"What did they do to him?" demanded Captain Bridger horrified.
"Interrogated him," answered Kristin grimly.
"What's wrong with him?" Lucas lay motionless under the light covers. His arms were pulled tight against his body and he was curled inward on his side. He blinked occasionally but he did not react to their presence. As disconcerting as his behavior was, the colorful bruises decorating the visible portions of his skin were enough to make Nathan feel ill. He'd seen men interrogated. He'd been interrogated but there was nothing comparable to seeing the effects on a child.
"Physically, he'll be fine. He had a displaced fracture in his fourth lumbar vertebrae that was pressing on some nerves but we managed to pin it back in place. He also has a bruised kidney, bruised ribs, and the various bruises you can see on his face, arms, and torso." Nathan glanced down at the boy again.
"And the rest of it?"
"We don't know," she admitted with a frustrated sigh. "It could be a reaction to the drugs. Maybe he has some kind of head injury that we can't detect at this time. Or maybe be a psychological response to the interrogation."
"Will he be O.K.?"
"I hope so. He's in there. He's just not responding. He's completely catatonic." Kristin bent over gently smoothing the hair off of Lucas's forehead.
"Keep me updated," stated Nathan becoming uncomfortable with the situation. He turned to leave.
"They're going to try and get him back." The statement was part question, part declaration.
"I know." He looked down at the boy again feeling every second of his old age.
"Are you going to stop them?" She sounded angry but her eyes, when he looked up to meet them, were pleading.
"I'm going to try," he promised. He hurried out of the room before she could ask him anything else.
[Scene Change]
The room was white. There was no other way to describe it. The ceiling had white paneling. The floor was covered in white carpet. The walls were padded with white cloth covered foam. Even his outfit was white. Everything was white. The room was white and he was sick of it.
Lucas sat down closing his eyes to try and hide the hideous color. There was nothing to do here. He alternated between being bored and worrying about what they were going to do to him next. Picking at the carpet, he wondered again what had happened between the interrogation and when they'd put him in here. He had no memory of it. The color was driving him mad. He could not stand it. Just white. Nothing else. He wanted to beat his head against the wall. Maybe he would cut himself. Blood would be good. Blood's red. Red's not white. He could make color. Sighing, he pressed his face against the floor hoping they would let him out soon.
[Scene Change]
"Captain Bridger," greeted General Thomas watching the man on his vid-screen. "I believe you have a piece of my property."
"Do I? And what might that property be?"
"Don't play games! I know you took the boy."
"You mean the child you kidnapped?" asked Bridger smiling humorlessly. "Forgive me but I do not think you're in much of a position to make demands."
"The boy's mine," grinned Thomas. "The council just decided." He stared at the Captain smugly expecting an apology. Bridger's face hardened and he glared at the man stonily.
"I've seen what you did to him. You're not going to get your hands on Lucas again! He will not leave this boat."
"We'll see about that!" snapped Thomas closing the connection. Bridger glared at the offending screen one more time before reaching for his PAL.
"Commander Ford, please recall all crewmembers from leave. As of now, no one is allowed off this boat and only our crew are allowed on her."
"Yes, sir. Is there trouble?"
"Not yet but I want us to be prepared. Stay alert." He cut the connection dialing for Lt. O'Neill. "Lieutenant, please connect me to Admiral Noyce." His picture slowly flickered into view.
"I'm sorry, Nathan," he said immediately. "There was nothing I could do."
"I'm not letting him go. He's not going back to those people."
"What do you mean back?" asked Noyce cautiously.
"He was taken when they unloaded the children. Section Seven had him. Some of the crew risked their career rescue him. They interrogated him, Bill. They beat and drugged a child. He's in medbay in some kind of coma."
"I didn't know that. Will he be OK?"
"Not if I send him back there. They'll kill him."
"What are you going to do, Nathan? The decision's been made."
"Well, they need to change their decision. As long as SeaQuest is under my command, the boy's not going anywhere."
"Think about what you're saying!" pleaded Noyce desperately. "Are you going to throw away your career over some boy?"
"If that's what it takes," vowed Bridger. "I can't send that boy to his death."
"This isn't Robert, Nathan. He's not going to his death. You don't have to 'save' him"
"I have to do this. I know you don't understand but I can't turn my back on this boy. You didn't see him. You didn't see what they did to him. I'm not sending him back there."
"I don't know if there is anything I can do to help you with this, Nathan. They can take SeaQuest away from you for this."
"I know. I just wanted you to know why. I need your support in this."
"I'll do what I can," promised Noyce giving in to the inevitable.
"That's all I could ask for," said Bridger smiling slightly at his oldest friend. He raised his hand in silent farewell then closed the connection. He sat down heavily at his desk. He was really putting his neck out there this time.
[Scene Change]
"Does anyone know what this meeting is about?" asked Tony sliding into his seat beside Ensign Henderson. The young officer glanced over at him with a serious expression.
"I'm not at liberty to say. All I can tell you is that we just had a meeting with the Captain and this is serious business." She straightened up in her seat as Lieutenant Brody marched into the room. A hush fell over the room. For once, SeaQuest's rumor mill was broken and not a soul knew the topic of the meeting in advance. All the crew knew was that it was big.
"I'm sure you are all wondering why you are here," started Brody standing in front of the group of pilots in training. "Managers are meeting with their divisions all over the boat. I am substituting for the Lt. Commander because she was needed down in Computers. Listen very closely because you are being called on to make a decision that will affect the rest of your life."
"As you all know, about a month or two ago we rescued a lot of slaves from a slavers meet. What you may not know is that the Intel that allowed us to make the bust was leaked to us by a fourteen-year-old boy. He was shot during the bust and almost died. On another occasion, he took over during battle after Commander Hitchcock was injured and single handedly prevented the enemy hackers from shutting down our life support. Although you may not know Lucas, he has saved all of your lives." Tony listened in awe to the things that the kid he'd rescued had done. He had seen the boy around but he had had no idea how important he was.
"Efforts were being made to keep Lucas aboard as a part of the crew when he became mixed in with the other slave children. He ended up in the custody of Section Seven. We initiated a rescue but found that his stay with them had been less than hospitable. He's currently catatonic in medbay as a result of being interrogated by them." Lonnie felt the man beside her shudder and wondered just what he had seen on the mission to rescue Lucas.
"You may be asking what this has to do with you. Here's the problem: our government has decided to give him back over to Section Seven even knowing what they will do to him. Captain Bridger is refusing to release Lucas. We may be ordered to relieve him of command but the officers are all behind him. We need to know if you are behind him as well. If you decide that you are not with us, you will be escorted off of SeaQuest but we will welcome you back once the situation has been resolved. If you decide to stay with us, you will be risking your career. You must be willing to go rogue if their decision doesn't change." The room was completely silent as they considered his words.
"Are there any questions?" No one raised their hand. "All right. I'm going to give you a few minutes to make your decision. If you decide that you can not risk it, please leave the room and begin gathering your things. We'll need you ready to leave when the final decision comes through. If you are with us, please remain in your seat." Everyone shifted around in their seat watching their neighbors wondering what they were going to choose. For a minute, no one stood but slowly a few individuals got up and trickled out the door. When Jim looked up from his watch five minutes later, the majority of the group had remained in their seats.
"OK, gang. We're just going to go over the current plans for the worst case scenario," he said continuing to lecture. For better or for worse, the crew was sticking together in this.
[Scene Break]
Wendy sat down at her computer more concerned with her patient than with all of the commotion that was taking place on SeaQuest today. She had been running a search for any articles or research containing the words: hacker, interrogation and catatonia. So far the search was not giving her anything she could work with but she hoped that today would be different. Kristin and her were still befuddles as to the cause of Lucas's condition. Physically, they could find no explanation.
She perked up when she notice an article titled: Long term Effects of Conditioning among Freed Hackers. She quickly purchased the article from the journal and downloaded it to her computer. At first she was discouraged because the article focused on nightmares and personality traits experience by the former slaves but then at the end of the article she found her answer.
'Another unfortunate effect is that some schools plant dormant programs that can be triggered years later under specific circumstances. The most extreme case documented dealt with a thirty-year old banker who was a product of the prestigious Hacker's Guild. He was beaten in a mugging one night and the programming, that makes the hackers impossible to break during interrogation, was triggered. This trigger, used by the higher priced hacking schools when training slaves, causes the individual to become catatonic. If the owner reclaims the slave, the school will reverse the process with a preset code once the owner has shown proof of purchase. In the case of the banker, he had been freed and had no proof of purchase so there was no way to reverse the procedure. He is currently being cared for in an institution.'
Wendy read the paragraph horrified. This was clearly what had happened to Lucas. She fidgeted in her chair for several minutes debating the best course of action. She knew that Kristin would not react well to the news that there was nothing that could be done. As the boat's psychologist, Wendy had the best chance of solving the problem so she decided to do more research before bringing anyone else into the problem. Scrolling back up to the top of the page, she began skimming the article again.
[Scene Change]
Adam Weiss sipped his third cup of coffee of the day as he lounged in his chair watching the video from the surveillance cameras around the building. When he had first gotten the job, he had thought it would be exciting to work with security in the Pentagon but reality had been much different. He just sat here being bored watching over his wing. Glancing over at one of the monitors, Adam sat up straighter in his seat. He recognized the uniforms of almost a dozen organizations and divisions along with several he was unfamiliar with. He could not imagine why all of these people would be in the same room. Reaching across his console, he keyed for the sound in the room.
"You can not allow one man to bully us like this!" insisted one of the men, presumably the one that was currently standing.
"Captain Bridger does not have a history of pulling stunts. His record speaks for itself. Perhaps we listen to him."
"He's disobeying a direct order. He has no right to protest our decision."
"He's just asking that we reconsider the decision."
"He's demanding that we change our mind. He should be removed from command."
"I think he's right. The hacker should be placed in neutral custody." The volume in the room began to rise as people began speaking out of turn. The discussion was quickly deteriorating into a full-blown fight. Adam grinned, his boredom gone. He was definitely glad they had decided to have this meeting in one of the few rooms that were wired for sound.
"Enough." Silence fell as everyone turned to watch the speaker. "We will re-vote the decision. Say yay if you want the hacker to remain on SeaQuest or nay if you think Section Seven should keep him." Everyone went around the room speaking their vote. A quick tally was taken and the results were handed to the speaker. "The hacker stays with Section Seven." The screen in the room shimmered and a man appeared on it.
"Captain Bridger, we have reviewed our decision," stated the speaker. "You have exactly one hour to turn the hacker over to General Thomas."
"I refuse. The boy is not leaving SeaQuest."
"Then we have no choice but to remove you from command. Please summon the officers." Adam watched in amazement, as the Captain did not do so much as blink. He disappeared briefly from the screen then reappeared with several people standing behind him. "Commander Ford, you will now assume command of SeaQuest from Bridger. You will see to it that he is escorted to the brig until we take him into custody."
"No, sir."
"What do you mean 'no sir'?" asked the speaker sounding shocked.
"We stand behind Captain Bridger. Lucas Wolenczak will not be leaving SeaQuest."
"You can't do that!"
"We just did," replied he replied. "We will be making arrangements for the remaining slaves and the crew members not behind us on this to be transported off of the boat." The men shifted restlessly not understanding just what was occurring before them. Before any of them could ask questions, the Captain stepped back to the forefront of the group on the screen and addressed the group.
"I, Captain Nathan Bridger, do hereby resign from my position in the United States Navy. As of this moment, the SeaQuest is no longer a U.S. military vessel."