Return to Bermudas Index
___________________________________
The pain filling Aeryn’s head was all too familiar. The memories flashing across the large screen in front of her were no different than the ones she saw daily over and over—eyes open or closed they were the same. The happy ones—bittersweet; the painful ones—excruciating. Scorpius wasn’t doing anything she hadn’t done to herself. Still, the physical pain was increasing. Focus…
Scorpius bypassed all her early memories—the first time her mother came to her out of love…her affair with Velorek and the effects of her betrayal…her mission to subdue the prisoners’ revolt on the escaping Leviathan—this was not the information Scorpius cared about—this was Peacekeeper record and Aeryn was able to distance herself. She was not that Peacekeeper any longer. What she could not distance herself from was her first memories of John Crichton. She could feel her chest beginning to tighten.
Aeryn gritted her teeth and strained to keep her eyes closed against the tide of images rushing past bringing with them all the emotion she had been forcing down or ignoring by sheer will these past weekens. Haughty distain at their first encounters…tumbling over…the awe at his continued survival in spite of himself…sliding into…her growing respect for his opinions…meshing with…his reliable, unquestioning sense of loyalty to Moya and the others…bound to…her comfort at his presence…slamming headlong into her complete love for him. Aeryn could no longer hold back the scream that worked its way up from the cold, empty pit in her belly. She could hear her voice repeating back the words she used with John: you must confront your fears with strength.
Aeryn opened her eyes. She thought maybe she had died once and for all—for before her was Zhaan’s peaceful face soothing her mind, easing her soul, and guiding her back. Even if it was only for a half a microt. It was all she needed. Quick, shallow gasps gave way to deep breaths. If she could just focus again…think clearly…fool him…Crichton and Stark had been able to do it…
"Revenge is a noble pursuit, Officer Sun. Pity yours is so…misguided."
"John was right…I should have killed you when I had the chance at the Depository," Aeryn half choked, half laughed.
"And you should have stayed dead, my dear. Now…let’s see what you and Crichton have been doing since we last met."
Aeryn was ready this time. She cried out louder than before hoping it would convince Scorpius that he had finally broken her. Using her rudimentary ability to multi-task—thanks to Pilot’s DNA—she shifted her focus away from the pain of the probing, shut out everything around her, and concentrated on her memories.
She pictured them working to free Moya from Neeyala’s ship…their last moments with Zhaan…fighting the Venek hoards…finding Talyn and Crais so badly injured…leaving Moya with John to help Crais and Talyn avoid her mother’s retrieval squad…
*************************
John’s neuroclone momentarily blocked Scorpius’ view. He looked pained and relieved all at once. He reached out to touch the woman only to see his fingers pass right through her bruised cheek.
"I was wondering when you would make an appearance," Scorpius commented off-handedly.
"Aeryn…" the clone whispered, "you’re alive…" In one fluid movement John released his pulse pistol from it’s holster and turned it on Scorpius. "Let her go, Scorpius. She doesn’t know…anything."
"Go ahead and shoot, Crichton. You cannot kill me. You don’t exist," Scorpius said, ignoring the threat. "And I beg to differ. I believe she knows quite a bit. See for yourself."
Still holding on tightly to his pulse pistol, John’s neuroclone moved between Scorpius and Aeryn and watched transfixed as the relationship he had dreamed of with her played out before him. He took it all in—the touches, the love-making, the practically tangible electricity that connected them with every glance, the moments of laughter, the intimacy of shared dreams. Everything. But then “Jack” arrived the honeymoon was over.
And that’s when Scorpius took notice.
"Who may I ask is that…being…with your module?"
"Furlow," the neuroclone responded.
This…Furlow…creature was in possession of the data as well as the abillity to use it. That WOULD prove useful. He could get to Dam Ba Da quickly enough to track her down. Surely he could negotiate something that would benefit…him. Scorpius glanced away for a moment, his plan to retrieve the mechanic and Crichton’s module already taking shape. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a flash of light and then Crichton’s last words with Officer Sun. He stopped the probing just as John Crichton’s final living moment lay frozen on the screen.
"Officer Sun, it seems your…friends…lied to me about Crichton’s death. And his life. I believe there is something we need to revisit."
John’s clone squatted down next to Aeryn. She sat there, limp, drenched in sweat and breathing hard. Scorpius pressed some buttons on the console, causing Aeryn to cry out and buck against the restraints holding her in the chair.
"What are you doing to her?!! Stop it! You’re killing her!!!"
"There…" Scorpius pointed to the view screen as a ring of fire created by John’s module spun around mouth of the wormhole. He stood there, smugly satisfied as a rolling ball of flame emerged through the wormhole, engulfing the Scarran drednaught.
Coming from behind the Aurora chair controls, Scorpius watched in fascination as he let the memory play over and over again. "Yes…yes…that IS the weapon I had been hoping for."
He broke from his euphoric thoughts of the massive destruction he would inflict upon the Scarrans and looked at Crichton’s clone still kneeling by the woman. "I must go back and see how he did that. What was it he was building, Officer Sun?"
Aeryn’s voice was raw but loud enough for him to hear, "Your destruction."
Scorpius shrugged, and walked back over to the controls. "No matter…I will get it myself."
"NO!! Leave her alone!" the clone’s hand reached out to block Scorpius’ trying to prevent him from pressing the button that would send Aeryn into another round of spasms.
"Really, Crichton, are you deaf or just stupid? You cannot stop me."
"No, but I can help you," he said evenly. He turned around and looked over at Aeryn. "But you have to let her go first."
"Why would I do that?"
"I know how to do it. Make the weapon. If you let her go…I’ll help you."
"Very well." Scorpius pressed a button, releasing the Sebacean from the Aurora chair. When the last restraint snapped open, she rolled forward, collapsing onto the floor. Scorpius stood over her and folded his arms, waiting for the clone to speak.
**************************
“Talyn you MUST calm down! We *will* get Officer Sun back. But we must have your full cooperation!”
“I don’t have time for this crap, Crais.”
“Understood,” Crais snapped. “Talyn, please. If we are to get her off the command carrier safely, you must do as we ask.”
Talyn responded with a fury of pulsating lights, low frequency pings and beeps that caused Crais to ball his fists and tighten his lips. “That…is suicide, Talyn, and it won’t save Officer Sun.”
John had had enough. “Hey, wunderkind! Incase you didn’t notice,” John pointed to the view screen where Scorpius still stood over Aeryn. “Aeryn just saved all our asses. Scorpius still doesn’t have a clue about us and we don’t need your teenage angst blowing our cover. Now pipe down and let the adults deal with this.”
The electronic murmuring that answered John was short and then followed by silence. “Thank you, Talyn, for understanding.” Crais answered.
John tapped his comm, “D’Argo? We have a problem.”
“Is it Aeryn?”
“Yeah. Scorpy’s got her.”
“Frell.”
“That’s what I said. Is everything all set on your end? We’ll need to move fast.”
“I am ready.”
“Good. I’ll be down soon as I can.”
“Crichton, we have approximately a half arn before the next patrol is within D’Argo’s range,” Crais said. He walked over to the communications console and looked it over. “I’ve had Talyn monitoring the carrier—we have their comms frequency and we will signal you once we know Aeryn’s location.”
Crais handed John the ident chip of the Peacekeeper Rygel killed. “This…belongs to Officer Trinan Dorrack of the Aquidnian Company, Zoamar Regiment. When you need it, his security clearance will allow you access to top security clearance areas–maximum security requires genetic identification.”
John slipped the tags around his neck as Crais reached over and pulled a data chip from the console. He held it out to John.
“And…as you requested, I had Talyn work on a program for you to download onto the main system of the carrier. It will wipe all the data stores clean and then leave the ship immobile.”
“How long will the carrier be offline?”
“A quarter arn if the techs figure it out, half arn if they don’t. Be sure you are able to escape before you begin the download. You should have just enough time to return and for us to starburst before they are able to pursue us.”
Crais looked Crichton in the eyes and studied him for a moment. “I would never let anything happen to Aeryn, you know that, don’t you?”
Usually skeptical of anything Bialar Crais had to say, John knew that he meant it. It killed him to think that Crais had been around to help Aeryn after his twin’s death, but there was nothing he could do to change that. They had that bond now, and John had seen Crais’ protectiveness toward Aeryn on many an occaision since their return.
He sighed and nodded, “I know…and thank you, Crais.”
Crais nodded in kind. “Return safely.”
**************************
John patted himself down quickly to doublecheck the locations of the chips he needed aboard the carrier. Ident chip under shirt…virus chip in left side-pocket of pants. Winona on right leg…extra charges for pistol inside left of jacket…mini comms built into rank insignia on shoulder. Ready…set…
The patrol was within visual range but not quite in place. They had one short gap of time when the Prowler would be in a blind spot, so to speak, at the rear of the carrier within its wake and off the carrier’s sensors. John fired up the engines and reset the Prowler’s comms frequency. Immediately, he began hearing the voices of the pilot they were about to kill and the traffic control crew in the carrier’s command post. Rolling his Prowler forward, John took a deep breath and held it.
Crais’ voice broke the silence. “Crichton…ready?”
“Ready.” John’s hands gripped the steering mechanism tightly.
“D’Argo?”
“He is in my sights”
“On my count…five…four…three…two…one…FIRE!!”
D’Argo opened fire, hitting the Prowler dead-on and blowing it up in a brilliant flash.
At the instant the fighter exploded, John shot out of Talyn, blasted through the afterglow and followed the same trajectory the fighter had been on. He let out a deep breath and came around over the top of the carrier to finish the last leg of the patrol.
From where they were hiding—behind and slightly below the carrier—Talyn’s crew had never gotten a good look at the wormhole Scorpius was using. John knew about it from Linfer, but until that moment when he crested the carrier, he had never seen it. For the first time since the day he tumbled into one, John looked at this wormhole not with wonder or anticipation but with wariness and trepidation. There was still a small part of him that wanted to just fly right into it and hope like hell it took him home away from all this madness, but he wasn’t in his module, he doubted Earth could be found at it’s source, and most of all, he did not have Aeryn. There was no point in even thinking about it.
“Recon six, report in, please. Recon six?”
John quickly realized they were talking to him. He cleared his throat and gave them his best Sebacean accent. “Recon 6 reporting in.”
“We detected a major disturbance on your trajectory, please verify.”
“I felt it too, command. Must have run into some sort of…electromagnetic interference due to the proximity of the wormhole. I don’t see anything out here though.”
“Very well. You are clear to return.”
John completed the programmed course of the patrol and landed his Prowler in the most out-of-the-way area of the docking hangar he could find. Another Prowler detail was just getting ready to deploy as John heard two clicks from his comms badge. Crais. He tapped the badge three times in return—their signal to stand-by so he could find a proper hiding area to talk.
John ducked into a nearby maintenance closet and blocked the door with a container of chakan oil. He leaned against some shelves with various bits and pieces of Prowler parts and commed Crais back.
“Did you find her, Crais?”
“I believe so…”
“You *believe* so, or you *know* so?”
“I don’t know this for sure, but I think Scorpius is keeping her nearby his quarters.”
“Great. Call me when you know for sure.”
“We’ve been monitoring the comms channels and no one has mentioned a prisoner—least of all a former Peacekeeper. That leads me to believe that Aeryn is not far from Scorpius. If what you say is true—that your neural clone speaks to Scorpius—Scorpius may be using Aeryn as a means of…negotiation.”
“Granted. So where the *hell* is she?”
“I think I have an idea where.”
“Well, lay it on me already.”
“There is a secret room off Scorpius’ quarters that all Captains are afforded. Usually it is used to…meet…with subordinates without fear of reprisal.”
“You mean a recreation room?!” John shook his head, smiling to himself. *Well, that gives rec room a whole new meaning, doesn’t it?* “Crais, you dawg!”
“It is common practice among Captains.”
“Right, right. Clock’s a tickin’ here, Crais, just tell me I don’t have to walk through the House of Horrors to get to Aeryn.”
“No, you will need to go down to the level below—to the general living quarters. At the end of the corridor, on the hammond side, there is a Peacekeeper symbol on the wall. Place the ident chip in a hidden slot along the top of the symbol. It will open up a passageway that leads right to the room. At the end of the passageway, you will need to insert your chip again to get into the room.”
“Thanks 99, I’ll be sure to call you from my shoe when I get there.”
**************************
Aeryn stood flat up against the wall, not moving, listening intently to the noise coming toward her. Someone was coming; she could hear the rustling and steps behind the wall and she was ready. Scorpius thought she was out of it—used up and weak—she was anything but that. She made a fist and held her arm up, ready to hit whoever it was in the head, knocking them out. Then she would get out of there, steal a Prowler, and get back to Talyn.
A panel slid open and Aeryn remained still.
“Aeryn?” came the fervent whisper.
“John?”
He looked to his right and saw her standing there, fist cocked, still ready to strike. He instinctively covered his head and stepped back. “Whoa…you were expecting the Spanish Inquisition?”
She put her arm down and let out the breath she had been holding. “I was expecting Scorpius, but hoping for Braca.”
“Braca?…I’m crushed.” John said, dejectedly.
“You would have been just that if you were Braca,” she said.
They were facing each other for the first time in what felt to both of them like a lifetime. John put his hand out to touch her bruised cheek—his face betraying hints of hurt, anger, concern and longing all at once. Aeryn reached up and took his hand, stopping him as she interlaced her fingers with his. She gave his hand a gentle squeeze and smiled at him.
“I’m all right, John.”
His eyes searched her face, and his own warm smile brightened as he realized she was glad to see *HIM*. “So you are.”
They stayed like that—smiling at each other—for another microt before they both broke away.
“What’s the plan?” they said at the same time.
Aeryn put her hands on her hips and with one eyebrow raised, gazed at John. “What? The great John Crichton doesn’t have a plan?” she said with mock indignation.
“Well…you…you’d just change it anyway!”
“You’re right. Well, first thing we do is get the frell out of this room and find a more secure hiding place.”
John bowed and and gestured toward the opening. “Former Peacekeepers first.”
Aeryn brushed past him and began her descent along the narrow staircase with John following closely behind. She glanced over her shoulder at him briefly to see he was concentrating on his footsteps down the steep incline.
“Crichton, who’s ident chip are you using to get around?”
“Trinan Dorrack, Acquidnian Company, Zoamar Regiment. Know him?”
“Not at all, but I can figure out where his quarters are. I’ll need another pulse pistol—mine was confiscated. And his quarters will be safe for a short time. We can figure out our plan there.”
“Sounds good. But, hey, uh, don’t you think Scorpy is going to miss you?”
“Probably not for a while. Someone else has his attention.”
They reached the end of the passageway and opened the door. There were only a few people in the corridor, and Aeryn, who paced herself a bit ahead of John, was able to lead them down to the next level without anyone really paying attention to who they were. She went another quarter of the way down the corridor and paused. She nodded toward the door to her left. John moved in and quickly pushed the ident chip into the slot. Nothing. John half expected sirens to go off and PKs to come out of every orifice, but there was nothing. Aeryn had moved on to the next door, so John followed and tried again. Bingo.
Slipping into the small room, Aeryn headed right for something that John thought looked like a footlocker.
“How the hell did you know where to find his room?”
“Living quarters are arranged by company and then in order of rank. The symbol on the ident chip matches their rank, so I had a pretty good idea.”
“Baby, you are good.”
She looked up, flashed him a quick grin and turned back to the task at hand.
She felt around behind the locker underneath the bed’s platform and dislodged something then unlocked the container. John just stood there watching her in amazement. He figured he would have been back in the Aurora chair or reduced to liquid remains after some nasty test flight by now without Aeryn.
She could feel him watching her as she tossed a few uniforms onto the floor, so she explained quickly, “Old trick the senior cadets teach you so you never lose your key. Or your spare weapon.”
“Uh…huh.”
With that, Aeryn pulled out a pulse pistol and showed it to John. She unzipped her Tech coveralls and took them off before John could say anything. It didn’t matter though because she had her regular Peacekeeper surplus on underneath. She slid the pistol into her leg holster and then reached back into the trunk for some extra charges.
“So, who’s got Scorpy’s attention?” John asked.
“Your neural clone.”
“I thought that’s what was happening.”
“Seems that you have a habit of trying to save me. Even when you aren’t really there.”
“Can you blame me?” John said with a sheepish grin.
Aeryn closed the trunk and sat down on it. “Blame you? No. I understand it all too well.”
Not wanting to get into that discussion, John changed the subject. “So how much information do you think Harvey-me is dishing out?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. I’m assuming he’s telling him how to make the wormhole weapon…the displacement engine.”
“Damn. I hope not.” John tried to think about what he would do if Aeryn’s life were on the line. How much information would he give? Well, *he* didn’t have any information to give away easily. But he would do whatever it took to save Aeryn.
“Well, I’m also pretty sure that Scorpius is in the lab right now supervising the construction. If that’s the case, how do you plan on stopping him?”
John reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the virus chip. “With this. It’s a virus that will wipe out all the data and suspend all the carrier’s functions long enough for us to escape.”
“That’s all well and good, Crichton, but how will you stop Scorpius? As long as he’s got a version of you in his head, he’s got the information.” Aeryn paused, and looked up at John. “He knows about Furlow, now, too. He could just as well go after her and convince her to work with him.”
“You’re right. Donald Trump he ain’t, but I’m sure Scorpy would find a way to…secure her allegiance.”
“This all has to end here, John. You know that don’t you?”
“That was the plan, Aeryn.”
“So what next?”
John ran his hand through his hair and thought for a moment. “Well, we’ll need to find out exactly what Scorpius is doing with his new bit of information. Then, we set about changing his plans.”
“Maybe we should get back down to the waste vents where it’s safer and contact Crais. He is still monitoring the lab isn’t he?”
“Yup. That’s a great idea. We’ll have him relay the sound from the lab.”
Aeryn stood up and walked to the door. “Ready?”
*********************
The weapon was nearly complete. Scorpius had the techs working doubletime since Crichton’s clone began giving him instructions. It wouldn’t be long before they could attach the engine to a Prowler and begin the testing. From the lab where he was supervising the progress, Scorpius ordered command to move out of the the path to the nearby moon they would be using as a target.
All he needed now was a pilot. He turned to Braca and said quietly, “Braca, please go prepare Officer Sun for the test mission.”
“Very well, sir.”
At that moment, Scorpius could feel Crichton’s clone nearby. He walked away from the tech team as Braca left the room, making sure he was a safe enough distance away—he didn’t want to be overheard.
“You can’t use her as the pilot,” Crichton said.
“She is a trained Prowler pilot, is she not?”
“Not the point, Scorpy.”
“Then what *is* your point, John?”
“The point is that I can’t instruct *her* on how to fly the Prowler to make the weapon work.”
“I will relay the instruction.”
“It doesn’t work that way. It’s almost instinctive—timing is everything and it can’t be off even a microt. I can guide you from inside your head. No middle man needed.”
Scorpius looked at the neuroclone, frowning. “I can hardly take that risk.”
“You don’t have another choice. There is no other way. Besides, you wouldn’t want to disappoint high command with another failure, would you?”
Silence and a glare.
Crichton’s clone moved closer, whispering close to Scorpius’ head, “They may think twice, you know, about leaving a half-breed in charge of dishwashing, nevermind wormhole technology or the defense of the Sebacean race. You *need* this to work if you are to defeat the Scarrans. Who else are you going to trust?”
Scorpius moved away from the clone and back toward the tech team. He signaled Braca who was at the doorway to Scorpius’ quarters.
“Braca…”
“Yes, sir.”
“Disregard the last order I gave you. I will be flying this mission.”
