A/N: Well, guys, this is it. The last update for Survival Instincts. I hoped you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thanks for all the kind reviews! They really do make my day...heck, week even. Shutting up now so you can read.;)
Chapter 36
The snickering of the guards fell away as the cell floor rushed up towards him. He hit the cold barren floor hard, aggravating his already broken ribs. Harper peered up at the intimidating ubers standing above his cell. He had to squint through his swollen black eye to see them grinning with glee at the bloody mess they made of the weak captured kludge - my, how brave and fearless they must be. Harper gave them his best evil eye before he had to spit up some of his life fluid on the floor. They answered by slamming the hatch shut and sauntering away. From the distance, Harper could just make out their voices. "Did you see the look in his eyes when I tasered his dataport!? Oh man, that was a classic!" Uproarious laughter filled the cell block.
It had only been a week since the crew had left him and this had been the routine for every day of that week. The ubers came for him, took him up above and played with him until they were bored. The best times for Harper was when they whipped him. Harper's sick manically laughter got louder with each numb strike against his back and with each frustrated grunt from the annoyed warden. What the poor ignorant ubers didn't know was that they were last in line on the torture of Seamus Harper. Due to all the previous clients, all Harper could feel of the whip was the nice breeze it created by his face. He laughed harder every day they tried.
Harper cradled his aching ribs and stomach as he rose to his knees. His comfy corner looked so far away. He imagined himself having to cross a great desert, then a mighty raging river just to reach that dark shadowed corner. It was too far for his aching body so he resigned himself to his current location.
He painstakingly turned on his back and laid diagonally across the tiny cell. His toes rested up against the cool wall as his head leaned up against the crook of his corner. The coolness of the metal floor acted as an ice pack for all his wounds, even the ones he couldn't feel. As he felt the iciness on his bruised arms, he realized he was collecting more scars from these amateurish torturers, but after a second of thought he accepted that it didn't bother him so much. What were a few more scars when you were already covered in them?
Harper laid back and watched the dust particles float in the few light beams that broke through the grated ceiling. He watched the specks danced around and sparkled as if they dreamed of being stars one day. Bright, giant, powerful stars. He could relate to those tiny dust particles.
He laid there and waited, waited for the next day to come and waited to see the shinny faces of the ubers to greet him good morning. Laying there all night, he just watched the wanna-be stars danced in their tiny universe. He didn't even sleep anymore. He couldn't face the nightmares of slumber, not when they were beginning to chase him down during his waking hours as well.
The next morning never came as time forgot about Seamus Harper. The ubers never showed their ugly faces, Harper was never dragged out his cell, and never beaten. He was simply forgotten about. As time stretched on, he realized the warden was smarter than he seemed. They hadn't forgotten about him, they were protecting themselves from both their pride and the Commonwealth. They knew no one could find out about their sessions with him, and they knew he couldn't tell anyone. The second they found out he snitched they would kill him or make him wish he was dead.
Right now the timeless nothingness was making him wish the same thing. He'd shift positions a few times, have a few conversations with Stain Beka, calculate new theories on everything from weapons, to the new art of toe racing, and to quantum mechanics and dark matter. Excitement over all his new inventions he came up with kept his mind off of the demonic sandman that had finally managed to track him down. Sleep overtook him and his nightmarish past roared into his consciousness. His voice was getting horse from waking up screaming all the time.
There was one event that was the highlight of his day, if they were days, they might have been the highlight of his week for all Harper knew. The event was feeding time. Guards would stroll by, pour down a cup of water into the cells, and throw down crumbs of stale bread. Harper was indeed getting the special treatment Dylan had demanded. His bread had more protein in it than before, of course that protean was in the form of mold and fungus. Gotta love uber logic.
Sitting in his corner, Harper was calculating pie when it hit him. This really wasn't too bad. The ubers left him alone, he wasn't being chased around the galaxy by mad men trying to kill him, there were no magog around for light years and he wasn't having to hunt down dirty rats and eat them raw to survive. Prison life was good. Plus he got all the peace and quite he wanted, couldn't get that on the Andromeda. "See Beka, piece of cake," he smirked to Stain Beka. The smirk transformed into a smile as he saw her wink at him.
One day, if it was a day, maybe it was night, Harper jerked awake. But this time it he didn't wake up screaming from his past, but rather from a sound which roused him from his slumber. A familiar sound that he truly never thought he would ever hear again.
A stampede of footsteps heading towards his little corner of life.
He stared up in wonder at the soon to be filled view above.
They came back for him...they actually came back.
Thoughts flew through his mind: Were they here to take him home? Had it been a year? Where they here to tell him they weren't coming back? That he hurt them too much? That they wanted to kill him?
His fingers found the tattered edge of his pants legs and began to fidget furiously. His eyes never leaving the still empty view above.
Finally, after an eternity, the hatch hissed open and for a second a blonde blur appeared above him. He blinked. Feet landed before him and within seconds there crouched down in front of him was the embodiment of Stain Beka. No. Harper shook his head. It was the real Beka.
"We're baaaack," she charmed as she raced over towards him. Well as much racing as one can do in a three foot cell if one is not a toe.
Harper, still unsure of what their intention was, quickly scurried farther back into his corner, pushing his back up against the wall, trying desperately to phase through the solid metal.
Noticing Harper's deer trapped in headlight look, Beka quickly backtracked. "Hey, Seamus, it's me, Beka. Remember? Come on, it's only been a month...please remember...please."
He stared into her face, her eyes held such a sadness mixed with a pinch of hope. Her voice from the past spoke to his mind. 'I don't wanna be greeted by that quite lost stranger we found here earlier.' 'Just remember that I love you Seamus Harper and that I always will.' He desperately shoveled through the overwhelming emotions that piled up in his mind. The panic he saw growing in Beka's eyes made him shovel faster.
"Come on Shorty. Please don't do this to me...please don't be gone again...p-please..." Tears cut off her begging.
Harper kept shoveling and staring. He watched as the first tear slowly rolled down the smooth line of her face and fell the hard ground below. The tear hit the ground with an overpowering roar that toppled down Harper's emotional trash pile. The shovel fell from his hands as the roar had cleared away all that he didn't need to see or feel. All he saw now was his Beka in pain and he knew what to do.
Jumping up from his corner, he rushed Beka and enveloped her in a giant Harper hug. "Beka, shhh, don't cry," he whispered in her ear. But Beka didn't listen to him as he felt his shoulder getting wetter and wetter. Quickly he pulled back so he could see her face, his hands never letting go of her trembling shoulders. He was shocked at what he saw.
Under the tearing eyes lived a huge glowing smile that lit up Beka's gorgeous features. Even with a redden runny nose and swollen watering eyes, that smile made her look like a goddess. "Oh Harper!" She screamed as she pulled him back into a tight hug.
The hug never ended as Beka maneuvered next to him, making sure to always keep one arm around her engineer as to not loose him in the giant cell they occupied. During her visit, Beka regaled Harper with their short battle with the Pythos and of the bizarre ending. Apparently the new alpha held Andromeda in great respect for allowing him to rise to power. He never did like Galaver, annoying twit was how he described him, and was grateful that the man no longer wasted any precious oxygen. With their joint hate, Dylan easily negotiated a seize fire using the one favor the new alpha said he owned them. The Nietzschean was quite confused as to why they would want to use that favor to free a world full of annoying intellects but he just excepted it as kludge stupidity as he piloted his fleet off to some other poor planet to bully. Beka told Harper that afterwards the Perseids were so grateful that they lent the Andromeda a whole engineering team to help while Harper was, as the chin heads put it, indisposed. Harper howled at Beka's response to having a handful of chin heads roaming the ship day and night. At least he knew his job wasn't in jeopardy.
Knowing that there were four other people standing up above them that wanted to see Harper, Beka kept her visit short. "We'll be here all week. We figure we'd each spend a day with you alone, you know bonding time. I'll be here bright and early tomorrow morning." She smiled. "Is that okay?"
Still being much quieter than he used to be, Harper simply nodded.
A look of worry flashed across Beka's face at the silent answer, but she quickly covered it up. "Good." She looked longingly at her absent little brother. "Oh, Harper I've missed you so much." She pulled him into a hug one last time before she jumped up and vanished through the hole above.
The rest of the crew came down to see him one by one. During the whole day, Harper could hear the ubers up above sighing with annoyance and could hear their feet constantly shifting under their mass of bored weight. Harper could already feel the next shocks from the taser burning through his body.
Up above Tyr looked on in his normal stoic manner, taking in every tiny detail from the antsy fidgeting of the annoyed guards to the busies that lined their fists. Walking through the prison, Tyr had taken a good look at the other prisoners and noted the majority had fresh ugly bruises. 'If they touched Harper...' Tyr growled in his mind as his fists tightened and his bone blades quivered with anger.
Tyr's rage was interrupted when a medical bag was tossed out of the cell only to be followed by one mysterious golden alien. "Well, he's now loaded with nanobots and medicine galore, but his stomach may still be on the empty side." She tossed Dylan the bag of food they brought for him. Dylan frowned as he felt the weight of the bag. Almost nothing was missing. "He only ate half a sandwich if you were wondering." Trance gave Dylan a sympathetic look.
"I'm sure he'll come around," Dylan said trying to comfort everyone including himself. He then turned to Tyr who was scowling behind him as always. "Your turn, that is if you want."
Tyr marched past Dylan while staring the equally large man down, and hopped down into the rakish cell.
Harper was in his corner still looking as pathetic as ever. "Mr. Harper," Tyr acknowledged.
Harper nodded in response and forced a small smile on his otherwise miserable face.
Tyr squatted down and took in the whole experience in hopes of understanding what the human's life had been like this past month. One glaring detail caught his intuitive eye almost immediately. "I see they are treating you well," he said in a monotone as he contractively pointed out the new blood stains on Harper's tattered sleeve.
The human's eyes widened in panic as he glanced down at the clue that gave his hell away. Quickly he covered up the bloody stains with his other arm which unfortunately had even more blood stains on it. Looking down, Harper saw his flawed cover up effort. "Typical," he whispered.
"They are dead men," Tyr growled in a hushed voice as he closed in on Harper in order to keep any certain soon to be dead ubers from overhearing.
Harper grabbed Tyr's nearby arm. "No, please, don't."
Tyr looked questionably at the hurt man before him. "Boy, what's wrong with you. They hurt you and I'm just going to politely inform them what happens when commit such an act."
"No, please." Harper stared at Tyr with such a powerful look that words could not describe. His eyes were doing the talking this time. "I can take it," he whispered with his jaw clenched, his eyes never blinking as they continued to speak to Tyr.
And Tyr heard loud and clear. He knew what Harper meant. The boy would be in for a world of hurt or possibly death before they could get him out or get a change of guards. He looked back at the survivor that crouched before him. 'That boy has Nietzschean blood in him.' Stoically Tyr nodded in reply, but internally he was wearing a proud smile. "I understand, but you need to understand that they will get what's coming to them, in say, a little under a year." He winked and gave a small sample of his evil I-love-pain grin.
Somehow, that grin magically jumped the space in-between the two men and appeared on Harper's face. "I like your thinking," he whispered back.
The Kodak stayed down in the cell a bit longer telling Harper exactly how annoy a group of Perseids can really be and how the magnificent Hunt keeps flying them into danger at every opportunity. After the stories were told and Tyr got a laugh or two out of the depressed man, he patted Harper on the shoulder. "You are a survivor Seamus Zealanzy Harper." He flashed as rare true smile and, like all the others, vanished through the temporary opening above.
***********
The week passed quickly for all sides and before Harper knew it his friends were gone and a nice heavy club was smashing into his ribs. He tasted the rich coppery blood flowing into his mouth and he smiled. All he could see was the fear in the ubers' faces as Tyr Anasazi strolled up to them with that evil grin and that same bloody club resting leisurely over his broad shoulder.
***********
It had been a long two months for the Andromeda crew: Signing up new member worlds, breaking up squabbles, stopping a civil war, trying not to kill the Perseids engineers, and getting on with life with a missing family member. Moral was down and they were all in desperate need for some well deserved R&R. So they ended up going to the only place they knew they would be able to find some inner peace: To that dank dirty cell of Seamus Harper.
Just like last visit they all stormed his cell the first day and then had one on one day visits. Today was a certain golden warrior's day who was currently racing through the early morning crowds on the drift. She grasped her two bags tightly to her chest as she squeezed in between the two large participants of an active fist fight. Their fight interrupted, the two men looked on with confusion at the golden women who ran off into crowd, politely saying, "Excuse me," to everyone she pushed aside.
After much weaving and bumping, she reached the ominous prison's doors and waited for the guard to open the jail for visitors. A large guard and the warden came to escort her to Harper's home to be locked away together for the day.
"Hi ya Harper!" She chirped all too cheerful for such a dreary place.
"Hey," he mumbled.
Trace smiled with joy at the improvement from the silent nod she got two months ago. "I brought you food, water, and shots, lots and lots of shots. I thought I'd also see how your arm and data port are doing...that is if you don't mind."
"'s okay," he muttered to his bare feet.
Trance look on, her smile now gone. If it was possible, he seemed to be getting dirtier and thinner. A dry hacking cough interrupted Trance's inspection of him. "That doesn't sound good. Can I come closer to take a look?" She knew how Harper was reacting to unwelcome contact. It seemed only Beka could really get close to him. Everyone else received a hasty jerking away or a violent attack. Poor Dylan was mostly receiving the latter.
Harper's unsure eyes scanned his golden cellmate. She could see his thoughts and emotions being sorted out behind his soft blue eyes and her heart jumped with joy as he made his decision in a small affirmative nod.
"Thanks." Trance moved next to Harper, taking a position on her knees and pulled out a scanner from her medical bag. "This won't hurt a bit." She smiled to him reassuringly.
More painful coughs were Harper's responses.
In silence, Trance took her scans and looked over the results. The broken ribs that were almost healed must be causing him great pain during the coughing fits. The coughing fits themselves looked to be the start of pneumonia. His new arm bone was adjusting nicely to its new home. In a twist of irony, his data port was still in need of many more months of healing before he could jack in again. Luckily, he was in the perfect place for that situation - not a data port jack in site. The remaining maladies were what were expected; Malnourishment, atrophying muscles, and half a dozen bacterial infections that covered every inch of his skin.
"Done yet?" Harper asked quietly as he eyed the scanner with a great sense of distrust.
"Yah, all done."
"And?"
"You're gonna live."
"Great." His reply was dripping with sarcasm, way too much for Trance's liking.
"Ahh, come on Harper. Look. I got some things to cheer you up. Some food and..." She pulled out a glimmering can from her bag. "Sparky!" Her hands displayed the aluminum can as if it was a high priced piece of art.
A half grin grew across Harper's face.
"Drink up!" She tossed him the cola of his dreams.
Greedily he cracked open the can and started chugging. The sweet, bubbly liquid of the gods danced over his tongue and down his sore throat. Trance could almost see him begin to glow as the caffeine and sugar forced their way into his bloodstream.
He finished sucking dry every last drop of the sweet liquid and glanced at Trance. "You said you had food?" Harper asked almost hopeful. His voice grew in strength as his favorite cola seemed to have reawaken some part of him.
"Sure do." Trance smiled and tossed Harper the bag full of tasty foods.
Harper tore into the bag and began shoveling food into his mouth.
"Are they feeding you all right?" Trance asked suspiciously as a piece of onion flew up and hit her in the nose. The flying scrap of food originated from the garbage disposal that was Seamus Harper.
"Yah...mmmm....great..." He mumbled through a mouthful of food.
Her questioning face remained on him as seconds later he finished off the last crumb. The last crumb of a bag that held enough food for five large meals. Trance shook off her gaze and moved next to him as she held up a fist full of needles. A playful evil grin grew across her face. "Shot time."
Rolling his eyes and then his sleeve, Harper thrust is arm out towards her. "Please be kind." He turned his head away and closed his eyes.
Trance snickered at his overly dramatic acting and gently took hold of his arm. The second her delicate fingers wrapped around his twig of an arm, she knew she made a horrible mistake. Harper's muscles, what were left of them, began to twitch violently under her loose grip. His pulse quickened and the distinct odor of sweat and fear arose from his body.
Trance knew his mind was quickly getting lost in the past and saw him desperately trying to fight the urge to flee into himself. She only loosened her grip on his arm, allowing him to try to overcome his fear...his fear of her. "I know what you're thinking Harper and I'm still so sorry for...for..." She took a deep breath. "For breaking your arm. I promise these needles won't hurt too much and they will help you. Are you ok? Can you do this?" Her heart was breaking as she saw how much pain her touch caused him.
Harper took a deep trembling breath with his head still turned and eyes still closed. "I-I can. I know you don't mean to hurt me...it's just, well, flashbacks ya know. They get overwhelming sometimes and it gets hard to tell what's what." He turned his head to look at Trance, his eyes glistening in unshed tears from the past. "I'm okay Trance. Go on, load me up with those healing drugs." He flashed her a brave half smile.
Trance nodded and began to inject needle after needle. Minutes later she was done. Placing the medicine aside, she curled up next to Harper and rested her head on his shoulder. "You know Harper, when the flashbacks get too overwhelming, you always have us to call on to help you straighten your head out or pull you back into the present."
"I know."
"Good," Trance said as she stared across the cell at the far wall. She twisted her head and squinted her eyes. "Hey, Harper."
"Yah?"
"Did you know that that stain over there kinda looks like Beka?"
Harper didn't respond verbally, but his face said it all. If Trance had been looking at him, she would have been witness to a blessed event: The return of Harper's true glowing smile.
**************
Beka stood at the menacing prison doors as they rose up before her like a towering grave stone. She could hear Harper's desperate cries for help coming from the other side. She could hear him pounding and clawing at the impassable barrier that separated them. Slowly she could make out Harper's name and death date rise from the smooth metal of the doors turned grave marker.
Then she blinked and her mind returned to the real world. She still stood before the prison entrance, but Harper's desperate clawing and screams for help only remained as distance echoes in her mind. "Get a grip Valentine," she muttered to herself as she forced her arm forward to push open the heavy door.
It had been two more months away from Harper, five months total. Halfway there she kept reminding herself. Harper's improvement was making his absent only slightly bearable. Somehow, even in that hell hole, Harper was beginning to find himself. She could have sworn that the other day, when they all arrived, she saw a glimmer of his patented sparkle in his deep blue eyes. That boy continued to amaze her.
Like every other time, she was lead by a grumpy guard to the tiny hole and locked in with Harper. She looked at the disheveled human before her and did indeed see a faint sparkle dancing around in the otherwise darkened void of his eyes. It was faint, but it was there.
"Hey there Sport!"
"Hey Beka." He tried to force joy into his voice but apparently joy was hard to acquire in a place like this. "And before you ask, I'm doing fine." Harper gave her a smirk. "I'd thought I'd save you the trouble this time."
Beka had to smile. Every time she saw him, the first few minutes of the conversation always went the same way. A greeting, followed by her asking how he was doing, followed by him lying to her, followed by a few minutes of awkward silence.
She continued to eye over her friend as an expression of confusion crossed her face.
"What?" he asked concerned.
"I don't have anything to say now that you usurped my line," she pouted playfully.
"Usurped huh?" he asked in a light laugh. "I think you've been hanging with Tyr too much."
Beka laughed back as she assumed her normal position for her visits; curled up right next to Harper with a strong arm wrapped around his increasingly tiny frame.
Harper leaned into her. "Um..." He hesitantly spoke.
"Yes?"
"How's Dylan doing?" He cocked his head to look up at her with his weary sleep deprived eyes. Nightmares were still haunting him both day and night. He shared some with her, hoping by talking about them he would be rid of them, but it never worked. Beka just watched the bags under his eyes grow and grow until she seriously considered knocking him out by brute force just so he could get some shut eye.
Shaking her gaze away from those haunting eyes, her mind returned to Harper's question about Dylan's well-being. "He's doing fine. Nanobots are healing his nose and ribs and that black eye you gave him is fading fast."
He looked down in shame at the report of the damage he had done. Every time Dylan's visiting day came up, the captain would return early to the Andromeda with various new injuries. To Harper, there was just something so punch-able about Dylan. "Tell him I'm sorry, okay?"
Beka pulled Harper closer. "I'll tell him, but I'm sure he knows." Looking down at the small human beside her, she couldn't believe what he had done. He looked so vulnerable with his knees curled tightly to his small chest and with his innocent baby-like face, but yet she had seen what he had been able to do to Dylan and others, all much larger and stronger than himself. If she lived for hundreds of years, she knew she would never be able to understand the dichotomy that was Seamus Harper...and it was that mystery that was keeping her up at nights. "Um, can I ask you something...you don't have to answer it if you don't want to."
He gazed questionably up at her through his now long forest of bangs. "Um...okay, what is it?"
"Um..." She paused as she reconsidered even asking him the question that had been tearing her apart since she first saw what he was capable of. No, she had to know. She had to know just how much Harper had betrayed her. "How come you never let us know about your other side? The kick ass violent side that could have saved our asses dozens of times in the past. Why did you hold back?"
Harper's shaggy head dropped again in shame. "I was afraid you'd ask that one day."
"You don't have to answer."
"No, I will, you deserve to know why I betrayed you." Harper read her mind. "That side of me, the violent side, well, it's not really controllable. More of a reflex. As long as I know there is someone else that can protect me, I used them...I used you, as a shield." He fingered his torn pants. "The truth is that I'm just a coward. I survive by letting everyone I love die for me when...when...I could have saved them."
Beka was stunned into silence. This was not what she wanted to hear. Her embrace loosened around Harper.
Harper continued on alone and in pain. "I could have saved them, b-but I didn't 'cause I was too scared. Scared of what I become when I turn violent. It's like a wild beast takes over, a beast that I'm so terrified of what it's capable of that I try hard to forget that it's even in me." He swallowed down the sobs that he didn't deserve to shed. "I'm sorry Beka, sorry for using you, for lying to you, for not protecting you when I should have. I'd understand if you just get up and walk away leaving me here where I belong...where a cowardice monster like me should die."
The pain in Harper's words cut through Beka's sense of betrayal. He was punishing himself more that she ever could. She quickly spun Harper's body to face hers and took hold of his now very furry chin. Forcing his face upward, she looked deeply into his sorrowed eyes. "Listen you. I will never leave you and for the last time, you don't belong here. Everything you did, you did to survive and unfortunately you've had to fight for survival your whole life. Of course your mind will come up with a way to live, it's how things work. Hell, just ask Tyr." She smiled. "Honestly, if your violent side is all or nothing, I'm perfectly happy with good old wimpy nerd Harper over scary ninja Harper any day. You can hid behind me as much as you want Kiddo." She hugged him tightly. "One thing though..."
"Uh-huh." He mumbled into her shoulder.
"Will you please stop beating up on our wimpy captain. I know he deserves a good smack in the face every once in a while but the poor guy can't take much more."
Harper looked up at Beka's smiling face and did the best to copy her expression. "Sure thing Boss."
**********
Two months later, Dylan hobbled into medical. His bloody and bruised appearance interrupted Trance mid-conversation with her visitor. "DYLAN!" She shouted out as she raced over to help him reach the safety of the medical bed.
Gingerly settling on the soft mattress, Dylan let out a groan.
"I take it Harper wasn't too happy to see you again?" Trance asked as she gently probed Dylan's obviously broken arm.
"Seven months Trance. Seven months and he still can't stand the sight of me." Depression filled his voice. "And it was going so well this time until I stupidly moved too close to him. I just had to push for those few extra inches...god I'm an idiot."
Trance's silent visitor stepped forward. "All he needs is time Dylan." A fury clawed hand reached out to comfort Dylan's shoulder.
The captain looked into the wise eyes in front of him and found serenity. "Thanks Rev," he smiled. "It's so good to have you back on board, even if you are just visiting."
"It's my pleasure," he bowed. "I just wish my path allowed me to stay onboard." He said with much regret. His mind was still troubled and lost and there was much soul searching he needed to complete before he could come back to the life he once knew. But first, he had a few issues that had to be resolved with a certain incarcerated engineer.
The next day, Rev's found himself following a terrified guard who was leading him to that engineer. The foul air that saturated the prison which made most want to run in fear was like an erotic perfume that called out to Rev. He licked his lips and sniffed the sweet fear induced aroma of the guard in front of him. Rev allowed himself a snicker as the large Nietzschean quickened his pace.
As the grated door clicked closed above him, Rev found himself face to face with a familiar stranger. "Master Harper." He bowed as much as the confined space would allow before he took his spot in the visitor corner. "The beard and longer hair suits you." Rev joked hoping to rid Harper of the shocked stare he was currently locked in.
The fear fell off of Harper's face only to be replaced by shame as he dropped his head. "R-R-Rev...I'm so sorry...for what I-I did..." He slinked back farther into the shadows of his corner as if space was too good for him.
"Master Harper, there is no need to apologize. My head is hard and you were understandable scared and desperate. No harm was done." He eyed the mess before him. "To me at least. I see your path has lead you through some painful thorn bushes. How are you holding up?"
"'m okay," Harper replied still not able to raise his head.
"Sure you are." Rev looked over the pathetic human before him and was shocked to realize he looked even worse off than the last time he saw the troubled man. "Can I do anything for you?"
The mop of dirty blonde hair shook from side to side.
Allowing Harper to set the pace, Rev took up a lotus position and began to fill the cell with the music of a guttural chant which rose up and spread throughout the entire cell block above.
Hours passed as the soothing music reverberated around the perfect acoustics of the cell. Slowly, almost as slow as an inch an hour, Harper's head began to rise as curiosity overtook his sense of shame. Puzzlement began to grow on Harper's face as the hours passed without any sense of anger or need for revenge showing themselves in Rev's actions.
Rev felt Harper's stare on his being and stopped his chanting. "Would you like me to teach you this? It could help you find some peace or at least help pass the time."
Harper mulled over the offer as he chewed his chapped lip. Finally he gave a small nod.
Rev smiled and shifted his body to occupy the center of one side of the cell. "Face me," he said quietly.
Harper ordered his stiff aching body away from his corner and out into the terrifying openness of the cell. He copied Rev's lotus position as best as his weakened body would allow. A burning sensation rush over his unused muscles.
"Good, now breath in rapidly and then slowly let the air out. As we breath out, repeat after me. Focus only on the breathing and sounds." Rev began chanting as Harper tried to copy the mystical sounds Rev produced.
As the chanting continued a strange sense of calm overtook the cell. A sense that the bloody walls and urine stained floors had never experienced. A sense that consumed Harper and his demons to such an extent that they found themselves chanting together in a circle of peace in his mind, creating a harmony that would have made the Vedran Choir weep with envy.
*************
Dylan sat staring in terror at Harper's cold unmoving eyes. He could see Harper mulling over thought after thought. What filled Dylan with such terror was what exactly those mystery thoughts might be. Whatever they were, he figured they all involved pain and lots of it.
The captain's broken arm from the last visit had now healed nicely over the past two months. This time Trance already had medical set up for Dylan's return to Andromeda. As Dylan continued to stare into Harper's blank face, he had a momentary hopeful thought that maybe this time he wouldn't be visiting medical at all. It had already been four hours with no yelling, no pain, no sudden mood changes, nothing...literally. Not a word had been spoken after the normal hello, a responding grunt, Dylan's routine apology, followed by anther grunt...oh the intellectual conversations they had!
Dylan shifted his weight off of his sleeping leg as pins and needles danced on his calf. Not thinking, he stretched his long legs out in front of him. Legs long enough that they crossed over into Harper's side of the cell. Only a few inches stood between Dylan's boots and Harper's bare feet.
Both men stopped breathing as they noticed Dylan's faux pas. The captain was about to jerk his legs back when he realized Harper was not leaping at his throat. In fact, Harper hadn't even moved, well besides a slight tightening of his arms around his legs. He just stood his ground as he focused on calming his rapid breaths. His eyes were locked onto Dylan's as his dry lips began to move, seemingly mumbling something. Dylan listened intently as he tried to make out what Harper was saying, but they weren't words, they were sounds.
A smile grew in Dylan's mind as he recognized the quiet sounds coming out of Harper's throat. It's was the same chanting he heard from Rev's guest quarters two months ago. Realizing Harper was controlling himself, Dylan let his outstretched legs relax and even let his toes drop down leaving only a millimeter between himself and Harper.
And still no flying fists, no chokeholds, no screaming, just quite peaceful guttural chanting.
Dylan let his mental smile break free from his mind and flow onto his face. On the other side of the dark cell, the source of the chanting saw Dylan's eyes light up from that hopeful grin. The cell grew quite as the chants stopped. Breathing and heartbeats stopped as unsure tension replaced the peaceful sound. Then Harper blinked and returned Dylan's smile with one of his very own.
Light finally found its place in the dark hole.
**************
Rommie's button nose wrinkled with disgust as she entered Harper's cell. "Hey there," she greeted him cheerfully as she tried to ignore her sensory reports.
"Hey," Harper responded back.
Rommie grinned as she calculated that his greeting was 15% more cheerful than his last greeting two months ago. "Doing better?"
Harper nodded. "Yah, a bit. The nightmares are letting up a bit and those annoying invisible Nightsiders are popping up with less and less frequency." His face was locked in seriousness.
Concern flashed onto Rommie's perfect features.
A joyous laughter filled the cell. "Just kidding Rom-doll, no invisible Nightsiders here."
"Not funny Harper."
"Sorry," he flashed her his "I'm innocent" grin. "Got any food and yummy H2O?"
"Yep, and something else. That is if you are willing." She watched him eye her suspiciously as she could see his mind diving deeply into the gutter. "And no, not that."
"Damn," he pouted.
"As you know, you are coming back on board me in a month and well, frankly Harper, you are disgusting. As much as I want you back, I don't want all your filth and infestations in me. So I was thinking a sponge bath was in order."
A year ago this would have been Harper's dream come true. He would have had fainted from the anticipation and pure joy at that thought, but today, in that cell, he responded was silent nervous fidgeting.
Rommie noted his hesitation. "If you want I can delete all memory of it and we can clean small sections at a time so you're not completely exposed. Come on Harper, it won't be that bad."
He shifted nervously. "What's the point? I mean, I'm still stuck in here for a month. That's more than enough time for me and this hell hole to contaminate any clean surface. It would be a waste of time."
Rommie moved up next to Harper and rested her hand on his dropped shoulder. "It would not be a waste. You'd feel like a human being again Harper. Free of the dirt and grime of the past year. It will remind you of what your future holds, that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that it's getting brighter by the minute." She looked at his still hesitant face and knew how to make him willing. "If you won't do this for yourself, will you at least do it for me? I need to see my Harper again, spikes and all."
He stopped squirming and look into the beautiful face he had created. "Only for you," he whispered. "And that was a cheap shot." He added in bitterness at being played by his own invention.
"I know." She gave an evil smile before she leaned back to grab the bag she brought in with her. She pulled out food, water and some very bright and familiar clothing. "Eat up then change into these."
"B-But I thought you weren't allowed to leave anything new in the cell with me?"
"We can't, but they never said that we couldn't take your clothing out to be cleaned." She smiled mischievously. "Now eat and change."
Like always, Harper made the vast amount of food disappear in mere minutes before he ordered Rommie to turn around as he struggled to change. Not only was the lack of space an obstacle, but his sore stiff muscles weren't cooperating either. After much grunting, he spoke up. "Ok, turn around."
Rommie's circuits were overloaded with emotion as she saw her Harper back into his normal bright clothing. What fit him to a tee a year ago now hung off his bones as if they were bed sheets. Before he was just a messy blob of dirt, but now, with the stark comparison of the clean bright clothes, she could see how dirty he truly was.
Harper looked down at his blackened bony shoulder that peaked out behind the orange tank top shirt he now wore. "I really am dirty, ain't I?"
"Oh yah." Rommie agreed whole heartedly. She grabbed the discarded pile of filthy rags called clothes and yelled out to the awaiting people above them. "Trance!"
The warden and Trance both marched up to the cell as the door creaked open.
"Here." Rommie handed Trance the clothes. "May I suggest at least three wash cycles."
Trance took hold of the filth. "I was thinking twenty." She disappeared with the clothing only to reappear moments latter with three large buckets of water, a bag full of sponges, three bottles of soap, and a clear bag that contained approved dangerous items like an electric razor and scissors. Dylan was still bragged about the hours of negotiating he had to go through to get those items into the prison. Trance handed down the last items and wished Rommie good luck before she vanished from view with the warden.
The cell door was locked and privacy had been granted onto them. "Shall we begin?" Rommie asked a terrified Harper.
He gulped as he nodded and moved into the middle of the cell with Rommie. Silently, he presented his trembling right arm to be the first part of himself that would be sacrificed to the unfamiliar soapy water.
Over the next few hours, Rommie went over every inch of his body with the soft yet coarse sponges. The soapy water ran down his back as it weaved through the multitude of raised mountains of scars. She gently let the warm water clean out the grime that hid in the valleys of those mountains. All the while she hummed a calming tune that harmonized with Harper's quiet chanting. He flinched slightly as she ran the soaked bumpy sponge over the scar on his arm that now held the new bone. The dirt slowly vanished from his skin and appeared in the muddy water of one of the buckets. Rommie gasped as she saw newer bruises and cuts that rose up from under the grime. She stared in horror knowing that they could have only came from one place. Harper's head dropped as he whispered that it was no big deal. Rommie sighed and continued cleaning.
The sponge was drowned in the soapy water before it was rushed across the open air, leaving behind a rain shower that fell futile to the floor below. Rommie's soft hands ran over Harper's sickly exposed deformed ribs as she could feel and count every single bone. The warm sponge followed her cold touch but it could only rid Harper of the blood and dirt, not the scars or twisted bones.
Lastly she reached out for his moppy almost dreadlocked topped head. She gently took his bearded chin in her hand and tilted his sullen face to the side. Water rushed down his soft features taking with it the dried blood and dirt that had been his only companion for the past year. She uncovered a still blackened eye and more shallow cuts. Again Harper mumbled it was nothing. Rommie look sadly in his downcast eyes and again sighed. Bringing up the scissors, she began to hack her way through the jungle facial hair and through the mop that had replace his much missed spikes.
And hour later, she brought out her special hidden treat. His hair gel. A small smile graced his cleanly shaven face at the site of the tiny jar he knew so well.
"There that's better," Rommie declared as she sat back wiping the excess gel from her hands.
Sitting across the puddle of muddy water now sat a man she hadn't seen for over a year. Blonde spiked hair stood up wildly from his head. His young features graced a clean, though bruised face. She tried to ignore it, but she realized that some of the stranger still managed to survive the cleansing process. Track marks now obviously stood out on his clean bare arms and the deep shadows his sunken cheeks caused now screamed for attention against the pale skin. But then she saw them. The two tiny objects she hadn't even realized she had missed so badly. Harper was staring down at his clean hands. There was no more dried blood, no dirt, no waste, nothing but skin. A smile grew across his face and ended with those two tiny magnificent objects. His dimples.
As he looked up at Rommie in awe of his new body, she returned his warm smile. "It's good to have you back Harper."
***********
Harper fiddled with his returned spikes as he mumbled to the wall. "Yah, that would be a great way to improve engine efficiency....yah, you're right...but only if we...yah, that would work...and if we increase the surface area of the intake valves...yah..."
He wasn't sure how long it had been since the crew left him for supposedly the last time. He suspected it had been longer than a day and less than a year, but beyond that he just wasn't sure.
There were many moments where he was plagued by doubts that he would ever see the crew of Andromeda again. Every time they hopped down into his home, he was honestly surprised they were there. He still couldn't understand why they kept coming back.
But this time was different. This time if they came back, they would have to take him with them. They couldn't just leave him behind and forget about him like he always suspected they did. He accepted that they only came to see him to ease their guilt. Was there any chance they would actually want to take him back? He twirled the spike in-between his fingers faster.
His fingers stopped suddenly when he heard it. That familiar sound he figured he would never hear again. A herd of footsteps, but this time the feet were in an angry rush. His heart raced as he quickly pinned his slight frame up against the far corner. He cursed his still clean clothes and skin as they were no help in camouflaging him in with his surroundings.
The footsteps came louder and quicker. His breathing and heart rate saw and raised the increased pace that thundered towards him.
"OPEN IT NOW!!" A deep familiar voice crackled above him in a roar of anger.
Click - hiss - Light flooded into the cell and Harper pushed himself even farther into the shadows.
A pair of boots landed with a thud before him. Then a face bent down to greet him. Beka's smiling face. She reached out towards him with an open hand. "Come on Seamus, time to go."
They came back for him. They wanted him, they really wanted him.
He reached out a trembling hand to meet Beka's. Her warm steady hand surrounded his cold hand in a firm embrace. An embrace that not even an nova bomb could tear apart.
"Let's blow this joint." She smiled as she pulled him up out of the shadows and into the light.
Beka steadied Harper's weak shaky body in front of her as they stood fully up half way out of the cell. The light burned into Harper's eyes like lasers. He quickly brought up his arm to shield his vision from the unusual brightness only to feel the light grasp of a tender hand on his wrist.
Looking upward, he squinted through the overwhelming light. He was rewarded by the sight of Trance's beautiful face as a halo of glowing light surrounded her. "Hey." She smiled as she pulled him up as Beka supported him from below.
His bare feet touched the ground and for the first time in a year he supported his full weight on them. The bones in his legs quickly turned to jelly and gave out on him. But before he could hit the ground, two sets of hands were there to support him.
Looking around he saw Beka and Trance at his sides smiling like idiots. Dylan was staring down the warden and two guards as he had a guarded hand place on Tyr's shoulder. Tyr was currently cracking his knuckles and grinning madly at the almost cowering prison staff. The Kodak glanced at Harper and flashed him a knowing wink.
From the looks of what was coming, Harper sussed that Rommie must be on board herself preparing for a quick exit from the drift.
"Come on Kiddo, let's get you home," Beka urged as she saw Tyr inch closer to the guards.
Beka and Trance supported Harper's body as he took his first step away from his home. After a few exhausting steps, he leaned into the women and allowed them to lead him out and away from his past.
Behind him he heard Dylan following them and in the background he heard flesh hitting flesh and the warden begging for help. He smiled as he rested his weary head on Beka's shoulder knowing that the darkness that had consumed for so long was now fading away in the shadows behind him.
Epilogue
The suns burned brightly into their eyes as the overly heated sand crushed under the herd of feet.
"Aw man!! Look at those waves!" Harper yelled out as he jumped around eagerly with his surfboard tucked under one of his arms. He used his free hand to pull on Beka's burden laden arms as he begged her to walk faster.
"They are huge. Are you sure it's safe?" Trance asked as she peeked out behind the beach chair she was carrying. Her eyes were greeted by a calm turquoise shallow reef that stood in front of the large roaring waves that sent echoes of thunder up to the beach.
"Nah, nah, they're perfect!" Harper now tugged at Rommie's arms, ignoring the fact that the beach blankets and bags she carried were starting to escape her mighty grasp.
Beka watched on with joy as Rommie tried to shoo Harper away from her as if he was an annoying fly. It had been close to three months since Harper had returned to them...in the physical sense at least. It was taking longer for his personality to come back. Slowly the unnerving silence was being replaced by his constant jabbering about all his new projects he was madly working on. Beka made a note to herself not to leave a genius alone for any amount of time unless you wanted insane inventions like a virtual toe racing track. As the talking increased, the jokes started to come back too. Also, smiles were now being seen more often than the blank stares. Smiles like the one that currently graced Harper's face.
"Ya sure you don't wanna learn to surf Tyr? Come on, it would impress all the uber babes." Harper now buzzed around Tyr who was trying to balance another beach chair and a large basket of food.
"First, the ability to stand on a board under a torrent of rushing water is not something that one would want to pass onto their offspring. Second, go bother Dylan. This was all his idea." Tyr grunted as he just barely caught the chair before it slipped from his arm as he stumbled in the hot sand.
Dylan had been planning this trip to Infinity Atoll since Harper was first incarcerated. The image that was currently playing out before him was what allowed him to get through the long Harperless year. His crew, all together, happy and relaxed, enjoying a well deserved true vacation. Finally, after three months, Harper was in well enough physical shape to attempt the beach trip. Each week, the engineer put on more and more weight. His muscles were almost back to normal strength, the color was returning to his cheeks, his data port was in full use and his energy level was quickly returning to its normal insanely high state. Granted, he was still very thin, but from the living skeleton he had been it was a great improvement. Dylan smiled as he watched Harper skipped towards him with a silly grin glued on his face.
"So boss, are we gonna find a spot to sit or are we gonna walk all day long?"
"How about over there?" Beka pointed out a small parcel of unclaimed beach.
"No, too far from the water," Dylan objected as the beach umbrella he had under his arm tried to squirm away from his grasp.
"There?" Trance pointed out another free spot on the glistening golden sand.
"Not enough space." Dylan argued.
"There?" Tyr tried his luck.
"Nah, too close to that loud music box."
"Let me try." Harper said as he stopped walking and took a long look around the crowded beach. Slowly his arm rose and pointed to an open area a few yards away. "There."
Dylan smiled. "Perfect." He proceeded to cheerfully march off to the designated landing zone, his captain-ness fully intact.
"How'd you know?" Beka asked in awe as she stood back with Harper as the others walked off following Dylan's lead.
"Easy. I looked for the space that was surrounded by the most women missing their bikini tops."
Beka looked at Harper's knowing smirk and burst out laughing. It was so good to have her Seamus back!
Soon they were all settled into their claimed spot. Tyr was reclining in a beach chair, deeply engrossed in another Ann Rand novel. Trance and Rommie were laid out on towels playing cards with each other. Between Trance's luck and Rommie's thousands of calculations a second, the game was actually very challenging for each women. Currently, Trance was in desperate need of a Blue Fish. Dylan was stretched out on his stomach allowing the warm suns to toast his back. His eyes randomly roamed the surrounding area and stopped suddenly whenever he noticed a lovely lady that was missing the top to her bathing suit. Next to him laid Beka who was also allowing her back to be warmed by the twin suns, but her eyes were glued on only one person...Harper. She watched him intently as he waxed up his surf board next to her.
The rhythm of the wax rubbing against the board was hypnotizing, but Beka's worried mind couldn't be tempted into its hypnotic rhythm. She decided to voice her thoughts to a hypnotized Harper. "Are you sure it's safe? They look really big and...um... you're still-"
"Weak?" His harsh voice cut her off.
"Well, um...yah."
"I'm not, I'm fine." His voice still held more rage that she was used to from him.
Beka let it drop not wanting to anger Harper on their vacation. She let him fall back into the meditation of waxing his board.
Suddenly the hypnotic rhythm at her side stopped. Harper looked up from his colorful board and turned to face Beka. The anger was gone as he now wore a serene expression. "Thanks for caring though." He smiled at her, picked up the board and swung it under his arm. "Ok guys, I'm off. Prepared to be amazed." He then threw them a cocky grin and spun around before he dashed off towards the blue beasts that were calling his name.
Dylan's eyes willing left the bare skin of the lovely ladies to watch Harper skip away. "It's good to have him back." His smile was soon joined by four other grins as they all watched Harper fly into the water.
Harper dug his hands into the cool water and propelled himself forward. His board and body glided over the glassy surface of the crystal clear water as the colorful reef flew by underneath. His eyes widened and his heart raced as he caught a glimpse of his date. Giant rolls of water loomed ahead of him.
As he got closer, nervousness began to show itself. "They looked a lot smaller from land." He gulped down the fear and paddled faster as he entered the white water. Madly he ducked dived under a crashing wave, feeling the power of the water push him down and then back up behind the beast of a wave. He gasped for air as he resumed his mad paddling trying to reach the line up before the next set roared in.
He reached the safety of the line up and sat up on his board, his feet dangling above the still visible reef that rested far below him. As the water began to undulate again, all his thoughts vanished. His demons were no more, his nightmares were forgotten about, the past was history and the future was not an issue. All that mattered was now; now, him, his board, and the giant swells that were rushing towards him.
He absent mildly began muttering Rev's chant.
Then Harper spotted it. His wave. His face lit up and he began to paddle for the perfect position on his perfect wave. Closer and closer it came as it grew larger and larger by the second.
Harper pushed down the fear and turned his back to the wave. Trusting his instincts, he began to paddle furiously towards shore as he felt his wave take a hold of him and pick him up. Leaping to his feet, he felt the world fall away until all that existed was the blue wall that rose up on his left.
Wind and water danced on his face, adrenaline cursed through his veins and the trustiest form of a smile broke into his dimpled cheeks. The wall of water rose up and over him, encasing him in a cylinder of glistening blues. As he sped towards the decreasing light at the opening of the long barrel, he yelled out in joy. "YOO-HOO!!!"
Finally, Seamus Harper was alive again.
THE END.