Chapter Six: Calamitas virtutis occasio est
(Disaster is an opportunity for bravery)
Harper's eyes glistened with fear and he asked softly, "Do you mean to tell me that we're standing in the middle of a graveyard?"
Trance nodded solemnly, "You don't have to whisper Harper, they're already dead."
"Right. What about Beka and Tyr? You said they were still alive! They are, aren't they?!"
"Yes, they are," Trance replied. "They're being held in what our alien friends call vessels. They're air tight but there's enough oxygen left to support them for a day or so. All the others, they've suffocated by now. Some of them don't even breathe oxygen. Do you know how lucky we are that our anatomy just happens to correspond with this universe's?"
"Is that a rhetorical question?" Harper joked.
Trance hit him playfully on the arm. It was almost too good to be true. She didn't think she'd ever see any of them again. The most common future showed her and Rommie.alone.
"Harper?"
"Yah?"
"I-"
"We got them!" The aliens who were working on freeing Beka and Tyr yelled, successfully interrupting Trance.
Everyone rushed over to where the two humans were pulling themselves up from the floor. Dylan and Harper helped Beka up, wide smiles on their faces, while Trance offered Tyr a hand. The next few minutes consisted of hugs, laughing, and claps on the back. It could've gone on much longer but Silek politely interrupted the celebration.
"Captain, I don't wish to be rude but don't you have a time limit to keep?"
Dylan abruptly stopped what he was doing and looked at his watch, "We have.thirty-seven minutes! We need to get out of here."
It took some convincing but eventually, after seeing all the aliens and Dylan go across, Tyr and Beka were too tired to argue anymore and they agreed to walk on the air. Silek and his alien colleagues' were on the opposite side, eyes glazed as they stared straight ahead, concentrating wholly on getting the three humans over the gorge.
"This is an unnecessary risk to my survival," Tyr grumbled as he made his way across.
"Aw, shut up," Beka said from a few feet behind Harper. She was hungry and tired and just wanted to go back to the safe confines of the Andromeda, have a warm meal and sleep for a very long time.
No one noticed when a group of aliens, the same ones that had captured Beka and Tyr, stealthily entered the room from a side door.
When Tyr got to the other side and looked back at what he had just done, he suddenly felt light-headed, although he willed his face not to show it. As the weakness passed, he heard light clicking sounds. At first, he ignored them but they continued and he also smelled something oddly familiar. He frowned while he tried to place the two senses together. The last time this had happened he had been, he had been.on the Maru.getting attacked! The Nietzschean whirled to his left just as the group of those exact aliens attacked Silek and his friends. Dylan and Trance jumped into the fray but not before six of their new allies were slaughtered.
They have mental powers but apparently their physical skills needed work, Tyr thought to himself as a rush of renewed strength flew through him and the corners of the Nietzschean's mouth curved upward in a feral grin, glad to be fighting again.
Momentarily forgotten to everyone were Harper and Beka. When the aliens had attacked Silek and the others, the telekinesis holding them up had cut out. Harper had already reached the side safely when Beka had started to fall. The engineer had dove and grabbed her but what little purchase his booted feet could find was slowly failing. He slipping down as well and Beka knew it.
"Let go!" She yelled furiously at him.
"No!" Harper barked back, equally as angry that she would suggest such a thing.
"I said let go!"
"And I said no!"
"You'll die!" The first officer turned to pleading.
"I don't care. I won't let you fall." And it was the truth. She had saved him countless times and given him a ride off of Earth. There was no way he was going to drop her.
"Harper that's an order! Let go!"
"Since when do I, or you for that matter, take orders?!"
"Since we became waitresses for the Commonwealth. I'm serious Harper, let me go."
The firefight behind them had been forgotten until just then. Something hit Harper's left shoulder and he almost dropped Beka. Tendrils of pain swept though his body, radiating from his arm. He closed his eyes against the overwhelming urge to pass out and slipped a little more.
"Harper," Beka continued, concern filled her voice, "let go before we both die!"
The engineer looked at her with hurt in his eyes and managed to utter a single word, "Never."
Beka looked down. A bright blue light that came from the machine below her illuminated the gloomy darkness. It was almost pretty.almost.
Maybe dying this way won't be so bad, Beka figured before she started struggling against Harper's death grip. She squirmed and kicked her legs out, trying to wrench out of her friend's grasp for his own good.
Harper continued to hold on but the vibrations from Beka's movements jarred his left arm and he shivered in pain. His feet slid even more.
"Beka," He gasped, "please.stop."
Seeing the pain and desperation in Harper's eyes, she did.
The sound of struggle behind Harper's prone figure seemed to quiet but he blamed it on his imagination and continued to stare at Beka. When he saw that the arm he was holding onto was shaking he frowned.
"B-Beka, you're sh-sh-shaking."
The salvage captain looked at him sadly, "No Harper, you are."
"O-Oh.I'll g-get you a b-blanket as s-soon as I get y-y-you up h-here." The strain on his shoulder was starting to become too much, but he didn't dare let go.
Hey kid, whatcha doin? Beka's voice came from above him and he could see her standing on the Maru, hands on her hips.
Nothing, His own voice replied.
Doesn't look like nothing.
The picture in front of him shifted and he could see himself and Beka running from some Nietzscheans.
Remind me not to ever trust ubers, no matter what anyone says, even if you do trust that person, It was disconcerting hearing his own voice and seeing himself talking.
So you trust me now? Beka flashed him a smile before looking behind herself again.
I never said that.
Yes you did. You said even if you trust that person. That person you were referring to was me, so you must trust me.
Just keep running, He said, feigning anger.
His whole world seemed to dissolve and again he saw a different image.
You alright? Beka asked him.
He was lying in bed, sweat running down his face. It only took him a second to figure out when this had taken place, after one of his stupid nightmares.
Yah, I'm fine, His voice sounded shaky even to him.
You were screaming bloody murder. You want to talk about it?
No.
Do you want me to leave?
No.
She had just nodded and stayed there with him until he had fallen asleep again. That had been the first time he had ever woken her up but it hadn't been the last. This time stuck into his mind the most vividly because it was when he realized Beka kind of did understand him. She didn't pity him or look at him like most people, she just understood.
The image faded and he was back in reality, staring at Beka. He could feel himself falling into unconsciousness and briefly wondered if what he had just witnessed had been his life flashing before his eyes.
If that was supposed to be my whole life I want a redo, He mused.
Harper looked down at Beka and smiled sadly, blinking away the water that had accumulated in his eyes. She was strong and defiant to the last. Even though they were hanging precariously over what seemed to be a bottomless pit, she showed no sign of weakness or fear, plain determination was etched in her face and he admired her for that.
"Who said there's no such thing as angels?" He whispered to her before his eyes started to flutter close. The last thing he felt was Beka tightening her grip on his arm and his body slipping as the rest of his hold on the edge gave way.
If Beka hadn't been yelling for help, they surely would've died but it just happened that Silek had heard and ran over to her. As Harper's body was about to go over, the alien snatched his ankle and pulled. He grunted at the weight of two humans, but managed to put all of that out of his mind as he concentrated solely on Beka. Just when he didn't think he could hold on any longer the heaviness was lifted and Beka and Harper both rose slowly back to safety. Beka, however, didn't let go of Harper until they were both sitting on the ground. She thanked the strange alien as Dylan, Trance, and Tyr walked over, having finished off the rest of the attackers. They were the only survivors.
"Harper!" Trance was the first to cry out and make her way to the blonde human.
"Time," Tyr said as he carefully flung the engineer over his shoulder.
Dylan gasped in reply while he held one of his arms around his obviously injured ribs, "A little less than twenty minutes."
"Follow me," Silek said as he took off in the direction of his ship. "It shouldn't take long to get back to my ship."
"I'm sorry about your friends," Trance consoled as they ran through the empty corridors.
Silek glanced at the gold girl before answering, "Me too."
Harper's eyes glistened with fear and he asked softly, "Do you mean to tell me that we're standing in the middle of a graveyard?"
Trance nodded solemnly, "You don't have to whisper Harper, they're already dead."
"Right. What about Beka and Tyr? You said they were still alive! They are, aren't they?!"
"Yes, they are," Trance replied. "They're being held in what our alien friends call vessels. They're air tight but there's enough oxygen left to support them for a day or so. All the others, they've suffocated by now. Some of them don't even breathe oxygen. Do you know how lucky we are that our anatomy just happens to correspond with this universe's?"
"Is that a rhetorical question?" Harper joked.
Trance hit him playfully on the arm. It was almost too good to be true. She didn't think she'd ever see any of them again. The most common future showed her and Rommie.alone.
"Harper?"
"Yah?"
"I-"
"We got them!" The aliens who were working on freeing Beka and Tyr yelled, successfully interrupting Trance.
Everyone rushed over to where the two humans were pulling themselves up from the floor. Dylan and Harper helped Beka up, wide smiles on their faces, while Trance offered Tyr a hand. The next few minutes consisted of hugs, laughing, and claps on the back. It could've gone on much longer but Silek politely interrupted the celebration.
"Captain, I don't wish to be rude but don't you have a time limit to keep?"
Dylan abruptly stopped what he was doing and looked at his watch, "We have.thirty-seven minutes! We need to get out of here."
It took some convincing but eventually, after seeing all the aliens and Dylan go across, Tyr and Beka were too tired to argue anymore and they agreed to walk on the air. Silek and his alien colleagues' were on the opposite side, eyes glazed as they stared straight ahead, concentrating wholly on getting the three humans over the gorge.
"This is an unnecessary risk to my survival," Tyr grumbled as he made his way across.
"Aw, shut up," Beka said from a few feet behind Harper. She was hungry and tired and just wanted to go back to the safe confines of the Andromeda, have a warm meal and sleep for a very long time.
No one noticed when a group of aliens, the same ones that had captured Beka and Tyr, stealthily entered the room from a side door.
When Tyr got to the other side and looked back at what he had just done, he suddenly felt light-headed, although he willed his face not to show it. As the weakness passed, he heard light clicking sounds. At first, he ignored them but they continued and he also smelled something oddly familiar. He frowned while he tried to place the two senses together. The last time this had happened he had been, he had been.on the Maru.getting attacked! The Nietzschean whirled to his left just as the group of those exact aliens attacked Silek and his friends. Dylan and Trance jumped into the fray but not before six of their new allies were slaughtered.
They have mental powers but apparently their physical skills needed work, Tyr thought to himself as a rush of renewed strength flew through him and the corners of the Nietzschean's mouth curved upward in a feral grin, glad to be fighting again.
Momentarily forgotten to everyone were Harper and Beka. When the aliens had attacked Silek and the others, the telekinesis holding them up had cut out. Harper had already reached the side safely when Beka had started to fall. The engineer had dove and grabbed her but what little purchase his booted feet could find was slowly failing. He slipping down as well and Beka knew it.
"Let go!" She yelled furiously at him.
"No!" Harper barked back, equally as angry that she would suggest such a thing.
"I said let go!"
"And I said no!"
"You'll die!" The first officer turned to pleading.
"I don't care. I won't let you fall." And it was the truth. She had saved him countless times and given him a ride off of Earth. There was no way he was going to drop her.
"Harper that's an order! Let go!"
"Since when do I, or you for that matter, take orders?!"
"Since we became waitresses for the Commonwealth. I'm serious Harper, let me go."
The firefight behind them had been forgotten until just then. Something hit Harper's left shoulder and he almost dropped Beka. Tendrils of pain swept though his body, radiating from his arm. He closed his eyes against the overwhelming urge to pass out and slipped a little more.
"Harper," Beka continued, concern filled her voice, "let go before we both die!"
The engineer looked at her with hurt in his eyes and managed to utter a single word, "Never."
Beka looked down. A bright blue light that came from the machine below her illuminated the gloomy darkness. It was almost pretty.almost.
Maybe dying this way won't be so bad, Beka figured before she started struggling against Harper's death grip. She squirmed and kicked her legs out, trying to wrench out of her friend's grasp for his own good.
Harper continued to hold on but the vibrations from Beka's movements jarred his left arm and he shivered in pain. His feet slid even more.
"Beka," He gasped, "please.stop."
Seeing the pain and desperation in Harper's eyes, she did.
The sound of struggle behind Harper's prone figure seemed to quiet but he blamed it on his imagination and continued to stare at Beka. When he saw that the arm he was holding onto was shaking he frowned.
"B-Beka, you're sh-sh-shaking."
The salvage captain looked at him sadly, "No Harper, you are."
"O-Oh.I'll g-get you a b-blanket as s-soon as I get y-y-you up h-here." The strain on his shoulder was starting to become too much, but he didn't dare let go.
Hey kid, whatcha doin? Beka's voice came from above him and he could see her standing on the Maru, hands on her hips.
Nothing, His own voice replied.
Doesn't look like nothing.
The picture in front of him shifted and he could see himself and Beka running from some Nietzscheans.
Remind me not to ever trust ubers, no matter what anyone says, even if you do trust that person, It was disconcerting hearing his own voice and seeing himself talking.
So you trust me now? Beka flashed him a smile before looking behind herself again.
I never said that.
Yes you did. You said even if you trust that person. That person you were referring to was me, so you must trust me.
Just keep running, He said, feigning anger.
His whole world seemed to dissolve and again he saw a different image.
You alright? Beka asked him.
He was lying in bed, sweat running down his face. It only took him a second to figure out when this had taken place, after one of his stupid nightmares.
Yah, I'm fine, His voice sounded shaky even to him.
You were screaming bloody murder. You want to talk about it?
No.
Do you want me to leave?
No.
She had just nodded and stayed there with him until he had fallen asleep again. That had been the first time he had ever woken her up but it hadn't been the last. This time stuck into his mind the most vividly because it was when he realized Beka kind of did understand him. She didn't pity him or look at him like most people, she just understood.
The image faded and he was back in reality, staring at Beka. He could feel himself falling into unconsciousness and briefly wondered if what he had just witnessed had been his life flashing before his eyes.
If that was supposed to be my whole life I want a redo, He mused.
Harper looked down at Beka and smiled sadly, blinking away the water that had accumulated in his eyes. She was strong and defiant to the last. Even though they were hanging precariously over what seemed to be a bottomless pit, she showed no sign of weakness or fear, plain determination was etched in her face and he admired her for that.
"Who said there's no such thing as angels?" He whispered to her before his eyes started to flutter close. The last thing he felt was Beka tightening her grip on his arm and his body slipping as the rest of his hold on the edge gave way.
If Beka hadn't been yelling for help, they surely would've died but it just happened that Silek had heard and ran over to her. As Harper's body was about to go over, the alien snatched his ankle and pulled. He grunted at the weight of two humans, but managed to put all of that out of his mind as he concentrated solely on Beka. Just when he didn't think he could hold on any longer the heaviness was lifted and Beka and Harper both rose slowly back to safety. Beka, however, didn't let go of Harper until they were both sitting on the ground. She thanked the strange alien as Dylan, Trance, and Tyr walked over, having finished off the rest of the attackers. They were the only survivors.
"Harper!" Trance was the first to cry out and make her way to the blonde human.
"Time," Tyr said as he carefully flung the engineer over his shoulder.
Dylan gasped in reply while he held one of his arms around his obviously injured ribs, "A little less than twenty minutes."
"Follow me," Silek said as he took off in the direction of his ship. "It shouldn't take long to get back to my ship."
"I'm sorry about your friends," Trance consoled as they ran through the empty corridors.
Silek glanced at the gold girl before answering, "Me too."