Chapter 5

Day Four

Dylan paced outside medical, he, Beka and Rev were waiting for Harper to awaken. Tyr didn't make himself shown for some reason that Dylan didn't know but had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with Harper's arm but Dylan was focusing on trying to find a way to keep Harper alive although he couldn't really do much more than hope.

Trance immerged from medical and Dylan turned to face her.

"How is he?" Beka asked getting there before Dylan.

"Not good," Trance admitted, "I managed to inject nanobots which are healing his arm and fighting the virus but he's lapsed into a coma, and I don't know why."

"Is there anything we can do?" Rev asked.

Trance shrugged.

"Pray."

000

There was no sound.

The world was gone.

He was cold, and wet standing on weak muscles.

Harper opened his eyes, they adjusted to the nothingness that was there, the darkness pressed on his eyes as his pupils strained to see something …anything.

"Hello?" he called.

It echoed over invisible walls.

He looked around trying seeing a wall or a door or any fragment of light that could tell him that he had his eyes open.

Suddenly blinding light went on and Harper covered his eyes to protect them as light flooded through his eyes making his mind hurt.

Slowly he removed his arms and looked around.

He was in a five-sided room, the corners were so dark that he was almost sure he could walk to them and go on forever; each wall had what looked like a window and a door that stood beside it.

Frowning he walked up to the closest one. The window keep showing snippets of what looked like a film, like they use to do for advertising show a really interesting piece of the film, one that didn't make much sense, then play it over and over again until you were so annoyed and confused that you just had to buy the ticket for the movie so you could understand that scene.

His heart caught in his throat and he felt like some one was squeezing the life out of it slowly.

He went and lifted his hand to touch the window; the picture was playing just beyond it a place where he couldn't reach; a place that he could never get to.

The snippet showed a small girl about the age of seven she was standing beside him when he was fifteen they were at a party, the only party that the Irish on earth ever had, every St. Pat's day they would save up whatever they could and then throw a party all night long praying that the Dragans wouldn't crash it.

It wasn't a film clip it was a memory; his memory.

There were footsteps behind him and he turned.

"Hello Seamus."

Harper frowned and looked at the memory in the window then back to the young girl he was looking at.

She was that same girl, the one that had been following him, the one from earth, the one who died.

"Who, What are you?" Harper asked breathless.

"I am Kao," she answered.

"No your not," Harper said, "Kao died, she's doesn't exist anymore."

"Because one dies doesn't mean one doesn't exist." Kao said.

"No," Harper said and he looked back at the window.

"But your right for one thing," Kao said.

"And what would that be?" Harper asked.

"I'm only a recreation of Kao," she answered.

"How is that possible?" Harper asked.

Kao just smiled at him and said.

"That doesn't matter right now; nothing does; who I am; where you are; what time you're in; doesn't matter. What only matters is this," Kao said lifting her arm to the window memory.

"What is it?" Harper asked.

"Who are you?" Kao responded.

Harper frowned.

"My question first," Harper said.

"If you can not answer your question you can not answer mine," Kao replied.

Harper frowned and looked at the window, he wasn't sure what she was talking about but he trusted her for some reason.

"What do you want me to do?" Harper asked.

"It's not what I want you to do it's what you want you to do," Kao spoke in a riddle again.

"Enough with the riddles," Harper said.

"Go through the door Seamus," Kao said flatly.

As though someone else was guiding him Harper took the doorknob turned and pulled it open.

000

Dylan walked on to the station after Harper had fallen into a coma Dylan insisted no matter whether Harper was awake or not; they had find the person who shot him and where the virus came from.

"Kalen says that she just entered the room and found Harper shot," Beka said coming up.

"She tells us that there is no security cameras in there," Tyr said disbelieving.

"And you think otherwise," Dylan prompted.

"I do," Tyr said, "If there was no cameras how did she know he was in there the first time."

"She walked in on him," Dylan dismissed.

"Twice in a row?" Tyr said placing that seed of doubt so expertly.

"Too strange for a coincidence," Beka agreed.

"Too the room?" Dylan suggested.

"I'll go to Harper's quarters, see if anything there shows anything," Beka said.

"Alright," Dylan replied. "Tell us if you find, well, anything."

Beka nodded and left and Dylan and Tyr went the other way.

000

Trance stood over Harper's bed scanning his life signs.

"Come on Harper you just have to wake up," she pleaded quietly.

Harper remained still and silent; his eyes closed and his breathing shallow.

000

Cheers and songs broke out as the Irish people celebrated St. Pat's day. There was dancing and singing and drinking, everything to deceive that life was horrible on Earth.

But Harper ignored all of these he walked among the celebrities searching for someone he knew he would find here.

There in the distance on the dance part of the ground he saw him.

Kao appeared beside him.

"Who are you looking for?" she asked.

"Me," Harper said.

She smiled.

"And did you find yourself?" she asked.

"Yes," Harper replied.

"I don't think you did," she said frowning slightly. "But you will."

Harper frowned and she disappeared.

He took a moment then he wove his way through the crowd. He headed towards the younger him. His younger self was heading for Kao, after all, March 17th wasn't just St. Pat's day; it was her birthday.

He came in hearing range of the two of them and he stopped to watch.

Seamus walked up to Kao it was her seventh birthday and he had gotten her something he knew she would love.

Like always he pretended that he didn't know her just too get her excited.

"I have a something for a Miss Kao," he whispered.

She smiled and laughed which would bring a smile to anyone's face.

"Well I know a Kao, but she's not available at the moment," Kao answered.

"Would you take it?" Seamus asked.

Kao turned to face him.

"Of course I can!" she announced.

"Here Kao," Seamus said smiling and handed her a small wrapped present.

"Wow! What is it?" she exclaimed, he had made a goal of getting her a present ever year but it had never been anything so valuable and expensive.

"You have to open it to find out," Seamus replied.

Kao carefully took of the wrapping paper and Seamus smiled as her eyes grew large and her mouth opened in awe.

"Where did you get it?" she asked.

"Just never you mind that," Seamus said.

"But, it must have cost you a lot to get it and you must have got into trouble," Kao began.

"Like I said, never mind that, you have to promise to keep good care of it," Seamus said.

"Oh I will!" Kao said with delight, "Thank you Seamus!"

"You're welcome," Seamus said.

Kao gave him another smile and opened the book in her hands; although Seamus didn't need to read the title for he knew what it was he could see the professional handwriting spelling out the title;

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

000

Dylan and Tyr looked around the small room, there was absolutely nothing it that would interest Harper so much to come back twice in the same day. Dylan looked down at the pile of blood and tissue and had a sneaking suspicion that it was from Harper.

"There was a console here," Tyr said suddenly. Dylan turned to look at him.

"What do you mean," Dylan asked.

Tyr was bending down looking at the floor.

"A console has been here," Tyr repeated. "For a room that said no entry there has certainly been a lot of people going in and out of this room."

Dylan bent down beside him to study the ground.

"You see how much duller this metal is to that?" Tyr said pointing at a line on the ground, "It's not to blunt so it can't be a flaw and it hasn't been repaired recently no burn marks, even Harper couldn't fix it this cleanly."

"Considering he likes to fix floors with a hammer," Dylan said off-handedly.

Dylan turned to look at Beka as he forgot that she was searching Harper's bedroom.

"Do you think Harper could have hacked into the console and found something important?" Tyr suggested.

"Well, if he did it was worth trying to kill him and removing the console entirely," Dylan suggested.

Dylan frowned and looked at Tyr and they seemed to be thinking the same thought.

"That would have taken time," Dylan began.

"And someone would have seen something like that going on," Tyr ended.

Dylan got up and with Tyr right behind him headed for the station's gambling floor.

000

Beka glanced around Harper's quarters; she was looking for something that might lead to how Harper got himself in trouble.

It was exactly like she though it would be like. The room was a total mess, Sparky cola cans and coffee cups littered the floor with a lot of his laundry strewn over the bed desk and dresser leading down to the floor.

Beka walked carefully between the objects and gadgets flung absent- mindedly across the room.

There was only one thing that seemed out of place for Beka and that was the bedside table. It's not that Harper didn't read it's that Beka was sure he didn't read old tattered books.

Beka carefully picked up the book and read the title.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Beka frowned she was sure that Harper never read fairly tales especially one like this, she had known Harper for seven years and knew that he went through this every year and why but she had never ever seen this book before. Beka saw a bookmark in the creamy pages of the book. She flipped open the book and it creaked and was torn and burned in many places, the writing was that of a hand; not printed and Beka could see that it had been read many times, no doubt also dropped in mud, bled on and flung through the air on more than one occasion.

Beka found the place where Harper was reading and saw that the bookmark was stiff folded paper. Keeping his spot Beka remove the bookmark and flipped in open.

She felt a twang in her heart as smiling out at her of the picture was a twelve-year-old Harper with his mother and father and the girl that Beka recognized only by her smile.

Beka had only met Kao once and then she had been beaten and tortured by the Drago-Kavoz she was barely the same girl in this picture, she had to be no more than five, the only thing that was the some about her was the smile she gave Harper who had her arm around her.

"Beka did you find anything?" Trance's voice came from behind her.

Beka jumped and stuffed the picture back into the page and hid the book behind her back as she turned to face Trance.

"Did you find anything important?" Trance asked.

"No," Beka replied, "nothing of importance."

"Alright," Trance said with a knowing expression.

"Any change in Harper's condition?" Beka asked.

Trance shook her head.

"Can I go see to him?" Beka asked.

"Of course," Trance answered.

Beka walked to the door and managed to hide the book as she passed Trance and started to walk to medical when Trance called to her.

"Beka?"

"Yes Trance?" Beka answered stopping.

"I'm not sure how much longer I can keep him alive," Trance said quietly, "He is very weak."

Beka nodded in acknowledgement not daring to trust her voice.

000

Harper watched the memory play out; he remembered that completely but anything after that was vague and hazy. Abruptly the world started to go black and nothing could be seen.

Kao appeared again.

"What happened?" Harper asked.

"You tell me," Kao said, "This is your memory."

"Well, I had a lot to drink, I guess I passed out," Harper said.

Kao smiled.

"Then that's what happened," she replied.

Suddenly a bright light blinded Harper, it was morning in the memory, and he had forgotten how long he had been asleep.

Seamus opened his eyes, the sun burned into his eyes and his head hurt a lot.

It was only after a few minutes that he remembered that he was supposed to be watching over Kao.

He jumped up despite the hangover and was confused and surprised at the scene in front of him.

Fires burned and the tables were wrecked, the ground was pocketed with gun fire and dead bodies lay here and there. Realizing that after all the years the Drago-Kavoz pride chose to crash the St. Pat's party this year, and all the years this one the only one he had passed out from drinking to much.

Seamus ran through the mess searching for Kao, his mother and father didn't come to this party and told Seamus to watch over Kao more than he usually did.

"KAO!" he yelled.

There was no answer.

"KAO!" he called again.

Something on the ground caught his attention.

Walking carefully grief, panic and anger caught him all at once.

He bent down and picked up the book, which lay open on the ground. There was blood on it and Seamus knew that she would have never abandoned it.

"Seamus!"

Someone called his name but he didn't look up.

"Seamus," one of his twin cousins came up.

"We thought they might have killed you," the other said joining them.

"They took her," Seamus said angrily.

The twins glanced at each other knowing that Seamus meant Kao.

"Why would they do that?"

"I don't, but I'm going to get her back," Seamus said.

"Seamus, I don't think that's possible-"

"I'll find a way."

Harper turned to Kao who had shown herself again.

"Why are you showing me this?" he asked and she smiled.

"To answer your very first question," she responded.

"Which was?" Harper questioned.

Kao smiled.

"You ask too many questions," she said. "I can only answer so many, the rest you have to yourself."

The memory faltered and Harper heard another voice.

"You remember that time when I fell into that pit of black blood maggots? I don't think I could have survived without you…"

"Beka?" he said.

Harper frowned confused and gave Kao a questioning look.

"You're becoming conscious," she said. "I'll be here when you get back."

Everything faded from view and Harper was engulfed in blackness yet again.

000

Beka entered medical too see Harper lying peacefully. She pulled up a chair beside his bed and placed the Alice in Wonderland book on the bedside table.

"I don't suppose it'll help to talk to you, huh?" Beka said to Harper though it might have been better to talk to the bulkhead.

Harper remained still and silent.

"Well, it'll sure make me feel better," Beka said.

Harper gave no answer.

"Alright," Beka said looking around the room for something to say, the machines that were showing his vitals proved that he was losing his battle.

"You gotta fight this thing," Beka said suddenly, "if I've told you once I've a hundred times, we need you to help us, you might be a bit of a jerk but you're a brilliant jerk."

Still no answer.

"You have to have saved my ass as much as I've saved yours."

Beka hung her head she didn't know why she was talking to him it was pretty pointless; he was unconscious.

"You remember that time when I fell into that pit of black blood maggots; I don't think I could have survived without you-" she began.

"Beka."

She looked up there was no one else in medical and that was Harper's voice.

"Harper?" she asked cautiously.

He didn't say anything.

"Harper, you gotta wake up," she said getting up and taking his hand. "Seamus can you hear me."

She bit her lip.

000

Harper heard Beka calling his name and struggled to open his eyes. Finally he gathered his strength and opened his eyes to see Beka give him a watery smile.

"Hey," she said.

"Hi," Harper croaked.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Cold," Harper responded.

Beka turned for a moment without letting go of his hand and returned with a blanket that she threw over him.

"Better?" she asked.

He nodded.

"You going to fight this?" she questioned.

He smiled.

"I'll try," he said.

"I have something for you," Beka said and she took the book off the bedside table and gave it to him.

He took it carefully and Beka could see how much this book meant to him.

"Thanks," he said softly; before falling unconscious again.

000

Beka didn't say anything after Harper fell unconscious again but held his hand and just sat there.

Not long had she been sitting here did Trance come running in.

She looked up at her.

"They told me there was a change in his vitals," Trance said nodding slightly at the machines.

"He woke up," Beka said simply.

"And?" Trance prompted.

"He fell back into a coma," Beka said.

Trance walked around her to get to her machines and frowned slightly at the book in his hands.

"Did you give him that book?" Trance asked.

Beka looked at it for a moment.

"Yes," she said and got up and left, leaving Trance alone with the unconscious Harper.

0000