"Captain, you and your men have my profound gratitude for the rescue of my people." The image of a honey-haired women in a leather chair was projected on the main screen of the bridge.
"No thanks are needed, Prime Minister. We just wish we could have saved more," answered Bridger remembering the one hundred and sixty-three passengers on the cruise ship that did not make it.
"You did your best. Canada thanks you." She smiled at him.
"Thank you, Prime Minister."
"Will you be involved in transporting the victims back to shore?"
"Yes, ma'am, SeaQuest has the best medical facility. We've also had recent experience with children so most of the families are staying aboard." Nathan watched concern flash over the Prime Minister's face before settling into the unreadable mask of a good politician.
"Excellent," she said. "I look forward to meeting you in person. I think we have a great deal to discuss."
"Such as?" asked Bridger, confused.
"Alliances, Captain. SeaQuest and Canada have a great deal to offer each other." A buzzing to the right of the woman interrupted her. A flash of annoyance lit her eyes. "Another matter needs attending to," she said with regret. "We will speak again soon."
An excited murmur ran across the bridge as the vid-screen clicked off.
"Sir?" asked Commander Ford. "An alliance?"
"Perhaps. We're still Americans," reminded Bridger cautiously. "We're not going to join another military."
[Scene Change]
Miguel wiggled his toes trying to bring circulation back to his feet. He winced as tingles went shooting up his legs but managed to keep from shifting. The girl he had rescued from the ship was nestled to his right. Her raven ringlets draped around her obscuring her face and her doll, Annabel. Her brother was wedged in on Miguel's left. They were keeping him pinned to his chair.
Surrounded by the children, Miguel felt the warm glow of fatherhood. He didn't know what he was going to do when it came time to hand the children into their aunt's custody. Lisa had captured his heart immediately. Partnered with Annabel, she was unbelievably sweet and trusting. Brian was shyer and clung to his savior with adoration.
Their aunt was another story. She had been located on the day after the tragedy as Lucas and Tim worked to match the survivors. Carla Glenn was a short fiery woman that oozed sex appeal. Her method of thanking his for saving the children had been a searing kiss that left him aching with need. Whenever she was around, he was consumed with lust and guilt. He told himself that he should feel lucky she let the children spend so much time with him but that only complicated the situation.
Sighing, Miguel tried to turn off his brain. He had a few hours before his shift began. As long as he was stuck here, he might as well grab a nap.
[Scene Change]
"D-O-G. Dog," recited Tony grimacing.
"Good," responded Katie with a smile. "And this one?"
"C-A-T. Cat." Tony clinched his fists. "I sound like a moron or something."
"No you don't. You sound fine. Look, everyone has to start somewhere."
"I'm stupid! Only idiots can't read!"
"Stop it," she commanded. "You are not stupid. You've simply never been given an opportunity to learn. You're making great progress. It's my fault that we don't get to spend more time working on this. I'm sorry for slowing you down."
"It's not your fault. Things have been crazy around here for months."
"Just the same. I'm sorry." Tony stared at the grating surrounding the moonpool. He kicked at it with his foot."
"It's waited a quarter of a century. What's another month or two?" He shrugged looking up to meet her eyes. "I know you have a lot to do and that you don't have to take time out to do this with me." He glanced down again hesitantly. "I just wanted you to know I was thankful and all that."
"You're welcome, Tony. I'm glad to help." She smiled at him and he couldn't help but smile back. "Now, what about this word?"
[Scene Change]
Lucas stood on the opposite side of the moonpool staring at Katie and Tony longingly. Water carried sound so he could hear their conversation perfectly. His jealousy of Tony was two-fold. Tony had all of the lovely Lt. Commander's attention focused on him. Lucas also wished that his problem was as easy to correct as Tony's was. Unfortunately, there was no one who could teach him how to talk.
Darwin popped up chattering, making Lucas smile. He reached down to rub the beautiful beast. Of everyone on SeaQuest, Lucas felt most at home with Darwin. The dolphin was trapped in the same world of silence that Lucas was. Only Lucas knew how frustrated and lonely Darwin got sometimes.
"That was OK," thought Lucas to himself. He was going to free Darwin from his prison. He was going to make it so Darwin could speak.
Determination renewed, Lucas gave Darwin a final pat farewell. Lucas moved confidently through the boat deftly avoiding any areas where pockets of children might be playing. He had learned his lesson with the last batch of children. He did not even have the shared past of slavery to help him get along with the new batch. Reaching his destination, Lucas knocked on the hatch to engineering.
"Hey, kiddo," said Peter Dawes reaching down to ruffle Lucas's hair. "I was just heading out to do some repairs. You want to be my shadow again today?"
Lucas nodded eagerly.
"Alright, Mack, I'm heading out. If anyone comes looking for Lucas he's with me."
Lucas waited while Peter gathered his tools then followed him happily down the corridor. He'd first come down here with Katie to meet the other computer technicians. He'd been more fascinated with the hardware aspect than the programming. Somehow he had ended up watching the engineers. A few of them enjoyed having an audience and would explain what they were doing. Most of the information he was using to do Darwin's project came from watching these guys. The rest came from the books Peter let him borrow.
"I don't know how much the kid actually understands," Peter was known to have said to his roommates on more than one occasion," but I just can't say no to him. I've never seen any one so eager to try to learn."
The two walked in comfortable silence. Peter wasn't bothered by Lucas being mute so he didn't try to fill in Lucas's half of the conversation or cover-up the silence with inane chatter the way most people would. That was the other reason that Lucas liked being around him. Peter made him feel normal. Their path took them deep into the lower levels of SeaQuest searching for the sensor that was on the fritz.
[Scene Change]
Jonathan sat in the officer's lounge nursing a cup of coffee. He was trying to wind down from his shift. Somehow in school they had neglected to tell him how stressful command positions could be. The day's paper was open on the computer in front of him but he hadn't read a word. His mind was too busy going over the prospect of an alliance with Canada and Captain Bridger's last words.
There hadn't been much time for reflecting on what they had all done. They'd basically gone from secession to battle to the Summer's Dream with barely enough time to recover and certainly not enough time to think about anything. Jonathan wondered how many people had really thought about what secession would mean for them. He, like most of the officers, hadn't looked beyond protecting one of their own. Although when Lucas had achieved that status he didn't know.
He hadn't thought of what it would do to his family. They understood that this wasn't a choice he had made lightly but he hadn't expected them to be harassed because of him. Their last e-mail to him talked mainly about the friends that had stopped speaking to them and the media parked on their front lawns. The military had prohibited his sister, a lieutenant, from having any contact with him.
He had known that he was giving up his career and his homeland but he hadn't realized what a perilous situation they would be in out here alone. Once their supplies ran out they had no where to obtain more and no way to pay for it if there was. If they continued to fight slavery and piracy, they would encounter damage that they had no way to repair. If they ran into trouble there was no one to call for backup.
The longer Jonathan thought the more important the Canadian alliance sounded but he remembered the Captain saying that they were still American. No matter how attractive an offer Canada made SeaQuest's duty was to protect the United States. SeaQuest was too important to become a mercenary. She was too important to let under someone else's power.
So what did Canada want with SeaQuest and what exactly did Captain Bridger plan to do with them. It was times like these that made Jonathan glad that he wasn't in command of his own vessel yet. Pouring the long cooled coffee down the drain, he gathered his things and went to see if he could spend some quiet time with his girlfriend.
[Scene Change]
"There she is," said Peter stopping in front of a bit of paneling. Lucas glanced around them while Peter was unscrewing the panel. If Kristin ever found out that Lucas had been in the bowels of SeaQuest, she would have a fit.
"So what do you think?" asked Peter as he revealed the mass of wires and circuit boards. Lucas stared at it critically. He could see a bit of frayed wiring but it wasn't connected to anything. He didn't think that the wire would cause the problem by itself.
"Looks like just a bit of loose wiring," said Peter reaching the opposite conclusion. Lucas frowned and stared at the hardware even more intently than before. Peter opened up his toolkit and set to work replacing the wire.
"There. I just have to finish securing this end here." As Peter fed the errant wire into the power supply, the last piece of the puzzle slid into place for Lucas. The wire wasn't just worn. It had been shorted out by the power supply. If Peter just reconnected it, it would just short out again or worse it could short out the rest of the board or cause a fire.
"Are you ready to cut the power back on?" asked Peter. Lucas stared at him horrified.
No! Lucas shook his head vehemently. He pointed to the power supply insistently.
"We already finished," said Peter, confused by Lucas's odd behavior. Lucas pointed to the power supply again. Peter paused considering. His first instinct was to brush it off and ignore Lucas but he'd never seen Lucas do anything like this before. Maybe those rumors about his intelligence were right and Lucas was on to something.
"Alright," said Peter deciding to listen. "What do you want me to do?" Lucas pointed to the power supply and pantomimed taking it out. "You want it out? Why?"
Lucas bit his lip frustrated at his inability to explain. He glanced around for something to help and caught sight of the piece of wire that had been removed. He picked it up and examined it. As he expected, the plastic casing had been melted away not worn. He handed it to Peter.
"Well I'll be," said Peter amazed. He patted Lucas on the shoulder. "Thanks, you just saved me a lot of work." He set to work replacing the power supply. Lucas just shrugged anything for a friend.