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Aeryn and John had been listening as Scorpius gave instructions to the techs. It all sounded like it should be familiar to John, but he couldn’t quite wrap his mind around how it all fit together. Aeryn had been particularly quiet as she heard the list of components they were using.
At one point she looked startled and grew still. She seemed to be in a daze, but a little while later, once the techs seemed to have everything they needed, Aeryn turned and looked at John.
“It’s not going to work,” she declared.
“What do you mean it’s not going to work?”
“I mean, the frelling thing is not a weapon.”
“How do you know?”
“They aren’t using enough Partanium.”
“Again, how do you know?”
Aeryn paused and seemed to be weighing her words. “It’s not enough to kill a man…Not quickly anyway.”
John couldn’t meet Aeryn’s eyes. He felt like an ass. “Right. My bad. Sorry.”
She put her hand on his knee and said quietly, “You don’t have to keep apologizing, John. You didn’t know and I don’t blame you. So stop blaming yourself.”
“I’ll try.”
Their surveilance continued for a while longer and John’s thoughts wandered in and around his own wormhole experiences—falling through them, making them, running tests on them. Every situation catalogued, every detail noted.
“Aeryn, you said that when John used the displacement engine he had to create a wormhole right?”
“Yes.”
“Using the solar flares from the star near Dam Ba Da?”
“Yes, just like you had done it the first time a couple of cycles ago.”
“And the engine caused a piece of that star to shoot out the worm hole. Great balls of fire and everything.”
Aeryn was becoming frustrated with this line of questioning. John had already been told everything that happened. Not by her of course, but the information should have been satisfactory.
“Yes, John, what about it?”
“Do you see any solar flares? I don’t see any solar flares out there. That means there’s no star close enough to draw on to make the weapon fire.”
Suddenly, John felt like the lightbulb had gone on over his head. His excitement grew as he began to explain to Aeryn, “Linfer told us this wormhole is part of a nexus of wormholes that already exist. There’s no major power source nearby—no star. No bullet for the gun.”
Aeryn’s eyes got wide as she realized the implications of both their revelations. “You mean that your neuroclone just set Scorpius up for failure?”
Slowly, John nodded his head, his smile growing bigger with every passing microt. “Ummhmm.” he answered.
They continued to wait, bouncing ideas back and forth about the best way to deliver the virus and still remain undetected by Scorpius but neither of them could find a way that didn’t result in one of them being either recognized and/or captured. They began to argue over who should be the one to take the risk.
“Hey, I can always pretend to be Harvey-me if Scorpius catches me. I get close, shoot him and…badabing!…he’s gone. I can download the virus from his quarters. No prob,” he said, shrugging.
“Brilliant, John, really. You’re a genius,” Aeryn said sarcastically. “And what about when the rest of the crew sees you? Hmm? You think Braca’s going to fall for you being an illusion?”
John was trying hard not to show he saw the flaw in his plan too. He just wanted Aeryn out of danger.
“Nuh…well…” John blustered until he burst out, “You know your way around a Prowler better. Yeah. So you need to be waiting for me so we can get off this frelling ship fast.”
“And I know my way around the carrier better and am more likely to be able to escape. So you need to be waiting in the hangar for me.”
“Escape? Listen Birdman, I think *I* was the one who rescued *you* not too long ago. Remember?”
Aeryn looked down at him and folded her arms across her chest. “I hardly needed rescuing. If I remember correctly, I was going to killl whoever came into that room and escape just fine.”
“Right.”
“Crichton. Aeryn. Can you hear me?” It was D’Argo’s voice coming through on John’s comms.
They both stopped their bickering and snapped. “What?!”
“Were you listening just then?”
“No,” John said. “Listening to what?”
Crais answered this time, “Scorpius is going to fly the mission.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive,” D’Argo said. “He should be ready in an arn or so.”
Simultaneously, John and Aeryn said, “I have a plan!”
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He was ready. The weapon was attached to a Prowler and he was ready to board. He stepped onto the ladder leading into the cockpit.
“Sir, I don’t think this is a good idea.”
Scorpius turned around and looked at his second-in-command. “So noted, Braca. But I must take responsibility for my research. I know for a fact that this will work. So no need to concern yourself any longer.”
“Really, sir, if you know it will work, why don’t you let me fly the mission?”
“Because I am ordering you not to. I will fly the mission. Now, go take your place in command.”
“Yes, sir.”
Scorpius settled himself in the Prowler and began flipping switches to turn on the manual drive. He didn’t want to take the risk that someone would interfere. The hatch lowered and Scorpius fired up the engines. As soon as conditions were optimum, he would launch the Prowler. Before long, the techs gave him the word that the wormhole had reached its maximum stability. His wait was over.
The wormhole was up ahead, the moon in its path. A blue-glow flooded the Prowler cabin as he got closer to the swirling wormhole. He entered a trajectory that would take him on his spiraling course around the mouth of it until it caused a fireball strong enough to destroy that moon. Scorpius felt…excited. Empowered. His destiny only microts away.
The Prowler shook quite a bit on his first couple loops around, but he could see the the small flame beginning to form along his path. It was getting difficult to keep his hands on the controls, but he was able to keep the fighter on course and the flaming track brightening.
“Now! Scorpius, Now! You have to drop down more towards the center of the wormhole opening. You need to draw out the fireball. Do it NOW!!” John’s neuroclone yelled.
Scorpius complied and with all his strength he steadied the Prowler as it began its descent. “Now what, John!?”
“Now you say good-bye to everything you ever knew. I hope you packed a bag, Scorpy.”
“What…are…”
In an instant, Scorpius was sucked into the wormhole, ricocheting off its walls and tumbling uncontrollably. He yelled and tried frantically to regain some control, but he was pinned with the force of his momentum and the weapon began to melt off and tear away from the Prowler. One more spinning jolt and Scorpius passed out.
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As soon as Scorpius had boarded the Prowler, John and Aeryn knew that that was their chance at loading the virus successfully. They couldn’t have asked for a better distraction, and they had agreed it would be best for them to go together so they could cover for one another. The only Peacekeepers in the corridors were the ones rushing to get to the observation deck in time to see their commander secure them all the glory that would eventually come from having developed a superior weapon. John and Aeryn slipped through unnoticed.
Aeryn got them into the command deck just as Scorpius was beginning his first sweep around the wormhole’s mouth. John snuck into the room while Aeryn stood in the doorway blocking the entrance. She watched, stoney-faced, as Scorpius continued on his flight. It looked real enough. She didn’t know how the neuralclone would pull off the deception, but they had to be out of there before Scorpius could return. As soon as they downloaded the virus and escaped, D’Argo was to fly in and destroy Scorpius’ Prowler before the carrier could respond. There would be no mistake this time. But if something *did* go wrong, and they were caught, Aeryn had no doubt that Scorpius would take out his anger on her. And most certainly, John. She couldn’t allow that to happen. It would definitely end here no matter what.
John sat at the first available console. Everyone had their backs to him fixated on the amazing vision of this blazing funnel. He pushed the chip in and pressed a button on the panel starting the download. He watched to make sure the data was accessed by the main computer. He looked at Aeryn, gave her the thumbs-up and she covered his retreat out the door. They hadn’t gone more than a few steps when he heard Crais’ voice blaring from his comms.
“Crichton!! Get out of there now!!!”
“What the hell’s the matter?!”
“It’s Talyn. He did not create a virus.”
Just then the lights began to flicker and die out. Red lights began to flash and John and Aeryn picked up the pace. Aeryn could see that John was becoming livid. His brow was furrowed and his lip curled.
“Crais, what did that little piss-ant do?”
“He created a self-distruct program.”
“And you’re just telling me now?!”
“I figured it out as I monitored their systems failure, and Talyn has now confirmed it.”
“How long do we have?”
“200 microts and counting.”
Aeryn pushed John down another corridor. “A shortcut,” she said brusquely.
They were almost to the hangar when the self-destruct sequence began echoing throughout the command carrier. One hundred microts left. Peacekeepers were pouring out of the different rooms—many of them coming up fast behind John and Aeryn. Once again, no one took notice of the ex-Peacekeeper and the human. They were too busy trying to get out of the carrier that threatened to blow up. John and Aeryn could hear snatches of harried conversations cursing “that half-breed bastard” and “Scarran traitor” who “stole” the wormhole technology and “escaped” through the wormhole itself, but not before he condemned them all to die.
John and Aeryn gave each other a quick look of astonishment. Scorpius was gone. Sucked through the wormhole to who knew where. If they weren’t in such danger, John would have rolled onto the floor laughing at the irony.
“Bon Voyage, Scorpy!” he yelled.
The Prowler John had used was thankfully still docked where he left it. He grabbed Aeryn’s hand and pushed his way past some other pilots also attempting to escape. He bounded up the ladder, hopped into the small area behind the main seat, and helped Aeryn in. She pulled down the hatch and brought the Prowler to life. They were one of the first fighters off the carrier. Once safely away, they could see several other Prowlers exiting the carrier—some of them flying straight into the wormhole. John wondered if they had a clue as to what they were getting into.
Talyn was visible now, as was D’Argo’s ship. Aeryn flew the Prowler as fast as possible toward them while John contacted Crais with their location and ETA. They weren’t alone though—several other Commandos were on their tail, having noticed the seemingly Peacekeeper ship that must have been sent to rescue them. D’Argo and Talyn—their ships still connected—opened fire, blasting the Prowlers out of the sky as Aeryn was pulled into Talyn’s docking bay.
As the first explosion crippled the command carrier, Crais yelled, “Now, Talyn! Starburst!”
