On the Bad Ship Andromeda...
Title: On the Bad Ship Andromeda...
Author: Natasha Bennett
Rating: PG-13 for language.
Summary: Trance finds herself with a group of violent villains that call themselves Dylan Hunt, Beka Valentina, Tyr Anasazi, and Andromeda. Can Trance and Harper save Andromeda's crew?
Spoilers: Ouroboros, pretty much anything else. This story takes place in the first season. Disclaimer: Everything here belongs to Tribune Entertainment and Andromeda.
Captain Dylan Hunt stood on the bridge of the Andromeda Ascendant, his muscled hands on his hips as he surveyed the planetoid on the screen. It was quite beautiful, a little light blue planet with golden rings that glistened in the sun. But Captain Hunt never saw beauty. To him, the rings were a mocking beacon of the twelve months wasted in finding this place, the back- stabbing and lies. But now they had it. The Waist home world, a people who believed in ever- lasting peace. Dylan's lip curled in a sneer. Killing them would be a favor for the whole galaxy.
Turning, he studied his crew. Beka Valentine stood on the second station, smiling lustfully at the planet. She was just as eager to be rid of the nuisance as well. Dylan liked seeing that look in her blue eyes. It made him forget, at least temporarily, that she was easily expendable. He could find better in bed.
On the third station Seamus Harper and Tyr Anasazi worked quietly. Both Harper and Beka wore opal high guard uniforms, though for slightly different reasons-Beka wore her uniform out of pride and Harper out of fear. The kid amused Dylan, and had finally learned how to shut his mouth. The bruises under his right eye were already gone, and the slashes on his arms had now faded into white scars. Harper's blue eyes were bloodshot and blurred, and he constantly looked around as though expecting to be hurt at anytime. Dylan liked that attitude, and tried to emphasize it on other species again and again.
Only one person on the bridge didn't wear a uniform, Dylan noted with some disdain as his eyes rested lightly on Tyr Anasazi. He wore his usual chain mail shirt, occasionally playing with it to remind everyone of his defiance. One day Dylan would have to permanently end his employment, but unfortunately, not anytime soon. Tyr was the only reason that all Nietzschean Prides had joined his Commonwealth, and Dylan needed the traitorous bastards, much as he hated to admit it. Tyr returned his knowing glance. It was a battle both looked forward to.
His ship. His crew. His Commonwealth.
Absolute power.
"There's no ships approaching from the outer surface, no defense array, no nothing," Beka remarked, scowling in disappointment.
"Supposedly there's a Magog living down there," Harper said nervously. "He leads them."
"A Magog? A blood-sucking monster all for peace, love, and all that shit?" Beka snapped. "Interesting."
"Very interesting, but time is money here, people." Dylan interrupted coldly. "Tyr, status of nova bombs?"
"All nova bombs accounted for, sir," Tyr answered with a slight sneer.
Beka's blue eyes widened and she held her breath. Without stopping to work Harper casually stepped away from Tyr, to prevent his uniform from being stained by soon-to-be Tyr's brain splatter.
Tyr folded his massive arms. "Do not address me as though I were one of your Commonwealth lackeys, Captain Hunt. The next time you speak to or of me it will be with respect."
There was a long pause as everyone held their breaths. Even Tyr, though he would never dare admit it. Dylan, however, did not make a move for his force lance. Instead he smiled ever so slightly as he stared at the planet. "My apologies, Tyr," he said softly. "I promise to be more considerate in the future."
Everyone relaxed. "Should I open a comm channel?" Andromeda asked in open admiration. She, like all the crew, had not seen the brief spark of fury in Dylan's blue eyes.
Dylan thought for a moment, then shrugged. "By all means. Let's hear them pray for their so-called divine."
Andromeda complied. The face of a Magog appeared on the screen, his face calm. "We have no quarrel with you, Andromeda. Please leave us in peace,"he asked.
"'Please leave us in peace,'" Dylan mocked, sneering. "Fine, we'll just go meekly back to our employers and tell them we left you alone because you asked us so nicely." He snorted. "Well, we do have a quarrel or two with you, Magog. You encourage high guard officers to defect to your cause. You encourage peace and happiness for everyone, and that's simply not what my Commonwealth stands for. You're filth. A disease. Pray for my mercy." "My fate belongs to the Divine, not to you," Rev said. "If anything, I pray for your souls. The peace you shun is already there, in your hearts! Find an end to your inner turmoil-"
Dylan jerked his thumb, and Rommie cut off the channel.
"Nova bombs on stand-by, Dylan," Beka said quietly.
Dylan said nothing for a moment, thinking. "No," he said abruptly. "A quick death is far too good for them. Harper, are the pain inhibitors working on the force lances?"
"You bet, boss!" Harper answered, a shade too quickly. Dylan frowned. Harper cleared his throat and looked away. Fear shadowed his blue eyes.
Dylan smiled again. "Then by all means, all of you go down and show them how far their prayers will protect them." Dylan gripped Beka's arm, his eyes blazing with inner fire. "And show them that I am the only God in this galaxy!" Beka nodded. Just as she was about to leave, the bridge doors parted, and Trance Gemini ran through. She wore her dark purple velvet outfit, and her short blond hair unkept and messy. She looked frantically around the bridge, her purple tail twitching nervously on the floor. Her blue eyes were wide with terror. It was a Trance they had never seen before.
"You up for some hunting, Trance?" Beka asked, giving her a strained smile. Trance usually knew better then to come up to the bridge. Dylan had only hit her once in his life, but sometimes once was never enough. Trance barely gave her a passing glance, something of which made Beka very angry. Oh, yes. Another lesson in discipline was certainly due. "This is wrong," Trance declared.
"What!?" Tyr demanded, impatient to kill some Waists. He twirled his daggers.
"This," she whispered, looking around. "All this." She trembled and looked as though she was about to burst into tears.
"How?" Harper asked, honestly puzzled.
"I don't know!" She exploded, surprising all of them. "I don't know what this is!! I only know what this isn't!"
"Which is what, exactly?" Rommie asked coldly. She had never really liked Trance, or the rest of the crew in fact. Only Dylan mattered to her.
"This isn't right," Trance persisted.
Beka put her hands on Trance's shaking shoulders. Dylan was getting impatient, she knew, and frankly so was she.
Why did Trance have to be so weird? "It's okay, Trance," Beka said, her nails digging painfully into Trance's purple skin. "It's okay. You're just tired-"
"No!" Trance snapped, pulling away. "I don't know you! I don't know any of you! I used to know, but..." The rest of her words trailed away helplessly.
For a long moment no one said anything.
"Captain Valentine, I thought I made it clear to you that your crew would stay only if they caused no problems,"
Dylan said coldly. "Is there a problem?"
"No, no problems!" Harper said, greatly daring. He laughed nervously and patted Trance's bare shoulder. "Come on, Trance. Let's not scare our good Captain. Especially when our lives depends on it," he emphasized. "We'll deal with the Wayists and then we'll have a long talk in hydroponics-"
"Wayists?" she muttered. Her eyes widened. "I remember who they are! What are you-" She looked slowly at their faces. Tyr was smiling. Harper looked away. "No," she whispered. "No! Not Rev! You can't hurt him! You can't, he's our friend!" She lunged at Dylan.
"Trance!" Beka warned sharply. Tyr's grin grew even wider. Harper looked down at his station and stifled a sob. He knew without a doubt that he would never see his best and only friend alive for much longer.
Dylan's face was impassive as he expertly grabbed her wrists. "Mr. Anasazi, escort this thing to the prison deck. Familiarize her with some of the devices there."
Beka closed her eyes, but only briefly. Gulping, Harper glanced down at his scarred arms and tried not to think about the fact that he had updated those very devices recently.
"With pleasure," Tyr growled. With one hand he grabbed her purple tail and started to drag her along backwards out of the bridge.
"OW! My tail! You...you big bully! Beka, Harper, do something! This...OW! This isn't right! Do you hear me? This isn't right-" Her voice trailed off down the corridor.
Dylan snorted and rolled his eyes. Looking down, Harper and Beka quietly resumed their work.
****************************
For the longest time Dylan didn't say anything, watching the moving stars. "What am I supposed to do with you?"
Trance hesitated. Trance saw betrayal in his eyes, but most of all grief for a friend perhaps gone forever. "I don't know. Keep me around, I hope."
Dylan stared at her for a long minute. "I'm trying to find a reason to persuade me to do that, but I'm having trouble."
"Because you don't trust me," Trance said gently.
"Trust has to be earned," Dylan retorted sharply.
"So give me a chance," Trance answered firmly. Her blue eyes held grief of her own. 'Please, you have to let me stay,' they seemed to say. 'You don't know what's to come. You don't know-'
"-the future," Trance muttered sleepily. "Oh please, Dylan, I care about you all so much please let me stay!!" Gasping, she awoke curled up in a corner of her cell. She had blacked out, but not from the physical pain. Tyr had been sloppy-he had been eager to leave for the Waist home world. He had delivered a few quick punches to her side and cuts to see if she really bled red, and had scrambled off to the Maru. How long ago, she wasn't sure. Her wounds would mend, in time. Her tail was what suffered the most when Tyr dragged it down the corridors. She rubbed her swollen butt and tried to think.
What bothered her worlds more were the dreams and flashes. Trance sat up in her empty cell, trying to hold the shattered fragments of her latest dreams together. They had started in hydroponics, that much she knew. That was what prompted her to run to the bridge despite the extreme risks. But what were they, exactly? A happy crew, for one. Once, she had seen Harper and Beka actually laughing together. They barely spoke to one another now. And Dylan! Dylan was happy too. As far as she knew Dylan had never smiled before in his life. Trance shook her head in confusion. They were too real to be true. Too vivid. They were memories, shattered pieces of a life she never had...had she? It was all so strange....so terrifying. Ordinarily, she had some good insights into the future or at least some general clue as to what was going to happen. Now things were distorted, jumbled. This had never happened to her before in her life. Never had she felt so....helpless.
The latest dream frightened her. She had been starring at herself....and yet, not herself! She had golden skin and long red hair, and she wore leather of all things! Leather made her purple skin itch. And, oh Divine, she didn't have a tail, did she? Trance's eyes widened in terror and she clutched her tail as though she was about to lose it at any moment.
But what bothered Trance most was the eyes. No longer did they contain the youthful optimism or playful innocence. In its place was knowledge, and sorrow. There was no happiness in them at all, no joy. That meant that the impending future could not be good.
Under no circumstances did Trance want to be that woman.
Footsteps approached, breaking her out of her daze. Gasping, she stood, feeling the old fear come back to her. She clutched the torn threads of her velvet outfit. "Leave me alone," she whispered as a shadow drew closer. Who was it? Dylan? Tyr? "Please, I'm sorry....just don't hurt me again." she meant to sound brave but somewhere along the way those words ended in a whimper.
Harper's puzzled face peered out of the darkness. "Hurt you? My Purple babe? Are you really going nuts?" Shaking his head, he opened a sparky can and poured the contents over the open circuit port. With a sizzle the containment shield dissolved. "Now why would I want to do that to my best friend?" He asked, sitting down next to her.
Trance hugged him. "Harper, am I glad to see you!!!"
"Don't thank me yet. I...ah, didn't really know what to get, so I brought a bit of everything," Harper said, taking out a small folded cloth. He opened it, revealing assorted medical gear.
Trance looked through them, and found one that could repair cuts. She applied it to her wrist. Smiling, she gave Harper an affectionate peck on the cheek.
Harper's smile quickly disappeared. He clear his throat. "Look, Trance, Dylan's mad now, but he won't be for long. You're the only one that keeps us alive. You just have to avoid him for the next few days...it'll all be good again..."
There was something in his voice that made Trance very concerned. She noticed that his clothes were grubby and stained with dirt and blood. There was a yellowish bruise on his cheek, above his stubby chin. "Harper, what happened?" She asked, touching his shoulder.
Harper flinched and moved away. "Nothing," he muttered. But Trance could tell it was more then that. "Harper, what is-" she stopped and sniffed the air. She could almost taste the alcohol. "Harper, have you been drinking!?" She shouted, astonished.
Harper shrugged, looked down and sighed. "Look, it just keeps the nightmares away, okay? I promised you that I would stop, and I will. It's just....it won't end, Trance. He won't stop."
"Dylan?" Trance asked, but Harper was already talking.
"We killed them, Trance! We killed every single one of them," he shivered. "The Magog....he suffered the most, I think. He was starring right at me as Tyr and Beka slowly gutted him, right until the life drained out of his eyes." He took a deep trembling breath. "So what was all that deal on the bridge?" he asked quickly.
Trance stood. "I don't know," she admitted, leaning against the wall. "It's just...lately everything's so weird and well....icky. I've been having these visions...of us doing things, and being places where we've never been before." Harper stared at her, concerned. "So...you don't remember anything? How we hooked up with the Andromeda after we got scammed? How we fought the Neizschens, the Magog World ship just lately?"
"No," Trance said, frowning. "Wait, yes...and no. I remember doing those things, Harper, I just don't think we did it the way you're thinking!"
"What other way would there be?" Harper asked, getting rapidly puzzled.
"Things....things are the same...and yet different. Basic people are the same, basic personalties are the same, and basic events are the same....but they're just...just...wrong!"
"Trance, I really want to help you, really I do! But you're not making any sense at all. How exactly are we wrong?" Harper asked gently.
"I don't know!" Trance almost screamed. She leaned her head back. "It seems that whatever's affecting you is affecting me as well. But...I know I'm not crazy, Harper! I know that I'm on to something." She closed her purple eyes and tried to think. "Sometimes I get these flashes...you know that, right?"
Harper nodded. "Of the future."
"Right, but when I get those flashes....I'm looking at us, and yet not us! Only Dylan had a high guard uniform! And...me especially. I'm wrong! I have long red hair...and eyes filled with sorrow." She shook her head and sighed. "I carried daggers, Harper! I never once used a dagger in my life!"
"What else?" Harper asked.
Trance stared at him for a moment thoughtfully. "You were happy. We all were. And none of us butchered innocent lives. In fact I'm pretty sure we defended them against people like us."
Harper burst out laughing. And he didn't stop.
"Harper?" Trance asked, concerned.
"Dylan Hunt, the black tyrant, giving a damn about the universe!?" He managed to sputter. He kept on laughing until his face was turning a dangerous shade of purple.
"Harper, stop!" Trance shouted, slapping him on the back. She punched him in the chest. "Dammit, breathe Harper!"
Finally, Harper did stop and took a long deep breath. He coughed. "Sorry," he said. "I just didn't know I could do that anymore." He giggled, a high-pitch nervous giggle of one who was slowly going insane. "They should give little warnings-laughter can be hazardous to y-your h-h- heath..." the last words were spoken in a sob.
Trance said nothing for a moment. "We're a real mess, aren't we?" she asked him gently. The whole galaxy was a mess, and they were supposed to fix it. At least, that's the impression that Trance was getting from her visions. She didn't tell Harper that for fear that she might set him off again.
Harper laughed. "Ever since Earth I thought my life couldn't get any worse." He leaned his head back. "Now I know. The whole universe is suffering because of me."
"That's not true," Trance protested.
"Isn't it?" Harper retorted. "I made the nova bombs, Trance! The pain inhibitors, the shields, the avatar of Andromeda, everything!" He cursed bitterly. "Sometimes I wished you hadn't gotten those Magog larva out of me."
Trance frowned. "Wait."
"What?" Harper demanded.
She shook her head. "Nothing. Well, something, I just can't put my finger on it yet."
Harper sighed. "If I had any courage I would destroy this ship. Blow it from the inside out. Or maybe a virus. A terrible, lingering virus. But-"
"-you love Andromeda," Trance finished.
"And I'm a coward," he sighed again. "A beaten, run-down, still-incredibly-good- looking-somehow devil's little monkey shit." Tears ran silently down his face.
Softly, Trance caressed his face. She knew for a fact that there was a time, or a place when Harper had a fighting spirit, stronger then Dylan's or even Tyr's. But that spirit was almost gone, diminished in a haze of liquor and, most of all, pain. Soon there won't be nothing left to fight for, nothing left to believe in. Another wrong casualty in a billion.
Trance was determined to change that. That, if nothing else. "No," she said out loud. "This is not going to happen."
Harper blinked. "Wha-?"
"Harper, if there's one thing I'm sure of, things are wrong. How they're wrong, and why they're wrong, I don't know. But I know that anything has to be better then this."
Harper was already shaking her head.
"It has to," Trance repeated firmly. "And we are going to find out what went wrong. Why this is happening." "We?" Harper asked skeptically. He shook his head. "Oh, no! What part of 'devil's little monkey shit' did you not understand?"
"Harper-" Trance began.
"I'm terrified of them, Trance!" Harper exploded. "Tyr and Beka and Rommie, but most of all Dylan! He'll probably kill me if he found out I was doing this!" He stood and angrily looked away.
Trance waited a moment. "Harper," she said patiently. "Why are you doing this now?"
Harper blinked, and sighed heavily. "Because you're my purple babe."
"And?" Trance prompted.
"And my friend," Harper finished, resigned. He shook his blond head. "But Trance, even if I can help you, how!?
Where do we find these things out? Where do we start? We don't even know what to look for!"
For the longest time Trance said nothing. Then her eyes lifted. "There might be a way," she suddenly said.
****************
Alone in his quarters Dylan Hunt sat drinking very heavily. It was impossible for him to get drunk like that weakling Harper, his genetic coding forbid himself to be intoxicated. But that didn't mean that he wouldn't try. Out on the bridge he was tough, and mean. No one knew him. No one understood his pain, not even that slut Beka Valentine. Softly he caressed the picture on the table in front of him. No one understood what he had suffered....
His wife-beautiful, caring Sarah. She had stood faithfully by his side, and how did he repay her? By leaving her three hundred years in the future. She had appeared to him, only once more through a black hole. Dylan smiled slightly. She was there to rescue him from this hell. But only one slight problem-she was still in the past.
Dylan had been desperate enough to do anything. He had even asked Harper for help. But Harper could not find a successful way to bring her back. And so they had left her. Just like that. Dylan made sure that Harper repeatedly knew the full penalty for his stupidity. And now, two days ago, he received another transmission as they approached another black hole. His wife, Sarah, was killed in a battle not long after he had seen her.
Killed by Nietzscheans. Kodiak Pride, if you wanted to be exact. Tyr's little gang. The door suddenly chimed. Dylan put the photo face down on the table and cleared his throat. "Come in." The doors opened, and Tyr, people of all people, stepped through. "The boy has released his little girlfriend." When he received no reply Tyr continued. "I thought that you might like to be informed."
Dylan said nothing, just stared at Tyr.
"Will you not punish them?" Tyr asked him, puzzled. Dylan looked down at his glass and drunk from it slowly. It was blood wine.
"Do what you will," he finally said softly.
Seeing no other response was coming, Tyr left.
Dylan watched him go, hate and unimaginable fury in his blue eyes. He was going to kill him.
***********************
From the machine shop Harper sat cross-legged with assorted parts in his lap. Every now and then his bloodshot blue eyes would stray to the half-empty beer on the shelf. Gods, he wanted a beer. He so wanted a beer. He really, really, needed a freaking beer- "Are you done yet?" Trance asked him, untangling assorted wires. She sniffed in disgust. The entire ship was a mess. Obviously no one had gotten around to maintenance lately. Rommie's paint was peeling, and junk littered the entire deck. She had seen no robots around. None at all.
Harper cleared his throat and gave her a patient look. "I'm working on it. It's been a few months since I remember doing this, okay?"
Trance put her purple hands up harmlessly. "Okay! Sheesh."
"Thank you," Harper said, but his eyes never strayed from the beer for long.
After a few minutes, he stood. "All right," he said. "I think I got this sorted out. Now, are you sure you want to do this? You've never been in cyberspace before-"
"I can do this," Trance assured him.
Harper plugged in a wire to his dataport. "All right, then," he said. "Let's go."
He closed his eyes....
*********************
Two blue balls of bright light flew down to the information universe, hit the floor, and abruptly re-materialized into Harper and Trance. "Whheeeee!" Harper gasped happily. "I've forgotten how much fun that was!" "Ugh," Trance said, holding her stomach. "Is it possible to be sick in the information universe?" As it turns out, it was. "I hope that doesn't corrupt anything," Harper remarked, wrinkling his nose.
Trance wiped her mouth and looked around. "Is this....is this Andromeda?" She whispered.
"No," Harper said, standing. "I don't dare go in her nowadays. This is my own little program, similar to Andromeda, but much easier to access." He looked down. "I haven't been here in months." He closed his eyes. "Accessing Archive...." A thousand imagines suddenly flashed before them. They didn't stop. "Um...Harper, can you slow it down a bit? I'm afraid I might get sick again," Trance gulped.
"You just were!" Harper said.
Trance stared at him through sick eyes, her skin a paler shade of purple. "Don't think I can't again. On you."
Harper shook his head. "Sorry, I've just gotten used to it all..." He slowed down the images. "All right, these are all our logs. Each one of us. I still really think it's a waste of time, though-there are tons of kilowads of information here. It'll take a while to sort through it all."
Trance shrugged. "Let's start from now and go back."
Harper complied. The face of Tyr Anasazi appeared. "Today's raid was a complete success, particularly against the Waist Magog. First, I slit his stomach and poured his intestinal track in a-"
The next words were too much for Trance. Turning her head, she was sick again.
"I never knew Tyr could be so vivid," Harper remarked dryly. He saw her face and sighed. "Going back."
The next two hours were spent reviewing everyone's logs, including their own. Wisely, they decided to skip over Tyr who seemed determine to discuss his kills in great detail.
"Wait. Stop." Trance ordered. "What's that log?" She pointed.
Harper activated it.
Dylan's face appeared. "-raid on the planet was a complete disaster. The Tolbarians people were entirely a peaceful people despite their vast technology and were more then able to stop our assault. Reluctantly, we have decided to press on-"
"I don't remember that," Harper said, frowning.
Trance's eyes widened as she saw-
********************
"-Do I really have to go?" Harper complained for the sixth time as he brushed dust off his light green jacket.
"Yes," Beka said impatiently. "The delegates wanted to see all of us-all, which includes you Seamus. And that means, of course, that you'll be on your best behavior. Dylan really wants them to sign the charter."
"He's just eager because he's nearing the big fifty mark," Harper said. He glanced at Trance. "What about it, Trance? You've lived in the future. Know anything we should know?"
Trance brushed a lock of red hair away from her face. Truth be told, she had never been her before her life and had just heard about it today. Still, she leaned forward and whispered in Harper's ear, "Only that there are some very lonely woman down there."
Harper's eyes lit up. "Pretty woman?"
"Beautiful," Trance assured him.
"YAHHHH!!!!" Harper shouted, standing. "What are we waiting for? Let's go now!"
Beka rolled her eyes. "He really needs a girlfriend."
From across the room Dylan Hunt was talking to the avatar Andromeda. "I'm sorry you can't come, Rommie, but they don't consider robots as people. Besides, we might need some help in case things go wrong."
"They won't, I'm sure," Trance remarked.
She never knew how wrong she was.
***********************
Harper turned from watching the logs. "Trance?" He asked her.
Sighing, Trance fainted in his arms, her purple forehead glistening with sweat.
Harper decided that it might be a prudent time to leave the information universe.
**********************
Moments later Harper handed her a wet cloth. "Are you sure you all right?" He asked her.
"Yes," Trance said. "It's just....that's never happened to me before! They just seem to be getting worse and worse." She took a deep breath. "We need to find that planet. Try to contact it."
"The only way would be on the bridge," Harper remarked. He paused. "Wait. There's an information database in Beka's quarters, I think. I think it also has a com link-"
Trance nodded. She really don't want to go back to the bridge or cyberspace again. "Let's go," she said.
***********************
Moments later they were in Beka's quarters. Trance couldn't help but be astonished. Everywhere, there were rich silk dresses all over the place and a makeup shelf so vast it seemed to take up half the room. Trance coughed as the overwhelming smell of perfume went down her nose. She felt her lungs burn.
"I know," Harper said, pulling up a chair in front of a table. "To think that I actually respected her..." He activated the database. "All right, pulling up information on this planet..." he paused.
"What?" She asked him.
"It's destroyed," Harper said. "Would you believe it? The bloody world's destroyed! Internal implosion from some sort of nuclear disaster!" He kicked the table angrily. "That just happened yesterday! That's just not freaking fair!"
"No, it isn't," Trance said, frowning. Now what were they going to do? "We might be able to go to the wreckage-"
"Hang on," he said quickly. "Someone just transferred thrones into Beka's personal account. Give me a moment-"
"Harper, we don't have time to look through Beka's personal stuff!" Trance snapped, still biting back her anger and disappointment.
"No..." His eyes widened and he whistled. "Take a look at this number! Five hundred billion thrones!? Where could she possible earn so much money-" He began to backtrack further along the records. He suddenly stopped and his face paled.
"Harper?" Trance asked, touching his shoulder. "Harper, what is it?"
"She's-" Harper swallowed. "She's selling nova bombs! My nova bombs! Another account says that she's spending most of her money on flash! Hang on, maybe I can figure out who's she selling them to-"
"Harper, stop!" Trance ordered nervously. She had a pretty good idea who she was selling them to, and didn't want Harper to know. He stopped typing. "The Nietzscheans," he said softly.
Trance looked away. "She's selling them to the Nietzscheans so they can use them against Earth." Harper said slowly. "Of course you know what this means."
"What?" Trance asked, her voice barely a whisper.
Harper looked up at her.
Trance fell back a step. She had never seen such hatred, such terrible hatred in his blue eyes.
"I'm going to kill her," he said, and smiled. The doors suddenly opened, and Tyr Anasazi emerged, holding a very heavy gun.
"Harper, Trance," he said, grinning. He armed his gun and pointed it at both of them. "My two favorite people." Trance's blue eyes widened as Tyr fired. Harper fell back from his chair as the first blast struck him.
There were pivotal moments in one's life when one had no choice but to act. When all reason, logic, and sense of hope was removed, only a primal force remained that demanded a quick and immediate solution to a very bad situation. Usually, this force overrode any thought of consequences for those actions. Trance was having one of those moments now. Through her blue eyes everything happened in incredible slow motion. Tyr spoke, armed his gun, and fired at them. The first blast struck Harper's shoulder blade and he fell, the chair sliding out from below him. With one hand he grabbed the table, spilling it's contents to the ground. He screamed in agony as the smell of burned flesh and blood entered Trance's nostrils. Trance looked to Tyr, who was grinning and slowly rearming the weapon. Turning, she grabbed Harper's good arm, and ran with incredible strength to the adjacent wall. She waved her hand, once, and the entire wall seemed to open before them. Abruptly they dived straight through it as the second blast struck above them and hit the ceiling. The wall turned back into it's regular shape before Tyr could even blink. Tyr was more then a tad surprised.
************************************
Harper and Trance both collapsed to the ground of the open corridor with a grunt. Trance rolled to her feet and bent over to Harper's still form. "Harper? Harper!?" Harper moaned. Fearfully Trance peeled away his uniform and examined his shoulder. It wasn't bad, but left untreated it could fester into something serious. They needed to get to medical, and Trance knew for a fact that Tyr wouldn't stay stunned for long, nor it would take him long to figure out where they were. With a grunt Trance lifted Harper, noticing for the first time how skinny he was. But Trance barely had strength of her own, and her power was nearly spent. Shaking her head fearfully, she dragged him down the passageway.
***********************************
Tyr touched the wall that Harper and Trance had disappeared through. For the first time he realized that the girl truly had power. A new respect came for an unknown opponent, and caution. But the girl also had the same frailties that humans had. She wouldn't abandon the boy, and he would almost certainly slow down her escape to a crawl. Tyr grinned. What seemed as a simple murder now was a challenging hunt. He rarely had those nowadays. No, he will catch up with them. And then they will see who is the stronger.
*********************************
Trance half-carried, half-dragged Harper down through the dark levels of Andromeda. The lower levels were even worse shape then the rest of the ship. Clearly, no one ever came down here often. Assorted broken parts littered the floor, and sparking cables were the only source of light. She made it halfway to med-deck when her strength finally gave out and both collapsed to the ground. Trance looked down at herself. Her purple velvet outfit was torn in assorted places, and Harper's blood soaked her skin and blond hair. She was a mess. And she knew that Tyr was only minutes away. Applying pressure to Harper's shoulder, Trance looked around.
"Rommie?" She called out. "Rommie!?" The hologramatic version of Andromeda appeared and said nothing, waiting. Trance was panting for breath. "Harper needs help, and Tyr's trying to kill us! Can you send down one of your robots to help him?"
Andromeda pretended to mull it over, chewing her lip. "No," she finally said. "I think I would rather watch you two die." And disappeared. "Internal defenses active on level 18 in one minute," she heard broadcasted over the levels.
Trance heard Harper stir. He rolled his head and opened his eyes briefly.
"Harper?" Trance whispered. Just as soon as he had woken up, he seemed content to fall asleep again.
"Harper!" Trance snapped, shaking him. "Harper are you all right?"
"Am I all right?" Harper muttered sleepily. "Gee let me think about that for a moment....no! Of course I'm not freaking all right!" He coughed.
Trance looked up in concern. She could almost hear Tyr's heavy boots coming down the corridor. "Harper, look, I can't carry you anymore-"
"Then go," Harper snapped, turning away. "Leave me alone."
She forced him to look at her. "Damn it, Harper, if you want to live you have to stand on your own two feet!" "Live?" Harper said, and laughed.
"My shoulder is shot to hell, a gazillion deaths on my hands, a crew that beats me regularly, what exactly is there to live for?" "Internal defenses active in thirty seconds." Rommie said.
Trance bit her lip. She had to do something very mean, and she hated herself for doing so. "So is that what your parents died for by the Nietzscheans? So that you could die a sobbing coward in your own blood?"
It worked, but only a little. Trance could see a spark of life in Harper's eyes, but was just as soon about to burn out. "I'm done in, Trance. I've lived a shitty life. Death has got to be better." He brightened. "Maybe I'll see my folks-"
Trance needed to discourage that train of thought. Fast. "You're wrong, Harper. There's one reason you have to live." Harper glanced at her. Trance's harsh mask broke, and she looked as though she was about to burst into tears. "I'm....I'm s-so scared, Harper. Please, you have to live. If you leave me..." she looked down. "I don't know if I can go on. I really don't." There was a long moment of silence. "Internal defenses active in fifteen seconds," Rommie said. "All right," Harper said. "Help me stand." Trance lifted him up. "We gotta get to medical-" "No, we need to get to machine shop 14," Harper said, shaking his head. "Machine shop 14? What's there?" Trance asked him. "A plan." "Internal defenses active."
********************************
With Trance's help Harper stumbled into machine shop 14. He sat heavily down on a chair. "First I need to deactivate the damn internal defenses. That last one was too close." Nodding, Trance looked around the machine shop. She had been here, recently. She lifted a white dusty clothe over a familiar looked machine. She knew it, somewhere. "Harper, what's this?" Harper barely gave it a passing glance. "The Tesseract machine. Ah, here we go! Internal defenses gone, at least for now." He focused in closer. "Now all we have to do is get rid of one Nietzschean brute...."
********************************
Tyr bent down and fingered the small splashes of blood on the ground. They were leaving a fine blood trail to machine shop 14. He was only minutes away now. Once he was there he would finish the boy and have a few fine words with one certain little purple bitch- Andromeda instantly appeared. "Tyr, Dylan needs you in command right away."
Tyr looked up, bloodlust in his brown eyes. "Now? Tell him I'll be right there." He moved towards the machine shop 14.
"That isn't the way to the bridge," Andromeda said pointedly.
Tyr gave an irritated sigh. "I have business of my own to complete."
"Dylan gave you a direct order. If the crew on this ship knows what is best for themselves, they'll follow those orders promptly." She tilted her head. "Otherwise, the next person I'll arm my internal defenses at will be you."
Tyr said nothing for a moment. Finally, with a grin he lowered his weapon. His prey could wait for a few minutes, he supposed. It's not as if they could leave anyway. The Maru was damaged beyond repair, and there were no new escape pods ever since the boy had progressed into a stupor every hour of every day. "Very well. I'll see what our good Captain Hunt wants, since we're all concerned with our best interests." Turning, he left. Whatever Dylan Hunt needed, it had better be damned important. Otherwise, heads might roll.
**********************************
Trance helped Harper onto the bed in the medical bay. "Nice work," she complimented.
Harper gave a weak smile. "A fake transmission to Rommie's com signal....it worked even better than I had hoped. I haven't....haven't stood up against any of them in months. It feels good."
"Better then alcohol?" She asked him.
Harper's eyes strayed over to the assorted collection of beer cans. He looked away. "I think it is." He said, and suddenly winced.
Trance took a look at his shoulder again. It was starting to get infected already. Turning, she looked through her assorted medical gear. She hadn't gotten any new supplies in months. Damn-was she out of everything? She found nothing that could heal him, but she found something that could stop the infection and dull the pain. Trance held the tiny needle in her hands in hesitated. Harper was allergic to a type of this medication, but she couldn't remember which brand. Firmly she looked up. She had no real choice.
Without warning she stabbed it into Harper's bad arm. Harper yelped. "Ow! Trance!"
"Sorry," she said, looking down as she applied a bandage. There would be questions soon, she knew, questions as to how they went through the wall. And when that happened Trance would have to explain, explain everything. She had no other real choice. But could he handle it? Handle-
"Can I ask you something?" Harper said suddenly.
Trance swallowed and didn't look up. "What?" she asked.
Harper rubbed the back of his neck. "How exactly did we escape from Tyr? I'm trying to remember but I must have blacked out the moment I hit the floor-"
"Oh. Oh!" Trance said, greatly relieved. She sat by him. "Well, it's very simple really."
Harper waited expectantly.
"Well! You see, Tyr had us cornered, as you know," she stalled. "And then, you rushed him as he fired, which was very, very brave by the way-"
Harper frowned. "It doesn't sound like something I would do."
"Well, there was the fact that he had to reload, which you knew would happen, so you tackled him to the ground-"
"A man four times the size of me?" Harper asked.
"You.....um, you grabbed his legs and tripped him! The gun went flying, and you sort of hit him again and again with your fist, providing a distraction which gave me to ran out into the hall. And then, he tried to get up but you kicked him with a vision blow to the head!" Her voice grew more confident as she warmed up to the story. "You should have heard, him, Harper! He was practically begging for your mercy, well as far as Nietzscheans go. I eventually had to pull you away from him, and we both ran!"
"Oh," Harper said, frowning. "So why didn't I grab the gun-"
"Jammed. It was jammed. Useless," Trance said quickly.
"So why can't I remember-"
"Well, like you said, everything got kind of foggy. So um....sounds right, doesn't it?"
Harper's face grew more confident. "Yeah," he said, pumping his fist. "Yeah! I definitely remember showing that weak Nietzscheans some of my moves! He's not all tough and buff, and I bet most of that muscle's fake, anyway! You shouldn't have pulled me away, though," he said, starring at her sternly. "I would have handled him."
"I was worried about your wound," Trance said, patting his leg, when suddenly she saw-
********************************
"I am so sick of this," Harper sighed, holding a glass of champagne and looking completely out of place in his formal wear. "So far, I haven't seen no babes on this rock at all! Trance, you lied to me!"
"I didn't lie. And stop fidgeting!" Trance said, setting her glass down and straightening his tie with her golden hands. "For all we know fidgeting could be a whole new language to these people."
"You don't have to watch over me, you know. I don't need a baby-sitter," Harper protested. "This planet is so dull it's not as though I could even get into trouble if I wanted to. It's the most boring place I've been too." Pouting, he sat down in his chair.
Trance considered it very beautiful, with crystal-like walls and golden rimmed cushion. In the room were a small group of delegates. As she watched Beka Valentine approached, her arms linked with Tyr Anasazi.
"Beka! I would never believe it of you," Harper remarked, standing and fidgeting again.
Beka rolled her blue eyes. "Dylan wants us to emphasize that humans and Nietzscheans can live in peaceful co-existence with one another." She smiled at him. "At least I have a date."
Harper looked around. "Well, Trance just happens to be my date!" He said, quickly grabbing her before she could run off. "It's true! She won't leave me alone even when I ask her too. I guess she can't get enough of the Harper charm."
"I asked her to watch over you," Beka said sharply. "After that incident last summer-"
"Oh please. Make a few helpful suggestions and Dylan blames me for that little war-" Harper retorted as the room chimed, signaling the presence of someone entering. Dylan approached with a beautiful woman in his arms. "However..." Harper began, stepping forwards.
Trance grabbed the back of his collar. "I'm your date, remember?" She said sweetly. She knew how important this alliance was for Dylan. For the past few months they had been fighting Nietzscheans, Magog, and a whole assortment of other species. They could use a break.
"Good, I'm glad you're all here," Dylan said. "First Prime Adara, may I introduce my crew-Beka Valentine, Tyr Anasazi, Seamus Harper, and Trance."
"Trance," the woman said, starring at Trance curiously. "An unusual name, but I suppose not strange for an unusual species. I met one of your kind before, I believe."
"I really don't think so, First Prime," Trance said modestly, starring at Adara with equal puzzlement. Adara had long, shimmering light blue hair that curled down to her waist, with cold violet eyes. Not unusual for her people, but what struck Trance was the moment of inner joy in them as she turned to Dylan.
"Captain, I have heard many things about all of your people. A truly remarkable crew," she said. "All from violent backgrounds and with no particular loyalties save to one another-and yet you have stood together for two years now."
Dylan smiled. "We're all dedicated to the same cause, First Prime. Uniting a new Commonwealth and promise everlasting peace for everyone is what we all want."
"Isn't it?" First Prime murmured, but her eyes went straight back to Trance. "And yet you give no consideration for the people not suited to your goals." She said, but the comment was directed to Trance.
"I can assure you, First Prime, that the Commonwealth is there for anyone that wants it," Dylan said, puzzled. "We hold no favorites. For the past year we have united Nietzscheans, Perseids-"
"A truly remarkable challenge," First Prime continued. "I look forward to it." She nodded to her aides. Immediately they took out their weapons.
"Wait-" Dylan said, when they fired. They convulsed as a blue beam stun them. Trance recoiled backwards as the beam struck her through her leather. Dazed, she fell to the ground, different shades of grey altering her vision.
The last thing she remembered with First Prime standing over her, saluting her with the glass. "Truly remarkable," she said.
***************************
"Trance?" Harper prompted.
Trance blinked and nearly fell. She gripped the table tightly with a purple hand. "We have to go to that planet. It's what caused all of this. I definitely know it now!"
Harper hesitated. "But Trance, that planet is destroyed. I really don't think Beka falsified the records on this one. Rotten luck, but-"
"Yes, rotten luck," Trance muttered. "Almost too damn rotten, if you ask me." Taking deep breathes, she sat next to him. Her eyes narrowed in thought. "There is a way. There has to be. Something I remember in one of my previous visions....and...something you said-"
'Sometimes I wish you hadn't gotten these damn Magog larva out of me-'
"That's it!" Trance said, snapping her fingers. "The Tesseract machine!"
"Excuse me?" Harper asked her.
Trance's grin froze. "You don't know what that is?"
"Yes. A device which can transport you back in time," Harper said, surprising her. "I remember building it, but I never actually used it. Way too dangerous, especially without the Perseids around anymore to help us."
"Then how did you get those larva out?" Trance asked him, truly curious. He stared at her as though she was going crazy. "That black hole....those people I met in there, remember? Larva dying of old age....oh, never mind. The point is, Tesseract changes time. It doesn't change reality."
"I know, but if we set it to go back a few days, we can take the Maru and go back to the planet before the accident-"
"All right, maybe, just maybe that'll work. But the time distortions would be everywhere. We can't even hope to guess where they lead to. We could be going further back into the past then we want to, or worse, into the future," he shivered. "And I can barely stand the present as it is."
Trance shook her purple head. "There has to be a way-" she suddenly saw Harper's eyes light up. "What? What is it?"
Harper shook his head. "Nothing. You know me-always dumb, ideas that never work."
"Harper..." she said, a note of warning in her voice.
"Forget it, Trance!" Harper exploded. "I don't want to do this anymore." He held up a finger. "Five minutes of helping you and I get shot and I'm pretty sure I'm also feeling withdrawal from the alcohol as well. This whole idea of yours....it's crazy!" He leaned forwards. "This is reality, Trance! You're seeing things only because you want there to be something better! Well, there isn't! Reality sucks, Trance. Reality is hell! But it is our reality!" He sighed. "Tyr's already out to get us, but maybe....maybe if I talk to Beka, she'll listen-"
"Harper, no, you can't think like that!" Trance shouted, standing. "All right, even if this our reality, you've come so close to being your own person again! You've stood up against Tyr and Rommie-"
"Do you know what happened the first day I shot off my mouth of the Andromeda!?" Harper demanded. "They tortured me. Slowly. Beka and Tyr beat the living crap out of me. I almost died. But that was nothing compared to what Dylan did to me if he was ever ticked off with me." His face paled. "I couldn't save his wife, Trance! I tried so hard....Dylan did everything terribly imaginable to me he could find. Viruses that chewed at your inner organs. Technobugs that lived under your skin that sent little shocks every now and then. By the end of it I gave up trying to think. Trying to breathe. Trying to live." He glanced at the beer cans for a moment, then said, "So yeah, I'm a little nervous about having a personal opinion. And this is stupid. And I'm out of here!" He turned to go to the door.
"Have an opinion now," Trance said softly, "even if it is your last. Harper, is leaving me what you really want to do, or are you just afraid?"
Harper paused, his hand just millimeters away from the controls. He stared at her. "We don't have a chance," he said quietly.
Trance nodded and walked in front of him. "I know," she said. "But neither if we return back to them. Back to our hell." She waited a moment. "So, what do you want to do?"
A flicker of life sparked in Harper's blue eyes. An opinion. "I want..." he said, and paused. "I....w-w-want this to end, T-T-T-" And burst into tears.
Trance hugged him, then, tightly. "It's okay, Harper. We'll find a way. I promise you, we'll find a way."
******************************
Harper stood alone in engineering, the place he had never been to in months. It was deathly quiet and cold. He shivered. He now faced her. Andromeda. Older, perhaps not wiser, and perhaps begging for suicide. But for the first time, he faced her with a clear head. He walked up the ramp. "To be able to figure out these time shifts, I have to send robotic cameras through the different time zones, and see what they are from there," he remembered saying to Trance. Simple enough. Only one catch-to do that, to activate the Tesseract entirely and the robots, for that matter, he would need power, and to do that he would have to interface with Andromeda. The bitch herself. The last time he had tried to interface with her, when he was drunk of course, she had sent him a jolt that almost killed him. He doubted she would be so merciful next time. But next time was here. Now. Harper had never felt so afraid.
*****************************
Trance left medical to go to the machine shop where the Tesseract machine was. Instantly she was surrounded by a blue vortex and abruptly thrown onto the metal grating of the Eureka Maru. She stood and activated the com. "Harper...they've already started." Silence for a long moment. "Harper?" She asked fearfully. The com crackled to life. "I'm here," he said. "Yeah, looks like since we're planning to activate the Tesseract in the future, it's already started in the past. That's good...sort of. Anyway, it looks like you've only been transported a few seconds into the future. You were extremely lucky. Try and stay where you are." Trance nodded, when another blue vortex opened up next to her. She was abruptly thrown backwards onto the grating. The com crackled again. "Hold on...I'm reading a second time disruptancy from engineering...it's not coming from our end," his voice quickened with panic. "I can't shut it down! It's-" the last of his words were dissolved in static. Her eyes wide with terror, Trance crawled backwards along the metal grating. Slowly a dark figure emerged from the blue field. The vortex closed, and Trance looked up at the stranger. She was short, with long red hair and golden skin. Even in her confusion Trance had no trouble identifying her at all. Her mouth opened, but no words came out. "So," her future self said simply. "Here we are again."
Grinning happily, Harper put on his dusty green jacket he had left in engineering months ago. It looked more then a little strange over a black, Commonwealth High guard uniform, but more then anything Harper wanted some color back in his life. After so many months of darkness he was finally seeing color for the first time. He looked around the engineering room. It was in sad need of repair. The walls had peeled into an unnatural color, and portions of the floor felt bouncy. Recent attacks had stripped it of any dignity it had left, and only a few lights actually worked. Grey robots with broken arms and legs moved around pitifully trying to repair things. The slipstream core sounded worse then he did when he was sick. God, how long had it been since he was in here last? He walked uneasily down the huge room. He approached a familiar woman with her back turned to him. It was the ship's avatar. "Rommie?" he asked, tapping her shoulder. Rommie turned, and Harper jumped backwards in fright. Andromeda looked like hell! Portions of her brown skin had peeled away, revealing a silver color underneath. Huge clumps of her black hair had fallen out, and she was missing one eye. "H-H-H-Harper," she stuttered. "H-Human. Cl-Class one-five-nine-" she brushed past him and limped away, trying in vain to fix the ship like the rest of the robots. Harper watched her go, feeling nothing but pity and self-loathing for himself.
*************************************
Tyr was more then a little upset. Not only had he been ordered to go to the bridge by a machine, but actually going to the bridge proved to be a more tedious task then anticipated, particularly when each step he took led him to another time. It might have been hours, or perhaps only minutes when he finally stepped onto the bridge, his shirt torn and stained from Kaldarians and Magog alike. A hunt he appreciated. Being thrust into an unexplainable situation was something he very much did not like. And he had no doubt as to who did that to him. Who else would have? "You asked for me, sir," Tyr snarled, approaching Dylan Hunt. One hand reached casually for his blaster. The same hate was reflected in Dylan's eyes.
**********************************
"All right, Rommie," Harper said, attaching a wire into his data port. "Be nice." A second later he was in Andromeda's main computer core in cyberspace. He whirled around, feeling tons of information brush past him. He had forgotten how big it was.
He heard a voice from all around him. "I am Andromeda, a 10-class warship. My power is absolute. Thousands of planets bow down to my regime. I am absolute...."
"Harper," he heard her say. He turned.
Andromeda's huge digital face instantly appeared, and she held Harper under her hand. She sneered. "I warned you what would happen if you came back here!"
Harper could literally see the electricity building up in her huge brown eyes. "Woah, wait a minute!" He protested, holding up his hands. "Just listen for a moment. We have a very, very bad situation here!"
Andromeda frowned. "What kind of situation?" She demanded impatiently.
"Um......" Harper stammered. It never really occurred to him how to explain it. He saw her eyes widen. "Wait, stop! Interface with my mind!" He blurted out.
Andromeda frowned. "Excuse me? I would much rather kill you!"
"I have no doubt, but it's the only way you'll find out what's going on," Harper said quickly. "And, it's the only way you'll find out if I'm telling the truth, because right now I almost don't believe it myself!"
Reluctantly Andromeda closed her eyes and assessed Harper's memories of the past few hours. Curiously, and not without a little disappointment, Harper felt nothing at all.
Andromeda finally opened her eyes. "It can't be true."
"I'm telling the truth!" Harper protested.
"No," Andromeda said sharply. "You believe you're telling the truth. That means nothing as to whether or not it is the truth. However...." Slowly, she set him back down onto the ground. "I also see that you truly want to help me. A human sentimental flaw, but touching nevertheless." She hesitated for a moment, then smiled a little. "It's good to talk to you again, Harper. Without the drink involved."
Harper shrugged. "Well, Trance believes in some greater future for all of us....and if it means getting out of here, then I'll do it! So do you think the plan will work?"
"It is dangerous, unpredictable, and unstable. We would be putting the crew in extreme danger." She heisted again. "However...if it means discovering the truth of this, then I agree. I'll re-route all available power to machine shop 14. What little I have left, anyway."
"Thank you," Harper said. He turned. "Hey, do you think-" When suddenly his digital self convulsed in pain and disappeared.
"Harper!" Rommie shouted in cyberspace. Harper was gone.
**********************
Screaming, Harper felt as though his entire body was on fire. He fell blindly to the ground as thousands of tiny electric blue currents danced along his body. He tore the wire out of his neck and rolled onto his back, looking up in shock. Beka Valentine met his stunned gaze, twirling the force lance she had lightly jabbed him with. "Shocked to see me?" She asked, grinning.
**********************
Trance stood slowly, bracing herself against the railing as her future self moved closer. Both circled around each other. Trance stared at her older self in astonishment. She was so different...she had a cold calculating look in her eyes, replacing the youthful optimism she had now. And...there was something else in her future version's eyes. Power, that was it. She finally found the words to speak. "You're me....from the future?" "More or less," her older self replied, smiling. "Did everything happen the way it was supposed to?" Trance whispered. Her future self smiled. "You already know the answer to that. You just don't realize it." Trance frowned. "I don't understand." "No, but you will," her future self said, an odd bitter smile in her eyes. "You will." Trance shook her head in confusion. "Look, we're trying to go back into the past so that we can find that planet-" "You'll fail," her future self said bluntly. "What!?" her younger self snapped. "How do you know this?" "Because, we're already there," Trance answered. For once in her life, Trance had absolutely no idea what was going on.
********************************
"I never called you here," Dylan said softly. "But I am glad you're here, nevertheless."
"Indeed, Captain Hunt, I think it's time we resolved some issues between us," Tyr said, circling around him, dark anticipation in his brown eyes. "Permanently. No one makes a fool of Tyr Anasazi and lives to tell about it."
Dylan gave an exaggerated sigh. "What are you talking about?"
Tyr frowned. "You know damn well what you did. You sent the little drunk to activate the Tesseract machine, didn't you? And so you hoped to throw Tyr Anasazi into some obscure time line and finally deal with your little problem forever." He shook his head in contempt. "You truly are a fool if you think that I would have never found my way back."
If Dylan was confused, he didn't show it. "Tyr, I just sent Beka to go to engineering to deal with Harper. She just contacted me a few moments ago, and she didn't report any time distortions. The Tesseract machine was dismantled months ago. You know that."
Tyr frowned. He was sick of these games. Without taking his eyes off Dylan he moved to the edge of the door where the last time distortion was. He waved his hand forward. "See-" His hand touched nothing, felt nothing. The distortion was gone. Tyr stared at the door in absolute disbelief. "It was just here," he said. His brown eyes narrowed. "Someone is playing us for fools-" When suddenly Dylan's force lance fire propelled him backwards into the wall, the fire burning into Tyr's back.
*******************************
Beka approached Harper slowly, like a cat stalking its prey. "I was expecting someone to betray us, Seamus. I just never thought it would be you." She lifted her weapon and fired. Harper dived out of the way just in time as the blast left a black mark on the ground. He rolled to his feet. For the first time he noticed her eyes were diluted with white. Flash. "Never had the guts for it!" Beka sneered. "At least I assumed that much of you, little man. Always hiding in a whiskey bottle, that was your solution to problems." "Well," Harper said. "I guess we don't know everything about each other." He moved his head out of the way just as the secound blast struck a pipe above him. Trembling, it sprayed water, soaking through Harper's uniform and jacket. "I guess not," Beka said. "In fact I liked you a lot better as a drunk." She lifted her force lance as Harper ran away. Drugged she might be, but her aim was never more perfect. She aimed playfully above Harper's head and fired. Harper ran past the android version of Andromeda. She turned. "H-H-H-" Grinning, Beka aimed at the android and fired again. She exploded in a mass of sparks and fell to the ground with a clunk. Her eyes stared lifelessly at Harper as he scrambled down a large ladder, down to the very slipstream core itself. Beka's gleeful crackle followed him like a splinter in his heart.
******************************
Beka starred down at Harper as he climbed down the massive ladder. Grinning, she nudged a box of tools over the side. She threw her force lance over her shoulder. That was too good for scum like him. Harper covered his head as tools rained down over his head. But the toolbox was too hard to protect from. It struck him squarely on the head and he slipped some ten meters below. Stunned, he collapsed to the ground. His palms were burning as most of his flesh had peeled from them when he fell. Wincing, he struggled to his feet and glanced up. Beka was already climbing her way down. Harper ran to the controls and switched off the lights. Then he scrambled through the door to the inner chambers of engineering. He grabbed the blaster from the shelf which he had abandoned eons ago. Which Beka Valentine had given to him as a present. Harper grinned, his eyes lit with dark insanity. "You may have surprised me, boss, but you're on my turf now. No one sell my weapons to use against my cousin and lives to regret it. Before this hour is over you'll know just what Seamus Zelazny Harper can do." He charged his blaster.
"And only one of us will be alive to gloat."
Onward to Part 2!
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