Disclaimer: Andromeda and it's characters are the property of Tribune Entertainment. I am just borrowing them, and this is not for profit. Joseph De Maistre is some potty old French guy that I have to read for my history class on Monday. I made up the rest!
Spoilers: None, but there are some episodic references, especially near the end.
Rating: PG-13
Considerations on Chaos
By Katia
"In the vast domain of living nature there reigns an open violence, a kind
of prescriptive fury which arms all creatures to their common doom..."
Joseph De Maistre, Earth dweller. ( 1753-1821 AD)
...
PART ONE
Trance glanced over at Harper, as he defiantly manipulated the controls
of the Eureka Maru. She could sense that he was annoyed. She knew that
he had wanted it to be just them on this little trip, just him and her.
However, Dylan had insisted that Tyr came too. "Just in case he is
necessary".
"For what?" Harper had asked Dylan. "To scare the hell out of everyone I
try to trade with? Y'know, we can get on just fine without Mr Will To
Power here throwing his weight about." Here he had thrown Tyr a self
assured glance. "No offence, but you kind of cramp my style..."
Tyr had glared back, but hadn't said anything. He hadn't relished the
thought of being stuck in a small ship with only Harper and Trance for
company, but he had not been adverse to the idea of a planet visit.
Sometimes he found the Andromeda, dominated as it was by Dylan and
his chirpy "all will end well" philosophy, repressive. He needed to be
reminded of the reality and chaos of the universe, however grim it was.
So the three of them had set off for a well know, but rather notorious
trading port on Malthus 7. Harper and Trance knew exactly what they
needed - parts for the ship and medical supplies. Tyr just looked forward
to breathing in some independence when he got there. However, at this
moment, Trance was starting to wonder if they were going to get there at
all. They were experiencing some rather severe turbulence.
Tyr strode purposefully onto the bridge. "What the hell is going on?" he
asked.
"Did you fix the stabiliser drive properly?" demanded Harper, urgently.
"We shouldn't be experiencing this kind of disturbance entering into the
atmosphere if you did?"
"Of course I fixed it. I did exactly what you said."
"You can't have done!" There was a slight element of panic in Harpers
voice. "Damn it, Tyr, I'm loosing control of this freakin' thing...if you
didn't fix it...we're...we're..."
"Move over, boy!" thundered Tyr as he moved towards Harper to seize
the controls.
"No!" Harper held on fast as the ship shuddered violently "Y'know, I
can handle this just as well as you can...Now, brace!"
Tyr realised there was no time to argue and swiftly strapped himself in to
the nearest seat. He cynically thought to himself that if he died now he
must have deserved it. He, Tyr Anasazi had been stupid enough to place
his life in the hands of Seamus Zelazny Harper.
Harper madly stabbed at buttons and switches and then pulled back on
the controls with all his strength. He had to get the ship on a level when
they came down. He didn't want to die now and he didn't want Trance to
die. She was the most precious cargo in the universe. Seconds away from
impact, he glanced over his shoulder. Trance had gone a slightly paler
shade of purple and was holding on tight to the side of her seat. But the
look she shot him filled him with confidence. There was a glimmer in
her eyes that told Harper they were going to live through this
one...probably.
"Look where you're going" screamed Trance. Tyr leaned across and he
and Harper pulled back on the controls together. There was an enormous
crash, but the ship was level as they hit the surface of the planet and
began skimming along, tumultuously bouncing over rocks and abrasions. Shortly after, it shuddered to a stop.
"Great!" shouted Harper, his voice quivering with a mixture of extreme
relief and anger. "Just freakin' great! You couldn't even carry out that
one little task. I knew I should have done it myself..."
Harpers voice trailed off a little as Tyr seized him by the collar and
hauled him up so that their faces were level. "Be quiet or I will break
your neck."
"Yeah? That would be really helpful in the circumstances...you're gonna
need a genius to get you out of this one..." Harper was about to point out
that he was the only genius present so it would be useful to all of them if
he remained alive. However, although Tyr had now released him from
his grip, there was a dangerous look in his eyes that made Harper swallow
his words.
"This isn't helping!" said Trance, hurrying over and positioning herself between Tyr and Harper, both of whom looked like they were seconds from exploding. "It doesn't matter whose fault this was...we've got to get fixed and out of here. Beka's not going to like what we've done to her ship..."
"Damn Beka...and damn the lot of you." Tyr turned and strode off the
bridge and kept walking. Trance ran after him.
"Tyr, don't go. We really need you now...what if Harper can't fix it all?"
Tyr shot Trance a look that made her stop in her tracks. He slammed the
airlock shut behind him and left the ship.
...
When Trance got back to the bridge, she found that Harper had already
gone into overdrive. He was franticly dashing from one repair job to
another, and there were tools and parts of the ship lying everywhere. On
seeing Trance he began barking out a list of tasks for her, inaudibly fast.
Ignoring her pleas to slow down, he disappeared for some time into a
matrix of wires and sparks behind a rather dodgy looking piece of
equipment that was letting off smoke and hissing ominously. All Trance
could think of to say was a rather feeble "Be careful."
She set about accomplishing as much of what he had told her to do that
she could. However, when Harper finally emerged there were two more
pressing problems that she felt she should confront him with.
"Our communications are down. I can't get through to Rommie."
"Yeah. I know. I'm gonna have to reboot the system. Even when I do,
it's going to take a while for it to come back on...there's some circuits
that have been broken. It might take some fixing...but, hey, don't worry,
babe, Harper's got it all under control."
Trance nodded. She knew he could sort that out. "And, I think I should
go and find Tyr."
Harper raised his eyebrows sceptically. "Don't bother, he'll come back.
And if he doesn't...hey, look, we don't need him. We're doing just fine
here, you and me..."
"That's not the point. Dylan will be angry we let him go..."
"Dylan knows that Tyr is big and ugly enough to look after Tyr. We
didn't ask him to leave, did we? He's probably having a GREAT time
out there fuming and stomping about in the company of the person he
loves the most - himself!"
"Sorry Harper, that's a possibility, but I just need to know he's OK. I won't go far..."
"No wait!" Trance was already leaving the room. "If you really must go,
I'm coming with you."
"It isn't necessary - I'll be just fine. The trading port is on the other side
of the planet. There's nobody out there." Trance knew her words were in
vain. Harper didn't want to leave his repair jobs unfinished, but she knew
he wouldn't let her go alone. She assured him it wouldn't take long.
It better not, thought Harper.
...
Outside, the planet was rocky and desolate, with only low-lying plant life.
The atmosphere was thin, but breathable. The Eureka Maru had settled
on a small, bushy plain nestled between the outcrops of dark rock.
Getting it there had been an amazing feat of steering, explained Harper.
It was, naturally, nothing to do with luck.
There was no obvious sign of Tyr and calling his name reaped no positive
rewards. Some of the rock faces that they would need to negotiate to get
out of the clearing were steep and looked impossible to climb. Trance
suggested that they tried to head off in the easiest looking way, as this
was most likely the way Tyr had gone.
"Oh, I dunno," said Harper, sarcastically. "One leap and our handsome
hero would have been out of this place in a flash. These piles of rocks
wouldn't have held the problems for him that it does for us lesser
mortals."
"Don't be silly," said Trance, although she did wonder if he was right.
Tyr could have possibly hauled himself out by any route. Still, she
began to climb up the least daunting looking rock face and Harper
followed close behind her. On reaching the top they stopped, settling side
by side and slightly out of breath. They surveyed the scene in front of
them.
There was little variation in the panarama, apart from that in the distance
the black rocks began to grow into huge, foreboding mountains. An eerie,
windless silence prevailed. Trance felt Harper take hold of her hand and
squeeze it gently.
"Tyr?" she called out. Her voice sounded tiny as it echoed into the
distance. She turned face Harper, moving slightly closer. "He can't hear
us. He must be hurt..."
"Nah. He's just sulking. There's nobody else here. He'll come back..."
"He wouldn't just ignore us."
"Maybe he thought we needed some time to ourselves...you know, that
would be kinda nice...". Trance was so near to him that he could feel
her warm breath against his face. Should he lean closer? Should he...
Trance didn't smile, but her eyes were sparkly and inviting. He knew
she was concerned for Tyr, but she also seemed to be very aware that the
one sitting here with her was Seamus Harper. He wanted her to know he
would not leave her. Harper took a deep breath. He needed something
good to say, but for once words failed him.
Then the moment was gone. Something had caught Trances attention in
the shallow valley below them. "Look!" Harper turned his eyes to where
she pointed. He could see what looked like the entrance to a cave. The
vegetation in front of it was cleared. It hadn't been done well that recently,
but something or someone had obviously made the effort to make it
accessible at some point. By the cave appeared to be a small sign with
writing on, but it was too far away to read. However, Trance had already
started off down the rocks towards it and, as soon as he realised, Harper
followed.
....
It took some time to reach the cave. It was further off than it looked and,
even once they had climbed down the rocks, they had to fight their way
through the tangled mass of plant life that filled the valley and violently
attacked their legs and ankles. Eventually, they were close enough to read
the sign.
"The League of De Maistre?" read Harper. "What the hell is that?"
"I have no idea," said Trance. "But they might be able to help us find
Tyr."
"Uh, uh," said Harper. "No way. I'm not going getting myself mixed up
with any Leagues of anything. Y'know, they're normally into morbid
stuff, human sacrifice, that sort of thing. And I'm not too partial to that
line of amusement. It's not to my taste..."
Trance sent him a pleading look. "We've got to just see. I won't go too
far. I promise."
Trance headed off into the cave. Harper hesitated, but he knew he wasn't
going to let her go far without him. He soon followed her into the
blackness.
"Tyr?" called Trance, hopefully. "Tyr, are you there." Neither of them
could really see where they were going, but they could feel the cave
around them was damp, and the ground was moist and sandy. Despite the
darkness around them, they could see a shaft of light coming through a
few metres ahead of them, lighting up a cavern. "We'll just go that
far..." whispered Trance. But, they never made it. Inches from the
chamber that they saw filled with filtered daylight, the path leading
before them was broken by a deep pit, invisible in the murk.
Trance screamed as the ground gave way beneath her and she reached out
desperately, trying to grab onto the roots of the plants that she could feel
brushing against her as she fell. Harper simply couldn't believe what was
happening to him until he landed with a thud on soft ground. It was only
then he felt a sharp pain in his wrist, which he had dashed against a rock
on the side of the pit on his descent. He grimaced and clutched his hand,
feeling the warmth of the blood. "Trance, where are you? Are you OK?"
he called out in the darkness. Clambering up, he could just make out her form, twisted in a heap, having fallen awkwardly. Panic shot through him. Was she badly hurt?
"I'm fine," said Trance, and she righted herself almost instantly. Harper
would have spent more time wondering how the hell she did that, if he
hadn't suddenly felt kind of faint. He sunk to his knees, holding his
injured arm. "But, you're not," said Trance, hurrying over. "You're
bleeding."
"Yeah." was the only reply that Harper managed.
"I need to bandage this up..." In the dim light, Trance worked quickly.
She tore off the sparkly material from the bottom of her trouser leg into
neat strips, and wrapped it around the injury. Harper meekly protested
about her ruining her clothes, saying something about how she needed to
look nice for him and all the other guys who liked to look at her. She
giggled slightly, but felt rather uneasy. She could sense that they were
not alone in the darkness. And she was right.
As her eyes adjusted to the gloom, Trance could make out another form,
lying motionless on the floor of the pit. Without letting on to Harper
what she had seen, Trance edged over to investigate. Just as she had
thought, it was Tyr. Thankfully, she could hear him breathing. He was
unconscious, but alive.
"Harper," she whispered. " It's Tyr. He's hurt. We've got to get him out
of here."
Harper was not feeling at his best. His arm hurt like hell and he was
slightly dizzy. He could barely drag himself to his feet and definitely had
no idea how to deal with the information that Trance had just given him.
"Yeah...and? What do I do? Toss him over my shoulder and carry him
out of here? Get real. He's freakin' huge! Even if we could carry him - I
mean, between us - how the hell would we climb up...there?" he said, referring to the steep walls of the pit they had just fallen into. "Look, I
just don't know what to do right now..." The sarcasm in his voice turned
into something softer and more vulnerable. "Trance, I just can't think...of
anything...I'm sorry. OK?"
"'s'alright." Harper felt something brush gently against his cheek. Was it
Trances hand, or her tail? He couldn't tell and he hadn't seen. "There's a possibility there is another way out," said Trance, softly. "I can feel a breeze coming from that direction...not from above. There must be a passage way. Do you think you are well enough to try and follow it? You must get back to the ship and call the others while I stay and look after Tyr. Can you do that?"
Harper figured he had little choice. "Hey, I forgot, I'm a genius...I can
do anything! How hard can it be..." He was quite impressed by his
attempt to sound in control again, given the feeling of dread that was
growing in the pit of his stomach. Using his uninjured arm, he pulled
himself to his feet.
"Maybe you should rest a little first?" ventured Trance.
"Rest? Who needs rest...I can do this, baby. Just you hold on. I'll be
back in no time...in a flash. You'll hardly know I'm gone..." He could
now see the passageway, winding off into pitch-blackness. "Won't be
long..." he said, his voice beginning to trail off.
"Good luck," said Trance, rising and giving him a gentle hug, taking care
not to jostle his bad arm. Then she kissed him briefly, but tenderly, on the
lips. That, thought Harper, was almost worth crashing a ship and falling
down into the bowels of some hellhole planet for. He hoped to build on
this scenario at some future date, but he realised that the present was not the
time. He knew if he didn't leave now, he wouldn't be able to make
himself go at all.
"Seeya, Trance," he whispered. He reluctantly broke away from her arms
and moved off into the gloom.
END OF PART ONE
...
Spoilers: None, but there are some episodic references, especially near the end.
Rating: PG-13
Considerations on Chaos
By Katia
"In the vast domain of living nature there reigns an open violence, a kind
of prescriptive fury which arms all creatures to their common doom..."
Joseph De Maistre, Earth dweller. ( 1753-1821 AD)
...
PART ONE
Trance glanced over at Harper, as he defiantly manipulated the controls
of the Eureka Maru. She could sense that he was annoyed. She knew that
he had wanted it to be just them on this little trip, just him and her.
However, Dylan had insisted that Tyr came too. "Just in case he is
necessary".
"For what?" Harper had asked Dylan. "To scare the hell out of everyone I
try to trade with? Y'know, we can get on just fine without Mr Will To
Power here throwing his weight about." Here he had thrown Tyr a self
assured glance. "No offence, but you kind of cramp my style..."
Tyr had glared back, but hadn't said anything. He hadn't relished the
thought of being stuck in a small ship with only Harper and Trance for
company, but he had not been adverse to the idea of a planet visit.
Sometimes he found the Andromeda, dominated as it was by Dylan and
his chirpy "all will end well" philosophy, repressive. He needed to be
reminded of the reality and chaos of the universe, however grim it was.
So the three of them had set off for a well know, but rather notorious
trading port on Malthus 7. Harper and Trance knew exactly what they
needed - parts for the ship and medical supplies. Tyr just looked forward
to breathing in some independence when he got there. However, at this
moment, Trance was starting to wonder if they were going to get there at
all. They were experiencing some rather severe turbulence.
Tyr strode purposefully onto the bridge. "What the hell is going on?" he
asked.
"Did you fix the stabiliser drive properly?" demanded Harper, urgently.
"We shouldn't be experiencing this kind of disturbance entering into the
atmosphere if you did?"
"Of course I fixed it. I did exactly what you said."
"You can't have done!" There was a slight element of panic in Harpers
voice. "Damn it, Tyr, I'm loosing control of this freakin' thing...if you
didn't fix it...we're...we're..."
"Move over, boy!" thundered Tyr as he moved towards Harper to seize
the controls.
"No!" Harper held on fast as the ship shuddered violently "Y'know, I
can handle this just as well as you can...Now, brace!"
Tyr realised there was no time to argue and swiftly strapped himself in to
the nearest seat. He cynically thought to himself that if he died now he
must have deserved it. He, Tyr Anasazi had been stupid enough to place
his life in the hands of Seamus Zelazny Harper.
Harper madly stabbed at buttons and switches and then pulled back on
the controls with all his strength. He had to get the ship on a level when
they came down. He didn't want to die now and he didn't want Trance to
die. She was the most precious cargo in the universe. Seconds away from
impact, he glanced over his shoulder. Trance had gone a slightly paler
shade of purple and was holding on tight to the side of her seat. But the
look she shot him filled him with confidence. There was a glimmer in
her eyes that told Harper they were going to live through this
one...probably.
"Look where you're going" screamed Trance. Tyr leaned across and he
and Harper pulled back on the controls together. There was an enormous
crash, but the ship was level as they hit the surface of the planet and
began skimming along, tumultuously bouncing over rocks and abrasions. Shortly after, it shuddered to a stop.
"Great!" shouted Harper, his voice quivering with a mixture of extreme
relief and anger. "Just freakin' great! You couldn't even carry out that
one little task. I knew I should have done it myself..."
Harpers voice trailed off a little as Tyr seized him by the collar and
hauled him up so that their faces were level. "Be quiet or I will break
your neck."
"Yeah? That would be really helpful in the circumstances...you're gonna
need a genius to get you out of this one..." Harper was about to point out
that he was the only genius present so it would be useful to all of them if
he remained alive. However, although Tyr had now released him from
his grip, there was a dangerous look in his eyes that made Harper swallow
his words.
"This isn't helping!" said Trance, hurrying over and positioning herself between Tyr and Harper, both of whom looked like they were seconds from exploding. "It doesn't matter whose fault this was...we've got to get fixed and out of here. Beka's not going to like what we've done to her ship..."
"Damn Beka...and damn the lot of you." Tyr turned and strode off the
bridge and kept walking. Trance ran after him.
"Tyr, don't go. We really need you now...what if Harper can't fix it all?"
Tyr shot Trance a look that made her stop in her tracks. He slammed the
airlock shut behind him and left the ship.
...
When Trance got back to the bridge, she found that Harper had already
gone into overdrive. He was franticly dashing from one repair job to
another, and there were tools and parts of the ship lying everywhere. On
seeing Trance he began barking out a list of tasks for her, inaudibly fast.
Ignoring her pleas to slow down, he disappeared for some time into a
matrix of wires and sparks behind a rather dodgy looking piece of
equipment that was letting off smoke and hissing ominously. All Trance
could think of to say was a rather feeble "Be careful."
She set about accomplishing as much of what he had told her to do that
she could. However, when Harper finally emerged there were two more
pressing problems that she felt she should confront him with.
"Our communications are down. I can't get through to Rommie."
"Yeah. I know. I'm gonna have to reboot the system. Even when I do,
it's going to take a while for it to come back on...there's some circuits
that have been broken. It might take some fixing...but, hey, don't worry,
babe, Harper's got it all under control."
Trance nodded. She knew he could sort that out. "And, I think I should
go and find Tyr."
Harper raised his eyebrows sceptically. "Don't bother, he'll come back.
And if he doesn't...hey, look, we don't need him. We're doing just fine
here, you and me..."
"That's not the point. Dylan will be angry we let him go..."
"Dylan knows that Tyr is big and ugly enough to look after Tyr. We
didn't ask him to leave, did we? He's probably having a GREAT time
out there fuming and stomping about in the company of the person he
loves the most - himself!"
"Sorry Harper, that's a possibility, but I just need to know he's OK. I won't go far..."
"No wait!" Trance was already leaving the room. "If you really must go,
I'm coming with you."
"It isn't necessary - I'll be just fine. The trading port is on the other side
of the planet. There's nobody out there." Trance knew her words were in
vain. Harper didn't want to leave his repair jobs unfinished, but she knew
he wouldn't let her go alone. She assured him it wouldn't take long.
It better not, thought Harper.
...
Outside, the planet was rocky and desolate, with only low-lying plant life.
The atmosphere was thin, but breathable. The Eureka Maru had settled
on a small, bushy plain nestled between the outcrops of dark rock.
Getting it there had been an amazing feat of steering, explained Harper.
It was, naturally, nothing to do with luck.
There was no obvious sign of Tyr and calling his name reaped no positive
rewards. Some of the rock faces that they would need to negotiate to get
out of the clearing were steep and looked impossible to climb. Trance
suggested that they tried to head off in the easiest looking way, as this
was most likely the way Tyr had gone.
"Oh, I dunno," said Harper, sarcastically. "One leap and our handsome
hero would have been out of this place in a flash. These piles of rocks
wouldn't have held the problems for him that it does for us lesser
mortals."
"Don't be silly," said Trance, although she did wonder if he was right.
Tyr could have possibly hauled himself out by any route. Still, she
began to climb up the least daunting looking rock face and Harper
followed close behind her. On reaching the top they stopped, settling side
by side and slightly out of breath. They surveyed the scene in front of
them.
There was little variation in the panarama, apart from that in the distance
the black rocks began to grow into huge, foreboding mountains. An eerie,
windless silence prevailed. Trance felt Harper take hold of her hand and
squeeze it gently.
"Tyr?" she called out. Her voice sounded tiny as it echoed into the
distance. She turned face Harper, moving slightly closer. "He can't hear
us. He must be hurt..."
"Nah. He's just sulking. There's nobody else here. He'll come back..."
"He wouldn't just ignore us."
"Maybe he thought we needed some time to ourselves...you know, that
would be kinda nice...". Trance was so near to him that he could feel
her warm breath against his face. Should he lean closer? Should he...
Trance didn't smile, but her eyes were sparkly and inviting. He knew
she was concerned for Tyr, but she also seemed to be very aware that the
one sitting here with her was Seamus Harper. He wanted her to know he
would not leave her. Harper took a deep breath. He needed something
good to say, but for once words failed him.
Then the moment was gone. Something had caught Trances attention in
the shallow valley below them. "Look!" Harper turned his eyes to where
she pointed. He could see what looked like the entrance to a cave. The
vegetation in front of it was cleared. It hadn't been done well that recently,
but something or someone had obviously made the effort to make it
accessible at some point. By the cave appeared to be a small sign with
writing on, but it was too far away to read. However, Trance had already
started off down the rocks towards it and, as soon as he realised, Harper
followed.
....
It took some time to reach the cave. It was further off than it looked and,
even once they had climbed down the rocks, they had to fight their way
through the tangled mass of plant life that filled the valley and violently
attacked their legs and ankles. Eventually, they were close enough to read
the sign.
"The League of De Maistre?" read Harper. "What the hell is that?"
"I have no idea," said Trance. "But they might be able to help us find
Tyr."
"Uh, uh," said Harper. "No way. I'm not going getting myself mixed up
with any Leagues of anything. Y'know, they're normally into morbid
stuff, human sacrifice, that sort of thing. And I'm not too partial to that
line of amusement. It's not to my taste..."
Trance sent him a pleading look. "We've got to just see. I won't go too
far. I promise."
Trance headed off into the cave. Harper hesitated, but he knew he wasn't
going to let her go far without him. He soon followed her into the
blackness.
"Tyr?" called Trance, hopefully. "Tyr, are you there." Neither of them
could really see where they were going, but they could feel the cave
around them was damp, and the ground was moist and sandy. Despite the
darkness around them, they could see a shaft of light coming through a
few metres ahead of them, lighting up a cavern. "We'll just go that
far..." whispered Trance. But, they never made it. Inches from the
chamber that they saw filled with filtered daylight, the path leading
before them was broken by a deep pit, invisible in the murk.
Trance screamed as the ground gave way beneath her and she reached out
desperately, trying to grab onto the roots of the plants that she could feel
brushing against her as she fell. Harper simply couldn't believe what was
happening to him until he landed with a thud on soft ground. It was only
then he felt a sharp pain in his wrist, which he had dashed against a rock
on the side of the pit on his descent. He grimaced and clutched his hand,
feeling the warmth of the blood. "Trance, where are you? Are you OK?"
he called out in the darkness. Clambering up, he could just make out her form, twisted in a heap, having fallen awkwardly. Panic shot through him. Was she badly hurt?
"I'm fine," said Trance, and she righted herself almost instantly. Harper
would have spent more time wondering how the hell she did that, if he
hadn't suddenly felt kind of faint. He sunk to his knees, holding his
injured arm. "But, you're not," said Trance, hurrying over. "You're
bleeding."
"Yeah." was the only reply that Harper managed.
"I need to bandage this up..." In the dim light, Trance worked quickly.
She tore off the sparkly material from the bottom of her trouser leg into
neat strips, and wrapped it around the injury. Harper meekly protested
about her ruining her clothes, saying something about how she needed to
look nice for him and all the other guys who liked to look at her. She
giggled slightly, but felt rather uneasy. She could sense that they were
not alone in the darkness. And she was right.
As her eyes adjusted to the gloom, Trance could make out another form,
lying motionless on the floor of the pit. Without letting on to Harper
what she had seen, Trance edged over to investigate. Just as she had
thought, it was Tyr. Thankfully, she could hear him breathing. He was
unconscious, but alive.
"Harper," she whispered. " It's Tyr. He's hurt. We've got to get him out
of here."
Harper was not feeling at his best. His arm hurt like hell and he was
slightly dizzy. He could barely drag himself to his feet and definitely had
no idea how to deal with the information that Trance had just given him.
"Yeah...and? What do I do? Toss him over my shoulder and carry him
out of here? Get real. He's freakin' huge! Even if we could carry him - I
mean, between us - how the hell would we climb up...there?" he said, referring to the steep walls of the pit they had just fallen into. "Look, I
just don't know what to do right now..." The sarcasm in his voice turned
into something softer and more vulnerable. "Trance, I just can't think...of
anything...I'm sorry. OK?"
"'s'alright." Harper felt something brush gently against his cheek. Was it
Trances hand, or her tail? He couldn't tell and he hadn't seen. "There's a possibility there is another way out," said Trance, softly. "I can feel a breeze coming from that direction...not from above. There must be a passage way. Do you think you are well enough to try and follow it? You must get back to the ship and call the others while I stay and look after Tyr. Can you do that?"
Harper figured he had little choice. "Hey, I forgot, I'm a genius...I can
do anything! How hard can it be..." He was quite impressed by his
attempt to sound in control again, given the feeling of dread that was
growing in the pit of his stomach. Using his uninjured arm, he pulled
himself to his feet.
"Maybe you should rest a little first?" ventured Trance.
"Rest? Who needs rest...I can do this, baby. Just you hold on. I'll be
back in no time...in a flash. You'll hardly know I'm gone..." He could
now see the passageway, winding off into pitch-blackness. "Won't be
long..." he said, his voice beginning to trail off.
"Good luck," said Trance, rising and giving him a gentle hug, taking care
not to jostle his bad arm. Then she kissed him briefly, but tenderly, on the
lips. That, thought Harper, was almost worth crashing a ship and falling
down into the bowels of some hellhole planet for. He hoped to build on
this scenario at some future date, but he realised that the present was not the
time. He knew if he didn't leave now, he wouldn't be able to make
himself go at all.
"Seeya, Trance," he whispered. He reluctantly broke away from her arms
and moved off into the gloom.
END OF PART ONE
...