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John mused over the latest bit of knowledge as he walked to Scorpius’ cell. He decided to string Scorpius along on a half lie. He rounded one of Moya’s soft corners leading to the cell, but the Hybrid was not there. In panic he swung around, pulling Winona out and came cheek to jowl with Scorpius, his arm pinned to the wall. “Ho... how did you...” John started to say, but Scorpius put his gloved hand over his mouth.
“Quiet,” Scorpius whispered. “Stark is here. He is trying to... harm me.” He released John.
“As if he could,” John mouthed back.
Scorpius signaled John that he heard Stark. John nodded and went in the direction Scorpius indicated, Winona still drawn. Stark was suddenly in front of John. He started to babble, then staggered back as his eye glazed over and he slid to the floor. John commed Jool, “We have incoming. It’s Stark, again.”
Scorpius shrugged. John watched him walk back into the cell and pull the door, closing it behind him. “Wha... whaddaya doin’?” Staring at Scorpius, his mouth agape, he asked, “It made no difference, did it?”
“No, it did not, John.”
“In that case, help me get Stark to the med area,” John said lifting Stark’s upper body. He added, “Please.”
“Very well,” Scorpius said. “You can tell me what you wanted to say on the way.”
Together they pulled Stark up from the floor and supported him under their arms. The Bannik was suddenly very heavy, as though he drew substance from the mask.
John opened his mouth to speak the lie and then thought better of it. ‘What the frell,’ he thought. “Scorpius, what was in your message?”
Scorpius did not respond immediately. “You cracked the key?” Scorpius asked, then nodded. Not waiting for John’s reply, he said, “To be.”
They reached the med area and as they lifted Stark onto the pallet Jool indicated, John said, “Or not to be, that is the question.”
“What?” Scorpius asked, looking at John incredulously.
“Nothing. Look, Scorp, why is it so important for you to stay on Moya that you risked your life? We could’ve shot you for betraying us to the Peacekeepers, ya know.”
“John, you must understand that the knowledge you have is the only thing that will stop the Scarrans when war finally arrives. I mean to protect that knowledge, which requires that I protect you,” Scorpius said while he and John strapped Stark to the pallet. “If I had not stumbled upon you as I did, I would have searched for you.”
“I hate to interrupt you two,” Jool said wheeling a monitor up to Stark. “But what are we going to do with him once he gains consciousness?”
“Dun’no,” was John’s cryptic reply. Jane entered the med area before he could add anything. “Jane, what’re you doing here?”
“I heard a commotion, so I thought I would see what was going on,” Jane said. She looked at the improbable cluster of people with Stark strapped down to the pallet. Scorpius and John were on either side of Stark and Jool, standing to the right of John, by the Bannik’s head. She fussed at his mask to attach the monitor’s sensors.
Jane moved to stand by Scorpius’ side facing Jool. Suddenly, Stark shook his head from side to side causing the mask to fall off and roll to the side of the pallet. They converged on Stark, touching him and each other at the same time. The energy within Stark flashed each ones thoughts for all to see. They became one. ‘Monsters! Monsters! Nononononononoooooo! Scorpyscorpy... Scorpyscorpy...’ ‘I am looking at myself!’ Scorpius saw Scorpius. ‘Where is Jane?’ John saw Scorpius squared. He grabbed his head. ‘She is Rylani.’ Jool gave up her secret. ‘Killerkillerkillerkillerkillerkiller’ ‘Aeryn! Oh my god! What have I done?’ ‘Rylani...’ ‘Harvey...’ ‘Rylani...’ ‘Harvey...’ ‘Rylani...’
Stark’s mental storm passed as suddenly as it had started, leaving Jane and Scorpius devastated. They stood close, bare hand touching gloved hand, watching John hold Stark, soothing him. Carefully, John covered Stark’s face with his mask. Stark was moaning, suddenly crying out for revenge. John spoke in a quiet soothing voice, “Stark, do you remember the advice you gave the nurse?” John inwardly winced at that, but he steeled himself to go on. “You said to travel light, do you remember?” Stark nodded and gulped a breath of air. “Then you said to keep the fear but to lose the hate, remember?” Again Stark nodded, looking decidedly calmer. “Stark, lose the hate, what’s done is done. It can’t be taken back.” Again Stark nodded at John’s words. “Forgive him. Forgive yourself.”
“Scorpius,” Stark whispered, his voice raspy from the psychic storm. “Did you know Natira would kill my people?”
“No,” Scorpius said, moving closer to Stark. “However, it would be a lie to tell you that I did not think it was a possibility. I believed her to be too greedy for what she would have gained by selling them.”
“I forgive,” Stark said, tears running down his cheek.
“Thank you, Stark,” Scorpius said, his own agitation showing in his posture and his face.
“Lose the hate,” Stark said in a whisper so low that even Scorpius’ keen hearing could barely pick it up.
Scorpius winced. “I cannot,” he said. “It is part of me.”
“My mask, take it off,” Stark demanded of Scorpius. “I will show you what the chair could not. I do it willingly.”
His hands shaking slightly, Scorpius complied with Stark’s request; he removed the mask. For the second time inside an arn, he looked into Stark, but this time the anger, the insanity, and the rage were replaced by a vision of incredible beauty and peace. “Thank you. It... it is beautiful.” All the tension drained from Scorpius as he replaced Stark’s mask and released the straps holding him down.
Stark sat up, his mask fell onto the pallet. “You must forgive yourself.”
Scorpius averted looking into Stark for a third time and said only. “I am sorry.” He turned to go but Stark grabbed his hand. “Forgive,” Stark rasped. ‘Forgive,’ echoed in Scorpius’ mind as he left. Jane followed.
Scorpius headed for his cell, aware that Jane was nearby. He stopped and turned toward Jane, allowing her to catch up to him.
“Scorpius, please, can we talk?” Jane asked, a little breathless for trying to keep up with Scorpius’ long stride.
“Yes, we must,” Scorpius said as he continued to walk to his cell. “But, first I am curious, how did this happen?” They arrived at his cell and sat down.
Jane proceeded to tell Scorpius how she was left behind as Harvey. How, as Harvey inside John’s mind, they developed a working partnership, how the body she now occupied came to Moya, how she was implanted into the body, and how she was unaware the body was that of Rylani, in spite of the exact resemblance. “And the rest you know. I did not know Jool was keeping this secret. It is ironic that it took Stark to reveal it.”
Scorpius used this time to collect his thoughts. The revelation was beneficial in one other important way. He did not kill his mother. She was at least flesh and blood if not mind, in his presence. ‘She must have survived well past my birth to escape from the Scarrans. That must have been how the Peacekeepers were able to give me such a detailed data spool of the circumstances of my birth!’ Scorpius thought.
“You are not angry with me?” Jane asked.
“No. I am... relieved,” Scorpius said, his expression both thoughtful and at peace. “Is there nothing left of Rylani?” Scorpius was surprised at his own question. ‘How could there be anything left? Surely, both he and Jane would have sensed it?’
Jane’s response caught him totally off guard. “I... I am not sure. I am very different from what I was as Harvey inside John’s head. I have some of John’s personality, and of course, a dominant part of me is still Harvey, which is very different from the clone you engendered. But there is an emotional part that is not like anything I knew prior to being Jane.”
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“Commander,” Pilot commed. “A small vessel is approaching.”
“I’m on it,” John responded. “Can you contact the pilot?”
“No. We are receiving a distress signal only,” Pilot said. “The vessel is approximately the size of a Prowler and is of Scarran design.”
John reeled with the news. “So there’re one, maybe two people on board? Okay, snag it with the docking web and get the welcoming committee together. Starburst as soon as we’ve got’im.” John said. Almost as an afterthought, he added, “Send Scorpius too.”
D’Argo, John, Jane, Chiana, Jool, and Scorpius circled the Scout waiting for the pilot to emerge. All, but Scorpius, were armed, their weapons drawn. The Scarran climbed out of the cockpit of the scout and raised his hands. “I have just escaped from the Dreadnought Kaztow. You must starburst immediately,” he said. “I wish asylum on this Leviathan.”
“Why should we give it to you?” D’Argo asked.
The Scarran was about to answer D’Argo when he saw Scorpius. He addressed him instead. “Scorpius, I was hoping to find you. I did not expect to see you to be here, though. I had wanted to find a Peacekeeper Command Carrier but, unfortunately, I was forced to escape when I did and was unable to contact the Peacekeepers. I am Ben Ard of the See’tig. Have you heard of it?” Ben Ard added urgently, “Have you starburst? You must starburst!”
“Yes, we have starburst,” Scorpius said. “I thought the See’tig were a myth - did not exist. I was led to believe... I was told they existed just to trap me.”
“What’s the See’tig?” John asked.
“We are an underground organization opposed to the current government.” Ben Ard quickly described the See’tig, “We are especially opposed to taking over other planetary systems when we can’t deal with some extremely serious issues in our own home system. It is comprised of Scarrans, like myself, who come from an elite core and, mostly, the common Scarrans who are oppressed by the elite. I was sent on a mission to find Scorpius, but I was captured and was to be executed unless I could escape.”
“He is...” Scorpius said, “Telling the truth. I have heard of this organization, but I did not trust my source. Ben Ard, how large is the See’tig?”
“My knowledge of the details is limited to protect the organization,” Ben Ard said., “However, I do know there are entire planets who are devoted to the See’tig.”
One by one they put their weapons away and walked to the central chamber to discuss their next course of action. They decided to have Ben Ard find the rebel planet to supply a base of operation. They also decided to jettison the scout vessel and starburst a second time once Moya was able. Ben Ard agreed to a physical examination to ensure he wasn’t ‘bugged’. Scorpius assisted Jool.
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“So Jane, things cool now between you and Scorpius?” John asked. Everyone had gone his or her separate, and not so separate ways and John found himself alone in the central chamber with Jane. He was reflecting on another bizarre day in his bizarre life since he fell through the wormhole over three years ago. He looked up to see Jane studying him.
“Cool?” Jane said, cocking her head to one side. “I am not sure. It is definitely odd. Scorpius and I had a long talk, and I think we have developed an understanding of one another. In a very real way, I am both mother and child to him. I do not know how to deal with that. I am not sure that Scorpius does either. I think we will work through it though. Now that Ben Ard is here, as well, I think it is very fortunate that Scorpius is still on Moya.”
“Hmm, yeah. Whodda thunk,” John said, getting up and winking at Jane. “Looks like you’ll have to put your plans on hold, too, kiddo. Well g’night and sleep tight. Tomorrow’s another day.”
