TITLE: Crossroads
AUTHOR: Michael J. Gallagher ( mikejoe@odyssey.net )
SYNOPSIS: After visiting a sick friend, Harper asks Dylan's advice about something major in his life
DISCLAIMER: GRA is owned by Tribune; the BBC probably still owns Blake's 7. I am not making a dime off this. Please don't sue me.
COMMENT: Slipstream challenge: a death story with Harper in it, so here goes .... although this may not be what the challenger had in mind:
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"In truth, you have been walking The Way since the hour of your birth; the goal of Wayism is to provide a map for the road you are already on."
--The Annointed of the Way, _Commentaries and Meditations,_ compiled CY 10,021
"Hey, Harper." The man in the hospital bed, bald with a gray fringe, tried to raise his head from the pillow, but he didn't seem to have the strength.
"Nah, it's ok, Vila," Harper said as he sat down. He pulled his chair closer. As Vila lowered his head, the scar on his neck where he had had his dataport -- not unlike Harper's -- became visible.
"I've heard about you, old son," Vila said. "That is you, isn't it? Chief engineer of the _Andromeda,_ helping Dylan Hunt rebuild the Commonwealth?"
Harper squirmed, a little embarrased. "I just keep her running, Vila -- "
"'Her'? So it's true? The ship is alive? Has a humanoid avatar you built?"
"Yes."
"_And?_"
Harper shrugged. "She and I get along great, but if she's got eyes for anybody, it's Dylan."
"Too bad. But that leaves you free to get a real woman, doesn't it?"
"I guess. If I can ever find one who won't turn her nose up at a mud foot."
"Ah, you'll get someone, boy. Just stick with Hunt, someone will find you appealing sooner or later."
"You figure?"
"Look at what you're doing, lad," Vila said. "It's not just a job or an adventure -- it's a legend. And you're smack in the middle of it. That'll lead you to the right girl, lad. Don't worry about it. I almost envy you; reminds me of my glory days with Blake against the Sagitarian Federation."
"And did you get a woman out of that?" Harper asked.
"No. And Blake and the rest are all dead. That's where it all goes wrong. But had plenty of wine, though."
"Yeah ... How they treatin' ya here?"
"Ok." Vila's hand shook as he reached for where his dataport had been. "It still itches, and I feel a .... hole .... in my head. But they say that slowed it down. I can still get up and go to the bathroom without too much help. But I miss the port. It got me off Earth; I told you, didn't I? And both of us into legends." Vila took a deep breath. "I'm tired, Seamus. I think it's time for me nap. Will you be stayin' around?"
"No; I gotta get back to the _Maru_ -- "
"Sorry?"
"Beka's ship. Sorta if the Scorpio had been in the Liberator's docking bay." Harper shrugged. "It's sort of combined crew; I got two bosses."
"You like 'em?"
"Yeah. Well, you met Beka, and Dylan ... he's the best. Now, a little advance warning about his plans to get our feet out of the fire would be nice .... "
"They never warn ya, lad. Ever, ever, ever."
" .... but he gets ya out. Anyway, I just stopped by; we gotta get back to Rom Doll .... the _Andromeda_ with those parts."
"Ok ... see ya soon, lad."
"See ya." Harper clasped his old friend's hand and headed out of the ward. Near the exit, he spotted one of the Than doctors and pulled her aside.
"How long has he got?" Harper asked.
"Maybe another month," the insectoid replied. "Removing the interface slowed the neural degeneration, but not by much. But I'm glad you stopped by; you seem to have raised his spirits." She looked at Harper's dataport. "Have you been checked by a neurologist? You may be at risk from Tykon's Syndrome, too. It only effects one in ten million, but you should have it checked."
"Thanks, but .... " Harper rubbed his stomach. " ...... I already have enough problems of my own."
*****************
"Mr. Harper!" Dylan quipped as Harper came through the _Maru's_ airlock. "So good of you to join us; we thought you had run off with some little blonde number and were going to put down roots." But Dylan's smile showed he wasn't annoyed, much.
"What, and pass up the adventure and the excitement?" Harper said. "Nah, you know me, regular action junky!"
Dylan clapped Harper on the shoulder and started to turn towards the _Maru's_ bridge, but something in Harper's manner stopped him.
"Are you all right, Mr. Harper?"
"Ah, well .... Can I have a word with you, Boss?"
Dylan nodded to Beka, who headed for her pilot seat; Harper and Dylan went back into the engine room.
"Well?" Dylan asked.
"I was just wonderin', ya know, how comfortable you are with me, uh, carryin' a torch for Rommie?"
Dylan frowned and folded his arms. He had his own unspoken feelings for Andromeda .... it wasn't an issue he wanted to discuss, but now that Harper had broached it ....
"Anything in particular you have in mind?" Dylan asked.
"Oh, like me comin' on to her all the time. Rommie's never flat out told me to stop, but I figgered she'd complain to you. You want me to back off, I'll back off. No sweat."
"Well, it does make _me_ uncomforatable, but no, Rommie hasn't said anything about it recently. And besides, you and she work well together. Your rebuilding of Command attests to that. I had been concerned that your .... feelings for Andromeda were a train wreck waiting to happen if she were involved with someone else, but you seemed to come through her liason with Gabriel unscathed."
"More or less."
"Besides, Mr. Harper, have you forgot what was part of Andromeda's crew before the Fall? A lancer regiment. A largely human, male, lancer regiment on a ship whose persona prefers very low necklines. You're not her first ... admirer ... and as far as your advances are concerned, you're actually tame compared to some Lancer recruits. You're even tamer than I was when I was younger."
"Really?" Harper had trouble believing it.
"Really," Dylan said. "In fact, once upon a time, I got my face slapped so often, I thought my jaw would have a permanent handprint in it. Don't worry about it. If you go too far, I'm sure Andromeda will let you know."
"Still, Boss .... What about this?" Harper touched his dataport.
"What about it?"
"C'mon, Dylan, I don't really need to jack into Rommie as often as I do. I do it because it's the next best thing to screwin' her humaoid avatar -- probably the closest I'll ever get. But if you don't like it, say the word, and I won't do it anymore. She's your ship; I'm just the funny little guy who tried to hijack her. You got the last word."
"I see .... " Dylan said. "Is this about your friend?"
"How'd you know about that?" Harper yelped.
"Beka mentioned it. You're afraid you may have Tykon's syndrome?"
"Well, given that I have a balky immune system and a brood of bouncing baby Magog in my gut, it would just round things out, wouldn't it?"
"I'll alert Trance to keep an eye on it after we get back home. And maybe Andromeda can modify her I/O protocols to reduce the strain on your neural net. I think we can find alternatives to removing the dataport.
"As to the larger question of your relationship with Andromeda ..... " Dylan went on. "Let me share with you five little words Admiral Stark once told me about your relationship with your ship's artificial intelligence: 'Don't mess with it EVER.' Even if you think you're doing the right thing, DO NOT change anything unless you have a very good reason to."
"Really?" Harper said.
"Yes," Dylan said, "and where Rommie is concerned ... we're both men, and you've seen her. It's not difficult to think .... ok, I may have trouble with my own advice ... but anyway. The explanation I got was that they're very sensitive to the way things are, so if you make a change -- say, in your case, you stop 'jacking in' -- and she hasn't explicitly said she wants you to stop, or complained to me about it so I would tell you to stop, you could upset her. She might even wonder if she's done something wrong and you're punishing her."
"Sounds like a typical woman."
"Tell me about it, although I heard the male ships were also touchy. You find what works and you stick with it unless you have a damn good reason not to.
"As a matter of fact .... this stays between us, Mr. Harper, right?"
"Right," Harper said.
"Ok," Dylan said. "I raised some of those very concerns you raised with Andromeda not long after you came aboard. But she said everything was all right. Then I told her I would order you to stop interfacing with her if she wanted. She almost threw a fit!"
"Really?"
"Well, I may be making more of it than it was at the time. She said, very forcefully, that she had the situation under control, she could 'handle him' -- her words -- and I was not to be concerned."
"Wow."
"Don't let it go to your head, Mr. Harper ... or any other part of your body. The point is whatever your intentions, honorable or otherwise, in your relationship with my ship, she seems to like things the way they are. And maybe she is getting _something_ out of your interfacing with her. Maybe not what you get, but you know she's worried about going insane like her sibling ships. Maybe your personal attention reassures her."
"Huh," Harper said. "I hadn't thought of that."
"Now, as far as the TS goes," Dylan said, "we'll look at that after we get home. And if you need to talk some more, about anything, my door is always open. But as far as how things are between you and Rommie .... that's between you and Rommie. But I wouldn't rock the boat. I wouldn't even mention this conversation to her."
"Ok. Thanks, Boss."
Dylan clapped Harper's shoulder and they headed back to the forward compartment.
**********************
"Can we go now?" Beka asked as Dylan took up his place next to her pilot's chair. "Or do we have to allow for more male bonding?"
"No, we can go," Dylan said.
"Ok," Beka said. She worked the controls; _Maru_ responded to its mistress' touch and lifted off.
"Something on your mind?" Beka asked.
"Nothing important ... " Dylan answered. "Say, Beka, do you think I should start an advice column?"
"What, 'Dylan Hunt's advice to the love lorn'?" She laughed. "Well the crew includes a Magog monk and a Nietzschean merc who moonlights as a gourmet chef. Why not?"
"Then again ....." Dylan said. "Maybe not. This crew is crazy enough as it is."
THE END
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