Harper groaned as Tyr laid him back on the med bed. "I feel rotten."
Tyr held him still while Beka pulled up the covers and Trance reattached the monitors.
"Tyr? I thought you were going to the party?"
Harper was swinging madly between any number of mental states and there was nothing any of them could do for now but work with whatever stage the engineer provided. The toxin worked of the brain like alcohol while destroying the cells and pathways. Their only saving grace was that the Darsians had tailored this batch specifically for a target and Harper wasn't it.
"I am. I just wanted to check on you."
"I'm cool." Harper gave a cocky grin, albeit a diminished one and moved into Tyr's gentle hold. "Actually, I'm hot." He tried to toss off the covers.
"Tyr held on as Harper revolted against his confines. "Be still."
"Harper, please ..." Beka tried to calm him.
"Heah, babe," Harper leered. "No need to beg."
Tyr wondered for a moment if Harper had earned another slap but Beka pressed out a smile. "You are my friend, I'll ignore ..."
"Friend!" Harper laughed then choked on the sobs that followed.
Tyr watched Trance's face, she was overwhelmed. She couldn't control Harper and work on the serum at the same time. "Lock him in quarantine." He ordered.
"I was hoping that wouldn't be ..."
"No! Don't lock me up!" Harper panicked and grabbed Tyr's arm. "I won't do it again, I swear. Please. What did I do, I can fix it. I can fix things."
Tyr softened his hold and Harper surged past him, making a run for the doors. "Damn it boy!"
Andromeda closed and locked the doors and Harper hit at them. "NO!"
Tyr caught him but Harper fought as if his life depended on it. Perhaps, in his mind, it did. He kicked and scratched, punched and bit as Tyr tried not to hurt him. "Clear everything out of quarantine!" Tyr ordered.
"It's ready." Trance rushed. "But ... he'll go crazy in there."
Tyr grabbed Harper tight, ignoring his cry of pain, and carried him into isolation room. "Seal the doors!" He ordered. "Ship! Randomize the code and inform Hunt I am no longer available. Station more droids at the security risk areas."
"Wait...!" Beka rushed but Andromeda followed the orders. The door slammed shut and the lock whirled.
"Your weapons." Andromeda appeared in hologram and the decon unit slid out of it's recess.
Tyr released his hold on Harper and watched him run across the room. He kept an eye on him as he removed his weapons, all of them, and deposited them in the decon unit.
Harper prowled the far side of the room and tried climbing the wall but the vent was sealed. There was no way out. The room had been designed to contain the worst deceases in the Commonwealth, even the air was filtered and cycled separate from the rest of the ship.
The decon unit closed and withdrew and Harper shuddered.
"Quarantine established." Andromeda announced. "I have segmented my primary matrix so I can monitor and respond in real time."
"Seal all lower decks and add another layer to your matrix security." Tyr ordered.
"The layer is already added. I am sealing lower decks now. Tyr, ... his heart rate..."
"I hear it." Tyr nodded and backed away from Harper. Normally he would move closer, the engineer responded well to physical contact, a soft touch or firm but not painful hold. But Harper was terrified and eyeing his bone blades. His heart rate was high, too high.
Tyr sat on the floor against the far wall from Harper
and made a show of inspecting his gauntlets and boots while listening to
the agitated
movements and rapid breathing of the smaller man. He
heard the change, as if a switch had been thrown inside the engineer then
looked up as he started calling Trance in his coaxing manner.
"Come on, Trance. Let me out, this isn't funny! I'm sorry!"
"It will do no good." Tyr stated easily.
Harper frowned at him. "I don't know why she's mad at you."
Curiosity got the better of him. "What did you do?"
Harper sighed and slid down the wall to sit on the floor facing him. "I called her Goldie Pox."
Tyr thought about this for a moment the shrugged. "We are not in here because of that."
"Jeez, she didn't find out about me peeping, did she?" Harper jumped up and went to the viewing window. "I'm sorry! I was just working in that tube and heard you singing. You sing real good. I didn't hear the shower 'til ... I only watched for a second or two. Okay five minutes tops!"
Tyr laughed, the boy was digging himself a hole. "That's not it either." He shook his head then rushed as Harper collapsed to his knees.
"God, it's cold." Harper shivered. "Where are my clothes?"
"Ship ..."
"Blankets are coming." Andromeda stated before Tyr could finish his order.
"It's alright." Tyr folded him close and rubbed his arm and side.
"What's happened? The larvae!!"
"No!" Tyr rushed. "They're gone."
Harper sobbed in relief then passed out.
Tyr focused his senses on him then relaxed and looked up as Andromeda appeared in hologram. "I have pallets and blanket if you feel it's safe." She stated softly.
Tyr nodded and watched a droid bring in the comforts then leave keeping Beka from entering as the door closed again.
"The Jaguar?"
"The ArchDuke is being very helpful. Dylan has told him what happened and he sounds impressed."
Tyr worried as he wrapped Harper in a blanket. "He didn't give away too much information?"
"No."
He ignored the annoyance in her voice and settled on the pallet, holding Harper against his chest. "Security?"
"All lower decks are sealed but fully monitored. I have isolated and requested four 'guests' leave E deck. One is being difficult."
"Fabricate the smell of Zitani."
She grinned slowly then nodded. "I forgot Nietzscheans hate that plant."
Tyr didn't comment he just let her work. "Is your matrix secure?"
"Yes." She nodded. "I have severed all but six access points and darkened three of them. I can see them but they can't see me."
"I can see you." Harper mumbled. "I can see through you." He sounded like a child.
Tyr and Andromeda both hesitated then Andromeda smiled softly. "I am glad of that. You've had a very bad day."
"I don't feel well." Harper mumbled again.
Tyr felt his face softly, more for comfort then anything else, and Harper sighed and leaned into the gentle caress.
"What's happened? Where are we? Did they catch us?"
"You are safe." Tyr promised. "Just sick."
"Sick." Harper grumbled so as not to be overheard. "I'm sorry."
Tyr wondered, not for the first time, about growing up on Earth. He kept his bone blades well hidden in the blankets. "Rest."
Harper groaned. "Jeez, I'm hot."
Tyr rested his head back against the wall.
"Why are we in quarantine?"
"You tried to escape again." Andromeda answered.
"Again?"
"You appeared in Obs naked." Tyr told him.
Harper blushed and rubbed his jaw. "Got my ass kicked, huh."
"A slap from a Lady."
"Tyr saved you from her husband."
"Ah, thanks Tyr."
He only nodded then saw the shift in Harper's features and braced.
"Man my head hurts." Harper groaned then winced at the sound. "What was I drinking last night?"
"Lay down." Tyr instructed and help him down.
He missed the shift and was surprised when Harper kissed him and stroked his hands down his chest. "I've dreamed of this. You feel so good, better then I thought possible."
Tyr starred at the smaller man, shocked that he would have sexual fantasies about a Nietzschean. He was surprised at how quickly his own body responded to the sweet caress.
Andromeda must have read his response because she growled his name in warning.
"Privacy mode." Harper slurred as he licked the exposed skin of Tyr's chest.
"Not likely." Andromeda snapped.
Tyr pulled back and took a steadying breath then saw the shift.
Five long, very long hours passed as Trance worked to calibrate the serum and Harper's mental stated shifted from child-like confusion at the situation, to adolescent rage at Tyr and his people, to panicked engineer terrified that he'd be kicked off the ship for his failure, to sweet seducer, all while suffering headaches, fever, chills, and screaming pain from past horrors his mind relived.
Dylan stopped by to stare through the window but didn't speak to them, Beka's single attempt to communicate with them had sent Harper into a fit of terror that she'd dump him back on Earth for screwing up. Bolivar even paid a visit but Tyr refused to try and guess what the Alpha must think of him, willing locked up with a kludge, holding and soothing him.
"Harper?"
Harper looked up and smile at Andromeda like a child. "Dromy's back."
She smiled at him as she spoke to Tyr. "Trance has the serum."
Tyr sighed in relief and nodded.
The door opened and Trance entered and Harper screamed. "Banshee!"
Tyr almost lost his hold on him as Harper tried to cover his eyes. "What?"
"Banshee! Don't look! Not you! Don't die!"
"I'm not going to die!" Tyr rushed.
"Harper," Trance knelt. "I have something that will make you feel better."
"Banshee." Harper hissed. "Don't be here for Tyr."
"I don't know what that is but I'm just Trance. I'm you're friend. Let me help you. Please."
Tyr pulled the blanket away from Harper's thigh. "Let her give you the shot." He soothed.
Harper looked up at him then buried his face in his chest and held on.
Trance injected the serum then backed away quickly. "It shouldn't be long now."
"Midnight." Harper sobbed. "Tyr, stay with me, please."
"I'll stay with you." Tyr promised softly as Beka sat down next to them.
"Beka?"
"Hi." She held his hand. "It'll be okay soon."
end