Chapter Two: Ad infinitum
(to infinity)
Dylan entered the slipfighter just as Harper rounded the corner out of breath. The captain had been hoping to out run him but Harper had kept up and even managed to get his hand in the slip door just as it was about to close. Ignoring the pain he had used what little remaining energy to wedge it open.
"Harper no," Dylan said sternly when he saw the engineer step through the jammed door. "I need you to stay here. Besides, you're hurt."
"Trance can stay here. I'm coming."
"I'm not opening the hangar doors until you're out."
"I can open them."
"I can override your command."
"And I can override yours," Harper said hotly. He wasn't going to stay behind just because Dylan didn't think he could cut it. Beka was like family, and although he hated to admit it, he'd become attached to Tyr as well.
The two men were engaged in a staring contest when Rommie's voice cut across the silence, "Five hours and thirty-eight minutes. Would you like me to open the hangar doors now?"
Dylan continued to stare at the unrelenting youngster. He knew that using force to get Harper off would involve kicking and screaming and he didn't have the patience or the time. It angered Dylan even more that Harper was calling his bluff. He was supposed to be able to help and protect his crew and they were supposed to listen to him in return. However, it seemed like he had finally met his successor in outright stubbornness.
"Off," Dylan tried futilely once more, "now."
"No!"
The captain let out and exasperated sigh before continuing, "Fine. Rommie, open the doors."
"Opening," was the terse reply, then with more feeling, "Good luck."
Dylan piloted the slipfighter out of the hangar bay and set it to autopilot. It was going to take about ten minutes to reach the starry ship of the enemy. He hadn't wanted the Andromeda getting too close. He could only imagine the type of weaponry this new foe could have and he really wanted to be able to come back to a ship that was in one piece, if he came back at all.
"Harper," he said as he walked over to his friend, "let me see your head."
Blood was dripping down the left side of Harper's face from a rather nasty looking cut right above his eyebrow. With his left eye still squeezed shut he dodged Dylan's probing hand and groaned when his developing migraine flared.
"You're bleeding all over," Dylan stated evenly.
"Sorry boss," Harper mumbled, then asked, "Do you think we'll get them back?"
"I'm not going back without them."
Harper nodded slowly in agreement as Dylan took him by the shoulders and led him to the slipstream chair.
"Now stay there or I'll tie you there," Dylan said as he went to look for the medical kit.
Harper was about to ask him where he thought he'd get the rope, but decided against aggravating the already cranky captain. Staring straight ahead at the looming space ship he answered, "Me neither."
"What?" Dylan asked just as he found the med kit in an old gutted console. The places things could get shoved still boggled him.
"I said me neither. I'm not going back without them."
Dylan smiled. Harper was loyal, that was for sure. Sometimes he couldn't help but wonder how someone from a backstabbing hell hole planet could place so much trust and loyalty into other people. The only conclusion he ever came up with was that Harper wasn't like most Earth dwellers. Or at least he wasn't anymore. Some of his old mudfoot qualities still shone through sometimes but they were getting less and farther between.
"It's deep," Dylan commented as he examined the cut. "Trance is going to have to close it when we get back. How'd you do this anyway?"
"I fell, actually the more precise word would be flew, over a," Harper paused to wince when Dylan started rubbing the laceration with rubbing alcohol, "console when you were doing your oh so graceful maneuvers."
Dylan chuckled and finished wrapping a thick piece of gauze around Harper's head. He had wiped away the rest of the blood but a red spot was already visible on the bandage. The huge enemy ship in the slipfighter's viewport was a continuing reminder of impending doom.
"What was it like?" Harper asked curiously.
"What was what like?"
"Earth. What was Earth like in your days?"
Dylan frowned, "Why?"
"In case we don't make it back.I just want to know."
"Well, I'd only been there a couple times when I was a kid but the thing I remember the most is the ocean. It was just like Infinity Atoll only there were dense forests and snowy mountains all over the northern regions and the air was so fresh you could taste it. But the thing that made the whole place perfect was the people. They were of different races and cultures but they were all caring and kind towards each other. I'd never seen a planet so peaceful before. You know, it used to be called the blue jewel of the known worlds. That's the Earth I remember."
Harper smiled faintly, lost in his own imaginary world.
"I think I would have liked that Earth," he said. "Thanks."
"No problem," Dylan said as he replaced himself with Harper in the slipstream chair. "I think I see some sort of airlock towards the top of the ship. I'll try to put us down there."
The slipfighter landed almost flawlessly and Harper and Dylan jumped down into the alien vessel with guns in hand, prepared for the battle they were sure they were going to have to fight. What they saw was a little surprising.
"It's.empty." Harper said nervously. "And eerie."
"I'm sure there's plenty of our friends around here somewhere," Dylan said as started off.
"Maybe, uh, maybe they abandoned it and this is just like some kind of ghost ship."
"Or maybe," Dylan turned towards Harper and raised his eyebrows, "they already know we're here."
Harper swallowed hard, eyes wide at his captain's attempt to scare him.
"I like my idea better," the genius engineer replied.
"Ya, so do I."
They continued on in silence for awhile. The groans and cracks of the ship would sometimes make Harper jump, but other than that they didn't run into any other ills. It didn't seem like the corridor they were walking along would ever end and Dylan was starting to wonder if they were getting anywhere at all. Just as that thought crossed his mind they reached the end and it opened up into a huge, circular cavern with thousands of other similar corridors to choose from.
"Well I'd say this is anything but better," Harper noted.
"And we only have five hours and seven minutes before the rip collapses."
"I hate to be a party pooper but there is no way we can cover this much ground in that amount of time."
Dylan sighed before deciding, "We'll have to split up. It'll double our chances. Maybe one of us will even find Beka and Tyr or some trace of where they are, if they're here at all."
"Split up? But what if one of us finds something? We won't be able to tell each other. No, that's a bad idea. We should, um, just take our chances and stay together."
"Here's a comm," Dylan said as he handed Harper the metal object. "This way we'll be able to remain in contact. Check in every ten minutes. Now, you go left and I'll go right."
Harper took a breath as if to disagree but exhaled sharply instead and replied, "Fine."
They each had their backs turned towards each other so neither of them noticed they had comically turned into a separate corridor at the exact same time.
I have a really bad feeling about this, Harper thought to himself as he kept walking. This is a bad idea. This is a very bad idea.
Harper was exhausted. He figured he'd been walking for a little over an hour because Dylan had checked in with him seven times already and he knew how precise that man had to be. Harper was a perfectionist and it unnerved him. Who knew how annoying it was for Beka? He laughed at the thought.
Concentrate Harper. Beka's going to be gone for good unless you find her.
That sombered him up, but he still felt awfully giddy. He unconsciously brought a hand up to the left side of his face and was surprised to find that a large part of the gauze wrapped around his forehead was soaked in blood, his blood. Another chuckle escaped him and started giggling for no reason.
Maybe that's why I feel like I'm on my own little cloud, he thought happily, glad to have solved the mystery of the emotions. Isn't there some kind of sang? Cloud nine? Walking on cloud nine? I used to know what that meant. I think I may have lost a little too much blood.
He broke out into an uncontrollable laughing fit but stopped short when he rounded the next corner.
Oh shit.
(to infinity)
Dylan entered the slipfighter just as Harper rounded the corner out of breath. The captain had been hoping to out run him but Harper had kept up and even managed to get his hand in the slip door just as it was about to close. Ignoring the pain he had used what little remaining energy to wedge it open.
"Harper no," Dylan said sternly when he saw the engineer step through the jammed door. "I need you to stay here. Besides, you're hurt."
"Trance can stay here. I'm coming."
"I'm not opening the hangar doors until you're out."
"I can open them."
"I can override your command."
"And I can override yours," Harper said hotly. He wasn't going to stay behind just because Dylan didn't think he could cut it. Beka was like family, and although he hated to admit it, he'd become attached to Tyr as well.
The two men were engaged in a staring contest when Rommie's voice cut across the silence, "Five hours and thirty-eight minutes. Would you like me to open the hangar doors now?"
Dylan continued to stare at the unrelenting youngster. He knew that using force to get Harper off would involve kicking and screaming and he didn't have the patience or the time. It angered Dylan even more that Harper was calling his bluff. He was supposed to be able to help and protect his crew and they were supposed to listen to him in return. However, it seemed like he had finally met his successor in outright stubbornness.
"Off," Dylan tried futilely once more, "now."
"No!"
The captain let out and exasperated sigh before continuing, "Fine. Rommie, open the doors."
"Opening," was the terse reply, then with more feeling, "Good luck."
Dylan piloted the slipfighter out of the hangar bay and set it to autopilot. It was going to take about ten minutes to reach the starry ship of the enemy. He hadn't wanted the Andromeda getting too close. He could only imagine the type of weaponry this new foe could have and he really wanted to be able to come back to a ship that was in one piece, if he came back at all.
"Harper," he said as he walked over to his friend, "let me see your head."
Blood was dripping down the left side of Harper's face from a rather nasty looking cut right above his eyebrow. With his left eye still squeezed shut he dodged Dylan's probing hand and groaned when his developing migraine flared.
"You're bleeding all over," Dylan stated evenly.
"Sorry boss," Harper mumbled, then asked, "Do you think we'll get them back?"
"I'm not going back without them."
Harper nodded slowly in agreement as Dylan took him by the shoulders and led him to the slipstream chair.
"Now stay there or I'll tie you there," Dylan said as he went to look for the medical kit.
Harper was about to ask him where he thought he'd get the rope, but decided against aggravating the already cranky captain. Staring straight ahead at the looming space ship he answered, "Me neither."
"What?" Dylan asked just as he found the med kit in an old gutted console. The places things could get shoved still boggled him.
"I said me neither. I'm not going back without them."
Dylan smiled. Harper was loyal, that was for sure. Sometimes he couldn't help but wonder how someone from a backstabbing hell hole planet could place so much trust and loyalty into other people. The only conclusion he ever came up with was that Harper wasn't like most Earth dwellers. Or at least he wasn't anymore. Some of his old mudfoot qualities still shone through sometimes but they were getting less and farther between.
"It's deep," Dylan commented as he examined the cut. "Trance is going to have to close it when we get back. How'd you do this anyway?"
"I fell, actually the more precise word would be flew, over a," Harper paused to wince when Dylan started rubbing the laceration with rubbing alcohol, "console when you were doing your oh so graceful maneuvers."
Dylan chuckled and finished wrapping a thick piece of gauze around Harper's head. He had wiped away the rest of the blood but a red spot was already visible on the bandage. The huge enemy ship in the slipfighter's viewport was a continuing reminder of impending doom.
"What was it like?" Harper asked curiously.
"What was what like?"
"Earth. What was Earth like in your days?"
Dylan frowned, "Why?"
"In case we don't make it back.I just want to know."
"Well, I'd only been there a couple times when I was a kid but the thing I remember the most is the ocean. It was just like Infinity Atoll only there were dense forests and snowy mountains all over the northern regions and the air was so fresh you could taste it. But the thing that made the whole place perfect was the people. They were of different races and cultures but they were all caring and kind towards each other. I'd never seen a planet so peaceful before. You know, it used to be called the blue jewel of the known worlds. That's the Earth I remember."
Harper smiled faintly, lost in his own imaginary world.
"I think I would have liked that Earth," he said. "Thanks."
"No problem," Dylan said as he replaced himself with Harper in the slipstream chair. "I think I see some sort of airlock towards the top of the ship. I'll try to put us down there."
The slipfighter landed almost flawlessly and Harper and Dylan jumped down into the alien vessel with guns in hand, prepared for the battle they were sure they were going to have to fight. What they saw was a little surprising.
"It's.empty." Harper said nervously. "And eerie."
"I'm sure there's plenty of our friends around here somewhere," Dylan said as started off.
"Maybe, uh, maybe they abandoned it and this is just like some kind of ghost ship."
"Or maybe," Dylan turned towards Harper and raised his eyebrows, "they already know we're here."
Harper swallowed hard, eyes wide at his captain's attempt to scare him.
"I like my idea better," the genius engineer replied.
"Ya, so do I."
They continued on in silence for awhile. The groans and cracks of the ship would sometimes make Harper jump, but other than that they didn't run into any other ills. It didn't seem like the corridor they were walking along would ever end and Dylan was starting to wonder if they were getting anywhere at all. Just as that thought crossed his mind they reached the end and it opened up into a huge, circular cavern with thousands of other similar corridors to choose from.
"Well I'd say this is anything but better," Harper noted.
"And we only have five hours and seven minutes before the rip collapses."
"I hate to be a party pooper but there is no way we can cover this much ground in that amount of time."
Dylan sighed before deciding, "We'll have to split up. It'll double our chances. Maybe one of us will even find Beka and Tyr or some trace of where they are, if they're here at all."
"Split up? But what if one of us finds something? We won't be able to tell each other. No, that's a bad idea. We should, um, just take our chances and stay together."
"Here's a comm," Dylan said as he handed Harper the metal object. "This way we'll be able to remain in contact. Check in every ten minutes. Now, you go left and I'll go right."
Harper took a breath as if to disagree but exhaled sharply instead and replied, "Fine."
They each had their backs turned towards each other so neither of them noticed they had comically turned into a separate corridor at the exact same time.
I have a really bad feeling about this, Harper thought to himself as he kept walking. This is a bad idea. This is a very bad idea.
Harper was exhausted. He figured he'd been walking for a little over an hour because Dylan had checked in with him seven times already and he knew how precise that man had to be. Harper was a perfectionist and it unnerved him. Who knew how annoying it was for Beka? He laughed at the thought.
Concentrate Harper. Beka's going to be gone for good unless you find her.
That sombered him up, but he still felt awfully giddy. He unconsciously brought a hand up to the left side of his face and was surprised to find that a large part of the gauze wrapped around his forehead was soaked in blood, his blood. Another chuckle escaped him and started giggling for no reason.
Maybe that's why I feel like I'm on my own little cloud, he thought happily, glad to have solved the mystery of the emotions. Isn't there some kind of sang? Cloud nine? Walking on cloud nine? I used to know what that meant. I think I may have lost a little too much blood.
He broke out into an uncontrollable laughing fit but stopped short when he rounded the next corner.
Oh shit.