Chapter 5: Resident Evil
"Who did this?" Crichton asked, as soon as the cooling rod was installed. They had found the case outside the door. How he and Crais had managed to get there in time he didn't know. Instinct had told him that something was wrong...and he'd learnt to trust his instincts.
"Her," Scorpius growled, his throat still dry, eyes shooting daggers at Crais, "the one who was with you."
Crichton turned to look at Crais. Crais cleared his throat. "She is...missing. But I do not believe that she is responsible."
"You think...Talyn? Crichton asked quietly.
"In the time I have known Carma," Crais replied, "I have never found that she has a...casual attitude to taking lives. I do not believe that it can be her. I...do not *want* to believe that it can be Talyn either, but...."
"I thought he was fixed."
"As did I," Crais sighed.
"Either way, we better find her."
"How can the gunship be responsible?" Scorpius demanded. "It was *her* that I saw."
Crais and Crichton exchanged glances, wondering how much to tell him.
"Carma and Talyn are linked. They can move into each other's bodies," Crichton replied, after a pause.
"Whoever is responsible, they very nearly caused my death!"
"And we saved your life," Crichton replied. "Ironic, isn't it?"
They heard the door open and turned. Carma strode in, looking concerned. A low growl escaped Scorpius' throat.
"Crais, what the frell is going on?" she asked. "Aeryn said something about Scorpius being attacked. Who attacked him?"
"Apparently," Crais replied, "you did."
Carma looked at him like he was mad. "Why would I want to attack him? We just met."
"You know his history with Crais," Crichton pointed out.
"Some of it," Carma said, in disbelief, "but that doesn't mean that I'd try to kill him! If I went around killing everyone Crais has ever hated, I'd never do anything else. And I try not to make a habit of killing people."
"How many have you killed?" Crichton asked quietly.
Carma looked soberly back at him. "Two. A guard at the rescue centre when we were trying to rescue Talyn..."
"In self defence," Crais interjected.
"...and my father."
"To relieve his suffering," Crais added hastily, seeing Crichton start to gape at her.
"So, like I said," Carma said, wrapping her arms around herself, "I don't make a habit of it."
Crais looked grimly at Crichton. "Which means that it must have been Talyn," he said.
Carma looked at Crais. "You didn't...actually think that I did it...did you?"
Crais shook his head. "No," he said, "I did not."
"Good," Carma said, not looking entirely convinced. "But it can't have been Talyn. He's fixed now."
"I know who I saw," Scorpius hissed. "It was you, or it was the gunship in your body."
Crichton looked at Crais. "Guess we'd better get that boy in here for a little chat."
"I'll find him," Carma replied. "It is time that I returned to his body anyway."
Giving Crais a last look, she closed her eyes for a microt...and opened them as Talyn. Their ability to change had apparently increased.
He blinked. "This body...feels strange," he said.
"Strange how?" Crichton asked, curiously.
Talyn considered the question. "Very...relaxed," he replied eventually.
Crichton hastily smothered a laugh. For the first time in a long while, Crais blushed. He cleared his throat. "Talyn...we have a situation. Someone attacked Scorpius...in Carma's body. She has denied it. Was it you?"
Talyn looked shocked. "No," he said firmly. "It was not I. I would not do that."
"You...did try to kill me," Crichton pointed out, hesitantly.
"I have learned since then," Talyn insisted. "I would not do that now. Being in this body, sharing with Carma...I understand more."
"I believe you Talyn," Crais said firmly. "I...suggest that you return to the ship. I will follow...shortly."
When he had gone, Crichton turned to Crais. "You really believe him?"
Crais sighed. "Yes, I believe him. But...one of them must be lying."
Crichton looked thoughtful. "Unless there's some alien critter inhabiting people's bodies. We had that one time with Chiana and Pilot."
"Why would this hypothetical alien wish to harm Scorpius?" Crais asked, sceptically.
Crichton threw up his hands. "I don't know. Why does every critter we meet want to kill us? Random violent tendencies. Hates Scarrans. It's an explanation Crais...unless you prefer to believe that your girlfriend or nephew has been role-playing Lizzie Borden."
"Until we have more evidence, we cannot attempt an explanation."
"So what do we do? Just wait until whatever it is decides to waste someone else?" Crichton asked in disbelief.
"Unfortunately," Crais said, "yes."
***
Crichton squinted through the dim light. "Aeryn, baby, what ya doing here?"
Aeryn moved slowly towards the bed, as Crichton tried to wake up. Not that having Aeryn in his quarters wasn't a good thing, she just didn't usually turn up in the middle of the sleep cycle.
"Is something wrong with Moya? Did we hit something?"
Aeryn voice, low and frighteningly calm, came through the darkness. "It is the cause, it is the cause. I will serve the cause, assist the righteous, destroy the unworthy. It is the cause."
The hairs on the back of Crichton's neck stood up. As she moved closer, he caught a glimpse of something shining in a ray of starlight.
Grabbing his shirt from the floor, he hit his comm badge as he jumped out of bed.
"Crais, D'Argo, Chiana, anybody! I think I found the critter! It's in my quarters, in Aeryn. I could be wrong...but I'm pretty sure that it wants to kill me."
Aeryn lunged towards him and Crichton swiftly dodged the blade she held. Grabbing her arms from behind, he managed to wrestle it from her hand. Whatever this thing was, it didn't seem to have total control of Aeryn's body yet. If it had, he might not have been able to overpower it.
Aeryn crumpled to the floor when he disarmed her, in a dead faint. Throwing the knife onto the bed, he knelt down beside her as she came round.
"Crichton...why am I here?" she asked, looking dazed and disoriented.
Crichton pulled her to a sitting position and cradled her in his arms. "I think you had the critter in you," he replied.
"There is definitely something on board then?"
"It sure looks like it."
Crais, D'Argo, Chiana and Jool chose that moment to burst through the door. How they had all managed to get there at the same time Crichton couldn't fathom, but at that moment it didn't seem to matter.
"It's okay," he said, holding up one hand. "Crisis over. It's gone."
"Is it dead?" D'Argo asked, looking around.
"I couldn't kill it," Crichton said. "It was in Aeryn. I didn't see anything when it left her either, she just fainted."
D'Argo growled. "Another one."
"I don't think this thing is like the energy riders that were in Chiana and Pilot, this one seems to have a bigger purpose than just thumbing a lift. It kept going on about 'it is the cause, destroy the unworthy, help the righteous'. You know, this is sounding really like this episode of Red Dwarf I saw, and that it *not* good. Although they did kill the bad guy in the end...but that's not the point. This is bad people."
"What was it like, having that thing inside your body?" Jool asked, curiously.
"I don't remember anything," Aeryn replied, still a little confused. "I don't know how I got here."
"Which would explain why neither Talyn nor Carma remember attacking Scorpius," Crichton said to Crais. "And it means that neither of them was lying."
Crais nodded. "I was certain that it could not have been either of them."
"It's good you're learning to trust people," Crichton said. "But we still have a problem here. Whatever this thing is, it wants to kill *us* and we don't know how to kill *it*."
"Until we can find a solution," Crais said, slipping into captain mode, "we should be armed at all times. In case of...incident, the aim must be to disable and not to destroy whomever it is controlling."
"Jool, get yourself a weapon," Crichton said. Then, as an after thought. "But don't kill anyone with it."
Jool rolled her eyes.
***
"So what's happening?" Carma asked, as soon as Crais returned to his quarters.
Crais looked up in surprise. "You are back again."
"With everything that's going on, I thought that Talyn would be safer in his own body," Carma said. "And...I miss it. Not that being in Talyn isn't incredible, but it's good to be me again for a while. So, as I said, what's happening?"
Crais sat down beside her. "We have determined that there is an alien creature on board. It appears to have the ability to possess people at will and it intends to kill at least Crichton and Scorpius, if not all of us, in pursuit of a 'cause'."
Carma looked back at him. "Fabulous," she said. "Just another creature wanting us dead, nothing to worry about."
"We will find it and deal with it."
Carma shifted on the bed. "You think that this thing took control of me...and tried to kill Scorpius?"
"Unless you have any other explanation."
She shook her head. "It makes sense. Does it have any kind of after-effects?"
"It occupied Aeryn, who seems to have experienced dizziness after the event."
Carma nodded. "That explains it. I knew I didn't feel right. Anyway...how do we kill it?"
Crais hesitated. "We have not determined that as yet."
Carma groaned and lay back. "This just keeps getting better and better. So, not only do I have to worry about anyone of you coming at me with a gun, I also can't kill whatever's doing this. Or get rid of it. Or do anything except try to stay alive. You really should have told me about this stuff when you invited me to come with you."
"Would you still have come?"
Carma gave him a weak smile. "The worst part is...I would have."
"You do not...regret your decision then?"
"Not when you kiss me."
He needed no other invitation.
***
One solar day later, Crichton called a meeting in Moya's command. The crew appeared one by one, many nursing injuries and giving their companions dirty looks. Even Scorpius was there, still heavily chained and in a foul mood. Being the only one unable to defend himself from attacks was not making his life easy. It was a small comfort that there had been no actual casualties.
"So," Crichton began, squinting slightly through his black eye and cradling his sprained wrist close to his chest, "we've made some progress."
Seven pairs of eyes gave him looks of mixed disbelief and contempt.
"We have!" Crichton insisted. "We've determined who it's after. It wants Scorpius and it wants me. We don't actually know why...but that's a start."
The looks continued.
"Hey, I have been attacked by practically everyone on this ship. If I can stay optimistic, the least you can do is support me on this!"
"Fine, John," Aeryn said. "What do you suggest we do?"
Crichton put his head in one hand. "I don't know, okay. I'd suggest a couple of bodyguards, but they'd just turn around and try to kill us too. We'll just have to wait until it makes some kind of mistake."
"What if that happens after you're dead?" Aeryn asked, flatly.
"Do you have a better idea?" Crichton demanded. "Coz I'd love to hear it if you do."
"Fine, John. We will just wait...until you die or it makes a mistake, whichever comes first."
"Alright," Crichton said, looking around at everyone. "Now, it can only occupy one person at a time, right? So if we all stay here together, the others can protect me...and Scorpy...whoever it's in. Agreed?"
"Agreed," was the general chorus, albeit somewhat reluctant.
They waited.
"I don't think it wants to attack while we're in a group," Crichton said, after an arn.
"Excellent. So we will remain here until we all reach the end of our lifespans and that will solve the problem," Crais replied, a distinct edge of sarcasm in his tone.
"I'm just saying that it's progress. Maybe if we stay here long enough it will get bored and go away."
They waited some more.
"I'm bored," Jool said, after another half arn, "can I go now?"
"Nobody goes until we fix this," Crichton said firmly.
"Just because it's trying to kill you," Jool muttered.
Suddenly, D'Argo rose.
"Uh-oh," Crichton said, "here we go."
He didn't get any further, D'Argo's tongue knocking him out before he had time to duck. He fell to the floor. D'Argo pulled out his qualta blade and prepared to finish him off. Aeryn quickly grabbed it and managed to wrestle it from him. In a microt D'Argo fell to the floor and Aeryn was advancing on Crichton instead. Crais pulled the weapon from her hands and threw it aside before the creature had the chance to jump again, as Aeryn also lost consciousness. It jumped to Jool, who went after the blade. Carma snatched it from her grasp, but didn't get rid of it quick enough. Jool crumpled in a heap and the creature jumped again. Carma's eyes glazed over and she fell backwards onto the floor. Her body began to convulse as the others watched, not knowing what was happening or how to help her. Suddenly a flash of light seemed to flare from her body and she stopped moving. After a microt, she sat up.
Crais and Chiana, the only ones still wholly conscious, had weapons pointed at her. The others were slowly struggling to their feet.
"It's okay," Carma said, looking a little dazed, "it's gone."
"What the blitz happened?" Chiana demanded.
Carma shook her head. "I'm not sure exactly, but I think that it couldn't possess me and Talyn at the same time. That left one of us able to fight it. We threw it out and it couldn't survive that."
"What on Earth was it after?" Crichton asked.
"That part I got," Carma said. "Wormholes. You've got knowledge it wanted destroyed."
"Why?"
Carma shrugged. "No idea."
"Damn wormholes, my whole life is screwed up by wormholes," Crichton muttered.
"Are you alright?" Crais asked, reaching out a hand to pull Carma to her feet.
"Yeah," Carma said, accepting his hand, "I'm good. A little dizzy, but nothing serious. I think I'll go back to Talyn and rest though."
"Would you like me to accompany you?"
"No, I'll be fine. I can fly a transport pod okay."
She headed out of command, leaving the others behind.
"Hey, it made a mistake and I'm still alive," Crichton said, rubbing his throbbing head. "Finally, a happy ending."
"Yes," Crais replied, somewhat relieved. Then a thought struck him and his face paled. "Except...that Carma said it couldn't possess her successfully...because of her link with Talyn."
Crichton looked confused for a moment before he caught Crais' meaning and his eyes widened. "Which means...that when she attacked Scorpius...."
Crais nodded grimly. "That was not the result of the creature's influence."
They both looked in the direction she had left. Crichton whistled under his breath.
"Oh frell."
"Who did this?" Crichton asked, as soon as the cooling rod was installed. They had found the case outside the door. How he and Crais had managed to get there in time he didn't know. Instinct had told him that something was wrong...and he'd learnt to trust his instincts.
"Her," Scorpius growled, his throat still dry, eyes shooting daggers at Crais, "the one who was with you."
Crichton turned to look at Crais. Crais cleared his throat. "She is...missing. But I do not believe that she is responsible."
"You think...Talyn? Crichton asked quietly.
"In the time I have known Carma," Crais replied, "I have never found that she has a...casual attitude to taking lives. I do not believe that it can be her. I...do not *want* to believe that it can be Talyn either, but...."
"I thought he was fixed."
"As did I," Crais sighed.
"Either way, we better find her."
"How can the gunship be responsible?" Scorpius demanded. "It was *her* that I saw."
Crais and Crichton exchanged glances, wondering how much to tell him.
"Carma and Talyn are linked. They can move into each other's bodies," Crichton replied, after a pause.
"Whoever is responsible, they very nearly caused my death!"
"And we saved your life," Crichton replied. "Ironic, isn't it?"
They heard the door open and turned. Carma strode in, looking concerned. A low growl escaped Scorpius' throat.
"Crais, what the frell is going on?" she asked. "Aeryn said something about Scorpius being attacked. Who attacked him?"
"Apparently," Crais replied, "you did."
Carma looked at him like he was mad. "Why would I want to attack him? We just met."
"You know his history with Crais," Crichton pointed out.
"Some of it," Carma said, in disbelief, "but that doesn't mean that I'd try to kill him! If I went around killing everyone Crais has ever hated, I'd never do anything else. And I try not to make a habit of killing people."
"How many have you killed?" Crichton asked quietly.
Carma looked soberly back at him. "Two. A guard at the rescue centre when we were trying to rescue Talyn..."
"In self defence," Crais interjected.
"...and my father."
"To relieve his suffering," Crais added hastily, seeing Crichton start to gape at her.
"So, like I said," Carma said, wrapping her arms around herself, "I don't make a habit of it."
Crais looked grimly at Crichton. "Which means that it must have been Talyn," he said.
Carma looked at Crais. "You didn't...actually think that I did it...did you?"
Crais shook his head. "No," he said, "I did not."
"Good," Carma said, not looking entirely convinced. "But it can't have been Talyn. He's fixed now."
"I know who I saw," Scorpius hissed. "It was you, or it was the gunship in your body."
Crichton looked at Crais. "Guess we'd better get that boy in here for a little chat."
"I'll find him," Carma replied. "It is time that I returned to his body anyway."
Giving Crais a last look, she closed her eyes for a microt...and opened them as Talyn. Their ability to change had apparently increased.
He blinked. "This body...feels strange," he said.
"Strange how?" Crichton asked, curiously.
Talyn considered the question. "Very...relaxed," he replied eventually.
Crichton hastily smothered a laugh. For the first time in a long while, Crais blushed. He cleared his throat. "Talyn...we have a situation. Someone attacked Scorpius...in Carma's body. She has denied it. Was it you?"
Talyn looked shocked. "No," he said firmly. "It was not I. I would not do that."
"You...did try to kill me," Crichton pointed out, hesitantly.
"I have learned since then," Talyn insisted. "I would not do that now. Being in this body, sharing with Carma...I understand more."
"I believe you Talyn," Crais said firmly. "I...suggest that you return to the ship. I will follow...shortly."
When he had gone, Crichton turned to Crais. "You really believe him?"
Crais sighed. "Yes, I believe him. But...one of them must be lying."
Crichton looked thoughtful. "Unless there's some alien critter inhabiting people's bodies. We had that one time with Chiana and Pilot."
"Why would this hypothetical alien wish to harm Scorpius?" Crais asked, sceptically.
Crichton threw up his hands. "I don't know. Why does every critter we meet want to kill us? Random violent tendencies. Hates Scarrans. It's an explanation Crais...unless you prefer to believe that your girlfriend or nephew has been role-playing Lizzie Borden."
"Until we have more evidence, we cannot attempt an explanation."
"So what do we do? Just wait until whatever it is decides to waste someone else?" Crichton asked in disbelief.
"Unfortunately," Crais said, "yes."
***
Crichton squinted through the dim light. "Aeryn, baby, what ya doing here?"
Aeryn moved slowly towards the bed, as Crichton tried to wake up. Not that having Aeryn in his quarters wasn't a good thing, she just didn't usually turn up in the middle of the sleep cycle.
"Is something wrong with Moya? Did we hit something?"
Aeryn voice, low and frighteningly calm, came through the darkness. "It is the cause, it is the cause. I will serve the cause, assist the righteous, destroy the unworthy. It is the cause."
The hairs on the back of Crichton's neck stood up. As she moved closer, he caught a glimpse of something shining in a ray of starlight.
Grabbing his shirt from the floor, he hit his comm badge as he jumped out of bed.
"Crais, D'Argo, Chiana, anybody! I think I found the critter! It's in my quarters, in Aeryn. I could be wrong...but I'm pretty sure that it wants to kill me."
Aeryn lunged towards him and Crichton swiftly dodged the blade she held. Grabbing her arms from behind, he managed to wrestle it from her hand. Whatever this thing was, it didn't seem to have total control of Aeryn's body yet. If it had, he might not have been able to overpower it.
Aeryn crumpled to the floor when he disarmed her, in a dead faint. Throwing the knife onto the bed, he knelt down beside her as she came round.
"Crichton...why am I here?" she asked, looking dazed and disoriented.
Crichton pulled her to a sitting position and cradled her in his arms. "I think you had the critter in you," he replied.
"There is definitely something on board then?"
"It sure looks like it."
Crais, D'Argo, Chiana and Jool chose that moment to burst through the door. How they had all managed to get there at the same time Crichton couldn't fathom, but at that moment it didn't seem to matter.
"It's okay," he said, holding up one hand. "Crisis over. It's gone."
"Is it dead?" D'Argo asked, looking around.
"I couldn't kill it," Crichton said. "It was in Aeryn. I didn't see anything when it left her either, she just fainted."
D'Argo growled. "Another one."
"I don't think this thing is like the energy riders that were in Chiana and Pilot, this one seems to have a bigger purpose than just thumbing a lift. It kept going on about 'it is the cause, destroy the unworthy, help the righteous'. You know, this is sounding really like this episode of Red Dwarf I saw, and that it *not* good. Although they did kill the bad guy in the end...but that's not the point. This is bad people."
"What was it like, having that thing inside your body?" Jool asked, curiously.
"I don't remember anything," Aeryn replied, still a little confused. "I don't know how I got here."
"Which would explain why neither Talyn nor Carma remember attacking Scorpius," Crichton said to Crais. "And it means that neither of them was lying."
Crais nodded. "I was certain that it could not have been either of them."
"It's good you're learning to trust people," Crichton said. "But we still have a problem here. Whatever this thing is, it wants to kill *us* and we don't know how to kill *it*."
"Until we can find a solution," Crais said, slipping into captain mode, "we should be armed at all times. In case of...incident, the aim must be to disable and not to destroy whomever it is controlling."
"Jool, get yourself a weapon," Crichton said. Then, as an after thought. "But don't kill anyone with it."
Jool rolled her eyes.
***
"So what's happening?" Carma asked, as soon as Crais returned to his quarters.
Crais looked up in surprise. "You are back again."
"With everything that's going on, I thought that Talyn would be safer in his own body," Carma said. "And...I miss it. Not that being in Talyn isn't incredible, but it's good to be me again for a while. So, as I said, what's happening?"
Crais sat down beside her. "We have determined that there is an alien creature on board. It appears to have the ability to possess people at will and it intends to kill at least Crichton and Scorpius, if not all of us, in pursuit of a 'cause'."
Carma looked back at him. "Fabulous," she said. "Just another creature wanting us dead, nothing to worry about."
"We will find it and deal with it."
Carma shifted on the bed. "You think that this thing took control of me...and tried to kill Scorpius?"
"Unless you have any other explanation."
She shook her head. "It makes sense. Does it have any kind of after-effects?"
"It occupied Aeryn, who seems to have experienced dizziness after the event."
Carma nodded. "That explains it. I knew I didn't feel right. Anyway...how do we kill it?"
Crais hesitated. "We have not determined that as yet."
Carma groaned and lay back. "This just keeps getting better and better. So, not only do I have to worry about anyone of you coming at me with a gun, I also can't kill whatever's doing this. Or get rid of it. Or do anything except try to stay alive. You really should have told me about this stuff when you invited me to come with you."
"Would you still have come?"
Carma gave him a weak smile. "The worst part is...I would have."
"You do not...regret your decision then?"
"Not when you kiss me."
He needed no other invitation.
***
One solar day later, Crichton called a meeting in Moya's command. The crew appeared one by one, many nursing injuries and giving their companions dirty looks. Even Scorpius was there, still heavily chained and in a foul mood. Being the only one unable to defend himself from attacks was not making his life easy. It was a small comfort that there had been no actual casualties.
"So," Crichton began, squinting slightly through his black eye and cradling his sprained wrist close to his chest, "we've made some progress."
Seven pairs of eyes gave him looks of mixed disbelief and contempt.
"We have!" Crichton insisted. "We've determined who it's after. It wants Scorpius and it wants me. We don't actually know why...but that's a start."
The looks continued.
"Hey, I have been attacked by practically everyone on this ship. If I can stay optimistic, the least you can do is support me on this!"
"Fine, John," Aeryn said. "What do you suggest we do?"
Crichton put his head in one hand. "I don't know, okay. I'd suggest a couple of bodyguards, but they'd just turn around and try to kill us too. We'll just have to wait until it makes some kind of mistake."
"What if that happens after you're dead?" Aeryn asked, flatly.
"Do you have a better idea?" Crichton demanded. "Coz I'd love to hear it if you do."
"Fine, John. We will just wait...until you die or it makes a mistake, whichever comes first."
"Alright," Crichton said, looking around at everyone. "Now, it can only occupy one person at a time, right? So if we all stay here together, the others can protect me...and Scorpy...whoever it's in. Agreed?"
"Agreed," was the general chorus, albeit somewhat reluctant.
They waited.
"I don't think it wants to attack while we're in a group," Crichton said, after an arn.
"Excellent. So we will remain here until we all reach the end of our lifespans and that will solve the problem," Crais replied, a distinct edge of sarcasm in his tone.
"I'm just saying that it's progress. Maybe if we stay here long enough it will get bored and go away."
They waited some more.
"I'm bored," Jool said, after another half arn, "can I go now?"
"Nobody goes until we fix this," Crichton said firmly.
"Just because it's trying to kill you," Jool muttered.
Suddenly, D'Argo rose.
"Uh-oh," Crichton said, "here we go."
He didn't get any further, D'Argo's tongue knocking him out before he had time to duck. He fell to the floor. D'Argo pulled out his qualta blade and prepared to finish him off. Aeryn quickly grabbed it and managed to wrestle it from him. In a microt D'Argo fell to the floor and Aeryn was advancing on Crichton instead. Crais pulled the weapon from her hands and threw it aside before the creature had the chance to jump again, as Aeryn also lost consciousness. It jumped to Jool, who went after the blade. Carma snatched it from her grasp, but didn't get rid of it quick enough. Jool crumpled in a heap and the creature jumped again. Carma's eyes glazed over and she fell backwards onto the floor. Her body began to convulse as the others watched, not knowing what was happening or how to help her. Suddenly a flash of light seemed to flare from her body and she stopped moving. After a microt, she sat up.
Crais and Chiana, the only ones still wholly conscious, had weapons pointed at her. The others were slowly struggling to their feet.
"It's okay," Carma said, looking a little dazed, "it's gone."
"What the blitz happened?" Chiana demanded.
Carma shook her head. "I'm not sure exactly, but I think that it couldn't possess me and Talyn at the same time. That left one of us able to fight it. We threw it out and it couldn't survive that."
"What on Earth was it after?" Crichton asked.
"That part I got," Carma said. "Wormholes. You've got knowledge it wanted destroyed."
"Why?"
Carma shrugged. "No idea."
"Damn wormholes, my whole life is screwed up by wormholes," Crichton muttered.
"Are you alright?" Crais asked, reaching out a hand to pull Carma to her feet.
"Yeah," Carma said, accepting his hand, "I'm good. A little dizzy, but nothing serious. I think I'll go back to Talyn and rest though."
"Would you like me to accompany you?"
"No, I'll be fine. I can fly a transport pod okay."
She headed out of command, leaving the others behind.
"Hey, it made a mistake and I'm still alive," Crichton said, rubbing his throbbing head. "Finally, a happy ending."
"Yes," Crais replied, somewhat relieved. Then a thought struck him and his face paled. "Except...that Carma said it couldn't possess her successfully...because of her link with Talyn."
Crichton looked confused for a moment before he caught Crais' meaning and his eyes widened. "Which means...that when she attacked Scorpius...."
Crais nodded grimly. "That was not the result of the creature's influence."
They both looked in the direction she had left. Crichton whistled under his breath.
"Oh frell."