Thanx to all the people who reviewed! Who hoo! (Drakcir, get in line! I want him 1st! :P the five tailed Youko, I think they listened! :P Lani, they…damn, cant tell the plot, have u seen a shower in the ship? Yes! :P)

Sorry…(get's slapped by her muses) it's like 4 in the morning when I'm writin the 1st part of this chapter so…

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Dylan frowned in confusion as he looked at Rommie. How in the Devine was this Harper? Harper was, if Rommie was correct and she usually was, on the bridge.

"Harper?" he called out loudly, knowing the Andromeda would sense he was trying to call the energetic young blonde, "Where are you right now?"

Harper's voice came through clearly on the ship's speakers, "Currently trying to convince Trance for a threesome with me and Rommie."

"No he's not," came the ever soothing voice of Trance Gemini, "He's sulking because he can't seem to fix one of the Andromeda's blind spots."

Dylan was in no mood to hear the childish fight that would undoubtedly emerge in a few seconds between the two. Nor was he interested in what perverse little plan the ever lustful man had in store for his ship's avatar.

"Are you or are you not on the bridge right now Mister Harper?" he barked out a little more harshly than he would of liked.

Sounding like a whipped pup, Harper's voice sounded subdued.

"On the bridge, where you told me to be boss bug," the engineer stated, "Why?"

Rommie silently confirmed the answer, both of them looked at the unconscious form of the intruder.

"…Just checking, don't be playing chicken with my ship," Dylan tried to sound a little bit more friendlier, not wanting to cause any suspicions within the mind of his crew.

"Dylan, I would never play chicken! Maybe a friendly little race but nev…," once again, Trance saved the genius of an engineer from digging his grave that little bit deeper.

"I'll keep an eye on him Dylan," she purred.

Somehow, that didn't put Dylan's mind fully at ease, knowing full well that Trance would either keep her word or either get caught up in one of Harper's mad cap get-rich-quick-schemes or something else the blonde thought of or do something that would only be known to the likes of herself.

"Somehow, that doesn't make me feel any more happier," Dylan muttered, "or safer."

Rommie offered him a one sided smile as she cut the comms before he said that. The small intruder in her arms squirmed slightly against her grip but made no signs of wakening.

"So," Dylan rubbed his eyes tiredly, "what exactly are we dealing with?"

Rommie conferred with all her sensors and her other avatars within a second, all telling her the same info. She held Seamus Harper in her android arms.

DNA, heartbeat, voice pattern, everything matched. The only thing was, was that Harper was on the bridge. So how was this possible?

"It's Harper," she offered after that second, "The only way to learn more is if we cut him open and checked his vital organs."

"What would that prove?" Dylan seemed to of lost the joke somewhere.

"I was kidding Dylan, we just have to wait to talk to him" Rommie stated, "but I am detecting residual PSP markers."

Dylan looked sharply up, his blue eyes locking on sharply to the brunette avatar. PSP? Those were dangerous at the best of times and only the local bad guys had access to that kind of power.

"Meaning?" Dylan pushed for an answer, unsure if he really wanted one.

All answers concenring PSP and their ilk all meant one bad thing. Glowing magog gods and really nasty bounty hunters who want Harper's brain.

"We'd have to ask this Harper," she offered.

Dylan sighed and shrugged, "Fine, take him to the medical bay and I guess we wait until he wakes up."

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"What the hell is that?"

"I don't know but it's heading right for us."

"Can't you make it stop following us?"

"I would but the engines aren't working."

"I'm trying my best down here but it doesn't help when people are currently being blown up in my engineering deck ok?!"

"Dylan, it's Trance. I think you should come to machine shop…"

"Trance? Trance?! Rommie locate Trance now!"

"……she's gone Dylan……"

A startled cry came from Harper's lips as he bolted upright, his heart beat thundering in his chest so loud that he thought they would explode right out of him.

The sudden silence of the room he was in filled him even more with concern, it didn't feel right, he needed to hear noise. Something to let him know that he wasn't alone in a cold harsh and dead ship.

All he could hear was the sudden sound of Trance's scream echoing through out the ship's communication systems as the golden goddess was ripped from the safety of the ship. Try as he might, he couldn't stop the imagined image of her floating through the cold vastness of space. Couldn't stop thinking about the look of fear on his best friend's face.

He hugged himself tighter as he closed his eyes, trying to block out all the images that threatened to over fill his mind. He didn't want to deal with any of this. All of this was too new…he wasn't the one who should be playing hero.

That job was always left to Dylan, he was the heroic boy scout of the rag tag crew. The rest of them were just there for the ride. As he said to Beka one time, it beat running cargo all the time.

Whenever things got too rough or scary, he had always been ordered to go and run to the nearest little safe place and wait it out. No matter how much he protested and wanted to help in the fight.

Tyr was right, he was in over his head.

He rocked himself back and forth on the comfy med bed, listening to the creaks it made as he moved. Did he do it? Had he travelled back in time? Had he done it right?

Of course he did it right, he was Harper. He always did things right.

"Aw man, who am I kidding? I'm not Tyr, Beka or anyone else for that matter. I can't do this hero crap," he moaned softly.

Harper held back tears as he hugged his knees even tighter to his form, he rested his forehead on them and sniffed back the salty droplets. Could he really afford to mourn over the deaths of those he cared about?

Maybe I could tell Dylan about this and he could make it all go away. Make sure that it never happens! Maybe…maybe even Trance. She didn't know that this was gonna happen or she would never of went to the machine shop! Harper thought feverishly, making some sort of escape plan so that he didn't have to deal with the huge responsibilities of saving his friends lives.

Give him a good old, mechanical-your-all-going-to-die-in-10-seconds-from-an-overload problem and he's your man but saving lives by placing himself in danger?

Sorry but you got the wrong guy.

He looked up with red rimmed eyes as he heard the medical bays door quietly open. He didn't know whether or not to go leaping behind the bed or to go running up to the visitor.

"Hey boss bug."

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It's okay right? I mean, for an hour's piece of work? Done at like…4.15am and finished at 5.15am…..zzzzz huh? Uh….ok? Right? Love ya!!!!

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