Air Date: June 29, 2001
Written by Justin Monjo
Directed by Catherine Millar
Transcript by Xenajules2
Edited and put on-line by Bluey
Episode 3.09 - Losing Time
Previously on Farscape:
Scene One: Moya and Talyn flying away from the Rinics' planet.
Scene Two: Both John's say they're the original.
Scene Three: Jool tells John B that: "You are both perfect, if that's the right word, copies of the original Crichton."
Scene Four: Moya starbursts.
Scene Five: John G complains: "He set it up so he's on Talyn with Aeryn."
D'Argo: "Wouldn't you have done exactly the same thing?"
Scene
Six: John and Aeryn begin to kiss, seen through a nebula of stars and a rose tinted window.
AND NOW ON FARSCAPE:
PROLOGUE
Scorpius appears through a mist. He appears to be riding on something. John Crichton also appears to be riding on something which is swinging back and forth. It appears that they are on Moya. Now John jumps out from behind a bulkhead, pointing a gun, looking around, he comes down a corridor and enters a room that has lots of equipment in it. Off to the left is a black cabinet of some sort that has a cloud of steam or smoke coming out it. The chamber door closes behind John and he approaches the black cabinet. He reaches out with one finger and gingerly touches the door of the cabinet. It opens and reveals a wormhole inside. John stands in front of the cabinet, staring at the wormhole. The cabinet door closes.
From behind John, Scorpius says: "Hello John."
John spins around and Scorpius backhands him in the face. John falls down.
Scorpius goes to the cabinet and opens the door to the wormhole.
Scorpius: "Oh, at last. At last."
The scene switches to a close-up of Scorpius' eyeball. He blinks and growls. He is laying down and has a cable running from the side of his head, apparently from his cooling rod. He unhooks the cable and punches some buttons on a control which is directly over his head.
Scorpius: "Yes?"
Lt. Braca: "Sorry to wake you sir, but I think we've finally done it."
Scorpius: "On my way."
Scorpius punches a control and gets up. He walks over to a porthole, where a wormhole is visible.
Scorpius: "Crichton."
Moya is flying through open space. John, D'Argo, Chiana and Jool are all on command.
John: "Pilot, can we keep going?"
Pilot: "We can do anything if the others want to, but..."
Chiana: "Well then, can we turn around? I am sick of running to the ends of the fecik just because he's got a balliun up his butt."
John: "I have explained this to you. "
D'Argo: "You have explained it to all of us."
Jool: "Over and over and over."
John: "The deep space variances we encountered indicate that we could..."
D'Argo: "That we could be somewhere near a wormhole."
Jool: "The variances could also indicate a trillion other possibilities none of which have anything to do with wormholes."
John: "Guys, I know that you have been patient."
Chiana: "Oh, no more. I have had it up to Parsec's Bow with patience."
She gets up and starts to leave command.
John: "Pip. No Chia. Come on Chiana, don't, don't, don't."
Chiana: "Pilot, get us out of here?" Jool gets up to leave as well.
John: "Don't ! Look, look, remember the ship in the wormhole? I saw the Three Stoodges, the broadcast."
Jool: "I'm with Miss Monochrome. Let's just get the frell outa here." She leaves.
John, to D'Argo: "D, come on man. Look, it's the Stoodges. Hyruh, hyruh. Look. I gotta, I gotta. Look, you know, it's earth, it's home. I know I'm a little...(he waves his hands in front of his face) a little obsessive, but I gotta."
D'Argo: "John, we have been searching for ten soar days. I mean, enough is enough. You saw that broadcast through a wormhole and you know as well as I do, your home could be anywhere."
John waves his hand dismissively: "Hmm."
D'Argo leaves command.
John: "Pilot, you game to continue?"
Pilot: "I'm afraid the others would object. But there's something else now too."
John: "What?"
Pilot: "Moya's approaching an electromagnetic cluster. All her scans indicate it's benign, but..."
There is a jolt. John is staggered.
John: "That was the cluster, right?"
Pilot: "We just passed through it."
There is another jolt.
John: "Pilot, are we okay?"
Pilot: "Everything seems fine."
John: "Oh, boy."
Something has entered Moya and is flying around in Command. It almost looks like a Chinese kite with lights. It is blue-green in color with a red to orange center. John watches as it swoops around a couple of times then it flies right at him and seems to hit him in the belly. There is a flash of light as it hits him and another flash from his back. John stumbles and staggers a bit: "Pilot, there's something in..."
There is another flash and the creature appears to fly through him from his back and out his chest.
John: "Is anybody having any...problems?"
He falls to his knees and then falls foward, face first to the floor.
John begins to float upwards off the floor. His eyes are closed, his arms are outspread and his ankles are crossed. He rises to about head height and stops, continuing to hang suspended, face down. Blood begins to drip from his head onto the floor below him. As we watch, the blood runs down his nose from his forehead and drips, faster and faster, forming a puddle beneath him.
END OF PROLOGUE
ACT ONE
A puddle of blood, with a trail leading back to a pool of blood. John is laying, face-down beside the pool. It is large enough that we can see his face reflected in it. John opens his eyes, but they keep rolling around in his head.
John: "D'Argo. Chiana, where are you?" He sighs: "Pilot."
Pilot: "What's the matter Crichton?"
John: "Light...came in here."
Pilot: "Moya's sensors registered nothing."
John: "Oh, look, right after the cluster this had that light it..."
He starts to roll back over and sees the pool of blood beside him...
John is up and running through Moya.
John: "Abbott!"
Chiana: "Crichton."
John runs back to her and grabs both her arms: " You alright? You okay?"
Chiana: "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Yeah, yeah. You look terrible. What's the matter?"
John: "That light,that came into Moya went through me, and, and, and, it just like, I bled for...like Boom! Boom! I bled. Am I cut?" He shows her his forehead.
Chiana: "Let me see." She examines his forehead.
John: "Am I cut?"
Chiana: "No, there's nothing there."
John: "You sure?"
Chiana: "Oh! Well yeah." She smacks him right between the eyes.
Chiana, laughs: "Are you sure you bled?"
John: "Yes. I, I bled. You don't make something...like a. It was like a lake of blood. It was biblical."
Chiana: "Uh, Crichton, you've barely eaten or slept in ten solar days. Maybe you imagined it."
John: "Nobody imagines things like this." He grabs her and drags her into Command.
In Command, a DRD is where the blood had been.
Chiana: "Okay."
John: "Here." They kneel beside the place where the blood was. There is nothing there except a DRD.
John, points: "Right here."
Chiana: "What? What am I supposed to be looking at?"
John: "There was blood, blood. It was right here."
Chiana: "Pilot did you, did you register any electrical surge down here?"
Pilot: "Nothing. I told Crichton that."
John: "What? What do you? What are you lookin at? Do you think I'm makin this up?" He gets down and squints at the floor.
Chiana pats his back: "All right. Go eat. And then go bathe, cause you stink."
John sniffs himself.
John has taken the back coverplate off of a DRD and is digging around inside it with a tool.
John: "Hold still."
The DRD makes rasping noises. John grabs its eyestalks.
John: "Hold still and quit your whining. You know you've got my blood in here. Can't have vaporized it all. " He pulls the tool out of its back, holds it up to the eyestalks, then sniffs it.
John: "Nothin."
There is a dripping noise. Drip, drip, drip, drip, as regular as clockwork.
John walks away from the DRD: "Nothin. Nothin. Nothin."
The DRD makes noises which John pays no attention to. Water is dripping onto the table beside the DRD.
Drip, drip, drip, drip.
John sits with his head in his hand. The water continues to drip.
Drip, drip, drip, drip. A puddle starts to grow on the table.
The camera swings around behind the table where John sits. When it comes back to him, he lifts his head. When he does, he sees that there is blood running down his arm in two streams.
John: "Oh."
Now there is blood dripping on the table. Drip, drip, drip. John gets up.
John: "Oh, god, no." He sees the puddle of blood on the table: "Oh God! "
John is pacing on top of Pilot's console.
John: "What's happening to me must have to do with that cluster we passed through, the, the, the light thing."
Pilot: "Crichton. I've told you all scans indicate the cluster was harmless."
John: "It was not harmless. Run the scan again. Look. Look, I, I, maybe I imagined the light thing, but I bled. And I have the blood to prove it."
He shows Pilot the runnels of blood on his forearm.
John: "And I'm not cut anywhere."
Pilot: "There could be another explanation for what's happening. When Kaarvok duplicated you on the diseased leviathan, perhaps he..."
John: "You think maybe Kaarvok did something to me that my body is breaking down?"
Pilot: "I'm sorry, but it is possible."
Water dripping, drip, drip, drip.
Jool: "What is going on? My chamber is boiling hot. This place is leaking."
Jool is wearing a new outfit, still leather, without the collar or hips. It looks sort of like a harem girl get-up with bare midriff and leather-lace bra.
Chiana: "Well, Pilot says he's having some trouble, with the internals. He says he's workin on it."
John and D'Argo come in to the room. John is carrying the DRD that has its backplate off.
D'Argo: "Crichton, calm down. You're tired. It could all turn out to be nothing."
John: "Nothing? I am bleeding and I have no wounds, so I am either Saint John of the Uncharted Territories or there's something very, very wrong with me."
John sets the DRD down on a stand.
D'Argo: "Well, what would you like us to do?"
John: "I want all of you to watch me in case I have another episode, a bleed, whatever you wanta call it."
Chiana: "I'm sorry. As much fun as that sounds, I don't think so."
Chiana and Jool start to leave.
John: "Pip! Stop, okay? Ya know. Look, I thought that I was the real me and that that other guy there, the guy on Talyn, that he's the clone. But I'm starting to think that maybe I'm the photocopy."
Chiana: "Crichton, this has nothing to do with the split. Just sleep. You'll be fine."
John: "No. I'm not imagining this. Watch me. Please."
D'Argo: "All right, John. Sit down. In fact...ah, ah, ah, ah."
D'Argo runs after Chiana and Jool.
D'Argo: "Girls, we will all sit down and watch John. Off we go."
Chiana and Jool groan. D'Argo steers them back into the room.
The water is still dripping into the bowl on the back table.
Chiana and Jool sit down at the table across from John. D'Argo is standing behind them.
Chiana: "What if I have to piss?"
D'Argo (with hand gestures): "Well then, we will all urinate together."
Chiana: "You promise?" She tugs one of his braids.
Jool: "Ugh."
D'Argo snorts and walks away. Chiana laughs.
John is tapping his fingers rhythmically on the table. The water is dripping into the bowl. Drip, drip, drip, drip.
John yawns. D'Argo sighs.
They all look bored.
Chiana: "Ya havin fun yet?"
Jool: "Galaxies of it." She spreads her arms and sighs.
Chiana: "Can we go now?"
John: "No."
Chiana gets up: "Sorry, but I'm not gonna sit.."
John: "No!"
Chiana steps in water on the floor and slips.
Chiana: "Oh! There's water everywhere."
D'Argo comes over to see:"Where'd that come from?"
Jool:"That bucket's overflowing already?"
John: "Oh, yeah, see? See, see, see! I saw, told ya. Strange things are happening." He walks over to where he left the DRD.
John: "I had this DRD record us. He's gonna put it on the clamshell."
A video plays. The four of them are sitting around the table.
Chiana: "Ya havin' fun yet?"
Jool: "Galaxies of it."
Suddenly all of them put their heads down on the table, except Jool, who is leaning against Chiana.
The four of them are standing together, watching this playback on the clamshell.
Jool: "What's going on?"
D'Argo: "We're not moving."
In the video, they all suddenly sit up and begin moving and shaking extremely quickly, but still sitting down. Just as suddenly, their movements cease.
Chiana: "Can we go now?"
John: "No."
Chiana gets up: "Sorry, but I'm not gonna sit..."
John: "No!:
Chiana steps in water on the floor and slips.
Chiana: "Oh! There's water everywhere.
Jool: "What happened to us?"
Video D'Argo: "Where'd that come from?"
There is a large Peacekeeper vessel flying near a wormhole. Smaller ships are seen flying into it.
Inside the ship there are several Peacekeepers and some other aliens.
Female Alien: "All scans indicate normal."
Lt. Braca: "Right. Let's seek official approval, shall we?"
Lt. Braca and two aliens enter a glassed-in room where Scorpius stands watching.
Lt. Braca: "Sir, the prowler retained its integrity on the last six re-entries."
Scorpius: "No gravitational distortions?"
Lt. Braca: "No."
Female Alien: "Nothing. Electronics, bio-mass indicators all within acceptable parameters."
Scorpius: "And now you want to send a Peacekeeper?"
Male alien: "He has oscillation ratings."
PK Drillic: "With respect Scorpius, bio-mass re-entry will work. Your indecision is wasting time."
Female alien: "What he means sir, the wormhole is degenerating and stabilization has been unsuccessful so far."
Male alien: "If we don't complete our trial soon, it will delay us....to find another wormhole."
PK Drillic: "So can we please get started? You demanded my transfer here so I could master wormholes and create the weapon you desire. You did not transfer me here to wait for your permission as if you were my mother. It is now time to proceed with biological trials."
Scorpius: "Right son. Well. Deploy him."
PK Drillic nods. He comms: "Clear the hanger area. Stand by for manual prowler launch."
A pilot is seen climbing into a prowler on the other side of the glass.
The video image is showing on the clamshell.
D'Argo: "Best I can figure, we were out for about half an arn."
Chiana: "How could that be?"
D'Argo: "Well perhaps Moya lost atmospheric pressure and we blacked out and lost time."
Chiana: "We are doing a lot more than just losing time."
Jool: "I think, but I'm not sure. But I think I may have lost time earlier. Before I changed into this, I was running a soak and the water was warm. Instantaneously, it was cold."
John: "Why didn't you tell us this?"
Jool: "Well, I just thought it was a heating coil malfunction."
John, to D'Argo and Chiana: "Anything strange happen to you guys?"
D'Argo: "I live on this ship. Something strange always happens."
Chiana, shaking her head no: "Not like spasming."
John: "Before my first episode, I saw some kinda light. Moya passed through an electromagnetic cluster. Now Pilot says it's harmless, but its gotta be related. Pilot. Have you run the long range re-scan on that cluster yet?"
No response.
D'Argo: "Pilot."
John runs into Pilot's den. The others follow.
John: "Pilot. You okay?"
No response.
Jool: "Where are the lights?"
John climbs up onto Pilots console.
D'Argo: "Pilot."
Chiana: "Is he breathing?"
John: "I don't know. "
John climbs over to Pilot.
D'Argo: "Oh, hezmana! He stinks!"
Jool: "What happened to us has happened to Pilot too."
John: "Does anybody know how to check his pulse?"
D'Argo: "It's behind the neck, inbetween the vertebra."
John: "Right." He reaches around to feel Pilot's neck.
Pilot comes awake with a roar!
Pilot: "Get back! Get back! Get baaaack!" His voice is strange and a sort of white smoke is coming off of him. It almost appears as if Pilot has turned to a shiny shade of blue.
The last "Get baaack!" continues and the crew are all thrown backwards off of, and away from the console. Jool covers her ears. Finally, the yelling stops.
Pilot :"Apologies. But you must stay back. For one of you, judgement starts now."
END OF ACT ONE
ACT TWO
John: "Judgement? What the hell are you talking about?"
He gets up off the floor as do the rest of the crew.
Alien voice: "Pilot's gone. I am in him now. Apologies. Tried to taste without your knowing."
Jool: "Taste?"
Alien voice: "But you discovered."
Suddenly more white smoke rises from around Pilot, he starts swaying violently back and forth, and the alien voice starts screaming: "Back! Back! Don't know how to control this body. This ship...yet. Ack! Must slow down. This body cannot contain me.:
John: "Then get out of it."
Alien voice: "Please. I will not harm your Pilot. I can stay in him a short time to find the diseased energy rider. My group probes could not detect who it occupies."
D'Argo: "What's an energy rider?"
Alien voice: "We live in clusters. When you passed through ours, a diseased rider escaped on your ship."
Jool: "Are you saying there's a diseased alien in one of us?"
Alien voice: "Yes. I must taste you. Alone now, to find it."
Chiana; "What the fek are you talking about? What is he talking about?"
The alien starts to roar again and Pilot sways back and forth while white smoke rises from under him.
Jool, to D'Argo: "Shoot 'im. Shoot him now. You're the warrior. Shoot him now."
D'Argo: "All right. With what? My nose?"
Jool, to John: "Shoot 'im."
John: "No. It's Pilot. We're not gonna shoot him."
Jool: "Why not?"
Chiana: "Frek up Jool."
Alien voice: "First law in my world. Don't hurt the body. Rider, I am not here to destroy you. Reveal yourself. I do not wish to hurt these others."
He begins screaming and swaying again: "Must calm this Pilot. Do not try to ambush me. I will know."
The crew leaves Pilot's den.
Jool: "Does anyone know what's going on here?"
John: "I don't know. Do you feel any different?"
Jool: "What d'ya mean different? Different like I might have a diseased alien in me different? No I don't feel like that!"
D'Argo: "Actually, now that you mention it, I've been feeling a little angry."
John: "That's normal for you. Jool, wrong way."
Chiana: "Why do you believe a word that thing inside Pilot's saying?"
John: "I don't hafta believe it Chiana, but something made me bleed and it made all of us shake like a sheep in Arkansas."
D'Argo: "Well, I think I should just grab my qualta rifle, stick it in its mouth and say "Hey, get out of Pilot."
John: "And what are you gonna do if it says no?"
D'Argo stops, shakes his head and walks on.
John: "Run a full vessel scan. See if we have control of anything on board."
Jool: "I hate to point out the obvious, but if something is inside us, I think it likely, since you had the first symptoms, that you're the infected."
John: "Kiss my butt. If I'm Linda Blair, why am I telling you guys anything?"
Jool: "Well it'd be the smart thing to do if later you need to appear innocent."
John: "I'm not that smart."
Jool: "I thought of that. I still think you're the best candidate."
John: "Right. Opinion noted. Leave me alone. D'Argo, what'cha got?"
D'Argo: "Nothing. I can't get control of anything."
John: "Me either. The damn thing in Pilot left us with squat."
Chiana: "You know, it is possible that we're fine and, and Pilot's the only infected one."
D'Argo: "Why? What could it possibly want?
Chiana: "I donno. Maybe he's crazy. Sounds fegged to me."
Jool: "I think we should all get a transport pod out of here. Now."
Chiana: "Weren't you listening? We have no control. If that thing in Pilot doesn't want you to leave, you're not leaving."
Jool: "Look at the lights. Look at the dripping water. That thing is not controlling everything."
Jool looks first at D'Argo, then at John. Neither responds.
Jool: "Maybe I'll get lucky." She leaves.
Chiana: "Good luck."
D'Argo shakes his head, then he leaves after Jool.
John: "Unified plan, as always."
Outside of large Peacekeeper ship. Voice of Female alien: "Auto-retrieval and bio-fluctuations appear normal."
There is a prowler parked inside the larger ship. Scorpius, Drillic, Lt. Braca and the two aliens are by it.
Scorpius walks over and puts his hands on the prowler: "Then why is your pilot not responding to our comms?"
Drillic: "I suspect antenna burn-out. Vessel integrity is definately intact."
Lt. Braca: "Well open it."
Drillic presses a button on a remote control and the canopy of the prowler begins to open. As it does, a red liquid pours out of it, over its side and down onto the floor.
Scorpius:"Your pilot's integrity is, well, it is definately not intact."
Drillic: "There must be a malfunction in the negative shield deployment. This will never happen again."
Scorpius:" Oh, it'll happen once more. Instructor Drillic will pilot the next trial. Wash out the prowler for immediate deployment." He snaps his fingers.
Drillic: "I'm not flying the next trial."
Scorpius: "I'm afraid that, uh, Braca would insist."
Male alien: "Drillic is project leader. He..."
Scorpius: "And what is your name?"
Male alien: "Strapa. Co-Kura Strapa."
Scorpius:" Strapa. Well Strapa, you are now project leader. And perhaps, now that you know what to expect, you can discover exactly what went wrong here."
Strapa shakes his head vigorously.
Scorpius:"Yes?" He turns to leave.
Drillic: "Scorpius! We had to run Sebacean trials. It was time. Don't, don't send me. Scorpius! Scorpius."
Scorpius leaves the hanger area.
D'Argo is carrying his qualta rifle.
John: "Alright D. We'll try it your way. Be cool."
John draws his pulse pistol as he and D'Argo approach Pilot.
Alien voice: "Luxan. You cannot ambush me."
D'Argo: "I have my weapon pointed at your face. I don't think I'm doing too badly. Now, I would like to see the Real Pilot."
Alien voice: "I am trying to save you pain. I wish you would believe that, but since you ask"
Pilot begins groaning and shaking again.
Pilot: "D'Argo. Crichton. He's not lying. There's a creature in one of you. Please get it out. Get it out! Arggh!" Pilot shakes and sounds as if he's choking.
The alien voice returns: "Please, help me find the rider."
John and D'Argo have let their weapons drop while Pilot was speaking. Now they look at each other and both raise them and point them at Pilot again.
Alien voice: "The longer it remains in one of you, the more damage it will do."
John: "Why don't you jump into us like you do Pilot? Find it yourself?"
Alien voice: "The rider is a child. It can possess you. If I did, my power would destroy you."
John: "And what did it do? Why do you want it so bad?"
Alien voice: "This rider stays too long and diseases minds. Gives only desire and despair."
D'Argo: "How do we know which one of us it's in?"
Alien voice: "Rider had to burrow in quickly. It will not know details of the heart. Sire, siblings. Your private world. "
D'Argo: "Lolan was my wife," he and John are walking away from Pilot's den, "Jothee was my son. He slept with Chiana, who was my finance."
John: "My dad's name was Jack. My dog's name was Hubble. I lost my virginity to Karen Shaw in the back of a four-by."
D'Argo: "How old were you?"
John: "Sixteen."
D'Argo: "I was seven."
They walk into the room where Chiana has been working on the controls..
John: "Chiana, what's your brother's name?"
Chiana: "You know what my brother's name was." She walks away from him.
D'Argo follows her: "Just answer the question. "
Jool enters: "Ah, you were right. I couldn't even open a transport pod to see if..."
She looks around: "What's going on?
Chiana: "Boys are playing detective. What? That thing in Pilot tell you to do this?"
D'Argo: "You don't know the answer, do you?"
Chiana: "Nerri."
D'Argo: "Okay, good. Good with the Nerri. Now, question two. Did you, or did you not, kill Sakis?"
Chiana smiles: "His name was Salis. And you don't even know if I killed him."
D'Argo: "Yeah. Well, you stay there." He goes over to Jool. John joins him.
Jool: "What're you doing?" She starts to back away.
John: "That creature in Pilot says whichever of us is infected won't know personal details."
Jool: "Ohhh. None of you know anything personal about me. I could make everything up. I could lie."
D'Argo: "Well, we know how you got frozen in the stasis chamber. Tell us. And the truth."
Jool: "I uh, I discovered a Noation gem mine. The guards caught me. They sold me to Grunchlk, end of pathetic story."
John: "And what about your cousins? How'd they get frozen?"
Jool: "They waited in the village for me. They got sick and..."
D'Argo: "That is not what you told us before."
Jool, yells: "I was lying before!"
Chiana: "I'm sorry Princess. I think you just elected yourself, most likely."
Alien voice: "Have you found the infected?"
Chiana: "Yeah, take Jool."
John: "Shut up Chi. No, we haven't found that thing yet."
Alien voice: "Apologies. Must begin now. Do you suspect this female?"
Jool: "No they don't!"
D'Argo: "No, no, no. We need more time."
Alien voice: "I'll try not to take long."
D'Argo: "John, we can not let them take Jool."
John: "I know, I . Hey! Just don't take anybody yet. We don't .."
Alien voice: "I'll try not to hurt...much."
Jool screams. She flies backwards until she hits a wall. She is shaking wildly.
D'Argo: "Stop! No!"
He runs over to try to help her, but is flung across the room and lands on his back. Jool continues to shake violently against the wall. She is screaming and frothing at the mouth.
Chiana: "What are you doing? Stop!"
John:" Let her go. Pilot! Whoever you are!"
D'Argo: "Stop now!"
Jool continues to shake and froth for a few seconds, then she drops to the floor,
D'Argo runs to her side.
Chiana: "Did you get it? Did you get that thing out of her?"
Alien voice: "No. It is well hidden. I have not found my rider. Apologies."
Chiana: "Stuff the apologies fetik. Is it in her or not?"
Alien voice: "I am not certain. It could still be in this female or in one of you. I'm afraid I must taste each of you in turn. This is all the rider's fault."
Chiana goes over to where D'Argo is sitting with the fallen Jool.
Chiana feels her hair: "Is she all right?"
D'Argo: "She's breathing."
John, starts to leave: "D'Argo, come on. I got an idea."
Chiana: "I'm coming with ya."
John: "Unhuh, Chiana. Somebody has to stay with Jool."
Chiana: "No, no, no. Not me. Not this time."
D'Argo: "Alright. You two go. I'll stay here."
John and Chiana leave.
The DRD John was using before is in the corridor. John picks him up and hands him to Chiana.
John: "We're gonna have a little chat. Moya must know that there's something seriously wrong with Pilot. We've gotta get that thing out of him. Does she have any idea how we can do that?"
The DRD waves it's eye stalks and tool and makes noises.
John, to Chiana: "You understand any of this?"
Chiana shakes her head: "No."
John: "All right. We don't understand the R2-D2 crap. We're gonna use the Star Trek system. One blink for yes, two blinks for no." John waggles two of his fingers in front of the DRD. " You understand ?"
The DRD blinks once.
Chiana laughs.
John: "Good. Will you help?"
DRD blinks once.
They are walking through an inside corridor. The DRD is on the floor, leading them, It has green strobe lights flashing from it.
Chiana: "Where are we?"
John: "Below the neural cluster. I heard Pilot once say there's a chamber down here where he has no sense receptors. Kinda like the human brain. "
Chiana: "Pilot can't feel anything. Can't find us down here."
A door opens and they go into a chamber. In the center there are three curved pieces standing, around a circular hole.
John: "The starburst chamber. This must be where the energy of starburst first coalesces."
There are green laser lights flickering up from the center of the circle.
Chiana: "From in here, can we get that thing out of Pilot?"
John: "I don't know."
A small hatchway opens with a clang.
John: "What the hell is that?"
Chiana goes over to investigate: "You think it wants us to push something?"
John: "You're asking the wrong cowboy. Where'd DRD Pike go?"
Chiana: "Ah, forget about it." She gets down to look at the panel that the hatch revealed.
John: "Yo, Chiana. Don't, don't touch anything."
Chiana: "Don't be a tralk. It wouldn't have brought us down here for no reason. Hey Moya. You want us to push this?"
John: "Chiana, don't push any buttons."
Chiana has pushed one of the buttons.
There is a loud noise and light starts building in the center of the circle.
John: "Turn it off. Turn it off!"
Chiana: "How!"
John: "Hit the button again!"
Chiana pushes the same button and the noise and light levels begin to drop. There is still green light pulsing right above the circle. Chiana goes to look at it.
Chiana: "Was that a starburst blast?"
John: "No. If it was starburst, we'd be dead. Moya must have shut it down."
Chiana: "Why would Moya want us down here for this?"
John: "I have no idea, unless.."
Chiana steps into the circle as John is watching her. Above her, he can see the energy being which had flown into him on Command.
Chiana: "Unless what?"
John: "Uh, ummm..., unless I get some more schematics, I don't know."
A strange, alien voice speaks through Chiana. It is the Energy Rider.
Rider: "You know."
John: "Know? Know what?"
Rider: "You saw. Saw....saw me.
END OF ACT TWO
ACT THREE
John is watching Chiana who is standing inside Moya's starburst circle, Chiana has the alien Energy Rider inhabiting her body. Three green strobe lights flash from the ceiling of the chamber all around her.
Rider: "Show. Gla-glad to show. Mmmm, so good. Feel so good."
John: "Chi. What the hell're ya doin?"
Rider: "Taste. Taste?"
She leaves the circle and jumps up on John with her legs around his waist. They fall to the floor.
Rider : "Love to try this body." She is sitting on John's chest.
John: "Okay, whatever you are, you can get the hell off of me!"
Rider: "This body wants you. Fear. No fear of me. Tallip, he lies. Lies."
John: "Tallip's that thing in Pilot?"
Rider: "Heard him say I hurt this body. Not true. Love this tight body."
Rider/Chiana arches her back and presses on John. He pushes her up, off of him.
John: "Oh, oh yeah, we all love this body." He gets up and starts to walk away. "Okay, you sip. We'll sip later. I'll call you. You're in the book, right?"
Rider: "Tallip wants to kill me. That's why I hide. I hide when your ship pass. Mistake only for here. Only for. Not take long to find me. Not-not long."
John: "Tallip?"
Rider: "Tallip likes pain. After me he kill. You."
John: "Tallip said that if you stay in Chiana, you're gonna kill her."
Rider: "Tallip lies. I not lie."
Rider/Chiana does something with her arms and hands and touches John's chest. This obviously feels really good.
John: "Oh! Oh!"
He sinks to his knees and Rider/Chiana follows him down.
John: "Oh, good God! Oh, oh, whoa. Whadya just do to me?"
Rider: "Sip, tct, tct, tct, sip. Inspire."
They move their faces side to side beside each other, breathing each other in.
Rider: "Tallip is pain. Not me."
John gasps:"Oh, oh, okay, that's good. But it doesn't prove anything."
Rider: "Won't hurt your friend. Just must hide. Get me away. To where there are many. Tallip not find, if there are many. Please?"
John: "Fine, I'll, uh, I'll talk to my friends. You're gonna, you're gonna stay here. You're, you're safe here."
Rider: "You. How I know? Trust you?"
John: "You don't. But I'm a guy. I'll probably be back in fifteen minutes."
John gets up, gingerly: "Huh! Oh, oh. That's unnatural. Good God!"
He leaves.
Scorpius is sitting, shaking something in his hand. He unscrews the cap from what appears to be an aerosol canister and pushes it into a handle. Braca appears in the doorway.
Braca: "Ah, You're busy. I'll come back later, sir."
Scorpius: "Braca. No, no, no. Come in, come in."
Scorpius finishes inserting the canister and places the handle, which has a needle point, up under his chin and injects himself. Braca looks away.
Scorpius inhales through his nose and exhales deeply: "Ahhh! Braca. Why is is that Crichton, a human, can survive wormhole re-entry and the sebacean cannot?"
Braca: "Well, perhaps there's some information still hidden in the chip we took from Crichton's brain."
Scorpius: "Perhaps. Do you know why you're my second in command, Braca?"
Braca: "No sir."
Scorpius: "Because you don't ask questions. But have you ever asked yourself Braca, why do they give us so much rein? Chasing Crichton, researching wormholes?"
Braca: "Well, like you said, sir. I don't question High Command."
Scorpius: "Would it surprise you to learn that the Scarrans are planning a massive assault against us, but they haven't because...because they fear our hidden wormhole weapons."
Braca: "We have no hidden weapons."
Scorpius: "We lied. And I think the Scarrans are beginning to suspect that. High Command reports that they've been massing armies." He shakes up another canister. "By latest estimates, Scarran warriors outnumber Peacekeeper soldiers. Ten to one. But if and when they attack, we will lose Braca."
Braca nods and smiles: "Unless we harness a superior weapon."
Scorpius: "Yes. Wormhole technology. Without it, the Sebacean race will be overrun. Thousands of cycles of history, gone. There's so little time. Sometimes I feel it is already inevitable." Scorpius injects himself a second time.
Aboard Moya, DRD Pike is zipping down a corridor, making a whirring noise. John steps in front of it and stops it with his foot.
John: "All right. We gotta talk. You led me in the starburst chamber to find that thing in Chiana, didn't ya?" John lays down on the floor in front of DRD Pike.
DRD Pike blinks once.
John: "Yes. Does Moya want me to reveal it to Tallip?"
DRD Pike blinks once.
John: "And what if Tallip is lying?"
DRD Pike squeaks and shakes it's "eyes" back and forth vigorously.
John: "Whoa, whoa. Hey, whoa, whoa." He grabs its eyes. "Calm, calm down. I know you're freakin out about Pilot, but if that thing in Chiana's not diseased, does Moya still want me to betray it?"
DRD Pike blinks once.
John: "Okay." He pats the DRD and gets up.
Jool: "If it touches me again, D'Argo, I will die."
John comes into the room: "Found the energy rider. It's in Chiana. She's hiding in the starburst chamber."
Jool: "Tell Pilot and get that thing off Moya now!"
John: "It might be a little more complicated than that."
Jool:" Huh!"
D'Argo and John enter Pilot's den.
Tallip, in Pilot, speaks: "I sense your anger. I did warn you, tasting would be painful."
D'Argo: "We've hidden the rider and you will never find it."
John: "So let's make a deal. You turn the ship around, head back to your cluster, we'll tell you where the rider is and you two can play 'pick the friendly alien' in your neighborhood."
Tallip: "How do I know one of you is not infected? That this is not the rider's plan?"
D'Argo, laughs: "It's not. Believe me. This plan is so bad, it has to be ours."
Tallip: "Okay. I choose." Tallip/PIlot closes his eyes.
D'Argo begins to scream and shake. John tries to help him, but he is thrown bodily out of the den and the door closes behind him. D'Argo continues to be "tasted."
Rider/Chiana is hunkered down in the wall of the starburst chamber.
Rider: "I not, not leaving. No. No."
Jool enters the chamber with a drawn pulse pistol. She finds Rider/Chiana and points the pistol at her.
Jool: "Crichton thought you were safe here, but he was wrong."
Chiana: "What's goin on?"
Jool: "What's goin on? Get up!" She gestures with the pistol.
Chiana: "Why the pulse pistol, Princess?"
Jool: "Crichton told us you're the one. Now GET UP!"
Chiana: "Okay. I'm the one. I'm the one." She gets up with her hands up.
Jool: "Get up! Move!" Jool pushes her towards the door of the chamber.
Rider: "Okay. Okay, you, you right. Not Chi. They can't, can't fool Jool. Jool's too, too smart. Your human must say I not bad. Not, not bad."
John runs in: "Jool! What are you doing?"
Jool: "I'm taking her to Pilot."
John: "Look, that demon's got D'Argo.."
Jool screams: "Out of my way!"
John: "Hey, hey."
Rider/Chiana knocks her pulse pistol away and grabs her by the throat.
John: "Hey hey! There's no need to ..."
Rider/Chiana grabs John with her other hand, holding him in midair by the throat.
Rider: "No more talk."
John, gasps: "Let me go."
Rider: "Tiny brains. No more talk."
John: "Let me go. Please. "
Rider: "I ask, I ask."
John: "Pretty please."
Rider: "I give them."
John: "Please. Please let me go."
She throws both John and Jool against the wall.
John: "Okay, so everything Tallip said about you is true."
Rider: "Yah es. Mmmm. Desire. They stay."
John: "Hey, cupcake. Have you noticed the lights? They're not pulsing anymore. Your friend must be done with D'Argo."
Tallip roars. Rider/Chiana is slammed against the wall and begins to shake.
John: "Tallip! Take the rider, but don't hurt Chiana!"
Tallip roars again. Rider/Chiana falls face down on the floor, gasping. She begins to rise in the air.
John: "Tallip!"
Rider/Chiana starts to scream, while hanging in midair.
John: "Tallip! You're killing her."
Tallip roars again.
John: "Tallip!!"
Tallip is roaring and Chiana is screaming.
Suddenly, the energy rider leaves through Chiana's back and begins to fly down the corridors. John is up and racing after it. It flys into Pilot's den and disappears into him in a puff of smoke. John runs in just afterwards. D'Argo is laying on the floor, moaning.
In the starburst chamber, Chiana is on the floor. Jool comes over to her, picks her up, and cradles her in her arms.
Jool comms: "Crichton, she's alive!"
John kneels to check on D'Argo.
Jool: "The thing's out of her. She's alive."
John stands up to confront Tallip: "Is that it? You finished?"
Tallip: "Yes. I have killed the rider. "
John: "That's what it said you wanted to do. Turn Moya around, head back to your cluster, and leave us the hell alone."
Tallip: "No human. I love this now. I have mastered this body and your ship and now I'm going to stay."
END OF ACT THREE
ACT FOUR
John is confronting Tallip.
John: "I thought you couldn't stay in PIlot."
Tallip: "Never knew it could be like this. So good." He laughs. "The rider was right. It is perfect to stay too long. Perfect."
John: "Moya will never accept you."
Tallip, getting angry: "Moya will do what I command! Now go! Take the luxan with you."
John helps D'Argo up off the floor.
Tallip: "Ahhh. So. I can. Enjoy this."
John and D'Argo leave Pilot's den.
John goes into the starburst chamber and finds DRD Pike. He kneels down to talk to it.
John: "Thought I might find you here. Moya. you were right. I shoulda given the rider to Pilot when you said, but I still think he woulda screwed us. Don't you?"
DRD Pike blinks once.
John: "Okay. I got a new plan. It's a better plan, but I need your help. Okay?"
DRD Pike blinks once.
Jool is still holding Chiana in her arms and is rocking her. John comes out into the corridor with them.
John: "Is she okay?"
Jool: "Yeah."
John: "All right. I need you to go to the neural cluster. Tier seven. D'Argo's waiting there for you."
Jool: "What's happening?"
John takes Chiana from her: "Just go. The less said the better. D'Argo will tell you what to do."
Jool gets up and leaves.
John: "Pip. I need your help. Can you walk?"
Chiana breathes: "no."
John: "No. Oh God!"
John attempts to haul Chiana up to her feet. She is as limp as a ragdoll, so he drags her down the corridor.
Jool enters the neural cluster. D'Argo startles her and puts his finger to her lips to signal quiet. He doesn't say anything, but he shows her a transparency with a schematic on it. He points out what he wants her to do, silently.
John carries Chiana into the starburst chamber.
John: "Moya's gonna try and redirect some starburst energy into the den."
Chiana: "Won't that kill Pilot?"
John: "Not if we time it right. We get the demon out, we kill it, and Pilot lives."
He sets her down by the control panel in the wall.
Chiana laughs: "So, that the only plan we got?"
John: "That's it."
Chiana: "Okay. What'd ya want me to do?"
John: "All right. D'Argo and Jool are gonna spook the thing. I'm gonna press an over-ride panel in Pilot's den. I'm gonna comm you."
He holds up two cable ends: "You join these two circuits together. DRD Pike's gonna do the same thing over there."
DRD Pike is a little ways away from them and is holding a cable with its tool.
John: "You remember what happend here the last time dont'cha? I'm not talking about the sex thing. That was great, but I'm not talkin about it. "
Chiana: "Starburst blast."
John: "Right. Well this one's gonna be a gazillion times stronger, Chiana, so you got 10 microts to get your ass out of here."
Chiana: "Plenty of time." She nods.
John: "Chiana."
Chiana: "Um."
John: "Do you understand what you have to do?"
Chiana: "Yeah. Easy. You comm."
John: "Yes."
Chiana: "I join."
John: "Yes."
Chiana: "Leave."
John: "Very good."
Chiana: "Plenty of time."
John: "DRD Pike! Keep an eye on her." John runs out of the starburst chamber. Chiana slumps over on the floor.
Jool is climbing in the neural cluster.
In the starburst chamber, DRD Pike rams into Chiana's arm to wake her up.
He chitters at her.
Chiana: "Moya. I'm awake."
DRD Pike chitters at her again and waves his eye at her.
Chiana: "Nuhn!"
DRD Pike goes away.
Tallip is still enjoying being in Pilot's body. John opens the door to the den and disturbs him.
Tallip: "Huh! What are you doing here?"
John: "Oh relax Casper. I'm not here to interrupt your blissing. Too much makes you go blind though, you know."
Tallip: "What do you want, human?"
John: "I want you to take us to the shipping lanes. Then we can all get off this boat. Then you can continue what you're doing uninterrupted. Okay?"
Tallip makes a low, growling noise.
D'Argo is climbing down the neural cluster. He reaches a certain spot and stops. He taps his comms twice so it just makes a noise: "Beep, beep."
Jool hears this where she is standing. She gasps and taps her comms twice as well: "Beep, beep."
D'Argo reaches into the neural cluster and yanks a cable loose. There are a lot of sparks. Jool takes two loose cable ends and touches them together.
Tallip screams in pain: "Ahhhh! Ahhhh! Ahhhh!"
John: "What's the matter?"
Tallip: "Stay away! It's your Pilot. I think this body is....Ahhh!"
John: "Monitor his internal circulation rate."
Tallip: "Circulation rate? I, I can't find the circulation rate."
John: "What? Oh, perfect?"
Tallip: "What?"
John: "No circulation rate means he's dying, numbnuts. You're killing Pilot."
Tallip: "I couldn't be. I gauged that this body could sustain me."
John: "You musta gauged wrong."
Tallip: "Stay back!"
John: "I'm stayin back. I'm stayin way back and watchin you die."
Tallip: "If I die, you'll all die. I'll vent every chamber on this ship."
John: "No! There's no reason to be vindictive. We can figure something else out. Moya! Moya's a living ship."
Tallip: "Yes."
John: "Well, if she's alive, then...?"
Tallip: "It will have neural capacity. More than enough to hold me til we could get back to my cluster."
John: "There ya go."
Tallip: "Yes! I will go into Moya!" Tallip starts to scream. While he is distracted, John reaches up and presses a contol on Pilot's console.
John: "Now Chiana!"
Chiana is asleep on the floor of the starburst chamber. DRD Pike runs over to wake her up. John comms: "Chiana! Now!"
DRD Pike keeps ramming into her arm and shoulder.
Tallip keeps screaming. He begins to become visible as a red, flying creature above Pilot.
John: "Chiana! It's leaving Pilot! Do it! Chiana! If it gets into Moya, we're screwed!"
DRD Pike slams into her again.
Chiana: "What?"
John comms: "Chiana!"
Chiana: "All right, I'm up."
John: "Hey Pip! Get on it!"
Chiana: "I'm up." She tries to get up off the floor. She can't, so she leans over by the cables and picks them up: "Okay, great. Here we go. Here we go"
She touches her two cables together, as does DRD Pike. There is a loud whirring noise which grows in intensity. Starburst energy begins to gather in the center circle.
Chiana: "I've done it."
John: "Great Chi, now get out of the starburst chamber."
The red creature is flying around in Pilot's den.
John: "Now Moya!"
Starburst has risen to the top of the circle. As it begins to leave the circle, Chiana notices and gets up. She runs past the circle and leaps out through the doorway, just as the chamber door closes. DRD Pike comes up to the closed door and stops. It chitters and waves its eyes and tool.
John: "Now!" He jumps away from Pilot.
Starburst travels up the central column of the cavern and enters Pilot's den. It strikes the red, flying creature and holds it suspended. It looks as if it is being struck repeatedly by lightning. The creature finally disintegrates and Pilot's den is plunged into darkness.
END OF ACT FOUR
EPILOGUE
Chiana has her head down on a table. Jool is lying on a bed. John goes around and pours a drink for each of them.
John: "Pilot, put the claws away. We can function without Moya being perfect for a while."
Pilot: "I can't stop. There are hundreds of little things not working right in her."
Jool, sits up: "I feel like I had a spiritual enema."
John: "Well, take a break dude. Unless...anybody wants to go look for the Three Stoodges broadcast again?"
Jool and Chiana both hiss at that.
John: "That's a no. Take the rest."
Pilot sighs.
John: "Hey Doc. How come I bled and you guys didn't?"
Jool: "Well that's obvious. You bled because you're an irritating and inferior species. Good night." Jool leaves. Chiana has managed to sit up enough to rest her head in her hand.
John: "Good night. Chiana, you had that thing in you longer than any of the rest of us. You feel any different?"
Chiana: "No. I just feel like fegg."
John: "D'Argo. You still in the cluster?"
Chiana: "No. He's not down there. He's here." She smiles.
John: "No. He's down in the cluster."
John hears footsteps and turns his head to see D'Argo entering the room behind him: "How did you know that?"
D'Argo: "What? How did she know what?"
John: "No. Don't, don't tell me. I don't really want to know. I just wanta sl.. I wanta get some sleep."
John leaves.
D'Argo keeps looking back and forth between Chiana and John's retreating back.
Scorpius is lying down as before, asleep, with the cable coming out of his cooling rod. His eye exhibits symptoms of REM sleep.
John is running, but his face is distorted and he is seen through smoke. Scorpius is moving too, but now a wormhole can be seen in front of him. John's face comes into focus.
John has been looking into the cabinet. Scorpius comes up behind him.
Scorpius: "Hello John."
John gasps and spins around. Scorpius graps him by the throat and lifts him up off the floor. John gasps for breath.
Scorpius: "Now you tell me everything you know about wormholes. Hmm?"
John points back over Scorpius' shoulder: "Look."
Scorpius: "Everything."
There is a noise and a door opens behind Scorpius. He turns to look, still holding onto John. There is a wormhole visible in the cabinet.
Scorpius: "I found it! I..."
John gets loose and grabs Scorpius' arm. He twists it behind his back.
John: "You've found nothing Scorpy. You missed it. You missed the whole thing. Game over!"
John pushes Scorpius forward, towards the cabinet and pushes him in. Into the wormhole. One eye pops open. Scorpius wakes up with a start. He sits on his bed, gasping and choking. He snarls
END OF EPILOGUE
