Trance, Rev, Tyr, Rommie, Beka and Dylan, with Harper slung over his shoulder, ran for their lives. None of them knew where they were going, they just knew that there were 5 Nietzcheans with guns chasing them. That was enough to scare anyone. Somehow, however, they managed to elude their attackers and find the door that led back to the Andromeda.

As soon as they were out of the unfamiliar ship Tyr tore off the door's control console and ripped all the wires inside, making it near impossible for anyone to open.

"That should hold them for awhile," He remarked dryly.

"Brrr, Rommie why is it so cold?" Trance asked, teeth chattering.

"I think my system may be malfunctioning, but I'm not sure."

"We're not in any danger are we?" Beka asked.

"No."

"Okay, so where do we go now?"

"Engineering," Dylan remarked. "I want the Andromeda back under our control."

The group set off, making a stop at a weapons locker on the way.

Harper slowly awoke to a throbbing pain that shot from his head to his chest and a coldness that seemed to seep into every pore of his body. He didn't dare open his eyes though; for fear that he had been recaptured. But as the haziness from sleep started to wear off he heard familiar voices.

"I don't know how to fix it! I don't even know what the problem is! Besides, my fingers are starting to go numb!" Beka yelled.

Someone Harper couldn't identify sighed, probably Dylan.

"Well, we know everything still functions except for the environmental temperature. It's just a matter of figuring out why we don't have control." Dylan stated. He made it sound so easy, as if the solution would just pop right out and present itself. He could do that, make the most complex plans and the hardest problems sound simple. It was one of the traits Harper admired about him.

"Ya, but what I'm telling you is that I have no clue how to do that!"

"Have you been able to figure anything out yet Rommie?"

"Dylan I'm going to have to concur with Beka. I don't know what's wrong or why I can't see it. Whoever hacked in must have been good." The avatar replied. Harper could hear the stress in her voice, the voice he had programmed, the stress he had allowed her to feel.

"Maybe there's a crossed wire?" Trance asked innocently.

"I highly doubt that the solution is that simple." Tyr, the Mr. Tough Guy Nietzchean said.

Harper figured he could find out what the problem was if he could get into Rommie's mainframe. But that meant he'd have to get up and although he was pretty sure he could, the pain that would be involved…he suppressed a groan at the thought.

"Harper?" Trance's voice asked.

Oh way to go Einstein, He thought to himself. "Huh?"

He heard the thud of footsteps by his head.

"Harper, open your eyes." Dylan said.

Harper felt someone pulling on his eyelids and figured he might as well open them. When he did he had to blink repeatedly before they focused on the blurry figures. He was lying on the floor. Dylan was kneeling at his left, Trance at his right, and the others had made a circle around him. All except Tyr, of course. He was standing off to the side, pretending not to care.

"Hey," Harper asked meekly. "Problems?"

Trance gave Dylan a look that spoke volumes.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with right now." Dylan replied.

"Yeah, but you know me." It was now or never. Harper grabbed a hold of Dylan's shoulder and quickly pulled himself up. His whole chest flared in refusal, but he made it.

"Well that was easier than I thought," He said under his breath, once he was on his feet.

Just then a wave of dizziness hit him and he had to lay his hand on Trance's arm while his head cleared. After it had passed he was struck with an uncanny thought.

"Harper?" Beka asked, concerned.

"I'm okay," He assured everyone. "Just get me to a port so I can hook up. I think I might have an idea what Gerentex did."

Dylan draped Harper's arm around his neck and slowly led him to the other side of the room, where the younger man could connect with the Andromeda.

Harper's head pounded as he entered Andromeda's VR matrix. Once inside he looked over the streams of data and the pieces of the puzzle started to fit. He knew exactly what Gerentex had done and the simplicity at what he had to do to fix it almost made him laugh out loud. It'd only take a few minutes, all he had to do was reset a code, one that was very easy to override. He also had a pretty good idea why the environmental system was malfunctioning, and if he was right that'd be easy to fix too. Harper left VR to tell his crewmates what he'd found.

"Do you know what's wrong?" Dylan asked as Harper opened his eyes.

"Yeah, and it should be really easy to fix," Was the engineer's reply.

"When we first boarded the Andromeda with Gerentex I think he put a safety in. A code, so he could override the Andromeda. When he got close enough in his ship he activated it. The only problem was it hadn't ever been used and the extra charge through the wires shorted one out…the environmental temperature regulator. That's why it's so cold in here."

"I guess that makes sense," Beka said. "But why didn't Gerentex use it before? I mean if he had this code, why didn't he just take over the Andromeda instead of trying to push her in a black hole?"

"Probably because the Andromeda wasn't functioning well enough to take anything over."

"Oh."

"How long will it take to fix?" Dylan asked.

"Five minutes or so to rewrite the command code."

"Do it."

"Yes sir, boss man." Harper said wearily as he plugged back in.

Back in VR Harper walked along a long line of data, hitting a few strands here and there, checking for where the code was imbedded exactly. When he finally found it he noticed a blue-like film over it.

"That's weird…" He said to himself.

Harper ticked it a few times with his fingers and watched as the blueness wavered. There was also an odd tingling in his fingers. He pressed his hand hard against it and felt a jolt run through his body. He instantly recoiled.

"It's like some sort of safety mechanism, or lock."

He knew he wouldn't be able to change the whole number, there was no way he could keep his hand in there long enough. But he could change the first 2 digits in the number. That'd be enough to give Rommie full control of her systems, and lock Gerentex out.

Harper braced himself as he slammed his arm through. He felt the current of electricity flow through his body and had to forcibly keep himself from jumping back. Through gritted teeth he touched the first number and changed it to a 5, then he touched the second number and changed it from a 9 to a 2. The last thing he saw was the number that was now 527993654210. Then he felt a hot, intense, sharp pain as his mind was ripped back to reality.

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This is an old story and last time I wrote the ending really fast, so I think I might extend it for fun. Oh yah, I changed my settings so I can accept anonymous reviews. Love hearing from ya. Thanks. ; )