The Mirror Cracked
Author's
Notes: I
think this is the first time that I've went to a writer and asked permission to
write a sequel to one of their stories, and I want to thank BlueAeryn
for letting me do this. If want to know what is going on here, you would really
have to check out her story The
Doll to really get the idea. Also thanks to BlueAeryn
and Ixchup for being my beta bunnies on this and
pointing out where I left some holes.
Setting: Season 4
Disclaimer: Not mine...If it were, we'd have a Farscape Channel.
Prologue:
Surprise filled
"No, they don't."
Turning swiftly at the voice behind him,
"You are not supposed to know about this place," he said.
"Oh, I can thank you for that...Harv." Smiling, Crichton walked
slowly around the room what was housed within his mind before stopping once
more in front of
With those words, Crichton wrapped his arms around
Part 1:
"Are you sure you don't mind sealing the nerve endings?" Aeryn asked
as she lifted Ryan from his bed.
"That's a silly question, Aeryn. Junior here needs to be fed and as much
as I wish I could do that instead, that job falls on your lovely head...or
breasts in this case," he said with a smile as he eyed her swollen chest.
"Oh, so you would like to feel almost continuous ache in your chest,
having to change your shirt several times in a single day because your breasts
keep leaking, not to mention having to attach another being to yourself so you
can feed it?"
Nodding his head as she spoke, John leaned over and kissed her cheek. "For
you guys, I'd suffer anything. Now, I gotta get this
fixed before the others get back in three arns so we can take off."
Noticing the dark circles under John's eyes, Aeryn stopped him by placing her
hand on his arm and asked, "Are you still having trouble sleeping?"
During the past several weekens, since Ryan's birth, Aeryn had found John lying
already awake beside her. Usually he urged her to go back to sleep unless it
was time for their child's next scheduled feeding.
"Yeah, but I've had bouts out insomnia before. I think it's this whole
fatherhood thing, it'll pass once I've gotten used to it."
"If it continues much longer, you won't be much use to anyone...especially
me," she said with a mischievous grin.
Chuckling, John said as he headed for the door, "If it goes on too long, I
may have to hit Granny up for something."
Aeryn knew that John would have to feel desperate for him to go to the old
woman for any of her herbal remedies and she decided to try and find another
solution to his current problem.
Reaching the neural cluster, John stopped in front of the shaft that would take
him to the damaged nerve endings close to the Y'tal
cavity. Readjusting the tools in his hand, John waved his left hand in front of
the hidden sensor he had asked Pilot to install as a safe guard to protect the
precious toubray. The only way it would open was
through the personal energy signature of one of the crew. When the door didn't
open, John frowned and waved his hand once more, and became irritated when it
again didn't respond.
"Pilot...is there something wrong with this sensor. The door won't open
for me."
"No, Commander. Everything appears to be in working order. I will try and
determine what is the cause for the problem,"
Pilot said as the door to the shaft opened for John.
Placing the tools in the shaft, John climbed in and began making his way to the
damaged area. Despite the fact he hadn't had much sleep and felt tired much of
the time, he hadn't felt this good in a very long time. Ryan's birth had been
the only answer that he could come up with, that and the fact that he had not
seen nor heard anything from Harvey since the day his son was born. That was
just icing on the cake after everything he had experienced over the cycles.
"This must be the place," John said quietly when he saw two DRDs
working on a small area just ahead of him and he stopped and began putting his
tools within easy reach.
"Hi, guys. Let me just move you out of the way here so I can reach my
fingers in and get this done." Picking up the DRDs he set them down next
to the tools and began to work on the repair.
Lost in the task at hand, John jumped when Pilot's voice called over the comm,
"Crichton, I found nothing wrong with the sensor itself, but I did find
why it would not allow you to enter. I took the liberty of having one of the
DRDs run a scan of your energy signature to re-input the information. Somehow,
Moya's data bank show a different energy signature for
you. I do not know how this could have happened."
"Huh...well, those things happen sometimes, Pilot. I'm glad you found the
problem at least," John said squinting his eyes
at the small connections he was resealing. He rubbed the back of his hand
against his eyes as they began to water from the fumes from the sealant.
Rolling over on his back, he rested a moment and felt the beginnings of another
headache start once more. The headaches had became
more frequent since he had begun having trouble sleeping nights. Sometimes were
worse than others, and he found himself chewing on Zaccan
leaves for better part of the day trying to stave off the effects of a full
blown migraine.
Remembering that he was almost out of the analgesic plant, he
said, "Pilot, patch me through to D'Argo."
"Is there a problem, Crichton?"
"No, I just forgot to add something to the shopping list before he and Chiana left."
"You are connected now."
"I appreciate it. Hey, D'Argo..."
Her food sat uneaten in front of her as Noranti watched Crichton take a bite of
the Kirvof and instantly spit it back out into the
cloth beside his plate.
"Argh! That's
disgusting...what is that," he said before taking a drink from his cup.
"It's Kirvof, one of your favorites," Aeryn
answered for her.
"Not anymore it is." Standing up, he went over and scraped the rest
of the portion into the waste funnel and John looked at the rest of the food
sitting out on the table. Walking back over and sitting down, the man instantly
began spooning Telgrik stew onto his plate to
Noranti's surprise.
"You have always said that you detested Telgrik
stew, saying it reminded you of..." The proper pronunciation of the word
escaped her for a moment.
"A sweaty locker room is what you said it reminded you of," Chiana
said from the other side of the table.
"Yeah, well people's taste change and I love this now," he said a
microt before taking an almost gluttonous bite of the food. Everyone stared at
him in surprise as he quickly ate the food.
"What?" He asked, the spoon stopped midway
to his mouth.
Trying not to laugh at the sight, D'Argo said, "You are eating that like
Rygel."
"Hmpf...I take offense to that." They
barely understood Rygel's words as he shoved another muffin into his mouth.
Lifting his glass, D'Argo said pointing at the Hynerian, "You are an
offense."
Putting the spoon back on his plate and rubbing the back of his neck, John
said, "Look, guys...I'm just tired and hungry. There's nothing wrong with
that."
Adjusting Ryan in her arms, Aeryn said, "No, there's not, but you usually
don't shove food into your mouth as if it's your last meal."
Noranti watched the exchange between each of the crew, her third eye closing
half way as she passing the Human more of the Telgrik
stew when he reached for it. Crichton's hand touched her own and immediately
she felt as if a spark of electricity ran through her. The residual vibration
passed through her and left a feeling of dread in its wake.
Part 2:
She watched...and waited.
Time was working against her, against them all as the horrific pieces quickly
fell in front of her eyes. One did not suddenly change their energy signature, they were what made each creature who they are,
the essence of their life force. Only death and rebirth could possibly do this,
and even that was of the remotest of possibilities.
They only had Crichton's word as the demise of 'Robert', but from all
indications the entity had indeed ceased to exist after the battle for control
of the Human's body. Now she knew, it had been too
easy.
Life, everything desires it, even creatures of pure energy. Especially
ones that have tasted it briefly.
She watched as he exited one of the storage rooms containing clothing and other
non-essentials they may use for trade at any given time.
Crichton glanced up as he finished buckling the new holster he now wore on his
left side. "Hey Granny, what's up?"
"How are you feeling, Crichton?"
Crichton frowned slightly as he looked at her more closely and said,
"Fine. A little sleepy, but that's to be expected being a new dad."
"You do not feel any differently?"
"Not really, except that
"No, no reason really. I was only concerned because you seem distracted
lately. I can see now that is only the typical problem with new parents,"
she answered quickly, her hands fluttering in the air like a Mokasian durma beetle.
"Well, is there anything else?"
"Nothing that I can think of at the moment."
She watched as Crichton turned away from her, placing his favored pulse pistol
in its new cradle as he walked down the corridor. Closing her eyes, she opened
herself to truly see the Human and the swirls of black amassing themselves
around him forced her to come to a decision that may very well kill him as she
tried to at least save what remained of his soul.
"Tell me again why did you have us bathe John in premorie
salt before putting him in this cell?" Aeryn asked Noranti as they all
stood waiting for him to awaken. The anger the ex-Peacekeeper felt towards her
had still not fully dissipated after finding out about the drugs in Crichton's
food during First Meal after he had passed out.
"To purify him." The answer should have been
obvious to even them as they stared at the figure coming awake inside the cell.
Confusion and uncertainty prevailed in his eyes as Crichton sat up in the bed
and faced them all. His voice held deadly calm as he said, "Two questions,
but first the obvious. Why the hell am I sitting here in my underwear doing an
imitation of
Swallowing hard, she looked at Aeryn who prompted her with a nod of the head to
answer him. "I have reason to suspect that you are not free of the entity
that called himself Robert and it is still trying to
gain control of you."
They all watched as Crichton sat back in the bed and leaned against the wall.
Pulling up his legs and resting his arms on them, he stared ahead at the far
wall on the other side of the cell for several moments. She was not surprised
when he began to laugh softly.
He stood up and walked toward the doors. "Second
question. Is the reason my head feels as if D'Argo sat on it, from you
drugging me?"
"I had to make sure that this creature would not try and gain complete
control if it realized I knew it was still inhabiting
your body," she answered.
Crichton looked at his companions standing on her side of the door. "You
guys...are taking the word of an old woman who doesn't know where she is half
of the frelling time..."
Interrupting his plea, she said, "Why did you suddenly want to wear your
pulse pistol on your left side?"
Her question obviously surprised him. Crichton stood silently for a moment
before shrugging his shoulders indicating he didn't know.
Knowing that his time grew short, she stated, "Stand in the center of the
room and prepare your mind to the battle to come."
"How? I'm a little out of touch with the newest in exorcisms." The
look on his face one of natural anger, who the anger was directed at remained unclear.
Kneeling down beside the doorway, she glanced up at him briefly. " For a creature of your intelligence you should have
figured out the obvious. Robert is your mirror image at this moment.
Incorporeal beings must share polarized fields with the host or they will
remain insubstantial and unable to transmute into our realm. When you told me
that you had not been troubled by the neural clone, I knew that is what had
taken place. Now...stand in the center of the room."
"Why the hell should I just do as you tell me? What if I think you're
completely off your nut and don't?"
Crossing his arms in front of him, D'Argo looked through the door at his friend
and said, "If you are truly John, you'll do it to prove that you are still
in control of your faculties."
Crichton returned the Luxan's stare for several moments before doing as she had
instructed and placed himself in the center of the room.
Igniting a small flare in her hand, Noranti reached through the grillwork on
the door and touched a small a spot a couple of denches past the frame and
watched as a trail of fire swiftly crawled towards the Human and surrounded
him, leaving him only an area of about two motras in which to move around.
"What the frell are you doing? You're burning Moya!" Crichton called
out as he looked flames blocking any escape.
Looking at D'Argo, Noranti nodded her head to show it was time to enter. "It
is a spiritual fire, no harm will come to the
Leviathan...nor to Pilot."
"What do we do now, Noranti?" Chiana asked as she looked nervously at
Crichton.
"The first time Crichton fought the spirit he said he had thoughts of
Aeryn to aid and give him the strength to overcome it. Priests of the Qiwlax teach that family bonds keep our spirit intact and
lift us to the Divine Eternal," she answered looking at the young Nebari
and then each of the others in turn. "You are Crichton's family...his
strength of spirit...and this is how we will defeat the creature."
Crichton looked at each of them as they all stood at the edge of the fire.
"This is full of so much bull it's unbelievable. D'Argo...you're not going
to let her do this are you?" he asked, stepping toward the ring of fire.
As he neared it, he suddenly pulled away and cried out in pain.
"I thought you said it was spiritual fire, that
it doesn't burn?" Aeryn cried out.
"Only those inflicted with unnatural spiritual energy. This only proves my
stated fears." Reaching into her pouch, Noranti pulled out several hairs
and twisted them into a ball between her aged fingers. "There is one more
family member that must join us to help Crichton on his journey."
"You are not bringing Ryan in here!" Crichton shouted as he rubbed
the side of his head with the heel of his left hand.
"I would never do such a thing, a child of that age is entirely too
vulnerable to this type of attack, but the strength you garner from him 'is'
needed," she replied throwing the ball of hair into the fire and watched
as Crichton collapsed into a sitting position on the floor.
Dust swirled around him under the hot sun, covering his eyes,
John saw that he stood on an old dirt road in the middle of nowhere.
"
Just then a figure stepped out of the driver's side of the T-Bird, and John
found himself staring back at his own image as it leaned against the roof of
the car. "He won't be answering you. I made sure of that," Robert
said smugly.
"What? You've got him doing another Tweety
impersonation?"
Stepping backward, Robert ran his hand along the length of the car. "No,
let's just say that I used up what was left of the clone. I'll never have to
worry about him, or you ever again after this.
Although...absorbing him, I did come across a much better tactic for taking
your form. You take a little...finesse."
"That's what you think. I beat you before, and I can do it again."
Stopping in front of the cars, Robert's face turned to stone as he said,
"You think that the old woman is going to help you? I've been around
longer than religion she can think of. You can try and free yourself, but it
won't do you any good." Nodding his head towards the Pinto, he smiled
briefly. "Get in."
John's gaze fell back on the car in front of him and back at the beauty he had
restored himself. "I don't know what you're trying to pull here, but
that's 'my' car."
"Not anymore," Robert replied. "I've been here long enough now,
that I'm almost the dominant host of this body. So this car,
and anything else you can dream up...is mine. I may not have a choice in this
game the old woman set up, but it's still going to be played on my terms. Now. Get. In. The. Car."
"You want me to race you? In a Pinto?!"
John couldn't believe this. He had seen some screwed up things before, but this
was over the top even for the life he lived.
Robert walked back to the driver's side of the T-Bird. "This is going to
be fun," he said as he climbed in.
"Yeah, a real blast," John mumbled as he opened his own door. He
listened as the engine in the other car sprang to life and began revving up.
Turning the key of his own ignition, the engine on the
Pinto sputtered and died. He almost felt as if he had already lost the race
before it even began. Pumping the gas peddle a few times, he whispered,
"Come on, baby. I know you can do it."
He let out a whoop when the old car finally turned over, and he revved up the
engine a few times and looked at the other figure in 'his' car. 'Let's get this
show on the road,' he thought.
Without warning the T-Bird surged forward, leaving a trail of dust behind it.
Slamming his foot on the gas, John gripped the wheel in his hands tightly as he
took off. Trying to get out of Robert's wake, he veered slightly to the right
of the road in order to see, and was not surprised by the lead the other
already had on him.
John could feel himself weakening as the distance increased between them. He
tried to think of Aeryn and all of the people that he had cared for and loved
in his life, but the memories were faded as if from old black and white photos.
Sunlight filtering through the dusty windshield glinted off of an object hanging
from the rear-view mirror and caught his attention. Glancing over, John saw
that it was a cheap link chain and at the end was a small lock of hair braided
together to form a circle. Taking his right hand from the steering wheel, John
touched it and he instantly knew it was Ryan's hair.
Wrapping his hand around the object, John's head suddenly jerked backward from
the force of his car surging forward, and it reminded him of the first time he
broke the sound barrier. Holding tightly onto the hair, John grabbed the wheel
with both hands again in order not to lose control of his vehicle. He could see
the T-Bird as he began to finally close the gap. Soon he was even with the
other vehicle and John could see the look of pure hatred on Robert's face. Stomping
down with even more force, he urged the car even more, unsure of how it was
able to accomplish what he considered to be impossible. Within a couple
seconds, he had passed through the dust and saw a brick wall ahead of him.
Slamming on the brakes, John turned the wheel and began to fishtail as the
vehicle came to a stop.
Still holding his son's hair tightly in his hand, John slowly climbed out of
his car and found himself standing alone at the end of
the dirt road. Turning in a circle, he smiled when he saw that the car he had
climbed out of was his old red T-Bird.
They all watched as his eyes grew wide and soon his body was drenched in sweat
as he began screaming at the other residing in his mind. Collapsing onto his
back they watched as he fell backward, his body contorting in pain from both
the mental and physical exertions of the battle. Several times D'Argo placed
his hand firmly on Aeryn's arm to keep her from trying to enter the ring and
comfort the Human as he fought.
Noranti herself began to worry as they passed through the sleep cycle and still
it continued. They heard Pilot inform them that Ryan had awakened and indicated
that he was hungry, and yet they could not leave the circle for fear it would
mean the loss of Crichton's soul to the entity that tried to inhabit his body.
Unsure of the length of time they would need, Aeryn had set up several
containers full of breast milk and Pilot instructed the DRDS to carefully feed
the baby. They could all see that Aeryn was torn between going to their child
and saving the life of the man she loved just as much, but she continued to
stand with them.
Crichton sat up slowly only to let out a anguished
scream and once more fell onto his side, only this time he didn't move except
for the slight shiver that ran through his body.
Closing her eyes, Noranti once again reached within herself and stared at the
man lying before her and saw that the decay was now gone from around him.
"I believe it is over now," she said quietly and began to dampen down
the flames with her hands.
Aeryn ran around her as Chiana said she would see to the baby and lifted John's
head onto her lap. D'Argo stood in the doorway quietly watching for almost a
quarter arn before feeling it safe enough to leave.
Wanting to give them privacy, Noranti silently gathered her supplies and walked
out of the room knowing that, despite Crichton's declarations of bad luck, he lived a life quite the opposite. Very few men or
women had the fortune to have the type of bond that was formed within this
great Leviathan's walls. The destinies of these people had been irrevocably
fused together as one, and from what she had seen with her tired old eyes, no
force would ever be able to completely part them.
The End
Originally
posted December 24, 2003