Part 11
Beka allowed a sigh as she composed her thoughts. Pacing the meeting room, she glanced at Trance, then at Rhade and Dylan. "So you think that Yussuf took this kid from Earth, having hit her with his transport?"
"I have no proof that he actually hit her, or if it was purposely done or if it was an accident, but I can offer no other reason for Yussuf being on Earth at that particular time, he has no business interest there and has never visited the planet since, as far as records indicate," Trance shrugged. "But if he was looking for a live information carrier, one he could influence and manipulate without question, then a kid from a downbeat place like Earth is a good place to look, especially one that would believe that he was helping her."
"And you're saying that Dani's brain injury has been fixed, and she's cured?" Beka checked.
"It was not a difficult procedure," Trance explained. "She has lived a lifetime with a disability that could have been easily fixed, had she been aware of this fact."
"It is not unusual for Nietzscheans to acquire the services of lesser beings to act as their messengers," Rhade now spoke up, choosing his words with care. "Although I have never heard of the tactic seen here, to lead the human to believe they are brain damaged, and then pretending to help and assist them in life, that is not very Nietzschean," he concluded with a frown.
Dylan leaned forward. "I think that we've all got the impression at one point or another that Yussuf is fond of Dani, that he has affections for her, all reports also hinted at this before we began this mission," he shrugged in suggestion.
"You're saying Dani is more than just a messenger for him?" Beka asked, as she tried to piece together all the information.
"I'm not sure," Dylan admitted. "But there is more to this, there has to be, Yussuf is going to a lot of trouble to bring Dani home, he almost fried this ship, and two men have been killed already."
"Maybe the information she is carrying right now is worth that risk," Beka suggested.
"He wants Dani alive," Trance pointed out, and Dylan nodded his head towards her. "If it was the information he wanted to protect, then she would have been his target, not us."
"Then what exactly have we got on board?" Beka offered with a sigh, knowing that the information they had made little sense at that moment, and she knew they needed more.
"Beka, I trust I can leave that question with you, I'm going to be in communication with the council for the next few hours discussing plans for that other world ship type business that we need to attend to," Dylan half smiled, then glanced at Trance. "If you are not busy Trance, and can spare a couple of hours, I would appreciate your input on some of the matters being discussed," he spoke up.
"Dani and Harper are both resting, so I can probably spare a couple of hours right now," Trance agreed and stood up, leaving the meeting with Dylan.
Beka sat back down and sighed heavily, as Rhade looked on. "This mission is going to drive me insane before too long," she complained.
"Have you determined what else Harper might know yet?" Rhade asked with interest.
"Haven't had a chance, he was about to tell me when the attacks started, he's been pretty much out of it since," Beka frowned.
Rhade looked puzzled for the moment. "Did you ever discover why it took Harper so long to alert you to his position after the second attack?"
"No," Beka shook her head, and then contemplated that little mystery. "No, I never did, and I saw no obvious reason when I quickly searched the area afterwards," she considered. "It took him nearly seventy minutes to jack into the system to order Rommie to open the doors."
Rhade simply nodded his head, as he too considered the facts. "Alone with a girl for that amount of time, might be some sort of record for Harper," he finally remarked and Beka had to look away as she tried not to smirk.
"Rhade, uncalled for," Beka tried to defend her friend. "And I'm pretty sure that wasn't the reason."
"You're right, it was far too much time," Rhade absently agreed.
"Rhade," Beka snapped with mocking tones, as she got to her feet but she was thankful for the chance to smile again, even if it was in jest. "I'm going to go and check the deck again, then hopefully in the meantime Harper will wake and we'll be able to ask him ourselves," she stated, before moving to leave the room.
"Mind if I join you? I have nothing else scheduled right now," Rhade spoke up as he got to his feet, and Beka gestured for him to follow.
The room was quiet, and Dani had already checked that there was no one around, as she walked up to the cot. She looked upon the sleeping form of Seamus Harper, and saw that he was in a deep sleep. Dani saw what looked like pure oxygen being administered directly through his nose and mouth from the items Dani could see that surrounded the human's face. With careful breaths she looked at Seamus for a while, taking in his features, whilst remembering what she did to him, yet he had still helped her.
With some sadness in her expression, Dani reached with her hand and gently touched Harper's arm, before lifting the thin material of the sleeve of his t-shirt up and seeing the red burn mark she had inflicted on his upper arm when she had attacked him with the live wire.
Glancing around she found the healing device, and with a train eye she adjusted the settings to assist with burns healing. Checking once again that she was alone, she activated the device and ran it a few times over Harper's arm and watched with care, as the mark gradually grew lighter.
Satisfied that it was now barely visible, she smiled and replaced the device to the side, before returning her full attention to Harper's face, and her hand gently began to stroke his face.
"Shay," Dani spoke lightly. "Wake up, I need to talk to you."
It took a few moments for Harper to begin to stir and when he did, it took another few seconds for him to focus on Dani. Bringing his hand up to the appliances that covered the lower part of his face, Harper quickly removed the oxygen feed.
"Dani, what is it?" he finally spoke with disorientation as he got his bearings, and his voice was hoarse sounding. Harper continued to gather his senses, attempting to sit up, and figure out where he was.
Dani glanced around. "I remember," she simply said.
"Remember what?" Harper absently returned.
"Everything," she motioned with enthusiasm.
Harper then vaguely remembered what Trance had told him. "That's right, Trance was able to fix your brain injury, you have your short term memory back," he grimaced as he finally managed to sit up completely, with Dani assisting him in part. "So you woke me up to tell me that?" he asked, as he rubbed his eyes to help him to wake up some more.
"Shay, I need your help," Dani spoke low, and with urgency now.
"My help?" Harper checked, but didn't seem too enthused by the prospect. "Well sorry, babe, but last time I helped you I became a real live wire, so no thanks," he stated, his voice growing stronger as he became more awake.
Dani ignored his remarks and continued. "I remember everything," she hinted. "And I can't stay here, I need to be somewhere else," Dani insisted with an air of urgency.
"I'm not going to help you deliver whatever deadly information you may carry for Yussuf," Harper had regained enough of his senses to know it was a bad idea.
"I just need to complete my work, you have to understand that I can't risk losing Yussuf," Dani stressed, and she nervously looked around, once again checking that they were alone.
Harper rolled his eyes, before responding. "Open your eyes Dani," Harper stated, his voice growing louder now. "Yussuf has lied to you all of your life, he told you that you had brain damage, that you would permanently damaged but we fixed you the first chance we got, so he is not helping you, Dani, he's using you!"
Dani expression abruptly changed and before he could react, Harper felt his head snap sharply to the side, as Dani slapped him hard and there was silence for a few moments where Harper didn't move, or even attempt to sooth his burning cheek.
"I'm sorry," Dani finally offered softly, and she moved away slightly.
"I get the whole being loyal thing," Harper offered quietly, still facing away from Dani. "But your loyalties are misplaced," he insisted and then jumped down from the cot, moving past Dani and he reached for a beaker, so he could get a drink of water.
"You almost died earlier," Dani finally spoke up after a brief silence. "Yesterday you almost got yourself killed when that room fell on top of you," she added.
"Don't exaggerate," Harper dismissed, as he took a few sips of water.
"You're loyal to this ship, why?" Dani asked.
"Because this ship has saved my butt more than a few times, and this crew look out for me, I just know a good thing when I see it," Harper returned firmly and with honesty, before taking some sips of water.
"This ship," Dani smirked now, mocking Harper. "This ship almost made you a mother to little Magog babies, and this ship risks your life day in day out by going after the bad guys on some stupid quest of one man, a quest that died over three hundred years ago and for a reason, it was too idealistic for this universe," Dani declared.
"What is your point?" Harper asked with irritation, as he moved back to the cot with his water.
"Yes, Yussuf is this big bad that you talk about, yeah he has lied to me, but I also know a good thing when I see it, he's saved me more than risked my life," Dani explained with care.
Harper frowned, showing his doubt to her claims. "Don't even begin to try and compare our lifestyle choices," he responded bitterly.
"Why?" Dani asked. "Because you think you're better than me, because I chose to pretend to be this slave, in order to have a comfortable life? It beats pretending to think I'm more than just a stupid kludge, that I'm some kind of genius, I got news for you Seamus Harper, true geniuses do not continuously risk their lives for things they have no right being a part of. True geniuses do not have birthplace, Earth on their records," she stated harshly.
Harper just stared at her for a moment, before speaking, and controlling his more natural reactions to her words. "I think I preferred you when you were brain damaged, and under the false pretence of your precious Yussuf's will," Harper returned sharply. "And you seem to know an awful lot about me and this ship," he then added with suspicion. "How did you know about the magog eggs, and Dylan's mission?"
Dani took a deep breath and paused for a moment, letting her head drop down against her chest. "Part of my job is to know things," she quietly spoke, and then looked at Harper. "Yussuf expects me to know about any threats to his empire, in the event of something like this happening," she gestured. "He knew one day I could become a target of blackmail, kidnapping, and he wanted me to be prepared, to know my enemies."
Harper narrowed his eyes slightly. "So, everything since you've come on board, regardless of your so called brain injury has been a sham, you've know exactly who I am, and who all this crew are since you arrived?"
Dani simply shrugged. "It's my job to know, I don't question your job."
"You attacked me with live volts, Dani!" Harper yelled with sudden anger and disbelief. "I was prepared to put that down to you being scared of the unknown, and mistakenly I thought that you thought that I was a stranger, and a threat, but," Harper looked around now with amazement. "You knew who I was, where you were, and you still tried to kill me? What kind of monster has Yussuf brought you up to be, because you definitely are not human!" he stormed with anger.
"I'm not a monster, don't you dare call me that!" Dani returned sharply and with shock to his choice of words. "I thought you were the enemy, I only knew you as someone to not trust, who might, with this crew and this ship, attack Yussuf," Dani explained with passion. "Don't you see? I didn't remember that we had talked, that I had learned to trust you, I didn't remember that, and that's why I attacked you, it was all based on older less informed memories," she stressed.
"I told you the words you asked me to say, so you would trust me, and know to trust me, it didn't exactly work did it?" Harper mocked, still with angered tones.
Dani looked upwards. "I wasn't thinking straight, I was in a place that was falling apart and then you walk in, some kludge I don't know and you tell me something I wasn't expecting you to say," Dani offered with a sigh. "I thought only that you must have forced me to reveal that, I'm sorry, I never imagined in that moment that I would trust someone like you," she admitted and shrugged.
Harper stared at Dani, and wondered why he wasn't walking away, or telling her where to go. Instead, he knew deep down that she was a mystery that he didn't yet understand, and he always needed to understand.
"Do you still consider us the enemy and me as just some kludge? " Harper had to ask after a few awkward moments of silence, unsure what he was feeling now.
"Do you work for Yussuf?" Dani asked with a shrug, and Harper shook his head. "Then yeah, you're still technically the enemy, and Shay, I think anyone I deem is human and not enhanced to be a kludge, it's just my mindset don't take it so personally," she stated. "Just as you deem any human that works for an uber to be slave scum," she added quickly.
Harper took a deep breath, he wanted to deny what she was saying but he couldn't, because she was right, how could he judge her when he acted the same way so many times before? With a resigned sigh, Harper decided to move the discussion on, in the hope that it would end soon.
"So you often ask your enemies for help?" Harper asked with annoyance in his tone.
Dani looked away, suddenly she seemed to lose her apparent tough mask, and her expression briefly showed fear and anxiety. She looked back at Harper, and appeared a little unsure. "Do you see me as the enemy?"
Harper was caught a little by the question, he hadn't expected the turnaround and suddenly he felt uncomfortable. Considering the question, his instincts wanted to say yes, by the same token she didn't work for Dylan and she had attacked him earlier but he couldn't say it. Searching for the reason, Harper realised that he was staring at her, and he was thinking about how captivating her eyes were, before suddenly inwardly chastising himself for even allowing himself to be distracted by this woman.
"Well?" Dani pushed, after Harper had failed to respond in good time.
"I don't know," he finally admitted with an air of awkwardness, and he moved away from her scrutiny, and focused on some medical equipment to stop his mind wandering to dangerous places again.
"I can't go back, can I?" Dani then spoke with sadness.
Harper quickly jumped on her words, needing to confront her again to rid his mind of the uncomfortable feeling he seemed to have inside him. "If Yussuf is this all round great guy that you keep trying to convince me he is, then I don't see what your problem is, he's so good surely he'll welcome you back with open arms and a surprise welcome home party," Harper spoke confidently, and his tone suggested that in part he was mocking Dani's faith in the man.
Dani closed her eyes, and it took Harper a second or two to realise that she was now emotionally losing her composure, and he then saw tears escaping down her cheeks. With awkwardness, Harper simply watched for a few moments until he was sure that she was genuinely upset, and in turn he felt his own confused feelings return.
"Dani," he now offered softly, still with an air of awkwardness, as he slowly approached her. "I know this crew, they won't abandon you, you're not alone, they'll find you some place to start a new life, and you'll have your freedom," he assured her.
Dani sniffed, still with tears falling. "Yeah, so long as I give them the information they require, so long as I betray the one man I have ever trusted."
"You don't trust me anymore?" Harper asked, and his voice carried a hint of sadness, no longer mocking her, but he knew he was treading on dangerous ground again, and that her answer could take him to a place he wasn't prepared for.
But Dani looked up with anger towards him, and with her eyes filled with tears, she stared at Harper. "You haven't wanted my trust, far as your concerned it's not worth anything, so I have no reason to trust you anymore, I have all my memories, and all my wits about me now, so I don't need you and I never will," she simply said, her voice purposely cutting to make her point.
"Ok," Harper frowned, feeling that she had maybe gone a little over the top.
"You keep telling me things that I don't want to hear," Dani continued, as she attempted to dry her eyes, and compose herself. "You didn't want to know me, and you think I'm below you, that I'm just some stupid uber puppet that you have no time for, I remember everything now," she stressed gesturing to her head. "You know I actually wanted to know you, to like you but seriously, why the hell did I bother?" she demanded angrily. "I should have just fried you with that live wire when I had the chance!" she continued with fury now.
"Dani," Harper attempted to speak but she soon cut him off.
"I'm sorry I woke you, I don't know why I thought someone like you, a worthless kludge, could help me," Dani stressed with emotion, and she quickly left the room.
Harper let out a frustrated sigh and looked upwards. "Fine, whatever, it's not like I care what you do," he remarked attempting to let her words wash over him, and after a few moments he too left the room, leaving med deck empty.
TBC