Chapter 4: Tricks and Traps and Insanity
"Beka? Are you in here?" Receiving no reply, Trance wandered into the small room anyway. She walked past several of Harper's unfinished projects, peeking under a few, before spying a small figure curled up beside the bones of the X1, Harper's most treasured piece yet.
"Beka. Please. He wouldn't want you to waste away with grief, not when he isn't yet dead."
"He's dead to me Trance. To us. So please, just go, I want to be alone."
A small, sad smile graced Trance's lips. "In the words of someone we both know and love, the universe doesn't always give us what we want. It gives us what we need. And you need comfort. And food. And rest."
"No," Beka glared up at Trance, showing her face for the first time in their conversation. "What I need is my Harper back."
Trance sank softly down beside the blonde, taking her in her arms. "I know Beka, I want him back too."
"You don't know, Trance, you cant." Her voice muffled against Trance's shoulder, Beka began to sob. "You didn't see him after Earth. You could tell he didn't trust me, not even after I kicked Bobby off. Maybe that made it worse, I don't know."
"Hush, Beka, it'll be all right. Everything will be okay."
Trance knew she wasn't telling a complete lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either. Yes, a more acceptable future had revealed itself, but it wasn't perfect, not by a long shot, and hoping wouldn't make it so. Only time could, but that didn't mean it would.
Beka continued talking, unaware of Trance's inner dilemma. "He was the first of my crew, even before Vex Pac. He was like my brother. I miss him. And then, whenever I think of where he is, what's happening to him, I want to go charging off in the Eureka Maru, and the only thing stopping me is the lock I had Rommie put on the docking bay."
Trance's curiosity was piqued by this, and she looked down at the crown of Beka's head. "Lock? What lock?"
A watery laugh answered her. "I had Rommie lock the bay, and only someone else's code can unlock it. I told Dylan, he thought it a wise precaution. Considering the number of times I would have uselessly run off by now, I'm glad I thought of it."
Trance laughed lightly.
"See," her voice was inordinately cheerful, "you really do believe he is alive. So how 'bout we stop talking about him in the past tense and go get some food?"
Looking up at Trance, ignoring her tear-stained cheeks, Beka laughed again, stronger this time.
"I guess," she mumbled, getting to her feet, "and then I suppose you want me to go to sleep, hmm?"
"Well, maybe." Trance pulled herself to her feet and the pair wandered out of Harper's machine shop, happier than either had been in days.
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Footsteps outside of Harper's cell wrung a groan from the slumped figure inside.
"Go away..." His head ached so bad he thought it would explode, and be now he had stopped feeling the individuals aches on his body from those lovely little 'sessions' the ubers loved so much. Not that that was the worst part.
Somehow, the ubers were creating false rescue attempts. Repeatedly. Harper had lost count at five. Or it might have been six, he wasn't sure. All he knew was that every one so far had been a fake.
What made it all the worse was that every fake got him back to the Andromeda, each time the simulacrum lasting longer than the previous one. Each time, though, he eventually spotted some inconsistency, some small flaw, and tried to get away. That always ended with a splitting pain to his head and unconsciousness. When he woke, he was back here.
Sometimes they dragged him off for more fun in between, sometimes they left him to wonder if perhaps all of this was in his head, the whole thing some insane delusion. He wondered if maybe the Andromeda didn't exist in the first place, maybe he was a prisoner in some uber stronghold on Earth, forgotten in their jail.
Maybe there wasn't even an Earth to begin with, or perhaps there hadn't been a fall. What if the Commonwealth had never fallen in the first place and this whole thing was a representation of his mind trying to restore order. Restore sanity.
It would make a twisted sense, he thought vaguely. In a perverse turn of logic, all of this would certainly make sense.
The footsteps halting outside his cell brought his head around. He watched as two ubers marched in, grabbed him by his arms, and proceeded to drag him out down the corridor.
"You can't hurt me," he mumbled, almost incoherently, "you're all a figment of my imagination."
His protests continued all the way down the corridor, and on during the session until he wasn't able to do more than scream.
As they dragged him back to his blinding cell, he began to laugh hysterically. He suddenly found this whole thing perversely funny. He must really hate himself to imagine this.
His laughter continued until he passed out from exhaustion.
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"Progress is slower than expected, but it is still coming along nicely. We should have something useable in no more than a fortnight."
"Very good. Setbacks were allowed for, so the timing is acceptable. Do we have all of the intel we need?"
"Almost. Another simulation or two should provide us with all the data we will need for stage one. And he should be ready by the time stage two is set."
"Very good. Continue. But do it right. We will never have another opportunity like this one, and incompetence is unacceptable. Dismissed."
As his subordinate left, the Nietzchean returned his eyes and mind to the flexi in front of him. He thought it typical that a kludge, no matter how resourceful this one seemed, wouldn't guard such an important asset as the one now resting in his brig.
Well, he wouldn't make the same mistake. He knew how important the kludge, Seamus Harper, was. He wouldn't let the mudfoot slide from his grasp, not ever.
Well, actually, until such time as he was no longer useful, that was.
Grinning, the uber continued reading the dossier, readying himself for the nearing encounter.
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A/N: Hello guys! Another update, and I hope you all appreciate it, I'm really sick right now, so it was an effort getting this out. But I wanted to, since you guys like it. R&R, you never know, maybe it will help me get better sooner! Its always possible, right?
"Beka? Are you in here?" Receiving no reply, Trance wandered into the small room anyway. She walked past several of Harper's unfinished projects, peeking under a few, before spying a small figure curled up beside the bones of the X1, Harper's most treasured piece yet.
"Beka. Please. He wouldn't want you to waste away with grief, not when he isn't yet dead."
"He's dead to me Trance. To us. So please, just go, I want to be alone."
A small, sad smile graced Trance's lips. "In the words of someone we both know and love, the universe doesn't always give us what we want. It gives us what we need. And you need comfort. And food. And rest."
"No," Beka glared up at Trance, showing her face for the first time in their conversation. "What I need is my Harper back."
Trance sank softly down beside the blonde, taking her in her arms. "I know Beka, I want him back too."
"You don't know, Trance, you cant." Her voice muffled against Trance's shoulder, Beka began to sob. "You didn't see him after Earth. You could tell he didn't trust me, not even after I kicked Bobby off. Maybe that made it worse, I don't know."
"Hush, Beka, it'll be all right. Everything will be okay."
Trance knew she wasn't telling a complete lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either. Yes, a more acceptable future had revealed itself, but it wasn't perfect, not by a long shot, and hoping wouldn't make it so. Only time could, but that didn't mean it would.
Beka continued talking, unaware of Trance's inner dilemma. "He was the first of my crew, even before Vex Pac. He was like my brother. I miss him. And then, whenever I think of where he is, what's happening to him, I want to go charging off in the Eureka Maru, and the only thing stopping me is the lock I had Rommie put on the docking bay."
Trance's curiosity was piqued by this, and she looked down at the crown of Beka's head. "Lock? What lock?"
A watery laugh answered her. "I had Rommie lock the bay, and only someone else's code can unlock it. I told Dylan, he thought it a wise precaution. Considering the number of times I would have uselessly run off by now, I'm glad I thought of it."
Trance laughed lightly.
"See," her voice was inordinately cheerful, "you really do believe he is alive. So how 'bout we stop talking about him in the past tense and go get some food?"
Looking up at Trance, ignoring her tear-stained cheeks, Beka laughed again, stronger this time.
"I guess," she mumbled, getting to her feet, "and then I suppose you want me to go to sleep, hmm?"
"Well, maybe." Trance pulled herself to her feet and the pair wandered out of Harper's machine shop, happier than either had been in days.
-------------
Footsteps outside of Harper's cell wrung a groan from the slumped figure inside.
"Go away..." His head ached so bad he thought it would explode, and be now he had stopped feeling the individuals aches on his body from those lovely little 'sessions' the ubers loved so much. Not that that was the worst part.
Somehow, the ubers were creating false rescue attempts. Repeatedly. Harper had lost count at five. Or it might have been six, he wasn't sure. All he knew was that every one so far had been a fake.
What made it all the worse was that every fake got him back to the Andromeda, each time the simulacrum lasting longer than the previous one. Each time, though, he eventually spotted some inconsistency, some small flaw, and tried to get away. That always ended with a splitting pain to his head and unconsciousness. When he woke, he was back here.
Sometimes they dragged him off for more fun in between, sometimes they left him to wonder if perhaps all of this was in his head, the whole thing some insane delusion. He wondered if maybe the Andromeda didn't exist in the first place, maybe he was a prisoner in some uber stronghold on Earth, forgotten in their jail.
Maybe there wasn't even an Earth to begin with, or perhaps there hadn't been a fall. What if the Commonwealth had never fallen in the first place and this whole thing was a representation of his mind trying to restore order. Restore sanity.
It would make a twisted sense, he thought vaguely. In a perverse turn of logic, all of this would certainly make sense.
The footsteps halting outside his cell brought his head around. He watched as two ubers marched in, grabbed him by his arms, and proceeded to drag him out down the corridor.
"You can't hurt me," he mumbled, almost incoherently, "you're all a figment of my imagination."
His protests continued all the way down the corridor, and on during the session until he wasn't able to do more than scream.
As they dragged him back to his blinding cell, he began to laugh hysterically. He suddenly found this whole thing perversely funny. He must really hate himself to imagine this.
His laughter continued until he passed out from exhaustion.
-------------
"Progress is slower than expected, but it is still coming along nicely. We should have something useable in no more than a fortnight."
"Very good. Setbacks were allowed for, so the timing is acceptable. Do we have all of the intel we need?"
"Almost. Another simulation or two should provide us with all the data we will need for stage one. And he should be ready by the time stage two is set."
"Very good. Continue. But do it right. We will never have another opportunity like this one, and incompetence is unacceptable. Dismissed."
As his subordinate left, the Nietzchean returned his eyes and mind to the flexi in front of him. He thought it typical that a kludge, no matter how resourceful this one seemed, wouldn't guard such an important asset as the one now resting in his brig.
Well, he wouldn't make the same mistake. He knew how important the kludge, Seamus Harper, was. He wouldn't let the mudfoot slide from his grasp, not ever.
Well, actually, until such time as he was no longer useful, that was.
Grinning, the uber continued reading the dossier, readying himself for the nearing encounter.
-------------
A/N: Hello guys! Another update, and I hope you all appreciate it, I'm really sick right now, so it was an effort getting this out. But I wanted to, since you guys like it. R&R, you never know, maybe it will help me get better sooner! Its always possible, right?