YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW
Chapter 4
By Kiddo
Disclaimer:
I have no rights to the TV show "seaQuest DSV," and I am not making any money with this story.
A spezial „Thank You" goes to my wonderfull beta-reader Jackie and to Lynnp, Forgottengargoyle, dolphinology, KatKnits00, Blue Eyed Dragon Girl, JOXER, kokomocalifornia and Simon for the Reviews.
Lynnp: Thanks! It's always great to have people on the edge of their seat.
Forgottengargoyle: Thanks for you kind words. You made me turn really red. And I see it as a big compliment that you want to learn german ;-). I don't write original fiction, just seaQuest fanfiction. And therefore the only thing that is puplished of me in hardcover is a critic/review that I wrote about a book.
dolphinology: Thanks! Good to hear that you like the twist.
KatKnits00: Thanks!
Blue Eyed Dragon Girl: Thanks! It's always sad when a friebdship suffers. Hope this is soon enough.
JOXER: Thanks! I expected somthing like that from you, I know that you are a big Ben fan. But like you said yourself, this is fiction, so everything is possible!
kokomocalifornia: Thanks! Yeah, who would want to hurt Lucas? (Besides all the ELF's out there ;-))
Simon: Thanks! You don't need to be sorry. Because I have no problem with what you say about this chapter. Read this and you will see why Bridger acted that way. And you are absolutly right about the waking up part. And if this was one of my normal storys, I would have written how Lucas woke up, how Bridger babied him, how Lucas told what happened to him and everything else. But this is not one of my normal stories! Just read and see…
When Ben Krieg was led in the wardroom by Chief Crocker and two security officers, everybody except the captain and Lucas were already sitting around the table. The supply officer had been in the brig for the last half an hour. Now the rest of the senior crew were throwing reproachful looks at the lieutenant.
It looked like everyone of them was convinced of his guilt. Crocker pulled out a chair, and Ben sat down on it. Krieg felt like everyone was treating him as the lowest criminal.
The door to the wardroom opened again, and Bridger and Lucas stepped in. The computer genius was wearing a black shirt with a white baseball shirt over it and a pair of jeans. He looked even paler than before. When the teenager spotted Ben, he tried to give him a smile.
The moral officer smiled back. At least one peson was still on his side.
Bridger sat down next to Lucas and got right to the point. "We all know why we are here, so let's get started immediately." Then he gave Commander Ford a nod.
The commander stood up and gave Lucas his computer, which he had had retrieved from the teenager's cabin specifically for this meeting. "There you go."
"Thanks!" The genius opened the computer, but before he started to work on it, he looked at every person in the room. "I can't believe that you all think so poorly of Ben. If he says that he didn't do this, then it's true!"
Heavy silence hung in the air. Nobody wanted to respond. The blond teen looked away from everyone and started to type on his computer, his gaze focused on the screen.
Four minutes later, his facial features started to relax.
The others caught this reaction. "Have you found anything?" Miguel was the first to react.
Lucas made a cutting motion with his hand in Ortiz's direction. "Shhhh! I'm nearly there."
About 10 seconds later, the teenager stopped abruptly. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. This couldn't be true! Lucas now looked up from the screen in shock. His eyes were full of pain when he looked at Ben.
"What did you find?" asked Bridger sympathetically, but he already knew what the answer would be. One look at the teen's face told him everything.
Lucas's eyes were still on Lt. Krieg. "It was Ben. He was the one who took the check and put the money into a hidden account." The teen bit down on his lip to stop himself from screaming.
The supply officer shook his head emphatically. "Lucas, no, I didn't do anything. Someone else must have done that and made it look like it was me. Please, you have to believe me!" From now on, Ben didn't care what the others thought of him, but losing Lucas's trust really hurt. Utter desperation was rising in him.
The blond teenager ran a hand through his hair and leaned back in his chair. "I can't believe this. I called the others liars just because I believed you. How could I be so stupid?" Unshed tears were glistening in his eyes. "And I looked up to you. You were like a big brother to me! How could I fall for it?"
The senior crew of the seaQuest looked accusingly at the supply officer. Katherine Hitchcock bowed her head; she couldn't look her ex-husband in the face.
"You know what this means for you, Lieutenant?" asked Crocker.
Of course Ben knew. "For the thousandth time, I haven't done anything!"
Lucas looked up at him. "Don't make this worse. I can see it on the screen, in black and white. Denying it won't help you."
Krieg shook his head. "Have you all gone nuts? I'm not denying anything. Your computer isn't telling the truth. Someone must have faked this information."
For one moment, the teenager was speechless. Slowly his face became red from anger. "Ben, I've been hacking into secure databanks since I was 9 years old. I know what I'm doing, and I can recognize when something is faked! And this computer is telling the truth!"
The lieutenant closed his eyes for a moment. "Then this time you don't know what you are doing, or you can't read the information right!"
"Are you saying that I'm lying?" Again, the tears were coming dangerously close to falling. "Great, and I thought that you were my friend." His voice was shaking.
Bridger stood up. "I've had enough of you, Lieutenant. Can't you see what you are doing? Do you have to go making everything worse?"
Krieg felt like he was caught up in a living nightmare. "Captain, please you must believe that I'm innocent."
Nathan looked darkly at Krieg. "I mustn't do anything! And I won't let you tell me what I should believe. How dare you!"
"I'm sorry, Captain. I know that I've pulled a lot of pranks in my life, but this time I really have nothing to do with it. I would never hurt one of my best friends intentionally."
Bridger shook his head in disappointment. "A court marshall is now your fate. You will get your just punishment there."
Ben tried again to appeal to Lucas. He looked pleadingly at the teen. "Lucas..."
Before Krieg could even say another word, the computer genius shook his head. "Let it go Ben, just let it go. You have said more than enough." The sadness was audible in his voice.
Katherine now looked up at Ben. "I can't believe that you were capable of doing such a thing. To treat Lucas like this? You should be ashamed of yourself. How could I have ever married someone like you?"
Ben tried to count to 10. How could he convince Lucas and the others that he was innocent when everything seemed to be going against him. "It wasn't me! I haven't done anything! So just believe me at least!" It felt as if the world was coming to an end. Ben had never felt so helpless and low before.
Suddenly, a grin was spreading over Lucas's whole face. "Of course you did it! Or will you deny that you hid my computer chip for days?"
Now Krieg was losing the thread of what was happening. Why was the teen suddenly grinning like the Cheschire Cat, and why was he talking about his stupid computer chip?
Meanwhile, each member of the senior crew, except for Ben of course, was smiling.
"Can you remember the day when I told you that I would get my revenge?" asked the young genius.
Krieg nodded, confused. "Of couse, you put the hair color..."
Lucas cut him off. "Do you really believe that a little hair color in your shampoo was enough? Absolutely not! I needed something much bigger!"
Slowly, the lieutenant began to understand what was going on. The whole thing, everything about the check and the theft had been an act, just so Lucas could get his revenge. "But all the blood, the cut on your head..."
Carefully the teenager pulled the bandage away from his temple; under it was nothing, no wound or blood or anything at all! "Oh this? Just some harmless stage blood."
Ben looked at everyone in the room; they were all grinning at him. "But that means... that means that everybody else knew about this and that the whole crew was pretending." The moral officer didn't know if he should laugh, start screaming, or cry for relief.
Tim O'Neill nodded, confirming what had been going on. "Of course we knew about everything. Lucas couldn't pull this off alone."
Miguel smiled. "And besides, you needed a lesson."
Krieg was still shaking his head in disbelief. "How could you do that to me? I really thought I was going to be court marshalled."
Lucas was still grinning. "A wise man once imparted a few special words to me, and now I will pass them on to you: You really shouldn't take everything so seriously, you know. After all, you only live once and should try to laugh at as much as you can!"
THE END
Written Summer 2004 – Translated Summer 2005
Information:
The author (that would be me ;-) ) wants to point out that she will not be held responsible for any damage arising from readers imitating the events of this story. The scenes have been acted out by professional fictional characters and, therefore, should not be attempted by amateurs.
So hands off the shampoo and hair color. ;-)