Chapter 6
When Braca regained consciousness his head was fuzzy and he had a pain in the back of his neck.
"Ah, so you're awake. Let's see whether this thing is as good as that red frog said it was," said a voice in his ear. He tried to shake his head to clear it but couldn't seem to move. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light he saw Crichton sitting across from him wearing what appeared to be a pair of double oculars.
"Now what would be a good test," Crichton's voice sounded in his ear but his mouth didn't move, except to spread into a wide grin at the sight of the lieutenant's confusion. Suddenly Braca's finger involuntarily stuck up his nostril with such force that his nose started to bleed. The sound of Crichton's laughter rang in his head.
"Oops, sorry, haven't passed my test with this thing yet. Oh man, this is just the best toy! Not quite as good as the Halosian gun when I got to play inside Aeryn's body, but definitely better than Traltixx' disappearing device or that the truth detecting lobster." John got up and walked over to Braca, hauling him to his feet. "Come on lieutenant, you and I are gonna have so much fun together!" Braca looked at him in bewilderment.
"You don't know what's going on do you? Well, I've put a sensor in the back of your neck that connects to these," he pointed at the strange oculars. "So I'm now in control of you Braca. You can't speak, move or think unless I will you to do it. It'll be just like your relationship with Scorpy, except I won't be giving the orders from the outside, I'll be inside your head." He stood nose-to-nose with Braca, "now you'll know what it's like to have a madman in your head twenty four-seven. I've put up with it for almost a cycle and believe me it can really piss you off." He clapped Braca on the back, "but hey, look on the bright side, I have a ruthless, sadistic bastard in my head, you've just got a slightly crazy astronaut with a wormhole fixation in yours!"
He propelled Braca in front of him. "Now let's find you're ship." John thought for a moment, "Marauder, landing bay 17. Great, just what we need for a little visit to High command. Got any beer on board?"
Crichton was having fun. Everything had gone smoothly at the spaceport , Grayza's ship had already left orbit and they had taken off without incident. The Marauder was pre-programmed on a course for high command. He could sit back and let the auto pilot do the work, which was a good thing as the mind-controlling device required a lot of concentration. Braca was sitting in the co-pilots chair staring out at space.
"Sorry I haven't been giving you much to do but thinking for two people at the same time is quite a challenge for a guy; multi-tasking is not usually one of our strong points." He smiled at Braca whose face responded with a strange goofy grin that made him look like something from a fifties zombie B movie.
"God, Braca, you have to get a life, man. I've been inside your head for at least 6 arns and there is nothing in here except crap about being a good Peacekeeper and getting promotion up the ranks. You cannot be normal, even for a sebaccean. I mean guys are supposed to think about sex once every six minutes and I haven't even picked up a thought of lace panties or even a leather-clad thigh." He suddenly stopped and stared intently at the Peacekeeper then moved with lightening speed across the ship to grip him by the throat. "Don't you even think about her. Aeryn is strictly off- limits. Yes, I agree that she is about the most beautiful thing in the universe, but keep your thoughts off her." He let Braca go and moved back to his own chair. "Anyway, I'm surprised that you would even think about recreating with a known criminal. The commandant would be much more up your street. A far likelier route for sleeping your way to a promotion." The stricken lieutenant almost snarled in frustration and Crichton knew he had hit a nerve. "Ah women, Braca, don't understand 'em, can't live without 'em!" With that he closed his eyes and they both went to sleep.
The Marauder quickly ate up the distance to the Peacekeeper's home planet. As they came closer to the headquarters the security checks became more and more frequent. Crichton soon realised that without Braca, with his orders to report to high command, he would not have even made it into this star system.
Finally the planet came up on the sensors. This was a whole planet devoted to the military command of the Peacekeepers. It was the size of Jupiter and covered almost entirely with military installations, from vast landing areas big enough to take several command carriers to huge administration buildings. As they flew over it Crichton experienced a myriad of emotions; from awe at the sheer might of the Peacekeeper's military capability to almost paralysing fear at what he was about to do.
They cleared the final security check and came in to land. There was no going back now.
When Braca regained consciousness his head was fuzzy and he had a pain in the back of his neck.
"Ah, so you're awake. Let's see whether this thing is as good as that red frog said it was," said a voice in his ear. He tried to shake his head to clear it but couldn't seem to move. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light he saw Crichton sitting across from him wearing what appeared to be a pair of double oculars.
"Now what would be a good test," Crichton's voice sounded in his ear but his mouth didn't move, except to spread into a wide grin at the sight of the lieutenant's confusion. Suddenly Braca's finger involuntarily stuck up his nostril with such force that his nose started to bleed. The sound of Crichton's laughter rang in his head.
"Oops, sorry, haven't passed my test with this thing yet. Oh man, this is just the best toy! Not quite as good as the Halosian gun when I got to play inside Aeryn's body, but definitely better than Traltixx' disappearing device or that the truth detecting lobster." John got up and walked over to Braca, hauling him to his feet. "Come on lieutenant, you and I are gonna have so much fun together!" Braca looked at him in bewilderment.
"You don't know what's going on do you? Well, I've put a sensor in the back of your neck that connects to these," he pointed at the strange oculars. "So I'm now in control of you Braca. You can't speak, move or think unless I will you to do it. It'll be just like your relationship with Scorpy, except I won't be giving the orders from the outside, I'll be inside your head." He stood nose-to-nose with Braca, "now you'll know what it's like to have a madman in your head twenty four-seven. I've put up with it for almost a cycle and believe me it can really piss you off." He clapped Braca on the back, "but hey, look on the bright side, I have a ruthless, sadistic bastard in my head, you've just got a slightly crazy astronaut with a wormhole fixation in yours!"
He propelled Braca in front of him. "Now let's find you're ship." John thought for a moment, "Marauder, landing bay 17. Great, just what we need for a little visit to High command. Got any beer on board?"
Crichton was having fun. Everything had gone smoothly at the spaceport , Grayza's ship had already left orbit and they had taken off without incident. The Marauder was pre-programmed on a course for high command. He could sit back and let the auto pilot do the work, which was a good thing as the mind-controlling device required a lot of concentration. Braca was sitting in the co-pilots chair staring out at space.
"Sorry I haven't been giving you much to do but thinking for two people at the same time is quite a challenge for a guy; multi-tasking is not usually one of our strong points." He smiled at Braca whose face responded with a strange goofy grin that made him look like something from a fifties zombie B movie.
"God, Braca, you have to get a life, man. I've been inside your head for at least 6 arns and there is nothing in here except crap about being a good Peacekeeper and getting promotion up the ranks. You cannot be normal, even for a sebaccean. I mean guys are supposed to think about sex once every six minutes and I haven't even picked up a thought of lace panties or even a leather-clad thigh." He suddenly stopped and stared intently at the Peacekeeper then moved with lightening speed across the ship to grip him by the throat. "Don't you even think about her. Aeryn is strictly off- limits. Yes, I agree that she is about the most beautiful thing in the universe, but keep your thoughts off her." He let Braca go and moved back to his own chair. "Anyway, I'm surprised that you would even think about recreating with a known criminal. The commandant would be much more up your street. A far likelier route for sleeping your way to a promotion." The stricken lieutenant almost snarled in frustration and Crichton knew he had hit a nerve. "Ah women, Braca, don't understand 'em, can't live without 'em!" With that he closed his eyes and they both went to sleep.
The Marauder quickly ate up the distance to the Peacekeeper's home planet. As they came closer to the headquarters the security checks became more and more frequent. Crichton soon realised that without Braca, with his orders to report to high command, he would not have even made it into this star system.
Finally the planet came up on the sensors. This was a whole planet devoted to the military command of the Peacekeepers. It was the size of Jupiter and covered almost entirely with military installations, from vast landing areas big enough to take several command carriers to huge administration buildings. As they flew over it Crichton experienced a myriad of emotions; from awe at the sheer might of the Peacekeeper's military capability to almost paralysing fear at what he was about to do.
They cleared the final security check and came in to land. There was no going back now.