Author's note: This is the first part of the story that the future Harper is telling Trance. The rating from now on is PG-13.
Seven ~ Forward/Back I
Four Years Forward…
He heard Beka screaming in the night again. And he could guess what her dreams were showing her. He had woken that way from nightmares, many times. He lay there, listening, debating whether to go to her, knowing his help would not be appreciated. And just when he'd been about to get up, she'd stopped.
Harper settled back in the bed, pulling the covers up to his chin, trying to forget what he'd heard.
Forget what he'd seen so he wouldn't have the dreams like Beka.
But he couldn't forget.
None of them could.
A battered and bleeding Rev fighting the pull of his own people as the crew watched helpless from the cages…knowing they were next.
The Magog's cries had hurt their ears like nails down a blackboard. He tried so hard not to scream, not to distress his friends but as the Magog hammered stakes through his hands and feet, he finally gave in the urge to scream. The sight of Rev impaled on the Sacral Wall was there every time he closed his eyes at night.
And when the mob had finished tormenting him, and the blood trickled in tiny rivers down his matted fur, all the crew could hear was Rev's voice. The prayers for his tormentors souls repeated over and over, getting ever weaker as the night wore on. Morning came and his voice was barely a whisper…but he still prayed.
Still lived…
Then as the chill of the evening set in, the wind biting cold on the open plain, the voice had stopped and the Magog's body hung limp on it's stakes.
Then the only sounds had been the quiet sobs of his friends.
That had been the beginning of the end.
They had survived, but their souls had not.
******
Dylan was silent, his hardened face showing no sorrow. The Illition was winning…slowly. Clawing more and more of the systems back from the New Commonwealth. They could do little else but stand by and watch… Dylan was losing. And not just the war.
Harper looked across the bridge at the man in the slipstream chair; he was but a shadow of the strong, determined man they'd pulled from the Hole four years ago.
He was still strong…but from brute force not personality. Dylan had had to bury his compassion and drive to fight this war. Harper wondered if he'd ever get those qualities back when peace finally returned.
And he was still determined…but not to rebuild the Commonwealth, but to save the tatters of the one he had created. By any means nessicary.
They worried about him, Trance and Lauren and himself. Rev had too, before… They tried to be the voice of reason and good conscious he could no longer except in himself. But Beka supported him, 100% and maybe a little more. Harper always got a kick outta that.
Over the years his bosses had argued themselves into the same corner. They fought as one now.
Speak of the devil…
The bridge doors swished open and Beka strode in. Her eyes were deeply shadowed from the lack of sleep she'd suffered since Rev's death and they stood out even more brazen in her lovely face since she'd shaved her head.
Like Dylan she was shadow of her former self; terrible experiences had taken their toll. She didn't care about winning anymore, just making sure the evil bastards they were fighting lost.
They were all going to Hell…
"They're amassing at the Vale boarder." She said tersely.
Dylan looked up, "another favour?"
She ignored him. "What're gonna do?"
"We go in." His voice was emotionless.
Harper dropped an Electro-spanner and jumped to his feet, "that's suicide!"
"Have you got a better idea…mister Harper?"
He shrugged awkwardly, "no…but…" He straightened up, deciding to make his point. "They pasted us the last six times…ship's barely together as it is."
Dylan stared at him, as if he didn't have time for him anymore. It hurt. It always hurt…because he'd believed in Dylan.
The captain turned away, his voice final. "I said we go in."
******
"Lauren?"
"Our Doctor." Harper smiled, "she'll be joining you very soon. We met her here, on Tellan Three. I had a cold and…we got talkin.' Her sister dies, she had no one else and we needed a doc. She wanted to bring meaning to the Universe. You two never got on."
"Why?" Trance frowned.
"You guys were so territorial."
"Because she took over my medical duties?"
He flashed a grin, " kinda think it was me."
******
Harper followed the Maru's progress as best he could. Glancing at the view screen, checking the visuals and constantly asking Rommie for an update. He worried about Beka. Far more than he worried about the rest of the crew, she was following the path he himself had followed as a youth. The path that openly accepted death as a career move because living wasn't all that attractive.
Sometimes…most times, he still felt like that, but it was tempered by knowing other people's lives depended on his survival instincts. But Beka had crossed the line to the point of not caring.
She'd been through Hell in the last year. He only hoped her attachment to the Eureka Maru would keep her from doing something noble… and ultimately suicidal.
"All hands brace for impact!" Dylan's voice screamed over the comm. Two seconds later the ship lurched sickeningly as it hit another fighter.
"Emergency protocol. The hull has been breached." Rommie's voice sounded calm in the face of her imminent destruction, "abandon ship. Repeat, abandon ship."
******
The Andromeda lurched under fire, totally defenceless against the Illitions fighters. Klaxons sounded throughout the ship as Harper ran across the deck, ducking coolant leeks that spat toxic gases and dodging the open currents of electricity from the exposed and damaged circuitry.
He had to get to the officer's deck. What the hell had that purple babe been thinking? Heading in the opposite direction to the lifepods?
He reached her quarters and tried the door. It was sealed shut. "Trance!"
He threw himself at the doors, again and again, trying desperately to get them to open. Hot wiring would do no good, there was nothing left of the ships internal workings to hot wire.
"TRANCE!"
He could feel the tears pouring down his cheeks, see the blurring of his vision as they welled in his eyes, and yet he didn't feel the sorrow.
The tears were on autopilot… and so was he. The pain would come later. If there was a later.
A crack appeared between the two doors and he gasped out in relief.
"SEAMUS?" Lauren's voice shouted and he realised she had followed him. As if he and Trance weren't being suicidal enough, she had to go and join in too.
"Laurie, help me!" He yelled back as he pulled on the doors, "Trance is trapped!"
She was at his side in a heartbeat, adding her strength to his. She and Trance might not get on, but that was just the way their friendship worked. Neither wanted to see the other die.
The doors slid open enough for Harper to squeeze his thin wiry body through. Lauren tried to go after him but realised she would have to stand between the doors to hold them open.
Harper immediately saw the alien girl crumpled on the floor, blood seeping from a large gash on her head. Harper reached her, choking on sobs of relief.
"Is she OK?" Lauren called
Harper checked her breathing, saw it was even and hoped that was a good sign. "Yeah, think so."
He scooped her up in his arms and carried her through the doors. They began running down the corridors; Harper praying the ships' bulkheads would hold until they got to the pods. If not, they would be blown out into space to drift forever in the airless vacuum. He'd seen so many bodies out the windows already and he had no wish to join them.
Half way down the corridor Trance stirred in his arms and he looked down to see her eyes flutter open. He lost no time in berating her.
"What the hell did ya think you were doing?"
"I needed…I…" she wiggled in his arms, "put me down. I can walk…I mean, run."
He stopped and let her down but didn't take his hands from her sides until he was certain she was upright and safe. Then he gripped her hand and began pulling her after him as they ran through the darkened corridors of their wreaked ship.
"Can't believe you came down here! What was so frellin' important you nearly get yourself killed over?"
"Well, I had to… I couldn't leave my…. It's…important!" she gasped out, breathing hard from the run,
"What…?" He demanded, breathlessly, "what is more important than being alive tomorrow?"
"My bracelet."
He actually stopped running. "Your bracelet!"
She held out her arm and he saw it around her wrist, small and thin, with some kind of script on it. He didn't think he'd ever seen her wearing one before.
"Don't roll your eyes like that," she murmured. "This bracelet is important, Harper."
"Look, sorry to break this up, but guys…" she waved a hand around, "Andromeda's about to go bang!"
Harper gripped Trances hand again and they headed for the lifepods.
******
The voice of Andromeda echoed through the upper decks, warped and corrupted as her systems failed. The floor seemed almost to tilt to one side, like a boat on heavy sea. Harper knew it was only in his mind, but his stomach was churning anyway. The ships' gravity was failing as her failsafes breached one by one, allowing more of the atmosphere to blow out into space.
They had to get to the pods and quickly. He wondered where Dylan was, and Rommies' avatar, wishing the comm was still up so he could make sure they got off safely.
Crack!
Spider webs of electriity curled and crackled out of the panels for metres in front of them, spitting and lashing wildly. Creeping up the walls and stabbing at the air like jagged blue fingers.
Harper snapped to a halt, feeling Trance and Lauren bump into him at his abrupt stop.
"We'll have to go back!" Lauren cried and turned around.
Harper grabbed her wrist. "No, we don't have time!"
"We can't go-"
"We have to! There's room to walk through, just keep low and don't touch the walls."
"We'll fry like an egg if we got through there!"
"Harper's right." Trance put in. "This is our only chance!"
Lauren rolled her eyes, "oh yeah, 'course you'd agree with him!"
"We don't have time for that, Laurie!" Harper snapped and forced her to her knees. Then he began crawling through the electricity.
Fingers of blue danced and crackled above his head, lashing out, teasing them with the threat of death. He felt Trance at his heels and looked back. Lauren was wavering at the beginning of the corridor. He could hear her muttering the affects of voltage shocks to the human body.
Being a doctor could sometimes screw with your head.
"Laurie, c'mon!"
But she didn't move and he could read the naked fear in her eyes.
"I've gotta go get her." He told Trance, "can you go round me?"
"No, I can-"
"You two'll just start arguing," her mouth opened to deny it and he spoke over her, "and not letting you go back, OK?"
Some emotion crossed her purple sparkly face but he didn't stop to register it. He carefully curled his body around Trance's and slid past her. Her skin felt like silk when he brushed it.
He snaked towards Lauren and when he was close enough, gripped her arm and pulled her forward. He saw the surprise on her face at his strength and forcefulness.
Maybe it was that surprise, or his insistence, or maybe… just maybe…it was his touch on her arm that propelled her forward. And once she'd started crawling, she seemed a lot calmer.
He led her through the lashing bolts of blue towards Trance, his vision narrowing to nothing but the woman behind him and the one in front.
Trance brushed a cable and Harper yelled out in alarm. "Trance!"
The girl scuttled back as the cable coiled and hissed; the sparks coming from its fibre optics made it jump and move.
Move towards Trance…
The girl backed as far away as she could, until her back was almost touching the wall and she could go no further. Harper shot forward the moment he saw what was happening, trying to push the snaking electrical wire away from her with a non-conductive tool from his belt.
He had to wriggle sideways to reach it but succeeded only in pushing the cable closer to Trance. He realised he'd have to stand up between the ripples of electricity if he wanted to get that wire away from Trance completely. He looked up and Trance saw what he was going to do.
"NO," she cried, "Harper don't!"
But he stood, leaning precariously to the side to avoid a large current by his head. "It's OK, I'm just gonna tap it outta your way."
"No, it'll be really bad!"
He reached out with the tool and hooked the cable. He tensed for a moment, expecting to feel the shock as he earthed. But there was nothing. He carefully looped the cable over the panel and let out the breath he'd been holding.
Trance was safe.
"Thank you." She smiled.
"Hey, anything for a purple sparkly babe…"
The ship lurched violently to the side as another bulkhead gave and more of the ships' atmosphere vented out into space. Harper lost his balance and fell forward, landing at Trances' feet. The electrical cable came loose and swung towards Trance.
"TRANCE!" He heard himself scream as he threw himself in front of her…in front of the cable…
The lashing fingers of electricity touched him.
"Harper!"
His body danced and shuddered in the streams of electricity. Both women screamed at the comm, hoping beyond hope that there was enough left of the ship's sentience to hear them and respond. Then the power cut and the corridor was plunged into darkness.
Harper's body slumped to the deck, released. Rommie had managed to perform one last act before she died.
"Is-is he breathing?" Trance cried.
Lauren pressed her cheek against his mouth. "Yes, but barely."
Trance stroked his brow and leaned over him to press her forehead against his. She made no attempt to move; her eyes dazed.
Lauren realised it would be up to her to get them off the ship.
"There's massive internal bleeding." She said. "We shouldn't even be thinking of moving him in this state!"
But she grabbed his arms anyway and pulled him out of Trances' embrace. "Trance, help me!"
"B-but…"
"We don't have time! Now help me!"
Tears streamed down Trance's cheeks as she did as Lauren ordered. They both knew Harper's injuries should be attended to now, but they didn't have time to spare. They managed to cradle him as comfortably as they could and began towards the lifepods.
******
He could hear their voices. Muffled and echoed, like they were coming from very far away. And he could feel warmth…a heat he guessed was blood pooling in his chest. There was pain too, but detached from him, the way the memory of pain was.
And that was all that existed for him.
******
Most of the smaller pods were gone. Malfunctioned in the fighting or taken by the small crew Dylan had collected over the years. As Lauren searched for a functioning pod, Trance glanced out the small portal to see the Maru hanging dead in space just beyond them. A large hole spoke of how she had died and Trance wondered which of the tiny specks floating around the ship was Beka's space ravaged body.
She shuddered, closing her eyes to the biggest failure of her life. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. This wasn't the future her destiny had ordained she create. The Eternals didn't lose.
"Help me!" Lauren yelled, snapping Trance out of her thoughts.
They bundled Harper into one of the larger four men pods and climbed in after him. As soon as Lauren had the airlock sealed, Trance pulled the release bar down. Hydraulics hissed and the small craft fell back into space.
"Whrere's the med kit?" Lauren demanded
"Here!" Trance pushed it into her hands.
Lauren began to rifle through the few contents; injecting Harper and ripping his shirt open to reveal his chest. Ugly blue-ish red bruises collected along the left side. Lauren gasped and her fingers fumbled as she tried to hurry. She got the chest drain in as quickly as she could. Sticky red fluid began flooding out of Harper's chest, but his breathing seemed to improve.
"How is he?" Trance asked, knowing already.
Lauren's voice was bleak and bitter. "Dying."
"He can't! Do something!"
"What?" Tears tracked her cheeks, "with what?"
"There-there must be something…"
"There isn't."
"You can't just sit there and let him die."
"I'm a doctor, do you think if there was something I could do I would do it?"
The med scanner screeched an alarm and Lauren immediately lent over her patient.
"He's fibrillating!"
Trance held out the paddles before she could ask for them. Lauren pressed them to Harper's chest and with a whine, they activated. Harper's body jerked stiff.
Again and again…
"It's not working!"
"NO!" Trance sobbed, "Harper…please."
******
He was floating. He could see himself laying there on the padded surface of the pod. God, he looked like shit right now.
And Trance…
He could see the fear and the grief on her face and felt a flush of warmth at the thought of her caring that much for him.
******
"I can't lose you!" Trance yelled at him, "I won't…not now…"
Why hadn't she told him what she was? Why? If he had, this would never have happened. He would have known she couldn't die…
She pushed Lauren away from Harper and took the young man's arm. She held it up with her left hand and gripped the fingers of her right around his right forearm. Despite his unconscious state, his fingers curled around her forearm. It looked like a warrior's handshake; their wrists level with each other's and facing inwards…but separated only by the bracelet around Trance's wrist.
Trance closed her eyes and let go of everything…her needs…her guilt…her pain and grief…
Even…
Even her…her love of Harper…
Nothing corporeal existed in the Strings…
******
There was calm in the Light. A peace he'd never known. It was love. Pure, untainted love… he was going to exist in the midst of love. And everyone was waiting for him, ready to embrace him and hold him forever in that all-encompassing love.
Harper began towards the Light.
And a voice… No, a song… No, not even that. Like the cries of a whale echoing through the seas. It was language…
And he could understand…
He concentrated… what was he being asked?
"Are you worthy?"
Worthy? To go into the Light?
Was this a test?
"Of the Gift…" The voice replied, although he had not asked the question.
"Yes he's worthy!" Trance's voice whispered desperately. "Worthy of life!"
There was pause… and the Light beckoned to Harper. And just beyond it was all the people he'd ever loved, waiting to welcome him.
But he was anchored in this nether place; he could not move.
"He is worthy!" Trance insisted, even more desperate than before. "I give him my Gift freely. It is my choice."
"You understand the consequences?"
Trance's voice was quiet. "Yes."
"Then he may join us in unending life…. What is your name?"
"H-Harper, Seamus Harper."
"Serve the Eternals well, Harper… There is much work to be done."
Eternals…?
******
Harper felt warmth and that blissful sensation that comes after pain recedes. He opened his eyes and found himself looking right into Trance's. She had such beautiful eyes.
Then he realised her hand was gripping his arm and he lifted his head a little to see.
"Wh-what did you do?" Lauren asked, "I…I saw the bracelet…. It just melted…and moved onto his wrist. And his wounds healed!"
Trance's hand went limp and her body slumped backwards. She curled herself into a ball at the back of the pod and didn't answer.
Harper reached out to touch her, and then he saw it. The bracelet glinted in the light.
"Man, that'll never go with my eyes."