Dr. Wendy Smith scratched at her leg, warding off the slight tickle that
had interrupted her thought process. The cell cultures she was working on
were not thriving as well as she'd hoped and she hadn't quite figured out
why yet. It was one of those small puzzles that she tended to work on
between her regular med-duties and consoling. In all honesty she enjoyed
figuring out the little things sometimes, it gave her a non-pressured sense
of accomplishment, not something that was critical to save somebody's life,
just a simple problem being answered.
She sighed and put the culture back in the fridge, scratching her leg again. It seemed like she had phantom leaves brushing at her leg, an itch that had been bothering her for the last month and a half. She went into her office and sat down, waiting for Dagwood to come and see her. He'd asked to speak with her earlier this morning, and she was pretty sure she knew what it was about, or more to the point who.
"Mmm hello?" The Dagger's deep voice enquired through the slightly open door, his head and body following afterwards.
"Hello Dagwood. Have a seat, would you like anything to drink?"
"No thank you. I had a glass of water before I came." She nodded and waited for him to continue. The nice thing about Dagwood was that you usually didn't have to pursuade him to talk about what was bothering him, unlike others on this ship. "I had a dream last night."
"Was it about Tony?" He nodded quickly and sat forward, his larger body almost looking too big for the chair. "Do you want to describe it?"
"He was here, on SeaQuest. We were talking in Darwin's room, he was going to go for a swim but he wanted to wait for Darwin."
"What were you talking about?"
"about pizza mostly. He doesn't like it very much but he always talks about how everyone should love it. He doesn't like the cheese, says it's too greasy. Also we talked about how he liked SeaQuest." Dagwood looked at her as if she held all the answers for a moment before focusing his eyes on the desks surface once again. "He said he didn't want to leave, that we were nice people to him and he liked that, mmmbut sometimes having friends meant that you had responsibilities whether you liked it or not. He said he was going to leave, but he was sad. I think he was scared."
"what do you think he was scared of?"
"I don't know he didn't tell me. He doesn't tell anybody about what he's scared of, except snakes. Tony hates snakes." She smiled slightly, remembering a time when a small gardener snake they'd been transferring to a small harvesting colony had escaped it's casing and he'd walked in to see it slithering across the floor. He was in the aqua tunnels fully clothed before she could even blink. He had a natural attraction to water when it came to fear it seemed. She missed him.
"Why does this dream bother you Dagwood? Do you think he didn't want to leave the Seaquest like he said he did?"
"I think he wanted to stay."
"Why's that?"
"Mmmbecause the conversation we had in my dream was not just a dream." She blinked.
"What do you mean?" He looked confused for a moment, answering slowly.
"He told me that before he left, but I didn't remember until the dream. He made me forget."
(()Q())
"Wendy, I'm sorry but there is no solid evidence that Tony left for any other reason than the fact that he wanted to."
"I know, I was just bringing what I knew to your attention so we could sort through it. I know you think his departure was a little sudden and unexpected, you told me so. Now with Dagwood saying Tony somehow had him forget a conversation they had is a little suspicious." Bridger frowned and gently rubbed his temple a moment. It was not a huge secret that Tony had the slight abilities of a telepath, like Wendy possessed, but the idea that he had enough control over them to manipulate somebody's thoughts was stretching it. Wendy herself stated that he wasn't all that powerful. Dagwood probably just forgot and the dream reminded him.
"What do you think Tony left for then? His parole with the UEO was over, he stayed another two weeks and then decided that SeaQuest wasn't really for him and left to find his own life. That's not an unordinary act, especially for someone as unsettled as Tony Piccolo was." Although in all honesty Bridger had not expected the cocky young man to suddenly pack it in and leave. He'd seemed very enthusiastic about a career in the UEO, at least on the SeaQuest.
"I know that Nathan, but I don't feel that that's the truth anymore, there's something else going on here." He watched as the rubbed her ankle and sighed. It had been two and a half months since Tony left. He hadn't sent a vid in a month to let them know how he was. Lucas had grumbled something about him being beyond the SeaQuest and not bothering to send them messages anymore. He supposedly hadn't replied to the last three the young man had sent. Lucas tended to have his feelings hurt to easily by things like that, but now Bridger began to wonder why Tony hadn't sent any news. He was well aware of how attached the man had become to the kid, as well as his other friends on the ship. He frowned again and Wendy leaned forward.
"Sir, it never hurts to check." He finally relented, hoping their worry was in vain.
"Fine. I want you to have Lucas and O'Niel track him down and get a status report. If anyone asks just say we lost his address. If anyone else on the ship, namely Tony's closer friends, insist on helping than I don't see why not. As long as it doesn't impede on their work." Wendy grinned and stood swiftly.
"Thank you Nathan." He nodded.
"I just hope your feelings are wrong." She nodded and left. She had work to do.
(()Q())
2 Days Later:
"Nothing. Where the hell is he!" Lucas slapped his hand across his keyboard and glared at the computers screen.
"Easy their Lucas, don't break the machine before we're done." Ortize said lightly and pushed the kid out of the seat, tossing a grin at a startled Lucas. "Sorry, but there's no other way to get you to move. It's my turn to look."
"You could have asked." He replied, a little miffed.
"Right, and you would have encrypted the computer so only you could do the research. I know how you work, you're too stubborn to let others have a go." Ortize gazed at the information on the screen, or lack there of it.
"I am not stubborn."
"Complete understatement." O'Niel called out behind them, coming up to look over their shoulders. "No luck yet huh?"
"No, and frankly that bothers me." They were all silent a moment and then O'Niel spoke up.
"Would you mind if we reviewed his message vids?"
"Go ahead, but I already listened to them and there was nothing that indicated anything wrong." Ortize called up the very first vid, sent two days after he left SeaQuest.
"Hey guys and girls. How're things under the sea? Miss me yet? I bet you're all comatose from the lack of excitement I bring. Anyway, just wanted to drop a line. I'm settled in, the UEO offered some back pay so I'm out and about relaxing for a while. Sucks that I gotta go looking for another job, maybe I'll be a DJ or something. Gotta go now, later. Tony Piccolo signing out."
They went through all six of the tapes, each about a week apart, and each getting shorter if that were possible. Each one was Tony allright, and previous tests Lucas had done proved their authenticy so they weren't fake. There must be something in the messages about his location. O'Niel frowned.
"Ortize, do you want to bring up a picture of him from each message please."
"Sure." A moment later there were six different pictures of their seemingly missing friend pasted across the screen. O'Niel nodded.
"What now?" Lucas asked.
"It might seem a little bit far fetched but could you determine the skin pigment on each picture?" Lucas and Ortize both seemed puzzled but were willing to try whatever Tim thought would work. They'd both gotten nowhere so far. Ortize tapped a button and leaned back, the screen filling up with new information. O'Niel let out a breath.
"Same pigment in every picture." He pointed out.
"So?" He looked over at Lucas.
"So he's been on the surface for six weeks. Don't you think he would have aquired at least a slight tan? His brief messages about hanging out on the beach, experimenting with surfing, that should have at least changed his colour within the first week."
"You think all these messages were made at the same time?" Ortize frowned, worry beginning to cloud his features.
"It makes sense doesn't it? But why would he do that and then send them all out within a week span difference, especially considering he hasn't actually done any of the things he's said so far." They sat and thought, silence blanketing the room. After a few minutes Lucas began to twitch with nervous energy.
"Something's wrong. We've got to find him!"
"We could still be jumping to conclusions here." Ortize warned standing up and pacing the small space that was Lucas's quarters. "I mean this is Tony we're talking about." They all paused a moment and looked at each other, then O'Niel tapped the communications button.
"O'Niel to Captain Bridger."
"Bridger here."
"Sir, we need to speak to you right away." There was a short pause on the other line.
"Be in the briefing room in five."
(()Q())
The man paced around his seat slowly, watching him and contemplating something that was probably beyond reason. It was unnerving, to be the centre of a mans attention, especially one who was so obsessive about him. In his own eyes this man, this Miner, was a few fish short of a school, and he was well aware that everyday spent here he was treading a thin line. There were two major problems with this: One being the fact that he couldn't leave and two being the fact that he himself had an attitude problem he couldn't get rid of. Two very big problems in a place like this.
"You know" Miner spoke calmly, "Your little display in the tank earlier was quite uncalled for. I can't have you giving such vulgar gestures to my guests."
"Vulgar? That was the tamest 'gesture' I have." The backhand was unexpected and it took him a moment to fix his glare back on his captor. He couldn't wipe the warm blood trickling down his lip away, seeing that his hands were tied, literally, to the chair. "I might have to work harder." He slurred slightly and was satisfied to see the vultures back stiffen. Time, it seemed, hadn't slowed his ability to tick people off.
"I'm getting tired of this attitude Mr. Piccolo, so I am going to give you some time to think about how you're going to behave in the future and then, one way or another I will have your obedience."
"I'm sorry, do I have German Pointer tattooed on my ass? Last I checked I wasn't a dog." Miner grinned slightly, finally pausing in front of him.
"Far from a dog, but a pet none the less."
"You mean a prisoner."
"I'm very sorry you see it that way, we could have gotten along well. Are all your kind this stubborn?"
"Well considering I'm human I suppose about half are." His eyes clouded slightly.
"I know, Tony Piccolo, that you are not quite as human as you'd have people believe. I know what you are." Tony rolled his eyes.
"Enlighten me." He mocked, knowing that the man couldn't resist a lecture, even if it was pointless. Tony used that to his advantage whenever possible.
"Perhaps you should enlighten me instead. After all you obviously know what I want to hear. Explain how you survive with your gills when no one else can. Explain how your skin remains so perfect in and out of water. Explain the focus of your eyes, how your feet mutate into subtle flippers when your in the water for longer than an hour. Tell me how old you really are." Tony blinked.
"That's an awful lot of things to answer. Hmm, let's see.Oh I know, the UEO performed some experiments that changed me into a human fish. It's amazing what a few laser surgeries can do to a guy." This time Miner slapped him across the gills, he gasped at the sudden spiking pain and tried to control his breathing. Had he gone a little to far that time?
"Dr. Simons?" The man called out and the bald man in a lab coat that Tony had despised since he met him came strolling in casually, a clipboard in his hand. The man always carried a clipboard, it was probably surgically attached.
"Yes sir?" Miner glared at Tony a moment.
"I think our pet needs a little more training. Put him in the test tank, make sure the water is very warm."
"Yes sir." Miner nodded and left, two of the Doctor's assistants entered the room in his place and headed for Tony. Tony struggled slightly but gave up a moment later, being led securely between the two interns thick bodies. It wasn't until he saw the tank that the panic began to set in. He began to squirm, trying desperately to stop their forward march.
"Quit it Tony, it ain't going to help you. If you just co-operated this wouldn't happen." The clipboard man pointed out and Tony struggled harder, his actions becoming more desperate. Another intern suddenly appeared, grabbing his legs and lifting them easily off the ground. Now being carried by the three men closer to the tank he began to thrash wildly, another man came to help.
Despite his struggle Tony didn't bother to say anything, it never helped, never. These people were like robots, they had no compassion at all, and god did he not want to go into that tank. Not again, but he would not be a pet, and his pride always won out over his pain. But it hurt, it hurt so much. They tossed him in the water, it felt like it was at fifty degrees, though it was probably only twenty-five. He pushed off the bottom and torpedoed to the surface, smashing into the solid plexiglass lid trapping him in. He held his breath desperately, bashing his fists against the roof, the sides, anything.
He couldn't hold it any longer, instincts finally kicking in and he was forced to inhale the warm water, feeling the external burn along his gills from the water already. Now breathing it in he felt the fire begin to burn and then the agony erupted, he struggled not to pass out, he couldn't escape the pain, he cried but the water didn't give the tears a chance. He sank to the bottom and curled up in a pitiful ball. He would get through this. Oh god he hoped he'd get through this.
She sighed and put the culture back in the fridge, scratching her leg again. It seemed like she had phantom leaves brushing at her leg, an itch that had been bothering her for the last month and a half. She went into her office and sat down, waiting for Dagwood to come and see her. He'd asked to speak with her earlier this morning, and she was pretty sure she knew what it was about, or more to the point who.
"Mmm hello?" The Dagger's deep voice enquired through the slightly open door, his head and body following afterwards.
"Hello Dagwood. Have a seat, would you like anything to drink?"
"No thank you. I had a glass of water before I came." She nodded and waited for him to continue. The nice thing about Dagwood was that you usually didn't have to pursuade him to talk about what was bothering him, unlike others on this ship. "I had a dream last night."
"Was it about Tony?" He nodded quickly and sat forward, his larger body almost looking too big for the chair. "Do you want to describe it?"
"He was here, on SeaQuest. We were talking in Darwin's room, he was going to go for a swim but he wanted to wait for Darwin."
"What were you talking about?"
"about pizza mostly. He doesn't like it very much but he always talks about how everyone should love it. He doesn't like the cheese, says it's too greasy. Also we talked about how he liked SeaQuest." Dagwood looked at her as if she held all the answers for a moment before focusing his eyes on the desks surface once again. "He said he didn't want to leave, that we were nice people to him and he liked that, mmmbut sometimes having friends meant that you had responsibilities whether you liked it or not. He said he was going to leave, but he was sad. I think he was scared."
"what do you think he was scared of?"
"I don't know he didn't tell me. He doesn't tell anybody about what he's scared of, except snakes. Tony hates snakes." She smiled slightly, remembering a time when a small gardener snake they'd been transferring to a small harvesting colony had escaped it's casing and he'd walked in to see it slithering across the floor. He was in the aqua tunnels fully clothed before she could even blink. He had a natural attraction to water when it came to fear it seemed. She missed him.
"Why does this dream bother you Dagwood? Do you think he didn't want to leave the Seaquest like he said he did?"
"I think he wanted to stay."
"Why's that?"
"Mmmbecause the conversation we had in my dream was not just a dream." She blinked.
"What do you mean?" He looked confused for a moment, answering slowly.
"He told me that before he left, but I didn't remember until the dream. He made me forget."
(()Q())
"Wendy, I'm sorry but there is no solid evidence that Tony left for any other reason than the fact that he wanted to."
"I know, I was just bringing what I knew to your attention so we could sort through it. I know you think his departure was a little sudden and unexpected, you told me so. Now with Dagwood saying Tony somehow had him forget a conversation they had is a little suspicious." Bridger frowned and gently rubbed his temple a moment. It was not a huge secret that Tony had the slight abilities of a telepath, like Wendy possessed, but the idea that he had enough control over them to manipulate somebody's thoughts was stretching it. Wendy herself stated that he wasn't all that powerful. Dagwood probably just forgot and the dream reminded him.
"What do you think Tony left for then? His parole with the UEO was over, he stayed another two weeks and then decided that SeaQuest wasn't really for him and left to find his own life. That's not an unordinary act, especially for someone as unsettled as Tony Piccolo was." Although in all honesty Bridger had not expected the cocky young man to suddenly pack it in and leave. He'd seemed very enthusiastic about a career in the UEO, at least on the SeaQuest.
"I know that Nathan, but I don't feel that that's the truth anymore, there's something else going on here." He watched as the rubbed her ankle and sighed. It had been two and a half months since Tony left. He hadn't sent a vid in a month to let them know how he was. Lucas had grumbled something about him being beyond the SeaQuest and not bothering to send them messages anymore. He supposedly hadn't replied to the last three the young man had sent. Lucas tended to have his feelings hurt to easily by things like that, but now Bridger began to wonder why Tony hadn't sent any news. He was well aware of how attached the man had become to the kid, as well as his other friends on the ship. He frowned again and Wendy leaned forward.
"Sir, it never hurts to check." He finally relented, hoping their worry was in vain.
"Fine. I want you to have Lucas and O'Niel track him down and get a status report. If anyone asks just say we lost his address. If anyone else on the ship, namely Tony's closer friends, insist on helping than I don't see why not. As long as it doesn't impede on their work." Wendy grinned and stood swiftly.
"Thank you Nathan." He nodded.
"I just hope your feelings are wrong." She nodded and left. She had work to do.
(()Q())
2 Days Later:
"Nothing. Where the hell is he!" Lucas slapped his hand across his keyboard and glared at the computers screen.
"Easy their Lucas, don't break the machine before we're done." Ortize said lightly and pushed the kid out of the seat, tossing a grin at a startled Lucas. "Sorry, but there's no other way to get you to move. It's my turn to look."
"You could have asked." He replied, a little miffed.
"Right, and you would have encrypted the computer so only you could do the research. I know how you work, you're too stubborn to let others have a go." Ortize gazed at the information on the screen, or lack there of it.
"I am not stubborn."
"Complete understatement." O'Niel called out behind them, coming up to look over their shoulders. "No luck yet huh?"
"No, and frankly that bothers me." They were all silent a moment and then O'Niel spoke up.
"Would you mind if we reviewed his message vids?"
"Go ahead, but I already listened to them and there was nothing that indicated anything wrong." Ortize called up the very first vid, sent two days after he left SeaQuest.
"Hey guys and girls. How're things under the sea? Miss me yet? I bet you're all comatose from the lack of excitement I bring. Anyway, just wanted to drop a line. I'm settled in, the UEO offered some back pay so I'm out and about relaxing for a while. Sucks that I gotta go looking for another job, maybe I'll be a DJ or something. Gotta go now, later. Tony Piccolo signing out."
They went through all six of the tapes, each about a week apart, and each getting shorter if that were possible. Each one was Tony allright, and previous tests Lucas had done proved their authenticy so they weren't fake. There must be something in the messages about his location. O'Niel frowned.
"Ortize, do you want to bring up a picture of him from each message please."
"Sure." A moment later there were six different pictures of their seemingly missing friend pasted across the screen. O'Niel nodded.
"What now?" Lucas asked.
"It might seem a little bit far fetched but could you determine the skin pigment on each picture?" Lucas and Ortize both seemed puzzled but were willing to try whatever Tim thought would work. They'd both gotten nowhere so far. Ortize tapped a button and leaned back, the screen filling up with new information. O'Niel let out a breath.
"Same pigment in every picture." He pointed out.
"So?" He looked over at Lucas.
"So he's been on the surface for six weeks. Don't you think he would have aquired at least a slight tan? His brief messages about hanging out on the beach, experimenting with surfing, that should have at least changed his colour within the first week."
"You think all these messages were made at the same time?" Ortize frowned, worry beginning to cloud his features.
"It makes sense doesn't it? But why would he do that and then send them all out within a week span difference, especially considering he hasn't actually done any of the things he's said so far." They sat and thought, silence blanketing the room. After a few minutes Lucas began to twitch with nervous energy.
"Something's wrong. We've got to find him!"
"We could still be jumping to conclusions here." Ortize warned standing up and pacing the small space that was Lucas's quarters. "I mean this is Tony we're talking about." They all paused a moment and looked at each other, then O'Niel tapped the communications button.
"O'Niel to Captain Bridger."
"Bridger here."
"Sir, we need to speak to you right away." There was a short pause on the other line.
"Be in the briefing room in five."
(()Q())
The man paced around his seat slowly, watching him and contemplating something that was probably beyond reason. It was unnerving, to be the centre of a mans attention, especially one who was so obsessive about him. In his own eyes this man, this Miner, was a few fish short of a school, and he was well aware that everyday spent here he was treading a thin line. There were two major problems with this: One being the fact that he couldn't leave and two being the fact that he himself had an attitude problem he couldn't get rid of. Two very big problems in a place like this.
"You know" Miner spoke calmly, "Your little display in the tank earlier was quite uncalled for. I can't have you giving such vulgar gestures to my guests."
"Vulgar? That was the tamest 'gesture' I have." The backhand was unexpected and it took him a moment to fix his glare back on his captor. He couldn't wipe the warm blood trickling down his lip away, seeing that his hands were tied, literally, to the chair. "I might have to work harder." He slurred slightly and was satisfied to see the vultures back stiffen. Time, it seemed, hadn't slowed his ability to tick people off.
"I'm getting tired of this attitude Mr. Piccolo, so I am going to give you some time to think about how you're going to behave in the future and then, one way or another I will have your obedience."
"I'm sorry, do I have German Pointer tattooed on my ass? Last I checked I wasn't a dog." Miner grinned slightly, finally pausing in front of him.
"Far from a dog, but a pet none the less."
"You mean a prisoner."
"I'm very sorry you see it that way, we could have gotten along well. Are all your kind this stubborn?"
"Well considering I'm human I suppose about half are." His eyes clouded slightly.
"I know, Tony Piccolo, that you are not quite as human as you'd have people believe. I know what you are." Tony rolled his eyes.
"Enlighten me." He mocked, knowing that the man couldn't resist a lecture, even if it was pointless. Tony used that to his advantage whenever possible.
"Perhaps you should enlighten me instead. After all you obviously know what I want to hear. Explain how you survive with your gills when no one else can. Explain how your skin remains so perfect in and out of water. Explain the focus of your eyes, how your feet mutate into subtle flippers when your in the water for longer than an hour. Tell me how old you really are." Tony blinked.
"That's an awful lot of things to answer. Hmm, let's see.Oh I know, the UEO performed some experiments that changed me into a human fish. It's amazing what a few laser surgeries can do to a guy." This time Miner slapped him across the gills, he gasped at the sudden spiking pain and tried to control his breathing. Had he gone a little to far that time?
"Dr. Simons?" The man called out and the bald man in a lab coat that Tony had despised since he met him came strolling in casually, a clipboard in his hand. The man always carried a clipboard, it was probably surgically attached.
"Yes sir?" Miner glared at Tony a moment.
"I think our pet needs a little more training. Put him in the test tank, make sure the water is very warm."
"Yes sir." Miner nodded and left, two of the Doctor's assistants entered the room in his place and headed for Tony. Tony struggled slightly but gave up a moment later, being led securely between the two interns thick bodies. It wasn't until he saw the tank that the panic began to set in. He began to squirm, trying desperately to stop their forward march.
"Quit it Tony, it ain't going to help you. If you just co-operated this wouldn't happen." The clipboard man pointed out and Tony struggled harder, his actions becoming more desperate. Another intern suddenly appeared, grabbing his legs and lifting them easily off the ground. Now being carried by the three men closer to the tank he began to thrash wildly, another man came to help.
Despite his struggle Tony didn't bother to say anything, it never helped, never. These people were like robots, they had no compassion at all, and god did he not want to go into that tank. Not again, but he would not be a pet, and his pride always won out over his pain. But it hurt, it hurt so much. They tossed him in the water, it felt like it was at fifty degrees, though it was probably only twenty-five. He pushed off the bottom and torpedoed to the surface, smashing into the solid plexiglass lid trapping him in. He held his breath desperately, bashing his fists against the roof, the sides, anything.
He couldn't hold it any longer, instincts finally kicking in and he was forced to inhale the warm water, feeling the external burn along his gills from the water already. Now breathing it in he felt the fire begin to burn and then the agony erupted, he struggled not to pass out, he couldn't escape the pain, he cried but the water didn't give the tears a chance. He sank to the bottom and curled up in a pitiful ball. He would get through this. Oh god he hoped he'd get through this.