Pain. It was all he could feel. All he could hear. All he could see. Blinding white pain that seemed to fill his every cell. God. He couldn't remember hurting this bad since he was about ten, back on earth. It was right after a Magog attack. Magog...attack. Oh shit. Oh freaking shit.
Harper fought down the wave of fear that threatened to consume him and tried to think, remember what had happened after he had connected with Andromeda's systems. They ran...him and Tyr ran until they could run no more. Trapped between two hoards of Magog, they fought. Stupid.
Suppressing a groan and the urge to open his eyes, Harper listened for any hints as to why he was not dead. Voices, things were speaking, he concentrated on making out their voices.
"Have you taken care of the others?"
"Yes, my master, all resistance has been taken care of. We are bringing those who were on the command deck to you now."
Those on the command deck? Oh god, Trance. Dylan. Beka. Rommie. Oh god...
"Good. Locate the brig on this ship and place them in there. Take the Nietzschean there as well."
They're alive. All of them...why?
"Master, what of this human?"
"He is the one whom carried the knowledge before. I want to know what he did with it. Put him in a room away from the others until I need him."
All my fault. All. My. Fault. I found the personality. I had the knowledge. I...wait. The knowledge. That's what he wants. That's why he's keeping the others alive, he thinks that they know what I did with it.
"Should I put my soldiers on guard."
"It is unnecessary because he is not a threat. Some of the others, however, are likely to try and escape, futile though it is. Put one of your minions there to...dissuade them. "
"But-"
"You question my judgment, slave?"
"No my lord, right away. "
Harper felt himself being dragged unceremoniously by a furry clawed hand and felt a wave of nausea wash over him at the creature's touch. At least soon they would leave him alone. Then could he wait by himself and contemplate the many terrible ways they would inevitably kill him. Nice.
//"You are an annoying little man but you have fire in your blood, I've seen it"//
At the thought of the Nietzschean, Harper suddenly felt shame wash over him at his resignation to death. He was the only one with even a remote chance of getting the Andromeda out of this mess and he wasn't even gonna try. He was just gonna be a good little prisoner and calmly wait to be killed, or eaten, or..no. Seamus Zelazny Harper was not gonna become a god-damned Magog nursery. Not in this lifetime. Not ever. But what could he do? He was one person, one very hurt person, in a shipful of murdering monsters. Wait..the ship. If he could, Harper would have slapped himself.
//Idiot-you have the ship.// Which is obviously still operating being as he was. But what could he do with her...she was badly damaged and probably wouldn't be able to process any commands, even if he could find a port and manage to connect with her. If he could only become the ship...this thought almost made the andromeda's engineer laugh bitterly at the absurdity of it all. Become the ship...yeah ri- wait. This sounded familiar. He had heard this before, somewhere. Remembered it because even then he had found the idea ridiculous. It was before he met Beka, a couple months after he had recieved the implant...
About 4 years ago
He was nineteen at the time, and fresh out of a job. This was, of course, the job that had taught him to watch his mouth with those people who are generally considered anal-retentive. Originally he had come in the bar for a cheap meal, and nothing else, preferring at that time to be left alone. Originally. That all changed of course when he noticed a crowd of people gathered around a tired-looking man whose eyes contrasted with his demeanor as he argued strongly with those around him. With all the shouting, he could only make out bits and pieces of the debate.
"-it just can't be done," One of the listeners said, "He brain would have fried faster then you can say 'adios amigo'"
"Well he did" The man said, "As i keep telling you, he had no other choice. The ship was under attack and wasn't responding to any commands, he had no other options. Become the ship or Die"
//What the hell is he yapping about?// Harper thought to himself.
"It's just damn impossible. The ports don't allow you to take over a ship" Another said, this one was waving his hands in the air to emphasize his point"
"Actually, he could" This voice was calm and out of place, attracting the attention of all the patrons. "Allow me to introduce myself, I'm-"
"We don't care who the hell you are, if you agree with him, yer crazy!" This coming from the bartender, who up until this point hadn't participated in the argument.
Harper was surprised when the calm voiced of the man continued as if never having been interrupted, "I'm Yagas Thoy, and I implant the ports. Technically, it is possible, but potentially deadly, for one to 'become the ship' using their implant. They would of course have to be very experienced-"
By now Harper had surmised what they were talking about. Apparently, the 'storyteller' knew someone who had used their implant to connect so deeply with the ship they could actually control it's functions, essentially becoming it. Ha! He had never heard anything so ridiculous in his life. Writing the entire conversation off as the delusions of beings who couldn't hold their liquor, Harper turned around in his stool and and ordered a sparky cola from the bartender...
Present
Could it be done? Could he go so deep into Andromeda that he actually controls her. Becomes her. Now, more then four years later, Harper wished he had listened more intently to the scientist. The 'potentially deadly' part didn't even factor in, he was a dead man anyway if he didn't do something. And apparently that something was connecting with the ship at beyond the regulated levels, taking her over, and...and...what then?
'Come on' Harper thought to himself 'it doesn't take a freaking genius to figure out the next step is to use any and all internal weapons to make minced meat out of the Magog'
Great, he had a plan. This is a good start. Now as soon as their through dragging me to my 'cell' and leaving me there, I can drag my ass to a port and begin phase one of Operation If I'm Gonna Die I'm gonna Do It While Trying Some Crazy Plan To Save My Friends. Or,' he thought 'We can go the optimistic route and call it Operation Clean Up After Myself'
Harper fought down the wave of fear that threatened to consume him and tried to think, remember what had happened after he had connected with Andromeda's systems. They ran...him and Tyr ran until they could run no more. Trapped between two hoards of Magog, they fought. Stupid.
Suppressing a groan and the urge to open his eyes, Harper listened for any hints as to why he was not dead. Voices, things were speaking, he concentrated on making out their voices.
"Have you taken care of the others?"
"Yes, my master, all resistance has been taken care of. We are bringing those who were on the command deck to you now."
Those on the command deck? Oh god, Trance. Dylan. Beka. Rommie. Oh god...
"Good. Locate the brig on this ship and place them in there. Take the Nietzschean there as well."
They're alive. All of them...why?
"Master, what of this human?"
"He is the one whom carried the knowledge before. I want to know what he did with it. Put him in a room away from the others until I need him."
All my fault. All. My. Fault. I found the personality. I had the knowledge. I...wait. The knowledge. That's what he wants. That's why he's keeping the others alive, he thinks that they know what I did with it.
"Should I put my soldiers on guard."
"It is unnecessary because he is not a threat. Some of the others, however, are likely to try and escape, futile though it is. Put one of your minions there to...dissuade them. "
"But-"
"You question my judgment, slave?"
"No my lord, right away. "
Harper felt himself being dragged unceremoniously by a furry clawed hand and felt a wave of nausea wash over him at the creature's touch. At least soon they would leave him alone. Then could he wait by himself and contemplate the many terrible ways they would inevitably kill him. Nice.
//"You are an annoying little man but you have fire in your blood, I've seen it"//
At the thought of the Nietzschean, Harper suddenly felt shame wash over him at his resignation to death. He was the only one with even a remote chance of getting the Andromeda out of this mess and he wasn't even gonna try. He was just gonna be a good little prisoner and calmly wait to be killed, or eaten, or..no. Seamus Zelazny Harper was not gonna become a god-damned Magog nursery. Not in this lifetime. Not ever. But what could he do? He was one person, one very hurt person, in a shipful of murdering monsters. Wait..the ship. If he could, Harper would have slapped himself.
//Idiot-you have the ship.// Which is obviously still operating being as he was. But what could he do with her...she was badly damaged and probably wouldn't be able to process any commands, even if he could find a port and manage to connect with her. If he could only become the ship...this thought almost made the andromeda's engineer laugh bitterly at the absurdity of it all. Become the ship...yeah ri- wait. This sounded familiar. He had heard this before, somewhere. Remembered it because even then he had found the idea ridiculous. It was before he met Beka, a couple months after he had recieved the implant...
About 4 years ago
He was nineteen at the time, and fresh out of a job. This was, of course, the job that had taught him to watch his mouth with those people who are generally considered anal-retentive. Originally he had come in the bar for a cheap meal, and nothing else, preferring at that time to be left alone. Originally. That all changed of course when he noticed a crowd of people gathered around a tired-looking man whose eyes contrasted with his demeanor as he argued strongly with those around him. With all the shouting, he could only make out bits and pieces of the debate.
"-it just can't be done," One of the listeners said, "He brain would have fried faster then you can say 'adios amigo'"
"Well he did" The man said, "As i keep telling you, he had no other choice. The ship was under attack and wasn't responding to any commands, he had no other options. Become the ship or Die"
//What the hell is he yapping about?// Harper thought to himself.
"It's just damn impossible. The ports don't allow you to take over a ship" Another said, this one was waving his hands in the air to emphasize his point"
"Actually, he could" This voice was calm and out of place, attracting the attention of all the patrons. "Allow me to introduce myself, I'm-"
"We don't care who the hell you are, if you agree with him, yer crazy!" This coming from the bartender, who up until this point hadn't participated in the argument.
Harper was surprised when the calm voiced of the man continued as if never having been interrupted, "I'm Yagas Thoy, and I implant the ports. Technically, it is possible, but potentially deadly, for one to 'become the ship' using their implant. They would of course have to be very experienced-"
By now Harper had surmised what they were talking about. Apparently, the 'storyteller' knew someone who had used their implant to connect so deeply with the ship they could actually control it's functions, essentially becoming it. Ha! He had never heard anything so ridiculous in his life. Writing the entire conversation off as the delusions of beings who couldn't hold their liquor, Harper turned around in his stool and and ordered a sparky cola from the bartender...
Present
Could it be done? Could he go so deep into Andromeda that he actually controls her. Becomes her. Now, more then four years later, Harper wished he had listened more intently to the scientist. The 'potentially deadly' part didn't even factor in, he was a dead man anyway if he didn't do something. And apparently that something was connecting with the ship at beyond the regulated levels, taking her over, and...and...what then?
'Come on' Harper thought to himself 'it doesn't take a freaking genius to figure out the next step is to use any and all internal weapons to make minced meat out of the Magog'
Great, he had a plan. This is a good start. Now as soon as their through dragging me to my 'cell' and leaving me there, I can drag my ass to a port and begin phase one of Operation If I'm Gonna Die I'm gonna Do It While Trying Some Crazy Plan To Save My Friends. Or,' he thought 'We can go the optimistic route and call it Operation Clean Up After Myself'
