Coming to Terms
Chapter five - Unexpected Comfort
AkaJipster - thank you, I am glad that people are enjoying this, I had a good time putting the characters voices into my head! I have this habit of hearing voices in my head as I write, Harper wouldn't shut the hell up! Parisindy - More? Not much left now - I was thinking about sticking a Harper POV on the end of it all but I keep thinking better of it. What do you think? Rommiesvoice - 'What's it with my brain today?' was what I have been thinking of late. Thank you twice. Drakcir - Continue? If you so wish! Shaz - Indeed, I did notice about the companion. Thanks for the belated birthday wishes and for the compliments, I find it hard to take such praise. *Bows* I was a little unsure about the 'significantly uncomfortable' conversation for a while but I left it in, I'm glad you liked it.
~*~*~
When Harper was finished with his first set of repairs on the 'Andromeda', he was grabbed by Tyr to do some work on the Maru, he was glad to be off the battle ship and away from the lingering scent of the Magog. On the small quiet ship he was able to get away from people too so that he could be alone for a while. He was lying on his back running some repairs, a yawn raked his body and the tool fell from his grasp as he slipped into a fitful sleep.
The nightmares assailed his defenceless mind after about an hour and a half, he awoke screaming, thrashing at the invisible foes. When he knew he was awake, he sat with his back against the wall panting for a while, trying to calm himself down. 'Funny, I didn't even know I was asleep.' He sat forward so that his head was rested on his up raised knees his mind trying to gain some sense of normality. 'Normality, what a joke!'
"Are you down there little man?"
The question made him jump slightly; he sighed and nodded to himself 'Focus Seamus, focus.' "What? Uh . yeah,"
"'Uh . yeah'?"
"That's it mock away."
Tyr crawled slowly towards him, his bigger size making for a difficult trip unlike Harper's lithe form; the engineer took up his tool again and started to work again. "I tried to contact you, you must have been busy." He nodded slightly to the Nietzschean's comment; he was aware of how scruffy his hair looked, making it clear that he had been asleep. "As a child my mother used to tell me stories of great warriors that used to fight away nightmares."
The look to the human's eyes was cynical and slightly confused, clearly Tyr knew he had been sleeping. "Oh and who is stupid enough to go chasing the Magog?" He questioned, "And it won't work anyway, nothing really does."
"So what do you plan to do? Snatch hours when you are most tired?"
"If I can do that!"
The snap echoed slightly, a pause slipped into the air between the two for a long moment. "I'd fight the Magog." Tyr told him proudly, Harper looked towards the strong being with something of a question on his face. "They're just like anything else ."
"Everything else doesn't go around infesting people."
Tyr ignored what he said easily, "They can be killed like anything else." Harper yawned out of his sleepiness; his head still clung to the snatches of sleep he had been getting. "The Magog are not unbeatable, without a kill they will digest their internal organs; shoot one and they will die."
"No ones ever survived an infestation!"
"I did,"
This caught Harper and he fell silent again; Tyr was thinking about what to say next as the engineer still worked. "What would you do if some unknown invaded 'Andromeda'?"
The unusual nature of the question drew Harper's gaze before it returned to the panel and he shrugged slightly. "I don't know, same as usual, I'd try to help." He attempted unsure of why he was being asked. "I'd fix the bigger things that go wrong."
"You'd try to ensure our survival?"
"Hmm . yeah I guess."
Tyr had the human in the metaphorical corner he had been aiming for in his conversation. "But surely it would be easier to die when the ship blows up rather then by some other means." He suggested simply, clearly he knew of Harper's suicide attempt and Harper wondered if anyone had not heard. "Just let the ship blow up,"
Harper looked at him, "But that'd kill everyone, guilt on my soul and all that stuff."
"Do you not think that it kills those you know to see you so defeated?"
Harper's gaze snapped back up to the taller beings maddeningly calm gaze. Tyr was right of course, it was starting to affect everyone around Harper to see him so hopeless. "What do you want me to do? I can't see how it can be done." 'I don't see the hope you all do.'
"I want you to accept that there could be a way, a thin chance which is made better by one who can seemingly manipulate the odds."
"Why can't anyone accept the inevitable? This is a hopeless situation - if it weren't for that drug I'd be dead all ready!"
Tyr caught the error in Harper's phrasing, "The drug discovered by Trance with help from Rev Bem, pausing your inevitable situation and giving you more time." He looked to what Harper was working on, wondering just what the engineer was doing re-soldering the same unit more then twice. "I have learnt on this ship that things are never impossible, just improbable."
"When you've been fed that a certain number of times you stop hearing it."
"She can be an annoying creature but Trance may be right in this case."
"So your figuring that because you were able to be treated the same applies to a weak Human with an immune deficiency?" Something struck Harper, a startling revelation that he should not have had pouncing on him in the dark corridor. "You feel guilty don't you?"
"For what? Being stronger then you are?"
"No, for being able to be cured."
Tyr shook his head, looking into Harper's exhausted face. "No," He told him simply. "Why feel guilt over a situation that cannot be changed?" Harper nodded slightly, Tyr was right again. "Especially when you know that something can be done for 'the weak human with an immune deficiency'."
~*~*~
Chapter five - Unexpected Comfort
AkaJipster - thank you, I am glad that people are enjoying this, I had a good time putting the characters voices into my head! I have this habit of hearing voices in my head as I write, Harper wouldn't shut the hell up! Parisindy - More? Not much left now - I was thinking about sticking a Harper POV on the end of it all but I keep thinking better of it. What do you think? Rommiesvoice - 'What's it with my brain today?' was what I have been thinking of late. Thank you twice. Drakcir - Continue? If you so wish! Shaz - Indeed, I did notice about the companion. Thanks for the belated birthday wishes and for the compliments, I find it hard to take such praise. *Bows* I was a little unsure about the 'significantly uncomfortable' conversation for a while but I left it in, I'm glad you liked it.
~*~*~
When Harper was finished with his first set of repairs on the 'Andromeda', he was grabbed by Tyr to do some work on the Maru, he was glad to be off the battle ship and away from the lingering scent of the Magog. On the small quiet ship he was able to get away from people too so that he could be alone for a while. He was lying on his back running some repairs, a yawn raked his body and the tool fell from his grasp as he slipped into a fitful sleep.
The nightmares assailed his defenceless mind after about an hour and a half, he awoke screaming, thrashing at the invisible foes. When he knew he was awake, he sat with his back against the wall panting for a while, trying to calm himself down. 'Funny, I didn't even know I was asleep.' He sat forward so that his head was rested on his up raised knees his mind trying to gain some sense of normality. 'Normality, what a joke!'
"Are you down there little man?"
The question made him jump slightly; he sighed and nodded to himself 'Focus Seamus, focus.' "What? Uh . yeah,"
"'Uh . yeah'?"
"That's it mock away."
Tyr crawled slowly towards him, his bigger size making for a difficult trip unlike Harper's lithe form; the engineer took up his tool again and started to work again. "I tried to contact you, you must have been busy." He nodded slightly to the Nietzschean's comment; he was aware of how scruffy his hair looked, making it clear that he had been asleep. "As a child my mother used to tell me stories of great warriors that used to fight away nightmares."
The look to the human's eyes was cynical and slightly confused, clearly Tyr knew he had been sleeping. "Oh and who is stupid enough to go chasing the Magog?" He questioned, "And it won't work anyway, nothing really does."
"So what do you plan to do? Snatch hours when you are most tired?"
"If I can do that!"
The snap echoed slightly, a pause slipped into the air between the two for a long moment. "I'd fight the Magog." Tyr told him proudly, Harper looked towards the strong being with something of a question on his face. "They're just like anything else ."
"Everything else doesn't go around infesting people."
Tyr ignored what he said easily, "They can be killed like anything else." Harper yawned out of his sleepiness; his head still clung to the snatches of sleep he had been getting. "The Magog are not unbeatable, without a kill they will digest their internal organs; shoot one and they will die."
"No ones ever survived an infestation!"
"I did,"
This caught Harper and he fell silent again; Tyr was thinking about what to say next as the engineer still worked. "What would you do if some unknown invaded 'Andromeda'?"
The unusual nature of the question drew Harper's gaze before it returned to the panel and he shrugged slightly. "I don't know, same as usual, I'd try to help." He attempted unsure of why he was being asked. "I'd fix the bigger things that go wrong."
"You'd try to ensure our survival?"
"Hmm . yeah I guess."
Tyr had the human in the metaphorical corner he had been aiming for in his conversation. "But surely it would be easier to die when the ship blows up rather then by some other means." He suggested simply, clearly he knew of Harper's suicide attempt and Harper wondered if anyone had not heard. "Just let the ship blow up,"
Harper looked at him, "But that'd kill everyone, guilt on my soul and all that stuff."
"Do you not think that it kills those you know to see you so defeated?"
Harper's gaze snapped back up to the taller beings maddeningly calm gaze. Tyr was right of course, it was starting to affect everyone around Harper to see him so hopeless. "What do you want me to do? I can't see how it can be done." 'I don't see the hope you all do.'
"I want you to accept that there could be a way, a thin chance which is made better by one who can seemingly manipulate the odds."
"Why can't anyone accept the inevitable? This is a hopeless situation - if it weren't for that drug I'd be dead all ready!"
Tyr caught the error in Harper's phrasing, "The drug discovered by Trance with help from Rev Bem, pausing your inevitable situation and giving you more time." He looked to what Harper was working on, wondering just what the engineer was doing re-soldering the same unit more then twice. "I have learnt on this ship that things are never impossible, just improbable."
"When you've been fed that a certain number of times you stop hearing it."
"She can be an annoying creature but Trance may be right in this case."
"So your figuring that because you were able to be treated the same applies to a weak Human with an immune deficiency?" Something struck Harper, a startling revelation that he should not have had pouncing on him in the dark corridor. "You feel guilty don't you?"
"For what? Being stronger then you are?"
"No, for being able to be cured."
Tyr shook his head, looking into Harper's exhausted face. "No," He told him simply. "Why feel guilt over a situation that cannot be changed?" Harper nodded slightly, Tyr was right again. "Especially when you know that something can be done for 'the weak human with an immune deficiency'."
~*~*~