Chapter 1 – Food, Glorious Food
"OK, Pilot, I got a real good feelin' about this
one." John Crichton, Earth astronaut
turned the Uncharted Territories' Most Wanted, looked out of the command
window. He crossed his fingers on both hands
and grimaced slightly, preparing himself for possible bad news. "What's the verdict?"
He was standing alongside his friends and shipmates: D'Argo,
the Luxan warrior; Chiana, the young Nebari rebel; Hynerian Dominar Rygel XVI
(deposed) and ex-Peacekeeper Officer Aeryn Sun. All of them were staring at the planet looming large before them,
as they had at others, four or five times in the last weeken; holding their
breath.
Microts passed.
"Come on, Pilot!
You're killing me here."
Crichton groaned.
A few more microts went by.
"PILOT!" D'Argo's
voice boomed out. "What the hezmana
is taking so long?"
Aeryn frowned. "Shouting at him isn't going to help."
In his chamber at the heart of the living ship, Pilot's four
arms moved over the controls as he collected and processed the information
available. " Moya's sensors indicate a breathable atmosphere
comprising..."
" Don't blind us with the science. Just tell us; is
it yes…or no?"
"I believe it is…yes."
Pilot slight nod was captured in what Crichton persisted in calling the
'clamshell'.
Three relieved sighs could be heard in the command along
with Chiana's tinkling laughter and Rygel's triumphant "Yotza!"
It had been a tough two months. Since leaving the Diagnosian's surgery on the frozen planet, they
had had a run in with some Peacekeepers, which forced them into a long game of
hide and seek followed by a hasty starburst straight into the path of some very
determined space pirates. By the time
they had lost their pursuers, they had found themselves in a very barren part
of the Uncharted Territories. Most of
the planets were dead, or had unbreathable atmospheres and, unable to find
supplies, their existing food stocks had quickly dwindled. Rationing had been in place for weekens; all
of them taking a little less to allow Zhaan a little more in the hope it would
help her fight the illness that had already begun to take its toll. What little they had had finally ran out
three days ago and the water supply was getting dangerously low.
"Someone must go down to the planet's surface immediately
and ensure that it is safe." D'Argo
turned from the window to look at the others.
Rygel floated forward on his throne sled. "Safe!
I'll be dead if I don't eat in the next 8 arns. Someone must go down there and bring back food!"
Aeryn placed her hand over the Hynerian's face and pushed
him away with an irritated "Tut."
Crichton smiled at the little Dominar's affronted
expression. "We're all hungry, Ryg."
"But I suspect that you, your Eminence, have been better fed
than the rest of us these past few days."
D'Argo said bitterly.
"I resent that! I
shared my food stores with you."
"As I recall, you denied you had any food stored, right up
until the point that Aeryn threatened to blow your mivonks off!" Chiana said, quite matter of factly. "If it wasn't for the fact that your fear
overcame your selfish greed then you would have let us all starve to death,
wouldn't ya?"
"You should be thanking me. It is only my
foresight that has kept us alive and don't any of you forget it!"
"Yeah, you're a regular hero alright, Buckwheat." Crichton drawled, rolling his eyes.
Aeryn made an impatient sound. "I agree with D'Argo. We
should send someone down now to make sure it's safe. We know nothing about this planet and there is no sense in us all
walking into danger. If food is readily
available then fine; if not, we will wait until tomorrow." She turned her head slightly towards the clamshell. "Pilot.
Has Moya identified any settlements?
Anywhere we could buy food?"
"I have not been able to locate any settlements, but it is
possible that you may be able to find enough food until we reach an
inhabited planet."
"Find?" Rygel sounded
shocked. "As in pick, trap and
hunt? Ourselves?" He involuntarily shivered.
"Yeah?" Chiana
grinned. "Well, I think it
sounds kinda fun!" She giggled
"Well, you and Jothee are staying here." D'Argo told her. He did not miss the look of hurt that flashed over Chiana's
features.
"You can count me out, too." Rygel groused.
"Well, that can only work to our advantage." Aeryn snapped, stepping towards Rygel and
grabbing him.
"Aeryn." Crichton
said softly. To his relief she backed
off, but not before giving the Hynerian's throne sled a little push.
"Brute violence."
Rygel said with disgust, hovering towards the group again. "Always a Peacekeeper's first resort. Old habits die hard, eh Aeryn?"
"Shut up, half pint, or I'll beat you to a pulp
myself!" Crichton pushed the throne
sled away once more, but he sounded more tired than angry. "So we're agreed that someone is going down
there. Who?"
"I'll go." Aeryn
said firmly. "It'll give me something
to do" she smiled slightly at Crichton "and get me away from that annoying
little slug."
"Charming." Rygel
muttered under his breath. If anyone
heard him they gave no sign.
"Very well." D'Argo
nodded.
"Looks kinda wet down there." Crichton mused, looking back at the planet.
" Around 95% of the planet's surface area is underwater, but
the rest supports rich and varied vegetation."
Pilot informed him.
Aeryn began to move off towards the hanger, but looked back
when Crichton lightly caught her arm.
"Want some company?"
"No need. I'll just
have a look around and com you if I find anything interesting." She began to
move away again.
He nodded, forcing himself to be satisfied with her
answer. Ever since what he
euphemistically called 'the accident' and her miraculous, but costly, return,
his instinct had been to try to protect Aeryn and keep her close by. Strange really, considering that of the two,
she was the superior soldier and pilot; infinitely better suited to surviving
in this part of the universe than him.
And then there were the circumstances of her death and his part in
it. He sometimes wondered if she might
not be safer further away from him rather than closer. He pushed these thoughts from his mind and
flashed her a smile. "Be careful." He
turned with the intention of joining D'Argo, who seemed to be grilling Pilot
about something or other, but turned back when he heard his name.
"John?" Aeryn looked
at him solemnly. "You should ask Stark whether this planet might help
Zhaan. Pilot said it supported rich and
varied vegetation…" She tailed off.
"I will." He
promised, watching as she moved away from him and out of sight.
He knew she was desperate to find some way of curing
Zhaan. He knew how guilty she felt and
wondered if she blamed him too. It
hardly mattered; he blamed himself.
While Aeryn's revival might be the reason for Zhaan dying, he was the
root cause. If he had somehow been able
to fight the neural chip Scorpius placed in his head; if he had managed to
control his behaviour that day; if he hadn't caused irreparable damage to
Aeryn's prowler, forcing her to abandon her craft and fall to her icy, watery
death, then Zhaan would never have had to expend her life force bringing Aeryn
back to life. Back to him.
Crichton looked up to see D'Argo watching him, with an
unreadable expression on his face. He
activated his com.
"Hey, Stark?"
"Crichton. What is
it?" Stark's whisper came back.
"We've finally found a planet where we might be able to get
some food." He paused. " How is she?"
"Resting for now.
She needs to eat though. If she
doesn't eat then…"
"Yeah, we know, Stark." He glanced at D'Argo. " We've seen
Zhaan's homicidal budding phase before."
He sighed. "Listen, I need you
to come up to command and hear what Pilot has to say about this planet. Chiana'll watch Zhaan."
"You…you think that maybe…?"
"I don't know, man.
I just think you should come up here and take a look."
"Yes…yes, of course."
Crichton closed his com. "Chi, can you go and sit with Zhaan
for a bit?"
"Sure." The little
Nebari nodded, looking from Crichton to D'Argo before heading for the
door. Crichton watched her go,
absentmindedly rubbing at the back of his neck.
"Do you really believe that this could be the planet that
Zhaan needs?" D'Argo asked softly.
" I don't know." He
looked at his friend sadly. "I don't
even know if such a planet exists."
"Stark seems to think so."
"Yeah, he does."
Crichton nodded slowly. " But I'm not so sure about Zhaan."
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The first thing that Aeryn had noticed about the planet was
that what dry land existed was split into a series of islands, each one made up
of hills. There was very little flat
land anywhere and she had found it quite difficult to find a place to land the
transport. Each island seemed to be
covered in trees and other vegetation, making it difficult to see for any
distance once on the ground and she had to walk to the top of one of the hills
to get a better look at her surroundings.
The heat from the sun was enough to make her sweat but posed
no danger at its current strength; she would ask Pilot later to work out how
hot it could get. Sitting on a
large rock, she surveyed the scene before her.
Every direction she looked she saw blue and green; water, sky and
plants. There were trees bearing fruit
everywhere. She had seen many birds,
although none large enough for eating, and in spite of the fact she had seen no
other animals, given the habitat, she felt sure that some were present.
She was surprised to find that, even after she had completed
her assessment of her surroundings, she was reluctant to move. She rarely got
the time to sit by herself and do nothing. She rarely wanted to. There was
always something to repair on Moya, or some danger to fight or escape or
avoid. But it was really very pleasant
here. Peaceful. She closed her eyes and
lifted her head towards the sun, enjoying its warmth. It hadn't been that long ago that she thought that she would
never feel warm again; thought that she would never feel anything again. But yet here she was. Alive. Because Crichton loved her. Because she loved him. Because, knowing this, Zhaan had chosen to
make the ultimate sacrifice. Most days
Aeryn wished that her friend had chosen differently.
She sighed; her peace destroyed. She spoke into her com. "Crichton."
"Aeryn, yeah.
Everything OK down there?"
"Yes. It looks
promising. I'm going to bring some
fruit and water back with me now for testing.
I haven't seen any other food source, but I'm sure that there must be
edible animal life here."
"Alright. Bring back
some soil samples with you and some leaves and stuff too."
A pause. "What did
Stark say?"
Crichton sighed. "I don't think he knows exactly what he's
looking for. And with Zhaan so weak
right now, he's not getting too much help.
Examining those samples might help though." He closed his eyes and pictured the disappointed expression that
he knew would be on her face now. It
matched his own. "We'll see you
soon." He said softly.
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Two arns later, Aeryn was back on Moya, planning a murder.
She had had just about all she could take of Dominar Rygel
XVI. The past two monens had been
difficult for everyone, but Rygel had made it worse by complaining and sulking
at every opportunity. He had to be
forced to share his food stores with the rest of the crew but, like D'Argo, she
strongly suspected that he had kept some back and had been eating over the past
four days when everyone else had been starving. She had always known that the Hynerian was selfish, but this time
he had taken it too far.
She was confidant that she could get D'Argo to help her
flush the little zannet out of an air lock, but convincing Chiana might be a
problem. And she knew that Crichton would never agree. And then there was Zhaan… Frell! She scowled, annoyed that her plan was
doomed to failure. Why couldn't they
see how useless and troublesome he was?
Maybe she could persuade them to abandon him on the next inhabited
planet. She looked over at the little
Hynerian…that might work. But even as
she thought about it she knew that John would never agree to leave Rygel
anywhere against his will, no matter what he had done. She surprised herself by smiling a
little. That was Crichton. Always loyal. Always looking for the good in everybody. The Uncharted
Territories had changed him but it had not managed to make him cynical. She didn't think that she'd ever been
anything else.
Rygel banging his beaker down on the table brought her
attention back to the dining chamber.
"I can't live on fruit alone." Rygel moaned.
"You live for weekens on end on stale food cubes, Spanky,
how can you turn your snout up at fresh fruit?"
"It upsets my stomachs."
He continued to grumble.
"Well, this has gotta be a first…" Crichton laughed
"Rygel, I thought that you'd eat dirt if you were hungry enough. Hell, I thought you might even go lower than
that!"
"You can laugh all you want, Crichton, but I need to have
something other than fruit."
"That's all there was, Rygel. If you don't want yours then we can share it amongst the rest of
the crew." Aeryn stood up to grab his
plate but was not surprised when the Hynerian snatched it out of her
reach. "Obviously it doesn't upset your
stomachs that badly." She muttered,
sitting back down opposite Crichton who was rather cautiously biting into a
round blue fruit. She watched as he
concentrated on the taste and, obviously deciding that he liked it, took
another bite. She caught his eye and he
gave her a wink. She smiled back at
him, relieved that he seemed to be in good spirits. The lack of food in recent weekens seemed to have been especially
hard on the human, although he had not complained more than anyone else. She had been watching him closely, fearful
that Scorpius' clone would re-take control of him, or that he would find recent
events…overwhelming. But he seemed to
be in control, just suffering from fatigue and headaches from the lack of
food.
Aeryn turned her attention back to her own plate and started
to peel away the thick skin of a small brown fruit. There were only four of them in the dining chamber. D'Argo and
Chiana had eaten earlier and were in command; Zhaan was feeling tired and had
eaten in her quarters and Stark was studying the samples she had brought
back. That left Crichton, Rygel, Jothee
and herself. And two of those she could
definitely do without.
"Do you think that there's any meat on the planet?" Jothee asked, licking some juice from his
fingers.
Aeryn shrugged. "If
we can catch it."
Jothee puffed up a little.
"My father tells me that Luxans' superior sense of smell make them
excellent hunters. Tomorrow we shall
eat meat."
"Gods!" Rygel said
with feeling, turning to Crichton and Aeryn. "Tell me that my next meal doesn't
depend on the Luxans."
"Hey, if you think you're up to the job then you can catch
your own meat, Buckwheat." Crichton
poured some water into a beaker and handed it to Aeryn, who took it without
comment. "Me?" He grinned at
Jothee. "I'll be depending on the
Luxans."
The Hynerian muttered something under his breath as he
floated away from the table, a piece of fruit in hand. Aeryn's voice stopped him.
"Rygel. If I find
that you are hoarding any food that was not part of your ration, then I will
flush you into space. Do you
understand?"
"I trust that is a warning that you will be issuing to all
on board?" Rygel said, looking
pointedly at Jothee, as he floated out of the room.
Jothee looked a little uncomfortable. "I'm going to see Chiana and my father in
command." He rose, finishing the last
of his water as he did so.
"OK, Jothee. Tell
them I'll be up in half an arn."
Crichton said through a mouthful of fruit.
Aeryn watched the boy as he left. She had tried to make
allowances for Jothee because of what he had suffered during his young life and
because of the respect she had for his father, but she didn't like him and
perhaps more importantly, she didn't trust him. She just had trouble understanding why. She blinked as a hand passed up and down before her face.
"You were off in a world of your own there." Crichton said mildly, holding out his last
piece of fruit to her. "Want
this?" She shook her head and watched
as he got up and placed the unwanted fruit in the cooler unit, before coming to
sit beside her. They sat in
companionable silence for a moment, each nursing their beaker and their own
thoughts until Crichton raised his head to look at her, his eyes sad. "Have you been to see her today?"
Aeryn shook her head slowly. She knew what was coming
next.
"Want to come with me now?"
Crichton got to his feet, reaching over and taking her empty beaker away
and placing it with his own on the side.
Reaching down to take her hand he gently coaxed her to her feet. "Come
on."
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"Good. Good, good,
goodgoodgood…this could be it. This could be it." Stark was pacing back and forth between two areas of Zhaan's
laboratory, always turning before he reached his destination. "But what to do
next…what to do?" He stopped
suddenly. "Tell Zhaan." Started pacing again. "No, no…that would be
stupid…stupid…." He angrily swiped some of the tested samples to the floor
scattering dirt and broken glass. He
immediately dropped to his knees and started to scoop up the soil in his hands.
"No! No…I must get more samples, do more tests, I must be sure. I must be sure before I tell Zhaan. Yes.
It will be fine, Zhaan. You will
not die." He stopped and raised his
hand in front of his face, curious as to why he should be bleeding.
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To Be Continued.
