The Transmission ended and Dylan turned to Rhade.
"What do you think?" Dylan asked.
"I think It's a good idea." Rhade said. "But rather than threaten to space him, I think it would work better to threaten to send him back to Earth. He made a fool of his superior. That much I know from what he told us after he docked. If they ever get their hands on him again, they will do far worse things than kill him."
"Agreed.." Dylan said. "Becka, you take over here on command and let us know if anything interesting occurs."
"Something interesting." Becka replied. "Got it. You two go ahead and play good cop, bad cop, and I'll let you know if anything "interesting" happens."
Becka was still upset that she didn't get to join the others on the planet. Sure, Dylan said that she would soon be delivering supplies such as food, weapons, and medical equipment,… but she hated waiting. She also hated not being able to be with her friends to protect them.
That's what she had always done, from the first time she met Harper and Trance. Becka tended to think of those two as her family, her little brother and sister. Of course, when she found out how old Trance really was, it became a little harder to continue thinking of her as a younger sibling. And now that Harper had become an Avatar, perhaps he didn't need her to protect him anymore. That thought saddened Becka.
Dylan and Rhade left Command, on their way to the brig. Dylan decided to stop by Medical to check on Stark.
They entered Medical and were greeted by Jeanie Trent, the same medical officer that relieved Harper, before his encounter with Golden Trance.
"Captain." Jeanie said as she quickly came to attention.
"At ease officer Trent." Dylan said. "I came by to see how the patient Stark was."
"Still no change captain." Jeanie replied. "I'll let you know the moment he wakes up."
"Very well." Dylan said. "Carry on."
Dylan was beginning to wonder if Stark would ever wake up. He was in hopes of getting some answers before the fight on Earth began, but it seemed that was not going to happen, unless their new prisoner in the brig had the answers he was looking for.
They reached the brig just in time to stop Cain and from killing Marcus. Cain had Marcus pinned to the floor, and his bone blades at his throat. Dylan and Rhade drew their force lances and Dylan ordered him to move away from Marcus. The Uber obeyed reluctantly.
Dylan looked at the unmoving body of Marcus. "Perhaps," Dylan thought, "We are already too late."
Andromeda appeared and informed them that he was merely unconscious.
"That's just great!" Dylan said. "Now I have two unconscious men, that possibly have vital information that may help us."
"Dylan." Andromeda said. "Marcus will not be unconscious long. Unlike Stark, Marcus appears to be uninjured except for the fact that he was knocked out."
"I'm sorry Andromeda. You're right. I was overreacting."
A medical team arrived, and took Marcus to Medical.
Back on board Eternity, Harper, Trance, and Rommie are on their way to the conference room, when they see Rick.
"I'm sorry, but I won't be attending the meeting." Rick told them as he walked on by.
The trio gave each other curious looks.
"What do you think that was about?" Harper asked.
"This time," Trance said. "I can truly say I don't know."
"I'll go talk to him." Rommie said. "Hopefully I can get him to change his mind and attend the meeting. I thought he would want to be present to discuss his father's rescue."
"We'll wait as long as possible Rommie." Harper said.
"Thanks."
Rommie left Trance and Harper and proceeded down the corridor in the direction that Rick had went. Harper and Trance continued to the conference room, wondering what could have upset Rick.
"Trance, was it just my imagination or were there tears in Rick's eyes?"
"It wasn't your imagination Harper." Trance said. "Something has definitely upset Rick."
Inside Rick's room, he set on the edge of his bed. Lies, his entire childhood was nothing but lies. They could've at least told him.
Eternity had watched the whole incident. She knew why Rick was upset, and she knew that he wasn't prejudiced against androids. She felt bad for him, but she couldn't figure out why he couldn't just deal with it. She was about to materialize in his room to have a talk with him, when she detected Rommie approaching his door. She decided to let Rommie handle this. It did appear to Eternity that Rommie had a better understanding of human emotions than she did.
Eternity appeared just outside Rick's room, in front of Rommie. She told Rommie about the conversation Rick had with Mrs. Styvers.
"I see." Rommie said. "And now Rick feels as though he had been lied to and betrayed."
"It seems that way." Eternity agreed. "I was about to talk to him, and try to help, but when I saw you approaching, I thought maybe you would be better qualified to help."
"Why is that?"
"I lack the understanding of human emotions that you have Rommie."
"I'm far from being an expert on human emotions Eternity."
"Yes, but you do seem to understand humans better than me., and they treat you like…"
"Like what Eternity?"
"They treat you like one of them." Eternity said. "Especially Harper. When he looks at you and talks to you, he doesn't treat you like a machine. there is kindness in his words as if he truly cares for you as a person."
"Are you jealous Eternity?" Rommie asked.
"No,… Yes,… Maybe." Eternity replied. "I don't know. I just wish that others would treat me more like they treat you. I want to be more than just a warship Rommie. Is that wrong. I want to have friends, not just a crew."
"That's not wrong Eternity." Rommie said, as she put her arm around Eternity. "We all need friends, and for the record, you can consider me one of yours."
"Thanks Rommie."
"I'm sure that if you were to talk to Harper and Trance about this that they'll tell you that they'd be glad to be your friends as well. They probably haven't noticed they way they've been acting around you. I'm sure they didn't mean to intentionally keep you an outsider."
"I'll talk to them about it at a more convenient time. For now, I think I'll go to the conference room while you talk to Rick."
"See you later Eternity."
"Talk to you later."
Rommie pressed the button that activated Rick's door chime.
"Who is it?" Rick asked.
"It's me, Rommie."
The door opened, and Rommie entered.
She looked at Rick and could see where he had been crying.
"I really didn't want anyone to see me like this." Rick said.
"Rick normally I'd tell you that there's no shame in crying."
"Normally?"
"Yes, but to tell you the truth, I think you're behaving like a big baby."
Rick was somewhat stunned.
"I wasn't expecting that." He said.
"Well, it's the truth." Rommie said. "I can understand someone crying when they find out that they've been infected by Magog, lost a loved one, or wake up to find that three hundred years have passed and everyone they know is dead.
But none of these things are the reason you were crying. You were crying because you found out that the people that raised you, fed you, protected you from harm, and supplied everything you needed to survive are androids…. Boo hoo."
Although Eternity's solid hologram was in the conference room, she was still connected to all of her internal sensors, including the surveillance audio and video feed currently picking up Rommie's discussion with Rick.
Rommie was definitely handling things in a manner different from that which Eternity would have chose. She only hoped that things would turn out for the best. Eternity.
Gloria raised from her seat and walked over to the view port, where Eternity was standing.
"How is Rick?" Gloria asked Eternity.
"Rommie is… talking with him."
"I tried to convince them to tell Rick while he was still young, before the Nietzcheans took them away from him."
"You knew?" Eternity asked.
"Yes. I helped them with the procedure. That's how I was able to save Rick, when he had his accident. It was a much easier operation to save Rick since his brain was undamaged. While his parents are one hundred percent androids, technically speaking Rick would be considered a cyborg, but Rick and I both prefer the term Cybernetically Enhanced."
"You and Rick prefer that term?" Eternity asked. "Explain."
"When Rick's father repaired me, a large portion of my memory core was missing. He was able to graft living tissue onto my memory core. That tissue grew, and in time became a part of me."
"Then that's how you were able to pilot the slipstream."
"Yes."