"Mary?" he called out cautiously. Then louder, "Mary?" All he could hear was the sound of the wind blowing through the fields around him. Times like this he could really understand Beka's complaints about the problems with weather. You just didn't get lost when you're on a spaceship. Even a ship as big as the Andromeda. Plus there was always Andromeda herself to guide you back. Out here… was another story. "C'mon, Harper, don't even think the word 'lost'. You've probably been walking around in circles and are about to trip over the path you started from." And speaking of path, the ground under Harper's feet - wasn't it rougher here than where Harper had started? He really was lost. "Mary!?" he called out again, his voice cracking in concern. Damn. He really needed to remember to wear that bracer with its communication circuits. But that wouldn't help him now.

A sudden gust moved the grasses off to his far right. That was wind, right? Okay, now was definitely time to find that path again. Harper reached his arms out in front of him. Was it getting darker, too? Damn, he couldn't see two feet in front of him anymore.

"Aaahh!" he yelled involuntarily. Something had definitely brushed his sleeve that time. And that wasn't the wind. Something was out there with him. Out in the fields. And given Harper's luck, it wasn't likely to be friendly.

"Hey!" he bluffed. "You'd better not mess with me, you hear? I'm armed and definitely dangerous!" Reassuring himself, his hand connected to the gauss gun at his side. Gauss gun, Harper thought determinedly, never leave home without it. Slowly he continued to back up. But nothing touched him again. Maybe it was just the equivalent of a local dog or something. Yeah, local fauna. Trance would probably tame it with a smile.

The howling began.

Or not. Harper began to run blindly, praying he'd find the village again. Or Trance carrying a dog leash. But as he ran, he could hear something pacing him. Playing with him. Harper ran faster, but didn't lose his shadow companion. The howling came again. Closer this time. Harper realized he had no idea where he was going and running may just get him farther from safety. Besides he had his gun. And hey, he'd faced Magog back on Earth (okay, hid from them). What could be worse than that?

The howling sounded like it was just a few feet away. And now he could hear what sounded like panting. Was that a growl? Harper slowly crouched down and picked up a rock by his feet and pulled his gun with the other. Now he was as armed as he was going to be. He stopped and listened, but all was still in the grasses nearby.

Could it have gone away? All Harper could hear was his own breathing and the beating of his heart which must have been so loud people should be hearing it back at the village. Nothing. Or was there…

"Aahh!" Something took a swipe at Harper's arm with a sharpened claw, drawing blood through his now-torn shirt. 'Damn,' he thought with the part of his brain that wasn't occupied with mind-numbing fear, 'I liked that shirt.' But Harper's state of dress was the least of his worries. The creature was out there, nearby, and it was clearly getting braver as Harper was getting more scared. There! Harper heard something heading for him and shot at it. And missed. But he was close as the creature had growled. And in the flare of the muzzle fire, had he seen a large furry creature. Tell me there are no Magog out here, he prayed feverishly to Rev's Divine. And yes, he realized the irony in praying to a god believed in by a Magog friend, that he wouldn't encounter any Magog. Harper slowly turned in a circle, trying to hear the creature and hoping he didn't have any hungry friends with him. There! Harper shot again at the creature and this time he definitely singed it as the thing yelped! Ha! Harper realized that shouting aloud probably wouldn't help him at this point, but he couldn't help taunting his tormentor. "Hurts, doesn't it? And there's more where that came from, Tall, Dark and Hairy. So just go on your way and I'll go on mine. Find your dinner somewhere else." Harper paused, listening. Silence. And then... from a little farther away…

"Seamus?" A gentle female voice calling from the darkness.

"Mary?" Harper was elated to find her, then suddenly frightened for them both. "Mary! Be careful! There's some kind of creature out here with us and it is pissed off!"

A rustling and Mary suddenly stood beside Harper. She was a pretty, slight girl with dark braided hair and a shawl pulled tight around her. Harper was relieved to see her, but knew they had to get out of there. "Mary, which way back to the village? That thing is in a nasty mood and we could use a nice large well-armed crowd."

Mary just smiled and put a reassuring hand on Harper's gun hand, forcing him to point the weapon down at the ground. With her other hand she continued to clutch her shawl covering her. "It's all right, Seamus. We're perfectly safe out here."

"Safe?!" His voice continued to crack with fear. "Mary, look at this." He showed her his shoulder, dripping blood from the creature's claws. Mary's eyes glistened in the moonlight, which made Harper realize that the planet's three moons had finally started to shine some light on his location.

Mary smiled. "While the moons are out, the Glaycen won't wander out further." Harper still didn't seem reassured.

"So what are they? These Glaycen?" Harper let Mary's hand holster his gauss gun. She seemed so sure they were safe…

"Native creatures to this planet. We found them not long after the settlement was built." Mary took Harper's hand in her own and started walking. He was happy to get out of there. "They live in harmony with the environment and all other creatures here."

"You call that harmony?" Harper still couldn't see the village from where they walked. They just seemed to move deeper into the fields. He needed to find something to staunch the blood flow on that arm soon, too. But Mary kept walking, arm in arm with Harper.

"Yes. They adapt perfectly to the planet and to any creature they encounter." Mary smiled dreamily.

"Well, I don't call trying to claw my arm off 'adapting'." Harper looked at his arm. Why wasn't the bleeding stopping? The cut hadn't been that deep.

"You'll understand soon." They were still in the middle of the fields, with no sign of the village.

"Um, Mary. Where are we going?" Harper stopped to get an answer from the girl. She was so pretty standing there in the moonlight, hair gently blowing, eyes and mouth smiling at him. Harper had the sudden urge to kiss her, but on some level knew they were still in danger while they were outside the village and tried to shake off the feeling. But it got too strong. Mary gladly entered Harper's embrace and returned his eager kisses. But as his arms encircled her tiny waist, he felt a warm, sticky feeling at her side which had been covered by her shawl. He pulled his hand back holding it up to the light. His hand was covered in blood. "What the...?"

Mary just laughed and as she laughed her teeth seemed to shine and grow and lengthen until they seemed too large for her mouth. Her hair seemed longer and indeed it grew as Harper watched. And was she taller suddenly? She kept laughing as Harper slowly backed up.

"I told you the Glaycen adapted to all creatures they encountered." The tone was lower in pitch, but the words, even around the large teeth, were still understandable. Harper watched Mary's continued metamorphosis as her fingernails became claws in front of him. He was frozen in place. There was nowhere to run. Nowhere that she couldn't catch him first. Harper knew he was going to die.

But she still didn't attack him. Her laughter grew into a more bestial sound, hyena-like. Mary, or the creature that had been Mary, had one last piece of wisdom to impart before she lost all ability to speak. "And now the Glaycen will adapt to you!" The creature that was once Mary reared up to its now two-meter height, claws bared.

Harper, in a last moment of desperation, pulled out his gun and shot her point blank with everything he had. For a moment it seemed like it wouldn't be enough. And then, with a keening moan, the creature fell backwards and began to lose shape. By the time Harper reached its side, it had once more become the comely girl he'd met in the village. Only now she had a big hole in the middle of her gut. Harper, his breath and legs shaky, dropped to his knees beside the girl. And looked down on her in abject sorrow as the moonlight witnessed his bereavement and guilty relief.

A still bleeding Harper carried the body of Mary back through the gates of the village where the moonlight had finally guided him. Exhausted, hurt, he made it as far as the outer door of the inn where he and Trance had been staying before he collapsed, Mary still in his arms. Villagers began to gather around, forming a circle around the wounded stranger and their dead neighbor.

The next thing Harper knew, he was lying in his bed at the inn and Trance was beside him, rubbing his forehead with a cold compress.

"Trance? What happened?" Harper's head was still spinning.

"I'd kind of like to know that myself, but at the moment, the villagers are keeping from cutting off your arm based on my… suggestion that the Andromeda was going to be arriving at any minute and they really didn't want an angry warship to deal with." Trance's tone was light, but her concern was evident.

"Cutting off my arm?!" Harper tried to sit up quickly, decided that was a very bad idea and laid down again. "Why?"

"They seem to think you killed one of the locals..." Trance watched Harper's reaction carefully, but he was still disoriented.

"Killed? No, but…" The earlier events started to return to his memory. "I guess, maybe, I did. But it was self-defense! That thing, that… Mary… she was going to kill me! She clawed my arm and..." Harper looked down at his hurt arm, but Trance must have worked her magic with it as it was finally healing. Healing really well as a matter of fact. Hurray for nanobots. "Hey, thanks for fixing me up."

But Trance shook her head. "It wasn't me. They don't have nanotechnology on this planet. Just old-fashioned scalpels and sutures and..." At that thought, Harper looked a bit woozy again, so Trance stopped. "But I didn't even need to use those. Your arm seems to be healing just fine on its own. I think."

That wasn't a good sign. "You think?" Harper questioned.

"Well, it really shouldn't be healing that quickly by itself. And even though it wasn't that deep, it should still leave you a scar." Harper didn't mind that idea - battle scars always impress the ladies, he thought. "But it's not scarring. In fact, it's looking like it's closing up with no damage at all. As if it hadn't even happened."

"And that's good?" Harper wondered, then saw the look on Trance's face. "That's not good?"

"It's... odd." And coming from Trance that was an understatement.

"That's not good," Harper concluded. And then a thought occurred. "Hey, why'd they want to cut off my arm?" Trance looked uncomfortable as if she wished he hadn't brought it up.

"They said something about you needing to replace the one you'd killed…" Trance avoided eye contact with Harper which made him very nervous.

"Spill it, Trance."

"Well, I'm not really sure and I don't have all my equipment to check what's happening on a molecular level..." Trance trailed off, but Harper sat up again, shaking away the cobwebs in his head that seemed to be gathering more and more.

"Tell me." Harper was insistent.

"If I'm understanding correctly," Trance was definitely avoiding Harper's gaze, but then she turned and looked directly into his eyes, "the creature you killed infected you when she scratched you and drew blood. These Glaycen reproduce in the bloodstream apparently and the longer they're in your blood, then eventually you become one."

"BECOME?" Harper shouted. "I avoided Magog for decades on Earth and now I come to this stupid planet and become infected by another hairy killing monster!" Trance let Harper shout out his fear and anger. "I don't believe this! This can't happen! Trance, tell me this can't happen!"

Trance just held his gaze in sad confirmation.

"Wait! You said they wanted my arm! So if they cut off my arm, that'll get these Glaycen out of my system? Fine!" Harper rolled up his sleeved. "Let 'em in. Let 'em have my arm. Let 'em have their Glaycen and then let me the hell off this planet!" Harper tried to look brave, but even through his fierce determination there was fear underneath.

"It's too late," Trance said softly.

"What?" This got Harper's attention. "What do you mean?"

"After this many hours, the Glaycen will have run through too much of your bloodstream, they'll have circulated too far into your body by now." Trance's words seemed to take extra time for Harper to process.

"But, if they'd taken my arm when I'd gotten back…" he asked, confused, defeated.

"There's no guarantee that would have contained the Glaycen in your system and there was also no guarantee with the level of medicine on this planet that you even would have survived the procedure, Harper. I couldn't let you risk that."

But Harper was angry now. "What do you mean YOU couldn't let me risk that? It might have saved me from becoming a monster and you STOPPED them from doing it?" Harper's voice was heavy with betrayal and bitterness. "Trance, I'm infested with these Glaycen and you're going to just let it happen?" Harper began to get hysterical with fear.

Trance stopped him before he could get out of control. "No, Harper," she said firmly. "I am NOT going to 'just let it happen'. I'm going to do everything I can to stop it from happening. And once the Andromeda gets here..."

"But that could be days! I could be off in the fields with all my furry friends eating the locals by then!" Harper looked around the room wildly, as if expecting it to be suddenly full of fellow Glaycen.

But Trance was unmoved. "Harper, listen to me." She sat down on a stool by his bedside. "I give you my word. You will be all right. I won't let anything happen to you. I will find that perfect possibility. But I need you to stay calm until them."

Harper looked ready to protest, but Trance raised a warning hand and he just looked at her and nodded his acquiescence. "I'll try. But Trance... I'm scared. I don't want to be one of those things."

"It'll be okay, Harper. Just rest now. And when you wake up, I'm sure I'll have it all figured out." Harper, so tired, slipped back down onto the bed and Trance returned the compress to his head as he closed his eyes. She leaned over to turn down the light by his bedside.

"I'm sure. I hope." Trance sat back on the stool, and looked down at Harper and thought. Hard.

But when Harper awoke he was alone. He sat up slowly, but the dizziness that had earlier affected him seemed to be gone. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. But not only did he not feel bad, he actually felt good. Really good. He looked down at his scratched arm but it looked completely undamaged, as if nothing had ever happened. He did a practice flex of the muscle, but it didn't even seem to hurt. In fact, he really felt completely refreshed. Energized even. He was ready to get out of this sickroom, that's for sure. Harper headed for the door and went downstairs.

Entering the inn's main room, Harper's appearance stopped the hustle and bustle until all conversation stopped entirely. Trance sat at a corner table, talking to a man who also stopped to look at Harper. The first murmurs of anger, soon changed as Harper strode through the room, completely confident, on up to the bar. He looked at the woman behind the bar, smiled a particularly shiny grin and ordered a beer. The woman looked uncertain, but then at a nod from her husband, the innkeeper, she served Harper, who toasted the room jauntily before downing his drink.

Trance watched as the room settled to a comfortable level again, welcoming even, now that Harper had arrived. And she was very concerned.

Harper finished his drink and soon a small crowd had joined him, encircling him. But this time it wasn't with menace or curiosity, but familiarity. They greeted Harper as if he was a lost friend. And Harper accepted it. More than accepted it, thrived in it. As if he'd never been at home anywhere else. A small girl, attracted by the commotion, made her way into the center of the circle and looked up at Harper, smiling shyly. Grinning, he reached down to pick her up, giving her a quick hug that was reciprocated, before he handed her back to her mother, also one of the circle of people surrounding him.

Trance decided to intercede. She moved into the circle, but didn't find it easy to get to Harper, almost as if the others were deliberately impeding her way. But she was stubborn and with many an 'oops, sorry, excuse me', she made it to Harper's side. He barely noticed her arrival.

"Harper, don't you think you should get back into bed?" Trance suggested strongly. But Harper was too busy interacting with those who surrounded them. Trance finally took his arm and PULLED him out of their circle, which annoyed him.

"Trance, I'm fine. Will you just leave me alone?"

"Leave you alone? When I last talked to you, you were worried about these people chopping your arm off, remember?" But Harper wasn't listening. He exchanged a smile with a beautiful long-haired woman across the room who began to make her way towards him. "Harper?" But Trance couldn't get his attention. And he moved off to join the woman, placing an easy arm around her. She leaned close into his side.

Trance watched as the two of them left the main room together. Not good. Trance returned to her table in the corner and continued her intense conversation begun earlier.

Harper found Trance eating breakfast in the main room the next morning. He joined her at her table. She looked up as he sat down. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Refreshed and relaxed." But unlike his usual loquaciousness, there were no details forthcoming. Harper looked at Trance's plate. "Are you going to finish that?" Trance just shrugged and pushed the plate toward him. Harper bolted down the food hungrily.

"Good to see your appetite is healthy," Trance noted.

"Told you, I feel great." Harper looked across the room to where the woman from the night before had entered. She smiled at him and walked toward the door. Harper immediately stood up. "Think I'll go take a walk." But before he could move, Trance grabbed his wrist in a steel grip.

"You sure you want to do that? You got into trouble last night when you 'went for a walk'." Trance exposes the untouched skin of his arm where he'd been scratched the night before to make her point.

"Yeah, but as you can see, I'm fine. I plan on continuing to be fine. And I want to take a walk." With that, Harper exited the inn with the woman. Trance looked hard and long at the door as it closed behind him.

When Harper returned to his room later that afternoon, Trance was there waiting for him. "Harper, I think we need to leave here. Today."

But Harper wouldn't hear of it. "Don't be silly, Trance. We're having a good time. I don't want to leave now."

"A good time?" Trance looked at Harper incredulously. "Harper, do you even remember that you were hurt? Infected?" Harper waved these off as if incidental. Trance pressed him further, "Do you remember that you killed someone?" This seemed to annoy Harper more than disturb him.

"Yes, Trance. I remember. And I also remember my responsibility." Trance noticed Harper seemed to be carrying himself differently. Taller, somehow. His back was straighter. He seemed... completely confident. Now Trance definitely knew something was wrong.

"What responsibility is that, Harper?" Trance asked carefully.

"My responsibility to the others. To us." Harper was irritated at her questions. Why was she meddling in something that didn't have to do with her?

"Us, Harper? Who is 'us'?"

But Harper wouldn't answer. He was getting incredibly fidgety. He couldn't sit still and started to pace around the room. Trance made a decision.

"Okay, Harper, we're leaving. Right now. We'll find a transport and meet up with the Andromeda. I want you in the med deck or at least somewhere with a more advanced level of medicine as soon as possible." Harper's pacing increased but he didn't really connect to what she said.

"Leave? No. Not leaving. Staying. Staying." Harper turned abruptly toward the door. "Gotta go."

"Harper! Where are you going?" Trance tried to stop him, but wasn't quick enough.

"Out." But it came out as more gutteral than Harper's usual voice. Almost a growl. And then he was gone. Trance quickly exited behind him.

Out of doors and out into the fields alleviated the anxiety that had been building in Harper since he'd returned to the inn. He set off at a loping run through the tall grasses, not intentionally headed anywhere, just following where his legs took him.

After a time, he realized he was no longer alone, but that didn't concern him. In fact, he welcomed his companions with a joyous cry. Other vocalizations greeted him in recognition and reunion. Family. Home. Running.

One of those who ran was the woman he'd spent his recent time with. She playfully tackled him and they rolled over and over until she laughed, jumped up and ran off. He ran to catch her. This was good. The running. The chase. The group played an ongoing and complex form of tag until the sun went down and they stopped to rest. Lying all together, breathing heavily from the exertion. Harper hadn't felt so good, so free, ever before in his life. He was always running away it seemed. And here, he ran for the pleasure. He ran TO something. His friends. His people. The Others.

Harper shook his head. Something was wrong. An image in his head of a purple face, a blonde-haired woman, a dark-haired woman fading in and out, a tall muscular man, another man in a uniform. Then, one of the Others. No. Not Other. Like, though. A name through the haze. Rev Bem. Harper remembered fear and friendship with that one. He wasn't joyous though, like an Other. He was… sad. Harper wasn't sad. Harper was happy. He rolled over and looked at the Others, smiling. And then stopped. Something was happening. He felt strange. The Others stirred, expectant. They all moved slowly and formed a loose, protective circle around Harper. But Harper barely noticed. He felt so odd, ticklish, itchy. He stretched his arms and shoulders but couldn't shake the feeling that consumed him. He flexed his fingers out as far as they reach. Kicked off his boots which suddenly felt constrictive. And then a cramp, followed quickly by another. Pain shot through his body, but the Others just held the circle and smiled confidently. The pain quickly became crippling, forcing Harper into a fetal position. He reached out for the woman, any of the Others to help him. But they just waited expectantly. The woman's smile grew until it stretched impossibly across her face. Harper's vision faded in and out. What he could see of the Others were twisted, distorted images of bodies elongating, growing, changing. Harper looked down and saw his own body starting to do the same. He cried out as the change overtook him and his mind was consumed with the pain and the power and the urge to run. And He-Who-Had-Been-Harper leaped up and pushed his way out of the circle and ran. On all fours. And the Others howled their joy and followed.

They'd run for hours, and played their intricate and ritualistic games together. But the wind was changing, He-Who-Had-Been-Harper stopped and smelled the change. He looked up. It would be moons-rise soon he was aware, though he didn't know quite how. And then another smell. Familiar, but not quite identifiable. The Others had picked it up as well. But He-Who-Had-Been-Harper was the new one. This one was his. And the Others let him lead the chase.

They ran until they found the source of the smell and quickly encircled it, letting only He-Who-Had-Been-Harper get close enough to face it. He growled playfully, teasing. But it seemed unafraid. It was so little, it should be afraid, but it wasn't. This was puzzling, but ultimately irrelevant. He feinted towards it, but it stepped aside avoiding him. Ah, it would play the game. He stalked it in its small circle and realized it was making noises at him. Again that strange sense of familiarity.

"Harper," it said. "Harper, can you understand me?" It continued its dance avoiding him.

He-Who-Had-Been-Harper got more of those strange images in his head. He knew this one. But his hunger and his need pushed those thoughts back. Stalk. Chase. Taste. Join.

"Harper," it continued insistently. "It's me, Trance. Remember? Trance? We're best friends, remember?" He-Who-Had-Been-Harper shook his mane. His friends were the Others.

"I'm sorry, Harper. I really am. I should have stopped you before this." He-Who-Had-Been-Harper growled at her. Irrelevant. He was tired of its chatter. Tired of this game. Time to end it. He feinted right, then moved left to pounce his enormous bulk on this little purple one. At which point she pulled a rifle from behind her back and shot him point blank and took him down. A howling raged from the fields around her. But she was quickly joined by the man she'd been talking to back at the inn. And he had two more guns. The man guarded Trance who waited and watched as the knockout dart worked on Harper. And He-Who-Had-Been-Harper returned to his Harper form.

As Trance bent to lift him up, the man asked, "How did you know that was your friend?"

Trance, intent on getting Harper out of there, responded without looking at the man, "Just a guess." He guarded them as they returned to the edge of town where his small ship waited.

For the second time in several days, Harper awoke on a bed with Trance standing over him. Only this time Dylan and Beka were beside her. Harper eased himself up onto his elbows and took in his surroundings - the med deck back on the Andromeda. "Why do I seem to wake up here so often?"

"A good question, Mr. Harper," Dylan responded. "How can we break you of this habit?"

"Simple. Make me invincible and I'll never darken this doorstep again." Harper shook his head.

"Well, you were invincible for a while, but it really didn't suit you." Trance teased.

Harper thought for a moment and then remembered. "The Graycen. I was..."

"You were one of them. For a while." Trance looked pleased with herself.

"What happened?" Harper wasn't sure he wanted to know.

Dylan answered, "Trance. She knocked you out, dragged your carcass home and gave you a solid course of nanobots to counteract the Graycen infestation."

Harper looked down at himself. "So am I still..."

"Still a Graycen?" Trance finished. "No."

Harper felt a sudden loss at this revelation. "But..." All that belonging. That family. Friends. A home. A purpose.

"But you're back where you belong," Trance stated with conviction. "Back with your family."

And Harper looked up at the concerned faces that surrounded him. And couldn't disagree. And yet... a part of him still wished it was out there, strong, invincible, in the fields, with the Others. With a purpose.