TITLE: The Unintended

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from the Andromeda series, I'm just borrowing.

NOTES: I do love my cliffies ;)

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE Timing

"When shadow stalks you, it would be wise to make haste."

Mai-Rau-Sing

CY 2327

Harper could see his friends struggling with how he must have appeared to them, but he had very little time to consider their feelings right now. He got right to the point. "The auto-destruct sequence has started, I can't shut it down. There's only three minutes left."

Beka leapt from her seat, mainly because of the gravity of the situation but part of her didn't want to look at those dead eyes for a second longer. "I'm on it."

"I'll open the bay for you," Harper said, before turning away and switching off the communication.

"I can be back here in time but it's gonna be close," Beka said as she was at the door.

"You're assuming that he isn't lying," Tyr called after her. She stopped in her tracks and turned. "Were you looking at the same monitor I was? We knew us being too late was a possibility," Tyr added.

Beka couldn't believe what she was hearing. "He asked for our help."

Tyr remained calm and collected. "What if he's lying?"

"You wanna wait three minutes and find out?" Beka snapped back, before turning on her heels and leaving.

"Rommie, you better go with her," Dylan ordered. He too had been shocked at what they had seen but it hadn't quite sunk in yet. They had been just struggling to get to this point, he had failed to consider the possibility that it would all be in vain. Now that it looked like that was the case, Dylan wasn't prepared to handle it.

"Perhaps we should find out if Trance has anything that will help?" Tyr suggested, trying to bring the others back to reality.

"You're right, I should...I'll go and meet her, tell her what's happening," Dylan said. "Prepare for slipstream. We'll need to get out of here as soon as the Maru is back onboard."

Harper and the AI arrived outside the docking bay. He found himself dealing with strange and unexpected feelings as he waited. For what seemed like forever this ship had been his world. He had forgotten his friends and Andromeda. He had forgotten the outside world completely and now it was coming to pick him up. Had his feelings for the others changed? He wasn't sure. Would they accept him now he was superior to them? Now that he had become a murderer?

There was also the issue of how they would react to his new abilities. The last they saw he was moving trivial objects across the room. They had no idea how far he had come. They might try to take them away from him, and he couldn't have that. Harper decided that until he was sure of their intentions, he would play down his powers. At least for as long as he could stand it.

Of course, all these thoughts would be irrelevant if he didn't survive the next sixty seconds.

Beka fired up the Maru and Rommie stood behind her manning the other systems. Beka was thankful for her presence, not because she thought she needed protection from Harper but because it meant she had a reason not to cry her eyes out. She could see everything falling apart around her. With every inch of her being she wanted to shun Tyr's harsh words aside but she already knew it. They were too late.

The same thought had not escaped Rommie. She watched Beka struggle with her emotion as she struggled with her own. She couldn't understand how her engineer, her friend, a funny, albeit annoying little person could be transformed into something so alien.

Dylan arrived in med-deck where Trance had been endlessly working on a cure for Harper. She was deep in thought, studying something under a microscope when Dylan walked in.

"Trance, we've found Harper."

Trance was a little startled but quickly adjusted to the news. "Really? Is he alright?"

"It doesn't look good," Dylan admitted. "Have you got anything at all that can help him if it's the worst case?"

Trance's expression gave him his answer.

Beka and Rommie docked with the Nietzschean ship and set the Maru down, knowing time was of the essence. Rommie went to meet Harper. He looked even worse in person. His skin and clothing were caked in blood and his hair was matted with it. He was with a woman who looked like the pinnacle of cleanliness compared to him.

"There's not much time, we have to get out of the system," Harper said, coming onboard with the woman in tow.

"We'll make it," Rommie told him. "Who's your friend?"

"An AI. She helped me escape," Harper replied, feeling the awkwardness as much as Rommie was.

They got to the cockpit and Beka took off without even looking at him. Not long after they had left the docking bay Harper asked a question he needed to know the answer to. "Does Trance have a cure?"

Rommie paused before replying quietly. "No. She doesn't."

Harper made no signs to show the relief he felt. He didn't want to give up his abilities. Even if they were going to kill him. He wanted them for as long as possible. As they passed through the docking bay doors Harper felt himself falling. He was having another vision.

He found himself in a room he recognised - his own quarters on Andromeda. The lights were turned down and he could here frantic crying and whimpering. When things came into focus he saw who was making the sounds - he was. His future self, though no longer covered in blood, still looked an utter mess. His eyes were sore from crying, he looked hysterical...and he had a gun in his hand. Harper couldn't shut his eyes to the scene before him. His future self brought the gun to his head, and ended his life.

As quickly as the vision began it ended and Harper was back in the Maru, just pulling into Andromeda's docking bay. It was apparent no-one had noticed his brief absence from reality.

Beka knew it was a stupid question but she asked it anyway. "Are you alright?"

Harper found no reply that would satisfy her.

End of Chapter Twenty-One