seaQuest DSV
To Dare Cerberus - Book 1
by katirene (XMP) & Paula (APB)
The Valley of the Shadow - Chapter 4
Lucas revelled in the joy of driving the stolen UEO Stinger. It ate up the miles like nobody's business, cutting through the waters of the Pacific, on an intercept course with the seaQuest. He wondered who was manning her, and where they were heading, but decided, in the long run, it didn't matter. Once he got the captain there, it would all be all right.
He glanced over his shoulder at his silent passenger, wrapped up in his own, apparently gloomy, thoughts.
News that Robert Bridger had been alive when the seaQuest disappeared had hit the old man hard, he thought with the quick sympathy of the young. The younger Bridger had been reported missing in action and presumed dead in 2011. For eleven years, the captain believed that his son was dead, killed in enemy action in the North Atlantic, and had borne the subtle guilt that it was his fault, that because he had urged his son to join the service, he was responsible for his loss.
It was a belief that Carol Bridger had apparently shared. She'd pressured her husband into retiring, into promising never to serve or fight again. And then, she'd died as well, leaving the man at loose ends, without career or family to sustain him, cut off from the world.
Lucas sighed heavily.
"You getting tired, Lucas?" Nathan Bridger asked, leaning forward, his face even more tanned, lined and weatherbeatened than it had been a week ago. Ten years ago. Lucas shook his head.
"No sir. This baby almost drives herself."
"Well let me know if you do. I can take a spell."
"Yes sir. Ah..." Before he could say anything, Bridger had settled back into his blue study. Closing his mouth again, the much younger man resumed his thoughts, once again trying to figure out what had happened, how he, the captain and every other member of the seaQuest crew had lost ten years. But there was nothing there between trying to get Darwin to identify some deep dwelling fish and stumbling into the UEO conference.
He noticed some blips on the screen.
"Something's coming sir," he remarked, as much to hear his own voice as to inform the captain.
Bridger leaned forward.
"Let's see it? They're fast and they're armed. Could they be from the seaQuest?"
To Lucas' ears, Bridger sounded almost detached whenever he spoke of the deep submergence vessel he'd designed, as though it were something he was ashamed of, or wished he didn't have to deal with. He didn't understand the older man's attitude. To Lucas, the seaQuest was the best, the only real home he could remember. He checked the relative location.
"Could be. We're pretty close to her. She's slowing down."
"Where are we, now?"
"Entering Nexus colony..." A shock wave rattled the small submersible. Lucas stared at the screens in disbelief. "They're shooting at us!"
"Evade, Lucas. That was a warning shot. Full speed. Make for the 'Quest. Zig-zag your course, but don't..."
"Respectively sir," Lucas interrupted, sweating, as he put the rapid shot commands into effect. "but I need to concentrate." He heard a distinctive sound on sonar, one he recognized with disbelief as seaQuest flooding her torpedo tubes. All ten of them. He opened a communication channel.
"May-day. May-day, seaQuest. This is Lucas. I'm being fired on."
The reply chilled him even before he recognized the speaker.
"That's unfortunate, Mr. Wolenczak. But we are presently engaged." The man sounded as smug as a cat with canary feathers in it's mouth.
Dodging another missile, Lucas swallowed hard on his fear and played his trump card. He had to trust that some of the real crew was on the bridge and could act in time.
"But I have Captain Bridger with me."
There was a long silence, then he heard Hudson give the order, "Bring the Captain in." Someone must have protested, because he repeated the order sharply, his own disappointment making in harsh.
"I said bring Captain Bridger to his boat, Lieutenant."
It was as simple as that.
"Are you sure you don't want to go directly to your quarters and change, Lucas?" Captain Bridger asked as the mag-lev car arrived. He looked and sounded more like his old self again and Lucas couldn't resist grinning back, shaking his head decisively."No sir. I want to be there to see Hudson's face when you take over. I don't know if you know this clown, sir..."
"Oliver Hudson? Yes I know him." The voice was mild, and inscrutable, almost amused. "He was one of my students."
"Oh, well, I want to be there."
Bridger smiled again and gave in, gesturing Lucas to preceed him into the car. When the doors opened again, they were outside the bridge, where several crewmembers coming off duty were waiting to enter. They stepped back, politely letting the riders leave, and as they began to file in, Lucas caught sight of Ari Adler among them. With a mumbled excuse, he abruptly changed his plans and stepped beside her.
Ari's nose wrinkled up and she gingerly put one hand on him and gently pushed him further away.
"Eww. Lucas? What have you been doing? Living in that... outfit?"
He looked down at himself, having forgotten what he was wearing until she mentioned it.
"Yeah, I guess I have. But is that anyway to greet a returning hero?"
"Hero? Wearing an orange jumpsuit?" she teased back. He shrugged, mugging it up, happy to see her again.
"I asked for green, but Hudson said they only came in this color."
"HEY! You two. Get in if you're coming."
She waved him away.
"That's ok. I think we'll walk." As the doors closed again, she turned to Lucas. "If you don't mind. I'm sorry, Lucas. But you really are a bit too ripe to inflict on strangers in such... closed conditions."
"I don't mind," he replied, falling in beside the young woman, heading toward the nearest ladder. "So where are you heading? To bed?"
"Not yet. I need to check on some equipment in a maintance bay on C Deck. But I can walk you to your quarters if you like. You really should shower and get out of those ... clothes." He laughed at the brief hesitation she gave to the word. But now he was beginning to feel hurt.
"It wouldn't stop you if I were Miguel," he charged, trying to make it sound like a joke. Ari stopped and looked at him with a stricken expression.
"You're right. Welcome home, Lucas." And she hugged him. Right there in the middle of the corridor. Almost immediately, she jumped back, a startled expression on her face and she looked at him as though she hadn't really seen him before.
"You've grown," she said, almost accusingly. "And your hair. That's more than a few days growth."
Obscurely pleased she'd noticed, he shrugged again. "Yeah, well... Long hair is in. You know."
Troubled, Ari began to walk again.
"So, what do think?" She looked at him, questioning with her big baby blues. "What I did." As an explanation, it didn't seem to help so he said it flat out. "I found the captain and brought him back. Ari, I expected something. What's wrong with you?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. It's just... We lost the colony, Lucas. If you hadn't shown up when you did ..."
"You'd prefer that I was shot down?" he asked, feeling hurt and betrayed.
"No!" she shot back quickly. "No, of course not. I'm glad Hudson gave the order he did. But... Now Bourne has Nexus and we couldn't stop him. It's... It's annoying."
In a small voice, she added, "And I can't help feeling that Captain Bridger could have saved you and the colony both." She looked up again and before he knew what she intended, she hugged him again. Not the quick squeeze and release of the earlier greeting, but holding him, her head turned to one side with her cheek resting on his shoulder. Half obscured, she said, "I'm glad you're back."
There was enough emphasis in the words that he realized not everyone had made it. And, in a burst of illumination, he suddenly knew with absolute certainty at least one person who hadn't. That was why she was reacting so oddly. Awkwardly, he patted her shoulder.
"Ari, I'm sure ..."
She interrupted, stepping back and wiping her eyes with the heels of her palms.
"Well, you go get cleaned up and I really do have to check on that equipment," she said briskly. "And, Lucas? The hair? Once you get it clean and combed, I'm sure it'll look great." She darted in unexpectedly, gave him a quick peck on the cheek and then was gone.
Covering the spot with his cupped palm, he watched until she was out of sight around a corner, hoping she'd look back, but she didn't. Turning, he noticed a short black woman in the uniform of a UEO lieutenant eyeing him with faint hostility and disinterested curiousity. For a long moment, their eyes met, challenge and response, then, visibly dismissing him, she walked away. Lucas watched for a second longer, his brow wrinkled with perplexity. Then, he shrugged, opening the cabin door. A real shower, clean clothes that fit and bed, in that order, he decided. He felt like he could sleep for a decade right now, he was that tired.
Unfortunately, he was doomed to disappointment on that. Less than an hour later, he was back up on the bridge while Captain Bridger explained his plan to retake the Nexus colony.
From the tac station, Trey looked up as Commanders Ford and Brody strode on the bridge in scuba gear, carrying the jackets and scuba gear. Captain Hudson waved them over to the monitor he, Hudson, Lucas and Tim were studying. Using a long pointer, he indicated something on the screen.
"We're going in here, the hydropressure system. It controls the docking collar."
"Any perimeter sensor system?" the XO asked, studying the schematics.
"No sir, Visual only. Monitors though," Tim answered. Trey could see the difference in him now that Bridger was in charge. He exuded confidence. Pointing to several places on the plans, he clarified exactly where they were located.
"I tapped into their environmental systems," Lucas added, crossing his arms. "We can monitor changes in temperature and sound. That'll help us determine where the colonists are being held." Lt. Brody nodded sharply.
"Got it," he confirmed and lifted the air tank, Commander Ford did the same barely half a beat behind him. As one the two turned and left the bridge.
Lucas wandered over to take a position behind Ari, leaning over to watch the WSKRS output, but the two captains were sticking behind Tim as he eavesdropped on Nexus colony, anxiously listening for any sign that Brody and Ford had been discovered.
Tim cocked his head, looking like he'd smelled something bad. Captain Bridger noticed immediately.
"You hear something?" he asked abruptly.
Tim gave him a considering look before answering, "Yes sir." He routed the elusive melody to the ship's speakers.
It was Captain Hudson who identified it.
"Bach." He made it sound like a disease.
"Bach?" Captain Bridger echoed.
"Johann Sebastian's Emperor. Concerto number 5 for piano. Huh!" His expression grew distant.
An evil smile grew across Bridger's face. He activated a PAL.
"Jonathan, I've got a new destination for you." Leaning over, he nudged Tim on the shoulder. "Where would you say that's coming from?" he asked in a whisper.
"Private quarters, level 5."
There was another tense wait. Finally, his face wreathed with smiles, Tim looked up to announce, "They're leaving, sir. The first of the Alliance boats is pulling away!"
Lucas let out a heartfelt "Yes!", pulling his fist down and spun Ari's seat around. Hudson looked up sharply, his face settling into a disapproving frown.
"As you were, Mister!" he snapped. "This isn't over yet. I don't want anyone to move until the last vessel is out of range."
Lucas' head snapped up and he looked over to the captain, expecting some kind of back-up. Taking advantage of his distraction, the young lieutenant turned back to her screens. To Lucas' dismay, Bridger hadn't even noticed, checking on matters with Ford as he was.was leaning forward, talking to Commander Ford. Resentfully, the young man stood away. Hudson dismissed him with a satisfied nod, turning back to lean over Tim's shoulder again.
"I'll 'Mister' him!" he grumbled, resuming his place hovering over Ari's shoulder. Ari glanced up at him, then over at the second captain. There was some similarity in posture and attitude, she thought, but forebore to mention.
"Calm down Lucas," she murmured softly back. "You hit him hard, bringing the Captain here. If you had seen his face when you told him that, you'd know. He was really... He wanted seaQuest, and you single-handedly took her away from him."
"Yeah." Lucas smiled tightly, remembering that moment. Then his face grew dissatisfied again. "But he's still acting as though he has a right to give orders," he complained.
"He does. Even if he's not in command, he still has the rank."
"Rank is right!"
Ari sighed, switching the view from Loner to Junior.
"Just be patient, Lucas. He'll be leaving soon enough and things can get back to normal. Or something."
"Yeah, yeah."
"And Lucas, speaking of rights? Don't spin me again. You made me look ridiculous in front of ... everyone."
He goggled at her.
"You can't be worried what that jerk thinks, can you?" he demanded.
"Just don't do it again. Ok?"
With a sigh, he reluctantly agreed.
Across the room, Trey watched it all, wondering what was going on between the two of them. It was clear to her that Lucas knew Miguel wasn't onboard, and that he thought as she and Tim did, that the handsome Cuban sensor chief who'd won their friend's heart wasn't coming back.
Which meant that she was available and he intended to take advantage of the fact.
Trey wished him luck. Ari's refusal to face up to the possibility was beginning to scare her.
Bridger was still in contact with Commander Ford.
"Good work, Commander. Did he give you any trouble?"
"No sir!" the XO laughingly answered. "You might say we caught him with his pants down." He grinned over at Brody, choking down a laugh. Bourne didn't look so amused. Using his sidearm, the commander gestured toward the door.
"We're to see you safely to a personal sub, sir," he said, his tone making the courteously worded statement mocking.
"You haven't won anything, Commander," Bourne warned him as they escorted him through the crowds of jeering colonists. "I promise you, I will be back, and ..."
"And seaQuest will stop you again," he answered, opening the docking port. Bourne gave the small cockpit a look of horror, but responded to Brody's urging that he enter. Commander Ford leaned over to finish his statement, looking directly at the would-be world leader.
"It doesn't matter how many times you come back, seaQuest is back and we're here to stop you. You can't win." He laughed, sealing the port shut.
Inside the cramped cockpit, Bourne's eyes narrowed.
"Oh, I will win, commander," he promised in a low, throbbing whisper. "I ... Will ... Win."
Ari and Tim watched the small personal submersible shoot away from the colony and get picked up by the Macronesian parade carrier.
"That's the last one," Tim announced, making it official. "The colony has been liberated."
"Thank you Mr. O'Neill. Mr. Piccolo prepare to dock. Mr. O'Neill, stand down from battle stations to general quarters one."
Ari gave a big sigh of relief and stretched. Looking over her shoulder, she smiled up at Lucas.
"He did it," she said quietly, her voice vibrating with suppressed emotion. "He actually did it."
"Yeah," he agreed, grinning back and bobbing his head up and down. "He actually did."
It was several hours before the celebrating colonists let the liberating soldiers return. Captain Bridger asked for a few moment to speak, over the ship's speakers.Leaning heavily on his cane, he looked at them all, committing their excited, shining faces, gleaming with pride and triumph, to memory. And Lucas was the most excited and proudest of them all.
"What I'm about to tell you now," he said, "Must not leave this boat. I'm afraid I'm the one who erased the seaQuest memory banks."
The crew looked at one another uncertainly. This wasn't what they expected to hear.
Lucas shook his head, thinking he'd heard that wrong.
"Captain?" he asked. "Why?"
Bridger smiled sadly at him, his eyes warm with affection, but Lucas could feel him retreating, going into the distance. A barrier was growing between them and he didn't know why.
"Because, Lucas, I didn't think we'd make it back alive."
His words seemed to punch a hole in her stomach. For a few seconds, Ari lost track of what the captain was saying, as she struggled not to get sick. Shoving her hands into her pockets, she found something, a sprig of aromatic herb. Thinking it might help, she raised it to her nose and the smell did make the nausea retreat somewhat. Enough so she could concentrate on what he was saying.
"Secrecy was important to the freedom movement on Hyperion. I made a promise to Tobias and he made a promise to me. I think that's why we're all here."
Tobias? LeConte? Trey remembered him, barely. He'd turned up when that alien had attacked them, kidnapping Lonnie. From what she'd learned at the time, he was, or had been, a gifted astronomer, a child genius, even more intelligent than Lucas, if that were possible.
But he and the captain's friend, Scott Keller, had disappeared. Now, the captain was saying they'd taken off in a space ship, had called home like ET to ask for help. It didn't make sense. Or rather, it did. Like the plot of a Star Wars movie, a long long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
"We fell to destruction and sank into a deep, meditative coma in the icy Hyperion sea. Some of us didn't make it."
Tim gave a good hard sniff. You don't fall into a meditative coma in the ocean. You fall into death, he thought scornfully.
"We lost some very good friends. That's what war does. Tobias and some of his rebel friends were able to liberate some rescue pods and bring us back to earth. But that was five days and 10 earth years. It seems that they erased our memories and transported us from the time we heard Scott's call. Transported us, wet and unconscious to the last peaceful thought we had in our minds before we were about to die."
Ari closed her eyes, squeezing them tight, one hand pressed into her gut. Betrayed. They'd all been betrayed. And he'd been part of it, ripping their memories away, stealing their lives. She took another sniff of the rosemary and opened her eyes, looking around to see if anyone felt the same way she did.
Some of those standing around turned to meet her eyes gravely before looking back at the man who had led them to the stars. Ari recognized them without question, then blinked and realized that they weren't there at all. Dee Tyler, Dr. M'ba, Kent Adams.
Telling herself that it was just fatigue, an excess of imagination, she blocked them from her mind and tried to concentrate on what the captain was saying.
Lucas's frown deepened. His last peaceful thought was of McGath? He didn't think so. Commander Ford gave Lonnie Henderson a perplexed and speculative glance, while Trey just looked at Tim, who looked skeptical as he watched the captain. Lucas raised his eyes to where Ari stood. She was dead white, trembling. It had finally hit her, what everyone had been saying all along. Miguel wasn't coming back.
Captain Bridger's next words wiped any thought of Ari out of his mind.
"I think Captain Hudson is right."
"If world peace is going to be maintained, sQ has to be ready to ship out at a moment's notice. And that's his job, not mine."
"I'm leaving the boat to raise my grandson, and to find my son and his wife, if they're still alive." With a chuckle intended to be comforting, he told them, "I don't intend to drop off the face of the earth. I intend to maintain my relationship with the scientific communities of the UEO and seaQuest, emeritus."
He couldn't do that! Lucas took a step forward.
"Captain...."
Nathan Bridger interrupted with a shake of his head, a mask of indulgent tolerance on his face.
"No, Lucas. It's time. You know how much I love this boat. But my life is filled with so much more now. We'll keep in touch."
He walked away from him, stopping in front of Commander Ford. Looking his XO in the face, he directed his words to Captain Hudson.
"This man has been my right hand. And my left. You won't get better."
Turning around, he beamed proudly at the assembled sailors.
"In fact, the level of confidence and integrity of this crew will astound you. Captain, she's all yours."
Lucas shook his head, barely moving it, trying to negate these surprising and unwelcome words. He felt hollow, empty, abandoned. How could he do this to him, to them?
Captain Hudson barked out, "Ship's Company. Attention!"
As one, they all snapped up and saluted the retiring captain. At the last moment, on impulse, Lucas joined in. Bridger stopped in front of the exit, looking them over one last time with a fond smile of farewell.
Standing at attention, saluting, Ari saw the smile, but all she felt was confusion. It's a sham. It's fake. If he cared anything at all for them, for seaQuest, he wouldn't do this. He wouldn't leave. He couldn't.
Captain Bridger returned the salute and limped off. The crew held theirs until the Maglev doors closed and he was on his way to the launch bays on C Deck.
"Ship's Company, to your stations," Hudson ordered looking stunned, and satisfied.
Lucas waited until Ari had turned the sensor board over to her relief, then fell in beside her. She almost tripped leaving the bridge, grabbing the arm he extended to catch her and holding on to him even after they sat down on the crowded Maglev car.
"I don't believe it," he said, his voice forced through the massive lump in his throat.
"I do," she answered shortly, looking shaken and pale, her slight accent coming through as a musical lilt. "This isn't the world he was wantin', so he's getting off it again. Divil take the hindmost."
There was a small note of envy hidden in her scorn. They came to a halt and she stood, almost falling over.
"Look, this has hit you harder than you think. Let me get you to bed," he suggested his voice a little louder than intended in a sudden lull in conversation. A couple of ratings snickered at that and he glared at them in silence as the two of them exited.
"I mean, maybe you need more sleep and ... Where are we going?" he asked as she walked past her door without slowing.
"Launch Bay. Maybe we can talk to him before he leaves."
Lucas considered the idea, lips pursed. He shrugged and ran after her.
They were in time, Captain Bridger was only just about to climb into the shuttle.
"Excuse me! Captain Bridger?" Ari called out in a clear, carrying voice. He halted and looked up at them, inviting her to speak.
"Sir, you seem to remember more about what happened than any of the rest of us, do YOU know if ... Who didn't make it?" she asked tensely, as if she didn't really want to hear the answer. Lucas held his breath.
Nathan Bridger shook his head slowly, an expression of distant calm on his face. "No, lieutenant, I'm afraid I don't. It doesn't really matter, though, does it? I mean, it's been ten years."
All the blood drained from her face, leaving her looking drained and dead. Lucas put his arm around her shoulder as she swayed.
"You don't mean that, sir," she protested weakly. "You can't mean that."
Nathan Bridger nodded to him, smiling pleasantly.
"Yes I do. The best thing we can do is to continue with our lives. Anything else is ridiculous and self-indulgent."
There was a call from the shuttle and he looked in for a moment, and nodded. "
I have to go. I wish that I could help you, but I can't. All I can do is advise you to put the past behind you."
He stepped out of sight and the clamshell doors closed. They heard the rush of water filling the bay a few moments later.
"He ... That can't be Captain Bridger," Ari said, half to herself. "Captain Bridger would have understood. The past is all around us."
"You think he's really a Stormtrooper?" Lucas asked dubiously.
He considered the idea, then rejected it, shaking his head.
"Look, I know it's hard, but I think he gave you some good advice. They've been dead for ten years. We have to go on."
Ari gave him a look of extreme disbelief and seemed to notice how closely he stood to her for the first time. She twisted away.
"He would never blow off anyone's disappearance so casually," she protested, sounding very young and uncertain.
Lucas shrugged and flourished a hand back the way they'd come.
"Come on, you should get some sleep. And I know I'm exhausted, too."
Giving in, she let him escort her back to her quarters, and made ready for bed, dutifully lying down and closing her eyes.. But sleep eluded her grasp.
Although she was physically exhausted, her mind was still active, and restless. She kept seeing faces, people she thought she'd caught glimpses of who couldn't have been there. Teej Jones, Dr. M'ba, Dee Tylor, and so many others.
Rolling over and punching the pillow up, she tried counting sheep, but each fuzzy puff-ball had a name painted on the side and, as they jumped the fence, they became bloody carcases, hung up on butchers' hooks.
Finally, she gave up. With a feeling of irritation, she went over to the computer link and called up the old seaQuest manifest. At first, it didn't seem as though that had been reinstalled in the memory, but finally, she found a copy in Captain Hudson's files. She saved that as 'MasterList'.
It was a lot easier to download the current personnel list and a work of moments to eliminate the 'new crew', all the people whom Hudson had brought onboard. Then she began to compare the two. She quickly ran into a snag. The MasterList contained only military people, apparently the new captain had no interest in civilians. Ari sighed, saving her work and putting it aside. She'd have to try to recreate the old manifest from archives on the 'Nex.
Sighing, she lay back down.
Suddenly, for no reason she could think of, she thought of Dee Tyler, a helmswoman. Dee had been hanging around Ari recently, wanting advice on men, of all things. She had a crush on Tony Piccolo and thought that Ari could help her with it because everyone knew that Ari and Miguel had a thing going. But no one knew that they were engaged. Not even Trey. It was against regulations for an officer to even date an enlisted man, and both Seaman Piccolo and Sensor Chief Ortiz were exactly that.
It was so irritating of him, being away right now.
"So, it would really be helpful if you'd just report in," she complained, walking up behind where the sensor chief was sitting on the sand and joining him to watch the waves come in.
"Oh, cara mia," he sighed, placing his arm around her shoulders. "I wish I could. I've been all over this place and there's just no way out." Ari craned her head around, realizing suddenly that they were inside, not out.
"Where are we?" she asked curiously, some sense of familiarity tugging at the corners of her mind. Miguel Ortiz turned to look at her, a slow, seductive grin spreading across his handsome, latino features.
"You don't remember...?" he teased mildly. And between one moment and the next, it was a week before, and they were in the Honeymoon Cavern on Australia's eastern shore, both of them undressed and lying on the blanket. Miguel ran his hands over her body, touching her with featherlight flicks while she followed the ridges of his muscles.
"Oh, yes," she moaned, lifting her bare torso into his caresses. "Yes, I remember."
There wasn't much conversation after that, and Ari must have fallen asleep, as she did that long, lazy afternoon, because, when she opened her eyes, she was in the dark. For a moment, she paused, wondering where she was, wondering if she'd awaken again. But the seaQuest never got this dark, not while the reactor mass was critical.
Ari sat up, exploring her surroundings by feel. It felt like her room on the seaQuest, but something had to be wrong. As if in a dream, she rose off the bed, and drifted through the room, out into the corridor. She passed Kent Ward, and paused while he joined her before continuing on. Neither of them spoke, but Ari noticed that she only heard one set of steps. She was afraid to stop and find out if they were hers, or his.
Dee Tyler descended from the upper decks and waited until they had passed the stairwell. The Maglev door opened, allowing Claire, Garrison, and another engineer to exit, then Teena Svarbo and the entire torpedo crew filed out after them. Ari shrugged, bemused at the thought of how crowded they must have been in there. In spite of the numbers now filling the corridor, she could hear only her own breath. All other sound was deadened, missing, absolutely absent. Even the sound of seaQuest's own respiration, the ventilation system that vented all over the boat and recirculated the air, was silent.
Her crewmates joined the others behind Ari, letting her lead them... Lead them where. There was something creepy about all this. Something uncanny. She wanted it all to stop, but she had to do something. What was she supposed to do? They were on C-deck, she knew that. Perhaps Darwin would know what was going on. Teej Jones joined them as they passed the launch bays and Dr. M'Ba, in a hurry as usual, jogging behind him.
Somehow, Ari tripped on the hatch into the moonpool, into the strong arms and hands waiting there in the darkness. She closed her eyes reflexively, not wanting to see who it was, and struck out, trying to get free.
She didn't want to know. She didn't want to see. She was afraid, unable to breathe, her breath caught in her throat. Their eyes were empty holes full of nothing, of oblivion, of decay, and ... none of them spoke because they had no breath with which to speak.
Lucas had been asleep for a couple of hours when Darwin woke him up, banging on the window to the hydropressure tube. Bleery eyed, he raised himself up on one elbow and reached for the vocorder with his other hand.
"Hey Darwin, what's up?" he asked sleepily.
"Ari up. Ari afraid. Help Ari!" the dolphin squealed. "Follow."
Waking up all at once, Lucas turned stunned eyes on his marine friend, then rolled off his bunk, grabbing up his bathrobe by feel and stumbling up the steps and out into the corridor. He was in time to see Darwin streak off down one of the swim tubes and he followed, tying the belt of his robe as he hurried behind.
He climbed through into the moon pool room in time to see the woman run blindly in through another door, her blank eyes looking back over her shoulder. She was heading straight for the water. Lucas ran to grab her, yelling her name as he did.
"Ari! Ari wake up! Wake up, Ari."
Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut, but she fought him, flailing and hitting as hard as she could, crying out for him to let her go. Lucas did his best not to get hurt and kept calling her name. With a muffled sob, she sagged against him, burying her face in his shoulder. With trepidation, he stroked her hair, trying to comfort her.
After several long minutes, she looked up, a lost, lonely look on her face.
"Lucas?"
"You're shivering," he said, smoothing the short curls back away from her face. "No wonder. You managed to find the only cool place onboard."
At that she looked around, and he realized she had no idea where she was.
"The moonpool? What am I... Was I ... I was sleepwalking? I couldn't have been. I don't do that anymore."
"Well, apparently you do. Come on, let's get you back to bed."
J.J. Fredericks, on her way back from the women's showers, paused at the sight of the half dressed woman being supported through the corridors by the bathrobe clad young man and she drew back slightly to avoid discovery. She remembered them, of course. Lucas Wolenczak, the guy who'd caused them to lose Nexus, and the lieutenant was the woman who had welcomed him back with open arms. Apparently she was welcoming him back in other ways too.
She shrugged and went on to her cabin. It wasn't any of her business what they did. But it was a good thing Wolenczak would be leaving them soon, because if they weren't more careful than this, there'd be no way the captain wouldn't find out. And once he did, there'd be hell to pay and it would be the little lieutenant who'd pay the bill. Not the civilian.
Chapter 5