Thank you to Jules6, treachery89, K. Presson, KatKnits00, Sara, Kiddo,
Frankie2, Christine, Teresa, Sash3, Lucy28, Dani, Karen, and anyone else
who read and / or reviewed.
I know it's taking a while, but I will get to Lucas's past eventually. This is all happening for a reason, I promise :o)
Chapter 4.
"We're going to crash!" Ben said, almost calmly at first, but then with increasing alarm.
"Ben, we're not going to crash." Katie insisted.
"Didn't you here what the pilot said, Katie. We're going to crash!"
"Of course I didn't hear what the pilot said, I doubt anyone else did either, all we could hear was you yelling that we're going to crash at the top of your lungs." Katie said with obvious annoyance.
"The pilot said we're going to crash." Ben insisted.
"Ben, it's only a bit of turbulence, we're not going to crash." Lucas looked up from his work and tried to reassure his friend.
"Tim, where's Tim, I have to speak to Tim." Ben started looking around as if he expected the young Lieutenant to appear out of thin air in front of him.
"He's sitting behind us, Ben. You can speak to him when we get off the plane."
"I have to speak to him now!" Ben wailed in protest.
"Ben, you're making a fool of yourself, sit down!" Katie snapped when Ben started to get out of his seat and try to push past her.
"Not until I speak to Tim."
Tim O'Neil looked up from his book, to see Ben, manoeuvre him self past Commander Hitchcock and loom over Ford.
Ignoring both of the Commanders, Ben leaned over and said "Tim, I need to talk to you. I have to convert."
Ford looked from Ben to Tim and back again.
"You want to what?"
"I want to convert."
"On an aeroplane?" Ford asked confused, and not for the first time that day.
"I don't want to die an atheist."
"Krieg this is no time for jokes." Ford hissed through clenched teeth, aware of the strange looks his group were receiving off the other passengers.
"It's not a joke, I want to convert." Ben stated, more loudly this time.
Katie knelt on her seat and looked over at the scene progressing in the seat behind her.
"He's not joking." She sighed, "He gets religious every time he thinks he's going to die."
Ford just stared at Ben as if the supply officer had grown an extra couple of heads. After a few moments, he gave in and switched seats with Ben so that Ben could sit next to Tim. While Tim himself looked decidedly unsure about what was going on.
Next to Tim, Miguel slept soundly, not the least bit concerned that he hadn't woken up to see Ben's hysterics.
***** ***** *****
Some time later Tim braced himself against the sway of the plane as it hit yet another pocket of turbulence and said "Ben, believing you are about to die, is not a good enough reason to want to convert from Atheism to Catholicism, you have to believe in the religion as well."
"But if I convert I can go to heaven, right?"
"It doesn't work like that!" Tim protested, although he secretly thought that it would take a heck of a transformation to get Ben past the Pearly gates.
"Yes, but..." and so Ben continued with his theories on converting his way into heaven.
***** ***** ******
When Ben had exchanged seats with Ford, Lucas quickly started to pretend to look through his notes again, hoping that Ford would wait a while longer before beginning the lecture. After about five minutes, he risked a glance at the Commander, wondering why the lecture hadn't already started.
Commander Ford was staring straight ahead; his hands' griping tightly onto the arm rests which fell between the seats. Lucas silently debated whether or not he should speak to Ford, on the one hand there was obviously something wrong with the Commander and Katie Hitchcock was evidently to busy eves dropping into her ex-husbands conversation to notice that fact. On the other hand, speaking up might start off the very lecture he was trying so hard to avoid.
After a few more moments of debate, Lucas tapped the Commander on the arm. "Are you Ok Commander?"
Ford nodded jerkily but didn't speak.
Lucas stared at him for a moment, "You don't like flying do you?"
"I am not afraid of flying. I just feel a little bit..." Ford said.
"Do you know what I do when the turbulence bothers me?" Lucas asked.
Ford shook his head.
"I'll show you. Close your eyes."
"I am not afraid of flying." Ford repeated.
"I know that, but just humour me, Commander." Lucas said.
Ford hesitated, but closed his eyes.
"Ok, imagine you're on seaQuest." Lucas paused for a moment, "You're on the bridge. Can you see the bridge?"
Ford nodded.
"Which shift is on duty?" Lucas asked.
"Second shift." Ford said.
"Good. Can you see Tim and Miguel at their stations?" Ford nodded. "And Commander Hitchcock?" Again Ford nodded.
"Ok, look at the sensors - there's a storm above us, and we've had to rise almost to the surface, so there is a bit of roll, but not too much, certainly nothing to worry about."
Again the plane hit a pocket of turbulence.
"Can you feel the boat sway with the force of the storm?"
"Yes, I can feel it."
"Good, so what do we do now?"
"We should submerge, and ride the storm out lower down the water column."
"Engineering says we can't submerge, there's something wrong with the ballast tanks and we can't take on any more ballast."
"Ok, first we send someone from engineering to sort the problem with ballast, and then we'll check all other bridge stations to make sure it's an isolated problem."
Slowly, as their conversation progressed, Ford began to release his death grip on the arms of his seat, and speak more naturally. The next time he opened his eyes the plane was making a safe landing at Khanty-Mansi airport.
Only then did Ford realise that he had been so busy trying to get seaQuest's ballast tanks working, he had forgotten how air sick he had felt. In a way he supposed it made sense, Ford had never in his life felt sea sick, so of course he'd felt much better imagining the turbulence was caused by the swelling of the waves rather than by air pockets.
What the Commander was much less comfortable with, was the fact that he had needed a teenagers help to come up with the solution. Ford didn't like relying on other people at the beat of times, and felt even less comfortable in need the help of someone who was not only so much younger than himself, but who wasn't even military.
***** ***** *****
Miguel Ortiz woke up when he felt someone poking him repeatedly in the ribs. He yawned and stretched. Opening his eyes to see most of the seaQuest delegation to the conference looking down at him.
"What did I do?" He asked, nervously.
"How did you manage to sleep through all that turbulence?" Ford asked suspiciously.
"I like flying, it's relaxing." Miguel said.
"You didn't even wake up when Krieg started shouting?" Katie asked.
"Or when he tried to convert?" Tim asked.
"Um, no... You converted?" Miguel asked Ben.
"No." Ben answered sullenly "Tim wouldn't let me. He says I can't be Catholic just because I don't believe in God all the time."
***** ***** *****
Half an hour later they all stood on the edge of a small runway with their baggage and viewed their next mode of transportation. It was a small plane, old, but it looked in quite good repair.
They all seemed reasonably confident about boarding the plane for the next leg of their journey. But, on the other hand, that was before the pilot arrived and handed each of them a parachute.
***** ***** *****
To be continued...
***** ***** *****
That's all for now, if you have any comments to make, please review, any and all comments you are inclined to make are always very welcome. I know the chapters are not very long, but I try to post little and often rather than posting nothing at all for weeks on end. Thanks again to all those who reviewed the last chapter. Next one will hopefully be up reasonably soon :o)
I know it's taking a while, but I will get to Lucas's past eventually. This is all happening for a reason, I promise :o)
Chapter 4.
"We're going to crash!" Ben said, almost calmly at first, but then with increasing alarm.
"Ben, we're not going to crash." Katie insisted.
"Didn't you here what the pilot said, Katie. We're going to crash!"
"Of course I didn't hear what the pilot said, I doubt anyone else did either, all we could hear was you yelling that we're going to crash at the top of your lungs." Katie said with obvious annoyance.
"The pilot said we're going to crash." Ben insisted.
"Ben, it's only a bit of turbulence, we're not going to crash." Lucas looked up from his work and tried to reassure his friend.
"Tim, where's Tim, I have to speak to Tim." Ben started looking around as if he expected the young Lieutenant to appear out of thin air in front of him.
"He's sitting behind us, Ben. You can speak to him when we get off the plane."
"I have to speak to him now!" Ben wailed in protest.
"Ben, you're making a fool of yourself, sit down!" Katie snapped when Ben started to get out of his seat and try to push past her.
"Not until I speak to Tim."
Tim O'Neil looked up from his book, to see Ben, manoeuvre him self past Commander Hitchcock and loom over Ford.
Ignoring both of the Commanders, Ben leaned over and said "Tim, I need to talk to you. I have to convert."
Ford looked from Ben to Tim and back again.
"You want to what?"
"I want to convert."
"On an aeroplane?" Ford asked confused, and not for the first time that day.
"I don't want to die an atheist."
"Krieg this is no time for jokes." Ford hissed through clenched teeth, aware of the strange looks his group were receiving off the other passengers.
"It's not a joke, I want to convert." Ben stated, more loudly this time.
Katie knelt on her seat and looked over at the scene progressing in the seat behind her.
"He's not joking." She sighed, "He gets religious every time he thinks he's going to die."
Ford just stared at Ben as if the supply officer had grown an extra couple of heads. After a few moments, he gave in and switched seats with Ben so that Ben could sit next to Tim. While Tim himself looked decidedly unsure about what was going on.
Next to Tim, Miguel slept soundly, not the least bit concerned that he hadn't woken up to see Ben's hysterics.
***** ***** *****
Some time later Tim braced himself against the sway of the plane as it hit yet another pocket of turbulence and said "Ben, believing you are about to die, is not a good enough reason to want to convert from Atheism to Catholicism, you have to believe in the religion as well."
"But if I convert I can go to heaven, right?"
"It doesn't work like that!" Tim protested, although he secretly thought that it would take a heck of a transformation to get Ben past the Pearly gates.
"Yes, but..." and so Ben continued with his theories on converting his way into heaven.
***** ***** ******
When Ben had exchanged seats with Ford, Lucas quickly started to pretend to look through his notes again, hoping that Ford would wait a while longer before beginning the lecture. After about five minutes, he risked a glance at the Commander, wondering why the lecture hadn't already started.
Commander Ford was staring straight ahead; his hands' griping tightly onto the arm rests which fell between the seats. Lucas silently debated whether or not he should speak to Ford, on the one hand there was obviously something wrong with the Commander and Katie Hitchcock was evidently to busy eves dropping into her ex-husbands conversation to notice that fact. On the other hand, speaking up might start off the very lecture he was trying so hard to avoid.
After a few more moments of debate, Lucas tapped the Commander on the arm. "Are you Ok Commander?"
Ford nodded jerkily but didn't speak.
Lucas stared at him for a moment, "You don't like flying do you?"
"I am not afraid of flying. I just feel a little bit..." Ford said.
"Do you know what I do when the turbulence bothers me?" Lucas asked.
Ford shook his head.
"I'll show you. Close your eyes."
"I am not afraid of flying." Ford repeated.
"I know that, but just humour me, Commander." Lucas said.
Ford hesitated, but closed his eyes.
"Ok, imagine you're on seaQuest." Lucas paused for a moment, "You're on the bridge. Can you see the bridge?"
Ford nodded.
"Which shift is on duty?" Lucas asked.
"Second shift." Ford said.
"Good. Can you see Tim and Miguel at their stations?" Ford nodded. "And Commander Hitchcock?" Again Ford nodded.
"Ok, look at the sensors - there's a storm above us, and we've had to rise almost to the surface, so there is a bit of roll, but not too much, certainly nothing to worry about."
Again the plane hit a pocket of turbulence.
"Can you feel the boat sway with the force of the storm?"
"Yes, I can feel it."
"Good, so what do we do now?"
"We should submerge, and ride the storm out lower down the water column."
"Engineering says we can't submerge, there's something wrong with the ballast tanks and we can't take on any more ballast."
"Ok, first we send someone from engineering to sort the problem with ballast, and then we'll check all other bridge stations to make sure it's an isolated problem."
Slowly, as their conversation progressed, Ford began to release his death grip on the arms of his seat, and speak more naturally. The next time he opened his eyes the plane was making a safe landing at Khanty-Mansi airport.
Only then did Ford realise that he had been so busy trying to get seaQuest's ballast tanks working, he had forgotten how air sick he had felt. In a way he supposed it made sense, Ford had never in his life felt sea sick, so of course he'd felt much better imagining the turbulence was caused by the swelling of the waves rather than by air pockets.
What the Commander was much less comfortable with, was the fact that he had needed a teenagers help to come up with the solution. Ford didn't like relying on other people at the beat of times, and felt even less comfortable in need the help of someone who was not only so much younger than himself, but who wasn't even military.
***** ***** *****
Miguel Ortiz woke up when he felt someone poking him repeatedly in the ribs. He yawned and stretched. Opening his eyes to see most of the seaQuest delegation to the conference looking down at him.
"What did I do?" He asked, nervously.
"How did you manage to sleep through all that turbulence?" Ford asked suspiciously.
"I like flying, it's relaxing." Miguel said.
"You didn't even wake up when Krieg started shouting?" Katie asked.
"Or when he tried to convert?" Tim asked.
"Um, no... You converted?" Miguel asked Ben.
"No." Ben answered sullenly "Tim wouldn't let me. He says I can't be Catholic just because I don't believe in God all the time."
***** ***** *****
Half an hour later they all stood on the edge of a small runway with their baggage and viewed their next mode of transportation. It was a small plane, old, but it looked in quite good repair.
They all seemed reasonably confident about boarding the plane for the next leg of their journey. But, on the other hand, that was before the pilot arrived and handed each of them a parachute.
***** ***** *****
To be continued...
***** ***** *****
That's all for now, if you have any comments to make, please review, any and all comments you are inclined to make are always very welcome. I know the chapters are not very long, but I try to post little and often rather than posting nothing at all for weeks on end. Thanks again to all those who reviewed the last chapter. Next one will hopefully be up reasonably soon :o)