Part 16
For a moment Harper was between waking and sleeping state and it was a struggle to commit to either as he tried to focus. Knowing he was feeling a bit better, although still sore as he became aware of his neck, Harper opened his eyes and heard what appeared to be muffled voices, or a struggle. Unable to determine instantly, Harper pushed himself sleepily to his elbows and looked across the room.
There were two figures, one straddling the other, and it became clear the one underneath was struggling. His senses rapidly returning Harper scrambled to his feet, finally recognising Pallu, Ethan's close friend and he paused for a moment to make sure he fully understood the situation, panicking slightly that he was over reacting or even about to disturb something he had no business interrupting.
Keeping his distance, having not yet been noticed, Harper hung back to ensure he was reading the situation correctly. It soon became clear that Pallu was overpowering the other, and aggressively too.
"You came running back in here," Pallu hissed, with his face really close to the other person that Harper still couldn't quite make out. "Raving like a lunatic, you woke me up and you expect me to care?"
"Get off me!"
Harper heard the desperation in the voice answering Pallu and recognised it immediately, and it wasn't Ethan but his younger brother Zal.
"Why the hell should I?" Pallu answered. "Your brother will be gone for most of the morning, and you won't tell, you never do," Pallu hissed, with a manic laugh. "Another of your accidents, right?" he stated.
"Get the hell off him!" Harper finally spoke up having heard enough, and Pallu swung his head around, aware now of Harper stood in the shadows.
"Are you going to make me?" Pallu challenged with a sinister smile. "I wouldn't be so sure of that."
"He asked you to get off him," Harper remained calm as he slowly approached, and saw Zal's desperate eyes staring back at him.
"He owes me," Pallu sneered. "And it's none of your business, alien," he added, returning his attention back to Zal, still pinned beneath him. Pallu grabbed Zal's hair with one hand and the younger man's neck with the other so Zal couldn't breathe.
Harper glanced around for anything he could use to attack Pallu, and make his stance clearer, then saw an empty bottle. Without hesitation, Harper grabbed it and smashed it against the stone wall, getting both Edenian's attention as he slowly approached with caution.
"Let him go," Harper requested, and clearly for the final time. "We're not so different that if I use this on you, you won't bleed just the same as I do."
Pallu finally appeared to take Harper seriously, and with reluctance he moved off of Zal and backed away. Zal quickly scrambled behind Harper, shaken and panicked.
"I won't forget this alien," Pallu promised, as Harper, with Zal neared the exit. "You better watch your back," he added. "I have my eye on you, both of you, I won't let either of you ruin things for us, last thing we need is trouble, because trouble will attract the Gilads."
"Get a freaking life," Harper snapped back, still holding the broken glass as a weapon, and tiring of the man's voice.
"You best not come back here, ever," Pallu continued. "Once I tell Ethan the truth, he won't let you back into this house."
Harper chose to ignore the mad rants and with Zal he quickly turned and rushed into the streets not taking any chances should Pallu pursue them. After taking a few left and right turns, they slowed their pace down to recover their breath.
"Sorry," Zal then offered, with his hands on his knees bent over as he recovered.
"Sorry?" Harper asked distractedly, struggling more to recover.
"For what I did earlier, I mean I didn't mean to nearly kill you by fixing your neck," Zal offered brightly, standing to full height and recovering his familiar tone, and seemingly forgetting in an instant what had just happened.
"Zal, what just happened, what was going on with Pallu?" Harper dismissed Zal's apology, returning to the matter he was more interested in.
"Nothing," Zal now dismissed, shirking a little as he looked away.
"It wasn't nothing, he was overpowering you, Zal, I'm not stupid," Harper stressed.
"It was nothing!" Zal snapped, and looked away, ready to walk off. "Just stuff," he dismissed easily.
Harper took a deep breath, and sighed. "Look, I have a fair idea what would have happened if I hadn't woken up."
"He'd have beaten me senseless, like always that's all," Zal stressed unconcerned.
"OK," Harper accepted. "Would it have been the first time?"
"No," Zal admitted. "Do we have to talk about this? We need to find a new place to sleep."
"Pallu was serious? We won't be able to return?" Harper checked.
"Pallu has my brother under his spell, anything we say won't be believed. Pallu is everything to my brother, he's in love," Zal offered with a shrug as an explanation.
"Doesn't excuse him, he can't just beat and threaten you," Harper stated, as they began to walk.
"I'm hungry, are you hungry?" Zal swiftly changed topic.
"First rule of starvation, never mention your starving," Harper advised.
"Been days since I had a ration pack, you too I imagine," Zal sighed.
"Been a while," Harper agreed. "Man, wonder how the others are coping," he briefly frowned.
"That chick of yours can still kick ass," Zal remembered the recent encounter.
"What?" Harper stopped and reached out to turn Zal round to face him.
"Hey, maybe we can crash with your alien friends, well alien to me but I guess they ain't alien to you," Zal let his mind wander.
"You've seen my friends?" Harper had to make sure he was hearing Zal right, as he grabbed Zal's arm.
"I ran into your lady friend, she kicked my ass, but only because I thought I'd killed you and she didn't appreciate that," Zal stammered, as if trying to make sense of what happened in his mind.
"Oh boy," Harper sighed.
"I done wrong again, right?" Zal feared. "Look I didn't mean to nearly kill you, and I didn't mean to freak your friend out, man you must hate me," Zal pushed himself away from Harper, growing distressed, clearly confused and upset now.
"I should," Harper considered, but seeing Zal besides himself and barely controlling his emotions, he realised that he wasn't feeling hate. "Look, I don't hate you, yeah you were stupid and I'm sorry I reacted like I did with my neck, but it freaking hurt," Harper attempted to explain, and then gestured to his neck. "But see, all better now," he offered, even though it still felt sore.
Zal hesitated a little before speaking. "Your lady friend didn't really give me much of a chance to explain."
"Beka has this crazy switch that automatically goes on the minute she thinks I'm in trouble, so I'm sure it wasn't your fault," Harper shrugged, and then gestured to Zal to start walking again.
"Are you sure you're ok?" Zal checked.
"I'll be fine," Harper stated. "Just make sure I don't fall over or walk into any walls."
"Huh?"
"I'm just feeling a little," Harper tried to consider how he was feeling. "I'm not sure, I think having this stuff in my port is throwing my balance and functions a little, I feel fine," he tried once more to assure the Edenian. "I just have to concentrate," he finally managed.
"I had hoped to get rid of most of that junk," Zal frowned.
"And you did," Harper assured him, knowing it was the truth. "But you saw what it did to me, I don't think it's going to be as easy as pouring the green gunk into my port to rid it of the metal that's still inside, I might have to wait till we're clear of this place."
"What makes you think you will leave?" Zal casually asked.
"We always leave," Harper stated firmly.
"But the walls are so high, and you're, well, you're not exactly high, how do you plan to leave?" Zal asked with genuine confusion.
"We always find a way, or rather Dylan does and I follow," Harper stressed.
"So that port thing in your neck, it's connected directly to your brain?" Zal queried now, changing subjects again, as they continued walking along the quiet streets.
"Yeah, although more complicated than that, it's connected to my nervous system mainly so I can react outside of my body to stuff that's projected into my conscious mind," Harper explained as simply as he was able.
Zal considered this for a moment. "So that port makes you exist in two different places, both inside and outside of your body?"
Harper partly smiled. "Yeah, data is transferred into my mind but the port extends my conscious into the machine its talking to, you know not many people get that," he stated impressed by Zal's understanding.
"I sometimes just get things," Zal returned.
"Same here, I don't even have to be told sometimes, it just makes sense immediately," Harper agreed and saw Zal smile. "Just gets so damn frustrating when I'm the only one and I then have to explain stuff that seems so simple to me."
"I just shut up," Zal offered. "They don't want to know that I get stuff, I'm just the irrational idiot, so why bother to explain if they don't understand?"
"They, being Buz and the others?" Harper checked.
"Yeah, they prefer to think of me as stupid and I don't let them down," Zal half smiled. "I admit sometimes I act before I think, but when I know something works I can't understand why we don't act on it."
"Like when I said the drink can dissolve the metal on my neck," Harper finally realised Zal's perspective.
"Yeah, but I got to learn that it doesn't always mean it's for the best, even if it works," Zal considered.
"So Pallu beating you half senseless is right then, that's why you don't want to do anything about it?" Harper pushed now, wanting to see Zal's reaction.
"That's different," Zal immediately answered. "Very different."
"Not really," Harper argued and then stopped suddenly, all thoughts of Pallu no longer his concern, staring ahead at a familiar building. "Tirus," Harper simply spoke.
"Aw crap, yeah," Zal looked at Harper then back at the building ahead of them, Tirus's workshop. "I should have realised, sorry."
Harper stared with coldness at the building, and deep down his anger boiled as his memories of the place resurfaced. "I have to do something."
"What?" Zal questioned. "Let's just get out of here, you don't want to be messing with Tirus, he's one of Kenan's men!"
"Zal, you don't strike me as the go safe kind of guy," Harper stated, now determined not to waste the opportunity of doing something to incite revenge. "You think its right that he did this to me?" Harper emphasised his damaged neck, with the skin still struggling to heal and causing the human near constant pain.
"But," Zal hesitated.
"Look, I'm not talking about waltzing right on in there and attempting to pick a fight, I'm just talking about leaving a little gift," Harper explained. "It'll be fun."
"Fun?" Zal slowly smiled. "What kind of fun?"
Harper looked around, and then slowly looked at Zal. "I need some drink."
"Good, so you're going to forget about annoying the big ugly guy?" Zal checked, looking a little relieved.
"No, I need the bottle to make a bomb, a fire bomb," Harper showed Zal the evil glint that was now in his eye.
Zal was speechless for a moment, but then encouraged by Harper's enthusiasm, he quickly darted into one of the houses.
Whilst Zal was finding the bottle, Harper stealthily moved towards Tirus's building and glanced inside, seeing it was empty and the furnaces were dead, either they hadn't started working yet, or they had closed for the day, which suited Harper fine not wishing to have any innocents caught up in his plan but seeing enough flammable objects inside to know his plan would cause a lot of damage inside, most certainly inconvenience.
Emerging seconds later from the building, Zal held aloft half a bottle of the green stuff. "Will this do?"
"Perfect," Harper grabbed the bottle and then quickly ripped the bottom of the sleeve from the top he'd been wearing.
"How are we going to light it?" Zal questioned.
"Back to basics," Harper simply answered and smashed the top off the bottle neck, then used the glass to concentrate the sunlight onto the now soaked cloth that protruded from what was left of the bottle.
It took a few minutes before the first signs of a flame were seen, and as soon as it caught Harper wasted no time in expertly throwing it towards the window of the workshop.
"Now we run," Harper stressed as they heard the bottle smash and the flames take hold on some linen Harper had spotted earlier.
"You've done this before!" Zal exclaimed with some excitement in his voice.
"Maybe once or twice," Harper returned, his adrenaline pushing him to run faster as small explosions were now heard coming from the workshop.
"Beka!"
"Dylan," Beka returned quickly. "I think I found a lead on Harper, we have to move."
"Hold up," Dylan got to his feet. "You look exhausted, sit down and tell us about it."
"We don't have time, some kid, he said he'd hurt Harper, it sounded serious," Beka stressed with panic.
"Kid, what kid?" Rhade now joined in, having got to his feet to stand with Dylan.
"Zal, I think he said his name was," Beka remembered. "Said he was a friend of Harper's, and that he didn't mean to do whatever he did."
"Beka, please, just sit down," Dylan encouraged. "We saved you some rations, now take some deep breaths and explain all of this again."
Beka decided she was getting nowhere fast so did as Dylan requested, sitting down on the stone floor and grabbing one of the small ration packs they had saved for her. Dylan and Rhade joined her and waited until she was ready to speak.
"I was walking roughly five miles from here when I met this kid, or rather bumped into him, literally," Beka explained. "He thought I was after him, that somehow Harper had told me what had happened, this kid, Zal, we need to find him again. He knows where Harper is."
"What happened, why didn't this kid take you to Harper?" Dylan asked.
"I scared him, and he was already freaked out," Beka shrugged. "I tried to follow him but he was too quick, I lost him."
"I'm sure we can find him again," Rhade considered. "Concentrate our search to that area, Harper can't be far or that hard to find if he's made friends in that part of town," he added.
"We just have to hope that there's something left of Harper to find," Beka feared. "I just keep imagining that he's lying half dead somewhere, unable to do anything, wondering where we are," she frowned.
Suddenly there was a commotion outside and moments later three guards entered the room where Beka, Rhade and Dylan sat. Before they could properly react the guards approached Dylan, surrounding him and then grabbed hold of his arms dragging him up to his feet.
"Hey!" Dylan protested but the guards began to simply drag him away.
"What's going on?" Rhade demanded.
"We do not tolerate acts of violence against our citizens!" the guard holding Dylan's right arm answered.
"What the hell do you mean, what have we done?" Beka questioned with confusion.
"This man," the guard gestured to Dylan. "He is responsible for the damage to a workshop that was attacked in the past hour."
"What?" Rhade checked. "He's been here the whole time, and you would know that because so have you, watching us from out there."
"Since you arrived the fourth alien has been missing, and we knew he had orders. You've been keeping him out of sight, but did you really think we would be stupid enough not to connect any criminal activity to him, and then to you, Dylan Hunt?" The guard explained, struggling to contain Dylan who resisted their attempts to move him from the house.
"I did nothing, I have given no orders!" Dylan yelled. "The last time we saw our colleague was when your men dragged him away, and I can assure you that wasn't a part of any plan I would make!"
"We don't believe you!" the guard yelled back, and the three of them put up more of a fight before finally Dylan conceded, gesturing to Rhade and Beka to back off.
"Fine, but I want to see proof of your claims before I do anything answering," Dylan stressed. "Prove to me that my crewman did the crimes you're claiming he did, and under my orders!"
"Sir!" another guard appeared at the doorway. "There are reports of another firebomb attack, this time on the one of the crop fields, the field is alight and going out of control!"
"So, you've begun your attack, I must admit I was beginning to think you were going to do nothing, but you obviously had other plans like any true leader," the guard stated, showing a hint of admiration.
"Proof, I demand proof," Dylan insisted as they finally wrestled him out of the building.
"So, still imagining that Harper is somewhere doing nothing?" Rhade casually remarked, with his arms crossed.
"We don't know that Harper did this," Beka returned sharply.
"Chaos, explosions and fire?" Rhade questioned with doubt.
"Ok, it sounds like Harper but," Beka paused. "This kid said he nearly killed him just a couple of hours ago and now this," Beka exclaimed. "It doesn't add up."
"They have Dylan," Rhade reminded her.
"We have to find Harper," Beka stressed, and they both left the building aware now that there was no guard presence following them.
TBC