For eons they have laid dormant in the sands below the ocean. The time passes, for there is no need for "survival" in these modern times. It was a different world. They had evolved for the sole purpose to giving the 'gift' of survival to the early bipedal apes. The hairy apes had left the trees of the jungle to become the less hairy creatures that roamed the great savannahs.

The savages' descent from the trees had turned them into wary, timid creatures-at the mercy of the predators of the grasslands. Somehow their hunter/gatherer ways had brought them into contact with the 'survivor spores', which acted upon them, these new man-primates. The fragile mammals of the grasslands became the new predators, a creature to be reckoned with as it spread dominance across the planet.

As the creatures learned survival skills and grew more fearsome and competitive, the spores fell away from the host creatures and sank back into the land. Over the years that passed and the storms and land changes, they washed into the sea and were covered by the settlement of many thousands of years. And there they rested.

The S. S. R. N. Seaview moved silently through the deep trenches, miles off the Indonesian Islands. Tremor after tremor had reached this area and caused the sea floor to raise and convolute dramatically with each new tremor. The larger tremors had passed over 24-hours ago and the large sub would gently rock to and fro as smaller tremors would strike against the sides of the submarine.

The sea floor below was alive with the aftereffects of the shocks that had struck. The currents moved and churned along the seabed and hot gas vents ruptured from the crevices and opened wounds along the bottom. Temperatures fluctuated greatly and old formations had been crushed and new ones had risen within hours to take their place.

Large red sea stars had moved into the vents and tube worms and spouted near the mouths of the orifices, each gleaning nutrients from the hot water gushing from the new escaped from the center of the Earth. Some of the vents oozed red lava that quickly turned brown and steaming as it poured on the ocean floor.

Admiral Harriman H. Nelson stood at the viewport in the nose of his submarine as it crept slowly into the Dante's creation here on Earth. He had ordered the big machine to slow; he knew of the dangers of the area but he was clearly mesmerized by the living, churning sea. The vents were releasing black plumes of mineral-rich, super-heated water into the open sea. Within the 24 hours since the sea had finally settled, sea life had begun gathering and feeding on the release of the nutrients.

Nelson was fascinated by the abundance of the creatures that stirred below the viewport. He longed to get out into the sea to study the changes and to get samples of the ebony mineral-rich liquid that was spewing into the sea. He might have made a dive if his recent shoulder injury had not happened.

He was suddenly aware of movement to his right and looked over to see the Captain of the submarine, Lee Crane lean his body against the glass, looking over at him.

"Do you want a dive team to go out and check things out?" the Captain asked him. It seemed that the younger man was always reading his mind and knew what he was thinking. The Admiral smiled as he returned his attention to the world outside the glass.

Shadowy forms of Great Whites moved into the area, collecting there because of the sea life. He nodded toward one of the long gray bodies and spoke aloud to the Captain.

"Great whites," he indicated with movement of his head, "they are more aggressive now, probably due to the heat and the food. They are turning on one another for little or no reason."

He saw the Captain's reflected smile in the glass, "Maybe we better hold that diving party back. It looks like the beginnings of a feeding frenzy to me."

The Admiral nodded in agreement, "Something certainly has them stirred up." He answered as one nosed the view port and swam off after a smaller one, catching it some feet from the front of the window.

The Captain's reflection winced as the smaller shark suddenly disappeared in a pool of blood. Other sharks quickly moved in, looking for any remaining morsels, and finding none turned on another small one in their company. That one also quickly received the fate of the first and the group hurried off, chasing after another small one.

Nelson saw Crane turn toward him with eyebrows lifted in question.

"It could be the heat..." Nelson answered the unasked question. "Sharks are very sensitive to temperature changes."

"Yeah," the other reflection answered, "it seems that they get royally pissed."

Nelson chuckled at the younger man's comment as he left the viewport and the Admiral returned to watching the seabed below. With all that had happened in this area just recently he was certain that this would be a most interesting study of the area.

Captain Crane returned to the plotting table as Chip Morton looked up from his work on the charts. He flashed the Captain a smile before checking his watch, "Our shift is nearly over and O'Brien can take over here. Just about dinner time and I'm ready to tear into one of those steaks that Cookie is fixing."

The Captain shook his head, before laying the clipboard down on the table, "I think I just lost my appetite." he commented.

Chip looked up and out at the viewport ahead of him, "It's just water..."

Lee looked over at him, "Yeah, but it's what is going on in the water...just saw two sharks torn to pieces."

"Hmmm...protein." Chip commented, grinning at him.

As they were talking, 2nd Officer O'Brien walked up to the table, "Here, gentlemen...." he commented. "Anything happening?"

Lee rolled his eyes as Chip started laughing, "No, Captain Crane and I are going to have dinner now. He has a desire for rare steak."

Lee turned to the Admiral. "Sir, Mr. Morton and I are off duty now. Do you need anything?" There was no reply except for the Admiral waving them away with his hand.

As the other two men left the Control Room, the 2nd Officer checked over the work that Mr. Morton had done to the charts then looked over Lee's scribbled note on the clipboard. Seeing nothing amiss he walked over to the viewport where the Admiral stood and peered into the ocean.

"Do you see that, Mr. O'Brien?" the Admiral pointed off in the distance. "The heat has gotten the sharks really stirred up and they are attacking on another." He continued to stare off into the distance, with O'Brien looking over his shoulder in the direction that the Admiral indicated. He could see a large group of sharks but the older man seemed to have piercing eyes that missed nothing concerning the ocean.

"Something is really got them worked up...it must be the heat." the Admiral commented, mostly to himself.

Night had passed quickly on board the Seaview; the tremors had settled, and sometime in the early morning the engines had slowed to an idle and the great submarine seemed to be captured in time over the ocean floor.

Lee Crane rolled over on his bunk to the sound of near silence, with just the slight vibrations of the submarine maintaining trim in the water. The change in the engine speed had registered in his mind during the morning hours but, hearing nothing else to indicate trouble, he had turned over and had fallen back into a deep sleep, to wake up this morning feeling quite refreshed. He had showered and shaved, then dressed and looked over reports from the night watch that had been slipped under the door to his cabin after the end of the night watch. It was early into the morning watch and 3rd Officer John Holman had taken command of the Seaview just minutes before. Since he had just joined the crew before the last outing out, Lee liked to stay near the Control Room or be on his rounds should a call go out or he be needed in the Control Room. He was trying to give his 2nd and 3rd Officer a bit more experience with command and had told Chip Morton to try to work with this idea also. They were trying but would often run into one another making unofficial trips to the Control Room for some reason or another.

As he stepped through the door into the corridor, a voice called to him. "I do hope you are planning on eating breakfast this morning, Captain?"

He turned to see Dr. William Jamison talking to Chip Morton. Lee Crane threw Chip a scornful look before answering. "I was on my way to the wardroom now, Doc." He lied. "Would you like to join me?"

"Yes, I would." Chip answered. "Thank you for the invitation."

"Anytime." the Captain answered, allowing the two men to pass before falling in step behind them. They entered the wardroom, surprised to find the Admiral and Chief Francis Sharkey involved in some discussion over cups of coffee. That was surprising in itself, as the Admiral usually took his coffee on the 'front porch' area of the sub. It was the open area just behind the viewport that the Admiral claimed that was his own. He could usually be found there, in his cabin or in the science or electronics labs.

Lee walked over to the coffeepot and poured a cup of black coffee and then joined the Admiral and Sharkey at the table, moving dirty dishes to another table behind him as the men continued to talk. The Admiral acknowledged his presence by turning to him.

"I want a diving team out today." he commented.

Chip and Doc Jamison joined them at the table, with plates of eggs, bacon and toast. Jamison slid one plate in front of Lee Crane before sitting down himself.

Admiral Nelson noticed the gesture and turned to the doctor, then back to Crane. "Eat your breakfast first Lee, and then come to the Control Room and I'll tell you what we are going to do." He then turned to Chip. "Whose available for the dive team this morning?"

Chip thought for a minute while buttering his toast. "Riley and Jones are available. How many do you want?"

"That will do." the Admiral agreed. "I just want water samples and temperatures."

Chip grinned at Lee then asked, "What about the sharks?"

Lee looked up from his plate, after biting off a piece of bacon. "I'll get even later, Chip."

The Admiral chuckled at the exchange. "There hasn't been any around this morning."

"They ate each other." Lee commented. Actually the breakfast was quite tasty and he was hungry and continued eating despite the ill-timed attack last night. "I don't know which was worse, the sharks or Chip and his steak."

Chip was scribbling something in his little notebook. "You want them out soon?"

"Yes, send Patterson out too. I want some pictures of those vents ... the tubeworms are quite oversized ... have him to develop them as soon as he's back on board. The others can do the tests and get the samples back to the lab."

"No problem." Chip answered rising from the table. His plate was completely cleaned and he finished the last of his coffee. Chief Sharkey rose with him. Chip checked his watch. "They will be out in about 30 minutes unless you want them out sooner."

"No problem." the Admiral answered, leaning back in his chair. He, Lee and the Doctor continued to sit at the table as the men left the room. "Let's see..." the Admiral mumbled, thinking aloud, "Photos, water sample, temperatures ...if that shark thing happens again ... I want one of those captured...put it in the tank. For observation...."

Chip Morton entered the missile room as Riley, Jones and Patterson were getting their equipment and diving suits ready for the dive. Jones was an older man who was paired up with Riley due to some problems that had developed between them over Riley's music. Morton had little trouble from them and they seemed to be doing better and were making a successful diving team. Patterson was quietly beaming to himself over the opportunity to go out with the camera. His father had been a cameraman and Patterson had taken up the love of the camera, which the Officers encouraged quickly, as he seemed to have the flair for operating the delicate equipment underwater.

Chief Sharkey opened the hatch as the men entered the escape hatch, then closed it after them. He moved around to the side to set the controls. Chip watched the ball in the flood indicator rise as the escape hatch filled with seawater and the men were released into the sea. Sharkey nodded his agreement to Mr. Morton and stepped away from the controls.

"I'll wait for their return, Sir."

"Okay, call me when they are back on board. See that Patterson gets the film up to the photo lab as soon as he's back." Chip replied as he left the missile room.

Since Lee and the Admiral were already in the Control Room, Chip thought that he would join them there and make 3rd Officer Holman nervous. He had really messed up on his first cruise out and been called to the Admiral's cabin, which was not a pleasant experience for a young officer to go through. Since then he had been very careful to see that things were in order and to also keep an eye on the positions in the Control Room and to see what they were all covered at all times. Lt. O'Brien was used to Chip and Lee showing up at all times and seemed to relish their company from time to time, and would join in or watch what they were doing to try to learn more. Holman wasn't quite that comfortable with having Lee and Chip around, although it was quite obvious that he did admire the way that Chip seemed to move around the room dealing with the problems and the sub's Captain and Admiral.

When Chip entered the Control Room Lt. Holman had surrendered the plotting table to Captain Crane and Admiral Nelson and was standing near the periscope. Lee was leaning down on the table watching the Admiral's hands as they moved about the chart pointing out locations to him.

"Let's try here...here...no, no...maybe here." The Admiral pulled away from the map, twisting his face in thought and looked out the viewport. He looked back down to the map, "Set it up here." He indicated pointing again to the map. "Are they out?" he asked looking up at Chip.

"Yes, Sir. About three minutes ago." The Admiral smiled at him and back across to Lee. "Good, we'll be home by the end of the week. No problem."

"Good." Lee replied

Chip looked out of the viewport window watching the activity of the sea bed below them. The vents were still spewing the dark liquid into the sea and the ocean life was increasing in volume. Somehow I'm not comfortable with this.

Lee Crane walked over to watch the divers at the nose area of the sub. One broke off and swam over to the vents and a large collection of tubeworms. Judging from the photographic equipment, Lee decided this swimmer had to be Patterson. The other divers swam on toward one of the dark columns spewing from the ocean floor and were quickly enveloped by the darker water. The divers were carrying collecting equipment as well as spear guns, should the sharks return to the area.

"Not able to hail the divers." Sparks called from the radio shack.

Lee Crane walked over to the mike at the plotting table and clicked it several times, "Patterson." He waited for a reply and there was no answer. He could clearly see Patterson but could not understand why he wasn't responding. He clicked the mike again, "Patterson?"

The Admiral moved from the radio shack to the plotting table, "It's the heavy metals in the water." He explained. " From the color of the water, I would say that there is too much iron in the water. That would also account for the water holding the heat like it has."

Chip stayed at the viewport, staring off into the darkened water into which the other two divers had disappeared, before turning to Ski. "Are you picking up anything?"

"No, Mr. Morton." Ski answered back after looking at the device in front of him, "It's like it's snowing out there."

Stu Riley moved slowly as the water began to cloud up with particles spewed out from the vent. He opened one of the tubes and collected an example of the water that they were swimming in.

Jones waited patiently at his side, "Make it fast, Surfer Boy. I really don't care for this stuff. His tinny voice came over Riley's earpiece.

"Yeah, sure." Riley replied. His ears began to ring and for a moment he started to panic but realized that it couldn't be his oxygen -- Jones checked it while I got the equipment. He shook his head gently, trying to get his head cleared. The ringing had moved from his ears to his head and for just a few minutes was extremely loud before finally stopping. Maybe it's the pressure.

"Hey, kid! Snap out of it! We've not got all day." Jones voiced swept over him as he felt a gentle slap on his right cheek. Jones was staring at him through the faceplate, he felt Jones slap at his cheek again. "Come on, Kid, you okay there?"

Riley's mind was instantly aware as he pushed the big man away from him. He hit me! Why did he do that?

Jones frowned at the younger man in front of him, realizing immediately that something was wrong. He reached for Riley's arm, causing him to drop the vial that he was holding. Jones watched as Riley paused in the water watching the small vial falling away from them before disappearing into the darkening water below them.

The older man reached out and cuffed Riley's cheek playfully then lifted his face until their eyes met. He noticed that Riley's eyes were unfocused and wild looking, "Ah, Stu...got butterfingers today? Hold on to those things or I'll have to send you back for more." He laughed gently, popping Riley on the shoulder.

The younger man's eyes immediately focused on him and Jones relaxed. The Kid's a bit panicked over the darkness of the water.

Why is he hitting me? He's laughing about it. He swam toward Jones, not really seeing well because of the blackness of the water. He saw Jones turn and fade into the shadows around them so he moved closer to the spot where he had been. A large body brushed against him and then moved off. Sharks! Riley spun around trying to look into the gloom, seeing nothing around him except for the swirling clouds. He raised his speargun and fired into the blackness.

Patrick Patterson was quite pleased with his assignment. His father had been a photographer and Patterson often wondered if that was something that he wanted to pursue. If he were on a dive team, they -- The Admiral, Mr. Morton or the Skipper -- would assign him to the camera, even though the Chief claimed that he was too clumsy to be trusted with it.

He wanted to follow his father into the business but school was hard for Patterson. His mother worked with him and never seemed to give up on him, and they would sit up and go over each assignment time after time. Sometimes it would work and sometimes it wouldn't but he had finally made it through school, only to get into trouble with the group that he had hung around with. The parole officer had suggested that he enter the military, as he needed to get his life straightened out. The military would make or break him and against his parent's wishes he had enlisted in the Navy. It was hard! It seemed that it was an accident that he was assigned to the Seaview, but he could certainly swim. Maybe that was why he was here. It was hard at first trying to fit in as some of the men made fun of his clumsiness, until he met up with Kowalski, then it seemed to stop overnight. Only Sharkey would get on him from time to time about being slow. Mr. Morton and the Skipper seemed to be really nice to him and rarely ever got on him about anything.

As he finished taking the photographs, he gently reached out to touch the feathery top of one of the tubeworms to watch it jerk back and disappear into the long flexible tube. After seconds, when no attack came, the creature would gently reappear and feather back out into the sea. These creatures were really beautiful and delicate as they spread out, picking nutrients from the sea.

Patterson turned to see Riley swimming toward him from the black, billowing plume. Riley was kicking frantically and reached Patterson's side in seconds. Patterson was amazed with the force that Riley grabbed his arm and tried to drag him back to the sub.

"Pat, there are sharks." Riley's voice demanded.

Patterson turned to the plume, watching the billowing shape, but not seeing any sign of sharks nor Jones. Jones and Riley should have stayed together while in the darkness. "Stu, where's Jones?" he asked the frightened man.

Riley turned to look at Patterson, his eyes were wide with fear as he continued to pull Patterson along. "Pat! Sharks!" Riley called to him, nearly sobbing.

Pat pulled away from Riley and turned back to the plume. Nothing was moving in the cloud except for the billowing of the water as it was released from the vent. He had started back toward the plume to look for Jones when something crashed into the back of his head.

Chief Sharkey was waiting by the escape hatch when the sound indicated that someone had entered the tank and was evacuating the water from the chamber. He watched as the flood indicator dropped and started opening the hatch. He was shocked to see Riley supporting an unconscious Patterson. Riley stepped from the chamber half-dragging and lifting Patterson's body through the hatch.

"We were attacked by sharks." Riley explained, finally releasing Patterson's to the floor of the Missile Room. "I was trying to get him back to the sub and he started fighting me."

Sharkey snatched up the mike and called for a medical team to come to the missile room. "Where's Jones?" he demanded, hanging up the mike.

Riley rose from beside Patterson and turned to Sharkey, advancing toward him, "Didn't you hear me? I said that there where sharks out there." They both turned toward the entrance of the missile room as Mr. Morton came rushing inside.

Chip paused beside Patterson long enough to check him out. Still breathing. Good! He rose from the floor, moving away from the unconscious man as the medical team came up to his side. Morton then looked around the room. "Where's Jones?"

"He's still out there." Sharkey answered. "Riley said that they were attacked by sharks."

"Damn!" Morton spat out and rushed to the cabinets containing the diving suits. He stripped off his shirt and tie and turned to yell to Sharkey. "Chief, help me with this."

Chief Sharkey turned from Riley and rushed over to help Chip with the diving suit. Once in the suit, Chip grabbed a tank of oxygen, a speargun and flippers, then moved quickly to the escape hatch. "Close it up, Chief!" he yelled, stepping inside. As the water came pouring into the chamber, he finished securing the suit and fitting the air tank in place. As the chamber finished filling, he fitted the flippers into place on his feet and then swam out into the sea.

Chip Morton paused for a minute to try to pick out the landmarks that he had seen from the viewport. That's the direction! He swam toward the churning black cloud, holding the speargun ready for any forms to come out of the darkness. Seeing nothing, he entered the cloud, hoping to catch a glimpse of the man before he ran up against any of the sharks. He was concerned that there was nothing in the water to verify the story that Riley had told and he shouted over his mouthpiece, waiting for a response.

Swimming slowly and looking about he suddenly heard a low moan. Chip paused trying to hear the sound again and happened to look down to the side of the vent cloud and saw Jones lying on the ocean bed with a spear shaft in his right shoulder. Chip quickly moved down to try to help the man, who struggled feebly with him. He lifted Jones off the sea floor, supporting the wounded shoulder. Putting an arm around the man's waist, he started moving back to the sub.

As Chip swam out of the cloud a ringing started in his ears, building to a volume that seemed to block out even the roaring of the vent. His head hurt briefly then stopped as Chip looked back to see the noxious mixture rising from the vent. He shifted briefly to get a better grip on the unconscious man and then moved back to the sub. The swim back to the sub was laborious and tiring, but Chip noticed that the ringing in his ears and head had finally stopped. Perhaps the cloud was poisonous and he should report his reactions to the doctor to see what was happening.

He was concerned about the shoulder injury that Jones had and the fact that there was no evidence of sharks in the area. He struggled to get the man into the safety of the escape hatch before swimming in after him.

"Chief, have the medical team stand by." Chip spoke into the mouthpiece, as the water level began dropping. He gently lowered Jones to the floor, guarding his right shoulder and removing his air tanks carefully. When the water level was down he reached over to open the hatch, but it was jerked open by Captain Crane.

"Chip, what on earth were you doing out there alone?" Lee shouted at him as he helped Morton remove Jones from the escape hatch. The Captain paused briefly, seeing the shoulder wound on the man.

"Spear gun," Chip explained.

"Riley said that there was sharks." the skipper stated.

"Didn't see a thing."

They moved Jones over to where Dr. Jamison and his team were working on the still unconscious form of Patterson. Riley was crouched down beside Patterson, touching his face as Jamison kept trying to shove him out of the way.

The young man noticed Jones, supported by Chip Morton and Lee Crane and reached up to help lower him to the floor. "The sharks got him." Riley mumbled.

"Did you see a shark?" Lee asked him.

"Saw them...yesterday...knew they would come back."

"I don't think so, Riley." Crane continued talking to the man. "This is not a shark bite wound. He was shot by a spear gun."

"There was a shark. I felt it hit me." Riley answered slowly. He was looking up, his stare fixed on something across the missile room.

"Did you see the shark?' the skipper repeated to him. He reached out and grabbed Riley's arm, trying to get the younger man to focus back on him.

"Don't touch me!" Riley hissed out, turning to Captain Crane.

Before Lee could react, Riley sprang at him, knocking him backward against the outside wall of the escape hatch. Stunned, the Captain offered no resistance as Riley squeezed his hands around Lee's throat, pressing them tighter and tighter.

The edges of Lee's vision began to dim but Crane could not break Riley's hold on his throat. As he struggled to regain his footing, Riley slammed him into a large wooden crate, continuing his full grip on Lee's throat.

Riley's face was wild and filled with hate and his eyes blazed furiously as he lifted the Captain up and slammed him back into the crate. Seeing that his victim was offering no resistance, Riley slammed him into the crate again, squeezing as hard as he could on the man's throat.

Lee felt unconscious moving in on him. His lungs were on fire but he could not breathe; the constriction on his throat would not allow air in and he could not speak or shout out to the man. He finally heard Chip's voice shouting out at Riley but the words were a blur. Suddenly the pressure was gone as Riley was spun across the room. Released, Lee sank to the deck, aware that he could not breathe in enough air to keep the darkness at bay and then all was quiet.

Morton had jumped up and tried to get Riley to release Lee but the man had simply shoved him out of the way. Chip grabbed his left arm and tried to break Riley's hold on Lee's throat. He wasn't even successful at that until he grabbed up a tank and crashed it down on Riley's back, trying to get him to release Lee. It worked, but the enraged man turned on Morton and advanced before dropping to the floor of the room. Chip paused briefly, making sure that Riley was not moving and went over to assist Lee who was lying in a heap beside the crate. Pausing briefly, he checked Lee's breathing to find that he was drawing in huge gulps of air, but hardly aware of what was going on in the room. Chip turned to the medical team. "I'm not getting a reaction here."

He wasn't sure which bothered him the most - the pounding in his head or the weight of something clamped down on his face. He reached up to yank the device from his face, only to have someone to grab his arm and pin it down at his side.

Annoyed, Lee Crane slowly opened his eyes to see Dr. Jamison and Admiral Nelson leaning over him. A large black facemask of an oxygen tank was pressed over his nose and mouth forcing air into his lungs. He gulped at the air, tears streaming from his eyes. His throat was on fire and he felt battered and bruised. As his vision begin to clear, he realized that he was laying on an examining table in Sick Bay.

For just a minute, he couldn't remember what had happened that had gotten him here but then visions of Riley's extreme rage returned to him. He had been the victim, as he wasn't expecting such an attack from one of his men, especially from Riley.

Dr. Jamison removed the oxygen mask from Lee's face and watched him carefully as he breathed on his own. As Lee tried to sit up the Admiral placed a hand on his chest, "No, Lee, you need to stay where you are."

Jamison returned with a couple x-rays and looked at them under the light. He looked over at the Admiral, "He's too hard-headed for permanent damage." Jamison turned to the Captain. "You will need to stay tonight. You have severe bruising to the throat and larynx. I don't want you talking." He looked back at the x-rays then resumed talking. "You have a few knots on your head and bruising to the ribs and spine."

Lee shook his head and started to say something when Jamison laid a hand on his should. "Lee, I said that there was to be no talking. If you are worried about your men... Johnson came through the surgery fine and he's doing well. Riley seems all right and I've given him a light sedative and he's in the other room sleeping." Jamison walked away from the table and went over to the cabinet.

The Admiral leaned over the Captain, "Lee, just get some rest and we'll look after everything. I'll come back in and check on you in the morning."

Lee started to respond but Dr. Jamison returned to the examining table. The Captain felt a sharp sting in his arm and suddenly the faces over him begin to blur and all went black and he remembered nothing.

"It's a deep sedative that will keep him comfortable while he's sleeping. He probably has a headache and a lot of pain in his back. It will keep him quiet and still." Jamison spread a blanket over the sleeping form of the Captain and raised the railing on the side of the examining table. He walked around to where the Admiral stood on the other side, watching the sleeping form of his friend. Lifting up the railing, he gently pushed the Admiral away from the table, "He really needs to rest, Harry." He motioned the Admiral to the door and followed him out, turning the lights lower but not completely off.

Harriman Nelson paused at the bunk where Riley was sleeping peacefully. He had curled up on his side and pulled the blanket up to his chin and was grasping the pillow with his right hand.

"Some side effect of the bends?" he asked the doctor.

"Don't know." Jamison replied. "He woke up after Chip knocked him out, practically crying that he had hurt Johnson and the Captain. He's been calm since then and sleeping quite well." The doctor looked down at the sleeping form. "He looks like a little kid."

Nelson shook his head. "He isn't much older than a kid, Jamie. Violence is so unlike him, but whatever it is seems to have passed. He does look a lot more peaceful now."

The older men walked away from the bed. Admiral Nelson paused at the door before leaving Sick Bay, "Let me know how they are doing."

"I'll call you if anything happens. I would suggest that you go get some sleep yourself."

After the Admiral had left the SickBay, Jamison went over to his desk to write up the reports of what had happened this afternoon. He looked over at Riley, unable to come up with an explanation of what had affected him but pleased to see that it had gotten quiet for the night.

Dr. Jamison would not have been so content if he had realized the turmoil that was going through Riley head at this minute. Even thought the young man was sleeping, ancient spores were giving commands to his body and brain, making him more restless as he lay there.

Survive! Kill to survive! Must survive, must protect! The Captain had challenged him and now he must answer the challenge, as he must survive. An organism must fight to survive, must survive to live, must live to dominate. Survive to meet all challenges...kill all who challenge.

Riley's eyes snapped open and in the dim room he could see the doctor working on paper work at the other end of the room. Kill all who challenge! The doctor had challenged him. The doctor was his enemy and wanted his failure. Failure is not survival. You must survive! He rolled off the bed quietly and moved closer to the doctor. This was too easy he thought as he quickly moved forward.

Jamison suddenly looked up from the report. He thought that he had heard a sound and looked over to the door to the room where the Captain was sleeping. The sedative was powerful enough that there should be no response from the Captain for at least a day, maybe a day and a half. He turned toward the bunk where Riley was sleeping and noticed it empty. He had little time to react before a shadow jumped at him from the darkness. He tried to push the figure away, realizing that it was Riley, but the young man was too strong.

Riley nearly lifted the doctor off his feet and slammed him into the wall. He reached and found a bottle of some liquid on the doctor's desk and smashed it across the doctor's head. The bottle broke, showering the room with liquid and the doctor went limp and failed to respond to Riley. The young man released the doctor, allowing him to drop to the floor before he moved toward the darken room. Kill all who challenge!

Dreams came swiftly to Lee Crane...dreams of sharks devouring one another. He was watching the sharks at the observation window when Riley came up before him through the observation window. Riley's hands went around his throat and he lifted the Captain up from the table, slamming him to the floor. Riley then pressed his foot on the Captain's throat, holding on the table for leverage.

The dream seemed so real to Lee Crane that he actually felt the pain of the landing on the floor. He tried to wake up but could not, so it had to be a dream. He had to struggle to breathe and he could feel the pressure of Riley's bare foot on his throat but he could not resist the attack. He tried to call out... to move... anything to awaken himself from the dream but he could not.

Suddenly lights flooded the room and through the haze and the commotion, Lee heard voices of several people. The pressure at his throat was snatched away and he felt himself being lifted and moved. The Admiral's face floated in his distorted vision for just a few seconds before darkness reclaimed him.

Admiral Nelson tried not to yell, seeing that the doctor was injured. "What in the world is wrong with that man? He has never acted like that before!"

Dr. Jamison moved back across his office to his desk. His left temple sported a small bandage where Riley had hit Will with the bottle of rubbing alcohol. Glass crunched beneath his feet as he looked down at the mixture of alcohol and glass on the floor.

"Frank, get this mess cleaned up." the Admiral bellowed.

Frank rushed back into the office area. He had just left minutes ago to secure Riley in the Observation Room next door and now returned to help Dr. Jamison. Frank helped the older man to the desk and then turned to the mess that awaited him on the floor.

Dr. Jamison gently fingered the bandage and bruise at his temple. He grimaced slightly at the pain but decided it was just bruised and nothing else, but he would be feeling it for the next couple of days.

Admiral Nelson noticed the gesture and sat down in a chair beside the desk. "Shouldn't you get someone to look at that?"

"I'm the doctor here and my head is nearly as hard as your Captain's." Jamison replied. "His blood work shows no drugs, no allergic reaction--nothing abnormal. I don't know what's wrong."

"Something has to be wrong!" Nelson demanded.

"I know that, Harry!" the doctor sighed. "We have him sedated with the strongest medication that I have and he's still fighting the restraints. He's in a locked room with guards and Ski's in there with the Captain." Jamison opened a drawer and search around, removing a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He quickly lit one and took a puff, then looked at it before grinding it out in the clean ashtray on his desk. "I'm suppose to be quitting...I guess I'm a bit rattled by this."

The Admiral nodded in agreement, "Was Lee hurt by this attack?"

"No. He was too sedated to resist the attack. With the bruises he already has, I don't think he'll notice a few more. I'm moving him to his cabin in the morning and Ski can be his baby-sitter for a while."

"That's good." the Admiral agreed. "I'm getting water samples to see what's in the water. I thought it was the hot water affecting the sharks but now I'm not really certain what the problem is."

Jamison started to rise from the chair, but grabbed the edge of the desk with his right had for support. Nelson reached out to catch his arm but Jamison pushed his arm away, "I'm not getting any younger, Harry, and there's been too much excitement. My ears are ringing, I have a headache and I'm going to bed... and so should you."

"Maybe we should." Nelson agreed. He turned to Frank, who had finished cleaning up the mess and had returned from checking on the Captain. "Frank, see that the doctor gets some rest too."

Frank nodded in agreement, "I'll watch him, Sir, and Ski will keep an eye on the Skipper."

The next morning Ski was returning from a trip to the canteen to get coffee for himself and the Skipper. He rounded a corner in the corridor and nearly ran into Patterson, who looked upset and thoughtful over something.

"You okay, Pat?" he asked his friend.

"Yeah, I guess so." Patterson replied, looking back down the corridor where he had just come from. He still looked annoyed with whatever had happened to him.

"Are you sure?" Ski continued to ask him. He felt a bit responsible for Patterson. Patterson was a well-meaning guy, who rarely had a care in the world and seemed a bit simple for the high technology of the submarine.

"Yeah, it seems that Sharkey is mad at me." He looked thoughtful for a minute. "You know, Ski, I really got mad at him. Have you ever been so mad that your brain was talking to you?"

Ski smiled at that question then decided that Patterson had received enough from Sharkey without adding to it by teasing him about his question. "Yeah, know what you mean. Look, I have to stay with the Skipper today but you just steer clear of Sharkey and get your stuff done with. If it gets too bad come up to the Captain's cabin and you can spell me for a while."

"Sure, Ski." Patterson replied, brightening.

Lee Crane resisted the voice that was talking to him. His head hurt, his throat hurt, even his body hurt...he was damned uncomfortable and now someone was waking him up. He was getting pain reports from his entire body and the voice kept speaking, urging him to wake up.

"Lee? Lee, can you hear me?"

He slowly opened his eyes and squinted back the glare of the lights. His vision was fuzzy and a form continued to hover over him. He was suddenly filled with fear that Riley had returned and he was unable to protect himself. His head throbbed...Survive! He reached up to the figure over him, ready to attack. The figure caught his hand and helped him to a seated position, tucking the pillow in behind his back. The movement surprised him as he was expected an attack, instead a hand touched his cheek and gently patted his face.

"Lee? Are you awake? Are you all right?" the voice was concerned.

"Commander, you really should let him rest," a voice spoke from the door.

Chip Morton turned to the doctor and smiled a bit, "I just wanted to make sure that he's okay. The Admiral told me about the second attack last night."

"And where is Ski?" the doctor asked looking about the room.

"I sent him for some coffee." Chip answered, turning his attention back to the Captain. "He seems a bit out of it."

"He was sedated...I have checked on him a few times. Ski was supposed to keep everyone out of the cabin," the doctor warned as he walked into the room. He walked over to his patient and looked down on him. "Good morning, Skipper. How are you?"

"Dizzy." Lee answered in a hoarse whisper.

"Do you remember anything from last night?" the Doctor asked.

"No...bad nightmares...something about Riley."

"That wasn't a nightmare, Skipper." the Doctor continued. "Riley is secured in the Observation room."

"I heard him screaming. You should have him sedated." Chip spoke up.

"He is sedated. Anything stronger would kill him--he still resists it." Jamison answered.

Chip looked back down at the Captain to find him staring up at him. "Morning, Lee. How are you?"

The Captain tried to speak but found his throat very sore. He nodded his head, then looked over to the doctor. "What's wrong with Riley?"

"We're running tests right now." Jamison answered. He walked over to Lee's bedside. "You are not going to argue with me, Lee Crane. You can rest in here for 24-48 hours before I'll even consider releasing you. "

A knock sounded gently on the door and Chip quickly crossed the room to get the door. As he opened it, Ski came in with two cups of coffee and placed one of them on the desk. He then took the other one over to the Skipper, who was now sitting up on the bed.

"It's hot." Ski warned as he handed the cup to the Captain.

"I expect coffee to be hot." Lee answered back. He took a sip and noticed that all three of the men were watching him. "Can I drink my coffee in peace, please!"

Ski backed away, turning to the ship's executive officer, "If you are going to be here for a few minutes, I need to go check on Patterson."

Dr. Jamison caught Ski's arm as he started toward the door, "What's wrong with Patterson?"

Ski smiled a bit at the doctor, "Patterson and the Chief got into a argument and Pat's a bit upset about it now. I decided to check on him."

"You stay out of the Chief's way." Chip warned the young man.

"Oh, I won't override the Chief, Sir, I'm just worried about Pat getting in trouble again."

Crane handed his cup to Chip, "Kowalski, if Pat's having problems, you need to see that he gets to SickBay. That was quite a bruise he received yesterday. I'm not going to have him flipping out on us and going after Sharkey."

"Yes, Sir!" he agreed, going out of the cabin.

Jamison watched Ski leave the cabin and then walked over to the Skipper, "I still want you to rest for another day."

"What happened to you?" Lee asked.

"It seems that Riley got to me before he got to you last night." Jamison answered. "I had him put into the Observation Room. I also have two guards on the door until we can figure what is going on with him."

Jamison pulled up a chair and sat beside the bed. Chip Morton was perched on the side of the desk, drinking the other cup of coffee. "Tests on Riley are showing nothing right now and Johnson is recovering nicely. We have the samples that we need from this area and I think that we will be heading home in just a few days."

Doctor Jamison walked down the corridor to return to his office at SickBay. He still needed to finish those reports that he was working on when Riley had attacked him. He had stopped by the Observation area, surprised to find that Riley was sleeping peacefully, apparently the sedative had worn off and he had gone to sleep without it. Maybe the sedative is the one thing that caused him to attack the Captain and me. He opened the office door and was surprised to find Patterson wandering around the office.

"Well, maybe I ought to open up office hours?" the Doctor quipped as he entered.

Patterson turned around surprised himself, looking very much like a little boy caught with his hands in a cookie jar. "Oh, I'm sorry! Do you want me to come back?"

"No, of course not, Pat" the doctor quickly answered. "What can I do for you this afternoon?"

"Well, Doc, my ears are hearing things." Patterson replied with some thought.

The doctor smiled at him. Patterson was one of his favorites. He always did as the doctor told him and was a delight to have as a patient and a crewmember. "Pat, our ears are suppose to hear things."

Patterson considered that reply for a minute, "But there is no one around to say what I'm hearing."

"What are you hearing?" He indicated the chair at the desk to Patterson as he leaned back against the examining table.

"Oh...just things, you know. Maybe it's something like sounds?" He was looking down at the deck in front of him. Voices telling me to kill...to survive? Aren't I surviving?

"Is the submarine making sounds? You know if it is sounds like that, you need to let Sharkey or the Skipper know." The doctor tried to put a warning in his voice.

"Yeah, sure Doc. But what if it's not from the submarine...it's like voices?"

"It's not voices telling you to hurt yourself, is it?"

"Oh, no!" Maybe to hurt others but not to hurt myself!

"Well, Pat, if they get worse, or if you can't sleep; you tell me right away."

Patterson rose up from the chair and started to the door, when the doctor gently touched his arm. "Pat, is your head bothering you?"

"Oh, no! It stopped hurting last night. Ski made me go to bed early." That's when the voices started.

"Make sure that you get some rest, Pat. If things continue you let me know."

"Yeah sure, Doc." Patterson answered as he went out the door. He had originally gone in to tell the doctor what the voices were telling him but realized how foolish that might sound to the doctor. He certainly did not want to tell him what the voices were saying. Besides, you don't kill because a voice said so!

Admiral Nelson stood at the observation window looking down on Dante's Inferno as several new vents had opened up during the night. They were releasing more darkened, heated water into the sea. Most of the sea life had disappeared overnight and an occasional fish would appear. There was no sign of the school of sharks...why was that?

Chip Morton's reflection appeared beside him in the glass and he turned to greet the Executive Officer of the Seaview, "How's Lee?"

Chip smiled at the greeting. "Morning, Sir. Lee's still sleeping."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Chip. How are you this morning?"

"I'm fine." He answered, smiling at the Admiral. He knew where the Admiral's priorities were and nothing would ever change that.

"What about Riley?"

"He's actually sleeping too."

"They gave him stronger sedatives?"

"No, actually the sedatives had worn off and he went to sleep. They haven't given him anything else and he's sleeping quite well for the time. Doc still has him in Observation and Lee's still in his cabin with Ski making sure that he stays there and no one bothers him. Riley has guards over him and Johnson is doing well and Patterson is back on duty."

"Well, it looks like things are back to normal." The Admiral smiled and walked back to the table and sat down. "Do you have watch coverage?"

"Yes, it's me, then O'Brien and then Holman."

"Holman?"

"He's doing good. If you will beg my pardon, but you and Lee do drive him a bit hard."

"I want him to be good." the Admiral replied. "I'm sure that the Captain feels the same way."

Chip chuckled. "I'm sure that he does, but it scares the hell out of Holman."

"I'll try not to bite his head off this evening."

Chip smiled as he walked over to the plotting table. For some reason it seemed rather smooth this morning but he felt certain that what had happened was not over. The sea outside the observation window continued to billow and swirl wine colors and it was just too devoid of any sea life to make sense. Usually these hot water vents accumulated a variety of sea life that continued to grow in numbers and size. The area had started out that way but overnight the sea life had disappeared. Chip fretted over that, knowing that he should have posted a watch at the observation window, just to see what was happening out on the sea floor. The Admiral had insisted that it wasn't necessary, but then displayed annoyance that the change had occurred without any record being kept.

Admiral Nelson joined him at the plotting table. "I want to send out another diving party to get a few more samples. It just isn't right out there."

Chip turned back to the window and looked out. "I think we should collect those samples with a robot rather than sending someone out there. Riley acted too much out of character yesterday and I'm not sure what caused it, neither is Jamison."

"I support Chip's decision." a voice sounded behind them.

The Admiral turned to see Lee Crane walking up to join them at the table. "Should you be here?"

"Yes, I think so."

Lee walked over to the window and looked out. "Chip, we do need more water samples. Have Sharkey to rig something up to collect them with the mini sub...maybe automatically. I don't want to risk another person out there." He returned to the table. "I know that you went out to help Johnson, but I'm not convinced that it was a wise move."

Chip shrugged, "It was the best I could do at the time."

"Oh, I know that and you saved his life...and mine too. Riley's behavior is totally out of character and I would like to know what happened. I'm not bringing charges against him."

"Whether charges will be bought against anyone will determine on the outcome of the tests that I'm running right now," the Admiral added.

Lee looked over at the Admiral, "What kind of tests are you running?"

"Chemical breakdowns of the water. If I can't get anything from that I am sending Sharkey after Dr. Gounaris, to check out the sea life here. I can't figure out what happened to the sharks."

"They probably ate each other." Lee answered.

"That would not be a good sign, as some sharks do swim in schools and I would be concerned at that behavior."

Seaman Stewart 'Stu' Riley tried to stretch in the bed that he was lying on, surprised to find that his hands were secured to the railing of the bed. He moved slightly trying to wake up from the deep sleep and wondering why his throat was so sore. His back hurt and he felt exhausted.

He heard a door open and close gently behind him. He was surprised to see the doctor leaning over him smiling.

"How are you, Riley?"

"I'm thirsty." the young man complained. "Why do you have me tied up like this?" he nodded his chin to the secured wrists.

"You weren't feeling too well yesterday and we had to do this to protect you."

"What happened?" his eyes were wide with surprise. He seemed to be taking all that the doctor said with complete acceptance.

"Do you remember the dive yesterday?"

"Yeah, Johnson, Patterson and I went out to get water samples and photos."

"Yes...what else happened?"

"We...I don't remember..."

The doctor turned to the door and motioned two guards into the room. "Riley, I'm going to remove the arm and leg restraints. I want you to stay perfectly still until I tell you that you can move. Is that clear?"

Riley rolled his head back to look at the two guards standing at the head of the bed, "Yes, Sir."

Doctor Jamison removed the restraints from his left side and went around the bed and undid the other side, noting that Riley did not even move his wrists from the side railings. "You can move your arms and legs, just don't try sitting up right this minute."

Riley continued to look at the guard on his left side, "I won't."

"Riley, you have been flat on you back for nearly a day. If you sit up suddenly, your system might not handle it and you may faint."

Riley smiled at the doctor, "I thought you would have them to get me."

Jamison turned to the guards. "You may leave, gentlemen."

"What happened that you needed the guards?" Riley asked with concern in his voice.

"Stu, you are quite strong when you are angry, and you were certainly angry yesterday."

"What did I do?"

"It doesn't matter now that you are feeling better. I'm not going to give you permission to get out of this room as I do want to make sure that you are better." He reached to the bottom of the bed and raised the head of the bed so the young man was nearly sitting up but still reclined a bit for comfort. He poured a plastic glass full of water and handed it to Riley, making sure that he could hold the glass securely before releasing it.

"You're looking at me funny." Riley observed.

"Just making sure that you are doing okay. Do you want something to eat?"

"Yeah." He paused for a minute. "It doesn't have to be broth or Jell-O, does it?"

"How about soup and bread?"

"Not much better." he wrinkled up his nose. "Can I have something to read?"

"Of course."

"What happened to your head?"

The doctor leaned on the railing, looking straight at Riley. "You didn't approve of my medical care."

"I did that?" his eyes were wide as the realization hit him.

"Doc, I'm sorry. I don't remember anything. Am I on report?"

Doctor Jamison laughed at the question. Riley was a good worker but he did not really like all the extra duties that 'being on report' brought to the men. "Maybe you ought to ask the Skipper the next time you see him."

"Yeah, I guess it would be up to him..." realization hit hard. "What did I do to the Skipper?"

"The Skipper is fine too." He patted Riley's arm. "You need to rest, no doubt the Skipper will be in later to check on you."

"Where's Pat and Johnson?"

"Pat's on duty and Johnson is in SickBay; he's doing well also."

Survive! Must survive challenges...survive! Must hunt others, must live...must live to survive!

The room was dark and the person moved quickly and quietly through the room. He knew that he had to leave the room and had to find a safe place. This place wasn't safe and they would be coming for him soon. There was no place safe...he had to find a place. He would make them take him to a safe place.

He moved into the corridor and down the hall, carefully passing the doors and checking the open ones to see that no one would stop him. If anyone came out they would have to die! There was no other way that he could do this but to kill all challengers until he could find sanctuary away from them all. He knew that he had to survive.

Hearing whistling he moved against the wall and tried to press into the wall, to become a part of it. He could not be found here as they would kill him and he had to survive.

Yes! You will survive...you will have to fight, to kill!

Patterson rounded the corner and came face to face with the figure pressed against the wall of the corridor.

"What are you doing out here in the corridor? You aren't even dressed properly." he commented as he reached out to the figure before him.

The man stuck out at him, knocking him to the floor. As Patterson tried to rise he saw the fist coming his way but could not move fast enough to get out of the way. The fist connected and Patterson sank down to the deck, crumbled in a heap, as the figure continued on down the corridor.

The man moved along the corridor looking for a weapon. His hands were not enough to kill the next person that he met in the corridor; he needed a weapon.

Only with a weapon can you survive, can you kill!

He continued down the corridor, hearing noises ahead of him... the sound of machines and voices. Passing a fire station he ripped the fire ax from the wall and continued down the corridor, holding it to his side as he walked. He met no others until he entered the Control Room. Some of the men glanced up as he passed, not really concerned with him being in the Control Room, more concerned at his state of dress but not really remarking on it.

He passed by Ski's station and Ski turned to greet him, noting the fire ax held in his hand and the way he was walking very deliberately towards the Plotting table where Mr. Morton was working on the charts.

Ski jumped up and dove for his arm, trying to wrestle the ax from his fingers and was knocked back by the flat of the ax to the deck. Ski let out with a strangled cry as he fell against the sonar station.

Mr. Morton turned slowly at the commotion and heard Lee's cry of warning from the observation window. Before Chip could move, Johnson had wrapped his arm around his throat and moved the ax up to his chest. To his horror, Johnson was chanting something in his ear.

Survive! Kill to survive! Survive! Kill to survive....

Lee Crane moved closer to the plotting table, "Johnson, what's wrong?" He moved slowly to the trembling man.

"Nothing! He has to die! You all will die!"

Chip could barely breathe, but he remained calm. He was listening to his own inner voice. He had no doubts how this encounter would come out.

Trembling, Johnson turned the Executive Officer to face the Captain as he approached them. "Don't!" the man cried out.

Lee Crane froze, remembering Riley's reaction in the missile room. He wasn't sure what he was dealing with...the emotional responses were running to the extreme. He wasn't certain about Chip's response...the man seemed completely calm. Either he had an idea or he simply wasn't aware of the danger he was in. That wasn't possible, was it?

Survive! Must survive! Will survive! Chip smiled slowly, aware that he was still holding the plotting tool in his hand. The tool, used for measuring distances, had sharp points on the ends. Kill! He thrust the points into the side of the man who was holding him prisoner and then jerked away as Johnson howled in pain. Johnson continued to scream out in protest as Chip slammed him to the floor and grabbed his head with both hands.

Realizing what he was about to do, Lee Crane sprang forward, attempting to stop Chip from breaking the struggling man's neck. "No, Chip!"

Anticipating the second attack from the figure rushing at him, Chip Morton rose in a liquid movement and slammed the Captain into the spiral staircase. He then returned to the fallen figure on the floor and stooped down to the man.

Chip's upper arms were grabbed as the Admiral stepped into his line of vision, "it's okay now, Chip."

He was talking in a slow, gentle voice as one might use on an unruly child. Over his shoulder he turned to Ski, "See to the Captain, but move slowly."

What in the hell is wrong? What is happening here? None of this is making any sense! The Admiral continued to hold to Chip's arms, watching as the fire...What was that look? Insanity?...left his face and he appeared to return to normal. Nelson glanced at the still form of the man beside him and over at the Captain, who was still being assisted by Ski. Sparks had moved over to grab the mike, requesting medical assistance to the Control Room.

"What happened, Admiral?" Chip asked, becoming aware of the situation that he had gotten into. He looked beyond the Admiral to the Captain, who was being assisted off the floor by Ski and another crewmember.

"You don't remember what happened?" the Admiral asked as he released his hold on Chip's arms.

"I remember hearing a sound, then Lee called my name...now, you!" He looked back down to the figure of Johnson that he was kneeling beside. "I thought he was in SickBay?"

"He was." Jamison answered as he rushed over to their side. "What happened?" he asked, kneeling beside the fallen man.

"He attacked Chip with the fire ax." the Admiral replied.

Jamison looked over to the Admiral. "He won't attack anyone else; he's dead!"

"Did I do that?" Chip asked, horrified. He seemed to be aware of his surrounding again.

"No, you didn't do this!" the Admiral answered briskly. Who did it...What did it?...I don't know!

Lee Crane, still assisted by Kowalski, stumbled over to lean on the plotting table. He looked down at the body of Johnson. "What happened?"

"What happened to you?" Jamison demanded, rising from the floor to examine a small cut above Lee's left eye.

"Chip threw me into the stairs." Lee answered, glaring down at Chip, who was still kneeling over the body.

"I did?" Chip asked. He looked up at Lee, thoroughly confused by the situation. He noticed that the Captain did not respond to his question.

The Admiral grabbed hold of the plotting table to assist himself off the floor. He shook off Ski's attempt to help him. Standing, he looked about at the state of confusion in the Control Room. "Gentlemen, back to your stations!" he bellowed out. He turned to the Captain, "You, Sir, are bleeding in my Control Room, get that eye looked at immediately! Morton, report to SickBay to be checked out."

As Johnson's body was being removed from the Control Room, the Admiral stopped Jamison. "I want to know what happened to Johnson. I want the information as soon as you can get it." He lowered his voice, "I want to know what is happening to my crew...check Mr. Morton out carefully."

Jamison only nodded in reply. From the tone in the Admiral's voice he knew that this was not the time to try talking to the Admiral but only to find the answers that he was seeking.

"Lee..." Chip started to say as Lee walked by him.

"Okay. Chip...I believe you." he was holding his handkerchief to his eyebrow. "If I get attacked one more time..." he let the sentence trail off.

After the men had left the Control Room, Admiral Nelson went over to the plotting table and picked up the mike. He clicked it twice, paging for Chief Sharkey to come to the Control Room. Within minutes, the Chief Petty Officer walked up to the Admiral's side as he stood staring out of the observation windows.

"Sir?" he announced himself.

Nelson turned from the window, "Have O'Brien to report for his watch early and tell Holman to stand by. Put a guard on all vital areas. All the men that have gone out of the sub since we have reached this location are relieved of duty immediately; confine them to their cabins or SickBay. After you have done that, return here immediately, I have an assignment for you."

Sharkey looked at the Admiral for clarification. Receiving none, he asked, "A guard?"

Nelson turned and stared hard at the man before him.

"Yes, Sir!" Sharkey responded, leaving the Control Room.

Nelson left the nose area and walked back to the Radio Shack at the rear of the area, "Sparks, radio the Institute and let them know that Sharkey will be arriving to pick up Dr. Gounaris. I need her to help me with a little research."

Lee Crane tried to sit patiently in the chair as the orderly cleaned and dressed the cut.

"It won't need stitches." Frank stated, adding the last piece of tape.

"I suppose that I'm lucky," the Captain growled back.

Dr. Jamison came into the main examining room with Chip following him. He walked over to the Captain and inspected Frank's work. "How's the head? Any vision problems?"

"Not that I'm aware of." the Captain replied. He looked beyond the doctor to Chip, who was leaning on the counter, "How are you, Chip?"

Dr. Jamison turned and regarded the blond man. "He seems to be okay."

"I feel fine." Chip responded. "I suppose that when you came up, I reacted before I thought about what I was doing. I just saw a shadow..."

You suppose? Lee shook his head, "What happened to Johnson?"

"Right now, I would say a heart attack. I'm going to run some tests and see what else shows up."

"A heart attack...on a diver?" Lee asked. "The man is not that old."

"Age isn't always a factor. Something caused too much stress to his system and his system couldn't take it."

"Stress... from what? He's the one who attacked Chip."

"Yes, he did. Something was causing him major stress...maybe the attack from Riley, the resulting surgery...I don't know."

Sharkey returned to the Control Room with O'Brien following him, "Guards in place, Sir, and Lt. Holman is aware that you will be calling on him."

Nelson stepped away from the plotting table and went over to the arms locker. He unlocked it and removed two gunbelts and guns. He put one of the gunbelts on and took the other over to O'Brien. "You need to wear this. I don't want a repeat performance of what happened earlier."

"Sir?"

"Mr. Morton and the Captain are presently in the SickBay. Once released from SickBay, Mr. Morton is confined to his quarters. I have a few chores for the Captain to do. You will have the Com, Mr. O'Brien." Nelson tuned to Chief Sharkey, "I need you to fly to the Institute and pick up Dr. Gounaris. I want extra medical staff standing by, even if you have to borrow some from local hospitals. I need you back here with Dr. Gounaris immediately."

"Dr. Gounaris and extra medical staff? What's wrong, Admiral?"

Admiral Nelson hesitated for a minute then turned back to the Chief, "Francis, I really don't know. Not yet. I'll be in the lab...bring Dr. Gounaris there immediately and have the medical staff to stand by...you might pick up a good General Practitioner from the local hospital. Jamie night need some help before this is through."

Sharkey paused for a minute... he had another question but then nodded and headed for the Flying Sub.

Jamison entered the room with x-rays that he looked at under the light. "There's no damage to the eye or eye socket, although you will probably have some swelling and bruising."

There was a knock on the door then Admiral Nelson opened it as he walked into the room. He walked over to where Lee was still sitting in the chair, "Are you feeling, lad?"

"A bit sore...nothing major." Lee answered.

"Good." the Admiral answered. "And you, Mr. Morton, how are you feeling?"

"I'm okay..." Chip answered.

"We are going to have to make certain of that." the Admiral answered. "We had three divers to go out...Riley, Johnson and Patterson. Riley is mentally unstable, Johnson is dead and Patterson...is he on duty?"

"Yes, he is." Lee answered.

"We can't take a chance with Patterson...I want him confined to SickBay." He turned back to Chip, "Mr. Morton, you went out into the ocean also. I want to confine yourself to your cabin."

"But I feel fine." Chip started to protest.

"No, Mr. Morton, I think that something happened to you in the Control Room...you were starting to kill Johnson, when Lee interfered. You then attacked Lee. You are confined to your cabin or SickBay...you have your choice."

"Patterson was in here..." Jamison interrupted the Admiral.

"What for?"

"He was complaining of hearing sounds...then he admitted that he was hearing voices."

"Voices...what kind of voices...saying what?"

"I didn't really ask...you know how Patterson can be at times." Jamison confessed. "I thought that he was just slacking off a bit."

"Pat can be an annoyance but he's not really a slacker." Lee added. "Should I go find him?"

The Admiral looked over at the Captain, "I'm not sure if I should send you. This is twice in as many days that you have made someone mad at you. You need to take about 8 hours leave in your cabin and get some rest." Nelson looked over at Chip Morton, who was intently studying the patterns on the floor in front of him. "You need to get some rest too."

Chip started toward the door then turned to look back at the Captain, "Lee, I'm really sorry..."

"No." Lee held up his hands to cut off the apology from Chip. "I still owe you for saving my life in the missile room, so I can't say a thing."

"I've sent Sharkey to the Institute to pick up Dr. Gounaris. I want to look at some of the information that we've picked up. Jamie, let Mr. Morton rest for 24-hours then we will see how he is doing. I have to do this...Lee find Patterson and get some rest, too!"

Crane walked to the door of SickBay and opened it, surprised to find Patterson standing there, holding a rag to his head. "Pat, what happened to you?" Lee asked, guiding him in and to the chair that he had been occupying.

Patterson sat down and looked up at the men, who stood around him, "I ran into Johnson in the corridor. He was acting a little strange."

Dr. Jamison pulled the rag away from Patterson's face. On the left side of his face, just in front of his ear, was a large purplish-blue bruise and a small trickle of blood. He reached for a cotton pad and poured alcohol on it and dabbed lightly at the small cut.

Nelson rubbed his head above his eyes, looking over at the doctor. "I need to get to the lab, call me if anything else happens."

"I'll be in the Control Room." Crane responded.

"No." Nelson demanded. "I told you to get rest...you are confined to your cabin...you and Chip both. You need to rest. O'Brien has the conn and then Holman."

Nelson left Sick Bay followed by Captain Crane and Chip Morton. They stopped at the stairs in the passageway as Admiral Nelson continued on down the corridor.

"What's going on, Chip?" Lee asked, leaning against the wall. "Nothing is making much sense."

"I don't know. I really didn't feel comfortable with this from day one...I didn't like the look of the ocean then and I still don't."

"Yeah," Lee responded as he followed Chip up the stairs to 'A' Deck. At the top of the stairs Chip came to a sudden stop, and Crane nearly run into the back of him, but then saw one of the junior officers sprawled out in the passageway at the top of the stairs.

Crane went over to the prone body and slowly turned the man over to find a deep stab wound in his chest. "Phil Woods?"

"Yeah." Chip answered kneeling down beside the body. "How is he?"

"He's dead." Lee answered after checking for a pulse at his neck. "It's been a while." He rose and walked a few feet down the corridor to pick up the mike.

"Jamieson?" he spoke into the mike.

"This is Frank, Skipper. The Doc is with Patterson. Can I help you?"

"Yeah, Frank. Phil Woods has been stabbed...he's dead. The body is here at the top of the access stairs on Level A. Frank, tell the Doc that I need a report on Patterson's condition and I want to know what's happened here." Crane hung up the mike then turned back to where Chip remained with the body.

"Admiral Nelson said for you to go to your cabin. Lock the door, Chip, and make sure you know who's on the other side before unlocking the door."

"Apparently it's not a case of who we know." Chip muttered.

Lee looked over at Chip but said nothing as the XO walked away. Who we know, indeed...

Crane waited beside the body until Frank and another orderly appeared several minutes later. They loaded the body on a stretcher and started back to SickBay.

"Frank, have somebody to call me. I'll be in the lab with the Admiral or in my cabin." He left the area and went down the passageway towards the lab. He couldn't help but look down the passageways that he passed going to the lab. The events were making him uneasy, plus the fact that the same man had attacked him twice in two days. He was still unsure what had happened to Chip. Now they had Johnson dead, and Woods murdered. Arriving at the lab door, he turned the door handle but it wouldn't budge. He knocked lightly on it.

"Admiral, are you in there?"

The door jerked open with the Admiral on the other side, looking annoyed to the point of anger. "What are you doing here, Lee? I thought I told you to go to your cabin. Am I going to have to have you arrested?"

Lee looked over at the older man. "Chip and I just found Phil Woods at the forward access stairs on this level. He had been stabbed. Chip is in his cabin...I'm either going to my cabin or to the Control Room."

The older man rubbed his eyes with his right hand and leaned against the open door. "I have made some modifications to the lab...its own water and air purification. I have also sealed the starboard passageway to provide some living space. When Dr. Gounaris gets here she will secure the lab completely and no one will be permitted access to the lab or her. The passageway from the corner of the photo lab and the technical chamber will also be sealed. You will have only the port passageway in the area of the lab and technical area. Medical people will be in the technical chamber doing research. I will be in the lab...I'm staying here now until she arrives."

"Why?" The Captain asked. "What do you know?"

"That's the point, Lee. I don't know anything...whatever this is, this insanity...it's not going to go away!"

"What are you looking for?"

"Something in the water...something brought aboard by the divers...I'm checking the water, blood samples...whatever I can." He sighed and started to close the door. "I don't know what is causing this to act up or even if it spreads...will you please go get some rest. I need you in the Control Room."

"Yes, Sir." Lee answered as he turned from the door. He heard it shut quietly behind him. He was concerned at the appearance of the Admiral...he looked tired and very old. Nelson had a habit of driving himself to the point of collapse when he was working on a problem...many times he had saved the day but at what cost to his health?

The voice started out in a whisper and then got louder. Survive! Kill to survive! Must survive! He moved slightly on the bed to get away from the voice that seemed to echo in his head. Kill to survive! Must survive!

Chip Morton jerked awake after hearing the voice growing louder and ringing through his head. The book on his chest fell to the deck, starling him with the amount of noise that it made.

His heart was pounding...he could hear it beating a rhythm in his head. His body was covered with sweat. He was instantly awake but exhausted from his dreams, but he could only remember the voices. He couldn't remember what they said, just a low voice murmuring in his dreams until it turned into a scream.

Scream? Someone screamed out. That's what woke me! He rose from the bed and picked up the book, tossing it on the desk as he waited and listened. He heard nothing. Chip looked at his watch and realized that he had been sleeping longer than he thought...nearly three hours. He went to the door and unlocked it. He opened the door slowly and looked out into the passageway. Seeing no one, he crossed the hall to the door to Lee's cabin. His door was slightly ajar so Chip started to push the door open as the sub was plunged into darkness. Oh, damn...what is it now? Within a few seconds the passageway was flooded with a soft red light was the emergency generators can on line. Chip quietly knocked, but received no answer so he stepped into the darkened room.

He had only taken a few steps toward the middle of the room when something came rushing out of the darkness and slammed him back into the door. The door slammed shut and Chip nearly collapsed to the floor as, whatever it was, withdrew from the attack. He paused listening, knowing that someone was in the room with him and was waiting for him to move...

"Lee..." he spoke quietly. No sooner were the words out of his mouth when he was attacked again and thrown to the desk. Papers and objects hit the floor as Chip rolled across it, landing on the other side, trying to locate his attacker. He could still sense a person in the room with him. Moving quietly to the desk, he knew that Lee kept a gun in the upper left drawer and he reached for the drawer handle and slowly opened the drawer, feeling for the gun. It was gone!

"It's not there, is it...Chip?" a voice snarled at him.

The voice was so filled with anger and hate that he could not recognize it.

"Lee, is that you?" Chip asked again, as he drew away from the desk and slowly moved to the door. He had nearly reached the door when something hit the back of his head and he could feel himself beginning to fall; slowly as the room begin to spin and the snarling voice and the chanting... Survive! Kill to survive!...echoed around him. Then all was silent.

Lee Crane had just entered the Control Room as the lights dimmed and then went out completely. The Control Room was flooded with pale red lighting as Lee looked up to the ceiling, perhaps expecting an answer to the failure being written up there.

"Report." he called out as he continued to the plotting table.

"We've lost our lighting..." Holman stammered out as Captain Crane came to the plotting table.

Lee smiled briefly, "We certainly have." I must have scared the hell out of him.

"Chief..." No, he's on the Flying Sub... "Wilson, give me a report..."

"Interior lighting, only...all levels."

"Get a team on it." What a time for Sharkey to be gone!

"Yes, Sir."

Crane turned to Holman, "Any problems?"

The young officer stared back at Crane. He opened his mouth and then closed it, he stammered out again, "We don't have lights...Sir."

Lee stared back at the young man who stood before him. We don't have lights, we are parked in the ugliest ocean I've seen in a long while, two dead men, the Admiral is locked in the lab...the XO's in his cabin and Riley and Johnson went crazy...and I'm asking this man if we have any problems? "Any problems pertaining to the power outages?"

"No, Sir."

"Okay..." Lee replied and walked over to the window. The sea was still dark and he could see the billowing clouds as they rose from the vents.

"I hope that you've been here for a while..." A voice spoke behind him.

Lee turned around and saw Chip walking to the plotting table but looking across it at him. He could tell that Chip was quite annoyed...what was he mad about?

"Actually, I haven't...and you are not suppose to be up here at all." Lee answered back as Chip walked up to him.

"Well, I'm here now...what do you plan to do about it?" Chip challenged.

"Do about what?" Lee asked, standing beside the window. "Holman, anything back from the power outage yet?"

"No, Sir!" the junior officer replied.

"What I plan to do about it is to get some lights on in here." Lee answered as he started to walk by Chip.

Chip Morton reached out and grabbed the Captain's arm as he passed him, "Lee...!"

Crane's forward movement was arrested by Chip's hand on his arm. He stopped and looked at his arm, then into Chip's face. "What's wrong with you, Chip?"

"I asked you how long you have been here." Chip hissed at him.

"I got here as the lights went out...why?" he answered, removing Chip's hand from his arm. "Are you all right, Chip?"

Chip shook his head, "I was just in your cabin and someone attacked me...I thought it was you. The lights went out just before I entered the cabin...the door was slightly open and I thought I heard something." Chip rubbed his head, "Lee, I was dreaming about something...I don't remember and it woke me up. I heard a scream and I saw your door open and someone attacked me. When I entered the Control Room, I felt rage...a need to confront you...."

Lee threw Chip a worried look, "Well, don't confront me...I'm just as confused as you are with what's going on. The Admiral has closed off the lab and he's looking into the situation from that angle."

"What's he looking for?"

"I don't know but I think we had better check the power...I don't like the lights being this dim with all that has been going on. If it involves Level A and B, then we can be certain that 'C' Deck has no power also. Come on, let's go see what we can find."

Lee started pass the plotting table but stopped to get Holman's attention. "Mr. Morton and I are going to the Circuitry Room and the Reactor Room to check on things. Notify us if anything happens or if you hear from the Flying Sub."

Captain Crane and Chip Morton walked out of the Control Room and down the passageway to the Circuitry Room. They checked some of the larger cables that ran along the passageways to see if there was any obvious damage to the cables. They saw nothing to indicate any trouble until they arrived at the Circuitry Room and Crane noticed that there was no guard present at the door.

"There's no guard." Lee pointed out to Chip. "The Admiral assigned guards to every vital area on the sub." As they got closer he noticed that the door wasn't closed all the way.

They entered the darkened Circuitry room very slowly. The emergency lighting in this room had either failed or had been tampered with. They moved quietly into the room and separated to check out the different areas of the room.

Crane listened quietly as he moved away from Chip and the door and entered the darkest part of the room. There was the usual humming of the circuits but nothing else that he could detect as he moved slowly about. He heard no abnormal sounds, yet he felt that there was something...someone in the room other than Chip and himself.

"Lee...?"

He heard Chip's voice, then a loud thump that sounded like a body had been pushed or had fallen against the readout stations. Crane heard movement and backed up to try to block the person from leaving the room, only to be thrown aside by the rush of someone trying to reach the door. Falling to the floor he reached out to try to grab the shoes of the person trying to leave. Grabbing out for a pants leg he was rewarded with a kick to the shoulder causing him to cry out and to lose his grip on the person leaving. For a minute red light from the corridor flooded his senses but was then shut out again as the door slammed close. Holding his shoulder, he climbed to his feet and felt his way to where he thought that he had heard the sound coming from along the back bank of readout stations. He stumbled along, until he could feel something at his feet. Reaching down, he felt the leg of Chip Morton lying in the floor.

"You all right, Chip?"

"No, dammit, Lee, I'm not okay!" Chip responded. "I'm tired of what's going on...how about you...you okay?"

Lee Crane slid down the metal side of the readout station to sit on the floor of the Circuitry Room, holding his left shoulder. "I'm still surviving...."

"Surviving...." Chip echoed. "That's what the dream was about...."

Lee leaned back against the door. He realized just how tired that he was getting and he was irritated that Chip wasn't making much sense. "What dream...?"

"The dream...don't you ever listen to me? I told you that I was dreaming...and then I heard the scream that woke me up. I was dreaming about surviving...there were voices..."

"Surviving what?" Lee asked.

"Surviving...." Chip started and then he stopped. "I don't remember...something about killing to survive...."

"Survive what?" Lee asked.

"Have you had any dreams?" Chip asked. "Patterson said something about voices..." He heard Lee trying to rise from the floor and sat up where he had been lying on the floor. He reached over and helped Lee up, hearing him grunt as he moved. "Are you sure that you are okay?"

"Yeah."

"Johnson was saying something in the Control Room...chanting about...what was he chanting?" Chip asked himself out loud, as he guided Lee toward the door of the Circuitry Room. As they reached the door, the lights flickered and then came back on causing the two men to squint against the sudden brightness.

Lee moved over to one of the stations and opened the door. "Here's our problem." he announced, lifting up several damaged wires. "We need to get Sharkey and Ski down here as soon as Sharkey returns...I want to know who was stationed here also."

Captain Crane walked over to the mike and picked it up, turning to watch Chip as he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.

"Jamison?"

"Here, Skipper. What's the problem?"

"Doc, where is Patterson?"

It was quiet for a few seconds before Dr. Jamison answered again. "He's in here on a bunk, reading. Why?"

"Chip and I were attacked in the Circuitry Room and Chip's not feeling too well himself." Crane was mentally willing the doctor to understand what he was trying to say, without making Chip aware of his suspicions about him.

"Why don't you and Chip come down to Sick Bay and I'll check him out." the Doctor suggested.

Crane started to hang up the mike when Holman's voice came over the intercom system, "Captain Crane to the Control Room, please!" He clicked the mike again, "What's the problem, Mr. Holman?"

"The flying sub is docking now, Sir." was the reply.

"Have Dr. Gounaris to go directly to the lab and have Sharkey to come to the Circuitry Room immediately."

Lt. Holman hung up the mike as Sharkey and Dr. Gounaris came up the ladder from the Flying Sub access. While he waited for them to come to the plotting table, Melina Gounaris took off the leather flying jacket and handed it to Sharkey,

"Thank you, Francis." she said smiling warmly at him. She had a small bag with her and was dressed in a white shirt and trousers. Behind her, two other people came aboard the sub. One was a middle-aged man and the other a young blonde woman. They both looked toward the huge Observation window.

"Beautiful!" the woman exclaimed as she looked out of the window into the ocean beyond.

"Lt. Holman, this is Dr. Ryder and Dr. Randall from the Memorial Hospital." Melina introduced her two companions to the officer on watch.

"Ma'am," Lt. Holman nodded to her and to the Doctors. "Admiral's orders...you are to go directly to the lab."

Melina nodded in agreement, "Where is Captain Crane?" she asked.

"He's in the circuitry Room." Holman replied. "Chief, the Captain would like you to join him down there...there are some wiring problems."

Sharkey had already walked around the Control Room checking the board as soon as he came aboard and noticed the emergency lighting. "You," he indicated to Ski's backup, "replace him. Let's go, Sailor. I'll need you with me."

He turned back to Dr. Gounarius. "Do you remember the way to the lab, ma'am?"

She smiled back at him and nodded, "No problem, Chief." She gathered together her companions and led them out of the Control Room down the corridor to the lab area. She was rather surprised to see that the area had been expanded and sealed. Stopping at the door, she knocked on it. It took a couple minutes for the Admiral to come to the door and to open it before allowing her and her companions into the lab. She introduced the doctors to the Admiral.

"Dr. Ryder is a General Practitioner, but she has worked with many unknown illness while volunteering with the Atlanta Disease Control Center and Dr. Randall is a researcher who has also worked with unknowns. The latest was the Ebola breakout. I thought we needed doctors as well as researchers too."

"Good, Melina." the Admiral replied. "Thank you for coming to our aid. We seem to have run into an unknown here ourselves and I am not certain what it is." He turned to the other two doctors. "Dr. Gounaris is familiar with the submarine and will show you around but I will have to insist that once we finish sealing the lab that you can only leave wearing an environmental suit."

He noticed the looks that the doctors, including Melina, had given him. "We have come into contact with something...I believe from the sea...that is causing irrational behavior that has resulted in two deaths. I have three men in Observation, two more recently, with wild behavior. I have about a dozen confined to cabins or to SickBay with 'unusual' behaviors. It seems to have started yesterday with four men going out into the sea and it is getting worse."

He turned to Melina. "I have filled the large tanks with seawater and put some specimens in them. I have also filled two controls...with sea water not from this area. We have also started taking blood and urine samples. Dr. Jamison, our medical doctor, is doing autopsies on the two dead members but he is also reporting not 'feeling' well. Captain Crane has just reported to me that he believes that our Executive Officer is affected...he was confined to his cabin but we have had a lighting emergency so he is helping the Captain at this minute."

He walked over to the table that he had been working at when he opened the lab for them. "I have tried to remember to write down any possible 'actions' that have occurred since coming into conflict with...." he paused, searching for a word to use at this point. "I can only think to use the word 'infection' since I have no idea what is affecting the crew." He paused, "I can't even be certain that I have not already been infected by this yet. I don't feel that I have but apparently there is not way to tell for certain at the minute except for concerns of 'survival' according to Chip Morton and Patterson."

Dr. Lisa Ryder turned when she heard the name of Chip Morton being mentioned. She had met Chip Morton during the early summer off the island of Greece and had made plans to keep contact with him but had not had the opportunity. It would be nice to see the man again but these were not the conditions she had been expecting for that.

"Are all the affected people contained?" Melina Gounaris asked. She did not relish the thoughts of half-dazed individuals roaming around doing havoc to the sub until they could contain the 'illness' and begin to treat it.

"I wonder if we can be dealing with a virus or a pfeisteria-type outbreak?" Dr. Randall mused aloud. "I suppose that we can start looking at the blood and urine samples for anything that is unusual. Do you have sample from a known infected person? I suppose that we will have to use ourselves as 'controls'.

He was looking around the lab, "Admiral, I cannot include you in the control group as we are not certain if you have been infected. I would rather that we have a area ourselves to work in...perhaps sealed?"

"I have arranged that already." the Admiral answered smiling. He had noticed that Dr. Ryder was already collecting samples and equipment as Dr. Randall was talking to him. He was beginning to relax a bit knowing that he had other professionals from the science and medical fields to help him.

"Dr. Gounaris, I have moved the tanks to the forward storage areas on 'C' deck and sealed that area also. The tanks have been marked with the contents and you are free to use whatever equipment you need. I do request that you use decontamination procedures and environmental suits. I have also fitted the areas with extra oxygen and re-breathers." He stopped and looked at his three guests. "And that is it... ladies and gentlemen...all we know and all that we have done."

"Sounds good." Dr. Randall answered, as he walked over to assist Lisa Ryder with the equipment that she was collecting. "Will you show us to the area for us?"

"Of course." the Admiral answered. "If you will come with me?"

They left the main lab room as Melina went over to study the notes that Admiral Nelson had written down. It could be water borne and contacted during the dive. The Admiral had suggested that but she was not going to leave out any possibilities so she decided that it was necessary to try to get air samples from the sub itself.

Lee Crane was sitting in the chair in Dr. Jamison's office for the 2nd time in the same number of days and was beginning to feel annoyed with the reasons that he was there. I feel fine. What in the hell and I doing here with all the tests being done? He could feel the tension beginning to mount and he felt like getting up and leaving the room as he grew more restless. He watched Jamison move around the room. Right now Jamison was dealing with Chip Morton, who seemed to be enjoying the attention and not appearing nearly as stressed out as Crane felt.

Lee squirmed in the chair, waiting for Jamison to return to him. The doctor had already taken blood and urine specimens from everybody in the SickBay and now was recording temperatures and blood pressure. Lee resented that fact that the doctor had asked him to wait and then walked off and had ignored him for several minutes. He continued to wait in the chair and decided that if his presence had been that important or needed that the doctor would have returned to him by now. Besides I'm the Captain and I don't wait for anyone. Must leave...must survive.

Suddenly Crane snapped back to awareness. He had allowed his mind to start drifting and suddenly that word had crept into his mind. What was it that Chip had said?...something about 'survival'?...that word startled him and filled him with a sense of dread. He rose from the chair as Jamison turned to him, waiting him.

"Something wrong, Captain?" The doctor asked, watching him carefully.

"No, not really...." he paused. "There is a good possibility that whatever this is going around has infected me too." he admitted. "What was it that Chip had said? Something involving 'survival'...it just entered my thoughts...about survival...leaving here and surviving."

"It's probably infected all of us." The doctor admitted quietly to the Captain. "It seems to react badly to stress so I am recommending that the crew members receive a mild stress reliever...not enough to impede function or their abilities, just to keep stress levels down. It might stop another incident like Riley and Johnson had. I was wondering how long you would actually sit there and I wanted to cause you just enough stress that I thought that you might react."

"React?" the Captain asked.

"Yes. React to doing something that you did not like doing; such as hanging around SickBay."

"Have you reported this to the Admiral?" Lee asked.

"Yes, I've sent Frank down there now with the suggestions I have for medications and the amounts to be used." He turned and picked up a small vial from his desk. "I asked you to wait as I am waiting to hear back from the Admiral and I want you and Mr. Morton to get the first injection."

"Because we command the ship?" Lee asked.

The doctor smiled, "Yes, but not for that reason completely. It seems that the less dominant the personality, the more problems we will have with that person. The more dominant the personalities, the less problems that we will have with the people involved. By rank and training, you two would be the more dominant personalities but subject to more stresses... but that may not be the case."

"How do you know that this will not have an adverse reaction, if you are not sure what the problem is?"

"I don't know that but what other choice do I have?"

"But then if I am infected, why have I not reacted to it yet?" the Captain asked.

"I don't know." the doctor answered with a slight smile. "But do you know that you haven't reacted to it? Riley doesn't remember. The only person that seems to remember anything about how they feel is Patterson."

"Either way...we take the shot?"

"If anyone refuses the sedative I will order that they be secured in a cabin or the brig...I cannot be responsible for their behavior."

Captain Crane sighed and began unbuttoning his sleeve. "I suppose I should set an example." He paused then looked at the doctor. "But...you are infected too...how do I know that what you are doing is good for the crew?"

The doctor stopped and looked at the Captain. "You know, Lee, that is a good question. I guess since I have sent Frank down to report what I plan to do to the Admiral, I suppose that was a rational decision."

"We will have to come up with some idea of checks and balances for personnel in key positions to protect the overall running of the boat. Major decisions will have to be made by more then one party, unless over-ridden by the Admiral, as long as we continue to receive assurances from the medical party that the Admiral is not affected by whatever this is." Crane turned to Chip Morton. "Do you agree, Chip?"

For a minute or two it did not seem that the blond man was listening to what the Captain had said, as he did not respond immediately. "In theory that will work...in reality, we will have problems with it. If you or I are the only logical people left on board and we make a decision, and the others disagree...how is that person going to still execute a command if no one listens? If that person is overpowered, then the Admiral is out of touch and is not in control of what is going on in the Control Room. We need to open up all ship communications and pipe it in to the Admiral. The lab will need a over-ride system...."

"Leave it to you...the logistics of this are going to be a real pain...." the Captain commented as he sat back down in the chair. He looked back over at Morton. "How are you feeling right now, Chip?"

"I know what you are getting at, Lee. I feel fine at the present...Dr. Jamison told me that he feels certain that I'm infected by this...whatever. There is also a possibility that you are infected as well as everyone else on board, so we will just have to play it by ear."

Dr. Jamison went over to Morton and indicated that he was to roll up his sleeve to receive the same injection that he had given the Captain.

Chip complied but looked at Jamison, "I'm not going to pretend that I'm comfortable with this solution that you've come up with. I will go along with it for the time being but the shots will wear off and I am wondering how many people will allow you to do this again."

"You have a point, Chip." Lee stated rising from the chair. "How long are the shots suppose to be effective for?"

"Ten to twelve hours." the doctor answered.

"If it is possible, repeat the shots in 10 hours, watch for overdoses and turn this over to the medical team for the next round. The medical team is in charge of any medical decisions concerning the treatment of this 'infection'. I'm sorry, Doc, that is the best that I can do...there has to be checks and balances all around."

Jamison nodded, "I understand, Captain."

Dr. Lisa Ryder looked at all the vials of blood on the tray in front of her. There had to be well over 100 and she knew that she had to start testing the blood. For what? It was like being back during the Ebola crisis...she was looking for an unknown. Dr. Thomas Randall had agreed with Dr. Jamison's suggestion of the sedative to halt the advance of the symptoms...lack of logic, defensive behavior or whatever was causing the temper outbreaks.

The entire crew would be given shots and the tests would be conducted. She started up the machinery and turned to the centrifuge to begin loading it with the first batch of blood samples.

"What are you doing?" the Admiral asked walking up behind her.

At first, she was shocked by the question and started to reply, defending what she was doing and then realized that the Admiral, although not a medical man, was quite interested. "I want to separate the blood serum out from the denser material in the blood stream. If anything has invaded the blood stream we'll find it, or should find it faster by studying the serum first. Since I'm not really sure what we are looking for, we have used our blood as a control and looking for a common factor with the other samples of blood that would not be in our blood. This is the fastest way to start."

"Where is Dr. Randall?" the Admiral continued to ask.

"He's going to test the urine samples, but he is taking samples of blood, tissue and brain matter from Johnson. We are certain that he was infected by your descriptions and that we give us something to look at..."

"I see." the Admiral interrupted. "Please call me if you see anything. Dr. Gounaris is going to test the water that is in the tanks. I suppose that I should go and see what she had come up with too. We really need to try to locate something before this gets worse."

Admiral Nelson turned from the counter and returned to the main part of the lab. He was surprised to find that it was empty but Melina's environmental suit was also missing so she had probably gone down to the tanks on 'C' deck.

Melina Gounaris had put on the environmental suit and stepped into the corridor of the sub. She was trying to avoid as much contact with the crew as possible and had chosen the stairs outside the lab. They would take her down to the reactor room and then another set just down the hall would take her to 'C' deck. She had limited access to the level and she would have to pass by the crews quarters, but Admiral Nelson had assured her that with the crew sedated and only on-duty personnel in the passageways she should experience very little problems if any. She did carry a gun with her, which she thought was a bit of a hindrance, since the bulky gloves of the suit would probably not allow much free use of the gun.

She arrived at the second set of stairs and went down to 'C' deck. The storage tanks were to the right and left of the main corridor, just behind the berthing for the flying sub. She had just stepped into the first compartment to retrieve water samples which someone touched her shoulder. She turned sharply, pulling the gun from her waist.

"Lee! Don't do that!" she cried out, recognizing him.

Captain Crane smiled a bit and stepped back from the gun, raising his hands in the air in surrender. "Has it gotten that bad?" he asked, hearing her muffled voice from the environmental suit. "I was just wondering who was down here. I received a report in the Control Room."

"I'm not suppose to communicate with anyone." she replied. "Admiral's orders..."

"Even me?" Lee asked her.

"Especially you." she answered. "Admiral Nelson said to assume that all are infected by whatever this is. That includes you."

Lee nodded at her and took another step back from her, "I understand, Melina, but I am going to wait here until you finish collecting your water sample. We have had a murder on the sub and I don't know who did it."

Melina nodded in agreement, "That's fine, but I would rather that you wait in the corridor. Can you do that for me?"

"I can." he answered then stepped into the corridor.

Melina continued to watch the Captain as he stepped from the room. She walked over to the door and after closing it behind him, she started collecting her water samples from the three tanks in the room, taking care to label each of them. She climbed down from the ladder to the catwalk and returned to the door. Opening it carefully she peered out into the corridor to see Lee Crane leaning against the wall, waiting for her. He looked up at the sound of the door opening but made no move to come toward her. She started to the room across the corridor but stopped as he called out to her.

"Melina, I would rather you let me check the room, first."

She nodded, and waited as he moved to the door. Opening it, he stepped inside and saw nothing except for the tanks and the catwalk. He and Chip had discussed the fact that there was someone aboard that was being badly affected; now he did not want to take chances with a civilian's life, especially if that civilian was Melina Gounaris. He came from the room and stepped down the corridor away from Melina, "It's clear."

She nodded and walked into the room. This interaction with the Captain was bothering her and she wanted to get back to the lab. He was acting very formal with her and they had never had that type of a relationship before. She wondered if he was reacting that way because of what she had said or was it something else. She quickly mounted the catwalk and drew her three remaining samples and labeled them. Crossing over to the door she opened it to see that Lee had returned to his original spot against the corridor, waiting for her to come out.

She stepped into the corridor then stopped. Lee looked up at her, raising his eyebrows in question.

"This is difficult, you know." he admitted.

"I know." her muffled reply came back. "Maybe we can come up with a few answers very soon."

"I certainly hope so. I don't like having my crew under sedation...the Admiral locked in the lab and having to behave in this manner with you."

"Maybe something will change soon..." she paused. "I would like you to walk ahead of me, please."

"To look for hidden dangers or is that the Admiral's orders too?" he asked.

"No, Lee, that is my request." she answered.

He bowed to you and replied a courtly, "Yes, ma'am." before starting down the corridor. He had only taken a few steps when the sub was plunged into darkness again. It was several seconds before the red emergency lighting came on and he turned slowly to check on Melina.

She was still standing in the corridor, slowly looking about her. One gloved hand held the plastic carrier with the water samples and the other hand held the gun that the Admiral had insisted that she carry whenever she left the lab.

Lee smiled at the sight of the gun, "I am certainly glad that you have steady nerves. It is better than a spear gun for protection."

Melina smiled back, knowing that he could not see her reaction to the reference of the speargun. Their first meeting had been over a speargun, when she had tried to kill him, thinking he was someone else.

"What's wrong with the lighting?" she asked.

"I have Sharkey working on it. It keeps going out. I think it is our mysterious friend who is messing with the lighting system. He's probably more comfortable in the semi-gloom."

"That might be an important factor." Melina replied.

"Important factor?" Lee asked.

"The subdued lighting...perhaps even complete blackness would be better?" she thought aloud, now a bit relieved to have company with her. "I am not comfortable with this," she admitted.

"And you think we are?" Lee asked a bit testily. He was annoyed at the lighting problem but was certain that Sharkey was doing what he could and he had left Chip in the Control Room in charge there. That may have not been a good idea but he had no one else since Holman was inexperienced and O'Brien was confined since he had attacked a radar man for not responding fast enough.

"I know that you are not." Melina responded quickly. She had heard the Admiral talking to the medical team about the reactions that the crew was having and it was best not to be in direct conflict with them. Even though she and Lee were friends, maybe more than friends, she was not going to risk a confrontation with him down here.

He seemed to relax a bit when she answered and started walking down the corridor to the stairs. He stopped as he arrived at the stairs and turned slowly. "Do you want me to go up first, or do you want to?"

"You go up first to see if it is all right." she answered. "Lee?"

"Yes?" he answered.

"When you get to the top, do you mind stepping away from the top of the stairs?"

"You have the gun." he replied.

She waited until he went up the stairs and stepped away from the top. As she got to the top of the stairs, she could see that he was talking to Sharkey. He turned toward her as she came up the stairs.

"We will go with you as fair as the Circuitry Room but the lab is right above that. We have some problems in there."

She followed them to the circuitry room and went inside. She paused at the door long enough to see a crewman stretched out on the floor. There was too much blood visible for it to have been a simple wound and she was certain that the man was dead.

"Melina, return to the lab." Lee ordered as he knelt beside the body. He did not turn around to her but seemed to sense that she had stopped by the door.

Admiral Nelson looked up as Melina Gounaris entered the lab area. She sat her plastic tray down on the counter and looked back toward the door. "How do we know that that decontamination process will work?" she asked.

"We don't." he answered. "Did you have any problems?"

"No, I had an escort while I was on 'C' deck and an escort back to the Circuitry Room. There is a dead man there, I think." She sat down on one of the lab stools, obviously shaken by what she had seen.

The Admiral turned to her, "I asked you not to make contact with the crew."

"Admiral, I had to go down two levels. There was no way that I could not prevent contact with someone, especially when the person is the Captain of your submarine!"

"Lee? How is he doing?"

"I don't know...." she answered. "He seems all right but then got annoyed with me, but then under the circumstances, how could he not help but get annoyed at everything. The lights went out, " she explained, "and I had to pull out the gun...on Lee. I was frightened...I'm not really certain how he is doing," she admitted. "He was coming back up here with me but Sharkey found a dead person, I suppose that he was dead...there was too much blood...a man in the circuitry room... I can't help but wonder about the lights."

"Yes, I know, but I'm not certain what the purpose is...to move more freely about the sub or because it needs the semi-darkness for a reason other than moving about undetected?"

She turned on the stool to start removing the jars from the tray. "I want to start with the samples from this area, first. I will check the controls in a while but I want to see what is out there. The vents are continuing to spew out those dark clouds and we are not certain what they contain. Normally, it is just heavy metals and some minerals but I am wondering what else." She began preparing slides as she worked, but noticed that the Admiral was looking through several books. "What are you looking for?"

"The doctors have finished looking at the tissue sample from Johnson and they have found something interesting. He had lesions in the brain and lung tissues. There is no reason for him to have those. We are trying to get through to Dr. Jamison, but he won't answer back. I wanted him to check Riley for any damage along these lines and see if he seems to have anything wrong with his lungs or brain tissue. The insanity might be a secondary factor when the brain is damaged enough and the two might now be a factor in determining what we are up against."

"So we discount the mental delusions?" she asked.

"Only until the very last...." Nelson answered, "Dr. Ryder is looking for more medical indications of whatever this is...now you find out what that is." he instructed.

"Yes, Sir." she replied, picking up the first slide and putting it in place.

Lee Crane returned to the Control Room after speaking with Sharkey. Mr. Morton was waiting for him at the plot table.

"Where have you been?" he demanded.

Lee stopped then remembered that Chip had been like this for a while. It was better to play along with his demands. Smiling he answered, "Down at the circuitry room."

"We have to leave this area." Chip stated flatly.

"We can't do that, Chip. You know that we cannot leave yet." Lee answered.

"Yes, we can." Chip answered.

"No, Chip, we still need to know what is out there." Lee answered, moving to the huge window. "Something is affecting the crew and we can't leave until the medical team, or Admiral Nelson says we can move the sub."

"It's time that we move the sub." Chip insisted.

"Believe me, I don't like this area any more then you do but the Admiral..." that was all that Lee Crane could say before something cashed down on the back of his head. He turned to try to fight the darkness from moving in and could only see Chip's face looking into him. Chip had no reaction as he shoved the Captain out to the front of the sub by the window.

Lee hit the floor hard but by that time the darkness had claimed him completely. Chip turned and walked back to the plotting table and no one else reacted to what had just taken place.

Admiral Nelson looked up sharply from his reading when he felt the forward movement of the sub. He reached over for the mike and clicked it for the Control Room, "Lee, what in the hell are you doing?" he demanded, forgetting to keep his voice lowered.

"Lee's not doing anything." Chip's voice slowly responded over the mike.

"Mr. Morton," the Admiral started, lowering his voice and speaking calmly into the mike, "I need to speak to the Captain."

There was silence on the other end.

"Mr. Morton?" the Admiral asked again. "Chip, are you there?"

"I am." Chip's voice responded again.

Chip stood at the plotting table holding the mike in his hands as the great sub moved slowly through the darken sea.

"Chip?" the Admiral's disembodied voice came through the device in his hand.

Chip looked down at the mike, pressing the key down slowly before responding, "Yes." he answered.

"Chip, where is Captain Crane?"

Chip turned to see the Captain's body sprawled out on the floor in front of the window. "He's here...on the floor."

There was silence for a couple seconds from the mike. Chip had nearly lost interest in the thing when it spoke to him again, "Chip, why is Captain Crane on the floor?"

"Because I killed him." Chip answered, then pulled the device from the wiring and flung it against the body lying in front of the window. He did not like the color of the sea that they were in and did not like the way that he was feeling. He wanted to move the sub away... away from the area that they were in to somewhere nicer...where the sea was warmer. He turned to the crew in the Control Room. No one paid the slightest attention to what had happened between Mr. Morton and their Captain.

Admiral Nelson stared at the mike that he held in his hand. It couldn't be possible what Chip had just told him. Chip's voice was so smooth, with no emotion or any reaction to the words that he had uttered to the Admiral. Nelson looked up to see Melina looking at him from across the lab table. Her beautiful dark eyes glistened with unshed tears as she watched him, saying nothing.

He heard a noise at the door behind him, turning to see Lisa Ryder standing there. She had listened to the conversation and could not believe what she had heard...the voice over the mike wasn't the voice that she had spoken to over the phone since returning from the Greek Islands. That flat voice wasn't the man that she knew as Chip Morton. She was holding a small petri dish in her hand but looking at the Admiral and the mike that he was holding.

"Dr. Ryder?" Nelson asked, lying the mike down on the table.

"We have found this in Johnson's body and in the blood samples..." she answered.

Nelson moved across the room to take the dish from her and carried it over to Melina Gounaris. "You need to see what this is. I'm going to auxiliary power. I'm going to have to stop this sub until we can get this analyzed. We don't need to reach port until we find out what is going on with this madness." He started toward the decontamination chamber that he had put together in haste, "He may not be dead, Melina. I'm not sure of Chip's judgment right this minute so he may be wrong."

"I'm cutting the engine power and we will sink to the floor of the ocean. Chip may have done us a favor by clearing the vents...I had all ready planned for this so it was just a matter of time." He walked over to the counter by the door and picked up a small device that was on the counter, "We cannot reach port. If something happens to me and you do not get this figured out by the time that this red light comes on then you have to move the toggle switch. The toggle switch is radio hooked to one of the missiles and will blow up the missile..." he paused, "it will be quick and no one will be aware." He sat the small device in front of Melina.

"Admiral..." she started to say something.

"Melina, you have no choice. This sub cannot reach port with this madness aboard."

"Many people will die..."

"And how many people will be saved...?" He turned from the two women and entered the decontamination chamber.

Melina reached for the petri dish and pulled it to her as she looked down into it. "It doesn't matter," she said quietly, "it is here all the time. We have all been exposed to whatever is in the bodies and the fluids."

"It looks like algae." Lisa commented. "What can I do to help you?"

Melina looked over to her friend. "Pray first and then watch the red light." she indicated the device in front of her.

Admiral Nelson walked out into the corridor, paying no attention to the one or two crewmen that he encountered. He had to get to the Engine Control Room and knew that it would be easy... no one paid him any attention as he walked down the corridor in the spotless white suit. He came to the stairs and descended a level to the darkened passageway back to the Engine Control Room. It would be simple to disable the engines from that location but he would have to secure the room from anyone entering to try to restart them. As hopeless as it looked the Admiral did not want to destroy the controls... he still had hopes that they would get out of this. He had to consider the crew and the three civilians that were on board now. Granted that Melina Gounaris was an employee of the Institute, she had not signed on as a member of the submarine crew and the other two doctors had come from one of the local hospitals just to help out.

He opened the hatch to the Engine Control Room and entered. Going immediately to work he threw the large switches that killed all power to the turbo generators and listened to the whining sound as the engines realized that they were no longer receiving the power to drive them. The huge sub shuddered and then began to slowly drop toward the ocean floor. Admiral Nelson came out of the Engine Control Room and slowly secured the hatch with a few bursts of the handheld laser that he carried. He needed to keep people from going into the room but not to close it off completely, as they would have to restart everything to get off the ocean floor. He returned to 'B' deck and started towards the lab then stopped. Even though he needed to return to the lab, he wanted to know for himself whether or not Lee Crane was dead. He turned and walked toward the Control Room. None of the men on duty looked up when the Admiral entered or even acknowledged that he was wearing an environmental suit. He walked past the periscope island and saw Lee lying ahead of him on the floor in front of the window. Chip Morton was standing at the plotting table, drawing on the chart and humming to himself.

"How's it going, Chip?" the Admiral asked quietly as he passed by.

Chip didn't look up from what he was doing but nodded at the Admiral, "It's going good, Sir."

Admiral walked over to where Lee Crane was lying on the floor. He knelt down and touched the side of his neck, pleased to find a pulse and warm skin. The Captain had a bump on the back of his head but seemed to be in no distress, so the Admiral decided to leave him laying there for the time being. He stood up and returned to the plotting table just as the sub settled to the bottom of the ocean floor with a sudden jolt. Chip looked up from the plotting table and back behind him to the window. For some unknown reason it did not register to him that the sub had stopped... he turned back to navigation and then resumed his drawing on the charts. Admiral Nelson stepped over to the plotting table and looked at what Chip was doing, the XO was drawing and doodling on the charts.

"What are you doing, Chip?" the Admiral asked.

Chip stood back and admired his work, "Charting our return to Santa Barbara."

"Okay, Chip, let me know when you get there." the Admiral answered. They had no more than 48 hours to get the madness under control before all the systems would start to fail. If that happened there would be nothing more to do that to move the toggle on the device and end it here. He certainly did not want to let it loose on Santa Barbara and beyond.

Nelson started out of the Control Room but stopped to check on Ski. Ski was watching the sonar move around and would try to reach down and catch the line as it moved around. The fact that he could not even touch it did not seem to deter him from trying to catch it. Nelson watched for a minute trying to decide what to do and then decided against anything except returning to the lab.

"It's some sort of algae, but acts like plankton." Lisa announced from her position over the microscope. Melina stepped over to peek into the world below her eyepiece. There was the culprit, swimming around the sample of ocean water. It was Dinoflegellates, but somehow earlier in development than the current crop of Pfiesteria that had started in the warmer climates of the oceans.

"It's Pfiesteria." Melina replied, looking into the microscopes. "Actually a variation of the common one that we see now. This looks earlier and seems to be what is responsible for what is happening."

The door to the lab opened and Admiral Nelson stepped into the chamber. Melina looked up from the microscope and waved him over. "Lisa was able to find it in the blood samples. It is also in the water samples."

"Dr. Randall is creating some massive antibiotics dosages now." Lisa added as she returned from the other lab site. "That is all that we will need to kill it."

Nelson looked into the microscope, "Pfiesteria...who would have thought? Is it a mutation? Somehow this looks a bit more primitive...." He looked to the front of the sub as though he could see the massive window from this point. "My God," he breathed slowly, "It's being released by the vents...there's no telling how old it is."

"Oh, Lee's okay, but will have a headache for a few days." Nelson continued talking as he watched the tiny dinoflagellate move about in the liquid on the slide. " I stopped by SickBay to check on the doctor and he has been out giving all the men injections...they are to the point that they couldn't care about anything."

"But it killed?" Lisa said.

"Yes, and no," the Admiral continued. "The Pfiesteria made the lesions and the lesions caused the deaths...stress in Johnson which caused an heart attack and someone else is infected enough to cause two deaths. I'm not certain if that will correct itself. We might still have a killer on board."

Dr. Ryder then spoke up, "We need to treat everyone immediately, or we will have more victims of this pfeisteria, either from the lesions or from someone else not able to cope with the side effects of the disease. I would recommend that we inject ourselves, and then fan out to get all the crewmembers. In six to eight hours we should have it under control and should continue the doses for about 48 hours to make certain and then run additional blood tests to determine if we have gotten it all."

"How long before we can move the sub?" Nelson asked.

"I would think that the crew will be back to normal within ten hours." She paused for a minute, then continued, "Except for the ones that have been affected by the lesions. If the lesions are severe enough in the brain we could have problems or other deaths from them."

"We have already had two people killed." Nelson reminded her.

"Then you have at least one person that we cannot help...either he will continue to kill until the lesions kill him. They will continue to spread because I don't think he'll wait around to receive the injection."

"Okay. I need you two to find Dr. Jamison and start the injections immediately."

Dr. Randall came in at the end of the conversation and sat down the first 50 vials of the mega-dose antibiotic on the counter. "I think that we need to check this first."

"Doctor," Nelson argued, "we don't have the time to be scientific. Any mistakes we make we can apologize for later. Right now we do have lives to save…I don't see this correcting itself."

"I would recommend that you drop the temperature on the boat to about 50 degrees. It won't harm the men but it will slow down the life cycle of the dinoflegellates, or maybe stop it completely." Melina suggested.

"How much more of this do you need?" Dr. Randall asked.

Nelson looked over the small vials. "I need twice that amount."

"That's no problem. I should have it ready in an hour or so." Randall replied.

In the red glow from the emergency lighting the figure moved slowly down the passageway, moving back into the shadows as the Admiral emerged from the lab with the two women. He watched them as they made their way forward and then he went to the lab door and tried to turn the knob, but it would not budge. Muttering quietly the figure moved away and slowly followed the route that the Admiral and the women had taken.

The trio moved quickly to the Officer's and NCO's cabins and began to give injections to the men in the quarters. The men did not seem to resist the two pretty women moving among them with the needles and giving shots. Lisa Ryder was cool and professional, chatting and smiling with the men as she gave them their shots and then moving on to the next one. Melina was a bit nervous giving shots to the men, not really having done it before, but Lisa had instructed her well and she followed her example of smiling and chatting and the men did not seem to see the ladies as much of a threat. They were well aware that stress and threats caused the outbreaks of violence among the crew.

Once they had finished in the Officer's cabins they descended the stairs to the crew's quarters. Dr. Randall had already gone to SickBay for the second supply of antibiotics that he had left with Dr. Jamison. Jamison was moving around the SickBay, giving the injections to the men there and met the trio in the passageway outside of SickBay. Admiral Nelson indicated that the two women should go ahead into the Control Room to continue their work.

Lisa Ryder entered the Control Room first and saw Chip Morton standing before her. He turned around and stared at her for a minute before reacting to the fact that she was actually on the SEAVIEW. He left the plotting table where he had been doodling over the chart and walked up to her.

"Dr. Ryder, what are you doing here?" he asked her. He had a smile on his face and was acting a bit on the silly side...like he had been drinking, but she decided that it was due to the buildup of toxins from the Pfiesteria in his system.

"Hi, Chip. I have a shot for you." she announced holding up a needle as she sat her tray down on the periscope island.

"Oh, okay." he responded. He did not offer any resistance except to seem a little surprised to see her abroad the submarine. "I've been busy." he stated flatly.

She smiled at him, "So I hear. You will have a couple of days off once we get back to Santa Barbara. Maybe we can get together then."

Melina squeezed by them to go check on the Captain. Morton reached out and grabbed her arm as she passed. Melina stopped and regarded him carefully. "Hello, Chip."

"Did I introduce you to my friend, Dr. Lisa Ryder?" he asked her. "W e met in the Greek islands...it seems that Lee and I meet all the pretty girls on the islands."

"Yes, it does." Melina agreed with him, while carefully removing his hand from her arm. He seemed to realize what he had done then apologized, dropping his hand to his side and returning his attention to Dr. Ryder.

Melina moved on to the front of the sub, where Chief Sharkey was already bending over the Captain. She paused to fill a hypo and injected it into Sharkey's arm before moving down to check on the Captain.

"What was that for?" Sharkey asked, rubbing his arm.

"To keep you from getting sick." Melina answered. She turned the Captain's body over, please to see him stir a bit and them injected his arm with the antibiotic. "Lisa, could you come here for a minute?" she called to the medical doctor behind her.

Lisa stepped over to the Captain with Chip following close behind. She knelt down on the deck and checked his head and eyes. "He seems to be all right. We need to let him rest. Chief, could you get me a couple blankets. There's no reason to move him until we can get him to his cabin, there is no room in Sick Bay."

The Chief returned with the blankets; the doctor placed one under the Captain's head and covered him with the other blanket. She turned to Melina and smiled, "I'll have to tell you a story about Chip and Lee later and how I met Chip. I think you need to stay here for a while anyway."

Chip looked down at the Captain, "Where is Admiral Nelson?"

"He's in the passageway, making sure that we have not missed anyone." Melina answered.

Chip suddenly seemed really somber. "Maybe I should go check on him?" He turned from the Control Room and wandered down the passageway.

Chip Morton walked down the passage way on 'B' deck looking for the Admiral but could not find him anywhere. As he passed stairs leading down to 'C' deck, he thought that he heard someone cry out and quickly moved to the stairs and went down them.

He paused, surprised to see that the red emergency lighting was the only lighting on this level. Everything was telling him to return to the upper levels...he was not feeling comfortable with being down in the eerie lighting. He could feel a tickling at the back of his neck telling him that this was not the place to be, but he had to find the Admiral. Chip could hear voices down the passageway from where he was, and he immediately recognized one as being the Admiral's voice. The other voice sounded familiar but it wasn't quite right so he moved quickly down the passage to see what was going on.

As he rounded the passageway right outside the Engine Control Room, he was surprised to find the Admiral struggling to keep Dr. Jamison away from the door to the Engine Control Room. The doctor turned and saw Chip approaching, "Quickly, stop him he wants to destroy the Engine Controls."

Chip launched himself across the passage to try to force the Admiral away from the door to the Engine Control Room, which was standing partly open. He tried to pin the Admiral's arm behind his back to gain control over him and was surprised when the Admiral cried out and pushed him away and to the other side of the corridor. Chip fell to the floor hard, and started to rise as Dr. Jamison came at him with a knife. "You had to interfere!" he screamed at the fallen man.

Chip lay on the floor watching the doctor advance on him. It seemed like a fog was beginning to clear from his head. He pushed himself out of the way as Jamison struck down with the knife, slicing nothing but air. He could hear the Admiral calling to him, but he was more interested in keeping an eye on Jamison and the knife that he was clutching as he turned to confront Chip again. As Jamison approached a second time Chip kicked out with his foot, knocking the screaming doctor to the floor and leaped upon him, struggling for the knife.

"Don't hurt him! Don't hurt him!" The Admiral was yelling out but Chip wasn't sure who the Admiral meant. He certainly wasn't going to try to hurt anyone if he could help it but he wasn't going to let the doctor get close enough with the knife to hurt him either. Chip continued to struggle for the knife, surprised at the strength that the Doctor had as they rolled on the floor. The Admiral reached over and grabbed the doctor's arm that held the knife. Chip hit him once, opened-handed, across his face, and the Doctor immediately lost consciousness and collapsed on the floor. Chip rolled off the man and lay next to him on the floor, breathing heavily, as the Admiral moved over to kneel beside the doctor.

The Admiral reached across the doctor's prone body to gently slap Chip's cheek. "Chip, are you okay?"

Suddenly the lights blazed back on and Chip reached both hands up to shield his eyes from the blinding light. He turned his head slightly to look at the Admiral and then the figure of the doctor beside him.

"Ohhh!" he groaned, "What happened?"

Admiral Nelson moved again the fair wall and leaned against it as he regarded his Doctor and Executive Officer, "Chip, this has been a voyage into hell this time."

Chip looked about him and struggled to his feet, walking over the help the Admiral up off the deck. "Pardon me for saying this, Sir, but you look like hell."

The Admiral stood against the wall for a few seconds, before he answered his First Officer, "I believe one should always look how one feels." He stepped forward to the doctor, "Come on, Chip, help me get Jamie back upstairs to SickBay. I think that we have found out who our killer is and we won't have any more problems or any additional deaths aboard the SEAVIEW."

"You mean to tell me that the two murders were committed by Dr. Jamison?" Chip asked, helping the stunned doctor to his feet.

"Did I say that, Chip? I don't think that Dr. Jamison could handle the truth if we told him. No, I think we can put all the events of the last few days on the Pfiesteria toxins." Admiral Nelson answered as they struggled back to the stairs.

Chip paused and looked at the Admiral with great understanding. Maybe it was better if they did allow the effects of the past few days to fade away and to be forgotten. No doubt there were plenty of questions and behaviors from the last few days that needed to be forgotten also.

Admiral sat with his guests on the front porch of the submarine as she nosed her way through the ocean on her way back to Santa Barbara. They were drinking coffee and talking about the events of the past couple days.

"Well," the Admiral was saying, "we have sealed off the vents from releasing the spores of Pfiesteria into the water and have tried to clean up our mess associated with it. We have samples that I still want to study and see just what we have actually discovered out here." He was consulting a notebook that lay on the table before him. "The blood tests are looking good. We have three people dead because of these Pfiesteria spores so I would like a research project on-going to see if there is some defense that we can develop to keep it at bay should we encounter it again. I still would like to know why Patterson did not react to the toxins in the Spores at all."

Chip Morton walked up and joined the group, sitting beside Dr. Ryder, "Hello again, Lisa."

Lisa Ryder smiled warmly at the handsome young man beside her and picked up her coffee cup with her right hand and offered him a salute with it. She laid her left hand on his thigh, "You will have to come around and visit, Sailor." she suggested. "I'm leaving for India in three weeks for a six month tour."

"Yeah, I suppose that I will." he smiled back as Lee Crane walked up to the table.

"May I join you?" he asked the group.

"Please do, Lee" the Admiral invited him, noting that Melina was smiling up to him.

Lee turned back to the plotting table, "O'Brien, you have the conn." He sat down in a chair that happened to find its way beside Melina's. "This is one voyage I will certainly be glad to see over."

He noticed Lisa Ryder smiling at him. "So you are Lee Crane."

"Yes," he answered looking at her curiously, "Why? Should I know you?"

"No, Captain, you don't know me but I can certainly tell you about the Greek Islands." she commented.

"Greek islands?" he echoed to her.

"Remember our last trip to Thera?" Chip asked.

Lee nodded and then rose from the table, "I think I'm going to need a cup of coffee before you start that story." He walked over to the coffeepot and poured a cup of coffee and returned to his friends at the table.

"Remember the hotel that we usually stay in on Thera?" Chip reminded Lee, smiling at Lisa. "You remember that the room had a connecting door? Well..."