Part 37
The corridors seemed endless and Harper walked down them with some fear, as he tried to take in what he was feeling. His mind was a mess of confusion and panic, and Harper wished for nothing more than for things to just start making a bit more sense.
"Do you need a friend?"
"Trance," Harper gasped turning quickly with the sudden appearance of the golden skinned alien.
"You remember me," Trance smiled.
"I guess," Harper partly shrugged, and began to start walking again.
"Would you like to pace these lower deck corridors alone for a few more hours, or can I join you?" Trance enquired.
"Keeping watch on me?" Harper asked over his shoulder.
"The ship keeps a watch on everything, Harper, you know that," Trance returned as she began to follow.
"See that's the thing, I don't," Harper responded, and continued walking ahead of the alien.
"How long do you think you can keep this up?"
"Keep what up?"
"The memory loss," Trance asked, somehow having caught up with the human.
"Great, so you think I'm lying too, well why not, everyone else does," Harper complained.
"Who are you protecting?"
"Protecting? I barely remember myself, how the hell am I supposed to remember who I'm supposedly protecting?" Harper snapped.
"This isn't Earth," Trance noted.
"You know I'm not dumb, I'd figured that out without the damn implants," Harper stressed, and tried to quicken his pace but Trance easily kept up. Trance then suddenly grabbed Harper's wrist and the sheer strength immediately caused Harper to yelp, before making him stop and she stared into his eyes. "What the hell, let me go!" Harper demanded but then froze on seeing Trance's eye's light up as if on fire with a golden glow that matched her skin. "You have something in your eye," Harper tried not to look but he was mesmerised and then he seemed to remember. "I know your secret," he spoke in barely a whisper. "I know what you are."
Trance seemed to be waiting for him to continue and she gave a brief smile. "Why do you pretend you have memory loss when they are all right there inside you?"
Harper narrowed his eyes and tried once more to move away from the hold Trance had on him. "Stop doing that."
"Doing what?"
"I can feel you, stop that," Harper requested. "Get out of my mind!"
"I'm not in your mind," Trance calmly returned and let go of him. "Why do you think I am?"
Harper eyes suddenly rolled back and his knees buckled as another fit threatened. Trance made sure Harper was supported as his body began to spasm, and she held him close against the bulkhead to protect him. The fit was only brief and Trance finally moved away as Harper regained control.
"I don't know what is happening," Harper admitted with fear.
"I needed to know," Trance spoke softly.
"What?" Harper asked with confusion, as he attempted to pick himself up.
"That you remember nothing," Trance calmly returned. "I believe you." Harper showed only fear now as he looked at Trance, and still on the deck he pushed himself further away from her. "Harper, I'm sorry, I needed to know if it was true."
"Get away from me," Harper warned, clearly troubled. "Stop messing with me, first you say they are all there and now you believe me when I say they are not?" he stressed.
"Harper I am your friend, I'm sorry if I've frightened you," Trance attempted to resolve the situation.
"If you were my friend you would have believed me the first time, like Beka, but you, Rommie, Dylan, no one believes me, only Beka," Harper stressed, trying to contain his emotions.
"I needed to know," Trance spoke with regret. "And I know now."
"Know what?" Harper asked. "I have no answers, I wish people would just stop trying to find them, I don't know!" he practically screamed, and then hastily covered his face with his hands.
"Trance, what the hell is going on?" Beka demanded having finally caught up with Harper.
"I think I may have misjudged the situation," Trance offered with guilt clear in her features.
"What did you do to him?" Beka asked with concern as she moved closer to Harper and put an arm around his shoulders, drawing Harper closer. "First Tyr, then Dylan, than Rommie, and now you? I'm beginning to think everyone has become Harper's enemy, doesn't anyone remember he's our friend, a part of our crew?" Beka snapped.
"Beka, I'm sorry," Trance was upset now.
"I'm not the one you should be apologising to," Beka returned. "If I didn't know better I'd say some of that gas has been released again," she stressed and then took a deep breath. "Is this why you didn't join us?"
Trance stood awkwardly for a moment. "For the past few months I have been troubled by visions, and they all relate to Harper and what he discovered about me," Trance admitted with a heavy sigh.
"Why didn't you say something?" Beka asked, still comforting Harper who remained quiet in her hold.
"Because Harper left, and I didn't want to be put in a position to have to explain exactly what he knew," Trance explained. "But I feared he may use it against me, the past few months I have feared Harper."
"He told me he would never say anything about what he learned," Beka stressed. "I told you he said that, and you didn't trust him?"
"He knows too much," Trance stated firmly.
"Well not anymore," Beka sighed. "So are you happy that you've traumatised him enough? Do you believe that he no longer remembers what he accidentally discovered?" Beka questioned, her mood reflecting her anger towards the alien.
"I wasn't thinking of Harper," Trance admitted and moved closer to where Harper now rested against Beka, both of them sat on the deck. Trance knelt down and brushed the side of Harper's face with affection, while the human simply stared at her with uncertainty. "I can not begin to imagine what it must be like to lose so much, all that knowledge and so many memories," she began to realise the extent of the problem. "But we should show caution, we need to protect him."
"Protect me from what?" Harper asked panicked. "And you said they were all right there, my memories, that I was only pretending," Harper spoke quietly, huddled close to Beka as if in fear of the alien.
"Ghosts of your memories remain inside your brain, Harper, but they do not contain enough substance to be of any use, they'll serve only your instincts and maybe you'll see flashes of them, but no more," Trance spoke with sadness.
"Is that why he can just say stuff without realising he's remembering a past memory?" Beka checked and saw Trance nod her head to agree.
"The flashes in my head, the feeling of familiarity," Harper murmured and then made to move. "Beka, do I need to eat? I think I do," Harper murmured, his eyes meeting with Trance full of doubt and suspicion.
"You should eat something," Beka agreed and helped Harper to his feet. "Trance, give it a few hours, let Harper get settled before you see him again, for both your sakes," Beka requested with understanding.
"I will, and I am sorry, I handled this badly but trust me it was with good reason, only right now you will not understand," Trance frowned, knowing she rarely made such errors of judgement and knowing she would not truly settle until she had made her peace with Harper.
---
Tyr strode into the holding cell on board his ship and glared at the women who had been his wife, but now the title was stripped and her lineage forever tarnished by her acts.
"A spy for the Commonwealth?" Tyr questioned.
"What we had was genuine," Tabatha spoke, keeping her head down as she sat at the table in her cell.
"I have a rather nasty mess to attempt to clean up," Tyr began, taking the seat opposite his former wife. "I need to patch things up with the Commonwealth, it's not in my best interest to keep them as the enemy, not at this time."
"You want me to help you?" Tabatha sneered.
Tyr examined her reaction and showed regret. "Your strength is what attracted me, blinded me, you have taught me a valuable lesson," Tyr noted.
Tabatha looked away, and offered an angered smirk. "I had a job to do, I have confessed that already but still you dishonour me by ignoring my confession and labelling me a traitor."
"I have little concern for your lineage," Tyr stated. "But I want to know what you did to Harper."
"The kludge?" Tabatha practically spat. "That little mud foot will be your downfall, not mine, you'll see," she goaded.
Tyr remained stony faced and showed no reaction to her words. "What did you do to him?" he repeated.
"I used him, just like he guessed someone was doing but no one listened," Tabatha smiled with satisfaction. "I was spying, Tyr, right up until I called it quits and I only did that once I'd uncovered all of your access codes."
"Access codes?" Tyr's attention was caught, and his fear rose when Tabatha lightly laughed.
"You didn't know I was a spy, and you also didn't realise my specialist skill was hacking, I hacked into Harper and that wasn't all," she further goaded, and began to laugh. "You are so arrogant you haven't even checked, have you? So confident your codes can not be broken, but think again."
"What have you done?" Tyr demanded.
"Some might call me calculated or just purely twisted," Tabatha now seemed to hold all the cards. "I fell in love with you Tyr but I knew enough about you to know you're a one man army, you don't work well in groups or relationships," Tabatha continued. "So I decided to get myself some security, just in case, and I really was wise to do so," she stated.
"Security?" Tyr questioned.
"Your claims, your quest, your pride," Tabatha announced. "Everything you stand for rests on those bones, without them, you have no evidence or voice."
"I have nothing to prove," Tyr defiantly stated.
"But your son will."
"My son?"
"Don't play me for a fool, the Commonwealth are more than aware of his existence and the importance you have placed upon him, he's the genuine reincarnation, Tyr Anasazi, you're just the warm up," Tabatha stressed. "You underestimate the Commonwealth Spy network at your peril."
"You speak of love but your actions from the start only demonstrate revenge or attack," Tyr observed.
"My actions demonstrate need, and hunger," Tabatha smiled fondly at Tyr. "You have hung around with humans for too long," Tabatha then mocked. "And talking of kludges, your favourite little one right now has all my secrets locked inside his head, and not you or the Commonwealth will be able to extract them, not even your boy genius," Tabatha declared.
"You are a fool to underestimate Harper," Tyr returned.
"That might be true, but when he told you he couldn't remember anything he was speaking the truth," Tabatha saved her biggest smile till last. "All I've heard is how great his mind is, and from what I saw it was enough to know that if he got suspicious about the downloads I'd been planting in him, he'd crack them and my information would lose its value, so I took out some security."
"Security?" Tyr checked.
"Security," Tabatha waved a small metallic box that Tyr recognised as data cell. "Harper hasn't forgotten, he's just been purged, the cost of trying to become more machine than man," she offered brightly.
"You removed his memories," Tyr remembered Harper's confusion.
"I did more than that, I downloaded the full content of his mind. It was easy once I'd cracked the Perseids laborious codes, the kludges weak brain damaged mind worked in my favour. Everything that is Seamus Harper, his knowledge, his identity and his memories were electronically transferred to the implants due to the damaged brain. It was genius if you think about the process involved, but me, all I saw was opportunity to free up the amount of space I needed to store all the information I wanted to keep safe and remove from here," Tabatha frowned. "No one can touch it but me, and now he's away from you and this pride, and deep within the confines of the Commonwealths best minds, as they try to help him, my secrets are safe and my revenge is complete. You take away my honour and tarnish my family line and in turn I take any chance you have of fulfilling the prophecies away from your grasp, your son will never be able to prove his worth, you lose," Tabatha finished and crossed her arms.
"What information does Harper hold?" Tyr asked without reaction.
"The access code and authorisation key, plus exact location of the bones you foolishly mislaid thanks to me," Tabatha grinned. "There's other stuff I've picked up along the way, deepest secrets from this universe at large, but related to you information on your key personnel, those strategy plans you so kindly let me browse through when you were called away urgently to a meeting that one time, basically enough detail that if by some miracle you do progress and become any kind of power, that I'll be there every step of the way to stop you."
Tyr took his time to answer, his eyes simply searching Tabatha's own. "You had no intention of being my wife, or serving the Commonwealth, this is more, so much more than you are letting on," Tyr decided, before getting to his feet. "Tell me who you really work for."
"I can do better, I can show you," Tabatha also rose to her feet and Tyr became suddenly transfixed to her face, on seeing her eyes turn a fiery red and he knew in an instant who she was, seconds before she flashed out of sight in a blaze of red.
---
"Are you ok?"
Harper glanced up at Beka and briefly nodded his head, before being handed a can of Sparky and some food on a plate. "It's hard to relax," he offered, simply staring at his food that he put down on the table. "Everything feels familiar, but at the same time I don't remember a thing," he sighed as he appeared lost in thought.
"Has to be tough," Beka consoled him, as she took the seat next to him.
"I remember bits, random bits of," he paused. "I don't know, stuff, flashes of things I just don't know," Harper attempted to explain, and he looked around the mess deck again. "I wish I could remember."
"So do I, Seamus," Beka frowned.
"What's going to happen to me?" Harper asked.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know, I mean," Harper paused, finding it hard to explain himself. "I don't remember anything, and people here are finding that hard to believe, and I used to have a use on this ship and I no longer have that use," he stressed.
"Harper, you're staying with me no matter what, this ship is big enough for you to stay as my friend, ok?" Beka assured him.
"Ok," Harper appeared to relax slightly, finding some comfort in her words.
"Don't worry about what's going to happen to you, because I'll make sure nothing bad happens, I will always look out for you and be there for you," Beka continued.
"Ok, I get it," Harper offered, and began to play with his food.
Beka backed off slightly, knowing her own guilt was talking now. "Eat it, Seamus, you still need to build your strength up," Beka suggested but watched as Harper just stared at the plate, after a few more moments and without word she put her fork down, moving her hand to Harper's she gently held it as she helped him to eat.
"I remember now," Harper offered after the second mouthful, and quietly Beka resumed eating from her own plate, keeping a watchful eye on Harper as he now fed himself.
Beka wanted to cry, and she struggled to contain her emotions as she focused on finishing her food. The sound of cutlery being dropped onto the table made Beka jump, and she instantly turned to Harper who now held his head in his hands, resting his elbows on the table.
"Harper?" Beka checked, her arm moving around his shoulders.
"I feel so stupid," Harper managed between his own pent up emotions. "I was just staring at that plate and the fork in my hand and I just couldn't remember," he stressed before completely losing it, his hands covering his face hiding the tears.
"Don't be so hard on yourself, Harper, don't I keep telling you that?" Beka immediately brought him closer into an embrace. "I know this is difficult, and it's hard for me to see as well," she stressed, her own emotions breaking through as she felt a lone tear fall down her cheek. "But right now we're heading to Sinti and they'll fix this, I promise."
"Don't promise, Beka," Harper sniffed, hiding his face in her shoulder. "I'm not sure I can be helped, something inside just knows it."
"Let's not give up hope, remember who's ship we're on," Beka lightly reminded him.
"Dylan Hunt's," Harper declared and began to lightly laugh.
"See you do remember stuff," Beka joined in and they both looked at each other through tear rimmed eyes. "Let's just remain positive, and we'll get through this, like always," Beka suggested.
"I think I can do that," Harper agreed, wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt. "I just need to remember," he quipped, leaving Beka to smile as she shook her head.
"Maybe you just have to learn," Beka suggested.
"Learn?"
"Start again, you've learned once you can learn all over again," Beka enthused.
"I'm not sure I can," Harper showed some doubt.
Beka moved her plate away and looked at Harper. "You're a natural Harper, you always have been and I don't see why you can't just learn the basics all over again and build from there, you don't have to be a genius to know what you're doing."
"But my brain is damaged," Harper offered.
"We'll get your implants fixed, get that port working again and take it from there, once you're all hooked up again you'll have the capacity to learn at the same rate you did five years ago when you first joined my crew," Beka stressed.
"Like a reboot?" Harper checked.
"If you know what that is, then I have no doubt you can do this, Seamus," Beka smiled broadly.
"Yeah," Harper joined her. "What happened to Tyr?" he suddenly asked.
"We don't know," Beka admitted. "And he shouldn't be your concern."
Harper frowned and looked at Beka. "I feel like I should be there, a reason, something but I don't remember what."
"Harper, you're staying here, there's no way I'm letting you go off to join his pointless quest again," Beka spoke firmly. "Besides he's got what he wants now, a pride of his own, a wife and a son," Beka stressed.
"His wife, Tabatha," Harper picked up. "That's it, that's what I have to do, I have to warn him."
"Warn him?" Beka questioned.
"She's not in love with him, she has other plans," Harper got to his feet.
"Harper, we know, she's a Commonwealth spy," Beka explained.
"Tyr doesn't know that, and she's double crossing the Commonwealth too," Harper stated with conviction.
Andromeda appeared suddenly in Hologram form. "Beka, as part of our agreement in having Harper on board, I have to ask that you continue this discussion with him with Captain Hunt present, in one of the holding cells."
Beka let her head drop, knowing the mention of Tabatha had alerted Rommie to their agreement with the Commonwealth facility who had released Harper to them.
"I'm still under arrest?" Harper checked unsure.
"Harper, it's not like that."
"Again, I may have forgotten but I'm not stupid," Harper stated with anger.
"We have to do this, we need to know about Tabatha, if you say she double crossed us then we need to act," Beka explained.
"It's just a ghost of a memory, I can't remember no more," Harper shrugged. "So there's no point wasting five hours interrogating me, because I have nothing more to add."
Beka remembered their conversation with Trance and nodded her head. "Rommie make a recording of Harper's words on Tabatha double crossing, and send it to the holding facility, we are not going to treat Harper like we would a prisoner."
"Understood," Rommie agreed.
"Thanks," Harper offered.
"Just make sure this isn't some elaborate decoy, don't give me a reason not to trust you," Beka warned, as she moved closer to Harper with concern.
"I'm not sure what I can say," Harper shrugged. "I need you to trust me, no one else does."
"We all do Harper, you're safe here," Beka assured him. "You should rest, you haven't had a fit for an hour or so and I don't want to push you too much," she offered fondly and escorted Harper from the mess hall back to his quarters.
TBC