Harper woke with a start. He was having one of *those* dreams again.
All he could ever remember was that it was extremely strange and, if it
hadn't been happening to him, it would have been really funny. He shook his
head and tried to relax, or at least stop shaking. He sighed. Oh well, I
just hope Rommie doesn't notice... he thought, as he drifted off to sleep.
Rommie pursed her lips as she listened to 'her' report. Nightmares again, or at least she thought they were nightmares. Either that or Harper had caught yet another disease. She sure hoped that wasn't the case, that would only complicate things further. She decided she it was time to have a council with herself/selves.
Ship-Rommie thought they should inform Trance as soon as possible. Holo-Rommie, on the other hand, thought they should ask Harper and go from there. Avatar-Rommie refused to butt into other people's problems. After much debate, Rommie(s) decided to wait, but if it happened again they would contact Trance. Since, technically, it was still night, (her debate had only taken 10.337 seconds) Avatar-Rommie headed towards Obs Deck for something to do. By the time she arrived she had already dismissed Harper's problem (for *now*), checked her systems twenty times, and looked over the crew's respiratory, circulatory, and stress rate half a dozen times.
~*~
Harper awoke to Rommie's stare.
"Hiya Rom-Doll." He yawned, "Whatcha doin?" She looked puzzled for a moment.
"Beka specifically ordered you to meet her aboard the Maru at 0800 hours." She paused to let that sink in. "It is now 1021 and I thought I should warn you. She is headed towards your quarters." During her speech Harper had grown paler and paler. She glanced at him once more before she fizzled out of existence.
He didn't even notice. He was too busy running around the room looking for somewhere to hide.
Closet? Nope, full of junk.
Floor? Full of junk.
He heard someone pounding on the door and yelling, not a good sign.
His eyes settled on his bed and he dove for cover. And not a moment too soon, Beka burst into the room.
"HAR--!!" She stopped and looked around, puzzled that he wasn't there.
He peeked at her nervously from under an old sock. There was one thing he had forgotten when he dove: it was full of junk. He sneezed. Beka's head snapped to his position and he froze. She broke into an evil grin.
"At least you didn't go for the dresser this time." She knew him too well, or else he'd been around her *way* too long. She helped him out from under the bed.
"Y-You aren't m-mad at me?" he managed to stutter out after a while.
She laughed, "I see Rommie got her share of fun for the week. C'mon we've got a genuine treasure with a genuine map!" She started sprinting toward the Maru and babbling about some machine or other. This must be good, he thought, Beka's way too excited for it not to be. All he could make out was happy, machine, and map. What a happy machine could possibly have to do with a map he was still working on.
When they reached the Maru and Beka was still going on about a happy machine, Harper decided a nap was looking pretty good right about now. So he slowly backed away from Beka, who was strapping up for slipstream, and headed for his quarters. This was going to be a long day.
~*~
Harper walked back onto the bridge. Beka was still going on and on about… whatever it was, oblivious to the fact that Harper had been gone for the last hour.
"… It, like, does this thing and then it…"
"Beka!! Shut up!" She blinked.
"Huh? When did you get here? Didn't you leave or something?" So she had noticed.
"Are we there? Do you need any help? Can you tell me what in the world we're doing?"
"In order: no, no and I could've sworn I already told you. But, for the abridged version, I have a map, the map is directions to a machine that, supposedly, provides eternal happiness. We only have one more jump to Surgon so if you'd get out of my way..." She tilted her head toward the 'stream chair.
"What's Surgon?" Harper asked, pointedly ignoring her impatience for him to move out of her way.
"The planet. Now could you MOVE?!?" Harper bowed and moved out of her way. "Took you long enough," she muttered, earning a glare from Harper. She strapped in and the next time he looked up there was a barren looking planet with a purplish atmosphere, they had arrived.
~*~
Harper left to prep the EVA suits, and when he returned they had already landed at the entrance to a cave system. Harper and Beka put on their suits and helmets and took their first step onto Surgon.
The ground was covered with black foliage which was in stark contrast to the neon reds and blues of the surrounding flowers. All of this was framed by the reddish sapphire of the sky.
After a few moments of awe inspired silence, Harper began scanning the area for harmful toxins or hazardous materials.
"Everything's great: breathable air, perfect temperature. Wait a sec, well there's a bit too much helium in the air but other then that..." He trailed off when he noticed that Beka was already headed towards the caves. "Fine. Ignore me." Beka rolled her eyes and continued towards her destination.
~*~
As Harper and Beka got deeper into the caves each wordlessly brought out their flashlights and trudged on. After a few hours, the originally olive-green of the cave walls slowly turned to a murky brown color.
When it seemed that the caves would continue on forever, they finally reached a dead end. There was a pale yellow glow coming from a large bulbous light fixture above the far left corner of the room. Directly beneath the fixture and covered with strange intricate markings, was a tall, slim, gold cylinder. As Harper got nearer he noticed an engraved plaque near the cylinder's center. He read it aloud:
"To boldly go where no man has gone before,
Way past Mars and still far more.
An infinity is out before you,
But, behind has more in store for you
Far past the Milky Way you'd go,
That is farther than... Who knows?
It's far too far too far away
To say it would take us so and so days,
Or months, or years, who knows how long?
You may be right you may be wrong.
And yet into the far unknown,
Far past the bluish Earth, our home.
Way out past Mars and still far more,
To boldly go where no man has gone before."
Beka, who was at Harper's side, noticed another newer plaque beneath the first and read it aloud:
"The true voyage is in, not out.
For, inside, is what life is all about
You live in, and only venture outside
Although some are known to hide
Behind the world, behind a face
Beyond your home, outside your place
But all of these prove fake, you'll see
It is not you, it cannot be
For, inside, is what life is all about.
The true voyage is in, not out" As soon as she finished, they could hear a low rumbling sound begin above their heads. Both of them looked upward and that proved to be their undoing. At that moment, the light fixture shook, went out, and came toppling down onto their heads. They were unconscious, miles underground, and still had three days before anyone would even think something was wrong.
~*~
The first things Harper noticed when he gained consciousness was that his head felt like there was a hammer continually pounding on it, and he could hardly breath because of a heavy weight over his lower body. Several tries and, most likely, several pulled muscles later, he managed to move the object off of him and onto the nearby floor. With that obstacle taken care of, he realized that everything was pitch black. Not only that but there wasn't even a hint of light anywhere. It was the black to end all blacks and he was stuck in the middle of it.
"Oh shit..." he murmured. "What the hell?" His voice sounded like it was coming from some doggie toy or a broken flexi. It was about five octaves too high and rather squeaky. Then he remembered the 'mission', (okay so it was a wild goose chase) the cylinder, and Surgon where he was apparently stranded. Then Beka.
"Great, just great... Beka?" He called out, hoping that she was within earshot and able to reply, or at least conscious. All he heard in reply was a low groaning that was to coming from somewhere on his left. Right where he had pushed the cylinder. Perfect. He threw up his hands. *Can nothing go right today?* he wondered as he tried to find Beka under the cold metallic cylinder. "Fine, forget this." He said while he began shoving the large piece of metal off of her. "Please don't get crushed, please don't get crushed, please don't get crushed..." he chanted in hopes that something would listen.
It appeared that something would and had because he removed the object without further incident.
~*~
Beka was now as silent as she was, earlier, talkative. Harper had to reach behind his back several times on the journey out of the caves just to make sure she hadn't fallen down a hole or something. He finally decided to just hold her hand the whole time so he was certain that nothing had happened. Suddenly there was a bright flash from, what seemed like, right in front of his face. He had to stand and blink for several moments before he could get rid of the large purple stripe that had formed in his line of vision. Then he noticed that there was a small amount of light coming from directly ahead. "Maybe these caves *do* end." He muttered.
"Thank god..." Beka responded, breaking her long silence. "All I want to do is get on the Maru and sleep for months." Her voice was cracked and every bit as high as Harper's. When it became clear that Beka was going to lapse back into silence, Harper started asking every question he could think of in hopes that she would continue talking.
"...What do you think happened to our flashlights? Isn't it weird how our voices sound like this? How long do you think they'll stay like this?"
"Well," Beka interrupted, "if you don't shut up *right now* it's going to be rather permanent." Harper shut up and occupied himself by wondering just how she would cause the voice change. None of his theories were very enjoyable.
The passage they were following came to an abrupt end and they could hear rain pounding a few feet ahead. Both paused and stared blankly out at the downpour, although all they could see was a large blanket of darkness. Then, as if by some hidden signal, both started and began sprinting off in the direction of where they had left the Maru. Both were running, unconsciously, side-by-side, and as wet as they would be if they were swimming. Surprisingly, they found the Maru in about two minutes. It seemed that, for once, luck was on their side.
~*~
As they entered the Maru each went their different ways and the only sign that either noticed the other was a halfhearted wave and a mumble that they were going to get some sleep. Harper took a bit of a detour and put the ship on auto-pilot. Both of them felt drowsy, and the only thing they wanted to do was lay down and get some sleep. Neither bothered to undress, dry off, or even take off the EVA suits. Both entered their rooms and were asleep before they made it to the bed.
~*~
Harper awoke for the first time in three weeks without feeling confused and awkward about his dream. He now felt confused and awkward, but didn't know why, which caused him to feel even more confused and awkward. This cycle continued for a while until he heard the noise again. That was what had woken him up. He listened to it more carefully and found that it was Beka screaming. He puzzled over it for a moment, shook his head, and decided that today wasn't going to be a very good day. *What else is new?* He wondered. He sighed and started toward Beka's quarters. *What else can go wrong?* He thought to himself as he entered her room.
"Beka... Stop screaming... I didn't do anything... No... Beka... Please stop screaming..." He babbled on trying to get a word in between her outbursts. It was pointless. Whatever had happened all she could do was stand, scream, cry, point, and make other rude gestures. He was so wrapped up in her problem that it took him a moment to notice there was something wrong. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it had to be something obvious. *'Kay... listen closely... nothing unusual...* He played the last few minutes over in his memory. And then it hit him. "Oh.. no... what the freak... Beka... talk.. please? No, don't scream, t-a-l-k.." His voice was definitely not right. *Oh please let this be a joke... Let it be a joke..* He silently prayed, wishing he believed in the Divine. *It can't be real... it just can't... come on...* Beka turned around and, to his horror, it was real. It was so real both jumped two feet in the air and almost fainted. They had switched bodies.
Rommie pursed her lips as she listened to 'her' report. Nightmares again, or at least she thought they were nightmares. Either that or Harper had caught yet another disease. She sure hoped that wasn't the case, that would only complicate things further. She decided she it was time to have a council with herself/selves.
Ship-Rommie thought they should inform Trance as soon as possible. Holo-Rommie, on the other hand, thought they should ask Harper and go from there. Avatar-Rommie refused to butt into other people's problems. After much debate, Rommie(s) decided to wait, but if it happened again they would contact Trance. Since, technically, it was still night, (her debate had only taken 10.337 seconds) Avatar-Rommie headed towards Obs Deck for something to do. By the time she arrived she had already dismissed Harper's problem (for *now*), checked her systems twenty times, and looked over the crew's respiratory, circulatory, and stress rate half a dozen times.
~*~
Harper awoke to Rommie's stare.
"Hiya Rom-Doll." He yawned, "Whatcha doin?" She looked puzzled for a moment.
"Beka specifically ordered you to meet her aboard the Maru at 0800 hours." She paused to let that sink in. "It is now 1021 and I thought I should warn you. She is headed towards your quarters." During her speech Harper had grown paler and paler. She glanced at him once more before she fizzled out of existence.
He didn't even notice. He was too busy running around the room looking for somewhere to hide.
Closet? Nope, full of junk.
Floor? Full of junk.
He heard someone pounding on the door and yelling, not a good sign.
His eyes settled on his bed and he dove for cover. And not a moment too soon, Beka burst into the room.
"HAR--!!" She stopped and looked around, puzzled that he wasn't there.
He peeked at her nervously from under an old sock. There was one thing he had forgotten when he dove: it was full of junk. He sneezed. Beka's head snapped to his position and he froze. She broke into an evil grin.
"At least you didn't go for the dresser this time." She knew him too well, or else he'd been around her *way* too long. She helped him out from under the bed.
"Y-You aren't m-mad at me?" he managed to stutter out after a while.
She laughed, "I see Rommie got her share of fun for the week. C'mon we've got a genuine treasure with a genuine map!" She started sprinting toward the Maru and babbling about some machine or other. This must be good, he thought, Beka's way too excited for it not to be. All he could make out was happy, machine, and map. What a happy machine could possibly have to do with a map he was still working on.
When they reached the Maru and Beka was still going on about a happy machine, Harper decided a nap was looking pretty good right about now. So he slowly backed away from Beka, who was strapping up for slipstream, and headed for his quarters. This was going to be a long day.
~*~
Harper walked back onto the bridge. Beka was still going on and on about… whatever it was, oblivious to the fact that Harper had been gone for the last hour.
"… It, like, does this thing and then it…"
"Beka!! Shut up!" She blinked.
"Huh? When did you get here? Didn't you leave or something?" So she had noticed.
"Are we there? Do you need any help? Can you tell me what in the world we're doing?"
"In order: no, no and I could've sworn I already told you. But, for the abridged version, I have a map, the map is directions to a machine that, supposedly, provides eternal happiness. We only have one more jump to Surgon so if you'd get out of my way..." She tilted her head toward the 'stream chair.
"What's Surgon?" Harper asked, pointedly ignoring her impatience for him to move out of her way.
"The planet. Now could you MOVE?!?" Harper bowed and moved out of her way. "Took you long enough," she muttered, earning a glare from Harper. She strapped in and the next time he looked up there was a barren looking planet with a purplish atmosphere, they had arrived.
~*~
Harper left to prep the EVA suits, and when he returned they had already landed at the entrance to a cave system. Harper and Beka put on their suits and helmets and took their first step onto Surgon.
The ground was covered with black foliage which was in stark contrast to the neon reds and blues of the surrounding flowers. All of this was framed by the reddish sapphire of the sky.
After a few moments of awe inspired silence, Harper began scanning the area for harmful toxins or hazardous materials.
"Everything's great: breathable air, perfect temperature. Wait a sec, well there's a bit too much helium in the air but other then that..." He trailed off when he noticed that Beka was already headed towards the caves. "Fine. Ignore me." Beka rolled her eyes and continued towards her destination.
~*~
As Harper and Beka got deeper into the caves each wordlessly brought out their flashlights and trudged on. After a few hours, the originally olive-green of the cave walls slowly turned to a murky brown color.
When it seemed that the caves would continue on forever, they finally reached a dead end. There was a pale yellow glow coming from a large bulbous light fixture above the far left corner of the room. Directly beneath the fixture and covered with strange intricate markings, was a tall, slim, gold cylinder. As Harper got nearer he noticed an engraved plaque near the cylinder's center. He read it aloud:
"To boldly go where no man has gone before,
Way past Mars and still far more.
An infinity is out before you,
But, behind has more in store for you
Far past the Milky Way you'd go,
That is farther than... Who knows?
It's far too far too far away
To say it would take us so and so days,
Or months, or years, who knows how long?
You may be right you may be wrong.
And yet into the far unknown,
Far past the bluish Earth, our home.
Way out past Mars and still far more,
To boldly go where no man has gone before."
Beka, who was at Harper's side, noticed another newer plaque beneath the first and read it aloud:
"The true voyage is in, not out.
For, inside, is what life is all about
You live in, and only venture outside
Although some are known to hide
Behind the world, behind a face
Beyond your home, outside your place
But all of these prove fake, you'll see
It is not you, it cannot be
For, inside, is what life is all about.
The true voyage is in, not out" As soon as she finished, they could hear a low rumbling sound begin above their heads. Both of them looked upward and that proved to be their undoing. At that moment, the light fixture shook, went out, and came toppling down onto their heads. They were unconscious, miles underground, and still had three days before anyone would even think something was wrong.
~*~
The first things Harper noticed when he gained consciousness was that his head felt like there was a hammer continually pounding on it, and he could hardly breath because of a heavy weight over his lower body. Several tries and, most likely, several pulled muscles later, he managed to move the object off of him and onto the nearby floor. With that obstacle taken care of, he realized that everything was pitch black. Not only that but there wasn't even a hint of light anywhere. It was the black to end all blacks and he was stuck in the middle of it.
"Oh shit..." he murmured. "What the hell?" His voice sounded like it was coming from some doggie toy or a broken flexi. It was about five octaves too high and rather squeaky. Then he remembered the 'mission', (okay so it was a wild goose chase) the cylinder, and Surgon where he was apparently stranded. Then Beka.
"Great, just great... Beka?" He called out, hoping that she was within earshot and able to reply, or at least conscious. All he heard in reply was a low groaning that was to coming from somewhere on his left. Right where he had pushed the cylinder. Perfect. He threw up his hands. *Can nothing go right today?* he wondered as he tried to find Beka under the cold metallic cylinder. "Fine, forget this." He said while he began shoving the large piece of metal off of her. "Please don't get crushed, please don't get crushed, please don't get crushed..." he chanted in hopes that something would listen.
It appeared that something would and had because he removed the object without further incident.
~*~
Beka was now as silent as she was, earlier, talkative. Harper had to reach behind his back several times on the journey out of the caves just to make sure she hadn't fallen down a hole or something. He finally decided to just hold her hand the whole time so he was certain that nothing had happened. Suddenly there was a bright flash from, what seemed like, right in front of his face. He had to stand and blink for several moments before he could get rid of the large purple stripe that had formed in his line of vision. Then he noticed that there was a small amount of light coming from directly ahead. "Maybe these caves *do* end." He muttered.
"Thank god..." Beka responded, breaking her long silence. "All I want to do is get on the Maru and sleep for months." Her voice was cracked and every bit as high as Harper's. When it became clear that Beka was going to lapse back into silence, Harper started asking every question he could think of in hopes that she would continue talking.
"...What do you think happened to our flashlights? Isn't it weird how our voices sound like this? How long do you think they'll stay like this?"
"Well," Beka interrupted, "if you don't shut up *right now* it's going to be rather permanent." Harper shut up and occupied himself by wondering just how she would cause the voice change. None of his theories were very enjoyable.
The passage they were following came to an abrupt end and they could hear rain pounding a few feet ahead. Both paused and stared blankly out at the downpour, although all they could see was a large blanket of darkness. Then, as if by some hidden signal, both started and began sprinting off in the direction of where they had left the Maru. Both were running, unconsciously, side-by-side, and as wet as they would be if they were swimming. Surprisingly, they found the Maru in about two minutes. It seemed that, for once, luck was on their side.
~*~
As they entered the Maru each went their different ways and the only sign that either noticed the other was a halfhearted wave and a mumble that they were going to get some sleep. Harper took a bit of a detour and put the ship on auto-pilot. Both of them felt drowsy, and the only thing they wanted to do was lay down and get some sleep. Neither bothered to undress, dry off, or even take off the EVA suits. Both entered their rooms and were asleep before they made it to the bed.
~*~
Harper awoke for the first time in three weeks without feeling confused and awkward about his dream. He now felt confused and awkward, but didn't know why, which caused him to feel even more confused and awkward. This cycle continued for a while until he heard the noise again. That was what had woken him up. He listened to it more carefully and found that it was Beka screaming. He puzzled over it for a moment, shook his head, and decided that today wasn't going to be a very good day. *What else is new?* He wondered. He sighed and started toward Beka's quarters. *What else can go wrong?* He thought to himself as he entered her room.
"Beka... Stop screaming... I didn't do anything... No... Beka... Please stop screaming..." He babbled on trying to get a word in between her outbursts. It was pointless. Whatever had happened all she could do was stand, scream, cry, point, and make other rude gestures. He was so wrapped up in her problem that it took him a moment to notice there was something wrong. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it had to be something obvious. *'Kay... listen closely... nothing unusual...* He played the last few minutes over in his memory. And then it hit him. "Oh.. no... what the freak... Beka... talk.. please? No, don't scream, t-a-l-k.." His voice was definitely not right. *Oh please let this be a joke... Let it be a joke..* He silently prayed, wishing he believed in the Divine. *It can't be real... it just can't... come on...* Beka turned around and, to his horror, it was real. It was so real both jumped two feet in the air and almost fainted. They had switched bodies.