Lucas Wolenczak sighed and leaned back in his bunk. He listened to Tony's soft snoring in the bunk below him, trying to allow the sound to lure him to sleep. But he couldn't sleep - just stared at the ceiling, which was awash in blue light from the aqua tunnel next to the bunks. Three years. Had it really been three years?Three years ago that very day, Lucas had first set foot on the seaQuest. Not a word from his parents that day, not a "goodbye, Son, we'll miss you," not a "we'll call you as soon as we can," nothing. Just a curt nod and that was that. Didn't call once that first year. Not once.
Lucas had spent the anniversary of that first year talking to Ben Krieg. It hadn't been too bad, it had made the pain a little easier to bear. Still hurt, though. That his parents didn't even have the decency to call once in the entire year sure did put a dent in his self-esteem. He learned to live with it, though. No use going and doing anything stupid if nobody was going to care anyway. That's what he told himself that first year, at least.
And then, after an entire year plus some, he saw his father, who simply wanted to discuss plans for a new World Power project and parade his genius son around. Sure, he had said they would spend time together right after the first seaQuest was destroyed, but he didn't mean it. Lucas had known right away that he didn't mean it. And they hadn't spent time together, not more than five minutes together without one or both of them getting angry. Lucas had actually been relieved that his father wasn't forcing him to stay with the World Power project. In honesty, by that point, they were both thoroughly sick of each other. Having a father to talk to and hang around with was nice in theory, Lucas mused, but it didn't really work well in practice. Not with his father, in any case.
The two years he spent with Captain Bridger rebuilding the seaQuest were the happiest years he had ever experienced. He felt… needed, wanted, loved, all of the above. It was the nicest feeling in world, and Lucas felt he owed it all to Bridger. Bridger, who never told him "there just isn't time," or "can't you just go bother somebody else?" Bridger, who was constantly supportive and parental, which was exactly what Lucas needed, or maybe even deep down inside wanted.
Lucas shifted in his bunk, pulling the heavy blue blanket tighter around him. He hadn't said anything this year, didn't think he had any right to. He was happy here, so why should he think back to a time when he truly wasn't happy? Why should he call attention to something that happened a long time ago? He had gotten to a point where he had almost forgotten about the anniversary this year.
He had spent the morning testing new vo-coder technology, then there was that food fight in the mess hall… There had been too much going on for him to dwell on anything for more than five minutes. Some people called that a shortened attention span, Lucas called it multi-tasking. He had more or less forgotten the private significance of the day until he had gotten back to his quarters that evening and was reading through his email messages. The one that had reminded him was from Captain Bridger.
"Lucas," it read, "I thought I'd take this time to remind you of how special you are to me. Not a day goes by that I don't thank my lucky stars that you're here. I know this time of year can be difficult, but I think you and I both know that everything's working out very well, and for the better. My point is, you're important to me, Kiddo, and if you ever need me, I'll be there. Just thought I'd drop you a line and let you know that. Now is the time for you to smile and nod and wonder if your 'ole captain is going senile on you. See you later, Lucas."
Then Lucas had remembered. He remembered the pain, the gnawing ache that had torn through him that day as he wondered what he could have possibly done to deserve being sent to a military vessel. He hadn't come up with any really satisfactory answers, though he had done a very good job of convincing himself that he must have done something, because otherwise why would his parents be sending him away?
Lucas shifted again, and closed his eyes. It had hurt at the time, he thought, but it didn't hurt anymore. Time had dulled the pain and now he realized, with his last waking thought, that everything was going to be okay.