Dylan thought back to the day of the battle, the betrayal, and finally the death of his best friend, the friend he was forced to kill. He then remembered coming to himself, and finding out that everyone and everything he knew and loved was gone.
"Alright people!" Dylan said, pushing those memories back. "We've got jobs to do. Rommie and Trance's younger self will help Harper in the Machine Shop. Becka, Golden Trance, and I will join Rhade on Command Deck where we'll conduct new battle simulations based on this new information. I guess we've got some explaining to do to Rhade."
"No need Captain." Andromeda's hologram announced. "I patched my video surveillance into Command, so Rhade would know what was going on. He saw and heard everything."
"Thanks Andromeda." Dylan said.
"You're welcome."
They all left the Observation Deck to perform their assigned tasks. Harper couldn't have been happier. Sure they would soon be facing the Magog World Ship again, where they could possibly all die a hideous and gruesome death, but he was also assigned a task that he had been wanting to try to do for a long time. He had to build something that could destroy a black hole. Many people believed that destroying a black hole was an impossibility, but those people weren't geniuses and they didn't have a Sparkly Purple Princess and a Warship helping them.
In the Machine shop Harper began searching through all the clutter for the rough plans and sketches he had previously made. "Ah!" he exclaimed, picking something up off the floor covered with sparky cola stains. "Here it is!"
"Harper." Andromeda's hologram said, as she appeared in the Machine Shop. "Before you begin, I need you to run a diagnostics of my system."
"What's wrong Rom Doll?" Harper asked. "Systems going offline?"
"No Harper. Nothing like that."
"Then what seems to be the problem?"
She told them of her conversation with Dylan on command and also about the random thoughts that entered her matrix during the conversation.
When she finished, Purple Trance was finding it hard to keep a straight face.
"Trance." Andromeda said. "This is serious."
"I,.. I'm sorry Andromeda, but you,… you actually called him a mean ole Poo Head?"
After saying this Trance could hold back her laughter no longer. She broke down into hysterics.
Harper also began to laugh, but with a little bit more control. A little bit.
"I didn't actually call him that." Andromeda corrected them, ignoring their rude behavior. "I just thought about it."
"We're sorry Andromeda," Harper said, after he quit laughing. "But you must admit that the part about the brain sucking slime creatures and the whole Who's on first thing was kinda funny."
"Perhaps Harper." Andromeda said. "But I need to make sure that it isn't something serious. I don't want to be in the middle of attacking the Magog World Ship, and then all of a sudden start quoting Abbott and Costello or some other nonsense."
"I understand." Harper said. "Rommie, do you mind looking over my preliminary plans, while I check out Andromeda?"
"Not at all Harper." Rommie said. "Harper, you don't think it's anything serious do you?"
"She'll be OK Rommie. It's probably just a glitch in her personality files. If it was something serious, she wouldn't have just thought those things. Can you imagine Dylan's face if you had actually said those things?"
"I'd rather not." Andromeda said.
"Oh, Trance." Harper said. "I think there's some things in Machine Shop two that we'll be able to use for our new toy."
"I'll get them Harper."
"I should only be a few minutes, but while I'm gone, I expect you kids to play nice."
"Harper." Andromeda said in a disciplinary tone. "You're wasting precious time."
"Sorry Babe." Harper takes the computer cable, and gently inserts it into his data port.
Harper's consciousness leaves his body, as the image of his cyber self appears in Andromeda's matrix.
"Hello Harper." A very large virtual image of Andromeda announced.
"Hello great and most glorious of all war ships."
"Flatter me all you want,…" Andromeda said, then waited. "... Well?"
"Well what" Harper asked
"Flatter me!"
"Uh,… Are you OK Rom Doll?"
"No Harper. I'm sorry. That's why I asked you in here. There is definitely something wrong with my emotions or personality files. It seems that it's getting harder for me to control these thoughts and urges that enter my matrix."
"I didn't realize that it was this serious Andromeda. I'm sorry. Why didn't you tell me that it was getting worse?"
"You might think this sounds a little odd, but I didn't want my Avatar to worry."
"That's not odd Andromeda. I understand. Now show me your personality files and I'll see if I can find any anomalies."
"Right over here Harper."
Andromeda showed Harper the files thatshe suspected might be damaged. Harper spent several minutes studying her Personality files, as well as her emotion files, but he couldn't find anything wrong. Then finally, he noticed something, something very strange.
"Andromeda, when did you first notice something was wrong?"
"On Command deck, when Dylan was questioning me about you and Trance."
"So it was after my Purple Princess arrived?"
"Yes Harper. Why? What are you getting at?"
"Andromeda take a real good close look at these files, and I mean a REAL close look."
Andromeda's virtual image shrank down to match Harper, and looked at the files.
"That shouldn't be possible Harper."
"It shouldn't be, but there it is."
"I never thought this would happen to me." Andromeda said.
"Nobody thought this could happen Rom Doll." Harper said, as he put his arm around her. "I mean, as far as I know it's never happened to an AI before, and I don't believe it would've happened now, if it wasn't for these strange energy deposits. Rom Doll, I've only seen energy readings like this one other time before. They're Teserect waves."
"How did I get infected with Teserect waves Harper"
"I'm assuming that they leaked from the portal that my Purple Princess came through. When I was trying to use the generator to evict my unwanted guests, energy from the generator was chaotic and randomly opening portals all over the place."
"But why wasn't I effected during that time?"
"I'm not sure Rommie, but like I said Teserect energy is unpredictable. I can set up a barrier however, so this won't happen again."
"At least I know, now why I was acting the way I was. I understand that Humans have severe mood swings, behave oddly, and also have peculiar cravings under the same circumstances."
"Well Rommie," Harper said. "At least you're just a little drunk, and not pregnant."
"That's not even funny Harper, or possible."
"We didn't think it was possible for you to get drunk either Rom Doll. You and I could try to disprove that other theory some time." Harper said as he wiggled his virtual eye brows.
"I see it all clearly now." Andromeda said, teasingly. "You have Trance get me drunk, then you have your way with me." Her virtual form slightly staggered.
"You know I wouldn't do that to you Rommie. Don't you?"
"Yes Harper, I know. To tell you the truth though, I have thought once or twice of giving in to your sexual overtures. After all, you are kind of cute Harper."
"Andromeda I think I'd better clean out these files and drain these energy waves before you say or do something we'll both regret later."
"You're right Harper. Thank you."
Harper quickly fixed her files and rid Andromeda's matrix of the foreign energy deposits.
"How you feeling Babe?"
"Much better. Thank you Harper"
"
Anything for you, and I mean ANYTHING."
"Behave yourself Harper. Besides you sort of proved that you're more of a gentleman than you let on."
"What do you mean Doll?"
"I mean you could have, you know, …while I was drunk."
"Never gonna happen Rommie. I'll never take advantage of you like that. If you won't willingly give me what I want, then I'll just have to be content to dream,… andbelieve me,I have somepretty good dreams"
"I can imagine Harper." And she actually did,… imagine that is. "Maybe someday." She thought. She wondered for a moment what Harper's reaction would be if she ever did accept his sexual advances. "He'd probably faint,… again."
Harper exited Andromeda's Matrix and pulled the jack from his data port.
"Is Andromeda OK Harper?" Purple Trance asked.
"Yeah, she's fine. She just had some stray energy waves playing in her personality files"
"What?" Rommie asked. "Harper, that's serious. That could permanently damage her thought processors."
"Don't worry Rommie. I took care of it. She's fine. Would I let anything happen to you."
"No, you wouldn't . I'm sorry Harper. It's just that, I worry about her. I know she's me, but in many ways I've come to think of her as a big sister, or sisters, rather."
"She knew you would worry Rommie. That's why she didn't tell me how serious it was till I jacked in."
"So, she's keeping things from me now?"
Andromeda's hologram appeared.
"I didn't want you to worry needlessly. I knew Harper could fix the problem, and he did."
"Well, that's good for now, but I want you to promise me that from now on, no secrets."
"OK, but that goes for you too. From now on we'll keep no secrets from each other. Deal?"
"Deal." Rommie said.
"Now, let's start working on my BHB." Harper said.
"BHB?" Trance asked.
"Black Hole Blaster." Harper said. Rommie rolls her eyes.
"Black Hole Blaster?" Rommie asked.
"Hey, it needed a name." Harper defended himself.
"You're a genius, and Black Hole Blaster was the best you could come up with?"
"That hurts Rom Doll. That really hurts. I know it sounds corny, that's why I called it a BHB. It sounds more impressive when you just use the initials. Like instead of calling it a Point Singularity Weapon, we call it a PSW. More IM-PRESS-IVE."
"If you say so Harper." Rommie said, not sounding a bit convinced. "Anyway Harper I've been going over your plans, and they seem to be in order."
"Of course. What would you expect from a genius?" Harper said causing Trance to giggle.
"Harper I've only found one problem with the design for your,…uh, BHB."
"A problem? With my design? No way! What is it?"
"According to your own calculations, and I verified them to be certain, the amount of energy needed to power your BHB is too great for Andromeda to handle."
"Oh that." Harper said. "I knew there was a reason I discarded the idea of making this thing."
"In fact Harper, you will need an almost unlimited supply of energy to operate it."
"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I know." Harper said, in a defeated tone. "Why can't anything ever work out the way it's supposed to for me?"
"I'm sorry Harper." Rommie said.
"It's not your fault Rommie. You know, you'd think I'd be used to things going wrong in my life. Earth, Magog, Ubers, Torture, Nightsiders, Getting infested by Magog. Is it too much for me to ask, that one thing go right for me?"
"I can do it." Purple Trance said, but Harper didn't hear her.
"Just one little thing, but no. The universe hates Seamus Z. Harper."
"I said I can do it." Trance repeated.
"What's that trance?" Harper asked, finally noticing that his Purple Princess had said something.
"I said I can do it. I can supply the power for your Black Hole Blaster thingy."
"Trance, How can you?"
"In my true form I can radiate enough energy to power that and much more Harper. You'll just have to make something that can collect the energy and transfer it to your device."
"Something like a solar collector." Harper said. "But much more powerful. It'll need to be built bigger and be able to handle an incredible amount of heat and energy."
"According to the readings I took of Trance earlier, while she was in her star form," Rommie said. "This should work"
"Trance." Harper said. "Will this hurt you? I mean taking this much energy from you can't be healthy."
"I'll be fine Harper." Trance hated lying to Harper, but she had to do this. Her friends had to live mo matter what. Anyway, they would still have her older self.
Harper had the feeling that there was something Trance wasn't telling him, but he knew if he kept pressing her it wouldn't do any good. When Trance decided she wasn't talking, all the pleading, begging, and shouting would get a person was nothing but a sore throat. Instead he continued working on his BHB, and working, and working, and … well you get the picture.
He worked all day and most of that night. Trance tried to stay awake to keep him company and get tools and parts for him when he needed them, but even she couldn't fight the overwhelming call of the Sandman. Harper and Rommie were busy making some final adjustments on the BHB, when he asked Trance for the screwdriver. When she didn't reply, he turned around and saw her curled up in a ball on the floor asleep.
"Rommie, What time is it?"
"Oh five hundred Harper."
"I didn't mean to keep you two up all night Rommie."
"I don't sleep Harper, but Trance,…Well you know she doesn't generally sleep that much. I'd say she must have been totally wore out to have fallen asleep like that."
"Rommie. I'm worried about her."
"Why? Because she fell asleep?"
"No, not that. I don't think she was being totally honest, when she said that it wouldn't hurt her to be the power source for the BHB."
"Since my sensors aren't able to read Trance's vitals, I'm unable to say whether she was being truthful or not."
"You might not be able to, but my gut is telling me that something is wrong. It has something to do with what her twin said earlier."
"What's that Harper?"
"Remember when the other Trance was talking about her timeline, how she came back, and changed places with Trance so that she could fix things?"
"Yes I remember"
"She said that the ones she saw in her vision told her that she alone would not be able to destroy the Abyss. Rommie, if this plan works, then why would there have to be two Trances here?"
"I don't know Harper, but I'm beginning to think you may be right."
"This isn't something I want to be right about Rom Doll."
"I know Harper." Rommie said, placing a comforting hand on Harper's shoulder. "But just because we need them both to defeat the Abyss, that doesn't mean that this plan won't work or that Trance will get hurt. Perhaps one of them will be needed on Command while the other powers the BHB."
"Thanks for the pep talk Doll." Harper began to feel a little better about his Purple Princess. "Rommie would you mind carrying Trance to her room? I would, but you know how she is about not letting others see her room. Besides if someone saw me leaving Trance's room this early in the morning, they might get the wrong idea."
"It's OK Harper. I'll take her"
"Thanks Rommie. Be gentle with her"
"I will Harper."
Rommie gently scooped Trance up in her arms.
"Don't drop her."
"I won't Harper."