What the Frell did you do this time Erpman?!
Disclaimer: See chapter one
Author's Notes: Thanks for all the reviews. Sorry for the delay RL is overwhelming Here's the final chapter to be set in the combined BSG verse of mine. Special surprise at the end as well:P:)
Rating: PG13
Chapter 33 Starting at the beginning
Crichton listened in mournful disbelief and shock as the oh so familiar voice of his dead best fiend DK continued speaking and giving the go ahead to the shuttle Endeavour.
He closed his eyes as the words rang in ears, each word echoing in his memory of that day several lifetimes ago when his real life started.
The first day of the rest of his insane life, the day of the first Farscape test.
"This is Endeavour, deploying the Farscape module now," the captain of the Endeavour replied quickly, "Crichton you have a go, all lights are in the green!"
An even more familiar but strange sounding voice reached Crichton's ears.
"This is Farscape 1, preparing for launch, ignition in 5...4...3...2...1...launch!" came the younger innocent sounding voice of the then Commander John Crichton of IASA.
"Oh my god! Bossman! That's you!" Farrie cried out, for once in her short life without a sarcastic remark to through at her Crichton.
Crichton's eyes opened, "I want to see this, put it up on the holodisplay," he ordered in an emotionless tone.
Farrie didn't say anything still too shock to properly think to respond finding ones self in such a situation as she the holodisplay next to Crichton's pilot's chair lit up. Images sprang into being and the very familiar outlines of a US space shuttle appeared. The bay doors on the roof of the shuttle were opened and a small triangular vehicle was attached by a small lead to the inside of the shuttle.
Even as Crichton stoically watched the small vessel detached and it's single engine roared to life and the Farscape 1 accelerated away from the shuttle.
"Canaveral, this is Farscape One, I am free and flying!" the other Crichton reported with excitement.
Emotions rushed through Crichton as he remembered being there piloting the-then highly advanced module of his own creation, rattlers crawling around his stomach as he dared to stretch the limits of scientific advancement. Pushing to drive human advancement forward...
The native Crichton and DK continued to speak but Crichton took no notice
He shook his head as DK's voice once more intruded on his thoughts, "Farscape-hold a second," he ordered urgently.
Crichton's spine started to tingle as the single most pivotal moment of his life started to replay front of his eyes.
"Hold?!" the other Crichton said in confusion.
DK voice answered immediately, "Meteorology reports some sort of electromagnetic wave. Repeat. Some kind of wave. John do you read me?"
As Crichton listened things continued to descend into chaos as the wave hit and the other Crichton's transmissions began to break up.
Farrie cut in at this time, "Bossman! There's a wormhole forming in the Farscape 1's path!" she reported in disbelief. "What are we going to do?" she asked urgently.
"Do, Farrie?" he repeated almost to himself, he paused watching events unfold just as they had in his dimension, "Nothing, Farrie, we're going to do...nothing." he finished quietly. "Nothing at all," repeated to himself.
He felt something moist touch his lips, he reached up and brushed it with his fingers. They came away wet and he realised they were tears. He touched his cheeks under his eyes and they came away moist. He stared uncomprehending for a moment before turning back to the tableau unfolding before him. He realised why he was crying.
Today wasn't just the day that his second life began, it was the day the old John died.
After today, the old peace loving, innocent John would go the way of the dinosaur, gone forever never to return, unable to imagine what it would be like to live in a world that wasn't constantly trying to kill him in gruesome ways, trying to take away all that he held dear and precious...today was the first day of the other John's life in the big bad universe that was much much darker than he had ever imagined.
"Bossman, you ok?" Farrie asked in a quiet tone.
Crichton didn't answer, he just continued to watch as the Farscape 1 entered the wormhole and disappeared into the cosmos.
He heard this dimension's Colonel Jack Crichton calling out over the radio in a near panic, "John! John Abort-Son you have to abort now!"
Crichton shook himself, he hadn't heard his father ever so panicked before, he certainly hadn't heard his father's calls when this had happened to him way back when.
"John, if you can hear me please respond, John...son?" Jack's Crichton's voice trailed off, sounding so old to John's ears. He could practically see the anguish in the old man's pleas for his son to answer him.
Very slowly John came to a decision.
"Farrie...here's what we're going to do..."
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Jack stood stock still in front of the microphone, mentally willing John to answer him, to tell him that everything was okay and that the mission had gone according to plan despite the strange electromagnetic wave that had interfered in the test flight of the Farscape 1.
"Tracking-does anybody have the Farscape 1 on tracking?" he heard DK demand of some of the techs responsible for tracking the Farscape in space.
"Nothing," was one the techs quick response.
"Endeavour, Canaveral, can you see the Farscape 1? Anywhere at all?" DK then demanded urgently, trying to find his lost friend.
"This is Endeavour, we got nothing Canaveral, our scopes are empty...its like the Farscape just...disappeared into thin air," the shuttle captain reported mournfully and in confusion. "One minute it was there-the next it was gone."
"How can it just disappear?!" DK retorted angrily. "Spaceships simply don't disappear!" his thoughts churned with anguish at the possibility of losing his childhood friend.
Jack didn't pay much attention to all this, he didn't pay attention to the controlled chaos that was happening around him as IASA personnel checked and double checked every piece of equipment they had hoping that the loss of tracking of the Farscape 1 was only an equipment malfunction, his thoughts were too filled with pain at the thought of losing his only son.
As the minutes passed the dread in stomach grew..
"Canaveral, you there? Dad?" John Crichton's voice crackled over the speakers filling the control room.
Relief surged through Jack Crichton's body as he and DK leapt to the microphone. Jack reached it first, "Son?! Son! John are you all right? We've lost tracking on the Farscape 1, where are you?" he asked in relief. "You gave us one heck of shock there, John."
"I'm right here, just off the starboard side of the Endeavour," he answered evenly.
Jack and DK shared a confused look.
"Endeavour, can you see the Farscape?" DK asked.
"That's a negative Canaveral, wherever he's transmitting from it's not next to us," reported the captain.
"Bro, where are you?" DK asked again.
"It's not important, bro, what's important is that it worked...the Farscape phenomenon worked," John answered smugly.
"It worked?" DK whooped in excitement, "Nobel prize here we come!" he crowed with delight.
Jack frowned they were getting off topic, something was wrong, he could feel it, "Son, what happened? The EM wave hit and everything went haywire here, we still haven't got you on the scope here."
"You always were tenacious, weren't you dad?" John asked his tone strangely tense.
"John, what's going on?" Jack asked serious and slightly alarmed. John was never this evasive, he knew how dangerous missions in space could be, why was he being so flippant about informing them of his position?
The Canaveral space flight control room was composed of rows of computers and tracking equipment with a large monitor set at the front of the of room. It currently displayed the various locations of the shuttle Endeavour, various near Earth objects and had only a while ago also displayed the position of the Farscape 1. The large tracking monitor flickered and went a dead for a second, techs leapt to action in a frenzy trying to combat this sudden failure.
It relit a moment later, but instead of showing the previous map, a scared face with cold blue eyes replaced it.
The assembled IASA personnel stared in disbelief and it took a moment for Jack to recognize the face of his own son..
Jack stared for a moment at the older more menacing face of his son. Gone was the boyish innocence that he had seen there mere hours earlier.
"Hey dad, DK," the older John said in an even tone.
"Oh my god...bro is that you?" DK asked in disbelief. He stared at the cold eyes that fixed on him.
The man, John Crichton smiled, "Yeah DK, its me. I am John Crichton, older, uglier and wiser-" a female laugh cut him off, and John turned his face slightly, "Shut up Farrie! I am!" He turned back to face a bewildered DK and said, "but I'm really John Crichton."
DK and Jack shared a glance, who the hell was Farrie?!
"Isn't the Farscape a one man module?" asked one of the IASA techs in a small voice.
Nobody answered him, but the tech had taken the question right out of their mouths.
Jack stared at the unfamiliar face that stared down at them, "Son, what happened to you?" he finally asked.
John gave them a lopsided smile that stretched the scar running down his face something menacing, "I accidently got shot through Earth's latent wormhole," was his simple answer.
DK felt like someone had just slapped him, "Wormhole?!" he managed to squeak out in surprise, his voice coming out way too high.
John laughed at the reaction and nodded.
"Oh my god...oh my god!" DK's mind reeled with possibilities, "Is that why you're older? Some sort of time dilation? How long have you been gone?" he demanded his mind now brimming with questions.
The edges of John's mouth twitched and he lost the smile on his face, "No, there was no time dilation the reason I'm older, it that despite the fact that I am John Crichton, I'm simply not your John Crichton."
Jack and DK exchanged blank looks before DK asked, "What do you mean you're not our John Crichton?"
"Your John Crichton just got shot through a wormhole and is now somewhere in the galaxy, lost stranded and with no idea which direction Earth is in," the man said, dropping the bombshell he'd carrying on them. "I'm from a parallel dimension, and to top it off, this day happened to me almost ten years ago."
A pin could have been heard hitting the floor.
John continued speaking in sorrowful manner, taking advantage of their stunned silence, "He'll be back one day in a few years, but he won't stay, he can't stay here-on Earth any more, he'll be changed, Earth will be too small for him, of he'll still love you all and miss you but it will be too dangerous for him to remain on here for any length of time-he and I made too many enemies out there in the Uncharted Territories. A few friends, some that will be like family, but too many will be lost to him."
"But how is this possible?" DK said finally regaining the use of his tongue.
John smiled sarcastically, "Fate. Destiny. A random throw of the dice, your guess is as good as mine in that," he retorted sardonically.
Jack finally regained his voice, adrenaline surged through his body as the sheer absurdity of what he was hearing continued to assault his hearing, "Is this some sort of joke son?! How the hell can we believe any of this?" he demanded angrily.
John just smiled and gestured with his hand.
A moment passed.
"JESUS CHRIST! Uhhh...CANAVERAL....WE ARE NOT ALONE HERE!" screamed the captain of the Endeavour in sheer fright, as sudden proximity alarms began ringing though out the control room.
"Endeavour, Sit rep!" demanded an IASA controller.
"This...this UNIDETIFIED FLYING OBJECT just appeared within spitting of us! Its a fucking flying saucer!" the captain shouted in fear.
Jack and DK looked at the displays near them and their eyes widened with shock as external cameras on the shuttle Endeavour showed a large plump silver flying saucer just sitting there within meters of IASA shuttle, dwarfing it.
"What is that?" asked DK in shock
"Say hello to the Farscape 3," John said softly, "It's a modified Samantha Carter-class Super Heavy Support Fireship , heavily modified I might add, lots of improvements that me and Carter added to this ship," he added smugly.
"Why are you telling us all this?" Jack asked, "What do want from us?"
"Want? Nothing. Trying to fix mistakes I or rather my counterpart will make that's a whole 'nother thing," John explained quickly.
"What mistakes?" asked Jack with dread.
"I didn't scare you enough," he said simply. "You knew that space was dangerous and I confirmed that, but I understated things. You have to know that things are all rosy and peaceful out there, it's kill or be killed out there in the Uncharted Territories. You have two major empires-the Peacekeepers-who are anything but what the name suggest. Once upon time they were what you'd think but those days have passed, now-well the best description of them is Space Nazis. And the second empire is the Scarren Imperium, and they're worse and lets just leave it at that. Both are locked in a cold war sort of thing."
Silence reigned but Crichton wasn't finished.
"I have seen more horrors than you can possibly imagine and lived to tell the tale-at least most of the time, but that's a story for another time, for me most things aren't impossible any more, the universe and multiverse is a strange and very dangerous place to live." Crichton continued, "We humans have to stick together, Earth has to learn to work together or else one day we will fall and nobody will be there to defend us," he stopped speaking animately.
Nobody moved for a lifetime, it seemed as everyone was frozen, it was too fanciful a warning for many to grasp, nobody wanted to believe that the universe was such a dark place.
"Why are you doing this? What can we do?" DK finally asked of the strange Crichton.
Crichton smiled, "I'm glad you asked, I've uploaded technology to the IASA mainframes that I think you could use, it'll take time to understand the rudiments but you have some before I-or rather your Crichton arrives back."
"What sort of technology?" asked DK, the scientist side of him coming to forefront and pushing his disbelief to one side.
Crichton shrugged, "A couple of methods of FTL travel, energy shielding, matter transportation, just to name a few."
DK and most of the scientists present practically stared jumping up and down and bouncing off the walls in surprise.
Crichton laughed at the antics and imaged he would have done the same thing if the positions had been reversed. He took a deep breath as he prepare himself mentally for the last part of his plan.
"One last thing-DK I need a promise from you," said Crichton, all the previous mirth draining from his face.
"A promise from me?" he squeaked in surprise, "Why?"
"Because I love you man, and my DK is dead," Crichton uttered the word as if it was a curse and for him, it was.
The blood drained form DK's face but the words of calamity from the other Crichton weren't finished.
"When I come back my enemies will hide an agent on my ship, the agent will..." he paused the words almost too painful for him to utter, but he had to say them, "get to you. It's going to kill you and your wife without a seconds hesitation."
"My wife?! I don't have a wife!" DK shouted in surprise, thinking that maybe it was a sign that this dimension was different from the other one.
Crichton smiled sadly, "You don't now, but will then, it was a surprise for me when you I returned to Earth and found that you two had hooked up like that, she'd never liked geeks." He said off handedly.
DK blinked in surprise.
"DK...when he comes back, you have to go-both of you have to go far away and stay away from everything that he brings with, its the only way for you to stay safe."
DK found his knees weakening and he collapsed into a nearby chair wordlessly.
Jack stared at him for a moment, before turning back to John, "Why?"
John couldn't meet his gaze, "It's simply the way my life has become...I have to leave now, I don't want to mess anything else up, I hope I haven't doomed us all with this, but I just couldn't stand idly by and not warn you all...goodbye dad."
The screen went blank and the map it had previous shown reappeared with the addition of the Farscape 3 to the mix.
The dot that was the Farscape 3 accelerated away from the Endeavour and disappeared just as quickly as it had first appeared.
Jack Crichton looked around at the shell shocked DK and the other IASA personnel present unable to think where they were going to go from there...
xxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxxoxox
John Crichton slumped back into his chair mentally drained and despondent, hoping that he hadn't just made things worse in this dimension than it already was.
"Farrie, charge the wormhole drive, I don't want to spend any more time in this dimension," John ordered quietly.
For once Farrie didn't offer any lip, "Yes sir."
A wormhole blossomed in front of the Farscape 3 and the ship entered, Crichton at the controls hoping that the next dimension wouldn't be just a mental strain.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxx
Elsewhere in the galaxy another Commander John Crichton was also having a bad day.
He stared at the small green frog that had just spat in his face, he got up and reeled away from it and shouted, "What is the matter with you people?!"
The beginning...
Author's Notes: Please read and Review even if it's just to say good chapter. He he I'm evil I know, enjoy the cliffhanger:)
Next Time: Blowing off steam