Thanks to FishFace12, Teresa, K. Presson, Christine, Jules, Kiddo, Diena
Taylor, Sash, Mena, Kas, Silver wolf, Sara, Frankie, Karen, and any one
else who read and reviewed Chapter two :o)
Please see previous chapters for disclaimers.
Chapter Three.
The Captain's going to kill me - that was Fords first thought when Lucas was nowhere to be seen. Ok, calm down, he told himself, we just have to find him, it's not that big an airport, it can't be that difficult.
The Captain never needs to know, or the Doctor. Especially not the Doctor, Ford had lost enough arguments with the good Doctor Westphalen, to want to avoid any future confrontations.
Lucas was a sensible child; he wouldn't get himself into any serious trouble. All they had to do was find Lucas and everything would be all right. Ford knew that there was no way any of them were going to go back to seaQuest without the teenager - that was more than their lives were worth.
Spreading out they searched the airport, all looking foe a flash of blonde hair in the crowd.
Not much later, Katie was on her way towards being really worried; Lucas was nowhere to be found. It was then that she saw two legs sticking out from beneath one of the check in desks. One of the feet was tapping in time to the sound of a rock song, which was also emanating from beneath the desk.
Katie marched over to the desk, and prodded one of the legs with the toe of her shoe. Lucas sat up quickly, smacking his head into the underside of the desk. Slowly he shuffled out.
"Lucas Wolenczak! What are you doing? You've had us all worried half to death!"
As he emerged rubbing the bump on his head, Lucas pushed his earphones off with the other hand. He looked up at Katie, and knew he was in line for a long lecture.
"How about, you tell the others that you've found me, and I'll explain everything when you get back?" Lucas suggested, before disappearing again.
Katie opened and closed her mouth - doing quite a good impression of a goldfish. She thought about pulling him back out, and demanding an explanation then and there, but she didn't. Lucas was notoriously difficult to interrupt when he was working on something - he seemed to go into a different world, and it was impossible to get any sense out of him until he was finished.
Commander Hitchcock rounded up the other members of the seaQuest group, and a few minutes later, they were all standing around Lucas's feet, waiting for an explanation.
"What's he doing?" Ben asked, trying to look under the desk while nursing his wounded eye. He could see the wires, and the computer components, that were part of the electronic infrastructure of the airport - and which connected the computer on the desk to the rest of the technology in the building, but didn't have a clue as to what any of it actually did.
Ford tapped his foot impatiently, wondering what he had done to annoy the Captain so badly, that Bridger had seen fit to send him on this trip, not a day into the journey, and already Commander Ford couldn't wait to get back to the boat.
Tim was worried, the neither of the Commanders looked happy, and unhappy superior officers always made him nervous. It was probably because he was so nervous that he jumped so high when the electronic messages boards on the wall behind him sprung to life and announced the next flight.
Ben and Miguel exchanged confused looks, before firing off questions at Lucas as he once more made his way out form under the desk. Before Lucas had a chance to answer one of the men who worked in the airport made his way over towards them.
The man rattled off a long string of Russian, that only Tim was able to follow. Everyone else looked at him in askance.
Tim cleared his throat. "Mr. Thomasevski says we can sit in the back of the plane."
Ford looked from Ben to Lucas to the man, and back to Tim again. "Why did they change their mind?"
Tim cleared his throat again, nervously. "Mr. Thomasevski says that Lucas made a deal with him, if Lucas could get the message boards - the ones that tell passengers when their plane is due to leave - to work again, then he'd rearrange the passengers on our flight so we can all sit near the tail."
"Tell Mr. Thomasefss... efs..." Lucas and Tim both managed to restrain them selves from correcting the Commanders pronunciation, "Please, tell him that we appreciate the trouble he's gone to, and thank him for making the changes."
Tim repeated what Ford said, although with significantly better pronunciation of Mr. Tomasevski's name.
After Mr. Thomasevski had left them they all stood and stared at Lucas.
"Um..." Lucas shuffled his feet. "Sorry I didn't tell you where I was going. But, it would have taken a long time to explain, and the flights leaving soon." He indicated the message board that was showing their flight was due to leave in a less than five minutes time.
"We'll take about this on the plane." Ford said to Lucas ominously, as he shepherded them all in the right direction.
"Yes, Commander." Lucas sighed. But at least now his best friend didn't look like he would need to be sedated, not that he looked happy about flying anyway, but he was at least calmer now, so Lucas figured it was worth a lecture, or maybe two lectures judging by the look on Commander Hitchcock's face.
***** ***** *****
A little while into the flight Katie sat in the cramped airplane seat and wondered how she had ended up sitting next to Krieg. Her ex-husband was already wriggling in his seat - unable to sit still for more than a few moments at the best of times.
Lucas was on the other side of Ben, next to the window, and coincidently not within lecture distance of Commander Ford - who was sitting behind Katie, and Katie herself would have had to lecture across Krieg, so it looked like Lucas had been granted a temporary reprieve.
Lucas had already pulled his notes back out of his backpack, which he had brought on as hand luggage, and he was quickly starting to read though them again, make small notes in the margins - Lucas wanted everything to be perfect when he finally presented it.
"What you doing Lucas?" Ben said trying to peer over the teens shoulder.
"Nothing."
Ben waited for a beat to see if any more information was forth coming.
"Do you want to practice your lectures on us?" Ben tried again.
"No."
"Are you Ok, Lucas?"
"Yes."
"Nothing worrying you?"
"No."
"Your sure?"
"Yes."
"Can you answer in more than half a dozen words?"
Lucas looked at his friend, counting the words on his fingers as he spoke. "I. Am. Busy. Stop. Asking. Me. Questions." He held up his fingers, "Seven words."
Ben sighed and left Lucas to his notes, he turned around to annoy Katie instead.
Katie turned in her seat to see Ben, who for once was sitting quite still, staring at her.
"Ben." She said the warning evident in her tone of voice.
"What? I'm just sitting here."
"You're planning something." Katie corrected.
"What makes you think that?" Ben said, pretending to be hurt.
Katie ignored his false show of emotion. "Because planning something is your default state of existence, it's what you do, it's who you are." Katie turned pointedly away from Krieg and settled herself to pretend to sleep - figuring that was the only way to get any peace.
In the three seats behind them, Tim was happily reading a Russian language text book, Miguel was already fast asleep - since young enlisted man had always found airplane rides very relaxing, while Ford was sitting ridged in his seat, trying not to let anyone know how mush he disliked flying. It wasn't so bad in this plane, but Ford was not looking forward to transferring to the smaller plane at the next stop over.
All he hoped was that the rest of the journey was going to be less eventful than the start - that hope was lost when the Captain made an announcement.
***** ***** *****
To be continued...
***** ***** *****
Yep, I know this one's a bit shorter, but the next chapter should be up relatively soon. Please review - Any comments you decide to make will always be appreciated :o)
Please see previous chapters for disclaimers.
Chapter Three.
The Captain's going to kill me - that was Fords first thought when Lucas was nowhere to be seen. Ok, calm down, he told himself, we just have to find him, it's not that big an airport, it can't be that difficult.
The Captain never needs to know, or the Doctor. Especially not the Doctor, Ford had lost enough arguments with the good Doctor Westphalen, to want to avoid any future confrontations.
Lucas was a sensible child; he wouldn't get himself into any serious trouble. All they had to do was find Lucas and everything would be all right. Ford knew that there was no way any of them were going to go back to seaQuest without the teenager - that was more than their lives were worth.
Spreading out they searched the airport, all looking foe a flash of blonde hair in the crowd.
Not much later, Katie was on her way towards being really worried; Lucas was nowhere to be found. It was then that she saw two legs sticking out from beneath one of the check in desks. One of the feet was tapping in time to the sound of a rock song, which was also emanating from beneath the desk.
Katie marched over to the desk, and prodded one of the legs with the toe of her shoe. Lucas sat up quickly, smacking his head into the underside of the desk. Slowly he shuffled out.
"Lucas Wolenczak! What are you doing? You've had us all worried half to death!"
As he emerged rubbing the bump on his head, Lucas pushed his earphones off with the other hand. He looked up at Katie, and knew he was in line for a long lecture.
"How about, you tell the others that you've found me, and I'll explain everything when you get back?" Lucas suggested, before disappearing again.
Katie opened and closed her mouth - doing quite a good impression of a goldfish. She thought about pulling him back out, and demanding an explanation then and there, but she didn't. Lucas was notoriously difficult to interrupt when he was working on something - he seemed to go into a different world, and it was impossible to get any sense out of him until he was finished.
Commander Hitchcock rounded up the other members of the seaQuest group, and a few minutes later, they were all standing around Lucas's feet, waiting for an explanation.
"What's he doing?" Ben asked, trying to look under the desk while nursing his wounded eye. He could see the wires, and the computer components, that were part of the electronic infrastructure of the airport - and which connected the computer on the desk to the rest of the technology in the building, but didn't have a clue as to what any of it actually did.
Ford tapped his foot impatiently, wondering what he had done to annoy the Captain so badly, that Bridger had seen fit to send him on this trip, not a day into the journey, and already Commander Ford couldn't wait to get back to the boat.
Tim was worried, the neither of the Commanders looked happy, and unhappy superior officers always made him nervous. It was probably because he was so nervous that he jumped so high when the electronic messages boards on the wall behind him sprung to life and announced the next flight.
Ben and Miguel exchanged confused looks, before firing off questions at Lucas as he once more made his way out form under the desk. Before Lucas had a chance to answer one of the men who worked in the airport made his way over towards them.
The man rattled off a long string of Russian, that only Tim was able to follow. Everyone else looked at him in askance.
Tim cleared his throat. "Mr. Thomasevski says we can sit in the back of the plane."
Ford looked from Ben to Lucas to the man, and back to Tim again. "Why did they change their mind?"
Tim cleared his throat again, nervously. "Mr. Thomasevski says that Lucas made a deal with him, if Lucas could get the message boards - the ones that tell passengers when their plane is due to leave - to work again, then he'd rearrange the passengers on our flight so we can all sit near the tail."
"Tell Mr. Thomasefss... efs..." Lucas and Tim both managed to restrain them selves from correcting the Commanders pronunciation, "Please, tell him that we appreciate the trouble he's gone to, and thank him for making the changes."
Tim repeated what Ford said, although with significantly better pronunciation of Mr. Tomasevski's name.
After Mr. Thomasevski had left them they all stood and stared at Lucas.
"Um..." Lucas shuffled his feet. "Sorry I didn't tell you where I was going. But, it would have taken a long time to explain, and the flights leaving soon." He indicated the message board that was showing their flight was due to leave in a less than five minutes time.
"We'll take about this on the plane." Ford said to Lucas ominously, as he shepherded them all in the right direction.
"Yes, Commander." Lucas sighed. But at least now his best friend didn't look like he would need to be sedated, not that he looked happy about flying anyway, but he was at least calmer now, so Lucas figured it was worth a lecture, or maybe two lectures judging by the look on Commander Hitchcock's face.
***** ***** *****
A little while into the flight Katie sat in the cramped airplane seat and wondered how she had ended up sitting next to Krieg. Her ex-husband was already wriggling in his seat - unable to sit still for more than a few moments at the best of times.
Lucas was on the other side of Ben, next to the window, and coincidently not within lecture distance of Commander Ford - who was sitting behind Katie, and Katie herself would have had to lecture across Krieg, so it looked like Lucas had been granted a temporary reprieve.
Lucas had already pulled his notes back out of his backpack, which he had brought on as hand luggage, and he was quickly starting to read though them again, make small notes in the margins - Lucas wanted everything to be perfect when he finally presented it.
"What you doing Lucas?" Ben said trying to peer over the teens shoulder.
"Nothing."
Ben waited for a beat to see if any more information was forth coming.
"Do you want to practice your lectures on us?" Ben tried again.
"No."
"Are you Ok, Lucas?"
"Yes."
"Nothing worrying you?"
"No."
"Your sure?"
"Yes."
"Can you answer in more than half a dozen words?"
Lucas looked at his friend, counting the words on his fingers as he spoke. "I. Am. Busy. Stop. Asking. Me. Questions." He held up his fingers, "Seven words."
Ben sighed and left Lucas to his notes, he turned around to annoy Katie instead.
Katie turned in her seat to see Ben, who for once was sitting quite still, staring at her.
"Ben." She said the warning evident in her tone of voice.
"What? I'm just sitting here."
"You're planning something." Katie corrected.
"What makes you think that?" Ben said, pretending to be hurt.
Katie ignored his false show of emotion. "Because planning something is your default state of existence, it's what you do, it's who you are." Katie turned pointedly away from Krieg and settled herself to pretend to sleep - figuring that was the only way to get any peace.
In the three seats behind them, Tim was happily reading a Russian language text book, Miguel was already fast asleep - since young enlisted man had always found airplane rides very relaxing, while Ford was sitting ridged in his seat, trying not to let anyone know how mush he disliked flying. It wasn't so bad in this plane, but Ford was not looking forward to transferring to the smaller plane at the next stop over.
All he hoped was that the rest of the journey was going to be less eventful than the start - that hope was lost when the Captain made an announcement.
***** ***** *****
To be continued...
***** ***** *****
Yep, I know this one's a bit shorter, but the next chapter should be up relatively soon. Please review - Any comments you decide to make will always be appreciated :o)