Space Station Gammak Base, Corridor
D'Argo eyed the Peacekeeper and weighed his options. Unfortunately the Peacekeeper was out of the range of his tongue so the only options available to him would be to move closer so he could use his tongue or take out his Qualta Blade. Neither option was good since the Peacekeeper would not hesitate to shoot him if he moved, but then again, he probably would do so anyway. He decided that both moving closer and taking out his blade would at least keep the man guessing. Before D'Argo could do anything, the old woman moved from behind the Peacekeeper and blew dust into his face.
"This will make him sleep for an arn," she said. "Perhaps we should hide him somewhere."
D'Argo nodded, both in thanks as well as in confirmation of her suggestion. He strode into the corridor, knelt beside the Peacekeeper, and removed the grating to another maintenance duct. He quickly pushed the Peacekeeper inside and replaced the grating. He then joined the old woman and to hide and keep an eye on the grating Chiana would come back to.
They didn't have to wait long. After a mere two microts, the Nebari girl's white hair and gray features could be spotted at the other side of the grating. D'Argo quickly checked if everything was clear and strode purposefully to the grating.
"Did you get the device?" he asked before removing the grating.
"D'Argo, I'm the snurch master, remember? Of course I got the device," the reply came from the other side of the grating.
D'Argo removed the grating to let the gray girl out and was about to place it back when he heard a thud behind him. As he looked around he noticed a Peacekeeper lying on the floor, with the old woman standing beside him.
"I hope I brought enough of this powder," Noranti said.
D'Argo just shook his head, pushed the Peacekeeper into the duct that a moment before had been occupied by Chiana, and replaced the grating.
"We better get this to Aeryn quickly," Chiana said, holding the device up.
Space Station Gammak Base, computer room
John, Aeryn and Rygel had arrived at the computer room without much resistance. They had encountered only two guards in the corridor outside the room where the real Human was lying connected to the computer. Both guards where easily incapacitated by two perfectly executed Pantak Jabs and stored in a nearby empty room.
As they entered the room, staying close to the wall to avoid being seen by the surveillance camera that was directed at the slab of metal John was lying on, Aeryn almost ran straight to him. His sweaty bare body was covered with electrodes and various tubes where connected to him, both for nutrition as well as other bodily functions. His face sported an agonized expression, anguish Aeryn shared down to her bones. How the hezmana could they disconnect him from all that dren without hurting him further? John's body trembled with every pulse of the fekkik tubing. His hands were bloody from where his nails bit into his palms where he had squeezed them in obvious response to pain. It seemed to be the only physical capability the comatose man had available to him to alleviate the constant assaults on his mind and body. Aeryn shivered and turned away from the slab.
Rygel took one look at the human where he lay prone like a filobisk ready for slaughter on that cold frelling slab and with ear brows lowered silently steered his throne sled up to the grating of the ventilation shaft, directly above the entrance. He removed the grating and dropped it into the hands of the alternate John who was waiting below him. He then proceeded to tie the rope and let it dangle down to the floor. The rope would be used by the girls to climb up and later to hoist the prone human up. After confirming with John that everything was in order, he took one more look at the human lying in the middle of the room and with a long sigh, proceeded into the ventilation shaft to the grating they would use to get out of the shaft again.
John placed the grating he still held in his hand in the corner of the room and walked cautiously to Aeryn whose eyes were getting moist. "He'll be out of here in no time, Aeryn," he said quietly. She just nodded without removing her gaze from the trembling and sweating body in the middle of the room. "We only have to wait for Pip, D, Granny, and the device and then you can go talk him out of his torture."
Surface of Tirnu
Sikozu regained control of herself once again and found that the Scorpius bioloid had been reactivated. He was looking at her, waiting until she became completely aware of her current surroundings.
"Sikozu, I hope you have learned from our talk and the talk you had with the John inside you. Do not try to warn Scorpius, it would be an error."
Before Sikozu could give a response, they heard the engines of the Marauder as it triangulated on the pad and began to lower its landing gear. Scorpius stood at the top of the stairs as they were lowered to the ground signaling that they should approach the ship. His bioloid version grabbed her hand and gently pulled her forward towards the Scarran half-breed.
As they entered the Marauder, Sikozu heard Scorpius say to his bioloid copy, "she's a bioloid?"
"Yes I am," she replied.
"You must be part of the Kalish resistance, then," Scorpius concluded. "You can come with me; you may be able to provide me with vital information about the Scarrans."
Sikozu was about to inform him of the active rescue occurring at that moment on his Space Station, but found she was unable to say anything.
'I thought we agreed not to tell him,' John's voice sounded in her mind.
"We have agreed on nothing," she muttered quietly. "I have to tell him." But again she found she could say nothing of the sort out loud.
'I won't let you tell him. Trust me. It's for your own good.'
Sikozu gave up for the moment. She would try again a little later.
Space Station Gammak Base, computer room
D'Argo, Noranti, and Chiana entered the room quickly but carefully, making sure to stay out of the line of vision of the surveillance camera.
"Frell," Chiana exclaimed as she noticed the human lying there in the middle of the room while handing the neural interface to Aeryn.
D'Argo too felt rage growing inside him when he took in John's condition.
"Pip, Granny, you need to get up there," John said as he pointed to the opened ventilation shaft and the rope dangling from it. "Guido is opening the other end now." He looked at Aeryn. "It's up to you now to get him back in this reality. Remember what we talked about."
Aeryn nodded and plugged the neural interface into the socket and put it on her head. With a grimace, she was instantly transferred to the virtual room.
Space Station Gammak Base, virtual room
Aeryn turned and was immediately apprised why the real John's face had held such an anguished expression. She frowned as she watched a corroding copy of herself and Chiana hanging around and touching him, talking to him. The smells and sounds were appalling.
Aeryn momentarily closed her eyes, before she yelled, "get the frell away from him!" To her astonishment the two women actually disappeared into thin air. Without much thought she moved to John who was sitting on a couch shivering and weaving back and forth with evident exhaustion.
John turned reddened eyes her direction and rasped at her, "Go away, it's not going to work.". Just as she was about to sit next to him, he stood up and backing himself against the nearest wall started yelling. "It's not going to work Scorp! Whether you send those two zombies or the Aeryn I remember, I will not work on those frelling wormhole equations!"
Watching her lover standing stiffly with his back against the wall and his arms equally stiffly indicating that she should keep away, Aeryn hesitantly sat down on the couch. She swallowed and looked down at her hands to collect her thoughts before speaking. She stated quietly, "John, it is really me. Chiana and I were not killed." She hoped that would calm him down, but apparently it did not work that way with John.
"Oh, come on, Grasshopper. Make up your mind, will ya? First they're dead, now they're not? So I guess in a few arns they'll be dead again?" He didn't even look at her during his rant to Scorpius.
"John, listen to me., We did not die during the accident in the Starburst Chamber. For one thing, it was not an accident at all but something the fake Scorpius did; and for a second thing, Chiana and I hid ourselves from the entire crew to allow Scorpius to think we were dead. You see I already knew the whole frelling story because a few arns before a DRD relayed the true identity of both fakes and the entire miserable debacle. The problem was that your 1812 DRD chose the Starburst Chamber for our secret rendezvous and the fake you had caught me there. Luckily, this time I had good timing because the fake John's programming was about to revert to his daytime personality, the one that ha no idea he was fake and I was able to contact Chiana. Together, we planned on acting to turn off both fakes, but Scorpius acted first and had Pilot tell Moya to initiate Starburst. We got out just in time but decided to hide and convince the crew, including the fakes, that we were dead. This sounds stupid even in comparison to your plans, but that's what happened. So, we waited and the fakes contacted Scorpy wjth the news of our death. I'm truly sorry that you had to deal with this dren, John. Life is not fair.."
John looked at her for a moment. "Come on, Scorp, that's something I had thought about and hoped to be true earlier. How stupid do you think I am? Nice touch with the details about the DRD and the double personality, but I'm not buying it."
Aeryn sighed. Frell, this was not going well at all. She was aware that the real Scorpius would be on his way back by now, so she had to get him to believe quickly. Okay, John always thought that I was, in his words, the poster-child for frontal assaults, I'll just jump right in with the big news, she thought. "John, I am pregnant."
That did get his attention. "Pregnant?" He had a dumbfounded look on his face and started to sit down again slowly. "You gonna have a baby? When? How can this be? I, um, I-I don't know what to say."
"Not right away, John. Remember, I'm not human. Peacekeepers are not like you. Military campaigns can last for many cycles. Imagine if even a portion of a female unit fell pregnant. Those of us born on a Command Carrier can retain an embryonic fetus for up to seven cycles. It takes a surgeon to release the stasis. I..." Aeryn looked down at the floor before she had the courage to look him in the eye again and continue, "I could also be pregnant for more than four cycles."
"That's just great, Aeryn. So, you're not sure who the daddy is. So why tell me now? You know, there was a point in our non-relationship where I would have jumped for joy to share a child with you. Anybody's child. But you made it really clear that I wasn't your guy, I-I wasn't that guy, the one on Talyn. Aeryn, I don't know what to think at the moment. So, congratulations. Whenever you have this baby or whatever it is at the moment, I hope you and the father are very happy together. I have more problems at the moment than I can deal with. I don't need more dren. You see, Scorpy up there has me trapped in this place and wants me to do his homework for him, but you see, I hate bullies. I have hated them since Billy Traskow in third grade forced me to do his math homework for him for weeks until I got the nerve to tell him where to stick it. He broke my nose with his math book. So, I've decided not to cooperate with Grasshopper and he's sent Casper and Wendy to haunt me ever since. I'm tired and I don't want to hear about alien pregnancies. Okay, so go away."
John leaned back on the couch and resolutely crossed his arms behind his head and looked away from the flabbergasted woman.
Aeryn looked at the floor again and shook her head. For love of Cholak the human was stubborn. She struggled with what to say that would invite his attention to her rescue attempt. This gambit wasn't working well at all. She thought back to how helpless and lost she felt at the death of the John on Talyn. She felt again the painful feelings of abandonment and her anger at John for leaving. She summoned up those memories and held them close. She turned to the man and whispered, "John, I want this baby because it could be ours. Not his, not yours, but ours. I want us to raise this child. I have strong hopes that John Crichton is the father. You are one and the same to me. Please, I've lost you twice now. I need you. I know you feel abandoned and I have felt this feeling of emptiness so heavy that you feel that nothing will fill it ever again. Come out of here with me. I'm here for you now. The baby and I. We can release the stasis and be a family, I am ready. But I need you with me John. I know nothing about children, I need you to support me; I need you back in my life."
John turned and faced her once again and sighed deeply. "Please let the dream be true. Please don't be another trick." He whispered. "Aeryn, gawd, I have have wanted to be with you, needed to be with you. I don't understand totally what made you change your mind, but I'm glad you did. And I want you to know that when you have this baby, I will consider it my own, no matter who the biological father is." John had grabbed her hand and held it while he looked at her. "H-how did you get in here?" he asked, suddenly aware of his current situation.
"Chiana and D'Argo grabbed the neural link Scorpius uses to communicate with you in the game. You have to get out of here. Scorpius is not here right now, but we need to get you away before he returns."
John's face fell once again. "Aeryn, I tried to escape before but it didn't work. I just end up here again."
"Yes, the fake Scorpius explained it to us. You couldn't escape because you did not want to leave the room. You were only interested in getting away from Scorpius. You need to convince yourself you do not want to be here in this room."
"But I don't want to be here."
"Are you sure? This room is a representation of everything you have craved for for a long time; food you like, science, nobody chasing you. You need to convince yourself there are more important things in the real world."
"Aeryn, look around you. Do you really think I want to be here, with the constant threat of Scorpy dropping by and the zombies constantly pestering me? Believe me, I've wished myself away from this place more times than I can count. I can make little changes for things I do not like, but nothing big. I think the fake Grasshopper lied to you."
"No, he could not. Sikozu reprogrammed the bioloid Scorpius to make sure that betrayal to us would result in the equivalent of a failing cooling rod."
"Hold it, hold it. One, who the heck is Sikozu and two, what the heck is a bioloid?" John interrupted her.
This reminded Aeryn that John had missed out on so much of her life on Moya in the past couple of monens. Not wanting to think about that right now she simply replied "Sikozu is a Kalish girl but also a bioloid, more advanced than the Scorpius or John bioloids. A bioloid is a genetically engineered life form with technological parts, basically a computer core instead of a real brain. I am confident that the bioloid Scorpius could not have betrayed us without any pain."
"So, if RoboScorp was not lying, he didn't get all the info from Grasshopper," John concluded. "Either way, we still haven't got a way to get me out of here."
He started moving his thumb over his lower lip, something Aeryn recognized as an indication that his brain was working on possible escape routes. After a microt or two of observing her human, she decided he may need some input from her. "John, what happened the last time you tried to escape?"
"I stepped out of the door and instead of ending up in the corridor I had seen I ended back in my refresher chamber," pointing out both the door and the refresher.
"But you were able to open the door and see the corridor?"
"Yes, but Scorpy had planted the switch that disengaged the paralyzing device linked to the door. After my escape attempt he removed it again from the data terminal. I knew even then it was just too easy and that he probably had arranged it for me."
"And you are certain there is actually a paralyzing device on the door?"
"Yeah, I tried it once and couldn't move a muscle for almost an arn. In the beginning, before I knew this wasn't real, Scorpius always entered and exited through the door, but later he just appeared and disappeared without knocking. A little while ago he told me he had full control." A short pause later he realized what he had just said and what that indicated. Apparently Aeryn was still completely attuned to him, proven by the fact they both talked at the same time.
"The neural interface."
"The neural thingy."
John couldn't help the grin on his face and even Aeryn smiled a bit.
"Right, that means you're in control of this game or possibly you can't be affected by whatever is making sure I can't leave."
"The two creatures that were in here vanished when I wanted them to leave," Aeryn agreed. "We will try this." She stood up and walked to the door. Not entirely sure on how to proceed, she remembered back to when she was linked with Talyn. She reached out with her mind and found the controls of the simulated door. She located the control that activated or deactivated the door's security and willed it to disengage. She pulled back her mind. The transition back to the virtual room came with a shock and she nearly fell backwards but John stood behind her and braced her.
"I toggled the control," she said after she regained her equilibrium. Without waiting for his response, verbally or otherwise, she palmed the door open. As the door opened she looked back at him.
"Hey, no shock therapy," John said. "Lead the way, Sundance."
Aeryn smiled and stepped through the door into the corridor. She looked back to where John still stood in the virtual room and waited for him to join her. She watched John step through the door carefully. The moment his last foot left the virtual room he vanished.
"Ah, hell, I still can't leave Dodge," Aeryn heard John say. She looked into the room and saw him standing near his refreshing chamber.
She pondered the issue for a while. "John, what if you give me your hand and I pull you out of the room. If we are linked like that you should end up with me."
"Yeah, but don't be surprised if that means you'll end up in my bathroom." He quickly made his way towards the door and stuck out his hand. Aeryn grabbed it and pulled him through the door.
Again John found himself in his refreshing chamber and Aeryn found her hand empty again.
"This is not working, Aer," John said as she stepped back into the room. "Besides, I doubt we could get out that way. This is all just an illusion anyway. If I'm to leave this place, it's because the simulation ends. If you guys found my body, why didn't you just pull the plug?"
"The bioloid Scorpius told us that doing so would damage your mind in a way similar to the Living Death in Sebaceans."
"So, that's not a real option, unless we can't find a way out of here." Seeing the look on Aeryn's face he grabbed her hand once again. "Aeryn, promise me that if we can't find a way out of this game, you just pull the plug on the computer. Either I wake up and RoboScorp was lied to again, or I end up in la-la land permanently, in which case you will have to kill me. Please, Aeryn, promise me you'll do that for me."
If his voice wasn't enough to convey his plead, his eyes were. Aeryn knew he was right; he couldn't stay in this room. She looked into his blue eyes. "I promise I will. But I will also promise to do anything to get you out of here alive and healthy."
Satisfied by her answer and relieved by it as well, he answered, "thank you Aeryn. Now let's figure out how to leave Oz." Again John's thumb found his way to his lower lip. "You gave the command to switch off the stun gun by the door. Couldn't you give a command to end the simulation in an orderly fashion?"
"If I had a frelling clue how and where in the computer program the off command existed, I could do that; and I would have done so already," Aeryn replied tersely. "You are a much better tech than I am."
"Yeah, well I'm not wearing that neural thingy," John answered. His eye fell on the data terminal. "Aer, could you reroute the access point you use to the data terminal?"
"Maybe," Aeryn answered. She closed her eyes and reached out with her mind again. She easily spotted the data terminal connection but it took a little more effort to find the connection of her neural interface link. Finally locating it, she completed the connection and pulled her mind back again. John stood right behind her and once again prevented her from falling.
"Did it work?" John asked her when she regained her balance again.
"I think so."
"Well, let's see." John sat down in front of the terminal and noticed he had indeed access to a lot more sections. Quickly scanning the list he found main controls quite easily. Unfortunately, it proved a lot more difficult to find the exit command. He had to navigate a whole bunch of sub-sections before finally coming to the area that controlled the simulation's behavior.
"Hmm, we're in the right neighborhood, but where's the damn on-off switch," John muttered mostly to himself. "Aeryn, how would you get out of this simulation if you didn't have to worry about me?"
"Well, I am not supposed to leave without you," she answered. "Once you got out of the room, the simulation would have ended and I would automatically be disconnected."
"What? So you might be stuck here as well?"
"Don't be silly John, once Scorpius returns I am sure he will disconnect me from the computer. Which is why I need you to hurry up, because he must be on his way back right now."
"Right, no pressure," John muttered. Trying to find a way out he, shifted through the list of commands. None of them looked like the power switch. 'Maybe I'm going about it the wrong way,' he thought to himself. 'Perhaps the simulation does provide an exit, I'm just not able to get to it because I can't leave this room.' He navigated back to the parameters section of the simulator and removed the setting that obviously kept him in the room.
"Aeryn, I've changed the simulation so I can leave this room with you."
"And what good would that do?"
"I think the simulation does provide an exit, one we can actually step through. It's obvious Scorpy would not allow that exit to be in this room. I think that's the sole reason I'm not s'posed to leave this room."
John stood up and walked through the door and finally found himself in the corridor he had only been able to see from inside the virtual room.
Aeryn immediately followed him out. "Right, where to now?"
John shrugged. "Dunno. We'll just see where this hall leads to," he said pointing in one direction.
Aeryn nodded and started walking in his proposed direction. It didn't take them long to find a bright white lit portal.
"I'm guessing this is our exit," John said. He grabbed her hand and together they walked through the portal.
Space Station Gammak Base, computer room
A mere micron later Aeryn found herself in the computer room. She saw by John's rapid eye movements that he too had disengaged from the simulation. "I got him out, D'Argo. You can now disconnect him but do it quickly." Aeryn unplugged the neural interface and stuck it in a pocket, while D'Argo started to remove all the electrodes and the handful of tubes and needles from where they covered John's now twitching body.
D'Argo completed disengaging the now trembling and sweating human. "Scorpius should be burned in boiling chuvak oil for doing this to John. Look at these holes. Where are some clothes so that I can stop the bleeding?" D'Argo growled as he watched each intravenous line tear through John's skin on its way out. John was rolling his head back and forth with the pain of removal and trying to yell but as of yet he couldn't get his mouth to move correctly or gain enough breath to emote.
By this time, Aeryn had climbed up the rope to the ventilation duct and clambered in.
"Did it go alright?" Chiana's slightly anxious voice came from beside her.
"Yes, but not at all as we planned. It appears Scorpius had lied to the bioloid Scorpius about whether John could leave. Crichton wanted to get out; he did not want to be there at all." For a moment she bit her lip, contemplating if she should tell more. "When I first got in the virtual room, there were copies of you and me around him, plaguing him. They looked like they had been severely burned, almost dead. From John's reaction I understood that Scorpius had placed them there to remind him of our 'deaths'. He kept fighting though and at first he did not believe it was really me. But you can understand why he did not want to stay in that room."
"So, how did ya convince him it was really you?" Chiana asked with a mischievous look on her face that clearly indicated she had the wrong idea.
"None of your frelling business," was the only reply Aeryn gave her. Silently the couple watched how D'Argo tugged and rolled Crichton's totally limp body and finally managed to lift him off the metal slab.
D'Argo carried his friend to the rope and tied it around his waist. By this time it looked like John had some movement in his arms but very little else available to him. The two women quickly hoisted him up and pulled him into the ventilation duct. Meanwhile, D'Argo picked up the now deactivated bioloid human and turned to the exit. Before he could take a step Braca and two security guards entered.
Braca was aware how important the human was to Scorpius. "Do not shoot the human," he warned the guards in a whisper. "You," he continued more loudly while pointing at D'Argo, "place the human back on the platform or you will be killed where you stand."
D'Argo growled for good measure but turned around to put the bioloid on the metal slab. He noticed the guards and Braca moved further into the room and couldn't help but smile a little. After he placed the bioloid on the metal slab he heard Aeryn jump down from the vent. He turned around and saw that she had incapacitated one of the guards and was now executing a Pantak Jab on Braca. At the same moment she connected with Braca, D'Argo's tongue lashed out to deal with the second guard who was aiming his pulse pistol at her. The three men where out in less than two microns.
Aeryn caught the pulse riffle Chiana dropped from the ventilation duct and together with D'Argo, who had drawn his Qualta Blade, they ran through the door.
Space Station Gammak Base, ventilation duct
Chiana watched her lover and Aeryn run out of the room while the first guard and Braca slowly got up again and turned around to the human. "It's just you and me now, old man," she said quietly to him. She grasped him under the arm pits and started to drag him through the duct. Her progress was being hindered both by John's dead weight as well as by his ineffectual struggles with numb limbs to assist her..
"Crichton, you frellnik, stay still or it's going to take me arns to drag your eema all the way to the other end," Chiana said to him.
"Bu' I ca' do 'is," John replied in a slurred voice, moving his arms and legs in a clearly uncontrolled manner, trying to prove he indeed could do it on his own.
"You can, huh," Chiana asked. Deciding he would not stop moving she decided to prove him he couldn't do this on his own. "Fine, just follow me." She let go of him and crawled ahead a mere motra before turning around. As she expected, John still laid helplessly in the same spot, flailing his limbs in a desperate attempt to propel himself forward.
Chiana sighed and crawled back to her helpless friend. "Will you now just stay still and allow me to drag you through this duct?" John looked at her, sighed and nodded. "Now stay still you drannit and we'll be out of here before you know it."
"Pip," John said tentatively, "wha's a drannit?"
"Forget the drannit, old man," she said.
"Fine, fre' the drannit." That drew a laugh from the Nebari girl. "What?"
"Nothing," she responded still laughing. "I don't think you'll ever want to know what a drannit is though."
Space Station Gammak Base, corridors
While Chiana dragged the human behind her through the duct to a nearby room, where Noranti and Rygel were waiting, D'Argo and Aeryn were dealing with the other Peacekeepers, and basically distracting them. They fired at every Peacekeeper that got in their path while they made their way through the corridors. During the shooting and the running D'Argo called his ship and commanded it to head to and land in the secondary docking bay using stealth mode and maintain fully cloaked.
Aeryn and D'Argo encountered a large number of guards blocking their path. D'Argo turned to Aeryn and said, "Aeryn, I am going to say something I have never been able to put in words. I... love shooting Peacekeepers." Aeryn smiled and together they opened fire, covering each other while they slowly made their way to the side corridor leading to the room the others were waiting for them.
Space Station Gammak Base, main docking bay
The Marauder landed smoothly on the spot reserved for Scorpius' personal ships. Inside Scorpius turned to his bioloid replica and said, "remember to take a separate route to my chambers; I do not want anyone to see the both of us walking in the same area. You can use the secret access hatch below the Marauder and the hidden passage into my private chamber. I will take care of the Kalish."
The Kalish in question was getting more and more annoyed. No matter how hard she tried, she was unable to warn Scorpius about the rescue plan. Even worse, the more she tried, the more annoying the human's voice became in her head. Every time she told him to go away or leave her alone she was met with refusals.
'Why can you just not leave me alone?' she asked the human virus with her mind for seemingly the thousandth time.
'I'll leave you alone just as soon as I know the real me and the rest of Moya's crew have safely left the building. But don't worry Sputnik, I got nowhere else to go so you'll always have a friend with you.'
'Scorpius' programming is gone,' she countered.
'Yes, because I only linked him to you're processing core. I'm actually hiding out within your programming. If you want to get rid of me you need to perform a complete reset of yourself. That's fine by me, since your memory banks will also be wiped so you still wouldn't be able to warn him.'
Sikozu silently followed Scorpius. At least she would be near the real Scarran half-breed.
"Why are you so quiet," Scorpius asked her. "My bioloid copy has told me you are very intelligent and you and he appear to have had many conversations."
Sikozu looked at Scorpius, pondering on how to answer. Lying would not be an option, since Scorpius could detect lies due to changes in energy signatures.
'I'll normalize your energy signature. That way he won't detect your lie.'
"I just wa..." she started to say and found once again to be unable to tell him about the rescue plan. She swallowed and continued, "I just do not know what to say to you. I was more than a little nervous to meet you and this has not lessened."
Scorpius looked at her, letting the answer roll around his mind while keeping a careful eye on changes in her energy signature. There was no indication she was telling something untrue and he therefore accepted her reply.
"Braca," Scorpius called for his flunky through the comms, "I have returned. I suspect everything is alright?"
"Sir," the reply came, "the Luxan and the Peacekeeper traitor have penetrated this base and attempted to rescue the human. We were able to prevent them from taking him, but the two of them are now trying to escape this base."
Scorpius had to exert much will power to not lose his temper. When he felt his voice would be calm, he replied, "Braca, allow them to escape. I have no use for them and as long as we still have the human in custody they can leave this base."
In his mind he realized something else. The Peacekeeper traitor Braca referred to must be Officer Sun. It was unfortunate she had managed to survive but that was of no consequence anymore.
Space Station Gammak Base, corridor/storage room
Aeryn and D'Argo reached the room where the others were waiting. Because this route was unexpected, they managed to leave the Peacekeepers behind them instead of in front of them.
"I'll guard this door," Aeryn said, signaling him he could enter the room.
D'Argo opened the door and ran to the wall with the ventilation duct. He sheathed his Qualta Blade on the run and caught the human's prone body as Chiana and Noranti pushed it out of the duct. Rygel had already exited the duct when he saw D'Argo entering and made his way to the other door. Chiana and the old woman jumped out of the ventilation duct as well, Chiana immediately drawing her own pistol.
"Hey guys, why are we so certain we can leave without anyone stopping us," John asked, now much more lucid though still lacking motor skills.
"Crichton, your counterpart came up with the plan; we'll get out," Chiana said. Her jerky movements betrayed her.
"Pip, you're hiding somethin'."
"John, we are getting out of this place. The entire plan has been successful so far. Even the timing is perfect," D'Argo said in a calm voice. Chiana still moved anxiously and John could see her clearly from his vantage point in D'Argo's arms.
"Pip, what's the plan?" John asked, figuring his Nebari friend was his best chance at getting the truth.
"We-well, Crichton, we-we assume fek-face wi-will contact Braca and-and when he tells him tha-that D'Argo and Aeryn we-were caught while trying to-to rescue you and had to lea-leave you, Scorpius would let Aeryn and D'Argo escape," Chiana stammered out the plan.
"Why would Braca say D and Aeryn left me?" John inquired.
"Be-because he-he saw D'Argo pu-put your bi-bioloid copy ba-back where you we-were lying before."
"Wait, my robotic twin is in the computer room? We can't just leave him there!"
Aeryn heard the discussion. Seeing there were no Peacekeepers following them, she closed the door and walked over to where the group was still standing. "John, he will let himself get connected to the computer again and start destroying the wormhole data."
"I'm glad he's going to that for me, seeing I forgot that before we departed, but if we leave him there he'll be destroyed. I don't want another death on my conscious," he ended in a whisper.
Aeryn smiled and touched his face with her hand. "He said you would say that. He also said I should remind you that he is not really alive and that 'his batteries would run out' in a couple of monens. You, on the other hand are alive and have more lives to consider."
John looked at her for a few microns while he mulled over the things she had said. She was right of course, the bioloid John was only partly alive and he did have other people to think of, like Aeryn's child. "Alright, let's get this show on the road," he conceded.
At that Aeryn turned around to get to the other door opposite the one she had come in through to go and secure their exit path. She got halfway to the door when a cultured voice came from the other door.
"What do we have here? I believe the human would call this a... 'jail break.'"