"So you say that the ship was completely abandoned?" Dr. Gravel asked, after they had settled into discussion of the situation in medbay.
"That's what I've heard. Lucas?" Nathan replied, turning towards the boy, who was already nodding.

"It was really empty. You could almost hear an echo. The Seaquest crew members were the only ones on board."
"No evidence of death?"
"No sir, no bodies, no blood, nothin'."

Dr. Gravel gave Lucas his full attention. "Can you tell me exactly what happened when you first found the FOY, Lucas?"

Lucas glanced up at the Dr., puzzled. "FOY? What's that?"

"Right, sorry; FOY stands for Fountain of Youth. That was the name of the project when it first started."

Wendy interrupted. "So these machines were intended to de-age individuals?"

"Yes. Of course it was a project that was heavily based on vanity, but not all science is for a higher good. Sometimes people create things just to see if they can."

"True enough, doctor." Nathan interjected.

"Anyways, I was with Lonnie an' Tony, we were checkin' out the boat to see if we could find people, or just figure out where everybody was hidin' or whatever. That's when we seen the lab and the machine."

"And what exactly did you do to the machine, Luacs?" the Captain asked. He instantly saw those blue eyes slide down to the table and to his hands. Clearly he was nervous.

"I wasn't tryin' to hurt nuthin' Cap'n. I wanted to see if the FOY coulda had somethin' to do with the crew disappearing."

"I know that Lucas, please keep going."

"I had to play around with it at first, most of the machinery that was important to the sub didn't have power no more, and at first I figured the FOY wouldn't have any either. But I musta hit the magic button cause it started to hum and then a laser beam hit the wall across from it. Then it swept the room and hit me an' Tony an' Lonnie. That's it."

Dr. Gravel sighed. "Well that sounds about standard really. The thing about the FOY project is that it is still considered Open. Work has not yet been completed on reversal tools. There are some ideas that might work, but it will take time."

"Well," Nathan said, "while you all discuss the possibilities, I've got some calls to make. If you'll excuse me."

It was clear that this situation was getting bigger, and Nathan knew it was time to make a call and let Admiral Noyce in on the situation, both general and specific to Lucas.

Settling down in front of his vid-phone he dialled Noyce.

"Nathan!" the man greeted him instantly, once his secretary had patched the Captain through.

Nathan smiled ruefully. "Bill." He greeted in return.

"What can I do for you?"

"Well, I've got a situation here . . ."

It hadn't taken long for the Doctors to get so far into the discussion of the FOY machines that they forgot Lucas was even there. He had already slipped out of his seat and was wandering the lab, looking into oddly labelled jars and test tubes, collecting little bits of things that were interesting that people had left lying around. So far he had collected some superglue, a pencil stub, and an elastic band. The latter he had used to play a game of cat's cradle with himself – but the fun in that ran out as soon as he realized that it wasn't really a one-person game. Maybe the Cap'n will play with me? He thought to himself, and quickly headed off towards the Captain's quarters.

As he approached the door, he could hear the Captain talking, almost yelling. Lucas froze, hating to hear the Captain mad, but too afraid to take another step. The door to the Captain's quarters had been left open a crack, and he heard his name come floating through.

"Lucas may be a genius, Nathan, but a child that age cannot stay on the Seaquest. There's no two ways about it. Clearly this situation needs to be remedied, or..."

Admiral Noyce. Was the Admiral going to make him leave the Captain and the Seaquest? Neither Lucas nor Noyce had the time to finish their thoughts before the Captain's voice interrupted.

"Did you not hear what I just told you, Bill? They beat and abused him! I will not stand by and let anyone send Lucas back to them!"

"I do believe what you say, Nathan, but without evidence..."

"I don't give a damn about evidence!" Nathan roared. Lucas stood stock still in the corridor; his eyes squeezed shut as if by closing out the world he could become invisible.
"Calm down, Nathan! Fine, he doesn't need to go back to his parents, but something does need to be planned in case this doesn't get fixed."

"No plans are necessary Bill, besides the one that I've already got. If we can't fix this, if Lucas remains in his current state, I'm going to resign and raise him myself."

Lucas' eyes snapped open. Had he heard the Captain right? He'd get to live with him for good, and they'd be a family? A thousand emotions rushed through him at once, his mind reeling. He heard the Captain say goodbye, and took off at a run through the Seaquest.