Ray of Smoke
By Tassos
Author's note: Okay, I know I should have had this out about three months ago but now that I'm in school, I have no time and oh so many other distractions from writing. So now that I've caught up on sleep, I know I can't put it off any longer. Thank you all for being patient (and if you weren't, like I get when authors take forever to finish their fic - don't tell me. My sisters probably give me enough flak to make up for all of yours.) So let the denounment begin...
Ray of Smoke
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*********************
Epilogue
*********************
*********************
Earth: 2014
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*********************
"Earlier today President Landers announced that negotiations for the new Arms Treaty with the Middle East were going better than expected. The cease fire called last week between US forces and Pakistan is still in effect while everyone waits for the results of the US's new Smart Bombs which will be held over the next week in Arizona. The weapons are the first to incorporate alien technology, and if successful, would give the United States the advantage. Gary Oswald reporting."
Shannon got up from her perch near the news bureau, uninterested in listening to Gary's piece on the new Smart Bombs. She'd already gotten the scoop from the men who had designed them and learned that they basically did what all bombs did: namely blow things up. The alien component wasn't actually technology since everything had been made on Earth, but rather the design. Still it was the results that mattered. If the fear of the new bombs could stop the war in the Middle East, she was all for it. It was getting tiresome, both from a news standpoint and a human one.
It would be too bad for the war correspondents. Mentally shrugging her shoulders, she went to the break room to get a cup of coffee.
"Hey, Shannon," Henry greeted her.
"Henry, what are you still doing here?"
"Same thing you are, waiting to see our interview," he replied. "Took us so long to get it, I want to make sure they do it right."
Shannon could only agree with him. Five minutes later, they went back into the news room where Debra was waiting to go back on the air.
"Today another consequence of John Crichton's stay on Earth comes to an end: the Crichton Conspirators probationary sentence," the anchorwoman began. "The seventeen IASA personal, who helped Crichton and his alien wife leave Earth, have spent the last three years serving time by working for the government and watching their step. Shannon Lucas reporting from Cape Canaveral, Florida."
"February 16th, 2011," the live monitor changed to an aerial shot of the Cape with Shannon narrating, "an explosion rocked the peaceful world of the Kennedy Space Center. Five homemade bombs went off in the administration building, starting fires in an elaborate jailbreak. In the chaos, the alien Erin Sun, who was under arrest for assaulting a federal officer, disappeared with her husband John Crichton. When the firefighters arrived, the hunt was on to the sound of many different birddogs. Seventeen engineers and astronauts, known as the Crichton Conspirators, sent authorities on a wild goose chase, giving Crichton and Sun time to steal the original Fasrscape spacecraft and escape Earth's atmosphere. The Conspirators have spent the last three years paying for their crimes by serving their country."
The footage changed to a lounge where the infamous DK Moore and Dan Bemear sat with Shannon for the interview. "Both of you have served out your probationary sentence for three years. How does it feel now that it's finally over?" the reporter began.
Moore shrugged. "I won't have to worry about parking tickets any more," he said.
"Or speeding tickets," added Bemear with a smile.
"Actually, it won't be that different," Moore continued. "The sentence required us to basically do our jobs. We were under more supervision of course, and we also reported to the Department on Defense, but over all it wasn't very different from what we've been doing for the last five years anyway."
"Except with alien technology," said Shannon.
Bemear smiled. "It's still science, still engineering. It's just been taken to a whole new level."
"What were the original charges brought against you after you helped Crichton and Sun leave Earth?"
"Accessory to commit terrorist acts, theft of government property, and aiding in the escape of a suspect for criminal proceedings," Moore rattled off.
"And if you had gone to court and been convicted, what were you facing?"
"If convicted of all three charges we would have each gotten twenty years to life."
"That's a pretty long time. Would it have been worth it?"
Moore and Bemear exchanged a look. "Yes," they said together. "Every second of it," Moore added quietly. "John had his reasons for leaving, but the government, understandably, didn't want to let him go. Knowing John, he probably would have found a way somehow to leave, or his friends on Moya would have come down with a lot of weapons to get him away. Anyone who got in their way would probably be dead now. Even if it had cost us our freedom, we still would have saved people's lives."
"You and Crichton were best friends. Did he tell you why they had to leave?"
"Yes." Moore smiled but didn't elaborate. It was the same reaction all journalists got when they asked the question of the Crichton family. Even watching now, Shannon still felt frustrated by it.
"Don't ask me," said Bemear. "I don't know the main reason either."
"If you didn't know, then why did you help?"
"Because it was the right thing to do."
The interview cut off and switched back the Debra Wilkins at the anchor desk. "It appears that the government believed a light sentence was 'the right thing to do' as well," she said. "Able to continue their work on the alien technology, the IASA Farscape Project has soared - literally. Next week on First Contact Day, the Farscape III fitted with the Faster Than Light Hetch Drive, is set to launch. More on that story when we come back."
Shannon hated the brevity of her piece, but the Conspiracy was old news, so it couldn't be helped. Perhaps she would call Jack Crichton again to see if he was interested in doing an interview yet. She doubted it, but it never hurt to ask. One day she would get it.
***********************************************************************
Rhia wanted to scream. They had come back. With a deep breath, she controlled her impulse and waited quietly, continuing her work. Just a little bit longer... a little longer... a little... Now! Letting loose her yell, Rhia pounced on her little brother and Essor, grabbing each by the wrist before they could get away.
"I told you to get out of here!" she shouted at them. Rhia dragged them out of her room before they got loose. "Ow!" she cried when the two boys resorted to teeth. "Seth, I'm gonna kill you!"
"Gotta catch us first!" her brother yelled happily as he and Essor ran away giggling. Rhia ran after them, her longer legs swiftly catching her up.
"Owwwwwwww!" shrieked Essor when she yanked on his shirt. "Rhia! That hurts!"
"It's gonna hurt a lot more if you don't stay out of my room!"
"It's my room too!" Seth shouted back impishly. Rhia dragged him to his tip-toes "Pilot!!!" he shrieked.
"Rhia Sun!" Pilot's voice echoed through her comm. "Put Seth down now."
"But - " she protested, letting the brat stand on his own again.
"Rhia!" Dad's voice interrupted. Rhia glared at him as he stalked down the corridor. Now she was going to get in trouble when it was all Seth and Essor's fault. "Seth, Essor, don't you move," Dad's voice cracked like a whip, stopping the boys in their tracks as they tried to sneak away. "Now what's going on?"
Rhia started to explain at the same time the boys did only to be cut off a moment later by Dad who nodded at her to continue. "They've been bothering me all day, Dad. They won't leave me alone. I told them to leave twic, and they came back so I was just chasing them away."
"That's not true! She jumped us!" said Seth indignantly.
"She hurt my neck, John," Essor added.
"That wasn't my fault!" Rhia protested.
"Yes, it was," Essor shouted back.
"No it wasn't!"
"All right, quiet!" Dad shouted over them. "Boys, go play somewhere else. I don't want - "
"But Daad!"
"I don't want to see you on this tier!" Dad stared at them till they reluctantly nodded. "And Rhia, I want you to stop beating them up."
"I didn't!"
"Go on now, shoo." Dad waved a hand at the boys until they scampered off to bug someone else. It was so unfair. Rhia stared at Dad's boots, feeling the injustice to her bones. Just because she was nine and they were six everything was *her* responsibility. "Come on, Rhia, look at me." She refused.
"It wasn't my fault," she said defiantly.
Dad sighed. "Yeah, I know. Being the oldest sucks." He forced her head up with a finger under her chin. "But you're bigger than they are. That means - "
"I gotta be careful," Rhia finished.
"Yeah," Dad smiled. "So how's the math coming?" he asked changing the subject. Dad offered Rhia his hand and she took it for the walk back to her room.
"I hate math."
"That's not going to get you out of doing it," Dad grinned down at her without any sympathy. Rhia scowled. What did she need math for anyway? The way she saw it, she needed to learn how to fight and fly more than she needed to know how to multiply and divide fractions. But Dad insisted. Said she needed it before she could get to more interesting things like physics and chemistry which would one day save her life. Rhia thought that was a load of dren.
"It's so stupid, though!" she complained. "Who cares if you have three quarters of a half anyway?"
"Rygel would if it were food. D'argo would if it were troops," Dad replied.
Okay. Maybe. Rhia wasn't ready to give in, but knew better than to argue. She just wished Mama were home so she could learn to fight more. "When will Mama come home?" she asked as they entered her room. Ignoring the mess, Rhia went to her bed to retrieve the work she had done since she knew Dad would want to look at it.
"It'll be a while, sweetie," he said. "Crais and Talyn were separated for a long time and the healing process is slow for both of them." He joined her on the bed and accepted the notebook. He looked over it, a small smile passing over his lips. "For someone who hates math, you're not bad at it," he commented.
Rhia shrugged, unimpressed with herself. "Are they going to be all right? Talyn and Crais?" she asked.
Dad set the notebook aside and pulled Rhia onto his lap. "Yeah," he said. "They're gonna be okay." He kissed her forehead, and Rhia relaxed against him. "And one day all this fighting will be over," Dad went on softly. "And we will be able to live in peace."
"Like one of Grandpa's fairy stories with 'happily ever after?'"
"Something like that."
Rhia remembered Grandpa's princes and princesses going on adventures and living happily for the rest of their lives, rich in a castle. It was a life Rhia couldn't even imagine. She'd said as much to Grandpa once, and he had laughed and told her that very few people on Earth could image what her life was like. It was funny thinking of Earth now. It felt so long ago, like another life or a dream. The memories were fading.
"I miss Grandpa," she said. "Will we ever go back there?"
"One day, Rhia," Dad replied. "One day we will return to Earth."
"Good." Rhia smiled. "I'd like that."
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End
By Tassos
Author's note: Okay, I know I should have had this out about three months ago but now that I'm in school, I have no time and oh so many other distractions from writing. So now that I've caught up on sleep, I know I can't put it off any longer. Thank you all for being patient (and if you weren't, like I get when authors take forever to finish their fic - don't tell me. My sisters probably give me enough flak to make up for all of yours.) So let the denounment begin...
Ray of Smoke
*********************
*********************
Epilogue
*********************
*********************
Earth: 2014
*********************
*********************
"Earlier today President Landers announced that negotiations for the new Arms Treaty with the Middle East were going better than expected. The cease fire called last week between US forces and Pakistan is still in effect while everyone waits for the results of the US's new Smart Bombs which will be held over the next week in Arizona. The weapons are the first to incorporate alien technology, and if successful, would give the United States the advantage. Gary Oswald reporting."
Shannon got up from her perch near the news bureau, uninterested in listening to Gary's piece on the new Smart Bombs. She'd already gotten the scoop from the men who had designed them and learned that they basically did what all bombs did: namely blow things up. The alien component wasn't actually technology since everything had been made on Earth, but rather the design. Still it was the results that mattered. If the fear of the new bombs could stop the war in the Middle East, she was all for it. It was getting tiresome, both from a news standpoint and a human one.
It would be too bad for the war correspondents. Mentally shrugging her shoulders, she went to the break room to get a cup of coffee.
"Hey, Shannon," Henry greeted her.
"Henry, what are you still doing here?"
"Same thing you are, waiting to see our interview," he replied. "Took us so long to get it, I want to make sure they do it right."
Shannon could only agree with him. Five minutes later, they went back into the news room where Debra was waiting to go back on the air.
"Today another consequence of John Crichton's stay on Earth comes to an end: the Crichton Conspirators probationary sentence," the anchorwoman began. "The seventeen IASA personal, who helped Crichton and his alien wife leave Earth, have spent the last three years serving time by working for the government and watching their step. Shannon Lucas reporting from Cape Canaveral, Florida."
"February 16th, 2011," the live monitor changed to an aerial shot of the Cape with Shannon narrating, "an explosion rocked the peaceful world of the Kennedy Space Center. Five homemade bombs went off in the administration building, starting fires in an elaborate jailbreak. In the chaos, the alien Erin Sun, who was under arrest for assaulting a federal officer, disappeared with her husband John Crichton. When the firefighters arrived, the hunt was on to the sound of many different birddogs. Seventeen engineers and astronauts, known as the Crichton Conspirators, sent authorities on a wild goose chase, giving Crichton and Sun time to steal the original Fasrscape spacecraft and escape Earth's atmosphere. The Conspirators have spent the last three years paying for their crimes by serving their country."
The footage changed to a lounge where the infamous DK Moore and Dan Bemear sat with Shannon for the interview. "Both of you have served out your probationary sentence for three years. How does it feel now that it's finally over?" the reporter began.
Moore shrugged. "I won't have to worry about parking tickets any more," he said.
"Or speeding tickets," added Bemear with a smile.
"Actually, it won't be that different," Moore continued. "The sentence required us to basically do our jobs. We were under more supervision of course, and we also reported to the Department on Defense, but over all it wasn't very different from what we've been doing for the last five years anyway."
"Except with alien technology," said Shannon.
Bemear smiled. "It's still science, still engineering. It's just been taken to a whole new level."
"What were the original charges brought against you after you helped Crichton and Sun leave Earth?"
"Accessory to commit terrorist acts, theft of government property, and aiding in the escape of a suspect for criminal proceedings," Moore rattled off.
"And if you had gone to court and been convicted, what were you facing?"
"If convicted of all three charges we would have each gotten twenty years to life."
"That's a pretty long time. Would it have been worth it?"
Moore and Bemear exchanged a look. "Yes," they said together. "Every second of it," Moore added quietly. "John had his reasons for leaving, but the government, understandably, didn't want to let him go. Knowing John, he probably would have found a way somehow to leave, or his friends on Moya would have come down with a lot of weapons to get him away. Anyone who got in their way would probably be dead now. Even if it had cost us our freedom, we still would have saved people's lives."
"You and Crichton were best friends. Did he tell you why they had to leave?"
"Yes." Moore smiled but didn't elaborate. It was the same reaction all journalists got when they asked the question of the Crichton family. Even watching now, Shannon still felt frustrated by it.
"Don't ask me," said Bemear. "I don't know the main reason either."
"If you didn't know, then why did you help?"
"Because it was the right thing to do."
The interview cut off and switched back the Debra Wilkins at the anchor desk. "It appears that the government believed a light sentence was 'the right thing to do' as well," she said. "Able to continue their work on the alien technology, the IASA Farscape Project has soared - literally. Next week on First Contact Day, the Farscape III fitted with the Faster Than Light Hetch Drive, is set to launch. More on that story when we come back."
Shannon hated the brevity of her piece, but the Conspiracy was old news, so it couldn't be helped. Perhaps she would call Jack Crichton again to see if he was interested in doing an interview yet. She doubted it, but it never hurt to ask. One day she would get it.
***********************************************************************
Rhia wanted to scream. They had come back. With a deep breath, she controlled her impulse and waited quietly, continuing her work. Just a little bit longer... a little longer... a little... Now! Letting loose her yell, Rhia pounced on her little brother and Essor, grabbing each by the wrist before they could get away.
"I told you to get out of here!" she shouted at them. Rhia dragged them out of her room before they got loose. "Ow!" she cried when the two boys resorted to teeth. "Seth, I'm gonna kill you!"
"Gotta catch us first!" her brother yelled happily as he and Essor ran away giggling. Rhia ran after them, her longer legs swiftly catching her up.
"Owwwwwwww!" shrieked Essor when she yanked on his shirt. "Rhia! That hurts!"
"It's gonna hurt a lot more if you don't stay out of my room!"
"It's my room too!" Seth shouted back impishly. Rhia dragged him to his tip-toes "Pilot!!!" he shrieked.
"Rhia Sun!" Pilot's voice echoed through her comm. "Put Seth down now."
"But - " she protested, letting the brat stand on his own again.
"Rhia!" Dad's voice interrupted. Rhia glared at him as he stalked down the corridor. Now she was going to get in trouble when it was all Seth and Essor's fault. "Seth, Essor, don't you move," Dad's voice cracked like a whip, stopping the boys in their tracks as they tried to sneak away. "Now what's going on?"
Rhia started to explain at the same time the boys did only to be cut off a moment later by Dad who nodded at her to continue. "They've been bothering me all day, Dad. They won't leave me alone. I told them to leave twic, and they came back so I was just chasing them away."
"That's not true! She jumped us!" said Seth indignantly.
"She hurt my neck, John," Essor added.
"That wasn't my fault!" Rhia protested.
"Yes, it was," Essor shouted back.
"No it wasn't!"
"All right, quiet!" Dad shouted over them. "Boys, go play somewhere else. I don't want - "
"But Daad!"
"I don't want to see you on this tier!" Dad stared at them till they reluctantly nodded. "And Rhia, I want you to stop beating them up."
"I didn't!"
"Go on now, shoo." Dad waved a hand at the boys until they scampered off to bug someone else. It was so unfair. Rhia stared at Dad's boots, feeling the injustice to her bones. Just because she was nine and they were six everything was *her* responsibility. "Come on, Rhia, look at me." She refused.
"It wasn't my fault," she said defiantly.
Dad sighed. "Yeah, I know. Being the oldest sucks." He forced her head up with a finger under her chin. "But you're bigger than they are. That means - "
"I gotta be careful," Rhia finished.
"Yeah," Dad smiled. "So how's the math coming?" he asked changing the subject. Dad offered Rhia his hand and she took it for the walk back to her room.
"I hate math."
"That's not going to get you out of doing it," Dad grinned down at her without any sympathy. Rhia scowled. What did she need math for anyway? The way she saw it, she needed to learn how to fight and fly more than she needed to know how to multiply and divide fractions. But Dad insisted. Said she needed it before she could get to more interesting things like physics and chemistry which would one day save her life. Rhia thought that was a load of dren.
"It's so stupid, though!" she complained. "Who cares if you have three quarters of a half anyway?"
"Rygel would if it were food. D'argo would if it were troops," Dad replied.
Okay. Maybe. Rhia wasn't ready to give in, but knew better than to argue. She just wished Mama were home so she could learn to fight more. "When will Mama come home?" she asked as they entered her room. Ignoring the mess, Rhia went to her bed to retrieve the work she had done since she knew Dad would want to look at it.
"It'll be a while, sweetie," he said. "Crais and Talyn were separated for a long time and the healing process is slow for both of them." He joined her on the bed and accepted the notebook. He looked over it, a small smile passing over his lips. "For someone who hates math, you're not bad at it," he commented.
Rhia shrugged, unimpressed with herself. "Are they going to be all right? Talyn and Crais?" she asked.
Dad set the notebook aside and pulled Rhia onto his lap. "Yeah," he said. "They're gonna be okay." He kissed her forehead, and Rhia relaxed against him. "And one day all this fighting will be over," Dad went on softly. "And we will be able to live in peace."
"Like one of Grandpa's fairy stories with 'happily ever after?'"
"Something like that."
Rhia remembered Grandpa's princes and princesses going on adventures and living happily for the rest of their lives, rich in a castle. It was a life Rhia couldn't even imagine. She'd said as much to Grandpa once, and he had laughed and told her that very few people on Earth could image what her life was like. It was funny thinking of Earth now. It felt so long ago, like another life or a dream. The memories were fading.
"I miss Grandpa," she said. "Will we ever go back there?"
"One day, Rhia," Dad replied. "One day we will return to Earth."
"Good." Rhia smiled. "I'd like that."
*****************
*****************
End