The Hollow Men
TITLE: The Hollow Men
AUTHOR: Natasha Bennett and Parisindy
RATING: PG-13
SPOILERS: Seasons 1 & 2
DISCLAIMER: No money was received or exchanged. I do not own Andromeda or any of its Characters. This is purely for fun.
ARCHIVE: Zion's Starfish can archive it anyone else has to ask
SUMMARY: Beka and Harper are stranded while Harper is sick and something terrible is being uncovered. Dedicated to Lauriena and Raven who have recently inspired me with their stories despite the fact that I'm writing two other ones. It's about Harper and Beka ... all spoilers apply.
The Hollow Men
There are no eyes here
In this valley of dying stars
- T.S. Eliot circa between 1888-1965 old earth calendar
Harper sneezed. Once, twice, three times.
Beka looked back over her shoulder from where she was piloting the Eureka Maru. "Harper go lie down before you fall down!"
"I'm fine boss." But as soon as he said it he was seized by a coughing fit and had to stop the repairs he was doing on a near by consul. The coughing spell left him bent over gasping for air.
Beka growled with frustration as she slammed the controls forward and initiated autopilot. Harper noted to himself that she might be spending too much time with Tyr. She jumped out of the pilot's seat and headed towards him. Suddenly realizing he might be in trouble he yelped and made for the hatch. The stupid virus had slowed his reflexes and she quickly grabbed him by the back of the shirt.
"Beka!" He whined in protest as she directed him down the hall towards the old crew quarters never letting go of his shirt.
"Nope that's it Seamus, you have a fever and you're breaking out in spots, and you're going to bed!"
He looked down at his hands noticing the spots for the first time. Red vivid spots covered his skin. "Well at least they're not bright pink like last time."
Beka sighed in frustration. They had been running errands for the Andromeda. Searching for parts for the new gravity plating Harper had said they needed. They had visited three different commerce planets and even though Harper was up to date with his anti viral injections Beka was sure her had come down with three different types of infections. He had started getting grouchy yesterday and he had a low grade fever. Now there were spots and he looked exhausted. "We need to get you back to Trance." She stated simply but forcefully.
"Ahhh no! come on Beka!!" Harper pleaded. She had promised him a day on the beaches of Samsilla a nearby tropical planet. But now when he spoke she also noted that he wheezed. He was a horrible patient. She pushed him through the archway to the crew quarters. "Seamus Harper you're confined to quarters."
'This was getting worse by the second' Harper thought to himself. Not only did he have to miss the beach he had to stay in the bunkroom. His eyes glanced around the room, which was virtually empty. It practically reeked of boredom. "Beka what if..."
She raised her hand she didn't want to hear it. "Whether you like it or not you're sick, and you need to rest." She looked at him he looked tired and deflated. Then her eyes rested on his tool belt. "In Fact ... hand it over."
"What?" he asked nervously backing away from her.
"The tool belt mister as long as you have it you won't sleep!"
Okay that was the last straw he wasn't about to give that up with out a fight. He reached over his head and pulled himself up to his bunk where she couldn't easily reach him. "Look Beka I'm resting really!"
"Harper NOW!" she growled allowing no room for argument.
Harper swore, and tossed down the tool belt, purposely only missing her head by an inch. Beka jumped out of the way of the falling tool belt.
The two glared at each other angrily. They were both stubborn but Beka knew she had won. He was pissed off but he would get over it. 'Let him pout!' she told herself has she grabbed the belt and stormed back towards command.
+++++++
An hour later she stuck her head back in to the crew quarters despite their arguing they really cared for each other and she was worried about him. She smiled when she saw his arm and his head hanging halfway off his bunk as he snored softly. She stood there for a moment wondering if she should take his temperature again when the Maru gave a sudden shudder. She grabbed the doorframe for support.
Harper woke and rubbed his eyes wearily. "What's going on?"
"I don't know stay there." She shouted over her as she quickly ran for the helm.
She gasped with surprise. The Maru had sounded no proximity alarms but the forward view screen showed the ship on a collision course with a small drift. She gripped the controls and tried to veer away but they were unresponsive. The Maru shuddered and groaned. "Hold on old girl I'll get us out!"
"We seem to be stuck in some sort of gravitational field it's pulling us towards the drift."
Beka looked back towards where Harper stood with a flexi in his hand and a blanket draped around his shoulders. "Brace for impact." She told him "we're going in."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Beka was unsure how long it was later when she finally became aware of a hand on her shoulder calling her name.
"Boss? Beka? Come on don't leave me alone here." The hand shook as Harper was overcome with coughing.
"I'm okay," She said as she slowly sat up. A smoky haze filled the ship and her own eyes watered in protest. The back of her head ached and she gently probed her skull she winced has her hand brushed a small lump she found there.
Harper frowned with sympathy. "You okay?"
"I'll live. She groaned once more and Harper helped her to her feet. It was then she noticed that blood dripped down his cheek from a small cut that lay along his hairline.
"Harper you're bleeding!"
"It's okay boss really. What happened what snagged us?"
"I'm not sure." She coughed once to clear the smoke from her throat and tried to look out the front view port. "It's awfully dark. There doesn't seem to be any movement out there."
Harper craned to look of her shoulder. "Spooky, wanna take a look?"
Beka looked unsure. She wasn't superstitious but there were a few things to consider. "Harper your hurt and sick..."
"Aww come on boss. Pleeeeease?"
Beka laughed at the absurdity of it all. "Okay, we'll go but..." she raised her finger to stop him before he excitedly bounced away, "after we get you some meds and something for that cut and we go out in E.V.A. suits.
Harper hated E.V.A. suits and made a face. "Alright fine but lets go okay!"
Beka smiled, sick or not Harper was well...Harper.
++++++++++++++++++
Harper tried unconsciously to scratch the cut on his head through his E.V.A helmet. He swore and laughed at him self. "Damn, these nanobots you injected are itchy."
"Big Baby." She joked then looked at him seriously. "Are you sure you're up to this?"
"Well I'm not about to let you go out there with out a bodyguard." Beka arched her eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Okay fine, if I start to feel really crappy I'll let you know and we'll head back okay?"
She studied him for a moment more but finally gave a nod just before she hit the airlock release. "Stay close I have the only flashlight."
Harper followed her out onto the drift he craned his neck in all directions trying to see everything at once. The darkness was deep and he could barley see more then three feet in front of him. He quickly gave up and started to wave his scanner around. "I think it's safe boss. The oxygen level is a bit low but we should be okay."
They popped open the lids to their helmets. Harper immediately started coughing and Beka made a face. "Yuck, so apparently scanners don't cover smells." She resisted the urge to gag.
Harper slowly recovered. "Ah man what died? Wait stop I don't want to know." He started to glance around again his eyes following Beka's sweeping flashlight. "Hmm."
"What?"
"This place is deserted."
"Really I hadn't noticed." Replied Beka sarcastically.
"Ha ha ha, no really. I mean if no one is here how come a tractor beam sucked us in? That kind of tech is too expensive just to leave lying around, never mind activated."
"Good point, so what do say? Find the energy source?"
Harper nodded.
Beka turned and started to lead the way down a long narrow corridor. She swore slightly as her foot slipped through a rusted out hole in the floor. "What a dump."
"You do have to admit it's a bit creepy."
"Not again Harper you earthers are so superstitious."
"Am not!"
"Then what's up with the lucky rabbit's foot?"
Harper smiled sheepishly. "What rabbits' foot?"
"The one on your tool belt."
"Oh, that rabbit's foot... well it wasn't all that lucky for the rabbit."
Beka snorted letting the conversation drop. Harper was one of the most superstitious people she had ever met.
The traveled slowly, the flashlight was unable to penetrate the darkness completely and it made the hallway seem never ending. Beka led the way the best she could as Harper took scans of the area. Beka took another cautious step forward but as she placed her boot down again there was unmistakable and sickening crunch beneath her foot. She stopped mid step and flashed the light towards her boot. She gave a sharp yell and jumped back running into Harper.
"Oomph." Was all Harper could manage at first as her elbow had connected with his solar plexus.
"Sorry." She flashed the light down again revealing to Harper a now partially crushed skull.
"Aww man, this can't be good," He groaned, "We need light and fast."
Beka flashed the light round bouncing it off the walls. "It's weird don't you think I wonder what happened here. Your scanner gave us the okay against any bio hazards." When Harper didn't respond she turned to face him her light following her eyes. The small engineer leaned against the wall with his eyes closed. "Harper?" she asked worriedly and lightly tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped slightly with surprise.
"What boss? Sorry I wasn't paying attention."
"That's it were heading back!"
"Really Beka I'm good."
"The more you say you're good the more I know you're sick. What's that saying... you protest to much."
"I really was thinking! I think I know where the breaker box is." He reached forward at took the light from her hand and started walking. "We were on that station once remember...Teflon drift."
"Telefornia."
"What ever. Anyway I was helping those station engineer guys during the power outage."
Beka nodded remembering.
"The one guy said they always but the main power core in the same spot in like 90% of the drifts. Well I don't know drifts as well as I know ships but I'm pretty sure..." Harper had reached a door and pulled it open. "Voila...eww!" A think mud green paste slid from the room onto the foot of his E.V.A. suit
Beka let out a low chuckle.
"Hey, I'm getting slimed here!"
Beka took the flashlight back and shined it into the small room. There was computer equipment everywhere. Harper let out a low whistle of appreciation. The floor was covered two inches think with the green slime. "It looked like it was once pretty high-tech... but it must be old look how decayed everything is."
Harper gingerly stepped into the room being careful not to slip. "I wonder what this stuff is... other then gross I mean." Harper stepped up to one of the counsels and pressed so much buttons with out response. "Beka, this stuff isn't old as all in fact it's all cutting edge. I saw a news reel not long ago about it. It's at the most a couple of months old."
"Harper it's impossible! Look!" She reached over to one of the computer stations and a piece of it crumbled in her hand. "Unless, maybe the green slime is corrosive."
Harper looked down at the slime on his boots concerned. "Well it's not fast acting any way. I don't know boss." He shrugged. "I don't get it."
"Can you get the lights on at least?"
"Maybe emergency back up, but we'll need to be lucky." He stepped deeper into the room disappearing behind a wall of electronics.
Beka stood in the slime-covered room glancing around nervously. Other then the one skull there was no sigh of any people. Harper was right it was creepy. "Harper?" her voice echoed slightly and there was no reply. "Now where did he go?" she whispered to her self. There was a slight sucking noise to her right like some one had taken a step. She flashed the light in that direction but there was no one there.
Here heart started to beat a little faster. "Harper?"
"Yeah boss?" Asked Harper. Beka jumped with surprise, as he appeared at her side. She slapped him on the shoulder.
"Ow. What was that for?"
"Did you find the controls?"
"Yeah I think." He rubbed his shoulder and looked at her warily. "I need your help though."
He led her over to the back corner where there was a small panel. "Can you shine the light in here? Yeah that's the spot now hold it."
He tinkered in the hole for a few seconds and then suddenly with a flicker the emergency lights came on. There weren't very bright, as all but they wouldn't need the flashlight any more. "Great Harper you did it!" But he stayed trying to fix something. "Harper they're on." Maybe he hadn't heard her.
"I know I was just looking for the air vents, it's awfully warm in here."
She pulled him out by the back of his E.V.A. suit. "Harper it's freezing I can nearly see my breath."
"He shrugged maybe my suits broken."
Beka reached forward placing her hand on his cheek. "You're burning up!" She took a good look at him. His skin was pale but it felt sticky. "Let's head back now. That's enough exploring for one day, okay?"
Harper nodded with out argument, which worried her even more. It took about ten minutes of walking but as they entered the main landing bay they both let out a gasp.
In the dark they hadn't noticed. It was an absolutely huge port. Bigger then either of them had ever seen before and it was full. There were ships everywhere. It looked like some type of war had happened or some sort of other tragic event.
"Wow," grunted Harper eventually.
But just like the computers they all looked like antiques as they were all in various levels of decay.
"OH gawd is that Mila?" Harper referred to one of the ships that Dylan had freed with the help from Ryan and Achilles a couple of months back. He made to run towards the ship.
"Whoa, sport." Beka grabbed his arm "She's not going anywhere lets look after you first."
"But Beka..."
"No. I mean it Harper." And she dragged him onto the Maru despite his protests.
Once on board Beka sealed the hatch and looked back out into the abandoned port. Nothing moved. She shivered slightly from the cold and from the feeling that she just couldn't shake that some one was watching them. She rubbed her temple once and turned to help Harper out of his E.V.A. suit.
After forcing some soup into him she injected Harper with some antibiotics and a mild sedative. "Sleep now." She ordered and she watched him to make sure he headed directly to the crew quarters. Once she was sure he was sleeping she activated internal and external sensors and crawled into her own bunk. She was nearly as tired as he was. She was asleep almost instantly and she never noticed the airlocks depressurize or that the hatch slid slowly open. The sensors detected nothing and she slept deeply.
++++++++++++++++++++
Some time later she was startled out of her sleep and on to the floor by a sudden scream. It was Harper. She tried to hurry but her legs were tangled in the blankets and she fell bruising her knees and scoring her hands. Despite it all she was in the crew quarters in under a minute.
Harper was sitting up in bed gasping for air.
"Harper what is it?" she asked alarmed.
"Boss...?" Didn't you see it? It was horrible."
"See what? Are you okay?" He was shaking, pale and sweat dripped off the end of his nose. She stood on her toes and reached up to touch his cheek. "Harper, your very hot. Can you climb down?"
Harper looked around the room suspiciously before slowly climbing down. His knees nearly buckled but Beka was there and but his arm across her shoulders. "Easy sport.... Lie down on this bunk." She helped him into Vexpag's old bed.
"Beka it's not safe!" he seemed more panicky then usual.
"Harper your sick...you're seeing things."
"It was horrible! You don't understand I didn't imagine it!" he was getting more upset so she decided to take him seriously.
"If you stay here I'll look around okay?" Harper lay back but his body did not relax. His eyes flitted rapidly around searching the semi darkness.
"It was horrible." He whispered again.
Beka looked around the empty crew quarters once again before she stood and made her way to the door. "I'll be right back."
She walked slowly. Alert just in case Harper hadn't dreamed about the monsters under his bed. He had always had nightmares but usually he kept them under control. Seeing him so rattled made her nervous. Her boots echoed with each footstep as she made her way down the hall making a slow inspection of the ship.
She even double-checked the air lock and it was sealed shut.
Her last stop was in the galley where she got a cool drink for Harper and some meds. She had seen nothing. He must have imagined it.
She reached for a hand towel but suddenly paused to look at it. It was swaying back and forth on its hook.
She shook her head and laughed to her self, grabbing the towel. Harper had her spooked there many air shaft drafts on this old ship. She must just simply not have noticed that one before she would need to get Harper to check it when he felt better.
+++++++++++++++++++
Harper jumped visibly when she re entered the room.
"Did you see it?" he asked. His eyes shone from fear and fever.
"No, whatever you saw is gone. I checked the whole ship we're locked up tight. Harper let out a long deep breath.
Beka helped him sit up to drink the water and used a hypo spray to inject some meds. "What did you see exactly?"
"They were tall...very tall...Tyr tall. Their arms were like sticks, sharp and pointy."
"There was more then one?"
"Two." He shuddered. "Uglier then a Magog bred with a Than."
Beka ignored the analogy. "Harper how could something so huge get in here?"
"I don't know." He pouted because he couldn't explain or prove it. The meds started to make him drowsy and he yawned loudly.
"Sleep." She whispered
"What if they come back?"
"I'll be awake and I'll introduce then to my blaster."
A small smile found Harper's face. "I'd like to see that." It was barely more then a whisper. He was asleep once more.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Two hours later and no sign of any monsters.
Beka sighed and huffed impatiently, shifting from foot to foot to stay awake. She had promised Harper that she would stand on guard near his quarters while he slept. It was the only way she could make him quit his protests, aside from hitting him over the head with a baseball bat. The latter was becoming more and more appealing as the long minutes dragged by. If there were any monsters on the ship, Beka thought angrily, they were certainly taking their sweet time to get to her. To make matters worse, without Harper's constant maintenance or Beka's watchful eye the Maru's thermostat systems was on the fritz again and it was almost as deathly cold as the drift the Maru was attached to.
Shaking away her goose bumps, Beka watched with a small smile as she checked up on Harper again. He came from a world which thrived on monster stories. Beka, who was born in space, didn't ever had those tales to grow up on. But ever since she had known him she had heard Harper prattle about anything-ghosts, vampires, werewolves, Frankenstein-the classics apparently, monsters whom Beka had never seen before. Beka's smile faded a little. She had seen the real monsters, whether it was out in space or inside the people she loved.
At least Harper was sleeping, even in the bitter cold. That was the important thing. Beka watched the ice-blue puffs trail out of her mouth as she breathed slowly. She shook her head. To hell with it. She needed to repair the heating systems. What Harper didn't know while he was sleeping wouldn't kill him.
She walked out of the room, unaware that a shadow above the ceiling had shifted slightly.
******************************
Harper's fevered eyes jerked open with a gasp. He instantly felt the terrible cold surrounding him and huddled onto his green blanket for warmth. What was wrong with the heating system? He groaned and tried to lift his head slightly. He felt so incredibly weak and sick. He had never felt so awful before. For the first time in a while, Harper was starting to suspect that maybe Beka was right about keeping him indoors....at least for a little while....he closed his eyes and snuggled deeper into the pillow.
The lights suddenly flickered out with a small hum. Harper lifted his head and sighed loudly. Was every system prone to break down whenever he took a nap? It was ridiculous! With one hand he threw open the blanket and sat up, fully prepared to fix the damn systems if he had to. He groped around under his mattress for his flashlight. It flickered on with a slight protest. Then, grinning, Harper dug around even further for his spare tool belt.
Suddenly he heard a clatter. He instantly whirled his light towards the noise. Two red eyes glittered back at him in the beam. He heard a hissing sound, almost exactly like a snake. The monsters. His small flashlight bounced off their skin as they moved, and with astonishment Harper saw that their bluish skin was constantly shifting, expanding and shrinking their terrible black veins.
Harper backed up towards the wall, still on his bunk as the monsters moved past him. Harper knew he needed to get out of there. Fast. When suddenly another bout of dizziness gripped him and he gripped the mattress hard, shaking his head and coughing. He wheezed.
The two monsters glanced at him, then abruptly went to the opposite wall. Harper watched, paralyzed with fear and sickness, as the monsters lifted their huge claws towards the wall.
Harper suddenly realized what they were doing. "No, don't, guys, that'll cause a-"
With the terrible sound of twisting metal one of the monsters punctured a hole through the wall and into outer space. Air was immediately sucked out of the room.
That did it. Harper finally found the strength in his legs and he bolted, screaming for Beka.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Dammit!" Beka swore as sparks badly burned her hand. Angrily she yanked off the sleeve of her shirt and wrapped it around her good hand. First the environmental systems, now one of the tanks had ruptured and they were losing power. Fast. It didn't help that she couldn't see a damn thing-
She suddenly heard a muffled shout, and something heavy clattering. Beka glanced up, puzzled, then slowly drew her blaster from its holster. She walked towards the noise.
A faint light lit the floor ahead. Beka could see that a flashlight had been dropped. Then she heard heavy panting. She whirled at the noise, her bad hand ready to fire.
Harper was clinging onto a ladder, having just climbed up from the level above. His face was deathly pale. "Containment...breech..." he managed to whisper through white lips.
Any angry words out of here were soon lost. A containment breech was more then serious. She wouldn't be able to fix it unless she used parts on the Andromeda, and even then she would need more time to fix it then the air allowed. She slung Harper's arm around her shoulder and helped him walk.
"Monsters," he whispered, his blue eyes looking around deliriously.
Beka's control snapped. "Harper, there are no monsters on this ship!" she shouted as they made their way to the E.V.A suits hung on the wall. She reached forwards to grab one and paused. There were long, horizontal slashes on both of the white plastic arms of the E.V.A suits. Beka checked the tanks. Both of the emergency air supplies were smashed.
"No monsters. Right," Harper said sarcastically, leaning sickly against the wall.
Beka bit back a bitter retort. Yelling at Harper in his state would do little good. With a growl she grabbed him again. She had to try to fix that leak!
"Warning. Aft section depressurizing," the Maru said tonelessly.
"Yeah, well what do you expect me to do about it!?" Beka shouted at the computer.
"Environmental systems on drift restoring to nominal settings," the Maru said helpfully.
Beka paused, one foot in the air. "How is that possible!? There's no one on the drift!"
"Environmental systems restored."
Beka growled and made her way to the airlock.
"Forwards section depressurizing," the Maru said.
"Shut up!"
"They're toying with us, boss," Harper whispered, and giggled insanely.
"Yeah, well, it doesn't seem like we've got a lot of choice," Beka snapped at him.
She was completely unaware that her blaster had dropped from her belt and was now lying idly on the floor as she slowly walked away with Harper in her hands.
"EMERGENCY. EMERGENCY. EVACUATE SHIP. EVACUATE SHIP."
Swearing, Beka continued to drag Harper towards the airlock separating the Eureka Maru and the drift. With a booted foot she kicked the button, and the massive door opened. Beka helped Harper through, and slammed on the button with the back of her hand. They were on the drift. Panting, Beka's strength gave out and she helped Harper sit down.
Harper was also breathing very heavily. "Wait, Beka. We need....we need the gravity plating." He said, his head against the wall. His blond hair was damp with sweat and in thick clumps.
"The gravity plating?" Beka echoed. "Harper, I've got maybe three minutes of air in the Maru left. There's no way I'll be able to get down to the engineering core and fetch it in that time!"
With a great deal of effort Harper stared strongly into her blue eyes. "We need it!" he said, then he closed his eyes.
Beka bowed her head, resigned. "All right. Will you be okay here?"
Harper nodded weakly.
Sighing heavily, Beka opened the airlock door again and went back into her old ship. She closed the door on her way out, safely sealing Harper on the other side.
Very tired, Harper coughed wretchedly and sighed softly. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, unaware of the two red eyes that were watching him.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"WARNING. COMPLETE DEPRESSURIZATION IN TWO MINUTES EIGHT-"
Beka jumped off the steel ladder as the Maru's voice continued. She ran through the decks of her old ship as sirens began to blaze and steam from open pipes filled the corridors. The small beam of Harper's flashlight was barely enough to penetrate the gloom, and she smacked her head squarely on a ajar bar and almost fell. Just to add to the fun, Harper's flashlight was now out of power and flickered off entirely, leaving herself stranded on a ship with power barely enough for gravity.
Beka stood for a moment, gathering her thoughts. She had once boasted to Rev that she could work on her ship entirely in the dark. She just hoped that she wasn't exaggerating. Her ears began to sharpen where her eyes had failed, and she heard the faint sound of....music. Harper had an old style radio in Engineering which played music sometimes. She groped her way towards the sound in the terrifying dark.
She would never tell anyone, not even her old Maru crew her one greatest fear, and that was to die alone...in the vast emptiness of space just like her father. Here....it was so dark and quiet. No sounds at all. No one to help her. Not Harper. Not Dylan. Not anyone. She would die...and no one would help her. Beka closed her eyes as fear paralyzed her steps. Her breath came more frantic and rapid as she began to hyperventilate in little puffs of blue frost.
"WARNING. COMPLETE DEPRESSURIZATION IN ONE MINUTE TWENTY SECONDS," the Maru shrieked.
Beka's blue eyes snapped open. Biting her lip in loathing and self-contempt of her own weakness, she pressed onwards, ignoring her own very real terror.
******************************
Harper gripped the green blanket tighter, the blanket which had fortunately snagged onto him as he ran screaming for Beka. It provided some warmth against the faint cold. He sat huddled against the airlock door, waiting anxiously for his captain. He was afraid, not that he would ever admit it. He wasn't really afraid of lack of noise. That much he could handle. What he really had trouble with was noises he couldn't understand. And on a large drift that had captured other spaceships, the only thing he could hear in the vast darkness was creaking, metal grinding, and the occasional chattering sound.
It made him think back to the time when his parents had shoved him into a closet when the Nietzschean slavers had come for him. He remembered being in the darkness, listening. He was only a boy then. He had heard the sounds of scuffling, angry shouts, the sound of ripping cloth, his mother's scream, the blaster shots...and silence. Since then, he needed to know every little sound that roamed the corridors. He wished Beka was back. He desperately needed her to be back.
Suddenly, he heard a very slow hiss, followed by another. The sounds of nails playfully rapping against metal. Footsteps moving closer.
Harper clapped his hands against his ears. "Stop it!" He shouted, trembling. His eyes squeezed shut just before the darkness around him suddenly turned into an eerie blue mist.
******************************
Beka reached the engineering room. The entire place was almost powered down, and she could see that the slipstream core was dying. It was now a flickering green light instead of the normal white hue. It looked almost sick as Harper.
Harper. Gravity plates.
Beka looked around quickly and almost tripped over them. She found them still packed tightly together with a note on them. Beka read, 'Harper. Remember to install gravity plates after mother hen stops pestering you. Harper'.
Beka exploded, "Hen!? He called me a mother hen!? When I find him I'll-"
"WARNING. COMPLETE DEPRESSURIZATION IN FORTY SECONDS."
Beka abandoned her ranting and jumped up the metal staircase eight steps at a time, the pressure plates in her hands.
When the entrance door suddenly slammed shut in front of her. Angrily Beka touched the pressure button to open it. It wouldn't work. Now really concerned, Beka looked through the small see-through latch to the outside.
Dylan stared back at her from the other side of the sealed-tight door. Grinning, he waved at her.
"Dylan!" Beka said, and coughed. "Dylan, get me out of here!" She screamed.
Slowly, but deliberately, Dylan walked away.
"Dammit, Dylan!" Beka shouted, then tried to pull the emergency lever. It snapped
cleanly in her hands.
"WARNING. COMPLETE DEPRESSURIZATION IN TWENTY SECONDS."
Wheezing, Beka closed her eyes and collapsed to the ground. The air was so thin she could barely breathe. Tears trailing down her blue eyes, and fear making her limps impossible to move, Beka had never felt so helpless before in her life.
*****************************
Fourteen seconds later, Beka slammed her palm against the controls to the airlock door and tumbled to the other side. Her face was deathly pale, and her breath came in short little gasps. In her death-grip trembling hands was the gravity plating. Try as she might, she couldn't let it go as her head fell forwards onto the soft blanket.
***************************
"Dammit!" Harper swore, pumping her chest harder. "Breathe, boss! Please, breathe!" Sobbing, Harper pressed his lips against hers and forced breath into her lungs.
Beka pushed him away, coughing. "Hey, we're not that close yet-" she managed to say. She blinked in the sudden bright light around her. She was in the Maru's medical bay, dressed in a blue medical outfit.
Harper managed a small smile, relief flooding his face. "I thought you were dead."
"It'll take more then a minor depressurization to stop Beka Valentine," Beka said. "Next time you tell me about that secondary hatch to the outside level, can you be a bit more specific?" She helped stand with Harper's brisk help. She glanced at his pale yet healthy skin, and he moved with an energetic spring to his step. It was as though he hadn't been sick at all. "You look better yourself."
Harper shrugged, grinning as he put away a medical tool. "Oh, you know me. I get well fast. You've been out of it for quite a while. I managed to repair the Maru's main system with a supply of oxygen I found on the drift. I've already called the Andromeda. They're on their way to pick us up."
Beka nodded in relief. The sooner they got out of this hell hole the better. Then she remembered something. "I think you were right about those monsters," she said to his turned back. "I certainly saw one in the form of Dylan. I hallucinated...I thought that he had left me to die."
"Well, why wouldn't he?" Harper asked, honestly curious.
Beka glanced at him. "Excuse me?"
Eating an apple from the storage bin, Harper shrugged. "I mean, it's not as though you deserve to be rescued or anything."
Beka stared at him in astonishment. "What do you-"
"Beka, you freaked out twice," Trance said patiently, entering the medical bay. Her blue
eyes were filled with sorrow and concern. "If you can't even save yourself, why should we bother to save you? I know I wouldn't have. And, it's not like you're important or anything. You're a deadbeat, just like your father. You couldn't even handle flash by yourself."
Harper bit the apple. "Stop me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like you're a little more trouble then you're worth," he said with his mouth full. "And you know that saving the universe and everything has certain requirements. Like people not freaking out every time a little darkness jumps on them. You're not important, anyway. What are they going to remember you as? The great salvage collector? The nameless person who found the famed hero Dylan Hunt?"
Beka's eyes shifted as two monsters crawled up behind Harper. They had bluish, throbbing skin with terrifying black veins and red eyes. Their hands and feet were like claws. "Harper, there's-"
"Yeah, I know. They're my new friends. You know, all they wanted was to be in the Commonwealth, believe it or not. But you didn't think they were good enough," Harper explained.
Beka backed up as the monsters drew nearer. "Wha-!? What are you-"
The monster suddenly lunged at her. Beka fell to the ground, screaming as one of the monsters drew up his claws and slashed at her eyes, her chest, her legs. She screamed and begged them to stop as the monsters ripped her apart with their huge claws.
"Help! Help me!" Beka screamed her dying scream to Harper and Trance nearby.
"So, what are you doing tonight, Trance?" Harper asked, still eating his apple.
"We'll still have to bury her," Trance said, pointing at Beka's corpse.
"Aw, do we have to?" Harper complained just as Beka woke up.
*****************************
Beka awoke to the darkness of the drift, still huddled in the green blanket. There was a dim light in front of her. She had emergency power, at least. And air. Sweet, wonderful air. She breathed in deeply and smiled a little. She had made it.
That's when she noticed that Harper was missing.
On the drift Beka stood slowly from Harper's blanket, fear gripping her insides once more. She looked around. "H..Harper?" she whispered. She had left him here not twenty minutes ago, by the airlock! His blanket and the few possessions he had managed to grab was still scattered around messily-an empty Sparky Cola, a full container of water, a pillow and his tool belt with tools scattered around the floor. Beka dug through them, and found another flashlight, barely better then the first. She shook it to life and looked around. "Harper?" She whispered around the gloom. She really began to worry. The drift was massive, with thousands of square meters. How could she possibly find him if he was bored and decided to explore?
She walked slowly, all of her senses on alert. She listened for the slightest noise, the slightest peep which would tell her where he was. Despite her swearing Beka was really beginning to worry. Harper knew the importance of staying in touch in all dangerous situations...but Harper wasn't really thinking too clearly. Maybe....maybe his monsters did get him after all. Beka closed her eyes, shutting out the thought of Harper being dragged away into the shadows, screaming for her.....
A hand suddenly clamped down on her shoulder. Beka whirled around, and saw a greenish pig-like face stained with blood starring back at her. "Boo," whispered a dry voice.
Beka dropped her flashlight and screamed. "AAARRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!!"
The pig's face lifted, and Harper stared back at her, laughing. "Mwa ha ha ha ah ha!" Harper said, imitating an evil laugh.
Beka's mouth closed. She tried to say something, but fury choked off any reply. She settled on hitting him sharply on the shoulder.
"Ouch!" Harper said, touching his already-bruised shoulder. "Aw, come on boss, you above everyone said that you don't believe in monsters!" He was still grinning.
"It's good to see that you still haven't lost your sick, twisted sense of humor," Beka snapped, but relief that he was all right flooded her eyes. "What are you doing here, anyway? I thought you agreed to stay put."
Harper shrugged. "I was feeling a little better. Heard some noises. Got bored, so I thought that I should take a look. Saw nothing. I mean, no offense, boss, but you were taking so long-"
"I got locked in the engineering room," Beka snapped, still angry. "I trust that wasn't one of your little practical jokes?"
Harper shook his head, a little concerned. "No. So how did you get out?"
"With barely enough time to spare, that's how! I found another exit to the upper levels," Beka said. She would never, ever tell him that she saw an apparition of Dylan or her nightmare, dismissing both as side-effects from lack of oxygen. "So, you are feeling better?"
Harper shrugged. "Yeah, a little." He would never, ever tell her that he had lost control and ran shrieking away from the noises, and that the adrenaline was pretty much the only reason he felt so good. He lifted up the mask. "Found this little jewel on the floor. Someone obviously left a novelty mask on the floor before they left. I think it resembles a Centiur, but I'm not sure."
Beka took the mask, feeling it carefully. "Um...Harper?"
He glanced at her.
"I don't think it's a mask," Beka said, glancing up at him. She grinned a little despite herself. "I don't think it's a mask at all."
She had never known that Harper could shriek so much like a girl.
**************************
The next ten minutes they were sitting next to the airlock door on the blanket, the dim light of the flashlight providing the only illumination as Beka ran a scanner over the Centiur tissue, trying to determine the cause of death. Harper sat huddled, his face very pale, starring straight ahead. "I-I-I t-t-o-ouch-ed."
"Harper, calm down! So you touched a real face-"
"Not touched, Beka! Wore! I WORE a Centiur face!" Harper practically shrieked. "It felt just like a mask! And who knows how it died!? It could have been stabbed! It could have drunken poison! It could have poison that transmits along tissue-"
"Or perhaps it didn't die at all," Beka said.
Harper glanced at her in puzzlement.
"Centuirs shed their tissues in the wintertime. They shed all their tissues, Harper. This could just be the remains of an ongoing process," Beka said patiently. "And since my scans didn't detect anything out of the ordinary, I assume that has to be the reason. The skeleton we found had long since decomposed. Everyone's probably been gone for years."
"But what about the blood!?" Harper demanded.
Beka shrugged. "A simple cut obviously preserved somehow." Her hand touched the face, and her blue eyes suddenly noticed a green goo near its nose. Beka scanned it, but her scanner wasn't powerful enough to determine what it was. Beka checked the other side, but saw none of it. It didn't touch Harper's skin. She threw it away into the darkness.
Harper cleared his throat, determined to talk about something else. He touched the gravity plates Beka had brought with her. "You know I was thinking, about these gravity emitters, that if we install them on several areas of the drift, we could increase their power so much that anyone in that particular area would be literally trapped on the floor from the sheer force of gravity, or stuck to the ceiling from lack of gravity. I'm not saying that there are any monsters-" he said quickly, already beginning to see Beka's eyebrows raised. "But I'm saying that we have literal control of who comes and goes in this place."
"And they would not be able to come anywhere near us," Beka said, already liking the plan. "But where would we install them?"
Harper frowned. "That's going to be the tricky part. First of all, we would need to go to the main bridge of the drift to figure out where to put them." He suddenly closed his eyes, feeling very tired once more. He struggled to stay focused. "Or we can go onto the bridge of another ship, assuming that the ship's AI is functional and still tied into the computer grid of the drift. Either way should work."
Beka drummed her fingers in thought. "Okay, so what are the pros and cons?"
"We try the drift's bridge, it'll take us at least an hour to get to it, and that's assuming that the elevators are still operational and that we know where it is right away, but it's the only assured way to do this. We try a ship stuck to the drift, they're right next door so it'll be a hell of a lot faster, but-" Harper yawned. "-we may have to try two or three before we find one that actually works."
Beka stood. "We're forgetting one thing," she said.
Harper glanced at her.
"The Mila. It's a Commonwealth ship. One of Dylan's own favorites. I heard him talking about it often. We have a duty to try and figure out what happened to it....and if there's any survivors left. At the very least, we need to try to save the main AI just as we would try to save Andromeda. Mila's a Commonwealth officer as well," Beka said.
"Duty," Harper echoed, standing with Beka's help. "You know, our lives were a lot less dangerous before we had a sense of high guard duty."
"But a lot less interesting," Beka said.
"Yeah, that too," Harper said. He itched at the bright pink spots on his skin miserably. They seemed to be all over his body now.
As one, Harper and Beka kicked open the emergency storage cupboard on board the drift. Beka yanked it open. "Flashlights," she said, tossing Harper one and attaching another to her belt. She took out a food ration, sniffed it, winced, and discarded it immediately. The water wasn't any good either. She dug around, shifting through the blankets until she found a medical kit. To her surprise, the white kit was completely empty and cracked open. Throwing it away with an irritated growl, Beka finally took out two air canisters and masks. She ran them quickly through her scan. "This isn't contaminated. We may need it on the Mila."
Harper took the heavy canister without complaint. Beka was both delighted and relieved to see that Harper was finally getting a bit better, though she still forced him to drink the water container he had once every two minutes. His terrible paleness had retreated bit, and more life was in his blue eyes.
Harper was looking around the empty drift with the flashlight. "From what I can tell, this is a very old drift, built during the Commonwealth...probably three hundred and eighty years ago."
Beka looked around. All she saw was cobwebs and empty rooms. "That's amazing to figure out," she said.
"Not really. I saw the date, see?" Harper pointed his flashlight at a golden plaque on the wall. "Created exactly as the same time as our good old Commonwealth."
Beka shook her head. "Oh. So what is an ancient, powered-down drift doing pulling unsuspecting ships into its domain?"
"It's definitely not the best party spot I know of, though I do know worse then this," Harper muttered. He pointed. "And there's our beauty now!"
Beka looked. She could see the docking bay with the Commonwealth ship Mila in tow. It looked almost exactly like the Andromeda, only a lot smaller. She put on her breathing mask on, inhaling slowly. She nodded to Harper, who put on his own mask as the two of them made their way into the ship.
Onward To Part 2!
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