Chapter 3- How Come This Dren Always Happens To Us?
It hadn't taken them long to paddle across to the other
side. D'Argo, Chiana and Jothee had
taken one raft, and despite numerous attempts to catch one of the many fish
they saw on the way, they reached their destination empty handed. The boisterousness of that craft was in
stark contrast to the strained atmosphere on the raft that held Crichton, Rygel
and Aeryn.
Crichton and Aeryn hadn't talked, or even looked at each
other, the entire journey. Crichton
knew that he was being childish, but he was sick of Aeryn picking him up and
putting him down when she felt like it.
She made everything into such a struggle. Besides, it wasn't as if she had tried to make
conversation with him.
When they reached the shore, they silently dragged the raft
up the slope away from the water's edge to stop it floating away and joined the
others. The slope rising up from the
water's edge was steep and quite rocky until the tree line, which Crichton
estimated was around 50 metras up.
"I'm going to take a look around." Aeryn said, pointing up the slope in front of them.
"I will join you."
D'Argo looked at Crichton. "Are
you coming?"
"Nah. I'll see you
later."
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Nearly an arn later Crichton looked up from the log he was
sitting on at the sound of two familiar voices.
Aeryn and D'Argo were walking towards him, engrossed in
their conversation. Well, the
conversation was actually mostly on D'Argo's part, he seemed to be telling
quite an animated tale of some sort, but Aeryn did seem engrossed. Crichton felt a surge of jealousy as he
watched them, not because he thought that there was anything between D'Argo and
Aeryn, but rather because there wasn't.
They could enjoy each other's company without complications, without
guilt, without pain, without anger, without pressure. Some days Crichton couldn't even look at Aeryn without thinking
about her death, or the sacrifice Zhaan had made for them. Worrying that their relationship wasn't
worth it. Wouldn't last. That Aeryn would never be able to hold his
hand in front of their friends or that she would never want to act on her
feelings.
He stood up and walked over to meet them.
"Hello, John." The Luxan greeted him. "I was just telling Aeryn about my first
ever battle."
Crichton couldn't help smiling at his friend's obvious high
spirits. He looked at Aeryn but she seemed
preoccupied with a piece of twig she had picked up.
D'Argo continued. "Are Chiana and Jothee…?"
"Still by the water.
When I left them they were still trying to catch fish." Crichton tipped his head to one side and
gave D'Argo a pained look. "Chiana recalled some tale of people catching fish
by slapping the water and making whooping sounds. And while she and Jothee were trying that, Rygel was yelling
encouragement." He smiled a
little. "I came up here for a bit of
peace and quiet."
"I would have done the same thing." D'Argo said sympathetically, clapping
Crichton on the shoulder. He looked at
the sky. "It will soon be dark, we
should return to the transports."
"Yeah, let's get going."
"D'ARGO!!" Crichton
whirled around at the sound of Chiana's voice. "HELP! D' ARGO! CRICHTON!"
"Chiana?" Crichton
called out, heading in the direction of her voice.
"Chiana!
CHIANA!!" D'Argo boomed out,
overtaking Crichton in moments, qualta blade drawn and ready. Aeryn followed quickly behind.
"D'Argo!" Chiana ran
into view with Jothee quick on her heels.
She ran straight into the Luxan.
"Chiana, what is the matter?" D'Argo wrapped his arms around his lover. "You are shaking. What happened?"
"We saw something."
Jothee panted. "It came out of the water and nearly killed us."
"What kind of something?"
Crichton asked, putting his hand on the boy's shoulder.
"I don't know."
Jothee shook his head, still breathless from running up the slope. "I've never seen anything like it."
Chiana raised her head.
"It…it was big…really big. And
it came right for us." She was still
shaking and huge tears were making tracks down her face.
Crichton exchanged a look with D'Argo. In the past cycle or so Chiana had seen all
manner of creepy critters, it wasn't like her to get so spooked. Speaking of creepy critters…"Where's Rygel?" Crichton looked in the direction Chiana and
Jothee had come from.
Jothee reached inside the cloth bag he wore slung over his
shoulder and drew out the little Dominar.
Crichton took the Hynerian and looked him over. He was shaking and he looked very pale. "You
OK, Ryg?" Crichton asked, concerned.
"Do I look OK?"
Rygel said miserably, his voice raised by the helium he had produced in
Jothee's bag.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Crichton
smiled. "You'll live, Sparky." He said,
handing him back to Jothee.
D'Argo gently disentangled himself from Chiana. "I will go and see this beast."
"NO!" Chiana
shouted, grabbing him again. "You don't
understand. It'll kill you!"
"I will be fine, Chiana.
Jothee, take care of her while I'm gone."
"I'll go with you."
Crichton drew his weapon.
Aeryn nodded. "As
will I."
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D'Argo looked up as Crichton approached him. "I can find no
trace of this creature. You?"
"Nope. Zero, zip,
nada, nothing." Crichton said
looking into the water. "Whatever they
saw is long gone."
"Do you think they could have imagined it?"
"All three of them?
Are you serious?"
D'Argo groaned. "No,
just hopeful." He looked around once
more. " So, if they did not imagine it,
what did they see?"
"No idea, but whatever it was, it must have been pretty bad
to get Chiana so freaked."
"The rafts are
gone." Aeryn said, walking towards
them.
"Aww, crap! Are you
sure?" Crichton squinted out at the
water. "They aren't just floating close
by?"
"If they are, I can't see them."
"Nor can I." D'Argo
confirmed.
"How come this dren always happens to us?" Crichton wondered out loud.
"So," D'Argo took a deep breath " both of Moya's transports
are across that water, and we are stuck here with no rafts and a large monster
lurking between us and our only way of getting back to the ship."
"I would say that 'bout sums it up." Crichton agreed, head down, fiddling with
his ear.
"It might not come back.
We encountered no problems on the way here." D'Argo reasoned.
"D'you want to take the risk?" Crichton looked at him sceptically.
D'Argo considered a moment.
"No, I do not."
"Your module is still on board Moya." Aeryn said.
"Maybe Stark could bring it down to the planet and bring a transport
over to us?"
"Excellent idea!"
D'Argo nodded.
"Yeah, it is a great idea, except" Crichton began to
rub his forehead and grimaced " I was giving my module an overhaul, y'know, as
a way to keep busy and stave off the hunger pangs, and unless Stark knows how
to reassemble a hetch drive, that module's going nowhere."
"Could the DRDs fix it?"
Crichton's face left D'Argo in no doubt that it was unlikely. "FRELL!"
The Luxan shouted violently.
Crichton dropped his head forward and let out a hollow
laugh. "This is just
great...abso-fudging-lutely great!" Sighing, he activated his com. "Yo, Pilot!
We've hit a slight problem down here…"
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To Be Continued.