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"Dreadnought," Rygel whispered fearfully.
"No!" Sikozu protested sharply. She scrambled to thwart reality with logic. "Scarrans never travel in Tormented Space. They should not be here!"
"Yeah, well, they are," Crichton retorted. "And, um, why aren't we running away?"
His gaze was fixed on the forward portal. The view outside remained static. Moya was not moving.
"Get us out of here now, Pilot!" D'Argo roared.
"Ka D'Argo, I'm afraid Moya is unable to starburst again so soon."
"I'm not asking Moya to starburst, I'm asking her to move!"
Pilot responded calmly, impervious to D'Argo's rising anger. "There is no reason for alarm. The Dreadnought is not functioning. Moya detects no life forms on board."
Crichton continued to watch the Scarran vessel. He decided that, functioning or not, he didn't like its looks. "A ghost ship. Wonderful. We've found the freakin' Mary Celeste of where ever the hell here is. Can we leave now?"
D'Argo regarded the Dreadnought suspiciously. "Is Moya absolutely certain that ship is dead?"
"Quite certain," Pilot replied with well-disguised irritation. "It poses no threat. Moya senses numerous other such vessels in this region of space. Look!"
The crew turned its attention to the forward portal as Moya banked left. In addition to the massive Dreadnought, a Peacekeeper Command Carrier, a Nebari cruiser, and a thousand smaller craft from as many different species rotated into view. Some were battle-scarred, covered in energy burns and missing chunks of their hulls. Most were perfectly intact.
"Damn," Crichton muttered, "What the hell happened here?"
"Who cares," Rygel snapped. "Let's leave."
"For once I concur with the Hynerian," Sikozu agreed. "Let us leave, before whatever happened those craft happens to us."
"Agreed," D'Argo began, "Pilot---"
D'Argo was thrown from his feet for the second time in the past arn as Moya began bounce and rock violently.
"Frell! What's happening now?"
"Pilot!"
"What the yotz…" Rygel happened to be facing the forward viewport. "Wormhole," he hissed.
Crichton gazed in awe. One of the blue vortexes had materialized barely five metras from Moya. It was a true monster, far out-sizing the specimen he had been studying earlier. It churned up the surrounding space, casting a lurid blue glow over the abandoned hulks. As Moya's crew watched in fascinated horror, it disgorged a small alien ship similar in design to a Prowler. The fighter craft tumbled end over end through the void, clearly out of its pilot's control. It impacted with the side of the Dreadnought, and annihilated itself in a puff of orange flame.
"Frell," Chiana breathed.
The wormhole spiraled back into nothingness, and the turbulence subsided. Crewmembers hauled themselves wearily to their feet.
"Well, that answers one question," Crichton said quietly.
Pilot spoke from the clamshell. "Moya and I feel very strongly that we should evacuate this area immediately."
"No arguments there, Pilot," Crichton replied.
D'Argo grunted in agreement.
Moya accelerated quickly away from the mass of abandoned ships, and the terrible phenomena that accompanied them.
Nearly an arn later, Pilot summoned D'Argo to command. "What is it now, Pilot?" D'Argo asked grumpily as he stepped through the doorway.
"There is something Moya and I think you should see."
Crichton and Sikozu were already examining the view through the forward portal. D'Argo took in the panorama as well, with a mixture of surprise and alarm. "Another Dreadnought?"
"The same Dreadnought," Sikozu corrected condescendingly. "This Leviathan has been flying in circles for the past arn."
"No," Pilot replied testily, "Moya has been flying a straight-line course. It is space that is curved."
Sikozu sniffed cynically.
"Pilot, what does this mean?" D'Argo asked.
"It means," Crichton said, "that we're stuck."
"The commander's interpretation is correct. Until we are able to determine the extent of the distortion of the space in this region, and discover a way to navigate it successfully, we are unable to leave."
D'Argo growled a little in frustration. "How long will this take?"
"I do not know."