, but it seemed to be in a place where only adults lived. At one point it had
thought that it had sensed a child's mind in it's mist, but it had turned out to be an animal that lived here. It
was surprised when the animal also sensed it's presence. Somehow the animal knew it.

It was back in the ducts, looking for the next play thing.


_______________________________



Lucas had been busy trying to keep his mind on doing his work. If he concentrated real hard he
could forget that their was something killing people in his home. He wasn't very close with the three who
had been killed, but he did know them. They had all been nice to him. None of them deserved to have that
happen. He only hoped they found that thing before it killed again. It. That's what Darwin had called it.
Darwin knew something.

He saw Kristin in the next room though the glass in the door. She had told him to hang out in the
labs. Darwin was just two rooms over, and it was technically still the labs. He stopped what he was doing
and went to the moonpool.

He hit the side of the pool to call Darwin.


It had been searching for another person to use it's abilities on when it suddenly saw something
that filled it with desire and hunger. Standing just below him was a child. It was an older child, but a child
none the less. It could feel the life force emanating from the boy. It had to have the child. It suddenly
found itself more hungry than it had ever been. It could literally hear the child's heart beating, pulsing his
life giving blood through his body.

It searched the boys mind, looking for what he feared the most. It was shocked when it realized
that the boy wasn't afraid of the typical monsters that children feared. No, this child feared a man. The
boy was terrified of this man. It quietly dropped to the floor from the duct over head. It only took a
moment for it to take the shape of the boy's nightmare.


"Darwin," Lucas called, tapping the moonpool again. He wondered where he was. Usually
Darwin always showed up right away for Lucas.

"What did you do?" the voice of Lawrence Wolenczak yelled.

Lucas spun around in an instant. "No, no, you're in jail," Lucas gasped.

"Lucas, you were bad. You told about family matters. You must be punished." It could see the
terror radiating from the boy. He was trembling, almost paralyzed by his fear.

Lucas watched his father draw near to him. His mind screamed inside his head for him to run, but
for some reason his feet wouldn't cooperate.

"Please, go away. Leave me alone!" Lucas screamed. "Leave me alone!" Lucas backed up just
as his father reached out to grab him. He stumbled over the vocorder lying in the floor. He fell on his rear
and started to back away. He watched as his father, who he had always thought of as a monster, turned into
a real monster before his eyes. Lawrence's mouth opened to reveal razor sharp teeth, and his eyes began to
glow.

Lucas screamed for all he was worth. He felt his father lift him buy his shirt front. Lucas gazed
into his fathers eyes and became still. The light from his eyes, the light was hypnotizing him, taking him
somehow.

"LUCAS!" Ben yelled. He drew his stunner and fired at the thing holding Lucas. It howled in
pain, dropping the boy to the floor. It turned to face it's attacker and saw that two men and a woman were
standing there. Two had weapons drawn. It was afraid.

Ben, Tim, and Kristin watched as the horrible vision of Lawrence Wolenczak stretched upwards,
reaching for the duct. Ben and Tim both fired there weapons at it, but it vanished into the duct, avoiding
the blasts. The three stood frozen, looking at the place where the thing had last been.

Ben was the first to snap out of it. "Lucas," he said. All of them now out of their trance rushed to
the boy who had yet to move since he had been dropped by it.

"Lucas," Kristin said. His eyes were open and he was breathing rapidly, but other than that he was
completely lifeless. "Lucas." Kristin slapped at his face, trying to rouse him. "He's in shock," she said.
She noticed that his face and eyes seemed to had lost all color. "He's hyperventilating. We have to get him
to med bay."

Ben scooped Lucas up and followed Kristin into med bay and laid Lucas down on the stretcher.

"Hold this over his nose and mouth," she ordered Tim. Tim opened the paper bag and did as
ordered. Lucas had started to tremble. Kristin listened to his heart beat. His pulse was racing. She filled a
syringe. "Ben, I need to you hold him still," she said. Ben laid his body over Lucas' using his hands to
grip Lucas arm. Kristin quickly injected him. In a matter of seconds Lucas' body went still and his
breathing evened out. Ben looked back and saw that Lucas was asleep.

"That was a powerful sedative," Tim said.

"It wasn't a sedative, it was a muscle relaxer. I was afraid that he was going to go into cardiac
arrest. He must have passed out."

"Okay, did everyone just see what I saw, cause I saw Lawrence Wolenczak turn into a monster
and try to eat Lucas. Someone please tell me I'm not going crazy!" Tim said.

"I saw it," Ben said.

"As did I. What's worse is Lucas saw it too," Kristin said.

"Fears!" Ben said, snapping his fingers. "This thing, whatever it is, it's using our worst fears
against us. The devil for Tim, Lawrence for Lucas. It terrifies you to the point where you can't fight
back."

"I think you're on to something," Kristin said. She grabbed her PAL and called Nathan.

"Mr. Dembrough, welcome aboard. I'm Captain Bridger."

"Hello, pleasure to meet you," Alex said. "I wish it were under better circumstances."

"As do I. Please, let's go to the wardroom. I'm going to assemble the senior staff so we can
figure out how to fight this thing, presuming you really do know what it is."

"Captain," came Kristin's voice.

"Yes, what is it?" he answered into his PAL.

"Nathan, you need to come to med bay. It attacked Lucas. He's alive, but I think you should be
here when he wakes up."

"I'm on my way," Nathan said. He took off running, Alex following close behind.

"Who's Lucas?" Alex asked.

"My son."

"Son? How old is he?"

"He's 14."

"What the hell is a 14 year old doing on a sub?" Alex asked.

"He lives here. It's a long story."

"Captain, it's not safe for him here," Alex said, still running behind Captain Bridger. "This thing
on your boat, it kills children. It killed your crew members because they were all it had, but now that it
knows there is a child on board, it…it, dear god, a child." He was at a loss for words.

Nathan burst into med bay, rushing to Lucas who was still laying unconscious. "What's wrong
with him?"

"He went into shock. This thing changes shape," Kristin said. "Earlier it went after O'Neill
posing as the devil, because that's what he's most afraid of. Just now, when it attacked Lucas, it turned
into Lawrence, but it was a monstrous form of the man. Sharp teeth, glowing eyes, Nathan it was
terrifying. Lucas watched as his father turned into a monster and it looked like it was about to eat him. I
had to give him a muscle relaxer because I was afraid he was going to go into cardiac arrest."

"Is that why he's unconscious?" Nathan asked.

"No, he passed out. I can wake him, but I wanted you here when I did. I don't know how he's
going to react," Kristin said.

Nathan nodded. Kristin waved smelling salts under Lucas' nose. In seconds his eyes popped
open and he began to scream. Nathan grabbed him and held him tight, pinning his arms down against his
sides.

"Lucas, Lucas, calm down," Nathan said.

"He's here, he's here," Lucas cried, "He tried to kill me."

"No he's not. That wasn't him. It was the monster, or what ever the hell it is," Nathan told him.

"Monster?" Lucas said shaking his head. "Teeth, it had these, these teeth. But the eyes, they
glowed. I felt like I was dying when I looked into them."

"Those are its dead lights," Alex said.

"Huh, who are you?" Lucas asked. His brain was overloading and he leaned his head on his dad's
shoulder.

"How did you make it go away?" Alex asked.

"I shot it with the stunner. I had the stunner set for maximum, and the blast barely did any
damage at all. It hurt it, but no more than hitting your thumb with a hammer. When it looked and saw the
three of us standing there it stretched it's body and rose up into the air to disappear into the air duct. I've
seen a lot of strange things in my life, but that one takes the cake."

"Captain, what is that thing?" Tim asked. "How does it know what we're afraid of? It uses fears
like a weapon."

"Ben, get the senior staff in the wardroom now. Kristin, I want you and Levin there too," Nathan
said, still holding Lucas.

"Yes, sir," Ben said and quickly left.

"Come on, Lucas, you're staying with me," Nathan said. Lucas slid off the stretcher. He clutched
at Nathan's shirt and leaned into him as they walked. Nathan kept an arm around him.

The others who had been in med bay followed them to the wardroom. When Nathan entered the
bridge he saw Ford and Hitchcock look at them, noticing Lucas' obvious distress.

"Captain?" Ford said.

"Commanders, I need you in the wardroom," Nathan said. Nathan led Lucas into the room and sat
him down in the chair next to his. "You okay?" he asked Lucas.

Lucas just nodded his head, and stared at the table. The truth was Lucas was anything but okay.
Seeing his father standing in the moon pool was terrifying, seeing his father turn into the monster he had
always known he was had just about pushed him over the edge. Lucas knew that for as long as he lived he
would never forget seeing that face change into a hideous form. He knew that razor sharp teeth and
glowing eyes would haunt his dreams for a long time.

Slowly, everyone assembled into the wardroom. Since there wasn't enough chairs to go around
Crocker, Shan, and Ortiz stood in the back.

"Everyone, this is Alex Dembrough," Nathan said.

"The author?" Crocker asked. He had read several of the man's books.

"Yes, he thinks he can help us with our problem. Please," he motioned for Alex to take over.

"What I have to say will sound crazy, maybe even insane, but try to keep an open mind to what I
say and let me finish before you start asking questions. There is a monster on your ship. It has the ability
to know your thoughts and fears. It uses your fears to torment and then to kill. Your monster is the sole
surviving baby from the one my father killed over thirty years ago. In 1956, when my father was twelve,
he lived in Derry, Maine, and that was where he first met the monster, along with his friends. It was old,
very old, and it was experienced and cunning. It fed on children. That summer it killed about two dozen
kids before my father and his friends drove it back. They drove it back, but they didn't kill it. In 1985, it
woke again to feed. About every thirty years it would come out to kill, and to collect kids. It stored them
underground, cocooned, so it could feed off them."

Nathan looked at Lucas when he felt the boy take his hand.

Alex continued, "In 85 my father and his friends went back to Derry when they heard that kids
were being murdered again. One of them died, but this time my father managed to kill it for real. They had
been shocked to find eggs. They destroyed all the eggs, but one survived. The monster on your ship came
from that egg. We do have the advantage in some ways, here. One being that we know what it is. My
father had no idea what he was fighting at the time. The second is that it is young. The fact that it failed to
get your son demonstrates that it is inexperienced. The it my father killed would never have come out into
the open to go after a child. His monster would have lured the child to a place where it would be safe to do
what it needed. My father's monster managed to survive for thousands of years without detection."

"How do we kill it?" Ortiz asked. "That's all I want to know."

"The way to kill it is to destroy it's dead lights."

"What's that?" Ben asked.

"The eyes," Lucas spoke. "It's eyes sparkled, like flashlights. They…they looked at me and did
something…I can't explain it."

"When it is in a human form the deadlights are in it's eyes," Alex said.

"But it's on the stomach when it's the spider," Levin said. "I saw it in the duct. It's stomach gave
off light."

Alex nodded his head yes. "When you shoot this thing you have to hit where ever the light is.
But, what ever you do, don't stare into the dead lights. It has the power to steal your mind if you look into
them to long, leaving you a vegetable for all intentional purposes. Plus, it can control your mind, make you
do things you wouldn't do."

"You mean it can force anyone of us to hurt someone?" Levin asked.

"Yes and no. In my experience, the people it controlled already had those emotions, but they
didn't act on them. But if it enters your mind, then it can make you act on feelings you would other wise
suppress. Let's say that for the past two months you've wanted to punch your Captain, but your common
sense tells you that you are to do no such thing, there are consequences. If it enters your mind, suddenly
the consequences won't matter as much, and you'll do what you've wanted to do all along. Does that make
sense?"

"Yeah, it does," Levin said.

"Okay, so somehow we have to lure it out so we can shoot it in it's lights," Crocker said.

"Yeah, but how do we do that. It's in the ducts. It has access to literally the entire ship. This
place is a smorgasbord for it."

"Actually, there is a way to lure it out, but I don't like it," Alex said.

"What?" Nathan said, already suspecting what the idea was.

"It goes after kids," Alex said, looking at Lucas.

"No way!" Kristin almost shouted. Hers was only the first of many protests as everyone in the
room quickly started to express their negative opinions on the idea.

"Quiet!" Nathan ordered. He waited a moment for the room to fall silent. "There has to be
another way, I won't use Lucas as bait," he said to Alex.

"Fine," Alex said. "I've told you all that I know, and how to kill it. What you do from here is up
to you. But realize this, it's wounded, and it probably used up a lot of energy to attack Lucas. That means
it's going to need to feed, soon, if it isn't attacking someone as we speak. The longer that thing is alive, the
more members of your crew it will murder. Also, no one can leave this sub. It has the power to change
shape. You can't risk letting it masquerade as someone else and let it get on the mainland. If it gets on
land, it will start hunting down children, just like it's predecessor. If it were to get in the undergrounds of a
city like New York, there would be no stopping it."

"Dad, I can do it," Lucas said.

"No your not," Nathan replied. "We'll think of something else."

"What?" Lucas said. "There's no time. It's going to kill someone if we don't get it first."

"Lucas, listen to what you're saying," Ben said. "Your asking us to let you risk being eaten alive."

"It's the same risk all of you are taking," Lucas retorted. "Besides, if what Mr. Dembrough said is
true, I don't really have a choice. This thing is going to come for me anyway. If it's going to come, I'd
like to know that someone is watching my back."

"This is nuts," Kristin said. "I want Lucas put in the Stinger right now and off this boat."

"I agree," Tim said.

"No," Lucas said. "As long as you're all close it should be okay. I sit in a room, it comes, you
kill it. The end! No more monster."

"Lucas you know it's not that simple, any number of things can go wrong," Nathan said. "Kiddo,
you may not realize this, but earlier, you went into full blown shock from what happened."

"I didn't know what was happening before. Now I do. Next time when it comes I'll know that it
isn't really Lawrence standing there. No matter what scary thing it turns into I'll know it's not real. Please,
I can do this. You'll all be protecting me. I don't want anyone else to die. This is my home, my family."

"Lucas, I…I just don't know about this. It's too risky," Nathan said.

Lucas could see his dad was weakening. He looked him straight in the eyes and said, "Dad,
please, let me help. Yesterday you were upset cause of what happened on the island. You were upset
cause you were afraid of losing me. Well, how am I supposed to feel if you send me away and something
happens to you or someone else I care about?"

Nathan looked at him. Part of him wanted to grab him and force him into the Stinger and send
him away. Then there was the part of him that was incredibly proud of Lucas' courage. He looked around
the room at the faces of everyone. They were all waiting for him to say something, to make a decision. He
realized that any one of them could be this things next victim. He had a responsibility to all of them, not
just Lucas, but he couldn't help but be protective of Lucas, it just came naturally.

"Fine, we'll do it your way, but this is going to be planned. I want every detail worked out, every
man accounted for. There will be no margin of error here. You will do exactly what you are told and you
will obey or I'll put you in the Stinger and your out of here."

"Nathan, you can't…" Kristin never got to finish her sentence.

"Kristin, stop, I know what you're going to say. I don't like this, but honestly, I can't think of a
better plan that to sit and wait and hope that the next person it goes after has a chance to grab their weapon
before they die."

Kristin didn't say anything else, but the stare in her eyes said plenty. She was furious. As Nathan
looked around the room he saw several upset faces. He pushed ahead, he had to get them focused on the
plan.

"Lucas will be in my quarters. It's the largest room on the boat so there will be room to move.
Plus, there is the bathroom and the closet. Ford, Ortiz, and myself will be in the bathroom, and I want
Krieg in the closet. There will also be a team in the hallway led by Crocker. Kristin, I'm going to want a
med team ready, just in case. The med team can wait in the bridge since it's only a minute walk to my
quarters from there. Hitchcock, you'll have the bridge during this time. Someone has to run the boat. Mr.
O'Neill, I need some kind of signaling device for Lucas. Something he can wear so all he has to do is push
a button to alert everyone to what's happening. Weapons will be set to maximum stun. I don't want Lucas
shot in the cross fire. Once it has been stunned and Lucas is secured, then rifles will be set to kill and the
job will be finished. The main thing is this thing has to believe that Lucas is alone. If it realizes this is a
trap it'll go elsewhere.

"We also have to assume that it might go else where anyways," Nathan continued. "Crocker,
you'll need to have a second team ready to run in case this thing shows up somewhere else, and Dr. Levin
can have a second med team ready and waiting in med bay. Under no circumstances is Lucas to be left
alone. I don't care if the boat is on fire, at the bare minimum I want myself, Ford, Ortiz, and Krieg with
Lucas at all times."

"Captain, if I may, I think it's important that the rest of the crew buddy up. If it can't find anyone
else alone, then it'll have no choice but to go for Lucas," Alex said.

"Good idea. Mr. O'Neill, as soon as you get a device ready for Lucas, start spreading the word
that everyone on board is to be in the company of at least one other person at all times, even for bathroom
trips. Can anyone think of anything else?" He waited, looking at everyone's face. He was pleased to see
that all were now focused on the task at hand.

"Fine, if there's nothing else, let's move. I want Lucas in my room and the plan put into action in
one hour. Dismissed. Lucas you stay here with me and Mr. Dembrough."
Lucas nodded his head. He pulled his knees up and curled himself up in the chair. Nathan knew
the boy was scared. When ever Lucas was scared he curled himself into a ball. Nathan rolled his chair
over closer to Lucas'.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes," Lucas said.

"Are you scared?" Nathan asked.

"Yes, but I know you'll be there." Lucas looked at Alex Dembrough. He had read a lot of his
books, and his father's books. "Sir, this thing that's on the boat, your dad wrote about it didn't he. I read
the book called "The It" and it's almost exactly like the story you told us tonight."

"Yeah, my dad wrote about it alright. What happened to him in Derry haunted his subconscious
all his life. It was where he got the inspiration to write his books. When I was born I inherited it."

"How did you know?" Lucas asked. "I mean, how did you know to come here?"

"I've always known. I can't explain except to say that ever since I can remember I have known
that I would have to fight this thing when the day came. Two days ago I was sitting at home in front of my
computer working on my next book and this feeling came over me and told me it was time. That very
minute I called the airport and got a ticket to Derry. When I arrived I grabbed a newspaper, and that's how
I learned about your island. I just went from there."

"Are any of the other books you and your dad wrote about real things?"

"No, at least not that I know of," Alex said. "I surely hope not," he added with a smile. "You're
very brave you know. I know a lot of grown ups who wouldn't even consider doing what your doing."

"If it were anyone other than the crew looking out for me I probably wouldn't do it, but I trust
them," Lucas said. "Besides, if Kristin gets angry enough, she just might tear that thing limb from limb."

"Was Kristin the one who insisted on getting you off the boat?" Alex asked. He hadn't learned all
the names yet.

"Yeah. What ever you do, don't piss her off."

"Lucas, there's no need for swearing," Nathan said with a smile. Lucas just rolled his eyes which
got a laugh out of Alex. "Although, he's right. Kristin has one heck of temper, especially when it concerns
this one," referring to Lucas. "When this is over I expect to be on the receiving end of her wrath for quite
some time to come for agreeing to this in the first place."

Lucas' stomach growled loudly. He quickly put a hand to it to muffle the sound.

"Lucas, when was the last time you ate?" Nathan asked.

"Yesterday, I think," Lucas replied.

"Lucas, I swear," Nathan sighed. "Come on, let's go to the mess. Please, join us Mr.
Dembrough."

"Sure," Alex said, "and please, just call me Alex."


____________________________________



It was weak. The weapon had hurt it only marginally, but the fear, it had felt a moment of fear and
it had drained it's strength. It quickly moved through the ducts looking for a meal. It needed to replenish
itself and soon.

It was surprised to find that it was also angry. It had been stupid. It had went out into the open to
grab the boy. It had allowed its desire for the young blood to override its sense. It wouldn't make that
mistake again. It would get the boy, yes it would definitely get the boy, but it would be smarter this time.
The adults would try to protect the child. No matter, it would still win.

Finally it came across a room with a sleeping person in it. It dropped down into the room and
quickly climbed up on the bed. It didn't bother with games or illusions, it was to hungry. The man in the
bed never even moved even as it crawled over him. In a second it ripped into it's victims throat and drank.
It only took several minutes for it to drain the body. It felt better, but it still needed more. It had much
work to do if it were going to get its prize, and for that it would need to be at full strength.

Back up in the ducts it searched for another victim.


______________________________



Kristin organized her medical team. Everyone took their orders without question. It didn't take a
genius to figure out that Kristin was angry, and no one wanted to be on the receiving end of that anger.

Kristin absent mindedly stuff medical supplies into her bag. She couldn't believe that Nathan had
agreed to do this. To deliberately put Lucas in danger! Honestly, she thought Nathan had more
intelligence than this! She forced herself to sit down for a moment and to just breath, trying desperately to
calm her frayed nerves.

She looked around and saw that she was alone in med bay. Everyone had had the sense to get the
hell out of her way. She buried her face in her hands for a moment. She had a bad feeling about all of this.
She was experiencing one of those moments of women's intuition, where he entire body cried out that this
was going to be bad.

She raised her head to look around when she heard a small thumping sound, like something had
fallen. She stood up to get a better look. She screamed when she saw the giant spider advancing on her.
She quickly backed up and started to throw things at it. She was surprised by how fast it moved. A clawed
leg reached out and smacked her against her head, sending her flying into the wall. Her head hit the wall
forcibly and she crumpled to the floor. She was still conscious, but she was stunned. She shook her head,
trying to open her eyes. When her eyes opened she saw it standing over her. She screamed again. It
lowered it's head to her neck. She felt it just start to pierce her skin when suddenly people were shouting
and pulling at the thing on top of her. After that she didn't know what happened because she finally
blacked out.

"Get off her," Dr. Levin yelled. He was pulling at one of the spider's legs. Two lab techs were
also with him, doing the same. One of the lab techs grabbed a scalpel and rammed it into the spider's back.

It growled and turned on the lab tech. It raised a leg and punctured the man's chest with it, stabbing
through the man's heart. He was dead before he even hit the floor. Both Levin and the remaining lab tech
stared in horror.

They watched as the spider turned to face them. Without warning the spider shot out a web at
Levin. It wrapped around him and he fell to the floor. It repeated it's actions with the lab tech. Both men
were trapped. It turned to the woman again, but sounds of more people running through the halls drew its
attention. It grabbed the lab tech and dragged him by the webbing. The man screamed and struggled to
break free but the webbing was too strong. In a moment they disappeared into an access tube.

Crocker burst into the room with ten security men. They stopped when the saw Kristin laying in
the floor, blood dripping from her neck, along with a young man who was obviously dead. What was even
stranger was seeing Dr. Levin almost cocooned. Quickly the security cut Levin free of the web and he
rushed to help Kristin.

"Call the Captain," Levin yelled as he applied pressure to Kristin's neck. He wiped the blood
away and saw that the wound thank god wasn't very deep. They had got to her before it could drain her,
but then he looked back at the young man dead in the floor, and he realized that there was a second man
now dead somewhere. They had beat it, but there had been a heavy price.

Levin turned and looked up when he saw the Captain and Lucas enter the room.

"MOM!" Lucas yelled. He started to run to Kristin. Levin intercepted him and grabbed him.

"It killed her! It killed her!" Lucas cried, trying to still get to Kristin.

"No, Lucas, she's okay. She's going to be fine. We stopped it," Levin insisted. Nathan took
Lucas from Levin and Lucas turned and buried his face into his dad's shoulder.

"She really is going to be fine," Levin told the Captain, who looked to be only mildly better than
Lucas. "She hit her head and she has a small cut on her neck, but that's it. When she wakes up she'll have
a headache, but other than that there's no damage."

"Thank you," Nathan said. Then he looked over and saw a man he recognized from Kristin's
staff. "Oh my god," he exclaimed. He felt Lucas start to turn his head to look but Nathan held him tight so
he couldn't see. He knew that Lucas would know the man since he spent so much time working in the labs
with Kristin. He didn't know if Lucas could take much more tonight.

"Dad, what is it?" Lucas' muffled voice asked.

"Nothing," Nathan replied. He turned and pulled Lucas out of the room, keeping the boys face
buried in his shoulder. He saw that Alex was following them.

"I want to stay with Kristin," Lucas protested.

"We can't," Nathan said. "We have to let everyone do their job and help her." He got Lucas into
the hallway and sat down on one of the couches made into the wall. Lucas clung to him fiercely, sobbing
loudly. Nathan stroked his hair and rocked him. He quickly wiped at the tears forming in his own eyes.
He wanted to be with Kristin just as much as Lucas did, but they'd have to wait until the body was out of
there.

"Kiddo, calm down," Nathan said. "She's okay. You heard what Dr. Levin said. She's going to
be fine." Nathan looked up and saw Krieg and Ortiz approaching them. "Ortiz, Krieg, I need you to stay
here with him. Don't leave him and he's not to go anywhere. I want the three of you to stay put right
here."

"Yes, sir," they both said.

"Lucas, I have to go. I have to find out what happened," Nathan said, pulling Lucas' arms off of
him. Lucas nodded and reluctantly let go.

"I want to see Kristin," he said quietly.

"I'll come get you just as soon as I can and you can see her, okay."

"Okay," Lucas replied. Nathan stood up and Krieg took his place, while Miguel sat down on the
other side of Lucas. Once Nathan was sure that Lucas was safe he turned and went back into the med bay.

He saw that two of Crocker's men were already bagging the body to take it to the small freezer
compartment they had in the med lab.

He wondered how many more bodies would be in that freezer before they finally managed to kill
this thing. He walked over to Levin who was stitching up the small cut on Kristin's neck.

"How is she?" Nathan asked.

"She has a concussion, other than that, she's fine. I wish the same could be said for the two men
who tried to help me save her."

"Two men?" Nathan asked.

"Yes, after it kill Scott, it threw webbing at me and Andrews. When it heard security approaching,
it took off in the access tube pulling Andrews with it. I highly doubt that when we find him we'll find him
alive."

Nathan closed his eyes and sighed. Five, that brought the death count up to five. They had to stop
this thing.


_____________________________________



It quickly devoured the man that it captured. It plucked the little knife out of it's back. It was
strong again, but it realized that it was going to need help. There were just too many people in this place
for it to do what it wanted alone. It was still growing, now it was easily four feet tall, but if it could get the
boy's life force, then it would be strong enough to fight everyone in this place.

It began to search for a mind. A mind that it could use and twist and manipulate. Surely there had
to be such a mind in this place. One that didn't care about the boy, one that hopefully didn't even like the
child. It began to feel frustrated when time and time again it felt the adults love and devotion for the child.
Surely there had to be one. It probed the next person it saw in it's mind's eye. Yes! it cried in victory. It
had found a man, a man who resented the child, was even jealous of the boy. Yes, this one it could use. It
hurried off to find him, and start it's plan.


______________________________________



Nathan watched as a crew cleaned up the blood from the room. A hand on his shoulder made him
turn around.

"I don't mean to pry, but why did Lucas call her mom? Before he always referred to her as
Kristin," Alex asked.

"Lucas came to live on seaQuest about ten months ago. Kristin and I sort of became surrogate
parents. Lucas' father ended up in jail after hurting him. I adopted Lucas several months ago. Kristin and
I are, well, I guess you'd say we're a couple. Even though we're not married, Lucas thinks of her as his
mother. As you may have gathered, she's very protective of him. Ever since the beginning we've shared
the responsibility of raising him," Nathan said, not really sure why he was telling all this to a practical
stranger.

"Why was Lucas put here?" Alex asked.

"He's a genius. He has a master's in Artificial Intelligence, there's nothing he can't do with a
computer, hacking things he shouldn't being his specialty. He also developed a vocorder that let's us talk
to our resident dolphin, and he even designed and built the Stinger with one of our commanders. It's a
special ship that actually moves like a fish in the water."

"Wow," was Alex's only response.

"Yeah, wow tends to sum up Lucas pretty well," Nathan agreed.

"He's an incredible kid. From what I've seen in the short time that I've been here, everyone on
the boat seems to have adopted him in one way or another. For a minute in the wardroom I thought you
were going to have a mutiny on your hands when the idea of using Lucas to get this thing was mentioned."


____________________________________



Barnes was in the lab working. He kept looking over his shoulder. He knew what had been
happening on the boat and it terrified him. All he wanted was to get the hell out of there. He couldn't
figure out for the life of him why the Captain hadn't ordered all civilians off the boat. Let the military stay
behind and worry about some damn monster.

"Barnes," came a voice behind him. He turned to see his best friend Rick standing before him.

"Rick, what the hell are you doing here?" Barnes asked.

"I came to help you save your sorry ass," Rick told him.

"Huh?"

"You know, I always knew growing up that you were dense, but right now you're proving just
how stupid you really are. It's no wonder it took you fifteen years to finally prove yourself and get a good
assignment. Lord knows, your no genius. That little brat of the Captain's can work circles around you. No
matter how hard you work you'll never be as smart as him."

"Shut up," Barnes told Rick. "What the hell do you know anyway? The only reason that kid is
here is because he has had powerful fathers. Wolenczak had connections, got the kid dumped here. Now
he's Bridger's son. What do you think, that the Captain is going to order his own kid off the boat? I can't
compete with that. I never had any connections growing up. I had to work hard to get where I am today,
and I'm proud of that."

"Yeah, sure, what ever. Your proud of your hard work. So what? Tell the truth, wouldn't you
love to just haul off and pop that smart aleck kid in the mouth just once. Especially after the way he
humiliated you last month in front of Dr. Levin. He had the audacity to correct you in front of a colleague.
The whole boat considers him to be more of an asset than you. How many times has he been sent to do
research while you've been left behind on the boat? How many times has that kid past you up?"

"That's Bridger's doing. I have no control over that. The Captain likes to get him off the boat as
much as possible so he can keep learning and have a little fun."

"His fun is as your expense," Rick said. "If I were you I'd put that little brat in his place. Teach
him a lesson or two about respect!"

Barnes looked into his friends eyes. They sparkled. Strange, he didn't remember Rick's eyes ever
looking like that.

It smiled. The man was his now to control.

"How am I to teach him a lesson?" Barnes asked.

"Simple, when I tell you to, you will help me. I'll teach him for you. I'll make sure that kid never
gets in your way ever again. That's what friends are for," Rick smiled.


_____________________________



Lucas had finally stopped crying. He leaned into Krieg as he kept a tight arm around him.
Usually he would have been embarrassed to be coddled and babied like this when so many people were
watching, but right now he was too upset to care. He felt like his whole world was falling apart and he was
powerless to stop it from happening. His friends were dying, and he almost lost the only mother he'd ever
had. Seeing Kristin laying there, blood coming from her neck, thinking she was dead, it had been too
much. He hated this thing. He hated it more than he hated his father. At least his father had only hurt him.
His father had never had the chance to hurt the people he loved. He didn't know what he'd do if something
bad really happened to his dad or Kristin.

"I want to see Kristin," Lucas said again.

"I know, kid, but we have to wait until the Captain comes to get you," Ben said. He didn't know
why Bridger had ordered Lucas out into the hall, but he was sure there was a good reason. He smiled as he
saw the Captain come through the door. "See here he is now."

"Dad, is everything okay? Is Kristin okay?" Lucas asked.

"She's okay. She's awake. Come on, you can see her now," Nathan said.

Lucas got up slowly and walked with his dad into the med bay. He saw that the room had been
cleaned up and that people were still moving about. He was led to one of the back rooms. Two armed
guards had been posted by the door. Inside he found Kristin lying in a bed. She had a small bandage on
her neck. She looked over at him and smiled. She sat up and enveloped him into a big hug.

"You're okay," Lucas said, relief in his voice.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she replied tiredly. "Just a really bad headache. How are you?"

"I'm okay now," Lucas said. She smiled and hugged him again.

"Lucas," Nathan said, "I know you don't want to go, but we really do need to let Kristin get some
rest. I want you to go back to Ben and Miguel. Stay with them in the hallway. I'll be right there okay."

"Yes, sir," Lucas said. "I'll see you later," he told Kristin. "You better," she said, and kissed him
on the forehead.

Nathan and Kristin watched Lucas leave the room, then Nathan sat down on the bed next to
Kristin. He wrapped his arms around her and she laid her head on his chest.

"I'm so glad you're alright," he told her. "When I saw you, I…I"

"I know," she said.

"I love you," Nathan told her.

"I love you, too," she replied.

"Kristin, I know we've ever talked about this, and I know now might not be the right time, but I
don't want to wait any longer. Kristin, I want to marry you. We don't have to do it right away, if you
don't want to. We can have a long engagement. I just want to know that we're committed to each other.
That I'm yours and you're mine."

Kristin pulled back and smiled at him. "I do want to marry you, but I admit I need more time. I
like the idea of a long engagement. As far as us being committed to each other, you know you're the only
man in my heart, unless you count Lucas."

"So is that a yes?" Nathan asked.

"I'll give you a yes when I get a ring," she grinned.

Nathan laughed, "Deal."

Her face became serious as she said, "Nathan, promise you'll protect Lucas. This thing, it's
grown. It's almost as big as a person, maybe even bigger. I really wish you'd send Lucas away on the
Stinger."

"I'd like to. I'd like to stick both of you in the Stinger and send you away. But, honestly, Lucas is
the best chance we have of killing this thing. Besides, I have to take Lucas' feelings into consideration. He
wants to do this."

"But I don't think he fully understands the risks," Kristin interrupted.

"I think he does. He flipped out when he saw you. Seeing you hurt by this thing will have only
deepened his desire to get it. This thing has invaded his home, his safe place, and he's angry."

"Just please, don't let anything happen to him. I have such an awful feeling about this. You're
not the only one who loves him," Kristin said.

"I know. I promise to do everything in my power to keep him safe."


__________________________________



Lucas sat in his dad's room watching a vid-disc, or at least he pretended to be watching a vid-disk.
It was now about an hour into the movie and nothing had happened so far. He felt bad for his dad, Ford,
and Ortiz, all huddled together in the small bathroom off to the left, but he felt even worse for Ben, sitting
scrunched in the closet.

He felt like a rat in a cage. There was at least twenty people or more waiting for this thing to
attack him. He didn't regret his decision to help capture this thing, but god he was scared. He kept his
hands clasped together in an attempt to keep them from shaking. He realized that all the lights were on in
the room. Maybe the lights were keeping it away. Except for Kristin, everyone else it had attacked had
been asleep in the dark.

He stood up and turned off the over head light, but he left on the bedside light and the small light
on his father's desk. He was too afraid to sit in the complete dark. He went back to his cot and pretended
to watch the movie again. He wished it would just show up already, the waiting was killing him.

He rubbed his eyes and stifled a yawn. He was tired, not so much because it was late, but because
of all the stress and fear he'd been through today. Had it all really happened in just one day. Members of
the crew murdered, Tim claiming to have seen the devil, the attack on him by it pretending to be his father,
the attack on Kristin, meeting Alex and learning of the other monster, and now this waiting. How could so
much have happened in only one day?

He played with the thing hanging around his neck on the long chain. It was his panic switch. He
was careful not to accidentally trigger it. He hoped it came soon. He didn't know how much longer his
nerves could hold out before he simply fell apart.


_____________________________________



It sat in the duct over head watching the boy. It could feel the boy's fear. It got strength from the
emotion, just as the blood gave it strength. It knew the boy was bait in a trap. Did the adults protecting the
child really think it so stupid not to see what was happening? That was okay, though. It could still have
fun, and it would still get the boy, just on it's own terms. It moved on down the duct, leaving the boy
behind. It moved on towards what they called the bridge, dragging it's last victim behind it.


____________________________________



Katie sat quietly in the Captain's chair. She watched as the crew went about doing their work.
Except for her, there were no other senior officers on the bridge. They were all involved in the attempt to
kill the monster on board. She was angry at having been left out of the mission, but she understood that at
least one officer actually needed to be on the bridge, she just wished it didn't have to be her.

She stood up and walked over to Levin, who was waiting with the med team for something,
anything, to happen.

"Do you think it will actually fall for the trap?" she asked him.

"I honestly don't know. I hope so. I don't know about you, but I'm ready for this nightmare to be
over." Katie nodded her head in agreement.

"I just wish Lucas didn't have to be the bait," she said.

"I think that's pretty much the general opinion of just about everyone on the boat," Levin said. "I
can't believe that this thing lives by eating kids. It sounds like something out of a Brothers Grimm fairy
tale, only instead of a goblin or a troll, we've got a spider that's as big as a person."

"Is it really a spider?" Katie asked. "I mean, you actually saw this thing."

"It's not really a spider, but it's the simplest way to describe it. It's body structure is very similar
to that of a spider, but there are some differences. The front legs have pinchers like a lobster."

Katie shuddered. She was glad she had yet to see the thing. She jumped when the grating cover
on the overhead access tube plummeted to the floor with a loud clang. She quickly drew her weapon as did
the other crew members. She walked carefully over to the access tube and looked up into the darkness.
Something fell out of the tube and knocked her to the floor.

She didn't mean to lose control, but she screamed when she saw the dead face that was staring at
her, the dead face that belonged to the body lying on top of her. She felt herself pulled away from it as
Levin rolled the corpse off of her.

"It's Andrews," Levin said. He looked up and saw it looking at them from the vent. It growled at
them. A young Ensign stepped forward to shot it, but it sprayed the Ensign with webbing first. The Ensign
fell to the floor, struggling to pull the web off of him, only making himself more entangled.

Levin grabbed his PAL, "Security to the bridge. The monster is attacking on the bridge."

"On our way," Crocker yelled into his Pal. "Come on," he ordered his team.

Nathan, Ford, Ortiz, and Ben had all been listening to the communication through their headsets.
Ford looked at the Captain but Nathan shook his head.

"We stay with Lucas," he whispered. "This thing has never attacked a crowd before, until just
now."

"It's a diversion," Ortiz said.

Nathan nodded his head. "Be ready, I think it's heading our way."



Lucas had laid back on his cot. He was completely unaware of what was happening on the bridge.
He's was trying to stay awake but his eyes were getting so heavy. The movie clicked off. He got up to put
a new one in. If he didn't have something to look at then he really would fall asleep, and that would be
bad. He couldn't trigger his panic switch if he didn't know it was time to panic!

He watched as the new movie started, not even caring what it was. He sat down on his cot, his
back to the bathroom door. Even though he was sitting up he closed his eyes, just for a moment, just to rest
for a moment. He didn't see it enter the room, slowly climbing down the wall. It had the power to make
itself unseen. When it hit the floor it decided to try a different tactic. He knew that there still had to be
help near by to protect the boy. As inferior as humans could be, they still wouldn't leave him completely
unprotected. It decided that instead of taking the shape of the boys worst fear, it would take the shape of
what the boy loved the most. He would get the boy to come to him freely.First he reached out to Barnes.

Barnes was sitting in med bay, when he heard the voice call to him, ordering him to come, that it
was time. Barnes grabbed his weapon and set it to kill, and then he headed to the Captain's room.
It changed, taking the shape of one Captain Bridger. It walked over to the boy and gently put a
hand on his back.

Lucas flinched and turned. He almost triggered the panic button but stopped when he saw that it
was only dad.

"Wha…"

Bridger put a finger over Lucas' mouth to silence the boy. Then he motioned with his hand for
Lucas to follow him. Lucas nodded and stood up to go.

Ben was still in the closet. He heard Lucas make some kind of a sound. He quietly pushed the
door open just a crack so he could see if Lucas was okay. He was surprised to see Lucas walking out of the
room with the Captain.

"Why is Bridger taking Lucas?" he asked into his head set.

"Lieutenant, I'm not taking Lucas anywhere," Nathan replied.

"Oh, shit! Now," Ben yelled, "Lucas," he called, jumping out of the closet. Lucas turned around
to see everyone who had been hidden come out, including his dad from the bathroom.

"Dad?" Lucas said. He looked at the person who was holding his arm and he immediately began
to tug and try to break free. It still looked like his dad, but just like earlier with Lawrence it now had razor
sharp teeth and glowing eyes. Lucas quickly looked away from it's eyes, remembering what Alex had said
about the deadlights.

It grabbed Lucas and dragged the boy kicking and screaming from the room. In the hallway it saw
Barnes.

"Stop them from following us," he ordered. Barnes raised his weapon and aimed at the men
coming out of the Captain's quarters. Ben was the first one out and Barnes fired his gun, hitting Ben in the
shoulder.

"NO!" Lucas screamed. He didn't see what else happened because they turned a corner then. He
pulled with all his might trying to break the grip on his arm.

Hearing the gun shot the med team on the bridge came running. "Barnes, what in the hell are you
doing?" Levin yelled.

"The boy needs to be taught a lesson. It's going to show the boy what it means to respect," Barnes
replied blankly. He raised his gun to shot Levin, but a blast from the stunner by Ford dropped him first.

Levin moved to help Krieg. "I'm okay, where's Lucas?" Ben said.

Nathan, Ford and Ortiz took off running in the direction that it had gone. They could hear Lucas
calling for help.

"Lucas!" Nathan called.


It had to shut the boy up, he was giving them away. It held the boy and grabbed his head. "Look
at me," it ordered.

"No," Lucas said, keeping his eyes squeezed shut.

"Look at me!"

"Help!" Lucas called. It quickly grabbed the boy again and put a hand over his mouth and
dragged him along. They went down a stairway until they reached the bottom. It was dark on this floor
and large machinery was running, operating the boat. It was getting frustrated as it listened to the adults
calling the boy's name. It found a small walkway and then once again grabbed the boy forcing him to face
it. This time the boys frighten eyes popped open and stared at him.

Lucas didn't want to, but he was looking the monster in the eyes. Just like before he felt the
feeling of dying. Not real dying, but that his mind was dying. He tried to close his eyes, turn away, but he
found that his will was no longer his own. After a moment, Lucas didn't think anything anymore.

Perfect, the boy was his. He would put up no more resistance now. He lifted the boy into the
arms of this person who's shape he had taken and began to carry him over to a large hatch. He would have
privacy in there to savor his prize. He would drink the boy dry, letting his life force make him strong and
invincible. He was almost to the hatch when the adults arrived.

"Put him down," Ford yelled.

It growled at them. It would not lose the child. It turned to flee, only to see more adults coming at
him from the opposite direction. No! It could escape easily enough, but it would mean letting the boy go.
It turned back to look at the man whose identity it had stolen and it's eyes began to glow. Nathan
quickly turned to avoid looking into the dead lights.

"Shot it's eyes!" Nathan yelled. Ford and Ortiz both raised their weapons. Two shots fired.
Ford's shot hit it in the right eye, Ortiz' managed to blow out the left eye. Lucas and the monster fell to the
floor. It changed its shape back to that of the spider, and Lucas was tangled in its many legs.

"Get him away from it!" Nathan shouted. Ford, Ortiz, Crocker, and Nathan all worked to move
the legs aside and free Lucas. Nathan pulled at Lucas' shoulders and dragged him a good twenty feet away
before finally stopping.

"Lucas," Nathan said. He slapped lightly at Lucas' face trying to rouse him. Lucas' eyes were
open but he was completely unresponsive. "Lucas, come on kiddo, answer me." Lucas only stared into
nothing with large empty eyes. "Lucas, please, snap out of it."

He looked up when he felt Crocker put a hand on his shoulder. "We have to get him to med bay,"
Nathan said. He lifted Lucas into his arms and Crocker and Ford helped him up the stairway to med bay.

Levin was there treating Ben. Ben was awake and looked to be fine. It had mostly been a flesh
wound. Alex was also in med bay.

"What happened?" Levin asked when he saw Nathan carrying Lucas.

"I don't know, he looks to be catatonic," Nathan said, laying him on a bed. Levin came over and
began to examine Lucas. Like Nathan he tried to get the boy to snap out of what ever it was he was in.

"I need to do a CAT Scan," Levin said. He motioned for several nurses to come and get things
ready.

"That's not necessary," Alex said.

"What do you mean?" Nathan demanded. "What's wrong with him?"

"I'm sorry, Captain, he looked into the dead lights," Alex said.

"So what do we do?" Levin asked.

"He may come out of it one day, or he may not. That's all I can tell you," Alex replied, shoulders
slumped, head hung low.

"That's not good enough," Nathan yelled.

"I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do," Alex said.

All the yelling had woken Kristin and she carefully shuffled out of her room to see what was
happening. She looked at Lucas lying in the bed. She moved quickly to be by his side.

"What happened to him?" she asked caressing his cheek. The blank look on his face frightened her.

"He looked into the monsters dead lights. It stole his mind," Alex said.

"What do we do?" she asked.

"Hope he wakes up one day," Alex replied.

Kristin gasped and put her hand to her mouth. She began to cry and step back, moving away form
everyone else. 'No, this isn't happening, this isn't happening,' she repeated in her head over and over.
Nathan moved to hold her, but when she saw him approaching she did something that stunned everyone in
the room. She slapped him, a hard stinging blow.

"You promised to protect him. You promised nothing would happen. I didn't want him to be
here, but you wouldn't listen," she began to sob loudly and she sank to the floor.

Nathan stood there, frozen to the floor. He looked at the woman he loved, crying hysterically,
angry at him, then he looked back at his son who was now nothing but an empty shell. Suddenly he wished
he were dead. He had lost his family. Again. He turned and walked out of med bay. He went to the moon
pool and sat next to the water. He buried his face in his hands and cried for all he was worth.

Darwin's smooth head rose out of the water. "It gone. Lucas dark. Darwin help Lucas."
Nathan ignored the dolphin. Looking at Darwin just reminded him that he'd never see Lucas play
with him ever again.

"Darwin help Lucas. Lucas dark, need light."

"Darwin, you can't help Lucas. No one can help Lucas." He got up and left the moon pool.


__________________________________



Two weeks had gone by and Lucas' condition hadn't changed. His heart was beating, his lungs
took in air, but for all intensive purposes Lucas was dead. His eyes closed when he slept, and they opened
when he was awake, but his eyes didn't see, just as his ears didn't hear.

Kristin and Levin had run every test they could on Lucas. They had no answers or even an
explanation for why Lucas was the way that he was. Nathan spent most of his time sitting in med bay with
Lucas, just holding his hand, even though he knew Lucas didn't even know he was there. He and Kristin
would take turns feeding Lucas. Kristin had apologized for slapping him, but he knew that she blamed him
for Lucas' condition, even though she said she knew he had done his best. He wished he could turn back
time and do what Kristin had suggested. He wished he had put Lucas in the Stinger and sent him away,
like she had wanted.

Tomorrow seaQuest would be arriving at his island. A launch would take them from the ship.
The UEO had said that Lucas couldn't stay on board any longer. So Nathan had given Ford his resignation
and made arrangements for Lucas to have everything he would need on the island. He would spend the rest
of his days taking care of him.

Nathan stood up and decided to take one last look at the place that had brought him such
happiness, and such sorrow. He moved slowly through the corridors, not even bothering to acknowledge
the people that passed him by. He finally ended up in the moon pool. As usual, Darwin was there, his
happy face smiling at him.

"Bridger sad," Darwin said.

"Yeah, I'm sad," Nathan said.

"Darwin help Lucas. Lucas dark, need light. Darwin make Lucas light. Darwin Lucas swim."

Nathan listened to the dolphin. Darwin had been saying this over and over for the past two weeks.
Nathan was about to leave the room when he suddenly remembered something Lucas had said when this
had all began. Lucas said that Darwin knew something about what was happening. Darwin had known all
along that it was going to hurt Lucas.

"Darwin, can you help Lucas?" he asked

"Yes, Darwin fix. Darwin make Lucas light."

Nathan suddenly found him hoping for a miracle. He grabbed a wet suit and rushed out of the
moon pool, heading towards med bay. He saw Levin and said, "Help me."

Levin followed Nathan to Lucas' room. "Sir, what are you doing?"

"Darwin says he can help Lucas. He's been saying it for two weeks."

"Captain, the chances of that happening…"

"I know the chances, but I've got nothing to lose at this point," Nathan yelled. "Please, just help
me get him in the suit."

Levin thought that maybe the Captain was finally losing it, but he knew the man was in pain, so he
helped him. Besides, what did they have to lose. Once Lucas was in the wet suit Nathan carried him to the
moon pool. He sat Lucas on the side of the pool while he put on his own suit. Nathan got into the water
with Darwin.

"Hand him to me," Nathan told Levin. Levin lifted Lucas up and carefully lowered him into the
water with Bridger.

Kristin entered the moon pool and stood, trying to figure out just what was going on.

"Okay, Darwin," Nathan said, "what now?"

Darwin swam over next to Lucas. "Swim," he said. Nathan got on one side of Darwin while he
held Lucas on the other side. He held on to Darwin's dorsal fin and let Darwin pull them along through the
water. Darwin began to pick up speed as they moved into the aqua tubes.

As they moved through the water he kept an eye on Lucas, hoping to see some kind of reaction
from him, anything, just to show that Lucas was still alive in there somewhere. Darwin began to really go
fast, to the point where Nathan's hold on Lucas was slipping.

"Darwin, slow down," Nathan said. The dolphin didn't listen, but accelerated instead. "Darwin,
not so fast." He was afraid of losing Lucas since he obviously couldn't swim in his condition. "Darwin,'
he called again. His hold on Lucas was almost gone, then suddenly he gasped. Lucas wrapped his fingers
around Nathan's. Lucas was holding on to him.

"Lucas," Nathan said. Darwin stopped and they were left alone for a second as the dolphin turned
around to take them back. Nathan saw that Lucas was moving his legs, treading water, but his eyes were
still blank, still unseeing. Darwin positioned himself between them once again. Nathan grabbed hold and
encouraged Lucas to hold on to Darwin's fin. Lucas closed his fingers around the fin and then they were
off, being pulled through the water at an unbelievable speed.

Lucas felt like he was waking from a long sleep. It was hard to wake up though. He felt like he
was floating. He remembered feeling this way before. He wondered where he was. He forced his eyes to
focus.

Nathan saw as Lucas' face changed. Then he saw something that made his heart leap. Lucas was
moving his eyes. He was looking around. Lucas made eye contact with him.

"Dad?" Lucas said. Just then they enter the moon pool again. As soon as they reached the side
Nathan let go of Darwin and pulled Lucas to him.

"You're back," Nathan cried. "Thank god you're back."

Lucas was nervous. His dad was crying. Why was he crying? How did he get in the moon pool?
He couldn't remember.

"Back? Dad, where have I been?" Lucas asked. "What happened? Why are you crying?"

"Lucas!" Kristin exclaimed. Lucas was talking! Tears filled her eyes. She ran to the side of the
pool and wrapped her arms around both Lucas and Nathan.

Lucas couldn't remember ever feeling so confused. "Why is everyone upset?" he asked again, but
again, no one answered him, they just continued to hold and squeeze him.

"We need to get him to med bay," Kristin finally said.

"Why, I'm not sick," Lucas said. He just blinked when both his dad, Kristin, and even Dr. Levin
started laughing at that.

Nathan climbed out of the pool first and helped Lucas out. Before Lucas even knew what was
happening his dad lifted him off the floor and was carrying him.

"Dad, put me down," Lucas said, "What's going on? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing's wrong now, kiddo," Nathan said as he carried his son back to med bay. He
set Lucas down on a bed and Kristin quickly unzipped his wet suit to start checking his vitals. She hadn't
even finished taking his blood pressure when suddenly Miguel, Tim, Katie, and Ben raced into the med
bay.

"Is it true?" Ben asked.

"Is he really awake?" Tim continued.

"Yes," Kristin said smiling.

Lucas sat there looking completely confused. He felt like he had entered the twilight zone. "Why
is everyone acting like something is wrong with me?" Lucas asked. He grew even more frustrated when
everyone laughed and hugged each other.

Kristin and Nathan both noticed that Lucas was becoming upset. "Everyone out," Kristin ordered.

"You can see him later."

"Dad, what's going on?"

"It's a long story, but let's just say you were sick for a while and we were all really worried."
"Sick? I don't remember being sick?"

"That's because you were sleeping while you were sick," Kristin said, trying to ease some of
Lucas' tension. "Sweetheart, what's the last thing you do remember?"

Lucas had to think for a minute. He wasn't really sure. "I…I think I remember…wait, we were
on the island. I got stuck in the mud. I lost my shoes."

"Yeah, we'll have to order you some new ones when we place our next supply order," Nathan
said.

Lucas nodded. "I'm tired," he said. "Can I go lay down?"

"Of course, some rest will probably do you good," Kristin said.

"Come on," Nathan said, "you can take a nap in my room."

"What's wrong with my room?" Lucas asked.

"Nothing, but you just got well and I'd like to keep an eye on you for a little while. Just humor
me, okay."

"Okay," Lucas said. He put his hands up when Nathan started to lift him again. "Dad, I can walk,
really. I feel fine."

"Okay," Nathan said. Lucas took off the wet suit and put on the white t-shirt and gray sweat pants
that Kristin kept in the med bay. Nathan ended up changing into the same thing since he didn't want to go
back to the moon pool to grab his clothes just yet. He wrapped an arm around Lucas' shoulders and walked
him to their quarters.

Once they were inside the room Lucas asked, "Dad, what really happened? Why is everyone
acting so strange?"

"The last thing you really remember is the island?"

"Uh huh," Lucas said.

"Do you remember meeting Alex Dembrough?" Nathan asked.

"The horror writer. He was actually on seaQuest?" Lucas asked, surprised. "Why was he here?"

Nathan wasn't sure just how much he should tell Lucas. He didn't want to lie to him, but at the
same time he didn't want to take a chance at traumatizing him so badly that he slipped away again.

"He's thinking about writing a story about a submarine that has a monster on board it. Something
like a giant spider," Nathan said. "He was a guest here so he could gather a bit of research."

"A giant spider monster. He must be writing a sequel to his father's book, 'The It'. I read that
book once, it was pretty cool," Lucas said.

Nathan couldn't believe it. Lucas didn't remember any off it. He was glad. He didn't want Lucas
to ever remember what had happened. "Let's get you tucked in," he said. Lucas got under his covers as
Nathan held them up and then tucked them around Lucas' shoulders.

"Are you okay?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah, kiddo. I'm okay," Nathan replied.

"I get the feeling that you're not telling me something," Lucas said.

"There is more to the story," Nathan admitted, "but I'm not ready to tell you just yet. Maybe one
day, but not now. Sleep well." Nathan stood up to leave.

"Dad."

"What?"

"Will you stay with me?" Lucas asked. He didn't know why, but he just suddenly didn't want to
be alone. He had the feeling that he'd been alone a lot lately and he needed to feel connected to the world
somehow.

"Sure, scoot over." Lucas slid over, making room. Nathan laid down on top of the covers and
held Lucas in his arms as the boy peacefully fell asleep. Nathan smiled as he felt Lucas snuggle into him.

"Thank you, god. Thank you for giving him back," Nathan said, then he too fell asleep. The first
real sleep he'd had in two weeks.


_______________________________



Later that evening Nathan woke to find Lucas was still asleep. He got up and grabbed some
clothes and went to the bathroom to dress. He came back out and headed to the bridge.

"Captain," Commander Ford said.

"Jonathon, I don't suppose you still have my letter of resignation do you?"

"You mean this thing?" Ford said, pulling the folded piece of paper from his pocket.

"You know, one of these days I'm going to resign for real, do you think you'll turn that one in?"
he teased. This was the second time Jonathon had withheld his letter of resignation.

"Maybe?" Ford said with a sheepish grin on his face. "So is it true? Is Lucas really back to
normal?"

"It seems like it. He has no memory of what happened. Not the monster, the attacks, the murders,
none of it. The last thing he remembers is going to the island."

"What are you going to tell him?" Ford asked.

"Nothing, at least not right now. If he starts to remember on his own, then I'll tell him everything,
but for right now I'm glad he doesn't remember. I want you to inform the senior staff about this. I want
the whole boat informed that under no circumstances are they to talk to Lucas about what happened. I
don't want him to relapse."

"I can understand that," Ford said. He hoped the kid never remembered. "So, are we still heading
to your island?"

"Yes, I want to take Lucas there anyway for a few days, let this mess die down some. I'm going
to contact the UEO now about it." Nathan went to the wardroom to call Noyce.


__________________________________



Kristin sat in her office sipping her coffee. She wiped at the tears in her eyes. She felt such a
mixture of emotions at the moment. She was overjoyed that Lucas was well again. She had been
devastated when she thought he was lost to her. But there was the problem of Nathan. She still couldn't
believe she had slapped him. At what was one of the worst moments in his life, the loss of a second son,
she had hauled off and slapped him. She had apologized, and he had said he'd forgiven her, but it was
obvious that their relationship would never be the same.

He had proposed to her just a few hours before Lucas had been hurt. Now two weeks had passed
and he hadn't mentioned it again. He was supposed to be leaving seaQuest tomorrow with Lucas and he
hadn't asked her to come. It was pretty obvious the engagement was off. She felt more tears fall. She
loved him so much, and she had driven him away. She always knew her temper would come back to haunt
her one day. She didn't mean to hit him, but at the moment she was just in so much pain that she had
lashed out. God, she had blamed him for everything.

She looked at the typed letter in front of her. She had typed it two days ago but as of yet hadn't
turned it in. She guessed she was waiting. Waiting to see if Nathan really left. She didn't want to stay at
seaQuest any longer if he wasn't here. It would be too painful. There were too many memories here.
She couldn't believe she was losing him. After all they had been through, good times and bad.
They had become a family, but now she was going to be alone. Not only was she losing Nathan, but she
would be losing Lucas too.

A knock on the door made her jump. She quickly wiped at her eyes and blew her nose before she
said, "Come in." She was shocked to see Nathan enter. "Nathan, is Lucas alright?"

"Yes, he's fine. He's still sleeping last I checked."

"Then what can I do for you?" she asked.

"I wanted to let you know that I'm not resigning. Now that Lucas is well the UEO has no need to
kick him off the boat. If I quit now it would just upset Lucas to be losing his home."

"That's good news," she said. "I'm sure the crew will be very happy to hear that. Is there
anything else?"

"Yes, tomorrow we're still going to my island. I've arranged for us to have four days off. I think
it'll be good for Lucas to get away for a bit, let the crew accept the fact that he's okay. He doesn't
remember any of it. I asked him questions, dropped subtle hints, and he's clueless. The last thing he
remembers is being on the island. He's confused and just a little upset by the way everyone was acting.
Ford has been given orders to inform the entire boat of Lucas' memory loss and to not bring the subject up
to him."

"So you're never going to tell him?" Kristin said.

"If he starts to remember on his own I won't hide it from him. I'll tell him everything. For right
now, though, no I'm not going to tell him. We don't know what caused him to slip away like that, and I'm
afraid that if we rush it, it could happen again."

Kristin nodded. It made sense to be cautious. "Well, I hope you two have a nice time while
you're away."

"Kristin, I was hoping you would come with us?" Nathan asked.

She blinked when she heard that. "Why?"

"Because it would mean a lot if you came."

"To you, or to Lucas?"

"To both of us. Look, Kristin, I'm not going to lie to you. It hurt. It hurt real bad when you
pushed me away, when you blamed me. It hurt because I was also blaming myself. Hell, I still do."

"Nathan it wasn't your fault. I'm sorry for what I did. I was in pain and that was how I expressed
it, and I'm so very sorry. I wish I could take it back."

"I know. Kristin, no matter what happened, I still love you. I think we have some work to do on
our relationship, but I hope you're willing to give us another chance. I don't want to lose you. I don't want
to lose my family. Please tell me you still love me."

"I do. I love you so much. I have missed you terribly these last two weeks." She stood up and
walked over to him. He embraced her and kissed her. He felt her tears wet his face.

"Stop crying," he said gently. "I think we've all cried enough. It's time for us to be happy again."

"I agree," she said. "So does this mean I still get my ring," she teased.

"I think that can be arranged," he replied.