Now I know why writers talk about plot bunnies. They jump up and down until you take notice of them and if you try to ignore them they chew your leg off! I got bored trying to prepare an audit so came back to do some more on this. Words are so much more fun than numbers!
Thanks for the kind reviews and I hope you enjoy the next installment.
Chapter Three
Lucas continued to coax Micah along the length of the access tube until they finally came to a junction. The sound of shouting had faded behind them, but he knew it wouldn't be long before their escape route was discovered. He had no idea where it was going to come out, but he tried to plot their movements in his head and take an educated guess.
Finally he saw light beginning to filter into the tube and he knew they were getting close to another access hatch. He would have whispered to Micah to keep quiet, but it seemed unnecessary. After all, he had only spoken one word since they had fled from his quarters.
He closed his eyes briefly and tried to squeeze out the image that flashed into his mind. Samuel had been sprawled across the lounge with blood streaming from his left temple. It was clear he was dead and Lucas hadn't even bothered to check for a pulse. Whoever had done it hadn't waited around to check their handiwork. It had been only moments before that he heard the distinctive sound of pistol shots; something he had only ever heard in old movies.
Lucas shook his head to try to clear his vision and concentrate on their current surroundings. There would be time to process later. Right now he needed to get to the Stinger.
As he stopped in view of the hatch he signaled to Micah to wait. He hoped the child would understand but whether or not he did, he waited where he was. Finally Lucas decided there were no guards outside and he began to pry at the hatch cover. Like everything else on the colony it was quite old and dated and it came loose fairly easily.
He swung his legs out into the room and held his breath. Half expecting to be shot at again he hesitantly slid out to the ground. He quickly looked around before reaching up to assist Micah out of the hole. He flinched at the pain that rolled down his side as he lifted the child's weight. After putting Micah down he reluctantly pulled his flannel shirt aside and looked at the bloodstain that had seeped across his t-shirt and down onto the top of his jeans. He wasn't game enough to lift the shirt and look underneath. He figured if he couldn't do anything about it then it was probably best not to know the full extent of it. Stress about one thing at a time.
"Where's a doctor when you need one?" he muttered. He wondered how he could stop the wound from bleeding, but there was nothing even remotely useful in the area. Finally he pulled off his flannel shirt and began to rip both sleeves out of the shirt before he discarded the rest of it on the floor. Without lifting the t-shirt he wadded one sleeve into a pad and stuffed it up against his side. He almost yelped in pain as he laid the other sleeve across it and reached around with his free hand to grab the other end. It wasn't pretty, but for a field dressing it would have to do.
"Come on, we're nearly there." He pulled at Micah's hand again and headed out into the hallway. He guessed they had come out one room over from the launch bay and he looked around for another point of entry.
'How hard can it be to find them? I know Noyce said he's a genius, but this is one kid against grown men who all know their way around here far better than he does!"
"I'm sorry, but we thought we had him and he managed to give us the slip."
"Well we can't afford any outside interference. He cannot be allowed to speak to anybody in the UEO. They are the ones who tried to take what is ours by sending in a wolf in sheep's clothing."
"I've got two men in the launch bay and the others are closing the net. There's nowhere for him to run, unless he can hold his breath for two hours to swim to the surface."
"You think this is funny?"
"Uh, no, Sir! I just meant he has no way to get out of the colony except through the launch bay and we've got it covered."
"Well the UEO has been requesting to bring a diplomatic team here. I don't want them to have the chance to spread any propaganda by claiming his innocence! So far I've been able to block them but Branson says the seaQuest is now trying to contact us. We can't ignore them forever and once they get here we can't hope to hold them out. Our problem needs to be lying dead on a slab by then so we can present them with their traitor and they can go away!"
The younger man looked across at his temporary new leader and wondered how things had changed so quickly. Daniel was a man he had always looked up to and hoped to emulate. For the first time he could recall he was beginning to waiver on that conviction. Then again, maybe the fact the man's brother had just been murdered and his nephew was missing was enough to justify his aggressive behavior. After all, if they had to swap places he wasn't entirely sure he wouldn't be making the same decisions.
"Think! Think!" Lucas paced across the small room. "We've gotta get them out of there, but how?" He muttered to himself as he paced but nothing seemed to be coming to mind.
"Why would they leave the area? … … if they were called on the radio … … nope, don't have one of those."
Micah sat on a bench top and stared at him as he paced. He didn't move, but his eyes tracked back and forth as Lucas talked to himself.
" OK … … what if there was a PA announcement? They don't have one of those!" He screwed his eyes shut and tried to force a plan from what little he had available.
"Some kind of evac!" He snapped his fingers as the idea began to form. "OK, OK that could work! All right, so how are we gonna make one of those happen?"
Suddenly a possible answer came to mind. At least it seemed like his best option given their timeframe and the possibility of impending capture. He shuddered to think what that would mean. Whoever had shot Samuel, hadn't cared that his small son would be the one to find his body so to Lucas' mind, that meant they were capable of a whole lot more.
"I've got it!" Lucas spun back towards Micah and grinned at him. "We make them think the launch bay is flooding and they'll have to leave." Without waiting to see if the boy responded Lucas raced over to a control terminal and began inspecting wires.
"OK we need to fake a flood without actually making a flood." He kept unthreading layers of wires and pausing to check what each one led to.
"Don't wanna do that! That would be very, very …" he paused as he realised Micah was watching him with fresh fear written all over his face. " … not cool." Finally he found what he wanted and he paused to look back at Micah. "Cross your fingers. We only get one shot at this."
He smiled encouragingly as Micah actually crossed his small fingers and held them up for Lucas to see.
Ford knocked briskly on the wardroom door before pushing it open. As he entered the room he caught the tail end of a transmission on the view screen. He presumed it was Admiral Noyce again, hopefully with some better news.
Bridger just nodded at him before gesturing for Ford to sit down. "I've just spoken with Lawrence and filled him in."
"Any chance he's heard from Lucas?"
"No such luck! It's been over a month since they last spoke. He didn't even know Lucas was at Hope Colony."
Ford just looked at Bridger but chose to say nothing. He knew his captain walked an impossible line most of the time. He wasn't Lucas' father and yet he had to make day-to-day decisions over his welfare since Lucas was still a minor. While he was the commanding officer of the seaQuest, Lucas wasn't military so some of the rules were blurry to say the least. This wasn't the first time Lucas had "forgotten" to inform his father of his plans and Bridger had been left to salvage things after the fact.
"I've asked him to contact us if he hears anything at all. What's our ETA, Jonathan?"
"A little over nine hours."
"Is anybody answering our hails yet?"
"Sorry, Sir, but Tim is still broadcasting. They have to pick up the phone eventually."
Bridger shrugged his shoulders slightly. "Well we've been knocking but if they don't answer soon I'm gonna bust in their front door." The words came out in a level tone but the anger behind them was unmistakable.
Jonathan just nodded. News of the accusations against Lucas had spread through much of the crew and he knew that nobody believed a word of it. If Lucas was being used as a scapegoat, then the easiest way to cover up what really happened was to silence the goat.
He was acutely aware of just how far away they were and how long that meant Lucas had to fend for himself. Knowing how concerned he was, he could only hazard a guess at what was going on in his captain's mind. After all, he was the one who talked Lucas into going in the first place.
"What the hell is that?"
"It says we've got a major leak!"
The two men looked at each other, trying to see where water could be coming from. The sensors had just set off an alarm but neither of them could see any evidence of a problem.
"Do you see where?"
"Nope, but you know these old systems can take a while to crank up. I say we've got to get out of here. If it's a false alarm the worst that happens is we look stupid."
"And get blasted by Pederson!"
"Yeah, well I don't know about you, but I think he's gone a little overboard here. I mean a "shoot to kill" order against a kid? Seems over the top to me. And that alarm is still going off. If it's right we haven't got long before those watertight doors seal themselves. We can debate this later but right now, I say we move!"
The two of them just nodded at each other before heading out the door and sealing it behind them.
Lucas waited another five minutes before taking a chance at the door. If his gamble had paid off then the guards had been spooked enough to clear out. If it hadn't, then it was probably all over anyway. He eased the door open and waited to see if he could hear anything from inside. The alarm was still blaring out its warning. He took that as a good sign that nobody had figured out his ruse and just turned it off.
Lucas turned back to give Micah's hand a squeeze before leading him out into the open room. He glanced around nervously as he inched out of their hiding place.
"I guess it worked." He turned back to smile at Micah before leading the way over to his Stinger. He still half expected somebody to leap out of the shadows, but apparently his rigged alarm had done its job.
It only took him a few minutes to get over to the small craft, but he could see that getting in wasn't going to be so easy. There was a ladder leading down the side of the platform and somehow he had to get himself in first. He crouched down in front of Micah and placed his hands gently on his shoulders.
"Remember the man I said could help us?"
Micah nodded slightly at him.
"Well the only way we can get to him is in that. You remember how much fun it was the other day?" Lucas had been able to take Micah for a short run in the Stinger only days earlier and the boy had squealed with delight when the submersible dropped below the waterline. Again he nodded, but this time a slight smile appeared on his face.
"OK then. I need to get in first and you will need to climb down after me." Micah looked at him but didn't nod this time. Last time he had done this, his father had been right behind him and he had passed the boy down to Lucas. Hoping to head off the memory and potential tears, Lucas began to climb down the ladder. After settling himself in the seat he reached up to Micah.
"Come on, it's easy. Just four rungs and I've got you." He beckoned to the frightened boy, but he refused to move. Water lapped at the side of the Stinger as Lucas' movements caused small ripples in the surface.
While trying to think what to say to ease his fear, a loud hammering began on the far door. Somebody had figured out his alarm wasn't real and now they were only moments away.
"Micah! You have to come. Please it's just four small rungs. I'm here at the bottom, I promise." He began to ease himself back up into a standing position in order to reach the child and pull him in if necessary. The Stinger lurched to the side and he had to grab at the edge of the platform to keep himself steady.
Micah was staring at the door and the sounds of hammering, but Lucas' clumsy grab caught his attention. He edged closer and finally began to climb down the ladder. Lucas sat back down and tried to steady the Stinger before reaching out to lift Micah the last part of the way in. He swore under his breath at the intensity of the pain running across his abdomen and blinked back tears.
Micah almost fell into his lap and Lucas reached around him to pull the canopy closed over them. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination or the tears making his eyesight blurry, but he thought he caught a glimpse of movement above them as the water quickly closed over their heads.
Either way, he tried to maneuver them out into the access tunnel as quickly as possible. The colony only had a basic launch bay and he hoped to get them out into open water before anybody could close the outer door. For the first time in what seemed like forever, luck was on his side. It was only minutes before the Stinger raced out of the access port and Lucas swung hard to port.
"OK, we're gonna play a little hide and seek."
Lucas had already decided to take a chance on the lack of sophisticated sensors around the colony. His pursuers would be expecting him to run as fast as he could, so he decided to do the unexpected instead. As he darted in around the pylons supporting the colony from the seabed, he tried to recall what little he'd already seen of the area. Underwater recon wasn't a major part of his brief until he had evaluated all of the internal systems. Thankfully his little excursion with Micah a few days earlier had given him some ideas; if he could just remember where they had been.
Small bleeps on his console showed him that three vessels had exited the access port and they were now speeding off in different directions. He had no idea how many more would follow, but he hoped that none of them were equipped with anything that could pick up his position.
He pulled the Stinger in as close to the underside of the colony as he could manage without scraping the hull. Micah had curled himself up against Lucas' chest and closed his eyes. His thumb was wedged firmly in his mouth and Lucas would have laughed if it hadn't shown how anxious the boy was.
The next twenty minutes seemed like the longest of his life as he waited to see if any further pursuers came out of the access port.
A/N I know Season 3 showed Bridger in the back of the Stinger with Lucas but I'm working on the first season one which only seemed to have room for one person. I try to get details right so if you were wondering about it that's my logic.