Chapter 13
"Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom."
-Bertrand Russell
Something deep inside Harper's body commanded him to stand. It could have been his will to live, survival training kicking in, or perhaps that wonderful thing people dubbed your fight or flight instinct. But no amount of internal willpower was going to get him up and about he realized with a sudden nauseating dread.
The shock of what was happening to him had finally begun to wear and Seamus Harper found himself lying on a plain storeroom floor, pinned in that freakin'-stuck-can't-move-your-arms-or-legs-for-that-matter kind of way. Things were not looking up. Metaphorically speaking.
Harper groaned unexpectedly as his left cheek was smashed painfully into the white tile floor and a thick knee dug into his lower back. Yep, completely immobile. His re-injured wrist hurt like hell too, but it could be worse. Broken wrists, now those were a bugger. Bone mashing against bone, the feeling of your own hand literally snapping under your skin. No, a strained wrist was child's play. He'd take one any day over the alternative.
Not that in his situation the sprain was better than it being broken. He wasn't going to be using it anytime soon.
Harper didn't have the energy to fight back. It was just easier to accept the fact that he was restrained on the floor by two laughing idiots above him. Fighting back only meant more pain. Saying something only brought more agony. Maybe they'd get their sadistic kicks out of it and just leave him alone. Maybe.
Cliché Uno was the one currently holding him down. Dos, who appeared to be the more passive one of the pair, was standing near the door's window probably keeping an eye out. Uno was running his mouth off about humans and how stupid they were. Sometime to the effect of, "Humans blah blah weak yadda yadda me got big brain blah blah."
Harper wasn't paying attention to any of that. He managed to just keep his eyes shut and his mind automatically seemed to block out what the large Perseid was saying. He'd had years of practice for this on Earth. It was better this way. He was too weak to fight back. Too scared, too pathetic. It was no use. Maybe he deserved this? Maybe this was punishment for everything wrong he'd ever done? Maybe--
"Do you really believe that, Little Human?"
Harper's eyes opened and moved towards the familiar voice. Not the voice of Uno or Dos.
"You're not real," Harper murmured. He could still feel Uno's knee pushing into him but the aide's voice seemed far away. Muffled almost.
"Maybe, but this is your mind after all," the figure said, settling himself into a crouch next to Harper on the right side. "I asked you a question."
The engineer could only blink in protest. "You're not real," he repeated.
The tall Nietzschean glared at him disapprovingly. "Yes, Harper, you've said that twice now. My hearing is fine. No, I am not real. I'm a fabrication of your mind. Something you've conjured up."
"I'm going nuts again, aren't I?" Harper whispered half to himself, half to the specter.
"Professor, you were always nuts. But fortunately for you this time, not Machello-nuts."
"So I'm not crazy and you're just in my head? What? They can't see or hear you, only me?"
"Yes, Harper," Tyr answered, "they can't see me. I'm a figment of your imagination, remember? Your conscious disguised as Tyr Anasazi. "
"Why are you here?"
"I'm here because you're acting like a fool."
"Well thanks," Harper drawled. Above him Uno continued to shout but the Persied didn't seem to notice their Niet visitor or Seamus talking to himself.
"Do you really believe you're pathetic? That you deserve this?" Anasazi asked. "Because if you do, then you're not the annoying human I once knew."
"Just shut up okay!" Harper mumbled. "You're dying, Tyr, you've got bigger things to worry about than me feeling…"
"Sorry for yourself?"
Harper glared at the apparition. "I said shut up, Tyr, or else."
The Kodiak laughed deeply. "What are you going to do? Lie there some more? I'm terrified, Professor."
"What do you want Tyr?" Harper demanded, his throat contacting. He wouldn't cry in front of the Uber, even if he wasn't real.
"I want you to control your fear, Harper. I want you get yourself out of this situation and finish what you came to Sinti for. Beka needs you, Harper."
"I want to help," the engineer choked out. "I can't stand seeing her like that but… I just… I don't know what to do. Look at these guys. The have your freakin' pecks, Tyr."
"Harper, do you remember when the Magog attacked Andromeda?"
"Vividly," the earthling mumbled.
"Do you recall what I said when I found you?"
Harper grinned slightly at the memory. "Yeah, something along the lines of, 'You're an annoying little man, but there's fire in your blood.'"
Tyr nodded. "Use it then."
"Excuse me?"
"The fire, Harper. Use it."
"I-I can't…"
"You know how to fight Harper. I spent weeks showing you proper defense techniques last year. You grew up on Earth fighting for your life every day. They are bigger, yes, but you are faster. Use what you know, Human. Fight dirty," Tyr commanded aggressively.
Harper nodded slowly, or as best as he could with his face squished to the floor. Tyr smiled and began to stand.
"Tyr!"
Anasazi dropped back into his crouch for a moment.
"Earlier, when you said Beka needed me. What about you?" Harper asked. "You kind of need me too, don't you?"
"I wouldn't go that far, boy," the apparition retorted.
Harper laughed, closing his eyes unconsciously as he did so. When he opened them, however, Tyr was gone and Uno's voice rang clearly in his ears once again. Harper looked around for his friend but the Nietzschean was nowhere to be seen.
Huh.
Seamus wasn't sure what had just happened. Had he just dreamed the entire conversation? Were his eyes playing tricks on him? He closed them tightly in thought. Maybe somethings just couldn't be explained. For now, he'd just call it a dream caused by Uno knocking him out. That sounded plausible.
Harper bit his lip as the offending knee pushed on a sensitive muscle near his spine. No matter if Tyr had actually been there the strong words had rung true. Seamus didn't doubt that the real Tyr he would have said the exact same thing, perhaps a bit harsher even, and then smacked him into shape. He would have to thank Tyr when he was better, and though he was sure that the Nietzschean would give him a strange look, the engineer didn't care.
He was ready to take care of the Cliché siblings once and for all. They didn't have the luxury of an overmedicated and exhausted human to deal with this time.
No, now they had a royally pissed off one.
Beka Valentine was having a nightmare. What it was about, Rommie could only ponder. She would probably never know and was sure that when this was over and done with, the blonde pilot would ever reveal her secrets.
Rommie crossed her arms, leaning against one of the empty counter tops.
The human in question was currently curled up on her side against one of the back lap walls. She hadn't moved much, except to escape some phantom Rommie's optical sensors couldn't see. Phantoms that only existed in the veteran pilot's mind.
Rommie had found a fire blanket in one of the numerous drawers in the lab and covered her friend with it. There wasn't much more comfort she could give Beka. Dylan had allowed a small amount of food to be brought into their impromptu cell and she had tried to get the ill woman to eat. A few bites had been taken before Beka relapsed into another hysterical fit. The avatar was glad for her mechanical strength in moments like that. She feared even Dylan would have had his hands full when dealing with the struggling woman.
Rommie uncrossed her arms and sighed a bit, though not out of exhaustion. It just seemed like the thing to do in this type of situation. This entire affair bothered the avatar more than she cared to admit. Androids weren't programmed to worry about illness or disease, death or life beyond their preprogrammed schedule.
Like her kin, Rommie didn't ponder on these things. At least often anyway. But insanity, however, abysmal insanity, was always in the back of her mind. Seeing her human counterparts going through this madness only brought back memories of the terrible day after she had taken Gabriel's life.
Thanks to Harper's brilliant programming, the avatar remembered all to vividly breaking down in Dylan's arms. She had confessed her feelings on the issue to her captain and no one else on that day. The room had been in privacy mode and she had even blocked her emotions from Andromeda herself. The words of their long ago conversation played inside Rommie's head like one of Beka's compact disks on repeat.
I'm a warship, and warships only know how to do one thing, and that's kill. We don't have hearts. We don't have empathy. We're killers. We're attack dogs. And I'm afraid. The Balance of Judgment went insane, the Pax Magellanic went insane, and I don't want that to happen to me.
She remembered Dylan gazing at her, compassion filling his eyes and voice. It was one of the first times he had ever looked at her, really just… looked. It was as if his eyes had finally ventured beyond the wiring and gadgets to just see her and not some walking, talking machine.
You're forgetting something. The Balance of Judgment had no captain, no crew. The Pax lost her captain. Why do you think warships have captains in the first place? I'm your heart, Rommie. I always will be.
Those words had comforted her and they still clung to her. She wanted more than anything to give Beka the same feeling now. She wished that she could have calmed Harper when he had been locked away on Sinti, sobbing before them like a helpless child. As much as she desired to say something to him a week ago in that room, words had failed her. Staring at her maker, engineer and friend, confined inside that tiny padded prison had been unbearably hard. But like the good stoic robot she was, Rommie hid her feelings.
And while most androids didn't dread the thought of mental illness, Rommie did. They weren't supposed to fret about being locked away in some dark place because they had lost their mind and couldn't function. This she did fear above all others things. Insanity would be her forever, inescapable hell.
A familiar voice drew her from her thoughts as a small, holographic figure appeared on the counter next to her elbow. Rommie looked down at her "sister" and wondered if the ship could sense her thoughts, even though she was blocking most of them.
"We've just received word from Captain Hunt," Andromeda announced calmly, outwardly oblivious to the fact that the ship's First Officer was ill. "They believe they might have a way to utilize Harper's plan."
"That's good news," Rommie replied, a small smile appearing on her face.
"Harper will be returning soon to work on a container to hold Machello's devices. After that it is only a matter of putting the nanobots into Beka and removing the creatures."
"You're not really concerned about any of this, are you?" the android observed quietly.
The hologram mirrored her avatar's pose by crossing her tiny arms. "Why would I be?"
Rommie looked down at Beka. "I don't know. Our friends have been sick and you just seem so… indifferent about it all."
"I have many crewmen," Andromeda replied evenly, "I cannot be over emotional every time one of the them is ill. I would not be able to function."
"One of the ordinary crew? Is that all they are?" Rommie demanded, not quite angry but definitely frustrated. "This is Beka, Tyr, and Harper we're talking about! Those that helped pull us out of a black hole. Those who have protected us from danger these past three years. Seamus Harper alone is the best engineer to ever set foot on our deck plating! They aren't just a regular crew."
Andromeda turned away from Rommie, her near transparent shoulders suddenly stiff. "I know that."
Rommie's eyes narrowed. "You're afraid."
The hologram spun back quickly, eyes abnormally wide. "What?"
"Afraid."
Now Andromeda raised a thin eyebrow. "Of what exactly?"
"Insanity," Rommie offered. "You're just as terrified as I am."
"I'm a warship," Andromeda abrasively reminded her. "I'm not programmed to be afraid of anything."
"I'm well aware of the adage," Rommie murmured. "Never mind. Just… keep me informed of updates please." She looked back down at the sleeping human and stood in silence a moment, hoping her other half would take the hint. Just when she was sure Andromeda had disappeared, a quite voice spoke next to her, the words barely audible to human ears.
"I refuse to become like Pax. It is something I will not accept, and something I will waste no valuable time dwelling on. You should do the same."
Rommie looked down, but the hologram had vanished. The avatar smiled slightly.
Whoever had said androids and warships didn't fear illness or disease, death or life beyond their preprogrammed schedule, had obviously never been aboard the Andromeda Ascendant.
Harper's first goal was to get Uno off of him. The only way he could do that was play into the Perseid's delusion of grandeur act he had going on. First Harper relaxed his body, mimicking as if he was unconscious or nearly so. When he finally spoke, his voice was cowed and broken.
"Please," Harper begged, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…" He threw in some water works and sniffling for effect. "I'm sorry I fought back, I shouldn't have done it… I'm sorry, please…"
As he had hoped, Uno's knee was removed. With a laugh above him, Harper was turned over. He now lay on his back staring up at the massive Perseid who was haloed by the intense overhead lighting. Ironically enough, this image reminded Seamus of his first meeting with Dylan.
Though if Hunt was a Greek god, Uno must have been some kind of Gorgon. If they'd had brothers of course.
"See, we knew you could be reasonable, little human." Uno smiled, showing two rows of even gray teeth. "Now, tell me about the human race."
Harper swallowed dramatically and tried to not laugh as he said, "Humans are the lowest of the low, sir. We're the scum of the galaxy and deserve everything we get. We shouldn't even be born. I don't deserve to walk your hallowed ground." Okay, so that was laying it on a bit thick, Harper thought, but then again, thick seemed to be the perfect adjective for Uno and Dos.
Harper sat upright a bit, resting on two elbows. Uno still stood above him, but the aide's eyes were on Dos as the two meatheads chuckled at the human's statements. Well, now or never as the saying went.
Harper kicked out, his booted right foot connecting solidly with Uno's knee. The result was a sickeningly sweet crunch that caused the Persied's leg to give, making him crumble to ground in pain. As Uno lay nursing his wounded patella, Cliché Dos decided to get into the action. His dive at Harper would have easily tackled the small human standing before him. If that is, the human hadn't ducked below the reaching gray arms and side stepped to the right.
Seamus watched with satisfaction as Dos landed across his partner in a sprawled heap. A scream arose from Uno who now, besides holding an injured (if not broken) kneecap, and had two hundred pounds of Perseid laying atop him.
"Sorry," Harper yelled behind him as he made for the door, "but this scum of the galaxy has gotta blaze."
He reached the doorframe but stumbled, his boots skidding a bit on the well polished flooring. 'Damnit!' he thought as his arms reached out to catch his fall and he found himself once again flat on his stomach. This was like one of those bad horror halo-novels where the blonde girl always seemed to fall at the worst possible moment. Except now he was the blonde in question.
Harper's chest clenched as he heard the felled pair screaming at each other to get up and "get the human." It would only take them a few seconds to be back on their feet and after him so he couldn't waste any time. Ignoring his wrist he pushed up off the ground, got his boots under him and ran. Footsteps behind him pushed him to go faster. Damn they were fast!
The engineer's legs took his around a corner and he lost track of where Doctor's Keenan's office was. His racing mind couldn't remember the room number, but he knew it had to be close.
Just when he was about to give up, a figure appeared suddenly in front of him, exiting one of offices. Harper stumbled to a stop, managing just barely not bowl the Perseid over.
"Mr. Harper!" Doctor Keenan proclaimed, genuinely happy to see the earthling.
As Keenan's greeting ended, Dos and a limping Uno rounded the corner, so intent on their prey that they didn't realize their superior was before them until they stopped no more than two feet behind Harper's back.
Keenan took in the appearances of his former patient and his aides with wary eyes. "Is everything all right?" he slowly asked.
Harper glanced behind, trying not to glare. All he was concerned about was Beka and Tyr. Once they were off Sinti, he'd never had to think about Uno and Dos again. It would be better to just leave the issue alone. He could tell that the aides looked cagey at the thought of what he might say. He wanted to spill something and not let them win, but right now Harper had to pick his battles. This just wasn't one he was willing to fight if it meant his friend's lives.
"Fine, Doc," Harper finally replied, his eyes locked on Keenan's. "I just came up here for help. Your aides kindly showed me where your office was."
"Are you sure?"
Harper could tell Keenan knew something was going on, but the engineer feigned innocence. He was always good at that.
"Sure as my name's Seamus Zelazny Harper. So, Doc, can we go in your office so I can fill you in on the details? I need to get back to Andromeda as soon as possible."
Keenan nodded, black eyes still suspicious. "Of course, Mr. Harper. Come inside." He glanced at Uno and remarked: "You seem to be limping. You should go down to the emergency department and get that checked out."
The Perseid doctor retreated back into his office and Harper followed, eager to get out of this hospital as quickly as he could. Before entering the room, however, Seamus turned back to stare at Uno and Dos one last time. Both Perseids looked livid beyond words but knew they could do nothing more. Uno pointed a finger at him angrily, though said nothing.
Harper only smiled widely back at them, gave the pair his own special finger, and disappeared into room 330A.
