Chapter 8

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"We have not even to risk the adventure alone, for the heroes of all time have gone before us."

-Joseph Campbell

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"All right, you're going to listen to me and listen well, because if you don't, I'm going to shove this forcelance where the suns don't shine. Are you with me so far? Good. Now tell us."

"Look lady, I don't know anything!" the man yelled back, trying to get the hand to loosen around his neck. "I haven't seen him!"

Knowing that the man was a liar, and a bad one at that, the woman tightened her grip. "Would you care to repeat that?"

Gulping, the store owner seemed to think it over but still refused to answer and the hold tightened until a third person spoke softly, but firmly.

"Beka, what if he really doesn't know anything?"

With a sigh, Beka Valentine let go of the man she'd been questioning and he stumbled back behind the counter.

"He has to Trance," the blond insisted, staring hard at the tough looking but ultimately wimpy man before them. "We found all of your bags over there, so that means he was here."

Beka made another move to grab the man but he threw up his hands to stop her. "Wait, okay, okay, maybe I saw him, but I still don't know where he is now!"

"And when exactly did you see him?" Beka demanded.

"I don't know… last night some time. He came in, looked around and went upstairs. After a while, I went up to look for him but he was gone… I… I just figured he snuck out when I wasn't looking so I closed up shop." The man seemed to hesitate as the woman glared at him again, obviously believing he was lying. "Honestly, lady!"

Finally backing away, Beka frowned, looking over to her friend. "This doesn't make any sense, Trance. It's not like Harper to just leave your stuff and wonder off without telling anybody. So the question now is where the hell did he disappear to?"

"Maybe he met a girl." Trance gave a slight smile, though she could tell Beka didn't believe that theory for a second. Then again, neither did she. Everyone knew Harper to be female-crazy, which was true enough, but he wouldn't have just left without telling her where he was going.

Turning away from her, Beka pointed to the man. "I'm gonna try to interrogate Jumbo over there again and see if he's willing to spill anything else."

As Beka went back to grilling the man, Trance walked to where her bags had been discarded and began to bite nervously on one of her polished nails. She wished she had the right answers, but she didn't. Not this time. Something was wrong, that much was clear, but everything seemed mixed up. Usually it would have taken moments to pinpoint Harper, thanks to her kinds extraordinary insights, but this time was different. It felt as if he was near, yet galaxies away at the same time. It had to be one or the other. Harper couldn't be in two places at the same moment. Glancing down at the bags, she frowned, thinking about the previous night.

She'd come out of the boutique a little later than she'd intended, guessing Harper had found himself a nice unoccupied bench to spend his time on. When it turned out he was nowhere be seen, she'd gone back to the Andromeda, figuring he'd found something better to do. She'd briefly hoped he had gone back to the ship as well but that wasn't the case because she found it Harperless. None of the crew seemed extremely concerned when hey heard he was missing. Beka had chimed in that he'd probably gotten tired of walking and shopping and went to get himself a beer. Rommie also reminded them of the fact that Tynna's main strips were filled with dozens of nightclubs. Each containing two things Harper enjoyed the most: liquor and ladies.

The night passed, but when he hadn't returned the next morning, worry began to set in. Now four of the crew were out looking for him. Tyr and Rommie had paired off, heading towards the nightclubs for any leads. That left Beka and herself investigating the stores. Twenty minutes into the search they were back at the place Trance had last seen him. Neither of them had noticed the antique store until Beka caught a glimpse of a man unlocking the door and entering. When she finally looked up at the grimy sign and read the name, she smiled. Motioning for Trance to follow her inside, Beka murmured, "If he want anywhere last night, it would have been here." She had been right, but their wayward engineer was still nowhere to be seen. The only trace they'd found so far were the bags. Just no Harper to match.

A loud and heavy thud from above caused Trance to look over towards Beka, wondering if the older woman had finally had enough of the man and lost her temper. To her surprise, Beka seemed to be talking calmly for once with the man, and Trance let her eyes widden in surprise. The creaking of weak floorboards sounded from the ceiling and this time Trance looked up at the rafters instead. Someone was definitely up there.

Walking past the captain, Trance wandered around a tall shelf and towards a darkened staircase that she hadn't noticed before. "Beka," she called, waiting for the other woman to look her way. When she did, Trance pointed towards the stairs. "There's something up there."

Narrowing her eyes, Beka glared at the man before grabbing her forcelance from its sheath and followed her friend up the narrow steps. When she reached the top, she could faintly make out a blue light filling the room. As she stepped closer she realized the brightness was coming from a mirror, but it wasn't the reflection that drew her attention. Instead it was the huddled figure that lay before it. Without another thought, the two ran towards the body.

"Harper!" Trance exclaimed, falling next to her friend and turning him over. Harper only looked semi-conscious at best.

"Trance," he whispered, and blinking owlishly up at her, "you're alive..."

"Harper?" Beka called as he closed his eyes, slapping him gently on the face to get his attention. The engineer turned enough for her to faintly make out a trail of dried blood running down the side of his face.

"Boss," he said, a strangled giggle escaping his mouth, "you're alive too… Home, I'm home!"

Looking up at Trance, Beka shook her head. "I think he's in shock."

She turned her attention to the young man's wound. Gently pulling back his torn shirt, Beka inspected the injury as best as she could under the circumstances. His attention once again wavered and Beka was forced to slap him gently on the cheek. "Harper, can you tell us what happened?"

Again, the only response she got was more laughing and incoherent mumbling.

"We need to get him back to the ship," Beka said quickly as she stood, but a hand grabbed her elbow and she turned to see Harper staring at her, all traces of shock gone. Instead, pain filled eyes matched her gaze.

"No, Beka," he pleaded, "you have to listen to me. Don't let Dylan go to the planet, don't let him!"

Fighting to get him to release her arm, Beka realized the kid had a death grip on the material. "I don't understand what you're talking about Harper," she tried, gently trying to pry his hand free from her shirt.

"Gyndan!" he yelled, trying to sit up, "Don't go, don't go! Please!"

Both women had to grab onto his arms to keep him from getting up, but the wound on his shoulder finally got the better of him and he collapsed backwards muttering, "Bad things… Veila… can't let it happen again." He finally seemed to have worn himself out and lay still.

Staring down in alarm, Beka let him fall back but gently caught his head before it hit the floor. Looking up, she locked eyes with Trance. "What's wrong with him? Besides the obvious of course."

Glancing down at her friend, Trance shook her head, but something told her this was much more than shock. "I don't know, Beka, but we have to get him back to the ship. Now."

~*~

Sometime later Harper awoke to find himself not on the dirty floor of an attic, but in his quarters aboard the Andromeda. Groaning and rolling to his left, Seamus managed to open one eye just enough to tell that the light levels were low enough for him to risk opening the other. Forcing himself to sit up, and using the back of the bed for support, he looked around curiously. As his eyes scanned the area, he couldn't help but smile at the thought that no other room in the universe, alternate or not, could look the way his did. He considered lying down again when the doors of his room slid open and he was greeted with the smiling face of Trance Gemini.

Instead of being happy, it only reminded him of everything that had happened. In a panic, it all came back to him. Grabbing at his injured shoulder, Harper's hands only found a thin bandage there. The pain, along with the blood, was gone now. Even the gash on his forehead was healed.

"I'm glad to see you're awake," Trance said, coming to his side and casually laying a hand on his head to see if he was warm. "Andromeda told me you were up."

She seemed satisfied that he didn't have a fever and let her hand drop to her side.

"What happened?" Harper asked, only faintly remembering his last few minutes in the alternate reality.

"We were going to ask you the same thing," a new voice said from the door and Harper turned to see Dylan standing outside. "Mind if I come in?"

When Seamus nodded, Dylan entered and made his way towards Harper's bed, looking curiously towards the engineer.

"Dylan, I know this is going to sound nuts, but you have to believe me. We can't go to…"

"Gyndan," Hunt finished. "I know."

Sitting up straighter, Harper seemed surprised. "Wha... how?"

"Well, first off, Harper, you told us not to, and secondly, the planet's leader tried to kill me two days ago," Dylan said.

"No," Harper replied, "we were on Tynna Prime two days ago."

Dylan just smiled at him and shook his head.

"We weren't on Tynna Prime two days ago?"

Captain Hunt nodded but let Trance answer his question.

"We found you three days ago, Harper," the girl said. "You've been unconscious ever since we brought you back. You were mentally and physically exhausted. I managed to treat your wound but I've kept you under sedation until late yesterday. Your shoulder might be a little sore, but it should be fine in a few days."

Rubbing his shoulder gently, he looked towards Dylan. "Tell me about Gyndan."

"Ah yes," the older man answered, entering the conversation once again. "I've been waiting to talk to you about that. When Beka and Trance brought you back, they told me everything you'd said when they first found you. We all thought it was just shock." He looked over at Trance. "I couldn't hold back the meeting with Bin Veila so we left for the Gyndan system. When we arrived, Trance convinced me to reconsider my arrangements about meeting on the planet. When Veila protested furiously about the idea, I knew something was wrong. I convinced them that the Andromeda was the best place to meet and he reluctantly agreed. Once he and his entourage arrived, they wasted no time in opening fire. Unfortunately for them, they seemed to have forgotten they were aboard an AI enhanced ship. Andromeda's internal defenses took them out in a minute flat. They didn't stand a chance."

"Veila?" Harper asked.

"Killed."

Harper closed his eyes for a moment before looking up at Trance and the High Guard officer again. "Good."

"It seems," Trance said, "that Gyndan was raided and all but destroyed by the Nietzscheans during the last days of the Commonwealth. They blamed the Commonwealth for not protecting them, even though at that time the High Guard could barely keep themselves alive. Bin Veila used the peoples' old, but still bitter feelings towards the Commonwealth to get him elected, promising to destroy the Andromeda and Dylan. Both symbols of what they hated the most."

Cez hadn't known why Veila had hated them so much, Harper realized. Just that one little piece of information could have possibly saved them all. It startled him to think of how close his friends had come to the same fate. If he hadn't been able to warn them, the same destruction could have happened all over again.

Dylan's questioning voice startled Harper out of his thoughts. "Huh?"

"How did you know about Gyndan?" Hunt asked again.

The young man paused for a moment, considering if he should even begin to explain what had happened to him.

"Lucky guess?" he tried.

"I see," the captain said, but pointed towards the healing injury on Harper's shoulder. "And that wound just magically appeared?"

"A mugging gone bad," he tried for a second time, but again, Dylan's face showed no sign of believing him.

"I'll tell you what, Mr. Harper," the older man said, turning to leave the room. "I'll give you some more time to rest and come up with a better story, and then we'll talk."

"Sure, Boss."

Dylan gently patted Harper on his good arm and left, leaving the human and female alien alone.

"Andromeda," Trance said slowly, waiting for the ship to respond, "engage privacy mode please."

"Engaged," the ship replied softly.

As Andromeda's voice faded, Trance turned her eyes toward her friend.

"Harper," she said coolly, "you know I don't believe for a second what you just told Dylan. What happened to you, really?"

Sighing, Seamus just shook his head. "You know, for all it's worth, I'm still not really sure. But one day I'll tell you. Just as soon as I can believe it myself."

"Is that all the explanation I get?" she asked with a smile.

"For now," he said.

Shaking her head, Trance gently pushed him back against his pillows, urging him to get some sleep. "I'll see you tomorrow, Harper."

Trance had only made it across the room when Harper's voice stopped her.

"Hey, Trance?" he asked.

"Yes?"

"Do you believe in causality?"

Narrowing her eyebrows, Trance hesitantly replied, "I suppose. Why?"

"No reason," he murmured softly, drifting back into a still much-needed rest.

When he didn't say anything else, Trance just left it at that. Pausing at the door, the purple creature stood watching as her friend slept peacefully, all the while wondering what he was hiding. Perhaps she would never know.

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