Air Date: June 22, 2001
Written by Ben Browder
Directed by Tony Tilse
Transcript by Xenajules2
Edited and put on-line by Bluey
Episode 3.08 - Green Eyed Monster
Aeryn's voice: Previously on Farscape:
Scene1: The outside of the Shadow Depository
Scene 2: Crais and Aeryn on Talyn; Aeryn: "Crais, we're all going to die if you don't help us."
Scene 3: In Moya's neural cluster; John: "You have worked your way into my heart."
Scene 4: John and Aeryn kiss in the Shadow Depository
Scene 5: Scorpius and John in the Shadow Depository
Scene 6: Scorpius and Natira have John strapped to the globe devise.
Aeryn's voice: "Scorpius has captured Crichton and he's going to kill him if we don't get down there." Crais' voice: "Crichton must mean a great deal to you."
Scene 7: Back with Aeryn and Crais on Talyn; Aeryn: "You can have anything you want, anything." Crais: "Are you offering yourself?"
Scenes 8 & 9: Scenes of John and Aeryn; John: "I love you." Aeryn: "I love you too."
Aeryn's voice: And now on Farscape:
PROLOGUE
Outside the window, a planet with rings around it hangs large. John is lying on a bed, writing something, but electrical sparks keep landing on him.
John: "Hey! Fellas, knock it off. I'm trying to work here."
A red DRD is welding something right over his head.
John: "Knock it off! That's enough."
The welding continues.
He reaches for his holster and gun belt which are hanging from a hook on the wall near his head. The holster is empty.
John: "Crais, where is it? Crais!" He holds the empty holster up to the surveilance camera on the DRD that's over his head.
John: "Yo! Captain." He taps the DRD twice. "Where is it?"
Close-up of Crais' transponder. He speaks: "What've you done?"
Aeryn (she is at a nearby control console): "I've taken propulsion off-line to optimize the energy transfer rate. I'm hoping that it will ease his pain and speed the recovery process."
Crais: "Very elegant. You seem to have an intuitive grasp of Talyn's subsystems."
Aeryn shrugs: "Well, just felt right."
Crais: "It's more than right. Can sense his easing."
Crais comes over to stand directly behind Aeryn.
Crais: "Have you given any...thought to my previous proposal?"
Aeryn sighs.
John is running through Talyn's corridors. He come to Command. The door is closed. John swipes his hand over the door control. It beeps but nothing happens.
John: "Talyn, open the door."
John slaps the door a couple of times and swipes his hand over the control again. More beeping but the door remains closed.
John: "Crais! I know you're in there. Playtime is over. Open the damn door."
John side-kicks the door.
Inside Command, Crais speaks to Aeryn: "Meet me later in my quarters. There is much more for us to discuss. "
To Talyn: "Talyn, open the door."
John comes in: "Hey! You wanta mess with me?"
Crais: "What seems to be the problem?"
John: "Keepin' the DRD's over my head, working 24/7 so I can't sleep."
Crais: "Repairs to Talyn...."
John interrupts: "All of the doors locked. The shower ice cold so I'm freezin' the boys off."
Aeryn: "John, what're you talking about?"
John: "It's not really a problem but you do not mess with my stuff! Where's Wynona?"
Crais: "What?"
John: "Wy...no...na."
Aeryn: "His pulse pistol."
John: "My gun!"
Aeryn: "Well maybe Rygel came..."
John: "Rygel and Stark have been on recon for more than a day."
Crais: "John."
John shouts: "Don't call me John!"
Crais: "Crichton then. Are you accusing me of theft?"
Aeryn looks up at the ceiling: "Talyn, you've seen them both naked, perhaps you can tell us who's bigger."
Crais and John both look at her. She smiles.
Crais: "Talyn, (Talyn 'beeps' in answer) in addition to their current duties, please have the DRD's keep an eye out for Mr. Crichton's pulse weapon. He seems to have mislaid it. Will there be anything else?"
John: "Yah. Hang a left before we hit that moon."
Aeryn: "What moon?"
John: "Small one dead ahead."
He walks closer to the viewscreen.
Aeryn: "Our orbital plan is well clear of this planet's moons."
There is a bulge sticking out of the planet's rings, right in front of them.
Aeryn: "How could we miss it?"
Crais: "Might've been below the ring plane. Talyn, get a fix on all orbital objects."
Talyn beeps.
Crais: "It's changing course and speed. Accelerating."
The planet, a moon and rings, Talyn and the bump are all visible.
Crais: "Talyn, remain calm."
Talyn's cannon swings down.
Aeryn: "Main cannon is arming."
Crais: "Aeryn, bring propulsion back on line."
Aeryn: "Working on it. 20 micots."
Crais: "Talyn. Focus on propulsion!"
John: "That's no moon!"
Crais: "Talyn, focus on propulsion!"
John: "That's a Budong!"
Just then a huge creature with green eyes rises up out of the planet's rings, right in front of them. Talyn flies into its mouth.
END OF PROLOGUE
ACT ONE
On Talyn's command: John, Crais and Aeryn have all been thrown to the floor.
John: "Aeryn?"
Crais: "Propulsion?"
Aeryn: "Should be on line."
John: "It's totally black out there. This big guppy just locked us in."
We hear Talyn shooting his cannon over and over.
Crais: "Talyn! Cease fire! Officer Sun. try and over-ride the weapons."
The cannon continues to fire repeatedly.
Crais: "Talyn, you will desist!"
Aeryn: "It's not working."
A jolt knocks them to the floor again.
Aeryn: "Obviously we hit something. The main cannon is out. It's damaged. And maneuvering jets are firing."
Crais: "Noooo! Talyn no! Do Not Panic! You're costing us vital time."
Talyn makes some beeping noises.
Aeryn: "Talyn, listen to me. Focus on a single point. With your senses. Align yourself with that point and block out all other distractions."
Talyn beeps. It becomes quiet.
Aeryn: "Well done, Talyn."
John: "What do we know about budongs?"
Aeryn: "Next to nothing."
Crais: "Live ones are exceedingly rare."
Aeryn: "We're still moving. We're caught in some sort of electromagnetic current and we're moving ...."
John: "Down! We're goin down. We're being swallowed. We're moving down."
Crais: "Talyn, set a course against the current. Officer Sun, options?"
Aeryn: "We're incapable of starburst."
Crais: "Can we shoot our way out?"
Aeryn: "No. The main cannon is dead. We are flying in the dark and we are still losing ground to this current."
John: "Down. Do we wanta be going down?"
Crais: "We have no notion of which way is up or which way is down."
John: "Yo! Jonah! We have been swallowed. That is down! And I, for one, do not want to be budong chow!"
Crais: "You will limit your remarks to something useful or I will..."
Aeryn interrupts: "No! Crais."
John: "Or what?"
Aeryn: "He's right. John is right."
Sudden silence.
John: "Drop anchor."
Aeryn: "Anchor?"
John: "Yes. Anchor."
Talyn speaks.
Crais: "No Talyn. But only slightly stupid. It might buy us time. Officer Sun. Take Crichton, get suited for space. In the armory you'll find a case of taks."
John: "Taks?"
Crais: "Use the hamman side access chamber. Mooring points are located on the hull."
Aeryn: "Outside. Yes sir. I have it. Dropping anchor."
She leaves command and John follows.
In the armory, Aeryn explains the taks to John. They look like little bombs with a line of 4 lighted buttons on the rim. Aeryn is holding a bomb, John is holding the launcher. They are both wearing space suits minus the helmets.
Aeryn: "Tak-5 torpedoes, hand held, fusion bonded irridium claws. Stick. Never let go. Cable's attached to the rear"
John: "You use this highgrade hardware like a mooring harpoon?"
Aeryn: "Unless you've got a better idea."
John: "It was my idea, but it'll work?"
Aeryn: "Well, the cables are irridium alloy. As long as we hit bone, we should hold fast."
John: "Good. I must be smarter than I look."
Aeryn: "That would be easy."
John now also has his helmet on. He is standing, facing a hatch.
John: "Alright."
The hatch opens. John floats out through a pentagonal shaped opening.
John: "You know, I'd be happy to swap jobs. Come back in there and work the mooring control panel."
Aeryn: "Forget about it. You can't even operate door controls."
John: "There's a reason for that."
He places an anchor cable end over a hook on Talyn's exterior hull.
John: "Do it."
Inside, a gloved hand presses a button and the hook slams shut, barely missing John's fingers.
John: "Damn!"
Aeryn: "Your twin got the brains?"
John: "No Crais. He's trying to make a point."
Crais: "If I may interrupt?"
John, softly: "Damn, open channel."
Aeryn shake her head.
Crais: "Officer Sun. This current is pulling us 1.2 metras a microt."
Aeryn: "Almost there. You ready? (to John)"
John: "Good."
Again, the hook closes, just missing his fingers.
Talyn beeps at Crais.
Crais: "Do...not...argue."
Aeryn and John load a tak-5 into the launcher.
Aeryn: "Alright. We don't have visual yet."
Crais: "Wall rate is closing. Zero point 5 metras."
Aeryn: "I can't see anything yet. I need visual. I need to be able to see the ribs."
Crais: "point one."
Aeryn: "Still nothing. Pitch black."
John: "Coulda, woulda, shoulda brought a flashlite."
Aeryn shoots. There is a flash of light.
John: "Whoa!"
Crais: " Navigating against this current is proving to be somewhat difficult."
The mooring line is still playing out.
Aeryn: "Don't know yet." John goes to the open hatch.
John: "Soft flesh. We missed the bone. Not gonna hold."
Crais: "Talyn. Reverse the jets."
Aeryn: "Release the cable."
The cable release button is pushed.
John: "Too late. Get down!"
He pushes Aeryn over just as the anchor cable and warhead with budong flesh attached flies over their heads and hits the back wall of the chamber.
Aeryn: "Reload."
John: "Got it."
Aeryn: "Crais. I'm gonna go for a second shot."
Crais: "Talyn. Back to the wall."
Aeryn: "Still no visual."
Crais: "Talyn, slower."
John: "There it is."
Aeryn shoots. There is a flash of orange light.
Aeryn: "Go! Go! Go!"
The mooring cable plays out.
Aeryn: "Come on."
The cable reaches its end and holds. The jolt throws them to the floor.
Aeryn: "Crais! Stabilize the frelling ship!"
Crais: "We're holding. Swinging towards the wall."
John loads another torpedo.
Aeryn: "What're you doing? That one held."
John: "Making sure."
John shoots.
Aeryn: "Door!"
John: "Crais, better back away."
John and Aeryn watch through the hatch.
John: "Whose stupid idea was this, anyway?"
Aeryn: "Yours."
They hit the wall of the budong.
A transport pod is flying along above the planets ring. Again we see the planet, the ring, a moon and a "bump". Rygel and Stark are inside the pod.
Rygel: "What do you mean they're not there? How can you frell up a simple rendezvous?"
Stark: "They're just not here."
Rygel: "Not one of you deficients can properly read a chart. Right. Let's call the frellniks."
Stark: "Remember Aeryn's mother? Aeryn's mother. Retrieval squad? Guess what? She's out there and she's looking for us. Radio silence keeps us hidden and alive."
Rygel: "If those toeskas have left us, after all I've done for them."
Stark comes over by Rygel and stares out the viewscreen at the bump.
Stark breathes: "No." (audibly) "It can't be!"
Rygel: "What? What the yotz are you looking at? That lump?"
Stark: "That lump is a budong."
Stark starts frantically hitting controls. The pod begins to go dark.
Rygel: "What are you doing?"
Stark: "Shutting everything down."
Rygel: "Stop being a wellnitz! We could just fly around it. Budongs are harmless. Aren't they?"
Stark: "They're a frelling shipping hazard. Our ship's energy fields make us electro-magnetic candy."
Rygel: "Why, I've never heard anyone say that!"
Stark: "That's because they're all dead!"
Rygel: "Dead! We're flying out of here!"
He reaches for the controls.
Stark: "No! No! No! The power stays off."
He rushes over to grab Rygel and they both keep hitting at controls.
Stark: "Off! Off! Off! Off! Off! Off!"
Rygel: "I am the eater, not the eatee."
They are still fighting over the controls when the budong rises up out the the ring right in front of them.
Stark: "Aw!"
The pod is thrown upwards and flies just above the budong's mouth, through its head projections. Stark is still leaning over Rygel when we hear Rygel fart.
Stark: "Oh."
Rygel (in a high voice): "Can we please restart the pod now?"
Aeryn enters Talyn's command. The door closes behind her.
Aeryn: "Cables are holding."
Crais: "Yes. Good. It was well done."
Aeryn: "By everyone."
She unzips the top of her suit a bit.
Aeryn: "It's warm in here."
Crais, fiddling with his cuff: "Aeryn. There is something we need to discuss."
Aeryn: "How to get out of this animal."
Crais: "Indeed."
Aeryn: "Crichton'll be up here shortly."
Crais: "What we have to discuss does not concern him. I have engaged privacy mode and I wish to speak solely with you."
Aeryn looks at him.
Outside command, John swipes his hand over the door control. It beeps but doesn't open. A fuzzy comms channel opens.
Crais' Voice: "Crichton. Meet. My quarters."
John: "Crais. Your comms are fritzing. Where?"
Crais' Voice: "Meet me in my quarters."
John: "Quarters."
John turns and walks back down the corridor.
On command, Crais speaks to Aeryn: "Because of what has passed between us, I wanted to wait for you to make up your own mind, in your own time. But...events have led us to a new situation."
We see John enter a room.
John: "Crais? No, of course. Not here. Tell me he's got some pumps in the closet. Or an inflatable Scorvian. Or Wynona."
There is a faint beeping sound and a light flashes on the center table. There is a chip lying in the lighted area. John picks it up and looks at it.
John: "PK vid chip. Home movies? Oh, I really shouldn't."
He places the chip in a reader and presses a button. The chip plays a scene of Aeryn and Crais walking into a room.
Aeryn: "Well, you can have anything you want. Anything."
Crais: "Aeryn Sun. Are you offering yourself?"
Aeryn: "You can take what you want Crais, and I won't stop you."
John just stands there watching.
On command:
Aeryn: "Listen Crais. I'm not prepared to remain on board Talyn under these circum..."
Crais interrupts her: "Let me finish."
He walks past her and cuts her off, to keep her from leaving.
Crais: "Perhaps it would be best for uh... " Louder: "Perhaps it would be best for you to see me as I am."
He turns around to face her and unzips the front of his suit.
The video shows Crais, naked on a bed. A woman is with him. We see her back. She is pulling her loose hair up off the back of her neck. We see a face turn towards us. It is Aeryn Sun, with her hair down.
John just watches, his face cold.
END OF ACT ONE
ACT TWO
John is walking slowly down the corridor, towards command.. As he gets to the door, it opens before he can swipe the control. Inside, Aeryn is standing, facing Crais. When she hears the door open, she looks up and straightens herself. A very grim looking John enters. He walks over to them.
John: "Sorry I'm late. What did I miss?"
Crais: "We were just discussing how best to resolve our...predicament."
Crais walks further into command, away from John and closes a snap on his tunic.
John: "Really?"
Aeryn: "uh huh."
Crais: "Yes. Yes, Talyn has completed his scan of the budong."
John: "Right. Have him whip up a hologram."
John walks past Aeryn to get to Crais. She doesn't move.
Crais: "Not necessary. I have a direct link. We're moored in a passageway above the stomach. The budong has too much mass to scan its length successfully."
Aeryn turns to face John.
Crais: "But I believe we can navigate the digestive tract."
He smiles.
John: "And what about gizzards, stomach acids, bowel obstructions?"
Aeryn: "Budongs are very large structures."
Crais: "And Talyn is designed for intense combat. We should pass through."
John: "You know what? I, I may have swallowed a quarter once or twice, but this seems to me to be a little bit different. Can we not find an alternative? Use an alternate orifice, blow hole or something?"
Crais: "Not according to our scan."
John: "So, according to your scan, assuming this budong is not constipated, you're (he laughs) gonna fly out the ass? And, and Talyn can do that? He's no, he's like, he's not gonna freak on that plan?"
Aeryn: "Not with help."
John: "What help?"
Crais walks over to stand beside Aeryn and faces John.
Aeryn: "I have decided to take the neural interface with Talyn."
John: "The Hand of Friendship?"
She nods.
John: "I see. I thought Talyn was designed for one captain only."
Crais: "We have devised a modified transponder for insertion."
John: "Yes. I bet you have. So, you ah, two...three. You three are uh, gonna be one. And, uh, anything I can do to help?"
Crais: "At the moment, no. Nothing."
John: "Exactly. It's a good plan."
He walks between them to leave. Aeryn follows him.
Aeryn: "Where are you going?"
John: "You heard the man. Nothing for me to do."
Aeryn: "John. Wait."
John: "Aeryn, you do not want me there."
Aeyn: "I, I do want you there."
John: "Why? To throw rice? Forget about it. I've seen my share of hardware insertion. I'm not watchin."
Aeryn: "It's been modified."
John, still walking: "Yah, I heard that."
Aeryn: "Less invasive. It's...it's safer."
John: "Yes! It's new! It's improved!" He stops walking and turns back towards her.
John: "It's the Finger of Friendship! $19.95. But wait kids, there's more!"
Aeryn: "What's the matter with you? This is the right thing to do."
John: "For who?"
Aeryn: "For all of us. He needs my help to control Talyn. To get us out."
John: "Aeryn, do what you have to do."
Aeryn: "I will."
John: "Fine. But do not sugar-coat it for me. Right thing my ass."
Aeryn: "What's that supposed to mean?"
John: "It means that you do things the way you want to, when you want to, with who you want to do them."
Aeryn: "It's got nothing to do with what I want."
John: "It's always about what you want. So yes, walk back in there and let Crais stick a spike in the back of your neck."
Aeryn: "Listen to me."
John: "It's a brave new universe, Aeryn. You and Crais. You can finally rejoin that Peacekeeper family you've been pining for from the moment we met."
Aeryn: "You have got this so..."
John: "Just don't pretend to me that it wasn't what you always wanted."
Aeryn: "You finished?"
John doesn't say anything.
Aeryn: "You're right. I don't want you there."
She turns and runs back to command. John watches her go.
On the transport pod, Stark is at the control console, his fingers rapidly hitting buttons.
Stark: "I know you think I'm over-reacting, but I'm not. I'm keeping us alive. A budong is a killing machine. Death incarnate. Five cycles I spent on a budong mining operation. Thousands went in. None came out. And those budongs were dead! This one is very much alive."
We hear muffled noises and see Rygel with his hands tied and a rag stuck in his mouth.
Stark: "What's that?"
Rygel mumbles some more. Stark comes over to him.
Stark: "My mother sucks what?"
Stark gets down close to Rygel and rips the rag out of his mouth. Rygels shoots projectile vomit all over Stark.
Stark: "What've you eaten? What? What? oh,oh, oh, don't feel good."
Rygel: "Waste funnel's in the back."
Stark runs out, breathing hard.
Rygel: "I love that trick."
We hear Stark in the background, heaving. Rygel starts to chew on his bonds.
Back on Talyn, Aeryn re-enters command. On the way in, she pauses to look at her reflection in the glass of the door, then she joins Crais. As the door closes behind her, John runs up to it and passes his hand over the control.
John: "Talyn, open the door. Please. Talyn, open the door. Please."
John tries to look in through the glass but can't see.
He slides down the door to sit on the floor.
John: "Damn idiot."
He puts his head down, with his hand over his eyes.
Inside command, Crais and Aeryn are kneeling on the floor.
Crais: "There will be pain. It will pass. Try not to control Talyn's systems too quickly. He was an infant when I joined with him. His will and his ways are much stronger now. Accept him for what he is and he will welcome you. This is a moment we have long waited for Aeryn."
Crais puts his hand on her shoulder and she reaches back to pull her braid out of the way. A cord rises up out of the floor. It has a smaller version of Crais' transponder on its tip.
Crais: "Are you certain?"
Aeryn nods.
The cord strikes. Aeryn screams and grabs her neck. She falls forward. All sorts of visual images flash through her mind, of Talyn, inside and out and then of Talyn's starburst. Aeryn laughs, and cries: "He is beyond beautiful." She is smiling.
Crais: "Welcome to our world, Officer Sun."
John is slowly walking down a corridor. A DRD is following him He turns to look at it and looks back at command. He continues to walk away.
The transponder on the back of Aeryn's neck has four flashing lights.
Crais: "Reach out with your senses. What do you see?"
Aeryn: "Passageways."
Crais: "Now, focus on a specific object. A door."
We see a door.
Crais: "Good. Now, open it."
It opens and the image flies in and connects with Aeryn. She staggers. Crais catches her and laughs.
Crais:"Very good. You learn fast. I'm tempted to say that you've had enough for one day, but circumstances being what they are... Imagine you wish to speak to someone. Someone far away."
We hear beeps, then static, then Rygels voice, breaking up.
Rygel: "For yotz sake, answer if you can hear."
Aeryn: "I did that?"
Crais: "You aligned your comms with long range scans. As I said, you learn very fast."
Rygel: "Hello out there. Anyone. Come and get me off this stinking pod."
Crais: "Dominar, you're back from recon?"
Rygel: "But of course I'm back. Where the yotz are you?"
Crais: "We're somewhat inconveniently tethered inside a budong."
Rygel: "Inconvenient? Kiss my mivonks. Stark, get out here! Stark thinks he's some kind of budong expert."
Stark: "What are..You're loose!"
Rygel: "Not half as loose as Chiana. Now listen. I've got Talyn on the comms. They're stuck inside the budong."
Stark: "Inside? No."
Crais: "Not for long. We hope to pass through the digestive tract shortly."
Stark: "No! No,no,no, no you...you can't. Its stomach is an inferno. Nothing ever comes out of a budong alive."
Talyn beeps.
Crais: "Talyn."
Stark: "Its stomach burns at five thousand klances. Whatever goes in comes out liquid ore!"
Crais: "Talyn!"
Rygel:" Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!"
Aeryn: "Calm yourself Talyn."
Crais: "Talyn, do not panic!
Stark: "You're dead! You're dead already. Ahg!!!"
Rygel rips the circuit out of the comms and it goes dead.
Aeryn: "We've lost the pod signal."
Crais: "Talyn calm down now. Aeryn."
Aeryn: "Yes."
Crais: "Is manual over-ride in place for the mooring?"
Aeryn: "Yes."
Crais: "Stay at that control. Do not let Talyn release."
There is a loud whistling noise.
Crais screams: "Ahhh! Ahhh!" He falls to his knees holding his ears.
Aeryn: "Crais? Talyn, what are you, what have you done to him? John, get up here now!"
Crais is writhing on the floor in agony.
END OF ACT TWO
ACT THREE
John is running down the corridor, into command.
John: "What went wrong? What happened?"
Aeryn: "I'm not sure. Talyn was screaming to be released and then Crais was trying to reason with him and he..."
Aeryn stops. Dead silence.
Aeryn: "Where's Crais?"
John: "I thought he was with you."
Aeryn: "Talyn, where's Captain Crais? He was. Talyn, listen to me."
John: "You didn't see him leave?"
Aeryn: "I, well, I was busy. Talyn! He's not responding."
John: "Houston, we have a problem. Didn't you take the transponder?"
She nods.
John: "Then use it."
Aeryn looks 'inside' through the transponder, down the corridors. They all end in doorways, deadends . Finally she sees Crais entering the Hamman side access chamber.
Aeryn: "I see him. Access chamber. He's trying to release the cables."
John: "What? Why?"
Aeryn: "I...I don't know."
John: "Well, can you stop him?"
Aeryn: "Wait, I...yes I can keep the cable secure. But I...I can't leave this over-ride panel. It's the only advantage I've got."
John: "Fine. I'll go. You give me your gun. You hold him off."
Aeryn: "Listen."
John: "Aeryn, your gun."
She gives him her gun.
Aeryn: "Listen, he's got..."
John runs out.
John: "Aeryn, get ready to open the access chamber door."
Aeryn: "I'll try."
Aeryn is working the controls. We see Crais push a mooring cable release button.
Aeryn: "Crais has released a cable."
John: "One more and we're budong manure."
Aeryn: "I can't stop him and Talyn is resisting."
John: "Aeryn, the door."
Aeryn: "I'll try."
Crais has his hand on the last release button. Aeryn uses the transponder to find the access chamber door. It finally opens. John comes in with his gun up, pointed at Crais.
John: "Crais, get your fat hairy ass away from the mooring controls."
Crais: "I see you've found a weapon. What do you intended to do with it? Shoot me?"
John: "That's one option."
Crais: "Of course it is. We've come full circle, John Crichton. Now you want to kill me."
John: "Well then, don't make my day. Step away from the panel."
Crais: "I can't. Talyn won't let me.
(Aeryn can hear them, from command, through her transponder.)
Crais: "He doesn't believe the banik. He wants to fly free. You'll have to shoot me."
Crais reaches for the control, slowly. John fires the gun. He hits the bottom of the control panel and Crais falls away from it.
(On command, Aeryn gasps and falls forward. She catches herself on the control console).
John: "You see Crais. I don't have to kill you."
Crais screams: "I wish you had."
He rips his tunic open. There are welts all over his torso.
Crais (screams): "Talyn! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh!"
Aeryn hears this in command.
Aeryn: "Talyn. Stop it. Now."
Crais holds out his arms to Crichton: "Kill me! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh!"
He keeps screaming. He is writhing on the floor.
John: "Aeryn, what the hell is going on?"
Aeryn has removed her vest and uses it to shield her hands. She grabs hold of a power cable on Talyn's floor and yanks it free. Crais continues to scream.
Aeryn: "Talyn. Please!"
The ceiling mounted guns in command engage and target her. She takes the power cable end and touches it to Talyn's nerve center on the ceiling. It shorts out. There are sparks. Everything goes quiet and dark.
John snaps open an ammonia ampule under Crais' nose.
John: "Wake up, Bialar."
Crais' eyes pop open.
Crais: "Talyn?"
John: "Aeryn knocked him cold."
Crais: "Where is she?"
John: "She's on the bridge, patching up systems. She'll be here in a little bit, but before she gets here or Talyn wakes up, you and I are gonna have a little Q and A."
John picks up the gun from off the table and sits backwards on a chair, facing Crais.
Crais: "Put that weapon away."
John: "Naw. You may be right. I might wanta kill ya."
Crais: "Ask your questions."
John: "You and Talyn. What the hell is going on?"
Crais: "Cybernetic bleed-back. My sores and lesions are physical symptoms."
John: "You wanta expand on that? Talyn did that?"
Crais: "In times of stress, our emotions, our desires can merge. And Talyn can gain a degree of control over me. Resistance causes pain."
John: "Clarification? Talyn controls you? Crais, you just set up Aeryn for the same problems you're having."
Crais: "No. Her transponder is limited. She wil not be harmed by Talyn."
John: "You cockroach."
Crais: "The choice was Aeryn's. Are we finished?"
John: "No. I keep hearing that you've changed. I think weather changes. And we just keep making the same mistakes."
He puts the gun down on the table.
John: "Remember why you're alive."
Aeryn comes in.
Aeryn: "Crais."
She sits on the edge of his bed.
Aeryn: "You all right?"
Crais: "I'm alive. How's Talyn?"
Aeryn: "I overloaded his beater channel. Knocked him into sleep mode. He may have a
mild headache when he comes around in a few arns."
Crais: "You surpass yourself, Officer Sun."
Aeryn: "I wouldn't want to try it again. I don't think he knew what I was doing this time."
Crais: "Well we must wake him. The sooner..."
Crais tries to sit up.
John: "Whoa! Hang on. Don't we wanta figure out what we're going to do first?"
Aeryn: "You're no use to us dead. You rest."
Crais tries to sit up again.
Crais: "I've got to get to..."
Aeryn: "No. Rest. You're not going to make it out the door in your current condition."
Crais: "I must get to the bridge."
He falls to the floor.
Aeryn: "Why doesn't anyone ever listen to me?"
She gets down by Crais.
John comes over and hands her the gun.
John: "I'm gonna check the cables. Don't shoot him unless you have to."
She watches him leave.
Stark is picking bits of vomit off his clothes.
Rygel: "Is the budong far enough away? Yes. Is it watching us? Uhhh, no! Well, lets power up and escape while we can."
He chuckles.
Stark, looking at a piece of vomit: "That's it."
Rygel turns on the pod's power: "That's vomit."
Stark: "That's it. Hah!"
He pushes a control:"Aeryn, Crichton, Crais! I see it. A plan. Aeryn, Crichton, Crais! Why don't they answer?"
Rygel: "Cause they're dead."
Stark sees the empty slot where the comms relay circuit goes.
Stark: "Give it to me!"
Rygel: "What?"
Stark: "You pulled the comms relay circuit. Give it to me."
Rygel: "Get back. They are dead. And we are leaving."
Rygel puts the comms relay circuit in his mouth and swallows it.
Rygel: "Now be a good little banik and help me power up this pod."
Stark screams. He grabs Rygel's head and opens his mouth and sticks his arm all the way down his throat, while Rygel is biting him.
On Talyn, Aeryn comes to the access chamber door and looks in. She opens the door. There is a lantern inside. John is working on the mooring control panel.
John: "Cable's fine. Mooring control is totally buggered but we should be able to cut loose if we have to."
Aeryn: "What's your problem?"
John: "Shouldn't you be with Crais?"
Aeryn: "He's sleeping. Answer the question."
John: "Aeryn, I am doing everything I can to get us out of this absurdly large space monster. I am doing the good little soldier bit. What else do you want from me?"
Aeryn: "I want you to stop acting like a drannit."
John: "You know what? I have no idea what a drannit is."
Aeryn: "No. Don't play dumb with me. That hasn't worked for over 2 cycles, John."
John: "Aeryn, I am dumb. I don't understand you half the time and I have no idea what a drannit is."
Aeryn: "Fine. Forget the drannit."
John: "Fine. Screw the drannit." He smiles a little.
Aeryn stops and smiles.
John: "What?"
Aeryn: "You really have no idea what a drannit is, do you?"
John: "What's a drannit?"
Just then we hear Stark's voice over the comms: "Vomit. Come in please. Vomit."
John: "Stark. You're still here."
On the pod, Rygel: "Oh, wonderful. They're alive. Now you can torture them with you inane dribblings."
Stark: "I know how we're going to get you out of there. Vomit."
On Talyn, Aeryn and John, in unison: "Vomit?"
Stark: "Rygel and I are going to feed the budong, overfeed the budong, ice from the planet's rings."
Rygel: "Ice! That's beautiful Stark. They can now die laughing."
Stark: "Wait, wait, wait, there's more. You're going to have to dump some of your cesium fuel."
Aeryn: "Our fuel?"
Stark: "Yes."
John: "Dude. Cesium and water and ice is water make exploding water."
Stark: "Yes. The explosion should make the budong vomit and you can ride out on the wave of the vomit. In front of the vomit."
Aeryn: "Stark, give us a moment."
Aeryn looks at John.
Stark: "They're going to say Yes."
Rygel."No. Sebaceans are ugly, not stupid. They know that cesium fuel and water do not react withoug an ignition source. They'll say No!"
A crackling noise is heard.
Rygel: "Here is comes."
Aeryn: "Stark, we're gonna have to say No."
Rygel laughs: "See."
Stark: "You can light the cesium with Talyn's cannon."
John: "Talyn's cannon is out of commission."
Stark: "But we have to h, h, have a really big explosion. You must have some kind of...of...of something that explodes or something."
Aeryn: "No. The main cannon is out and I've launched all the t. Oh."
John: "Oh? They had warheads."
Aeryn: "Oh, I disarmed them."
John: "You really should tell me these things. How big?"
Aeryn: "Big enough."
John: "Stark?"
Aeryn: "We have an ignition source."
She and John look out the hatch to where, at the end of the mooring cable, the tak-5 torpedo is stuck in the budong's ribs.
END OF ACT THREE
ACT FOUR
Aeryn runs to Crais' quarters.
Aeryn: "Crais! Crais, wake up!"
John is in his spacesuit. The outer hatch opens.
John: "The budong eats, you guys dump the cesium, I set the bomb and free the cable and we all fly out."
Aeryn: "I'll talk you through the procedure to arm the warhead and release the cables."
John: "Then we're on the clock."
Aeryn: "Yes. You can delay the detonation by 500 microts but if you are outside the ship when it goes off..."
John: "I'm toast."
John is traveling down the mooring cable, hand over hand, to get to the wall and the warhead.
Aeryn: "Stark, we're waiting on you."
Stark: "Yes!"
Rygel: "Ahh."
Stark: "Electromagnetic Candy!"
He grins. Rygel looks stunned. The pod flies down into the rings.
Rygel: "You flew across its eye?"
Stark: "I had to be sure it would follow."
Rygel "Well it is. And its gaining."
Stark: "This pod could never outrun a budong. We just want it to eat. Cause we're 'candy'."
Rygel: "Candy? You've killed us all, you crankass. Mother always said I'd die from incompetence. I finally know what she meant. That's why we kept people like you chained in the first place. Your entire race..."
Stark punches Rygel without even looking. and knocks him out.
Stark: "Shut up. Candy!"
John is at the wall of the budong.
John: "Okay, I'm there. Man, you guys should see this ugly, sticky flesh. Kinda like my Aunt Ruth's special jello."
Aeryn: "Can you access the panel?"
John: "Ah, yah. Give me a second. Yep. Got it."
He opens the warhead's control cover.
Aeryn: "Right. Don't press the green button yet. That arms the warhead."
Crais and Aeryn are walking back towards command.
Aeryn: "Blue keys the cable release. Crichton, ready for the sequence? Don't frell this up."
John: "Aeryn, give me some slack."
Aeryn: "I want maneuvering jets. Crais, can you start waking Talyn up?"
Crais stops in the center of command: "Talyn is already awake."
Aeryn: "What? John?"
John: "Hey Stark, you ready yet? I'm stuck out here in spam land."
The budong is crashing through the rings with its mouth wide open, chasing the pod.
Stark: "Oh, no! Less, sort of. "
John, softly: "Frellnik."
Stark: "No, no wait."
Aeryn: "Why isn't he communicating? John, I need you to put a hold on what you're doing. I need you to wait. (to Crais) His comms' on."
John: "Oh give me a break!"
Stark: "Yes, now. Do it now! Do it now!"
John: "Damn. Gotta love that boy's confidence."
He pushes the green button.
John: "Warhead armed. 500 microts and counting."
There is a jolt that throws Aeryn and Crais.
Aeryn: "We're moving!"
Crais: "Talyn!"
Aeryn: "John, answer me."
John: "Releasing cable now."
He presses the blue button and the cable shoots away from the wall. He misses it.
John: "Murmfp! The cable Aeryn!"
He 'swims' towards the ship.
Outside, the budong is gaining on the pod.
Stark: "Aeryn, Aeryn we can't outrun the budong much longer. You should have dumped enough fuel."
Aeryn: "Not now Stark."
Stark: "Aeryn!"
Aeryn: "Talyn, Crichton is outside the ship."
Crais: "He already knows. He's been awake for some time. And moving into position for the fuel dump."
Aeryn: "He's doing what?"
Crais: "He's leaving Crichton behind."
Aeryn: "He...he can't."
Crais: "He correctly fears being too close to the point of detonation."
Aeryn activates her transponder. She sees down the corridors, fast, faster, until she sees the hamman side access chamber. The outside hatch is open and the chamber is empty.
Aeryn: "Talyn just spaced John." She gasps.
John comes hand over hand to the access hatch. which is open.
John: "Aeryn, can you read me? Can you read me? Okay," he pulls himself up, "I'm at the hatch, comin in." but it closes just as he gets there.
John screams and pounds on the hatch: "Nooooo! Open the door!"
Crais: "I never thought... I tried to warn... Talyn never trusted Crichton."
Aeryn: "What are you talking about?"
Crais: "Crichton's not a peacekeeper. He's not a sebacean."
Aeryn: "So?"
Crais: "So he finds him offensive. Perceives him as a threat."
Aeryn: "To who?"
Crais: "To you. He wants to protect you."
Aeryn: "John is only dangerous to himself."
Crais: "I tried to persuade Talyn that he was wrong about Crichton."
Aeryn: "Well then, persuade him now to go back and get him."
Crais: "He can not be coerced. He will do as he wants. I can do nothing."
Aeryn: "Don't you lie to me, Crais. This is not about what Talyn wants. You have taught him everything he knows. This is about you, me and John."
John is stuck to the outside of the access hatch like a fly.
John: "Hey Talyn! I've been reviewing this situation. Aeryn's pretty pissed at me, but she kinda likes me."
Crais: "Talyn, prepare to dump 70% of our cesium."
Talyn beeps.
Aeryn: "No! Talyn."
Crais: "Aeryn."
John: "Crais, well he hates me, but he's not stupid. He knows if he kills me, Aeryn would do the math and his shot at domestic bliss would be cut off along with his balls."
Crais: "I regret losing Commander Crichton. He was an honorable man. But we need you here, now."
John: "That leaves one suspect. Open the door, you selfish, pinheaded, adolescent pig!"
Crais: "Crichton is gone. You've seen it."
Aeryn grabs her transponder. Again she sees the corridors and the empty access chamber, open to space.
Aeryn: "Talyn, show me..."
The scene changes for an instant. She sees the closed hatch with John's lighted helmet outside it. Then it changes back to the empty room again.
Aeryn: "...the truth."
The closed hatch reappears. John's face is against it. He is screaming.
Aeryn: "Peacekeeper lies."
Crais: "I'm..."
Aeryn pushes him out of the way: "So you should be."
She runs out of command.
Crais: "Aeryn!"
Stark: "Aerynnn! You have to do it now! You have to dump the fuel now!"
Crais: "Yes Stark. 200 microts are left. I concur. Talyn, initiate the fuel dump now."
Aeryn has put on her spacesuit and she is sprinting through the corridors. She comes to the inside access chamber hatch. She can see John outside.
She pounds on the hatch: "Open the frelling door!"
The control doesn't work, so she uses her transponder to open it. It starts to open but slams shut again. Once, twice.
Aeryn: "Open it."
Crais: "Talyn, I recommend that you do as Officer Sun requests."
The door slams shut again.
Crais: "Detonation in 80 microts."
Aeryn looks out the hatch at John, who is looking in. She looks around as if looking for an idea, a thought, anything to help.
Aeryn: "Talyn...I want you to share something with me. Before he dies. You can taste something that is denied to Peacekeepers."
On the bridge, Crais is immobile, listening on the comms.
Aeryn: "Something that you will never know."
She takes hold of her transponder and closes her eyes.
Outside the hatch, John touches the glass with his hand: "Aeryn."
We see the ceiling of command, which has come to symbolize Talyn's "being" or brain, and, superimposed over that, we see John's face, in the helmet, at the window of the access hatch.
Aeryn: "Can you feel that? Good. Talyn, that is what it is to need someone. You don't need me. You never will."
On the bridge, Crais: "Aeryn? No!"
She rips the transponder of her neck.
Talyn beeps.
There is a jolt. John is groaning. He is having a hard time holding on to the edge of the hatchway.
Crais: "Ten microts."
The budong is right on top of the pod. Rygel puts his head in his hand.
We can see John's helmeted face, looking in through the hatch. On the other other side of the inside door, Aeryn is looking out at him.
Talyn beeps.
Crais: "5, 4..."
The outside hatch opens.
Crais: "3, 2..."
John comes into the access chamber.
Crais: "1..."
Aeryn rushes into the chamber, falls to her knees and grabs John.
Crais: "...Detonation!"
There is a huge explosion. Gunk in chunks fly out of the budong's mouth, and Talyn along with them.
Stark is beside himself with joy: "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!"
He grabs Rygel and starts kissing the top of his head: "Yes!"
Rygel: "I knew it would work."
Stark realizes what he is doing and takes his hands off Rygel.
On command.
Crais: "Talyn, docking web. On their pod and set a course away from here."
Aeryn is in the access chamber on her knees, facing John. She opens his helmet and looks into his eyes.
END OF ACT FOUR
EPILOGUE
Crais: "I wish you would reconsider."
Aeryn: "My life has been filled with doing what others think is right. For me, for now, this is right."
She sets the transponder on the table. Crais takes it.
Crais: "Before you go." He holds out a vid chip to her. "This contains various surveillance logs. I believe Talyn showed them to Crichton. Have you seen them?"
Aeryn: "No."
Crais: "Perhaps you should. Some of the entries are very...creative."
Aeryn takes the chip.
John is in his quarters, sitting on the edge of his bed. Aeryn comes in. She walks up and stops.
Aeryn: "I see you found Wynona."
John: "DRD had it."
Aeryn: "Have you seen...this?"
She drops the vid chip beside him on the bed. She leans against the bed and folds her arms.
John: "Yep."
Aeryn: "When did you see it?"
John: "Aeryn. I'm not your boyfriend. I'm not your husband. I'm not your anything." He tosses the chip onto the floor. "You can do what you want."
He sighs.
Aeryn: "It's not real. You know that, don't you? The, ah...the last part, Talyn altered the image. I never... recreated with Crais. Not that it should matter."
John, softly: "It does."
Aeryn: "It never did before."
She laughs: "I had this life. I liked it. It had rules. I followed the rules and that made everything right. And then you come along and you frell everything up. This strange human with (sighs) arrogance and stubborness... "
John: "Dumb."
Aeryn: "Let me finish. You saw the recording. And you didn't say a word. You are like a plague, John Crichton. And you have ruined my life. And yet, I just... keep coming back." She sighs. "You could talk now."
John: "Let me show you something."
Aaeryn sighs again and puts her hand over her mouth.
John: "Com'mere. I'm not gonna bite."
He lays down on the bed. She takes his hand and lays down beside him. He shows her his notebook. There is a window just above their heads that looks out at the stars.
John: "This is a starchart. These are the names I give to stars."
Aeryn: "They've already got names."
John: "Yah, I know, but Mintaka 3 sounds boring to me. Anyway, that's Huey, Louie, Dewie. You see that one? That's that star right there. The bright one."
He points. "It's my point of reference. My guide. And it always becomes the center of my chart. I always name it Aeryn."
Aeryn: "You say it's your guide?"
John: "It's my one constant." He touches her face. "Would you like to name some stars?"
Aeryn: "There's a lot of them."
John: "We could take our time."
He leans over to her and they kiss.
The violin music fades out as the stars fade in over their faces.
END OF EPILOGUE
