Infinite Possibilities

Part 1: Daedalus Demands
The episode opens with Talyn, barely visible as he moves in the sunless deeps of space. The scene shifts to within his body, where Aeryn and John are lounging in their underwear, head to foot,, on their narrow bunk. John is trying to pass the time and distract himself by teaching Aeryn English the only way someone with translator microbes could learn a new language - by reading it. She's playing along - studying a word list he's prepared for her in a notebook.

John: (slowly sounding each letter) G-u-n.

Aeryn: (she tries the sounds on her tongue and then exclaims triumphantly) Gun!

John: Gun! (they both laugh a little with pleasure at her success) Do the next one.

Aeryn: S-u-n - Sun.

John: Sun.

Aeryn: Sun. (there's a pause while John absently pets her body. She sighs and snaps the notebook shut) You know that everyone thinks your crazy as a banta bug.

John: (preoccupied) Yeah what else is new?

Aeryn: Mm. You still hearing it?

John: Mm-hm - feeling it. It's like a homing signal.

Aeryn: Or a trap - Scorpius trap.

John: (pensive) No, no, no. I know Scorpius. This is different.

Aeryn: (logically) All right, so let's say it is - this alien who takes the form of your father. Why would they come looking for you now?

John: (he rests his head on her hip as he stares into space and says, with a note of dread in his voice) I have no idea. I thought the Ancients were done with me.

Aeryn: (she sits up to face him and caresses his face as she murmurs coaxingly) Well why - don't you - just ignore it? Why do you want to look for them?

John: (with the quiet conviction of one who feels it in his gut) 'Cos I'm not done with them. (Aeryn sighs and turns away from him again) Do you think I'm crazy?

Aeryn: (nodding) Mm - always thought you were crazy. You know that.

John: Do you know why - I'm crazy?

Aeryn: (with a little smile) Why are you crazy?

John: (he sits up and leans over her shoulder to say near her ear) You. (he kisses her shoulder)

Aeryn: (feigning surprise with a little laugh and gasp) Aah! Me? (she then inhales sharply and says "OO!" as he continues to kiss her tummy and side)

John: (affectionate teasing) You. (Aeryn hums a little with pleasure. But suddenly, John stops. Something seen through the portal of their room has caught the corner of his eye) Aeryn. (she grunts questioningly) Out there.

Aeryn: What?

John: Look. (she sits up to follow his gaze. They find themselves looking down the length a wormhole that shifts in space like a flexible tube. At its far end the planet Earth can be sporadically seen as the wormhole twists)

(but Aeryn and John aren't the only ones being treated to this vision of Earth. The scene shifts to Talyn’s Command - where the Event is greeted with something rather less than enthusiasm)

Rygel: Oh no! Not again!

Crais: Have you seen this before?

Rygel: Unfortunately yes! And so has Crichton!

Crais: (he looks up as his ship quietly calls for his attention) Yes Talyn. (as his ship talks to him, he moves to a data display panel) Appearances to the contrary - this planet seems to have no mass - it must be a illusion. (at that moment John strides onto t he Command, followed by Aeryn)

John: (confirming Crais' and Talyn observation) It's a billboard. It means we've found what we're lookin' for. (well what HE'S looking for anyway - he moves quickly to the comms console and begins broadcasting. His tone is more grimly nervous than excited) Hello - anybody out there? Ancients - Jack - whatever you want to call yourself. This is John Crichton. (no response) Hellooo... (silence - then with dread) Come out, come out, wherever you are.

The ancient Earth chant of calling does the trick. Talyn lurches violently and in the wink of an eye and a flash of brilliant light, the little gunship and his crew find themselves buffeted and tossed by the quantum forces of the wormhole which seems to have engulfed them. The light at the far end of the singularity intensifies and the "billboard" self-destructs around them.

And in the blinding light of the explosion - the crew of Talyn is joined by something that stands there and looks like a robust older man - Jack Crichton, John's father.

Jack/Ancient: I'm here. (the little group on the Command gape at the being who stands before them and Crais instinctively whips up his gun)

Crais: Talyn-! (but before he can issue any orders to his ship, John grabs his wrist to stay any attack upon their visitor)

John: Crais! No - I know this guy.

Jack/Ancient: (staring at John with furrowed brow) And I thought I knew you. (his breathing shakes a bit as he continues, with resolve, but also with a trace of regret) I may have been wrong. If I was - I may have to kill you. (and with that, he raises one hand, palm outward, towards John's face. The humans whole head is instantly bathed in the glow of intense pale blue light. He seems paralyzed as his head is thrown back by the force of the Ancients scan)

Aeryn: (she immediately brings her gun to bear on the Ancient, but she doesn't sound very convincing as she says-) Let him go or I will shoot.

And indeed, the Ancient in Jack Crichton’s skin ignores her completely as he continues to focus on his probe of the humans intentions and intellect)

The scene shifts to a featureless, boundless, blue stage in John's Head. Jack/Ancient is there with him, circling him as their minds overlap and pass through each other. John remains immobilized by the Ancients scan

John: (his voice is strained) What the heck is this?

Jack/Ancient: Our last encounter left a residual link between our minds. I summonsed you with it.

John: Right. Got it. Make your point.

Jack/Ancient: My race was looking for a world to inhabit.

John: Yeah I know, but Earth didn't work for ya. So I can't help you there.

Jack/Ancient: We found a world, perfectly suited to us. The Ancients are there now.

John: Well congratulations. What can I do for you then?

Jack/Ancient: On our travel to the new world, we saw this - (he causes an image to appear in the air. It is of the Farscape1 arcing towards the mouth of a wormhole) - your module - being flown though an unstable wormhole. Piloted by this creature. (the image of the Farscape 1 segues to a view of its cockpit. It shows the pilots seat occupied by a creature with a high forehead and a tangle of rough hair. Its skull-like visage is dominated by a mouth full of sharp, clenched teeth)

John: What-? Who the hell is that?

Jack/Ancient: You tell me.

John: No idea. Never seen one before. When was this?

Jack/Ancient: A third of a cycle ago.

John: Well - my module was safe aboard Moya a third of a cycle ago.

Jack/Ancient: Are you saying this is a duplication?

John: (his voice is hoarse with strain as he watches the image) I'm saying I don't know anything at all about it. (the image of the module now reveals an unfamiliar piece of equipment mounted on its exterior just above and behind the cockpit canopy) What's that device?

Jack/Ancient: Phase stabilizer. Allows travel through any wormhole. Technology only a few could duplicate. Did you teach this creature to build it?

John: How would I do that when *I* don't know how to build it?

Jack/Ancient: (severely) Are you speaking the truth?

John: Jack - you're a mind-reading alien - like my dad. Don't you know when I'm speaking the truth?

Jack/Ancient: I can only penetrate your mind this deep.

John: Bummer.

Jack/Ancient: We gave you a gift. You misused it.

John: (his flat voice takes on a note of bitterness) What gift?

Jack/Ancient: (and his voice betrays a note of anger for the first time) If you didn't build that stabilizer, who did?

John: (tired and confused) I dunno. (and with that - a flash of white light obliterates the sublime blue emptiness of the place where he and Jack/Ancient had been standing and transports him to the ridiculous venue in his own mind of a bumper-car ride. He suddenly finds himself at the wheel of one of the cars and clad in his old orange flight suit. The gay lights and tinny music of the carnival complete the scene as he looks around wildly) What the hell-? (the culprit behind the sudden scene-switch quickly reveals himself - in another bumper-car, wearing an absurd NASCAR style racing jumper over his black leather coolant suit)

Scorpius/Harvey: (calling over to John) Sorry - but I need your attention! And we only have a few moments! (he adds conversationally) This is a fascinating place in your memory - and hard to find!

John: (outraged) What do you want?

Scorpius/Harvey: Discretion! That false father image will terminate us both if he learns of my existence! (he sideswipes John's car in the spirit of the game) There's no reason he should - (scoffingly) -Scorpius didn't copy your module!

John: (annoyed) How do you know?

Scorpius/Harvey: Tell me this John - could you rebuild a module from memory? Huh?

John: Probably not. (the neural clone gleefully rams his car into John's again)

Scorpius/Harvey: Neither could Scorpius! All he knows - is what my neural chip absorbed from you!

John: So who did it?

Scorpius/Harvey: (coaxing thought from his host) Who else knows of your wormhole search? Who has both - access to your module - and the expertise to replicate it? Hm?

John: Furlow.

Scorpius/Harvey: El-e-mentary! (and as if in reward for the right answer - he bounces his car off John's again)

John: (perhaps annoyed by the constant points the clone is scoring off his as much as by its damnable smugness) Either that or you're coverin' your ass!

Scorpius/Harvey: (persist ant) Why give Jack - irrelevant information which may only provoke him into killing us ALL! Aeryn included!

John: Why would he kill Aeryn? (but the clone doesn't need to answer that. He's raised John's anxiety and that's all he needs to do)

Scorpius/Harvey: (carelessly) Gamble with her life if you want. Tell him everything! But don't say you weren't warned! (and with one last emphatic thump upside John's car, another flash of white light releases the human back to the blue nothingness of his mental encounter with the Ancient)

John: (he bobbles a bit on his feet as he continues his conversation with the Ancient from where they left off) Maybe - (he thinks of the owner of the spaceship garage back at Dam-Ba-Da depot and an image of her fleshy, pop-eyed face appears in the air between him and the Ancient) - Furlow.

Jack/Ancient: The mechanic?

John: Yah.

Jack/Ancient: (sharply) From Dam-Ba-Da?

John: That's the one. (there's a moment of silence as the Ancient considers this) So why don't you go bug her? And can we please - get out of my head? (Jack/Ancient stops his pacing around John and raises his palm to the humans again. With another flash of white light, the scene shifts instantly back to Talyn’s Command. John staggers as he is released. Aeryn quickly steadies him and peers with concern into his face)

Jack/Ancient: (there is a note of both relief and urgency in his voice) He's unhurt Aeryn Sun. (to John) We may have misjudged you. I hope we did.

Crais: (he still has his gun trained on the Ancient and is waiting for enlightenment as to what's going on) Who are you?

Jack/Ancient: My given name is- (his voice changes to the deeply resonant tones of his natural voice as he speaks a long series of syllables unreproducable by the puny vocal chords of humans, Hynerians or Sebaceans. John sucks his lips in. perhaps amused by the useless answer to Crais' question) - You can call me Jack.

Crais: (suitably unimpressed) How did you get on board?

John: (he reaches over and pushes Crais' gun down without taking his eyes of the Ancient) Save it Crais. We got bigger fish to fry. Jack - shown 'em the - postcard. Maybe they can identify the pilot. (the Ancient causes a free-floating holo of the toothy alien flying the Farscape1. Unnoticed, Rygel gasps quietly as his jaw drops and his eyes widen with horror) You guys know what that critter is?

Aeryn: I don't recognize the species. Crais?

Crais: I'll just check Talyn’s databanks. (his body turns away but his eyes stay on the image of the creature)

Rygel: (swearing under his breath) Fa-pu-tah!

(cut to shortly after. Rygel has made his way off the Command and to elsewhere on Talyn. He anxiously sails his hoverchair back and forth in front of a red and white underlit strategy table and confers with Stark, who follows his nervous 'pacing')

Rygel: It was a Charrid, Stark! A frelling Charrid!

Stark: You're familiar with that species?

Rygel: (with the deep dread instilled by a nightmarish history) Oh a 1000 cycles ago the Charrids invaded Hynerian space. They killed a billion of my people! (he looks away with a mournful shudder) Ate a million of our young.

Stark: (murmuring) I'm sorry - I didn't know.

Rygel: We finally repelled them with suicide attacks. Wave after wave after wave - (he turns to face the Banik) - more death than even you could fathom - until we drove them off!

Stark: (guessing Rygel’s concern) But if they had wormholes they could come back and-

Rygel: (desperately fearful) And attack us without warning and disappear before we could retaliate? We have no defense against that! (he shudders verbally) OH-H-H-H-H...

Stark: (he raises a gentle hand to Rygel’s mouth) Quiet - I know a Delvian chant that is very calming in times of stress. (he closes his eyes and begins to say his sutra) Vas blu imishkith lume'trell-ahhh... (one would think he'd learn that his profane fellow travelers just won't have any of it - but he never does - or maybe he just never gives up hope. He takes Rygel’s face in his hands) Say it with me! Vas blu imishkith lume'trell- Vas blu imishkith lume'trell...

Rygel: (his voice is muffled by Starks firm hands pressing against his cheeks) Stop it you lunatic! (Stark stops and unhands the Hynerians face, as usual he looks ever so slightly hurt by the rejection) Get it through what's left of that head of yours that THIS - IS - SERIOUS! (at that moment, Crais enters the room and catches Rygel’s last admonition)

Crais: More serious than you can imagine. Unconfirmed intelligence reports suggest an alliance - between the Charrids - and the Scarrans.

(cut to John and Jack/Ancient walking in Talyn’s corridors)

John: Lay it on me Jack. Why are you so afraid of a Halloween mask in a tiny module?

Jack/Ancient: Because they were on a course similar to ours which may have led them right to the new home of the Ancients.

John: All right I understand you're concerned about your privacy. But you guys are god-like aliens with the power of wormholes.

Jack/Ancient: We're a dyin' race John. The voyage made us weaker. We may not be able to defend against a hostile species. That's why I stayed behind. To make sure no one could find them.

John: You missed the boat?

Jack/Ancient: I volunteered.

John: But you can catch up?

Jack/Ancient: (they stop to face each other) Unlikely.

John: Well Jack, this may all be for nothing. Funnyface could be Furlow's test pilot - but Furlow's not a hostile species. She's an entrepreneur. We can buy her out and everybody's gonna be happy.

Jack/Ancient: Then we should contact this Furlow and investigate.

John: Yeah you're probably right. If Furlow's on to something, I want to know about it.

(cut to some time later as Talyn roars above a dun-colored planet. The scene shifts to his Command where only Stark keeps Crais company as they settle into a fateful orbit around the desert world)

Stark: That's Dam-Ba-Da? I thought it was populated?

Crais: It appears to be sterilized. Spaceport's been leveled.

Stark: By what?

Crais: Unknown. Talyn detects no weapon installations.

Stark: Any life signs?

Crais: Talyn can't detect anything at this distance. It could be camouflaged or underground. Talyn- (the ship responds with the electronic equivalent of 'Aye-aye Cap'n!') Flare activity from this star could damage your systems. When we're gone - get into the planets shadow and shut down all the exterior systems you can. (Talyn acknowledges as Crais and Stark turn to leave)

(cut to Aeryn and John as they stride through Talyn’s corridors to his docking bay. They're dressed in their protective leathers and armed to the teeth with pulse rifles, pistols, sundry hand bombs and Big Guns that look like small rocket launchers. Aeryn’s tone is flat as John fishes for gratification)

John: So you think we really need all this stuff?

Aeryn: I hope not, but we don't know what we're going to find.

John: Yeah. Sorry to screw up your life again.

Aeryn: Yeah as long as you know it's all your fault.

John: Me and my damn wormholes.

Aeryn: Not all wormholes are bad.

John: Nooo... But ah - if I hadn't'a been huntin' wormholes we never would have run into Furlow or the Ancients.

Aeryn: (finally rising to his bait) If you hadn't fallen into a wormhole, you never would have met- (she takes a deep breath) John: (finishing her thought with a grin) Rygel!

Aeryn: (she can't help but return his grin and his tease) Furlow, I would think, is a better match for you. You could pool your knowledge and chase wormholes all you want.

John: (facetiously) Furlow! Yeah - she's sexy! She's the girl I wanna take home and meet the folks. (Aeryn’s smile fades and she takes a deep breath through her nose as she casts him A Look) What? You didn't think I planned on goin' home alone didja?

Aeryn: I haven't been thinking about it.

John: I wouldn't - (he stops, and she pulls up as well, as he says in all seriousness) - want to do that. To go back alone.

Aeryn: (after a long pause) I wouldn't want you to.

John: We should talk about this.

Aeryn: Some other time?

John: Yeah. (he smiles, pleased by her answer and its implication of her willingness to discuss it seriously) We could do lunch. (they kiss, which he finishes with a catlike rub of his of forehead and nose against hers before moving on. Aeryn sucks her lips in as she watches him go and then follows, her blank face suggests nerves at the prospect of spoken commitment)

(cut to Moya’s transport pod as it arcs away from Talyn with his crew and the Ancient aboard. The scene shifts to inside the pod where Crais is helping Rygel don a pair of the goggle necessary to protect the eyes of most races from the flares of the cold desert sun of Dam-Ba-Da. John is in the pods pilot seat and Stark frets at the sensor readouts from the co-pilots chair)

Stark: Still can't detect any activity on the planet surface.

Aeryn: (she proffers pair of the goggles to him) Here - Stark.

Stark: (he takes the goggles - and her hand as well, clutching it as he whispers) Thank you - thank you, thank you... (Aeryn pulls away from him, perplexed as ever by his behavior. But he quickly turns his attention away from her as the Ancient makes an announcement)

Jack/Ancient: Put 'em on. Flare's coming.

Aeryn: How do you know?

Jack/Ancient: I can sense them. It'll occur in 10 microts.

John: Be a good time to land - it'll cover our approach. (he pulls his goggles over his eyes)

Rygel: (to Jack/Ancient) Where's your goggles?

John: He doesn't need 'em Fluffy - those aren't his real eyes. (as Rygel ponders that - John prepares to take them in for a landing) Everybody hang on. (and as the pale golden solar flare fills the cabin of the pod with blinding light, they make their final approach to the Dam-Ba-Da depot. It was a scruffy dump before, but now it looks like an industrial dump yard. Wrecked machinery and anonymous pieces of large debris litter a landscape interspersed with puddles of water. The only intact building is the tunnel-like entrance to Furlow's compound of underground machine shops. An automatic artillery gun sits atop the entrance and another gun turret sits out in front. The rest of the planetscape is a hard, grey desert of low ridges with a little scrubby vegetation here and there, all under a pale blue sky. John announces their touchdown a safe distance from the remains of Furlow's spaceship garage) All right - seat belt sign is off. Aeryn, Crais - we're up.

(cut to moments later as the 3 warriors of the crew make for the underground compound. They stay linked via comm to the Ancient, Rygel and Stark in the pod. Crais is the forward man as he jogs to the top of a low rise where he has a view of the yawning entrance to Furlow's spaceship garage)

Crais: THE ENTRANCE IS OPEN! (and no sooner are the words out of his mouth - than the gun atop the garage fires off a shot in the general direction of our heroes) GET DOWN!

John: TAKE COVER! (the 3 of them make a rush for cover near each other amid the bits of junk out in front of the compound door. The artillery installation continues to pepper the area with rather random fire, which sends up showers of dust and debris with each impact. As John joins Crais, they become aware of small weapons fire coming at them from another direction) WHERE THE HELL'S THAT CROSS FIRE COMING FROM?!

Crais: (the light begins to intensify as another solar flare builds) AERYN! CAN YOU SEE ANYTHING?

Aeryn: NO - IT'S THE FLARES!

John: MAYBE IT'S JUST A COUPLE O' GUYS! (he hunkers down and readies his Big Gun in the direction of the crossfire while the flare reaches its zenith. As it abates - the source of the rear fire appears on the top of another low ridge. At least a dozen masked, yelling Charrids) Oo-kay - maybe not.

Meanwhile, Aeryn is concentrating on the cavernous entrance of the spaceship garage/bunker. Things are no better from that direction as more Charrids begin to pour out of it. The crew of Talyn has only just got there and they're already cut off from their ship and surrounded by dozens of Unfriendly People who hadn't had the grace to show up on scans before.

Aeryn: Here they come!

Or at least here they try to come. The Charrids, whose helmet/masks make them appear as if they have muzzles and many of whose hair is matted in long, filthy, rope-like dreads that fall to below their waists, proceed to suffer significant casualties at the hands of our heroes. The automatic artillery installation is mostly a noise-maker and the Charrids fighting style seems to be to attempt to overwhelm their enemy with sheer numbers. In the midst of all this chaos, Crais starts having trouble with his ship...

Crais: (yelling into a commlink) TALYN! STAY IN SHADOW! DON'T EXPOSE YOUR SENSES TO THE INTENSITY OF THE SOLAR FLARE! (then, in response to the questioning looks of Aeryn and John) HE KNOWS WE'RE IN TROUBLE AND HE'S COMING BACK TO HELP US!

Aeryn: WELL TELL HIM TO STOP!

Crais: HE REFUSES! (that ship needs a spanking)

(cut back to the transport pod where Stark is arming himself to go the aid of the others - but before he can leave he finds Rygel priming the pod for take-off)

Stark: What are you doing?

Rygel: (his voice thick with fear) They're cut off! There's nothing we can do here!

Stark: (bringing his gun to bear on the Hynerian) You try to leave and you'll be cut off!

Jack/Ancient: (tense) Another flare is coming - 20 microts.

(cut back to the others pinned down by heavy fire and dozens of enthusiastic, if not too bright, enemies)

Crais: TALYN A FLARE IS IMMINENT! SHUT DOWN YOUR SENSES! BREAK OFF! (but his ship won't listen) NO TALYN! GO BACK!

Aeryn: DO IT TALYN! (it isn't clear if Aeryn is supporting Crais' order or whether she's just decided their situation is dire enough that they might as well use the recalcitrant gunship if he insists upon coming. Whichever - it's all the encouragement Talyn needs. And as the atmosphere of Dam-Ba-Da becomes a haze of yellow-white light, he makes a low strafing run over the surface. Charrids scatter or are flattened by the powerful concussions of his fire - but as the flare recedes and Talyn arcs back up towards space they still come. And the cost of the young Leviathans disobedience quickly becomes evident. The neural transponder that links him to his captain is short-circuiting and Crais clutches at the back of his neck as he screams Talyn’s agony)

Crais: AAAAAARRRGGGGHHHHH! Talyn reverse direction! Head for the dark side of the planet!

Aeryn: (giving Crais some advice regarding the transponder) Take it out! (while the agonized Crais struggles with the neural link, Aeryn and John continue to mow down their attackers. But Talyn’s attack did enough damage so that the cry "FALL BACK!" goes up and the Charrid horde withdraws to the wasteland to regroup. Aeryn uses the brief lull to lunge for Crais and wrench the fused transponder from his neck - which brings him immediate relief. John throws himself down near them)

John: We gotta get to that bunker - how's Crais?

Crais: I CAN'T SEE! Talyn is blinded and so am I!

Aeryn: (urgently, via comm) Stark come down here now and take Crais back to the pod! Crichton and I will have to go on alone- (to Crais) - You stay here. You stay under cover.

John: Cover me. (taking advantage of the Charrids momentary withdrawal, he breaks cover and makes for the entrance to Furlow's compound. Aeryn lays down fire against a few Charrids that immediately emerge and the auto-defense gun starts up again with its wild shots. She then follows as John nears their goal and pulls a grenade and lobs it into the mouth of the bunker before veering off) FIRE IN THE HOLE! (fire indeed - Aeryn takes cover near the entrance as a massive wall of orange flame erupts from the cave-like entrance, which would annihilate anything within for quite a ways. They then plunge in - and still the Charrids come from keeper inside. The carnage-making begins, and goes on for a long time, as Aeryn leads the way down into Furlow's dark domain)

(cut to the transport pod which Rygel is piloting as Jack/Ancient helps Stark guide Crais back into the main cabin. The Banik is chanting madly - and finding yet another unreceptive recipient of his spiritual ministrations)

Stark: Si fi-eshrava heerma ekun-ziek! Si fi-eshrava heerma ekun-ziek! Si fi-eshrava heerma ekun-ziek!

Crais: He said help me you idiot! Not chant me over to the other side!

Meanwhile Aeryn and John continue to lay waste to what looks like an entire generation of Charrids back at the bunker. Either the reputation of these ropey-haired mercenaries is exaggerated or the ones who attacked Hyneria had a helluva lot better body armor 'cos these ones are dropping like flies - sometimes 2 in one shot - and can't even manage to inflict a smudge of dirt on Our Guys.

Finally, Aeryn and John kick open a door, shoot a few more Charrids - and behold none other than Furlow. The Charrids managed to keep HER under control at least! The fat blonde with the cartoon Canadian accent is attired in a grubby coverall like the mechanic she is and actually has a large gash on one plump cheek. She's sitting with both hands restrained by chains attached to the ceiling. She looks calmly at Aeryn and John with her pale, bulbous eyes, which fluoresce a little blue in the gloom, and says-

Furlow: Well, well, well. If it isn't my favorite flyboy. Just couldn't stay away from me. Huh?

John: What the hell happened to you? (is it just us or is that a really stupid question?)

Furlow: You know, I'd be happy to tell ya all about it if you'd just CUT ME THE FRELL DOWN!

He obliges by blasting the bolt holding the chain, Furlow picks up a gigantic Space Wrench, and the 3 of them set off together. Furlow's compound is a maze of dim, open catwalks and rooms on different levels and as they go, they of course wipe out more Charrids at every step. Coming to Furlow's main shop floor, the tough little broad (Furlow, not Aeryn) takes a swing at a lurking Charrid with her Space Wrench. He goes down, but as she moves in for the kill - John decides that this ones life should be spared and he lays a restraining hand on her arm.

John: Furlow!

Furlow: (annoyed) What?

John: Save someone for questioning. (Furlow rolls her eyes as Aeryn leans over the Charrid, whose name, we have intuited, is Zylar. He is unmasked and lacks the wild dreads of some of his fellows)

Aeryn: How many troops on the planet?

Zylar: (sneering) Bring any sisters? You won't be enough to pleasure all of us.

Aeryn: (she deals him a blow with the butt of her gun for his mealy mouth) HOW MANY? (John decides she needs help, so he steps up and puts the muzzle of his gun in the creatures skull-like face)

John: Why grandma - what big teeth you have.

Zylar: We'll feast on you tonight and tomorrow - all your families!

John: Yeah and you can have our pets for breakfast. (Aeryn lifts a small device from Zylar and activates it) Communicator?

Aeryn: I think so. Might be able to listen in. How many ways into this place Furlow?

Furlow: Except for the front door? None. All of the approaches are booby-trapped and some of the automatic guns are still working.

Aeryn: Some?

Furlow: (with a shrug) Prob'ly. (well if they're anything like the one at the front door - who cares?)

Aeryn: I'll check the perimeter.

John: That's a good idea. Do me a favor? Take Smiley here and stash him somewhere on your way out.

Zylar: You fear me!

John: No - you just smell. (Zylar has no snappy comeback for that so he just snarls and gets up)

Furlow: Toodle-oo!

Aeryn: (prodding the captive along as Furlow gives him a mocking "ROWR!") Move! (as she herds Zylar out, John turns to stare at the proud centerpiece of Furlow's main shop)

John: What the hell is this?

Furlow: What d'ya think? A truly fine copy of your module. (he leans close to peer into the replicas cockpit) Got a nice detailed scan last time you were here.

John: Yeah, when you ripped off all my data.

Furlow: Y'know you're - gonna have to let that go Johnny. (proudly) Point is - I flew it through a wormhole. 4 times. And not just a wormhole - a proto-wormhole. Unstable as all flitz - didn't even muss m' hair.

John: (he's not in the mood for congratulations as he paces the room edgily) How long have the Charrids been here?

Furlow: I hired 'em. For security. They even did the first test flights. Then - a couple o' solar days ago, the blotchers double-crossed me. Killed all my techs. Tried torture the secret outta me. Get the passwords to my computers. But ah - I'm tougher than they thought.

John: (a rather dubious murmur) Right.

Furlow: Oh - one more thing.

John: What? (she whips one pudgy hand up and slaps it onto the back of his neck and yanks his face down to her level so she can plant a big smooch on his lips. She lets go and he twangs back to an upright position, staring at her as if he isn't sure what just happened)

Furlow: Thanks for the rescue. (she rolls her head and eyes coquettishly at him and walks off with a little giggle and sway of her substantial hips. John watches the dirty-faced, often cigar-chomping woman go and his tongue emerges from between his lips in a sort of silent 'Yuck' gesture)

(cut to the pod. Aeryn comms them from inside Furlow's bunker/garage. The scene shifts between the two locales as they speak)

Aeryn: Transport pod - all clear outside.

Crais: (urgently) Aeryn - my link with Talyn is gone! He's blinded and panicked! I must find him and board him quickly!

Aeryn: All right. Stark, send in Rygel and Jack - you try and take Crais back to Talyn.

Rygel: Ah! Ah - w-wait a microt - I'll fly Crais back. We get Talyn working - we can kill more Charrids quicker.

Crais: (is it that he really likes Stark so much or that he doesn't want to be reliant on Rygel’s kind mercies that makes him jump in so quickly and vehemently?) Nononono! Stark knows Talyn! He can help calm him down!

Stark: (he leans close to Crais, who looks a little worried despite his stated preference) Let me be your eye.

Rygel: (disappointed, he mutters) Perfect! The half-blind leading the blind.

Aeryn: No, he's right Rygel. Get in here.

Stark: (leaning in close to Rygel to breath) She likes me more than she likes you. (Rygel grunts and refuses to look at him)

(cut to soon after as the transport pod lifts off from just outside the bunker and heads up to orbit after dropping off Jack/Ancient and Rygel. The scene then shifts back to John and Furlow in her main shop)

John: (he tosses his coat aside and climbs up on the replica of his module to look at the phase stabilizer Furlow added to its design) What happened to this planet? Looks like it's been carpet bombed.

Furlow: Solar flares got bigger than ever. Most everybody cleared out.

John: Solar flares - the last time I was here you said there weren't gonna be any solar flares for 4.8 cycles.

Furlow: (with a shrug) I lied. (well at least she's honest)

John: (not surprised) You lied.

Furlow: Yeah, I figgered it'd keep you away for a while so I could - work in peace. (at that moment, Aeryn and Jack/Ancient enter)

Aeryn: Charrids are keeping their distance but it won't last forever. They are regrouping.

Furlow: (eyeing Aeryn) I'm tellin' ya, they're not gonna get in. (then, eyeing Jack/Ancient, who's examining the phase stabilizer, she asks in a too-sweet tone) Who's he-e?

John: (without looking up from the part of the module copy he's examining now, he disinterestedly makes introductions) We call him Jack. Jack, Furlow. Furlow, Jack.

Furlow: Hands off the merchandise there - Jack.

Jack/Ancient: (unimpressed with her baleful stare) Give me the tool so I can open this up.

Furlow: Give me one reason why I oughta let ya.

Aeryn: Can I give you two? We just saved your life -and this gun. (which she snaps the safety off of as she points it at Furlow)

Furlow: Fair enough.

Jack/Ancient: Another flare - 10 microts.

John: (hailing Crais and Stark) Pod? Another flare - 8 microts.

(cut to the pod)

Stark: (as he slides his goggles over his eyes) We're ready. (he eyes poor Crais, sitting there with no goggles. His lids are swollen and the whites of his eyes show only as unseeing slits. Stark murmurs under his breath) Well - some more than others. (the light of the flare fills the pods cabin with its searing light) Crichton can you hear me?

Crais: (annoyed) Of course not! Not while the flare is happening.

Stark: (muttering) Oh right - (louder) - I don't like this planet much.

Crais: (snapping) Neither do I. Just stay on the vector I gave you!

Stark: (stressed) We're on vector! (he takes a couple breathes through his flared nostrils and then says very sweetly to the poor blind guy) Don't worry - we'll find Talyn.

Crais: (sharply grim - he isn't a blind guy who's going to be pacified with sweetness) Finding Talyn is just the beginning of our task!

(cut back to Furlow's main shop where she and John are watching Jack/Ancient dissect the phase stabilizer)

Furlow: Talk to me Johnny. Who is that thoddo?

John: He's one of the last remaining members of an ancient alien race who knows all about wormholes.

Furlow: (politely. As she rolls her eyes to look at John) Mm-hm. So what's he doin' here?

John: Making sure they don't fall into the wrong hands.

Furlow: Right. Well. He can have the technology - if - he can afford it. (as she moves off, Aeryn enters and takes her place next to John)

Aeryn: I think we should tie her back up.

John: Don't tempt me.

Aeryn: No I said tie her - back up. (she smiles at her rather fractured joke)

(cut to Rygel elsewhere in Furlow's bunker. It's not clear whether he's been pressed into service as a guard for the sassy Zylar or if he's just sought the guy out for a chat)

Zylar: A Hynerian. Good timing. I'm hungry. Pity you're so aged. You won't be so tasty. (Rygel growls and fixes the cadaverous fellow with a loathing glare) Don't glare at me! I'm not impressed. You think a Hynerian could ever frighten me?

Rygel: (sweetly - the Charrid's in trouble) Oh! I'm not here to frighten you. Nonononono.

Zylar: Then what? To question me? Plainly you are unaware of our superior resistance to pain!

Rygel: (continuing in a dangerously mild tone) Actually I do know something about Charrid physiology. Just as I know something about your weaponry. (as he speaks, he reaches into a heap of Zylar’s belongings and pulls out a sliver weapon. It consists of a handle with one long prong and one short, barbed prong curved slightly towards each other. Rygel chuckles a little as he flicks a switch on it and it begins to emit a low buzz) This ractor, for instance, contains neural circuits that inflict 10 times the normal pain. Designed to be effective even against your own kind. (he draws a deep breath and whispers) A very unpleasant death.

Zylar: (a little less brash and a lot more nervous all of a sudden) You don't dare kill me!

Rygel: Don't I?

Zylar: The others want me alive!

Rygel: Yes. Well plainly you're unaware of one more fact - I don't give a garantas brax what the others want! (Zylar looks like he might be considering screaming like a girl as PsychoHynerian approaches him with the ractor)

(cut back to Furlow's main shop floor where Jack/Ancient has the phase stabilizer on a workbench and is ready to render his verdict on it)

Jack/Ancient: Primitive. Underpowered.

Furlow: (miffed) It's only a prototype! Ya welnitz.

Jack/Ancient: The underlying technology's sound.

Furlow: (proud) You bet yer frangle it is!

Jack/Ancient: (appalled) What have you done? (demanding) Who else has this knowledge?

Furlow: (coolly) Nobody got it from me. And they won't. Unless of course - they can meet my price.

Jack/Ancient: (outraged) You'd sell this to anyone?

Furlow: Excuse me? Is that any of your business?

Jack/Ancient: (angrily) Yes! You have no idea what this can do!

Furlow: (calmly) Sure I do. That's how I know it'll make me rich. (at that moment, the shop is shaken by a distant explosion and dust sifts down from the ceiling)

Aeryn: Mortar fire!

Furlow: Well the Charrids are gettin' bold again.

Aeryn: Can this structure withstand a mortar attack?

Furlow: (unconcernedly) Prob'ly.

Aeryn: (muttering as she takes up her Big Gun and heads for the door) Frell.

Furlow: (as the building shakes and Aeryn exits) Eh. Let 'em come if they dare. That's my motto.

(cut to Aeryn as she moves through the maze of level risers towards the surface, Her progress is halted by an agonized scream from the vicinity of where she'd left Zylar)

Aeryn: RYGEL? (she moves quickly to where she'd left them - and of course finds the Charrid dead, covered with greenish grey blood and Rygel hovering over him with the gore covered ractor in hand) What have you done?

Rygel: (calmly) Interrogated. I thought he'd last much longer than that. (sounding almost pleased by the horror of the next thing he has to say) He did tell me that there is a Scarran Dreadnought heading for this planet. It'll arrive within 6 arns.

And as Aeryn looks appropriately horrified, the scene shifts briefly to the massive, thrumming hulk of a Scarran Dreadnought and it's cloud of smaller craft as it slides through space, seeming to dwarf the very stars.

(cut to the surface of Dam-Ba-Da depot where Charrids have taken to loading an old-fashioned artillery cannon and lobbing mortar shells at Furlow's compound. Cut back to inside the compound where Aeryn, John, Furlow and Jack/Ancient are on the move with the phase stabilizer)

Aeryn: I'm hearing more and more calls on their comm net.

John: They're gettin' ready to storm the castle.

Aeryn: (on comm) Crais? Can you hear me? Stark?

Furlow: Keep tryin'. Those flares play hezmana with comm signals. (they enter another, deeper, workshop with a big computer in it. Rygel is already there) Can this ship of yours stand up to a Scarran Dreadnought?

Aeryn: Not a chance. Even if he could see, it's about twice the size of a Command Carrier. (debris shakes down from the ceiling as another mortar hits)

Rygel: We have to do something!

Aeryn: We will. Come on. (she takes hold of Rygel’s hoverchair and begins to stride out of the room with him in tow)

Rygel: Bu-uh-uh-uh - Where are we going?

Aeryn: You like killing Charrids? Now's your chance.

Rygel: But, I aaahhh... OOH! (with that, they're gone and John turns to Furlow)

John: (as much an observation as question) This doesn't worry you?

Furlow: Nah. Even if they do get in a lucky hit and breach a wall the booby-traps'll get 'em before they get in.

John: You hope.

Furlow: I know - if the Charrids hadn't jumped me in orbit they'd'a never gotten in.

Jack/Ancient: They breach the defenses, we're gonna have to act fast.

Furlow: "Act fast"? You have - some kind of plan?

John: We don't let the bad guys get the technology. (he produces 2 black, palm sized devices which he lays down on the stabilizer)

Furlow: Tarbik grenades. Surely you're not suggesting-

Jack/Ancient: (finishing her sentence affirmatively) We destroy it. (another powerful mortar blast rumbles ominously through the bunker)

(cut to Talyn, drifting in space on the dark side of Dam-Ba-Da. The scene shifts to his interior where Stark is leading Crais through the ships corridors - which are in ruins for the third time in his short life. Smoke fogs the air, crisped cable hangs in tatters from the ceiling and litters the floors. The lights snap and flicker as circuits short and Talyn shudders and rumbles)

Crais: (sick with concern for his ship) What can you see?

Stark: Damage! Damage! Damage!

Crais: (angry and frustrated) Whatever would I do without your verbal gifts?

Stark: (prickly) Oh you want more words? Well the conduits are damaged. Bulkheads damaged. External sensors damaged too! There is nothing that is not damaged!

Crais: Least of all YOU!

Stark: (pettily triumphant) *I* can see!

Crais: If only you could think! (he pulls Stark to a halt so he can focus on communicating with his ship sans transponder) Talyn! I know you are scared - but you must be able to hear me! Turn to your treblin side and accelerate. Get deeper into the planets shadow! (Talyn seems to quiet a bit as they feel his turn as per Crais' instruction)

Stark: (glad of Talyn’s compliance) Better, better - (he then tries to pull Crais on to the Command, but the former PK irritably yanks his arm away)

Crais: I can find my way on my own ship! (he turns around and promptly blunders into the wall of the corridor. He grabs onto a structural rib to keep from plotzing completely while Stark waits. The Banik then leans towards Crais and asks in an 'I-told-you-so' sort of tone-)

Stark: Are you ready now? (and before Crais can answer, he grabs his arm and pulls the blinded captain of Talyn on down the hall)

(cut back to the planet where Aeryn and Rygel are out on the surface just outside the bunker. They climb into a rusty, mushroom-shaped gun turret that sits there on the edge of a big puddle. The interior of the turret is cramped)

Rygel: (dubiously looking around) What's this?

Aeryn: It's an automated gun turret.

Rygel: Well it doesn't look like it's working.

Aeryn: Well - the targeting system's gone, but everything else is still intact. You can operate it manually.

Rygel: (he gasps and looks up at her, rather excited) I can?

Aeryn: (she activates each control as she shows them to the Hynerian) Yeah. That's where you reload. This is aim. And this is fire. (when she hits 'fire' the muzzle of the big gun belches a huge ball of white energy that blast a nice little crater in the desert some ways away) Now if you can't actually hit anything - just make sure you force the Charrids to keep well away from us. (she begins to back out)

Rygel: Uh- where will you be?

Aeryn: I'll be somewhere else.

Rygel: (a bit alarmed now) Uh - we work better as a team!

Aeryn: Well you didn't need any help when you were knifing the Charrid.

Rygel: This is different! I'm unprotected here! What happens if they fire in a mortar shell?

Aeryn: Well that's simple - you'll die. So keep them back.

Rygel: You keep them back! You're the artillery expert!

Aeryn: Tell me something Rygel. How many Hynerians perished in the suicide attacks when they repelled the Charrids?

Rygel: (looking away) Millions upon millions.

Aeryn: Any of them volunteer or were they all forced?

Rygel: (annoyed) Why?

Aeryn: I'm just curious to know whether sacrifice and bravery are Hynerian concepts.

Rygel: (he inhales deeply and turns back to the guns controls) Show me how this works again.

Aeryn: (she reaches over him to point out the sequence again) That's your reload - that's your aim - and this is your fire. (she sends another ball of energy flying and thumping out into the desert before quickly backing out) Good-bye. (and with that - she's gone. Leaving the big gun to its small gunner - who whines a little to himself as he looks up at it)

(cut back to Furlow's computer shop where John is taking some notes while Jack/Ancient tries to lecture some ethics into the rotund lady mechanic)

Jack/Ancient: You still don't understand how dangerous this technology can be. A wormhole isn't just a shortcut through space. It can be turned into a weapon of incredible destruction.

John: And we can't let the Scarrans have that kind of power.

Furlow: Okay. So we ah - turn around and sell it to the Peacekeepers. Maybe the Nebari too. Balance of power and we - clean up!

Jack/Ancient: The potential for disaster is too great. The danger is clear.

Furlow: It isn't clear to me. (she hoists a heavy gun up from somewhere and trains it on the Ancient. John drops his notepad and shoulders his own Big Gun at her as she continues contemptuously) You know, I think - all this high-minded talk is a pile of dren. And you're just tryin' t'take out a competitor.

Jack/Ancient: I speak the truth.

Furlow: Oh yeah? And why should I believe you? Where do you get all this cosmic knowledge? Who are you to tell me what I should do? (in response - Jack/Ancient shakes his head and undergoes a rather alarming transformation before her very eyes. His neck elongates and his human face stretches into the completely alien visage of his real self. His cranium is high and bulbous, tapering down to mouthparts somewhere between a duck and a catfish. Rubbery appendages dangle from the sides and back of his skull and frame his mouth. His eyes are two hard, grey balls in his smooth brown skin. Furlow's seen a lot - but evidently never anything like this. She gapes, stunned) What the frell-? Who are you?

Jack/Ancient: Someone who understands the risks of power. Do you, Furlow? (having established his exotic credentials, he reverses his chameleon act and resumes the stern appearance of John's father) Do you understand the future you're about to create? Are you willing to see entire planets, entire civilizations wiped out? (Aeryn enters and stops as she takes in the confrontation underway. Furlow's eyes are wide as she stares at the Ancient, but her gun doesn't waver) Put your weapon down. (Jack/Ancient steps closer to the morally challenged mechanic) Put it down - now. (he reaches out and lays a hand on Furlow's clanky gun, pushing it down. She just stares at him in shock as he calls over his shoulder) Aeryn - you got explosives in your pack?

Aeryn: Yes.

Jack/Ancient: Set them. (Aeryn turns on her heel without a word to go about her assigned task while Jack/Ancient moves aside and keeps to himself. Furlow eyes John)

Furlow: (pointing discreetly at Jack/Ancient) He ah - that alien? Why didn't ya tell me?

John: I think I did.

Furlow: Fair enough.

The scene shifts briefly to Aeryn, back in the main workshop. She's planting explosives all over the room and the replica of the Farscape 1 itself. Back in the computer workshop, Furlow's breezy cool in the face of hundreds of Charrids, mortar attacks and a Scarran Dreadnought is finally giving way to nerves as she contemplates her dwindling prospects for profit.

Furlow: (coaxingly, to John) You know this - this really isn't necessary. We could uh - (she makes a quick whooshing sound) - just beat it before the Dreadnought gets here. You, me - (he gives her A Look and tries to move away. She follows him) - in the module. Down the wormhole. Sell the technology. (hastily) Uh - only to uh - peaceful races of course.

John: (he stops and looks at her, perhaps interested in seeing where her great mind is going with its small thinking) And what about the others?

Furlow: Well same thing happens whether we're here or not. (conspiratorially) Listen - the Scarrans aren't gonna leave anybody breathing. No reason for all of us to die. (at that moment - they're both distracted by Furlow's computer, a tall construct of vertical metal strips and rows of small lights that all of a sudden come blinking and chattering to life)

John: What's with your computer?

Furlow: Somebody's tapped in. (John follows her as she goes to see what's happening. After a moments examination, she announces with a roll of her eyes and oddly subdued resignation) They're stealing all my data.

Jack/Ancient: Shut it down!

Furlow: I can't. They've got full control.

Aeryn: Stand clear. Now! (she had re-entered the room while Furlow was checking her hard drive and she knows just what to do with a computer that won't shut down. Furlow and Jack/Ancient dive for cover as Aeryn and John raise their Big Guns and blast the hell out of Furlow's fancy computer)

Jack/Ancient: Who tapped in?

Furlow: A remote download. Overrode all my pass codes. Charrids are too stupid for that. (almost coyly) Had to be Scarrans.

John: How much data did they get?

Furlow: Oh enough t'make their own phase stabilizer. But I guarantee - the Dreadnought'll still get here. They'll wanna make sure that nobody else gets the prototype. (Aeryn and John exchange a grim look and Jack/Ancient just stares coldly at Furlow as he wraps up their situation calmly) And - what's in here. (she taps her head) And ah - (she leans close to John) - you know that thing we were talkin' about earlier? It's lookin' even better now.

Jack/Ancient: We need to destroy that data.

Furlow: Are you payin' attention? 'Cos it's too late. The data is on the Dreadnought now.

Jack/Ancient: Exactly. Therefore we need to destroy the Dreadnought. (he picks up the phase stabilizer and walks out of the room)

Aeryn: (calling after him, her voice raising so the Ancient is sure to hear her unimaginative assessment of what might get a Scarrans attention on Dam-Ba-Da) There isn't anything on this planet that would even get it's attention! (John motions for her to stay put while he follows Jack/Ancient out. Left alone with her good girlfriend, Aeryn turns to Furlow and demands dryly) What thing you were talking about earlier?

Furlow: Oh nothing. (she moves off too, leaving Aeryn to use her imagination)

(cut to John and Jack/Ancient as they make their way down the dim halls of Furlow's compound with the phase stabilizer)

John: You got a plan?

Jack/Ancient: Yes. Something the Ancients wouldn't permit. Their sanctuary's under threat. I believe we can convert this phase stabilizer to another function.

John: We?

Jack/Ancient: (ruminatively, as they re-enter the workshop where the module copy sits) Yes. Your knowledge of this level of technology is greater than mine. Alone, I'd never be able to complete the modifications in time.

John: Except I don't know how this thing works much less how to modify it - I won't be much help.

Jack/Ancient: (having set the phase stabilizer down, he turns to look at John) Yes you will. During our last encounter, the Ancients embedded something else deep within your memory. The equations to create wormholes. It wasn't meant to be accessed consciously, but merely to guide you.

John: (he breaks eye contact and takes a couple steps away from the alien) Guide me? (he looks back at the Ancient and asks dubiously) Why not just give it to me?

Jack/Ancient: (softly) Because it was important that you develop it on your own. Or else not at all.

John: (bitter at the trouble the Ancients and their secrets have cost him) Is that some sorta rule? Only hints otherwise it's cheating?

Jack/Ancient: (primly) There were Ancients who didn't want to give you anything. This knowledge is very dangerous.

John: Yeah I know - so give me the useless consolation prize.

Jack/Ancient: No not useless. It was meant to keep you on the right path. Possibly subtracting years from your research.

John: Possibly. Well thanks for the help.

Jack/Ancient: John, this knowledge may save all of our lives here. I can unlock it!

John: And what will your friends think about that?

Jack/Ancient: They'd stop me if they could. If they knew what you and I were creating here, they'd kill us both.

John: (scarcely able to believe what he's hearing) That's - terrific - Jack, I already got half the universe after me - I really want the Ancients on my ass as well.

Jack/Ancient: (angered by John's whining) We don't have a choice. That Dreadnought is less than 5 hours from here. I need your expert help! If you're unwilling to give it then-

John: (cutting him off sullenly) I didn't say - I wouldn't help.

Jack/Ancient: (curt) Good. (he marches past John, who has the resigned look of a guy who's been manipulated into being part of other peoples battles again. He stares bleakly into space for a moment before following the Ancient)

(cut briefly to the Dreadnought whose glowing engines propel it inexorably closer to Dam-Ba-Da. The scene shifts to Jack/Ancient as he re-enters the computer lab where Aeryn and Furlow are cooling their heels. He takes Furlow's arm as he passes and tows her to a workbench)

Jack/Ancient: Furlow - get me all the tools and components that you have. I need wave-guides, circuitry, anything.

Furlow: (ever so eager to be of help) It would help if I knew what you were making.

Jack/Ancient: I also need some nuclear fuel. 10th of a mallot of partanium isotope would do it.

Furlow: (she eyes him for only a second before obediently heading for the pantry) Comin' right up. (John then drags himself into the room and sets down his Big Gun before dropping his bombshell)

John: Jack... I have a - confession to make. (he blurts it out fast) I knew about the stuff you guys put in my head.

Jack/Ancient: How?

John: Guy named Scorpius. He discovered the info was there and he put a neural chip in my head to extract the information.

Jack/Ancient: And he succeeded?

John: Well the chip's gone so I'd say yes - more or less.

Jack/Ancient: Why didn't you tell me?

John: (his leather pants creak a little as he shifts uncomfortably. Aeryn comes to stand near him in support as he continues) All right - there's more. When the chip was pulled, a - chunk - of Scorpius' personality was left behind.

Jack/Ancient: (in a tone that says he knows all about these things) A neural clone?

John: You could call it that. I call it ah - (embarrassed, as if admitting he has lice) - Harvey.

Jack/Ancient: Then we can't unlock the information in front of this clone.

John: So what do you wanna do?

Jack/Ancient: (with compassion) My mental energy is limited. But I believe between the two of us - we can drive this clone from your mind.

John: (hopeful) Could you say that with a little more confidence?

Jack/Ancient: I don't know how strong this clone is going-

But before he can finish his sentence, an explosion and a flare of light as hard and white as a wielders arc fills the room. John is knocked cold by the concussion as Charrids begin pouring into the shop through a breach in the wall. Aeryn remains on her feet and is able to heft her Big Gun and begin firing on the charging Charrids, who are obliged to enter the room only one or two at a time.

(and while Aeryn drops Charrids, the scene shifts to inside John's Head. He finds himself still at the carnival - but it's daylight now and he's wearing his space leathers. Scorpius/Harvey is next to him - still in the red NASCAR jumpsuit. They're standing in front of an ornate edifice that bears the legend "CONEY ISLAND - FUNNY LAND" Scorpius/Harvey just cannot believe John doesn't like him and he isn't taking the prospect of being evicted well at all)

Scorpius/Harvey: (intensely, his voice echoing like a funhouse ghost) Before you rejoin them John - we must speak! You cannot be seriously considering my removal!

John: Yes I can.

Scorpius/Harvey: (rather vindictively) I've had time to acclimate myself to your brain. To permeate every facet of your mind! I will not go easily!

John: (coolly) Are you - (he picks a bit of fluff off the clones jumpsuit) - threatening me?

Scorpius/Harvey: (deadly earnest) I warn you John - if you attempt this - I will fight you. And I will win! If your brain really isn't big enough for the both of us, either I'll survive - or neither of us will!

John: Harvey - kiss my medulla oblongata.

Scorpius/Harvey: You think I'm bluffing? (he seizes John's shoulders and thrusts his face up at the human as he says in his gravelly Scarran voice-) Do you want to die? (he opens his mouth in a hideously animalistic snarl)

(cut back to the battle raging in Furlow's shop. Aeryn continues to blow away Charrids as they enter. Furlow suddenly appears at her side)

Furlow: What the frell is-? (she takes in the encroaching Charrids, and plucking a small device from the workbench - she uses her huge Space Wrench to lob it across the room. The resultant explosion seals the hole in the wall with rubble. In the silence that follows she bellows-) WE'RE CLOSED, YA THODDOES! (Aeryn immediately crouches down by John, who's still out of it on the floor)

Aeryn: John? (she rolls him over and pushes back one of his eyelids) You all right? John?

John: (his voice is slurred and groggy as Aeryn strokes his face fretfully and he mutters) Yeah.. I'm awright... Fine...

(cut to later. John has recovered enough to help Aeryn push a heavy container against the rubble-filled breach in the wall)

John: I don't see a lot of choice. Harvey's gotta go. (he trails Aeryn who walks over to talk to the Ancient)

Aeryn: And you can do this Jack?

Jack/Ancient: I can infuse him with all the mental capacity that I possess.

Aeryn: Which you admit is limited.

John: We take what we can get.

Aeryn: Is there some way to transfer energy? Can you - link his mind with mine?

Jack/Ancient: No. Aeryn Sun, John already has your strength.

John: And someone's gotta stay on the outside in case everything goes pear-shaped.

Aeryn: I know what to do. (but before anyone can do anything - they're interrupted by Rygel on comm. The Hynerian is still up in his turret hammering away at the Charrids. The scene begins to shift between him in the turret and the others in Furlow's shop)

Rygel: (yelling as he blasts) HEY! ANYBODY THERE? I'VE SCORED 9 DIRECT HITS! BUT THE CHARRIDS AREN'T GETTING THE MESSAGE! THEY'RE GETTING CLOSER AND I'M RUNNING OUT OF AMMO!

Aeryn: (turning to leave) All right. I'll get you some.

Rygel: (grunting irritably as he wipes the desert with another one) Frelling Charrid!

Aeryn: (to John and the Ancient as she collects her gear to go help Rygel) Just don't start anything until I get back. (as she leaves, Furlow reappears toting a heavy silver container)

Furlow: (grunting as she sets her load down on a workbench, which shudders under its weight) Here's your partanium. Trouble is - I don't know if I can scrape up a protection suit.

Jack/Ancient: I don't need one.

Furlow: No kiddin'? (to John, out of the side of her mouth) Imagine if he was on our side.

John: He is on our side.

Furlow: (doubtfully) Uh-huh.

Jack/Ancient: What I will need is a focused trans-emitter coil so that I can maximize the power output.

Furlow: Boy. You don't want much do ya? Hope you're not in a hurry. (she rolls off, tool belt clanking, to root around in her junk for trans-emitter coil)

John: We're in a hurry.

Furlow: (without increasing her speed or a backwards glance) I'll do my best.

(cut to Talyn, a mere shadow in the dark on the sunless side of Dam-Ba-Da. His engines whir unsteadily. Cut to Crais and Stark on the Command. Stark is acting as guide dog to the very limited extent that Crais will permit as they stagger on Talyn’s pitching deck)

Stark: You sure you don't want help?

Crais: (a very Bad Patient) I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP! TALYN! CAN YOU HEAR ME?

Stark: Nothing's happening! (flapping his hands around fretfully, he adds, as a point of accuracy) Well - apart from the tossing and turning!

Crais: He's overcompensating for his maneuvers because he can't tell what's going on! I-I'll have to take over!

Stark: (ach! Just all agog at the awful awfulness of it all!) Oh! (Crais begins to blunder about the Command) What are you looking for?

Crais: (he sounds close to tears of frustration) Manual override! (oh yeah! Stark remembers he's the seeing-eye dog - he grabs Crais and practically rubs his nose on the manual override panel)

Stark: Here!

Crais: Talyn! I am taking control! I will keep you stable so you can calm down and heal your senses!

Stark: It's working I think- (excited) It's working, working!

Crais: (hopeful) Is the navigation console responding?

Stark: No - but I'm feeling better. (Crais stumbles and flies past Stark, nearly knocking him over. The Banik quickly dives after him and steadies him)

Crais: (panting) Something doesn't feel right. Must be the - must be the docking control...

Stark: It looks all right.

Crais: Try the comms again! Boost Talyn’s signal to maximum! (Stark hurries to obey, and hails their shipmates. The scene shifts between Aeryn in Furlow's bunker and Stark on Talyn as they speak)

Stark: Aeryn? Crichton? Can you hear me?

Aeryn: Stark? Is that you?

Stark: We're trying to take control of Talyn! He's still blind but - at least he's calm.

Aeryn: Can he fight? Stark? (aboard Talyn, her comms signal is breaking up) Can you hear me? (she loses their signal) Frell!

While Talyn yaws sickeningly, out of control in the pitch dark shadow of Dam-Ba-Da, Aeryn exits Furlow's compound and shoots down a pair of Charrids on her way to Rygel.

Rygel: (as Aeryn enters his turret) About time!

Aeryn: (accusingly) You let two through!

Rygel: (dismissive) Two? But I turned at least 12 of them to sand stains! (at that moment, another Charrid roars into view - this one is driving a vehicle that looks like a post-apocalyptic chopper) Ah-ha! Here comes number 13! (with a maniacal cackle of glee, he lobs one at the chopper driver - and misses by a hair. The Charrid veers off back into the desert) Aw - miscalculated the windage. Next time I'll get him! I ever tell you about Rygel IX?

Aeryn: (she's unpacking additional energy charges for Rygel from a bag) No.

Rygel: (relishing his family history) Single-handedly led the climactic charge at the Battle of Katreen.

Aeryn: He was a hero?

Rygel: He was a moron! Dominar’s are far too valuable for combat, much less front lines! But you know, strangely enough - I think I understand why he did it! (and with a particularly bloodthirsty snort, he spots the chopper-driving Charrid coming back for more) Ah! Ha ha! Second try! (his shot is good and the Charrid and his chopper go flying in different directions as Rygel crows triumphantly) Taste this! Bloodsucker!

Aeryn: We'll make a soldier out of you yet Rygel.

Rygel: (over his shoulder) Well don't think I'm gonna make a habit of it! (he turns back to his gun and lets another shot fly with a guttural whoop of pleasure)

(cut back to Furlow's shop where the fatal showdown with Scorpius/Harvey is about to begin. Aeryn jogs fearfully back in and up to John. But he's waited for her as he promised)

John: (quietly) It's time. (he hands her his favorite gun, "Wynona" - and without another word, they kiss each other good-bye, unable to predict the outcome of what the Ancient is about to try and help John do. Jack/Ancient waits patiently as John breaks the kiss with a gentle rub of his nose against hers. She then falls apprehensively back and he turns as the Ancient steps up to face him. Once again, Jack/Ancient raises his palm to the humans face which becomes bathed in blueish white light as his head is thrown back under the intensity of their joining)

(the shifts to John's Head. John finds himself still at the carnival - but in control with the help of Jack/Ancient. This time he and Scorpius/Harvey are strapped into the first car of a rollercoaster as it clanks up to its first big drop)

John: Buckle up Scorp! We're goin' for a little riiiide!

Scorpius/Harvey: (he looks forlorn in his NASCAR jumpsuit and is sounding a lot less sure of himself as the car clicks ominously on its track) You don't have to do this John! I-I pose you no threat.

John: Right.

Scorpius/Harvey: I happen to know - that the wormhole knowledge is still inside your brain! (he wails with protest) But I don't want it!

John: Your better half does.

Scorpius/Harvey: Well he has a copy. But whether he knows how to make use of it - is not my concern! (he tries reasoning) Therefore - there's no reason to get rid of me.

John: Yeah there is.

Scorpius/Harvey: No, it's the truth John - I don't want to overtake you! I'm happy to - COEXIST!

John: I'm not!

Scorpius/Harvey: (increasingly nervous as they reach the top of the drop) Oh stop this John! I've helped you countless times! I'VE EVEN SAVED YOUR LIFE!

John: (as they top the rise and begin to drop they must shout over the roar and wind of the ride) TO SAVE YOURSELF - YOU DON'T GET BROWNIE POINTS FOR THAT SCORP!

Scorpius/Harvey: (wailing as they rocket through a series of sharp turns and smaller humps) OOoOOoOOO! BUT I CAN HELP YOU NOW! THAT ALIEN - HE'S USING YOU! AND AFTER YOU'VE DONE HIS DIRTY WORK FOR HIM, HE WILL TERMINATE YOU! FURLOW, RYGEL, STARK, AERYN-

John: (furious) DO NOT PLAY THE AERYN CARD SCORP! YOU KILLED HER!

Scorpius/Harvey: (almost sobbing as he whines) AERYN IS ALI-IVE!

John: NOW ZHAAN'S GONE! WHO DO I THANK FOR THAT?

Scorpius/Harvey: (wailing in terror as they approach a 360° loop) OOoOOOOoOoO! STOP THIS JOHN OR WE'LL BOTH DIE!

John: HOW CAN YOU DIE SCORP, WHEN YOU'RE NOT EVEN REAL?

Scorpius/Harvey: (babbling in a complete panic as he hurtles helplessly through the world he has felt so secure and superior in) OHICANFEELIT! ICANFEELIT! WE'REBOTHGOINGTODIE! WE'REBOTHGOINGTODIE!

John: CAN YOU FEEL IT? WHY SHOULD I CARE?

Scorpius/Harvey: (really wretched) BECAUSE I AM PART OF YOU JOHN!

John: YEAH I KNOW! AND I'M SICK OF IT! (and as the rollercoaster of John's Head loops-the-loop and Scorpius/Harvey screams - the ride ends in a sudden flash of eternally bright light and a crash)

(cut back to Furlow's shop where Jack/Ancients hand quivers in front of John's twitching face)

Aeryn: (fearfully) John! What's happening? (neither John or Jack/Ancient respond as they seek to drive the clone into its own mortality) John?

(cut back to John's Head and the aftermath of the rollercoaster crash. Both John and Scorpius/Harvey have survived - but in a scene that Marvin the Martian would find familiar - John is hanging on for dear life to the rollercoaster track from which he is dangling far above the ground. Marvin - WE MEAN SCORPIUS/HARVEY - is hanging onto the humans leg for dear life)

Scorpius/Harvey: (rasping desperately) Help me John!

John: (also rasping as he tries to shake the clone off his leg) Go to hell Scorpy! (and for the second time in a Farscape episode, Ecclesiastes is quoted) For everything there is a season. A time to keep, and a time to cast away. (well now he can find out how Stark feels when HE spouts religion. Scorpius/Harvey responds to the sermon by crawling up John's body, hand over hand - until they're at point-blank face-to-face range. The wailing and sobbing is done and he's mad now as he prepares to crawl past John's face to the safety of the rollercoaster track)

Scorpius/Harvey: (viciously) I warned you! (grunting and straining with the effort to hang on - John looks down at the drop below - and lets loose of the track. They both plummet, screaming towards the ground - which suddenly disappears and becomes the long, twisting tunnel of a wormhole in whose quantum void their screams echo as they fall)

(cut back to Furlow's shop as John and Jack/Ancient suddenly collapse to he floor as one. Aeryn jumps to the Ancient first, him being the closer one)

Aeryn: (she pulls back his eyelid and peers at his unresponsive pupil) Jack? (she then moves to John and repeats her check of eye reaction) John? (finding him unresponsive as well - she begins mouth to mouth resuscitation)

(cut to Rygel in his gun turret where he continues to cream Charrids with gusto rather unbecoming to a Dominar of his social stature)

Rygel: (howling insults at his attackers as he blows them to kingdom come) That's it! Keep running! Ohh - I'll give you indigestion! Charrid cowards couldn't hit a pregnant lobboth at that- (but at that moment, some Charrid actually manages to land a hit on the Turret and Rygel finds himself laughing out the hole in his belly that a large piece of shrapnel has just created. He moans and slowly topples over backwards, his little arms flung wide. And outside - Charrids begin to make for the unprotected entrance to Furlow's compound)

(cut back to Furlow's shop where John finally comes gasping to life thanks to Aeryn’s emergency first-aid. He blinks and focuses on her as she sits back, relieved. But her relief vanishes when his mouth opens - and instead of the familiar Earth accent of John Crichton - the cultured tones of Scorpius hops like a toad from his tongue)

Scorpius/John: Officer Sun! (Aeryn’s expression is of dull dismay) What luscious lips. Amongst - (one of his hands lashes out like a snake and seizes her by the throat) - other things. Crichton was a very - lucky man.

Aeryn: (struggling to speak around his stranglehold) Where is he? (as she speaks to this demon, who she's met before, he becomes represented as a coolant suit clad hybrid of John and Scorpius)

Scorpius/John: Gone. Gambled and lost. How unfortunate you must lose as well.(Jack/Ancient lies next to them, dead or unconscious, his left hand still slightly raised. Aeryn’s eyes fill with tears as she reaches for the handgun she keeps at her side and brings it around to place its muzzle against Scorpius/John's forehead. She sobs a little and a tear glistens just below her eye - and Scorpius/John notes her tear and her gun and comments mockingly-) Oh...

TO BE CONTINUED

Part 2: Icarus Abides
The episode opens where IP1 "Daedalus Demands" left off. The attempt to evict Scorpius/Harvey from Johns mind to he can help the Ancient use wormhole technology to destroy the approaching Scarran Dreadnought and the wormhole data it stole from Furlow, has apparently failed. Jack/Ancient lies on the floor of Furlow's shop, presumably dead, and Johns mind and body are under the control of Scorpius/Harvey, who is about to strangle Aeryn. But Aeryn has her gun to his forehead and is steeling herself to pull the trigger and kill the neural clone - and with it, John, the man she loves.

Scorpius/John: (with silky contempt) How unfortunate you must lose as well. And Zhaan - gave herself for you. What a waste - wouldn't you say? (Aeryn hesitates, lost in regret and self-doubt. Scorpius/John instantly lashes out with two sharp, lightning-fast blows which knock her off him. He springs to his feet, but she recovers fast, keeping her gun on him. Yet she still cannot bring herself to fire) Well! That's - hardly sporting is it? I should have a weapon as well. Then we can settle this. One on one. (he makes a leisurely move towards Johns gun - which Aeryn had dropped on the floor when she came to his aid only a few minutes before)

Aeryn: Don't - (she lunges for him but instead of shooting, she merely strikes him back from the discarded weapon before dancing away, her gun still trained on him)

Scorpius/John: (deadly, as he goads her) It's not - easy - is it? Putting a pulse blast in John Crichton.

Aeryn: (trying to convince herself) You're not John.

Scorpius/John: Not up here - no. But the rest of his body is intact. Be a shame to spoil it with that. I'm much more reasonable - than John is. (mildly regretful) He didn't want to share his mind with me. (with oily lechery) But I'm more than willing to share - his body with you. (wrong thing to say - she finds her ire and her doubt vanishes as she squeezes her trigger)

Jack/Ancient: NO! (and at the moment, the presumed dead Ancient powers up off the floor and pushes her shooting arm. Her shot flies harmlessly past Scorpius/John)

Aeryn: (to the Ancient) Stand - clear!

Jack/Ancient: NO DON'T!

Aeryn: (almost sobbing) It isn't John!

Jack/Ancient: (panting) It IS John! Look!

Scorpius/John: (coolly) Thank you - daddy.

Jack/Ancient: Look at him! The clone is dying - he wants you to shoot him - so John dies too.

Aeryn: (an explosive exclamation of horror) What?

Scorpius/John: (there's a note of strain in his voice now) Officer Sun - next time... Be more decisive. Shoot... quicker. (he wavers a bit - and falls to his knees) A soldier - must not be weak. (with sorrow) Weakness means defeat. (and with that, his eyes fly wide open and a ragged cry of agony and despair rips up from his gut before collapsing to the floor - dead. There's a long moment of silence as Aeryn and the Ancient wait - and then Johns body moves. He slowly pushes himself up to his hands and knees. His head wobbles but he manages to focus on Aeryn)

John: (woozily) Hey Baby! (there's another long pause as he casts about within himself, before saying, with a crack in his voice-) He's gone. He's finally gone. It's just me. (as he struggles, near tears of relief and exhaustion at his return to being something like the innocent man he was before he left Earth, Aeryn drops to her knees too. She takes his head in her hands and pulls him close. Neither has words for what they are feeling as he rests his head on her shoulder and she stares numbly into space)

(cut to Talyn, who is still adrift in the shadow of Dam-Ba-Da, blind and badly damaged from his encounter with one of the local suns solar flares. Stark frantically tries to contact his and Crais' shipmates via comm)

Stark: Can anyone hear me? Aeryn? Crichton? Rygel?

Crais: (he too is still blinded and reliant upon Starks eye - but some intuitive sense that something else is very wrong keeps gnawing at him) Forget the comms! Run a check on all airlocks and docking bays!

Stark: What for?

Crais: Damage! Malfunction! Anything!

Stark: Why?

Crais: (panting apprehensively) Because - I know this ship! And -and something is - out of balance!

Stark: (he goes to have a look at internal systems readouts) Eh - you're imagining things. Although this is strange.

Crais: What?

Stark: Docking Bay 2 recently performed an atmosphere replenish as if it'd been opened. But we landed the pod in Bay 1. (Crais explodes to action, throwing his hands up in horror as he staggers across the Command, bellowing)

Crais: TALYN! SEAL ALL HATCHES! (but it's already too late. Before the Command door can close - it is forced open by a nightmarish intruder - a Scarran named Alcar. He steps into the room and immediately drives the Sebacean and the Banik to the floor with a blast of the deadly heat energy that all members of his race possess genetically)

Meanwhile, back on the surface of Dam-Ba-Da, a small army of Charrids on foot and on wild dune buggies, is swarming in front of the gaping entrance to Furlow's compound - unprotected now that Rygel's down. And deep inside the compound, John is re-acclimating himself to life without Scorpius/Harvey while Aeryn listens and strokes his face as if trying to reassure herself that he's really here. The distant rumble of mortar rounds hitting the compound is heard occasionally.

John: (struggling to find words) I've had Scorpy in my head for so long - that I've gotten used to it and- and not having him... (he pauses) It's like being in pain - your whole life. (his voice quavers, but a small smile is on his lips) And suddenly it's gone. (at that moment, Furlow re-enters with an armload of technical paraphernalia)

Furlow: Jack? I managed t'find some e-transmitter coils. They'll need a - bit o' work.

Jack/Ancient: (he inspects her offering critically) This is it? You can't find anything better?

Furlow: (stiffly) I had t'search half the complex just t'find that.

Aeryn: (she lifts her head from Johns shoulder long enough to cast a bare glance in Furlow's direction and say tonelessly) Then search the other half Furlow. (Furlow doesn't even look at the fawning couple, but her eyes narrow as she stalks back out of the room. But it's time for Aeryn and John to break it up and the Ancient walks over the them)

Jack/Ancient: John? It's time to go to work. (John just looks at Aeryn, caressing her and smiling. The Ancient lays his hand on the back of the humans head) If you're feeling strong enough.

John: (he rises quickly, looking revitalized, and follows the Ancient) I'm good. But ah - you better unlock that wormhole information inside my head.

Jack/Ancient: I just did.

John: You did? Really?

Jack/Ancient: (as he speaks, Aeryn comes to Johns for another caress) It doesn't happen instantaneously. Your mind couldn't process all those equations at once. Give it a little time. (a couple powerful blasts shake the whole compound and Aeryn’s attention is finally drawn away from John as they all look up)

Aeryn: That's not good.

John: Man, that one was closer.

Things are worse than they know. Outside, the amassing Charrids don't even bother to look and see what was shooting at them from the rusty old gun turret as they advance warily on Furlow's compound. And inside the turret - Rygel lays on the floor in a puddle of his own blood - breathing weakly and cut off from help. The scene shifts to Talyn, where the Scarran has stayed his heat attack, having subdued the occupants of this strange ship...

Alcar: Who are you?

Crais: (with difficulty, as he struggles to his feet) Merely - commerce traders - seeking repairs for our ship. (but the Scarran isn't stupid, what with the weaponry and PK hardware bristling from Talyn’s every nook and cranny and all)

Alcar: This is some sort of Peacekeeper ship. (he drives Crais back onto the floor with another blast of his heat ray) Tell no lies! (he then reaches down with one massive, talonned hand, and yanks Crais back up as if he were a rag doll)

Crais: (grunting painfully, he grates through clenched teeth) I am - (he struggles to keep his composure in the face of the Scarrans mind probe - which comes with the heat ray) I - am not - a - Peacekeeper. I have no rank.

Alcar: (in Crais' face) How did you get this ship? (Stark chooses that moment to suddenly bop up and impose himself between the Sebacean and the Scarran)

Stark: (mildly) I will tell you. He stole it.

Alcar: What? (he rears his great, horror-show horse head back to bring this new creature into his field of vision)

Stark: (anxious to help out with info but not wanting to seem too tightly glued) Ah- he was a captain - but now he's a renegade. He stole this Leviathan mutant from the Peacekeepers and now they want him dead! They want all of us dead!

Alcar: Who are yoouu? (he pushes Crais down onto his knees, keeping him in a stranglehold, and turns his attention to Stark)

Stark: (with gusto, complete with slavish hyperventilations) I am a Banik slave - his slave. And I haaaaaate him! He brought me on board this ship to help him fix it! (eagerly) Kill him! And make me your slave!

Alcar: (he looks down at Crais, nonplussed) Kill him? (he flings his free arm out towards Stark, subjecting the Banik to his heat ray and mind probe combo) Is this the truth?

Stark: (he staggers back with an agonized yell) Yes! Yes! Every word! (evidently satisfied, Alcar releases Stark who emits a guttural sigh of satisfaction as he collapses to the deck)

Alcar: (deadly - to Crais) Make this ship operational - and I'll grant you an easy death. (Crais doesn't look especially comforted by Starks help as the Scarran shoves him over backwards)

(cut back to Furlow's bunker/compound where John and the Ancient are at a workbench. They've begun the alterations to the phase stabilizer)

John: You sure this thing's unlocked? I'm not feelin' any smarter.

Jack/Ancient: Give it some time.

John: All right. But something better kick in before that Dreadnought gets here. (another distant roar of mortar fire trembles in the air)

Jack/Ancient: It will (he sets down some widget he'd been turning over in his hands) This may require a - an oscillation damper.

John: (scarcely looking up from his own work, he reaches into the jumble of hardware on the table between them and hands the Ancient a thingy) Here ya go. Use that.

Jack/Ancient: (matching the thingy to his widget) Perfect! Thanks. Why'd you pick this one?

John: You said you wanted an oscillation damper. I figured you could modify the rillon valve.

Jack/Ancient: I can - but how did you know that? (John pauses as the realization that there's no reason he should have known sinks in. Jack/Ancient smiles ever so slightly)

John: (murmuring) That's - cool. (and without further ado, he gets back to work)

Meanwhile, just outside the wide-open entrance to Furlow's underground compound, Aeryn has managed to slip out, unnoticed by the Charrids buzzing around it. They seem to be slowly working their way closer to the compound entrance, using the industrial junk that litters the landscape for cover - as is Aeryn. But she's trying to get to Rygel’s gun turret. A mortar hits close to the turret, and inside, Rygel is startled to consciousness and manages to sit up. He doesn't see the Charrid sneaking up behind him to the turret hatch, ractor drawn. But before the ropy-haired creep can plunge his weapon into the Hynerians back - Aeryn makes the turret and dispatches him with her Big Gun before clambering into Rygel’s rusty post.

Rygel: (he turns around, dazed) Mmph - oh! What - what happened?

Aeryn: What happened to you?

Rygel: (grunting painfully) Piece of shrapnel... (then peevish) Why are we still here? Where the yotz is Talyn?

Aeryn: Don't know. The comms are still out. Here, I'll take over. (she moves towards the turret gun, but Rygel stops her)

Rygel: (talking like a guy trying not to move his torso - and he's mostly torso) No, no - you're still mobile. I'm not. Just - bring me food!

Aeryn: (flatly incredulous) You want to eat - now?

Rygel: Bring me food - and I'll keep going.

(cut back to the workshop where the alteration of the phase stabilizer continues)

John: It's starting to make sense - it's all comin' together.

Jack/Ancient: We still need an inversion loop and don't have the right parts to build it.

John: Sure you do. (he picks up some anonymous bit of hardware and hands it to the Ancient) Use this to set up the resonance aaand -(he tosses the alien a second thingy) - this to flip it

Jack/Ancient: (with a little laugh as he looks appreciatively at the components) Good! What an elegant solution. (as the Ancient speaks, John looks down at the partially modified phase stabilizer with eyes that are only just beginning to see) I couldn't accomplish this without you.

John: Jack, what the hell are we building?

Jack/Ancient: (his tone goes very sober) A displacement engine.

John: Yeah and whatever it is will take out a Scarran Dreadnought.

Jack/Ancient: Yes.

John: And then?

Jack/Ancient: What do you mean?

John: I mean - how far are you gonna take this? Is this the end? Or are you gonna try and put all the toothpaste back in the tube?

Jack/Ancient: (there's an uncomfortable pause) I doubt that's possible.

John: But you're gonna give it the old college try, aren't ya? You're gonna kill - me, Furlow, and Aeryn.

Jack/Ancient: (after another pause) Aeryn poses no threat. Furlow? I'm uncertain.

John: And what about me?

Jack/Ancient: (there's a very long pause as the men regard each other, then, softly, like a father reassuring his son) I no longer doubt your intentions John.

Up topside, Rygel's back in the saddle - presumably fortified with whatever munchies Aeryn could find for him. We hope, what with that belly wound and all, that Hynerians aren't prone to peritonitis. At any rate, he's making up for lost time as he blows errant Charrids off their feet, out of their dune buggies and into whatever dreary afterlife the cosmos has set aside for them. The scene shifts back to Furlow's workshop where she's joined John and the Ancient and is rather sullenly tweaking bits of hardware for them.

Furlow: Coils are almost ready.

Jack/Ancient: What's the tolerance?

Furlow: Lurg 3. Close as I can get 'em.

John: Should be close enough. (at that moment, Aeryn re-enters the room)

Aeryn: Rygel's keeping the Charrids at bay - but barely. Where do we stand?

John: We're almost done.

Jack/Ancient: (resting his hands on the silver canister of nuclear fuel Furlow had brought earlier) I need a quarter arn. I have to install the partanium and build the emitter array. I want you to stay clear of this hangar until I give the okay. I don't want you exposed to this radiation.

Aeryn: Well I can check the area outside the hangar doors again.

John: You want some company?

Aeryn: Sure. (she and John exit. The Ancient picks up the partanium container and carries it to his workbench. He glances at Furlow as he passes her. She doesn't hurry as she finishes up with the coils, but casts him a look from the corner of one of her pale eyes)

(the great Scarran Dreadnought slides through space towards Dam-Ba-Da like some monstrous sea creature. Back in Furlow compound Aeryn and John talk as they climb industrial metal stairs that rise to the planets surface)

Aeryn: (concerned) I still can't raise Talyn.

John: And the Dreadnought is due in what - 2 more arns?

Aeryn: We may not even have that much time.

John: You think they're in trouble?

Aeryn: Well Scarrans will send an advance scout unit before committing the main force.

John: Like what? A Prowler detail?

Aeryn: Anything from a one-man stealth capsule to a full fighter squad. But with Talyn blinded, they may be upon him before he can starburst away.

John: Well hell. We didn't have enough to worry about. (Aeryn acknowledges his sarcasm with an ironic guffaw)

(cut back to the workshop. Jack/Ancient carefully unseals the canister of nuclear fuel. As he opens it, its contents cast cobalt blue light over his face. He reaches in with his bare hand and removes a shining blue orb, which he carries over to the newly minted displacement engine and installs. A few blue light on the device wink on, signaling the juice is flowing)

Jack/Ancient: (calling) Furlow? (the plump mechanic jogs in with another load of hardware which the Ancient takes)

Furlow: Here ya go. This all you need?

Jack/Ancient: Yeah. (eying the displacement engine critically, he mutters) This case could be stronger.

Furlow: (her eyes widen and she recoils in alarm from the hotly radioactive thing) EE-yee!

Jack/Ancient: Don't worry, I haven't initiated the partanium reaction yet.

Furlow: (dubiously) Uh-huh. When you do - just in case somethin' goes wrong - where is the emergency shut-down control?

Jack/Ancient: There isn't one. Once the device is activated, you can't shut it down. (he walks away, and Furlow hurries after him)

Furlow: Then what does it do? Blow up? You buildin' a bomb here Jack?

Jack/Ancient: Not at all. After 1.4 arns, a meltdown occurs and destroys the device.

Furlow: So - you only got one shot at - whatever it is this thing does.

Jack/Ancient: That's all I should need. I'm launching soon.

Furlow: You're flyin' the module?

Jack/Ancient: Yes.

Furlow: Does Johnny know about this?

Jack/Ancient: No - and I don't want to have an argument with him about it. As soon as he and Aeryn give the all-clear from outside, I want you to open those hangar doors. Now go on. (he gives her a slight smile and heads back for the displacement engine - but then he notices Furlow isn't moving and he looks back) Well go on! I'm about to start the reactor.

Furlow: (shaking her head) I can't let you do that Jack. (as she turns to face him, her arm swings up and out - and trains a gun on his head as she says softly) Back off.

Jack/Ancient: This is the only chance we have to keep the Scarrans from-

Furlow: (cutting him off) -From payin' me - (almost dreamily) - a lot of money. Now - you ain't goin' - nowhere.

Jack/Ancient just looks at her for a moment, as if disappointed by the spiritual failure of this woman, this technical genius so bereft of ethical morality. The furrows in his brow and the lines alongside his mouth deepen in what might be a smile of pity or the start of a sob. Then he turns and continues towards the displacement engine - and Furlow fires. He doesn't make a sound as his body crumples to the floor - and Furlow carelessly blows the tip of her gun. With no further concern for the dead Ancient, she lets loose with a loud whistle.

At her signal, a pair of Charrids immediately drop down on cables from the catwalks far above the floor of her spaceship garage. One steps aside to stand sentry and the other whips off his helmet and snarls furiously at Furlow-

CharridLeader: You had to kill him! He would have made a useful prize! (he's a bit better-looking than the other Charrid faces glimpsed so far - at least his lips almost cover his teeth)

Furlow: (unperturbed, she gestures dismissively at the Ancient) You think he'd'a cooperated? Forget it. This - (she beckons him over tot he displacement engine) - my friend, is the prize!

CharridLeader: TCH! What is it?

Furlow: (with a speculative click of her tongue) Well - it's a - um - I don't exactly know what it is. But I do know that our friend here seemed to think that it could kill a Dreadnought.

CharridLeader: (furiously dubious) It hardly seems finished!

Furlow: Oh - sure it is. (pointing nonchalantly) Just a little here, there - y'know. (anxious to not waste time arguing just now) Aah - anyway you know, I really think we oughta - scoot - while we got the chance.

CharridLeader: Agreed! (he turns and stalks off towards the module copy. Furlow quickly trots around in front of him)

Furlow: 'Scuse me! Ah - where ya goin? 'Cos ah - see I-I'm the one who's flyin' the module here. Not - not you.

CharridLeader: (with a sneer) Incorrect. (he signals the other Charrid, who brings his gun to bear on Furlow. She obligingly puts her hands up)

Furlow: (nervously) No - c'mon! You know I need you guys to cover me when I retreat and-

CharridLeader: No! See - we don't trust you any longer.

Furlow: (outraged) What?

CharridLeader: 'Cos you've - allowed too many of us to die!

Furlow: I had to do that. Y'know - don't you get it? If they knew I was on your side then-

CharridLeader: (cutting her off) We're not sure - whose side you're on! *I* - will fly the module alone! (to the other Charrid) You! Reattach that to the module! (the other guy goes to collect and re-mount what used to be the phase stabilizer to the module. And Furlow shrugs)

(cut to Aeryn and John as they head back to the workshop through the dim corridors of the compound. Suddenly shots ring out from the direction of the hangar and they break into a run)

John: JACK! (monents later, he and Aeryn burst onto the workshop, guns up and ready. They scan the room but only Furlow is there - laying on the floor next to the module, puffing and looking stunned)

Furlow: (gasping) Charrids! They snuck in - I nailed 'em but - they got Jack. (John sprints across the room to where he can now spot the Ancient laying. He kneels down, distraught, next to this creature who looks - and often acts - like his own father)

John: (murmuring) No - oh nononono- (Jack/Ancient stirs a bit at the sound of the humans voice and the touch of his hand. His eyelids flicker and his lips move slightly - but no words come. As Aeryn looks on, John tries to comfort the mortally wounded alien) It's okay. (he strokes his 'fathers' silver hair to keep him from struggling and murmurs) It's okay - Jack. I'll finish it. We'll keep your Ancients safe and sound. (Aeryn, raises her chin, her face unreadable - but John is close to tears as the alien dies. With his passing, he reverts abruptly to his wildly alien, yet strangely gentle appearance. And as the Scarran Dreadnought slides closer to Dam-Ba-Da, John sits back - and abides)

Aeryn: (leaving John with the Ancients body, she strides over to Furlow, who's gotten up and is strolling quietly towards the displacement engine, and demands) What happened? How did they get in?

Furlow: (slightly snide) You tell me. I thought you and the short one were supposed to be guardin' the place.

Aeryn: Well what about your supposed booby-traps?

Furlow: What about them?

Aeryn: I think you should check them.

Furlow: Fine. I will. (she turns on her heel and leaves. Meanwhile, John has dragged himself over next to Aeryn at the workbench)

Aeryn: (businesslike) John - we have 2 arns at most before the Dreadnought gets here. Can you operate this device?

John: (quietly, as he stares at the displacement engine. He sounds tired and remote) It's not finished.

Aeryn: (businesslike) Can you finish it?

John: (murmuring) I'm not even sure what it does.

Aeryn: (her voice betrays a note of alarm) Well you have to! (she stops herself and quickly softens her tone in the face of his clear distress and uncertainty) I-I-I thought that the knowledge - was - starting to open up in you.

John: (dully) Maybe I'll pick it up as I go along. (Aeryn gives his cheek an encouraging caress as she turns to leave his to it - and he picks up a tool and begins tweaking around on the unfinished weapon of The Ancients)

(cut to Talyn up in orbit on the dark side of Dam-Ba-Da. Crais and Stark are alone on the Command)

Stark: (hovering over Crais' shoulder and telling him his plan in an eager, conspiratorial tone) Talyn’s senses are beginning to recover - once they do - he can target the Scarran and shoot him!

Crais: (grim) It would take heavy and prolonged fire to bring down the Scarran. He won't just stand- (but Stark cuts him off as Alcar re-enters the room)

Stark: (shouting theatrically as he swats at Crais) WORK! WORK!

Alcar: I can find no Pilot on board this Leviathan.

Stark: There isn't one. It doesn't need it. There is a direct interface!

Crais: Stark!

Alcar: Let - him - speak!

Stark: (yelling at Crais as he proceeds to carry on with his plan in that maniacal way he has that tends a bit of uncertainty as to whether he really knows what he's doing) SHUT UP! (then, like a good toady, to Alcar) The best way to operate this ship is via neural transponder - look! (he grabs Crais, who grunts and struggles a little as he's dragged across the room where Stark submits the back of the ex-PKs neck for Alcar’s inspection) Here's the socket! You see - his transponder was damaged, so he had to remove it. But the ship - can construct a replacement.

Alcar: You will have the ship make one - for me.

Stark: (slavishly) Yes, yes. Whatever you say. (Alcar turns to leave and Stark watches him go before turning to Crais and offering something between an apology and a rationalization) I had to tell him. He would have forced it out of you anyway.

Crais: (he may not be real sure of Starks plan - but he has one himself anyway) You did well. Instruct Talyn to prepare - a neural transponder. Two - in fact.

Stark: Two?

Crais: (grim) One for me - and one for the Scarran.

(cut back to Furlow's workshop where the pace of Johns tweaking at the displacement engine has picked up, as if he's trying to match with his hands, the speed of the technical information percolating in his mind. Aeryn re-enters and stands at some distance, watching him)

John: It's - gonna work. It's all comin' together. (as Aeryn approaches him, his inwardly focused mind travels at incomprehensible speeds through the soundless vortex of a wormhole and flashes on the strange face of the Ancient in it's natural form, its eyes glowing a friendly red at him. He returns his gaze outward at Aeryn standing there next to him) I got it. (again, his mind flies through the liquid tunnel of a wormhole - flashing on the stately ribbons of mathematical equations that rotate around and through each other like a glowing 3-D flower. In his minds eye, he reaches out and touches the symbols as they flow past him. Coming back to the here and now, he exclaims with growing excitement-) Aeryn! I got it! (exhilarated, he allows his mind to rocket down the wormhole again, pausing to recall the gentle visage of the Ancient, flying again to the glowing quantum bloom of equations - and then back into the wormhole to return to Aeryn in Furlow's workshop) It all fits - everything fits! I-I-I know how to do this! (panting with excitement) I-I-I can build this thing! I know what it does!

Aeryn: (ever practical) Can it destroy the Dreadnought?

John: (Aeryn’s real-life question strikes a real-life death knell that brings him down from the quantum flights of intellect. He sobers abruptly with the knowledge of what he and the Ancient have wrought) Um... It could destroy a planet. (Aeryn looks down at the little device, with something between awe and alarm as he continues on, nervous now) Ja-ack... All right - he's uh - built it so it self-destructs after one use. That's... That's good, That'ssss... smart. (his stunned epiphany is interrupted by Furlow's re-entry to the workshop)

Furlow: (sounding put-upon) Big hole in the sewage outlet. Think I might'a found where the Charrids got in.

Aeryn: Did you seal it?

Furlow: (bitchy) With - what?

Aeryn: (heroically, as she marches off) I'll seal it.

Furlow: (under her breath she delivers a very catty imitation of Ms Oh-So Mighty And Popular Goody-Goody...) "I'll seal it."

(cut back to Talyn where Alcar has Crais in a corridor and is roughing him up in a rather bored manner. Crais allows himself to be pushed to the floor, knowing better than to provoke the Scarran)

Alcar: (coolly contemptuous) Feeble Sebacean. You believe that even with vessels like this you can defeat - (grandly) - Scarrans? (Crais struggles to his knees and blinks, casting his eyes about as the Scarran speaks. Stark comes scurrying to the rescue, puffing like a good slave to show how hard he's working, and Alcar addresses him with languid arrogance) Slave - the neural transponder?

Stark: Soon. Nearly finished. Soon.

Alcar: It will give me absolute control of the ship?

Stark: Yes, yes! You will think as one!

Alcar: Assist your - captain.

Stark: (whispering as Alcar paces away) Yes, yes, yes...

(cut back to the hangar workshop where John has finished the displacement engine and is re-attaching it to Furlow's copy of his module. The corpulent lady mechanic is staying close to him, watching his every move, helping out...)

Furlow: How many other people have this weapon?

John: No-one.

Furlow: (to the rumble of a distant mortar blast) That's right. Gettin' the idea?

John: (ignoring her avaricious comment) Elucitin capacitor.

Furlow: (she hands him the requested tool before continuing her marketing proposals for the Ancients weapon) See, ah - we can sell it to everyone as deterrence, give it to no one - and charge 'em to maintain the balance. (she tosses in an unconvincing idea just for Johns benefit on the off-chance he might fall for it) Or - of course, we could just keep it ourselves and find a - peaceful application.

John: (he pauses, and exhales wearily) Furlow - is it always about the money?

Furlow: (she takes Johns chin in one pudgy hand and pulls his face closer to hers) Is there anything else? I mean - how much sex can ya have? (good point)

John: (but he's a guy - his response is a bit muffled by her fingers, which are causing his lips to pooch out) I don't know - I haven't maxed out yet. (and Furlow's a woman - she realizes she walked right into that one. She lets go of his face, smiling a little in spite of herself) The Scarrans - have - your data - that's a blueprint that has to be destroyed.

Furlow: Okay so - we use this box to stop 'em. But later - (she clicks the side of her tongue) - we talk business.

John: You help me and I'll make you Miss 21st Century Wormhole.

Furlow: (knowing full well this whole conversation is crap) Outstanding! Now - what do you need?

John: Clear a launch path. (he gestures at various bits of spaceship garage paraphernalia, cluttering up the place) Get rid of that crap.

Furlow: Comin' right up. (they both hop down from the module. Furlow casually advises him on the peculiarities of her facility as she moves a tool cart aside and he pulls on his coat) Tight fit through the exit portals. Shield doors don't open all the way. You better go eyeball the angle or you'll sheer off a wing tip fer sure.

John: (softly) All right.

Furlow: (tool cart aside, she stops and watches, with something like an air of regret, as he takes the tool pouch he'd been using off the module. She then smiles, too ingratiatingly, and asks-) So... Partners?

John: (he stops, and replies in a perfunctory tone) Partners. (Furlow's smile fades the minute his back is to her as he exits)

(cut to the dismal surface of Dam-Ba-Da just outside Furlow's compound. The Charrid troops are still buzzing around without doing much as Aeryn climbs into Rygel’s gun turret, the Hynerian looks very tired)

Aeryn: (wondering aloud) There's still plenty of them out there. Enough - of them to squeeze us into a crossfire. Why haven't they?

(cut back to the workshop as John re-enters and approaches the copy of his module)

John: Furlow? (he stops and stares at the module - the displacement engine he just installed on it is gone. Before his jaw even has time to drop - the familiar sound of a plain old combustion engine revving up is heard. His head snaps around in that direction and he jogs to another part of the spaceship garage) FURLOW!

Furlow: Come on in John! (he rushes around a corner to find Furlow at the wheel of a ground vehicle that can only be described as a Post-Apocalyptic Dune Buggy. Furlow's driving and the displacement engine sits in the passenger seat next to her. John skids to a stop at the receiving end of the gun she has up and ready to greet her 'partner') 'Round the front so I don't have t'twist m'neck. (John moves around to stand in front of the vehicle, which - with its unmuffled engine and all - seems like a really bad place to stand. But Furlow has him covered and he has no choice)

John: (sounding slightly ill) This is a big mistake.

Furlow: (unconcerned with his POV) You wanna save your life - you're gonna have to cooperate. I know it looks great on ya - but ah -two fingers - pistol. (John silently unholsters his sidearm and tosses it aside without involvement of a trigger finger) And uh - goggles. (they're hanging around his neck, he removes them and stands there, staring at her) Drop 'em. (he drops 'em - without moving any part of his body but the fingers that held 'em) Now step on 'em. (the sullen glare never leaves his face as he moves his foot and the sound of crushing glass is heard)

John: (not fully comprehending the depth of her treachery) There's a Scarran Dreadnought on the way. Where you gonna go Furlow?

Furlow: To meet 'em. To save my life. Y'know when the Scarrans get this baby - (she pats the displacement engine) - they'll go away.

John: Don't do this.

Furlow: Wormhole fulla reasons why I should. (she hits her garage door opener and as it opens, bright desert sunlight spills into the room. A solar flare starts to build immediately. Furlow pulls her goggles over her eyes and John closes his) And no upside in crossin' the Scarrans. I gotta go while I got cover. Don't stand in my way John. (she guns her engine and peels out of the garage as John dives out of her path. Then, with one hand clapped over his eyes, he turns his face towards the sound of Furlow receding rapidly into the distance and yells)

John: AERYN! (but Furlow, the dune buggy and his displacement engine fly over a bump in the sand and disappear. And all he can do is stomp a foot and blurt softly) Crap!

(cut back to outside the front entrance to Furlow's compound where the Charrids half-hearted attack has given way to - nothing. Aeryn and Rygel sit in the gun turret and survey the landscape before them. Not a Charrid in sight, and no sound but the lonely wind)

Aeryn: (murmuring, more to herself than actually asking Rygel) Why have they stopped shelling? What are we missing? (suddenly the silence is broken by the sound of an engine and they observe a dune buggy coming from back around the compound, heading out into the desert)

Rygel: What-? (they stare as a black-coated figure, apparently in pursuit of the dune buggy, splashes through the puddles of waste water - towards another vehicle that managed to escape all the shelling, parked under some camouflage netting) What's that?

Aeryn: (mildly surprised) It's John.

Rygel: Frell!

Aeryn: Cover us! (Rygel groans as she hops out of the turret and sprints towards John and the parked dune buggy. Rygel fires off a shot at nothing in particular) JOHN! (he's already got the dune buggy running. It's open-air construction is mainely twisted metal roll bars and the drivers eat is covered with gray fur. Its also features a pointy nose cone for a front bumper. He veers over to collect Aeryn, who's properly goggled, before gunning it off in pursuit of Furlow. They have to yell over the roar of the vehicles engine as they go)

John: Furlow's with the Scarrans!

Aeryn: That would explain why the Charrids have stayed on the perimeter.

John: Explains a lot of things!

Aeryn: You know we are running out of time!

John: We still got time. (out in the desert, Furlow puts her pedal to the metal - and back in our heroes chariot Aeryn decides it's a good time to have that chat about the future she'd deferred back on Talyn)

Aeryn: You know this new knowledge you've got in your head?

John: Yeah?

Aeryn: Can you use it to get home?

John: (a bit subdued) Yah.

Aeryn: Let's do what we have to do here and then we'll go. (he takes his eyes off the track to look at her, but his thrill at this - the thing he's wanted to hear - is short-lived as a blast of pulse fire from behind narrowly misses them)

John: WHAT THE-?

Aeryn: Frell! (as John begins evasive maneuvers in the form of wild zigzags across the sand, Aeryn stands up in her seat. As you know - all Post-Apocalyptic Dune Buggies come with rear-mounted guns. Aeryn reaches for theirs with intent to blow the hell out of whoever's chasing them - but she finds out fast why this buggy was parked and drops back down into her seat as their pursuer tries to get a hit on them) YOU'LL NEVER GUESS!

John: IT DOESN'T WORK? (she confirms his correct guess) HOW THE HELL CAN WE HAVE THE ONLY GUN ON THE PLANET THAT DOESN'T WORK?

Aeryn: IT'S YOUR FAULT.

John: MY FAULT?

Aeryn: WELL YOU KNOW IF I WAS HERE ON MY OWN IT'D BE WORKING RIGHT NOW!

John: WELL I HOPE YOU GOT A PLAN BABY! 'COS I'M FRESH OUT OF IDEAS!

Aeryn: DRIVE STRAIGHT!

John: STRAIGHT?

Aeryn: IT'S A PLAN - HE HAS TO FOLLOW OUR TRACKS. (she tosses a black object out of the buggy) ALL RIGHT YOU GET FURLOW - I'VE GOT YOUR BACK! I LOVE YOU!

John: I LOVE YOU! (and with that, she rises and prepares to jump out of the buggy. Or maybe she wasn't really going to, but Johns affectionate swat to her leather-clad ass just pushes her out. Either ray, out she goes)

The track the vehicles are on runs along the top of a dune. Aeryn hits the sand and rolls down its side for several yards before coming to a stop. She immediately scrambles to her feet and returns to the top, where the little black thing she threw out is laying in the sand between her and the pursuing dune buggy - which is driven by a Charrid.

The Charrid slows at the sight of her and slowly turns his vehicle towards her. She just stands there, hand on the pulse gun at her belt. She even pushes her goggles back as they regard each other and he revs his engine indecisively.

But she seems like an easy mark and he finally hits the gas and comes gunning for her But Aeryn is rarely an easy mark. She draws her gun and takes aim at the little black object laying in the sand - which is of course, a bomb - and as the Charrids buggy comes upon it, she fires. The Charrid and his buggy are blown off the dune and take the same long roll down its side that Aeryn had just moments before. She then turns and begins walking back down the dune towards the Charrid - who's survived the crash and is dragging himself out the upended vehicle.

Aeryn: (murmuring as she nears the wreck) Run away. (but the Charrids trying to get to his gun, which was thrown a few feet from the buggy. She murmurs) Be smart. (he gets to his gun - and lies there - waiting for her to come closer. She calls-) Run away! (but instead, he grabs his gun and tries to bring it around on her. She whips up her sidearm and kills him with a single shot. Alone on the dune, she advises his corpse) Should've run.

Moments later, she's to work on the Charrids Post-Apocalyptic Dune Buggy - which is a lot harder to kill than he was. She hasn't much trouble using its roll bars to rock it until it rights itself under its own momentum, with a shower of sand, a heavy thump and a lot of squeaking.

Meanwhile Furlow and John continue their chase across the miserable dun-colored landscape of Dam-Ba-Da. Through puddles and past bits of industrial garbage that randomly stud the desert they roar. John's gaining on Furlow and she knows it - but with no-one to man her rear gun, there isn't much she can do other than take the usual evasive maneuvers. But John is patient and waits till he's almost riding her rear bumper before drawing his gun and taking aim over his steering wheel. At the speeds they're traveling at on an unstable surface - one good shot is all it takes and Furlow spins out of control- and off the dune. Over and over and over her vehicle rolls till it finally comes to rest many yards down the slope The displacement engine has been displaced to the sand beside her vehicle.

But Furlow is a long ways from done. She nimbly extricates herself from the wreck and stomps around to stand over the Ancients device. John advances down the dune towards her - both have their weapons drawn and trained on each other.

Furlow: (angry and defiant) Y'know you shoulda git while you had the chance!

John: You shoulda done the right thing.

Furlow: How well you know me? You think I like the Scarrans? They sent in the Charrids, slaughtered my crew, tortured me. You think I faked all my wounds?

John: Turn around and walk away.

Furlow: Rather be dead John. Too old to start over. Got nothin' left. Won't leave without that. (She cocks her head at the precious displacement engine)

John: Furlow I don't have time for this- (but at that moment a solar flare shimmers in the air and the planet becomes bathed in retina-searing light. John is still without goggles and is immediately obliged to cringe down and cover his eyes. Furlow lowers her gun and strides over to him. She pushes him off his feet - and as the flare wanes, John finds himself on his belly in the sand - with Furlow's gun pressed into the back of his neck)

(cut back to Talyn where Crais and Stark are on the Command as Alcar approaches the door. Crais is leaning quietly on a command console as Stark bops up to him)

Stark: (a quick whisper) Ready!

Alcar: Where is the neural transponder? Why do I not yet have control of this vessel?

Stark: (feigning helpless frustration with the quality of what he has to work with) Because - because - because I'm still - (he stops himself and gestures with exasperation at the command consoles) - Tch! Aw! These controls! See for yourself!

Alcar: Are you subverting my commands?

Stark: No - truly!

Crais: Scarran! (Alcar turns his attention to Crais) *I* subvert your commands. (as Crais speaks, the snakelike apparatus that Talyn uses to implant neural transponders rises from its port in the floor behind Alcar, where it sways like a cobra preparing to strike)

Alcar: You deny me the transponder?

Crais: (dangerously) Do you - still want it?

Alcar: Without delay!

Crais: Then - you shall have it. (and with that - Talyn strikes. He buries the transponder implantation device - which is tipped with a sharp, white, tooth-like prong instead of a neural implant now - into Alcar’s thick-skinned back. The Scarran lets go with a basso rumble of agony, but makes no move to go down and Crais shouts at his ship) TALYN! FIRE! (the gunships interior guns drop from the ceiling and commences a sustained fusillade of pulse fire upon Alcar. The nightmarish creature stays on his feet, but thrashes and roars terribly as his body is lost in brilliant flashes of energy fire and vapors. Crais squints into the small hell of destruction being played out before him, trying to ascertain whether the Scarran is going to go down or not)

Stark: CRAIS! GET DOWN! (he tackles Crais to prevent him from catching stray bolts of pulse fire and they both hit the deck. Talyn’s fire ceases shortly after and they watch as Alcar stands there for a moment longer, holding his ruined belly, before falling to his knees. And then, with a thud that shakes the Command - the Scarran pitches forwards onto the deck, dead)

Crais: (to Stark as he and the Banik huddle there staring at the dead monster) Thank you.

Stark: It may not happen again.

(cut back to John and Furlow in the desert of Dam-Ba-Da where their final confrontation plays itself out. John is still on his belly in the sand, Furlow is straddling him, her gun to the back of his head. But now something else is happening. The displacement engine, laying damaged in the dirt has begun to emit pulses of intense blueish-white light)

John: Furlow look! The device - it's active. You can't shut it off. By the time you get it to the Scarrans it'll be useless - it'll be slag!

Furlow: (very softly and vehemently as she looks at the device and realizes the truth of what he says) Frell!

John: I can't deactivate it but you gotta let me use it to take out the Dreadnought.

Furlow: Casing's open John.

John: I can close it.

Furlow: (she sits back and her gun drops away from Johns neck as she watches the displacement engine warily. Each pulse from it's nuclear fuel core produces a little blue halo now) Uh-uh - it's too late already. The reaction's building too fast. I think we both better get outta here.

John: No, you go.

Furlow: Don't be the hero John. Always be the one to walk away while the hero dies. (she gives him a friendly pat on the butt in parting) That's my motto. (and with that - she bustles away up the dune - towards his dune buggy. John meanwhile, pulls himself up to his knees, collects his gun and casts an apprehensive glance at the ominously blinking displacement engine)

John: (he looks up the sky and says softly-) Okay. (keeping low to the ground in hopes of avoiding the full force of the deadly radiation pulses - he crawls towards the damaged device till he's just within arms reach - and pauses. All that's left is to steel himself and try to touch the thing only between its pulses of radioactive death) Okay- 1... 2... 3!

He lunges for the displacement engine - but its pulses aren't 100% perfectly spaced, and in the split second it takes him to close its casing, he takes a hit of its cobalt blue light full in the face. He pulls back with a scream of despair. The pulses have ceased - but he just kneels there in the sand, head down as if kowtowing to the technology of the Ancients. He pounds the surface of this cursed planet with both fists before slowly sitting up, almost sobbing, and looks to the sky as if in supplication. But he's alone - and as his eyes fall back down to the displacement engine, he raises his hands - and unclenching his fists, allows the sand of Dam-Ba-Da to trickle slowly from his hands.

Not long after - Aeryn appears in the vehicle she jacked from the Charrid and pulls up right behind John, who's still kneeling in front of the displacement engine, staring into space.

Aeryn: (standing up in her seat, she pullis off her goggles) You okay?

John: (very tired, without turning to look at her) Yah. I'm fine. (heartbroken) We have to hurry.

(cut to Talyn where Crais and Stark have cleared away the dead Scarran. The little gunship seems ready to work again as they hail their shipmates. The scene shifts between Talyn, Rygel, still in his gun turret on the planet and Aeryn and John, who've made their way back to Furlow's spaceship garage and are re-attaching the displacement engine to the module again)

Crais: Crichton! Aeryn! Rygel! What is your status?

Rygel: (sounding like he's afraid his guts will fall out if he talks too loudly) Frelled. Mivonks-on-a-plate frelled! What's your status?

Crais: (he sounds shaky) I am partially sighted. Talyn has recovered sufficiently to attempt starburst.

Rygel: Well - pick me up and let's go!

Crais: Crichton? Aeryn?

John: (as he finishes up reinstallation of the device on the module, with Aeryn looking on) Crais! We got one shot at this. The ah - displacement engine will take out the Scarrans - you need to pick up Sparky and get the hell outta here.

Aeryn: Yes - starburst immediately. (back on Talyn Crais looks to Stark, who shakes his head ever so slightly)

Stark: (very quietly) No.

Crais: (broadcasting via comm) It is unanimous. We stay. (that's unanimous to everyone on Talyn)

John: (softly) Aw dammit Crais - knock it off. You're gonna make me start liking you.

Crais: (if he heard Johns comment, he's too mature as usual, to acknowledge it) Is there anything we can do?

John: (he sounds as if he isn't feeling well as he says louder) Yeah. It would be helpful to have the Dreadnought - ah - directly in line with the mouth of the wormhole.

Crais: What wormhole?

John: (he begins to climb down from the module) The one I'm about to rustle up.

Crais: We will attempt to lure them. Good fortune!

(cut to Furlow's spaceship garage where Johns feet hit the floor as he drops down from the module - and keeps going as his legs give out from beneath him)

Aeryn: (alarmed, she springs to help him to his feet) John? (he quickly backs up against the wing of the module to use it for support) Are you hurt?

John: (trying to brush her off) No. No I'm fine.

Aeryn: (persistent) What happened? What did she do to you?

John: (quickly) Nah - she didn't do anything. (he tries to slide past Aeryn, but she won't let him by, having now the full feminine intuition that something is very wrong since she found him in the desert)

Aeryn: What's the matter?

John: (fretfully) She didn't- (but he cuts himself off and taking Aeryn’s dear face in his hands, kisses it. She accepts this for only a moment before firmly pushing him back)

Aeryn: What - is the matter? (there's a pause as he rests his forehead against hers, his hand still on the back of her neck and she waits, her hands on his shoulders)

John: (his eyes downcast as he says quietly, sick with regret) Radiation. Massive radiation. (his head wobbles with sorrow and radiation sickness as he finally looks at her - and apologizes, nearly in tears) I couldn't help it. I couldn't stop it.

Aeryn: (she pulls back from him, her face is blank but her words register dull shock and denial) There has to be something you can do.

John: (mumbling as he turns back to the module) No I have to finish this.

Aeryn: (ever practical, she makes a determined decision, grabbing his arm and making to push past him) You're finished here, I'm flying the mission.

John: (he grabs her and pulls her back) Aeryn you don't know what to do.

Aeryn: (angrily) You will talk me through it. You will get help! And you will not argue with me on this one! (she pushes past him again to the modules cockpit ladder, but John finds the strength to haul her furiously off it)

John: (his tone is harsh with resolve as he grates) DAMMIT! This is NOT something I can COACH you through! It's half intuition - it's half feeling! (softly vehement) I know it like I invented it!

Aeryn: (deeply resentful, her voice husky) So it's your life for everyone else’s?

John: (in a whisper) And you're different how?

Aeryn: I'm different because I love you.

John: (gentler, coming down again, he touches her face and says softly) Then you know I have to do this. (her breath catches in a tearless sob and she shakes her head in a motion like a shiver) I'm coming back. (she can only stare at him doubtfully as a tear slides down her thin cheek)

Moments later the launch doors of Furlow's spaceship garage slide open to reveal John sitting in the cockpit of the copy of his module. Another of the many improvements made upon the tiny craft is that it no longer needs a space shuttle to become airborne, and a second later it rockets out of Furlow's compound for the last time, on a low-angle trajectory for space.

(the Scarran ship is up there in space, very close now - and the scene shifts to Talyn as Crais hails them)

Crais: (with grand dignity) Scarran Dreadnought! This is Captain Bialar Crais. Peacekeeper. Approach any closer - you will be engaged and destroyed.

Stark: (in the ensuing silence, he observes in a perfectly dead monotone) They must be terrified.

Alone in Furlow's dark compound of workshops and garages, Aeryn occupies herself with an air of desperation by walking around and slapping explosive charges on structural elements and combustibles. But she can't keep her mind off the emotional bombshell John handed her, and she stops to press her forehead against the cool metal of a beam and try to calm herself.

And up in cold space, John has his own problems as he fights radiation sickness and peers out the modules windows in a vain search for the Scarran ship with its darkly glowing red engines.

John: (a little moan escapes him as he tries to steady his wobbly head before hailing Talyn) Crais - where is it? I can't see that damn Dreadnought anywhere.

Crais: (cut briefly to him on Talyn) Closing fast on an intercept vector with Talyn. But Crichton - there is no wormhole to maneuver them! (back in the module, a flare from the local sun fills the cockpit with its blinding light)

John: (he just squints against the glare in the shielded cockpit) Oh there's my flare. Mama Crichton’s baby boy - makin' wormholes. (he touches a switch that initiates the cascade reaction to form a wormhole. With a brief, brilliant bloom of light - the quantum vortex appears on cue between him and Dan-Ba-Da. It blocks out the sunlight and bathes his face is bathed in its cool, dark blue light as he turns the module towards it)

(cut to Talyn where Stark watches the progress of the Dreadnought towards them)

Stark: (murmuring, with dread at the monstrosity heading for them) Close... Close... (louder) Very close. (close indeed. The black Scarran vessel is upon Dam-Ba-Da, whose angry, swollen sun can be seen as a huge semicircle behind the curve of the planet while the bright blue wormhole glows just this side of the desert world. On Talyn, an alarm begins an urgent tone. Stark turns inquiringly to Crais) This is-?

Crais: We're being targeted.

(cut back to the surface of the planet where fire from a massive explosion belches forth from the gaping front door to Furlow's compound as Aeryn sprints out of it. The shock wave causes the ground to tremble and throws Aeryn off her feet for a moment - but she bounces up fast and clambers into Rygel’s gun turret)

Rygel: What was that?

Aeryn: I DESTROYED Furlow's LAB! (she throws herself against the interior wall of the turret and rests as she finishes quietly) There's nothing left.

(cut to Furlow's module where John prepares the coup d' gras)

John: Okay displacement engine - time to displace. (he flicks a couple switches and there's a little warbling sound as the Ancients weapon comes to life. The blue wormhole takes on an orange glow at the waves of its outer lip, and just inside it, a fiery trail begins to fan out behind the module as John flies in a circle around the wall of the vortex)

(cut to Talyn who's still in the target lock of the gigantic Scarran ship)

Crais: Scarran Dreadnought - withhold your fire! We surrender! I repeat - we surrender! (then, quietly aside to his ship-) Talyn - stand down your weaponry. Make them believe. (slowly, to inspire all the cunning the little gunship possesses) Draaww them in. (outside, another solar flare causes the wormholes outer edges to glow ominously as John maintains his holding pattern just inside it. The tiny module is visible only by the hypnotic trail of displacement engine energy stretching out behind it)

(cut back to the gun turret as Aeryn wistfully hails her love)

Aeryn: (worried) John?

John: (cut to him - his voice slurs just a bit as he stares intently out his front windshield) I'm almost there.

It's doubtful that's what she really wanted to hear as she rests her forehead on one hand and Rygel stares up into the sky, waiting for - what- he cannot know. Back on Talyn, the targeting alert has gone quiet and Crais and Stark also wait. Johns revolutions around the wormhole seem almost leisurely, like a chef meticulously stirring a slow pot. The blue of the wormhole seems increasingly grey as its color mingles with that of the orange sun - which is slowly becoming visible at the far end of its spinning tunnel. Stark stares, transfixed by what he sees out of Talyn’s main viewports, which he describes for Crais.

Stark: (murmuring, awestruck) The wormhole is touching the star. It's touching the star...

John: (cut briefly to him in the module as he turns his eyes heavenward and murmurs) Okay Jack - this one's for you.

And with that - he abruptly cuts away from his revolutions around the wall of the wormhole and crosses to its center. Once there - he turns the nose of the module towards the stars - and rockets up and out and away into space, past the hulking Dreadnought as it passes the mouth of the wormhole toward Talyn.

Displacement. Not of the great Scarran warship - but of the very sun of Dam-Ba-Da. As John comes up and out of the wormhole - the weapon of the Ancients seems to literally pull the sun from the other side of the planet and vomit it partially out directly in front of the Dreadnought. John, Crais and Stark watch as much of the resultant horror as they can. And what they see is the huge Scarran ship dying a strangely slow and hideous death. Whether by dint of its own momentum or the gravity of the star being squeezed up through the mouth of the wormhole - it cannot stop. The vast length of the mighty vessel slides sedately, inexorably, never faster, never slower, into the star, exploding inch by inch as it goes. One can almost hear the thing screaming as it is slowly vaporized in the corona of the sun of Dam-Ba-Da. And when the last bit of its rear rockets disappears into the fire, the star, bloated and ugly - is sucked back down into the wormhole - which winks out in a brilliant flash of light that dwindles quickly to pinpoint and then nothing but black space. Stunned silence reigns everywhere. On Talyn, Crais and Stark slowly lower their hands, which they'd raised to shield their eyes from the hellish light of the Dreadnoughts death.

Stark: (murmuring, horrified) I have no prayer for that.

(cut to Aeryn and Rygel in the gun turret on the planets surface. It's still light there and unclear how the suns vacation to the other side of the planet looked from their vantage - but Rygel is gaping upwards. Aeryn remains with her head in her hands)

Aeryn: (breaking the heavy silence with a cry, near tears, over comms) John? Are you-?

John: (his exhausted voice is heard on com) Yeah Baby. I'm - I'm still here. (Aeryn leans her head back with something between a smile and a grimace of relief on her face. The scene shifts briefly to John, looking very weary, in the module) Told ya I'd come back. (the relief slowly fades from Aeryn’s face and is replaced by blank, tearful dread at what she knows they must now face)

(cut to later. Talyn has moved away from the wasted world of Dam-Ba-Da and floats in the cool dark of deep space where the stars twinkle at a safe distance. The scene shifts to his captains quarters, where John is propped up on the bed. His head lays back on his pillow and his hands rest limply in his lap. He is very pale. Aeryn and Stark attend him - he keeps vigil and she sits near John, touching his arm, offering what comfort she can. Crais and Rygel appear in the doorway of the room. Aeryn moves aside to let them enter and pay their respects)

Crais: (he comes to stand stiffly next to the bed and, uncertain of what to say, tries to assume a businesslike tone) The - radiation sickness treatments from - Talyn’s emergency kit should-

John: (his voice is weak as he stops Crais' uncomfortable reassurances) Relax. It was a big hit. Nothing to be done. And I hate long good-byes.

Crais: (he sits on the edge of the bed and offers, man to man, the best he can say) Your sacrifice... does not go unnoted, Commander.

John: (he speaks very slowly, with great effort, and he seems to be struggling to keep his eyes open) Crais... you... find the better part of yourself. You... have to take care of them.

Crais: I will. (he rises, and stands with his upper body bent slightly forwards, almost in a bow of formal respect) I - hope you can believe that. (he reaches out and lays his hand on the humans arm) Goodbye Crichton. (John looks up at him and nods in silent farewell and Crais quickly strides from the room)

John: (he sees Rygel, with his own belly bound up, watching from a distance, and beckons him closer with a feeble attempt at jocularity) Hey, hey, hey - Spar-ky!

Rygel: (he guides his hoverchair closer to the bedside and says hesitantly) They say... it's not good.

John: Sparky - come here. (Stark pushes the reluctant Hynerian closer) My stuff- (Rygel grunts) You can't have it. (they both laugh a little, but Johns chuckles turn into a pained cough and Rygel’s head droops sadly)

Rygel: (with sorrow as deep as he can express) It will be hard... not to think of you.

John: I'm gonna miss you Dominar. (his eyes flutter shut. Rygel lowers his own eyes and quickly leaves the room lest his emotions assert themselves in a more unseemly manner. As he goes, Johns stillness is broken with a groan, he rolls his head sideways, gasping as much with fear as from pain)

Aeryn: Stark! (they hurry to Johns side, she takes his head in her hands and steadies him as she says quietly) It's okay.

As John gasps and sobs, Stark raises his right hand and with his left, lifts the metal mask that covers half his face. Beautiful golden light emanates from beneath it and bathes the humans ashen face in a warm glow. He lays his right hand on Johns forehead and the dying man becomes calm. Aeryn watches, no doubt wishing that there was some golden light for her pain as well - but the time is not hers. The dim light of the room darkens Johns face as Stark lowers his mask and begins to take his hand away from Johns forehead. But the humans eyes open and he takes Starks hand, guiding it back to his forehead for a few more moments. Stark waits for him and John finally lets go. His face seems young again and his blue eyes are clear as he looks up at the Banik, who nods silently before getting up and leaving the room. Alone with him now, Aeryn comes to sit close to John, her face twisted with grief.

Aeryn: (tearfully) I'm very angry.

John: Me too.

Aeryn: We had good times.

John: I wouldn't change it for the world. (there's a long pause as she strokes his face) You made me - a better person.

Aeryn: (smiling trough her grief) That wasn't hard. He smiles too, then she whispers) I love you... so much...

John: (he's no longer able to move, to return her touch) I love you.

Aeryn: (softly) I would have gone to Earth.

John: (sleepily) I'm... sorry you never got to meet my dad - my real dad. I'm - sorry I never met your dad. I'm sorry about a lot of things.

Aeryn: Don't be, I don't want you to go that way.

John: I won't. (there's a long pause while they linger together) Huh.

Aeryn: What?

John: (ruminatively, very slowly) They say - it's a lucky - or an unambitious man who goes when he's ready. That said - Scorpius is gone. I'm at peace. (Aeryn pulls a cover up over his legs as he talks) I don't - hurt. I... I did some good things. I'm proud of my life. And I'm with you. (Aeryn leans her tear-stained face over his and kisses him, long and passionately. Long and softly. Johns eyes seem focused somewhere faraway as he murmurs) Don't worry about me... I've never felt better.

And with one last soft flutter of his eyelids, his soul flies to those faraway places. Aeryn gasps as her tears overwhelm her. She makes a couple shaky moves to touch him - but pulls back each time, knowing he's gone. Finally she reaches for his eyes and brushes them closed, then slides under the cover next to him, and reaching one arm around him, rests her head on his shoulder and for a little while, closes her eyes too.

THE END