Velocity
by ALC Punk!

Stark white walls, dingy floor, dust dripping from the ceiling. There was moss in one corner, and an ice-cold wind blasted through the barred window. She shivered convulsively, wrapping her arms tighter around herself.

A soft sound made her turn, she started, but faced the amused blue eyes with calm. "I know why you're here."

"Do you now?" A chuckle escaped the man standing in front of her.

Man. Creature. Thing. An unholy amalgamation of living flesh and dead-white bone, black leather covering the whole. It creaked as he stepped away from her. "I always know."

"I'm sure you think you do." His finger traced along her jaw and she flinched, even though she couldn't feel it. "It's so cute, Aeryn."

Revulsion claimed her and she stepped back, "Don't touch me."

He snickered, "But you love me, remember?" He tilted his head to the side, then smirked at her. "Aeryn Sun, Officer, radiant as the day. And you can't do anything more constructive than tell me to not touch you?"

She flinched as he stepped into her again, and backed until her shoulders met the icey cold wall. "Frell you."

"Hrm. Been there, done that, sweetie."

No answer to that, other than a bitter hatred that would spring from her eyes if it could. Her elbow touched the camera seated in the wall, and she jumped. Noticing it, he laughed, the sound rusty and tainted.

"There isn't any Gilina, Aeryn. No one to save you. Isn't it ironic?"

"I can save myself."

"Can you? But you couldn't save me, Aeryn."

--

The glare of sunlight on snow was almost enough to make her eyes tear, but she fought it and tried to spot the white module Crichton was flying. Unfortunately, unlike her stark black prowler, it was the proper color to blend in with the snow. Aeryn cursed softly under her breath.

"Having trouble finding me, dear?" The Peacekeeper accent on John's voice disturbed her even then, and the mocking tone didn't help.

"Nothing I can't handle." She snapped.

"Aeryn?" D'Argo's voice was harsh with many emotions, worry, anger, sadness. Pain. "John would not want to fall into Scorpius' hands. Do not hesitate to kill him."

"What makes you think I won't?"

As if he wanted to not admit this, he replied, "If our positions were reversed, I would."

Mocking laughter cut across them both, "Come now, dears, you can't kill me. Not really."

Trying to find Crichton's sanity, she said carefully, "Look, John... if you're even in there anymore, look at what you're doing. "

"You fail to understand the extent of your friends misery. He wants Scorpius to find us. He wants to end his pain." Scorn fills his tone now.

She fought a wince. "No. I'll never believe that. Look, Crichton. Scorpius. Whatever you are. Recognize, atmosphere included, I am the superior combat pilot."

"Darling. Uncontested."

"So land your craft now, or I shall be forced to demonstrate that skill."

"You really would shoot your friend down, wouldn't you?"

"You know the answer."

"Well then, I shall comply. Lowering landing gear."

Crais' voice came across her comm, urgent and worried, "Officer Sun. Trust nothing!"

Some sixth sense, combat training, flight instinct--it didn't matter what--it flared, and Aeryn found herself slowing down, cutting her speed to nil. A scraping sound, metal against metal against rubber came from the canopy above her head, and she stared in horror as Crichton's module barely missed tearing her Prowler apart.

"I did warn you."

"Yes. You did." She flipped on the targeting scanner, and caught the module in her cross hairs. "Land, Crichton. Scorpius. Whoever you are. This is your last warning."

"How many last warnings are you planning to give? Talk is cheap, honey."

So it was. Her thumb pressed the button, and she fought the wrenching pain inside as the energy splashed outwards, catching the module.

"Aeryn--NO!"

The cries could have come from a dozen voices, her own included. She didn't know. The explosion rocked the sky, and bits of debris cluttered her viewscreen. "Goodbye, John." She whispered. A mountain loomed ahead, and the numbness that was rapidly spreading made her hands relax, the Prowler began to veer into one of the peaks.

"Aeryn?" D'Argo.

"Officer Sun!"

"Crais?" Surprise jerked her hands, and convulsively, she pulled up, avoiding the peak. Her Prowler gave a soft whine, and she checked over her instruments. Of course they would know. They would have seen the explosion, the energy spikes, on their separate sensor readouts.

"Aeryn, you should return to Moya." The pain in D'Argo's voice was so close to her own that she nearly cracked and wept then and there. But there were other considerations.

The rapidly failing left-side stabilizers for instance. "I don't think I can. I sustained some damage from the near-collision."

"Can you safely land?"

"Aeryn, Jothee and I will take one of Moya's pods and meet you." Chiana's voice was oddly muffled.

"No. I'll be fine." Angling the nose carefully, she chose a stable-looking outcropping. "I'll call you when I know the full story."

--

Numbness spread through her again, and she moved away from the wall, disinterested. "I'm sure you feel that way for a reason, Crichton. However, I don't care."

"Balderdash."

A snort escaped her, "Another one of your *Erp* words." She mocked, "I suspect you're mocking me as I mock you." She turned back to him, "It doesn't matter, though. I'm here. You're not. And why you seem to stick around when you shouldn't escapes me."

"I like it here," The inflections changed slightly, the words less crisp. "And, I love you, Aeryn."

"Stop saying that."

"Why? It's true." He leered at her, "I've seen things that would make some men run screaming."

"And you ran screaming."

"Only at first," he sighed expansively. "But I've learned, Aeryn. Darling, I've learned. And the things I could show you..."

"No." Aeryn turned away from him and went to the window. Outside there was only sunlight and snow, but it was real. "I don't want anything from you. Ever."

"Are you sure?" His voice was like a caress, and she could almost feel his breath on the back of her neck, the weight of his body as he stepped closer. "So much delight, so much wonder, could be yours..."

Closing her eyes against the memories that wanted to spiral through her mind, she shook her head, "Not interested."

"Say it with more feeling, Aeryn."

Wishing she could elbow him in the stomach, possibly slam him against the ice wall, or simply gut him with her fingernails, she stared out the window. Her mind tried to make sense of the rock and ice formations, then gave it up as a bad idea and settled down to investigate whether she really *could* smell John. That mixture of him and leather and engine grease.

Suddenly, she didn't feel quite so cold.

--

The Prowler landed at an angle, and she cursed at it as she climbed out. There was some part of her that screamed about curling up and just crying miserably, but she ignored it to climb the cockpit and look at the damage the module's landing gear had done to her ship.

Not much, luckily. If she hadn't backed off--she might not have survived. At least, the Prowler wouldn't have. She gave it a pat and slid over to the left wing, inspecting the hydraulics and stabilizer. A swift kick, and the gyros were whining normally.

A sound from behind, and she turned, blinking.

"Aeryn?"

Logic tried to stop that moment of joy and shock, and then it failed completely. "John!"

She was on the snow, laughing, grabbing for him before she fully realized how stupid the idea that he was alive was. The snow was cold when she landed in it, trying not to scream the pain in her soul as she stared at the spot he'd stood.

"I killed him."

The words were so hollow.

"So you did, and that, my dear, is a great pity."

Turning towards the voice behind her, Aeryn was unable to dodge the massive fist that connected with the back of her head. The snow went black.

--

Two faceless, emotionless guards retrieved her from the cell she'd woken in, and escorted her down more white and gray halls to a larger room. Dimly, she recognized the operating amphitheatre, and wondered what had happened to the good doctor.

Scorpius was waiting for her, hands folded neatly in front of his waist. "My dear Officer Sun, I trust you woke well."

A glare was her only answer as the minions placed her in the chair, strapping her in securely. Scorpius moved, the scent of leather and something reptilian dancing across her nostrils.

His hand touched her cheek. "Pity. You really are lovely, in your own way."

"Pity was what kept Crichton from killing you." She spat, anger replacing sorrow for the moment.

"Now that, my dear, was my neural chip." He stepped back, studying her contemplatively. "I do not think it will come to that, between us. But I do wonder if the good Commander ever told you of the wormhole technology he possessed."

She firmed her lips and didn't answer. Not that she could, after all, he wouldn't believe her if she told him the truth. And no lie would save her from what could be a long torture session if the machinery that lay nearby glittering malevolently at her was anything to go by.

"Ah, no answer. Your Crichton was the same way." Scorpius turned away and fiddled with something, coming back with a headset of some sort. He placed it over Aeryn's head. "Of course, even he would have told me--in the end."

"Fr--"

He flipped a switch and her body tensed, every muscle screaming to get away from every other muscle as something slammed through her brainpan.

"You should be able to speak in a moment."

Pain danced along her nerves, and she fought it trying to relax. Scorpius turned on the viewscreen attached to his apparatus, and studied the images produced. The explosion of the module, Scorpius himself, D'Argo, Chiana--all from her own point of view. As if he were viewing her memories.

"Ah, short-term. I'm afraid we'll have to dig a little deeper for what I want, my dear." A knob was twisted.

Needles delved further into her brain and she caught her breath in a ragged sob.

Her mother flashed across the screen, aged and seamed. Other people, Crais, Velorek, Zhaan, Talyn... The parade of her distorted memories continued until she was nearly mindless from pain, unable to focus on anything but the need to not scream. She would not give Scorpius that last satisfaction. Not while he was dragging her life open for anyone to see.

Something slammed in deeper, delving harder. Tensing against the restraints again, she writhed silently in pain, fighting. A memory bubbled through, surfacing. John laughing at her, something she'd said or done, in the mess hall. Rygel was behind them, muttering about silly humans.

It was an almost happy memory, and she cradled it for a moment, feeling a respite before a hand clamped onto her wrist, and shook her. She stared at Scorpius.

"Very interesting." He turned and waved to his guards, Braca came over, "Lieutenant Braca, wouldn't you say this woman was a typical Peacekeeper?"

"Yes, sir. Except for the irreversible contamination." He shuddered, then looked at Scorpius. "Not that that bothers me, sir."

"I thought not. And she is, is she not? Except that she resists my mental probes, as if some part of her wishes to hide from me." He patted Aeryn's cheek, "I can make this hurt so much less, Officer Sun. You have merely to help me."

"Never."

"Lieutenant, she is a terribly stubborn woman, isn't she."

"You'll break her, sir." He sounded jovial and confident as he looked at Aeryn, disgust and something like hate in his eyes.

"Eventually, yes. I wonder how useful she'll be, then?"

"What a pity Crichton destroyed my Aurora Chair, Officer Sun." Scorpius smiled and bent over her, "It would have made this so much less painful for you."

"Frell... you." She managed, the explosions in her head dancing fishes and dentics across her vision. Scorpius swam in a murky sea of mud for a moment, then resolved into bright pinks and greens. A soft scream exited her lips and she bit down on them, determined to lose no more.

"If you would just tell me what Crichton told you, Officer Sun, this would all stop."

"He... told me... nothing." The truth.

And he didn't believe it. "And yet you're holding things back. Curious. I would have thought you wouldn't want to suffer any longer for the man you killed."

"Just tell him, Aeryn." John stood there, looking tired. There was a large hole where his torso should have been.

"Never." She managed, arching in further pain as Scorpius' machine slid something else inside her brain.

"Scream, child, I'm sure you need to."

Pink and yellow suns dashed across her vision, and she cried out, her voice ragged with suppressed screams.

"Ah, there we go." Scorpius almost sounded bored as he moved another lever.

Light cascaded through her body, and she finally screamed, the sound echoing upwards into the ceiling.

"Now, my dear, we could have avoided that. All you had to do was tell me the truth."

"I--" She screamed again, body wracked with pain as if a thousand needles were driving into her skin, burrowing into her muscles and bones. "--was," she finished, voice raspy now. "He never told me."

"You managed a full sentence. I'm impressed." A hand touched her cheek and she flinched at the coolness emanating from the fingertips. "Let's continue this, shall we?"

"Aeryn--"

"Yes. Tell him. I'm terribly bored." The half-breed Crichton stood next to his chest-less self. He smirked as Aeryn started, "He didn't lose me, I let him rest for a time."

"Shut up, Harvey."

"But--"

Crichton slammed a fist into the other's gut, doubling him over. "Aeryn--"

"No..." She whispered. "I won't tell him. Or anyone."

"That's too bad," Scorpius mused. He sighed, "I do not have time for this anymore. I'm sorry it's come to this, but it must." He turned away, preparing something, then came back, syringe in hand. "Do you know what heat delirium is, child?"

"Yes."

"Good." He pressed the tip to the side of her neck and depressed the plunger. "I've just infected you with a very special type."

She jerked in shock, her body flooding with adrenaline as the impact of his words touched off a panic.

"I have an antidote, my dear, but only if you tell me the truth."

A tear slid down her cheek as she stared at him, even now, she could feel her inner temperature rising. Or was she just imagining things? Was that sweat beginning to stain her back? "How long?"

"Minutes. Hours until you succumb completely to the living death." He smiled, "You'll make a fetching skeleton, Officer Sun. I wonder if you would like your own cool suit." Scorpius settled against the edge of his table, "I think you will probably enjoy the feeling. First your skin will tighten, then your bones will become so brittle. And the heat..."

Sweat slid into Aeryn's eyes and she almost cried. She'd told him the truth. He wouldn't believe her. There was no pity in his eyes, either, merely a cold logic.

"But such a waste you'll be, Aeryn--I may call you that, now, seeing as we will be sharing some of the same afflictions." He nodded to himself, "Yes. A waste you'll be. There was so much potential in you and you threw it all away."

"Like you threw your hopes for wormhole technology." She rasped, her voice mocking.

"Ah. Not dead yet, are we. Good."

She swallowed, blinking against the sudden strangeness of her vision. "I--You promised, John."

He was standing behind Scorpius now, eyes hollow as he watched her. "But I can't, Aeryn. I just can't. Not to you."

"Please."

A sigh that shouldn't have been possible came from him, "I can't let him do this to you."

"No." She rolled her head away from him, feeling the lankness in her hair now that it was soaked in her own sweat. "Not him, too."

"Braca, I believe she likes you."

Aeryn shuddered, the images on the screen showing months before. Zhaan holding her in the shower, cold water the only thing between her and the living death while a race of creatures was born in the heat of Moya. "You promised."

"Sir, I don't think she's talking to us at all."

"Possibly not." The mild curiosity changed as the image in the screen became Crichton, smiling at Aeryn. Talking, laughing, kissing. "Well now, I see more than words went on between the two of them." He looked at Aeryn, "Tell me, Officer Sun, did you love John Crichton?"

"Still." She managed as the heat began to ravage through her system. What had she been saying? Why did she smell blood and leather?

A sound came to her, a high-pitched sound, it disturbed her. She should know it, had caused it before. There were other sounds, too, but she couldn't focus on them as Scorpius loomed over her again.

"Come, Officer Sun, this could all be over."

"I--" She paused, her brain trying to remember what she'd been about to say, "I don't like you, Scorpius. You're always destroying my life."

"I'm flattered you consider me such a maestro, Officer Sun." He touched her cheek with one hard-fingered nail. "Now tell me what you know of wormholes and I'll give you the antidote."

She began to laugh, her body shaking with the sudden mirth that spilled through her. Disturbance cascaded through her brain from the device that was still connected, but she didn't care. "You stupid, worthless piece of dren, Scorpius. You're so frelling superior, *you* figure out what Crichton told me about wormholes."

"I can see I'm getting nowhere." Scorpius turned away, "Braca, take her back to her cell. We'll see what a few hours in heat delirium will do to her memory."

"Sir."

--

She'd fallen to the floor, no strength left without them watching. John came and knelt next to her, trying to stroke her hair and failing miserably. "Where's your torso?"

A soft sigh escaped him, "I wish I could hold you, Aeryn I'm so sorry."

"Not your fault." She half-laughed and waved a hand towards him, going into the empty space where his chest should have been. "You have no heart left."

"The explosion... I can't seem to find all of myself." Frustrated, he sat back on his heels. "We have to get you out of here. If you stay, you'll tell Scorpy--"

"Tell him what, John?" She giggled, "You never told me anything about wormholes." A tear slid down her cheek and she huddled back against the wall, reveling in the cold coming from it. "Oh, Goddess, it hurts, John. It hurts so much."

"I promised..." He turned away, hiding the tears in his own eyes. "I can't fulfill a promise from the grave, Aeryn."

Bitterness slid up her throat, and she turned onto her stomach, fought to her knees before the bile overwhelmed her. She choked it down, determined not to lose the last of her dignity as she sagged against the wall. "Damn you."

"Already been done, dear Aeryn." Harvey leered at her, "And you shall be soon, I wonder if he'll still love you?"

"Go away, Harvey."

"And miss the farce? Why, John, what do you take me for, a plebian?"

Whirling, Crichton smashed doubled fists into Harvey, sending the neural clone reeling back. But he recovered and shook his head. "Really, how barbaric." He mimed fastidiously adjusting his cuffs. "There are much better things we could be doing with our time."

"Like what?" Aeryn asked, "Watch me slowly succumb to the living death?"

"No no, John could tell you about wormholes."

Silence descended in the cell for a moment, then Aeryn shook her head, fighting the nausea swirling on the edge of things. "Never."

"Think about it, Aeryn. Scorpy could cure you." John's eyes were full of guilt, "I can't watch you die like this."

"I won't die." She snapped, shouldering herself into a better position. More contact with cold wall was a good thing. "I'll merely... change." A tremor wracked her, and she doubled over, retching silently.

"This didn't happen last time," John cursed softly, trying to touch her and failing.

Aeryn was used to his not all being there, now. The lack of chest didn't bother her as it first had. Or perhaps her priorities were changed now. "It's accelerated, didn't you hear him? A special strain." Another shudder took her, and she curled into the base of the wall again, stretching to spread as much of herself out as she could.

"That doesn't make sense. Why would he want to destroy your long-tern memory?"

"Short-term." She gulped a mouthful of cool air. "Motor functions."

"And then long-term. Aeryn, you said long-term goes as well. Why would Scorpy throw away his only chance to pull the wormhole knowledge from someone other than me?"

"I..." She stared at him, eyes bleak. "Perhaps he believes that I know nothing."

"Or maybe this 'strain' of his is nothing but drugs to make you think you have heat delirium."

"And maybe I am already halucinating."

Sound outside the cell door startled her, and she turned away from Crichton as the door opened. Braca came into the cell, his swagger gone. "I've brought the cure."

"I won't tell you, either."

"This--I know." He knelt where John had been and gently touched her cheek. "I just can't stand to see what he's doing to you."

She tried to move away from him and encountered wall. "Get the frell away from me."

"Feeling stronger, are we?" Scorpius' voice was amused as he peered in the doorway. "Ah, Lieutenant Braca."

"Sir." He stood, facing his commander, "I respectfully suggest that you give her the antidote, sir. She won't tell you, and if you destroy her long-term memory, she can't."

"Didn't he tell you, Braca?" Aeryn was surprised to find that she felt mocking, "This case of heat delirium is all in my head."

"Go, Aeryn," John whispered, approval in his eyes as he made bunny ears behind Braca.

She began giggling. "Stop that."

"Officer Sun, it would be so simple for me to stop that," Scorpius waved a hand, "Just tell me what I need to know and I shall stop everything."

With a soft curse, she struggled to her feet, swaying and using the wall to brace herself. "And I already have told you. I know nothing." She growled, "I'm beginning to get tired of this game, Scorpius."

"Aeryn, Aeryn," The other Scorpius said suddenly, spreading his arms wide. "Just answer his questions and it will all be over."

"Shut up, Scorpy." She snapped.

"Hey." John waggled a finger at her, "This is Harvey. Scorpius is the one torturing you."

The one torturing her looked vaguely amused, "Officer Sun, all you have to do is tell me what I wish to know. And I'll 'shut up'."

"Well," Harvey said, "I hope you two meant what you said to each other in the neural cluster." He mimed wiping a tear, "It was so terribly sad. Still, maybe she'll die under torture."

John hit him, his hand passing through him. "Damnit. Shut up, Harvey."

Leaning into the wall harder, Aeryn realized she was shaking all over, the tremors rolling in waves. "This--this didn't happen before."

"Officer--"

"Sir," Braca interrupted, "I don't think she even knows we're here."

And, indeed, Aeryn's gaze was fixed on a point behind them both. Her soft murmur a jumble of words directed at no one. Beads of sweat dotted her brow, her hands shook, and she began to slide down the wall as if her legs wouldn't hold her up any longer. For the merest instant, Braca felt sympathy flash through him. Then it was gone, replaced with disgust at her weakness.

--

D'Argo eyed Rygel. The slug-like creature eyed him back, and finally sighed. "All right." He raised a hand. "You win. I shouldn't have come back up without checking on Aeryn."

"No." The Luxan snarled. He wasn't happy with Rygel normally, anyway. But something about the way the deposed Dominar wouldn't meet his eyes for long made him wonder if he was, to use one of Crichton's phrases, pulling a fast one. A momentary twinge of pain touched him. Crichton would never utter those implausible sayings of his.

Hard to do from the grave.

But now was not the time to grieve. Aeryn Sun was missing, and had been so since her prowler half-crashed. Rygel had claimed he would find her when he'd gone down, arns before.

He hadn't. "Pilot," D'Argo called, "Have there been any other ships in the area?"

"Not according to Moya's sensors. But, she admits she could miss something, due to concentrating on healing so much."

"Thank you, Pilot." D'Argo eyed Rygel. "Either you come with me, or I will make the rest of your miserable life difficult."

"That wouldn't be hard." The hynerian replied morosely. "Moya's still damaged, she can't starburst. For all we know, Scorpius will soon catch up with us--and you can bet he'd be perfectly happy with incarcerating me again." The ex-Dominar gave a sigh. "Still, I suppose we should go find Aeryn."

"What about us?" Chiana gestured to herself and Jothee. "We're worried, too. We could come along as back-up."

"No. You stay here. If there is *any* trouble, take Moya, and leave." His eyes softened as he looked at Jothee. "I have lost you once, Jothee. I would rather see you safe than lost to me again."

"What if I don't wanna stay?" Chiana challenged him, stepping forward belligerently, arms swinging.

"Do *not* make me tongue you." He snapped, "I need you to keep Jothee safe for me."

"Right. Safe." She looked away. "Yeah."

"Pilot, prep a transport pod for immediate departure." D'Argo ordered as he strode from command. "I will be down there shortly. Rygel, come with me."

--

Grunchlik was not having a good day.

It had started out well, really. He'd swindled those frellniks from the leviathan into paying him five times what the doc required. It almost made him giggle with glee. Then, he'd lined up that strange human's surgery. The brain was always an expensive and delicate matter.

Except... It had all gone to hell. That stupid Peacekeeper bitch had killed Crichton, and Scorpius wasn't pleased. No, leather-face wasn't pleased at all.

Even now, as Grunchlik slid through the caverns searching out a particular one, he knew Scorpius and his goons wouldn't be far behind. Braca had told him not to leave. But Grunchlik was never one to watch torture--even if he didn't like a person. Besides, he had more pressing needs on his hands. There was one little casket down here that would nicely suit his needs.

Maybe he'd get more money out of it.

The day could be looking up.

--

"Aeryn. Aeryn, you can't just stay here huddled in a corner. Aeryn..." John's voice was nearly frantic with worry.

The worry slowly penetrated, and she raised her head from her knees and looked at him through what were probably bloodshot eyes. Sweat still trickled down her forehead, but the heat was slowly leaving her body. "Yes I can."

"Aeryn, he'll be back--he has to, if he really thinks you know something." He paced away from her, then swung back, kneeling in front of her. She could see the wall behind him though his torso still. "Look, Aeryn, D'Argo, the others--they have to have figured out something is wrong by now." His hand tried to touch her knee, but there was nothing to touch it with. And he growled softly.

"It's not your fault, John."

"Yes--look, let's forget whose fault it is for now. You have to get up, you have to be ready to get out of here Aeryn--"

"No." She shook her head. "There's no one, left, John. D'Argo might be an excellent warrior, but even he can't find me in this warren of ice and rock. And as for the others, the less said, the better."

"Aeryn, they can find you. Give them hope."

"Fine. I will give them the hope that they leave this place and never look back." That said, she lowered her head back to her knees, and went back to contemplating nothing.

"Damnit, Aeryn, this is not you. Stop it."

"It is me, John." Her voice was muffled. "It is what I have left after everything that's been taken from me. I deserve this."

A frustrated sigh came from Crichton, then he snorted. "Fine. You know what? If you wanna sit here and be Miss Misery Guts, you're welcome to it. I, on the other hand, have better things to do."

"Good."

--

The intense cold made D'Argo wish he'd not come. Almost. But, by circling the area where they'd last had contact with Aeryn, they'd finally spotted the remains of her prowler. He, of course, went to investigate it himself.

But the cold ate at him, the rising winds picking at him, pushing under the cloak he had warmly wrapped around himself. There was no sign of Aeryn, but he smelled something. It was hard to taste it, under the cold and ice, but there was something he recognized. Or thought he did.

And it wasn't Aeryn's scent. That was all over the prowler, embedded into the leather seat and the plasteel surrounds. The controls would have her scent as well, as it would have Crichton's.

He pulled back from the prowler, and studied the snow around it. There were marks where the prowler had skidded, and footprints where Aeryn had walked and stood.

And then he saw it. The faint depression, as if a body had lain there in the snow. Probably not for long, the area wasn't melted in any way.

That scent teased at him again, and he suddenly placed it. "Scorpius." He growled, turning and striding towards the transport pod. He'd been right. Things were very bad.

--

"Harvey, Harvey, Harvey the wonder hamster, he doesn't bite and he doesn't squeal, he just runs around on his hamster wheel..."

"Do stop that, John."

"No."

There was a sigh, and the scarran half-breed turned from contemplating one of the many frozen creatures to gaze at Crichton. "One wonders how you ever kept yourself alive until now."

"It was my winning personality." But Crichton sighed, and tried to cross his arms over his non-existent chest. The action startled him, and he stepped back and ended up standing half in and half out of a dead luxan. "Damnit, Harv, you're really not helping."

"I try John, I try..." The neural clone leaned towards him, "But, tell me John. If you could, would you tell Scorpius everything you know about wormholes now?"

"Since I still don't know anything, no."

"And if you did?"

"No."

"Ah. Pity."

Sudden movement nearby caught Crichton's eye, and he moved towards it, curious. Rygel's throne sled slid stealthily around a corner--well, as stealthily as anything that hovered and made noise could do. He surveyed the vaults, then hissed. "Grunchlik, where are you, you overpaid zannet?"

"Hey, Sparky!" John called, moving towards the hynerian.

There was no reply, and he sighed. "Damn. Maybe D'Argo can see me."

"Do you want to be seen, John?"

"Yes."

Harvey shrugged, "Why? Aren't you afraid it will cause them pain and consternation, as it does Officer Sun?"

"If it saves Aeryn, I don't care." He moved to follow Rygel. "C'mon, Guido, find me D'Argo. He'll know how to get Aeryn out of Scorpy's clutches."

"Do you know, John, I think I'm beginning to find you... boring. Predictable."

"That's great, Harvey. You go tell Scorpy that, okay?"

"I think I shall attempt to do so. It could prove an interesting excersize."

--

It wasn't so cold inside this facility of the doctor's. For this, D'Argo was grateful. The stench of Scorpius was much thicker, here. And there was a strange underlying scent of death as well. Not anyone's, but a general malaise, as though a hundred thousand lay scattered on a battlefield nearby.

Aeryn's scent was scattered here and there, and D'Argo tried to remember where she and Crichton had gone, before everything went to hell.

He wasn't sure where his Emminence had disappeared too, but guessed the hynerian was looking out for his own interests. This didn't really surprise D'Argo, and he was wondering if he should have brought Zhaan and Chiana with him. Perhaps numbers would have been more appropriate.

A corridor branched off from the one he was on, and he carefully eased around the corner, following Aeryn's scent. There. It was deeper here, thicker.

More recent, and with an underlying stench of fear or worse.

He was more careful, now, slipping from doorway to rock to outcropping, trying not to be seen. Another passage split off, and he glanced at it before continuing down the one he was in. Finally, he stopped in front of the only closed door there had been. The only one with a lock that seemed to beg to be opened.

And perhaps Chiana would have been helpful in picking it. But he didn't have time to worry about that now.

He tapped at the door, listening for movement on the other side. There, a slight shift, as if the person in the room were suddenly alert to something.

Pushing at the door, he found it solid. And, so, hoping the sound wouldn't be heard soon, he carefully positioned the point of his qualta blade over the lock and shoved. It slid through the ice and rock like it was so much sand. Albeit with a rather loud shriek.

Throwing caution to the wind, he shoved the door flat to the wall, and looked in. "Aeryn!" She was huddled in a corner, head on her knees. Casting one glance over his shoulder, he ran in and leaned over her. "Aeryn."

"Go away. You're not real."

Snarling, he reached down and picked her up. He was startled at her lightness, as if she'd suddenly become nothing but air and space. Then he slung her unresisting body over his shoulder. "Shut up."

"You're--Ow."

Moving back out into the corridor, he stopped to listen. There was still no sign that he had been heard yet. Aeryn began pounding on his back.

"Put me down, frell it."

"Be silent, and we might yet live."

She stopped struggling suddenly, and sighed. "You shouldn't have tried to save me, D'Argo."

"I owe it to you and to John, Aeryn. Now be silent." He snarled softly.

She obeyed him, this time, and he thanked the hynerian gods as well as his own as he slowly made his way back to where he'd left the transport pod.

--

"Grunchlik."

"Yes, Scorpius?"

The half-breed scarran Peacekeeper stalked confidently towards him. "Grunchlik, why do I get the feeling that you're not telling me something?"

"Because he's not," A deep gravelly voice said. And into the room stepped a scarran, his gray skin looking odd against the white of the ice and rock. "Hello, Scorpius. I am Erathran Plonik, and it will be my pleasure to deliver you to Scarran High Command."

--

"Rygel. Rygel, answer me." D'Argo hissed, then tried one last time. "If you do not answer me, you hynerian slug, I will leave you here."

"Wait!" The deposed dominar's voice came across the comm. "I'm on my way, I suppose."

"You have 200 microts, and then I shall leave you here to rot."

Aeryn looked up at him from the berth where he'd laid her. "You shouldn't leave him. Crichton wouldn't have wanted that."

"I'm not leaving him. He will leave himself here."

She struggled to sit for a moment, then slowly settled back. "All right, John. I'll stay."

Deciding now was not the time to find out why she'd talked to someone dead, D'Argo busied himself with last minute checks on the pod's systems. A minute later, Rygel came sailing in, and they left the planet.

Once on Moya, D'Argo headed to command, leaving Aeryn in Zhaan's capable hands. "Pilot, how soon can we break orbit and starburst away from here?"

"It won't be long now. Chiana and Zhaan have been helping me prepare." Pilot replied from his clamshell hologram.

"Good. Tell Crais and Talyn they can follow as they please, but we are leaving before Scorpius can call his full command carrier down on us."

"Ka D'Argo, is Aeryn Sun...."

"She seems to be fine, Pilot. We'll find out more from Zhaan later."

"Good."

--

"Aeryn..."

She shook her head, moving back on the bed, away from Zhaan and John both. "Leave me alone, John. I deserve--"

"No, you don't. Aeryn, let her help you." He threw up his hands, "Zhaan, talk some sense into her, will ya?"

"Aeryn, child," The delvian priestess moved to pull her into her arms. "It is all right to grieve, to mourn the loss of one you loved so. But this guilt you carry is not all your own."

"But I'm the one who killed him."

"That is so. And we, the rest of us, had we not fallen..." Zhaan wiped a tear from her own face. "Had I not been deceived, he would not have escaped to endanger himself."

"It's not your fault, Zhaan."

"Neither is it yours."

They sat there, each wrapped in her own thoughts for a long while, Aeryn slowly succumbing to the sleeping draft Zhaan had given her, Zhaan crying softly. Finally, Zhaan lowered the sleeping woman to the bed, and kissed her forehead. "Be at peace, Aeryn Sun."

"Yes." John moved and laid down next to her, wishing he could hold her as Zhaan had. He settled for nestling his hand around her cheek. "You, too, Zhaan."

Pausing in the doorway, the delvian almost seem to see him. She smiled softly. "Thank you, John."

-finis-

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