FRIENDSHIP
Warning - this story may get a little darker towards the end. No hints to ruin the plot but be prepared for new ending.......
It took almost three hours after the conversation with Noyce for Lucas to unlock the door to Bridger's persistent pounding. The rest of the crew, including Shep had thought it best to leave the talking to the Captain at this point in time.
Lucas's emotions were running very raw at the moment and no doubt the next few days were going to be a continual strain.
Bridger had promised the crew to sort out the problem about Woodcock being aboard the depot with Admiral Noyce the next morning before they all began working on their assigned tasks. They were all too aware of the extra stress that would now be placed on the operation to run to schedule at the end of the week.
Right now Bridger told himself that he needed to focus on Lucas, for the rest of the night anyway. Firstly he had to smooth things over between him and the teenager about him not having any idea about Woodcock's presence let alone the past student teacher relationship that had existed.
The lock on the inside of Lucas's quarters turned, signalling that the teenager had unlocked the door. Bridger paused slightly before knocking lightly again and then turning the handle to open the door.
Inside the room, Lucas had returned to laying on the bed with his body laying on it's side away from the doorway as if ignoring anybody who wanted to talk to him or come into the room. This was the next indication to Bridger that the teenager was not being very co-operative at the moment.
Bridger now sat down on a chair on the opposite side of the room without saying a word for a few minutes. He kept looking towards Lucas, waiting to see if the boy would say something first.
"Why?" came the whispered question after a long silence.
Bridger wasn't sure if the word was a question or not and waited to see if the teenager repeated the question or asked another.
"Just tell me why he has to be here?" Lucas now said, turning over to face Bridger with the question.
"I don't know Lucas," the Captain answered truthfully. "Until just a few minutes ago I didn't even realise that you knew one another."
"You sure about that?" Lucas said, the question more of a plea for relief rather than a demanding one.
"I am sure Lucas. I know you talked about your college teacher back on board the boat the other night, but up until just now I didn't even know what the man looked like, let alone recognize him as the man we just met in the corridor," Bridger said as he gave his explanation of his involvement.
"You don't know what it does to me inside to see that man again after all of these years Captain," Lucas now whispered. He kept his eyes on the quilt underneath him the whole time he spoke.
"I know we joked about him the other night and said about all the awful things we did to him. And maybe Shep and I have a lot to answer for back then. But every time I look at him, all I can see is my father. He may not look like him or act like him, but when it comes right down to him, that man did nothing to help me all those years ago," Lucas said.
"Do you know how hard it was for me in the first place to gain enough courage to tell someone about what my father was doing every night of my life?" Lucas asked, not really expecting an answer.
Bridger let the boy speak his mind for now. He would listen to Lucas's story and make comments at the end if necessary. It was more important right now for Lucas to battle the feelings within him about this Mr Woodcock.
"Shep was always at me to tell somebody you know," Lucas now said, laughing a little but no real humour in his voice. "He said to me day after day there for months in our third year that I couldn't go on living at home like I was. He said that one day my father was going to hurt me so bad that I wouldn't be able to leave the house and find help."
"I just kept telling myself and Shep that it wasn't that bad," Lucas admitted. There had been a time in his life that the beatings had almost become mundane. Almost as if it was like he expected it as soon as he walked through the door each day after college. There such a hauntingly bad routine about it all that he found himself lying to himself as well as everybody else including friends and those who did care enough to speak up.
Shep had wanted to do more to help his friend. Lucas had always known that. Shep had even offered for the two of them to runaway together and get jobs somewhere up state, anywhere. Just as long as he could get Lucas away from his father Lawrence. Shep had no family to speak of. He like Lucas was an only child and his parents were dead so he couldn't turn to them for help.
"Finally one afternoon, the beatings did get really bad. I spent a night in hospital that night," Lucas said as he looked up at Bridger to see what thoughts were running through the man's head.
Bridger tried to look sympathetic to Lucas's plight but deep down inside his only thoughts of what he would do if he ever came face to face with Lawrence Wolenczak. There was a deep driven hatred and rage for a man he had heard so much about over the last few years but have never even laid eyes on for more than a few seconds.
"You know what you need to do Lucas," Bridger now stated, trying to come up with a plausible solution to the teenager's feeling of the past creeping back up on him again.
"What?" Lucas said in a tone of voice that spoke of not really wanting to hear any suggestions at the moment.
"You need to show this Mr Woodcock or whatever his name is that you are not the Lucas Wolenczak that he thinks he knows and can manipulate with a few words about what happened a long time ago," Bridger began.
Lucas now back at Bridger, listening to what he was saying.
"You are not under the control of your father anymore Lucas, nor this Mr Woodcock. You have friends around you and a new family that care very much about you. You need to hold onto that with both hands and never let it go. You need to show this teacher that you are doing better than he could have ever thought you would do."
Something in the back of Lucas's mind was agreeing with everything the Captain was saying and the expression on his face was displaying it as well.
"I don't know if I can just forget the past and him like that and push it aside as if nothing ever happened Captain," Lucas answered truthfully. Even after these last few years of SeaQuest, every now and again, the thoughts of what had happened at the hands of his father came back to haunt him once again.
"I am not asking you to forget Lucas, I know it's something that will always be with you. But all you need to do is put the positive aspects of your life now in front of them and push them to the back of your memory. Let the good preside and come out in front," Bridger now added.
"What if he starts giving my a hard time again like he did to me and Shep back in college?" Lucas asked, his mind still ticking over about how he might be able to deal with the teacher.
"Then give him a hard time back, come on Lucas where's this the rebellious teenager we heard so much about with Shep back aboard the boat. Go back to doing what you two did best back in college, annoy the pants of the man and turn the tables somewhat," Bridger said with a grin.
Lucas sat for a moment and then a similar grin began to creep across his own face, "Your right," he suddenly said with a little bit more confidence creeping into this voice and propping up his deflated self-esteem. "We used to give it back to him in his classroom, I just have to get Shep to help me and do it all over again."
"That's the idea, you are a competent young man now with directions of his own and you don't need some old teacher from your school days telling you that you can't do this and that anymore. Show him that you are your own boss nowadays. I will be there to back you up the whole way and I am sure the rest of the crew will be too if you just give them a chance to defend you," Bridger said.
"I'll leave you to have a think about it. I hope you know that we still need you to complete the downloads tomorrow and the next day. We are almost out of time but we need to stick at it and get as much done as possible," Bridger now reminded Lucas.
"Yeah, I know. Shep and I have been at it constantly, but there have been a few hiccups along the way that have slowed us down more than we would like to admit," Lucas now admitted, not fully revealing the information he and Shep had found out about the possible sabotage of the depot's computer related files.
"Well hopefully there will be little if no interruptions tomorrow, if you need extra help just ask."
"No, I would rather not if that's okay. Shep and I are a team if you know what I mean and I don't think either of us would like somebody else coming in to help and step all over our toes. We will get it done more quickly just the two of us," Lucas replied.
"Captain....," Lucas began to say as he tried to find the words to apologize for his outburst back out in the corridor when Woodcock had first been introduced.
Bridger seemed to pick up on what the teenager was trying to say, but let him finished the sentence first.
"I'm sorry," Lucas said and left if at that.
"I know you are Lucas. Although I was a bit worried there at first that I was the one on trouble for something I didn't even know I had done and that you weren't going to talk to me anymore. I hope you have enough trust in me to know that I would never betray our friendship enough for somebody like Woodcock or anybody else for that matter."
"Yeah I know you wouldn't. I just lost my head there for a minute I guess," Lucas said sheepishly.
"I will tell Admiral Noyce to set up a meeting in the morning between us and Woodcock to draw some rules in the sand about what is going to happen over the next few days and who is going to be in charge. I think this teacher needs some to be taught some lessons of his own," said Bridger.
"Can you send Shep in here for a few minutes if he is still out there?" Lucas asked.
"See you later," Bridger said as he nodded his head in agreement to telling Shep it was okay to go in now.
Bridger went back out to the other living room area where most of the crew were still wondering what was going on between Lucas, Shep and this fellow called Woodcock. Bridger did his best to explain about what the teenager was feeling without betraying Lucas's trust about some matters the two of them had discussed just between them.
Bridger also got Jonathan Ford to arrange the video-link meeting between the crew and then told Mr Biggs that he would have to advise Woodcock about the scheduled meeting. Mr Biggs had been a little hesitant and had voiced it in so many words that Mr Woodcock would not be impressed about what had been arranged without his input.
Bridger pointed out that the SeaQuest and her crew had full control and authority of the munitions depot at this point in time and he didn't care if Woodcock liked the meeting or not, he just had to be there. Part of his casual but no-nonsense attitude was supposed to be in defence of the way the man had spoken to Shep and Lucas earlier but he didn't tell anybody that.
Bridger wasn't about to let the teacher bully the two teenagers or anybody else in his crew. If Woodcock had any further ideas about upsetting or tormenting Lucas again about his father then Bridger would forget all about being the Captain of a U.E.O. vessel and dish out some old-time marine punishment for those who were labelled mutineers or rebels against the rest of the crew.
A few seconds later, Shep appeared at the door to Lucas's room but was a little hesitant at first of coming in until Lucas said everything had cooled down somewhat.
"Everything okay Lucas?" he asked.
"Yeah Shep, but you and I need to talk about these downloads before tomorrow morning," Lucas answered.
Shep came into the room and closed the door behind him. For the next hour he and Lucas talked about how best to tackle the download and how to overcome the problems they had encountered so far. Lucas also told Shep about the meeting that was going to be set up between the SeaQuest crew and Woodcock and Admiral Noyce in the morning.
Shep wasn't totally happy with the idea but was happy that Lucas shared with him what he and Bridger had spoken about and how to try and forget the past and turn the tables back on Woodcock's attitude.
"We don't have any glue this time but I will figure out some way to tick the guy off before we leave," Shep said in fun as he tried to think of a great practical joke to carry out on the unsuspecting teacher.
"Actually I would rather just forget all about him and do the job we were asked to do and leave. Once we go from here we won't have to put up with the guy anymore at all anyway. Let's just grin and bear whatever he throws at us without getting riled about it and survive the rest of the week here," Lucas now suggested as a more compromising way.
"Well I guess I had better turn in then if we are going to get an early start in the morning then huh?" Shep now said as he prepared to go to bed for the night. The two were sharing adjoining rooms, as were the rest of the crew. The rooms themselves were small but they shared a bathroom between two rooms and they would do for the short time they would be staying there anyway.
"Night Shep," Lucas said, his mind already beginning to wander towards tomorrow's projects and away from sleep.
"Night Lucas," Shep responded and turned into his pillow, determined to at least get a few hours of shuteye.
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Sleep for Lucas on the other hand was the furtherest thing from his mind at the moment. The later the night got and the closer to the morning the clock ticked, the more Lucas thoughts began spinning around. At first he thought about what Bridger and he had spoken about earlier in regards to Woodcock. Then his mind started drifting towards the computer download and the evidence that he had already discovered that made it looked as if somebody had been sabotaging the files very slowly over a long period of time.
Somehow the two subjects started mingling inside his head with one another until the idea began to form that Woodcock might actually know something about the sabotage that had been happening. He didn't quite voice the opinion out loud to himself, but couldn't help but think that maybe Woodcock was a whole lot more involved than anybody had ever thought possible.
At 5.00am he decided that sleep wasn't going to come at all that night and decided to do a little delving on his own into the computer systems. He put on clean clothes and crept as quietly as he could out of the crew's temporary living quarters and made his way silently along the corridors towards the main-frame computer.
For the next hour and a half he went over line after line of encrypted code and file after file for the last few years and tried to sort out the heads and tails about why the data was looking so distorted in places.
He then got into the personnel records as part of the mainframe and looked at the electronic logging on system that would tell him who had access to such information on the computers during these times. There were a few names that he didn't recognize at first and it looked as though he was going to come up empty handed.
But just as he thought that a deleted file showed up in his diagnostics that hadn't shown up in his regular scanning pattern. This file was buried deep into the main frame so that it wasn't supposed to be found again. Almost as if somebody was trying to hide something.
Not only the file deleted but it also had a access password attached to it that sent all sorts of alarm bells off in his mind. Who would go to so much trouble to hide a deleted file and then protect it with a password system as though it were Fort Knox property. Something just didn't add up properly.
Lucas used his hacking skills to break the password code on the file and see what all the secrecy was about. When he finally got into it, which was no small feat, only one name started to read in front of him - Woodcock. There was no way around the truth. Once he could figure out what the man had tried to do and the unlimited access he was afforded as Supervisor of the munitions depot, there was little doubt left that he was the saboteur.
Problem now was that he had to prove it. Of course he could see it right in front of him. But trying to convince somebody like the Captain or Admiral Noyce that Woodcock had been up to no good for a long time, using bits of encrypted code and a deleted file that had a password on it, wasn't going to be in his favour.
Lucas needed something more concrete. He had to work out how to display it in a format that would make the sabotage unmistakable even for somebody who didn't know what they were looking at and secondly he had to record that evidence without Woodcock knowing so he could nail the man before the teacher had any more time to cover his tracks.
Lucas decided that he would have to show Shep exactly what had been going on and together the two of them would have to record the evidence against Woodcock before taking it to the Captain and Admiral Noyce. They would need to be extremely careful that they didn't let on to the teacher what they were doing. They needed it to still look like they were being amateur-like computer kids and just recording the data of the computers like they were asked to.
Lucas was totally unaware that someone was lurking in the shadows and watching him at the computer terminals. The figure decided it best not to show his hand at this stage and made sure that his movements went totally undetected by the teenager.
Woodcock inwardly kicked himself for underestimating the determination and computer skills of the boy. He thought he had put up enough defences and hidden data enough so that most people wouldn't have discovered just what he had been up to all these years. Trouble for him was that Lucas wasn't most people and had the knowledge and skills to uncover the criminal activities.
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Back at the crew's quarters, everyone was awake and ready to head to the mess hall for breakfast before they got underway for the day. Shep had noted Lucas's empty bed as had Bridger when he first arose. Neither of them thought there was a problem. Shep had explained to the Captain about Lucas's keenness to complete the task he had been set and Bridger had taken the eagerness to be one of Lucas's ways of trying to focus on something other than the past. Shep promised to go and check on the teenager after breakfast and drag him back to the meeting with Admiral Noyce.
Shep had been the first one to make it back to where the meeting was to take place. He wanted to check that Lucas hadn't returned on his own before going and looking for him. Woodcock on the other hand, although unhappy about being forced to front up to the meeting in the first place, he was the first one to turn up apart from Shep.
Woodcock looked around for anybody else and jumped at the opportunity to talk to Shep without being seen. He had already made the assumption that the friendship between Shep and Lucas was one that he would not be able to severe. The bond was just too strong as he had gauged even back in college between the two boys.
On the other hand he told himself that such a strong friendship might play into his hands and to his advantage of stopping Lucas revealing his knowledge about the sabotage. He knew that Lucas's weakness was his father and the threat of what had happened in the past. Shep, although his skills were not as honed as Lucas's and he probably wasn't as much of a threat as the Wolenczak boy might prove to be.
"Hello Mr Shepherd," Woodcock said smoothly to the teenager.
"What the hell do you want?" Shep said, a little startled at the man's sudden appearance and inwardly a little nervous that nobody else was about. At first he though Woodcock might have come back to upset Lucas again.
"Tsk Tsk, what makes you think that I am here to see you?" Woodcock now said, sensing the boy's thoughts about the welfare of his friend.
"He's not here so you just back off and leave Lucas the hell alone," Shep said aloud, hoping that somebody might hear the conversation and come along at any minute. Unfortunately, Woodcock's timing worked for him and the SeaQuest crew were still having breakfast in the mess hall.
Woodcock wasn't at all convinced yet that Shep had very much if any information about his activities and decided to probe just a little to find out what the boy knew. "You know that if certain people play with things they are not supposed to play with then they may suffer the consequences," Woodcock warned in a threatening tone.
"Don't you dare threaten Lucas or me," Shep now said, trying to put on a brave performance but inside his stomach was tied in knots about what the man might be meaning by such a comment. He knew that the man had his attention focused on Lucas and not him.
"If you mention any of our little conversation......" Woodcock began and left it short enough for the boy to comprehend what the threat meant for Lucas. "You never can tell you know. Lots of dangerous places around here and someone could get lost or hurt. You wouldn't want anything to happen now would you?"
Shep swallowed hard and knew what the man was threatening if he went and told the Captain or any of the other SeaQuest members about his little encounter with the teacher. The man was threatening to hurt Lucas if Shep said anything and there was no way of knowing whether he intended to carry it out or not.
Just as Shep was thinking of what else to say, Captain Bridger and a few other crew members now came walking down the corridor, ready for the meeting with Noyce.
Bridger noted Shep and Woodcock standing outside the doorway. For a minute Shep didn't quite look himself and the boy looked as though something was on his mind. Bridger wondered for a moment if words had already been exchanged between the two of them.
"Everything alright here Shep?" Bridger asked as he tried to put a little breathing space between the boy and the teacher. He knew of Shep's dislike of the teacher and the dislike was probably mutual.
Woodcock was staring straight at Shep as he answered, his expression stoic so as not to give away what he had said to the boy.
"Yeah everything's fine," Shep said with a little nervousness in his voice.
Just as Bridger was about to ask what had been going on, Lucas came walking down the corridor towards the group, a smile on his face until he saw Woodcock. He knew inside he had to hide the information he had about the sabotage until he had a chance to talk to Shep. He was trying to remember the words Bridger had told him about being confident in front of the man.
"Lucas," Shep squeaked, a little relieved to see his friend and that he looked more or less unharmed. "How has the download been going?"
"Slow, but you I can get stuck into it when the meeting is finished," Lucas said, not picking up on the tension between his friend and the teacher. He was trying to deal with the battle inside himself over the teacher at the moment. Part of him just didn't want to be anywhere near the man no matter what Bridger said. "This isn't going to take long is it Captain?" Lucas now asked, focusing his attention on the others.
Bridger was pleased to see that Lucas was at least trying to do what he suggested. Whilst he could see the boy's struggle to remain calm, he gave the boy full points for hiding his true feelings at the moment and maintaining his composure.
"I sincerely hope not Captain," Woodcock now added. "I have many more things to do today," he continued, looking directly at Shep the whole time, his words having two different meanings.
"Come on in everybody, Admiral Noyce should be on line in a minute. We will get this underway and appreciate everyone's co-operation until it is finished," Bridger said trying to dispel and of the uneasy feeling.
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After a few minutes, Admiral Noyce appeared on the Video screen and looked about the room to see who had turned up to the meeting that Bridger had suggested and arranged.
"Good Morning Captain, Lucas and everybody else in the room."
"Good Morning Bill," Bridger said as he took control of the meeting.
"Hello Admiral," Lucas greeted the man back. Everyone else in the room whispered and mumbled half-hearted greetings to the man on the screen in front of them.
Admiral Noyce was pleasantly surprised by the calmness in Lucas's voice. Only a few hours ago the teenager had been scathing in his attack and let the Admiral have a piece of his mind, despite his ranking in the U.E.O.
"Before we get underway, Lucas I just wanted to say that I am sorry," Noyce said. He left it at that due to Woodcock's presence in the room. He didn't know how much the man knew about the argument that had ensued yesterday between himself and Lucas over Woodcock's surprise appearance.
"I am too Admiral," Lucas looking sideways at Woodcock. "Its water under the bridge now," he added, signalling that it was time to talk about something else before both of them said too much then they really should. There would be time later on in the day to make a personal apology to the Admiral for his outburst.
"Now Mr Woodcock, I understand that you have some qualms about who is in charge during this operation," Noyce said taking on a very official stance and tone of voice.
"Let's just say that I am not happy about the way that Captain Bridger and his so called crew think they can just come aboard my depot and call the shots," Woodcock said back, not hiding his contempt for the idea of the two boys even being allowed there in the first place.
"Well let me tell you Mr Woodcock and you listen well," Noyce said, making sure that he had the man's complete and full attention. "While the SeaQuest is docked there you can consider Captain Bridger as in charge under my authority. Further more if you are referring to the young men in the room Lucas and Joshua then let me remind you that I hand picked this team to complete this operation. I wanted Lucas on this project even before I chose the SeaQuest. So what he says goes. I know he might be young, but in the field of computer and electronics he is the best and there is no denying that. Anything else you have a problem with over these next few days I suggest you bring up with Captain Bridger. I am sure Nathan would be more than willing to show you his way of handling things."
Noyce could see the sly smirk on Bridger's face that the Captain understood the meaning of the words "handling things". Unfortunately Woodcock also knew that he was outnumbered and if any problems arose with the two teenagers, then he would immediately be in the wrong because of the close relationship between the Captain and the Wolenczak boy.
"I can see that this whole meeting is a complete waste of time Admiral," Woodcock said in disgust and promptly got up and walked out of the room, steaming all the way. He knew that whatever had to be done to silence the Wolenczak kid about his findings would have to be done on his own without warning or assistance from anybody.
"That went well didn't it?" Noyce now said with a slight smile to Bridger.
"There is lots of work to do Admiral," Lucas said as he too prepared to leave the room. He wasn't unhappy about the way the Captain and Admiral had belittled the teacher in front of everybody. It was just that he was trying his utmost to forget and this wasn't making it any easier for him just to ignore the man and complete the job at hand.
"I think I will stay here and talk to the Captain for a few minutes Lucas," Shep now said, trying to find the courage to speak to them about the threats that Woodcock had made about Lucas.
Lucas didn't read anymore into it than what Shep was saying "Okay, I will meet you soon then. I am going to get something to eat first and then keep going," he said.
"I will check on progress about this time tomorrow Nathan," Noyce said and terminated the video-link.
"What did you want to talk to me about Shep?" Bridger began to ask. Kristen and Ben too gathered around to ask, clearly seeing something on the young man's mind.
"Uh, it's okay, I just was going to ask how you thought Lucas was doing this morning," Shep asked, inwardly kicking himself for chickening out already. Problem was that the words Woodcock had uttered were all too fresh in his memory and he kept hearing them over and over again while he was trying to talk to Captain Bridger and the others.
He would have to wait until he had regained enough courage to speak out and try again. Maybe he should even talk it over first with Lucas about what Woodcock had said. But right at the moment with Lucas just beginning to look relaxed slightly after yesterday, Shep wasn't quite ready to head down that path just yet.
"Oh I think you will find that Lucas is a lot tougher than we all give him credit for," Bridger said trying to reassure Shep that Lucas would work out his problems mostly on his own. He knew that Shep was worried about Lucas just as much as he was but they all needed to believe that Lucas had found a way to battle the demons on his own.
"Yeah you are probably right," Shep said, trying to deflect the guilt he was feeling at present. Why couldn't he just come out and say it he scolded himself. "I think I will go and find him for myself anyway," he added.
"See you later then," Bridger said a little puzzled at Shep's soundly a little vague and unsure of himself. Maybe the problem with Woodcock was beginning to get to him as well and he wasn't letting on so much by showing his concern about Lucas. Bridger promised himself to keep an eye on Josh just that bit more too over the next day or so.
"That's why they call them teenagers Nathan," Kristen said as she prepared to go off with Ben and start the day of packing up that had been arranged. They too had loads of work to complete before the days end.
"Don't remind me, they get more confusing every day," Nathan said as he started listening to Commander Ford's down run of the operation so far.
On the way back to the computer room, Shep was telling himself that he was worrying over nothing and that Woodcock would have very little opportunity if any at all of causing problems for Lucas before they left the depot all together. He told himself that he was just getting all worked up over nothing.
When he entered the room though and saw that the computer terminals were all vacant, the fears he had just tried to dispel one again multiplied with force. He looked around the room in a panic wondering where his friend could be. Lucas had left just after Woodcock. Woodcock had left the meeting before any of them. He would have had enough opportunity to hide away in wait for an unsuspecting Lucas, ready to pounce on the teenager when nobody else was around to help him.
Shep ran back towards Captain in the living quarters, almost out of breath by the time he got there. The words he spoke to Bridger sent a shiver up the Captain's spine....
"Lucas is missing......." he blurted out all at once.
Bridger was ready to begin panicking on his own when he made himself calm down enough to ask some logical questions. He knew that Shep was in a state way beyond rational thought over Lucas, but he had to try and figure out what was so wrong.
"Lucas isn't in the computer room is he?" Bridger asked firstly, knowing that was were the teenager had been headed after the meeting.
"You don't understand," Shep yelled back, wanting the Captain to go looking immediately. "He is missing. I can't find him anywhere," he added, having not really looked anywhere else.
"Where would he be?" Bridger asked himself more than anybody else. By this stage, Bridger assumed that Shep was just being a little over cautious about Lucas not being where he was supposed to be. He had only been there a few minutes ago. Nothing could have happened in such a short space of time. Could it.....
In another part of the munitions depot, Lucas wasn't scared exactly. He actually thought himself to be on the receiving end of one of Ben's practical joke pay backs. The room was dark so he couldn't exactly see where he was, the light had gone out as soon as he entered the room when somebody shut the door behind him.
The thing he did know was that the room he was in was very cold...... he tried the handle but nothing, it wouldn't budge and then had to bundle his hands underneath his t-shirt to stop the cold seeping in. Boy it was freezing in here.......
"Ben that's enough now...... Ben.... God-damn you Ben let me out of here now ... I'm cold.... You just wait until I get out of here Ben Krieg...... I'm freezing in here.... at least give me a blanket or something... come on it's really cold in here ...... BEN ?????
Nothing no response to his calls. The only sound that he couldn't hear due to the closed door was the sound of footsteps as they walked away, the figure satisfied that the task had been carried out successfully for the time being. Only time would tell if his plan worked or not........
TO BE CONTINUED............
So where is Lucas ???????????? I bet your all just itching to know..... that's why I didn't tell you yet......
You will get bits and pieces of anything over the next couple of weeks as I try and spark some spirit and interest back into my writing. A mixed bag really - never know what you are going to get.
I know I have neglected Kristen and Ben somewhat in the last couple of posts - it's not deliberate - just using Bridger and Shep more and Woodcock of course.
This is not the ending I have planned - more to come.
JULES
Warning - this story may get a little darker towards the end. No hints to ruin the plot but be prepared for new ending.......
It took almost three hours after the conversation with Noyce for Lucas to unlock the door to Bridger's persistent pounding. The rest of the crew, including Shep had thought it best to leave the talking to the Captain at this point in time.
Lucas's emotions were running very raw at the moment and no doubt the next few days were going to be a continual strain.
Bridger had promised the crew to sort out the problem about Woodcock being aboard the depot with Admiral Noyce the next morning before they all began working on their assigned tasks. They were all too aware of the extra stress that would now be placed on the operation to run to schedule at the end of the week.
Right now Bridger told himself that he needed to focus on Lucas, for the rest of the night anyway. Firstly he had to smooth things over between him and the teenager about him not having any idea about Woodcock's presence let alone the past student teacher relationship that had existed.
The lock on the inside of Lucas's quarters turned, signalling that the teenager had unlocked the door. Bridger paused slightly before knocking lightly again and then turning the handle to open the door.
Inside the room, Lucas had returned to laying on the bed with his body laying on it's side away from the doorway as if ignoring anybody who wanted to talk to him or come into the room. This was the next indication to Bridger that the teenager was not being very co-operative at the moment.
Bridger now sat down on a chair on the opposite side of the room without saying a word for a few minutes. He kept looking towards Lucas, waiting to see if the boy would say something first.
"Why?" came the whispered question after a long silence.
Bridger wasn't sure if the word was a question or not and waited to see if the teenager repeated the question or asked another.
"Just tell me why he has to be here?" Lucas now said, turning over to face Bridger with the question.
"I don't know Lucas," the Captain answered truthfully. "Until just a few minutes ago I didn't even realise that you knew one another."
"You sure about that?" Lucas said, the question more of a plea for relief rather than a demanding one.
"I am sure Lucas. I know you talked about your college teacher back on board the boat the other night, but up until just now I didn't even know what the man looked like, let alone recognize him as the man we just met in the corridor," Bridger said as he gave his explanation of his involvement.
"You don't know what it does to me inside to see that man again after all of these years Captain," Lucas now whispered. He kept his eyes on the quilt underneath him the whole time he spoke.
"I know we joked about him the other night and said about all the awful things we did to him. And maybe Shep and I have a lot to answer for back then. But every time I look at him, all I can see is my father. He may not look like him or act like him, but when it comes right down to him, that man did nothing to help me all those years ago," Lucas said.
"Do you know how hard it was for me in the first place to gain enough courage to tell someone about what my father was doing every night of my life?" Lucas asked, not really expecting an answer.
Bridger let the boy speak his mind for now. He would listen to Lucas's story and make comments at the end if necessary. It was more important right now for Lucas to battle the feelings within him about this Mr Woodcock.
"Shep was always at me to tell somebody you know," Lucas now said, laughing a little but no real humour in his voice. "He said to me day after day there for months in our third year that I couldn't go on living at home like I was. He said that one day my father was going to hurt me so bad that I wouldn't be able to leave the house and find help."
"I just kept telling myself and Shep that it wasn't that bad," Lucas admitted. There had been a time in his life that the beatings had almost become mundane. Almost as if it was like he expected it as soon as he walked through the door each day after college. There such a hauntingly bad routine about it all that he found himself lying to himself as well as everybody else including friends and those who did care enough to speak up.
Shep had wanted to do more to help his friend. Lucas had always known that. Shep had even offered for the two of them to runaway together and get jobs somewhere up state, anywhere. Just as long as he could get Lucas away from his father Lawrence. Shep had no family to speak of. He like Lucas was an only child and his parents were dead so he couldn't turn to them for help.
"Finally one afternoon, the beatings did get really bad. I spent a night in hospital that night," Lucas said as he looked up at Bridger to see what thoughts were running through the man's head.
Bridger tried to look sympathetic to Lucas's plight but deep down inside his only thoughts of what he would do if he ever came face to face with Lawrence Wolenczak. There was a deep driven hatred and rage for a man he had heard so much about over the last few years but have never even laid eyes on for more than a few seconds.
"You know what you need to do Lucas," Bridger now stated, trying to come up with a plausible solution to the teenager's feeling of the past creeping back up on him again.
"What?" Lucas said in a tone of voice that spoke of not really wanting to hear any suggestions at the moment.
"You need to show this Mr Woodcock or whatever his name is that you are not the Lucas Wolenczak that he thinks he knows and can manipulate with a few words about what happened a long time ago," Bridger began.
Lucas now back at Bridger, listening to what he was saying.
"You are not under the control of your father anymore Lucas, nor this Mr Woodcock. You have friends around you and a new family that care very much about you. You need to hold onto that with both hands and never let it go. You need to show this teacher that you are doing better than he could have ever thought you would do."
Something in the back of Lucas's mind was agreeing with everything the Captain was saying and the expression on his face was displaying it as well.
"I don't know if I can just forget the past and him like that and push it aside as if nothing ever happened Captain," Lucas answered truthfully. Even after these last few years of SeaQuest, every now and again, the thoughts of what had happened at the hands of his father came back to haunt him once again.
"I am not asking you to forget Lucas, I know it's something that will always be with you. But all you need to do is put the positive aspects of your life now in front of them and push them to the back of your memory. Let the good preside and come out in front," Bridger now added.
"What if he starts giving my a hard time again like he did to me and Shep back in college?" Lucas asked, his mind still ticking over about how he might be able to deal with the teacher.
"Then give him a hard time back, come on Lucas where's this the rebellious teenager we heard so much about with Shep back aboard the boat. Go back to doing what you two did best back in college, annoy the pants of the man and turn the tables somewhat," Bridger said with a grin.
Lucas sat for a moment and then a similar grin began to creep across his own face, "Your right," he suddenly said with a little bit more confidence creeping into this voice and propping up his deflated self-esteem. "We used to give it back to him in his classroom, I just have to get Shep to help me and do it all over again."
"That's the idea, you are a competent young man now with directions of his own and you don't need some old teacher from your school days telling you that you can't do this and that anymore. Show him that you are your own boss nowadays. I will be there to back you up the whole way and I am sure the rest of the crew will be too if you just give them a chance to defend you," Bridger said.
"I'll leave you to have a think about it. I hope you know that we still need you to complete the downloads tomorrow and the next day. We are almost out of time but we need to stick at it and get as much done as possible," Bridger now reminded Lucas.
"Yeah, I know. Shep and I have been at it constantly, but there have been a few hiccups along the way that have slowed us down more than we would like to admit," Lucas now admitted, not fully revealing the information he and Shep had found out about the possible sabotage of the depot's computer related files.
"Well hopefully there will be little if no interruptions tomorrow, if you need extra help just ask."
"No, I would rather not if that's okay. Shep and I are a team if you know what I mean and I don't think either of us would like somebody else coming in to help and step all over our toes. We will get it done more quickly just the two of us," Lucas replied.
"Captain....," Lucas began to say as he tried to find the words to apologize for his outburst back out in the corridor when Woodcock had first been introduced.
Bridger seemed to pick up on what the teenager was trying to say, but let him finished the sentence first.
"I'm sorry," Lucas said and left if at that.
"I know you are Lucas. Although I was a bit worried there at first that I was the one on trouble for something I didn't even know I had done and that you weren't going to talk to me anymore. I hope you have enough trust in me to know that I would never betray our friendship enough for somebody like Woodcock or anybody else for that matter."
"Yeah I know you wouldn't. I just lost my head there for a minute I guess," Lucas said sheepishly.
"I will tell Admiral Noyce to set up a meeting in the morning between us and Woodcock to draw some rules in the sand about what is going to happen over the next few days and who is going to be in charge. I think this teacher needs some to be taught some lessons of his own," said Bridger.
"Can you send Shep in here for a few minutes if he is still out there?" Lucas asked.
"See you later," Bridger said as he nodded his head in agreement to telling Shep it was okay to go in now.
Bridger went back out to the other living room area where most of the crew were still wondering what was going on between Lucas, Shep and this fellow called Woodcock. Bridger did his best to explain about what the teenager was feeling without betraying Lucas's trust about some matters the two of them had discussed just between them.
Bridger also got Jonathan Ford to arrange the video-link meeting between the crew and then told Mr Biggs that he would have to advise Woodcock about the scheduled meeting. Mr Biggs had been a little hesitant and had voiced it in so many words that Mr Woodcock would not be impressed about what had been arranged without his input.
Bridger pointed out that the SeaQuest and her crew had full control and authority of the munitions depot at this point in time and he didn't care if Woodcock liked the meeting or not, he just had to be there. Part of his casual but no-nonsense attitude was supposed to be in defence of the way the man had spoken to Shep and Lucas earlier but he didn't tell anybody that.
Bridger wasn't about to let the teacher bully the two teenagers or anybody else in his crew. If Woodcock had any further ideas about upsetting or tormenting Lucas again about his father then Bridger would forget all about being the Captain of a U.E.O. vessel and dish out some old-time marine punishment for those who were labelled mutineers or rebels against the rest of the crew.
A few seconds later, Shep appeared at the door to Lucas's room but was a little hesitant at first of coming in until Lucas said everything had cooled down somewhat.
"Everything okay Lucas?" he asked.
"Yeah Shep, but you and I need to talk about these downloads before tomorrow morning," Lucas answered.
Shep came into the room and closed the door behind him. For the next hour he and Lucas talked about how best to tackle the download and how to overcome the problems they had encountered so far. Lucas also told Shep about the meeting that was going to be set up between the SeaQuest crew and Woodcock and Admiral Noyce in the morning.
Shep wasn't totally happy with the idea but was happy that Lucas shared with him what he and Bridger had spoken about and how to try and forget the past and turn the tables back on Woodcock's attitude.
"We don't have any glue this time but I will figure out some way to tick the guy off before we leave," Shep said in fun as he tried to think of a great practical joke to carry out on the unsuspecting teacher.
"Actually I would rather just forget all about him and do the job we were asked to do and leave. Once we go from here we won't have to put up with the guy anymore at all anyway. Let's just grin and bear whatever he throws at us without getting riled about it and survive the rest of the week here," Lucas now suggested as a more compromising way.
"Well I guess I had better turn in then if we are going to get an early start in the morning then huh?" Shep now said as he prepared to go to bed for the night. The two were sharing adjoining rooms, as were the rest of the crew. The rooms themselves were small but they shared a bathroom between two rooms and they would do for the short time they would be staying there anyway.
"Night Shep," Lucas said, his mind already beginning to wander towards tomorrow's projects and away from sleep.
"Night Lucas," Shep responded and turned into his pillow, determined to at least get a few hours of shuteye.
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Sleep for Lucas on the other hand was the furtherest thing from his mind at the moment. The later the night got and the closer to the morning the clock ticked, the more Lucas thoughts began spinning around. At first he thought about what Bridger and he had spoken about earlier in regards to Woodcock. Then his mind started drifting towards the computer download and the evidence that he had already discovered that made it looked as if somebody had been sabotaging the files very slowly over a long period of time.
Somehow the two subjects started mingling inside his head with one another until the idea began to form that Woodcock might actually know something about the sabotage that had been happening. He didn't quite voice the opinion out loud to himself, but couldn't help but think that maybe Woodcock was a whole lot more involved than anybody had ever thought possible.
At 5.00am he decided that sleep wasn't going to come at all that night and decided to do a little delving on his own into the computer systems. He put on clean clothes and crept as quietly as he could out of the crew's temporary living quarters and made his way silently along the corridors towards the main-frame computer.
For the next hour and a half he went over line after line of encrypted code and file after file for the last few years and tried to sort out the heads and tails about why the data was looking so distorted in places.
He then got into the personnel records as part of the mainframe and looked at the electronic logging on system that would tell him who had access to such information on the computers during these times. There were a few names that he didn't recognize at first and it looked as though he was going to come up empty handed.
But just as he thought that a deleted file showed up in his diagnostics that hadn't shown up in his regular scanning pattern. This file was buried deep into the main frame so that it wasn't supposed to be found again. Almost as if somebody was trying to hide something.
Not only the file deleted but it also had a access password attached to it that sent all sorts of alarm bells off in his mind. Who would go to so much trouble to hide a deleted file and then protect it with a password system as though it were Fort Knox property. Something just didn't add up properly.
Lucas used his hacking skills to break the password code on the file and see what all the secrecy was about. When he finally got into it, which was no small feat, only one name started to read in front of him - Woodcock. There was no way around the truth. Once he could figure out what the man had tried to do and the unlimited access he was afforded as Supervisor of the munitions depot, there was little doubt left that he was the saboteur.
Problem now was that he had to prove it. Of course he could see it right in front of him. But trying to convince somebody like the Captain or Admiral Noyce that Woodcock had been up to no good for a long time, using bits of encrypted code and a deleted file that had a password on it, wasn't going to be in his favour.
Lucas needed something more concrete. He had to work out how to display it in a format that would make the sabotage unmistakable even for somebody who didn't know what they were looking at and secondly he had to record that evidence without Woodcock knowing so he could nail the man before the teacher had any more time to cover his tracks.
Lucas decided that he would have to show Shep exactly what had been going on and together the two of them would have to record the evidence against Woodcock before taking it to the Captain and Admiral Noyce. They would need to be extremely careful that they didn't let on to the teacher what they were doing. They needed it to still look like they were being amateur-like computer kids and just recording the data of the computers like they were asked to.
Lucas was totally unaware that someone was lurking in the shadows and watching him at the computer terminals. The figure decided it best not to show his hand at this stage and made sure that his movements went totally undetected by the teenager.
Woodcock inwardly kicked himself for underestimating the determination and computer skills of the boy. He thought he had put up enough defences and hidden data enough so that most people wouldn't have discovered just what he had been up to all these years. Trouble for him was that Lucas wasn't most people and had the knowledge and skills to uncover the criminal activities.
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Back at the crew's quarters, everyone was awake and ready to head to the mess hall for breakfast before they got underway for the day. Shep had noted Lucas's empty bed as had Bridger when he first arose. Neither of them thought there was a problem. Shep had explained to the Captain about Lucas's keenness to complete the task he had been set and Bridger had taken the eagerness to be one of Lucas's ways of trying to focus on something other than the past. Shep promised to go and check on the teenager after breakfast and drag him back to the meeting with Admiral Noyce.
Shep had been the first one to make it back to where the meeting was to take place. He wanted to check that Lucas hadn't returned on his own before going and looking for him. Woodcock on the other hand, although unhappy about being forced to front up to the meeting in the first place, he was the first one to turn up apart from Shep.
Woodcock looked around for anybody else and jumped at the opportunity to talk to Shep without being seen. He had already made the assumption that the friendship between Shep and Lucas was one that he would not be able to severe. The bond was just too strong as he had gauged even back in college between the two boys.
On the other hand he told himself that such a strong friendship might play into his hands and to his advantage of stopping Lucas revealing his knowledge about the sabotage. He knew that Lucas's weakness was his father and the threat of what had happened in the past. Shep, although his skills were not as honed as Lucas's and he probably wasn't as much of a threat as the Wolenczak boy might prove to be.
"Hello Mr Shepherd," Woodcock said smoothly to the teenager.
"What the hell do you want?" Shep said, a little startled at the man's sudden appearance and inwardly a little nervous that nobody else was about. At first he though Woodcock might have come back to upset Lucas again.
"Tsk Tsk, what makes you think that I am here to see you?" Woodcock now said, sensing the boy's thoughts about the welfare of his friend.
"He's not here so you just back off and leave Lucas the hell alone," Shep said aloud, hoping that somebody might hear the conversation and come along at any minute. Unfortunately, Woodcock's timing worked for him and the SeaQuest crew were still having breakfast in the mess hall.
Woodcock wasn't at all convinced yet that Shep had very much if any information about his activities and decided to probe just a little to find out what the boy knew. "You know that if certain people play with things they are not supposed to play with then they may suffer the consequences," Woodcock warned in a threatening tone.
"Don't you dare threaten Lucas or me," Shep now said, trying to put on a brave performance but inside his stomach was tied in knots about what the man might be meaning by such a comment. He knew that the man had his attention focused on Lucas and not him.
"If you mention any of our little conversation......" Woodcock began and left it short enough for the boy to comprehend what the threat meant for Lucas. "You never can tell you know. Lots of dangerous places around here and someone could get lost or hurt. You wouldn't want anything to happen now would you?"
Shep swallowed hard and knew what the man was threatening if he went and told the Captain or any of the other SeaQuest members about his little encounter with the teacher. The man was threatening to hurt Lucas if Shep said anything and there was no way of knowing whether he intended to carry it out or not.
Just as Shep was thinking of what else to say, Captain Bridger and a few other crew members now came walking down the corridor, ready for the meeting with Noyce.
Bridger noted Shep and Woodcock standing outside the doorway. For a minute Shep didn't quite look himself and the boy looked as though something was on his mind. Bridger wondered for a moment if words had already been exchanged between the two of them.
"Everything alright here Shep?" Bridger asked as he tried to put a little breathing space between the boy and the teacher. He knew of Shep's dislike of the teacher and the dislike was probably mutual.
Woodcock was staring straight at Shep as he answered, his expression stoic so as not to give away what he had said to the boy.
"Yeah everything's fine," Shep said with a little nervousness in his voice.
Just as Bridger was about to ask what had been going on, Lucas came walking down the corridor towards the group, a smile on his face until he saw Woodcock. He knew inside he had to hide the information he had about the sabotage until he had a chance to talk to Shep. He was trying to remember the words Bridger had told him about being confident in front of the man.
"Lucas," Shep squeaked, a little relieved to see his friend and that he looked more or less unharmed. "How has the download been going?"
"Slow, but you I can get stuck into it when the meeting is finished," Lucas said, not picking up on the tension between his friend and the teacher. He was trying to deal with the battle inside himself over the teacher at the moment. Part of him just didn't want to be anywhere near the man no matter what Bridger said. "This isn't going to take long is it Captain?" Lucas now asked, focusing his attention on the others.
Bridger was pleased to see that Lucas was at least trying to do what he suggested. Whilst he could see the boy's struggle to remain calm, he gave the boy full points for hiding his true feelings at the moment and maintaining his composure.
"I sincerely hope not Captain," Woodcock now added. "I have many more things to do today," he continued, looking directly at Shep the whole time, his words having two different meanings.
"Come on in everybody, Admiral Noyce should be on line in a minute. We will get this underway and appreciate everyone's co-operation until it is finished," Bridger said trying to dispel and of the uneasy feeling.
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After a few minutes, Admiral Noyce appeared on the Video screen and looked about the room to see who had turned up to the meeting that Bridger had suggested and arranged.
"Good Morning Captain, Lucas and everybody else in the room."
"Good Morning Bill," Bridger said as he took control of the meeting.
"Hello Admiral," Lucas greeted the man back. Everyone else in the room whispered and mumbled half-hearted greetings to the man on the screen in front of them.
Admiral Noyce was pleasantly surprised by the calmness in Lucas's voice. Only a few hours ago the teenager had been scathing in his attack and let the Admiral have a piece of his mind, despite his ranking in the U.E.O.
"Before we get underway, Lucas I just wanted to say that I am sorry," Noyce said. He left it at that due to Woodcock's presence in the room. He didn't know how much the man knew about the argument that had ensued yesterday between himself and Lucas over Woodcock's surprise appearance.
"I am too Admiral," Lucas looking sideways at Woodcock. "Its water under the bridge now," he added, signalling that it was time to talk about something else before both of them said too much then they really should. There would be time later on in the day to make a personal apology to the Admiral for his outburst.
"Now Mr Woodcock, I understand that you have some qualms about who is in charge during this operation," Noyce said taking on a very official stance and tone of voice.
"Let's just say that I am not happy about the way that Captain Bridger and his so called crew think they can just come aboard my depot and call the shots," Woodcock said back, not hiding his contempt for the idea of the two boys even being allowed there in the first place.
"Well let me tell you Mr Woodcock and you listen well," Noyce said, making sure that he had the man's complete and full attention. "While the SeaQuest is docked there you can consider Captain Bridger as in charge under my authority. Further more if you are referring to the young men in the room Lucas and Joshua then let me remind you that I hand picked this team to complete this operation. I wanted Lucas on this project even before I chose the SeaQuest. So what he says goes. I know he might be young, but in the field of computer and electronics he is the best and there is no denying that. Anything else you have a problem with over these next few days I suggest you bring up with Captain Bridger. I am sure Nathan would be more than willing to show you his way of handling things."
Noyce could see the sly smirk on Bridger's face that the Captain understood the meaning of the words "handling things". Unfortunately Woodcock also knew that he was outnumbered and if any problems arose with the two teenagers, then he would immediately be in the wrong because of the close relationship between the Captain and the Wolenczak boy.
"I can see that this whole meeting is a complete waste of time Admiral," Woodcock said in disgust and promptly got up and walked out of the room, steaming all the way. He knew that whatever had to be done to silence the Wolenczak kid about his findings would have to be done on his own without warning or assistance from anybody.
"That went well didn't it?" Noyce now said with a slight smile to Bridger.
"There is lots of work to do Admiral," Lucas said as he too prepared to leave the room. He wasn't unhappy about the way the Captain and Admiral had belittled the teacher in front of everybody. It was just that he was trying his utmost to forget and this wasn't making it any easier for him just to ignore the man and complete the job at hand.
"I think I will stay here and talk to the Captain for a few minutes Lucas," Shep now said, trying to find the courage to speak to them about the threats that Woodcock had made about Lucas.
Lucas didn't read anymore into it than what Shep was saying "Okay, I will meet you soon then. I am going to get something to eat first and then keep going," he said.
"I will check on progress about this time tomorrow Nathan," Noyce said and terminated the video-link.
"What did you want to talk to me about Shep?" Bridger began to ask. Kristen and Ben too gathered around to ask, clearly seeing something on the young man's mind.
"Uh, it's okay, I just was going to ask how you thought Lucas was doing this morning," Shep asked, inwardly kicking himself for chickening out already. Problem was that the words Woodcock had uttered were all too fresh in his memory and he kept hearing them over and over again while he was trying to talk to Captain Bridger and the others.
He would have to wait until he had regained enough courage to speak out and try again. Maybe he should even talk it over first with Lucas about what Woodcock had said. But right at the moment with Lucas just beginning to look relaxed slightly after yesterday, Shep wasn't quite ready to head down that path just yet.
"Oh I think you will find that Lucas is a lot tougher than we all give him credit for," Bridger said trying to reassure Shep that Lucas would work out his problems mostly on his own. He knew that Shep was worried about Lucas just as much as he was but they all needed to believe that Lucas had found a way to battle the demons on his own.
"Yeah you are probably right," Shep said, trying to deflect the guilt he was feeling at present. Why couldn't he just come out and say it he scolded himself. "I think I will go and find him for myself anyway," he added.
"See you later then," Bridger said a little puzzled at Shep's soundly a little vague and unsure of himself. Maybe the problem with Woodcock was beginning to get to him as well and he wasn't letting on so much by showing his concern about Lucas. Bridger promised himself to keep an eye on Josh just that bit more too over the next day or so.
"That's why they call them teenagers Nathan," Kristen said as she prepared to go off with Ben and start the day of packing up that had been arranged. They too had loads of work to complete before the days end.
"Don't remind me, they get more confusing every day," Nathan said as he started listening to Commander Ford's down run of the operation so far.
On the way back to the computer room, Shep was telling himself that he was worrying over nothing and that Woodcock would have very little opportunity if any at all of causing problems for Lucas before they left the depot all together. He told himself that he was just getting all worked up over nothing.
When he entered the room though and saw that the computer terminals were all vacant, the fears he had just tried to dispel one again multiplied with force. He looked around the room in a panic wondering where his friend could be. Lucas had left just after Woodcock. Woodcock had left the meeting before any of them. He would have had enough opportunity to hide away in wait for an unsuspecting Lucas, ready to pounce on the teenager when nobody else was around to help him.
Shep ran back towards Captain in the living quarters, almost out of breath by the time he got there. The words he spoke to Bridger sent a shiver up the Captain's spine....
"Lucas is missing......." he blurted out all at once.
Bridger was ready to begin panicking on his own when he made himself calm down enough to ask some logical questions. He knew that Shep was in a state way beyond rational thought over Lucas, but he had to try and figure out what was so wrong.
"Lucas isn't in the computer room is he?" Bridger asked firstly, knowing that was were the teenager had been headed after the meeting.
"You don't understand," Shep yelled back, wanting the Captain to go looking immediately. "He is missing. I can't find him anywhere," he added, having not really looked anywhere else.
"Where would he be?" Bridger asked himself more than anybody else. By this stage, Bridger assumed that Shep was just being a little over cautious about Lucas not being where he was supposed to be. He had only been there a few minutes ago. Nothing could have happened in such a short space of time. Could it.....
In another part of the munitions depot, Lucas wasn't scared exactly. He actually thought himself to be on the receiving end of one of Ben's practical joke pay backs. The room was dark so he couldn't exactly see where he was, the light had gone out as soon as he entered the room when somebody shut the door behind him.
The thing he did know was that the room he was in was very cold...... he tried the handle but nothing, it wouldn't budge and then had to bundle his hands underneath his t-shirt to stop the cold seeping in. Boy it was freezing in here.......
"Ben that's enough now...... Ben.... God-damn you Ben let me out of here now ... I'm cold.... You just wait until I get out of here Ben Krieg...... I'm freezing in here.... at least give me a blanket or something... come on it's really cold in here ...... BEN ?????
Nothing no response to his calls. The only sound that he couldn't hear due to the closed door was the sound of footsteps as they walked away, the figure satisfied that the task had been carried out successfully for the time being. Only time would tell if his plan worked or not........
TO BE CONTINUED............
So where is Lucas ???????????? I bet your all just itching to know..... that's why I didn't tell you yet......
You will get bits and pieces of anything over the next couple of weeks as I try and spark some spirit and interest back into my writing. A mixed bag really - never know what you are going to get.
I know I have neglected Kristen and Ben somewhat in the last couple of posts - it's not deliberate - just using Bridger and Shep more and Woodcock of course.
This is not the ending I have planned - more to come.
JULES