CHAPTER TEN: HOPE

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches on the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.

--Emily Dickinson

The crowd gathered outside the Maru had grown hoarse and only a few frail voices could be heard as the early morning hours drew towards dawn. The advent of the guards was a welcome sight to those who still lingered in the plaza. They could now step back, feeling they had done their job as good Monarchean citizens. The guards fanned out through the area, reestablishing the sentries that had been formerly posted to guard the ship, gently parting the crowd, and creating a clear path to the Maru's airlock.

The doors to the Eureka Maru had barely parted when Harper found himself yanked into its interior and facing the ship's captain.

"Harper, I'm glad you're here. Whose guards are those?"

"Whose are they? You did ask for an escort, didn't you?" He wondered why Beka felt the need to ask such a question.

"Whose are they?" Beka repeated, earnestly.

"I don't know." Since the answer seemed important, Harper scratched his head and thought hard. "Elva's? I think one of them mentioned they're her personal guards."

"Good." Beka sounded relieved. Just as long as they weren't Reha's! "That's good. What are they doing?"

"Their job." Harper followed her as she turned and walked farther into the ship. "Waiting outside. Keeping things quiet," he replied. "They said they're ready to go whenever we are. But, first things first," said Harper, opening his portable tool kit and holding up an injector. He smiled. "First-aid nanobots, courtesy of Dr. Trance."


When Harper and Beka entered the cockpit, Tyr was standing over the notorious box. He looked up and asked, "Have you told him yet?"

"Told me what?" asked Harper. There was definitely something in the air that he didn't know.

Beka lowered the boom. "You weren't so paranoid, after all. Someone did follow you. Kept following you. I'm pretty sure now this whole rigmarole that we've been through was a setup and now I think I know why."

"The question is," said Tyr. "How do we prove the administrator is guilty?"

"With the box!" said Beka.

"How?" Tyr wasn't convinced. "You do know who made the box? Plu Valtari, who has been dead and gone for centuries. How can it help you now?"

Harper was inclined to agree. "Doesn't this change whatever plan you had before, Beka?"

"No," said Beka. "It makes it better." She knelt down and opened the box, displaying the item inside to Harper. "Look at that. I know what it's supposed to do but I can't figure out why it doesn't work! That's why I required an engineer's expertise."

Harper warmed to the idea. "Okay, boss. But it isn't like the squad outside's gonna wait forever. Don't think I've seen anything quite like this before. When did you expect me to get this done?"

Beka looked at him confidently. "There's no time like the present."

Harper shook his head. He was already pulling tools and equipment from his kit. "Always did love a challenge," he mumbled and set to work.

Beka knew what, Tyr knew who, and Harper soon knew why, and so, between the three, they figured out how.


How am I gonna pull this off? This is my last chance. This will either make it or break it. These thoughts and others like it, spun in her mind as Beka Valentine stood at the side entrance of the museum. News had wings in Monarchea and the rare opening of the Hall of Music had spread, bringing with it the need for caution. When Beka, Harper and Tyr had first exited the Maru, the crowd outside had behaved themselves. But there had been a different crowd gathered outside the museum, awaiting the arrival of the culprit who had vandalized the plaza, and the mood in the air wasn't exactly welcoming.

Better not break it.

So she awaited an all-clear signal from the leader of the guard and, while she waited, took stock of her surroundings. Ahead of her was the arched doorway of the side entrance. Harper stood a little behind her, holding the box to his chest as if his life depended on it. Tyr was absent. He had taken the first opportunity to elude both the guards and the crowds and, effectively, vanished.

But that was according to plan.

The guards flanked Harper and Beka, also awaiting the signal. Some opened their wings to screen the two off-worlders from the direct view of any curious passersby. The guards had displayed a system of mute communication that impressed her. Through a simple gesture or look, the individuals seemed to understand one another and act as one body.

There was a motion from the doorway and the leader of the guards appeared in the entrance, then vanished back inside the building.

The signal.

The time had gone for doubts or second thoughts. Beka took a deep breath and followed.


"I wasn't aware this was a public meeting," Beka said. She realized, listening to her own reverberating echoes, that the design of the Hall of Music seemed to act the same as an amphitheater, catching her words and broadcasting them to anyone concerned.

The hall was huge! The ceiling was a dome which stretched out many feet above her head and ended in a single skylight which showed a blue circle of the sky. The walls also seemed rounded and numerous seats were carved out of stone and positioned stadium style. Not only were there seats, but there was an audience sitting. Where the seats ended lit glass cases began filled with an assortment of all shapes, sizes, colors of various instruments and music makers and the collection seemed to stretch almost as high as the ceiling. Standing on ground level, at the focal point of it all, Beka felt dwarfed in comparison.

Even a Yil Yimur would feel small here.

A rich, sanguine voice floated down to her and expanded outwards into space until its echoes seemed to fill the hall. "Normally, it would not be. You requested a meeting with the Administrators. But you wished to hold this conference in the Hall of Music which belongs to all of the people."

Beka turned her head to follow the voice and in front of her rose a balcony wherein rested three throne-like chairs. Sitting in the middle chair was Administrator Grotos, white wings and whiskers, with his dark eyes staring down at her. There was a flash of silver sitting on his right and a glint of gold on his left, the faces of Elva and Reha.

Administrator Elva was the first to break the silence. "Captain Valentine, we have assembled today in order to hear the purpose of your most recent actions. You have permission to speak."

"Alright." Beka clapped her hands, clasping them together, and brought them up to her chin. Her heart pounded and her thoughts were racing. "Here's how I see it," Beka said, gesturing as she spoke. "You all took my ship away because of a complaint filed by a Yil Yimur who claimed some sort of grievance yadda, yadda, yadda about something that happened back on Platea. And since, Platea happens to be your ally, you decided to do the honorable thing and try the case here under Monarchean law. Right?"

"Correct but what does this have to with--" Reha started to say.

"I'll get to that," Beka cut him off. She grinned. If only you knew what I have in store for you, Reha. She continued, pacing slowly, clasping her hands behind her back. "Then, after conducting your own investigation, you decided that my crew weren't the problem, but charged my ship as the source of your problem. And I have to tell you the truth, I thought it was the craziest most ludicrous thing I've ever heard!" Beka moved closer to the balcony seats, stopping below each administrator as she spoke about them. "Who would do that? Who would decide to detain my ship? Would it be you, Elva? No, I don't think so. How 'bout you, Grotos? No, I think not. Or could it be the one who makes the big decisions about all legal matters on Monarchea? Administrator Reha?" asked Beka, feigning shock. "Ladies and gentleman, I think we have a winner."

Administrator Reha shifted uneasily in his seat. "This is becoming tedious," he protested, but no one paid heed to his objection.

"I asked myself, why? Why would Reha want to detain my ship? But you see, Reha." Beka grinned. "You really weren't interested in the ship, you were only interested in what it carried. You wanted to keep everyone away from it, until you had a chance to find it for yourself!"

Reha's pale eyes glared daggers. "Are you are going to listen to these ridiculous accusations?"

"Grotos is popular with the public. Elva knows how to mix in society. But you're the legal guy. You needed something too boost your reputation. Only I got it first. So you resorted to trickery and stealing!"

"That is enough," cried Reha, rising from his seat. "I have no interest whatsoever in your box!"

Beka grinned in triumph. "What box?" She swept some strands of hair away from her face and looked towards a wall where Harper was standing. "Harper, did I ever mention a box?"

Harper came into the central part of the room, shaking his head. "No, I don't believe I ever heard you mention a box to him, but now that the subject's come up, could this be it?" The blanket fell away, exposing the box he carried for all to see.

A murmur from the audience swept the room.

"That means nothing," said Reha. "I demand my rights! They're trying to accuse me of something I haven't done! They have absolutely no proof."

"This is true," Grotos agreed. "I fear you cannot continue in this way unless you can offer solid proof. Have you any witnesses to Reha's alleged actions?"

"You want proof," Tyr's deeply melodic voice boomed across the room. "Here's your proof!" A man toppled out from behind a pillar sprawling onto the floor and sliding from the momentum. When he came to a stop and raised his head, a red hood slipped back, revealing his face.

"Beni!" said Beka. She grinned openly. Tyr had come through with his part in her plan.

Tyr stalked out of the shadows. "He is your proof!"

Beni clambered to his feet and pointed at Reha. "The Yil Yimurs made me do it!" he whimpered. "I didn't sell the box to them when they wanted it. So they made me do it for him!"

"There is nothing that links me with that man," protested Reha.

"Beeeep! Wrong again," said Beka. She pulled out a flexi which contained images of Reha and the red-hooded Beni at the ball and presented it to the Administrators. "This is taken from your own security files. You can double check it if you want."

Reha glowered at her but kept silent.

"All of this because of that box?" Administrator Elva beckoned to the engineer. "Step forward. Let us see it."

Harper walked forward and set the box on floor. He hesitated, then looked over at Beka.

Beka nodded at Harper.

The time had come.

He bent down and opened the box.


Harper opened the box and carefully pulled out something unusual. It was shaped like a large hourglass but appeared to be made of stone. Strange carvings had been etched into its surface of diagonal lines which crisscrossed into an arresting diamond-like pattern. Obviously, its design was ancient. At the top of the artifact was a circular hole.

He carefully set it on the floor and next pulled from the box what looked like a small golden ball. He held the ball over the hole for the moment, then his fingers released and the ball dropped down inside.

Instantly, a loud whistle arose to a shrill pitch.

But in the next instant, such a beautiful sound arose that everyone in the room could only listen with awe entranced by its beauty. The notes seemed to sing and dance and a peaceful sense of serenity pervaded the hall as their tones echoed through the air. The artifact glowed electric blue and then the color of the glow changed to green and back again.

When the last echo died as the music faded away and the changing glow of the light had ceased, no one doubted that Administrator Reha would have severely wanted that box. It was no wonder! An item like that would be of great value to any Monarchean.

Administrator Elva and Administrator Grotos looked at Reha, who seemed to have shrunk in his seat. Several guards now surrounded his chair and others moved forward to take Beni into custody for questioning.

"You have performed us a service, Captain Valentine," said Elva. "What favor can we offer you in return?"

The words were on her tongue, but Beka paused before she spoke, remembering the tone of hopelessness in Dylan's words as he told her the Monarcheans had rejected the idea of joining the Commonwealth after the action she had taken in the plaza.

He wants to give these people better lives, she had told Tyr.

As noble an aspiration as that was, Beka's chief concern was to find a way to save her ship. But wait--Hey, who was she kidding? Ship or no ship, she wouldn't wish a Yil Yimur on anybody. She had seen the pleasure on the people's faces, listening to the ancient music played, and gained a new respect for them. Somewhere along the way, since joining in this crazy adventure, this dream to restore the Commonwealth, her motives had changed. This mission had become something bigger than herself, something better that made her glad to be alive. It was something she did not want to be responsible for depriving the Monarcheans of now.

"Maybe you don't think I have any right to say this, but I really think you should listen to what Dylan Hunt has to say about the Commonwealth. You have a really lovely planet and you need to protect it. The Commonwealth would help you. If you don't join, it would a stupid mis--" Beka checked her tongue, remembering diplomacy in time, and amended her speech. "Stupendous loss."


The Administrators minus Reha returned from their deliberations after they had reached a decision. "In light of this important information and, if you are willing, to donate this marvelous musical artifact to our Hall of Music, the Administrative Board finds it fit to grant your request and to add to it. We will consider impartially what Captain Hunt has to say about the Commonwealth. And, you, Captain Valentine, are pardoned for the actions you took in the plaza. You are free to go."

"Oh." Beka said, stunned. "Yes. Thank you." And then, feeling that this none-too-enthusiastic response might be thought insufficient, she added, "I'm grateful. Really. Truly. Grateful." She took a step back, tipped her head, and plastered a smile on her face.

Beka felt as heavy as a rock. She had gone through all of this! All this, for that! To receive a pardon for herself, but not for her ship! Incredible! She opened her mouth, but there weren't any words. And as hard as she racked her brain, there was nothing more she could do or say to save it. The strain of the past several days finally caught up with her and she felt exhausted.

She'd had the opportunity to ask for her ship and she hadn't taken it. Maybe Rafe was right! Maybe he was Valentine Smarter.

In the midst of her buzzing thoughts, she heard a voice that seemed faraway. It was Dylan's voice and she had no idea where he had come from, but she assumed the captain, and possibly the rest of the crew had been observing the entire scene with the audience.

It took her moment to realize Dylan was speaking. It took even a longer moment to realize he was talking about her.

"...through quite the ordeal."

"Yes, we do understand. And would gladly offer our own med facilities, but they are not well-suited to humans. We will excuse Captain Valentine and allow her to return to Andromeda to receive care and rest."

"Why don't all of you go?" Dylan suggested. "Rommie and I will stay and take care of negotiations."

Negotiations, which sometimes lasted several days, had always been Dylan and Rommie's forte so the rest of the crew departed for Andromeda.


Tyr poked his head in the door of the Machine Shop and spotted Harper. "Little Man, you are supposed to be helping me reset the secondary relays in the environmental regulators."

"Oh yeah," Harper said. "Got sidetracked. Sorry. I'll be there in a minute."

Tyr moved into the room. "What are you doing?"

"Research. You see, when I was looking at the artifact in Valtari's box, there was something that I thought was chicken scratch on the underside of the box's lid. But it seemed too complex, so I scanned a photo of it to analyze later. I cross checked it with Rommie's database. It turned out to be code. There hasn't been a code yet that I couldn't eventually crack."

Holo-Rommie flickered into the room with her arms crossed. "With my help," she said.

Harper held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Okay, I didn't say I didn't have help."

"Hmph," said the hologram and flickered away.

He turned back to Tyr. "My point is that according to the message I deciphered, Valtari went around from place to place, gathering detailed knowledge about different prides, as well as DNA. You get it, don't you? Strands of power? DNA. Hidden in the wind? The music. That artifact could be the musical code key. The way to finding where there could be oodles of Nietzschean genetic material stored somewhere, waiting to be restored, unfrozen, whatever! That means that prides like the Tres Rios and the Bandy-whatcha whosits and the--"

"The Kodiak," Tyr finished for him, partly to avoid hearing Harper slaughter any more pride names, partly because this discovery had caught his full attention.

"Yeah." Harper nodded in agreement. "Even the Kodiak. You might not be so nearly extinct after all."

It was these words of Harper's that Tyr was contemplating when Beka stumbled upon him in the Obs deck. A trip to Med deck had taken care of Beka's injuries, but there were wounds on the inside that had yet to heal. She stared out at the stars, thinking about her ship.

They both looked out at the sphere of the planet below them in silence for a moment.

"There are other ships," said Tyr.

"None like the Maru."

"That is certain. Still there are the things that are already here and the things that are to come."

"What?" asked Beka, tearing her gaze away from the view to look at him.

"The answer to the question you asked back on the Maru. At the risk of sounding like the Purple Girl, life hold infinite possibilities that make striving for survival worth it."

"Maybe so," said Beka. "But it can be painful. The things we leave behind in order to move forward."

"At times," Tyr agreed.

"What would you know about it? Has there ever been anything in your life that you loved so much it felt like you would die without it?"

Tyr didn't answer. Instead, he told her, briefly, what Harper had told him about Valtari's box and then asked, "Did you know?"

The question flew at her like an arrow shot from the dark.

"We'll talk about it later," Beka said. She didn't want to broach the subject today, especially since having lost the artifact of the box made her reasons for wanting it null and void.

"But all I asked--"

"Later," Beka insisted. She clenched her teeth.

Tyr noted the distress in her eyes. "Later," he agreed.

Beka nodded and escaped into the corridors. She wanted to be alone but where would she go? The Maru had always been her refuge. It was comforting to have it nearby whenever she needed it. Like a friend, always there. But now, it was lost to her. Always had changed to never.


It was almost time to leave orbit. Beka was striding towards the Command Deck but when a voice shouted to her from down the corridor, she slowed her pace.

"Beka, glad I caught up with you," Dylan said. They hadn't spoken since Beka had left the Hall of Music to return to the Andromeda. "I wanted to congratulate you on a job well done. The Monarcheans signed the charter. Reha is going to be looking for a new job though. It's just like you said, the Yil Yimurs had agreed to give him the box in return for his favorable vote on their station. What I don't get is how were you able to figure all of this out?" asked Dylan.

"Well, I did figure some of it out," Beka replied. "But not everything. Wherever I drew a blank I simply threw in a little rule of Valentine-ology."

"Valentine-ology?" Dylan repeated, well remembering another conversation he had with her about this very subject. "How does that apply?"

"What you don't know, guess."

Dylan looked perplexed. He said, "There's only one other thing I don't exactly get, Beka."

"What's that?"

"I told you about the Monarcheans. You could have asked them for anything. Any favor whatsoever and they would have granted it. Why didn't you ask for your ship?"

Why didn't you ask them for my ship, Dylan? She didn't voice this thought. Instead, Beka attempted to smile, although the loss of her ship was still a sore point for her. As soon as she had learned that Dylan and Rommie were back from Monarchea, she had asked Andromeda about the Maru's status. Rommie's words still rang in her ears. "I'm sorry, Beka. There's nothing I can tell you." It felt like the ache of the Maru's loss was going to haunt her for the rest of her days. She was still surprised when she thought back on the decision she had made and yet, if she had it to do all over again, Beka knew she would make the exact same choice.

Beka sighed. "Would you believe me if I told you, 'For the good of the Commonwealth?'"

They finished the rest of the walk to the Command Deck in silence and when they arrived, the rest of the crew had already taken their stations.

Beka slid into the pilot's seat. "Where to next?" she asked the captain.

Dylan smiled. "Well, we're going to Enkindu and Schoeppenaur next, but you'll have to wait until later."

"Until later?" asked Beka. She glanced at her crewmates and a strange air of secrecy seemed to hang about them. Even Rommie was hiding a smile. "Why? What am I doing now?"

"Yes. Harper can pilot the slipstream for now," Dylan replied with a twinkle in his eye. He nodded at Beka. "There's an old friend waiting for you in the hangar."

The words were barely out his mouth before the meaning struck her and Beka made a joyful shout, leapt from her seat, and bolted from Command.

It would be hard to describe the string of emotions and thoughts that flashed through Beka's mind as she rushed through Andromeda's decks and corridors but suffice it to say, she was beaming when she entered the Hangar Deck.

Yes. It was here!

The Eureka Maru stood on the deck with it gaunt angles, its weathered paint, and its numerous battle scores, a drab heap of metal to the uninformed eye, and to Beka, it looked absolutely beautiful.

It belonged to her.

AUTHOR'S END NOTES:

(Yes, it's the end unless I get caught up in a sequel. Well, this was my first full-length Andromeda fic, what did you think? Write me a review and many thanks to those readers who have:))

I gratefully acknowledge the resources used in order to inspire and produce this story. The Andromeda episodes closely studied in order to produce this work are: "DMZ, TTB, H2.0, AONGO, MOADD, TMOT, FALITMW, IMALL, and THO. And given a brief nod (so briefly you might not have caught it) were the Season 2 eps, PATS & AHFFF. Helpful, too, was the All Systems University.

This work is dedicated to the memory of Sabel, my beloved feline friend, who did not live to see, with her own trademark fascination, the final pages come out of the printer.

Sabel
1997-2002

January 13, 2002