CONTINUING EDUCATION

Door 4

By Kiddo

In Loving Memory of Jonathan Brandis

Disclaimer:

I don't have any rights to the TV show "seaQuest DSV," and I am not making any money by writing this.

A special "Thank You" goes to my wonderful beta-reader Jackie and Skywise, KatKnits00, dolphinology and Lynnp for the Reviews.

10 minutes later, the seaQuest crew had gotten their suite number, and 20 minutes after that, they finally found the suite. Their timing was good because a lot of other people were still searching for their rooms.

In front of the door lay a white sheet of paper. Captain Bridger knelt down and picked it up. Then he started to read….

"Dear Team,

You have just mastered you first task. Now comes the second: This suite has one living room, 2 bathrooms, and 4 bedrooms. In one bedroom are 3 beds, in the others are only 2 beds, one of which has a double bed. Before you are allowed to enter the suite, you have to make the decision as to who will sleep in which bedroom. You are not allowed to bring one bed into another room. Everything has to stay the way it is.

Good Luck!"

Nathan looked at the others. "So, who will share with who?"

"I think we all know that Lt. Com. Hitchcock and Dr. Westphalen will get one of the bedrooms with two beds," said Crocker. Everyone nodded in agreement.

Kristin and Katie shared a brief look. "And to make the rest of it a bit easier, we will take the room with double bed," said Hitchcock. She was really glad that the doctor had also come to this seminar. If not, she would probably have ended up in a room with her ex-husband, and that was something she really wasn't keen on.

"And what about the other rooms?"

Miguel Ortiz smiled. "Maybe we should put the people who snore at night in one room. That way, they can only get on each other's nerves and won't disturb everyone else's sleep." Ortiz looked at the others. "So out with it, who snores?"

Slowly the hands of Chief Crocker and Commander Ford went up. Krieg was overjoyed that he didn't snore. Sharing a room with those two would have been more than dangerous for him. The only thing that could top that would have been putting Dr. Westphalen in the room. "Excellent, another room is taken."

Lucas looked around; the only ones left were the captain, Ben, Miguel, Tim and himself. He knew exactly how this would end for him.

Bridger scrutinized the others. He would never allow Krieg and Lucas to share a room, and he knew that Dr. Westphalen would agree. He was happy that the teenager had found a friend and a sort of older brother in the moral officer, but sticking those two in a room together was impossible if they wanted to get through the seminar successfully. And besides, this was the perfect opportunity to spend more time with the young computer genius. "I suggest that Lucas and I share a room, and the rest of you share the third bedroom. Okay?"

The nodding of heads was enough of an answer.

Now that the question of the rooms was answered, they opened the door and stepped in. A short hallway opened up into the living room. In the middle of the room was a table, and around it sat 3 sofas and two easychairs. In the corner of the room stood a television. On one wall was a sideboard, and on that there were a radio and silk flowers. On the other side was a row of windows and a balcony. There were also 6 doors that led to the bedrooms and bathrooms. The room didn't look terribly comfortable.

Dr. Westphalen's eyes fell on the table; on it stood a wreath of holly with 4 candles on it. The whole thing appeared grotesque to her. She had grown up in Great Britain, and she was convinced that it had to be cold at Christmas. And you had to clear the snow, and you had to shiver, not to sit in the sun and sweat. It didn't feel like Christmas to her this way.

One after another, the crew members of the seaQuest went to their rooms. It all reminded O'Neill of school trips and the fight for the best rooms and beds, even if everything here was peaceful.

After Lucas put his suitcase down in his and Bridger's room, he went to the window and opened it. The air was stuffy, as if the window hadn't been opened for days.

For some time, the teenager just stood there, looking outside. The captain was unpacking his luggage in the meantime. After a while, he looked at to boy. "How is the view?"

"There's a beach. Do you think we're allowed to swim there? "

Nathan shrugged. "I don't know, but probably yes. We can ask someone later." He walked over to the window and looked out.

Lucas nodded. "That would be cool." He paused for a moment. "I wish Darwin could be here."

Bridger nodded thoughtfully. "I know, me too. But Darwin will probably be swimming near the seaQuest, or he'll go to my island."

For a moment, they both stood there silently, looking out at the ocean.

After a while, Lucas turned around and started unpacking his bag. As he did, he already began fearing the moment when he would have to pack everything inside again.

The captain turned around as well and studied the computer genius for a moment. "Which one of the beds do you want? It's all the same to me."

The teenager looked up from his bag. "If you really don't care, I'd like to have the bed near the window." He loved to look at the stars at night.

Bridger nodded. "Good."

Written November 2004 – Translated November 2005