Chiana had gotten up early today. "First something to eat, maybe that fried grolack and jinkelberry juice from the Last Meal," she thought as she headed to the Central Chamber. "Dren! Gotta clean out the Maintenance Bay and then do that frelling amnexus cleanup for Aeryn." Why did Moya require so much maintenance when a girl just wanted to have some fun? Chiana sighed. She knew the answer, but still felt frustrated that her snooping around that fekkik Scorpy would be delayed.
When she completed her tasks, she headed once again to the Center Chamber to get something to drink. Upon entering, she heard some noise coming from the galley, a noise that resembled a certain toad's throne sled.
"Whadda ya doin'?" Chiana asked as she entered the galley. "You wouldn't be trying to take more than your share of the food, would'ya, you little slug?"
"Huh," Rygel huffed, "I should think I deserve more than the rest of the crew. I am the one with three stomachs to fill."
"You little toad, do ya really expect anyone to vote for ya when you act like that? Now put that back before I come and take it from ya."
Rygel sniffed. "I doubt you could get high enough to take it from me. In case you have forgotten, I am on a sled that can achieve a considerable height and you are lacking in that department." All the while he backed out of the galley into the larger Center Chamber.
"But I am not," D'Argo's voice rumbled from behind him, "and I would advise you to do as Chiana asked or you may find yourself with a new orifice."
Rygel realized the big Luxan would follow up on his threat and returned the bag of food he had grabbed when Chiana had entered the galley.
"Has anyone seen Aeryn?" D'Argo asked. "She was not in command when I passed there earlier." Both Rygel and Chiana shook their heads indicating that they'd not seen hide nor hair of the warrior princess. D'Argo snorted and yelled, "Pilot, do you know where Aeryn is?"
"I do, Ka D'Argo," Pilot said as his image appeared on the clam shell. "After Moya and I found a gas giant, Aeryn asked us to enter its atmosphere to shield us from scans. Once we had entered the atmosphere, she started repairs on the starburst generator."
"And yet another crew member who seems to forget that I am the captain," Rygel grumbled.
D'Argo chose to ignore the Hynerian's remark. "She didn't respond when I commed her," he informed Pilot instead.
"The Starburst Chamber is shielded to keep the energy build up from escaping into the ship. The shielding also blocks all comms signals," Pilot explained.
"Fine, I'll go there so we can eat together," D'Argo said.
"Go where?" Crichton asked as he entered Center Chamber.
"To get Aeryn. She's working on the starburst generator and comms don't work in that area," Chiana explained as D'Argo left the galley. "Hey old man," she continued with their usual greeting as she moved closer for a hug. "You look tired. Couldn't sleep?"
"Mornin' Pip," John replied, hugging her back. "I think I slept OK, at least I can't remember lying awake very long. I do feel tired, like I haven't slept but worked out all night instead."
Chiana eyed her human friend. He really looked like he had been awake the entire sleeping cycle. She also spotted a bruise near his temple. She was about to ask him when and where he got that from when D'Argo and Aeryn entered.
"She was already on her way to Center Chamber," D'Argo reported.
Chiana looked at Aeryn and gasped. "What the frell happened to you? You look like dren!"
Aeryn glanced to John but quickly turned away when he looked back at her. "It's nothing," she said. "I had a minor accident while making repairs."
"Minor accident? Frell, have you even looked at yourself before you walked in? This is not minor Aeryn! What happened?" Chiana persisted.
"It appears that the person who fixed the amnexus burst on tier 3 yesterday had forgotten to reopen the valve. The conduit the fluid runs through passes the starburst generator room quite closely and the pressure build up was enough to rupture the weakened conduit and I got covered in the amnexus fluid," Aeryn explained, glaring at the Nebari, knowing she was the one assigned to that task.
John, D'Argo and Rygel were doing their best to not burst out laughing, not wanting the former Peacekeeper to turn her anger toward them.
"I, huh, just remembered, hmpf, I need to go, hhm, check on something," John managed to get out without completely bursting out in laughter and quickly removed himself from the galley.
"I am supposed to help him," D'Argo said, better able to control his laughter and followed his friend. Rygel didn't even bother to say anything and also got out of Center Chamber. Aeryn ignored all three of them and kept her gaze on Chiana.
Chiana looked anxiously at the Sebecean, angling her arms sharply and cocking her head from one side to the other. "Hey Aeryn, come-come on, you-you know I didn't do it on purpose! I-I just made a-a little mistake. Yeah, a little mistake!"
"This is not the first time you made a 'little mistake' that caused one of us trouble. You will come with me after First Meal to help clean up the mess," Aeryn told the Nebari girl. "I will go and clean up myself and come back later to eat. I hope I will not have to come and find you when I am done."
Aeryn turned around and left the Center Chamber, noticing the three men that had stayed just outside of the Center Chamber. "Not a word," Aeryn warned them and resumed her walk toward her quarters.
The guys re-entered the Center Chamber to find a visibly relieved Chiana standing near the table.
"Well, Pip, that was highly entertaining and I thank you for forgetting that valve," John said to his gray friend, sporting a lob-sided grin.
Chiana grinned back at him. "I'm glad you enjoyed it," she said, "because I'm sure you're gonna get it later. I don't think Aeryn liked it when you started to laugh at her."
"Hey, I did not laugh at her; I waited 'til I was outside in the corridor before I started to laugh, way out of her hearing range."
Aeryn walked the corridors of Moya and headed toward her quarters. Her mind was working overtime on the situation that had revealed it self less than an arn earlier. John, her John, was captured by Scorpius! In his place, a bioloid John was aboard Moya as was a bioloid Scorpius.
Aeryn still couldn't believe how the fake Scorpius had threatened Moya and Pilot to keep this secret. She also felt a little guilty for not seeing earlier that this John was not her John. She had thought the differences she noticed in his behavior were caused by her leaving and whatever had happened on Arnessk. Now it seemed there may have been another cause.
Aeryn arrived at her quarters and headed for the refreshing chamber to get a shower. Her mind didn't stop pondering. The fake John had caught her when the DRD was showing her the recordings and had proceeded to threaten her. Luckily even the fake John had inherited that same sense of timing and the need to talk that her John possessed.
John reholstered Winona and kept Aeryn's pulse pistol aimed at her. Aeryn was already calculating possible scenarios of attack.
"All right," John said, since you are so eager to know all things, lemme tell you what's going on. Scorpy got me, the real me, right after we returned from the wormhole and entered the landing bay of the Carrier. All hell was breaking out 'cause Crais and Talyn were performing their impression of a Kamikazi pilot." John moved a bit; apparently he was in an uncomfortable position.
"Scorpy had already created me, I was only missing John's memories and personality. These were now copied from real John, who was kept unconscious. My programming states that I was to make sure none of you would ever find out I'm not really me."
At that Aeryn snorted. "You have obviously failed."
"Yeah, but I can still correct it. You're goin' to take a little trip in your Prowler. It will blow up. Don't worry, you won't notice a thing. You'll be dead long before the Prowler even leaves Moya. 1812 here was unfortunate enough to have ventured into your Prowler and you hadn't noticed when you left. You know, you really should be paying more attention to your surroundings; look at how easily I was able to sneak up on you."
At this point John's concentration began to diminish and he looked at the ground for a bit. When he looked at her again there was a hint of surprise in his eyes. Aeryn, however, had seen the chance she needed when he looked down and threw one of her tools at him. Just as he looked up again, the tool hit his temple. The impact made him loose his balance and fall backwards. Aeryn quickly scrambled out of the narrow maintenance duct and into the bigger Starburst Chamber.
John got up again. "Need to go back to my quarters. Sorry, got no time to help you," was all he said, before turning around and leaving the Starburst Chamber.
This had confused Aeryn until she realized with shock that the bioloid had two personalities: a daytime one that was oblivious to his programming and a night shift one that was totally aware of Scorpius and in league with that son of hezmana. The bioloid's programming must have started to execute the 'return to quarters' sequence just as things were getting frelled..
Aeryn realized she would only have until sleep cycle until the one she now thought of as 'Evil John' "awoke" and would come after her again. She considered her options as she resumed her shower.
She could inform the others as long as she could get them to the Starburst Chamber, which was the only place where she apparently could talk without being overheard by Scorpius. She wasn't sure she had enough time to spread the news one by one to her friends, given that if they all marched down to the Starburst Chamber and appeared together Scorpius would find out. Dren, 12 arns wasn't enough time to formulate a plan. But if she didn't, come night shift the fake John aboard Moya would tell Scorpius that Aeryn, and most likely the rest of the crew, knew about the two bioloids. And then the fake Scorpius would without a doubt inform the real Scorpius and her John probably would pay for Aeryn's mistake and lack of timing.
On the other hand, Aeryn continued thinking as she toweled herself dry, she could also pay close attention to the daytime version of John and hope to catch him at something that would indicate he was not the real John. That would allow her to "kill" him without Scorpius realizing she knew about him as well. She shook her head. This plan would also accomplish little, as she had no idea where the real John might be held. It was possible the bioloid John knew about it, but that would still allow Scorpius to inform his real counterpart, long before they would get there. Aeryn snorted. "Dren!" she said quietly, making sure the comms would not pick up her voice, "I'm not good at this planning stuff. That is John's job." Aeryn sighed in sadness and wondered how he was faring.
Would it be possible to get rid of the bioloid Scorpius? If he was no longer aboard Moya, he held no control over her. More importantly, he could no longer continue his surveillance. She already confronted the half breed about getting him off Moya. Unfortunately, they had to leave the Commerce Planet rather hurriedly, so she had no time to force him to leave.
This last thought made her pause. That's why the Peacekeepers suddenly arrived on that planet: he had contacted the real Scorpius and informed him of her request. That frelling half breed even made sure the Kalish woman would be back on Moya before the Peacekeepers arrived. He probably had hoped to be rid of D'Argo and the others.
Aeryn sighed inwardly. There were no really good options. It was probably best to inform Chiana when she appeared in the Chamber to help clean up the amnexus fluid.
On the Space Station Gammak Base
John awoke again. He no longer felt any pain, so he figured it was an improvement over the last time. Unfortunately, he still hadn't the faintest idea where he was, only that it was completely dark.
As if his mind was being read, the lights came on. John noticed he was in a rather luxurious room, especially by Peacekeeper standards. He had access to his own galley, a roomy refresher section, a data terminal, a nice big couch, and a big bed.
"All that's missing is the woman in my life," John said to himself. He got up and turned suddenly, startled as the door slide open. For a moment John hoped it would be his raven-haired guiding star, but soon knew better.
"Ah, good morning, John," The voice was indeed not that of his favorite ex-Peacekeeper. It wasn't even a female voice. Nope, it was that bastard Scorpius, again.
"Whadda ya wan' Scorp?" John snarled, not being in a really good mood after finding out not all his thoughts would become reality.
"I felt it necessary to explain to you the rules you must follow if you want to keep using this room instead of the holding cell I wanted to put you in," the Scarran half-breed told him. "The rules are fairly simple, John. Even you should be able to grasp them."
"Yeah, well, understanding is one thing, following them is another," John quipped back.
"That may be so, John, but if you do not follow the rules, your life will be come... less appealing."
"Well, it ain't very appealing right now, Grasshopper," John replied. He noticed Scorpius' disapproving gaze and sighed, "OK, lemme hear the rules."
"The first, and perhaps the most important rule is that you should not focus on anything other than wormhole knowledge for at least eight arns a day. I have provided you access to a data terminal containing all of our research on wormholes. I want you to correlate your knowledge with our existing data and complement it where necessary."
"Yeah, the data you stole from my brain." John turned his back on the black-clad figure of his worst nightmares. He sighed and shook his head. "Rock and hard place again," he murmured. He dropped on to the couch and gazing up at Scorpius, stated dryly hoping to delay the rest of the Letterman List, "In case you haven't heard Scorp, it's not healthy for a human to concentrate on one facet of his life for extended periods without any breaks."
"I said at least 8 arns, John. There are more than enough arns in a day to reach that quota without the need to work continuously. The second rule you must follow, is that you will not communicate with anyone but me. If you require something you can send me a message through the terminal and if within reason, I will see to it you will get what you asked for."
"Question, do I need to ask permission if I need to go to the can?"
"Oh, John, stop interrupting me with nonsense questions."
"I can't, it's in my genes. Ask my friends. They'll tell you I have a tendency for talking nonsense, ask the wrong thing, point guns at the wrong people, and so forth, etcetera, yadda, yadda, yadda."
Scorpius sighed. "John, I have been very patient, but at some point I will have reached my limit."
"And then what? Kill me? Harm me in a way I wouldn't be able to perform my duties? What'll that do with your never ending quest for wormhole tech?"
"Enough, John, no more talking. The third and last rule involves your stay in this place. You will have access only to your current room and are not to leave it at anytime. I have ensured that you do not leave by adding a failsafe to the entrance to this room. Touching the door will cause instant paralysis. Failure to comply with any of the rules will force me to take other steps to enforce Do you understand that, John?"
John just stared stoically at the half breed.
"John, I asked you if you understood all of this."
Still John did nothing.
"Answer me!" Scorpius was obviously enraged.
"I thought you said I shouldn't talk anymore," John answered defiantly. "If you're gonna tell me what to do, be more accurate, OK? As to your question, yes I do understand that, but I can tell you, you can start looking at alternatives, 'cause I'll never give you wormhole technology and I will find a way out."
"We will see, John. We will see." At that Scorpius turned and walked to the door.
"Hey, don't I get something to eat?" John asked.
"You will, John. After you have solved the first puzzle I left for you on the terminal. I advise you to start quickly if you are hungry." At that, Scorpius walked through the door which closed behind him.
"Oh, that's just great," John muttered. He walked to the refresher to get a shower and started thinking about his options.
There were not many things he could do. It all hinged on some vital information he didn't have. Right now at least. He made a mental list of things he would need to find out. First thing to find out was where the frell he was right now. The second thing he needed an answer to was if he was being watched, which he assumed he was since Peacekeepers were nosey buggers and Scorpius was not one to stint on the details. A layout of the place would be a nice thing to know as well.
Perhaps he could find this out by using the terminal. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure Scorpius wasn't watching his every move on the frelling terminal either. Still, he had to try; it was his only option.
John finished his shower, toweled himself dry and put on some fresh clothes he found in one of the closets. Feeling hungry and knowing the only way to get some food was to solve Scorpy's riddle, he sat behind the terminal and let his subconscious take over to solve several half-completed equations. Working on an escape plan could wait until he wasn't feeling so hungry.
Moya, Corridor outside the Center Chamber
Chiana left the Center Chamber almost immediately after Aeryn. She realized she would have at least half an arn before Aeryn was due in the Starburst Chamber where she would be expecting to see her for clean up duties.
That gave her at least three quarters of an arn to get there before Aeryn would get really tinked. Just enough time to do some snooping around Scorpius' cell. Dren-face was up to something, she could smell it. Chiana went to her quarters and left her comms badge there. It's better for snooping if you don't have anything on you that could make noise at the most inappropriate of times.
Chiana hurried to the area where fek-face was locked up and scrambled into a maintenance duct. She slowly crawled to the grating that allowed her to both hear and see the frelling half breed.
She did not have to wait very long before her suspicions of him were confirmed. Dren-face reached for something resembling a communication device. Chiana almost didn't believe what she heard: the voice coming from the communication device was that of Scorpius.
"John has awoken again," the Scorpius from the communication device said, "and I have explained to him the rules of the game and the consequences should he decide not to cooperate. I believe he will not determine the real nature of his predicament for quite some time."
Moya's version of Scorpius nodded in support of his master's information. "Timing is good. I have given the bioloid John the last of the equations we were able to retrieve from the backup stores."
"I have given him additional incentive to solve our next puzzle," the reply came from the communication device. "I am certain he will solve it quickly. I take it the crew of Moya is still unaware of both your origins?"
"Yes, none of them suspect anything. It was... unfortunate that Braca failed to capture them on that Commerce Planet, but it does not matter as my primary goal has been achieved. Due to our hasty departure, Officer Sun had no time to get me off of Moya as she threatened to do."
"Make sure the pilot of the Leviathan will keep this a secret," the voice on the communication device ordered.
"Ah, do not worry about that. Pilot has been made aware of the consequences should he decide to inform the crew. Both he and the Leviathan will be no problem."
Chiana had heard enough and slowly backed away and crawled back out of the maintenance duct. She had been right, fek-face was up to something, worse yet, his plan had already been set in motion. There were two of Scorpius and two of John, and neither of the two on Moya were real. She quickly made her way back to her quarters to pick up her comms badge and made her way to the Starburst Chamber. She had to tell Aeryn about her discovery and together they could come up with a plan, she was sure of it.
Aeryn had returned to the Center Chamber for First Meal and noticed Chiana wasn't there. "Where is she?" She felt no need to elaborate on who she was searching for.
"She went back to her quarters and then intended to get started on the clean up in the Starburst Chamber," D'Argo informed her.
"Good, I don't have to go and find her," Aeryn stated. She glared at D'Argo and John who sat next to him. "I noticed you found my appearance earlier amusing?"
"Well, uhm, Aeryn, it wasn't really the appearance as much as the how and why," John told her.
"Yes, apparently so much so you went to the corridor, which was a good plan, and laughed at my predicament. You could at least have moved further away so I wouldn't be able to hear it!" Normally Aeryn wouldn't have been this angry at him, but she still remembered what had happened just over an arn ago and that fueled her anger which she realized was actually full of concern for the real John, frustration over this frelled up situation, and just plain fear that they wouldn't be able to fix it in time. In the turmoil of her thoughts, she had forgotten that the daytime version of John's personality had no clue what had occurred.
"I'm sorry, Aeryn, you're right, I shouldn't have laughed at you, but it really was very funny."
Aeryn sighed. She had no real reason to be angry with him, and she didn't want to alert that frelling copy of Scorpius that something had tipped her off that things were not right on Moya. "Alright John, I understand. I would have probably laughed as well if it had happened to you."
"You going to need help in the Starburst Chamber after you and Pip have cleaned up?" John wanted to know.
"No, I think Chiana and I will be able to make the required repairs." And even if that was not the case, she would certainly not want John there. There was no telling if the bioloid's other personality could be triggered because of a location or a memory and she really didn't want to risk that.
"Right. In that case D'Argo and I will make necessary repairs to the sensors and other damaged systems."
Aeryn gave a nod of acknowledgement and proceeded to finish First Meal and head to the Starburst Chamber.
Chiana arrived at the Starburst Chamber before Aeryn did. She was again a little anxious because she wasn't sure if Aeryn would believe her story about Scorpius. Additionally, Chiana was worried about her reaction when she found out Crichton wasn't real either. Would she feel guilty for not seeing it herself, if she believed it at all?
The Starburst Chamber really was a mess. The amnexus fluid was everywhere! No wonder Aeryn had looked like dren. With a sigh Chiana started her clean up duties.
Just a few microts later, Aeryn arrived. "Good, you started clean up already."
"Yeah, it's really messy in here. I'm sorry, Aeryn, I should have remembered the valve."
Aeryn said nothing and just looked alternately at Chiana and the maintenance duct where 1812 was still hiding, wondering if it would be wise to tell it to Chiana. The Nebari wasn't known for being good at keeping secrets, unless they were her own.
Chiana was also wondering if she should tell Aeryn about her discovery. Maybe she should just tell D'Argo instead. At least he wouldn't get mad at her and would probably believe her whereas Aeryn would probably not.
Aeryn had finally come to a decision; she had to tell someone to help her deal with this situation and Chiana could be trusted if she was made aware of the consequences to the real John if she would tell it to anyone else outside of this room. "Chiana, could you please start in the maintenance duct?"
Chiana eyed the ex-Peacekeeper for a brief moment before agreeing. "Sure. I'll get right on it." Nope, it would be stupid to tell Aeryn anything. She was definitely still angry with her. Chiana crawled through the small opening and into the maintenance duct with considerably less trouble than Aeryn had encountered earlier. She immediately noticed the red, white and blue servo-robot John had taken with him from the dying Leviathan.
The DRD moved it's eyestalks toward her and chirped. From just outside the duct Aeryn said one thing.
"Show her."
Chiana looked back toward the entrance, slightly confused but was prevented from asking the question she wanted to ask when the DRD started to playback the same recordings it had shown earlier to the Sebacean.
"Frell! This is worse than I thought!" Chiana exclaimed when the DRD had ended.
"No, it got worse when John caught me when the DRD was showing the recordings to me." Aeryn answered.
"He knows?" Chiana asked.
"Yes. He threatened to kill me, but before he could do anything his programming started the sequence to get him back to his quarters so he could change personality again, but not before I threw one of my tools at his head."
"So that's where he got the bruise! I saw it this morning but I forgot to ask him after you entered." Chiana shook her head while she completely moved out of the duct, the DRD following her. "I caught the fake Scorpius this morning talking with the real Scorpius," she blurted out.
"That is not good, Chiana. He has full access to Moya's systems and is tracking everybody using their comms badges. He probably knows you were there."
"He wouldn't because I left my comms badge in my quarters before I went to snoop around him. I didn't trust dren-face at all, Aeryn! I-I just wanted to catch him doing something bad."
"Why did you not tell me when I entered the Starburst Chamber?" Aeryn wanted to know.
"I-I wasn't sure how'd you react to it, and you still looked a bit angry with me, so I decided to tell D'Argo later. Dren, Aeryn, I didn't know Scorpius was listening in on us! I-I could've told D'Argo and fek-face would have known about it! Is it really safe in here?"
"Yes," Aeryn confirmed, "Pilot told me the shielding of this Chamber prevents any signal from penetrating it. Did you hear what Scorpius talked about?"
"Only that the real Crichton has awoken again and is being forced to work on wormhole tech. Neither said where that was. Oh, and the fake Scorpius had requested for Braca to come to that Commerce Planet. He was supposed to capture us all, but the primary reason for him was to make sure you would not force the fake Scorpius to leave Moya."
"I had come to that conclusion myself. He even made sure the Kalish girl was safely aboard Moya."
"You really wanted to get fek-face off of Moya?" Chiana asked.
"Yes, he was making things difficult for John and the only way to remedy that was to get Scorpius away from him. Scorpius disagreed. Now I know why."
"Aeryn, what are we going to do? Crichton will come after you tonight or will inform the fake Scorpius! They will both soon realize you may have informed all of us. They might even harm Moya or Pilot! We can't allow that, we-we just can't!"
"I don't know Chiana. I think we should try to inform D'Argo and we need to find out where John is being held. We must prevent the fake Scorpius from finding out that we know or he will blow us all to hezmana and even if we would survive somehow we will never find out where the real John and Scorpius are if we can't extract that information from either of the two fakes aboard Moya."
Chiana looked at Aeryn and noticed the former Peacekeeper was really worried about Crichton and unhappy about this entire situation. She probably felt guilty. "Hey Aeryn, you know it's not your fault. None of us knew about this. Crichton was already captured before we destroyed the Command Carrier."
"You may be right about that, Chiana, but I did bring Scorpius here. If he wouldn't be here, Moya would not be in danger," the Sebacean answered.
"Yeah, but we wouldn't have known Crichton was captured and a frelling duplicate of him was here either. At least now we know we have to find the real Crichton."
Aeryn looked at the Nebari girl. She knew Chiana was right. If the DRD hadn't recorded Scorpius' conversation he wouldn't have checked the data stores and inform her about the problems on Moya. "I guess," was all she said.
That's when both of them heard a noise. "What the frell?" they both exclaimed.
It took a micron before Aeryn realized what the noise was. "Out!" she yelled while grabbing the girl and shoving her toward the exit. "Moya is initiating starburst!"
Both women rushed toward the exit as the starburst energy started to flow into the Chamber.
When she completed her tasks, she headed once again to the Center Chamber to get something to drink. Upon entering, she heard some noise coming from the galley, a noise that resembled a certain toad's throne sled.
"Whadda ya doin'?" Chiana asked as she entered the galley. "You wouldn't be trying to take more than your share of the food, would'ya, you little slug?"
"Huh," Rygel huffed, "I should think I deserve more than the rest of the crew. I am the one with three stomachs to fill."
"You little toad, do ya really expect anyone to vote for ya when you act like that? Now put that back before I come and take it from ya."
Rygel sniffed. "I doubt you could get high enough to take it from me. In case you have forgotten, I am on a sled that can achieve a considerable height and you are lacking in that department." All the while he backed out of the galley into the larger Center Chamber.
"But I am not," D'Argo's voice rumbled from behind him, "and I would advise you to do as Chiana asked or you may find yourself with a new orifice."
Rygel realized the big Luxan would follow up on his threat and returned the bag of food he had grabbed when Chiana had entered the galley.
"Has anyone seen Aeryn?" D'Argo asked. "She was not in command when I passed there earlier." Both Rygel and Chiana shook their heads indicating that they'd not seen hide nor hair of the warrior princess. D'Argo snorted and yelled, "Pilot, do you know where Aeryn is?"
"I do, Ka D'Argo," Pilot said as his image appeared on the clam shell. "After Moya and I found a gas giant, Aeryn asked us to enter its atmosphere to shield us from scans. Once we had entered the atmosphere, she started repairs on the starburst generator."
"And yet another crew member who seems to forget that I am the captain," Rygel grumbled.
D'Argo chose to ignore the Hynerian's remark. "She didn't respond when I commed her," he informed Pilot instead.
"The Starburst Chamber is shielded to keep the energy build up from escaping into the ship. The shielding also blocks all comms signals," Pilot explained.
"Fine, I'll go there so we can eat together," D'Argo said.
"Go where?" Crichton asked as he entered Center Chamber.
"To get Aeryn. She's working on the starburst generator and comms don't work in that area," Chiana explained as D'Argo left the galley. "Hey old man," she continued with their usual greeting as she moved closer for a hug. "You look tired. Couldn't sleep?"
"Mornin' Pip," John replied, hugging her back. "I think I slept OK, at least I can't remember lying awake very long. I do feel tired, like I haven't slept but worked out all night instead."
Chiana eyed her human friend. He really looked like he had been awake the entire sleeping cycle. She also spotted a bruise near his temple. She was about to ask him when and where he got that from when D'Argo and Aeryn entered.
"She was already on her way to Center Chamber," D'Argo reported.
Chiana looked at Aeryn and gasped. "What the frell happened to you? You look like dren!"
Aeryn glanced to John but quickly turned away when he looked back at her. "It's nothing," she said. "I had a minor accident while making repairs."
"Minor accident? Frell, have you even looked at yourself before you walked in? This is not minor Aeryn! What happened?" Chiana persisted.
"It appears that the person who fixed the amnexus burst on tier 3 yesterday had forgotten to reopen the valve. The conduit the fluid runs through passes the starburst generator room quite closely and the pressure build up was enough to rupture the weakened conduit and I got covered in the amnexus fluid," Aeryn explained, glaring at the Nebari, knowing she was the one assigned to that task.
John, D'Argo and Rygel were doing their best to not burst out laughing, not wanting the former Peacekeeper to turn her anger toward them.
"I, huh, just remembered, hmpf, I need to go, hhm, check on something," John managed to get out without completely bursting out in laughter and quickly removed himself from the galley.
"I am supposed to help him," D'Argo said, better able to control his laughter and followed his friend. Rygel didn't even bother to say anything and also got out of Center Chamber. Aeryn ignored all three of them and kept her gaze on Chiana.
Chiana looked anxiously at the Sebecean, angling her arms sharply and cocking her head from one side to the other. "Hey Aeryn, come-come on, you-you know I didn't do it on purpose! I-I just made a-a little mistake. Yeah, a little mistake!"
"This is not the first time you made a 'little mistake' that caused one of us trouble. You will come with me after First Meal to help clean up the mess," Aeryn told the Nebari girl. "I will go and clean up myself and come back later to eat. I hope I will not have to come and find you when I am done."
Aeryn turned around and left the Center Chamber, noticing the three men that had stayed just outside of the Center Chamber. "Not a word," Aeryn warned them and resumed her walk toward her quarters.
The guys re-entered the Center Chamber to find a visibly relieved Chiana standing near the table.
"Well, Pip, that was highly entertaining and I thank you for forgetting that valve," John said to his gray friend, sporting a lob-sided grin.
Chiana grinned back at him. "I'm glad you enjoyed it," she said, "because I'm sure you're gonna get it later. I don't think Aeryn liked it when you started to laugh at her."
"Hey, I did not laugh at her; I waited 'til I was outside in the corridor before I started to laugh, way out of her hearing range."
Aeryn walked the corridors of Moya and headed toward her quarters. Her mind was working overtime on the situation that had revealed it self less than an arn earlier. John, her John, was captured by Scorpius! In his place, a bioloid John was aboard Moya as was a bioloid Scorpius.
Aeryn still couldn't believe how the fake Scorpius had threatened Moya and Pilot to keep this secret. She also felt a little guilty for not seeing earlier that this John was not her John. She had thought the differences she noticed in his behavior were caused by her leaving and whatever had happened on Arnessk. Now it seemed there may have been another cause.
Aeryn arrived at her quarters and headed for the refreshing chamber to get a shower. Her mind didn't stop pondering. The fake John had caught her when the DRD was showing her the recordings and had proceeded to threaten her. Luckily even the fake John had inherited that same sense of timing and the need to talk that her John possessed.
John reholstered Winona and kept Aeryn's pulse pistol aimed at her. Aeryn was already calculating possible scenarios of attack.
"All right," John said, since you are so eager to know all things, lemme tell you what's going on. Scorpy got me, the real me, right after we returned from the wormhole and entered the landing bay of the Carrier. All hell was breaking out 'cause Crais and Talyn were performing their impression of a Kamikazi pilot." John moved a bit; apparently he was in an uncomfortable position.
"Scorpy had already created me, I was only missing John's memories and personality. These were now copied from real John, who was kept unconscious. My programming states that I was to make sure none of you would ever find out I'm not really me."
At that Aeryn snorted. "You have obviously failed."
"Yeah, but I can still correct it. You're goin' to take a little trip in your Prowler. It will blow up. Don't worry, you won't notice a thing. You'll be dead long before the Prowler even leaves Moya. 1812 here was unfortunate enough to have ventured into your Prowler and you hadn't noticed when you left. You know, you really should be paying more attention to your surroundings; look at how easily I was able to sneak up on you."
At this point John's concentration began to diminish and he looked at the ground for a bit. When he looked at her again there was a hint of surprise in his eyes. Aeryn, however, had seen the chance she needed when he looked down and threw one of her tools at him. Just as he looked up again, the tool hit his temple. The impact made him loose his balance and fall backwards. Aeryn quickly scrambled out of the narrow maintenance duct and into the bigger Starburst Chamber.
John got up again. "Need to go back to my quarters. Sorry, got no time to help you," was all he said, before turning around and leaving the Starburst Chamber.
This had confused Aeryn until she realized with shock that the bioloid had two personalities: a daytime one that was oblivious to his programming and a night shift one that was totally aware of Scorpius and in league with that son of hezmana. The bioloid's programming must have started to execute the 'return to quarters' sequence just as things were getting frelled..
Aeryn realized she would only have until sleep cycle until the one she now thought of as 'Evil John' "awoke" and would come after her again. She considered her options as she resumed her shower.
She could inform the others as long as she could get them to the Starburst Chamber, which was the only place where she apparently could talk without being overheard by Scorpius. She wasn't sure she had enough time to spread the news one by one to her friends, given that if they all marched down to the Starburst Chamber and appeared together Scorpius would find out. Dren, 12 arns wasn't enough time to formulate a plan. But if she didn't, come night shift the fake John aboard Moya would tell Scorpius that Aeryn, and most likely the rest of the crew, knew about the two bioloids. And then the fake Scorpius would without a doubt inform the real Scorpius and her John probably would pay for Aeryn's mistake and lack of timing.
On the other hand, Aeryn continued thinking as she toweled herself dry, she could also pay close attention to the daytime version of John and hope to catch him at something that would indicate he was not the real John. That would allow her to "kill" him without Scorpius realizing she knew about him as well. She shook her head. This plan would also accomplish little, as she had no idea where the real John might be held. It was possible the bioloid John knew about it, but that would still allow Scorpius to inform his real counterpart, long before they would get there. Aeryn snorted. "Dren!" she said quietly, making sure the comms would not pick up her voice, "I'm not good at this planning stuff. That is John's job." Aeryn sighed in sadness and wondered how he was faring.
Would it be possible to get rid of the bioloid Scorpius? If he was no longer aboard Moya, he held no control over her. More importantly, he could no longer continue his surveillance. She already confronted the half breed about getting him off Moya. Unfortunately, they had to leave the Commerce Planet rather hurriedly, so she had no time to force him to leave.
This last thought made her pause. That's why the Peacekeepers suddenly arrived on that planet: he had contacted the real Scorpius and informed him of her request. That frelling half breed even made sure the Kalish woman would be back on Moya before the Peacekeepers arrived. He probably had hoped to be rid of D'Argo and the others.
Aeryn sighed inwardly. There were no really good options. It was probably best to inform Chiana when she appeared in the Chamber to help clean up the amnexus fluid.
On the Space Station Gammak Base
John awoke again. He no longer felt any pain, so he figured it was an improvement over the last time. Unfortunately, he still hadn't the faintest idea where he was, only that it was completely dark.
As if his mind was being read, the lights came on. John noticed he was in a rather luxurious room, especially by Peacekeeper standards. He had access to his own galley, a roomy refresher section, a data terminal, a nice big couch, and a big bed.
"All that's missing is the woman in my life," John said to himself. He got up and turned suddenly, startled as the door slide open. For a moment John hoped it would be his raven-haired guiding star, but soon knew better.
"Ah, good morning, John," The voice was indeed not that of his favorite ex-Peacekeeper. It wasn't even a female voice. Nope, it was that bastard Scorpius, again.
"Whadda ya wan' Scorp?" John snarled, not being in a really good mood after finding out not all his thoughts would become reality.
"I felt it necessary to explain to you the rules you must follow if you want to keep using this room instead of the holding cell I wanted to put you in," the Scarran half-breed told him. "The rules are fairly simple, John. Even you should be able to grasp them."
"Yeah, well, understanding is one thing, following them is another," John quipped back.
"That may be so, John, but if you do not follow the rules, your life will be come... less appealing."
"Well, it ain't very appealing right now, Grasshopper," John replied. He noticed Scorpius' disapproving gaze and sighed, "OK, lemme hear the rules."
"The first, and perhaps the most important rule is that you should not focus on anything other than wormhole knowledge for at least eight arns a day. I have provided you access to a data terminal containing all of our research on wormholes. I want you to correlate your knowledge with our existing data and complement it where necessary."
"Yeah, the data you stole from my brain." John turned his back on the black-clad figure of his worst nightmares. He sighed and shook his head. "Rock and hard place again," he murmured. He dropped on to the couch and gazing up at Scorpius, stated dryly hoping to delay the rest of the Letterman List, "In case you haven't heard Scorp, it's not healthy for a human to concentrate on one facet of his life for extended periods without any breaks."
"I said at least 8 arns, John. There are more than enough arns in a day to reach that quota without the need to work continuously. The second rule you must follow, is that you will not communicate with anyone but me. If you require something you can send me a message through the terminal and if within reason, I will see to it you will get what you asked for."
"Question, do I need to ask permission if I need to go to the can?"
"Oh, John, stop interrupting me with nonsense questions."
"I can't, it's in my genes. Ask my friends. They'll tell you I have a tendency for talking nonsense, ask the wrong thing, point guns at the wrong people, and so forth, etcetera, yadda, yadda, yadda."
Scorpius sighed. "John, I have been very patient, but at some point I will have reached my limit."
"And then what? Kill me? Harm me in a way I wouldn't be able to perform my duties? What'll that do with your never ending quest for wormhole tech?"
"Enough, John, no more talking. The third and last rule involves your stay in this place. You will have access only to your current room and are not to leave it at anytime. I have ensured that you do not leave by adding a failsafe to the entrance to this room. Touching the door will cause instant paralysis. Failure to comply with any of the rules will force me to take other steps to enforce Do you understand that, John?"
John just stared stoically at the half breed.
"John, I asked you if you understood all of this."
Still John did nothing.
"Answer me!" Scorpius was obviously enraged.
"I thought you said I shouldn't talk anymore," John answered defiantly. "If you're gonna tell me what to do, be more accurate, OK? As to your question, yes I do understand that, but I can tell you, you can start looking at alternatives, 'cause I'll never give you wormhole technology and I will find a way out."
"We will see, John. We will see." At that Scorpius turned and walked to the door.
"Hey, don't I get something to eat?" John asked.
"You will, John. After you have solved the first puzzle I left for you on the terminal. I advise you to start quickly if you are hungry." At that, Scorpius walked through the door which closed behind him.
"Oh, that's just great," John muttered. He walked to the refresher to get a shower and started thinking about his options.
There were not many things he could do. It all hinged on some vital information he didn't have. Right now at least. He made a mental list of things he would need to find out. First thing to find out was where the frell he was right now. The second thing he needed an answer to was if he was being watched, which he assumed he was since Peacekeepers were nosey buggers and Scorpius was not one to stint on the details. A layout of the place would be a nice thing to know as well.
Perhaps he could find this out by using the terminal. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure Scorpius wasn't watching his every move on the frelling terminal either. Still, he had to try; it was his only option.
John finished his shower, toweled himself dry and put on some fresh clothes he found in one of the closets. Feeling hungry and knowing the only way to get some food was to solve Scorpy's riddle, he sat behind the terminal and let his subconscious take over to solve several half-completed equations. Working on an escape plan could wait until he wasn't feeling so hungry.
Moya, Corridor outside the Center Chamber
Chiana left the Center Chamber almost immediately after Aeryn. She realized she would have at least half an arn before Aeryn was due in the Starburst Chamber where she would be expecting to see her for clean up duties.
That gave her at least three quarters of an arn to get there before Aeryn would get really tinked. Just enough time to do some snooping around Scorpius' cell. Dren-face was up to something, she could smell it. Chiana went to her quarters and left her comms badge there. It's better for snooping if you don't have anything on you that could make noise at the most inappropriate of times.
Chiana hurried to the area where fek-face was locked up and scrambled into a maintenance duct. She slowly crawled to the grating that allowed her to both hear and see the frelling half breed.
She did not have to wait very long before her suspicions of him were confirmed. Dren-face reached for something resembling a communication device. Chiana almost didn't believe what she heard: the voice coming from the communication device was that of Scorpius.
"John has awoken again," the Scorpius from the communication device said, "and I have explained to him the rules of the game and the consequences should he decide not to cooperate. I believe he will not determine the real nature of his predicament for quite some time."
Moya's version of Scorpius nodded in support of his master's information. "Timing is good. I have given the bioloid John the last of the equations we were able to retrieve from the backup stores."
"I have given him additional incentive to solve our next puzzle," the reply came from the communication device. "I am certain he will solve it quickly. I take it the crew of Moya is still unaware of both your origins?"
"Yes, none of them suspect anything. It was... unfortunate that Braca failed to capture them on that Commerce Planet, but it does not matter as my primary goal has been achieved. Due to our hasty departure, Officer Sun had no time to get me off of Moya as she threatened to do."
"Make sure the pilot of the Leviathan will keep this a secret," the voice on the communication device ordered.
"Ah, do not worry about that. Pilot has been made aware of the consequences should he decide to inform the crew. Both he and the Leviathan will be no problem."
Chiana had heard enough and slowly backed away and crawled back out of the maintenance duct. She had been right, fek-face was up to something, worse yet, his plan had already been set in motion. There were two of Scorpius and two of John, and neither of the two on Moya were real. She quickly made her way back to her quarters to pick up her comms badge and made her way to the Starburst Chamber. She had to tell Aeryn about her discovery and together they could come up with a plan, she was sure of it.
Aeryn had returned to the Center Chamber for First Meal and noticed Chiana wasn't there. "Where is she?" She felt no need to elaborate on who she was searching for.
"She went back to her quarters and then intended to get started on the clean up in the Starburst Chamber," D'Argo informed her.
"Good, I don't have to go and find her," Aeryn stated. She glared at D'Argo and John who sat next to him. "I noticed you found my appearance earlier amusing?"
"Well, uhm, Aeryn, it wasn't really the appearance as much as the how and why," John told her.
"Yes, apparently so much so you went to the corridor, which was a good plan, and laughed at my predicament. You could at least have moved further away so I wouldn't be able to hear it!" Normally Aeryn wouldn't have been this angry at him, but she still remembered what had happened just over an arn ago and that fueled her anger which she realized was actually full of concern for the real John, frustration over this frelled up situation, and just plain fear that they wouldn't be able to fix it in time. In the turmoil of her thoughts, she had forgotten that the daytime version of John's personality had no clue what had occurred.
"I'm sorry, Aeryn, you're right, I shouldn't have laughed at you, but it really was very funny."
Aeryn sighed. She had no real reason to be angry with him, and she didn't want to alert that frelling copy of Scorpius that something had tipped her off that things were not right on Moya. "Alright John, I understand. I would have probably laughed as well if it had happened to you."
"You going to need help in the Starburst Chamber after you and Pip have cleaned up?" John wanted to know.
"No, I think Chiana and I will be able to make the required repairs." And even if that was not the case, she would certainly not want John there. There was no telling if the bioloid's other personality could be triggered because of a location or a memory and she really didn't want to risk that.
"Right. In that case D'Argo and I will make necessary repairs to the sensors and other damaged systems."
Aeryn gave a nod of acknowledgement and proceeded to finish First Meal and head to the Starburst Chamber.
Chiana arrived at the Starburst Chamber before Aeryn did. She was again a little anxious because she wasn't sure if Aeryn would believe her story about Scorpius. Additionally, Chiana was worried about her reaction when she found out Crichton wasn't real either. Would she feel guilty for not seeing it herself, if she believed it at all?
The Starburst Chamber really was a mess. The amnexus fluid was everywhere! No wonder Aeryn had looked like dren. With a sigh Chiana started her clean up duties.
Just a few microts later, Aeryn arrived. "Good, you started clean up already."
"Yeah, it's really messy in here. I'm sorry, Aeryn, I should have remembered the valve."
Aeryn said nothing and just looked alternately at Chiana and the maintenance duct where 1812 was still hiding, wondering if it would be wise to tell it to Chiana. The Nebari wasn't known for being good at keeping secrets, unless they were her own.
Chiana was also wondering if she should tell Aeryn about her discovery. Maybe she should just tell D'Argo instead. At least he wouldn't get mad at her and would probably believe her whereas Aeryn would probably not.
Aeryn had finally come to a decision; she had to tell someone to help her deal with this situation and Chiana could be trusted if she was made aware of the consequences to the real John if she would tell it to anyone else outside of this room. "Chiana, could you please start in the maintenance duct?"
Chiana eyed the ex-Peacekeeper for a brief moment before agreeing. "Sure. I'll get right on it." Nope, it would be stupid to tell Aeryn anything. She was definitely still angry with her. Chiana crawled through the small opening and into the maintenance duct with considerably less trouble than Aeryn had encountered earlier. She immediately noticed the red, white and blue servo-robot John had taken with him from the dying Leviathan.
The DRD moved it's eyestalks toward her and chirped. From just outside the duct Aeryn said one thing.
"Show her."
Chiana looked back toward the entrance, slightly confused but was prevented from asking the question she wanted to ask when the DRD started to playback the same recordings it had shown earlier to the Sebacean.
"Frell! This is worse than I thought!" Chiana exclaimed when the DRD had ended.
"No, it got worse when John caught me when the DRD was showing the recordings to me." Aeryn answered.
"He knows?" Chiana asked.
"Yes. He threatened to kill me, but before he could do anything his programming started the sequence to get him back to his quarters so he could change personality again, but not before I threw one of my tools at his head."
"So that's where he got the bruise! I saw it this morning but I forgot to ask him after you entered." Chiana shook her head while she completely moved out of the duct, the DRD following her. "I caught the fake Scorpius this morning talking with the real Scorpius," she blurted out.
"That is not good, Chiana. He has full access to Moya's systems and is tracking everybody using their comms badges. He probably knows you were there."
"He wouldn't because I left my comms badge in my quarters before I went to snoop around him. I didn't trust dren-face at all, Aeryn! I-I just wanted to catch him doing something bad."
"Why did you not tell me when I entered the Starburst Chamber?" Aeryn wanted to know.
"I-I wasn't sure how'd you react to it, and you still looked a bit angry with me, so I decided to tell D'Argo later. Dren, Aeryn, I didn't know Scorpius was listening in on us! I-I could've told D'Argo and fek-face would have known about it! Is it really safe in here?"
"Yes," Aeryn confirmed, "Pilot told me the shielding of this Chamber prevents any signal from penetrating it. Did you hear what Scorpius talked about?"
"Only that the real Crichton has awoken again and is being forced to work on wormhole tech. Neither said where that was. Oh, and the fake Scorpius had requested for Braca to come to that Commerce Planet. He was supposed to capture us all, but the primary reason for him was to make sure you would not force the fake Scorpius to leave Moya."
"I had come to that conclusion myself. He even made sure the Kalish girl was safely aboard Moya."
"You really wanted to get fek-face off of Moya?" Chiana asked.
"Yes, he was making things difficult for John and the only way to remedy that was to get Scorpius away from him. Scorpius disagreed. Now I know why."
"Aeryn, what are we going to do? Crichton will come after you tonight or will inform the fake Scorpius! They will both soon realize you may have informed all of us. They might even harm Moya or Pilot! We can't allow that, we-we just can't!"
"I don't know Chiana. I think we should try to inform D'Argo and we need to find out where John is being held. We must prevent the fake Scorpius from finding out that we know or he will blow us all to hezmana and even if we would survive somehow we will never find out where the real John and Scorpius are if we can't extract that information from either of the two fakes aboard Moya."
Chiana looked at Aeryn and noticed the former Peacekeeper was really worried about Crichton and unhappy about this entire situation. She probably felt guilty. "Hey Aeryn, you know it's not your fault. None of us knew about this. Crichton was already captured before we destroyed the Command Carrier."
"You may be right about that, Chiana, but I did bring Scorpius here. If he wouldn't be here, Moya would not be in danger," the Sebacean answered.
"Yeah, but we wouldn't have known Crichton was captured and a frelling duplicate of him was here either. At least now we know we have to find the real Crichton."
Aeryn looked at the Nebari girl. She knew Chiana was right. If the DRD hadn't recorded Scorpius' conversation he wouldn't have checked the data stores and inform her about the problems on Moya. "I guess," was all she said.
That's when both of them heard a noise. "What the frell?" they both exclaimed.
It took a micron before Aeryn realized what the noise was. "Out!" she yelled while grabbing the girl and shoving her toward the exit. "Moya is initiating starburst!"
Both women rushed toward the exit as the starburst energy started to flow into the Chamber.