Part 23

Harper groaned and opening his eyes did nothing to help him determine what had happened. It was pitch black, and he felt a huge weight on top of him as he tried to remember, but nothing was coming to mind. He felt tired, and could hear himself breathing, feeling clogged up and restricted. Unable to move, Harper instead gave into sleep, not knowing why he was in the position he found himself in.

"It's Doyle!" Rhade yelled, and worked harder to remove the masonry that had fallen around her, with Dylan's help. As they freed her body, she was unresponsive and clearly in need of some repair.

"If it's done this to Doyle," Rhade remarked.

"Don't!" Beka snapped, not needing to be told as they moved Doyle to the clearing outside the wrecked building.

There was a gasp from the gathered Seefrians and Dylan looked knowingly at Rhade and Beka, they had finally figured out that she wasn't human. Ignoring their shock, Dylan looked around the rubble close to where they had found Doyle, knowing Harper must be near, and at the same time fearing what they would find.

"There!" Beka suddenly pointed to a spot close to where Doyle had been found. It was by what had been an exterior wall, and was built up more than the surrounding area. "He has to be under there," she determined and began to throw the rocks away.

"Be careful, just in case," Dylan reminded her, and she continued with more care to remove the stones that had once formed the building's structure.

"Hey!"

Beka and Dylan stopped and turned, finding a small group of Seefrians stood by the edge of the rubble.

"What?" Dylan asked.

"What the hell is going on with you people?"

Dylan frowned as looked at Beka, and then addressed them. "We're kind of busy right now."

"You will stop this, I don't know what freaks you are but we've seen enough," the man continued, and the piece of timber he was holding, was now being brandished like a weapon.

"Seriously, we don't have time for this, our friend is under here and needs our help," Dylan insisted.

"That freaky guy with the thing in his neck, we say let him die, let him be as a lesson to those who mess with technology, it only kills you in the end," the man goaded and Beka instantly drew her weapon and powered it up.

"Wanna see messing with technology up close, I could introduce you to my gun," Beka sneered with anger.

"Beka," Dylan snapped and put his arm out to prevent her following through before turning back to the guy making the genuine threats. "This man you're condemning so easily is our friend, regardless of your prejudices we will help him," Dylan stated.

"Don't mess with us, we've all had a really bad couple of weeks," Rhade supported as he edged closer.

The man turned to his supporters, who were all now brandishing makeshift weapons, as they edged closer. "We want you people gone, you're nothing but trouble and we no longer want you around here."

"This planet is under threat from your own sun, in days you will perish but if you let us continue we can save this planet, and your system, but we need the guy who is currently in need of our help under here to achieve that," Dylan insisted firmly.

"The whole building collapsed on him, he's as good as dead already," the man mocked. "And we don't want your help."

"That can be easily arranged," Rhade remarked. "Means we just get out of this crappy system that little bit sooner, without the heroics," he added happily.

"We will help you, if you let us be," Dylan stated.

The man turned to his people, who all remained where they were. "I'm a decent guy, you have thirty minutes to find your friend, and get your butts off of my planet, understand?"

"Understood, we'll be gone in twenty," Dylan confidently predicted. "Let's hope Harper is under here," Dylan remarked to Beka and Rhade, as they swiftly turned and continued their work.

"I need to find them," Lucas panicked, as Trance attempted to clean the wound on his head. "They'll kill them, I don't know what I'll do if they die, they can't die because of him, no more deaths because of him!"

"I suggest you try and calm down," Trance calmly asked, as she tended his cut with care.

"I've tried calm and co-operation yet the outcome appears to be the same, your friend has got innocent people killed," Lucas stressed.

"Harper is not a bad person," Trance spoke softly but without emotion as she concentrated on cleaning his wound.

"He goaded those tech police, the ones holding us hostage in the bar," Lucas began. "All he had to do was co-operate and everything would have been fine," he stressed.

"But we would be dead; do you think a good man would willingly allow his friends to die for no reason?" Trance questioned, stopping for a moment and suddenly Lucas looked uneasy.

"No, I mean, I know there were other lives at stake but," Lucas hesitated. "I just want to see my family again, my kids, wife and my sister."

"I understand that and we will do what we can to help you, I promise," Trance insisted.

"Every day they beat him, everyday he took it," Lucas looked distant now. "And then the virus flared up again, and that cough," he frowned. "Do you really think he could survive that blast?"

"It's not Harper's time," Trance simply answered. "Don't ask me to explain," she then offered after a moment's thought.

"What makes this so much worse for me is that in that time I had to work alongside the man I intended to kill, and I actually grew to like him, to give a damn, and I understood why my sister likes him, I know they could be happy," Lucas sighed heavily. "It'll be tough killing him now if my family die because of him."

"There are people who would ensure you do not get the chance to harm Harper, that will be your only warning," Trance stated firmly, and finished off bandaging Lucas's head.

"Yeah, well, I doubt I could do it now, not now I accept that he could be good for my sister," Lucas frowned and then saw the confused expression on Trance. "I think they're an item."

"Kalika and Harper?" Trance checked she understood correctly, and Lucas nodded his head. "That could prove interesting."

"If you say so," Lucas seemed less impressed.

"We should go check on the others," Trance then indicated.

Harper woke with a start, as he snapped his eyes open and he could hear people nearby, their voices muffled. The weight was still on top of him, painfully so, but he could see random shafts of light around him.

"Help," Harper gasped, and realised he could barely hear himself let alone be heard by the rescuers. Taking a deep breath Harper yelled as much as his hoarse throat allowed, and suddenly he heard a flurry of activity above. Taking a deep breath as sudden pain hit him, Harper tensed as a large piece of masonry was finally lifted, and light flooded his sight, blinding him. As he tried to blink the pain away, and focus, he felt the number of stones being moved from about his person, and the fresh air of the Seefra day.

"This chair saved him!"

"He was smart to move under the table, and lucky that the chair didn't break under the impact of this wall collapsing."

"Beka, Dylan," Harper gasped, recognising the voices but still his eyes hurt too much to open them.

"Seamus," Beka's voice was closer now as she put a hand on his back. "Can you move? Can you feel your limbs?"

"Yeah," Harper confirmed, and flexed his hands to show her before moving gingerly and ignoring the short sharp pains of cuts and bruises that now covered him.

"You've looked better," Beka offered, as she helped Harper to a sitting position. "Can you open your eyes?"

"Hurts," Harper grimaced, but tried again. "Too bright," he stressed and then froze. "Not again, I don't want to be blind again," he panicked.

"It's ok, it's bright out here, it's probably just temporary, and there's no gas leaks," she smiled, remembering the first time on board the Maru when he had suffered blindness. "Relax, we need to get you cleaned up, you probably have some dust in there too."

Harper could feel the dust covering him, he felt hot and sore as Beka helped him to his feet. Double checking all his limbs were intact before they attempted to move, Beka took some of Harper's weight and they gingerly stepped over the rubble and out into the street.

The crowd instantly began shouting, and they all knew they were no longer welcome on Seefra, but then Harper stopped as he remembered Doyle and panicked.

"Doyle?" Harper asked.

"We found her first, she's shut down but we found her," Beka quickly assured him, knowing Harper was keeping his eyes shut and wouldn't have seen her.

"We'll take her back with us, maybe when you're feeling more up to it you can help her?" Dylan offered, as Rhade picked up the android body and they began to walk away towards the Maru.

"Harper!" Trance's voice suddenly sounded. "You're hurt," she noted.

"A building collapsing on top of him would probably have caused that," Rhade remarked, as he moved past with Doyle.

"I'm fine, just a few scrapes," Harper offered, trying to ignore the sharp pains he felt.

"Where's my family!" Lucas was now heard and Harper panicked, as his fears caught up with him.

"Kalika, we have to find her," Harper stressed, and tried to push away from Beka.

"Not until you've been cleaned up and had some rest," Beka argued, reaffirming her hold on Harper.

"No time," Harper stressed and then paused, as Beka got a firm grip on him again for his own safety. "Doyle said something," he concentrated but his memories gave him no more. "She said something, reassuring, like she knew they were ok," he was confused now and angered by his own forgetfulness.

"What did she say?" Lucas demanded and grabbed hold of Harper, surprising Beka as Harper was taken from her hold. "Tell me!" he demanded, dragging Harper with him.

"I don't remember!" Harper stressed unsure. "Have to reactivate Doyle, she knows," he stammered.

"You can't even open your eyes, how are you going to fix that thing?" Lucas dismissed and pushed Harper away, and Beka quickly ensured Harper did fall as she took hold of him again.

"She's not a thing," Harper stressed under his breath, as he tried to regain his balance in Beka's hold. "She knows where they are," he insisted, knowing Beka was listening.

"If she did, she didn't let on to us that she knew," Beka returned calmly.

"And she was helping me find them, I don't think she knows, Mr Harper," Dylan supported.

"When she was helping you, did you find them?" Harper questioned.

Dylan hesitated. "You know we didn't."

"Doyle is not Rommie," Harper simply stated, and then heard the silence around him. "She doesn't have the good protocol as standard, she's not Commonwealth, she has her own mind, own objectives I built her that way so she wouldn't get blown up following orders that she couldn't question," Harper stated, and felt Beka pull him in closer to her.

"Rommie did not die needlessly, Harper," Beka spoke softly, with reassurance. "She died doing something she believed in."

"Something she was programmed to believe in," Harper returned coldly. "Doyle's not like that, Doyle has the ability to do her own thing, because I didn't want that responsibility."

"Is that why she has the ability to hate you, to seek revenge?" Dylan asked.

"She has the right," Harper simply answered.

"So are you saying that Doyle has deceived us, and that was your will?" Dylan now questioned.

"She has her own mind, and that's her own will," Harper answered, his eyes still closed hiding any emotions he was expressing.

"My sister, my wife and my kids are still missing and discussing the ins and outs of this lunatics mind is not helping," Lucas sneered.

"Trance, assist Harper and return to the Maru with Lucas, Beka with me, lets go and retrieve the two goons, they should be awake by now, and we need answers, Rhade take Doyle back and then come and join us in case the crowd get hungry," Dylan ordered and with reluctance, Beka handed Harper over to the care of Trance before following Dylan back towards the bar, knowing they had to be quick before they completely outstayed their welcome.

"Harper, are you ok?" Trance's voice could just be heard above the sound of the water, coming from outside Harper's little private haven.

"Mmmm," Harper returned, as the soothing water washed over him in the shower cubicle on board the Maru. The dust and dirt from his ordeal disappeared down the drain, and Harper finally began to feel a little more human. He hit the water supply switch and instantly it stopped before he then reached out to grab a towel and left the cubicle. Finding a larger towel he wrapped that around his shoulders and proceeded to the quarters where Trance was waiting for him.

"I was getting worried," Trance spoke up.

"I had a lot to wash off," Harper mumbled, his eyes still squinting even in the low light.

"Let me look at your eyes," Trance offered and gestured to Harper to sit down on the bunk. "Look up for me," Trance ordered and Harper felt the stinging sensation of some eye drops being administered and he quickly closed his eyes again. "Blink some more, then try and open them." Harper complied and still found he was squinting. Trance took a closer look but could see no dirt or obstructions. "Give it a few minutes for the drops to work," she suggested.

Harper grimaced as Trance began to clean a wound on the side of his head, blood already staining his hair even after the shower. Trance didn't speak as she quietly closed the wound and moved onto other areas around Harper's head, before moving behind him to check his neck and shoulders.

"You're quiet," Harper observed to break the silence.

"You have a lot of cuts," Trance simply returned, and Harper could feel her working on his back and tried not to flinch. "What is this, Harper?" Trance's voice was suddenly alert and concerned.

Harper could feel Trance's hands on his arm now. "What?" he asked and through narrowed eyes he turned to see her bring his arm up to her face to look more closely at the rash of the illness that had flared up again.

"This rash, it's spreading, what is this?" Trance questioned.

"What do you mean?" Harper checked unsure. "You know what is it," he stated and blinked his eyes some more, as his sight began to adjust to the light.

Trance in that instant looked directly at him, and Harper took a short intake of breath. "You're not Trance, who the hell are you?" he questioned with fear backing away, just before he was struck and knocked unconscious.

TBC