Part 10

"Can you help him?"

"I need the oil, without it I can only stop him hurting others, or himself."

"They won't give it to us, I have tried many times but they refuse to let it leave the camp, we need to take him to them, or I should kill him now and put him out of his misery."

"He stays here; I'm not moving him and causing him more pain than he's already in. Don't play the hero either, brother, you'd be killing him for revenge, not out of pity," the woman stared at the man, her brother, knowingly. "I won't let you do that, he is strong and he can survive if given the chance."

"I saved him from death," her brother returned.

"So you could punish him yourself, don't think I don't know what you've been doing with that Marika woman, Lucas," his sister responded. "But what did he do that made you so mad that you rescued him from those renegades, so you could hurt him yourself?"

"What I've been doing is none of your business, Kalika," Lucas returned with matching tone.

"It never is until someone gets hurt," Kalika motioned to the figure struggling against restraints, clearly delusional and suffering.

"I was trying to make a better life for us, away from here and those caves that have claimed so many of our family," Lucas stressed.

"Only because it is your turn to go, but you're afraid," Kalika stated.

"Do you blame me?" Lucas returned. "Look at him!" he gestured to the stricken man.

"Do you know his name at least? For three weeks I have only been able to call him stranger, I need a name, at least give me that."

"Harper, Marika called him that I think," Lucas replied.

"And what did Harper do to you? Will you ever tell me?" Kalika asked.

"Marika was mine, I was so close to getting her to agree to allowing me and my family to stay with her, you too," Lucas explained. "But this man distracted her, he led the Tech Police to her caves, his actions over the past couple of years exposed her more and more to their attentions and then he hit her, I saw him do it, Kalika, he struck her and never got the message that she wasn't interested."

"So jealousy, that's a new one for you brother," Kalika spoke without emotion. "And Marika was using you, Lucas, getting you to steal that quartz for her was all she was interested in, and making you believe she'd help you ensured you never got paid, and you didn't did you?"

"No," Lucas reluctantly admitted. "But he slept with her and even that wasn't enough, Marika gave him a home, gave him sanctuary when the rest of the system was too afraid of what he was, with that thing in his neck," Lucas explained. "Still it wasn't enough, and now Marika is dead because of him."

"As is your dream of leaving this planet, and avoiding your fate," Kalika calmly added.

"Sometimes I think you want me to go crazy, to have those disgusting legions and lose my mind," Lucas challenged.

"We need food," Kalika simply said. "Worthy men before you has been able to make the sacrifice so that their family can live, and you have two children now who need to be fed. I should disown you for admitting you had affections for another woman who is not your wife, and not the mother of your children, for trying to find a way out of ensuring your family stay healthy."

"It's not like that, Kalika, I'm trying to find a way that I can stay with my family, I love them," Lucas stressed. "I don't want to end up like him."

"Please, find it in your heart to try and get the oil we need to help this man, if we can save him maybe it will make it easier for me to understand your motivations for avoiding the caves," Kalika stated with a frown. "This man needs our help, and I sense good things for us if we help him."

"Still with the freaky, eh, sister?" Lucas couldn't help but smile. "For you I will travel to the camp again and as many times as you want me to, and plead a case for some of the oil."

"Thank you," Kalika smiled in returned.

"Be careful around him, and don't free him from those restraints, he's in them for his own protection as well as yours," Lucas warned. "The illness has all but claimed him; pretty soon he won't know who he is."

"Then you should hurry," Kalika stated, and watched as her brother left the tent before moving to the stranger's side. "Harper?"

The man stopped for a moment and stared directly at her, a flash of recognition to his name before he tested the restraints once again. Perspiration covered him, and the rash now covered his upper body, spreading quickly to his neck and starting on one side of his face.

Gently, Kalika placed a damp cloth over Harper's bare upper torso to try and alleviate the agitation she knew he must feel from the skin complaint. He continued to struggle, despite near exhaustion. Harper's breathing sounded more laboured, and it was not something she'd normally associate with the illness. She had been starting to wonder if there was more to his suffering, since he had arrived three weeks previously it had seemed to be more than just the illness that was claiming him.

A coughing fit suddenly erupted and it was all she could do to try and help him through it. She looked at his raw and bloodied wrists and ankles, but could do nothing to ease the pain of the restraints around them. The illness was savage, turned normal men into monsters whilst slowly driving them crazy. Harper had stopped talking just a day before, now his lips moved but there was no sound, his eyes rolled constantly, stuck in his own hell.

Kalika lightly brushed back Harper's hair from his face, in some ways she wished him an early death but in others she just wanted him to get better, she wanted to know him, hear his voice and see what kind of man he was without the illness. Her eyes began to water, for three weeks she had only known this man in his suffering, and she was starting to find it painful to consider that he might not last much longer despite her best efforts.

"So what is it?" Beka asked, as she crossed her arms. The bar around them was lively, for the time of day, as the rest of the crew turned their attention to Dylan.

"Quartz, it's mined on Seefra Eight," Dylan announced. "I'm reliably informed that enough of these rocks could power the Andromeda."

"How much is enough?" Rhade asked with scepticism.

"About fifteen crates give or take," Dylan answered.

"I take it we take?" Rhade smirked knowingly.

"We should go, go now, we need to go to Seefra Eight and get the quartz, no delay," Trance suddenly perked up.

"We will, Trance but once we've got a plan in place and all available resources," Dylan suggested.

"We can't waste time, we need to move quickly," Trance insisted.

"Trance, do you know something?" Beka enquired.

"No," Trance innocently responded.

"You sure?" Rhade picked up on Beka's questioning.

"Just the mention of quartz and Seefra Eight, I felt something, something important, this could be something we need to do to ensure our destiny," Trance admitted. "I think," she added.

"Sorry, I'm busy, as much as I'd love to help you," Beka decided and got to her feet. "I have a lot of jobs on right now, paying jobs."

"Beka, we need the Maru," Dylan reminded her.

"Beka, please," Trance now pleaded, and it got Beka's attention.

With a frustrated sigh, Beka threw her hands up. "Ok, whatever count me in but this is the last time ok? I don't have a lot of spare time as it is, and any I do have I keep searching for Harper, so don't think I'm doing this willingly, ok?"

"Thank you, Beka," Dylan acknowledged. "Any luck with Harper?"

Beka sat back down, and offered a heavy sigh. "Nothing, I can't even find a body, the ex-tech police who are talking claim they never found him where Marika left him."

"So he did get away," Rhade offered.

"The Rom Doll was still docked, where would he have gone?" Beka questioned, sounding despondent.

"The Rom Doll?" Rhade checked.

"His ship, just don't, Rhade, I'm not in the mood," Beka snapped.

"Beka, because you're helping me and because you still believe he's somewhere once we have the quartz I'll help you find Harper, I'm sure I can spare some time," Dylan offered.

"Don't put yourself out," Beka returned.

"I want to help," Dylan reiterated.

Beka could see he was being genuine and offered a brief smile. "Thanks, I need all the help I can get, especially as Doyle refuses," Beka offered in a hushed voice, glancing over to where Doyle was now working the bar, her new found job with Sembler.

"First though we need to get past Cutter and his men, they run the mine that has this stuff," Rhade reminded them all.

"Great, suddenly this mission seems bigger than how you first sold it to us, Dylan," Beka stated.

"I've already discussed with Rhade that we'll go ahead and get employed by Cutter, I just need you two," Dylan gestured to Trance and Beka. "To be ready for when we have the quartz and are looking to leave, Beka on the Maru, Trance on the Andromeda ready to analyse the rocks so we can implement them as a power source."

"Why do I think it could never be that simple?" Beka questioned.

"Because you've been around him too long, he's a bad influence," Rhade remarked with a smirk.

"You have to do it!"

"I can't."

"You said you would, you said you'd put him out of his misery, he's getting worse and I can't stand to watch him disintegrate any further," Kalika spoke with tears in her eyes. "Those ropes around his wrists, I can't stand to watch as they dig in deeper, knowing I can't do anything and that he isn't even aware of the harm he's doing to himself by his continued struggle to free himself."

Lucas wrapped his arms around his sister and held her tightly, knowing it was his fault she was like this, he had brought Harper to the planet with thoughts of revenge, but it had all blown back in his face since he allowed the man to escape and then ultimately get directly infected by the quartz crystal.

"I'm sorry, but I can't, not now I have seen how much you care about him," Lucas offered and pulled back a little sensing his sister's confusion. "You would never forgive me once you're thinking straight again."

"I keep holding the blanket to his face but I can't press down, as much as I know deep down he would welcome the freedom, I can't do it," Kalika moved away from her brother and looked upwards.

"I will try, one final time to get the oil," Lucas decided. "I can't bear to see you like this."

"Lucas, I'm sorry about all I've said about you and your reluctance to go to the mines, I do understand," Kalika offered. "I don't want you to suffer like Harper; I don't want you to go to the mines."

Lucas offered the briefest of smiles, appreciating her words before he set off towards the main camp once again. Kalika returned to the tent and before her saw the man she had been taking care of now for nearly four weeks. Some days were better than others, but they were all bad and today the fever had returned. She had no idea why he kept getting fever like symptoms, it was bad enough during the days when it was just the rash agitating Harper, but the fever made things a lot worse.

She looked at Harper with care, his shoulder had long since dislocated and no matter how many times she attempted to fix it, it would be dislocated again within hours due to his struggling and she figured he had a recent weakness there. He seemed oblivious to it, she conceded, but her instincts led her to want to make him as comfortable as she could, so once again she set about realigning his shoulder.

Unspoken venom erupted from the man, as she put pressure on the joint the eased the shoulder back. She couldn't look into his eyes when he was like this, it was too painful. Once it was done, she retrieved the cooling cloth and for the third time in thirty minutes she tried to dowse Harper's hot fevered brow and body. The rash was just days, maybe even hours away from covering him and Kalika wanted to go down to the main camp herself and tell them what she thought of their little policy of not sharing the oil, unless they felt it necessary to.

Kalika moved closer to Harper, for the moment he was still whilst his mouth chatted silently, she knew not what about. She stroked his arm offering what little comfort she could whilst he was still, and she wished for just one moment of sanity to allow her to at least introduce herself to Harper, and not for the first time, she tried to imagine what he was really like, before the illness.

Beka moved through the Maru heading to the pilot's chair. Rhade followed close behind and neither seemed happy.

"So we're picking up a bunch of refugees now?" Beka questioned angrily. "What happened to the original mission?"

"Dylan discovered their suffering, they are being exposed to the quartz and it's killing them, and they're being separated from their families," Rhade explained.

"You know something?" Beka turned to Rhade on reaching the command section of the Maru. "I used to care to, but I got over it. The Maru is in bad shape and in need of repair so I'm not even sure we should be flying in it, let alone a whole community of people Dylan feels sorry for."

"What happened to your heart?" Rhade questioned.

"Maybe it disappeared with Harper," Beka snapped and sat herself down in the pilot's chair.

"Harper, I should have known that somehow you would turn this around to him," Rhade shook his head. "Harper is dead, Beka and the sooner you accept that the sooner you'll realise we're not the enemy and we're just trying to get out of this place!"

"How does shipping a whole load of people, instead of the quartz help to get us out of here?" Beka turned to Rhade questionably.

Rhade stared at Beka before answering. "So I'm supposed to go back to Dylan and say no to his plan, leave those people behind to continue to suffer?"

Beka looked away and then sighed. "Tell him I will land in two hours, have the people ready," she stated without looking back at Rhade.

"Thanks," Rhade acknowledged, and moved away to send the communication to Dylan.

Kalika brought the cloth around Harper's face, it was almost impossible to keep the infected skin clean but she did what she could to alleviate the pain. His eyes flickered opened and immediately his body tensed against the binds that held him in place, for his own protection.

"It's ok, it's just me," Kalika spoke softly, staring into Harper's eyes for assurance.

Harper struggled against the binds before relaxing slightly. Kalika continued to bath his face with warm water and moved down to his neck and chest before noticing that he was still, and staring back at her.

"Are you ok?" Kalika thought to ask, and was rewarded with a small nod of his head. "You understand me?" she smiled, and saw another nod. "Can you tell me your name?" she pushed, longing to believe this could be a breakthrough.

Instead Harper looked away, his head moved to the side and his breathing quickened slightly. Kalika was about to continue bathing him when she saw his lips move, but unlike the other times, he seemed to be fighting for control. With her hand, Kalika moved Harper's face round to look at her again.

"Tell me your name," Kalika prompted.

"Harper," he gruffly replied, taking a lot of effort. The voice sounded weak and rough, and the words were not well spoken but it was enough for Kalika just to hear his voice.

"My name is Kalika," Kalika offered in return.

"Ka," Harper attempted, before taking a deep breath and trying again, with extreme effort. "Kalika," he managed finally.

Kalika now wore the biggest smile as she spontaneously reached forward and embraced Harper, despite his arms still being secured. "It's nice to meet you, finally," she spoke fondly, as she held him tight. Feeling him struggling, Kalika moved away and in an instant the familiar angered Harper was back, struggling against his restraints and speaking soundless words repeatedly, seemingly lost once more to the maddening disease.

"I will find you the cure, Harper, I promise," Kalika vowed, as she finished bathing him with care.

TBC