Harper's Flaw (tragic)
Beka stared at the vid screen in disgust and disbelief. She wished she had never seen the video footage. She wished she hadn't looked at Harper's face as he watched the video and seen things there that made her stomach churn. She wished she could look at Harper, but right now staring at the horrible scene on the screen was more bearable.
"Yeah Beka, it's true. I know you want to ask. I did it. And I'm not sorry!" Harper's tone was defensive and Beka almost flinched. It was not her engineer's normal whiny/deferential/irritating but almost cute defensive tone he used on a daily basis to get out of trouble when he misbehaved. It was the nasty/vicious defensive tone he used when he saved himself at the expense of others. Without blinking. Like when he suggested turning an innocent Tyr over to the fish people. Or years ago when he had stolen from a trader and ran allowing the assistant to be arrested. Or when Beka found out that Harper's previous employer had died and asked him about it This was the tone he used when he didn't want to be forgiven, when he just wanted to spew nastiness from some hidden pocket of his mind. She never understood where it came from, but she knew she hated and feared it. "I owed those guys my life since way before I met you and I'm glad I could finally pay them back. And I'm glad they did what they did, 'cuz listen to me boss lady – there – are – NO - good – Nietszcheans – ON – EARTH!"
She made a last attempt to reach her friend and see proof of the remorse that she needed him to feel. "But Harper, look at him AND them. He's no more than 13 or 14 and there are at least a half dozen full grown men plus those women and that human boy. They tormented him mentally and physically for hours before they finally killed him. By Rev Bem's Divine, the human boy that finally stabbed him to death couldn't have been more than 13 or 14 himself! And he laughed about it Harper! Seamus, please look at that and tell me you didn't mean for it to happen that way, that you didn't know it was going to be that way!"
Beka's hope trickled away as she forced herself to watch Harper watch the video and read the attached message again. Happy Birthday Harper, thought you might want to add this to your collection. Thanks for delivering him to us. Harper's face still showed no remorse and Beka was afraid to say what emotions were on his face, even to herself. He composed himself somewhat as he turned a blank, disturbingly still face to Beka. "I told you Beka, no good Nietzscheans on Earth. He had probably already killed, No that doesn't matter anyway. This is me and my life so get used to it boss. Some of us grew up on spaceships and could run and hide from everything, and some us were stuck in the mud and learned things about life. You should know better, even you couldn't run forever, Flash caught you in the end didn't it?"
"Seamus, this isn't the real you. You're just upset about..."
Harper stood up quickly and cut her off. "What, an under-appreciated, brilliant, sorta handsome, unloved genius can't have hobbies?"
Beka watched as he ejected the data disc and walked away heading straight for his quarters coolly flipping the disc between his fingers.