"C,mon Ben, just let me look to see if you have any of this stuff."
"Why should I? What makes you think I have music as old as you?"
"Because, I know you at least have the Nirvana and Dave Matthews Band. The rest I can get on my own," Lucas said pleadingly.
Ben sighed. "Alright, fine, get in here."
"AH! Thanks man!" Lucas said, entering Ben's quarters as Ben shut the door.
"You're just doing a mix right?"
"Yeah, just something to listen to on the trip."
"Okay well here then, take the Greatest Hits disks for both of them," he said, handing the disks over.
"Thanks Ben, I'll bring 'em back as soon as I rip some songs off of them."
"You'd better or I'll kick your ass. You can't get those anymore."
Lucas nodded. "You have my word, I'll bring them back," he said as he headed out of the room.
He scanned the backs of the disks as he walked, trying to decide which ones he'd pull off. Some of these bands he'd never listened to or heard of, and he was interested to hear what kinds of bands Ellie had liked.
He reached his quarters and promptly stuck one disk into the computer, pulling all of the songs off of it, and then repeating the process with the other. He had plenty of space for the entire contents of both disks. He promptly returned the disks to Ben and returned to finish up. He'd managed to find the most popular songs by all of the bands that Ellie had listed off, including some of the ones that came out after her death. But the most special pieces of music on the disk were the songs that Ellie, herself, had sung; the lullaby that Sam had helped her to record, and the two songs that she'd sung in her memory session. Lucas had pulled those two songs from the disk that the Captain had given him 3 months ago, the same one that Dr. Fletcher had given to the Captain and that Sam had urged the Captain to destroy. He hadn't watched it, couldn't watch it, but he'd skipped to the exact spot of those songs and had added them to his mix.
He finished packing his clothes and set the duffel bag down on the floor. Next to it was his laptop; he was going to need it. He'd made sure to copy everything from his system here on the ship, onto his laptop, just in case he'd need anything. It would also come in handy in case anything went wrong with the systems here on board. He could work on them remotely from land with the programs he'd loaded onto the laptop. He picked up the notebook which contained all of the pertinent information he'd collected in relation to his mother's murder, as well as Gavin's, and which also contained all of the information on the remaining family. He flipped to the last page he'd written in and read the names of his grandparents again. He flipped back a couple of pages, looking for Sean's information before he realized that he'd never gotten it.
He sat down at his terminal and once again entered the public records database; doing a search for Sean Montgomery. There were several listed, and he scanned through each record to try to decide which one was the correct one. He located it when he saw a reference to the fact that he had been investigated as a possible suspect in a suspicious death. As he checked the cross-reference, Ellie's name came up, and he knew he had the right person. He quickly wrote down the information before closing the book and sticking it inside the duffel bag. He lovingly picked up the picture of him and Ellie, and decided to take it with him in case any proof might be needed. He packed it in between layers of clothing to protect it.
He pulled a mini-disk out of the computer and looked at it, hating it so much that he'd love nothing better than to smash it to pieces with his foot, but he needed it. Ellie's memories were on this disk. As much as he hated most of what was here, the happy moments were what kept him from destroying the disk, along with a sense that even though he disliked the memories, they weren't his to destroy and were a part of his history.
He slipped it in the case with the rest of the disks he was taking with him, and set the case on top of the closed duffel. The last thing to pick up was the print out of his hotel reservation. The Captain had helped him obtain it. He'd made the reservation, but the Captain had gotten on the com to verify that he was UEO personnel and that the bill should be sent to him. He had made Lucas promise to keep the bill reasonable, which Lucas quickly had.
He shut down his system and looked around the room. He'd actually cleaned it up so that he could find everything he'd need and want to take with him. Even he was surprised at how much junk he'd actually had laying around. It was all done; everything was packed and ready to go.
He switched off the lamp and lay down on his bunk. He couldn't control his thoughts or his excitement, and he knew that he'd never get any sleep at this rate. Sitting up, he turned on the lamp again. He hated that he was going to do this, but he needed to get to sleep. He stood up and walked out into the corridor, not caring at this point that he was wearing his pajama pants and an old t-shirt. He entered the med bay and looked around for Kristen, and spotted her at a microscope.
He cleared his throat. "Dr. Westphalen?"
Kristen looked up at the sound of Lucas' voice and was a bit surprised to see him standing there dressed for bed. "Everything okay Lucas?"
"Yes, thank you. I was wondering if…umm…see, I'm having trouble…uhhh..."
Kristen, seeing his trouble with getting the words out, finished for him. "You're too excited to sleep are you? And you were hoping that I might have something to help you?"
Lucas let out a breath of relief at being spared actually having to say it. "Yes, exactly."
"I do have something to help you," Kristen said, sliding off the stool and heading for the cabinet where all of the drugs were kept. "I know how much you detest taking anything Lucas, so I'm surprised you're here."
"I want to be fully awake tomorrow, not dozing off because I wasn't able to get any sleep tonight," he replied.
"Of course," Kristen said, placing a single yellow pill in his hand. "That ought to do the trick. Nothing too strong," she said. "Would you like a cup of water?"
Lucas nodded and followed her to the sink, where she handed him a small cup. He popped the pill in his mouth and washed it down. Thanking her, he turned and walked back to his quarters. Halfway there, he started to feel the effects of the pill she'd given him.
"Nothing too strong," he muttered, "yeah right."
Entering his quarters he nearly fell into the bed and was asleep before his head hit the pillow.