"What's up, Pilot?" Joan walked into Command, looking at Pilot's image on the clamshell display.

"I fail to see the importance of this phenomenon," Rohnn offered.

Joan turned towards her. "What phenom..." Mid-turn, her eyes went over the forward portal. "Fuck! Pilot, back away, now!" I'm an idiot! I should have seen this coming

"Doctor? Isn't this the phenomenon that brought you here? Moya is certain she detected this when you arrived here."

"Pilot, don't argue, get away from that thing!" As Joan said this, the image of Earth became visible. She knew it wasn't real, but seeing it did make her heart beat a bit faster.

"Very well. Moya has increased the distance and is plotting a course around it."

Joan nodded. "Good, crisis averted." She turned around, intending to get back to the schematics she'd been studying.

"Attention! The phenomenon is moving in our direction! It will reach us in twenty microts!"

Joan turned back and slammed with her fist on the nearest console. "Damn it! Pilot, tell Moya to step on it. Get away from it, use Starburst, I don't care, but get the hell away from that thing!"

"Moya is traveling at top Hetch, but the phenomenon is still gaining. We can not use Starburst for at least another arn."

"Just fucking great," Joan muttered.

Joan was sitting behind the glass wall, staring stoically ahead and ignoring the man in front of her asking thousand-and-one questions. She recognized him, of course. She recognized everyone she had seen since Moya got swallowed by the wormhole.

Bohr tapped her shoulder. "Joan, you know they can't understand us. You have to provide the answers."

"What did it say?"

Joan sighed. "As I told you before: get my mom in here, and I'll talk."

"Get out of my way!"

'Wow, that's fast,' Joan thought to herself. She turned to her friends. "That's what my mom looks like."

"Kill that switch!"

Joan rolled her eyes. Did they have to react exactly like that? Together with her friends she watched the argument play out.

Eventually, Jean apparently won, and entered their quarantine room. "Joan..."

"Cut the crap, mom. I know this ain't real. I know you're just looking for a planet to call home and you took my memories to create this..." she gestured with her hand to indicate their current environment, "and determine if the people of Earth would welcome you or fight you. They'd fight, trust me."

Jean looked thoroughly confused. "What are you talking about?"

Joan got up and in a few large strides, walked over to her. She grabbed the front of Jean's shirt and whirled her around to push her up against the wall.

Bohr stood up. "Joan! What are you doing?"

Joan ignored him and looked in Jean's eyes as the front of her shirt came of. "I'm talking about this being a fake-out. Cut the crap, now!"

Immediately, the room vanished and was replaced by an odd room, illuminated by an orange glow.

"Impressive..."

"Yeah, yeah, I did well, most species don't do as well, yadda, yadda, yadda. Listen, back home there was this fictional TV-show and somehow I got stuck here living through nearly identical adventures. That's how I knew this wasn't real. That's why I asked Moya to back away from your damn fake wormhole."

"This is not real?"

Joan turned to her friends. "No, it isn't. I'm afraid it's pretty accurate, though the worst-case scenario."

"This reality has been realized thousands of cycles ago. There is no sign the timeline has been altered in any way..."

Joan turned back to Jean. "It must have. I got here with foreknowledge about many events. Too many for it being mere coincidence that someone on Earth thought up those events. Ergo, someone from here, probably a few cycles from now, must have gone back in time and created this TV-show."

"Most likely an event that should take place in this reality. Otherwise, we would have detected a breach."

"Someone is supposed to go back and inform me? Why?"

"Unknown. But this reality shows no signs of being tampered with."

"How would you know if it was?"

"Our species can sense the lines of time. Any deviation of these lines, caused by a traveler going back through time and altering the outcome of any event, would be instantly detected."

Joan nodded and thought a little. "What if it was someone from another reality who traveled back in time and to my reality?"

Jean seemed to contemplate that for a long time, as if the option would be unheard of. "Then we would not detect any deviation. Any change you affect because of what you learned on Earth would simply cause this reality to branch off."

"Right. But when this other person traveled back in time, wouldn't he have caused a ripple in time? Time is all encompassing, isn't it? I remember on the show one of your ancestors explaining that in that case a traveler will need to fix the first thing going wrong and get the hell out of there."

"Yes, the elasticity of time will cause events to revert to familiar outcomes. But this is only an issue should a traveler go back to a place and time he has been before. As you said, it is possible someone not from Earth traveled back in time to Earth."

"Uh-huh, but then he could still have come from this reality, right?"

"He could without causing the ripple that would alter events. But we would still have detected the travel through time."

"But you're unable to detect if someone from another reality enters this one?"

"Changing reality does not influence time's natural progression. The only means of detection is to compare a person's energy phase to that of the reality. Each reality has its own energy phase, a signature identifying the exact reality and time of origin."

"Have I switched realities when I arrived here?"

Jean shook her head. "No, that was the first thing I checked when you mentioned the possibility of someone having crossed into a different reality."

Joan nodded. "Well, I suppose that's good. Listen, I wanna go home, but do not, I repeat, do not put the wormhole knowledge in my head and lock it up. Bad things come from that..."

"You already possess the necessary equations."

"...not long from now... I what?!"

"The wormhole equations... they are already implanted in your brain, though you can not access them..."

"...consciously. They're there to guide me, shave of some cycles of research, I know." Joan sighed. "Can you get this crap out? Remove it?"

"No, we can't. And we shouldn't."

"Hell yeah, you should! Haven't you been listening? Bad things are gonna happen. People wanting this knowledge will come after me, and soon. And they're not gonna be careful with it, nor worry about how they're gonna get it."

"The knowledge was not given by us. Our ancestors must have implanted it during your first travel through the wormhole."

"Wait a minute! Are you saying that Einstein put this crap in? The one that is so afraid of anyone in this realm penetrating the walls between our realms. The one that created you to monitor and safeguard that knowledge in this realm?"

Jean smiled. "We don't call him Einstein, but it does prove you have obtained many details about what to expect here."

"Yeah, a lot of good it has done us so far."

"You can use your knowledge of future events to avoid the people wanting the wormhole knowledge, Joan."

"Do I? I ended up here anyway, didn't I? I haven't exactly done a good job avoiding things. At most I speed things up, avoid the worst injuries, but that's it."

Jean looked into Joan's eyes for a long moment. "Exactly, you can avoid the worst injuries."

Joan looked confused at first, but then started to smile. "Avoid the worst injuries! Of course. No injury, lessen the likelihood of running into Nosferatu. And get out of my head, will you?"

Jean nodded. "I've gleaned at lot of information about the possible events you may encounter. Perhaps another safeguard is prudent."

"What other safeguard?"

"Whenever you choose a path to avoid others to find out about your knowledge, you are able to live through segments of unrealized realities. Because this is dangerous, you are limited to four realities and you're only allowed to witness key points of that reality."

Joan eyed her dubiously. "It can't be that easy."

Jean shook her head. "It isn't. The realities you'll witness are based on your personal choices. Even if you make the same choices, the reality may change, due to choices of the people around you. It is prudent to choose the path which is least dependant on the choices of others to achieve your goal."

Joan sighed. "Well, I suppose any help is better than none."

Joan sat on her bed, scribbling in one of the two journals. She knew Aeron had walked up to the door of her quarters but he hadn't made a move or said a thing since. Eventually she sighed. "Either come in or go, but don't keep standing there. You're getting on my nerves."

"Who is coming after the knowledge you possess?"

"Don't know, haven't met him or her yet."

"Tell me about the person you've seen on that fiction show."

Joan sighed again, but finally did look up. "Doesn't matter, since he or she won't find out about me and the crap that's up here." She tapped her forehead.

Aeron walked to her bed and set next to her. "Humor me."

Joan looked at him and then turned away. "A Scarran-Sebacean half-breed. Sebacean, that's your species. The others are big lizards. Scaly, thick skin..."

Aeron nodded. "Heat glands powerful enough to have almost any species succumb to it, even their own, I heard." He paused. "Most Peacekeepers believe it to be just a rumor, but I know the Pluran-Seforan scientist having climbed up the ranks does in fact exist."

Joan nodded. "Just great. Anyway, on the show he's working on wormholes and when he runs into Crichton and finds out he has the knowledge locked up inside, he believes he's won the lottery."

"But you know how you'd meet, so you can simply avoid that."

Joan nodded slowly. "Yeah, avoid that trap." Slightly distracted by her thoughts, she didn't notice the slight shift in her environment.

"What circumstances will lead you to meet this scientist?"

Should I tell this? What if the virus enters his mind? No, I shouldn't tell anyone. "I get caught while on a secret Peacekeeper base somewhere here in the Uncharted Territories." Not even a lie. I just left some details out. No harm, no foul, right?

"The Peacekeepers have a base here?"

Joan nodded. "Yeah. We'll run into it."

Aeron was silent for a little while. "Why did your counterpart go inside the base?"

"He didn't have much of a choice at that time." At least none I could live with.

"In that case, we'll have to make sure you're not forced this time."

Joan experienced a flash and found herself eye to eye with a creature that looked remarkably similar to Scorpius, but was clearly female. Aeron was strapped in a revolving chair, seemingly unconscious, and Joan knew that this... thing in front of her had already learned from Aeron's time in the chair that Joan was the key to wormholes.

Immediately she experienced another flash and she was back aboard Moya, Aeron sitting beside her.

"What circumstances will lead you to meet this scientist?"

What the hell?Did I already use up one unrealized reality? "You'll get seriously wounded and I go to a secret Peacekeeper base here in the Uncharted Territories to obtain tissue to make sure you'll survive."

"The Peacekeepers have a base here?"

Joan nodded. "Yeah. We'll find that out soon."

"Perhaps it would be better to not go there, even if it means I'll die."

"Aeron, that's not an option. I wouldn't be able to live with the knowledge I let you die, just to save my own ass. We'll just have to make sure you don't get hurt."

"How?"

"By not helping the Peacekeeper Special Ops we run into."

Another flash occurred. Joan now found herself facing Bohr and some Peacekeeper medics.

"It's an intellant virus," one of the Peacekeeper medics said. "A team had been send out to attempt retrieval, but when they finally returned, monans beyond their original schedule, the virus had taken over already. We didn't realize until later. We are currently the only ones from that Gammack base who escaped unaffected."

"But we have no way to test that, do we?" Bohr asked.

"It doesn't matter. The virus will spread throughout this region, multiplying constantly. We have no way to stop it, short of burning the entire region down. And I do mean the entire region, every single planet and star. We're frelled."

Another flash. Ookaay, not helping is clearly not... helping any

"What circumstances will lead you to meet this scientist?"

"A damaged Marauder will come aboard, carrying a secret cargo. Our Royal Lowness and the Prince of Thieves open it up and release the intellant virus that's inside."

"So, we won't let them come aboard?"

"Bad choice. What if the virus takes over? Besides, not knowing where this secret Peacekeeper base, where the virus is supposed to be taken to, is, might have us run into it accidentally."

"I see what you mean. If the Peacekeepers fail to keep the virus contained, everyone will be frelled. If we do get in range with the base, we're frelled."

Joan nodded. "Exactly." She paused. "We need to take them onboard, play it out up to the point where they tell us where the secret base is. And get them the hell off of Moya, destroying the virus in the process."

"Who'll be infected first?"

"Nerri, though he'll make us believe Rohnn is infected. Then I get infected and by the time everyone figures out Rohnn is not infected, the Peacekeeper captain is. Unfortunately nobody knows, since everyone has touched me, in an attempt to keep me from shooting anyone." Where is that flash to show me how this pans out? What other choices are there to make from this point on?

"Wouldn't it be better to tell the two thieves to not mess with the cargo?"

Joan shrugged. "Maybe." She paused. "Right, we'll tell them to keep away."

This time there was a flash and Joan was faced with an unknown male Peacekeeper. "It was interesting to learn about my demise from the Botari. It helped in deviating from the path. I've no where to go, but into you."

Joan glanced down at herself and noticed she was shackled. She looked back up. "And once in me, your current host will waste no time killing me and you."

"I'm not that stupid. I'll leave as this host takes his last breath."

"And so, you're in me, shackled up and nowhere to go."

"Wrong again. When I'm in you, you'll have enough strength to break your bonds. No, this will work out just fine."

Another flash and Joan was once again back on her bed, Aeron sitting beside her. Right, we don't tell anyone. Take four...

"What circumstances will lead you to meet this scientist?"

"We'll run into him after you get injured in a way that will kill you in a matter of days." She held up her hand when she saw Aeron was about to respond. "If you're going to tell me to let you die, save your breath, 'cause that ain't gonna happen."

Aeron shut his mouth and nodded. "Alright. How do I get injured?"

Okay, Joan. Time to get creative here... "During a fight on a commerce planet with some alien. Just bad luck, I suppose. The thing is, we didn't want to go to the planet anyway, but someone lured us on a promise of having a way home for all of us, which turned out to be false." Hey, if I'm lying, I might as well try avoiding that fiasco, though if the show was chronological, it should've happened already

Aeron nodded again. "Alright, so we won't walk into that trap and we'd be okay?"

Joan nodded. "Yeah."

In a flash she found herself running after the same male Peacekeeper she'd seen in the previous reality, Aeron and V'Enda right behind her.

V'Enda, clearly the fastest of the three, increased her speed, shouting, "We can't let the virus escape!"

Joan barely managed to grab her arm and hold her back. "I got a plan." At the same moment the docking bay's inner doors started to close and the trio came to a halt. "Pilot, is the Peacekeeper ship still leaking fuel?"

"Yes, doctor. Per your instructions, the DRDs haven't completed the repairs."

"Right, make a one-eighty. That means Moya should turn in place and point to were we came from. Then have her initiate the first stage of Starburst. The energy should set the fuel trail on fire and blow up the Peacekeeper vessel."

Half a minute later, Pilot reported the Peacekeeper ship had been blown up.

This time she did perceive the shift and once again she was back on her bed. Well, take four seems to be working.

"What circumstances will lead you to meet this scientist?"

"We'll run into him after you get injured in a way that will kill you in a matter of days." She held up her hand when she saw Aeron was about to respond. "If you're going to tell me to let you die, save your breath, 'cause that ain't gonna happen."

Aeron shut his mouth and nodded. "Alright. How do I get injured?"

"Why are we attempting Crandon's way first?"

"Because, sweet V'Enda, this has a chance of succeeding."

V'Enda snorted. "But she admitted she has no idea what we are facing. It is not as if she has foreknowledge."

"That doesn't mean her plans should be ignored. You have to admit this is the only one of the discussed plans that could work."

"Perhaps, but I end up being captured again."

"You are a prisoner only temporarily." Borh moved to Rohnn's cell.

"I fail to see why I have to give up my thronesled."

"What would these Peacekeepers think if one of the prisoners was allowed to keep her possession?"

Bohr finally took the thronesled from Rohnn and gave it to Nerri. He then walked into his own cell. "Pilot, we're ready."

"Understood." Immediately, the cell doors closed and locked.

"I understand, doctor."

"Thanks, Pilot, saves us a lot of time should things go pear-shaped. And remember to address me as 'Captain' once these PKs have boarded."

Joan walked down the corridor towards the landing bay. She could already hear Aeron doing his job by asking the newcomers to identify themselves. The reply was no different from what she expected. 'Captain Maldar, not disclosing his assignment, check. Alright, here goes nothing,' Joan thought as she took a deep breath and palmed the door open. "Ease your weapon, Lieutenant." She paused. "That's an order." Much to her surprise, the team consisted of just three members: the captain and two lieutenants.

Aeron lowered his weapon and Maldar turned toward her while lowering his weapon. "Smart move, Captain."

"Do not think you will be able to take over my vessel and crew. There are several hundred DRDs, equipped with lasers who will happily shoot you should you decide to try it anyway. If you want my help, you need to ask nicely." Joan refused to copy Crichton's words and actions to the letter. Any deviation she made now could only help in realizing the course change she was aiming for.

Maldar's cocky expression toned down visibly. "My team and I are on a priority Red-One mission. We need to deliver our cargo to a Peacekeeper base."

Joan nodded. "I'll have some of the DRDs make necessary repairs to your ship." She looked up, cursing herself for having adopted that habit from the show for no good reason. "Pilot, how long will it take for the DRDs to repair the fuel leak?"

"Four arns, Captain."

Joan nodded. "Good. Begin repairs immediately." She looked back at Maldar. "Will that be all?"

"Captain, your current heading will take us further away from the Peacekeeper base. I would like to request you alter course to minimize our time loss. We need to get our cargo there as quickly as possible."

Joan faked thinking over his request for a while and then nodded. "If you provide us with the coordinates, we will head in that direction, but only at half speed. Our mission, too, has time constraints, but at the moment we are a little ahead of schedule."

Maldar nodded and gestured toward the doors. "In private, please. The location of this base is need-to-know only."

Joan nodded and gestured for Maldar to follow her.

Joan knew the kids had given in to their natural talent for getting into trouble the minute Pilot, discreetly, signaled her on her comms. She tapped her comms. "You know what to do, Pilot."

"Yes, doctor. I already initiated the first step."

Joan nodded and headed towards the prison cells. "I'll inform the others."

"Okay people, as I feared, the two children have attempted to open the cargo of these nice Peacekeepers." Joan turned to Bohr. "And we have an additional problem. Pilot has some DRDs creating some Pepto, but he needs your assistance."

"Pepta?"

"Pep-to. It's an anti-acid. Never mind, just go help the DRDs. They're busy in the apothecary."

As Bohr made his way towards the apothecary, slightly confused, the comms activated and Maldar's voice boomed through the device. "Captain, we have run into a problem. Your assistance is required in the landing bay."

Joan decided to play dumb. "What kind of problem are we talking about?"

"Our special cargo has been compromised."

"And how is this my problem, exactly?"

The comms went quiet for a while. "Our cargo consisted of an intellant virus. It has escaped and infected the Faracian."

"Why has the prisoner been released?"

Joan turned to Maldar. "Listen, Captain. You have an intellant virus on the loose. We need every one on this ship to help locate it, or we're all frelled."

"Captain, with all due respect..."

"There will be no further discussion. We'll split the ship in three parts." Joan pointed at Maldar and Nerri. "You two will search the lower tiers." She pointed to the only remaining lieutenant and V'Enda. "You two will check the middle tiers, Aeron and I will check the upper tiers."

"What about the Palian?"

"He'd be of no use. Besides, no one is to look for the Domina alone. Let's go, people. We're wasting time."

"Joan, what's going on?"

"There's a virus on the loose."

"Yes, I know, but..."

"Aeron, I don't know any more than you do, so just drop it, alright?"

"Fine."

Joan and Aeron continued their search. Joan hoped they would get to the little Domina before the trigger happy Lieutenant or Captain would. As they moved to their last assigned tier, Joan turned to Aeron. "Did you learn anything from Maldar?"

Aeron nodded. "Yes. Apparently, the base their heading to is the only surface-based one, but a number of Command Carriers are scattered throughout the Uncharted Territories, all serving as a science base for various scientific purposes."

"Undoubtedly to make sure that if something goes wrong, it's as far away from Peacekeeper controlled space as possible."

"Most likely, yes. But Maldar did point out that there might be other bases around of which he just hasn't been informed."

Joan nodded. "In your opinion, is that likely to be the case?"

Aeron paused, literally coming to a standstill. "I.. uh..."

Joan also stopped, looking confusedly back at Aeron. "What?"

"You're asking for my opinion?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I.. ah.. I'm not used to be allowed to think for myself, let alone someone asking me for my opinion."

"Something tells me you have thought for yourself often. Is that why you were demoted?" She held up her hand again. "Never mind. You're not getting in trouble now, so tell me what you think."

Aeron nodded and resumed his course, Joan following his example. "As far as I can tell, Maldar has one of the highest clearances in the Peacekeeper ranks. Undoubtedly, those in High Command have more secrets they did keep from him, but due to his field of operation, and the tasks he's asked to perform, it's unlikely they wouldn't inform him how to stay away from other Peacekeeper bases. He knows about quite a few Carrier-based secret bases, and it seems illogical for High Command to not give him full disclosure of all locations and risk him and his crew running into a base unprepared."

Joan digested the rather long analysis and had to agree with Aeron's assessment. "I agree. So, did you get the locations of those Carriers?"

Aeron shook his head. "No, but that doesn't matter. Moya is unlikely to miss a Command Carrier. A base hidden on the surface of a planetary body is nearly impossible to detect. Since we know its location, we can safely navigate around the Uncharted Territories without risking being detected by it."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right."

Just as they started the search on their final Tier, V'Enda and the lieutenant reported they'd found Rohnn. When Aeron and Joan arrived at their location, Joan could just see Nerri letting go of Maldar, both looking slightly confused.

She turned towards the lieutenant. "So, where's the little lady?"

He pointed towards one of the DRD maintenance ducts. "In there." He turned to Maldar. "Did you grab the weapon?"

Joan held up her hands. "Whoa, wait a microt. Can't we make certain first she's actually infected? Is there a way to detect the virus?"

The lieutenant looked at his captain, but he didn't seem to be quite there. He scratched his head. "Well... the virus is acid-based."

Joan noticed V'Enda turning her head to look at her, but luckily she was smart enough to keep quiet and avert her gaze. "So, if we have some substance that would react to acid, we could determine whether or not Rohnn is infected?"

The side effects of the virus transfer had apparently worn off, as Maldar interrupted. "Of course she's infected! Why else would she be hiding?"

Joan turned to him and shrugged. "To avoid getting shot at, maybe? Infected or not, I wouldn't want to be shot at either." She turned her head to ceiling. "Pilot, does Moya have any supply of a substance that would react to the acidic nature of the virus? One that would not be harmful to the test subject?"

After a short pause the reply came. "Yes, Captain, Moya does contain such a substance. I will have the Palian prisoner bring it to your current location."

"Let's be rational about this," Maldar argued again. "The Faracian was the only one present when the virus got lose. She killed one of my lieutenants. We know all of this."

Pilot interrupted their discussion. "According to my calculations, the substance should react heavily with the virus, possibly kill it. But if someone was previously infected by the virus, even if there are traces of the acidic residue, those traces would be so minute that a reaction should not be detectable."

Joan nodded once. "Thanks, Pilot." She turned to the others. "Who's gonna go first?"

Seeing the dubious looks all around, Joan decided to go first. "Just to prove to you all that it's safe." After Bohr had injected her with the Pepto, she waited a few seconds and then turned back. "See? Nothing to it." She pointed at Maldar. "As captain, I believe you, too, should set an example."

"This is ridiculous. I will not undergo this procedure to prove I'm not infected."

His lieutenant raised his weapon a bit. "I believe you should, sir."

"I will not. For all we know it could kill me."

The lieutenant, raised his weapon some more. "I think the captain of this vessel just proved it to be harmless. You, however, seem very reluctant to let yourself be tested. Perhaps you are infected and the virus is afraid of being killed."

Maldar didn't wait any longer, and pulled his knife, stabbing his lieutenant as he ran out of the room.

Immediately, Joan, V'Enda and Aeron ran after him, Joan silently hoping this would all work out they way she had seen in her glimpse of that last unrealized reality.

She stopped V'Enda right before the bay doors closed and asked Pilot to turn around and initiate the first stage of Starburst. Problem solved.

Joan was facing Aeron in the exercise bay and he was definitely not happy. "You did know about this, didn't you Joan?" Obviously he detected she was about to deny it, as he continued. "You knew Rohnn wasn't infected, you asked Pilot to hold the repairs and asked him and Bohr to create the substance that would detect the virus."

Joan sighed and nodded.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He paused a beat. "Or the others?"

"I couldn't risk the intellant virus finding out I knew about it and what it was going to do. As long as everyone thought this was an adventure I didn't know about, the virus would think it was safe." She looked over his body. "You didn't get hurt, nor were the others, so what's the problem?"

Aeron stepped closer to her. "The problem is you didn't trust me." Again a short pause preceded the amending, "Us."

"Maybe I should have, but as long as I couldn't be certain you weren't going to be infected, this was the safest choice."

"It still hurts." Aeron walked past her and out of the exercise bay.

Joan looked at his retreating back, mumbling, "It's supposed to be the other way around."