Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Chapter 27: a new solution

Harper was fixing an early dinner when there was pounding on the berth door. He turned the burner off before moving to answer it, wondering who could possibly be needing him so desperately.

The moment he opened it, Alcott stormed through.

"You will fix this, Harper Harris," she demanded. "You told me you were going to talk to Cameron, and now another person is dead! And you know who's taking the fall? Levi and Dylan!"

She slapped him hard across the face. Harper took a step backward, rubbing his cheek.

"That is for getting me in the middle of all this," she continued. "But I have plenty more where that came from!"

"W...what?" he managed. "What are you talking about?"

"Dashiell has been investigating and realized the only person with access to places they shouldn't is Levi, and by proxy Dylan," Alcott explained. "They think that one of them stole a gun, crept into the various berths and shot a person in their sleep. You know what, when this wasn't hurting the people I cared about, I thought I could just shrug it off as an evil, but necessary thing. But now they're talking about house arrest and sentencing and death penalties and everyone in the whole venting base is already calling them guilty. You and I both know that is not the case. And I want you to fix it."

"I don't...." Harper was at a lost for words. "I don't know what to do. I'm not turning my partner over if they're talking about the death penalty. They don't have proof, not for Cameron, not for Levi and Dylan." He paused. "There's a way to show they didn't do it."

Alcott glared. "What?"

"We take out Lincoln," Harper suggested. "Tonight. If they're being watched then people will know they didn't do it."

She folded her arms. "Murdering someone is not the answer. It hasn't done a whole lot of good in the past two days and I don't see that adding to the list is going to make anyone any better off."

"But we still have the extra guns we found," Harper insisted, an idea forming. "We could kill Lincoln and Julius tonight and make it look like this was Lincoln's doing. Like he thought they were going to betray him or something."

"You watch too many movies," she scoffed.

"Alcott, even if we stop, that doesn't mean any murders stop. We know that Lincoln and Julius have guns. We can't let them attack the base again."

Alcott frowned, thinking. "What if," she said slowly. "What if you found Julius's gun and then planted all of them in Lincoln's room? We could even message from his own holo-rib something incriminating. That way they have to check his berth and they have to arrest him. But killing them isn't an answer. You've already made a four year old motherless. Eleanor is twelve. Madison has done so much good for the base; don't kill her partner. I wouldn't wish this," she gestured to herself; "on anyone."

Harper couldn't argue with that. He nodded mutely. Alcott breathed a sigh of relief.

"You should go," he said. "I'm so sorry I got you involved in this."

"I'm not," she replied. "You needed help. And I'll only go if you promise to call the moment something goes wrong. I'm not risking Dylan and Levi. Can I trust you to resolve this?"

Harper nodded. His cheek still stung, and Alcott look fierce enough to slap him again. She marched out of the room. He glanced at his holo-rib wondering how he could convince Cameron. He was reluctant and was a little ashamed that he didn't want to confront Cameron.

But he didn't have to message her because she walked through the door. She stopped when she saw him.

"What happened?" she asked. "You look...upset."

"We killed two people in two days," he said. "I don't think it's solving anything. I think we were wrong. And I don't know what to do."

Cameron raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Harper, if you have another suggestion, I'm all ears," she said. "But if you're asking me to feel guilty about killing either of them, then I can't do that. I want this base to be safe. And it's not safe with people like Lincoln roaming the halls."

He moved towards her, taking her hands in his. "Then can we set him up somehow? You know that congress can't ignore this; Lincoln can be a scapegoat. You wanted congress to take action, let them."

Harper knew this wasn't what Cameron wanted. He had been there since the beginning of planning and preparation. He knew how devastated Landing Day had made her feel, how helpless. He knew that she never wanted to feel so useless, so blind sighted. But they were strong, strong enough to have come up with a better option than murder. He had let her down.

"We're going to be parents," he said softly. "And I want our little girl to look up at us like we're heroes, not villains."

"Oh, so now it's a girl," she teased.

"I'm coming around," Harper laughed, twirling her around to wrap his arms around her shoulders, placing his hands on her stomach. He could barely believe that she was pregnant, and that somehow in three days he had gone from Harper Harris, repair crew, to Harper Harris, murderer and father.

"Let's message O'Keefe," Cameron suggested, leaning her head against his shoulder. "Let's talk about it. I'm not wholly opposed, I'm just...I don't think congress would actually do anything to Lincoln."

"Then you haven't heard about Dylan and Levi," Harper told her. When she didn't say anything, he continued. "They arrested Dylan and Levi as suspects. They're looking for evidence now."

"Oh. That's not good."

An understatement. Harper couldn't imagine how that had gone. He didn't imagine Levi putting up with being arrested, at certainly not allowing anyone to touch Dylan.

"Is that why you're worried?" Cameron inquired. "You think congress will convict them?"

"I don't know," he said honestly. "I'd just rather them not take the fall. I would turn myself in if it comes to that."

He hadn't thought about doing so before, but now that the statement was out of his mouth, Harper knew it was true. He was many things, but he didn't want to be a coward anymore. He wasn't going to let others face consequences when he wasn't willing to.

"Then it will not come to that," Cameron promised, kissing him on the cheek. "Message O'Keefe. I'm going to salvage the meal it looks like you started, and we will find a solution. Pas mal?"

"Merci, Cameron," he sighed. 

____

Alcott is quite the friend. If Dashiell was less...nefarious, I would have turned the couple in and saved Dylan and Levi; she did not. I know that the situation is unfortunately more nuanced than my solution though. Dashiell is a different problem, one that the base will have to address at some point. Thanks for reading!