Chapter 4
The period of time that Harper thought of as 'The Bad' began as soon as the rest of the crew returned. No sooner had the Maru docked than things started happening. Small, annoying things at first. Showers running scalding hot or freezing cold. Doors that shut suddenly. Tyr sustained a mild concussion when the machine he was using in the Gym malfunctioned.
It took a while for Dylan and the others to notice a pattern to the events, which by this time were occurring on a daily basis. Harper was run off his feet pretending to repair systems that he knew were not broken. The voice had been very insistent that he carried on as normal. It constantly hissed at him, telling him what would happen to Beka if he said anything to the others.
Harper tried very hard to please the voice, he was exhausted by this time. He was too tired to eat and kept himself going with strong coffee and frequent cans of Sparky. Beka found him slumped across the table in the galley, a can of cola clutched in his hand.
She patted him gently on the shoulder to waken him and was unprepared for the wild look in his eyes when he woke. "I'm good, I'm getting on to it." He was already standing up before he finished the sentence.
Beka put a hand on each of his shoulders and pushed him back down into his seat.
"Come on, Sport what's wrong? Andromeda's never had so many little glitches. Is there something seriously wrong with her systems?"
The sudden jolt of pain in Harper's head coincided with the lights going out and the urgent sound of a klaxon.
"Life support failure in five minutes." The unemotional voice of the ship echoed throughout the corridors and compartments of the Andromeda Ascendant.
Harper was up and running to the nearest access point. He jacked in to the main frame, the voice's maniacal laughter ringing in his ears. He raced frantically through the streams of data trying to find the corrupt file that had caused the problem. It took him exactly three minutes to delete the garbled code. He sighed with relief as he broke the connection.
"That was too easy," the voice snarled as Harper slid to the ground totally wiped out. "I will have to give you a real test next time."
The ship gradually came back to normal. Dylan was by now very concerned both at the condition of his ship and the health of his engineer.
Trance had insisted on Harper returning to the medical deck and she was busily running tests. Harper could have told her there was no point; nothing would show up on any diagnostic screens. The voice was far too clever for that.
For a few short hours all was quiet inside his head. He was able to get a little sleep and felt much better for it. He also had a secret that he hoped against hope the voice would not be able to access. Harper had found something while he was trying to stop the life support failure. It hadn't registered at the time but when he'd woken refreshed from his nap he'd realised that he'd stumbled across something that might help him fight the voice.
It had been hidden in one of the routine data files. A few lines of code that had made no sense on their own and certainly did not fit in with the rest of the file. Harper had once seen a jigsaw puzzle and that was what the fragment reminded him of. A piece of a puzzle, he only had to find the rest and all would become clear.
What excited him most was that the code was a tiny part of a holographic image. If he could find the rest he was sure he would see who was causing all the havoc on board. He had no idea why they were doing it. They must really hate Dylan and the rest of the crew. Unless, a sickening thought occurred to him. What if Dylan was the one causing all this? Who knew what effect spending 300 years in a Black Hole would have on a person? Harper shivered at the thought, then shivered again as the man he was thinking about walked on to the medical deck and came to sit by his bed.
"How are you feeling, Mr Harper?" Dylan's voice and facial expression were all sympathy. Harper was not fooled.
"Shiny, Captain." He wasn't really lying; it felt wonderful not to have the voice in his head, even if it only lasted for a short time. "In fact." He swung his legs round to get off the bed. "I'm just getting up and out of here."
Dylan shook his head. "Normally I would tell you to stay where you are for at least a few more hours but I need you to run a full diagnostic on Andromeda. There have been five more incidents while you were asleep; relays are shorting out, conduits overheating. I need you, Harper, I'm sorry." He gave the engineer a shrewd look. "Have you got any thoughts on what's causing all these problems?"
Harper shook his head mutely, the pain had returned and so had the voice.
"I'm on it, Boss." He said reaching for his tool belt.
He was heading down to the machine shop when Tyr burst through the door. The big Nietzschean was carrying an unconscious Beka. "Trance," he roared. "She's stopped breathing."
TBC veg
The period of time that Harper thought of as 'The Bad' began as soon as the rest of the crew returned. No sooner had the Maru docked than things started happening. Small, annoying things at first. Showers running scalding hot or freezing cold. Doors that shut suddenly. Tyr sustained a mild concussion when the machine he was using in the Gym malfunctioned.
It took a while for Dylan and the others to notice a pattern to the events, which by this time were occurring on a daily basis. Harper was run off his feet pretending to repair systems that he knew were not broken. The voice had been very insistent that he carried on as normal. It constantly hissed at him, telling him what would happen to Beka if he said anything to the others.
Harper tried very hard to please the voice, he was exhausted by this time. He was too tired to eat and kept himself going with strong coffee and frequent cans of Sparky. Beka found him slumped across the table in the galley, a can of cola clutched in his hand.
She patted him gently on the shoulder to waken him and was unprepared for the wild look in his eyes when he woke. "I'm good, I'm getting on to it." He was already standing up before he finished the sentence.
Beka put a hand on each of his shoulders and pushed him back down into his seat.
"Come on, Sport what's wrong? Andromeda's never had so many little glitches. Is there something seriously wrong with her systems?"
The sudden jolt of pain in Harper's head coincided with the lights going out and the urgent sound of a klaxon.
"Life support failure in five minutes." The unemotional voice of the ship echoed throughout the corridors and compartments of the Andromeda Ascendant.
Harper was up and running to the nearest access point. He jacked in to the main frame, the voice's maniacal laughter ringing in his ears. He raced frantically through the streams of data trying to find the corrupt file that had caused the problem. It took him exactly three minutes to delete the garbled code. He sighed with relief as he broke the connection.
"That was too easy," the voice snarled as Harper slid to the ground totally wiped out. "I will have to give you a real test next time."
The ship gradually came back to normal. Dylan was by now very concerned both at the condition of his ship and the health of his engineer.
Trance had insisted on Harper returning to the medical deck and she was busily running tests. Harper could have told her there was no point; nothing would show up on any diagnostic screens. The voice was far too clever for that.
For a few short hours all was quiet inside his head. He was able to get a little sleep and felt much better for it. He also had a secret that he hoped against hope the voice would not be able to access. Harper had found something while he was trying to stop the life support failure. It hadn't registered at the time but when he'd woken refreshed from his nap he'd realised that he'd stumbled across something that might help him fight the voice.
It had been hidden in one of the routine data files. A few lines of code that had made no sense on their own and certainly did not fit in with the rest of the file. Harper had once seen a jigsaw puzzle and that was what the fragment reminded him of. A piece of a puzzle, he only had to find the rest and all would become clear.
What excited him most was that the code was a tiny part of a holographic image. If he could find the rest he was sure he would see who was causing all the havoc on board. He had no idea why they were doing it. They must really hate Dylan and the rest of the crew. Unless, a sickening thought occurred to him. What if Dylan was the one causing all this? Who knew what effect spending 300 years in a Black Hole would have on a person? Harper shivered at the thought, then shivered again as the man he was thinking about walked on to the medical deck and came to sit by his bed.
"How are you feeling, Mr Harper?" Dylan's voice and facial expression were all sympathy. Harper was not fooled.
"Shiny, Captain." He wasn't really lying; it felt wonderful not to have the voice in his head, even if it only lasted for a short time. "In fact." He swung his legs round to get off the bed. "I'm just getting up and out of here."
Dylan shook his head. "Normally I would tell you to stay where you are for at least a few more hours but I need you to run a full diagnostic on Andromeda. There have been five more incidents while you were asleep; relays are shorting out, conduits overheating. I need you, Harper, I'm sorry." He gave the engineer a shrewd look. "Have you got any thoughts on what's causing all these problems?"
Harper shook his head mutely, the pain had returned and so had the voice.
"I'm on it, Boss." He said reaching for his tool belt.
He was heading down to the machine shop when Tyr burst through the door. The big Nietzschean was carrying an unconscious Beka. "Trance," he roared. "She's stopped breathing."
TBC veg