CAIN AND ABEL
CHAPTER FOUR
The armed SeaQuest team stormed their way into the back rooms of Toya Colony’s supply area.
“You sure they’re back here?”
“They should be. The old man said he saw them run this way. There’s nowhere else they could have gone.”
Commander Ford put his hand up for his men to stop. Keeping his own gun raised, he advanced forward slowly, “This is Commander Ford of the SeaQuest!” he announced, “Surrender yourselves immediately or we will be forced to assume you are armed and hostile.”
The team stood silently for a few moments while they waited for a response. There was a rustling sound further in front of them and tall man with brownish-reddish wavy hair emerged, his hands up.
“Don’t shoot,” the man requested, “My colleague is coming out now.”
At Commander Ford’s nod a woman stepped up from behind her hiding place.
“Where’s the other one?” Commander Ford asked as, still pointing his weapon at them.
“It’s just the two of us,” the tall man answered.
Commander Ford looked behind him at his second, and then back at the two Macronesian’s under their watch, “We were told there were three of you.”
The two stubbornly shook their heads, “We know nothing about that. The others have all been recaptured.”
Commander Ford stared at them, “Recaptured by who?”
The two looked somewhat surprised by Commander Ford’s ignorance but didn’t act upon it, “We don’t know,” the man said carefully.
“Alright,” Commander Ford resolved that they weren’t going to give away the third man anyway. He indicated for the rest of the men to lower their guns, “What are your names?” he asked.
“Stephen English.”
“Jana Crasp.”
Ford nodded, “We’re taking you into UEO protective custody. You’ll be staying aboard the SeaQuest,” Commander Ford turned to his second in command who acknowledged the order and waved his hand so that the others moved forward to take the Macronesians into custody.
A dark look crossed Stephens face. He hated the UEO. They were self-righteous bastards who tried to make out they were fighting for a better world. When in fact, Macronesia wouldn’t exist in the first place if it weren’t for them.
Sensing his anger, Jana gave him a look, which warned him to settle down. Then walked forward to make sure the UEO officers took her into custody first.
“Check the place out,” Commander Ford told his Lieutenant quietly, “See if you can find another stowaway.”
The Lieutenant nodded and slipped off. Commander Ford took out his PAL, “Is Ensign Wolenczak back at the shuttle?”
“No sir,” the voice at the other end responded, “We haven’t heard from him since the power came back on.”
“Oh well, he must be still down with the systems. Would you send someone down to let him know we’re leaving.”
“He’s not down there either, sir. We’ve already checked,” the voice responded.
“Well where the hell is he?” Commander Ford asked the semi-rhetorical question with concern.
“We don’t know, sir. We can’t contact him.”
Commander Ford sighed, half-annoyed, half-concerned and switched of his PAL, then switched it back on again, “Captain? This is Commander Ford. Lucas is missing.”
***
Robert held his coffee carefully as he sat down silently on the deck chairs of his father’s home.
Nathan sighed quietly as he watched his son stare absent-mindedly over the ocean.
“Is there something you want to talk about, Bobby?” Nathan asked his son with concern. There was no doubt that Nathan thanked God every day to have his son back but lately Robert’s moods had given him a fairly hefty reality check and a tough reminder of how difficult Robert was to talk to.
Robert looked down and rubbed the bridge of his nose, “Something that happened at work.”
Nathan pulled his head back in understanding, consciously trying not to sigh too loudly. He had taken this as meaning Robert wasn’t going to talk about it, and was surprised when his son continued.
“Did you ever do anything you regretted, Dad? That you were so sure was right at the time?”
Nathan leaned forward, understanding in his eyes. Many scenarios came to his mind as his son asked the question, “More than once, son.” Nathan pursed his lips, “I was a lot more arrogant when I was younger. The heavy consequences never concerned me. It wasn’t until after I lost you and your mother that I started to see things in perspective. I realised that my actions affected others more than I realised.”
Robert kept his eyes focused on the sea as he listened to his father, “I ordered a fairly serious interrogation,” Robert said carefully.
Nathan watched him quietly. He was relieved to know that his son was communicating to him.
“Bobby, the important thing is to learn from your mistakes,” Nathan told him.
“He was innocent and.. very young. I should have known,” Robert said.
“Well, now you do.”
“It’s a bit late now,” Robert said, upset that his father wasn’t angrier with him.
“No, its not.”
Robert sighed in frustration and stood up, putting his cup down on the table noisily. He stood silently for a few moments before making his way down towards to beach.
Nathan sat, watching his son as he walked towards to waves and took another sip of his coffee.
***
“Lucas?” the gentle voice reached Lucas in his semi-conscious state, “Lucas?” Commander Ford had to say his name a few more times before Lucas regained consciousness enough to open his eyes. When he did, he saw that he was lying on the floor of the Toya Colony communications room from where he’d been taken. Commander Ford was kneeling down next to him.
Ford turned to the officer behind him, “You said he wasn’t in here.”
“He wasn’t,” the officer responded, “We just found him in here a few minutes ago.”
Lucas groaned and tried lift his left arm to touch his neck where he had been given a needle to knock him out so that he could be transported. His hand didn’t make it very far into the air, though. Commander Ford saw the burn marks on his arm and fingers and reached out to gently take his hand.
“Jesus,” he whispered softly at the burns on his fingers.
Looking at the boys face he saw that Lucas had his eyes closed again, “Lucas?” he asked again.
Lucas opened his eyes and looked at Ford, “Commander?” he croaked groggily.
“Yeah. It’s alright, you’re safe now,” Jonathan assured his young friend, “Do you remember what happened?”
Lucas stayed silent for a while. He had no desire to recount the events or think about what had happened to him. Then again, he wasn’t happy lying to the Commander and telling him he didn’t remember.
“Lucas?” Jonathan prompted.
Lucas turned away painfully and nodded his head slowly, “Yes, I remember,” he said quietly.
Jonathan Ford frowned. He was very worried now but he decided not to push the issue. He continued to watch Lucas lie silently for a few moments. He passed a hand across Lucas head. But Lucas didn’t respond to his touch. He placed Lucas’ hand down gently and looked at the marks around the wrist.
A dark look passed across his face and he shifted his eyes to take a look the other wrist. That one showed the same marks, as though Lucas had been tied down. He set his jaw angrily and got up; turning to the officer at the door, “Get a stretcher down here.”
Jonathan Ford stalked his way through Toya Colony, out of the systems room and onto the awaiting shuttle.
“Sir?” one of the officers asked as he ran along side him.
“He’s got burns on his arms and fingers,” Jonathan said angrily, “And marks around his wrists as though he’s been tied down.”
“What do you think happened?” the officer asked.
“Better not be as bad as I think or there’s going to be hell to pay,” Commander Ford responded furiously.
***
Captain Hudson casually touched the unconscious teenagers forehead, trying to hide the affection as best he could, then turned to the medics and nodded for them to take him off to medbay.
“For how long was he missing?” he asked Commander Ford who was standing next to him outside SeaQuests docking bay.
Commander Ford shook his head as they started walking, “The last time I saw him was when he went off the check the systems.”
“He must have been taken shortly after the power was turned back on,” Hudson mused.
“That was early yesterday morning,” Commander Ford said, horrified, “That would mean he’d been gone at least 22 hours before we even noticed.”
Hudson nodded grimly, “I think we need to find out why that is, Mr. Ford.”
“Sir, we were all very busy…”
“I’m not assigning blame, Mr Ford. First things first, any ideas on who did this?”
“No sir. Lucas didn’t really say much when we found him,” Commander Ford seemed to be becoming quite disturbed by what had happened.
“Well hopefully he’ll be able to spread some light on what was done to him when he regains consciousness,” Hudson said, “How about those two people you found? Did they say anything?”
Ford looked thoughtful for a moment, then slowly shook his head, “Not that I recall, sir. They are Macronesian and they weren’t suppose to be there, but I doubt they had anything to do with it.”
Hudson didn’t seem so sure, “Well we’ll soon find out.”
Hudson continued walking, leaving Ford to stand alone in his thoughts.
***
“Section Seven contacted UEO headquarters earlier this morning,” McGath informed Hudson.
“Section Seven,” Hudson cursed. “What the hell did they do to him?” Hudson demanded.
“You don’t know?” McGath asked.
“He’s in med bay now,” Hudson said, “Perry’s checking him out.” Hudson looked at him skeptically, “What do you know?”
“Well Section Seven mentioned some form of interrogation,” McGath began.
“What?” Hudson demanded, “Why the hell would they do something like that?”
“Well,” McGath leaned back in his chair to get comfortable, “You never know with Section Seven. The thing that I’m concerned about,” McGath continued, “Is the fact that he was returned. That either means they found out what they wanted to know or they got sick of trying to find it.”
“The second possibility is unlikely,” Hudson commented as he began to pace.
McGath nodded in agreement, “Why they would use a means like that to find information they should be able to access easily is beyond me.”
“The ‘information’ is not the thing I’m most concerned about,” Hudson started.
“And what are you most concerned about?” McGath asked him.
“My crew is my first priority,” Hudson stated, then stopped pacing and turned to McGath, “I’ll need permission to interrogate the Macronesians we have hostage.”
“Keep it reasonable, Captain,” McGath reminded him.
Hudson was somewhat irritated by this remark, “I am aware of UEO standards, General. Besides, I’ve never really been one for that type of interrogation.”
***
Tony Piccolo didn’t waste any time rushing down to med bay to see his friend once he heard the news. As Tony rushed into the room, Henderson and Ford, who had been sitting together on the plastic chairs, stood up to greet him.
“How is he?” Tony asked of them immediately.
“We don’t know, Tony,” Henderson told him gently, “We’re still waiting on Dr Perry.”
Tony turned to Ford, still concerned, “What happened to him. Is he sick? Hurt? How bad is it?”
“We found him unconscious in the communications room. He had marks on his arms and he looked like he was in a lot of pain when we moved him.”
“Marks? What sort of marks?” Tony demanded.
“Burn marks,” Ford began. He paused for a few moments as he looked around uncomfortably, trying to find the right words, “and… marks around his wrists. As though they had been tied.”
Tony settled down a little but stared at Ford for a few moments, “Tied up?” he questioned, “But what for? Why?” Tony knew they couldn’t answer him.
“We don’t know,” Henderson told him.
A lot of scenarios were coming into Tony’s head and he didn’t like any of them, “Well, how long until we do?” Tony asked them.
Before Henderson could answer Dr Perry came out, holding a chart. She smiled at them gently as she came closer, “Is Captain Hudson available?”
“He’s just in speaking to McGath,” Ford told her.
“How is he doctor? What happened too him?” Tony butted in.
Perry pursed her lips, “We’ve taken a good look. It appears his injuries are very systematic.”
Commander Ford sat down heavily, already understanding what she meant.
“He’s been tortured. Whoever did this used conventional devices specifically used to cause pain and suffering.”
Tony was dumbfounded. Who would torture Lucas? Sure, he was annoying. But he was so young; Tony never expected anything to happen to him. The thought had just never crossed his mind.
“Oh my God,” Henderson turned away and lifted her delicate fingers up and pressed them around her mouth.
Tony was making movements with his mouth but nothing was coming out.
“Well, is he in pain now?” Jonathan asked her from where he was sitting.
“No, we’ve got him dosed up pretty well,” she looked at the horrified faces before her, “He should be fully recovered in a few weeks. Basically we’re just looking at bad burns; puncture marks, the after effects of electrical shocking and bruises from a beating.”
“Bastards,” Tony swore to himself as his look of shock gradually passed over to a dark cloud of anger.
“He’s comfortable at the moment. He will experience a fair amount of discomfort between now and at least the next two weeks as he’s recovering but hopefully he should be fine.”
“Yeah that’s physically,” Tony said angrily, “Didn’t you say you lost him for nearly a whole day?” Tony turned and directed his anger at Jonathan.
Jonathan stood up defensively, “We didn’t ‘lose’ him, Tony. He went missing,” Jonathan retorted just as angrily. Lonnie stepped forward and put a gentle hand on Jonathan’s arm.
Tony realised he wasn’t going to get anywhere and backed off a bit. Perry stood quietly and patiently waited for the two men to settle down.
“He’s a tough kid, Tony,” Perry told him gently. She turned to the others, “You can go and see him if you like, he’s just sleeping.” Lonnie nodded her thanks.
“I’ll contact the Captain,” Perry said as she left them alone.
The three of them stood in silence for a while, “Geez, it was probably happening right under our noses,” Jonathan said to himself.
“Jonathan don’t blame yourself,” Henderson said as she tugged his arm, “It makes it harder that there’s no explanation for it.”
“Don’t be too rough on yourself, Jon,” Tony told him, “It’s not your fault. I’m sorry about before.”
“Don’t worry about it, Tony,” Jonathan told him.
“I’m going in to see Lucas,” Tony said, “You coming?”
“No,” Jonathan sighed, “I’m not ready, yet. You guys go on.”
Henderson nodded and let her arm fall out of Jonathan’s before walking after Tony to see Lucas.