Author's Notes: Did you ever have one of those nagging thoughts at the
back of your head that wouldn't go away? Well, that is what this piece is. There
was no way I wanted to turn this into a story. It was suppose to be a short
piece and it grew.
Setting: AU from Liars, Guns, and Money part 2.
Disclaimer: Not mine. If it was, we'd have a Farscape Channel.
He heard the footsteps as they approached from behind. He didn't move keeping his thumbs tucked into the edge of his belt, as if he didn't have a care in the world.
Scorpius moved in front of him, "Hello John."
John looked at the figure that had gone to such great measures to capture him. Turning his eyes forward, he said, "You want the wormhole technology? I want your implant out of my head..."
He felt as if his stomach were in knots as he continued, "So finally the rift between us is not so great. You do what you gotta do." He looked Scorpius in the eyes, "You win."
Scorpius smacked John's chest. As he places his hands on John's shoulders from behind, he leans forward as if smelling the fear that is rolling off of him.
"As if there was any doubt." Scorpius moves away and again circles to the front of him.
"Braca! We are leaving...immediately."
They quickly shuffle him out into the hall, hands cuffed behind him. Scorpius himself kept a tight grip on his arm. John could see the smile on the half-breed's face; the sight chilled him to his very center.
The guards that Natira volunteered accompanied them to the Marauder. As they entered the vessel, Scorpius released John's arm and turned to Braca, "Secure him, make sure he is...comfortable."
"Certainly, sir," Came the response as he was turned down the corridor, passing through several doors along the way. The final room appeared to be the cargo hold, empty, waiting on Scorpius' property that would never come. Leading John across the room, Braca took his shackled hands released one hand and then lifted them over his head securing them to the wall.
As he turned, Braca smiled, "Almost forgot...Scorpius said to make you comfortable." He pulled out a second pair of cuffs and his pulse pistol. He pointed it at John, "Do not move or I will shoot you."
"Wouldn't dream of it do-boy."
Looking down, he watched as Braca locked his feet to the wall as well. "Little tight don't you think? I'll lose the circulation with them like this."
"That is not my concern." Standing up, he began walking towards the entrance to the room. "I'll be back to retrieve you in nine arns."
"Nine arns! You expect me to stay like this for nine arns?!"
Braca's smiled once again as he reached the door and switched off the lights to the room.
"Come back here you son of a bitch!" John screamed, knowing even as he did it, it would do no good. "Argh!" He bellowed in frustration, pulling on his restraints.
'Calm yourself John. You will injure yourself.'
"Frell you! If I want to hurt myself, I will."
John began jerking against the shackles again; soon he could feel the blood begin to trickle down his arm.
"Just think Harvey. I get this open enough, all Scorpy is going to have is a nice corpse to examine when we get to the carrier." He said laughing hysterically. He didn't want to die, but he wasn't going to give Scorpius anything.
'You leave me no choice, I cannot allow you to kill yourself and you know this. Scorpius must have the wormhole technology that resides in your brain.'
"Well, he ain't getting sh..." He suddenly felt as if his body went numb. His movements stopping as he could no longer feel anything, slowly his mind followed suite.
He closed his eyes to the sudden brightness of the room. He smiled as his eyes adjusted and watched Scorpius cross the room towards him.
"What is it that you find so amusing, Crichton?"
Empty blue eyes met his; "I find it amusing that I finally get to meet my creator."
Scorpius immediately recognized the different cadence as the Human spoke.
"Creator? Am I correct to assume that I am speaking to the neural chip?"
"You are...I had to assume control over Crichton, he had determined a means in which to kill himself." He looked up to indicate the blood.
Braca moved forward with the keys, looking first to Scorpius who nodded his approval. As his legs, then arms released, Scorpius watched as the Human's body slid to the floor.
"If I may suggest?" He lifted up the battered and bloody wrists, "These need to be tended to. Also, while I do have control of his body, Crichton has continued to fight me. I cannot maintain this level at this current time." The neural clone looked up at Scorpius. "He may try to end his life again."
"Agreed...summon the medical techs."
Soon two men entered the room and knelt down in front of the Human. Scorpius watched as the chip relinquished control, noting how quickly the face before him filled with emotion.
"No! Get away from me!" Crichton tried to scramble away, but his limbs would not obey him after their confining position for so long.
"Sedate him...see that he cannot bring harm to himself."
A hypo spray was quickly brought into view against Crichton's neck. It's affects quickly seen as his movements dramatically began to slow. Braca motioned to the men in the room to pick him up.
Scorpius stepped forward as the man's head lolled backwards, his eyes beginning to droop then finally close.
"Bring him." He ordered as he turned to leave the room with his precious cargo.
Scorpius watched as the medical staff moved around the room, preparing for the surgery that would remove the chip from Crichton's brain. He could easily have just killed the Human, but he needed a contingency in case the chip had failed to gather the information.
"Are you ready to begin?" Scorpius asks stepping further into the room.
"Yes sir, but from our readings...the chip is dangerously close to the speech center of his brain. Also there is the problem of keeping the integrity of his memories..."
"What do you mean?"
He watched as the tech swallowed quickly, "The tendrils that overlapped his brain, sir...they have fused with several areas of his memory. There is no way to determine what these areas are without him being conscious."
'Why were these creatures so frelling simple.' Scorpius thought as he looked at Crichton's prone form.
"Wake him...then continue with the procedure."
"Right away sir." The tech set out to immediately follow orders.
He sat on the floor of his cell, looking down at the tasteless food in front of him. Some days it was almost too hard to even find the will to pick up the eating utensil he couldn't even name. They had done well during the operation to remove the chip; there were only a few things he couldn't remember. Mostly it was the names of objects as he became lost in his thoughts, but it also included the names of a few people as well. He kept seeing himself, wearing an orange jumpsuit, walking down a corridor with a man with white hair. Both of them smiling as the nameless man placed an object in his hand. John knew this man was important to him, he just didn't know why.
John looked up as the door to his cell opened; he quickly stood up and backed away. One thing he remembered with clarity was the punishment for being too close to the door when the guard entered the room; it had taken several weekens for his ribs to heal.
He was surprised when he saw Scorpius enter the room; he noticed the hybrid looked angry. 'Wonder what I did for this little visit.' He thought.
He wanted to ask him this same question, but he knew it would do no good, anything he said would be a garbled mess. So he stood in silence, waiting. He didn't have to wait long.
"It appears my neural chip's search for the wormhole technology was incomplete. I do not have access to all of the equations, it seems...I still have a purpose for you Crichton."
'So that's it...his little bloodhound didn't find all of the good stuff.' He thought as he silently laughed to himself.
Scorpius turned to the guard that stood outside of the cell door. "I want him brought to the med bay."
'Med bay? What? He's going to put another chip in me?'
Scorpius ignored the questioning look as he left the room and the guard entered, pointing his pulse rifle in John's direction. He directed John to move ahead of him with the point of the rifle, never saying a word. Knowing there would be no fighting him, John did as he was ordered.
Scorpius sat back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest, waiting for the procedure to finish. He watched as the neural connection was established between Crichton and the computer that would fuel the wormhole project. The Human's screams echoed throughout the room as the connection drove deeper into his brain. Soon Crichton's thoughts flooded the screen, with the push of a button, his screams silenced.
Slowly Scorpius worked microt by microt eradicating the memories that made John Crichton who he was until there was nothing. Nothing but the jumble of wormhole equations that suddenly filled the screen.
Suddenly an alarm sounded from the console. He looked up at the med tech that was still in the room, cleaning the wound around the connection.
"What is this!" Scorpius roared.
The med tech moved quickly, looking at readings and trying to make adjustments as he went along.
"His body is failing sir! For some reason I cannot see, his body is beginning to shut down on it's own. We will have to get him on life support."
"Do it!"
The tech before him cringed, his voice hesitant as he continued. "Sir... what we have here will only be a temporary solution. We...don't...keep Peacekeepers on life support when they are at this stage."
"If he dies...know this, you will quickly follow. Is that understood?"
"Yes sir!" The tech quickly assembled the original team to begin saving Crichton's life.
"Sir...It is finished. We have safely transferred the human to the chair. His body is of course different than a Sebacean, so we had to take dramatic measures to make the proper connections."
Stepping closer, Scorpius saw what the tech meant by dramatic measures. They had removed the lower half of the Human's body, starting at his hips, to connect him to the chair, which was a more permanent form of life support and sustenance. Scorpius had been surprised to find that without memories or a will, Crichton's own body had almost succeeded where Crichton himself could not. Motioning to his personal guard, Scorpius looked at the man before him. Crichton's breath came in short gasps from his slack mouth, a line of drool falling from his chin. A vacant stare that saw nothing of the world around him.
"Take him to the lab...have Co'Kura connect him to the computer. We have work to do."
The lights continued to flicker as they slowly made their way through the corridor, each watching for obstacles in the way of their mission. They noted the bodies littering the floor as exited from one level to another.
Aeryn motioned as they neared their final destination. Monens of planning was coming to fruition as they made their way to the lab.
As they entered the room, both saw him at the same time. The only sound was the sharp intake of breath as they saw his slumped body in the chair next to the console. The sleep gas had worked just effectively against his nervous system as it had the Sebaceans throughout the command carrier.
She saw a movement out of the corner of her eye, as D'Argo moved across the room to where Scorpius lay next to Co'Kura Strapa. He nodded his head in acknowledgment that the hybrid was completely unconscious.
Moving closer to the console, she saw why he had not fallen completely over. They had attached something akin to a neural transponder to the base of his skull. Bending down towards him, she noticed something that made the blood freeze in her veins. She quickly turned to an adjoining console, and began typing furiously. As the information flashed in front of her, confirming her fear, tears began to run down her face. D'Argo crossed the room to stand next to her.
"What is it?" He asked, looking down at the figure in the chair then back to Aeryn.
"Look closely at him. What do you see?"
The Luxan looked down again. He quickly realized what she meant.
"What did they do to him?"
"They removed his legs and attached him to the chair after removing all of his memories. It is what is keeping him alive." Her voice choked as she spoke. "All of his memories except for the wormhole equations. The neural link feeds his mind directly into the computer. He doesn't see anything, but the equations they put on the screen for him to complete. He doesn't know anything else." As she finished she thought her legs would give out from beneath her.
"What do you want to do?" D'Argo asked.
"The only thing he would want done, destroy the information." It felt to her as if the room had suddenly begun to spin. She put her hand on D'Argo's shoulder to brace herself.
"I'll do it, there is no reason for it to fall on your shoulders." The sadness plainly visible on his face.
Shaking her head, "No...It should be me. That's what he would want."
D'Argo nodded in agreement, "I'll begin on their computers. We only have an arn before the sleep agent begins to wear off."
"I know." She watched as her friend turned away. She didn't know how long she stood there in silence, committing every line of his face to memory one last time. Picking up the pulse pistol off of the console in front of her she pointed it at his sleeping head.
"Good bye John. I will love you forever." She closed her eyes as she pulled the trigger. Turning she placed Winona back in her holster.
Wiping the tears off of her face, she looked at D'Argo as he continued with his work destroying the wormhole data in the computers. As he finished, he turned and looked at her. Aeryn was surprised when she saw tears running down his face as well.
"What do you want me to do with this sack of dren?" He asked pointing down at Scorpius' prone body.
Taking a deep breath, she tried to quiet the turmoil that resided there. "Do what you think is best."
D'Argo knelt down beside Scorpius, taking the Peacekeeper's head in his hands, he gave a quick twist. The strength he put into the movement evident as suddenly Scorpius' head rested in an unnatural angle on the floor.
Standing, D'Argo walked over to where John still sat in the chair, the blood from Aeryn's shot already slowed to almost a standstill. Ripping his clothing, he wrapped the torn garment around his friend's head. He then detached the neural connection from the base of his skull. D'Argo picked him up softly, although he knew that John could no longer feel any pain.
"No one will ever again hurt you my friend."
Together, he and Aeryn began making there way out of the room.
"Pilot, we are on our way to the ship, be ready to starburst once we are on board." Aeryn said trying to keep her voice from cracking.
"Doing so now." Came the reply over her comm. "Were you successful in retrieving the Commander?"
D'Argo looked down to the body he carried then over to Aeryn and knew she couldn't answer him. "Yes Pilot, we found him in Scorpius' lab as we were told." He didn't have the strength to tell entire story just yet.
"D'Argo, there is something unusual with Moya's readings, she shows the Commander's bio-signature emanating six metras from your current position."
Aeryn shook her head. "Tell Moya something must be causing her interference, we have Crichton with us as we speak...he is dead." She heard Pilot's sharp intake of breath at her words.
She was surprised to hear resolve in Pilot's next words as the quickly made their way, "Moya insists that you investigate these readings, she will not leave here until you do so."
"Pilot...tell Moya we don't have time. The sleep gas will only work for another 500 microts, we must be out of here before hand." D'Argo bellowed into the comm.
"She only repeats that you must do this." Pilot said with a sigh.
"Very well, where is the location again." Aeryn said knowing the Leviathan could be as stubborn as herself at times.
"It is now only three metras from your location, she says to turned right at the juncture. That will bring you to where it is emanating from."
They quickly followed Moya's instructions. They saw a guard unconscious on the floor in front of the door once they arrived, Aeryn noted it was another lab. As she looked through the window, her heart stopped in her chest.
"Crichton!"
Aeryn tried to open the door in front of her, but it appeared to be locked. Bending down to the body of the guard in front of the door. She used his ident chip to open the door and rushed in with D'Argo close on her heels.
She knelt beside the bed where he lay, whole and apparently unharmed with the exception of a small tube that was attached to his restrained arms. She suspected it was to keep him sedated and unable to escape. She quickly removed the straps holding him down.
She knew that she would be unable to carry him back to the transport herself, she looked up at D'Argo.
"D'Argo, you need to carry John. I can carry the other." She pointed at the body that lay in his arms. D'Argo nodded his head and silently passed Crichton to her.
As he picked up the other John, he said, "Now let's get the frell out of here."
The arns ticked by as they patiently waited for the sedation to where off, when it did not. Zhaan looked to the others and volunteered to join with him to discover what fate had caused there to be two John Crichton's.
Tears ran down Zhaan face as she stood up from the unconscious Human's side and faced the others. "He has faced so much pain since he was taken from us. Scorpius removed the neural chip, but left him without the ability to speak. There is also the loss of several of his memories."
Aeryn slowly stepped forward, "Memory loss? How extent is it?"
"He recognized me, but did not remember my name. John says there are only a few gaps in his memory, but as far as he can perceive it mostly extends to names."
It seemed the room released a collective sigh at these words.
"D'Argo looked at Aeryn, there was still something unasked, "What of the other Crichton? How can that be possible?"
"John himself doesn't know much about that. Only that he overheard Scorpius mention someone called Kaarvok and how his research could benefit him. He also remembers seeing himself lying in the bed next to his. He thought it was a dream, as they had kept him sedated so he wouldn't kill himself."
Aeryn stood up straight at those words, "Kill himself?" She looked down at John, "He didn't think we would come for him?"
Zhaan walked towards her, "No my dear. He didn't think we could reach him in time, and he was correct."
Closing her eyes in acceptance, Aeryn asked, "Why hasn't he woken yet?"
"I think it has to do with the duration of time he was under the effects of the drug. Given time, he will awaken."
"Is there anything we can do to repair his speech?"
Zhaan slowly shook her head.
Pilot's voice immediately came through their comms. "Moya suggests that we return to the ice planet and inquire again to Tocot's abilities. She feels that if he was able to help her heal, he may be able to help Crichton as well."
"Tell Moya thank you, that is exactly what we should do. " Aeryn said with a sad smile on her face as she walked over to John's bed. She didn't notice as the others left the room.
"Setting course now."
Sitting down on the floor beside the bed, Aeryn lay her head on her arms. Watching as his chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, she waited. Reaching forward, she took his hand in hers. She knew it could be arns before he would awaken, but she was patient. She would wait for eternity if need be.
Opening her eyes, Aeryn reached out to grab onto John's hand, finding nothing to hold onto. She lifted her head, searching the room.
"John?"
Suddenly the memories flooded her mind, Crais and Talyn destroying the Shadow Depository, the Ice Planet and Tocot healing Moya, Crais acquiring the location of Scorpius' carrier, using unknown amounts of currency for a sleep agent that would flood the many levels of the carrier and enable she and D'Argo to gain entrance. The sight of John slumped over in the chair, his body an empty shell.
She looked down at her hands as she remembered how she had used John's own weapon to end his life, a tear rolling down her cheek.
"John!" She shouted again, she thought he must be in the refresher as she walked towards the small room. As she reached it and saw that it was empty, she frowned. Opening her mouth to call for him over the comms, the final veil of sleep lifted from her mind and she remembered it all...
D'Argo carrying John into the transport pod, she barely made it herself and collapsed into her seat as she reached for him. D'Argo placing him into her arms and somehow finding the strength to pilot them off of the Carrier. The look on everyone's faces as they brought John back to Moya. It took them several days, but they found a planet that had the right conditions that John would have loved.
She remembered he had spoken of the beauty of being on a mountaintop, the appearance of being able to see the entire universe at a glance. They left a simple marker on his gravesite on that mountaintop they had found just for him, so he could always see the stars he loved so much.
Aeryn looked silently around the room. Walking over to a small box, reaching inside she pulled out a shirt, as she lifted it to her face, she inhaled the scent that was so uniquely John. Her legs gave out beneath her, as the sobs that she held in came forth uncontrollably. She couldn't stop the shaking of her body as the grief and guilt ripped through her.
At first she didn't feel the arms around her, she only collapsed into them, unable to stop herself from showing the world the extent of the wounds to her soul. The comforting arms tightened as she felt a hand on her hair. Soon the sobs quieted, but never really leaving her.
"Aeryn...Shhhh, it's okay."
She looked up at the voice, not surprised to see D'Argo holding her.
"D'Argo? He is really gone isn't he?"
She could see that he was faring no better than she as he slowly nodded his head. The proud Luxan did nothing to hide his grief from her. 'So far...we've all come so far, because of John.' The thought of his name punching a hole into the center of her chest.
"I dreamt of him, that we had saved him in a way. That Scorpius had twinned him."
A frown creased his face, "As Chiana and I were?" The memory still fresh in his mind of the horrors they had faced on the cannibalized Leviathan. They had barely escaped with their lives.
Her voice came out in gasps as she spoke, "I had shot him and we were bringing him back when Moya detected his bio-signature...and we were able to save him still."
She looked up to see D'Argo eyes, "A dream...only a dream."
"But a nice dream, I'll wager."
Sitting back, Aeryn removed herself from his arms and wiped the tears from her eyes, "How did you know I was in here?"
D'Argo gave her a sad smile, "I heard you from my quarters."
Nodding her head, she tried to return the smile, but it immediately fell. "I'm surprised you didn't call for Zhaan."
"We are both warriors, as was John. Zhaan knows the ways of a person's heart, but not a warrior's heart at a time such as this. I know what you did was the hardest thing you could have faced and only another such as yourself would understand."
He looked down at his own hands and flexed the fingers, his voice cracking as he continued to speak, "John was my friend, but I don't know if I could have gone through with what he wanted. Only someone who truly loved him could have found the strength to do that...I would have failed him."
Aeryn took his hands into hers, "You would have found it, because that is who you are. You could not see John suffer anymore than I could."
They sat in silence for several microts, "I also dream of him..."
Aeryn looked at him, waiting for him to continue.
"There were so many things I said to him, that I wish every microt of the day that I could take back. I know now that it was my fear of never seeing Jothee that fueled those cruel words. When I dream of him, it always begins with my apology to him, words that I wish I could have said to him face to face. In the dreams, he always accepts the apology and tells me he understands."
"He did understand, that is how John is...was," The hurt tried to return as she said the last word.
"I know."
They both lapsed back into silence as they sat on the floor, each giving and taking the others strength, both lost in their thoughts, not seeing the figure standing in the doorway.
As Zhaan turned away, she thanked the Goddess that the true healing had begun for her two friends and asked that she continue to watch over John during his last great adventure into the unknown.
The EndOriginally posted on April 27, 2003