Air Date: July 6, 2001
Written by Rockne S. O'Bannon
Directed by Peter Andrikidis
Transcript by Xenajules2
Edited and put on-line by Bluey
Episode 3.10 - Relativity
PREVIOUSLY ON FARSCAPE...
(The voice of Aeryn Sun)
Scene One: From "Eat Me", Moya finds a wounded Talyn and unconscious Crais.
Scene Two: From "Thanks for Sharing", Crais is barely able to feel Talyn, Crais accesses Talyn's logs and Aeryn deduces that Talyn is being chased by a Peacekeeper Retrieval Squad.
Scene Three: From "Thanks for Sharing", Aeryn tells John B that if they can revive Talyn, they will have to starburst away immediately and there will be no chance to return to Moya.
Scene Four: From "Thanks for Sharing", Crais gives Aeryn the vid-chip of her mother's visit. Crais then reveals that the Retrieval Squad is commanded by "Senior Officer Xhalax Sun."
Scene Five: "From "Thanks for Sharing", Moya and Talyn fly away from the planet and are scanned by Peacekeepers. Talyn starbursts away.
Scene Six: From "Thanks for Sharing", Crais tells them there will be no contact with Moya until the threat of the Retrieval Squad is resolved. Aeryn assures John that she will not allow the Peacekeepers to take Talyn back, even if it means she has to kill her own mother.
AND NOW, ON FARSCAPE....
PROLOGUE
On the surface of a jungle covered planet. The sky is gray and damp looking. The vegetation is dense and there are many snakes and birds visible (and audible). Talyn is sitting in the midst of all this, covered over with vines. Crais stands, silently looking out the forward window. His face is reflected in the glass.
Stark is hopping down a corridor, singing to himself: "Kah man ahh, kah man ahh, kah man ahh, nek. Kah man ahh, kah man ahh, kah man ahh, nek....
He runs into what appears to be a storage room where Rygel is in bed, sleeping. Stark runs up and slaps the bed: "Rygel!"
Rygel sits up with a gasp. Stark is grinning at him.
Rygel: "Oh. I may be small, but allow me to remind you, that only serves to put me at castration level."
Stark grabs his crotch with both his hands!
Stark: "What's the matter? Didn't sleep well?"
Rygel: "How could I? With them on the other side of this very thin bulkhead!"
Stark: "Bit noisy were they?"
Rygel: "She was bad enough, but Crichton, he was louder than she was. He actually sounded like he was exerting himself! What kind of a male is he, anyway?"
Stark goes over and puts his ear against the wall.
Rygel: "They're between bouts. Give them a few microts."
Rygel yawns and lays back down.
A collection of leather clothing is strewn about on the floor. The camera pans over it, past vest, pants, boots, to a bed, with bare feet sticking out from under a red blanket. Continuing to move, we see Aeryn lying under the covers, with her arms and head sticking out. Her hair is lying loose beside her on the pillow. She is lying on her right side. Beside her, also lying on his right side, is John. He has his right hand resting on the top of her head. His fingers twine in her hair and he kisses her back, He opens his eyes, raises his head and looks over at her.
John: "Hang on." He uses his right hand to hit the wall above his head, hard: "Ohh!"
Rygel sits up with a start...again: "What'sa matta?"
John hits the wall again: "Ohh God!" Aeryn is smiling. "Ohh!" Pound!
Rygel glares. We hear: "Ohh!" Stark smiles.
Aeryn laughs: "You were louder than that, believe it or not."
John laughs and begins to kiss her neck.
Stark is smiling and laughing to himself, still with his ear up to the wall.
John turns her face to his and they begin to kiss in earnest.
Aeryn: "How much longer?"
John, between kisses: "How much longer, what?"
Aeryn: "Does Talyn have to stay onboard this planet?"
John: "Ah, well, heavy gravity's letting him sleep."
Aeryn: "Uh hmm."
John: "Stark said that the vegetation has restorative powers so it's our one...."
Aeryn: "Ummm?"
John: "Quick stop chance to get him back to full fighting strength."
On the bridge, Crais is activating a control: "I suggest that you all get up here immediately. Talyn's sensors have picked up another ship entering the planet's atmosphere."
John and Aeryn stop kissing to listen.
Crais: "Dangerously close."
John, looking up: "Damn." They get up on opposite sides of the bed.
Stark runs onto the bridge: "Friend or foe? Friend or foe? Friend or foe?"
Crais: "Talyn's laboring to discern that."
Stark, very quietly continues: "Friend or foe? Friend or foe? Friend or foe?" in the background.
Rygel: "If it's a Retrieval Squad, are we going to be able to blast our way out of here?"
Crais: "Talyn has powered down to stasis level on all systems facilitating the recuperation process. We all agreed to take that chance."
Rygel: "So your answer is no, we can't move."
Stark is getting louder: "Friend or foe? Friend or foe? Friend or foe?"
Rygel, shouts: "Will you shut the frell up!" Stark stops dead.
Rygel: "Of course it's a foe! We have no friends."
John and Aeryn run onto the bridge. John finishes buckling his belt as he runs.
John: "Talk to us. Whad'ya got?"
Crais: "Talyn has identified it as the vigilante...the Peacekeeper ship pursuing us."
Stark runs over to John.
Stark: "We've got to do something. There's nothing we can do. Crichton, you always have a plan. Well, sometimes."
John: "How close?"
Crais: "It has just landed."
Rygel: "It's your mother who's running the frelling retrieval squad. Maybe we can use that."
John reaches over and grabs Rygel: "Yo! Not now Rygel."
Rygel: "Not now? They're here Crichton. On the planet. They're going to be knocking down that door at any microt and our ship is sound asleep!"
Outside, on the planet, in a thick mist, a hatch opens on a ship. Sr. Officer Sun and a tall alien get out.
Alien: "Xhalax." The alien gasps several times.
Xhalax: "Heavy gravity."
Alien: "Two, two and a half times what our species is used to.
Xhalax: "How is your wound?"
Alien, gasping: "I will earn my share."
Xhalax half turns and shoots the alien with her pulse rifle. It falls to the ground. Two more aliens walk around from the other side of the ship.
Xhalax: "Good news. Your shares have just increased."
The two aliens look at each other.
END OF PROLOGUE
ACT ONE
Talyn has landed on a jungle covered planet. Inside, John, Stark, Crais and Aeryn are walking down a corridor.
Stark: "Decoys? This is an awfully big ship . You really, really, really think the three...."
John: "Stark, if you have other ideas, we'd be thrilled to hear em before we go out."
Crais: "The Peacekeeper ship set down some distance from here. Clearly the planet's vegetation is masking Talyn's whereabouts, as we were hoping."
John :"That's not gonna last forever. We gotta get these guys away from Talyn, give him a chance to recuperate. Then we gotta shot. Maybe."
Crais: "Talyn's restoration is nearly complete. We need only buy him a little time."
Stark: "What about me? Hmm? What about me? Why can't I go?"
Crais: "I agree. I am the logical choice to stay here, with Talyn."
John: "Logical, yes, but aint gonna happen boys."
Aeryn: "Listen to me They're here to take Talyn. We can't let them anywhere near him when he's vulnerable like this. Crichton, Crais and I will go down. You will stay here and keep him calm."
They all enter a room where Rygel is watching a vid-chip. We hear: "Wake up Aeryn."
Rygel: "Ahhh. I've been watching this. The night your mother came and saw you.."
Video voice: "My name is Xhalax Sun. I'm your mother."
Aeryn pays no attention. She and Crais go and start getting weapons out of storage.
John: "Rygel, what the hell're you doin?"
Rygel: "She sounds like she...likes you. Maybe we can use that to..."
John grabs the vid-chip out of the viewer and throws it on the table. He grabs Rygel by the shoulders:"This is Aeryn's stuff. Keep your hands off and your nose out of other people's business."
Rygel: "Well, ahh, what are we supposed to do when you're out there and dear old mother comes blasting in?"
John: "Buckwheat, we're gonna keep the Retrieval Squad away, and you're gonna keep your hands off Aeryn's stuff. Is that clear?"
Rygel groans in reply. Aeryn sighs.
Outside, on the planet, Sr. Officer Xhalax Sun and the two aliens, Vek and Kek, are struggling through the jungle.
Xhalax: "I don't give a ropey dren about heavy gravity. Our targets are near. Keep moving. How many missions have you been on?"
Vek: "Six."
Kek: "Nine."
Xhalax: "Nine and out, right? This is your last mission as a mercenary? You complete this one and you can buy your freedom. You have a mate? Offspring?"
Kek: "Yes."
Xhalax: "Nice. It'd be a frelling shame if you and your mate here screwed up and you were to start your mission count back at zero. So frell the gravity. Cinch up your mivonks and keep moving."
The sound of gunshots can be heard.
Vek: "Pulse rifles. "
Kek: "Definately Peacekeeper. This way." He points to the right.
John, Aeryn and Crais are struggling through the jungle. John attempts to fire his pulse rifle. It fires once and then just beeps.
John: "What the hell's wrong with this gun?"
Aeryn: "I don't know. "
Crais: "Maybe the chakan mist is ruining the pulse deploy."
John: "Well, they're either after us or not. We've left a trail Stevie Wonder could follow."
Aeryn; "Oh, ah. Wait."
John: "What."
Aeryn hits a fruit which is hanging from a vine and knocks it to the ground. It bursts and a kind of acid comes out of it. It bubbles and burns the vegetation it lands on.
Aeryn: "Oarusk fruit."
John: "Remind me not to put that on my Cocoa Pops."
On Talyn, Stark and Rygel are heading down a corridor. Stark is humming, a high-pitched tuneless sound.
Rygel:"Ohhh, stop that, (hic), incessant, (hic), humming."
Stark: "When you stop that hiccuping."
Rygel: " I hiccup (hic) when I'm nervous. (hic)."
Stark: "Well I hum when I'm nervous."
Rygel: "A (hic) hiccup is involuntary (hic, hic) you Pellish venker. Humming isn't."
Stark graps hold of Rygel's thronesled and stops him, suddenly.
Stark: "Rygel."
Rygel: "What?"
Stark gasps and points.
Rygel gasps.
Stark: "Vines, from outside growing inside." There are vines hanging down from the ceiling all over the room they are about to enter.
Rygel farts.
Outside, Kek, Vek and Xhalax are closing in on their prey.
Kek: "Fresh trail. That way."
Xhalax: "Indigenous?"
Kek: "No, Sebacean."
Aeryn comes out into a clearing, followed by John and Crais. A jet of steam comes out of a small crater near her. Aeryn coughs and covers her nose and mouth with her hand and quickly turns away. John covers his face with his hand as well.
John: "Okay, welcome to the butthole of the universe."
They get away from the crater as quickly as possible.
Xhalax, Kek and Vek are moving more cautiously now.
Kek: "Very close."
Xhalax: "Three point vector. Are you up to this?"
Vek: "We are ready."
On Talyn, Stark is hacking and wacking at vines.
Stark: "This can't be good."
Rygel: "It can't be bad. It's the same vegetation that's helping to heal Talyn."
Stark: "It's rooted to the planet. How's Talyn supposed to take off with this stuff laced through him?"
Rygel: "Once Talyn's back to full-strength, I'm sure he'll be able to tear himself away."
Stark is cutting and ripping vines, dropping them anywhere, even on Rygel's head.
Rygel, shakes his head to get a vine off: "Easily. Frell. Come on. Pull."
Stark continues to pull hunks of vines down.
Xhalax and the trackers are hearing sounds now. They stop, take up ambush positions and wait.
Aeryn is watching her positioning devise (a sort of compass with a lighted red disk). She listens as she walks.
Xhalax and the trackers have their guns up and pointed towards the oncoming sounds.
John: "How far have we gone?"
Aeryn: "Not quite one full metra."
John: "One more metra, we should circle back."
Aeryn: "Right." She thinks she hears something and stops: "Oh."
John: "What you got?"
Xhalax cocks her rifle. It makes a soft, whirring sound. Aeryn reacts to this sound instantly. She and John dive off to the right. Crais drops down and begins firing.
Kek: "That way."
Crais: "There."
Everyone is firing and so far missing. Xhalax seems to have a problem with her rifle, but it begins firing again. Aeryn decides to move and shouts to John: "Cover me." She runs across a small clearing as John opens fire. She is attempting to circle around behind the attackers. There is continuous gunfire but very little visibility. Xhalax has a bead on Crais. He keeps firing and retreating until his rifle quits. He throws it away and pulls a pair of pulse pistols out from behind his back. He continues to shoot with them as he has become a definate target. Crais is hit and goes down with a scream. Aeryn and John both react to the sound. Xhalax is closing in on Aeryn now, when Aeryn's pulse rifle quits. She tosses it away and pulls her pistol. She runs, dodging and weaving, with Xhalax hot on her heels. Xhalax's rifle finally quits too. While she is attempting to unjam it, she is shot in the leg and goes down screaming as well.
John: "Aeryn!" He can't find her in the mist.
Aeryn: "John." He doesn't respond.
John: "Aeryn?!"
Aeryn: "John."
John: "Damn!" He drops his pulse rifle and pulls his pistol. He spins off looking for Aeryn.
Aeryn is looking for John. She turns around, and is hit in the jaw by a punch thrown by Xhalax. Aeryn goes down. Xhalax comes up behind her and puts her in a choke hold.
Xhalax: "Move and you die."
Aeryn coughs and tries to break her grip.
END OF ACT ONE
ACT TWO
Xhalax and Aeryn are still struggling.
Xhalax: "Where is he?"
Aeryn: "Are you Xhalax? Are you Xhalax Sun?"
Xhalax: "Where is he?"
Aeryn coughs. She uses her elbow to hit Xhalax in her leg wound.
Xhalax "Arghh!"
Aeryn gets free of the choke hold and they wrestle to the ground. Aeryn is on top of her mother but is unable to subdue her.
Aeryn: "Stop!"
Finally, Aeryn hits her mother hard enough to knock her out.
Aeryn takes a couple of gasping breaths: "Nice to see you again, Mother."
Unconscious, Xhalax''s face is turned so we see that the whole side of it is scarred.
John is still in the jungle, trying to find Aeryn.
John: "Aeryn!"
Crais: "Crichton. Crichton, stop making noise or they'll find us."
John finds Crais, half sitting up, leaning against a tree.
Crais: "I've been hit."
John looks at Crais' back, where he was shot: "Aw, hell, that's ugly." He starts to go: "I gotta find Aeryn."
Crais: "Crichton, don't you leave me here! The Retrieval Squad. they're using Colartas!"
John: "They're using what?"
Crais: "Expert trackers. You leave me here bleeding, they will find me and kill me."
John: "And?"
One of the aliens, Vek, is gasping and staggering. There is blood dripping from his mouth.
Kek: "Are you shot?"
Vek: "No. The gravity. One of my hearts. It has burst."
Kek: "Can you move?"
Vek: "Won't slow you down. I can still track."
Kek: "Have you seen Xhalax?"
Vek: "No. I can locate her."
Kek: "No."
Vek: "But she might be wounded."
Kek: "We pursue and retrieve our target. That is our mission. We don't get paid for finding Xhalax. Move."
John picks up a couple of oarusk fruits and brings them back to Crais. He kneels down beside him.
Crais: "What are you doing?"
John: "You want to bleed to death?"
Crais: "What do you think?"
John: "Then shut up."
John begins to pour the liquid from one of the fruits onto Crais' wound.
John: "This might sting a little."
Crais screams in pain. Steam rises from the wound as the acid eats its way in. John claps his hand over Crais' mouth to stifle the sound.
John: "Okay, maybe more than a little."
Aeryn finishes tying Xhalax to a tree. Xhalax is still unconscious. Aeryn props her up against the tree, then sits back on her heels and looks at her. Ever so carefully, she reaches out with her finger and touches the scar on her face. Xhalax wakes up. Aeryn looks away and goes back to binding Xhalax's leg wound as Xhalax opens her eyes. Xhalax grunts and pulls against her bonds.
Aeryn: "This should slow the bleeding." She has wrapped the wound in vines and tied them tight. "Stop any bone from working its way out, at least temporarily.."
Xhalax: "You knew who I was. Who are you?" Their eyes meet and lock.
Aeryn: "I'm Aeryn. Aeryn Sun. I'm your daughter."
Xhalax: "If you are my daughter, you are a Peacekeeper."
Aeryn shakes her head: "I'm not a Peacekeeper anymore."
Xhalax: "Then you are with Crais."
Stark rejoins Rygel in the room draped in vines.
Rygel: "Where the hezmana have you been?"
Stark: "On the bridge."
Rygel: "Comfortable up there? Cause while you've been flotzing around, I've been trying to keep this dren from taking over the ship."
Stark: "Rygel! Rygel, shut up! Talyn, he's almost healed."
Rygel: "What? Completely?"
Stark: "Yes. Yes."
Rygel: "Well, can we blast ourselves free of this yotz?"
Stark: "Uh, soon. If, if we can keep these under control,,," Stark starts pulling down vines: "Then I think Talyn will be strong enough to break free." Stark and Rygel both laugh.
Stark: "But what if the others aren't back by then?"
Rygel: "They're up against a Peacekeeper retrieval squad out there. Don't delude yourself fahrbot. They're probably never coming back."
Vek and Kek are hunting in the swamp.
Kek: "What do you smell?"
Vek: "Two of them. One is unknown to me. The other is..., uh, a Sebacean. Wounded."
John is following Crais, also through the swamp.
Crais: "At least with this gravity, the colartas will be in more trouble then..." Crais groans and falls.
Crais: "we are."
John: "That's a comfort. Get up." He hauls Crais to his feet: "Get up! We gotta get outa here."
Crais: "Aeryn took the positioning devise. "
John: "So she'll be able to find her way back to Talyn."
Crais: "If she's still alive." John is hauling him bodily, through the swamp.
John: "She is still alive. She is alive."
Aeryn has Xhalax tied-up and moving, Aeryn holds the positioning devise out in front of her.
Xhalax: "Where are you taking me?"
Aeryn: "Back to the gunship. Which I named Talyn, by the way."
Xhalax laughs.
Aeryn: "Yes. I thought you'd find that amusing."
Xhalax: "Naming it after daddy... is not amusing. It's sentimental and weak. Is that why you're sparing me? Because I'm your Mummy?"
Aeryn scowls and shoves her on ahead: "No. Because, with that wound, out here, you will die. Alive, you're potential leverage."
Xhalax: "Regulation field-op procedure insists you terminate all hostile personnel on point of contact. Eliminate the threat. And when I'm dead, you can name your prowler after me."
Aeryn: "Oh, yes. That's very funny. Well I no longer follow regulation field-op procedures and I know it's not by chance that you ended up out here, on this assignment. High Command knew I was out here with Talyn and Crais. They probably thought, "Send her Mother" or perhaps you even volunteered for the pleasure. Did you? " Xhalax turns and looks back at her.
Aeryn: "Thought, you know, things go wrong, we end up face-to-face, perhaps the daughter will flinch. I'm not flinching." Aeryn pushes Xhalax into motion once more.
Crais, to John: "We have no idea where we are going. We could be going around in circles."
John: "We're not going in circles, nimrod. 'Cause we've never been here before, we're completely lost."
They both collapse on the ground. Crais groans.
John flops onto his back: "Oh, god. I hate mazes. Oh! My first girlfriend Julie, she loved 'em. Oh boy, did she. "Hey, Johhny! Let's go in the mirror maze together, huh?" He lifts his head and shouts at the sky: "Hey Jules! Is this makin you horny?"
Crais: "Our size and weight will give us a slight advantage over the colartas."
John notices something under his hand. He brings his hand up and smells it.
Crais: "But our sweat and blood will continue to lead them right to us."
John turns his head away from the smell.
John: "Shut up."
Crais: "You shut up."
John: "No, you shut up. I got an idea." He scoops some gunk off the ground.
Crais: "What're you doing?"
John smears the gunk on Crais' forehead: "Here. Smell that."
Crais gags and groans.
John, wrinkling up his nose as he smears some of the gunk on his face: "Geez! If this doesn't cover our scent...or kill us...I don't know what will."
Crais: "Oh, Ah ka-mel"
John: "Yep, that's good. There ya go. Spread it around. Don't forget to cover your private bits."
Rygel is holding a knife, still among the vines, chopping away: "How much longer", he grunts, "til Talyn is fully healed?"
Stark: "Look, I'm still not sure we should leave, bu..."
Rygel: "We're leaving. Soon as Talyn's ready, we're leaving whether they're here or not. Ya got that?"
Aeryn: "Rygel."
Rygel: "Huh? What?"
Aeryn: " The hero." She enters, pushing Xhalax ahead of her.
Rygel: "Aeryn! I always knew you'd make it back, ha,ha, ha. The others aren't as capable as you. Not as strong. You're superior."
Aeryn: "Shut up. "
Stark comes over to Aeryn: "Ah, this is , this is your mother? Aren't you going to introduce us?"
Aeryn: "Nope. What's the news on Crichton and Crais?"
Behind her back, Xhalax is scoring her right forearm with her left thumbnail.
Stark: "No news. You're the first back."
Areyn shoves Xhalax to move ahead. Xhalax cuts more deeply into her own arm.
Vek and Kek are still hunting for John and Crais.
Vek, looking around: "Humm. No scent."
Kek: "How is that possible?"
They both scan the swamp visually. Vek spots something: "Body heat."
They can see two spots of orange off in the distance, ahead of them in the swamp.
Vek: "This way." He moves off and Kek follows.
John, carrying several long sticks, walks over to the prone Crais. He drops all but one on top of Crais.
John: "Here." John drops down onto his knees beside him.
John: "Crais." When Crais doesn't respond, John shakes him. "Crais." Still nothing. John sighs.
John picks up a stone and starts whittling at the end of a stick.
He stops: "Alright, come on John. Come on man. Concentrate. Find Aeyn. Get the hell out of here alive." He starts whittling again.
From some distance away, in the swamp, we hear: "Ah, poor baby. Poor, poor Johnny. "
John raises his head: "Now's not a good time Scorpy. Go away."
Harvey: "On the contrary, you summoned me."
John gets up and goes over to where he sees the Scorpy/clone: "You know what? You are really becoming annoying. Go away!" John points the stick at Harvey's face.
Harvey: "Ahh, but your subconscious did, and that's where I reside. Remember?"
Harvey looks at the stick: "This point. It needs to be sharp, but not so spindly that it is weak."
John pulls the stick back: "As long as you're here. These pina colada things chasing us. Are they everything Crais has cracked them up to be?"
Harvey: "Oh, yes. In that at least, Crais has been completely forthright."
John: "Where has he not been. ..forthright?"
Harvey takes a deep breath.
Crais is still lying as John left him. Unconscious.
Onboard Talyn, Xhalax has been seated off to one side, on the bridge. Her hands are still tied behind her. She grunts softly and slices a deep slit in her forearm with her nail. There is a small amount of blood. Out of the slit, she pulls what appears to be a long sliver of something and uses it to begin sawing at the vines binding her wrists.
Stark stands at a raised panel, quickly pushing lighted controls.
Stark: "As far as I could tell, Talyn's systems are almost back to normal."
Aeryn: "Then it's time to wake him and get aloft. We'll use Talyn's sensors to locate Crichton and Crais."
Xhalax gasps and pulls her hands free. She immediately brings them up to her nose. She sniffs something and we see her pupils suddenly dilate fully. Aern hears the gasp and stops what she's doing. She turns around just as Xhalax stands up. Aeryn goes for Xhalax, but Xhalax hits her and she goes down. Stark yells and attacks Xhalax. She hits him once and knocks him out. Rygel sees this and yells. He brings up his knife and flies towards Xhalax. She hits him first, with her knife in his belly. She yanks the knife visciously upwards, and through Rygel's belly. Rygel gasps and his eyes close. His knife falls limp in his hand. Xhalax goes quickly to Talyn's controls and begins pushing things. Rygel drops the knife completely, groans and slumps forward on his thronesled.
Aeryn is lying on the floor and begins to come to. She shakes her head slightly in an attempt to clear it. She immediately jumps up and goes for her mother.. She hits at Xhalax's wounded leg with both hands, as hard as she can. Xhalax doesn't even flinch. She smiles slightly and looks down at Aeryn.
Areyn: "Talyn, activate the intruder..." She never finishes because Xhalax kicks her in the chin and knocks her unconscious again.
END OF ACT TWO
ACT THREE
Stark is holding onto bars and raging: "Let us out of here, you snarking dellot! Let us out!"
He turns around : "Ah, you murderous little beast. You'll be a dead meat. Dead meat, dead meat. dead meat" He goes over and sits down beside Rygel who is laying, unconscious on his bed. Stark feels his face and looks at the wound in his belly. There is green blood all around the wound and trickling from the corner of his mouth.
Stark: "Ohh! You really do have three stomachs. Oh, and the smallest little heart I've ever seen." Stark rubs Rygel's eyebrows gently.
Rygel's eyelids flutter slightly and open.
Rygel breathes: "Help...me. Please...Stark. Help...me."
Stark glances towards the barred doorway, then at the hanging vines. He gets up and goes to the vines and feels them.
On the bridge, Aeryn sits, trussed up and tied to a pillar. She struggles against the vines that hold her. Lights flash and hiss. Xhalax works at a control panel with what looks like a small cutting torch.
Xhalax: "This is a remarkable vessel. High Command could never have anticipated that their hybrid genetic would have evolved so successfully. " She continues to cut.
Aeryn: "What are you doing?"
Xhalax: "Can't fire the ship up while he still has the capacity for independent thought."
Aeryn: "You're severing his higher functions."
Xhalax: "After which I can fly him home manually. Techs are standing by to bring him back to life...once he's got a control collar on."
Aeryn: "Talyn is not like other leviathans. He will die before accepting a control collar."
Xhalax: "My mission is to subdue the leviathan hybrid for easy transport, then track and deliver the second target."
Aeryn looks at her.
Crais, still in the jungle, regains consciousness. He is no longer lying down. He is sitting up with both his arms and both his legs tied, spread-eagle fashion.
John talks to him: "Captains are the elite." We hear him as he walks closer: "The most trusted jarheads in all the Peacekeeper ranks."
John kneels beside Crais. He smiles: "Cause...you make captain, you're on the A-list for all the top parties, all the heavy-duty crap that the Peacekeepers sure as hell don't want floatin free in the universe."
Crais: "Crichton, listen to me."
John: "You know, I always wondered why a swinging cat like you would be way out here in the boondocks. Why you wanted so bad to be Talyn's prom date and then suddenly....it all came very clear to me. You need us. You knew we wouldn't lift a finger to help you, but we would do anything to protect Talyn. The Peacekeepers ...they're not only after Talyn. They're after you. From the moment you set foot on Moya, you knew that this day was coming and you kept us as allies when they came gunnin'. "
Crais: "That's not true. That's not the only reason I wanted to help you." John gets up and walks across Crais' legs.
Crais: "Crichton. You can't leave me here like this."
John: "Yes I can."
Crais: "What are you going to do?"
John: "If you're what the retrieval squad wants... brother..."
John picks up a piece of wood that is filled with water and dumps it over Crais' head: "This is their lucky day! Hey boys! Can you smell'im now? Oh, Pina Coladas!" John runs away and hides.
Crais: "No! Come back! Crichton! Crichton!"
Looking into Talyn through the main viewing window, we see Xhalax at the controls. There is a loud noise and Talyn shakes.
Xhalax: "Even in his dormant state he still struggles against me."
Aeryn: "Don't do this."
Xhalax: "He won't struggle when I've finished crippling him."
Aeryn: "My entire life. On every assignment, every transport ship, I scanned the soldiers, looking for a face I'd only ever seen once. And now finally seeing you, I feel nothing but shame."
Xhalax: "Officer Sun. Do you actually believe I care what you think? Your sentiment disgusts me. I have not wasted a microt of my life thinking about you. You're ashamed of me? You? A traitor. An enemy to everything you were bred for. "
Aeryn: "The Peacekeepers made me the enemy that I am. "
Xhalax continues to sever things on Talyn.
Aeryn: "Look at what you are doing! You are butchering this magnificent creature in its sleep. When it wakes, it will be a slave and there is no guarantee it will survive the procedure."
Xhalax: "You are pathetic. You are not my daughter."
Aeryn: "I am. You made me very aware of that the night you came to me when I was a child and you told me what you'd done which, may I remind you, was not regulation."
Xhalax: "I never came to you. You only dreamt it."
Aeryn: "Oh, well, for many cycles I believed that. But you see, I now have a vid recording which I would be happy to show you, if you'd like to see it. Or are you ashamed of your sentiment?"
Xhalax: "Yes I am, and I paid for it. My superior officers knew I visited you that night. They interrogated me and I professed my... attraction for a certain Peacekeeper officer. "
Aeryn: "My father."
Xhalax: "Yes. Talyn. He was older than I was. No longer as effective in battle, but my superiors didn't want to lose me. So, they gave me a chance to redeem myself."
Aeryn: "What did you do to redeem yourself? How did you redeem yourself?"
Xhalax: "By killing your father."
Vek and Kek push through the tangled vegetation.
Vek: "I've found the scent again."
Kek, sniffing as he walks: "Ah! At last." They can see Crais where John has left him tied-up.
Vek: "Wait. This could be a trap. The other might still be near."
Kek: "Do you smell him?"
Vek sniffs repeatedly, all around. John stays perfectly still in his hiding place.
Vek: "No."
Kek: "Ahh. Captain Bilar Crais. Or should I say, former Captain Crais. Do you have any idea how many Inquisitors want you back in High Command?"
John has one of the sticks held up, like a spear, ready to throw.
Kek grabs Crais' face: "Our orders are to take you in alive. But half alive is still..."
Vek: "Wait! There's ... I smell something."
Kek sniffs.
Vek: "Yes."
Crais is struggling against Kek's hand.
John hurls his make-shift spear and hits Kek in the chest : "Ahhh!". Kek goes down.
John runs out of his hiding place, screaming, and stabs Vek through the throat with another spear. They fall to the ground, and John pushes on the spear until Vek stops moving.
John: "Hey, hey Crais! Couldn't have done it without ya." He pulls the spear out of Vek.
Crais: "Why didn't you tell me?!"
John: "Needed your fear, homeboy. Needed the sweat."
Crais: "I've served your purpose as your lure. Now untie me."
John: "You don't get it do you?" John kneels beside him. and shakes his head: "Huhnn, aint no way son. You stuck the knife in one time too many." John is looking through Kek's things.
Crais: "You just gonna leave me like this?"
John has found a positioning device like the one Aeryn has. He turns it on.
John: "Well. You earned it."
Crais: "If you're going to execute me, execute me. Kill me. But don't leave me here to die!"
John shouts: "You lied to us! You betrayed us and you used us!"
Crais: "I used all my assets to stay alive. And those assets were you. You think of your own survival now. What if Aeryn is dead?"
John: "She's not."
Crais: "What if she is? How are you going to command Talyn? How are you gonna get off this planet without me? And what if Aeryn isn't back at Talyn when you get there? What are you gonna do then?"
John just stares.
Xhalax is tying Aeryn up next to Stark in the storage area. Rygel's bed is across from them, with a large table with controls on it in between. Xhalax goes to the controls and starts working on them.
Aeryn whispers to Stark: "What about Rygel? Is he dead?"
Stark: "He died for several microts. But I managed to get his little heart beating again. Then I sewed the wound closed with the vines, the restorative vines. But I'm no diagnosan. I don't know what else to do."
Aeryn looks up at Xhalax who is cutting more connections on the console.
Stark continues to whisper:"She doesn't know it yet, but Talyn is almost recovered. All we have to do is wait til he wakes up."
Aeryn: "He's not going to wake up."
Leaning on the table, Xhalax sees a vid-chip. She picks it up and pops it into the viewer. The scene of her talking to little Aeryn begins to play.
"Aeryn. Wake up Aeryn."
Xhalax has a flashback. She sees little Aeryn sit up and she sees herself as she was then.
"Aeryn, my name is Xhalax Sun."
Aeryn: "The night you've so conveniently forgotten."
"I'm your mother. You mustn't reveal to anyone that I was here. Do you understand? I came to tell you something. Aeryn. Your life was not an accident."
Aeryn: "You cared enough then to risk everything, to meet the child that you had concieved. You can't have burned that love away completely."
"Talyn, that's your father's name. He and I chose to have you. You were conceived in love. Our love."
Aeryn: "I am that child. I am part of you. I am part of Talyn."
"I wanted you to know this."
Aeryn: "Peacekeeper way isn't the only way. It's not too late for you."
"It makes you special. We wanted you."
Xhalax: "No!!" She slams her hands down on the table and breaks the viewer.
Xhalax, hisses: "This is dead history! Your father is dead! And you, you will face a Peacekeeper Tribunal on a charge of High Treason."
Xhalax leaves.
END OF ACT THREE
ACT FOUR
The
Colartas, Vek and Kek are lying in the swamp. Kek groans and gets up to his knees.. He pulls John's spear out of his chest and stands up the rest of the way. He looks around and goes over to Vek's body.
Aeryn is tugging on the vines that she's tied-up with. She's using Stark's feet to push against. He is watching her and smiling. They hear a groan from Rygel's bed and look up. Rygel is beginning to sit up.
Stark: "Rygel!"
Rygel: "I've been filleted." He groans,
Stark: "The restorative vines. They're working."
Aeryn: "Rygel. Come over here now and untie us."
Rygel gasps: "Get over there? I need bed rest for at least the next 50 arns."
Aeryn keeps pulling at her bonds.
Rygel: "Oh! Oh, oh! Have you seen these so-called stitches? Who did this to me?"
Stark, proudly: "I did."
Rygel: "Oh, great! A one-eyed hingmot with no 3-D vision. Oh, oh! How many of my vital organs did you puncture?"
Stark: "I saved your life!"
Rygel: "Saved my life? L, Look. You've sewed this to me!"
Aeryn: "Rygel!"
Rygel: "My robes. You sewed my robes to my chest!"
Aeryn: "Get over here now!"
Xhalax walks up to the prowler, opens its canopy and takes out a short pulse rifle. She leaves the prowler.
John and Crais are again on the move. John checks the positional device he took from Kek.
John: "This thing workin?"
Crais: "It had better be. We'll never find Talyn without it."
Rygel is sawing away at the vines that are tying Aeryn's wrists.
Aeryn: "Oh, for frell's sake Rygel, use two hands. Two hands?"
Rygel: "I'm going as fast as I can! My robes are stitched inside my chest cavity..."
Stark: "You are so ungrateful."
Rygel: "And, I'm trying to keep my guts from spilling out all over this frelling floor!" Rygel gasps and goes back to sawing away. At the same time, Aeryn is pulling on the vines as hard as she can. He finally manages to cut through a vine and she quickly unties her hands and feet.
Aeryn: "Right. See if you can wake Talyn. If he's up to it, when I get back, we're going."
Aeryn gets up and leaves. Stark holds his wrists out for Rygel to cut the vines.
Stark: "Come on. Come on."
Rygel growls and holds up his knife.
Stark: "Come on, jus, just, come on!"
Xhalax is searching the jungle for Crais.
John and Crais are following the positional device, searching for Talyn.
