Shadows, that's was what Harper referred to his past as. They were the dark shadows that loomed over his head everyday and kept him wondering about the what-ifs in his life. Oh, he knew what they were, most of them revolving around his family. When they died, when they were attacked. They all rang too clear in his mind but there was the one shdow he wished would go away. It was the darkest shadow of all, that was the one thing that he trully regreted in his life. And now, the day was coming when he'd have to face it. He REALLY didn't want to but he knew he would have to. He couldn't hide from it forever.
Harper sighed, the truth of the matter was he had let it happen and he hadn't done anything to stop it. Well, better not to dwell on it now. Just let it come at its own time. Better to live for the moment. Yes, live for the moment that's what he would do. Hopping out of his chair he walked out the door of his room. Time for some social interacting, he though to himself. And as soon as he had stepped out the door he ran into Trance.
"There you are! I've been looking for you!" She sounded irritated.
"Yeah, well, I've kinda been busy." he replied.
"Doing what?" she asked.
"Stuff" Harper said, not trying to get into too much detail of his sitting around for 4 hours.
"All right then, you've got mail" she said thrusting a small package into his hands.
Harper nodded and then Trance took off down the hall, already fussing about something else.
For a moment he stared at the small package. He knew who it was from and for a moment he was tempted to just tear the package open right there and then. But then sanity over came him and he headed back inside his room. He sat down on the edge of his bed and tore open the package. He then tipped it upside down, expelling the contents. Which was just a small note and a picture. As he read the note he knew that the time had come. He picked up the picture and at that moment a small tear ran down his face. And the realization of what he had done overwhelmed him. Harper threw down the paper and headed into the bathroom. Turning on the faucet he threw cold water into his face. What was he going to do now? Oh, he knew, but he was going to get into a lot of trouble afterwards.
He looked at himself in the mirror and nodded. Grabbing the jack for his data port he snuck into the control unit and jacked himself in. Instantly he arrived in the core of Andromeda's systems and one by one took them over. There was nothing she could hev done to stop him. Silently he said "Time to go home."
Well it wasn't home, but close to it. As the ship drifted closer and closer to Earth he could see his destination. It was a small station just outside earth's atmosphere. And it wasn't until then tht everyone started to notice what had happened.
"Andromeda report" Dylan called from the command deck.
"I don't know, someone has over ridden my control. We're headed for that station" she responded.
Dylan, and the others looked out the window as they finally came to a halt. As quickly and as silently as possible Harper crept toward the hanger. It was quickly enough.
"What are you doing?" Dylan asked, grabbing Harper by the arm.
"Me? Ah, I'm....I'm"
"Well?"
"I'm going to see what's going on here" he responded. Very smoth Harper, he thought to himself.
"I see. Now why don't you tell me the truth."
Harper stared at Dylan for a moment, trying to gauge what he would do next.
Finally he just gave up and told him.
"Well a couple years ago, right before I joined up with Beka I lived on a station, not too different from this. I spent hours trying to make something of myself. I never saw the things in my life worth living for. I made a big mistake, I ran away and didn't help."
"What?"
"I think you better see it for yourself."
He and Dylan then walked onto the small station, down the lond hallways and to a small isolated room.
"What's this?" Dylan asked.
Harper didn't answer, but instead headed into the room. Dylan followed. Inside was a small white room. The room was covered in photos and pictures. The walls were covered with books and cards. And in the middle of the room was a little bed. Harper moved in and removed the covers from the bed. Inside was a little girl, probaly no more than eight, curled up, sound asleep.
"Dylan, I want you to meet. Evelyn Liylandra Harper, my daughter."
Dylan was amazed. Maybe amazed wasn't the word, maybe it was more of completly blown away.
"I was dating a girl back then, and after about a three years Evy was born. But i was so busy trying to make something of myself I never noticed. Anyway. When Evy was born Sara got real sick and eventually died. I was shocked. I barley had noticed she was sick, and suddenly i realized I had a baby to take care of. I couldn't handle it so I left. You see because of me she's spent all her life alone."
Dylan looked down at Harper and said "I'll leave you alone." Without even a nod from Harper Dylan left Harper with his past. Looking down at the sleeping child, his sleeping child he thought maybe she wasn't the darkest shadow in his past, but the brighest of them all.