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Part 3
She could feel him, and she knew she had the power of his life in her control and it caused reactions within her sub routines that concerned her. Andromeda was regulating the power output, Trance may have set the criteria, but Andromeda was in full control and she felt each tremor that sent the artificial breath and beat into the human's body to keep him alive.
On command, the hologram flickered into existence next to her avatar and the screen soon showed her mainframe image. Rommie looked up from her console and frowned.
"Harper will be ok," Rommie spoke to her selves, the hologram and the screen.
"We have no doubt about that," the screen returned. "Unless I suffer a power outrage, a severe power outrage," she quickly corrected. "Then Harper will be fine."
"It does feel strange to be keeping him alive, without us he'd be dead," the hologram spoke.
"Not necessarily true, artificial stimulation by another person of the heart and assisting with breathing is achievable with the right medical training," Rommie pointed out.
"Not for the time scale that we are witnessing here," Andromeda returned from the screen. "It has nearly been two hours since complete respiratory failure from paralysis," she added.
"I feel him, we all feel him, it's a standard part of our operations," Rommie then spoke, stopping her work to fully focus on her 'sisters'.
"You feel fear," the hologram offered towards her avatar.
"Concern," Rommie quickly corrected. "Harper created me, where other engineers were unable to, or not willing to," she explained. "I have grown use to his presence, we have grown use to his presence in our system," she stated.
"He is a very competent engineer," Andromeda revealed looking down on them both from her screen.
"He is much more than that," Rommie objected. "He has been able to do the work of a whole engineering team, and he's surpassed a lot of the work of our previous best engineers."
"Then we should fear what has happened," the hologram reported.
Rommie didn't respond, and Andromeda was quick to spot this. "You do fear that he will leave."
"With good reason," Rommie now defended. "Who else from our new crew has done so much to help us, to make us better, to ensure that we are not a sitting target in these dangerous new worlds?"
"The human appeals to you," the hologram crossed her arms.
"And?" Rommie questioned.
"We should get use to the possibility that he will not be with us for much longer," the hologram suggested. "And with him the possibility that our new crew may soon be our ex-crew."
Rommie returned her attention back to her work, tiring of her discussion with herself.
"It's a possibility we can not ignore," Andromeda now supported her hologram self.
"And we can not ignore the fact that Harper and Rev Bem are intelligent enough to be able to work through their differences, and recognise the facts," Rommie stressed, losing patience as she worked. "We should not be so quick to give up on them, or our mission."
"Your emotions concern me, I feel them, as I feel Harper," Andromeda now revealed.
"Can we just stop this discussion until we know more about the facts?" Rommie requested sharply, and she saw both the screen and the hologram flicker out of sight.
"My pain belongs to the divine, it is like air, it is like water," Rev quietly chanted, as he had been doing for the past hour. Finally he stopped, when he was aware that he was being watched. Looking up he saw Tyr stood at the brig door, staring at him.
"Mr Anasazi," Rev acknowledged.
"I have been sent here to assess if you are still a rampaging wild beast that can not be trusted," Tyr spoke up.
"I have no yet evolved to such a state of perfection as yourself, Tyr," Rev remarked, with a touch of sarcasm.
"Trance informs us that you were affected by a manufactured virus designed to attack your kind," Tyr spoke with disinterest. "It is called the Black virus."
"I am aware of this virus," Rev simply responded. "I regret my exposure to it, and its consequence," he added with a lower voice. "Do tell me that young Master Harper is recovering well."
"This time, yes," Tyr responded. "I have heard reports that he is regaining feeling and function, and he is breathing unaided now."
Rev seemed to consider Tyr's words. "I have heard that our venom can be lethal when we are exposed to the Black virus," he spoke up.
"The boy was lucky that he was found so soon after you attacked him," Tyr simply responded.
"For that I thank the Divine," Rev bowed his head.
"Maybe you should thank Trance, and seek forgiveness from the little professor before you bow to your precious Divine," Tyr remarked before moving away, and leaving Rev to once more seek forgiveness, still feeling the effects of his illness and hoping to regain control over them.
Harper was afraid to move, even with Trance and Beka assuring him that he could, they didn't understand. Remembering how the paralysing effects on his body affected him, the feeling and sensation of movement leaving him so rapidly, Harper was simply afraid that by trying to move he would fail and that thought scared him more than anyone could know. In his mind he remembered his cousins briefly, remembered their panicked eyes when they knew that were helpless to do anything to save their own lives, and they were powerless to stop the inevitable, as his own father prepared to kill them for their own good.
He felt unnaturally tired, and his limbs felt heavy with the lack of movement. Parts of him now felt sensitive, as his skin tingled with the returning sensations, other parts felt dead and useless, it was a worrying and strange combination of feelings to experience.
"Come on, Harper, we need to access that you're ok," Trance encouraged. "Try moving your fingers," she added softly.
Harper closed his eyes, and took some controlled breaths, thankful for being able to breathe unaided again. Concentrating, he focused his thoughts on moving his fingers, and then opened his eyes.
"Ok, now the left hand," Trance smiled, and immediately saw Harper's confused expression, as he stared back at her.
"I'm moothing moath," Harper began and rapidly stopped speaking, hearing that his speech was slow and slurred, but in his mind he had clearly said he was 'moving both', but in speech it had come out sounding like he was drunk.
"What's wrong?" Beka immediately asked, trying to hide her concern but it was plainly evident.
Trance took a quick scan and frowned at Harper. "Your left side appears to still be paralysed, including your brain functions and that's affecting your speech," she relayed.
"It's not permanent, right?" Beka checked with urgency.
Trance seemed clearly uncertain, her young tendencies coming into play as she seemed out of her depth now. "I'd need Rev to check, I'm not sure, this is all still new to me," she stressed, reverting to her more child like persona.
"Noth," Harper objected, and then with frustration he showed annoyance to his own predicament. "No," he said with more controlled effort. "Reth no," he added to make his point.
"Harper, don't worry, we'll work this out and if you don't want to see Rev, we understand," Beka spoke with care, holding his hand to comfort him, seeing his distress now.
Harper heard Beka and relaxed slightly, knowing that she understood at least, she always did. It was now the moment when Rev showed his teeth, spraying him with that venom that began to replay in his mind more and more, that was making his anger grow.
Trance moved forward now and she pressed an injector to his neck, and he felt a rush of something immediately inside of him.
"This might help to encourage full mobility," Trance simply offered, having done a quick search through the database for anything that could help Harper. "Keep trying to move your hands," she added.
Harper tried to take a calming breath, and focused on moving his right arm, satisfied that he could and then encouraging movement down his unresponsive left side. In his mind he was moving both arms but his eyes saw that only his right was moving, he attempted to sit up and immediately Beka assisted him seeing his difficulty. Once sitting up, Harper began to grow more frustrated by his inability to get any reaction to his left side, and he could now feel what seemed like a resistance in his mind, like a lingering head ache.
"Don't force it, Harper," Beka said calmly, seeing his rising frustration and anger.
"Do you want to try and walk?" Trance questioned.
"Yesh," Harper answered then immediately looked disgusted by his own speech, and with petulance he over compensated for his lack of mobility on his left side, and almost fell from the cot.
"Steady," Beka warned, as she took some of his weight.
"Find your balance," Trance encouraged, as she watched Harper stand and lean too far to his stronger right side.
After a few moments, Harper was able to stand unaided, and it was now obvious to the naked eye that he had no control over his left side. The left side of his face appeared heavy, as his mouth curved down and his eye remained partially closed, and his arm simply hung by his side.
Beka held both of Harper's arms, and gestured to him to try and walk but he hesitated slightly. "Feels weird," Harper managed to speak with control, hiding the slur. Trance moved away and found a leg brace, usually used to encourage bones to fix, but she saw that it would give Harper the support he needed until full control returned, and with little resistance, she put the brace on.
"Try now," Trance smiled, and watched as Harper put weight on his left leg and found it didn't buckle as he had feared.
Beka grinned now. "This is great Harper, you're walking," she enthused, and she took her support away, as Harper was able to walk unaided, if a little slow.
"Don't do too much," Trance now warned as she continued to take some readings. "Your left lung is still not working to full capacity," she added in explanation.
"Can he return to his own quarters to recuperate now?" Beka asked, knowing it would be something Harper would want.
"I see no reason why not," Trance begin, but then hesitated as she checked her scanner. "Wait," she spoke up, before Harper could move. "Your temperature has increased in the past few minutes."
Harper started to walk, shrugging off with force Beka's attempts to stop him. "Harper?" Beka questioned loudly.
Harper didn't respond, and seemed to be walking more easily as he continued to the exit, leaving Beka to glance at Trance with confusion. "I'll go after him, maybe he just needs some space away from here," Beka offered with a shrug.
"I'll ask Andromeda to monitor his vitals, just in case," Trance spoke with similar confusion, watching Beka leave to hurry after Harper.
End of Part 3
