Air Date: July 19, 2002
Written by Sophie C. Hopkins
Directed by Ian Watson
Transcript by Xenajules2
Edited and put on-line by Bluey
Episode 4.06 - Natural Election
Previously on Farscape(voice of Aeryn):
Scene One: from "Dog With Two Bones", John is sitting in the Farscape One Module. Off to the side is Aeryn, in her prowler. The prowler dissolves and disappears and we see Aeryn's face with a single tear running down it. The Old Woman whispers in John's ear: "Aeryn is with child."
Scene Two: from "Crichton Kicks", John sits, leaning against a door in the dying Leviathan Elack. There is writing on the door. Rygel floats over to him. Rygel: "Still obsessed, I see." John: "Did she say anything to you before she left?"
Scene Three: from "Crichton Kicks", a freshly shaved John wipes his face with a rag and tells Chiana: "I've finally figured out wormholes." Rygel: "You did it? All that wormhole nonsense?" John: "Yah, I can get you home."
Scene Four: from "Promises", D'Argo points out from the cockpit of Lo'La: "There she is." John sits up and looks out as Moya appears in a beautiful sky. D'Argo: "Pilot? Moya looks beautiful."
Scene Five: from "Promises", John stands in Moya's docking bay, his pulse pistol held straight out in front of him, two-handed. Aeryn walks into the bay from the opposite direction. John: "Aeryn. You've come back." Aeryn tries to smile at him but starts to cry.
Scene Six: from "Promises", John sits on the floor of the docking bay, holding Aeryn in his lap. Aeryn: "I've got heat delirium."
Scene Seven: from "Promises", John looks down into Aeryn's face: "Who saved your life? Who?" Scorpius appears in the docking bay: "I did." Aeryn: "He wants asylum." John lets go of Aeryn and points his pistol at Scorpius. John: "NO! You're buried. You're dead." Aeryn gets between the two of them: "I gave my word... that he would not be harmed. Put your weapons down."
Scene Eight: from "Promises", Chiana is sitting near Pilot, on his console. Pilot: "We ask you to choose one spokesperson." Chiana: "You mean, just pick a Captain?" Pilot: "Yes."
Scene Nine: from "Promises", John is standing in Moya's Command. John: "So, you could tell me if... you were pregnant." Aeryn half-smiles but doesn't respond. John looks at her, slaps his hand on his leg and walks away.
And now, on Farscape...
PROLOGUE
On board Moya...
A pair of boots is pacing back and forth. In the background, there is the sound of a stringed instrument being tuned. The boots belong to Aeryn who is walking back and forth, frowning and patting her leg.
Rygel: "We are sitting at a dead-stop, in the middle of nothing, because Crichton thinks he can smell a wormhole about to open?"
Aeryn looks over at John, turns and walks back towards the back of Command. D'Argo continues to strum on his instrument, while John looks out the forward viewscreen.
Rygel: "Does anyone else find this vaguely preposterous?"
D'Argo: "You promised him two arns. We'll give him two arns... Captain."
Rygel: "You had your turn and now it's mine. Until we elect a permanent captain, I demand the same respect and obedience..." D'Argo hits a sour note on the shilquin.
Rygel: "Aah!"
D'Argo hisses at him.
Rygel: "Oohh. Why did you construct another of those hideous instruments? My bowels make better music!"
John is standing at a console, checking something on it and staring out the view screen. Aeryn huffs and turns to make another circuit in her pacing.
Chiana enters Command.
Chiana: "Hey!" She walks over to D'Argo: "How's it commin?
D'Argo: "Almost finished. Umm, I'm close to balancing harmonics across the difficult setra chords."
Chiana punches him on the shoulder pad: "Not you, you ripnitz. Has Crichton found any wormholes?"
D'Argo: "No."
John: "Ba boom!"
Everyone looks at him. John leaves the console and walks closer to the viewscreen.
John: "Wormhole in... diez...
Sikozu whispers: "Yes." She gets up and walks over near John.
John: "... nueve..."
Chiana: "Does that nixer..."
John: "ocho..."
Chiana: "... really annoy you?"
John: "siete..."
D'Argo: "No."
John: "seis..."
In his cell, Scorpius sits up and then gets up off his bed.
John: "cinco..."
Aeryn stops pacing and turns to look.
John: "quatro..."
Sikozu is standing next to John, watching him, with a fascinated smile on her face.
John: "tres..."
John: "dos..."
Rygel absently brushes his eyebrow, while watching John.
John: "uno."
Everyone continues to stare out the forward viewscreen for several more microts. Finally D'Argo looks back down at his shilquin and exhales loudly.
John turns and starts to walk away: "Tear out page forty-two." He takes his book and goes back and leans over the console, writing in it.
In his cell, Scorpius sinks dejectedly back onto his bed.
Pilot: "We're... sorry, Commander."
John: "No you're not, Pilot. You and Moya hate wormholes, but thanks for saying so."
Sikozu comes over to John: "Do you know what you did wrong?"
John: "You mean other than getting up this morning?" He sighs and shakes his head. He tosses his pen down on the console and walks over to Rygel.
John: "Have at it, Cap. Knock yourself out."
Rygel: "Uhh..."
Pilot: "Your orders, Captain Rygel? Have you chosen a flight vector?"
Rygel: "Give me another microt with miserably..."
John walks towards the door where Aeryn has been pacing. Sikozu follows him. Aeryn steps into the middle of the corridor, blocking John's exit. They stand, face to face.
Aeryn looks at Sikozu: "Would you excuse us?"
Sikozu sighs and turns around. John looks at her and then back at Aeryn.
Aeryn: "Can I speak to you?" She smiles at him. "Quite a few things I'd like to say."
John: "There's a lot of things I'd like to hear. I'd offer to buy you a drink, but..." He looks pointedly down at her stomach.
Aeryn: "My quarters."
John nods. Aeryn turns and starts down the corridor with John following her. There is a whoosing sound and a blue light that illuminates John. He stops and turns around to look back.
Inside Command, D'Argo, Chiana and Sikozu all look up at the sound.
D'Argo: "Frell." He stands up.
Sikozu: "Crichton?"
John walks into Command and over to the viewscreen.
Rygel: "I don't believe it. It's a frelling wormhole."
Chiana stands ontop of a console to look: "Look at that.'
D'Argo: "Well done, John."
Inside his cell, Scorpius closes his eyes and sighs.
The viewscreen is filled with a large wormhole.
Rygel: "The frellnik actually predicted a wormhole."
Chiana dances over to John and hugs him. She laughs: "You did it. Hey, now there's three of us who'll like you."
John laughs.
Aeryn watches from the doorway.
Pilot: "Commander... this wormhole is a great deal larger and closer than your assurances."
John: "Back it on up, Pilot. Anything you want."
Rygel: "Uh huh. Excuse me, but there is a chain of command in place."
The wormhole winks out and closes.
John: "Whatever Sparky. Rock on." He turns to leave Command again. He walks over to Aeryn and smiles. She smiles at him.
Rygel: "Alright, Pilot, I think that under the circumstances, that yes, I agree we should..."
There is an explosion and everyone is thrown down. John catches Aeryn's hand and goes down with her to the floor. There are sparks and smoke everywhere. Command goes totally dark. Sikozu screams.
John helps Aeryn start to get up.
John: "You all right?"
Aeryn: "Yah. What hit us?"
John: "Dunno."
D'Argo: "Can you move?"
Chiana: "My arm." Sikozu comes over to check on her. John and Aeryn get up and stumble towards the others. Explosions continue to flash around Command.
Rygel: "What happened to the stars?"
They all look towards the viewscreen where nothing is visible outside Moya.
Rygel, his voice trembling: "What happened to the stars?"
END OF PROLOGUE
ACT ONE
Explosions continue aboard Moya. D'Argo is driven back from a console that flashes and throws sparks.
Rygel: "Budong! It's probably a budong!"
Aeryn: "Unlikely! We're not moving."
Sikozu: "There's nothing. Everything's blown."
John: "Pilot? Be there."
D'Argo: "Okay, I've secured a patch, but it won't last long. Sikozu..."
Sikozu: "When I'm done here."
They are all jolted by another series of explosions.
Rygel: Argh! There are no stars. It's, uh... the flax. The wormhole got us. We're gonna die!"
Chiana walks over to him: "Hey, Captain Chaos." She hits him in the head and he flies backwards, groaning.
Aeryn: "Try comms now!"
John: "Pilote. Como estas, hombre?"
Pilot comms: "Commander, are you all right?"
John: "A little south of that. What the hell's goin on?"
Pilot: "Undetermined. Moya's convulsing unlike anything I have experienced before."
Sikozu: "And therein lies our problem."
John: "It's not his fault, Sputnik!"
Rygel: "Yes, it's probably yours!"
Chiana: "He... wasn't the Captain." She smacks Rygel on the back of the head as she goes by him.
Rygel grunts.
D'Argo: "Pilot? What did we hit?"
Pilot: "Nothing."
Aeryn: "We weren't moving at the time, were we?"
Pilot: "Correct. Something hit us."
Rygel: "Well, what, you frellwit? There aren't any stars!"
Pilot: "I have no external readings. Not a single sense neuron on Moya's skin is transmitting."
Sikozu: "That cannot be right."
There is yet another explosion and they are all jolted again.
Pilot yells as he is shaken: "Ahhg! It is, you disagreeable hi..!"
John: "How can that be right, Pilot?"
Pilot: "Something is attacking Moya across all exposed surfaces. Her skin is burning everywhere at once."
Chiana: "Well, what do we do?"
Pilot: "Under the circumstances, a hull breach will go undetected."
Aeryn: "Perimeter hull search." She starts moving.
John: "Interior."
Aeryn: "With... Chiana?"
John: "Yah."
Chiana: "With ya." They leave Command.
There is another jolt. Pilot groans out loud.
Sikozu: "Has anyone heard from Scorpius?" She comms: "Scorpius? Are you all right."
In his cell, Scorpius lugs the container of coolant rods up onto a table.
Scorpius comms: "Physically, yes. However... I would appreciate being let out of this cell."
He bends down and starts to pick up the rods which are scattered on the floor.
John: "Absolutely not. Grandmama? Yo! School lunch lady? You there?"
He and D'Argo stop what they are doing to listen for an answer, but there is none.
John: "Great, we got an m.i.a. Got no time to look now. D. How about a little space walk?"
They leave Command.
In the galley... Noranti's third eye is open and glowing a bright pink.
Noranti whispers: "Ver... verdure?" She gasps: "Verdure."
She is moving around the galley, obviously alarmed. Things are all thrown about and knocked over around her. She gasps and stumbles over something on the floor. There is a crash of pots and things. She hurries around the table, holding on to it's edge.
Noranti, still whispering: "Herbage flora." She pants and hurries to a window. She climbs up and stands on the window ledge, trying to look out. Her third eye is almost florescent.
Noranti: "Herbage. Flora." She screams: "
Plant... !"
From outside, her scream: "Plant!" can be heard echoing. Moya's hull is almost completely covered by a purple and green looking plant.
Rygel and Sikozu are still on Command. Sikozu is working with a tool, fixing some wires on a console.
Rygel: "What kind of plant lives in space? What kind of plant can grab a Leviathan?"
A slab of the purple plant moves and D'Argo's voice comes from inside a space suit.
D'Argo: "I've never seen anything like this before, have you?"
John's helmeted head can just be seen amongst the plant.
John: "D, it wasn't that long ago I hadn't heard of
you. Looks like Glinda was right. We got some kinda
weirrrd plant, man."
Sikozu comms: "Can you see any stars through its vegetation?"
John peers out from inside the plant: "Naw. It's pretty damn deep. We're going to take some samples."
A DRD, under the plant near John, squeaks and waves its light stalks. It is completely covered by the plant as well.
Scorpius comms up to Command: "I suspect inopportune timing, but I require some assistance." There are several sparking noises and flashes near him.
Rygel: "You are not getting out of that cell, Scorpius."
Scorpius: "No doubt. However, I believe the fire will not honor that edict." He stands near a junction box that is in flames.
Sikozu looks at Rygel: "I'm on my way, Scorpius." She takes off running.
Chiana: "Hey!"
Sikozu squirts the fire with a fire extinquisher. Scorpius stands nearby. Chiana runs in the open cell doorway. She cocks her pistol and points it at Sikozu's head.
Chiana: "What... are you doing?"
Sikozu: "Fire on a ship is our number one priority, Chiana. I just happened to get here first."
Chiana: "He's a prisoner. Doors stay closed."
Sikozu: "Does he look like he's trying to escape?"
Chiana: "Out." She gestures with her gun: "Out!"
Sikozu sighs, but she leaves the cell. Chiana looks sharply at Scorpius, then she starts out. There is another fairly large explosion and she is shaken so that she has to grab the door sill for support.
Chiana: "Okay." She grabs Sikozu and pushes her up against the wall. Sikozu cries out. Using the hand with the gun in it, she runs it over the control and the cell door closes. Chiana has her face right in Sikozu's face. Scorpius comes to the cell door to watch and listen.
Chiana: "I know you think you're pretty smart... but we know Scorpius better than you do. He probably set that fire."
Scorpius: "Look down the passageway. If I can start fires, I am most proficient at it."
Chiana turns and looks. Another junction box flares and a fire that was in it burns brighter.
Chiana: "Frell!" She slams her hand on the cell door lock. Another junction box flares and flames. "There's fires everywhere." She takes off and starts using the fire extinquisher on the junction boxes.
Sikozu looks over at Scorpius and smiles. He looks back, closes his eyes, modestly, and walks away. The junction boxes continue to spark and burn.
D'Argo follows John down a corridor. John is wearing his space suit from Talyn and he's carrying a purple plant covered DRD. The DRD keeps squeaking.
John: "It's oozing some kind of gunk, dissolving the metal."
Aeryn is in another corridor, carrying a fire extinquisher. She comms: "Pilot says Moya's fluids are rushing in to protect internal organs..." She starts to put out a fire: "...causing ruptures everywhere."
D'Argo: "This stuff is
killing my eyes. How come it's not killing your eyes?"
John: "It's like an onion. We'll live."
Aeryn, going to another fire: "We've gotta get it off Moya's skin."
D'Argo puts his hand on John's shoulder: "You know what?"
John: "What?"
D'Argo: "We'll blast it off with Lo'La."
Aeryn squirts her fire extinquisher on another junction box.
D'Argo's ship is lifting off, inside Moya's hangar deck.
D'Argo: "Hold it steady."
John: "I am trying, but it's not responding. I need more of your DNA."
He turns to D'Argo. D'Argo groans, then spits in John's hand.
John: "You know, I hate this ship."
Lo'La makes a beeping noise.
John: " It's messy."
As Lo'La bursts through the open hangar bay, a large chunk of the plant is blown away from Moya, making a sharp contrast with the rest of the encrusted hull. D'Argo flies the ship around, to get a good look at Moya. He and John stare, in amazement.
D'Argo: "Whoa..."
Pilot comms: "How... bad is the situation?"
John asks D'Argo quietly: "Are we tellin the truth?"
D'Argo shakes his head: "Uh uh."
John comms: "Truthfully Pilot, uhh, it's nothing we can't handle. We'll get back to you later on the details." He flips a switch: "And we are off the air."
Aeryn has gone to the den to be with Pilot. There is a rumbling noise and Moya shakes again.
Pilot: "Every measure I take is soon overcome by Moya's pain."
Aeryn sighs: "How did you miss the plant?"
Pilot: "I didn't. We assumed it was debris... and quite far away. When the wormhole distracted us, it snuck up. Why should a plant be floating so far out here?"
Aeryn: "I don't know. We'll worry about that later. Just don't give up."
Pilot: "Aeryn, if too much of Moya's skin becomes irreparably damaged, she will not... recover."
Aeryn strokes his head: "We'll fix it." She goes around behind Pilot.
D'Argo is sighting into his ship's targeting devise.
John: "One last chance. You want to wait for..."
D'Argo interrupts him: "What? So Noranti can tell us how to make a great salad? No. See plant. (He points out the viewscreen) Kill plant."
John: "That's got to be on the Luxan coat of arms."
D'Argo: "I don't suppose you have a better idea?"
John: "Nope."
D'Argo: "Well... then hold it steady."
Inside Moya....
Aeryn stands in a corridor, her arms crossed in front of her. She is watching as some steam or vapor comes out of a duct in front of her and blocks the corridor. It makes a loud, hissing noise. Chiana comes up to the spray, from the opposite direction.
Chiana stops, looking at Aeryn and smiles: "Leak?"
Aeryn: "Scalon vapor return duct. Can linger in your bloodstream."
Chiana sidles over and reaches to turn off the valve on the duct, stopping the steam: "Never stopped you before."
Aeryn, quietly: "Yah, well, this time I'm pregnant."
Chiana looks up at Aeryn and Aeryn just stands there, arms still crossed, looking back.
Chiana smiles again and walks towards Aeryn: "W... before or... or after you left Moya?"
Aeryn: "Before."
Chiana: "Does Crichton know."
Aeryn nods: "Mm."
Chiana: "Nice."
Aeryn: "What he doesn't know is... that it... may not be his."
There is a loud rumbling noise and they are shaken as Moya jerks. Aeryn puts a hand up on the wall to steady herself but she keeps her eyes trained on Chiana.
Chiana: "Oh, you... you... you mean the other Crichton."
Aeryn purses her lips and shakes her head, no."
Chiana shakes her head along with Aeryn: "Somebody els... somebody else?"
Aeryn: "Possibly." She nods at Chiana and sighs. "I only found out on the Command Carrier and I haven't had it DNA tested yet."
Chiana sighs: "Whew!" and rests her head against the corridor wall. "Your life is... is so much more interesting than mine."
Aeryn walks over to Chiana: "Can I trust you?"
Chiana: "Yah."
Aeryn: "Don't want you to tell John."
Chiana: "No way. Never, never. That's... that's your speech."
Aeryn nods and sighs, closing her eyes momentarily.
Chiana: "Come here."
On Lo'La...
D'Argo: "Okay... If I have calculated the plant depth correctly, we'll be able to burn right through it without Moya feeling a thing."
John: "Any news from the candy kitchen?"
Sikozu comms: "Nothing unexpected..."
Sikozu is in the galley with Noranti. She is pouring something into a beaker while Noranti is standing by a boiling pot. Noranti puts something in her mouth and chews it a bit, and tastes it. She spits it out, onto the floor and puts something else in her mouth. This time she chews and then swallows.
Sikozu: "The plant secretes an acid... that dissolves certain types of metal which it then ingests. The burning in your eyes is due to a waste gas."
John: "Must go a long time inbetween meals."
Sikozu: "No, not really. Think of your wormholes. Every time it opens, the sudden gravitational presence draws..."
John: "Draws the debris towards it."
Sikozu: "Yes. I would... I would think."
John whispers to D'Argo: "She's too smart!"
D'Argo: "Okay. I'm initiating the firing sequence." He leans into the targeting goggles.
Noranti pick up the pot she has been boiling, lifting it off the stove. As she brings it towards her, the bottom falls out of the pot and boiling liquid splashes out, hitting Noranti. She cries out and drops the pot on the floor with a crash. She jumps back, panting and waving her arms. Sikozu puts down what she has been working on and hurries over to the old woman.
Noranti pants faster, holding her hands out rigidly.
Sikozu grabs her arm: "What is it?"
Noranti: "Eat! Eats... cry... tears... cry... grow... eat..."
Sikozu: "I can't understand!"
D'Argo: "You ready?"
John nods: "Mm."
Sikozu: "What is it? I can't understand."
Noranti's third eye is glowing purple: "Eat."
D'Argo: "John... I'm going to tell you something I've never actually put into words before. I
love shooting things."
John smiles and shakes his head.
Lo'La aims at the plant encrusted Leviathan...
Sikozu is hanging on to Noranti.
Noranti screams: "Don't shoot the plant!"
D'Argo fires and Lo'La's cannon hits the plant which seems to almost evaporate off Moya's skin as it burns away.
D'Argo pulls back the targeting goggles: "You know what? I"m very good at it." He grins at John. He laughs and hits John on the shoulder
John laughs and nods.
Sikozu comms: "Crichton... D'Argo... hold your fire."
Rygel looks at the forward view screen where the sky is once again visible.
Rygel breathes: "Stars..."
Sikozu comms: "Hold your fire."
She is still holding onto Noranti: "Can you hear me? I repeat... hold your fire."
D'Argo laughs: "See. They didn't even feel it." He makes a gesture with his finger and "poofs" out air to imitate a clean shot.
Sikozu comms: "Do not shoot the plant! I repeat... do not shoot the plant!"
John and D'Argo turn and look at each other.
Lo'La lands on Moya and the stair opens with a loud whooshing noise and gases escaping. John and D'Argo hurry out.
D'Argo: "Well, if it was so important, she should have spoken up sooner."
Sikozu: "I tried."
John and D'Argo walk around the ship.
John: "Back up. You say it's gonna eat faster if it's attacked."
Sikozu: "It ate it's way through the pot, rather than be cooked."
Aeryn hurries towards the hangar: "Wouldn't you?"
D'Argo: "I didn't boil the plant... I shot it. It's dead."
Aeryn joins John and D'Argo: "Then why do my eyes still sting?"
John: "D, your eyes buggin ya?"
D'Argo sneezes and shakes his head.
John: "That's a yes."
Aeryn: "Pilot? How's Moya?"
Pilot comms: "No change, Officer Sun. Perhaps a slight... worsening. She cannot localize the sensations, but she still feels the burning."
There is a low, rumbling sound from above their heads.
Aeryn: "What's that?"
She and John look around, up at the ceiling. John climbs on some crates to get a closer look. There is plant hangin down from the ceiling of the hangar bay.
D'Argo: "Just a couple of dead roots."
John grabs a handful of the roots and pulls. When he does, a large chunk of the ceiling falls down, followed by a large piece of the plant. Some of it falls onto John's face. He looks away and covers his eyes.
John: "Ahh!"
Aeryn turns her face away and coughs. Her eyes are tearing.
D'Argo shakes his head and sneezes.
Aeryn: "Doesn't look dead to me."
There are large pieces of plant hanging down from the hole in the ceiling. They are dripping some kind of liquid onto the floor.
D'Argo: "It has to be. I killed it."
Pilot comms: "Moya's pain is... increasing. What is happening?"
END OF ACT ONE
ACT TWO
D'Argo has on a breathing mask, bending over a pile of plant.
D'Argo: "It's in the frelling ship. The plant is in the frelling ship."
John is standing on the crates, looking up into the ceiling.
D'Argo: "Pilot. How far has it spread?"
Pilot groans: "Ughh... I can't tell. Moya's senses are overloaded. It could be anywhere."
John: "We'll get it out, Pilot."
Aeryn is holding a face mask over her mouth and nose: "I found two of these." She has another mask in her hand. "Is that helping you at all?"
D'Argo: "Not much. For once in my life, I wish I had your inferior noses."
John calls up into the ceiling hole: "Pip? How you doin in there?"
Chiana's face, mask covered, appears in the opening: "I'm... I'm... I'm not going up there again." She climbs out of the hole, using John as a support: "Can you send... send Rygel next time, okay?" She climbs out, shaking her head, her voice trembling: "Mmm. I'm not doing that. Mmm. I want... I want my weapons and I want my comm. Mmm."
John: "They're right here." John gives her back her metal possessions. Aeryn watches all this while holding the mask to her face.
Chiana takes her things: "Thank you."
John: "Yah."
Chiana puts on her gun.
John: "What'd you see?"
Chiana: "What'd I see? Was plant... everywhere. Up one tier... down... down two tiers, as far as you can see... see." She jerks and feels the back of her neck. She screams a little bit: "It's okay... it's... it's in my clothes! It's in my clothes! It's in my clothes."
John helps her jump down off the crates.
Aeryn: "All right, calm down. It's not gonna hurt you. It eats through metal, not flesh."
Chiana reaches towards Aeryn: "Mmm. It itches."
Aeryn: "Ohh... all right. I'll help you. Come on."
Chiana: "Itches." Aeryn takes Chiana out of the bay.
John goes and gets the extra mask Aeryn brought into the bay and holds it over his face.
D'Argo: "It's all through the ship. It's my fault."
John: "Uh huh, we all signed off on the plan. It's probably the first time that's happened. If we screwed up, we all screwed up. Come on." He pats D'Argo's shoulder and they leave the bay.
The lights on Moya dim and go out.
Rygel comms: "Pilot? What the yotz is wrong with the lights?"
Pilot is also in the dark: "I don't know."
Rygel: "Well, that's hardly good enough, is it? Fnd the problem and fix it!"
Pilot growls and groans.
There are loud clunking and bumping noises over head. Rygel looks around fearfully.
Chiana searches through Moya's corridors with a flashlight. It is eeirily dark, with parts of the plant hanging down in places and eery noises from all around her. She listens closely, then pulls her gun and goes forward holding it out in front of her.
D'Argo: "Chiana. Put it away. It's in the bulkhead, not frelling running around."
Chiana: "Yah... so far. What're ya doin?"
She follows him down the corridor.
D'Argo: "Just checking to see how far it's spread. So far it's on every frelling tier I've looked at. You know what? I think it's spawning."
Chiana: "It's not the only one."
D'Argo stops and leans against the wall.
D'Argo: "You pregnant?"
Chiana leans towards him and whispers: "Not me. Aeryn."
D'Argo: "Aeryn is pregnant? No."
Chiana: "Yah, it's the truth. I swear."
D'Argo: "Does John know?"
Chiana: "Oh, yah. But here's one thing he doesn't know... the hnah might not be his."
D'Argo: "She conceived on Talyn. If it's Crichton's DNA, then it's his, isn't..."
Chiana: "Yah, but it might not be John Crichton's at all."
D'Argo: "Well, then who's?"
Chiana makes a face: "Good question."
D'Argo sighs and shakes his head: "Who told you this?"
Chiana looks back up the corridor, then back at D'Argo: "Rygel. You can't tell anybody, okay?"
D'Argo shakes his head: "Hey, come on. He deserves to know."
Chiana: "Please swear you won't tell anybody."
D'Argo raises his eyebrows and sighs. He turns and walks off.
Chiana: "D'Argo."
Noranti is pulling at a piece of the plant, examining it in front of a portable lantern.
Noranti: "Ahh. Ohh. Ohh." She puts down the plant and grabs the sides of her head. She starts rubbing her face, just above where the mask stops. "Ooh. Ooh. Ooh."
Sikozu: "What's the matter with you?"
Noranti takes a deep breath: "Ohh. This Leviathan is in pain. Dying. Leviathans are good. Good things shouldn't have to die."
Sikozu brings her work over, closer to Noranti: "That's right. That's why we have to keep working on this plant."
Noranti: "Ohh! Ohh... Itches... can't scratch. Bad to scratch. I might go blind. Oh, what to do?" She makes fists and whimpers.
Sikozu: "All right." She looks around, perhaps for inspiration: "All right, here's what we do. We... help your eye and the Leviathan by finding a way to kill... the plant."
Noranti: "How?"
Sikozu: "However we can. Maybe a poison."
Noranti: "I know lots of poisons."
Sikozu smiles: "Yes... I'm sure you do. Right?"
In his cell, Scorpius stands in front of a junction box. He does something to it. It flashes with a whooshing noise and his lights come on. Scorpius walks into the middle of the cell, looking up. There is some of the plant hanging out of another junction box. It is moving and making a chittering noise. Scorpius hears the noise and walks over to the plant, to investigate. It continues to make the noise. Scorpius laughs quietly.
Aeryn holds a mask to her face and searches with a flashlight. Another light comes down the corridor behind her.
Chiana: "Aeryn?"
Aeryn, talking through the mask: "I'm over here."
Chiana: "Hey." She examines the walls with her flashlight: "Uh... I checked the whole lobe. There's no, uh... there's no plant in Moya's neural tissue. She's gonna to be alright. It means we can save her, right?"
Aeryn: "Yah, but we still have other lobes to check."
Chiana: "Right. Okay. All right."
Aeryn takes her mask down from her face as Chiana starts to walk away.
Aeryn: "Oh, Chiana?"
Chiana: "Yah?"
Aeryn stands with her back to the wall: "About that conversation... that we had before..."
Chiana: "What? What conversation?"
Aeryn: "The one about the, uh..."
Chiana: "Oh, the... " She makes a clicking noise with her tongue.
Aeryn clicks her tongue: "Yah. I was wondering if you could do me a favor?"
Chiana: "Sure."
Aeryn: "Could you forget that we had that... conversation?"
Chiana: "Ohh." She walks towards Aeryn. "S... sure, but you... you know, you had to tell somebody do I don't..."
Aeryn: "Yah, umm... now I'm... really regretting that I did. I may not even tell him."
Chiana: "What? Ev... ever? Never?"
Aeryn: "Well, I need to know whose it is first, and... I can't tell him that I don't know. So... could you just forget that it... happened?"
Chiana: "Sure."
Aeryn: "Is that okay?"
Chiana: "Yah. Of... of course it is. Definitely."
Aeryn: "Thanks. I'm going to..." She gestures with her head and leaves.
Chiana stands with her back to a column and watches Aeryn leave. "Ohhh... frell!" She throws herself back against a different column.
John approaches the door of Scorpius' cell.
John: "All right. You got me here. What do you want?"
Scorpius: "Watch." He walks over to the junction box with the plant hanging out. As he gets close to it, it makes a chattering noise and the tendrils all shimmer and shake. It makes a sort of squeeky squealing noise and the tendrils pull back into the box. John pulls Winona and cocks her. He opens the cell door and comes in, holding the pistol pointed at Scorpius.
John: "Back up. Back up!"
Scorpius moves away slightly.
John comms: "Aeryn?" He gestures for Scorpius to move aside: "This way."
Aeryn comms: "John... what is it?"
John: "Seems that Audrey has taste. She doesn't like Scorpius." He directs Scorpius again: "To the right." He comms: "What'd you got?"
Aeryn: "Good news as well. I can't find any traces of the plant in the neural cluster."
John is taking Scorpius down a corridor: "So it likes eating metal, but it doesn't like toubray tissue."
There
is a strong explosion and a flash of white light. Aeryn is thrown to the floor, but she manages to hang onto her flashlight.
John comms: "Aeryn? What the hell was that?"
There is another explosion and Aeryn is thrown backwards again.
John: "Are you okay?"
Aeryn gasps as she struggles to get to her feet. She starts to climb a ladder up the side of the neural chamber.
John: "Aeryn, talk to me."
There is yet another explosion down below as she crawls off the top of the ladder.
Aeryn: "Give me a microt, Crichton. Listen Pilot... the neural cluster..."
Pilot sits at his console but doesn't respond.
Aeryn: "Pilot?" She starts carefully to cross the catwalk, over to where Pilot sits. She shines her light around as she walks. As she approaches Pilot, he is still sitting silent, with his eyes closed and his head bowed. Bits of the plant appear to be twining around his head and even out of his mouth. Aeryn shines her light on his face.
Suddenly, Pilot's eyes fly open and he begins to choke and gag. His mouth is full of the plant and he screams and shakes.
END OF ACT TWO
ACT THREE
John and D"Argo enter Scorpius' cell, followed by Sikozu.
John: "Could be his coolant rods, could just be his personality."
D'Argo: "Well, let's just hope it's these rods."
John: "How's the damage to Moya."
Sikozu: "Contained to a small section of one lobe. There should not be any loss of brain function."
D'Argo is opening Scorpius' storage container: "What about the plant? Why wasn't there any in the neural cluster?"
Sikozu: "Because there is no metal in the toubray but... there is metal in the electrolyte regulators and when they jammed, the synapses overloaded." She picks up one of the blue coolant rods.
Aeryn wrestles a chained Scorpius onto Pilot's console so that Scorpius is lying on his back, next to Pilot. They are both breathing heavily.
Scorpius: "I wish to assist however I can. There is no need for these restraints."
Aeryn attaches the chain to the wall: "I believe you. The others don't." She rolls him onto his side, so that his head is near some of the plant fibers. The plant chitters and pulls back, away from Scorpius.
Aeryn comms: "It's working." She pulls Scorpius over, onto his back again. "Crichton, it's working."
John holds one of the coolant rods near some of the plant in Scorpius' cell: "Yup. There you go. We got lucky. It's definately the rods." He sniffs and hands the rod back to Sikozu: "Is that all we have?"
Sikozu: "It may not be enough. I'll see how far I can dilute them down." She leaves the cell, carrying the coolant rods. John follows her, but D'Argo stops him before he leaves the room.
D'Argo: "John?"
John: "Yah?"
D'Argo sighs: "I know Aeryn's pregnant. Chiana told me."
John looks away and turns his head from side to side, avoiding D'Argo's eyes: "Chiana."
D'Argo: "Rygel told her."
John nods: "So... the whole ship knows?"
D'Argo: "Well, I don't think Moya does, but, uh..."
John smiles a bit and waits: "Go ahead."
D'Argo: "Aeryn isn't sure... if the child is John Crichton's."
John: "The thoughthad crossed my mind."
D'Argo: "It doesn't matter."
John: "So, what do you think?"
D'Argo: "I think that either way... you're going to get hurt. So, uh... look after yourself."
John: "Thanks." He puts his mask back over his face and leaves.
Noranti takes a drink of blue liquid from a beaker.
Sikozu: "Uhh!"
Noranti: "Mmm."
Sikozu: "We're not interested in its flavor, you... ugh. I'm not going to insult you."
Noranti: "No, no, no, no. It's more like hindrati petal tea. Ooh, I can feel the fungus dying as they mingle in my mouth."
Sikozu: "Concentrate." She sighs: " We know it works as an aerosol but which element? Or is it the compound as a whole? That is what we have to solve."
Noranti chews some more as she talks: "In a casserole, no. But... if stewed properly, I believe this plant may compliment a variety of meat dishes." She laughs and smacks as she chews.
Sikozu: "You defy... the whole theory of natural selection."
Noranti laughs: "Ha, ha. Do I? Ha, ha, ha, ha."
Sikozu grabs her and yells in her face: "Listen to me! These people are trying to save this ship and us. Now, if their plan fails, we need to know why
this works!" She picks up one of the rods and holds it in Noranti's face.
D'Argo walks onto the darkened Command, breathing heavily. Rygel is sitting behind him, holding a tiny flashlite. He is wearing an eye mask. D'Argo touches a control and there is a whirring noise. Rygel lifts his head and looks at D'Argo.
D'Argo: "You are here. Why didn't you respond? You were meant to be checking the circulation."
Rygel: "You do it."
D'Argo: "Air flow is still functioning. John and Aeryn are clear to go."
John and Aeryn are wearing their space suits from Talyn. They are each carrying a bucket of blue liquid, very carefully.
John: "Let's not spill any of this Scorpy juice. It's all we've got."
Aeryn: "Got it."
D'Argo leaves the console and walks over to Rygel.
D'Argo: "Rygel... you're often insufferable." He takes off his mask and sighs: "But, uh..." D'Argo sits down next to Rygel: "... it's not your fault."
Rygel: "I... was Captain."
D'Argo: "Yes, you were. And, uh... Pilot's pilot and Moya's a Leviathan. No matter what orders you give, they're not going to fly into something they can't sense."
Rygel: "But this plant... this fungus..."
D'Argo: "It didn't register."
Rygel: "Still... I was in charge."
D'Argo leans closer to Rygel: "There are so many other reasons why you should hate yourself at the moment. Like sulking while others are out there risking their lives. Now monitor... the air flow."
D'Argo gets up and leaves as Rygel watches him go.
John and Aeryn, in their space suits, come up to a closed door with glass in it. Through the door is a huge room full of large fans.
John comms: "Pilot? We gonna be okay in there?"
Pilot answers him, but he has to speak very slowly to make himself understood: "Tiering fan filters in the atmospheric scrubber a... llows a dampening of air flow..."
John: "Yah, it's all very PBS. We'll take that as an affirmative."
He opens the door and it becomes possible to hear the fans turning loudly as he and Aeryn walk carefully into the room.
John: "So... you want to talk?"
Aeryn laughs and John looks at her and smiles.
Aeryn: "I appreciate you waiting for
this appropriate time and place."
John: "Yah... I got pretty good at waiting."
They get down on the floor and scoot under a fan, to get to the middle of the room. They shove their buckets of blue liquid along in front of them.
Aeryn: "I can't believe this is all we have."
John: "Sikozu and Noranti thinned it out as much as they could."
Aeryn comms: "Alright. They're in position."
D'Argo comms back: "I'll let you know when the vapor trail arrives." He shines his light down at the floor where there is more plant. "At the moment, all there is is this hungry plant and my frelling inability to breathe."
Chiana comms: "I'm as far away from you, hamman side as I can get. It doesn't look good."
John: "Just hang tough, Pip. It may be a little while."
Rygel: "Better cut that in half. Even the DRD's have given up. The fungus is everywhere."
The plant is twining itself around the fan shafts as they turn.
John: "Hopefully that'll change as soon as this Scorpy juice gets into the air stream."
Aeryn: "You know, we don't have a contingency."
John: "Ehh, this'll work. Unless that plant can mutate in five minutes, what could go wrong? Damn! I did not just say that!"
There is a squealing noise and then a huge explosion. The blades of the fan nearest John and Aeryn come flying off. The buckets of coolant solution are both knocked over, as are John and Aeryn. The fan, what's left of it, slows to a halt. The blue liquid quickly runs down into a drain. John sits up and sees the liquid escaping.
John: "Guys... we got a problem. The witch's brew is down the drain."
The whole crew stops where they are, to listen.
John: "Aeryn, we got to get out of here." He pushes her but she doesn't respond. "Aeryn." He looks at her face... there is blood trickling down from her temple. Her eyes are closed and she is clearly unconscious.
John: "Oh, god."
END OF ACT THREE
ACT FOUR
Aeryn sits, leaning against a wall. She is still in her space suit, but the helmet is off. There is blood running down the side of her face. John kneels beside her.
John: "Does it hurt?"
Aeryn: "Mm hmm."
John: "Where?"
Aeryn: "Where it's bleeding." She knocks his hand away.
Rygel comms: "Crichton? When is your farbot wormhole due to open again?"
John: "Why?"
Rygel: "We've drifted atop its coordinates. The Captain says, abandon ship." He looks around Command, using his tiny flashlight.
D'Argo snorts. He is in the hangar bay, near Lo'La.
Aeryn comms: "D'Argo? Can your vessel pull us clear." She grunts as John helps her stand up. "Buy us time."
From where he sits, chained to Pilot's console, Scorpius comms: "I hardly believe it's worth the effort. This Leviathan is gone."
Pilot sits, shaking his head back and forth, and moaning.
D'Argo stands with one hand on Lo'La's ladder: "Lo'La could move Moya. But, is it worth the risk?"
Sikozu comms: "Yes. This old demon has isolated the plant-killing compound. Tell them!"
Sikozu is holding onto Noranti and gives her a shake.
Noranti gasps as she speaks: "Solanterum fobex. Tingles on the palate. Mildly radioactive in quantity."
D'Argo: "So what? We're out of coolant rods."
Sikozu: "Don't you people know your own ship?! We have solanterum!"
Sikozu brings Noranti onboard Lo'Lah, joining Rygel and D'Argo.
Sikozu: "Solanterum is a toxic absorbing regulator within Moya's filter system. Pipes of it run all the way through..."
D'Argo interrupts her: "Okay... okay. We got it already. John? How long till your wormhole?"
John: "Too far away to tell, but it's coming." He is outside Lo'Lah, in the hangar bay. He has a mask held to his face. He bends down to talk to a DRD.
John: "All right... 1812... even spacing, all tiers, no gaps. Cannons set to minimum. Tell all your cousins. Go do it." He pats the DRD and stands up. He walks over to where Chiana is standing behind a barrel.
John: "You sure you want to be here?"
Chiana: "Yup. My skin reflects radiation. We don't tan, but we don't burn either."
John: "Aeryn?"
Aeryn is at Pilot's console: "I believe I've set a simple control sequence to fire all DRD's simultaneously."
John: "All right. Come on back."
Aeryn comms: "I'll stay and activate unless... you'll agree to trust Scorpius."
On board Lo'La, everyone replies in unison: "No!"
John: "Aeryn... one word. Radiation."
Aeryn comms: "I can handle it."
John: "And what about the baby?"
Aeryn sighs and hangs her head.
Onboard Lo'La, D'Argo also sighs and hangs his head.
D'Argo: "Volunteers?"
Sikozu: "Even minimal ion exposure breaks down three of my internal organs. I doubt I shall survive until I am needed."
D'Argo turns his head to look, and so does Sikozu. Noranti shoves Rygel in the back with hr hand. He wobbles slightly. Everyone keeps staring at him.
Chiana is working on something: "Okay."
John: "Hey, fluffy. Captain going down with the ship?"
Rygel floats over towards John and Chiana. He laughs: "You wish. Just don't frell it up."
John turns back to Chiana: "So, one mean SPF. You sure this is going to work?"
Chiana: "Nope, but Aeryn said it would. Something about you... wanting to have more babies?" Chiana starts dabbing something onto John's skin with a cloth.
D'Argo activates some of Lo'La's controls. The ship makes some beeping noises and begins to roar.
Aeryn is sitting in the co-pilot's seat: "Fortunate this fungus causes you so much mucus."
D'Argo: "Excellent. Just... hold it steady. Here we go." The roaring noise from the ship gets louder.
John and Chiana force their way into the room with the fans. He is wearing his Talyn suit. Chiana has on goggles and is carrying a stick or a pole. They fight their way against the wind, further into the room. It is extremely loud in the room.
John: "It's like a wind tunnel in here."
Chiana: "Yeah."
John holds her from behind, keeping her from being forced back: "Can't be helped. Filter's got to be off and we got to stop this fan from spinning."
Chiana: "All right."
John helps her put the stick inside a giant fan, with a metallic clunk. They both grunt.
John: "That'll keep the stuff from getting sucked back in here and being cleansed. We've got to keep the mist out of the ship, or we're toast."
He leaves Chiana holding onto the stick for dear life.
Chiana: "You can do it!"
Rygel inspects some controls on Pilot's console.
From where he is chained, nearby, Scorpius watches him closely.
Scorpius: "That one first. Officer Sun was quite clear in her..."
Rygel interrupts him: "If this goes bad... please die first so my last moment can be joyous."
John jumps up and grabs a flexible pipe from near the ceiling. He pulls it down and a bluish mist starts pouring out of it, into Moya.
John: "Whoo hoo!"
Chiana braces herself, grunting, and holds the fan open with her pole. The mist exits through a cross-hatched fan at the bottom of the room. This fan is still moving and the mist moves out into the corridor.
John comms: "Ryg... be ready for my signal. If we ignite the purple haze too soon, the radiation won't penetrate Moya. Too late, we blast her apart."
Rygel comms back: "Acknowledged."
Scorpius has his eyes shut and he breathes deeply of the purple mist.
Scorpius: "It will make me stronger."
Rygel: "Radioactiveness makes you stronger?"
Scorpius: "Perhaps...
my final moments will be joyous."
Rgyel swallows audibly.
John holds the flexible pipe as the purple mist flows out of it.
Outside Moya, Lo'La has her nose against Moya's hull, pushing against her.
Sikozu: "It's working. We're pushing Moya clear."
Aeryn is steering the ship, from the co-pilot's seat.
From inside, John comms: "D'Argo! Wormhole in four... three... dos... uno..."
A wormhole suddenly appears, off to Moya's side. Lo'La continues to push her away from it.
D'Argo: "We're fine. Thanks for the big warning. Now get it done."
Scorpius calls out from Pilot's console: "As a single element, Solanterum needs to be heated to achieve effectiveness."
John comms while still holding the flexible pipe: "1812! Poll the brothers!" The DRD spins around in the mist.
John: "Everybody seeing the mist?"
The DRD stops spinning. It squeaks and brings up its cannon, at the ready.
John: "That's an affirmative. The mist should be through the ship, on every tier."
Chiana hollers: "Just go!"
John: "All DRD's... stand by. Rygel... batter up."
Rygel looks down at the controls on Pilot's console. Suddenly, Pilot's eyes fly open.
Pilot: "Ahh! Wormhole! Too close to wormhole!"
Rygel: "Pilot, calm down."
John: "Fire the DRD'S!"
Pilot grabs Rygel around the throat with one of his claws and holds him up in midair.
Rygel gasps, barely able to breathe: "Pilot."
John: "RYGEL!"
Pilot: "No! Get away!"
Scorpius pulls at his chains.
Rygel: "I'm trying to help."
Sikozu: "Too much chemical and the explosion will destroy us all."
Aeryn: "Crichton, do you copy?"
John: "Damnit Aeryn, what do you want me to do? Rygel!"
Rygel: "Let me go!"
Scorpius growls and breaks loose from his chains. He hits Pilot's arm and breaks it off, releasing Rygel. Rygel climbs back up onto the console.
Pilot screams.
Rygel gasps for air, but hits the firing control.
John: "Rygel!"
The DRD's begin to fire their cannons. A fireball of blue flame races through Moya. As it passes through the fan room, Crichton's and Chiana's skeletons are visible, momentarily. The glow is visible from outside Moya, on Lo'La. It's bright enough to make them shield their eyes. Inside the den, Scorpius and Rygel are momentarily blinded. They cry out. Chiana is knocked loose from her pole by the explosion and begins to slide down the floor, towards the cross-hatched fan at the end.
Chiana: "Crichton!"
John hangs onto the flexible pipe with one hand and grabs Chiana's leg with the other, as she slides past, screaming.
John: "I gotcha."
Chiana is hanging, face downwards, very close to the still moving fan.
Chiana continues to yell.
John: "I gotcha."
Chiana: "Pull me back."
John: "Rygel?"
Chiana: "Pull me back!"
John: "Shut off the fans."
Rygel looks up at Pilot: "What fans?"
John: "Shut down the fans! Shut off the fans!"
Rygel looks back and forth at the different controls: "Crichton... Nobody told me about any fans!"
The flexible pipe gives a little and Chiana slides closer to the fan.
Chiana: "Crichton!" She screams and gasps: "Pull me back! Pull me back!"
John: "I'm tryin."
Chiana: "Please! I'm slipping!"
Rygel gasps: "Oh, the fan, the fan."
John is hanging onto Chiana's bodysuit: "Chiana, just hang on." Chiana gasps.
John: "Rygel... shut the fans off!"
Chiana's hair is just inches away from the moving fan blades.
Rygel: "I don't know how!" He turns to Pilot: "Pilot, the fan... fan, fan, fan..."
John: "Shut the damn fans off! Quit wiggling. Just hang on."
Chiana has arched her back to hold her face away from the fan blades. Chiana gasps.
Rygel: "Frelling fan."
John: "You bastard!"
Chiana screams.
Rygel grunts and presses down on a control.
The wind noise quiets and the fan blades slowly grind to a halt.
Rygel: "How about that?" He gasps. "Did that do anything?"
John collapses, gasping onto the floor: "Yah. Fan's off."
Rygel: "It is?"
Chiana rolls over onto her back.
John: "Yah."
Rygel: "We did it." He laughs in relief: "I did it." He laughs as Scorpius stares at him.
Chiana crawls to her feet, still breathing heavily.
John is still lying on the floor: "Hey! You still got your pants on."
Chiana: "Well, that would be a first." The crotch of her bodysuit is nearly down to her knees.
John laughs and Chiana bends over, looking down at her legs.
John: "That's a good look."
Chiana grabs the crotch of her pants and laughs.
Chiana: "Very funny." She hauls on her waist band, trying to pull her pants back up as John continues to lay there and laugh.
Chiana: "Very... very funny."
END OF ACT FOUR
EPILOGUE
Onboard Moya...
Pilot: "The voting for the Captaincy is complete. WIth Moya abstaining, and everyone except for Scorpius casting a vote, including myself our total comes to eight. The tally is as follows: One vote for Dominar Rygel XVI..."
Rygel smiles and nods.
Pilot: "One vote for Officer Aeryn Sun..."
D'Argo sets down the dish he was carrying on a table and stops to listen.
Pilot: "Astonishing as it seems, Scorpius received one vote."
From his cell, Scorpius looks up and growls softly. He is holding a blue coolant rod.
Sikozu smiles.
Pilot: "One vote was cast for the Divine Eternal."
Noranti makes a prayerful gesture with her hands.
Pilot: "And finally, four votes for our new and deserving Captain... Ka D'Argo."
D'Argo huffs.
Chiana looks up at him and smiles. She laughs and D'Argo lets out a deep sigh. Chiana laughs again. Rygel turns in his thronesled and floats off.
Chiana: "Well done."
There is a DRD near where John sits, picking up broken pieces of fan from the floor. He looks up as Aeryn comes into the room. She closes the door behind her and locks it with an audible click. She stands at the door, her hands on her hips, looking down at him. John continues to stack up the broken bits, so Aeryn walks over to him and hunkers down.
Aeryn: "I didn't want to tell you about the pregnancy until I was sure."
John: "Sure you were pregnant or... sure who the father was?"
Aeryn: "Chiana will be killed."
John: "Yah, it's Chiana's fault. Won't don't you blame her?" John looks away for a moment, then looks back at Aeryn: "It's the other Crichton's."
Aeryn: "There's no distinction in my mind anymore."
John: "Okay, now you've confused me."
Aeryn: "All right." She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She opens them again: "Military campaigns can last for many cycles. Imagine if even a portion of a female unit fell pregnant. Those of us born on a Command Carrier can retain an embryonic fetus for up to seven cycles."
John: "So... this could be from..." He looks away.
Aeryn: "Perhaps four cycles before I met you. And only a surgeon can release the stasis so the baby can grow."
John: "And that's why you left."
Aeryn shakes her head: "I didn't even make it that far."
John puts his head down, onto his hand and swallows. He looks back up at her: "Aeryn... I figure a relationship... the kind we're not having... is based on trust."
Aeryn: "I'm so sorry."
John: "Yah. Me too." John continues to look at her for a few moments. "Cause you don't trust me. So, I don't know how to trust you."
Aeryn: "I think I've earned your trust."
John: "I would put my life... in your hands... but not my heart." He looks away.
Aeryn shakes her head a bit, and sort of laughs. John peers back up at her.
Aeryn, tears in her voice: "So... what's it gonna take? What do I have to do?"
John: "Just come back... when you have your story straight." He gets up and walks away.
Aeryn closes her eyes and swallows hard. She opens them again and shakes her head slightly as a tear runs down her cheek.
END OF EPILOGUE
