***
Chapter three
***
Harper walked quickly into Hydroponics looking for Trance. "Trance, you gotta help me do somethin' about Tyr."
"Do something about what, Harper?" Trance asked, smiling knowingly from where she was repotting one of her plants.
"Tyr. He won't even look at me anymore," Harper said as he sat down on one of the benches.
"Oooh." Trance groaned sympathetically before she walked over to sit down next to him. "Did something happen between you two?"
Harper looked over at Trance suspiciously for a moment, but then he sighed and hung his head. "Yeah."
"Tell me about it," Trance said, brushing her hands clean on her slacks.
"He kissed me," Harper whispered, head still down.
Smiling, Trance leaned over so she could see Harper's
face. "And that's bad?"
Harper's head jerked up. "No!" he sputtered. Seeing the smile on her face, he sighed and scrubbed his face. "It was great. It was greater than great, and that's the problem."
Trance frowned slightly and waited for Harper to say more, and when he just looked away again, she closed her eyes briefly in frustration. "Tyr's avoiding you because..." she prompted.
"I think he liked it." He started smiling, eyes distant, and added, "I know he liked it as much as I did."
Trance smiled again and nodded. "So what's the problem?"
Harper blinked at Trance, confused. "He's avoiding me like I'm gonna contaminate him or something," he said. "He's got it in his thick genetically, improved skull that this will all go away if he just pretends that it never happened."
"Oh." Trance's tail started flicking agitatedly behind her. Looking at the Acthla tree in the centre of the Hydroponics garden, she said, "Have you tried breaking into his room and locking yourselves inside?"
***
Beka looked up from where she was lounging in the pilot's chair as Dylan walked onto the command deck and smiled. "They're still locked in there, I take it."
"Harper's somehow managed to completely reprogram the door and rigged up some sort of override that prevents Rommie from revoking privacy mode," Dylan said with a sigh of frustration.
Beka's grin grew wider. "Go, Harper."
"Did you know about this?" Dylan demanded, scowling.
"So what if I did?" Beka said as she jumped out of the chair, her smile dropping. "You've seen the way Tyr's been acting around Harper lately, and don't tell me you don't know what happened between them."
Dylan briefly closed his eyes in frustration and sighed. "They weren't exactly subtle, Beka, but that's not the point."
She crossed her arms as she stared at Dylan aggressively. "And what is the point?"
"This is my ship," Dylan started, getting angry again.
"Aren't we this ship's crew? I don't see you getting all apologetic to me when you go off in the Maru and get MY ship all banged up," Beka spat back.
"This isn't about the Maru," he said, taking a deep, calming breath. "This is about Harper locking me out of part of my own ship."
Beka's eyes flared angrily. "What, the Maru doesn't mean anything to you? If you take it out tomorrow and get it turned into scrap metal, then it's a case of, 'oh, well, it doesn't matter if that rusting bucket of bolts gets destroyed.' Well, fuck you!" she spat. "I was born on that rusting bucket of bolts, and I don't have to be here, and neither does MY crew."
As Beka started to storm off, Dylan said, "Beka, wait." She stopped halfway to the door, and Dylan wiped his face as he desperately searched for the right words to say to calm her down. "The Maru isn't a rusting bucket of bolts to me, and the Maru and its crew are a vital part of the Andromeda now," he said apologetically as he came up behind Beka.
"Is that you apologising for getting my ship shot up all those times?" Beka questioned, turning to face him.
"This is me apologising for getting your ship shot up all those times," Dylan agreed.
Beka cautiously stared at Dylan's face, looking for any deception. "All right then, I accept your apology," she said reluctantly.
"Thank you."
***
As the door shut behind, him Tyr frowned at the sight of a nervous Harper sitting on his couch, linked to a wall console by a cord. "How did you get in here?"
"I broke in. We need to talk," Harper said, unplugging himself from the console.
"I don't feel like talking. Get out." Tyr calmly began preparing his evening meal.
Harper gave a nervous laugh. "I can't."
"What do you mean, you can't?" Tyr frowned and slowly lifted his head to look at Harper.
"I sorta jammed the door shut," Harper admitted with a shrug.
"Unjam it and get out. Now."
Nervously scratching the back of his neck, Harper gave Tyr a small smile. "I can't. I've set it up so I'm locked out of the ship's systems, and no matter how much you threaten me, there's nothing I can do to open that door."
"Ship," Tyr barked as he slammed the knife he was holding down in frustration. Nothing happened. "Ship, respond." Turning a murderous glare on Harper when again there was no response, he waited for an explanation.
"Err, I sorta set up a permanent privacy mode in your rooms. So we could talk without being interrupted." Harper said as he moved further down the couch away from Tyr and his knives.
Bowing his head in frustration Tyr breathed deeply several times. "What do you want to talk about, then?"
Harper blinked in shock. "That's it? No growling of threats of slow dismemberment and painful death?"
"Would it change anything?"
"Um, no. Not really."
"So start talking," Tyr commanded, leaning against a small bench with both hands.
"Oh." Harper was still off guard about how easily this was going. "Are you avoiding me because of what we did on the Maru?"
"Yes."
"Because of the kiss, or because of the way you were groping my ass during the kiss?"
"Yes."
Frowning, Harper tilted his head to the side slightly. "Is that a yes because of the kiss, or a yes because of your groping me?"
"Yes."
"What are you saying yes to?" Harper asked confused.
"Yes to both." Tyr shifted so he was standing behind the bench with arms crossed.
"Right." Harper started nibbling on his upper lip, thinking about what to ask next. "Are you feeling guilty about it? Because it doesn't sound like denial."
"No."
"No you're not in denial, or no you're not feeling guilty about kissing and groping me?"
"No to both."
"Is this all about that Nietzchean 'sex is only for reproduction' thing?"
"Yes."
"You do know that's a huge pile of crap that no one in the known worlds believes, don't you?"
"Not to me."
Harper moved forward to the edge of the couch. "That's not what the old guy said."
Tyr narrowed his eyes at the mention of his older self but otherwise remained where he was as Harper stood up and slowly walked towards him.
"The old guy said that you've always been attracted to me, but you were so caught up in your duty to rebuild your pride that you never let yourself think about it."
"True," Tyr said defensively, maintaining eye contact with Harper.
Harper smiled. "He also said his greatest regret was never realising what a pile of steaming shit that was until it was too late to do anything about it."
"I don't care what that old fool has to say on the subject," Tyr said angrily.
Harper's smile grew wider as he leaned over the bench into Tyr's space. "Really?"
Not prepared to back down, Tyr placed both hands on the counter and leaned towards Harper. "Really."
"Then it won't matter if I do this..." Harper said as he softly brushed his lips across Tyr's.
Tyr sucked in a breath at the sensation before he moved with lightning speed to grab Harper's head and pull him halfway across the bench to plunder that delicious mouth again.
***
Old Tyr walked nervously into the hydroponics garden and called out, "Trance. I need to talk to you."
Emerging from behind a trellis covered in thick vines, Trance smiled. "I'm here Tyr, what's bothering you?"
"The future."
***
Avatar Rommie looked over at where Screen Rommie and Holographic Rommie were waiting for her in the Andromeda's computer core. "What?" she asked, taking note of their severe expressions.
Screen Rommie gestured, and a small square appeared next to her, showing Trance and old Tyr talking in the hydroponics garden. "They're talking about the future again."
"Dylan ordered me not to monitor these situations, especially when privacy mode is requested," Avatar Rommie said angrily, crossing her arms to confront her other two selves.
"I know, but they're discussing my engineer," Holographic Rommie said, pointing at the square floating beside Screen Rommie.
Avatar Rommie frowned. "It shouldn't matter, any possible future they're discussing is only hypothetical."
"Oh, really?" Screen Rommie crossed her own arms, suddenly angry. "If you would partition off your schoolgirl fantasies about Dylan long enough to pay attention, you'd realise Tyr just admitted that he stood by and let my engineer die."
With narrowed eyes, Avatar Rommie spat back, "I no more have a 'schoolgirl' crush on my Captain than you have delusions of motherhood for my engineer!"
Holographic Rommie rolled her eyes in exasperation at her overemotional other selves. "Do I have to institute a full systems scan of both your emotional algorithms, or can you both compartmentalise enough to act rationally?" When both Rommies glared at her, Holographic Rommie sighed. "My emotional ties to both my Captain and my engineer are not what I should be debating. Tyr is saying that Trance knows what's going to happen before it happens."
Screen Rommie turned back to the floating square beside her with a raised eyebrow. "Trance isn't denying it. She's prevaricating."
"That's different. I'm still receiving no data from the medical nanobots I injected into her months ago," Avatar Rommie said, equally curious.
Holographic Rommie exchanged a look with her two other selves. "Further observation is definitely called for."
"Unquestioningly, but do I tell Dylan what I've learned?" Screen Rommie asked as the square showed old Tyr getting up and walking out of Hydroponics.
"Absolutely. He is my Captain." Avatar Rommie waved her hand, making the square floating near Screen Rommie disappear.
All three Rommies nodded at each other, smiled, and one by one disappeared from that part of the computer core.
***
Seeing Beka come into the Mess with a tired expression on her face, Rev moved to get her a cup of her favourite beverage and put it on the table in front of her. "I take it you successfully distracted our Captain?"
Beka gave Rev a smile. "Yeah, but I don't know how often I can play the 'over-sensitive ship captain' card before Dylan catches on."
Rev sat down across from her. "Trance said that they just need some time to themselves to work everything out."
"Uh huh. Well, let's just hope that Trance isn't having an off day, because I'm not going through this everytime those two have a lovers' tiff."
"I'm sure that won't be necessary," Rev said with quiet confidence.
Beka smiled around her cup. "Although I did get Dylan to apologise to me about getting the Maru shot up."