The sun shone down on the plains, and Marie stood up for a moment to stretch her legs. She'd been working on exposing this fossil for over three hours, and her back ached like nothing else. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and glanced down at Kimberly, who hadn't noticed her movement. She was so absorbed in the work... Maybe this wasn't right, bringing Kim on all these digs. After all, she was only eleven. But she seemed to love working out on the plains of Oklahoma more than anything. But I still wish I could tell her that she had a father who cared for her, who loved her, Marie thought. Kim had been an accident; when Marie had been younger and still in school. But then her boyfriend moved less than a month afterwards - left her without even knowing he had a child, and now Marie was on her own, and wondering whether she was raising her child right.

"Mom, what's wrong?" she heard the young, innocent voice of Kim asking her. Coming back to the real world, she looked down.

"Nothing's wrong, Kimmie. Why don't we take a break. It's getting hot." Marie squinted at the afternoon sun, climbing high in the sky. It had to be about twelve-thirty, the time when it was hottest outside. Marie surveyed the small camp. There were a few other people still out digging - she recognised Dr. Ginger Staflier, the team's head paleobotanist, still working with a few others on a skeleton they had found a day or two ago. Other than that, no one else was stupid enough to be out in the afternoon sun, burning themselves into potato chips.

"Sure Mom. You go on in. I'll cover the skeleton." Kimberly said, gathering the tarp they'd flung aside earlier. Marie nodded, and headed toward the trailed she and her daughter shared. As she stepped into the air-condtioned space, she threw her hat onto a table and raided the refridgerator for some cold water. After draining her water bottle, she flopped down on the small couch as Kim opened the door and entered the trailer. She, too, went to the refridgerator, but got out a Pepsi and sat on the floor opposite her mother. Marie smiled. Despite all her worrying, Kimberly appeard to be happy, and that was really all that mattered. Although I wish she had a father who was there for her when I can't be, she thought.

"Mom, tell me about Dad again." Kim asked. Oh God, not this again. It seemed every time Marie had cleared Nate out of her mind, Kimberly would ask to hear about him again. But nonetheless, Marie always told her about the first time she had ever been in love.

"All right. Well, he was very handsome, and I loved him very much. We met in high school, and were very good friends. But he had to move away before you were born because he wanted to be in the military. I wanted to be a palientologist, so we had to go to different schools." Marie explained.

"When will he come back?" Kim asked innocently, not knowing how painful this subject was to her mother.

"I don't know, Kimmie. Soon, maybe." But Marie knew it wasn't true. Nate wasn't coming back. Ever. He had left for good, and now she would have to struggle with the memory for as long as she lived.

* * *

"She has what?!" Marie screeched. She was standing in the middle of the doctor's office, a year later, and didn't - couldn't - believe what she was hearing. "I'm sorry. Now, what did you say?" she asked, a little calmer.

"I'm afraid Kimberly has skin cancer. There's nothing I can do." Dr. Marcus explained, calmly and rationally. This had all started about three months ago when Kim had began showing signs of a bad cough. But after a month and a half, the cough had not gone away, and she was beginning to complain that her stomach hurt a lot. So Marie had taken her to a doctor, who had recommended another doctor, and Dr. Marcus was the third doctor they had been to over a one month period. And now all that went to show that her little girl - the girl whom she had fought so hard to protect - had cancer. The disease that ranked up there with AIDS as one of the most deadly diseases in America.

"But how? How did she get it?" Marie managed to ask. She was just glad Kim wasn't in the room to see her mother break down like she was now.

"Well, I'm not sure, but according to her, you're a palientologist?" Dr. Marcus asked. Marie nodded weakly. "And do you participate in digs?" Marie nodded again. "Well, then I think this may be the result of prolonged exposure to the UV rays she may have experienced on those digs." Marie realized that Kimberly had been outside most of the time, working out there in the sun.

"What do I do now? Sit back and watch her deteriorate?" Marie asked.

"No, but I may have an idea. As you know, there is no cure for cancer, and I don't think therapy would work on this kind of problem. But I do have a friend that works in Hawaii, and she's informed me on this new process they're experimenting with - cryonics. The bottom line is; at the moment of death, or in some cases, before, they freeze the patient in a special pod, which also completely stops the growth of the cells. The patient remains in stasis until a cure is found, after which they thaw out the person and administer the cure." the doctor explained to her.

"Well, seeing as I have no other choce... All right. Tell your friend we're coming to Hawaii. Phone me with the details later." Marie said, and then went to tell Kimberly...

Captain Nathan Bridger sat in his cabin, barely paying attention to the report on the ship's hull he was supposed to be studying. The report mainly showed how well the hull was holding under the stress of deeper water. The seaQuest had been ordered to do some deep-water tests, but Bridger was getting tired of being the main subject of interest to the UEO right now. Any other time he probably wouldn't have minded, but right now he felt that his crew needed a vacation. Seven months is a long time to be cut off from land. Too many crew members were getting more and more careless. Especially Tony Piccolo. The guy had always been laid back, and never liked to work. But now, after such a long time, Piccolo forgot to do things like put on socks, or brush his hair. It was just too much. He decided that as soon as this report was over he'd contact his old friend Admiral Noyce, and see if Noyce could compromise some shore leave. He never had the chance.

His screen beeped, and Bridger hit the keypad that activated it. Admiral Noyce appeared on the screen. Speak of the devil, Bridger thought. "Nathan!" the image on the screen cried. "Good news! UEO command just recieved a call, and they don't believe it's necessary to conduct these tests right now. Some reason I can't tell you; it's classified. But anyway, I talked to the heads and they agreed to give you guys some shore leave." Bridger's face brightened.

"I have to admit, Bill, you do get your way when you want to. Thanks. And I'm sure the crew will thank you too." the image smiled.

"So, where you gonna go, pal? How about California?" Captain Bridger shook his head.

"No, I figure I'll ask the crew; see where they want to go. It's their shore leave too, you know." Noyce shrugged.

"Whatever you want. You've got three weeks all to yourself. Don't waste it all on the boat. Try to get out, Nathan." the image touched a keypad, and the picture of Noyce was replaced with the UEO transmissions logo. Three weeks was a long time, considering how short most of the vacations they got were. Sometimes having Noyce on his side was an advantage. The man was annoying, true, but what was life without a challenge or two? Well, he'd better go tell the crew the good news. Bridger got up from his desk and exited the room. He went down the hall and to the Bridge.

The Bridge was almost always crowded, but today it was unusually calm. These tests were tedious, and most of the science, and even the military, crew had nothing to do. Commander Johnathan Ford, his exec., looked up from the WSKR console he was studying with Ortiz and came over. The Cuban nodded, as if showing that he knew Ford had left, but not really caring.

"Captain, we're ready to start the next test, with your approval." Commander Ford reported. Bridger waved the statement away.

"That won't be necessary, Mr. Ford. We've just been granted three weeks of shore leave by our good friend, Admiral Noyce." He said, now addressing the rest of the crew. He was answered with mild clapping and whistling. And I use the term 'friend' loosely, he thought to himself. He noticed Ford's face brighten.

"Sir, if I may ask, my family is having a reunion next week, and I'm sure they'd be pretty happy if I could attend. I thought I wouldn't be able to go, what with these tests, but now -"

"Go on, Commander. And have a good time. Just be back in three weeks." Bridger said. Ford nodded, and started off the Bridge.

"Oh, and thank you, sir." he said, stopping and turning around for a moment. The captain nodded, and Ford continued off the Bridge and down the hall. Bridger smiled. Ford was a good man, and deserved a vacation. As did the rest of the crew. Bridger went over to Lt. Brody, the boat's weapons and tactical officer. He was leaning over the systems check console, typing in the commands to turn off the perimiter stations they'd planted on the hull to help with the data compiling.

"So, where should we go?" he asked him. He looked up, but didn't have the chance to answer.

"Hawaii! Let's go to Hawaii!" Seaman Tony Piccolo shouted from his position by Darwin's tank. "What?" he asked, recieving the stares of most of the Bridge crew. "I've been there before; neat place." The captain nodded.

"Well, does anyone object to Hawaii?" he asked. Hawaii did seem to have a sort of appeal to him...

"I don't care, as long as I can get out into the open for a while." Communications Officer Tim O'Neill said, looking around. Bridger understood - O'Neill was claustrophobic, and being on a sub for too long tended to make him nervous and jumpy. The captain shrugged, and, as no one else had any objections, he turned to the helm.

"Helm, take her to Hawaii." Ensign Henderson laid in coordinates.

"Yes sir. Hawaii, here we come." she said, smiling.

"Hope they've evacuated the islands before we get there." Bridger put in, looking at Tony. He sat in his command chair and smiled, watching the crew members talking exitedly among themselves. "Oh, and O'Neill, make sure everyone is notified of the vacation." O'Neill nodded. He sent out the message to all of the seaQuest's stations. Lucas Wolenczak, the Computer Analyst, walked on the Bridge, looking rather tired and irratable. He went straight to Bridger.

"Captain, what's going on? Did you get our vacation yet?" he asked, sounding like he had better hear a yes to the last question. The kid looked like he was ready to collapse in the middle of the Bridge, and fall asleep.

"Well, we're going to Hawaii." he said. The boy's face lit up, and he went to his station and sat down next to Ortiz with more energy than he'd had when he came on the Bridge.

* * *

This is so cool, Lucas thought as he examined the ruins he had found near the base of Oahu. Maybe this is that lab that blew up in 1998. What else could it be, except for a sub, but subs don't look like this. No, he decided. It must be the lab. What had they been working on, anyway? Cryonics? Now he saw a clearing in the debris. He saw a bunch of seaweed, all clumped together, on a rock. But as he went closer, he saw this wasn't a rock. It was a case. He pulled the seaweed off.

It was a rusty gray pod, with clamps on the side. There was witing on it, but it was hard to make out. All he could see was the word "AUSTIN" printed across what seemed to be the top. And even then he wasn't sure if that was the word. The letters were very hard to make out, especially in this light. He wished he had brought his flashlight. He tried to lift it, and it was amazingly light. Well, not that light, but at least lighter than it looked. He decided to bring it back to the boat.

He lugged it upward, and, once he was dry, dragged it to Medbay. Dr. Smith looked up from the computer display she was studying. Lucas was surprised she was here; almost everyone else was gone. Only a few people were still on board. Most had made like Seaman Piccolo and headed for the island. And the girls. He would have, except he had some things to finish up, and then he'd wanted to go diving for a while. Now he was glad he did.

"Lucas, what are you doing here? And what is that?" Dr. Smith asked. She motioned to the lump of metal he was dragging behind him.

"I don't know. I found it in some wreckage on the bottom. It looks really old. I was thinking maybe it's from that lab that blew up a long time ago. Other than that, have no idea what it might be. I thought maybe you would know." He handed it to the doctor.

"Hmmm, let me see." She put it on one of the beds, and examined the outside. "Austin." she read.

"I wonder what that means?" Lucas asked.

"Maybe it's from Austin, Texas." she suggested. "I don't know what else it could mean." "Unless it's someone's name. But who would name a kid Austin?" Lucas asked, slightly wrinkling his nose at the name." Should we open it?" he wondered out loud. Dr. Smith thought a moment. Then she nodded.

"Yes, I don't see why we shouldn't." she said, and fingered the clamps. Then she grasped one, and twisted. Steam shot out. Then she twisted the other, with the same reaction. After that was over, and the steam had cleared from the room, she tested the lid. It came open with the groan of rusty hinges. Still more steam. She fanned it away, and looked into the capsule. For a moment, Lucas couldn't see anything. Then Lucas saw a very thin, very pale young girl. Her hands were clasped around her legs, which had been brought up to her chest, almost as it she had been kneeling, or stretching.

She had dark brown hair, which was long and pulled into a ponytail on top of her head. She had on a grey bodysuit with a pink logo for some Hawaiian medical program stitched into the shoulder. She was wearing a hospital bracelet that had the word AUSTIN printed on it.

"That name again." Lucas observed. "This is way too cool." Dr. Smith looked at him, confused at his reaction. Lucas shrugged her mild amusement off. "I guess the Austin doesn't mean Texas. It probably is her name. Poor kid." he sympathised.

"I've already figured that out, Lucas." Dr. Smith informed him. "And maybe it's her last name. At least, that's the way doctors label things, so it probably is. She appears to be frozen."

"Why?" Lucas asked, like a two year old that had just begun to comprehend the world around him.

"People in the late twentieth century used cryonics to freeze people that had then fatal diseases, in hopes that there would be a cure in the future. Now, if we could figure out what she has, we could possibly cure her. Of course, there may not be a cure yet." the doctor explained to him.

"Wouldn't she be, well, awake then? Like, alive?" he asked. She began to look as if she were a teacher, and he was her student, and she was trying to teach him something simple that he didn't understand.

"Of course, Lucas. That was the whole point of cryonics. Although the future shock might be a little too much for her. I'll have to do some tests, though, to find out what she has, and if there's a cure. If there is, I'll have to ask Captain Bridger if I can treat her. Then; then I'm not sure what I'll do. I'm thinking maybe I'll put her in an incubator and thaw her out."

"An incubator?" Lucas asked her, slightly surprised.

"Well, what else am I supposed to do? Put lots of blankets on her and hope for the best?" she retorted.

"I was thinking more along the lines of a heat lamp." he informed Dr. Smith matter of factly.

"At least you don't want me to put her in a microwave." she muttered.

"Tony would." Lucas said.

Dr. Smith laughed. "You are hopeless, Lucas. You know that? Now, go sit over there while I conduct my tests." Lucas nodded, and went over to a corner and sat down, thinking.

* * *

"So, what's wrong with her?" Lucas asked after about fifteen minutes of Dr. Smith's testing on the girl. "Do we have a cure yet?"

"From what I've observed so far it appears that she had rather severe form of skin cancer." she informed him.

"Skin cancer's severe?!" Lucas was shocked. "But we can treat that. You can't even die from it, unless you neglect the problem for over two years. And we have tests you have to go in for every six months for any kind of cancer." Dr. Smith looked down at the girl, whom she'd moved to a bed, which was now surrounded with medical equiptment.

"Apparently there was no cure when she had it. I'm going to need a while to work on her, though. It may take anywhere from fifteen to forty-five minutes. And even then, I don't know if I can save her. It may be too late already. But first, I've got to ask Captain Bridger for permission to do any of this. Come on." she said, motioning to her private office over to the side. "She should be fine for a minute or two." They went into her office, and Dr. Smith called Captain Bridger's hotel room. He had decided to get out into the sun for a few days, so he was staying at a hotel on Oauhu. I really have to find a way to get off the boat and meet some girls, Lucas thought. "I hope he's in." the Doctor said, as it rung a second time.

After the third ring, the screen jumped to life, revealing a partially wet Captain Bridger, complete with a towel around his neck and a soaked shirt that was sticking to him. "What is it?" he asked.

"Oh, did I get you out of the shower?" Dr. Smith asked. He shook his head, then stopped before he short-circuted the equipment with the water he was shaking out of his hair.

"No, I just got back from the pool. What do you need?" he asked.

"Well, I found this pod on the base of Oahu and it had this girl in it who was frozen and has skin cancer and Dr. Smith wants to know if she can revive this girl and treat her." Lucas said, and then stopped to take a breath before he passed out.

"Whoa, slow down. So you found that lab?" Captain Bridger asked.

"Yes, we believe that's where she's from. How did you know about it?" Dr. Smith asked.

"Oh, I just picked it up somewhere. It blew up in 1998 or something, didn't it?" Captain Bridger asked, then kept on talking as if he really hadn't expected an answer. "Well, I suppose you could treat her. How long would it take?"

"About forty-five minutes or so, and another hour or two to thaw her out." Dr. Smith said, almost without hesitaion. Bridger nodded.

"Fine. Go ahead, Doctor. Just don't let her wander around the boat until I get there. I've got some stuff to do here yet, but I should be back in less than five hours." he said. Some of the water from his towel dripped onto the equiptment, and the image became distorted. "I'd better go before I blow the whole hotel up. Heaven knows how long it would take to pay that off with a military salary. Well, go to it!" he said, and the screen went blank.

"Well, that settles it. I'll get right to her. Dr. Smith announced.

"Can I help?" Lucas wanted to know.

"No, you can't. I'd never get anything done." she said. "Now, go find something to do. Please."

Lucas nodded, then left Medbay in search of something to do. The only person/thing he could think of to do anything with besides anyone busy at the moment was Darwin. He went over to the tank, and called for the dolphin. Darwin swam up to the surface.

"Hi, Darwin." Lucas said, watching the dolphin swim small circles in the pool.

"Hello Lucas." The computerized voice, which served as Darwin's, responded. "Lucas play with Darwin?" it asked. Lucas shrugged.

"Sure, buddy. How about 'Darwin Fetch the Ball Lucas Throw'?" He threw a toy into the tank. "There. Sow me what you've got." he told the dolphin, then set down the hand-held computer used to translate the dolphin's sounds and watched Darwin dart after the ball and come back to Lucas. They repeated this for over an hour. Lucas was beginning to get bored, and his arm hurt, but Darwin seemed overly amused with the game. "Look, Darwin, I'm sorry but I don't feel like playing this anymore. My arm hurts. We've been at it for almost an hour and a half. Why don't you amuse yourself for a while? I want to go see how Dr. Smith's coming along, okay?" he asked.

"What Doctor coming along with? She bring ball?" Darwin asked.

"No, she's doing something you wouldn't get." Lucas said.

"Darwin want to know. Lucas tell Darwin. Darwin get ball." the computer translated.

"No Darwin, not that kind of get. Like understand. Well, I found this frozen girl and the doctor's trying to cure her disease and then thaw her out." Lucas gave in. There was a pause. "Lucas right. Darwin no get. Darwin only get ball." Lucas laughed, and then threw the ball one more time, and then left the room. He could hear Darwin splashing behind his retreating back. He decided to meander around for a bit, looking bored out of his mind. Maybe someone would sympathize. He wandered around the boat for at least thirty minutes, and then headed back to Medbay. Dr. Smith was leaning over the girl's bed bed, doing something. He went over and tapped her on the back.

"How's it coming?" he asked. She turned around and smiled.

"She should wake up in a few minutes." she informed him. Lucas nodded, and went over to the pod, which was leaning against the corner. He looked at it, as if it could tell him who this girl was, and when she was from. "Hey, Lucas! I think she's waking up!" Dr. Smith called. Lucas ran over to the bed, and, sure enough, the girl was moving. She rubbed her eyes, and then opened them.

* * *

Kimberly rubbed her eyes, and then opened them. She could see a woman standing over her. "Just lie down for a while yet." the woman instructed.

"Who are you?" she asked. "And where am I?"

"This is way too cool." a boy looking about sixteen said.

"Nice to meet you, too." Kim said, still looking around.

Well, you're on the seaQuest DSV, and this is Medbay. I'm Dr. Wendy Smith, and this is Lucas Wolenczak." the woman said.

"Hi. I'm Kimberly Austin." Lucas seemed to exhale, as if he'd been holding his breath. "And what is this seaQuest thing?" Kimberly asked.

"Well, to put it bluntly, seaQuest is a boat. Well, more like a submarine, but much more advanced. I'm the head of the Science Team, but we do have military people on board. Actually, it's three-fourths science, one-fourth military." Dr. Smith explained.

"Oh. That's nice." was all she could say. "What year is this? Assuming this is the future."

"That depends on your perception of the 'future.' Which, according to our data, it should be. This is the year 2018."

"Whoa, cool! This is so weird. I can't believe this." Kimberly said, sitting up. Dr. Smith supported her.

"Be careful, you may still be a little weak. When were you put in stasis?" Dr. Smith asked.

"1994." Kimberly said.

"That's over -" Westpahlen began

"Over twenty years." Lucas finished.

"Twenty-four, to be exact." Kimberly broke in. She glanced at all the medical equiptment around her. "I take it you have a cure for cancer?"

"Yeah. What was it like back then?" Lucas asked. "I have some old stuff from the 90's. Maybe you could explain some of it to me sometime?" Kimberly smiled.

"Sure. If this is a boat, then that would mean you had a captain or something, wouldn't it?" she asked.

"Yes, and he's coming as soon as possible." Wendy assured her. "Until then, you are not to leave Medbay. So I suggest you get some sleep."

"How can anyone sleep?" Kimberly asked, but she lay back down, anyway. She yawned, and closed her eyes for a minute...

* * *

Captain Bridger walked into Medbay, now thouroghly dry. It was about four hours later than when Dr. Smith had called him about this girl. The concept was interesting; this girl had been in stasis for who knew how many years. The historians would certainly like that. But what would this girl do, without a home or family? He saw Dr. Smith over by a bed, and Lucas was right beside her. He went up to them, and looked at the bed. A girl, about twelve or so was lying on the bed, asleep. Her brown hair was in a ponytail, and she had on some kind of bodysuit. She looked very pale, and very thin.

"Hi, Captain." Lucas said, looking up. "Her name's Kimberly. Kimberly Austin."

"Thank you, Lucas. Do you know when she was put in stasis?" he asked.

"Yeah - 1994. Twenty-four years ago." Lucas replied.

"How about her personal life?" Bridger joked.

"Well, she's - hey!" Lucas said, and blushed. Captain Bridger laughed, and turned to the doctor.

"How's she doing?" he asked.

"She's fine for now. She's lost a little blood, but it's nothing serious. I've given her a complete physical, and everything seems to be fine... But I wonder what caused her form of cancer. It's not likely for children to get skin cancer, they're usually made to wear sun lotion or something. How could she have possibly gotten it?" Smith wondered out loud. Bridger shrugged. With kids, who knew?

---------------------------------Timeline--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1976 - Nathan Hale Bridger is born.

1977 - Kerri Ann Austin is born.

1990 - Kerri and Nathan (Nate) meet at band camp.

1992 - Kerri dies and is cryogenically frozen (after she is dead).

1998 - Hawaii Cryogenics Lab blows up off the coast of Oahu.

2018 - seaQuest visits Hawaii for vacation, Lucas finds Kerri's pod, Kerri is revived.

2161 - The United Federation of Planets is founded (ha ha - gotcha!).

--------------------------------Moana Keiki----------------------------------------------------------------------------