NOTES: This is the first quote I didn't make up myself. It's actually a lyric from the Natalie Imbruglia song 'Come September'; I just thought it was perfect for this chapter....plus I couldn't think of one....

CHAPTER FOURTEEN ~ No Rest
"The souls that burn will twist and turn,
And find you in the dark no matter where you run."
Old Earth proverb
^~*~^

Harper walked behind the others as they left the hall. He was silent while they discussed the first thing each of them would do when they returned to Andromeda, bar Dylan, who remained to talk to Gidarn - some kind of official thing. As they walked along the corridor Harper stared at the floor, but his gaze was lifted when he saw them.

Lining the path were dozens upon dozens of horrid burnt faces, charred flesh and mangled bodies - all alive and staring directly at him. Even if he could close his eyes the smell that hung in the air making his eyes water would not let him ignore them. He was responsible for their deaths, the end of their world and he could not be allowed to forget.

But among the victims of Autriva was a clean, unblemished face. Lane Farrow was a part of the crowd, smiling in her own sadistic way. But she wasn't like the others. She cast a shadow, people walked around her as if she had presence. She was there.

^~*~^

"My chief engineer's medical documents," Dylan said, handing over the disc.

"Ah, thank-you Captain," Gidarn acknowledged. "I'm sure you're happy to be reunited with your command," he went on.

"I am. I only wish the whole incident never had to happen."

"It is certainly a blemish on the Commonwealth's record, but what are mistakes if not a vessel for understanding?" Gidarn replied profoundly.

They left the official charter room and entered the arched corridor in front of the building. Ahead of them was a small huddle of people. On closer inspection they appeared to be security guards. A room had been cordoned off.

"What's going on there?" Dylan asked.

"Oh, we believe an incident took place in that room. A warden found a shattered mirror with traces of blood on it," Gidarn explained.

"Really?"

"Yes, it's quite a mystery. The damage to the mirror was head-height, but no-one has come into the hospital with head wounds in the last three days," Gidarn replied.

Dylan was about to let the matter go, having satisfied his curiosity, when the last sentence to sunk into his mind. Head wounds. None within the last three days....but hadn't Harper..?

"I'm sorry, did you say no head wounds at *all*?" Dylan asked. There must have been some mistake.

"No, none," Gidarn replied. "Our security force work closely with the hospitals. It helps speed things up. But, we can't carry on the matter if a victim doesn't come forward."

Dylan's mind was wrought with confusion. Harper went to the hospital, and his head wound wasn't exactly difficult to detect. "So when did this incident happen?" he asked, trying to ascertain exactly what he was finding out.

"It must have been some time during the day yesterday. An apprentice checked the room in the morning and it all seemed fine."

*Harper was attacked yesterday.* Dylan thought. But surely his injury would have been logged by the hospital? And why wouldn't he mention if the attack was in the halls? Thinking there must be a rational explanation, and noting to ask Harper about his attack later, he pushed the information to the back of his mind.

"You said Command has a mission for the Andromeda?" Dylan prompted. He wouldn't lie - he was ecstatic that things were finally going back to normal.

"Ah yes, a mission of mercy to the Ferran system. The two inhabited planets are in dire need of humanitarian aid. A plague has broken out which they are having trouble containing. A vaccine has been developed, but the key ingredient is scarce in the system."

"I take it that's where we come in," Dylan guessed.

"The ingredient is a Taret root which we have accumulated a large supply of. The Andromeda is to deliver it and do all that is needed to control the situation."

Then Dylan made the fatal mistake - "Sounds simple enough."

^~*~^

Outwardly, Harper was quiet but inwardly his mind and body were screaming. It was only the knowledge that soon he would be onboard Andromeda, his safe haven, that had kept him from running from the halls until his legs stopped working. It was laughable that despite all the trouble that had occurred on Andromeda, it was the only place he felt protected from the rest of the universe, and he was in dire need of some protection.

For whatever crazed logic it was, Harper had come to the conclusion that Lane Farrow was somehow responsible for everything that had happened. He didn't know how, but Lane must have survived, and now she was out to sabotage his life, in return for the way he sabotaged hers. Possible scenarios ran through his mind, each more preposterous than the last, until they became impossible, and yet still believable to the deluded engineer.

They had reached the docking station where the Maru was waiting, and Rommie, Trance, Harper, Tyr and Rommie were waiting for Dylan. The rest of the crew were to take transport ships back to Andromeda who was in orbit. While they chatted about their new mission, which Dylan had informed them off over the com, Tyr kept a watchful eye on Harper, who more quiet than Tyr had ever seen him. Trying to remain unnoticed had never been a characteristic of the boy, and it astounded the Nietzchien that none of the others had the slightest idea what was going on.

Now that the pressure was off, Rommie decided to clear up her internal chronometer. When she had performed a self-diagnostic, she found a minor fluxuation in her short-term memory programs. Being somewhat of a perfectionist, a small fault like this bothered her, so she decided to fix it. She ran a 'sweeper'; one of Harper's built-in malfunction-detectors. Rommie wouldn't even have to go offline, just sit back and let the sweeper clean up the problem. It should only take an hour or so.

"If you set foot on that ship you'll be trapped," Lane told Harper. When she spoke every other sound fell away and there was nothing but her.

With all the chaos inside his mind, Harper had forgotten that his supply of drugs was almost depleted. Only two syringes remained. Even if he could get away now, Thorne wouldn't be best pleased to find him trying to obtain more supplies, not after stealing from him and almost killing one of his lackeys. It wasn't an option. This problem aside, he had made a decision not to let Lane fool him any longer. It was her who convinced him to begin his path to self-destruction.

*You can't fool me. I know what you're trying to do.* Harper thought. He didn't have to speak out loud, it was clear from past instances that Lane was inside his head and could read his very thoughts.

"And what exactly is that?" Lane asked in bemusement.

*Out to ruin my life. Well you almost succeeded, but this ends now. I will not break.*

"It wouldn't matter if I was here or not, it was inevitable. Everything eventually comes back around on itself, and people are no different." Lane was practically shouting now, delighted with the torment she was causing. "You've become the same person you were on Carna! Don't you get it?" she laughed. "You already broke!"

^~*~^
End of chapter fourteen
Next chapter: Within