PART FOUR

What saddened Magdalena most was Harper's silence. In the short time that she had known him, she had come to realise he was not the quiet type. Saying something, anything, even if it was not quite the right thing, was his way of getting through the chaos. She had never met anybody quite like him, and she liked his company.

But now he was locked away in a stone cell by her brothers and, when she went to him, he said nothing. And, she could think of little to say in return. "Maybe he knows?" she thought to herself. "Maybe he figured that I should have told him to leave and find his own way out, rather than bringing him here with me. Maybe he worked out that I must have done it for selfish reasons, because I was lonely, because everyone here shrinks away from me in fear. But I didn't think it would lead to this...I should have known."

It was only when she tried to change the bandage on his injured arm that Harper responded to her presence. "No! That's mine. You can't take that. It's all I have left..."

"But it's soaked in blood. And it wasn't even a proper bandage, it's some sort of rag...it looks like it was once purple!"

"It's not a rag...it belonged to somebody. Somebody special who probably knows more about the universe than you and your lousy beliefs ever will!"

"But I must change the dressing. It might get infected."

"What does that matter, seeing as your brothers are going to mash me up for Saturday night entertainment? I mean, why don't they just get on with it? I'm getting kinda impatient here...I can't stand all this waiting around. Let's cut to the chase! So, are the kids gonna be allowed to watch this one or are they not up for the Live Action...they just catch it on the Big Screen with popcorn, right?"

The slight relief that Magdalena felt because Harper had started talking to her again was much dampened by her distress at his words and the violence with which he said them. But then, who could blame him? "That might not happen," she said.

"Yeah, right. Why don't I believe you? You said could help me get out of here. Instead you lead me straight in to the lair of your sicko brothers..." Harper broke off. He could have gone on, but, for once, there seemed little point. Magdalena looked genuinely upset, and he had no real desire to hurt her. He let her change the bandage, but took the blood soaked piece of Trance's outfit from her and held it in his other hand, staring at it. He'd thought he was going to die at several stages in his life before, and he'd felt some pretty strong emotions at those times: anger, hatred, fear. He felt all of that now, but it seemed almost insignificant compared to the pain he felt when he looked at that piece of rag. The thought of the being that had once worn that material filled his mind, his heart, and his soul until he thought they would burst.

Magdalena looked at him with sadness and curiosity, but realising his spirit was with somebody else, she left in silence.

....

When she got back to her room, Magdalena threw herself down on the bed and cried that the universe was such a terrible place. After a short while, however, she began to think of think some strange things that wouldn't usually come into her mind. Did it have to be this way, was evil really the only answer to the mystery? Her sadness was still mixed with this confusion when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Go away," she sniffed, assuming it must have been one of her brothers. The hand stayed put and she was about to push it away, when she saw it was small and delicate, with light purple skin and dark purple nails. Magdalena turned around with a start.

The owner of the hand was the strangest creature she had ever seen with purple skin, pretty blonde and pink hair and a tail! But, she instantly knew that this strange girl was here to help when she saw what she was wearing: a purple, sparkly jumpsuit with the bottom of one leg ripped off. Realising this must be a friend of Harper she felt a small pang of excitement, and then...jealousy. The purple girl spoke first:

"What are they going to do to Harper?"

"Kill him, probably."

"But he's done nothing wrong. You must tell them not to."

"It does not matter. Crimes have been committed and it is the way of things that somebody...must....pay..." her voice trailed off into sobs. The purple girl sat down and wrapped her arms around her, hugging her gently.

"There are other possibilities. This doesn't have to be the way. You must tell your brothers that Tyr, the one they believed has done them wrong, acted only in self defence...and not even just for him, it was for me too. His motives were not bad...he could have killed them all, but he left them alive. Anyway, I thought De Maistre said that crimes committed in war should not be treated in the same way...and as we are not from your community, surely it would count as war..." Magdalena looked up at Trance suspiciously. Her new acquaintance simply did not look the sort who would read ancient earth texts for pleasure. "You left a book out...I read it while you were crying...I thought you needed a bit of time alone," said Trance, slightly unconvincingly. "You must persuade your brothers not to kill him."

Magdalena shook her head sadly. "They would not listen to me. They believe God has sent their power over this community. It is their role to discipline and punish. It is the only way we can be saved."

"It's not the only way...there are lots of possibilities. Not everything everywhere is bad, you know. There are a lot of good things in the universe, a lot of good intentions."

"I want to believe that...but why do the bad things always triumph? Anyway, my brothers will not listen." Magdalena began to sob again.

"If they believe their power was given to them by something divine, the divine will have to send something to take it away," said Trance. "Will you help me?" Magdalena, still crying, did not respond. "If you want to save Harper..."

"Maybe he does not deserve to be saved..."

Trance shot her a quizzical look. "I thought you cared for him. Since you left him you've been in tears."

"That's because I'm weak, but he's bad too. He loves you...but he was lusting after me. That's wrong." Magdalena was not quite sure why she was saying this. However, a nasty streak inside her was telling her that if Harper was saved he would not want her, he would want this purple creature and her life would be no different. At least dead, he would belong as much to her as to the other girl. At the same time, she desperately did NOT want him to die. Her confusion and grief were overwhelming.

"He lusted after you?"

"He...er, watched me bathing?"

A smile flickered in the corner of Trances mouth. "Harper watched you naked?"

"I wasn't naked! I was just partially dressed...and he was hiding in the shadows." This time Trance did laugh. It just seemed so typical of Harper, just like the way he drooled over Rommie. She accepted that was just the way he was.

"That was...er, naughty of him...but surely he doesn't deserve to die for that? You haven't known many....boys, have you?"

"My brothers are the only people who I have contact with. I'm of the ruling family line...we must discipline the people to save them...but we're untouchable."

"OK...well, the thing about Harper...and plenty of others I guess, is that they just can't help themselves sometimes - with girls. If they're behaviour is nasty and threatening, then it's wrong. But, I don't think Harper is like that and, well, sometimes, you just have to forgive people."

"But if it's a sin, then somebody must pay..."

"Why? If the universe is chaos why should everything even itself out. It's not the only way..." here she broke off. This conversation could rage on forever. "Look, we're going to have to get moving. I need you to leave here. What I'm asking you to do is not easy. You must find our ship...it's crashed nearby. That's the easy part. Then you have to find this big, mean, scary Nietzschean and convince him he must come down here and rescue us. Do you think you can do that?"

"I can't leave here. My brothers let nobody leave without permission..."

"You must. If you feel anything at all for Harper, if you forgive him..." Magdalena sniffed. It the scale of all the suffering in the universe, and considering the predicament he was currently in, Harpers crimes seemed small and insignificant enough to forgive. She still resented the purple girl a little, but she realised she must be brave.

"I'll try. What will you do?"

"I'm not sure yet," said Trance. "But there are a lot of possibilities."

...

Harper lay curled up in the corner of the stone cell. He had not moved since Magdalena left him, and was still clutching the piece of Trance's clothing in his hand and it was still her that filled his thoughts. Somehow, he was not surprised at the situation that he found himself in. It had simple confirmed his original belief that bad things always happened to Seamus Harper! But, the thought of Trance, knowing she existed, knowing she cared for him a little, made it all slightly easier. There was something in the vast domain of living nature that was good, and somehow enduring, even though she was a mystery to him.

Suddenly he heard the gong. "This is it," he thought to himself. "Any second now, they will come for me." He felt a lump in his throat and his body tensed up with fear. But nobody came. The gong went again, and this time he noticed it sounded kind of odd.

"Bong, bong, bong!" it chimed. Harper couldn't miss the sense of irony in the fact that the gong sounded rather jolly. Still nobody came, and he pulled himself to his feet, standing on tiptoes to look out of the crack at the top of the door. He could hardly believe what he saw.

Standing on the platform, bashing away at the gong as if it was a toy, was Trance.

...

"Bong, bong, bong!"

"Hello everyone...I just thought, maybe you'd better execute me! I mean, there's lots and lots of evil in the universe and somebody's got to pay. So why not me!"

"Bong, bong, bong!"

People gathered around the platform, but did not dare to touch the mysterious intruder. Who was she? WHAT was she? Was she some sort of devil, or angel? There was no explanation. Magdalena's brothers emerged from one of the houses and made for the platform.

They observed that this was the strange girl who had been with the Nietzschean who attacked them, but that was not the main reason she had to die. She had displayed the most disrespectful insubordination to their laws and traditions. She mocked them in front of their people. One of them grabbed her roughly, another began to set up the platform for execution, while the third began to fiddle with their intercom system so they could broadcast the events to the other League colonies. They would now have two executions to display.

However, the intercom did not appear to be working and he could not open up any channel for broadcast.

"We should go ahead anyway," said one. "The people must see that discipline cannot be avoided."

"No," said the eldest. He knew that to transmit this would be good for the prestige of their colony. "We must wait until it is fixed. Take her away and put her with the other one."

"Now you've got me, does that mean you don't have to kill Harper?" chirped Trance.

"There are plenty of crimes to atone in the universe. Two deaths mean more will be saved."

"That doesn't make any sense at all!" wailed Trance as she was thrown into the stone cell and the door was slammed behind her. She fell straight onto Harper, who had been watching from the door.

"OW!" said Harper. "Mind my arm...what the hell are you trying to do? Save the universe?"

"No...just you."

Harper pulled her to him and they held each other tightly, saying nothing at all for several minutes.

END OF PART FOUR