The Mermaid

by Diane Kachmar

Lee Crane studied the AMRAC printout, frowning, then leaned over the chart table to trace the course on the grid map. "Are you sure your sighting was accurate?"

Chip Morton nodded. "I checked it myself. Crete is still on our port beam."

Lee shook his head. "But our course indicates we should have left it astern several hours ago."

"It's still there."

"Then there is only one explanation," Nelson looked up from studying the map. "We've been cruising in a circle all day."

"But the instruments would have picked that up!" Lee tossed the AMRAC readout to the table.

"Not necessarily."

"I had Sparks run a check, nobody's jamming us."

"No, not jamming, Lee. More like a tractor beam, somehow holding us here."

”But why? These are allied waters. Any attempt to take over us here -- "

"You have a better explanation, son?"

"No."

"Maybe they have a secret installation on Therasia," Chip ventured, naming the nearest island.

"I doubt it. Therasia is barely settled, and there's very little of the island left after all the volcanic activity. The eruption in 1300 B.C. severed the land bridge to Thira and a good half of the island was destroyed then. Further eruptions played havoc with any attempts to resettle the island. Now most of the locals avoid it, claiming it's unsafe." Nelson shrugged. "I'm surprised you never heard the story, it's the basis of the Atlantis legend.”

"Oh." Chip nodded.

"There are several legends about these islands. Thira was the home of Poseidon, who lived in a huge cave under the island." The Admiral laughed. "They blamed the eruption on him, you know. Someone tried to plunder his jeweled castle, woke him up and he smote them with his trident."

Lee smiled. "The explanation for us being off course should be so easy."

"Maybe someone's using those old legends to mask their presence here," Chip speculated.

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Lee reached for his microphone. "Diving detail. Report to the missile room on the double." Lee held the mic loosely in his hand. "We'll take a little look around. If a transmitter is holding us here, we'll find it."

But instead of an acknowledgement from the missile room, the most incredible haunting music began coming from the PA system. Unbidden Chip suddenly remembered his first love, the stolen kiss. No. He shook the sweet fog from his mind. The ship. He tried to reach for the general quarters claxon and found he couldn't move. The memories became stronger, pressing in on him. He tried to shout, scream, but they kept coming, each one more insistent than the last. Again he fought them back, trying to find something else to latch onto. Everyone around him wore the same vacuous expression of happiness, their instruments forgotten as they gazed out at nothing. Then Morton saw the green beam.

Like a tall temple column it came down the starboard side of the control room, coming straight at him. But he could not move. The green writhed, mixing into a shimmering pillar of undulating luminescence, so bright he could not take his eyes off it.

No one made a move to stop it. The beam came around the chart table and enveloped Lee, the music coming to a crescendo. Crane stood transfixed, his expression blank. Then abruptly as it appeared the beam disappeared. The music ended and his memories fled. Chip shook his head to clear it. Morton’s finger stopped short of the claxon button when his eyes latched onto the mic swinging back and forth beneath the table.

Nelson lunged around the table, his hand passing through the place where Crane had been, a bewildered expression on his face.

As Chip looked up, half the control room was out of their chairs staring at the same spot. With a sinking feeling, Morton realized he hadn't imagined it. Lee was gone. Kidnapped by the beam. Why hadn't the intruder alert sounded? How could they have been immobilized? There was no technology on Earth capable of generating a beam with those capabilities. He turned to Nelson. "What the hell was that?"

The Admiral shook his head. "I've never seen its like before. Are you all right?"

Chip ran a perfunctory hand down his chest. "I think so." He glanced around the control room. "They evidently were after only one thing - Lee."

"But why?" Nelson clenched his hand in a fist. "Why dance us around all day for a simple kidnap? We all had liberty on Rhodes, why not single him out and grab him then?"

"I don't think this was a kidnap, sir."

Nelson frowned. "That beam, did you see it clearly?"

Chip nodded. "Green, all swirling around. It looked -- alive."

"Did you see where it came from?"

"No, it was there and then it wasn’t."

"That's what I saw, too, sir," Kowalski broke in. "I tried to block it, but I couldn't move."

"Neither could I," Nelson answered. "Did intruder control track it?”

"Williams, rewind the tape. The rest of you men get back to your stations." The watch went back to their consoles, but Chip could still feel their eyes following him down to the intruder control console by the radio shack. If the system hadn't recorded the beam they would have no clue as to where Lee had vanished.

*****

The first thing Lee was aware of was an unnatural coldness that all at once seemed comfortable. It wasn't cold in the control room. Crane reached for his microphone and found unexpected resistance. He blinked in surprise, realizing he was no longer on Seaview. The high rock ceiling above him shimmered like rainbow glass. Lee sat up with an effort. He had been lying on a spongy material that appeared to be a couch. How did I get here? He felt strangely tired. Lee raised a hand to his forehead and again encountered resistance. He shook his head, but his eyes still refused to clearly focus.

"Lie still." The sweet voice said, the words almost sung. "Your transformation into a creature of my world is not quite complete. In a few moments you will no longer fight the water."

Lee whirled, nearly falling off the couch. Directly behind him was a dais, with a large nautilus shell hollowed out into a chair. Seated in the chair was an exquisite creature. From her flame-red hair to the tip of her blue-green scaled tail she was the most beautiful mermaid he had ever seen.

"You are mine, now. When I awoke and saw you passing by, I vowed I would not let such a prize get away."

*****

"That's impossible!" Chip Morton looked at the computer readout. "It says the point of origin is Therasia, and you said there's nothing there."

"There isn't. We've scanned the island several times for sophisticated transmitting equipment but the scan keeps coming back negative."

"Somebody had to operate that beam, Admiral."

"I know. Whatever knocked the AMRAC out of kilter must have affected our scanner as well. Furthermore, a beam of that intensity could not come from two hundred feet beneath the island."

”Not even from Neptune's cave?"

Nelson shot him an irritated look. "Don't be ridiculous. That won’t get Lee back."

"Wherever that beam came from, I hope Lee is in one piece. Their base must be shielded somehow. Unless - " If Lee had materialized some place other than the base - like in the middle of the Candian Sea - they would have to give up.

Nelson frowned. "I don't understand why they took him in the first place. We have no special projects going on right now."

"We could ask when they contact us for the ransom."

"That's playing their game." Nelson shook his head. "No, I think Lee had the right idea. Get that diving detail back together, and send them out. We are going to check the origination point of that beam."

*****

"I don't understand." Lee looked around the cave. "What is this place? Why am I here?"

The mermaid sighed. "You mortals are all alike. You never come willingly. I had hoped you would be different."

"I don't belong here. Send me back to my ship." Lee pushed himself off the sponge couch and tried to stand. The room began to shimmer in the rainbow colors, and then all went black.

The next thing Crane knew that exquisite face was hovering over him, more beautiful than ever. "Silly mortal. I told you, you are not yet of my world. You do not listen." Lee could not take his eyes from her as she floated effortlessly beside him. He felt the couch beneath him again and suddenly he realized there was water all around them. His hand went to his throat in reflex.

She smiled dazzlingly, then laughed. "Ah, now you understand. I have made you my creature. Please me and I will make you my consort."

"What kind of sorcery is this? Humans can't breathe under water."

She laughed again. "You are no longer human, mortal. I have used my power to enable you to live in my world. You are mine."

"I belong to no one."

"Always you mortals make it difficult. Am I not beautiful? Do you not desire me? Forget your old life. As you are now, you cannot return to your world above. You would die. I have made you mine. I take what I want."

”But my ship, my friends - "

"Already they fear you are dead. Our worlds are not in synch. You mortals have so little time; your days are like an hour to us. They will give up. They will not find you here. Now, let me show you what delights await you." She floated closer to the bed. "Soon you will not remember your friends at all."

*****

"This reading has to be wrong." Chip Morton looked at the figures again. "The detail went to the coordinates and found nothing but a solid rock wall and a strange undercurrent. Despite that, Kowalski said they made a thorough search. There was no entrance. The shore detail reported no trace of an above ground or underground installation. Either these guys are monstrously clever at camouflage, or we're not looking in the right place."

Nelson looked up from the clipboard. "We don't have a whole lot of choices, Chip. Either we trust our instruments and believe the readings they are giving us or we find another way to track down Lee."

"We don't seem to be getting anywhere. Three hours - no message, no ransom, no nothing. Do you really think they are holding Lee on Therasia?"

"It would make the most sense. That beam wouldn't have much range." Nelson put a few more figures down on the clipboard.

"Maybe Patterson could chart that wall with the Fathometer and find out if there is a cave under that island."

"You think those legends weren't so wrong after all." The Admiral looked up at him keenly.

"I don't know what to think, sir." Chip ran a hand through his blonde bangs. "I want to find Lee."

"We will." Nelson looked at his figures. "I want to run these through the computer. You let me know what Patterson finds.”

"Aye, sir." Chip watched him walk toward the radio shack. The Admiral would find Lee, if anyone could.

*****

It took all Lee’s will to resist. Crane sat up, pulling away to a far corner of the couch. "No. I can't. I’ll never be one of your creatures."

Her hand came down on his head, as she alighted next to him. Her touch was like ice, but he couldn't shake it off. Her fingers slid possessively over his hair.

"You will learn, my love. It is only your mortal training that makes you resist. I will make you forget."

"But I don't want to. That's my life, don't you understand, everything I believe in. You had no right to take it from me."

"Right?" she laughed again, and Lee felt his resolve ebbing. She was so beautiful. "Mortal, I take what I desire. I wanted you and now I have you. Once our lips have sealed you will be mine forever." Her hand began to stroke his cheek. "You have spirit, mortal, perhaps you will last longer than the others."

Lee felt as if he was falling, looking into those sea-green eyes. A man could drown in those eyes. He felt her hands cup his face.

"Come to me, my love, and you will never long for your world again."

*****

Nelson printed another readout out of the computer. "It works, I tell you," he tried to explain to a bewildered Chip Morton. "The computer analyzed the structure of the beam.” Chip still looked confused, so he tried again. "Brainwaves. That beam was a projection of someone's mind, that's why we never found a transmitter.”

"I understand that, sir. What I don't understand is how you are going to reverse it to get Lee back."

"I'm not going to reverse it." Nelson pulled the new print out of the machine, and scanned it. Perfect. "I'm going to recreate it."

"How can you force an unknown person to project when they haven't contacted us at all in four hours?"

"I don't need them, Chip. The beam was projected brainwaves, which are electronic pulses from the central nervous system. In other words, electricity."

Chip shook his head. "Seems too easy."

Nelson picked up an earlier printout. "Far from it, Chip." He handed the page to Morton. "Here, give this to Randy. I want him to recalibrate the reactor."

Morton looked at the figures. "That's pretty close to overload."

"I know, but it can't be helped. Our voltage has to be precise."

"Admiral, even if you can 'recreate' that crazy beam, how do you know you'll get Lee back? I mean, how did they choose Lee out of all of us in the control room?"

"I may have a way in mind."

"When will you know?"

"The computer's working on it. Come back when you've finished with Randy, I should have something by then.

"I hope so."

*****

"No!" Lee pulled out of her cold clinging grasp, shaking his head. Her bewitching words would be the end of him. "I can't stay here. I'm needed on my ship."

"You would choose your ship over me, mortal?" Her hand came snaking after him again. "I can offer so much more."

"It's my home," he insisted stubbornly.

"This will be your home now. Why do you continue to resist?" She began stroking his hair again.

"Because I don't belong here. Send me back to my ship." Lee ducked out from under her touch. He couldn't think straight when she did that.

"That primitive metal fish?" She laughed. "I will give you powers far beyond anything you ever imagined.

"I don't want your powers."

"Why are you mortals so attached to your vessels?" She waved her hand and the wall behind the couch shimmered. "Look, they are helpless to find you. Almost five of their hours have passed since I brought you here. Soon they will give up. They always do."

Lee stared at the images. The Seaview, Chip in the control room with Patterson, the Admiral working on some device, then the screen shimmered and cleared showing a vast undersea garden.

"This is your world now. Accept what you cannot change and become mine forever." Her arms twined around his neck and he found he could not resist her as her cold lips sought his.

*****

Chip Morton looked at the small black box. It didn't look big enough to handle the kind of voltage the Admiral wanted to run through it, but he dutifully handed Nelson the tools he'd asked for. Looking at the connections Nelson had made, Chip breathed a silent prayer that the device would work, or else a good part of the ship's electrical system would short out.

"There, that should do it." Nelson wrapped the last wire around the post and set his box on the chart table. "Now to set the meters." He began turning one of the dials on the front.

The spectrograph photographs lay on the table and Chip picked them up again. It was hard to believe that profusion of color added up to Lee Crane. Nelson had jokingly remarked that if Chip was superstitious he could say it was picture of Lee's soul. Morton didn't want to look at the other picture again. The whorls of color were too bizarre, too alien. "Are you sure this is going to work?" Chip tore his eyes away from the photograph.

The last five hours seemed unreal. Morton could not convince himself that putting patterns into a computer would get Crane back. It seemed too much a gamble with his friend's life. If Lee was still alive.

Nelson twisted the dial further to the right. "No, I can’t be sure. But the odds are in our favor."

"Even if the computer does duplicate the beam, how will you know it will lock onto Lee?"

Nelson looked up at him. "I don't. But with Lee's aura programmed in, it will keep searching until it finds Crane. That's the way he was taken, so if we can duplicate the beam, we should be able to transport him back as well." Nelson looked up at him, his expression grim. "It's the only chance we have."

"I know," Chip answered resignedly.

*****

Her cold lips were a bare inch from his when Lee tore himself from her grasping touch. His recoil tumbled him from the low couch and he slowly sank to the cold stone floor.

She remained on the couch, looking down at him, her expression bemused. "Mortal, I have never had one resist as much as you. Your will is strong. You will serve me well."

Lee twisted, getting his legs under him.

"You see, you are becoming accustomed to my world. Soon it will be yours."

"I don't belong here!" Lee rose up on one knee.

"I brought you here, you are mine, and you will stay until I tire of you."

Crane came to his feet. "You cannot make me stay against my will."

"Do not tell me what I can do, mortal." Her tail twitched slightly as she drew herself up.

"There has to be a door to this room." The water supported him now, and he found he could move. He began heading for the nearest wall. Behind him he heard her tinkling laugh, and he almost stopped. No, don’t give in to her spell. He made himself move closer to the wall.

"There is no escape, mortal. I brought you here, and only I can let you go."

He turned around. "Then there is a way out?"

Her tail twitched again. "Would you choose death?"

"Better death than eternal slavery."

"I have offered you my world, and you dare name it a prison."

Lee forced himself to remain still, taking the gaze of those sea-green eyes beginning to whorl with red. "A gilded cage is still a cage."

She gestured at the wall. "You prefer your metal fish?"

"Seaview is my home," he answered quietly. "My life belongs to her."

"You would die for her?"

Crane nodded. "If it meant being without her."

"And this means nothing to you?" She gestured at the room around her, her tail lashing both and forth.

"I don't belong here. Send me back to my ship. There will be another more willing who catches your fancy."

"No mortal may refuse me!" She drew herself to her full height, her eyes flashing, suddenly towering over him. He felt himself slipping to his knees. "You were to become one of the chosen. I would have given you five times the span of your mortal life and you dare refuse!"

A loud hissing began, beating around his ears. Lee forced his head up. "I will not be anyone's thing." He shouted the words above the hissing. "I'd rather be dead." The hissing was suddenly gone.

"Then you shall have your wish, mortal." Her voice was soft and caressing. "You have made your choice." The room began to shimmer. "Feel now the fate of one who dares defy Lorelei," her voice began to grow. "You are no longer a creature of my world. Return to your ship if you can."

The last of the light faded with her mocking laughter and the blackness became crushing, squeezing him in a cold, wet vise. In that instant Lee knew he was going to die.

*****

Chip held the mic in his hand tightly, waiting for Nelson's signal. They were committed now, he could only pray that Nelson's jerry built device would work. He wished he had the Admiral's optimism. Nelson had calculated, the computer had verified it, so it had to work. Six hours. No ransom, nothing. Chip found himself wishing he could see the kidnappers' faces as the beam came in among them, and snatched Lee back in the same manner they had abducted him. Morton hoped Nelson’s calculations were right.

"Bring the reactor up to full, Mr. Morton."

"Aye, sir." His insides felt like a coiled spring, but Chip kept his hand on the mic steady. "Reactor room, maximum power."

"Coming to maximum." Randy's calm voice answered him.

Chip hadn't liked asking Miller to recalibrate the reactor but they had to have the power. He looked at Nelson as the loud thrum of the turbines came up through the decks, and the Admiral turned the black knob on his box.

For a few moments nothing happened, then the hull began to vibrate. Seconds later the control room walls began to glow with an eerie green aura. The light danced and swayed, but remained fragmented.

Chip waited for the hauntingly beautiful music to begin again, but this time there was only a long angry hiss - like breakers - only more, he could hear the animosity in the air. The light danced wildly off the consoles, then finally began to thicken near the chart table into the column of undulating luminescence.

In the middle of the column the color continued to grow, and inside Chip could see the outline of a khaki-clad figure, shadowy and indistinct. The hissing became even louder and the figure began to fade back into the greenness.

Nelson quickly fed more power into his box, and Chip winced as the turbines howled louder. The person inside the beam became visible and the green began to fade. Then it resurged. Chip was too afraid to even look at a dial. Something had to give.

With an angry hiss that was almost deafening the green column flared, twisting in on itself, and disappeared, leaving its captive standing by the chart table. Lee stood swaying for a few seconds then crumpled boneless to the deck, a green glow surrounding his still body.

Chip had the mic to his lips telling Randy to cut power almost before Nelson had switched his machine off. He was barely a second behind the Admiral as they both knelt beside Lee. Hardly even aware of the subsiding turbines, Chip reached out for his friend.

"Careful." Nelson put out a hand to stop him. "There could still be current." Even as he spoke, the green faded away, leaving a growing puddle of water surrounding Crane. Lee was soaked to the skin.

Chip grabbed Crane's left shoulder; turning him over, then tilted his head back. At first there was no response, Lee remained limp in his grasp, his eyes closed, his features slack and pale.

Morton tightened his hand under Lee's neck. No, he can't be dead. He bent over Crane. Lee's chest rose slightly and Chip heard a strangled cough. All the tension of the last six hours was suddenly lifted and Morton sagged to the deck.

Nelson's movement to pull Lee's jaw forward brought him back to the situation, and Chip lifted his hand again, tilting Crane’s head farther back. Lee began coughing in earnest. Morton glanced over at Nelson in relief. "It worked."

Harry smiled. "Sometimes I get lucky." Then the Admiral's gaze went back to Crane. Lee rolled onto his side, still coughing. Chip went with him, keeping Crane's head back. Lee's hand groped along the deck beside him and latched onto Nelson's knee.

"Easy, son." Nelson put his own hand over Crane's. "Must not have been a direct transfer."

Lee's eyes fluttered open and he focused on Nelson with an effort. "S...sir?" he whispered hoarsely.

"It's all right. You're home. Little worse for wear," Nelson reached down and pushed the drenched hair off Lee's forehead, "but we'll have Doc up in a jiffy."

"Th... thanks,” Lee swallowed hard. "I...I knew... you'd find..."

Nelson dropped his hand. "Don't try to talk." Harry turned, searching for the chart table mic.

"Hell, Lee." Chip gently laid a hand on Crane's shoulder. "You didn't think we'd sail without you, did you?"

A half unfolded blanket appeared in front of him, and Morton glanced up, aware for the first time of the crewmen standing behind him. He lost no time bundling the blanket around Lee, then looked up at the donor.

"Doc's on his way." Sparks said quietly. "I called him as soon as the hissing stopped."

"Good thinking, Nick. Looks like we cut it almost too close."

Sparks nodded in agreement, then lifted his head as a murmur rose from the rear of the control room. "Here he comes now."

Chip tucked the blanket tighter around Crane, smiling as he heard Nick send the crew back to their stations. Lee's ragged breathing told him how close they had come to losing Crane, but how had Lee gotten into the water? Lee began coughing again, and Chip turned back to his friend.

At that moment Jamieson knelt down on the deck beside him. "Easy, Lee." The Doctor's sure hands lifted Crane's head from his grip and placed a small rolled towel under Lee's neck, easing him down to rest on it. "Steady down, Skipper. Shallow even breaths. Anything busted?" Jamieson's hands traveled down Lee's body even as Crane managed a negative shake of his head. "Good. You're not allowed to drown yourself on this ship."

"Ja ... mie!" Lee whispered exasperated.

"He recognized you?" Jamieson looked over at Nelson.

"He responded to my voice," Harry answered. "We snatched him back before he'd completely stopped breathing."

"Lee," Will bent close. "How long where you in the water?"

Crane shook his head. "Don't ... know. Long ... time."

"Will -- "

Jamieson put a restraining hand on Nelson's arm. "How did you get into the water?"

Lee looked up at the Doctor, his expression suddenly painful. "I -- she -- " Crane shook his head. "You ... won't ... believe me."

"Try me." Jamieson answered levelly. "She?"

Lee nodded, and Chip saw his hand move, clutching at the Admiral's. "She wanted ... consort."

"Who, Lee?"

"Lorelei."

They all stared at each other a moment in disbelief.

"Lee --" Jamieson turned back to Crane and Chip followed suit, his eyes widening as Crane suddenly convulsed, drawing in on himself.

"What's the matter?" Will tried to hold down one of Lee's twitching legs, but Crane remained curled around Nelson's knee.

Harry's other arm went around Crane's shoulders reflexively, holding him. Jamieson pulled out his stethoscope and placed it on Crane's back.

"J - Ja ... mie, -- feels ... came up ... too soon." Crane's free hand lifted, seeking the Doctor, his words barely audible, forced past teeth clenched in pain.

"Too soon?" Chip looked at Nelson, confused.

"The bends," Harry said suddenly. "How would he get-"

“Never mind." Will cut him off. "We have to get him down to the chamber. Fast." The Doctor began folding the blanket around Crane, knotting the corners together. "C'mon, I'm going to need both of you."

Chip reached for the blanket edge. "Nick, take over. I'm going below." He nodded an acknowledgment to Nick's 'aye sir' as they left through the rear hatch. Evidently they weren't out the woods yet.

*****

They hustled Crane in the decompression chamber not a moment too soon for Nelson. He tried not to wince as Lee's fingers dug into his arm again. When they had lifted Crane from the deck, Lee had curled against his extended arm, and Harry wasn't about to take any comfort away from him. He doubted Crane even heard his soft words of reassurance. He glanced at Jamieson, trying not to show his worry.

Together they hoisted Lee up onto one of the chamber beds, and Nelson tried to ease his arm out of Crane's grip. Lee refused to let go. Harry edged toward the head of the bed, trying to stay out of Jamieson's way.

Will cupped a hand around Lee's head, trying to get him to focus on him. "Lee," he said with quiet urgency. "How deep where you? Can you remember?"

Crane tried to raise his head, still curled in on himself, and focus on the Doctor. Harry could see the pain in his amber eyes.

"B - bottom... saw Sea...view above... so cold... she - " his voice faded as another spasm started. Lee twitched violently, clutching at the sheets.

"Bottom's two hundred feet here." Jamieson looked at Chip for confirmation.

"That's what the chart reads." Morton replied, trying to tuck the twisted blanket around Lee again.

"I'm going to give him a full six hours down time. You two prepared to stay with me that long?"

Nelson nodded, and after a moment Chip did the same.

"Good. Chip, tell them to seal the outer lock."

Morton reached for the microphone as Jamieson moved to the control panel on the near wall.

"Will, there's no way he could have been down there for six hours and lived." Nelson lifted his now freed arm away from Crane, wishing he could do something to ease Lee's pain.

Jamieson finished setting the timer and returned to the bed. "Remember what the computer said about that beam."

Harry scowled. "I didn't program it to find mermaids."

Will bent over Lee, as the pressure began to build in the chamber. "She must have used some means to keep him alive. He didn't exactly leave with scuba gear."

"But mermaids don't exist."

"Isn't that what we say about a lot of things we can't prove." Chip broke in quietly. "We've seen some pretty strange things out on cruises."

"Then you two believe him. Couldn't the pain be making him delirious?"

Will shook his head. "Too many things don't add up." Jamieson pulled out his stethoscope. "I'll know better once I give him a thorough examination.

"What do you want us to do?" Chip asked.

"One of you needs to keep track of the time. I'll give you vitals in a moment, but get the chart started."

"I'll get it." Chip moved away from the bed.

"We need to get him in dry clothes." Jamieson gestured at the locker behind Harry. "You know where everything is."

Nelson nodded. At first Lee felt like ice to his touch as Harry unbuttoned the damp khaki, but his spasms began to ease as the pressure increased. He rubbed the towel over Lee's damp locks several times. Feeling that the sick bay greens weren't warm enough, the Admiral returned to the locker for a dry blanket, dropping the damp towel onto the deck beside the locker. As he came back toward the bed, Will began giving Chip the vitals for the chart.

Harry draped the blanket gently over Lee, removing the now damp one from the foot of the bed and folded it over, placing it with Lee's wet uniform on top of the locker. As he worked he mentally checked Will's figures against what he knew to be normal readings. Most of them were lower than what they needed to be. He tucked the blanket a little tighter around Lee, leaving his arms free in case Will wanted to start an IV.

Jamieson placed his stethoscope on Lee's chest again, and Crane shifted slightly, burrowing into the blanket a little more. Jamieson frowned.

"What is it, Doc?" Harry asked quietly.

Will shook his head. "I'm not sure. He's beginning to stabilize, but there's something wrong in his respiratory pattern." Jamieson extended the stethoscope again and listened for a long moment then dropped the instrument back around his neck. "It sounds like he's missing a cycle."

"A cycle?" Nelson looked at the Doctor quizzically.

"Is that dangerous?" Chip Morton looked up from his clipboard, and moved closer to the bed.

"It could be."

"What's causing it?" Nelson placed his hand lightly, reassuringly on Crane's shoulder.

"If I knew that, I'd fix it!" Will snapped, but then his expression softened. "Sorry. It could be any number of things, shock, a nitrogen bubble, water in his lungs...”

"And this cycle, does it mean he won't recover?"

"It's hard to say. Think of it as revolutions on the dial. Six times it goes around, and the seventh it sticks momentarily, then goes around. What we have to watch for is if it sticks permanently. There's always a chance of respiratory collapse after a near drowning as it is."

Lee shifted restlessly under his hand and Nelson tightened his grip on his shoulder, letting Crane know he was still there.

"For now we'll treat him for shock and exposure and see how he responds to decompression." Jamieson moved to a cabinet, and began to remove equipment. Nelson watched in silence as his sure hands set up the IV. Lee's eyes fluttered open momentarily.

"Jamie?" he asked weakly.

Will moved closer to the head of the bunk so Lee could see him. "You'll be all right, Lee. Let me take care of you."

"Keep ... drifting ... hurts -- "

"I know. Go with it."

A slight smile pulled at the corners of Lee's mouth. "In ... other words ... go to ... sleep."

Jamieson grinned suddenly. "You know me too well."

Lee's smile grew sheepish. Nelson lifted his hand a few inches, tousling Lee's almost dry locks, heartened by Lee's teasing of the Doctor.

Crane's eyes moved upward, finding him, then they closed again.

Lee slept restlessly, although his pain seemed to be easing. His color was coming back and Crane no longer felt cold to his touch. Harry removed his hand, stepping back from the bunk, and hoisted himself up on the neighboring one, watching Jamieson extend his examination. It was hard to tell whether or not Will was happy with what he found or not.

The wall timer buzzed, and Chip made a quick notation on the chart, and reset it. Jamieson began giving him Lee's vitals again. A little better, but still not high enough.

Almost as if reading his thoughts, Jamieson turned to him. "We're not out of the woods with him yet, but he's responding." Jamieson smiled slightly. "I think he's going to stay with us now."

*****

They were losing him. Even with only his sketchy knowledge of medicine Nelson could tell Lee's condition was worsening. He was slipping away, and nothing Jamieson did slowed the process. Lee's delirious mumbling had ceased altogether, and much as Crane's raving about Lorelei and cages and being crushed by the darkness made no sense, it was preferable to the almost coma-like state Lee had lapsed into.

Lee was as white as the sheets over him, his chest barely rising. Jamieson had tried to counter the shock, but Lee's pressure continued to drop lower and lower. Nelson watched, willing Crane the strength to hold on. He was trying to concentrate on the rise and fall of his chest, silently counting the respirations, when Lee gave a shallow sigh and the movement ceased all together. "Will!" Nelson lost all track of his count.

Jamieson was already moving, as Harry heard the clatter of Chip's clipboard falling behind him as Morton realized what was happening.

"Lift his shoulders," Jamieson gestured savagely as he spoke, his fingers moving in a blur from machine to machine, flipping switches, and turning dials. A compressor motor started up as Harry placed his hands under Crane's shoulders.

Chip was beside him, helping, as a long sheath-like tube appeared in Jamieson's hand. The Doctor bent forward, and placed one hand behind Lee's neck, forcing Crane's head back. Will firmly fed the jelly-smeared tube down Lee's throat, then quickly attached two line of IV tubing to it. "Let him down easy," he directed as he turned back to the respirator, then flicked a switch. Lee's chest rose suddenly, and the compressor motor was replaced by a new sound in the chamber. Click-pump-pause. Harry knew that sound, and hated it. He had seen death come too often on its heels.

Jamieson watched the pump going up and down for a few minutes, then raised a hand to his forehead. "That was close," he sighed.

"What brought that on?" Chip's forehead creased.

"But not totally unexpected. Remember that cycle I was telling you about. Well, it just stuck."

"And you still don't know what's causing it?" Nelson asked quietly.

"I have an idea, but I'm not sure if I can do anything about it. If I can’t reverse the shock, we may lose him."

"But - " Chip Morton looked down at his friend in disbelief. "We got him back, he was conscious, he can't be - "

Jamieson looked at Morton. "Something has weakened his system, and the shock of return only made things worse." Jamieson shrugged. "He's only human, after all, despite someone's best efforts to adapt him otherwise."

"Can you isolate the problem? Harry looked up from Lee's still body to the Doctor.

Jamieson shook his head. "The transfer destroyed the mutation. If he could only hold on until his respiratory system straightens itself out." Jamieson's eyes lit with a gleam of hope. "Maybe I can help him at that." He reached for a syringe and lifted a small vial from beside the bed. He inserted the needle into the bottle, and filled the syringe, injecting the fluid into Lee's IV line. "Let’s see if that has an effect."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Then we try something else. If he can't fight, we're going to have to do it for him."

*****

Chip had thought the worst of it would be over by now. But looking down at the pale features of his friend, he felt fear. Lee had been unconscious for over twenty-four hours, and there was nothing more Will could do. They could only wait. And that was the part he hated the most.

His eye fell on the respirator pump, and followed it's ceaseless up and down motion. The collapse had almost been too much for Lee, but Will had finally managed to stabilize him with the machines. Chip rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. He wouldn't want to have Jamieson's job right now. But Lee was still with them, and that was something.

He carefully reached around the IV line to place his hand on Lee's shoulder. He knew Lee would not feel it, but somehow it made him feel better. We got you back, and you're going to stay, you hear me, bud? After a moment he removed his hand. Will said it would take time. And maybe a prayer or two. Right now the latter didn't sound like a bad idea.

*****

Jamieson placed his stethoscope lightly on Lee's extended wrist, and listened. The pulse rate was the same. He wished it would pick up some, Lee would have a better chance, but realistically he knew Crane was too weak. He removed the 'scope, and Lee's fingers twitched, then his hand moved slightly in his direction.

A response? Will touched the fingers lightly again, and was surprised when they curled weakly around his hand. He looked up swiftly. Lee's eyes were open and focused on him.

For the first time in many hours he felt relief. "So you're finally awake," he said wearily. "I was beginning to think you had gone to sleep for good." He laid Lee's hand gently back onto the bed.

Lee raised a forefinger slightly and waggled it negatively.

Will smiled. "Okay, so you aren't ready to pack it in yet. Fine. You mind helping me fight this thing?"

Lee shook his head slightly, the respirator airway making any verbal response impossible.

Jamieson placed the stethoscope on Crane's wrist again, and was heartened by the increase in his rate. It wasn't much, but in Lee's case it might be enough. Crane's eyes moved to the left and then upward, narrowing as they focused on the IV lines and other life support equipment.

"Yes, you're still in here." Jamieson reassured him as he checked the reading on the respirator. "You kept drifting in and out and yesterday you drifted out for good, until now. You had everyone pretty worried about -- What?" Will glanced down as Lee took hold of his wrist, his fingers encircling his watch. "Oh. It's Friday. And almost time for Chip's eight o'clock report if you were in any condition to take the conn. You think you might hang around a little longer this time?"

Lee nodded, then his head sank back down on the pillow, his eyes closing briefly until he forced them open again.

Jamieson laid a restraining hand on his shoulder. "Easy. You're still very weak. Let the machines do the work. You'll wake up again once you're ready to. Now relax and go to sleep. I'll be right here."

Lee let his eyes close, and Will lifted his stethoscope again, making a quick examination. Lee was finally coming around. Maybe together they could lick this thing.

*****

Lee came to consciousness slowly. He lay with his eyes closed, letting the sensations he felt locate him where he was. The air was sweet, with an overtone of antiseptic. Sickbay. Jamie had been worried. He dimly remembered talking to him that seemed like a long time ago. The hard plastic of the airway was gone, along with its demand to keep breathing, but his throat still felt raw. He swallowed, trying to ease the roughness, and let his eyes slide open.

It took a moment to bring the ceiling into focus, then he found the rivets. Two by two they marched across the main room. On the far side of the room the decompression chamber door was open, although he had no memory of being moved. Off astern he could hear the faint hum of the reactor turbines. Green across the board. He closed his eyes again, bringing up a picture of the control room. Chip at the chart table, the stations manned, the operations chatter flying back and forth as Chip finished the final notations for his report.

No, that wasn't right. Jamie had said -- He looked to his left for the Sick bay clock. Two o'clock. AM or PM? He returned his gaze to the ceiling. He'd have to ask. He had no idea how long he had been down here. A couple of days at least, from what he could remember.

Pain, drifting, faces floating above him. Concerned faces, worried about him. The Admiral, Chip, Randy. Then the darkness would come, blotting them out. Cold wet darkness that would drag him back down, crushing him in blackness. Had it only been a moment before they snatched him away? It had seemed like an eternity. No way out. No escape. Only death in the cold dark depths.

Lee’s hand clenched the cover. Somehow they had found him in time. He was home even if he couldn't remember how he got there. He shifted on the pillow. He'd ask Jamie. The Doctor was nowhere in sight, and that somehow made him feel better. Jamieson had always been there when he woke up before.

Crane put his hands on the mattress and tried to push up into a seated position. Lee managed to move about six inches before the room started tilting. He closed his eyes, sinking back down on the pillow, trying to fight off his sudden dizziness. Man, how'd I get so weak? A ripple of pain ran through his arm as Crane shifted. He glanced up and found the IV pack suspended above him. Wonderful. Still on the tether. But the pack had a definite blue tinge, not the clear he knew that would put him to sleep. This one was probably dinner.

His finger reached for the call button, and stopped. Jamieson would make him go to sleep again. But not until he got some questions answered first. Lee pressed the button down.

It took Jamieson a few minutes to answer the summons. Lee could see that he had woken him up, but the Doctor didn't seem to mind. A smile came to his lips as he approached the bed.

"Feeling better?" Will asked, taking up Lee's wrist.

"I guess so." Lee looked up at him. "It's still ticking, isn't it?"

Jamieson started to give him his best glare, but couldn't hold it. "If you weren't so determined to live I doubt I would have pulled you though. If you behave you might get out of here by next week."

Lee tried not to flinch as Jamie placed the cool metal tip of his stethoscope on his chest. The Doctor listened for a few moments and seemed satisfied.

"Jamie," Lee shifted on the pillow, swallowing again as his voice caught. "It was close, wasn't it?" I don't remember . . ."

Will placed a light hand on his arm. "Be glad you were out of it. You gave everyone one hell of a good scare." The Doctor's hand tightened suddenly. "Does your throat hurt?"

"A little," Lee admitted.

Jamieson took up the pitcher from the bedside and poured water into a small plastic cup. "Here. It will probably hurt for a few more days from the airway, but this will make you feel better." Jamieson slid a hand under his neck, lifting Lee's head slightly and brought the cup to his lips. The water tasted wonderful, cool and sweet.

"I'm okay now?" Lee caught the Doctor's eyes, as Will removed his hand and placed the cup back on the bedside table. "I mean I can get out of here -"

Jamieson smiled. "Not for a while."

“I tried to sit up -"

"And you got dizzy.”

Lee glanced at Jamieson sharply. "How'd you know?

"I know you." Jamieson sat down on the edge of the bed. "You have pneumonia as a complication of your mutation, Lee. It will be another week before you can even think about getting out of here."

“Jamie, I can't stay here a week!"

"Yes, you will. I'm taking no chances on another collapse."

Lee could tell from his tone that Jamie meant it. "Wonderful. And how am I supposed to run the ship?"

"I'm sure Chip will help you out." Jamieson smiled. "He's really doesn't mind."

"I know," Lee answered. "But I don't like making him cover for me."

"Well, he'll be here with the Admiral for supper."

"Supper?"

"Yes, I promised them if you woke up before second watch they could visit briefly tonight at supper. I suggest you go back to sleep now, so you don't drift off on them. They have a lot of questions."

"They're not the only ones. Jamie, was I delirious - I mean did I tell you ... "

"No, Lee, you never told us what you did to make her angry enough to banish you," Jamieson replied softly.

Lee sank back down on the pillow. "Then I didn't imagine it."

"No. We never saw her, but it the only explanation we have for your disappearance. I ran some tests on you and there were trace indications that someone had tried to induce some sort of gill mutation, but the sudden trauma of your return wiped out anything that might have helped me find how they had effected the change." Jamieson smiled slightly. "Lucky for you it hadn't taken hold, or I couldn't have reversed it."

"She said - " Lee shook his head. "No, it's too crazy."

Jamie laid a soft hand on his covers. "Nobody's doubting your word, Lee. There had to be some other force at work here, or we never would have gotten you back alive, you would have been dead two minutes after you left the ship, and you were gone six hours."

Lee clenched his hand into the blanket. "She kept insisting that I kiss her. That until I did, I would never be a creature of her world. But I couldn't. I didn't belong there. She got angry, called me a stupid, stubborn mortal and said without her help I'd die." He couldn't keep the pain from his voice. "I just couldn't spend the rest of my life as someone's thing. My life is here, with the ship and the Admiral, but she didn't understand. She said you'd never find me." A wry smile touched the corners of his mouth. "I guess she didn't figure on the Admiral."

Jamieson chuckled. "Lot of people don't, until it's too late."

Lee closed his eyes. "It was so unreal, Jamie. Surrounded by water but there was no pressure. And she was so beautiful, until she got angry. But I couldn't do it. Then there was nothing but black crushing cold." An uncontrollable shudder went through him. "I - I felt ... so helpless."

"Easy." He heard Jamieson's calm voice and felt his strong hands on his shoulders. "You had quite a shock, but it's over."

The Doctor's touch was firm and reassuring, and Lee opened his eyes again. "I thought I had lost everyone."

Jamieson smiled. "No, we only lost you for a while."

He managed a slight smile in response to the Doctor's teasing. "Thanks, Jamie."

"You're welcome. Now you'd better get some sleep, mister, you're far from one hundred percent yet."

"Aye, sir," he answered as Jamieson got up from the bed. "You will wake me for supper."

"Certainly. A promise is a promise, remember."

"Except when it comes to getting out of here."

Jamieson grinned wickedly. "That will never change. Go to sleep."

Lee closed his eyes, letting the tiredness engulf him again. He was home; she would not get to him here.

*****

Lee Crane studied the AMRAC printout, frowning, and then leaned over the chart table to trace the course on the grid map. A moment later he wished he hadn't. He closed his eyes for a moment, forcing the dizziness down. He'd had enough of lying in bed; it was more than time he got back to running his ship. He forced his eyes open again. "Chip?"

Morton joined him by the table.

"This is our projected course?" Lee asked, tracing the line with his finger on the map.

"No, the Admiral got a call to Malta late last night and we had to reverse course." Chip glanced at the AMRAC readout he'd laid on the table and put his hand on it. "That's our present course, which will put us into Malta about 1400."

"Oh. That explains it. Guess I should have looked at the log first. For a minute I thought we were sailing in circles again."

Chip looked at him a moment, then smiled. "You should have demanded a report the minute you came up instead of telling me to carry on."

"You had details to assign, and I had your report from last night." Lee ran his hand over his hair. "I've got a lot of catching up to do. Why did they call the Admiral to Malta?"

"Some ceremonial." Chip laid on hand on his arm. "Are you sure you're up to taking the conn? Doc said I shouldn't expect you until the end of the week."

Lee grinned. "He and I had a little disagreement over my fitness for duty."

"And you won."

"More like I made a deal with the devil." Lee glanced around the control room. "He'll be up later to collect."

Morton laughed. "Well, it's good to have you back, even if it's only for a little while. You ready for that report now?"

"I think so."

"Good. But there's one small detail first."

"What?"

Chip tightened his hand around Lee's arm. "Sit on that stool, before you get any paler."

Lee glanced at him sharply. "Chip, I'm - "

"I know. This is me, remember, number one mother hen."

"How could I forget." Lee sat on the chart table stool, thankful for the support. Seemed he wasn't fooling anyone. And he wouldn't trade his place here for any other life. Chip's report was the usual crisp, concise summary and it was easy to slip back into their old familiar routine. Lee suddenly felt very warm inside. It was good to be home.

The End

©Diane Kachmar, 2003. All rights reserved.