Back to part two


Moya, Enroute to Zladren 3 (Sou'Kha), Uncharted Territories

It was dark. Dark enough that he could barely make out where he was. He was running, breath coming in short bursts that only added to the pain in his side. He stumbled, skidding several feet on the smooth floor, before regaining his footing. Hearing his pursuers nearby, he sprinted down the corridor.

Glancing back once, he ran into something. Felt hands grab him and force him to the ground, trying to hold him still. He lashed out but it was useless. He couldn't move.

'Don't worry. It will all be over soon.' A voice told him. One he recognized and yet did not.

He saw the hypodermic and struggled harder, knowing that it would harm him. He managed to get an arm free, but only for a moment. He felt his head jerked to the side. The hypodermic descended.

'No!'

*****

John woke up screaming, blindly struggling against whatever held his arms.

"Crichton! Crichton, wake up!"

John instantly stopped struggling as the faceless attackers of his dreamed melted away to reveal the worried face of Aeryn Sun. "Aeryn? What...?" He gasped out, panting as if he'd just run a marathon.

She firmly kept him pinned to his bed, watching him closely. "You were dreaming, Crichton."

"Dream?" He repeated, relaxing as the terror he had felt rapidly faded. He couldn't even remember what it was that had frightened him so.

Immediately noticing his tension dissipate, Aeryn let him go and stood up. She looked him over carefully, noting he seemed unusually pale and sweaty. She remembered he had felt feverish as well when she had tried to stop his wild thrashing. "I came to check on you when you didn't show up for the morning meal. When I arrived here, you were screaming."

"Nightmare." John muttered, closing his eyes.

"I think I should call Zhaan. You do not look well." Aeryn said.

John quickly sat up, ignoring the slight dizziness the swept over him. "No. I'm fine. It was just a nightmare, Aeryn."

"You seem to have a fever." Aeryn pointed out.

"I said no." John replied forcefully, surprising Aeryn with the flash of anger she saw in his eyes.

Aeryn looked at him for a moment deciding what to do. Seeing the stubborn set to his jaw, she sighed in resignation. Shrugging she turned away. "Fine. But you had better get down to breakfast soon before the others decide to come here on their own." With that she departed his quarters.

*****

"I sense there is something more to this than we've been led to believe." D'argo was saying.

"She was an extremely old woman, D'argo. As far as I could tell she died of natural causes." Zhaan replied, taking a sip of tea. "Besides, why would John lie about what happened?"

"From what you've all said it sounds like he was pretty shaken up by the whole thing." Chiana chimed in to support Zhaan.

"I'm not questioning Crichton." The Luxan grumbled.

"Yes, yes. We know." Rygel waved dismissively. "She was old. She died. Let us concentrate on more pressing matters like getting these creatures off Moya as soon as possible."

"On that I am in complete agreement." D'argo nodded.

"Complete agreement about what?" Aeryn asked as she entered the chamber. Though normal sounding enough, the others heard an under lying tone of anger there.

"Getting the Sou'Kha off Moya." Zhaan supplied, earning an agreeing humph from the former Peace Keeper as she sat down.

"You agree with D'argo and Rygel?" Zhaan asked in surprise. Out of all of them Aeryn had taken no stance one way or the other towards the Sou'Kha when they had discussed the issue. She had, in fact, made the deciding vote to allow them passage aboard Moya.

Aeryn shrugged. "It makes no difference to me so long as our normal routine is not disrupted."

"Too late for that." Rygel grumbled.

Zhaan shook her head in exasperation and turned her attention back to Aeryn. "Where's John?"

"Crichton will be here shortly." Came the clipped reply.

"Something is troubling you, Aeryn. What is it?" Zhaan prodded gently. For a moment she thought she had pressed too hard as the sebacean's blue eyes locked with her own.

"Crichton is acting strange." Was all Aeryn said as she pointedly turned her attention to the food before her.

"Crichton is..."

"Shut up, toad-boy." Chiana shushed the Hynerian to silence, ignoring the glare she got in return.

"He looked pale and it felt like he had a fever." Aeryn said, not seeing the small little grin that came to Chiana's face. A look from Zhaan silenced the Nebari before she could make some ill-timed, and quite probably rude, remark. "He didn't want me to say anything." Aeryn finished.

"You were right to tell us, of course. He may be having a reaction to the Sou'Kha's food." Zhaan noted. "I'll check on him later."

"Zhaan..." The Delvian's eyes widened in surprise at the concern she heard there and the look on the former Peace Keeper's face. A look that suggested fear. From Aeryn?

"What is it?"

"Just..." Aeryn saw Crichton's form enter the chamber out of the corner of her eye. "...be careful." She finished softly.

"Morning, happy campers!" John's voice boomed, overly cheerful. That alone caught the attention of the others after the previous night's events.

"Good morning, John." Zhaan smiled, hiding her concern as she noted that he did seem unusually pale. "How was your sleep."

"Great. Never better." The human replied as he sat down and dug into the food before him.

Aeryn frowned slightly at that but remained silent on the matter. "So what's scheduled for today?" She asked instead.

"I figure most of the day will be taken up preparing the Sou'Kha's cargo for transport when we reach Zladren 3." John replied.

"Good. The quicker they debark the happier I'll be." Rygel remarked. "I don't know what we were thinking allowing them onboard."

"Like I really care what you think, you frelling slug." John snapped.

Rygel merely blinked, too stunned to retort. The others also froze, surprised at the outburst from the human. None the usual bantering, lighthearted tone the human often used was present.

"Excuse me, are we interrupting? We could come back later."

John quickly rose, the anger on his face instantly replaced with a welcoming smile for Kev'ran and K'ris. "Oh it's nothing. Just a little spat. No biggie."

Kev'ran smiled in puzzlement, noting the odd looks the other crew members of Moya exchanged. "As you say, John Crichton."

"We were going to start early on loading the supplies, if that's ...OK?" K'ris spoke up, grinning at the human.

John smiled and rose. "No problem. Let's go."

"But your morning meal?" Kev'ran noted.

"I believe we're finished." John replied with an unreadable expression on his face. "Come on."

*****

She grinned to herself, enjoying the vibrancy as they spoke. A new rich harmonic that had not been there before, light, playful, optimistic  and innocent. Hope.

'Are you well?'

'Integration is nearly complete. Fear not, little one.'

'I can't help it. You're my friends.'

'We thank you for you kindness.'

'How will you convince the others to let us stay?'

'It will be difficult, but not impossible. They are more compassionate and understanding than they realize.'

A darkness nibbled at the edge of their thoughts. Angry discordance.

'They know.' She blinked in surprise.

'Go little one. Tell the others of our success.'

'But the dark...'

'Go! We will take care of them. It'll be a piece of cake'

'But...'

'Go! Now! Tell them. We live again. The Host is safe.'

*****

He approached the human quietly, his steps light and graceful. A sneer came to his face as he watched Kev'ran's only granddaughter, K'ris, laugh at something the pale alien had said and run off.

'Good. We are alone. Now to complete the task.'

He rushed the human, grabbing him from behind and slamming him painfully into the wall. Spinning the stunned human around, he quickly buried the injector into the alien's neck and depressed the button.

John Crichton's eyes fluttered for several moments, before snapping open with a harsh glare.

'Mersak Fu'rel.'

The Sou'Kha instantly released the human as he heard the voice in his mind. A voice he recognized. Backing away in fear he saw the human give him a feral grin.

'Did you think it would be so easy?'

"It can't be you. You're dead. I saw..." Fu'rel whispered hoarsely, feeling the darkness encroaching on him.

"You saw what we wanted you to see"/'You saw what we wanted you to see' The alien/Sarhan replied/thought.

"No."/'No.'

"The Host lives."/'The Host lives.'

Fu'rel tried to scream but the human's hand clamped onto his neck cutting of his vocal chords. He could only watch in horror as the dark surrounded him, his mind clouding.

*****

D'argo wrinkled his nose at the smell of the Sou'Kha's blood, grimacing at the sight before him. He had seen death before but this seemed....evil somehow.

"There's no sign of Crichton anywhere." Aeryn said as she trotted back from her quick survey of the cargo bay.

Zhaan closed her medical chest and nodded to two nearby Sou'Kha. Instantly they covered the body, removing the gruesome sight from view.

"What killed him?" Kev'ran asked.

"It appears something tore him apart. The greatest trauma was to the upper torso." Zhaan replied calmly.

"Any idea as to the weapon?" D'argo asked.

"There is no weapon I'm aware of that would do something like that." Zhaan admitted. "Aeryn?"

"It does not look familiar." The Peace Keeper replied coolly, glancing at several of the vents along the wall. "We had better find Crichton. If he's not here, that means he may have escaped and knows who did this."

"Or he was killed and his body disposed of before we arrived." D'argo noted grimly.

Aeryn stiffened at that, but nodded in agreement to the observation. "Then finding his body may reveal the information we need to track the killer as well."

"If there is anything you need from me. Please ask. I do not relish the thought that one of my people could have done this." Kev'ran said.

"For now, keep your people contained to your assigned tier." D'argo ordered. "We'll find who did this one way or another."

Moya lurched suddenly, sending Kev'ran and the other Sou'Kha flying into the crates. The crew of Moya, used to these sudden changes since Moya's pregnancy, easily retained their footing.

"Pilot?" Zhaan called.

"My apologies, Zhaan. There appears to be some unusual readings from Moya's systems." Pilot reported.

The lights flickered and dimmed.

"Something's wrong with the flow regulators." Aeryn murmured, earning a confused look from D'argo.

"There appears to be an irregularity in the power flow regulators for that level. It is also affecting comms in and around that tier." Pilot reported. "I have sent the DRDs to correct the malfunction."

"Thank you, Pilot. Your efforts are appreciated." Zhaan replied, turning back to the others.

"Let's find the murderer before anything else goes wrong." Aeryn said.

*****

"We must do this."

"But Kev'ran.."

"Frell Kev'ran. You know your duty."

"But the Sarhan are no more."

"Than what killed Fu'rel. You saw the marks!"

A long pause arose. "Then the human-Sarhan must be killed."

"There is a chance the darshan treatment may work for him."

"No sebacean as have survived the darshan."

"But he isn't sebacean. Perhaps he would survive."

"Very well. But irregardless of the human, the Sarhan must not continue."

"Agreed."

Onto part four

Back to Gray's page