Chapter 2
He loved entering the hidden world of the Andromeda Ascendant. All her secrets were laid bare to his eyes. Twinkling blue data streams, binary threads meandering through and across the dark corridors that were the essence of the warship.
He had often wondered if everybody with a data port saw things the same way that he did. He felt that it was probably a personal thing. The information would be the same but the way an individual viewed it would be very different.
Harper saw corridors and rooms, some with locked doors some wide open. Some of the corridors were short and brightly lit, others dark and seemingly stretching to infinity. As he explored more and more of the pathways lit up. Doors opened to previously unvisited rooms. His senses were assailed by new data every time he jacked in.
He was a little wary of opening some of the locked areas since his experience with the Andromeda backup that had led the ship to the confrontation with the Magog. He always checked and double-checked. Belt and braces his father used to say. Harper had built secure firewalls around some of the memory areas; there were things in the ship's past that were too sensitive, things that the ship herself did not want accessed. He'd always made sure that the information wasn't needed for the successful running of the vessel. He had been amazed to discover that Andromeda had her personal secrets. He respected her privacy; she was a lady after all. He was however, amused when he realised that she had been in love with every one of her Captains. Harper had punched the air with glee when he discovered that little snippet. "Yah boo, sucks to you, Dylan Hunt." He'd shouted childishly.
The morning everything changed had started like any other. Multiple caffeine intake, waffles with syrup for breakfast and a long leisurely stroll down Andromeda's data pathways. He had gone further than ever before and found himself in an intricate maze of binary code. It was fun trying to work his way through them at first, however, things soon turned sinister. He was entangled and unable to get out. What was even scarier was that he was unable to return his virtual self to his real body. Usually he just had to think it and he was out. He looked around for the holographic representation of the ship. She would help him. He thought he could see her out of the corner of his eye but every time he looked directly at her she disappeared. This was not good; this was so very not good that it was bad.
"Er Rommie." He tried tentatively. "Wanna give me a hand here, the Harper is good but even he has his limits." She ignored him and walked away. He managed to burst free of the entwining strings of binary and follow her.
She led him deeper into the ship's mind than he had ever been before. He'd lost all track of real time long ago. He could have been in there minutes or hours, he had no idea. He didn't feel hunger, thirst or pain in his virtual body. Not always a good thing.
Eventually Rommie stopped. In front of Harper was what he could only describe as a nexus. It shimmered like mother of pearl. Opalescent, beautiful but somehow obscene and evil at the same time. He reached out to touch it. The next instant he was slammed back into his real body, not before he had caught a glimpse of extreme evil. An evil so great that he knew he had to stop it or die. It made him shudder to think about it. The worse thing was that he had the impression that a member of the Andromeda's crew had put it there.
Harper wondered why it hadn't killed him outright. Just a little accident, the others would have mourned for a while then they would have found another engineer. One who didn't poke about and pry.
It was then that the voices in his head started. They had hardly been voices to start with. More like mutterings, as if someone was talking indistinctly across a crowded room. As time passed they began to get clearer. The clearer the voices became the more Harper's head ached.
When Beka found him in the machine shop he was almost able to make out words. By the time he reached his quarters the words were crystal clear. There were two voices and they seemed to be arguing with each other. One wanted to kill him the other wanted to use him. He felt that he would go mad if they didn't stop then none of it would matter. Then as suddenly as they'd appeared the voices left. Harper lay on his bed totally drained. His sheets were wet with sweat and he felt ill and very sad.
A few minutes later there was a tap on the door. He activated it automatically and Beka walked in, a tray of food in her hand. Sometime during that dreadful argument Harper had come to a decision. He was going to try to act normally and find out who had perpetrated the horror. He still didn't know what it intended to do but he did know that it was pure evil.
"Hi, Beka no need to do that, I could have come to the galley. I'm feeling a lot better." He smiled lopsidedly. "I'm good, honest."
"Why don't I believe a word of that?" Beka took in the reddened eyes the pale skin. "Why is it Harper that when you look like crap you always say that you're good? You are most certainly not good." She put the tray down. "Go take a shower, I'm gonna change these sheets, then you are going to eat this food and go back to bed and sleep for a straight eight. Acting Captain's orders." She smirked.
Harper did as he was told. Beka had added a mild sedative to his juice, so he slept despite himself. His sleep was dreamless and refreshing but when he woke the next morning all the horror returned and so did one of the voices.
TBC
He loved entering the hidden world of the Andromeda Ascendant. All her secrets were laid bare to his eyes. Twinkling blue data streams, binary threads meandering through and across the dark corridors that were the essence of the warship.
He had often wondered if everybody with a data port saw things the same way that he did. He felt that it was probably a personal thing. The information would be the same but the way an individual viewed it would be very different.
Harper saw corridors and rooms, some with locked doors some wide open. Some of the corridors were short and brightly lit, others dark and seemingly stretching to infinity. As he explored more and more of the pathways lit up. Doors opened to previously unvisited rooms. His senses were assailed by new data every time he jacked in.
He was a little wary of opening some of the locked areas since his experience with the Andromeda backup that had led the ship to the confrontation with the Magog. He always checked and double-checked. Belt and braces his father used to say. Harper had built secure firewalls around some of the memory areas; there were things in the ship's past that were too sensitive, things that the ship herself did not want accessed. He'd always made sure that the information wasn't needed for the successful running of the vessel. He had been amazed to discover that Andromeda had her personal secrets. He respected her privacy; she was a lady after all. He was however, amused when he realised that she had been in love with every one of her Captains. Harper had punched the air with glee when he discovered that little snippet. "Yah boo, sucks to you, Dylan Hunt." He'd shouted childishly.
The morning everything changed had started like any other. Multiple caffeine intake, waffles with syrup for breakfast and a long leisurely stroll down Andromeda's data pathways. He had gone further than ever before and found himself in an intricate maze of binary code. It was fun trying to work his way through them at first, however, things soon turned sinister. He was entangled and unable to get out. What was even scarier was that he was unable to return his virtual self to his real body. Usually he just had to think it and he was out. He looked around for the holographic representation of the ship. She would help him. He thought he could see her out of the corner of his eye but every time he looked directly at her she disappeared. This was not good; this was so very not good that it was bad.
"Er Rommie." He tried tentatively. "Wanna give me a hand here, the Harper is good but even he has his limits." She ignored him and walked away. He managed to burst free of the entwining strings of binary and follow her.
She led him deeper into the ship's mind than he had ever been before. He'd lost all track of real time long ago. He could have been in there minutes or hours, he had no idea. He didn't feel hunger, thirst or pain in his virtual body. Not always a good thing.
Eventually Rommie stopped. In front of Harper was what he could only describe as a nexus. It shimmered like mother of pearl. Opalescent, beautiful but somehow obscene and evil at the same time. He reached out to touch it. The next instant he was slammed back into his real body, not before he had caught a glimpse of extreme evil. An evil so great that he knew he had to stop it or die. It made him shudder to think about it. The worse thing was that he had the impression that a member of the Andromeda's crew had put it there.
Harper wondered why it hadn't killed him outright. Just a little accident, the others would have mourned for a while then they would have found another engineer. One who didn't poke about and pry.
It was then that the voices in his head started. They had hardly been voices to start with. More like mutterings, as if someone was talking indistinctly across a crowded room. As time passed they began to get clearer. The clearer the voices became the more Harper's head ached.
When Beka found him in the machine shop he was almost able to make out words. By the time he reached his quarters the words were crystal clear. There were two voices and they seemed to be arguing with each other. One wanted to kill him the other wanted to use him. He felt that he would go mad if they didn't stop then none of it would matter. Then as suddenly as they'd appeared the voices left. Harper lay on his bed totally drained. His sheets were wet with sweat and he felt ill and very sad.
A few minutes later there was a tap on the door. He activated it automatically and Beka walked in, a tray of food in her hand. Sometime during that dreadful argument Harper had come to a decision. He was going to try to act normally and find out who had perpetrated the horror. He still didn't know what it intended to do but he did know that it was pure evil.
"Hi, Beka no need to do that, I could have come to the galley. I'm feeling a lot better." He smiled lopsidedly. "I'm good, honest."
"Why don't I believe a word of that?" Beka took in the reddened eyes the pale skin. "Why is it Harper that when you look like crap you always say that you're good? You are most certainly not good." She put the tray down. "Go take a shower, I'm gonna change these sheets, then you are going to eat this food and go back to bed and sleep for a straight eight. Acting Captain's orders." She smirked.
Harper did as he was told. Beka had added a mild sedative to his juice, so he slept despite himself. His sleep was dreamless and refreshing but when he woke the next morning all the horror returned and so did one of the voices.
TBC