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"Never ask what anything is," John told his father with a laugh. "First rule of dining in the Uncharted Territories." He leaned forward to reach the requested platter and pass it around.
"Unless it's Hynerian marjools, of course," Rygel said regally from across the table. "One should always know if one is being offered marjools."
"John fries everything when *he* cooks, so it all tastes the same anyway," Chiana sniffed. "No delicacy!"
"Hey," John began indignantly.
"Well, you do," laughed Aeryn, who was sitting next to him. She reached for a glass of water to wash down her food.
"All right, all right, I guess I do," he admitted. "That's how I learned to cook, right Dad?"
Watching the interplay, Jack was surprised at being addressed directly. It took him a moment before he replied, "Of course, Son, there's nothing like good old Southern cooking. Your mother always said your Aunt Ruth would fry jello."
John laughed at the remembrance. "She did say that, didn't she? I'd forgotten that completely."
TJ was seated between his father and his grandfather. John had cut some chunks of the vegetable stew into bite-sized pieces and put them on a plate for him, along with some fried grolak. He was alternately eating and sliding things around on his plate with his fingers. He had only recently mastered the art of drinking from a cup, and John occasionally glanced over to make sure he hadn't poured all of his juice down the front of his shirt.
"Well," D'Argo said after a few moments of silence while everyone concentrated on the food, "grolak is definitely best done fried, and Chiana makes the best grolak on this ship."
Chiana, on D'Argo's left, raised her eyebrows and smirked at him. "That's not the only thing I do best," she purred.
"Pip," John said, nodding his head sharply in the direction of their guests.
Chiana smiled and turned to the humans and said, "Sorry. Bad habit."
Ron looked up from his plate to smile at Chiana, glanced briefly at D'Argo, and apparently decided against whatever he had intended to say to the Nebari. "So, D'Argo," he said instead. "That ship of yours looks pretty amazing. A lot different from the other ships here."
"Mm-hmmh," D'Argo said, mouth full of food. "It's an ancient Luxan ship."
"It's keyed to his DNA," Jool put in, reaching for the plate of grolak. "No one else can fly it."
Ron whistled and said, "Whoa, Jack, I know some pilots back home who'd like that, don't you?"
Jack smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I've known some pilots to get real attached to their craft."
"No one flies John's module but him," Aeryn said.
John looked at her and smiled. "And you," he added.
"All right, *occasionally* I've flown it," she admitted. "But it's very primitive." The tone of her voice made it very clear she was teasing. Her attention was distracted by TJ. "John!" she said sharply, nodding towards the child. He had evidently finished with his food, and had turned himself sideways on his chair and was trying to slide down to the floor.
"Hey, sport," John said. "Hold on there, we gotta get you cleaned up first." He pushed his own chair back and stood up, grabbing TJ around the waist with both hands. John carried his son over to the sink and washed and dried his hands and face, then put him down on the floor.
While John went back to the table to remove TJ's plate, the boy went to the corner where they kept a toy basket. He'd carried his new prize, the figure of Bishan, with him when he came for dinner, and had dropped it in the basket when he arrived; no toys were allowed at the table during meals. Now, he retrieved it and wandered around the room, talking happily to himself.
The adults continued talking and eating until Rygel got a look at what the boy was playing with. "Young man!" he called in a commanding voice. "What have you got there? Bring it here!"
John and D'Argo exchanged glances, and let the game proceed.
TJ came over to where Rygel floated on his thronesled and held out the figure. "Pah-key!" he announced.
The Hynerian looked at the figure closely to see if TJ had covered it with drool, and when he saw that it appeared to be dry, he took it from the child. "Thank you, TJ," he said gravely, and examined the figure closely. Eyes narrowed, he looked at John. "You brought this?" he asked. "Bishan?" His voice rose in anger.
John shrugged. "I thought it would make a great teething toy," he said innocently.
Rygel looked back and forth between John and D'Argo, and then back down at TJ, who was reaching for his toy. His mouth widened into a huge grin, and he handed the figure back to the toddler in a grand sweeping gesture, saying, "Teethe away, my boy, teethe away."
TJ promptly stuck Bishan's head into his mouth.
There was another pause in the conversation, during which platters were passed and several people, including Jool and Aeryn, put their plates in the sink.
When she got back to her seat, Jool looked over at Ron and said, "So, how are the repairs on your ship coming?"
"I think we've just about got it," he said, "maybe a few more hours of work to make sure all the connections are right and the one patch we made will hold, and then we're good to go."
"Then what?" asked Rygel, taking a break from picking over the marjools on his plate.
"What do you mean, then what?" asked John. "They go through the wormhole, I close it, Earth is safe, end of story."
Rygel laughed. "I've spent the last five cycles with you, Crichton. Don't expect me to believe a planet full of *you* is going to turn its back on the way out of their little backwater solar system just on the say-so of a couple of rocket jockeys like these two."
John knew it was true even without looking at his father's face, or Ron's, and his heart sank. Without thinking he said to Rygel, "Then I'll just have to go and make them listen! I'll destroy the project if I have to, I've done it before."
Aeryn's jaw set, and her eyes filled with tears she tried to hide, but before she or Jack or Ron could react, Jool shook her head and said, "No. They know it can be done. The evidence is right in front of their eyes at this very microt. If they're anything like you at all, Crichton, they'll just rebuild."
John's shoulders slumped in defeat. "And they get eaten by the Scarrans. Or worse."
"Oh, it's worse than that, Crichton," Rygel told him. "Whoever comes in using the wormholes they create, will simply take the technology from them. And then the Scarrans, or worse, have wormhole technology."
There was a sudden silence. Ron and Jack looked appalled, if slightly confused.
Aeryn took a deep breath and announced into the silence, "Then we'll just have to find a way to protect them."
John's gaze locked on hers then, full of surprise and apology for screwing up her life yet again with wormholes.
"It's not so hard to defend one planet," she said firmly, head held high. "If we go to Earth and position ourselves in front of their end of any wormholes they open, we can catch any invaders as they come through."
John shook his head slowly and reached his hand into her lap to squeeze hers tightly. "No, Babe, it's okay. We can't do it ourselves."
Apparently unsettled by the tension in the room, TJ came over and tried to climb up into his mother's lap. Eyes still on John, Aeryn helped the child up and absently gave him a hug, hoping he would sit quietly.
"John is right," D'Argo added to the discussion. "It needs a small fleet, and an organized defense plan."
"And we don't have a fleet," Chiana said.
"But Sparky does," John said slowly, and all eyes in the room turned to Rygel. "Or will have soon."
"You owe us that much, Rygel," Aeryn told him, expecting an argument.
Rygel didn't bother to deny it. "Once I'm settled back on my throne," he said slowly, "I might be able to spare a squadron for defense of Earth. It would be in Hyneria's best interest that no one take this technology from them."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, time out," said Jack, tapping the fingertips of one hand with the palm of the other in the American "time out" gesture and looking around the table. "No matter how pure your motives, you can't just come flying in with a fleet of aliens. It will look like an invasion, and I'm sure John will back me up on this, humans will *not* react well to that!"
"He's right," John said reluctantly. "It's going to take some persuasion for Earth to accept the idea that there's even anyone out here at all, much less anyone that's a threat. If we just walk with in a couple of destroyers, they'll think *we're* the bad guys."
They all sat quietly for a few microts, thinking. TJ squirmed out of Aeryn's lap and back down onto the floor. He seemed unsure of where to go, and sat down at her feet.
D'Argo cleared his throat reluctantly. "There's also the issue of the humans extending their wormhole abilities to include the phase displacement weapon the other John made…."
John closed his eyes, not believing that he was finding himself back at square one with the threat of wormhole technology. "The Ancients said you shouldn't have it till you can develop it yourself. Well, they did develop it themselves," he said, nodding at Jack and Ron and by extension their entire planet. "Maybe that means they can use it wisely."
Aeryn took a deep breath and said, "Maybe you should talk to the Ancients."
John looked at her in shock.
"They might have some advice," she said softly.
"And they might decide to destroy Earth themselves and eliminate the problem," John replied, equally softly.
Ron interrupted. "I don't understand half of what you all are talking about," he said, "but I don't think you have to do anything right this minute." When everyone looked at him, he continued, "This is a prototype, a test mission. IASA's not going to be sending a fleet out to the stars any time soon!"
"He's right," Jack agreed. "There's not another mission scheduled for at least a year. We built in a delay to analyze all the data. We," and here he looked over at Ron, "can stretch that out for at least another year beyond that."
"And your engines were damaged in the first flight," John said, perking up. "That means a redesign and probably building a whole new ship before the next test."
"Exactly," said Jack. "Besides, they're going to be so stunned when we come back with evidence of extraterrestrial life, they're going to sit on their hands for years."
"What proof?" John asked curiously. "Won't it just be your word that you've been kidnapped by a bunch of little green men?"
"What, and end up locked up in the loony bin?" Ron said. "Nah, I'm sure we got some good automatic data on this ship when we first came through the wormhole, and I spent some of this afternoon taking photos. This was an exploratory mission, remember? We had lots of film. I want to take some photos of you all later, if you don't mind." Ron gestured to include the entire table. When no one objected, he smiled his thanks.
"Won't they be frightened that the wormhole didn't close after you left?" Aeryn asked suddenly, and John quietly squeezed her hand again.
Ron looked at her shrewdly, and said, "Yeah, you're right. Especially when we tell them there are people out here who could be a threat, they're going to want to know how to shut the next one down before they open it."
Rygel cleared his throat and entered the conversation again. "Assuming that Bishan is overthrown as planned, it will still be a few cycles before I have consolidated my position well enough to send a defensive fleet in any case. There is time for diplomatic overtures to let your government understand the potential threat, and understand what it is we offer."
"That makes sense," John said, breathing deeply. "It looks like we have some time to figure out how to handle this." He looked at Aeryn again and added, "We can decide what to do about outside advice, too."
She smiled at him wistfully and nodded.
"But we still need to get you two out of here tomorrow," John announced. "The longer that wormhole is open, the more likely it is someone will find it."
Jack nodded reluctant agreement. "I think I'm beginning to understand a little of what it's like here," he said. "It's your world," he told his son. "I'll accept your assessment."
At that moment TJ came up to Jack and thrust the saliva-covered figure of Bishan at Jack. "M'pah!" he said loudly. "See! Bish!"
Jack picked him up and looked at John and Aeryn. "I'm going to miss this little guy, though," he said.
John looked questioningly at Aeryn, who nodded slightly. "Well," he said, keeping his voice casual, "if we get things sorted out and it's safe, maybe we can come for a visit."
"That," Jack told him, "would be nice."
