Title: Effervescent Essence
Author: Harper's aka Weird_Peace
Rating: PG-13
Synopsis: Sequel to And You Thought Larvae Were Bad. I highly suggest you read the first fiction.
Disclaimer: I don't own 'em, but I love 'em anyways.
Spoilers: Season Two spoilers.

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"Why don't you go enjoy yourself?" Trance asked as she weaved through the crowd. Harper shook his head.

"No way Trance. You're in your tenth week, and I told you what Loki said about our next test. I've bugged you all this time on the Andromeda; I'm sure not leaving you alone in a city on some planet." he replied stubbornly.

"Fine. But this means no bars or casinos, and you'll end up carrying most of what I buy," she said.

"Hey, The Harper is tougher than he looks. Temptations cannot pull me away from my favorite golden gal." Trance noticed he was glancing at a rather well endowed woman as he spoke. She rolled her eyes and kept moving. "Besides, I need to pick up parts myself. Rommie's been nagging me about her recycling systems. And frankly, sometimes it's good to get out for a while. Being stuck on a warship with Captain Terrific and Tyr the Bad Tempered for weeks at a time isn't all the ladies think it's cracked up to be."

"Agreed." Trance stopped by a stand, looking over a box that contained tools for knife care. "I'm glad Dylan let me come with you."

"Let you?" Harper grinned. "I think you're forgetting about the part where you threatened to strangle him with his large intestine."

"So I'm not perfect," she shrugged, pulling out a small sharpening stone. Trance looked it over and measured its weight in her palm.

"From where I'm standing, that's doesn't seem entirely true." Harper caught the package she threw at him.

"You are so..."

"Charming? Good looking? Irresistible?" He wiggled his eyebrows.

"Wearisome," she decided, paying the owner.

"You're just being nice," he said unfazed.

"Actually I'm..." Harper frowned as Trance stopped speaking in mid sentence.

"What's wrong?" he asked. She held up a hand, signaling him to be silent. After a few seconds, Harper heard it too. They looked at each other, suppressed groans, and ran towards the screams.

A large crowd was surrounding a larger, one story building. Trance tapped a bystander on the shoulder.

"What exactly is going on here?" she asked. The man, a local human, didn't even turn around.

"That's hotel just started to collapse," he said in awe. "Most of the people escaped, but they say a pregnant woman and her mate are still trapped inside their room."

"How much longer until the emergency services arrive?" Harper looked worriedly at the building. The entrance had scrape metal and broken glass strewn in and around them. The roof and walls of the north and east ends had completely collapsed in. It wasn't going to hold up for very long.

"We had the exact same thing happen on the other side of the city, and to the west as well," he answered. "Buildings just falling in like they're made of mud and sticks. They won't make it for another forty minutes."

"That's too long," Trance said suddenly, pushing through the crowd.

"Trance!" Harper chased after her, using his small size to easily squeeze through and dodge the other observers. "You are not going in there!" She pressed on. He sighed, and ran forward, grabbing her arm. "That building is falling down, and you don't know the dangers in there. Besides, what makes you think the rescue teams won't get here in time?"

"Trust me on this Harper, it won't," she said with force. "Now let me go."

"Alright, I believe you, but you still can't go in there." He pointed to her stomach. "I won't let you risk your life or the baby's."

"And what about that woman and her child?" Trance tapped her foot in impatience. "Am I supposed to leave them to die? Nobody around here seems to be willing to help." She glanced around the crowd. They all had backed even further from the building as it shuddered.

"I'll go in." Harper slid into his leather jacket and tightened his toolbelt. "I don't have a child to worry about," he started before she could disagree, "and like you said, we can't let that woman in there just die."

Trance bit her lip, not seeing any possible futures, only the ones she could make in her own mind. Harper was observing her quietly. The building shuddered again, reminding Trance she had to make this decision quick.

"Go," she said. Harper nodded, and turned to enter, but Trance grabbed his shoulder.

"If you don't come back alive, I am going to kill you," she warned. He gave her that damned lopsided grin before running forward and carefully entering the building. A few bystanders gasped and yelled at him to come back.

Trance backed away to a safe distance and stood among the other observers. All she could do now is wait and worry.

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Harper coughed, waving the air in front of his face. That just stirred the dust more, causing the young man to have a sneezing fit.

"Some hero I'll make," he grumbled, carefully stepping around large, jagged pieces of metal and glass. The lobby was clear for now, although the computer consels were wrecked. Harper steered clear of the collapsed areas, hoping that the people he was looking for hadn't been over there, and went towards the south and west rooms.

"Hello? Anyone here?" he called out. "Is there anybody in this building?"

Harper finished examining two halls estimating twenty minutes had passed. The keypads that the employees used to make announcements or call individual rooms had either been destroyed or shorted out, taking away that plan. A loud groan came from above, and he ran forward, just making it as a rather large tile came crashing down, taking most of the wall and ceiling with it.

"Well that lessens my options," he said, now shaky from the close call. It still left four more hallways with thirty rooms each, assuming all rooms where still intact. Even if they all weren't it was still over a hundred rooms with about twenty minutes to spare.

"C'mon Harper, think hard. You've been pregnant before, so what room would you choose?" He sighed, turning to bang his head on a nearby wall as nothing came to him. An intact keypad stared back at him.

"Score! Now let's hope it works." Harper pressed a few buttons. The pad flickered, and then glowed to life. "It really likes me!" Quickly the engineer worked to override the simple security mechanisms. A small microphone popped out. "Primitive," he scoffed, picking it up.

"Hello?" he called into the mouthpiece. "Is there anyone here? Please give me a signal." Harper tapped his foot. "Hello? I could really use a freakin' clue here!" After a few more minutes and no answer, Harper threw the microphone down and started to return to his search. Just then, the keypad projected a holographic map of the hotel. A light was blinking in one room. Harper smiled and let out a small laugh before memorizing the location and running towards it.

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Trance bounced on the balls of her feet, debating whether she should throw caution to the wind and go in after.

"Juice?" The man from before held out a cup for Trance. Thankful, she sniffed it and then drank it down. "The hardest thing to do sometimes is wait," he said knowingly.

"Thanks for the drink," she said, "but at the moment I really don't need to talk."

"So instead you just want to pace around nervously?" He held out a hand. "Kinden Drekal."

"Trance Gemini." Trance ignored the hand. "I don't mean to be rude, but I don't think you could understand this."

"Understand that someone you care about is trapped inside that building and there's nothing you can do to help? That you want to burst in there, save the day, and make everything right, but you can't? Yeah, I guess I wouldn't." Trance gave him the fish eye, something rising to the surface of her mind. But a thick fog seemed to cloud whatever it was she felt she needed to know.

"How did you know?" she suddenly asked.

"Know what?"

"About the two people trapped inside. How did you know they were in there?" Trance noticed Kinden didn't even break a sweat.

"The manager is very efficient. We did a head count of everyone who came out. Two were missing, and he knew which ones because they were off-worlders, and strange ones at that," he answered smoothly. Still, something was wrong.

"You're lying," she pressed, staring him down. "I don't like it when people lie, especially when it concerns those I care about in danger."

"I can assure you that no harm will come to your friend," he said. Trance didn't know why, but she just trusted him. Instead of hounding him more, she sat down, finally starting to tire, and waited.

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When Harper finally arrived at room 25-C, he realized why the couple hadn't been able to get out of the hotel. In some freakishly weird accident, a solid metal beam had wedged itself crossways across the doorway. Its ends were crushed into the corners of the door, making it stick closed. And of course, these damn hotels never thought of putting in windows or a back way out.

"Everyone back away from the door!" he yelled, hoping they could hear. Harper put on his goggles and pulled out his nanowelder, easily cutting through the beam and door. He cautiously entered. "Hello?"

"In here!" A voice floated from the bedroom. Harper made his way there, and nearly fell over in shock.

"Oh hell no!"

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Another part of the building fell in. Trance held her breath, praying Harper hadn't been in that section. Kinden had left her for a few minutes. Now she had no company except for the crowd of cowards. Trance wanted to yell at them to help, but knew it would be useless. She had tried before. Instead, she stood up, and started walking towards the hotel. But a few feet from the door, Trance remembered the other one she had to protect. Clenching her fists, the battle against the two parts of her was decided, and she turned back.

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"Well it's a pleasure to see you again too, Mr. Harper," Fenty replied from her position on the floor. Her ankle was trapped under a heavy dresser, her mate by her side.

"Sorry, just really not in the mood." Harper sighed, observing the dresser. He wouldn't be able to lift it even with the other Urkam's help. He pulled out a laser cutter instead.

"Well that makes more than one of us," Fenty's mate commented. "I'm Limas."

"Harper." With Limas' help, they were able to cut away the dresser. Harper noticed over the last four months her stomach had swelled a considerable amount.

"Mr. Harper, you shouldn't be here. You're pregnant as well." Limas almost cut off his hand, so distracted from this surprise.

"Trance and I switched a few months ago, I'm not carrying him anymore." They removed the last of the material. Harper winced, feeling Fenty's mangled foot.

"It's broken," she said for him. Harper nodded, and helped her stand.

Limas supported Fenty while Harper took the lead to make things easier for them. They were nearly to the lobby when Harper ran into a wall of debris. Swearing under his breath, he told Limas to set Fenty down and help him move some of the debris. They could see through a hole about the size of Harper's hand at the top that the room beyond was still intact.

"Hurry, we don't have much time left," Harper growled as they tried widening the hole.

"If we make a mistake, things will be worse," Limas shot back. Harper hated to admit it, but he was right. The building continued to groan and shake as more and more parts came down. Down the hall, the three trapped could hear the room they had just come from finally fall. It caused them to work faster.

"Limas!" The Urkam turned as Fenty shouted. The hall they were in rocked dangerously. Harper looked at the progress they had made, and swallowed. He glanced over at Limas, and the other male nodded, understanding. Both crawled down next to Fenty and covered her body with theirs as the walls around them finally collapsed.

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"They're coming!" someone yelled, pointing as sleds started appearing in the distance. Trance breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe she had been wrong, and the units would go in and help Harper...

"It's falling!" The crowd screamed and scattered as what was left of the building caved in. Trance's mouth fell open, and she ran forward.

"Harper!"