Stranded pt 3
by The Radiant Aeryn Sun
Feedback: RazberryWestie@netscape.net
Summary: The crew visit a planet for picking up supplies. But when the run into Scrorpy, things go terribly wrong.
Questions and Comments: Yes, please! I want to know how you people like my stories! If there is anything you would like to comment about it, let me know!
It was Starburst alright, but it wasn’t the same as Moya’s usual Starbursts. This was much more bumpy instead of a smooth ride, a quite fast and jerky. It was also VERY long.
It didn’t take John and Aeryn long to fall to the floor, one over the other. They gripped each other desperately, hoping that it would be over soon.
John was yelling at the top of his lungs. “Pilot! What’s going on?!”
“I don’t know!” Pilot shouted back. “It wasn’t so bad last time, but the problem seems to have increased at least 50 times worse! And if it isn’t bad enough, we are coming towrads a planet, and Moya can’t stop!”
“We’re crashing?!” Aeryn said dumbfoundedly.
“Yes! What are we going to do?”
“Aeryn, get to the controls! Remember that sling shot maneuver we did to escape the Pk’s? Maybe it’ll work!”
“We are nearly in the atmosphere! Hurry!”
Aeryn had no idea how but somehow she got up and crawled her way to the controls. As she started to do the maneuver, Moya’s little ride got even more bumpy. Aeryn’s hand was shaking, and from the corner of her eye she could see John slipping and sliding all over the floor.
“We’re getting back on track!” Pilot shouted.
Then there was a loud sound and parts of Moya were spraying with water and Moya’s hulls were turning red.
“Pilot!” John shouted.
“Commander, Moya’s hulls are shrinking and deteriorating! Someone needs to go fix it!”
“John!” Aeryn shouted. “Trade off with me! You won’t be able to fix it! You don’t know how!”
“Alright!” John shouted as he crawled over to where Aeryn was. They slowly traded off and gave each other a quick kiss and Aeryn, slipping and falling, headed in the direction Pilot was telling her to go to.
Things were more shaky then ever. John was doing fine until something very heavy hit him in the head. Everything went black.
John opened his eyes slowly to a very blurry site. He could hear Moya humming, could feel her warmth and could see her lighted hulls, now normal again.
He felt someone holding his hand. It was Aeryn. He smiled a little and blinked a few times before he could see clearly again. He rolled over on his side to face her.
“Aeryn, how did it go?”
Aeryn’s warm smile suddenly faded. “You were hit pretty hard in the head. Because you were knocked out, we didn’t......”
John bowed his head and rolled back on his back. It just wasn’t fair. No matter how hard he tried, he never seemed to do anything right anymore. John sighed heavily.
“We did the best we could” she said, as if she could read his mind.
“So are we stuck in mud again or is this something different?” John asked casually.
“We are in water, which would be easy, but we are tangled up with kelp.”
John’s eyes widened and he turned to Aeryn. “So......we have to cut Moya out, right?”
“Correct, Commander Crichton” Pilot replied.
“Pilot, are you ok?”
“I’m fine. Moya is a little scared, but she has no problems being under water. We need to cut her out of this kelp, however, if we will have any chance of saving the others.”
“Pilot, why is Moya having these starbursts? She is just doing it all the time.”
“I’m not sure. Moya hasn’t been........feeling her best of late.”
“When did this start?” Aeryn asked.
“Around the time we started coming toward the planet. She could be having an allergy.”
“Do we have anything on board Moya that she isn’t used to?”
“Rygel.......brought something on board and showed it to me. When he showed it to me, I started sneezing.”
“What did it look like?”
“It was this crystal that changed colors......reddish ones......he said he had a box full of them.”
“Wonderful” John mumbled. “ Is Moya’s allergy starting anywhere near Rygel’s chambers?”
“As a matter of fact, it is the source.”
John and Aeryn raced over to Rygel’s chambers and found a box full of red crystals. John reached in to grab one, and suddenly pulled his hand back.
“What’s wrong?” Aeryn asked.
“They have.......legs.”
All of a sudden, all the crystals started pouring out of the box. Aeryn and John simultaneously pulled out their pulse rifles and started shooting. Every time they shot one, it evaporated. They had gotten every one except for one that was heading toward Pilot. They raced to get it. John and Aeryn split up because there were 2 different passageways. John, not looking, tripped over the crystal, it being still intact. John was in a corner and it looked as if the crystal would attack him. Then there was a fire, and it was gone.
“Bull’s-eye” Aeryn said with a grin.
“Now we have to get Moya out of this kelp dren and get the frell out of here” John said with a sigh.
John thought it was gonna take forever to get Moya out of the kelp, but Aeryn found a deteriorating substance amongst Zhann’s bottles of different things. It took about only 1 and a half arns to get Moya fully untangled. When they were done, John informed Pilot.
“Good. Now prepare for departure.”
“Pilot, how are we going to find the others?” Aeryn asked.
“I recorded the place on my database. I do that for wherever we go. However, Moya can’t starburst until tommorow. She’s weak from her spasams.”
“Wait a minute, how’s Rygel? We haven’t talked to him this entire time!” John realized.
“As far as I know, he’s eating.”
“Then he’s fine. Lets-“
“No, he’s not.”
“Why? All Rygel ever does is consume food” Aeryn said.
“He has been eating for the entire time that you have been freeing Moya, and in BIG bites, as a matter of fact.”
“Well, Rygel never takes that long to eat. We had better check up on him.”
“Not possible. He has locked himself up in there and I cannot over-ride it. If we don’t stop him soon, though, we’ll be out of food