ALONE

The ocean swelled up and down, the rhythmic motion causing a quiet lapping sound throughout the night. Tiny wavepeaks folded over themselves as they battled the gentle breeze. Moonbeams danced across each wavelet, for the twin moons did not care what events had transpired. Their destinies were intertwined with each other, the planet, and a far off star that was called a "sun" to the few humans on the world below.

Drifting through the darkness was one tiny, lonely raft. Its two occupants leaned heavily against each other, one half-asleep, the other staring numbly into the darkness. Truly, they were all alone.

The boy drummed his fingers against the side, not knowing what to do. How would he ever get back? In the space of one short day, he had seen his life turn upside down. Transported halfway across the universe in who knew what type of alien spacecraft, being literally dumped into the middle of a hostile war between two species who had no connection whatsoever to the human race.

For that was where the boy was from, a small, blue-green orb called Earth. His home, a place he ached for inside. He wished for nothing more than to wake up and discover that all this had been some terrible nightmare, but deep in his heart, he knew it was real. Horrifyingly real.

"They can't all be dead," he repeated. "They can't be." He said these words over and over, trying to reassure himself that it was true. Night had fallen fast after his escape, watching the tragic events unfold deep beneath the surface of the ocean. The blackness was deep and dark, and while perhaps every second counted, he could not travel safely down there now.

Not while the danger still lurked. They hadn't realised the dangers, and his friends had paid for that mistake with their lives. And as the last human on this forsaken planet, it was his duty to carry the story of the others back to Earth. Someday.

"Don't let them take what you believe..." the ghostly words echoed through his mind. "What you believe..." The last words from the man whom he had considered almost a father would not leave the boy's mind.

"I won't let you down," the boy vowed into the night. "I *will* find you. And somehow, someday, we'll return home." He didn't know if this would ever be possible, but he had to keep the belief alive. The only spaceship capable of travelling such immense distances such as their journey back to Earth had been destroyed along with his friends.

So he sat in the small raft, the weight of almost the universe on his shoulders. He was still young, but had aged tremendously in a few short hours. Nothing could ever change that fact.

The wind blew, the waves rolled, and he stared, his haunted blue eyes lost in the wilderness of darkness while the beasts below slumbered. For now.

Dawn finally broke, and Lucas Wolenczak had still not slept. He felt Dagwood move against him, the genetically-engineered person slowly waking from his troubled sleep.

Though physically older than Lucas, Dagwood looked to Lucas for guidance and leadership. Dagwood was still coming to terms with his own humanity, and gradually learning about himself along the way. Still, he was emotionally as a child, and Lucas knew he had to be strong for the both of them.

A dolphin leapt up near the side of the raft, and Lucas smiled through his pain. Darwin, the third survivor from the doomed seaQuest. Lucas desparetly wished for the computer translator he had helped build, but for now, boy and dolphin were limited to a form of communication as primitive as the first contact between the two species.