WELCOME TO THE SEAQUEST!
written by Whipper

"This is your room," the stone-faced chief of security had told him with a less than kind look. For a moment there Lucas had been afraid the man was going to launch into some "and don't you dare get into trouble 'cause here we shoot first and ask the questions later" speech, but thankfully, the man hadn't. Instead he had settled for just staring at the boy again and then leaving without a word. Which was quite fine with Lucas actually.

It had only taken Lucas a few seconds to figure out how to lock the thick, metal door. After that he'd just been sitting there on the hard bunk, staring at the blue water in the aquatube. He had become lost in thoughts of how to improve the vocorder and it took the sound of a dozen of boots marching by outside his door to bring him back to reality.

As Lucas looked around he couldn't help noticing that the small room was hardly meant for someone to live in. There were two small screens that monitored... some kind of activity and several control panels were to be found along one of the walls. The bed didn't seem to fit in and he guessed it had been put there solely for his benefit. With a small snort he wondered if he should feel grateful. Sure, they couldn't find him a room of his own. But at least they didn't make him sleep on the floor.

Suddenly remembering something he opened the door and stuck out his head. "Mammal Engineering". Right. That was funny. Ha ha. He closed the door behind him, once again making sure it was looked. Not that he really thought that would stop people from entering his room if they really wanted to. They had the codes, not to mention the tools, to open the door any damn time they pleased. But at least it gave him a sense of security that he, although he was certain it was false, still could attempt to enjoy.

Grabbing the nearest box, he decided to begin the tedious work of getting everything plugged in and working. He glanced at one of his bags where the cookies Mrs. Standish had given him were. Ha! At least he wouldn't have to leave his room for at another day. Unless... another look around the room confirmed that there were no bathroom in sight.

"Great..."

And since that old security chief hadn't bothered to give him the grand tour, the closest bathroom could be in the other end of the ship. He made a mental note to download some kind of map. Sure, walking around with a map would make him stick out like the proverbial sore thumb. But for some reason he was convinced he'd stick out no matter what he did. As he took out his palm pilot and began typing the picture how of navy soldiers would have to first run from one end of the ship to the other and then stand in line for hours just to take a leak hit him and he almost burst out laughing.

"Not very likely, genius boy", he said out loud with a thin smile on his lips.

Then he shook his head. He hadn't even spent 24 hours on the seaQuest and he was already talking to himself. And acting hysterical, laughing at his own terrible jokes.

"Oh, boy... This is gonna be one looong trip."

***

A strange sound woke him up a few hours later. He sat up too fast and the blood rushing too his head made him dizzy. Lucas looked around for a few moment, carefully studying his surroundings, before he sank back onto the bunk, wishing for some sleep induced disorientation. But unfortunately he knew exactly where he was. The seaQuest. In the improvised room he was supposed to think of as 'his'. Yeah, right.

Beep, beep.

Opening his eyes again he looked for the source of the noise, suspecting that maybe some of his equipment was disagreeing with how it had been installed. But a quick look around showed that everything was fine. No blinking lights, no flashing warnings. Then he heard it again. He followed the sound to a small device, given to him by Crocker. A PAL, the man had called it but he hadn't explained it any further and Lucas had forgotten about it entirely. Studying it for a few moments he realized that it was a communication device. He pushed the largest button, hoping that it would turn out to be the right one.

"Yeah," he then spoke into the device, smiling a little as he heard his own garbled voice.

Nice first impression, Wolenczak, he thought to himself.

"Is this Lucas Wolenczak?"

"Last time I checked, yeah."

"I'm Kristin Westphalen, I'm sure you've father have told you about me..." A small pause as Lucas was probably supposed to confirm that yes, his father had mention her. But as the teenager remained quiet the woman continued in the same cheerful voice: "Anyway, I was wondering if perhaps you'd like to join me for dinner?"

Leaning back against the wall he wondered if was she was one of those social "do the right thing" people or if was she just hoping that he'd mention her name to his father? He'd met both kinds too many times in the past and didn't really care for either.

"No, thanks. I have a lot of unpacking to do," he told her quickly. And he thought, as he looked around the room, he wasn't even lying. "Maybe tomorrow."

"Okay..." The woman sounded hesitant, as if unsure of how to deal with him. Or maybe he was just imagining things. "Tomorrow then. Although I'd like for you to come by my office first thing tomorrow morning."

"Sure. No problems."

"Alright, then I'll see you then. Bye!"

He turned the little PAL off, smiling a little about the name as he wondered if it would be the closest thing to a friend he'd get on the boat. Somehow he couldn't see all the G.I. Joe's tripping over themselves in attempts to become the freaky kid's new friend.

He sighed a little and put the PAL away. He really would have to download that map though. He'd have to find a bathroom, Kristin Westphalen's office and the messhall. This was all so much not fun, he mused, using one of Biff's favorite phrases. Then, with another small sigh just for the effect, he grabbed the palm pilot and sat down, indian style, on the floor.

____________________

Welcome to the Internex!

Lucas: Biff?
Biff: lucas, my man! :-) settled in on the big boat?
Lucas: it's quite nice here actually. except of course for the part where i hate being here :-]
Biff: LOL :-) so... what's your room like?
Lucas: i'll put up a webcam later, then you can see for yourself... (or maybe that would be giving away classifed information? ;)
Biff: we've never dealt with classified information before, huh? ;-D

____________________

The soft humming of the electronic equipment as well as the familiar thumping of his fingers hitting the keyboard made him feel less lonely and as he looked up he once again lost himself in the aquatubes. Maybe, he mused, in a few years, he'd be able to look back at his stay on the seaQuest and laugh. Maybe he'd even have some cool memories from his experience.

"Yeah, and maybe a bunch of new friends as well? Get real, W."