Title: Lab Rats
Author: Auna
Rating: PG
Summary: What happened at the end of BT
Betas: ScaperRed, who strongly "encouraged" me to write it after I made the mistake of telling her about the mental image that popped in to my mind one evening. ("Write it woman!") Soooo, I wrote it as a Christmas present for her and then promptly put her to work and made her beta it as well. (Ahh, the gift that keeps on taking.)
Disclaimers: Not mine. None of it. (Sigh)
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"You and your timing," she said, pulling his face in to hers for a long, last kiss.
Was this the end? He didn't even know if he really cared right now. Well, he cared, but he was just grateful that Aeryn was here in his lap, wearing his mother's ring, carrying his child. The universe could go to hell; he was going to live out his last moments with the woman in his arms.
He didn't see the ship circle in the sky, descending slightly as it neared them. He vaguely registered D'Argo's yells. He was lost in Aeryn's kiss, in the feel of her waist snuggled in his arms, of her hair brushing against his cheek, of her legs wrapped around his hips.
He was so lost in the feel of her, that a warm bolt shot through him and he felt as if they were melting together; they were finally one in body as well as purpose. His mind briefly shifted back to the moment he shared unity with Zaahn, and realized this was very close to that sensation.
Slowly, the heat receded. He wanted to keep kissing Aeryn forever, but small things were beginning to intrude on his perfect moment. A warm, sticky breeze picked up, multiplying the heat of their leather coats. A strange, subtle sound edged at his subconscious, and finally, the loud cawing of a bird startled them apart.
She pulled from his arms just as quickly as he pulled away, and though she was still in his lap, their surroundings had completely changed. They were in a jungle, straddling a fallen log. The subtle sound was the rustling of giant leaves.
"What the frell?" they asked in unison before briefly glancing at each other with a startled smile.
No one was around; there was no trace of any sentient life forms. They were alone with the giant orange and lavender trees.
"Are we dead?" he asked absently, not really expecting an answer. Not a bad way to go in his opinion, but he was beginning to get a suspicion that this wasn't the entrance to the Pearly Gates.
"I doubt it," she said, smacking him across the forehead, and then holding her palm out for his inspection. "Unless your afterlife includes giant, blood sucking insects. Let's just hope these aren't for mind control."
"Got a plan?" he asked, rubbing the spot she'd smacked and looking around at their surroundings. His lap was starting to lose all feeling beneath her weight, but he was reluctant to ask her to move.
"Find Moya, get the frell out of here."
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking. They can't be too far away."
"John, with our luck, they could be on a completely different planet."
He sighed, knowing she was right. Why couldn't anything ever be easy? "How's junior?"
"She's fine. Let's get moving."
"Right. We might go in circles, but we'll make GREAT time."
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"How are the subjects responding to the new environment?"
"The female has attacked the male, hitting his head roughly."
"How did the male respond? Did he get violent in return?"
"Negative, he rubbed the injury and continued to hold the female captive."
"Interesting. Continue to monitor their progress. I want a report on everything that happens."
"Yes, Your Honor."
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"My ring!" Aeryn exclaimed, staring at her hand in horror. "My ring is gone! Those frelling bastards took my ring!"
"Who took your ring?" John asked, pulling her hand nearer his face so he could inspect the empty finger himself. She was still on his lap and had nearly smacked him in the face. Holding her hand added the benefit of decreasing the potential for injury.
"I don't know, the people who brought us to this place," she said angrily, waving her free hand in the air to illustrate her point.
"Look Aeryn, it was just a ring," he lied, swallowing the lump in his throat. "We'll get you a new one, all right? I swear."
"I don't want another one, John. I want that one. You gave it to me, and I'm GOING to wear it at our wedding," she promised ominously.
"So what are you suggesting?" he asked warily.
"We're going to find the dopwads and get it back."
"Dipwads, Aeryn. The term is dipwads. And that's going to be hard, since we don't even know which way to go to find our ship and the comms aren't working."
"Moya is that way," she said, waving her hand vaguely.
"And you know this because…"
"Because of the position of the sun," she said, irritation ebbing into her voice. "IF we are still on the same planet, Moya has to be that way." She was pointing, being a little more specific in the direction she was waving to. "But I think we need to try to find civilization, first."
"Their civilization is what shanghaied us in the first place."
"We have to chance it. We are completely lost, and there's no way to know if the others stayed there or not."
He hated it when she was right like that. "Fine, looking for a town. Which way, Kemosabe?"
Without answering, she stood and began walking purposefully into the thick foliage. Muttering under his breath, John tried to follow, but was waylaid for a few microts as tingling shards of pain retuned feeling to his thighs. "Aeryn! Wait up!"
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"Report 1.1: Subjects have begun traveling east, despite lack of knowledge of terrain or local communities. They have shown no more aggressive behavior, although the female seems to be angry, possibly at the male for holding her captive.
"Initial report from the physical scans conducted during first transport is indicating that the female is pregnant. Subjects are two different species that are, as yet, unknown to us. The fetus is a combination of both species, and therefore it must be concluded that both are the parents.
"The heat seems to be affecting the female. She is removing her covering and her ability to travel seems to be decreasing as time passes. The slower she becomes, the more the male argues with her. Possibly, he is angered by her lack of ability to withstand the hardship and that she is making their progress slower. Waiting to see how long before he leaves her."
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"Dammit, Aeryn, let me help you!"
"I don't need help. The sooner we get out of here, the better off we are."
"We don't know how big this jungle is, or how long we'll be here. I can make a fan out of one of these leaves. You need to rest."
"I withstood the Scarrans, John. I can handle this for a while."
"But you're not alone now, and you don't have to do it by yourself. Think of the baby."
She spun around angrily, bumping into John in her haste. Her jacket was wadded into a ball, held in her arms, but a finger managed to snake out and poke him in the chest despite her burden. Her eyes were narrowed and she spoke with strained control. "I AM thinking about the baby. I am trying to stay alive long enough to HAVE this baby, and the only way I'll do that is by getting out of here."
"Unless D'Argo swoops down here out of nowhere with Lo'La, we are STUCK here for a while. We don't know where we are going, we have nothing to eat, and we are walking around in circles. You're already sweating like a horse…"
"I am not a HORSE!" Aeryn yelled. "I am NOT some five legged creature…"
"Horses have four legs. And I didn't call you a horse." John wasn't sure how the argument had degenerated to the point of them arguing about horses, but he knew he had to get her cooled off… soon. It had been too many arns since they'd found themselves in the jungle, and the high heat and humidity were taking their toll on Aeryn. Not only was she sweating… like a horse, and flushed, she was getting irrational.
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"Report 1.2: The female subject appears to have lost consciousness. The male has carried her to a small pool of water and initially appeared to try to drown her, after removing all her covering. He was unsuccessful, and is now holding her in the water. Male subject appears to be turning a light shade of blue around the lips. Perhaps his species changes their pigmentation in water.
"The female revived slightly, but still seems incoherent. Initiating night cycle. Will observe and report nocturnal habits."
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"I swear to you Aeryn, one microt it was bright and sunny, the next, BAM! It was night. It was like somebody flipped a light switch."
He'd managed to get a small fire going, which Aeryn was sitting slightly farther away from than he was. With the darkness, the temperature had dropped and Aeryn had slowly regained her health. Now she was sitting in dry clothes, watching him shiver next to the flames.
"You shouldn't have stayed in the water so long."
He didn't bother to answer her, instead continued with his line of thinking. "I think someone's messing with our minds again. Everyone else in the universe has climbed inside my head."
"So, you think this is an illusion?"
"Why not? One minute we're in a boat, the next we're playing Explorer in a jungle. The sun doesn't just turn off, I don't care WHAT planet you're on."
"So what do you want to do?"
"Not play along. Sleep here, do nothing. Eventually, they'll get bored, right? They want something from us. They'll come for it."
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"Report 1.3: After supplying them with food substance, which the female shot with an unknown firearm and the male cooked on a fire, there has been an interesting development. The male did not eat, as we had thought he would. Perhaps his species does not need nourishment as often as the female's. After another argument, the female ate his portion.
"It is evident that the night cycle is also their sleep cycle, as the two subjects have fallen asleep near their fire. And, though the male is holding the female captive again, it seems to be the only time the two species refrain from confrontation. Initiating First Contact sequence."
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He'd been hungrier, he reminded himself as he listened to the grumbling of his stomach. Barbecued Kadeeva sounded real good right about now. But Aeryn was in his arms and they both lay next to the fire. She was breathing regularly, beat after their long trek and her brush with Heat Delirium. He had that much to be grateful for.
They'd both hunted in the dark for a while earlier, but the only game they'd been able to catch any kind of glimpse of was a sorry little rodent, almost as big as John's hand. Aeryn had shot it; he'd barbecued it. There had barely been any meat and getting Aeryn to eat it all had been difficult.
She hadn't been happy about losing, but he'd played the "you're pregnant" card and won. He was going to have use that sparingly. If they managed to get away from whomever was messing with them, this was going to be a very long pregnancy… for the both of them. How long were Sebaceans pregnant for anyway?
As he lay there, pondering all the differences in their physiology, he began to hear a low whine in the distance, like a dog howling. The whine got closer, louder, and lowered into more of a snarl.
Easing his arm from beneath Aeryn, he sat up next to her and pulled Winona from the holster on his thigh. He searched the surrounding trees, trying to get a fix on where the snarling was coming from. Three glowing green orbs appeared nearby along with the sound of heavy breathing mixed with saliva.
He aimed Winona right at the middle eye and greeted, whatever this thing was, quietly. "Listen Cujo, I don't want any trouble."
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"Report 1.4: First Contact sequence has been completed, the result disturbing. The test subject shot the hologram of Ambassador Ghretvtacn as it greeted him. Test subjects have continuously shown tendencies toward violence and a low threshold of tolerance or compassion for each other.
"It is my recommendation that they are unsuitable for our needs and suggest removing them from testing facility."
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Someone turned on the lights. It was as simple as that. One microt, it was dark and the stars were showing through the treetops; the next microt, it was sunny again.
"Aeryn," John said, nudging her side. "It's time to wake up. Guess round two is coming soon."
He hadn't told her about the monster that attacked them a mere arn ago. It had been vicious, snarling, drooling with three green eyes and really long teeth and three legs with long sharp toenails; and it had charged at him with full teeth bared.
He'd shot the nasty beast right in the middle eye, but it had merely disappeared when the pulse blast hit. And Aeryn had managed to sleep through the whole thing.
Overhead, a ship started flying in low, circling above them. "Here we go again," Aeryn said, staring at the sky.
This time, it was John's turn to turn her head toward his and kiss her with all the tenderness he possessed. Her arms snaked around his neck, and he pulled her to him even closer. He forgot about the alien ship, about his growling stomach and the three-eyed-dog from last night.
He was lost in the moment with Aeryn. The same warm blast shot through his whole body. He felt, once again, that he and Aeryn had merged into one person. The sensation lasted for only a microt, ending all too quickly with the warmth slowly ebbing away.
At last, he pulled away. What he discovered surprised him. He and Aeryn were back on the rowboat… inside one of Moya's maintenance bays, and they were sitting in a pile of crystals.
"My ring!" Aeryn exclaimed, pulling the gold band from the pile and dusting it off before sliding back onto her finger.
"What exactly happened just now?" John asked, confused and looking around the maintenance bay with trepidation.
"I don't know. But we're on Moya and I'm hungry," Aeryn declared, climbing out of the boat. "Let's go find the others and see if they know. And get the frell out of here."
"It's always one mind frell after another," John grumbled as he climbed out behind her.
You'd think he'd be used to it by now.