Chapter 2
Don't get mad at somebody who knows more 'n you do. It ain't their fault.
- Old Earth Saying
00000
"Holy schniky."
Rommie's holograph blinked into the mainframe next to her engineer's. "Harper, that isn't even a real word," she chided.
"Is to," he replied distractedly. He approached a data grid and let out a low whistle. "Rom-Doll, what the heck have you been doin'? Practicing your Boy Scout knots on the data streams?" He prodded the pulsing, flashing mass with a tentative virtual finger and a small spark flew out and struck him.
"Ouch!" he cried, jumping backwards. "Rommie!"
"Sorry, Harper," she replied, "but it wasn't really my fault you know. Besides, you do sort of deserve it for implying I would ever do this to myself on purpose." She crossed her arms and gave him a stern glare. "So, can you fix it?"
Harper plastered a hurt expression across his face and finally turned to face her. "Can I fix it?" he asked incredulously. "Rommie, do you remember who you're talkin' to, 'Seamus the freakin' genius Harper'? Of course I can fix it. Piece of cake."
"Well, do it then, please," Rommie said. "It's interfering with my sensors and communications, which is rather annoying."
Even as she was speaking, Harper's brain was already formulating the solution, calculating the time it would take, and contemplating what he should have for dinner. He turned and favored Rommie with his trade-marked grin. "Don't worry, Babe. I'll have ya tip-top in no time. Just a few tweaks here and there and you'll be good as new. No…better than new. Heck, I could make a whole new you!"
"Harper," Rommie sighed but without any real exasperation, "just fix the problem."
"Sure thing," Harper replied. Then he turned serious. "I'm gonna have to shut down certain parts of your sensors and communications, your holograph included, for a little while, though. You okay with that?"
"Just do what you need to."
"Don't worry, it won't take that long. I'll have ya back up and runnin' in time for dinner. Hey, dinner! What a great idea! Whaddaya say my place, around seven, candle-light…" Harper grinned suggestively at the beautiful projection. Rommie didn't even dignify that with a response; she simply glared at him and flickered out.
"Hey, can I take that as a yes?" Harper asked the empty air around him with a smirk. Another jolt of electricity shot out and hit his arm. "Um…okay, I'll take that as a no. Fine! I get it, I get it. Get to work," he muttered as he rolled his eyes.
Alone once more, or as alone as he ever got on this all-knowing, all-seeing warship, Harper turned to one of the matrixes and got busy. He quickly shut off the systems he needed to and then cautiously approached the mass of data again. Without the power it had been sucking from the affected systems, it was smaller and less… um…energetic. As he set about the tedious but not particularly difficult job of picking apart knots of data, Harper let his mind drift, slipping into an uncharacteristically somber mood.
Today had been a long day. A very long day. The strange events had chipped mercilessly away at the hidden locks of his mind, threatening to release the floodgates and let all the memories pour out. He wasn't sure… No, he was absolutely sure he couldn't deal with that right now. He didn't regret helping the woman, of course not, but it made him so frustrated that he couldn't do a stupid thing like help a woman in labor without triggering nightmares! Normal people didn't have monsters waiting to ambush them if the wrong thing was said or done. It wasn't fair and it made him angry. Angry at the universe, angry at the monsters in his head, and angry at himself for not being able to keep them locked away. He had long ago conceded defeat to the memories at night, but the daytime was different; he was supposed to be in charge then. Today, however, those memories had once again breached their strong box during the day, and as a result he had let something slip he shouldn't have and to Dylan no less. Now the captain knew part of who he truly was, knew his true value, or lack there of. Harper shuddered at the thought, both out of anger and out of shame. No, it definitely wasn't fair.
The sound of a man's voice jerked Harper out of his thoughts. One of the data streams he'd been messing with had swung off and collided with another and suddenly Harper was privy to a conversation he was pretty sure wasn't meant for his eyes. Dylan was in his quarters talking with a man on his view screen. Harper didn't know the guy, but his clothes and attitude practically screamed "High Guard Command." The engineer figured this was a highly classified communication, something he would never have been able to access without Dylan's own codes, except for the fact that this little knot of data he'd been working on had seriously screwed up communications. Chalk one up to being in the right place at the right time.
Harper knew he should do the upright, honest, and decent thing and shut it down before he heard something he shouldn't. He was, after all, eavesdropping.
"Dylan, you know you're the best one for this assignment. If we can manage to pull this off and find it first, it could be worth a fortune."
With a grin, Harper mentally pulled up a chair, sat down, and got out the popcorn. Besides, after today, he figured Dylan owed him a secret.
"Look, Admiral, with all due respect, treasure hunting just isn't my style," Dylan said with exasperation. "And if I recall correctly, the last time I did that, the commonwealth tried to arrest me for murder. Now you're asking me to go off on some crazy trip?" He raised his eyebrows at the man on the screen. "Besides, we don't have time for this. The worldship is coming closer and I should be here, on Andromeda, focusing on getting ready."
"Dylan, we have it on good authority that all six jewels have been located. If we can recover them and return them to the royal house, the Bix Tan just might join the commonwealth. That would be one more world and one more fleet behind us when that worldship comes. Now I know it won't be a walk in the park; you'd probably be heading into technical traps right and left, not to mention hostile situations, but we feel it is worth the risk and with your background, you are the man for the job."
Dylan sighed. "Fine. When do I go and what do I get to tell my crew?"
The High Guard fancy-pants smiled. "You simply tell your crew you are taking two weeks leave for personal reasons."
From his unauthorized view within the mainframe, Harper smirked. 'Like that excuse would work!' he scoffed. These High Guard spoofs were never gonna learn that you can't out con a con. Dylan might make it off the Andromeda alone, but no one would ever buy that pathetic "personal leave" crap.
So, Dylan was going on another little lark across the galaxy. Harper smiled. A treasure hunt… hehehehe, a treasure hunt for Hunt… a treasure hunt full of technical traps. And who better to have along than the resident genius of all things technical? The High Guard wanted Captain Terrific to go alone on this little mission, but he wasn't going to, not if Seamus Zelazny Harper had anything to do with it. A great romping, high-stakes fling around the universe was just what he needed right now to shove those demons of his back in their cages.
"You will leave in four hours. Watson out."
Harper jumped as he caught the last bit of the transmission, realizing he hadn't been paying attention for a second.
"Four hours! Oh, crap," he muttered and quickly cut the rouge communication link. He pulled the last few strands of tangled data apart roughly and set about restoring the affected systems. He was gonna have to hurry.
00000
"Dylan, cut the crap. You take personal leave? At least give me a better excuse than that! Harper comes up with better excuses than that!"
Beka stood in the doorway of his quarters, her arms crossed and eyes blazing. Dylan looked up for a moment from the bag he was stuffing clothes into but didn't go any closer. He was busy and she was…well…scary. But she was also right. It was a lame excuse.
"Look, Beka, believe what you want. That still doesn't change the fact that I'm leaving for two weeks and you are in command while I'm gone. Oh, and I'm gonna need the Maru."
"What!" she exploded. "Why the Maru? Why is it always the Maru? Can't you take a slip fighter?"
"Ah, no. Sorry."
"You waltz out of here for two weeks leaving me to baby-sit and won't tell me where you're going, and then you have the gall to tell me you're taking my ship?"
Dylan held his hands up in a placating gesture and stepped warily toward her. "Hey, hey, I'll be good to her. Besides, I'm leaving you my ship in return. I kinda think that's a fair trade."
She glared again but didn't respond for a moment. Finally, she sighed and uncrossed her arms. "So, nothing I can do to get you to tell me where you're going?"
"Nope."
"Offer to drive ya there?"
"Nope."
"Do your laundry?"
"Ah, no."
"Okay, fine. Whatever. Just don't expect us to come bail your sorry butt out in two weeks when you've gotten yourself in over your head."
"I wouldn't dream of it," Dylan replied with a smile.
Beka returned the smile as she turned to leave, then she stopped. "Oh, and Dylan, don't hurt my ship."
"Same goes for you. And try to keep Harper and Tyr out of trouble?"
"Hey, I'm only a captain, not a god. I won't promise any miracles."
00000
Beka stomped grumpily into her quarters and stopped in the middle of the room. She was pouting and she knew it, but she didn't care. She had watched Dylan take off in her ship a little over an hour ago for some adventure and not only did that mean she'd been left behind, but it also meant she had to content herself with her quarters on Andromeda for two weeks. She liked them but they still weren't home, and after a stressful day she liked to relax in familiar settings. She felt she was justified to indulge in a little pouting.
She was just about to head for the shower when something on the bed caught her eye. It was a flexi. Curious, she walked over and picked it up.
Hey Boss. Just wanted to let you know I won't be around for a little while. Big Boss has got himself a little adventure to go off on and, as we all know how he likes to get himself in trouble, I figured someone had better go along to keep an eye on him. Therefore, I'm hereby authorizing myself to accompany him. Thanks. So, take care of the kids while I'm gone, give Tyr a hug for me, and don't forget to put the cat out at night, okay? I promise I'll be a good boy. See ya soon! - Harper
Beka read it twice as her eyes started to blaze. She read it a third time just to make sure she wasn't seeing things. She wasn't.
Three decks down, Tyr heard the strange screeching sound and stopped his workout to listen.
"HARPER, YOU LITTLE RAT! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"
The large man rolled his eyes. At least life was never boring.