"Zhaan, I know where John is being held. I need to try and get in another way. I'll need your help and if possible, Aeryn's. Just disguise her. We don't need two of them to save."
"Understood, D'Argo," Zhaan said. "I will be right down as soon as I treat Aeryn."
"I'll be here."
**********************
Zhaan mixed the pale yellow Vulkdralgon serum into the brown/grey concoction that she had already started, turning the fetid liquid to a green/brown. She handed it to Aeryn.
"Do I have to drink this?" she asked, clearly disgusted by the smell.
"The odor wouldn't be so offending if you had stayed where I told you to."
"How does going to my quarters affect the smell of this?"
"It had time to set while I was carrying it from my lab to your quarters. Maybe next time, you'll listen to me."
Aeryn scowled and looked into the smokey-green medicine. "It doesn't taste like this, does it?"
"Unfortunately, it does. Drink it, or we can't help Crichton." Quickly she put her hand over her mouth, almost like an attempt to take those last words back.
"Help Crichton?" Aeryn asked, suddenly concerned. "What did he do this time?"
Zhaan saw her bargaining chip. "Drink, or you will be confined to your quarters. I will personally lock the door so you won't wander around the ship."
Aeryn closed her eyes and drank it in one big gulp. She fought with it for a moment, but she won. It stayed down. "Now why would we have to help Crichton?"
"He's in custody. We have to free him."
"What did he do?" Aeryn asked accusingly.
"He did nothing, I assure you. Are you feeling better?"
The medicine hadn't started to take effect yet, and she didn't really feel any better, but she couldn't help John sitting on Moya totally bored out of her head. "Yes," she lied. Zhaan narrowed her eyes at her.
"Then let's go," she said against her better judgment. "I will explain on the way down."
**********************
John entered the room and saw six men huddled together with their backs to the entering party facing two large doors at the other end of the room. Violet Eyes cleared his throat and all six men quickly turned around. One pair of green eyes struck John with their brilliance.
"Is this him?" one asked.
"It is. You may proceed with your decision."
They circled around him looking at him from all sides like vultures.
"You claim you are not Sebacean. Why?"
"Are you Hynerian?" John asked.
"No."
"You say you're not Hynerian. Why?"
"Because I am not."
"There you go."
"But we look nothing like Hynerians," another spoke up. "And we certainly don't dress like them."
"Peacekeeper, answer the questions."
"I'm not a Peacekeeper. Why do you hate Peacekeepers so much, anyway?" John asked.
"We have only finished rebuilding after you Peacekeepers decimated our world," he answered, his voice venomous. He obviously was not believing John.
"I. Am. Not. A. Peacekeeper," John insisted again. He was getting more adamant with each claim.
"Clearly he is lying!" one shouted.
"Just look at him!" encouraged another.
The elaborately decorated double doors behind the council opened. The men of the council turned their eyes reverently toward the lavishly dressed woman who stepped forth from the shadows of the room. Her own personal guards were posted on either side of her. As soon as her face showed, the men averted heir eyes, not daring to look upon her beauty.
"Perhaps he speaks the truth," she said. John almost melted at the sound of her melodic voice.
"Empress, look at the alien," Violet Eyes said. It occurred to John that he must be the leader of the council. He was the only one looking at the Empress, and obviously the only one allowed to speak to her.
"He does indeed appear to be Sebacean," she sang, "but looks can be deceiving. The only way to be certain is to submit him to a memory test."
"Memory test?" John gasped. "Oh, no, Lady. I've had people messin' around in my memories before. Trust me, it never turns out good."
"Who said you could talk to the empress, and in such a casual manner?!" a guard demanded. "You will be silent!" He raised his staff to hit Crichton, but the empress stopped him.
"Fool!" she shouted without raising her voice. "You will not touch him!" She nodded at one of her guards, and he stepped forward and grabbed the one of lower rank. "Take him away," she said. "I'll deal with him later." She turned back to John. "I apologize for his behavior."
"'S'all right," he accepted, "I've had worse."
She nodded with a smile. "Lu'pen, take him back to his cell."
"Yes, Empress, right away," Violet Eyes, or Lu'pen, complied.
Back in his cell, John looked through the door slot. He saw pity in the violet eyes that gazed back at him. To Lu'pen's surprise, he had started to feel compassion for this animal that claimed not to be the monster they all took him for. "Foolish creature," Lu'pen said, "I would have faced the Sebacean penalty instead of agreeing to be subjected to a memory test."
**********************
"What are you waiting for, Zhaan? We need to leave," Aeryn said impatiently. Zhaan had her back to the officer. "Zhaan--"
"You can't go down like that," Zhaan said, turning around. Aeryn noted the thick grey and black creams that she was holding.
"What do you mean?" Aeryn asked nervously while backing away ever so slightly.
"They don't like your kind down there, Aeryn," Zhaan said calmly. "That's what got us into this trouble in the first place."
"What are you planning, Delvian?"
"I am going to make you appear to be Nebari."
Aeryn almost choked. "Nebari? But . . . " she searched for an excuse not to let Zhaan do this. "But I have dark hair."
"Then we will make you a male. I will need to add some padding for obvious reasons, but I think this will work." Zhaan took a swipe at Aeryn with a sponge that had some grey on it. Aeryn wiped off the cream as soon as she noticed it on her face. "Be still while I apply this and we might do this successfully. Help me to help John." Uh oh. Guilt trip. "He is in prison having goddess knows what done to him, and you refuse to put on a little disguise so you might be able to help him. All right. So be it. You stay on the ship and I will take Rygel to help."
Aeryn swallowed hard. She looked from the cream to Zhaan and back again. "Then let's get this over with as soon as possible."
**********************
Rygel stared fearfully at the Nebari that was standing in the corridor behind Zhaan. Neither of them had noticed him, and it looked like the Nebari was oblivious to Zhaan. "Zhaan," he alerted in a whisper, not because he was trying not to be seen by the Nebari (it was obvious he knew he was there by now), but because he was scared grotless.
"Rygel?" Zhaan asked, her brow furrowed at his worried expression.
"What is that doing on board?"
Realization dawned on her. He believed Aeryn to be a Nebari. She was going to explain it, but she felt a little bit devious. "Fear not, Rygel," she said. "I have the situation under control. We are going down to the planet to help D'Argo. Behave, or I will not hesitate to release him on you." She indicated the Nebari. Rygel shuddered at the thought.
"Then go already. I don't want that on the ship any longer than necessary."
"Pilot, watch him," she instructed as she walked toward the transports. The Nebari followed, but not before glaring hard at Rygel.
"I hate Nebari," the ex-dominar grumbled as he flew off in his ThroneSled. He was looking for Aeryn (more like looking for where she was than her personally) when he came across a food cube in the floor.
He glanced around to make sure he was alone. Seeing no one, he got out of his ThroneSled and waddled over to the cube. He had barely gotten it into his mouth before he saw another down the corridor a piece. There was a chirp behind him as he started toward it, and he turned around as fast as he felt like going (which was all you could expect from any Hynerian) and saw nothing, so he shrugged and grabbed the second cube when he saw a third.
The pattern continued in this manner until he reached a large group of them in Pilot's den. Rygel chuckled as he descended on them. It was cut short, though, by the sound of the door behind him closing. He looked up and saw that he was surrounded by DRDs.
"Shall Moya finish what she started, Your Eminence?" Pilot asked. Rygel's cry for Aeryn echoed through the ship.
**********************
"Look at what you've gotten yourself into this time."
"Go away, Harvey."
Harvey sat down beside John on the floor. "Couldn't you attempt to escape instead of waiting for the others to come rescue you?"
"I'm not--"
"You should try now," he coaxed. He ordered John's body to do as he wished.
John obediently stood up, walked to the door, and pounded on it. The door slot slid open, revealing not the sympathetic violet eyes that he had been expecting, but the cold, calculating green ones that he saw in the council.
"What is it, Criminal?" the new man asked icily. It occurred to John that he hadn't spoken in the council, and he was surprised at the chilly voice he had.
"I don't feel well. I was wondering if you had a medical facility that I could," Harvey chose his words carefully, "be taken to."
"You get none of our hospitality."
"Could I ask what happened to Lu'pen?" John repeated the words that Harvey was feeding him. He didn't know why, but he did know that he wouldn't normally do such a thing.
"Not that it is any of your business, Barbarian, but he has been . . . removed. I am in charge of you know." He said that last sentence in a grumble, like he couldn't be bothered with the likes of John.
"Hmm," Harvey said. "It seems your friend is no longer."
"Shut up, Harvey," John snapped. The bright green eyes squinted at him.
"Who have you in there?" he asked.
John went to say, "There's no one in here," angrily, but Harvey changed the tone to almost sound guilty. The green eyes widened and blazed in anger.
"Guard!" he called. "Open this door!" The man entered the cell, walking past John who was by the door and brushed his gaze through the cell. John saw his chance and grabbed it.
He rushed forward and knocked the guard over. He ran down the hallway in a different direction that the one he took before. He aimed for the hallway with more light in it. The clanks of guards running after him made him go faster. He made it to a hallway lined with cells, but not the kind he had been in. These had room for more than one person and instead of a solid door, they were secured with crisscrossing bars. That's when the guards caught up to him and took him by the arms. Then, in compliance to the head guard's orders, he was thrown roughly onto the ground.
"You will pay dearly for this, Sebacean," the guard threatened. He raised his staff and brought it down hard on John's shoulder. John let out an "oof" sound, but refused to give the guard more than that. The guard was clearly annoyed by this.
"You will not," he hit him, "deny," and again, "your," again, "Sebacean," hit, "backgrounds," once more, "any longer!"
Though John was cringing from the pain, his voice was strong. "I have no Sebacean backgrounds to deny!"
The guard gave him a look and beat him more until the green eyed man interfered. "Enough! He doesn't need any of this before the memory test. It will be hard enough on him as it is. Take him. It is time."
As he was being dragged off, he said under his breath, "Good job, Harvey. I thought we were trying to get me out of trouble."
