Crais turned his back to the
Ancient.
"You can´t be serious." he said.
The look in
Jack´s eyes told them exactly the opposite.
"We cannot
take on a Command Carrier! This would be suicide!"
"Then it is
suicide." Jack calmly replied.
"You are willing to die for
this knowledge?" Crais asked.
"It is my task to keep this
knowledge out of the wrong hands. If I should have to sacrifice my
own life to see my goal fulfilled, then so be it."
"You are
insane."
"Another maniac in search of this
wormhole-technology." he thought.
"You did not listen to my
words." Jack said.
This was the second time Jack replied to
something Crais was thinking.
"Can he read minds?" Crais asked
himself.
"I already possess the knowledge to control the
wormholes. The knowledge my father passed down upon me, the knowledge
I passed down unto Crichton..."
"You gave Crichton the
knowledge?" Aeryn suddenly said.
"Yes, I did." Jack replied
calmly.
"Then YOU are the reason why we were hunted for an
entire year. That John was tortured, tormented and driven to the edge
of insanity. Then YOU are the reason that John is dead!"
Swiftly
she grabbed her pulse pistol and pointed it at Jack's head.
But
the Ancient never moved. He never showed any sign of fear.
"I
should kill you..." Aeryn said.
Crais stood beside her,
hesitating whether he should or should not throw the gun out of her
hands.
"Maybe you should." Jack said. "Maybe you should
avenge John's death...
But before you do I want you to ask
yourself this question:"
Jack looked straight into her burning
eyes.
Her long black hair laid asleep on her shoulders.
"Would
John have wanted you to spill blood in his name?"
Aeryn's hand
began to shake.
Slowly she put her pistol down.
"No." she
said. "He wouldn't have wanted that."
Talyn whispered things
in Crais´s ear.
The adolescent Leviathan was smarter then he
seemed, and was more observant then Crais.
A quality he had
inherited from his mother.
"So you are some kind of Guardian?"
Crais asked.
"My primary task is to keep the wormhole-knowledge
out of the hands of evil-doers. So in that perspective I am a
Guardian."
"The guardian of the wormhole-knowledge." Crais
mockingly said.
And now this "guardian" wanted them to help
him kill Scorpius.
To help him destroy a Command Carrier.
"No,"
Crais said.
"Talyn and I will not help you destroy the Carrier,
even if we could stand a chance against it´s massive weaponry.
I refuse to force Talyn into using violence again."
Blowing up
the Shadow Depository was something neither Crais or Talyn was proud
of.
"I do not want to encourage Talyn´s aggressive nature
even further."
"You do not perceive the true intensity of the
situation.."
"No!" Crais said.
Jack understood.
He was
a peaceful creature, and also did not like to resort to violent
measures.
But if he were to protect his species, to protect this
galaxy, then he had no choice.
He had to blow up the Carrier with
wormhole-weaponry, to kill Scorpius.
But without Talyn, he was
powerless to do so.
Persuasion was needed.
As Jack closed
his eyes, both Aeryn and Crais could feel Talyn shake.
As they
turned and faced the window, they saw the wormhole increasing in
size, swallowing the entire Leviathan, before disappearing into thin
air.
John opened his eyes slowly. Gently.
It
almost felt like his eyes had been glued shut for a long time.
He
groaned as he got up.
The bright sun shined in his face.
Warm
rays of light heated his body.
Sand flew through his fingers.
"I
know this place..." John whispered.
Sydney,
Australia.
Earth.
Dozens of people gathered to the sea in
search of a refreshing dive into the cold water.
As he turned
around he saw several hotels and apartments, looking out over the
water.
And he also saw something else.
He smiled.
She smiled
back.
Aeryn Sun lay on her back in the sand, smiling at her
lover.
John recognised the place from his time in Australia, and
from a dream he had on Moya once.
He dreamt of him and Aeryn,
together, on the beach.
John told her he loved her, Aeryn laughed
at him.
It was kind of an embarrassing dream.
But as John
looked at Aeryn, he knew this time would be different.
This time
something has changed.
As he crawled towards her in the sand, she
stretched out her hand.
"Hello, John." the Aeryn inside John's
head said.
John grabbed her hand and touched it gently.
"I
love Earp." Aeryn said. "It's so peaceful here."
"Yeah,"
John said. "I know exactly what you mean."
Aeryn smiled.
"You
didn't correct me." she said.
"What?"
"You didn't
correct me when I said 'Earp'."
"So?" John said as he
stroked the palm of her hand.
"I know it's pronounced
'Earth'." Aeryn said, who was clearly enjoying the attention
she got from John.
"I don't care if you pronounce Earth
´Earp." John said. "You could call it 'Earl', and I
wouldn't care less about it. The only thing that matters is that
yóu are the one saying it.
That those words come from your
precious lips. Every word that you say is as valuable as gold to
me...you know why? Because I love you..."
The words seemed to
come so easy this time.
"I love you too, John Crichton." Aeryn
said.
But it wasn't her voice that Crichton heard.
It was
somebody else.
A woman.
At precisely that moment three
Peacekeeper Command Carriers appeared in the sky.
Dozens of
Marauders came swooping down.
A hundred Peacekeepers stepped out,
killing everyone in search for Crichton.
Crichton turned around,
but Aeryn had disappeared.
She was dead.
He remembered it
now.
The soldiers surrounded him, and came closer and closer as
they drove Crichton to the sea.
As he felt the cold waves of the
ocean touch his feet, he knew that he had no way to run.
He
thought about his surrender, his resistance, his future and his past,
but before he know it, it was all over.
A hand suddenly touched
him on the shoulder.
John felt his hot breathe down in his
neck.
"Don't worry, Crichton." the man said. "They won't
get to you..."
Crichton knew it would be him.
He knew it was
Scorpius who stood behind him.
Scorpius has frequently haunted his
dreams, turning them into nightmares.
He was the monster in his
dreams.
The demon in his quest...
"They won't get to you,
Crichton..." he said again.
Crichton turned his head towards
Scorpius...
"...BECAUSE I WILL KILL YOU, BEFORE THEY EVER GET
THE CHANCE TO DO SO!" Stark shouted, as he removed his mask and
set Crichton's mind on fire.
John Crichton woke up with a
blast.
He woke up from a nightmare, only to step into another
one.
Scorpius stared into his sleepy eyes, scientists stood
everywhere and Peacekeeper soldiers guarded every door.
John
immediately felt the cuffs around his arms and legs burning into his
skin, and he also noticed the contraption in which he was
sitting.
The one thing on which all of his nightmares were
based...
The Aurora Chair.
He wanted to scream his lungs out.
He wanted to shout, cry, scream, beg, kill, hurt, die...
But he
couldn't, and wouldn't do that.
Because...what's the
point?
"Welcome back, Crichton." Scorpius said as he
approached the weak human in the Aurora Chair.
"We meet again."
Crichton said.
John's eyes were itching. He thought he was
going crazy. He was seeing Scorpius twice!
The first Scorpius
looked him straight in the eye, but the second Scorpius stood in the
background, almost unnoticeable.
"And we will meet again."
Scorpius said. "Take him back to his cell."
The scientists and
doctors did as he asked and brought John back to his cell,
accompanied by several Peacekeeper soldiers.
"Lieutenant
Bracca." Scorpius said, and the lieutenant appeared.
Scorpius
had gambled and won, just like he predicted.
Crichton has been
revived, and now the wormhole-equations were almost within his
grasp...
"Inform the Command Carrier that we will return in
approximately one hour." Scorpius said to Bracca.
"Yes, sir."
he answered.
Commander Moxan heard everything.
He was
pleased with Crichton's recovery.
Perhaps Scorpius will leave
now...
And then Moxan wouldn't have to resort to violent
measures to máke him go away...
