First of all, I didn't write all of this. I wrote bits and pieces, but not all. This is a full fledged Round-Robin, and to my knowledge the first full-blown fanfic
soap opera, with multiple postings or just one posting from countless authors, who worked together to weave this story, having no idea where it was going,
or how long it was going to be, or anything of the sort. There's a whole woosh of writing 'ere: drama, humor, action, romance, and more.
We Bboard 'Scapers are fairly proud of this little effort of ours. (Personally, I consider it a phenomenon by its size alone.) It was intended to be a complete
soap opera, a bit like the last RR that had been going on in the Bboard. And so after an announcement the day beforehand, Generally Inhospitable started
on 10/7/99 [with the rule that PG rating was required] on the Farscape Bboard; the last post, as far as I can tell, was on 11/12/99 (RR 69). It was written
during a dry-spell, I believe, before the 4 season finale of the first season. If any readers would like to take a crack at finishing the story, I encourage you
to do so, although it'll be a bit hard since the show has changed since then.
One of the reasons why I collected and put this here is because, well, no one else had. I think Round Robins are interesting. You can almost have a sociological- ok, maybe just a really interesting, discussion by taking note of the writing styles and pattens that emerge, when the writing is so raw with little or no editing. Which is why I haven't bothered to really change anything. (Also, I was too lazy. All right, so I'll never make a good editor and compiler, but let's not get into that.)
BIG thanks go to DocCamille, who started the whole thing, and to Maurheti, who with DocCamille gathered together individual stories on the Bboard, edited them, and put them into 'Round-ups'. It really, really helped me. I'm not kidding.
There are a few notes scattered in the text, which I thought were interesting behind-the-scene things. Also, there is a final note at the end of the round-robin.
(Note: A single, unbroken line[ _____ ] indicates an author change; most of the time, they also mean a new post, but occassionally someone writes a few
posts in a row, especially as the story progresses. Sometimes you may see a line of *** or a few ==='s, but don't mind them.)
And, as a general statement, the Farscape characters and all that good stuff don't belong to us. We're not picking a fight or anything.
So without further ado, the 'Scapers of the Round-Robin proudly present their first soap...
Generally Inhospitable
When Pilot told them that Moya would need a few days free of passengers to clear her systems, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to take some badly
needed recreation time. The planet, Rockne, had a diverse geology: high mountains and lowland swamps, rivers and floodplains, oceans with lazy waves and
sandy beaches, and temperatures in the range of what they'd called "Temperate" on Earth. And it was Summer at the beaches, and Winter in the mountains.
After some discussion, the crew decided to break up for the duration of their stay. Rygel headed for the Delta Swamp Resort where mud wrestling and
games of chance appeared prominently on the brochures, and John, pretending to be a Sebacean, travelled with Aeryn. He'd wanted to go to the beach, but
Aeryn reminded him that Sebaceans didn't usually head for hot and humid climates on their vacation. This planet had ski resorts in the mountains, however,
and John was looking foward to introducing Aeryn to snow.
Dargo, Zhaan, and Chiani travelled to River's Edge, on the flood plain between Delta Swamp Resort and the mountains. Zhaan would brush up on medical
techniques at the galaxy-famous River Hospital while Dargo explored the nearby experimental farms. Chiani volunteered to be a candystriper at the hospital.
Zhaan worried that the girl intended to help herself to the cash of the patients rather than help the patients to magazines, but if she was in the hospital, at least
Zhaan could keep an eye on her.
*****
John had been right. Aeryn loved snow. And with her fit soldier's body, she took to skiing as if she'd been born to it. "It's like piloting a prowler," she
explained to him, "Except your body IS the prowler!"
Things were going even better than John had imagined they might. Until, that is, the avalanche. He had pulled off the trail beside a tree to clear his goggles
when he heard the rumble. "Aeyrn!" he called, but that only made it worse. A wall of snow tumbled down the mountainside, heading right for the Sebacean...
DocCamille
_____
Hearing John's vioce, Aeryn barely had time to look his way before a wave of snow crashed down on her from behind. The coldness of the snow against her
face was a sensation she had never experienced before.
aerynluv
_____
As it melted against her skin, Aeryn felt the cold droplets make it's way to her chin...
Anise
____
******
Dripping wet and clutching a bag as wet as she was, Chiana ran down a hospital hallway. She skidded around a corner, laughing and giggling as she grabbed
the wall to keep from falling. Unfortunately she ran smack into someone else, flinging whatever it was that had made her wet all over them and tumbling with
them to the ground in a tangle. The bag in her hand flew over her head, to be picked up by a ranting, aged male with tentacles in places Chiana hadn't
bothered to count. He hobbled off with his bag, muttering curses as he sloshed back to his room.
"Get OFF me!" Chiana shrieked to the male who was lying half on top of her. She had never seen one of his species before.
He was tall - taller than D'Argo - with reddish black skin and a pair of slender horns that curved back around his head. Chiana felt herself warming up to him,
wondering how she could use her wiles to get out of this mess, until she saw what he was wearing.
"You're a doctor?" she squeaked, scrambling to her feet.
The male stood, moving with a catlike grace. Chiana grumbled to herself about his ease while she stood there dripping, but she couldn't take her eyes off him.
This was NOT how she'd planned stealing that old guy's bag of 'fluids', a priceless fuel on some planets...
*********
~elph
________
"Aeryn!" came Crichton's panic-filled voice, barely audible above the roar. "Get rid of- .... - keep your head-"
For a moment Aeryn was irritated in that Crichton had told her to keep her head; he wasn't the one being tossed at the mercy of a ... whatever this was. Then
she realized he must have meant something else.
Her level of panic was in check, even though being tumbled in surging massive walls of frozen water in the form of minute crystals, snow it was called, was
not mentioned in her training. With the sudden realization that Crighton had been yelling to keep her head in the air, she tried to grapple her way to the
surface, but couldn't quite figure out which way was up.
Perhaps out of desperation, she tried that technique of movement taught by Crichton some while ago. `It's called swimming,' he had told her, in that flooded
chamber aboard Moya.
But then everything seemed to slow down.
And quite suddenly, stop.
Snow was fun. Aeryn had to admit that. Especially the skiing; excellent training, the peacekeeper squads would benefit wonderfully, she vaugely though. The
image of her squad all skiing downhill, and maybe one or two of them falling over, was quite amusing. Then Aeryn wondered why the frell she was thinking
that. The cusion of snow and air, once it had stopped, had setteled and became cement, and she was trapped in it, still not sure which way was up. This
wasn't helping her keep her panic level in check either.
"Oh, lovely," she muttered, after realizing that she wasn't able to move, quite literally, even a finger. "Now the level of air to breathe is dropping."
The defective in her suit, which had been torn or something when she had gotten her ski's out of the way, made her even colder. Not suprisingly, her mind
begin to dim, and she blacked out. Her last thought was to curse the snow. Her second to last thought was to give a lecture to Crichton on his idea of a fun
time.
Suddenly she was aroused from nothingness to a faint scraping, from somewhere below.
"I found her foot! Whacha, I found her foot!"
"Good! Now get the rest of her!"
Never mind, it must be from above.
Suddenly something wacked her nose. Aeryn made a muffled noise of complaint and discovered she could breathe.
"Oh look, she's alive."
"Aeryn! Aeryn!"
"You realize, of course, that this won't get you the discount, if your Aeryn is alive. Now, if she was dead, then I might be able to lessen you're the cost-"
"If you don't help me, I'm not paying you anything!"
"I think not," Aeryn heard as she was lifted out. "I will expect a price one way or another for my services." Snow was brushed from her eyes and her hazy
vision focused onto a pink-furred face with glinting pure-black eyes and a short muzzle. "I'm merely saying, if I were too slow in finding her, I would offer a
discount for failure as a scent-tracker and survivalist. Either way it's unlikely you would have even begun to dig in the right spot without my help."
AkaiHato
You knew I'd be as unromantic as I could get. Anyway, here's some more interesting things:
The Round robin tended to go in jumps and and bounds, as a few people pointed out later at the Bboard. After the first entry, it took a while for anything to happen, and then everyone started hesitantly tossing bits in, just to get something going.
There was an enormous wave of posts after this, and more than once, two people posted something at once, meaning that several sets of posts having the
title of, oh, RR6's, RR14's, and RR24's were seen before the flow of stories calmed down. Eventually a pattern formed, where a burst of posts would be
seen, trail off, a period of time would pass, and then someone would write a continuation, inspiration would arise, and the cycle would be repeated.
_____
The creature wrinkled his nose and sniffed, "Since your Aeryn seems to be alive, you have no argument." He dumped Aeryn unceremoniously into a new set
of arms that felt like John Crichton. The tracker's body had blocked the wind, but when he moved away from her side the cold hit her with a vengence.
A sudden tremor of shaking brought John's attention back to the damp figure in his arms. Aeryn was shaking un-controllably: so violently, in fact, that John
had a hard time keeping her in his arms. His heart beat suddenly went up a notch.
"Please," He interupted the creature still gabbing about his payment "She's freezing, if I dont find a place to get her warm..."
John couldnt bring himself to think of what he would do if Aeryn died. He looked up at the tracker.
"Please." He could hear the desperation in his voice.
The tracker looked down at Aeryns shivering form and sighed. He turned his head to the nearby forest where the sun was dipping behind the trees.
"There's no way we'll get to the shelter in this light, but..I do know of some caves near by, if thats of any help."
John smiled in relief and hugged Aeryns wet form closer to his body. "Thank you."
aerynluv
____
"Half price! Half price good Crichton, you can't beat that! Up, up, One fourth the price, that's my last offer now! Oh, she'll survive without something to
cover her, but it'll take longer to recover, and my dues have not been paid yet, you know. Ah! Knew you would relent!"
John trudged slightly downhill through the snow, tenderly carrying Aeryn in his arms. She was still shivering, a little less with a blanket wrapped around her,
and had said nothing aside from a mumbled comment about pink-colored mutts that talked too much.
"I can carry her, you know," said Wacha from the side. "Won't charge for it either..." He trailed off as John shook his head. Wacha made a gesture that
translated to something of a shrug.
Then it began to snow.
When they neared the area of the caves, the snow was piling up, soft snow that was terribly hard to walk through. Wacha sprinted forward, purposely
showing off his agility. "Snow shoes then? Half price at 12 credits!"
No response.
"Ooh, the stubborn type are you? 10 credits. 10 credits, good Crichton, 10 credits! No, 9, 8, 8! 8 credits! Tell you what, at this rate, you really won't get to
the caves in time for proper treatment of that Sebacian hypothermia there; I'll give `em to you free! How's that for a deal?"
AkaiHato
_____
*****
While John and Aeryn struggled in the snow, and Chiani found herself faced with a worlds-famous doctor, Commander Crais' stood on the bridge of his
Command Ship, and stared off into space.
WHERE ARE YOU, CRIGHTON?, he thought. WHAT MISERABLE LITTLE MUD-SPECK OF A PLANET ARE YOU ON?
The stars did not answer him.
Growling softly in frustration, he turned from the main window. A lowly tech almost bumped into him as stalked towards his personal chambers. A flash of
fear appeared in the tech's eyes for only a second, then her face became resolute.
He turned to her in exasperation and said, "What is your business on my bridge, tech? Explain yourself!"
The tech gathered her thoughts and replied, "Sir, the Prowlers have not had time to appropriately be maintained and repaired with all these patrol sorties
they've been flying. Some of them need to be overhauled a great deal."
Crais considered, "How many Prowlers are in the most dire need of repairs?"
"Twelve, sir. All others are functioning close enough to specs for maintenance and repair to be waived. For now."
"All right, twelve will be repaired. For now, no more than that."
"Yes sir."
She was leaving when Crais queried, "Technician?"
She turned, "Yes?"
"You were aboard the Zelbinion, weren't you?"
"Yes, sir. My ship was investigating the wreckage when we were attacked."
"You're... Gilina, correct?"
"Yes, sir."
Crais rubbed his beard and then asked, "During that time in which you hid, there were no others on board?"
"No, sir."
"Not even after the initial attack by the Sheyang?"
"No, sir. I was completely alone aboard her when your ship picked me up."
"Hmmmm." He dismissed her. "That will be all, Techincian Gilina."
"Yes, sir." She turned and left the bridge.
Crais entered his quarters and sat down. He put his head in his hands and sighed.
The tech was lying.
Crais had her report on file, but she had lied in at least one part of it. Unfortunately, the Zelbinion's Toresica recording, what humans would have called a
"black box" was missing, so he couldn't compare that with Gilina's report.
What was true: Wreckage of Sheyang ships proved that the wretched scavengers had been at the Zelbinion. Greedy bastards would pay dearly for defaming a
national treasure like the PK's greatest ship with their putrid presence.
What was true: The Zelbinion had been heavily damaged by a force or forces unknown. Investigation revealed that the mysterious attackers had been so
heavily armed they had taken the Zelbinion with little trouble.
What was true: Half of the Zelbinion's Defense Screen was missing, but the other half had been hurriedly assembled and the power had still been active in
small parts of the ship. Crais considered that one tech, alone, COULD have repaired one of the DS's in time to help defend against the Sheyang attack, but
something told him there was a missing piece in that part of the story.
What was true: There was evidence of a pulse-rifle discharge and apparently one of the Sheyangs had used his fire-breath to melt the door in Engineering. So
the Sheyang had tried to steal the DS and only half-succeeded.
What was questionable: According to his own ship's technicians, the repair of the Zelbinion's DS would have necessitated the manual holding apart of two
paddles that would develop opposite magnetic poles when activated. These paddles would have to be held with power on while the remaining repairs were
made. Crais wondered, WHO had held the paddles apart while Gilina worked?
What was questionable: There was a sample of what his biologists had identified as expectoration from a Hynerian on one of the corpses. Had a Hynerian
been aboard the Zelbinion, too? If so, it had spit on a corpse that was much older than the glob itself. So, this mystery Hynerian had to have been aboard the
Zelbinion recently.
Crais had list of the discrepancies aboard the Zelbinion. He looked at it now.
"List of artifacts missing from ship... Officer Durka's quarters ..."
His face registered shock. One of the artifacts missing was a Royal Hynerian Neckband of Station. The Neckband had been property of Rygel XVI. THAT
Rygel was currently aboard Moya, the ship that the bastard-human Crighton was on.
"So...", he began.
"'...those fugitives from that escaped Leviathan WERE on the Zelbinion.'", parroted a deep voice from the shadows.
Crais rose from his chair and spun, but was knocked down by something he hadn't gotten a good look at. All he knew was that it had felt cold...
And the cold was slightly familiar.
"'Who are you?' Oh, come on Bialar Crais, even THAT thought was so drearily predictable." Then the source of the voice stepped out of the shadows. Crais'
military eye sized up the stranger quickly.
It was a pale-skinned man of inderminate age. His eyes had yellow pupils(And THAT was familiar, too. But the link stubbornly refused to come together in
Crais' mind). His hair was long and blondish, and his face was angular with a hawk nose. He was dressed entirely in black. Something about that bothered
Crais too.
"How...", began Crais again.
"'...did you get in here?'", crooned the stranger easily. He smiled, but something in his eyes was dead. Crais didn't like that. The stranger laughed, and Crais
decided that the laugh was worse than the eyes. He tried to stifle a slight shiver, but he couldn't be sure he'd succeeded.
"Why, I just knocked on the door." The stranger mimed the action of knocking. Except when he knocked, the ship rocked like it had collided with
something. Crais stumbled, but managed to keep his footing. The stranger didn't even twitch.
Crais called out for the guards. The stranger chuckled. "No guards, my dear captain. The door to your quarters will be mysteriously locked from both sides
and oddly resistant to even your heaviest weapon. But if you feel you must try, then go ahead."
Crais sneered, "And turn my back to you? No, rather..." He lashed out with a kick aimed at the stranger's midsection. It didn't even connect. The stranger
seemed to... GROW DIM, and Crais' kick passed clean through. Scrambling for purchase, Crais grabbed the smooth surface of a dining table. Too bad it was
bolted to the floor.
The stranger placed his hands, fingers splayed, on the table. Then, something began to happen.
Slowly at first, Crais saw that cracks had begun to appear. The cracks spread like rivers in the top of the table AND IT WAS A TRANSPARENT METAL.
Worse, the stranger didn't even seem to be applying any real pressure, but those damning cracks continued to grow.
Faintly, Crais heard pounding on his chamber door. The pounding was quickly cut off by a scream. The stranger's lip curled upwards in a poor aproximation
of a smile.
"Let's talk. You will call me Malignan'Ci.", purred the stranger.
"Is that your name?'
"It is what you will call me." Malignan'Ci's tone discouraged arguement.
"Fine. Why are you here, tomenting me?"
"'Torment' is a word with such nasty connotations. Let's try 'helping'."
"Helping? How?"
"I know where the human named Crighton AND all his fugitive friends are."
"Oh, really." Skepticism shone in Crais' voice.
"Yes. A planet called Rockne."
"Why are you helping me to get Crighton?"
"He was prisoner of one of ours. He wronged that one with the help of a pair of Delvians. One Delvian is dead, the other will pay and Crighton will also pay.
They were foolish enough to think that the one they had wronged was only one being, instead of many. And one of ours visited his home planet eons ago and
was burned as a witch. I want his entire species."
Crais didn't know what a witch was, but he let it go. It was Erp nonsense. "And if I find Crighton...?"
"You can do what you like with him. I only want him to know that one of ours was wronged by him and that Delvian bitch."
"Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan?"
"Yes."
Considering, Crais came to the conclusion that he had no choice.
"You don't.", said Malignan'Ci, as if responding to Crais' thought, which he probably was.
Crais answered, "Very well. Do you want passage aboard this ship?"
"Yes."
"So be it."
If Crighton had been there, he probably would've said something about "making deals with the devil".
****************
Later, sitting in the quarters assigned to him by Crais, Malignan'Ci smiled and reached out with his mind to his weakened master.
{Soon, my lord. Soon, you will be avenged}
From the depths of space, there was an answer.
(good my protege. i am still too weak to travel far but you will snare this man crighton and bring him to me)
{Yes, my master. And you shall feed. First, upon him. Then his entire species.)
In the depths of space, the entity that was known by many names, including Hathor, felt evil rapture.
Hathor was one name it went by.
It had another name that was more well-known.
It's original name.
Maldis.
*******
Ooshati
_____
He was unaware of the terrible fate awaiting his client, but after an hour of trudging through the continiualy rising snow, Wacha became less and less
enthusiastic about selling somthing to John.
All that could be heard was the crunching of snow and the occasional mumble from Aeryn. John didnt know if it was a good sign or a bad one that her
out-bursts of nonsense were occuring less and less often. But he was begining to think they would never get to the caves.
He looked down at Aeryn's face, which had begun to turn from white to pale blue. He brushed a piece of snow from her lips and was shocked at how cold
they felt.' Please hold on Aeryn', He thought silently.
"Are we going to be there soon, She really needs to get warm." John asked through chattering teeth. It was so dark John could barely make out the out line
of Wacha's body.
"Just up ahead, we'll be there soon"
John hugged Aeryn tightly and dread began to form a knot in his stomach as he realized how cold she was. 'Maybe not soon enough'
aerynluv
_____
Wacha stopped his bounding and bouncing in the snow for a moment and stared at Crichton. "Here, take them. Put them over your foot coverings." His fur
shook and snow fell from his back.
Wacha had reached into a pouch and pulled the snowshoes free. He tossed them at John's feet and they crunched into the still falling snow. He sniffled, "Put
them over, they are for the snow..."
"I KNOW what they are, but I don't exactly have a free hand," John growled testily at the tracker.
"You have to fasten them."
John looked at Aeryn in his arms and then back at the tracker. "Why don't you SKI PATROL GUYS have a SIREN, an alarm, something to warn people...?"
John couldn't believe this was happening, here, now and he felt himself choke back his now growing anger. He knew he needed the tracker's help to give
Aeryn a chance. She was tough, but she was nearly crushed, and John could feel how cold she was becoming.
The tracker knelt down by John's feet. He fastened the first snowshoe quickly and his furry pink face looked up at Crichton quizzically. He asked, "But where
are the Warning Bands, you didn't heed them... I know your Aeryn's was lost... in the fall...I thought... but yours?"
The tracker was now very confused. It was law. "All visitors to the winter landscape are given Warning Bands. It is law. No one can approach the slopes
without them."
John looked back at the devastation behind them, his jaw tightening, the ice forming on his brows, he said very quietly,"We were given no Bands."
He looked again at Wacha. "NO WARNING BANDS!" His breathe formed steam in soft clouds as he spoke.
Wacha closed the second clasp on Crichton's snow shoes and they now continued through the snow together at a more equal and faster pace. John was sure
something, someone had caused this "accident." He was determined to find out how this could have been caused. And by whom.
But first Crichton had to make sure Aeryn was going to make it. His steps became stronger and more determined, the snow packed easily under the snow
shoes.
"Soon, we are nearly to the caves," Wacha barked at Crichton, who was following closely. The winds had increased and visibilty was approaching zero.
Annisette
_____
======
In the corridor outside of crew quarters, Crais was thankful that the cleanup crew had not arrived immediately after the scream was heard. Apparently, the
one who had died was his new second-in-command, Officer Khirelt. Crais couldn't understand what had happened to him.
Khirelt looked... melted. Rotted.
Keeping his gorge down, Crais hurriedly ordered the mess be cleaned up. Some of his command officers, who had gathered around the corpse, looked at him
quizzically, but he told them nothing. COULD tell them nothing, because he was trying to understand what Malignan'Ci had done to this young man that had
been Khirelt.
When Crais had opened the door to his personal quarters, he'd had to hurriedly order the guards to lower their weapons. Not that pulse-rifle fire would've
hurt Malignan'Ci, but it might've annoyed him. Malignan'Ci was fast proving to be someone you didn't annoy.
Crais had then turned to a pale, slender woman who wore tech markings and had ordered her to give Malignan'Ci some quarters. Crais hadn'tberated her for
her slight hesitancy, either. He'd understood it too well.
Thankfully, Malignan'Ci had accepted his quarters, but Crais did not feel mollified. He didn't think Malignan'Ci cared TOO much where he stayed. When the
door to Malignan'Ci's quarters had closed, Crais breathed a little easier. But not much easier.
Now, he mulled over the situation. Who was this deadly passenger? What was his true interest in Crais and Crighton? Why was he helping Crais? Was it
really help? Who was the "other member" of Malignan'Ci's race that Crighton and that Delvian, Zhaan, wronged?
And the question that bothered him the most: Why did Malignan'Ci seem so familiar?
**************
Malignan'Ci sat in his new quarters, having just completed his contact with his master, Maldis. He leaned his head back and thought. Maldis was his master,
but had been defeated in his place of feeding by John Crighton. Maldis' power had been somewhat limited because he used such a massive source of life force
that he couldn't kill in all the old ways. He'd only been able to use his powers to drain in the most direct ways. Not much variety.
Malignan'Ci was more... imaginative.
But he needed some power.
He needed to feed.
**********
A Tech by the name of Vryson stood over a console, swearing under his breath in Sebacean. The damn regulators were going fahrbotz again. They'd just
been checked. He smacked his palm on the console in anger. The whole array was going to have to be taken apart and reassembled. Frell!
He didn't notice a spreading shadow in the room behind him. If he'd been looking at the back of the room, he'd seen something that would have made him
run.
A pair of eyes in blackness. Eyes with flames in them.
Cursing, he reached into the guts of the console and began taking it apart. If the ships internal sensors had picked anything up that wasn't Sebacean, he would
have been warned. Unfortunately, Crais could've told him that their unwelcome vistor didn't show up. On ANYTHING. It was like Malignan'Ci wasn't there.
Or wasn't alive in some sense. Crais would've agreed with some of that.
His hands were stuck deep in the wires and chips when he finally DID notice something. It was cold, DAMNED cold. And his breath was starting to come
out in plumes. He turned, but he wasn't fast enough.
Too bad.
Vryson looked into eyes that were dead, but flaming and felt something caress his neck. He tried to scream, couldn't. What he didn't see might've saved his
sanity.
Malignan'Ci considered himself a bit of an experimentalist, so he did something that Maldis wouldn't have done. His fingers slid smoothly into Vryson's neck.
There was no break in the skin, his fingers just... MERGED with the neck. It was as if they had been connected like that since either Vryson or Malignan'Ci
had been born. Vryson's life drained from his body through those fingers.
Those fingers had cracked the transparent metal of Crais' dining tabletop with no visible effort.
The last thing that Vryson remembered was the smell of his killer's breath as his body collapsed and began to putrify. It smelled of corpses and madness.
With a wet sound, something like a hornet's nest caving in, what was left of Vryson collapsed and began to turn to liquid, while the command ship sped
through the infinite night, to the planet Rockne.
********
Orbiting the planet Rockne, Pilot perused the display in front of him. The process that Moya was going through was well under way. While he oversaw this,
Pitol tried to manufacture some more DRD's. The crew being planetside helped because he wouldn't have to worry about the Luxan going berserk and taking
his hyper-rage out on the little helpers.
Pilot had tried something recommended by the human Crighton. It was one of his stranger recommendations. He'd told Pilot to "whistle while he worked"
and had tried to demonstrate to Pilot just how to do this "whistling". Pilot had tried it and failed. Even if he'd succeeded, he didn't see any intrinsic value in
the process.
Pilot had turned all of Moya's external sensors as high as he'd dared, for Moya was in a poor position to do anything if she was attacked. Oh, she could
maneuver, to be sure. She could even starburst without significant disruption in the process. But the crew would be stranded and relatively helpless if trouble
arrived. Pilot EXPECTED trouble to arrive. With this crew, it was almost an unwritten law of the cosmos.
One of Moya's sensor alarms had captured his immediate attention. He scanned the reading. The object was too far away. To far to be sure, but it looked
vaguely like a Peacekeeper ship.
Ooshati
____
As the Peacekeeper ship approached the planet Rockne, Crais skimmed through the peacekeeper records for the planet, drawing up a plan of action. Going
directly after Crichton had its drawbacks. There were three or four possible locations where he might find Sebaceans, which would slow down the hunt. And
he had to expect Crichton to fight. The human alone posed little threat, but there was Aeryn Sun to consider, a trained Peacekeeper from his own ship. She'd
been so contaminated by the unknown alien that she would doubtless kill her own kind to save him.
The Hynerion, on the other hand, made an easy target. Only the Delta Swamp Resort offered the kind of services the old Dominar would find interesting.
Rygel was a coward; he would lead Crais right to Crichton. And Crichton had shown in the past that he would trade his own life for the safety of his
shipmates. Aeryn Sun wouldn't be able to stop the fool. He smiled, anticipating the pleasure of the hunt, and went in search of Malignan'Ci. Little did he
know that Crichton and the peacekeeper were already in danger of their lives, and that he might, in fact, be too late to savor his victory.
*******
"Chiani!" Dargo, dressed in the casual clothing of a gentleman farmer, came dashing down the hosptial corridor just as the alarm sirens went off around
them. He frowned at the her when he noticed Chiani looking at the stranger with wide-eyed speculation.
"There isn't time for that now! John and Aeryn left for the Mountains yesterday. There was an avalanche in the afternoon. Since Crichton and the
Peacekeeper never returned, they must have become trapped. The farmers are organizing a rescue party to search for them and dig them out if necessary, but
they will need a doctor--do you know where Zhaan is?"
"I'm a doctor," the stranger said, "And I've had some experience with hypothermia in Sebaceans. Do you have transport?"
Dargo nodded. "A hovercraft is waiting to take us up the mountain," he said.
"I'm going too."
Chiani had that stubborn look on her face. Dargo wasn't sure if she really cared about their missing companions or simply didn't want to let go of her most
recent mark, but the doctor took the decision out of his hands.
"How long have you been a candystriper?" the doctor asked.
"A day and a half," Chiani answered.
The doctor frowned, but finally agreed. "I wish you had a little more experience," he said, "but it will have to do."
Chiani smiled and ran after Dargo and the doctor. She wasn't sure why she wanted to go with them either, but she decided to figure it out later. She know
that, while she had seen snow before, she had never seen an avalanche.
DocCamille
____
********
Until now, John Crichton hadn't seen an avalanche either, and he'd just as soon kept it that way. Instead, he was tramping through the snow with a Wacha,
some sort of sentient Saint Bernard, leading the way, and an unconscious Sebacean slung over his shoulder.
Wacha had stated that they were nearing the caves, but the snow was falling so heavily that John didnt know how Wacha could be so sure. When they finaly
made it to the entrance, John was so exausted from cold and carrying Aeryn so far that he almost passed out where he was standing.
No John, damn it! You need to stay awake, you need to take care of Aeryn...' John nearly laughed at his thoughts. Aeryn had always been the one to take
care of her self. She never needed asisstance, 'and even if she did, she would never admit it' He thought.
A noise brought his attention to the corner of the cave, which was now lit by the fire that Wacha had built. He looked up from the fire at John and pursed his
brow sharply.
"You had better get her warm soon, or she may not make it. It may already be too late.."
The knot in his stomach returned with a vengence as John scrambled towards the fire with Aeryn. He kneeled over her as he laid her on the floor of the cave,
and proceded to try and remove her wet ski clothes. As he undid the top buttons his hand brushed her neck, and he choked back the panic at the coolness of
her skin. He fumbled with the buttons and turned to Wacha desperatly. "The fire wont be enough, the fire wont get her body tempature up in time!"
Fear gnawed at the pit of John's gut. "What do you mean?"
aerynluv
____
Aeryn's eyes opened and she tried to push John away; but her muscle coordination wasn't enough to seriously hurt him. At least, not physically. Suddenly her
breathing became hoarse, and she started coughing violently.
John's eyes were pained, but he tried to get Aeryn's wet clothes off anyway. Aeryn glared at him. "Go away!" she snarled.
Wacha suddenly loomed from behind. "Let me take care of this." He sighed and gently shoved John out of the way. He proceeded to put his furry bulk
infront of Aeryn and quickly and efficiently shucked off her wet clothes. Then he grabbed a couple of warm, wooly replacements and began putting them on.
He paused, then turned toward John. "Oh, did you want to do this?"
"Duh I- um, well, you being the expert and all, but if you say so-" John half-stuttered.
Wacha chuckled gruffly, sounding more like a dog than ever, but finished dressing Aeryn. John wasn't sure wether he was glad or annoyed.
As Wacha wrapped Aeryn in a blanket with heated stones to keep her warm, John's feelings were even more in a turmoil. The statement of "The fire won't be
enough, the fire won't get her body temperature up in time " had him wondering for a while.
Aeryn opened her eyes a second time, and saw Crichton. He was turned away, but she could tell his face was creased in worry and anxiety. For her. She
decided to give that lecture about his idea of a fun time later.
"John.."
John's head spun around, and he saw Aeryn trying to get up without much success. "Nono.. " he began, and went to her.
Suddenly Aeryn got her arms out, and grabbing John, pulled him over and kissed him. When she let go, she laughed, and patted him on the head. Then she
rolled over into her blankets and promptly fell asleep.
"Ah . . . Hypothermia causes altered behavior," explained Wacha. "Now get over here and go melt some snow for tea, while I prepare a meal." After a while
he added, "Never mind, I'll just do it myself; your not planning to move, are you? This'll add a credit to my fee, you know."
Wacha decided that Sebacians made good clients, if they all paid like this.
A few moment later Aeryn, despite still being cold, tried to remove her clothes, giving John a glare when he stopped her. Wacha patiently explained to John,
who was very warm, and not because of the fire, that hypothermia caused confusion, lack of coordination, and removing clothes even when cold, among it's
symptoms.
AkaiHato
____
The people of the planet Rockne were a pleasant group, who took life as it came. And yet it was not always so. Kyg the old sat in his cave, staring at the
crystal. He was the watcher, as his father had been before him, and his father's father before that.
'Pity the boy is dead' thought Kyg, who then tried to remember the exact moment that Li had stopped being Li in his mind, had become the boy. During the
trial? When he first found the Rust under his son's bed?
He cut off this train of thought; it always ended the same way, with him depressed. 'I'm too old for this job.' he thought. 'I've been too old for years. Still, just
one more and Ea will be old enough to hear the tale, to take over.'
His mind felt back to the summer so long ago, when his father had taken him to the cave, and shown him the crystal. Then, in the voice that was a whisper,
the voice that he had been so ashamed of for years, (for then he did not know the burden his father carried, did not know the stress that had worn him down)
he had begun the tale.
"In the third year of the Yellow Bear, when our people were still young, there came to this world a man who was not a man." Here his father had coughed,
then continued. "Cruel he was, and golden-eyed, and the greatest of our warrior and champions stood against him, and they were killed. Then the greatest
wizards and shamans came to him, and they were killed.
"And so this man ruled over our people, and none could stand against him, for this man possessed the great power of being unavoidable for he was Choas,
the Unavoidable.
"And then Choas killed and feasted upon the men of the villages, and the women of the villages, and the children of the villages. And a great palace he caused
to be built, the size of a nation, and none did assault it, for none could stand against him. Then, one day--"
Here his father coughed once more, then continued: "One day another stranger came to our world. Strange he was, and golden-eyed, and when asked where
he came from, he pointed to the sun, and said "Around there.
"And when asked his name, he laughed and said, "Maldis." And he went to the palace of Choas, and when the people warned him not to go, he stared at
them in such a way that they froze. And Maldis went to the palace of Choas, and they did battle, and great was the forces that they called on.
"For three days did they battle, and on the first, one third of the palace of the Choas was destroyed. And on the second day, another third of the palace was
destroyed. And on the third day, Maldis stood alone in the wreckage of the palace, and great were his wounds, and yet he smiled, and held in his hands a
glowing gem.
"And as the people gathered around to see their savior, Maldis (who was the sun, and a great sorceror as well) threw the gem at small boy. "Watch this for
me." he said, and then he was gone." Here his father had looked towards the sun, Maldis, that holiest of gods, with what looked like resentment.
"And we of the house of that boy have guarded the gem, so that Choas may forever be warded by the good magic of Maldis." And so it had been done for
hundred of years."
'If only the boy had not rebeled against his heritage,' thought Kyg. 'Then I could be at home. Or even better, dead.' Suddenly, a sharp crack was heard. Kyg
snapped to attention. It couldn't be-- but it was. The gem was cracking. Kyg knew he should do something, but the urge to watch, the urge to see just what
was happening overwhelmed him.
Before his eyes, the gem that had stood for a hundred years cracked like an eggshell, then crumbled into dust. A light flared, then before him stood the figure
of a man, black-haired, naked and powerful. "FREE," said a voice like a roll of thunder. Kyg stood, awed. The legends had prepared him for any number of
horrors, but not this unimaginable majesty.
"How--?" his voice struck out weakly. The tall figure before him smiled, as if noticing him for the first time. "HOW DID I ESCAPE, WHEN YOU
WATCHED ME SO INTENTLY, SO VIGILANTLY FOR SO LONG?" The figure stared at him, confident, amused. "EASILY. YOU NEVER HELD ME,
OLD MAN."
Kyg stared at the figure shocked.
"I WAS HELD BY A SLIGHT BIT OF POWER THAT MY RIVAL USED TO KEEP ME IN BONDAGE." The figure chuckled.
"AND NOW MALDIS IS DISPERSED, AND SENDING THAT BIT OF POWER TO HELP MY OAFISH COUSIN MALIGN-TI. SPLENDID. I
WONDER WHAT MALDIS WILL FEEL WHEN I CAPTURE HIM AND FEED OFF HIS ESSENCE FOR A FEW MILLENIA."
"Feed off, Holy Maldis?" The figure glanced at him, with a look that showed him that he was below contempt to this being.
"YOU THOUGHT MALDIS WAS A GOD? THAT HE DID THIS TO HELP YOU? THIS IS TOO RICH." The figure bent over with laughter. "MALDIS
IS A FIEND AS FOUL AS I, OLD MAN. WHAT HE DID HERE WAS DONE OUT OF HATRED OF ME, NOT LOVE OF YOUR PEOPLE."
The figure thought for a second." NOW FOR SOME CLOTHES. THE GENERAL STYLE OF YOURS SEEM FINE."
The figure's eyes closed, and instantly it was clad in a robe like Kyg's own.
"AND NOW FOR SOME DECORATIONS. THOSE EYES OF YOURS, SO FULL OF GRIEF-- YES,THEY WILL DO FOR A START..."
With this, Kyg could stay there no longer. He ran towards the door shouting "Choas the Unavoidable his loosed! Choas the --"
He was killed before he even reached the entrance to the cave.
Mister_S
____
Far from Rockne, on the Peacekeeper command ship, Malignan'Ci was walking alone down a corridor when he jerked to a stop in surprise. His dead eyes
seemed to be looking for something no one else could see. The two crewmembers near him cringed and shrank against a far wall.
Malignan'Ci's face crumpled in fury. "NO!! The crystal is broken! Oh, my Master Maldis, he is free!! KAY'HOSS IS FREEEE!!!!"
Roaring, he flung his arms wide, and the ship trembled violently. He snarled at the crewmen and turned, clenching his fists in rage.
****************
Crais stood at a bridge console, his hands shaking. In his rage, Malignan'Ci had not realized that many parts of the ship were monitored, many words and
conversations recorded. Only one word mattered to Crais right then.
Maldis,' he thought, "That unnatural devil, Maldis, has returned in the form of this dark servant."
Crais felt real fear.
***************
Malignan'Ci rushed into his "quarters" and screamed in fury. His eyes flared, and things shattered. Then, he cast his conciousness to the stellar winds.
{Master! Master! Your Great Enemy is free! He who dared to feed on those in domain you wished as yours is free from his crystalline prison! Kay'Hoss is
FREE!!}
Across blackness infinite, Malignan'Ci barely felt his master's wrath.
(What?! Time is too short! I cannot gather the necessary strength to travel to Rockne. That bastard forced me to flee to my original feeding planet because
not enough of me was on Rockne to fully manifest. I was too weak to stay, now he forces me out again? This is UNACCEPTABLE!}
Hmm, Maldis' thoughtwaves were stronger than before. His rage had given him strength. If only that meddlesome human and his Delvian imposters hadn't
fought Maldis, he would've kept Kay'Hoss imprisoned indefinately. It was too late to worry about that now. Malignan'Ci sent a message to his chariot.
Outside the Command Carrier, a ship decloaked.
***************
Definitely. Pilot was convinced that the approaching vessel was Peacekeeper and was about to notify the planetbound crew when something came to his
attention.
Moya's sensors picked up only the one ship, but a Peacekeeper-installed monitor showed a second ship decloaking near the other approaching vessel. His
eyes widened in shock.
It was a Leviathan! But...
But something was wrong. It looked...
It looked dead.
Moya whimpered in fear while Pilot studied the apparition. It looked like Moya, but appeared cracked in some places. He saw small glitterings reflecting off
of its surface. Pilot recognized this symptom at once.
The new Leviathan had been desiccated, drained of it's life fluids. The hull had crystalized as a result. A sort of Leviathan's way of rotting. And yet it was
flying.
Pilot suggested to Moya that she contact the new ship and play back its response to him.
Moya sent out the call...
The dead ship's response sounded like screams of the damned.
=====
Malignan'Ci stood silently in his "quarters". He was in contact with his master, what the ancient tongue of his people called the Ar.
The Ar Maldis had been possibly the most powerful one, until the fight with another, the Ar Kay'Hoss. There had been a great battle, and Ar Maldis had been
forced to flee to his original feed-world to recuperate. The Ar Maldis found it damnable that the populace of Rockne had thought he had left WILLINGLY.
Ha!
The Ar Maldis and his nephew, the Mur Malignan'Ci had conspired to gain more than the one world by using the life energies of those upon it and had hoped
that a vessel of destruction would come soon to spread Maldis' reach elsewhere. The Ar and Mur were limited in that way: they could not set foot on a living
ship like a Leviathan. They could only stand on the decks of a warship like Crais' Command Carrier... Or a living-dead Leviathan.
The Mur and all those of lesser rank could move about more freely than the Ar, but the Ar had power that the Mur could not wield or best. Only another Ar
could fight Ar Maldis, or vice versa. The Ar were the lords and masters, the Mur and all of lesser rank were the Ar's servants and scouts.
The Mur acted as those who showed the way. They also could wear the guise of envoy or ambassador, tricking the leaders of a world into allowing an Ar
access.
Most Ar were limited to one planet in the Uncharted Territories, but the incursion of Peacekeeper ships would soon open space up to them. Maldis had
hoped to get many planets under his reign, for then he could contest the greatest of all Ar: He Who is Called Ar Mageddon.
So the Ar Maldis communicated with his faithful Mur, unaware that Crais' were not the only ears that had been paying attention to them. Far off, farther than
Maldis or Malignan'Ci could feel, something colder than the universe stirred, irritated at this internecine rivalry.
Ar Mageddon opened his eyes, and they flamed not yellow, but bright bone-white.
*************
Gilina was kneeling over the innards of a Prowler's navigational sytems when the air turned cold. She then realized that the entire technician crew had gone
silent and work had stopped. She had been too absorbed in her work to notice the change until she felt the chill.
Turning, she gasped as corpse-cold hand seized her left wrist painfully. What had been teeth in Crais' presence were now slight fangs as Malignan'Ci spoke.
"Your mind has the name 'Crighton' inside of it. You were a cohort of his." Then he grinned in that way that had turned Crais' blood cold. And motioned for
her to follow him to his quarters.
"Wha-what do you want of me?", she managed to ask as the door shut behind her, but her voice trembled.
He practically cooed, "Why, my dear, you're going to help me snare him and his interfering band." He leaned closer and his breath reeked of blood and
crypts. "You see, he is on the world Rockne, but he will come when he knows of your peril. Then, when my master has fed upon him and his Delvian whore,
you will also serve my master... as dessert."
Malignan'Ci stood near the seated Gilina inside his "quarters". She was stock-still, her face wan as she sat. He considered her resemblance to the main
corporeal form belonging to another of their race.
The Ar who had gone to Earth eons ago had arrived weak, her resouces drained from the long journey. If she'd been at full or even partial power, she
would've been able to survive. As it was, the populace that she'd fed on revolted before she could fight them and she'd perished in flames.
She'd been Ar Maldis' Blood-Mate.
The Blood-Mating was rare, but it happened from time to time. While the Ars lorded over the Murs, most Ars couldn't stand the presence of another Ar.
They only bonded if it was to mutual advantage. Considering both had dreams of overthrowing and taking the feif of Ar Mageddon, her death set back
Maldis' plans for many centuries.
Of course, Maldis had planned to kill her when Ar Mageddon was dead.She didn't know this, for while the Ars and Murs could read the minds of corporeal
beings, their own minds had a barrier that others of their kind could not breach.
But she'd been killed before her usefulness to Maldis had been realized, so he'd sworn revenge on that blasted world. Then Crighton, an inhabitant of that
world, had fallen into Ar Maldis' claws. But he had not known the location of his homeworld, so he was useless except as food. He smiled when he thought
of the unsuspecting Earthling wasting the few arns left to him on Rockne...
*******************
Ooshati