========================================================================== ANCIENT WRITINGS Sherry Loeffler ========================================================================== Timeline: After "SeaQuest 2032" (after 3rd season) Author's E-Mail: loeffler@istar.ca ========================================================================== AUTHOR'S NOTES: Well, since no one has said whether they liked Chameleon or not and there have been no feedback to it, I will assume you don't mind getting more from me, so here is my second story. It is in three parts and is titled Ancient Writings. =========================== PART 1 ===================================== It had been a couple of weeks since the incident at the research colony. Things had settled down and Tiffany was getting used to submarine life once again. Chameleon was working just fine. She had got a lot of the kinks out with Lucas' help. They were headed back to port for some light overhauling in a few days and she was looking forward to seeing her son again. Tony was about to try his officer's exam again. Between her and Lonnie Henderson, they had been coaching him. He was ready this time. Tiffany had finished her shift and was walking back to her cabin when Dagwood called to her. "Tiffany? Can Dagwood talk to you?" "Sure Dagwood. Anytime. What's on your mind?" "On my mind? Oh, I know. Tony says that. What am I thinking?" Tiffany smiled. "Yes Dagwood. Or what do you want to talk about?" "I, um I have a friend. Um, she is different. Um, she is Rachel." "Dagwood! A girlfriend?" Dagwood had a habit of hanging his head when he was embarrassed. She touched his chin so he put his head up. "Well, she is a girl, or woman. Um, I guess." They reached Tiffany's quarters. "Come in and tell me about her." He told her about meeting Rachel shortly after joining the navy. She did not like the 'monotones' as she called them. She tried to get him to leave SeaQuest. He stayed with her for a couple of days and they became good friends. She didn't understand that the people on SeaQuest were good and were his friends. "But there is a problem. I do not know what to do." "Go ahead, Dagwood. You can tell me. I'll keep it a secret if you want." Dagwood seemed to be upset by something. It was his way of looking at things. If he didn't understand something, it often upset him. "Well, she writes letters. To Dagwood. Dagwood's name is on them." He put his hand inside his jumpsuit and pulled out some letters. "I, um, here." He handed them to Tiffany. "I don't understand, Dagwood. What do you want me to do?" She paused then she realized what it was. "Dagwood, can you read them?" "Dagwood can read. Well, some things. I can read Dagwood's name. I can read things on SeaQuest, but these, they are different words. Dagwood does not understand those words. Can you read them?" "Oh, Dagwood, you haven't written her back then?" Dagwood hung his head again and shook it. He was ashamed. "Dagwood. They only taught you how to read military things? Did anyone teach you the alphabet letters?" He just shrugged his shoulders. "Dagwood, do you want me to read these to you?" He brightened up. "Look, I'll read these to you, then we can write a letter to her together. After that, I'll teach you properly how to read and write. OK?" He was smiling now. She read the letters to him. Rachel wondered why Dagwood hadn't written back to her. She thought the 'monotones' were keeping him from writing her. They kept him from being friends with her. She thought they did not want him to have any real friends. Her letters were concerned about Dagwood. She wanted him to know she liked him very much and wanted him to better himself and get away from the 'monotones'. She was really against anyone other than daggers. "But Dagwood is happy on SeaQuest. Dagwood has lots of friends. They are good friends. Why does Rachel say bad things about my friends?" "Dagwood, she doesn't know us. The only 'monotones' she has known are the ones who are bad to her and her friends. We'll let her know. It may take a while but we'll let her know we aren't all bad." She took some paper from her dest and started writing. Dagwood watched her writing. Finally she finished and smiled at him. "Listen to this Dagwood. Dear Rachel, my name is Tiffany Rose. I am a friend of Dagwood's. He came to me today because he did not know what to do with your letters. Dagwood can only read a little and cannot write well. He can sign his name, but not much else. His education has been overlooked. He came to me for help. I will teach him through your letters, how to read them and how to write to you. In the meantime, I will write the letters for him. He has told me a lot about you and he is very fond of you. He is very sorry he could not write you back. Please forgive him and forgive those who did not think it worthwhile to teach him proper reading and writing. He is a dear sweet person and all of us on SeaQuest love him dearly. He is a good friend. I hope we can meet you soon. We will try to get passes and come and visit you when we are in your area next time. The next section of this letter will be Dagwood's own words but in my handwriting. Sincerely, Tiffany Rose. She smiled at Dagwood. "Now it's your turn. Just say what you want to say and I'll write it down." "Oh, well, um, tell Rachel. Dagwood is sorry. Dagwood wanted to write to Rachel but could not. Dagwood wants to visit Rachel again." "Dagwood, remember what I said about using the word I instead of your name. It sounds better." "Um, OK. I want to visit Rachel again. People on SeaQuest are nice to me. They do not stop me from writing you. I stop myself. I am sorry. 'Monotones' here are good people. They like Dagwood, um, me. They treat me nice. Tiffany will take me to see you. You will see she is nice. She is a nice 'monotone'. Um, I don't know what to say." Tiffany smiled. "That's enough for now. Let's just sign this and put it in an envelope. Take it to the mail room. Do you know where that is?" He nodded. Then she asked, "Can you sign your name?" "Kind of, I think. I will try." Dagwood did a messy job of it, but he did sign his name. Tiffany was pleased about that. Imagine, no one teaching him how to read or write properly. "That's good Dagwood. Rachel will be pleased to see this." she folded it up and sealed it in an envelope. "Now, when we'll start lessons tomorrow after my shift." "Dagwood, um I thank you." "Anytime. Anytime. See you tomorrow." Tim and Tiffany were not on duty till noon the next day, so Tim asked her to come to his quarters in the morning. He had some ancient tablets, which had been sent to him to be deciphered. He did not recognize the writing at first, but then discovered it in Tiffany's book. He wanted to show her what he had discovered. She agreed to be there after breakfast, but no one stated a time. The next morning she arrived at his quarters at 0900 hours. She knocked on the door and he called come in. She walked through the door and started to talk. "I hope I'm not too early. Some people ...oops!" She looked up after closing the door and saw he was in his underwear. Cute yellow boxers. She turned around, smiling. Tim was embarrassed. He grabbled a pair of pants and put them on. Then he grabbed a shirt. "It's OK now. Sorry. I thought you were one of the guys. I, um, didn't realize the time. I'm not exactly used to women coming here. Sorry." His face was now beet red. He could not have gotten any redder. She started to laugh. "Well, I'm sorry I'm not one of the guys. Cute boxers. Yellow is my favourite colour." "Um, well, I ..." He didn't know what to say so all he could do was laugh with her. It helped to relieve the tension created by his forgetfulness. "Nice legs, though, Tim." "I've been told they're too white." "Nah. They look just fine to me. Besides what do you expect from someone who spends amost every hour of his life on a sub?" They laughed together. He thought she is easy to get along with. "Oh, here it is. These are the tablets." Tiffany could see seven tablets all lined up on the floor. They didn't leave much room to walk. Some were only partials, but four of them looked almost complete. They only had a couple of nicks out of them. She knelt down to look closer at them. "This is quite a find. I looks like a combination of ancient Armenian, Egyptian, um, no that can't be right. Have you deciphered any of it?" "I was just working on the third one. The other two I think I have, but it doesn't make any sense." Tiffany looked at what he had written down. It was just words. NOT TO SAY TO ISLAND NO WITH GODS. "What do you think it means?" "Well that's just it. Look here in your book. Look at this culture. The writing's the same." Tiffany looked at it. It certainly looked the same. "That's what I'm going by to translate it." Tiffany leaned closer to the first tablet. "Look here. There is another word here. It's been scratched out." Tim got some water and started brushing at the area with a wet brush. Soon they could make out some markings. Tim got the book. "Look here. This looks like it. It's the word SEND." "OK then. SEND TO ISLAND. Someone will be or was sent to an island but the sounds of it. Do you think maybe they said something wrong and were exiled?" "It sounds like it. I wonder. Maybe I have the tablets in the wrong order." He took the fourth one and put it first. "Yeah, look at that. There's a marking at the bottom of this tablet and the same marking is at the top of the next one. That's how they go together!" They had found how to put them in the right order! They reorganized the tablets. Then they both knelt down to try and figure out the first tablet. It was not in as good condition as the other one. But together they worked on it. They lost track of time. Tim had to reach over her to the table at the side for something. Tiffany lifted her face toward him. He looked into her eyes. He wanted to kiss her, but shied away from it. "Um, sorry, I wanted to get something." "No need to apologize. You know, Tim we really do get along good together. It's a nice relationship we have, but, if," she hesitated. "If you want this relationship to grow and change, it's alright with me. We know each other well enough to be honest and not to be shy." Tim looked down. He was obviously not too comfortable with this conversation. She decided to let him off the hook. "On the other hand we can be good friends and maybe I should keep my mouth shut. Let's get back to this now." She knew she had made him feel awkward. She didn't want that and wondered if she had pushed too hard. She wasn't too confident in the romance area herself and gathered Tim was the same. Maybe she should keep her mouth shut. It may not be a good idea to encourage a ship-board romance anyway. Her uncle would not approve. They both looked at the tablet, each with their own thoughts. Something started to clear up on it. Tiffany brought the book over. "Here! Look! This is the key, right here. WHERE THE WATERS COVER No that's wrong. Um, here! WHERE THE WATERS BUBBLE? Is that right?" "Yeah, I think so. BUBBLE that's the word. Look, there's the word ISLAND again. ISLAND COMES UP. Um, let's see. This looks like the opposite. THEN DOWN I'm not sure about the rest." "I think it's something about a god of trouble, no a TROUBLED GOD. This word is CURSE. What comes after that do you think? I wonder what kind of curse it is." They started piecing the words together and finally came up with what they thought it meant. "If someone says something, they are cursed. It sounds like they are sent or I guess exiled to an island. I don't understand about the going up and down." Tiffany was thoughtful. "I think I have the other tablet here." Tim was excited. "Look here!" he pointed to some words. Tiffany could make them out. They started to say them together. THE CURSE OF DEDONIUM ONE WHO SAYS NAME FLOW THROUGH WINDOW TO ISLAND. They looked at each other. "DEDONIUM?" They said together. Just then there was a flash of light. It looked like a lightening bolt. It flashed through the cabin over the tablets. Tiffany and Tim jumped back. They saw another flash and it looked like it hit the tablets. Then two flashes came out of nowhere, headed straight for them. Tiffany screamed and closed her eyes. End of part one. More to come ..... Sherry =========================== PART 2 ===================================== The next thing Tiffany knew was that she was in water. Actually, under the water. She could feel water all around her. She opened her eyes. She could not breathe. She tried by was surrounded by water. She thought she was dying. Is this what it's like? A feeling of drowning? She tilted her head upwards and saw light. Could she reach it? This was like a dream. She hoped it was. She wanted to wake up. She couldn't breathe. She needed air. She tried to get up to the light. Her head hurt. She moved her arms. She felt dizzy. Finally she broke through the water. She gulped air. Her head felt light. She kept gulping air. After a few minutes she started to look around. She didn't know where she was, but she was surrounded by water. No land in sight. She was scared. Where was SeaQuest. Would they find her? Where was she? So many questions. Tim. Where was he? She called out his name. No answer. She called again. Then she heard a splash from a distance and someone gulping air like she had. She called out again. a weak voice said, "Here, over here." It had come from behind her. She turned around and could see Tim's head about 60 or more feet from her. She started to swim over to him. Was she ever glad to see him. At least she wasn't alone. "Tim, are you alright? What happened? Where are we?" "I think," he gulped more air. "I think we got cursed." He was still gasping for air. He took his glasses off and tried to shake them to get the water off. Then he put them back on and looked around. He was surprised. "What happened?" "I asked first. Tim, this is not my idea of a fun time." She smiled. She wanted to relieve some of the tension and to show she wasn't really scared, although she was. "I really do think we got the curse. But where's the island?" He turned around. There seemed to be a small hill quite a ways from them. "Is that it there?" "There's only one way to find out. Let's start swimming." They started to swim. Meanwhile back at SeaQuest there was some confusion on the bridge. Some of the consoles got quite hot and there were a few sparks. Nothing serious by the look of it. They managed to save the consoles and nothing was seriously damaged. "Wolenczak! What happened here?" Captain Hudson did not like anything happening that he was not in control of. He glared at Lucas, who was busy punching some things into the computer. "I'm not sure sir. There seems to have been a power surge somewhere in the ship. It didn't start here, but originated somewhere, um, I think in the crew's quarters. I'm trying to get a lead on it now." "You had better not think, Wolenczak. We need answers. What caused it? You have to know for sure. I don't want this sort of thing happening again." "Yes, sir. I have it here. It originalted in the officer's quarteres. Wait a minute. This can't be." He looked up at the captain. "It originated in O'Neill's quarters, sir." "O'Neill? What was he doing that could start something like that? It looked light lightening went through here. Where is O'Neill? I want to talk to him?" "Well, um, I guess in his quarters, sir." Ford was on the communications comms. "Sir, he isn't answering when I call." "Piccolo! Get O'Neill up here and find out what happened. Now!" "Aye, aye sir! On my way!" Tony rushed down to Tim's quarters. He knew that his friend was in deep trouble. A few minutes later he was back on the bridge. "Sir!" "Well, where is O'Neill? I want to talk to him. I want him now!" "Ah, he's not in his quarters. He's nowhere around. I can't find him. Um, his quarters, sir. They're a mess. All this dust or something around. And the heat in there. Whew!" Dagwood had been listening to the discussion. He had seen Tiffany go into Tim's cabin earlier. He spoke up and told the captain. "Commander Ford. I want a whole ship search for O'Neill and Commander Rose. Now! Get on it!" "Aye sir." Commander Ford was not too thrilled about her in the first place, but he didn't wish any harm to her. Tim had been a friend for years. They had worked together for a long time. This was not like him. He had had enough with Kimura. That was one ambitious lady. She wanted everyone's job. She acted like she knew better how to do each job. Now there were two Lieutenant-Commanders on here and he had two people wanting his job. He didn't like the competition, but he didn't want any harm to come to Tiffany, or especially to Tim. He arranged a search of the whole ship. He came back to the bridge. "Captain. Neither O'Neill or Rose are on this ship." "That's impossible! How did they get off? They have to be here." "Sir, no they aren't here!" Lucas had been punching things into the computer again. He had started a trace. "Sir! I have their signatures here and they lead away from the ship." "Signatures? Wolenczak, what are you talking about? They have to be here. How would they leave?" "Sir, when people move around, there is what is called a signature which shows where they have been. One can't see it, but it's there for everyone. We all have them. I managed to get theirs on the screen here. Two signatures left the ship a while ago, when we had the power surge. The signature is caused by their own personal energy. Some enormous power has taken two people away from this ship and put them elsewhere. It has to be them." "Come again? You say you can see where they are or where they've gone?" "Yes sir. Actually the signatures go off the screen. Let me get a wide angle on them. Yeah, here they are. Yes, they have definitely been transported somewhere. Um, let me see. OK they are still now. It seems they have stopped and they are ... Oh my." "Wolenczak, get on with it. Where are they?" Hudson was getting impatient. "Well, they appear to be in the Atlantic Ocean sir," "Atlantic Ocean! We're in the Pacific! How did they get there?" "I don't know sir, but they are actually somewhere around the old Bermuda Triangle, or what they used to call the Bermuda Triangle." "Wolenczak, are you sure? Do you know how long it's going to take us to get there? I thought they finally proved there was no such thing as this Bermuda Triangle." "Yes sir, but they are definitely in that area, according to my calculations. They stopped there." Hudson wondered, how could two people be transported from his ship to half way around the world. He gave the orders to set course for the area. Tiffany stopped swimming. She was looking at the so called Island. "Want to rest?" Tim stopped too. "No, it's just that, well. This hill or island, whatever it is, is getting awfully big, really fast. I don't like the look of this." Tim couldn't see anything wrong. "That's because we're swimming toward it." "No, Tim. It's getting too big, too fast." Just then Tim yelled, "Ouch!" "Tim are you Ok?" "Yeah, we must be getting close to it or I just found a sandbar, well actually a rockbar is more like it. I stubbed my toe on a rock or something hard. Man, that hurt! It feels like this is all rock. Can you feel it?" "Tim, you are at least ten inches taller than me. I can't touch bottom." Both of them had been barefoot when they were transported. "Yeah, sorry. Well, maybe we should start off. I can walk anyway. Here, I'll hold onto you until you can feel the bottom too. But be careful. Those rocks are hard." He put his arm around her waist and she held onto him. He started to walk, but then she realized the water line wasn't as high as it had been on him. "Tim, wait a minute." They stopped. She started to slide down and he tried to keep her up. "No, it's alright." She slid down and landed on the rock. The water was up to her neck still. They looked at each other. Together, they said: "The island going up then down!" It started to dawn on them. This was the cursed island. They had said the god's name and they were transported to the island. The island was coming up to meet them. That's why the hill got so big, so fast. They were already on the island. It was still rising. They both started to walk. The water kept going down. By the time they were about 20 metres from the hill they had first seen, they realized it was really big and there was a cave or some kind of shelter in it. It had been getting dark and they headed to the shelter. They cautiously walked in. Their eyes took time to adjust to the darkness. They couldn't see much. "Um, I guess the best thing to do right now is get some sleep." "But Tim, what if the island starts to sink again?" "Well, I'll stay awake and keep watch. You can sleep." "How gallant! I can keep watch too. Where would we sleep in here? This has just come up out of the ocean and the walls and floor are all slimy and full of guck. Ugh! I don't even want to sit down here, let alone sleep." Tim looked around and took off his shirt, so he just had a t-shirt on. He tried to clear a place with his foot and he scraped some of the wall as well. He put his shirt on the floor and sat down. "Here, sit down and lean against me. I'll lean on the wall. you can get some sleep and I'll keep watch. When I get sleepy, I'll wake you and you can keep watch." Tiffany nodded and sat down beside him. She did feel tired suddenly. She cuddled up to him and looked up. "No one is going to believe us, you know. Absolutely no one. We may even get committed if we try and tell the story." They both laughed. It was the first time since they got transported that they relaxed. Tim looked down at her. He had his arm around her and held her close. He felt comfortable. "I can imagine Tony. Here we are, on a deserted island together. That's the kind of stuff he dreams of." "And you don't, Tim?" She smiled. "Well, I guess." He realized he had just got himself into another embarrassing situation. "You know, Tim, if I had to be on a deserted island with someone from the ship, the only person I would want to be with would be you. I seriously can't think of anyone else's company I enjoy more. Not even my uncle, actually especially my uncle." She looked up at him and turned her body so she was almost facing him. They looked at each other and he bent his head and kissed her. This time with more feeling than he had before. He would not want to be on a deserted island with anyone else either. She put her head on his chest and got comfortable. Eventually she fell asleep. Tim was thinking, maybe he should loosen up more with her. After all he did like her a lot. Just because of the bad Kimura incident, doesn't mean he should take it out on Tiffany. He started to nod off too. Tiffany woke up with the morning light coming through the entrance of the cave. She looked at Tim and he was fast asleep. Some guard he made! Sleeping on the job, eh? His glasses were crooked on his face and with his head tilted sideways, he did not really look comfortable. He probably needed the sleep and it was not as if they were deep in water. Things looked dry. She turned to see what the cave was like and what she saw made her mouth drop open. She just stared. The sun was shinning in on the walls. She could not believe her eyes! Tim had to see this! She did not take her eyes off the walls, but she nudged Tim. He gave a grunt. "Tim! You have to see this! Tim! Wake up! Tim!" Finally he moved. She was still staring at the walls in front of them. "What is this? Why did you? Where am I?" He stopped. He was staring at the walls too. They both got up and went over to the walls to feel them. All over was the same writing they had seen on the tablets. "What is this?" "Maybe it's the story of the people who found themselves on the island. Do you think we can remember enough of the writing to translate some of this? I wish I had my book here." "We can give it a try." He moved over to the wall behind them that he had been leaning on. "I think this is where it starts. This looks like the figure we found that means beginning." They were fascinated by it all and oblivious to anything else. "Tim, have you thought yet how we are going to get back to SeaQuest? Do you think they can find us here? I think we're a long way from them." "They'll find us. Don't worry. Lucas and his computer will find us. Besides, your uncle will do anything to find you. It'll be OK. In the meantime we can try to decipher some of this. You know, maybe we could write a book on it. If SeaQuest gets here on time, we can take pictures of it or maybe even take some of this back to the ship." They started translating. End of Part Two - More to come ..... =========================== PART 3 ===================================== Back at the ship, Captain Hudson was getting frustrated. He didn't know if anything had happened to his two crew members, one of them being his only neice. When Captain Bridger had approached him about getting Tiffany on board, he wasn't sure it was a good idea. Sure she could do a lot of good on here, but she was related to him. He didn't like the idea of relatives working together. Something always happened to the relationship when they worked together. He really had to think about it and try to reason it out. When he approached UEO about it, they thought it was a good idea. It didn't bother them that they were related. They probably wanted to get her out of their hair. She sure was like him in some ways. He could smile when he thought of how she harassed them into letting her experiment with some of her ideas. But they had to admit, Chameleon was a good idea and should have happened long ago. "Wolenczak! What do you have?" "Well, I'm not sure. There seems to be some small land mass dead ahead, no actually a little starboard, no. Sir, it keeps moving. I'm not sure where it is." "Are Tiffany and O'Neill on it?" I can't be sure of that either. There seems to be some kind of energy on it, but whether it's them or not. I'm sorry. There is static interference. I can't say for sure." "Piccolo and Kimura. Each one of you get a mini sub and start looking. They could be on that island or they could be in water, but get out there and look!" "Aye, aye sir!" They both rushed off. Kimura did not want to be in on the rescue. If Tiffany wanted Tim so bad, they could stay on that island forever, if that's where they were. She did not want to rescue them. They could have each other. They started off. Kimura told Tony to search the waters around. She would try and find the island. She headed in the general direction. Lucas had a hard time pinpointing it, but she knew the general direction. She thought she was close and decided to come up for a look. She was only about 50 metres away. There they were. She could see them. Tim was doing something to Tiffany's feet. Tiffany turned and looked right at Kimura. Kimura dove down immediately. If she was lucky Tiffany didn't see her. Let someone else find them. She didn't want to. She went back to SeaQuest and reported to the Captain. "Sir, no luck at all. Can't see them." It was an out and out lie, but she was and expert at lying. She knew how to lie really well, so others didn't know. Tony had come back too without any luck. He hadn't seen them. Captain Hudson looked at the screen. WSKRS was out there looking too, but the moving island confused it. Surely they were there. Wolenczak's calculations could not be that far off. "Piccolo, take Dagwood. I have a funny feeling about this. It's not good. Both of you go out in a sub and look again." Just then Lucas called out: "Sir, the island! It's well, it looks like it's starting to sink. Piccolo and Dagwood left. Tiffany was getting tired of the damp cave and decided to take a walk outside. They had been at it for hours, but they got the gist of it. People who had been exiled to the island left their mark and sometimes their story. Tim had carved his name and hers there and SeaQuest. He tried to draw a likeness of the ship so maybe future people would understand that it was a sub. He put the date as well. Then he wanted to get back to translating. Tiffany needed to stretch and wondered what it was like outside. They were so absorbed in the writings, they hadn't even gone outside. "Tim, come and see this! It's absolutely beautiful." Tim poked his head out. "Yeah, looks nice. Actually it's just a natural formation, which came from the sea." With that he went back into the cave to translate some more. Men! Natural formation indeed! Tiffany walked away from the cave. Over to her right was the most beautiful formation of coral. The sun lit it up and the colours were dazzling. She had never seen such a display before. She knew coral was dangerous, because of it's sharpness and the poison, but she could not resist going over to it to get a closer look. There must have been at least a couple of acres of coral spread all around. She was oblivious to what was happening on the other side of the island. She was trying to pick a piece of the coral off when she heard a strange sound behind her. She turned around and screamed. There were some kind of snake like creatures all over the island. She could hardly see the ground for all the animals. She tried to kick them away and push them. She called for Tim again. He came out and saw the creatures. He started to push them away. They weren't interested in the cave but more in the coral. That's where they were headed. Tiffany could not control them. They surrounded her. She had her back to the coral and accidentally stepped back. Before she realized it, she was standing in the coral and her feet were in pain. She used her left foot to push the creatures away, while trying to get out of the coral. The pain in her feet and legs were excruciating. She felt light. "Tim!" She called. He was making his way to her, stepping on them and pushing them away. He reached her just as she started to collapse from the pain. He carried her over to the other side, where the creatures had come from. They were all over the coral. It didn't seem to bother them. Tim put her down. Her left foot was bleeding, but not nearly as bad as the right. It was torn badly. There were bits of coral in her foot. He knew he had to get them out. She also needed medical attention. She started to stir. "It's OK now. Just relax. You'll be alright." She opened her eyes. "My feet. Oh, they hurt." Tim could see the tears in her eyes. She was trying to hold them back. He had taken his t-shirt off and ripped a piece of it. He kept a watch for more of the creatures. He soaked the t-shirt piece in water and checked her left foot for coral. It was clean, so he wrapped the piece around it to keep it clean. Now the other foot. "Tiffany, this is gonna hurt. I have to get the coral out of your foot. It can be deadly." "I know. It can't hurt any worse than ..." Just then Tiffany looked up. It was a mini sub. She was sure of it. It looked like, maybe it was Kimura in it. She recognized the white jumpsuit she always wore when she was out fighting. "Tim, it's SeaQuest! They found us. Look!" She pointed, but there was no one there. Was she seeing things? Maybe the pain and the poison in her system were making her delusional. "There's no one there, Tiffany." He pulled a hunk out of her foot. "Tiffany, this is really bad. I'm not sure." Just then some more creatures came out of the water. He shoved them away from Tiffany. She screamed. The tears were coming down. The poison must have made her see things. He wished someone would find them. Otherwise Tiffany did not have a chance. The poison would be too much and would take over her body. He got the rest of the pieces out. At least that was one thing, but there was still poison in her system. That had to be cleared out. He wrapped her foot in the rest of his t-shirt. Hopefully that would help. She was crying. "Tim, I'm so scared. I was so stupid to step back. I forgot the coral was there. I was so scared of those creatures. I wonder will there be more?" Tim put his arm around her and held her tight for a while. "I hope not. If they all start heading back here, we're in trouble. Maybe we should get back into the cave. That may be the safest place." They looked over at the coral. It was covered in them. They seemed to thrive on the coral. It was like food to them. Then they heard a funny sound. Tiffany looked down and realized she was sitting in about an inch of water. She had been sitting on dry land. They heard the sound again. "What? It's like boiling water. It's, um, oh!" They could feel the land move. The water got higher. They saw bubbles. "Tim! The bubbling water. From the tablets. The island is going back down and when it does the water bubbles!" Tim knew she was right. The water covered the coral now. They couldn't see the creatures. It was like they blended in with the coral and became it. They couldn't go into the cave now. Tim helped her move to higher land. "It's not much use. This island is going fast. Maybe it would be better for you to be in the water. Maybe it will help your feet." Just then Tim saw the sub. It came up suddenly out of the water. "Tim, tell me I'm not seeing things this time, please." "If you are, we are having the same delusion." The top opened and Dagwood stuck his head out. By now Tim and Tiffany were in about a foot of water. "Dagwood, Tiffany's hurt. Come and get her. I have to get something out of the cave." The island shifted a couple of inches more. "No, Tim, there isn't time." Tiffany did not want him to leave. Dagwood sloshed over to her and picked her up easily. Tony poked his head out. They felt the land shift down again. It was now up to their waists. "O'Neill get in here. This will go any minute now." He helped Dagwood get Tiffany into the sub. Tim looked at them, then looked at the cave. He made the better decision and started to run to the sub. Suddenly the water was up to his armpits. He could hardly run and started to swim and run at the same time. He reached the sub and jumped to hold onto the side, just as the land dropped. It was gone and so was the cave. There was nothing left but water. Dagwood helped him into the sub. "Piccolo to SeaQuest. Mission accomplished. We got em!" Captain Hudson heaved a sigh of relief. He even smiled until he noticed the others looking at him. "Captain, we need a medic at the docking bay for Tiffany." "Commander Ford, arrange it and the bridge is yours. I'm going down to the docking bay and welcome them back." Ford smiled and took over the captain's chair as Hudson left the bridge. On the sub, Tony was telling Tim off for starting to run to the cave. "Tony, I had chipped a big piece of the writing off the wall. What an addition it would have made to the other tablets I have. Do you know what this could mean? Why those tablets show us a whole new culture! That cave confirmed it! This was a fascinating discovery!" "What tablets, Tim? What are you talking about?" "I have seven tablets in my quarters. They are a part of a new culture." He laughed at the idea of an ancient culture being new. "Well, you know what I mean. Tiffany and I were deciphering them, when we got transported here." "Um, Tim. I got some news for you. There are no tablets in your quarters. Captain sent me down to find out what happened when there was an energy surge from there. All there is in there is a whole mess of dust and dirt. It looks like you haven't cleaned in there for years. It's a horrible mess and you have quite a cleaning up job to do when you get back." Tiffany and Tim looked at each other. "The energy surge. The bolt of lightening. It must have destroyed the tablets when we were transported. I'm sorry Tim. Looks like we don't have any proof now." Tim was disappointed, but he had to look at the situation in a positive way. At least they were alive. At the docking bay, Captain Hudson was glad to see them. he shook Tim's hand and hugged Tiffany. He didn't care who saw it. Tiffany was rushed to sick bay and Tim went to see the damage in his quarters and to have a shower and change his clothes. Later he went to see her. "How bad is it Tim?" "There's nothing left. Not one piece. It was all demolished. All that work. The only thing we have is your book, oh and your notes." "Keep the notes in the book. You never know. We may come across this writing again, but not the way we did yesterday. We can make some more notes on what was in the cave too. It's better than nothing. I just wish I didn't have to leave SeaQuest now. I'm really going to miss you." "Leave? But why? Why can't you stay?" "Tim, I can't walk for one thing. This ship isn't made for wheelchairs. And when my left foot heals, I'll be on crutches for a long time. This ship is not made for crutches either. I'd be useless in an emergency or if a battle starts. Tim, I hate to say it, but I can't stay here like this." "Who said you can't?" It was Captain Hudson. He and Dagwood were just coming in. "We have the perfect solution for you, young lady." "You only call me that when you're mad at me or you want to make a point." "Well, I have a very good point to make. You are not leaving SeaQuest. I will not allow it." "And how am I supposed to get around?" Dagwood cut in. "Dagwood is strong. Dagwood can carry Tiffany." "Oh yeah, and that'll look good. I already have personality problems with some of the crew, not to mention your Commander. How would the others feel about this?" Tiffany laughed. "Well, I know you won't be going too many places. You will be confined to your quarters for most of the time, but when you need to do some lab work or something, Dagwood is at your service. I think it'll work out. And, O'Neill, I'm leaving you in charge of making sure Tiffany gets her meals. You'll have extra long meal breaks, so you can take some food to Tiffany." "Hey, I'm game for this if the rest of you are." Tiffany smiled. They all nodded. "Besides, Dagwood and I need some time for him to learn how to read properly and write properly." Captain Hudson looked puzzled. "No one bothered to teach him how to read properly, but just to recognize certain military words." She was sleepy now. She felt very weary suddenly. Her eyes were closing. She was full of antibiotics and other cleansing stuff to cleans out her system and knock the poison out. Her feet were bandaged up and had a special ointment to help them heal. She started to sink in the bed. Her uncle smiled. He pulled up the covers. "The doctor says she should stay here overnight, in case of a reaction. In the morning he'll release her and Dagwood, you can take her to her quarters." Dagwood nodded. He wanted to help Tiffany all he could. She was so willing to help him. "Tim, stay with her a while, will you? If there is any change or problems, let me know. I'll be in my quarters." "Aye sir." Tim was glad to just spend some time watching her. He knew he had fallen in love, but didn't know how far she wanted the relationship to go. At least they were very good friends. He would be able to spend some time with her now. He was glad she would be alright. THE END ========================================================================== Sherry Loeffler loeffler@istar.ca fanfic page: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Set/7534/intro.html "Give whatever it takes, even if it takes more than you got." Tony Piccolo to Lucas on By Any Other Name - SeaQuest DSV.