Part 37
Dani guided Harper's good hand to the wall, and she tried to ignore his uncertainty and fear that she could feel from him, and as they had walked she had felt him shaking slightly.
"Stay here, Seamus, we're at the medical centre, I just want to give you some painkillers, and put some drops into your eyes," she informed him, not knowing what thoughts must be going through his head right now. "We should be ok though, most of the palace flunkies are at the fight night."
"Dani," Harper then returned, his voice shaking and unsure, his posture showing his uncertainty without sight. "What's going on, what are you doing?"
"Just fixing you up," Dani returned as she gathered the materials she needed.
"I mean," Harper emphasised now. "Where are you taking me?"
"To a place where friends can find you," Dani simply responded.
"I told you I don't want to go," Harper stressed, his emotions obviously controlling his thoughts. "Look at me, Dani, please don't leave me, I have nothing now except you."
"I saw you back there, Seamus," Dani spoke as she approached him. "There is no way in hell that you're staying here for that kind of abuse," she explained but saw that Harper was about to protest. "No, Shay, you stay here you'll never regain use of that hand, or your sight, if you stay alive long enough that it," she said with anger. "Don't you see they will never let up on you?" she stressed with care.
"No I don't see, that's just it," Harper said with his voice wavering, and with sadness as he let his head fall back against the wall.
Dani caught her own words, and felt guilt at his response, with a softer voice she spoke again. "You saving Yussuf, that was just an excuse for these people, and they'll find any excuse from now on to continue until they do kill you, and not even Yussuf will be able to protect you from that," Dani stressed. "You heard Kane, he told his kid brother there will be other opportunities to kill you, and he's one of the good ones," Dani said with passion, her hands now resting on Harper's arms.
Harper's eyes were watering now, and Dani was close to tears herself, seeing him like this, so beaten, in so much pain and his emotions distraught. "Shay, think of your friends, think of what they are going through right now, Rhade is right this minute preparing to go in the ring simply because there's a possibility that he might be able to bring you home, home Shay, your home on the Andromeda, focus," Dani insisted strongly. "Think of Trance, Beka and Rommie, your girls, right?" Dani brightened, so desperate to make Harper think clearly.
"My girls," Harper repeated with false amusement. "They don't know, Dani, they think they are rescuing something else, not me, what freaking use can I be to them now?" he asked with despair. "I can't do anything, Dani, I can't even be a freaking slave now!" he broke down, and Dani took hold of him, supporting his body as Shay appeared to give up.
"Please, Shay, as much as it's good for your eyes for them to be watering, I really don't want to see you like this, not now, not if," Dani paused now, realising her own words before speaking them.
"Not if, what?" Harper caught quickly, between sniffs.
"It doesn't matter, let's just get you fixed up," Dani confirmed and encouraged Harper to lean against the wall, and then she smirked. "You know when we first met, and we first explored our feelings," Dani offered, wanting to distract Seamus, and change the subject. "You kept saying I was the mission and that's why things were awkward, well Shay, you were my mission too," Dani shrugged, knowing Harper could only determine her feelings from the sound of her voice, without sight to show him her expressions.
"But only by accident," Harper stressed. "You said, you told me that you fell for me before you realised your mission," Harper panicked slightly, after everything else the last thing he wanted to learn was that he had been taken for a ride after all, and that all this could have been avoided, Harper stopped that chain of thought, it was too much for him to even consider.
Dani took a deep breath, but didn't respond to Harper, and instead focused on treating him. "Look upwards, I'm going to put some drops in your eyes," Dani said as she put her hand on the side of his face.
Harper grimaced as she applied the drops, and then blinked rapidly as Dani turned her attentions to his hand, and she carefully checked the damaged, seeing the blood soaked bandage.
"We haven't got time to redress this, but I really hope that Trance can do something for you," Dani said sadly.
Harper was silent in his thoughts now, as he occasionally wiped his sensitive eyes with the sleeve of his shirt, despite Dani's objections. The darkness was the worst feeling, and he felt so alone at that moment, even in Dani's company. Being unable to see was unnerving, lonely, and he was now unsure of what he wanted, he was in no hurry to decide and if he had his way he would just curl up now and wait, or better still die. But Dani had forced him to start thinking of the Andromeda, of Trance, Beka and Rommie, of his life before, even though his thoughts were still consumed with Dani. He couldn't see beyond that moment anymore, his life as he had known it was over, and now it seemed even Dani was giving up on him, and he saw no reason not to give up on himself too.
"Hey," Dani's voice was heard, and she seemed to be in front of him now. "This is going to hurt, sorry, but you know I have to do it."
"Do what?" Harper questioned, but he then felt his shirt being lifted up and over his head, and then an injection to his shoulder. "The slave chip?" he guessed.
"It's going to leave a mark, I know, but we won't get far if you can be traced," Dani explained. "And even with the injection it will hurt, but I put it there, and now I'm going to be the one to remove it."
"What's the point?" Harper responded evenly.
Dani loudly sighed, and Harper once again felt her hand on his cheek. "Seamus, I'm so sorry, this is entirely my fault, but please don't give up because of me. Your injuries are bad, I know and I won't lie to you, but I see no reason why you can't make some form of recovery, I just can't tell you how much, but don't give up, please?" Dani asked with care, her voice soft and Harper could feel that she was close to him.
Harper frowned as he now considered what she was going to do, he had grown up seeing the scars of ex-slaves, mocking them, sneering at those who had them, and now he'd have one of his own. A part of him almost stopped Dani proceeding even though he knew that it was better to have been a slave than to remain one, and if he was to die now, it wouldn't be as a slave at least. What had his life come to even be thinking like that, Harper considered with shame, thoughts of his mom and dad haunting him now.
"You ready?" Dani checked, sensing how subdued Harper was becoming.
"Do it," Harper simply said and he tensed on feeling a sharp pain, as Dani dislodged the chip and within seconds another harsher pain cursed through his upper body before Harper heard metallic hitting against the counter top, and he glanced down to see the small bloody chip on the side.
"Welcome back to freedom, Seamus," Dani confirmed, and he felt a bandage being strapped to his back over the wound.
"You can't tell me what to do anymore," Harper said with little enthusiasm.
"You're still leaving, Shay, you're not stupid, so you must realise this," Dani said with conviction as she tidied some things away, and then helped him put his shirt back on. "Now let's go," Dani grabbed his arm and with urgency she guided Harper out of the room, but Harper resisted. "Shay," Dani instantly complained.
"You tell me to focus on my friends, well what about us?" Harper asked, with his eyes unfocused, looking past Dani unseeing. "Is this it?"
Dani's silence was torment for Harper, he had no way of knowing how she was reacting to his words, and her touch offered him nothing but resistance to his question as she seemed eager to keep moving.
"Was it real?" Harper now asked with confusion.
"Not here, Shay," Dani stated, and she pulled him along now with force, and when they heard voices Harper felt himself being pushed against a wall, and told to be quiet. They began moving again a few minutes later, and Harper felt disorientated, not knowing the terrain or even being able to guess. It felt as though they were outside the palace now, and they were moving quickly across level ground that rapidly turned to rougher terrain. "Down," Dani hissed and Harper felt himself being pulled down, and clumsily he found himself on his knees and then pushed further back.
There was silence initially, and Harper was on edge, unable to determine the threat, or anything of his situation. The adjustment to being sightless had yet to kick in, and Harper was still struggling to use his other senses to compensate, it all felt so frantic that all he knew was that his anxiety was sky high.
Harper then felt a hand on his face, Dani's touch and he leaned into it on instinct, she still was able to calm him just with touch, and Harper had no idea how she had become so much of an influence on him. Then he felt her lips on his, and they kissed, and in seconds everything felt good again, but only for a split second, when all the anxiety and fear momentarily disappeared as he eagerly returned her advances.
"Shay, I love you, I've known from the moment I met you that I could fall for you and I did, but don't ask me to explain," Dani then spoke with sincerity.
"Don't leave me," Harper sensed in her voice that she was building up to something that he didn't even realise he had feared so much.
Dani's face was still close, close enough for Harper to continue stealing small kisses but it was now becoming clear by her actions, by the tears he could feel against his own skin that fell from her face, that the inevitable was about to happen.
"I can't go with you, my place is here, and your place is up there, we've always known this and nothing we can do will change this," Dani said with amazing calm.
With everything else that had happened, this was the final straw, how much had he lost? His dignity, his pride, his freedom, his ship and friends, his sight and the use of his hand, and now he was losing Dani and Harper wasn't even able to look her in the eyes, to see her one last time.
"Shay, please," Dani's voice broke through, maybe she had continued to speak but he no longer listened. "Not like this," he heard and where he guessed Dani was, he stared.
"I love you," he finally spoke, and he felt Dani embrace him tightly and he returned it with as much gusto, until he felt a something press into his neck.
"You'll be safe now," Dani assured him, the last words he heard before falling into a forced deep sleep.
Dylan Hunt stayed out of sight, high in the rafters of the arena he scanned the crowd and soon located Yussuf, sat in all his pomp and fancy with a melee of servants by his feet. For a moment Dylan feared seeing Harper as one of the slaves, but the engineer was no where to be seen, and Dani was also absent.
Checking the schedule, Dylan knew that Rhade's fight was up next and he moved to a place where he was able to sit down, and he hoped the Nietzschean would know when to stop, so far they had seen no sign of Dani, and certainly no sign of Harper, and they had nothing to go on.
"Ladies and gentleman, there has been a change to the schedule, T. Rhade is now unable to fight, and has been replaced," the announcer spoke loudly, the crowd jeered in reaction.
Dylan didn't need to hear anymore, he was already out of his seat and moving to find out what was going on.
"Captain Hunt."
Dylan looked to the shadows, and he recognised the voice. "Dani?"
"Seamus is in a bad way, physically and mentally, you have to get to him before Yussuf's goons do," Dani simply said.
"Where is he?" Dylan asked.
Dani stayed in the shadows. "I'll take you part of the way, but you have to follow me now, no delay."
"What about Rhade?" Dylan looked around, not knowing what had happened to his crew mate.
"Rhade's a good distraction for us right now, if you help Seamus, I will do what I can to assist with Rhade's escape," Dani said with caution.
Dylan showed his concern. "His escape?" he checked, only barely seeing Dani in the shadows.
"Kane intercepted Rhade before he could fight, he's being questioned about Seamus's disappearance," Dani informed him. "I took Shay from here over an hour ago, and now you must take him the rest of the way, to his home on your ship, you have to help him," she stressed.
"You're asking me to put one crew member ahead of another, can I really entrust you to help Rhade when it's taken you this long to help Harper?" Dylan questioned firmly.
Dani noticeably flinched. "I thought I was helping him and I was wrong," she finally spoke. "Please, follow me, we don't have much time, Kane has search parties looking for Shay right now."
Dylan hesitated and glanced around, and then with some doubt he moved towards Dani and they both disappeared into the shadows.
Kane paced the holding cell and glared at the man they had apprehended in the changing rooms before his scheduled fight, Telemachus Rhade of the Andromeda Ascendant.
"You have not seen Dani at all since you arrived?" Kane checked, suspecting that Rhade had played some part in Dani's disappearance with the kludge, he had woken up after being drugged by something, he wasn't out for long possibly only fifteen minutes but he had been unable to locate Dani or the kludge since, and it had been over an hour.
"I haven't seen Dani in the past week, I have not seen Dani since you kidnapped our crew," Rhade returned with a white lie, not mentioning his talk with her the previous day, and with some attitude he stared at Kane whilst sat on a chair in the middle of the room.
Kane simply observed the Nietzschean as he glared at him, without warning Kane brought his hand back and hit Rhade across the jaw, sending his head sharply to the side. "Are you speaking the truth?" Kane asked with anger.
"Yes," Rhade returned with strength. "Why, have you mislaid her again?" Rhade taunted, and received another blow across his jaw for his efforts.
Kane then heard a light knock at the door, and he turned in time to see Dani enter the room.
"Correction I have seen her, she's right there," Rhade helpfully pointed out, briefly smiling to the annoyance of Kane, who predictably backhanded Rhade for a third successive blow across his face.
Kane then wasted no time in grabbing hold of Dani and marching her from the room to get some privacy from Rhade.
"You are this close, Dani, this close to me reporting everything to Yussuf about your actions this past week, and don't think I won't," Kane stressed in a hushed voice.
"If your so close, then why haven't you already, why the circus with this stupid interrogation of the Commonwealth uber?" Dani asked calmly.
Showing a frustration Kane went to back hand Dani, but her stare stopped him, and he instead brought his hand calmly down and sighed.
"Let Rhade go, please," Dani asked with care, sensing she could get through to Kane.
"I take it you won't tell me where the kludge is?" Kane wearily spoke.
"You know what I have done is the right thing for all of us, Yussuf no longer has the problem, you no longer have the problem, and I," she hesitated suddenly. "I no longer have the distraction," Dani shrugged, her voice still low and she used the back of her hand to wipe her eyes that had suddenly threatened to water.
"You really cared for him didn't you?" Kane observed, and brought his hand to Dani's face.
"Like I've never cared for anyone before," Dani freely admitted, attempting to smile and show she was ok, and failing. "But he's gone now, and if I see him again it'll be too soon as things stand right now."
"I have to keep Rhade here," Kane then spoke. "We can create a more convincing story to Shay's disappearance if we keep the commonwealth Niet here."
"You called him by his name," Dani noted with surprise, and then a brief smile.
Kane looked down for a moment. "Now that I know you weren't messing with his head, like with the others, it feels only fair," Kane explained with a shrug. "And I guess I can't persuade you to get all friendly and back to business like with Shay's crew mate in there?" Kane gestured to the holding cell.
Dani allowed a heavy sigh. "I just want all Commonwealth out of here and out of my sight," she admitted. "If I see Rhade he'll just remind me every time of what I don't have, and trust me, if I try anything now with Rhade in that sense, he'll see right through it, he saw how I was with Shay, and I can't risk that getting back to Shay, not with one of his own crew mates," Dani gestured with care.
"You got it bad, huh?" Kane realised, and he put his arms around Dani to embrace her. "But I'm keeping my prisoner, I'm sorry but it was my job to protect Shay for Yussuf and I've failed him because of you, so I have to have to have something, Dani."
"Then we'll never lose the Commonwealth's interest in us, you've seen the efforts they go to in retrieving a kludge, what do you think they'll do for an uber?" Dani questioned.
Kane noticeably reacted to her observation with concern. "Then how else can we explain Shay's sudden disappearance to Yussuf?"
"We don't," Dani suggested. "I'll tell Yussuf I got bored of him as a slave, and had him banished to the mines to learn discipline, Yussuf will never know."
"Dani," Kane looked upwards. "You know Yussuf likes to play games, and he knows that by having Shay here, he can taunt the Commonwealth, and when the Commonwealth suddenly stop responding he will demand why, and he will find out that Shay is back with them."
"Then we only have one other option," Dani stated calmly. "We have to make it look as though Rhade has rescued Seamus."
"And how do we do that?" Kane asked.
"First you have to knock me out," Dani revealed. "Make it look bad, and then you pick a fight with Rhade, and then let him go to return to his ship, the rest will then fall into place."
Kane looked upwards, clearly uncomfortable with the suggestion. "I'll do it on one condition," Kane then stated.
Dani took a deep breath. "I'll do it," she simply said.
"You don't know what I'm asking yet," Kane objected.
"You want me to get my head fixed again, like before," Dani responded, and it was clear that she was right by Kane's reaction.
"I care for you Dani, maybe in a strange way but I do," Kane stated. "I don't want to see you get hurt, and you must see this is something you have to do."
"If it means you'll help me to further assist in Shay's escape," Dani stated firmly. "I'm prepared to do it, but you have to promise me that you will help me to persuade Yussuf that going after the Commonwealth is pointless."
"It is," Kane offered with confidence. "So that shouldn't be too hard for me, they are in a mess, they are no threat to us and never have been, and if they are going after that World Ship, then we're best as far away from them as possible," Kane said with authority.
Dani noticeably tensed, and for a split second she had second thoughts about Seamus's welfare.
"He'll be ok, they'll keep him out of trouble," Kane assured her. "We'd best go and pick a fight, and you have a date with my fist knocking you out," Kane said all too brightly, and with an arm around her shoulders, Kane led Dani from the side room.
TBC