Thanks for the reviews guys! You're the best!
sorry it's been awhile RL has been nuts
And thanks as always to Eljay!
Harper frowned at the readouts. He was missing something. He had patched all the holes except the one connecting his ships to Agio's. The problem there wasn't so much the hole but the fact that they seemed to be fused together. Other than that, everything should be in good enough shape for him to limp back to andromeda. Once there, he could give the Maru a complete overhaul. But here he was and the old gal refused to power up.
What was he missing?
He yawned helplessly; he was exhausted and sore. Even the Sparky Cola wasn't giving him the same kick as before. Maybe he should take just a quick catnap. He was way ahead of Annoying Agio, a quick nap couldn't hurt could it? In fact it might even help. He rubbed a hand over his face, rubbing his eyes. Maybe he'd be able to find the problem if he could get rid of this damned headache. It was driving him to distraction. Added to that, his knee was killing him. He turned and wandered towards the back of the Maru. Maybe Trance had some nanobots he could "borrow" for his knee …yeah that would be good, fantastic even!
Harper hopped over the threshold and entered Trance's quarters. When they were all living here things had been so cramped the room had also doubled has hydroponics and medical. He smiled; things on the andromeda were better than he could imagine. There was always hot water for showers, coffee and a soft bed. Things on the Maru had been a lot tougher but there was still a lot of good times and thousands of great memories. He sighed and shook himself out of his memories as he realized he was just standing in the hatchway. Gads, he really must be tired to have gotten this distracted by his thoughts.
He stepped over some of Trance's gardening stuff and unhooked the latch on the medical supply cupboard. Just as the door swung open he thought he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. "What the…?" The curse died on his lips as he squinted and looked in to a darkened corned of the room.
When he saw nothing else he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. Agio and the need for sleep was getting to him. He was getting even more paranoid if that was possible.
He reached in to the cupboard and grabbed an injector; not allowing himself to think too much about what he was doing, he jabbed it through his pants into his knee.
He let out a low hiss of pain but the nanobots began to work immediately and it already felt better. He stumbled out of the room his knee pleasantly numb for the first time in since the accident. All he wanted now was his bunk and an hour or two of uneventful sleep.
He entered the bunkroom blearily wondering why Beka and Trance got their own quarters while he has to sleep in the bunkroom. He slowly pulled himself up to his bunk. Being alone he could have slept anywhere but old habits die hard. He flipped back his blankets and slid underneath.
Almost asleep he let his hand feel beneath his pillow for a certain unmentionable object. He grinned to himself... at least unmentionable in mixed company. Yup, it was still there. He drifted to sleep still smiling smugly to himself.
Not ten minutes later he sat up with a bolt. Had something just slithered across his legs?
Nah, couldn't be he was on the Maru not back on Earth. There was no bugs or snakes in space, right? "Right," he replied answering his own question.
He settled himself back down and closed his eyes only to bolt up with a manly squeal. Well he hoped it was manly anyways. Nope that time there was defiantly something! He flipped back the covers and nearly screamed again. There was at least four slug like creatures sharing his bunk with him. They squirmed and left sticky trails in their wake. And worse… he closed his and tried to not think of what was worse. There was one that seemed to be attached to his calf like a leech. Oh Gads he wanted to throw up.
He threw himself off his bunk in purely instinctive need to get away and landed heavily on the floor. Unfortunately the slug-thing on his leg came with him. And the dammed thing didn't even seem phased at his mad scramble to get away from it and its buddies. Harper shook his leg wildly. It just would not come off!
The suddenly things got well… a little funky.
Where the walls moving? That freaking thing must be poisoning him! Despite his best judgment he reached down and pulled the writhing creature off his leg and threw it to the other side of the bunkroom. He suppressed a scream as his calf muscle flared in pain. "That was my good leg too!" he yelled after the creature.
He reached down to his leg, his hand probing the hole in his pants. Blood dripped steadily from the punctures. His head spun and he felt like he had way too much Weissbrau and sadly he hadn't had a drop. Just when he thought he had it under control, he felt yet another wave of vertigo that made his head flip flop, twisting his stomach into knots. Nausea set in full force and it was all he could do to roll on his side as so not to get vomit on his clothes. After a few desperate moments and fervent wished for Trance and her magic touch he rolled back on to his back. His vision swam in and out of focus and the last thing he saw before he passed out was Agio's smug facing looking down at him.
TBC
Next part of fall seven times coming soon