"What happened?"
" There was an explosion, and both you and Dylan went unconscious"
"How is he?" Harper was starting to feel guilty about the fact that he had used dangerous stuff on the machine he had been working on, when Dylan had come in.
"A mild concussion, and severe eye damage.
"How bad?"
"Well" she whispered in his ear. "he's blinded for now, but we don't know if it's permanent or not, but don't tell him that. He's under anesthesia, since I had to do some operating on his eye.
Soon, Harper, was well enough to be up and about, and he went to see Dylan, who was now awake.
"Hey boss" he said guiltily "What's up?"
"Harper?" Dylan had bandages on his eyes.
"That's me"
"Well, aside from being blinded, I' m just great."
"Look on the bright side, at least you now have an excuse to just relax"
"Thanks to you and your genius" Dylan answered sarcastically. "If you hadn't brought in those materials, none of this would have happened"
"Look boss, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for that explosion to happen,"
"No you didn't, but that does not excuse you. You had some of the most dangerous chemicals in the known worlds on MY ship, and look what happened, now I'm temporarily blinded. I'm lucky that it isn't permanent. You're going to the brig, for bringing in dangerous stuff to the Andromeda. What you did has no excuse Harper!" he was starting to get mad.
Later, Rommie, with Beka's approval, escorted him to the brig, where he spent some time.
Later, Trance gave Dylan the bad news.
"I don't think there is anything I could do with your eyes. You may be perminently blind"
Dylan just took a deep breath and said.
"Look, no offense Trance, but I'm getting a second opinion."
"Fine, but they will tell you the same thing"
And so Dylan went to several doctors, even on Sinti. They all told him the same thing. He considered the option of getting false eyes, but there were none that worked for humans.
Meanwhile, Harper had retrofit a Maria bot, to become a seeing eye bot, while Dylan stayed cooped up in his room. Then, he came up with an idea.
"Beka.." he said, when he and her were on the bridge together.
"Yes Harper" she was rather mad at him as she, like the others, blamed him for Dylan's blindness.
"What if we gave Dylan a Visor? Could he then be able to see what the ship needs by using color spectruming?
"It could work"
"Talk to him about it"
"Will do."
Some hours later, Beka went to talk to Dylan, who, as he had been, was just drinking and sitting around.
"What is it?" he asked
"Harper has an idea. Visor installed, which would use color spectruming."
"and can Mr. Harper build it"
"He has some of it in theory, but he'll need the help of some scientists and neurologists."
"I see."
However, somehow, Trance came up with a way for Dylan to combat his blindness, and that was that.
"Hey" Harper said "Why is it that the minute I find a solution, Dylan gets cured. Did you have it all along? Or just a coincidence?"
"Yes" Trance said in his mysterious fashion.
"Oh boy"
One day, during a diplomatic function on some planet called Ikan, Harper had gone outside for a breath of fresh air, when he saw corrina sneak by.
"Harper!"
"Corrina?"
"No you granma"
"Hi granma, you sure look young!"
"haha. I need to speak to you"
"Okay, but I can't get caught"
"Look, I need your help in making some parts for me?"
"for what?"
"a decoder, and hacking device"
"OH,.. well I wanna help, but I don't see, how I could get away."
"How about now? I heard the party just started."
"Too risky. I'll meet you later, as we are staying over at some hotel rooms. Meet me at the basement of the Notlin Grand."
"Will do!"
A few minutes after she left, Rommie came out. She looked great in her sleek, black dress.
"Too bad she's dressing like that for Captain Terrific and not me" he thought.
"Harper, Dylan was wondering where you were"
" I was um.. getting fresh air."
" He wants you there, mingling."
"Okay"
Later, he and Corrina met in the hotel basement, which was easy for Harper to get through as he and Beka have had to break into more secured areas during their Maru careers.
"So, how can I help ya?"
"Well, I need a machine that will help us hack into classified files. We'd also like a decoder"
"I see"
"We'd be willing to pay you"
"Sounds great, but it's one thing to give you guys little things, but to give you this big thing, that's a whoole different ball game."
"Look, you grew up on Earth, right?"
"Yeah"
"So, you know what it's like to be persecuted and enslaved"
"Check and check"
"Well, while our situation is not as bad, we are treated like second class citizens. Also, we are brutally targeted by the police to the point where 1 out of ever 10 young men and women have had harassment by the police and a good number of those have been killed by them for no apparent reason in cold blood with the police using the stupidest of excuses."
"Like the Nietzcheans on Earth!" Harper exclaimed, starting to feel some sympathy.
"In fact, my own brother was killed in this manner." she said, with some wistfulness in her voice. "That's how I joined the cause. See, the gogans, are a minority in my homeworld"
And they talked on and on, until it was almost daybreak and Harper went back to his room to sleep for a couple of hours.
Before his leaving Corrina, they gave each other contact information, and promised to try to meet again before Harper left, and then again, as soon as possible.
Fortunatly, Dylan gave everyone, but Rommie the night off, as he would be the one to talk to various government leaders during a State dinner.
So, Harper, went off and met Corrina at some bar, and they went to the back room to talk about what he could do. Fortunatly, they already had a decoder, but it just needed to be fixed. So, he, with her help, rigged it to be able to decode the newest code. After, a while, he and Corrina had dinner.
"So, tell me about yourself" she said.
"Well, I grew up on Earth, and left thanks to Beka Valentine, who was a frighter captain. I worked for her until we got Captain Hunt out of the Black hole and then we got into the whole 'restore the Commonwealth gig' "
"I see. I grew up in the Gogan quarter of Ikan. I was able to get a partial university education, but I was kicked out for my activism"
"That sucks"
"but I've been able, with many others, to do alot of good"
"I see" Harper could not help but notice had pretty Corrina looked with her eyes, which had shades of both blue and purple.
Soon, someone joined them at the table.
"Harper, this is my cousin Hikial."
"Hey."
"He is a computer systems engineer"
"Cool."
"Did you get the info from that woman?" she asked her cousin.
"Yeah"
"How?"
"Let's just say that I had to go where many had gone before"
"Yeech" was all Harper could say. "I hope the information ya got was worth it"
"It was"
While, the three continued talking, Harper started to draw plans for a hacking device. Just as he was about to finish, he saw that daybreak had come.
"Oh CRAP! I gotta go!"
"Okay. See you soon. Thanks for everything!"
And so Harper left. He was tired and knew that there was another stupid reception the whole crew, sans Tyr and Rev, who were on the ship, had to go to.
By the time he arrived, everyone else had gone, everyone else, but Dylan.
"Dylan??"
"Where the hell have you been? We have been looking for you" you."
" There was an explosion, and both you and Dylan went unconscious"
"How is he?" Harper was starting to feel guilty about the fact that he had used dangerous stuff on the machine he had been working on, when Dylan had come in.
"A mild concussion, and severe eye damage.
"How bad?"
"Well" she whispered in his ear. "he's blinded for now, but we don't know if it's permanent or not, but don't tell him that. He's under anesthesia, since I had to do some operating on his eye.
Soon, Harper, was well enough to be up and about, and he went to see Dylan, who was now awake.
"Hey boss" he said guiltily "What's up?"
"Harper?" Dylan had bandages on his eyes.
"That's me"
"Well, aside from being blinded, I' m just great."
"Look on the bright side, at least you now have an excuse to just relax"
"Thanks to you and your genius" Dylan answered sarcastically. "If you hadn't brought in those materials, none of this would have happened"
"Look boss, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for that explosion to happen,"
"No you didn't, but that does not excuse you. You had some of the most dangerous chemicals in the known worlds on MY ship, and look what happened, now I'm temporarily blinded. I'm lucky that it isn't permanent. You're going to the brig, for bringing in dangerous stuff to the Andromeda. What you did has no excuse Harper!" he was starting to get mad.
Later, Rommie, with Beka's approval, escorted him to the brig, where he spent some time.
Later, Trance gave Dylan the bad news.
"I don't think there is anything I could do with your eyes. You may be perminently blind"
Dylan just took a deep breath and said.
"Look, no offense Trance, but I'm getting a second opinion."
"Fine, but they will tell you the same thing"
And so Dylan went to several doctors, even on Sinti. They all told him the same thing. He considered the option of getting false eyes, but there were none that worked for humans.
Meanwhile, Harper had retrofit a Maria bot, to become a seeing eye bot, while Dylan stayed cooped up in his room. Then, he came up with an idea.
"Beka.." he said, when he and her were on the bridge together.
"Yes Harper" she was rather mad at him as she, like the others, blamed him for Dylan's blindness.
"What if we gave Dylan a Visor? Could he then be able to see what the ship needs by using color spectruming?
"It could work"
"Talk to him about it"
"Will do."
Some hours later, Beka went to talk to Dylan, who, as he had been, was just drinking and sitting around.
"What is it?" he asked
"Harper has an idea. Visor installed, which would use color spectruming."
"and can Mr. Harper build it"
"He has some of it in theory, but he'll need the help of some scientists and neurologists."
"I see."
However, somehow, Trance came up with a way for Dylan to combat his blindness, and that was that.
"Hey" Harper said "Why is it that the minute I find a solution, Dylan gets cured. Did you have it all along? Or just a coincidence?"
"Yes" Trance said in his mysterious fashion.
"Oh boy"
One day, during a diplomatic function on some planet called Ikan, Harper had gone outside for a breath of fresh air, when he saw corrina sneak by.
"Harper!"
"Corrina?"
"No you granma"
"Hi granma, you sure look young!"
"haha. I need to speak to you"
"Okay, but I can't get caught"
"Look, I need your help in making some parts for me?"
"for what?"
"a decoder, and hacking device"
"OH,.. well I wanna help, but I don't see, how I could get away."
"How about now? I heard the party just started."
"Too risky. I'll meet you later, as we are staying over at some hotel rooms. Meet me at the basement of the Notlin Grand."
"Will do!"
A few minutes after she left, Rommie came out. She looked great in her sleek, black dress.
"Too bad she's dressing like that for Captain Terrific and not me" he thought.
"Harper, Dylan was wondering where you were"
" I was um.. getting fresh air."
" He wants you there, mingling."
"Okay"
Later, he and Corrina met in the hotel basement, which was easy for Harper to get through as he and Beka have had to break into more secured areas during their Maru careers.
"So, how can I help ya?"
"Well, I need a machine that will help us hack into classified files. We'd also like a decoder"
"I see"
"We'd be willing to pay you"
"Sounds great, but it's one thing to give you guys little things, but to give you this big thing, that's a whoole different ball game."
"Look, you grew up on Earth, right?"
"Yeah"
"So, you know what it's like to be persecuted and enslaved"
"Check and check"
"Well, while our situation is not as bad, we are treated like second class citizens. Also, we are brutally targeted by the police to the point where 1 out of ever 10 young men and women have had harassment by the police and a good number of those have been killed by them for no apparent reason in cold blood with the police using the stupidest of excuses."
"Like the Nietzcheans on Earth!" Harper exclaimed, starting to feel some sympathy.
"In fact, my own brother was killed in this manner." she said, with some wistfulness in her voice. "That's how I joined the cause. See, the gogans, are a minority in my homeworld"
And they talked on and on, until it was almost daybreak and Harper went back to his room to sleep for a couple of hours.
Before his leaving Corrina, they gave each other contact information, and promised to try to meet again before Harper left, and then again, as soon as possible.
Fortunatly, Dylan gave everyone, but Rommie the night off, as he would be the one to talk to various government leaders during a State dinner.
So, Harper, went off and met Corrina at some bar, and they went to the back room to talk about what he could do. Fortunatly, they already had a decoder, but it just needed to be fixed. So, he, with her help, rigged it to be able to decode the newest code. After, a while, he and Corrina had dinner.
"So, tell me about yourself" she said.
"Well, I grew up on Earth, and left thanks to Beka Valentine, who was a frighter captain. I worked for her until we got Captain Hunt out of the Black hole and then we got into the whole 'restore the Commonwealth gig' "
"I see. I grew up in the Gogan quarter of Ikan. I was able to get a partial university education, but I was kicked out for my activism"
"That sucks"
"but I've been able, with many others, to do alot of good"
"I see" Harper could not help but notice had pretty Corrina looked with her eyes, which had shades of both blue and purple.
Soon, someone joined them at the table.
"Harper, this is my cousin Hikial."
"Hey."
"He is a computer systems engineer"
"Cool."
"Did you get the info from that woman?" she asked her cousin.
"Yeah"
"How?"
"Let's just say that I had to go where many had gone before"
"Yeech" was all Harper could say. "I hope the information ya got was worth it"
"It was"
While, the three continued talking, Harper started to draw plans for a hacking device. Just as he was about to finish, he saw that daybreak had come.
"Oh CRAP! I gotta go!"
"Okay. See you soon. Thanks for everything!"
And so Harper left. He was tired and knew that there was another stupid reception the whole crew, sans Tyr and Rev, who were on the ship, had to go to.
By the time he arrived, everyone else had gone, everyone else, but Dylan.
"Dylan??"
"Where the hell have you been? We have been looking for you" you."