A bearded man with a brilliant shock of white hair waited impatiently
for the air lock to open. There was a time when he controlled his impatience
better. He hadn't bothered for years. His tanned face was weathered from
years of exposure to sun and sea. He had the urge to stamp his cane on the
deck. He did not. "They did this faster in my day," he finally snapped at
the officer who was accompanying him.
"We are taking every precaution for your safety, sir." The young man was clearly in awe of him. Maybe afraid of him. Was his reputation that bad? Was he still even remembered on this boat - even though he designed it. He looked at the insignia patch on the young man's shoulder. SeaQuest - 4600 it said simply but there was nothing simple about this boat or the career she had had during her thirty years of service to the UEO and the planet.
"I'm not some frail old man, you know." He felt argumentative.
"No sir, Admiral Bridger... Uh, I mean, yes sir," the ensign fumbled nervously.
"None of this Admiral crap either. It's been just plain Nathan Bridger for years now." He extended his hand to the young man "And you're..."
"Ensign Kreig, sir. Benjamin Krieg. I'm the moral officer just as my father was under you, sir."
"Benjy Krieg?! I haven't seen you since you were...."
"Seven, sir."
"I didn't recognize you."
"Well I have all my second teeth now, sir." He flashed that familiar Kreig smile. The one that made you want to check and be sure your wallet was still there.
"I was hoping you'd grow up like your mother," Bridger commented sardonically and watched the crestfallen look appear then be whisked off the young man's face all in a manner of seconds.' Just like his father' Bridger thought and enjoyed the moment. Kreigs are seldom at a loss for words, so one had to treasure the silences when they did occur.
The hatch to the airlock opened with a hiss relieving the young Krieg's discomfort.
"Do you need any help, sir?" Kreig offered.
Bridger shot him an icy look.
"Of course, you don't. What was I thinking?" Krieg stood by anyway, just in case. This guy was in his eighties, after all and if anything were to happen to him, of all people, on this trip. Kreig shuddered to think of what his next assignment might be.
Bridger hooked his cane over his arm and climbed up the ladder with a spryness that belied his age. Once he got into the launch bay itself, he had to stop. He had to look around. Take it all in - breathe it in. There was an unmistakable sense of homecoming. 'Cut it out, you old fool, you don't belong here any more,' he scolded himself.
"Take a good look around now, sir. I understand this place will be lousy with admirals and politicians before long."
He looked up. For a split second he thought he was looking at his dear old friend Crocker. A stocky, bald, bearded man wearing the uniform and insignia of Chief of Security stood before him. But Crocker had died years ago. He looked closer. His eyes fell on the name tag.
"Piccolo?"
"Imagine that, me a cop," Tony smiled. He would have known that smile anywhere.
"Can't think of a better man for the job," he smiled back, warmly shaking Tony's hand.
"It's lucky I'm here too," Tony went on. "You can't imagine the kind of trouble Benjy here thinks of getting into."
"I think I can. His father served under me and he was almost, almost as crocked as you were," Bridger laughed.
"Run along now, Benjy," Tony told the ensign, who glowered but obeyed.
"Doesn't he outrank you?"
"Technically but, you know me, sir. I never obey anybody that can't knock me on my ass."
Bridger laughed long and hard. Tony had always been looking for a way out of the Navy and he became a lifer - not to mention one of the most decorated SEALS in corps history.
"I'm supposed ta take you to the old man's office. But if ya wanna look around first we can. You're the first of the bigwigs to arrive."
"That's the way I planned it. I did want a chance to look around a little without a lot of pomp and ceremony."
"I can give you the cook's tour unless you'd rather wander around by yourself," Tony offered. He noticed two young crew members gawking at Bridger. "You ain't got anything to do?" he barked. Both scurried away.
"Maybe you'd better come along - for crowd control. What is it with these people? Why are they making such a big deal over me? I figured Nathan Bridger'd be long forgotten by this time."
"Oh he is, sir," Tony assured him "These kids are so wet behind the ears they probably think you're Santa Claus."
"I can still knock you on your ass, Tony," Bridger threatened good naturedly. He was frankly quite glad that Tony did not put him up on the pedestal he'd been forced up onto during the last years of his career and since. It made him feel more human.
Tony showed him around a little and they ended up at the Captain's Quarters. Bridger noted that he'd really seen nothing very important and figured the Captain had reserved those places for him to show off. The Navy would never change. Tony knocked and entered without being invited. Bridger steeled himself to see this room. He'd called it home for longer than almost any place on Earth. His eyes fell on the desk. The same desk that he'd spent hours pouring over the endless paperwork now kept her current captain captive doing the same thing.
The captain looked up. He took off his glasses and smiled. "Welcome aboard, sir." He stood and extended his hand.
Bridger shook it warmly.
"You know, if you'd have warned me about all this damn paperwork I might not have taken this job."
"Wild horses couldn't have kept you from it, Jim. And we all know it," he scoffed.
"Guess you're right. After Ford got booted upstairs somebody responsible had to take over." Brody smiled.
"And you're just filling in till they find somebody like that?"
Bridger turned around. He hadn't noticed the Hispanic man who had been looking out the viewport. Though lined with gray most of his thick hair was still dark, and still longer than regulation allowed. He was wearing the smile that Bridger remembered but it did not quite reach his eyes anymore. Lt Commander Ortiz had lost his wife several months ago. Bridger knew it still hurt. He, himself had come onto seaQuest the first time in a very similar situation.
"How are you doing, Miguel?" he asked honestly.
"I'm getting by, staying busy. You know." He still wore the smile. It didn't hide the tiny wrinkles around his eyes and general weariness etched into his face.
"Yes. I do," he said sympathetically. "It will get a little easier as time goes on," he promised.
Ortiz nodded.
Brody and Piccolo let them talk for a minute in private. It was something neither of them had experienced. It was a grief that Bridger understood. He was the man to talk to Ortiz about it. Bridger always knew what to say to anybody, in any situation. Brody secretly wished he could be half the captain Bridger was.
"I thought you said I was the first to arrive," Bridger said to Piccolo.
"I said the first of the Bigwigs," Tony countered.
"He's a bigwig. Head of the UEO's biggest and best Sensor Station," Bridger disagreed.
"To say nothing of the fact that he designed it," Brody put in.
"Well that radio telescope was just sitting there," Ortiz shrugged "I figured someone should get some use out of it."
"To say nothing of the fact that he got himself a cushy job there in Puerto Rico for the rest of his career - him sitting on the beach while us poor subjocks slave away down here with our tans fading by the minute," Tony complained.
"What can I say? They offered me fifty thousand WSKRS to play with."
"And I bet you know each one by name," Brody teased.
"Of course. I just named every one of them after a member of my family or an old shipmate, then keeping track was easy."
"You named one after me?' Brody asked
"Sure. Brody is monitoring sewage emissions at the industrial park off the coast of New China."
Tony laughed uproariously.
"Where's Piccolo?" Brody demanded
"I'm sorry to say he was eaten by a great white."
"You always were full of it, Ortiz," Tony grossed "I thought you might improve when you became an officer, but you're just as bad as ever."
Bridger enjoyed their bantering. He couldn't believe how much he had missed it.
He remembered how he had had to practically twist Ortiz' arm to get him to take Officer's Training. He'd risen up through the officer's ranks nearly as fast as he had through the noncom ranks. He could have probably had his own boat and been a captain by now, but his love of sensors had kept him ensconced at the facility he had created - that and the fact that he could see his family every night instead of being off at sea. Ortiz was a family man. He'd had his priorities straight. He was with his wife and helped her raise their family. He wasn't a stranger who came and went as he, himself, had been while Robert was growing up. Ortiz never knew the hurt of having your young child not recognize you.
Just then the intercom buzzed. He had to bite his tongue and let Brody answer. He was the captain now.
"Brody."
"You have a Priority One call from Secretary General Ford, Sir," a female voice reported.
"What now? Okay, O'Neill, I'll take it in here. I'd swear you'd think he was planning a wedding," Brody complained.
"O'Neill?" Bridger asked.
"My Goddaughter," Ortiz said proudly "I helped her convince them to send her to the academy."
"They didn't want her to join the Navy?!"
"They thought she should go somewhere else and do ROTC like they had and keep her options opened. I reminded them that people joined the Navy all the time over their parents objections and besides if she was a boy they wouldn't have objected and they were being sexist pigs about the whole thing," Ortiz explained.
Bridger was sure that Ortiz had done an excellent job of wearing them down.
The vidscreen system he was used to had been replaced by a holographic imaging system. Ford suddenly seemed to appear in their midst. He was just as tall and straight as ever. He, too, had tinges of gray in his hair and worry lines around his eyes. He'd grown a mustache which made him looked older and more distinguished but by and large he looked very like he had when Bridger first laid eyes on him. He was no longer first officer on the UEO flagship. He was now the Secretary General of the UEO which made him the most powerful man on the planet. He was not pompous and overbearing. He carried himself with the same quiet dignity he always had. Bridger did not envy him this job but under Ford's leadership the UEO became more than a bunch of arguing confederations. Under Ford, the Earth truly became united. Bridger admired his young protégé for what he had been able to accomplish and for the man he'd become.
"There's a few more things I wanted to go over, Jim." He looked up from the clipboard in his hand. His eyes fell on Bridger and he genuinely smiled.
"Hello, Jonathan."
"Nathan, I'm so glad you could make it."
"A commemoration ceremony for MY boat? Where the hell else would I be?"
Ford smiled. "I was hoping you'd say that." He looked around. He saw Ortiz. "Commander Ortiz."
"Uh, Lt Commander, sir."
"Not anymore. You should pick up your mail more often."
"Excuse me?"
"You've been promoted. I didn't think you'd really be up for a ceremony yet. We'll have a little private thing when I get there. Just your friends."
"Uh, thank you, sir." Ortiz seemed a little stunned.
Ford realized he was uncomfortable and turned the conversation to other things.
Bridger noted that Ford had finally come to understand people. He went over some last minute details with Brody. Though Brody did not realize it Ford was pushing his buttons just for fun. He had finally learned how to have fun, too. Bridger watched the whole scene with approval. Ford finished by saying he would be joining seaQuest tomorrow night. The transmission was cut off and Ford disappeared.
"I still find that unnerving," Bridger commented.
"Hey, it's been more than unnerving in the past," Brody shuddered.
"You're not bringing women into my quarters, are you, Jim?" Bridger asked.
"Just my wife but the Secretary can sometimes bully the comtech into putting him through unannounced. You have no idea what a mood spoiler that is."
"I think I do." Bridger remember a similar event happening to him at the end of his first tour on seaQuest. The other three shared a curious look while he mused.
"And I thought I knew where all the good make out spots were on this boat," Tony commented.
The intercom buzzed again. "This is Launch Bay, Captain. The launch from New Atlantis is arriving."
"On my way," Brody told him. "I'll never get all these reports done and Ford will want to see them, dollars to doughnuts."
"Jim, he's pulling your chain," Ortiz told him
"That's easy for you to say. The Navy wants to keep you happy. You're sitting on more patents than Edison. I'm just an expendable sub Captain."
"He always was paranoid, wasn't he?" Tony asked.
"Yes," Bridger and Ortiz answered together.
"Just cuz you're paranoid doesn't meant they're NOT out to get you," Brody defended himself. "Come on, let's go to the launch bay. We can't keep VIPs waiting."
They all left the Captain's Quarters and boarded the new improved Mag Lev.
"This one CAN'T derail," Tony told Ortiz.
"I wasn't worried," Ortiz insisted, "In fact, I'd forgotten all about that. You weren't scared, were ya, Tony?"
"Me? Hey, I ride this thing everyday"
"Maybe you should think about walking once in a while," Ortiz patted Tony's stomach. "You're startin' to look like your father."
"And you're startin' to sound like your mother," Tony shot back.
Brody and Bridger just shook their heads with mock disgust. The four were old friends. They all realized that this sort of friendly teasing was very good therapy for the silently grieving Ortiz. He needed to be with his friends right now and they wanted to be there for him.
Things were a bustle of activity in the launch bay. Bridger spotted young Krieg and wondered what he might try to sell to the unsuspecting New Atlantians. But he'd grown up in New Atlantis surely they would know better than to trust him.
The hatch opened and passengers began debarking. The first one off was a thin man with gray temples and glasses. He looked distinguished and almost embarrassed to be the first one off the launch. Brody stepped up and shook his hand.
"Governor O'Neill or is it Ambassador?"
"Actually it's both, Jim. But I'd really appreciate it if you'd drop all the bureaucratic bullshit. I've had it up to here with it."
Brody was a bit taken aback. This was not the sort of language he was used to hearing from the soft-spoken man. New Atlantis had grown in the nearly thirty years since its inception. It first became a colony then a country of its own. Tim O'Neill had first been a professor at the college and had eventually become the ambassador . He was recently elected the first governor, as the leader of this country was called.
"You're not still mad at me for snatching up your daughter for seaQuest, are you? We demand the best and she was it. Hey- where's Lonnie?"
"She couldn't make it. She's about to become a grandmother any day now. She says that takes priority. She'll come to the fiftieth year commemoration."
"So that's it. New Grandpa blues. Hey don't sweat it. Our job is easy. Lots easier than fatherhood. All we gotta do is spoil 'um. Right, Miguel?" Brody told him.
"That's right. I'm thinking about taking my grandson pirate hunting any day now."
"Just don't get a damned parrot." Brody cautioned.
O'Neill and Ortiz ignored him. O'Neill gave his friend a quick hug. "Lonnie sends you her love," he said. "How are you holding up?"
"I'm hangin' in there," Ortiz assured him.
"When you get some leave time, you're to come visit. Lonnie's orders. Meet the new grandkid. You know."
"Be happy to."
The two old friends walked off together. Bridger suspected that Miguel's being here was the only real reason that O'Neill came. He surely had other pressing duties. SeaQuest was a long way in his past now. Bridger's gaze returned to the passengers. The next to step into the launch bay was couple arguing. Time had grayed their hair but it had done little to change their relationship. Their constant bickering had almost driven him to distraction during his first tour as the captain of the seaQuest. "Hitchcock and Kreig," he smiled as they drew close enough to hear their argument.
"I still say you have no business here," Admiral Hitchcock was saying.
"The Governor's wife gave me her ticket," he shot back. "I served on seaQuest, too. In case you've forgotten."
"I keep trying to forget. It's an embarrassment to the whole corps."
"Still at it, after all these years?" Bridger asked them with a laugh.
"At what?" they both asked.
"You two argue so much you don't even know when you're doing it." Bridger decided their relationship was actually more like brother and sister than ex-spouses. He greeted them both warmly. This was one of the constants of the universe and there were so damn few of those any more.
Kreig wandered off to greet his son and Hitchcock went up and talked to O'Neill and Ortiz. Katie's husband, his old friend, Oliver Hudson had died two years ago. He saw her hug Ortiz. He knew she'd say the things Ortiz needed to hear and not dispense any bull. Katie didn't get to be an Admiral before she was forty by not knowing how to deal with people and what they needed. She had never had children of her own but had channeled her maternal instincts to her crew, to the people she rescued and to her large circle of friends. She had bloomed so as a Naval Officer and as a person. He felt truly proud to know her. He noticed some of seaQuest's crew quaked a little around her - even Tony. Hitchcock was known to be tough. They had not been that afraid of him, he knew that for sure - those who knew who he was, he reminded himself.
Next off was a very serious looking, scholarly man. His nose was buried in an electronic notebook. He was not looking where he was going. Tony stuck his foot out and tripped him. He stumbled and spun around.
"Get your nose outta the damn book. How you ever gonna find a woman that way?"
"Tony, you bastard. Now I lost my place." He tried to sound angry but the truth was these two were still best friends after all these years. Lucas' road had led him to study and become a chair at New Atlantis University while Tony's had kept him on seaQuest. They had each been married twice but only Tony currently was. Tony said it just proved it was harder to live with a genius than a slob.
Lucas looked up at him and smiled. "Captain." He hadn't been a captain in more time than he cared to recall but Lucas never could bring himself to call him Nathan. Lucas was the closest thing he had to a son and he was the closest thing Lucas had to a father. Nothing would ever change that. Even though they were both busy with their lives the bond that had grown between them was still there and it was still strong.
"Hello, Lucas. It's good to see you."
"It's good to see you, too." Lucas shook his hand warmly. "And seaQuest."
"What about me?" Tony asked.
"Well, we have to take the bitter with the sweet, don't we?" Lucas teased as they moved off to greet Brody and Ortiz.
His eyes once more fell on the hatch as Commodore Shan carried an almost frail looking Dr. Kristin Westphalen out of the launch and sat her in a wheel chair. Kristin had had a stroke five years ago which left her left side paralyzed but her brilliant mind and her indomitable spirit were as strong as ever.
Shan was the only one that time seemed to have passed by. He looked almost no different than he had when he had served on the seaQuest. Shan had retired from the Navy and was now the head of security for the country of New Atlantis. He suspected that the safety of his Governor and the Founder of New Atlantis had a lot more to do with his being here than the fact that he, too, had once served on seaQuest.
"Thank you, William. This is all such a confounded nuisance," she complained.
"Having a beautiful woman in my arms is one of life's delights," he told her.
"You silver tongued devil," she laughed.
Bridger approached.
"Nathan!" Her face lit up. "How lovely to see you."
He bent down and kissed her. They had become close then drifted apart over the years. They had once considered marriage but realized they were both far too independent for that to work out. They had remained close friends. He had been with her through her stroke. She'd helped him heal from the broken hip that had left him married to his cane.
"Nathan," she teased noticing all eyes were on them, "not in front of the children."
He laughed but in a very real way the people in this bay were their children - their legacy. He and Kristin had been young and most of these had been mere babes when seaQuest began her mission. Now they were here to celebrate her thirtieth year in service to her county - her world.
"If these walls could talk," he mused.
"Bet Tony's glad they can't," Lucas teased.
"Me? What about Ortiz? Cargo bay four is still known as Ortiz' love nest."
They all laughed. Ortiz had had the well deserved reputation of being quite a lover when he served on seaQuest. Bridger had thought they would have had to nail his feet to the deck to get him married but in the end, despite all his protests, he had married a girl his mother had picked out for him and been very happy.
That night the Captain held an informal reception and all of these old friends sat around and reminisced about their days on seaQuest and with each other. Embarrassing stories were told and laughed about even by the person who had been embarrassed. Stories of wild shore leaves also made the rounds and Tony delighted in telling about the time he had taken Lucas and Ortiz to the Happening. He went on and on in great detail, urged by both Ben Kreig Sr. and Kristin neither of whom had heard the story before.
"Lucas should get drunk more often," she commented. "He's become such a serious old poop."
"That doesn't sound like sound medical advice, Doctor," Lucas returned.
"Well, it is, my boy. Life is short. Enjoy it," she countered.
"I've always told him that," Tony assured her. "La dolche vita."
The party was already in full swing when Lt O'Neill and Ensign Kreig arrived. "We finally found him," she reported to Brody.
"Thanks, Lonnie er I mean Mike. I'm sorry. You just look so much like your mother."
It was true. Bridger would have sworn that she was the young Ensign Henderson he once knew - except for the glasses. She and Kreig managed to steer a protesting Dagwood into the room.
"Come on, Dagwood." Brody took over. "I ordered you to come and have a good time. Look. All your friends are here."
Dagwood looked absolutely no different except for a decidedly hangdog expression.
"All the cleaning is done by drones now," Tony explained. "He's been sulking about that for over a year. We can't seem to shake him out of it."
"How would you feel if all security was suddenly done by robots?" Bridger asked.
"Sir?" Tony didn't get it.
"It was what he did, Tony. It was his sense of worth." Bridger left him and went up to Dagwood and greeted him warmly. Dagwood was glad to see him and Lucas and the others and for a while came out of his doldrums. Bridger watched as O'Neill's daughter went up and kissed her father. She inquired after her mother and sister but seemed more concerned about how 'Uncle Miguel' was holding up. Tim sent her to spend some time with her godfather who obviously adored her. The feeling looked mutual to Bridger's eye.
The party went on quite late. Later than he was used to staying up, he had to admit. When the hell had he become an old man? He didn't notice it happening.
The next day Brody took them on an official tour of the boat. The tour ended dramatically on the bridge. Bridger looked around at all the young faces. He recognized only Lt Miguela "Mike" O'Neill and Benjamin Kreig II who'd both been at the Captain's party because of their fathers. All of the faces looked young and eager as he and his own crew had once been so many years ago. SeaQuest wasn't his boat anymore. It belonged to them now.
A splash in the moonpool made his heart quicken. He noticed Lucas was also affected. It wasn't Darwin, of course. It couldn't be. No one had seen Darwin for over ten years. He was old then, very old for a dolphin. He had to be dead. They both knew this but still they cast hopeful eyes into the moonpool.
Not one, but two dolphins cavorted there.
"This is Neptune and Calypso," Tony introduced them "Only male and female on the boat that gets to co - habitate," he complained. After Darwin had retired the seaQuest had always had a pair of dolphins. No other dolphin ever got as much joy out of the company of humans as Darwin had and pined away in loneliness till the idea of a pair of dolphins was hit upon. Calypso nuzzled Tony's hand lovingly.
"Old man swim?" Neptune chirped.
"Who you callin' old man? You could wind up as the bill of fare down in the crew's mess, you know," Tony threatened but it was clear that he and these dolphins held each other in high esteem. Bridger knew what that type of link with a dolphin was like. So did Lucas. Lucas obviously couldn't say anything. He, too, found himself at a loss for words as Tony introduced them. Only Tim O'Neill seemed able to comfortably pet the dolphins. Tim's other daughter was a dolphin trainer at New Atlantis so he was very used to being around them. He had had something of a psychic link with Darwin. These dolphins seemed to feel it as well. It occurred to Bridger that Tim was far more comfortable dealing with dolphins than people.
Lt Mike O'Neill announced that Secretary Ford's Launch was docking. They all made their way back to the ward room while Brody went down to officially greet Ford and guide him there although he certainly knew the way. He'd been the Captain of the seaQuest after Bridger was promoted to Admiral.
Everyone had just about gotten seated when Ford, Brody, Dagwood and to everyone's delight, Wendy Smith came into the room. As the head of the Psychic League Wendy played a very important role in the UEO. There was no need of introductions so as soon as everyone was settled Ford stood up to speak. His quiet presence demanded the complete attention of everyone in the room.
"I'd like to thank you all for coming. We have a few formalities and announcements to get out of the way before we get into the real reason I've asked you all to come here."
'Good old no nonsense Jonathan,' Bridger mused.
"First off there are some congratulations in order. Miguel Ortiz has been promoted to full Commander effective immediately." He let everyone congratulate Miguel and then he went on.
"As you all know, as head of the UEO I have to make some pretty hard decisions sometimes. Well, they are not all so hard. I had to appoint a new security chief for the organization. I chose Jim Brody who will now be an Admiral." Brody looked like he'd been told on the walk down here but had not quite gotten used to the idea. "When you're in my position you have to surround yourself with people you can trust - even if you know what a royal pain in the ass they can be."
Everyone laughed, as much from the uncharacteristic use of humor and vulgarity as anything else.
"Thanks," Brody muttered but his pleasure at the promotion was evident.
"What about seaQuest?" Tony objected "Who'll be her captain?"
"Well, Tony, "Ford began quietly, "like I said some of the decisions I have to make are hard. Very hard." His voice caught. "As you know, I have always said that as long as I was the Secretary General of the UEO that seaQuest would be her flagship no matter what newer and faster boat came along. Well, I've had to rethink that."
"No boat is better than seaQuest!" Tony jumped to his feet ready to fight and once again reminding Bridger of the ever loyal Crocker.
"You're right , Tony. No boat is better. No boat ever will be. That's the reason I have to retire her."
"Retire her?" Disbelieving voices sounded around the room.
"Yes. For all the good seaQuest has done and for all of the wonderful things she has accomplished we can't forget that her original purpose was that of a weapon or a deterrent. We can never have true global harmony as long as something as powerful as seaQuest is there to enforce it. True peace and harmony is a voluntary thing. If we are truly one world we need no such weapons to use against each other." He let his words sink in.
"But... but." Tony still wanted to argue.
"Isn't that what the flower children wanted Tony? Wasn't that what the sixties were all about? The world finally got it, Tony," Ford said simply.
"Jonathan is right. The need for seaQuest is past," Bridger defended what he knew had to be the hardest decision Ford had ever made.
"What will happen to seaQuest?" Dagwood asked for them all.
"She'll go to the Nautical Museum at Pearl. She'll be open to the public."
"Then everyone can love her like we do," Dagwood stated.
"That's right, Dagwood," Ford smiled, relieved he hadn't gotten more of an argument. "There is one more congratulation in order here before we go on." He referred to a piece of paper he'd been handed when he got onboard. "Governor O'Neill, you have a seven pound six ounce grandson, Congratulations. We were warned he might faint," Ford told Wendy.
"He'd better not," Brody put in. "Doctor Albright is the chief medical officer on this vessel now."
"I'm all right," Tim insisted in a small voice. "A boy? How about that?" Everyone congratulated him. A lot of the stress he'd been carrying seemed to disappear for a moment but then returned. "God!" he gasped "Lonnie insisted on calling our girls boy's names this poor kid's liable to be named Susan."
"Nope." Ford referred to the paper again. "Says here his name's Timothy."
"I'd better sit down," O'Neill gasped.
"You are sitting down," Wendy laughed. "Here take a drink of water."
"We'll take our grandsons hunting for pirates together!" Ortiz banged him on the back joyfully.
"Let's wait till they're housebroken," Tim advised.
"You always were the practical one," Miguel laughed. For the first time his smile touched his eyes.
When the room settled down a little Ford continued. "Now for the real reason we are all here."
They all stared at him. If it wasn't the announcement about seaQuest what was it?
He looked at each person in the room before he continued. "As most of you in this room know, Over thirty years ago a decision was made in this room or the one on the original boat, anyway. It was a decision we all agreed to - some more whole heartedly than others," he admitted. "I was one of the hold outs. I didn't like keeping things from the people in charge but now we are the people in charge. Anyway a signal was sent. Lucas, you want to play it."
Bridger felt a strange sense of excitement. He heard the recording they sent to the aliens - more importantly he heard his old friend Darwin's voice again. The two dolphins in the conference room's moonpool even reacted to it. Lucas looked to the moonpool. His complexion was ashen. "Darwin," he gasped.
"We all know it was Darwin's voice on the recording." Bridger wanted to hurry the proceedings along.
"I haven't played the recording yet." He stared at the moonpool which now contained three dolphins. The two young dolphins and a grizzled old bottlenose they barely recognized.
Bridger had no recollection of how he reached the moonpool but Lucas was there beside him.
"Old friend," he said simply. It was all he could say.
"Bridger. Lucas," Darwin chirped happily but his voice sounded very tired.
"Where have you been?" Lucas demanded.
"Lucas busy. Bridger busy. Darwin wait."
"You were waiting for us?" Bridger tried to make sense of it. Darwin had to be twice as old as dolphins were known to get to be.
"Wait for visitors," Darwin told them.
"You heard from them?" Bridger gasped "The aliens? You heard from them. When are the coming back? " he demanded of Ford.
"Visitors here," Darwin said simply. The other two dolphins began to swim in nervous circles. Suddenly there was another figure in the pool.
Tony defensively jumped up to the side of the pool.
"No, Tony." Lucas grabbed his arm. "We invited them."
"I thought you dreamed all the aliens," Tony complained.
"Not all of them," Lucas smiled, remembering the ribbing he'd taken about his imaginative nightmares in the past.
A tall , golden humanoid figure stood up gracefully in the middle of the pool. A lilting, melodic voice came out of the vocorder.
"In the spirit of co operation and knowledge, the residents of my planet accept your invitation and extend one of our own. You are an infant people, not yet ready to interact freely with our people. You have much to learn. We will teach seven of you and you may return and teach the rest."
The sound of a pin dropping would have been deafening to everyone in the room. Lucas spoke first. "Which seven?" he asked.
"Your leader will decide."
For the first time in the history of the planet the world did have one leader. It was Jonathan Ford. This decision was not one he was prepared to make.
"I can't send people on a mission like THAT," he declared. "I can't ask people to do something I'm not prepared to do myself."
"You are needed here. There are others whose time to be needed is past. They are ready for this new challenge," the alien stated.
"I wanna go," Lucas said simply.
"Are you crazy?!" Tony hissed. "You don't know who this guy really is or what he wants. Remember the movie. 'To serve man' could be a cook book!"
"You sound like a cop," Lucas told him. "These people are here because I invited them - we invited them. I trust them."
"You sound like a dumb kid!" Tony flared back.
"What happened to peace and harmony, Tony. Wasn't that what you always said you loved about the sixties. This is our chance - the chance for our generation to do something that matters."
"It's not fair," Tony muttered. "You can think faster than me."
"I'll go," Bridger said simply. "I'm ready."
"If you can accommodate a crippled old lady, I'd love to go." Kristin's voice joined his.
"All are welcome."
"You know, " Krieg said to Katie. "All my life I've dreamed of being able to do something like this but now that I have the chance I can't do it. I can't leave Ty and the kids."
"You're rooted here," Katie understood. "But I'm not. I'd like to go."
"Katie are you nuts? What about Operation Recovery?"
"Morgan can handle that now. He doesn't need me for anything."
"I'd like to go too," Wendy said simply. "I know I wasn't at the original meeting but I think I could be very helpful with communications among our peoples."
"I would like to go," Dagwood said simply. "If it's okay."
"All are welcome," the alien repeated.
Bridger thought of his good friend Scott Keller and what he would have given for an opportunity like this. Scott had been killed twenty years ago in a launch pad fire at NASA.
There was silence among those at the table. Those with families or other responsibilities did not speak up. "Do we hear seven?" Ford asked almost hopefully. It was plain that he did want to go but could not.
"The watcher will be seven."
"The watcher?" Bridger asked for them all.
"Darwin watcher," the vocorder whistled in Darwin's voice. "Darwin wait. Now Darwin go."
"Darwin you're old. I don't know if you could handle the trip," Lucas said delicately.
"Darwin old. He knows much. Lucas young. He knows nothing," Darwin said sharply to the amusement of everyone in the room.
Two hours later Bridger walked the corridors of seaQuest by himself. He'd said good-bye to his other friends. Now he said good bye to his boat. She was alive to him. As alive as Darwin or any of the others. 'We both have other missions now. You have to help teach the world to live together in peace and harmony. I have to learn new things from our new friends to teach the world. We both have our work cut out for us but I'll see you again, my dear old friend. I don't know when I'll come back but I'm sure you, at least, will be here waiting for me.'
An hour after that he was suited up and getting ready to leave seaQuest for the last time. He looked around at the people assembled there. His eyes fell first on Ford who stood one step in front of the others. Ford had a quiet dignity that spoke volumes. He was a reflection of his Atlantian ancestors in his strength and ability to lead the World.
Next to him stood O'Neill. Another quiet but strong man. He too was a powerful World leader. He remembered them both in their youth when he had first met them. He liked to think he had some small part in shaping them into the men they became. He shook each of their hands.
"Jonathan."
"Good-bye, sir."
"Seems we've done this a few times before."
"Yes sir."
It was somewhat strange to think that the leader of the World held him in such high regard but he was still Jonathan Ford who had been his faithful first officer for so many years.
He nodded and moved on to Tim.
"Send my love to Lonnie and enjoy that new grandson."
"I will, sir," he smiled and for a moment the affairs of state slipped away and the quiet humor of his old communications officer was evident. "You take care, too . Don't take any alien wooden nickels."
"I won't."
He moved onto Ortiz. The emotional Cuban could never say a dry-eyed good bye.
"You take care too, Commander. I expect your WSKRS will be the first thing to pick up our return."
"They were this time," he smiled and brushed a tear away with one hand as he shook Bridger's hand with the other.
"You knew about this?" O'Neill was surprised.
"See, I can keep a secret. Tell Lonnie."
"She won't believe it."
"Vaya con Dios, sir." Ortiz turned his attention back to Bridger. Tim put his arm around Ortiz supportively. Like most friendships formed on seaQuest, this one had lasted a lifetime.
He walked up to Brody. Brody had always reminded him of himself and he still did. He was trimmer, fitter and sharper than most men a decade younger but his years as captain of the seaQuest were etched into his face also. He would be her last captain.
"You take care, sir. If you get into any kind of trouble - just give a holler." He'd never lost his youthful brashness. Somehow, Bridger was sure, he would come to help if he was needed.
"You'll never change will you, Brody?" he laughed.
"Sir, you just can't mess with perfection," he said with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek.
He looked at Tony who was suited up to accompany them to the alien ship. For once Tony was at a loss for words. He merely wrapped him in a bear hug as he had Lucas and Dagwood.
"You keep these guys in line for me, huh, Tony?"
"Aye, sir." Tony saluted and for the first time in his career, actually got it right.
All too soon he and Darwin, Lucas and the others swam out of the aqua tubes to the alien ship. Tony helped Westphalen. He hugged Lucas one last time then he and Calypso and Neptune swam back to seaQuest. SeaQuest dimmed all lights in salute and Tim O'Neill, who was now on Communications, said simply. "Good-bye and good luck." Tim was a man of many languages and few words but he always picked the exact right ones for every occasion.
The alien ship was out of sight within the blink of an eye. One adventure was ending and another was beginning. The Earth was entering a new phase and he'd be there to see it. He didn't feel like a useless old man any more. He was with Darwin and Lucas and Katie and Kristin and Wendy and Dagwood. Together they would do this. He felt more alive and more at peace than he had in ages. His life had taken him to the stars, after all. He thought of Scott and all the friends he left behind but more importantly he thought of the future. His eyes locked with Lucas'.
"Cool, huh, Captain?"
"Very cool, Lucas," he agreed. "Very cool indeed." He was leaving the world in the capable hands of Jonathan Ford and he was taking the next step for mankind. He couldn't think of anything cooler.