"I was going to tell you eventually Harper." Rick said. "It's just that, I'm a bit embarrassed. Not of being an android. I'm embarrassed because, I was being careless with a very dangerous and highly explosive new weapon. I dropped it, and that should have been the end of me, but Gloria was nearby and saved me. She took what was left of me to our medical room, and attached me to an innumerable amount of life support devices. I remained that way while she built me this body. I can never thank her enough for saving my life."
"I've never seen a successful cybernetic implant of this magnitude before." Harper said. "Gloria, you are a genius."
"Thank you Harper." Gloria said. "I just did what I had to do. Rick is my friend, and I need him."
"I thought you two were a couple." Trance said.
"No, we're just friends Trance." Rick said.
"That's what I kept saying about me and Trance." Harper said. "You may just be friends for now Rick, but someday that may change."
"Perhaps." Rick said, as he smiled at Gloria, and she smiled back. "But for now I really do cherish our friendship."
After dinner, they told Rick and Gloria what weapons they needed.
"That's a big list. A person could start a small war with that much weaponry." Rick said.
"That's exactly what we plan to do Rick." Harper said.
"Harper." Rommie whispered. "I don't think it would be a good idea to give too much information about our plans."
"You're going to Earth aren't you?" Rick asked.
"How did you know?" Harper questioned.
"That's all you ever used to talk about on the Maru." Rick said. "You said that if you ever got a ship of your own, with enough power and weapons, that you would go back to Earth and kill every Uber on the planet."
"Ok." Harper admitted. "We're going to Earth, but you gotta promise you won't say a word to anyone."
"You don't have to worry about that Harper." Rick said. "Because, if you have the room, Gloria and I are coming with you."
"I appreciate the offer Rick." Harper said. "But you don't have to do this."
"I know, but I want to. I may not have been born on Earth Harper, but my parents were, and against all odds, they managed to leave and settle here.
Harper this planet wasn't always as dead and desolate as it is now. When my folks came here, it was practically a paradise populated by millions of people. Then the Ubers came looking for them.
They said that they'd destroy every last living thing on the planet, if my parents didn't give themselves up. I was just a kid at the time. My parents told me to stay down here with Gloria, as they headed back above ground. I knew I'd never see them again.
I don't know if my parents didn't meet the Uber's deadline or if they just went ahead and destroyed the planet for the fun of it. As far as I know, Gloria and I were the only ones on the entire planet that survived."
"I had no idea Rick." Harper said.
"It's OK Harper. It was a long time ago, but if you'll give me a chance I'd like very much to see those creeps pay for what they did. As for your list, I think I have everything you need, and perhaps a little more. Follow me."
They followed Rick down a long brightly lit corridor. At the end was a large door. Rick tapped a few keys on a security lock and the door slid open.
Inside was breathtaking. The room was the size of a large aircraft hangar, and it was filled with weapons of every kind. But the thing that grabbed Harper's attention was standing in the middle of the floor.
"You have a Planetary Warfare Bot?" Harper asked.
"Yes." Rick replied.
"Where did you find it?" Trance asked. "It looks just like Andromeda's."
"It came with the ship." Rick Styvers said as he waved his hands around indicating the room they were in.
"This is a ship?" Rommie asked.
"No. This is just part of the ship." Rick explained. "This is the cargo hold of the Gates of Glory, and Gloria here is her Avatar."
"Glory?" Rommie asked. "But you look so different. What happened?"
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier Rommie," Gloria said, "I wasn't exactly sure that you were really you. The last time we met, you didn't have an Avatar. I had to be sure that you were who you said you were."
"You've apparently went through some changes as well." Rommie said. "You look nothing like I remember."
"It's a long story Rommie." Gloria said.
"When we were betrayed by the Nietzchiens, I was hit pretty bad. My captain commanded everyone to abandon ship. He stayed and managed to make one slip jump before the slip stream drive went offline.
I detected a planet with a breathable atmosphere on short range scanners and set a course for it. We were nearly there. I started transmitting a distress signal to the planet in hopes that someone would come and help us.
I wasn't concerned for myself, but my captain was in need of medical attention. He was badly injured during the battle and was losing a lot of blood. I tried to convince him to get a med kit and take one of the slip fighters down to the planet, but he wouldn't leave me.
As we neared the planet, we lost all maneuvering capabilities. I couldn't stop, and I was headed directly for the planet's surface. I begged him to leave. I told him it was senseless for him to stay, but he refused to leave me.
As we entered the planet's atmosphere, he took my hand in his. I looked into his eyes and I realized why he couldn't leave me. He was in love with me, and at that moment, I realized that I felt the same way. We kissed, then everything went black."
"When the Glory impacted with the planet she made a huge crater." Rick said. "She was almost entirely buried. With years of rain and mudslides, she was eventually completely underground. Nearly three hundred years after she crashed, my parents discovered her while trying to dig a well."
"The next thing I remembered," Gloria said. "was Rick's father reactivating me, only it wasn't me. My programming seemed to be intact, but my Avatar body was too badly damaged in the crash. Rick's parents, being very talented cybernetic engineers, created this new body for me."
"Upon discovering The Gates of Glory, my father decided that they would live on the ship, and have a small shack above ground as cover. Dad spent every free moment he had repairing her systems. After they were killed, I continued the repairs my father had started."
"Can she fly?" Rommie asked.
"Not yet." Rick said. "I've been able to get most of her systems back online, but I'm sorry to say, I'm not as good an engineer as dad was."
"Would you mind If I took a look?" Harper asked, excited at the prospect of reviving another High Guard ship.
"I'll show you to engineering, while Gloria helps the others with sorting out what weapons would be most helpful."
"How about we use them all?"
"You've never heard of the word overkill have you Harper?" Rick asked.
"Would you consider a bomb capable of wiping out thousands of Nietzchiens as overkill?" Harper asked, as they left the others and headed for engineering.
"No." Rick said. "I would call that a good start."
"No." Rick said. "I would call that a good start."
A wave of dizziness came over Harper, and he collapsed to the floor. The last thing he said, before passing out was, "Déjà vu."
Harper woke up in what looked very similar to Andromeda's Med Deck. Trance and Rommie were both sitting at his bedside, one on each side.
"Harper?" Trance asked. "How are you feeling?"
"I feel fine Trance, I had another Déjà vu incident. Trance what's wrong with me? I thought that since I became like you, that I wouldn't have to worry about getting sick anymore."
"You're not sick Harper." Trance said.
"Then what's happening to me?"
Trance and Rommie both saw the fear in Harper's eyes.
"Harper." Trance said. "I believe that your Avatar gift is becoming active."
"What kind of gift does this?" Harper asked. "Conversations repeating, dizzy spells, passing out. It sounds more like a curse to me."
"I'm sorry Harper." Trance said, as she placed her hand on his chest. "I realize that this can be somewhat disorienting, but this is just a phase. It will pass as you learn to control your new ability."
"What is my new ability Trance?"
"Time." Trance said, "Your gift is time."
"Trance. You're being a little vague. Could you explain please?" Harper asked.
"To be perfectly honest, I've never encountered anyone with this gift before. I have only heard about it. According to some of my people, the gift of time is thought to give the ability to travel through time, past and future. Others believe that it enables the bearer of this gift to travel only to the past. There other theories Harper, but we won't truly know until it has become fully active. What happened to you in the corridor, marked the end of the first phase. You shouldn't be bothered by any more random Déjà vu occurrences."
"Will I be OK to still go to Earth Trance?"
"With the first stage over, yes, I believe you will be fine. In fact, we need to go."
"Good." Harper said. "Because after I get Glory running, I want to continue our trip to Earth, and finish our mission."
"You don't understand Harper." Trance said. "When I said we need to go, I meant that we need to go now."
"Now? But what about Glory?"
"She'll be OK Harper." Rommie said.
"But she'd be a big help in defeating the Nietzchiens."
"I'm sorry Harper." Trance said. "But It's imperative that we not delay. We need to get to Earth as fast as possible."
Harper got up off of the medical bed.
"Is Rick and Gloria still coming with us?" Harper asked.
"Rick is." Rommie told him. "But Gloria decided to stay here and attempt to get Glory's engines online."
"What about the weapons?"
"They're already loaded Harper." Rommie informed him.
"Sounds like everyone's just waiting on me then." Harper said. "Well, let's not keep Rick and Eternity waiting."
They said goodbye to Gloria and wished her luck at getting Glory's engines operational.
Glory and Rick said farewell to each other.
Rick's feelings toward Gloria were mixed. As a child, after his parents died, she was like a mother to him. She took care of him, taught him, and even disciplined him when it was needful. As he grew older, he began to see her as an attractive woman, but still couldn't shake the feeling that she was family. He and Gloria were friends. There was no doubt about that. Harper seemed to think that Rick and Gloria would possibly some day become more than friends. Rick knew that wouldn't happen, for the fact that he saw Gloria as part of his family already, maybe not a mother, but possibly an older sister. A relationship, other than friendship with her, in his view, would just be wrong.
"Goodbye Gloria." Rick said, as they hugged each other.
"Goodbye Rick." Gloria said. "Take care of yourself, and your friends."
"I will."
As soon as everyone was back aboard Eternity, she took off, and headed once again toward Earth. Their trip seeming to everyone, more urgent now since Trance told them that they absolutely had to get to Earth as soon as possible. She wouldn't say any more, not even to Harper.
Trance sat in a room that had a large viewport. It reminded her of the Obs Deck back on Andromeda, but it was much smaller.
She stared out at the multitude of stars. It had been a long time since she experienced what it was like to exist as a star in the openness of space. She also knew that if she had never taken on the form of her Avatar, that she would have missed out on many wondrous things. At that moment, one of those things she would have missed entered the room.
"Hey Trance." Harper said. "Family?" He asked signifying the stars Trance had been staring at.
"No!" Trance laughed. "I do know some of them, but we're not family."
"Trance could I get you to look at something?"
"Are you coming on to me Harper?" Trance asked, teasing.
"No." Harper said. "Not unless you want me to. Actually, I have a medical problem."
"I'm sorry Harper." Trance said, totally serious and concerned for Harper. "What's wrong?"
"I…I can't get it up." Harper said, looking a bit embarrassed.
"Ahem. What?" Trance asked, as she began to blush.
"My tail. I can't get it up. It just seems to be dragging the floor. I think it's broke or something."
"Oh! Your tail!"
"Of course my tail. What did you think I was talking about?"
"Never mind."