Deep Blue Blackmail
Chapter 10
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.
The next morning, Bridger stepped into the cabin of his youngest crew member to see how he was. "Hey, Lucas, how are you feeling?" Nathan sat down on the chair next to the bed. "And I don't want to hear your standard answer of 'fine.' Otherwise, I'll just ask Dr. Westphalen. I know that she already examined you this morning." If the doctor hadn't told him, he would have known anyway, as he could see the pile of different prescription bottles on the table. There hadn't been that many yesterday.
The computer genius squinted up at the captain. "If she already told you, then you know everything." His voice sounded extremely scratchy.
Bridger shook his head. "She only told that me that you weren't any better. Now I want to hear from you exactly how you feel."
It was an awkward moment for the teenager. First, he felt lousy, and in addition to that, he felt extremely useless. How would he ever be accepted as a real member of the crew if he caused such problems? After all, the captain would never act the way he was if another crew member was ill. And Dr. Westphalen was constantly looking in on him. It seemed that he only caused problems. "I have a fever, a sore throat, a headache, a cold, and an earache." A heavy coughing fit shook him, and it was several moments before he was able to breathe normally again. "Oh, and when I breathe in too deeply, I have to cough."
"Then it's probably better if you try to breathe shallow breaths."
"Real funny. What do you think I'm trying to do?" He took a kleenex and blew his nose.
Just looking at Lucas you had to feel sorry for him. "And how is your breathing otherwise?"
"Not so great. Because of the cold I can't breathe through my nose, and when I breathe through my mouth it burns the windpipe going down."
Bridger briefly put his hand on the boy's forehead. "How high is your fever?"
"The last time Dr. Westphalen checked it was 103.5. I have no idea if it's gone up or down." As his eyes started to drift, the blond boy painfully tried to pull himself together.
"Your forehead is really warm to the touch. Should I bring you an ice pack or a cloth for your forehead?" asked Nathan sympathetically. He always found that pleasant when he had a headache.
The teenager nodded. "That would be really great." He reached down next to him and pulled up a warm ice pack. "Dr. Westphalen brought me that this morning, but it's already melted. Could you maybe take it with you and put it back in the freezer?"
The captain nodded and smiled. "Yeah, no problem." He took a short look around the cabin. "Do you want me to bring you something from my movie collection? You could play it on his computer and pass the time a little bit."
For a moment, Lucas didn't know what to say. He wasn't used to such nice treatment. "Thanks for the offer, but unfortunately I'll have to pass. The whole thing has really gotten to my sinuses. Also, anytime I move my eyes around they hurt. I don't think watching a movie, or reading a book or playing on the computer for that matter, is such a good idea at the moment."
"Oh, that's annoying." The older man had an idea. "I have a few audio-books. If you want I could loan you a few. Interested?"
The boy's eyes literally lit up. "Interested? Of course I'm interested! I love audio-books." But then he remembered his manners. "Umm… I mean I would be very happy if you could loan me one of them."
Bridger grinned and ruffled the boy's hair carefully with his hand. "It's alright." He stood up. "I'll be back in a few minutes with an audio-book and an ice pack."
Around 2:00 p.m., Lt. Krieg stepped into the computer genius's cabin to collect the lunch plate that Miguel Ortiz had brought nearly an hour before. When Ben realized that Lucas's eyes were closed, he tried to be as quiet as possible. The story that was playing on the computer caught the officer's attention. He knew that he had heard the story somewhere before, but he couldn't quite place it.
When the teenager heard Ben, he opened his eyes and pushed the stop button on his computer.
"Hi, Lucas, I hope I didn't wake you up."
The boy shook his head slightly. "No, don't worry. I was just listening to a book." Again he was overtaken by a coughing fit.
When Krieg reached for the lunch plate, he saw that more than half of the meal was left on it. Only the glass of juice was empty. "Not hungry?"
"Sorry, but I just couldn't force anymore of it down."
Ben smiled. "Don't worry, you don't need to justify it to me; I'm not Dr. Westphalen." He looked in the direction of the computer. "What are you listening to?"
"The captain brought me some of his audio-books. At the moment I'm listening to "The Lord of the Rings"."
"Well that was nice of Bridger." Now he knew why the story had seemed so familiar to him. Robert had always loved this audio-book and had listened to it often. Ben's glance fell on the book's case. On the corner of the front was a small sticker. The black- haired man had to take a deep breath. He would recognize that sticker anywhere. Bobby had pasted those on nearly all of his things so that no one would take his stuff by mistake. The captain had loaned Lucas Robert's copy of "The Lord of the Rings". The blond teen must really mean something to him if Bridger loaned him that. The moral officer paused for a moment; should he mention that? He looked thoughtfully at the computer genius. "Bobby always said it was great to have him as a father."
Lucas knew that Krieg was referring to Bridger's dead son, Robert. Ben and Robert had been at the academy together. "Yeah, I would think so too." He glanced down and bit his lip.
Somehow, a dark mood had suddenly settled over them; each was lost in his own thoughts. Krieg had lost a good friend, and Lucas had "lost" a family, something he desperately wished to have.
The supply officer was the first to finally shake off those thoughts. "Well, I guess I should go. Not that I need to justify where I've been..."
When Ben had left the cabin, the teenager pushed the button on his computer and the story continued where it had stopped. He snuggled down in his covers and closed his eyes.
To Be Continued…
Written 2005 / Translated Spring 2006