A/N: This one takes place after Dog With Two Bones, and is chocked full of spoilers, so if you're adverse to knowing what happened, don't read. As to the final revelation in Dog with Two Bones regarding Aeryn, I'm dealing with it and dismissing it in my own way. I have my reasons which will come through in the plot in later chapters.
I'm rating this as PG for now; it is very rare that my stories stay that way for long, but as I am not sure where this is going just yet, I figure I'll let it go for now.
They're quite obviously not mine; they belong to the Henson Production Company, Rockne O'Bannon, et. al.
Looking forward to hearing what you think, either here or by email. :)
In the Hands of Fate
Part Two
By: Danae Bowen
Email: logansfox@rogers.com
"No way. Abso-frelling-lutely not possible. That did NOT just happen."
"John."
"Shut up. You're screwing with my head again, aren't you, Harv? Playing around in the part of my brain that controls what I see, is that it? Checking to see how far you can push me before I break? 'Cause this just ain't funny."
"John, I'm afraid that what just occurred had nothing to do with either you or myself."
"Bullshit! There is no way that after three damn cycles of searching for a wormhole that the one frelling microt I step out for some fresh air, Moya gets pulled through. There is no frelling way that she could be circling earth right now while I'm stuck floating around in a Leviathan graveyard with *you* for company. There is no frelling way that that just happened!"
"John, as enlightening to the human emotional infrastructure as this conversation has become, I do suggest that you plot a course towards the nearest inhabited system, as we are dangerously low on fuel. Moya is gone, for now. We cannot survive in your module for long if there is no power to stabilize the life systems. I, for one, have no interest in dying at this particular moment."
"Tough, Harv, I'm still callin' the shots around here. My module, my choice." John leaned back in his seat defiantly, unable to tear his eyes away from the area of space into which Moya had disappeared only microts before.
"I judged you higher than this. Perhaps I made a mistake?" The clone leaned forward, his head almost resting on John's shoulder as he followed the human's gaze out the module's window. "Staying here is certain suicide, John, for us both. Do you truly believe that slowly suffocating in a freezing module will allow you to find Officer Sun or Moya and your comrades faster than refueling at the nearest commerce planet? Or perhaps you have no interest in finding them; perhaps you truly do wish to die? Is that it, John? Without the good Officer Sun, you've no sense of self-preservation? Pity, really. I never thought you to be such a frail species." Harvey sighed dramatically.
"Oh, can it, would you? Y'know, I've just been traumatized for like the millionth time since I got to this godforsaken part of the galaxy." John ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, closing his eyes briefly. "I don't need to listen to your stinkin' psycho babble to know I'm screwed up, hell, just the fact you're speaking is enough to convince me. Preaching to the choir, leather-face. I'm a full-blown converted lunatic. Happy now?"
Harvey rolled his eyes, leaning back once again, crossing his hands over his chest as he watched John thoughtfully. "I'd be happier should you find it within you to change our course, however slightly. I'd prefer not to drift into the still active space around the anomaly. I'd be happier yet if you'd concede to piloting us a safer distance away from this entire area, perhaps somewhere along a merchant line?"
"Yeah, yeah. You don't have to keep prodding me, Harv. I got the point the first time." John studied the co-ordinates of the sector of space in which they were floating, committing them to memory as he altered the vector of the module and fired up the engines. With the fuel level being as low as it was, he'd little hope that he'd get very far, but perhaps the few metras he'd gain, plus the drift once the engines cut out permanently, would be enough to enter a populated region.
The thrust of the engines thrummed through John's body as he pulled away from the scene of so many recent partings. He sighed with the familiarity of his small ship as it cut through the dark space with barely a whimper. His eyes were focused ahead, his concentration on his immediate readouts, desperately trying to drone out Harvey's conversational voice. As such, he missed the shape of a familiar Peacekeeper prowler as it slipped into view momentarily, before the sheer magnitude of space intruded, and both ships were lost to the other.
*****
"Pilot, respond damnit!"
Aeryn Sun scanned the immediate area surrounding her, desperately searching for any sign of Moya. There were no anomalous readings suggesting that Moya had starburst away from the scene, though Aeryn had held that low on her list of possibilities. If she knew John Crichton at all, he'd have insisted Pilot remain in the area, at least for a while, hanging on to the slight hope that Aeryn would return. It amazed her sometimes how well he knew her, how he often rather eerily foresaw her next action long before Aeryn herself knew she how she would behave. No, John would never have let Pilot leave so soon after her departure.
Unless he'd finally believed her. Unless he'd given up hope.
No. She shook her head, widening her scan as she palmed her communicator once again.
"Pilot? Crichton? If this is a joke, I'll have you know I am not laughing." She paused. "John? Frell! Jool? Can any of you hear me? Please, respond!"
Her communicator crackled quietly, and Aeryn jumped. There was someone nearby, possibly just out of her range. She widened her search once more, flying larger and larger circles, pinning down the direction from which the communicator seemed to react the strongest. She sighed, finally piloting the prowler in a straight line towards the source of whatever communication seemed to be reaching her.
"...... fuel.... dead in sp..... dy hear....."
Aeryn's heart leaped wildly as his voice reached her even through the crunch and crackle of subspace interference. She activated her communicator with far more force than necessary, trying to keep her voice calm as her body and mind reacted to the familiar tone.
"John? John are you reading me?"
".....cations wea.... mited power.... pport failing..."
Aeryn increased her speed, praying that decreasing the space between them would strengthen their link.
"John, it's Aeryn, I'm close to your position. Can you respond?"
"..ryn? .... late, must al...dy be dead."
Relief flooded through Aeryn's body, and she laughed out loud as she shook her head. Leave it to John to get himself into trouble and then joke his way out of it. "You are a fool, John Crichton, but you're not dead." She paused. "Yet."
Flying the prowler flat out, Aeryn almost over shot the floating module before easing down and circling back around the ship. The module was tumbling in space slowly, making it hard for her to match the pitch and yaw as she struggled to maintain an even balance with John's ship. When she finally adjusted the prowler to an even roll with the module, the hatches of the two small ships were only feet apart, and from within the mostly darkened module, Aeryn caught his smile. Her communicator jumped to life once more.
"Hey, baby."
Aeryn grinned and shook her head. "John, how the frell did you get yourself into such a pile of dren this time? Are you all right?"
He nodded, flashing her the thumbs up. "I'm okay. Little nauseous. This roller coaster's getting kinda old, what'd'ya say we try a different ride, Sunshine?"
"As usual, I can't understand a word you're saying, but if you're trying to tell me we need to get you out of the module, I already realize that, thank you."
John laughed, and then suddenly sobered. He frowned at her through the hatches, cocking his head to the side. "Why'd you come back, Aeryn?"
She shook her head, matching his frown as her own good humor at finding him fled. "Now's not the time, John."
"Good a time as any, I'm sure not going anywhere, and unless you're willing to leave me to die, I doubt you are either."
"John..."
"Baby, I've been jerked around by a lot of people, most of them on this side of the galaxy, a lot of them related to you. You've always told it to me straight, and we've always been fair to each other, so I'm asking you now not to string me along. You can leave out the bread crumbs, and God knows I'll come running every time, but I gotta know why you're here."
Silence filled the comms as Aeryn struggled with what she had to tell him. Somehow the words that needed to be said could not be done justice by communicators alone, so she chose to word her response lightly. There would be time later for the deep talk she knew John would want. "Suffice it to say, I had a change of heart." She paused. "About everything."
John nodded, seemingly satisfied for the moment. "Well, all right then, let's get this show on the road." He paused. "Tell me something, would ya? How're we gonna get me from here to there?"
"You once told me that where there's a will, there's a way."
John grinned lopsidedly, saluting her with only mock sarcasm as he shuffled around the tight interior of his module, searching for the helmet to his EVA suit. "Baby, I got the will if you got the way."
"Well, then I suppose you aren't completely frelled."
*****
End Part Two
I'm rating this as PG for now; it is very rare that my stories stay that way for long, but as I am not sure where this is going just yet, I figure I'll let it go for now.
They're quite obviously not mine; they belong to the Henson Production Company, Rockne O'Bannon, et. al.
Looking forward to hearing what you think, either here or by email. :)
In the Hands of Fate
Part Two
By: Danae Bowen
Email: logansfox@rogers.com
"No way. Abso-frelling-lutely not possible. That did NOT just happen."
"John."
"Shut up. You're screwing with my head again, aren't you, Harv? Playing around in the part of my brain that controls what I see, is that it? Checking to see how far you can push me before I break? 'Cause this just ain't funny."
"John, I'm afraid that what just occurred had nothing to do with either you or myself."
"Bullshit! There is no way that after three damn cycles of searching for a wormhole that the one frelling microt I step out for some fresh air, Moya gets pulled through. There is no frelling way that she could be circling earth right now while I'm stuck floating around in a Leviathan graveyard with *you* for company. There is no frelling way that that just happened!"
"John, as enlightening to the human emotional infrastructure as this conversation has become, I do suggest that you plot a course towards the nearest inhabited system, as we are dangerously low on fuel. Moya is gone, for now. We cannot survive in your module for long if there is no power to stabilize the life systems. I, for one, have no interest in dying at this particular moment."
"Tough, Harv, I'm still callin' the shots around here. My module, my choice." John leaned back in his seat defiantly, unable to tear his eyes away from the area of space into which Moya had disappeared only microts before.
"I judged you higher than this. Perhaps I made a mistake?" The clone leaned forward, his head almost resting on John's shoulder as he followed the human's gaze out the module's window. "Staying here is certain suicide, John, for us both. Do you truly believe that slowly suffocating in a freezing module will allow you to find Officer Sun or Moya and your comrades faster than refueling at the nearest commerce planet? Or perhaps you have no interest in finding them; perhaps you truly do wish to die? Is that it, John? Without the good Officer Sun, you've no sense of self-preservation? Pity, really. I never thought you to be such a frail species." Harvey sighed dramatically.
"Oh, can it, would you? Y'know, I've just been traumatized for like the millionth time since I got to this godforsaken part of the galaxy." John ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, closing his eyes briefly. "I don't need to listen to your stinkin' psycho babble to know I'm screwed up, hell, just the fact you're speaking is enough to convince me. Preaching to the choir, leather-face. I'm a full-blown converted lunatic. Happy now?"
Harvey rolled his eyes, leaning back once again, crossing his hands over his chest as he watched John thoughtfully. "I'd be happier should you find it within you to change our course, however slightly. I'd prefer not to drift into the still active space around the anomaly. I'd be happier yet if you'd concede to piloting us a safer distance away from this entire area, perhaps somewhere along a merchant line?"
"Yeah, yeah. You don't have to keep prodding me, Harv. I got the point the first time." John studied the co-ordinates of the sector of space in which they were floating, committing them to memory as he altered the vector of the module and fired up the engines. With the fuel level being as low as it was, he'd little hope that he'd get very far, but perhaps the few metras he'd gain, plus the drift once the engines cut out permanently, would be enough to enter a populated region.
The thrust of the engines thrummed through John's body as he pulled away from the scene of so many recent partings. He sighed with the familiarity of his small ship as it cut through the dark space with barely a whimper. His eyes were focused ahead, his concentration on his immediate readouts, desperately trying to drone out Harvey's conversational voice. As such, he missed the shape of a familiar Peacekeeper prowler as it slipped into view momentarily, before the sheer magnitude of space intruded, and both ships were lost to the other.
*****
"Pilot, respond damnit!"
Aeryn Sun scanned the immediate area surrounding her, desperately searching for any sign of Moya. There were no anomalous readings suggesting that Moya had starburst away from the scene, though Aeryn had held that low on her list of possibilities. If she knew John Crichton at all, he'd have insisted Pilot remain in the area, at least for a while, hanging on to the slight hope that Aeryn would return. It amazed her sometimes how well he knew her, how he often rather eerily foresaw her next action long before Aeryn herself knew she how she would behave. No, John would never have let Pilot leave so soon after her departure.
Unless he'd finally believed her. Unless he'd given up hope.
No. She shook her head, widening her scan as she palmed her communicator once again.
"Pilot? Crichton? If this is a joke, I'll have you know I am not laughing." She paused. "John? Frell! Jool? Can any of you hear me? Please, respond!"
Her communicator crackled quietly, and Aeryn jumped. There was someone nearby, possibly just out of her range. She widened her search once more, flying larger and larger circles, pinning down the direction from which the communicator seemed to react the strongest. She sighed, finally piloting the prowler in a straight line towards the source of whatever communication seemed to be reaching her.
"...... fuel.... dead in sp..... dy hear....."
Aeryn's heart leaped wildly as his voice reached her even through the crunch and crackle of subspace interference. She activated her communicator with far more force than necessary, trying to keep her voice calm as her body and mind reacted to the familiar tone.
"John? John are you reading me?"
".....cations wea.... mited power.... pport failing..."
Aeryn increased her speed, praying that decreasing the space between them would strengthen their link.
"John, it's Aeryn, I'm close to your position. Can you respond?"
"..ryn? .... late, must al...dy be dead."
Relief flooded through Aeryn's body, and she laughed out loud as she shook her head. Leave it to John to get himself into trouble and then joke his way out of it. "You are a fool, John Crichton, but you're not dead." She paused. "Yet."
Flying the prowler flat out, Aeryn almost over shot the floating module before easing down and circling back around the ship. The module was tumbling in space slowly, making it hard for her to match the pitch and yaw as she struggled to maintain an even balance with John's ship. When she finally adjusted the prowler to an even roll with the module, the hatches of the two small ships were only feet apart, and from within the mostly darkened module, Aeryn caught his smile. Her communicator jumped to life once more.
"Hey, baby."
Aeryn grinned and shook her head. "John, how the frell did you get yourself into such a pile of dren this time? Are you all right?"
He nodded, flashing her the thumbs up. "I'm okay. Little nauseous. This roller coaster's getting kinda old, what'd'ya say we try a different ride, Sunshine?"
"As usual, I can't understand a word you're saying, but if you're trying to tell me we need to get you out of the module, I already realize that, thank you."
John laughed, and then suddenly sobered. He frowned at her through the hatches, cocking his head to the side. "Why'd you come back, Aeryn?"
She shook her head, matching his frown as her own good humor at finding him fled. "Now's not the time, John."
"Good a time as any, I'm sure not going anywhere, and unless you're willing to leave me to die, I doubt you are either."
"John..."
"Baby, I've been jerked around by a lot of people, most of them on this side of the galaxy, a lot of them related to you. You've always told it to me straight, and we've always been fair to each other, so I'm asking you now not to string me along. You can leave out the bread crumbs, and God knows I'll come running every time, but I gotta know why you're here."
Silence filled the comms as Aeryn struggled with what she had to tell him. Somehow the words that needed to be said could not be done justice by communicators alone, so she chose to word her response lightly. There would be time later for the deep talk she knew John would want. "Suffice it to say, I had a change of heart." She paused. "About everything."
John nodded, seemingly satisfied for the moment. "Well, all right then, let's get this show on the road." He paused. "Tell me something, would ya? How're we gonna get me from here to there?"
"You once told me that where there's a will, there's a way."
John grinned lopsidedly, saluting her with only mock sarcasm as he shuffled around the tight interior of his module, searching for the helmet to his EVA suit. "Baby, I got the will if you got the way."
"Well, then I suppose you aren't completely frelled."
*****
End Part Two