Work Text:
The door slid open with a hissing noise. Harper peered into the quarters he had chosen. "Oh yeah," he exclaimed. "I am definitely in love." He had been right, the crew quarters on the Andromeda were out of this world, and he couldn’t wait to try the coffee. He had been excited when Beka agreed to stay, but now a stupid knot in his stomach was making him feel sick, and he had the insane urge to run back to the Maru and hide under his ratty old blanket. To feel safe.
Harper shook himself mentally berating himself for being such a coward. He blinked. The room was dazzlingly bright, clean and very spacious - larger than anything Harper had been used to on earth or the Eureka Maru. He bent backwards glancing up and down the corridor wondering if he should ask permission first from Dylan. Straightening up, Harper chewed at his lips finally deciding that his crew mates had probably already chosen their quarters, without permission, and were busily making themselves comfortable. And here was he standing in an empty corridor, looking .... well, stupid.
He looked up and down the corridor once more, shifting from foot to foot. The door hissed shut, leaving him standing in the empty corridor. “Oh so that’s how it’s gonna be,” Harper murmured. “You just wait until I get my hands on your little circuit boards,” he threatened. “Then you won’t...,” he waved at hand at the door. “Shut.”
Silence . The ship was mocking him. Harper shivered slightly, unconsciously putting a hand against the bulkhead feeling the steady thrum of the ship’s engines. Despite the familiar vibration pulsing against his skin, the silence taunted him. Harper was used to noise and chaos, most of it he made himself. Quiet made him nervous.
He pulled a face at his uncharacteristic reluctance. "What am I freaking doing?" Harper chastised himself under his breath. “Seamus Zelazny Harper, get your ass into that room right now.” Taking a deep breath, he hefted his bag higher onto his shoulder and took a step forward. The door shushed open.
Still feeling jumpy, Harper couldn't help snapping his head back as the door slid closed behind him with a loud angry sounding hiss. “That’s my first job, happy sounds when the doors close,” he grinned to himself.
Harper stood surveying his new quarters. His new home. Clean, bright and white, the room was sparse and clinical. Harper shuddered doubting that this could ever be his home. The room felt alien and unfriendly, and too clean. Not home, not that Harper knew what a real home was.
Harper scanned the room. To his right was a small sitting area with armchairs, a couch, a table and a work station complete with computer terminal against the bulkhead. To his left was a small alcove which Harper guessed was the bathroom. A neatly made bed dominated the centre of the room.
Dropping his bag to the floor with a clank, Harper shuffled around the large room. Humming to himself tunelessly in an effort to relieve the silence, he investigated every nook and cranny, opening drawers, trying out all of the armchairs, sitting at the workstation, spinning around and around on the chair until he felt dizzy. He activated the computer jabbing at keys randomly until he got bored.
Jumping to his feet, Harper circled the room running his fingers across the smooth dust-free surfaces. He couldn’t explain it, but he wanted to feel safe, so he went for the familiar pressing the palms of his hands against the bulkheads again, feeling the soothing rhythm of Andromeda's engines as she moved through space. "Freaking wonderful," he whispered his voice full of awe, although a little part of him couldn't help missing the clanking and creaking of the Maru. "And a babe too," Harper grinned as he thought about the lovely female holographic image of the Andromeda.
Suddenly tired of his exploration, Harper moved over to the bed sitting down gingerly. He bounced up and down to test the softness of the bed. "Yessss," Harper grinned as he swung his legs up on the bed bouncing some more. "I have died and gone to heaven," he chuckled. Re-energised, he sprang off the bed to explore the bathroom.
After a quick tour of the bathroom, Harper stopped at the mirror on his way out. Staring at his reflection, he ran his hand through his blonde spikes making them stick up even more. Leaning closer to the glass, he studied the rash still visible on his neck fingering the redness cautiously, still surprised that it didn't itch any more. Harper ran a finger up and down the rash lightly not being able to stop a shudder at the thought of losing all his skin, muscles and dying a horrible death. "Note to Harper. From Harper," he grinned at his reflection, cocking his head to one side. "Don't forget what that nice ship lady said. Don't miss any bits."
Wandering back into the main room, Harper retrieved his bag dumping it on the bed. He started to unpack his meagre belongings pushing aside the thought that this was the sum total of his life, stuffed into one small bag. He crammed all of his clothes into one of the drawers, and kicked his other two pairs of boots under the table. Finally, Harper carefully arranged his assorted spare tools next to the computer.
Sitting on the bed, he rummaged around in the bottom of the bag retrieving a small hard case. Opening it, he stared at the faded holo-photograph of his family. Harper traced a finger around the outline of each of the people in the holo-photograph, all now dead, except for his cousin Brendan and himself. "Hi," he murmured as he continued to run his finger over the image. He couldn't even remember the picture being taken, but it was a precious possession, one of two links to his past. With a small sigh, Harper placed the image on the small table by the bed. Glancing around in case anyone was watching, Harper dug into the bag again to retrieve the only other link to his past – a battered grubby looking bear. “Welcome to your new home,” he whispered. The bear stared back silently – his aunt had told him that his mother had made the bear for him when he had been 5 years old. Harper couldn’t remember; but sometimes when he hugged the bear, he could almost smell his mother, hear her soft voice, feel her soft touch, fingers threading through his hair in comfort, and see her face smiling at him.
Harper suddenly felt restless, his mind filling with memories of his life in the refugee camp on earth - his family, the hunger and filthy living conditions they endured, the endless raids by the Nietzcheans and then the Magog. Memories he wanted to hide away forever, memories that made him feel like a small frightened child again. Harper shivered knowing, deep down, that the memories would never fade, that they had become part of him, that they were his demons, and would continue to haunt his dreams turning them into terrifying nightmares until the day he died. He hugged his bear tightly rocking back and forth, eyes closed tightly, begging his mind to remember his mother in an effort to consign the painful memories to the back of his mind – where they belonged.
After a while, Harper forced himself to his feet. Feeling slightly stupid, he tucked his bear carefully under the blanket, absently patting its head. Harper unclipped his tool belt laying it carefully on the table ready for the morning when they started their duty. He drifted aimlessly toward the large window. Wrapping his arms around himself, Harper leaned against the bulkhead staring out into the vast darkness of space. He aimlessly counted the stars, thinking about their new mission. He couldn’t help feeling excited. Fear always stalked him, but it was a feeling he had gotten used to over the years. The Andromeda was a dream to an engineer, and he couldn’t wait to explore ... well everything. Perhaps the nice ship lady would even invite him to connect to her systems via his dataport. Harper made a mental note to ask nicely this time around.
He chuckled to himself idly wondering if Dylan Hunt knew what he was letting himself in for taking them on as his crew. Each of them had different reasons for joining the Andromeda, even the disturbing Nietzchean, Tyr. Dylan had promised them an adventure, a chance to do something important. Harper sort of liked the sound of that, but couldn't quite believe that Dylan would be able to build a new Commonwealth in the midst of such chaos. But for the first time in as many years, Harper felt something strange, deep inside the pit of his stomach, something he hadn't felt for a long time, if ever ... hope.
Andromeda materialised on the Maru. Dylan had asked her to keep a watchful eye on his new crew, and during a routine system check, she had detected that the small blonde engineer with the rash had disappeared from his quarters.
She tracked his life signs to the ageing ship in her hangar deck. Looking around her, Andromeda studied the small ship, not being able to help turning her nose up at the cramped, grimy interior, and the clanking and creaking noises the ship seemed to make, even safely docked.
A small murmur from the left attracted her attention. Blinking, Andromeda re-materialised closer to the cramped bunk area. Cocking her head to one side, she studied the man curled up under the thin blanket on the bunk. He looked vulnerable and childlike in sleep, so unlike the cocky young man she had observed and finally met on the medical deck.
"You said you liked my showers and the real coffee," she thought as she recalled why this man had wanted to join Dylan's mission to restore the Commonwealth. "Why would you choose to sleep here?" Andromeda looked around the cramped conditions again trying to make sense of the strange behaviour. She decided to ask Dylan in the morning.
Harper murmured again as he rolled onto his back – he was pale and there was a sheen of sweat on his forehead. He seemed to be having a nightmare, but it could be a reaction to the medication she had given him earlier, although Andromeda noted that the rash on his neck looked much better
Andromeda closed her eyes and ran a quick physical check of the young man’s vital signs. “Nightmare,” Andromeda opened her eyes. “No cure.” a search of her data banks had revealed. She searched her memory banks. “Touch,” Andromeda muttered to herself, having witnessed this ‘cure’ many times from her former crew. Andromeda didn’t know why and didn’t understand the feeling, but she suddenly wished she was able to reach out and touch the young man as he called out for his mother. Andromeda watched helplessly as he tossed and turned for a few minutes, trapped in his nightmare.
She was just about to call Dylan for help when the Maru seemed to shift, its rust laden metal panels groaning loudly. Harper seemed to rouse slightly. Raising his head, he blinked up at Andromeda. "What a babe," Harper smiled as he turned back onto his side curling up under the blanket again. "I am definitely in love," he sighed. His eyes closed as he descended back into sleep.
Andromeda raised her eyebrows, folding her arms across her body. "Things are certainly going to get interesting around here from now on," she de-materialised to continue her system checks, making a mental note to ask Dylan about touch, and to check back on the engineer later.