1.1.1 Chapter Three

Crais' whole body hurt, his head pounding with the thump, thump of blood flowing through it. His left eye was swollen shut, the right hazy as he slowly opened it. And he was hot, burning up, sweat rolling down his face and bare chest, stinging in the wounds the Scarren had inflicted. He was bound to a frame, his hands out to the sides. Crais had no feeling left in his fingers and he tried to move them to get the blood flowing.

"Where is Commander John Crichton?" the voice asked again.

Crais slowly turned his head towards the voice. "I told.you.I don't know," he whispered. His mouth was dry and Crais tried to swallow past the cottony taste in the back of his throat. His head snapped back the opposite direction, slamming against the other side of the frame as the Scarren backhanded him, it's nails opening fresh wounds. He tasted blood pooling in his mouth from where his teeth had split open his lower lip.

The Scarren paced before him. "You are Captain Bialar Crais, ex- Peacekeeper, once the leader of an elite squadron. You were in charge of the Leviathan project, the man responsible for the successful birth of a hybrid gunship, designed to operate with a neural interface to a single being." The Scarren moved towards him, it's face inches from his. "You were in charge of the command carrier that was to bring in John Crichton. Where is he?"

Crais gathered up as much spit and blood as he could muster, sending it into the Scarren's face. He would not give up Crichton, for he knew if the Scarren's found Crichton, they'd find Morgan. "I don't know."

The Scarren wiped the spittle away. "Again," it yelled.

Crais' body arched in pain as it was shot through with white-hot energy, his screams echoing down the corridors of the dreadnaught.



Aeryn walked into Talyn's bridge and handed Crichton a cup of coffee. "She's finally asleep," she said, wrapping her arms around him and leaning her head on his shoulder. The ship was unusually quiet. Even the DRD's, who were constantly underfoot, had gone into hiding. She let her hand drift under his t-shirt, his skin warm as she ran her hand over Crichton's stomach.

"The link to Talyn is the only thing that has kept her going this long." He sipped the coffee and set the mug down, turning in Aeryn's arms. "At least Talyn is keeping calm." He leaned his chin on her head. "We've been searching for 3 days, Aeryn. They could've taken him anywhere."

"But why? The Peacekeepers have been trying to keep the Scarren's at bay for years. Why Crais?" she questioned, her head on Crichton's chest.

He shrugged. "I don't know, babe." He rubbed her back, breathing in her unique scent. "I know one thing, though. If we don't find Crais, Morgan will never be able to hold it together."

Aeryn looked up at Crichton. "I'm very concerned about her, John. Maybe we should find Moya, get some help from D'Argo and the others."

Crichton sighed, tucking a piece of Aeryn's hair behind her ear. "I thought about that, but." He shook his head. "As much as I'd like to have Big D here, and as much as Blue could help Morgan, I won't endanger them in this. It's bad enough we're involved." He let Aeryn go, moving to check the systems console. "We're gonna need supplies before long."

"I checked the food stores. Between what we have here and what Morgan." Aeryn fell silent.

"What?" Crichton turned to look at her. "Aeryn?"

She held up her hand, quieting him. "Did you hear that?" she asked, tilting her head.

This time, even Crichton heard it. Both of them took off at a run towards Morgan's quarters. Aeryn waved her hand over the panel, the door sliding open. The room was a mess, clothes thrown helter-skelter across the floor, CD's flung from the shelf, pictures overturned, Morgan on the bed clawing at her face, screaming, her eyes staring blankly into space. "Oh my god," Crichton said, moving towards her.

Aeryn pushed Crichton aside, grabbing Morgan's hands. "Morgan! Morgan, snap out of it!" she yelled, shaking her.

"I thought she fixed the transponders," Crichton yelled over his cousin's screams.

"She did. This is something else!" Aeryn clasped both of Morgan's wrists in one hand, fighting with her as she tried to pull away. She let the Peacekeeper in her take over and backhanded Morgan.

Morgan's head jerked to the left, her screams falling silent, and when she turned back to Aeryn, her eyes were focused and haunted. "Aeryn?" she sobbed, her eyes searching.

Aeryn folded her into her arms as Morgan broke down into tears, her eyes meeting Crichton's over his cousin.



"All I know is that I could see and feel the Scarrens torturing him," Morgan said. She flinched as Crichton applied the salve to her scratches. Dark, baggy circles smudged her cheeks under her eyes, her pupil's small, and the whites bloodshot.

"Okay, I'm a little fuzzy on this whole cybernetic link thing," Crichton commented as he closed the lid on the container and leaned back in his chair. He pushed a plate of fruit and bread towards Morgan. "Eat and talk."

Morgan swallowed, gazing down at the food. "I don't think so."

"Eat!" Aeryn gazed down at her sternly, pointing to the plate. "If you don't keep up your strength, we're all frelled!"

Morgan turned to Crichton. "Would you please tell me what "frell" means?"

"Fucked. Quit changing the subject, Morgan," he answered. He knew his cousin well enough to know when she was trying to evade him.

Morgan picked up the fork, stabbing a piece of blue fruit. "The cybernetics here are much more advanced than back on Earth, but the basic principle is the same." She stabbed another piece. "With the privacy mode disengaged, Crais and I pick up each others thoughts," she said softly.

"So then whatever the Scarrens are doing to ole Monkey Man Crais, you can feel," Crichton observed. Morgan nodded silently, not having the strength to bicker with him. "So, why don't you turn the privacy mode on?"

"If she does, then Talyn can't communicate with her," Aeryn interjected.

"And it's too late to pull the transponder," Morgan added.

"What do you mean it's too late?" Crichton snapped.

"John, the cybernetics are too deeply embedded in her now," Aeryn explained. "The one Morgan had the DRD insert works the same way as Crais' transponder. You pull it, Talyn dies and quite possibly, Morgan."

Morgan smiled weakly at her cousin. "And I'm the only pilot you've got right now, cowboy."

Crichton banged his head on the table. "This is just frelling peachy."

Aeryn's lips pursed as she tried not to laugh at Crichton. She glanced at Morgan, noticing the strain on her face. "Morgan?"

Morgan closed her eyes, her hands clenching the table edge, her knuckles going white, until the pain passed. "I'm okay," she said breathlessly. She canted her head as she listened to Talyn. "He's picked up a signal, not too far from our position."

"Scarrens?" Crichton asked, looking up.

Morgan shook her head. "No. It's a Peacekeeper signal." The three of them left the kitchen, heading for the bridge, Talyn feeding Morgan as much information as he could. "It's a single pilot ship," Morgan added.

"Prowler? This far out?" Crichton headed straight for the comm panel.

"There must be a carrier nearby." Aeryn's hands flew over the scanner console.

Morgan stopped in the center of the bridge. "Talyn, slow down." She reached back, grabbing a hold of the transponder with both hands as the gunship chirped nervously. Morgan frowned in confusion. "Based on his readings, the gunship moved out of the sector hours ago."

The comm board lit up. "Phone's ringing. Should we answer it?" Crichton asked. Both women shrugged and Morgan opened the comm channel. "You're get the hang of it," he said to himself, secretly proud of her. The image that appeared on the clamshell made them all moan.

"Hello John. May I come aboard?" Scorpius asked.



Crais was burning up. He had no energy left, almost no will left to fight. He had suffered torture before, under Scorpius' hand in the Aurora chair, but that was nothing compared to what the Scarrens were putting him through. He could barely breathe, his nose having been broken earlier and the heat in the room stifling.

"Who is Morgan Langtree, Captain Crais?" the Scarren asked.

Morgan. He could see her in his mind, her smile, her blue eyes as they looked at him in defiance. Crais had always been trained that to fall in love was to be weak. But he didn't care, not since meeting her. He was discovering that the source of his strength through the Scarren's torture was Morgan. She was smart, stubborn, headstrong, beautiful. Beautiful. His Morgan. "No.one," he whispered weakly.

The Scarren grabbed his face, turning him to look at it. "Who is she? Where is Crichton? How did you breed the Leviathan?"

Crais managed to smile through the pain. "Go get frelled," he hissed.

The Scarren let go of his face. It turned to two others. "Since physical torture will not convince you to cooperate, then we shall get the information another way." The other two Scarrens lowered something over Crais' head.

"You.will.never.break me," Crais said.

"We shall see."

The heat was back and Crais screamed.



"No, you cannot come aboard!" Crichton answered. "As a matter of fact, you can turn your damn ship around and get the frell out of here."

Scorpius' face took on a look of hurt. "And here I've come to help."

"Help with what?" Aeryn asked suspiciously.

"Officer Sun, how nice to see you." Scorpius looked straight at Morgan. "I think Captain Langtree knows what I am here to help with."

Morgan's jaw set and she never flinched as she clasped her hands behind her back to keep them from shaking. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Aeryn smiled slightly when she noticed that the forward cannons had been trained on Scorpius' Prowler. "And I would suggest you leave me and my cousin alone."

Scorpius laughed. "Well, then, the information I have on Captain Crais will go to waste." His face hardened. "Unless you let me on board."

Crichton's eyes met Morgan's. "Should we let him on?" he mouthed to her.

After a moment, Morgan nodded, looking away in resignation. She released the docking web and stalked off the bridge, aimlessly wandering Talyn's corridors. She came face to face with Scorpius as he exited the landing bay, surrounded by the missing DRD's. "What do you know about Crais?"

Scorpius' eyes narrowed slightly as he looked down at her. "All in good time. Let's find your cousin and then we'll discuss it." They walked silently back towards the bridge, stopping at the kitchen where John and Aeryn waited, pulse pistols drawn. "Is that any way to treat a friend?" Scorpius said, sitting down.

"Scorpy, you're not my friend. Now, what do you have on Crais and why are you really here?"

Scorpius sighed. "I have come to help you rescue Captain Crais from the Scarrens." He held up his hand, silencing them. "Please, hear me out. You of all people, John, know that I have no love of them, even if I am part Scarren myself."

Crichton turned his chair around, straddling it backwards. He laid his pulse pistol on the table, never taking his hand off it. "Alright. Let's hear it."

Scorpius gazed at each of them in turn, his eyes returning to Crichton. "The Scarrens, like myself, are after the wormhole technology the ancients imparted to you. Obviously they were not aware of your presence on Talyn." He looked up at Morgan. "Or yours," he added.

"Obviously. What does this have to do with Crais?" she snapped, folding her arms across her chest as she stood next to Aeryn.

Scorpius turned his gaze back to Crichton. "Captain Crais is wanted by the Scarrens for his knowledge of breeding hybrid Leviathans. They recently confirmed Talyn's existence. It had been a myth to them up until now. Capture Crais, they get both."

"Sounds like a set up to me," Crichton commented, leaning back.

"Yes, it does," Scorpius agreed, folding his hands on the table.

Crichton rubbed his eyes. "The Scarrens are torturing him at the moment."

Scorpius' eyes widened and he leaned forward. "How do you know this?"

Aeryn holstered her pulse pistol. "Morgan dreamed about it."

Realization dawned on Scorpius' face. "Ah, Captain Langtree has linked with Talyn, I assume." He looked at her. "What have they done?"

Morgan shuddered, rubbing her arms. "They.uh.have used."

Crichton leaned backward, looking at her upside down. "You don't have to tell him, Morgan."

"Actually, John, she does. I need to get an idea of how much time we have," Scorpius commented. "I know how much Crais can tolerate." Crichton leaned forward, glaring at Scorpius. "Sebacean's can only tolerate so much heat before delirium sets in," he continued.

"Sebacean?" Morgan looked at Aeryn, her eyes questioning.

"Crais and I are Sebacean. Our physiology is compatible with humans, but there are some differences," Aeryn explained.

"Oh," Morgan said. She looked at Scorpius. "They were using heat at first and then some sort of mind torture." She shrugged apologetically.

Scorpius stood, Crichton with him, his pulse pistol aimed at the Peacekeeper scientist. "Then we must hurry. He doesn't have much time before the Scarrens cause irreversible damage."

"Whoa there, Leatherface. You expect us to just up and trust you?" Crichton leered at him. "What's in this for you and how can we be sure you just don't want to take us back to High Command?"

Scorpius smiled, opening his arms wide. "You can't be sure, John. What I want though, is Captain Langtree's help."

"What kind of help?" Morgan's eyes narrowed as she stepped towards her cousin.

"In exchange for helping you rescue Crais, I want your help to fix this." Scorpius tapped his head. "The neural net that controls my inner cooling system is decaying and I don't know why."

She leaned her hands on the table, staring at Scorpius. "And you think I can help?" she asked quietly.

"Yes." He paused, his eyes meeting hers, a calculating smile crossing his face. "You see, the net is cybernetic."



Crais' arms went out from under him and he hit the dreadnaught's deck face first, pain shooting through his cheeks as his nose met the cool metal. He shivered in the frigid cell, thankful for the coolness, a refreshing break from the Scarrens intolerable heat.

He rolled onto his back, laughing to himself. No matter how hard they tried, the Scarrens had got nothing from him. Not one piece of information about Crichton or the Leviathan project. He reached slowly back, surprised the transponder was still there, wondering how the gunship was holding up.

He knew Morgan was holding on. He could feel her, distant, as if Talyn was far away. He didn't give them any information on Morgan either. He closed his eyes, letting his mind wander until he slid into an exhausted sleep, her name on his lips.



Morgan rolled over in bed, her eyes scanning the room. She couldn't sleep and could feel Talyn's restlessness as the young Leviathan sped towards its rendezvous with Scorpius' cruiser, her cousin at the controls. "I know how you feel, Talyn. I can't sleep either," she said softly. She stood up, padding towards the door, slipping her robe over her shoulders as she went. She let her mind drift, reviewing the information Talyn fed her until she finally found herself standing outside of Crais' quarters.

She waved her hand over the panel, the doors sliding silently open as she walked in. She had only been in Crais' quarters twice since she had arrived. Had it already been a week since she came to the Uncharted Territories? She ran her fingers across his desk as she moved deeper into the room, trying to get a feel for the mysterious man she was falling in love with. She looked at the shelves filled with Crais' clothes, folded neatly and stacked in an orderly fashion, his boots lined up below them shining in the dim light. Morgan smiled to herself, moving past them to the cabinet holding Crais' data chips. She reached out to take one, stopping. "Better not," she mumbled.

Morgan yawned, her eyes drifting to the bed. It was still made, the sheets and blanket folded with perfect military precision. She sat down, running her hand over the soft comforter, letting the exhaustion she had been fighting take over, leaning back onto Crais' pillow. She pulled the other one to her, wrapping her body around it, breathing in his lingering scent as she closed her eyes. "Don't worry, Bialar," she whispered as she drifted off to sleep. "I'm on the way."



"Have you seen Morgan?" Crichton asked the next morning as he walked onto the bridge.

Aeryn turned from the console to look at him. "She's not in her quarters?"

"No." Crichton's face grew dark. "Where is Scorpius?" He turned unholstering his pistol. "Scorpius!" he yelled, storming from the bridge.

Aeryn's call stopped him. "John, wait!" She ran to catch up with him. "Talyn told me where she is." She smiled knowingly. "Come on." She took his free hand, leading him to Crais' quarters. Aeryn waved her hand over the panel, quietly slipping in.

Morgan was sound asleep in Crais' bed, wrapped around his pillows. Her face was peaceful in deep sleep, the self-inflicted scratches having faded. Crichton nodded in relief. "C'mon. Let her sleep. We can plan this without her."

They turned and left, walking back to the kitchen where Scorpius still sat. "Did you find her?" he asked, looking up at them.

Crichton sat down across from him. "Yup. And we're gonna plan this without her."

Aeryn pushed the data chip she had been carrying into a slot on a nearby console. "Talyn, show us the layout of the Scarren dreadnaught."



Crichton, Aeryn and Scorpius turned at the sound of footsteps heading towards the bridge. At the sight of his cousin, Crichton smiled. "It's amazing how ten arns of undisturbed sleep can change a person." He looked over Morgan's outfit of blue jeans, combat boots and blue tank top, the dark smudges under her eyes gone. "I see you still wear the same thing when you're about to get into a fight."

Morgan shrugged. "Why stop a good tradition?" she answered. She put one hand on her hip, the other behind her back. "Talyn filled me in. I want you to use the Osiris," she said confidently, her voice lacking the strain it had carried over the last few days.

"No. The Farscape will work," Crichton said. He had flown the module to Talyn the day they first picked up Scorpius' signal and had split from Moya.

Morgan stepped up to her cousin, a stubborn smile on her face. "No, it won't work. You've made too many modifications to it for it to be convincing. You know as well as I do that they'll pick up the bio signatures on all of the organic material you've used."

"I hate it when you do that," Crichton mumbled, turning away, knowing she was right.

"What about the cybernetics you started integrating into the shuttle?" Aeryn asked.

Morgan held up the hand that had been behind her back, a jumbled mess of wires hanging from her fingers. "It's now just a boring, modified, NASA shuttle." She let the wires slide to the floor.

Crichton looked at her. "Are you sure? That's your only way home."

Morgan nodded, the decision to stay having been made the day she first set eyes on Crais and slammed him into the Osiris, her empty 9mm to his head. "I am home, John. I'm not going back." She turned to Scorpius. "Let's do it."

Copyright 2001 Beth A. Carpenter