Chapter
Three: Split Ends
Harper's hands gripped the yokes of the MARU so tightly, his knuckles were
bleaching white. Flying through slipstream without any cares to safety, he took
every risk he could get away with. Daring the universe to smack him down once
more and beating it at its own game was extremely thrilling, and helped him
vent a good portion of his anger.
He could see why Beka had become such a good pilot. With everything stressful
that had been going on, she must have gotten a lot of practice.
"Harper, have you been taking flying lessons from Beka?" Sounded like
she was teasing, but Harper didn't care.
"Why did I have to go on this mission?" Harper snapped. Obviously, he
hadn't quite vented enough... "You could have taken Beka. Seems like that
would have been better for everyone concerned."
"I didn't mean to--"
Suddenly he realized who he was talking to: Trance. Harper groaned, exiting
slipstream, and pulling around to face her. "I know, Trance.
I'm...sorry." But then he reminded himself that she wasn't Trance any more
-- not his best friend. She was a monster in Trance costume. But if that were
true, why did he feel so terrible about upsetting her?
Trance looked right in his eyes, and Harper turned his head away. That didn't
seem right. She almost never met anyone else's gaze. Well, his Trance never
did, anyway.
Trance was his own personal version of Satan's robot, cold, fierce, and
painfully annoying. She was the thorn in his side, the straw that broke the
droid's back. She was the plague. And there was nothing he could do to escape
her.
~~~
"I don't know why either of us are here, except that Dylan sent us,"
Trance told him, and she wasn't exactly lying. Not about everything. "I
didn't ask to come."
Harper said nothing, and Trance stared into him, trying to see what was hurting
him inside. The way he snapped at her was a cry for help, she thought, and she
meant to answer that cry. Somehow.
Boldness was something her youth had lacked, but now she felt it was required.
"Why do you have such a problem with me?" she asked quietly, averting
her gaze.
"Because you aren't her!" he exclaimed, slamming his fist into the
arm of the slip chair. "You aren't my friend," Harper growled with
his back to her. "I never knew you, and I don't want to know you."
Trance watched him, a blank expression hiding the pain she felt inside. He had
no idea how much that hurt, but it didn't matter. She knew what was wrong.
~~~
Harper glared at the control panels in front of him, burning from Trance's
question. Taking the yokes firmly in both hands, he prepared to re-enter
slipstream. The sooner the mission was over, the sooner he could get away from
her.
He couldn't explain why he was so angry, nor did he try. But every word she
spoke, and every move she made felt like an attack. No, he didn't feel that she
was a threat to him, but that woman was threatening everything he had known
about his Trance. It shook the very foundation of everything he remembered, and
reminded him how little he had actually known about the girl. He hated that
too.
Sure, he didn't know much, and what he had discovered was vague and undefined,
but at least it was something. And now this gold person was threatening that
sliver of knowledge, and his memories of the way Trance had been.
Neither of them spoke again, and the tension continued to build. When the MARU
finally exited slipstream for the last time, Harper was ready to escape.
"Look, I don't know about you, but I bet this mission would go a lot
smoother --not to mention faster-- if we split up," he said quickly, then
climbing out of his chair. "So I guess I'll see ya later. Have fun
shopping, Goldie," Harper finished. Not giving Trance a chance to protest,
he made a mad dash for the docking port, and scrambled onto Luzmaria Drift.
Finally, he was alone.
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Okee, short, short chapter, I know… Hehe. The next one will be up soon after I get a few more reviews, promise! Hehe. Thanks for reading!