"On your knees, Harvey." Ceredin tugs sharply downward on the clone's elbows and balances on one foot, prepared to sweep his feet from under him if he refuses to comply.
Harvey kneels in a smooth, graceful motion and twists his head back to face her. "If you are attempting to rob me of my dignity--"
"I don't give a flying frell for your dignity. I just want to watch Talyn and the dragon, and I couldn't do it with you standing in front of me."
Across the large chamber, the three men have approached the sleeping creature. Frustrated with her inability to hear their voices, Ceredin focuses on her link with Talyn and his with Bialar and Crichton until she can pick up their conversation.
Talyn turns to face the other two. "It's asleep; I think I can handle it. You two should just stay out of sight."
Bialar shakes his head. "No. If it wakes, we can serve as a distraction."
"Or at least see what's under it," Crichton agrees. "It could be laying on the entrance to a secret passage or a key or something."
"Talyn." Bialar grabs him by the upper arm, squeezes briefly, and releases him. "Be careful."
"I'll be fine. At least its not a budong." Talyn begins edging toward the monster and Ceredin feels her whole body tense.
Appearing entirely unmoved by the scene in front of him, Harvey once again cranes his neck back to smile at Ceredin. "Bialar speaks highly of your... 'utility'."
"Hm. At least someone finds me useful." When Harvey raises an eyebrow, she quickly adds, "Oh, don't think that's an opportunity for you to start your games. Talyn may be frustrating, but you can't use that against me."
"I was merely curious what it is you do that he finds so valuable. Not the obvious, of course. You've done something to make him feel he has the advantage over Scorpius."
Talyn is now standing a hand's breadth from the dragon. He lays a hand on its side, and through the link, Ceredin can feel the tough, surprisingly warm scales as if she were touching them herself. The dragon inhales, and Talyn jerks his hand back, startled by the sudden movement. After a few microts, he lays a hand on the beast and leaves it there in an attempt to acclimate the creature to his touch.
"You know what I am, Harvey. I was created to analyze, compress, and transfer data. All the rest of me is just... trappings."
When Talyn tries to use one of the dragon's forelegs as a step, the animal stirs and bats him away, looking just like Bialar when he swats at a wayward strand of Gemmi's hair. Startled, Talyn retreats and then edges closer to the dragon's head, leaning forward to examine its one visible eye.
"So you are keeping the Ancients' secrets. And you must be willing the negotiate with me or you would not have made that fact so obvious." Harvey smiles. "Make your demands, Ceredin. What can a data analysis algorithm desire? What are your interests?"
Finding the eye still closed, Talyn makes another attempt to climb onto the creature's back. He steps onto its foreleg, then climbs between it's shoulder blades. Just as he is raising the fist that holds the transponder, the dragon wakes, tossing its head in a desperate attempt to see what is on its back.
Crichton puts two fingers into his mouth and whistles loudly. "Hey! Over here!"
When the dragon turns to look at Crichton, Bialar darts toward the creature's head and punches one if its small reptilian ears. Hissing in pain or anger, the dragon appears to forget the fact that someone is climbing on its back. It rises to its feet and lunges for the men it can see, bellowing and shaking its head when it reaches the end of its chain.
"Don't do that again!" Crichton warns.
"Why not? It appeared to be effective," Bialar replies.
Talyn has now positioned himself so that he straddles the base of the dragon's neck, holding the transponder in his teeth and steadying himself with both hands as the beast shudders beneath him.
"If you release me, I can help them," Harvey offers.
"Talyn has it under control." Ceredin tightens her grip on Harvey's arms, not in retaliation for his attempted intrigue, but because she needs to squeeze something.
"Talyn has no concept of control! For that matter, the same thing could be said of Crais. I could cite endless examples from his campaign against the Hynerians..."
"Hm. Failing to trust him doesn't mean I would put my faith in you, Harvey. Or worse, in your programmer. I've talked with Crichton. I know about the ten thousand slaves Scorpius disposed of once they were no longer necessary to his plan. I've seen first hand what he did to Talyn, too, but I don't need any of that to know I would never trust him. What he's done to you is unconscionable."
"What he's done... to me?" Harvey's mouth hangs half-open in feigned astonishment, as if he has never considered the idea he might be mistreated.
"Yes, to you. He didn't give you free will. That's why you're still half-heartedly trying to recruit me to your programmer's plot, even though I think your loyalties have changed. He didn't provide a way for you to survive after the data is collected. He used a psuedo-consciousness-- used you!-- as if you were merely a means to an end."
"And it is exactly that ability to act in a calculating, efficient manner that makes him an idea custodian for the Ancients'--"
Ceredin laughs and bends down to speak into the clone's ear. "Oh, no. It's my turn now. Harvey, have you considered what Gemmi and I can offer you?"
Talyn slides backwards as the dragon rears up on its back legs. For a microt, Ceredin glimpses what looks like a trapdoor, but the beast is back on all four feet before she can be sure. Talyn now sits in the middle of the creature's back, and it twists its neck, trying to snap at him with its mouth. Once again, Bialar runs forward and hits it on the side of the head. From the sound of the blow, he must have used his full bioloid strength. The dragon's head whips forward, its mouth opens, and as Bialar retreats, the creature exhales a jet of flame, hitting the backs of his thighs and eliciting a scream of pain. Bialar buckles and falls to the ground.
Crichton dodges another spurt of fire, seizes both of Bialar's arms, and drags him out of the range of the dragon's breath. "And that would be why," he mutters.
Dragging Harvey by one arm, Ceredin runs to join the men. Once she reaches Bialar's side, she shoves Harvey toward Crichton and kneels to assess the damage. Her head bobs up and down as she alternates between watching Talyn dench his way up the dragon's back and staring at the charred bioloid flesh and partially exposed titanium composite skeleton. Bialar's nanocomponents have already begun the repair process, but she doubts he will be able to walk again this solar day, assuming they remain in this nightmare that long.
"Frelling stupid drannit!" she scolds him.
"Runs in the family," Crichton agrees, jerking his head toward Talyn. "Looks like he's getting the job done though."
Having regained his position at the base of the dragon's neck, Talyn raises his fist and lowers it in a blur of speed, stabbing the transponder into the dragon's spinal cord. The creature convulses and lets out a higher-pitched version of the sound it made when Bialar struck it. Through the link, Ceredin can feel the struggle as Talyn bears down on the creature with his mind, willing it into submission.
Talyn slides off of the now-docile animal's neck, moves to stand in front of its head, and places one hand on its snout, oblivious to the possibility of incineration. "Sorry about all that."
The dragon turns its head away in a show of deference and steps aside, revealing a trap door that Ceredin can now clearly make out. Talyn kneels and works the latch. When the trapdoor opens, no passageway is revealed. Instead, a Sebacean-looking man with short, silver hair pops into existence. He appears too solid to be a hologram, but Ceredin guesses he is something similar.
The silver-haired man's eyes go wide when he sees Crichton. "Impossible. Your race isn't calculated to develop the necessary capabilities for millennia."
"Yeah, well, I'm smarter than the average bear," Crichton quips. "Look, Jack, whoever you are, hiding the cosmic Easter egg in my head was a bad idea."
Before the silver-haired man can answer, Harvey thrashes in an attempt to free himself, and Talyn and Ceredin both jump to help Crichton hold onto the frenzied neural clone.
Once Harvey's struggles have ebbed to a pitiful, rhythmic squirming, the silver-haired man fixes Crichton with what looks like a paternal frown of disapproval. "Who are these... people?"
"Friends. People who want to kill me. Sometimes its hard to tell the difference." Crichton shrugs. "That's not important. We're here to erase the wormhole knowledge, but I need to see it first."
The silver-haired man shakes his head. "Your species was chosen because it holds the potential to evolve--"
Crichton laughs harshly. "Right now, I hold the potential to give wormhole weapons to the Scarrans or the Peacekeepers, whoever manages to crack open my head first. This guy here?" Crichton lets go of Harvey, circles in front of him, and points a finger at him. "He's a neural clone put here by an insane ex-PK with a vendetta against the Scarrans. He tried to kill Aeryn! He made me-- It has to go, Jack. It just has to go. You guys can just find another species to be your damn legacy."
Jack lowers his eyes, his cheeks flushing in a show of genuine shame.
"Can you hold Harvey by yourself?" Ceredin whispers to Talyn.
Talyn nods and then, without warning, kicks Harvey's feet from beneath him. The clone falls to the ground with a grunt, and Talyn plants a knee in the middle of his back, still holding him by both elbows. "I've got him, Cer. Do what we came here to do."
Ceredin approaches Jack and takes one of his hands in both of hers. "It's alright; it's not your fault. Not your programmers' either. I can fix it."
"You said you needed to see it..." Jack faces Crichton and tilts his head slightly, making the words a question.
"No!" Harvey wails, thrashing under Talyn's weight much less effectively than the dragon did when it found itself in the same position. "This is madness! You condemn the galaxy to Scarran dominion!"
Ignoring Harvey's tantrum, Crichton nods. "Yeah. I need to see the solution before you let her clean it up. Please."
Jack's mouth twitches as if he is about to speak, and he shakes his head, looking puzzled. He pries his hands away from Ceredin's and rests them on her shoulders. "You-- you're not Human."
"Far from it." Ceredin smiles. "I'm like you. And Harvey, I suppose."
"Did the Ancients send you?" Jack stares into her eyes as if hoping to find answers.
"Yes," Ceredin lies without hesitation. "They understand their mistake, and they agree that no living consciousness is an appropriate vessel for storing this information. Do you understand?"
"I understand." Jack's expression hardens into one of resolve, and he drops his hands to his sides. He looks at Crichton. "You will see, but you won't remember."
Before the Human can reply, they are all enveloped in a glowing blue haze. Ceredin closes her link with Talyn, shutting out his datastreams so that she can absorb the Ancient's knowledge with no distraction. Even as the secrets flow into her mind, strange symbols, like those Crichton scribbled in his many books, appear in the air, flashing in and out of existence.
"Of course!" Crichton gasps, his mouth half open in an expression of wonder. "We were so close. The Scarrans are so close--"
"Which is why the information must be preserved! Remember, Crichton! Concentrate! Cement it in your mind!" Harvey wails.
As suddenly as it came, the blue haze is gone. Ceredin squeezes one of Jack's shoulders and smiles. "Thank you."
Jack nods sadly. "There is no further reason for me-- or this place-- to be here."
The ground beneath them shudders, and a fist-sized stone rattles loose from the stairs, bounces down, and rolls toward them.
"What about him?" Crichton demands, pointing at Harvey. "Why's he still here?"
When he looks back toward Jack, the silver-haired man has already vanished, and more stones are beginning to fall as the castle trembles.
"I say we all head back to the real world and leave him here to get buried alive," Talyn suggests.
"No," Bialar and Crichton say in unison.
"I need to be sure he's gone." Crichton locks eyes with Ceredin. "Can't you do something? Wiggle your nose, snap your fingers..."
"I'm taking Harvey with me." Ceredin moves to push Talyn out of the way, but Talyn refuses to budge.
"Forget it, Cer! I'd rather slam his head into the floor and be done with him."
"If it were that easy, Crichton would have gotten rid of him by now. You can't kill him that way, but Gemmi can help me with him if I bring him back."
"Whoa-" Crichton holds up a hand. "Wouldn't that just be making a copy? Like you installing yourself on Mina, Moya, Lola, and well, on me?"
She shakes her head. "No. He has no reason to stay here, any more than I do. Do you?"
She glances down at Harvey and finds him staring at her with a look of abject lust that has nothing to do with her feminine avatar and everything to do with the data she has just secreted away inside her own consciousness. That look says he would tear her apart to get what he wants and that the violence would be incidental to the fulfillment of desire. She takes an instinctive step back from him, seized by a surge of fear that she quickly buries, rebuking herself for even contemplating going back on her word and leaving the clone here.
Harvey turns his head toward Crichton and flashes a grin. "As you might say, it has been... real."
"Yeah, don't let the door hit ya." Crichton runs a hand through his hair, sighs, and smiles cautiously, as if finally allowing himself to hope that this ordeal might be over.
"I don't like this!" Talyn barks.
"Talyn," Bialar interrupts, "can you revert to the form you initially chose here?" His question is punctuated by the thunder of falling rubble as the staircase collapses.
"I can try." Talyn closes his eyes, and Ceredin closes hers as well, helping him focus his thoughts on the gunship form.
The ground beneath her feet no longer trembles. When she opens her eyes and looks down, she is not standing on ground at all, but rather the smooth flooring of Talyn's interior. She feels something wrapped around her wrist and turns to see she is holding a leash, at the opposite end of which is a mindlessly drooling Harvey wearing a shining collar.
"Frelling brilliant," she mutters.
Crichton shrugs. "Surprised it worked."
He and Bialar both stand on Talyn's command deck, the latter looking as if he had never met the dragon. On the view screen, a shimmering blue funnel appears.
Talyn chirps in surprise, and Ceredin translates, "How is that possible if you're not supposed to remember?"
"I think its the Ancients' parting gift." Crichton raises a hand toward the screen as if he could touch the undulating cosmic rift on the other side of it.
"Then you really don't remember?" she asks.
"It's fading like a beautiful dream." He clenches his hand into a fist and lets it fall. "I just gave up the kind of answer my dad, or DK, or anyone from IASA would have died to get their hands on."
She wishes she could tell him the truth about what she now has locked away in her mind, but all she can say is "I'm sorry--"
"Don't be. I'm not. All I want is to get back to Moya. That's home now."
Talyn dives into the wormhole, and Ceredin once again finds herself thrown onto the floor, this time becoming tangled in Harvey's leash and having to swat away the mindless clone's flailing limbs.
"We should have pushed him out Talyn's airlock!" Bialar grumbles as he and Harvey are thrown against a console together.
"Not too late--" Crichton begins, but his words are cut off by the abrupt failure of this reality to exist.