========================================================================== IMPRESSIONS: TO BE OR NOT TO BE Rachel Brody ========================================================================== Timeline: SeaQuest DSV Author's E-Mail: bi185@freenet.buffalo.edu ========================================================================== AUTHOR'S NOTES: Disclaimer: As usual, these characters aren't mine, just temporarily humoring me. Duplication of this story without my permission is absolutely not allowed. In other words, hands off- -it's mine. Note-- I wrote this in Maine, hence the minor attitude. (I don't like Maine much.) It's Lucas diary (I dunno if he actually had one, but this was fun to write) for "To Be Or Not To Be". I might continue this when I've got some free time, and maybe do another couple episodes. For now, here goes: ========================================================================== "Impressions: To Be Or Not To Be" By Rachel Brody August 16, 2017 Okay, I'm not exactly sure why I'm writing this, except that Mom said it might be a good idea-- like I'm gonna appreciate it later on or something like that. I think she's nuts. She and Dad put me on the plane this morning. They barely even looked at each other. Makes you kind of sick, doesn't it? That they can still be living together after all this time? Well, not that it matters anymore. I'm going to New Cape Quest, and from there I'm getting on some ship. The _seaQuest_. Dad had a lot to do with the financing, so he decided to get rid of me by loading me off on the Navy. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Anyway, there's this weird stewardess on the plane, who's supposed to be watching me, but she's in the rear getting a drink, or smoking a joint, or whatever it is they do these days in the back of airline jets. She hasn't been paying much attention to me. What a disappointment. Not. She was treating me like some sort of stupid kid earlier. For crying out loud, I'm old enough to be on my own, I guess-- I must be, or Dad wouldn't've put me on the jet, so I dunno what her problem is. Anyway, the plane's going to land in a few minutes, so I'm gonna sign off. Lucas August 18, 2017 Nothing is going on. This ship is the most _boring_ place I've ever been. Especially the Commander. What a jerk. He caught me in the moonpool today, fooling around with the programming. Nearly ripped my head off. I want to go home. Lucas August 19, 2017 Some more of the science staff came aboard today. There's this doctor-- she's kinda cool. Dr. Westphalen, she said her name was. And the morale officer came on yesterday. He's _definitely_ cool. If it wasn't for Commander Ford, I might even be able to have a little fun. Dr. Westphalen doesn't mind if I use the computers, and she's keeping Ford off my back-- most of the time. Aside from seeing how far I can push Ford before he blows up, there's nothing to do around here. I still want to go home. August 21, 2017 If I was at home right now, I'd be chatting on the internet. Or hacking another database. Instead, I'm stuck in my quarters-- confined. I kinda coaxed a few extra water rations out of the shower. Ford had a conniption. I hear we're getting a new captain. I hope he's better than Ford. He couldn't _possibly_ be worse. Krieg smuggled a few tapes aboard today. He says I've gotta come by later tonight and he'll show them to me. He's cool, but a little weird. I told him I was confined to quarters, and he said not to worry about it. Lucas August 22, 2017 Note: _Never listen to Krieg again_. Ford caught me sneaking out last night. This is worse than living at home _ever_ was. At least there, mom and dad were too busy fighting to pay any attention to what I was doing. Yeah, genius. Smart. They pay more attention to you here than they _ever_ did back home. The reason you can't pull one over on Ford is because you've gotten sloppy. This is gonna be such a pain. I _finally_ find something to do with my time, and I get in trouble. I hope Dr. Westphalen doesn't go on without me. This new program we're working on is incredible. I just wish we could be sure that we'd get a dolphin. Noyce promised, but I don't exactly trust him. He's too nice. Anyway, if Ford keeps me cooped in here much longer, I'm gonna go nuts. Lucas August 28, 2017 Omigodomigodomgod... We've got a dolphin. I finally got to actually _run the program_. Yesterday. After Noyce's people brought this dolphin- -Darwin's his name-- aboard. It worked. It actually worked. I was sitting there, tweaking a couple of lines of coding, and the electronic voice just suddenly kinda _talked_. I can't even remember what it said-- I've kinda been on a sensory overload since it happened. I think it was something about cutting my hair; of course, that could be me remembering the last thing Ford said to be... God, he's a pain. I can't believe this. We've got a dolphin and my program worked and I _talked_ to a dolphin and the dolphin talked back and we had a conversation and I can't believe this it's insane and impossible and OMIGOD IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lucas September 3, 2017 He's not our dolphin. According to Noyce, he'd Bridger's. The new Captain. Some old guy. He's been a beachcomber for the past six years, and they're giving him a state-of-the-art ship. What the hell is wrong with the world?!? Darwin's gotta stay here, doesn't he? We tried my program, and it worked better than Bridger's handsignals-- the look on his face when I did that thing... Hah. He can't take Darwin off the ship, can he? Lucas September 4, 2017 Oh shit I'm gonna die and I leave everything to my mom and my dad and I don't want to die I just felt the ship shake what's going on up there and why won't anybody tell me what they're doing up there on the bridge? Okay, okay, okay... Lucas, calm down already. You're not gonna die and that ship out there isn't gon I just got tossed across the room and I think I'm gonna throw up. I want to go home. We didn't get attacked by insane captains and super-armed ships back in Buffalo. I want to go home I want to go home I want to go home I want to go home-- Okay, why did the ship just stop? What's going on up there? What's going on up there why won't they tell me if we're gonna live or not I don't want to die September 5, 2018 I'm still alive. Thought you might want to know. Captain Bridger bluffed the Delta down, and Darwin tagged it. I guess we blew it out of the water, because I haven't seen anybody around here who looks like they're from a pirate sub. Of course, I'm not "in the loop", so I guess they might be here and I just can't know it. I went down to see Captain Bridger this morning. He says he's staying. He's okay, I guess. Not as bad as I'd thought. We talked for a few moments this morning in the moonpool. I was working on my program-- what else do I do these days? There's nothing else to do. Well, that's not exactly true. I kinda hacked the personnel records this morning. I hope nobody sees that... I've started hiding this in this little compartment by the aquatubes. I had to work for nearly an hour before I finally pried the metal cover off. So anyway, I called up Bridger's service record. Holy shit. I've never seen anything like this-- the guy's practically a legend. With all the military stuff I've seen, I'm surprised I never heard of him before. Especially since he's been a straight scientist for the past six years. He's been in this little island in the Yucatan. I guess his wife died-- I saw a picture of her earlier. She was pretty. So anyway, as far as I could tell, there wasn't any reason for him to leave the Navy. So I went to his quarters and I caught him looking at a picture of her. Her name's Carol, he told me. I made up some kind of excuse for being there-- I think I said he did a good job with the Delta. But anyway, I found out why he left. His kid died. I talked to Ben about it. They went to the Academy together, he told me. Robert was a great kid, he said. And I guess he said that Bridger was too broken up to go on after it happened. I wonder how Dad would feel if I'd gotten killed yesterday. Somehow, I can't see him leaving his work and going to live on an island in the Yucatan for six years. Especially not with Mom. They'd kill each other within a week. Okay, okay, bad humor. Sorry. Anyway, it's kinda late now, and I've got a ton to do tomorrow. Dr. Westphalen has a few ideas about stuff I can adjust with my program. G'nite. Lucas THE END ========================================================================== Copyright 1996 Rachel Brody Please...be kind with critiscism...I just reread this over, and it's not very good, is it... R