Deep Blue Blackmail
Chapter 7
By Kiddo
In Loving Memory of Jonathan Brandis
"Don't fix a broken heart. Who really wants to forget?" (Joseph Fiennes)
"I always will remember you by real good moments." ("Real Good Moments" by Christian Wunderlich)
Disclaimer: I don't have any rights to the TV show "seaQuest DSV," and I am not making any money with this fanfiction. Mike Erikson is my own creation.
A big "Thank You" goes to my beta reader Jackie and everybody who reviewed.
Reviews and feedback are always welcome.
Four hours later, the situation hadn't changed. Most of the crew, except Lucas, couldn't do anything and were, therefore, just sitting around and hoping.
From time to time, the captain shot a glance at their youngest crew member. He got the feeling that the kid's condition was getting worse. Lucas's eyes were bright with fever, and his cheeks were really red. And, in the last half an hour, the boy had started coughing more and more. However, it looked like the teenager himself wasn't even aware of it. He was lost in a world where only he and the computer existed.
Three hours later, a soft yet triumphant sound escaped Lucas's mouth.
Bridger sprang up and hurried over to the teenager. "What is it? Have you beaten it?"
Lucas held up his hand to try and quiet the captain. "One second… I just have to…" He didn't even finish the sentence; he was already lost in the computer again.
Nathan was silent and waited patiently next to the boy. After all, he didn't want to interrupt.
Three minutes later, and it was finally done. The lights went on, the blank screens came to life, and the door to the bridge opened. The captain looked proudly at the young genius. The teen had done it. He had beaten the virus.
Lucas sat back, exhausted. His eyes and throat were burning. In fact, he didn't feel so good overall.
Bridger raised his eyebrows. "Everything okay?"
The blond teen nodded. "Yeah, I deleted the whole virus and also repaired the damaged systems. Everything should be working fine now."
Nathan smiled. When he asked if everything was ok, he'd been referring to the computer genius himself, not the computer. But, that was typical of the teen. "Good job, Kiddo."
A brief smile flashed over Lucas's face.
The captain turned towards Tim O'Neill. "Lt. O'Neill, please contact the different sections of the seaQuest, and ask if everything is okay."
"Aye, Sir!" Tim got started immediately.
Now Bridger turned to Ford. "Commander, contact the admiral and brief him on what happened. I will contact him personally later." And finally, Nathan turned to the teenager. "And we, young man, will go to your cabin, where you will go straight to bed."
Lucas shook his head. "I want to stay a bit longer to see if everything is really working."
"No way; that wasn't a suggestion but an order."
The computer genius was grumpy, but he stood up anyway. "Aye, aye, Sir!" Suddenly, he had to grab the back of the chair he'd been sitting in. Everything was spinning around him, and his legs felt like jelly.
The captain didn't miss the fact that Lucas was practically swaying and immediately gripped him under the arm to support him. "You okay?" Concern colored his voice.
The teenager nodded. "Yeah. I think I just stood up too quickly."
Bridger was still holding onto him. "Let's go." He turned to Hitchcock because Ford had already left to contact the admiral. "Lt. Commander, you have the bridge. If anything happens, Pal me or Ford."
The dark-haired woman nodded. "Aye, Sir!"
Moving slowly, the captain and his youngest crew member left the bridge. Making their way through the corridors, they got a few pitiful looks. One glance was enough to see that Lucas wasn't feeling well at all. And why was the teen wearing the captain's uniform shirt and Bridger just a T-shirt?
When they reached Lucas's cabin, the genius dropped down on his bed. He really felt miserable, in spite of the fact that he had felt absolutely nothing while sitting in front of the computer. Why was it just now that he was feeling so terrible?
Nathan opened the wardrobe and pulled out some comfortable, and most importantly dry, clothes. He set them down on the chair. "Can you manage this alone?"
The blond boy nodded tiredly and sat up.
Bridger smiled. "Okay. I'll just go and get Dr. Westphalen then."
Lucas only nodded in response. The captain took one more quick look at the boy. That the teen hadn't protested against the doctor coming meant that he really was feeling awful. Nathan opened the door but was stopped momentarily by the teen.
"Captain, I left my Pal, my shoes, and my pullover at the Moon Pool."
The older man smiled. "No problem, I'll grab them for you. See you soon."
The captain stepped into med bay and looked around. When he spotted the doctor, he went over to her. "Hey, is everything okay here?"
Dr. Westphalen nodded. "Yes, everything is working as it should, but I already confirmed that to Lt. O'Neill."
"Oh, I'm not coming from the bridge right now, so I didn't know." Bridger paused. "I'm actually just coming from Lucas's cabin."
Kristen looked up from her papers. "How is he feeling? Have the two days of bed rest helped a bit?"
Nathan sighed. "It's not so easy to explain. Did O'Neill tell you that we had problems with the computer system?"
Kristen nodded. "Yes, but I could have figured that out by myself." She was still looking closely at the captain. "I know there's more going on than him just leaving his bed to help you. You're hiding something!" The red-haired doctor put her hands on her hips. "What happened?"
Bridger couldn't help himself. Sometimes when he was standing in front of Dr. Westphalen, he felt so small! It just wasn't normal... "Well, when the problems suddenly started, we Pal'd Lucas to ask for his help. I wanted him to hack into our system with his computer to see if he could fix the problem. But unfortunately, he wasn't in his cabin. He was at the Moon Pool visiting Darwin. And to make matters worse, there was no computer around, so he couldn't help us. As you know, the doors were all locked."
The doctor remembered that she had been the one who said it was ok for the teenager to visit Darwin once a day. She had also said then that she feared she would regret it. And now, it was happening. Westphalen had the feeling that she wasn't going to like one bit of what Nathan was about to tell her.
The captain went on. "Shortly after, Lucas Pal'd me to ask if we still needed his help. I said yes because it was the truth. After that, he told me that he would be on the bridge soon. I wanted to know what he planned, but he just ended our conversation. I tried to reach him again, but he didn't answer, and I immediately got a terrible feeling. A few moments later, he really did appear on the bridge."
Kristen swallowed around the growing lump in her throat. "Please don't tell me he did what I think he did..."
"Depends on what you think he did."
"That he jumped into the Moon Pool and had Darwin take him to the bridge." She really hoped that wasn't the case.
Bridger nodded, surprised. "Exactly! How did you know?"
"Just a feeling. It sounds exactly like something he would do. He just can't say no when somebody asks for help."
The captain nodded in agreement. "I'm sorry, but I just couldn't have stopped it. But then, even if I had known what he was planning, I couldn't have forbidden him to do it. He would have gone ahead and done it anyway. Like I said, he knew that we needed his help urgently."
Kristen let her eyes wander around the room. "That means that he was wearing wet clothes for hours, on top of already being ill."
Bridger nodded again. "Yes. I gave him my shirt, but we didn't have anything else."
Dr. Westphalen grabbed her bag. "Let's go see Lucas."
To Be Continued…
Written 2005 / Translated Spring 2006