Everyone on the bridge froze. Even though this man had helped to take over the ship and threatened to kill them all, no one wanted to see him die. "Don't!" Nathan ordered in a forceful voice.

Bentley flicked his eyes to the captain. "Why not? I'm going to sit in jail for the rest of my life."

Do you really think you'll be free with your brain destroyed? Look at me. I got zapped and now I'm stuck in a computer, the vid-screen tried to rationalize with him.

"Is where you try to convince me that hell is real and shooting myself will condemn me to an eternity of suffering?" Bentley snorted, "I don't believe in that crap, and I don't think you do either."

No, I don't. I just don't want you to somehow end up in here with me. And just because I don't believe in it, doesn't mean I'd do something like you want to. Grow up, you did something stupid, you believed the wrong person and people got hurt. Deal with it.

With a shaking hand, Bentley slowly lowered his gun. He regarded it intently for some time, then tossed it at Jayde's feet. She scooped it up and put it in the back of her jeans.

"Get these men secured," Nathan told Ben and Katie. "I'll tell the UEO you helped us, I don't know how much it will help though." He added for the commandos, before turning to the vid-screen. "Ok, Lucas, you can engage the siphons now."

Yes, sir.

"It was that easy?" Bentley asked, shaking his head in frustration. "Just turn on some pumps and we're dry?"

Jayde snapped the cuffs around his wrists and laughed, "don't ever pick a fight with a stubborn and awesome computer genius."

She freed Nathan next, and he smiled at her. "Good job, I was really worried about you for awhile."

Jayde shrugged and blushed. "It wasn't a total act, but I figured, he wants a scared little girl, I can do it for him. I just amped it up for him a bit. " She peered at York who had now laid on the floor to watch Darwin watching him. "What do we do with him? The meds will stay in his system for a few more hours."

"Lock him up with the others. I'm sure he won't be found mentally capable and he'll get some help." Nathan explained gently. He wasn't sure how Jayde would respond to the man not being in a real jail.

She surprised him when she nodded, "good, he needs it."

Ben took the honors of handcuffing York, but left him staring into the tank. "We could keep him drugged up, I don't think Darwin has had this much attention for awhile." The dolphin started to spin in place and York nearly tried to follow him with his head, until he came in contract with the floor. "And, this is pretty entertaining." Nathan closed his eyes and shook head before turning away.

The water will be completely gone in a few minutes Captain. You can open the doors to the bridge now.

"Thank you Lucas, start opening cabin doors next. We'll be heading to the med-bay." Nathan looked to Katie, "I'll send up Crocker and Shan as soon I have contact with them. Feeling confident enough to stay here and guard them all?"

"Yes, sir." She echoed his triumphant smile.

"Permission to make you look like a six year old again, kid?" Ben called out, standing next to Lucas' body.

Don't push it. I can still get into your files.

Ben chuckled as he picked up the limp form. "I wouldn't doubt it."

"If we are all done joking around, I'd like to be able to examine my patients." Kristin interjected with an arched eyebrow. Her face was pale with pain, but she was smiling as well.

"Yes, ma'am." Came the response from human crew and computerized entities.


"Sir, the terrorists have all been placed in the brig. Tyson is trying to get commutations back up but she doesn't know it well as Tim or Lucas. We may have to wait for them to wait up." Reported Ford via PAL. "We are laying in a course for Pearl, ETA is ten hours."

"Thank you Jonathan." Nathan slipped the device back into his pocket and looked at his people in the medbay. Kristin was struggling to treat people with her air cast covering most of her arm. If Jayde hadn't had field medicine training, he suspected the doctor would be trying to help everyone else before her own needs. The girl had shown she could be just as forceful as Kristin, and gotten the simple cast on her. Now, they were working together removing the shrapnel from Tim's chest and face.

"How is he?" Nathan asked the women.

"He'll be ok, no head injury at least. He may have a few scars, but they'll be small ones, Jayde is proving to be very good at stitching up wounds." The teen blushed at the complement. "I'll be able to wake him as soon as we are done, but I'd rather he heal for a day or two before you put him to work."

"I'd love to let him, but we may need to talk to the outside world first." Nathan said, wincing as he did so.

Kristin shot him a sideways look, "I'll see what I can do, Captain."

"Thank you, Doctor." Nathan breathed a sigh of relief.

"When are going to get to me?" Ben whined lightly. He was holding an ice pack to his jaw, but judging from the bruises covering one side of his face from jaw to brow, it was too late to help it.

"Are you bleeding?"

"No."

"Are you in a coma?"

"No."

"Are you stuck in a computer program?"

"No."

"Then wait your turn."

"Lucas gets all the attention." Ben huffed when Kristin turned away from him again. "I helped too."

Nathan crossed to him and stuck out his hand. "Yes, you did, and thank you for what you did for my ship and my people."

"Oh... I ... um..." His sore jaw dropped, causing him to wince. "I was just doing my job, sir." Ben took Nathan's hand and shook it, blushing slightly.

"Yes, you were, and you did it very well. Keep that up and you'll be a captain some day."

Ben broke eye contact and dropped his head. Nathan could see the wide grin crossing his face. "So, um, what about the kid. How are we going to get him out of the computer?"

The men looked over to Lucas' bed. He was hooked up to several wires and IV's, but nothing was causing concern at the moment. "I'm not really sure right now. Kristin said he'll be ok like that for a while and we may need more doctors... and maybe a few more computer geniuses."

I'm good, Cap, I can cruise around in here for a while. I'm still fixing bugs York and his men left. It's a lot easier this way, and I don't have a curfew.

Nathan shook his head at the small vid-screen in the medbay. "I don't suppose I could enforce it even if you did."

"We could make him Cyborg Lucas if we can't get him out. That could be fun." Ben tried.

I'd be ok with that.

"Just make sure there's big off switch on his back so we can turn him when he gets annoying." Ben teased, Nathan had a difficult time not laughing.

Remember those files?

"Oh... yeah, um... never mind."


"Captain?"

Nathan jumped slightly when the hologram of the professor came on by itself. He stared down the smoky apparition. Either it had been the very long and stressful day, or the old man looked much different. The hologram was sporting shaggy blonde hair and a flannel shirt. "Let me guess, you learned something new."

Lucas' image smirked. "Yeah, it took me a while though."

"How are repairs going?"

"Almost done. A lot of them just needed a little tweaking. It was pretty basic virus, if I hadn't been electrocuted, I would have been able to stop it right away."

Nathan nodded, "I knew there a reason they did that to you."

"How is Jayde? She's talked to me a few time, but..." Lucas furrowed his brow. "Do you think she'll want to get off right away? I really liked working with her."

"Oh... Well, it seems that Miss Tasker has had a difficult past. But I don't think she'll run, she's a strong young lady." Nathan answered with a slight hesitation.

"What happened?"

He shook his head, "I think that something she needs to tell you. But maybe wait until she can look at you... at the real you."

Lucas grinned but still looked troubled. "When do you think that will be? I have no idea how to get out of here."

"How do you move around the systems?"

"I donno, I just kinda think about where I want to be and I'm there." His smoky image shrugged. "I tried it with my body, but it didn't work."

Nathan saw the concern Lucas was trying to hide. "Don't worry Kiddo, we'll get you out."

"But how? Captain... I really don't want to be stuck in here forever."

"I know, I don't want you to either."


Author's Note: I had liquid Oxy when I was in the ER several years ago. Then I watched Sponge Bob for ten hours. Moral of the story? Don't get your tongue pierced if you don't think the place is really really clean...