Archive of Our Own

OCEAN WIDE
by JakQuill

*It's because we all come from the sea. And it is an interesting
biological fact that all of us have in our veins, the exact same percentage
of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean. And therefore we have salt
in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears.
We are tied to the Ocean and when we go back to the sea to sail or to
watch it, we are going back from whence we came.*
seaQuest DSV The Movie.

Jonathan Ford sat in the Ward Room drinking a strong cup of coffee.
Nathan Bridger had made being Captain of the seaQuest seem such a
effortless thing. Ever since he'd returned to seaQuest Jonathan had
watched the man fit right into place. The Captaincy had seemed to mould
around that man and now Jonathan was finding out that walking in another
man's shoes can give you blisters.

Even though Captain Bridger had let him command many times, he'd always
been there for Jonathan to go to. But now...now *he* had to be the one
people came to, and Jonathan was realising just what that entailed.
Climbing to his feet, he refilled his cup. He was finding out that black
coffee and command went hand in hand.

^^^^^^^^^^

Jim Brodie hesitated to enter the Ward Room when he saw Ford there, so
he quietly stepped out of the room and headed for his quarters. Ford had
enough on his plate without hearing his complaints. He was a grown man,
and he'd been looking after himself for a long time. Jim entered his
quarters and locked the door behind himself, then against all rules and
regulations, he covered the porthole in the door. Stripping down to his
civvies and going into the tiny bathroom he washed his face, all the time
not looking into the mirror above the basin.

Climbing into bed, he pulled the covers up to his chin. Then he just
lay there, with the light on, staring at the ceiling. His grip on the edge
of the covers became white knuckled but still he lay there looking at
nothing, seeing nothing.

Unlike many members of the seaQuest crew, Jim Brodie had no background
at all in research or scientific curiosity. He was a soldier, pure and
simple. Well, maybe some of the original crew, those from the first tour
of the seaQuest had no link with science either, but after all that time on
a ship full of scientists, it had rubbed off a little. And the second crew
had been hand picked with research in mind. Only Brodie, a late comer to
the crew, was out of place. And he was feeling it now.

Everyone was taking it all so...so matter of factly! He had too, at
first, but now, as he saw Lucas and Nathan in their altered state he found
it all unreal. Like any minute he was going to wake up and find it was all
a bad dream brought on by eating bad clams or something. He shuddered
under his blanket, he was a soldier, for god's sake and here he was shaking
like a kid who knew there was a monster under the bed.

Still with the light on, Jim Brodie pulled his covers over his head and
made himself relax enough so that he could sleep, a sleep full of
impossible things, but still more sleep then others on the seaQuest was
getting that night.

^^^^^^^^^^

Miguel Ortiz stumbled into his cabin, at last his watch was over and he
could get some sleep! Most of last night he'd found himself remembering
what he had witnessed between Nathan and Lucas, through the mini-whisker
link. So now he was just looking forward to sleep. He closed the door
behind him, and when he turned he noticed that the bottom bunk was still
made up. It came back to him an instant later that his roomie had been out
of town when the recall had been sent out so he missed the seaQuest's
hurried departure.

Kicking off his boots, Miguel pulled himself up onto his bunk and still
fully dressed he drifted off.

*The water around him was so very clear. He found himself standing
beside Nathan and Lucas as they made love. He watched as they came
together and he watched as they cried out in unison.

Then everything spun around and Miguel found himself laying in the warm
sand, feeling the grittiness of it on his bare back. Intimate hands ran
across his smooth skin and Miguel arched his back as feelings tingled down
his spine. He opened his eyes to look up at the shadowed figure towering
over him and he lifted hungry hands, reaching for that figure, wanting what
he had always craved. Needing what only his lover could give him.

The shadow leaned over him, letting Miguel run trembling fingers over a
smooth firm jaw and up into the dark hair. He let his fingers caress that
neck and play with the hair that curled there. Then he gently tugged his
shadowy lover's head down as he lifted himself up to meet eager lips. Out
of the corner of his eye, he saw their tails coiled together and as lips
met lips, he closed his eyes in ecstasy. A golden surge filled him as he
tasted his lover and Miguel could feel his lover shudder under his touch.
Letting his arms stretch around the broad solid back, Miguel felt strong
hands return the caresses. Their tails stroked against each other and
Miguel felt that rasp all the way up to his chest.

Then his lover's hands pushed him back into the grip of the sand and he
felt those hands and lips touch him differently, they changed from
tenderness to passion. And the heat built up inside him until he was
gasping out loud, his arms tight around the warm body of his merman lover.
Their tails coiled and twisted until Miguel felt that what he wanted from
his lover was near...very near.*

Miguel sat up with a cry on his lips, and for those few seconds before
he realised he was awake it was a cry of release. Gasping and shaking, he
reached down in a hurry and unwrapped his legs, touching them to make sure
they were really there. Miguel ran trembling fingers through sweaty hair,
then he wrapped his arms around his still shuddering body.

"Jeeze!" he groaned, "I don't believe that..." He sat there rocking
back and forward, trying to force his body back to normal. The dream was
still vivid in his mind, he only had to close his eyes and he would see his
shadowed lover towering over him, touching him, wanting him....Miguel
shuddered away from the sight. He knew that watching Lucas and Nathan had
been wrong and now he was paying for it!

"But it felt so real," he muttered, "too real!" Who had been his lover?
It hadn't been Nathan or Lucas because he hadn't a beard or blonde hair,
so who was he dreaming off? He *knew* him, he hadn't been imagining that
figure, Miguel could see that much from his dream memory, the silhouette
had been very familiar, so who was it? Then he brought himself up short...
Did he want to know who that shadow belonged to? Did he?

Carefully laying back down again, Miguel pulled the cover back over his
still sweating body. His breathing was still rocky and his heart was
beating a mile a minute, but he forced himself to take slow deep breaths
until he had himself under control. He wasn't going to let a dream get the
best of him. Turning on his side and tugging the cover up to his ear he
let his tiredness creep up on him again until he managed to drift off
again....

*....The water around him was so very clear and Miguel found himself again
standing beside Nathan and Lucas as they made love. He watched as they
came together and he watched as they cried out in unison. Then, as before,
everything spun around and Miguel found himself laying in the warm sand,
feeling the grittiness of it on his bare back. Intimate hands....*

....Miguel Ortiz twisted and burned on his bunk as the dream returned...

^^^^^^^^^^

Wendy Smith awoke wondering for a moment where she was, then she
realised that she was in her cabin. Swinging her legs out from under her,
Wendy sat up in her chair, the book on her lap slipping onto the floor.
What had woken her up? Then the shadowy memory came back to her, someone
she knew was dreaming a strong dream, a dream powerful enough to slide into
hers. The memory told her who it was.

"Poor Miguel," Wendy murmured, as she climbed to her feet. She had
known that his fascination for what had happened to Nathan and Lucas was
going to effect him in many ways, but she hadn't seen this happening. The
bit of memory she'd picked up from Miguel's dream was the feeling of
rapture from the kiss he'd shared with his shadow lover, and even she
couldn't tell who had hid in the shadows.

For a moment she wondered if she should go and talk to him, then decided
not to. Miguel hadn't known that she'd been in his mind as he'd watched
what the mini-whiskers had shown him the night before and he might not like
it that she knew of his dreams, especially that dream! Getting ready for
bed, Wendy wondered what would happen if Miguel, or, Wendy had to admit to
herself, she, recognised the shadow man in his dreams.

^^^^^^^^^^

Lonnie Henderson sat at her desk, hunched over the pile of books and
information discs. There was a lot written on mermaids, but very little on
their male counterparts. Flicking the pages of the largest book, Lonnie
came across a large colour plate of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. It
was a painting based on the myth of when Poseidon abducted one of King
Danaus' daughters, Amymone. In it the bearded Greek god was carrying off
the young woman and to Lonnie's eye he looked a lot like Nathan. Taking
the book, she leaned it up against the wall, putting her soft toy Anderson
in the middle to hold the pages apart. Patting the creature on the head,
she went back to going through the books and discs, looking up at the print
every once in a while.

It seemed strange to Lonnie that in most of the stories, while the sea
nymphs and mermaids were all beautiful, very few of the male sea creature
where handsome in any way at all. Matter of fact they were downright ugly.

^^^^^^^^^^

Tim O'Neill searched through his library of ancient myths in their
original languages until he found what he was looking for. He lifted three
volumes down, the Greek on Poseidon and the Tritons, the Roman on Neptune,
and the even older stories of the Babylonian Sea God Oannes, the supposed
original father of all the mermaids and mermen. Then, pulling up a seat,
he started to re-read them, losing himself in the battles and jealousies of
a time long past, all the time seeing Lucas and Nathan in his minds eye.

^^^^^^^^^^

Nathan and Lucas spent the night in a place no one on the seaQuest
suspected. Being the original designer of the seaQuest, Nathan knew the
out-side just as well as he knew the inside. The place he took Lucas to
was behind the second structure of the main body, just past the first set
of missile bays. It was a nook where the sloping outer shell dipped just a
little. In that dip was more then enough room for the mermen to curl up in
comfort, laying against the warm outer 'skin' of the ship. It was also one
of the few 'blind spots' on the seaQuest's hull.

"Are you sure that the sensors won't pick us up?" murmured Lucas quietly
as he leaned into Nathan's shoulder.

Nathan wrapped a arm around Lucas, pulling him a little closer. "This
place is in such a position that even the whiskers can't register us!"

Lucas lay back and stared up at the surface far above. "Did Jonathan say
what we're doing tomorrow?"

"The seaQuest is going to do one last sweep of the surrounding area with
the whiskers, then we'll be going back on the routine run the seaQuest was
doing before our transformation."

Turning on his side, Lucas frowned, "But what about Stark and those
explosives?"

"Admiral Darby will be handling most of that and as soon as he has
something, Jonathan said that Bill Noyce is going to call us."

"I don't know Nathan, that Darby guy doesn't like us much."

Nathan turned on his side too, facing Lucas, his hand reaching out to
touch his lover's shoulder. "Well, from what I remember, he dislikes Stark
even more. Anyway, there's not much more the two of us can do, now is
there?"

Lucas nodded as he slid closer to Nathan, resting his head on his
shoulder. They lay there, holding one another, as the crew of the seaQuest
came to grips with the reality that they had a couple of mermen for crew
mates.

^^^^^^^^^^

The day watch seemed to straggle onto the Bridge the next morning.
Miguel managed to trip up the stairs on his way to his place and when he
sat down, he leaned on the consul and rested his forehead in his hands. He
was exhausted, more so it seemed then when he'd fallen into bed the night
before. All night long he'd dreamed, mostly the one with the shadow lover
but there was others, and those he didn't even want to think about!

It took Tim three tries to get through to him on the com-link.

"What! What did you say Tim?"

"I said, wake up! Do you want the Commander to catch you sleeping on
watch? What's wrong with you?"

"Jeeze, Tim, I had a lousy night. Didn't sleep a wink," he lied, there
was no way he was going to tell Tim O'Neill about the exotic turn his
dreams had taken.

"Well buck up, he'll be up any time now."

Miguel sat up in his seat, straightening his back and trying to make
himself more alert, which was almost impossible.

Lonnie entered and went to her seat, saying good morning to both Tim and
Miguel. All she got back from Miguel was a grunt which caused her to raise
an eyebrow at Tim. All he did was shake his head and shrug. The best
thing he knew to do when Miguel was in this kind of mood was to ignore it.

Ford strode onto the Bridge of the seaQuest, and wondered to himself if
he'd ever feel like the man in command of her. "Mr Ortiz, how is the
whisker sweep going of the area? Mr Ortiz?"

"Ah, sorry Commander," stammered Ortiz. "They've just about completed
the area the night watch put them on, all that's left is sections three
through to six."

"And that should take how long?" questioned Ford.

"Maybe three to five hours depending on the terrain."

Ford nodded as he thought, "Good," he murmured to himself, then he turned
to O'Neill. "I'm going to talk to Dr Smith, call me if anything comes up."

"Yes sir," nodded O'Neill as Ford left the Bridge. As soon as he was
out of sight Miguel seemed to fall into himself. Five hours of analysing
information from his whiskers. He could barely focus on the screen in
front of him, let alone see and understand what appeared on it!

"Miguel," Tim got up and walked over to his friend, "maybe you should go
and see Dr Smith, you could be coming down with something."

That suggestion really woke up the Cuban. There was no way he was going
to go anywhere near that woman. She'd read every little thing that was
written on his soul and he just couldn't let another person see what was
happening to him, he just couldn't! "No, no," he waved Tim away, "I'm all
right, it'll pass."

Pulling himself together, Miguel buckled down and started to verify all
the information gathered by the last watch. Then as the new information
entered the net, he started to collate it all.

Tim watched him from his station, then glanced across to Lonnie and saw
that she was watching Miguel as well. Their glances met and Tim could tell
she was just as worried as he was, but what could they do?

^^^^^^^^^^

Ford made his way to Dr Smith's lab, going over in his mind all that he
had thought of the night before, thinking about this tour, and what it all
entailed now. As he made his way down the corridor, he saw a guard at the
door. It was one of Brodie's men. So when he opened the door to Dr Smith's
lab, he wasn't surprised to see Wolenczak sitting at Smith's desk. But
there was no sight of Smith anywhere.

"If you want Dr Smith, she's down at the Moon Pool talking to Darwin,"
said Wolenczak.

Ford stared at the man and was stared back at just as hard. These two had
exchanged some harsh words over the last few weeks, mostly about the way
Wolenczak treated his son. Ford hadn't seen the man so calm since he'd
first been brought aboard the seaQuest after the changeover of Lucas and
Nathan.

"Don't worry Commander," pacified the man, "your Dr Smith has made me
see the light."

"She has?" asked a sceptical Ford.

"She explained the new facts of life, if you can call it that, to me.
Family life that is. Your Doctor made me see that Lucas is still my Lucas,
and no matter what I say he won't go back to being my boy." The man
shrugged and looked away, a little watery eyed, "He grew up when I wasn't
looking."

//Which was often,// thought Ford to himself as he stared at the man.
"You said that Dr Smith is at the Moon Pool?" was all the reply Ford gave.
Wolenczak nodded and Ford left the room without saying anything else. That
man had to go a lot further than that before Ford would trust him, a whole
lot further!

^^^^^^^^^^

Nathan and Lucas sat just above the main view port, sitting in that
classic pose and munching on some celery like vegetation.

"You know, Nathan," muttered Lucas through a mouthful of food, "I wonder
what would happen if we ever went close to other people."

"Well, we've been close to Frank and his people. That wasn't so bad.
And there was those people we helped at the accident."

"Yeah," munched Lucas, "but they stared at us!"

"Of course they stared, we *are* just a little different from them you
know."

Lucas looked across at Nathan and saw him wearing his sapphire and diamond
necklace, his gold headpiece and arm-bands, then down at himself, covered
in his own gold and rubies. Then he comprehended what Nathan really meant,
mainly because their physical change had become so matter
of fact to Lucas by now, that it took him a moment to realise that this
was what Nathan meant by being different. "You might have a point there,
sorry about that Nathan, I must be a little thick today."

Nathan tossed what was left of his food over the edge of the seaQuest,
watching a fish dart in to examine it as it sunk. "I'll be glad when Wendy
gives the all clear to our fruit, this other stuff is so bland."

Lucas got rid of his leftovers in the same way Nathan had and agreed.
"Tell me about it, I don't know if you'd call it craving or not, but I feel
like a piece, don't you?"

"Let's call her and see if she has anything yet."

"Where's the com-links?" asked Nathan.

Lucas rolled back his eyes. "Would you believe it, we left them in the
hidey-hole. Come on." They turned and headed back to where they had spent
the night, going past lighted view-ports as they went. When they got to
the niche, Nathan waited as Lucas reached down into the interior and pulled
up one then the other com-link. Then Lucas slid down into it and smiled
out at Nathan. "Is what you said about the whiskers unable to register our
whereabouts when we're in here true?"

"Yes," smiled Nathan in return as he slid in beside Lucas, "this place
is completely undetectable by the whiskers." His hands reached out and he
gently removed the chains that Lucas wore, while Lucas' hands slid up his
arms and undid the clasp on Nathan's necklace. As Nathan dropped Lucas'
chains in the hollow, he lent forward to run his lips across the warm bare
chest of his lover.

Lucas let the heavy necklace drop from his nerveless fingers as he took a
deep breath from the sensations Nathan was creating. His hands went up to
clasp Nathan's head gently, guiding those lips where he wanted them to go.
The whole world disappeared from Nathan's and Lucas' minds as they lay
together in the hollow on the back of the seaQuest.

^^^^^^^^^^

Stark set her boat in motion and left the area as fast as possible. The
timer was set to go off in a short time and she wanted to be well away
before it did. Back on the beach, the house Nathan Bridger had shared with
his wife sat in the warm sunlight. Sat as it had done since he had left
after her death, sat and waited for someone to return. As Stark moved
further away, the timer reached it's count-down and the house disappeared
in an explosion that rocked the area. When the cloud of smoke dissipated
all that was left of the house was a smouldering pile of rubble. "That's
one Bridger," muttered Stark as she turned her back on the column of smoke
and headed for an island in the Caribbean.

^^^^^^^^^^

Nathan and Lucas lay together in the warm hollow on the seaQuest. Both
rested and waited for Jonathan to call them. They talked and laughed about
nothing really, just being together. Then the com-link came alive, but it
wasn't Jonathan.

"Hey guys, do you mind a visitor?"

Lucas sat up and turned his com-link on. "Tony, is that you?"

"Yep, my mother always told me to call ahead before turning up at
someone's place sooo...I just wondered if you'd mind a caller?"

"Not at all," laughed Nathan as he and Lucas slipped back into their
ornaments. Then they headed for the Moon Pool doors. The welcome Tony got
from the merman was boisterous. Hugs were spread around and laughter
filled the sea, backs were slapped and grins were contagious.

"Tony, Tony, it's good to see you!" laughed Lucas as he hugged the man
and Nathan just slapped him on the back. The three water breathers moved
further away from the seaQuest as they talked and caught up with each
others news.

Tony told them what a pain the Admiral had been as he brought the
seaQuest out to meet them. "That guy," Tony shook his head, "all he did
was order people around."

"Tony, he's an Admiral, it's his job to order people around!"

"Yeah, I know that, but it's the way he did it that got me. Anyway,
he's gone and we're all back together again, that's all that matters."

Nathan and Lucas told him about the King's and what happened when they
took them down to the wreck. "How about a trip up-world and we'll
introduce you to them?" asked Nathan.

"Okay, let me call in," Tony contacted Tim and told him that he'd be
with Nathan and Lucas if they wanted him. Then the three headed for the
sunlight above them. The sky was bright blue with only a few wispy clouds
when they surfaced and they pointed Tony in the direction of the Sea
Monarch, the King's ship.

"Hey, she's a beauty, let's get a little closer." They swam towards the
busy looking ship until someone saw them and hailed a welcoming call.

Frank and Glory rushed to the diving platform. "Hey, Nathan, Lucas, how
are you?" called Glory. Frank started to talk then broke off when he saw
three heads instead of two, then his jaw dropped even further when one of
them climbed out of the water and showed he had legs. //This is a turn
around,// he thought to himself, //instead of being surprised at seeing
tails, here I am startled at seeing legs.// "Hey guys, you keep bringing
friends to meet us."

"Frank, Glory, this is Tony, he's from the seaQuest," introduced Nathan

"He swims without gear, but he's not like you?"

"Don't you remember, Dad? I told you about Tony, he helped Lucas and
Nathan at the Resort accident, matter of fact he was the one who carried me."

"Hey, that's right!" spoke up Tony, eyeing her in his way, "I didn't
recognise you all cleaned up."

"Toonee," muttered Lucas, pulling the man back in the water by his leg.

"Sorry about that Glory," laughed Nathan as Tony popped up beside Lucas
and started to wrestle the youth. "You have to excuse Tony, he's just like
that." Nathan watched the two play, then went back to talking to Frank
and Glory. "We'll be leaving soon, Jonathan is making a complete scan of
the area to make certain that no surprises were left behind."

Frank nodded, listening to Nathan but watching, like his daughter, the
other two. "Any idea when you'll be back this way?"

"None at all," said Nathan as he moved forward and separated the
wrestling pair. Lucas had Tony in a grip the two legged man couldn't
escape. "Come on, Lucas, you'll hurt him if you don't loosen your tail."

Lucas looked down in shock when he realised that Tony was turning a little
red faced. "Oh boy!" Loosing his tail from around Tony's thighs and
waist, Lucas slapped him on his cheeks. "Tony, you okay? Tony?"

"Kid!" growled a breathless Tony, "are you going to be sorry for that!"

"Come on, Tony, I didn't mean..."

Nathan shook his head and looked up at the giggling woman and grinning
man. "Can't take them anywhere!" smiled the older merman, "I'll call ahead
if we end up back this way any-time in the future Frank. See you later."
He reached out and pulled the other two apart, then, still holding an arm
of each, he headed back down to the seaQuest. "I can't believe that,"
grumbled Nathan, pretending to be upset. "I can't take the pair of you
anywhere!"

"He started it," Tony almost howled, pointing at Lucas with his free hand.

"I did not!" spluttered Lucas. Nathan couldn't hold his amusement any
longer, he started to laugh so hard that he had to wrap his arms around his
chest to stop from hurting himself. Then the other two realised what they
had been doing and they started to laugh.

That afternoon they got the call from Jonathan. "The seaQuest is moving
on. Now we've got the all clear on this area, we have to get on with the
job we started before all this happened. Are you coming with us?" He held
his breath, staring out at his friends.

"Of course we are," smiled Nathan, moving closer to the view port. "Do
you mean to follow the original course up the shelf, then through the
Kelvin Seamounts?"

"Yes," agreed Jonathan, "Then you remember where we're going?"

Nathan nodded, "I remember the orders, so don't worry about us, if we
get separated from you I know where to go."

Jonathan didn't even think of offering them a lift in the seaQuest. He
knew that there was no way they would board her.

As Jonathan signed off, Lucas and Nathan watched Tony enter the seaQuest
through the Moon Pool doors, then they headed for their hollow. Just as
they settled themselves the seaQuest started to move.

"It's like being in a convertible," laughed Lucas as the ship picked up
speed. "Where are we going? What's the mission?"

Nathan made himself comfortable, watching the sea as it flashed by.
"Back before the Change, we were sent to investigate a problem at a mining
colony up on the Gibbs Fracture Zone."

Lucas whistled, "That's out in the middle of nowhere!"

"They're a private mining group, financed by the UEO to gather the rich
copper and nickel nodules that abound in the area."

"So what's happening that gets the seaQuest called out?"

"The nodules they mine are contracted for the UEO's Computer Services.
They are one of the largest suppliers of copper and nickel to the UEO and
lately their quota has dropped appallingly. The people at the colony say
that the quantity of modules should have lasted for at least another three
decades, maybe longer, the way they mine it, but when they go out to the
sea beds to lift them, they find the areas already stripped."

"So someone is taking the nodules before the miners get there."

Nathan nodded, "Now normally they would just step up security and catch
the thieves."

Lucas broke in, sitting forward, getting caught up in the story, "I take
it they did and didn't catch anyone?"

"Right," nodded Nathan, "they beefed up the security in all the areas
not touched by the thieves, nothing registered on any of the sensors, but
still the nodules disappeared."

"A real mystery," murmured Lucas.

"A mystery that is costing the UEO a fortune, and they want the seaQuest
to find out what's happening."

The seaQuest made her way up the Continental Shelf until she came to the
Kelvin Seamounts, which they passed through on their way to the Sohm
Abyssal Plain. They just reached the Grand Banks when Nathan sat up and
stared upwards. Lucas stared at him, then followed his glance to the
surface.

"Nathan?" he reached out and touched his shoulder, "what's wrong?"

"There's a storm up there," murmured Nathan, "can't you feel it?"

Lucas stiffened as he reached outwards, "Is it a feeling of...of awe? As
if something powerful is happening?"

"Powerful just about explains a North Atlantic storm all right. Just be
glad we're down here and not up there."

Lucas lay back down, but his eyes were still drawn upwards. "I wonder
what it's like?" he murmured softly.

Nathan lay back down beside him, "Remember when you told me what it was
like when you rode out that hurricane?"

Lucas nodded, his glance not moving.

"Ten times worse, a hundred times worse. It's nature at her worst or
best depending."

This did get Lucas' attention. "Depending? What do you mean?"

"There are accounts of sailors in the old days who braved the storms of
the seven seas just for the thrill, the excitement, the *feelings* they
experienced from those tempests. They would crew on ships that went to
places like Cape Horn or into the Norwegian Sea, places where squalls were
an everyday occurrence. They lived for the thrill."

Lucas thought about that for a moment then turned to Nathan and, as his
lover knew he would, asked, "Can we go up-world and see? I'd love to be
able to see something like that."

Nathan knew that Lucas would enjoy it, just as he would. They were two of
a kind after all. Reaching out a hand, which Lucas took, they surged
upwards. Just for an instant watching the seaQuest move away. "Don't
worry," said Nathan, "I know exactly where they're going."

The water grew choppy as they neared the surface but they where in the
open ocean and there was no chance of them being dashed against any rocks.
One moment they where still rather deep beneath the surface, the next
second the water seemed to pull back from around them and the merman found
themselves in a trough of a huge wave.

"Dive!" called Nathan as he pulled Lucas beneath the surface seconds
before tons of water would have pounded down on them. The death-grip they
had on each other's wrists was strong enough so that the waves couldn't
pull them apart. Seconds later they found themselves on the surface again,
this time they were riding a monster wave as it flowed through the tempest.

Nathan could feel the emotions surging through Lucas as they stared
around at the black sky, crisscrossed with flashes of lighting. He hadn't
planned on the lightening so he tugged at Lucas' hand, pulling the young
merman down below the surface, deeper then before. He had to tow Lucas
behind him as the dazed merman didn't want to return to the safety of the
deep ocean.

"Let go, Nathan! I want to see some more. It's all so wonderful!"

"There's too much lightening up there and we're too handy a target.
Come on!"

Reluctantly Lucas let Nathan pull him further out of harms way all the
time talking about the sights he'd just seen. "I've never seen the sky so
black and that wave...it almost took us out!"

When they where deep enough to be out of the storms reach, Nathan turned
into the direction the seaQuest was heading and started to follow after it.
Lucas, still in Nathan's grip was right behind him. Nathan wasn't going to
take a chance on him going back to the surface just yet. But it seemed
that the surface wasn't on Lucas' mind.

Lucas watched as Nathan swam just in front of him, watched as the
muscles on his back and flanks moved him through the water. His heart was
still pounding from excitement at what he had just seen...just felt, and he
wanted to feel more. He pulled Nathan to a stop and when he turned to ask
Lucas what was wrong, Lucas wrapped his tail around that of his lover's.
The emotions that rocketed through him were like those he felt as Nathan
and he made love, and Lucas found that he wanted to feel those emotions
again very much indeed.

Nathan had a surprised look on his face as Lucas crushed him in his
embrace. "Lucas, what..."

The excited merman reached up and kissed Nathan, kissed him until his
lover's body relaxed and returned the embrace.

"Lucas, we've got to catch up with the seaQuest..." murmured Nathan when
Lucas pulled away from his lips and ran little kisses across his cheeks and
down his chest.

"Later," muttered the excited Lucas. "Make love to me!"

Nathan knew what was driving Lucas, he felt the same way himself. The
storm above was something that stirred the blood. But Nathan also knew
that this wasn't the safest place to let go of everything, and he tried to
tell Lucas that, but the youth knew all there was to know on how to arouse
him and Nathan lost the battle even before he started the fight.

They coiled together, lips tasting each other, hands finding those
places that seemed so ordinary until touched by the other. Nathan groaned
as Lucas nipped the skin on his shoulder, then soothed the pain with his
tongue. So he returned the attack and dug his fingers into Lucas' flanks,
causing Lucas to react violently.

Without any further ado, Lucas tightened his grip on Nathan and drove
the two of them beyond anything they had felt before.

Nathan arched backwards, trying to pull free of Lucas' grip as what his
lover was doing to him exploded throughout his body. His chest locked
tight as Lucas played his body like a maestro and unable to take a breath
he gasped and groaned until everything came loose in one huge explosion and
the cry he released was echoed by Lucas seconds later.

They drifted there, at the whim of the currents, for a long while.
Neither were in any shape to control where they where going so it was a
shock to them finding themselves back in the storm. That woke them up and
had the two of them diving as deep as they could, as fast as they could.
They still held hands and Lucas pulled Nathan towards him.

"That...that was wonderful."

Nathan ran a caressing hand down Lucas' back. "It was the taste of
danger that made it like that you know," he said gently. The look of shock
on Lucas' face had Nathan tightening his grip on his lover.

"The taste of danger? You mean just because the storm excited me, I
made love to you? But, but you liked it, didn't you? I didn't...I didn't
force you!"

The older merman pulled the younger into a strong embrace, he kept
forgetting that Lucas wasn't as old as he looked. "Lucas that was the most
unforgettable experience I've ever had! I loved it so much that if I'd
enjoyed it any more, I'd probably be dead!"

Lucas relaxed in Nathan's arms saying, "It was as if I couldn't control
myself. I craved the feelings the storm stirred in me, and I realised that
when we made love, those same feeling were there! I'm sorry Nathan, if I
did something wrong."

Nathan kept an arm around Lucas' waist as they started to swim after the
seaQuest. "Anything we share can't be wrong, Lucas. We won't let it."

Together they followed the course taken by the seaQuest and as they
travelled, Lucas found that he could *feel* that the ship had passed this
way only a short time ago. They were learning more about their new selves
and each time something came to them it was like another piece of
information added to their book of knowledge.

The seaQuest appeared out of the haze ahead of them and they accelerated
a little to catch up, easily avoiding the sweeping whiskers. Moments later
they were back in their hollow on the back of the seaQuest.

"We should be turning soon, to head out for the mining colony on the
Fracture Zone."

"How can you tell?" asked Lucas as he strained his eyes looking ahead of
them.

"Look down there," pointed Nathan at the seabed ahead of them. "See how
the shelf is becoming steeper, we're coming up on Flemish Cap. Any-time
soon now, we'll be taking a more north-easterly course which would take us
right to where we have to go."

Lucas marvelled at what Nathan had told him.

"You have to remember Lucas, the orders to come out here were given to
me first, so I know the route in detail."

"Yeah, I suppose so, but still, the way you picked up on what you
see...Will you teach me how to do that?"

Nathan nodded and the two leaned forward as he pointed out landmarks as
they travelled over them. And spoke of how deep underwater currents carved
new landmarks just like rivers on the land. The underwater flows could be
deadly as they swept all in front of them.

Lucas nodded. "I...I know that," he was surprised to find that piece of
information surface in his mind's eye.

"Yes, it seems we were given the fundamental knowledge to survive in our
new world."

Lucas sat up and stared across at Nathan, "You've noticed that too? It's
like a page being turned in my head and something pops out of nowhere and I
know it!" They talked about this for what seemed like a long time until
again Lucas saw Nathan stiffen and the young merman knew that his friend
had sensed something.

"What is it?" he asked quietly, as he looked around.

"There's something wrong." Nathan picked up his com-link and thumbed it
on.

"Jonathan, are you there?"

"Nathan? What is it?"

"One of the whiskers out here isn't ours."

"What?" They heard him talking to Miguel in the background.

"Mr Ortiz, identify all whiskers." Each of the whiskers flashed red one
after another as Miguel's voice counted from one to six, all but one.

The two mermen flashed across the intervening space and grabbed the
alien whisker. It tried to dart away, but the grip Nathan and Lucas had on
it would stop a bulldozer. One of the seaQuest whiskers appeared beside
them and Jonathan's voice echoed around them.

"We'll bring the seaQuest as close as we can. Will you be able to
manoeuvre it over to a grappling arm?" Without replying, Nathan and Lucas
put all their strength in turning the alien whisker closer to the grappling
hook as it lowered from the belly of the seaQuest. It took a couple of
tries to get the bucking thing in place but finally it was locked in the
grip of the robot arm.

"Are you going to scan it for any explosives, Jonathan?" asked a
breathless Nathan as he and Lucas backed away from the hanging mechanism.

"You think of *that* after we wrestled the damn thing," panted Lucas,
"thank you very much!" One of the seaQuest whiskers moved up beside the
false one and Miguel began running all the sensor tests on it.

"Well, Mr Ortiz?" asked an impatient Ford.

"It's a UEO whisker all right, but not one of ours." Ortiz's eyes went
back down to his screens and he chewed a lip as further information came
through.

"It registered..." he looked up at Ford with a shocked look on his face,
"Sir, it's registered to the seaQuest, the first one!"

Ford rounded on him, "What! From the original seaQuest. But all those
were destroyed when she was destroyed."

"Yes sir, I know, sir, but the computer on that whisker is saying that
it's from the original seaQuest. Hold on..." he replaced the earphones and
started to fiddle with his panel. "Last date of information retrieval
was....Commander, it's one of the whiskers we lost in the Bermuda Triangle,
in all those fresh water sink holes. Remember?"

Ford nodded, he'd been on a raft at the time in the middle of a hurricane,
but he'd read the report. "So someone salvaged the thing and has been
using it?"

"Looks that way sir, and if it has something to do with those nodules
disappearing it might explain why the miners sensors didn't pick up
anything." He looked across at Ford, "Our whiskers are able to blind any
sensors they're ordered to."

Ford stared at the screen for a long moment then asked, "Is it safe to
bring aboard?"

Ortiz shook his head, and waved a hand at his panel. "My sensors can't
pick up anything wrong with it, but like I said, all whiskers are able to
block any kind of sweep, which includes those done by other whiskers."

"Can you down-load the core, find out if there's anything in it to help
us?"

Ortiz's fingers flew across the panel as he tried to remember the old
codes he'd used on those whiskers. Is a few moments he'd managed to tap
into the main memory and was able to down-load the information.

Suddenly Lucas' voice came over the com-link. "Jonathan, did you just do
something, because this whisker has just gone hot."

"Hot?"

"I can't explain now," Lucas' voice was urgent, "but if I was you I'd
cut loose the grappling hook and drop the whisker fast."

Without thinking about it, Ford motioned Ortiz to do so.

Ortiz turned the main screen onto the view from a whisker that watched
the ball shape disappear in the haze below them. Suddenly a pin-point of
light grew into a blossom of fire and the ship rocked a little as the
violent wave passed it.

"Nathan? Lucas?" called a concerned O'Neill, "are you there?"

"We're all right, Tim, the two of us got behind the seaQuest before the
explosion went off," reported Lucas.

"What do you think all that was about Jonathan?" asked Nathan as he and
Lucas appeared in front of the seaQuest.

"I think that someone sent that whisker in to spy on us. To see what it
could find out and report back to it's new masters. They probably thought
that we'd never notice another whisker." Ford walked down to the view-port
and looked out at the mermen, "So how come you noticed it?"

"It's sound was different," said a pensive Nathan. "The other whiskers
all have the same engine noise, that one was slightly off."

"A different vibration?" asked Miguel.

"That could be," agreed Nathan.

"Commander," said Ortiz as he turned to Ford, "I can set the whiskers to
scan for that vibration. At least we'll know if they send any more spies."

"Good idea," said Ford, "how long before you can get me something from
that core you pulled?"

Ortiz grimaced. "It's a bit of a mess sir, they aren't exactly computer
experts whoever they are. It might take a little while."

"Tell me as soon as you have something."

Ortiz nodded and went to work. His headache from lack of sleep was
getting worse, and now that he was doing this down-load...it could be hours
before he would get back to his cabin. But then again, it could be said
that it might be hours before he had those dreams again. Then and there he
decided to see Wendy and get something that would knock him out. Telepath
or not, she surely wouldn't go looking in his mind if she wasn't invited.
And Miguel had to admit to himself that right at this moment, he didn't
care if she did or not. Pushing all that to the back of his mind, Ortiz
started to make his way through the core he'd pulled, using all his old
codes as he went along.

Tim and Lonnie shared a long look, then Tim locked onto her com-link for
a private talk as the other bridge officers went back to work.

"Does Miguel look okay to you?" he asked worried, but softly.

"No, he looks a mess. Do you think he's sick?"

"I don't know, but after this watch, I'm taking him to see Dr Smith,
even if I have to carry him!"

"I'll help," she answered just before she broke the link and they both
went back to work and watching Miguel.

"Commander Ford!" called Ortiz as soon as he finished going over the
core.

Ford moved over to Ortiz's consul and waited.

"The only thing I was able to pull from that mess was a set of
co-ordinates. Everything else was pretty messed up, including how it came
into the hands of whoever is using it."

"The co-ordinates?"

"They're the same ones we have for the Gibbs Mining Colony at the
Fracture Zone sir!"

"The same? That's strange," he thought for a long moment, then sat down
and spoke to his communication officer, "Mr O'Neill, get me a link with
that Colony, I want to talk to the boss."

"I have him Commander, it's a Mr Powell." The main screen blinked and
then came on-line. A blonde man stared out at them.

"Ah, Mr Powell."

"Commander, what can I do for you?"

"Mr Powell," smiled Ford as he leaned forward, "I understand that you're
still having a little trouble with pilfering still?"

"Pilfering? I hardly call twenty five tons of nodules pilfering,
Commander," shot back the angry man.

Ford rubbed his chin and nodded. "Yes, I suppose you're right about that.
I take it that your security still aren't picking anything up?"

"Commander, I've been sending reports everyday to the UEO, haven't they
been passing them on? And I had been informed weeks ago that the seaQuest
was coming to investigate, but this is the first I've heard from you."

"I'm sorry, Mr Powell, we had a, ah, medical problem and had to put back
to Cape Quest for a short time."

"And why didn't anyone bother to tell us?"

"I have no idea why Headquarters didn't tell you of the delay, maybe
they got their wires crossed," Ford raised an eyebrow, "that can happen in
an organisation the size of the UEO." Ford sat back in his seat, "So tell
me, Mr Powell, have your sensors picked up anything on the thieves?"

"No, I'm sorry to say, that no matter what we do, we haven't been able
to get a thing on them."

"What kind of equipment have you got?" queried Ford, getting closer to
what he wanted to know.

Powell scratched his head, "Well the UEO supplied us with a whole lot of
things, but I really can't say what, as it's not my department. Security
is handled by Miller Dodds. He used to be in the military and understands
all that stuff."

Ortiz started searching for information on a Miller Dodds, formally
military... maybe.

Ford kept Powell talking for a little while longer then signed off,
telling the man that they would be there very shortly. "An inside job?"
murmured Ford.

"Could be, sir," replied Ortiz as he read what was scrolling across his
screen.

"What have you got, Mr Ortiz?"

"I've been able to pull out the file on this Miller Dodds, and I've got
the list of ordinance that the UEO supplied them with."

"Good work! Put Dodds file up on the main screen and give me the list
on my monitor." Ortiz did so and the main screen showed a photo of a dark
haired, tanned man.

"Dodds, Miller...." read Ford, "let's see, he was in the United States
Navy, then joined the UEO...retired a couple of years ago...mmm. Nothing
suspicious on that. What about the ordinance list?" He ran his finger
down the list but whiskers weren't mentioned anywhere. "They were given
standard sensory units." He turned back to Ortiz. "Could a whisker put up
a shield that would hide things from regular sensors?"

Ortiz nodded, "As I said before sir, easily, especially those units we
use. They're top of the line. But I can't see how they, whoever *they*
are, got a whisker."

"Salvage? Blackmarket?" Ford shrugged, "We won't know until we get a
few other answers."

^^^^^^^^^^^

Lucas and Nathan had moved back to their place on the back of the
seaQuest. But instead of going into the hollow, they just rested beside
it. Nathan lay flat, looking over the edge, watching as the sea floor
flowed past.

Lucas sat beside him in the classic pose painted by artists down the
centuries as he too stared at their world. His hand rested on Nathan's
lower back, then, as Nathan pointed something out to him, Lucas lay his arm
across his lover's shoulders, with his chin resting on a strong shoulder
blade.

"See, Lucas," murmured Nathan pointing at what looked like a jumble of
mud covered rocks, "there's the start of the Fracture Zone. It'll get
worst the closer we get to where we're going. Those rock piles will soon
turn into large rifts and masses of displaced rocks. The Gibbs Mining
Colony is situated in one of the biggest rifts, about thirteen and a half
thousand feet down. They've taken just about all the nodules from nearby,
the areas being mined now are in the valleys coming off their's. That's
where all the troubles have been happening."

Lucas' weight on Nathan grew heavier as he made himself comfortable,
resting both his arms on the warm back under him. "I don't think we've
been out this way before, have we?"

"Well, I've been out here, many years ago, but the seaQuest? No. Of
course," he smiled over his shoulder at the tranquil youth, "I've not seen
it from this angle before." Nathan lifted his lower tail and brushed his
fluke against Lucas' back.

The younger merman just smiled and rested his cheek against Nathan's
shoulders, his fingers running over the muscles he relaxed on. As he lay
there, something caught his eye and he lifted his head to look. "Nathan."

"Hmmm?" was the only reply.

"There's a whisker over there," he pointed with his chin, "and it's
watching us."

"Oh, it's probably just Miguel again. He's always got a whisker
watching us."

"He does? Wonder why?" murmured Lucas, as he went back to tracing his
finger across Nathan's back.

Nathan's movements showed that he enjoyed what Lucas was doing. "Haven't
you noticed them?" the older merman turned under Lucas and as he lay on his
back, Lucas was now resting on his lovers chest.

^^^^^^^^^^

Miguel sat at his consul, watching his screens, but leaving one for the
whisker watching the mermen. His hands flashed across the keys as he
sifted through all the information from the other whiskers and everything
else he was working on across his screens. Every once in a while, his eyes
would stray over to that one screen and he would find himself studying
Lucas and Nathan.

The one thing he had noticed was that the two of them touched more then
they used to in the beginning. As if they had stopped caring what others
thought about them any-more. Miguel found himself wondering if the change
that affected them was happening on more then their bodies.

He saw his night watch relief entering the Bridge, Miguel quickly
reached across and moved the whisker from watching the merman to it's
regular duty. He gave up his seat and escaped the Bridge before O'Neill or
Henderson could grab him, and as their reliefs hadn't reported yet, they
couldn't follow him. Entering the mag-lev, Miguel sat down as others
followed him, knowing very well that he wasn't, that he *couldn't*, go to
see Wendy after all. Miguel got off at his stop and made his way quickly
to his cabin. As soon as he'd entered he had the door locked and sealed.
Then he sat on his bunk and pushed his hands through his hair.

"Sleep," he muttered to himself, he wanted sleep, but he couldn't take
the chance on having those damn dreams again, but he needed sleep. For a
man who'd gone through all the training he'd been through, forty-eight
hours without sleep shouldn't affect him. And yet, here he was, a bundle
of nerves and full of confusion. He knew that all he had to do was go see
Wendy and get something to put him out, but.... and it was the *but* that
he didn't want to think about.

A knock sounded at the door and looking through the porthole he saw Tim
outside. "Go away, Tim, I'm too tired to talk."

"Miguel, you're sick, you need to talk to Dr Smith, even I can see that."

"There's nothing wrong with me, just leave me alone!" He ignored Tim
until his friend gave up and left.

But Tim hadn't given up. Standing outside Dr Smith's office, Tim
hesitated for a long moment, if she was there, he'd tell her about Miguel,
if she wasn't he wouldn't go looking for her, he knocked quietly.

"It's open," came the Doctor's voice and Tim pushed the door open and
stuck his head into the room.

"Ahh, Dr Smith?"

"Yes, Tim, what can I do for you?"

"It's not me, Doctor, it's...it's Miguel Ortiz. I think he's sick, but
he won't come to see you." Tim hesitated, then rushed on, "He's pale as a
ghost, and I'm sure he's had a headache all day."

As Tim spoke to the Doctor, Ford entered the Captain's quarters... his
quarters. Spending last night in what seemed like the wrong cabin had been
hard. In all his years as second-in-command of the seaQuest, Ford had been
in the same cabin. The Captain's cabin was the biggest on the ship and,
strange as it seemed, he'd felt exposed the whole night.

Ford crossed the room to the outside view port, that alone was worth the
hassle of moving all his gear. His gaze moved over to a couple of boxes in
the corner that held all that belonged to Captain Bridger. He didn't know
what to do with them. It wasn't as if Nathan was dead, it was just that he
had no interest in what had been the belongings of Captain Bridger. And he
couldn't just throw them away...so they sat piled in the corner until he
could figure what to do.

Leaning his elbow on the sill, he rested his chin on his hand and stared
out at the darkness, thinking of Nathan and Lucas, wondering what they were
doing and how they'd help at the mining colony. Then he thought of
something.

The seaQuest was going there, to depths that would keep Darwin in the
ship, will Nathan and Lucas be able to survive at such depths? Pulling out
his com-link, Jonathan flicked it to the private band that O'Neill had
fixed up. "Nathan? Hello Nathan, are you there?"

"Jonathan," came the calm voice of his friend, "what can I do for you?"

"I just thought of something, just how deep can you and Lucas go? As
you know the Gibbs Mining Colony is very deep, almost fourteen thousand
feet down."

"Yes, I remember that."

Jonathan could hear Nathan saying something to Lucas, but it was too soft
for him to make out.

"Jonathan, where are you? We need to tell you something, and we think
it should be face to face."

"I'm...I'm in the Captain's cabin."

"You're in *your* cabin," said Nathan softly, "you are the Commander of
the seaQuest now, and it's something that you've long deserved. Now quit
worrying what I think." Nathan appeared outside the small view port, with
Lucas behind him. He reached out and placed his palm on the smooth surface
of the plasti-glass and held the com-link up with the other. "We needed to
speak to you like this because Lucas and I have discovered something about
ourselves that we should really pass on."

He looked over his shoulder to the younger merman, then back at the new
Commander of seaQuest. "We have...the two of us have memories that neither
of us possessed before the change. We remember things that neither of us
have ever learnt. Like what we can now eat, or the depths we can swim to."

Lucas' voice broke in, "It's as if we have a book in our minds and every
time we see or think of something in that book, it opens at the right page,
and there it is for us to know." He leaned against Nathan's shoulder,
looking in on Jonathan on the other side of the view port. "Do you
understand?"

Jonathan nodded slowly, it sounded logical, but where did this memory
come from? He voiced that question out loud.

"We have no idea," muttered Nathan, "it's just there when we need to
know something. That's how I can tell you that the two of us can go to the
Gibbs Mining Colony quite easily."

Jonathan thought for a long moment, watching as Lucas snaked his arms
around Nathan's waist. "Can the two of you make your way to the Colony
without letting them see you on their scanners."

Nathan thought about it for a moment, "If we come up on them in one of
the unused valley's...I think we could do it."

"Okay, Nathan, you know the area, when we get to a likely spot, peel off
and go that way. Maybe we can use the two of you to discover what's going
on out there."

The two nodded, then with a wave, they disappeared back into the haze and
Jonathan wondered about what they had just told him. Looking across at the
clock, he saw how late it was and decided to let Wendy know about it in the
morning.

Nathan and Lucas went back to their hollow and slid into it's
comfortable enclosure.

"When do you want to leave?" murmured Lucas as he rested against
Nathan's shoulder.

Nathan lifted his arm, letting Lucas get a little closer. "In a couple of
hours, when we're a little closer."

"Do you think that alien whisker picked us up on it's sensors?"

Letting his arm rest across Lucas' shoulders, Nathan shrugged. "I don't
know. We were out there as soon as it got close enough for me to pick up
the difference I noticed," he thought about it. "Even if it did pick us
up, and they knew about us, would they think that we would sneak up on them
like Jonathan suggested? You heard Jonathan when he asked if we could go
that deep. A lot of people couldn't grasp the idea that anybody, with or
without tails, could do what we can do."

Lucas nodded, letting himself rest more fully against Nathan's side,
letting the warmth he usually felt when he was near Nathan fill his body.
His hand reached out and he rubbed it up and down his lovers flank.
"Do...do you want to sleep?"

Nathan laughed softly and covered Lucas' hand with his. "Not really," he
murmured, sliding further down into the hollow until Lucas was laying
across his chest. Reaching out, he touched the chains that rested on
Lucas' shoulders. The young merman ducked his head, letting Nathan pull
them over his head. Then with his lover still laying across his chest,
Nathan reached back and removed his necklace, presenting his chest to
Lucas' hands and lips.

Lucas ran his fingers gently across the spread of firm muscles.

Nathan dropped his sapphire and diamonds next to the gold chains. Then he
let his fingers comb through the mass of blonde hair that moved across his
chest. Touching the gold headpiece, Nathan gently pulled it free, one hand
still caressing the neck of his lover. As he unbound Lucas' hair, Nathan
lowered his head until he was nuzzling the soft skin behind his lovers
right ear.

Lucas closed his eyes as Nathan's lips skimmed across his skin, and he
stopped moving. When Nathan murmured a denial, begging him to keep going,
Lucas smiled against the heated body under him and started to explore
again. He let his tongue flick out for a quick taste and he felt his lover
jerk under him.

"Lucas," the word came out as a hiss and Nathan pushed his hands down
past Lucas neck and onto his strong back. He gripped the muscles on his
lovers back and pulled his hands back towards him, his fingers digging into
the smooth, different tissue.

Lucas arced upwards as he felt what Nathan's fingers did to him. Then
with a groan he collapsed back on top of his lover. "Jeeze, Nathan," he
gasped, "don't do that. You know how sensitive my aquatic skin is to your
touch."

Nathan's laughter came out in little puffs as he pressed his lips to
Lucas' neck. "Yeah, isn't it great!"

Lucas turned his head and found Nathan's smiling lips and rewarded the
merman with a kiss that set them both on fire. Lucas pushed his arms
around his lovers waist, pulling Nathan closer until the two of them were
coiled together in their hollow.

Striving to get closer, they tightened their grip on each other until
they were so close not even a thought could separate them. Not realising
what they were doing as they kissed, their grasping hands bruised each
others backs and shoulders. The two mermen had to pull away from each
other just to breathe. They lay, cheek to cheek, gasping as they tried to
recover from what they had just been through. Murmuring each others names,
they rested, letting their hearts recover before they started again.

As Nathan lay under Lucas, the weight of his lovers chest against his
was the most delicious thing Nathan had ever felt. As their heartbeats
slowed, it seemed like they synchronised, beating together. His hands
gently rested against Lucas' lower back, and Nathan sighed. "Lucas," he
whispered, "Lucas, lift your head a little."

The blonde head on his chest moved until blue eyes met hazel and they
smiled. Lucas lifted his arms and wrapped them back around Nathan and he
pulled himself up his lovers chest.

Nathan closed his eyes at the feeling, as Lucas' chest slid up his. The
stroking touch of the young merman's hard muscles had him reaching up and
pulling Lucas down against him. With a flip of his tail, Nathan turned
over and settled Lucas beneath him.

It was his turn to let his weight push into his lover's chest, and from
the look in Lucas' eyes the young merman was relishing it as much as he had
earlier. The mermen played, each stopping just before the love-making got
to it's finale. They enjoyed each other until the feelings finally got the
better of them. Nathan locked his tail around Lucas' and the grip was hard
and powerful.

It was Lucas' turn to find his breathing blocked off by the powerful
emotions that teemed through his body. With his head thrown back and his
muscles clenched, Lucas' body exploded. When Nathan buried his face in his
lovers neck as he roared out his release, Lucas was finally able to breathe
again and his cry echoed around them.

They lay there, still joined, unable to move. Eyes closed, hearts
slowing, they murmured softly to one another.

"Lucas," Nathan's voice was hardly there at all, "Lucas, what you do to
me is a wonder that will never cease."

Lucas' chuckle vibrated through his body and into Nathan's. "What I do to
you... I wish I had strength to tell you how you make me feel." He
burrowed his head against the warmth of his love. It was as if they had
become puppets with their strings cut.

Nathan managed to gather enough energy to pull away from Lucas, causing
the young merman to mutter a soft denial.

"Why did you move?" he grumbled softly, turning on his side to look at
Nathan.

"I'm too heavy," smiled Nathan as he ran a gentle finger over a blonde
eyebrow.

Lucas reached out and pulled Nathan closer. "I love the feeling of you on
top of me, so hard and firm," he touched the warm chest in front of him,
letting a finger swirl around a flat nipple.

Nathan watched his lovers finger as it ran over his chest, it was an
exotic sight and Nathan laid back and enjoyed it. He was too exhausted to
do anything else at the moment so he let Lucas play.

Lucas spread his hand, his fingers reaching across the expanse of Nathan's
chest, rubbing against the hard muscle that lay under the smooth skin. His
other arm had moved under Nathan's head. "Sometimes I think I could stay
like this with you forever. Coiled together, skin against skin, never
moving," murmured the young merman.

Nathan shifted slightly and took the exploring hand in his. Lacing his
fingers with those of his lover, Nathan brought the joined hands up to his
lips and he kissed Lucas' hand then he ran his tongue across the fingers
held fast, as he finished Lucas leaned forward and did the same. The kiss
they melded into grew into something that awoke both their bodies from the
limbo they had been in.

^^^^^^^^^^

Miguel lay on the bottom bunk, staring up at his messy one above.
Another dream, another rotten night. When he closed his eyes, he could see
that shadowed figure towering over him, touching him.

What was wrong with him? He'd never had any thing like this happen to
him before, never. There was a knock on the door and he ignored it. Then
the knock sounded again and Miguel pulled himself to his feet like an old
man. "Tim, just go away!" But it wasn't Tim who answered.

"Miguel, it's Dr Smith, open up."

Miguel groaned, and opened the door. "What is it, Wendy? I was asleep,"
he lied.

Wendy shook her head as she entered Miguel's quarters. "No, you weren't.
You haven't slept properly for the last couple of nights, have you?"

Miguel swung away from the tall lovely woman and moved as far away from
her as he could in the small cabin. "Listen, I'm all right. Just a couple
of nightmares, that's all."

Wendy closed the door and moved across the tiny cabin, sitting on the
bottom bunk. "Miguel," she said softly, "I know about your dreams."

The Sensor Chief threw her a look of horror.

"I've felt your dreams ever since they started after what the whisker
showed you on the Questor."

"You know about that? But how?"

She looked away from him, then met his gaze. "I was in the cabin as you
watched, everything you saw, I saw." She rushed on, "I didn't mean to
listen in, I just picked it up. Just like I'm picking up your dreams now."

"How?" his tanned skin turned pale as parchment.

"Your dreams are very powerful and every-time you dream I've been
picking up bits of them."

If possible, Miguel's face turned even paler and he slid down the wall to
sit on the floor.

Wendy didn't move, only watched as the man dropped his head on his raised
knees.

"It's the first... I've never done..." his words ended in a muddle, as
she sat and watched him. Finally he looked up and met her gaze. "You're
right, they started after what I saw on the Questor. That night I had a
hard time sleeping but last night... and tonight..." He took a deep breath
and straightened his back, but still sat there with his knees drawn up.
"The dreams just went on and on. I couldn't stop them." His hands started
to shake and he pushed them between his knees. Gritting his teeth, Miguel
looked back at Wendy. "What did you see? In my dreams, what?" he asked
carefully.

"A shadow. You and he, like Nathan and Lucas, are," the telepath took a
deep breath, "are making love."

"Did you recognise the shadow?" he asked before he could help it.

"No, all I could sense was that he was someone the two of us knew."

Miguel wiped the sweat of his face, climbed to his feet and moved over to
Wendy's side. "What am I going to do, Wendy?" he muttered. "I can't sleep
or work because of these dreams. I'm afraid to sleep in case I see the
face in the shadows." He broke off and sat shivering beside Wendy.

Reaching behind her, Wendy pulled the blanket up and over Miguel's
sweating shoulders. "The first thing you're going to do is take the
sleeping pills I brought. Then, in the morning, you're going on sick call.
I want you to report to my office as soon as you wake up." She reached
over and gripping his chin, turned his head so that she could look him in
the eye. "I mean it Miguel, I don't want to have to come looking for you.
First thing!"

He nodded his understanding as Wendy got up and brought him a glass of water.

"Take these," Wendy handed him two capsules and watched as he swallowed
them. Then she helped him lay back and arranged the covers over him.
"Those two should knock you out for the night, and no dreams."

"Thanks, Wendy," Miguel murmured as she pulled the covers up over his
shoulders, then he closed his eyes, "thank you very much." He was asleep
almost before he finished speaking.

Wendy stood watching him for a long moment, then reached down and pushed
the fallen curls off his forehead, her touch gentle and caring. "Don't
worry, Miguel, I'll help you," whispered the esper. She left the Sensor
Chiefs cabin and went back to hers.

Why *was* Miguel having these dreams, now of all times? Since she had
joined the seaQuest Wendy had seen him squire any number of the female crew
members and she remembered those girls he'd brought to Nathan's barbecue
not all that long ago. So why was he dreaming of a shadowed male lover,
who just happened to be a merman as well. That thought brought her to a stop.

*That's it!*

Ever since they'd changed, he, as well as most of the other Bridge crew,
had been fascinated by what Nathan and Lucas were. And ever since he'd
caught that first sight of Nathan and Lucas embracing at the start of all
this, she knew that he watched them endlessly through his whiskers. Well,
he'd been ordered to do that by Ford, but since that night aboard the
Questor she knew that he was doing more then he'd been ordered.

She entered her quarters and locked the door behind her. Kicking off
her shoes, Wendy curled up in her armchair, getting as comfortable as
possible. Closing her eyes, she let her thoughts drift. Thinking of
nothing and nobody, the esper picked up stray snippets of thoughts and
dreams. Then she found what she was looking for.

Nathan and Lucas were making love.

Wendy only felt the emotions that flowed from them, nothing else, just
the love and passion, but they were enough. Those emotions circled her,
swirled and surged in her mind. Her breathing roughened and her hands
clenched into fists, sweat trickled down between her breasts and she found
her self reaching for someone who wasn't there. With all her strength,
Wendy pulled herself away from that sweet desire. Her feet hit the floor
and her hands gripped the padded arms of the chair.

"My God," she gasped, as she rubbed her hands on the smooth fabric,
"they're broadcasting so strongly it's a wonder half the ship isn't having
dreams like Miguel's!"

And Wendy knew that her dreams were going to become a lot more
uncomfortable. Lucas and Nathan *were* partial telepaths, she knew that
from the way they communicated between themselves and Darwin, but this...

^^^^^^^^^^

Stark watched as the lonely little hut burned, the dry wood flared like
a bonfire. Every once in a while a piece of equipment in the hut would
explode and with each thud, Stark's smile just got wider. Standing there
with her arms wrapped around herself, she just wished it was Nathan Bridger
himself burning, not just his old hide-out. She'd destroyed the home he'd
shared with his wife and now she was destroying his hideaway. "Bit by
bit," she spat, "I'm destroying you, Nathan Bridger, bit by bit!"

^^^^^^^^^^

The two mermen watched as the seaQuest faded into the haze, then headed
for the sea-floor. Nathan led the way, and soon they reached one of the
winding fissures that would finally lead them to the Gibbs Mining Colony.
Neither spoke, not taking a chance that sensors might pick up the sound of
their voices and raise the alarm. Using all they had known and felt,
Nathan and Lucas swam through what would be total darkness to up-worlders.
As they got closer to the working areas of the colony, lights and sounds of
engines warned them of the presence of the miners. Looking across at his
lover, Lucas pointed to another fissure that headed away from the lights
but Nathan shook his head and through that special link they shared, Lucas
knew what Nathan wanted to do.

Being very careful, they swam between the mass of rocks until they
crested them and looked over into the brightness. Neither noticed, but
they didn't even need time for their eyes to become adjusted to the
different level of light. It wasn't all at once that they saw that
something was different about this group of miners. The layout looked like
any hundred other nodules mining being done under the sea all over the
world. It was the lack of miners that caught their attention. Even at the
depth they were now at, there should have been many more people then there
were for safety sake, if nothing else. The huge vehicles used for scooping
up the ore rich nodules should have two miners in the front cockpit and
another two in the rear. These had only one figure in the front,
completely against any sane use of these massive machines.

The Undersea Mining Corporations of the world had made rules and
regulations for all of the mining done in it domain and with the coming of
the UEO, it had finally been able to make sure that their rules were to be
followed. Huge fines and losses of rich leases were used against all those
that didn't follow those regulations, just like the fools down below them.

The look shared by the mermen was enough for the two of them to go back
the way they had come and travel towards the course taken by the seaQuest.
The thought uppermost in both of their minds was that they wished they had
brought along a whisker to record what they had just seen. It didn't take
them long to catch up with the seaQuest, and when they were within her
sphere of roving whiskers they reported to Jonathan what they had seen.

"The equipment was definitely from the Colony?" was the first question
he put to them.

"They had the name and colours of the Gibbs Mining Colony all over them."

"Can you find this place again?"

"Easily," nodded Nathan, "do you want us to take a whisker back with us?"

"As fast as you can, Nathan. I want something to show Powell. Tony,
get a whisker ready for a short trip."

"Ready and willing, sir," nodded the fill-in for the ill Miguel. The
whisker scooted up beside the mermen, hovering, it's lights flashing in the
darkness.

"Jonathan, can you tone the lights down? We don't want them to know
that we're spying on them." The lights faded until the whisker's former
display was only a shimmer.

"We won't get much of a picture with the lights that low, sir," pointed
out Tony.

"Once we get into position, you can use the lights the thieves are
using," said Lucas.

"We're going to go as slow as possible, Nathan, to give you time to get
some useful pictures, okay?"

"Okay Jonathan." The mermen darted back out into the darkness and Tony
skillfully manipulated the whisker as it followed them. For a long while
the only pictures seen by the Bridge crew was the glimmer of the whiskers
lights on Nathan's and Lucas' flashing flukes. Then a brightness appeared
in the direction it was heading. The mermen slowed down so Tony did the
same for the whisker. Nathan's face appeared in the screen and he pointed
upwards so Tony had the whisker slowly rise until the lights from the huge
portable lamps filled the Bridge. Most of the crew blinked in surprise
until Tony was able to tone the brightness down. The camera was recording
everything.

"Mr O'Neill, how's the sound?"

"Loud and clear sir, I'm trying to latch onto the frequency they're
using." He turned back to his consul and voices filled the Bridge.
Someone was asking the time and another couple of voices were discussing a
game they'd had a bet on, nothing much. Then another voice over-rode all
the others, it ordered them to start packing up. The view from the whisker
showed the huge machines turning away from the gathering of nodules and
start up another valley, away from the watching mermen and whisker. A hand
appeared in front of the whiskers camera that pointed after the departing
thieves, then Lucas and Nathan appeared, going the same way. Tony had the
whisker after them in seconds.

"Tony, can you get a fix on the direction they're going?"

"Yes, Commander," his hands flashed across the board, until he got what
he was looking for. Looking up at the Commander he said, "Straight for the
Colony, sir."

Ford turned towards the helmsmen. "I want us at that Colony before they
get there," was his order. Then he turned to O'Neill, "Go over those voice
tapes we just got, I want anything you can find on them, understand?"

"Yes sir," nodded O'Neill as he started to work his magic.

^^^^^^^^^^

Miguel woke up with a start and stared up at the bunk above his head for
a long moment before he remembered that he'd fallen asleep on this one
after Wendy had given him the pills. At that memory he groaned and buried
his head in the pillow. *She knew!* After all the grief he'd gone through
not going to her for help, she'd known about his damned dreams all along.

Forcing himself to sit upright, Miguel swung his socked feet down onto
the floor. His eyes went to the watch still on his wrist and when he saw
the time he was startled. It was mid-morning, and no-one had come to see
why he wasn't on watch. Wendy must have contacted the Bridge and told them
he wouldn't be up. Miguel stretched, that sleep, he'd needed every second
of it, and he couldn't remember if he'd had even one dream.

Climbing to his feet, he picked up his kit and headed out for a quick
shower. Wendy had told him last night to report to her first thing, but he
felt in need of a shower badly. It was a hasty fifteen minutes later that
he climbed into a clean uniform and headed for Wendy's office. Stopping in
front of the door, he knocked gently. When her voice answered, he pushed
it open and walked in. "Doctor Smith," he looked down at himself, "I know
you told me first thing, but I needed to clean up a bit."

"That's okay, Miguel, sit down, please." Wendy motioned him to take the
other armchair in to room, just across from her.

His nerves began to get the better of him and he started to babble,
"Thanks for those pills, they really put me out. I only woke up a little
while ago and not one dream! I'm really glad you came to talk to me last
night and..."

Wendy held up her hand to stop him. "I know you didn't dream, Miguel,"
she met his glance with her shadowed one, "I had them."

Miguel stared at her. "What!" he blushed, "you had my dreams?"

Wendy leant forward, "No, no not your dreams exactly..." Looking away for
a moment, she turned back to the Sensor Chief and smiled a little. "I
thought about your problem last night after I left you and tried to figure
out why this was happening to you." She reached out and took his cold
hands in hers, "I went into a trance to try and see if I could see if what
I had formulated was true."

Her hands were warm and the gentle clasp of her hands went right through
the Cuban.

"You and most of the crew have become fascinated by what had happened to
Nathan and Lucas, which is understandable. You, being in charge of the
seaQuest's eyes have had a more...personal relationship with our mermen and
you've become just that little more interested then the others." She
squeezed his hands in hers, "True?" she asked softly.

Miguel nodded slowly.

"Did you know that the two of them are partial telepaths, that they're
becoming more and more powerful as time passes?"

Miguel's jaw dropped, "Telepaths? Like you?"

"A bit, but not the same thing." She hitched herself to the edge of her
seat. "Miguel, what I'm trying to say is that; the dreams you're having
might very well be the emotions that are between Nathan and Lucas."

"I...my first dreams happened after I watched them... together," he
stumbled over the last word, not being able to say the one that had been on
his tongue.

Wendy said it for him, "When they made love. You saw that..."

Miguel broke in before she could go on. "Yes, I watched them," he looked
her in the eye, "I picked up a noise on the whisker and when I sent it to
investigate I saw them together, holding one another." He pulled one of
his hands free from her warm clasp and waved it in the air. "I didn't mean
to spy, but when I saw them, I froze. The Captain and Lucas...holding one
another like that. I couldn't move, I just stared at that screen." Shaking
his head in wonder, Miguel stared down at her hands holding his. "It was
one of the most beautiful and... and wondrous things I had ever seen." He
looked up at her, "You must know what I mean, you said that you saw it too."

Wendy nodded, yes, she'd seen it, and the memory still burned in her mind
but not to the level that it had affected Miguel. "You have somehow become
empathic to the emotions from them when they are making love, and because
you know in your mind that neither Nathan or Lucas would leave one another,
your mind has put another person as your partner."

"But who?" was the anguished question.

"It doesn't matter who that shadow is Miguel because all he is, is a
substitute placed by your imagination." One of her hands came up and
touched his temple, brushing away the long curl that lay there. "You are
still who and what you are. Just because you are susceptible to the flow
of Nathan's and Lucas' love for one another doesn't make you different."
Her hands came up and she buried her fingers in his curls, and shook his
head slightly. "Listen to what I'm saying, Miguel."

He met her gaze and found himself falling into the eyes that held his mind
as tight as her hands held him. A thread of thought crept across his mind
and he leaned forward, towards those eyes and all they seemed to say.

When Wendy realised what he was about to do, she tried to pull away, but
by then Miguel had slid off his seat and knelt between her thighs.

Slipping his arms around her, Miguel kissed her. Gathering her closer, he
left one arm around her waist and the other held her head steady as he
ravaged her lips.

Wendy tried to pull away as soon as she saw what he was doing; he wanted
to prove he was still the man he thought he was. But not with her, not
like this! She strained with all her strength, trying to break his grip
but he ignored her struggles and kissed her all the harder.

Wendy felt his touch start to burn through the thin blouse she wore and
the hand on her neck was slowly rubbing away the tightness. Miguel's other
hand lingered on her stiff backbone, then he rubbed the flat of his palm
hard against the small of her back.

As she gasped from this, Wendy managed to pull her lips free from his
and whisper a heart felt "No," but Miguel smiled his smile and pulled her
back against the warmth of his chest and licked the word away from her
lips.

Starting to feel like she was back in her dreams from the night before,
Wendy used the only weapon she had left. Pushing her thoughts into
Miguel's, she tried to reach him through the madness that now possessed him
but it didn't work like it was suppose to. //Miguel, please! Miguel, this
isn't right,// was the words she sent. What she received back sent her
mind spinning; it was all warmth and light. It was the sight of her hands
holding his and the memory of her touch as she covered him with the blanket
the night before. It was a hundred little things that he had noticed about
her, things that even she didn't remember. Her arms slowly moved from
trying to push him away, to going around his neck, pulling him closer. Her
lips opened beneath his and when he moved away from her slightly, she slid
down off her seat and knelt with him, holding him, kissing him.

Wendy let her fingers rake back through his hair until her nails reached
the soft skin on the back of his neck, which made the hard body against her
shiver. His lips finally moved from hers, to explore her ears, her throat...

Gasping out the words, she whispered brokenly, "Miguel, no, please, we
can't..." all the while her hands kneaded the back of his neck and her lips
skimmed his forehead as she spoke.

Miguel let his hands stroke up and down her arms, moving under the loose
sleeves of her blouse, it felt like her skin was scorching his. When they
reached her shoulders, Miguel let his fingers swirl on the heated skin he
found there. With his hands spread against her shoulders, Miguel pulled
her closer to him, closing his eyes as he felt her hot breath on the side
of his face, her softness against his hardness. "Wendy," he murmured, "Ah,
Wendy..." Turning his head he found her lips and set their world on fire.

"Dr Smith?" Tony's voice drifted through the air but neither of them
heard. Tony's voice called again and this time the sound got through to
the two kneeling on the floor.

"Smith here..." her voice was ragged because Miguel had latched onto her
right ear. "What... what is it, Tony?"

"Commander Ford is preparing to go down to the Colony and he wants you
to go along. He asks that you meet him at the Launch Bay in ten minutes."

"Understood, Tony," she took a deep breath as Miguel started on the
other ear. Tony signed off and Wendy let her head drift down to rest on
Miguel's shoulder. "I have to go," she murmured.

Climbing to his feet, Miguel reached down and she stared up at the dark
man above her, a man of shadows. Reaching up, Wendy took the hand offered
and with one powerful lift, Miguel pulled her back into his arms. Swaying
a little as she became upright, Wendy gripped his forearms, her nails
digging in a little as she tried to recover her balance. Turning her head
away from him, Wendy pulled herself free of Miguel's warm grasp. Now that
her mind was at lest partially clear, Wendy found that she was ashamed of
herself.

Miguel stood there, watching her as she wrapped her arms around herself.
Didn't she realise that when she did that it was to keep his warmth close
to her. He watched her face as she tried to push away the sensuous
feelings that they had just shared. All he did was put out a slow hand
that touched her cheek in a soft caress. Miguel watched her turn her face
into his hand, then jerk away as she realised what she had just done.
"Wendy," he found that the sound of her name was all that he could set free
from his tongue.

"You shouldn't have done that," she turned completely away from him,
"and I shouldn't have responded."

Miguel gripped the smooth curve of her shoulders and spun her around to
face him. "I'm not sorry," before she could speak, he touched the softness
of her swollen lips with a gentle finger, "and it had nothing to do with
the dreams."

Her eyes showed her disbelief.

"It's true, Wendy, I've wanted to do that for a very long time." Moving
his hand to her chin, he shook her head gently, "Why do you think I
*couldn't* come to see you about the dreams? I didn't want you to know
about the figure in the shadows."

Wendy stared at him, struggling with his touch and the memories she'd
discovered when she intruded on his thoughts. Where was her cool
scientific mind? Her sober, unflappable Dr Smith self?

Where?

Gone, gone as soon as Miguel looked at her with that look in his dark,
knowing eyes. She pushed away from his warmth and tried to straighten
herself.

"If the Commander wants you to go down with him it might mean he wants
you to do a little scanning for him, you will be careful, won't you?" He
watched her as she moved over to the mirror to straighten her hair and
Miguel watched his reflection watching her.

Wendy tried not to see the other figure in the mirror, but her senses
still burned from his touch. As he had helped her up from the floor she
had suddenly seen who the shadowed figure in the dream had been. Miguel
hadn't only been picking up on the mermen's telepathic dreams, he'd also
found his way into hers.

She had dreamed his dream last night, every wonderful moment of it, a
dream that she hadn't recognised until he had towered above her like that.
A dream that she never remembered when she awoke, a dream that had her as
one lover and Miguel as the shadow lover.

It all came back to that night he had watched Nathan and Lucas love one
another, and she had watched the whole thing through his mind... *his*
mind. She dreamed her dreams so deeply that Miguel [she'd seen only a few
moments ago when she looked in his mind that he had been thinking of her a
lot lately] still connected to her thoughts, had somehow picked up the
dreams. Only *he* remembered them as his own and all she remembered were
bits and pieces that she thought was part of *his* dreams.

Wendy cursed under her breath, she couldn't tell him not to worry about
those blasted dreams because they weren't really his. She couldn't tell
him that it had been she who had been the dreamer, that it had been him in
the shadows. In her dream, Miguel had been making love to himself. //God
it was weird enough to be funny,// Wendy thought as she closed her eyes and
leaned against the coolness of the mirror.

"Wendy, are you all right?" his hands felt so right as they pulled her
around and back into this warmth. She looked up at him and Miguel's heart
faltered at the look in her eyes. "What's wrong?" he asked achingly.

Her hand came up and touched his cheek and...Tony's voice broke in on them.

"Dr Smith, the Commander is waiting for you at the Launch Bay."

She didn't take her eyes from Miguel's as she answered, "Tell the
Commander that I'm coming, Tony." Her hand fell to his shoulder and she
kissed him once softly on the lips, then pulled away from him.

Miguel felt the chill as soon as he was free.

Going to the door, Wendy turned before she opened it, "You weren't just
dreaming Nathan's and Lucas' fantasies, Miguel, they aren't the only
telepaths on this ship."

Before he could ask her what she was talking about, she quietly told him
to look in the mirror. As he did so, she turned the lights off and slipped
out of the room. Miguel stared at the dark, shadowed figure in the
mirror...just...stared...

^^^^^^^^^^

As Nathan and Lucas came into sight of the Mining Colony huddled amongst
the rocks, they saw the massive form of the seaQuest hovering above it.
The whisker kept to it's course as it followed the pirating mining machines
back to their dome. Nathan and Lucas peeled away from it and headed for
the ship, calling as they went.

"Guys," came Tony's voice, "The Commander has gone down to the Colony
with Dr Smith, Brodie and a squad of security men. He's left his com-link
open so that we can follow everything. Do you want me to patch it through
to yours?"

"Not a good idea, Tony," murmured Lucas, "they might pick it up and know
we're onto something."

O'Neill listened to the open link, listened to Ford's greetings to
Powell, the headman. His nimble fingers flew across his board as he
patched the line through to the Bridge. As he did so, Miguel Ortiz walked
onto the Bridge and nodded to Tony to give him his chair. Tony looked
across to O'Neill who smiled up at a very well looking Ortiz.

"Miguel," he said over the sound of Dr Smith greeting Powell, "you're
looking a lot better. Did Dr Smith fix you up?"

Miguel's distance from Tim hid the sparkle in his eyes as he answered,
"Yes, she did wonders for me."

Tony moved to stand beside O'Neill as the sound of walking came over the
speakers. They heard the Commander ask about Dodds and Powell's reply that
he had called a meeting with the Security Chief and that he would soon be
with them. Miguel closed his eyes as he heard the louder sound of Wendy
heels as she walked beside Ford. He wished he was there beside her.

There was the sound of a door opening and chairs being scraped along a
hard floor. Then the door opened again and a new voice joined in. Powell
introduced Miller Dodds and the officers from the seaQuest voiced their
welcomes. Dodds voice was slightly rough and Miguel's eyes flashed to the
split screen in front of him that showed the faces of Dodds and Powell.

"So Commander, the seaQuest is going to handle all our problems now?"
came Dodds voice.

"I would say yes to that," replied Ford, "I've got something to show you
gentleman." The Bridge crew heard him fumble with his com-link and pretend
to turn it on.

"Mr O'Neill, if you would be so kind as to relay that information we
just picked up."

"It's running, sir," O'Neill set the pictures and sound of what the
whisker had relayed to the seaQuest earlier. With the link formed, O'Neill
piggy-backed the signal and he was able to produce a picture of the room
Ford and the others were in.

Miguel sighed in relief when he saw Wendy sitting beside Ford, with
Brodie and his men spread around them.

"As you can see, Mr Powell, Mr Dodds, the seaQuest has in fact done the
job you wanted."

Neither man spoke as they sat through the information coming over the
link. "They're from here?" asked Powell as the vid finished running.

"They arrived five minutes after we did," nodded Ford, looking hard at
the two men, "which means you have a lot of explaining to do."

Both men stared in surprise at the Commander, and it was shocked looking
Powell who spoke first. "You can't mean that you suspect one of us?"

"The thieves were using machinery obviously from this Colony. They are
based here so the nodules must be here." He leaned forward, his arms
resting on the table in front of him. "Just what were you going to do with
all those nodules, gentlemen? You couldn't sell them to the UEO as they
already own them all according to the contract you signed. So did someone
offer you a better price?"

The two men looked at one another then at the still active screen and
Miguel got a prickle of warning from that look. "Hey guys, they know we're
listening in," he muttered, "they're going to do something..."

O'Neill reached for the send button on his consul just as the screen went
black. Over the link came sounds of the door bursting open and blaster
fire. A scream from Wendy had Miguel jumping up from his seat and running
for the exit. "Piccolo, Henderson, you're with me. O'Neill, get some of
Brodie's men to the Launch bay, fully armed, and call the Admiral."
O'Neill didn't even blink as Ortiz and the others ran from the Bridge. He
got the security men down to the Launch and then contacted the HQ of the
UEO and demanded to speak to Noyce.

Nathan and Lucas saw the second launch leave the seaQuest and followed
after it. When Miguel saw them through the view-port he contacted them on
the com-link and told them what had happened.

"Lucas and I will help, Miguel. They must have a plan of escape, so
we'll head for all the air-locks and jemmy them, okay?" Miguel gave him
the thumbs-up signal and watched as the mermen swung away towards the other
locks. Moments later they were docked and ready to enter the Colony.
Fully geared and armed, Miguel and the others entered the Colony ready for
anything, but the bay was deserted but for one man.

Miller Dodds stood in the centre of the room, holding one of the seaQuest
com-links. "That's as far as you go. Get back on your launch and return
to your ship or accidents are going to start happening to your people."

"Man, are you insane?" spluttered a angry Cuban. //Wendy!// "You're on
the bottom of the ocean and no way to get away."

"Oh we have a way out," smirked the man, and Miguel wanted to take that
look right off his face. "Matter of fact we have several ways out." The
man hit the palm of his hand with the com-link, "If you don't leave now,
we'll have one less way out, understand?"

Lonnie and Tony gripped Miguel's arms and pulled him back into the group.
Then they backed slowly into the launch.

"Back to your ship," snapped the voice of Dodds over the com-link. The
launch pulled away from the docking bay and headed back to the seaQuest.

"You couldn't have done anything except get them killed," said Lonnie as
she laid a gentle hand on Miguel's arm.

"Ford would have done something, or Brodie!"

Tony looked him in the eye, "That's stupid, and you know it. If you were
over there and Ford or Brodie here, they would have done exactly the same
thing. And you know it!"

Miguel leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. //God,
Wendy...Wendy,// he thought to himself, //be all right, please...please.//

Dodds watched as the launch sped back to the seaQuest, then he turned
and made his way to the conference room. Pushing the door open, he walked
past the guarded group from the seaQuest and stopped in front of Powell.
"You damn fool," he growled, then with one swift move, he knocked the other
man to the floor. "You had to press the panic button, didn't you. You
idiot, they were bluffing. They didn't have any proof at all about either
of us."

"Well, we have now," growled Ford, as he knelt by Brodie's side, trying
to stop the bleeding from the wound in the Lieutenant's shoulder. Wendy
knelt at the side of another security man, when Ford looked across to her,
she shook her head and pulling off her jacket, draped it over his dead
face, a part of her thanking God that it wasn't someone else's face staring
up at her.

Ford closed his eyes for a second, then stared across at the two leaders
of this ring of thieves. "Just how many of these fools did you talk into
doing your dirty work?"

Powell pushed himself to his feet, moving away from his angry partner.
Wiping the blood from his lip he stared at the seaQuest people. "Enough to
give us all a lot of money."

"And the whisker, the one you sent to spy on us?"

"You were so late in coming that we had to find out where you were, then
this fool," Dodds waved a irate hand at Powell, "had to send out a group to
pick up the last of the nodules, a group that you and your whiskers must
have followed right back to us."

Ford smiled coldly, //Soo, they didn't know about Nathan and Lucas.//
"You know the UEO aren't going to let you out of here, don't you?"

"We've got you."

"You've got nothing," pointed out Ford, "the UEO doesn't deal with
hostage situations. You know that Dodds, you were a part of it all, before
you retired."

Dodds turned away, pulling his partner to the far side of the room they
started to argue, too low for Ford to pick up.

"Wendy?" he whispered without turning his head.

Her voice was equally soft, "They're blaming one another for all this.
Powell wants to kill us and get out, but Dodds knows what's waiting for
them, he won't do anything stupid."

Dodds turned around and motioned for one of the guards to come to him.
Waving his arms in the air, he gave his orders then the man left. "We're
going for a little ride. Pick him up," he ordered. Two of the seaQuest
security carefully lifted their boss off the floor and followed Dodds out
of the room. The armed thieves were right behind them.

^^^^^^^^^^

The launch docked back at the seaQuest and Miguel and the other two
headed for the Bridge. When they arrived there, they found Noyce on the
up-link for Cape Quest and Nathan and Lucas hovering at the main view-port.

Miguel stood in front of the screen and spoke to the Admiral, "I'm sorry
sir, I couldn't do a thing."

"They have Ford and the others?"

"Yes sir," Miguel rubbed his eyes, it felt like his headache was coming
back. "Dodds was at the bay waiting for us, he had a com-link from one of
the others."

"Miguel," called Nathan as he leaned right up against the plasti-glass,
"they can't leave the Colony. We rigged all the docks so that they can
only be opened from the outside."

"You know our policy about hostages Mister, no exchange and no ransom."

Miguel let his eyes roam across the worried faces of the Bridge crew, then
back to the Admiral. "But sir, we just can't leave them there."

Noyce looked at the Sensor Chief and wished that there was someone of a
higher rank on the ship. "Mr Ortiz, you are to ready a squad of men and
you are to return to the Colony. I want those people out of there and that
complex back under UEO control again."

"Bill," put in Nathan, "there's not only our people over there you know,
there must be over a hundred workers and their families down there that
know nothing of the agenda those two had worked out. You can't risk their
lives as well as Jonathan's and the others."

"You are no longer the Captain of the seaQuest, Nathan," he stared at
the shadowy figure that had once been his closest friend. "The order
stands Mr Ortiz, see that it's carried out!"

Miguel stood frozen as the Admiral winked off the screen, then he turned
and punched his fist in the palm of his other hand.

*Wendy!*

"Miguel, you aren't going to do that, are you?," asked an angry Tony.

"You heard the man, Tony. He gave me a direct order and we are still in
the UEO." Miguel walked towards the view-port and looked out at the
worried Nathan and Lucas. "What would you do, sir? Would you storm the
Colony?"

"Miguel," Nathan stared through the plasti-glass at the anguished man.
The merman could tell that it was more then worry about friends that had
him like this. "Miguel, open the Moon Pool doors, I'm coming inside."

"What!" Lucas turned to his lover and grabbed his arm in a unbreakable
grip, "you can't do that! You promised me that we wouldn't take the chance
of going into the seaQuest."

"Lucas," he turned away from the view-port and towed the young merman
out of sight of the Bridge, then he turned and reached for Lucas'
shoulders. "Miguel needs what I can give him..."

"I need what you can *give* me," was Lucas' anguished reply. "You
promised! My father's on that ship," he pointed out, "the man who wants to
change me, us, back to being up-worlders."

Nathan took his face between his hands, "Lucas, Lucas, you don't have to
come..."

Again Lucas interrupted him, "I'm not going to let you out of my sight
for one moment," Lucas pulled his face free from his lovers grip. "If we
have to go aboard the seaQuest, let's do it, but understand this, Nathan,
if my father does manage to do what he's been threatening to do, it will be
on your head!"

Nathan watched as his love spun away from him and head for the open Moon
Pool doors. He reached out, to call him back, to talk to him, then let his
hand drop, Lucas was too angry, too hurt, to listen.

Nathan was right behind Lucas as they entered the seaQuest for only the
second time since their change. Darwin met them in the tunnels and led
them through the maze to the Bridge Pool. Lucas could feel all the eyes on
them as they traversed the tunnels, past crew-men who pointed and gasped.
It was as bad as when they had rescued the people at the Resort accident.

He felt like a freak.

Nathan reached out and took his hand, but Lucas pulled it free before
the grip could tighten. They broke the surface in the pool on the Bridge
and Nathan looked around at the sight he never thought he would see again.

"Captain," Miguel called him that before he could stop himself, but
Nathan just laughed softly.

"Never again, Miguel, that's in the past. I'm just a friend who's going
to try and help you." He motioned the Sensor Chief to the edge of the Pool
and leant on the lip, his tail trailing out behind him. "You're going to
have to ready those men and launches, you know that, don't you?"

"Nathan, no," called out Tony as he moved up beside Miguel.

"They must see a show of strength," pointed out Nathan, "get the
launches out there, hovering at the air-locks, but no closer."

Miguel nodded slowly and gave the order to O'Neill to pass on. "They
haven't demanded anything as yet and they haven't called to tell us to fix
the air-locks, so they must have an alternative way out."

"But what?"

Lucas' voice came from behind, "The mining machines." They all turned
to look at him, and he frowned as he pointed out the obvious, to him
anyway, answer. "Those machines can take up to four people, two of them
and two of ours."

"And they're powerful enough to go right through the air-locks,"
muttered Miguel.

"But where would they go? We'd follow them, they must know that."

"They think they know our strengths and weaknesses. Whoever is the real
boss down there will know that the UEO's first priority will be to regain
the Mining Colony."

Nathan rubbed his chin and Miguel felt as if they had gone back in time,
to before Nathan had been changed, to when he had been Captain Bridger.
And he could see from the look on Lucas' face that he was seeing the same
thing.

"They will leave, and expect us to rush in to make sure that they
haven't done anything to the Colony, right?" Heads nodded as that logic
sunk in. "So we'll give them what they expect. As soon as they break
free, start to enter the Colony," he held up a hand as voices broke in from
all over the Bridge. "While the security people are doing that, Lucas and
I will latch onto the machines, way behind a couple of whiskers that they
will expect to find following them," he looked up at Miguel who nodded.
"They'll take out the whiskers and think themselves home free, but Lucas
and I will be right behind them."

"We can't take a chance and use the com-links," pointed out Tim, "they
have the Commander's and the others."

Nathan nodded and thought.

Then Darwin nudged him and spoke, "Darwin tell!"

"Yes," yelped Lucas, moving forward, "we can tell Darwin where we're
going and he can pass it onto you."

Miguel suddenly remembered what Wendy, //Wendy, be alive please,// had
told him earlier about them being telepathic, like her. *Like her!*
"Nathan, Lucas, can you contact Wendy?" Miguel saw the odd look Nathan
threw him, but ignored it, this might be a way to see if she was safe!

"Too far away, maybe if we're closer," answered Lucas, also looking at
Miguel in that strange manner. The way Miguel was acting and from the body
language that he was throwing off, Lucas could tell that the Cuban had
strong feelings for Wendy. Lucas smiled to himself, and felt a little
better about coming back aboard the seaQuest.

Everything went as Nathan and Lucas had predicted, the thieves broke out
and ran for it with the seaQuest people as hostages. The ready launches
from the seaQuest entered the Colony even as the mining machines were out
of view. Miguel had pre-programmed the whiskers and five of them followed
after the five huge vehicles.

He watched from his station as, one by one, they were taken out by the
runners. Nathan and Lucas had left the seaQuest and they shadowed the
illegal miners like a couple of wraiths. When contact with the last
whisker was broken, Miguel sat back in his seat and stared at the main
view-port and what was beyond it. He prayed that this would work.

"It has to work!" he muttered as Tim started to relay reports from the
Mining Colony. The Security Teams had discovered a crowd of confused
workers and their families who had no idea what was going on. The head of
the team put the miners headman on line.

"I am Chief Ortiz of the seaQuest. I take it that the situation has been
explained to you?"

The dazed man nodded. "I can't believe it! Powell and Dodds? And the
others? All of them are responsible for what's been happening!"

"Believe it," shot out Miguel, "they've taken some of our people as
hostages. What I need from you is any information you can give us."

Nathan and Lucas hung back as far as they could. As they moved through
the twisting and turning fissures, they found themselves using all their
new senses to track the vehicles. The huge machines had disturbed the
seabed and a lot of slush had been churned up.

"This is easier then I thought," whispered Lucas.

Nathan nodded his agreement. As they turned a sharp corner they saw a
glow from the lights of the mining machines.

Lucas listened for a long moment. "They've stopped, and the engines have
been turned off."

The pair swam even slower and as they came to the last curve of rock they
carefully looked around it. The clearing was big, but it was large enough
for the five machines and a Between Transport, which was even now being
loaded with the stolen nodules.

Nathan pulled himself a little higher, trying to get a better view. "I
didn't think they'd have a Transport kept so close to the Colony."

"What is it?" Lucas stared at the ungainly submersible.

"It's used to transport the nodules to up-world. This looks bigger then
any I've ever seen before." They watched as suited figures jumped down
from the mining machines.

"Can we get closer?"

Nathan shook his head. "Let's wait and see if they take Jonathan and the
others aboard the Transport." But only the miners roamed around in their
armoured suits, the seaQuest prisoners were all still aboard the mining
machines as they quickly unloaded their stolen cargo.

"It doesn't look like they're taking them to the transport," muttered
Lucas.

"Why should they?"

Lucas looked across at his lover as the words came out in a bitter hiss.

"All they have to do is leave them here in those dead machines and it's
over for them." Nathan pulled himself up the pile of rocks until he could
look down into the clearing, Lucas was right behind him. "To them," Nathan
nodded down at the ungainly figures of the thieves, "all the whiskers, the
one thing that followed them, are gone, destroyed. The seaQuest supposedly
has no idea where they are. And even if the seaQuest did manage to find
them, all the witnesses of how they escaped will be long dead from lack of
oxygen!"

Lucas reached out and gripped Nathan's shoulder, "What are we going to
do? We can't tell Darwin where we are, there were too many twists and
turns to guide him and the seaQuest properly."

"One of us has to go back and *get* the seaQuest," stated Nathan,
looking hard at his lover.

"You go," said Lucas before Nathan could say any more, "I'll wait here
and watch, that way if they do take the others, I call you."

Nathan looked into the blue eyes of his love and sighed. His hand came up
to rest on Lucas' shoulder, then he pulled the merman into his arms. "I
want you to be very careful," his grip tightened on the warm body in his
arms, "stay here, don't go near the machines until the Transport is
completely out of the area. Understand?"

Lucas nodded, then he leaned forward to give Nathan a quick hard kiss.
"You just be careful and very fast going back."

Nathan reluctantly let Lucas out of his arms and then started to move
away. He looked back once to see Lucas watching him. The young merman
waved him away so Nathan turned and headed up out of the fissures. With a
quick look around, Nathan got his bearings and headed back to the seaQuest.
His speed built up until the thirty minute trip out was cut right down to
barely five minutes.

The lights from the Mining Colony were a beacon to him as he sped his
way to the seaQuest. Using the link he had with Darwin, he told his friend
to tell Miguel that he was coming back and to get ready. Miguel was
looking out from behind the main view-port as he swam up to her and he
motioned to the Sensor Chief to follow him. Darwin passed on the message
that the launches were all ready to leave the ship for the rescue of the
others.

The massive DSV followed the darting form of her former Captain as he
led them back the easy and fast way. Suddenly something flashed behind his
eyes and he felt like he couldn't breath. "*Lucas!*" The one word was
like a cry to heaven and Nathan took off like a torpedo. Even the seaQuest
had a hard time keeping up with him, he was moving so fast. Nathan felt a
burning in his chest, Lucas was gone from their link, *he couldn't feel a
thing from his lover!*

As Nathan disappeared into the ruin of rocks on the seabed, Miguel
ordered the launches out and watched as the five launches followed the
trail of the merman. "What set him off like that?" muttered Miguel.

Nathan was down among the rocks in seconds and his memory led him right
to the pile of debris where he had left Lucas only a short time before.
The pale figure of his lover was leaning on the rocks overlooking the
clearing.

"Lucas! Lucas?" Nathan's voice was a first worried then apprehensive.
His hand reached out to touch the still figure and he watched in shock as
his touch moved Lucas slightly and his lover slid down from his perch to
land in a heap on the rocky seabed. Before he could think, Nathan had
gathered the limp body to his chest and headed back to the seaQuest.
Holding Lucas close with one arm, he fumbled with the com-link and got
through to the seaQuest. "Miguel, I'm coming aboard. Lucas has been hurt
and he's unconscious, I'm taking him to the Moon Pool, get some medical
help there fast."

"Nathan, Wendy's hasn't been freed yet, the only other person who can
help you is his father..."

The words gathered in Nathan's mind and he crushed the still figure in his
arms closer. "I haven't got a choice. I've lost all contact with Lucas,
something is terribly wrong." It was only a moment later that he entered
the seaQuest and after it had been pressurised, he entered the Moon Pool.
Both Darwin and Tony were in the water, waiting to help. Lucas' father was
hovering at the edge of the Pool, a metal gurney waiting for Lucas' limp body.

Nathan reluctantly let Tony lift the warm body from his arms and place
it on the gurney, his hand darted out and he stopped Wolenczak from
following the medics out of the Moon Pool area. "Where are you taking him?"

"To the Sick Bay, now let me go!" The man tried to pull himself out of
the strong grip, but instead he found himself being pulled closer.

"If you do anything to him..." Nathan's voice was deadly quite,
"anything..."

Wolenczak pulled himself free. "He's my son," he spat out, "I might not
like what he's become, but I still love him."

"As do I," growled Nathan, "Lucas is mine, not yours, mine! If you do
anything to him I'll...."

"Look, man, I've got to go."

Nathan watched as the man fled the room, then turning to the still waiting
Darwin, he asked the dolphin to lead him to the Sick Bay through the
tunnels. Darwin nodded and the two water-breathers quickly swam for one of
the many connecting tunnels.

Wolenczak stumbled out of the Moon Pool area, trying not to see the
angry eyes of his son's lover. He had his son out the water, on board the
seaQuest and in his hands. What should he do? Smith wasn't around,
neither was the other two, Ford or Brodie. Could he do something? Should
he do something? When he got to the Sick Bay, Lucas' limp form had been
moved to a examination table and Tony had covered him with a sheet. It
looked to the older man like his son was asleep, normal and asleep.

What should he do?

Tony stood back as Wolenczak started to order the medical people around.
He watched as the man moved past the locked drug cabinet and fumble around
in the black bag on the desk. He didn't like this, he really wished that
the Commander or someone was here to watch this guy. Something thumped
behind him and he turned to see Nathan in the aqua-tube behind him. Tony
flinched from the look he got from the former Captain of the seaQuest.
Then he moved forward to stand beside the sheet covered form of Lucas.

"Out of my way, man!" stuttered Wolenczak.

"What's in that?" he nodded at the injector in the man's hand.

Wolenczak couldn't meet the hard eyes that stared at him. "Something that
could help him."

"I don't think so," murmured Tony as he gently took the injector from
the now struggling man.

"Look, this will help him, you have to let me use it!"

"You will examine," Tony's voice was still soft, but it was getting
colder, "and you will try to wake him up, but you're not using drugs on
him, understand?" Tony stood there, his hand resting on the bed beside
Lucas' shoulder as his father examined the young merman.

Long minutes passed as Wolenczak ran through everything he could think off.

"Well what's wrong with him?" asked the experimental.

"I have no idea!" At Tony's look he shrugged angrily, "Look, I'm no
doctor of medicine, all I can tell you is that his breathing is normal, he
has no wounds or contusions anywhere on his body. I haven't a clue why
he's still unconscious!."

The com-link at Tony's belt beeped and without taking his eyes from the
man in front of him, Tony flicked it on.

"Tony," came Nathan's voice, "I heard what Wolenczak said, if he can't
help Lucas bring him back to the Moon Pool and to me."

Wolenczak turned angrily towards the aqua-tube, "Do you want to kill him?"

"Do you?" came back the cold reply. "Tony!"

The sailor easily lifted the merman's body into his arms. He was
surprised at how lightweight Lucas seemed. He shrugged off the restraining
hold of the elder Wolenczak and walked out of the Sick Bay. Crew members
moved out of his way, staring at what he carried as he made his way back to
the Moon Pool.

Nathan was waiting for him, his arms held out for the limp form.

Gently placing Lucas in his lover's arms, Tony followed Nathan as he sunk
to the bottom of the Pool, then he followed after him. Keeping back, he
watched as Nathan gently combed the hair from Lucas' pale forehead.

"Wendy will be back soon," he murmured, "she'll know what to do." Just
then Miguel strode into the Moon Pool room, Tony surfaced but Nathan stayed
submerged with Lucas.

"Dr Wolenczak came and told me that you took Lucas away from him."

"I had to Miguel, he wasn't doing a thing for him and Nathan asked me to
bring him back to him."

"How is he?"

Tony shook his head. "Not good from the looks of things. When is Wendy
due back?"

"Any time now. I spoke to her when she got aboard the launch."

Tony noticed the high colour that came to his friends face as he spoke of
the Doctor and smiled to himself. After a quiet word with Nathan, Miguel
headed back to the Bridge to see how all the teams that were spread all
over the bottom of this part of the world were going.

It wasn't too long after that that Wendy hurried into the Moon Pool area.
Her blouse was blood smeared from the dead security man and Brodie, but she
went straight to the edge of the Moon Pool. "Nathan?" she called, and she
watched the tired way the merman moved as he looked up at her.

"He's almost gone, Wendy," Nathan surfaced as he cradled his love to his
chest. "I can't feel a thought from him and his body is slowly dying."

Reaching out, Wendy touched the pale forehead of the blonde merman and
concentrated. Then she met the sad eyes of the bearded merman, "When you
were hurt from the explosion set by Stark your body and mind acted the same
way, it had seemed as if you'd closed down completely, just like Lucas is
doing now." As Wendy spoke the fear was leaving those hazel eyes. "I
think that your new bodies do this to combat what ever is wrong with them.
I have no idea what was done to Lucas as his father told me there wasn't a
mark on him, but whatever it was, it was enough to trigger this reaction...."

"So he's not dying?" Nathan hugged Lucas close, his whole attitude
changing at the thought that Lucas wasn't dying.

"You have a place you can take him, outside?" she asked.

"Yes, out on the main hull. Do you think it wise to take him outside?"

"You recovered in your natural environment, so I don't see why he
shouldn't."

Nathan nodded and looked across at Tony. The experimental moved over to
the controls that pressurised and opened the Moon Pool exit.

Wendy watched as Nathan swam out of sight.

"Was there nothing you could do, Doc?"

Wendy stared at the slowly closing pressure door, "I know very little
about their new bodies, but what I do know shows that the best thing to do
is to let them heal themselves." She turned to face Tony, "But I'd really
like to know what caused him to go into that coma in the first place."

Nathan gently cradled his lover to his chest as he swam out of the
seaQuest and to their place on the outer hull. Sinking into the
hidey-hole, Nathan combed through blonde hair with a shaking hand. "Be all
right, Lucas. Please, be all right." Burying his face into a smooth
shoulder, Nathan started to rock back and forth, trying to push all thought
that Lucas might die out of his mind. As he sat there, Nathan lost all
track of time.

The warmth of skin pulled Lucas out of the black hole he was buried in. A
soft voice was crooning in his ear and Lucas blinked, opening his eyes to
see the wide blueness of home. Lifting a heavy arm, Lucas reached out and
touched Nathan's shaking shoulder. "Love?" he murmured softly.

Nathan stiffened at the sound of Lucas' voice and he pulled back to stare
into dazed blue eyes. "Lucas? Ah, God, Lucas, you're all right." Nathan
gathered the still dazed youth into his arms, almost crushing the younger
merman.

"Nathan? What happened? The last thing I remember was watching those
crooks as they loaded the stuff onto their ship."

"I don't know, Lucas. I was heading back to you with the seaQuest when I
lost contact with you. When I got to you I found you unconscious, and I
wasn't able to feel a thing from you." Nathan hugged the youth closer as
he remembered his fear. "I thought you were dying, so I took you aboard
the seaQuest, but they couldn't do a thing for you. Then Wendy explained
what happened to me when I got caught in that bomb blast."

Lucas nodded, his arms wrapped around his lover's waist. "Yes, I thought
you were dying, it scared me."

"Tell me about it," murmured the older merman. With still shaking hands,
Nathan framed Lucas' face and softly kissed him. "I felt like I was losing
my mind, not being able to feel you, not able to hear you."

"Well I'm all right now," replied Lucas, smiling at his lover.

"I still want to know what happened to you."

"Have they caught Dodds and the others yet? Perhaps they did something."

"I haven't the least idea if they have or not. I've been so worried about
you..."

"Come on, let's head for the Bridge then and see what the news is."

Nathan, keeping an arm around the blondes waist, led the way.

"Yes, we got them," smiled Ford. "The ship they tried to escape in is
being towed back to us. We'll be able to talk to Dodds, Powell and the
others in about an hour."

"Good, because I need to find out just what they did to make Lucas black
out like that."

"It didn't have to be Dodds or his people who did that to Lucas," pointed
out Ford. "It could have been any thing from the depth to something in the
water. What if I have a whisker scan the area just to make sure."

"That's a good idea," nodded Nathan, looking across to his still pale
lover. "Look, Jonathan, if you find anything, call me. Lucas needs to
rest, OK?"

"OK, Nathan. If I find anything out, one way or another I'll call."

The two mermen headed back to their resting place, Lucas feeling exhausted.

"If there's anything to be found, Jonathan will find it," murmured Nathan
as he slowly removed Lucas' jewellery.

"Hmm," came the intelligent reply from the sleepy blonde.

Nathan laughed softly as Lucas snuggled closer. That had been a close
one. Not only because of what happened to Lucas to cause him to black out
like that, but what his father almost did to him. Nathan gathered the
youth closer. //From now on,// Nathan swore to himself, //we're not going
to be separated for an instant.// Letting his hands rub down a smooth
shoulder, Nathan wondered what he would do if something ever did happen to
his lover. The pain that idea brought on was enough for the older merman
to shove the thought deep into the back of his mind. "Never happen," he
muttered into Lucas' ear, his love for the young merman rushing out of him.
"I'll never let you go... never."

Lucas, almost asleep, only heard the tone in his lover's voice. Reacting
to the love he heard in it, Lucas gathered Nathan closer, murmuring, "Love
you Nathan... love you."

And Nathan wrapped his arms and tail around Lucas, holding him safe as he
slept.

The End!

^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^