Italic text represents a thought. Please note that if you are not viewing this on fanfiction.net you may not see italics. Just remember - anything that sounds like a character talking to him/herself probably is.
Legal mumbo-jumbo can be found prior to the introduction to this story.
Chapter Four
Trance Gemini and the blonde-haired holographic AI human look-alike that was standing next to her had finally realized why Harper was acting so strangely. Something had caused him to lose his memories. The question of which ones, how they were lost, or how much he could remember were still a mystery. Fortunatley the last one wouldn't be a mystery for much longer.
"Umm...how much can you remember?"
Okay, think back... "I can recall leaving the Andromeda, and going to the Intergalaxial Science & Technology Convention on Alteka-7." Argh...come on, you can remember more than that! "I got there and spoke with a weird-looking fish-headed man." Harper's headache was slowly starting to build again. NO! Stay in control, Harper. You can do this... "There is more...but if I try to remember it I get a headache and pass out. Same if I get exposed to something radically different than what I am used to." Okay, it's their turn now. Get some rest! "So what has happened since then?"
Trance was the first to speak. "It's been three years since then. But...your memory is...different. After you left for the convention, the Maru had some kind of problem and you had to return right away. You fixed it, but you were really sad because you missed the convention. Eventually, though things went back to normal. One day we passed by Earth. You decided to take a stop there to recover some old belongings or something, I don't really remember. But anyways we stayed in the system longer than expected. Rev successfully set up a church there and was able to convert most of the Magog. He stayed there for a while to get it going. You told Dylan that you wanted to stay because it was your home and you wanted to return it to it's former glory. I decided to come and stay with you because I wanted to help. I heard that Earth was a beautiful planet with lots of trees and flowers and stuff. Well..." She pointed at the window. "...it is. We never ended up leaving, neither did Rev. But Dylan and the others continued on their mission to restore the Commonwealth. Last I heard, they have 500 species in it now. They come back every now and then though to see how we're doing. And while Earth isn't exactly returned to it's former glory yet, you pledged that you will return it and will not go back to the Andromeda until that task is complete."
Harper stood speechless. "It's not like you to ramble on like that."
She smiled. "Yeah, well you asked me to and besides, I've picked up on a lot of Earth lingo since I arrived here."
"So how did the cute green kid happen?"
"Well one thing lead to another..." Trance smiled. "Shortly after we arrived on Earth you asked me to marry you. Of course I didn't know what it was at the time, but after you told me - it was the happiest day of my life. Then we fixed up this old house and you built an AI to control it. A few months later we had Aren, our child. It's a guy."
The only reason Harper hadn't passed out was because everything was so perfect. The more she told him about the future the PRESENT the more he enjoyed being here. "Wow. I don't care how I got here but I sure don't want to go back. I don't see how this could be any better." He fell into her arms and gave her a big hug.
The fish-headed man watched their conversation with interest. He needed to get in touch with this purple girl and tell her what had happened to Harper. From what he heard, Harper had travelled to the convention in a ship called the Maru, which was launched from a larger ship called the Andromeda. If he could get in contact with the Andromeda, he could get assistance in freeing Harper from this mind maze. The problem was that Harper may not want to go willingly. He was beginning to accept what he was seeing as being reality, which would result in...god knows what.
This was all his fault. He was just an old scientist trying to create a device that would keep people happy. He shouldn't let Harper have tried the device, how could he have been so stupid? He had known what had happened to his previous assistant and it was foolish of him to think that it wouldn't happen again. The only difference is that this time it was delayed. Instead of preventing the glitches as he had hoped, he had merely slowed them down.
Why didn't he test it instead of Harper? He had nothing, Harper had a future - regardless of what Harper might think about it. Just because what he had seen was Harper's dreams and wishes, it didn't mean that they couldn't and wouldn't happen.
"Excuse me - could the AI say a few words about herself?"
Harper stepped back, and looked at the AI. He had forgotten about her. It was obvious that he had designed her - she was taliored to his exact specifications. "Yeah, sorry."
"My name is Alicia and I control the house. I also serve other purposes - such as a babysitter when you two are out, an alarm clock (she giggled as she said that), and a dictionary of witty and sarcastic English phrases. You have promised to let me meet my mother, Andromeda, someday...but I haven't ever seen her before."
"Well it's nice to meet you. Oh and that's not sarcasm by the way." She just rolled her eyes.
"Trance, show him the car. I've gotta go check on the green tyke. " Her hologram disappeared.
"I own a car? That's cool. What kind?"
"You said that this couldn't get any better. Time to eat your words!" She giggled. Then she took him into the garage.
Inside sat a bright red porche. "Do you remember how to drive?"
Harper smirked. "Let's go visit Rev."
End of Chapter Four
Author's note: This is probably one of the more boring parts of the story
because it is just dialogue...but it is necessary. I'm sure you can guess
what happens next and I promise you that it will not be boring. (Well, most of
it anyways =)
Oh and when I said it would be a week before I published this, I meant a school week. Which in this case is four days with the Easter weekend and all.
Have a happy Easter everyone, and...drive safe.
- ~Thissa~