by Jane
Woods
by Jane
Woods
The first thing Sensor Chief Miguel Ortiz was aware of was the spongy, wet
ground he was lying on. It felt soggy and he had the urge to get up. When
he tried, however, he realized it was a mistake. A nauseating wave of dizziness
washed over him. He closed his eyes and prayed he didn't get sick. He didn't,
but he had enough sense to just lay still and try to collect his thoughts
this time. He had no idea where he was. He chanced opening his eyes again.
He looked up at the sky. It was the darkness between moon set and sunrise,
he reasoned. He slowly moved his head. With what little light the last few
remaining stars afforded he could tell he was in some kind of field but how
in blazes did he get here?
He tried to piece together recent history. Had he gotten drunk and passed
out here? He did feel pretty bad but it did not really feel exactly like
a hangover. Think, Miguel, he commanded himself. The last thing he could
remember was being on twenty four hour liberty with Lucas and Tony. They
had driven across the state to catch something? What? A concert. That was
it. The crowd had been large and unruly and there were plenty of "controlled
substances" floating around. He had wanted to leave the concert early but
had been outvoted by his younger, more adventurous companions. He'd been
like them when he was younger but had learned the hard way that some trouble
was better just avoided. Although they had managed to leave the concert without
incident, they had become hopelessly lost in the boonies by taking one of
Tony's famous short cuts. They weren't going to make it back to the boat
on time and his ass was going to be in the sling. Ford had not wanted to
approve this leave in the first place and they had led him to believe it
was a baseball game they were going to.
They were on some back road somewhere in Holopaw when the car had suddenly
stopped. He'd been sulking in the back seat. He'd sworn vehemently at them,
sure the batteries had run down. That was the last thing he could remember.
Again he attempted to move, but slowly this time. Man, his stomach really
hurt but it was a dull soreness not so much actual sickness. He felt like
he had been sick, though, and his mouth tasted bad. He needed a drink of
water. He ran his tongue over his lips. They were dry. His eyes had adjusted
to the darkness somewhat. He looked down. His clothes were torn and disheveled
and he was barefoot. Surely that wasn't right. And why was he in this damn
field? Had they been in a wreck? And where the hell were Lucas and Tony?
A sudden fear gripped him and he sat up. That hurt so much he actually heard
himself scream. He grasped his stomach. There was a tearing sensation around
his naval. His shirt was untucked from his jeans and half unbuttoned. When
some of the pain subsided he felt around for some kind of wound. He could
find no signs of bleeding but the sharp pain took his breath away. He could
hear the blood pounding in his ears and he almost thought he'd pass out.
When the thudding lessened a little he thought he heard someone calling his
name. He wanted to ignore it. Strange sensations were flooding over him that
he could not understand. The only thing he could be sure of was pain. Pain
and an almost uncontrollable fear. He fought them both, trying to regain
control. He tried to take some deep calming breaths. But deep breathing hurt.
He wanted to scream again. Finally he gave it to the urge for the momentary
relief the scream gave him. Suddenly he heard the voices again. Something
told him to run. To hide. But he could not move. It just hurt too much. Then
there was two dark shapes closing in on him.
He told them to get away. He was vaguely aware he told them in Spanish. He
groped around for a rock or a stick or some kind of weapon.
"Whoa, easy there, pal. My high school Spanish sucks."
He knew that voice. He racked his brain to place it but then he felt a hand
on his shoulder trying to restrain him. An overwhelming fear of capture overtook
him. He tried to roll away. He felt like he was being torn in half. He doubled
up in agony. "Lemme alone." He had tried to yell it but he barely had the
breath to gasp.
"What's the matter with him?" Lucas was ashen.
"He's confused. You were too when I rattled your bones."
"I think he's hurt," Lucas argued.
"Maybe he's sick." Tony waved his hand in front of his nose. "Least he smells
that way. Ortiz, get a grip. It's us."
Miguel put his hand to his forehead and struggled to make some sense of it
all. "Tony?" His voice was weak and shaky.
"Yeah." Tony was relieved. He'd belittled the situation for Lucas' sake but
inwardly he was scared. "You okay?"
"My stomach hurts," Ortiz admitted.
"You gonna hurl?" Tony scooted back.
"No," he gasped. "Oh man. What the hell happened? Were we in a car crash?"
"The car looks fine."
"Where is it?"
"'Bout a mile up the road. We found it before we found you. Can you get
up?"
"Not sure."
They helped him to his feet. He was unsteady at first but seemed to regain
his strength a little as he moved around. He just concentrated on staying
on his feet. He had quite a bit of trouble negotiating the barbed wire fence
that surrounded the field but eventually they were on the road and the walking
was a little easier. His head began to clear although he still had little
recollection of the night's events. He was happy to sit down when they got
to the car. They got in because they were unsure what else to do. When he
bent to get into the backseat the tearing pain returned but it was less intense
than it had been. A whimper of pain escaped before he could stop it.
"I think he's hurt," Lucas whispered to Tony.
"I'm okay," Ortiz tried to convince all three of them. "I just can't remember
what the hell happened." He hadn't meant to yell it.
"None of us can, Pal. I have an idea but you ain't gonna like it."
"Any idea is better than this hole in my memory."
"All right here goes. I think we were abducted by aliens."
Ortiz had to laugh even though it doubled him over with pain. When he was
able he said, "I can just see Ford buying that. We're officially AWOL in
less than two hours." He consulted his watch.
"The car died. I remember that much," Lucas thought aloud. He tired it again
just for something to do. To everyone's amazement it kicked in.
"Get us out of here. Let's try and find vidphone if they have such a thing
in this podunk town." Ortiz felt very grouchy. He was sure this escapade
would land him in the brig. He was never going anywhere with Piccolo again
as long as he lived.
"We could call the boat and tell them we had car trouble," Lucas suggested.
"I knew there was some reason we brought a genius along. You call. Give Bridger
some kind of bleeding heart story. I know, tell them Ortiz got sick which
he obviously did. How' bout opening a window and airin' out back there, huh
Teez? You kinda reek."
"You can't say that!" Ortiz suddenly panicked and sat forward despite the
pain it caused him.
"'Fraid it's true, Pal," Tony told him holding his nose.
"You can't say I'm sick! Wendy will want to examine me."
"She's a doctor, Miguel," Lucas pointed out puzzled by Ortiz' actions.
"NO NO NO!" he screamed.
"Pull over. He's freaking out." Tony didn't pull any punches this time.
Lucas pulled over and Tony hopped over the seat and grabbed Ortiz'
shoulders.
"Calm down, Miguel," he commanded.
"No examinations. NO EXAMINATIONS!!" Miguel was thrashing around so much
that Lucas crawled back to help too. He wondered if it was some kind of seizure.
He didn't care if it was uncool to be scared. This scared the bananas out
of him.
"Okay, Miguel. No examinations," Lucas promised. This seemed to calm the
Cuban a little. "What's happening?" he whispered to Tony.
"He's remembering that's what," Tony spat. "I don't remember and you don't
but he does. Those little alien bastards nabbed us and did stuff to us. I
read about this kinda thing."
"Where -- in a tabloid?"
"Hey, this was real common at the end of the last century. People were getting
nabbed left, right and center. Nobody believed them at first. Some people
thought it was some kind of government cover up. Then it just quit happening.
But recently, it began again."
"You watch too many bad movies."
"I'm telling you, Lucas, this is a classic case."
"Who would believe this?"
"Probably nobody."
"We...can't ..tell," Ortiz panted.
So they made a pact not to tell. It was the only thing that calmed Ortiz
down. The sun was coming up and they found their way to the main road. Lucas
found a vidphone and called the captain. They convinced him that Ortiz had
pigged out on chilly dogs and had been carsick forcing them to stop quite
often so he could run into the bushes. They were two hours late getting back
but the look and smell of Ortiz gave credence to their story. He looked so
bad that Ford couldn't even pick on him.
"You'd better go to med bay."
"No, please. There's nothing they can do for me now. All I need is shower
and some sleep. Please, Jonathan," Ortiz begged.
"All right, if you're sure." Ford had had a bout or two with food poisoning.
He'd tease him about this one day but not today. It almost hurt to look at
him. He'd suffered enough for one day.
Ortiz just wanted to forget about the whole incident. He put up with the
good natured ribbing that he took about getting carsick. It was better than
having been put on report for being AWOL which he had been sure would happen.
But try as he might, he could not forget. Not when he had nightly reminders.
Several times during the night he would wake up in a cold sweat. He would
have been trying to scream but a strange paralysis had gripped him. He almost
forgot how to breathe. He could never remember the dreams just the cold shaky
feelings they left in their wake. He tried to shame himself out of them.
He wasn't a kid anymore. His parents couldn't come and sit with him till
he went to sleep. He'd gone through a bout of nightmares like this as a little
boy. They'd come back in junior high but by then, he'd trained himself not
to cry out in the dark. He'd just dealt with it. If he could deal with it
when he was 13, he could deal with it now. He halfway wanted to turn the
light on at night but why keep his bunkmate awake?
He was really starting to feel tired, even on duty, by the time a week had
passed. His eyes felt like they were on fire. He'd been doing especially
fine work all morning and he couldn't even see straight any more. Brody had
the comm at the moment and as he always did, he paced around the bridge.
He was walking by sensors. Miguel knew he had to say something.
"Lieutenant."
"Yeah, Miguel?"
Miguel sighed wearily. He could tell by the look on Brody's face that he
was in one of his teasing moods. He decided to go on anyway. "I need to take
a break. My eyes are killing me."
Brody looked at him closely "Yeah, you do look kind of like hell. You're
not going to get submarine sick like you got carsick, are you?"
"He didn't get carsick." Lonnie intervened for him. "He had food poisoning.
I seem to remember you coming back from shore leave with that. You didn't
think it was so funny then."
"Funny! I about died!" Brody swore.
"Then I'd think you'd have a little more sympathy. I can cover for you, Miguel.
Go take a break."
"Go ahead," Brody concurred.
"Thanks," he sighed and left the bridge. He hopped onto the MagLev glad no
one else was in the car. He leaned his head back intending to close his eyes
only for a moment but exhaustion overtook him and he dozed off.
Lt. Tim O'Neill boarded the Mag Lev, his mind busy with the current project
that the captain had him working on. Captain Bridger had assigned him many
such tasks this tour. While he was delighted that the captain had trusted
him with the extra responsibility he did not have as much spare time to spend
with his friends. He had his career to think about, he told himself. Still,
he had enjoyed just goofing around with Ortiz and the others. He looked around
the car as he sat down. He was surprised to see his old friend Ortiz sound
asleep at the far end of the car. Asleep when he was supposed to be on duty.
It looked like, for once, he would have something to tease Ortiz about. "Miguel,
you must have too much time to devote to nightlife this tour," he chuckled
as he made his way over to his friend. He debated about pretending to pull
rank and chewing him out about this. He found he couldn't do it. After all,
he was the one that had abandoned Miguel forcing him to spend his time with
Lucas and Tony. He shook his head, called himself totally paranoid and sat
down beside the sensor chief. He shook Miguel's shoulder to awaken him. He
had decided against any dramatics so he was thoroughly unprepared for the
dramatics that did unfold.
The instant his hand came in contact with Miguel's shoulder, Miguel screamed
as if his touch had been acid. Miguel came instantly awake. Tim had never
seen an expression of terror like the one his friend wore as he bolted to
the other side of the car trying to escape.
<NO! Leave me alone! Don't touch me!> he screamed in Spanish. His voice
shook and his eyes were wild. He threw himself at the door and tried to claw
it open even though the MagLev was in motion.
Tim was startled but forced himself into action.
"Miguel, it's me. What's the matter?" Tim went up and tried to pull him away
from the door. There was no danger that he could open it but he may have
hurt himself in the attempt. Miguel was amazingly strong and he flung him
off and hurled him to the floor.
Miguel was screaming at him in Spanish. This time he spoke too fast for Tim
to even translate. Tim didn't worry about what he was saying. It was the
way he was acting that scared him. He almost wondered if Miguel was sleepwalking
as he was making no sense whatsoever."MIGUEL! Wake up!" he hollered finally
drowning Miguel's own voice out.
Ortiz stopped struggling with the door. His frantic actions were slowing
down. Tim tried approaching him once more. "Miguel, are you all right?"
Miguel put his hand to his forehead and allowed himself to slowly slide down
the door to a sitting position on the floor. "Tim?" His voice was shaky.
"What's left of me. What the hell happened?" Tim squatted down in front of
the sensor chief.
"I-I don't know. Guess it was a dream........."
"Sounded more like a nightmare," Tim disagreed. As usual, he sought
out humor to help the two friends through this awkward moment. "I blame myself.
With the extra duty I'm pulling, I guess I've abandoned you to the
evil clutches of Lucas and Tony."
"Well, in that case, I blame you too," Miguel grinned, looking more like
himself than he had in weeks. "Look, I'm sorry, man, it's just...." his voice
faded.
"Must have been a hell of a dream." Tim offered him a hand up.
"I don't know," Miguel admitted quietly." I can't remember it when I wake
up just this.. this feeling of dread." Miguel shook himself as if to get
rid of the eerie feeling.
"Maybe you should talk to Wendy," Tim began kindly. He knew that nightmares
sometimes had their roots in physical problems.
"NOOO!!" Miguel screamed, suddenly as agitated as he had been when he was
dreaming. "You just think I'm crazy. I'm not crazy!!"
"Nobody said that. And you call me paranoid." Tim hoped that
Miguel would once more respond to his humor.
Miguel just stared at him with mistrust and a even a touch of fear written
on his face.
Tim began again, "Nightmares are not necessarily a sign of a mental problem.
They could be a sign of a physical problem -- like too much stress. Why don't
you let Wendy examine you -----"
"NOOO, Tim. There's nothing wrong with me. Nothing. I don't need a doctor.
I'm fine. Fine. Just tired. You were right. Too much free time. There's this
girl, see, you know me. But I'm gonna cool it. Really. I'm sorry I scared
you. It won't happen again. Everything is fine. Well, this is my stop. See
ya." With that he dashed off the MagLev.
He hadn't convinced Tim that he was all right. He had convinced him that
he was in bigger trouble than Tim had even thought. For the sake of their
friendship Tim intended to get to the bottom of it. He thought about Miguel's
behavior of late. He hadn't really taken note at the time but he seemed to
be acting strangely ever since he and Lucas and Tony had gone to that
ballgame.
Tim did not get off the Mag-Lev at his intended stop but continued on to
the stop at the corridor that led to Lucas and Tony's room. Lucas was probably
smarter than he was and Tony certainly had more street savvy but somehow
he was going to bully them into telling him what really happened.
The noise coming from within the room prohibited anyone from hearing Tim’s
knock. He tried twice and then just pushed the door open. Loud rock music
blared from the sound system. Tony stood on a chair “singing” into
a hair brush while Lucas accompanied him on an imaginary guitar. Tim tried
to think back on their behavior lately. He did not remember anything out
of the ordinary with it. That is, they seemed to be acting just as strangely
as they ever did. They were both so lost in acting out the roles of rock
stars that they did not even notice him standing there. He went over and
shut off the music.
For a moment the sudden silence was deafening. The almost immediate complaints
of the two pseudo musicians soon filled the air.
“Hey what gives, Lieutenant. We were listening to that!” Tony was
indignant.
“No you weren’t. You were living it,” Tim disagreed.
“So? We have a right to do whatever we want to in our own quarters,”
Lucas argued.
“You may be in your quarters but the noise is all over the
ship.”
“Are you here to complain in an official capacity?” Lucas asked.
“No.” Tim backed down a little. This was not a good way to start
this conversation. “In fact, I’m not here to complain at
all.”
“Well, you’re doing a pretty good job of it,” Tony pointed
out wondering what O’Neill had on his mind.
“Look, forget about the music. I wanted to ask you something
important.”
“What?” Lucas was still suspicious.
“Did something happen to Miguel at that ballgame you guys went to a
while back?”
“No why?” Lucas said quickly. Much too quickly, Tim thought. He’d
been in Communications long enough to spot a lie when he heard one.
“Well, something is wrong with him. He looks terrible. He’s having
nightmares which means he’s always tired. He refuses to go to Med-Bay
and get checked out. This is going to start affecting his work soon and then
whatever it is will have to come out. It would be better if he sought help
on his own otherwise he could be in really big trouble. It might even mean
his career and you know how much this job means to him.”
Tim was laying it on thick but he knew he would have to do something desperate
to get through to these kids. “I’d like to help him before it comes
to that but he won’t even admit he has a problem. If you’re his
friends, you’ll help him before it’s too late.”
They looked at each other for guidance before Tony finally spoke. “Look,
Lieutenant, we’d like to help you, but the truth is nothing happened
at that ballgame. If Ortiz says he ain’t got a problem maybe he
doesn’t. I mean a few little nightmares.....”
“These aren’t little nightmares. They are more like night terrors
and if they are all as bad as the one he just had in the Mag-Lev
----”
“He was sleeping in the Mag-Lev?”
“I told you. He’s exhausted and he’s also scheduled to be
on duty now. Ford is going to notice and if
he’s the one that gets to the bottom of this, things will
not go well for Ortiz. I know you guys know more than you are telling. You
are the only ones who can help him.” Tim knew he was exaggerating a
little bit but he wanted to put them on the spot.
As he suspected they would, they still denied knowing anything but he hoped
he gave them something to think about. He told them to come to him if they
thought of anything and reluctantly he left.
* * * * *
“This ain’t good,” Tony told Lucas. “If Ortiz isn't on
duty when he’s supposed to be, he could wind up in the brig.”
“Maybe we should have told O’Neill,” Lucas ventured.
“We couldn’t, we made a pact, remember?”
“Yeah but if Ortiz is still having nightmares after all this time. I’m
not having them anymore....”
“What would we say? Something happened but none of us know what. It
has all the classic symptoms of Alien abduction but we all
know that there is no such thing as aliens so no one would
buy that idea.”
“I know, Tony, but I think O’Neill is right. This is going to all
come crashing down on Ortiz. I think we should try to get help before he
gets himself in big trouble. Maybe Wendy could get inside his head and find
out what happened.”
“Wendy? He goes ballistic at the thought of an examination. That’s
what the aliens do from what I have read. They examine you like a you were
some kind of lab specimen and they are interested in things of a sort of
private nature, if ya get my drift.”
“Do you suppose that happened to all of us?” Lucas asked
nervously.
“I don’t know. I think whatever happened to him was worse. He was
the only one of us that got sick,” Tony remembered.
“He was in real pain too. I don’t remember any pain, do
you?”
“Nope. Maybe we should try to talk to him about this again,” Tony
decided. “Lay all the cards out on the table, you know I can’t
say I’m all that nuts about having a hole in my memory -- especially
since I was stone, cold sober at the time.”
After the watch changed Tony and Lucas made their way to Ortiz’ quarters.
They had not noticed him much in the messhall lately. He seemed to be keeping
to himself. They knew that Ortiz’ bunkmate was on second watch so if
Ortiz was there, he was probably alone. They needed to talk.
Ortiz did not answer their knock right away and when he did, it looked like
he had been asleep.
“Jeez, you look like galloping shit,” Tony commented.
“Who asked you?” Ortiz snapped as Tony pushed his way into the
room and Lucas reluctantly followed.
“Miguel, we have to talk.” Lucas tried to take over the conversation
since Tony seemed bent on being tactless. Tony was right. Ortiz did not look
right at all. His hair was disheveled, his eyes were red and there were dark
circles under them but they wouldn’t get very far by annoying the sensor
chief.
“About what?” Miguel asked suspiciously.
“About what happened. About what is still happening to you,” Lucas
told him.
“Nothing happened. Nothing is happening,” Miguel said firmly.
“Miguel, look at you. You’re a wreck. You need help.”
“I do not. We promised that we’d never bring this up. We
promised!” Miguel was starting to sound frantic.
His behavior scared Lucas. It was the same way he had acted the night they
got lost in Holopaw. Suddenly Tony reached out and grabbed Miguel’s
wrist.
“What the hell are you doing?!” Miguel shrieked, desperately trying
to pull his arm away.
“Taking your pulse.” Tony would not be deterred.
“My pulse is fine,” Miguel snarled. “If you want to continue
to have a pulse, you’ll let go of me and get the hell
out of here.”
“It ain’t fine, Teez. It’s racing. You’re in trouble
here.”
“I’m not in any trouble. I’m fine. What’s with everyone
around here?”
“What’s with everyone is that they're worried about you. You're
not fine and it shows. O’Neill knows something is up. He thinks Ford
will be on your ass soon.”
“Why? I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Sleeping in the Mag-lev when you’re supposed to
be on duty,” Tony pointed out.
“I was on a break. Brody okayed it,” Miguel argued.
“But why were you sleeping?” Lucas asked him.
“Stupid question, Brain Boy. Look at him, he’s exhausted. It’s
plain as the nose on my face.”
“Are you still having nightmares, Miguel?” Lucas asked.
“What nightmares? Who said I’m having nightmares -- oh I get it
-- Tim told you that. It’s nothing. He just misunderstood ---”
“Will you quit lying to yourself!!” Tony was exasperated.
“You’re not sleeping. Judging from the way that uniform is starting
to hang off you, I’d say you weren’t eating. This ain’t
going’ away for you. You need help. Wendy could --”
“You’re trying to ruin me!! They put a psych report on me and
that’s the end of my classification and I’m off
seaQuest. You want to get rid of me?!! You want to send me
back up there where they can get me ----” Miguel was starting
to shake.
“No, Miguel, that’s not it at all.” Lucas was nearly moved
to tears.
“That’s what will happen. SeaQuest doesn’t
need me. Anyone can run the sensors. I’m not irreplaceable
like you. It wouldn’t take much to get me tossed out of here.”
“You’re being paranoid, Miguel. You run the sensors on
seaQuest because you are the best in the business. No one wants
you tossed out of here. Captain Bridger would never let that happen,”
Lucas tried again. He thought that Miguel’s fears were both unfounded
and irrational but he could tell they were sincere.
“Looks like it’s your choice then, Pal. You possibly get tossed
out for a psych write up or you definitely get tossed for incompetence,”
Tony said almost coldly.
“Tony!” Lucas hissed angrily.
Miguel took a few steps back away from them. When he backed into the wall
he slid down it to a seated position on the floor. He nervously ran his hands
through his hair for a minute then he wrapped his arms around his knees and
mumbled. “I can’t go back up there. I can’t. I need to have
all this water between me and ---”
“You and what? Did you remember something?” Tony urged.
“Not when I’m awake but the minute I fall asleep in all happens
again -- whatever it was that happened,” Miguel admitted.
He looked so tired that they were not sure whether or not he even knew what
he was saying.
“You need help, pal,” Tony said kindly. “More than me ‘n
Brain Boy can give you. You really need to talk to Wendy----”
“No GOD! Please no! Not Wendy!” He was beginning to panic.
“Miguel, she’s a doctor. She’ll know what to do,” Lucas
said calmly.
“No! No doctors!”
“She’s more that just a doctor, Miguel, she’s a psychic. She
knows about things that the average person doesn’t understand,”
Tony reminded him.
“We made a pact. You guys swore that we’d never have
to tell anyone. You swore it! Doesn’t that mean anything to
you?”
“Things have changed since then. We aren’t going to sit by and
watch this thing destroy you. I think it’s time to get help,” Lucas
said firmly.
“Listen to him, Ortiz. He’s a genius, after all.”
“Look, Miguel. I know that you think I’m just a kid and you think
Tony is a jerk but you have to admit that you are not thinking all that clearly
yourself, as tired as you are --”
“Who you calling a jerk!” Tony was indignant.
“How about if we tell O’Neill and see what he thinks. He’s
your friend. He'd only want the best for you. He’s worried about you.
You can’t go on like this, Miguel.”
“Will you guys promise to quit playing good cop/bad cop if I
agree?”
“Is that what we were doing?” Lucas was puzzled.
“Some genius, huh Ortiz?” Tony laughed walking over to the intercom.
“I’ll call O’Neill down here.”
* * * * *
By the time Tim O’Neill arrived at Miguel’s quarters, he had imagined
all kinds of things. None good. When Tony Piccolo let him in he thought it
odd, but when his eyes fell on Miguel sitting across the room on the floor,
all logic left his mind and he let his natural paranoia take over. “What
the hell is wrong with him? What did you guys do to him and I don’t
want any of your usual crap.” Tim pushed his way past Tony to Miguel.
Lucas had been squatting right next to him. He got out of the way, not liking
the look on O’Neill’s face.
“We didn’t do anything to him, Lieutenant,” Tony said.
“It’s true, Tim. More or less,” Miguel said wearily.
“More or less?” Tim was still suspicious.
“Other than trying to ruin my career, that is,” Miguel muttered.
“What’s going on?” Tim repeated in his most officer-like
voice.
“Miguel, we have to tell someone. You agreed that he was
the one you’d trust to tell,” Lucas reminded him.
Tim thought that Lucas was almost talking to Miguel as if he were a child.
He also was acting almost protective of Ortiz, as was Tony. And Miguel was
not acting at all like himself. Instead of the confident, joking Miguel he
had always known, Ortiz looked like a man who had given up the fight.
“What’s wrong, Miguel? Are you sick?” Tim squatted next to
him where Lucas had been. He wasn’t sure he completely trusted Tony
and Lucas but something was certainly wrong with Miguel.
“Mentally maybe,” Miguel said, rubbing his sore eyes.
“We gotta tell him what happened.” Lucas was firm.
“WE DON’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED!!” Miguel yelled.
“We have a suspicion,” Tony told him.
“You do and you’re nuts,” Miguel countered.
“Hold it, you guys. Start at the beginning. Tell me what you
do know,” Tim took command of the conversation.
“Okay,” Lucas sighed, although he kept an eye on Ortiz, who seemed
to be getting angrier by the minute.
“Pacts used to mean something,” Ortiz snarled under
his breath.
Lucas ignored him and continued. “You were right about all this starting
at the -- ah-- ballgame, or more precisely on the way back from the
ballgame.” He stole a glance at Ortiz. Part of him did feel guilty for
betraying a trust but he knew that this was the right thing to do, even if
Ortiz never forgave him. “The con-- er the game ran later than we expected.
Tony thought we could make up some time taking a shortcut that he knew about
but we somehow got on the wrong road and before we knew it, we were lost.
Then the car just stopped. We thought at first that the charge had run out,
although it shouldn’t have.”
“Then what?” Tim fought for patience. Since he first confronted
them he had done a little checking. The same night of the game, in the same
city, there was also a concert given by one of those ear-shattering rock
groups that Miguel, Tony and Lucas all liked. Lucas’ slip confirmed
his suspicions about which event the three had actually attended. He felt
a slow burn begin but did not let it show. God knows what was floating around
at that concert.
“Then we all woke up a few hours later. None of us were in the car anymore.
None of us were together anymore. None of us know what happened,” Tony
took over.
“There’s no logical explanation for it, Tim,” Lucas said.
“No? I can think of one,” Tim said a little coolly. “There
are any number of hallucinogenic drugs that can cause blackouts.”
“Drugs?! What the hell are you talking about?” Lucas
was taken by surprise.
“Even assuming that you guys didn’t take them on purpose, you must
have gotten ahold of something at that concert,” Tim was trying to be
kind. He doubted that Miguel would have knowingly taken drugs. He was too
smart for that and his career meant too much to him.
“Er- what concert?” Tony fumbled.
“Can it, Piccolo. The point is we have to find out what he took so
---”
“I didn’t take any friggin’ drugs,” Ortiz said furiously.
“How stupid do you think I am? Damn it, Tim, I thought we were friends
once. I can accept being blown off because being friendly with enlisted personnel
won’t advance your career any, but shit! How can you accuse me of being
a junkie? I guess Piccolo is right. You can’t trust an officer.
Any officer.”
Tim looked like he had been slapped. No one else dared move or even speak.
Tim and Miguel had been friends for a long time. He couldn’t mean the
things he was saying.
“He’s tired. He doesn’t know what he’s saying,”
Lucas finally was able to say.
“I know exactly what I’m saying,” Ortiz said defiantly.
“Miguel,” Tim began. His voice shook a little. “I know you
would never take any drugs on purpose. I’d stake may career -- even
my life on that. It’s just that, I have heard that at concerts like
that --”
“You have heard. Have you ever been to a ‘concert like
that’?”
“Well no but --”
“And you’re willing to hang me on information that is nothing more
that hearsay evidence?!”
“Miguel, no one is trying to hang you,” Lucas said emphatically.
“That’s not the way it looks from here!” Miguel yelled back.
“You have it in your head that I’m on drugs. I prefer my own
explanation that I’m losing my mind -- anything beats Tony’s damn
explanation,” he finished quietly, running his hand through his hair
nervously.
“And what is Tony’s explanation?” Tim asked.
He was desperate to find another explanation because if he was wrong then
it seemed Miguel might be right. If he had been the friend he thought he
was, he would have spent more time with Miguel this tour and he might have
seen this coming and been able to help him sooner.
“You ain’t gonna like it, but it makes a hell of a lot more sense
than the bonehead theories you two just came up with. For one thing, Ortiz
ain’t on any drugs. None if us are. For another thing, Ortiz ain’t
nuts because me and Lucas, here, had the same thing happen. We
all are experiencing missing time and memory loss. Whatever
it was, was just worse for him and that’s why he’s in worse
shape,” Tony explained.
“And what do you think happened?” Tim wanted to know. He forced
himself to be patient. He knew it was the only way he’d get to the bottom
of this.
“I think we were abducted by aliens in UFOs,” Tony said in a voice
that defied Tim to laugh, although they all expected him to laugh anyway.
Lucas winced. He expected O’Neill to do more than laugh. He expected
him to take their heads off, although he could seldom remember the Communications
Officer getting really angry about anything.
“I think you might be right,” Tim said simply. His response surprised
them all.
“What are you bucking for the rubber room next to mine?!” Ortiz
couldn’t believe it. “There’s no such thing as aliens except
in the movies. If there were, why is that we never hear about them anywhere
except the those rags they sell on the checkout lines at the grocery
store.”
“Government coverup,” Tony said firmly. “The government has
lots of secrets - I know, I’m one of them.”
“Tony, sometimes you're so far out in left field,” Lucas began.
“Actually, Lucas,” Tim said simply. “This time, he’s
right.”
“What are you talking about?” Miguel demanded. “Or are you
just humoring me since I’m obviously a nutcase.”
“Look, it would be my career if this ever leaves this room but I’m
going to tell you guys something. Something that is not supposed to be known.
While the new seaQuest was being built, I was on special assignment doing
translations on a lot of highly classified, top secret documents from all
over the world for a special UEO project. The documents were all reports
of UFOs and of abductions. Hundreds of thousands of them from all over the
world. And those documents were only a small part of a huge project. It’s
a project that only a handful of people know about. It’s why I now have
a top level clearance and why I am still getting a lot of top secret things
to work on for Bridger.”
“And why you’re screwed for talking about it,” Miguel
gasped.
“Your sanity is worth more than my career. And I wanted you to understand
why it seems like I’ve been ignoring you this tour,” Tim told Miguel
sincerely.
“Oh damn,” Miguel groaned.
“What’s the matter?” Tim felt panicky.
“My shoe tastes lousy,” Miguel admitted in a small voice. But it
was the kind of remark that was in character for Miguel, which made them
all feel a little bit better.
“We could send Piccolo down to the mess hall for some ketchup,”
Tim offered, with a smile letting Miguel know that all was forgiven.
“No, this needs Tabasco sauce at least.”
“They’re both as nutty as fruitcakes,” Tony declared.
Lucas was more stunned by the information that O’Neill had given them
than he was the in the fact that O’Neill and Ortiz had resolved their
differences. “Do you know what this means?”
“Yeah,” Ortiz said firmly, “it means if either of you say
a word about this to anyone, both Tim and me are out of the Navy. We’ll
probably be brought up on charges anyway so I’ll have no good reason
not to kill the two of you.”
“We have to tell Wendy,” Tim said.
“NO! Not Wendy. No doctors!!” A look of panic flashed over Ortiz’
face.
“Because Wendy is a doctor is exactly why we should tell her. For one
thing, she can’t break doctor/patient confidentiality. For another,
she can probably help you,” Lucas argued.
“And she’s a psychic so she won’t think you’re nuts.
They know about things the rest of us don’t understand,” Tony
agreed.
“Those are both good points,” Tim said quietly knowing he was about
to give them even more classified information. “But probably the best
reason to go to Wendy about this is that she also worked on the project.
There are things that can be done to help you that the average doctor would
not know about.”
“B-but doctors want to examine you a-and...” Miguel was really
getting upset.
“It won’t be like it was on the alien ship, Miguel. I’ll go
with you if you want, ” Tim promised.
“We all will,” Lucas assured him.
Even when they got as far as Med-Bay they were not sure that Miguel would
not bolt and run. They had him surrounded in case that happened.
“I don’t want to do this,” Miguel said quietly outside the
entrance to Med-Bay.
“Come on, we’re all with you on this,” Tim told him firmly,
as they gently herded him into the waiting area.
Wendy had just come out of her office. She had a very worried look on her
face. She approached the four of them. She ignored the other three and went
right to Miguel and took his hand. “Are you ready to talk now?”
Miguel shot suspicious looks at the others.
“No one told me anything, Miguel,” she explained. “I’m
a doctor and a psychic. If you hadn’t come in on your own I would have
gone to you very soon. What’s the matter?” she asked kindly pressing
her palm to his forehead.
“Nothing,” he tried to lie.
She looked him straight in the eye.
“Well, nothing really. That is......”
“Something happened to him. Well, maybe to all of us,” Lucas began
with great discomfort. This was not going to be easy to explain.
“They may have had a CE4,” Tim said. “They are all experiencing
missing time and memory loss. Miguel has had night terrors.”
“I’ve had what? Not that you’d have any way
to know that, anyway,” Miguel was defensive.
Wendy became very serious. She was very familiar with the code word for alien
abduction. She had spent a lot of time working with victims of the phenomenon.
She had even gone along with certain government cover-ups because she knew
that this was not something that the general public was ready to cope with.
The more they learned the more they were sure that they were not dealing
with some cute cuddly little aliens like in the movie ET. Not that they seemed
to be the monsters that Hollywood also portrayed, either. These creatures
that visited Earth in very regular cycles had posed no obvious threat to
the planet in general. They almost seemed to be studying Earth’s population.
The military wanted to know why. There seemed to be no pattern to the people
that were abducted other than many people seemed to be abducted on a fairly
regular basis. It was as if the aliens were taking and retaking readings
on certain people, treating them for all the world like lab specimens. There
were also seemingly random abductions that may have been opportunistic in
nature. Wendy, herself suspected that these random cases might not be random
either but that those victims did not have as clear a memory of the event
as people who did remember multiple abductions under hypnosis. The military
would have a field day if they ever got wind of the news that people who
knew so much about seaQuest had fallen victim to “the alien
menace”.
“Come into my office,” she said.
They had to literally push Miguel in and Tony was also looking like he was
ready to take off.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” she assured them. “First
I want you to understand that what happened to you -- or what you suspect
happened to you, has happened to many other people. Over the years we have
developed a course of treatment that helps people to cope with events that
were so frightening or so strange that they have blocked them out of their
conscious minds. That is why you don’t remember what happened when you
are awake but once you slip into REM sleep the events come back to you in
the form of dreams or nightmares.”
Tony, Lucas and Miguel shared a suspicious look.
“Just relax. All we are going to do is talk. I’d like to ask you
some questions. They are fairly standard in this type of case. Tim will be
able to attest to that. All right?”
Reluctantly all three agreed.
“Are you all having nightmares?”
“I did at first, but haven’t lately,” Lucas admitted.
Tony nodded.“Same here.”
“I don’t have nightmares all the time,” Miguel
said defensively.
“No, sometimes he stays awake all night,” Tony put in.
Wendy looked worried and had them tell her exactly what they remembered about
what had happened.
“We might be able to find out more by putting one of you into an hypnotic
state,” Wendy suggested.
“Which one?” Miguel asked nervously.
“How about Lucas?”
“Okay,” Lucas agreed. He tried to sound more confident than he
felt.
“It’s important that he not be disturbed while he is under so I’d
like the rest of you to wait outside. I’m going to tape this session.
Once we have had a chance to hypnotize all of you we can compare the tapes.
It is important that you not be influenced by what the others remember. It
is better if you tap into your own hidden memories.”
Once the others went to wait outside Wendy’s office, Lucas assured her
that he could probably not be hypnotized at all. That was the last thing
he said before he went under. He told her about the concert, going on in
great detail about the girls who were seated a few rows behind them who had
removed their shirts in their excitement as the headliners stepped onto the
stage. He finally got to the trip home and Tony’s supposed shortcut.
He described the desolate, farm country they were in when the car suddenly
stopped. He had been driving. The others started giving him a hard time about
the charge running out.
“I’m telling you there should be plenty of energy left. It was
almost fully charged when we left Tampa,” Lucas argued.
“Fully charged batteries don’t just quit, Lucas,” Ortiz stated
angrily, leaning over the back of the seat.
“Well this one did!”
“Hey fellas,” Tony interrupted the fight nervously. “What’s
that?”
“What’s what?”
“That big light over that orange grove.”
“Probably just something to keep the insects away,” Ortiz told
him.
“I don’t think so,” Tony gasped.
“Get out and we’ll take a look at it,” Ortiz said.
“I don’t think we should get out,” Tony was getting more nervous
by the minute.
“Well we’re going to have to. It’s the only way we will be
able to walk to the next battery station unless you were planning on pushing
this thing all the way back to Port Quest. Come on, get out.”
Lucas had already gotten out so Tony pushed his door opened and followed
suit. Ortiz was very happy to get out of the cramped backseat.
They stared at the light for a few minutes. Suddenly they had the feeling
that it was coming closer, although it did not appear to be moving.
“That ain’t no bug light.” Tony’s voice shook.
Suddenly a bright blue light shot out of the bottom of the large whitish
light. It seemed to bathe them in blue light. They all had the urge to run
but could not move. They were paralyzed; unable to move a muscle or speak
a word. Then they began to float toward the white light.
Time and distance seemed to lose all meaning. They were inside the ship,
although they had no idea how they had gotten there or how they even knew
it was a ship. It did not look like a ship. They could not make out any details.
They were surrounded by a kind of fog that was made up of light.
“Are you guys okay?” Miguel asked although his voice sounded really
shaky.
“Just great,” Tony said sarcastically. “I always wanted
to make like Tinkerbell and fly to Never Never Land.”
“This defies all logic and all the principles of science as we know
them.” Lucas was in awe and was, as always, the consummate scientist.
“When they come, you two just stay here,” Ortiz told them.
“When who comes?”
“Them. The medbots.”
“WHO?”
“Look. I’m the one with the rank here. I say I go -- besides you
know too much classified information, Lucas and you ARE classified information,
Piccolo. This is an order. Besides, you guys being here is a mistake. It’s
me that they want. Dammit,” Ortiz commanded them firmly, although he
looked more frightened than they had ever seen him.
Suddenly three short, greyish beings seemed to float into their midst.
“The greys!” Tony gasped. He’d read all there was to read
in the tabloids about these guys.
“Who?” Lucas demanded.
“The aliens.”
“They aren’t the aliens. They are just their organic robots. They
want their damn readings,” Miguel muttered.
At first the greys were silent and regarded them pensively with their large,
black eyes. Then they made a sound. All three of them in unison. It sounded
just like the cooing that pigeons make. Suddenly they all heard an odd voice.
It seemed to come from within their own heads. “It’s time again,
Miguel.”
“Look, you just leave them alone. Do you hear me?”
Suddenly Lucas startled awake.
“Is that all you remember?”
“Y-yes. Everything went dark after that and the next thing I remember
was Tony waking me up. I was lying at the edge of the road but we were a
long way from the car. Wendy, did that really happen?” Lucas was obviously
shaken.
“I’m afraid so, Lucas. I know you are upset and you have a
lot of questions. We can probably answer most of them but I need to get the
others regressed and taped before I can answer them. As strange this seems
to you, I want to assure you that this sort of thing has happened to many,
many people before.”
Lucas did not seem terribly convinced. Not only was this a very scary idea
but it shook the very foundations of everything that he believed in. Science
had always been the one constant in his life and now that was not as much
of a sure thing as he had always known it to be.
Lucas agreed to wait with the others and not discuss what he had remembered
until they had all been regressed. Tony went next. His story was exactly
like Lucas’ including the details on the topless girls at the concert.
By the time she got Miguel into her office to regress him, she was not sure
she should do it. He was definitely a lot more frightened than the other
two. Since it seemed that the aliens had actually been trying to capture
him specifically, that was understandable.
“Let’s just talk for a minute, Miguel. Tell me, did you have any
imaginary friends as a young child?”
“Those are for only children. I had far too many people around me
to be lonely enough to make anyone up,” Miguel laughed.
“I see. And did you, at other periods in your life, have bouts
of nightmares?”
“No -- ah wait a minute, yeah, I think I did.”
“Maybe once when you were around 5 or 6 and then again somewhere between
your 11th and 13th birthday.”
“Yeah,” Miguel gasped in shock, “how did you
know?”
“Believe it or not, Miguel, this is pretty classic for this
type of thing.”
“What type of thing?” Miguel asked, although it was obvious that
he did not want to know.
She eased him into an hypnotic state. He told the same story that Lucas and
Tony had told but his story went much farther. He clearly remembered being
separated from the other two then being stripped and placed onto a metallic
feeling table. There were no obvious restraints but he could not move his
arms or legs. While he felt everything that was happening, he was powerless
to prevent it. The medbots, as he called them, gave him a complete examination.
They tried to calm him and telepathically spoke to him kindly but they continued
to do their work. The only thing it was in his power to do was to
scream and scream he did, as he was poked, prodded and measured in every
conceivable way and many that were inconceivable. Most of what they did to
him caused him more discomfort than pain but he remembered what would happen
when the general examination was over.
“No! No please don’t do that, please,” Miguel begged as one
of the medbots approached him with a long, thin, clear wire. It was at once
stiff and flexible and the wires split at the end to form tiny pincers. One
of the aliens leaned hard on his chest and the other leaned hard on his thighs.
They did not want him to move one centimeter. They tried to speak calmly
into his head but he was beyond reason.
The wire was pushed into his navel. White hot waves of pain broke over him
as more and more pressure was applied to the wire. When his skin was broken,
the probe was pushed deep into his body. Blood bubbled up around the wire
from the place where his skin had been pierced. The probe was agonizingly
painful as it hit many of his organs. Finally it found what it was looking
for and closed around the tiny triangular object that had been imbedded in
the folds of his large intestine years ago.
It hurt to have the implant removed. It hurt a lot.
The aliens ignored his screams and went on with their work. Slowly the implant
was removed. It was larger than the hole that the wire had made to gain entry
into his body and he felt his skin being torn it was removed. More blood
gushed out of his navel when the implant was finally clear. He sobbed helplessly
as one of the aliens held a finely woven cloth to his wound to stem the blood
flow. The alien with the probe walked out of his line of vision but the other
two stayed with him and continued to hold him down. He felt the need to vomit
but none of those muscles seemed to be working. He was hit by both vertigo
and severe nausea. He wanted it to be over but he knew that it was not.
The alien with the probe returned. There was another implant secured in the
pincers of the probe.
“Oh God no! Not another one. Please. Please don’t do this. It hurts.
IT HURTS!”
His begging fell on deaf ears as the implant and the probe were forced into
his bleeding navel. He continued to scream and the alien continued to push
the implant into his body. It was a very slow and deliberate job and the
alien medbot felt no need to hurry. The readings were far more important
than the pain the specimen was feeling.
Finally the implant was forced into place and the probe was inched out of
him. As soon as it was clear he was rolled over onto his side and allowed
to vomit. Then they began cleaning him up. He hated the feel of their skin
as they touched his body. It was almost scaly but not quite. It did feel
abrasive on his naked skin. Sandpaper abrasive. He hated them touching him.
He hated them.
That was all he remembered and Wendy brought him out of his hypnosis
slowly. His experience had been much worse than that of the other two. Miguel
was obviously part of an on-going study. She intended to put an end to their
study. They were sure that the implants were used to track their case studies
She intended to remove it. She did not intend to report this to the
project and let them also use Miguel to further their knowledge of the aliens.
He had been abused enough.
She made sure that Miguel did not remember the things he had revealed under
hypnosis. This was going to finally be over for him. While he was still groggy
she told him that the reason he had been feeling ill lately was that he was
suffering from an infection caused by a problem with his appendices. She
got him into surgery without any assistance of any kind. There could be no
witnesses. It took her quite a while to find the implant. She carefully removed
it. She also placed a post hypnotic suggestion in his mind while he was deeply
under the anesthesia. He would forget all of this. It would be as if it never
had happened.
While he was in the recovery area she also placed both Tony and Lucas into
highly suggestive states and in essence wiped their memories clean of the
entire incident including the project that Tim had told them about. This
was part of the work she had done on the alien menace project and she was
happy to remove such painful memories for people.
It was a shame that she had to remove a perfectly healthy appendices
from Ortiz to cover the truth but once he recovered from the surgery, his
lifelong ordeal would be over. She didn’t know exactly what the aliens
wanted with Ortiz but she did know they would not bother him again. She’d
see to it that the implant was removed from the boat and would end up at
the bottom of the ocean. If the aliens ever found it again it would probably
be inside a fish. That would certainly ruin their data but they had no right
to study humans as if they were lab specimens. Miguel’s next abduction
would never happen and he would have no memory of any of the others. No one
at the project would be using him for a case study either since neither she
nor O’Neill would ever report it. Tony and Lucas only remembered a little
car trouble on the way back from the ballgame. This plan might not serve
the best interests of either science or the military but it served the best
interests of seaQuest and her crew and that was really all
that mattered.
The first thing Sensor Chief Miguel Ortiz was aware of was a strange sensation
of floating. Slowly he became more conscious of his soundings. He zeroed
in on his left arm. It felt stiff and heavy and there was something sharp
poking him. He reached over with his other hand to try and remove it.
“No, No, Miguel. Leave that alone.”
He forced his eyes open. Things looked blurry at first but then Wendy’s
face came into focus. “Wendy? Where am I? What’s
happening?”
“You’re in Med-Bay. You’ve had an infection but that IV is
helping your body get rid of it. You have to leave it alone, all right? Now
tell me, how are you feeling?”
“I’m kind of hungry.” The sound of laughter confused him.
He looked past Wendy to see that Tim O’Neill, Lucas and Piccolo were
also in the room.
“That sounds like the old Miguel,” Tim smiled. “He must be
feeling better.”
Wendy stood aside and let them talk to Miguel for a while. She felt guilty
about doing it, but she read their minds. None of them remembered anything
about the abduction incident or the project she and Tim had worked on. There
was no need for them to know about it any longer. Miguel seemed to be a little
weak but he was definitely on the road to recovery and, since they had jettisoned
the implant, he was no longer in any danger of abduction. She hoped that
all of their lives could now return to normal. Well, she corrected herself,
as normal as it got for these guys.