Disclaimer: Tribune Entertainment owns the characters of Andromeda. No
profit is being made.
** NOTE TO READERS ** This chapter 17 in the series "Secrets"
Read and Review!
******************************************
And What Rough Beast
By Dawn Nyberg *******************************************
Tyr jerked awake suddenly - he didn't realize he had fallen asleep. He looked toward the bed and found it empty. He stood up quickly and immediately went to the bathroom hoping to find the boy there. "Harper?" The room was empty. He searched the house. All of the exits had not been tampered with. He looked out on the veranda and it was empty. "Harper!" Tyr yelled and his voice echoed throughout the house. He walked back into the room and something caught his eye and he knelt down to look beneath the large bed and he saw the boy curled up under it.
"Little Man?" Tyr's voice was gentle. Harper was awake, but his cheeks were crimson and his eyes glassy. Tyr knew his fever was dangerously high. He reached under the bed and the boy drew away from him. "It's okay, Little Man. I won't hurt you. You're safe." Finally, he decided he could no longer placate the boy and reached in and grabbed a leg. He fought weakly and it was clear to Tyr that the young man was not lucid. "Harper?" Finally, the kid focused on him.
"Tyr?" His voice was quiet.
"Yes, Little Professor, it's me." Tyr felt Harper's forehead and the youth was burning up. He gently put an arm under Harper's head and then his legs. "You're going to be fine." And headed toward the second bathroom down the hallway that had a bathtub. He placed Harper down on the floor and began to draw a luke warm bath. "This will help bring your fever down." Harper had slipped back into unconsciousness. Tyr picked Harper up and gently put him into the water. He would put dry clothing on him later, but for now the thin gauze pants the boy was wearing would stay on. He didn't want to waste time undressing the youth. His fever was too high and Tyr feared permanent damage. He had begun to doubt his decision to pull Harper off the refined Flash without cutting back first, but what was done was done.
** Three Hours Later **
Tyr sat reading a book next to Harper's bedside. The youth's fever had dropped, but not broken. The bath had helped to drop his fever, but the Nietzschean would be more relaxed when it broke. The boy appeared to be resting comfortably and had remained asleep since falling back asleep in the bathroom before he had been put into the bathtub. Tyr returned to his book and ten minutes later a slight movement in the bed brought his attention back to the boy as he moved in his sleep. He noticed the sweat droplets on Harper's forehead and leaned forward to feel his forehead. He was pleased - the fever was breaking. He put his book down and picked up a cloth and dipped it into a bowl of cool water and wrung the cloth of the excess water. He wiped away the sweat from Harper's forehead and ran the cool cloth over the boy's face. Seamus stopped moving restlessly and slipped back into a deeper sleep. "You'll be fine, Little Man. Just sleep." Tyr's voice was quiet and soft.
** Two Days Later **
Harper slowly opened his eyes to soft sunlight breaking through the thin gauze curtains. He was tired and thirsty. His mind was a little foggy, but he remembered this room and he knew Tyr was here. He remembered waking several times and Tyr was always there, but he had no idea of how much time had passed. He inclined his head slightly on his pillow and saw Tyr across the room asleep in a chair. Harper watched him for a long moment and finally decided to see if he even had a voice. "Tyr?" His voice was quiet.
Tyr woke instantly. "Harper?" He sat forward and saw that Harper was regarding him from his pillow. "Welcome back. How do you feel?"
"I've been better." He coughed against the dryness in his throat.
"Here," Tyr stood up and crossed the short distance to a bureau and filled a glass with water. "Drink this."
"Thanks," Harper replied quietly. He felt at a loss because he wasn't sure what had transpired here - things were still foggy. "How long?"
"Going on four days, but you've been in and out of it for three."
Harper pushed himself up to a sitting position. Tyr had walked forward to help, but the young man had held a hand up indicating to Tyr that he wanted no help. "How are you here?" Tyr looked perplexed at the question Harper had just asked him, so, the young man clarified it. "What I meant was, what did you tell the others?"
"I told Dylan I had a private matter to take care of and that I would return when I was able. But, that I would keep in contact."
"Keep in contact. He'll know where you are."
"No, I'm not transmitting from the planet. I'm using the long-range transmitter from the slip fighter. The most Andromeda would be able to do is triangulate the solar system the message originated in, but not the planet."
"Private matter, huh?" Tyr offered a mild smile.
"Would you have preferred me tell him that the personal business I had was a Flash fried Harper?"
"Ha-ha." Harper said with irritation.
"You should eat something."
"Not hungry."
"You're eating. Little Man." Tyr left the young man and went to prepare something for dinner. Harper lay back against the pillows and stared at the ceiling.
** Meanwhile back on the Andromeda **
"So, you just let him go with no explanation?" Beka's voice was irritated.
"Beka, he said it was personal. I received a message from him the other day. He's using the long-range transmitter from the slip fighter. He hopes to be back next week."
"It's just," she didn't finish her sentence.
"What?" Dylan urged.
"It just seems like we're losing everyone. When Rev left for his spiritual journey we still had most of the crew, but then we lost Harper and now Tyr has left."
"Tyr is coming back and we haven't lost Harper. He didn't die, Beka. I still hope he will come back."
"It's been over a year Dylan and not one word from him. I think about him at least once a day. The kid's family, ya know. I just wish we had been able to talk before he left."
"I worry about our young Mr. Harper as well. But, he will return when he is ready."
"Dylan, I used to hope for that and then a year past and not one word from him. I just wish I knew he was at least okay."
"Harper is a survivor Beka. He's fine. You have to believe in that. I do."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Beka relinquished.
Meanwhile, in the Hydroponics lab Trance watered her plants and as she was finishing up she stopped at one particular one - it was a short little Bonsai tree that she called by the name, 'Seamus.' "Hi Seamus, you look like you need a good trim. She smiled at the little tree. She had acquired it at a drift shortly after she and the crew discovered from Tyr that the young engineer had left Arabus. She talked to the little tree often - in many ways it made her feel she still had a connection to Harper. She closed her eyes for a moment as the warm memory of their kiss filled her mind. It seemed like lifetimes had past since that kiss on Brescia. She picked up the clippers and trimmed the little leaves and branches, smiled "That's better," she said as she admired the tiny tree.
** Back on the Planet Diem **
"You didn't eat that much," Tyr observed Harper's plate.
"Cut me some slack, Big Guy. I've been out of commission for a few days."
"Alright," Tyr acknowledged. "We need to talk."
"About?"
"You know - returning to Andromeda."
"I can't."
"I'm not asking you Harper. I'm telling you. You are going back. I just wanted to know when you think you'll feel up to it. I think the Flash has cleared from your system and in another day or two you shouldn't feel any effects."
"Tyr, be realistic. What am I going to say to them?"
"What is there to say? They know nothing of Arabus and what happened and they have no idea it was you who was going to kill Gogi. Everyone has been wondering when you were going to return."
"How do you plan on explaining me coming back with you?"
"I've considered that - I will say we crossed paths and I was able to talk you into returning."
"And, you think they'll buy that?"
"Probably not all of it, but I don't think they will care."
"How can I look them in the eye, Tyr?"
"Why can't you? Did you not say to me in your Vid message that you weren't going to apologize for who you were and what you were doing?"
"Yeah, I said that."
"You have nothing to explain to them."
"I never cleared up things with Beka," Harper said quietly.
"Child, that happened over a year ago. That woman has spoke of you often over the year and has even proposed looking for you, but both Dylan and myself always said you would return when you were ready."
"Well, if that's true - then believe me when I say I'm not ready."
"You're scared, Harper. You're going back."
"Tyr, you of all people know what I've been doing. What happens when it comes out?"
"You'll cross that bridge if and when it happens. Harper, I was a mercenary when I joined the crew. I was a hired gun and I haven't had to explain myself."
"Yeah, well, that's you."
A long silence fell between the two men. Tyr broke it. "Little man?" he began tentatively.
"Yeah?" Harper detected the change in tone from the Nietzschean.
"I want to ask you something, but I fear it may over step certain bounds."
Harper slightly chuckled. "When have you ever been afraid to ask me a personal question? Go ahead."
"When your fever was too high I had to draw a bath for you to help bring it down - I saw the thin scars on your back. They are old, but I'd like to know what happened?"
Harper was silent for a moment. He realized that he had accepted Tyr had most likely seen more of him than he cared to think about, but he never thought the Nietzschean would ask about the scars. "I was eleven," he began and stopped.
"And," Tyr urged gently. The Nietzschean had his own ideas. He had seen these kinds of scars before, but he hoped he was wrong.
"Look," Harper was feeling threatened by the memories and his tone changed. "It happened along time ago. Let's not dig up the past."
Tyr wanted to drop it at the boy's request, but he found he couldn't. "Did a Nietzschean do that do you?"
"Yeah. Okay?" Harper stood up abruptly to leave the table they were eating at on the veranda. Tyr stood just as quickly and gently stopped him by taking a hold of his right forearm.
"I didn't mean to offend you. I'm sorry." Harper looked at the sincerity in Tyr's eyes. Then he thought back to everything he had done for him. First, he helped him to relearn his speech on Arabus and then he covered for him on Tempus.
"No, I'm sorry. You've done a lot for me Tyr. More than I can say thank you for. You deserve to know why it took me a while to trust you when you first joined the crew."
"No, boy, you don't have to explain anything to me. I helped you because that was my choice. I don't deserve to know - I just wanted to know."
Harper sat back down at the table and looked out to the ocean and sighed. "I was eleven and one night I was walking home after dark. I knew I was in trouble with my Father because we aren't supposed to be out at night. I stayed too late at a friends on the other side of the camp. This Nietzschean came out of the dark and grabbed me. I don't remember a lot. He beat me pretty bad. Then when I thought it was over he pulled out a Landau whip." Harper paused.
Tyr felt a rage boil in him - he had suspected the marks were from a Landau whip and now those thoughts were confirmed. His anger came from the fact it had not only been done to Harper, but the fact it had happened to an eleven- year-old child. Harper could see the muscles in Tyr's jaw tighten.
"When he was done he drug me down to the river bank and threw me in. He left me for dead. I managed to crawl out the water wasn't that deep. I made it half way home before my Father found me and carried me home. The cuts got infected and I almost died from the infection, but here I am. All's well that end's well, I guess."
"Boy, any Nietzschean that would harm a child Human or not does not deserve to live."
"It's over and done Tyr. I survived."
"Yes, you did. Well done, Little Man."
"Yeah, not bad for a mud foot, eh?"
"Don't call yourself that," Tyr's voice wasn't gruff. "We should discuss when to return to Andromeda."
"Can we not decide tonight Big Guy. I'm kinda on sensory overload. I'm not avoiding," Harper smiled slightly at that last statement and then offered, "okay, maybe a little, but let's discuss it tomorrow, okay?"
"All right, Little Professor."
Harper smiled. "Thanks."
To be continued.
** NOTE TO READERS ** This chapter 17 in the series "Secrets"
Read and Review!
******************************************
And What Rough Beast
By Dawn Nyberg *******************************************
Tyr jerked awake suddenly - he didn't realize he had fallen asleep. He looked toward the bed and found it empty. He stood up quickly and immediately went to the bathroom hoping to find the boy there. "Harper?" The room was empty. He searched the house. All of the exits had not been tampered with. He looked out on the veranda and it was empty. "Harper!" Tyr yelled and his voice echoed throughout the house. He walked back into the room and something caught his eye and he knelt down to look beneath the large bed and he saw the boy curled up under it.
"Little Man?" Tyr's voice was gentle. Harper was awake, but his cheeks were crimson and his eyes glassy. Tyr knew his fever was dangerously high. He reached under the bed and the boy drew away from him. "It's okay, Little Man. I won't hurt you. You're safe." Finally, he decided he could no longer placate the boy and reached in and grabbed a leg. He fought weakly and it was clear to Tyr that the young man was not lucid. "Harper?" Finally, the kid focused on him.
"Tyr?" His voice was quiet.
"Yes, Little Professor, it's me." Tyr felt Harper's forehead and the youth was burning up. He gently put an arm under Harper's head and then his legs. "You're going to be fine." And headed toward the second bathroom down the hallway that had a bathtub. He placed Harper down on the floor and began to draw a luke warm bath. "This will help bring your fever down." Harper had slipped back into unconsciousness. Tyr picked Harper up and gently put him into the water. He would put dry clothing on him later, but for now the thin gauze pants the boy was wearing would stay on. He didn't want to waste time undressing the youth. His fever was too high and Tyr feared permanent damage. He had begun to doubt his decision to pull Harper off the refined Flash without cutting back first, but what was done was done.
** Three Hours Later **
Tyr sat reading a book next to Harper's bedside. The youth's fever had dropped, but not broken. The bath had helped to drop his fever, but the Nietzschean would be more relaxed when it broke. The boy appeared to be resting comfortably and had remained asleep since falling back asleep in the bathroom before he had been put into the bathtub. Tyr returned to his book and ten minutes later a slight movement in the bed brought his attention back to the boy as he moved in his sleep. He noticed the sweat droplets on Harper's forehead and leaned forward to feel his forehead. He was pleased - the fever was breaking. He put his book down and picked up a cloth and dipped it into a bowl of cool water and wrung the cloth of the excess water. He wiped away the sweat from Harper's forehead and ran the cool cloth over the boy's face. Seamus stopped moving restlessly and slipped back into a deeper sleep. "You'll be fine, Little Man. Just sleep." Tyr's voice was quiet and soft.
** Two Days Later **
Harper slowly opened his eyes to soft sunlight breaking through the thin gauze curtains. He was tired and thirsty. His mind was a little foggy, but he remembered this room and he knew Tyr was here. He remembered waking several times and Tyr was always there, but he had no idea of how much time had passed. He inclined his head slightly on his pillow and saw Tyr across the room asleep in a chair. Harper watched him for a long moment and finally decided to see if he even had a voice. "Tyr?" His voice was quiet.
Tyr woke instantly. "Harper?" He sat forward and saw that Harper was regarding him from his pillow. "Welcome back. How do you feel?"
"I've been better." He coughed against the dryness in his throat.
"Here," Tyr stood up and crossed the short distance to a bureau and filled a glass with water. "Drink this."
"Thanks," Harper replied quietly. He felt at a loss because he wasn't sure what had transpired here - things were still foggy. "How long?"
"Going on four days, but you've been in and out of it for three."
Harper pushed himself up to a sitting position. Tyr had walked forward to help, but the young man had held a hand up indicating to Tyr that he wanted no help. "How are you here?" Tyr looked perplexed at the question Harper had just asked him, so, the young man clarified it. "What I meant was, what did you tell the others?"
"I told Dylan I had a private matter to take care of and that I would return when I was able. But, that I would keep in contact."
"Keep in contact. He'll know where you are."
"No, I'm not transmitting from the planet. I'm using the long-range transmitter from the slip fighter. The most Andromeda would be able to do is triangulate the solar system the message originated in, but not the planet."
"Private matter, huh?" Tyr offered a mild smile.
"Would you have preferred me tell him that the personal business I had was a Flash fried Harper?"
"Ha-ha." Harper said with irritation.
"You should eat something."
"Not hungry."
"You're eating. Little Man." Tyr left the young man and went to prepare something for dinner. Harper lay back against the pillows and stared at the ceiling.
** Meanwhile back on the Andromeda **
"So, you just let him go with no explanation?" Beka's voice was irritated.
"Beka, he said it was personal. I received a message from him the other day. He's using the long-range transmitter from the slip fighter. He hopes to be back next week."
"It's just," she didn't finish her sentence.
"What?" Dylan urged.
"It just seems like we're losing everyone. When Rev left for his spiritual journey we still had most of the crew, but then we lost Harper and now Tyr has left."
"Tyr is coming back and we haven't lost Harper. He didn't die, Beka. I still hope he will come back."
"It's been over a year Dylan and not one word from him. I think about him at least once a day. The kid's family, ya know. I just wish we had been able to talk before he left."
"I worry about our young Mr. Harper as well. But, he will return when he is ready."
"Dylan, I used to hope for that and then a year past and not one word from him. I just wish I knew he was at least okay."
"Harper is a survivor Beka. He's fine. You have to believe in that. I do."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Beka relinquished.
Meanwhile, in the Hydroponics lab Trance watered her plants and as she was finishing up she stopped at one particular one - it was a short little Bonsai tree that she called by the name, 'Seamus.' "Hi Seamus, you look like you need a good trim. She smiled at the little tree. She had acquired it at a drift shortly after she and the crew discovered from Tyr that the young engineer had left Arabus. She talked to the little tree often - in many ways it made her feel she still had a connection to Harper. She closed her eyes for a moment as the warm memory of their kiss filled her mind. It seemed like lifetimes had past since that kiss on Brescia. She picked up the clippers and trimmed the little leaves and branches, smiled "That's better," she said as she admired the tiny tree.
** Back on the Planet Diem **
"You didn't eat that much," Tyr observed Harper's plate.
"Cut me some slack, Big Guy. I've been out of commission for a few days."
"Alright," Tyr acknowledged. "We need to talk."
"About?"
"You know - returning to Andromeda."
"I can't."
"I'm not asking you Harper. I'm telling you. You are going back. I just wanted to know when you think you'll feel up to it. I think the Flash has cleared from your system and in another day or two you shouldn't feel any effects."
"Tyr, be realistic. What am I going to say to them?"
"What is there to say? They know nothing of Arabus and what happened and they have no idea it was you who was going to kill Gogi. Everyone has been wondering when you were going to return."
"How do you plan on explaining me coming back with you?"
"I've considered that - I will say we crossed paths and I was able to talk you into returning."
"And, you think they'll buy that?"
"Probably not all of it, but I don't think they will care."
"How can I look them in the eye, Tyr?"
"Why can't you? Did you not say to me in your Vid message that you weren't going to apologize for who you were and what you were doing?"
"Yeah, I said that."
"You have nothing to explain to them."
"I never cleared up things with Beka," Harper said quietly.
"Child, that happened over a year ago. That woman has spoke of you often over the year and has even proposed looking for you, but both Dylan and myself always said you would return when you were ready."
"Well, if that's true - then believe me when I say I'm not ready."
"You're scared, Harper. You're going back."
"Tyr, you of all people know what I've been doing. What happens when it comes out?"
"You'll cross that bridge if and when it happens. Harper, I was a mercenary when I joined the crew. I was a hired gun and I haven't had to explain myself."
"Yeah, well, that's you."
A long silence fell between the two men. Tyr broke it. "Little man?" he began tentatively.
"Yeah?" Harper detected the change in tone from the Nietzschean.
"I want to ask you something, but I fear it may over step certain bounds."
Harper slightly chuckled. "When have you ever been afraid to ask me a personal question? Go ahead."
"When your fever was too high I had to draw a bath for you to help bring it down - I saw the thin scars on your back. They are old, but I'd like to know what happened?"
Harper was silent for a moment. He realized that he had accepted Tyr had most likely seen more of him than he cared to think about, but he never thought the Nietzschean would ask about the scars. "I was eleven," he began and stopped.
"And," Tyr urged gently. The Nietzschean had his own ideas. He had seen these kinds of scars before, but he hoped he was wrong.
"Look," Harper was feeling threatened by the memories and his tone changed. "It happened along time ago. Let's not dig up the past."
Tyr wanted to drop it at the boy's request, but he found he couldn't. "Did a Nietzschean do that do you?"
"Yeah. Okay?" Harper stood up abruptly to leave the table they were eating at on the veranda. Tyr stood just as quickly and gently stopped him by taking a hold of his right forearm.
"I didn't mean to offend you. I'm sorry." Harper looked at the sincerity in Tyr's eyes. Then he thought back to everything he had done for him. First, he helped him to relearn his speech on Arabus and then he covered for him on Tempus.
"No, I'm sorry. You've done a lot for me Tyr. More than I can say thank you for. You deserve to know why it took me a while to trust you when you first joined the crew."
"No, boy, you don't have to explain anything to me. I helped you because that was my choice. I don't deserve to know - I just wanted to know."
Harper sat back down at the table and looked out to the ocean and sighed. "I was eleven and one night I was walking home after dark. I knew I was in trouble with my Father because we aren't supposed to be out at night. I stayed too late at a friends on the other side of the camp. This Nietzschean came out of the dark and grabbed me. I don't remember a lot. He beat me pretty bad. Then when I thought it was over he pulled out a Landau whip." Harper paused.
Tyr felt a rage boil in him - he had suspected the marks were from a Landau whip and now those thoughts were confirmed. His anger came from the fact it had not only been done to Harper, but the fact it had happened to an eleven- year-old child. Harper could see the muscles in Tyr's jaw tighten.
"When he was done he drug me down to the river bank and threw me in. He left me for dead. I managed to crawl out the water wasn't that deep. I made it half way home before my Father found me and carried me home. The cuts got infected and I almost died from the infection, but here I am. All's well that end's well, I guess."
"Boy, any Nietzschean that would harm a child Human or not does not deserve to live."
"It's over and done Tyr. I survived."
"Yes, you did. Well done, Little Man."
"Yeah, not bad for a mud foot, eh?"
"Don't call yourself that," Tyr's voice wasn't gruff. "We should discuss when to return to Andromeda."
"Can we not decide tonight Big Guy. I'm kinda on sensory overload. I'm not avoiding," Harper smiled slightly at that last statement and then offered, "okay, maybe a little, but let's discuss it tomorrow, okay?"
"All right, Little Professor."
Harper smiled. "Thanks."
To be continued.