Thank you to K. Presson, Swasthi, AshleyAHinton, Diena, KatKnits00, Tyger
Magick, Christine, Jackie, Sara, Jules6, Kas, Treachery89, Ahn-Li
Steffraini, Jewels03, A fan, Tippy, Teresa, FishFace12, Karel, Two2feet,
Denise Patterson, Kiddo, LilLeggs, Silver_Eagle:Jessie_West Sonneta,
Frankie McStein, Sugar Sugar, Whipper, and anyone else who read the last
chapter :o)
Special thanks go out to everyone who voted for this chapters content. The result is all of the above, but maybe a little bit more of Lucas and Ben's conversation than the other two - since quite a few people voted for that too, plus there's some of another option I forgot to out in the vote. Hope that makes everyone happy :o)
Chapter 9.
Nathan Bridger paced. He had a talent for it.
"It's still a bit early to start worrying." Kristen pointed out as she watched him turn when he reached the door to his quarters and start back along the same route.
"If it was Lucas I'd expect it, it if was Ben, I wouldn't be surprised, but this is Ford we're talking about. Have you even known him to be late checking in?"
Kristen had to admit that she hadn't. Commander Ford was something of a timepiece when it came to sending reports back to the boat when he was on shore.
At 2200 hr Kristen and Nathan had been sitting in front of the vid-phone waiting for it to ring. They'd even laughed and counted down from five, knowing that it would ring exactly on the hour.
But the phone hadn't ring at 2200 hr or at 2300 hr either. Kristen watched the hands on the wall clock creep around to mid-night.
"Maybe he thought you said a different time?" She suggested, but it was clear from her tone of voice that she didn't believe that either.
They almost knocked the vid-phone on to the floor when they both dived for it as it started to ring. When they finally untangled they're hand sufficiently so that the Captain could press the button, they both frowned at the man who wasn't Commander Ford.
"Captain Bridger?" A heavily accented voice asked.
The Captain nodded. In the same dense Russian accent the man went on to explain that the seaQuest delegation had not arrived at the conference. He wanted to know when he could expect them. Everyone else had arrived and it was impossible to hold up an international conference just because one boat could not send her crew to arrive on time.
With strained politeness the Captain apologised to the man and told him that the seaQuest delegation would be with him as soon as possible. As he switched the screen off, the Captain began to pace back and forth again.
"Where do you think they are?" Kristen asked worriedly.
Bridger prepared to contact the airport in order to find out just where he crew had disappeared to, at the same time he muttered, just loud enough for Kristen to overhear. "I don't know where they are, but if commander Ford doesn't have a good reason for leaving us out of the loop like this, I will personally make sure he wishes he was dead."
***** ***** *****
"I wish I was dead." Ford said, as he watched the purple and blue spots float around in front of his eyes. They looked quiet pretty he admitted to himself, but they also made it rather difficult to focus.
Katie looked across at Ford and watched him rub his forehead distractedly. Curling onto his side she watched as her superior officer curled up at started to drift off to sleep.
"Ford! Ford! Jonathan!" Katie grabbed a small pebble from the ground near where she lay and tossed it at Ford.
Ford sat up with a jolt and looked around him in alarm.
"What's wrong?"
"You promised to tell me what you used to be like." Katie explained, desperate to keep the Commander awake.
"Oh, I guess I was just... different then. I didn't want to be in the military for one thing." Ford began.
"Why not?" Katie asked encouragingly.
"Because that's what my grandfather wanted me to be. And then there was my father, he wanted me to be a professional football player, and my mother wanted me to be a world famous dancer."
"A dancer?" Katie couldn't help wondering how hard the knock on Ford's head had been.
"Yep, because she was a dancer. She was in ballets all over the world, and so was her mother before her. She wanted me to carry on the tradition."
Katie tried not to giggle when an image of Ford the ballet dancer popped into her head.
***** ***** *****
"It was all my fault." Lucas admitted.
"It's you're fault you know first aid?" Ben queried, trying to keep up with the conversation.
"It's my fault I needed to learn first aid to begin with." Lucas corrected in the same tone of voice he used to explain new computer programmes to the Captain.
"Oh." Ben said, not quite following, and not quite knowing what else to say.
"If I could have been normal everything would have been ok." Lucas continued. "But it never seemed to work. Whenever I tried to be normal I'd end up saying something or doing something and then everyone would know I'm a freak."
"You're not a fre-"
"Ben." Lucas interrupted. "I know what I am, so don't bother trying to lie about it. I'm a freak - that's why I'm on seaQuest. I'm a freak and an embarrassment. I couldn't even be a freak properly." The last sentence was whispered so quietly Ben could hardly make out the words.
"No-one thinks you're an embarrassment." Ben objected.
Lucas was silent for a moment. "Maybe no one on SeaQuest thinks I'm an embarrassment, but that's only because they don't know the full story."
"You couldn't tell me anything that would make me think any less of you." Ben stated emphatically.
"That's what they all say." Lucas said, retreating once more behind a defensive layer of sarcasm.
"Ok, try me." Ben challenged.
"What?"
"Tell me what it is that's so terrible. And I guaranty that it won't change the way I think of you at all." Ben explained.
Lucas thought back over his life before seaQuest, and wondered if it was safe to take the risk and test Ben's belief in him.
***** ***** *****
Tim shrugged. "My whole family is religious." Shaking his head he added, "Life would be a lot easier if they could just agree on a religion."
"I thought you were all Catholic." Miguel said, trying to ignore the ache that had returned to his shoulder since he had left the freezing water.
"Most of my mother's side of the family is Catholic, my father's side was mostly Protestant, but one my grandfathers is Jewish and one of my aunts is Muslim. Then there's my cousin who's a Wiccan. And practically everyone who's got married has married into a different faith, nationality, race or whatever." Tim chuckled, stopping abruptly when the wounds across his back pulled at the slight motion.
"Family get together's must be... interesting." Miguel observed.
"You have no idea. Have you ever tried to cook for a family that has half a dozen different sacred animals and even more different ways in which the food must be prepared, and then there's the matter of when we're going to meet up. Christmas doesn't suit the religions who don't celebrate the festival, Independence day is no good unless you're American, even new years is at different times for some of the family."
Miguel laughed in spite of his shoulder and his shivering. "Doesn't it cause arguments, all the different religions?"
"Not really, everyone worships in their own ways and lets everyone else get on with their own thing."
"What about the atheists?" he asked.
Tim seemed to think for a moment. "I don't think we have any atheists in the family. Or maybe any atheists turn and run at the sight of the family - at last count we had two catholic priests, one protestant priest, one rabbi, and a nun. Not to mention my grandfather who think atheists only stop believing in God because they don't want to have to get up early on a Sunday."
Miguel was quiet for a moment so Tim asked what his family was like.
***** ***** *****
"I blew up the chemistry lab."
"Anyone can make a mistake." Ben said easily.
"Twice."
"Twice?"
"Once when I was six, and then again when I was eight."
"How?" Ben asked before he could stop the question leaving his mouth.
"I was doing experiments, the first time I mixed the wrong chemicals, the second time, an invention I was working on blew up."
"Were you hurt?"
Lucas seemed to consider the question for longer then Ben thought was necessary. "After the second explosion, I ended up with a broken leg."
"Did you brake you're leg in the explosion, or was it when you were trying to get out of the building or what?"
"No, I wasn't hurt in the explosion. I... fell down the stairs after I got home..." Lucas's voice trailed off. He couldn't help thinking that a genius should have come up with a better explanation, but his mind had gone blank, and he'd said the first thing that came into his head, when he realised that he wasn't ready to tell the truth.
Ben wondered how much to say. He though about questioning Lucas's explanation, but he took the safer option.
"Blowing up a chemistry lab doesn't make you an embarrassment."
"When you're a famous scientist and you're son's supposed to be a genius it does."
"No, Lucas, it just means you're human and you make mistakes like the rest of us."
"That's the problem though, I don't make mistakes like everyone else, mine are so much bigger then normal peoples."
"I don't think an accident in a chemistry lab is so bad." Ben said.
"Yea, well, that was one of the least embarrassing mistakes I made..."
***** ***** *****
Nathan switched off the vid-phone and sat heavily into the chair by his desk.
"They crashed..." His voice trailed off. Lucas was gone, just like Robert.
The Captain looked at Kristen and saw his own emotions mirrored back at him.
Kristen stood up abruptly. "We have to go to Russia."
Nathan just sat there staring into space. And Kristen blinked back her tears. Kneeling down in front of his chair she shock the Captain gently.
"Nathan, we don't know they didn't survive the crash. They might still be out there. We have to find them."
Slowly the Captain nodded. "I'll start getting together a search party..." but he didn't sound confident.
***** ***** *****
To Be Continued...
***** ***** *****
That's all for now, sorry there was a delay in getting this chapter posted, there's still quite a long way to go in this story, but when I've finished it, I'm planned to move on to original fiction. With that in mind if there's anything you want to happen, or anything you want to know about my version of the characters, tell me and I'll see if I can include it in future chapters - no promises though. Hope everyone is still enjoying, please review and let me know.
Cadi.
Special thanks go out to everyone who voted for this chapters content. The result is all of the above, but maybe a little bit more of Lucas and Ben's conversation than the other two - since quite a few people voted for that too, plus there's some of another option I forgot to out in the vote. Hope that makes everyone happy :o)
Chapter 9.
Nathan Bridger paced. He had a talent for it.
"It's still a bit early to start worrying." Kristen pointed out as she watched him turn when he reached the door to his quarters and start back along the same route.
"If it was Lucas I'd expect it, it if was Ben, I wouldn't be surprised, but this is Ford we're talking about. Have you even known him to be late checking in?"
Kristen had to admit that she hadn't. Commander Ford was something of a timepiece when it came to sending reports back to the boat when he was on shore.
At 2200 hr Kristen and Nathan had been sitting in front of the vid-phone waiting for it to ring. They'd even laughed and counted down from five, knowing that it would ring exactly on the hour.
But the phone hadn't ring at 2200 hr or at 2300 hr either. Kristen watched the hands on the wall clock creep around to mid-night.
"Maybe he thought you said a different time?" She suggested, but it was clear from her tone of voice that she didn't believe that either.
They almost knocked the vid-phone on to the floor when they both dived for it as it started to ring. When they finally untangled they're hand sufficiently so that the Captain could press the button, they both frowned at the man who wasn't Commander Ford.
"Captain Bridger?" A heavily accented voice asked.
The Captain nodded. In the same dense Russian accent the man went on to explain that the seaQuest delegation had not arrived at the conference. He wanted to know when he could expect them. Everyone else had arrived and it was impossible to hold up an international conference just because one boat could not send her crew to arrive on time.
With strained politeness the Captain apologised to the man and told him that the seaQuest delegation would be with him as soon as possible. As he switched the screen off, the Captain began to pace back and forth again.
"Where do you think they are?" Kristen asked worriedly.
Bridger prepared to contact the airport in order to find out just where he crew had disappeared to, at the same time he muttered, just loud enough for Kristen to overhear. "I don't know where they are, but if commander Ford doesn't have a good reason for leaving us out of the loop like this, I will personally make sure he wishes he was dead."
***** ***** *****
"I wish I was dead." Ford said, as he watched the purple and blue spots float around in front of his eyes. They looked quiet pretty he admitted to himself, but they also made it rather difficult to focus.
Katie looked across at Ford and watched him rub his forehead distractedly. Curling onto his side she watched as her superior officer curled up at started to drift off to sleep.
"Ford! Ford! Jonathan!" Katie grabbed a small pebble from the ground near where she lay and tossed it at Ford.
Ford sat up with a jolt and looked around him in alarm.
"What's wrong?"
"You promised to tell me what you used to be like." Katie explained, desperate to keep the Commander awake.
"Oh, I guess I was just... different then. I didn't want to be in the military for one thing." Ford began.
"Why not?" Katie asked encouragingly.
"Because that's what my grandfather wanted me to be. And then there was my father, he wanted me to be a professional football player, and my mother wanted me to be a world famous dancer."
"A dancer?" Katie couldn't help wondering how hard the knock on Ford's head had been.
"Yep, because she was a dancer. She was in ballets all over the world, and so was her mother before her. She wanted me to carry on the tradition."
Katie tried not to giggle when an image of Ford the ballet dancer popped into her head.
***** ***** *****
"It was all my fault." Lucas admitted.
"It's you're fault you know first aid?" Ben queried, trying to keep up with the conversation.
"It's my fault I needed to learn first aid to begin with." Lucas corrected in the same tone of voice he used to explain new computer programmes to the Captain.
"Oh." Ben said, not quite following, and not quite knowing what else to say.
"If I could have been normal everything would have been ok." Lucas continued. "But it never seemed to work. Whenever I tried to be normal I'd end up saying something or doing something and then everyone would know I'm a freak."
"You're not a fre-"
"Ben." Lucas interrupted. "I know what I am, so don't bother trying to lie about it. I'm a freak - that's why I'm on seaQuest. I'm a freak and an embarrassment. I couldn't even be a freak properly." The last sentence was whispered so quietly Ben could hardly make out the words.
"No-one thinks you're an embarrassment." Ben objected.
Lucas was silent for a moment. "Maybe no one on SeaQuest thinks I'm an embarrassment, but that's only because they don't know the full story."
"You couldn't tell me anything that would make me think any less of you." Ben stated emphatically.
"That's what they all say." Lucas said, retreating once more behind a defensive layer of sarcasm.
"Ok, try me." Ben challenged.
"What?"
"Tell me what it is that's so terrible. And I guaranty that it won't change the way I think of you at all." Ben explained.
Lucas thought back over his life before seaQuest, and wondered if it was safe to take the risk and test Ben's belief in him.
***** ***** *****
Tim shrugged. "My whole family is religious." Shaking his head he added, "Life would be a lot easier if they could just agree on a religion."
"I thought you were all Catholic." Miguel said, trying to ignore the ache that had returned to his shoulder since he had left the freezing water.
"Most of my mother's side of the family is Catholic, my father's side was mostly Protestant, but one my grandfathers is Jewish and one of my aunts is Muslim. Then there's my cousin who's a Wiccan. And practically everyone who's got married has married into a different faith, nationality, race or whatever." Tim chuckled, stopping abruptly when the wounds across his back pulled at the slight motion.
"Family get together's must be... interesting." Miguel observed.
"You have no idea. Have you ever tried to cook for a family that has half a dozen different sacred animals and even more different ways in which the food must be prepared, and then there's the matter of when we're going to meet up. Christmas doesn't suit the religions who don't celebrate the festival, Independence day is no good unless you're American, even new years is at different times for some of the family."
Miguel laughed in spite of his shoulder and his shivering. "Doesn't it cause arguments, all the different religions?"
"Not really, everyone worships in their own ways and lets everyone else get on with their own thing."
"What about the atheists?" he asked.
Tim seemed to think for a moment. "I don't think we have any atheists in the family. Or maybe any atheists turn and run at the sight of the family - at last count we had two catholic priests, one protestant priest, one rabbi, and a nun. Not to mention my grandfather who think atheists only stop believing in God because they don't want to have to get up early on a Sunday."
Miguel was quiet for a moment so Tim asked what his family was like.
***** ***** *****
"I blew up the chemistry lab."
"Anyone can make a mistake." Ben said easily.
"Twice."
"Twice?"
"Once when I was six, and then again when I was eight."
"How?" Ben asked before he could stop the question leaving his mouth.
"I was doing experiments, the first time I mixed the wrong chemicals, the second time, an invention I was working on blew up."
"Were you hurt?"
Lucas seemed to consider the question for longer then Ben thought was necessary. "After the second explosion, I ended up with a broken leg."
"Did you brake you're leg in the explosion, or was it when you were trying to get out of the building or what?"
"No, I wasn't hurt in the explosion. I... fell down the stairs after I got home..." Lucas's voice trailed off. He couldn't help thinking that a genius should have come up with a better explanation, but his mind had gone blank, and he'd said the first thing that came into his head, when he realised that he wasn't ready to tell the truth.
Ben wondered how much to say. He though about questioning Lucas's explanation, but he took the safer option.
"Blowing up a chemistry lab doesn't make you an embarrassment."
"When you're a famous scientist and you're son's supposed to be a genius it does."
"No, Lucas, it just means you're human and you make mistakes like the rest of us."
"That's the problem though, I don't make mistakes like everyone else, mine are so much bigger then normal peoples."
"I don't think an accident in a chemistry lab is so bad." Ben said.
"Yea, well, that was one of the least embarrassing mistakes I made..."
***** ***** *****
Nathan switched off the vid-phone and sat heavily into the chair by his desk.
"They crashed..." His voice trailed off. Lucas was gone, just like Robert.
The Captain looked at Kristen and saw his own emotions mirrored back at him.
Kristen stood up abruptly. "We have to go to Russia."
Nathan just sat there staring into space. And Kristen blinked back her tears. Kneeling down in front of his chair she shock the Captain gently.
"Nathan, we don't know they didn't survive the crash. They might still be out there. We have to find them."
Slowly the Captain nodded. "I'll start getting together a search party..." but he didn't sound confident.
***** ***** *****
To Be Continued...
***** ***** *****
That's all for now, sorry there was a delay in getting this chapter posted, there's still quite a long way to go in this story, but when I've finished it, I'm planned to move on to original fiction. With that in mind if there's anything you want to happen, or anything you want to know about my version of the characters, tell me and I'll see if I can include it in future chapters - no promises though. Hope everyone is still enjoying, please review and let me know.
Cadi.