Nick restlessly drummed his fingers on the desk while waiting for the hotel's computer to boot up. "Come on, come on." He twisted to the side to address the clerk, "this ancient thing does work, right?"
The clerk rolled his eyes and went back to glaring at Crocker. "I'm pretty sure this is an infringement of my rights or something."
"You're saving some one's life, he's sixteen year old kid." Crocker growled.
"Whatever, if my boss comes in, he'll kick you out. And I'll cheer."
Crocker leaned in close and twisted his neck threateningly. "Want to try that again you little shit?" The man shook his head and stepped back, before escaping into another room. "Any luck Nick?"
"It finally started, I just need to get into the right area." His fingers flew across the keys. "If Lucas already took out the fire walls, I should be able to find him." He paused, "there, I'm into the second level. I'm leaving him a message at each stage."
"Will he see it?" Crocker asked, keeping one eye on the door the clerk disappeared through, and the other on Nick.
"If he's playing attention."
Only two more, then I'll be done with this crap. Lucas thought to himself. He was feeling weak from the repeated burns, but had learned how to mostly avoid them. He was studying the randomly generated algorithm when he heard an annoying beeping behind him. He turned quickly, expecting another security feature. He was surprised to see a message being typed out.
Lucas, this is Nick, we have Jayde. Stop what you are doing, we need to get you back to the ship.
What the hell? How did he do that?
Hey, I saw that!
You did? Awesome! Is Jayde ok?
Um, she's with the doctor, but it's bad.
How bad?
We need to concentrate on you right now, Lucas. Can you get out?
Um, I'm not sure, where do I go?
I'll plug in the hard drive, tell me if you find it. Lucas waited, but nothing changed, do you see it?
No, I don't see it anywhere!
Ok, don't panic, maybe this computer is just too old.
What are we going to do?
Can you get to the ship? I can be there in a few minutes, we're close.
I'll try.
"Nathan, I need your help, put on a pair of gloves." Kristin directed him, in the medbay.
"What do I do?"
She struggled with her cast to pull her own glove on one hand and picked up a medical sewing needle. "I can sew her up, but I need you to hold the wound closed. At least it doesn't have ragged edges."
Nathan swallowed and pinched the sides of the skin together. He chose to stare at the IV pumping blood and antibiotics into the girl than scrutinize her arm to much. "Should we call another doctor to help?"
"No time, I need to get this closed up before she bleeds to death."
He nodded, "I feel like I should be sponging sweat off your brow or something."
Kristin smiled briefly at this attempt to lighten the mood. "Nathan, women don't sweat, we glisten."
"Yes, ma'am." He chuckled.
"Where is Julianna?" Kristin asked, a few moments of silence.
"Shan took her to the brig." Nathan said darkly, "I still can't believe she was helping York."
Kristin sighed, "hopefully she'll get some help instead of being thrown in jail."
"She nearly killed Lucas and Jayde, you really don't think she should go to jail?" Nathan asked in surprise. "I thought you'd be out for blood."
Kristin shook her head, "I'm angry, don't think I am not. But, she's just a child."
"She's nearly an adult."
Kristin's next argument was interrupted by a shrill beeping noise. She dropped her tools and rushed to Lucas' side. "His heart is failing! Get me the paddles." Nathan was a step behind her and charged the defibrillators. "Clear!" She shouted, and Nathan jumped back just in time to avoid being shocked. Lucas' body arched and fell back, the beeping continued.
Lucas watched his body being resuscitated in horror. He was able to find the ship easily but couldn't get back into his body. As it flailed again, he saw the problem. The interface wasn't plugged into anything. Come on Nick, get in there. I'm dying, damn it.
He concentrated on the screen in front of him and started sending a message. I'm here! Plug it in! Some one look at me! Nathan and Kristin only had eyes for his body and never turned to look at the vid-screen.
"Kristin..." Nathan put his hand over her's, "I don't think it's helping."
She rubbed at the tears in her eyes. "Nathan, I really need you to shut up right now." She charged the paddles again and pressed them to Lucas' chest.
Before she could push the button, Nick burst into the medbay. "He's on his way to the ship. Is he ...oh... oh god... no." His jaw dropped at the sight of the paddles and the burns on the pale chest.
Nathan turned to him, "I'm sorry, Nick..." A sob caught in this throat and he couldn't speak anymore.
"No! Keep doing it!"
Kristin slumped, leaning on the bed. "We've done it over ten times. I think he's... gone."
"No... no..." Nick moaned, he approached the bed. "You can't be..." Nick lowered his head to Lucas' chest, and closed his eyes. "I can't believe this... Frankie." When he opened his eyes again, he gasped. He ran to the vid-screen and picked it up. "Plug in the interface!" He showed the adults the message there.
Kristin grabbed the plug and slid in the connector. "Now what?" She breathed softly, with wide eyes. They all jumped when the shrill warning beep went back to the steady sound of a heart beat. "I can't... how..." She shook her head and took a deep breath to force herself into doctor mode. Pulling out her stethoscope, she checked this chest and breathing. "He's ok..."
"Frankie is pretty damn stubborn." Nick laughed. "Are you still in the computer?" He picked up the screen again, but got no response.
"Now what?" Nathan asked, still in shock.
Kristin shrugged, "I really don't know. We have to wait." She took several deep breaths and ran a hand over her face before returning to Jayde.
Jayde whimpered as she woke up. She blinked in the bright lights of the medbay, she recognized where she was but it took longer to identify the source of her pain. When she moved to get more comfortable, she let out a loud cry suddenly. Kristin came rushing in at the sound.
"Don't move to much sweetheart, you'll tear you stitches. I wasn't able to close it as well as I would have liked." She offered an apologetic smile and gestured to her cast.
"I won't complain." Jayde promised. She adjusted again and flinched. "So I guess no extreme sports for a while, huh?"
Kristin shook her head. "No, young lady. I'll give you something for the pain, but it will make you sleep again."
"I'm fine, I just won't move. I don't want to sleep right now." Jayde dropped her eyes and studied the blanket covering her.
"Are you having nightmares again?"
"Yeah, from what I remembered." She shuddered, "they were pretty bad."
Kristin sat on the side of her bed. "I should let you rest, but I'd like to know why you went with Julianna."
Jayde sighed, "I guess that was pretty stupid. She said she knew some one who could help us. She told me he worked outside of the law and wouldn't met us on the ship. When I asked about bringing Nick, she said he was sleeping, and we shouldn't bother him. I wanted... I thought I could trust her. We got to the hotel and everything went black, I don't know if she knocked me out or what." She sighed again, "I woke up and I was tied to a chair."
When Jayde closed her eyes tightly, Kristin knew it time to change the conversation. "You're safe now."
She nodded, and looked to Lucas. "Is he ok?"
"We don't know yet."
"What do you mean? Where is he?"
"Nick was able to lead him out of the World Bank fire wall, but... we nearly lost him before he was reconnected. We can't get him to respond on any of the vid-screens or the vo-corder. We believe he is back in his body, but he isn't waking up." Kristin explained.
"Why not? I thought once he was back, he would wake up."
Kristin put a hand on Jayde's leg, "he will. His body was damaged, he just needs to heal. And so do you, dear."
Jayde smiled slightly, almost a smirk. "Is this were you tell me I need to go to sleep?"
"Yes, it is."
"Have you talked to my father?" Jayde asked, angling for more time.
Kristin nodded, "I did, he'll be here tomorrow."
"Is he mad?"
"Why ever would he be mad?" Kristin asked, "you preformed admirably under stress."
Jayde sighed, "yeah, but I screwed up first."
"You reacted to a terrifying situation. It wasn't the healthiest way to deal with it, but I don't think he will fault you for that. And neither should you." Kristin picked up a hypodermic needle and crossed to the IV bag. "You used up all my Oxycontin, but this will help." She smiled at the girl. "And most people don't dream with they're on it."
"Thank you Kristin."
