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I do not own FarScape or its characters. I only want to borrow them until the end of the story, at which time they will be returned safe and unharmed.
John ‘rounded the corner and entered the galley. D’Argo was sitting at the counter kicking back shooters. Crichton expected as much, in fact he had counted on it. He wanted to spend a few minutes with his adopted brother before he met with his destiny.
D’Argo: “What kind of dren are you planning? I have a bad feeling about this John.”
Crichton: “You always have bad feelings about my plans.”
They both had a good laugh at that nugget of truth! John put his hand on D’Argo’s shoulder and gave it a bit of a squeeze, grabbed a cup D’Argo had poured for him, slammed it, then shot it back.
Crichton: “You know Rasta Man, I may not make it back this time.
D’Argo: “I know John, I sensed it. Are you that sure of your plan?”
Crichton: “I’ll tell you what I’m sure of. I’m sure that I love Aeryn more than life itself. I’m sure that Scorpy is going to cause bigtime problems over this Wormhole technology. I’m sure that the Scarrans are not going to stop trying to obtain it either. I’m sure that we do not have the weapons or equipment to defeat either of these powers. This is only two of the groups that want our eemma’s served up on a silver platter. I’m sure that if we don’t do something, we’re gonna get our asses kicked. Way I see it bro, we’re out of options.”
D’Argo: “John, I know we have had our problems in the past…”
Crichton: “Best we leave them in the past D’Argo.”
D’Argo: “John, I just wanted to say…”
Crichton: “I know, I know, I love you too bro! Hangin’ with you has been a high point. If the dren hits the fan, promise me you will watch over Aeryn, watch over all of our family.”
D’Argo removed his Qualta Blade from its sheath, and slid it across his palm. Grabbing Crichton’s arm, he repeats the action. He grips John’s hand, interlocking their thumbs and fingers.
D’Argo: “This day I swear to you on my ancestors, I commit to you a Luxan Blood Oath; my blood to your blood, bonded forever. I shall never let my guard down, I shall watch over all, until my dying breath!”
Crichton gives D’Argo a big hug. John leaves silently, what more could be said?
Pilot: “Commander, Moya will be ready to Starburst in thirty microts.”
Crichton: “Thanks pilot. I’m on my way.”
Moya drifted silently, just outside of the Mist. Passing through Command, John stood before it, entranced and mesmerized. He had been working on the equations since leaving D’Argo in the galley some 18 arns ago. He would go through them one more time with Pilot, and then it would be Showtime.
The crew was already gathering in Pilots Den. They wanted to know what this plan was, and since Crichton was not yet talking, Pilot was the next best thing. John enters Pilots den, and is encountered by a stressed out crew.
Aeryn: “Have you lost what little mind you have left Crichton?”
Somewhat taken aback, Crichton responds.
Crichton: “Aeryn, you want to work with me here? You know that someone has to do something. Everything is coming apart at the seams. You’ve not spoken more than ten words to me since your return to Moya. Crais is having some sort of mid-life crisis; D’Argo has all of us, and a War on his mind. Pip has problems of her own. Stark’s off God knows where, and Jool is stuck with us for a family. Rygel faces his own kind of war, and I am having a real Jerry Springer moment here!!!!
Aeryn is visibly shaking, her bottom lip quivers, her voice is broken.
Aeryn: “I do not want you to go John. I can’t lose you again.”
“Damn, I do LOVE her”, John thought to himself. It was killing him that the very thing that would save Aeryn was the one thing she feared the most, losing him. He wanted to reach out to her, to comfort her. He knew better. If he failed now, she would lose far more than just him. No, he had committed to this path the day he was born. John believed in fate, and this was his defining moment. He would not fail her, even if she did not understand. It was “gutcheck” time, and he would have to suck it up…
Crichton: “Look darlin’, you know its gotta be this way don’t ya? It’s never been a matter of lovin’ you, I fell in love with you the first time that you kicked my ass.”
Aeryn smiles, and breaks a chuckle through the tears.
Crichton: “It’s not that I don’t want to fight for you baby, I just don’t know how to fight a dead man. If my plan works, he won’t die, and we get the Wormhole technology. The Peace Keepers, Scarrans, Nebari, Scorpy, and the rest of the bottom feeders will get the Dren end of the stick. If I don’t do this, we all will die a certain death. I am through running. It’s always been about “Choices” Aeryn, and this is mine.”
Aeryn: “If you go John, you may die. I will go with you.”
John: “I have to do this thing alone.”
Aeryn: “There has to be another way.”
John moves to Aeryn, gathering a ribbon of her hair in his fingers. He leans in and kisses her deeply. With a ferocity he had never known, Aeryn kisses him back.
Without breaking the embrace he whispers into her ear.
“I love you Aeryn, without our love I wouldn’t have the strength to do what we both know I must do. You said you trusted me; that you would be there when I needed you. Baby, I’ve never needed you more than I do right now.”
He gently kisses her closed and swollen eyelids, and turns to depart. Looking back one last time, there she stood, breathtaking and radiant. Standing before him shined his Sundance. Confident, dry eyed and standing at attention was his partner; he knew she would not let him down. He only hoped that he could do as much for her, when the time came…
Crichton: “Pilot, do our figures jive?”
Pilot: “Yes Commander, Moya and I have checked them five times.”
Crichton: “Excellent. We’re good to go! Pilot, I am going to take the transport pod and tuck in tight on Moya. After your first reverse Starburst to remove Moya from the Mist, you must Starburst back to this exact spot within 2 Arns. Remember, you must ease Moya back into the Mist. You will have only 48 arns before the Mist hardens around Moya, and locks her dead in time.”
Pilot: “Moya and I understand Commander.”
Chiana: “Why are we Reverse Starbursting? We can’t do that! Can we???”
Crichton: “Well Pip, we actually have done it once before. If I make it through this, I’ll tell you all about it. The further we travel in reverse Starburst while starting the process inside the time flux, the further back into time we travel…… I think. I need to go back 5 weekens.”
D’Argo: “If you go back five weekens in time, we go back five weekens in time, What the Frell are we supposed to do Crichton?”
Crichton: “Starburst back here and WAIT! Hell, I don’t know how this thing works; I only know that it will. I guess we’re gonna have to wing it!”
Chiana walked over to John and whispered in his ear.
“I’ll see you again someday, Johnny boy. I know it!”
She gently kissed him, and returned to stand beside D’Argo.
Pilot and Moya executed the plan flawlessly. At the precise predicted moment, Crichton accelerated the transport into the Starburst iris. As suddenly as he had entered the blue fire, he exited it and found himself orbiting the planet Dam-Ba-Da. A quick scan netted the co-ordinates of an ongoing firefight. “That’s my boy; always in the middle of the dren”, Crichton mused. Then it hit him, crap, he had miscalculated somewhere. He had arrived several minutes later than he had anticipated. No time for thinking, only time for action. Crichton sets the pod down several dunes ahead of where John Black was in pursuit of Furlow.
As he topped the last dune that separated him from himself, he noticed the smoke from Furlow’s crashed buggy. He sees himself watching, timing the Partanium pulses from the fractured casing of the Displacement Engine. He knew what had to be done. With the finesse of his high school quarterback days, John Green sprints forth, leaping across the back of himself, and using his other self’s shoulder as a launch pad to increase the distance of his jump. John Black reflexively reaches forward and grabs the foot of the creature that had just leapt over him. John Green was knocked off balance by this tip, and landed chest first onto the leaking casing. He immediately returned the access panel to the side of the Displacement Engine’s case, safely sealing in its radiation. John Black recognized John Green instantly.
John Black: “What the hell you doin’ here??? How the hell did you get here???”
Anger turned to sorrow as the reality of what had just happened sunk in. He could see how the direct exposure to his chest was already breaking down John Greens tissues. He was extremely pale and weak. John Black pulled John Green a safe distance from the Engine, and leaned him up against the overturned buggy. It was then John Green spoke.
John Green: “ You know it has to be this way. One of us has to die.”
John Black tries to comfort John Green as well as he can. He sits beside him, and gives him a drink from his canteen.
John Black: “Why did you do this, how?”
John Green: “How is not important. The why, is. Our future is too important to gamble on. There was only supposed to be one John Crichton. If you haven’t realized it by now, we are one in the same person. I am you, and you are me.”
John Black: “I know that now. I am sorry John; I would have stopped you if I had known. I could have made it, but I guess we will never know.”
John Green: “You didn’t make it John. That’s why I am here. Think… This way we both win…”
John Green’s breathing becomes labored and shallow, as his lungs fill with fluid.
John Black: “You saved my life. Why me? Why did you do this?”
John Green: “Oh hell son, you’d a done the same thing for me.” He forces a grin. “Look, you have the knowledge, the equipment, and the girl. With you, we stand a chance. Without you, we have no weapons, and no hope of defeating the evil. You love Aeryn for me you hear, take care of her. I love her John. She’s the reason that I did this. She is in more pain than a person can endure and remain sane. She shut me out completely. She wouldn’t talk with anyone about it. Tell Aeryn that I love her…”
Aeryn had pulled up in the buggy that she had just liberated, unnoticed by either John. She had been standing there the entire time; she had overheard everything. She knew what had happened, and she knew what John Green had given up. He was giving up everything for a chance at her happiness. Aeryn had an epiphany; it was her first. Then came the flood of memories of her life on that planet with John, and of her granddaughter. Aeryn remembered the Locket. She knew at once that both of these men were “Her John”. Fighting hard to remain strong for him, Aeryn moves to be beside John Green.
Aeryn: “You tell me yourself John.”
John Green: “Aeryn, I do love you. I’ll always be with you.”
She puts her arms around John Green. Try as she could, she could not hold back her tears.
Aeryn: “Shhhhh hush. John I love you. I am so sorry that I drove you to this. You are such an incredible creature. I do love you, both of you.
John, we can’t leave him here like this. Think of something!”
John Green: “No Aeryn, don’t be sorry. I don’t want to end it this way. I have no regrets baby, I am happy with the way I have lived my life. I wouldn’t change a single moment with you. There is nothing that anyone can do to change these events. Hell, what did you expect from one of my plans anyway?”
This made them all laugh a little. John Green continues….
John Green: “It’s time for you two to go. If you do not succeed, this is all for nothing. NOW GO!!!!!!”
John Black: “He’s right you know, we have to go Aeryn, NOW!”
Aeryn: “I know, I know. I will make it up to the both of you for the rest of my life. You are the love of my life.”
Crichton weakened and dying whispers one last time into Aeryn’s ear.
Crichton: “Take care of him, love him Aeryn. He is me. Now go, don’t look back just go, NOW!!! I’m just gonna sit here and watch the fireworks!”
With one last kiss delivered from the deepest part of her soul, Aeryn turns and leaves without looking back. As she gets into the buggy with John Black she speaks.
Aeryn: “About what just happened…”
John: “It’s cool Aeryn, That’s me back there…”
John Green closes his eyes, and for one last time he finds the song in his heart.
Come Sail Away by: Styx
I’m sailing away
Set an open course, for the Virgin Sea
‘Cause I’ve got to be free
Free to face the life that’s ahead of me
Oh Lord I’m the Captain, so climb aboard
We’ll search for tomorrow, on every shore
And I’ll try, Oh Lord I’ll try
To carry on
I look to the sea
Reflections in the waves spark my memories
Some happy, some sad
I think of childhood friends, and the dreams we had
We’ll live happily forever, so that story goes
But somehow we missed out, on my pot of gold
But we’ll try, best that we can
To carry on
A gathering of Angels, appeared above my head
They sang to me this song of hope
And this is what they said
Come sail away
Come sail away
Come and sail away with me
Come sail away
Come sail away
Come and sail away with me
I thought that they were Angels
But to my surprise
I climbed aboard their STARSHIP
And headed for the SKIES
Come sail away
Come sail away
Come and sail away with me
Crichton opened his eyes for the last time. He so much wanted to see the flash of the implosion as the star moved through his Wormhole, to touch the Scarran Dreadnought. A brilliant light blinded him, but it faded as a figure stepped in front and shielded him from the Sun of this planet.
Crichton: “Jack, Jack is that really you?”
Jack: “Yes John, you must come with me now. Time is of essence; we must start cleansing and the tissue regeneration immediately.
Jack picked the dying Crichton up, and supported his weight as he helped him walk to the transport device.
Crichton: “You don’t know how glad I am to see you Jack! Hell, I’m just glad to see anyone. Can you really fix this?”
Jack: “Good as new!”
Crichton: “To borrow a line from Bogie , ‘This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship’, Jack.”
After the dreadnought was dispersed with, and all were once again safe aboard Talyn, Crais spoke.
Crais: “Talyn’s sensors picked up a strange alien ship departing Dam-Ba-Da just before the dreadnought was destroyed.”
Aeryn: “John, do you think it possible?”
John: “We’ll see him again. After all, we are one helluva resourceful guy!”
It was at that very moment John Black found himself standing in Pilots den, back on Moya. He occupied the very space and time that John Green had, right before his departure. Looking across the den, there stood Aeryn Sun. Her smile was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He knew that he had finally come home…
Later that evening, John and Aeryn retired to his favorite place, the Observation Deck. John sat in front of the Command Console. Aeryn straddled between his legs, with his arms tightly wrapped around her. After many arns gazing out at the beauty in front of them, they arose to leave. Making their way into the corridor, Aeryn slips on some water. John remained silent. He instinctively knew… It had been Chiana…
The End
