Part 12

Beka turned around with frustration, and Rhade put a comforting arm around the first officer to try and ease her mood.

"All we've done since we got here is try and find Harper, maybe we should focus on something else for a while," she conceded, putting her hands on her hips.

"You mean stop looking for Harper?" Rhade checked, as Dylan moved over to them, leaving Asa to speak to some more locals who were still awake.

"Yeah, stop looking for Harper," Beka repeated, the skies were still dark and it had been over two hours since Harper had last been seen by Ezra. "You keep telling me I'm a mother hen about him, and that he can look after himself, well obviously he can or we'd have found him by now."

Dylan and Rhade exchanged glances. "He's ill, and we don't know how ill, do you really want to stop looking?"

"Maybe if we focus on something else, we'll find him," Beka offered with a sigh. "We were planning on a little visit elsewhere, remember? We should go before it gets light, at least get some supplies for when we do find him."

"I have to agree with that plan, as much as we need to find Harper, we only have about three hours of darkness left," Rhade noted, looking up into the skies.

Dylan nodded his head in agreement, and then turned as Asa walked towards them, shaking his head. "Asa, we need to return to our building, I'm sure our followers," Dylan gestured to the guards that had been tracking them. "I'm sure they have homes to go to, seems terrible to keep them on this little trek through the city at such a late hour."

Asa offered a knowing smile. "I thought you three were up to something when I found you, look, don't worry about Harper, I'll keep looking and as soon as I find him I'll put him on a leash till you return," he grinned.

"Good plan," Dylan smiled.

"He's not house trained, and he might bite, be careful," Rhade mocked.

"Come on, already," Beka shook her head towards Rhade, disapproving of his advice to Asa, who simply smiled.

"Lady," Asa then called after her, and waited till she turned. "Beka, I'll make sure he's ok, I promise," Asa offered softly, with genuine warmth in his eyes.

"Thanks," Beka couldn't hide her confusion, but appreciated Asa's words just the same, as she smiled, and moved with Dylan and Rhade into the darkness of the streets.

Harper woke with a start, as he felt movement around him and then a sharp kick in his shins.

"Ow!" Harper yelped, still blinking the sleep from his eyes, and trying to focus on the dark room.

"You're," a voice slurred. "In my spash, space."

"Zal!" another voice snapped, much clearer and Harper recognised it as Buz. "Leave him be, take the spot over there."

Harper shifted position and attempted to settle down but Zal and Buz were continuing their discussion, and it was clear Zal wanted his spot. With a heavy sigh Harper gathered his blankets.

"Fine, I'll move," Harper stressed, and began to get to his feet.

"Happy now?" Buz asked sharply towards Zal.

Zal grabbed hold of Harper, who was still finding his feet. "Aw great, make me out to be the bad one, way to go," Zal sneered, keeping a hold of Harper's shirt sleeve.

"Get off me," Harper returned, and tried to shrug Zal's hold off him.

"Make me," Zal then challenged, and shoved Harper back whilst maintaining a strong hold on his shirt.

Harper responded by dropping his blankets and bringing his other arm up to take hold of Zal's shirt, and they stood off of one another glaring into each others eyes. "Let go of me," Harper requested again, with more strength.

Zal smirked. "Your sick boy, I can take you easily," Zal slurred and started edging Harper back, and in response the smaller human resisted and stood up to the Edenian, before they both began to apply more strength and a shoving match developed.

"Ok, that's enough!" Buz interjected, and broke the two up as he stood between them, before it got out of hand. "Zal take your damn spot, Harper take the spot over there."

"Sick boy should be separated from us, we don't want to catch what he's got," Zal stated, as he got down on the floor.

Harper retrieved his blankets, and moved as Buz requested to the other side of the room without a word. Once Zal had settled down, Buz moved to where Harper was preparing his blankets.

"Sorry about Zal, he's had a bit to drink," Buz offered.

"Don't apologise for him," Harper stated, still arranging his blankets, though it seemed to be more as more of a distraction than an actual need.

"Are you ok?" Buz ventured, seeing Harper frantically arranging the same blanket over and over.

"Yeah," Harper answered immediately, before stopping and sitting on the blanket, leaning his back against the stone wall. "I just forgot about all this."

"All what?" Buz asked with interest, their voices hushed as people slept around them in the small room.

"This," Harper gestured. "Fighting for territory, living in packs, I should have just moved when he first said it was his spot, I know how it works, I'm not a part of this, I should have moved."

"Harper," Buz spoke calmly. "Zal never sleeps there, he's usually over there next to Tarah," he smiled.

Harper looked confused for a moment, looking at Buz with the low light that the planet's moon offered. "So it was a 'me' issue," he deduced with a sigh.

"You're an alien to us, Harper," Buz shrugged. "Zal's used to being the alien in this group," he then smirked.

Harper had to laugh. "He is a little odd," he had to admit from the brief time he'd known him.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Buz then asked. "You're perspiring quite a bit, and your cheek looks pretty bad."

Harper gingerly brought his hand up to his face, feeling for the first time the bruised swollen cheek bone that Hashim had given him earlier, from the right hook. There was blood on Harper's fingers as he sharply withdrew his hand in pain, and then looked at it. "Maybe I should clean this, I don't want to get sick," he mocked.

"Here," Buz reached over and grabbed a bottle, and found a rag. "I don't know how clean this is," he offered the rag to Harper, and then the bottle. "But this stuff should kill any germs, both on the rag and in that cut," he smiled.

Harper took the items and then hesitated. "Thanks," he spoke quietly, but with a distant air. "You are good people," he then added. "You don't deserve this."

"What?" Buz asked genuinely confused.

"All of you, you're good people, from what I've seen," Harper stated, avoiding eye contact as he drenched the cloth in the green liquid from the bottle.

"You look like death, after treatment you've received in this place and you still say that?" Buz checked. "I think your fever is talking," he stated mockingly.

"No, I'm serious," Harper stated, as he creased his face up in reaction to applying the alcohol covered cloth to his cheek. "On Earth, where I come from, we would have mugged me, taken my boots, and left me for dead so there wouldn't be another mouth to feed that wasn't our own." It took Harper a moment to realise that Buz was staring at him in horror. "I come from hell, did I mention that before?" he added casually, as he loosened his shirt so he could apply some of the alcohol to his shoulder wounds.

"Can we trust you?" Buz asked, with seriousness.

"Me?" Harper looked at Buz, drawing his attention away from his shoulder. The question caught him off guard, as he considered it for a few seconds. "I hope you can," he finally answered. "I want to help."

"You said that before, but what do you mean, help?" Buz asked.

Harper shrugged, and refastened his shirt, putting the cloth to one side. "I think we should make some noise, you don't want Kenan to proceed with his plans, right?" Harper asked, and saw Buz numbly shake his head. "Well, we can do stuff, to get his attention, to let him know you're not his property, that you have voices and minds of your own."

"How do you know that will work?" Buz asked. "He'll just kill us."

"I told you, I came from hell, and I lived to tell the tale," Harper simply said, with confidence in his voice. "A kid from the slums of Earth, I wasn't expected to do anything but die, but look at me, look at what I've done, I was right there in the lead when the new commonwealth was formed," Harper stated passionately. "I shouldn't have been there, I shouldn't have still been alive, but I was."

"Look at you now," Buz motioned, and he didn't have to say anything else.

Harper hid the flash of anger in his expression, and took a deep breath. "I've escaped once, I can do it again."

"But I don't want to escape, I don't want to leave Edenia, this is different," Buz argued lightly.

"I get that," Harper spoke with understanding.

"So what do you mean when you say you can help us?" Buz asked again.

"I can teach you to fight, to stand up to the enemy and get your voices heard by the right people," Harper stated.

"We make any kind of noise and we'll attract the wrong attention, those ubers and animals with sharp teeth will come," Buz feared.

Harper let his head fall forward, as his hand rubbed his aching temples. "No, we don't go outside, we stay inside, the last thing I want is to attract the outside worlds to this place."

"Kenan won't listen to us; don't you think we've tried?" Buz stated.

"He'll listen, if you do enough to get the attention of those loyal to him, in a way that they start questioning him," Harper said with confidence.

"The Haves?"

"Yeah, the Haves," Harper agreed. "What will get their attention more than anything?" he questioned.

"I guess if they suddenly became 'Have Nots', the only thing Kenan has to keep their loyalty is what he provides for them, what he blackmails them with to stay loyal," Buz answered.

"Exactly," Harper smiled.

"But, what they have, how can we take it away, they have the fields and plantations, how do we take those away?" Buz lightly argued, still keep his voice low.

Harper let out a tired sigh, and settled down on his blanket, now lying down on his side. "Think about what I've said, if you're still interested when I wake up, I'll let you know," Harper stated before turning over to sleep.

Buz settled down on his own blanket, with Harper's words playing on his mind as he attempted to sleep, already knowing that he wanted to know more, and wondering if he could manage to wait till Harper woke up.

TBC