Thanks to everyone who read and to Aileil and two guests for reviewing.
Under normal circumstances Harper would be the last person to complain about a patchwork system, but this was absurd. Beyond absurd. It was an insult to patchwork. He'd actually had to upgrade three parts of the Squeegees' network himself just to get them to connect in a manner that was in any way reasonable, and even now he didn't have access to nearly as many sensors as he'd have liked.
On the other hand, between Tyr's communicator and the sensors that he could access he was able to pinpoint his supplies, and while they weren't that far from his current location, he wasn't entirely confident about what 'not that far' meant in his current condition. And unfortunately that wasn't the only thing he'd been able to pinpoint.
He sent a couple of clicks through Tyr's communicator on the grounds that those would be far easier to wave off if Tyr was somewhere where it wasn't safe to speak.
"I'm here," Tyr said immediately. He sounded more annoyed than usual, which under the circumstances was totally understandable, but Harper didn't figure that what was coming next was going to make him happier.
"I'm going to try to get to my stuff. It's...kind of close."
"Do not," Tyr ordered. "You've already stated that you aren't steady on your feet; tell me where you are, and I'll come to you. As it stands I'm perhaps twenty minutes from the location of your communicator. Less if I make some...modifications...to their mass transit system."
"Gee, that doesn't sound ominous. But I don't think I've got a choice. It looks like I'm in some kind of medical bay, or at least that's what they've got this place kitted out as, but if I'm right I'm also at the far end of a blind corridor and the wall off to my left is right up against the hull. Hell, it might even be a part of the hull to the point that anything larger than a standard sidearm will blow right through it. And you've got to figure if they've been rescuing Nietzschean slaves," assuming that they ever did any actual rescuing as opposed to unwanted, un-asked-for kidnappings, " they've got defenses in place in case anyone comes looking."
"You've never been averse to climbing. What are the levels above and below?"
"Inaccessible in my current state, and inaccessible without a torch which means the one above would probably be the same if I could get a look at it. You could probably blast your way through, but not without making a hell of a lot of noise. And, again, there's a hull awfully close." Under normal circumstances he'd trust Tyr's aim over just about anything, but this whole situation just reeked. And Tyr was smart enough to recognize that.
"Mm. How much information do you have about that blind corridor?"
"Not much. I've been looking, but as crappy as their sensor networks are they could have lined the whole damn thing with passive bombs and I'd never know about it. The Squeegees have been coming and going," or at least a couple of them had been, "so I don't think we're talking tripwires, but if it comes to a fight..." He shook his head. "I'll manage. The gas has been wearing off, it's just happening a lot slower than I'd like."
"Fine," Tyr said after a moment. "Get as close to your things as you are able, and I'll meet you there. What does your route look like?"
Tyr wouldn't have asked if he wasn't in a position where it was safe for Harper to tell him, and while after this experience Harper had a few very specific updates that he planned to make to their communicators, he managed to project a rough diagram of the path between where he was and where he needed to be through the communicator's existing systems. He really didn't want Tyr coming down the corridor outside the med bay if he could avoid it—it wasn't easy given the origin of the Nietzschean species, and thus far he hadn't seen any Squeegee technology that indicated that they had the creativity never mind the capability, but it was possible to design a sensor that could tell the difference between a human and a Nietzschean and react accordingly—but as long as he could make it to the next level their options got better.
"I see it," Tyr said. "This thing is approaching a stop and I'll be unable to talk further if anyone else boards, but if you get to your things before I do, you stay there, is that clear?"
"Trust me, I'm not planning on doing any sightseeing anytime soon."
"Good. Be careful."
"You too." It was kind of a redundant thing to say when talking to a Nietzschean, but whatever, and he braced himself and disconnected from the system. The Squeegees were bound to come back at some point, and even without their interference this was going to be a slow trip.
Once he was disconnected, he took a moment to orient himself. The door was on the opposite side of the room, which was looking awfully far away at the moment, but once he got there he only had to go down the corridor, drop one level, move over another corridor, and around a corner. It was simple really.
Small miracles it seemed like more of the gas really had worn off while he was in the system, at least, and he was able to get to his feet this time, but 'more' wasn't 'all' and his first shaky step would have sent him right back to the floor if he hadn't managed to redirect his fall towards the wall instead. "Fine. The hard way, then."
It was faster to crawl to the door so that was what he did, and then he pulled himself back to his feet. It was locked, but the lock was the sort wouldn't have kept twelve year old version of himself out, and after a glance through the viewing panel he let himself into the corridor.
Despite what he'd said about tripwires or his expected lack thereof he didn't dare crawl here, but with the assistance of the wall he was able to make his way along. As noted it wasn't fast, and according to his rough time estimate Tyr was probably approaching his things at the same time he was approaching the ladder. The climbing of which was going to suck, but when the other options were roaming at random until he found another way down, he'd live with it.
He looked down through the access way. He'd live, but there was a nonzero probability that he'd fall, land on his head, and be sorry about it for a while. Stupid Squeegees.
With a deep breath he reached out slowly and caught one rung of the ladder and then thought better of it and shifted to wrap both arms around one side in a bear hug before stepping very cautiously onto a rung. His leg shook but amazingly enough held, and he transferred his other leg over.
So, standing on ladder, victory. Next step, stepping down on ladder.
Stupid Squeegees still applied.
He lowered himself very cautiously down one rung, and then another, and then a third, and by the seventh or eighth he was starting to think that he was getting the hang of this whole thing when one foot slipped and he found himself dangling.
Tyr grabbed the little professor before he could fall any further and ignored his yelp as he lifted him down off the ladder and onto the deck. "Be quiet, Harper." There was no way that Tyr's passage across the station hadn't been noticed, but at the same time he'd prefer not to bring guns down on them if he could avoid it.
"Tyr!" Harper hissed cheerfully, starting to turn as soon as Tyr released him, but Tyr was forced to grab him again almost immediately as his legs seemed to tangle and he nearly fell on his face.
"If this is an improvement over your previous drugged state, I—" Tyr broke off immediately when Harper lifted his head again, his jaw tightening. "Who struck you?"
"Huh?" Harper hesitated a little. "Um, Tyr..."
Tyr realized his mistake an instant later and forced his blades back down, reaching out with his free hand to touch just underneath the ugly bruising on Harper's cheek. He'd been under the impression that a gas had been used to render Harper unconscious, but that looked as if he'd taken a blow from a piece of piping. And while Tyr made no great claims to patience, he wasn't in the habit of abusing his engineer and had no intention of tolerating those who would. "Who struck you, professor?"
"Oh. No one. Really, I tried to get up off their stupid bunk and didn't realize how shaky my legs were...ended up craking my cheek on it on the way down."
It wasn't as if that was better, in Tyr's opinion, but before he could say so there was a shout and he dropped Harper and drew, spinning towards the sound in the same motion.
"Freeze!" a Squirgin demanded.
"Unlikely."
There were actually two Squirgin standing across the corridor with the potential of more on the way, and Tyr considered his options. He could blast through them, of course, he trusted his ability to take them both before either of them could shoot him, especially given the way the muzzle of the second's gun was waving. But there was every possibility that that would lead to a running fight across the station, and given Harper's instability—he'd gone to the deck when Tyr had let him go, and Tyr was almost certain that it hadn't been intentional—it would be to his advantage to avoid such a situation.
"What is wrong with you people?" Harper demanded from somewhere around Tyr's knee. "He wasn't bothering you, and I sure as hell wasn't bothering you, so why do you insist on bothering us?"
"We're rescuing you," the second Squirgin said, and Tyr realized that he couldn't be much more than a teenager. "We took an oath to rescue as many slaves being trafficked through this system as we can."
"See, the second half of that I can totally get behind," Harper said. "Rescue the slaves, shoot the Dragons—or Cobras, or whoever infest this star system—have a gold star. But since I'm not anyone's slave and haven't been for a damn long time, the first half of that is seriously starting to piss me off. I mean, go find someone who wants rescuing, already!"
Fingers tugged at Tyr's free hand, and Tyr lifted Harper to his feet again without taking his eyes off their would-be assailants. He'd actually have preferred that Harper had stayed down, he was far less of a target on the floor, but under the circumstances Harper was also far more likely than he was to be able to talk them out of this situation so he would adapt.
"I'm not a slave, he's not a slaver—and not Dragon or Cobra either, so hold off on the shooting part—and this whole thing has been one stupid misunderstanding," Harper continued. "One that could have been avoided if you'd started your whole rescue with 'Hey, do you want rescuing?' for the record. So can we all just go our separate ways and pretend like this never happened?"
The two Squirgin exchanged glances.
"I suggest that you take him up on that," Tyr said. "As he said, I'm not a slaver, but do not mistake the fact that I haven't yet shot you as any particular hesitation on my part to shoot you."
A third Squirgin hurried up behind the other two, focus entirely on Harper. "What are you doing? You shouldn't be out of bed!"
"Yeah, well, you shouldn't have kidnapped and drugged me and stuck me in that damn bed in the first place so it's just been a long day of bad choices, hasn't it? Tyr, if you have to shoot someone, can you shoot the doctor first?"
That would be a less-than-optimal tactical choice given that the purported doctor wasn't armed, but since the order wouldn't matter if all three of them wound up dead in the end, he suspected that Harper would forgive him the lie. "I suppose that I could accommodate that in some form. Well?" Tyr asked as the three Squirgin shifted.
Several long moments later, and the lead Squirgin finally lowered his weapon. "I didn't sign up to be a party to kidnapping."
"Finally, someone with some sense," Harper muttered. "It's only taken a solid day."
"But..." the younger Squirgin looked back and forth between them and then lowered his weapon as well. "But what if he's lying?"
"Then I'm choosing to lie and think you should get over yourself. Tyr?"
"Fine." Tyr holstered his gun as well, although he had no intention of taking his eyes off any of the Squirgin. "But if this little party is now over, may I assume that we won't be seeing any of you again?"
"Works for me," Harper said.
The younger Squirgin and the one that Harper had identified as a doctor still looked like there were plenty of objections that they wanted to make, but the other chivied them along, and eventually they turned a corner and slipped out of sight. Which was enough for Tyr to decide to get moving before anyone involved changed their mind, and he shifted his grip on Harper quickly.
"Hey, no!" Harper objected.
"What?"
"I can walk."
"What?" Tyr repeated. "Stop being ridiculous, you can barely stand." It wasn't as if he'd never carried Harper before, although the little professor had generally been much closer to unconscious in those scenarios.
"It's not that bad."
"Should I let go?"
Harper made a face but didn't take Tyr up on his offer. Probably because he was no fool. "Can't I just borrow your arm? I promise I'm getting better."
That meant very little except that Tyr was now even less pleased with the Squirgin who'd chosen something so virulent to dose him with. "Your attempts to move under your own power will needlessly slow our progress. The ship is docked nearly opposite this location, and it is in our best interests to reach it as quickly as possible."
"Yeah, but..." He trailed off with a shake of his head and then looked up again brightly a moment later. "But if I'm walking, it won't look like you're kidnapping me. Come on, do you really want to deal with another 'rescue' attempt? It's much better for both of us if I walk."
Tyr growled at him and the fact that that idea had obviously literally just occurred to him. Which didn't make him incorrect, unfortunately. "I will drop you if we are attacked and I'm forced to return fire."
"You'd do that anyway."
