La Guérison

Title: La Guérison
Author: Melissa, aka ILH
Rating: PG-15
Warning: This fic contains mild slash (nothing beyond kissing)
Disclaimer: Andromeda and its characters belong to Tribune. The lyrics belong to Leonard Cohen. Author's Note: I wrote 3/4 of this with a TERRIBLE headache, which I still have. Forgive me for any glaring errors.

Trance Gemini stared blankly at the table's surface below her. She noticed how smooth, black and unchanging it was. 'Nothing like me,' she thought. For the first time in her life, she felt very unhappy. This was reflected on in her behavior and the condition of her plants. With her sadness, the plants themselves had began drooping and slightly wilting. It wasn't that she hadn't tried to help them, because she had done everything she knew how to help them. They just seemed to sense her mood. 'Twelve days,' she thought. 'It hasn't even been two weeks.'

"What's bringing my favorite sparkly purple babe down?" Harper sat down in the chair beside hers.

"There's nothing wrong, Harper." She feigned a smile as she looked him. "I'm just fine."

"Then, why have you been sitting here at this table for the past hour staring at it?" he asked.

"I was just thinking, that's all," she replied.

"What were you thinking about?" He narrowed his eyes at her.

"Just stuff in general." She cast the thoughts out of her mind, knowing she wouldn't be able to hold the smile on her face much longer if she let them conquer her again.

"Do you wanna talk about any of this 'stuff'?"

She did want to release what she had been bottling up, but she knew it would be for the best if she remained completely silent about it until it went away. If it would go away, which is what she was most worried about. "It's nothing you want to listen to, Harper."

"You'd be surprised what I wanna listen to. I'm all ears." He watched her.

"I don't feel much like talking anymore. In fact..." She yawned for effect. "I think I'm going to take a nap now."

"Suit yourself, but I'm here if you change your mind." He headed in the opposite direction down the corridor.

Trance didn't end up in her quarters. She decided to take a look at her plants in Hydroponics again. As she had expected, they were still withering and dying. She watered them, trimmed them and fertilized them as she always had before. It did nothing for them, though. 'They're like me,' she thought. 'Another hopeless cause.'

Feeling even more depressed than before, she walked glumly through Andromeda's many corridors. Everywhere she went, there were reminders of what she was trying in vain to forget. It was late, and she really was beginning to get tired. After several yawns, she headed back to her quarters.

She jumped onto her bed and curled up to sleep.. "I wish I could forget for just a few minutes," she said softly to herself. "Just a few minutes..."

*****

Trance was somewhat happily watering her favorite plants in Hydroponics, Penelope the Alterian rose bush and Simon the small cactus. "Yes, I do love both of you," she said as she trimmed them.

"We know your little secret, Trance. We all know," Dylan said from behind her.

She jumped around and saw the rest of the crew staring at her. "What secret?"

"You've gotta give us more credit than that, babe," Harper said.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Trance lied, backing away.

"You should use private mode more often," Andromeda's avatar commented.

"Your body gives it away. I can smell it, hear it, feel it," Tyr said.

"The Divine will forgive you if you end this now," Rev said.

"And you think I wouldn't know?" Beka asked. "I know everything about my crew."

"No, you don't know! You have no clue," Trance said as she ran away.

The voices followed her, haunted her as she ran. The fear pumped through her body, fueled the endless chase. 'They all hate me!' she thought.

*****

Trance awoke breathing heavily, trembling and drenched in sweat. She closed her eyes, letting the tears form behind them. Her dreams had always been very vivid and realistic, but never so terrifying.

"Trance, are you okay? I am detecting elevated levels in your vital signs," Rommie's voice said.

"I'm fine, Rommie. I just had a bad dream, that's all." Trance pulled off her sweat-soaked clothing and turned on the shower.

After an hour under the warm water and scrubbing herself from head to toe several times, she felt at least somewhat cleansed of the nightmare. She was still a little shaky, but she could deal with that. She wrapped herself in a towel and went to her closet. Nothing she found seemed appropriate. She decided to wear the last thing she pulled from her closet, a loose, layered light lavender dress made mostly of a nearly transparent material that went down to her ankles.

She realized it was the first time she had worn a real dress since she had boarded Andromeda. "Well, I guess there's a first time for everything."

The dress flowed behind her when she walked, giving her a slightly ghost-like appearance. She walked slowly through the corridors, deep in thought.

"Oh my god!" Harper's voice startled her.

"What's wrong, Harper?" Trance asked, turning around.

"You just look a hell of a lot like a ghost in that...and I've got this thing with ghosts and spirits," he admitted. "Hey, I've never seen you in a dress before. You look kinda nice."

"Thanks." She half-smiled at him.

"But Halloween isn't for a couple of months," he said as he started to walk away.

"What's Halloween?" she asked.

"Just an old Earth thing. Doesn't matter," he said as he continued to walk away.

"Oh," Trance said, realizing he had taken her mind off of her other thoughts for a moment. It suddenly occurred to her to keep her mind on other things at all times. "I can do that," she said to herself.

The constant reminders made it near impossible to forget, though. She tried to remember the advice she had been given when something bad had happened before to help her get through it. She came up with absolutely nothing and sighed. She didn't feel much like sleeping, which was the only thing that seemed to pass time quickly.

She found herself in her quarters again after fifteen minutes had passed. She opened the top drawer on her cabinet. Inside was a large bottle of very potent whiskey, a practical joke gift given to her, since she didn't drink. She had only had alcohol once before, but it did help her forget about everything. Forgetting was all she wanted to do. She opened the bottle and sniffed its contents. It had a strong, slightly nauseating smell.

She cringed as she downed a large gulp of the whiskey. "Yuck," she said automatically. "Who could actually want to drink this stuff?"

*****

An hour passed, and Trance started to feel strange and slightly ill. "Andromeda, play some music," she said, her voice slurred.

"What piece would you like to hear?" Andromeda's voice asked.

"Anything," Trance replied.

"Selecting a random music file from the database," Andromeda's voice said.

A song Trance hadn't heard began to play. "This is weird music," she commented.

"I loved you for a long, long time
I know this love is real
It don't matter how it all went wrong
That don't change the way I feel
And I can't believe that time's
Gonna heal this wound I'm speaking of
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure for love," a deep masculine voice sang.

Beka walked in at that moment, obviously shocked. "Trance is drunk and listening to...whatever in the hell that is. What's wrong Trance?"

"Nothing, Beka. I'm just fine. You wanna come and sit down?" Trance asked, patting a spot beside her.

"Okay." Beka sat down next to Trance.

"You wanna have a drink?" Trance offered her the bottle.

Beka took the bottle, but said, "I don't drink. Did you actually drink half the bottle of this?"

"Yup. I drank all of it." She grinned. "It tastes disg...disga....gross."

"We should get you down to Med Deck and get this out of your system," Beka said, grabbing Trance's arm.

"But I feel kinda nice right now. Everything bad is gone from my head," Trance objected.

"Everything bad?" Beka asked.

"Yeah, all that stuff I've gotta forget now..." Trance said.

The second verse of the song began. "I'm aching for you baby I can't pretend I'm not I need to see you naked
In your body and your thought
I've got you like a habit
And I'll never get enough
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure for love."

"I didn't know you listened to songs with such...dirty lyrics," Beka commented.

"Dirty? My quarters are clean, I think." Trance was having trouble focusing her vision.

"No, nevermind." Beka watched Trance trying to stare things into focus again. "We should really get you down to Med Deck now. And Andromeda, turn off that music."

The music immediately stopped, leaving silence. "Now, I can hear them yelling again."

"Who's yelling?" Beka asked.

"The things in my head...they're yelling again, and I don't like it," Trance said, becoming scared.

Beka reached out to touch her, but she pulled away. "What are they saying?"

"I can't tell you...'specially you," Trance said.

"I won't tell anyone, Trance, if you tell me," Beka promised.

"Remember back at Uncle Sid's?" Trance asked.

"Yeah. What about it?" Beka asked.

"Well..." Trance began as she passed out.

*****

Medical Deck was silent when Trance opened her eyes. She had a slight headache and couldn't remember what had happened. When she tried to sit up the pain intensified, and she groaned.

"Don't get up. Hangovers don't generally like it when you do that," Beka warned.

"What happened to me?" Trance asked, laying still.

"You got really drunk on half a bottle of whiskey. I came in and brought you down here for detox," Beka said.

"I don't remember any of it." She closed her eyes.

"It's just a blackout," Beka said.

Trance suddenly realized what could have happened when Beka had found her. Her heart pounded, and the fear rushed through her. "What did I say when I was drunk?" she asked, trying not to sound nervous.

"You were drunk. Not a lot of it made sense." Beka pressed a hypo into Trance's neck.

Trance was silent, wondering if Beka was lying to her. 'I was drunk. And if I did say something, she'll just think it was the whiskey talking for me,' Trance tried to assure herself.

"Rev will be here in a minute. I've gotta get down to Command Deck." Beka exited Medical Deck.

Trance waited patiently for Rev, or anyone else for that matter, to arrive.

"Trance," Rev's voice said from behind her.

"Hi Rev," Trance said.

After several minutes of silence, Rev spoke again. "May I ask you a question?"

"Sure," Trance replied.

"Why did you choose to poison your body?" he asked.

"I don't really remember much about it now. Beka said I have a blackout." She actually did know why she chose to do it.

"Your behavior has been abnormal as of late," he commented. "I have seen many changes, and I believe I do know what accounts for them."

"Really?" She tried to sound surprised.

He paused. "There is no cure for some things that plague us. Our only hope of recovery is to find release, whether that be through a confession or righting a wrong. Do you understand?"

She could not admit to herself that Rev was correct, especially in her situation. "Sometimes, there's too much at stake to risk letting yourself release something."

"You still might be surprised by the results of your release. The Divine works in mysterious ways. Solace can always be found regardless of the circumstances. "

"I'll think about it." The thought floated through her mind, not immediately being forgotten as she had wished it would be.

*****

Another few days passed, and Trance realized how strange she really was acting. She had gone from very social to almost reclusive. She avoided Harper, since he posed too many questions whenever they were together. She avoided Rev, because she didn't want to hear any more about confessions and solace. She avoided pretty much everyone for one reason or another.

Hydroponics was still slowly dying, even though she had started spending hours there at a time to revive it. The wilting affected all of the plants in one way or another. They were all watered and fertilized the amount that had let them prosper before. Trance didn't understand it at all.

She was leaned over a plant, staring blankly at the ground, deep in thought. In her state, she had failed to hear the door opening and someone approaching behind her.

"How's my favorite sparkly purple babe this evening?" Harper's voice asked.

Trance was startled. After she jumped, she grabbed the shears and pretended she had been working. "Oh, I'm just fine, Harper."

"I don't think you were supposed to cut that off," he commented as he looked at the butchered plant.

"No, it's a new method to increase growth and make it happier." She dropped the shears and picked up a watering can and started watering the plants. "See, it's happier already."

"How about we have dinner together, since we haven't had lunch together in weeks?"

She turned around and looked at him. "I'm kinda busy with my plants right now. Maybe next time."

"They can wait twenty or thirty minutes, can't they? Pretty please..." he begged. "I really miss you, Trance."

"I'm sorry, Harper. I might come down in a little bit after I'm done here, though." She felt compelled to hug him, but she stopped herself.

"I'll be down in Mess Deck," he said as he left, giving up. "You can't say I didn't try," he mumbled to himself.

She returned to her plants, staring at the ground yet again as she immersed herself in thought. She yawned, realizing she hadn't slept in a couple of days. The nightmares were hard for her to cope with.

"Hey, Trance," Beka's voice said from behind her.

Trance jumped up to face Beka. "Hi, Beka."

"How are you feeling?" Beka asked.

"I'm feeling just fine now," Trance replied.

"I don't think you are. I know you aren't."

Trance feigned a smile. "I really am, Beka."

"I've never seen you so stressed out or tired. Your garden here is as sick as you are." Beka gestured at the dying plants. "There's something wrong with you."

"No, I'm just a little tired. And I think the plants have a disease," she lied. "They probably got it from the new ones I brought in a few weeks ago."

"Tell me what happened at Uncle Sid's," Beka said.

Trance started to back away, towards the door, but Beka blocked her. "You were there, Beka."

"Tell me what they did to you. It's driving you crazy, whatever it is," Beka said, her tone growing more commanding.

Trance made a run for the door, but Beka pinned her to the wall. "They didn't do anything to me. Really," Trance said.

"I'm not letting you go until you tell me!" Beka yelled.

The tears fell from Trance's eyes. "I can't tell you what happened."

"Then, you're going to be standing here for a long time." Beka was serious.

"You wanna know what happened back at Uncle Sid's?" Trance asked, sniffling. "I'll tell you what happened."

Beka stared into Trance's eyes coldly. "Now we're getting somewhere."

"I...I fell in love with you," Trance whispered, her eyes trained on the ground.

Beka released Trance, in shock. Trance slid to the floor, curling into a little ball. She sobbed into her knees, trembling. Beka stared at her, unsure of what to say or do.

"I know what you want me to do, and I've already packed up my stuff. I just need someone to take me to the nearest station or drift," Trance said, not looking up. "I'm sorry."

"Why would I want you to do that?" Beka asked.

"You don't want me around you anymore because I told you." She still didn't look up.

"Harper is crazy about Rommie, but Rommie doesn't kick him off the ship," Beka pointed out.

"Well, Harper isn't me. And you aren't Rommie. Things between them are different," Trance said.

"Yeah, they are different. Rommie's not an organic being. Harper is. Rommie isn't really experienced with emotions. Harper knows his way around love and heartache. Rommie needs an engineer to fix her when things break. Harper is that engineer. Their relationship is unique, just like ours. And if they can work things out between them, so can we."

"You don't hate me, Beka?" Trance asked, glancing up with bloodshot teary eyes.

"Nope, I don't hate you. You're still a valuable member of this crew and my friend. But we do need to talk about this."

"Are you gonna tell anyone about this?" She pulled herself to her feet again.

"No, I won't. It's between you and me, Trance." Beka noticed Trance refused to look directly at her. "You're still allowed to look at me."

"I don't want to make you uncomfortable...I mean-"

"I understand. And I'll tell you if you are. It's getting late, and I think we should both get some sleep, okay?"

Trance nodded and headed off to her quarters. Her exhaustion won over her fear of nightmares, and she fell asleep rather quickly.

*****

"What in the hell am I supposed to do about this?" Beka asked herself and sighed as she dropped down onto her bed.

She had expected Trance to tell her about some terrible abuse she received from Sid's thugs while Beka had been tortured by Sid himself. Trance's explanation made much more sense, though. Trance had been avoiding Beka and acting strangely around her since shortly after their return from TransGalactic.

Beka wondered if Trance had even been in a relationship at all before. She hadn't ever heard Trance talk about anyone like that before. 'Maybe I'm her first crush,' Beka thought. 'I remember mine. God, he was a jerk. I'm not gonna put her through that, that's for sure.'

With one question followed another, and another, until Beka couldn't remember what had started it. She had forced one question out of her mind, though, more or less saved it for last. 'Do I want to have a relationship with Trance?' she thought, trying to separate the pro's and con's in her mind. 'Well, I haven't been with a woman before, not that I'm against it or anything. It's just never come up. And I haven't been with anyone in a long time.' She realized how lonely she really was.

"Just friendship for now," she said to herself, yawning. "It would be taking advantage of her if I took it to the next level."

~~~

Beka stretched as she woke up, glancing over at her clock. "It's only 4 AM," she grumbled. Her mind was wide awake, though, posing the same questions it had been before she had fallen asleep. She wanted to fall back asleep and save it until it was actually time for her to go on duty, when she could cast it aside again and concentrate on slipstream piloting.

"Just pretend it never happened, Bek," she told herself. "And it'll be like that unless Trance brings it up."

Since sleep was apparently not going to return to her, she decided to start her morning with a workout, followed by breakfast. Even Tyr was still sleeping, so she had the gym to herself. She began with stretching, and from there headed straight to the flummox bench to lift. She began lifting the bar repeatedly while her mind wandered.

"Beka, shouldn't you have someone watching you?" Trance asked as she approached Beka.

"You aren't on duty until 10:30. Why aren't you still asleep?" Beka asked, trying to glance back behind her while still lifting.

"I couldn't sleep, and I was kinda lonely. And you're the only one other than Rev that's up." Trance settled herself on the floor in front of Beka.

"You haven't been getting enough sleep lately as it is. Why don't you take some-?"

"I can't. I've taken some already, and it isn't really helping." She rocked back and forth a little bit.

"Have you tried eating something? I'm gonna have breakfast after I finish this set." Beka placed the bar in the grooves that held it and slid out from under it.

"I think I'd like some breakfast," Trance said, smiling.

Beka stood and followed Trance towards Mess Deck. She was just beginning to notice Trance as a possibility of more than just her good luck charm, friend and fellow crew member. Trance's purple tail swayed back and forth slightly with her walk. 'She's so mysterious,' Beka thought as they arrived at Mess Deck.

Trance ordered orange juice and pancakes from the autochef. She took a sip of the orange juice. "It's not as good as the real stuff from Rigel or Infinity," she commented. "It's been hard to go back."

Beka ordered her usual eggs, bacon and toast with coffee to drink. "I've never been really into orange juice. Coffee's my thing."

"I still don't exactly get poisoning yourself. Caffeine has some bad side effects. And coffee doesn't taste very good," Trance commented as she sat down.

"Well, it's an acquired taste." Beka wasn't really sure of what to say to Trance now that she knew. Hurting her young friend, even if it was unintentional, was starting to becoming more and more of a concern.

"I'm glad you're both up," Dylan said as he walked in. "I've got a job for the both of you."

"What?" Beka asked, taking another bite of her food.

"I need both of you to pick up some medical supplies from a freighter. It will meet you at these coordinates." Dylan handed Beka a flexi.

"We've gotta leave right now to make it by the rendezvous time," Beka said.

"I'm sorry about giving you so little warning," Dylan apologized.

"It's okay. We need the supplies," Trance piped up, after finishing her breakfast.

"And I've been looking forward to seeing Harper's new upgrades in action," Beka said.

"Be careful," Dylan said, laying a hand on Beka's shoulder.

"We will," Beka assured him as she swallowed the last bite of her own breakfast.

They boarded the Maru and embarked from the Hangar Deck without saying a word to each other. Nearly fifteen minutes passed.

"I really need a shower. Dylan kinda ruined my plans for taking one after breakfast," Beka said, breaking the silence.

"I can watch the controls," Trance said.

"I'll put it on autopilot. But if anything goes wrong, and I mean anything, I want you to get me." Beka knew Trance couldn't fly the Maru if her life depended on it. She set the Maru on autopilot and checked all the control panels once more.

"Don't worry about it, Beka. I know what they're supposed to look like. Like this one right here..." She pointed at the life support controls. "The gravity reading is supposed to be on this side. And the oxygen levels should be above 77%."

"I know you know that, Trance. But keep an eye on all of them, not just one of them." Beka went to her quarters almost reluctantly. She was bracing for a gravity failure, or an unexpected trip into slipstream.

She tossed her clothes in the shoot that led to the lower hold of the Maru, where she washed her clothes, and turned on the shower. "So far, so good," she said to herself and stepped into the shower. The hot jets of water worked the tightness from her muscles that resulted from exercising. Even though she wanted to hurry, she spent several minutes letting her muscles relax. She quickly washed her body and hair, promising herself to take a longer shower later.

She turned off the water and stepped out, wrapping a towel around herself. She dried her hair which, like her skin, had turned pink from the exposure to the hot water. When it was mostly dry, it returned to blond again. She finished drying and had put on a black bra and panties when the Maru lurched, almost throwing her into the nearest wall.

"Damn it!" Beka cursed under her breath when the ship lurched again. "How in the hell am I supposed to get dressed?!?"

She decided, against what most of her mind was screaming, to run to the cockpit and fix the problem before any permenant damage was caused. She felt more than slightly naked when she arrived in the cockpit.

"Beka, it went crazy!" Trance said, turning around and blushing a deep purple.

"What happened?" Beka asked, disregarding Trance's state.

"I don't know. I swear I didn't touch anything," Trance said, her eyes on the floor.

"Harper's upgrades!" Beka realized. "I've gotta get down to the engine room!"

Beka sprinted down to the engine room, the smoke already pouring from under the door. She grabbed a fire extinguisher and entered the room. The fire wasn't hard to find--it was consuming the main engines. While fighting her coughing fits from smoke inhalation, she doused the flames. She stumbled out of the engine room, her eyes full of tears and still coughing.

*****

Trance stood outside the engine room, worried and scared for her friend who was obviously in danger if the smoke was any indication. She heard a fire extinguisher being used. 'At least she's still conscious,' Trance thought. Finally, Beka emerged from the smoke, in a coughing fit.

"Beka!" Trance said in a combination of alarm and relief.

Beka was still coughing and tried to say something.

"Don't talk. Let me help you," Trance said, supporting Beka and guiding her towards Medical Deck.

When they arrived, Trance helped Beka onto the main bed and grabbed a hypo used to treat smoke inhalation. She gently pressed it into Beka's neck and waited for the results to begin, stroking Beka's hand. "It's going to be okay," she repeatedly said during Beka's fits of coughing.

Finally, the coughing fits stopped. Beka took a deep breath. "Thanks," she said.

Trance was just beginning to remember Beka's attire, or lack thereof. In the midst of worrying, she had forgotten. She backed away from Beka, rather embarrassed. "I'm sorry," she softly said.

"Don't be sorry for helping me. You would have done the same for anyone else," Beka said, grabbing Trance's arm and moving her closer again.

"But-" Trance began.

Beka shook her head. "No but's."

Trance couldn't figure out why, but a tear slid down her face.

Beka wiped it away with a delicate touch and stared into Trance's dark eyes. "Thank you," she whispered as she leaned forward and kissed Trance.

Trance froze. She had not expected it and didn't really know how to react. It was over as quickly as it had began, though. She stared at Beka, who looked very tranquil considering the circumstances.

"Shouldn't we be doing something about the engines?" Trance asked.

"We're dead in space, and there's nothing we can do until Andromeda comes back to get us. You don't know how to fix the engines, and neither do I," Beka replied.

There was silence between them, which Trance was growing used to. She eventually broke it, though, by asking, "Why did you kiss me?"

"I wanted to," Beka replied.

"Do you think you'll ever want to again?" Trance asked shyly.

"We'll see," Beka said, hopping down from the bed. "I'm gonna go get dressed. It's cold."

Trance returned to the cockpit while Beka was getting dressed. 'What happens now?' she wondered. 'Am I even supposed to ask that question?'

Beka returned dressed in her black leather sleeveless shirt and matching pants. "Any sign of Andromeda?"

"No," Trance replied, glancing down at the sensor readings. "Am I allowed to ask you a question?"

"Sure," Beka said, sitting down.

"Ummmm...what happens now?" Trance asked.

"It all depends," Beka said. "Have you ever been with anyone before?"

Trance wasn't sure how to respond. "I...I've...not really."

Beka sighed. "That's what I was afraid of."

"Why?" Trance asked.

"I'm not the kind of person you wanna be in a first relationship with," Beka said.

"You're caring and very nice, enough to not want to hurt me," Trance said with a smile. "And that's the kind of person I do want to be with."

"My relationships never last. The longest one has been about a month and a half long."

Trance paused pensively. "Were any of them anything like us?"

"What do you mean?"

"We've been friends for a long time and known each other for even longer."

Beka was silent for a while. "No."

"Maybe this is what you need." Trance hoped Beka could start seeing this through her eyes.

"But you're so young..."

"No, I'm not really young. I'm probably older than you are," Trance said, not wanting to reveal too much.

"I need to know something before I can say anything else about this."

Beka pulled Trance to her feet and kissed her again. This kiss was not nearly as gentle or soft. Trance was a little surprised, but quickly recovered. She kissed Beka back slightly nervously, in exploration. She discovered how sweet, warm and soft the kiss was. It was nothing like she had expected. Her heart was pounding in her chest by the time the kiss ended. Both of them were gasping for breath.

"Wow," Beka whispered. "That was..."

"Amazing?" Trance said.

"We've gotta set up some guidelines and rules now, though. And you have to promise me we'll abide by them," Beka said.

"Rules?" Trance asked.

"Yeah. First rule...we aren't going to tell anyone about this until we're sure it's going to work."

Trance nodded in agreement. She wasn't sure how the crew would react, and didn't want to be the cause of Beka losing any of her other friends.

"Second rule," Beka said, still catching her breath. "We're going to take this nice and slow."

Trance again nodded. She had seen enough human relationships around her to know that was the best path to take.

"Third rule-"

"Maru please respond. This is the Andromeda," Dylan's voice interrupted.

"We'll finish this later," Beka said, picking up the communication. "This it the Maru."

"What happened, Beka?" Dylan asked.

"Harper's upgrades caused an explosion in the engine room, and a fire. We've been dead in space for about an hour," Beka replied.

"We'll tow you into the Hangar Deck," Dylan replied.

"How did you know to come looking for us?" Beka asked.

"Harper told us that he had started a new upgrade last night in the middle of the night without telling anyone right after you left," Dylan said.

The Maru was pulled into the Hangar Deck. Beka and Trance exited the ship to see Harper waiting for them.

"Boss, I didn't know you were taking the Maru out or I would've told you. Please don't kill me," he said.

"Fix it now, and I'll keep you around for a little longer, Harper," Beka said with a smile.

"Are you really mad at Harper?" Trance asked as they walked down the corridor together.

"Actually, I'm sort of glad that it happened," Beka replied.

"I'm feeling a whole lot better. Let's stop in Hydroponics," Trance said as they approached the door.

Beka knew the plants were in ruin, and hoped it wouldn't bring down Trance. "Okay."

They entered the room to find every bloom and leaf healthy and green. Everything was prospering again, probably more so than it had been before.

"Wow!" Beka exclaimed. "Talk about a sudden recovery."

"They're all better again." Trance smiled. "And so am I."

~FIN~


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