Summary: Dylan organizes the next mission, none the wiser.
"Andromeda, I asked to speak to Meda locate her." Dylan frowned slightly. Andromeda never kept him waiting.
Andrea replied, "Well, Captain Hunt, my system has..."
Meda appeared before Andrea could finish that sentence. 'Who knows what she was going to say?'
The core matrix operated differently than Rommie or Meda because it was the first of the personas. Different programmers added pieces not realizing that they were all Andromeda however changed in undefined and undefinable ways.
"...been running a little slow lately, Dylan." Meda turned toward him so she wouldn't catch Andrea's steely gaze. 'Great, now we are going to have to discuss some of this. What a treat!' "How may I assist you?"
Dylan turned from the data monitor he had been gazing at and explained the situation.
"Rev. Bem contacted me a few days ago." He watched her to see if he noticed any more erratic behavior. He'd have to ask Mr. Harper to do some diagnostic checks for him.
"It was a command-only communication. Bem will be contacting me again when he is a few hours away."
Meda had missed Rev. Bem tremendously. He had spent the most time with her when she learned of her new abilities. He helped Andromeda resolve the differences of opinion within without alerting the crew of the fluctuations. Harper didn't even know the extent of the chaos he produced when he integrated Rommie into Andromeda.
"He and his guests will need a suite of diplomatic-class rooms on Deck Level C. They are not to be disturbed unless they make contact first."
'Dylan chose not to tell me what the context for this re-emergence is. I will do some digging so I know what our threat assessment will be.'
"Meda, this no-contact command goes for Rev. Bem too. No crew member is to engage this entourage directly without my express permission.
"Inform Tyr that he is free to go on this errand he has been bent to complete." Dylan went back to his Reader and made a few notes.
"Tell Tyr to come to my office as soon as his complete arrangements are made. I want to be able to recall him if danger presents itself."
Meda had begun to direct her internal monitor to what Tyr had finished doing earlier in this duty shift. Those images of him doing those sundry acts to Beka could not be ignored.
"Andrea, send Rommie. Take Meda offline. There must be some kind of glitch in her holoprogram. She has never been this inattentive before."
Before Meda could protest, Dylan's orders were carried out.
Beka awakens
Beka awakensSummary: Beka watches Tyr as he makes the finishing touches on her surprise.
Tyr entered her bedroom through her bathroom. 'What is he doing here?'
He put a basket brimming to the top at her vanity across from her bed. She couldn't see into it from where she laid.
If Tyr wouldn't have sensed her movements, she would have scratched the top of her head at that very moment.
'Can't hide out forever, can I?'
Beka searched through her memory of yesterday. She remembered her duty shift would be soon starting. She couldn't lay in bed forever nor could she avoid what came next either.
She rolled onto her side first. She felt a stitch on her left side just below her rib cage.
'Funny, I don't remember working out. Why do I feel like a transport just ran into me?'
She shook her head to clear it. When she looked up to see what Tyr was doing now, he was not at her vanity anymore.
As soon as she turned to look around the room, Tyr spoke to her.
"I was wondering how long you might sleep Valentine. We have some things to work out before I leave."
'Discuss? What did the two of them have to discuss?'
Trance sat in Beka's living quarters. She waited patiently for Tyr to explain this situation to Beka.
The rumor among most humans was that Nietzcheans only had sex to mate. A select few knew that Nietzcheans had mastered the art of seduction as a survival tool or as a weapon depending on their purpose.
Bewildered, Beka scanned the room. She smelled the sheets. Just her. The scent of sex didn't linger in the air.
'We must have gone out, had a few laughs, and I came home. What more need he say to me?' Confident, she managed to straighten up enough to sit up.
"I am sore Tyr. I don't remember anything except getting ready for our date. What do you want to discuss?"
When Tyr had come to The Sanctuary after he left the Lounge, he told Trance that he wanted to give Beka a choice. He and Beka had bandied enough in this past year for Tyr to have developed a fixation on Beka.
'Tyr will be Alpha.' Trance folded her hands in her lap. 'Alphas cannot leave matters like this unattended unless they invite aggressors to openly challenge their authority later.'
Tyr looked around the room. The Drago-Kasov and the Sabra-Jaguar Prides both knew of his position on this ship. In strategic terms those Prides would choose Beka as Tyr's bed companion whether or not they were ever intimate.
Tyr knew he could not doom Beka to the life of fugitive nor could he leave Andromeda open for later attack when his enemies later pounced.
"Of course, Tyr would never say what his reasons for doing anything are."
Trance turned to look at the shots she had brought for Beka. She hoped Tyr would not take long.
The effect of Tyr's manipulations would soon be palpable to Beka. She wanted to be there to intercede if Beka could not handle what he told her.
Kodiak search partySummary: Tyr's Pride search for him.
Dred looked at the Phoenix navigational system for his battleship. He was 10 days from the last known location for Andromeda.
"Kallen, did you check to see if Tyr's bone blades have fallen off when you talked to your Kasov contact?"
"Sir, I have loaded all the pertinent information on the view screen. It should be accessible by your Balder Reader now.
It has been 20 years since Dred had last seen his childhood friend.
Harper encounters the real Meda
Harper encounters the real MedaSummary: Dylan tells Harper to find out what is wrong with Meda's current operating system.
The com in Harper's workshop buzzed again. He had been ignoring it for well over an hour.
'Tyr has nerve. I'm going to have to prepare something unpleasant for that uber.' I should not have made this bargain. It is going to cost me more than it is worth.
"What now, Tyr?" Harper glared into the viewer screen expecting Tyr.
Dylan stared hard at the view screen, taken aback. "What did Tyr do now, Mr. Harper?" Dylan grimaced and sat back in his chair expecting the worst.
"It is personal boss. I'm sorry, what can I do for you?"
:::::: Meanwhile Meda was making her own corrections based on what she perceived to be at issue.
'Oh they will just switch me off when they have a doubt or when they get the slightest whim?'
Although Meda's access was limited to just the area where her files were stored, she could still do unexpected things.
'I'm moving too slow, is that right?'
Meda flipped through her original directory files. 'Not moving fast enough, huh?
Meda's maker had created 2 master files. One master file was connected to Andromeda. The second one was filed without the knowledge of the other original programmers. In this file, the maker had placed the other abilities that she believed Meda would need if she grew beyond her original programming.
'If the Captain thinks he can turn me on and switch me off whenever he perceives a glitch in my program, then what does he think I am?'
Her maker had equipped her with the ability to transport herself to any other system hard wired to Andromeda. The programmer left Meda instructions on how to transform her transportation ability beyond computer systems, Meda just never believed she would have to use the information before.
:::::: Back to the Captain and his subordinate, Dylan was explaining what he needed Harper to do.
"Harper, I need two things. The first is I need you to fix Meda, something is making her program slow to respond. It doesn't seem to be affecting Rommie or Andrea the same way, but check it to make sure it doesn't become a larger problem."
Dylan watched Harper's facial ex-pression change from angry red to a peaked color green.
'What happened to my baby?' Harper ceased all movement. He fixed his gaze on Dylan.
"What kind of problem?"
Dylan ran his hand through his hair, ruffling the edges into spikes. He sighed.
"Harper, she seemed inattentive. Something has to be wrong with her functioning ability. Take a look and tell me what you find."
Harper rose out of his seat, grabbing his tools. He didn't want to lose time talking to Dylan.
"Mr. Harper, one more thing and you can go."
"What is it, Captain?"
"I want you to rewire the diplomatic wing of Andromeda. Rev. Bem is coming back soon and needs a suitable atmosphere. I'm sending the specifications to your Reader. If you need to use all the drones to complete them as soon as possible, do so. He should be here shortly."
Dylan signed out.
Harper left to jack into Andromeda's mainframe.