Part 2: Close encounters of every kind
At the very least, Jack Crichton had been true to his word. No scientists had been allowed on board, much to the disappointment of IASA (not to mention the US government, NASA, SETI and virtually every alien-related body on planet Earth). Between them, Crais and the DRDs had repaired much of the damage to Talyn and transmitted virtually every piece of information they had that pertained to Crichton to IASA command. It left him nothing to do but entertain his guests. A task that he was finding extremely taxing. He'd all but given up trying to supervise them all, since they all insisted on wandering off in different directions without any warning and had instead given Talyn strict instructions to monitor them closely. This did not improve his mood.
The guests comprised Jack Crichton, DK, Beth Danner and two women who had been introduced to him as Crichton's sisters. That had surprised him, he'd been unaware that Crichton had any siblings. Jo and Jessica Crichton were as unlike John (and each other) as Crais could imagine. Jo was apparently involved in the study of some kind of aquatic mammal, was intensely shy and seemed completely overwhelmed by Talyn. Jessica, on the other hand, was evidently used to being in charge and seemed set to take over Talyn if he gave her half a chance. Having an instinctive dislike of people who questioned his authority and an equal lack of patience for dealing with timid ones, he was finding it difficult to warm to either of them.
And neither of them seemed to enjoy being in space much. By contrast, Jack, DK and Beth were in heaven. All thoughts of rank and protocol had been abandoned and the three of them were acting like third-graders on a trip to the zoo. Everything was exciting, everything was interesting. It was like having three John Crichtons on board, only amplified. Which was another reason why he had given up chaperoning them.
Wearily, Crais made his way back to command. If he could get no work done while they were here, at least he could escape their inane conversation. He could speak to Talyn instead, who would be sure to have something intelligent to say.
"Will they come back with us?" was Talyn's first question.
Crais closed his eyes for a second. "Talyn...we may never be able to get back to where we were before. Even with almost continuous starbursts, the distance may well take longer than my lifetime to traverse. I...cannot guarantee that you will ever see your mother again."
Talyn's lights dimmed in sadness.
"Even if we manage to return to our part of the galaxy, these humans do not belong there. Crichton's arrival was a mistake, they are not prepared. Nor do we belong here."
Just out of sight beside the doors that Talyn had left open, Jack Crichton slowly exhaled. What was it that they were not ready for? What was the world his son inhabited like?
***
When Crais returned to his quarters, he was beyond irritated to find Jessica Crichton sitting at his desk.
"What are you doing in my quarters?" he demanded, not in the mood for pleasantries.
She shrugged, a very Crichton-like gesture. "Just looking around a bit. Talyn let me in. He seemed to think you might enjoy having me here." She tossed the info-pad she had been studying onto his desk as she stood up, not looking in the least apologetic for invading his privacy.
"He was mistaken. Leave."
"You know, this is a pretty interesting place," Jessica commented, leaning against the edge of his desk and crossing her arms, looking for all the world like these were her quarters and he was the one intruding. "You really live here?" she asked, her eyes glancing over the room.
"I do," Crais answer, mouth tight with tension. "You, however, do not. Either leave voluntarily or I will evict you - forcibly."
She stepped closer and her eyes gleamed. "That sounds like it could be fun," she murmured.
Crais jerked back, caught off guard. "What?"
"I said," she repeated, moving round him in a slow circle, examining him from every angle as if he were a potential purchase, "that sounds like fun."
Crais turned his head to look at her just as she leaned closer. Their faces were so close that Crais could feel her warm breath on his face. Their eyes met. His lips curved into a smirk. "Oh, I assure you, I would take great pleasure in throwing you out."
She gave him a smug grin. "I'm sure you would, Captain, but I doubt you could manage it."
"You are not afraid of...aliens," Crais observed, half insulted that she didn't find him in the least intimidating.
Jessica laughed, moving a little away from him. "Green, slimy things with big heads and no mouths - yeah. Intergalactic hotties who look like they've stepped right out of Sci Fi Magazine's sexiest men issue- no. I can't see alien in you, just...man. And that...I like."
Crais made no comment, but his eyes followed her.
"How long have you been on Talyn?" Jessica strolled back to the desk and slid back onto it, tilting her head in question as she looked back at him.
"Two cycles," Crais stated, half wondering why he was continuing the conversation, instead of following through on his threat to throw her out.
"Like two years?"
"I believe so."
"Alone?" He'd never met anyone else who could pack that much innuendo into a single word, not even Chiana.
"For the most part. Crichton and some others from Moya resided on board for several monens," he replied, refusing to rise to the bait.
Jessica arched one eyebrow, running her tongue over her lips. "You know that's not what I meant."
"The answer is the same regardless."
"John can keep the space exploration, I never wanted to do that. But if the life out there is all like you...I'm happy to see it come to Earth. And...invade us."
Crais smiled grimly. "If you had seen what I have seen, you would not believe that. Very few species, including my own, would come to you in peace."
"Make love, not war." She tossed the words casually into the air.
"What?" Crais asked, despite himself.
"Something they used to say in the sixties. Make love as in...sex. I always thought it was good advice. Some of our world leaders could use more of it, maybe then they wouldn't keep fighting amongst themselves."
Now Crais was the one to approach her. "You still have not given me a reason for being here."
"You still haven't given me a reason to leave," she shot back.
"Other than ordering you out of my quarters?" Crais enquired, wondering why he was suddenly playing her game.
"I like it when men try to order me about," Jessica said, smiling smugly at him. "It makes it better when I get them wrapped around my little finger." She laughed at the look of confusion that flashed briefly across Crais' face. "When I get them to take orders from me," she explained.
"I will never take orders from you. This is *my* ship and you will do as I tell you," Crais snapped, giving her one of his dark, smouldering looks and unknowingly playing right into her court.
Jessica locked eyes with Crais, who was now standing in front of her. "Make me," she challenged him.
One of Crais' strong hands flashed out and pulled her head to his, kissing her fiercely until her heart slammed in her chest. She mirrored his action, revelling in the feel of his tongue entwined with hers, giving as good as she got.
Crais broke off the kiss abruptly, his own breathing heavy, all too conscious of the needs he'd been forced to push to the side one too many times. "If...anyone of your party saw this...they would believe you were insane," he grunted, not letting go of her, his fingers tangled in her sandy hair. Jessica looked right back at him, her long fingers nimbly undoing the binding around his hair, no intention of backing either down or out. "I'm a big girl now," she whispered, barely an inch separating her lips and his. "I don't need my daddy to choose the guys I see. And if my brother can screw an alien, so can I."
Crais raised an eyebrow, making no effort to move away. "Screw?" he enquired, guessing easily what she meant.
"I'll illustrate it for you," Jessica replied, pulling Crais back to her, wrapping her legs around his waist as he closed the gap between their bodies. "In Technicolour."
***
Jack and Beth were standing on Talyn's terrace. It had been slowly developing over the last few monens, Crais being too involved with other concerns to investigate anything that didn't offer tactical advantage. Both of them were almost beyond words at the beauty of what they were seeing. Unlike Jack, Beth had never been into space before, the diabetes that she had suffered from since she was eighteen had disqualified her from astronaut training. It had been the bitterest disappointment of her life.
"I never dreamed that I'd live to see this," she said softly, gazing in awe at the star-studded velvet that was outer space. "It was my life's ambition." She chuckled dryly. "I suppose I can die happy now."
Jack looked at her in surprise. "You're not that old," he protested.
"I'm not that young," Beth replied, shoulders heaving as she sighed. "IASA have been hinting that it's time to retire properly. Let someone younger take command. I'll have to take up lawn bowls and bingo. I can't imagine not hunting aliens anymore. But...at least I lasted long enough to see this."
Jack took a slow breath, suddenly feeling his own mortality. He was older than Beth and he didn't feel anymore ready to retire than she did. He couldn't afford to get old, not when it might take years for John to make his way home.
"Why did you never marry?" he asked, seemingly out of the blue. It was a question he'd wanted to ask her for most of the last twenty years.
Beth smiled wistfully. "Because the only man I ever wanted to marry chose someone else."
"He must have been a fool," Jack said gruffly.
Beth smiled properly, deciding that she was too old for games and secrets. "You shouldn't put yourself down like that," she teased gently.
It took Jack a moment to realise what she was saying. "Me?" he asked, amazed. In thirty years, he'd never had the slightest idea.
Beth smiled at him affectionately. "You won't remember it, but I do. I was in college and interning at IASA for the summer. There I was, twenty years old. Feeling like a mature woman half the time and a child playing dress-up the other half. And there you were. Jack Crichton, the famous astronaut. Not to mention lady-killer, with that smile and those baby blue eyes. You smiled at me once as you were walking down the corridor and I went red as a tomato and dropped the files I was carrying all over the floor. You stopped to help me and I was so tongue-tied I could barely say thanks. I had the hugest crush on you all that summer."
She looked away from him, back out at the stars. "It wasn't until we met again, almost ten years later, that I could look you in the eye without blushing. And that's when I fell in love with you. Of course, by then you'd married Frances and had John and Jessica...it was too late."
Jack stood, staring at her, speechless.
"Still...I don't know if it would have worked out anyway. Both of us are so space-mad...and we were so focused on our careers. Still, I wish we'd had a chance to find out."
"What's wrong with now?" Jack asked finally, his voice cracking slightly with emotion.
Beth turned back to him, looking uncertain. "You don't think we're a bit old for the dinner and a movie routine?"
"No," Jack said, feeling ridiculously like he was about fourteen again. "No, I don't."
***
DK sat in Talyn's galley, trying to record a message for Crichton. Crais had given him what looked like a space-age video camera so he could say a few words. Crais had warned him that he could not guarantee the message would ever reach Crichton. Yet, somehow, DK knew that it would. But how could he say even a fraction of what he wanted to tell his friend on this tape?
He cleared his throat and tried, for the tenth time, to find a place to begin.
"Hi John, it's me, DK. I'm...sitting here, on this incredible ship, trying to think of how to tell you everything that you've missed. I don't think I can. I don't know where you are, or what you're doing, or if you're safe, or if you're happy. I don't know if you'll be home tomorrow...or never. I just wanted to let you know that we're not giving up hope. When you come home...we'll be here. Waiting to give you the hero's welcome."
"I can't fill you in on everything that's happened over the past three years, but I thought you might like to know something. Remember Julie? The one you set me up with and I told you I'd never get on with? Well...we got married last year. In a few months we're having a baby. If it's a boy, we're going to call him John. And he could use his uncle here."
"One more thing. I won't tell you who won the Superbowl. You'll have to come home to find out."
DK stopped the tape.
***
The little creature prodded her foot. Jo Crichton knelt down beside the DRD and tried to think what it could be trying to tell her. Although an expert in non-verbal communication from her work with dolphins, she'd never encountered lifeforms like these. She couldn't decide if they were robots or living animals.
"I don't understand you," she said shyly, as the DRD prodded her foot again. "Can you show me?"
The DRD glided along the floor, making her feel as if she was playing with a remote-control car. It took off down the corridor, Jo following it uncertainly. This ship was huge and the layout was complex. She didn't want to get lost. She especially didn't want to incur the wrath of its alien captain, who intimidated her intensely. A part of her wished she had Jessica's confidence with strangers, even if it did tend to get her into trouble.
When the DRD finally stopped, Jo found herself staring at what appeared to be an exposed pipe. It was leaking a white vapour into the ship. That could not be good.
"Umm...what do I do?" she wondered out loud. Clutching at straws, she settled on the same method Crichton preferred. "Blink once for yes, twice for no, okay?"
It blinked once.
"Do you know where the...Captain...is?"
One blink.
"Can you tell him about this?"
Two blinks.
"Why not?" Jo asked, realising even as she said it that the thing couldn't answer her. "Is he...occupied?"
One blink.
"I don't know how to fix this," she whispered in frustration, stroking Talyn's flesh around the wound. Repair a living space ship? She couldn't even programme her VCR. "Can you...can you show me how?"
Two blinks.
Jo twisted a strand of her curly hair, that had escaped from her high pony-tail, around her finger, trying to think of a solution. "Can you bring me the tool I would need to mend the hole?"
It blinked once and immediately set off down the corridor. Jo opened her mouth to call after it, then closed it again. Instead she leant her back against the wall, slid down it and bowed her head. There wasn't much she could do until it returned. It couldn't be too important, otherwise the creature would have disturbed the Captain - whatever he was doing. She could only wait.
Sitting there in silence, she began to notice the sounds around her. Being trained to distinguish between different calls, albeit from a slightly different animal, she set to work trying to decipher the messages Talyn was sending out. More than anything, she thought he sounded lonely. Of course, she could be reading him all wrong.
"Talyn?" she said out loud, feeling a little silly talking to the ceiling. "Talyn...do you miss your mother?"
He made another sound. It echoed all around her. A cross between a sigh, a groan and a computer powering down. One she could decipher easily enough.
"Talyn...I don't know how you got here...astrophysics was never really my best subject," she said, smiling into space, "but I'm sure that you can figure out how to get back. I have faith that this will all work out for you." She laughed, half at herself. "I guess I just believe in happy endings."
Talyn made a sound she couldn't have described, but it almost seemed like he was smiling at her.
Jo sat there, conscious of the fact that she was not alone and comforted by it. Eventually the DRD she had been speaking to earlier returned and, by a combination of instinct and nudges from the DRD, she managed to stop the leak. She couldn't help a small feeling of pride at her accomplishment. "Note to self," she murmured, "have another go at figuring out the VCR."
The DRD prodded her foot again and Jo looked down at it. "What now? Don't tell me there's another one?"
It trundled away down the corridor and she followed it, wondering what it wanted her to do now. This time it led her through a maze of corridors, until she knew she couldn't possibly find her way back on her own. She only hoped this wasn't one of the areas that the Captain had declared off-limits. She didn't fancy facing him if he was angry.
They reached a door and the DRD came to a halt outside it. Jo was just wondering how they could get through when it slid open by itself. She stepped through the doorway, unconsciously holding her breath.
She was in a room she hadn't been allowed into before. There was a viewscreen at the far end, showing Earth in all its glory. Closer to her were panels and consoles. "This must be command," she whispered. Now she knew she was in trouble, they'd all been strictly forbidden from coming here, except for the escorted visit Crais had allowed Jack. She was more conscious of Talyn's sounds here than anywhere else on the ship. Although he was everywhere, it was almost as if he was centred in this room.
She noticed a panel above her head and reached out a hand to touch it. Talyn made a sound that might almost have been a purr. Jo smiled, continuing to stroke him like she would a cat. Except she couldn't quite reach to tickle under his chin.
Her attention was suddenly caught by something she was quite sure hadn't been there before. A strange metallic claw, attached to a long cord, that looked for all the world like the poles park attendants use to pick up rubbish. She dropped to her knees to take a closer look at it, wondering what it could possibly be.
The DRD that had brought her flashed its lights at her and she turned to it. It slowly turned in a half cycle until it was facing away from her. She frowned at it in confusion, not understanding what it was trying to tell her. It turned back to her, flashed its eyes again and repeated the gesture. "You want me...to turn around?" she asked finally, at a loss to explain its reasoning.
The DRD blinked once.
Shrugging, not sure what was happening, Jo did as it wanted. A second later, her screams echoed through Talyn's passageways.
At the very least, Jack Crichton had been true to his word. No scientists had been allowed on board, much to the disappointment of IASA (not to mention the US government, NASA, SETI and virtually every alien-related body on planet Earth). Between them, Crais and the DRDs had repaired much of the damage to Talyn and transmitted virtually every piece of information they had that pertained to Crichton to IASA command. It left him nothing to do but entertain his guests. A task that he was finding extremely taxing. He'd all but given up trying to supervise them all, since they all insisted on wandering off in different directions without any warning and had instead given Talyn strict instructions to monitor them closely. This did not improve his mood.
The guests comprised Jack Crichton, DK, Beth Danner and two women who had been introduced to him as Crichton's sisters. That had surprised him, he'd been unaware that Crichton had any siblings. Jo and Jessica Crichton were as unlike John (and each other) as Crais could imagine. Jo was apparently involved in the study of some kind of aquatic mammal, was intensely shy and seemed completely overwhelmed by Talyn. Jessica, on the other hand, was evidently used to being in charge and seemed set to take over Talyn if he gave her half a chance. Having an instinctive dislike of people who questioned his authority and an equal lack of patience for dealing with timid ones, he was finding it difficult to warm to either of them.
And neither of them seemed to enjoy being in space much. By contrast, Jack, DK and Beth were in heaven. All thoughts of rank and protocol had been abandoned and the three of them were acting like third-graders on a trip to the zoo. Everything was exciting, everything was interesting. It was like having three John Crichtons on board, only amplified. Which was another reason why he had given up chaperoning them.
Wearily, Crais made his way back to command. If he could get no work done while they were here, at least he could escape their inane conversation. He could speak to Talyn instead, who would be sure to have something intelligent to say.
"Will they come back with us?" was Talyn's first question.
Crais closed his eyes for a second. "Talyn...we may never be able to get back to where we were before. Even with almost continuous starbursts, the distance may well take longer than my lifetime to traverse. I...cannot guarantee that you will ever see your mother again."
Talyn's lights dimmed in sadness.
"Even if we manage to return to our part of the galaxy, these humans do not belong there. Crichton's arrival was a mistake, they are not prepared. Nor do we belong here."
Just out of sight beside the doors that Talyn had left open, Jack Crichton slowly exhaled. What was it that they were not ready for? What was the world his son inhabited like?
***
When Crais returned to his quarters, he was beyond irritated to find Jessica Crichton sitting at his desk.
"What are you doing in my quarters?" he demanded, not in the mood for pleasantries.
She shrugged, a very Crichton-like gesture. "Just looking around a bit. Talyn let me in. He seemed to think you might enjoy having me here." She tossed the info-pad she had been studying onto his desk as she stood up, not looking in the least apologetic for invading his privacy.
"He was mistaken. Leave."
"You know, this is a pretty interesting place," Jessica commented, leaning against the edge of his desk and crossing her arms, looking for all the world like these were her quarters and he was the one intruding. "You really live here?" she asked, her eyes glancing over the room.
"I do," Crais answer, mouth tight with tension. "You, however, do not. Either leave voluntarily or I will evict you - forcibly."
She stepped closer and her eyes gleamed. "That sounds like it could be fun," she murmured.
Crais jerked back, caught off guard. "What?"
"I said," she repeated, moving round him in a slow circle, examining him from every angle as if he were a potential purchase, "that sounds like fun."
Crais turned his head to look at her just as she leaned closer. Their faces were so close that Crais could feel her warm breath on his face. Their eyes met. His lips curved into a smirk. "Oh, I assure you, I would take great pleasure in throwing you out."
She gave him a smug grin. "I'm sure you would, Captain, but I doubt you could manage it."
"You are not afraid of...aliens," Crais observed, half insulted that she didn't find him in the least intimidating.
Jessica laughed, moving a little away from him. "Green, slimy things with big heads and no mouths - yeah. Intergalactic hotties who look like they've stepped right out of Sci Fi Magazine's sexiest men issue- no. I can't see alien in you, just...man. And that...I like."
Crais made no comment, but his eyes followed her.
"How long have you been on Talyn?" Jessica strolled back to the desk and slid back onto it, tilting her head in question as she looked back at him.
"Two cycles," Crais stated, half wondering why he was continuing the conversation, instead of following through on his threat to throw her out.
"Like two years?"
"I believe so."
"Alone?" He'd never met anyone else who could pack that much innuendo into a single word, not even Chiana.
"For the most part. Crichton and some others from Moya resided on board for several monens," he replied, refusing to rise to the bait.
Jessica arched one eyebrow, running her tongue over her lips. "You know that's not what I meant."
"The answer is the same regardless."
"John can keep the space exploration, I never wanted to do that. But if the life out there is all like you...I'm happy to see it come to Earth. And...invade us."
Crais smiled grimly. "If you had seen what I have seen, you would not believe that. Very few species, including my own, would come to you in peace."
"Make love, not war." She tossed the words casually into the air.
"What?" Crais asked, despite himself.
"Something they used to say in the sixties. Make love as in...sex. I always thought it was good advice. Some of our world leaders could use more of it, maybe then they wouldn't keep fighting amongst themselves."
Now Crais was the one to approach her. "You still have not given me a reason for being here."
"You still haven't given me a reason to leave," she shot back.
"Other than ordering you out of my quarters?" Crais enquired, wondering why he was suddenly playing her game.
"I like it when men try to order me about," Jessica said, smiling smugly at him. "It makes it better when I get them wrapped around my little finger." She laughed at the look of confusion that flashed briefly across Crais' face. "When I get them to take orders from me," she explained.
"I will never take orders from you. This is *my* ship and you will do as I tell you," Crais snapped, giving her one of his dark, smouldering looks and unknowingly playing right into her court.
Jessica locked eyes with Crais, who was now standing in front of her. "Make me," she challenged him.
One of Crais' strong hands flashed out and pulled her head to his, kissing her fiercely until her heart slammed in her chest. She mirrored his action, revelling in the feel of his tongue entwined with hers, giving as good as she got.
Crais broke off the kiss abruptly, his own breathing heavy, all too conscious of the needs he'd been forced to push to the side one too many times. "If...anyone of your party saw this...they would believe you were insane," he grunted, not letting go of her, his fingers tangled in her sandy hair. Jessica looked right back at him, her long fingers nimbly undoing the binding around his hair, no intention of backing either down or out. "I'm a big girl now," she whispered, barely an inch separating her lips and his. "I don't need my daddy to choose the guys I see. And if my brother can screw an alien, so can I."
Crais raised an eyebrow, making no effort to move away. "Screw?" he enquired, guessing easily what she meant.
"I'll illustrate it for you," Jessica replied, pulling Crais back to her, wrapping her legs around his waist as he closed the gap between their bodies. "In Technicolour."
***
Jack and Beth were standing on Talyn's terrace. It had been slowly developing over the last few monens, Crais being too involved with other concerns to investigate anything that didn't offer tactical advantage. Both of them were almost beyond words at the beauty of what they were seeing. Unlike Jack, Beth had never been into space before, the diabetes that she had suffered from since she was eighteen had disqualified her from astronaut training. It had been the bitterest disappointment of her life.
"I never dreamed that I'd live to see this," she said softly, gazing in awe at the star-studded velvet that was outer space. "It was my life's ambition." She chuckled dryly. "I suppose I can die happy now."
Jack looked at her in surprise. "You're not that old," he protested.
"I'm not that young," Beth replied, shoulders heaving as she sighed. "IASA have been hinting that it's time to retire properly. Let someone younger take command. I'll have to take up lawn bowls and bingo. I can't imagine not hunting aliens anymore. But...at least I lasted long enough to see this."
Jack took a slow breath, suddenly feeling his own mortality. He was older than Beth and he didn't feel anymore ready to retire than she did. He couldn't afford to get old, not when it might take years for John to make his way home.
"Why did you never marry?" he asked, seemingly out of the blue. It was a question he'd wanted to ask her for most of the last twenty years.
Beth smiled wistfully. "Because the only man I ever wanted to marry chose someone else."
"He must have been a fool," Jack said gruffly.
Beth smiled properly, deciding that she was too old for games and secrets. "You shouldn't put yourself down like that," she teased gently.
It took Jack a moment to realise what she was saying. "Me?" he asked, amazed. In thirty years, he'd never had the slightest idea.
Beth smiled at him affectionately. "You won't remember it, but I do. I was in college and interning at IASA for the summer. There I was, twenty years old. Feeling like a mature woman half the time and a child playing dress-up the other half. And there you were. Jack Crichton, the famous astronaut. Not to mention lady-killer, with that smile and those baby blue eyes. You smiled at me once as you were walking down the corridor and I went red as a tomato and dropped the files I was carrying all over the floor. You stopped to help me and I was so tongue-tied I could barely say thanks. I had the hugest crush on you all that summer."
She looked away from him, back out at the stars. "It wasn't until we met again, almost ten years later, that I could look you in the eye without blushing. And that's when I fell in love with you. Of course, by then you'd married Frances and had John and Jessica...it was too late."
Jack stood, staring at her, speechless.
"Still...I don't know if it would have worked out anyway. Both of us are so space-mad...and we were so focused on our careers. Still, I wish we'd had a chance to find out."
"What's wrong with now?" Jack asked finally, his voice cracking slightly with emotion.
Beth turned back to him, looking uncertain. "You don't think we're a bit old for the dinner and a movie routine?"
"No," Jack said, feeling ridiculously like he was about fourteen again. "No, I don't."
***
DK sat in Talyn's galley, trying to record a message for Crichton. Crais had given him what looked like a space-age video camera so he could say a few words. Crais had warned him that he could not guarantee the message would ever reach Crichton. Yet, somehow, DK knew that it would. But how could he say even a fraction of what he wanted to tell his friend on this tape?
He cleared his throat and tried, for the tenth time, to find a place to begin.
"Hi John, it's me, DK. I'm...sitting here, on this incredible ship, trying to think of how to tell you everything that you've missed. I don't think I can. I don't know where you are, or what you're doing, or if you're safe, or if you're happy. I don't know if you'll be home tomorrow...or never. I just wanted to let you know that we're not giving up hope. When you come home...we'll be here. Waiting to give you the hero's welcome."
"I can't fill you in on everything that's happened over the past three years, but I thought you might like to know something. Remember Julie? The one you set me up with and I told you I'd never get on with? Well...we got married last year. In a few months we're having a baby. If it's a boy, we're going to call him John. And he could use his uncle here."
"One more thing. I won't tell you who won the Superbowl. You'll have to come home to find out."
DK stopped the tape.
***
The little creature prodded her foot. Jo Crichton knelt down beside the DRD and tried to think what it could be trying to tell her. Although an expert in non-verbal communication from her work with dolphins, she'd never encountered lifeforms like these. She couldn't decide if they were robots or living animals.
"I don't understand you," she said shyly, as the DRD prodded her foot again. "Can you show me?"
The DRD glided along the floor, making her feel as if she was playing with a remote-control car. It took off down the corridor, Jo following it uncertainly. This ship was huge and the layout was complex. She didn't want to get lost. She especially didn't want to incur the wrath of its alien captain, who intimidated her intensely. A part of her wished she had Jessica's confidence with strangers, even if it did tend to get her into trouble.
When the DRD finally stopped, Jo found herself staring at what appeared to be an exposed pipe. It was leaking a white vapour into the ship. That could not be good.
"Umm...what do I do?" she wondered out loud. Clutching at straws, she settled on the same method Crichton preferred. "Blink once for yes, twice for no, okay?"
It blinked once.
"Do you know where the...Captain...is?"
One blink.
"Can you tell him about this?"
Two blinks.
"Why not?" Jo asked, realising even as she said it that the thing couldn't answer her. "Is he...occupied?"
One blink.
"I don't know how to fix this," she whispered in frustration, stroking Talyn's flesh around the wound. Repair a living space ship? She couldn't even programme her VCR. "Can you...can you show me how?"
Two blinks.
Jo twisted a strand of her curly hair, that had escaped from her high pony-tail, around her finger, trying to think of a solution. "Can you bring me the tool I would need to mend the hole?"
It blinked once and immediately set off down the corridor. Jo opened her mouth to call after it, then closed it again. Instead she leant her back against the wall, slid down it and bowed her head. There wasn't much she could do until it returned. It couldn't be too important, otherwise the creature would have disturbed the Captain - whatever he was doing. She could only wait.
Sitting there in silence, she began to notice the sounds around her. Being trained to distinguish between different calls, albeit from a slightly different animal, she set to work trying to decipher the messages Talyn was sending out. More than anything, she thought he sounded lonely. Of course, she could be reading him all wrong.
"Talyn?" she said out loud, feeling a little silly talking to the ceiling. "Talyn...do you miss your mother?"
He made another sound. It echoed all around her. A cross between a sigh, a groan and a computer powering down. One she could decipher easily enough.
"Talyn...I don't know how you got here...astrophysics was never really my best subject," she said, smiling into space, "but I'm sure that you can figure out how to get back. I have faith that this will all work out for you." She laughed, half at herself. "I guess I just believe in happy endings."
Talyn made a sound she couldn't have described, but it almost seemed like he was smiling at her.
Jo sat there, conscious of the fact that she was not alone and comforted by it. Eventually the DRD she had been speaking to earlier returned and, by a combination of instinct and nudges from the DRD, she managed to stop the leak. She couldn't help a small feeling of pride at her accomplishment. "Note to self," she murmured, "have another go at figuring out the VCR."
The DRD prodded her foot again and Jo looked down at it. "What now? Don't tell me there's another one?"
It trundled away down the corridor and she followed it, wondering what it wanted her to do now. This time it led her through a maze of corridors, until she knew she couldn't possibly find her way back on her own. She only hoped this wasn't one of the areas that the Captain had declared off-limits. She didn't fancy facing him if he was angry.
They reached a door and the DRD came to a halt outside it. Jo was just wondering how they could get through when it slid open by itself. She stepped through the doorway, unconsciously holding her breath.
She was in a room she hadn't been allowed into before. There was a viewscreen at the far end, showing Earth in all its glory. Closer to her were panels and consoles. "This must be command," she whispered. Now she knew she was in trouble, they'd all been strictly forbidden from coming here, except for the escorted visit Crais had allowed Jack. She was more conscious of Talyn's sounds here than anywhere else on the ship. Although he was everywhere, it was almost as if he was centred in this room.
She noticed a panel above her head and reached out a hand to touch it. Talyn made a sound that might almost have been a purr. Jo smiled, continuing to stroke him like she would a cat. Except she couldn't quite reach to tickle under his chin.
Her attention was suddenly caught by something she was quite sure hadn't been there before. A strange metallic claw, attached to a long cord, that looked for all the world like the poles park attendants use to pick up rubbish. She dropped to her knees to take a closer look at it, wondering what it could possibly be.
The DRD that had brought her flashed its lights at her and she turned to it. It slowly turned in a half cycle until it was facing away from her. She frowned at it in confusion, not understanding what it was trying to tell her. It turned back to her, flashed its eyes again and repeated the gesture. "You want me...to turn around?" she asked finally, at a loss to explain its reasoning.
The DRD blinked once.
Shrugging, not sure what was happening, Jo did as it wanted. A second later, her screams echoed through Talyn's passageways.