Title: Zero Gravity
Author: Luz Maria
Status: Complete
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Beka figures out how to teach Harper what it feels like to move around when there is no gravity.
Spoilers: Brief mention of Bobby from BAMSR
Archive: Please email me at luzmaria8@att.net and ask first.
Disclaimer: The characters portrayed here are not mine. They are the property of Gene Roddenberry, Tribune, and Fireworks. Please, don't sue me.
Note: I really need to take a moment and thank Zion's Starfish for playing beta on my stories. Without her input and suggestions, my work would not be nearly as good as it is.
Thanks.
Harper eased the Maru out of range of Topeka Drift as Beka had asked him to and shrugged. It was his second month on the Maru after he'd left Earth and he was just learning how to maneuver the ship, about the size of a small building like the ones Harper and Brendan used to hide in back in the Boston ghetto. He looked at his new boss and smiled. "Ok, we're still in sensor range but out of audio range, just like you asked us to be. Now, what's this thing you wanted me to learn, that promises to be fun, again?"
Beka smiled and opened up a box he saw in the airlock in the back of the ship. Her red hair hung down over her face as she pulled out two helmets, and EVA suits, she bundled one of the grey assaults to fashion around one of the helmets and tossed it at Harper. "That is for your field trip outside. Today you get to learn what it feels like to move around in zero gravity. And for that, we both need to go out the airlock."
Harper sat at the com and looked at the EVA suit Beka handed him with a frown. "Do… do we have to do this now?'
Beka smiled, tying her red hair in a ponytail before touching Harper's cheek. She looked at her new… engineer, she guessed, based on what she noticed he could do from the tasks she'd given him the past three weeks and smiled. "Sooner or later, you may have to fix the hull from the outside, or the docking bay doors in zero gravity. And even if you don't, some of our salvage jobs will require us to go into abandoned stations and ships that don't have their gravity fields operating. Since you've shown me a knack for fixing things, then you'll probably be the one to go out in AG and fix it. You have to learn how to use the EVA suit and be comfortable out there."
Harper didn't take his eyes off the EVA suit. "But I've never been out in zero gravity, Beka. What if I start to freak out, or hyperventilate? What if there's a tear in the suit and I can't breathe?"
Beka knelt down in front of Harper, placing her hand on his knee. She figured out during their second week together that for some odd reason this simple touch was often enough to calm him down so she could talk sense to him. "Harper, you're going to be tethered to me, and I'm going to be tethered to the ship, and we both are going to be wearing gravity boots. If, Divine forbid, we both lose our tethers to the ship, the suits are designed to immediately seal itself up, filter the air and begin sending a homing signal to any ships within the sector. You are going to be fine, Seamus."
"It's Harper." He looked up at Beka. "And I know this. I'm just nervous, you know?"
"I know. But Rafe and I used to do this for kicks to pass the time. Trust me, Harper, you'll have fun."
"If I don't asphyxiate in the process…" Harper took off his shirt and pants, leaving only his underwear on and slipped into the EVA suit with a sigh.
Beka rolled her eyes and turned around. "Must you undress in front of me? The captain doesn't need a show."
"What, don't want to feel tempted?" Harper smirked, but turned red as he struggled to pull the suit up. He looked younger than she expected him too in the EVA suit, and it reminded her of her childhood with Rafe, back when her father was sober and alive.
Beka pinched her nose before getting into her own suit. She wanted to remain as calm as possible for this. Going outside the Maru in an EVA suit wasn't dangerous, and she wanted to do her best to convince Harper of that fact. "I don't do little boys, Harper."
Harper scowled in her direction but said nothing, putting his helmet on. He spent several moments struggling to attach the helmet to the suit with a proper seal. When he couldn't figure it out, he gave Beka a panicked look through the faceplate.
Beka bit her lip to keep from laughing out loud and walked up to him to help him put the helmet on properly. To Beka it reminded her of having to do this once for Rafe when he broke his hand during an early scam of theirs. Once she was done she nodded. "Okay, ready?"
"No."
"Harper, you'll be fine. I promise." She forced him to stand up without being rough and pushed him towards the nearest airlock. Attaching the tethers to Harper, herself, and finally to the ship, she cut the AG field to the airlock and watched Harper's face as they began to float weightless.
Poor Harper began whimpering almost immediately. "Beka, I'm getting dizzy."
"Harper, just relax. It's your body getting used to the lack of gravity. Think of it as floating in the ocean." To prove her point, Beka let herself go in the confines of the airlock, allowing herself to float towards a wall.
She missed doing this as a kid.
"Have you seen the oceans on Earth, Beka? They're brown. I wouldn't float in them if you paid me."
Beka winced at the mental image. Harper was right. The oceans on Earth were almost a chocolate brown, they were so polluted. Sea life had long since withered and died from the treatment the Drago Katsov had given to distill the salt out of the sea.
Okay, try for another visual. "Then think of it as floating in your mother's womb. Safe, protected from the outside, and all you have to do is float and grow and thrive, okay?"
"Beka, if this is a womb and I'm being birthed, then I want back in." Harper crossed his arms.
Beka did the one thing she could to get Harper out there. She lied. It was for his own good anyway. "Can't do that, Harper. Once the inner airlock doors open and the AG field is cut, the only way to reset them is to open the outer doors. And if I have to open them, we may as well venture outside."
"But Beka…"
"Maru, open the outer doors." Beka watched Harper's face as the door opened behind him. His eyes went wide and he turned to the doors with a frown. To her, he looked like a child caught stealing a cookie by a parent.
"I can't go out there."
"Oh, yes you can." Beka pushed off the wall towards Harper, gave him a push out the airlock and Harper yelped, his arms and legs swinging helplessly in the vacuum of space. Beka smirked and caught herself on the outer airlock doors, listening to him curse a string of obscenities in Common.
Space wasn't a true vacuum, after all. There were atoms floating around in the vacuum all the time, it was just that everything was so spread out in most of it that gravity didn't allow anything to stick together. When it did however, beautiful things, like planets and suns and life, could happen.
Beka watched Harper struggle against the momentum of her push as he moved forward, glancing over to the station within sensor distance. Beka wasn't stupid when it came to training newbies in zero gravity, after all. "Harper, stop struggling already. You're tethered to me, remember?" Beka heard his breathing rasp and increase.
"Wanna… go… back," Harper gasped into the EVA communicator. He was beginning to hyperventilate and yelped a second time when the tether stretched out all the way. Beka frowned as she watched. Maybe she should have put a sedative in his Sparky when they had breakfast this morning to relax him.
"Harper, this is for your own good."
Harper didn't respond. In fact, his breathing increased and he started to shake. Beka would laugh if it weren't for the fact that she knew he'd never done this before. Anything new is frightening, especially to someone who'd spent his whole life on Earth like Harper had. "Seamus, don't breathe so quickly. I've got you." She tugged slightly on his tether for emphasis.
Harper kept struggling against the lack of gravity. "WANT… BACK… IN!!"
Beka shook her head and checked the tether line one last time, then pushed herself forward, on hand on Harper's line, in his general direction. "I'm coming for you, Harper. Just take it easy, and breathe deep."
She heard Harper take a few deep breaths and saw him hug himself. Well least he was calming down some. She moved forward slowly, hand moving along his tether line, and when she got close she said, "Okay Harper, I'm gonna let my momentum guide me to reach you. So don't panic when I touch you, okay?"
"Whatever." He sounded pissed. She lightly touched his arm and he gasped before turning to her.
Yep, he was pissed. Beka smiled even though she tried not to.
"This isn't funny, Beka."
Beka gave her new crew member a hug, hoping it would calm him a bit. "I'm not laughing, Harper. Now, relax and get used to the feeling of the lack of gravity."
"When we get back in…"
"When we get back in, you'll probably be upset. But we are going to do this until you get used to moving around in these conditions. It really is for your own good. I mean, what did you expect, for me to just leave you out here?"
Harper said nothing but floated quietly, not looking at Beka.
"Harper, I don't leave crew behind. Ever. Are we clear on this?"
Harper nodded and started to look around at the Maru, the emptiness of space, and when he finally settled his eyes on Topeka Drift in the distance, he whispered, "Everything looks so small out here, doesn't it?'
"Yep. It often does."
"Topeka Drift looks beautiful." Harper's breathing steadied as they floated, staring at the drift in the distance.
"At least you stopped struggling. For a while there, I was beginning to wonder if you were going to use up all the Oxygen."
"I got tired," Harper said, yawning. "I wonder if this is what floating in the ocean is really like."
"Don't know. I try to avoid planets as much as humanly possible."
"Don't like them?"
"I hate the weather, and besides, the gravity makes me dizzy."
Harper said nothing and kept looking around at the Maru. "Think we can go visit one someday? I mean, no offense Boss, but we've only seen stations and drifts since I signed on."
"You mean another planet? Well, I just got a contact this morning for a job on Infinity Atoll. We're heading out tomorrow. They have a surfing competition this time of year if you want to go see the ocean."
"What's surfing?"
Who would have thought that someone from Earth actually led a sheltered life? Not that surfing was her thing, per se, but the half dressed men on the beach made up for the gravity and weather any day. "It's a sport that involves balancing on a board in the ocean. The object is to let the waves carry you back to shore."
"Heh, I'll have to go check it out sometime." Harper hesitated briefly. "Can we go back in now? I feel nauseous."
"Oh, alright. Turn on your gravity boots and point them to the hull."
Harper did, and screamed as the boots dragged him back to the Maru. He struggled to move against the hull. "BEKA!"
Beka turned her own boots on long enough to gain the momentum she needed to reach the Maru, and then moved hand over hand to Harper so she could help him turn the boots off. "Come on, you big baby. Let's go in."
-----------------------------------------
Beka stepped off the Maru at the outdoor dock in Papu on Infinity Atoll the next day and clutched her stomach with a groan. Looking around, she squinted at the sunlight and she fought the urge to sneeze at the smells in the unfiltered air. She was already developing a pounding headache from the atmospheric changes.
She hated planets with a passion. But the buyer said she'd wanted to meet her for a salvage run and this was going to be her first legitimate job in months. She looked at Harper, who also squinted at the sunlight, and noticed he was beaming. Unlike Beka, who wore her usual black leather pants and gray tank top, he wore a light T-shirt she'd purchased for him and green baggy pants.
At least she'd gotten him to change his hair to something they could both agree on.
"Oh wow, I never got to go out in the daylight back on Earth. Too much risk of getting caught during slave raids for ones health." Beka watched him stretch and tried not to retch from the effects of the natural gravity. Harper looked at her. "What's wrong with you?"
"I hate planets. I think I need to get some nanos for my nausea before the meeting." Beka looked white as a sheet.
"Nah, some food in you will help fix that right up. Want some sushi? I tried some at Topeka Drift before we left."
"I can't believe you just suggested food to someone who threw up twice this morning. And raw fish on top of it." Beka took out a handkerchief in time to cover her face as she sneezed.
"Allergies?"
"Yeah. I've had them since I was a kid. Always happens whenever I step on a planet. I should get permanent nanobots to counteract them." She sighed. "Come on, I'll show you were the beach is so you can see the ocean before I go."
"You're keeping that promise?" Harper blinked, and then grinned.
"I keep my promises." Taking Harper's hand she led him to the nearest beach. Beka studied his face as they walked, taking in all the sights and smells of Infinity. Families ran by them on their way to a day off in the sun, children giggled as they played in the nearby parks, men and women roasting in the sun in an effort to tan their skin all over the place. Harper took it all in with a shocked, but pleasant smile.
Especially when Harper saw the women of different races – Nightsiders, Makra, and Humans--all in the appropriate states of undress for sunning themselves. By the time they got to the beach, she wondered if she'd have to get him a bucket for his drool.
Staring at the water in the distance, Harper said, "Is the ocean supposed to really be so… blue?"
"Yeah. Up close it's almost clear enough to see the coral reef and fish…"
Harper took off in a run towards the water. Beka shook her head and called out, "I'll pick you up in a couple of hours, okay?"
"Okay!!!"
------------------------------------------
Harper slowed down his pace as he reached the water and sat to catch his breath on the sand, watching and listening to the waves as they crashed on the shore. He watched the men in their swimsuits carry their girlfriends to dump them into the water. Or the babies hold onto their mother's hands as they wobbled to the water, only to jump back, screech and giggle as the water hit their feet.
But when Harper saw the surfers balance themselves on waves of water and ride it for miles, his jaw just dropped. To no one in particular, he said, "I gotta try that someday."
Experimentally, Harper took off his shoes and socks and let his feet feel the soft sand. It was something he'd never dare do on Earth, as the sand on the beaches were too toxic to touch with your bare skin.
Closing his eyes he laid back and soaked in the sun for a few minutes before he realized he was beginning to doze off. Sitting up he noticed that the people were beginning to pack up and leave for the day, so he got up and started to walk along the shore.
Harper walked with his boots in his hands, watching the kids play in the water with a beach ball, bouncing it back and forth between them. A wave washed ashore at his feet, and he could feel the cool water hitting his toes. He smiled.
Oceans back on Earth were brown and dead. They smelled of urine or something worse and were not to be approached if you didn't want to get sick with the runs for days on end. The water was undrinkable and any fish or plants that used to be there died out a couple of hundred years ago.
All thanks to the Nietzscheans who enslaved them and destroyed their oceans.
Here on Infinity Atoll, however, the water had a pleasant, salty smell to it and he could see a school of fish swimming out in the distance from where he was walking. He wondered what it would feel like to swim in the ocean, even to float around in the water for a bit. Since he couldn't swim though, he'd have to settle for wading around in it.
How close was Beka in comparing the feeling floating in the ocean to floating around in zero gravity? Harper wanted to know.
The problem was though, he didn't have a swimsuit, and beach was crowded. He knew it wasn't a nudist beach, and even if it was, he didn't want anyone to see his scars. Harper craned his neck and shielded his eyes to look in the distance and saw that, as the beach wound around the bay a couple of kilometers away; there was a beach that looked more deserted.
So he started walking along the shoreline, along and away from the crowds and towards the other beach. If he was lucky, he'd get there in about thirty minutes.
He just wanted a quick dip into the water and out again. After twenty years on Earth, he deserved that, at least. The sun was just beginning to get low in the sky.
Finally getting to the other beach, he looked around and saw one house in the distance at the far end of the beach. The house lights were off, and there was no indication of anyone else around. Harper grinned and took his shirt off, followed by his pants and underwear. It wasn't like anyone was going to see him anyway.
Cautiously he took a step towards the water and began to walk in just as another wave hit. The suds from the crash tickled his skin but he kept right on going, hoping to wade in to where the water was at least waist deep so he could get his first dip…
Harper's thoughts were cut short by the scream of a child. Turning, he saw a little girl running towards the house at full speed.
"MOM!!! There's a weird naked man playing on our beach!"
Uh oh. Beka was going to kill him.
-----------------------------------------
Beka studied the brown piece of candy in front of her before looking at "Stephanie", who claimed to be her new client, in front of her. "This real chocolate?"
"Yep. Make it myself from cocoa bean plants imported from Sinti." The middle aged woman looked more like somebody's mom than your average client; at least as far as the salvage business was concerned. She had salt and pepper hair tied back in a bun, brown eyes, a nice face, and wore standard working class civilian clothing. The location turned out to be an office inside an average white house with Vedran classic furniture in an upper middle class neighborhood on the nice side of Papu, the port city on Infinity that the Maru was docked in. From all looks, the lady seemed like a push over.
But the hairs on the back of Beka's neck stood on end, telling her the set up was probably a facade.
Sitting at her desk, Stephanie took out her file and looked at it, then at Beka. "Shall we get to business then?"
Beka nodded. This lady seemed way too nice.
"Great. Can I be frank with you?"
"Sure."
"I've never hired anyone for something like this before."
What was it with her and newbies these days? "Really?"
"No, see I got your name from the FTA and I need to get that cargo for my restaurant. You see, the cargo you'll be retrieving are plants from Sinti. Cocoa and sugar cane plants."
Uh oh. Cocoa plants were incredibly expensive, even on Sinti. And export fees were huge if you needed to retrieve any type of plants for any business, even a restaurant. This meant one of two things to Beka. One, what she was about to retrieve is stolen goods and Stephanie was really a crook who got her name off the FTA's wanted list because she's good, or two, Stephanie really was this naïve and got her name from a less than reputable associate who knew Beka and thought that Beka would be so hard up for a legitimate job she'd be willing to do charity work.
Which she was, but this Stephanie person didn't need to know that. "How much?"
"Well, I asked my associate, the one who gave me your name by the way, and he said I should charge you this amount." Stephanie passed her a flexi and Beka turned it on.
Fifteen thousand guilders for a simple salvage run. Yep, it was a charity job. Beka sighed inwardly but kept her poker face on. She needed to build that clean rep she wanted. "I'll need you to increase the amount on the flexi for twenty five thousand guilders to make it worth my time and effort, with an advance of five thousand for supplies and fees."
Stephanie gave what sounded like a sigh of relief and nodded. Maybe she expected negotiations to be much worse from whatever her associate told her. "I have a ten thousand guilder credit ready for you."
Forty percent upfront on a charity run. Must be something other than cocoa and sugar cane plants in that cargo hold. Beka smiled. This could wind up being much more than twenty five thousand guilders if she played it right. "If you'll excuse me, I have a crewmember to pick up at the beach."
"Of course." Stephanie smiled and showed her the door, giving her a box of hand made chocolates. Oh how nice, a care package from mom.
When Beka stepped outside, she noticed the shadows getting longer on the ground and the air beginning to feel a bit cooler. It was time to go find Harper. So she went back to the beach to find him.
Only he wasn't there.
Beka entered the Maru an hour later with samples of Stephanie's chocolate and looked around. Harper was nowhere to be found, and the sun was beginning to set.
Other than drifts and a couple of stations, he'd not seen much beyond Earth in his two months as her whole crew. And she was getting worried for the kid.
"Harper, are you in here? You were supposed to meet me on the beach."
She heard nothing and frowned. Harper had better not have deserted her.
"Maru, any messages?"
"One message," her ship's computer croaked. "On screen."
When she saw the message on screen, her eyes narrowed. Great, a public lewdness charge. She was going to kill him…
-----------------------------------------
Beka was coming to get him soon. She was going to hurt him bad when she got here, but she said she didn't leave her crew behind, so she was going to come get him soon.
Hopefully before anything nasty with the cellmate who was sitting across from him happened. Like the man touching him.
Harper's cellmate, a bald well muscled man with tan skin and greasy clothes, had been studying him ever since he walked into the cell an hour ago. Harper didn't like the look he was giving him at all, like he was a glass of fine wine ready to be drank. His cellmate grinned, showing off his green teeth before he said, "So, what are you in for, pretty?"
Harper didn't want to look at his mouth. Instead he looked down at the floor, prayed to the Divine that Beka would be here any minute, and said, "Public lewdness."
"Oh, really?" His cellmate's grin grew wider and he looked a little too interested in why Harper was here. "So, what did you do, exactly?"
'Divine, kill me now,' he thought before responding, "I uh, walked onto a private beach and took a dip. I didn't know the owners were at home."
His cellmate crept a bit closer and sat on Harper's bunk. He said, "So, you think you can show me exactly what happened?"
Harper scooted over on the bunk as far away from his cellmate as he possibly could and shook his head. "Uh…"
"What?" The cellmate even smelled like gasoline. Harper's stomach turned.
"I don't want to upset you or anything, but… you're not my type."
"Oh, no?" Harper's cellmate stood and approached him. Leaning over with a greasy hand on the wall, he said in a low voice, "And there's no way I can convince you?"
An officer clearing his throat interrupted anything that was about to happen. "Seamus Harper? Your captain is here for you."
Thank the Divine. Harper smiled sheepishly at his cellmate. "Sorry we can't continue this, but my captain is waiting for me, and I don't want to upset her. She's uh, possessive about her crew."
"Lucky bitch," his cellmate muttered. The officer let Harper out of the cell, and Harper followed the guard out to the waiting room as quickly as he could. When he got there, Beka was standing at a counter, watching the surveillance footage that was handed in as evidence when the detectives came to pick him up. She was shaking her head as she handed the officer at the counter a credit chip.
"A thousand guilders for that? That doesn't even qualify as a public lewdness violation."
"You want him or not? If you don't pay the fine it's thirty days in jail. And he's already been convicted." Harper frowned. He didn't even get to attend his own trial.
Beka was going to kill him.
"Fine." Beka took back her credit chip and looked at Harper.
"Hey boss. I can explain -"
"You're going to, trust me. That was from the advance for our next salvage job." Beka walked past Harper without another word and headed out the door. Harper kept his head low and followed.
On the way back, now in the dark, they passed the beach had Beka left him at earlier that day. The moons shone over the water.
"Beka, I'm sorry. But I really can explain what happened."
Beka stopped and turned to Harper with a look that scared him. "Fine. Start explaining."
Harper looked down at the sand. "Well, I wanted to go into the water, but there were too many people on the beach and you know I don't have a swimsuit. So I took a walk along the shore until it the beach got empty. So I took off my clothes and waded in. I saw the house but I didn't think anyone was in there, let alone a sign telling me that the beach in that area was private property. I swear to you, I didn't even know the little girl was nearby until I got out and she was screaming." Harper looked ahead. "All I wanted to do was wade around a bit in the ocean. I wasn't planning on exposing myself to anyone, let alone a little kid. Shit Beka, I think you know me a bit better than that by this point." Harper stared out at the ocean and looked impressed by it even in the dark. "Hell, I don't even know how to swim."
"You never learned how to swim?"
"Oceans and lakes are brown during good days back on Earth, remember?" Harper sighed. "Thanks for getting me out, by the way. My cellmate had just decided to try to be more forward with his proposition to get up close and personal, if you know what I mean."
Beka tried to keep the angry look on her face, she really did. But Beka couldn't help it; she had to laugh out loud at the image in her head. Harper glared at her. Catching her breath she said, "Sorry."
"It's not funny, you know." Harper turned his back to her.
Beka stopped laughing and wondered if sometimes, she expected too much from him. Sure, she needed a crew she could count on but with his background there was a chance he would be as reliable as a Nightsider… then again, Harper so far had shown himself to be resourceful, efficient and sometimes even pleasant to be around. And there were a lot of things she could have been bailing him out of jail for other than a public lewdness charge, like robbery, theft, murder. All the things on her record she had been trying to live down when she met up with Bobby.
Beka meant it when she'd said she didn't leave crew members behind. And Harper was her crew now.
An idea struck Beka. On impulse, she grabbed his hand and headed out on the now deserted beach. "Come on."
"Huh?"
"You said you wanted to learn how to swim, right? Come on."
"Actually I didn't say I wanted to learn how to swim, just that I don't know how. What I said was that I wanted to wade in the water." Harper let himself get pulled reluctantly. "You sure you're not going to drown me?"
Beka shook her head, still dragging Harper behind her. "No, but I do have an idea. Look, you want to learn how to swim right?"
"Right."
"And I want you to learn how to move around outside the Maru in space. Well, teaching you one thing may help you get acquainted with the other." Beka stopped near the water's edge and took off her top.
Harper's eyes went wide for a second even though he knew she was wearing a bra underneath. "Uh, Beka? Boss? I think this is how I got arrested, remember?"
Beka had a gleam in her eyes. As she kicked off her boots, she said, "Newsflash, Seamus. The key to staying out of jail and not getting charged with public lewdness is to keep the boxers on."
Harper gave her a faked, sarcastic sounding laugh. "Now you tell me. And it's Harper." He took off his shirt hesitantly, followed by his shoes, socks, and finally his pants.
Beka wiggled out of her pants, grabbed Harper by the hand, and waded with him in the water. Harper kept looking confused.
The water felt much warmer than Beka expected it to be at night. Leading him far enough in to where the water was a little more than waist deep she looked at Harper. "Hey, you trust me?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"Yes, always, " Beka said in a serious tone.
"Okay. I guess I do."
"Good." Beka put one hand on his back and her other on his stomach in the water. "Now, lean back and I'll show you how to float."
Harper leaned back, only to panic when his feet started to float up off the floor. Beka moved one hand to cradle his head.
"Easy, Seamus, I got you," Beka whispered calmly. She watched Harper stop kicking and settle in the water, his legs floating gently to the surface as the waves passed them by. Beka began to drag him around slowly. He stared up at the night sky.
"It's gorgeous."
"What, the moons?" Beka was curious as to what was so pretty about clouds and moons.
"No, everything - the moons, the stars, just… everything."
Beka smiled at Harper, wondering what it might feel like to be doing all of this for the first time. After a few minutes she said, "Okay, I'm gonna let you go so you can float on your own. The water will hold you up, okay?"
Harper nodded, looking at her. She let go and watched Harper float calmly and freely. He spent a lot of time staring at the moons in the sky. To Beka, he looked serene.
"Beka, how do I stand back up again?"
"Just uh, swing your legs back down and let momentum bring you upright." Beka helped Harper back onto his feet, instructing him to on how to move so he'd be standing in the water. Once Harper got on his feet again he pulled her into a hug.
"I was afraid you weren't going to come get me," he whispered, not looking at her.
Beka hesitated before hugging back, not quite knowing what to do. It wasn't that she wasn't an affectionate person, quite the opposite in fact. It was just that she was afraid she'd somehow do something to unintentionally lead Harper on.
Leading on a kid who barely looked like he was in his late teens didn't sit well with her. Settling on hand on her back she said, "I thought you might. But I don't leave friends behind."
"Friends?" Harper started shaking a bit.
"Yeah, friends." When did Harper stop being a crew member and start being a friend to her? Leaning back and brushing the hair out of his eyes, she said "Let me show you how to do a backstroke."
-----------------------------------------
Beka sat at the Com as she punched in the numbers for the coordinates of the freighter Stephanie wanted them to retrieve the cargo from. "Okay Harper, hold on to something. We're about to slipstream."
Harper, now slightly burned from his beach excursion the day before, grabbed onto the railing behind Beka. "Okay, I'm ready."
Beka transited to slipstream. The chair jerked and rocked as they moved in space, and she kept her concentration on the feel of the strings in front of her. One of her dates on Infinity once told her that riding slipstream was a little bit like riding a wave. You get on the board and you control the board and how it moves, but it's the wave that directs where and how you get back to the shore.
Beka never tried surfboarding herself, however. Having the moons control the waves you have to ride in order to get back to dry land freaked her out, just like everything else to do with living on a planet.
But since her swimming lesson with Harper the week before, she noticed he got better and better at navigating around outside the Maru.
Beka exited slipstream with a jolt and ran a sensors sweep of the area before finding the freighter. Looking at her new engineer and friend she tilted her head.
Sooner or later, Beka was going to have to show Harper how to navigate the slipstream. Just in case she couldn't do it and they needed to get out in a hurry. When you only have two members on board, it's always a god idea to have both of them know how to do a little bit of everything.
Harper was already at the controls, running his own sweep to see if systems on board the freighter were running. "Everything looks okay from the data, boss. Think we need the EVA suits before we board?"
"As a precaution, always." She kept looking at Harper.
Harper caught her stare and blinked back. "What? I showered this morning."
With a grin, Beka said, "Ever think about learning how to surf?"
-- End --
Author: Luz Maria
Status: Complete
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Beka figures out how to teach Harper what it feels like to move around when there is no gravity.
Spoilers: Brief mention of Bobby from BAMSR
Archive: Please email me at luzmaria8@att.net and ask first.
Disclaimer: The characters portrayed here are not mine. They are the property of Gene Roddenberry, Tribune, and Fireworks. Please, don't sue me.
Note: I really need to take a moment and thank Zion's Starfish for playing beta on my stories. Without her input and suggestions, my work would not be nearly as good as it is.
Thanks.
Harper eased the Maru out of range of Topeka Drift as Beka had asked him to and shrugged. It was his second month on the Maru after he'd left Earth and he was just learning how to maneuver the ship, about the size of a small building like the ones Harper and Brendan used to hide in back in the Boston ghetto. He looked at his new boss and smiled. "Ok, we're still in sensor range but out of audio range, just like you asked us to be. Now, what's this thing you wanted me to learn, that promises to be fun, again?"
Beka smiled and opened up a box he saw in the airlock in the back of the ship. Her red hair hung down over her face as she pulled out two helmets, and EVA suits, she bundled one of the grey assaults to fashion around one of the helmets and tossed it at Harper. "That is for your field trip outside. Today you get to learn what it feels like to move around in zero gravity. And for that, we both need to go out the airlock."
Harper sat at the com and looked at the EVA suit Beka handed him with a frown. "Do… do we have to do this now?'
Beka smiled, tying her red hair in a ponytail before touching Harper's cheek. She looked at her new… engineer, she guessed, based on what she noticed he could do from the tasks she'd given him the past three weeks and smiled. "Sooner or later, you may have to fix the hull from the outside, or the docking bay doors in zero gravity. And even if you don't, some of our salvage jobs will require us to go into abandoned stations and ships that don't have their gravity fields operating. Since you've shown me a knack for fixing things, then you'll probably be the one to go out in AG and fix it. You have to learn how to use the EVA suit and be comfortable out there."
Harper didn't take his eyes off the EVA suit. "But I've never been out in zero gravity, Beka. What if I start to freak out, or hyperventilate? What if there's a tear in the suit and I can't breathe?"
Beka knelt down in front of Harper, placing her hand on his knee. She figured out during their second week together that for some odd reason this simple touch was often enough to calm him down so she could talk sense to him. "Harper, you're going to be tethered to me, and I'm going to be tethered to the ship, and we both are going to be wearing gravity boots. If, Divine forbid, we both lose our tethers to the ship, the suits are designed to immediately seal itself up, filter the air and begin sending a homing signal to any ships within the sector. You are going to be fine, Seamus."
"It's Harper." He looked up at Beka. "And I know this. I'm just nervous, you know?"
"I know. But Rafe and I used to do this for kicks to pass the time. Trust me, Harper, you'll have fun."
"If I don't asphyxiate in the process…" Harper took off his shirt and pants, leaving only his underwear on and slipped into the EVA suit with a sigh.
Beka rolled her eyes and turned around. "Must you undress in front of me? The captain doesn't need a show."
"What, don't want to feel tempted?" Harper smirked, but turned red as he struggled to pull the suit up. He looked younger than she expected him too in the EVA suit, and it reminded her of her childhood with Rafe, back when her father was sober and alive.
Beka pinched her nose before getting into her own suit. She wanted to remain as calm as possible for this. Going outside the Maru in an EVA suit wasn't dangerous, and she wanted to do her best to convince Harper of that fact. "I don't do little boys, Harper."
Harper scowled in her direction but said nothing, putting his helmet on. He spent several moments struggling to attach the helmet to the suit with a proper seal. When he couldn't figure it out, he gave Beka a panicked look through the faceplate.
Beka bit her lip to keep from laughing out loud and walked up to him to help him put the helmet on properly. To Beka it reminded her of having to do this once for Rafe when he broke his hand during an early scam of theirs. Once she was done she nodded. "Okay, ready?"
"No."
"Harper, you'll be fine. I promise." She forced him to stand up without being rough and pushed him towards the nearest airlock. Attaching the tethers to Harper, herself, and finally to the ship, she cut the AG field to the airlock and watched Harper's face as they began to float weightless.
Poor Harper began whimpering almost immediately. "Beka, I'm getting dizzy."
"Harper, just relax. It's your body getting used to the lack of gravity. Think of it as floating in the ocean." To prove her point, Beka let herself go in the confines of the airlock, allowing herself to float towards a wall.
She missed doing this as a kid.
"Have you seen the oceans on Earth, Beka? They're brown. I wouldn't float in them if you paid me."
Beka winced at the mental image. Harper was right. The oceans on Earth were almost a chocolate brown, they were so polluted. Sea life had long since withered and died from the treatment the Drago Katsov had given to distill the salt out of the sea.
Okay, try for another visual. "Then think of it as floating in your mother's womb. Safe, protected from the outside, and all you have to do is float and grow and thrive, okay?"
"Beka, if this is a womb and I'm being birthed, then I want back in." Harper crossed his arms.
Beka did the one thing she could to get Harper out there. She lied. It was for his own good anyway. "Can't do that, Harper. Once the inner airlock doors open and the AG field is cut, the only way to reset them is to open the outer doors. And if I have to open them, we may as well venture outside."
"But Beka…"
"Maru, open the outer doors." Beka watched Harper's face as the door opened behind him. His eyes went wide and he turned to the doors with a frown. To her, he looked like a child caught stealing a cookie by a parent.
"I can't go out there."
"Oh, yes you can." Beka pushed off the wall towards Harper, gave him a push out the airlock and Harper yelped, his arms and legs swinging helplessly in the vacuum of space. Beka smirked and caught herself on the outer airlock doors, listening to him curse a string of obscenities in Common.
Space wasn't a true vacuum, after all. There were atoms floating around in the vacuum all the time, it was just that everything was so spread out in most of it that gravity didn't allow anything to stick together. When it did however, beautiful things, like planets and suns and life, could happen.
Beka watched Harper struggle against the momentum of her push as he moved forward, glancing over to the station within sensor distance. Beka wasn't stupid when it came to training newbies in zero gravity, after all. "Harper, stop struggling already. You're tethered to me, remember?" Beka heard his breathing rasp and increase.
"Wanna… go… back," Harper gasped into the EVA communicator. He was beginning to hyperventilate and yelped a second time when the tether stretched out all the way. Beka frowned as she watched. Maybe she should have put a sedative in his Sparky when they had breakfast this morning to relax him.
"Harper, this is for your own good."
Harper didn't respond. In fact, his breathing increased and he started to shake. Beka would laugh if it weren't for the fact that she knew he'd never done this before. Anything new is frightening, especially to someone who'd spent his whole life on Earth like Harper had. "Seamus, don't breathe so quickly. I've got you." She tugged slightly on his tether for emphasis.
Harper kept struggling against the lack of gravity. "WANT… BACK… IN!!"
Beka shook her head and checked the tether line one last time, then pushed herself forward, on hand on Harper's line, in his general direction. "I'm coming for you, Harper. Just take it easy, and breathe deep."
She heard Harper take a few deep breaths and saw him hug himself. Well least he was calming down some. She moved forward slowly, hand moving along his tether line, and when she got close she said, "Okay Harper, I'm gonna let my momentum guide me to reach you. So don't panic when I touch you, okay?"
"Whatever." He sounded pissed. She lightly touched his arm and he gasped before turning to her.
Yep, he was pissed. Beka smiled even though she tried not to.
"This isn't funny, Beka."
Beka gave her new crew member a hug, hoping it would calm him a bit. "I'm not laughing, Harper. Now, relax and get used to the feeling of the lack of gravity."
"When we get back in…"
"When we get back in, you'll probably be upset. But we are going to do this until you get used to moving around in these conditions. It really is for your own good. I mean, what did you expect, for me to just leave you out here?"
Harper said nothing but floated quietly, not looking at Beka.
"Harper, I don't leave crew behind. Ever. Are we clear on this?"
Harper nodded and started to look around at the Maru, the emptiness of space, and when he finally settled his eyes on Topeka Drift in the distance, he whispered, "Everything looks so small out here, doesn't it?'
"Yep. It often does."
"Topeka Drift looks beautiful." Harper's breathing steadied as they floated, staring at the drift in the distance.
"At least you stopped struggling. For a while there, I was beginning to wonder if you were going to use up all the Oxygen."
"I got tired," Harper said, yawning. "I wonder if this is what floating in the ocean is really like."
"Don't know. I try to avoid planets as much as humanly possible."
"Don't like them?"
"I hate the weather, and besides, the gravity makes me dizzy."
Harper said nothing and kept looking around at the Maru. "Think we can go visit one someday? I mean, no offense Boss, but we've only seen stations and drifts since I signed on."
"You mean another planet? Well, I just got a contact this morning for a job on Infinity Atoll. We're heading out tomorrow. They have a surfing competition this time of year if you want to go see the ocean."
"What's surfing?"
Who would have thought that someone from Earth actually led a sheltered life? Not that surfing was her thing, per se, but the half dressed men on the beach made up for the gravity and weather any day. "It's a sport that involves balancing on a board in the ocean. The object is to let the waves carry you back to shore."
"Heh, I'll have to go check it out sometime." Harper hesitated briefly. "Can we go back in now? I feel nauseous."
"Oh, alright. Turn on your gravity boots and point them to the hull."
Harper did, and screamed as the boots dragged him back to the Maru. He struggled to move against the hull. "BEKA!"
Beka turned her own boots on long enough to gain the momentum she needed to reach the Maru, and then moved hand over hand to Harper so she could help him turn the boots off. "Come on, you big baby. Let's go in."
-----------------------------------------
Beka stepped off the Maru at the outdoor dock in Papu on Infinity Atoll the next day and clutched her stomach with a groan. Looking around, she squinted at the sunlight and she fought the urge to sneeze at the smells in the unfiltered air. She was already developing a pounding headache from the atmospheric changes.
She hated planets with a passion. But the buyer said she'd wanted to meet her for a salvage run and this was going to be her first legitimate job in months. She looked at Harper, who also squinted at the sunlight, and noticed he was beaming. Unlike Beka, who wore her usual black leather pants and gray tank top, he wore a light T-shirt she'd purchased for him and green baggy pants.
At least she'd gotten him to change his hair to something they could both agree on.
"Oh wow, I never got to go out in the daylight back on Earth. Too much risk of getting caught during slave raids for ones health." Beka watched him stretch and tried not to retch from the effects of the natural gravity. Harper looked at her. "What's wrong with you?"
"I hate planets. I think I need to get some nanos for my nausea before the meeting." Beka looked white as a sheet.
"Nah, some food in you will help fix that right up. Want some sushi? I tried some at Topeka Drift before we left."
"I can't believe you just suggested food to someone who threw up twice this morning. And raw fish on top of it." Beka took out a handkerchief in time to cover her face as she sneezed.
"Allergies?"
"Yeah. I've had them since I was a kid. Always happens whenever I step on a planet. I should get permanent nanobots to counteract them." She sighed. "Come on, I'll show you were the beach is so you can see the ocean before I go."
"You're keeping that promise?" Harper blinked, and then grinned.
"I keep my promises." Taking Harper's hand she led him to the nearest beach. Beka studied his face as they walked, taking in all the sights and smells of Infinity. Families ran by them on their way to a day off in the sun, children giggled as they played in the nearby parks, men and women roasting in the sun in an effort to tan their skin all over the place. Harper took it all in with a shocked, but pleasant smile.
Especially when Harper saw the women of different races – Nightsiders, Makra, and Humans--all in the appropriate states of undress for sunning themselves. By the time they got to the beach, she wondered if she'd have to get him a bucket for his drool.
Staring at the water in the distance, Harper said, "Is the ocean supposed to really be so… blue?"
"Yeah. Up close it's almost clear enough to see the coral reef and fish…"
Harper took off in a run towards the water. Beka shook her head and called out, "I'll pick you up in a couple of hours, okay?"
"Okay!!!"
------------------------------------------
Harper slowed down his pace as he reached the water and sat to catch his breath on the sand, watching and listening to the waves as they crashed on the shore. He watched the men in their swimsuits carry their girlfriends to dump them into the water. Or the babies hold onto their mother's hands as they wobbled to the water, only to jump back, screech and giggle as the water hit their feet.
But when Harper saw the surfers balance themselves on waves of water and ride it for miles, his jaw just dropped. To no one in particular, he said, "I gotta try that someday."
Experimentally, Harper took off his shoes and socks and let his feet feel the soft sand. It was something he'd never dare do on Earth, as the sand on the beaches were too toxic to touch with your bare skin.
Closing his eyes he laid back and soaked in the sun for a few minutes before he realized he was beginning to doze off. Sitting up he noticed that the people were beginning to pack up and leave for the day, so he got up and started to walk along the shore.
Harper walked with his boots in his hands, watching the kids play in the water with a beach ball, bouncing it back and forth between them. A wave washed ashore at his feet, and he could feel the cool water hitting his toes. He smiled.
Oceans back on Earth were brown and dead. They smelled of urine or something worse and were not to be approached if you didn't want to get sick with the runs for days on end. The water was undrinkable and any fish or plants that used to be there died out a couple of hundred years ago.
All thanks to the Nietzscheans who enslaved them and destroyed their oceans.
Here on Infinity Atoll, however, the water had a pleasant, salty smell to it and he could see a school of fish swimming out in the distance from where he was walking. He wondered what it would feel like to swim in the ocean, even to float around in the water for a bit. Since he couldn't swim though, he'd have to settle for wading around in it.
How close was Beka in comparing the feeling floating in the ocean to floating around in zero gravity? Harper wanted to know.
The problem was though, he didn't have a swimsuit, and beach was crowded. He knew it wasn't a nudist beach, and even if it was, he didn't want anyone to see his scars. Harper craned his neck and shielded his eyes to look in the distance and saw that, as the beach wound around the bay a couple of kilometers away; there was a beach that looked more deserted.
So he started walking along the shoreline, along and away from the crowds and towards the other beach. If he was lucky, he'd get there in about thirty minutes.
He just wanted a quick dip into the water and out again. After twenty years on Earth, he deserved that, at least. The sun was just beginning to get low in the sky.
Finally getting to the other beach, he looked around and saw one house in the distance at the far end of the beach. The house lights were off, and there was no indication of anyone else around. Harper grinned and took his shirt off, followed by his pants and underwear. It wasn't like anyone was going to see him anyway.
Cautiously he took a step towards the water and began to walk in just as another wave hit. The suds from the crash tickled his skin but he kept right on going, hoping to wade in to where the water was at least waist deep so he could get his first dip…
Harper's thoughts were cut short by the scream of a child. Turning, he saw a little girl running towards the house at full speed.
"MOM!!! There's a weird naked man playing on our beach!"
Uh oh. Beka was going to kill him.
-----------------------------------------
Beka studied the brown piece of candy in front of her before looking at "Stephanie", who claimed to be her new client, in front of her. "This real chocolate?"
"Yep. Make it myself from cocoa bean plants imported from Sinti." The middle aged woman looked more like somebody's mom than your average client; at least as far as the salvage business was concerned. She had salt and pepper hair tied back in a bun, brown eyes, a nice face, and wore standard working class civilian clothing. The location turned out to be an office inside an average white house with Vedran classic furniture in an upper middle class neighborhood on the nice side of Papu, the port city on Infinity that the Maru was docked in. From all looks, the lady seemed like a push over.
But the hairs on the back of Beka's neck stood on end, telling her the set up was probably a facade.
Sitting at her desk, Stephanie took out her file and looked at it, then at Beka. "Shall we get to business then?"
Beka nodded. This lady seemed way too nice.
"Great. Can I be frank with you?"
"Sure."
"I've never hired anyone for something like this before."
What was it with her and newbies these days? "Really?"
"No, see I got your name from the FTA and I need to get that cargo for my restaurant. You see, the cargo you'll be retrieving are plants from Sinti. Cocoa and sugar cane plants."
Uh oh. Cocoa plants were incredibly expensive, even on Sinti. And export fees were huge if you needed to retrieve any type of plants for any business, even a restaurant. This meant one of two things to Beka. One, what she was about to retrieve is stolen goods and Stephanie was really a crook who got her name off the FTA's wanted list because she's good, or two, Stephanie really was this naïve and got her name from a less than reputable associate who knew Beka and thought that Beka would be so hard up for a legitimate job she'd be willing to do charity work.
Which she was, but this Stephanie person didn't need to know that. "How much?"
"Well, I asked my associate, the one who gave me your name by the way, and he said I should charge you this amount." Stephanie passed her a flexi and Beka turned it on.
Fifteen thousand guilders for a simple salvage run. Yep, it was a charity job. Beka sighed inwardly but kept her poker face on. She needed to build that clean rep she wanted. "I'll need you to increase the amount on the flexi for twenty five thousand guilders to make it worth my time and effort, with an advance of five thousand for supplies and fees."
Stephanie gave what sounded like a sigh of relief and nodded. Maybe she expected negotiations to be much worse from whatever her associate told her. "I have a ten thousand guilder credit ready for you."
Forty percent upfront on a charity run. Must be something other than cocoa and sugar cane plants in that cargo hold. Beka smiled. This could wind up being much more than twenty five thousand guilders if she played it right. "If you'll excuse me, I have a crewmember to pick up at the beach."
"Of course." Stephanie smiled and showed her the door, giving her a box of hand made chocolates. Oh how nice, a care package from mom.
When Beka stepped outside, she noticed the shadows getting longer on the ground and the air beginning to feel a bit cooler. It was time to go find Harper. So she went back to the beach to find him.
Only he wasn't there.
Beka entered the Maru an hour later with samples of Stephanie's chocolate and looked around. Harper was nowhere to be found, and the sun was beginning to set.
Other than drifts and a couple of stations, he'd not seen much beyond Earth in his two months as her whole crew. And she was getting worried for the kid.
"Harper, are you in here? You were supposed to meet me on the beach."
She heard nothing and frowned. Harper had better not have deserted her.
"Maru, any messages?"
"One message," her ship's computer croaked. "On screen."
When she saw the message on screen, her eyes narrowed. Great, a public lewdness charge. She was going to kill him…
-----------------------------------------
Beka was coming to get him soon. She was going to hurt him bad when she got here, but she said she didn't leave her crew behind, so she was going to come get him soon.
Hopefully before anything nasty with the cellmate who was sitting across from him happened. Like the man touching him.
Harper's cellmate, a bald well muscled man with tan skin and greasy clothes, had been studying him ever since he walked into the cell an hour ago. Harper didn't like the look he was giving him at all, like he was a glass of fine wine ready to be drank. His cellmate grinned, showing off his green teeth before he said, "So, what are you in for, pretty?"
Harper didn't want to look at his mouth. Instead he looked down at the floor, prayed to the Divine that Beka would be here any minute, and said, "Public lewdness."
"Oh, really?" His cellmate's grin grew wider and he looked a little too interested in why Harper was here. "So, what did you do, exactly?"
'Divine, kill me now,' he thought before responding, "I uh, walked onto a private beach and took a dip. I didn't know the owners were at home."
His cellmate crept a bit closer and sat on Harper's bunk. He said, "So, you think you can show me exactly what happened?"
Harper scooted over on the bunk as far away from his cellmate as he possibly could and shook his head. "Uh…"
"What?" The cellmate even smelled like gasoline. Harper's stomach turned.
"I don't want to upset you or anything, but… you're not my type."
"Oh, no?" Harper's cellmate stood and approached him. Leaning over with a greasy hand on the wall, he said in a low voice, "And there's no way I can convince you?"
An officer clearing his throat interrupted anything that was about to happen. "Seamus Harper? Your captain is here for you."
Thank the Divine. Harper smiled sheepishly at his cellmate. "Sorry we can't continue this, but my captain is waiting for me, and I don't want to upset her. She's uh, possessive about her crew."
"Lucky bitch," his cellmate muttered. The officer let Harper out of the cell, and Harper followed the guard out to the waiting room as quickly as he could. When he got there, Beka was standing at a counter, watching the surveillance footage that was handed in as evidence when the detectives came to pick him up. She was shaking her head as she handed the officer at the counter a credit chip.
"A thousand guilders for that? That doesn't even qualify as a public lewdness violation."
"You want him or not? If you don't pay the fine it's thirty days in jail. And he's already been convicted." Harper frowned. He didn't even get to attend his own trial.
Beka was going to kill him.
"Fine." Beka took back her credit chip and looked at Harper.
"Hey boss. I can explain -"
"You're going to, trust me. That was from the advance for our next salvage job." Beka walked past Harper without another word and headed out the door. Harper kept his head low and followed.
On the way back, now in the dark, they passed the beach had Beka left him at earlier that day. The moons shone over the water.
"Beka, I'm sorry. But I really can explain what happened."
Beka stopped and turned to Harper with a look that scared him. "Fine. Start explaining."
Harper looked down at the sand. "Well, I wanted to go into the water, but there were too many people on the beach and you know I don't have a swimsuit. So I took a walk along the shore until it the beach got empty. So I took off my clothes and waded in. I saw the house but I didn't think anyone was in there, let alone a sign telling me that the beach in that area was private property. I swear to you, I didn't even know the little girl was nearby until I got out and she was screaming." Harper looked ahead. "All I wanted to do was wade around a bit in the ocean. I wasn't planning on exposing myself to anyone, let alone a little kid. Shit Beka, I think you know me a bit better than that by this point." Harper stared out at the ocean and looked impressed by it even in the dark. "Hell, I don't even know how to swim."
"You never learned how to swim?"
"Oceans and lakes are brown during good days back on Earth, remember?" Harper sighed. "Thanks for getting me out, by the way. My cellmate had just decided to try to be more forward with his proposition to get up close and personal, if you know what I mean."
Beka tried to keep the angry look on her face, she really did. But Beka couldn't help it; she had to laugh out loud at the image in her head. Harper glared at her. Catching her breath she said, "Sorry."
"It's not funny, you know." Harper turned his back to her.
Beka stopped laughing and wondered if sometimes, she expected too much from him. Sure, she needed a crew she could count on but with his background there was a chance he would be as reliable as a Nightsider… then again, Harper so far had shown himself to be resourceful, efficient and sometimes even pleasant to be around. And there were a lot of things she could have been bailing him out of jail for other than a public lewdness charge, like robbery, theft, murder. All the things on her record she had been trying to live down when she met up with Bobby.
Beka meant it when she'd said she didn't leave crew members behind. And Harper was her crew now.
An idea struck Beka. On impulse, she grabbed his hand and headed out on the now deserted beach. "Come on."
"Huh?"
"You said you wanted to learn how to swim, right? Come on."
"Actually I didn't say I wanted to learn how to swim, just that I don't know how. What I said was that I wanted to wade in the water." Harper let himself get pulled reluctantly. "You sure you're not going to drown me?"
Beka shook her head, still dragging Harper behind her. "No, but I do have an idea. Look, you want to learn how to swim right?"
"Right."
"And I want you to learn how to move around outside the Maru in space. Well, teaching you one thing may help you get acquainted with the other." Beka stopped near the water's edge and took off her top.
Harper's eyes went wide for a second even though he knew she was wearing a bra underneath. "Uh, Beka? Boss? I think this is how I got arrested, remember?"
Beka had a gleam in her eyes. As she kicked off her boots, she said, "Newsflash, Seamus. The key to staying out of jail and not getting charged with public lewdness is to keep the boxers on."
Harper gave her a faked, sarcastic sounding laugh. "Now you tell me. And it's Harper." He took off his shirt hesitantly, followed by his shoes, socks, and finally his pants.
Beka wiggled out of her pants, grabbed Harper by the hand, and waded with him in the water. Harper kept looking confused.
The water felt much warmer than Beka expected it to be at night. Leading him far enough in to where the water was a little more than waist deep she looked at Harper. "Hey, you trust me?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"Yes, always, " Beka said in a serious tone.
"Okay. I guess I do."
"Good." Beka put one hand on his back and her other on his stomach in the water. "Now, lean back and I'll show you how to float."
Harper leaned back, only to panic when his feet started to float up off the floor. Beka moved one hand to cradle his head.
"Easy, Seamus, I got you," Beka whispered calmly. She watched Harper stop kicking and settle in the water, his legs floating gently to the surface as the waves passed them by. Beka began to drag him around slowly. He stared up at the night sky.
"It's gorgeous."
"What, the moons?" Beka was curious as to what was so pretty about clouds and moons.
"No, everything - the moons, the stars, just… everything."
Beka smiled at Harper, wondering what it might feel like to be doing all of this for the first time. After a few minutes she said, "Okay, I'm gonna let you go so you can float on your own. The water will hold you up, okay?"
Harper nodded, looking at her. She let go and watched Harper float calmly and freely. He spent a lot of time staring at the moons in the sky. To Beka, he looked serene.
"Beka, how do I stand back up again?"
"Just uh, swing your legs back down and let momentum bring you upright." Beka helped Harper back onto his feet, instructing him to on how to move so he'd be standing in the water. Once Harper got on his feet again he pulled her into a hug.
"I was afraid you weren't going to come get me," he whispered, not looking at her.
Beka hesitated before hugging back, not quite knowing what to do. It wasn't that she wasn't an affectionate person, quite the opposite in fact. It was just that she was afraid she'd somehow do something to unintentionally lead Harper on.
Leading on a kid who barely looked like he was in his late teens didn't sit well with her. Settling on hand on her back she said, "I thought you might. But I don't leave friends behind."
"Friends?" Harper started shaking a bit.
"Yeah, friends." When did Harper stop being a crew member and start being a friend to her? Leaning back and brushing the hair out of his eyes, she said "Let me show you how to do a backstroke."
-----------------------------------------
Beka sat at the Com as she punched in the numbers for the coordinates of the freighter Stephanie wanted them to retrieve the cargo from. "Okay Harper, hold on to something. We're about to slipstream."
Harper, now slightly burned from his beach excursion the day before, grabbed onto the railing behind Beka. "Okay, I'm ready."
Beka transited to slipstream. The chair jerked and rocked as they moved in space, and she kept her concentration on the feel of the strings in front of her. One of her dates on Infinity once told her that riding slipstream was a little bit like riding a wave. You get on the board and you control the board and how it moves, but it's the wave that directs where and how you get back to the shore.
Beka never tried surfboarding herself, however. Having the moons control the waves you have to ride in order to get back to dry land freaked her out, just like everything else to do with living on a planet.
But since her swimming lesson with Harper the week before, she noticed he got better and better at navigating around outside the Maru.
Beka exited slipstream with a jolt and ran a sensors sweep of the area before finding the freighter. Looking at her new engineer and friend she tilted her head.
Sooner or later, Beka was going to have to show Harper how to navigate the slipstream. Just in case she couldn't do it and they needed to get out in a hurry. When you only have two members on board, it's always a god idea to have both of them know how to do a little bit of everything.
Harper was already at the controls, running his own sweep to see if systems on board the freighter were running. "Everything looks okay from the data, boss. Think we need the EVA suits before we board?"
"As a precaution, always." She kept looking at Harper.
Harper caught her stare and blinked back. "What? I showered this morning."
With a grin, Beka said, "Ever think about learning how to surf?"
-- End --