“The Regulator”

Directed by: Les Sheldon

Written by: David J. Burke

Summary: Desperately in need of a hard to get part to fix the seaQuest’s air conditioning system, Krieg contacts an unconventional salvage operator known as “the Regulator,” an eccentric tough guy and genius who travels with his friend Verne, an orangutan. In return for his service, the Regulator takes whatever he wants from seaQuest, including Darwin, who he believes knows about the spherical center of the universe.

Guest Stars:

John Bedford Lloyd as the Regulator, Leslie Ferina

W. Morgan Sheppard as Professor Martinson

Co-Starring:

none

Featuring:

Andre Dukes as Mars

Michael Desante as Olden

Ava Dupree as Non-Com #1 (Dispatcher)

Tom Provost as Ensign Filie

Tody Bernard as Charles Butch

???? as Mr. Nyeir

The twenty-first century ... Mankind has colonized the last unexplored region on Earth – the ocean. As Captain of the seaQuest and its crew, we are its guardians; for beneath the surface, lies the future.

- 1500 kilometers south of Madagascar, seaQuest DSV, B-deck -

Jonathan Ford: It must be a hundred degrees in here. (looks at computer) Hundred and two.

Katie Hitchcock: Who designed this thing?

Nathan Bridger: I did, Commander. This originally was going to be the sauna.

Katie Hitchcock: Yes, sir. Pull. (with help pulls down pipe, looks inside, pulls out chip) It’s toast. I used the last stock on B-deck two weeks ago. We've been back ordered on the thermal chips for months now, Captain.

Nathan Bridger: It’s a fifty-cent item, and we don’t have it in stock?

Jonathan Ford: Well that’s the bottom line, sir.

Nathan Bridger: How many crewmembers bunk on this deck?

Jonathan Ford: (shrugs) Thirty.

Nathan Bridger: Shut it down. They’ll have to double bunk.

- seaQuest DSV, A-deck, hallway, by the Mag-lev -

Manilow Crocker: (group shuffles out of Mag-lev) Woah, hold it. (pushes his way to the front) Ten hut. Now you were military trained and by golly you’re going to behave that way. I want a column of two’s. Paktan.

Paktan: Sir.

Manilow Crocker: Hernandez, up front.

Hernandez: Yes, sir.

Manilow Crocker: Forward, hut. (all walk off)

- seaQuest DSV, A-deck, hallway, outside Krieg’s room -

Manilow Crocker: Andriadous, Grayson, (knocks on door) You’re in with O’Neill.

Tim O’Neill: (opens door) Hey, guys, make yourself at home.

Manilow Crocker: (crosses hall, knocks on door) Loeb, Crenshaw, step up.

Ben Krieg: (opens door) Uh, Chief, my quarters are exempt from the bunk crisis. As supply officer, I’ve got valuable provisions in here I’m responsible for.

Manilow Crocker: Wouldn’t happen to have a thermal chip in there, would you?

Ben Krieg: Back ordered for months. That’s a gaffe at UEO.

Manilow Crocker: Uh huh. Loeb, Crenshaw.

Ben Krieg: I am personally responsible for these supplies.

Manilow Crocker: Are you suggesting, Ben, that Loeb and Crenshaw here can’t be trusted?

Ben Krieg: I am saying that my quarters are part of the supply system, and as such require security considerations.

Manilow Crocker: You’re absolutely right. Mars, Olden, step forward. These are my two top security men, Ben. You supplies have never been safer. Loeb, Crenshaw, this way. (walks off, Mars and Olden enter room)

Ben Krieg: Great, just great.

- seaQuest DSV, Krieg’s room -

Ben Krieg: (Olden humming, Mars doing push-ups, Krieg sits up in bed) Does it mean anything to you guys that I’m trying to sleep? I mean, if nothing else, you’ve got to recognize the fact that I’m the superior officer in this room.

Mars: You made me lose count, sir.

Ben Krieg: Fine, sorry, return to, uh, whatever you were doing there, sailor. (gets up, digs out book)

- seaQuest DSV, ward room -

Computer: Is the unit required for your equipment currently in supply? If not, have the proper requisition forms encoded and filed with our central processing center. While waiting for a United Earth/Oceans Organization acquisitions representative, ask yourself the following questions...

Nathan Bridger: (knock on door) Come in.

Ben Krieg: Captain, if I could have a minute of your time?

Nathan Bridger: Come in, Lieutenant, sit sown, this concerns you. I’m on hold with UEO acquisitions.

Ben Krieg: (sitting down) Oh, why didn’t you call me?

Nathan Bridger: Easy, easy. A lot of us took in bunkmates last night and a lot of us are tired. I let you sleep.

Ben Krieg: Thanks. Who’s bunking with you?

Nathan Bridger: Lucas.

Ben Krieg: Oh, that’s nice, little father/son thing going on there.

Nathan Bridger: Beats Olden and Mars.

Nyeir: (on screen) Hello.

Nathan Bridger: Hello, my name is Nathan Bridger, I’m Captain of the seaQuest.

Nyeir: (on screen) Mr. Nyeir, UEO Acquisitions and Procurement. What do you need?

Nathan Bridger: Mr. Nyeir, I can’t see your face.

Nyeir: (on screen) This is my face. Now forgive me for not leaving it here; I cannot sit all day like this and I cannot get them to adjust my vid-com. What do you want?

Nathan Bridger: We’ve run out of thermal chips.

Nyeir: (on screen) Unit number?

Ben Krieg: Um, TC154L58.

Nyeir: (on screen) Where are your dashes?

Ben Krieg: (annoyed) TC dash 154 dash L dash 58.

Nyeir: (on screen) Authorization code?

Ben Krieg: UEOS – (Nyeir clears his throat) excuse me, UEO dash SQ dash one.

Nyeir: (on screen) Your order is being processed.

Ben Krieg: This order is two months old. How long do we have to wait?

Nyeir: (on screen) I only confirm orders, not fulfill them.

Ben Krieg: (angrily) No, you don’t do anything –

Nathan Bridger: Wait, wait, wait, we need this immediately.

Nyeir: (on screen) I only confirm orders, I do not fulfill them.

Nathan Bridger: Who fulfills them?

Nyeir: (on screen) Fulfillment.

Nathan Bridger: Can you transfer me please?

Nyeir: (on screen) I don’t transfer. Call back.

Nathan Bridger: I’ve been on hold for half an hour.

Nyeir: (on screen) Procedure.

Nathan Bridger: I’ve got a serious problem here.

Nyeir: (on screen) Everyone I talk to has problems. Call fulfillment.

Nathan Bridger: Wait a minute. Transfer me to your superior please. (screen changes) Are they always this rude?

Ben Krieg: Generally.

Charles Butch: (on screen) This is supervisor Charles Butch. You got a problem, Cap?

Nathan Bridger: Yes, we need a unit that’s essential to our boat’s life support system.

Charles Butch: (on screen) You’re talking air conditioning. I don’t consider that essential.

Nathan Bridger: Some of the sleeping quarters are over a hundred degrees.

Charles Butch: (on screen) The units will be there inside of three weeks. Your guys can’t take the heat, let ‘em sleep on deck.

Nathan Bridger: We’re on a submarine.

Charles Butch: (on screen) Well maybe there’s a lesson in there for you. Ya all have a good day. (screen goes blank)

Nathan Bridger: If I wanted a nuclear warhead I’d have it within an hour. It’s gonna be a rough three weeks.

Ben Krieg: Well, I might be able to remedy that for you, sir.

Nathan Bridger: Really? How?

Ben Krieg: You don’t wanna know.

Nathan Bridger: Lieutenant.

Ben Krieg: Well there are salvage operators I can call.

Nathan Bridger: Which one?

Ben Krieg: I exhausted every possible means before calling this person —

Nathan Bridger: A name Lieutenant, please.

Ben Krieg: The Regulator.

Nathan Bridger: The man’s a thief.

Ben Krieg: There’s no proof.

Nathan Bridger: A thief. Boats disappear, years later he’s selling off their spare parts.

Ben Krieg: He’s good at finding them.

Nathan Bridger: He finds them before they sink. A thief. (leaves, crosses hall, opens door to own cabin, sees Lucas headbanging to hard rock) Lieutenant, you’re right. I don’t wanna know anything about it. (walks off)

Lucas Wolenczak: (exiting Bridger’s room) Well? (Krieg makes OK sign)

- Regulator’s lair -

Regulator: You cheated me.

Guy: We had a deal.

Regulator: I am at the forefront of technology and you bring me the rear end of software. You’re standing in the way of progress.

Guy: It’s research software, it’s all classified. I risked my neck. Take your hands off me.

Regulator: It’s worthless to me.

Guy: It’s exactly what we agreed on.

Regulator: Exactly? What do you know about exactly?

Guy: You still owe me the money.

Regulator: You’ve gotten all you’re going to get.

Guy: There are people above me.

Regulator: Yes, and I’m one of them. (guy screams) You cheated me.

Guy: No.

Regulator: (angrily) You cheated me.

Guy: No.

Regulator: (angrily) You cheated me.

Guy: Nooo. (lands in water)

Regulator: Dive back to your boat you bottom feeder. (guy swims away, vid-link rings) Oh, I’ll get that, Verne. Why do I have to deal with the twenty-first century equivalent of the flat earth society? (puts Verne in chair) Sit there and act tough. (pushes button)

- seaQuest DSV, ward room -

Regulator: (off screen) What do you want?

Ben Krieg: (talking with Lucas, stops, looks at screen) I’m Lieutenant Ben Krieg, United Earth/Oceans Organization, we’re aboard–

Regulator: (off screen) Krieg, you buying, selling, or gone? Speak to me.

Ben Krieg: Buying. TC154L58, thermal chip. We need it immediately.

Regulator: (off screen) Position?

Ben Krieg: (looks at computer in Lucas’s hand) Forty degrees ten minutes east, thirty-one degrees six minutes south.

Regulator: (off screen) Five hundred UEO credits.

Ben Krieg: (surprised) Five hundred!

Regulator: (off screen) Tank of nitro and two hundred pounds of bananas. We done?

Ben Krieg: Five hundred, just like – w-w-w-w-wait, wait. All right, OK, five hundred. But I don’t know if I can get my hands on two hundred pounds of bananas.

Regulator: (off screen) Give me what you’ve got. We done?

Ben Krieg: We’re done.

Regulator: (off screen) Blood.

Ben Krieg: Yeah, yeah I know, blood.

- seaQuest DSV, launch bay -

Dispatcher: Regulator One, engage magnetic guidance.

Ben Krieg: We ready with the nitro?

Dispatcher: Soon as he’s docked.

Ben Krieg: (jumps down to door, pulls out and counts credits) What?

Manilow Crocker: Wound up a little tight there, aren’t you, Ben?

Katie Hitchcock: How many times you gonna count that?

Ben Krieg: This is not a man you want to short change. Do you know this guy’s reputation?

Manilow Crocker: He puts his pants on just like the rest of us Lieutenant.

Ben Krieg: Well you haven’t seen his pants, have you?

Manilow Crocker: (door opens, Regulator steps out) Fuel him up, on the double.

Seaman: Aye, sir.

Ben Krieg: Welcome aboard the – seaQuest, uh, uh, five hundred UEO credits as you– (Regulator takes envelope from Krieg) And, uh, one hundred thirty-eight pounds of bananas; that’s every banana we have on board. Oh, this is Security Chief Crocker.

Regulator: Uh huh.

Ben Krieg: And Lieutenant Commander Hitchcock. (Regulator nods at Hitchcock) This is the Regulator.

Katie Hitchcock: Nice to meet you. (holds out hand)

Regulator: (shakes Hitchcock’s hand) My pleasure, Commander.

Ben Krieg: Yes, well, and the thermal chip?

Regulator: (holds out chip, pulls it back) I’d, uh, I’d like to see your boat.

Manilow Crocker: (gruffly) I’m sorry, partner, we got a lot of highly classified material on board here.

Regulator: And no air conditioning.

Manilow Crocker: And no one available to conduct tours.

Regulator: Do I look like a tourist?

Manilow Crocker: Oh, no, I wouldn’t say that. That’d be an insult to tourism, wouldn’t it?

Regulator: Oh, come on now, Crocker, isn’t there room on this ship for just a little bit of human kindness?

Manilow Crocker: It’s Chief Crocker, (looks Regulator up and down) and you don’t appear to have dressed aboard the good ship Lollipop. Load up his bananas. (Verne runs off) Hey! Hold it right there. (follows Verne)

- seaQuest DSV, hallway -

Manilow Crocker: (chasing Verne) Halt! Do you ever think about keeping that thing on a leash? (into PAL) Security.

Ben Krieg: What are you doing? Bridger knows this guy’s on board, he’ll go nuts.

Manilow Crocker: (sees Verne) There. (points)

Regulator: Verne. (all run after Verne)

Manilow Crocker: You've got some great supply contacts, Ben.

Ben Krieg: How did I know he’d bring his monkey?

Regulator: Verne, Verne, Verne. (comes down stairs with others following, runs into Filie)

Manilow Crocker: Ensign Filie, have you seen anything ... unusual?

Filie: (staring at Regulator) Is that a trick question, Chief?

Manilow Crocker: Never mind, I’m sorry to bother you. Go on about your duties. (Filie walks away) He obviously didn’t come down this corridor or Filie would have seen him. Let’s try down here. (walks off with others, Verne drops down, goes other way)

- seaQuest DSV, sea deck, by the moon pool -

Lucas Wolenczak: (holds up card) Ape.

Darwin: Ape.

Lucas Wolenczak: (holds up card) Boat.

Darwin: Boat.

Lucas Wolenczak: (holds up card) Man.

Darwin: Man.

Lucas Wolenczak: Very good. (holds up card) Dolphin.

Darwin: Darwin.

Lucas Wolenczak: No, dolphin. (waits, no response) I can’t believe we’ve got to reprogram an entire language base.

Kristin Westphalen: Just be patient.

Lucas Wolenczak: He’s teasing me. Darwin, it’s not you, it’s the computer, the heat fried it. We’ve got to establish a language base.

Darwin: No.

Lucas Wolenczak: Yes.

Kristin Westphalen: Man.

Darwin: Man.

Kristin Westphalen: Man, Lucas; Lucas, man. Man.

Darwin: Lucas, man.

Kristin Westphalen: Darwin, dolphin.

Darwin: Darwin, dolphin.

Kristin Westphalen: That’s it.

Darwin: Darwin is dolphin, (Regulator enters) Lucas is man.

Lucas Wolenczak: That’s right. (with Darwin and Westphalen) Darwin is dolphin, Lucas is man.

Kristin Westphalen: (sees Regulator) Turn off the vo-chorder. Excuse me, you shouldn’t be here.

Regulator: That dolphin talked.

Kristin Westphalen: Who are you?

Ben Krieg: He's here to fix the air conditioning.

Lucas Wolenczak: (to self) Very cool.

Kristin Westphalen: Um, what you just saw is a classified experiment. You will respect that and keep it to yourself. (Regulator nods)

Lucas Wolenczak: (comes over) I’m Lucas ... Wolenczak. (holds out hand)

Regulator: (takes Lucas’s hand) So it is, pioneer, the Regulator. You shouldn’t hold creatures against their will.

Manilow Crocker: Look who’s talking.

Lucas Wolenczak: He’s free, he, uh, goes out to feed.

Kristin Westphalen: Lucas.

Regulator: You’re on the edge of the future, Lucas, don’t let these uniforms stand in your way.

Katie Hitchcock: Excuse me, we’ve got some unfinished business to take care of. (leaves with Krieg, Crocker, and Regulator)

Lucas Wolenczak: Absolutely superb.

Kristin Westphalen: (disgusted) Naturally.

- seaQuest DSV, hall outside bridge -

Nathan Bridger: (exits Mag-lev, passes Verne, who enters Mag-lev) Excuse me? (door closes, Bridger pushes button on comlink) Crocker.

- seaQuest DSV, hallway -

Nathan Bridger: (on PAL) There’s a monkey in the Mag-lev.

Manilow Crocker: (into PAL) Port or starboard, sir?

Nathan Bridger: (in hall outside bridge) Starboard.

Manilow Crocker: (into PAL) We’re on our way.

- seaQuest DSV, sea deck, by the moon pool -

Lucas Wolenczak: (Verne exits Mag-lev, walks over to moon pool) Boat.

Darwin: Boat.

Lucas Wolenczak: (holds up card) Lion.

Darwin: Lion. Ape.

Lucas Wolenczak: No, this is a cow.

Darwin: Ape, ape, (Lucas sees Verne) ape, ape, ape. (Lucas falls off chair)

Kristin Westphalen: (into comlink) Security to sea deck.

Security #1: On the double, grab your sticks. (guys run over)

Kristin Westphalen: Lucas, don’t move.

Security #2: Coming.

Security #1: Get around there. Be careful now. (Crocker and group enters)

Regulator: (picks up Verne, holds up voltage disc) Back off.

Manilow Crocker: (calmly) Put down the voltage disc.

Regulator: They leave first. (Crocker shakes head, Bridger enters) Hello, Bridger.

Nathan Bridger: Hello, Leslie. What are you doing on my boat?

Regulator: Air conditioning repair. I’ve, uh, I’ve come to hard times, nobody wants second hand anymore.

Nathan Bridger: You can go back to work. (security leaves) Thermal chip. (takes chip, hands it to Krieg) I thought that was you, Verne. You know, continued association with this character is a bad reflection on you. What else have you got? (Regulator pulls out PAL)

Katie Hitchcock: (sheepishly) I’m sorry, sir. (takes PAL from Bridger’s hand)

Nathan Bridger: Chief, if we’ve settled up with Mr. Ferina, please escort him to his vessel. And make sure that he leaves. So long, Verne. (leaves)

Manilow Crocker: OK, you and your monkey, this way.

Regulator: He is not a monkey, he is an orangutan.

Manilow Crocker: This way.

Darwin: Ape. (all leave)

- seaQuest DSV, launch bay -

Manilow Crocker: (Regulator gets in his ship, doors close, Crocker reaches for gun) Son of a – He stole my weapon. Open the doors, don’t let him go.

Dispatcher: He’s separating now, I can’t stop him.

Manilow Crocker: (to Mars) Get to a speeder as quick as you can. (to Olden) Notify the bridge, tell them we’re in pursuit. Security, give me your weapon. (gets in speeder)

Olden: (into PAL) Security to bridge, Crocker’s in emergency pursuit of civilian vehicle. Will advise.

- deep submergence pick-up -

Regulator: Hey, nice lift, Verne. Wonder what this thing does. (reads gun) Stun safety, that’s a lot of bulk for a stun gun. Must be worth somethin’ to somebody, huh. (beeping) Ooh, we got company buddy, hang on.

- sea speeder -

Manilow Crocker: Go to starboard, cut off his path.

Mars: (in other speeder) He’s pulling away.

Manilow Crocker: (into radio) Leslie, Leslie, turn back.

- deep submergence pick-up -

Manilow Crocker: (on radio) Can you hear me, Leslie?

Regulator: Not any more, Crocker. (Crocker fires) Oh, nice guy.

- sea speeder -

Manilow Crocker: That’s just a warning buster.

Nathan Bridger: (on radio) Crocker, what are you doing?

Manilow Crocker: The Regulator stole my disrupter, sir.

Nathan Bridger: (on radio) Let him go.

Manilow Crocker: But, Cap, I–

Nathan Bridger: (on radio) You’ll burn more fuel than the cost of replacing it. The price of doing business with this man.

Manilow Crocker: Cap, I, I–

Nathan Bridger: (on radio) Chief, come home.

Manilow Crocker: All right, sir. Disengage.

- seaQuest DSV, hallway outside Krieg’s room -

Ben Krieg: (as Mars and Olden leave) Great havin’ you guys, stop by any time, really. Thank you. (to Ford) Where are you going?

Jonathan Ford: You’re coming too. Captain Bridger wants to talk to you.

Ben Krieg: Oh? About what?

- seaQuest DSV, Bridger’s room -

Nathan Bridger: Got your room back, huh?

Lucas Wolenczak: Yeah. How’d you know that guy?

Nathan Bridger: Impressed by him, weren’t you?

Lucas Wolenczak: He's pretty outrageous.

Nathan Bridger: That’s not always a good thing, Lucas.

Lucas Wolenczak: Maybe I should put on a jumpsuit and snap to every time you breathe.

Nathan Bridger: What did you say?

Lucas Wolenczak: I think I said, “Yes, sir.”

Nathan Bridger: I think you better call up the professor. (knock on door, Bridger opens it) I thought you all might want to hear this. (Hitchcock, Crocker, Krieg, and Ford enter, Bridger goes to close door, Westphalen runs up)

Kristin Westphalen: I’m curious too, Nathan.

Nathan Bridger: (lets Westphalen in) Of course, please. (closes door, to Martinson) Biography, Leslie Ferina.

Professor Martinson: Leslie Ferina was born in New York City in 1975.

Nathan Bridger: After college.

Professor Martinson: In 1992 he received a Ph.D. in marine geophysics from the University of Rhode Island.

Lucas Wolenczak: Seventeen years old.

Professor Martinson: Correct, Mr. Wolenczak. He was a leading aquanaut of the nineties.

Nathan Bridger: Do we have stored images?

Professor Martinson: Yes. Leslie Ferina studied experiments conducted at Duke University, where mammals took their first breath directly from liquid, a saline solution saturated with oxygen. Duke developed the hemosponge, an artificial gill that extracts air from water. In 1999 Dr. Ferina was banished by the legitimate science community after trying to surgically adapt a miniature hemosponge to a mammal to advance his theory of spherical evolution. In 2002, Dr. Ferina designed Aqua-Sphere 1, the first undersea colony, commonly known as ‘Trenchtown’ due to its failure to attract colonists. In 2003 his houseboat burned to the waterline. Subsequently, a suicide note was received by the New York Times.

Kristin Westphalen: Not what I’d expected.

Manilow Crocker: Not dead either.

Nathan Bridger: Might as well be. A genius whose every effort failed. And then he fakes a suicide to escape the ridicule of his peers.

Lucas Wolenczak: I can sympathize with that.

Kristin Westphalen: But you knew that he wasn’t dead.

Nathan Bridger: Well I bumped into him about six years ago in a grocery store in Dominica. I was, uh, running away from my own demons at the time so I was a bit more tolerant. He’d developed this, uh, bizarre persona, didn’t have a friend in the world, except for Verne.

Lucas Wolenczak: What’s spherical evolution?

Nathan Bridger: He’s searching for the center of the universe.

Lucas Wolenczak: (happily) That’s spectacular.

Nathan Bridger: (disgusted) Pick your pocket to get it. Spherical evolution – this from one of the most promising scientists of his time.

- deep submergence pick-up -

Regulator: Come on, boy, come on, (clicks tongue) come on, boy, come on. (releases net, catches Darwin) All right, now just hang tight for a couple of minutes. We’re gonna pick up some air and head on home.

- Regulator’s lair, Madagascar Plateau, 130 meters deep -

Regulator: No mind is as advanced as yours. Complex communication cycling faster than I can blink; send and receive information simultaneously, process and respond to it before I can even construct a valid question. And I am in the top one percentile of intellectual development based on any acceptable standard of measurement. (pauses) Something your species probably surpassed forty-five million years ago. But what really matters here and now is that you can talk. Speak to me, Darwin, open my eyes. You see, I have no idea what you are saying. But you speak English. Look, (draws circle) sphere, (draws line) vertical, (draws another line) horizontal, (punches paper with marker) center, center. You know what I’m saying. Verne, get the tub. Don’t deny me, you can help me comprehend. I have fish. (Verne drags tub over to Regulator) You see, you see, you understand. You’re just toying with me, and don’t think I don’t know I deserve it, but I’m only searching for the truth. Tell me, on the scale of evolution, that the truth is beyond my grasp and I can accept that. (Verne throws fish in water)

- seaQuest DSV, sea deck -

Manilow Crocker: (entering with Ortiz and Lucas) Captain, Darwin is, uh, missing.

Nathan Bridger: Since when?

Miguel Ortiz: Twelve hours ago. Second shift let him out to feed.

Lucas Wolenczak: I’ve been calling him all morning.

Kristin Westphalen: Could he have ... encountered a shark?

Miguel Ortiz: I’ve got my WSKRS out searching. We haven’t run into a shark big enough to be a threat. There is a tuna fleet, about a hundred miles north. They say they’re safe-netting, but...

Nathan Bridger: How far have we gone since he was let out to feed?

Miguel Ortiz: Sixty miles.

Nathan Bridger: (thinks) Keep calling him. (shrugs) I don’t know what else to do.

Manilow Crocker: Aye, sir. (leaves with Ortiz)

Lucas Wolenczak: That’s it? You two are just going to keep on working?

Nathan Bridger: Yes, Lucas, that’s it.

Kristin Westphalen: Lucas, I think you might find this interesting.

Lucas Wolenczak: Yes, well, I would rather find Darwin, OK?

Kristin Westphalen: Yes, well listen anyway. Look, a sponge lives on microorganisms in the seawater. A single sponge can pump six hundred gallons a day of water through its pores to extract its daily nutrients. It’s a natural filtration system. Here hold this a minute ... Since the water in the moon pool and also in the corridor tubes are drawn from the sea, we’re considering the possibility of using sponges to provide a secondary filtering system to help keep the water clean, for Darwin.

Lucas Wolenczak: Yes, but since Darwin’s gone maybe I can use this to wash my car, if I ever get a car, (angrily) if I ever get off this whale.

Nathan Bridger: (angrily) That’s enough. Come with me.

Lucas Wolenczak: What?

Nathan Bridger: (into comlink) Bridger.

Tim O’Neill: (on comlink) Yes, sir.

Nathan Bridger: (into comlink) I want Lieutenant Krieg in the ward room with his supply binder, immediately.

Tim O’Neill: (on comlink) Aye, sir.

Nathan Bridger: Come on. (Bridger leaves, Lucas follows)

- seaQuest DSV, ward room -

Nathan Bridger: (knock on door) Come in.

Ben Krieg: (entering) Sir.

Nathan Bridger: I need Leslie’s phone number.

Ben Krieg: Leslie?

Nathan Bridger: The Regulator.

Ben Krieg: Yes, sir.

Lucas Wolenczak: You think he can help us find Darwin?

Nathan Bridger: I think he took Darwin.

Lucas Wolenczak: Took him! No, he wouldn’t do that.

Nathan Bridger: Oh, you’ve known him for two minutes and you’re able to make that judgment?

Lucas Wolenczak: He said it was wrong to keep creatures against their will. You saw how protective he was with Verne.

Ben Krieg: Sir.

Nathan Bridger: It’s the least he owes Verne.

Regulator: (off screen) Speak to me.

Nathan Bridger: Speak to you? I want my dolphin back, Leslie.

Regulator: (sits down in chair on screen) He’s not your dolphin, Bridger. He doesn’t belong to UEO and you have no right to conduct experiments on him. I know that first hand and better than you can imagine. I set him free.

Nathan Bridger: Leslie. (screen goes blank) Lucas, the dolphin information that was in the vo-chorder, was that erased when we blew the chip? Was it?

Lucas Wolenczak: It wasn’t erased, it was scattered. When things got too hot on B-Deck the program became unglued.

Nathan Bridger: So it’s in there somewhere, right?

Lucas Wolenczak: Yes, but it could be in single bytes.

Nathan Bridger: But you’re going to find it for me anyway. (into comlink) Mr. O’Neill.

Tim O’Neill: (on comlink) Yes, sir.

Nathan Bridger: (into comlink) I just made a transmission in the ward room. I want you and Mr. Ortiz to isolate a frequency for me.

Tim O’Neill: (on comlink) Yes, sir. Is there a specific frequency we’re looking for?

Nathan Bridger: (into comlink) Yes, Darwin’s. (leaves)

- seaQuest DSV, bridge -

Regulator: (recording) He’s not your dolphin, Bridger. He doesn’t belong to the UEO and you have no right conducting experiments on him.

Tim O’Neill: There’s not enough information. I can’t match it with Darwin’s.

Nathan Bridger: Can’t match what?

Tim O’Neill: The dolphin.

Nathan Bridger: There’s a dolphin?

Tim O’Neill: It’s faint, but it’s there.

Nathan Bridger: (to Crocker) I think we’d better check out the Regulator’s operation. (goes to leave)