Kristin thought she could sleep for days, but woke to movement very shortly after turning the lights out. She felt Lucas crawl from the bed, and heard him limp into the small bathroom. She rolled over, trying to drift off again, but soon realized she was hearing the wrong kind of sounds. Lucas was muttering to himself and she could hear his shuffling footsteps pacing the room. She pulled herself up, and knocked on the door. "Are you ok, sweetheart?"

"I'm fine… just… I can't sleep." His voice was strangely hoarse, and he spoke very rapidly.

"Can I come in?"

"Um… yeah… you probably should, don't yell at me though."

Kristin pushed the door open, "why would I?" He didn't respond, only pointed at the floor. The wounds on his feet had opened, and there were bloody footprints across the entire bathroom floor. "Oh, were they hurting? Is that why you couldn't sleep?"

"No, they just started bleeding again. I can't stay still, I have to keep moving." Even as he said this, his hands were twitching and shaking. "My heart is beating really fast too. Doc, what's happening to me? I feel like I'm having a heart attack or something."

Kristin took him by the shoulder, and led him to the closed toilet seat. "Please, sit, I need to see how bad they are." She quickly unwrapped them, and lifted the soles to check the damage. "They're just bleeding a bit, I think walking on them pushed the blood to the outside of the bandages."

He nodded, clutching his knees to keep his legs still. As it was, they were still quivering slightly. "Ok, but…"

Interrupting his question, Kristin scurried out the door. "One moment!" She called, from the main room. After fetching the remaining supplies, she applied fresh gauze. "You'll be fine if you stay off them."

"Yeah, that's great. So why do I feel like I'm going to die?" He whispered, then grabbed at her frantically. "Did he give me something else? Did Zellar poison me?" His breath was coming in short gasps, and his pupils became dilated. "You have to tell me!"

Kristin pulled him into a tight hug. "No, you're going to be ok. Lucas, it's just a panic attack. It's what happens when you stop taking the medication. It's a side effect."

"How long will this last?" He asked through gulps of air.

"I don't know honey, its different for each person. All I can tell you is that we need to get you out of here." She took his pulse without shifting much, so he would be unaware of what she was doing. She knew he was relatively healthy, but she was concerned that if he continued having palpitations, it could permanently damage his heart. "We're getting out today." She promised him as he shook in her arms.

The crew gathered around the back of the quickly borrowed cargo plane. No one knew for sure where it had come from, but Ben was looking decidedly self-satisfied, and they decided not to ask too many questions. Katie was balancing herself on the edge of a very large wooden crate, muttering to herself. "It was a rush job, but I think everything will work."

"What is it?" Miguel peered over the edge, but only saw pieces of hardware.

"Something I've been designing in my spare time," she shrugged. Although Katie was acting like it was nothing special, everyone could see the excitement in her pale blue eyes.

She pulled out schematics and passed them around. "It's a remote control car." Ben pointed out, bemused.

"It's a land based hyper-reality probe." She corrected, "the design is based off the Mars rovers, but I have more control." Katie pulled a familiar looking set of wire laden gloves from a corner of the box. "It comes with grappling arms, full surveillance and sample taking equipment, an all-terrain tank style rubber tread, and defensive capabilities."

Ford stared at the blueprints in his hand, "Katie… this is amazing. You've just been doing this as hobby?"

She blushed lightly, "well, kind of. I had some help from Lucas and some of his friends for part of the programing codes. After I received the job offers, I decided to have the parts made for me. I knew I would have a lot more down time off SeaQuest, so I wanted to be able to work out all the kinks."

Clearing her throat, she trying to ignore the shocked expressions she was receiving. "I um… I asked them to send it here after we knew what we were doing. We just have to put it together while we're flying. It should be a long enough flight."

"I wonder what you'll name it." Tim muttered, looking closely at the papers. He was so involved with examining the plans, Katie wasn't sure if he was even aware he had spoken out loud.

"Well, um, I had a pet name for it, but it's silly." She admitted, toying with the gloves.

"Something like this needs a name." Crocker informed her. "It's bad luck if it doesn't. Right now, we need every bit of luck we can find."

With them looking at her expectantly, Katie nodded, "Probie. It's new and well, it's a probe, so… I… I call it Probie."

There were a few smiles, but everyone, with the exception of Ben, nodded. "Probie? That just sounds…" Katie narrowed her eyes at him, causing him to step back. "I mean, it's amazing, you did a good job. But… that name is creepy. It brings up… images."

"Well then, I think it's official." Katie growled, "if you don't like it, I'm keeping it."

Ben peaked over the edge of the box, "just remind me not to turn my back on it."

"What exactly are these 'defense capabilities' you mentioned?" Ben asked, holding a thick two pronged metal piece.

Katie scowled, and waited for the minor turbulence to subside before she continued soldering a circuit board. "You're holding it. After I attach it, that thing will shoot out a million volts of electricity. It's too small to enact the neuromuscular incapacitation of a regular Taser gun, but it'll hurt like hell and blow someone away from Probie."

Ben's suddenly numb fingers dropped the offending piece of equipment. "So it can shock you and probe you at the same time… Well, that's terrifying."

"It's effective." Katie snorted, "and stop acting like it's going to probe you. You aren't a sample."

"I still don't trust it."

Commander Ford entering the cargo bay halted the minor argument. "Everyone else is asleep, you two should be. It might be the only chance we have for a while."

"After I finish." Katie crawled under the half constructed vehicle defiantly.

He blew his breath out slowly, "and how long will it take?"

"A few more hours."

Ben nodded, "we have around eight hours to fly yet. We can get it finished."

"Don't make me…" Ford started with an irritated tone.

"Nope, won't work." Katie interrupted him. She pushed herself up from beneath the rover. "I'll always listen to your advice and normally follow you, but this needs to be done. Sorry, Jonathan, you've been a good commander, but I don't have to automatically obey you anymore."

He blinked at her, then laughed. "Ok, I guess you have me there."

"Maybe you should get some sleep yourself. I've never seen you back down from a fight like that." Ben added with a raised eyebrow.

Ford gave him a dirty look, but walked away without another word. "What about you?" Katie asked, "I can finish this on my own."

"Nah, I'm starting to like this thing."

"You just called it terrifying."

He nodded, "well, it reminds me of you."

Katie glared at him while fidgeting with a screwdriver. "Nice to know."

"No, no not like you're thinking… not completely anyhow." He trailed off thoughtfully. "It's an amazing piece of equipment. It can perform vital operations, including a lot that nothing else can do. And it can kick my ass, so… it's a robot you."

"Thanks… I think." She smiled wryly at his fumbled explanation, and bent over to attach several wires.

Ben watched her working, awkwardly tapping his fingers on the hood of the vehicle. "What is it, Ben?" She finally sighed, straightening and pushing his hand flat to silence the noise.

"Oh… um… well, it really is a cool toy. But… after this is all over, could you do something for me?" He stuttered through the statements.

"Depends on what that it is. If it's not too insane and we have time, I'll consider it."

Ben grinned, he knew if she didn't flat out refuse, talking her into what he wanted would be easy. "We'll be in Nepal, send Probie into the mountains. Just for a day, to look for something and take pictures. But, if you can shock it and knock it out without killing it… we'll be famous, not to mention rich."

"What?" She hissed suspiciously, "what are you trying to trap?"

"Katie Hitchcock," Ben took her hands in his, and looked deep into her eyes. "Will you do me the honor of catching a Yeti with me?"