And Then There Were Four
Disclaimer: I own nothing and I am getting no money
A/N: Third in the series, possibly the last part since the crew is all
together now
Harper was seized by a coughing fit
again and it left him dizzy. That
wasn't good. It meant Beka was going to get all mother-y again. He supposed he should appreciate her concern. He had seen enough in this galaxy to know it
was rare and special to have someone care about you. He sat down until the
dizziness passed and then got back to fixing the heat. He was sick. His chest felt like it was being squeezed, hard, by a giant
invisible fist. He got sick far too
often, sometimes he wondered why Beka didn't just leave him somewhere and find
herself a lower maintenance maintenance man.
He popped a dislocated coil back into place. It was late, he was the only one left awake. He had to get the environmental system back
up. He took another swig of cola and
slid back into the hole behind the wall panel.
There was a satisfying click followed by a whir as the environmental
systems kicked in again. Harper coughed
again and reaching into his belt pulled out a bottle of pills and took a
couple.
Rev opened
his eyes. There was a noise, his eyes
were still adjusting to the dark but he heard a noise. Jumping down from the top bunk he noticed
Harper had finally made it to bed and was sprawled on the lower bunk. He hadn't
heard him come in. The environmental controls were on the fritz again and he
had been working on it all day. It was
also why he was crashing with Rev Bem.
His own room was in a part of the ship without heat, and Harper was
making an ice cube tray under his bed.
The noise was clearer on the floor.
Glancing around Rev found its source.
The noise was coming from
Harper. His breath was rattling in his
chest. He was gasping for air with a
sickening wheeze. Pale and getting
tangled in his blanket as he squirmed, Rev wasn't sure what to do.
Should he wake the little guy up? He probably should, he needed to get medical attention. Of
course, there was no medical help available.
But Harper had gotten much worse and if he remained untreated he might
die. Rev decided to go and find
Beka.
Beka heard a knock at her
door. "What the--!?!" she
muttered. What was going on now? Getting out of bed she found Rev on the
other side of the door. "Master Harper
is sick." There was a shocker. Poor Harper, he was always getting
sick. The awful conditions he grew up
in were still shrouded in mystery for the rest of the crew, but what they did
know was it had left his immune system in tatters. It was no surprise he was sick again. Harper had been coughing and taking antibiotics for the last 3
days. "I know. Anything else?" It wasn't that she didn't care about Harper,
because she did.
This was the third time Harper had
gotten seriously sick. The first time
was one of the scariest moments in Beka's life. It had happened about a month and a half after he came
aboard. She had turned the corner and
found him lying on the deck shaking and making some sort of moan in his
throat. He was the first person she had
ever seen convulsing like that. His
skin had been so cold and colorless and his eyes had been open, staring into
nothingness. He was suffering from
Valair poisoning; the scrap parts they had collected from their last job had
been infected. Valair poisoning was transmitted through the skin by touching
infected substances. Her immune system
was more than adequate to protect her. Unfortunately, Harper's turned out to be
weak. She had held him in her lap until
the shaking stopped. Vex-Pag had still
been alive then, but he had never seen Valair poisoning. It was rare and there was nothing he could
do for him. Harper had suffered 4 more
attacks, each worse than the one before, before they got him to a spaceport and
medical ministering. It was one of the
nastiest cases of Valair poisoning they had encountered. It had scared her more than she thought it
would to see him like that. She had
only known him a short time but he was like family to her.
The second time was about 5 months
latter but better than the first. Looking back, the second time had been more
gradual. He had been sneezing and
rubbing bloodshot eyes for days before she realized he was sick again. Then he had stumbled into the room dizzy
and exhausted. His skin had actually had a greenish hue and he was sweating
buckets. He couldn't talk because his
throat was too sore, something he hadn't taken well. He had had the Tomahar flu.
Vex- Pag might have been able to help him that time but he had already
had his unfortunate accident. Rev had
joined the crew by now prayed for Divine help but Beka stopped him from giving
Harper last rights. She had sat with
him while he emptied his stomach contents and while he quietly mumbled
incoherently in his sleep. In a short
time she had become very protective of the boy. That dieses ran its course and eventually Harper was on his
sarcastic feet again.
This time it was a respitory
infection. She had seen him coughing
and taking his antibiotics but hoped it was just another passing cold. She wished they were closer to a spaceport,
or a planet, or even just a ship with a doctor. She had noticed the signs early enough, but there was nothing she
could do for him. This left her feeling
guilty, it was clear just breathing was quite painful for Harper, but because
he was on the Maru with her there was no relief for him.
Sitting down at her desk she looked
at a map. They were in the middle of
nowhere. Where could they take Harper?
There was a little planet about 3 hours away. It was close enough, but it wasn't a regular spaceport. They probably would have someone could
help. They'd have to try at least.
She was so protective of Harper
because he had drawn a bad hand in life.
It wasn't fair. He had lived a
nightmare surrounded by death and misery for 20 years. He had seen his family horribly killed, been
right there and seen it. He had
watched Nietzchiens loot and ravage his home. Watched them take his neighbors
for slaves. They had tortured him. In his short life he had already been
tortured. Tortured by the best
tormenters in the galaxy. Beka didn't
know the specifics of Nietzchien torture, but she knew Nietzchiens and knew
they had to be the best. She couldn't even imagine living through what Harper
had. So she wanted to do all she could
to protect him from more pain.
She got
dressed in some more appropriate clothes; a tank top and boxer shorts were
hardly captain- wear. She reset their
course and because she was ready to worry, and hopeful Rev was exaggerating
Harper's condition. Unfortunately, a
Wayist doesn't lie. She had gotten all
the way inside her engineer's quarters before she remembered the environmental
system and that Harper was sleeping in Rev's room. The system was fixed now, but Harper spent too much time trying
to do everything. They needed more
help. Rev opened his door and pointed
to the sleeping boy. He was still
asleep, a brick wall could fall on the notoriously heavy sleeper and it
wouldn't interrupt his nap. He looked
bad. He was pale, sweaty, and wheezing
badly. She explained her plan to Rev;
they would go to this planet, Ander, and hope someone there could help. It was a long shot, Ander wasn't a very
modern planet, but it was their best shot.
Harper woke
up about an hour later. Beka insisted
he get back in bed and stay there when he appeared on the command deck. Harper was actually obedient and had
disappeared back to his room. That was
a sign he was really sick. They were
going as fast as she could manage. They
were probably the first people ever to speed to Ander. But, the time still seemed to crawl. When they finally arrived Beka sprung from
her seat and rushed for the door. By
now Harper couldn't even manage to walk straight under his own power. Gasping for breath and hanging on Rev they
met Beka at the door.
Outside
they were met with exactly what they had hoped not to see. There was nothing out there. It was a landing field on the edge of a
village. A village, surrounded by a
forest and no signs of modern conveniences!!
Out of the huts came a few brave mouse-like people. Furry and with huge round ears they
approached the visitors cautiously.
"We need a doctor" Beka explained.
The mouse men looked at each other, whispered and the tallest stepped
forward. He let out a chirping sound,
Rev jumped in and answered with more chirping, a gesture to Beka and then a
nudge at the boy clinging to his neck.
More chirping from the tall mouse, another quick shake of Harper, who
moaned and swatted weakly at Rev and the group's leader led them to a hut on
the edge of the village.
Looking
down from the tree where she was perched she saw them. A short, thin human was leaning on a Magog
because he could barely stand. He was
gulping for air and wincing in pain as he did so. The Magog was unlike any
Magog she had ever seen. He was dressed
in Monks robes and seemed interested in the human as something other than
dinner or an incubator. The human
coughed rawly. Trance knew he was
seriously sick, but listening to the conservation below her it didn't sound
good for him.
"Sorry
Ma'am, I don't know how to help him.
You're the first humans I've even seen." he doctor explained and the
Magog explained to the humans. Trance
frowned; she knew an herbal remedy that probably would work on him. But, should she let them know she was
there? She was a wanted woman; if she
made herself known they'd be on her in a minute. She'd been in hiding for a
while now, waiting for a way off this planet.
These people weren't really looking for her anymore so she was just
about ready to sneak away. But, if they
saw she was still here, well, it wouldn't be good. Of course if she didn't help this man would surely die. Looking at the blonde man who was suffering
and seeing the horror that crossed the faces of his comrades at the doctor's
declaration she knew she couldn't let that happen. Not when she could help.
There was a sound of breaking
branches and suddenly before them was a purple girl with a tail. No one had ever seen anyone like her
before. She had pretty lavender skin
and her hair was blonde, purple, and pink.
She smiled at them.
"It's her!" the doctor yelled
"They seem to want her", Rev
explained
"I can help your friend", she
explained. Beka didn't pause, she
grabbed this sprite around her wrist and dragged her to the Maru. This girl might be Harper's best chance. Rev scooped the boy's feet out from under
him and followed his fleeing captain.
They made it to the Maru, They ran
to the command deck. Beka threw herself
into the pilot's seat. The ship was
airborne and out of the atmosphere by the time the doctor alerted the
authorities. "They can still trace us"
Rev pointed out as he set Harper down in a chair. He was seized by an
uncontrolled coughing attack that left him panting.
"W-We could cough aw forget
it." Harper gave up trying to explain
his plan and just made his way over to the engine display. Leaning heavily on the consol he let his
fingers dance nimbly across the buttons.
"What are you doing Harper?" Beka
asked her infirmed handyman.
"I'm---" he took a gulp of air and
winced "releasing a smoke screen"
"What ?"
"They'll want to find the purple
princess here, but they won't be able to cough because your brilliant
genius of a handyman just released cough, cough enough radiation to
interfere with their sensors for days."
"Who are you anyway?" Beka asked when they were clear of
danger
"I'm Trance Gemini"
"And you can help Harper", Beka
asked. Harper crashing to the floor cut
off Trance's response. He was wheezing
loudly and his eyelids were heavy.
"I think so. I know of this plant that helps
breathing." She reached into her bag
and pulled out a bright red flower.
"And this plant should help with his cough." It was a dark blue fern.
They had taken him to Medical and
propped him up in bed, but she doubted he noticed. He was so sick he couldn't even hold his head up and his eyes
refused to stay open. He moaned a little and fidgeted under the blanket they
had covered him with. He was wracked with a dry barking coughing fit and he
gulped for air. He was getting worse.
All his exposed skin glistened with sweat and as Trance gently traced
the side of his face with her fingertips she could feel the heat of the fever
raging in him. It was time for his
medicine; a cup of a blue, sweet smelling liquid administered every hour. Trance held the cup to his lips and gently helped
him tilt his head back and drink the medicine.
His eyes were closed and he probably hadn't noticed what Trance was
doing to him.
The next step in his treatment was
to rub a cream made from the flower into his neck. She sat down next to him and gently started rubbing the balm on
his neck. Beka sat nearby but gave
Trance the room she needed. Harper
moaned and she patted his head. Trance
noticed the shiny metal circle on his neck.
She had never seen one before.
What was it? Did it hurt? She decided to ask Beka since Harper didn't
seem up to answering questions.
"What is that?"
"His cerebral port"
"Really?"
She had heard of them. Expensive
and prone to rejection by their recipients, cerebral ports were kind of rare
though.
Harper coughed and opened his eyes a little more. He could feel her soft hands gently touching
his neck. It was nice, very nice. The girl before him was glittering. Purple and glittering, he had never seen
that before.
"I-Its an angel"
"No silly, I'm Trance."
"I think I'm gonna stick with
angel." His eyes started to drift shut
again.
Beka watched the girl help
Harper. She was defiantly kind. She really wanted to help get Harper back on
his feet. Her cures seemed to be
working too. Harper's coughing was
scarce, breathing easier and he was sleeping peacefully. "So, why did those
people want you?" Beka asked the purple
girl.
"Uhm, I don't know?" she tried
"You don't know?"
"Yeah" Beka decided not to press
her. Beka didn't like to talk about her
father, Rev didn't like to talk about his fellow Magog, Harper didn't want to
talk about Earth, this bunch got along fine without knowing everything.
"Would you like to stay here with
us? We're a salvage ship. It's good honest work and we could use the
help." Trance smiled and jumped up and
down.
"Yes!"
