Why did he leave them?
The Doctor had abandoned them, and now their faith was put to the test, and Aeryn did not like that one bit.
First he had questioned her decisions, not approving the fact that Aeryn had killed the three infected people when they attacked them in the caverns, and now he leaves without saying anything, leaving her in charge.
She had done it wrong in his eyes, and yet he grants her the ability to make more of those wrong decisions.
No. Even worse.
He had given her a second chance.
Or perhaps he had faith in her...
Frell. Why did this have to be so hard?
Her faith in the Doctor wavered, yet realising the Doctor had faith in her, only made her doubt her waverings, for it gave her confidence in herself again.
''Let's take a look at that wound of yours.'' Aeryn said, forcing Diolan to sit down and roll up the leg of his trousers to reveal the red wound on his right knee.
She examined the wound for a swift second, before standing up and walking into the kitchen of this house.
''Here.'' Aeryn said as she returned, throwing a piece of cloth she had just held under a cold tap into Diolan's hands. ''Clean it up. It looks all right, but there's still a chance that it might get infected.''
''It's nothing?'' Diolan asked, touching the wound on his knee, feeling a burning pain.
''Just a scratch.'' Aeryn reassured him, taking the cloth out of Diolan's hands and cleaning the wound herself. ''Nothing fatal.''
Aeryn and Diolan had been walking through an upper section of sewers for nearly fifteen minutes before they found a ladder, hidden in a rocky alcove in the wall, which lead to another hatch in the ceiling.
Upon entering, they found themselves in a strange house, and although the setting of everything was exactly the same as in Ferril's house, it was nothing like it.
Everything had been painted either light blue or navy blue, and all the furniture had been decorated with a strange pattern of stars and ships.
Apparantly the person who had lived in this house prior to the attack had a remarkable obsession with outer space.
Miniature space-craft were found everywhere and even the tapestry on the wall had a pattern of space-ships on it, but even that was barely visible as all four walls were decorated with paintings and photographs of various types of crafts, ranging from one-man-fighters to entire cargo-transports.
Diolan told Aeryn how he thought the man who used to live here to be a retired traveller, or merchant or travelling merchant, missing the old days of adventure and excitement. Something he was too old to experience nowadays.
But Aeryn smiled and shook her head, for she pictured in her mind a woman, longing nostalgic for the times when she used to be the scourge of the galaxy, until another picture dawned in her mind. An image of an old woman, settling down after her many adventures on this tiny, comfortable asteroid to form a family with her one true love; a family with seven children, and in her mind Aeryn could see them all in front of her, like ghosts. A lifetime of happiness and sadness right in front of her very eyes.
''We should get to the roof,'' Aeryn said. ''determine our position and find that bar.''
Diolan nodded in agreement.
''I'll be gone for about a minute, so don't make any sounds unless you really have to.'' said Aeryn. ''Don't draw any attention to yourself. Stealth is the key factor here. The element of surprise is what keeps us alive.''
Aeryn stopped talking, realising she was beginning to sound just like the Doctor, and for a moment her eyes wandered to the walkie-talkie, which was left on the table...
''He'll contact us.'' Diolan said, trying to comfort Aeryn. ''He will.''
''You're right.'' lied Aeryn. ''Just be quiet, okay? I'll be back shortly.''
She left the room and headed upstairs, without making a single sound.
The plan was simple.
The Doctor would get to the radio-tower and air his music. Aeryn and Diolan would then turn on the radio's they would have to steal from abandoned houses and put on the roof of all the houses surrounding the bar, where the Viridimon was.
The music, if played loud enough, would fill the Viridimon's mind and would make him unable to think of anything else.
The telepathic field and all of the Viridimon's mental connections would be severed, leaving the Viridimon defenceless and alone.
A much easier target to be handled, but still not to be underestimated.
Aeryn looked at the sky, enjoying the sight of the stars which she missed dearly, standing on the rooftop, bathed in moonlight.
The Viridimon's soldiers were looking for them. The monster with a thousand eyes. She could almost feel his gaze fall upon her, but she did not fear the Viridimon.
Aeryn had many fears, but he was not listed among them.
She feared death. She feared love. She feared imprisonment. She feared a lifetime of hoping for a rescue that would never come, or much too late.
Memories that were not her own faded into her mind. The old Crichton who had haunted her on Valldon reappeared in her eye-sight, only to be ignored and forgotten when Aeryn blinked and gazed down on the settlement once more, trying to separate reality from illusion once more.
She held Hagros's map in front of her and compared it to the roads and buildings in the settlement, before finally discovering that their next move would be to go south.
She couldn't help but wonder what was on the Doctor's mind right now, what decisions he would make and how he would find his way back to the surface and to the tower he had assigned himself to conquer.
She headed back downstairs, climbing down the fire-escape and crawling back into the house through the window, where she found Diolan standing beneath the staircase awaiting her arrival.
''I know where we are.'' said Aeryn to the young Sebacean man. ''And I know where we must go.''
''When do we go?'' asked Diolan .
''Now.'' Aeryn replied.
She passed Diolan in the hall and grabbed her leather vest she had left hanging down the back of a chair.
''Shouldn't we wait for the Doctor to contact us?'' Diolan asked.
Aeryn hesitated before answering.
''It was his decision to split up.'' Aeryn said. ''He knows the plan and knows what we have to do. We don't need to wait for his signal.''
''Are you sure?'' Diolan asked.
''Yes.'' Aeryn replied.
They stepped on to the doormat and slowly unlocked the white, heavy, wooden front door.
Aeryn slowly opened it and peeked around the small opening to look outside.
''Can you run?'' she asked.
''Yes.'' Diolan said. ''I think I can.''
''Then run.'' Aeryn said. ''Now!''
The Viridimon's legions were patrolling the hazy, wet and dark streets extensively in search for the Doctor, and Aeryn and Diolan had to hide and manouvre through shadows and dark alleyways, and had to avoid stepping into the bright light of the street lanterns to remain unseen.
Aeryn remembered herself running through these shadows with the Doctor not long ago, before they were forced to hide in the caverns. Oh, what a waste of time that was. A total fiasco.
''Let's keep going.'' Diolan said and pointed at the other side of the street.
Aeryn was reminded of Diolan's presence, and the fact she had not said anything to him since they left the house.
Silence was good, yes, but to ignore him, to say nothing to him, was something else.
The Doctor had said that she was going to need his help. He forced Aeryn to take leadership, to guide this boy, to safeguard him.
But Aeryn realised she had nothing in common with this boy. He seemed so young, so naive, and so weak.
They were both Sebaceans, yes, but Aeryn didn't know if Diolan ever served in Peacekeeper ranks.
She wanted to ask him, but her mouth wouldn't open. The question was buried into her mind and she forced herself to focus on the situation at hand. She forced herself not to say anything to this kid.
To question meant she would be confessing her lack of knowledge, or in other words, her stupidity.
Aeryn shook her head.
That was the Peacekeeper way.
The old way.
Aeryn looked at Diolan and was reminded of herself at that age, only she was being trained to become the perfect pilot and soldier, and Diolan was not. He was here. An ex-member of Solem's assassination squad.
What did a young kid such as Diolan do in a group like that?
More questions and possible answers riddled Aeryn's mind as she gazed down the streets.
She signed Diolan to stop walking, to hide in the shadows, for Aeryn saw the bar right in front of her, guarded by at least three perfectly marching squads of infected civilians.
''Don't move.'' Aeryn said, looking around to find their objective.
They were looking for the houses surrounding the bar, not the bar itself.
And as the legions marched by, unaware of the two figures in the shadows, Aeryn signed Diolan to follow her.
But he wouldn't move.
''Diolan, come on!'' Aeryn said.
He kept shaking his head, resisting Aeryn's orders.
''We have to get in there!'' he said. ''The bar has an incredible soundsystem which we can use! We don't have to find those radios in all those houses!''
The bar seemed so close and seemed to tempt them to enter. Aeryn's hand trembled, resisting the urge to reach for her conceiled weapons.
She remembered the white barrier which knocked her down. The Viridimon's psychic shielding which reflected damage away from his soldiers.
''No.'' Aeryn said. ''We can't. The bar is crawling with infected. Going in there means suicide.''
''I have to get inside...'' Diolan said.
''We both made a promise.'' Aeryn said. ''We would both go with the Doctor's plan. He's counting on us. So we'll do our jobs and we'll find those radios! Just like he told us to do!''
The Doctor's plan.
His silly, stupid plan which would get them all killed.
The only thing Aeryn could believe in at this point. The only thing which could convince Diolan not to throw away his life in some stupid urge to charge into that bar. Why? Why was he so keen to get in there?
Aeryn and Diolan now moved from house to house, crawling from alley-way to alley-way and smashing windows when picking locks would not work.
And there was still no sign of any trouble.
No green eyes which awaited in the shadows or behind the doors to get them.
It gave them hope.
It made them believe in themselves, and that they were actually going to be able to pull this off.
No longer was being alone a weakness. It was their strength.
The Viridimon couldn't find them if they would remain in the darkness. It would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Where would he start to look first? Even with its vast army of infected at his command the Viridimon would still need hours upon hours to finally find them, and then there's still a labyrinth of tunnels and caverns beneath the surface, where Hagros and his group of survivors were hiding.
Aeryn and Diolan were beginning to feel much better about themselves.
Hope was rekindled...but was eventually crushed down as they discovered that not many people on this asteroid actually owned a radio.
Where they expected to find many, they could only find one. Not nearly enough to drown the Viridimon in noise.
''Frell!'' Aeryn cried, kicking against the large metallic box in frustration.
Where moments ago she was beginning to finally feel good towards the Doctor's plan, now she cursed it like before.
''I knew this would happen.'' Aeryn said. ''I told him, but he wouldn't listen! They never listen!''
In his hands Diolan still held the Doctor's walkie talkie, hoping for a reply.
They had searched every corner, every creepy attic and every smelly basement, but found nothing but the abandoned possessions of wealthy merchants and their wives.
''Doctor, can you hear me?'' Diolan kept saying, pressing the large button on the side of the device. ''Are you there, Doctor? We need your help! There aren't enough radios! Doctor? Please respond!''
As Diolan held his ear against the device, he could still hear nothing but a distant crackling.
His and Aeryn's final hope was gone.
They were really alone now. They had never felt this abandoned and desperate before.
Aeryn grabbed her own walkie-talkie from her belt and started screaming into the device as she pressed the button.
''Doctor!'' she yelled. ''Answer me! Let us know you're still alive! Doctor!''
''Keep your voice down!'' Diolan said, quickly moving towards the window and carefully sticking his head through the curtains to look out into the street.
''We need radio's.'' Aeryn said. ''Radio's we don't have. Radio's they don't have!''
She calmed down and sighed, feeling another urge to kick that radio on the floor; the only thing it was good for now; an object to kick in order to ventilate anger and frustration.
''There's only one way to get the job done.'' Diolan said, removing his head from the white curtains. ''Only one way to keep our promise. To make the plan work.''
He looked into Aeryn's eyes, almost begging for her permission, and Aeryn knew exactly what he wanted to hear.
He wanted to go into the bar.
''That's suicide Diolan!'' Aeryn said, but Diolan wouldn't listen.
''I need to get in there!'' he said to her.
''Why?'' Aeryn finally asked. ''Why do you desperately want to kill yourself? Enslave your frelling mind?!''
''My brother is in there.'' Diolan said. ''I need to find him. He could still be alive. I need to find Baelen.''
That name left Aeryn somehow speechless and without words, so she said nothing, and all she could think of was Mairic and Baelen in the bar's storage-room, shot by the leader they had followed blindly. The leader they never doubted.
They believed him instantly when he claimed he had returned. He had survived worse, so it was no surprise to see him alive still.
But they were wrong. Their faith had been misplaced, and the Viridimon took advantage of their blind hope.
He took advantage of their faith and killed them.
''He's dead, Diolan...'' Aeryn could barely say, before trying to clear her voice which she had suddenly lost.
''What?'' Diolan asked surprised.
''He's dead. I saw it. He was killed.'' Aeryn said.
''No.'' said Diolan, not believing her words. ''No way. I know he is alive. I just know it.''
''Diolan...''
''No! He's out there...I just know so...''
''I saw him...he was shot by Solem...he and Mairic were killed...''
''NO!'' Diolan cried. ''I refuse to believe he's dead. He's my brother...he's my brother...''
Tears welled up in Diolan's eyes, and Aeryn could see the clash of emotions in his eyes, fear and anger fighting to get a hold of him.
''We have always been together. Since birth, when we were found on the doorstep of Jaleeth's house, who raised us. Me and Baelen. Tobian and Masden she used to call us, but we changed our names when we joined Solem's squad, to rid us of our past. Of that old demented woman, who wouldn't let us leave. She wouldn't let us find our true parents...''
Diolan cried in anger, reminded of Jaleeth, the woman who raised them and loved them, but ruined their lives.
''Baelen left to find our parents, but she wouldn't let me follow him. I left a year later, and I finally found him...he had joined Solem's Assassination Squad...and I wanted to join too. Together, among Peacekeepers, we could find our real parents. We will find our parents...I just...I just need to find him again...''
''Diolan...'' Aeryn said, hesitating to interrupt his sad tale with a crackling, low voice drenched in sympathy. ''Diolan, I saw him die. I saw him get shot. I clearly remember seeing the bolt of light hit his armour...''
''Armour?'' Diolan said. ''Armour, you say?''
That word seemed to fill him with joy and hope.
''Baelen always wore his full outfit when he didn't need to.'' Diolan said. ''That armour could have well saved his life!''
''Diolan, look at what you're saying!'' Aeryn said. ''You want to risk your life to save someone who could possibly well be dead already!''
''It's the only way.'' Diolan said. ''I want to do it. I can do both things at once. The radios. My brother. Don't you understand why I need to go?''
Aeryn understood perfectly well.
She had made a decision.
A decision she knew the Doctor would not have approved, but he would just have to accept that, for he was the one who left her in charge.
And there was nothing Aeryn could have done to stop Diolan. He was determined to get into that bar, even if it meant his own death.
Aeryn recognised that bravery and foolish valour. The desire to save the ones you love without caring for your own life.
Sacrifice of one's own life.
Aeryn closed her eyes and turned away from the window.
She was alone in the dark now, with only hope to guide her.
The Doctor was still alive.
Diolan would succeed.
She had to believe in this. She had to believe in them.
For there was no other way to survive.
Nothing else to do.
She kicked that radio again, crying in frustration, knowing she had chosen to be helpless. She had chosen to believe in the impossible, not knowing whether the plan had failed already, or was about to be set in motion. Not knowing whether Diolan was already caught and infected.
Not knowing whether the Doctor was dead or dying or lost in the endless caverns, where only one wrong decision could leave him walking straight into a tunnel leading into outer space.
Or captured by the Viridimon, his unknown wisdom absorbed by the creature and used against them.
Diolan could very well be walking straight into a trap.
And Aeryn suddenly pictured the Doctor in her mind, gazing at her with venomous green eyes.
Then she'd know all was lost.
Aeryn's thoughts dwelled on the tower the Doctor spoke of. The radio tower which connected this asteroid to the outside world. To ships and stars and beyond.
She looked upon Hagros's map and gazed upon the little square symbol which symbolized this tower. It was not far away from the bar. Aeryn could still make it. Finish the job the Doctor started; the job he could still be doing, if he hadn't been captured already.
But there was no way to know. He would still not answer her calls.
Why would he have given them communicators if they don't frelling work?!
Aeryn threw the device on the floor and sat down on the floor, curling up with her back against the wall as she tried to pull herself together.
She only needed a moment.
A moment of silence. A moment to remind her that none of this mattered. It didn't.
How many evils had she fought and slain already? How many times had she encountered some alien lifeform which wanted to either kill her, her friends, or the entire universe.
Many, many times.
Ancient dark entities, intellant viruses, Peacekeepers and Scarrans alike, monsters and aliens and terrorists and assassins.
She had all faced them and she still lived. She was scarred and traumatized, but she was still alive.
If only she could see the future. That way she'd know whether she had made the right decision. Or the wrong decision.
Aeryn checked her pulse-weapon, pulling out the oil-cartridge only to realise it was still full. She quickly put it back in its holster before standing up and grabbing the walkie-talkie from the floor, hoping she hadn't damaged it by throwing it away.
She put it against her ear and heard the distant crackling, like always, and she knew it was still functioning.
For a moment she considered calling out his name again.
''Doctor?'' she wanted to ask, hoping that this time he would answer, but she changed her mind and slowly hung the communicator on her belt.
''Aeryn?'' a voice suddenly said.
For a moment she thought she had imagined it, thinking she was fooled by the sound of the storm outside, gaining in strength as it sent a soft haze of rain tapping against the window, accompanied by a howling wind.
''Aeryn, are you there?'' the Doctor asked.
Aeryn slowly reached for the walkie-talkie and put it against her mouth and ear.
''I'm here.'' Aeryn said.