Part 6
Harper's POV
I walked up on trance after getting a snarl and a stiff shoulder from the retreating Tyr. Usually
she seems to sense my presence but not today, she was preoccupied with her thoughts. I reached
out and grabbed her shoulder and she yelped and spun around going into one of the fighting
stances Tyr had taught her but not doing it exactly right which created a humorous scene. She
grabbed her chest and panted.
"Harper…it is not nice to sneak up on people like that. I could have hurt you!" She said and I
laughed envisioning what ever stance she took being executed…what kinda move would that
have been? I asked myself laughing inwardly.
"Sure…" I said and she smiled an empty smile and returned to her flowers, inspecting ever leaf
and stem. Then she faded back into thought awkwardly frozen in place, completely forgetting I
was even there.
"Trance you ok?" I said moving into her line of vision.
"Yeah I'm just worried about beka."
"I'm worried too…Tyr came in here hoping you could use your "mojo" and find Beka…any
luck?"
"Mojo?" she asked and then shook her head writing it off as some of my typical earth slang.
"No I don't know where Beka is…how is Dylan doing in the search." Trance said innocently
changing the subject.
"No luck on the sensors but the weather down there is pretty bad. We're hoping she wasn't on the
ship when it crashes or that she's still alive down there but our sensors can't pick her up …we're
gonna have to go to that ice ball and investigate. If someone hurt Beka I swear I will devote my
life too…" I said angrily letting the rage of 20 years of pent up frustration and oppression surface
but trance turned around and looked intensely in my eyes.
"Harper…just promise me that you'll be careful ok. Don't let your emotions get in the way…"
"You know something…don't you?"
"Just promise me Harper." She said pleadingly.
"I promise." I said uneasy. I trusted trance…if it was information that could help us find
beka…she'd tell us, but she must have known something. Why was she so frightened? My
paranoia started to eat at me and I started to twitch. I was time for a nice sparky…something to
give me reason to twitch. I gave Trance one last looking over trying to see if she'd spill it for me
but I gave up after a few seconds…I'm never one for patience. I had to keep busy. I couldn't think
about what could be happening to beka…I couldn't think of the possibility that she could be
dead…laying somewhere cold like all the people I've cared about. Another nail in the coffin. I
shook the thoughts away but they promptly returned. My thoughts begin to run overtime and my
past ghosts begin to haunt the corridors…ghosts of people long past calling for me…telling me
they love me…I couldn't stand it if Beka became another ghost in my illusions…another sour
memory. I started to sweat, she was like a mother to me…in space all I have is her…
"She's all I have." I whispered. Rommie flickered into existence in front of me startling me and
for a second I thought she was a ghost…for a second I thought I had lost everything. I thought
rommie had died…I thought I had nothing left in this universe but me and I'm afraid to be alone.
Afraid of my own mind.
"Harper are you ok?" she said realizing that I was seconds away from a panick attack.
"Yeah…sure I'm ok…just worried about beka." I said wiping the sweat from above my lip and
trying to calm my breathing.
"I'm worried to…we'll get her back Harper..." Rommie said and it was oddly more comforting
coming from her then any other member of the crew. She had no hidden agenda's, No secret
abilities to hide…just logic and genuine love for her crew. If she says that we'll find Beka then
we will. Rommie stilled and closed her eyes obviously getting a message of some sort.
"Report to the slipfighter bay on deck 9 and prep for launch…we're going to the planets surface."
Rommie said and I nodded and trotted off. I entered the docking bay to find both Dylan and Tyr
suiting up with a quiet determination. Neither wanted to talk…both to stubborn to let their
shields down and just work together for this common cause. I shook my head at them and suited
up as fast as I could and hopped in the slipfighter behind dylan. Tyr was my buddy…specially
after the magog worldship…but he had a head full of steam and he had a knack for wrecking
slipfighters. We blasted off and the ride was a quiet one. The only sound was our engines and the
monotone landing commands from Dylan. Our landing was smooth but the site was dismal. The
rust colored maru almost completely covered in snowdrifts and the wind howled menacingly
around us as if warning us of impending doom. I whimperd…I never liked the cold or messages
of impending doom. The march to the maru looked short from the cockpit but was really a long
and hard one. The snow came up to my knees at some points plus the stiffness of the suit and the
weight of the pack I was wearing didn't help at all. Tyr growled at my pace and I was frustrated at
my own pace as well, the maru could hold all the answers. She could be laying there waiting for
us or it could hold answers to where she was…all we had to do was get to it and I was taking so
long…so inferior. I trudged along fighting the wind and grumbling about being a kludge amongst
these to big shots and how much it truly sucked which irritated Tyr and amused Dylan. We
finally made it and we all looked at each other…this was it…would we find her dead and frozen
inside? I was so afraid my heart started to race. Dylan took a deep breath and then stepped
inside…