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Chapter 7 Chapter 9

Alternity - Chapter 8

Harper

Harper was lying on his back, his right arm supporting his head, and his left pillowing his sleeping wife's head. Trance was lying on her side curled up beside him, one arm draped over his chest and her tail wrapped possessively about his waist. He could feel the warmth of her breath on his neck. If he had been a believer, he would have thanked whatever Deity there was for sending him his purple angel. But since he no longer believed in any higher power, he simply marveled at his luck. He still had no idea where she originally came from. She had simply showed up one day nearly three years ago asking if she could earn passage off planet. She was hungry and desperate and Beka, always one for taking in strays, had agreed. The temporary employment became permanent, with Beka taking her under her wing and teaching her the skills she needed to become part of the crew. He had been attracted to her immediately, and not just because of her exotic looks. Girls with purple skin tones and prehensile tails were definitely not the norm, but he had seen even more outlandish forms in his travels on the Maru. It had been something he had seen in her brown eyes the first time she had smiled at him.

He glanced at the chronometer, illuminated by the red glow of the Maru's night lights, on the opposite bulkhead. It was time to take his medicine again. Carefully, so as not to disturb his wife's slumber, he removed his arm from under her head, unwrapped her tail, and got up. Then, still being careful not to awaken his wife, he quietly got dressed, went to his locker, and took the pills that were keeping him alive. Trance had asked him to go with her to market tomorrow. He knew what that meant; she wanted him to go to a clinic and have his blood tested. He would go, mostly to please her, but he knew what the results would be. The virus was still there waiting to kill him. He was no longer angry at his situation. He had seen too many friends and relatives die of disease when he was living on Earth. With luck he might live to be thirty. By the standards of his home planet, thirty was an old man. What did make him angry was that before the fall of the Commonwealth he could have been cured with a simple overnight stay at any decent clinic; nowadays the cure was still available, but not for the likes of him and his.

The market was tomorrow. Tonight he had to go out on another errand. He went into the engine room and removed a panel from one of the bulkheads, revealing a small compartment. Inside the compartment was a very special type of communicator and some electronic devices. If the authorities found any of the devices within the hidden compartment he would be in very serious trouble. He activated the communicator and made a call. He then removed one of the devices and replaced the panel that concealed the compartment.

During his early years on the Maru, Harper had gained a reputation among some segments of organized crime; among those members of the underworld he was known as 'The Professor.' He provided devices that were hard to obtain and that made certain difficult or dangerous operations less so. Ever since Beka had prostituted herself to obtain the magnetic containment field generator, 'The Professor' had become more active. The person he was going to meet tonight had access to engine cooling tubes and needed something that could defeat electronic time locks. Harper had such a something and was going to make a trade.

He put the lock breaker in one of his jacket pockets and a small gauss pistol in the other pocket. He scrawled a note for her on a flexi and left it where Trance would see it when she woke up. The note said simply "gone for parts." She would know what it meant. His wife had never said anything about his activities, but he knew that she knew. He could tell by the worried look she got when he told her he was going out and not to wait up for him.

He didn't enjoy what he was doing. He had had more than enough excitement growing up on occupied Earth, and if the authorities ever caught him, he would spend what was left of his life in a prison cell, and of course there was always the possibility of being killed by a double-crossing customer. He wasn't doing this for himself; he was doing it for them, Trance and their child. The only legacy he could leave them was the Maru. He was going to be sure that it was a good one.

He went back into the common room and kissed his still sleeping wife.

"I'll be back as soon as I can honey. I love you." He spoke the words softly so as not to awaken her.

The chronometer that displayed local time indicated that it was past midnight. Taking a couple of deep breaths to calm himself, he left the light and safety of the Maru and walked into the night. As he stepped into the darkness he turned up the collar of his jacket. It had begun to rain.

Chapter 7 Chapter 9