Thanks go to Samantha Quinn, Jewels03, Tyger Magick, Teresa, K, Presson,
KatKnits00, Diena Taylor, Sara, Kiddo, OpheliaMinuit, LilLeggs, Swasthi,
and any one else who read the previous chapter.
Please see earlier chapters for all-purpose disclaimers.
Chapter 15.
For a long time after the noise of the plane died away Lucas didn't move - there didn't seem to be a lot of point in doing anything when he had no idea what there was for him to do. He considered making his way back to the others, but discounted that idea, because he had no idea what he could say to the others when he reached them - Sorry, but we're stuck here indefinitely because I didn't find the plane fast enough to get us rescued? Somehow it didn't have quite the right ring to it.
So Lucas slowly got up and kept going towards where he estimated the plane would have crashed, in the hope that he would at least be able to find some useful supplies to take back to Ben and the others.
It took another four days before Lucas finally found the crash site, he walked through as many daylight hours as he could manage, and then fell exhausted under a tree each night. The snow seemed to be falling heavier now, although Lucas wasn't one hundred percent sure of this. He wasn't sure about anything now, all he knew was that he was hungry and cold, and that there was no longer any chance of being rescued.
By the time he found the plane, Lucas couldn't truly remember why he'd gone looking for it in the first place. It was like trying to think through cotton wool. The thoughts were there, he just could catch hold of them for long enough to make sense of them.
Lucas stood looking at the plane and then headed into the main body of the aircraft. There were snowdrifts where the wind had piled the snow across the floor, but Lucas was too tired to care. He half-heartedly pushed some of the snow out of the way and curled into a ball in a corner that at least offered some protection from the wind.
***** ***** *****
The seaQuest was docked in the closest Russian port to where six members of its crew had gone missing, and Bridger sat watching the lights from the aqua tube play across the ceiling. Darwin floated in the tube, but said nothing. The Captain knew that he should have told Darwin that Lucas wasn't going to come back, but he couldn't bring himself to say it. Saying it out loud would almost make it real. And the Captain wished more than anything that it wasn't real.
Bridger reached for the radio from besides his bed and sighed. "Lucas, I wish I could let you know how much we all miss you. Kristen's thrown her self into her work so hard, all the other scientists are afraid to go into the labs whenever she's in there - and she's there all the time. She's kept one of the Ensigns in sickbay for observation and tests for three days after he got a tiny little cut his arm. And everyone's terrified of getting sick, because they have no idea what she'll do to them."
The Captain swallowed, trying to clear the lump that formed in his throat whenever he held the radio. "Darwin's doing well, we haven't told him ... I haven't ... But Darwin's doing fine. And we've tried to contact your family, but your father's secretary said he's away doing some research and he's going to phone us as soon as he gets back." The Captain couldn't prevent his voice from cracking as he thought about all the unanswered messages, so he hurriedly changed the subject. "The vo-corder is still working really well, although the computers in engineering have been playing up..."
***** ***** *****
Lucas lay looking out of the ripped metal where the wall of the plane used to be and wonder if hallucinating was a bad sign. He was so sure that he could hear the Captain talking to him, but it had to be his mind playing tricks on him. He wanted to believe that the Captain was there, but he'd stopped believing in miracles a long time ago. Still, it sounded so much like the Captain, and the description of Dr. Westphalen seemed so accurate...
Lucas gave up trying to sleep. The voice had to be coming from somewhere; he was not quite ready to believe that he was going insane. Lucas listened carefully, and moved slowly towards the direction of the voice. It looked like a snowdrift was talking to him, by Lucas was too much of a scientist to accept that frozen water was worried about telling Darwin that he was dead, so bracing himself against the cold, Lucas pushed his hand into the snow, and, maybe, just maybe, there was a little bit of him that gave a silent sigh of relief when the drift didn't say "Ouch!"
His only good hand searched through the snow, and as the voice told him about his father's lack of response, his fingers closed around a lump of metal that felt suspiciously like an old two-way radio.
Lucas pulled the radio out and stared at it in confusion. One phrase caught his attention, and although he couldn't explain radios living in snowdrifts, there were still some things that Lucas was certain of. He pressed the button and spoke into the radio.
"It's probably the connections leading to the X27 port, that's what it usually is when the computer in engineering acts strange..."
***** ***** *****
For several moments the Captain stared at the radio, while it lay on the floor in exactly the same position as it had landed in after he'd dropped it in surprise. Lucas was dead, Bridger told himself - there was no way he was talking to him.
"Lucas, Lucas on radio." The vo-corder translated as Darwin let off a series of whistles and clicks.
Bridger looked up at Darwin, if Darwin was hearing the voice too, then... No! Bridger told himself - Lucas is dead, they're all dead, they all died in the plane crash. But... on the other hand maybe it couldn't hurt to get a second opinion.
Several crewmembers shot surprised looks at their Captain as he run through the hallways of seaQuest holding a radio. But the Captain was grieving for a boy who was like his son, and that can excuse an awful lot of strange behaviour.
Kristen, however, was not in the mood for idiots to come rushing into her lab babbling something about voices and radios, and she was about to tell the Captain that in no uncertain terms when the voice coming from the radio got through to her.
It was a voice she recognised, even when, or maybe especially when, it was giving detailed instructions on the way the computer system in engineering should be fixed, or, for preference, the way it should be redesigned by a certain teen age genius who should have been allowed to re-design them a long time ago. And the associated complaints that had if he'd been allowed to redesign it once and for all, then he wouldn't have to spend several hours every week trying to make it carry out the simple tasks it was designed for.
It was a speech Kristen had heard many, many times before, usually whenever Lucas was dragged way from the science labs by a call from one of the crew in engineering.
Both the Captain and Kristen stood watching the radio as Lucas went on at length about the computer system and the idiocy of whoever had designed it to begin with. They were both terrified that trying to reply would break the spell and the voice would disappear. They were several minutes into an impromptu lecture on the intricacies of advanced computer repair when the Captain built up the courage to press the button that would allow him to speak to the person on the other end of the radio.
"Lucas? Is that you?" He said in a voice that could manage no more than a whisper.
***** ***** *****
Lucas paused his monologue and looked at the radio with much the same expression that Kristen and Bridger had looked at its partner on the seaQuest.
"Captain?"
***** ***** *****
To Be Continued...
***** ***** *****
Hi, everyone, hope people are still enjoying the story, I think there's only one chapter left to come, and that's it. I'm not planning a sequel, or any other seaQuest stories, because I'm hoping to get some original fiction written soon. Please give me any feedback you can think of in a review, and thanks again to all those who've been reviewing all the way through. The next chapter will be up as soon as I can get it written.
Cadi.
Please see earlier chapters for all-purpose disclaimers.
Chapter 15.
For a long time after the noise of the plane died away Lucas didn't move - there didn't seem to be a lot of point in doing anything when he had no idea what there was for him to do. He considered making his way back to the others, but discounted that idea, because he had no idea what he could say to the others when he reached them - Sorry, but we're stuck here indefinitely because I didn't find the plane fast enough to get us rescued? Somehow it didn't have quite the right ring to it.
So Lucas slowly got up and kept going towards where he estimated the plane would have crashed, in the hope that he would at least be able to find some useful supplies to take back to Ben and the others.
It took another four days before Lucas finally found the crash site, he walked through as many daylight hours as he could manage, and then fell exhausted under a tree each night. The snow seemed to be falling heavier now, although Lucas wasn't one hundred percent sure of this. He wasn't sure about anything now, all he knew was that he was hungry and cold, and that there was no longer any chance of being rescued.
By the time he found the plane, Lucas couldn't truly remember why he'd gone looking for it in the first place. It was like trying to think through cotton wool. The thoughts were there, he just could catch hold of them for long enough to make sense of them.
Lucas stood looking at the plane and then headed into the main body of the aircraft. There were snowdrifts where the wind had piled the snow across the floor, but Lucas was too tired to care. He half-heartedly pushed some of the snow out of the way and curled into a ball in a corner that at least offered some protection from the wind.
***** ***** *****
The seaQuest was docked in the closest Russian port to where six members of its crew had gone missing, and Bridger sat watching the lights from the aqua tube play across the ceiling. Darwin floated in the tube, but said nothing. The Captain knew that he should have told Darwin that Lucas wasn't going to come back, but he couldn't bring himself to say it. Saying it out loud would almost make it real. And the Captain wished more than anything that it wasn't real.
Bridger reached for the radio from besides his bed and sighed. "Lucas, I wish I could let you know how much we all miss you. Kristen's thrown her self into her work so hard, all the other scientists are afraid to go into the labs whenever she's in there - and she's there all the time. She's kept one of the Ensigns in sickbay for observation and tests for three days after he got a tiny little cut his arm. And everyone's terrified of getting sick, because they have no idea what she'll do to them."
The Captain swallowed, trying to clear the lump that formed in his throat whenever he held the radio. "Darwin's doing well, we haven't told him ... I haven't ... But Darwin's doing fine. And we've tried to contact your family, but your father's secretary said he's away doing some research and he's going to phone us as soon as he gets back." The Captain couldn't prevent his voice from cracking as he thought about all the unanswered messages, so he hurriedly changed the subject. "The vo-corder is still working really well, although the computers in engineering have been playing up..."
***** ***** *****
Lucas lay looking out of the ripped metal where the wall of the plane used to be and wonder if hallucinating was a bad sign. He was so sure that he could hear the Captain talking to him, but it had to be his mind playing tricks on him. He wanted to believe that the Captain was there, but he'd stopped believing in miracles a long time ago. Still, it sounded so much like the Captain, and the description of Dr. Westphalen seemed so accurate...
Lucas gave up trying to sleep. The voice had to be coming from somewhere; he was not quite ready to believe that he was going insane. Lucas listened carefully, and moved slowly towards the direction of the voice. It looked like a snowdrift was talking to him, by Lucas was too much of a scientist to accept that frozen water was worried about telling Darwin that he was dead, so bracing himself against the cold, Lucas pushed his hand into the snow, and, maybe, just maybe, there was a little bit of him that gave a silent sigh of relief when the drift didn't say "Ouch!"
His only good hand searched through the snow, and as the voice told him about his father's lack of response, his fingers closed around a lump of metal that felt suspiciously like an old two-way radio.
Lucas pulled the radio out and stared at it in confusion. One phrase caught his attention, and although he couldn't explain radios living in snowdrifts, there were still some things that Lucas was certain of. He pressed the button and spoke into the radio.
"It's probably the connections leading to the X27 port, that's what it usually is when the computer in engineering acts strange..."
***** ***** *****
For several moments the Captain stared at the radio, while it lay on the floor in exactly the same position as it had landed in after he'd dropped it in surprise. Lucas was dead, Bridger told himself - there was no way he was talking to him.
"Lucas, Lucas on radio." The vo-corder translated as Darwin let off a series of whistles and clicks.
Bridger looked up at Darwin, if Darwin was hearing the voice too, then... No! Bridger told himself - Lucas is dead, they're all dead, they all died in the plane crash. But... on the other hand maybe it couldn't hurt to get a second opinion.
Several crewmembers shot surprised looks at their Captain as he run through the hallways of seaQuest holding a radio. But the Captain was grieving for a boy who was like his son, and that can excuse an awful lot of strange behaviour.
Kristen, however, was not in the mood for idiots to come rushing into her lab babbling something about voices and radios, and she was about to tell the Captain that in no uncertain terms when the voice coming from the radio got through to her.
It was a voice she recognised, even when, or maybe especially when, it was giving detailed instructions on the way the computer system in engineering should be fixed, or, for preference, the way it should be redesigned by a certain teen age genius who should have been allowed to re-design them a long time ago. And the associated complaints that had if he'd been allowed to redesign it once and for all, then he wouldn't have to spend several hours every week trying to make it carry out the simple tasks it was designed for.
It was a speech Kristen had heard many, many times before, usually whenever Lucas was dragged way from the science labs by a call from one of the crew in engineering.
Both the Captain and Kristen stood watching the radio as Lucas went on at length about the computer system and the idiocy of whoever had designed it to begin with. They were both terrified that trying to reply would break the spell and the voice would disappear. They were several minutes into an impromptu lecture on the intricacies of advanced computer repair when the Captain built up the courage to press the button that would allow him to speak to the person on the other end of the radio.
"Lucas? Is that you?" He said in a voice that could manage no more than a whisper.
***** ***** *****
Lucas paused his monologue and looked at the radio with much the same expression that Kristen and Bridger had looked at its partner on the seaQuest.
"Captain?"
***** ***** *****
To Be Continued...
***** ***** *****
Hi, everyone, hope people are still enjoying the story, I think there's only one chapter left to come, and that's it. I'm not planning a sequel, or any other seaQuest stories, because I'm hoping to get some original fiction written soon. Please give me any feedback you can think of in a review, and thanks again to all those who've been reviewing all the way through. The next chapter will be up as soon as I can get it written.
Cadi.