Protection-Part 2

Okay, I was watching Its Hour Come Round At Last, for about the millionth time; quoting every single line since I've memorized it; saying my theories and explanations about this and that to my dad, who has heard it about a hundred times; fantasizing; rewinding and watching it again; and pretending this was the first time I've seen it, and trying to feel how I would feel if I hadn't seen the series opener already, and wondering what was going to happen (like I didn't already know!). It inspired me to continue this again, after I had abandoned it because my muse had abandoned me, so here it is!

Oh, by the way, I changed my mind. Harper had the eggs, but the gold Trance came along, so this has the gold Trance. Warning! Harper and Tyr angst, and friendship!

Harper woke up with a screeching whine in his ears, picking up octaves every few seconds. His head pounded, and he could taste copper liquid in his mouth. Opening his bleary eyes, he looked down, and saw the lower half of his body under debris. Still delirious, he tried moving the fallen ruble with his hands, but was too weak to lift. He closed his eyes a second, trying to come to his senses.

At first, he thought the whine was in his head, but quickly found out that it was the slipstream drive overheating. Once the piercing sound reached ultrasonic, it would explode, blowing up the whole ship. His senses snapped, and he wiggled out of the stuff that had used to be the support rails.

Turning around, he knelt, taking out his trusty nano-welder, and started connecting loose wires. He was still aching with pain, and his legs throbbed uncomfortably. Shaking, he melted a black wire into a hot pile of gunk. Shaking his head like a shaggy dog, he cleared his thoughts and pains, and set to work. He was about to connect the last red wire to a greenish blue wire, when a strange sense stopped him. He had the strangest feeling to connect the red wire to the left over black wire. Harper's eyes crinkled, as confusion hit him full force. He knew that if he connected those, the AI would shut down, and the ship would blow up, yet he still had the feeling to kill himself and everyone else.

Gritting his teeth, he connected it with the right way. The whine dyed down, then stopped completely. The ship was completely silent, not even the engines were on. Frowning, Harper looked over at the Slipstream drive he had just fixed. It still wasn't working. Grumbling, Harper waved his old fashioned wrench at the drive, cussing at it.

"Oh, for the Abyss' sake." He jammed the wrench in, then started twisting it around. The ship suddenly lurched underneath his unsteady feet, sending him flying forwards. His hands pushed into the delicate device, crushing wires and sensors. Harper pushed against it until he found his footing, then quickly let go. The sight was not good. His hand was bleeding where he had touched a electric wire, without even noticing, but now throbbing. The slipstream drive was the worst off, though. The wrench had been crammed into the back, dangerous wires being pushed together, and short circuiting. Harper tried to move in and fix it, but the wires were hanging around it protectively, and he knew if he tried, he would be electrocuted again. He could still feel the burn and buzz radiating through his body from the last time had had a minor electrocution, and these wires had much more voltage.

Sighing, and briefly closing his eyes in frustration and apprehension, he pulled out his scanner. The diagnosis came back with a beep, telling him that the slipstream drive was totaled, and a replacement was needed, so the ship couldn't stream. With the Andromeda being in the middle of an attack by an unknown force, not being able to pilot and get away was a bad thing.

Harper sighed, holding his head. He was about to go and work on other pressing matters, like the acting-up environmental controls, when he heard a punching sound, like metal on metal. Glancing around him, he knew it wasn't in Engineering. Then, he froze, as a sound he never wanted to hear again, echoed through the almost dead ship.

The crack of the hull, and the pounding of soft feet of the grating. Then, the steady beat of his nightmares started being played. The subtle pounding of war, by a furry hand. Dun-Dun-Dun-DUUUN. Harper's heart froze with cold fear as he heard the Magog's chant.

No, no, no, no. Harper started shaking, reaching for his nearest and only weapon; his trusty nano-welder. Harper heard the approaching figures coming to Engineering, and without thinking twice, ran into a vent in the other direction.

Harper crawled as fast as he could, thanking the Divine that the Engineering doors had been shut for some reason. More space between him and those filthy creature beasts. Almost blindly feeling his way around, he found the quickest exit, then leapt down. Without even looking, he had jumped a long way. He landed hard on the round, his feet giving way.

Cursing, he looked back up, and knew that he wasn't going that way. The vent was in the middle of the ceiling, away from any walls to climb up to get back in. There was a good few feet, this being a tall room, so Harper knew that he would have to find another way to run.

With a sickening lurch, Harper finally figured out where he was. He was in the dreaded room. He could stand Engineering, but he couldn't even bring himself to come near this room since the first attack. This was the room with two doors, where Tyr and himself had made the final stand against the first time the Magog attacked. Just glancing around the sterile clean room, he could picture the blood on the floor, and could remember with crystal clear memory Tyr handing him a knife. "Shall we dance Master Harper?"

Harper's eyes clouded up, and he practically ran to one of the doors. He couldn't stay in here an second longer; it still brought up such heart-wrenching bad memories. He had just got over the infestation, with the help of the new, scary, warrior gold Trance. He wasn't ready to face the fact that he could get infested again, and in this same room, no less. He knew he couldn't try to find the same cure more than once, because the first time had been so disastrous.

What was the worst thing, that brought him to the breaking point, was that he was all alone. For some reason, Andromeda wasn't answering, and as Harper looked at a nearby screen, he saw she was having some trouble with privacy mode. At random places on the ship, privacy mode was engaged, and she had no clue what was happening, or where people were if they were in those 'blind spots'. Of course, the Divine and Abyss had teamed up to get a laugh at him, because he just happened to be in one of those 'spots'. She couldn't warn him, talk to him, help him, or even tell people where he was. Blind fear took a grip on him, and he started shaking violently. All his life, when something bad was happening to him, he was always with someone. On Earth, he had his parents, then his cousin and friends. When something bad happened, someone was there. Even the last time the Magog had attacked was the same. Tyr had been there, helping him through his fear, and emotionally being there for him the only way he knew how. Now, though, he was utterly alone.

Harper typed in the override code on the door, desperately wanting to get out, and find someone, so he wouldn't be alone for his own Hell. The door didn't budge, even when he kicked it.

He pounded the door, smashing the control panel, as tears streamed down his face. The door was frazzled, and was sealed shut from the other side. Almost blindly delirious from painful memories and fear, he whipped around to his last hope of getting away. His body tensed, blood left his face leaving him pale, and his eyes grew wide with sick fear, as he watched the doorway to the other door, and his last hope of freedom.

A chief Magog was silhouetted in the doorway by the blinding white light outside. It was holding a gun, and it had amour on it's furry chest. Its claws were long, and its face was the Abyss' face itself. There was no sight of Rev's patient and loving care in those beady eyes. This wasn't Rev. It stared at him with hatred, as it slowly walked in. Other Magog crept in behind the leader, surrounding him. There were about 7 Magog in all, though he could see a whole gang outside of the door.

The leader raised its claw, and pointed it at Harper. Wordlessly, 7 Magog pounced.

Tyr ran through the long hall, his sensitive smell picking up emotions. Fear was the most strong, and he knew in his heart that that was Harper. He punched in the codes to open the door, and the door swung open grumpily. Tyr didn't lose the irony that this was the same room they had fought together in, but all thoughts left him as he looked at the sight ahead of him.

2 Magog lay dead near the walls, no doubt Harper's work with his survival side. One had one of its claws jammed in its own heart, while another had a nano-welder stuck in its head. The 'main event' was what caught Tyr's attention.

Harper was laying on the floor, in the middle of 5 Magog. He was still alive, because Tyr could feel his hopelessness. Harper's hair was drenched with red blood, with some running down his face like bad hair dye. Blood dripped out of his nose and mouth, and it looked like he was half conscience. One Magog had a claw buried deep inside of Harper's chest, where his ribs were. It was missing his rib cage, and slowly going deeper into penetrating the young boy's heart. Another Magog had all of its claws slowly yanking at the little professor's data port, dragging it out to make it painful. The claws surrounded the metal disk, pressing underneath sensitive skin, getting a weak whimper out of the boy. With a sickening crunch, the nerve wires were violently ripped from his skin. The disk came away, with deep crimson blood and the boy's insides still attached to it. At the same time, the Magog with the claw in his gut pressed deeper, piercing his heart. Harper's eyes flew open as he sobbed out a primal scream that echoed down the deck.

In the coming darkness, Harper whispered out the name of someone he wished was here right now, and little did he know, was actually there. "Tyr!" Before he fell into permanent blackness, he faintly heard Tyr's answering call, "Harper!"

Tyr felt the boy's emotions change; from fear and hopelessness, to relief, hope and love, before the boy went limp. Tyr's hearing heard the boy's heart stop, and a blind rage erupted inside of him.

He leapt on the closest Magog, and killed it with his bone blades. Then, they advanced on him.

The crew found their two missing crew members after the Magog had mysteriously just up and left. The Abyss had finished his job, and whatever the boy still had in his mind from the Library (Harper 2.0) was now lost.

They saw the grotesque sight as soon as they came to this level. Tyr was bloody, but the worst sight was his bone blades. They were ripped from his arms, blood soaking onto the floor. Harper was next to him, his chest looking cut up badly, but his worst sight was his data port.

The crew fell to the ground literally, crying for their dead fallen friends.

That episode rocked, it was the best ever (Also, for me...Harper 2.0, The Widening Gyre, D Minus Zero, Bunker Hill, Ouroboros, Into The Labyrinth, and The Dissonant Interval, Part II)! I was just wondering, in The Widening Gyre, at the end when Harper wakes up and realizes his worst nightmare, where is Dylan, Beka, and Rommie! They aren't fighting the Abyss...they're running, so where were they! Beka's his best friend and captain, and Rommie is practically his daughter!

Oh, this wasn't supposed to be a slash, so the 'love' part was just a friend's love. This was before Tyr lost his bone blades, because I don't remember seeing that episode. I tried to make it real angst and graphic, but I just couldn't do it, so I hope this was enough. I might go back when I'm feeling really violent and write more graphic, so please, check back!