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Harper
Seamus Zelazny Harper
Alias: Harper
Gender: Male
Species: Human, Cyborg
Height: 5' 6" (1.68 m)
Planet of Origin: Earth
Nation-State: Earth
Eureka Maru
Andromeda Ascendant
Universe/Reality: Milky Way Galaxy
Profession: Engineer
Ship Position: Chief Engineer
Age: 35
Status: Alive
Played By: Gordon Michael Woolvett
Family
Mother: Unnamed (deceased)
Father: Unnamed (deceased)
Aunt: Unknown
Uncle: Unknown
Cousin: Brendan Lahey
Isaac
Declan (deceased)
Siobhan (deceased)
Chronological and General Info
Era: Long Night
New Systems Commonwealth
Affiliation: New Systems Commonwealth
Enemy: Magog
Nietzscheans
Harperother

Seamus Zelazny Harper is a denizen of the planet Earth as well as the chief engineer of the Eureka Maru and Andromeda Ascendant. He is responsible for creating Rommie and well as a number of other devices.

History[]

Harper is a member of the Andromeda Ascendant crew and is the engineer and fix-it man. Harper is the only member of the Andromeda's crew born and raised on post-Systems Commonwealth Earth, specifically in Boston. After the Fall, it was conquered by the wealthy and powerful, ruling Nietzschean Pride called the Drago-Kazov Pride, who treated unengineered humans poorly, and its inhabitants were frequently attacked by the Magog. The human denizens of Earth lived in poverty and conflict, which prompted Harper to run away. His only surviving relation is his cousin, Brendan Lahey, who he abandoned on earth. His parents and cousin Isaac were killed by Nietzscheans in separate incidences, while cousins Declan and Siobhan were infested with Magog eggs and "euthanized" by their family. When he was approximately 20 years old, Seamus Harper was hired by Bobby Jensen for a one-time-gig, under the guise of transporting computers which were actually missiles. After learning that Bobby had lied to her, Beka Valentine broke up with Bobby and hired Harper as the new engineer of the Maru. Harper joined the Andromeda crew in 303 AFC (After the Fall of the Systems Commonwealth) (CY 10087) along with Beka and the rest of the Maru crew: Trance Gemini, and Rev Bem. He has a dataport on the upper right side of his neck, under and behind his right ear, allowing him to enter computers using his mind.

Inventions[]

Harper is an expert in many areas. He is skilled in the fields of nanotechnology, quantum physics, 4th degree equations, Slipstream engineering, and Android manufacturing. Harper has made many machines that would be considered miracles; such as a teleporter, an electromagnetic cloaking device ("M-Bender" ("The Warmth of an Invisible Light"), an upgraded Nova bomb, Time Travel equipment, the Time Bridge, a machine to open rifts into other dimensions, sentient slipfighters, and many different types of nanobots.

Alternate Reality[]

In an alternate reality where the Commonwealth never fell, Harper is part-cybernetic and had studied the writings of the Dylan Hunt of that world. He became the leader of the Commonwealth, but ended up corrupted by the Abyss and became an evil dictator, with Rhade as his second in command and Beka opposing him. The Rommie and Beka of that reality, along with Trance, teamed up with Dylan to overthrow Harper in a fight on the Andromeda. After an encounter with Dylan, Harper began to rethink his ways and decided to surrender, but was killed by Rhade. ("The Warmth of an Invisible Light")

Relationships[]

Rommie[]

As Harper's finest creation, in more ways than one, Rommie occupies a special place in Seamus' heart. Originally a routine maintenance robot, Harper redesigned her from the ground up and helped shape her into the magnificent android she is today.

Doyle[]

Dylan Hunt[]

Dylan Hunt and Harper have had a good relationship. Dylan has often asked Harper to build machines that would help him to do the impossible, and they remain good friends, though Harper often jokingly complains about Dylan's luck with the ladies. Harper has been willing to risk his life for Dylan. He also tends to call Dylan "boss."

Beka[]

Beka is like Harper's big sister, they both care deeply about each other, and they lived together for many years on the Maru. In fact without Beka it's quite possible that Harper would have never made off Earth because it was a young Beka Valentine that gave Seamus his first taste of space.

Tyr[]

Harper was never entirely trusting of Tyr Anasazi, always keeping at the back of his mind that Tyr was a Nietszchean, and out for himself (not to say this belief was unfounded or ever disproven), however a strong friendship develops between the two over the course of the series, despite the fact that Tyr's nickname for Harper is "Annoying Little Man". More than once, Tyr breaks with his instinct for self-preservation to put his life on the line for Harper, and Harper does the same, setting aside his distrust of Nietszcheans from time to time and trusting Tyr. Harper even went so far as to hug Tyr upon his return in "Immaculate Perception", to which Tyr affectionately tousles Harper's hair. Before Tyr left, he admitted that Harper made him laugh "on the inside, at least" and he hoped they would meet again so Harper could make him laugh. When Tyr held Harper captive, he threatened to kill Harper, but claimed Harper wasn't worth a bullet when Harper challenged him. Harper took this to mean that Tyr did still care about him.

The Harper/Tyr friendship could also be seen as symbolic of the greater relations between Nietszcheans and Humans, in how they can get along when they see qualities they respect in the other, but generally look suspiciously across the table.

Trance[]

Trance and Harper often referred to each other as "best friends", both in the series and in the Coda. In Trance's first form, Harper and Trance often performed their duties together, both being not as physical-combat oriented and more stealth and tech savvy. Both were also the more light-hearted and joking of the crew, neither taking most situations too seriously.

Harper becomes uncharacteristically aggressive and violently protective when Trance is harmed or threatened. He is the first to suggest that the Maru crew kill Gerentex after he "kills" Trance. In Fear and Loathing in the Milky Way, Harper comes to Trance's defense in a rare show of honor and self-sacrifice when Gerentex threatens her as well.

After Trance swaps with her future self, Harper admits he is intimidated by her and pushes her away. The two do reach an understanding and become amiable again, but they never appear to be quite as close as they were in the beginning of the series. However, from the beginning, this Trance shows that she cares deeply about Harper: when given the chance to save Hohne by shutting down the tesseract generator which is what Harper wants, she chooses to save Harper instead at the cost of Hohne, saying that while she doesn't know if it will change the future, she wanted to save her best friend.

Telemachus Rhade[]

As with Tyr, Harper doesn't initially have a close relationship with Rhade and is often intimidated by him. Most of this seems to stem from his hatred of Nietzcheans and hurt from Tyr's betrayal. They eventually develop a more openly bantering exchange style as time goes on. Harper occasionally shows that he cares about Rhade as seen in the last episode: when Beka went to help Rhade aboard Andromeda when he was low on fuel after a battle, Harper went with her saying that while Rhade is a Nietzchean, he's also his friend.

Rev Bem[]

Despite Harper holding personal resentment toward the Magog for killing his cousins on Earth, he had a close friendship with Rev Bem. Though he always acknowledged Bem as a Magog, he often worked with him and tolerated him as a crewmember and friend, even tolerating Bem's pretend attempts to eat him in "Under the Night." Harper only harbored animosity towards Bem when he was overstimulated with visions of carnage brought on by Magog in "Harper 2.0," though he reconciled with Bem and practiced some of the prayers Bem taught him to overcome his adversity. Harper also apologized, explaining to Bem that the insults he had been possessed to exclaim to Bem was not of his will, which Bem accepted. Harper accepted Bem's attempts to help him hold back his Magog infestation through medication and expressed disappointment at Bem's departure from the crew.

Romance[]

Harper's instinctive pursuit of practically every beautiful woman whom he meets is often the catalyst for the crew's manifold adventures. Having said that, he makes considerable sacrifice, and takes great risks for Rommie without seeming to believe she will ever reciprocate his feelings.

Satrina Leander[]

Harper had a brief romance with the Abyss agent, Satrina Leander. He became interested in her Dataport and tesseract generator. Mainly, she pulled out a few of his Magog larvae, but she wanted the All Systems University database. Though advised by Trance against it, Harper managed to locate the database but sends a fake that deletes itself. He also had it as a Trojan Horse, tracking Satrina's location. He activates an interference pattern in the grav-generators beneath her feet, making her phase-shifting abilities impossible. He takes her device and tries to extract the rest of the eggs but is unsuccessful. With everyone in danger of being killed by Satrina's cohorts, he destroys her ship, disabling their Tesseract generators. As he thinks he has her in custody, though clearly interested in pursuing some form of relationship, Satrina smiles and waves farewell to him before vanishing in a cloud of smoke, upsetting Harper.

Lyra[]

Harper also briefly pursued a quasi-relationship with lieutenant Orac's second officer, Lyra with whom he immediately flirted with but who also appeared genuinely interested in him. Since she was from Vera City, a place in which lying was prohibited and truth was a necessity, Harper believed she genuinely was attracted to him. He expressed much of his thoughts and emotions to her, with which she seemed to agree with. They shared a brief kiss before being separated by Beka. Harper insisted on staying in touch with Lyra to which she seemingly agreed. However, upon trying to reach her, he found she had lied to him this entire time since she had not been on Vera, and therefore was not obligated to tell the truth, leaving Harper disappointed.

Trivia[]

  • His middle name is in memory of the great SF writer Roger Zelazny, who also had Irish background.
Current members
 · Andromeda Ascendant  · Andromeda Ascendant Artificial Intelligence  · Beka Valentine  · Doyle  · Dylan Hunt  · Rommie  · Seamus Harper  · Telemachus Rhade  · Trance Gemini  ·
Andromeda logo
Former members
 · Fatima Novarro  · Gaheris Rhade  · Iskander Hassan  · Kim Jong San  · Kylie Vance  · Maisus nax Sinque  · Perim  · Rev Bem  · Stam  · Thabo Xhosa  · Tristan Selvig  · Tyr Anasazi  · Yukio Cooper  ·
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