Okay folks another Disclaimer Alert! I do not now, nor have I ever, owned Andromeda or its characters. I am making absolutely nothing, nada, zip, zilch on this story. Whew! A big hug to those of you who reviewed this story. Thank you too to all of you who have read this story but haven't yet gotten around to reviewing it. Hint, hint. On with the show! Chapter 4 ***************************************************************** *******

Harper and Trance arrived in Machine Shop 2 a few minutes later and Harper grabbed a clean rag and a bottle of cleaning fluid off one of the shelves.

"How are you going to get the disk to work with that piece missing?" Trance began questioning the engineer. The golden skinned alien already knew the answer, but liked hearing the enthusiasm in the young earther's voice when he explained one of his engineering projects. Trance had to admit she had grown fond of the young man from earth. She saw his soft and vulnerable side. The side he tried to keep hidden from others, even his friends.

The earther continued cleaning as he answered, "I can't replace the information. However; being the genius that I am, I am going to replicate a piece of metal to replace the missing piece. Otherwise, our little Mantuan CD ROM is in good shape. It just needs a good cleaning."

Trance was eager to see what information the disk contained, but knew it would take some time for Harper to get the disk ready to play. She decided to leave the engineer to his work. "Well I better get back to my plants. It's their feeding time."

"Oh hey, no hurry Trance. You can stay if you want. I don't mind," Harper offered. "I'd kinda like the company."

Trance smiled sweetly at Harper but knew she would just be in the way. "Thank you but I really had better get back to my work. But promise me you'll let us all know as soon as you get the disk working?"

"Sure thing Trance babe," Harper promised as he searched a drawer for a blank CD ROM disk to use for parts. "Oh man! Why is it you can never find what you're looking for until you're not looking for it anymore?"

Trance resisted the temptation to laugh at her friend's frustration. "That is one of the great mysteries of life Harper. One has difficulty finding things until they stop searching for them."

Harper paused momentarily and glanced up at the alien female before commenting, "I have a feeling you aren't just talking about blank disks right now."

"Perhaps," She replied.

Harper shook his head in confusion. He would never get used to her talking in riddles. As long as he had known Trance she was still a mystery and probably always would remain one. "Trance you are one cosmic babe."

Trance gave Harper a peck on the check. "Good luck Harper."

Slightly blushing, he watched the alien walk towards the door before returning to work.

The engineer opened the bottom drawer to the right of his stool and began searching inside. "Okay, where are you? Ah, there you are. Thought you could hide from Seamus Harper did you?" Harper pulled the blank CD ROM from beneath a container of bolts and set it on top of the workbench. "Now for some clippers." Once Harper found the clippers he began singing an old tune he learned years ago as he cut the blank disk. He knew the song wasn't that great but then Harper hadn't learned any good songs growing up on earth. "Oh, I love to go swimming with bowlegged women," Harper began singing, "and dive between their knees. So, if you know bowed-legged women who want to go swimming just send them along to me please!"

While Seamus Harper worked on the disk Beka and Dylan were in their quarters taking their respective showers. Even though the shower water never got beyond lukewarm, they both enjoyed getting the dirt and slime of Mantu off of their bodies. Dylan changed into a clean High Guard non ceremonial uniform while Beka was dressed in her trademark black leather suit.

Rommie meanwhile, was checking the data from the scans on Dylan and Beka. Satisfied that they had had suffered only minor physical injuries, the AI stored the data as per protocol. Rommie then moved on to her daily routine of updating the ships computer programs.

After leaving Harper alone in the machine shop for over an hour Andromeda's crew was anxious for an update from the engineer. They pretended to go about their duties as if they had forgotten all about the disk. Even the normally stoic Nietzschean Tyr was privately playing over in his mind various scenarios of what the disk contained as he recharged a weapon.

Dylan was happy to have something to occupy his crew. Things had become routine on board the Andromeda lately. Well, routine as they get for Andromeda and her crew anyway. The High Guard captain busied himself with typing up reports and going over the list of supplies the crew had filled out.

Beka felt better after her shower and being more than slightly curious about the contents of the disk, paged Harper on the intercom. Beka wasn't worried when she got no response the first time. While Harper wouldn't intentionally ignore a page he often became so engrossed in his work that he failed to hear when he had been paged. Too curious to wait much longer, Beka made her way to Machine Shop 2 to check on her favorite engineer's progress in person.

"Harper, I was just wondering how you're coming along with fixing the disk?" the blonde announced as she entered the room. Still getting no response, Beka decided to sneak up behind the spiky-haired earther who was staring at a computer monitor. "It would serve him right," she thought to herself. Once she got close enough to Harper, Beka flicked the back of his head with her right index finger. Beka was confused and concerned when she still got no reaction from the young engineer. He didn't even a flinch.

"Okay Harper, give it up?" She advised. "You can't ignore me forever. We all want to know if you have the disk up and running yet."

Still no response.

"Harper, you better stop ignoring me. It's not nice to ignore Beka Valentine," Beka advised as she grabbed the young man's shoulders and turned him around to face her.

Beka's blue eyes opened wide and her bodied tensed when she was greeted with a blank expression. Harper's eyes looked right through Beka, as if they were focused on something a million miles away.

"Trance, come to Machine Shop 2!" Beka ordered as she began checking the engineer for physical wounds.

Trance Gemini quickly made her way to Machine Shop 2, controlling her impulse to ignore caution and run the whole way.