TITLE: Break
NOTES: The chapters do get a bit longer later on, I'm just teasing you at the moment, heh heh.
CHAPTER TWO ~ Falling
"The guilt consumes my mind as I sit listening to living shadows, slowing beginning my descent into the kingdom of the damned."
- Line from the Ilena Arentos' diary
CY 8745
^~*~^
Harper didn't reply. Lane Farrow was dead. She wasn't real. And yet, there she was as clear as day yet as dark as the shadows, standing in his room talking to him. This wasn't the first time she had appeared. It had been a few days ago, on Andromeda. Man, had he been scared then. Harper had just caught a fleeting glimpse of her, then practically choked to death after inhaling a mouthful of Sparky Cola. *Just your imagination*, he kept telling himself. But ones imagination rarely strikes up a conversation.
"They still think you're back to the same old Seamus Harper, don't they?" Lane asked. "They don't know you at all. You're going insane and they haven't even noticed," she scoffed.
Harper agreed with her about the insane part. But the reason the others hadn't noticed was because he didn't want them to. They had just found out he was a suicidal murderer, they didn't need to know he was going crazy too. He reached into his bag on the table, popped the lid from a small brown bottle and shook three pills from it. They weren't anything serious, just suppressants. He'd been taking them since the Autriva ordeal ended, to help him forget. They helped a little, but not much, so he took more.
"Come on, those won't make you feel better. You need something with a little more kick," Lane suggested.
"Shut up." Harper cursed. He knew what she wanted him to do, but it wasn't going to work. He didn't manage to stay clean for five and a half years without learning how to resist temptation. Mind you, this was entirely different from the temptation he was used to.
"Shut up? I'm inside your head, you idiot. And I'm not going anywhere."
Harper screwed his eyes tight shut and tried to push her from his mind. If she was simply in his head, if she wasn't real, then he could make her leave. But if she wasn't real why did her words chill him to the bone? Why did she make his mouth go dry and his skin crawl?
Harper reopened his eyes. She was gone! A huge sigh of relief was cut short by the realisation that Lane was now standing next to him by the door, her face inches from his own and a grin infecting her lips. Harper shouted out, then on instinct grabbed his sidearm. Without hesitation he fired two shots at her. Not stopping to see if it had done any good, he bolted out of the door, slamming it behind him.
He needed to get out of the dark, and avoid being alone. Somewhere must still be open at this time of night, he thought, and ran for the stairs.
^~*~^
Trance left the arboretum. She had spent more time than she had intended looking at the amazing vegetation of the alien planet, and it was quite late. The kind warden had talked to her about how to keep Argerian tree roots from knotting, but he too had lost track of
time and needed to close up. So Trance had bid him farewell and promised to return the next day so they could finish their discussion.
Trance was immersed in thoughts of life, and its many forms, when she saw Harper leaving the hotel. She called his name and he turned. She greeted him with a smile but it was obvious there was something on the spiky blonde's mind.
"Is something the matter?" she asked.
"No, I'm good," Harper lied. "Just thought I'd go for a walk, sample the riveting architecture and cultural heritage of Ostara," he told her.
Trance's sarcasm detector went off, recalling that Dylan had spent half an hour going on about how the buildings on Ostara reminded him of a planet he used to take holidays on.
"Well, I'll join you." She smiled.
*Great,* Harper thought. *A chaperone.*
^~*~^
Elsewhere on Ostara.
"Tomorrow is the first day of inquiry. Accounts from the crew, questions from the council and such."
"Do you think we have a chance?"
"The Commonwealth will never admit their mistakes."
"Our team are ready to act if the verdict is not as it should be. I received word from them earlier, everything is set in place."
"Good. But let's hope it doesn't come to that."
"For everyone's sake."
^~*~^
End of Chapter Two