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John slept fitfully.  He found himself fully awake and unable to get back to sleep after what he thought was only a few hours.  He had been told to wait in his room and someone would come for him, but hell, a little walk couldn't hurt anything, he hoped.  He opened the door and peered both ways down the hallway.  All clear.  He stepped out and started to walk.

He tried to stay with the main corridor but slipped quickly and quietly down side halls whenever he saw or heard anyone.  Moving in that fashion, it didn't take him long to get hopelessly turned around.  He decided to change strategies and opened a door.  The room was instantly recognizable as a laboratory.  The equipment might look different but lab equipment was still lab equipment.  What was disturbing was what looked to be cages on the far side of the room.  John was a scientist and the hallmark of a good scientist is curiosity about the world around you.  He walked over to investigate.

The cages were of varying sizes and extended around a corner of the room and out of immediate sight.  The first few were empty.  A few of the middle size cages had creatures in them; hairless, multi-legged, sharp-teethed, creatures.  They snarled at him as he passed.  The last cages were big enough to hold a man.  Before he even reached them, he could hear a low moan.  He walked faster, gripped by an irrational fear that Aeryn would be in the cage.

She wasn't.

Something was though.  It seemed the size of a man but the skin was almost transparent, purplish and bruised looking.  Suppurating sores bled yellowish pus from over most of the visible surface.  The eye on the side facing him was swollen shut and the hair stood out in dark tufts on a nearly bald head. John was torn between pity and horror until it turned its face to him. Horror won.  The other side of its face was clear of the pustules and definitely Sebacean.  One side of its mouth moved.  "Help me," it implored. John backed hurriedly away and swallowed back the sour rise in his gorge.

He backed into a table sending apparatus clattering.  He turned and caught the equipment before it shattered to the floor.

"This is a restricted area," an angry voice informed him.

He looked up to see a black shirted Peacekeeper staring at him.  "I got lost."  Crichton tried to regain his composure.  "I was looking for the infirmary.  I wanted to check on Officer Sun."

The Peacekeeper stared at him stone-faced.  "The way is clearly marked."

John rubbed his palms on the sides of his pants legs.  "I, ah, I didn't notice."  He walked toward the exit.  "I'll just be going now."

The Peacekeeper didn't move but watched Crichton silently through narrowed eyes.

John felt those eyes follow him out into the corridor and back up the hallway.  He wasn't sure exactly how he found his way back to his room but once there he didn't stop shaking for the better part of an hour.

Going back to sleep was out of the question.  He waited and after a short eternity his door opened and a lab tech entered.  "I am Tech Leis.  Liaison Martow said I was to show you around the facility and begin assessing your skills so that you can be assigned while you are here."

The first place that John was taken was the mess hall.  Several techs and Peacekeepers were already seated at various tables.  John noticed that the groups tended to eat separately, not associating with each other.  He toyed with his food.  "Tech Leis, after we eat, I would like to go and check on Officer Sun."

"That is permissible," the young tech said after swallowing a mouthful of food.  He looked from his plate to Crichton.  "I was informed that the antigen did not take as long to develop as originally estimated.  I believe that she was inoculated a few arns ago.  With luck, by the time that you see her there should be some change in her condition."

Leis chewed his food thoughtfully.  "I was also instructed to find a position for you.  You are a tech and not military.  In what maintenance or biological research areas do you have expertise?"

John grinned sardonically.  "None, but if you show me a cosmic theory that's broken, I'd be glad to fix it for you."

*****

Leis gave John a quick tour of the base, including the hanger that the Prowler was in.  He noticed several people rummaging around it.  He stepped forward quickly, pointing at the crew.  "Hey, what are they doing."

Leis looked at him curiously.  "They are performing standard maintenance and fueling.  This may be a research facility but the standard military protocols can not be totally ignored.  All combat and transportation vehicles must be kept in readiness."

John managed to look chagrined.  "I knew that.  I just....if anything happened to her Prowler, Officer Sun would have my head on a platter."

Leis narrowed his eyes at the unfamiliar saying but kept any suspicions to himself.

"Ah, speaking of Officer Sun, could we go to the infirmary now?  I'd like to see how she is doing."  John didn't like the way Leis was looking at him and was eager to divert his attention.

Leis nodded sharply and turned.  "The way to the infirmary is clearly marked," he said as he started walking away.

The infirmary was brightly lit and totally empty except for the occupant of one of the beds lined along one wall.  The occupant was awake and staring at the ceiling.  John's smile was bright with relief.  He strode over while calling out to her.  "Yoa, Aeryn, you look a lot better than the last time I saw you.  How are you feeling?"  He sat on the side of the bed.  He noticed immediately that her skin didn't look so ashen.

Aeryn smiled, "A little weak still but better, the doctors say I'll be fine in a day or so.  I'm making a quick recovery."

John tentatively took her hand and squeezed it.  "I'm glad."

*****

Three work shifts later, John waited in the hallway until after the guard had made his rounds and he was certain that the coast was clear.  Then he entered the laboratory and made his way back to the large cage in the back.  The one with the parody of a man inside.  Once in front of the cage the creature noticed him and regarded him with one rheumy eye.  "How can I help?" John asked uneasily.

"Out!"  The man's voice seemed unused to speaking and came out in a hoarse and broken whisper.

John looked at the latch on the cage.  It seemed electronic.  There was a small opening that seemed about the size of Larraq's 'dogtags.'  John reached inside his shirt and brought out the chain.  He grabbed the chit and held it next to the opening to judge for fit.

The man looked at the chit with interest.  "Yours? Command...over..rides...priority?"

"These?  I guess that they're mine now but I got them, sorta, from a Commando named Larraq."

The tortured Sebacean suddenly swung his head toward the lab door.  "Hide!" he gasped.  "Hide!"

John looked around quickly and dived behind a computer console.  There he curled into as tight a ball as possible and held his breath.

Martow strolled past the cages of the small lab animals.  She stopped in front of the large cage and studied the occupant.  "Bodde, I see that your unfortunate affliction continues to spread.  Luckily for the base, you are not contagious.  Still, I wonder how much longer you can last.  Perhaps it would be a mercy to end your suffering."

The occupant of the cage turned so that his good eye faced her and glared but did not respond.

Martow ran a finger along a bar.  "It is times such as these that I miss your keen insights and advice.  Your accident was so unfortunate."  She leaned in close as if to relay a confidence.  "I have discovered an alien among us. One altered to look Sebacean, so obviously a spy."  She straightened.  "The question is what to do about him.  If I alert the military contingent on the base they will take him into custody and question him.  By the time I get him back he would likely be useless for my purposes if even alive.  However, if I appropriate him, who knows what biological secrets that I might discover. Later, I could always still turn him over to the military.  Yet, the politics of the situation need to be carefully considered."  She placed her hands behind her back in contemplation.  "Then there is Officer Sun, what does she know?  Is she aware that Crichton is an alien?  Even if she is not aware, has she spent so much time in the presence of this unknown quantity that she has become irreversibly contaminated?"  She sighed dramatically.  "Bodde, there are so many variables to consider that I must pick my path carefully to ensure that I come out in a favorable position."

She looked at the imprisoned remnants of the Sebacean and continued coldly, "I guess what I am trying to say, Bodde, is that I will be needing your cage soon."

Crichton waited several minutes after Martow left before he crawled out of his hiding place.  He glanced anxiously toward the door before grabbing the bars of the cage with both hands.  "Listen, it's true I'm not Sebacean, I'm human but I am not a spy.  I'm just trying to get home," he whispered urgently.

The remnant of a man studied him briefly.  "Not...matter," he croaked. "Help...me...help...you.  You...go...out...Prowler.  Me out...dis...tract..tion."

John sorted through the abbreviated speech.  "If I get you out, you'll provide a distraction so I can leave, right?"  He thought about it.  "How?"

One side of Bodde's face crept up in a mockery of a smile.  "Com..pu..ter tech.  Destroy...base..destroy.. Martow."

John shook his head.  "No, there are too many people on the base.  Just to kill them all would be wrong.  There has got to be another way."

Bodde had difficulty forming his reply.  It was as if the brief conversation had exhausted him.  "No!  Evac..evac...evacuate.  Destroy base...destroy research...destroy data..destroy Martow."  He lifted a leprous hand and pointed at Larraq's command chits that were hanging from John's neck.  "Need that."

*****

John walked as quickly as he could to the infirmary, at least as quickly as he could without drawing attention to himself.  He looked in the door and noticed that the room was again empty except for Aeryn.  She was standing beside the bed, dressed in Peacekeeper black and doing simple stretching exercises.  She stopped and looked up at him when the door opened.  "You look like you're doing well," he said as he fidgeted from foot to foot.

Aeryn nodded.  "Remarkably well, it's been less than fifty arns and I am almost totally recovered."

"Great."  John gave her a boyish grin.  "Now, come with me.  We have to go." He reached out and took her arm and ushered her quickly toward and out the door.  Then Aeryn stopped dead.

"What are you talking about?" she demanded.

"I don't have time to explain.  Trust me on this for now," he extolled.

Aeryn didn't move.

"Come on Aeryn, hurry up."  Crichton glanced over his shoulder.  "The dren is about to hit the fan and we DO NOT want to be standing close when it starts to splatter.

Aeryn shook her head in defeat and started to run.  John quickly caught up with her.  They raced to the hanger and Aeryn's Prowler.  The way was disturbingly clear.  They reached the Prowler without encountering anyone. Aeryn immediately climbed in and began checking its pre-flight status.  John stood guard.  Aeryn yelled at him to get in and he turned to climb into the cockpit when a little yellow bolt of light flashed past him, catching his attention.

"Stop!"

John recognized the voice and turned to face it.  "You really don't want to do this," he said with deceptive calm.

"I don't?" Martow said.  She was flanked by a half dozen Peacekeepers who were pointing their pulse rifles at them.

"No, you're going to be too busy to be concerned about us."

Whatever Martow was going to say was drowned out by the a shrill alarm.  The Peacekeepers glanced at each other uneasily.

"You can stand here talking or you can start evacuating the base.  If you're real fast you might even be able to reset the self destruct before it gets to zero."

"There is a third choice, I could have them kill you where you stand," Martow threatened.

"Yes, you could," Aeryn answered her, almost forgotten in the Prowler.  She stood and pointed her pulse rifle directly at the Science Liaison. "But I would get you first."

Martow glared at them for a microt then turned and beckoning the Peacekeepers to follow her, hurried away.

"Well, get in," Aeryn said impatiently.

After the Prowler launched, John watched behind him.  There was no pursuit and the facility didn't explode.  He heaved a sigh of relief until he realized that there was still a very pressing problem.  "Well, Aeryn, we just jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire."

"What are you talking about?" she said distractedly.  Her attention on her instrument panels

"What I mean is that we are all dressed up and have no place to go."  He swiveled his head around looking at space.  "No solar system with planets that support Sebacean life within the travel radius of the Prowler."

"You are wrong, Crichton.  We have a destination," she replied, still studying her instruments.  "Moya."

John shook his head.  "D'argo made it very clear that they wouldn't wait around for the Peacekeepers to show up.  We have no idea where they are but where ever it is, it won't be close enough."

"D'argo isn't a pregnant Leviathan who wants to rest up a bit before the birth."  She finally spared him a glance.  "Pilot said that Moya wanted to rest for three or  four weekens and gave me the coordinates before we left. It will be close but we should make it."

"Well, score one for Pilot and Moya."  John grinned.  "When we get back, remind me to throw Moya a baby shower."

"I do not even want to know what you meant by that," she muttered just loud enough for John to hear.

Some time passed and John began to get bored.  "So Aeryn, we've got a little time.  Why don't you teach me about flying this bird?"

"I think not," she replied sharply.  She thought a bit.  "So you want a way to pass the time?"

"I'm as bored as a jock in algebra class."

"Would you like to talk?"

"Sure.  What do you want to talk about?" he asked curiously.

Aeryn licked her lips.  "Tell me about your mother."

The End

If you made it all the way to the end, thank you very much for reading and I hope you enjoyed the story.

Penny


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