Innocence
By Sailor Pixie
Disclaimer: I don't own Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda, although I did try to sneak into the studio and steal one of Harper's shirts but they caught me. ;_;
A/N: Please review, even if it's just to say you hate me. @_@ Also I don't know how they keep time so I'm just going to use military time, and if any of you know what that pad Harper is always carrying around is called I would be much obliged if you could let me know.
Chapter Three
Tyr showed up quickly, introduced himself and took her to the mess where she had scrambled eggs with cheese. Then he led her through the maze of corridors to the command deck, just before they entered he stopped her and whispered something in her ear so quietly she doubted even Andromeda could pick it up.
He said calmly, "If I find out you are deceiving us in any matter I will not hesitate to kill you and face the wrath of Dylan and his ship." Then just as calmly he entered the command deck, Alexandria entered slowly more than a little awed. As she entered she looked around, at the pilot station stood Beka, to her left stood Harper, in front of her was Trance and to her right stood Dylan and Rommie.
Dylan turned around as Tyr came to a stop at his station next to Harper, "Did you show our guest around?"
"Yes."
"Lady's and Gentlemen, Tyr Anasazi the man of a thousand words," mumbled Alexandria then added in a louder voice. "This ship is awesome, I've never been in a place so big or in space. This is so cool." She ran a hand through her hair. "So what are you guys doing?"
"We are currently on assignment to escort an ambassador into a highly volatile situation on the planet Nandew. We are currently on route to pick up said ambassador," Rommie said in matter of fact tones.
"Entering slipstream in 15 seconds," said Beka as she pressed a button on her console and strange device moved forward.
"Um… What's slipstream?" asked Alexandria feigning ignorance and only a little of the fear she was feeling.
"It's easier to show you than to explain it," said Beka. "Entering slipstream now."
Alexandria gasped when they entered slipstream, it felt like somebody was pulling her while part of her body stayed still. Then the feeling passed and they were flipping and rolling on the slipstream strings. Now she only felt a strange feeling of almost weightlessness, she felt as if her body was several pounds lighter. Suddenly she felt the pulling feeling again and then it was gone and she felt normal once again.
"WOW," Alexandria said. She just stood there at the top of the ramp staring at Beka as she pushed a button on the slip port and it moved back into a dormant position.
"You know that's the first thing Harper said when he first went through slipstream," said Beka.
"Well yeah Boss, it's pretty amazing the first time," commented Harper.
"Yes that is definitely a WOW moment, with big capital letters," Alexandria said then noticed everyone staring at her. "Oh come on I'm only 16, I think I'm allowed to be a little immature. Sheesh you'd think they'd never seen a teenager before." She demonstrated her best eye role before walking down the ramp to the others. She smiled brightly when she stepped in front of Harper. "This is probably out of line but then my father always did say I never knew when to shut up but," She stuck out her hand. "My name is Alexandria Elizabeth Masters, it is a pleasure to meet you."
Harper stood still for a second before taking her hand, "I'm Seamus Zelazney Harper and the pleasure is all mine. Although you are a bit tall for my taste I would be willing to over look that since you are so beautiful."
Alexandria laughed, "Are you sure you're not just dazzled by the fact that I'm almost as tall as Tyr." She stepped quickly by Beka and out of range of Tyr's lethal glare. "Why don't I just introduce myself to the lovely lady standing by Captain Hunt," She beat a hasty retreat and held her hand out to Rommie. "Hello, you know you look a lot like Andromeda."
Rommie took her hand, "That's because I am Andromeda's avatar, Rommie."
"You're kidding me, I thought the hologram was Andromeda."
The hologram popped in beside Alexandria, "I am Andromeda but so is Rommie and my persona that manifests itself on the screen." The screen now had a face on it.
"Double WOW," Alexandria whispered.
"Is that wow capitalized?" Asked Rommie.
"Capitalized and bold," stated Alexandria.
"Well thank you Alexandria, I'm honored to earn a capitalized and bold wow." They let go of each other's hands.
"You should all call me Alex, if I had any friends I'm sure that's what they would call me," Alex smiled again before walking back up the ramp. "I'll just get out of your way so you can go about your business," She walked out with a spring in her step while she hummed under her breath.
"Was she humming?" Asked Beka.
"Yes an old Earth song called 'Blue Skies'," said Rommie.
"Didn't she seem happy for someone ripped from her own time into a different one? I mean shouldn't she be missing her family and friends?" asked Harper.
"Maybe her family isn't a very good one," said Trance. "Maybe she's happy to be away from it."
"Yes maybe but we should really get back to work and pick up Ambassador Greenleaf."
Alex bounced her way all the way to her quarters, although she did get lost twice. When she entered her quarters she couldn't sit still. "Andromeda is there a track on board?"
"No I'm sorry we have a gym but no track."
"Hmm, what about a big open space?"
"Well Hydroponics is large."
"That will be fine. Could you deactivate visual sensors now?"
"Yes of course."
"Thank you, Andromeda," Alex slipped out of her clothes and changed into shorts and a tank top before putting on running shoes and grabbing a book. "Andromeda activate visual sensors please. Could you show me the way to hydroponics?" She studied the map that Andromeda showed on the screen. "Thanks Rommie," she left her cabin at a jog and didn't slow down until she reached Hydroponics. When she got there she could only stare at the giant tree in the center, after a moment she set her book on the ground and started her stretches. She stretched for 5 minutes before standing up and jogging slowly around the tree, as she jogged she slowly started to pick up speed. Eventually she was sprinting around the tree and her breaths were coming short and fast. She ran with the smell of flowers in the air, she ran until she was gasping for breath and still ran some more. She might have ran longer but the Andromeda hologram popped in front of her and scared her so she lost her balance and headed for the floor face first, only a quick twist saved her from face planting into the deck. Instead she rolled until she came to a stop at the base of a giant red flower, panting as she tried to catch her breath.
"Ouch."
The hologram materialized right next to her, "Oh my god are you all right? I'm so sorry."
"It's all right, I'll be fine," Alex slowly sat up as she favored her left arm.
"Your arm is dislocated. I am going to contact Trance."
"You don't have to do that all I need is a firm wall," Alex walked over to the door, braced her shoulder against the door frame and pushed. She felt pain and light headed for a moment before a pop echoed through hydroponics. She stepped away from the door and slowly rotated her shoulder. Alex smiled, "See good as new."
"You are in pain, there's a first aid kit with pain reliever on the left wall. I suggest you use it."
Alex smiled, "Yes, Mommy." She walked over to the wall and pulled the kit off the wall. She knelt and opened the box. It was filled with packages and bottles, "Um which one is the pain reliever, Andromeda?"
"The bottle with the blue label."
"Thanks," Alex opened the bottle and swallowed two pills. "I feel better already."
"Actually the pills take three minutes to start working so you are still feeling pain." Alex closed the kit and placed it back on the wall.
"So there was some reason you appeared before me, what do you need?"
"The Ambassador will be boarding in a few minutes Captain Hunt was hoping you could retire to your quarters. It would be awkward to try and explain the nature of your presence."
"Sure that's fine, let me grab my book and I'll return to my quarters," Alex said.
"Actually I'd like you to make a stop in Medical. I'll show you the way."
"Not even my mother is this worried about my health. My shoulder will be back to normal by this afternoon," complained Alex as she picked up her book and followed the hologram as it glided across the floor leading her to Medical.
They reached it a few minutes later and Andromeda instructed her to sit on one of the beds. Andromeda quickly scanned her and told her to ingest three of the pills in the bottle with the green label. Then following another set of instructions walked quickly to her room. Alex read for an hour before deciding to take a shower. She was in the middle of washing the conditioner out when a bell sounded around her.
"What's that Andromeda?"
"Harper is at the door to your quarters, do you wish to grant him entry."
"Yeah but let me get some clothes on, let him into the main part of the cabin I'll be right out," Alex wiped her body dry before pulling on the shorts and tank top she'd been wearing earlier. She was running the towel over her head when she entered the main part of the cabin. "Hey Harper, what are you doing here?" She removed the towel from her hair to reveal a mess of spikes sticking out in every direction.
Harper paused for a minute to take in the girl standing in front of him. He had seen her when she introduced herself but hadn't really looked at her. Alex was tall at least 5'10", she had boyishly short brown hair with blonde highlights that showed off a slim neck, she had small but firm breasts, legs up to her chin, and she was skinny, but didn't look sickly and you could see the slight muscles in her legs and arms when she moved. Her violet eyes were bright with excitement. He couldn't help but blush when he realized he was ogling a 16 year old, "Rommie asked me to bring the flexi you asked for."
"Thanks Harper, you too Andromeda this means a lot to me. Now I can read all about where this ship came from. This is so cool," Alex hugged Harper. "So why aren't you visiting with the Ambassador?"
"Oh well you see I seem prone to cause unforgivable insults when ever I get around politicians so I stay out of the way unless it's absolutely necessary. I was planning on working on Andromeda while everyone was at dinner."
"Can I come with you and hang out. It gets pretty boring in here by yourself."
"Sure you can come but you might want to change into something else," Harper said.
"Right," Alex hurried over to the closet and pulled out her black slacks, black tank top, and the men's white button down long sleeved t-shirt. She rushed into the bathroom and changed quickly, when she stepped out she was running her hand through her hair to get it to flatten out. "Ready. So what are you going to fix?"
"I wanted to tweak with Andromeda's sensors so they'll be in top shape next time we head into battle," explained Harper as he led her into the conduit they were going to be crawling in. "Follow me," Harper led her through a maze of tunnels until they finally came to a stop in front of an exposed panel. He sat down in front of it and got a couple tools out of his belt and got to work. Alex pulled her flexi out of her waistband and started reading, occasionally asking Harper a question about the future Earth and answering questions about her past Earth.
Harper was just finishing with the sensors when he realized how quiet it had been, he looked over and smiled slightly when he realized Alex had fallen asleep. She was curled up on the floor with the flexi clutched in one hand and snoring ever so softly. Harper slipped his tools back into his belt and checked his pad for the time; he was shocked to see it was almost midnight. He tapped Alex on the shoulder hoping to wake her up gently but she was sound asleep.
"Alex, wake up Alex," he paused before saying again only louder. "Alex, time to wake up." She jerked awake and nearly bumped heads with Harper.
"Harper what are you doing in my bedroom?" Alex asked confused on the edge of sleep.
"I'm not in your quarters, you're in a conduit on the Andromeda. Remember you've been snatched from your time and brought here."
"Oh that's right, I had forgotten. Sorry," Alex slowly got to her knees. "If you point me in the right direction I'll just get out of your way."
"Oh I'm done, I thought we might grab something to eat," Harper started crawling through corridors. "Follow me it's quicker if we just go through here. Hey Andromeda are they done with dinner yet?"
Andromeda's voice echoed around them, "Yes they've been done for several hours, I was just going to suggest you take a break from working." There was a bit of disapproval in her voice, "You should take better care of your self and our guest, Mr. Harper."
"Oops, I'm in trouble now she called me Mr.," Alex snickered at the sarcasm in his voice.
"Will she ground you?" asked Alex with mischief in her voice.
"Well last time I forgot to eat she sent one of her droids spank me," explained Harper in a serious voice. It was too much for Alex and she had to stop crawling she was laughing so hard.
"If you two have had quite enough fun at my expense then I suggest you get a move on before I decide it's to much trouble to make you dinner," Andromeda said in a huff.
Alex stopped laughing and smiled, "Don't be mad Andromeda we're just tired, we didn't mean to hurt your feelings. You were just acting like such a mother hen we couldn't resist. Besides you should take it as a complement that we're comfortable enough with you to joke with you." Alex started crawling again, "So Harper, how close are we to food, I'm starving."
Harper open a hatch, "Here we are. Just follow me." He led her into the mess where they ordered baked beans and hotdogs.
After they finished their feast Harper dropped Alex off at her quarters before going to check up on a few systems before bed. When he tried to open the hatch he wanted he found he couldn't.
"Andromeda I need to get in here to check on your environmental systems," explained Harper.
Andromeda's hologram shimmered into existence, "No you need sleep. You are exhausted and won't do the job properly in your current state. Besides I believe it's the 'mother hen's' job to make sure her children are all in bed by their bed times."
"Aren't you taking Alex's remark a bit to far?"
Andromeda smirked, "Am I going to have to zap you all the way to your quarters. And I do mean your quarters not your cot in the machine shop. Hop to it young man." She zapped the air to the left of his butt and he yelped as he felt the air tingle.
"I'm going, I'm going. No need to get feisty," Harper meekly headed in the direction of his quarters.
"And no working once you get there, you go straight to bed."
"Ah man, but I have a really neat project I'm working on."
"Absolutely not," Harper grumbled but nodded. Andromeda clasped her hands behind her pack, smiled, and faded out of existence.