Part 7

Harper followed Dani into her makeshift quarters on the Andromeda, and he quickly found a seat, whilst he waited for Dani to sit down he looked upwards. "Rom babe, privacy mode on, please," he requested to show good faith to Dani.

"Privacy on," Rommie confirmed via voice only.

Dani was looking at Harper strangely. "You really talk like that to the ship?" she asked with obvious horror.

"Rommie is more than just a ship," Harper returned.

"I'm judging you again, I have to stop that," Dani looked away.

"So what do you have to say?" Harper asked, glad in part that at least Dani was aware of her unfair statements on his character.

"I know you don't fully appreciate that I've decided to trust you, and speak to you," Dani began, and Harper's expression agreed with her assessment. "But I'm just as much in the dark about all this as you are."

"How am I in the dark?" Harper asked with confusion. "Are you saying that you're more than just the slave you appear to be?"

"Well I'm in the dark," Dani countered. "Why am I even here?"

"I thought you were going to talk to me, not vice versa," Harper stated. "If you just brought me here to ask questions I best be going now," he made to move.

"Don't I deserve an explanation?"

That comment instantly made Harper shake his head angrily, and his voice rose as he spoke. "Trance, Rommie, everyone bar me has attempted to explain to you the situation, and you decided to ignore them, to not trust them," Harper argued, getting to his feet, now deciding that this was a waste of his time. Why did he even begin to think this slave would be any different to those he used to avoid on Earth, always asking questions because they were weak enough to lose their minds in the first place.

Dani closed her eyes. "Yes maybe they did but I won't remember that for a few days yet."

Harper turned sharply to face Dani, his attention caught. "What do you mean, in a few days?" he questioned abruptly.

Dani sighed and adjusted her seating position, sitting forward now with her head in her hands. "I was involved in an accident as a kid, this transport hit me, as a result I got irreversible brain damage, and I have problems remembering things, at first," she offered.

Harper sat down again as he digested the news. "So you don't remember anything, your short term memory is damaged?"

"I remember things eventually, a few days later, so I still have a perfectly working long term memory, it just takes me a while before I do remember, it just comes back to me," Dani explained. "Which is why I had to tell you this now because more likely than not, I won't remember any of this tomorrow, and we'll have to start all over again."

"But you will eventually remember this?" Harper checked, making sure he understood.

"Yeah, give it a few days and I'll be remarking on how paranoid you looked when I asked for this chat," Dani grinned.

Harper looked away but he was desperately trying to remain indifferent to the slave, to show her his natural dislike and distrust, but somehow Dani had no problem mocking him, and he hated the fact that he sometimes found her remarks funny, as it didn't help his annoyed stance.

"So," Harper decided to rapidly change the subject back to its original purpose. "You have this brain injury, is that why you wouldn't let Trance check you out on Med Deck?"

"Probably, I don't recall protesting but it sounds like something I would do," Dani admitted. "I just get jumpy about any instruments or medical equipment going near my head, it doesn't take much for me to get a head ache."

Harper looked at her, it made sense he figured. "So when I next see you, you won't remember that you've told me all this?"

"When you next see me, just tell me that 'Reko knows the truth'," she explained.

"Reko knows the truth?" Harper repeated.

"He was the first person I told about my disability, it will tell my long term memory that you know the truth," Dani smiled. "I'll know to trust you, but naturally if you want shot of me, just keep quiet and out of my way, by the time I remember I might not be on board any more and out of your hair," she added, dismissively.

"So if your poor memory skills are down to this injury, and not some inbred slave conditioning, how much of a slave are you?" Harper asked suspiciously now, when taking away her inability to remember things, he realised that what remained was not the typical slave that he would expect, she had attitude, and on reflection she seemed bright and amusing, not a trait usually associated with Earth slaves.

"I need to trust you if I tell you," Dani stated firmly.

Harper looked at her, she was no longer making an observation but demanding his trust. He wanted to know the truth about this girl, she intrigued him now, as well as annoyed him, but now he knew something more about her, Harper had to admit that his curiosity was burning.

"Rommie, activate Harper privacy protocol nine alpha zero," Harper instructed without a second thought, removing his safety net now and offering what he could of his trust in her. He saw Dani looking back at him as Rommie confirmed the order, and offered a brief shrug. "Ultimate privacy now, not even Rommie will be able to recall what's being said here," Harper explained casually.

"So before?" Dani asked.

"There were backdoors, if Rommie ever needed to investigate she would have been able to override the privacy code," he informed her, and saw her flash of concern and felt bad suddenly for not giving her the privacy she had requested. "Don't worry, I'll make sure Rommie doesn't pry, I can do that you know," Harper tried to sound important.

"You didn't trust me," Dani reflected but then seemed to shrug it off. "Thanks for trusting me now," Dani seemed to appreciate his actions. "So now we can talk without any fear of what is discussed being discovered?"

"Dani, are you really sure you want to just talk to me about this?" Harper attempted once more time to get Dani to speak to someone else in the crew, being the only one to know the truth was going to put him in a tiresome position. "You know the minute I leave this room I'll be ordered to tell them what you said, they need to know, it's the mission we're on, I can't not obey orders."

"Yes you can," Dani objected firmly. "I don't believe for a second that a kludge like you, can't disobey orders."

Harper was momentarily shocked, before he quickly recovered. "Don't freaking call me that!" Harper snapped with sudden fury at the insult, and got to his feet. "You lure me into this, whatever this is, and then throw that in my face? Who the hell do you think you are? You of all people have no right to call me that!"

"Because I'm a slave?" Dani asked pointedly, rising to Harper's fury but showing no apology for her comment.

Harper stared at her for a moment knowing that her observation wasn't wrong, and realising how harsh he may be being, but she was missing his point and her tone and words had still insulted him. "Not exactly," he offered bluntly. "Because you never lived in the camps did you? You were taken away and you missed all the fun of the beatings, the night patrols, the bored ubers looking to use you for target practice, contaminated food, I could go on," Harper emphasised sharply, all his hatred of slaves now pouring out in his voice.

"You make out like I've had a charmed life," Dani observed more calmly, her tone softening and she then sighed, allowing her head to fall back looking amused by the turnaround.

"I can't help the way I feel about the ones who got away," Harper stated. "And I know it wasn't a bed of roses for slaves either," he countered quickly. "But I have issues with people who willingly allow themselves to serve those monsters, and I can't help how I feel," he finally admitted but he avoided eye contact.

"I'm sorry," Dani simply offered sounding genuine with her words.

Harper closed his eyes. "You don't have to apologise," he stated, that hadn't been what he wanted, he just wanted to leave now feeling like an ass for what he had just admitted to, but it was the truth that he couldn't deny.

"If you don't want to know anything about me, then fine I can't force you to listen," Dani spoke softly. "I won't tell you and then your friends can go back to trying to make me like them, so just go already and get some rest."

There was silence now, but Harper didn't attempt to move, he no longer knew what to think as his head thumped and his feelings took over. Just as he was beginning to accept that maybe he could listen to Dani, she had turned on him in a way he didn't like, but he hadn't exactly been perfect either, and more and more Harper was realising that she was less like the slave he thought she was. Dani wasn't like the other slaves that he had seen in his life, and there was definitely something else about her, but he just couldn't determine what exactly it was, he only knew one thing for sure, she had his attention now.

"You say you trust me," Harper said as he looked over to Dani. "That you will only talk to me, but you still won't tell me why other than you just do trust me, and then you so easily insult me with your next breath," Harper explained with an air of frustration.

"You're not exactly making this so easy for me you know, and in truth you didn't have to tell me how you felt about slaves, it's been written all over your face since the moment I first saw you," Dani countered.

"So tell me why are we even trying to do this? I can't help the way I feel, you can't expect me to change just because you, for no reason that I can see, decide to trust me," Harper said with confusion.

"I know, but I don't care about what you think of slaves," Dani shrugged. "Do you think you're the first person to look at me like a piece of trash, newsflash honey, I'm use to it, I expect it, and I get suspicious when I'm not viewed like that, so just deal with that fact and get over yourself," Dani stated with arrogance.

Harper looked away and in that moment he couldn't look at Dani, as his thoughts consumed him, not liking the fact that Dani was taking his prejudice so well, and accepting it as a part of him, what did she really think of him now and why did he suddenly care?

Harper then looked up when Dani began to lightly laugh, and he narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"Just thinking why did I have to trust the most untrusting being on this ship?" Dani offered lightly.

"I didn't do anything to make you trust me," Harper reminded her bluntly.

Dani just smiled. "That's what makes you so adorable," she offered warmly to Harper's surprise, but she quickly continued. "You told me this was a good ship, and a good crew," Dani remembered. "So, I can't have made that much of a bad choice to trust you, I'm not blind, I saw the efforts your friends made to help you earlier, so they obviously trust you too, hell they may even like you," she joked.

"Don't twist this around to me," Harper protested, refusing to rise to her teasing. "What about you? What kind of slave are you to have this much of an annoying personality?" he asked pointedly. "In my experience that's the first thing the ubers beat out of your kind."

Dani sighed. "Because dummy, I'm not a slave," Dani simply admitted.

"What?" Harper immediately questioned, and it threw everything he understood about her away.

"Now you want to know more, don't you?" Dani continued to tease.

"Are you going to tell me or just play these stupid games?" Harper responded unimpressed, but he did want her to now continue, he had come this far after all.

"It's all just an act, I'm sure you'll be glad to know, now you can just hate me for being me, rather than that tired old excuse that its because I'm a slave," Dani offered. "I do work for Yussuf, but on a different level to that of a stupid slave," Dani stated finally, and with a casual air. "He discovered my brain injury could serve him, and it keeps a roof over my head in doing so."

"How so?" Harper was intrigued now. "And I don't hate you," he assured her. "Much," he quickly added so he didn't appear too quick in forgiving her, but wanting her to know that he wasn't a bigoted monster either, he just had issues.

"Yussuf gives me vital information to remember, then the next day when I've forgotten it, he arranges for me to be collected. I go into simple dumb slave mode, an act I have perfected over the years, well it had you fooled," she shrugged. "And then what should happen is I get delivered to the source, and once I remember the message and who it's for, I tell them, and they then act on the information and when it's safe to return, I return home to Yussuf," Dani explained.

"Clever," Harper could only comment with the information.

"You can't tell the others," Dani immediately stated. "I'm loyal to Yussuf, and it's not wise to cross him, no one can find out about this, certainly not the Commonwealth."

"So why tell me?" Harper asked with sheer confusion now.

"I told you, because I trust you," Dani simply responded. "I wanted you to know, so you can help me."

Harper looked annoyed now. "Now that I know, Beka will expect me to tell her, this is her mission, Dani, and why should I help you? You may be loyal to Yussuf, but I'm just as loyal to Beka and this crew," he stressed.

"I have a good life, Seamus," Dani explained with care. "Yussuf is not the big bad Tyrant, he is a very considerate and caring man, even if he is an uber," she claimed. "I am not a slave to him, I simply work for him as a messenger, and in turn he rewards me with food, shelter and respect. I'm not ready to give my life up, so don't make me."

"The messages you pass along, Dani, they are of concern to the Commonwealth, Yussuf may be this hero to you, but he is a threat to everybody else," Harper explained with careful consideration. "Dani, never trust ubers, the work you do puts innocent people at risk."

"You're wrong," Dani stressed, and now she got to her feet. "I have been in Yussuf's care since I was six years old, possibly younger, he gave me all the medical care I needed after my accident, and he made sure I was educated, well fed, so don't expect me to betray him just because you tell me he's really a bad man."

"If you have the brains you claim you don't need me to tell you that," Harper returned sharply. "You don't need ubers to have a comfortable life," Harper added, looking tired suddenly.

"Maybe not, but I don't have a lot of friends in this universe like you do," Dani stated back. "I wouldn't last five minutes out of Yussuf's care."

"You would," Harper objected. "You just have to want to, and being on this ship is an opportunity Dani, not a prison sentence."

"You look tired," Dani then observed, quickly changing the subject on seeing the rapidly flaking human before her.

"How long has it been since I left med deck?" Harper wearily asked, feeling drowsy.

"About two hours," Dani answered. "Lie down for a couple of minutes, take a break," she suggested, as she gestured to her bed.

"I better go back to my own quarters," Harper decided and got to his feet, it had been enough of an energy drain talking to Dani without staying in her company for longer than necessary.

"Thanks," Dani simply said.

"For what?" Harper questioned.

"For not telling anyone what I told you," Dani stated.

"Who says I wont?" Harper returned.

"Me," Dani said confidently, and a wry smile followed.

"You really think you know me," Harper frowned.

"Prove me wrong," Dani challenged, as she stared directly at Harper.

"You said yourself that you have no friends outside of Yussuf in this galaxy," Harper reminded her.

Dani for once was silent in her response, and she just looked on as Harper moved to the exit, and he left her quarters without another word. Deep down, he knew that it was not in his nature to break someone's trust in him, even though he had issues about Dani that were still unresolved even after her revelation. He heard the door close behind him, and Harper ran over the many things his mind that he had to digest about Dani, the most important thing being what he was going to tell the others, or rather what he couldn't now tell them.

"What about eight hours?" Beka asked with an impatient air.

"Give him nine, Beka, Harper doesn't sleep in often and he had quite a distressing day yesterday, don't wake him if he's still asleep," Trance requested.

Beka paced the Obs deck as Trance tended to some plants, it was now morning and they had heard nothing from Harper or Dani since their chat in her quarters.

"But don't you want to know what Dani told him?" Beka asked with impatience.

"I do, but in good time," Trance replied showing her patient side.

Beka examined more closely one of Trance's plants, taking in the shape of the leaf and colour of the flower. "What do you think is going on with Dani and Harper, I mean why him?"

"Why do you ask that?" Trance asked with amused interest.

"The way she hung around Harper yesterday after we freed him, she didn't leave his side," she remembered. "The very fact she seems to trust him instantly, and this is Harper we're talking about, no one confides in him usually and he wanted nothing to do with this mission, now he's bang smack in the middle of it."

"I confide in Harper," Trance objected.

"OK, so maybe sometimes he's a good listener when you can get him to shut his mouth for a few minutes," Beka conceded. "But don't you find this all a bit strange? Why Harper?"

"Like for like, and I'm not intending to belittle Harper," Trance was quick to speak seeing Beka about to object to her choice of words. "They are both humans from Earth, she's not an imposing figure, and we both know that Harper is too laid back sometimes, and the first time that she saw Harper, he was in need of her help," Trance explained. "No one else on this ship has needed her help, so its no surprise to me that she has responded like this to Seamus, considering the circumstances."

"So because he's a short accident prone mess of a human, Dani has found someone she can relate to?" Beka said with amusement. "It could be love," she mocked.

"Or she could be a conditioned slave seeking direction from someone she can trust," Trance offered, and saw Beka reluctantly agree.

"I still don't trust someone who just trusts Harper like that," Beka responded, then caught her words. "I mean, usually it's not good for Harper when that happens," she tried to recover. "I just wish he would wake up already, I know I'm close on completing this mission, why is it he picks today to sleep in?" she complained.

"Well, I need to give Dani some breakfast, hopefully after her talk with Harper last night, she'll be more social," Trance offered optimistically.

"Or she could be completely traumatised," Beka teased. "Maybe Harper had a point, diplomacy has never been his strongest point."

"Beka," Trance chastised. "I'm sure they had a pleasant chat," she stated with amusement and moved past Beka towards the exit. "And don't worry about Harper, on this occasion he has not been blinded by the fact she's female, so that's something, right?"

Beka was forced to agree, if anything Harper wasn't in the least bit interested in knowing Dani, so that was something. Beka just wanted to get to the bottom of who Dani really was, and what her role was in Yussuf's empire, so she could claim the rewards and complete her mission. With Harper winning the girls trust, Beka couldn't imagine being in a better position to succeed.

TBC