My very first Andromeda fanfic, written specially for the guys at the Romanian Andromeda Fanclub! This one's for you, scifi dudes and girls! Enjoy...
'Damned heat!'
Dylan Hunt was walking through the many hallways of his ship, desperately trying to find a corner where the air would not be so hot! Earlier that day, the air conditioning strangely decided not to work anymore and the entire crew was forced to face the incredibly hot air ever since. Oh course, Harper was already on the job, but his improvements were much slower than usual. 'Must be the temperature… Should just give him a break… even if it is such a bad timing…' Dylan thought as he kept on walking, without his jacket on, only in a pair of plastic slippers, a sleeveless shirt and a one of his uniform's trousers rolled up to his knees.
"Hello Dylan." Rommie's voice was heared as he entered the Command Deck for the tenth time that day. He looked at her and found something incredibly strange, yet normal in the same time. She was wearing her usual long-sleeved uniform and showed absolutely no discomfort.
"How can you possibly wear that at such a time?" he sounded almost enraged. "No, don't tell me!" he recovered one moment later and stopped her with a hand gesture. "Android!" he answered to his own question and the ship's avatar smiled knowingly and nodded her pretty head.
"Harper said that he still had some things left to fix, so the coolers should still be offline for the next few hours or so." She explained and gained something that resembled a whine coming from his direction.
"How are the others?"
"As bad as half an hour ago when you asked a report over everyone's condition." She answered with the same calm voice. Usually, that would've chilled out the mighty captain… but today it only made it worse.
"I see… Ok, I know that you are an android and high or low temperatures don't have any effects on you… But how can you possibly stay in those clothes when me and the others look and feel as if we're in the middle of a very hot summer on Tarn Vedra (A/N: remember, he once described the nights on his homeworld)?"
"Well, a ship's avatar is only built at the commander's desire. I am to dress apropriately… at all times…" Rommie answered, rising an everbrow and already noticing a strange look in Dylan's eyes. She stared at him almost scared of that sparkle… because it resembled the look Harper gained every time something really nasty passed his mind.
"I see… well then, if you are supposed to exist for my comfort… than why don't you act like it?"
"How?" she asked, almost terrified of his answer. Dylan gave her a large grin.
"Blend in… Act like the rest of us… I mean, I know that you have emotions… why try to hide it?"
"And what emotions would we be talking about in this specific case?" she backed away a bit.
"Sympathy!" he spoke and eyed her patiently.
"You mean that I…"
"Yes!"
"Have to…"
"Yes!"
"Has Harper put something in your drink again? Or are you just hallucinating from the heat?" she inquired worried.
"Do it, Rommie!" he almost demanded.
"Do I have to?"
"Yes!"
"I hope this crisis is over soon…" she mumbled unhappy with her present condition as she walked out of the Command Deck and onto her quarters.
"Damned heat!" Beka swore loudly as she threw the weights she had once hoped to use for personal training. At first, when it was only supposed to be a short incident, she had thought that she could beat the rising temperature and humidity and go on with her normal schedule. However, less than ten minuted later she discovered that she was very wrong. "Harper!"
"Hey boss!" his normal cheerful voice spoke back through the intercom.
"Think of fixing the air-conditioning any time this year?" she asked, pretty annoyed, not understanding how the engineer could be so calm and sound so… fresh?
"Sure thing, boss! It'll be up before you could say "extended internal air cooling system"." He answered, hoping that his little joke might brighten up the pilot. Unfortunately it didn't.
"Just hurry!" she whined and closed the connection, falling backwards on the practise matress and sighing heavily. If he didn't fix that thing faster, she knew she'd die. The air was too hot and the humidity made her dizzy. Too bad sleeping was out of the question… just like pretty much any other activity. Groaning, she got up and exited the room, trying to find a cooler atmosphere in the halls. Yet again, her hopes went down in a second.
"Hello, Beka!" Trance greeted her with her normal sweet smile.
"Hey, Trance?" the blonde pilot sent her old friend a very strange look. The golden woman was either dressed in a red leather costume (A/N: you know the one) which seemed very warm in normal conditions, or Beka had definitely lost it. "Are you ok?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" she looked at her puzzled, until she noticed the blonde's sleeveless top and the trousers that were rolled up above her knees, revealing her barefoot status. She wasn't very covered and she still looked as if she was in the middle of an amazonian jungle during the hottest day possible. "Oh, I see…" she smiled.
"Well?"
"Beka, people of my kind don't have a problem with heat. In fact, we welcome it as if it were one of our own. As for the humindity, it is just something that comes with the heat… It is really pleasant for me… unlike the normal air, that makes me feel kind of cold…" she explained calmly. "Ok, I need to check my plants on the Maru now. See you later!" she winked and took off, leaving a very confused (and speechless) Beka behind. Shanking her head, several moments later, the pilot turned around wanting to head for the Command Deck when…
"The Maru!" she shouted and slapped herself over the forehead.
"Uhaaaa!" Dylan sat right in front of the cooling system, in the middle of Eureka Maru's main room (A/N: where the bar is). "Hmm, this is good…" he was content with himself and with the fact that he had such a smart avatar. Rommie had guided him here, of course, after she returned from her room wearing some kind of costume formed of a simple top and a matching skirt. He then agreed to her outfit and she told him that he could probably find some cool air on the Maru.
"What the hell?" Beka entered her own ship and gazed absolutely amazed at the mighty captain of Andromeda Ascendant, who was almost giggling at the fresh air surrounding him. When she had thought she had seen it all, she turned around, only to meet the changed Rommie, holding a tray with filled glasses and carrying a very, very depressed look. One could easily tell that today wasn't exactly her best day. Widening her eyes once again at the sight of the ship's avatar, Beka walked further into her own home, onto the bathroom, when…
"Oh, hello Beka!" Rhade showed up only wearing a towel around his waist and holding his clothes in one hand. He smiled kindly and she thought that the Apocalipse was really on the verge of starting.
"Rhade… what are all of you doing on my ship?" she asked, more than just abit annoyed because no one has bothered to tell her that fresh air could be found right there… then again, she was supposed to know everything about the ship so…
"Well, Rommie brought Dylan a while ago, Trance is nursing her plants and I had already known for some time that the Maru doesn't depend on Andromeda's systems." He explained politely and smiled again. 'Damn!'
"I see… Well, you should go change and I'll… um, go shower!" she started reacting dumbly. It must've been the fast shift from hot to cool. He nodded and got out.
A moment later and loud crash was heared coming from the bathroom, followed by a very loud:
"Ouch!" Beka's voice echoed almost through the entire ship.
"Wow… good hearing and strong voice…" Dylan broke off his contact with the ventilation only for a moment and spoke up impressed. Eyeing him strangely, Rommie only shook her head. It wasn't even evening yet, and it had already been one long, crazy and hot day.
"To whom does this rubber ducky belong to?" the blonde pilot's hand emerged from the bathroom and threw a yellow object across the room, hitting Rhade right in the head. Judging by her voice, she was already pretty pissed off, so the nitzscheneean didn't even bother to say something back, except for:
"It's Harper's."
"What? How did it get in here?" she went on with the interrogatory.
"I think he brought it when he came in for the third shower." Rhade went on calmly, but already imagining what was going to follow next.
"Third shower?"
"Yeah, about ten minutes ago." Suddenly, the pilot's fist hit the wall as hard as her anger allowed to.
"Harper!"
Back in the network on small tunnels, deep inside Andromeda's systems, Harper widened his eyes in realisation and his hands started working as fast as they could on the command panels, almost anticipating what the strange shout had meant. 'Damned heat!'
Oh yeah, and you'll find this one-shot on Andromeda-Web too... please be considerate and leave a review!