"Apparitions" Time: Twenty-five cycles after Dog With Two Bones

Disclaimer: I didn't create Farscape, didn't create the characters and don't make a plug nickel off of it.

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Part Twelve: A Dream Beyond My Sight (Vanessa.)

While Mattis continued working on the Farscape module, I tried to help Dad work on the phase stabilizer. I emphasize the word tried; I was still dwelling on the fact that I failed to question Jack's authenticity. Mom and Dad had told me that Furlow had killed Jack. Knowing this, I hadn't questioned his sudden appearance on Moya. Telling myself that Stark hadn't questioned it either didn't make me feel better.

"He was definitely reconfiguring the stabilizer into a displacement engine," Dad said. "I bet he was planning on high-tailing it back to Bia'thera after reinstalling it on the module. His Peacekeeper buddies would have been falling all over themselves thanking him. He didn't ask for partanium, did he?"

"No, no partanium."

"Good. Partanium radiation's what killed the other John way back when. We'll have to rig up some kind of isolation chamber when we have to load it."

"We'll need a rad suit, too. The environmental suits won't do it."

"Good thought." Dad glanced up from his work. "Are you okay?"

"Fine. Why?"

"Oh, no reason." He watched me for another microt then returned to his work.

A microt later, he leaned forward. "Hey, what does this say?" He lifted a small component. ".the hell? Made in Taiwan?" Dad waited for me to react to his joke, or at least ask where Taiwan was. When I didn't, he put down the component and sighed. "All right, Vanessa. What's on your mind?"

I looked at him and sighed. "Nothing's on my mind, Dad. Why?"

"Well, you look like your cat just died. You're still bothered by what happened with Jack, right?"

"Maybe just a little." The look on Dad's face told me he didn't believe me. "Okay, maybe more than just a little. I always thought I was more observant. You and Mom told me Jack was dead, yet when someone pretending to be him appeared on Moya, I didn't even question it."

"Neither did Stark, and he was there when it happened. Besides, we told you something like a dozen cycles ago."

"That just doesn't make me feel better, Dad."

"Is dwelling on it making you feel better? Look, there have been plenty of times when I missed the obvious until it kicked me in the teeth. Did I ever tell you about the first time we encountered the Pathfinders?"

"Chi told me about it. Stark still gets emotional over the whole affair. He still stresses over losing Zhaan."

"Did she mention that I was so obsessed with wormholes, and helping people who knew more about them than I did that I missed the fact that they were sabotaging Moya in an attempt to save their own ship? The point, Vanessa, is that sometimes we're so concerned about the big picture that we miss the little details."

"It's the little details that can make a mission a success or cause it to go fahrbot."

"True, but dwelling on the details after the fact isn't going to make things any better. It'll only give you agita."

Now that I'd never heard before. "Excuse me?"

"Forget it. Let's get."

The sound of an engine starting up cut Dad off. We looked across the maintenance bay to where Mattis had been working. From what I could tell, it seemed to be functioning normally. Sitting in the cockpit, Mattis looked insufferably pleased with himself, and even the DRDs seemed happy. "The greatest technician in all the Uncharted Territories has succeeded yet again!"

"We'll ignore the fact that the DRDs did all the work," I called out. As Dad and I walked over to the module, I said, "Thanks for the talk, Dad. I guess I do tend to dwell on the little dren and take things too personally."

"You get that from me," he said. "Just a chip off the old block."

I frowned at that. Dad still managed to come up with phrases I'd never heard. I just shrugged at this one. "Daddy's little girl," I said. "You know, I have a dream that I'd like to see come true one of these days. I'd like to see more than just the few of us living on Moya, a group of people who would be able to help me lend a hand to people who need it."

"You already do that, Vanessa."

"Yeah, but sometimes it's hard with just the few of us. I'd like to have more fighters, more technicians and definitely more doctors. Moya's so big that she'd easily support a larger group."

"That's a good dream. Definitely one should shoot for. Maybe after all this is over, we can see what we can do to make it come true."

"We'll see. I sometimes think that it's always going to be just out of reach."

"Dreams can keep you going through the bad times. We'll see what we can do."

I watched Mattis climb from the module as Dad nodded in appreciation. "You do good work. I would've bet the module wouldn't have held together much longer."

"Thank you, sir. I took the opportunity to make a few upgrades on a couple of systems. When you take it out, you'll notice the response time is a little faster."

Dad nodded again and climbed in. He checked a couple of indicators and smiled. "Outstanding. Do we have time for a test flight?"

"I don't know. Pilot, how long until Moya can starburst again?"

"The DRDs require another two arns to complete the repairs."

I watched Mom and Chiana walk up. "Okay. We're gonna take Dad's module out for a little test flight."

I started to climb into the rear seat, but Dad reached back and stopped me. "Why don't you fly the module? I'll take the back seat."

A couple of different dreams began to run through my mind as I stared at him. "I can't fly this."

"Yes, you can," Mom said as she patted me on the shoulder. "It may have been a while, but your father did teach you to fly the module."

I looked from Mom to Dad, feeling at a loss for words. What do I tell them? "Well, Mom, Dad, I had a dream that I was piloting the module, opened a wormhole and killed everyone." I'm sure they would take away my pulse pistol and locked me in my quarters with only my DRD for company.

But I couldn't come up with any logical reason to not fly the module. Any complaints would be pointless and sound childish. So I sighed and shrugged. "Let me get a set of oculars."

My initial uneasy feelings faded as soon as we were clear. Five microt after that, I was screaming in joy and unbridled enthusiasm as I put the module through a series of maneuvers ahead of Moya. I could hear Dad laugh, too, which made me feel even better.

"This is fantastic," I called out. "I'll never take Mattis's skills for granted again!"

"Yeah, he does seem to have some skills." Dad was quiet for a moment, and I could hear him tapping his fingers on the back of the seat. "So, you and Mattis are a couple, huh."

I glanced back at him. "Yeah, we are. What do you think of him?"

"He seems to be a good man. Chiana likes him, and Pilot says Moya's systems are functioning better with him onboard."

"He loves being on Moya. He kind of drifts back and forth when it comes to Crais."

"Yeah, well, I was kind of waffling on Crais for a while, too. So that's.uh-oh."

Attention signals sounded, cutting Dad off. I threw a few switches and frowned at the indicators. "What're you reading?"

"Sensors are picking up the first indications of electron diffusion, almost as if."

Mattis's anxious voice sounded in my ears. "Vanessa, be careful! Something's happening off the treblin side!"

"Wormhole," Dad muttered. "It's a wormhole. It'll be here right.about.now!"

I looked in the indicated direction and saw space twisting onto itself. As the wormhole formed up, I pulled the module into a tight turn back toward Moya. "Frell. A wormhole showed up right before Jack appeared. Mattis, have everyone keep an eye out for unexpected visitors."

"Another Ancient? Someone to complete the job Jack started?"

"God, I hope not," Dad said.

The comm clicked and Mom's voice came from the speakers. "Tashina and I are in the maintenance bay. No sigh of.wait! Over there! Who's the.what the frell?"

"Mom?"

"Aeryn?"

Tashina sounded disgusted. "I am getting tired of people appearing out of nowhere!"

"I couldn't agree more, Tashina." I began my approach to Moya's landing bay. "Were the Ancients like this when you dealt with them, Dad?"

"You tell me: They created an entire simulation designed to make me think I had found a way back to Earth. The details were perfect. It fell apart when I realized the same people kept turning up time after time, no matter what the situation. It really went to pieces when I tried to go someplace that I didn't know. When I figured it out and confronted Jack about it, there was no sense of regret or remorse. Think they care about how we feel?"

"You're right. Save me from holier-than-god aliens."

"Well, the re-engineered subspecies of a holier-than-god alien race. But that's not important right now."

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As the canopy swung up, I climbed out of the module and drew my pulse pistol. Across the maintenance bay, Mom and Tashina had their pistols drawn on an older woman, wearing the uniform of a Peacekeeper Senior Officer. She appeared completely at ease with a little smile on her face.

As Dad and I approached, Mattis and Chiana ran into the bay with weapons drawn. "Pilot, what's the status of the wormhole?"

"It's not a wormhole, Vanessa. It's another signpost."

The woman turned to me, and her smile grew slightly. "I had to make sure I had your attention."

Mom sounded disgusted as she spoke. "Well, you have it. Don't you Ancients know how to appear as anyone else but family members?"

"Who's she supposed to be, Mom?"

"She's apparently Senior Officer Xhalax Sun. My mother."

"Oh." So that's what Xhalax Sun looked like. From what Mom told me about her, she was a real hard case. I wondered how close the Ancient's behavior would be to the original.

Xhalax looked at the array of pistols. "Are your weapons really necessary?"

"Considering the last Ancient we dealt with deceived us and was working with the Peacekeepers, I think our reaction is justified." Mattis stepped up next to Mom. "Why don't you tell us why you're here?"

"The Ancient who called himself Jack is the reason I'm here. Until just recently, we were unaware of his activities. I was dispatched to stop him."

"You're a day late and a dollar short," Dad said. "He's been dealt with."

The Ancient looked uncertain. "You stopped him?"

"Shocking the twists and turns life throws at you, isn't it?" I holstered my pistol. "So you're here to do what?"

"He was helping lower societies develop wormhole technology. Given how such unskilled travel can disrupt the reality of this plane, assisting in the development of the technology is strictly forbidden." She looked around and spotted the phase stabilizer on its workbench. "You have a phase stabilizer?"

"That was built a number of cycles ago, but it still works. Probably." Dad watched her, suspicion clear in his eyes. "So you're here to stop the Peacekeeper and the Pathfinders?"

Xhalax nodded once. "Can I count on your cooperation?"

"What if we say no?"

"Then I'll do it myself. It would be easier with your assistance."

Dad holstered his pistol and planted his hands on his hips. "Would you be annoyed if we took some time to discuss this?"

"Don't take too much time," she said.

"We won't. Tashina, please show our guest to the cells. Then meet us in Command." Her pulse pistol never moved as she waved Xhalax out of the bay.

I watched them leave and felt myself relax. "This just keeps getting better and better."

"Par for the course here on Moya," Chiana said. "So what do we do now?"

"Part of me wants the let the Ancient worry about it," Mattis said. "We almost lost Vanessa because of this whole affair. If we're to continue, then we should do so with extreme caution."

"No argument there," Mom said. "I don't suppose we could have Talyn simply level the base."

"I'm sure Tashina would support that wholeheartedly." I began to pace. "What about all the people assigned to the base who aren't directly involved with the project? What about them?"

"We're talking about Peacekeepers here, Vanessa," Chiana said as we started out of the maintenance bay. "D'you think they'd worry about us?"

Mom exchanged a look with Mattis. "That's an old argument, Chiana," she said. "Not all Peacekeepers are mindless grunts, as you well know."

"Present company excluded, of course. Look, we're talking about a Gammak base, not a command carrier. There aren't as many people to worry about."

Dad looked almost disgusted. "So fewer people makes it all right? That's cold, Pip."

"Then we'll give them time to evacuate. Anyway, you weren't too concerned with the people who weren't able to evacuate from Scorpius's command carrier twenty-five cycles ago. I don't recall you shedding any tears for them."

Mom sighed deeply. "She's right, John. We may not have any choice but to level the base."

I could tell Dad wasn't happy with the proposal. "All right, fine. But we find another way first. Something else we should consider is a source of partanium. If we finish converting the phase stabilizer to a displacement engine, we'll need the partanium to power it."

"One problem at a time, Dad." I slipped closer to Mattis and closed my eyes. My dreams seemed to be drifting farther out of reach.

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TO BE CONTINUED