Thanks for the reviews folks. I appreciate the constructive feedback. A special thanks to parsindy for being my beta and to Squid for consistanc reviewing this story.
Chapter 21
Harper woke up to find Balan grinning down at him, startling the mudfoot. The foreboding Nietzschean held an electric prod and gleefully waived it near Harper's dataport. The Earther cringed; he hated people messing with his port. The also had enough experience with electricity to know what the result would be.
Harper's mind flashed back to a time just after he had gotten the dataport. He and Beka and the rest of the Maru crew were on some drift, the name of which escaped the mudfoot, trying to get some work. Harper was in a local bar when two big, drunk yahoos decided to see what would happen if they stuck a piece of broken bear bottle in the Earther's dataport.
An involuntary cough brought Harper back to the present. "Quit waving that thing around if you're not gonna use it," Harper croaked out cockily, referring to the prod. He knew it wasn't a good idea to antagonize Ubers but he wasn't in any mood to play their mind games.
Balan grinned with an evil glint in his blue eyes. Harper could tell the Uber was going to enjoy having some fun at his expense. The Earther wondered why he had thought he would get some down time while Locutius was out getting supplies.
"You won't be so impudent when I am through with you Kludge," Balan threatened. "You will learn your place. A Kludge should know better than to fly in High Guard slipfighters. Your kind is too inferior to be allowed to even touch such an advanced piece of machinery."
"So you're gonna teach me my place huh Uber?" Harper replied. His tone of voice making it sound like a challenge.
A low growl rumbled from Balan's throat as the Nietzschean pushed the electronic prod into Harper's dataport. The metal port conducted the electrical impulse from Harper's neck to his brain, setting his brain into a wave of activity.
Harper arched his body upwards away from the table and let out a scream of agony. His brain felt like it was on fire and about to explode at any moment. As soon as the engineer felt like he couldn't take the stress to his brain any more, the electrical impulses stopped.
Harper relaxed his body and brought his back down onto the table. He looked over at Balan wearily and could see that the electrical prod had been removed from the dataport. Harper let his breath out that he hadn't realized he had been holding in. A wet stream trickled down his chin. Harper felt a pain in his tongue and guessed that he had bitten his tongue while the prod was in his dataport. "Can't you pick on somebody your own size Uber?" Harper muttered in frustration.
"But it's much more fun to pick on Kludges and see how much punishment they can take," Balan answered with a sneer. "They usually can't take very much though."
Balan was about to shove the prod back into Harper's dataport when Locutius sauntered back into the room. Locutius saw what was happening and charged Balan, grabbing the prod from the Balan's hand.
"What do you think you are doing Balan?" Locutius growled with anger. "I told you this Kludge is mine."
"I heard you Locutius but I was becoming bored just sitting here watching this Kludge all day. He woke up a short time ago so I decided to teach him his place," Balan argued defiantly.
Locutius held up the electric prod threateningly. "I will decide how and when to teach this Kludge his place. Now go find something else to occupy your time."
Balan hesitated before backing down. Now wasn't the time to pick a fight with the larger Locutius. With a snarl Balan backed down and retreated to the far wall to watch the proceedings.
Locutius turned to Harper. "Balan got carried away but shall take things slowly. You deserve to experience slow lingering pain. I find it more enjoyable to watch," Locutius informed.
Harper reflexively tried to move away from the Nietzschean to no avail. He was still securely tied to the metal table. "I appreciate the thought," Harper retorted sarcastically through the pain that radiated throughout his body."
The Nietzschean quickly pressed the prod against Harper's right shoulder. Locutius grinned as Harper cried out in pain. "You will find I do not care for sarcasm or your Kludge humor."
"Okay, I get the point," Harper gasped between ragged breaths.
"Now we shall see if you really do understand Kludge." Locutius said before walking over to a small tray that was sitting on a cart and set down the prod. The Nietzschean studied the tools and weapons spread out on the tray before picking up a thin metal rod 12 inches long.
Harper began wheezing as his lungs protested when he lifted his head to get a better look at Locutius. When Harper saw the menacing instruments strewn out on a tray his stomach churned. He hadn't seen a set up like that since he left Earth.
Locutius turned back to Harper and immediately began pushing the metal rod he had picked up from the tray against Harper's chest. The Nietzschean continued to apply pressure and smiled with pleasure as he saw the Earther writhe under the pressure of the rod.
Harper could feel nothing but intense pain as the rod pushed further against his chest. Harper began to gasp for air as the rod kept his lungs from completely filling with air. The engineer felt a couple more of his ribs crack under the force of the rod.
The Nietzschean heard the cracking of ribs and pulled the rod from Harper's chest. "Now you see Kludge, I am a reasonably patient man. As much as I would like to avenge my brother's death on you I will not kill you yet."
As soon as Harper's frazzled mind registered what the Locutius had just said, the engineer's attention was drawn to a loud noise on the other side of the door. The door and walls shook as something banged against them. Harper lifted his head slightly to get a better look but immediately felt a wave of dizziness wash over him. The dizziness soon overcame Harper who began feeling nauseous as the room swirled around him. Then he passed out.
Harper woke up and opened his eyes to see a lavender face looking down at him. He bolted upwards with surprise and delight. "Trance I … we were worried about you."
"Silly Harper, why would you worry about me when you were the one who was in trouble?" The purple pixie replied in all seriousness as she gently pushed her friend back down onto the bed.
Harper was too tired and sore to laugh at the impishness of his purple pixie. He merely smiled weakly. "I'm on the Andromeda. That's a relief."
Dylan had been standing near the bed with Tyr, Beka, and AI Rommie all this time and stepped forward. The captain began to briefly tell the engineer about the rescue. "Trance found you and rescued you with a little help. She ran into Beka after rescuing you and they brought you back to the Andromeda
"Oh that's nice," Harper replied groggily.
Trance began shooing the three visitors out of Medical. "I think you've all talked long enough. It's time for me to change Harper's bandages."
The purple alien then proceeded to grab a metal tray and go to the cupboard where she kept the sterile bandages. Trance pull several rolls of bandages from the shelf and set them on the metal tray.
She turned around to find Harper watching her intently. The girl smiled but continued about her work in silence.
Early the next morning Harper began to stir, moaning softly before opening his eyes. He turned his head as best he could to see if he really was back on the Andromeda. As soon as he saw Trance preparing a hypo Harper knew it was real. He was really back on the Andromeda. The engineer remained silent, content to watch his purple pixie at work, even if it was on him.
"How are you feeling this morning Harper?" Trance asked as she injected the Earther with the contents of the hypo spray.
"Better than I have been for awhile," Harper answered with more strength in his voice than previously. "What's in the hypo spray?"
"I gave you a pain killer to make you more comfortable," Trance informed before writing down Harper's vitals on a flexi. "Your vital signs are improved. You should have a full recovery."
Harper sighed softly with relief. He had hoped his two Nietzschean torturers had done no permanent damage. "Trance do you mind telling me how you managed to find me and rescue me? I'm very grateful by the way."
"You're quite welcome Harper. It was really very simple. I just asked Siegfried to take to take me to you and then I asked him to help me rescue you from those bad men who were torturing you," Trance answered nonchalantly, as if she had gone out shopping instead.
"No offense Trance but I'm really not feely up playing 20 questions with you," Harper grumbled. "Would you mind being a bit more detailed why you took off like you did?"
"Oh I'm sorry Harper. You see my people go into a state once every so often," Trance explained simply. She looked down at the confused expression on Harper's face and decided she had better sit down in the chair next to his bed. This was going to be a long story she feared.
Trance eventually finished telling Harper the whole details of why she had left the Andromeda and how she eventually found and rescued him Harper had to admit that his purple pixie was full of surprises.
Harper used most of his strength to take Trance's right hand in his left hand and hold it. "Trance I want you to promise me that no matter what, even when going through this Hatar your people go through, that you will never go after a bad guy and seek revenge. I don't want anybody getting hurt or dying because they want to kick the butt of some jerk who hurt me."
"But we're friends Harper. I don't like to see people hurt my friends and get away with it," Trance protested with a sob in her voice.
Harper squeezed Trance's hand gently in an effort to console her. "Hey I know how you feel Trance, believe me I've been there. That's why I don't want you to seek revenge for me. That would change you and I don't want to lose my charming purple princess. Okay?"
Trance wiped a tear from her eyes with her free hand. "Do you forgive me Harper?"
"Of course I forgive you silly. You're my friend and nothing's gonna change that. We're friends forever," Harper reassured.
"Right, Friends forever," Trance agreed with a grin.