Forgot to mention before but special HUGGLES to Paris for being forced to proof read this for Harpery Goodness, I know its not an easy task!

Part 2

Dylan prepped his force lance, and with Tyr they entered the darkened room with caution.

"Rev?" Dylan called out.

"I am here, Dylan," Rev's throaty voice returned from the darkness.

"Do you know why we are here?" Dylan tentatively asked.

There was a low growl of remorse. "I have been expecting you; my actions against young Master Harper deserve punishment."

"Do you have an explanation at least?" Dylan asked.

"He's Magog, that's explanation enough, I said we couldn't trust him," Tyr took his opportunity.

"The Nietzschean speaks the truth," Rev supported and with his hands in a defensive gesture, he came into the low light so Dylan could see him.

"I am not so willing to believe that," Dylan disagreed. "Rev, just tell me if you were aware of your actions against Mr Harper."

"I was not, I acted on my more natural instincts, I lost my control," Rev returned.

"But did you purposely, with intent, mean to harm Harper?" Dylan persisted, needing to know. "Did Harper in some way provoke you, or was this an accident?" he added, knowing how testing the young human could be sometimes in the short time he had known him.

"I was not aware of my own actions, and I can not explain myself any further," Rev offered sadly.

"We need to take you to the Brig," Dylan calmly stated, satisfied.

"That would be a wise plan," Rev agreed, and voluntarily moved on Dylan's gesture. "I can not be trusted whilst my thoughts are so varied, my instincts so uncontrolled."

"Trance will take a look at you," Dylan added.

"You think I am ill?" Rev questioned. "That is impossible."

"Nothing is impossible," Tyr spoke up. "You already prove that by even being on this ridiculous excuse for a crew," he said with disgust.

Dylan stepped forward and pressed a device to the Magog's arm. "We'll run some tests on your blood, to see if there's an answer," Dylan informed the Magog. "Mr Anasazi, can you please escort Rev Bem to the Brig, whilst I give this sample to Trance, and check on Harper?" Dylan asked, and saw the Nietzschean reluctantly follow his order.


Beka didn't move from Harper's side, as she nervously continued to brush his hair back from his face, letting him know that she was there in the only way she felt she could. Trance frantically checked Harper's vitals, and he was now totally dependant on the medical equipment Trance had hooked him up to. His lungs and heart were constantly being stimulated by the ships systems, keeping him alive, and keeping his body active until the paralysing effects wore off.

"This won't be for much longer," Beka spoke as calmly as she could. "In a couple of hours you'll be fine, I promise," she added.

Harper couldn't respond; he wasn't even able to blink so they kept his eyes closed to protect them. They also couldn't be sure if the paralysis was affecting his brain, in the same way it had affected his other vital organs, and worryingly Trance had reported a lower reading in his brain patterns that concerned them both.

Dylan soon arrived on med deck with urgency, and immediately handed Rev's sample to Trance, before looking at Beka, seeing her concern.

"Rev was willing to be taken to the brig, and he was aware of his own actions," Dylan offered.

"That's a relief," Beka attempted a smile. "So why did he do it?"

"He doesn't seem to know, he said he was unaware of his actions at the time," the captain responded. "He did seem remorseful."

"And so he should," Beka returned her attention to Harper.

"How's he doing?" Dylan moved closer to the cot, to view Harper and it was a terrible sight to see the paralysed human surrounded by so many different machines to simply keep him alive.

"It's not good, I'm not sure if its Harper's weakened immune system or if it's something else that has caused this severe reaction to the spray," Trance offered with confusion, as she worked with Rev's sample. "He shouldn't be suffering like this; the spray should not endanger a human's life."

"Is he still awake?" Dylan asked, seeing Harper's eyes were closed.

"Yes," Trance answered. "Although we can not be sure how aware he actually is, we do not know how much of an effect the paralysis has had."

"How did Rev seem?" Beka then asked.

Dylan shrugged. "As normal as I've known him, talkative, no sign of illness, but he was confused."

"I've only ever seen Rev use the spray in self defence, as his only weapon," Beka explained with a frown. "Never on instinct or as the first line of attack," she added.

"Got it!" Trance exclaimed suddenly, and looked at the expectant faces of Dylan and Beka. "I have compared Rev's blood sample to all known databases dealing with Magog illnesses and there's a known condition known as the 'Black virus', it was a virus designed by a race of people known as the 'Ammaras' in their battle to destroy the Magog, and it's purpose was to confuse and disorientate Magog," Trance explained, as she read the details. "It was then abandoned when its side effects included dramatic changes to the Magog's venom attacks, which started to kill people rather than just paralysed them, other changes seemed to be more brutal attacks by the Magog."

"I think we have a winner, but how did Rev get infected?" Beka checked.

"The drift we visited was once a stronghold for the Ammaras," Rommie's hologram appeared, she looked to one side clearly checking something. "The drifts security systems were designed by the Ammaras, it is possible that they still had a couple of security procedures in place on the drift, but had not had many Magog visitors in recent years, so Rev Bem very possibly activated systems that may have been long forgotten."

"And Rev does keep to the back streets, the less populated areas out of sight, he might have entered a zone and activated an old defence mechanism," Beka suggested. "They probably never expected Magog day visitors to the drift," she added.

"Is there a cure?" Dylan asked with concern now, as he checked over the illness himself at a console, and not liking what he was seeing.

"It says here there isn't, but it only has a limited lifespan, maybe twenty-four hours," Trance offered. "I calculate that it's been seventeen hours since we left that drift."

"So in seven hours everyone should be clear?" Beka figured, looking back at Harper, who remained seemingly lifeless on the cot.

"Yes," Trance agreed. "Harper should start regaining some of his feeling back in the next hour or so, hopefully his internal organs will respond first."

"Good, well, we'll keep Rev in the Brig for the next ten hours, to be sure," Dylan decided. "And Harper is out of danger, right?" he checked towards Trance.

"Harper will be ok," Trance agreed. "The Andromeda is keeping him alive right now, but I see now reason why he shouldn't be independent again in the next couple of hours."

"Good, I'll return to command, keep me updated on any changes," he requested and left the med deck.

Beka sighed heavily, still holding Harper's hand. "I guess I should be thankful that this happened now, whilst on this ship, we wouldn't have had the facilities on the Maru to keep Harper alive like this," she considered.

"Are you still having doubts about staying on the Andromeda?" Trance checked with interest.

"I'm just having trouble adjusting to all this," Beka admitted, as she looked around. "I've lived my entire life on the Maru, my only objective was finding where the next job was coming from," she sighed. "I survived by keeping out of trouble, now it seems we go looking for it, shake hands with it, and then try to save our butts from it."

"I know its fun isn't it," Trance grinned broadly.

"Trance," Beka scolded mockingly. "That was not my point," she smirked now. "Ok, so maybe it is a little fun, and it has its moments."

"Well, Harper has benefited a lot from being here," Trance argued lightly.

"Yeah, I'm sure the radiation poisoning was a high point," Beka responded with a touch of bitterness.

"He'd have suffered and died from Triangulum Measles long before that, remember that the Maru systems failed to pick that up," Trance pointed out.

Suddenly Harper's body jolted, the first movement they had seen from him in nearly two hours, and it seemed to be fighting the machines.

"His lungs and heart are beginning to respond again," Trance identified, checking her console, and she adjusted the machines parameters to compensate and allow for full control to eventually be returned to Harper.

"Harper, I'm still right here," Beka spoke up rubbing his hand, knowing he still couldn't respond but hoping he could hear her.

"All we can do is wait," Trance offered softly, as Beka continued to remind Harper she was right there.

End of Part Two