Liars, Guns and Money

Part 1 (A Not So Simple Plan)
The episode opens on Moya’s Command. Zhaan, the Kahaynu Appointed Protector Of Moya And Pilot, is there, clutching Stark's mask lovingly and bullying Pilot.

Zhaan: (demanding) Just keep going. Follow the nexus coordinates.

Pilot: But we've been following them for 3 solar days!

Zhaan: (angry) Just follow them Pilot! (John enters the Command and approaches her. Chiana and D'Argo have come with him but they hang back at the entrance, watching as Zhaan threatens Pilot) Or do I have to take over manual command?

John: Zhaan, maybe-

Zhaan: Go away Crichton! (John makes to oblige but Chiana and D'Argo silently wave him back. He sighs and makes a U-turn to try a little harder to talk sense into Zhaan)

John: All right look - we've all been talking and we think maybe we should turn back.

Zhaan: (angry and petulantly stubborn) No. When Stark communicated with me he insisted that we follow the nexus coordinates! If we do what he says, he will be there.

John: (frustrated) There's nothing out there, OK? Aeryn has gone and done the long-range recon-

D'Argo: (he can't stand it anymore and strides furiously in) We should return the slave auction immediately!

Zhaan: (softly but dismissive of his counter-agenda) And do what? We have no currency D'Argo. We cannot save your son. But we can save Stark.

Chiana: (timidly approaching) Zhaan, maybe, uh-

Zhaan: (eying her) What?

Chiana: (trying to be gentle and supportive) Well - maybe - I'm just saying maybe - you didn't communicate with Stark. You know Zhaan, sometimes, when we want something really badly, we think things happen and they don't.

Zhaan: (dismissive) I do not need a lesson from you child. (she angrily brandishes Stark's mask at the others) THIS MASK TALKED TO ME! (challenging) Unless you all think I'm imagining it.

D'Argo: (gently but firmly) I do. Stark is gone. But my son is still alive. So I want you - to turn - this ship - around.

Zhaan: (she approaches John and asks with soft bitterness) Crichton. Do you also believe I am imagining my communication with Stark?

John: (gently taking the mask from her hand) Bluey - since we've been together, you've shown me some pretty wacky things. But it's been 3 days, and D’Argo’s son is- (but at that moment, John experiences another wacky thing - he is interrupted - by the mask, Stark's face appears in it, making it look as if John is holding the Banik's head in his hand they hear his voice pleading urgently - " Don't give up! Don't stop Zhaan! Hurry! I'm dying!" But before either of them can react, Pilot breaks in)

Pilot: Moya's found something! There's a ship directly in front of us! (and he puts a view of it on the main port screen. John and Zhaan rise and move towards it)

Zhaan: (murmuring) Stark.

Pilot: Moya’s sensors are picking up one being.

John: Maneuver close and deploy the docking web.

Pilot: The life is faint Crichton. We have to reach him quickly! (and following his own suggestion, the docking web engulfs the small ship in a shimmering blue-green energy field and pulls it aboard Moya )

(cut to the docking and maintenance bays - which are connected - John and D'Argo have boarded the ship and fetched none other than Stark off it. They hustle him through the cavernous room. He is wrapped in coarse rags, giving him a mummy-like appearance as he gasps for air)

John: He's barely breathing!

D'Argo: This is impossible! We saw him die!

John: Well let's get him to Zhaan before he dies again.

Stark: (he excitedly chokes out -) D'Argo! D'Argo! I've done it! I've found it! I know how to save your son! (D'Argo gapes at him - amazed that not only is this guy alive but that he's been thinking of how to help him even after how crappily D'Argo has treated him. Or maybe he just thinks Stark is a loon...)

(soon after, cut to Zhaan’s lab. The entire crew has gathered to gape at Stark, who is madly agitated. Zhaan tries to calm him)

Stark: (panting eagerly as he waves a container at D'Argo) It's all here D'Argo! Everything! Everything!

Zhaan: Be calm Stark, be calm!

D'Argo: (snatching the container from Stark with his usual finesse as he growls) What is this dren? How will it help me save my son?

Stark: (excited and feverish) I've got a plan! A plan!

Zhaan: Shh! Stark! Your life signs are still weak.

D'Argo: (impatient) Just let him talk!

John: Hang on, before we hear about any plan - inquiring minds want to know - how the hell did you get here?

Stark: I stole a ship!

John: (referring to the events of TUT) No - on the hubcap - you were executed. You were dispersed.

Stark: (panting) Crichton, this body is only a molecular creation, which enables me to live in your realm. It's merely a - a vessel for my true, incorporeal self. (as he speaks, Zhaan unwraps the rags from around his head, exposing the glimmering patch of light that is the right side of his face)

John: You wanna run that by me one more time?

Stark: (he speaks with difficulty as Zhaan places the metal mask back over the right side of his face and secures it) When I dispersed I instantly traveled to locate these plans and blueprints. And then I - I reconstituted the shell of this body and - and - stole a ship - to come find you.

Chiana: (to Rygel) I told you he was still alive.

Rygel: (sailing forward on his hoverchair) I don't believe it! Zhaan was telling the truth! I-

D'Argo: (clamping Rygel’s mouth shut) Go on, Stark.

Stark: (increasingly excited as he speaks) Ka D'Argo, your son is being sold in a lot of 10,000 slaves. Now - this - (he takes a film from the container he brought and holds it up) - is a blueprint for a depository!

Chiana: What you mean like a bank?

Stark: Yes!

Chiana: (excited) Are we gonna rob a bank?

Stark: Yes! (Chiana chortles with glee)

Zhaan: (appalled) Steal other peoples currency to help ourselves? We can't do that! I can't!

Chiana: Sure you can!

Stark: Zhaan, this is not a normal depository. It is one that services only criminals that wish to hide what they have stolen from others.

Rygel: (savvy about these things) Wait a microt - Are you talking about a shadow depository?

Stark: Yes! And it's within the range of a transport pod from here!

Rygel: (savvy about these things...) Hm, now - so you are insane.

Aeryn: (she states her factoid with loud confidence) Well I saw a shadow depository once that had more firepower than a Gammak Base.

Stark: Yes, but with these - (he shows them some clear data chips) - I can control the internal depository door motion detectors. And these - (he waves the blueprints at them) - these are a complete set of blueprints - vault layout, everything. (and he says with relish rather unbecoming of an incorporeal being-) In one container is enough wealth to buy an entire shipment of slaves and still have enough left over to make all of us filthy rich forever! (Chiana can barely contain herself)

John: Where did you get these?

Stark: I helped the deposit designer cross over to death. His last thoughts led me to these. They're genuine.

John: (suspicious) Did you kill him?

Stark: Not exactly.

Aeryn: (she snorts) Did the designer have enough time to explain to you how much firepower is actually inside this depository?

Stark: Not - not precisely.

John: Oh that's comforting.

D'Argo: We're gonna have to go down and have a look for ourselves.

Aeryn: (dismissive of the whole cockamamie idea) Their arsenal would be massive. This is suicide D'Argo!

D'Argo: Well if it's the only way we can save my son we must consider it.

John: D'Argo, wait - nonono - I know this is important, I know you want to do this - but it is not possible.

D'Argo: (aggressively) You won't even consider this?

John: I just don't see how we-

D'Argo: (cutting him off angrily) Well fine! We'll go without you! We'll go without all 4 of you! Chiana, it's just you, me and Stark.

Chiana: (concerned by the others hesitation) Well sure, b-b-but you know, maybe - maybe we should just-

D'Argo: (cutting her off furiously) What? Now you're against me too?

Chiana: No! No! I'm with you! it's-

D'Argo: (cutting her off again to turn his fury on John) WHEN YOU ASKED ME TO DO SOMETHING, DID I EVER QUESTION IF IT WAS POSSIBLE? (actually, yes, but this wouldn't be the time to bring it up would it?)

John: D'Argo, I-

D'Argo: NO! I DIDN'T! You're cowards. All of you. (he storms out, leaving them all looking after him speechlessly)

(cut to soon after. A transport pod accelerates away from Moya. Cut to Aeryn and John, striding urgently through Moya’s corridors)

Pilot: (defensively, via comm) He does not need my permission!

John: (he doesn't want to hear it) Get him on the phone!

Pilot: He is not responding to any of my signals!

John: (yelling into his comm) D'ARGO?

Aeryn: How much of a head start does he have?

Pilot: (cut to him in his Den as he speaks) He cleared Moya not more than - 15 microts ago.

(cut to the transport pod. D'Argo is at the helm as John's voice yells over the comm)

John: D'ARGO! PICK UP THE DAMN PHONE! I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME! D'ARGO? (the angry Luxan ignores him)

(cut back to Aeryn and John)

Aeryn: We're taking the Prowler.

Moments later Aeryn and John streak away form Moya in pursuit of D'Argo. With the information Stark had brought, the Luxan has made his way to the planet where the shadow depository is located. Aeryn flies the Prowler over what appears to he a city rising out of a mist under gray skies and pouring rain. The buildings are black and skeletal, jutting skywards in complex, asymmetrical arrays of girders, great wheel-like structures and sharp spires. It looks more like some sort of industrial grid than a city. The central, fortress-like building is shaped like a many-pointed star. This entire "city" is the shadow depository and its defenses. Aeryn and John gaze apprehensively at it all from the Prowler.

John: That's big.

Aeryn: It's very big.

Soon after, Aeryn and John have parked the Prowler and entered the main processing chamber (read: Lobby) of the depository. It is a huge, dimly lit room with great pillars. Around its circumference are portals leading to private areas that are covered by massive octagonal security gates whose bars are intricate star-shaped designs. The lobby is crowded with people bustling about and talking. One person stands out though. She is a shapely female creature with blood red eyes and long, clawed, finger-like structures on her head that seem to grow out the back of her skull and curve forward gripping her head like long fingers. Jagged spines protrude form her shoulders. It's hard to tell if she is wearing clothing or if the blue scale-like plates that artfully define her body are in fact - her body. Her name is Natira and she is talking to a Sebacean man - she is clearly the one in charge. Her voice is sweetly feminine but her words are harsh.

Sebacean man: (outraged by something) ... DON'T threaten me Natira! And DON'T forget who I am!

Aeryn: (in a low voice as she looks around) John where's D'Argo?

Natira: (to the Sebacean man as she firmly pushes him to arms length away from her) I haven't. You're nobody here. (as John observes this interaction, he hallucinates the Sebacean man morphing into Scorpius) But do as I say - and we'll let the relationship unfold. (John takes Aeryn arms and pulls her urgently behind a pillar)

Aeryn: What?

John: (whispering) Scorpius!

Aeryn: Where?

John: Over there. Talking to that weird blue alien.

Aeryn: (she peeks around the pillar and sighs) That's not Scorpius, you're having visions again. Have a look. (he peeks - and sure enough, it's only some Sebacean guy) See?

John: Sorry about that.

Aeryn: I'm worried about D'Argo. (they step back out into the open lobby and immediately, something about them sets off an electronic alarm accompanied by strobe lights and a deep throbbing sound. They startle, draw weapons and take defensive postures as a Depository guard orders-)

Guard: Hand over your weapons! Slowly! (the alarm is cut off as they comply and are scanned with hand-held wands by guards. Another man, Natira's assistant, Akkor now approaches them, He is completely human in appearance, tall and dressed with understated richness. His pate is bald but for a circle of dark hair that goes around the back of his head from ear to ear and is extravagantly combed up to little pointy frill, His tone is imperiously businesslike)

Akkor: What is your business here Peacekeepers?

John: (putting on the swagger of one who is pleased by the security of the place) Good! Very - very good! You in charge here?

Akkor: (dryly repeating his query) What is your business?

John: This is a depository, right? We have something to deposit.

Akkor: What makes you think we'd be interested? (must be a Citibank branch)

John: You ever hear of KFC?

Akkor: KFC?

John: It is, to my knowledge, unique in the universe, and unique - is always valuable. (over Akkor's shoulder, he spots D'Argo - trying to manipulate the security code of one of the great gates - his eyes wobble a bit but he relentlessly tries to keep Akkor’s attention with his cock and bull story) Now we have managed to procure all 11 secret ingredients. What we need to do now is discuss the terms-

Guard: Security breach in Portal 5! (Akkor whirls around just as D'Argo manages to get the door open - all hell breaks loose)

Akkor: GUARDS! THE LUXAN! SEIZE HIM! (a brief, violent struggle ensues as Aeryn and John quickly duck aside and several guards subdue D'Argo) Get him on the ground!

Guard: On the ground! (D'Argo is roughed up) Hold him!

Aeryn: (whispering to John as they watch the chaos from the sidelines) Wait.

D'Argo: (the angry Luxan digs his hole deeper) I was told the security here was weak. I was right. The security here IS FRELLED!

Guard: SILENCE! (they rough him up some more and use a stun-gun like device on him. Akkor glances over his shoulder, sensing the languid approach of Natira. Arriving at the scene of the disturbance, she stoops, and gazes intently at D'Argo as she says coolly)

Natira: As a race - Luxans can be - inartful at love. Inadequate at war - and intrinsically inept. But this one - is intelligent.

Guard: Shall I execute him?

Natira: No. He also expects to be interrogated. Don't you?

D'Argo: (he's flat on his back on the floor, beaten, and he replies with some effort) Ka - D'Argo.

Natira: (straightening up) See? It's a dance, gentleman. Let's not disappoint him. (D'Argo laughs as he is pulled to his feet. Natira smiles at him, showing her wickedly sharp teeth) You went to so much trouble to open that door Ka D'Argo. (she glances at the guard) Be my guest. (and with that, the guard delivers a vicious blow to D'Argo that causes him to scream and double over, gasping and coughing)

John: (whispering) It's time to go. (Natira slowly turns and looks in their direction, John is already turned away and urges Aeryn, who seems fascinated by the spectacle, to come away too) Aeryn...

(cut to soon after, Aeryn and John have returned to Moya where they seek out Stark)

John: (he strides up to Stark, furious, and seizes him) You! You set him up! D'Argo is DOWN there because of YOU!

Stark: (protesting the accusation with maniacal vehemence) Look! You left him no choice! He had to! He had to! It's the only way to save Jothee! It's the plan!

Aeryn: (she takes over the manhandling of Stark and pins him against a wall) WHAT PLAN? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? (uh - duh Aeryn - the one to rob the bank?)

Stark: (sounding more than a little crazed) The plan! The plan! To get - to get D'Argo back! AND to rob the depository!

Aeryn: But you put the whole place on security ALERT! (she and John shove Stark between them and pin him down on a container)

Stark: (insistent as he shakes his blueprint of the depository) It's here! It's all part of the plan, you see! Because D'Argo's breached their system, they'll scramble their codes. And - and while they're resetting their security codes I can link in and they'll never even know! Bu- I have to work quickly! (he suddenly throws Aeryn and John off him and faces them, shouting) SO YOU'LL LEAVE ME ALONE! I've only got 6 arns before they reset their codes!

John: (to Aeryn) I'm gonna reset his codes! (he powers after Stark again, pushing against the wall one more time) HOW THE HELL ARE WE SUPPOSED TO GET D'ARGO BACK?

Stark: Don't worry about a thing. I've got it all figured out, it's all part of the plan.

Aeryn: You better have it all figured out. D'Argo bet his life on that.

Stark: (calm and deadly rational) No. He bet his sons life on that.

John: (angry and resentful as he releases Stark) You manipulated us.

Stark: This plan - will work.

(cut back to the depository. D'Argo has been taken to a room where he's been stripped to the waist and restrained on a circular metal frame that sits on a slightly raised platform in front of floor to ceiling windows that overlook the grey skies and spidery black skyscrapers of the depository precincts. He is sitting on the floor at the base of the frame and being beaten by guards as Akkor looks on. Natira enters)

Akkor: He hasn't said a word.

Natira: (with a bored sigh) He's Luxan. He'll die first. Which means all this pain has been for nothing. As it will continue to be. (she strolls over to him and taking one of his head tentacles in her hand, squeezes it hard with her sharply clawed fingers. D'Argo screams with pain) But perhaps you like pain? Is that it? I hope so. (D'Argo roars with agony as she digs into him)

(cut back to Moya where the crew is preparing for their raid on the shadow depository. Zhaan and Chiana are present as a DRD plays a beam of focused light over Rygel that is creating a sort of cocoon around him)

Rygel: I've changed my mind! 7% isn't nearly enough. I want 10! (he yelps as Chiana grabs one of his earbrows and twists)

Chiana: Listen slug! You'll get what we agreed upon, and you'll be happy about it. Ok? OKAY? It's easy Rygel. Now - Stark's gadget will switch our container for the valuable one. (she drops a device into Rygel’s cocoon as he grumbles from the pain of Chiana’s rough handling of his erogenous zones. She then whips his comm badge off him) And no comms.

Rygel: (in a horrified gasp) What?

Chiana: All transmissions will be detected.

Rygel: But what if something goes wrong?

Zhaan: (delivering a decidedly backhanded compliment as she puts together another device) We have complete confidence in you Rygel, especially where money is concerned. (Rygel chuckles proudly) Chiana, swallow this. (she passes the Nebari a pill and takes one for herself) It will protect you from the effects of the melar gas. You ready Rygel? (he lets a juicy fart in his cocoon/can and says in a Munchkin voice)

Rygel: Do I look ready?

Zhaan: (smiling despite herself) You have nothing to fear. The gas will suspend your biological functions just long enough to avoid being detected by a bio scan. (Chiana silently mouths with her the words) Goddess be with you. (and with that, Zhaan releases a pink colored gas that wafts over the Hynerian) Brave Rygel.

Rygel: (rushing, in his Munchkin voice, to say his last words) 10%! Do you hear me? 10! I consider this an... oral... compro- (and he slumps into unconsciousness as the DRD continues to build up the cocoon around him)

Zhaan: Strange. Should have been instantaneous; I'll have to adjust the mix next time. (Chiana makes a small sound like "Hm!" and pulls Rygel into an upright position so the DRDs cocoon is shaped like a formally seated Hynerian)

(cut to Moya’s Command where Stark has commandeered a console and is trying to get his act together. His paraphernalia is strewn everywhere and he's plugging chips into the console with the feverish air of a very frustrated computer user...)

Stark: (nattering to himself loudly) No! No! No! Wrong chip! Bad chip! (he tries another one and tosses it aside) Bad! (John enters)

John: Have you accessed their security systems yet?

Stark: (cheerily) Soon. (he tries another chip)

John: You said we had less than 6 arns.

Stark: (annoyed) I know what I said. (he rejects another chip)

John: That means you have less than an arn left.

Stark: (he pushes a pile of rejected chips to John and proceeds to fit another into the console) All bad. It's a matter of precision timing. I must create my link at the precise moment they reset their lock- (and at that precise moment - the chip whirs and a hologram of the shadow depository rises from the console. It reveals all the levels of the building, winking lights denote doors, elevators etc. He and John stare at it for a long moment, stunned. Stark breathes softly, as if speaking too loudly will blow the fragile light of the hologram out) I'm in. I'm in!

John: Are you sure this is gonna work?

Stark: Yes it will work, I've spent too much time thinking it through.

John: (murmuring apprehensively to himself) I spent too much time thinking through the Farscape project.

Stark: (suddenly furiously possessive) Your side, my side! My side, your side! Now GO! Go back to your quarters, get something to eat, take a nap- do nothing - (pettily vindictive) - That's what D'Argo said you do best. (John eyes Stark, who is focused now on his hologram, and then pulls his gun and paces it to the Banik’s neck)

John: (quiet and deadly) Ground rule: You don't lie to me. Did D'Argo say that?

Stark: (he stiffens, and replies. rational and contrite) No. I'm sorry. He didn't.

John: Do you have any other lies you want to confess?

Stark: (very softly) No. (John withdraws his gun)

John: You want to guilt trip me that's fine, just - (he waves a hand wearily) -don't lie to me. (he exits)

(cut to some time later as Chiana and Zhaan enter the lobby of the depository. Chiana is outfitted in her ling grey traveling coat - but Zhaan is decked out in a black leather hooded catsuit and the black eye patch Durka left behind. She affects a strident, arrogant tone. They are looking for attention)

Chiana: (looking around the place she laughs derisively) This is it? Ha! Lame. We can do better.

Zhaan: (curt) Better is what I say it is.

Chiana: I knew that.

Akkor: May I help you?

Zhaan: No. (she does not deign to look at him and keeps walking. Natira observes this from a discreet location nearby) Bring me whomever is in charge here.

Akkor: I assure you, madam, I am more than capable-

Zhaan: (cutting him off imperiously) Don't try to elevate yourself. I know a functionary when one crawls in front of my face. Now fetch me your master like a good little minion.

Natira: (stepping out of concealment as Zhaan draws even with her) I'm Natira. Are you here to make a transaction? (Zhaan stops and the two women eye each other for a moment from several paces apart)

Zhaan: I am Aralla.

Natira: You act as if that name should means something to me.

Zhaan: (ignoring her) I understand you've been having security problems.

Natira: You've been misinformed.

Zhaan: Reeeaaally? I had one of my operatives test your systems himself. He got halfway into your vault before you even noticed him.

Natira: The Luxan? He barely made it through the first door. He belongs to you?

Zhaan: He's still alive?

Natira: Last I checked.

Chiana: (sneering) They couldn't even kill a Luxan.

Zhaan: Unbelievable. I will take him back now.

Natira: You'll take whatever I give you. How did he get our code?

Zhaan: It is not my job to plug your security leak.

Natira: (with a dangerous smile) Then why have you come here?

Zhaan: Time sensitive goods. Short-term deposit.

Chiana: (hunkering behind Zhaan and playing the toady) Short term!

Zhaan: I need storage for one solar day.

Chiana: One solar day!

(cut to soon after. Aeryn and John have joined Chiana and Zhaan in the depository lobby. They've brought several containers - including the sarcophagus-like cocoon that holds Rygel. The guards are scanning the "deposit")

Guard: Explosives negative.

Second Guard: Biologicals negative.

Guard: Power field emitters negative.

Natira: (noticing the cocoon) Hynerian?

Zhaan: Yes. Neltoth era.

Natira: (she touches it curiously) Hm - It's extremely ugly.

Zhaan: But priceless. (she removes Natira’s hands from it, Natira sidles away) And now my Luxan.

Natira: (she beckons her toadies and a door opens. Several guards, supporting D'Argo between them, bring him out. He appears exhausted, ready to collapse) This way please.

Zhaan: (coldly, to Chiana) Girl!

Chiana: Yes?

Zhaan: Take him back to the ship.

Chiana: (she goes o lead the guards to the transport pod) At once.

John: (under his breath - it isn't clear if he means Zhaan or Natira) Freakin' Attila the Hun.

Natira: (unconcerned with D'Argo, she continues with Zhaan about the deposit they are about to make) Your guards can watch you from the observation area.

John: (quietly to Aeryn as he watches D'Argo being led past them) He looks bad.

Natira: (finishing her statement to Zhaan) Those are my rules, and if you don't like them - leave. Now! (she walks off and with a grim glance at Aeryn and John, Zhaan follows her. Don't worry - if D'Argo needs to be beaten on to make his blood run clear we're sure Pilot will be happy to oblige)

(cut away from the lobby to a large, windowless, private chamber. This room is a large, white octagon, each of its walls is dominated by a massive octagonal portal, unlike the lobby, it is brightly lit. These portals are accented in pale blue and feature an eight-pointed star design that recalls the shape of the building itself. The chamber has a Moorish feel to it, intricate white latticework at the tops of the walls facilitate air circulation and conceal what lies beyond. In the center of this chamber is a blue 3-dimensional star shaped console that Natira approaches as she talks)

Natira: The vault is made from madium steel. Strong enough to withstand a metavec explosion. Does that alleviate your security concerns?

Zhaan: I'll let you know in one solar day.

Natira: Please. (directing Zhaan to place her hand on the console) The code to your container is now linked to your genetic profile. (the console announces in a feminine electronic voice that it is retrieving the container in which Zhaan’s "deposit is to be placed) Only you will able to gain access. Here comes your container now. (one of the huge baby blue portals swings open and with a little smile Natira leads Zhaan over to stand in front of it. They look into a vast warehouse area where octagonal containers the size of railway cars move about automatically in the far distance. One turns towards them and suddenly rockets on its tracks towards the vault control chamber at nightmarish speed. Zhaan leaps back, catching hold of the console in the center of the room as the container juts inside and stops inches from Natira who stands there coolly and eyes the cowering Zhaan with sadistic satisfaction as the barn door-sized end of the container swings open with the ponderous thunk of very heavy metal) Mm. The first time can be a little intimidating.

(cut to Aeryn and John in the dimly lit security room where they observe Natira and Zhaan on an octagonal screen under the watchful eye of Akkor. Other screens show security views of other places in the facility)

John: Bonnie and Clyde. Oh no - forget about that one, it's a bad ending. (Aeryn wisely ignores him and instead watches as a guard enters the room and whispers something to Akkor who leaves with him. John mutters anxiously at the screen) You know, it's really not nice to whisper. All right Zhaan come on. Come on - wrap it up. (but his thoughts are interrupted by the voice of Scorpius/Harvey whispering to him in his head - "You can't escape me, you can't escape me, you know that." John paces and mutters back to the voice, annoyed) Not - now you freak! Get outta my head!

Aeryn: Scorpius.

John: Yes - Scorpius.

Aeryn: (she walks past him towards one of the security screens) No. Scorpius.

John: You see him? (and now so does John - Scorpius, Braca and a PK woman walking down a corridor of the shadow depository) This is bad.

Aeryn: This is very bad.

(cut to Scorpius and his small entourage in the corridor. Akkor hurries to intercept them)

Akkor: Scorpius? Scorpius!

Scorpius: (he seems in a foul mood) Don't talk. I've come for my property.

Akkor: (a note of reproach in his tone) You could just be a little patient.

Scorpius: (he makes a sound somewhere between a snarl and a groan) Agh - Nonononono. I must see Natira. Now. (he walks past the man)

Akkor: Yes, but-

Scorpius: You're stalling me Akkor.

Akkor: (protesting) No!

(cut back to the security room as Akkor and Scorpius continue to speak and Aeryn and John watch)

John: He's about to walk in on Zhaan. We'd better warn her.

Aeryn: We can't use the comms 'cos they'll hear us.

(cut back to Scorpius et al in the corridor)

Akkor: (as Scorpius breathes heavily, clearly in distress) She'll be right with you. Please! Understand. Natira’s policy on clients confidentiality is very strict. (he tosses in a self-pitying note) I could lose my position.

Scorpius: Of course. Oh I understand. (Braca steps forward, punches Akkor viciously and then delivers disabling blow to the mans head. Akkor collapses, unconscious) That won't be your fault. (and suddenly, with a snorted growl like a wounded animal, he falters and the woman, a PK nurse, steadies him)

PK Nurse: All right - hold still.

(cut back to the security room where Aeryn and John watch as the nurse proceeds to touch the device on the side of Scorpius' head that holds the cooling rods he needs to survive)

Aeryn: What is that?

John: (staring intently at the screen) My boy Scorpius. (they watch as the nurse removes the used up coolant rod right there in the hallway and replaces it with a fresh, blue one. She then sends the device whirling like a drill back into his brain) He's half-Scarran, gotta handle the heat problem. That must be how he stays cool.

Zhaan: (her voice is heard over the security audio while on the other screen Scorpius rises and he and his entourage continue on their way) I trust your machinery will not damage my possessions.

John: Come on Zhaan - quit your yakking and get out of there. Come on Zhaan.

(cut to Natira and Zhaan as they exit the blue and white vault control chamber)

Natira: We safely store items far more fragile and valuable than yours. (they come to an elevator and as Natira hits its button, a guards trots up to her and whispers-)

Guard: Scorpius is here.

Natira: (to Zhaan) If you'd allow my assistant to escort you. (Zhaan and the guard board the elevator. Aeryn and John immediately make their exit from the security room. Just as Zhaan and the guard disappear in the elevator car, Scorpius rounds a bend and approaches Natira)

Scorpius: (he and the spiny woman greet each other with wary, exaggerated affection ) Natira!

Natira: Scorpius! How good to see you! (they embrace)

(cut back to Zhaan as she exits the elevator with a look of relief on her face to see Aeryn and John waiting for her there in the lobby. She strides off and makes for the exit with only a terse command to them)

Zhaan: Follow me! (they hasten from the building and moments later the transport pod is roaring back towards Moya)

(cut back to the room with the high windows where D'Argo had been beaten in front of the panoramic view of the stormy skies. Natira sits on a couch, Scorpius is several paces from her. Both have their entourage with them)

Scorpius: I'm here to claim my property.

Natira: (she rises and comes over to him as he takes a seat on another lounge, her tone is sensual) Is that it? Straight to business? Mm - Scorpius - for a half-Scarran you can sometimes be so - cold. We have so much to catch up on. I heard about the destruction of your Gammak Base.

Scorpius: And you thought I was dead.

Natira: Well I'm glad I was wrong.

Scorpius: You seized my property.

Natira: Well of course! (her guard sidles up closer behind her and there is a long silence) But I'll provide you with merchandise of equal value.

Scorpius: No. For my inconvenience you'll provide me with triple the value.

Natira: (long pause) Double.

Scorpius: (short pause) Triple.

Natira: (shorter pause) I'll make the arrangements.

(cut to Moya’s Command as John enters, Stark is there at his console)

John: Hey Stark! Riddle me this - what's black and white, and black and white, and black and white, and black and white...

Stark: (his mind is just warped enough to make the right guess from a clue that is total gibberish - he is horrified) Scorpy!

John: And in the bank!

Stark: Here?

John: You KNEW! You knew that he had a safe-deposit box in that bank! OOHO - What - we've talked about lying!

Stark: Yes I knew, but if I had told you-

John: HELL! (he furiously starts to throw Stark's datachips around) WE WOULDA STAYED THE HELL AWAY FROM THE BANK! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?

Stark: I didn't know he'd BE here!

John: NO NO NO NO, YOU JUST WANTED, YOU WANTED BOOST, BOOST, BOOST HIS STUFF! YOU JUST WANTED REVENGE!

Stark: (defensive) That is NOT true! My people and D’Argo’s son are the reason I'm here. (Aeryn enters) Now, if it's Scorpius' wealth that frees them, well, that's an added bonus. You want revenge!

John: No I don't. I want to kill him. That's justice. (to Aeryn) How's D'Argo?

Aeryn: Recovering. Pilot is there any sign of Scorpius' Command Carrier?

Pilot: (cut to him in his Den as he speaks) None, but Moya did sense one small vessel approaching the planet earlier.

Aeryn: (with sarcasm as she looks at Stark out the corner of her eye) Oh that's fine, that's probably just a Marauder on a stealth trajectory.

Stark: There's no need to panic, we can still pull this off undetected. Look, I've modified these comms so that they'll encrypt all transmissions. We can communicate safely at all times. And this passkey has been calibrated to control all their doors. You see, this plan will work!

John: In any event, we're committed. I need one more thing. (he touches his comm badge) Zhaan?

Zhaan: Yes John?

John: Can you concoct something for me that reacts with heat? And by react, I mean explode?

Zhaan: (cut briefly to her as she speaks, still in her black get-up, hesitant) I can - prepare some jellifan paste.

John: Do that please.

Aeryn: Don't turn this into a vendetta John.

John: I didn't.

(cut back to the shadow depository as Natira re-enters the high-windowed chamber where Scorpius, Braca and the PK nurse wait)

Natira: I'm procuring a quarter sakmar of borinium ingots for you. At least 3 times the value of the property you had stored.

Braca: And where are you stealing them from?

Natira: Do you care?

Scorpius: No. How soon will we have them?

Natira: (staring at Braca) The arrangements are rather complex.

Scorpius: And what am I supposed to do while I wait?

Natira: (she leaves Braca and sashays over to Scorpius) Accept my apologies.

Scorpius: (to Braca and the nurse) Return to the Marauder; I will summon you if I need you. (the nurse makes as if she's about to protest but he cuts her off and instructs her to leave her medical bag with the coolant rods) Leave that. Natira will attend to me - should I require it.

Natira: True. I know many ways to bleed off your excess heat.

(cut back to Moya. Chiana is tending to D'Argo in his quarters as he lies, limply on his bed. John enters)

John: How you doing?

D'Argo: (brusque) How do I look?

John: You look like crap.

D'Argo: (irritable) Well there's your answer.

Chiana: (in an attempt to defuse the tension) Blood's clear. Not much damage. He's still in a lot of pain though.

John: Yeah we're uh - we're going ahead with the plan.

D'Argo: (bitterly) Because now it's begun you have no other choice.

John: Yeah who exactly got us into this great plan anyway?

D'Argo: Well someone had to act.

John: You mean someone had to take matters into their own hands?

D'Argo: And you never do?

Chiana: Crichton just - just leave him alone ok?

John: No that's fine. He wants to get into it, we can get into it.

Chiana: Well yeah sure. Now's just a great time. Hey how about I just go grab some rags in case he starts bleeding again? (she stalks out)

John: (contrite) I didn't come here to fight. Came to see how you are.

D'Argo: (stubbornly unforgiving) Well. We've already covered that. Is there anything else? (John leaves)

(cut back to he depository. In the dim blue interior of Zhaan’s container. Rygel has come back to life and is struggling to get out of his cocoon like - well like a bug trying to break out of its cocoon... His voice is muffled as he struggles and recites what he is supposed to do)

Rygel: 1- Get out of statue. 2 - Use gadget to retrieve prize. 3 - Jump into containers full of riches! The problem is - Step 1! (and with a final wriggle. he manages to tear his delicate, Hynerian-shaped prison open and force his head and one arm out. He pauses for a moment, panting and looking droopy) Frell! The blue bitch said this would be easy! (actually the grey one said that but who can tell 'em apart anyway?)

(cut back to the depository lobby. Zhaan and Chiana have returned and are speaking to Akkor, who is safely ensconced behind a long counter of what are basically teller cages)

Akkor: Withdraw your possessions already? That's unusual.

Zhaan: My life is unusual.

Chiana: Very unusual.

Zhaan: I said this was a short-term deposit.

Chiana: Short term.

(cut back to Zhaan’s container where Rygel is scaling its inside wall with some difficulty)

Rygel: (grunting and groaning with the effort) Dren! (he finally manages to reach a trapdoor on the ceiling of the container and opening it, hauls himself partway out so he can see the inside of the huge vault with all the other containers parked on their tracks. He takes out the device that Chiana had dropped in his cocoon) Ah! Oof! No Dominar should have to work this hard! All right! Let's see if this thing actually works.

(cut to the depository security room. Akkor ushers Aeryn and John in to observe as before and then leaves)

Aeryn: Well so far we're right on schedule.

John: Let's hope Rygel is. All he's got to do is switch containers - he gets it right, I got one big kiss for him. (back in the vault, Rygel gasps as he looks around him at all the other containers, Stark's Device winks red lights in his little fist. Meanwhile in the Observation room John fiddles with the channels on the security screens)

Aeryn: What are you doing?

John: Doing what guys do best - I'm looking for Baywatch. (he hits upon a security view of Natira and Scorpius in the high-windowed room, engaging in er - mating behavior...) Better yet - the Discovery Channel.

(cut to the high-windowed room where Scorpius is reclining on a lounge with Natira on top of him. She's licking his left eye)

Natira: Are you still angry with me?

Scorpius: (languidly) Furious.

Natira: Good. It adds enthusiasm to our encounters.

(cut back to the security room where John watches as they get up and leave the high-windowed room)

John: (under his breath, willing Scorpius to leave the nurses bag there) Leave the cooling rods, leave the cooling rods, leave them- (Scorpius and Natira exit) Perfect! (he sprints from the security room) Come on!

Aeryn: Crichton!

John: Let's go! (she follows him out)

Meanwhile, in the blue and white vault control room, a guard and Chiana watch as Zhaan lays her hand on the computer console which duly announces it is retrieving her container. In the vault, Rygel and his device are in the process of opening the hatch of a different container and crawling in. He yelps with alarm as the container responds to the false signal of the device and starts to move. He struggles to hang on as the container attains its hellish speed, causing everything else to become a blur. He loses his robe as he screams and falls in. Back in the high-windowed room, Aeryn and John lope in and he quickly makes to contaminate Scorpius' coolant rods with Zhaan’s heat-sensitive explosive - but he finds himself struggling against the voice of Scorpius/Harvey, the neural clone that lives in his head who says, "No John, don't! Stop! Don't!" John tries ignore it - but he fumbles at his task. In the vault control room the door to Zhaan’s container is open and she and Chiana see Rygel trying to conceal himself in a box within. Zhaan quickly distracts the guard while Chiana hastens to help Rygel hide.

(and back in the high-windowed room John continues to try and sabotage Scorpius' coolant rods - but the neural clone of Scorpius won't let him)

John: (hissing madly to himself as Aeryn stands watch) Go 'way! Go on! Go 'way! (Aeryn shushes him urgently as she looks out the door. John hisses back in response) It's just Scorpius! He's in my ear. How about some jellifan paste - in his ear? (he struggles to contaminate the coolant rods with the explosive, but cannot make himself do it, he grimaces and snarls with frustration)

Scorpius/Harvey: (whispering, heard only by John) Stop John stop! Put it down! Stop what you're doing!

John: (squeezing his eyes shut and almost squealing with frustration) Shut up!

Scorpius/Harvey: Put it down John. I can't let you do this.

John: (as he painfully waves the paste in one hand and a coolant rod in the other, trying to bring them together) I can do - I can DO this!

Scorpius/Harvey: No John - I won't let you.

Aeryn: (she crosses to him - whispering) No you can't! Give it to me! (she takes the paste and the rod and does the dirty work as John fairly chortles with glee, rubbing his hands together and urging her on in an excited whisper)

John: Come on Aeryn! Comeoncomeoncomeon! (the boom of a heavy door opening nearby is heard) Aeryn! Aeryn! Quick! Pickituppickituppickitup! Comeoncomecome on! (she finishes the job as the PK nurse approaches the room)

Aeryn: Get down! (John vaults over a lounge and hits the floor on the other side, Aeryn follows and they lay there, not very well hidden really, but enough to escape the attention of the PK nurse as she enters, retrieves the coolant rods, and exits)

(cut to soon after, in the blue and white vault control room. Chiana and Zhaan have vacated it and Scorpius is there, having the nurse change a spent rod while Braca looks on. Natira enters)

Natira: The borinium ingots have been transferred into your container. You'll be pleased with their value.

Scorpius: I'd better be similarly pleased - with their quantity. (she hisses and he actually smiles)

(cut to a corridor in the Depository. Chiana and a guard are pushing a dolly with a huge stack of someone else’s containers on it. Zhaan leads the little procession, barking imperiously)

Zhaan: I will not be late for my Teledyne tea!

Chiana: (perhaps abhorring a genteel crook) You want to push? We'll be aboard the transport shortly - Aralla.

(cut briefly to Moya’s Command where Stark sits at the hologram of the shadow depository working intently as D'Argo looks on. Cut back to the vault control chamber where Scorpius' vault has arrived. But as he inspects its contents he is not pleased with either the quality OR the quantity)

Scorpius: (holding up the cast-off top of Rygel’s cocoon as he says sarcastically to Natira) Borinium ingots?

Natira: (furious) The Delvian woman! These are her possessions! (she hits the vault control console and the computer calmly announces "Security lockdown" as an alarm begins to blare)

Scorpius: A Delvian? Who was with her?

Natira: (looking worried) A Nebari, a Luxan and two Sebaceans.

Scorpius: (roaring) CRICHTON! Seal all exits!

In a corridor, Aeryn and John break into a run as the alarm honks and strobes flash. Scorpius, his entourage and Natira hasten from the vault control chamber. Security gates slam shut behind Aeryn and John as hey flee through the depository. On Moya, Stark gazes at his hologram, his jaw grimly set. Back at the depository, a security gate closes in front of Zhaan, Chiana, the guard and the loot. "FRELL!" Zhaan spits. as Rygel peeps apprehensively out of his box. Elsewhere - another security gate slams shut in Aeryn and John's path, trapping them.

Aeryn: (softly) Frell.

John: Time to try Stark's lock pick (he produces the passkey Stark gave them but it seems to have no effect on the gate) Nope - time to try something else! (they run back the way they came as Aeryn calls to Zhaan on their secure comms)

Aeryn: Zhaan? Zhaan! Zhaan!

(cut to Zhaan, Chiana, Rygel and the guard, trapped in a section of hallway between gates)

Guard: (hearing Aeryn’s voice calling for Zhaan, he orders her back) Get away from the portal! (Zhaan impatiently knocks the guard senseless)

Zhaan: (on comm) The doors are sealed! Aeryn what's happening?

Aeryn: (cut briefly to her and John as they try the passkey unsuccessfully on another gate) Scorpius must be onto us.

Rygel: Stupid plan!

Chiana: Very stupid plan!

Aeryn: Don't panic - hold your positions. (cut briefly back to Stark on Moya as he works fast to try and override the depository lockdown)

Chiana: Do we have a choice?

John: (cut briefly to him and Aeryn as he hisses into his comm) Stark! Stark! Pick up!

(cut to Akkor, Natira and Scorpius in the security room, scanning for the location of the thieves)

Scorpius: I want him captured!

Natira: This facility is bristule tight. They won't get out.

Scorpius: (with disgust) I have less than a scarrag of faith in your words Natira.

Natira: (to Akkor) Locate them now.

(cut between Stark and D'Argo on Moya and Aeryn and John trapped in the depository corridor as they speak via comm)

Stark: (murmuring) This wasn't supposed to happen. Wasn't supposed to happen.

John: Yes well it did! Now can you pinpoint our location and turn off the damn camera?

Stark: I'm here.

Akkor: (cut briefly to him in the security room as his screens go staticky and Scorpius looks grim) What the frell-? They're jamming the cameras!

Stark: Give me your level, corridor, segment in that order.

John: Stark! this gizmo you gave me - it's supposed to give me control over all the doors!

Stark: (calm) Yes. Yes but they'll know right where you are, it's best to let me-

John: (not calm) JUST GIVE ME CONTROL!

Aeryn: (shushing John with difficulty, he splutters furiously in the background) Stark! Just - you and D'Argo get Zhaan, Chiana and Rygel out and we'll act as a diversion.

D'Argo: That is suicide Aeryn.

Aeryn: Almost as suicidal and strolling in and walking through a security door. (she opens the security gate as Stark releases control of the passkey to her and she and John take off at a run)

(cut back to the security room)

Akkor: Camera function restored. A portal's being breached - Level 19.

Natira: Is it Crichton?

Akkor: We can't be sure until we -

Natira: (under her breath, she's deeply miffed by this embarrassment in front of Scorpius) Make sure!

(cut back to Aeryn and John in the dim corridors, John is groaning and nattering incoherently as he slaps and paws frantically at his head. The voice of Scorpius/Harvey whispers and echoes in his brain)

Aeryn: Stop! What is the matter with you? (she grabs him and drags him off to one side where she pins him against a pillar. He grabs her head and kisses her, apparently to clear his brain, Aeryn’s protest is muffled but when he stops she demands-) What is wrong?

John: Scorpy. When he put me in his chair, he did something and it's getting worse. (at that moment a pair of guards appear in the corridor, Aeryn and John are able to ambush them as they run past and knock them senseless)

John: Oh hell! Got an idea! (so does Aeryn evidently for they dive as one for the fallen guards)

(cut to Zhaan. Chiana and Rygel as the gate blocking their path opens and they rush through with the loot. The scene shifts between them and Stark and D'Argo on Moya as they speak)

Stark: (directing their escape) Take your first on - the right.

Rygel: (yelling as Chiana and Zhaan push him and the rest of the loot through the halls) 10% of this plan is lunacy! 50% of these riches is not enough! One 100%of dead is dead!

Zhaan: Stark! Which way now? (back on Moya Stark is staring at the hologram and having trouble maintaining focus. His lips move but no sound comes out)

Chiana: (panicky) STARK! D'ARGO ARE YOU THERE?

D'Argo: (softly) Stark! They need you. If you fail them, I'll kill you. (thanks for your support D'Argo)

(cut back to Aeryn and John. They're stripping the uniforms off the unconscious guards)

John: Yeah yeah yeah yeah! This'll work, trust me-

Aeryn: (tonelessly) This will never work.

John: -we just need to find a place to - get our clothes off. (at that moment a few guards roar into sight and spot them)

Guard: You two! Hold it!

John: (whirling around and bellowing, he falls back on his Confuse-An-Alien tactic that has served him so well in the past) THEY WENT THAT-A-WAY! (the guards scatter and John and Aeryn duck out of sight)

(cut back to the security room)

Natira: (under her breath, to Akkor) They must be overriding portal controls.

Akkor: (sotto voce) Not possible.

Scorpius: (loudly) Notify me constantly of their progress. (he makes to leave, but Natira quickly intercepts him)

Natira: This is my facility Scorpius. You'll go nowhere without me.

Scorpius: (he starts to say in his threatening Scarran voice) Natir- (but he gasps with sudden pain and claps a hand to his head before regaining his cool and continuing in his normal, silky Sebacean voice) Natira. How much - (he raises her chin patronizingly with one hand) - do you owe me? In every way?

Natira: Too much - that I cannot repay.

Scorpius: If I leave with this man in custody - then all is forgiven. (and he leaves)

(cut to the crew of Moya in their various location in the depository and on Moya, The scene shifts between them as they speak via comm)

John: (he and Aeryn are in depository guard uniform now and aided by the fact that Natira has not equipped her facility with decent lighting, necessitating the use of searchlights) Blue, how you doing?

Zhaan: We're in the central processing area John! Stark! Open the last door!

Stark: (he's starting to mutter madly to himself) The plan the plan the plan. My fault my fault my fault...

D'Argo: (encouragingly - too little too late) They're almost out of there, come on you can do it.

Chiana: (whispering into her comm, terrified as guards are heard approaching) Stark! Stark! Open the door! We can hear them coming! Stark! (back on Moya Stark snaps under the strain of working with a Luxan hovering over his shoulder making death-threats and starts to beat wildly at the hologram with his hands. It disappears and D'Argo tongue-lashes him into senselessness and takes his place at the console)

(cut to Aeryn and John, still making their way through the dark, guard-infested corridors)

John: (slurring a little) Aeryn if Scorpius gets me-

Aeryn: I know, shoot you.

John: No. Nonono! Shoot him! Look, we have to talk.

Aeryn: Not here! You'll get us both killed!

John: Aeryn I have to tell you how I feel, I have to tell you-

Aeryn: No, you don't.

John: Yes, I do. I do.

Aeryn: (pointedly) No. You don't. (she moves on and he follows)

Scorpius: (cut briefly to him, Braca and the nurse as they walk the corridors. He comms Natira) Natira. Report.

(cut to Natira and Akkor in the security room)

Natira: Crichton's heading towards the main chamber, your current vector will intercept him. (she flicks off the comm)

Akkor: The Delvian still has the special reserve you intended for Scorpius.

Natira: Good luck to her. Least of our worries.

(cut back to Zhaan, Chiana and Rygel, waiting at the last gate. The scene shifts between them and D'Argo on Moya as they speak via comm)

Zhaan: (harshly commanding for real) They're coming D'Argo hurry!

D'Argo: (scrabbling at the console trying to get the hologram back up) I am working on it!

Chiana: (in a tiny squeak of panic) Just frelling hurry!

Zhaan: (taking matters into her own hands) Chiana! Get your pill for the melar gas. Take it now!

Rygel: Where's my pill?! This time I get a pill! (no he doesn't, he gets a swat from Chiana as she and Zhaan take the pills)

Pilot: (cut briefly to him in his Den as he gives D'Argo a taste of his own stress medicine) We have to reach them quickly!

D'Argo: (yelling with frustration) I'm following the frelling sequence! (finally the hologram of the Depository shimmers back to life)

Pilot: (fairly squirming with pleasure) That's it D'Argo! You're back in their system!

(cut back to Zhaan, Chiana and Rygel - time's up - they are spotted by a group of searching guards and beset - but Zhaan is ready)

Rygel: (despairing as the guards close in) A pill for Rygel? Of course not, when did anyone think of me?

Various Guards: (shouting) Stand your ground! Don't move! We'll shoot if you resist!

(they open the last security gate and move to take our heroes into custody, Chiana takes a step towards the open gate but is stopped by an armed guard)

Guard: Don't think about it! (and at that moment with all the guards at close range, Zhaan releases the pink melar gas)

Rygel: Aw frell! (and with that, he and the guards go down instantly)

Chiana: Much better.

Zhaan: (pleased) I knew I had to adjust the mix.

(cut to Scorpius, Braca, the nurse and a depository guard on the move to intercept John and Aeryn)

Natira: (cut briefly to her as she comms Scorpius) Crichton's outracing you to the main chamber! Move it Scorpius!

Scorpius: (to Braca and the guard who run on ahead) Capture them! Take Crichton - alive.

PK Nurse: (reaching for Scorpius) We must change your cooling rods, you're burning through them too fast. (Scorpius growls and knocks her hand away without breaking his stride)

(cut to the lobby as Zhaan, Chiana and the senseless Rygel reunite with John and Aeryn)

Zhaan: Oh, thank the Goddess you made it.

Aeryn: Is Rygel dead?

Zhaan: Unconscious.

John: Aeryn. You help them load, I'm going to seal the doors.

Aeryn: (wisely) No reverse that John, you do this, I'll do that.

John: This is mine. Load. (as the others set off to load the loot, John begins to go around the great lobby chamber which is now deserted, and shut and lock all the security gates. But Braca and the guard appear at one just as it is closing. The guard rushes to brace it open. John ducks out of sight behind a pillar)

Braca: Hold it!

Guard: Come on Braca!

Braca: Hold it!

Guard: Help me! (Braca helps by knocking the guard down where he is crushed in the heavy gate, and his body prevents it from closing. As Braca starts to squeeze through, John steps out of hiding)

John: Hiya, Braca. Tell me, is the rematch ever better than the original fight? (he shakes his head 'no' and the proceeds to TKO Braca with a single blow. He then tries to remove the guard from the gate so that it closes - but at that moment, Scorpius appears at the portal, one arm flashes through and seizes John by the throat as he effortlessly pushes the massive gate wide open with the other)

Scorpius: You have no idea how patient I have been for this moment.

John: (choking, what with Scorpius' hand clamped onto his throat and all) Well, since I got you here, tell me - what the frell did you put in my head?

Scorpius: Some awareness. A neuro-biotracer. (Dismissive of the specifics) Call it what you like. (he pins John against a pillar and taps at his head) A tiny chip, a tiny seed that's been growing in your brain, and touching every aspect of your - personality, your - memory.

John: Didn't happen to see Luanne Johnson, dijya?

Scorpius: And whispering advice. I trust - it's helped save you once or twice, since escaping my Gammak base! (without letting loose of John he suddenly makes an animalistic roar of pain)

John: (grinding out the words around Scorpius' chokehold) Whatsamatter Scorpy? You don't look too good! (Scorpius pants as liquid oozes from his cooling apparatus)

Scorpius: (in trouble, but still competitive) Neither do you Crichton!

John: (triumphantly tapping on Scorpius' head) I got a piece of you in me - now you got a piece of me in you! (Scorpius furiously throws John to the floor as the nurse runs in and grits out, in terrible pain-)

Scorpy: Change it! Change it now!

Nurse: Scorpius! (she touches his cooling apparatus and it spins out of his head. The rod within is a deep, angry red, she removes it and it explodes in her hand. She crumples to the floor and Scorpius turns to John, who he still has a firm hold of)

Scorpius: (he pulls John up and hisses with effort) You cannot let me die, anymore than I can sacrifice you.

John: That's what you're telling me in my head, but I think I'll give it a shot.

Scorpius: No - you will save me!

John: No!

Scorpius: (indicating the container with fresh rods in it) Now take one! Take it!

John: (horrified at this compelling development, he struggles mightily against the will of Scorpius/Harvey in his mind) NO!

Scorpius: Take it! Take it! Take it! (John takes a cool blue rod, his teeth are clenched as he fights the will of Scorpius) Now insert the rod! Insert the rod! Insert the rod! Insert it! Insert the rod John! (John's hand with the rod in it is forced towards the cooling apparatus, shaking terribly as he groans and tries to resist the force within him)

John: (using humor to help break the hold of Scorpius he forces out the words-) You're really not my type Scorpy-

Scorpius: Insert it!

John: (with a wild scream he manages to toss the rod aside and throw himself away from Scorpius. They both sprawl on the floor from the pain and stress of their battle of wills) DIE YOU GROTESQUE BASTARD! Even if it means I die too!

Scorpius: (writhing on the floor as John screams and yips to drown him out) Neither one of us can die!

John: (he starts to crawl away from Scorpius, singing loudly) O-OH SAY CAN YOU SEE?

Scorpius: (as John continues to howl the anthem) I command you John Crichton! Help me! I command you to help me! (but John just keeps on crawling and bawling that patriotic hymn, leaving Scorpius sprawled on his back, and struggling to reach the cool blue rod himself which lies just out of his reach)

(cut to later. Our crew have made it back to Moya and D'Argo, Stark and Zhaan are gathered around their stolen riches in the maintenance bay. Chiana and Rygel are bent greedily over one of the crates of borinium ingots, fingering them with glee)

Rygel: We've done it! We are rich! As soon as we establish an exchange rate for these ingots, we'll know exactly how rich we really are!

Zhaan: We agreed Rygel, nothing gets touched until after D’Argo’s son and the others get freed from the slave auction - all right?

Rygel: Yes, yes - let's all pretend we're not thinking how ill-advised that covenant was.

Zhaan: (she moves to Stark and takes his hands in hers as she looks into his face and says) It provides a perspective otherwise lacking.

Stark: (stiffly formal) I must apologize for my panic. My shame is great.

Zhaan: You did brilliantly, we wouldn't have had a chance without you.

D'Argo: For which I am eternally grateful.

Stark: (formally acknowledging him) Ka D'Argo.

D'Argo: You've proven yourself to be a worthy friend, and one not to be distrusted again.

Chiana: (approaching D'Argo, agreeing with him) My sentiment.

D'Argo: (waxing fond of Stark as long as things seem to have worked out) After all these desolate cycles, I'm about to see my son, and that tortured being there is the one who's made it possible.

Chiana: (reminding him of John) What about your other tortured friend?

D'Argo: (harsh) Friends support one another unconditionally.

Chiana: They also forgive one another. (she walks away form him)

(cut to elsewhere on Moya. John is sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall as Aeryn comes and sits down by him. He is pensive)

John: It was real. I didn't imagine it.

Aeryn: What was real John?

John: I got Scorpius in my head. (in a broken tone) It was hard, letting him die. There's still a part of me that wishes I'd saved him.

Aeryn: Well you mustn't forget what he wanted from you, he wanted to dissect your brain.

John: (there's a long pause as John listlessly pulls his knees up and rests his arms and head on them) Hm. Aeryn -I, um - I meant what I said... Didn't say.

Aeryn: (she puts an arm around him and draws his head to rest on her shoulder) I know.

And as the crew rests, reflects, nurses its wounds - and its resentments - down in the maintenance bay, something rustles amid the crates of loot. The lid of one of the containers rattles furiously and in the open box that Chiana and Rygel had been pawing through, an ingot suddenly sprouts legs. Nearby another ingot drops heavily to the floor from its container - and scuttles off into the shadows of Moya’s body.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Part 2 (With Friends Like These)
The episode opens in Mayas center chamber. Chiana and Rygel are there having a drink together. Rygel looks morose but Chiana’s chipper...

Chiana: This has gotta be a first. We're rich - and you're miserable.

Rygel: Ugh... A fleeting taste of wealth is worse than a lifetime of poverty. Slaves from the Caton mines are sold in lots of 10,000! To free D’Argo’s son, we'll have to pay for them all! There'll be nothing left for us!

Chiana: Oh, there'll be some... Enough to indulge ourselves a little. (she rests one arm companionably around Rygel’s shoulders as he chuckles at the idea of indulging and she says dreamily) I'm gonna get some Bennigan fire silk. (he eyes her and she offers as an explanation) It's for my bed.

Rygel: (amused) Hah! Every time I think that there's more to you than a pair of pushed up loomas in a corset - you disappoint me!

Chiana: From you? I'll take that as a compliment. (and she gives him an affectionate little kiss on the cheek)

(cut to elsewhere on Moya. Aeryn and D’Argo are having a quiet talk)

D'Argo: (in a reflective mood) Last time I saw my son was the night my wife was murdered. I sent him away to be safe and - he ends up a slave.

Aeryn: And if you hadn't, he'd be dead by now D'Argo. Peacekeepers despise half-breeds.

D'Argo: All those vital cycles growing up without me there... I almost hope he doesn't remember me.

Aeryn: All he'll care about is that you came back for him.

Pilot: (breaking in via comm, cut briefly to him in his Den as he speaks) D'Argo, we are now within range of the Caton Mines. If you wish to contact the slavers - now is the time.

(cut to soon after, on Mayas Command. D’Argo has contacted the slavers, one of whom appears on the forward viewport screen. Stark looks on)

D'Argo: I would like to bid on Lot Keshu 4.

Caton Slaver: Apologies. Lot Keshu 4 - unavailable.

D'Argo: (shocked) What? Why not?

Caton Slaver: Sold.

Stark: (stunned) No - that's not possible. That can't be.

D'Argo: (turning furiously on Stark) We've missed the slave auction! You're information was wrong!

Stark: (at a loss) I wasn't wrong! I wasn't! My people are in that lot as well.

Caton Slaver: (sounding pleased) Lot Keshu 4. Special sale. Private buyer. Triple price. (John appears in the door of the Command) But other slaves available.

D'Argo: I do not WANT other slaves!

Stark: Who purchased that lot? Tell me! (but he gets no answer other than the image of the Caton Slaver being abruptly replaced by the visage of Scorpius)

Scorpius: John - (John stops, staring in disbelief at the face that now fills the view screen) - As recordings are so - sadly impersonal. I'll have to imagine what your face looks like now. Etched with failure, I expect. (not to mention horror, apprehension and dismay) I have Ka D’Argo’s son. Surrender to me, or the boy dies. (D’Argos eyes smolder with fury)

John: (dumbfounded) How-? H-How did Scorpius find out about Jothee? Stark you said you didn't tell anyone about the auction.

Stark: No. No I didn't. The data was stored only on my console. I mean, Scorpius did try to trace the datalink during the break-in, but I stopped - (he falters, uncertain now) - him. I mean I - I think I stopped... (his voice trails off)

John: (with quiet horror) Oh God. We led him straight to Jothee. Stark.

Stark: (fairly reeling with the enormity of what had happened, he staggers back, crying defensively while D’Argo nurses his rage) Jothee wasn't the only slave in that auction lot! Thousands of Baniks! My-My own people! They belong to Scorpius now too! You think I wanted that? (almost sobbing with despair) I didn't ... I didn't ... I didn't ... Didn't... (he turns and shuffles off into the shadows,, to distraught to go on)

D'Argo: (the Luxan erupts with fury. He seizes the command console he is standing at and rips it from its base, hurling it to the floor amid a fountain of sparks as Mayas wails and he bellows-) JOOOOOHHHHN! (he strides to John and accuses him furiously) THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!

John: (he stands his ground and retorts with a mixture of anger and incredulousness) We got your money! We saved your ass!

D'Argo: (agitated) Only when you had NO other choice! If you had helped me from the beginning, we would've been OUT of here BEFORE SCORPIUS HAD EVEN ARRIVED! (he pauses, panting and says with desperation) I can't lose Jothee. Not again. Not like this. (he storms off the Command, jostling John roughly as he brushes by)

John: (calling after him) D'Argo-!

D'Argo: (pausing briefly at the door of the Command, he looks back only to reiterate-) Not like this.

John: (muttering) Frell! (he moves off to think while Stark sits at the back of the Command, curled into a posture of silent grief and apprehension)

(cut to D'Argo in his quarters, tormented by the bitter disappointment of losing his son again. He imagines what Jothee would be saying to him now. His imaginings are represented by his sons face staring contemptuously fat him from a mirror)

Jothee: You're pathetic! You keep talking about how much I mean to you. How you'd do anything to get me back. But when it comes down to it - you fail me again! Like you always do!

D'Argo: (in despair) I did everything I could.

Jothee: Liar! You know what you have to do.

D'Argo: I can't.

Jothee: No - you won't. Who means more to you? (D’Argo gazes desolately into space, and at that moment, Chiana enters)

Chiana: (softly, wanting to offer comfort) D'Argo? (he looks at her but makes no response) Hey - I - heard what happened.

D'Argo: (he’s near tears) You don't understand. I, ah - I was prepared to give Scorpius what he wanted.

Chiana: What?

D'Argo: On the Command - for a microt - I was ready to take Crichton by force and deliver him to Scorpius. It was all I could do to stop myself.

Chiana: (she steps closer to him and looks into his face with real concern) Crichton is your friend.

D'Argo: Jothee is my blood. (he sobs) My child. All I have left of my wife. Now why - is that not enough? (he turns away from her to hide his tears)

(cut back to the shadow depository where, Scorpius, Natira and their respective henchmen - Braca and Akkor, talk in the main lobby. Scorpius is annoyed)

Scorpius: I do not care for the others. All I need is the Luxans son! The Banik slavers can keep the rest!

Braca: I explained that to them sir, but the Catons have refused to search through 10,000 slaves to locate one. The freighter that we hired is being loaded right now.

Akkor: Natira did spend a great deal to acquire them. We could accept the surplus and resell them individually to recoup our losses. (Scorpius swats him on the chest for his presumptuousness in bothering him with anyone else’s interests)

Scorpius: You mean your losses! (he makes to storm angrily off but Natira, with a glance at Akkor, hurries after him to try and smooth things over)

Natira: (ingratiatingly) A poor choice of words. I hardly consider it a loss. Just a small price to keep you happy - and settle our account.

Scorpius: (peevishly) Oh you consider things settled now, do you?

Natira: (weary of his obsession, but cajoling) Ah - Scorpius - (she makes to stroke his chest sensuously with one talonned finger) Accept your victory. (but she jumps as he seizes her wrist and pushes her hand away)

Scorpius: (hissing) I haven't got Crichton yet! (he turns back to Akkor) Tell me - were there any Stykera amongst the other Banik slaves?

Akkor: Not according to the manifest.

Scorpius: (tetchy) Well. That's a pity. I could have used a replacement for the one that escaped my Gammak Base. (he turns to Braca with the air of one who’s made up his mind how to deal with this annoyance) Dispatch a Marauder to the freighter, and have the Luxans son returned here at maximum speed.

Braca: (crisply acknowledging Scorpius’ command before marching smartly off to do his bidding) Sir!

Scorpius: (to Natira) You can keep the other slaves. Do with them as you will.

(cut back to Moya. A DRD is leading Aeryn down a corridor as she and Pilot speak via comm. The scene shifts between them as they speak)

Aeryn: Metal fatigue? How serious is it Pilot?

Pilot: The DRDs found only a few occurrences on this tier. It seems to have been caused by some kind of corrosive that I can neither identify nor account for. (the DRD stops in front of a small access hatch and looks in. Aeryn looks in too, inside, small metal debris litters the floor and a conduit hands loose. Some green fluid is puddled on the floor)

Aeryn: All right I see it Pilot. If the DRDs can take a sample then Zhaan can analyze it.

Pilot: (in a long-suffering tone) I would appreciate it. (at that moment John comes up behind Aeryn and pats her back, She straightens up to face him)

Aeryn: How's D'Argo?

John: Not good. He blames me for losing Jothee - could be right. So, I've come up with a plan. (he continues walking and Aeryn falls in beside him)

Aeryn: Oh there's a surprise.

John: (ignoring her) The slaver said that Jothee’s lot shipped out on a freighter.

Aeryn: (guessing what he has in mind) Right. Even if we can find it, we could never intercept it!

John: Aeryn, no - The point is, is that Jothee's still in transit. He won't get to the depository for a couple of solar days.

Aeryn: How can you be sure he's going to the depository?

John: (stopping, he turns to her after a short pause and says quietly) I know - how Scorpy thinks. He doesn't have Jothee. Which means we still have time. We can beat him.

Aeryn: Forever the optimist. (she walks on and he calls after her-)

John: Yeah well. It's a common human trait! (then, under his breath as he adds-) In humans with a death wish. (as they leave, a squarish gold insect is seen scuttling along the floor of the corridor. It enters a ragged hole in Mayas bulkhead. Inside, another spider-like insect is secreting green fluid amid the debris of decayed metal and frayed conduit)

(soon after, cut to Mayas Command. the entire crew is gathered to hear John's plan. Stark sits apart from the others, Pilot attends via comm)

John: All right, here's the deal: We have minimal weapons and no way to hide from Scorpius. If we're going to surprise him we've got to get some help.

Chiana: Help from who?

Pilot: (cut to him in his Den as he speaks) Since entering the uncharted territories, Moya and I have been mapping our movements as best we can. We've identified several locations where we might obtain assistance.

John: Item 1 -We need a Bloodtrackers.

D'Argo: (not pleased) The Vorcarians. They're the ones who tortured me. (he flashes on a memory of Rorf, the Vorcarian Bloodtracker, slicing open one of his head tentacles back at Dam-Ba-Da Depot [TTBRC])

John: They'll be able to find Jothee no matter where Scorpius stashes him. Item 2 - We'll have to pound our way into the depository. For that we need a Sheyang. (Aeryn’s memory flashes back to the Zelbinion where she battled the fireball-belching Sheyang, Lomus to the death [PKTG])

Aeryn: (skeptical) They're not fighters - They're scavengers and cowards.

John: Yeah - who can breathe fire that burns through metal like Kleenex. 3 - We need a Tavloid-

Rygel & D'Argo: "TavLEK" (Rygel flashes back to the time he was kidnapped and held hostage by the Tavleks [TFAL] before saying incredulously-) They're nothing but barbarian extortionists!

John: Their gauntlet weapons are awesome in close combat. And finally, we need the Zenetan Pirates. (there’s a general memory flash back to the time they only escaped being trapped like bugs in a spiders web thanks to the help of a renegade Zenetan pirate [The Flax])

Zhaan: The Flax net.

Chiana: (who wasn’t a member of Mayas crew at the time) Flax what?

Zhaan: An electrostatic scan. It instantly disables ships.

Chiana: (skeptically) And what makes you think all these zeltiks are gonna help us?

John: Cash. These guys are mercenaries. They want money - we got plenty. We get them. We go in hot. We kill Scorpius. (to D’Argo) And we bring your son back. (at that moment the strategy session is interrupted by Stark - who lurches to his feet, screaming, eyes wild and staring. He staggers towards the rest of the crew but falters, and is helped to the floor by Zhaan where he lies screaming hysterically "NO! GONE! GONE! GONE!")

Zhaan: (she holds Stark's head in her lap as he wails and the crew stare at him, unsure what this new outburst portends) Stark! What's wrong? What's wrong?

Stark: (he manages to regain enough composure to choke out the words-) Gone... Dead! All dead. (in a sick whisper) All dead. I failed them.

Aeryn: What are you talking about?

Zhaan: (interpreting) The Baniks - they're gone. He's a Stykera. He's - he's attuned to the dying. He knows.

Aeryn: Scorpius killed the slaves?

Zhaan: Yes.

D'Argo: (with quiet dread) Jothee is among them.

John: D'Argo - (John closes his eyes for a moment, as if looking inward) - Jothee's not dead. Scorpius did not allow that to happen. You have to trust me on this. We can get your son back. And we can kill that cadaverous son-of-a-bitch, but we have to do it now.

Soon after - 3 vessels, Aeryn’s Prowler, the Farscape 1 and one of Mayas transport pods roar down the long flight corridor of her docking bay and exit into black space. Each peels off in a different direction and they're away to points far and wide on their mercenary recruitment mission. Cut to John in the Farscape 1 as he speaks via comm to Zhaan back on Mayas Command with Chiana and Stark.

John: (as he speaks, cut briefly to D'Argo in the transport pod who is listening in) Zhaan, we've got 1 solar day - 2, tops. If I'm not back by then, tell Scorpius where I went. He'll trade that for Jothee.

Zhaan: Understood John. (cut briefly to her on Mayas Command) May the Goddess be with you all. (cut briefly to Aeryn in her Prowler, she smiles cryptically. Meanwhile, back in the Farscape 1 - John is flying with his co-pilot, the neural clone of Scorpius - Harvey, who lives in his brain and now sits behind John whispering his subliminal messages)

John: Okay Leatherface. Your turn.

Scorpius/Harvey: You never cease to amaze me John.

John: (grinning - somehow he's managed to bring out the neural clone at will. Maybe by catching it off guard by baiting it with bizarro tidbits of human pop culture...) Man that's "Texas Chainsaw Massacre"! That's a classic!

Scorpius/Harvey: (a bit sullen) You weren't supposed to be able to initiate a conversation with this neural clone.

John: Yeah, kind of sucks having someone inside your head. Doesn't it?

Scorpius: No matter. The task is almost complete. It wasn't easy. There are vast regions of your brain that are filled with nothing but - gibberish.

John: That would be high school. Like it or not Scorpy - I know how you think. We're sharing now. And that's how I'm going to beat you.

Scorpius: (smoothly psyching the human out) Perhaps you only believe that, because that is what we want you to think. (lessee - that brings the score to Scorpius/Harvey about 7, John 1 And the Farscape module rockets on into the black void of space)

(cut back to the shadow depository lobby where Scorpius paces while Natira looks on. Akkor and Braca approach him)

Akkor: Sir, the Luxans son is returning on your Marauder. But due to delays identifying him on the freighter-

Scorpius: (cutting him off with a feral snarl) Don't give me excuses! Do you think Crichton is simply going to surrender himself to me? I will not give him one microt more than is necessary to formulate his plan. Is that clear? (a disturbingly guttural growl from his Scarran half escapes him as he turns impatiently away)

Braca: Sir. I'll inform you the moment the boy arrives. (he and Akkor withdraw to safety)

Natira: Calm down. (clearly a member of a species bad enough to not be overly put off by the half-Scarran, she languidly comes to him and touches the coolant apparatus embedded in his head) You'll have an accident.

Scorpius: (annoyed) My coolant system has advanced considerably since the original surgery.

Natira: Mm. Not enough to prevent this Crichton from almost killing you. Why do you want him so badly?

Scorpius: He destroyed my Gammak Base.

Natira: (if she had an eyebrow it would be raised) Revenge? He's not a Scarran. You wouldn't waste your hatred on anything else.

Scorpius: This is why I can't have you around. You know me too well.

Natira: (as sweet as she gets) Without me, you'd still be the same angry hotheaded young creature I took in so many cycles ago.

Scorpius: Without me - your head - among other things - would be a trophy on the wall at Peacekeeper Command.

Natira: (pleased) See? We were made for each other. (he evidently agrees because he stretches his mouth open wide as if he's going to take a huge bite out of her - but it's just a vampirish kiss)

(cut back to one of Mayas' darkened cargo bays. Yet again greed has prevailed over altruism and Chiana is creeping stealthily around the cashboxes of ill-gotten gains with a flashlight. Suddenly - she's bagged by Rygel - who's floating around in the dark on his hoverchair with a penlight and a teeny-tiny crowbar...)

Rygel: OOOh! Checking on our treasure? Or are you helping yourself?

Chiana: (cannily) The way I see it? Beating you to it!

Rygel: (outraged) How dare you! I - (oh why bother? He knows Chiana as well as she knows him) - hm - 50/50?

Chiana: All right. But just enough so no one notices. (she turns a blowtorch on the seal of one of the cashboxes, like no-one is going to notice THAT) Yeah. It's always nice to have a little something tucked away when all hezmana breaks loose. (Rygel chuckles his agreement but they both gasp as she tips open the lid of the box and they find it-) Empty! (the bottom of the metal container has a big hole melted in it that is all but marked with an EXIT sign)

Rygel: What the frell-? It's gone!

Chiana: Someone's beaten us to it! (people always suspect others of what they tend to be guilty of themselves)

Rygel: But who? Crichton's too - (sneeringly) -honorable.

Chiana: Aeryn's too dull.

Rygel: D'Argo's too - ah-

Chiana: (resigned) Say it.

Rygel: Simple?

Chiana: Well yeah, but he's not a thief!

Rygel: Somebody is! We've been robbed! (it's called hubris Rygel - but as they ponder the outrage of the theft of the money they stole from the crooks who hid it with the money-grubbing thieves at the illegal tax haven - the silence of the dark room is broken by a loud ratcheting sound)

Chiana: (moving closer to Rygel as they look around nervously) Did you hear that?

Rygel: It sounded like - tearing metal. (and right on cue - the sound is head again and the floor gives way beneath Chiana’s feet. With a scream she falls through and lands on the floor of a corridor on the deck below the cargo bay. She slowly sits up, stunned - and then is more stunned to see the floors and walls around her covered with dull golden spider-like insects. Their shape is oddly squarish and symmetrical as they move towards her. She still has her blowtorch and turning it on "high" she sweeps the flame across the floor at them and they retreat)

Chiana: Ryg? GET DOWN HERE!

Rygel: (peeking through the ragged hole in Mayas deck as the spiders disperse, he laughs at her) I trust you're well?

Chiana: (annoyed) I asked you for HELP!

Rygel: What the yotz were those creatures? They looked like-

Chiana: (cutting him off) They looked like our money! OUR MONEY'S ALIVE!

Rygel: (soberly) You realize what this means?

Chiana: They're eating the ship!

Rygel: Yes but - we're poor. (and can't afford things like fire silk much less mercenaries...)

While Chiana and Rygel contemplate the developing predicament, somewhere far away, John's module arcs towards a dun-colored planet, the homeworld of the Tavleks. After setting down he makes his way cautiously through the dry blue-hued Jungle of the silent planet towards the Tavlek camp that was the scene of much of the crews adventure there more than a cycle ago. Although the Tavleks are an advanced race, the ones the crew has encountered at least, lead rough, nomadic lives and set up only temporary camps as suits their need. He finds the site of the camp almost deserted. There is no sound but the desolate wind amid the dusty ruins. But there are signs of life. A campfire burns in a sheltered area and a neat cairn has been raised within a circle of stones. He steps quickly out of sight at the sound of someone approaching. It is Bekhesh, the brutal Tavlek leader he had faced off with before. He's as ugly as ever except more so, his mangled head is half covered by a metallic visor that hides his eyes and his face is held together by crude stitches and braces. He is mumbling a chant to himself as he approaches the circle of stones where he spreads out a small square prayer rug, and kneels to chant. John draws his gun and coming up behind Bekhesh, places its muzzle at the back of his skull.

John: Howdy Bekhesh. (the Tavlek turns and looks up at him) Meet Wynona. (and with that he pistol-whips Bekhesh, who falls forward, unconscious) Lights go out. Gauntlet comes off. (he reaches down and pulls back Bekhesh's sleeve, expecting to find the gauntlet weapon there that no Tavlek is ever without. For besides being a deadly weapon, the Tavlek gauntlets pump an addictive drug into their system which increases aggression and battle alertness. But the freshly track marked forearm of Bekhesh is bare. John is nonplussed) Unless it's already off...

(cut to later. Bekhesh has regained consciousness and john has cuffed his hands behind his back. He sits near the cairn as John paces impatiently)

Bekhesh : I told you. I no longer wear the gauntlet. I'm not a creature of violence any more.

John: That's good. I don't believe you.

Bekhesh: I don't care! A lifetime of killing and extortion takes it's toll.

John: (he crouches next to Bekhesh and picks up a scroll the Tavlek had brought with him) Yeah, especially on those you kill and extort.

Bekhesh: Yes. But also on myself. (he offers an explanation of the scroll John is looking at, and for the absence of his gauntlet) During a hostage raid we captured a priest - a disciple of the Writ of Taru. He refused to eat or sleep. All he would do, day and night, was preach - whether anyone was listening or not. I executed him. But I kept his writ. I don't know why. One day I started reading and - they were words of peace, but they made me feel... better. Then one day I took off my gauntlet and I threw it away!

John: I still don't believe you.

Bekhesh: Well then kill me! Or let me go!

John: I need your gauntlet.

Bekhesh: No! It's a tool of destruction!

John: That's why I want it.

(cut back to Moya where Zhaan is in her lab analyzing a corroded bit of Mayas metallic body. Rygel hovers anxiously and Stark waits quietly while Pilot becomes increasingly panicky in his Den)

Rygel: Well? How bad is it? Are we in danger of a hull breach?

Zhaan: Of course we are. Those creatures eat metal.

Pilot: (his visage appears on the lab clamshell viewer) Zhaan! They're devouring Mayas sense filaments! She's trying to endure the pain, but it's growing.

Zhaan: (blandly) Brave Moya. (like she has a choice to be anything else)

Rygel: (to Pilot) Can't you flush them out? Or - or suffocate them?

Pilot: (wide-eyed) I trapped several creatures in a bulkhead and opened it to space, but they were too firmly entrenched to expel. And the vacuum didn't affect them at all.

Rygel: (to Zhaan) Well do something!

Zhaan: (she grabs Rygel by one earbrow and twists as she says with frustration) I can't do any more until I have a specimen to study! Chiana is trying to capture one. Now if you can't make yourself useful Rygel, I suggest you leave!

(cut to Chiana, The Great Grey Huntress, as she stalks the corridors of Moya with a weapon that resembles a leaf blower. Spotting one of her scuttling golden quarry - he fires and with a rich thwock - the leaf blower belches a gob of blue glop - perhaps a compound Zhaan invented using the blue glop exuded by the Draks in EFG. Whatever, she misses the spider and the wad of gunk splats onto the floor)

Chiana: Frell! (she repositions herself for another volley and murmurs to her tiny adversary) This is your last warning shot! (she sends a second glopball flying but the spider dodges it and the hunt rages on)

(cut back to Zhaan’s lab where, not daring to pester the Delvian any further, Rygel starts on Stark)

Rygel: This is your fault!

Stark: (still traumatized and rising quickly to pettily defend himself against Rygel’s petty accusation) My fault? My fault!? This is YOUR fault! YOU were on the inside! YOU stole the wrong container!

Rygel: With the device you gave me! I did precisely what I was supposed to! I was heroic!

Zhaan: (fed up with the cat fighting males, she storms over and yanks them away from each other as she angrily sets them both straight) Shut up! Both of you! The fault lies with all of us! WE brought those creatures aboard! Moya is suffering because of us!

(meanwhile, back in the corridors, Chiana takes aim at a spider on the wall)

Chiana: Now little fella! (she fires a wad of blue crud at such close range that she catches a face full of it on ricochet. Blinking, she examines her shot before yelling triumphantly-) Zhaan? Zhaan I think I got one!

Zhaan: (cut briefly to her back in the lab as Chiana can he heard chortling with glee on comm) Thank Kahalan- Bring it here immediately!

Chiana: (nodding as blue goop drops off her face and she eyes the spider, stuck to the wall under a prodigious coating of the stuff) Ah - soon as I can.

(cut to somewhere else in the uncharted territories. An alien ship, with the aesthetic appeal of a second hand battle tank, hangs in space as Aeryn’s Prowler makes its approach)

Aeryn: Attention Sheyang vessel. This is not a hostile approach. I come with an opportunity for profit. Please respond. (soon after, she docks with the and boards it. The interior of the Sheyang ship is as ugly and utilitarian as its exterior. It is dark and steamy and the blank metal walls give it the feels of the inside of a prison cell or a holding tank. It seems to be deserted as Aeryn steps out of the airlock, her weapon at the ready - sparks drip from exposed circuits and sounds like small explosions and falling metal echo against the metal walls. But coming to the ships command, Aeryn spots a bulky figure slumped in a chair, bleeding profusely. It is Teurac, the canny old leader of the Sheyang that the crew had met more than a cycle earlier - in better times for the old toad-faced Sheyang)

Teurac: (he looks up at Aeryn as she enters. Like all Sheyang, he is squat and heavy-set as a bulldog. His face is like that of some monstrous toad, he has no visible nose and his mouth is broad and thick-lipped. His eyes are set at a sharp angle, giving him the appearance of having vertical eyelids) So. You've come to finish me.

Aeryn: Who attacked you?

Teurac: It was swift. Unprovoked.

Aeryn: And where's the rest of your crew?

Teurac: Abandoned ship in evacuation pods. As leader I stayed behind to guard their escape.

Aeryn: (in her usual unreadable flat tone) That's very noble of you.

Teurac: You said you had an opportunity for profit.

(cut to another planet somewhere in the uncharted territories. A pair of familiar Vorcarian Bloodtrackers, Rorf and his mate, Rorg. are fleeing something. Rorg seems to be having trouble and Rorf is helping her along. They wear their familiar tribal leathers, decorated with animal hair and primitive beadwork reminiscent of that of some old Native American tribes. They run along a path flanked on both sides by dense vegetation, just high enough to block sightlines and give the path the feel of a corridor. Suddenly D'Argo steps out of hiding and directly into their path, Qualta blade drawn. Rorf and Rorg come to an abrupt halt and Rorf steps forwards)

Rorf: Spare my female. Please! She bears my children. (but before D'Argo can respond, the Vorcarians pursuer, a PK man, appears behind them. D'Argo fires a single shot between the heads of Rorf and Rorg and fells the Sebacean. But another PK emerges from the bush right behind him)

D'Argo: DOWN! (Rorf and Rorg drop, giving D'Argo a clear shot to take out the second pursuer. He waits a moment as the smoke clears to see of anyone else is coming down that path before shouldering his Qualta to its vertical rest-and-ready position and saying in a tone of quiet command-) Come with me. (he turns and strides away. The dog-like Vorcarians, ever responsive to strong dominance, get up and follow, the permanent snarls on their feral faces softened by wary submission)

(cut back to the Sheyang ship where Aeryn is applying an emergency dressing to Teurac's wounds she's been telling him the crews plans)

Teurac: So - you're going to attack a shadow depository.

Aeryn: That's the plan.

Teurac: Very well. I will help you.

Aeryn: (with a derisive snort) You can barely help yourself. Look at you. You're weak. You're all used up. And you're no use to me. (she takes up her first aid kit and makes to leave)

Teurac: (offended by her slight, he roars) NO USE? (with a great heave, he spits a ball of rather dim blue fire at her. It moves slow enough for her dodge it by simply leaning to one side a little. The fireball hits the wall and produces a lot of vapor but not much damage. Aeryn eyes the sooty smudge it leaves and looks back at the old toad)

Aeryn: I've seen bigger.

Teurac: (he's breathing heavily from the exertion of producing the wee ball o' fire) I - can do better.

Aeryn: You'll have to.

(cut back to the Tavlek homeworld. Bekhesh sits cuffed, and chanting stubbornly under his breath. John waits wearily - and impatiently. Time's a'wastin')

John: (he sits next to Bekhesh and says quietly in his ear) You know... pretty soon you're gonna start jonesin' for that gauntlet really bad. (Bekhesh chants louder) I'm not leaving here without it. (the Tavlek practically shouts his chant) Bekhesh? I got all the time in the world. (he moves away and Bekhesh rocks miserably as he chants-)

Bekhesh: Marikar rakmana taru... marikar rakmana taru...

(cut back to the shadow depository where Jothee has at last arrived. Akkor lifts up one of the lads head tentacles and examines it briefly as Braca looks on)

Akkor: (in a tone of elegant disgust) A Luxan-Sebacean hybrid?

Braca: (in a tone of regret - overheard by Scorpius and Natira who enter and approach from behind) Despite Peacekeeper Command efforts to keep the bloodlines pure, there seems to be a few more of them every cycle.

Scorpius: Have you got something against hybrids? Hm?

Braca: (startled) No! Of course not sir. Not at all. (Scorpius ignores him and strolls up to Jothee)

Scorpius: Ka Jothee, is it?

Jothee: What the frell are you? Some kind of mutant? (ah - D’Argo’s bumptious boy is not only surly but we're sorry to report that the Luxan-Sebacean pairing did not produce a heartthrob either. His eyebrows are heavy, scored ridges of flesh and bone and his chin is like a fleshy goatee - although to be fair maybe that'll grow as he gets older. Not that it would improve his looks... The beak-like nose covering of a Luxan is missing and his nose is flattened and misshapen and terribly scarred. He's blond and a thin mustache graces his upper lip He is perhaps 18 years old)

Natira: (smoothly putting Jothee in his place as she asks hopefully) His mother was a Sebacean. She was raped by a Scarran. Did the Luxan rape your mother too?

Jothee: (abashed) No.

Scorpius: Your father abandoned you to a life of slavery. Is it his lineage you hate the most?

Jothee: My mother was murdered by her brother. Does that answer your question?

Scorpius: So you - hate Luxans and Sebaceans equally. How very interesting.

Jothee: You bought 10,000 slaves, just to get me. What do you want?

Scorpius: From you, nothing. But your father- would give me something I want very much. (he pats Jothee encouragingly before walking away) Pray to your Luxan mystics that he loves you still.

(cut to D'Argo and the Vorcarian Bloodtrackers in Mayas transport pod)

D'Argo: Why are the Peacekeepers Termination Squad after you?

Rorf: We were hired to find some of their deserters. But, once we discovered my mate was with child - we decided to discontinue the hunt.

D'Argo: And you kept the payment.

Rorf: Well - only half. (defensively) We did half the work!

D'Argo: You are a good torturer. Are you as good at tracking?

Rorf: (he grins a sharp-toothed grin at D'Argo and says to Rorg) Show him.

Rorg: (she whiffs delicately) It would be easy to overlook the scent of Hynerian and Delvian beneath the musk of Nebari on you. (she and Rorf snarl and chuckle knowingly)

D'Argo: Will you help me?

Rorf: (as Rorg responds) No. We-

Rorg: (as Rorf responds) Yes! (Rorf stops and looks at her) You saved our lives. (to Rorf) We are obligated.

Rorf: I will not desert you! (he and his mate confer together briefly)

Rorg: The Peacekeeper hunters are dead. There are caves nearby. I will be safe there to give birth. Our children will live. Because of him. If we can help restore his child, we must! And - we could use the currency.

(cut back to Moya where Zhaan is in her lab with Chiana, Rygel and Stark. She is conducting live animal experiments on the golden spider that Chiana caught. It lays on its back, helpless as they subject it to heat. It smolders a bit but waves its legs with a fair amount of calm)

Rygel: The heat's not affecting it at all! (accusingly to Chiana) You said they ran from your blowtorch!

Chiana: I said - maybe - they did.

Zhaan: I'll increase the heat. (she does and after a long moment, the spider bursts into flame. Zhaan steps back and shaking her head grimly, says softly) Oh no...

Chiana: What's wrong? It's dead.

Zhaan: It took too much heat to kill it Chiana. Moya could never raise her internal temperature that high.

Stark: (he suddenly looks up, staring into space and mutters) Evil... (the others ignore him)

Zhaan: There are over 2000 of those creatures on board. We could never kill them one by one like this. I must find a way to deal with the total infestation.

Pilot: (via clamshell viewer) Zhaan, it's Scorpius. He wants to talk to D'Argo.

Rygel: (with dread) He's found us!

Chiana: We're dead.

Zhaan: I will speak to him Pilot. (as Rygel shudders, Pilots lovely face is replaced by that of Scorpius' on the clamshell viewer)

Scorpius: Where's Ka D'Argo? Where's Crichton?

Zhaan: They have no reason to trust you. You tried to sabotage our ship. Why would you honor any exchange?

Scorpius: Sabotage?

Rygel: (boldly) Don't play stupid you butcher! Your metal-eating money-

Scorpius: (cutting Rygel off) I will speak to Crichton and D'Argo now. (but before Zhaan can reply, Stark steps calmly in front of her to face Scorpius and says quietly)

Stark: Speak to me.

Scorpius: (eying the Banik sidelong, clearly surprised to see him) Stark.

Stark: Yes. Your favorite food for the Aurora Chair. You murdered my people Scorpius. Thousands of Baniks as if they were nothing. And all for one boy! (then, with passionate rage) Well go ahead and kill Jothee if you want, because he means NOTHING to me! You're not getting Crichton!! (and with that he lifts his mask back and as Scorpius watches, a look of wary dread on HIS face, brilliant orange light pours from Stark, and the transmission fizzles out. The others stare at Stark for a moment in horror before setting upon him)

Chiana: What the FRELL were you thinking?

Zhaan: You just condemned D’Argos son TO DEATH!

Stark: (hastening to explain the method of his madness) Look - Scorpius thinks I’m mad! H-he won’t blame you. He-he needs Jothee. He won’t kill him. (he pulls away from Zhaan’s grip and circles her, she follows him dangerously, but listens) I-I know Scorpius. I do. We can’t let him know that Moya's in trouble. He’ll come after us. And if he smells advantage - to him it’s the scent of victory!

Chiana: (she pushes between him and Zhaan and grabs his head with her hands) If Jothee dies I will NOT wait for D’Argo. I WILL KILL YOU MYSELF! (but at that moment the confrontation is forgotten as Mayas lights dim and her power plants strain to compensate)

Rygel: Pilot? What’s happening? (notice Rygel seems to have had no special problem with what Stark said)

Pilot: (cut to him in his Den as he speaks) Energy failure! Tiers 5 through 9. The creatures have infiltrated the power conduits.

Rygel: So? Do something about it. Use the DRDs, that’s what they’re for!

Pilot: I’ve tried! They’re eating the DRDs as well!

Zhaan: How long before they break through the hull Pilot?

Pilot: I don’t know. But unless we destroy them soon, the internal damage may be irreparable. Moya - may die.

Meanwhile, back at the shadow depository Natira and Scorpius are indulging in some alien nasty. Both are fully clothed - well Scorpius is anyway since we can't really tell if Natira wears clothing or not. Scorpius anyway just flips back his cod when it's whoopee time. He's on top and both grimace horribly, grunting, growling and gritting their teeth. Natira makes little wailing sounds like someone having hair electrolysized one follicle at a time from their nether regions. Interestingly enough - her gums are blue. Also - the stingered, finger-like structures on her head wave and stretch spasmodically towards Scorpius' face, giving her a Medusa-like appearance. Scorpius catches the stinger tip of one in his teeth. Then - at the moment of climax - Scorpius' cooling apparatus POPS OUT OF HIS HEAD LIKE A JACK-IN-THE-BOX! Steaming and sizzling...

Scorpius: (as they both sigh with satisfaction) Well - that brings back memories. (and creates a few as well)

Natira: (she gets up to fetch a fresh coolant rod for loverboy who lays back on the couch they were making woo-woo on) Does it hurt as much as it used to?

Scorpius: The sensation is, ah - well - more complicated than pain.

Natira: You’re much more patient than I remember. Why aren’t you hunting down the thieves on the Leviathan?

Scorpius: Well that would be a waste of effort. Crichton will come to me.

Natira: (as she straddles his to change the rod) How’s your nurse?

Scorpius: (seizing the wrist of her hand that holds the fresh rod) Recovering. At any event, the currency that was stolen belongs to you, yet - you seem strangely unaffected for the loss. (he allows her to continue replacing the spent rod as he asks slyly) Tell me, what did you really put in my storage containers?

Natira: (with a nervous laugh that is also a bit modest) Karak metalites. While dormant, they look like borinium ingots. But they’re actually burrowing creatures. They consume metal in their natural environment.

Scorpius: (seizing her throat) You intended - to destroy my Marauder. Kill my crew. Killing - me.

Natira: Yes. You wouldn’t have respected me otherwise.

Scorpius: (murmuring) How commendable. Very fortunate I was robbed.

Natira: Mm.

Scorpius: Now tell me: These Karak creatures. Will they destroy the Leviathan?

Natira: Eventually. For a vessel that size, it should take at least 8 solar days. Rest assured. The Leviathan is dead. (with a guttural roar of approval, Scorpius forces his fingers into her mouth, which she seems to find quite enjoyable indeed)

(cut back to John and Bekhesh on the Tavlek homeworld. John strolls along the top of a ruined wall and watches Bekhesh, who isn't chanting anymore owing to the fact that he's doubled over on his knees and groaning with pangs of withdrawal from the gauntlet drug)

John: Hey Bekhesh buddy - how ya feelin’? You’re lookin’ kinda crappy. You know - that gauntlet would fix you right up. Where is it?

Bekhesh: (with effort) I can’t tell you! The Writ of Taru says allowing another to inflict harm is an act of violence itself! I’m trying to make up for the things I’ve done!

John: You want to end violence? You want to serve peace? Then help me! Help yourself. Where’s the gauntlet Bekhesh?

Bekhesh: (wailing with the throes of withdrawal) PLEEEAAASE! Let me go! I NEED TO HAVE IT! (as he wails, he looks towards the cairn in the center of the circle of stones. John follows his gaze and in a flash, is at the cairn and knocking its round rocks loose with his foot. One side of the cairn collapses and the gauntlet tumbles out onto the ground. John scoops it up, but Bekhesh, his hands still bound behind his back, scrambles to his feet and staggers towards him, snarling HEY! THAT’S MINE! (John easily stops his advance by raising his gun to the level of the Tavleks face. Bekhesh stops short and barks) Put that on it’ll kill ya!

John: You forget - I’ve worn a gauntlet before. Remember?

Bekhesh: (dismissively) That was over a cycle ago. I’ve tripled the dose since then. (John makes no move) All right then, put it on, and I’ll strip it from your corpse in 3 arns. You want the gauntlet - you take me with it.

John: Why should I trust you?

Bekhesh: You said there was currency in it for me - lots of it.

John: What about your great reformation?

Bekhesh: It’s easier to reform when you’re rich.

(cut back to Moya as Zhaan enters Pilots Den. The great Navigator isn't looking so good. He's groaning softly and breathing heavily, his amber eyes are half closed and he seems to be bent forward. Zhaan reaches out to touch him)

Zhaan: (with concern) You’re feeling Mayas pain.

Pilot: (miserably) What I feel, Moya feels a thousand times worse.

Zhaan: (nervously) Pilot, I think I’ve found a solution. I want to flood Mayas affected areas with adrexan vapor. (trying to sound a little upbeat to lessen the impact of what she is suggesting) After she has absorbed it into her body, you - you’ll be able to ignite it electrically.

Pilot: (sitting up straight and staring at her with horror) IGNITE?

Zhaan: (her voice is almost dreamy) Waves of heat will course through her body, then flames. The creatures will be destroyed.

Pilot: (aghast) You’d BURN Moya?

Zhaan: To save her.

Pilot: NO! There must be another way!

Zhaan: I haven’t given up hope of trying to fine one. And I won’t! But if we run out of time Pilot - you must believe me. This may be Mayas last hope.

Pilot: (sorrowful) The Builders put our fates in your care Zhaan. Whatever you decide, we will - abide by it. (stupid Builders)

(cut to later as a transport pod leaves Moya with Rygel at its helm. Even Rygel can fly a transport pod. He makes a bombastic departure speech to his shipmates via comm)

Rygel: Now that we have reached Zenetan territory, I have a task to perform. And while it pains me to leave you at such a critical juncture, I will not shirk my duty. The Zenetan Pirates await. Good luck, and farewell! (meanwhile back on Moya Chiana and Zhaan listen to him orate as they lift around metal canisters in the lab)

Chiana: (muttering to Rygel) You always know when to run. (she yelps as the canister she's adjusting releases a jet of vapor in her face) That’s cold!

Zhaan: Be careful child. Adrexan vapor is highly volatile.

Chiana: Sorry. (timidly) Are we really going to burn Moya?

Zhaan: Do you think I wanted to come to this?

Pilot: (via comm) Zhaan, the canisters in Maintenance Bay 4 are ready.

Zhaan: Thanks. (the lights in the lab dim as another power fluctuation sweeps over the great ship) Pilot, have you sealed all the affected areas?

Pilot: Yes. (he adds in a voice that is heartsick and softly terrified, like a child begging for reprieve) It’s almost one-ninth of Mayas total body.

Zhaan: Release the vapor. (and with that, in Mayas corridors, empty except for the metalites, thick fog-like vapor rolls along the floors and begins to settle and fill the air and nooks and crannies of the Leviathan's bronze body)

Pilot: (his voice is like a dirge) It’s done. The vapor will be fully absorbed in less than 9 arns.

Zhaan: Good. That gives me enough time.

(cut to Rygel in his transport pod as he enters the eerie blue graveyard of spaceships the Zenetan Pirates caught in their Flax net. and indeed just as the more or less honest rogue Zenetan, Staanz, had predicted to D'Argo, there IS another Luxan assault Piercer floating amid the rest of the junk)

Rygel: (hailing the proprietors of the starship salvage yard) I am Dominar Rygel XVI, requesting an audience.

Zelkin: (the pirates visage appears on the pod viewer. The Zenetans are basically human in appearance and go in for big monochromatic facial tats. The males are bald. The females aren't and that’s about it. Zelkin is bald) Most beings do not seek out the Zenetan Pirates.

Rygel: I have a business proposition regarding your Flax net. I will speak with Commander Kcrackic. (Zelkin makes no response other than to step aside and let his superior step into view - but Rygel gasps in horror, for it isn't dear old Kcrackic)

Durka: Kcrackic no longer commands here. Nor is he, in fact, alive.

Rygel: Durka? (he flashes back on some of the torment visited upon him by this now rogue PK captain, his old nemesis who oversaw his original imprisonment after the PKs helped topple him from the throne of Hyneria)

Durka: (his voice is hardly more than a whisper spoken in an a halting, but profoundly menacing, cadence) I now control the Flax. (and with that, Rygel’s pod slams to a stop, caught in the net of the Zenetan pirates - and Durka) Welcome back, Rygel.

(cut to soon after, Durka and Zelkin have boarded the pod and Rygel, struggles a bit to retain his composure in the face of the sadistic Durka. This guy was supposed to have been dead at least twice already and he embodies Rygel’s worst fears and greatest trauma)

Rygel: So your, ah - Flax net - will simply be used to ensure our escape. There is little risk and uh, great reward for your participation. (he chuckles ingratiatingly)

Durka: (but villains always just want to talk about themselves) An interesting proposal. When the ship you abandoned me in - (referring to the events documented in DR) - was snared in the Zenetans net. They were little more than a disorganized gang of petty cutthroats. Under my direction, I have turned them, and the Flax, into a tool for power and profit.

Rygel: Is that a yes? Or a no? (but the sadistic ex-PK makes no response to this other than to lash out, snakelike, and seize Rygel by the throat) We had a truce!

Durka: When I am finished with you - Dominar - death himself will pray for you! (but fearful as he is of this, the bane of his life, Rygel is nothing of not a pragmatist and an opportunist. And a self-preservationist)

Rygel: (dangerously) Hm. I thought you might say something like that. (and then, with Durka at close range, he whips out from beneath his robe, the pronged end of a pod power cable which he drives into Durka’s chest. The ex-PK is electrocuted amid a shower of sparks, before collapsing to the floor. Rygel chuckles with satisfaction - but his glee at finally ridding himself of this monster is interrupted by the click of a weapon being activated. He turns to look at Zelkin, who steps forward - and smiles)

Zelkin: I liked your proposal. (and he and Rygel share a dastardly chuckle)

(cut back to Moya where Chiana enters Zhaan’s lab to find her feverishly working on some device)

Chiana: (urgently) Zhaan, what are you waiting for? The vapor was absorbed an arn ago!

Zhaan: (losing her nerve and frantic) There must be another way Chiana. Perhaps a crystal resonator. We can shatter them with sound! (Moya rolls and shudders as the metalites finish off another power system)

Pilot: (cut briefly to him in his Den as he breaks in via comm, crying with urgent despair) The creatures are nearing Mayo's propulsors! Zhaan! If they consume those systems, we’ll be dead in space - there’s no more time!

Zhaan: (she drops what she is doing) On our way Pilot.

(cut to Pilots Den as Chiana, Stark and Zhaan enter. Pilot sits, waiting for them as they rush to his Console)

Zhaan: Pilot I will take as much of yours and Mayas pain as I can.

Pilot: (appalled) No! It will overwhelm you!

Zhaan: I will take that chance.

Stark: (murmuring) I will stay by your side.

Chiana: Zhaan - you have to do it now.

Zhaan: (she makes a ritualized stroking motion of her hands over her head) Kahalan help us. (and with that, she clambers up onto Pilots Console and lays her hands on his carapace) Pilot - ignite the vapor. (he touches a panel on his Console as a retinue of DRDs look on, and in the corridors of Moya a fire storm erupts, racing through her, igniting the very atmosphere. Pilot convulses and screams with the agony of it, as Zhaan throws her head back and struggles to keep her hands on Pilot as she too roars her shared agony)

Pilot: ZHAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!

(cut to John in his module, on his way home. Bekhesh occupies the cramped rumble seat behind him and idly flicks a switch. John hears it and says over his shoulder-)

John: Aah! Don’t touch that! (Bekhesh sullenly returns the switch to its original position. John eyes him to make sure his hands are in his lap before returning his gaze forward and cracking-) You know, flossing could help you with that gingivitis. (the Tavlek takes care to direct a heavy, bored exhale past John's right ear) Whoa... (but before he can go a second round with his malodorous guest, Moya comes into view and John forgets about Bekhesh. He gapes in horror at his home - which appears to be on fire. A huge section of Mayas body near the base of where her 3 great tail sections begin, glows in the blackness of space like an ember) Pilot? What the hell’s going on over there? (cut briefly to Pilots Den, silent now, where Stark cradles a shivering, unresponsive Zhaan and Pilot sits, eyes closed, quivering a little, in deep shock) Pilot? You guys okay? PILOT! (Moya drifts silent, as if dead in the void) I’m seeing flames on Moya! (finally, Stark responds in a quiet, even tone)

Stark: It’s all right Crichton.

John: (looking for a little better explanation than that) Stark there are flames on Moya! That is not all right!

Chiana: (she enters the Den and responds to John as she weaves towards the Console, in a daze. Her tone is deathly quiet and overwhelmed with what has happened) John - we started the fire on purpose.

John: (softly, incredulous) What?

Chiana: We had to… Just come aboard. I’ll explain it to you. (Pilot reaches out to her with one great trembling claw and she takes it in her hands)

John: Chiana just tell me - Is everybody okay over there?

Chiana: (as she rests Pilots great claw on the Console and lays her head against it in a helpless gesture of comfort) Yeah… I think so. Everyone, but Moya.

(cut to some time later. The fires have burned themselves out and the rest of the crew has returned. Aeryn and John walk thorough a scorched corridor, solemnly inspecting the devastation. Mayas bronze and gold halls that once gleamed like hidden treasure are dead and black. Their round arches collapsed like burnt arteries. The only sound is the movement of air through a dead place and Aeryn and John speak in hushed tones)

Aeryn: Moya’s in so much pain, she can’t even starburst.

John: Will she heal?

Aeryn: Pilot’s not sure. (they come upon Zhaan, in the ruins of a room, sitting on the floor and crying as she looks around, dazed by the catastrophe. They move quickly on, leaving her with her grief. She bows her head to rest it upon a charred and broken but of Mayas body and weeps)

John: (trailing Aeryn by a few steps) Our money did this?

Aeryn: (stopping) We did this. And since we have nothing to pay the mercenaries - do you think they are going to want to help us? (John walks past her a few paces) Scorpius is going to kill Jothee.

John: (he pauses, his back to Aeryn. There's a grim look on his face as he gazes around with sorrow at what they hath wrought, before saying softly) No he won’t.

(cut to Mayas center chamber which has not been affected by the fire. The Sheyang, Tavlek and Vorcarian have been brought there to uh... get acquainted. Bekhesh is droning his chant - much to the annoyance of everyone else)

Rorf: (agitated - he scurries up behind Bekhesh and starts pushing and cuffing him on the back as he yells) HEY! Hey frek face! Hey you! Stop that ridiculous mumbling! (Bekhesh turns to face the smaller Vorcarian and Stark, who apparently has been assigned room monitor, quickly steps in to avert a dust-up)

Stark: Ah-ah! You’re not here to fight each other!

Rorf: (outraged) THE TAVLEKS RAIDED OUR VILLAGE!

Bekhesh: (annoyed) That's why I asked yer forgiveness!

Rorf: Well so-

Teurac: (throwing his 2 bits worth into the pleasant chat) Tavleks are treacherous scum! CRIMINALS! (at that moment Chiana appears and stops Teurac form wading into Bekhesh by slapping one hand against his barrel chest and pushing)

Chiana: So’s everybody on this ship! You are being paid to work together! (and at that moment, Rygel and Zelkin make their appearance in the doorway to the room)

Rygel: (his tone is patronizing and dangerous) That’s right. (and with a blunt thud, something is tossed onto the floor at the feet of the others. It is the severed head of Durka) And that’s what we do to people who don’t.

Chiana: (she's as startled and chastened as the mercenaries as she rather nervously congratulates him on his hunting) Good work, Ryg.

Rygel: (with deadly sweetness) You’re here to do a job. Start acting like professionals. (and just to put and exclamation point on that, Zelkin swings up a big, wicked-looking gun and trains it on them over Rygel’s shoulder. The others accept this demonstration of authority with wary silence and from Rorf and Bekhesh, two of the most revolting smiles this side of a Dentistry text book on diseased and deformed teeth that you're never want to see)

(cut to Aeryn and D'Argo as they enter the maintenance bay through a small hourglass-shaped passageway. John seems to have disappeared but is returning in a transport pod now, and they are arriving to meet him)

D'Argo: (peevish) Where would Crichton have gone at a time like this?

Aeryn: I don’t know, but he hasn’t exactly been himself lately.

D'Argo: (angry) Well I want him CONFINED to his quarters!

Aeryn: (blandly but a little peeved herself - at D'Argo and his unrelentingly ugly 'tude) I’ll see to it, but you know, he’s been trying to help you.

D'Argo: (with contempt) Always just too late. (they cross into the hangar bay as the pod arcs towards Moya and comes in to dock. But as the pod door opens and Aeryn and D'Argo wait expectantly, someone, not John, appears on its steps. D'Argo, who had advanced ahead of Aeryn, no doubt to have a bitchy go at John, stops dead in his tracks and stares in disbelief at what he sees - Jothee)

Jothee: Father?

D'Argo: (softly) Jothee. (and then, with a joyous shout and laughter, he lunges for his long-lost son and envelops him in a rib-crushing bear-hug and swings him off his feet) JOTHEE! IT’S YOU! IT’S REALLY YOU!

Jothee: Father! You’re choking me! (D'Argo sets him down and pushes back the hood that conceals Jothee’s head as he looks intently, and with love, into the face of his son. Jothee watches him, not quite smiling, but touched by his fathers heartfelt welcome. D'Argo gently touches one of Jothee’s head tentacles, tankas, that has been injured

D'Argo: (softly, not knowing where to begin) Everything you’ve been through - So many cycles… I’m sorry

Jothee: Not your fault.

D'Argo: I never stopped thinking about you… Trying to find you… (his voice quavers) I almost lost hope.

Jothee: I didn’t. I knew you would come for me.

D'Argo: (with a sob and a laugh he hugs Jothee again) My son. (then, presenting him to Aeryn, with a fathers pride) MY SON! (Aeryn beams at them, caught up in the joy of the reunion. Giddy with happiness, D'Argo turns eagerly back to Jothee) How did you escape Scorpius?

Jothee: He let me go.

D'Argo: (suddenly a bit of the joy leaves his voice) He what? (Aeryn’s smile also fades as the dread sets in, she takes a step closer to them)

Aeryn: W-why? (Jothee has no answer and looks from one of them to the other with some confusion)

D'Argo: (as the dull realization of what has happened sets in, he breathes softly and Aeryn’s face falls into the lines of cold devastation) Oh, no.

(cut to the great deserted lobby of the shadow depository. John stands leaning against a pole, looking grim and apprehensive - but resolved to his fate. Scorpius paces leisurely up from behind and around to stand in front of him, to his left)

Scorpius: Hello, John.

John: (glancing at Scorpius before returning his gaze to the air) You want the wormhole technology? I want your implant out of my head. So, finally, the rift between us is not so great. You do what you got to do. (he looks back at Scorpius, his gaze steady and fixed this time) You win.

Scorpius: (he makes another circle of John, stopping briefly behind him to lean close to inhale deeply of John's scent as he replies) As if there was ever any doubt. (and after taking another whiff of the heady scent of victory, he continues his circle and walks away. Leaving John silent and with a look of numb dread on his handsome face)

TO BE CONTINUED...

Part 3 (Plan B)
The episode opens with John and Scorpius in the high-windowed room of Natira’s shadow depository where D'Argo has been held. John is spread-eagled on his back and restrained atop a spherical metal frame that brings his upside-down face to eye level with Scorpius who stands and talks to him. Why can't villains just strap their victims to a nice flat table? It always has to be some backbreaking contraption like this. But John thinks he knows what he's in for and seems to be taking it with grim aplomb. He tends to oversimplify things though...

John: All right Frankenstein - let's get it on. Get your property out of my head.

Scorpius: (with something like sympathy) It's controlling you isn't it John?

John: I don't know what you're talking about.

Scorpius: (he taps John's forehead with one gloved finger) In there. My neural clone. It forced you to me.

John: (he doesn't bother trying to explain his actions) Nothing forced me here. Annual check-ups are essential to good health.

Scorpius: (as he moves to a control panel next to the spherical metal frame) You're lying John. I always know. Don't worry. Soon we'll take the pain away.

(cut back to Moya where the crew has found a farewell message from John that he left for them before turning himself in to Scorpius in exchange for D’Argo’s son. Aeryn, Chiana, D'Argo and their mercenaries have gathered in the Command to watch it on clamshell viewer)

John: (on recording) This thing in my head - this chip. Part of me now wants it to control me. So I'm gonna go to Scorpy and have him take it out before it's too late - before I no longer want it gone. Goodbye my friends. At least by swapping myself with Jothee I can do you some good. (the recording cuts out)

Aeryn: (to D'Argo, her voice is husky and reproachful) You see how you misread him?

D'Argo: (ashamed, his voice is just a whisper) Yes.

Aeryn: (to all, with steady resolve) This doesn't change anything.

Rorf: What's not changed?

Aeryn: The plan. Why we brought you all here.

Bekhesh: Hey! Nobody brought me, I volunteered! (grandly) *I* - am the Holy Warrior of Taru! (D'Argo rolls his eyes)

Aeryn: Whatever. All I'm saying to the rest of you is that you were willing to go and save Jothee, and instead - (her tone becomes rushed, as if wanting to sneak this one by as fast as possible) - we'll just - go - and rescue Crichton.

Zelkin: Excuse me, you're forgetting one thing.

D'Argo: What?

Zelkin: We came on this 'adventure' for one reason. You said you could pay us.

Teurac: That's right!

Chiana: Well, that's true but-

Teurac: (cutting her off in his gravely voice) Have you any currency now?

Chiana: (fumbling) Well, um... We did have currency. Uh - what we thought was currency - actually turned into a creature. (the mercenaries start to roll their eyes and groan) And it uh - it was alive, and we had to burn the ship... (her voice trails off as the round-faced pirate, Zelkin, shakes his head and smiles at her)

Zelkin: (gently cutting her off) Yes... yes... yes... yes. I understand that girl. But you see my problem, don't you? I don't do anything unless I get paid. And since you no longer have currency - (he and his second, Kurz, whip out their guns on Chiana) - Moya is now mine. (D'Argo hisses softly but no-one dares to make a move for a long moment)

Aeryn: Go on, shoot her. (Zelkin makes no move and Aeryn continues with contempt-) You're an embarrassment Zelkin.

Chiana: (apprehensive) Aeryn-

Aeryn: (she ignores Chiana and continues cutting down Zelkin) No you're worse. You're worse than an embarrassment. You're an idiot.

Chiana: (she looks pleadingly at Aeryn as she whispers) Aeryn, what are you doing? (but the ex-PK just goes on appealing to the pirates rough sense of pride and fine sense of avarice)

Aeryn: There are 30,000 containers in the shadow depository filled with riches that you could have, but you're rather point a gun at a girl!

Zelkin: (shaking his head, he knows the game) What are you trying to do Aeryn? Shame me into going with you?

Aeryn: No. No because even if you wanted to, I wouldn't go into battle with you now. Do you know why? Because you're a coward and an idiot! What do you think you're going to get if you steal Moya? She's a half-burned Leviathan. (she laughs derisively) You have to be the stupidest pirates I've ever met!

Kurz: (he offends easier than Zelkin and whips his gun around at Aeryn, growling) We are not stupid! (at that moment Jothee and Stark blunder into the Command)

Jothee: Hey! What's going on? (Kurz, already overheated, looks sharply at the newcomers and everyone who has a gun uses the momentary distraction to whip out their own weapons and point them at someone - which locks up the whole room)

D'Argo: (he's in a position to have the best gun coverage of the lot of them) STOP RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE AND REMAIN CALM! (no-one moves) Everybody keep calm.

Chiana: (sneering) See Zelkin? You don't have the numbers. GET THAT GUN OUTTA MY FACE! (she stands, but before she can get away, he grabs her and another brief flurry of activity erupts, Rorf makes a grab for Jothee and D'Argo makes a grab for Rorf - the tableaux freezes again as everyone looks around uncertainly, trying to see who, if anyone, now has an advantage)

Rorf: (pretty much fed up) I THINK THIS WHOLE IDEA ROTS! I WANT - (ah, but now they've gone and excited Stark who starts one of his Crazy Rants)

Stark: I WANT! I WANT! MY SIDE! YOUR SIDE! ALL OF YOU "I WANT"!

Rorf: (who seems never to have seen so many nut jobs in his life as he has since coming aboard Moya) What's the matter with YOU frek-face?

Stark: (his voice is high-pitched with hysteria. Everyone in the room stares as he screams into Rorf's face and the Vorcarian tries to get away from him) MATTER? MATTER? I'LL TELL YOU MATTER! AMTI-MATTERMATTERMATTERMATTERMATTERMATTER! SCORPIUS KILLED 10,000 OF MY PEOPLE! 10,000 CAST INTO SPACE! 10,000 souls scream in my brain! The chair, the chair remember the chair! (Jothee gapes)

Rorf: (looking around for help and getting none) What chair? This frek is crrra-zy!

Stark: (hyperventilating as he plucks madly at Rorf) You coming? D'you agree? Agree?

Rorf: Will you fight like this down there?

Stark: (he seems quite incoherent) Of course! Of course! Look! No hands! No hands! (he pulls his sleeves over his hands and flaps the loose ends in Rorf’s face)

Rorf: (with an appreciative snarl - maybe Vorcarians are people who think they insane have Powers) Then I change my mind Zelkin. This one has the spirit of the hunter and not the prey. But I want currency if I come. And plenty of it!

Aeryn: (seizing on Stark's inexplicable inspiration) You'll get it! You'll all get it. So are we agreed? Are we going down to rescue Crichton?

Pilot: (breaking in via comm. He sounds very anxious) Aeryn? D'Argo?

Aeryn: (without taking hers eyes off their treacherous employees) Not now Pilot! We're negotiating.

Pilot: (blurting it out apprehensively) But - there's a ship approaching!

D'Argo: Is it Scorpius?

Pilot: No, no it's - it's Talyn!

Chiana: (apprehensive again) Talyn?

(cut back to the shadow depository. John is still on the metal frame, He now sports a metal band around his head with a scanning device positioned over the right side of his face. Natira has joined Scorpius and has clambered up onto the frame where she is closely inspecting John's painfully arched body)

Natira: Scorpius, tell me something. Why are you so interested in this human? (she seems to be eyeing John's crotch with particular care) There's nothing impressive about the species. (John jerks a little and makes a strangled grunt thanks to Natira’s curious probing)

Scorpius: (he stands with his face mere inches from John's and quickly moves to calm him. There's a tone of real concern in his voice, as if John has got into his head just as he's hot into John's) Try not to move so much. One flinch at the wrong time and this will - (he stops abruptly before finishing, as if surprised by himself) - paralyze you.

John: (strained, like someone whose blood is all pooling in their brain from being restrained with their head hanging upside-down) It's kinda hard not to flinch here Scorpy, with Frau Blucher tickling my prostate.

Natira: (bored) What are you doing to him? Why don't you just take him and leave?

Scorpius: (irritated) I must soften his neural receptors to see if my clone in his brain has reached the information I need. If I have - then I will call my Command Carrier back from battle and be away from you.

John: (offering Natira his own cynical assessment of Scorpius' intentions) See - Flavius Scorpius here wants to visit foreign lands, meet foreign people - and conquer them.

Scorpius: You overestimate me John. I have no desire to dominate the universe. But know this - the wormhole technology in your brain will sway the balance of power as we know it. Imagine - the ability to move an army in an instant. (almost dreamily) The power to make hostile planets disappear. (he passes one hand over his control console and this time John flinches and grunts from the increased intensity of Scorpius' scan)

(cut back to Moya floating in black space. Talyn hovers next to her and there are great cables running between the two ships. Pilot speaks to Crais from his Den via comm)

Pilot: (his tone is formal and gently plaintive, as if wanting to talk about Moya’s condition) Crais - we are very thankful that you allowed Talyn to respond to his mothers distress call. 8 entire tiers are burnt - and Moya’s immune levels are falling to critical.

(cut to Aeryn and Crais. He has come aboard Moya and Aeryn is showing him the fire-devastated areasfirst hand)

Crais: (responding to Pilot) The nutrients Talyn is supplying should start to heal Moya. Keep a check on the electrocel levels. They mustn't rise above 6 parts.

Pilot: (ever so slightly annoyed) I am well aware of that.

Aeryn: (to Crais) How much longer will Talyn remain linked to Moya?

Crais: 2 arns.

Aeryn: And then you'll be leaving.

Crais: There is little more that Talyn can do. Is there some reason that you wish us to stay?

Aeryn: We are planning to attack the shadow depository on the planet below.

Crais: And you want Talyn to help?

Aeryn: Scorpius is in the depository.

Crais: Tempting. I thought you didn't want to use Talyn for violence. You all said that from the beginning.

Aeryn: Yes, but this is different.

Crais: How? Is this violence more acceptable? Because it's for you?

Aeryn: No it's because Scorpius has captured Crichton and he's going to kill him if we don't get down there.

Crais: (he chuckles, who'd o' thunk Bialar Crais would ever be the guy on the high road? He takes an understandable dig at the crews past sanctimoniousness) There's always a reason for violence Aeryn. Thousands of people die, for the most virtuous causes.

Aeryn: (feeling the irony and not liking it) You don't have to lecture me Crais.

Crais: (he stops and turns on her) I believe I do! You've lectured me countless times! (there's a long pause as Aeryn takes her lumps in silence. Then Crais ask, gentler-) How long has Scorpius held Crichton?

Aeryn: 4 arns.

Crais: Then I recommend you bring down a basket without any holes - so that Crichton’s liquid remains are not lost. He's already dead Aeryn. (Aeryn watches as he walks away)

(cut to elsewhere on Moya where Rygel and Stark are with the mercenaries. Stark is trying to explain his assault plan to them. Clearly Stark's brief career as a strategist is over. Perhaps the deaths of 10,000 of his people on top of his own recent demise and resurrection are weighing on him. What he's done with the blueprints he had of Natira’s depository we do not know - for now, he's trying to work from a crude sketch he's made on the floor. The mercenaries eye each other as he babbles)

Stark: And all the doors are cross-synchronized so that when you're here (he indicates a point on his map) I'm uh - (he hunts for another point on the map) Here! And everything's perfectly in time because we're on a silent count, right? (Kurz, his eyes wide and his lips slightly parted, shakes his head with pitiful and total confusion while Rorf looks around to see if anyone else is getting it 'cos he sure isn't) Right? Right? (The mercenaries look around in silence from the floor to each other to Stark. They’re not getting it. Stark becomes frustrated) You pay attention! If ONE piece of this plan fails then the ENTIRE plan fails! You got it? You got it?

Rorf: (defensive) Look! All I understand is that I am going down first!

Stark: With Bekhesh! (Bekhesh looks up with surprise, he seems to have missed that part)

Rorf: (with sarcasm) Great! WE are going down. While you all stay up here out of danger!

Rygel: (he's carrying around Durka’s head on a stick) You are the tracker. You must locate Crichton before we all risk ourselves.

Rorf: (he leans down to the level of Rygel’s face and snarls) What are you doing with that head?

Rygel: He's an old enemy. I like that he doesn't talk back. (Rorf backs off)

Stark: As soon as you locate Crichton, then the rest of us will follow straight down. And then Teurac and I will destroy their generator.

Bekhesh: (sullen) How come I don't get that job?

Stark: (sweetly) Because you can't produce a fireball that burns at 7000 klances. (Bekhesh acknowledges this reluctantly)

Teurac: How will I know when to start burning the generator?

Stark: (almost losing it) I TOLD YOU! We'll all be on a silent count for the entire battle! ACH!

Rorf: (skeptical) A silent count? While we're fighting?

Stark: (he swings around to face Rorf with a strained grin on his face) Yes! It's easy!

Teurac: (with a toadishly gravelly grunt) It's complicated. (Rorf rolls his head and snarls as Bekhesh groans and bows his head with the tiresomeness of Stark and his silent counts)

Rorf: (indicating the Zenetans who sit nearby looking downright aristocratic next to this lot) What do they do?

Stark: The Zenetans will deploy the Flax.

Rorf: (outraged) The FLIX? What the frell is the FLIX?

Kurz: (pointing arrogantly at Rorf) The Flax is a net that will trap any ship coming after you!

Rorf: (contemptuous) A net. Oh I see! They stay up here opening a net while I'm down there risking my life!

Zelkin: (smoothly returning Rorf’s sentiments) What's the point of a plan if you don't get away at the end? Pack animal!

(cut to Jothee in D’Argo’s quarters. He picks up his fathers Qualta blade and looks at it curiously - and at his own reflection with it in a mirror. Unbeknownst to him, D'Argo is watching from the doorway)

D'Argo: (softly) Do you know what that is?

Jothee: No. What is it?

D'Argo: It's uh - it's your blood ancestors Qualta blade. My fathers father used it in the Siege of Rekmek.

Jothee: You're kidding me - he fought with this? It weighs a drakik.

D'Argo: It's perfectly balanced. I still use it myself. (there's a moment of silence as Jothee lays the Qualta back in its place. D'Argo continues awkwardly) I'm uh, I'm sorry that we haven't spoken.

Jothee: (his tone is steady and blunt) Don't be sorry. I don't know what to say either.

D'Argo: (he tips back his head and quietly, hesitantly, indicates Jothee’s damaged nose) Who did this to you? Who mutilated you?

Jothee: (unflinching) You did. In a way - you've done everything that's ever happened to me.

D'Argo: (whispering, shocked by the blunt assignment of blame) Jothee... Son... I had to send you away. After your uncle accused me of killing your mother-

Jothee: (cutting him off) I'm not - angry with you. (he changes the subject) Look, what's going on on the ship - (he pauses a second, trying to find the right words but finally just using blunt ones) - you don't expect me to help you save Crichton do you?

D'Argo: (it's dawning on him that he doesn't know who this young man is at all and he is confused by that) I thought you would want to, I-

Jothee: (angrily snapping him off) Listen! I'm interested in saving myself! For 10 cycles, I've been running. Trying to survive.

D'Argo: (frustrated and not knowing what to say) I realize that, I want to know everything that has happened to you-

Jothee: (snapping him off again with furious determination) NO! NO YOU DON'T WANNA KNOW! BELIEVE ME - you don't wanna know. I have done things - many things I am not proud of, to survive. I don't wanna shame you - but I am not going back to that planet. I only just got my freedom back. I'm not gonna risk losing it again. (he storms out of the room leaving D'Argo alone and bewildered)

(cut back to the shadow depository. John lays on the spherical metal frame and waits, still with the scanner at the side of his face. He's not looking so good. Scorpius makes some final adjustments to the scanner before turning away. Natira hovers nearby)

Scorpius: There. He's ready now.

John: (sounding exhausted, sick and a little stoned all at he same time) Oh don't stop now Scorpy. Roll me over and baste the other side.

Natira: (she quickly takes Scorpius' place at John's head and stares at him with morbid fascination while she messes in his hair with her talons) Are you going to take out the implant?

Scorpius: No. (he comes back, having donned an apparatus with red and blue lights on it like the scanner affixed to John's head) I'm going in. (and with that, he waves a hand across his control console and John spasms violently. The scene abruptly shifts to somewhere inside - John's head. It is night. He is standing on a dock. Bright moonlight shimmers on the surface of a lake. John is wearing a pale grey IASA uniform as he suddenly becomes aware of himself standing there looking out over the water)

John: What the he-? (he turns and looks around as Scorpius/Harvey, the neural clone, walks onto the dock and stands looking out at the dark water) This is Sawyers Mill. My dad used to bring me fishing here when I was a kid.

Scorpius/Harvey: This is a place inside your memory John. A place in your brain.

John: In my brain?

Scorpius/Harvey: Yes! We're inside your brain. And no. I'm not Scorpius. But he is. (he looks towards the shore and John looks too - to see Scorpius/Harvey’s twin, the real Scorpius, approaching)

Scorpius: Hello, John. (to Scorpius/Harvey) Have you attained the wormhole information?

Scorpius/Harvey: I believe I've burrowed far enough. But the information was well hidden by the Ancients. I suspect even Crichton is unaware of the specifics. (John looks from one of them to the other as they talk around him)

Scorpius: Is he ready to have the chip removed?

Scorpius/Harvey: Oh, yes.

Scorpius: (he has reached John and stops in front of him but continues to speak over John's shoulder to the clone) I'll call my Command Carrier. (then, to John, as he starts to walk past him) When we reach my ship, and I remove my neural clone - your death will be painless.

John: Screw this! (but as he passes John, Scorpius turns and buries a needle-like device in his neck. John screams and crashes to the dock where he lays as Scorpius continues towards the clone) I can't move. God I can't move.

(cut back to Moya and Talyn hanging hear each other in space. A transport pod drops away from Moya and makes the short transit to Talyn. Cut to Talyn’s Command as Aeryn enters, in pursuit of Crais)

Crais: I'm sorry Aeryn - you're wasting your time if you came here to beg.

Aeryn: (sullen) I'm not begging.

Crais: Choose your own word.

Aeryn: Look Crais - we're all going to die if you don't help us.

Crais: (still on the high road as he touches one of Talyn’s control panels) Will other lives be lost in this attack?

Aeryn: You can have anything you want. Anything.

Crais: (he stops and eyes her) Aeryn Sun - are you... offering yourself? (she makes no response other than to gaze steadily back at him) Crichton, if he's alive, must mean a great deal to you.

Aeryn: You take what you want and I won't stop you.

(cut to soon after, back Moya. D'Argo is alone working on something in a maintenance bay as Jothee enters and walks up behind him)

Jothee: I don't want you to think I'm a coward.

D'Argo: (he turns to face his son) I don't. I've been thinking about what you said earlier. I was wrong to ask you to join us in battle. It's not your fight.

Jothee: No father. If it's your fight, then it's mine too.

D'Argo: (quietly pleased) Thank you. (but at that moment their reconciliation is interrupted by the entrance of Kurz, Teurac and Zelkin)

Zelkin: Ka D'Argo - we need to talk. About the plan.

D'Argo: (muttering to himself) Not again. (then. louder, as he approaches the dastardly trio) Pilot! Would you mind telling these - fools - what we talked about earlier?

Pilot: (dutifully) D'Argo advised me to auto-program the maintenance bay. If you try to mutiny, the chamber will fill with benom gas and render you unconscious.

Zelkin: (completely unimpressed) We have no desire to die Ka D'Argo. But you are a warrior - you must admit this plan seems uh - flawed.

D'Argo: It's more than flawed. It's frelled. Which is why I say we forget about it.

Teurac: Forget it? You think they're just going to let us walk in down there?

D'Argo: Pilot is Moya well enough to do us one more favor?

Pilot: (cut tot him his Den as he speaks) What - kind of favor?

D'Argo: A low level maneuver through atmosphere.

Pilot: I think she might be able to manage it once. I'll ask her.

D'Argo: This is what I think we should do. Moya should prove a distraction, and we go down there, burst through the front doors and storm the place. It's what we do best. (well he's got a point... But before the others can respond, they're interrupted by the entrance of Aeryn)

Aeryn: (her voice is toneless) Are you ready to go down now to get Crichton?

Zelkin: But we all heard his transmission. What if Crichton is worse - and won't be rescued.

Aeryn: Oh that's easy. I put a bullet in Crichton’s head and end it.

(cut back to the high-windowed room in the shadow depository. John lies atop the spherical metal frame, Akkor and Braca join Natira and Scorpius, who has exited John's mind and is resting near his captive)

Braca: The Command Carrier's arriving 6 arns earlier than expected sir.

Scorpius: Well, that's too bad.

Braca: I thought you wanted to leave as soon as possible.

Scorpius: (as he shifts in his seat with a creak of tight leather) I do but uh - good news. I'm always suspicious of good news.

John: Hey Scorpy, why don't you cut me down - isn't torture time over?

Scorpius: (he seems a tad muffed as he rises and walks towards John) I don't torture people John; you misunderstand me. Now that my neural clone has reached the information that I need, I'll remove it. As soon as my Command Carrier arrives. It seems - (but at that moment he experiences a jolt of pain that prevents him from finishing his thought, he growls and holds his head, Natira rises and moves towards him with cautious concern)

John: (mumbling) Aw - whatsamatter? Got a little warm head? How 'bout I change that rod for ya? I got some spares.

Scorpius: (ignoring John, he snaps) Natira! Lock this chamber down. Open it for no one but me! (he gimps hurriedly out)

Akkor: (quietly to Natira) I'll do it. (he and everyone but Natira and John vacate the room. Natira watches them go and then looks back at John and approaches him curiously)

Natira: Human. You are surprising. I've never seen Scorpius worry about anyone as much as you.

John: (his voice is hoarse and sick) Don't be jealous Frau Blucher. He only loves me for my mind. Maybe you should come in and visit sometime.

Natira: Why would I ever want to go inside you?

John: So the Scorpius in my head can tell you exactly how he's going to kill you.

Natira: (the look of shock in her face is quickly replaced by feminine fury) Well I can tell you - you're about to taste blood. (and she lashes out and claws his lip open)

John: (he winces and licks his lip) Was that good for you?

Natira: (she seems pleased as she touches one talon to his bloody lip and then puts the talon in her mouth before turning away) Yes.

(cut to the lobby of the shadow depository. Outside the eternal thunderstorm of the planet crashes and inside Bekhesh and Rorf are trying to be inconspicuous. Bekhesh keeps watch as Rorf pokes furiously at their comm)

Rorf: (frustrated, to Bekhesh who seems clueless) Moya? Anyone! How does this frelling thing work?

Rygel: (his voice is heard on the comm) I hear you Bloodtracker.

Rorf: We're just outside the depository and yes - you were right - the guards aren't looking for a Vorcarian or a Tavlek.

Rygel: (cut briefly to him and Durka’s head) Can you smell Crichton?

Rorf: No but -

Rygel: Why not?

Rorf: Well, it's just that - (but he's cut off by Bekhesh who snatches the comm away from him. Rorf groans as the Tavlek leans close to his face and tattles)

Bekhesh: The problem is he's a lousy tracker! It seems smelling is a females job!

Rygel: (with a weary groan) Aaaawww - FRELL! I don't want to hear excuses - just find Crichton!

Rorf: (furious, his pride wounded) You're no help Bekhesh! Why don't you frell off? Hm? I would have found him by now if it wasn't for you clumping around behind me!

Bekhesh: Fine! From now on, you're on your own. (and he opens his mouth and makes a gagging sound at Rorf)

(cut back to Moya. Zhaan is walking down a corridor when suddenly a jet of vapor plumes out into the hall accompanied by a feeble wheezing sound. She walks towards it and as she reaches the room it came from, another cloud of harmless vapor envelops her. When it clears she sees Teurac sitting in the room, wheezing pitifully)

Zhaan: What's the matter Teurac?

Teurac: (he seems embarrassed and tries to wave her off as he chokes out a response) Nothing! (he coughs a little)

Zhaan: Can you produce flame?

Teurac: Of course!

Zhaan: (she suspiciously approaches the old toad and says firmly-) I will not let you endanger the rest of us. Stark's plan depends upon your ability to produce flame. If you cannot - I must warn the others. (she turns to leave)

Teurac: (he quickly decides to come clean rather than face that humiliation) No! I still have flame nutrients. But can no longer tap into them. Unless -

Zhaan: Unless what?

Teurac: If you have takar serum.

Zhaan: (apprehensively) But that's poison.

(cut back to the shadow depository. To a great empty confluence of corridors lined with stately gothic pillars and latticework grates. Suddenly the incongruous form of Rorf leaps out from a side hall and does a little ninja dance with his Very Large Gun to check for the presence of enemies in all directions)

Rorf: (as he proceeds to edge along the wall he speaks into his comm) Pilot! Answer this frelling thing will you?

Pilot: (cut briefly to him in his Den as he speaks) Ah, I'm sorry Rorf - I've been training all my sensors on healing Moya. (he sounds a little forlorn, as if no one wants to hear about his problems)

Rorf: (and indeed he has no interest in Pilot and Moya’s troubles at all) I got through the waste vents, and Crichton's on the level above the main chamber he's- (but at that moment he comes to another junction in the corridor and finds himself face to face with Akkor and a few guards. Rorf snarls at them but without a word, one of the guards clubs him and he drops like a sack of Gravy Train)

Pilot: (cut back to him in his Den as he calls mildly) Rorf? Rorf?

(cut to soon after in the high-windowed room where John is still captive on the metal frame. Rorf has been brought there and is chained sitting down, to the sphere that John lies on top of. His nose has been bloodied and he is being interrogated. Akkor, Scorpius and Natira are present. John's eyes are wide and alert as he listens)

Rorf: (to Akkor who is holding Rorf’s head in his hands and is in charge of the interrogation) I've told you! I don't - know - this human!

Scorpius: (smoothly) Bounty hunter - why are you here?

Rorf: (with exaggerated politeness) Well I was planning to make a deposit. (he laughs)

Akkor: Of what? Fur lice?

Natira: (stepping up alongside Akkor and Rorf) Akkor, back away and shut up.

Akkor: I'm just doing-

Natira: (cutting him off) Back away now. (he does)

Scorpius: (bending down to look into Rorf’s face) Bounty hunter - this is the last time I will ask. What are you doing here?

Rorf: Get - frelled! You know what I was doing! I was casing the joint for Zenetan pirates! I didn't know you were here and I don't know who he is.

Scorpius: (he looks back at Natira and murmurs with some concern) Zenetan Pirates...

Natira: (in a pleasantly civilized tone) Please - allow me to question the animal. Sometimes a female’s touch...

Scorpius: (he eyes her and then says quietly to Rorf) You should have answered me. I was trying to save you. (he pats Rorf’s chest before stepping away. Rorf knows he's in trouble now and stares up at Natira with pure dread as she raises the appendages on her head, tipped with talonned stingers. They fan out around her face in her full-blown Medusa look)

Natira: (she approaches him and leans close, he squirms and whines uncomfortably) Animal. You have lovely eyes. I love red eyes. Very sensual. Very unusual. (she suddenly grabs his neck and one of the talonned appendages slams down near his right eye, holding it open as her other head arms wave nearby) Animal. What are you doing here?

Rorf: (terrified but stubborn) I - told you-

Natira: (cutting him off) Do not lie again! Who were you communicating to? And what is the plan to free the human?

Rorf: (his voice is unsteady with fear) What plan? I don't know of any plan.

Natira: (sensually) Animal. I love your eyes. Your - lying - eyes (and with that, using one long, particularly sharp talon, she gouges his left one out. There is a brief interlude of Rorf’s screams, which are like the howling of a wolf, before the scene shifts to moments later. The Vorcarian is pressing a rag to his left eye socket and spilling everything to Natira and Scorpius)

Rorf: They plan to destroy the generator! Then attack in the darkness. The darkness is the key! Pleeaase! Don't take my other eye! (he breaks down in piteous sobs as Scorpius looks closely at him)

Scorpius: Natira, my sensors tell me that this animal is telling the truth. Braca, come with me. If we secure the generator, their plan will fail. (they exit leaving Rorf mourning his eye and John grimly staring)

(cut to one of Moya’s transport pods. Aeryn, D'Argo, Durka’s head, Jothee, Rygel, Stark, Teurac and Zhaan are aboard and preparing for their assault on the shadow depository)

D'Argo: (in a tone of command as he passes out weapons and lays out his meat and potatoes plan) We will have to be fast! Once we land on the planet, Moya is going to run a distraction. Teurac, Zhaan and Stark, I want you to go through the waste vents into the depository and destroy the generators. Aeryn and I will meet up with Bekhesh. Once the power is gone we'll be able to storm through the center chamber doors and rescue Crichton.

Jothee: What about me? I thought I was going too.

D'Argo: You're going to stay here, on the transport pod, with Rygel.

Jothee: (angry) I said I'd go! That’s why I-

D'Argo: (cutting him off) Look it is NOT your fight! (gentler, but firm) I've lost you once before, I am not going to lose you again.

(cut to the shadow depository which has been thrown into high alert thanks to poor Rorf’s information. The place is swarming with security guards hustling to take up posts. Scorpius is hustling too, flanked by Braca and Akkor)

Scorpius: Braca - while I secure the generator, get to the monitor and be my eyes and ears.

Braca: Yessir. (he peels off for the security room)

Scorpius: (to Akkor) Tell me - Is there a back way to the generator?

Akkor: Yes.

(cut back to the transport pod)

Aeryn: Pilot we'll be touching down on the planet in 30 microts.

Pilot: (cut briefly to him in his Den) Good luck Aeryn. Good luck to you all.

Aeryn: Thank you Pilot. Rygel, I'm handing control over to you - now! Let's do it. (and with that, having placed Rygel and Durka’s head in control of the pod, she jumps out of her seat and scrambles to action with the rest of the assault team)

(meanwhile, back on Moya, Pilot comms Chiana who's been left to direct the faithless Zenetans)

Pilot: Starting descent now. Chiana, tell the Zenetans to prepare for a low level maneuver.

Chiana: (cut briefly to her in the Command) You got it Pilot. (and with that Moya touches the upper atmosphere of the shadow depository planet, kicking up a long trail of fire in her wake)

(cut back to the shadow depository where Natira stands in front of the high windows that afford a panoramic view of the stormy planet. The clouds seem to have broken a little and some watery sunlight filters through the sullen clouds. John can see it from here he is strapped to the metal frame)

Natira: (almost smiling as she looks at the sky) Blue eyes, look out at that. That is the last sight your eyes will ever see.

John: You are a sick puppy. Scorpius has to kill me and you're still getting your jollies.

Natira: Oh, he doesn't - he doesn't have to kill you blue eyes.

John: What? He - he can get the chip out without hurting me?

Natira: (her own red eyes have gone green as her head appendages fan out and she approaches John) Oh, yes. (but Scorpius and his chips aren't what she wants to talk about) First red. And now blue. Scorpius wants your brain. He said nothing about your eyes. (she sighs with deliciously sensual pleasure as she leans close to his face, the wickedly sharp arms of her head move slowly in front of his eyes, ever so provocative) Blue eyes... so soft. Very rare. (but she's interrupted by a crackling sound like distant thunder - yet not thunder. She whirls about to face the windows and sees something headed towards her at high speed) What the frell is that?

John: (his voice almost cracks with longing) That's Moya. (and the great Leviathan and her Pilot swoop down among the spidery skyscrapers of the depository city. They roar so close to the high windows of the room that for a moment they blot out the view entirely causing the building to shudder and the glass of the huge windows to shatter. Natira staggers and aboard Moya, Chiana lets loose an exuberant whoop "BRRRR-AI-YIYYIYIYIYAAH!!")

Pilot: (cut briefly to him in his Den as he comms the transport pod) You're clear to land Rygel! Get in there now! (cut to a view of the pod arcing in and skidding to a stop on the plaza of the shadow depository)

(cut to Braca in the security room where he observes the landing of the pod and the crew leaping out, guns ablaze, to start taking down the guards posted there)

Braca: (coming Scorpius) Sir we have a problem.

(cut briefly to the firefight on the plaza where our crew and their allies are efficiently mopping up the security force. Bekhesh, gauntleted and as deadly as he is ugly, has joined them)

Aeryn: (calling her companions on) Go! Bekhesh! Take out the camera! (and as Braca watches back in the security room, the Tavlek pauses, looks up at the camera, raises his arm and fires. The camera goes dead. Braca looks apprehensive. Cut to Scorpius striding through the corridors of the depository amid dozens of security personnel running around as alarm strobes flash)

Scorpius: Mobilize every available soldier. Have them stand by outside the main chamber. (black-garbed guards with their faces covered by sleek black helmets, begin to fill the corridors of the depository beyond the lobby)

(cut back to the high-windowed room where the wind is whipping and Natira is no longer In The Mood. she's retracted her head appendages and is hurrying about preparing herself for the worst which includes arming herself with a gun that's like a portable cannon. Rorf remains chained and John lays atop the metal frame sphere and calls to her with newfound strength)

John: (almost crowing) OOOHHH! DEAR! DEAR! DEAR! WHAT HAS MOYA DONE HERE? YOU ARE SO SCREWED, MEDUSA! I TELL YOU WHAT, YOU GET ME OUT OF HERE I'LL HELP YOU SAVE YOUR LI-IFE!

Natira: Why do you want to escape now human?

John: You just told me that I could get the chip out of my head without dying! When you get me outta here I'll give you the damn chip. Hell, you can have the wormhole technology. As a bonus you can have one of my eyes!

Rorf: LET US GO YOU BITCH!

(cut back to the chaos of the battle between our crew and the depository guards who are dying loudly on all sides as Stark, Teurac and Zhaan make for the depository generator)

Stark: Generator's this way!

Zhaan: Quick! (the smoke of battle and the strobe lights of the depository alarm system cover the last steps to the generator room . They arrive on a catwalk overlooking the great angular dynamo) Teurac! There's their generator! Burn it!

Teurac: (a gruff demand) Give me the takar serum! Give it to me now!

Zhaan: Are you sure? It's 7 units. It's a lethal dose!

Teurac: Not for us! Younger Sheyangs have survived 9! GIVE IT TO ME! There is no other way! (Zhaan whips out a hypo gun with the serum and hits him with it. The scene shifts immediately to Aeryn, D'Argo and Bekhesh who are mowing down the depository staff by the dozen as they try to get to John. The scene is an utter chaos of flying bodies, explosions, sparks, noise and smoke. Their progress seems to have been halted by some large gun the defense is using. It must be some gun because EVERYONE is toting weapons the size of large vacuum cleaners)

D'Argo: We have to get that frelling gun! (Aeryn acknowledges and moves forward with Bekhesh, D'Argo covers but suddenly comes face to face with a guard who has an absurdly large gun - presumably the one they're trying to get. D'Argo makes to take him out with his Qualta - but it misfires so her heaves it at the guard in its blade form and it impales the man through the chest. He looks stunned. Aeryn blandly eyes D'Argo)

Aeryn: Good shot.

D'Argo: I was aiming for between his eyes. (the guard keels over backwards, dead. D'Argo is later seen with the absurdly large gun)

(cut back to Stark, Teurac and Zhaan at the generator)

Zhaan: (without taking her eyes off the door which she and Stark are covering with normal-sized guns) Teurac! What's taking so long? You have to destroy the generator now!

Teurac: (the old toad is leaning against the wall, in a corner, gasping and groaning terribly) I'm trying! My chest - the fuel is there, but I can't reach it! (he's almost sobbing with frustration)

Zhaan: You must hurry! They'll be here soon! (and at that moment - Scorpius enters from the back door to the generator room with some guards)

Scorpius: I'm here already Zhaan. (Teurac startles and edges deeper into his corner as the guards grab Stark and Scorpius takes Zhaan) Put the weapon down. (she makes no move, and he thrusts a gun to her neck and says in his deep, harsh, Scarran voice) Put the weapon down now!

(cut to Aeryn, Bekhesh and D'Argo, they are tiring and still haven't made it to where John is supposed to be)

D'Argo: Why hasn't the power gone off?

Aeryn: It's that frelling Sheyang; he couldn't do it. I knew I shouldn't have trusted him! (Bekhesh is idly taking potshots at dead depository staff as they trudge wearily on. They come to a door) Do you think there's anyone on the other side of this door? (cut briefly to a shot of a small army amassing on the other side of that very door and then quickly to Braca observing from the security room. The scene then shifts back to Aeryn, Bekhesh and D'Argo standing outside the door)

Bekhesh: (impatient and pumped up) Are we gonna do this or not?

Aeryn: I don't see that we have any other choice.

D'Argo: None whatsoever.

(cut back to our captive heroes at the generator room. Scorpius paces with frustration, trying to hail Natira while the guards hold the disarmed Banik and Delvian. They've missed Teurac who has kept quiet and hunkered down back in his corner)

Scorpius: NATIRA! Natira why aren't you answering me? (and at that moment old Teurac struggles to his feet and draws attention to himself - as well as the aim of the guns of every one of the guards)

Teurac: Scorpius! Don't worry about her - worry about ME!

Guard: Shoot him!

Akkor: (softly) No.

Scorpius: (quickly, he seems amazed by what he is seeing) No don't! He's a Sheyang!

Teurac: That's right! I'll explode if you shoot me! Good-bye Zhaan. This is not your fault. I always knew it had to end like this.

Zhaan: Teurac! (but with that, Teurac raises his gun and shoots himself there beneath the shadow depository generator. The resulting explosion is spectacular, engulfing the huge room in flame and causing the entire building to shudder. Bodies fly, including Stark and Zhaan, who are blown clear out the door as the Sheyang fire incinerates everything it touches)

(cut back to Aeryn, Bekhesh and D'Argo at the door with the small army on the other side as the building trembles from the fiery demise of Teurac and the power goes out. In the security room, Braca’s cameras go off too)

D'Argo: (relieved and excited) They did it! They killed the power!

Bekhesh: You two go to night vision. (evidently the dark is not a problem for Tavleks - or perhaps the visor that covers his eyes adapts his vision to darkness. Aeryn and D'Argo each don a monocular that shines dimly blue over their right eyes)

Aeryn: I can't see - mine's not working.

D'Argo: (as the door is opened and he starts through) Just shoot! (the scene is more balletic chaos as the threesome pile through into the space beyond the door, guns ablaze. Aeryn shoots blindly and continues slapping fretfully at her eyepiece which gives her a view of the carnage taking place as if in many still frames)

Aeryn: (to no-one in particular) Wait - I think I did it. My night visions are finally working. (of course by that time the shooting has stopped and she finishes her sentence is black silence. Then emergency lights come on casting a dim glow over the scene. She. Bekhesh and D'Argo are standing in the middle of a corridor heaped with the bodies of depository guards. They look around, seeming a little surprised by the destruction they hath wrought)

Bekhesh: For someone who couldn't see - you did okay.

(cut to Scorpius, who has survived the Sheyangs suicide too. He is moving through a corridor lit by a screaming man who is on fire. Other members of the security force stagger about in disarray, helping wounded comrades as others cry for help. Scorpius ignores them all)

Scorpius: (on comm) Braca! Braca, do you see Crichton?

Braca: (cut briefly to him n the nonfunctional security room) No! The monitor's gone dead!

Scorpius: Then get me some emergency power NOW! (he changes channels) Natira - Natira I know you're listening to me! If you're betraying me - if anything happens to Crichton...

(cut back to the wind-swept high-windowed room where Natira stands, indecisive, between John restrained on the metal frame and Scorpius snarling over comm)

John: C'MON NATIRA! YOU'VE GOTTA MAKE UP YOUR MIND QUICK!

Scorpius: Answer me!

John: SCORPY'S GONNA KILL YOU NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS HERE! YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME? GO IN MY HEAD AND ASK THE CLONE HOW YOU'RE GONNA DIE! ASK HIM!

(the arrogant dominatrix looks around, frightened and confused, and takes a step towards John. Moments later - cut to the Sawyers Mill of John's mind. He is still lying paralyzed on the dock with Scorpius' paralyzing device embedded in his neck. Natira approaches)

John: Natira - ask him.

Natira: Where is he?

Scorpius/Harvey: (he steps right up, seeming positively eager) I'm here Natira.

Natira: (she quickly moves to face him) Tell me, Scorpius would never harm me, would he?

Scorpius/Harvey: (he indelicately looks the scorpion-lady up and down, laying his hands appreciatively on her) Now I know why Scorpius found you so - enticing. To possess a beauty like you? To feel - (he runs his hands slowly down over her breasts as he murmurs-) - all of this.

Natira: Crichton's right. Scorpius is going to kill me.

Scorpius/Harvey: Oh my lovely - how fortunate you are. (he leans close to her face and she leans back from him) Your death will be painless. (he walks away)

John: (his voice is muffled, partly from the paralysis and partly from the fact that his face is pressed against the dock) Natira! Come get this fork out of my neck! Forget about him! (she turns and trots girlishly over to him and kneels down beside him)

Natira: If I take it out - will you get me on Moya and away from Scorpius? Do we have a deal?

(soon after - cut to Aeryn, Bekhesh and D'Argo as they storm the high-windowed room only to find it and the metal frame - empty. They shout over the roar of the wind blowing in through the shattered windows)

Bekhesh: Where is Crichton? You said he was here!

D'Argo: This is where Rorf said he would be, they must have moved him!

Aeryn: Obviously!

(cut to another part of the dark and ruined building. Natira is herding John and Rorf with her small cannon through a smoky, corridor bounded by latticework walls and lit by sporadic flashes of light. Rorf’s eye is bandaged now and John seems to be struggling, holding his head. The voice of Scorpius/Harvey is talking to him and he's muttering back at it madly, willing it to stop)

Natira: There's a way out on the lower level, we must move faster! (but John gimps to a halt)

Rorf: (grabbing him with concern) What's the matter Crichton?

John: Scorpius is in my head and he's not gonna let me go!

Natira: (she comes up from behind and shoves them with her whacking great gun) MOVE!

Rorf: (turning on her furiously) Don't push him, bitch!

John: (at the end of his tether - and probably at the neural clone, not Rorf and Natira) JUST STOP IT!

Rorf: (yelling at John now) Don't you tell me to stop it! She took out my eye! (but at that moment, there's an explosion as if an entry is being blasted somewhere and shouts as men appear in the corridor behind them)

Natira: Peacekeepers!

(cut to Stark and Zhaan, also having miraculously survived Teurac’s suicide, fleeing through a corridor)

Zhaan: on comm) We're on our way to the pick-up point Rygel! Come and get us now!

(cut to Jothee and Rygel in the getaway pod)

Rygel: On our way Zhaan. (but Jothee thinks he can take the little guy and moves to tale control of the pod)

Jothee: Out of the way ya slug! I'm gonna- (not cross the slug with the PK head-on -a-stick. Rygel snarls and lunges for the boys arm with his teeth but the kid has good reflexes and snatches his hand back from the pod control console with a yelp)

Braca: (cut briefly to him in the security room. He seems to have gotten some emergency power back to his cameras) Intruders in the landing bay, get a squadron up there now.

Scorpius: (cut briefly to him in another corridor, on comm) Braca! Braca signal the Zenetan Pirates.

(cut to Moya’s Command where Chiana, Kurz and Zelkin wait. The silence is broken by Braca’s voice speaking to the pirate by a tiny, hearing aide-like device now seen in his right ear)

Braca: Zelkin - deploy the Flax. (Chiana looks up sharply)

Zelkin: (with his hand over his ear) Sorry?

Brace: I repeat - deploy the Flax.

Chiana: (suspicious) Who are you speaking to? (she strides over to him) Is that a comm? (but before she can do anything, he lashes out and twists her arm behind her back, pinning her)

Zelkin: (coolly, as Chiana struggles and writhes against his body, trying to free herself) Eas- easy girl. Aw - I didn't know you cared. Kurz, release the Flax.

Chiana: (screaming as the aurora light of the Flax fans out around Moya trapping her - and their own transport pod) NOOOOOO!

(cut to the pod - stopped dead in space with the usual violent jolt as if something solid had been hit)

Jothee: (he's thrown back into his seat by the impact with the Flax - but bounces back up quickly) Why the frell aren't we moving?

Pilot: (cut to him in his Den as Moya shudders and strains) It's the Flax! We're trapped!

(cut back to the depository where Natira is still pushing John and Rorf onward. Every step seems to be torture for John who's clutching his head and face with both hands as the voice of the clove whispers in his head. He roars and screams back at it. But then they round an corner - and come face to face with a contingent of PKs, crouched in battle positions - and Scorpius, who walks calmly through them towards John. Natira and Rorf duck back for cover. But for John, external reality and what's going on in his brain have ceased to differentiate)

John: (he stares at Scorpius and bellows incoherently) GO AWAY SCORPIUS!

Natira: MOVE IT!

Rorf: SCORPIUS!

Scorpius: (calmly, as the soldiers open fire) Don't hit Crichton - I need him alive.

Rorf: CRICHTON GET BACK! (but John just stands there in the middle of the hallway nattering and babbling as the clone whispers endlessly in his head "There's no escape John." As he and Scorpius stand there, staring at each other down the hall - which is now lit up by massive gunfire. Akkor is present and Rorf sees him take aim at John. The Vorcarian roars-) NOOOOOOO! (-and springs out from his cover, knocking John away and taking the shot himself. John is thrown against a wall and this seems to momentarily break the clones hold on him and he grabs a gun and piles back into the hall and standing over the mortally wounded Rorf - he shoots Akkor dead)

Natira: Let's go! We have a deal Crichton! (John stands with the gun, facing Scorpius as Rorf screams for his mate)

Rorf: Rooooorrrrrrg!

Scorpius: (the gunfire and Rorf’s howls seem to grow faint as Scorpius fixes John with a malevolent stare and his lips move, whispering) Leave him John.

Natira: Come on!

Scorpius: (as Scorpius advances slowly towards John, John screams too, unable to pull the trigger of the gun he has trained on the half-Scarrans face. Whispering fills John's ears from within and without) Leave him. And come to me. (slowly, John lowers his gun without taking his eyes off Scorpius)

Natira: CRICHTON! (pleading) Take me to Moya! (he ignores her - his eyes riveted on his steadily approaching nemesis) Frell you Crichton! Die alone. (she turns to flee but as soon as she is clear of him she disappears in brief volley of bright gunfire as intense as the finale of a fireworks show)

In the short silence that follows Scorpius pauses and he and the hypnotized John face one another again. But at that moment the cavalry arrives in the form of Aeryn Bekhesh and D'Argo skidding around the corner behind John. Instantly all hell breaks loose yet again. In the violent storm of pulsefire that follows Aeryn pushes John aside, out of the center of the hall and Bekhesh grabs Rorf and drags him off to the side as well.

Rorf: My female! My female! D'Argo! You must go back to her! You must tell her!

D'Argo: I will! I will! (gunfire slams close to them as Bekhesh defends and Rorf dies in D’Argo’s arms)

Bekhesh: They're coming from both sides, we're trapped!

(cut to Stark and Zhaan, they are concealing themselves near the pick-up point and can see parts of the fighting below them, people fleeing. The whole depository has descended into anarchy by now)

Zhaan: (hissing urgently into her comm as running guards veer dangerously close to their hiding place) Rygel? Rygel! Why aren't you here? Rygel! (but she gets a response from someone else)

Crais: (cut briefly to him on Talyn’s Command) Zhaan - is that you Zhaan?

Zhaan: (surprised) Crais? Is that you? Has Talyn returned?

(cut back to Moya’s Command. The powerfully built Zelkin has Chiana’s head effortlessly pressed against a table with one hand)

Zelkin: Sorry about this, but Scorpius will kill me if I don't hold Moya for him. (but at that moment, he is interrupted by the sound of something powering up. Outside the main viewport, the aurora-like light that the Flax gives off when something is straining against it, begins shimmering violently. Suddenly, there is a massive explosion that shakes Moya. Talyn has fired a shot that has broken through the pirates net)

Pilot: (cut briefly to him in his Den) We're free Chiana!

Rygel: (cut briefly to him and Jothee in the pod as he says with wonder-) The Flax - is gone!

Zelkin: (on comm, with dread) Kurz? Kurz what's happening? KURZ!

Pilot: (cut briefly to him in his Den as he says with relish) Kurz is dead! Talyn has destroyed your ship!

Zelkin: I'll take Moya then.

Chiana: You're not taking anything! (and with some newfound fury combined with Zelkin's distraction - she powers up off the table and struggles with the burly pirate for possession of his gun - suddenly - it goes off between them and they both freeze. Chiana gasps and chokes as Zelkin smiles sat her and says-)

Zelkin: Oh... What a waste. (and he keels over dead, pulling Chiana down with him - she seems unharmed - but gasps with fear and the strain of her battle to the death)

(cut back to our heroes, hunkered down In the shadow depository corridor, making their last stand between the closing ranks of PKs and whatever security guards are still alive after the days carnage. Their world is all explosions, fire, screams, flying bodies and smoke now. But then Aeryn hears a familiar voice on her comm. The scene shifts between the speakers in their various locations, Crais on Talyn, Aeryn with Bekhesh, D'Argo and John near Scorpius, Stark and Zhaan near the pick-up point and Rygel and Jothee in the pod as they communicate via comm)

Crais: Aeryn?

Aeryn: Crais?

Crais: Talyn has just destroyed the Zenetan ship.

Aeryn: Have you come back to help us?

Crais: Let's just say that I'm here.

Aeryn: All right. Hang on a microt. Stark? Zhaan?

Zhaan: Yes Aeryn, we're here.

Aeryn: Do you remember from the blueprints what runs parallel to the internal corridors?

Stark: I think they're reverse pressurization chambers.

Aeryn: Where do they lead?

Stark: To the depository.

Aeryn: Perfect. Rygel?

Rygel: Yes?

Aeryn: (talking fast as she shoots and plans) Pick up Zhaan and Stark from the waste vents and come and get us when Talyn's finished.

Jothee: Finishes what?

Aeryn: Don't ask. Crais - target off my comm to destroy the depository.

Crais: Talyn’s firepower is massive Aeryn. How will you survive the damage?

Aeryn: We'll be safe. Just give us 90 microts and obviously try not to hit my signal with a direct strike. (John alone of out heroes is not fighting. He's sitting, looking stunned as Scorpius bends his mind towards him from not far away, his nose is bleeding and Scorpius' voice echoes in his head, causing the din of the battle to fade for him, "Crichton - you want the chip gone don't you?" Aeryn rises and calls the others) All right - follow me!

D'Argo: Follow you where?

Aeryn: Here. (using her Huge Gun, she blasts a hole in the latticework of the corridor wall. Meanwhile John looks in puzzlement at his own blood on his fingers as Scorpius containers to murmur in his mind "You want the pain gone? Come to mecometome...") Go down to the depository, hide in a container - that should protect us from Talyn’s attack.

Bekhesh: Should?

Aeryn: You got a better idea?

Bekhesh: Well... (he ducks through the hole in the wall)

John: (he slowly struggles to his feet, announcing in a dazed, sleepy voice) Aeryn? I'm uh - I'm gonna go to Scorpius.

Aeryn: (snapping) Frell you are! (and she puts him back onto the floor with a swift martial arts style kick) D'Argo! Carry him! (and with a few parting shots, D'Argo hoists John over his shoulder and ducks after Aeryn through the wall)

Crais: (cut briefly to him, speaking to Pilot form Talyn) It's what Aeryn wants us to do Pilot. Destroy the entire building. (cut back to Aeryn leading the way down a relatively quiet hall, the sound of their pursuers in the distance)

Aeryn: This way! (she comes to a door and tries the handle) It's frelling locked!

Braca: (cut to him in the security room, he's almost smiling, thinking they're cornered) They're in the depositing room. (well actually they're not, but they will be in a moment)

Stark: (cut to him and Zhaan waiting at the pick-up point as he watches approaching guards carrying flashlights with their Big Guns) Zhaan - we've got company!

Zhaan: (on comm) Rygel? Rygel!

Rygel: (cut to him on the pod as he zeros in on the depository) Almost there Zhaan (cut back to Aeryn, Bekhesh and D'Argo at the door to the depository vault control room)

Bekhesh: (to Aeryn) Move! (she does and the Tavlek uses his gauntlet to blast the door open. They quickly pass through. An open container with some boxes inside is sitting just inside one of the huge blue vault doors)

Aeryn: Right! Into the container!

Bekhesh: I didn't plan on becoming a deposit.

Rygel: (cut to the pod coming in to land on the depository plaza as he's heard on comm) Touching down now Zhaan.

Zhaan: (to Stark as they quickly vacate their hiding place) Let's go! Come on!

Pilot: (cut to him in his Den) Talyn firing in - 20 microts.

Crais: (cut to him on Talyn) Locking on now. (cut to Chiana on Moya’s Command as Pilot announces-)

Pilot: Talyn firing in 15 microts.

Jothee: (cut to him in the pod with Rygel, slamming the door after Stark and Zhaan) Alright they're in! Let's go! Gogogogogo! (Rygel’s tiny hands fly over the controls of the pod in response. Back inside the depository, Aeryn, Bekhesh, John and D'Argo get settled in the container and Scorpius, moves alone, slowly, deliberately, inexorably, through the stuttering gloom of the building towards them)

Crais: (cut to him on Talyn saying softly to his ship) Wait for my signal. (cut back to the container where Aeryn urges on her friends)

Aeryn: In!

Pilot: 10 microts. (as Scorpius paces, unaware of what is coming) 9 (cut to the grim stare of Crais) - 8 - 7 - (cut to the container door swinging shut on our heroes in the vault room) - 6 - 5 - (cut back to Crais taking a breath) - 4 - 3 - (cut to Pilots lips as he utters the last digits) - 2 - 1 - (cut to the container door sealing shut and then to Crais)

Crais: Fire.

And with that - all fiery hell from above is unleashed upon the shadow depository whose great towers wobble, tilt, and topple amid the sound of screaming metal and explosions in a giant ball of dust and debris that rises as high as the tower once stood.

(cut to some time later, back on Moya. Aeryn, Bekhesh, D'Argo and John have been recovered from the container that did indeed protect them as they'd counted on it to. They also managed to scoop up the contents of theirs and a few other containers by the look of it. Rygel is in the maintenance bay sitting in from of a great box full to the brim of a veritable pirates treasure of valuables and gloating. Zhaan sits nearby looking contemplative and Stark stands off to one side, arms folded. Looking grim)

Rygel: (chortling giddily with glee to Chiana who fingers the treasure listlessly) Mine, mine, mine!. Can I have this? Can this be mine? We can all have anything we want now! Right? Any food, any female - anything! Right? Right?

Chiana: (unenthusiastically) Yeah.

Rygel: (referring to Stark and Zhaan, whose heads are bowed) Ooooohhhh - don't be like them! You're like me Chiana! (with gusto) We did it! This is not like before - this won't eat the ship! So cheer up! we got Crichton back - and Aeryn and D'Argo and Jothee -and we're rich!

Chiana: (softly, sadly with an understanding of the price that was paid) Perfect.

Zhaan: Yes but Moya is still extremely ill. Pilot says that she may never fully recover.

Stark: And Rorf and Teurac lost their lives.

Rygel: So? They knew the risks.

Bekhesh: (he strides past them, balancing a large black box on one shoulder and without stopping or looking at them, he says crisply) Don't worry about Rorf and Teurac. On my oath - I will deliver their shares to their families. Farewell my friends. And thank you for teaching me to kill again. (Zhaan watches him go with a haunted look on her face)

(cut to Talyn’s Command as Aeryn enters. Crais is behind her and she says, without looking at him-)

Aeryn: (stone-faced) I have to thank you Crais. If you hadn't have returned we all would be dead.

Crais: (he strolls towards her) As much as I would like to take credit for it - I did nothing.

Aeryn: Your attack saved us.

Crais: I had little control. Talyn came to free Moya -himself.

Aeryn: (her tone is dead) You didn't command him?

Crais: No. He acted alone. As much as any of us would want, he has the instincts of a warrior and does exactly as he pleases. (Aeryn turns and makes only the briefest of eye contact with him before striding past him to leave. Crais stops her with an inquiry called over his shoulder) How is Crichton? Today...

(cut to John, sitting alone in his cell back on Moya. He has his makeshift chess set out in front of him but the chessmen are all tumbled on their sides in disarray on the board - only the black king stands. John is rolling one of the chessmen between his hands and staring into space as he sings tunelessly to himself)

John: Daisy... Daisy... (at that moment D'Argo appears in the doorway with Jothee in tow) Give me your answer do...

D'Argo: John - I've brought my son, Jothee, to thank you. (but John doesn't seem to hear him and using both hands, he tries to place the chessman he's holding down on the board)

John: ...I'm half... - OOOwhoa! - (he jumps back from the table as he fumbles the chessman and it joins to others laying scattered about. Then he goes on singing) - ...crazy.. - (he scrabbles frantically at the pieces but his spastic hands cannot bring a single chessman other than the black king to an upright position and his listless singing takes on a frantic tone as the voice of Scorpius/Harvey in his head repeats his name over and over and over...) ...all for the love of... you... (he flails at the air around his head, trying to silence the relentless voice. Jothee stands behind his father and stares at the crazy antics of this madman but D'Argo looks pained and grief-stricken as he moves quickly to stand in front of John and calm him)

D'Argo: Sshhhh...

John: (flapping his hands at his head, he stammers) He's here and um - he blames me. Blames me for killing Scorpius, so I've been trying to... But I can't - (but Scorpius/Harvey is nattering his name over and over and over in his head and he can't hold his thought. He starts to turn away, mumbling insanely. But D'Argo seizes him and cradling John's face in his hands, makes him focus)

D'Argo: But you WHAT John?

John: (he stares at D'Argo for a long moment before saying, in a perfectly lucid tone) D'Argo - kill me. D'Argo please - kill me.

They stand there gazing at one another in silence. John's red-rimmed eyes are pleading and desperate and helpless to help himself. D'Argo strokes his friends face gently with one thumb and his own eyes are full of heartbreak and compassion.

THE END