Part 14
Beka had woken with a start on hearing the screams, and on jumping from her cot she grabbed the first items of clothing she could find before making her way to the crew quarters. The ship had been on autopilot for a couple of hours, making its way back to Seefra One after a successful shipment pickup, allowing Beka some downtime but that had been disturbed by the commotion she could now hear as she quickened her pace towards the crew quarters.
"Harper?" Beka hurriedly asked, recognising the source of the screams as she entered the bunk area.
Harper was writhing in agony, his body partially twisted as he fought the restraints that dug agonisingly into his wrists and ankles. Kalika was struggling to hold him down, and his face was twisted into pure rage at his situation.
"Crap!" Beka then exclaimed on noticing one of the ropes holding his wrists had snagged on the side of the cot, and slowly it was fraying against the metal of the bunk and becoming weakened. "We need more rope!"
On cue, Harper tugged and the rope snapped, freeing his hand and Beka instinctively pulled Kalika away, as Harper lashed out at her. On failing to hit his target Harper instead focused on easily freeing his other hand, before moving to his feet.
"What do we do?" Kalika asked with fear.
"We let him work this anger out, give him space," Beka considered and moved back as the binds around Harper's ankles loosened. "I don't want to hurt him but I fear we might need to arm ourselves, he's pretty worked up and he's got some nasty moves when it comes to survival."
"He'll more likely hurt himself," Kalika countered.
"We just have to be sensible," Beka returned, slowly backing away as finally Harper freed himself. "He'll only attack us in this state if we are a threat."
"He's not an animal, we need to help him!" Kalika protested.
"He's not himself, so we have to assume he is an animal," Beka argued, keeping hold of Kalika. "I've kept Magog on this ship, so trust me, sometimes you just have to cruel to be kind, and be prepared."
"What the hell is a Magog?" Kalika asked.
"Look at Harper, but imagine more hair," Beka simply answered as Harper relished his new found freedom by first testing the bulkhead's strength, slamming himself into the sides.
"We can't let him do that, he'll hurt himself!" Kalika fussed, and Beka got a tighter grip on her, as she tried to break free.
"Be patient," Beka advised, as Harper showed signs of tiredness after repeatedly throwing his weight at the bulkhead.
Suddenly Harper darted forwards towards them, but Beka just side stepped and allowed Harper to pass. Letting go of Kalika she began to pursue Harper through the Maru. Beka was relatively calm as she followed Harper, even though effectively a mad man was loose on her ship, she knew deep down that Harper couldn't harm it, he wasn't that far gone.
Beka stopped as Harper came to a halt, and she saw he was breathing heavily and looking wide eyed at his surroundings. Finding themselves in the serving area, Beka gave Harper some space, and gestured to Kalika as she joined them to do likewise. Harper seemed panicked, and unsure. There was a slight fear in his posture as he darted his eyes, looking around as if sensing something.
"Da," Harper suddenly spoke, then took a breath and tried again. "Danger," he spoke with a rough sounding voice, lacking any grace or confidence.
"Danger?" Beka repeated, and Harper glared at her.
"Danger," he managed first time, with more focus towards Beka before he glanced around once more with panicked movements.
"Tell me more," Beka spoke calmly, still maintaining a distance between them.
"Ty," Harper's eyes suddenly went wide, and his breathing became shallow. "Tyrone."
"No, Harper," Beka was shaking her head. "Tyrone isn't here, you're safe."
"Tyrone," Harper repeated more frantically, backing away until he made contact with the bulkhead behind him and then jumped. "Danger," he stressed as he became more animated, losing any control he had as he desperately pushed himself away from the bulkhead, and began to shout random noises that sounded nothing like words.
"Harper, no danger, its ok," Kalika stepped forward with Beka.
"Please, stop this, everything's ok, you're safe," Beka supported as Harper despairingly sank to his knees, almost in defeat of sheer panic. Perspiration covered him now, as his chest heaved and the fever was taking hold once more. Beka joined Harper by crouching on the floor in front of him, desperate to make him see that he was just imagining a danger.
Harper reached out and grabbed Beka's forearms in a vice like grip. "Danger!" he stressed thought gritted teeth, his expression maddening as a rage seemed to flow through him. Kalika tried to release the hold Harper had on Beka, but failed and Beka attempted to free herself.
"Harper! You're hurting me," Beka stressed, trying to get through to her friend.
"Danger!" Harper responded desperately, his resolve weakening slightly as he looked around.
"Tyrone isn't here," Beka insisted. "Tyrone is dead; I know this because I killed him!"
"Danger, danger, danger, danger!" Harper repeated endlessly shaking Beka's arms as his panic once again rose.
Beka found enough leverage in her arm, despite Harper's strong grip to instinctively strike Harper across the cheek with the palm of her hand, knowing no other way to get him to stop the insane mantra he was stuck in.
The blow to the cheek stunned Harper enough to shut him up, and for a moment he failed to even take a breath as the sting of the blow registered and Beka instantly regretted her actions. For the first time she saw Harper, her friend, beneath the illness that had taken him and as his eyes moved to meet hers, she almost wanted to cry with regret but managed to hold it back.
"Tyrone can't hurt you now," Beka whispered in the silence, knowing Kalika was simply watching from behind her.
In a blink of an eye, Harper seemed to suddenly gather all his remaining senses and he darted up to a standing position, letting go of Beka as he did so. "Danger," he simply managed one last time before dashing off again.
"I'll follow him," Kalika simply said to a distraught Beka still crouching on the deck, reeling from what she had done and cursing her inability to help Harper. She couldn't understand his insistence to danger, and she knew Tyrone was nowhere near but somehow the Maru was disturbing Harper enough to think he was in danger. His mind warped into associating the Maru with bad times, and she wanted to scream, the Maru was the closest thing Harper had to a real home in Seefra and now his mind was using that against him.
"Beka!" Kalika's voice ran through the ship from what seemed to be engineering. "He's doing something back here, you should take a look!"
Beka took a deep breath and got to her feet, knowing she had to remain strong for Harper. Breaking into a run, she reached engineering in no time to see Harper half inside a conduit, his actions frantic and small sparks exploding around the area where he worked.
"Crap, what the hell is he doing?" Beka stressed, moving forward on the walkway to reach Harper's position. "We're in motion; he shouldn't be messing about in there! That's propulsion in that conduit!"
"What can we do?" Kalika asked.
"I'm not sure, short of dragging his sorry ass out of there," Beka considered. "He could be doing anything, one pull on the wrong wire and we're all toast," Beka feared. "We have to stop him," she stressed and pulled on her gun, releasing it from its holster for the first time since Harper had freed himself from the restraints.
"You can't do that," Kalika warned. "You'll never forgive yourself."
"He's endangering the ship," Beka simply responded, and then checked the settings. "It's on he lowest setting, any hit will simply burn more than seriously wound. It'll buy us time to pull him out and restrain him again."
"Please don't do this," Kalika pleaded.
Beka lifted the weapon and then moved closer, taking her time to prepare herself for what she was about to do. Taking aim, Beka was momentarily knocked off balance as all power suddenly cut out and the ship lurched to a stop, creaking violently in protest as it did so. Falling to the floor, Beka was about to push herself up to follow through with her plan before Harper did more damage, but to her surprise the power quickly returned, only she felt the ship was now stationary in space.
"Harper?" Beka called out, seeing his body still half inside the conduit and it was unmoving. "Harper what the hell have you done to my ship?" Beka asked, hoping her usual fear for her ship would make Harper respond, but when he didn't she gently prodded his leg with the nuzzle of her weapon and still he failed to respond.
Without needing another reason, Beka quickly pulled on Harper's legs dragging him without protest out of the conduit. Limply he fell to the deck, and Beka quickly assessed him, with Kalika soon at her side. A dark ash covered him, electrical feedback from the systems, but his eyes were wide open and his life signs appeared healthy and strong, Beka couldn't understand what was going on until Kalika gestured to his hands, both clutching a piece of machinery.
"No," Harper mumbled. "Danger," he finished tiredly.
Beka took the machinery and examined the eroded nodes on both. "These parts, they regulate the flow of power through the cells, erosion like this can prove fatal if its not caught in time, the whole ship can blow," Beka half whispered as the realisation sank in. "Harper caught it in time, he must have diverted power and caused the ship to emergency stop," she finished.
"We were in danger?" Kalika then realised. "That's what he meant?"
"How did you know?" Beka asked Harper, not use to his quieter and even humble state.
Harper took some breaths before making the effort to answer. "Hear," he gestured vaguely to the side of his head. "Tried," he took a breath. "Warn," a flash of angered frustration showed as finally he completed his sentence. "You."
"You tried to warn us?" Beka repeated, seeing those words had all but exhausted Harper with the effort it had taken him to say them. "Are you ok?" Beka asked.
Harper grimaced, and didn't look comfortable as his hand moved to his shoulder and rubbed it, but he spoke no words.
"His shoulder must still hurt," Kalika guessed, and they saw Harper briefly nod his head.
Beka took a hold of Harper's head, so he was facing her. "You're still in there aren't you, Seamus Harper," Beka beamed. "There's no way you could have fixed this if you weren't." Harper just stared blankly at her, before his head rolled out of her hold and Beka looked at Kalika. "Let's get him back to his bunk, and then I should check our co-ordinates, we should be near Seefra One, or close enough to hitch a tow from a passing ship."
"I think once we are back on Seefra that we should transfer him off this ship," Kalika spoke, her focus entirely on Harper. "He doesn't seem settled here, and I think he should be planet side, it would benefit his recovery for him to feel safe."
"This is his home," Beka argued.
"He spoke this Tyrone guy's name in fear, this place, this ship is not helping, not with his disorientation and also it's not safe, we're lucky he heard that problem with the engines because we were both clueless," Kalika reminded the blonde captain.
Beka considered the facts and hated to find herself agreeing. Harper did not look settled, and she knew the noises and movement of the Maru couldn't be helping him focus, but it still pained her to admit this. "When we get to Seefra One we'll spend a few days planet side, now he's a little stronger he could maybe stay if we can find him a bed," Beka suggested.
"Dylan offered his old home, my brother is currently there and I'm sure he wouldn't mind," Kalika offered.
"Fine, sure," Beka casually agreed, and then moved to help Kalika lift a now sleeping Harper back to his bunk. Deep down she still felt troubled by her actions of striking her friend to try and get his attention, she failed to understand his frustrations and resorted to violence so quickly. Beka's thoughts drifted back to Doyle's intentions, and she took a deep breath. Now she knew Harper was still inside, his natural instincts to fix and repair still there, she felt even worse about what she had done.
Rhade walked over to where Dylan was sitting with Trance, and he took a seat not even stopping to order his usual beer. Dylan acknowledged him, and Rhade got straight to the point.
"The Maru was due back twelve hours ago, and it hasn't returned," Rhade stated.
"Any communication?" Dylan asked.
"Nothing, they must be out of range of planetary communications," Rhade stated.
"I have not sensed any trouble," Trance offered but quickly shrugged. "But maybe I'm not supposed to, I'm not sure."
Rhade showed a flash of impatience. "Harper is on that ship, and he's not of sound mind, they might need assistance," Rhade hinted.
"Just say you're worried about Beka," Dylan suggested and got to his feet, gesturing to Doyle who immediately walked over. "Can you finish your shift early, we may have trouble," Dylan asked, as Doyle reached him.
"Dylan I have already missed three shifts this week whilst I help you restore power to the Andromeda," Doyle reminded him.
"Can I borrow the Romdoll?" Dylan then asked.
"When we retrieved that from the tech police you assured me it would only be used to escort us to and from the Andromeda, and not for your little side missions," Doyle stated, not pleased. "It's Harper's ship, not mine."
"Did I miss you two getting married?" Rhade mocked, looking confused and received only glares from Dylan and Doyle in return.
"It may be to help Harper, the Maru hasn't returned from its last job, we need to investigate," Dylan then revealed and Doyle noticeably backed down.
"Take it, but don't get it shot up," Doyle warned. "It's hard enough fixing one ship; we don't want to add to the collection."
Dylan looked as innocent as he could, before Doyle walked away returning to her bar duties, and then spotted the grin Rhade was wearing.
"I don't want to hear it," Dylan simply said as he gestured for them all to move.
"You're so married," Rhade continued to tease, as they left the bar.
TBC