In farscape, no-one can hear you scream....

by LxGMoriartyUK

this is a crossover... shippyness, action, suspense, kemperisms, if you love the characters, be prepared to wince a few times AND hopefully smile as well...!

2. Default Chapter Title

"IN FARSCAPE, NO-ONE CAN HEAR YOU SCREAM... part 2"

(aaaaargh! Frelling computers. I had to rewrite this as my system melted down. If anyone sees's Bill Gates. Send him to Scorpy!!)

If you have not read PART ONE, don't read this!!! Read the first one!!!
PART TWO OF ...... (Probably loads...hundreds!! - er only kidding.....ya think???.........)
(disclaimer--- see part one for my stupid ramblings)

Oh and please suspend your disbelief. There are holes in the plot that you could drive a leviathan through but......



"... Moya has been badly damaged; Crais has been experimented on by his former 'employers', and needs to find Crichton. Also, some interesting and potentially shattering news for John............????...."
If you have not read part one ........STOP!!!! PLEASE READ PART 1 FIRST!!!!!

***


Crais blinked in surprise at hearing outright what he had feared, but not dared contemplate.

"What! I have one of those things in me? That is madness. Why? What insanity do you gain from by bringing me all the way back here, and then experimenting on me?"

Crais began to pace, unconsciously opening and closing his hands, balling them into fists. He wanted to kill Wexlen, but he knew that ultimately, that was futile. He needed answers and he was going to get them now. Walking to face the admiral, he looked him in the eyes, unblinking.
Wexlen stared back uncomfortably, Crais looked wild, his hair loose and giving the air of a madman, the air simmering with the threat of violence.
Crais slowly unflexed his fists, noting the pain in his palms. "How do I get this creature out of me?" asked Crais, nostrils flaring with rage.
Wexlen swallowed, then moved out of the way of Crais' unblinking stare. Smoothing the front of his jacket, he then pointed to the suit that Crais wore.

"That suit is the key. Without the suit, you would likely incubate the creature for, oh maybe two days. Then it would hatch. That is useless for us. For you to work for us we needed a hook, this is why we gave you the alien, and the suit. We need you to find Crichton. He is the key to all the research data on that ship. With him we can assimilate the data with no need for techs and it would not take us a cycle to get the smallest piece of information. John Crichton understands the language easily. We do not. HE is the piece of this puzzle that we need. Without him this project will take far too long. This is a Nexus Project. Only one member of the Peacekeeper council knows of its existence. All of this is a shadow. Time is our enemy, we need Crichton!"

Wexlen moved over to a display panel, activating a multiple display. It showed schematics for his suit and the few details that they had of the alien.

"This has all the information that you need. I will be back in an arn. Study Bialar, for you need to know all you can. There is refreshment over there in that cabinet. I will be back soon."

Without waiting for a response, he left the room, feet moving quickly. Crais moved to the cabinet and selected a very large bottle of phelip nectar. He needed a drink, to soothe his throat and also to concentrate. He activated the display on the suit's forearm, and examined the display. Everything was in the green. No chance of being surprised then.

Moving to the data display, he studied the information before him, pausing once in a while to take a sip of his drink. The suit was a mobile health monitor. It would administer painkillers, and also the prototype drug that drastically slowed the alien's gestation time. The more the drug that was used, the gestation slowed even more. But there was, it appeared, a side effect. If he used it too much, his internal organs would begin to break down and ultimately kill him in a much worse way than the alien ever could. It meant that his only way to survive this was to find Crichton, bring him back any way possible and then have the 'lodger' in his body surgically removed. It was conceivable that Crichton may even come voluntarily, simply to find more about his home planet and it's fate. Maybe..... or not.

He smiled ruefully as he considered the fact that he was back to square one with Crichton. Bialar Crais was again on the trail of Human John Crichton of 'Erp'. He moved to take a sip of the bottle of nectar and was surprised to find it empty. He realized that in his study of the files, almost an arn had indeed passed. He disposed of the bottle he was holding and moved to take another. He reached inside the cabinet to take another bottle, and paused. This was no time for drinking, frell; he needed to get out of here.

Right on cue, Wexlen returned. He had a small pouch under one arm. He walked to the nearest table and put it on top. Looking up at Crais, he motioned for him to come forward. As he did so, he opened the pouch. Before him were sickly yellow vials of serum.

"These are the vials of the protoanaesthetic. One of these should last quite a while. However, the longer you go on, the more you will need. Finally, I just had word. We have let Talyn go, he should be here very soon. You should prepare to leave. Time is not on your side, I'm afraid."

Crais nodded. He could already sense Talyn's presence; the neural transmissions of Talyn had changed from a light buzzing at the back of his mind to a more insistent intrusion on his thoughts. He looked forward to being back where he belonged.

***

John alternated between limping and trotting to tier 17. Anything faster just hurt his shoulder like hell. Frell it was dark! His thoughts went to the rest of the crew and hoped that they were all right. The nearest crew quarters were Chiana's and then Rygel's.

Reaching Chiana's first, he poked his head round the open door, peering into the murky gloom. The room seemed empty.

"Yo, Pip! You here? Wakey! Wakey! Time to rise and shine! Breakfast is ready!"

Noting the lack of reaction, he began to worry. Moving into the room farther, he tried to see if anyone was on the floor. Stepping forward carefully, he paced around the room methodically, making sure not to miss anywhere. He reached the bed and checked it, it was not even slept in. The room was empty, no sign of Pip. Now he was really worried. Trying his comm badge again resulted in a very loud, jaw-jangling squawk.

Moving on a few doors down, he reached Buckwheat's quarters. Peering into the gloom he shouted for Rygel. No response. He tried again, this time something came from one of the air ducts near the floor. He listened again, ears almost straining to hear.

"Hello? Is everyone frelling deaf? What the Yotz is going on. I should not be down here. It is undignified. Hello? Gaaaargh. Frelling food cubes! That's it. I am going on a diet. Hello? Who's that?"

John carefully moved into the room, making sure he would not trip over anything.

"Hey, Sparky, You all right? You look a little uh, well, stuck."

John was glad that it was dark, and that all that he could see was Rygel's bottom and little legs wiggling furiously. He was sure that if he saw Rygel's face in this predicament he would end up on the floor laughing himself stupid, and with his shoulder, he was not sure that would be a tremendous idea.

"Oh well done Crichton!! Just get me OUT OF HERE!"

"Ok Ok, I am going to get your legs and pull. Don't struggle."

John grabbed Rygel's little legs which, when he touched them, jerked away and began to wiggle about again. John, getting tired of Rygel's moaning already, grabbed them again and pulled.

"Yaargh! Oof! Watch where you are frelling pulling, OWW my ears, Crichton! What kind of dumb yotz are you? Would you just get me out and stop playing with my feet! Yaowww!"

With a final pull, Rygel came flying out of the hole and slid along the floor, and stopping between John's legs.

"Come on Fuzzy, we got to get to command. Find the others on the way." John waited for Rygel to get up. He didn't. Raising his eyes to the ceiling he yelled,
"Move it shorty, another glorious day in the uncharted territories. Come on, get your cold froggy ass up, there's no time."

"There is no need to be rude you know. Where is my thronesled? I need it. I am not exactly, well, quick on my feet" said Rygel, waggling his toes in demonstration.

John threw his hands up in the air, eyes rising skyward once more, exasperated from all the moaning. Grabbing Rygel, he tucked him under one arm like a football and strode out the room, ignoring Rygel's very vocal protests.

~

Chiana sat up, lightly touching the left side of her forehead. She had cut it slightly, but it was not deep and would not scar. She leaned against the bulkhead that had once graced the ceiling, but was now resting at an angle on the floor. That was too close for comfort, she thought. She tried her comm badge and received nothing but static. Not good. Shakily rising to her feet, she brushed herself of dust and shards of DRD and started to make her way to command.

~

Aeryn walked briskly through the corridors to Pilot's Chamber. She had stopped briefly on the way to one of the stores where they now kept the Peacekeeper weapons. Despite Crichton's sarcastic remarks, she did not sleep with a pulse rifle under her pillow. She now carried one cradled in each arm, and had also had the foresight to put two pistols in her holsters. Armed to the teeth, she felt confident that she could handle anything that was thrown at her.

Reaching Pilot's chamber greeted her with a worrying sight. The chamber was dark, an orange glow from Pilot's instrument panels was all the light available. Pilot was motionless, and made no response to Aeryn's entrance. Taking care not to fall over the side of the gangways, she quickly made her way to Pilot. Checking his vitals, she found he was unconscious but alive. A quick look at the instruments that were still functioning told her that despite Pilot and the DRD's efforts, Moya was in serious trouble. Pilot had no control of navigation, environmentals, and pretty much everything that was needed to stabilise the ship. First thing was to get a comm signal. Finding a toolbox, she looked out for a welding torch and began to try and repair the damaged link for the comms.

~

John had reached D'argo's quarters. Putting Rygel down, he moved quickly into the big guy's quarters. Once again being careful not to trip on anything, he called out D'argo's name. No reply. Assuming that he was probably on his way to command, John began to move out when he heard Rygel's sharp hiss as he took an intake of breath. Turning to where Rygel was in the far corner of the room, he could faintly make out Rygel's silhouette. Moving to see what he had found made John gasp, then swear loudly.

" Son of a.... Rygel, you've better eyes than me, as you guys seem to keep on about lately. How bad is he hurt?"

"It's not good, he looks dead to me, and there is a lot of blood. I ........" he exhaled unhappily, ears drooping. He looked up at John

" We need Zhaan."

John kneeled to get a grip on the big Luxan lying face down on the floor, and found that there was indeed a lot of blood. He prayed that D'argo had not gone into blood shock.

"Sparky, from here on in, you'll have to walk it to command, my hands are gonna be a little full."

He grunted in pain from his shoulder as he lifted the large inert form of his friend. Damn he was heavy! Throwing the top half of D'argo's torso around his shoulders like a rucksack, he began the arduous task of carrying D'argo to command, where he hoped that everyone would reach. Half dragging, half-carrying, he plunged into the gloom leaving Rygel behind. Rygel threw a hand in the air, muttered about his thronesled and waddled off in the opposite direction.

~

Despite frying her fingers and repeatedly getting electric shocks, Aeryn had located the shorted connection for the comm system, and had rather crudely welded the two bio-cables back together. Activating comms resulted in a loud screech followed by silence.

"Crichton, can you hear me? Zhaan? D'argo? Talk to me, does anyone read me" she threw the welder down in disgust ".... oh dren, this is grot's work. I am not a frelling tech!"

~

Loping through the corridor leading to command, John, sweating and exhausted from his exertions heard a noise from his comm badge. He slowed down, catching his breath as broken sentences interspersed with static came through. He instantly recognised Aeryn's voice.

"Cri....n.....-an you -ear ...me? Zhaan? Ta....k ....me, .....oh -ren .......not a ..-lling tech!"

He laughed out loud, glad that something was sort of working round here. "Aeryn! I can hear you, you're patchy but I get the message. You've done great Aeryn." he smiled inwardly as he was once again proved that Aeryn was becoming a lot more these days.

~

Aeryn was tending to Pilot, checking his nutrient flow and trying to revive him. He was coming round slowly, it seemed that the intense pain that Moya had felt has been so acute that it had affected Pilot as well. Groggy yet awake, he was attempting to find all DRD's and try and fix the injury to Moya. Suddenly the comms burst into life and Aeryn heard John's voice. She laughed lightly, glad that something was going their way, that they were finally getting somewhere.

"Crichton, are you alright? Have you seen anyone else?"

"Hey! I'm okay, I found Rygel and I found D'argo, Big Guy's out cold. Bad cut on his head. Zhaan? Are you there? Chi? Yo, Pip! If you hear this, get your grey ass up to command. Aeryn, How's Pilot?"

"Listen for yourself, he's awake"

"John, I am.... well enough but M.. Moya, is badly injured. She is in great pain. We are both in pain. I am accessing the DRD's, I should have environmentals repaired in an arn. But as my control at the best of times lately is rudimentary, while the bonding process takes its course, we will be in for a rough ride."

Aeryn spoke up again, "I'll try to find the others. We need to get all in one place and assess the damage. See you in a few microts"

"Yup, Later."

~

Chiana arrived in command, and was dismayed to find it empty. She looked at the consoles and found that what she saw was very disheartening. She silently cursed an old Nebari phrase that had long since been outlawed. Turning, she leaned against one of the consoles, folded her arms and waited for the others to appear. They should all hear the bad news together, she thought, I am definitely not repeating this fiasco.

She did not have to wait for long. John arrived first, sweating profusely and dragging D'argo along with him. He laid D'argo down carefully on the floor, and looked over to Chiana, a serious frown on his face.

"Hey.... Chi, Hell am I glad you're okay. D'argo is hurt bad. I hope to frell that Zhaan gets herself up here pronto." he looked back towards where had lain his friend. "He may not make it."

Chiana's fists opened and closed in frustration. She looked from John, to D'argo, and back again. "Well!! We gotta do somethin', we....we cant' just....just let him die! ".she blustered. She looked at John, almost pleading with him.

John pressed his thumb to his lower lip, thinking fast.

"We need water at least. We need to make sure the wound is uninfected, make sure the blood is still running clear. Problem is, I could really hurt him if the blood is not clear....ah frellfrellfrell... we got any water 'round here?"

"Crichton!"

He turned around to see that Aeryn had arrived, with Rygel in tow complete with his thronesled. Aeryn was armed to the teeth, and her hair was a complete mess. Whatever it had taken to get the comms and Pilot awake again, it had taken a lot out of her.

"Aeryn! I need to clean up D'argo's wound, see how deep it is. Got any water?"

"Got something better than that, on the way up I went past one of the stores. Found some Peacekeeper field medkits. There should be medication that should be safe for his physiology. Should be patched up in no time." She threw it over to John, who deftly caught it. He opened the medkit, and then looked at the array of equipment. Looking to Aeryn, then the medkit, he gestured at the kit.

"You ever use one of these?"

Aeryn looked grim. "A few times"

"Do you know how to use it on D'argo?, I'll probably kill him."

Chiana hovered in the background, her eyes wide, looking worried.
Zhaan finally appeared, looking bruised, battered and very weary. Everyone in the room except D'argo cried "Zhaan!", the relief evident in everyone's voices. She smiled weakly and moved over to where John was kneeling next to D'argo. She placed one of her hands softly on the Luxan's brow. Taking some medicine from the medkit, she started to work, praying to Kahalenn as she did so.

"Zhaan, is he going to be okay? You're praying as if he is dead."

"I am praying for all of us. We are all in danger. I have a sense of foreboding. A feeling something is about to happen.
Something .......wrong.."

***

Crais stepped aboard Talyn. He took a deep breath and spread his arms wide, smiling. 'Home at last', he thought

"Talyn, let us depart. The Peacekeepers will not harm you any more. I am not leaving this time. Take us deep into the uncharted territories."

He rearranged the lapels of the coat he wore, the suit underneath making him feel claustrophobic. He looked at his wrist display, all systems in the green. He absently felt the pouch in his breast pocket where the anaesthetic vials lay.
Talyn beeped in response. The young leviathan slowly moved away from the flanking marauders, and proceeded to starburst.

***

Zhaan had finished tending to D'argo, who was lying on a hastily made cot on in the corner of command. He was awake, but had a painful headache leaving him quiet and subdued as he silently bore his pains. Chiana stood in the middle of command where everyone could see her. She had some bad news.

"When I arrived in command, there was some data on on of the consoles. Pilot couldn't talk to us through the comms yet, so
he left it through the only other available avenue. The console showed damage assessments of Moya, and our proposed course." she took a deep breath.

"Well... we ah, hit something, or rather it hit us. Moya or Pilot did not sense it, so couldn't take any evasive action. She's got a hull breach at the front of decks 10 through to 21. It seems that in order to heal her completely, she needs to regenerate her biodermal outer hull. There are certain chemical elements found on certain worlds that she needs in enormous amounts. Pilot has managed to do a scan of the system we are in, there are a number of planets, but she has found only one suitable for her to land and acquire the large amounts of nutrients in order to heal. It is a small blue planet, a large percentage of which is ocean. The water contains stuff called 'selrassinum' in great abundance. The stuff will help Moya produce more of her hull's outer skin. It also helps as an anaesthetic. She will land into the ocean and rest on the bottom of a shallow continental shelf, the pressure on Moya's hull should be alleviated by the water as we will not be going too deep, near the shores of a reef actually..................We 'land' in less than an arn." she exhaled as if she had put a lot of effort into the speech.

John sat quietly digesting all this while massaging his shoulder. He was struck by a terrible thought.

"WhoaWhoaWhoa! Wait a minute! You_said_hull_breach. And we are going UNDER WATER?!! Now is it just me or is that COMPLETELY NUTS!?!?"he threw his arms in the air in disgust.

Pilot came on the view screen, distorted and indistinct but there nonetheless.

"Commander, Moya will be able to seal the breached area off so we will not be in any danger. I have heard everything over the comms and would like to point out that Moya has scanned the area, and the planet is uninhabited by any major species, primitive animals or large winged animals, although it was at some point, there is evidence of some habitation centres around the planet. So we will not have to deal with any major species trying to harm us or Moya."

That seemed to calm John slightly. "Thanks Pilot."

Rygel sneered derisively

"Safe my mivonks! We attract more trouble than bugs on a Hynerian donkey's dren.........Pah!"

***

Crais stood in the small room he had designated as his quarters on Talyn. While it was functional and not as opulent as the quarters had been on the command carrier, he felt more than at home. Sitting quietly with his eyes shut, he breathed slowly and evenly, trying to sense the creature that was inside him. He looked to his wrist computer, something he seemed to be doing more and more as each day passed. Almost a monen and no sign of Moya! They had reached the last known sighting at a former trading post, which was now mere space dust. He was beginning to feel desperate, that he was going to die with this frelling monster in him.

Out of the blue, Talyn stopped abruptly, throwing Crais off the bed and stumbling to his knees. Talyn sent a mental picture to him. A leviathan in pain. In trouble. The area was hard to pinpoint, it was very far away, but Talyn sensed the direction and immediately starburst in the direction of the calls. No leviathan could ignore it. Crais hoped things were going his way for once.

***

Moya flew erratically towards the blue planet. Now a small blue sphere in the distance, the injured leviathan lurched in an irregular flight path, finding it hard to fly straight.
John looked at the view screen at the increasing planet. A strange feeling washed over him. He noticed it had a moon, he felt like something had trampled over his grave. The planet looked awfully like Earth, with the same fluffy clouds and the landmasses looked......never mind. It was as Pilot said, devoid of any major species. He said so to Aeryn.

"Cricht-.. John, how many planets have you seen that look like that? Over ten commerce planets have as you said, 'looked just like home' from orbit. This is merely another."she said soothingly.

"I know I know, but when I see that blue, there's something inside me just snaps, and I get home sick again. You'd think I would be over it after almost two cycles, but it's always there. I think it will forever." he spoke softly, like someone remembering something long since remembered, a distant past. He snapped out of his reverie and looked at Aeryn.

"When do we go down?"

" Quarter of an arn."

He nodded. "Cool"

John moved to walk out of command when he paused, and looked over his shoulder at the screen. He shook his head as if trying to dispel a bad headache.

Aeryn looked at the receding figure of Crichton, and worried that he was getting paranoid. He had seemed better these last few monens, and had stopped mentioning his visions. Every time they encountered a bluish planet, he went into wistful mode and would spend most of his time alone somewhere on the ship. She looked at the planet that was fast approaching before her and stared hard at it, trying to see what he could possibly see in a small planet like that. Sighing, she looked down at the controls. Everything was either failing or at minimal performance. She muttered under her breath, hoping that this little sojourn planeside would help, if not, they were in some serious frelling dren, and she didn't want to think about the worst-case scenario, which involved a lot of water.

~

Pilot came onto the comms,

"Sixty microts before impact, I suggest you all find somewhere to brace yourselves, Moya and I have no control over our rate of descent. We will try to land via a low trajectory, but we will still hit hard."

~

"Thirty Microts and counting"

Rygel landed his thronesled hastily on the floor of command and, taking a piece of cable, he wrapped it around himself and his sled, fastening it to the base of one of the consoles.

"I'm going to have Mivonks the size of Krakla peas after this frelling landing, I am a Dominar who 'lands' on planets, not crashing at Hetch three" moaned Rygel loudly to the room.

"Hell Sparky, I thought yours were Krakla peas. Shut the frell up" shot John, as he fastened himself to one of the other console bases. He put on his now well-worn hat, the side flaps jammed down as if to afford more protection. He looked over to Aeryn and grinned maniacally. Aeryn feigned disdain, but smiled inwardly.

All the crew was in place, ready for impact. Aside from Pilot's countdown, and the hum from Moya, all was still. It was the lull before all hezmat broke loose.

"blhthhhhhhwwwp!.......pthhhwwp!"

"RYGEL!" everyone cried in unison.

"Sorry! Couldn't be helped"

Aeryn squeaked in a high voice, "Did you have to do that right now, of all times?"

"What? I'm under a lot of stress here, and you're not helping matters."

"Rygel,"

"What?"

"SHUT UP!"

~

Pilot appeared in the view screen.

"Ten Microts. Brace yourself, we are about to ....'land'."
John looked at the view from outside and saw the flames as they entered the atmosphere. He screwed his eyes shut and whispered, "Ohhh......Shit."

***

Talyn moved smoothly through space, gliding effortlessly, looking for something to point him in the direction of the other leviathan. They passed an enormous gas giant with many storms raging in its atmosphere. The eyes of a huge storm on the planet stared, wherever the Leviathan was it was not here.
Crais ordered Talyn to move on and guided them deeper in this system. This was the farthest anyone had ever been, the uncharted of the uncharted territories. It was full of nothing of worth, a few inhabitable worlds after some work, but everything around here were all gas giants. What had taken a deep space cruiser over two arns at high speed, Talyn had done in fourteen solar days, starburst after starburst. He felt proud, like a father would a son. He charted a course to the next planet that was in a direct course, hoping to find this Leviathan, hoping that it could be Moya. His sensors chirped as they sensed movement. He looked at the viewer and saw what looked like a comet heading towards them at great speed. It had some sort of cloaking technology, which meant that Talyn was relying on the Peacekeeper augmentations. His natural sensors saw nothing.

"Talyn!, all guns!. Fire at that... object before it hits us!"

The gunship's weapons blazed, firing wildly at the object. It swerved, moving haphazardly coming closer and avoiding many shots. One from the main cannon grazed the side, sending it spiralling in the opposite direction. Talyn fired again, disabling the object, leaving it dead in space. Crais ordered Talyn to move closer, in order to get a closer look at their attacker.

Floating parallel with the mystery object, Crais made Talyn open his doors to bring the thing inside for closer inspection.

~

Measuring only eight metras in diameter, the object was battered and appeared to be very very old. It had three cannons, which did not appear to use chakan oil, and was when he had opened it up, a proximity mine when operational. Crais had seen machines similar to this style in many campaigns. It was a satellite mine. Meant to orbit or patrol in large numbers an area that was either a boundary or military blockade. It seemed that despite the age of this machine, it meant they were close to something that was very off limits.

The design, Crais thought was brutal. Nothing about it was elegant, it was designed to be purely functional. It was angular and harsh looking. He smiled as he -a former peacekeeper no less- was criticising an alien race for the ugliness of their weapons' designs. He wondered who made it. Looking further, he saw on one side there were faint, worn letters. Brushing away some of the dust, he identified some alien script that tickled his memory. Slightly marred by some of Talyn's blasts, he could not help but wonder where he had seen this writing before. He stood staring at the letters for a few microts, stroking his beard as he trawled his memory. Suddenly, his eyes widened both in triumph and surprise. He knew where he had seen it! He thought back to the first time he had met the strange one, yes, he remembered now, on his clothing, yes!. His fingers traced the strange alien lettering, I, A, S, A.

John Crichton...........IASA.

***

John opened his eyes. He focused his vision and saw, the ceiling. Blue light shimmered and rippled from the window ports, engulfing command and giving the room a soft, calming light. A few motes of dust danced in the shafts of light as everything settled down from the impact. Propping himself up on his elbows, he looked around. Everyone was in the same state as him, groggy yet coming around. He looked to Aeryn who was muttering and cursing to herself.

"Hey. You all right? Anything broken?"

She looked at him, her voice dripping with sarcasm "No, I'm just poachy."

"Peachy, that's.. Peachy. Never mind." he looked around command. "Is everyone okay? Pilot? How's Moya?"

A shudder passed through Moya, reverberating throughout the ship as if in answer. Then all was still once more. Pilot appeared on the view screen distorted and grainy.

"We are alright, considering the circumstances. Moya has what she needs, but it will be days before we are ready to move from here. The water's solution helps to numb the pain and also help regenerate. I suggest you take a transport pod and find some supplies. Sensors detected a large craft of some description buried nearby. Scanners detected that there was a derelict city on the coastline where we began to land. It should not be far."

D'argo growled with frustration. He shook his head trying to eradicate the headache from his last bump on the head.

"Pilot, is communications working okay? We don't want to lose contact with you while we are up top." he growled.

"Yes, I have corrected them." Pilot bobbed his head uncertainly. "Ah, unfortunately, everything else must wait. All DRD's are working on Moya's hull. For that reason, I suggest you leave us to it and make a camp on land. We will continue to work to getting back to full capacity."

John stood, brushing some dust and debris from his trousers.

"Well, I guess we go get prepared for Cub camp. Let' s see what dump we've landed on now."
Aeryn looked at D'argo and Zhaan. Both looked at Aeryn, just as puzzled.

"Coob camp? What the frell is that?"

Chiana, wandering out of command, stopped and glanced back at them all. They all looked bemused by his latest human
expression.

"Look, it's Crichton. Sometimes I think all his phrases are made up, you know? I mean, how many phrases can one race
have?"

~

John heaved the last cargo case into the storage bay of the transport pod, and turned round to see D'argo and Chiana playing paper scissors stone. He walked over to them and gestured to D'argo's fist.

"Hey Rasta man, whatcha playing for?"

D'argo looked uneasy. The more John looked at him, the more he realised that D'argo was embarrassed for some reason.

"I uh, nothing John, we are uh I was, well... just showing Chiana how to play, I uh... she well, won."
Chiana chuckled, and tried to hide a triumphant smile. "I won?" She laughed evilly and stared at D'argo, causing him to shift foot to foot.

"I better um you know, help Aeryn." mumbled D'argo, and walked off. John looked at Chiana closely. Chiana feigned innocence.

"What?"

"Are you up to something Chi?"

She laughed again, louder this time. "No more than usual." She looked at John in the eyes as if to show him nothing was going on, and then swaggered to one of the seats up front of the transport pod. She sat next to D'argo, and stared straight ahead.

Crichton sat next to Zhaan, who was meditating. Aeryn fired up the pod and, once satisfied that everything was in the green, manoeuvred the pod to the bay doors. As the doors opened, the internal air pressure intensified, leaving a glittering wall of water outside. The transport pod's engines whined as it shot forward diving into the ocean beyond.

***

Talyn was on a direct course with a blue planet that was the third out from the system's sun. He was following a trail of dermalogical debris, which was like following crumbs. Except these crumbs were parts of an injured leviathan that they now knew was Moya after testing the debris. Talyn, although 'estranged' from his mother, was understandably worried. Crais paced back and forth on the command deck. He hoped that Crichton was safe. He thought it was pretty ironic that he had found both John Crichton and his home planet. It was even more ironic that he was going to meet him on the human's former home, which left a slight problem. His main bargaining tool of knowing where Earth was now meant nothing. It looked like he would have to call on some of his former life's tactics to take John Crichton back to Sebacea.

His pacing to and fro faltered. He felt his chest tighten, and began to find it difficult to breathe. He started to choke, and gulped frantically for air. His vision blurred, and he faintly heard Talyn beeping with concern for his captain. He dropped to his knees, and pressed his forehead against the coolness of the deck's floor. Still gasping for breath, he shakily moved his arm to try and activate the medical monitor on his wrist. His left hand wavered as he pressed the activate button on the computer. It chirped once, and the display burst into life, a multitude of flashing warning lights. The bank of health meters all flashed red.

He frantically searched his coat for the pouch with the remaining vials of protoanaesthetic. He brought it out and clumsily opened the pouch. Only seven left. He took one and held it with shaking hands. He pressed the eject button for the old vial. It slid out of a tray on the top of the wrist computer, and he grabbed the empty vial. He hurled it away, and it bounced once into the corner of the room hitting the wall, smashing into thousands of little splinters. With sight beginning to dim, and pain lancing through his chest like a hot knife, he slammed the full vial in it's tray and pressed activate. He closed his eyes with relief as almost straight away the pain began to fade. He opened his eyes, his sight returning. The darkness receded. He gulped in fresh air, and rolled onto his back, breathing heavily. He was slick with sweat, hair matted onto his forehead. He closed his eyes and prayed that he could last until he found Crichton and brought him back......time was running out.

***

The transport pod had landed in a large clearing about half an arn's walk from the abandoned city. They had made a makeshift camp in a wooded clearing. The whole area was eerily quiet, with only the odd sound from some sort of bird in the distance. Aeryn and D'argo had finished putting up sleeping quarters for all of them. Chiana and John were seated next to a fire that they had built. He had a glazed look in his eyes as if looking far into the distance, staring into the fire and absently poking at the embers with a branch. Aeryn looked at him, concern on her face. Since they had landed, He had become withdrawn and oddly silent, answering only in single sentences, he had retorted with none of his usual annoying phrases despite Aeryn and Chiana's efforts in trying to cajole a response from him.
Zhaan appeared from the trees looking worried.

"This planet has had something terrible happen to it, there appears to be no animals any bigger than the flying mammals or small land creatures, there is nothing bigger than a vorc out here."

Aeryn looked over at Zhaan, putting a green food cube into her mouth.

"No luck finding anything for us to eat other than these food cubes then?"

Zhaan sat down, and sighed. "Nothing, everything is alien, I cannot identify any of the vegetation. And there appears to be no game for us to catch either."

Aeryn looked up at the sky, as thunder rumbled in the far distance. A few shafts of sunlight pierced through the heavy black clouds before the cloud swiftly engulfed them. She listened closely, and heard the rumble of thunder again, closer this time.

Suddenly, John spoke up.

"We need to explore the city. There may be food there. Or we try the derelict."

He shrugged to nobody in particular, then stood up and wandered over to the transport pod to get some water. D'argo looked to the sky, which was becoming more ominous and darker.

"Whatever we do we decide now. There's a storm coming, and we don't know how bad they get here."

"I think we should try the craft, there's not going to be much in the city, and we don't want to get caught in a storm." suggested Aeryn.

"I agree, we should find some supplies, and get out of this frelling weather," said D'argo.

John reappeared, wearing his leather coat and wearing blasters on gun holsters on each leg. He looked resolved, and whatever had been bothering him had been swept away, at least for now.

"Well if we're going, let's go before I change my mind."

Chiana rose, kicking dirt over the fire, putting it out. "I agree, sittin' around here is getting frelling boring."

Aeryn looked around. "Where's Rygel?"

John was examining a large knife blade; "Sparky's asleep in the transport pod. I think we should just let him be."

Aeryn shook her head; "No, we should all stick together. If we left him, he would just get in trouble."

"I'll stay behind, we need to take care of things here anyway, it seems we will be here for a while." offered Zhaan.

"Okay, you stay and look after his lowness. If you need anything let us know. We'll check in every arn."
~

The terrain was rough, overgrown and covered in foliage. John looked at the weeds, sure that they looked like stuff on Earth, but knew he was being paranoid; he was not exactly a gardener on Earth. D'argo pointed his Qualta blade toward some trees.

"According to the information we got from Pilot, the craft should be beyond these trees"

Chiana snorted loudly, and muttered some curses. "Anywhere is fine by me, I just got another frelling bug up my nose."

John laughed, "Pip, you should see the bugs we have back home, you'd love it. B I G bugs."

Aeryn shook her head, and forged ahead, rifle at the ready. D'argo stayed put, and took up an offensive position covering Aeryn with his Qualta blade.

~

She reached the end of the tree line and into wide-open ground. Four hundred metras in front of her was the spacecraft, large ridgelines in the ground showed some of the ship's original impact zone. Her eyes widened in surprise at the sheer size. The fact that most of it was covered by earth meant that it must be vast. It was a purely functional design, angular, ugly. At least most races put a little style into their crafts, frell she thought, and even the Peacekeepers had their ships designed with some aesthetics in mind. Not this, it was just..... big. Putting on a set of oculars, she surveyed the craft. Aeryn noticed a camp near a ground level entry point, which looked like some sort of cargo hold. She increased the zoom of the oculars to get a better look. The camp was deserted, some of the area had been turned into makeshift barricades. There was some evidence of a heavy firefight, a tattered flag fluttered limply in the wind. She focused on it, and immediately wished she hadn't. It was a Peacekeeper symbol, even worse was that it displayed an armoured fist on a field of red, that of High Command.

***

Talyn orbited the planet that Moya had landed on. Using mental pulses down to the planet, he tried to contact Moya. No answer. He tried again and again, finally he got a response.

A weary looking Pilot appeared in the view screen. He was hard to make out from the interference, but communication did not seem too badly affected.

"Captain Crais! I am surprised to see you..... Why are you here?"

"Please Pilot, I am no longer a Captain. That is all in the past, just as Officer- I mean Aeryn, has put her past behind
her. We sensed a paincall. Talyn felt it was you, so we came. I need to talk with Commander Crichton. I have some important information for him"

"If you have information, I can relay it at an appropriate time, Crichton and the others are currently onshore, they will be there for a while."

"No Pilot, I need to speak to him face to face. This planet. Do you know what it is?"

"No, we have no information on this planet. In fact this whole system is largely unexplored, it seems to be a bit of a backwater. We only came here by chance."

"Well, that planet is what is left of John Crichton's home, it is his planet Earth. I have more information, but I must speak to Crichton."

Pilot looked surprised, " Earth! Very well. Giving you coordinates."

"Thank you."

***

Aeryn arrived back, looking concerned. "The craft is just over this ridge. There's more, there's a camp out there, although it appears to be deserted. Worse still, it was Peacekeeper. High Command no less."

D'argo swore loudly. Chiana looked to the heavens, biting her lower lip. John drew both blasters, and dived out into the clear ground beyond the trees. He shouted back to them all, "Last one there is a rotten egg!" He loped off, hugging the ridgeline and taking cover where he could.

"Rotten egg?" D'argo snorted in disgust, "He is frelling going to get himself killed," and ran after him.

Aeryn sighed, resignation clear on her face. "Men!"

Aeryn commed the transport pod, Zhaan replied almost immediately.

"Aeryn? Where are you?"

"We've just arrived at the ship, we going ahead to explore now. It shouldn't take that long as it's big, but it looks a mess. We'll be back in an arn or so. Is everything all right? Rygel isn't being annoying as usual?"

"No, he is most useful actually, he is sleeping. Speak to you soon." The comms went quiet. Aeryn shook her head at the last comment about Rygel, then turned to Chiana. She motioned to Chiana that she would bring up the rear. Chiana, understanding what she meant, lithely moved over the terrain, towards D'argo and John who were now out of sight, nearing the camp.

~

John reached the camp first. He was wary, yet did not care much if it was a trap. Something about this world made him ill at ease, something he could not put a finger on, there was a whole family of rattlers in his gut and they were having a party. He felt more comfortable with the cool grips of the blasters in each hand. He scanned the area, doing a full 360. Nothing. The area was dead, and nothing stirred except the flag in the wind. He looked up to the sky, clouds dark, heavy and ready to drop their load. D'argo appeared over the ridge, reaching the edge of the camp. John relaxed slightly and began to look at the camp in more detail. D'argo walked over to him, looking less than pleased.

"Crichton! What the hezmana are you playing at? Do you want to get your frelling head taken off? What if this had not been deserted after all?"

John shrugged. "Hey relax big guy, don't get your tentacles in a knot. I saw nothing, heard nothing, and besides, I can take care of myself." he said, waving his guns in demonstration.

D'argo harrumphed. "Well, let me know next time. You made me miss out on the fun." he grumbled at John.

John looked around the camp. "We should see if there is any food around," kicking over a crate as he spoke. The crate fell, spilling its load. It held nothing useful, just old blankets.

"Find anything yet? You were in such a hurry." called Aeryn, who appeared with Chiana.

John smiled. "Not even a mouldy food cube. Looks like we may need to try in the ship."

John started forward, towards another crate, when he stepped on something. He looked down, and saw that his boot was stuck in some strange sticky substance. He lifted his foot, the stuff sticking fast and leaving long wispy tendrils. "Uggh! What the frell is this dren?" he exclaimed.

Aeryn approached John with curiosity. Looking around, she said "There appears to be something like burns on a lot of the crates and some of the equipment. Whatever happened here, it was messy. There are loads of pulse-blaster marks too. What IS that on your foot Crichton?"

"Ughh. I have.... no..yuck! Idea!" He scraped the last of it off and wiped his hand on a piece of canvas from one of the tents.

Dargo sniffed, his sensitive nose wrinkling. "It looks like frelling dren, and it stinks like dren!"

"What now?" John asked.

D'argo looked at them all and pointed to the ship. "We see what is in there. We need food, but we have to get back soon. Zhaan will need to have a rest from Rygel's non stop whining."

Chiana smiled shyly. "I could do with an early night." she said looking at D'argo.

Thunder rumbled directly above them, and lightning arced wildly and brightly, silhouetting the ship. It began to rain large heavy spots, getting heavier as microts passed. John fastened the top button of his long coat, trying to ward off the damp.

"Let's get out of this crappy weather."

~

Rygel was asleep in a corner of the transport pod snoring loudly. Zhaan was sitting cross-legged in the centre of the transport, murmuring prayer silently to herself. She was startled by a loud peal of thunder directly above. She rose smoothly and looked out the door. She saw it was raining heavily. Visibility was low, and daylight had become twilight from the angry clouds above. Another noise held her attention. A twig snapped, not far to her left in the trees. She ducked inside again, to retrieve a weapon. As she bent over to pick a rifle up, she heard a polite cough behind her. She whirled round weapon at the ready. Her eyes widened in surprise at her intruder.
Crais stood in the doorway, coat slick with rainwater.

"Forgive my intrusion. I was looking for Crichton, I need to speak with him."

"Crais! What are you here for. Of all places, this was not one I expected you to be. Where is Talyn?"

"Talyn is with his mother. He dropped me off not far from here, and is now comforting Moya. I ask again. Where is John Crichton?"

"The others went in search of food. We are low on rations, and hoped we could find some supplies. They have gone to the
alien ship, to investigate, and see if there is anything..well, edible."

"The Ship!" Crais hissed. "Frell! We must warn them. It is not safe there. Are they armed?"

"As always, but I don't see...."

"Never mind what you see or don't see," He snapped. " Have you any idea what this world is? What creatures that infest this world?"

"No, this whole solar system is a mystery to Pilot. It seems to be more than overlooked by everything. Sentient life for a start. Pilot sensed very little when we were in orbit"

"This is John Crichton's home planet. What remains of it anyway. More to the point, that 'alien' ship, is human. There was a small scouting party from Peacekeeper High Command, sent in this direction in a ship with an experimental Hetch drive just over three cycles ago. High Command accidentally stumbled on this system and saw it as ideal for expansion of the empire. It was to be the new 'homeworld'. They stopped sending any messages a cycle and a half ago. It took them a long time to get anyone out here. This worried them, due to some of the things they found on the planet. Namely that ship and what was in it. Alien life. Vicious, alien life here on this backwater rock."

Zhaan sat down, trying to hide her shock.

Rygel continued to snore unaware of what was transpiring.

"By the Goddess, this is Earth? But the Earth Aeryn saw, and John described was nothing like here. And that huge derelict is Human? How do you know about all of this?"

"High Command sent high speed message buoys regularly, they would contain samples and all the information that they could decipher. They use some sort of wormhole technology. The fruit of Scorpius' labour. The largest controlled wormhole that they can create is big enough for a buoy, but not a ship. One reason Scorpius wants Crichton so bad..... But I digress. I was captured, and coerced into finding John. They want him to decode the rest, as he would understand the language. There is more, but I MUST talk to him face to face."

"They should be back in an few arns at most. You are welcome to wait."

"Wait?" he shook water droplets from his coat. "Very well. I give them half an arn. If they are not back by then, I will go and get them."

~

John and his shipmates approached the large door that appeared to be this side of the ship's only available way in. A large black panel with two buttons seemed the obvious way to open it. The lettering was weathered and looked totally alien. John hovered between red and green and, making his decision, pressed the door's green button. Something began to hum, and a red warning light began to flash. John swallowed, looking nervous. D'argo looked at John, complete with his 'humans!' expression. The door abruptly burst into life and began a slow, harsh grind until opening fully.

"See? Green is good!" smiled John.

Peering inside, the corridor was jet black. Taking a torch, John took a deep breath and stepped a few metras inside. He looked back at the others who were silhouetted against the faint light outside. He smiled slightly, and shone the torch under his chin like he had done as a child.

"Seems to be fine." He chuckled.

The bulkheads began to groan, and John looked around him, feet shifting nervously. The metal floor shuddered, echoes of metal upon metal reverberated around the corridor, and then all was still. He looked at D'argo and grinned stupidly.

"Ha, thought the floor was-"

Out of the blue, the flooring around John's feet collapsed. He yelled in surprise, as the floor disappeared beneath him. He dropped the torch, and as it clattered loudly on the deck, he desperately reached out for something to hold onto while D'argo rushed to grab him. Latching on to a pipe on the wall, he hung on grimly. He looked at the torch on the floor as it rolled in a semi-circle, moving slowly but inexorably towards the hole that he had come so close to plunging through. It reached the lip of the hole, paused for a microt, and then plunged into darkness. John craned his neck to see it's decent, but saw nothing. He listened for the impact, and waited, and waited.... Bang.

"Crichton, are you all right? Take my hand." Said D'argo.

John looked startled at the Luxan's voice. "What? Oh, yeah. Watch that first step, it's a doozy."

He unwrapped himself from the pipe on the wall, and with D'argo's assistance, stood next to him. Standing at the lip of the hole, he peered down into the chasm of black, and shivered. "Oh yeah," he said to himself. "That was a real classic."

D'argo crouched next to the hole and fingered the flooring next to it.
"There are more acid burn marks here, it may have weakened the floor and caused you to...." He trailed off and gave a plunging gesture with his hand. "It smells like that stuff you stepped on outside" he growled, shaking the smell from his nose.

Chiana, holding an energy sensor, tapped D'argo on the shoulder.

"I got a reading here, around two hundred metras ahead, some sort of power cell is still active."

John, now recovered from his fright, hopped over the hole that he so nearly had plunged down. "I sure as hell hope it's the frelling fridge that is still working, I for one will gladly stop eating food cubes"

"We need to stay close to one another, we do not want to fall through another hole in the floor." Answered D'argo.

"Fine", said John. "I'll lead"

" Oh no you won't" said Aeryn. "You dropped your torch, remember? I have the light, so I lead"
John looked at her eyes and saw the steely look that she got when she wanted her way. "Okay Sunshine, you lead then. Just don't fall down any big gaps in the floor, 'cause you've got the only other light."

The going was slow, as they could not risk any more accidents. Finally, the group reached a door from behind which a low hum could be heard. Aeryn pointed out a notice that had been recently painted on the door below a green cross, it was written in Sebacean. "This appears to be a med bay." She informed John.
She pressed the release for the door. The door smoothly opened, revealing a large room bathed in red emergency lighting. Aeryn walked into the room with John following, D'argo next and Chiana bringing up the rear.

Row upon row of sample tubes held a multitude of creatures. Amalgamations of human and beast were in each tank, some appeared to be in mid scream, others simply in pain. John moved from tube to tube, and noticed that all of the creatures were horrific variations of the same person.

"These, these things are all clones!" he exclaimed.

Aeryn was at a series of consoles at the far end of the room. One of them was still operational. She wiped away cycles of dust and debris to view the screen. Randomly pressing some of the touch pads on the console finally brought some life into the display. Rafts of letters appeared, before settling on what looked like an options screen. Aeryn could not understand a word of what it said.

"John? Come and have a look at this. You're the tech, what do you make of all this? I can't read it, somehow my translator microbes don't understand it."
John passed Chiana, who was staring at the tubes of test subjects with slack jawed disgust. "How can people justify this?" she murmured.
John moved next to Aeryn, and looked at where she was pointing. He peered at the screen and his mouth went dry. He burst into a cold sweat and stumbled back from the screen. He chuckled crazily, and ran a hand through his hair.

"Aeryn that's, that's....It can't be! Frell! Where? How? Aeryn, I can read that. It's....English! That's from Earth!"

He slumped to his knees, tears leaking unbidden down his cheeks. "Where the frell are we? WHEN are we? Oh god, Dad, D.K, I lost you. You're all gone." Tears leaked freely down his cheeks. He put his head in his hands and fell silent.

Everyone stood in stunned silence. Chiana walked over and sat next to John. She nudged him lightly with her shoulder,

"Hey, old man. You tellin' me this hunk of history was built by you're lot? John?"
Aeryn called out to John softly. "John, maybe the answers will be here"

John got to his feet, eyes red. He inhaled deeply, trying to puzzle things out in his mind. He walked to the screen and read it again. It was a login screen asking what information he required. He pressed the touch screen, selecting log history. Aeryn, with no idea what he was pressing asked for answers while he looked. The screen displayed journey logs and medical logs. He pressed journey logs, and was presented with a list of dates. He gasped as he looked at the first date of the maiden voyage, and the last entry that had been accessed by the peacekeepers.

"It all makes sense now. I thought this was a little too much like déjà vu. I am home, guys. Except, I haven't arrived at the right time. I'm about 750 cycles too late." He closed his eyes, and leaned against the wall.

"When I got here, I never really thought about it. But I came through a wormhole. Who says that it has to just be a great distance that I travelled? It appears that I also went through time as well. I am here on my planet, seven hundred and fifty odd cycles after I left. Shit." He said bitterly.
Aeryn placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Chiana, dragging her gaze away from the tanks of specimens, looked at John.

"So, where is everyone? There appears to be nobody on this planet. I remember what's his name...freak boy...Maldis, he said that you guys bred like, a lot. Where have billions of people gone?"

"I don't know Pip, I just don't know."

Aeryn spoke up again. "Never mind that, what happened to the Peacekeepers that came here recently?"

~

Aeryn and D'argo went through the medical bay with a fine toothpick. A lot of equipment had been dismantled, either by the previous occupants, or by the Peacekeepers. They did find human medical supplies, which although old appeared to still have a use. John poured over the schematics of the ship, fascinated by the thought that all this was something his race had built. He noticed a red and black icon in the corner of the screen. He pressed it, and found himself in a security login screen. He pressed a few random keys, but was sternly rebuffed by the computer. Whatever it was, it appeared to by highly classified. Engrossed by the details, and the task of trying to hack into the system, he did not hear Chiana at first.

"I said GUY's! I am picking up movement around seven hundred metras and closing, fast. Wait, it's stopped."

John whirled around, looking at Chiana's concerned features.

"Can the sensors tell if it is human or alien?"

Chiana shook her head slightly, fully focussed on the tracker. "I can't tell. There's too much metal from here, the readings are patchy, I seem to be getting interference from somewhere."

D'argo stood, finishing the packing of medical supplies into one of his packs. "Let's see who our guest is." He hefted his qualta blade in demonstration, an almost eager look in his eyes. He looked to John, who grinned back, pushing all thoughts of his problems to the back of his mind, it was not like the ship was going anywhere. John took a pistol in each hand and looked at Aeryn. She had an expression of disgust on her face, the effect of which was marred by the fact that she was trying to hide amusement at D'argo and John's almost childlike exuberance.

They went back into the main corridor outside the med bay, with Chiana pointing south. "The signal is that way. It was moving fast, like someone running, then it just stopped. It's still there."

They ran through the maze of corridors, following the sensors readings, till they reached a pressure door. The door appeared was designed to be sealed if a hull breach took place. Chiana turned to John and D'argo, who were rather on edge, ready to shoot first and then take notes afterwards.

"Whatever it is. Whoever, is behind that door." Said Chiana softly.

John moved to the door and pressed the door release button. As the door slowly began to rise, Aeryn and D'argo got their weapons at the ready. The feet of the individual were gradually visible as the door opened, and from the odd angle he could tell they were lying on the floor. The door reached the ceiling with a clang of metal on metal. John moved to the figure, which was shaking and convulsing. He rolled the figure over and his eyes bulged as he saw who it was.

"Holy crap, Crais? What the frell are you doing here?"

Crais looked up at Crichton and managed a weak smile, he shivered once, and then cried out in pain. Crais half stood and pressed his back against the wall as he tried to draw himself upright into a standing position. His face was slick with sweat, and he was wearing some sort of suit that John had never seen before. Standing half upright with hands resting on his knees, Crais looked at the crew and then coughed loudly, a horrible rasping noise that sounded like a drain emptying its garbage. He spat behind him and focussed on John.

"I have.... been looking for you. I..........I needed to speak to you, about all...this." He motioned with his arm around the corridor.

"P..Peacekeepers found this craft around 3 cycles ago. We had no.... knowledge of who built it or where the race went, as you had not arrived to us by then. Somehow they contrived to capture me and force me to find you when they realised what they had found. Thanks to them, I am not long......cough...for this world. But you must be aware, you are wanted by High Command. You are wanted to help decode all this. But there is another agenda. It seems that your race encountered an alien species that was deadly, resilient and moreover, seemed to have gotten out of control. They are here on this planet, Peacekeeper sensors do not show them very well and leviathan technology doesn't sense them at all, and I fear that was the team's downfall here. High Command wanted the alien species captured for study...alive. Finally, you should note" he smiled sardonically, "I have one inside me."

He released an explosive exhale of breath, the effort of trying to explain in such a short time visibly draining. Crais slowly sat back down on the deck's floor, leaning against the cold wall. He rested his head against the wall and fell silent.

John crouched down next to Crais, and softly shook him. "Hey, what d'you mean, one what? What is inside you? Crais!"
Crais opened his bloodshot eyes again and stared at John as if seeing him for the first time.

"An...an...alien." He passed out.

John looked at the rest of them and then back at the prone form of his former enemy.

"Let's get him back to the medlab"

~

Aeryn and D'argo stood together, in close conversation about possible tactics as John muddled his way through using the medlabs scanners and other medical equipment. He pressed a few more keys, and the medical scanner on the bed where Crais' inert form lay. Sweat was slick on the former captain's face. A mask of pain was etched across it. Looking at the scanner readings, Chiana whistled softly.

"Frell, that is one ugly bug. So these little things managed to wipe out an entire race? They don't look so tough."

Without looking up, John pressed another few keys and viewed the alien on the console in front of him. He inhaled sharply as he saw it for the first time. It was unlike anything he had ever seen, and it looked well, vicious.

He turned to Aeryn, who had seen the screen as well.

"Can we operate? I mean, is it possible to get this thing out of him?"

Aeryn shook her head, "I don't know, this equipment looks more than adequate, but we don't know how to use it, nor do we know how to remove it."

"I say we blast it. It's only Crais after all." ventured D'argo, looking over at the silent form of his former captor.

An argument ensued, D'argo and Crichton opting for the killing option, Chiana and Aeryn arguing for the operation.

While they had all been arguing over what to do, Crais had started to convulse, twitching, muscles tensing all over his body. Suddenly, he let out an inhuman yell of pain, spittle frothing from his mouth. He looked over to John and D'argo, pain evident in his bulging eyes, face a mask of pain. He grabbed Aeryn's coat and pulled her close to his face.

"Aeryn, these creatures have been transported to Homeworld. You must kill them all, this could spread throughout the uncharted and known territories. High command think they can tame it, but they won't! You must stop it!" He threw himself against the bed, and arched his back in pain. Sweat running down his face, and with blood leaking from his nostrils he looked a state. He looked at them all.

"Please" he begged, "K..kill....kill me."

Suddenly, his back arched again in a spasm of unbelievable pain, his muscles could be heard cracking with the strain. His arms outstretched before him as if pleading for mercy as the alien inside began it macabre entry into the world. As it began to rip through internal organs and force open his ribcage, they all witnessed Crais scream in agony. Both Aeryn and D'argo were fighting to hold him down, unsure quite what was happening. Crais' chest began to bulge, the material of the suit expanding; everyone could only look on in horror of what was happening. The alien burst free, sending a gory shower of blood and viscera into the air, partly covering D'argo and Aeryn, standing at Crais' now inert form. The alien, small and vulnerable, appeared from the gaping rent in Crais' chest small sharp tail whipping to and fro, it looked around the room at its spectators. Small, bloody, black and baring its sharp teeth, it squealed then hissed at them as it got its bearings, still groggy from it's hatching.

Chiana was the quickest to act. While everyone else simply seemed stunned with what had happened, Chiana grabbed one of John's blasters and started shooting at it. Bolts hit Crais square in the chest, causing his body to convulse from the impacts, but the alien was too fast. It dived to her left, moving at great speed toward the door and freedom. She tried to track it, firing wildly, with D'argo, Aeryn and John now also taking action. The room was ablaze with light from pulse blasts and a cacophony of gunfire from the crew's arsenal. John stopped firing, and the others followed suit.

"Did we get it?" asked John.

"No, I think it got away," replied Aeryn, attempting to clear some of the blood from her face.

"Frell, that must've hurt" Said John, staring at the corpse of his former enemy. Smoke rose in wispy tendrils from the many hits his body had taken.

"I wouldn't have wished that on him. Man, these things are brutal!" he exclaimed. He looked at D'argo, blood streaked down his face. "You look pretty wicked like that"
D'argo smiled slightly, "Battle paint."

Chiana looked at the scanner that they had brought with them,

"Guy's....... ahhh, we have movement. Something's moving. Several directions! Damn! Are these frelling sensors on the fritz? I can't get a clear readout, I don't know how many or what they frelling are, but I'll bet it's not friendly. Two hundred metras and closing."
Aeryn looked at Crais' body. Looking over to John, she asked him what he thought they should do.

"Aeryn? Why ask me? You never ask! I vote we get back to the transport pod pronto." Said John tersely.

"Your turf John, Your call. It's your turn for a plan. But I say we get the frell out of here" she replied tersely.

"Well frelling said." volunteered D'argo.

"Lets just go! Whatever it is out there isn't gonna wait for an invite now is it?" yelled Chiana.

With Crais' corpse forgotten, the crew quickly filed out of the room, intending to head for the exit, and back to the transport pod. Aeryn and D'argo took the lead, Chiana next, and John bringing up the rear. It was not a position he relished but he accepted that he had to be able to protect Chiana, and Aeryn and D'argo had better eyesight, enabling them to see danger or obstacles easily. They reached a wide-open area that segmented off in several different directions, up and down. Looking up John saw that the ceiling was not directly above and there were many large cooling pipes, some of which were still venting steam even after all these years. He deduced that this area was near the centre of the ship and was designed as a crossing area for the crew to different areas of the ship.

"Which way?" he asked.

"I think we should carry on ahead. Any more twists and turns and we'll just get more frelled up with our bearings."

Chiana slammed her hand against the scanner, cursing loudly. "This thing is a piece of dren, I am getting readings everywhere. According to this we have movement all around us, and directly above and below us! It's magra fahrbot! It can't even tell us what they are! Nor can it even tell us which direction we are going!" she threw it down in disgust, before picking it up again and tucking into a pocket.

"Let's just keep going" offered John.

They started to move at a brisk pace, slowing only to negotiate damaged parts of the ship's decks and pieces of broken piping. John started to sweat, not from the pace but from the tension. Visibility was poor, so he heard more than saw the flooring in front of him rip apart. He skidded to a halt and grabbed Chiana's arm to stop her in her tracks. Aeryn and D'argo whirled around at the noise, weapons at the ready. A hole had been ripped open by an alien; it's powerful yet skeletal form ripping through the floor like rice paper. The hole it had created was big enough for it's large elongated head to appear, arms clawing for Chiana's legs. It hissed and spat, saliva dribbling down its chin, teeth snapping with it's secondary jaw snapping forth from its gaping maw, trying to take a chunk from Chiana. Aiming with his gun, John fired at its emerging head. It screeched in pain, the blast glancing the side of it's head distracting it, causing it to let go of the floor. It plunged down into the inky darkness from whence it came. They all looked at the hissing sound as the bloodstains from the alien's wound began to etch the floor where the blood had landed. It hissed and sputtered as it ate through the metal almost hungrily.

"Oh just great, this gets better and better. Acid..... for blood? Anyone else think that's a bit unfair?" remarked John.

"Crichton, what the frell was that? It was much larger than the one that hatched. That was larger than D'argo. These things grow inside someone and grow to that size?" said Aeryn.

"I don't have a damn clue what that crap was all about, but I'll tell you this, if there's one of 'em then I'm pretty damned sure that this place if frelling crawling with 'em, I say we leave double quick, as in NOW." He turned to Chiana, kneeling down so he could look her in the eyes. She was wide-eyed and frozen with shock. "Hey Pip, you
okay?" he asked gently.

She refocused on John, and blinked rapidly. "Uh, well I think I've just had the dren scared outta me, that thing nearly ate me, but I guess I am..ah... fine" she stammered.

"C'mon, we've gotta keep moving" urged John.

Chiana rose swiftly, eager to leave. At that moment for John, all hell broke loose. Aeryn and D'argo both reacted the quickest, but it was still far too slow. Out of nowhere from the ceiling above, an alien grabbed John by the shoulders, intent on pulling him upwards into the darkness. In the split second it took to react, many things happened at once. Aeryn and D'argo fired at the creature, hitting the creature on the chest. It screamed in pain, and fell to the deck behind John. Blood from the alien splattered onto his leather greatcoat. Yelling in surprise and worry, he ripped the coat of himself and threw it to the floor before the acid could eat at his shirt and skin.

John whirled around, pistols at the ready, intent on firing at the creature. The alien, maddened by its injuries, whipped its tail furiously and hissing in defiance, readied itself for attack. Chiana looked up and saw dark shapes from all directions moving toward them. The alien on the walkway lunged at John warily, not wanting to feel the pains of the light-things that hurt it. John jerked out of the way of the attack and shot at the alien's head. Off balance, his shot missed and hit the wall in a shower of sparks.

Looking upwards, D'argo bellowed a Luxan war cry at the approaching shapes. He looked to John, and began firing wildly upwards. "Lets go Crichton!"
More shapes appeared around them, D'argo fired frantically, with Aeryn and Chiana being more reserved, trying to preserve chakan oil. John rolled to one side of the walkway that they were standing on as he narrowly avoided a whipping tail. He shot the alien square in the chest, and watched it disappear over the railing. He turned to D'argo briefly, and seeing that the rest of them were managing to carve a way past the aliens that were appearing from all angles, started to move forward, covering the rear.

Another alien's claw appeared at the floor to his right as it made its way to climb onto the deck. He turned to shoot the son of a bitch in the face before it could climb up, when another alien hit him from the other side. John clattered over the railing, dropping one of his blasters. He reached out blindly, grabbing the first available handhold. It was slick and sharp, but it held. He opened his eyes to find he was hanging on to the tail of the alien he had just fired at, sending it to what he thought was it's death. It turned its head to look at him, hissing in either anger or pain. Its secondary jaws shot out and in snapping at him, to no avail. It had its claws firmly clamped to the underside of the walkway, but it could do no more. John could see that it wanted to kill him, but had no choice but to hold on. He looked down below, but could see nothing in the gloom. He looked back up quickly, wishing had hadn't looked down at all. The firing above him had stopped. He hoped the guys were all right. His arms were beginning to ache, and he didn't think he could hold on much longer. The alien's grip looked like it was beginning to tire, and John could see it was starting to slip from its grip on the walkway.

~

Aeryn shot another of the creatures face-first, the impact of her rifle sending it over the edge. As sudden as the attack had begun the aliens were retreating, hissing as they left. Chiana whooped in triumph, and turned to John. Her face fell when she saw his coat and one of his blasters lying on the deck. "Crichton!" she screamed.
Aeryn's stomach did back flips as she realised John was not around. She began to feel panic well up inside her, and she tried to force it down and remain calm. It failed, Frell Frell Frell Frell Frell! She thought, I couldn't have lost him, not when I haven't said so much that I want to say to him.

"John?" She called out cautiously.

"Aeryn!!"

The crew rushed to the railing and peered over. John was precariously holding on to the alien's tail. Every time he tried to move to safety, the alien thrashed around and threatened to plunge them down. Aeryn looked for some way to help him up, but there were no options.

"John, we'll get you out of this, don't' worry" called Aeryn. "Are there any other handholds around there?"

John shook his head slightly, trying not to move too much. "It's no use Aeryn, there's nothing, I have no options"

D'argo leaned over and shone the torch down the drop. The light did little to penetrate the gloom, but from what he could tell it was about a thirty-metra drop, which could kill John. He looked again and saw the slight glint of reflected light from water at the bottom.

John looked up and looked at Aeryn. "I always wanted to tell you this, and now seems as good a time as any. I... I love you Aeryn Sun. Have for a long time, and I always will." He looked back to D'argo. "How's it look down there?"

"There looks like water at the bottom, but I can't be sure if it will break your fall."

John looked to Pip. "Hey, don't worry, I'll be fine. Been in worse than this." He smiled weakly.

The alien hissed again, and lost its grip on one arm, leaving it dangling precariously.

Aeryn, tears running freely down both cheeks looked at John in the eyes. "John, I wish I had said this to you a long time ago, but I have never felt like this, not even...."she paused for a microt, then continued. "I love you John." He voice cracked as she said his name.
John smiled, despite his predicament. "I know" He looked to D'argo, then to the very pissed off alien still hanging on for its life.

"D'argo, you know what to do. Aeryn, I love you." And with that, he let go. Aeryn screamed, as did Chiana. D'argo aimed his qualta blade and shot the alien in the head, killing it instantly. It hung for a few microts, and then disappeared out of sight.

Aeryn stared over the railing, numb with shock, eyes red rimmed from tears.




To be continued.......


CUE MUSIC!....ROLL CREDITS!