So here it is at last: the final chapter! That is, the final official
chapter. I suppose if people feel that it isn't sufficient I could force
myself to add some more. It's just, ideas for a new Andromeda fic have
invaded my mind, and I can't write two at once or one will end up never
getting finished. Anyway, my apologies for not getting this chapter done
sooner, but I was on vacation and after that I was sick. So please also
bear in mind that I started this during a severe bout of jet lag (and a
fever). The story of my life is getting all of my good ideas when I'm
exhausted, and then screwing up the spelling and grammar when I try and
write it immediately, because if I don't, then I forget the idea. Well,
here goes...
Life of a Kludge: Volume 3
The Final Hours
Age:17+ (Approximate Age Unknown)
"Isn't it strange how you can hate something your whole life, only to have it gone; and when you look back, all you think about is how much you miss
it,"
-Unknown
* * *
Sleeping on your stomach, face down in a bundle of rags was perhaps
not the most comfortable position to spend the night in. However, Seamus
Zelazny Harper was getting tired of waking up screaming in the middle of
the night. Even worse, his fellow 'co-workers' were getting annoyed as
well. So he'd found a way to avoid any unnecessary get-together with the
others; it was hard to scream when you were half smothered.
The past few weeks had been hell at it's best—or worse—for him. Not
only was there the habitual fact that he was a slave, but Beka Valentine
had been to the Palace several times. She hadn't seen him; he'd made
sure to duck away every time he saw her. It saved them both from any
useless talking. There was nothing she could do for him, and why would
she? They barely knew each other. Still, he wished she would stop
coming. False hope was so much more painful than giving into despair.
And despair had become Seamus' one friend and companion; he knew his days
were numbered, because he himself had started the countdown.
)***(
Captain Beka Valentine of the Eureka Maru paced the small, dimly lit
room in agitation. Bobby had gone out for supplies and she was left by
herself. She loved the Maru, but she didn't like being alone.
Especially when she had so much on her mind; forming a plan to help a
slave of the most powerful Nietzschean pride escape a heavily guarded
building, for example.
Dammit, I need more crew members, this would be a whole lot easier if
it weren't just me and Bobby. She thought to herself angrily. Just
because the ship didn't require many people to run it didn't mean that
Beka wanted to run it by herself. Besides, where was the fun in being a
captain if you didn't get to order a crew around?
Sighing in frustration, Beka kicked at a chair. Bobby had helped her
to come up with a plan that would hopefully help Seamus return with her
to the Maru, but there were so many things that could go wrong that she
wasn't sure it was even worth a shot. Impatiently she checked the time
again. At last—she had another meeting with his Uberness, a.k.a. Marcus,
and it was time to put their plan in action. Of course, it was entirely
possible that Marcus would see right through her ploy and have her
killed, but she certainly hoped he didn't suspect anything. With any
luck, his natural arrogance would help her.
Beka took extra care to not care about her looks; she needed to play
the part of dirt poor-desperate captain. Which; come to think of it;
really shouldn't be all that hard for me. She thought to herself with
only a little bitterness as she made her way to the Palace.
It was a long walk, and the scenery didn't help to distract her, so
she was almost grateful when the tall building appeared. Checking her
way in was surprisingly easy, and the route to Marcus' receiving quarters
was instilled in her mind. Just as she turned the last corner she rammed
into a body carrying something. With a loud crash the silver platter
fell to the floor.
"Oh jeez, I'm so sorry-"Beka said, feeling terrible as she knelt to
help the person gather up the remains of the squished fruit and broken
glasses. The person she had walked into didn't answer and nervously she
looked up. Clear blue eyes locked with hers and Beka felt stunned.
"Harper?...I'm sorry," Feeling like a complete idiot, she said the words
softly and awkwardly.
"Ya know, that's the second time you've made my day here harder," Beka
was startled to hear the joking tone in his voice. Standing, Harper
hesitated before continuing on his way, and Beka took the opportunity to
look him over. Taking a que from his light manner, she gave a crooked
smile.
"You look like crap," He grinned and Beka wondered how he could find
it amusing—he really did look terrible. She had never seen a boy his age
so thin, or so short, and his hands looked terrible. Judging from his
smell the Nietzscheans weren't keen on giving their slaves clean bathing
water very often either.
"Nice seeing you again. Good luck with your business," Harper gave a
polite nod and started walking away. Beka watched him go, wondering if
she ought to tell him about her plan. What if he didn't want to go with
Beka?
"Hey wait," Harper turned, his face showing no expression. Beka
walked over to him and crossed her arms.
"If you ever got a chance to, er, leave, you'd take it, right?" The
look he gave her made her feel two inches tall.
"Wouldn't you?" He asked simply. Beka nodded and he turned away
again. This time Beka watched him go and smiled gleefully to herself.
Then she checked her watch and swore—she was running late again.
"How nice to see you again Captain," Marcus' smooth voice gave Beka
goosebumps. She nodded curtly and took a seat at his table. Marcus
pointedly remained standing. Nietzscheans disliked putting themselves on
the same level as a kludge.
"I trust you are ready to begin shipping?" He continued. I sure hope
that luck of yours is working, Seamus. Beka replied mentally as she
fidgeted and said in her best 'But-I'm-just-a-clueless-kludge' voice:
"Well, I'm ready. I'm not so sure my ship is though." This got
Marcus' attention and he leaned against the table.
"What do you mean you're not sure? Can you get the shipment or not?"
Beka shifted nervously in her chair. This was all part of the plan, but
the nervousness wasn't completely faked.
"You see, sir, I've been having trouble with the steering. It's not
responding as well as it should and I can't tell if it's the manual or
the computer stuff that's the problem," She sure hoped that Marcus wasn't
a mechanic, because Beka knew enough about her ship to fix most problems,
she just couldn't let Marcus know that.
"Computer stuff? Obviously you do need help." He sneered. Beka held
in her smart replies and only nodded meekly, pretending to be oblivious
to his offensive manner.
"Yeah well, my boyfriend took a look at it but he can't figure out
what's wrong either. Normally it wouldn't be such a big deal, but the
cargo you want is several slip jumps away and I'm not willing to risk
slipstreaming with so little of the steering being responsive." Marcus
waved a hand as though to dismiss her words.
"Very well then, I'll recommend some local engineers. I'm sure you'll
have the problem fixed in time," Eagerly Beka nodded in agreement, having
anticipated this.
"That'll be fine; I'll just need a small payment in advance to pay for
the repairs." She kept her face completely open and innocent-something
she had practice at-as Marcus narrowed his eyes. Beka could almost see
the choices being weighed in his mind. Part with money prematurely or
lend her a slave that could assist her. Underneath the table Beka
crossed her fingers.
"There's no need for that. I know of several slaves who should be
competent enough for such minor repairs. I'll send them to your ship
tomorrow morning," Such generosity Beka thought wryly. Out loud she
thanked him profusely and fought back a smile of triumph. Now all they
needed to do was wait.
Bobby slept in the next morning, but Beka awoke just after the sun had
risen. Anxiously she went over the plan in her head. As soon as Harper
arrived they'd explain the situation and simply fly away. It was really
quite simple. There should be no trouble from the Nietzscheans since
Beka had official permission from Marcus and the docking regulators to
leave and enter the planet at will.
The hours dragged by slowly, Bobby wasn't as nervous as Beka and he
assured her that it would all go smoothly. Still, when they heard
someone knocking on the entrance door to the Maru, Beka felt her heart
skip a beat. Quit being an idiot, she scolded herself as she went to let
Harper in.
Only, Harper wasn't there. Stunned, Beka stared at a young woman.
She was dressed as a slave and had been escorted by two Nietzschean
guards, both of whom must have been low in the breeding rank, considering
how menial a job their task was.
"What's wrong baby?" Came Bobby's voice as he came to see what was
taking Beka so long. The girl made a slight bow to both Beka and Bobby.
"My name is Vera, I was sent to help you fix your ship," The girl
looked pale, and her dark hair hung limply against her back. She didn't
look up at them as she spoke, and her voice was quiet. Glancing at the
guards a few yards away, Beka smiled broadly and waved to them, then
tugged the girl inside, taking care to not appear too gentle. Bobby was
looking annoyed, but already Beka was starting to think of a way out of
this situation.
"Vera, are you an engineer?" She asked briskly. The girl looked
surprised, even casting a startled look up at the two other humans.
"No ma'am, I'm a slave. But I do know some things, about ships and
all," Her words were rushed and she looked at her surroundings nervously.
At this, Bobby cursed loudly and Beka had to suppress her
disappointment.
"Excuse us a moment," She said to Vera, then grabbed Bobby's arm and
dragged him into the next room. "Great, now what are we going to do?"
Bobby shrugged before replying.
"Request a real engineer? I mean, it doesn't really matter which
slave we steal right?" Beka glared at him; he seemed to think that the
plan was becoming too much work; especially since it was costing them a
smuggling deal. Normally Beka would have shrugged off any morals or
other costly emotions, but for some reason she just couldn't get the
image of Seamus wasting away out of her mind. He'd done wonders to the
Maru in the short time he'd been able to work for her, so she convinced
herself that it was a good investment.
"Of course it matters which slave!" Beka spit out angrily. Suddenly
an idea dawned on her. Bobby recognized the look and grinned. Without
another word to him, she turned and walked back to where Vera still
stood; eyes downcast.
"Vera, if I could give you your freedom, could I trust you to not tell
the Nietzscheans about us?" Vera looked confused, but nodded, probably
more from habit than agreement. Sighing, Beka rubbed at her temples and
ignored the puzzled look Bobby was giving her. "See Vera, we kinda need
someone specific. So, maybe if you were able to just disappear in the
refugee camp, you think you'd be missed?" Vera's eyes widened in
surprise.
"I-I don't know. They might look for me..."
"What if we told them that you had died?" Beka interrupted. Again,
Vera looked up at her in surprise—and fear.
"I guess they'd believe you," Vera said softly. Hearing consent in
her voice, Beka nodded firmly and turned to Bobby.
"You sneak her out into the city, then in a couple of hours I'll head
over to the Palace and let Marcus know that we need a replacement
engineer," Bobby was shaking his head and laughing.
"You could find a way out of anything, couldn't you?" He said
lovingly. Beka grinned back at him.
"That's the idea," She said as Bobby grabbed a jacket and a gun to
make another trip into the city.
He didn't return until late in the evening, and Beka at last decided
it would make sense to wait until morning. As Bobby pointed out, the
longer they waited the more likely Marcus would believe her, and besides,
what was the rush? Beka couldn't logically answer that, but she had a
feeling that she should hurry.
)***(
As the Nietzschean rounded the corner, Seamus took a glance around to
make sure no one else was nearby. Seeing no one, he leaned against the
wall and rested, leaving the cleaning rags and the water on the floor.
His head was spinning; probably because he hadn't eaten in three days.
Starvation wasn't his first choice of death, but it was his easiest to
achieve.
Ever since some sort of political crisis had occurred-Harper wasn't
exactly privy to the entire goings on in the Nietzschean's government-
there had been a severe shortage of food. The majority of food in this
corner of the Earth was imported from other planets; little food could be
grown. Apparently there was some sort of problem though, since the
slaves' rations had been decreased, and even the higher ranking
Nietzscheans-such as Marcus-were becoming used to sparse meals. While
Seamus didn't really want to die, neither did he want to spend the rest
of his life as a slave, and that was his only option. So he worked
sluggishly and waited for death.
Later that evening, in the 'dining hall' as the Nietzscheans called
the room where their slaves were fed, Seamus felt a tap on his shoulder.
Turning, he realized it was another one of Marcus' 'personal' slaves.
The other man gestured for Seamus to follow him. With a sigh, Seamus
stood and followed, knowing this meant that Marcus had summoned him.
"Ah, good, I was wondering how long it would take you to get here,"
Marcus raised an eyebrow and leaned back in the chair he sat in, crossing
his thick arms. Seamus bowed wearily and didn't answer. Marcus looked
over him for a moment before asking him something Seamus hadn't been
asked in years.
"Boy, how old are you?" The tone was imperious, as always, but it held
a curious note rather than a malicious one. Seamus thought for a few
minutes; he had lost track of days a long time ago. Shrugging, he said
in a voice without feeling,
"The last birthday I remember was my seventeenth," The memory brought
painful images of Brendan and Uncle Eoin to his mind. Marcus nodded,
accepting the fact.
"Well, then you have at least a good twenty or thirty years ahead of
you, don't you agree?" Numbly, Seamus nodded, thinking to himself that it
probably didn't take that long to starve to death.
"You wouldn't want to waste those years living in unending torment and
pain, would you?" Startled, despite himself, Seamus looked up in
confusion. The Nietzschean smiled and continued.
"A contact of mine visited me this morning. She's preparing to make a
delivery for me, at a good price. Unfortunately her ship has a problem,
and the slave I sent over this morning apparently died, while it is not
an unusual occurrence, or a very costly one, I don't wish to send another
random slave. I have no reason to believe the woman is lying about the
cause of death being natural, and I have decided to send you to help
her," Seamus stared at Marcus with uncomprehending eyes.
"And what do you think I can do?" He asked bitterly, deliberately not
looking at his hands. Marcus stood up and stretched.
"You can tell her what to do, if she can't fix her own ship with
instructions than I certainly won't trust her to make such an important
transport for me. And, if you attempt to escape, I won't have you
killed. But, as I'm sure you know"-Marcus looked pointedly at Seamus'
hands,-"There are much, much worse things than death,"
Can only agree with you there, Seamus thought to himself. He gave a
small shrug.
"I'm not that stupid," He said quietly. Marcus laughed and clapped a
hand on his shoulder, causing Seamus to wince.
"That's good, because I'd hate to lose such a well-trained slave,"
Seamus unconsciously stepped away so Marcus' hand fell off his shoulder,
gritting his teeth to keep a heated retort from coming out. Still, he
couldn't help wonder if Marcus spoke of Beka...and if he did, what could
this mean for him?
)***(
There it was—another knock.
"It'd better be the right person this time," Bobby mumbled under his
breath, standing to accompany Beka at the door.
"I think it will be," Beka replied softly. I sure hope so, she added
mentally. The first sight that greeted her was another pair of guards.
Craning her neck, Beka tried to look over them and see who stood behind
them.
"We were instructed to oversee the repairs," One said formally,
shifting to block Beka's view. Both guards were huge; she could almost
hear Bobby's scowl from behind her.
"Yeah yeah, whatever. Just so long as my ship gets fixed, what do I
care?" She said flippantly. Exchanging looks, and probably sharing a
similar thought, the guards moved past Beka and Bobby to wait inside.
Standing at the bottom of the steps stood Harper, staring up at her
curiously. Unlike Vera, his hands were bound, puzzling Beka as she
remembered Marcus had claimed he could no longer use them for
engineering.
"What a load of bull," Seamus remarked, a gleam in his eye and a hint
of a smile on his face. Beka crossed her arms and scowled.
"What are you talking about?"
"You wouldn't even let me touch your ship...yet you don't care about a
couple of Ubers walking around inside it?" Bobby took a step closer to
Beka and said in a hushed voice.
"Just hurry up so we can get outta here," The amused expression on
Seamus' face instantly disappeared, leaving his face void of thought.
Climbing the steps he pushed past them as the Nietzscheans had done,
saying,
"Right away sir. Just show me what you need and I'll be out of your
way. Wouldn't want to delay your important delivery and all," Beka
turned to glare at Bobby before following Seamus. She was about to start
talking when she noticed the guards staring at her.
"You, wait for us in the engineering room, I'll let you know what's
wrong," Seamus stared in surprise at her haughty tone, but quickly turned
and walked down the hall. The guards moved to follow him, but Beka
quickly intercepted them. In a more seductive voice, she said softly,
"He'll be busy for awhile, maybe we could find something more
interesting to do." The guard sneered at her as she stepped closer, and
the other took a step towards them when Bobby fired his gun. The guard
who had moved towards them dropped to the floor dead, just as Beka
stepped back and shot the one in front of her. He collapsed as quickly.
Bobby walked over and kissed her cheek, brushing a strand of vibrant red
hair away from her face.
"That could have gone a lot worse," He remarked softly. Beka nodded,
"I'm still shaking. Come on, we better let Seamus—"Seeing the subtle
change in Bobby's face she hastily continued, "the kid, know what our
plan is,"
"Ready to leave when you are," Bobby turned and headed for the pilot's
chair. Suppressing a feeling of annoyance, after all, she could fly her
own ship, Beka turned to follow Harper, pausing only to call out,
"We should get rid of the bodies though," Bobby grunted in agreement,
so she left him to the task.
"Hey, mudfoot, you have any problem with heights?" Beka's tone was
light, but Seamus, who was sitting with his back against the wall, looked
up and scowled at her.
"What are you talking about?" Seeing she was alone, he added, "And
where's Thing 1 and Thing 2?"
"What? Who's Thing-"
"Never mind. What are you talking about?" Beka shook her head in
bewilderment and walked over to him, kneeling so she could see his face
better.
"Look, if you don't want to leave, fine, but I went to a lot of
trouble to get you here. So, do you have a problem with staying on the
Maru?" Seamus' eyes flickered, as though he thought he understood what
she meant, but was too afraid to assume he was right.
"What exactly do you mean?" He asked slowly. Beka sighed in
exasperation and stood up again.
"My ship needs an engineer, badly; I mean a full time one. I can't
afford to take her to a shop every time I have a misplaced wire. I can
live with having cold showers and messed up filters, but why should I
when I can have a crewmember who can fix them? That is, if you are
willing," Seamus stared up at her in shock, then slowly got to his feet,
no easy task without the aid of his hands, but Beka sensed he wouldn't
welcome any help.
"You mean, you want me to work for you? Be the Maru's engineer?" Beka
nodded, smiling. For a moment, Seamus looked like he would burst with
happiness, but he quickly sobered.
"Aren't you forgetting about these?" He held up his hands and shook
his head. "I can barely move them, and when I do it hurts like hell."
Before he could stop her, Beka took his right hand and examined it. Oh,
it was pretty gross looking all right, but she forced herself not to hold
her breath, I don't care if he uses all the water; he really needs a
shower, or even a bath, she thought. Smiling, she let his hand go.
"It's nothing a couple of nanobots can't fix. I'm sure you'll be back
to normal in no time," If you ever were normal, physically, she thought,
trying to remember how much Rafe had weighed when he was Seamus' age.
"You mean, you can heal them? You have medicine that can fix me?"
Grinning at his hopeful expression, she tapped her head.
"Well, it would take a lot more than just medicine to fix you...but yes,
I do have medicine that should work on your hands," Before she could even
finish, Seamus hugged her, with strength that was surprising, and let out
a yell.
The next few minutes were a blur, with Beka running to Bobby and
telling him to take off. Seamus was running around trying to explore the
entire ship at once while Beka was trying to give him a tour and help
give directions to Bobby at once. Everything was going smoothly until
they actually left the atmosphere. Seamus, feeling a little strange at
the sight of his home planet appearing before him had retreated to the
crew bunks Beka had showed him. The captain herself had taken control of
piloting and Bobby leaned against the railing behind her chair, watching
the planet so desecrated by Nietzschean cruelty and Magog attacks fade
behind them. Before she had gone far though, a crackling voice came over
the speakers.
"This is the Space Control Center of the Drago-Kazov Pride, you are in
restricted space. Identify yourself immediately," Beka cursed under her
breath and Bobby looked at her, wondering what was going on.
"This is Captain Beka Valentine of the Eureka Maru, we have permission
to leave this sector," Beka said at last, deciding it would be easiest
just to cooperate, and less likely to draw attention.
"Please send files," Came the muffled voice again. So Beka had Bobby
send a copy of the forms, and they were forced to wait another half hour
before a reply came.
"Your permission seems legitimate," The tone sounded disgruntled, but
it was difficult to tell.
"Great. Can we leave now?" Beka asked, annoyed at being made to wait.
"I'm sorry, but I'd advise against it. There's currently a blockade
by the-"Interference kept Beka from understanding the name of the pride,
"It will be at least another three days before things are cleared up,"
"I can't wait three days!" Beka said angrily.
"You're welcome to try and make your way through, but they won't care
who you are, if they even bother to stop and ask before blowing your ship
up,"
"Yeah, thanks for the warning," Beka replied, still angry, and then
switched off the communication.
"What're we going to do?" Bobby asked quietly.
"We'll play it safe for now," Beka replied, setting a course for Earth
and then unstrapping herself from the piloting chair. Just as she was
standing up, Seamus walked into the small room, looking confused.
"What's taking so long?" he asked, looking at them both. Exchanging
looks with Bobby, Beka explained about the situation. To her great
surprise, Seamus almost looked relieved.
"Why the long face?" She asked sarcastically.
"Sorry, it's not that I don't want to go, but I do have a little
unfinished business I'd like to take care of before I leave," Seamus
explained with a distracted look. Beka suddenly felt her heart sink.
Bobby left to go get something to eat, but Seamus didn't move and Beka
couldn't help but ask,
"You're not leaving behind any family, are you? Parents? Girlfriends?
Siblings?" Swallowing hard, she added, "A wife or kids?"
Seamus looked up in bemusement and shook his head.
"Nada to all of the above. Just...just a cousin I'd like to say goodbye
to, if I can find him," Seamus said softly. "Don't worry, I'll be
careful not to get caught," He gave her a wan smile and returned to his
new quarters. Beka breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't sure what she
would have done if Seamus had had a wife and kids.
They made their way back to the docks and prepared to lay low for the
next three days. Beka wasn't sure how long it would take Marcus to
realize that Seamus wasn't coming back, or how long it would take him to
try and retrieve him. She doubted that kludges were that important to
the Nietzscheans; it was more a matter of pride with them.
After spending a night on the Maru to make sure there were no
immediate searches, Seamus snuck off to return to the city in search of
his cousin. Beka watched him go with a mixture of feelings. The night
before she'd given him an injection of nanobots into his hands, Seamus
claimed that they were feeling better all ready, but Beka couldn't help
but wonder how long it would take to heal him fully—if she ever could.
At dinner he had already proven that his appetite wasn't to blame for his
skinniness, and there had been times when Beka could barely afford to
feed herself. While Bobby usually could manage to find his own meals,
one way or another, Seamus would probably be another matter. Well, maybe
she could save some money on repairs by having him around. It's not like
it's my problem, he's just an investment, that's all...she told herself,
again. An investment that had better return before three days are up...
)***(
"Brendan Lahey, do you know where he is?" Seamus asked the man
quietly. He'd seen Brendan do deals with him before, and it had taken
him hours to find the man, so his patience was wearing thin.
"I already told ya, I don't know no Brendan Lahey...who're you anyways?"
The man asked, casting suspicious glances around him.
"I'm his cousin," Seamus at last conceded. The man's eyes widened
even as he looked around even more.
"You mean... his cousin Seamus Zelazny Harper?" The man whispered.
Seamus nearly screamed in exasperation.
"It's nice to be famous, and yes, I'm that cousin," He said
sarcastically instead. The man continued to whisper and gestured toward
an old building in the distance.
"Ya can usually find 'im there, but don't blame me if he's moved on,"
With that, the man turned and quickly walked away. Seamus rolled his
eyes and made his way through the dirty streets towards the building. He
hadn't been in the city since the magog attack, but there seemed to be
fewer people lining the streets. Keeping his face down he slowly made
his way to the building. Please be there Brendan, he pleaded silently.
Whether or not his cousin could be found he was going to leave with Beka.
Not only had he made a promise to his mom a long time ago, but he knew
if he stayed on Earth much longer it would kill him.
Reaching the door he knocked twice, and as he waited for someone to
answer he wondered what Beka had been talking about. He didn't smell any
worse than the rest of the city! It was the Maru's air that smelled
strange. Frowning, he decided to check the air filters on it when he was
able to. The thought brought a smile to his face even as the door in
front of him opened an inch.
"Hello? Brendan?" Seamus tried to push the door open a little farther
but it wouldn't budge.
"Who's there?" Came a soft voice. Seamus couldn't tell if it was boy
or girl, adult or child.
"Uh, Seamus...Harper?" He lost track of his thought as the door opened
wider, but still no person was revealed. Seamus reached behind him to
take the knife he'd 'borrowed' from Beka's kitchen. He couldn't see in
front of him; there were only a few streams of light coming through
cracks in the wooden walls.
"Who's there?" He called out, taking a step into the room and holding
onto the knife tightly. While he had only stabbed several people in his
life, he was always prepared to defend himself if he needed to.
"Are you really Seamus Harper?" Spinning around he found himself
staring at a young woman in tattered clothing. Her hair was long, but so
filthy he couldn't tell if it was blonde or black. Eyeing her wearily,
Seamus nevertheless lowered the knife a little.
"No; I'm a Nietzschean. Of course I'm Seamus Harper. Am I really so
famous that people are already starting to steal my identity?" The girl
looked so tense that he couldn't help trying to calm her down a little.
"Sorry, it's just that...I've heard so much about you," The girl said
softly. Her too big eyes were dark and staring at him without blinking.
It unnerved him.
"Yeah? From who?" He said, a little more gruffly.
"Corinne heard it from me, of course," Hardly daring to believe his
ears, Seamus turned again, this time smiling.
"Brendan?" He asked, as a form moved out of the shadow. The man moved
a little closer and Seamus was able to tell that it was indeed his
cousin. The two embraced as soon as they confirmed each others'
identity.
"Where've you been Seamus? I haven't seen you since the magog..."
Brendan broke off to look over his younger cousin; although Beka had lent
Seamus some of Bobby's old clothes, they only made his thin form seem
skeletal, and dark bruises still covered much of his face.
"I could ask you the same thing," Seamus said lightly, not really
wanting to tell Brendan where he'd been. "I woke up and you were gone-
you and Uncle Eoin both," He said in a softer tone.
"Have you seen Eoin?" Brendan gripped Seamus' arms, and after a moment
Seamus nodded. Before Brendan could ask where he was, Seamus explained
about his death. Releasing his arms, Brendan took a step back and nodded
faintly.
"We still have each other Seamus...and now we have Corinne, she and I
are together." Brendan said, and Corinne moved to his side. Turning back
to Seamus, he again inquired about where he had been. Not meeting his
older cousins' eyes, Seamus pretended to be interested in studying the
inside of the building as he calmly explained how he had come to stay in
the Palace.
"Seamus, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have left you at Cal's..." Brendan
began, guilt flickering in his eyes, but Seamus shook his head, holding
his hands up.
"It's fine, really it is. If I hadn't gone to the Palace, I wouldn't
be getting out of here,"
"What are you talking about?" Brendan stiffened slightly, staring at
Seamus, a voice in the back of his head wondering if he had become a spy
for the Nietzscheans while at the Palace. His fears were dissipated as
Seamus explained how Beka had found him and wanted him to stay on the
Maru with her.
"Wow, that's some deal cousin," Brendan said after a stretch of
silence. Seamus nodded quietly.
"She probably wouldn't mind a few more people on board," He offered.
The ship was small, but he was sure Brendan could be useful. Before he
could plan out what to tell Beka though, Brendan shook his head.
"No, I'm really happy for you Seamus, but much as I hate it, Earth is
my home. I'm not meant for space; Besides, I've got big plans for our
little rock in the universe," He grinned, exchanging a smile with
Corinne, but Seamus frowned.
"Oh really? Like what?" He asked sarcastically.
"Let's just say that I don't plan on letting the Nietzscheans rule our
home forever. You sure you don't want to stay and work with me?" Brendan
asked, and Seamus felt a surge of both guilt and annoyance.
"Sorry Brendan, guess I don't love this place as much as you. All
it's ever done is kill people I love. Maybe I can do more to help you
out there," He jerked a thumb towards the sky, wondering if Brendan would
be angry, but he only nodded.
"That's all right. We always knew you were meant for bigger and
better things than this." In a softer tone, he continued, "Aunt Bronagh
always hoped you'd have a better future than hers and your father's
turned out to be. Even Uncle Zelazny knew you were special," The
nostalgic talks made Seamus feel uncomfortable; he didn't want his last
memories of Brendan to be depressing ones.
"I guess so. Well, can't say I'll miss it here, but I will miss you
Brendan. Take care of yourself," Seamus said, edging toward the door.
Brendan smiled and grasped Seamus' hand.
"Take care of yourself too. Until we meet again," Seamus nodded and
they hugged again, briefly, then Seamus turned to leave. As he walked
out he heard Brendan call out,
"Oh, and stay out of trouble!" Laughing, Seamus turned and waved,
imprinting the picture of Brendan, with an arm around Corinne, smiling
and waving back, in his mind. With that last look, he turned and made
his way back to the Eureka Maru, and hopefully to his new and better
life.
As he left the inner city, Seamus glanced up at the sky, and stopped.
He hadn't even noticed it; but the sky was blue, and the sun was shining.
A few white clouds were stuck in the sky. His jaw nearly dropped; he
couldn't remember seeing such a beautiful sky in so long. Taking another
look around, he wondered if he would miss the atmosphere of a planet
while living in space. Maybe the grass wasn't so green anymore, and
maybe it was very rare to see such a blue sky anymore, but there were
times when the wind didn't have strange scents and it felt good, and
flowers could still grow on Earth; there had been hundreds in the Palace
gardens. Who knew? Maybe someday Earth would be as beautiful as it once
supposedly had been. Shrugging, Seamus continued his way to the ship he
would have to start thinking of as his home.
)***(
Seamus spent the rest of the day with Beka and Bobby, exploring the
Maru and receiving another injection of the nanobots. He'd been more
than a little nervous when Bobby had first realized that at the moment he
could do little as far as engineering. As soon as Beka had left the room
Seamus had hid himself in the crew quarters. He liked Beka a lot, but
something about her boyfriend just made him uneasy.
The next day Beka was sipping coffee, or something like it, and
watching the one channel that she got on earth: Nietzschean news. Which
really wasn't such a bad thing, since she wanted to keep tabs on the
blockade. They were running low on supplies, such as food, and Beka
really wanted to get out of the planet's atmosphere as quickly as
possible. She was so sick of planets; especially this one. How Seamus
had managed to survive on it for so many years was beyond her. Just as
the thought crossed her mind the mudfoot himself walked in. Without
glancing up at him, Beka asked,
"Why're you up so early? I'd enjoy being able to sleep all day if I
were you, once those hands are fixed you're going to be working so hard..."
Hearing no laugh, and wondering if he didn't catch her joking manner, she
turned to look at him.
"Sorry, is it too early to be up?" Seamus asked, edging back towards
the door.
"No, you can get up whenever you want." Setting down the mug of coffee
she added, "That is, if you went to sleep at all," By the way he fidgeted
she guessed right. Well, after all, when she had first met him he had
explained that he didn't need much sleep. She supposed that she hadn't
really believed him then.
"Sorry, it's just a little strange here," Seamus said quietly. Beka
nodded than gestured towards the kitchen area,
"Feel free to eat whatever you find. Soon as we're off this rock I'm
splurging on new food, so help yourself," With that she turned back to
watching the screen. Quietly Seamus moved about the room, not quite
believing her when she said to eat whatever he wanted. Finding a
few...interesting...looking items, he walked over to where she sat and took a
seat next to her. His immediate interest was in the food though, and he
was only startled out of his eating trance by her cry of,
"Oh crap. That is not good," Looking up, Seamus met her eyes
questioningly.
"What? What's not good?" Hushing him, she gestured for him to listen.
"With the recent disappearances of many personal slaves, both in the
Palace and at family compounds, the council has decreed higher levels of
security as well as more frequent searches, especially of the docks
containing foreign ships. The council leaders announced that such
measures will commence immediately to insure order,"
The screen flickered, the reception being bad, and Beka turned it off.
She felt stunned; now they had two choices. Try and make it through the
blockade, or dump Harper.
"No way are we going through that blockade! Are you crazy? Its one
thing to piss off the Nietzscheans, but this is just plain suicidal.
Come on Beka, we got him outta that palace place, isn't that enough?"
Bobby said angrily. Harper was again in the crew quarters, and Beka
tried not to shout back at her boyfriend.
"I thought you were always the one insisting we help the 'little guy'.
Well, they don't get much smaller than Harper," She insisted. It
bothered her to no end that after all those speeches Bobby had given her
about how they should try and help those in need that when she finally
wanted to help someone, as well as herself, he bailed on her.
"Now, I know I can fly us through those ships. Do you doubt my
piloting skills?" She asked, crossing her arms and staring at him.
"Of course not, you're a wonderful pilot Beka, but I just don't get
why you're so determined to risk our lives for a useless mudfoot—"
"He won't be useless for long. Besides, I never said you had to risk
your life." Silence enveloped the two and Bobby stared at her
incredulously.
"What do you mean Beka?"
"I mean that I never said you had to come. If you don't feel safe,
you're welcome to find your own way off this planet." She glared at him,
and he bit back a retort, finally just cursing and stomping off to their
bedroom. Satisfied, she went to let Harper know that they'd be leaving
soon.
)***(
"There, now how do they feel?" Beka took the bandages off of Harper's
hands. Staring at them in disbelief, Seamus moved his fingers and
wrists.
"They feel fine," He said quietly. Beka grinned, feeling immensely
proud. It'd be nice for him to actually be busy, now that his hands were
in full working order. For the past month he'd wander around the Maru,
asking questions, explaining how they could fix things, and generally
driving Beka and Bobby crazy. He'd already made the engine rooms his
own, though he had yet to fully tinker with the machines in there.
Already Beka felt a little like she was intruding whenever she wandered
into them, only to find Harper exploring the rooms or even talking to her
ship.
She'd found his presence soothing, in a strange (and sometimes
obnoxious) way. When you lived on such a small ship, with only one other
person, you could get pretty sick of being alone or being around that one
person, no matter how much you loved them. Seamus was a welcome relief
after she and Bobby had a fight, something that seemed to happen more and
more often.
Beka had noticed the scar on the back of his neck, and although she'd
inquired about it, Seamus' reply had been vague.
"Just a little rewiring," He had told her cheerfully. But then when
she had pretended to do something else, she noticed him run his hands
over the scar, his eyes staring at something far away. For the most
part, she left his past alone and he left hers alone, although he had
asked her some questions about how she'd gotten the Maru, and what her
family had been like. He'd been shocked when she told him that she
didn't have any cousins or Aunts and Uncles that she knew of.
One of his more revealing nights had been after he had a few glasses
of Bobby's beer, and though he claimed to be used to it, he found himself
slightly drunk. Beka never drank, but she had found herself opening up
to Seamus that night. After Bobby had gone to sleep, grumbling when Beka
didn't follow him, Seamus had told her about the time he'd first tasted
alcohol. The memory didn't sound pleasant to Beka, but Seamus had
laughed as though it were funny. Curious despite herself, Beka had in
turn told him a little about her father, hoping he'd open up. It had
worked; and though Seamus had quickly fallen asleep from the drink, Beka
found it hard to do so after learning that Seamus had once been the
second youngest of a family of seven, not counting older siblings and
cousins dead before he was born, and now had only one surviving cousin.
Beka had been devastated when her father had died; but at least Rafe
was still alive, even if she hadn't seen him in years. Sure, her mother
had left her, but she barely remembered her. It wasn't as though they'd
been a close family, but Seamus had claimed that his cousins were like
brothers and sisters to him, his aunts and uncles like second parents.
It certainly did seem like one of the universes' cruel ironies.
As the weeks passed on, Harper proved to Beka that she hadn't made a
mistake—or at least, not a big a one—when she'd taken him on. All day he
practically lived in the engineering rooms, fixing and upgrading as many
systems as he could with the limited resources Beka could offer him. He
seemed to know more about her ship than she did. Despite his obvious
usefulness, Bobby still grumbled about him to Beka.
"Come on, Deltoros Drift is a decent place. I'm sure he could find a
living there," Bobby said in his best I'm-being-quite-reasonable voice.
Beka turned the Maru to autopilot before answering.
"What do you have against him so much? Weren't you always complaining
about how we needed more people to run the ship? Did you enjoy having
cold showers?" Bobby didn't answer, he merely stormed off. Beka smiled
to herself; the moment Harper had told her that he'd fixed the water
heater, she had nearly kissed him. While he was confused why someone
would want to immerse themselves in water, Beka had raced to the
bathroom, filled up the small tub, and had taken a long, long, bath.
Bobby had been content with just a hot shower, and it took both of them
to convince Harper to take one. Beka was sure that the water must have
run black after he'd cleaned up, since when he'd come out he looked
skinnier and paler than ever. His hair was brighter than she had at
first thought though; in fact, she rather liked the color...
Seamus smiled to himself. So far he was enjoying life on the Maru
enormously. Although he had yet to actually go on a drift, he definitely
thought it sounded like fun, despite Beka's warning of how dangerous they
could be. His days were filled with fixing things and learning more
about ships; it was lucky for him that most of his 'experiments' in
shipbuilding made good upgrades to the Maru; if Beka found out how many
times he was just trying out an idea, he was sure she'd throw him off of
her ship. Still, he was learning...and eating. While Beka claimed to be
dirt poor, she never denied Harper food unless they were really running
low, something which hadn't happened too often. In fact, she seemed to
enjoy watching him stare at the different foods in amazement. While the
filtered water wasn't to his taste, he liked the beer Bobby got, and was
dumbfounded when Beka brought back some cans of something called,
"Sparky" cola. She had explained that she thought it looked interesting,
but later after trying some had been about to throw them out. Harper had
assured her that he liked the drink, though he reframed from telling her
about Kylie, and had been addicted to them since.
If it weren't for Beka's insistence that he at least try to sleep, his
days would have been perfect. At night he lay awake as long as he could;
when he did drift off to sleep his mind was filled with nightmares. Beka
blamed the highly caffeinated Sparkys, but Seamus had always had
nightmares. It was rare for him to have a good night's sleep. Usually
he woke up from his dreams quietly, unlike the times in the Palace, but
there had been times when he awoke to Beka shaking him, or worse, Bobby
telling him to be quiet. Still, apart from those times, his life was as
close to bliss as he could imagine.
Actually, he thought to himself as he sat in the engineering rooms,
relaxed by the gentle whirs and hums of the ship, it was the first time
in a long, long while that he remembered looking forward to each day,
rather than dreading it. Beka was perhaps the first real non blood-
related friend that he'd ever had. Leaning against the wall, he closed
his eyes, hands behind his head, and smiled to himself.
Guess I always did have a thing for redheads...And before he knew it,
he'd fallen into the first peaceful sleep he had had in years.
"Harper, are you in-"Beka fell silent as she saw her new engineer
leaning against the wall, fast asleep. Smiling to herself, she quietly
backed out and shut the door. Sure, he'd probably be sore from sleeping
in such an awkward position, but she'd never seen him asleep before. It
had been a long time since she'd enjoyed living on the Maru so much; each
time Harper admired something, she found herself rediscovering it and
admiring it too. With another smile, Beka shook her head thoughtfully
and went for a walk through her ship.
)***(
End of Chapter 1
End of Volume 3
Life of a Kludge
Wow...I can't believe it's really over! I'd like to thank everyone who's
read it and enjoyed, especially those who let me know that they enjoyed
it. When I first started this, I was terrified about getting tons of
flames with people insisting that I had screwed Harper's past up. Well,
the exact opposite happened, and I'd like to thank you all for your
endless support and compliments. (Actually, I could probably use a few
flames...::Beats down her inflated ego:: ) But seriously, I can't thank you
all enough.
Let's keep those Harper fanfics coming!
Sincerely,
Luna Sealeaf
Life of a Kludge: Volume 3
The Final Hours
Age:17+ (Approximate Age Unknown)
"Isn't it strange how you can hate something your whole life, only to have it gone; and when you look back, all you think about is how much you miss
it,"
-Unknown
* * *
Sleeping on your stomach, face down in a bundle of rags was perhaps
not the most comfortable position to spend the night in. However, Seamus
Zelazny Harper was getting tired of waking up screaming in the middle of
the night. Even worse, his fellow 'co-workers' were getting annoyed as
well. So he'd found a way to avoid any unnecessary get-together with the
others; it was hard to scream when you were half smothered.
The past few weeks had been hell at it's best—or worse—for him. Not
only was there the habitual fact that he was a slave, but Beka Valentine
had been to the Palace several times. She hadn't seen him; he'd made
sure to duck away every time he saw her. It saved them both from any
useless talking. There was nothing she could do for him, and why would
she? They barely knew each other. Still, he wished she would stop
coming. False hope was so much more painful than giving into despair.
And despair had become Seamus' one friend and companion; he knew his days
were numbered, because he himself had started the countdown.
)***(
Captain Beka Valentine of the Eureka Maru paced the small, dimly lit
room in agitation. Bobby had gone out for supplies and she was left by
herself. She loved the Maru, but she didn't like being alone.
Especially when she had so much on her mind; forming a plan to help a
slave of the most powerful Nietzschean pride escape a heavily guarded
building, for example.
Dammit, I need more crew members, this would be a whole lot easier if
it weren't just me and Bobby. She thought to herself angrily. Just
because the ship didn't require many people to run it didn't mean that
Beka wanted to run it by herself. Besides, where was the fun in being a
captain if you didn't get to order a crew around?
Sighing in frustration, Beka kicked at a chair. Bobby had helped her
to come up with a plan that would hopefully help Seamus return with her
to the Maru, but there were so many things that could go wrong that she
wasn't sure it was even worth a shot. Impatiently she checked the time
again. At last—she had another meeting with his Uberness, a.k.a. Marcus,
and it was time to put their plan in action. Of course, it was entirely
possible that Marcus would see right through her ploy and have her
killed, but she certainly hoped he didn't suspect anything. With any
luck, his natural arrogance would help her.
Beka took extra care to not care about her looks; she needed to play
the part of dirt poor-desperate captain. Which; come to think of it;
really shouldn't be all that hard for me. She thought to herself with
only a little bitterness as she made her way to the Palace.
It was a long walk, and the scenery didn't help to distract her, so
she was almost grateful when the tall building appeared. Checking her
way in was surprisingly easy, and the route to Marcus' receiving quarters
was instilled in her mind. Just as she turned the last corner she rammed
into a body carrying something. With a loud crash the silver platter
fell to the floor.
"Oh jeez, I'm so sorry-"Beka said, feeling terrible as she knelt to
help the person gather up the remains of the squished fruit and broken
glasses. The person she had walked into didn't answer and nervously she
looked up. Clear blue eyes locked with hers and Beka felt stunned.
"Harper?...I'm sorry," Feeling like a complete idiot, she said the words
softly and awkwardly.
"Ya know, that's the second time you've made my day here harder," Beka
was startled to hear the joking tone in his voice. Standing, Harper
hesitated before continuing on his way, and Beka took the opportunity to
look him over. Taking a que from his light manner, she gave a crooked
smile.
"You look like crap," He grinned and Beka wondered how he could find
it amusing—he really did look terrible. She had never seen a boy his age
so thin, or so short, and his hands looked terrible. Judging from his
smell the Nietzscheans weren't keen on giving their slaves clean bathing
water very often either.
"Nice seeing you again. Good luck with your business," Harper gave a
polite nod and started walking away. Beka watched him go, wondering if
she ought to tell him about her plan. What if he didn't want to go with
Beka?
"Hey wait," Harper turned, his face showing no expression. Beka
walked over to him and crossed her arms.
"If you ever got a chance to, er, leave, you'd take it, right?" The
look he gave her made her feel two inches tall.
"Wouldn't you?" He asked simply. Beka nodded and he turned away
again. This time Beka watched him go and smiled gleefully to herself.
Then she checked her watch and swore—she was running late again.
"How nice to see you again Captain," Marcus' smooth voice gave Beka
goosebumps. She nodded curtly and took a seat at his table. Marcus
pointedly remained standing. Nietzscheans disliked putting themselves on
the same level as a kludge.
"I trust you are ready to begin shipping?" He continued. I sure hope
that luck of yours is working, Seamus. Beka replied mentally as she
fidgeted and said in her best 'But-I'm-just-a-clueless-kludge' voice:
"Well, I'm ready. I'm not so sure my ship is though." This got
Marcus' attention and he leaned against the table.
"What do you mean you're not sure? Can you get the shipment or not?"
Beka shifted nervously in her chair. This was all part of the plan, but
the nervousness wasn't completely faked.
"You see, sir, I've been having trouble with the steering. It's not
responding as well as it should and I can't tell if it's the manual or
the computer stuff that's the problem," She sure hoped that Marcus wasn't
a mechanic, because Beka knew enough about her ship to fix most problems,
she just couldn't let Marcus know that.
"Computer stuff? Obviously you do need help." He sneered. Beka held
in her smart replies and only nodded meekly, pretending to be oblivious
to his offensive manner.
"Yeah well, my boyfriend took a look at it but he can't figure out
what's wrong either. Normally it wouldn't be such a big deal, but the
cargo you want is several slip jumps away and I'm not willing to risk
slipstreaming with so little of the steering being responsive." Marcus
waved a hand as though to dismiss her words.
"Very well then, I'll recommend some local engineers. I'm sure you'll
have the problem fixed in time," Eagerly Beka nodded in agreement, having
anticipated this.
"That'll be fine; I'll just need a small payment in advance to pay for
the repairs." She kept her face completely open and innocent-something
she had practice at-as Marcus narrowed his eyes. Beka could almost see
the choices being weighed in his mind. Part with money prematurely or
lend her a slave that could assist her. Underneath the table Beka
crossed her fingers.
"There's no need for that. I know of several slaves who should be
competent enough for such minor repairs. I'll send them to your ship
tomorrow morning," Such generosity Beka thought wryly. Out loud she
thanked him profusely and fought back a smile of triumph. Now all they
needed to do was wait.
Bobby slept in the next morning, but Beka awoke just after the sun had
risen. Anxiously she went over the plan in her head. As soon as Harper
arrived they'd explain the situation and simply fly away. It was really
quite simple. There should be no trouble from the Nietzscheans since
Beka had official permission from Marcus and the docking regulators to
leave and enter the planet at will.
The hours dragged by slowly, Bobby wasn't as nervous as Beka and he
assured her that it would all go smoothly. Still, when they heard
someone knocking on the entrance door to the Maru, Beka felt her heart
skip a beat. Quit being an idiot, she scolded herself as she went to let
Harper in.
Only, Harper wasn't there. Stunned, Beka stared at a young woman.
She was dressed as a slave and had been escorted by two Nietzschean
guards, both of whom must have been low in the breeding rank, considering
how menial a job their task was.
"What's wrong baby?" Came Bobby's voice as he came to see what was
taking Beka so long. The girl made a slight bow to both Beka and Bobby.
"My name is Vera, I was sent to help you fix your ship," The girl
looked pale, and her dark hair hung limply against her back. She didn't
look up at them as she spoke, and her voice was quiet. Glancing at the
guards a few yards away, Beka smiled broadly and waved to them, then
tugged the girl inside, taking care to not appear too gentle. Bobby was
looking annoyed, but already Beka was starting to think of a way out of
this situation.
"Vera, are you an engineer?" She asked briskly. The girl looked
surprised, even casting a startled look up at the two other humans.
"No ma'am, I'm a slave. But I do know some things, about ships and
all," Her words were rushed and she looked at her surroundings nervously.
At this, Bobby cursed loudly and Beka had to suppress her
disappointment.
"Excuse us a moment," She said to Vera, then grabbed Bobby's arm and
dragged him into the next room. "Great, now what are we going to do?"
Bobby shrugged before replying.
"Request a real engineer? I mean, it doesn't really matter which
slave we steal right?" Beka glared at him; he seemed to think that the
plan was becoming too much work; especially since it was costing them a
smuggling deal. Normally Beka would have shrugged off any morals or
other costly emotions, but for some reason she just couldn't get the
image of Seamus wasting away out of her mind. He'd done wonders to the
Maru in the short time he'd been able to work for her, so she convinced
herself that it was a good investment.
"Of course it matters which slave!" Beka spit out angrily. Suddenly
an idea dawned on her. Bobby recognized the look and grinned. Without
another word to him, she turned and walked back to where Vera still
stood; eyes downcast.
"Vera, if I could give you your freedom, could I trust you to not tell
the Nietzscheans about us?" Vera looked confused, but nodded, probably
more from habit than agreement. Sighing, Beka rubbed at her temples and
ignored the puzzled look Bobby was giving her. "See Vera, we kinda need
someone specific. So, maybe if you were able to just disappear in the
refugee camp, you think you'd be missed?" Vera's eyes widened in
surprise.
"I-I don't know. They might look for me..."
"What if we told them that you had died?" Beka interrupted. Again,
Vera looked up at her in surprise—and fear.
"I guess they'd believe you," Vera said softly. Hearing consent in
her voice, Beka nodded firmly and turned to Bobby.
"You sneak her out into the city, then in a couple of hours I'll head
over to the Palace and let Marcus know that we need a replacement
engineer," Bobby was shaking his head and laughing.
"You could find a way out of anything, couldn't you?" He said
lovingly. Beka grinned back at him.
"That's the idea," She said as Bobby grabbed a jacket and a gun to
make another trip into the city.
He didn't return until late in the evening, and Beka at last decided
it would make sense to wait until morning. As Bobby pointed out, the
longer they waited the more likely Marcus would believe her, and besides,
what was the rush? Beka couldn't logically answer that, but she had a
feeling that she should hurry.
)***(
As the Nietzschean rounded the corner, Seamus took a glance around to
make sure no one else was nearby. Seeing no one, he leaned against the
wall and rested, leaving the cleaning rags and the water on the floor.
His head was spinning; probably because he hadn't eaten in three days.
Starvation wasn't his first choice of death, but it was his easiest to
achieve.
Ever since some sort of political crisis had occurred-Harper wasn't
exactly privy to the entire goings on in the Nietzschean's government-
there had been a severe shortage of food. The majority of food in this
corner of the Earth was imported from other planets; little food could be
grown. Apparently there was some sort of problem though, since the
slaves' rations had been decreased, and even the higher ranking
Nietzscheans-such as Marcus-were becoming used to sparse meals. While
Seamus didn't really want to die, neither did he want to spend the rest
of his life as a slave, and that was his only option. So he worked
sluggishly and waited for death.
Later that evening, in the 'dining hall' as the Nietzscheans called
the room where their slaves were fed, Seamus felt a tap on his shoulder.
Turning, he realized it was another one of Marcus' 'personal' slaves.
The other man gestured for Seamus to follow him. With a sigh, Seamus
stood and followed, knowing this meant that Marcus had summoned him.
"Ah, good, I was wondering how long it would take you to get here,"
Marcus raised an eyebrow and leaned back in the chair he sat in, crossing
his thick arms. Seamus bowed wearily and didn't answer. Marcus looked
over him for a moment before asking him something Seamus hadn't been
asked in years.
"Boy, how old are you?" The tone was imperious, as always, but it held
a curious note rather than a malicious one. Seamus thought for a few
minutes; he had lost track of days a long time ago. Shrugging, he said
in a voice without feeling,
"The last birthday I remember was my seventeenth," The memory brought
painful images of Brendan and Uncle Eoin to his mind. Marcus nodded,
accepting the fact.
"Well, then you have at least a good twenty or thirty years ahead of
you, don't you agree?" Numbly, Seamus nodded, thinking to himself that it
probably didn't take that long to starve to death.
"You wouldn't want to waste those years living in unending torment and
pain, would you?" Startled, despite himself, Seamus looked up in
confusion. The Nietzschean smiled and continued.
"A contact of mine visited me this morning. She's preparing to make a
delivery for me, at a good price. Unfortunately her ship has a problem,
and the slave I sent over this morning apparently died, while it is not
an unusual occurrence, or a very costly one, I don't wish to send another
random slave. I have no reason to believe the woman is lying about the
cause of death being natural, and I have decided to send you to help
her," Seamus stared at Marcus with uncomprehending eyes.
"And what do you think I can do?" He asked bitterly, deliberately not
looking at his hands. Marcus stood up and stretched.
"You can tell her what to do, if she can't fix her own ship with
instructions than I certainly won't trust her to make such an important
transport for me. And, if you attempt to escape, I won't have you
killed. But, as I'm sure you know"-Marcus looked pointedly at Seamus'
hands,-"There are much, much worse things than death,"
Can only agree with you there, Seamus thought to himself. He gave a
small shrug.
"I'm not that stupid," He said quietly. Marcus laughed and clapped a
hand on his shoulder, causing Seamus to wince.
"That's good, because I'd hate to lose such a well-trained slave,"
Seamus unconsciously stepped away so Marcus' hand fell off his shoulder,
gritting his teeth to keep a heated retort from coming out. Still, he
couldn't help wonder if Marcus spoke of Beka...and if he did, what could
this mean for him?
)***(
There it was—another knock.
"It'd better be the right person this time," Bobby mumbled under his
breath, standing to accompany Beka at the door.
"I think it will be," Beka replied softly. I sure hope so, she added
mentally. The first sight that greeted her was another pair of guards.
Craning her neck, Beka tried to look over them and see who stood behind
them.
"We were instructed to oversee the repairs," One said formally,
shifting to block Beka's view. Both guards were huge; she could almost
hear Bobby's scowl from behind her.
"Yeah yeah, whatever. Just so long as my ship gets fixed, what do I
care?" She said flippantly. Exchanging looks, and probably sharing a
similar thought, the guards moved past Beka and Bobby to wait inside.
Standing at the bottom of the steps stood Harper, staring up at her
curiously. Unlike Vera, his hands were bound, puzzling Beka as she
remembered Marcus had claimed he could no longer use them for
engineering.
"What a load of bull," Seamus remarked, a gleam in his eye and a hint
of a smile on his face. Beka crossed her arms and scowled.
"What are you talking about?"
"You wouldn't even let me touch your ship...yet you don't care about a
couple of Ubers walking around inside it?" Bobby took a step closer to
Beka and said in a hushed voice.
"Just hurry up so we can get outta here," The amused expression on
Seamus' face instantly disappeared, leaving his face void of thought.
Climbing the steps he pushed past them as the Nietzscheans had done,
saying,
"Right away sir. Just show me what you need and I'll be out of your
way. Wouldn't want to delay your important delivery and all," Beka
turned to glare at Bobby before following Seamus. She was about to start
talking when she noticed the guards staring at her.
"You, wait for us in the engineering room, I'll let you know what's
wrong," Seamus stared in surprise at her haughty tone, but quickly turned
and walked down the hall. The guards moved to follow him, but Beka
quickly intercepted them. In a more seductive voice, she said softly,
"He'll be busy for awhile, maybe we could find something more
interesting to do." The guard sneered at her as she stepped closer, and
the other took a step towards them when Bobby fired his gun. The guard
who had moved towards them dropped to the floor dead, just as Beka
stepped back and shot the one in front of her. He collapsed as quickly.
Bobby walked over and kissed her cheek, brushing a strand of vibrant red
hair away from her face.
"That could have gone a lot worse," He remarked softly. Beka nodded,
"I'm still shaking. Come on, we better let Seamus—"Seeing the subtle
change in Bobby's face she hastily continued, "the kid, know what our
plan is,"
"Ready to leave when you are," Bobby turned and headed for the pilot's
chair. Suppressing a feeling of annoyance, after all, she could fly her
own ship, Beka turned to follow Harper, pausing only to call out,
"We should get rid of the bodies though," Bobby grunted in agreement,
so she left him to the task.
"Hey, mudfoot, you have any problem with heights?" Beka's tone was
light, but Seamus, who was sitting with his back against the wall, looked
up and scowled at her.
"What are you talking about?" Seeing she was alone, he added, "And
where's Thing 1 and Thing 2?"
"What? Who's Thing-"
"Never mind. What are you talking about?" Beka shook her head in
bewilderment and walked over to him, kneeling so she could see his face
better.
"Look, if you don't want to leave, fine, but I went to a lot of
trouble to get you here. So, do you have a problem with staying on the
Maru?" Seamus' eyes flickered, as though he thought he understood what
she meant, but was too afraid to assume he was right.
"What exactly do you mean?" He asked slowly. Beka sighed in
exasperation and stood up again.
"My ship needs an engineer, badly; I mean a full time one. I can't
afford to take her to a shop every time I have a misplaced wire. I can
live with having cold showers and messed up filters, but why should I
when I can have a crewmember who can fix them? That is, if you are
willing," Seamus stared up at her in shock, then slowly got to his feet,
no easy task without the aid of his hands, but Beka sensed he wouldn't
welcome any help.
"You mean, you want me to work for you? Be the Maru's engineer?" Beka
nodded, smiling. For a moment, Seamus looked like he would burst with
happiness, but he quickly sobered.
"Aren't you forgetting about these?" He held up his hands and shook
his head. "I can barely move them, and when I do it hurts like hell."
Before he could stop her, Beka took his right hand and examined it. Oh,
it was pretty gross looking all right, but she forced herself not to hold
her breath, I don't care if he uses all the water; he really needs a
shower, or even a bath, she thought. Smiling, she let his hand go.
"It's nothing a couple of nanobots can't fix. I'm sure you'll be back
to normal in no time," If you ever were normal, physically, she thought,
trying to remember how much Rafe had weighed when he was Seamus' age.
"You mean, you can heal them? You have medicine that can fix me?"
Grinning at his hopeful expression, she tapped her head.
"Well, it would take a lot more than just medicine to fix you...but yes,
I do have medicine that should work on your hands," Before she could even
finish, Seamus hugged her, with strength that was surprising, and let out
a yell.
The next few minutes were a blur, with Beka running to Bobby and
telling him to take off. Seamus was running around trying to explore the
entire ship at once while Beka was trying to give him a tour and help
give directions to Bobby at once. Everything was going smoothly until
they actually left the atmosphere. Seamus, feeling a little strange at
the sight of his home planet appearing before him had retreated to the
crew bunks Beka had showed him. The captain herself had taken control of
piloting and Bobby leaned against the railing behind her chair, watching
the planet so desecrated by Nietzschean cruelty and Magog attacks fade
behind them. Before she had gone far though, a crackling voice came over
the speakers.
"This is the Space Control Center of the Drago-Kazov Pride, you are in
restricted space. Identify yourself immediately," Beka cursed under her
breath and Bobby looked at her, wondering what was going on.
"This is Captain Beka Valentine of the Eureka Maru, we have permission
to leave this sector," Beka said at last, deciding it would be easiest
just to cooperate, and less likely to draw attention.
"Please send files," Came the muffled voice again. So Beka had Bobby
send a copy of the forms, and they were forced to wait another half hour
before a reply came.
"Your permission seems legitimate," The tone sounded disgruntled, but
it was difficult to tell.
"Great. Can we leave now?" Beka asked, annoyed at being made to wait.
"I'm sorry, but I'd advise against it. There's currently a blockade
by the-"Interference kept Beka from understanding the name of the pride,
"It will be at least another three days before things are cleared up,"
"I can't wait three days!" Beka said angrily.
"You're welcome to try and make your way through, but they won't care
who you are, if they even bother to stop and ask before blowing your ship
up,"
"Yeah, thanks for the warning," Beka replied, still angry, and then
switched off the communication.
"What're we going to do?" Bobby asked quietly.
"We'll play it safe for now," Beka replied, setting a course for Earth
and then unstrapping herself from the piloting chair. Just as she was
standing up, Seamus walked into the small room, looking confused.
"What's taking so long?" he asked, looking at them both. Exchanging
looks with Bobby, Beka explained about the situation. To her great
surprise, Seamus almost looked relieved.
"Why the long face?" She asked sarcastically.
"Sorry, it's not that I don't want to go, but I do have a little
unfinished business I'd like to take care of before I leave," Seamus
explained with a distracted look. Beka suddenly felt her heart sink.
Bobby left to go get something to eat, but Seamus didn't move and Beka
couldn't help but ask,
"You're not leaving behind any family, are you? Parents? Girlfriends?
Siblings?" Swallowing hard, she added, "A wife or kids?"
Seamus looked up in bemusement and shook his head.
"Nada to all of the above. Just...just a cousin I'd like to say goodbye
to, if I can find him," Seamus said softly. "Don't worry, I'll be
careful not to get caught," He gave her a wan smile and returned to his
new quarters. Beka breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't sure what she
would have done if Seamus had had a wife and kids.
They made their way back to the docks and prepared to lay low for the
next three days. Beka wasn't sure how long it would take Marcus to
realize that Seamus wasn't coming back, or how long it would take him to
try and retrieve him. She doubted that kludges were that important to
the Nietzscheans; it was more a matter of pride with them.
After spending a night on the Maru to make sure there were no
immediate searches, Seamus snuck off to return to the city in search of
his cousin. Beka watched him go with a mixture of feelings. The night
before she'd given him an injection of nanobots into his hands, Seamus
claimed that they were feeling better all ready, but Beka couldn't help
but wonder how long it would take to heal him fully—if she ever could.
At dinner he had already proven that his appetite wasn't to blame for his
skinniness, and there had been times when Beka could barely afford to
feed herself. While Bobby usually could manage to find his own meals,
one way or another, Seamus would probably be another matter. Well, maybe
she could save some money on repairs by having him around. It's not like
it's my problem, he's just an investment, that's all...she told herself,
again. An investment that had better return before three days are up...
)***(
"Brendan Lahey, do you know where he is?" Seamus asked the man
quietly. He'd seen Brendan do deals with him before, and it had taken
him hours to find the man, so his patience was wearing thin.
"I already told ya, I don't know no Brendan Lahey...who're you anyways?"
The man asked, casting suspicious glances around him.
"I'm his cousin," Seamus at last conceded. The man's eyes widened
even as he looked around even more.
"You mean... his cousin Seamus Zelazny Harper?" The man whispered.
Seamus nearly screamed in exasperation.
"It's nice to be famous, and yes, I'm that cousin," He said
sarcastically instead. The man continued to whisper and gestured toward
an old building in the distance.
"Ya can usually find 'im there, but don't blame me if he's moved on,"
With that, the man turned and quickly walked away. Seamus rolled his
eyes and made his way through the dirty streets towards the building. He
hadn't been in the city since the magog attack, but there seemed to be
fewer people lining the streets. Keeping his face down he slowly made
his way to the building. Please be there Brendan, he pleaded silently.
Whether or not his cousin could be found he was going to leave with Beka.
Not only had he made a promise to his mom a long time ago, but he knew
if he stayed on Earth much longer it would kill him.
Reaching the door he knocked twice, and as he waited for someone to
answer he wondered what Beka had been talking about. He didn't smell any
worse than the rest of the city! It was the Maru's air that smelled
strange. Frowning, he decided to check the air filters on it when he was
able to. The thought brought a smile to his face even as the door in
front of him opened an inch.
"Hello? Brendan?" Seamus tried to push the door open a little farther
but it wouldn't budge.
"Who's there?" Came a soft voice. Seamus couldn't tell if it was boy
or girl, adult or child.
"Uh, Seamus...Harper?" He lost track of his thought as the door opened
wider, but still no person was revealed. Seamus reached behind him to
take the knife he'd 'borrowed' from Beka's kitchen. He couldn't see in
front of him; there were only a few streams of light coming through
cracks in the wooden walls.
"Who's there?" He called out, taking a step into the room and holding
onto the knife tightly. While he had only stabbed several people in his
life, he was always prepared to defend himself if he needed to.
"Are you really Seamus Harper?" Spinning around he found himself
staring at a young woman in tattered clothing. Her hair was long, but so
filthy he couldn't tell if it was blonde or black. Eyeing her wearily,
Seamus nevertheless lowered the knife a little.
"No; I'm a Nietzschean. Of course I'm Seamus Harper. Am I really so
famous that people are already starting to steal my identity?" The girl
looked so tense that he couldn't help trying to calm her down a little.
"Sorry, it's just that...I've heard so much about you," The girl said
softly. Her too big eyes were dark and staring at him without blinking.
It unnerved him.
"Yeah? From who?" He said, a little more gruffly.
"Corinne heard it from me, of course," Hardly daring to believe his
ears, Seamus turned again, this time smiling.
"Brendan?" He asked, as a form moved out of the shadow. The man moved
a little closer and Seamus was able to tell that it was indeed his
cousin. The two embraced as soon as they confirmed each others'
identity.
"Where've you been Seamus? I haven't seen you since the magog..."
Brendan broke off to look over his younger cousin; although Beka had lent
Seamus some of Bobby's old clothes, they only made his thin form seem
skeletal, and dark bruises still covered much of his face.
"I could ask you the same thing," Seamus said lightly, not really
wanting to tell Brendan where he'd been. "I woke up and you were gone-
you and Uncle Eoin both," He said in a softer tone.
"Have you seen Eoin?" Brendan gripped Seamus' arms, and after a moment
Seamus nodded. Before Brendan could ask where he was, Seamus explained
about his death. Releasing his arms, Brendan took a step back and nodded
faintly.
"We still have each other Seamus...and now we have Corinne, she and I
are together." Brendan said, and Corinne moved to his side. Turning back
to Seamus, he again inquired about where he had been. Not meeting his
older cousins' eyes, Seamus pretended to be interested in studying the
inside of the building as he calmly explained how he had come to stay in
the Palace.
"Seamus, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have left you at Cal's..." Brendan
began, guilt flickering in his eyes, but Seamus shook his head, holding
his hands up.
"It's fine, really it is. If I hadn't gone to the Palace, I wouldn't
be getting out of here,"
"What are you talking about?" Brendan stiffened slightly, staring at
Seamus, a voice in the back of his head wondering if he had become a spy
for the Nietzscheans while at the Palace. His fears were dissipated as
Seamus explained how Beka had found him and wanted him to stay on the
Maru with her.
"Wow, that's some deal cousin," Brendan said after a stretch of
silence. Seamus nodded quietly.
"She probably wouldn't mind a few more people on board," He offered.
The ship was small, but he was sure Brendan could be useful. Before he
could plan out what to tell Beka though, Brendan shook his head.
"No, I'm really happy for you Seamus, but much as I hate it, Earth is
my home. I'm not meant for space; Besides, I've got big plans for our
little rock in the universe," He grinned, exchanging a smile with
Corinne, but Seamus frowned.
"Oh really? Like what?" He asked sarcastically.
"Let's just say that I don't plan on letting the Nietzscheans rule our
home forever. You sure you don't want to stay and work with me?" Brendan
asked, and Seamus felt a surge of both guilt and annoyance.
"Sorry Brendan, guess I don't love this place as much as you. All
it's ever done is kill people I love. Maybe I can do more to help you
out there," He jerked a thumb towards the sky, wondering if Brendan would
be angry, but he only nodded.
"That's all right. We always knew you were meant for bigger and
better things than this." In a softer tone, he continued, "Aunt Bronagh
always hoped you'd have a better future than hers and your father's
turned out to be. Even Uncle Zelazny knew you were special," The
nostalgic talks made Seamus feel uncomfortable; he didn't want his last
memories of Brendan to be depressing ones.
"I guess so. Well, can't say I'll miss it here, but I will miss you
Brendan. Take care of yourself," Seamus said, edging toward the door.
Brendan smiled and grasped Seamus' hand.
"Take care of yourself too. Until we meet again," Seamus nodded and
they hugged again, briefly, then Seamus turned to leave. As he walked
out he heard Brendan call out,
"Oh, and stay out of trouble!" Laughing, Seamus turned and waved,
imprinting the picture of Brendan, with an arm around Corinne, smiling
and waving back, in his mind. With that last look, he turned and made
his way back to the Eureka Maru, and hopefully to his new and better
life.
As he left the inner city, Seamus glanced up at the sky, and stopped.
He hadn't even noticed it; but the sky was blue, and the sun was shining.
A few white clouds were stuck in the sky. His jaw nearly dropped; he
couldn't remember seeing such a beautiful sky in so long. Taking another
look around, he wondered if he would miss the atmosphere of a planet
while living in space. Maybe the grass wasn't so green anymore, and
maybe it was very rare to see such a blue sky anymore, but there were
times when the wind didn't have strange scents and it felt good, and
flowers could still grow on Earth; there had been hundreds in the Palace
gardens. Who knew? Maybe someday Earth would be as beautiful as it once
supposedly had been. Shrugging, Seamus continued his way to the ship he
would have to start thinking of as his home.
)***(
Seamus spent the rest of the day with Beka and Bobby, exploring the
Maru and receiving another injection of the nanobots. He'd been more
than a little nervous when Bobby had first realized that at the moment he
could do little as far as engineering. As soon as Beka had left the room
Seamus had hid himself in the crew quarters. He liked Beka a lot, but
something about her boyfriend just made him uneasy.
The next day Beka was sipping coffee, or something like it, and
watching the one channel that she got on earth: Nietzschean news. Which
really wasn't such a bad thing, since she wanted to keep tabs on the
blockade. They were running low on supplies, such as food, and Beka
really wanted to get out of the planet's atmosphere as quickly as
possible. She was so sick of planets; especially this one. How Seamus
had managed to survive on it for so many years was beyond her. Just as
the thought crossed her mind the mudfoot himself walked in. Without
glancing up at him, Beka asked,
"Why're you up so early? I'd enjoy being able to sleep all day if I
were you, once those hands are fixed you're going to be working so hard..."
Hearing no laugh, and wondering if he didn't catch her joking manner, she
turned to look at him.
"Sorry, is it too early to be up?" Seamus asked, edging back towards
the door.
"No, you can get up whenever you want." Setting down the mug of coffee
she added, "That is, if you went to sleep at all," By the way he fidgeted
she guessed right. Well, after all, when she had first met him he had
explained that he didn't need much sleep. She supposed that she hadn't
really believed him then.
"Sorry, it's just a little strange here," Seamus said quietly. Beka
nodded than gestured towards the kitchen area,
"Feel free to eat whatever you find. Soon as we're off this rock I'm
splurging on new food, so help yourself," With that she turned back to
watching the screen. Quietly Seamus moved about the room, not quite
believing her when she said to eat whatever he wanted. Finding a
few...interesting...looking items, he walked over to where she sat and took a
seat next to her. His immediate interest was in the food though, and he
was only startled out of his eating trance by her cry of,
"Oh crap. That is not good," Looking up, Seamus met her eyes
questioningly.
"What? What's not good?" Hushing him, she gestured for him to listen.
"With the recent disappearances of many personal slaves, both in the
Palace and at family compounds, the council has decreed higher levels of
security as well as more frequent searches, especially of the docks
containing foreign ships. The council leaders announced that such
measures will commence immediately to insure order,"
The screen flickered, the reception being bad, and Beka turned it off.
She felt stunned; now they had two choices. Try and make it through the
blockade, or dump Harper.
"No way are we going through that blockade! Are you crazy? Its one
thing to piss off the Nietzscheans, but this is just plain suicidal.
Come on Beka, we got him outta that palace place, isn't that enough?"
Bobby said angrily. Harper was again in the crew quarters, and Beka
tried not to shout back at her boyfriend.
"I thought you were always the one insisting we help the 'little guy'.
Well, they don't get much smaller than Harper," She insisted. It
bothered her to no end that after all those speeches Bobby had given her
about how they should try and help those in need that when she finally
wanted to help someone, as well as herself, he bailed on her.
"Now, I know I can fly us through those ships. Do you doubt my
piloting skills?" She asked, crossing her arms and staring at him.
"Of course not, you're a wonderful pilot Beka, but I just don't get
why you're so determined to risk our lives for a useless mudfoot—"
"He won't be useless for long. Besides, I never said you had to risk
your life." Silence enveloped the two and Bobby stared at her
incredulously.
"What do you mean Beka?"
"I mean that I never said you had to come. If you don't feel safe,
you're welcome to find your own way off this planet." She glared at him,
and he bit back a retort, finally just cursing and stomping off to their
bedroom. Satisfied, she went to let Harper know that they'd be leaving
soon.
)***(
"There, now how do they feel?" Beka took the bandages off of Harper's
hands. Staring at them in disbelief, Seamus moved his fingers and
wrists.
"They feel fine," He said quietly. Beka grinned, feeling immensely
proud. It'd be nice for him to actually be busy, now that his hands were
in full working order. For the past month he'd wander around the Maru,
asking questions, explaining how they could fix things, and generally
driving Beka and Bobby crazy. He'd already made the engine rooms his
own, though he had yet to fully tinker with the machines in there.
Already Beka felt a little like she was intruding whenever she wandered
into them, only to find Harper exploring the rooms or even talking to her
ship.
She'd found his presence soothing, in a strange (and sometimes
obnoxious) way. When you lived on such a small ship, with only one other
person, you could get pretty sick of being alone or being around that one
person, no matter how much you loved them. Seamus was a welcome relief
after she and Bobby had a fight, something that seemed to happen more and
more often.
Beka had noticed the scar on the back of his neck, and although she'd
inquired about it, Seamus' reply had been vague.
"Just a little rewiring," He had told her cheerfully. But then when
she had pretended to do something else, she noticed him run his hands
over the scar, his eyes staring at something far away. For the most
part, she left his past alone and he left hers alone, although he had
asked her some questions about how she'd gotten the Maru, and what her
family had been like. He'd been shocked when she told him that she
didn't have any cousins or Aunts and Uncles that she knew of.
One of his more revealing nights had been after he had a few glasses
of Bobby's beer, and though he claimed to be used to it, he found himself
slightly drunk. Beka never drank, but she had found herself opening up
to Seamus that night. After Bobby had gone to sleep, grumbling when Beka
didn't follow him, Seamus had told her about the time he'd first tasted
alcohol. The memory didn't sound pleasant to Beka, but Seamus had
laughed as though it were funny. Curious despite herself, Beka had in
turn told him a little about her father, hoping he'd open up. It had
worked; and though Seamus had quickly fallen asleep from the drink, Beka
found it hard to do so after learning that Seamus had once been the
second youngest of a family of seven, not counting older siblings and
cousins dead before he was born, and now had only one surviving cousin.
Beka had been devastated when her father had died; but at least Rafe
was still alive, even if she hadn't seen him in years. Sure, her mother
had left her, but she barely remembered her. It wasn't as though they'd
been a close family, but Seamus had claimed that his cousins were like
brothers and sisters to him, his aunts and uncles like second parents.
It certainly did seem like one of the universes' cruel ironies.
As the weeks passed on, Harper proved to Beka that she hadn't made a
mistake—or at least, not a big a one—when she'd taken him on. All day he
practically lived in the engineering rooms, fixing and upgrading as many
systems as he could with the limited resources Beka could offer him. He
seemed to know more about her ship than she did. Despite his obvious
usefulness, Bobby still grumbled about him to Beka.
"Come on, Deltoros Drift is a decent place. I'm sure he could find a
living there," Bobby said in his best I'm-being-quite-reasonable voice.
Beka turned the Maru to autopilot before answering.
"What do you have against him so much? Weren't you always complaining
about how we needed more people to run the ship? Did you enjoy having
cold showers?" Bobby didn't answer, he merely stormed off. Beka smiled
to herself; the moment Harper had told her that he'd fixed the water
heater, she had nearly kissed him. While he was confused why someone
would want to immerse themselves in water, Beka had raced to the
bathroom, filled up the small tub, and had taken a long, long, bath.
Bobby had been content with just a hot shower, and it took both of them
to convince Harper to take one. Beka was sure that the water must have
run black after he'd cleaned up, since when he'd come out he looked
skinnier and paler than ever. His hair was brighter than she had at
first thought though; in fact, she rather liked the color...
Seamus smiled to himself. So far he was enjoying life on the Maru
enormously. Although he had yet to actually go on a drift, he definitely
thought it sounded like fun, despite Beka's warning of how dangerous they
could be. His days were filled with fixing things and learning more
about ships; it was lucky for him that most of his 'experiments' in
shipbuilding made good upgrades to the Maru; if Beka found out how many
times he was just trying out an idea, he was sure she'd throw him off of
her ship. Still, he was learning...and eating. While Beka claimed to be
dirt poor, she never denied Harper food unless they were really running
low, something which hadn't happened too often. In fact, she seemed to
enjoy watching him stare at the different foods in amazement. While the
filtered water wasn't to his taste, he liked the beer Bobby got, and was
dumbfounded when Beka brought back some cans of something called,
"Sparky" cola. She had explained that she thought it looked interesting,
but later after trying some had been about to throw them out. Harper had
assured her that he liked the drink, though he reframed from telling her
about Kylie, and had been addicted to them since.
If it weren't for Beka's insistence that he at least try to sleep, his
days would have been perfect. At night he lay awake as long as he could;
when he did drift off to sleep his mind was filled with nightmares. Beka
blamed the highly caffeinated Sparkys, but Seamus had always had
nightmares. It was rare for him to have a good night's sleep. Usually
he woke up from his dreams quietly, unlike the times in the Palace, but
there had been times when he awoke to Beka shaking him, or worse, Bobby
telling him to be quiet. Still, apart from those times, his life was as
close to bliss as he could imagine.
Actually, he thought to himself as he sat in the engineering rooms,
relaxed by the gentle whirs and hums of the ship, it was the first time
in a long, long while that he remembered looking forward to each day,
rather than dreading it. Beka was perhaps the first real non blood-
related friend that he'd ever had. Leaning against the wall, he closed
his eyes, hands behind his head, and smiled to himself.
Guess I always did have a thing for redheads...And before he knew it,
he'd fallen into the first peaceful sleep he had had in years.
"Harper, are you in-"Beka fell silent as she saw her new engineer
leaning against the wall, fast asleep. Smiling to herself, she quietly
backed out and shut the door. Sure, he'd probably be sore from sleeping
in such an awkward position, but she'd never seen him asleep before. It
had been a long time since she'd enjoyed living on the Maru so much; each
time Harper admired something, she found herself rediscovering it and
admiring it too. With another smile, Beka shook her head thoughtfully
and went for a walk through her ship.
)***(
End of Chapter 1
End of Volume 3
Life of a Kludge
Wow...I can't believe it's really over! I'd like to thank everyone who's
read it and enjoyed, especially those who let me know that they enjoyed
it. When I first started this, I was terrified about getting tons of
flames with people insisting that I had screwed Harper's past up. Well,
the exact opposite happened, and I'd like to thank you all for your
endless support and compliments. (Actually, I could probably use a few
flames...::Beats down her inflated ego:: ) But seriously, I can't thank you
all enough.
Let's keep those Harper fanfics coming!
Sincerely,
Luna Sealeaf