The Music Box, 2nd Part

by Cerell

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Zhaan grabbed bandages as John struggled off the counter and they headed back to the cell.

CeRell unlocked the door and motioned the two in…"You now have time to hatch some plans for escape while I search for the Hynerian."

John collapsed. Aeryn managed to catch him and ease his contact with the hard floor.

"I’m alright." He ducked away from her as she tried to check out the wound.

"You’re bleeding." Aeryn batted away his interfering hands as she looked at the small wound…"It’s not so bad, but it is bleeding…"

Zhaan handed her the medical supplies. She placed a pad over the wound and started to wrap his head with the gauze…

"Oh no…that’s over kill.." John resisted and pulled it away.

Aeryn sat back. "Fine, bleed all over yourself then." She stalked over to the door to attack the lock.

"That son of b. No wonder I was seeing him everywhere. He must have implanted it while I was in the Aurora chair." He pulled the pad away from the wound, definitely still bleeding. "Let’s get out of here."

D’Argo piped up. "The door is locked."

"What? You guys didn’t jimmy the lock while we were gone?"

"Jimmy the lock? We didn’t try to get it open if that’s what you mean, we were a little preoccupied with you, Crichton."

"I’m back, I’m fine. Let’s open the damned door and get out of here. Where are we? Frell! We are in Rygels quarters! Least we won’t starve to death."

"He has an escape route in here somewhere." Chiana spoke, crouched beside John. "Aeryn and I might be able to escape the same way if she can’t get the door unlocked."

She helped John up who was still slightly shaky on his feet. He held the pad to the back of his neck. "How far away can she control someone?"

"Not far. Talking distance. Just a few feet maybe…I’m not real sure. I don’t know her very well. She’s not exactly someone you want around."

"Guess we’ll find out."

Aeryn stopped fiddling with the door and hit the button. The door obediently opened.

"And you were locked up for how long D’Argo?"

"Shut up, Aeryn," he growled as he shouldered her aside and headed through the door.

John stopped him…"We need a plan people. We need to keep apart so she can’t control us all at the same time. We need more com badges so we can alert each other and keep an eye on where she is."

Aeryn groused. "We had them before your great idea, Crichton."

"You try keeping your thoughts out of your head and see how hard THAT is."

"I did just fine. I didn’t go blabbering my thoughts like Chiana."

"Hey!" Chiana protested. "Don’t bring me into your fight."

Aeryn shot her a blistering look.

"I noticed she pulled something out of your head you were trying to keep hidden." Chiana shot back.

"Oh frell off, Chiana."

Zhaan interceded. "Let’s go get more com badges and separate."

"Good idea, Blue." John agreed as they headed for the maintenance bay. "Chiana, is she resistant to laser fire like a Scarren?"

"I don’t think so. Her skin is for the most part soft. At least I think."

"Good. I think I’ll enjoy finding out."

Having finally cautiously arrived at the maintenance bay, they rearmed themselves and scavenged enough com badges. One by one they managed to extricate themselves from the chains on their wrists. D’Argo flushed them out an air lock.

"Chiana, you come with me." John turned to the young Nebari. He felt protective of the slim, beautiful young girl, much as he had on earth of his sisters. She filled the void he felt at their loss.

"That’s not a good idea." D’Argo responded, a tad jealous.

"Excuse me?"

"You are the weakest link, Crichton, and.she’s the one most likely to be tortured by CeRell."

"Weakest LINK?" John got in the Luxan’s face. The days when D’Argo looked down upon him for being a weak human had long passed. John earned his place in the crew and was quite inflamed at D’Argo’s cut.

Again Zhaan stepped between the two.. "John, you’ve had the chip in your head. It’s had to make you more susceptible to mind control."

"Or maybe more resistant! What about that!"

She placed her blue hand on his shoulder. "John you care too much for us all. That is your greatest weakness with this being. I think you would do anything to keep us from being tortured and she’ll use that to her benefit."

"That doesn’t mean I. " John continued.

"This is getting us no where." Aeryn took charge interrupting him. "Crichton will come with me-we’ll take the higher levels. You three take to the lower levels. I’d say you see her, shoot to kill. Don’t hesitate. Don’t give her a chance to read your mind or take control of you.. And lets keep each other informed of where we are and where she is."

The trio split off and John headed to his module. "What are you doing, Crichton?"

"I’m going to sabotage the ships so she can’t take them."

Aeryn shook her head in amazement. "Even if she was planning on leaving, she isn’t going to pass up hers for that thing. If anything, she’d take my prowler."

"Fine, you sabotage your prowler or don’t and I’ll…." He pulled out some wires, showed them to her, and stowed them under his seat. "do mine."

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and headed to her prowler to disable it as well. She saw no point in disabling them, but one never knew. Odd things always happened around Crichton.

Pilot was in distress. The Nebari woman was demanding to be taken to Nebari space and no one was answering their coms.

"Asss I told you. They can’t answer because I have them contained. I will have them killed one by one in front of you if you do not turn this ship towards Nebari space."

She tried forcing the information from him Whether it was his multi tasking abilities or simply the nature of the Pilot, she only found a hard shell she couldn’t circumvent. She couldn’t cause him pain, but she found, she was able to nag him into frustration.

"I don’t KNOW where Nebari space IS!" he cried out his arms waving agitated.

Neither did she. She been concentrating on her search, not her back trail. Her course in finding Moya had been highly erratic. She had stopped at every commerce planet she could find. Her flight recorder wouldn’t handle more than 30 solar days. She’d been over a full cycle searching for Chiana, searching for the box. Point was; she had no idea how to get home to Nebari. Big problem. Well, she would find out eventually, in the meantime she had to probe Chiana’s long term memory. And that quite likely wouldn’t achieve her any answers. Chiana sold everything she had taken at the first Commerce planet they had come to. The first place she, herself, had stopped. Her box was most likely sitting on some table, the jewels individually sold. The likely success of her quest was rapidly going down in flames. She felt her mind begin to clear. The Scarren madness was finally dissipating. She felt her true self returning. She sagged in relief against Pilot’s console.

John and Aeryn prowled the corridors. Carefully rounding each corner of the intersecting hallways. They worked together easily, competently, smoothly. If you asked John when he stopped being a liability to the crew and became their natural leader, he wouldn’t be able to answer definitively. He had slowly changed. He was no longer the human who came through the wormhole so long ago. Scorpious, for certain, had changed him. The torture he had endured hardened him. The toughness was like a scar around the old John. A natural protection designed to help him endure the new life he found himself immersed in. Not that he minded his new life all that much. The tougher he became, the more familiar he became with the strange technology in this section of space the more his leadership tendencies showed themselves and the more he comfortably he settled into his new role in his new life.. Whether they knew it or not, the entire crew now regarded John as their leader. The one they first looked to in a crisis. Even Pilot who was asking again for help.

"Crichton! Are you there!"

"Yea, Pilot. What’s up?" He answered quietly as he carefully peered around corner.

"The Nebari, she’s in my chambers!" John and Aeryn exchanged looks. Both understanding immediately what havoc CeRell could render from Pilot’s station. Life support was completely controlled by Pilot. They both took off running towards his chambers, guns at the ready.

Aeryn stopped John before the final corridor leading into Pilot’s chambers. "D’Argo. The Nebari is in Pilot’s chambers." She calmly informed him.

"We are on our way." The Luxan replied.

"Your plan?" John asked.

"My plan? You are asking me MY plan?"

"Yes Aeryn. You have the military experience."

"I do have my strengths." She grinned. "We go through the doors, we split: I’m right , you’re left. We both start firing as soon as we see her."

"Sounds good." He smiled quickly as content to follow her lead as she his. They bolted through the opened door.

CeRell had been leaving the room, she was closest to Aeryn and caught her mind before she could fire. She flipped the gun from Aeryn’s grasp, it flew across the room. As John was pulling the trigger she caused him to flip his rifle away as well. His blast ripped into the ground at Aeryn’s feet, slamming her into the wall.

CeRell stepped back as he rushed to Aeryn’s side. "I’m all right. Just shaken." She struggled to a sit.

"It doesn’t have to end in death, CeRell." John stood in front of Aeryn shielding her weakened body knowing he had no defenses against CeRell’s power but still fighting. "We aren’t your enemies. Chiana can’t lead you to your box."

"I know that. I apologize for my behavior when I came aboard. My Scarren blood often gets the better of me. Scarren blood must be kept pure, it doesn’t match well with other species, especially with Nebari. I have a tendency to lose control to it. I call it my dark side."

"You, what. Changed your mind? You aren’t going to wipe us out?" John was mildly sarcastic and not believing what he was hearing.

"No. I’m in my right mind now. I’m in control of myself. I plan you no harm. And I deeply apologize for invading your minds when I came aboard."

She sighed. "My journey is over. The box is gone, likely sitting on a mantel somewhere on some obscure planet. I will leave now. " She started towards the door as D’Argo came running down the corridor.

John stepped out to stop him. "Everything is under control. She’s leaving."

"You need to know, John Crichton. That chip was sending out homing impulses to Scorpious. Now that it has stopped transmitting he’s going to be showing up at its last location to locate you. He’ll know it was found and will be in a revengeful mood."

She moved to leave the room when on the view screen, Pilot showed, his face grave. "We are being contacted. It’s Scorpious." CeRell turned on her heel and stared at the screen. "I destroyed his chip. I brought him here. I will stay and assist your esssscape."

They rushed to command and CeRell stood before the main view screen. The peacekeeper command ship loomed in the far distance. "Prepare to starburst, Pilot. I will fill Scorpious’s mind with the image of Moya."

"You can reach that far?" John questioned.

"I can reach his Scarren half. Please hurry. If he catches me, I’ll be tortured. He’ll know I destroyed his chip."

"Pilot, Starburst." John ordered.

Pilot responded. "Prepare for Starburst."

She went into a trance. Her mind reached over and into Scorpious’s mind. She gave him the image of Moya.

"Sir, the prisoners are Starbursting."

"No they are not. They are right there." He replied as he watched the screen on the console. "Prepare to fire."

"Sir they are not there."

The screen flicked and showed empty space. "I saw the Leviation. I SAW….. There is only one being capable of that…CeRell. Of course. She has grown in power." He smiled. "We shall all meet again."

CeRell turned to the group. A dark veil seemed to cover her eyes. Zhaan immediately rushed to her, laying her hands on the sides of her face.

"Concentrate on your good side. Those charitable feelings. Think of friendship! Think of who you truly are." She started to shake as she battled the phenominal strength of CeRell’s dark side.

Slowly the veil lifted from CeRell’s eyes as they turned back to a light green and Zhaan dropped her hands. CeRell grasped her blue hands in her own gray hands. Tears were in her eyes and she was shaking.

"I thank you. I never believed I’d be able to regain control of myself so easily."

"I was able to add my strength to yours. I am a 10th level Pau priest. You can learn to control your rage, your dark side. I can teach you many things if you join us here on Moya."

The rest of the crew spoke at once.

Aeryn: "You are FRELLING FARBOT!"
Chiana: "No FRELLING WAY!"
D’Argo: "Over my dead body!"
Rygel: "You’ve completely LOST your mind!"

Chiana then continued. "We’ve already got Rygel and we can’t trust him!"

Rygel had to retort, "Like they trust YOU Chiana."

"At least I was around to help get us out of trouble."

"Look, she just saved our asses." John explained patiently. "Most of us started on Moya as enemies. It’s safe to say we are all now friends. More or less," looking at Rygel. "Ok, some less. Right?" He looked around defying anyone to disagree. "We all have our strengths, even Rygel. We all have something to contribute to the crew. CeRell could offer us a lot. Think about it."

"No…It’sss hardly unanimous. Though I appreciate your sssincerity. I will be on my way." CeRell declined his offer.

Chiana was curious. "How did Scorpious create you? He’s not a genetasist."

"Namtar." Aeryn stated quite sure that he had a hand in CeRell’s creation. "He mixed pilot DNA with mine trying to get the multi tasking aspect of your ability."

"Exactly. I quite likely was the impetus behind his fanaticism. Though he wasn’t as evolved back then as he was when you ran across him. Scorpious worked more with those who later became his assistants. He had them graft the Scarren genes from several different unwilling ‘donors’, a few other species I don’t know about, and quite likely Pilots as well. I, in fact, am likely more Scarren than most half breeds in regards to mental ability. Some Nebari also have the mental telepathy abilities. Scorpious didn’t take into account I would need to mature before the vast abilities came to fruitation. And I didn’t show them what I could do. It is so very complex, it took a long time to learn to utilize my talents. In creating my mental abilities, they succeeded far greater than they ever imagined."

Zhaan was listening closely. "So the Scarren influence, as you call it, becomes the dominant personality when you use your ‘mental abilities’?"

"Yes. I can use the gift, but only marginally and I have to concentrate. It is difficult. All too often the Scarren influence takes over and I am powerless to do anything but watch and wait until it fades then I am back in control of my body. Even now I can feel it lurking, watching, waiting to come out like an animal waiting to spring to freedom. I am as two beings in one body."

John’s scientific mind had to be satisfied. "How does the mental ability work?"

"Much like vision but on a gradioso scale. I have sensors throughout my skin that are receptive to surrounding electronical stimulus. Where vision stops at barriers, I can ‘see’ past the barriers of skin and bone to the electronical impulses in your brains. I can see every minute firing from neuron to neuron. When I take control of a body, I simply reroute those impulses, though simply going directly to the muscles is quicker and easier. When bringing up memories, I look into the memory locations."

Zhaan considered what she was saying. "But memories are enzyme related. How can you pull out the memories, or read minds?"

"Another facit of my ‘gift’. I have an awareness, is the best I can describe. I place this into the other brain’s memory cells and ‘copy’ those on a cellular level to my own brain. It’s a type of a teleportation. This takes great effort and I have to consciously concentrate to utilize it. My dark side utilizes the gift easily. That is the mode I must enter to scan multiple minds. Or to get any in depth readings."

John tilted his head. "Do you have an Achilles heel?"

"What?" CeRell didn’t understand his earthism.

"Is there anything that will blind the gift, render it inactive, stop it in its tracks?"

She hesitated. "Laser fire. Blinds it. The blast from your gun still effects it. The sensors are overloaded. Being too close to electrical circuits does the same. I am still unable to glimpse into your minds. Even under the Scarren influence. It is a decided relief."

"I could help you learn to control your dark side. I too, have a side I try to overcome." Zhaan offered.

"I think I would enjoy that. I certainly could use any help you can give me."

"You’ll stay with us for awhile?" She looked at the various crew members who shrugged. Now that they had ways to control her should she slip back into the Scarren entity, they were amenable to her staying.

Zhaan took her arm. "Come, let’s find quarters for you." They headed off to the cells and the rest of the crew ambled away to find something to do.

Later as John sat in his module after reattaching the wires he’d plucked out. "Pilot, where’s Aeryn?"

"Aeryn is in the Kitchen."

He made his way briskly to the kitchen and saw her perched up on the tabletop nibbling on veggies. He leapt up and sat beside her.

"Have you noticed that we have been bickering an awful lot lately?"

"Just lately?" She answered with a slight grin looking at him out of the corner of her eye.

"We need to clear the air between us. Humans do this three ways." He paused and looked for her reaction.

"Humans do, huh. And you feel we should chose one of these ideas to ‘clear our air’. So what are they." she sighed. He had the need for talking again. Much easier to let him get it out of his system.

"The first way, between male, female, of course, is a full day of red hot sex."

She looked at him and smirked. "Well I know which one you’d chose already."

"Half a day then. "

Her smirk twisted further as she tried not to smile. But amusement leapt into her dark blue eyes.

"I take that as a no. I had to throw that one in. I’m a guy." He defended his idea. "The second is to wipe each others ass across the floor till we can’t stand up."

She grinned widely.

"Uh, no, I veto that one." He grinned.

"And the third, Crichton?"

"Play hockey."

"We’ve tried that." She shook her head. "It’s too boring."

"No-we went one on one…For the purpose of clearing the air, we enlist the others and form teams."

She looked at him skeptically. "Teams?"

‘Yea, you’re used to the team concept."

"All right, Crichton. If you can talk the rest of the crew into playing Hockey, I’ll agree."

John immediately hopped down and set about gathering up his teams. He ridiculed, called in favors, blackmailed and pleaded.

When everyone finally assembled in the maintenance bay, John handed the hockey sticks out. "Those are the rules, that is our goal." He pointed to the table behind D’Argo, Aeryn and Zhaan. He pointed behind his back to his module.. "That is your goal."

CeRell held the puck in her hands. Set it on the floor between John with Chiana at his side facing the others. "Your team doesn’t appear to be as ssstrong."

"You can still join us." John smiled.

"Thank you, I am content to be a part of the peanut gallery. Perhapss at a later date." She gilded over to stand beside Rygel, hovering at her shoulder height stuffing his mouth.

"Whenever you are ready." John nodded to CeRell.

She raised her hand and slashed it downward.

John slipped as he pushed off, regained his balance. He almost made it to the puck, but Aeryn’s stick grabbed the honors of the first whack sending the puck flying behind him. Chiana caught it and flung it back. Back and forth the puck flew. Everyone getting into the fray: Each team scoring. Howls of frustration at missed shots, grunts as bodies collided, and yells of triumph when the puck went sliding under the goals.

As time was running out, John slipped for the umpteenth time, Chiana missed the save and the puck went sliding under the Module earning D’Argo’s team the winning point.

.John skidded, ending up on his back at Aeryn’s feet.

"Time" Called CeRell around the tidbit she was sampling as a proud member of the peanut gallery.

D’Argo walked over and shook Aeryn’s hand. "Good work. We win our first game." Zhaan quickly came over and did the same. "That was mildly enjoyable. Thank you, John." She smiled down at him.

John went to get up and Aeryn put her boot on John’s chest pining him down.

John grimaced rubbing his rear. "You do remember I vetoed getting my ass wiped across the floor."

She smiled down at him. "I think I might like this game after all."