There's no vocabulary
For love within a family, love that's lived in
But not looked at, love within the light of which
All else is seen, the love within which
All other love finds speech.
This love is silent
-T. S. Eliot

Silent Vocabulary of Love

Harper opened his eyes and rolled out of bed, and as he walked toward the door he ran into a chair. The pain snapped his brain out of a fog. He looked around and realized that he wasn't in his room. He stumbled back to the bed and sat down. Fear crept onto his face as he realized what had happened. He looked around for something to use as a weapon, but all he saw was a wooden chair. He pulled at the chair but it wouldn't budge.

"Just my luck," he thought glumly as he sat down on the bed. He heard the door open and saw someone walk in.

"Bartender, come with me," ordered a male voice.

"And if I don't?" asked Harper.

"You won't see your daughter and friends, again."

"Oh, so you're going to kill me, then?"

"Death is too good for you. I think some time alone an in isolated place might change your perspective, Bartender," said the male voice as it came closer. The figure leaned toward Harper and he saw its face.

"He must have fallen out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down," he thought as she studied the man face.

"Who's Thomas and what does he want with my Dad?" asked Finola as she started to pace.

"He was in control of Seefra-1 when I came there. I humiliated him in front of everyone. I guess he's got a grudge for that," replied Dylan.

"So how do we get him back? Any plans, ideas, thoughts or comments?" asked Finola.

"How do you know your dad is being held by Thomas?" asked a confused Rhade.

"Simple, we were supposed to be attacked as we flew out of the Andromeda, but we weren't which means he's got him. He probably wants revenge for the humiliation, but there's got to be more to this. It just doesn't make any sense," said Finola as she looked at Dylan, Doyle and Rhade.

"What doesn't make sense?" asked Doyle.

"Do you know if Thomas has any living kin or a significant other?" asked Finola as she started to pace, again.

"There are rumors that he's got a twin brother," replied Rhade.

"Good, where onto something. We've got two down and one to go. Are you sure none of them have a girlfriend?"

Doyle, Dylan and Rhade looked at Finola puzzled.

"Mom causally mentioned that my dad's death was that woman's fault. Come on think! There's got to be a clue in there somewhere. Are you sure that there are no women involved with these guys?"

"Nothing comes to mind, I'm sorry, Finola." Said Rhade sadly.

"It's okay. Do you know the layout of his compound?" asked Finola.

"We're not sneaking in there," order Dylan.

"Who says we're sneaking in?"

"Guards," shouted the ugly looking man "bring him to my study. And make sure Elam and Lexine are present."

Harper heard the door open and several footsteps come toward him. Two tall, burly men picked up Harper by the arms. Harpers' feet dangled in the air as the two men followed the ugly man. They stopped in front of a door and waited for someone. Harper heard someone pleading and then there was a thud.

"I'll be right back. Just wait here. If he moves knock him out, but don't kill him under any circumstances. Understand?"

The unattractive manwalked into the room quickly and started to shout in a muffled tone.

"So, how long have you been working here?" asked Harper as he looked at the guards. Both of the guards ignored Harper and tightened their grip on his arms. Another guard appeared in the doorway and said, "Bring him in!"

The two guards brought Harper in a well light room, and dropped into a wooden chair roughly. The guards strapped Harpers' arms and legs down. The ugly looking man waved his hand to dismiss the guards.

The ugly looking man waited until the guards had left before speaking.

"So Bartender it is rumored that your friends with Dylan Hunt and friends. I would like to know everything you know about them."

"And if I don't tell you," asked Harper.

"I've already told you what I would do, Bartender! I am not a person to make impatient!"

"So you won't hurt me then?"

"That's correct, Bartender. But………"

Elam and Lexine walking into the room interrupted Thomas.

"What…. how…. you…. Elam…. Lexine…" he sputtered as the two came closer to him.

"Why don't you take a seat, Thomas?" ordered Elam as he pointed to an empty chair. Thomas didn't make a move toward the chair. Elam pulled out a gun and pointed it at Thomas.

"Sit in the chair, Thomas. Or I will kill you here and now."

Thomas sat in the chair and Lexine tied him to the chair.

"What are you planning, Finola?" asked Dylan as he looked Finola.

"Umm, nothing really. Just a little slip in and slip out, that's all," Replied Finola as she ignored Dylan's gaze.

"So, we're sneaking in.," said Dylan.

"I prefer to call it slip in and slip out. Sneaking in sounds wrong."

"Okay, can we stop talking about the difference between sneaking in and slipping in," asked Rhade impatiently.

"Sorry," said Finola and Dylan at the same time.

"Okay, where here. So what's the plan?" asked Beka as she came into the mess hall.

"We don't know," replied Doyle.

"We were waiting for you," Finola said quickly before the others could speak.

"What are planning on doing?" asked Thomas.

"Oh, Thomas. You know I can't reveal my plan because it would take all the fun away. Especially for your new friends, Harper, is it?" said Elam gleefully.

"Yeah, it's Harper. Listen, I don't have problem with you so why don't you let me go?"

"Oh, and let you miss all the fun. That wouldn't be right. What kind of host would I be if I let that happened?"

"A good one," joked Harper.

Elam snorted and said, "Why don't you just keep your mouth shut unless you're spoken to, Harper."

"Why are you doing this?" asked Thomas.

"Oh, the usually reasons, brother. Revenge, greed, hatred. All of which I can trace to you, dear brother. You see Thomas, Lexine and I were playing you a fool. It didn't take much after your fall from grace to have you become obsessed with riding Seefra of Dylan Hunt and his friends."

"But…but I thought you were and what………." Stammered Thomas.

"Just an act, dear brother. It doesn't take much to con you. You know you are very hard person to kill unlike Mother."

"It's gone from creepy to crazy in no time flat," thought Harper.

"You killed Mother! You bastard!" screamed Thomas as he tried to move.

Elam laughed at his brother and patted him on the head.

"It's okay dear Thomas. I'll make sure your death is painless, but if you do start to annoy me, I'll make it painful. Understand?"

"Are you sure this is going to work?" whispered Beka as she saw Doyle, Finola and Rhade sneak toward Thomas compound.

"What other option do we have?" replied Dylan softly.

Doyle, Finola and Rhade climbed through a window landing softly on their feet. They quietly walked toward the door, but had to duck for cover when they heard footsteps approaching. When the footsteps faded away the trio walked out of the room. They slowly made their way through the maze of hallways. They were passing by a door when Finola stopped.

"Hey, Dad's in here." She said in a loud whisper.

"How do you know?" asked Rhade.

"I just do."

Rhade rolled his eyes but opened the door and peered in.

"Hey, Rhade! It's great to see you."

Finola pushed Rhade aside and ran into the room. She started to untie the straps when she heard a sound nearby. She spun around and fired off her forcelances twice. There where two groans and then two thudding sounds.

"Come on, Dad. We need to get going," she said as she dragged her father out of the room.

"How did you they were there?" asked an amazed Rhade.

"I heard them breathing," Finola replied casually "and I think we better get out of here now."

The foursome hurried through the maze of hallways to the room they came in through. Just as they reached the outer perimeter there was a loud, piercing sound coming from the compound. Dylan and Beka saw the compound come ablaze in lights.

"How the hell did he escape? There is no possible way for him to escape!" yelled Elam at some guards.

"Oh, calm down, Elam. We knew who has him, anyway." Said Lexine in a calming tone.

"How do you know that?" asked Elam.

Lexine stopped herself from rolling her eyes at Elam.

"We have video of them coming and leaving, Sweetie, Don't worry, we'll get them," she replied.

Finola walked the dimensions of the med bay for the hundredth time that night as she became lost in her thoughts. She knew that she'd revealed more about herself than she should have.

"I should've let Rhade take care of the guards, but I didn't. And now he's curious about how I heard them. Sometimes I wish I didn't have Nietzschean blood flowing through my veins. It's more of curse than anything else."