A/N: This chapter is short. Either, I'm torturing you, or I'm just a busy mom trying to wrangle kids after being up late last night. (smirk) Now I understand why people use Betas...editing takes more time than writing. Sorry, for give the errors and read for the adventure. The kids are happily playing Lego, the hubby is watching Star Wars with one. We saw Star Wars with the kiddies. My heart is broken. SNIFF...I won't say anymore in case you haven't had a chance to see it yet. Its good, but I'm broken hearted. The writers did a VERY BAD THING in my humble opinion.

I'm hoping to finish this story before school begins on Jan 4th. Once school starts, alas, my focus will be on teaching again. Sadly for me, it leaves me very little time for writing. And I promised my wonderful husband I'd go to bed earlier.

Thanks for reading along. Reviews are still not showing up for me to read. Thanks for reviewing and reading along. If you have reviewed, I will write you back when I see them. If you review anonymously, thanks for taking the time.

Keep reading, we are at the climax now, I think. Maybe. (smirk)

Captain's Ready Room

Nathan entered his Ready room cautiously. After checking to make sure it hadn't been compromised, he secured the door behind him. Lucas had no access to this room, and Nathan rarely allowed the teenager admission. Hard copies of highly classified military information were stored in this room. Jonathan was the only other person who had access. Nathan proceeded to tap into a secure channel. Using this channel, even his most senior crew on the bridge were blind to it. He sent a message directly to Admiral Noyce. It was sent crudely but with top UEO encryption. Noyce would know that SeaQuest needed help. Apart from the Captain or Lieutenant Commander, no one else could message outside the boat. It was impossible to track, and the mainframe computer was blind to it. Admiral Noyce would simply receive the message SOS. After setting the code, Nathan slipped from the room, locking the door behind him.

Nathan headed towards the bridge. He knew that if Lucas tried to access the bridge, the teen would quickly discover his inability to gain entry. Nathan knew the boy would be helpless to change it. The coding was ancient, and it had been a fail-safe that Nathan had hidden. Lucas was brilliant, but he was still very much a young boy. Intelligence could not make up for the wisdom of age. Nathan had to prevent access to the bridge at all costs. He knew Lucas had the wisdom to launch the boat and once in the water, it would be much too difficult to control what Clemens would do. SeaQuest was a fully operational military war ship. In the wrong hands, it was a weapon.

As Nathan hurried down corridor after corridor, he attempted to ascertain what Lucas was thinking. The teen had purposely deceived Mycroft into believing he could only access the bridge by the Mag-lev. There had to be a logical reason. Was he stalling for time? It would be easy to lead Clemens in circles as each corridor resembled the next. He knew Lucas wouldn't purposely lead Clemens to the bridge if he could prevent it. By now, Lucas should have known he wouldn't gain entrance. He just hoped the kid didn't panic. Ortiz said that Lucas had seen him so the boy must have known that he wasn't alone. Lucas just had to keep his composure. At that moment, it dawned on Nathan exactly what Lucas had in mind.

"Oh, Lucas, good job, kid," he muttered under his breath, a smile creeping across his face. He picked up his pace, heading for the Mag-Lev.

Somewhere on A-deck

Clemens grew tired of following the teenager and grabbed his arm viciously. He harshly whipped Lucas to face him and shook his fist at the frightened kid. Lucas shrunk back.

"You think I'm an idiot, don't you?" shouted Clemens, trying to stay calm. He gritted his teeth crossly. "Stop stalling!" Lucas' heart was pounding in his chest as he struggled to stay calm. He needed to keep his head clear. Captain Bridger would have good reason to block access. Deep down, he felt relieved he couldn't gain entry. He didn't want to give Clemens any more power than he already had. The man was quite simply unstable. He was fighting a war within himself. He claimed to want peace yet he chose to use violence to attain it. Catching Lucas off guard, Clemens smacked him in the face several times sending him to his knees. Lucas momentarily saw stars from the blows. He felt blood trickling down his chin mixed with saliva. He held his hands over his head to block further blows. Clemens continued raining down blow after blow in a fit of rage.

"STOP!" screamed Lucas, attempting to fight back. He tried to stand up but lost his footing landing on his back. Clemens placed his foot on Lucas' throat and pushed hard. Lucas felt himself gasping.

"I'm finished playing games with you! Get me to the bridge NOW!" Clemens gave a final shove on Lucas windpipe before removing his foot. Lucas laid still, weak from the assault. He felt like he was in a dream and couldn't wake up. He was paralysed and couldn't move a muscle. Clemens reached down and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. He brought him close to his face. "Where is that elevator?" Lucas choked back a sob and pointed down the next corridor. Clemens let him go and shoved him towards it. "GO!"

Lucas stumbled and tripped twice before gaining his balance. Every part of him was trembling in fear now. He quickly took the sadistic man to the entrance of the Mag-lev. He pushed the outer button and door sprung open. The normal greeting didn't acknowledge him, and Lucas silently breathed a breath of relief. Had the Mag-lev spoken its normal greeting, his last chance of escape might have been lost. Lucas breathed heavily, feeling nauseous and faint. He shook his head slightly to clear it. He couldn't lose concentration now.

Clemens followed the teen inside. Lucas quickly pushed the button for the bridge and sat down. Without warning, the machine whirled into motion, sending Clemens flying to the end of the lift. Clemens cried out in pain as his head smashed against the seats at the other end. The gun in his hand flew against the wall with a thud while the man lay unconscious on the floor. The lift operated at such a high velocity, no one could stand in it without being flung forward. The lift had warnings to sit plastered everywhere. Lucas had acted quickly, not giving Clemens anytime to think.

Without thinking, Lucas pulled on the emergency wire above his head, slowing the Mag-lev to a stop. He desperately needed to get off the lift and away from Clemens. He attempted to stand, but the room spun around him dangerously. He groaned and sat down again. Lucas looked cautiously at Clemens and tried to stand again. He grabbed the inside walls and forced himself forward towards the door and the exit button on the wall. He pushed the button and the door flew open with a whoosh. Lucas looked up to see the lift had stopped between doorways leaving him little to no space to escape. He had inadvertently trapped himself.

"Ugh," groaned Lucas. He silently cursed at himself. In his rush to get away, he had forgotten the emergency cord was intended to stop the lift instantly. It didn't necessarily allow passengers to get off. Sometimes it had to be moved slowly manually from the outside. He shoved his face against the opening to try and see if he could make out where he was. "Help!" he shouted weakly. He was feeling fainter by the minute. He was having difficult time breathing, and his airway felt constricted.

Nathan heard Lucas' voice as he came around the corridor by Conference room 8. He tried to see where the sound was coming from. The opening for the Mag-lev was ajar, but the lift was jammed ¾ of the way forward between openings.

"Lucas," shouted Nathan loudly. "Are you alright?" Just at that moment, he saw the boy's hand in the opening of the doorway. "Lucas," he shouted again, as he leaned forward to touch the boy's hand. "Hey, kiddo, sit tight and I'll get you out. What happened to Clemens?" asked Nathan, leaning in close and peering in at Lucas.

"The lift knocked him out, Captain, but it might not last long. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," sobbed the boy pitifully

"Hey, kiddo, it's ok," assured Nathan, squeezing the teen's hand tightly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," gasped Lucas, trying to catch his breath. "I shouldn't of taken off like that. I shoulda asked for help. I'm so sorry. I messed up, Captain."

"It's okay, kiddo. Everyone makes mistakes," soothed Nathan, trying to calm the kid.

"I wouldn't have let him on the bridge, Captain," replied Lucas suddenly, his voice sounding strangely haunted.

"If he wakes up, you cooperate with him, Lucas, that's an order!" commanded Nathan, trying to make himself sound stern. Nathan heard the teen gasp and choke back sobs.

"Lucas,"

"Please, get me out!" begged the frightened boy, his bottom lip trembling. Nathan grimaced at the sound of the teen's voice. He hadn't heard that tone in the kid's voice before. Lucas had reached his limit.

"Hang tight, kiddo. I'll get you out." With that, the Captain let go of the teen's hand and tapped his PAL. "Mr. Ortiz, secure the bridge as best you can from the outside and get to corridor 10, Lucas is trapped between openings on the Mag-lev," stated Nathan quickly.

"Aye," came the short reply.

Nathan gripped the doors firmly and attempted to pull the door open completely. He grunted from the physical exertion. It was never an easy thing to open the doors manually. The emergency stop was meant to be quick, but Nathan wished like hell it was more accurate in stopping in a doorway. Every minute that ticked by was one more minute closer to Clemens gaining consciousness, and it terrified Nathan to know Lucas was trapped with him. The madman had nothing left to lose.

Lucas' eyes left the captain and zoned in on the gun lying beside Clemens. He needed to get to it before Clemens gained consciousness. He had no idea how long the man would be out. Lucas carefully stumbled towards the back of the room. His head was spinning, and he was having trouble seeing straight. He felt himself gasping for air and choking. He sat abruptly and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, breathing hard. His hand came back covered in blood. He felt his lip and face swelling and his head pounded so that he could hear his own pulse in his head. Nausea overwhelmed him once again, and he retched so violently that he knocked himself to his knees. His stomach was empty and the uncontrollable retching made him even more dizzy and weak. He could hear voices outside the lift struggling to move it manually. Lucas eyed the gun again and struggled to crawl to it. He froze when he heard Clemens groan and move his hand to his head. Lucas held his breath as the man attempted to move but then seemed to lose consciousness again and was still. Lucas again began to crawl towards the gun, his arms trembling uncontrollably. He lay on his belly and reached out as far as he could and fingered the handle of the revolver. The gun was inches from Clemens face, but the man appeared insentient. Lucas inched closer willing himself to reach ahead bravely. Time seemed to stop, and he held his breath as he gasped the handle. Just as he moved to take the gun, Clemen's eyes opened.