She was dreaming again. She was in a long dark hallway. She knew she was looking for something but Wendy did not know what that something was. She hurried down the corridor searching for an unlocked door. As she touched each doorknob she felt more than saw a flash of light. Her something was related to the white but none of the doors would open. She began to run, frantically trying all of the doors. Doors flow by in streaks of black and gray. She ran faster and faster starting to panic. She had to find it! And suddenly she stopped.
Panting, she stared at the door at the end of the hallway. Tentatively, she reached out to touch the knob. It burned! She snatched her hand back and turned to find another door but she was trapped. A wall had formed blacking off the rest of the hall. She would have to go through the door. Steeling herself, she gripped the doorknob. She gritted her teeth against the searing of her flesh and slowly turned the knob. The pain vanished as the door swung open bathing her in blinding, white light. There was a figure in the white room but she could not see clearly enough to identify it. She stepped into the room.
"Dr. Wendy?" asked a small voice incredulously.
"Lucas!" she exclaimed, blinking at the boy.
"Did they get you, too?"
"They who? What's going on?"
"My new owners. They got mad at me," he answered, hanging his head.
"You don't have new owners. We rescued you," she said confused. "This isn't real," she remembered. "I'm dreaming and you're still in Medbay."
"It's OK, Wendy. You don't have to pretend. They haven't hurt me in here and I've been here a long time." He scooted closer to her and she sat down beside him on the carpet.
"What's the last thing you remember?" she asked trying to figure out what her subconscious was telling her in this dream.
"They gave me the truth serum but I wouldn't tell. I remember what happens to people who break." He shuddered lightly beside her.
"You really believe you're real."
"Why wouldn't I be?" he asked confused.
"Because I'm asleep! I'm dreaming! You can't be here. You're in a coma. Well, catatonic but the point is you're not here."
"Well, I am," he said, thinking out the problem. "If you're right and you're dreaming, maybe you dreamed yourself into my dream."
"How?"
"I don't know," he shrugged. "Maybe you're psychic."
"There's no such thing!"
"I'm not the one invading other people's dreams," he responded sarcastically.
"So what do we do now?" she asked changing the subject.
"As lovely as this place is, I'm kind of sick of this room. If it's all the same to you, since you got in could you maybe get me out?" She glanced at him, not used to him acting his age.
"I don't know how," she admitted.
"Try opening the door," he suggested. Shrugging, she got up and walked over to the door and tried the knob. It turned immediately with no pain or anything.
"Why didn't you try that?"
"I did. It wouldn't open for me." He stepped up beside her at the edge of the doorway. Together they took a deep breath and took the final step.
Blinking her eyes, she stared up at her ceiling wide-awake. She sat up quickly as she realized the implications of her dream. Throwing some clothes on, she hurried down to Medbay to check on Lucas.
"Hey, how are you doing?" she whispered when he turned to face her. He smiled at her sleepily.
'Thank you,' he signed using one of the few words he'd mastered in sign language.
"You're welcome," she responded smiling at him as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
[Scene Change]
"Captain, the last of the crew have been unloaded," reported Commander Ford.
"Thank you, Commander. Are there any slaves still aboard?"
"About twenty, sir. They would like to join the crew. I told them you would talk to them."
"I'll welcome them aboard later. We need to replace as many of the crew we lost as we can."
"Sir, how long are we going to remain in port?" asked Hitchcock from where she was monitoring the systems.
"We were just waiting to unload the personnel," replied Bridger. "O'Neill, raise Lt. Krieg's PAL."
"Krieg here," came the voice from the speakers.
"Lieutenant, are there any critical shortages in the supplies?"
"No, sir. We were able to get almost everything. With the decrease in crew members we will be fine for at least a month."
"Thank you, Lieutenant. Commander, please plot a course for international waters. I want us out of reach from anything launching from shore."
"Yes, sir."
[Scene Change]
"You know, I don't understand you," said Jim as he sat down beside Lonnie.
"What do you mean?" she asked not taking her eyes off of the fighter.
"I thought you hated it here. Why did you stay?"
"A lot of reasons," she said turning to face him. "I don't like the military but we're doing good. If I left, I'd just have been assigned to a new boat."
"They would have let you fly."
"I know," she said, looking longingly toward her fighter. "I want to fly. Everyday I go without it is like I'm missing part of my soul but you're right. I'm not ready. I'll just end up getting myself killed or worse getting someone else killed. I want to fly because of my skills not because my father demanded it."
"That's a very admirable thing to say. I wouldn't have stayed for just that though."
"I didn't. I like the people. I like Lucas. We're doing the right thing. Besides, if I have to die out here I'd rather do it protecting my friends."
"I know it's selfish of me but I'm glad that you stayed," he admitted glancing over at her hesitantly.
"I'm glad you're glad," she replied smiling at him.
[Scene Change]
"I wonder what they're saying in the news." Miguel glanced over at Tim watching him stare morosely into the moonpool.
"Are you regretting you stayed?"
"No," replied Tim. "I just wish I hadn't burned my last bridge."
"With your family?" asked Miguel lightly running his hand over Tim's back.
"Yeah. I mean, our relationship was shaky enough between me leaving the Church and you. There's no way they're going to accept a traitor for a son."
"We're not traitors!"
"Yes, we are," said Tim softly. "It doesn't matter that they were wrong. We still turned against our government."
"Then why did you stay?"
"I had to stay. They need me. You need me here."
"I would have left with you."
"I know but I couldn't ask that of you."
"But it's fine for me to force you into staying? I don't want it to be like that! That's not what our relationship's about!" exclaimed Miguel becoming upset.
"You didn't force me into anything," reassured Tim rubbing Miguel's arm. "I chose to stay."
"I just don't see how it got to this point. Why could they see what Section Seven would do to him?"
"They probably just didn't like the fact that Bridger was making demands." Tim trailed his fingers through the water making ripples.
"What do you think's going to happen now?"
"I'm sure they'll come to an agreement of some sort. They wouldn't actually attack us."
"Just like they wouldn't send a little boy to his death?" The pair fell silent not wanting to think about what would happen if the military's might was directed against them.
[Change Scene]
"Washington is in an uproar today after US Naval Submarine SeaQuest went AWOL earlier today. Reports state that two-thirds of the crew resigned from the military taking over control of the ship. Among the deserters are Captain Nathan Bridger, Commander Jonathan Ford, and Lt. Commander Katherine Hitchcock," read Amber Stiles of the Daily News. "We're going to go live to the Pentagon for a report from our correspondent John Gray." The view changed to two men standing out in the rain in front of a large brown building.
"I'm standing here with Adam Weiss. Weiss is a security guard in the Pentagon. Adam, could you tell us what you saw this morning?"
"I watch the monitors from the security cameras. All the military was having this meeting and they were yelling about this guy Bridger saying he wasn't going to turn over this kid. They told him he had to but he wouldn't and then he quit. Took the whole boat and everything."
"Thank you, Adam." The man moved away until he was standing alone on the screen. "As you heard, the entire situation developed over the possession of a slave child that was rescued by SeaQuest. The nature of the problem over the child is still uncertain." Another man stepped onto the screen handing a piece of paper to the reporter. "Reports have just come in that the last of the crew that chose to remain with the military and the former slaves have been transported off of SeaQuest. The submarine is now heading out to sea. Destination is unknown."
"Thank you, John," said Amber coming back on the screen. "We'll be cutting back to him as more information becomes available. Now we are going to go to Eric Mason, an expert on submarine war tactics." The older, balding man appeared in the corner of the screen. "Eric, what can we expect SeaQuest to do now?"
"Well, that's a very interesting quest-" The screen went black.
"Momma!" squealed the girl. "I was watching that!"
"It's dinner time."
"But we're going to war! The boat's going to blow people up now!"
"Caitlyn, come to the dinner table. Nothing's going to happen with the submarine. It's just politics."
"Yes, Momma," she said obediently, sitting down at the table. Dinner at the Crowley's proceeded normally completely unaffected by the turmoil in the nation's capital.