The innocent-looking thing had rolled out of the envelope when it fell to the ground.
Crichton hadn't even noticed it at first when he moved all his new stuff towards his quarters.
Rygel's knack for detecting shiny objects lead him to finding the amulet and stuffing it down the back of his thronesled when no-one was looking.
It felt cold to the touch and it seemed to be humming. Rygel almost thought he could see the flicker of a raging fire in the reflection of the amulet, but then blamed it on his restless nights.
He pretended to complain the constant comings and goings of the others as they placed Crichton's new stuff in their new location, but he found himself taking a keen interest in a shipment of chocolate that had been placed in the cargo bay.
He took it upon himself to inspect the cargo. With no intention of eating any of it, of course.
He tried not to be as selfish any more these days. That was in the past, he told himself, as he looked upon the amulet in his paws again.
He couldn't stop himself from looking at it. At the fire.
Perhaps he should show it to Crichton. It could quite possibly hold some sentimental value.
Pretending not to have stolen it for the next couple of weeks would be a tiresome affair.
Yet he could not take his eyes off it. Touch it. He decided to hold on to it for a while.
"Yes, that will do." he told himself.
When Chiana violated his private space, suspicious of his behaviour in the doorway, by sticking her malfunctioning eyes into his face, he decided to leave. Quietly.
As Dominar all possessions were once his. Everything and everyone. He didn't have to care about anyone's feelings when he took what he wanted.
He knew that if he acted on his selfish instincts now he would be isolated from the others and it would get him nowhere. He would gain nothing.
He would be alone. Just like he was at the Casinos, wondering where Chiana'd gone. Actually worrying about her.
Worrying about himself. Realizing that he was helpless without the assistance of those that claimed to be his friends. Those that are his friends. The only people he actually started to trust and who trusted him. Cared for him.
He never cared for anyone at the Hynerian Court. All backstabbers and sycophants.
Traitors.
A thought crossed Rygel's mind. If he presented this amulet to Crichton now he would be welcomed as a friend.
If the amulet proved to hold some kind of sentimental value, it could prove to be a great investment into their relationship.
Perhaps one day his wormhole-knowledge will come in handy retaking his throne from Bishan.
Rygel smugly pictured the look on Bishan's face seeing his armada be swallowed up by the wormhole.
He turned the handle on his thronesled and sped into the opposite direction of the corridor.
"Crichton!" he cried out. "Where the hell is he when you need him? Crichton!"
If he didn't find Crichton he thought of keeping the trinket anyway. He was too tired to keep on looking for that blasted human. He was probably watching television in his quarters or annoying Pilot in Command.
-
"What the hell is this?" John asked and he showed Chiana the empty envelope he held between two casual fingers. He flipped it back and forth so Chiana could see both sides, although there wasn't really much point to it since both sides looked the same.
Chiana tilted herself to the side to watch it from an angle. Then she shrugged.
"I don't know. A piece of paper."
"An envelope." John said, examining the empty insides. He threw it away and it awkwardly flew up into the air only to land at his feet again.
"If you already knew, why ask me?"
"I don't know." John said, picking up the envelope again clutching the back of his black tee. "Why bring an empty envelope?"
"Maybe you wanted to post something." Chiana said. "Who cares? Envelope. En-velope. Enve-lope."
It was like she was practicing her lips talking English that sounded like gibberish to her. The game was in the changing of the emphasis. She chuckled, but John didn't understand why it was so funny.
"Hey, at least you got your books now." she said.
"Well, it doesn't feel the same." John revealed and Chi listened with a turn of her head.
"It feels like a dream. All of it. And it used to be the other way round."
Chiana snuck behind him and put her arms around him, sticking her smile in his neck.
"We're all dreaming, Earth boy." she said to him, and it was only when she started smelling his neck that he turned to face her.
That's when Rygel burst into the doorway with sweaty glands and nothing but panic in his eyes.
"This thing's glowing!" he cried out. "It's burning up!"
"Rygel, what the hell is that? Where the hell did you get it?"
Rygel desperately tried to unravel the amulet from the pockets of his faded royal robe whilst trying to keep his thronesled from bumping into the television.
He threw the amulet on the floor and it started beaming light. Crichton moved himself in front of Chiana, but the light blinded them both.
In a whirlwind of ash and fire a figure emerged screaming. Just particles at first, then bodyparts and organs, leather and flesh and finally platinum blonde hair.
Stumbling to regain his footing and senses the man in the black leather longcoat clutched his heart where the amulet once hung. His panic did not subside, instead rage became his defence mechanism.
Standing at the centre of this dark room he eyed his peculiar surroundings and the being in the hovering chair in front of him.
"What?" he managed to utter. "This is heaven? A slug?"
John had already reached for his weapon and was pointing it at the stranger, but he seemed unimpressed by it.
Memories rushed back to the man. "Buffy..."
"I died for this?" he added.
"He thinks he's dead..." Chiana said. John couldn't hold her back anymore.
"I'm not?" the man managed to piece together. "Then where the bloody hell am I?"
"You're not dead." Rygel spoke mysterious. "Yet."
The man roared and his face transformed. With yellow eyes and fangs he lunged at Rygel.
"Rygel!" John cried out too late, but before he realized it Rygel was still hovering in his spot, somewhat shaky, but unharmed.
The intruder had passed right through him and he was left standing at the other end of the room oblivious to what had just happened. The yellow eyes blinked stupidly back at the spot he just came from, until he realized the top half of his body was protruding out from a television set and the lower half was gone.
"Bugger."
-
He was sitting down for some reason. Strangely he could pass through solid objects but when it came to sitting down the chair held his weight. Sikozu was baffled by it.
"He should be passing through the floor, not sitting down! He should be in space! He should be dead!" she said.
"I already am dead." Spike said in his normal British accent. "I'm a vampire. Deal with it."
He caught their confused and stunned looks when he occasionally glanced past the gunbarrels pointed his way. There was really no point to it, but it made them feel safe.
D'Argo had already tried shooting him the first time they mentioned his ghost-like attributes and the blast went right through him and hit the wall.
"I don't know what you're so worried about, what with Tentacle Boy over there." Spike remarked, pointing at D'Argo. "He scares the crap out of me, because you know. ALIENS! Who would've thought that?"
Aeryn slammed the table with his fist to shut him up, but Spike had seen it all before.
"Are you the bad cop?" he asked. "What are you gonna do? Hurt my feelings?"
"Aeryn..." John said and with no other option Aeryn did back down, but not because John said so. Definitely not because John said so. She made sure not to return his stare and retreated into the corner.
"What's the matter? Trouble in paradise?" Spike said.
"None of your business." John spoke matter-of-factly. He cleared his voice of his gravelly tone. It came out of nowhere when Aeryn stopped looking at him.
"How did you come on board?" John asked.
"I have a name. It's Spike." he replied. "And I don't know how I got here. I already told you everything."
"Yeah. You're a vampire with a soul and you died saving the world. And we're supposed to buy that?"
"Well, it's the God's honest truth!" Spike cried out annoyed.
Chiana moved forward and Spike let her. Well, he had no choice. He felt like an animal at the zoo.
Her black eyes stared down on him and he turned away with a sigh, playing with his fingers.
"I don't believe him. He's lying!" she finally said.
"I'm not lying, sweetheart! How many times do I have to say that? I'm a changed man!"
"Changed?" Aeryn spoke.
"Yeah?" Chiana said with a smile. Then she dropped it. "We don't care."
"Well I don't care that you don't care." Spike said, getting up from his seat. Nobody could stop him. "Just point me to the nearest wormhole and I'll be on my way home."
"It doesn't work like that." John said, but Spike wouldn't listen. He just swaggered off in his leather longcoat as if he had somewhere to go.
Rygel got out of Spike's way even though he could walk right through him and not feel a thing.
Crichton would've stayed if the tension wasn't taking up all the space. He waited for Aeryn to say something, knowing she was sensing him too.
It was like a staring contest, but neither of them were looking at each other. Crichton tried, but his own guilt got in the way.
When he tried to make the first move Aeryn walked away.
D'Argo sighed audibly.
"Don't." John said to the big guy. "I know what you're going to say."
"John..." D'Argo tried in vain.
"It's complicated."
"Personal relationships aside..." Sikozu interjected with strict clenched teeth. Chiana waited for the boys to pay attention, but Aeryn was all they could think of even after she left.
"What are we going to do with Spike?"
"What about Spike?" Chiana asked. "It's not like we can do anything about him."
Crichton rubbed his brow then remembered seeing Spike's face transform similarly so he stopped. The headache didn't go away though.
"The question is...can we trust him?" Sikozu stated and D'Argo agreed with big breaths.
"I agree. We can't trust him. You said there are no such thing as vampires. That means he's lying..."
"Yeah, well, four years ago I didn't think there were such things as aliens!" John said then sighed.
"I don't think Spike wants to be here more than we want him here. But I could be wrong."
"I'll ask Pilot to keep Spike under surveillance." D'Argo said before leaving. "I think he can spare some DRD's."
John picked the amulet up from the table. It weighed almost nothing.
"Ask Pilot to run a full spectrum analysis on this thing. Someone slipped this into my pocket and I want to know why."
He handed Sikozu the amulet. She delicately examined it with her eyes, before leaving.
"Do we have a sign out back that says 'bed and breakfast'?" John asked Chiana.
"D'you know what we need?" Chiana asked. "Drinks."
"Oh God, yes."
It was strange, but it didn't surprise John at all to find Spike in the diner. He was complaining about the smell coming from Noranti's stews.
"I may be a ghost, but I can still smell." he said. "Is this any way to treat a guest?"
The DRD's had finally caught up with Spike's aimless wanderings down the corridor and found him in the diner.
"Took them long enough." Spike said. "They're right annoying, them lot. What are they, robots?"
"Something like that." Crichton said.
"Someone sent me here." Spike told Crichton. "Sent me on the bloody spaceshuttle, just to get rid of me! You need to take me back!"
"Back where?" Chiana asked.
"To Earth!" Spike said. "I thought that was obvious. Listen, just find yourself another one of those wormhole thingies and pop me back down! I'm not staying on this bloody spaceship!
"Frell! Why's everything bloody with you?" Chiana asked.
"Frell?" Spike said. "You make as much sense to me, girl! With your grey fluffy hair and leather curves. I've seen a lot of demons in my time, but you don't look like any of them. It's all alien and..."
He had another good look at Chiana.
"...sexy."
"Could we just get back to the point?" John interjected. "You're not supposed to be here."
"Bloody right I'm not."
"So what do you want me to do about it?"
Spike regained his thoughts.
"You brought me here." he said. "The least you could do is bring me back."
-
Spike spent the next two days as Moya travelled to the nearest wormhole sitting in Crichton's quarters watching old videotapes. Bored out of his wits, he couldn't stand the company of Frog Prince and Army Chick anymore.
"She's got a right stick up her arse." he said to D'Argo in passing as he left Aeryn standing alone in Command.
D'Argo contemplated his words. He'd tried to have this discussion before, but Aeryn always dismissed him before he could get a sentence out.
"What did Spike do?" he asked.
Aeryn didn't even look up from the console when she spoke.
"He talked." she said. "It's the only thing he can do, so he won't stop doing it."
"What did he say?" D'Argo asked, but then Aeryn turned silent and it only made D'Argo more curious.
"Did he insult you? What?" D'Argo spoke, lingering in the doorway.
"He-" Aeryn said, before swallowing her thoughts and another awkward silence fell.
"Aeryn..."
"He meddled with things that don't concern nor involve him." she spoke blunt.
"Does it involve me?" D'Argo asked and Aeryn stopped working for the shortest moment.
D'Argo walked to her side and she almost let him.
"No. It does not."
"Aeryn..." D'Argo said, but she put up her defences with a single look when she turned to face him.
"No, D'Argo." she said. "You should've told me."
She pushed aside his reaching arm.
"No. He lied to me."
"You lied to him."
"That's different."
"He loves you, Aeryn." D'Argo finally said. "But trust. That takes time."
He loves you. That's what Spike said.
-
"Love," Noranti said. "is a complicated matter."
Spike passed by her door and took a step back once he heard her random words.
She invited him into the chamber with an alluring and mysterious hand gesture which Spike found a bit overdramatic.
"Come," she said. "Come in, Spike."
He didn't ask how she knew his name. They hadn't yet met. Spike stepped in with a reluctant swagger, his hands buried deep into the pockets of his coat.
"What do you know about love, old woman?" Spike asked.
Smoke billowed out of pots and pans in the dark diner.
"Are you brewing potions in that cauldron of yours?"
"Oh, this isn't magic." Noranti said.
"I'm glad. Magic never works."
"But if it could restore your physical form, would you do it?"
Spike perked up. "Can you?"
Noranti chuckled, much like a witch. Spike couldn't stand it.
"Don't mess with me, lady." he said. "I've got better things to do than to smell your poison."
"Like what?" she asked when his back was turned and he froze.
"Your problem is not physical, Spike." Noranti said when she walked up to him.
"It's in your mind."
"Oh, bloody hell, not a psychiatrist!"
She stepped in his way.
"Listen to me." Noranti spoke. Her third eye was glowing. "When will your aimless wanderings end?"
He stepped right through her and disappeared right through walls.
"You've always been a ghost, Spike." Noranti spoke to thin air. "You just didn't know it."
-
"Does that three-eyed witch always talk mumbo-jumbo?"
"Tell me about it." John said, taking a zip from his beer.
They were watching an old football match together in the dark.
Silent at first, glad to be in the company of another human being. Or former human being.
But Spike didn't really care about football.
"Shouldn't you be out there? Making up with your girlfriend? Making out with your girlfriend?"
John's face did not change. Not a muscle flinched as he watched the screen.
Spike watched him, until he got the message.
"It's complicated." John finally said.
"Works for me." Spike replied.
After another deep zip Crichton asked: "What are you going to do when you get back home?"
Spike thought about it.
"I don't know." he said. "Make a fuss. Have a beer. After I find someone to recorporealize me, of course. I know a good witch that can help."
"Witches. Vampires. I still can't get my head around it."
"Yeah, they're real, all right." Spike said. "We're like rats. Under the surface."
"I remember me, my mom and my dad going shopping and being mugged by this stranger in the basement car park. He had this yellow eyes. My mom told me that it was just a hobo. My dad fought him off. I still don't know how."
"Yeah, that was one of us." Spike said. "Your dad was lucky."
"I was lucky."
"Now look at us."
On the television, the kicker scored a field goal.
"Still, it could be worse." Crichton said.
"I died saving the world and got nothing. You're John Crichton the astronaut. The explorer. People will sing songs of you."
"I don't care about the fame."
"Of course, you don't. It's not why we do it. But you'd at least expect a pat on the shoulder. Something."
Crichton turned to Spike.
"Thanks for saving the world, Spike." he said.
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Spike spoke and he sat upright in his seat.
"You're welcome."
Another silence.
"I've got nothing." Spike said again. "You've got something here, John. Don't screw it up."
He tapped John on the shoulder and both realized suddenly that they'd actually touched.
Spike did not pass through him.
"What'd you know?" Spike said. "There's hope for me left."
-
John carried the amulet for Spike.
They'd all gathered in the Maintenance Bay for Spike's goodbye. The inner docking bay doors were opened.
Aeryn folded her arms as she watched Noranti step up to whisper into his ear.
"You will remember my advice, vampire?" she said and he told her he would with the full intention of forgetting it the moment he stepped aboard the Pod.
D'Argo bid Spike farewell with a simple kind nod. Spike returned it with a polite smile.
"Go and reclaim your empire." Rygel said and Spike thanked him awkwardly.
"Let's go." John said, but Spike wasn't done yet.
"Hey, grey girl." he said and Chiana got up close.
"I'm sorry I watched you in the shower."
"It's okay." Chiana said. "I don't mind anymore."
She threw him a cheeky smile. He liked it.
In an intimate moment she reached her hand up to his face and gently stroked his cheek.
Then after a breath or two she looked him in the eyes. "Can you feel that?"
"Like fire." Spike said.
"Liar." she smiled.
When she retreated back Spike's eyes found Sikozu and saw that she had brought Scorpius along with her.
"So you must be the big, bad beast?" Spike asked him after a closer look.
Scorpius was unimpressed, but shared the same intrigued look.
"You don't look that dangerous. At least, I've seen worse."
He enjoyed teasing him, after all he'd heard of Crichton.
"Bye then." he said and he left for the Pod.
Crichton was going to drop him off back home.
Then something caught John's hand. It was Aeryn.
"I'm coming with you." she said.
John let her pass.
-
"Someone sent me up there with you." Spike said to John. "Someone doesn't want me messing up their plans back on Earth. Sounds like a challenge to me."
"Good luck, Spike." John said. "Stay out of trouble."
"Have one on me, mate."
After Aeryn buried the amulet in a place only Spike would remember, Spike watched them enter the Pod and fly back into the air.
He'd probably never see them again.
He took a careful look at the dense forest that now surrounded him.
"Where the bloody hell am I?"