Shadowed Paths

Part 9

"Not my Aeryn"

Kyizi

Disclaimer: Okay, there is only one more part left and an epilogue...and I'm down to 2 people (John and Crais - not too bad if I do say so myself!)

Email: kyizi@hotmail.com

Notes: I realised that I actually need to have an epilogue, but I'm still nearly finished!

~x~x~x~x~x~

"Frell!" There was a snap as Aeryn landed, her ankle twisting at an unnatural angle. She grimaced and attempted to stand, moaning in pain when her ankle gave way beneath her. She took a deep breath and pulled herself over to the control panel to her right using it to steady her ascent.

After a few moments standing, Aeryn took a few tentative steps, limping heavily on her right foot. The door to command was wide open, but no one was there. Something wasn't right. She slowly limped forward again and that was when she realised...nothing seemed to be switched on. In fact, the entire ship seemed to be silent, almost as if there were nothing alive inside it...almost as if it weren't alive itself. She turned sharply and let out a hiss of pain as her eyes went straight to the viewport. She gasped and stumbled backwards, falling to the floor, staring wide-eyed at the sky. In front of her, she could see a large, circular, glass building that opened to the heavens...and Moya was inside.

~x~x~x~x~x~

Taking a few deep breaths, Aeryn calmed herself. She turned to the communicator to signal Pilot and stopped. Standing up tenderly she stumbled to the edge of the room, reaching out a shaky hand to the small alcove that usually held Pilot's holographic image. She touched the severed, sticky ends of the veins that jutted out at odd angles, scrunching her nose up at the foul smell that only seemed to permeate the small space of air around her.

Shaking herself from her state of disbelief and confusion, she made the decision to go to Pilot's den, not willing to risk using her comm. in case there were intruders aboard. Also, given some of the encounters onboard the alternate Moya's she could no longer be sure of her surroundings, could no longer be sure that she would be safe...even with her friends.

She turned and headed towards the door, only just noticing the strange silver poles that were suspending thick red rope. They seemed to be acting as some sort of feeble barrier, as if they would somehow stop people from going near the primary controls. She frowned once more and turned back to the door, gasping as a large group of people entered the room.

"And as you can see...Oh, Miss, you're not allowed in there. That's a restricted area." The small blond haired man walked towards her with a dopey smile on his face. "Remember the three Golden Rules," He turned to face the people behind him. "Now, lets see. Who can remember them?"

A small girl with long brown pleats in her hair threw her hand in the air and stood on her tiptoes, her eyes wide. The man smiled at her and urged her to speak.

"Keep your identity badge on," She lifted a small piece of plastic from around her neck, indicating it. "Don't wander off and don't go behind the barriers,"

"That's right, little missy," He turned to face Aeryn with his hands on his hips and made a strange 'tutting' noise. "And you seem to have broken all three," He reached out a hand and pulled her, limping, from the 'barrier' area. "Oh, and you seem to have hurt yourself as well. Now don't you worry, we'll have you in the medical wing in a jiffy. Now folks don't go wandering off, I'll just take this lady to see our security and then we'll continue the tour. Toodles."

Despite his niceties, Aeryn was sure the man was gripping her tighter than was necessary as he practically dragged her, limping and confused, from command, briefly telling 'assistant Frank' to make sure that no one touched anything. She watched the groups of people pass her by, the man smiling nicely at each of them. She listened as carefully as she could to what was being said, although all she could catch were small snippets of conversation, most of which were incorrect facts about the inner workings of the ship. It was as if they didn't even know that Moya was alive.

"Now, listen here, missy," the man said, pulling her into the docking bay and out down a large ramp that seemed to have been built onto the ship itself. She wasn't sure who or what a 'missy' was, but she felt like punching this man for whatever he was insinuating. "I don't know who you think you are, but sneaking into this facility is a jailable offence, as is wandering into the restricted area's,"

Tugging again at her, and causing her to almost fall, the man pulled her towards a smaller construction within the building. She could now see all the way to the top of the structure and had to admit, she was slightly in awe of what she saw. Moya appeared to be the main attraction within a large, glass, dome shaped structure. All about her were small, armed vehicles being driven by what appeared to be military type personnel. The area was filled with small groups of people taking pictures and pointing, 'wow'ing over every little detail, even something as simple as Moya's control panels. They were showing the kind of awe she hadn't seen since...

Oh, frell!

~x~x~x~x~x~

After having her ankle attended to, Aeryn was now positive that she was surrounded by humans. Even if the primitive equipment that was used to check whether or not she had broken anything hadn't told her, then the stupidity that everyone seemed to be regarding her with definitely did. No one had assumed she was Peacekeeper and if they had they would have to be human to assume that she was no threat. She realised she was using human as a replacement for stupid, but somehow, the way she was being treated didn't make her want to change that assumption. She knew John would argue that...

John. Where was he in this universe? She turned to ask the medic that was now bandaging her when she stopped herself. She had no idea what was going on and even if she did, they wouldn't understand her unless the entire population of Earth (which is where she had now assumed herself to be) had been injected by one ship's DRD's...not likely.

"Is this her?" Aeryn turned to look behind her as she saw the dopey blond man from earlier, enter with a rather large, bulky woman who had just spoken, inclining her head towards Aeryn.

"Yes, that's her. I found her in the bridge. In the restricted area." The blonde man spat out condescendingly. "Don't worry, though. I think she's foreign, seems a bit dim. Doesn't speak, doesn't seem to even understand. Well, I'm off back to my tour group. Toodles,"

"Miss?" The bulky woman stepped towards her and Aeryn was still split as to what to do. She wasn't sure if she would rather limp after blondie, give him a pantac jab and tell him that she most certainly wasn't stupid...which he wouldn't understand. Or just play stupid and hope to get out of the building and find out what was going on in this universe. Given her surroundings, she gritted her jaw and decided on the latter.

"Miss, since nothing seems to be stolen or broken and you seem a little disoriented," Well Aeryn couldn't argue with that, she just wondered where the woman was going with this. "I think we can let you off this time. However, next time I'd suggest you stay with your tour group."

"I don't think she understands you, Audrey," The young medic said standing. He smiled at Aeryn and gave her the strange sign with his thumb that John seemed so keen on. "She's all done."

"Yeah, I know. Still I'd feel kinda weird not trying to explain, besides, that jackass Bernard was treating her like she was stupid. I just think she's confused. Wish she could understand me at least." The woman sighed and indicated to Aeryn that it was time to leave. "See you later, Andy."

The medic waved to them as Aeryn followed 'Audrey' out of the room. In her peripheral vision, she spotted 'Tourguide Bernard' walking up the ramp back.

"Idiot," She muttered, then sharply turned to face Audrey, but the woman gave no indication that she had heard Aeryn speaking. Sighing, she looked around her, still trying to take everything in, she noted that Moya appeared to be damaged as she let her gaze wander around the room, looking for something, anything that was familiar to her...and she spotted him. Breaking into a run, she ignored the pain in her ankle, in the hope that she might reach him before Audrey caught her, only lucky that he was moving in her direction. She stopped in front of him and smiled up at him, as she tried to think quickly of any way to speak to him, so that he might understand.

"Sorry, Mr Crichton, she took me by surprise, I was just escorting her from the premises."

"That's fine," He laughed and looked at Aeryn, frowning. "What? You want this? Doesn't she speak?" She directed the last question to Audrey as he handed Aeryn the pen and pad of paper she was trying to get from him.

"Doesn't appear to. One of the tour guides found her in the bridge of the ship, in the restricted section. She seems more confused that anything, so I was just going to escort her out."

He was about to reply when Aeryn grabbed his arm and held out the pad, "That's okay, Audrey, I'll take it from here,"

"Okay, Sir."

He frowned at the message, ignoring Audrey's retreating form, before looking back up at Aeryn, "How do you know my Son?"

~x~x~x~x~x~

Aeryn tapped at the edge of the desk nervously, wondering if she had done the right thing. When she had spotted John's father in the building, her first instinct was to get him to get John for her. Now, though, having thought through the idea, she wondered if it had been the best course of action. She was sitting in a small room that she assumed to be Jack's office. There was a primitive computer on the desk in front of her and a small conference table a few feet away. There was a small bang as a door in the next room shut and she stood up, her heart jumping as she heard his voice.

"So, dad, what was so important that you had to drag me here in the middle of my shift?"

"There's someone in the next room that seems to know you. But I can't get a word out of her."

"Then how do you know she knows me?"

"She wrote this."

"What, is she five?" She jumped back a little as the two men entered the room. John stopped and stared at her wide-eyed. "H-How did...how did you get...you escaped?"

Aeryn frowned, "Escaped? Then I'm here in this reality as well?"

"Okay, what was that?" Jack Crichton backed up a little, obviously not recognising the language. John, however, took one step closer and smiled slightly.

"But-but they took you away. How can you be here? You-you should be...dead." he choked out the last word and Aeryn noted the tears in his eyes as he reached towards her. She didn't want to back away, but she still didn't know what he was talking about and he obviously had no idea that she wasn't the Aeryn he knew.

"Crichton, listen to me, I'm not your Aeryn. I'm from a parallel dimension and I need your help."

"Hey, slow down. You know I don't know what you're saying when you speak quickly. Can you say it in English? Like we practised?"

"Frell,"

"Okay, now that word I know."

Aeryn returned his smile and sighed, her thoughts confirmed. He didn't have the translators either. However, he did know who she was, and that was something that she needed. Especially as he seemed to be on her side. She reached for the pad he was holding in his hand and turned the page over, no longer needing the large scrawl that read 'Were's John'. Jack Crichton, who had been watching the exchange with interest, stepped forward and held out his pen, obviously giving her the benefit of the doubt since John appeared to trust her.

She took it from him and smiled before turning to the blank page before her. It was strange how she could face an army in battle but a blank page scared the Hezmanna out of her. She sat down at the table and shakily began to write. After a moment she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay, you're doing great."

She turned and smiled up at him, wondering if the other her and gone through this with him. Sitting, writing what she couldn't say, while he urged her on, knowing that it didn't matter if she failed because he'd still be there. Somehow that thought gave her strength and she turned back to the page, suddenly grateful for John's nagging, begging that be allowed to teach her to write in English. Maybe she wouldn't be so scared right now if she hadn't got so frustrated that she'd walked out on him after five lessons. Finishing her message, she turned back up to him, holding out the pad. He frowned at it before looking at her oddly.

"What do you mean?" He asked looking once again at the messy writing that read, 'Not uor Aeryn'. "Not my Aeryn? Is that it?"

She nodded, elation filling her as she thought he'd figured it out. Her reaction was short lived, however, as his face filled with an expression of hurt, and she suddenly realised the other connotations of her message.

"No, no! You don't understand," Her words might not have got through to him, but her expression did.

"If that's not it, then I don't know what you mean," He sighed and placed the paper on the table, sitting in the chair next to it. After a few moments, all three of them were sitting in an uncomfortable silence.

Suddenly, Jack cleared his throat. "Well since there's nothing else going on at the moment, mind if I ask a few questions?"

"Sure, go ahead." John said, sitting up a little straighter. Aeryn also nodded that he should continue, hoping that through his questioning, she might learn something about this reality, as it seemed that Jack knew nothing of her existence here either.

"Well, for starters, who is this woman? How..."

"One thing at a time, dad. Her name's Erin. She came through that wormhole, she's an alien, dad."

"I though all the aliens on board died," Jack said sitting up straight. However, Aeryn was more preoccupied with what John had said. They had come through the wormhole? Suddenly it all made sense. The damage she saw on Moya seemed to be the result of a bad landing. Moya must have shot through the wormhole and been pulled into the planet by it's gravity. Unfortunately, she was so preoccupied with her findings that she had missed most of John's story about the others.

"...nothing we could do. Besides, she wasn't on that ship. She was in another smaller craft."

"So there was another craft. I knew the government were keeping a lid on something, but I never realised that the conspiracy theories were true."

"Some are, some aren't. They made sure Erin was kept alive, they were intrigued by her." He turned and smiled at her, "And it wasn't just her pretty looks. She looked human, so that made her suspicious. They needed someone to talk to her, get her to tell them things. For some reason, she seemed to like me." Aeryn snorted before she could stop herself, her own meeting with John in the forefront of her mind. John laughed and raised his hands in defeat.

"Okay so you hit me, but you didn't break my jaw like you did the others. And my groin stayed in tact as well, thankfully." Aeryn smiled at him, wishing that she could ask him more about the encounter. There was a small silence before Jack continued his questioning.

"How is it that she seems to understand you, yet I have no idea what she's saying, and from the sounds of it, neither do you?"

"That's something I'm not 100% sure about. She seems to have something in the base of her skull that translates for her, some kind of technology that we didn't understand. They were going to remove...we'll they were going to try...that's why..."

"That's why they took her?" Jack finished. John nodded, his eyes filling with tears as he raised his head to look at her. He reached out and took her hand, placing it in his own and smiling sadly at her.

Not wanting to interrupt the moment, but feeling one last thing needed to be answered, Jack cleared his throat and asked, "How did she know who I was?"

John frowned and looked up at her. "I-I don't know. Erin?"

She smiled at him and sighed, wishing she could explain things to him. Reaching out for the pad of paper, she did something else instead, just because it was annoying her. She took the pen and formed the letters as carefully as John had taught her, "A E R Y N "

"Aeryn?" He asked and she smiled and nodded, remembering how John had told her that her name just seemed more beautiful that way. She'd never understood what he meant until she heard him saying it just that slight bit differently. Even Lucy's estimation had been better.

"Aeryn," he repeated. "I don't know why, but it just seems more beautiful that way."

Jack cleared his throat again and stood up, smiling at them. "Well, if you two don't mind, I think I'd better go back to work."

"Dad, would you..."

"I'll call them and tell them you've taken ill."

"Thanks, dad."

"Oh, and can I suggest charades?" he said with a wink, before leaving and closing the door behind him.

"You know," John said. "I'm surprised we didn't think of that sooner. It'll be like when we first met, babe." Aeryn was about to protest that she didn't know what he was talking about when he explained. "Remember we just need to act out the words, or find something that looks or sounds the same." Something in Aeryn clicked as she picked up the pen again and drew two lines going down the page.

"What? Eh, lines?" Aeryn shook her head. "Two lines? Parallel lines?" Aeryn nodded her head triumphantly and he smiled. "Parallel lines. Okay, what about them?"

Trying to think, she looked around the room taking in every detail from the plush carpet to the model ships on the windowsill, anything that could help her. Suddenly she jumped up and ran to the wall at the back of the room, pointing up at the large framed photograph.

"Planets?" John asked, coming up behind her, Aeryn shook her head. "Stars?" Aeryn made a wide gesture with her arms. "Bigger than stars...er...solar system? Space? It's bigger than space?" he asked incredulously. "Universe?"

"Yes!" Aeryn exclaimed. Hugging him quickly, almost stabbing him with the pen she still gripped in her hand. Standing back, she felt herself blush as John cleared his throat, smiling at her.

"Okay, so it's something to do with parallel lines and the universe. Care to narrow that down a little?" Frowning, Aeryn turned back to her pad and slowly scored out the lines. "There's no lines now?" She looked up at him and his eyes widened as the realisation hit him. "Parallel lines, universe...without the lines. You're from a parallel universe." Aeryn slowly nodded and he reached out to touch her face, smiling sadly as tears prickled his eyes.

"Not my Aeryn." he said softly.

~x~x~x~x~x~

Aeryn sighed as she flopped onto the small couch in the corner of the room. She glanced again at the framed photo on the wall to her left, thanking it for being there in the first place and helping her, and she smiled before closing her eyes. She felt the chair move as John landed next to her. She hadn't thought that this "chiraydes" would be so exhausting. So far she had managed to get John to understand that she was from another dimension, that she had in fact been to seven different universes (not including her own). She had explained that this was the first one that had been on Earth and that she was travelling through an electric pink energy (how she had explained that, even she was still in awe of) and not only that but she had conveyed to him that Moya was alive.

She had wondered about whether or not she should tell him this, as the other her had obviously not told him for a reason. But somehow, she felt that Moya needed his help. Another sighting of Her through the large window that overlooked the entire compound had been enough to convince herself that she was doing the right thing. Needless to say, John had been surprised, but understood that he couldn't tell anyone, understood that he had to help Moya himself.

She jerked up as she felt something brush her face. Looking around wide-eyed, she realised that it was only John. He was staring at her, his hand brushing down her face, tears streaking down his own.

"I never thought I'd see you again. I-I know you're not her...but..."

Aeryn smiled sadly and leaned her head against his, their noses almost touching. She wondered how wise this was, getting so close to him, but her own emotions were running high as well. She wanted to go home, she wanted this to end...she needed this to end, she didn't know how long she could go on doing this.

"Tell me," she said, softly, hoping that he knew at least that much Sebecean. He appeared to understand as he nodded and lay back, pulling her with him so that she lay against him.

"When you first got here...sorry, when Erin first got here, she was so scared. She didn't give off that impression, of course, fought tooth and nail. But I knew. I think it was the sadness in your-her eyes. She was being prodded like something in test tube, like a rat in a cage.

When they finally decided that she might have some information, that she might be of some use to us, they tried to teach her English. I was the only one she would let near her, although, like I said, she almost broke my nose when we first met." Aeryn could feel him laugh a little, his chest moving with the motion, his voice and the beating of his heart were lulling her into safety. She felt as if she hadn't slept for a week...in fact, she was pretty sure she hadn't. Sighing, she closed her eyes, listening to the rumble of John's voice in his chest, listening to him tell the story of how he had fallen in love with her, in yet another universe.

~x~x~x~x~x~

Alarms woke Aeryn up from her sleep. She shot up straight, pulling John up with her as his arms tightened around her. They looked at one another before darting over to the large window and staring at the view of Moya below. Aeryn gasped as she saw the cause of the problem. There was a large pink energy emanating from the docking bay.

She turned to John but he was already looking at her, some kind of comprehension in his eyes. "This is it, isn't it? You're leaving me again."

Aeryn nodded slowly and blinked back tears. After a few moments, she leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips, repeating what another Crichton had said to her along the way, knowing that John wouldn't understand what she had said.

"I'm not her, and you're not my John. But...for a moment you almost had her back." Aeryn smiled sadly and brushed her hand across his cheek, wiping away his tears. Then she turned and left the room, leaving John staring after her, smiling sadly.

"Thank you, Aeryn."

~x~x~x~x~x~

Aeryn ran towards Moya, hiding behind whatever she could find. She was still about 12 feet away and there was nothing to hide behind and at least twenty security personnel, including Audrey. She stood still for a moment, noting that the energy was beginning to fade. She had to act now, or she would be stuck here forever, she had to make a run for it.

Taking a deep breath and ignoring the pain in her ankle, Aeryn readied herself, when all of a sudden, there was a loud noise. Whipping her head around she noticed John screaming at the security guards about something, calling them in the opposite direction. Obviously John was of some importance, as more than half of the guards ran in the direction John was pointing. After a few moments, Aeryn spotted him looking at her, smiling, before he ran after them.

Turning to the ship, Aeryn knew she had to go now. She ran, keeping her head low, still limping slightly. She'd had no trouble, but was fast approaching the three remaining guards that were staring, transfixed by the glow before them. Acting quickly, Aeryn picked up one of the storage boxes to her left and brought it down on the nearest guard. She ran up the ramp, hoping that the confusion would give her enough time.

She was a step away from the energy when she heard a thud on the ramp behind her. Risking a small glance, she saw Audrey standing over the prone form of the other guard. The woman nodded to her and smiled.

"Good luck." She said. Aeryn smiled back and threw herself through the energy, her last thought in this universe that Audrey had spoken to her...in Sebecean.

~x~x~x~x~x~

END PART 9

Sorry it's taken so long to get this part out! This story is almost finished (Yeay!) so hopefully I'll get it done soon. Hope this part was in character and interesting enough!

I'd just like to point out that, although the original idea had always been to bring Moya through to Earth for this part, I have just seen the SG1 ep 2010, and yes, that is where I got Bernard/tour idea from. Just giving SG1's writers their dues.

Feedback is always appreciated :)