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Time: Between Different Destinations and Eat Me, not long after “Shattered Mirror”
Disclaimer: I didn’t create Farscape, didn’t create the characters, and don’t make a plug nickel off of it.
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Part One: Slightly Off-Center
The ejection seat was sinking, dragging her down, and the frelling harness still wouldn’t release.
She could feel the cold sink deep into her flesh. She tried to hold her breath, but reflex forced her to exhale. There was pain as water rushed into her lungs.
The cold faded as darkness encompassed her. There was a sense of falling, of letting go…and…
…and then she woke up.
Aeryn’s eyes snapped open as she sat up in the bed, just managing to catch herself before she screamed. All right, why would I dream about that, she wondered. Granted, it’s the most traumatic thing to ever happen to me, but it’s been half a cycle since it happened.
“Why did you do it, Zhaan?” Aeryn shook her head, tossed aside the coverlet and climbed from the bed. “Just a frelling nightmare,” she whispered as she started to dress.
Microts later, dressed and feeling somewhat better, Aeryn started from her room. She was at the door when she heard the voice.
“Because I love you. More importantly…Crichton loves you.”
Aeryn spun, automatically drawing her pulse pistol and sweeping the chamber with her eyes. Seeing the room empty, she lowered the pistol. A cold shudder began deep inside her body as she recognized the words and the voice.
“Zhaan?” Aeryn took a step back into the room, then closed her eyes and holstered her pistol.
She took a deep breath and turned. “You still made the wrong decision, Zhaan.”
Aeryn walked slowly through Moya’s corridors, making her way to Command. There was a nagging desire, deep in the back of her mind, to go to the lowest tier, find a dark corner and stay there. In the days since she returned from her unintentional trip to the other universe, Aeryn had felt out of place onboard Moya.
Except for Moya being destroyed and John being a Peacekeeper captain, that universe was right, she thought. I’m dead in that universe. I should be dead here.
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“I still don’t trust them.” D’Argo’s voice was a low rumble, bordering on anger.
John didn’t turn from Command’s large window. As he studied the vessel that had blocked their path, he had to admit to himself that he agreed with D’Argo. The ship, which reminded him of Legos assembled in a haphazard fashion, had come out of nowhere and had silently maintained position for over an arn before contacting them.
“You ever seen a ship like that before, D?”
D’Argo stepped up next to John. “Never.” He watched the slowly rotating, roughly spherical craft and shook his head. “Maybe Rygel will get some answers.”
“What the frell is that?”
John turned and felt a smile crawl onto his face. Seeing Aeryn standing in the door meant there was one less thing he had to worry about. “Aeryn. How do you feel?”
As she walked across Command, Aeryn shrugged. “Still a little weak. What’s that?”
“That is a ship of the Rolvarian Nation,” D’Argo said. “I’ve never heard of them before.”
“I have. They’re isolationists, staying in their own little corner of space.” Aeryn leaned on the main console and frowned. “Never saw one of their vessels before. Where did they come from?”
“Moya first picked it up two arns ago. It followed us for a time, staying just within Moya’s sensor range, then closed with us. It took up position ahead of Moya and stayed there.” John watched Aeryn, noticing the distracted look on her face. “No matter what maneuver Pilot tried, they stayed right off our bow. You sure you’re all right?”
“I’m fine, John. Really. Has there been any contact?”
“They contacted us half an arn ago, wanting two of us to go over for a dialogue. They were very specific about who they wanted to come over.” There was distaste on D’Argo’s face. “They wanted Rygel and Jool.”
“Rygel and Jool? Why them?”
“Apparently, they feel Interons are highly intelligent, and that Hynerians are extremely honorable.” John shrugged at the look of disbelief on Aeryn’s face. “They don’t trust Nebari, don’t like Baniks, and seem to feel Luxans and Sebaceans are only good for cannon fodder. And they didn’t recognize me, of course.”
Aeryn stared at the ship a microt longer, then turned and started from Command. “We attract them. We must.”
John watched her, then looked back at D’Argo. “Nothing to do until the Rygel and Jool Road Show comes back. I’m gonna take a walk on the veranda.”
He caught up with Aeryn as she walked into the Central Chamber. “So, you want to talk about it?”
“There’s nothing to talk about.” Aeryn opened a cabinet and took out a tray of food cubes.
“Nothing, huh. Ever since you came back from that other universe, you’ve been moody and quiet. What happened over there that you’re not telling me?”
“Nothing else happened.” Aeryn sat at the table and munched on a food cube. As she lowered her eyes, John could see reluctance. “I don’t belong here,” she said quietly. “Zhaan should be here.”
“What? Aeryn…”
“John, I was dead. Do you understand that? Dead. And because Zhaan felt my life was more important, she sacrificed herself to bring me back.”
“And if I hadn’t told Pilot to sidetrack to that wormhole, Moya wouldn’t have collided with Neeyala’s ship. Moya doesn’t collide with Neeyala’s ship, we make it to the planet Pilot found for Zhaan to regenerate on. If anyone’s to blame for Zhaan’s death, it’s me.”
“But if she hadn’t brought me back, there wouldn’t have been the need to find the planet in the first place.”
John shook his head slowly. “We can go round and round with this until we’re eligible for Social Security. The point is, you can’t spend your time being upset about the past, Aeryn. It’ll give you ulcers.” John stepped around behind Aeryn and gently placed his hands on her shoulders. “Zhaan did what she thought was best. It’s over. Time to move on.”
Aeryn’s head lowered. “I can’t, John. Not yet.”
Their comms buzzed. “John, Aeryn. The transport pod’s coming back. Rygel says they have guests.”
“All right, D’Argo. We’ll meet them down in the hanger.”
As they started for the door, John said, “We’ll talk about this later.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
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John and Aeryn reached the maintenance bay as the oversized doors parted. The three Rolvarians, tall humanoids that looked to John to be a cross between a gorilla and an iguana, marched past them without a word, speaking only to Rygel, his throne sled raised up to their shoulders. Jool explained that the situation would be explained in Command.
Stark and Chiana had joined D’Argo in Command. The Rolvarians regarded them with looks that went beyond contempt as they took up position in the center of the chamber, arranged in a loose circle.
The one that was apparently the leader looked around at the assembled crew and frowned. “Dominar, is it necessary the rest of them be here?”
Rygel glanced around and nodded slowly. “Unfortunately, they get upset if I don’t include them in the decision making process.” He ignored the way John’s eyes rolled upward. “This is Somrela, commanding officer of the Dru’fesha, Linelk and Traven, two of his officers.”
John took a step forward. “Hello. My name John Cri…”
Jool shook her head slowly. “Don’t bother, Crichton. They don’t care who you are.”
“Well, that isn’t very hospitable. What do they want?”
Jool glanced back at Rygel, who nodded. “It appears we’ve accidentally crossed over into their territory.”
“Oh, of course we did. I mean, they went out of their way to put up No Trespassing signs. So, what do we do to correct this?” Jool looked uncomfortable and again glanced at Rygel.
Rygel, for his part, looked impassive. “We must travel to the nearest Rolvarian base in order to negotiate our passage through their space.”
“Fine,” D’Argo said. “Just tell Pilot where to go, and we’ll…”
Somrela shook his head. “No. We will travel in our ship. Dominar Rygel, honorable Joolushka, and you.” He waved a long arm at John. “You will travel with us, also.”
Chiana chuckled quietly. “And what do you expect the rest of us to do until you get back?”
Somrela smiled, showing a mouthful of sharp teeth. “The rest of you? Quite simply, I expect the rest of you to die.”
