HEART AND SOUL

"Broke apart and sunk like a stone," Lenny said with an evil grin as he looked across at Frank Cobb, his partner in crime.

"Yeah, they will be looking for bits of the kid and the freak for weeks to come," Frank Cobb responded.  "Come on let's get out of here before they turn their attention to us.

"Aye Aye Skip," Lenny said with another laugh and powered the small submarine into life and away from the impact zone.

"That will teach Bridger to mess with me," Frank said lastly as he gazed out of a side porthole as what remained of the shuttle launch slowly sank to the bottom of the ocean.

*******************

"Lucas can you read me," Bridger shouted down the radio speaker for the tenth time within a few minutes.  

Bridger was almost breaking out in a cold sweat he was so afraid of what might have happened to the one person he loved more than anybody else.   There was nothing on the other end but static.

"Mr Ortiz, get those W.S.K.R.S. out there now," Bridger ordered.  "I want to know about anything that moves out there.  Lieutenant Anderson get the Hyper-Reality Probe ready and start taking a look out there to see if you can see any sign of the MR-7 shuttle."

"Aye Sir," the two said in unison.

"Mr O'Neill alert any vessels in our immediate vicinity that there might be two people in the water that need rescuing and to contact us if they find any large parts of debris drifting on the ocean surface," Bridger ordered.

"On it now Sir," O'Neill replied and placed the headset back over his ears and carried out the command.

"Seaman Piccolo, I want four of the eight Sea Crabs ready for launch on my signals.  Tell them to take emergency rescue equipment and a first aid kit each," the Captain now said as he tried to run down the list in his head of things to do in such a crisis.   

"Come on man think," he now said harshly to himself as he slammed his hands down on the work station in front of him out of frustration.   They had done similar rescue missions over twenty times.  They could do it just fine then, so why now when it was somebody that meant the world to him that needed his help was his hands shaking like it was his first mission?

"Nathan I have got the Med Bay on high alert and ready for action when we pick them up," Kristen reported.

"Pick them up, damn it Kristen we don't even know where the hell they are," Bridger barked back at her and immediately regretted the tone of voice as he looked at the look on the doctor's face.   Thankfully for him she knew he was under immense pressure and stress at the moment and she would let his rude behaviour slide for now.

"I am sure they are alright Nathan," Kristen said trying her best to reassure him that Lucas would be okay.   Problem was that she too had heard the teenager's distress call over the radio and she too was worried about him and Dagwood.

******************************

A few minutes before the MR-7 shuttle broke into smaller pieces, Lucas had been quick enough with Dagwood's help to grab a rescue dinghy and attempt to make their escape through the overhead hatch.

Unfortunately though, the youth misjudged the force of the steel hatch door and was compensated for his haste by a smack on top of his head with the rim of the door.   He felt some immediate pain and could momentarily feel something wet and sticky running down the side of his face.   He assumed it was blood but with the imminent destruction of the shuttle, he didn't even have time to wipe it away.

Dagwood followed Lucas and did as his younger friend asked.   Within a few seconds, both of them were in the water trying to make it to the surface to inflate the rubber boat.  Dagwood had a large backpack with him that contained their emergency provisions.

The salt water and the pain in his head made Lucas feel a little light-headed as they kicked their legs to the top.    Dagwood had taken the folded rubber dinghy from the boy before he lost his tenuous grip on it and they were left to tread water.

Both Dagwood and Lucas now spluttered through the salty waves as they reached the surface.   That first breath of fresh air never tasted so good as it did right now.   Lucas's lungs felt like they were burning for that few seconds they had no air to breathe.

Dagwood used his muscle power to pull the cord on the dinghy which then quickly inflated and expanded on top of the water.   He threw the back pack into the bottom of the boat and was about to climb in when he looked across and saw his young friend was having a rough time of it.

The sun was shining strongly over head and the glare off the water didn't help Lucas's headache any.  The giddiness from the blow to his head was still there and he looked as though he was having difficulty staying afloat above the waves.  On one occasion his head had briefly submerged beneath the water, only to have the teenager quickly come up again, coughing and spluttering at the water he had gotten in his nose and mouth.

Dagwood now moved the boat closer to Lucas and quickly scrambled into it.   Leaning over the side, he used his arms to grab hold of the kid's jacket collar and start dragging him inside the boat.    Lucas was trying to help as much as possible, but the pain in his head and the sun over head was making him feel slightly nauseous and sick.

With one final large heave, Lucas came spilling into the rubber dingy, dripping wet and slightly bloodied from the wound on his head, but otherwise alive and okay.

Both Dagwood and Lucas were dripping wet from their forced swim.   For a few minutes

both of them lay on the bottom of the boat, trying to catch their breath a little and let their

nerves calm down after just what had occurred.

Dagwood was the first to make any noise or speak.  He looked over towards his young

friend and was worried about the blood that he saw streaking down one side of Lucas's

face.

"Lucas okay?" came the question, as Dagwood put a hand on the teenager's back to see

if he was still alert and conscious.

"Yeah……... Yeah Dag, I am okay," Lucas finally answered.   Truth was he didn't know

whether he was okay or not.  At the moment the only things he knew was that he was

now twenty pounds heavy from his dipping wet clothes.  The sun glare off the water was

burning and hurting his eyes if he looked at the water too long and he had a killer headache

from that damn hatch door.

"Lucas not look okay," Dagwood said honestly as his gaze was still fixated on the bloody

gash just inside the boy's hairline.

Lucas now sat up slightly and put a hand to where the pain in his head was coming from.

He pulled it away only to notice the blood that Dagwood was looking at.  The bleeding

had slowed to a trick and now his hair was drying into sticky clumps from the dried

blood on his scalp.

Lucas leaned over the side of the dinghy and firstly wet his hand in the salty water and then

began rubbing lightly at the side of his face in an attempt to wash away the stain.  He winced

at the sting that resulted from the salt.

The teenager knew as long as there was a visible mark on his face, then Dagwood would be consistently asking him if he was alright.  To the child-like man, anybody with blood must be hurt and they only thing either of them should be worried about right now was how to get out of their current situation.

"What do we do now Lucas?" Dagwood asked.   The man might have strength on his side as

a trait but unfortunately he was no leader.  Lucas would be relied on most to come up with

the decisions until they were rescued somehow.   At the moment even that was a feat in itself

due to the pain in his head stopping him from thinking rationally very much at all.

"I don't really know Dagwood," Lucas answered first and then rued the words as he looked

upon the larger man's down cast glance.   "I am sure they are already out there looking

for us." he added but wasn't totally convinced by his own voice.

"For now, lets take a look at what is in the survival pack so that we know what we

have to use and what we don't.  Maybe there's something in there that can be used

to signal help," Lucas now said, trying to sound positive but feeling far from it.

Dagwood now smiled at his young friend and tipped the entire contents of the

backpack onto the bottom of the rubber dinghy.  

"Dried food rations, some bottles of fresh drinking water, some first aid stuff,

some signalling flares, a compass, a battery operated flashlight," Lucas said as he

rattled off each piece of equipment he picked up.    "And a hand-held transmitter," he shouted with delight instantly grabbing at it and opening it hope of contacting the SeaQuest.

His hope was short lived though.   The transmitter was like a very small lap-top

computer, with a three inch screen inside it so you could see whoever it was you

were contacting.   Somehow in their dash for the surface, a small amount of water

had gotten into the unit and at the moment there was only a blank blue screen

and a fuzzy static noise instead of a voice.   

"Let's leave it open in the sun for a few minutes, it might help to dry the water out

a little bit and then we might be able to contact somebody," Lucas explained to

Dagwood. 

He now played with the compass and as best he could tell they were headed in a

easterly direction at drifting no faster than a wave at a time.   It still didn't help them

much because they had very little idea of where they were or where the SeaQuest

was.    There wasn't another vessel or craft to be seen on the water. 

Lucas now looked at the G.E.L.F.'s expressive face and knew that the man was

somehow expecting more.    He didn't have the heart to tell him that it might be

hours, maybe a couple of days before they were rescued and he didn't even want

to contemplate the idea that they may not be rescued at all.

"I tell you what Dagwood, you can be in charge of food and water rations, and I

will in charge of communications," Lucas announced, knowing it was the best

course of action in case the radio never worked at all.

"Lucas want a drink of water now?" Dagwood asked, seemingly happy with

his assigned task.

"Not right now Dagwood.  I would really like a drink, but there are only a few

bottles and we have to share them.  We can only take a drink when we really

need it okay?" he said, hoping the man would understand all of measures he was

taking to make sure they at least survived out on the water for awhile.  

"What can Dagwood do now Lucas?" came the question.

"Not much but sit back and wait Dag," Lucas replied in a dull tone.   He now lay

his head against the inflated edge of the boat and tried to shield his eyes from

the sun as much as possible.  

The headache was not only still there but now it was magnifying itself ten fold.   

Lucas had already taken a look through the first aid kit but there wasn't a pain killer to be found.  Just a few colour band-aids, some cloth bandages, a bottle of disinfectant and some cotton balls and gauze tape.

Lucas suggested to Dagwood to try and sleep a little to pass the time.    He didn't know

what else to suggest and with the pain exploding in his head, maybe the respite would

provide a little relief.

For the next half and hour, the rubber dinghy containing Lucas and Dagwood, drifted

on the open ocean with no real purpose other than gently bobbing up and down with

the action of the waves.

***********************************************

"Did you find anything yet Lieutenant?" Bridger asked as he stood behind Lonnie

Anderson and she manoeuvred the Hyper-Probe gloves.

"They only thing I can find Captain looks like parts of the launch after she broke

up.   I haven't spotted Lucas or Dagwood but hopefully they escaped.   From what

I can see the launch must have been hit initially which caused the explosion and

made it go careering off course.  Then it must have hit something real hard." she

added, hoping her descriptions weren't too graphic for a man who was looking

for his teenage son.

"That's probably what happened while Lucas was talking to us on the SeaQuest,"

Bridger deducted.

"Anything your way Mr Ortiz?" Bridger asked as he moved back around the Bridge

to the W.S.K.R.S. station.

"At first no Captain, but then I set the sensors to a higher resolution to try and pick

up any vapour trails that might lead us to who fired the shot at Lucas's shuttle,"

Ortiz explained.

"Did you pick up anything further with the higher resolution?" Bridger asked

"Yes and no.   Yes we did find a very find vapour trail from some sort of underwater

vessel.  But it was less than 100 parts per million.  Too low for us to try and track

for any distance and make a positive match.  I am sorry Captain," Ortiz added, hoping

he had better news for the Captain.

"What did the Coast Guard say Mr O'Neill?' Bridger asked, continuing to walk around

the circuit of work stations.

"They have plane already in the air but they say a storm is headed to the area where

Lucas's launch went down later on this afternoon.  They say once the winds pick up

and the waves start getting too choppy out there they will have to call it back in until

after it has calmed down some." O'Neill reported.

"That's all we can ask for right now everyone," Bridger said, trying to keep up everyone's

spirits including his own.

"Why would anybody want to hit Lucas's shuttle though Captain?" Tony Piccolo now

asked.   He wanted to punch the living heck out of the people responsible.  Lucas was

his room-mate and best friend.  Worst of all, he couldn't help but feel the pangs of guilt

that he had been the one to suggest and send Lucas and Dagwood on the supply run in the first place.

"I don't know Tony, but I aim to find out believe me," Bridger warned in an ominous

tone.  "But right now we have to concentrate our efforts on just finding them alive."

"You just give the orders Captain and we will back you up all the way," Piccolo

said, trying to give the man some sort of relief from the worry.

Back on board the rubber dinghy, the sun was starting to set a little.   Just on dusk.

Dagwood had been dozing on an off but was now awoken by some moaning from

his young friend.

Dagwood looked over to were Lucas was lying against the side of the boat.  The

teenager was laying all the way down now and was mumbling something incoherent

in his sleep.   The G.E.L.F. could see a fine sheen of sweat on the youth's brow.

When he went over to him and placed his hand on Lucas's forehead, Dagwood could

feel an unnatural heat.    A fever.   Not excessively high at the moment but enough

to add worry to their already plight.

"Lucas are you okay?" Dagwood asked in a worried tone, shaking the youth awake

slightly, worried that his friend may not wake up if the fever got too high.

"Water please," Lucas croaked through parched lips.  Dagwood immediately put one

of the bottles of water to the teenager's lips and allowed a trickle of water to slide

into his mouth and down his throat.

Lucas though it was the most delicious taste he had ever had.   It was cool and wet

but was short lived when the bottle was once again withdrawn and the heat of his

fever spread over him again.

Lucas moaned again slightly at the headache that was still very much present.  His

wince of pain was short lived though as he was startled by a crackling sound beside

him coming from the portable transmitter.

Lucas quickly sat up, although slightly dizzy and grabbed at the unit and hoping he

wasn't hearing or imaging things.  He was pleased to see some sort of picture now

appearing on the previously vacant blue screen.

"Mayday, Mayday, this is Lucas from the downed shuttle MR-7, do you read me,

over?" Lucas now spoke into the speaker on the radio.

Tim O'Neill who had been listening to something entirely different, suddenly gave

a whoop of delight and shouted to the Captain that he had a distress message of some sort

coming through.

"MR-7 this is the SeaQuest, do you copy?" Tim enquired back to the mystery voice

on the other end.

"Tim, it's me Lucas," the teenager shouted with relief.  The loudest of his voice making

his head spin a little.  His headache wasn't getting any better at all and nor was the nauseousness from the movement of the waves on the water.

"Lucas, its us and I have got somebody here that is dying to talk to you," Tim said as

he handed Bridger the headset.

"Lucas?" Bridger asked, hardly believing that it was the teenager on the other end

of the radio signal.  "Are you alright? Where are you?  Is Dagwood with you? he

said, trying to ask a million different questions at once.

The rest of the crew were silently slapping each other on the back and smiling

at them having found their missing crew members.  The signal from Lucas was

breaking up slightly at different intervals so they all now went totally silent to

hear what the boy had to say. 

"Yes Dag……..wood is here ……………with me," the broken reply came back.

"Do you have any idea where you are at the moment?" Bridger asked, repeating

his earlier problem.  Tim was busily trying to get a fix on Lucas's radio signal,

but it was difficult due to some interference continuing to make the signal fade

in and out.

"No, just in a survival raft on top of the ocean," Lucas said grimly.  "I found the

compass ……….in………..back pack……. says we are………..headed ……..

east," he now added, hoping that the crew was able to hear everything that he

was saying.   He could still pick up quite a lot of static on his end of the line too.

"Are you alright?" Kristen now asked as she tried to get an answer to the Captain's

first question.

"Lucas hurt," Dagwood replied for the teenager, getting a scowl in return.  The teenager

had wanted to explain what had happened with getting his family alarmed.  They were

already worried enough with them missing let alone being hurt as well.

Kristen was pleased that Dagwood had answered though instead of Lucas.   She knew

she would be getting a more honest and accurate answer from the man.   "How is he

hurt Dagwood?" she asked, directly her question to him this time.

"Got hit on head, bleeding but stopped now.  Lot of pain in head.   Very hot to touch,"

Dagwood said as he described the physical wound Lucas had as well as the symptoms

of the fever.

"You keep an eye on him for me Dagwood," Kristen responded, trying to tell the man

how best to help the less than well teenager.  Make sure he drinks plenty of water." she

added.

"Lucas say only drink water when need to because there is only some." Dagwood replied,

telling the doctor about what the youth had said to rationing the fresh water supply.

"Can you get a fix on them Tim?" Tony asked impatiently.

"The signal is breaking up too much," Tim answered as the signal once again broke up.

"Lucas……….Dagwood can you hear us.  This is the SeaQuest to the MR-7 rescue

boat, do you hear me?   Come in Lucas?"   There was nothing on the other end but

silence once again.

Lucas tossed the transmitter across to the other side of the boat in frustration as he too

got nothing coming back but static.  He put his hands to his head and once again laid

down in an attempt to gain some relief from his throbbing headache.  

The only thing he had to be thankful for shortly was that the sun was going down and

the blasted sun would be out of his eyes soon.   There was nothing to do again but

wait.   Hopefully the transmitter might come back to life again.   He hoped the SeaQuest

had been able to get a fix on their position and were coming to rescue them.

"Sorry Captain, nothing," Tim said apologetically.

"At least they sound okay for now," Kristen commented, trying to remain positive about

the whole thing.  The best thing was they knew they were both alive.   Up until now

they hadn't even known that little piece of good news.

Captain Bridger now sat down in his chair in the centre of the Bridge, putting his hands

to his head and attempting to think of how they were going to find the floating boat and

her passengers.    A large burden had been lifted from his shoulders just knowing that

they were mostly okay.    Now all he had to figure out was how to bring them home again.

********************************************

"Hey Cobb, you know that kid that was on that sub?" Lenny now said, half completing

the question.

"Yeah, he's dead so what about him," Cobb answered in an uninterested voice.

"I just found out who he is and I don't think he's quite dead yet," Lenny said putting

a little more action into his words.

"Why who says he's not dead?  We saw the launch blow up, well practically," Cobb

noted, knowing they hadn't quite seen the little pieces of the shuttle all over the floor.

"Well because I am on the U.E.O. base and my communications system is the same as

theirs.  Right now I am seeing a message displayed to all water craft and boats

in the immediate area to keep their eyes peeled for a downed shuttle launch and it's missing crew members," Lenny now said as he read what was written on the screen.

"And who is he supposed to be?" Cobb wondered, wanting to know why he should

regard the teenager to be of any important.  He knew the kid came from the SeaQuest.

Cobb had waiting for years for revenge against her Captain Bridger.  In blowing up

the supply launch with the kid on board, he thought he would have already achieved

that to a certain degree.

"Take a look," Lenny said, turning the screen so Cobb could view it.  At the moment

he was gazing at a personnel file that he just was able to access due to his connections.

The U.E.O. would have a fit if they knew just how much classified information he

had because he was located on the base, but what they didn't know couldn't hurt him.

Cobb's mouth was now agape so that the cigar that had been clenched through his teeth

now fell to the ground.  The man could scarcely believe what he was looking at.

NAME OF CREW MEMBER :   LUCAS WOLENCZAK

AGE:    17 years

HAIR :   BLONDE

EYES:    BLUE

SKILLS:    COMPUTERS, ENGINEERING, DATA SYSTEM DESIGN

CURRENT POSITION:    CHIEF SYSTEM ANALYSER

CURRENT LOCATION:    SEAQUEST DSV

NEXT OF KIN:     CAPTAIN NATHAN HALE BRIDGER

"God damn it, I wish I had of known," Cobb said angrily as he kicked at a rubbish

bin near his foot.   Somehow the kid was related to the one man he hated all these

years.  They had different names he could see.  But Bridger was listed as the boy's

next of kin.  He must mean something to Bridger.   And looking at the age of the

kid, he probably meant a great deal.

Cobb had come to know how much the common man, woman and child meant

when he had come snooping around his gold mining operation and eventually closed

it down, having him charged and sent to jail afterwards.

"Pity we let him go from here.    He might have been worth something," Lenny said

as a cruel notion popped into the man's head about how to make some additional

cash.   Being related to the flag ship of the U.E.O., the kid had to be worth a great

deal.                       

"And here we were blowing them up to kingdom come," Cobb said as he inwardly kicked

himself for not being more astute.   

"But this here says he is still alive out there somewhere," Lenny said to him. "The

message states that they are looking for two people, a teenage boy and a G.E. L.F.,

that freak with the patterned skin."

"They must have escaped from the explosion on the launch then," Cobb deduced

rationally.  Maybe they weren't quite licked yet.

"Does it say where he, I mean they might be?" Cobb asked with anticipation.   He didn't

really care if they found the other fellow.  The coloured man didn't mean as much to

him or Captain Bridger as the blonde haired boy would.

"No but it gives a large area where they are looking.  It says that a brief message was

received about two hours ago giving them an easterly direction to use," Lenny replied.

Cobb quickly got out a map of the seas surrounding the U.E.O. base.   He looked

at the roughly plotted area given in the message and marked them crudely onto the map

in front of him.

"If they are heading east, then they will end up somewhere around here," Cobb said

pointing to the area.   

"Come on get your gear together, we're going out looking. We can take a dinghy in

the back of the vehicle.  We might need to look at sea and then on land if they come

ashore anywhere," Cobb announced as he started putting thoughts in his head about

what he was going to do with Lucas when he finally caught up with him.

"How much are we going to ask Bridger for him?" Lenny asked as dollar signs lit

up in his eyes at how much they might make in ransom.

"Oh I won't be just asking dear old Captain Bridger for money to return the kid,"
Cobb said with an evil chuckle.   "Believe me, Bridger will need to come up with

something worth a whole lot more than money to make up for all of the years I

spent in jail because of him and the money I lost in the gold mine."

********************************************************

Lucas and Dagwood were having enough trouble of their own at the moment to be

worrying about who might be chasing after them.

With sunset now complete and day giving way to night, so to that the earlier calmness

of the waves had given over to roughness and gusty winds.

At first there had been some wind blowing across the boat, making things a whole

lot cooler all of a sudden, but nothing to be overly concerned about at that stage.

Now, only half a hour later, the winds were much more gustier and the seas had now

turned into a very heavy swell.   Some of the waves were spilling over into the rubber

dinghy.

Lucas and Dagwood were both on their hands and knees trying to bucket the water

out with their hands and trying to keep their meagre supplies from falling over board.

Both of the now were dripping wet again as the storm picked up pace and rain began

falling steadily.     Lucas couldn't think of a worse position to be in right now than

in a stormy night in nothing but a flimsy rubber boat for protection.

The water coming into the boat was now in greater volumes and the two of them

were struggling to keep the boat from sinking from the added weight.   

Without so much as a warning, a very harsh gust of wind now blew at the side of

the boat and almost causing it to capsize.     

Lucas knew  they wouldn't be able to take much more pounding from the water

than that.   

"Dagwood hold onto the side of the boat," Lucas shouted over the howling wind.

At the moment, his fever and headache all gave way to the very real fear that they

were about to be tossed back into the sea and drown.

"What Lucas?" Dagwood shouted back, not quite hearing what the teenager was

saying, but seeing the frightened look on his face.   Dagwood had grabbed whatever

food and water and equipment he could gather in a hurry and stuffed them into the

backpack which was slung over his shoulder.   Some of the food rations had

already blown overboard into the waves.

"Hold on………………." was the only words Lucas managed to get out before

he felt the boat begin lifting upwards from a fresh gust of wind.

The boat was hit yet again by wind and this time the battle was lot. 

Lucas and Dagwood both gave cries of fright when the boat lifted off the surface

of the water and now capsized completely………………………

TO BE CONTINUED.

Yet another updated story for you – this story has quite a long way to go yet.

The next part will be a lot more involvement from Frank Cobb and Lenny as well

as the rest of the SeaQuest gang.

Please keep reading and reviewing………………..

JULES