Brat: Me? Evil? No, you must be mistaken. *evil grin* I like the chant too, I have a certain melody running through my head everytime I write about it. Hmm, I wonder what your favorite chapter is...I've actually forgotten, but when I get there, feel free to babble. I liked that line too because the only time Harper doesn't talk is when he's really upset...so I think I did pretty well on that line.
StarTraveler: Well, I had to stop for a wee bit...to build up the suspense...really worked didn't it? :-P
ohtheclevernessofme: Still loving your long reviews! Really gives me the insight that I want so desperately. Maroon 5..Awesome! Ok, The Trance reading emotions as colors was completely my idea...if she does do this, then it's never been addressed, so until it is, it was my idea first! :-) Finally people are enjoying my descriptive writing...I knew it would come into it's own at some point! OK, The whole Ska-rae story just came to me as I typed...had to figure out a reason why Trance's people would find her feelings and itty bitty bit of relation ship with her original Harper wrong, so this just happened to come out. Azealia...well, I'll stay mum on that. ;-) You know, I never thought I was one for rememberable lines until my readers starting picking out a bunch of favorites...and that made my day! The way I saw it, the Elders don't care whether Harper knows about things or not. Oh and feel free to cry...that's the reason I have those parts in there...to make ya shed a lone Frodo tear! *I've been watching LOTR to much* Bomb? Umm, that will have to be a negatory. But I hope you enjoy this bomb-less part! :-D
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Chapter Twelve:
Well, I hope that since we're here anyway
That we could end up saying
Things we've always needed to say
So we can end up staying~~Nickelback: Someday
I place the visor back on and await the next memory. To my relief, as the screen shimmers I know exactly what memory this is. It is of my arrival back on the Andromeda. I watch myself say my final good-byes to my Beka before the wave of blue engulfs me. Then I see myself meeting my younger self, the switch and my first incounter with the old Beka.
I see myself leading Beka toward a corridor in the Andromeda when suddenly Harper appears. Once again I can see, my excitement at seeing him alive and his fear of my new look. I watch as he doubles over in pain and I see the realization in my eyes that Harper is running out of time. The screen starts to shimmer as I once again lead the way.
The memory ends and for once I'm relieved that nothing traumatic occurred in this memory. I remove my visor as the head Elder says, "Ms. Gemini, this memory definitely looks incriminating, can you defend it?"
I look at her and say, "In my original timeline, everything went wrong. From the moment I allowed Harper to die, everything went so terribly wrong. I was unable to save that timeline from destruction, so I decided to stop these events from ever occuring. This being the reason I used the tesseracting machine and saved Harper. If not for my coming back and saving Harper the timeline where I came from, the one where all hopes of creating a perfect possible future had vanished, would happen once more."
Seeing no change of expression in the faces of the Elder, I can no longer hold back my anger, and I scream, "The timeline where the Magog World Ship and the Spirit of the Abyss won! A timeline where the Andromeda was destroyed before the time came for its final showdown with the World Ship! A timeline where, because there Andromeda was no more, Willocia was no more!"
I am breathing hard now, ears ringing from my rant. I look up to see only anger in the head Elders expression, "Trance Gemini, control yourself immeadiately! Your actions here, may have been reasonable, but only this one time. Another time of your extensive tampering will be incredibly damning to your case."
Suddenly I feel a hand on my arm. I look down to see that it is Harper. He's looking at me, mouthing me to breath. I take a deep breath and look back at the Elders. The head Elder shuffles some papers and says, "Tribunal is dismissed for today and will begin at the same time tomorrow morning." I nod and Harper and I walk back to our room.
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We enter our room in silence. Harper gets something to eat as I go to the balcony to watch the sun set. As the sun sets I start to wander about the past couple of days. Did this Harper ever love me? If we hadn't been brought here, would the natural course of things taken place and Harper confess? Most important of all, would she and Harper ever been truly happy like they were in that single moment their lips touched in her timeline.
"Trance." My thoughts broken, I turn to see Harper is now lying on his bed, staring at me. "Trance, come here," he says, gently patting an empty portion of bed next to him. I hesitate at first, afraid of what he may want. Then in a softer tone of voice he asks once more, "Trance, come here." I nod and walk over to him.
I sit next to him and once again there is silence between us. Then breaking the silence Harper asks, "Trance, tell me about the future you came from and I mean everything. Don't leave anything out because you don't think I can take it, I mean I've already watched my own death. I have to know why my death caused everything to go so wrong."
I don't say anything at first, not knowing if I should really tell him anything. Then he looks at me with pleading eyes and says, "Please, Trance, for me." I nod and begin.
"Harper in my future, as I said before, the day you died had been the same day we confessed our love. Well, when I discovered that your medicine stopped and that when the tesseract machine was built, Hhone would die, I couldn't let that happen. I thought that it was through the Persieds, Hhone, especially, that the perfect possible future would happen. So I had you destroy the only thing that would save your life. I seriously thought that I could save you, that there would be that miracle cure, but I was wrong.
You died and Hhone survived. I still thought that maybe I'd made the right choice. Your death really killed me. I was no longer the bubblely purple pixie you loved, that part of me had died the moment I pulled the trigger. Well, we buried you near the ocean on Infinity Atoll, Rev did the service, it was beautiful. Then, news came of Hhone's suicide and I realized that I had been so blind, that it wasn't through the Persieds, it was through you and the crew of the Andromeda that the pefect possible future was to happen.
Harper, you may not realize it now, but you were the glue holding the Andromeda together. After you died, we all lost a chunk of ourselves, even Tyr. I slowly started to change into what I am today. Dylan couldn't stand loosing another part of his crew, Rommie refused to think of herself as nothing more than a machine who'd failed her creator, but the worst two were Beka and Tyr. We lost Tyr on a mission shortly after your death. That was definitely the final straw for Beka. She felt as though everyone had abandoned her, first Rev, then you, next me by my change, and finally Tyr. Then the Tunnelers came. Beka and I were the only survivors. We fled on the Maru and watched the Andromeda self destruct to close the tunnel.
After that, Beka became reckless. You saw her in my memory as a near cyborg, well, that was the outcome of her many reckless missions. She felt responsible for the downfall of the Commonwealth all because of not being able to set off that bomb in time. That's when I realized I could fix things, but it would require coming back and starting from my first mistake.....so I did." I continue on with everything else I could think of telling him until finally, I came to the end.
I took a deep breath. I had been talking for hours now and it was now dark outside. Harper had been silent the entire time, taking in all the information I was giving him. This had been the most honest I have ever been to him and it felt good. Harper looks at me and says, "Wow, Trance. What you went through was way more than you ever deserved to. No wonder you didn't want to tell me," he stops for a second and says, "Umm, Trance, I want to apologize for pulling away eariler. I had no right to, I mean you were even more affected by my other self's death than I was, having seen it in the flesh. I'm sorry."
I stay silent, trying to read his emotions, but my train of thought is broken when Harper releases a huge yawn. I look outside and say, "It's late, we should be getting to bed." Harper nods, trying to control another yawn as he gets out of bed. I get up as well and head toward my bathroon. I come out a few minutes later wearing another tank top and shorts, this one gold.
I start pulling my bed down when I hear Harper pat the vacant spot on his bed again. I look up with a quizzical look and when I realize he is motioning me to his bed, I shake my head. He only pats again and says, "Trance, after what you told me and what I've seen today, I doubt I'll be able to sleep....without assistance I mean." I realize what he's suggesting but yet, I still hesitate. He throws back the covers and says, "Please, I'd really love to hear that chant again." I nod and slowly climb in beside him.
He smiles and says, "Goodnight Trance." He closes his eyes, pulling the covers closer to his chin. I start to hum and within minutes I can tell that his breathing has slowed. He's fallen asleep. I smile, seeing how peaceful he looks. I lean in and give him a gentle kiss on the cheek, which is retuned with him turning over to face the other way. I roll over as well, our backs now facing. I pull the covers up and slowly drift off to sleep.
TBC
Well, there's that part! Now, tell me what you think and I shall ponder on the idea of speedy updating...I mean my week is packed, but I'm sure I can fit in another update...that is of course if I've been motivated enough. ;-) So press that little purple button and give me your thought, gripes, praise..the works! :-)
