Chapter 2
~*~
Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others.
-Winston Churchill
~*~
Captain Beka Valentine sat solemnly in the slipstream chair aboard the Andromeda Ascendant trying to clear her mind. Out of all the places on the massive ship, this had been where she had always felt the most comfortable. Looking up towards the huge screen in front of her, Beka sighed, knowing that duty called. She'd been communicating with her small crew periodically to make sure the damaged ship would be ready for take off as soon as possible and figured it was just about time for another check.
"Rev, has Cez got those new parts in yet? I'd like to try getting the slipstream drive back up and running ASAP," Beka said, slightly turning her head towards the only other crewmember on the deck.
"Cecily will have her report within the hour," the Magog replied quietly, studying the schematics before him.
"I don't think of myself as a great engineer, but maybe she'll need an extra pair of hands," Beka said, jumping down from the large chair. "I'm just a little eager to get off this stinking port. We've been here way too long and there's no telling when they might be showing up."
Before Beka had a chance to leave Command, the holographic form of Andromeda appeared suddenly, catching her attention. "What is it Andromeda? I was on my way to check if Cez needed any help," she said, tying back her blond hair.
"There's someone outside wanting to get it," the hologram answered quickly.
"And you informed them that the tours aren't until next week, right?" Beka joked, giving the ponytail a final tug before adding, "I trust you told them no."
"Of course, Captain, but he's rather insistent… Beka, I think you should talk to him. He—he knows things," the ship's AI said softly.
"Knows things?" Captain Valentine half mimicked, wondering why the warship had suddenly quieted.
"He's mentioned several crew members as well as the Maru as if he knows them, ma'am."
Leaning on one of the ship's consoles, Beka smiled. "Information about the Andromeda has been out for a while. He's probably just some Flash fried punk looking for free passage to another system." Realizing the holographic woman didn't seem convinced, the captain sighed and waved a hand. "All right, all right, bring him up on screen. Let me take a look, and then I'll think about it."
Turning back to viewscreen ahead of her, Beka ran a hand over her mouth to cover a yawn that was the result of less then ten hours of sleep over the past week alone. There was a quick flash and a large image of the crowd outside appeared onscreen. As the picture finally zoned in on the individual, Beka leaned forward resting against the console.
A human male, probably mid twenties, stood there with his hands in his pockets casually and a mop of longish blond hair on his head sticking up in short spikes. He looked like any other juvenile delinquent out partying, except Beka Valentine knew that he was only a hallucination. He had to be. There was no other explanation.
"Beka?" Rev Bem asked from behind his station, noticing his captain's bewildered expression. Walking slowly to his friend's side, Rev stared at the image wondering what had surprised her so.
"What is it?" he tried.
"A ghost…" Beka muttered then seemed to snap out of the trance she'd been in. "Rommie, does he identify himself?"
"Yes," the ship answered. "He says his name is Seamus Harper, but I have no record of him ever being on board this ship. Unlike the others, however, he's not afraid of the warnings I've given him."
"Do you know this person, Beka?" Rev asked slowly.
Running a hand over her lower face, the blond woman walked forward. When she was almost close enough to touch the screen, she stopped. "I—I did once, but he died, right before we first pulled the Andromeda from the black hole. This is impossible. I don't know how, but that cannot be the Seamus Harper I knew… he's dead," she said heatedly. "Maybe it's a trick of some kind to get a infiltrator on board."
"Are you sure there is no way this could be the boy you knew… none at all?" Rev asked.
"Damnit it, Rev. I saw what those measles did to him and it's not something I care to think about often!" Beka snapped, her last word echoed endlessly around the room.
"I'm sorry," she quietly amended, but Rev merely nodded in understanding. "Andromeda," she continued.
"Yes Captain?"
"I want him brought aboard and I'll get to the bottom of this. Take him to medical and keep him secure until I get there," Beka replied, turning to leave the room. "And then maybe we'll figure out what he, or it, is. "
"Aye, Captain," the holographic form said before disappearing.
Turing to leave the room, Beka sidestepped the somewhat bemused Magog, but paused at the doors as they slid open noiselessly.
"Rev…"
"Yes, Beka?"
"None of this reaches Trance's ears, you hear me," she stated, staring at him intently from across the deck.
"Whatever you wish, but is there a reason why she can not be informed?" the Wayist asked out of interest.
"Just trust me on this, Rev. She had a hard enough time when Harper died the first time. I don't want some damn imposter to be the reason we lose her for good." Without another word, the captain turned and left Command.
~*~
"Hey, let me go!" Harper yelled at the silent androids as they pulled him down the ship's corridors. Trying once again to pull his arms from their tight hold, Seamus found it impossible to get out of the metallic grips of the machines he was so normally used to working on. Never had they, or Andromeda for that matter, done anything like this to him before, and now a small amount of panic was finally setting in.
Coming around a corner, he recognized what part of the ship he was nearest to: Meddeck. Harper knew now where they were taking him; the familiar halls were becoming more noticeable around every turn. But why were they taking him there? He wasn't sick, at least the last time he'd checked.
The doors of Trance's normal hotspot on the ship opened up and he was lead inside, straight to one of the beds.
"I'm Harper! Seamus Harper! Ask someone! Let me see Captain Hunt, or Beka! Hell, even Tyr!" he screamed as the bots held him down, their grips never loosening. He felt a prick on the underside of his arm and his vision began to blur.
The holographic form of Andromeda appeared at his side, leaning over him.
"It's Harper, Rommie, I'm your engineer, please… you know me," he begged quietly as unconsciousness loomed around him. "I need to speak with Captain Hunt..."
The hazy figure peered over at him, eyebrows raised. "You mean, Captain Valentine?"
"Yeahsureyabetcha… talk to Beka… tired… whoa, don't feel so good here," Harper mumbled to himself, turning his feverish blue eyes towards his feet. He only managed to catch the outlines of a very familiar fair-haired person before giving into oblivion.
~*~
Slowly opening one eye, Harper found his head lying in the crook of his elbow and his body resting on a rather hard surface. Groaning and muttering to himself, Seamus raised his head and turned over onto his back to find himself looking up at the ceiling of one of the ship's holding cells.
'This just keeps getting freakin' weirder and weirder,' he thought as he lifted himself off the bed and onto his own two feet, still feeling a little shaky from whatever they'd given to knock him out. Letting his eyes wonder, Harper found himself in a small box-like room. A forcefield of some kind covered the only opening and he wasn't in a hurry to try out its merit at this very moment.
"Hello? I have to speak with someone!" he yelled out and kicked a nearby wall in frustration. He yelped in pain, hoping he hadn't broken a toe. "Stupid, stupid, stupid," Harper muttered as he sat down to check his foot, but stood up with a startled shout when he realized someone was on the other side of the barrier staring at him.
Recognizing the familiar -and not to mention hairy- figure standing outside, the human smiled. "Rev!"
The Magog on the other side of the field stood silently for a moment then asked, "You know me?"
Harper's grin faded. "Of course, Rev." When his friend didn't respond, he added, "You don't know me?"
The Magog reverend took a step towards a control panel on the outside and the forcefield went down between the two. Harper wondered if Rev was planning on letting him go but realized there were still two androids outside guarding the room.
"You say your name is Seamus Harper," Rev said, folding his claws beneath hidden pockets in his cloak and stepped closer. "You claim to be an engineer. Your blood work and other tests prove you are human, but I am more interested in how you came to know all the things you know."
"How I know all I know? What the hell is going on here, Rev?" Harper asked as calmly as he could at the moment.
The Magog tilted his head. "I prefer you address me as Reverend Bem."
Harper raised his head coming closer to his friend. "Ok look, this little joke has gone way too far here. Lets just cut the crap because I came back here for help!"
Frowning, Rev replied, "What are you talking about? You've never been on this ship until now."
Seamus opened his mouth to speak, but no words seemed able to come out. He let out a little laugh before getting his voice back. "Look, I left from here, the Andromeda, a few hours ago. I was shopping with Trance, so unless the last year has been some wacky, wacky dream, I'm a member of this crew!" he shouted angrily.
"Not as far I have been informed."
"What?!" Harper blurted, barely holding in a hysterical laugh. "You haven't been informed? Re—I mean Reverend Bem, whatever your name is, you were there! We all pulled the Andromeda from that black hole together, remember?" When Rev still didn't seem to believe him, Seamus added with a stressed emphasis, "I gave the Maru extra power by flooding the engines with protons… ring any bells?"
"It was the captain of the ship that flooded the engines, not you young man."
"She did?" he asked in startled surprise.
"Yes, and she also has informed me that you cannot be possibly you who calm to be, because the Seamus Harper she knew died of an illness before the Andromeda mission," Rev said calmly.
"I what!?"
"But," Rev added, "an imposter might not have known the particulars would they? You, or who ever you might be working for, would not have gotten details on his death, or the right facts about it. Did they really think Captain Valentine would be fooled by something like this? I do believe they were grossly mistaken."
Shaking his head in alarm, Harper backed away, coming to rest against a wall. This was crazy, but it wasn't a joke to them. They believed it. Swallowing a lump already forming in his throat, Seamus asked quietly, "Can I just speak with Dylan then?"
The Magog seemed to be genuinely surprised by his question. "Why—why would you ask that?"
"What do you mean?" the human frowned.
"You must have already known…"
Rev only received a blank look from the blond engineer.
"Dylan Hunt died almost six months ago."
~*~
As Reverend Bem stepped closer to the stranger, he couldn't help but wonder if the boy truly was something more then a so-called imposter. He genuinely and truly believed his own story. After informing him of Dylan's recent death the human had looked stunned. Perhaps 'shocked speechless' was a better phrase. For nearly five minutes the newcomer had said nothing. He just stood silently against the cell's bulkhead.
Trying a different approach, Rev asked, "Where are you from? You are human, the exam determined this."
"Earth," the blond man answered quietly.
"Then if you are really from Earth as you claim, why are you not afraid of me?"
The stranger seemed to snap out of his thoughts a moment and looked up at him. "I hate the Magog, I do, but… you're Rev… you—you'd never hurt me intentionally," the boy said sincerely.
Of anything this "Harper" could have said, this earnestly surprised him. Humans, normally those from Earth, would have run as soon as he'd been within claw length, but this one had not. There was something wrong here, but it was still very unclear what. Deciding it would be better to speak with Beka again, the Wayist turned.
"Wait, Rev, this doesn't make any sense! I belong here!"
Bem turned back. "How can this be true, when the person you claim to be was dead before this ship was freed?"
"Look, I don't have a clue about what's going on here… wait, then you met your ah, Harper on the Maru, right?"
Rev hesitated. "I did not. I hadn't meet Captain Hunt nor Valentine until a few months after they began their mission."
"But you were!" Harper claimed. "We were all there. Me, you, Beka, and Trance… Gerentex recruited us because we were the only ones desperate enough for the money! I wanted slave girls and silk wall hangings, Beka wanted to pay off her debts… you wanted a hospital…"
For a tense moment, Rev was dumbstruck. How had this complete stranger known his future plans?
"I'm right, aren't I?" the human exclaimed suddenly.
"I—I do not know…"
"Yeah, it was a hospital… on King Fisher I think… You said you wanted to make up for what the Magog had done to the people!" Harper exclaimed. "Come on Rev, believe me when I say I know you… please…"
"Perhaps," Rev began slowly, "I should let you speak with Beka. She may want to hear some of this.
~*~
"Basically, Beka, the ship's drives have finally given out. With the amount of damage and quick patches, we're lucky it's lasted this long," Cecily Mikita said with a grimace, wishing she'd been able to give her friend something more to work with. "Maybe back in the old days with the rest of the crew it might have been possible, but with that we have now…"
Putting a hand up, Beka gently rubbed the bridge of her nose with the other. That damn headache was back. "I know you've tried your best, Cez," she said slowly, staring carefully down at some of the schematics that younger woman had brought her.
Sighing, Beka looked up as the deck doors opened to reveal Reverend Bem entering, his orange cloak barely touching the floor as he walked towards her.
"Excuse me," the Magog said, "I know you are a little busy at the moment."
"That's okay Rev," she answered, looking towards him. "What's up?"
Sighing, Rev chose his words carefully and thoughtfully. "Beka," he began, "I think you should meet the young man brought onboard… He knows things that are quite unexplainable."
While Reverend Bem expected his captain to be upset with him, he was not expecting the cold glare she aimed in his direction.
"Now you sound like Andromeda," Beka said, her voice filled with frustration.
"Please," the Wayist tried once more, "just hear him out."
Closing her eyes, Beka tightened her lips but spoke quietly and strictly. "Fine, but one bad move and he'll be off this ship faster than a Nightsider reproduces, you hear me?"
Nodding and tipping his head gently, Rev called to the ship. "Let him in."
The Command deck doors slowly opened and the blond human entered, trailed closely by two androids. Looking around curiously, his eyes quickly settledon the captain.
"Beka!"
Stepping forward, Captain Valentine was all business. "I don't know who you are, or who you think you're pretending to be, but Rev here seems to think I should speak with you."
Raising his eyebrows, Harper waved his hands around his head. "Ok, this is starting to get a little spooky."
The captain only raised her eyebrows in turn.
"I mean, look," Harper tried again, "a few hours ago, everything about this place was different. I mean, well, not completely different… you're still… you… Sort of."
It was Cicily's turn to stare. "I think I speak for us all by saying that you weren't here a few hours ago," she said calmly.
Finally noticing the extra person, Seamus turned to find a young woman clad in a Highguard uniform.
"And you would be?" he asked, surprised he hadn't noticed her before.
"Lieutenant Cecily Mikita," the redheaded responded.
"You're supposed to be what? Highguard?" Harper asked, half laughing. "Last time I checked, there was only one of those guys left, and he definitely wasn't the same sex as you are."
"I beg your pardon…" Cez began in irritation, but Beka cut her off first.
"Just hold it right there… both of you." She looked towards Seamus. "I'm tired of this, so I want you to tell me now. How did you pull this off?" Slowly Beka circled him as if trying to make a threat assessment.
Harper came as close to his friend as the droids would let him. "Okay, now maybe I've completely lost my mind here, but as far as I know, we know each other very well, Boss."
Hearing a tiny snicker from Cez, Harper lost it. "Look, I'm a member of this crew with you, Dylan, Rev, Trance, Rommie and Tyr!" He paused a moment, looking around Command. "Where's Tyr?"
After receiving blank looks from everyone, including the hologram form of the ship that had just appeared, Harper felt like he was nearing the point of hysteria. "Come on, you know," he said, waving his hands around as if making a visualization. "Big guy, braids in his hair, spikes on his arms… you can't miss him."
"A Nietzschean?" Valentine asked, startled at his choice of words.
"Yeah," Harper blurted, "he's our friend—although I prefer to think of him as more of an acquaintance…"
"Shut up!" Beka growled and Seamus felt compelled to close his mouth. For the moment.
"Okay look," Harper said again, raising his arms in surrender. "I can't explain this any better than you can, but right about now, I feel like the victim of the biggest practical joke ever. I sure as hell know that I didn't die of measles before we found the Andromeda. I had them, they itched, but the ship had the antidote and I got better."
Keeping his eyes on Beka, Seamus didn't even blink as the woman stared back at him.
"Wait a minute, if I can weigh in here, you actually believe that you're a member of this crew?" Cecily asked, motioning towards Harper with a slight grin. "Geeze kid, what are you on?" she laughed.
Putting both hands to his chest, Harper couldn't hold it in anymore. "I belong here… you DON'T!" he exploded. "All the original crew still alive escaped before the ship was trapped! There's no way you could be over 300 stinking years old!"
The Command deck went silent and Harper ran a palm over his eyes tiredly. "This isn't happening, this is nuts… this isn't happening," he muttered, looking up towards the others. "Is it possible… that somehow, and I'm talking the slightest probable chance here, that I'm on some screwed up version of the ship?" he asked, grasping for… something. An answer perhaps. He didn't figure straws would be any use to him at the moment.
Again receiving blank looks from crew, Harper ran a hand over his forehead. 'This just keeps getting better and better,' he thought with a sigh.
"Wait a minute, are we talking alternate realities here?" Cez asked suddenly, stepping closer to Harper.
"Alternate what? Reels?"
"Realities," she corrected. "I studied this back in my academy days, but from what I remember, Highguard scientist have always theorized that there are an infinite number of dimensions, each containing a different possible version of reality."
"Well I think I theoretically, actually possibly found one," Seamus blurted.
"One what?" Rev asked.
"What she said," Harper explained, pointing towards Cez. "An alternate reality, a parallel plane… wouldn't that explain why everything here is the same, but different. I mean..."
Suddenly, Cecily cut him off. "Okay, the theory is that there are an infinite number of alternate realities. Some of them are very different, while some are almost identical…"
"Then that has to be it!" Seamus blurted. Noticing everyone in the room seemed to be looking at him like he was standing there in his underwear, he waved his hands. "So this isn't my ship at all," he finished, but then laughing almost uncontrollably, added, "but some—some other dimension?!"
"The question I wish to ask is how you got to our reality in the first place?" Rev asked, realizing the captain didn't seem too found of the alternate reality idea.
"You think I know?" Harper asked sardonically. "I was shopping with Trance and she went into a store while I stayed outside. I saw this place across the street that had a bunch of Earth relics so I went to take a look. I wasn't even in there very long but… I touched a mirror."
"What kind of a mirror?" Cecily asked Harper as the young man shook his head in thought.
"I don't know, just a mirror. It was big, like a slat of rock. The mirror was in it. I touched some controller and must have turned it on. I'd maybe had my hand on it for a second before I felt this weird shock," he said, examining the fingers he'd touched it with. "I was mad, so I went downstairs to talk to the owner but he was gone, so were Trance's bags. I got out of the store and when I couldn't find her went back to the ship."
"We confiscated several things off of you," the ship's holographic form said, speaking for the first time. "One of them was an unknown device and a weapon."
"Yeah, the heart thing was the controller. I had it in my hand when I touched the mirror, and I guess I wasn't thinking and took it out of the store." Harper glanced around the room, then back towards Beka.
"Look, I know my Beka well enough to know she wouldn't believe this any more then you probably do, but it's the only thing that seems to explain this right now," he said, realizing that all the decisions after this would be left up to her. "I didn't mean to come here in the first place, so all I want to do now is just go home."
Turning away from the group and staring at the view screen, Beka frowned. "How can we trust you?" she asked, her voice muffled and back towards him.
Smiling, Seamus quoted himself happily, "You have to trust in the Harper…"
"…the Harper is good," Beka finished after a moment. She turned hesitantly, but smiled faintly. "You are him aren't you?"
Grinning again, Harper shrugged. "Yep, that'd be me."
There was a calm silence until Andromeda's voice drew Beka's attention.
"Captain Valentine…"
Standing in the doorway of Command Deck, was Trance, her head to the side in confusion and a small, worn blanket wrapped tightly around her thin frame.
"What's going on?" she asked.
~*~*~*~
TBC…
~*~*~*~
*ducks behind computer waiting for the first tomato to be thrown*
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