Part 36
"Harper, when you wake," she decided to finally give it a go, trying to remember how she had seen this sort of stuff done before. "Everything you have been told in this state will be void," she considered her words with care. "You will remember who you really are and everything that you knew to be the truth, before you were first hypnotised," Beka said calmly, secretly hoping it would be enough. "And when I click my fingers, you will wake," she took a deep breath and then clicked her fingers close to Harper's face.
To her utter surprise, having not truly believed it would work, Harper stirred and blinked his eyes a few time before focusing on Beka, taking a moment as his eyes adjusted to the surroundings.
"Beka," he spoke with bewilderment. "Beka?" he then stressed with confusion becoming more aware, and he pushed himself up onto his elbows before Beka encouraged him to remain still for the moment. Harper then froze, and almost forgot to breathe. "I can freaking see, I don't get it," Harper finally managed, and then panicked with short breaths, still with Beka's hands keeping him steady.
"Harper, calm down, it's ok, everything is ok," Beka stressed quickly, her hands comforting him with small strokes, seeing his confusion as he continued to blink his eyes. "Welcome back," she then added with a smile, not wanting to believe that 'her' Harper may have come back.
"Where have I been?" Harper asked looking around, a new confusion in his expression. "I can't believe I can freaking see," he stressed, and looked at Beka again. "Where the hell am I, are we in trouble?" he then clocked the dead Nietzschean. "Should we still be here? I don't understand, what the hell is going on?"
"Let's get out of here I'll explain everything later, or try to," Beka stated with urgency.
"Ow," Harper suddenly grimaced as he tried to sit up, and Beka saw the mass of bruises that now covered Harper's torso from the beating Roberto gave him.
"Can you breathe ok?" Beka checked, and saw Harper grimace but nod his head. "You'll be ok, you have to work through the pain for the minute, until we can get out of here," she offered.
"Why am I half naked and in extreme state of 'ow'?" Harper demanded snappily, as he got to his feet with Beka's help, clutching his ribs and then suddenly he yelped as he put some weight on his injured ankle.
"You're fine, trust me," Beka offered unconvincingly, trying to remain positive. "Harper, we're on an Uber ship and we're not exactly welcomed," she added to make her point.
"Crap, well, I don't think anything's broken," Harper let out a consigned heavy sigh, looking troubled he limped forward, following Beka. "But why am I only dressed in shorts?"
"Now is not the time," Beka stated, on alert now as she headed towards the door. "Here, take this, it's armed," she then said, giving Harper one of the weapons she had stolen, on seeing Harper's obvious discomfort at his attire she looked back at the dead Nietzshean. "Look, it won't fit but take his clothes, he doesn't need them any more," she gestured.
"You want me to undress an uber?" Harper frowned, and looked back at the clothes in question. "And he's not exactly my size."
With agitation Beka hurried back and began to remove the uber's clothes and Harper simply looked on. "Beggars can't be choosers, Harper."
"Since when did I become a freaking beggar?" Harper asked, obviously put out by the comparison.
Beka sighed heavily. "It's just a saying, Seamus, and right now you're the one stood in only a pair of shorts, so you tell me," she partially snapped, knowing they were wasting valuable time.
Harper picked up on her mood, and sensing the urgency of the situation he frowned. "Looks like you know what you're doing undressing that uber," Harper casually remarked to lighten the tension between them, and Beka looked up to see a cheeky half grin.
"You know, for two minutes I was happy to have you back," Beka returned sharply, then paused before smiling as she removed the dead uber's jacket, and then the guy's shirt. "Put these on," she ordered before beginning to remove the uber's pants.
"Do you have this with more red?" Harper asked checking out the blood that was on the shirt from the uber's fatal wounds. He frowned at the oversized item, and before Beka could answer he slipped the shirt on and started rolling up the sleeves so it would fit. When he was happy, he was thrown the pants and without complaint this time he put them on, and was sure to grab the belt. It took a while for Harper to roll the pant legs, and he looked at Beka. "How do I look?"
"I feel like I should say 'you'll grow into it'," Beka half smiled. "Shame about the boots, but you'll have to go bare foot for a while longer; will your ankle be ok?" Beka asked, then turned to the uber's undershirt and ripped it from his body, and began tearing it into shreds. "Come here, let's strap it up at least," she offered and Harper limped over and sat down again with some effort, still protecting his torso.
"It's ok you know," Harper shrugged with a distant air, as Beka gently took his ankle and began applying the make shift bandage, but Harper was now distracted by the door. "So what is the situation, where are we and what's the plan?"
"A lot has happened," Beka frowned, quickly finishing wrapping up the injured ankle. "I'm not sure you're ready to know, tell me what you last remember."
"I was blind," Harper answered obviously, and then his expression fell. "They were all dead, and destroyed, I saw Rommie die," he rapidly said with a shallow and distressed voice. "We're alone, sticking together."
Beka took hold of Harper's hand to calm him, and to ensure she had his attention. "Dylan, Trance, Rhade, are all alive, they didn't die, Seamus, they went someplace else courtesy of Trance, the Andromeda is still in one piece, they came back."
Harper looked at Beka, as if checking to see if she was joking or not, when she said no more he seemed to be trying to understand the news. "Alive?"
"It's why we have to do something, we're currently on this ship that contains ubers who are looking to take control of the Andromeda, defeat Dylan," Beka told him slowly. "They took us both in order to achieve this."
"So nothing has changed," Harper tried to reason, then with his friend's help, he got to his feet and moved past Beka, walking a little more easily now and towards the other room, with the systems he knew he could use to his advantage. "I could hack this," he declared. "It's a simple system, we've hacked a lot of similar ships to this, in our day," he continued absently, with his eyes focused on the system. "I need a jack lead, and I can give these ubers something to think about," he decided.
"Harper, are you sure you want to do this?" Beka checked, as Harper continued to explore the panel for supplies that might include a connector lead.
"A chance to mess up an uber ship, Beka, of course I want to do this," Harper returned, pausing for a moment to look at Beka strangely. "Us against them, good guys against the uber scum, come on Beka we live for this," he enthused, his eyes still focused on his work.
"There's something I haven't told you," Beka moved forward with caution. "The uber in control of this ship is Rico."
"Rico?" Harper checked, stopping his efforts in finding a jack, noticeably affected by her confession. "As in Yussuf's Rico? As in freaking scumbag sack of Nightsider waste products Rico who blinded me?" he checked, but already knowing he was right by Beka's reaction.
"I believe he just calls himself Rico, but yes that Rico," Beka answered.
Harper put both his hands on the wall, bracing himself as his feelings escalated, and he attempted to control them. "What am I doing on his ship?" he asked slowly.
"If I told you, we'd waste valuable hours," Beka answered and Harper seemed to quickly understand, as he slowly continued his search in silence, but Beka's sensed his sudden anxiety. "Harper, I know this is hard for you, not knowing all the details but I'm here, you just have to have trust me again."
"Again?" Harper picked up with distracted confusion and without looking away from his work, as he sorted through a selection of wires.
"When I first got here, after being captured by Rico, you didn't know me, or you found it hard to trust I was me," Beka attempted to explain.
Harper didn't respond immediately, as he pulled out several wires and checked their connectors. Finally he did speak. "I don't remember that, but later, explain it all to me later," Harper simply said with an even voice, clearly unsettled but motivated by work, as he moved away from the panel carrying two wires. "I've found the right connector, but it needs to be on this lead," he offered the two to Beka to see.
"What do you need?" Beka asked.
"Soldering equipment, I need to remove this," Harper gestured to the connector. "And attach it to this," he pointed out the second wire.
"I want to get out of this area, what's your hunch telling you?" Beka looked at Harper as he considered her question.
"We need to go below decks, engineering is usually there on these ships," he offered with a shrug. "It would be better for me to try and jack in from the engineering consoles," he added.
Beka nodded her head, trusting Harper's knowledge and slowly she opened the door, and they both moved with caution down the walkway. They walked for a few metres before Beka heard Harper suddenly cry out with surprise, and the sound of a struggle, before turning to see Harper now desperately trying to keep hold of his gun from getting in the hands of a Nietzschean female, imprisoned behind bars.
"Give it up, Darla!" Beka warned seeing Darla had freed herself from her restraints, but remained within her cell, her arms reaching through the bars with a strong hold on Harper's gun.
Beka quickly raised her weapon, but she had been too slow to stop Darla kicking Harper's injured ankle and could only watch as the female managed to grapple the weapon from Harper, taking it between the bars, and was now pointing it towards the stunned human. "Did you have to walk so close to the cells, Harper?" Beka asked tiredly.
"I didn't know some mad woman would do this," Harper attempted to explain, backing away with caution, to Beka's side.
"Seamus, if you want you gun, come and get it," Darla suggested with a smile.
"Darla?" Harper recognised her. "Rico's sister?"
"The very same," Beka answered for Darla. "Come on, keep moving, she won't shoot you."
"I want my gun back," Harper hissed.
"Then come and get it, lover," Darla half smiled.
"Did I mention she's freaking me out?" Harper asked hurriedly towards Beka. "Lover? Is that why she's looking at me like that? What the hell?" he added, needing an explanation. "Wait, don't tell me now, leave that one for later too," he frowned and began to move away with Beka.
"I will shoot him," Darla warned, and powered up the gun to make her point clear.
"You need him, if you still plan to get the Andromeda," Beka challenged. "Though the bars might be a problem, they seem to be holding you nicely."
"Then I'll shoot you," Darla smiled. "If I'm reading this correctly the little kludge has come out of his trance, and he knows who you are for real this time."
"No, don't shoot anybody," Harper quickly moved in front of Beka, in an effort to protect his friend.
"Harper, she's bluffing," Beka responded arrogantly.
"I know ubers, Beka, they don't bluff when they smile like that," Harper insisted, but Beka turned him around and pushed him forward to move them on, making to leave just as Darla fired a shot.
Harper couldn't react quickly enough, as Beka cried out and slumped quickly to the ground. With urgency Harper checked on Beka, seeing the shot was poorly aimed, only wounding her arm, but it was enough to distress Beka, and cause her discomfort.
"Beka?" Harper panicked.
"Its ok," Beka struggled, clutching her arm where the shot had hit her.
"If you want to make sure I don't finish the job, Harper, you'll come here," Darla then spoke.
"Don't Harper," Beka warned, as Harper moved between Beka and Darla, before helping Beka back up to her feet.
Seeing her wound, Harper ripped the sleeve off his shirt and quickly wrapped it around her arm, ignoring Darla's persistent requests for his attention.
"I miss our kisses," Darla then spoke, and Harper froze whilst still attending to Beka's injury.
"Ignore her," Beka said softly, and then she began to move slowly back, holding Harper so that he would walk with her.
"I will fire if you take another step, I have Harper in my sights," Darla calmly spoke.
Beka held her own weapon now, and armed it before pointing it at Harper's stomach. Harper and Beka both made eye contact, and without a sound they did a silent countdown, in a split second Harper stepped to one side and Beka fired a shot that sent Darla scrambling to the ground before she was able to properly aim a shot, it harmlessly fired off the bulkhead close to Harper.
"Let's go," Harper was first to speak, and they hurried away from the cells, hoping the gun shots hadn't alerted the whole ship to their activities.
TBC
