As Harper waded out into the waves, he began to see the data streams. He made repairs as he went, fighting the waves as they crashed into his body, nearly knocking him down. He soon realized that the data streams that were associated with Eternity's main systems were in deeper waters. He tried to convince himself that this wasn't real. "Come on Harper." he said to himself. "You don't need to breathe in here, and that's not really water."
After he finished his little pep talk to himself, he took another step. The ocean waves were now totally over his head. He no longer had to fight to remain standing. They now floated peacefully above him, making their way toward the virtual shore.
This was a different experience for Harper. The only time before he had ever been beneath ocean waves was whenever he wiped out while surfing, and that was only on rare occasions. He had seen others go diving before, but they had the proper gear which included what Harper thought looked a lot like an EV suit. Harper always thought it was too much like space walking for his taste. But now, here he was, walking on the oceans floor. He was a little surprised to discover that he actually enjoyed it.
Once again spotting new data streams that needed repaired Harper went back to work. Many of her system were perfectly fine. The task was mainly discovering which were faulty and in need of repair, and which ones just needed a little tweaking.
"Wow!" Harper proclaimed, discovering a new system that needed repaired. "This is amazing!" Harper began work on the newly found system, as Eternity informed him how it functioned.
Rommie and Trance continued sitting by Harper's motionless body. Suddenly the main lights came on throughout the ship.
"That's better." Trance said with a smile.
"I wonder if that was Harper's doing or Lena's." Rommie said.
"It doesn't matter to me." Trance said. "I'm just glad they're on. It's less spooky now."
"Come on Trance. You can't tell me you're actually afraid of the dark."
"Afraid of the dark? No. Afraid of what might be hiding in the dark? Yes. Besides Rommie, it's prettier in here now with the normal lights on instead of those dim red ones. I wonder why they use red lights for emergency lights. Purple would be much prettier."
"I'll talk to Dylan about having them changed on Andromeda." Rommie joked.
"Would you?"
"I was joking Trance. Sorry, but I think red emergency lights are Commonwealth standard."
"That's OK Rommie. I hope Harper won't be much longer."
"Eternity?" Rommie asked. "How is Harper doing?"
Suddenly a full sized humanoid figure of Eternity appeared in front of Trance and Rommie.
"Harper is doing very well." She said. "At this rate he should be finishing up with my main systems any minute now."
Her hologram was high quality. You couldn't even see through it. She looked almost… solid?
Rommie stepped closer to Eternity's hologram. She then reached out her hand forward. Rommie was surprised when she felt her hand come in contact with Eternity's shoulder.
"You're solid?" Rommie asked, feeling a bit embarrassed of her actions. She hated it when people passed their hands through her holographic image, or worse, walked through it.
"Yes." Eternity replied.
"I'm sorry." Rommie said. "It's just that, my holographic form is, well, a hologram."
"I understand the confusion. I guess to be accurate, this form shouldn't technically be called a hologram. The generators that create this body for me, actually convert energy from my ship self into matter."
Rommie made a mental note to Have Harper update Andromeda's Holographic generators.
Rommie and Trance were still talking to Eternity, when Harper jacked out of Eternity's matrix.
"My two favorite ladies keep busy while I was gone?" Harper asked.
"We've been talking with Eternity Harper." Trance said. "Were you able to fix everything?"
"Piece of cake." Harper said, but Trance looked confused by his answer.
"It's an old Earth expression. It means that it was easy."
"Oh." Trance said, understanding. "Like easy as pie. But I kind of find Cakes easier to make than pies, so I like the cake saying better."
"Me too Trance." Harper said.
Dylan and Becka entered the Engineering room.
"What's this I hear about you Confining two crewmen to quarters Harper?" Dylan asked.
"Listen Boss," Harper said, prepared to defend his actions. "They had it coming. They had no right talking about Trance the way they did, and well, if you let them out, I refuse to remain on Andromeda with them. Trance and I will leave." Harper looked over at Trance, and he was happy to see her nod in agreement.
"Dylan." Trance said. "I don't know exactly what they said, but it was bad enough to cause Harper to almost kill them. I really wouldn't want him to do something like that, so if you decide to let them out, I'm afraid that we will have to leave."
"You misunderstand." Dylan said. "I'm proud of Harper. He's finally beginning to act like a real High Guard officer."
"I see no need for insults." Harper said. "But, thanks anyway."
So," Trance said. "You're not letting Cain and Morak out?"
"No Trance." Dylan said. "Andromeda informed me of the entire situation, and I've already sent a message to their former commanders asking for detailed background information on both of them. I also wanted to know how two men with their attitudes were allowed to remain in the High Guard."
"Perhaps this is the first time they were caught." Rommie said. "They had no idea that Harper was able to hear them. Perhaps they've never behaved this way openly."
"I find it hard to believe that they would be able to hide something like that." Dylan said.
"I'm sorry Eternity." Dylan said, noticing Eternity's holographic image for the first time. "It's a pleasure to meet you." Eternity reached out her hand to shake Dylan's. He hesitated at first, thinking she was a normal hologram, but as he looked at her, he realized there was something different. He offered his hand, and their hands touched. He almost couldn't believe it.
"Your not a hologram?" Dylan asked.
"Technically, no." Eternity said. "I've explained it in detail to your engineer, but basically this form is generated by transforming energy into matter."
"That's remarkable." replied Dylan.
"I'm thinking about calling it a soligram." Harper said. "You know, a solid hologram."
A panel on the wall behind Trance began to beep. "BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!"
"All systems are now operational." Announced Eternity's voice, from the panel. "Running routine scan of all personnel."
"What's happening?" Becka asked. She was remembering all of their previous encounters with AI's. She was ready to run or fight. Whatever it took to keep herself and her friends alive.
"It's normal procedure." Eternity's soligram told her. "Anytime that I'm offline for any amount of time, I'm programmed to run a sweep of the entire ship."
"What do you look for?" Harper asked, but before she could answer, her ship self interrupted.
"Presence detected matching search parameters." Eternity said. "Confirm Captains presence."
Dylan was a bit startled. He thought that it would be best for him to announce himself again. "Eternity, I am Captain Dylan Hunt of the Commonwealth ship Andromeda Ascendant."
"Negative match." Eternity's voice said.
"Eternity?" Becka questioned the hologram. "What's going on?"
"Negative voice match." Eternity said, once again interrupting her hologram.
"Don't you get it Boss?" Harper said. "She's looking for her captain. The one that she was supposed to have been given three thousand years ago. I hate to break it to her, but I don't think she's gonna find him."
"Positive voice match. Please insert your left hand on the panel to your right."
Everyone looked at Harper. Harper looked shocked.
"What?" Harper asked them.
"I believe she's talking to you Harper." Becka said.
"Oh no!" Harper protested. "I'm not captain material. I'm an engineer. I wouldn't even know how to start being a captain."
"It's easy." Becka said. "Just do what Dylan does. Walk around like ya know everything and hit on anything female."
Dylan glared at his First Officer.
"Oops." Becka said. "Did I say that out loud?"
"Harper." Eternity said. "You don't have to be my captain, if you don't want to, but please do this for me, so that I will at least know."
"Trance?" Harper asked
Trance neared Harper. She placed her hand gently on Harper's cheek. He knew that she was a star, but whenever she touched him he always felt a cool refreshing sensation.
"Harper. Doing this will give Eternity some peace of mind. If you are her Captain, she needs to know, whether you decide to accept the position or not."
"Thanks babe." Harper said. "So, what do I do Eternity?"
"Place your hand on this panel." Eternity instructed. Harper did so.
"Now I will scan your genetic structure to verify that it matches the genetic key of my captain."
"How can it?" Harper asked. "I mean, that was three thousand years ago. What are the chances that I'm a match?"
"BEEP! BEEP!"
"Identity Verified!"
"You are my Captain, Harper. But only if you accept."
"I… I need some time to think about this, OK?"
"I understand Capt… I mean Harper." Eternity said.
Harper and Trance left Eternity, and headed back to his quarters.
In his room Harper sit down on his bed, and tried to decide what he should do. On Andromeda, he was the engineer of the most powerful starship in the galaxy, But on the Eternity, he could be captain. She was a remarkable ship and powerful for her little size. But how could he leave his friends? These people were more than friends to him. They had become his family. Sometimes it seemed like a dysfunctional family, but a family none the less.
Thinking of family caused Harper's brain to flashback to his life on Earth. He remembered when his father first showed him how to repair a food warmer. It was nothing fancy, but it did the job. His father realized Harper had a gift when it came to fixing electronics and machines, and encouraged him as much as possible. Harper missed those times that he spent with his dad. He was the one person that truly understood him. They shared a special bond that no man could take away. No man,…but an Uber. There was a time when Harper couldn't think of his mother or father without feeling deep sorrow, but now, now he felt anger. "Those Ubers had no right." Harper thought to himself. "They don't even belong on Earth." That's when it hit him. He knew what he would do.
"Trance." Harper said.
"Yes Harper." Trance had been sitting at Harper's side this whole time. She knew he would need someone to talk to.
"I know what I'm going to do, but I need to ask you something."
"What is it Harper?"
"Will you go with me?"
"I'll go anywhere with you Harper." Trance said. "Where are we going?"
"We're going to Earth Trance." Harper said. "You, me, and Eternity, and we're not leaving till Earth's free…or at least a large part of it."
"We're going to Earth Trance." Harper said. "You, me, and Eternity, and we're not leaving till Earth's free…or at least a large part of it."
"We need to tell the others." Trance said.
"You'll actually go with me Trance?" Harper asked. "You'd leave Andromeda?"
"You can't think that I would let you go without me. I love you Harper, in case you forgot. I'll miss Andromeda and our friends, as I know you will too. I know how much Andromeda and Rommie mean to you."
"That's going to be the hardest part for me Trance." Harper said. "Saying goodbye to Andromeda, Rommie and Becka."
"I know Harper." Trance said. "You still don't have to do this."
"Yes I do Trance. You see, I've been thinking. That ship, Eternity, she was created by someone a long time ago. Somehow they knew that we would find her, and they placed a command key that could only be matched by my DNA. I'm supposed to do this Trance. I don't know if we will succeed, but I'm sort of counting on that whoever set this all up wouldn't have went to all the trouble only to have us fail."
"OK Harper. Lets go tell them."