Air Date: August 09, 2002
Written by Mark Saraceni
Directed by Geoff Bennett
Transcript by Xenajules2
Edited and put on-line by Bluey
Episode 4.09 - A Prefect Murder
Previously on Farscape (Voice of John Crichton):
Scene One: from "Dog With Two Bones", John sits in his module, Aeryn, in her prowler, is visible off to the side. A single tear runs down Aeryn's face. The Old Woman whispers in John's ear: "Aeryn is with child."
Scene Two: from "Natural Election". D'Argo is wearing a breathing mask and talking to John. D'Argo: "Aeryn isn't sure if the child is John Crichton's."
Scene Three: from "Promises", John stands on Moya's Command and faces a seated Aeryn.
Scene Four: from "Natural Election", John: "A relationship is based on trust." Aeryn: "I'm so sorry." John: "I would put my life in your hands, but not my heart."
Scene Five: from "John Quixote", Noranti, standing by a steaming pot, holds something in her hand: "Distillate of laka... one whiff and the pain is gone... for a time."
Scene Six: from "I Shrink Therefore I Am", John's memories of Aeryn flash by. Noranti puts her hands on his shoulders: "Take it for as long as you need it." John rubs his nose and his eyes. He coughs and clears his throat: "I don't need it. It just takes the edge off."
Scene Seven: from "I Shrink Therefore I Am", onboard Moya, Pilot comms: "In view of the continuing danger we face in Peacekeeper space, I'm reluctantly forced to consider traveling into Tormented Space."
John: "It can't be as bad as some of the places we've been lately."
Aeryn: "Trust me... it can."
And now, on Farscape...
PROLOGUE
Aeryn's prowler sits parked, on a desolate, fog covered planet. There is a young child standing under one wing, looking up at something and humming. Aeryn is standing by the side of the prowler. She has some sort of round instrument in her hand. An insect bites her arm and she slaps it. She rubs the site, idlely.
Aeryn turns to the child and points: "Don't touch that." The child just looks at her.
Aeryn turns back to her instrument and sighs. She hears the child behind her, humming. Aeryn turns and looks at the child. He is doing something to a part of the prowler that is hanging down beneath the wing. He appears to be feeling for vibrations.
Chiana is running through some woods. She is being chased by a group of angry aliens.
Man: "You know our laws when you arrived."
Chiana is hit by a stone thrown from the group. Others throw stones in her direction.
Chiana: "I was just havin fun."
A gnarled figure in a sort of floating wheelchair is with the group of aliens: "Banishment is lenient for your indiscretion."
Many more stones are thrown at Chiana.
Woman: "Many indiscretions." She throws a stone that hits Chiana. Chiana yells.
D'Argo hurries to catch up to her.
Chiana: "No wonder... no wonder your men were begging for it."
D'Argo takes her arm and points her away from the mob: "This isn't helping."
Chiana yells past him: "He throws like you."
D'Argo: "No wonder you're thrown off every planet you land on."
As they struggle up the path, they come face-to-face with a different sort of alien who is coming down it. He has a long, straight fall of hair from one side of his head and tattooes on his face and the bald half. He also has large, gilled sort of ears.
Chiana talks to him: "Yah. You're... you're friends with the guy up top. Maybe I... I can appeal to him one-on-one."
Alien male: "The Prefect has already denied your petition, but bids you a safe journey." He runs his hands in Chiana's hair and down the side of her face.
Woman, screaming: "Banish her... now!"
Chiana yells back: "After all I did for you!"
The child is still standing by the prowler. He is feeling a different part of it now, and still humming. Aeryn looks over and sees him.
Aeryn hits the child in the face, very hard.
Aeryn looks back and sees that the child is still standing at the prowler, touching and humming. She looks down at the instrument in her hand and then off into the distance.
D'Argo and Chiana have stopped, a little way ahead of the group of aliens.
D'Argo: "Moya is up there, floating dormant in space. This is the first planet in twenty that we've found that has any drinking water. You are going to get us kicked off."
Chiana: "I didn't do anything." She walks off up the hill.
A male alien speaks to one of the women: "I know your need for vengence?"
Woman: "Do you, Gaashah? Would you sit by if an outsider had been with your son?"
Chiana has almost gotten to where Aeryn stands atop the hill. She turns back.
Chiana: "Ahh. Is he the cute one? I remember him. What's the kid's name... Zer-boy?"
Gaashah: "Zer-bat!"
Chiana: "Oh, Zer-bat!"
D'Argo: "Chiana, you are such a fekkik." He turns and walks back down the hill towards the aliens.
Aeryn: "Chiana." She beckons to her with her finger. "Come here now."
Chiana climbs up to Aeryn, with Aeryn's help.
Aeryn: "I've preprogrammed a course for Moya."
Chiana: "I'll be bored to death out there." She walks around the prowler.
Aeryn: "Well Chiana, you've been banished."
Chiana: "Yah. Only from Gaashah's clan." She sits down on the prowler's ladder. "One prospect in each one."
Aeryn: "Oh, that's a great idea." She has the round instrument in her hand.
Chiana: "Come on."
Aeryn: "Now, once you're in there, don't touch any of the controls."
In the woods...
Gaashah turns around: "More than you know is at stake here."
D'Argo: "I understand."
Gaashah: "Nothing! No one does. Unity of the clans... is new. Peace... is new. But even I know such peace is too fragile to be endangered..." The prowler takes off with a roar and Gaashah looks up. "... by some indelicate whore."
The prowler roars around the side of a mountain, past a golden building.
John: "Gone, but not forgotten."
A man with long white hair turns to him. He is wearing official looking robes: "What of the others?"
John: "What? Aeryn and Sikozu? No, no. Nun and nunner. Perfect ladies at all times."
They hear Aeryn comm: "Crichton."
John turns to the Official: "Yah, I gotta take this."
He walks away from the Official, across the room and down some steps.
John: "Aeryn, I see that... Elvis has left the building."
Aeryn is being pulled by the hand through a ruined forest by the child.
Aeryn: "What? What does that mean?"
John: "It means that Prefect Falaak has graciously accepted our apology for Chiana's conduct as well as our emergency generator as compensation."
As the child tugs on Aeryn's hand, she looks behind her.
As Aeryn turns back, she sees Gaashah pulling on her hand.
Aeryn stops and looks around. The child giggles and starts pulling at her again.
Child: "Come on."
John: "Aeryn? It's a good deal. It allows us all to stay on the planet."
Aeryn, being dragged along again: "The comms are frelled. Call me later."
John sighs.
Prefect Falaak: "Seems a bit moody."
John shakes his head: "Man, you should'a met her mother."
The child leads Aeryn into a busy square or marketplace. There are people all around, talking. She sits on a bench.
Gaashah: "The only risk... is that my failure will signal there's more to be gained from war than peace."
Aeryn sees Gaashah running, waving his arm wildly.
Aeryn looks over and sees Gaashah standing near D'Argo, talking to him.
D'Argo: "Let me help you."
Gaashah: "The less anyone sees of you and your friends, the better for me."
Aeryn finds herself staring at Gaashah as D'Argo leaves. He turns and looks back at her.
Aeryn closes her eyes and shakes her head. She opens her eyes and glances back at him.
Aeryn sees Gaashah being shot and falling, with flames shooting out of his chest.
Aeryn looks away, but Gaashah continues to watch her.
John is walking down some wide, stone steps on the mountain.
He comms: "Aeryn. I talked to Rygel. He said that Moya's still out of commission. How you doin?"
The child hands Aeryn a glass. She takes it but pays no attention to it.
Aeryn: "I'm getting a really bad bribe."
John: "Oh god, she's talkin English!" He comms: "Vibe. It's a really bad vibe."
He sniffs the laka distillate and his memories of Aeryn flash through his head.
There is a flash of light and John sees...
John and Aeryn kiss while dancing at their wedding in "Dog With Two Bones"; John attempts to kiss Aeryn beside her prowler wing in "Dog With Two Bones"; John kisses the neck of a bare shouldered Aeryn; John sits in his module cockpit. Aeryn's face, in her prowler window, appears near him in "Dog With Two Bones"; Aeryn's profile as she sits on Command, in "Into The Lion's Den, Part Two: Wolf In Sheep's Clothing; John holds Aeryn's face in his hands as he kisses her, while in Moya's neural cluster, from "Die Me, Dichotomy"; Aeryn turns her face to kiss John's knuckle; John and Aeryn kiss at their wedding in "Dog With Two Bones".
There is another flash...
He takes a second sniff and sighs.
John: "D'Argo may be right..."
Aeryn listens to John, but sees...
Gaashah being shot and falling forward with flames and smoke coming from his chest. He has something in his hand he is trying to throw.
Aeryn looks quickly around at the other people, but no one else seems to be reacting to what she's seeing.
John: "... Until we find another source of food and water...
Gaashah falls down dead, right at Aeryn's feet, with a thud.
John: "Officer Sun?"
Aeryn: "I'll get back to you." She glances down at her hand, which is on the trigger of her pulse pistol. She lets go of it and jerks her hand back. She hears the child saying something and looks up to see him standing at a booth, eating something. She stands up.
On the steps, John hears a muffled "bang! bang!" from the distance. He hurries towards the sound.
There is a pulse blast. Aeryn stands and watches as the people in the market scatter. There are more shots. People are hit and fall. Fruits and vegetables go flying. Aeryn sees Gaashah running towards her. He has something in his hand he is trying to throw. He is shot and flames and smoke pour out of his chest. He falls forwards, towards Aeryn.
END OF PROLOGUE
ACT ONE
Chiana comes up beside Gaashah. He is with the group of women.
Chiana: "I'm such a welnitz, Gaashah. You're gonna to be Prefect soon. I could always come back then."
Gaashah: "That... would be suicide for you and your friends."
Chiana: "Oh? This place... is run by tight-asses."
She leaves Gaashah and climbs up the hill, past D'Argo.
D'Argo hurries along behind her: "How... can you be... so selfish? Moya is up there floating dormant in space. This is the first planet in twenty that we've found that has any drinking water. You're going to get us kicked off."
Chiana: "What? Frell you." She walks away from D'Argo
D'Argo: "You are such a fekkik."
D'Argo runs through the woods, after Gaashah.
D'Argo: "Gaashah. Gaashah, wait. Gaashah."
Gaashah turns back towards D'Argo. He pulls his knife and holds it to D'Argo's throat.
Gaashah: "Give me a reason not to kill you... all of you... now." He moves the knife away from D'Argo's throat, but holds it at the side of his face.
Gaashah: "One stab... my clan is avenged... the leaders are reassured. I am a Prefect, a hero to my people."
Gaashah has his knife at D'Argo's throat.
D'Argo: "We are going to leave the microt our Leviathan revives."
Gaashah: "Only criminals come to this part of space. Perhaps there's a price on your head. A bounty I could claim for my people?" He moves the knife again, holding it against the hair on the side of D'Argo's face. "Killing you would improve everything."
D'Argo: "We Luxans, too, struggle to overcome our violent past."
Gaashah: "It's what I know in my bones... as my father knew, and his father before him." Gaashah turns and walks a few steps away.
Gaashah: "More than you know is at stake here."
D'Argo: "I understand..."
Gaashah: "Nothing. No one does. Unity of the clans is new. Peace is new. But even I know such peace is too fragile to be endangered..." The prowler takes off with a roar and Gaashah looks up. "... by some indelicate whore."
D'Argo: "Nobody on this planet gives a dren about Chiana."
Gaashah: "The problem isn't simply her."
D'Argo: "It's your son."
Sikozu sits on a slight rise, among some plants. Her hair is long and curly, hanging down her naked back. Her hand touches the face of a young man who is sitting in front of her. He touches her chin, looking down at her. They kiss, briefly. He touches his fingertip to her lips, then runs his down her chin, to her shoulderblade and down her chest. He cups her breast gently in his hand. Sikozu smiles as he leans down and delicately kisses just where it begins its swell. He slowly raises his head and looks in her eyes. She looks back and they kiss.
Gaashah: "When the wars were ongoing, I traded my herd to send Zerbat off-planet, where he'd be safe. Where he could learn other disciplines."
D'Argo: "And a Prefect's son cannot be seen as an outsider."
Gaashah: "All the other clans veiw him as corrupted by outside influences."
D'Argo: "And then we bring Chiana."
The prowler roars over the planet. It disappears down into the mist, below the mountain.
The prowler lands with a hiss of escaping gases. Chiana descends the ladder and looks around. She moves off.
Chiana stands, balanced on a tree limb, over a stream.
Sikozu and the young man are kissing. He stops and jerks back slightly, as though startled. He looks in Sikozu's face, then down. She opens her eyes and sees him looking and glances down at her own bare chest. She looks back at him and grins.
Chiana gets down off the branch and continues along the bank of the stream.
Sikozu sighs. The young man touches his fingertip to her lips, then runs his down her chin, to her shoulderblade and down her chest. He cups her breast gently in his hand.
Chiana comes through the foliage and sees Sikozu and the young man.
Sikozu sighs and laughs. Holding his hand to her breast, the young man laughs as well.
Chiana watches from a distance away.
The young man leans down and delicately kisses just where it begins its swell. He slowly raises his head and looks in her eyes. She looks back.
There are a variety of different loaves of bread, sitting in a basket. There is the sound of many voices and there are people milling about.
Gaashah and D'Argo walk through the market.
Gaashah: "It all smells wonderful."
Someone calls out: "Gaashah!" They toss something to him, which he catches.
Gaashah: "Ucuz."
D'Argo: "Ucuz?"
Gaashah: "Ripe from harvest. Our women nurse their babies with it."
D'Argo: "Mmm." He coughs and clears his throat. Gaashah laughs.
D'Argo: "No. No, really. It's very, very good."
Someone tosses something else which Gaashah catches. Another man walks up to Gaashah and D'Argo.
Man: "Jabuka clan's finest etmek."
Gaashah: "Jabuka clan etmek..." He tears a piece out of what appears to be a round loaf of bread and tastes it. "... is most tasty."
Man: "Fit for a Prefect." He smiles. "A flavor... you may never know." He knocks the loaf out of Gaashah's hand, turns and walks away.
Gaashah spits out the bite he has in his mouth. He wipes his mouth on his hand.
D'Argo: "I thought your ascension to the Prefecture was predetermined."
Gaashah: "If he acquires enough votes, I can be removed as unworthy."
D'Argo: "Removed how? Kill you?"
Gaashah: "It's one of Paroo's little... negotiations. Two hundred clans, two hundred chieftains... two thousand grudges to accomodate."
D'Argo: "One little priest has that much sway over all the clans?"
Gaashah: "Oh, he can be... compelling."
D'Argo: "Compelling enough for you to risk your own life?"
The child pulls Aeryn by the hand, into the marketplace. He leads her to a bench where she sits down. She watched D'Argo and Gaashah talking.
Gaashah: "The only risk... is that my failure will signal there's more to be gained from war than from peace."
D'Argo claps Gaashah on the shoulder: "Let me help you."
Gaashah: "The less anyone sees of you and your friends, the better for me."
D'Argo glances around, then leaves.
Aeryn stares at Gaashah.
D'Argo is in the ruined woods. He comms John: "He wants us to leave."
John: "Moya might not be revived yet."
D'Argo sighs: "I think you should go."
John replies with a really
bad Scottish accent: "
What if I don't want to, Cap'n?"
D'Argo: "He respects me. It would help if I could show him I have you under some sort of control... more or less."
John (normal voice): "Right. I'll check in with the ship."
Chiana takes a step closer to Sikozu and the boy.
Chiana whispers: "Hey... tsk.. tsk... tsk... (she clicks her tongue). Sikozu?"
Sikozu turns her head towards Chiana.
Chiana: "Tastin the local spices, are we?"
Sikozu: "Go away you dirty girl."
D'Argo hears Sikozu and growls. He starts off, through the woods.
Sikozu: "They would stone you to death if I turned you in."
The two girls sit, leaning towards each other, nose-to-nose.
Chiana: "Okay. They have banished me for being with nobodies. I would say they'd probably impale you on a pole... for shacking up with their prince."
Sikozu: "We're not shacking up. I would not tell anyone about this, if I were you."
Chiana: "I'm not even meant to be here. Who am I going to tell?"
D'Argo hollers from behind them: "Exactly! That's what I want to know."
Chiana starts to stand up and D'Argo grabs her by the arm.
D'Argo: "... when I put you on that prowler myself! How did you get off it?"
Sikozu and Zerbat hold each other.
D'Argo: "How did you get the auto-pilot turned off?"
Chiana: "Do you want to know?"
D'Argo: "No, I don't want to know." He has both hands on her arms and gives her a shake.
Chiana: "Of course I got off it."
D'Argo: "I don't want to know! What I
do want to know..."
Chiana: "Yah? What do you wanta know?"
D'Argo: "... is, does anyone else..."
Chaina: "You tell me what'cha wanta know."
D'Argo: "... know that you're here?"
Chiana: "Of course not. I'm just sneaking around like I always am."
D'Argo: "Good."
Chiana: "Yah."
D'Argo: "Well, turn around..." He puts his arm on her shoulder, to turn her.
Chiana: "Frell you!" She shoves both his hands away.
D'Argo: "... and sneak back to the ship."
Chiana: "You know what? I think this Captain thing has really
gone to your head!" She stalks off.
D'Argo turns back to Sikozu and Zerbat: "Okay. Crichton wants you back on the transport pod now."
Sikozu turns her head and looks at D'Argo.
D'Argo: "And don't argue. The sooner she goes, she and all of us will be able to come back."
Sikozu closes her eyes, then turns back to Zerbat. He gives her a questioning look.
D'Argo: "It's your father who needs you now."
Sikozu: "He's right."
There is the sound of weapons fire behind them. D'Argo and Sikozu both whip their heads around, towards the sound. D'Argo takes off at a run, holding his qualta blade in both hands.
John is in the palace.
John: "It's a good deal. It allows us all to stay on the planet. Aeryn?"
Aeryn comms back: "The comms are frelled. Call me later."
Prefect Falaak: "Seems a bit... moody."
Thunder rolls in the background.
John: "You should have met her mother." He turns, clapping his hands together. "Well... I should be going. You have to pack up and hand over the keys to a new tenant. Interesting system you have. Every half cycle a new leader takes over."
Prefect Falaak: "It's a little disruptive."
John: "Well, they say change is good. Invigorating."
Prefect Falaak: "It's frightening. It takes a three-day festival to distract from the terror that someone from another clan is assuming power. It took me months of haggling beyond that to gain the slightest support."
John: "Mmm. Better than, uh... clubs and machetes approach."
Prefect Falaa: "Many would be eager to return to that. At least we understood it."
More thunder rolls by.
John: "Right. Well, have a nice day." He nods his head and leaves.
Chiana climbs through a part of the woods. From above her, in some rocks, the priest calls to her.
Paroo: "You've returned seeking forgiveness."
Chiana, out of breath: "I, uh... I know how you feel about nixers like me."
Paroo laughs: "I rather like nixers like you."
Chiana: "So, is it true what they say about priests?"
Paroo: "Hmm..."
Chiana: "They give great religious experience?"
Paroo: "What I give is, great consequence."
D'Argo is walking through the woods.
D'Argo: "I'm no ambassador."
John comms him: "Well, you got Gaashah talkin without giving away parts of the ship."
John is walking down the wide, stone steps, outside the palace: "That's better than I did."
D'Argo comms: "He wants us to leave."
John: "Moya may not be revived yet." He looks back, the way he came. More thunder rumbles.
D'Argo: "Well, I think it's important that the future Prefect knows he can count on me."
John: "Hey, Moya's not just taking a catnap up there, you know." This tormented area of space is beatin the crap out of her." He switches back to
bad Scotch: "
And I don't know when I can get the systems back on line, Cap'n."
D'Argo: "I think you should go."
John: "
What if I don't want to, Cap'n?"
D'Argo: "He respects me. It would help if I could show him I have you under some sort of control... more or less."
John: "Right. I'll check in with the ship. Ryg! What's shakin up there, man? Is Chiana back yet?"
Rygel comms back: "I didn't know she was coming."
John: "Well, you know Chiana. I guess that means Moya's senses are still out."
Someone else is coming up the stairs. John moves to the inside to avoid him, but the man moves the same way and stops John, grabbing him by the throat and swinging him so he hangs, halfway out over the precipice. It is the man with the long black hair on one side and tattooes on his face.
Tattoo-face: "I am... puzzled by off-worlders."
John chokes out: "Yah. I know what you mean."
Tattoo-face: "I have... concerns about you."
John tries to laugh: "Hah. A lot of people feel that way. Your boss seems to think I'm okay, so..."
Tattoo-face sighs and pulls John back onto the stairs. He watches as John rubs his throat.
Tattoo-face, pointing down: "Be careful. The stairs are quite slippery."
Thunder grumbles and John shrugs his shoulders, easing his muscles.
John: "Thanks for the warning."
Tattoo-face gives a snort of a laugh and turns away, going up the stairs. John starts back down.
Aeryn is sitting in the marketplace. She takes a glass that the child hands her.
John comms: "Aeryn."
Aeryn whispers: "Thank you."
John: "Talked to Rygel. He said that Moya's still out of commission. How are you doin?"
Aeryn comms: "I'm getting a really bad bribe."
John: "Oh, god. She's talkin English." He comms: "Vibe. It's a... really bad vibe." He puts the laka container up to his nose and sniffs it.
Aeryn hears John sniff. She looks over at the people talking in the marketplace.
John continues to comm: "D'Argo may be right. Until we find another source of food and water, cozying up to Gaashah may be the only solution."
Aeryn looks puzzeled.
John: "Officer Sun?"
Aeryn comms: "I'll, um... I'll get back to you."
John nods.
Aeryn looks down and sees her finger on the trigger of her pulse pistol. She lets go and jerks her hand away. The child comes towards her and says something to her. Aeryn looks confused and she stands up.
John hears repeated gunfire. He hurries down the steps.
D'Argo hears gunshots. He whirls and takes off running through the woods.
John runs, taking two steps at a time.
There is a flash as a gun goes off into a group of people seated in the marketplace.
D'Argo pulls his qualta blade and holds it as he runs.
There are more shots into the crowd. People are hit. Fruits and vegetables go flying.
John runs faster down the stairs.
Gaashah stands up and tries to pull his knife from his weapons belt. He is hit and lets go of the knife. He has something in his other hand, which he tries to throw. Flames and smoke pour from his chest where he has been shot, as he falls.
D'Argo runs into the marketplace, qualta blade in hand.
D'Argo screams: "Noo!"
Aeryn turns, takes aim, and shoots D'Argo. D'Argo goes down. She watches him fall, then turns, her eyes wide.
END OF ACT ONE
ACT TWO
There are bodies all over, strewn around the marketplace. The child crawls among them, on his hands and knees. He stops when he gets to one particular body and touches it.
John runs onto the scene of carnage. He looks around. Sikozu and Zerbat run in, not long after him. Zerbat sees something and runs towards it. Sikozu squats down by a body that is near her. It has on a red coat, like D'Argos. Zerbat gets down by the body of his father. He peers under his hair, checking his face. John looks around for attackers and sees none.
Sikozu has joined Zerbat by his father's body. Chiana is with D'Argo who is sitting up now.
D'Argo: "It was Aeryn."
John: "What? No way. Aeryn wouldn't..."
D'Argo: "I know who shot me. She wasn't even looking."
John: "D'Argo... Aeryn would not..."
D'Argo: "I know who shot me!"
Someone hits John in the face and knocks him over. More men surround the others. They have guns pointed at them. The head of Clan Jabuka speaks: "Take their weapons!"
Chiana: "Frell."
He walks over and glares at D'Argo. John moves, on the ground, and wipes his lip.
Head Jabuka: "Where is the assassin?"
D'Argo: "I wouldn't tell you... even if I knew."
Head Jabuka: "You came to the planet together. You're all assassins together."
Chiana stands up: "She shot him too, fekk face."
Someone shoves Chiana from behind so she stumbles. "Quiet!"
Head Jabuka: "Tell me where she is, or I'll have your head as well."
Paroos: "That is not your decision." The priest has arrived on the scene, unannounced.
Head Jabuka: "Keep out of this, priest."
Paroos: "The clans agreed to follow the law."
Head Jabuka: "The law says we can hunt down murderers."
Paroos: "Only by command of the clan's next leader... Gaashah's son."
Zerbat sits up and looks around, startled.
Head Jabuka: "The boy? A leader? Where's his weapon? Where's the fire in his eyes? He's as much an outsider as those who murdered his father!"
The Prefect walks into the marketplace. He is followed by Tattoo Face.
Prefect Falaak: "Who broke the peace?"
The Head Jabuka takes a deep breath.
Prefect Falaak: "What clan attacked?"
Head Jabuka: "Not a clan... an outsider. She escaped us."
Prefect Falaak: "Find her. Kill her."
Head Jabuka: "And if she acted on anyone's behalf, we'll catch her... and torture her untill she tells us."
John: "Damn! How come I didn't think of that before?"
Paroos: "The way the clans tortured the others?"
D'Argo: "Others?"
John: "What others?"
Head Jabuka: "Two clan leaders were killed."
Chiana: "Before we arrived? And you drenheads are tryin to blame that on us?"
John: "Look, just let me go. I'll... I'll bring her back." He slaps his hands together to get the dust off them.
Prefect Falaak: "You make a lot of noise... for an outsider."
Zerbat: "I will go." He stands up. " I have the right to avenge my father... to see his killer brought to justice."
Paroos: "That is the law."
Prefect Falaak nods.
Head Jabuka: "And will you need your nanny?"
Zerbat spins towards him and pulls his knife: "My father is dead. You just insulted the leader of his clan. I will go, and I will take him with me." He looks down at John as he sheaths his knife. "He will lead me to her."
John half laughs.
Paroos: "We have another duty first... the burial sacraments."
The child is still sitting next to one of the bodies, patting it.
John walks through the woods, followed by Zerbat.
John: "Maybe Gaashah wasn't even the target. Maybe she was aiming at something else and he wandered into the line of fire."
Zerbat: "You're talking about my father. His blood is still wet on the ground thanks to your friend's vicious hand."
John: "It's my mistake. I was just thinking out loud. Tryin to figure out why."
Zerbat: "Why? Why an outsider would come all this way to kill my father, a good man."
Zerbat cocks his rifle and holds it to John's head: "And my father was a good man."
Sikozu: "Are you going to kill him here?" She walks over towards them.
Zerbat: "What? Did you come to question my resolve? Because I will avenge my father." He takes a step towards Sikozu: "I can handle this myself."
Sikozu: "By putting a gun to the head of the only person who can help us find Aeryn?"
Zerbat: "I am the leader of my tribe now."
Thunder rumbles in the background.
Sikozu: "Which makes you what? Just like all the rest?"
Zerbat takes his hand off the trigger and lowers his gun.
John: "Maybe we should keep moving before Aeryn takes out another clan leader." John starts walking and the others follow.
John: " I think that maybe we should split up."
Zerbat: "So you can run?"
John: "Son, at this point, you either trust me or you don't.
Zerbat: "Right. Sikozu and I will take the trail up the ridge. You continue along the bank. We'll cross down to you further along."
John waits as Zerbat and Sikozu leave.
Thunder rumbles again.
John wanders over to a fallen limb, quietly singing: "Oh, you take the high road and I'll take the low road and I'll be in Scotland before you..." He sits down. (the song continues to play, in the background.
John takes out his laka extract and turns it in his fingers, contemplating.
Aeryn: "Behind you."
John quickly shoves the laka back in his breast pocket.
John glances over to the side and sees Aeryn hunkered down in some bushes.
Aeryn: "Did I kill Gaashah?"
John: "Yah. Why?"
Aeryn: "I have no idea."
John joins Aeryn, sitting on some rocks.
Aeryn: "That's all I remember... thinking... I can't stop myself."
John: "What about the others?"
Aeryn: "What others?"
John turns to look at her, then looks straight ahead again: "D'Argo for one."
Aeryn: "What?!?"
John glances at her again: "He'll be all right."
Aeryn: "There were no others. It was just Gaashah... one clean shot."
John: "How much chakan oil for one clean shot?" He glances at her again, then away.
Aeryn continues to stare at John. She reaches down to her pulse pistol and pulls it. She holds it between her legs and pulls the chakan oil cartridge out. She looks down at the cartridge. Without looking, John reaches over and tugs the weapon from her. He sets it down, on the rock, away from Aeryn.
Aeryn: "How many? How many people did I kill?"
Paroos: "Seventeen." He appears behind them, in his wheelchair like conveyance.
John jumps up and points his gun at Paroos: "You better slow down, Crusty."
Paroos: "People kill each other on this planet all the time. Finding a way to kill Gaashah was finding a way to start a war."
John: "She has no reason to start a war."
Paroos: "I know. I suspect you're being used."
John: "By who?"
Paroos: "I need evidence. Until now, nothing presented itself. The other assassins were both killed instantly. She's... the only one left alive long enough to speak."
Aeryn: "But I was completely out of control. I don't remember anything."
Paroos: "Then... we must see to it that you do."
Aeryn is pacing by a stream, back and forth, up and down, while she talks.
Aeryn: "I aimed and I shot him."
Paroos: "And... ?"
Aeryn: "And that's all I see."
John: "We're not getting anywhere."
Paroos: "Try again."
Aeryn: "I'm trying. It's all I see. It's all I remember."
Paroos: "Then don't see. Listen."
Aeryn sighs and shakes her head. She puts her hand on her forehead. She turns her head and looks...
A young boy looks at Aeryn and smiles.
Aeryn: "There was a child... is he... ?"
Paroos: "Still alive."
She closes her eyes and turns away.
Aeryn hits the child in the face, very hard. The child puts his hand to his face and cries out.
Aeryn: "I hit the child."
She puts her hand on her forehead again.
Aeryn hits the child in the face, very hard. The child puts his hand to his face and cries out.
Aeryn is turning in a circle now, her hand to her head.
Aeryn: "Uh... "
Aeryn hits the child in the face, very hard. The child puts his hand to his face and cries out.
Aeryn: "Why did I hit the child?"
She turns completely around again: "No.... that wasn't real. I never really hit him. I never actually hit the child."
John is sitting on the rocks, looking down at Aeryn. There is a buzzing sound and John slaps the back of his neck.
John: "Who cares?"
Aeryn looks confused. "Bug."
There is an insect lying on its back on the ground, struggling. It has a green bulb and green wings.
Aeryn: "A... a... a bug... bit me, and I..."
There is a sound of wings flapping, and buzzing.
Aeryn is standing by her prowler. An insect bites her arm and she slaps it. She rubs the site, idlely.
Aeryn rubs her arm and turns round and round.
An insect bites her arm and she slaps it. She rubs the site, idlely.
Aeryn turns and turns, swatting and rubbing at herself. John rubs the back of his neck where the bug bit him.
Aeryn stops: "A bug... a bug bit me."
Paroos: "There are no bugs on this planet."
Aeryn sees Gaashah running, waving his arm wildly. She sees Gaashah being shot and falling, with flames shooting out of his chest.
She gasps and rubs her arm, up under the edge of her sleeve, where she was bit.
There is a pulse blast. The people in the market scatter. There are more shots. People are hit and fall.
Aeryn puts her hands over her face, except for her eyes. She talks through her hands: "I killed them.
There is a pulse blast. Aeryn stands and watches as the people in the market scatter. There are more shots. People are hit and fall. Fruits and vegetables go flying.
Aeryn: "I killed those people. I ki... I killed them all."
Aeryn sees Gaashah running towards her. He has something in his hand he is trying to throw. He is shot and flames and smoke pour out of his chest. He falls forwards, towards Aeryn.
John watches as Aeryn talks.
John stands next to Aeryn. He has his pulse pistol in his hands. Aeryn stares at the gun in dismay. He raises it up and shoots Paroos. Paroos screams.
John stands up: "Bug bites..." He jumps down off the rocks and goes to Aeryn. "Flashes?"
Aeryn: "I killed them all."
John looks around, over Aeryn's head.
John: "I'm gonna leave now. Before there's another killing."
Aeryn: "What?"
There is a creaking sound. They look up at the priest.
Paroos: "Me."
John: "I'm the next assassin."
John hands his gun to Aeryn who stands staring off into space, holding the gun upside down while John walks away.
END OF ACT TWO
ACT THREE
John waves something in the smoke from a fire. He coughs. Aeryn and Paroos sit with him.
John: "Okay. Heap-big smoke. No bugs... no flashes. Can we breathe now?"
Paroos: "Are you sure you're both stabilized?"
John: "Yes."
Aeryn: "Yes."
Paroos: "Then you may need this." He pushes a lever on his chair and a pulse pistol flies out of it and lands near John. He picks it up.
John: "Winona. How the hell did you get er?" He checks the chakan oil cartridge.
Paroos: "Peacefully, for the most part."
John spits on his finger and rubs a place on Winona's side.
Paroos: "Uh... we need to go... quickly."
Zerbat: "Nobody's going anywhere!" He strides into the clearing, gun drawn and pointed. Sikozu is following him.
Aeryn's hand goes to her pulse pistol.
Zerbat: "Please! Reach for it! Or shall I gun you down the way you did my father? He never so much as drew his blade!"
Paroos: "She's not responsible for Gaashah's death."
Zerbat: "A dozen clansmen saw her!"
John: "She was being controlled."
Zerbat laughs: "Lies!"
John: "She got bit by an insect which allowed her to be controlled."
Zerbat: "We do not have insects on this planet."
John: "No? Well then, what do you call that? He points to the swollen insect bite on his neck. "Or those?" He points to Aeryn's bite riddled arm.
Zerbat: "Why? Who brought them here?"
Paroos: "Enemies of peace. People who want power. More power."
Zerbat: "This is not possible. It's not possible."
Sikozu sighs and walks closer to Zerbat: "Who did your father trust, Zerbat?"
Zerbat nods towards the priest: "Paroos. He always trusted Paroos."
Sikozu: "And do you trust your father's judgement?"
Zerbat nods: "And yours."
Sikozu: "Then... we have work to do." She reaches out and touches his arms.
Zerbat sighs.
John: "Hey, kids. We may be forgetting something. Don't we need to bug-bomb a hive?"
Paroos: "The insects are off-world. I didn't bring them. You didn't bring them."
Aeryn: "So, essentially we're looking for... ? "
John: "An off-worlder."
Chiana gasps as her head is slammed sideways onto a table.
Prefect Falaak has his hand on her, holding her down. The Tattoo-faced alien is standing near to him.
Prefect Falaak yells: "Your Sgabba-flies failed!"
Tattoo-face: "They have no attraction to this particular alien species."
Chiana: "Everybody likes me."
Prefect Falaak yells and pushes her hand back onto the table.
Tattoo-face: "It is not my fault the priest is still alive. These outsiders are difficult."
Falaak: "You told me you could control them."
Tattoo-face: "The Sgabba-flies implant subtle subliminal signals. My mental powers intensify those signals."
Prefect Falaak: "Your impaired mental powers." He lets go of Chiana and steps back, away from the table.
Tattoo-face: "The clansmen's hatred is easy to exploit. There outsiders have no reason to kill. It takes more Sgabba... more time."
Prefect Falaak: "I'm not paying you to make excuses. You're here to incite anarchy. War!"
Tattoo-face: "
You are not paying me enough. I want... double."
Prefect Falaak walks over to Tattoo-face: "Will that pay for the extra Sgabba to eliminate the outsiders?"
Tattoo-face glances down at Chiana, then looks back at the Prefect: "Of course."
Prefect Falaak: "Make your bugs." He leaves.
Tattoo-face walks past Chiana and goes across the room. He stands facing the wall and raises his arms out to his sides. Chiana lies still and watches with her vision as he slowly raises his arms up in the air. He slowly opens and closes his fingers into fists and bugs begin to crawl out of the gills on the sides of his head. They buzz and fly around him. Chiana watches this happen, then she goes blind (her pupils go tiny in her eyes).
Tattoo-face comes over to Chiana. He sees that she is blind and he strikes her in the face, knocking her to the floor. He turns around and leaves.
John and Aeryn are walking together through a burned out portion of the forest. There are insects buzzing all around them and they are both slapping themselves repeatedly as they are bitten.
John: "Damn!"
Aeryn waves her arms and grunts. She stops walking and so does John. He waves his arms in the air also.
Aeryn: "You gonna be alright to do this?"
She stands there swatting and swiping.
John: "Yes. Yes! Are you? Of course you are. Move. Come on." He shoves her ahead of him as they take off again.
Sikozu and Zerbat sneak into the village from the woods. Zerbat quickly goes to the guard and holds his gun on him.
Zerbat: "I command my clan. Respect me or kill me!"
Sikozu hurries over to where D'Argo is seated, tied-up, near the guard. She cuts his bonds.
Zerbat disarms the guard: "Go! Leave!"
D'Argo: "What's going on? Where's Crichton?"
Sikozu: "Talk
and move, D'Argo. It's faster." She helps him to stand up.
Sikozu grunts: "They're on their way up to the castle. Hurry!"
Zerbat hands the guard's rifle to Sikozu as she hurries off with D'Argo.
Chiana comes to, lying on her back on the floor.
Chiana comms in a whisper: "Crichton? Anybody?"
John and Aeryn run up the stone steps on the outside of the Prefect's palace.
John: "Chiana... where are you?"
Chiana: "In Falaak's palace. I'm blind." She is scooting across the floor, still on her back.
Aeryn: "We're coming!"
Chiana finds a wall and starts to pull herself up.
Chiana: "The bugs are coming. The bugs are coming for you."
John: "You saw the hive?"
Chiana: "Mmmm. The hive's in E'alet's head."
John and Aeryn stop on the stairs and look at each other.
Chiana moans: "Can you hear me?" She whimpers: "Can you hear me?"
John and Aeryn are standing on the steps, each with their pulse pistol out and pointed at the the other. They stand perfectly still, their arms practically touching, staring into each other's eyes.
There is a sound of wings flapping, and buzzing.
Aeryn is standing by her prowler. An insect bites her arm and she slaps it. She rubs the site, idlely.There is a flash of light...
There is the sound of two pulse blasts. John is hit in the chest and flies backwards. Aeryn is hit in the shoulder and flies back as well. They are inside the Prefect's palace.
John and Aeryn are lying side-by-side on a tarp or blanket on the floor. They are both holding their pulse pistols and appear to be unconscious.
There is another flash...
Aeryn rubs her arm and turns round and round.
An insect bites her arm and she slaps it. She rubs the site, idlely.
They both lower their pulse pistols.
John: "What did you see?"
Aeryn: "What did you see?"
END OF ACT THREE
ACT FOUR
Chiana is still gasping and scrabbling around on her back when Aeryn and John run into the palace.
Aeryn: "Chiana?
Chiana: "Is Cri... Crichton with you?"
Aeryn helps her stand up.
John: "Yah. Where's the bad guy?"
Chiana smiles: "Haven't seen him for awhile. Haven't seen anything. Too long. This is not going to go away."
Aeryn helps her up the steps.
Aeryn: "It's alright. We'll get you out of here..."
John: "Soon. As soon as we find the beekeeper."
John hurries up the steps, slapping at the back of his neck as he does.
John: "Damn!"
Chiana: "What... bugs?"
John: "Yah. Just stay down."
Aeryn is swatting and slapping her arms as well.
Chiana: "Yah, I... I can help. They don't bite me."
John: "Just stay down! Damn!"
Chiana is next to some kind of a table. John and Aeryn are on either side of it.
John: "You okay?"
Aeryn is digging inside her ear: "No, I think too many more of these and I'm..."
John: "Yah, I know what you mean. Good news is, where's there's bugs, there's gotta be...."
He stops up short when he sees E'alet (Tattoo-face) run into the room.
John: "... E'alet!" He dives for cover as E'alet shoots at him.
E'alet runs through the room, shooting at John who is running and jumping from cover to cover. He dives over the table and Chiana and lands in a roll. He comes up behind a pillar. He looks out and takes a shot at E'alet.
Aeryn whispers to Chiana: "Stay down."
Aeryn gets up from where she was hunched down beside Chiana. She takes aim and she shoots at E'alet as well. As she does, John also shoots him. He falls backwards onto another table and stays there. His head hangs down off the edge of the table and many Sgabba-flies crawl out of his gills and over his face. Some of them fly away.
Chiana: "What happened?"
John goes down the steps and over to E'alet to look at him.
Aeryn stands on top, by Chiana, holding her gun ready and swatting at bugs.
Chiana: "Who's here? Crichton? Aeryn?" She struggles to get to her feet.
E'alet's hand spasms open and closed, over his weapon. John pokes him with his pistol.
John: "He's still alive."
Aeryn: "Shoot him then."
John: "You shoot him."
Aeryn has her gun pointed in John's and E'alet's direction. She is breathing heavily: "I can't."
John almost laughs. He has his gun pointed at E'alet, but he brings it up and points it at Aeryn: "Me either."
Aeryn has her gun pointed at John: "Well then... " She breathes loudly as she steps over Chiana and plants her feet, squarely pointed at John: "... we have a problem."
John: "Fight it."
Aeryn: "I am."
Chiana is hanging onto the table for dear life: "What the frell's goin on?"
Aeryn and John, in unison: "Stay down!"
There is the sound of two pulse blasts. John is hit in the chest and flies backwards. Aeryn is hit in the shoulder and flies back as well.
John and Aeryn each take a quick breath and turn their head away from the other. Then they look back, staring eye-to-eye. They each shoot once and miss. Chiana cries out at the sound.
Chiana: "Whatever you're doin... stop."
Aeryn: "No." Her voice shakes: "I'm not sure... I have the strength to miss next time."
John: "I think... I'm just a bad shot." He contines to stare at Aeryn and her gun. "You know, I really thought... the coin toss ended badly."
Aeryn: "It did."
D'Argo: "Chiana!"
Sikozu: "Stop her, Chiana."
Chiana jumps up and tackles Aeryn as D'Argo runs inand tackles John. Zerbat and Sikozu follow him into the room.
They all end up on the floor of the lower part of the room, on some kind of blanket or tarp. D'Argo grabs John by the arms, trying to wrest Winona from him. Sikozu and Chiana struggle with Aeryn.
Sikozu: "Stop it! Aeryn, stop it!" She is trying to get the pistol away from her, but Aeryn is too strong. Zerbat comes over to help her.
Aeryn: "I can't." She has her teeth clenched tight.
D'Argo: "You can fight against it."
John: "D'Argo, just knock me out. Knock me out!"
D'Argo hits John in the face.
John: "Hit me harder, you big sissy."
D'Argo hits him again.
Behind them, E'alet's arm, with the rifle in it, raises straight up from the table.
Zerbat: "They're getting stronger."
E'alet sits up.
D'Argo yells: "Priest! Stop him!"
Paroos glides into the room and comes up behind E'alet. He has a buzzsaw extended out in front of his chair. There is a whirring sound and E'alet groans. There is green blood pouring out of his mouth. E'alet screams. The sounds stop and there is a thudding noise.
Aeryn and John both relax their arms and drop their weapons. Aeryn exhales loudly. John lays on his side and lets out a deep breath as well.
John breathes: "It's gone."
Aeryn sighs.
Prefect Falaak: "Excellent! You have extinquished this threat to our peace." He stands in the doorway, where he has just come in.
John lays his arm out, on the tarp, towards Aeryn. His hand is empty, palm up. He reaches out with one gloved finger and just touches the side of Aeryn's bare hand.
Prefect Falaak: "I declare a feast to celebrate."
Chiana: "You lie! I heard everything. You... you hired E'alet."
Aeryn wraps her fingers around John's and holds on.
Prefect Falaak: "And will the clans believe a banished outsider... hmm?" He laughs.
Zerbat: "You ordered my father's death so... there'd be war."
Prefect Falaak: "Welcome home, boy." He laughs again.
Zerbat yells and runs to grab his rifle.
Paroos: "Zerbat... think of your father. Is this what he wanted?"
Zerbat takes several deep breathes, then picks up the rifle. He turns and points it at Falaak.
Zerbat: "You know what your treachery means to your clan. The others would wipe them out... man... woman... and child. You can prevent that. You can die the noble hero. I'll make it as painless as possible. Or, you can surrender! And, according to the law... our laws!... go before the other clans. And, I'll make sure... they try as hard as possible not to tear your body apart."
As he is talking, Zerbat advances on Falaak. Falaak backs away a couple of steps, but his back is to a large, round window and he can go no further.
Zerbat: "I can go either way. The old... or the new. You decide."
D'Argo aims his qualta rifle at Falaak as well.
Prefect Falaak: "I'll not be judged by you or your..." There is a cracking sound and the window behind Falaak swings open. "... pitiful council. Is that your father I hear? Screaming for mercy...!?" Falaak backs out of the window and throws himself backwards down the cliff.
Zerbat stares after him. He finally exhales and lowers his rifle. He sinks down to lean on the table. Sikozu puts her hand on his shoulder. D'Argo puts his hand on the other shoulder.
D'Argo: "You made your father proud."
END OF ACT FOUR
EPILOGUE
There is smoke and flames pouring out of the mountain where the Prefect's Palace used to be.
Zerbat and Sikozu stand on the other side of the valley, watching. They are holding hands.
Sikozu: "Making the destruction of your castle your first order as Prefect was... extremely bold."
Zerbat: "A leader belongs with his people, not above them."
Sikozu: "Sounds like your father talking."
Zerbat he laughs: "You know... I want you to stay."
Sikozu: "As an advisor?"
Zerbat: "Perhaps... much more."
Sikozu laughs: "I would love nothing more than to be off that Leviathan and away from those outsiders."
Zerbat: "My term as Prefect is only half a cycle. We could... leave together as we planned."
Sikozu: "As you planned."
Zerbat: "I'm starting to care about you."
Sikozu: "Good. But you're right. A leader belongs with his people."
Sikozu turns and walks away.
Chiana sits in the marketplace, talking to the priest.
Chiana: "Seriously, that's the longest this blindness has ever lasted."
Paroos: "Then stop using the vision, twizzit."
Chiana: "I'm sure you'll be the first to miss me, next Palace coup."
Paroos: "Should have let the bugs eat your hide."
Chiana: "I'll take that as a blessing... holy man."
Chiana laughs.
Chiana reaches out and scratches Paroos under the chin. He moans with pleasure.
Sikozu walks across the marketplace towards them.
Sikozu: "Moya and Pilot are waiting. We must leave."
Chiana: "What? And leave all these stragrats behind?"
Sikozu bends over to Chiana and shakes her head.
Chiana leans her forehead on Sikozu: "Im sorry. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding."
Chiana grunts as Sikozu helps her to stand up.
Sikozu: "All right."
Together, Sikozu and Chiana leave the marketplace, arm-in-arm.
Seen through the bare branches of a dead tree, Aeryn stands silently, at the foot of a grave. The child is kneeling in the dirt by another.
John watches her, through the branches.
Aeryn hunkers down and sits, her arms folded on her knees, looking at the grave.
John walks slowly and silently up behind her. He stops with his knee just grazing her back. He reaches out and touches her hair, on the side of her head. Aeryn bends her head towards him. John moves a step closer and moves his hand to the other side of her head. Aeryn leans her head back and rests it against his leg.
END OF EPILOGUE
