EXTRA: Cameron and Harper

78 10 4
                                    

How are you doing, Harper? Still in the cast?

Harper: I'm going to be in the cast forever. I kid, but only a little. I am so glad I'm not in builds anymore. Edison would make fun of how little I lift now. Cameron already teases me.

Cameron: I do not. I make fun of him when he drops normal things, like cups and plates. He can't blame me for that. It's ridiculous, though I will also admit that I'm glad that he isn't in builds. Archives is a better fit for him, and he won't have such odd hours.

Harper:  I would have been even happier in communications, but it's fine. I'm still working with tekcom. From the texts and files I have seen,  Earth had a lot of tech that we have lost. I'm a bit excited to get that data to our other departments. Who knows how many years of research we can save?

So you don't feel as strongly about being moved without consent?

Harper: As who? Levi? Not really. Don't get me wrong, I think it's wrong that he was moved, but I had just moved to communications and I can't work in builds anymore. If they had put me somewhere without tekcom, I think I would have been more upset. It's just...I know I'm new to the base, but we've been in flux since Taylor was killed. The rules that we thought were fact aren't anything more than the unchallenged status quo. I mean, we got away with murder, actual murder. 

Cameron: Harper...

Harper: She knows. Don't you?

I do. 

Harper: Exactly. So you know what I mean. We got caught. There were bodies littered throughout the base. And we made the point that we have no plan for crime very very clear. Too clear, because nothing happened to us. All because we could pin it on O'Keefe and people wanted to hate him. 

Cameron: Harper...

Harper:  No, stop "Harper'ing me. O'Keefe was my friend and now his lasting legacy is that he's a murderer? He helped us.

Cameron: He was a murderer! Hundreds of people died because of him. A couple more is not going to add significant weight to his list of misdeeds. I don't feel bad about the lie, and neither should you. O'Keefe pulled the trigger. Or what, you want to blame Alcott for saving your life, probably mine as well? She killed Lincoln that night. 

Harper: No. I am grateful to her. I don't know what we would have done.  I just wish that I could take back my involvement, and I guess -to sort of return to your original question- I think my being in archives against my will is my penance for those actions. 

Cameron: That is rotated. If you don't want to work there, you should say something. 

Harper: Oh, like Levi did? Because that went over so well. I'm in archives because we caught Dashiell's attention. You've become his confidante, and I feel like any and all of our secrets have been laid bare so Dashiell can use our skills for political maneuvers.

Cameron:  You don't know that. You've never talked to the man.

Harper: You're right, which makes all of this so much weirder. He doesn't know me. He doesn't really know you. And I'm not totally sold that Dashiell is the solution to the chaos around here. Dylan ousted him in one meeting.

Cameron: It was just congress. He can contest the vote when the whole base votes next week. I don't to fight about this, Harper. Not in the middle of an interview. 

Harper: Oops. Sorry.

It's fine. You two represent two sides of many of the arguments no one will voice in the base's halls. I think it's important to air these grievances so that people can have dialogue instead of thinking privately one way and saying something entirely different. And plus, it doesn't sound like you two are talking about this at home.

Harper:  Not really.

Cameron: I don't like arguing with Harper.  He's the one who keeps trying to fight about this. I'm too glad he's still alive. 

Harper: Babe, I'm fine.

Cameron: Easy for you to say. I had your blood all over me, Harper. You are still in a wheelchair. And you know what I promised myself when I knew that you were still alive? I would do anything to built this base back up. For you, for our child, I want a better place to live. I owe you that much. Many of other members of congress aren't as interested in change as Dashiell, and at least with him, I know that we are moving. Maybe not always forward, but moving nevertheless. 

Harper:  I'm not convinced that moving backward is better than being stagnant. And I wasn't around long enough to know if Taylor was keeping things so...stationary. But I am sorry that you were so worried about me. Of course that night backfired, but if I had to choose my getting shot over you, I would choose me every time, Cameron. I'm not pregnant with our child. I'd get shot all over again to protect you and you need to realize that you don't have to compensate for that. That's just how relationships -caring for one another- work. Deal with it. Sorry, we seem to be just airing our drama in this interview. 

It's okay. I think, right now, many people may feel this about the world we live in. It's difficult to get along with people who share such different views as you. And I think it's a testament that you two have remained not only partners, but friends through this process. It's an important example.

Cameron: Thank you. But I should get Harper back to the berth; he needs to take a nap whether he realizes it or not.

Harper: Cameron.....

Cameron: No complaints, doctor's orders, Harper Harris.






If Jove StrayWhere stories live. Discover now