Chapter 2: Disturbing Behaviour
"Crais, Officer Sun and D'Argo are now returning to Moya." Pilot's voice came over the comm and forced Crais to wake up.
"Thank you Pilot," he replied, moving to get up. "Maybe they will be able to provide us with some answers."
"Another arn won't make much difference," Carma murmured, kissing his neck. "They can wait."
"Carma...did anything unusual happen to you yesterday?" Crais asked.
"I thought you would have remembered," Carma answered, pouting. "You were the cause of it."
"I meant before that."
Carma thought a second, a reluctant expression on her face. "I went to Moya, I spoke with Jool, I came back here. So no, nothing. Why?"
"You have been acting a little...out of the ordinary."
"I didn't expect you to complain."
"I am not complaining," Crais said, smiling at her. "I was merely...wondering what could have caused your...change of heart."
"Jool and I had a really good talk and I started feeling better."
"You discussed our situation with Jool?" Crais asked in disbelief.
"Sure," Carma said, "why not?"
"I would...much prefer it if our personal lives were not the subject of discussion. With Jool or anybody else."
"You're too worried about hiding things, Crais," Carma said, completely unconcerned. "It worked didn't it?"
"That is not the point."
"Whatever. Let's go sort this out and then we can get back to what actually matters."
She rolled off the bed and pulled on her clothes. Crais watched her, again with the uneasy feeling that something was wrong.
***
"Where is it?" D'Argo demanded.
"Where's what?" Crichton asked, annoyed at being interrupted.
"Where is what?" D'Argo repeated. "Where is the Kranlit?"
"Why the hell should I know?"
"Maybe because it was your little tralk who brought it on board," D'Argo replied, gesturing to Aeryn.
"Hey, what she does is not my fault. All anybody does around here is blame me! She brought it aboard, blame her."
"The trader said it could help Talyn," Aeryn said, her lower lip thrust out, "I'm sorry."
Crais, having heard all this, felt like he'd just entered a parallel universe where nothing made sense. Was he the only one still behaving normally?
"What is a Kranlit, where did you store it and how exactly will it help Talyn?" he asked, trying to get some answers.
"It was supposed to be stored in the cargo bay. No-one knows what it is because this little piece of dren didn't bother to ask or to tell anyone that she'd bought it," D'Argo said, again indicating Aeryn.
"I just wanted to help Talyn," Aeryn sobbed, now in tears. "I didn't know."
"And now it has escaped?" Crais asked, trying to keep the conversation on track.
"Well I had to let it go," Jool pointed out. "It was just cruel to keep it locked up like that. Leaving that defenceless creature all alone...." she broke off, also dissolving into tears.
D'Argo shot Crichton a look of pure contempt. "What the frell were you doing allowing this female access to the Kranlit? You might have known she'd only do something stupid like this."
"Look, D'Argo I'm not her keeper, alright? I don't care what she does. If you care so much why didn't you watch her?"
D'Argo growled. "Why don't we just lock them all up? That will save us the trouble of baby-sitting them."
"Fine by me," Crichton replied, shrugging. "Do what you want, just don't expect me to help."
"Maybe I should just lock you up with them?"
"You wanna try it?"
"Maybe I do."
Crais was about to try again to get the information he wanted when he heard a pulse shot behind him. Everyone stopped talking and spun round.
"Enough already!" Carma exclaimed, lowering her gun from the ceiling. "Everyone shut up, sit down and listen to Bialar. The sooner he finds out what's going on, the sooner he'll fix it, quit worrying about you lot and go back to frelling me!"
"Screw that," Crichton said. "I'm not going to help Crais get some when I'm not getting any."
"Oh Crichton," Aeryn breathed, "I will if you want me to."
Crichton turned to look at her. "Yeah?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I wouldn't want you to be unhappy," Jool interrupted as Aeryn nodded, "I will too if you want."
Crichton grinned. "I'll see you in a few arns," he said to D'Argo, starting to get up.
"No-one," Crais said, now at the end of his tether, "is going anywhere. Nobody on this ship will be recreating with anyone else on this ship until we have solved our current problem! Is that perfectly clear?"
Carma groaned in the background.
"Now," Crais said, ignoring the look Crichton was giving him, "what, *exactly* does this Kranlit look like?"
***
"That's it?" Carma asked in disbelief. "That is what we wasted three arns of good frelling time trying to find?"
She crouched down, looking into the impromptu cage they had constructed. The creature resembled a small dragon, except with fur.
"Well, as fun as this has been," Crichton said, "I have a previous engagement. Ladies...."
"Not," Crais said firmly, "until we have determined what effect it has had on all of you and how to reverse it."
"What effect?" Jool asked. "It hasn't had any effect on me."
Carma snorted. "Yeah, because you've always been such a selfless person."
"Have I done something to upset you?" Jool asked, instantly worried. "Please, tell me how to make it right?"
"Can it understand us?" Crais asked, ignoring them.
"Yes," the creature answered in a high voice.
"Can you explain what has been happening?"
"Hungry. Food. So hungry."
"And your food is what? Personality traits?" Carma asked.
"Must. Have. Food."
"It seems that you have been feeding quite enough," Crais answered.
"Cannot...digest. Wrong...sort."
"And the correct sort is...leviathan," Crais finished.
It nodded its head.
"Which is how you could be used to repair Talyn."
"Must have food."
"Can you restore what you have...eaten?" Crais asked.
"Must have food."
"We can provide food for you if you replace what you have taken. Do you agree?"
It nodded again.
Crais slowly opened the cage and removed the creature. "Crichton," he said.
"Why me?" Crichton asked, keeping hold of Aeryn.
Crais ignored his question. "Come here."
Crichton, with a mutinous expression, crouched down beside Crais. The creature immediately sank its teeth into Crichton's arm.
"Oww, frell!" Crichton said, yanking his arm back as soon as he could. "That thing bit me I.... Damn, what happened?"
"Next," Crais said, preferring to leave explanations for the end.
One by one the crewmembers were restored to normal. Jool sat in a corner, moaning to everyone and no-one about the bite marks in her arm. Crichton tried not to look at Jool. Aeryn glared at Crichton. D'Argo looked sheepishly at Aeryn.
"I won't do it," Carma said when it was her turn, folding her arms. "I want to stay like this."
"Carma...your judgement is impaired. You have no inhibitions. You cannot remain like this," Crais replied.
"I don't care," Carma said, "I won't do it. I'm staying like this. I won't go back there."
"You must."
"No!" she suddenly screamed. "I won't go back there, I won't. You don't understand. I've been falling for so long and it's finally stopped. I'm free and I won't give it up. I have enough judgement to know that this is the best I've felt in cycles and I won't go back to being sick! I can't, I won't."
"Carma I cannot allow you to remain like this, you will cause yourself injury."
"Since when do you get to decide what I can and cannot do?" Carma demanded. "The decision is mine, I've made it and if you continue to interfere I will never speak to you again. We're through."
Behind Carma, Crichton and Aeryn looked at Crais. He nodded. Much as they didn't like it, they knew what had to be done.
"No! Get off me! Please don't do this!" Carma exclaimed, struggling as they held her down. "I won't go back there, I won't."
That was as far as she got before the Kranlit sank its teeth into her arm. She stopped struggling and they let her sink to the floor as it did its job.
"Carma?" Crais asked.
She sat up and met his gaze. Her eyes were filled with a mixture of anguish and hatred.
"How could you do this to me?" she asked, tears falling down her cheeks.
"I had to," Crais answered, knowing it wasn't any comfort.
Her punch was almost hard enough to knock him out. She got to her feet and stormed out.
***
"Talyn?" Carma said softly. "Can you hear me? Once for yes, two for no remember?"
The lights dimmed once.
"You're going to be fixed soon, Talyn," she said, reaching out to stroke her hand down one of the walls of command. "They're going to fix you so you won't feel bad anymore. You'll be stable, able to cope. No more mood swings, no more paranoia. Does that sound good, Talyn?"
The lights dimmed once again as Talyn made excited sounds.
"Talyn I understand how you've been feeling because I feel the same," Carma continued, "and nobody is here to fix me. But you could, if you wanted to. Would you do that for me Talyn? Do you care enough to help me?"
It seemed that he did.
"They're going to bring this little animal aboard. It will bite you, and it will probably hurt, but he's going to take the pain away from you. If you give me the hand of friendship, we'll be one and he can take it away from me as well. Will you do that for me Talyn?"
Behind her a panel opened on the floor and the hand of friendship slowly made its way up.
"Thank you Talyn," Carma said, anxiety turning to joy, "I promise I will not try to command you. You will be free...and healthy."
She knelt down, lifted her hair away from her neck and waited. The pain was sharp and made her cry out but, in a second, her mind was filled with Talyn. She breathed a sigh of amazement.
"This is incredible Talyn," she said, a smile breaking over her face. She rose, immediately beginning to stretch out her mind, exploring him from the entirely new perspective.
*They are here.* Talyn's voice echoed through her mind.
*Then we must get ready.* Carma thought back, knowing that Talyn would understand her.
*Your mind feels different.*
*To what? To Crais'?*
*Yes.*
*Maybe my species reacts differently to this. How does it feel different?*
*More open. More blended with mine.*
*I know Talyn, I feel it too.*
*You...understand...much faster.*
*I can see them coming here,* Carma said suddenly, *we must stop talking. Bialar mustn't know what we've done.*
*I will say nothing.*
The doors to command opened. Carma raised her head, avoiding Crais' gaze.
"I have...brought the Kranlit to repair Talyn," Crais said, clearing his throat.
"So repair him," Carma said, turning away and moving towards the front of command, thankful that her hair hid the transponder.
Crais looked as though he wanted to say something else, but didn't know what. Sighing, he set the cage down and opened it. The Kranlit climbed out and scuttled quickly to an available piece of Talyn's flesh.
"Talyn this may hurt but it is for your own good," Crais told him. "Try not to panic."
Talyn flashed his lights once, sounding far happier than Crais had expected. The Kranlit immediately sank its teeth into Talyn.
Talyn rumbled like thunder overhead, but that Crais had been expecting. What he hadn't expected was for Carma to suddenly grab the back of her neck and drop to her knees. He started towards her just as the rumbling above him ceased.
"Carma?" he asked. "What is wrong?"
Still facing away from him, she unsteadily got to her feet and stood up. Then she turned. Her eyes were lit up with wonder as she looked around her and at her own hands in front of her.
"It is incredible," she breathed.
"Are you alright?" Crais asked.
"I'm fine," she answered in wonder, "I never imagined that it would be like this...to see everything from a body like yours."
Crais stared at her. "Talyn?" he asked, stunned.
"Yes," she answered, moving forward towards him and reaching out to touch his face. "I can see like you, move like you, feel like you."
"Talyn, what has happened?" Crais asked, in shock. "Where is Carma?"
Talyn in Carma's body smiled beatifically. "She is free," he said happily, "she is gone."
Crais stared at Talyn, his mind racing. He caught a sudden glimpse of something shining and pushed her hair away, spotting the transponder. He had driven her to this.
"Talyn, what do you mean she has gone?" he asked, trying to control the feelings of panic.
"She has gone. She is at peace."
Crais' knees began to buckle under him. "Carma..." he thought desperately, "what have I done?"
"Crais, Officer Sun and D'Argo are now returning to Moya." Pilot's voice came over the comm and forced Crais to wake up.
"Thank you Pilot," he replied, moving to get up. "Maybe they will be able to provide us with some answers."
"Another arn won't make much difference," Carma murmured, kissing his neck. "They can wait."
"Carma...did anything unusual happen to you yesterday?" Crais asked.
"I thought you would have remembered," Carma answered, pouting. "You were the cause of it."
"I meant before that."
Carma thought a second, a reluctant expression on her face. "I went to Moya, I spoke with Jool, I came back here. So no, nothing. Why?"
"You have been acting a little...out of the ordinary."
"I didn't expect you to complain."
"I am not complaining," Crais said, smiling at her. "I was merely...wondering what could have caused your...change of heart."
"Jool and I had a really good talk and I started feeling better."
"You discussed our situation with Jool?" Crais asked in disbelief.
"Sure," Carma said, "why not?"
"I would...much prefer it if our personal lives were not the subject of discussion. With Jool or anybody else."
"You're too worried about hiding things, Crais," Carma said, completely unconcerned. "It worked didn't it?"
"That is not the point."
"Whatever. Let's go sort this out and then we can get back to what actually matters."
She rolled off the bed and pulled on her clothes. Crais watched her, again with the uneasy feeling that something was wrong.
***
"Where is it?" D'Argo demanded.
"Where's what?" Crichton asked, annoyed at being interrupted.
"Where is what?" D'Argo repeated. "Where is the Kranlit?"
"Why the hell should I know?"
"Maybe because it was your little tralk who brought it on board," D'Argo replied, gesturing to Aeryn.
"Hey, what she does is not my fault. All anybody does around here is blame me! She brought it aboard, blame her."
"The trader said it could help Talyn," Aeryn said, her lower lip thrust out, "I'm sorry."
Crais, having heard all this, felt like he'd just entered a parallel universe where nothing made sense. Was he the only one still behaving normally?
"What is a Kranlit, where did you store it and how exactly will it help Talyn?" he asked, trying to get some answers.
"It was supposed to be stored in the cargo bay. No-one knows what it is because this little piece of dren didn't bother to ask or to tell anyone that she'd bought it," D'Argo said, again indicating Aeryn.
"I just wanted to help Talyn," Aeryn sobbed, now in tears. "I didn't know."
"And now it has escaped?" Crais asked, trying to keep the conversation on track.
"Well I had to let it go," Jool pointed out. "It was just cruel to keep it locked up like that. Leaving that defenceless creature all alone...." she broke off, also dissolving into tears.
D'Argo shot Crichton a look of pure contempt. "What the frell were you doing allowing this female access to the Kranlit? You might have known she'd only do something stupid like this."
"Look, D'Argo I'm not her keeper, alright? I don't care what she does. If you care so much why didn't you watch her?"
D'Argo growled. "Why don't we just lock them all up? That will save us the trouble of baby-sitting them."
"Fine by me," Crichton replied, shrugging. "Do what you want, just don't expect me to help."
"Maybe I should just lock you up with them?"
"You wanna try it?"
"Maybe I do."
Crais was about to try again to get the information he wanted when he heard a pulse shot behind him. Everyone stopped talking and spun round.
"Enough already!" Carma exclaimed, lowering her gun from the ceiling. "Everyone shut up, sit down and listen to Bialar. The sooner he finds out what's going on, the sooner he'll fix it, quit worrying about you lot and go back to frelling me!"
"Screw that," Crichton said. "I'm not going to help Crais get some when I'm not getting any."
"Oh Crichton," Aeryn breathed, "I will if you want me to."
Crichton turned to look at her. "Yeah?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I wouldn't want you to be unhappy," Jool interrupted as Aeryn nodded, "I will too if you want."
Crichton grinned. "I'll see you in a few arns," he said to D'Argo, starting to get up.
"No-one," Crais said, now at the end of his tether, "is going anywhere. Nobody on this ship will be recreating with anyone else on this ship until we have solved our current problem! Is that perfectly clear?"
Carma groaned in the background.
"Now," Crais said, ignoring the look Crichton was giving him, "what, *exactly* does this Kranlit look like?"
***
"That's it?" Carma asked in disbelief. "That is what we wasted three arns of good frelling time trying to find?"
She crouched down, looking into the impromptu cage they had constructed. The creature resembled a small dragon, except with fur.
"Well, as fun as this has been," Crichton said, "I have a previous engagement. Ladies...."
"Not," Crais said firmly, "until we have determined what effect it has had on all of you and how to reverse it."
"What effect?" Jool asked. "It hasn't had any effect on me."
Carma snorted. "Yeah, because you've always been such a selfless person."
"Have I done something to upset you?" Jool asked, instantly worried. "Please, tell me how to make it right?"
"Can it understand us?" Crais asked, ignoring them.
"Yes," the creature answered in a high voice.
"Can you explain what has been happening?"
"Hungry. Food. So hungry."
"And your food is what? Personality traits?" Carma asked.
"Must. Have. Food."
"It seems that you have been feeding quite enough," Crais answered.
"Cannot...digest. Wrong...sort."
"And the correct sort is...leviathan," Crais finished.
It nodded its head.
"Which is how you could be used to repair Talyn."
"Must have food."
"Can you restore what you have...eaten?" Crais asked.
"Must have food."
"We can provide food for you if you replace what you have taken. Do you agree?"
It nodded again.
Crais slowly opened the cage and removed the creature. "Crichton," he said.
"Why me?" Crichton asked, keeping hold of Aeryn.
Crais ignored his question. "Come here."
Crichton, with a mutinous expression, crouched down beside Crais. The creature immediately sank its teeth into Crichton's arm.
"Oww, frell!" Crichton said, yanking his arm back as soon as he could. "That thing bit me I.... Damn, what happened?"
"Next," Crais said, preferring to leave explanations for the end.
One by one the crewmembers were restored to normal. Jool sat in a corner, moaning to everyone and no-one about the bite marks in her arm. Crichton tried not to look at Jool. Aeryn glared at Crichton. D'Argo looked sheepishly at Aeryn.
"I won't do it," Carma said when it was her turn, folding her arms. "I want to stay like this."
"Carma...your judgement is impaired. You have no inhibitions. You cannot remain like this," Crais replied.
"I don't care," Carma said, "I won't do it. I'm staying like this. I won't go back there."
"You must."
"No!" she suddenly screamed. "I won't go back there, I won't. You don't understand. I've been falling for so long and it's finally stopped. I'm free and I won't give it up. I have enough judgement to know that this is the best I've felt in cycles and I won't go back to being sick! I can't, I won't."
"Carma I cannot allow you to remain like this, you will cause yourself injury."
"Since when do you get to decide what I can and cannot do?" Carma demanded. "The decision is mine, I've made it and if you continue to interfere I will never speak to you again. We're through."
Behind Carma, Crichton and Aeryn looked at Crais. He nodded. Much as they didn't like it, they knew what had to be done.
"No! Get off me! Please don't do this!" Carma exclaimed, struggling as they held her down. "I won't go back there, I won't."
That was as far as she got before the Kranlit sank its teeth into her arm. She stopped struggling and they let her sink to the floor as it did its job.
"Carma?" Crais asked.
She sat up and met his gaze. Her eyes were filled with a mixture of anguish and hatred.
"How could you do this to me?" she asked, tears falling down her cheeks.
"I had to," Crais answered, knowing it wasn't any comfort.
Her punch was almost hard enough to knock him out. She got to her feet and stormed out.
***
"Talyn?" Carma said softly. "Can you hear me? Once for yes, two for no remember?"
The lights dimmed once.
"You're going to be fixed soon, Talyn," she said, reaching out to stroke her hand down one of the walls of command. "They're going to fix you so you won't feel bad anymore. You'll be stable, able to cope. No more mood swings, no more paranoia. Does that sound good, Talyn?"
The lights dimmed once again as Talyn made excited sounds.
"Talyn I understand how you've been feeling because I feel the same," Carma continued, "and nobody is here to fix me. But you could, if you wanted to. Would you do that for me Talyn? Do you care enough to help me?"
It seemed that he did.
"They're going to bring this little animal aboard. It will bite you, and it will probably hurt, but he's going to take the pain away from you. If you give me the hand of friendship, we'll be one and he can take it away from me as well. Will you do that for me Talyn?"
Behind her a panel opened on the floor and the hand of friendship slowly made its way up.
"Thank you Talyn," Carma said, anxiety turning to joy, "I promise I will not try to command you. You will be free...and healthy."
She knelt down, lifted her hair away from her neck and waited. The pain was sharp and made her cry out but, in a second, her mind was filled with Talyn. She breathed a sigh of amazement.
"This is incredible Talyn," she said, a smile breaking over her face. She rose, immediately beginning to stretch out her mind, exploring him from the entirely new perspective.
*They are here.* Talyn's voice echoed through her mind.
*Then we must get ready.* Carma thought back, knowing that Talyn would understand her.
*Your mind feels different.*
*To what? To Crais'?*
*Yes.*
*Maybe my species reacts differently to this. How does it feel different?*
*More open. More blended with mine.*
*I know Talyn, I feel it too.*
*You...understand...much faster.*
*I can see them coming here,* Carma said suddenly, *we must stop talking. Bialar mustn't know what we've done.*
*I will say nothing.*
The doors to command opened. Carma raised her head, avoiding Crais' gaze.
"I have...brought the Kranlit to repair Talyn," Crais said, clearing his throat.
"So repair him," Carma said, turning away and moving towards the front of command, thankful that her hair hid the transponder.
Crais looked as though he wanted to say something else, but didn't know what. Sighing, he set the cage down and opened it. The Kranlit climbed out and scuttled quickly to an available piece of Talyn's flesh.
"Talyn this may hurt but it is for your own good," Crais told him. "Try not to panic."
Talyn flashed his lights once, sounding far happier than Crais had expected. The Kranlit immediately sank its teeth into Talyn.
Talyn rumbled like thunder overhead, but that Crais had been expecting. What he hadn't expected was for Carma to suddenly grab the back of her neck and drop to her knees. He started towards her just as the rumbling above him ceased.
"Carma?" he asked. "What is wrong?"
Still facing away from him, she unsteadily got to her feet and stood up. Then she turned. Her eyes were lit up with wonder as she looked around her and at her own hands in front of her.
"It is incredible," she breathed.
"Are you alright?" Crais asked.
"I'm fine," she answered in wonder, "I never imagined that it would be like this...to see everything from a body like yours."
Crais stared at her. "Talyn?" he asked, stunned.
"Yes," she answered, moving forward towards him and reaching out to touch his face. "I can see like you, move like you, feel like you."
"Talyn, what has happened?" Crais asked, in shock. "Where is Carma?"
Talyn in Carma's body smiled beatifically. "She is free," he said happily, "she is gone."
Crais stared at Talyn, his mind racing. He caught a sudden glimpse of something shining and pushed her hair away, spotting the transponder. He had driven her to this.
"Talyn, what do you mean she has gone?" he asked, trying to control the feelings of panic.
"She has gone. She is at peace."
Crais' knees began to buckle under him. "Carma..." he thought desperately, "what have I done?"