Crichton and Aeryn sat on Rygel's bed. The DRDs had followed them into the Hynerian's quarters and were stationed at the only door.
"How are you feeling?" Crichton was no longer whispering. His hand felt her forehead then dropped to cup her cheek. "No after effects from the heat earlier?"
"No, I feel fine." She frowned at him slightly, wondering where he was going with this.
"Well, you still feel a little warm. You should have a cool shower to bring your temperature down, just to be on the safe side." Crichton stood up. "I'm just going to collect some clothes from my place. Why don't you hop in the shower and I'll join you in a microt." He bent down to kiss her forehead and disappeared out the door.
Aeryn didn't move for a moment. Well, at least now she knew why they were in Rygel's quarters. She picked up one of the spare blankets from the foot of Rygel's bed and started undoing her long braid, trying to look as casual as possible. She kept her eye on the DRD that was still with her as she made her way towards the shower. To her relief it didn't follow.
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Crichton re-entered Rygel's quarters no more than 300 microts later, carrying a bundle of clothes. He headed straight for the shower. "Hey, baby!" He said loudly as he closed the door behind him. The shower was already on, but Aeryn was not in the room. He grinned as he put his clothes down to one side and said more softly "Miss me?"
"Just get your eema up here before Tarone works out what is going on!" came Aeryn's disembodied whisper.
He looked straight up. Aeryn's face stared down at him from the ceiling. He noticed that she had let her hair down. "I wondered if you would remember Rygel's shower escape."
"I was the one that had to crawl through it looking for the little zannet when D'Argo was threatening to space him for going through his stuff." She looked at him curiously " What have you got there?"
"My tape recorder. I taped a conversation with you monens ago. I thought that if he ever got the chance, Dad would get a kick out of hearing his son talking to an alien." He smiled, a little embarrassed. " Anyway, if they don't listen too closely it should add to the illusion that we're still here."
"What were we talking about?"
"Ahm…Your childhood and Peacekeeper training."
"You taped that?" she sounded annoyed.
"Let's not get into that now, Aeryn." He pressed play and jumped up to catch the lip of the opening in the ceiling and hauled himself into the narrow tunnel. "I reckon we have about half an arn before they start to get suspicious."
"How long before we get back to the planet?"
"Maybe 7 or 8 arns at the most"
"Well, let's move then."
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"What the frell happened here?" Chiana looked around the cargo bay. It had never been tidy. Crates and boxes were always piled precariously on top of each other, making it hard to find what you wanted. But those boxes and crates were now strewn over the floor, many of them ripped open and the contents pulled or tipped out.
"It would appear that someone has been looking for something." Rygel said slowly, taking in the scene before him. He narrowed his eyes. "None of my cargo better be damaged."
"That's right Rygel. In amongst all of this, the most important thing is that your cargo isn't damaged."
"Shut up girl, and start tidying this lot up"
"And while I'm doing that, what are you going to be doing, your Royal Frogness?" She stood defiantly in her peculiarly angular stance.
"I will be checking things off against the inventory." He smirked at her look of disbelief. He floated close to her and whispered "Keep your eyes open for anything strange."
She muttered something indignantly under her breath, but nevertheless reached for the crate closest to her and began to right it.
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"Aren't we taking a risk walking through the corridors rather than crawling through the access tunnels out of sight?"
Crichton shrugged." Who are we going to meet, Aeryn? Tarone seems to be working alone. We know exactly where the others are with their DRDs so we can avoid them – thank you very much, Rygel the sixteenth!" He added with feeling. "And they all staying put until we call them for dinner. So I figure that the corridors are ours."
"Have you forgotten the other DRDs? There are hundreds of them. What if we run into one?"
"Tarone can't watch them all. I'm hoping that he's just scanning the 6 he assigned to us and taking no notice of the rest. If we see a DRD we can try and get a message to Pilot – in fact, I think that's why they've been taken out of circulation." He smiled at her, pleased with his reasoning.
"And if we don't find a DRD?"
He sighed, a little frustrated by her constant pessimism. "Then we'll just have to keep doing what we're doing now. Trying to find a way into the chamber."
"It's not much of a plan, Crichton."
"Yeah, well. The microt you think of a better one, you let me know, Aeryn."
They continued down the corridor in silence until Aeryn stopped short. "Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"Sshhh!" She put the back of her hand against his chest, her face full of concentration. "That! Hear it?"
He nodded. There was a high-pitched whirring noise coming from just up ahead. It reminded Crichton a little of a dentist's drill. "What is that?"
They moved towards the noise, weapons drawn, until they saw the source.
A DRD was lying on its back, its rollers whirring.
"He must have been left behind when all his little buddies went into hiding." Crichton said softly. "This is our lucky day." He reached out his hand towards the little robot, but Aeryn stopped him.
"Wait. DRDs can right themselves if they are knocked onto their backs. Why is this one here?"
"Maybe it is a sign from Pilot."
"What if it's a trap from Tarone?"
"We'll just have to take that chance, Aeryn. We're running out of time." He couldn't keep the impatience out of his voice.
Crichton picked the DRD up and set it down before him, being careful to keep a hold of it to prevent it scurrying away. "Well. I guess this is the moment of truth." He looked at Aeryn but she said nothing. Crichton turned his attention back to the DRD. "Hey, little guy. I need you to get a message to Pilot for me, can you do that?" The DRD beeped and moved its antennae. "Ah, right. We need a code." He heard Aeryn groan behind him. "Something nice and simple. One beep is a yes. Two beeps is a no. Got it?" The DRD beeped once. "That's great. Pilot? You OK?" One beep. Aeryn was kneeling beside him now, paying attention. "Good. Listen, you need to find us a way into your chamber. Can you leave us a way in?" The DRD beeped once again. "Great. We are going to have to get back now before we are missed. Be careful that Tarone doesn't see what you are up to. Oh, one more thing. Is Tarone working alone?" One beep.
"Take care, Pilot" Aeryn said. The DRD beeped once and then rolled away.
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Crichton reached up and caught Aeryn's legs as they appeared from the ceiling in Rygel's shower. He held her while she replaced the panel and then let her drop gently to the ground.
The shower was still running and their taped conversation could still be heard.
"What now?"
"We go and pretend to sleep and then meet up with everyone for a meal, just like we said." He took his leather vest and tee shirt off and ducked his head under the water. "Now you." She looked at him doubtfully. "Come on Aeryn. We've got to assume that Tarone is paying attention at least some of the time. You've been in the shower for nearly half an arn. He's going to expect some dampness."
She glared at him and grabbed the sheet that she had brought in with her, glad that she had realised that Rygel's towels were so small as to be useless for someone her size. Turning her back on him she shed her leather vest and placed her head under the water. Stepping out again she wrapped the sheet around her and took off her trousers. "Happy?"
He grinned at her and stripped down to his underwear. He reached for the tape recorder and stopped it.
"Did you make recordings to fool your mother when you were a child?" She asked curiously.
"No, that was too sophisticated for me and DK. I got the idea for the tape from a guy called Ferris Bueller." He took her hand and led her out of the shower room.
They lay down on Rygel's single bed side-by-side and feigned sleep under the watchful eyes of the DRDs.
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TBC