Sons and Lovers

The episode opens with the sound of orgasmic moaning from Chiana. As her high-pitched gasping and croaking fill the air, the scene resolves to Rygel, sitting alone in the center chamber. He's listening to her on the audio of a portable clamshell viewer and is anxious to get the visuals as well. He thumps the recalcitrant device and mutters-

Rygel: Work frell you, work! (his efforts are rewarded by the appearance of a grainy image, like a cheap porno flick. He grunts with lecherous pleasure at the sight of Chiana’s naked back, twisting and grinding away, and he reaches up to stroke his earbrow as he watches the hand of a youthful male slide over the small of her back. Rygel, the old stud of vast royal harems, smiles wistfully...)

While Rygel takes in the peepshow, the scene shifts outside to space. The black void is alive and filled with color, the brilliant red, blue and purple swirls of a vast nebula. And then a vast cylindrical space station edges into view, It's silver and crystalline components reflect the colors of the nebula. Moya is docked at a huge ring-shaped unit, nose down. She looks like a bronze bud standing out from the trunk of some great plant.

No self-respecting space station would be without an outlaw bar and this one is no exception. Cut to inside the great station where John is sitting and talking to the barkeep as electronic music thumps softly and a multi-species crowd mingles in the dimly lit room. There's even bar food, it looks like foot-long french fries standing Belgian-style in containers on the bar.

John: (he's been slaking his thirst for awhile and he's slurring-) See, to me it's unbelievable. Y'know? I can come to the Mall of the Uncharted Territories, buy anything I want 'cos I'm rich and that leather S&M faced wacko Scorpy clone? He's-he's, locked in here - (he taps his forehead as he natters on) - so, you know, I- (his inebriated monologue is interrupted by a distant metallic clang and the space station lurches violently. he looks around, but turbulence only makes him forget where he was in his sentence and he barely misses a beat as he starts over again. The barkeep, whose name is Moordil, is a massive, many-armed creature like a cross between a spider, walrus and human. He has long blond hair and a fez, and he looks past John, as if apprehensive at the bump) - with all - y'know everything, is going to be just fine. But no! My friend, she's sick, so we gotta find a place where she can heal- (he notices the barkeeps blank gaze) - and you have no idea what I'm talkin' about, do ya?

Moordil: No. (the bar is shaken by another sharp tremor. John and Moordil steady themselves against the bar counter)

John: What the hell's goin' on out there? (nearby a pair of liens who've been listening to John's drunken spiel laugh quietly. They are human in appearance and are attired in rather arresting outfits that consist of thick black straps which reveal strategic squares of their buff flesh)

Moordil: (he speaks with a distinct Russian accent and his body rises up behind him like the great round body of a spider) Gamma disturbances are quite common in this area.

John: Are you talkin' like, storms?

Moordil: Oh yes. They're no problem. (at that moment D'Argo lopes into the bar, all excited)

D'Argo: John!

John: (yelling enthusiastically back) Hey yo Heavy D! Hey man have you tried one of these things? (he peers deeply into his drink as he points out its features to D'Argo) They're terrible, but once you get past the blue slime? Underneath - pure aviation fuel!

D'Argo: (gleeful) Yeah, yeah- Look what I got me and Chiana! (he plops down a couple of things the size of large skillets onto the bar) They're Union Tattoos! (John makes a sound of acknowledgement that clearly indicates he hasn't a clue. Neither does Moordil who stares at them with a perplexed look on his face) They're burned into our skin! (Moordil recoils a little and looks up at D'Argo, as if wondering what kind of weirdo this fleshy-headed guy is anyway)

Moordil: (very softly) ...ugh...

John: (he sucks his lips in and says) Cool.

D'Argo: (all shy and happy and embarrassed and excited) You know, I- I never though I was going to get married again, but then- (John's head is bobbing silently with something that isn't quite in supportive of D’Argo’s rapture. Moordil's eyes flick from one of them to the other as he watches this little drama with unabashed fascination) What?

John: What?

D'Argo: Have you been talking to Chiana?

John: Nope. No. (the pair of black strapped aliens are listening too)

D'Argo: (all gooshy, thinking he knows what John is thinking and wanting to reassure him that he knows and has it all under control) I know - she's angry with me- (he taps at his Luxan Love Brands) But when she gets these-

John: (he would kind of prefer to not think about when Chiana gets those and interrupts his besotted friend,) Yeah - D'Argo, look - I could be wrong - right? Um- probably am. She probably wouldn't - but - Chiana could - say no.

D'Argo: (scoffing at the notion) Pft! How could she say no?

(cut back to Moya’s freezer chamber which is where, under the frozen gaze of an Interon in his cryopd, Chiana and Jothee have chosen to get nekkid and friendly)

Chiana: No! (she's on her hands and knees as she pants and lowers herself to a sheepskin rug on the floor) No more. (Jothee flops down beside her, panting)

Jothee: This is crazy.

Chiana: (as she strokes his face) Yeah.

Jothee: And creepy. Why are we in here with these bodies? (lazy puffs of coolant vapor from the cryopods waft over them)

Chiana: (her voice is breathy as he lays there on the rug and strokes him intently) Because it's cold. Your Dad, D'Argo - D'Argo hates the cold. So he won't catch us if he comes back early.

Jothee: I'm half Luxan. I'm not crazy about the cold either.

Chiana: I'll warm you.

(cut back to the bar at the space station as Stark and Zhaan, who's wearing a shawl draped around her head, enter, followed by a couple of porters bearing their purchases. It has become very crowded and they stop at the door)

Stark: (to the porters as he hands them some coins) Take those to our vessel.

Porters: (falling all over themselves with gratitude as they cry) Yes Your Eminence! Thank you! (and off they go)

Zhaan: (hissing at Stark with annoyance) "Your Eminence" just gave them a 300 fedik tip! That's more than a years wage!

Stark: (in a tone that says he, the former slave, enjoys giving back) The servant class is never rewarded enough. (at that moment the station is rocked by another jolt from the space storm outside. Zhaan staggers a little, Stark reaches for her arm) Here - let me help you.

Zhaan: (irritable she pulls away from him) I'm dying Stark! I'm not an invalid!

Stark: (hurt, and trying to get her working on saving herself) Don't talk like that - I've got maps here. Maps! We'll find a planet where you can recuperate.

Zhaan: (gentler) Just buy me an intoxicant. That's all I need to recuperate.

(Aeryn enters as Stark and Zhaan move to the bar counter. She takes possession of a booth and sits back. her arms spread out on the backrest, and watches Zhaan. John immediately comes and flops down next to her where he looks at Zhaan too)

John: She looks weaker.

Aeryn: Yes, she does.

John: (he leans over and paws around in the bag she carried in with her. She ignores his nosiness) So - what did you buy?

Aeryn: Just some essentials.

John: Wha' would that be? Floss? Lip-liner?

Aeryn: Weapons. (she finally leans over an pushes his hands away from her stuff as she says in a low tone) I traded a pulse pistol for some original Tarak deployers.

John: (clueless) Cool. (there's a lull in the noise of the bar and the alien woman dressed in the black straps, whose name is Borlik, says in a voice that seems suddenly loud)

Borlik: Are you Crichton? (D'Argo looks up sharply at the woman, who is still standing with her male companion at the bar)

John: Who are you?

Borlik: Security. And are you Crichton?

Aeryn: No he's not. And we don't know who this "Cretin" is.

Borlik: You know, I heard he destroyed a Peacekeeper Gammak Base. Murdered an entire Nebari battalion - even laid waste to a shadow depository- (another jolt shakes the space station but Borlik is unfazed) - Guy was a devil. He raped and pillaged-- he popped eyeballs-

John: (he can't stand it and struggles to pull himself upright in the booth) Whoa-whoa! Where-? Where do they get these stories? Let's set the facts straight. First off - there was no raping, very little pillaging, and Frau Blucher popped all the eyeballs.

Borlik: (with a knowing smile) I knew you were Crichton. (she tilts her head and looks sidelong at him. she is very attractive, her face is marked by symmetrical bumps and markings that look like ritual scars and tattoos. Her voice is cool, clear and tinged with arrogance)

John: Look... I'm not here for any trouble. (in the tense silence, he lays his hand on the butt of his pulse gun and D'Argo reaches back for the haft of his Qualta. Aeryn looks down and gets ready-) I'm just lookin' for some aviation fuel shooters. (but Borlik just smiles broadly)

Borlik: That's great. That's great because, in here, everything's on me. We hate Peacekeepers. (the tension eases as she calls to the barkeep) Hey Moordil! Moordil - Intoxicants for Crichton and his - (she smiles depreciatingly at Aeryn) - his grunt.

Aeryn: I'm not his grunt. (the space station shudders again)

Borlik: (she ignores Aeryn and bounces eagerly up to John) Yeah. So - you here to kill somebody? Can I help you?

John: (he eyes Aeryn, who eyes him back, as he teasingly replies) No, no, no. My grunt does all my killing. I'm strictly R&R. (the bar is rattled again) What the hell's goin' on around here?

Borlik: Moordil, what's the problem? (and at that moment the she station is hit by another wave of turbulence, but this one is sustained. electrical circuitry blows and glasses go crashing to the floor as bar patrons yell with alarm and dodge for cover)

Moordil: Watch out!!

Stark: Look out Zhaan! (in the dark chaos that follows, gravity seems to momentarily go berserk as anything not nailed down becomes a projectile. Stark pulls Zhaan down for cover and structural supports come crashing down around them)

(cut to a few moments later, after the shaking has subsided. The bar is dark and there is the sound of people wheezing and moaning in the debris. John staggers to his feet, a beam of light like a flashlight is the only illumination as he hunts for his friends)

John: (with a great groan as he gets up) Aeryn! Where's Aeryn? Aeryyyyn?

D'Argo: (finding her pinned under debris) Here.

Aeryn: (grunting and gasping) Under a pile of dren!

D'Argo: Are you okay?

John: (his voice is loud as he goes into his Take Charge mode) Yeah, yeah, yeah - nothing like a bomb to sober you up! (he helps extricate the dust-covered Aeryn) I'm fine!

Zhaan: Stark!

John: Anybody hurt?

Moordil: (he's been impaled by a structural beam that was shaken loose) I'm bleeding! Help me! I'm bleeding!

Zhaan: (having ascertained Stark is none the worse for the destructive turbulence, she stumbles towards the huge barkeep) I'm here! I'm here, I'm coming...

John: Hey! What happened here? Was it a bomb?

Moordil: (the dust in the air is thick and he can barely choke out the word) Storm!

John: I thought you said the storms were no problem!

Aeryn: (her nose sounds stuffed up with the choking dust as she comms Pilot) Pilot! How's Moya?

(cut to Moya as Pilot responds. The scene shifts between him in his Den and Chiana as she moves around the ship)

Pilot: (shouting as he struggles to assess and compensate for damage to Moya, who was docked with the station at he time of the spacequake) We've been thrown into the docking ring! Moya’s elastic skin saved us, but 3 hatches have ruptured! CHIANA! (cut to Chiana in the freezer as she hurriedly buttons herself up) Can you hear me?

Chiana: I uh - I got you Pilot.

Pilot: There's a hatch breach on Tier 7!

Chiana: I'm onto it. (as she speeds out of the room D'Argo breaks in via comm)

D'Argo: Is Jothee all right?

Chiana: (as she casts a parting glance at the young half-Luxan, standing there naked and watching her go) Oh yeah. He's fine.

(cut back to the station bar where some flickering emergency lights have come on and the rescue efforts continue amid the hiss of vapors and air escaping from the damaged infrastructure of the station)

D'Argo: I better get up to Moya and see if there are any survivors.

John: (concerned about Moya, he calls after the departing Luxan) Check on her exterior!

(cut back to Moya, Chiana is just exiting the freezer when suddenly Jothee, who's staring at one of the cryopods, stops her with a loud, urgent whisper)

Jothee: (spooked, he hisses-) Chiana! This guy! This guy's moving!

Chiana: What? (she makes a U-turn back and comes to look. Sure enough, the door to the cryopod has swung open to reveal the Interon man within. He seems to be thawing precipitously his eyes are open a little and he seems to be drawing long shallow breaths. Chiana glares at Jothee and hisses back) What'd you do to him?

Jothee: I didn't do anything - the thing busted open and he started moving!

Chiana: (panicky as she hops to the open door of the cryopod and makes to shut it) Well then - close it up! Just-

Jothee: (interrupting her) I don't think you can just close it up! What the hell's he wakin' up for? I thought he was dead.

Chiana: Nonono. They were - they were quick frozen or something before they died. (she nods encouragingly at him and makes to leave) Stay with him!

Jothee: (grabbing her anxiously) I-I won't stay here-

Chiana: (cutting him off as she stammers nervously and stares at the thawing man) No! Just make sure he's okay, alright? Crichton wants to talk to him. He thinks he's- he thinks he's, uh - some kind of relative. (she turns and makes for the door again)

Jothee: Chiana! What if he heard us when we were... were-

Chiana: (she spins around, her fists clenched and grates with annoyance) Jothee! I've gotta stabilize the frelling hatch! (she jogs away and Jothee turns back to the Interon man, who's moaning softly now)

(cut to Chiana racing down a corridor, suddenly Rygel appears on his hoverchair crossing the hall in front of her and she collides with him)

Chiana: OOF! Watch it! Watch where your goin!

Rygel: (as he continues on) Watch yourself - slut.

Chiana: (stopping, her mission forgotten) What did you say?

Rygel: (somberly) Out of my way. Zhaan needs these medical supplies on the station.

Chiana: What's the matter with you Ryg?

Rygel: I heard you.

Chiana: You heard nothing.

Rygel: Freezer chamber. Young half-breed. Any of this getting you wet?

Chiana: (angry, she lunges at him and pushes him against the wall of the corridor as she hisses furiously) If you tell D'Argo, I will rip out your tongue and shove it up your faddik!

Rygel: (passing along a helpful little hint that she's forgotten) You idiot! I won't have to tell him - he's Luxan! He'll smell Jothee all over you!

Chiana: (a look of dread comes over her face) Keep your lips shut!

Rygel: (with a bitter little chuckle as she leaves him) You do the same with your legs!

(cut to D'Argo who has taken one of Moya’s transport pods and is surveying the space station. It has been totaled, shaken apart by the last catastrophic tremor and is unrecognizable as the softly gleaming structure that it had once been. Moya is still attached to it and has been pulled down and gotten tangled up in the debris of the station as it shivered to pieces. The scene shifts between him and Pilot as they speak)

D'Argo: I'm in the transport pod, Pilot. 3 of the stations 5 pods have been destroyed. I can't find any signs of survivors.

Pilot: (quite frankly more worried about her than the station and its inhabitants) How's Moya?

D'Argo: Well her epidermis seems intact, but she's tangled up in some of the stations cables.

Pilot: I'll see if I can reverse us clear.

D'Argo: (spotting something else amid the wreckage) Pilot wait - there's another ship close by. It seems intact. Try to bring it in using the docking web. (he has good eyes if he can pick it out amid the jumble of twisted metal that is the remains of the great space station)

Pilot: I'll try, D'Argo.

(cut back to the ruined bar where Zhaan is tending to Moordil)

Zhaan: Don't move Moordil. The beam has pierced your modin artery.

Moordil: (lamenting) What does it matter? The station's destroyed. There must be hundreds dead- hundreds!

Zhaan: Shhh - stay calm! Moordil - there's nothing we can do about those souls anyway.

Moordil: Everything's gone.

Borlik: (she too has survived the disaster and she says now in her smooth voice) Then those stories must be true.

John: What are you talking about?

Borlik: You see, there were once 3 commerce stations near the twin suns of Qel. But one has been destroyed by asteroids. One has been burned by fire - and we are the last remaining station. There were stories that we were cursed.

Stark: Why would you be cursed?

Borlik: Because this station is built on what we call The Sacred Stillness. This is where some say the great Gods were born.

Moordil: (protesting) That's just dren! There's no curse. It was - it was just storms!

Borlik: (her smooth tone becomes strident as she turns on Moordil) No! They weakened before they reached us! But you know this last cycle? It's been gaining in strength! The storms have been compacting to funnels just 6 parisns wide - each storm getting closer. It's as if they were aimed at us.

Aeryn: Can't aim a storm.

Borlik: Then the curse must be true. (she stares at them as she pronounces her verdict like a prophet) This is Gezma's revenge for buying and selling in his Sacred Stillness.

(cut back to Moya’s freezer where Jothee paces with the callow impatience of youth as the e Interon man from the open cryopod orients himself. He has sat down in the bottom of the pod, his feet on the floor, staring pensively into space. His hairline is deeply jagged and he has a few beads woven into his long black hair. He has no eyebrows and wears a high silver studded black leather collar)

Interon man: Where am I?

Jothee: On a Leviathan. We found you in a medical lab. You don't remember how you got there?

Interon man: (slowly) No... I just... I was on a expedition. We were looking for the Dimordis Tomb in the Berjer Nebula. I got sick... Stanis and me got sick. Jool found us.

Jothee: (leaning down to look into his face) When you were in there - before you woke up. You hear anything?

Interon man: (his voice is increasingly shaky as he speaks) I sensed... some movement... kind of a thumping sound. It didn't - last - long - (he begins choking and gagging)

Jothee: Are you okay? Now I'm supposed to look after you, so don't do anything crazy. (but as he makes to straighten up, the Interon man starts to pitch forward and vomit massively onto Jothee’s hands and pants. He jumps back and yells for Chiana via comm as the Interon man lays on the floor twitching and gagging) OH! FRELL! Chiana, get down here! I think this guy's dying! Get down here!

(cut to Chiana as she struggles with a ruptured hatch against a gale of escaping atmosphere as she yells back at Jothee)

Chiana: Handle it yourself!

Pilot: (via comm) See if you can force it Chiana! (finally she manages to do just that, and the hatch thumps shut)

Chiana: (still yelling in the sudden silence) Pilot! I've sealed the vent! (but at that moment she glances out the window of the hatch and sees, only a few feet from where she's standing, a piece of the destroyed space station. It has a window too, and a little girl is looking out of it at her and pounding on its glass in silent plea for help) Pilot? We've got another problem.

(cut back to the ruined bar where news of the survivors has reached Moordil and the others)

Moordil: The child - (he grunts painfully as Zhaan tends to him) - the child your friend saw must be trapped in the lower pod. There is - there is - there was - a nursery there, for when the parents were shopping.

Aeryn : How do I get down there?

Borlik: (coolly) You can't. All the connecting walkways are crushed.

John: Nononono - there's always another way in.

Moordil: If those filtration vents have integrity, they link to waste conduits in the lower pod.

Stark: (as Aeryn aims a flashlight beam at the place Moordil indicated) Over here?

Moordil: Yes that's it.

Aeryn: All right, I'll check them out.

John: (he picks up a flashlight of his own from the bar) All right. I'm coming with you. (they head for the ducts in question which are flexible silvery tubes perhaps a meter in diameter whose broken ends lay on the floor)

(cut back to Moya’s freezer chamber where Chiana has returned to survey the corpse of the Interon man which lays sprawled on the floor)

Chiana: What did you do to him?

Jothee: Nothing. He puked on me, then he died.

Chiana: (she begins to storm off as she says resentfully) You killed him didn't you.

Jothee: What?

Chiana: (angry) What? Did he see us? Is that why you killed him?

Jothee: No he didn't see us! I didn't ki- (he stops himself, frustrated) Even if he did I wouldn't KILL HIM! He just died!

D'Argo: (breaking in over comm) Chiana!

Chiana: Yeah D'Argo.

D'Argo: (cut to him aboard the transport pod as he speaks) You and Jothee get down to the transport hanger and make sure that ship we're bringing on board isn't hostile.

Chiana: We're on our way. (she turns to go and as she does she issues a curt order to Jothee) Go bathe.

Jothee: (furious) WHAT? We're in the middle of this massive kamshin and you want me to WASH?

Chiana: (her tone is grim and guilty and nervous) What do you smell Jothee? Right now. You smell me... don't you? And you're only half-Luxan. D'Argo will smell me all over you unless you go bathe before he gets back onboard. Go. Go now. (she strides off leaving Jothee standing there, his blue eyes wide with horrified realization)

(cut back to the wrecked space station. Aeryn and John are moving through he ducts as Moordil directs them via comm)

Aeryn: All right Moordil. Short incline, and then it splits off.

Moordil: If it's still intact, the lower vent should lead to the nursery.

Aeryn: Got it. (to John) After me. (the duct they need to follow inclines sharply up and they tuck their flashlights away so they can use both hands to gain leverage on the sides of the tube. Some dim blue light filters in, the light of the nebula through transparent panels of the station perhaps)

John: After you.

Aeryn: (grunting from the exertion of the climb) You know - I've been thinking - about us.

John: You want to talk about this now?

Aeryn: (all business) It's a good time - no one here to bother us. I know the pressures of living close - how it can affect the safety of an entire battalion- (she's interrupted as the station suffers an aftershock. She slips back a little and John falls forwards a little, causing them to conveniently come to rest in a 'spooning' position) - unless tensions are relieved.

John: So what do you suggest?

Aeryn: Well in Peacekeepers, it was common practice to, ah - reduce fluid levels.

John: (mildly amused) Fluid levels. Like - well like Valvoline, like brake fluid?

Aeryn: (like a dirge, as if she's dreading the idea but willing to do it for the sake of the battalions fluid levels) Like sex. We can have sex if you want. (John contemplates this not-so-tempting offer for a split second before suddenly loosing his footing and slithering back down to the bottom of the duct, dragging Aeryn down him)

John: (hurriedly) You know what? Ah - now is not a good time. How about I, uh... check my diary and get back to you later in the week. (they untangle themselves and plunge back into the ascending tube. They're panting heavily)

Aeryn: It would - relieve the tension. (she stops suddenly and again John comes up on top of her from behind. As they rest for a moment, he asks-)

John: Is this for you or for me?

Aeryn: For both of us.

John: You know what? I got two hands. (he reaches around her and strokes her neck with his fingertips, she stiffens and gasps a little) I can alternate. I can release all the tension I want. I don't need your charity.

Aeryn: And I don't need your emotions. But we can have sex if you want. (she pulls away from him and continues the climb up the duct)

John: (warning her off a jagged rib of the duct) Watch that, that's broken.

Aeryn: Yeah, but don't change the subject. (she hoists herself out of the top of the tube and stands on a hatch at its head where she turns to face John as he looks up at her) What are you afraid of John? (well we might ask the same of Ms Arrogance as she unzips her jacket and flashes her nekkid loomas at him - but before we or John can, the glass of the hatch she's standing on gives way and he drops through it into the dusty blue twilight below. John scrambles to the top of the tube and screams after her)

John: AERYN! AERYYYYYN! (he peers over the edge of the broken hatch, unable to see anything below. Shifting light reflects up from below though, as if off the surface of water) AERYYYYN! AERYYYYYN!

Aeryn: John!

John: You okay?

Aeryn: Yeah I'm okay. Something smells completely frellnik down here so I suspect I found the waste conduit Moordil said we had to find.

John: Look just stay where you are. I'll go get some help and we'll get you out.

Aeryn: No, I'm going to follow this down. See if it leads to the lower pod.

John: No-O. Stay where you are!

Aeryn: (ignoring him completely) Tell Moordil I'll comm him when I need directions.

John: Damnit! You stubborn waste of- (Pilot chooses that moment to break in via comm)

Pilot: Crichton!

John: (spluttering with outrage at Aeryn’s damnable independence) Pilot - I'll call you back! I can't talk right now!

Pilot: (cut briefly to him in his Den as he speaks) You have to talk. I've run the residual storm graph you wanted. You were right. The storm took a 90 degree turn to hit us.

John: (abruptly forgetting about Aeryn) 90 degrees?

Pilot: It seems to have come after us on purpose. And there's worse...

(cut to soon after, John has made his way back to the bar where the others wait, including Rygel who brought Zhaan’s medical supplies over. In a low tone, he delivers Pilot's news to his shipmates)

John: Pilot says there's another storm on the way. It's gonna hit us in less than 2 arns and it's bigger than the last one.

Stark: Hit us? This station can't take another hit.

John: Yeah I know that.

Rygel: (in an urgent whisper) Then let's all get onto Moya and haul out of here!

Zhaan: I can't pull the spike out of Moordil and I can't just leave him here!

Rygel: Well he's gonna die isn't he?

Zhaan: Well yes but-

John: Blue -

Rygel: What does it matter if we leave him?

John: Blue, Sparky - just knock it off. We've got at least 2 arns, Aeryn can use that time to try and free the trapped girl.

Rygel: I don't give a syzles ass about a trapped girl!

John: Yes and that's what makes you a great humanitarian, Buckwheat. But we are not leaving. It's Scooby-Doo time. (he leaves them and walks over to the bar where Moordil sits and Borlik hovers nearby) All right here's the deal - our Pilot says that the storms are being attracted by a flux broadcast being generated somewhere inside this station.

Moordil: The station?

Borlik: In here?

John: Yes.

Borlik: Someone's targeting the storm at us?

John: Yes.

Moordil: (to Borlik) You see! I told you the storms weren't Gezma’s wrath!

John: No - you just managed to piss somebody off. Now do you have any idea who would want to destroy your station?

Borlik: Tell him.

Moordil: Frell!

Borlik: Go on - tell him.

Moordil: Probably going to die anyway. There's a cult of religious zealots - the Kampeks.

Borlik: (smoothly) Some call them noble warriors.

Moordil: But they're not! They're insane! And you can't bribe them - I tried when I thought they were responsible for the destruction of the other stations.

Stark: Kampeks? This is their Sacred Stillness?

Borlik: You see they say we're desecrating their Gods by buying and selling here. They must be broadcasting the storm signals.

Rygel: (heartened) Then let's destroy it! Let's find out where the signals are coming from and smash it!

Borlik: (challenging and dismissive of the idea) How? There are 12 levels on this station, you'll never search it in 2 arns.

John: We might - I got an idea. (he exits and Borlik looks after him with displeasure etched on her scarred and tattooed face)

(cut back to Moya where D'Argo has joined Chiana and Jothee in the transport hangar to look at the small ship they took onboard. It's the color of dark, brushed steel and its hull is covered by raised, concave-sided triangles. It sits on heavy struts that are a geometric latticework. It seems to be shaped rather like a blunt bullet)

D'Argo: (as he paces around the little ship) Pilot says it's empty but he can't sense how to get inside. (he reaches out to touch the small craft, but his hand is repelled by a force field that causes an electrical blue shimmer in the air around his hand) Defense shield is active all the way around the ship.

Jothee: (tough) Gimme a shot - I'll get inside!

D'Argo: (sniffing) What's that smell?

Jothee: (flatly) I bathed. (in Chiana’s direction, she's loitering some distance away) I did. Twice.

D'Argo: (as he circles Jothee now, whiffing) Are - you wearing... perfumed wash?

Chiana: (she avoids eye contact as she tosses a nonchalant comment in their direction-) Yeah. I gave him some from Zhaan’s chamber.

D'Argo: (his voice is a little high with suppressed laughter) Yeah well, ah - you smell very nice.

Jothee: (annoyed) Give me a break.

D'Argo: Oh no - Really you do! You smell just-

Jothee: (exploding) Find your own way into the frelling ship! (and with that, he storms out)

D'Argo: Jothee! I was only teasing! Jothee! (but the young man is gone and D'Argo meanders over to Chiana) Um - you look attractive.

Chiana: Do I?

D'Argo: Yes. Like you're happy.

Chiana: I'm not.

D'Argo: I know I've been a trasnik, and I want to apologize.

Chiana: Look don't worry about it okay?

D'Argo: Really. I am so sorry. And there's, uh - something I'd like to talk to you about if-

Chiana: Aaaah - look D'Argo, I'm not- I'm not ready to talk now okay?

D'Argo: (annoyed) What do you want me to do, beg? I said I'm sorry! I-

Chiana: (cutting him off) NO! I don't want you to beg! I'm just - I'm not ready to talk. Just because you're ready to talk, it doesn't mean that I am.

D'Argo: (softly backing off) Okay.

Chiana: I'm sorry, I - (but she doesn't know what to say) Uh - Pilot's- Pilot's got 2 more hatches for me to check and I just want to do that first okay?

D'Argo: Fine.

Chiana: (almost a whisper) Fine. Okay. (she exits and after she's gone, D'Argo stands there with his head slightly bowed - and sniffs a couple of times)

(cut back to the bar as Stark sets a DRD onto the floor and it speeds off)

Stark: That's just about the last of the DRDs. If Crichton's correct, they should give us some indication of where the signal's coming from. (he notes Zhaan, sitting nearby. She seems preoccupied, her eyes downcast) What's the matter?

Zhaan: (quickly rising and making to tinker with another DRD on a table. She asks after the DRD that broke its eyestalk back when John first came aboard Moya) Oh - nothing. Have you got One-Eye working yet?

Stark: Not yet, I think it's the energy exchanger but - that can wait. (he reaches to touch her head but she leans aside and pushes his band away)

Zhaan: Don't worry about me Stark. It's all right.

Stark: Let me look at your head.

Zhaan: (annoyed) No! Just stop!

Stark: (shouting, between clenched teeth) I said let me look at it! Let me look at it NOW!! (she silently complies, pulling back the shawl that drapes her skull. As she does so, strings of mucus-like pus are pulled up with it. The pus strings snap back to reveal her scalp, covered with terrible oozing lesions. Stark gasps and touches his fingers to his lips, the lays them against her diseased head) The sores are worse. The weakening is progressing-

Zhaan: (murmuring) Stark don't.

Stark: (jittery, his tone is at once worried and determined) -much faster, much faster than we predicted - much- But I-I will find you a planet. A planet with the right soil and moisture.

Zhaan: (softly) Calm yourself Stark. Please. You're the expert here. You've witnessed more death than anyone else. So many dissatisfied souls dying before they felt ready.

Stark: (with quiet sorrow) Yes - I'm an expert on dying. I'm just not an expert on you dying.

(cut to Aeryn slogging through the muck of the stations waste conduits. She comes to a positional marker on the side of the tunnel and comms Moordil)

Aeryn: All right Moordil - looks like some kind of binary code followed by 4 circles.

Moordil: You've reached the lower pod. Keep going for another 300 meters.

Aeryn: Got it. (as she starts to move on, she suddenly hears the sound of pounding on pipes and a child’s voice calling for help) Hello? (the distant voice of a little girl asking if anyone is there floats back to Aeryn, who begins to make her way toward the sound) Hello?

(cut back to Chiana and Jothee who have retreated to Moya’s freezer again - this time to fret rather than frell)

Jothee: You think he knows?

Chiana: How could he know?

Jothee: He looked at me - like - he - knew. What are you going to tell him?

Chiana: I 'm not gonna tell him anything? (at that moment D'Argo walks into the room)

D'Argo: Tell who? (Chiana quickly rises from where she was sitting next to Jothee and moves away from him - but not quite directly towards D'Argo either)

Chiana: Crichton - we ah - we don't know what to tell him about the guy cacking.

D'Argo: (his tone is flat and his gaze is intense. He's checking out his suspicions) I'm sure he'll understand it wasn't your fault. I thought Pilot wanted you to reseal the hatch. I was on my way down to help you.

Chiana: He did - he does. We're going now. (she makes to leave and Jothee gets up to follow her, passing D'Argo as he does)

D'Argo: (loudly) What's that smell?

Jothee: (he and Chiana answer almost at the same time) I told you, it's just this scented - wash.

Chiana: You know - the perfumed wash.

D'Argo: Nonononono. There's something else...

Chiana: Well I don't smell anything.

D'Argo: Why are you both in here?

Chiana: I told you - we were just checking on the dead guy.

D'Argo: (in a deathly quiet voice) I don't believe you.

Chiana: (also in a very quiet voice) Did you talk to Rygel?

D'Argo: (almost a whisper) About what? (she can only stare at him in an agony of guilt as Jothee steps a little closer behind her) You have betrayed me.

Jothee: D'Argo- (uh-oh, you're in Parental Trouble when your kid starts calling you by your first name)

D'Argo: With my own manin.

Chiana: I'm not your manin.

D'Argo: Obviously.

Chiana: I didn't mean that, I-

D'Argo: (cutting her off) Well what did you mean?

Jothee: D'Argo let's not-

D'Argo: (cutting him off too) Let's not what? (neither Chiana or Jothee has anything to say) Get angry? Or - kill you? (he steps toward Chiana and takes the item he purchased at the station out from the folds of his coat) Do you know what this is?

Chiana: (she certainly does not but she's very worried about what he might be planning on doing with it) D'Argo this is my fault - mine! Not Jothee’s.

D'Argo: Get away from me now. (he brushes her aside brusquely so he can confront his son) It's a union tattoo. It's a Luxan symbol of courage, honor and loyalty. I was going to give it to Chiana but I was wrong. I want you to have it.

Jothee: D'Argo - I don't want to have to...

D'Argo: No -I INSIST that you have it! (and with that, he grabs Jothee and yanks his shirt up. The young man struggles but he's no match for a full grown Luxan. Chiana throws herself into the fray to try and prevent what she presumes will be terrible bloodshed)

Chiana: D'Argo let him go! (but he throws her off easily and continues his assault on Jothee)

D'Argo: GET AWAY FROM ME! (and with that he drives the tattoo plate into Jothee’s belly. The young man howls with agony over the sound of his flesh sizzling like bacon as the tattoo leaves its mark on him)

Chiana: D'ARGO! (and the father lets his son drop gasping to the floor, as he slowly turns to his unfaithful lover)

D'Argo: But you - you will never get these. (well we're sure she's sorry, but not about missing out on the tattoo...)

Chiana: D'Argo listen to me-

D'Argo: (cutting her off) NO! I will never listen to anything either of you have to say again.

Chiana: D'Argo - (he turns and walks towards the door) D'ARGO!

D'Argo: (he stops for a moment before he leaves and turns back, to let them know that it was their guilt that betrayed them, nothing else) I know what it was I smelled before. It was a burned out function cell in the cryo-chamber. (and he's gone, leaving his son and his former lover staring after him in silence)

(cut back to the bar on the space station as Stark activates the last DRD - One-Eye, who shudders to life in Starks hands)

Stark: There. (the DRD immediately begins emitting a rapid beeping sound - the signal that it's found a possible source for the signal that's being used to attract the deadly storms)

Zhaan: What is it?

Stark: I don't know! (he holds the DRD out in front of him, like a scanning device, and aims it around the room, letting it lead him towards the source by the intensity of its beeping. John and Borlik enter)

John: Whatcha got?

Stark: The signal's coming from here! (the DRD beeps faster as he swings it towards the bar where John and Borlik come to stand at its end)

Moordil: From here?

Stark: Crichton, Borlik! Back off! (he sweeps it over the bar counter near Moordil, who is alarmed)

Moordil: But I'm-I'm not sending out any frelling signal! (and sure enough, the closer to Moordil the DRD gets the slower its beeping. Cold) See I told you! (Stark swings the DRD away and as it passes Borlik, its beeps intensify, he zeroes in on her and as he moves closer the beeps become an almost continuous squeal)

Borlik: (she tries to evade the DRD but Stark dances with her, keeping it trained upon her) What? Why is it making this noise? Why is it making that noise? (Rygel snarls viciously and rises with his hoverchair to help corral her) O-o-obviously you haven't fixed it properly!

John: You sure One-Eye's workin' right?

Stark: (intensely) It's working!

Borlik: No! It's broken! (she tries to flee but John blocks her exit)

John: Give him the Scooby Doo Snack then. Where's the signal coming from? (but her only answer is to begin to chant slowly)

Borlik: Lakma-ruka-be. Lakma-ruka-be. Lakma-ruka-be. Lakma-ruka-be. Lakma-ruka-be. (the chant grows louder and more intense. Her eyes become unfocused and she closes them for a moment - when she reopens them, they have gone dead white, her pupil a tiny point of black. Her chant continues to increase in speed and volume as she begins to rise off the floor. The others stare, uncertain what to do, although John keeps his gun on her. The chant becomes a shouted, repetitive drone as she ascends to the ceiling, where she stops, staring down at them with her milky white eyes and blaring-) Lakma-ruka-be! Lakma-ruka-be! Lakma-ruka-be! Lakma-ruka-be! Lakma-ruka-be!

(cut to sometime later. Borlik's chanting is softer now, but she remains affixed by her back to the ceiling of the bar. John has climbed up onto a table and is pulling at her leg - but she isn't budging)

John: Dude! She's stuck, man!

Stark: She's still broadcasting. (he's still standing there with the DRD)

John: Yeah but where's the signal coming from?

Stark: I think it's coming from inside her.

Rygel: (incredulous) Inside her? Is that why she's stuck to the wall?

Zhaan: I don't know. She's somehow magnetized herself to the pipe.

Rygel: Okay. Enough. (he proceeds to pilot his hoverchair up to her) Let's kill her, cut her off the frelling pipe and chuck her out.

Moordil: (he sounds weaker, Zhaan lays her hands on his body comfortingly) Nonononono! That pipe is hydro-honium steel. Frozen exhaust. If you rupture it - we'll freeze in 10 microts!

Borlik: (she pauses her chanting long enough to say in a witchy, mocking tone to Rygel- ) Wooorrrm - are you ready to die in the cleansing apocalypse? Lakma-ruka-be! Lakma-ruka-be! Lakma-ruka-be! Lakma-ruka-be! Lakma-ruka-be!

Rygel: (with an annoyed growl) Worm? Are you ready to die in a cleansing ramming? (and he proceeds to head-butt her in the shoulder in an effort to dislodge her. The whole bar shakes with the force of his blow - but Borlik sticks)

John: Rygel cut it out.

Rygel: I'm gonna kill the bitch now! (he throws himself against her again, harder)

John: Rygel! We don't know what's going on. We don't know anything, so we don't know if killing her will stop the damn signal!

Rygel: Who cares? It'll shut her up, and make me feel good! (we're with Rygel on this one - he delivers 3 more powerful head-butts accompanied by furious grunts, using his hoverchair to propel him against her. The unstable section of the space station they're in shudders with each blow)

John: BUCKWHEAT! Stop it! (Borlik is still stuck in place but she stops long enough to say in her witchy tone-)

Borlik: Go on kill me! Shoot me! Cut me into pieces and burn my flesh with selic acid, but my broadcast will still be sent. The apocalypse will cleanse you all! Lakma-ruka-be! Lakma-ruka-be! Lakma-ruka-be! Lakma-ruka-be! Lakma-ruka-be! (yeah, yeah, they all say that. John walks away and sits down at the end of the bar)

Rygel: (he produces a big blue thing that we think might be a butt cushion pad from his hoverchair which he proceeds to stuff into Borlik’s mouth) At least let me shut her up!

John: Shove it in deep Rygel. - (he comms Moya) - Pilot, how long before that storm hits?

Pilot: (cut to him in his Den as he speaks) It seems to be increasing in velocity. Probably less than an arn. But I was thinking - (he continues in a sly tone) - since the pipe Borlik's magnetized to is made of hydro-honium steel, perhaps if we found a larger source of it-

John: It would pull her away from the pipe. Good! We have any of that hydro-crap on board?

Pilot: Running an inventory check now.

John: (switching comm channels) Aeryn - (cut to her in the duct system as John's voice is heard on her comm) - you might have to forget about the kid.

Aeryn: Sh! I think I heard something! (the sound of pounding and the little girls voice calling for help can still be heard somewhere in the dark blue maze ahead of her)

John: Well, make it quick. You've got less than an arn.

Aeryn: (calling to the trapped child) Yes I'm here! I just need to know where you are! Keep making noise! (the pounding and calling continues with renewed vigor) Yeah hang on! I'm coming! I'll follow your voice!

(meanwhile, back in the bar, John and Pilot confer via comm. The scene shifts between the two of them as they speak)

Pilot: I've located 3 sources of hydro-steel. Two are in the neural cluster cooling rods.

John: Can we get to it?

Pilot: Not in time. But the third source is accessible. The cryo-chambers you brought aboard are lined with hydro-steel. (there's a tone of real loathing in Pilot's tone when he mentions Borlik) The attraction from one of them could pull Borlik loose.

John: Good, so we drag her onboard Moya, fly as far away from the station as we can - divert the storm.

Pilot: But we're still trapped by the docking cables. I've tried to pull us clear, but I can't!

John: Right - well find D'Argo - tell him I need his help on this.

Pilot: I've been signaling his comms but he's not answering.

John: Why not?

Rygel: (as he sails past John) I think I might know why. (John gets up and follows him)

(cut to soon after. John has returned to Moya and found D'Argo sitting alone in the dim center chamber, drinking)

John: Hey D. How you doin'?

D'Argo: (after swallowing a swig from his bottle) You know don't you?

John: Yah.

D'Argo: Did you know when I showed you the union tattoos?

John: No I didn't.

D'Argo: They're bragging about it aren't they?

John: D'Argo it's not like that. Rygel found out and he told me what- (John knows this is an extremely touchy and potentially dangerous situation. He makes to come close to his friend, but D'Argo hisses dangerously, warning him off. John stays his distance but says firmly-) We don't have time for this.

D'Argo: Yes I know. I heard you talking to Pilot. You want me to go outside and help free Moya.

John: While I go grab Borlik.

D'Argo: Well why don't you get Chiana and Jothee to do it? They like working together-

John: (cutting off D’Argo’s bitter self-pity) D'ARGO! They CAN'T free the cable! They're not as strong as you are. They're not as brave, they're not as smart-

D'Argo: (cutting off John's attempt to flatter and shame him out of his sulk. He jumps to his feet and shoves John away) OH LOOK DON'T! ALL RIGHT? JUST DON'T! (but John stands his ground and looks him in the eye. D'Argo stops and whispers shakily) They broke my heart John.

John: I know that. But if you don't go out on Moya and pull that cable off we're all gonna die when that storm hits.

D'Argo: (bitterly) Then we all die.

(cut briefly back to Aeryn in the station ducts. she's lost the trail to the nursery and calls into the silence)

Aeryn: I CAN'T HEAR YOU ANYMORE! (the station shudders and a blast of vapor hisses from a newly ruptured pipe. The creaks and pops of straining metal fill the air) HELLO? ARE YOU STILL THERE? CAN YOU HEAR ME? HELLO? Frell! HELLO?

(cut back to Moya where Chiana and Jothee are shifting the cryopod recently vacated by the Interon man, out of the freezer chamber. John joins them to help push it on its dolly. They are not his favorite people just now)

John: (in a low, controlled voice) What the hell were you thinking?

Chiana: (stiffly) Obviously we weren't thinking.

John: Obviously.

Jothee: We didn't think we'd get caught- (the young mans callowness is too much. John brings the cryopod screeching to a halt and furiously points his finger into Jothee’s face across its top)

John: (between clenched teeth) Do you know what you did? You betrayed the one person on this ship, who would have done anything for you! Both of you! He would have died for you! (Chiana keeps her eyes downcast as she furiously shoves the cryopod onward)

(cut to a narrow secondary corridor leading to an airlock to Moya’s outer hull. D'Argo shuffles along it, drunk and mumbling morosely to himself. The scene shifts between him and Pilot as they speak)

D'Argo: Yeah - "We need you D'Argo." "We - need you." "Oh and by the way, would you mind putting your hands against the wall and spreading your legs so I can kick you up the mivonks? 'Cos you have got to be one dumb tresnak!" (perhaps a bit oblivious at times - but not dumb. And despite his words to John - not one to let others down either. He takes a last guzzle form his bottle and tosses it away. It shatters as he comms Pilot) I'm starting depressurization. (he flicks a switch and atmosphere begins venting)

Pilot: (a note of caution in his tone as his claws dance over his Console) I've created an inertial field on Moya’s skin so you can move around some. But be careful, the winds are reaching speeds of 300 nilits.

D'Argo: I've got a breathing regulator in case I have to stay out there.

Pilot: Crichton told me you weren't going out.

D'Argo: Well you know what? I changed my mind.

Pilot: (apprehensive) Why?

D'Argo: Goodbye Pilot. (and he climbs up to the hatch)

Pilot: (he sighs and the light of his Console casts a sickly grey light over his face as he asks softly-) D'Argo? (no answer) D'Argo?

(but there's no time for talk as the scene shifts to Moya’s exterior skin as D'Argo climbs out onto it. He's wearing a respirator mask and his long red hair blows in the winds of the approaching storm. Moya’s skin, which looks so smooth from a distance, is shown to be full of ridges, like an elephants. There even seems to be a grasslike cover of short bristles. Great ropy veinlike cords - part of her - not the cables she's caught in, traverse her body)

D'Argo: I'm outside Pilot. Where are the cables?

Pilot: Just looking now, D'Argo. Hammond side.

D'Argo: Got it. (he sets off over Moya as the ruins of the great space station loom ahead of him and the winds sweep over them all)

(cut back to the bar as John and Stark roll the empty cryopod in)

John: Take the gag out.

Rygel: (with a long, tortured groan he complies and Borlik, sounding a little dry-mouthed but otherwise unperturbed by the butt-cushion, drones on with her chant) You wanna hear this?

Borlik: (she pauses to insult Rygel some more) See I see your fear worm. But the Holy Gezma will embrace even you if you repent.

Rygel: (snorts) Repent? We have less than an arn. I was a Dominar! It'd take me longer than that to repent.

Borlik: One about to die - you should feel more shame. (not likely. Rygel just laughs derisively)

John: (as he and Stark push the cryopod into position just beneath Borlik) Hey fridge magnet! I got something for you to feel.

Borlik: (apprehensive) What is that?

John: Oh what's the matter? Is that your fear I see? You're not so psycho-happy now.

Borlik: What are you doing?

John: (he's flipping the lid of the cryopod open as he speaks) This is hydro-steel. Just like that pipe.

Stark: Only this is bigger. So it may be your turn to repent. For all the souls you've murdered!

Borlik: DON'T! KEEP IT AWAY! (as if they're going to listen to her after she's been such a jerk. She chants frantically) Lakma-ruka-be! Lakma-ruka-be! Lakma-ruka-be! Lakma-ruka-be! Lakma-ruka-be! (but to no avail. She's sucked off the ceiling and right into the cryopod whose door John and Stark slam shut. She stops chanting and starts yelling muffled witchy threats at them. They don't care)

John: (via comm) Got her Pilot! We're coming back to Moya. We'll try to free her up.

Pilot: (cut to him as he responds, his voice thick with worry) Crichton - don't you know? D'Argo's already outside. (John, Stark and Zhaan exchange apprehensive glances before jumping to the task at hand)

(cut to D'Argo as he works outside on Moya’s hull. Most of what she is tangled in is relatively small. He pulls a snarl of silvery tubing out of a vent on her skin and sends it tumbling into space. Nearby lay some thick orange cable, as big around as D’Argo’s wrist perhaps. The ends are torn and they gutter and spark in the shadow of one of Moya’s ridges. The scene shifts between D'Argo, Pilot, Chiana and John as they speak via comm)

D'Argo: Pilot I've cleared Moya of all the cables except for two.

Pilot: Be careful, those last cables are pulse rechargers.

D'Argo: Can you shut them down?

Pilot: I have no control over them. They are linked to the stations power source.

D'Argo: But I can't move them unless they're neutralized.

Pilot: Crichton's on his way. He can help you!

D'Argo: No! I can do this alone!

Chiana: ( fearful of D’Argo’s state of mind) D'Argo, listen to me. Wait for Crichton, he'll-

D'Argo: No Chiana! You can never tell me what to do. Ever again.

Chiana: Crichton - talk to D'Argo. Talk to him now.

John: (cut to him as he wheels the cryopod to Moya) D'Argo! D'Argo what are you doin' out there?

D'Argo: (he has the end of each of the severed cables in either hand) What you asked me to. When I neutralize these cables you'll be able to pull Moya clear.

John: WAIT! WAIT FOR ME!

D'Argo: (as he moves the flaring ends of the cables closer together) Goodbye John.

Chiana: NOOOOOOO! DON'T DO IT! (but of course he does and as the cables touch and short each other out, there's an explosion that knocks D'Argo off his feet and unconscious - or dead. His limp body floats up away from Moya, but is prevented from being blown away by his safety tether. Chiana collapses to the floor of the Command, Pilot is slack-jawed and aghast)

(cut to John as he hurriedly trundles the bulky cryopod into the hangar bay and recriminates Pilot, who is no mood for it, via comm)

John: Pilot why the hell did you let him go out? (as if anyone could've stopped him)

Pilot: He didn't ask for my permission! (sure that's always your excuse isn't it?)

John: You could have stopped him! (well maybe but who else was stepping up to untangle the ship? And how was Pilot to know he was suicidal anyway?)

Pilot: I would shut up and stop wasting time Commander. (that's it - shift the responsibility back on John you sassy bump-on-a-Leviathan)

John: (as he parks the cryopod and looks in to see Borlik still yakking away in there) You're tellin' the wrong person to shut up! (that's good - sounds like a threat and you have a logical explanation for it if you're forced to explain it later)

Pilot: We have less than a quarter of an arn before the storm funnel reaches us!

(cut to moments later. John has pulled on a black PK space suit and is at the exit hatch preparing to go after D'Argo)

John: Any signal yet Pilot?

Pilot: Nothing. Crichton - if you are unable to save D'Argo, Moya is willing to try to rip free from the cables, but-

John: Nonono - I'll get us clear. (at that moment Jothee comes charging down the passage towards him, concerned)

Jothee: Is he dead? Is my father dead?

John: I don't know.

Jothee: I'll go with you! I'm half Luxan - I can survive out there! I'll help-

John: (cutting the impetuous young man off) You don't know that Jothee and I can't be rescuing two people! Now get out of here! (Jothee just stands there looking forlorn and useless) GET OUT OF HERE! YOU'RE SLOWING ME DOWN! (John shoves Jothee out of the airlock and closes it, then hits the depressurization button)

Jothee: (as the airlock door slams in his face, it seems more a plea to be taken seriously than anything else. But this isn't the time) CRICHTON NO! (but yes - on goes the space helmet and up the ladder to Moya’s outer hull John goes)

Chiana: (cut briefly to her, pacing and sobbing on the Command) Crichton...?

Pilot: (cut to him in his Den as he asks anxiously) Do you see him?

John: (as he exits the hatch onto Moya’s outer skin) Not yet Pilot. (he looks around and spots D'Argo, literally twisting in the wind at the end of the safety tether) D'ARGO? (no response. The Luxans body flops and bobs lifelessly) Pilot he's not responding. I'm gonna fix the ship first, then go after him.

Chiana: (blubbering on the Command) Get to him. Get to him now!

John: (ignoring her) Heading for the cables.

Chiana: (heading for the Command door) I'm coming out there myself!

John: (stopping her cold as he crawls towards more space junk. We thought D'Argo said he had it all. Some more must've got wrapped around by the wind) NO CHIANA! STAY THE HELL WHERE YOU ARE!

Chiana: (under her breath as she obeys) Frell!

(meanwhile, back in the waste tunnels, Aeryn has picked up the trail to the trapped child again and seems very close now)

Little girl: Help me!

Aeryn: Hang on, I'm almost there!

Little girl: Help me! Please! Hurry!

Moordil: (on comm) Save them! (cut back to him in the bar. He looks terrible, Zhaan touches the great creatures face gently, offering him comfort at his death which is all she can do now) I should have known Borlik was one of them - (he groans painfully) - a Kampek!

(cut back to John, struggling with a tangle of tubes hooked onto Moya)

John: Pilot I can't- (and at that moment Moya lurches violently which sends him spinning away from her. He must've missed the IASA class on the Importance Of Safety Tethers Whilst Space-Walking. But he manages to grab onto one of the cables that D'Argo electrocuted himself with earlier)

(back in the duct system, Aeryn finally arrives at the hatch that gives onto the nursery)

Aeryn: Right! I'm at the access hatch! Moordil, what's the code? (there is only agonizing moaning heard on her comm) Moordil! What's frelling code? (cut briefly back to the bar where the huge barkeep chokes out a few unintelligible words - and closes his eyes forever) I can't hear you! Moordil!

Zhaan: (softly) By the Goddess.

Aeryn: What's the frelling code?

Stark: (taking the comm) Aeryn he's dead. (Aeryn gasps a little) Moordil's dead.

Rygel: Get back now! We've got to get out now!

Aeryn: No way! Not yet. (she pulls out the weapon she traded the pulse gun for and steps back from the hatch) Just hope this works. (she fires - it produces a big flash of light that seems to neutralize the lock on the hatch somehow. It falls open with a clang, revealing a little girl standing below and looking up. Good thing that metal hatch didn't fall down and brain the poor kid) Frell me dead. (take it up with Jothee. Right now 3 more children appear and you have about 15 minutes to get them to safety)

(cut back to John who's back wrestling with that recalcitrant tubing again)

Chiana: Have you reached him?

John: Not yet, I'll get to him soon!

Chiana: (pleading) Get to him now.

John: Chiana I'm busy! If I don't- Whoa! (Moya is buffeted by storm turbulence and John is shaken off her hull again, but this time there's nothing to grab onto - so something grabs onto him. It's D'Argo, having regained consciousness on his own)

D'Argo: John! I've got you!

John: (awfully glad to see him) D'Argo!

D'Argo: Let's get the cable.

John: You all right? (in response D'Argo heads for the tubing John had been working on. John follows and they position themselves on either side of it) All right, on my count - 1, 2, 3! (together they're able to pull the mess free of Moya and send it spinning into the vacuum) That's it Pilot! Moya's free! We're comin' in.

Pilot: (cut to him in his Den as he speaks) Hurry! We must draw the storm away from the station now! (John heads for the hatch, but realizes D'Argo isn't with him. A look back reveals the Luxan to be sitting down, facing away from him)

John: D'Argo. (he looks at the hatch and then back at D'Argo) Aw man... What are you doin'? Hell. (he creeps back to his friend and sits facing him) I'm not goin' in without you D'Argo.

(cut back to Aeryn herding her little flock through the ducts towards the bar)

Aeryn: Keep moving! (the station is rumbling ominously as she hustles the kids ahead of her) That way! (on comm) Zhaan! What's going on? We're getting the dren knocked out of us down here!

Zhaan: (cut to her back by Moordil’s body) Aeryn hurry! You must get back here! Moya's free but the storm may still hit us!

Aeryn: Well if it does, I don't think we're going to make it!

Zhaan: Hurry!

Aeryn: (as she drives the children before her through the swaying tubes of the devastated space station) Come on! Move it!

(cut back to the airlock chamber aboard Moya. John has outlasted D'Argo and dragged him back in. Chiana is waiting and squeezes through the door to chamber before it's fully open)

Chiana: Is he alive?

John: (he pushes past her, leaving D'Argo slumped on the floor at the foot of the ladder leading to the outer hatch) He's alive. Look after him.

Chiana: (whispering as she slowly approaches him) D'Argo - hey...

(cut to John as he moves through one of Moya’s main corridors. Jothee runs up to him)

Jothee: Crichton! Where is he?

John: (motioning in the direction of the airlock) He's with Chiana. (it could just be us, but if we were D'Argo, Chiana and Jothee would be the last people we'd want fussing and blubbering over us right now. But Jothee sprints off and John comms Pilot) Pilot are we moving?

Pilot: Attempting starburst-

John: No! In starburst the storm won't be able to track Borlik’s signal! (who cares? Oh yeah - Aeryn's still in there with the kids. We'll have to come back for her later we suppose huh?)

Pilot: (sounding a little annoyed) Accelerating - now!

(meanwhile back in the airlock, D'Argo lays wearily against the base of the ladder as Chiana tries to act like nothing's happened and Jothee hovers)

Chiana: I thought you were going to die out there.

D'Argo: (his voice is painfully hoarse, he sounds like his tongue is numb as he fights to speak) Hey come here. I want... you both... to stay away from me! (told ya. Chiana staggers back, staring at him. Jothee reaches out to touch her arm reassuringly but she jerks away from him)

Chiana: (angry) Don't!

(cut to the hangar bay as John runs in to finish things with Borlik. He jogs up to the cryopod, whose lid is open, as he talks)

John: Commuter forecast on your travel day - storms expected - (he trails off as he comes around and finds the cryopod - empty) - just for you... (but then he hears Borlik’s voice and snaps around - she is affixed now to a wall of the bay and looking very pleased with herself indeed)

Borlik: I think I'll be able to share my purification. It took all my strength, but I was able to reconfigure the magnetics and stick here. By the time you cut me down, the storm will be upon us. Lakma-ruka-be! Lakma-ruka-be! Lakma-ruka-be!

John: (he shakes his head and turns to leave) You're too smart.

Borlik: Where are you going?

John: Oh uh - you win. We lose. You-you outsmarted us. (she grins with insane triumph) But that door you're stuck to? It's detachable.

Borlik: NO!

John: YES!

Borlik: NO! YOU LIE! NO! YOU WILL STILL BE PURIFIED! THE HOLY GEZMAS PUNISHMENT WILL BE BROUGHT DOWN UPON-

John: Blah-blah, blah-blah, blah- (Borlik begins chanting frantically as John leaves the room) Pilot! I'm clear! Detach the door - and suck this bitch out!

In his Den, Pilot is not only glad to oblige, but seems to be working of some sort of repressed aggression - he's laughing a laugh of pure maniacal glee as he hits the control to unseal the door. Back in the hangar Borlik shrieks - and back in his Den Pilot, with a final howl of pure evil pleasure, blows the door and sends it flying into space. It is propelled away from Moya and immediately attracts the storm funnel - which obliterates it and Borlik in a satisfying explosion.

(later - cut back to the bar as Aeryn supervises the children’s entrance, each in turn sliding down out of the duct)

Aeryn: There you go. That's it. Watch your head. Good. (other survivors of the space station disaster have gathered there now and many seem to be the parents of the kids, happy reunions abound)

Zhaan: Thank the Goddess the children are safe.

Stark: Now we must find a planet where you can regain your strength.

Zhaan: If she so wishes it. (John enters and comes to find Aeryn. He offers her a drink and they step aside)

John: Been ah - thinking about that thing we talked about. About charity, and ah - maybe...

Aeryn: Maybe you were right. We should do nothing.

John: What about body fluids? (they smile at each other, knowing what a crock that was)

Aeryn: There'll be a backlog.

Rygel: (overhearing part of the conversation in passing, he asks with dread-) Fluid levels? Backlog? Is there some kind of problem?

John: (without taking his eyes off Aeryn) Shut up.

Rygel: What did I say?

John & Aeryn: Shut up!

(cut to Chiana and Jothee somewhere on Moya)

Chiana: You really gonna - gonna leave without saying anything?

Jothee: Yeah. D'Argo's right. I know nothing of Luxan honor or integrity. I'm a half-Luxan. I betrayed him - (cut briefly to D'Argo, sitting alone in the center chamber, listening to their conversation on Rygel’s portable clamshell viewer. The remaining union tattoo lays on the table in front of him) - and if I stay, I'll probably do it again.

Chiana: It wasn't all your fault.

Jothee: Yeah I figured that bit. Why did you do it?

Chiana: (D’Argo’s face is unreadable as he listens) I don't know - D'Argo had plans... For - for me... For a stupid farm. I didn't want any of them. I knew he wouldn't take no for an answer, so I-I figured I had to do something he'd never forgive.

Jothee: You used me.

Chiana: Yeah. A little. But you enjoyed it. Didn't you? (yuck. Jothee smiles a little)

Jothee: Tell my father - if he'll let you - that I'm sorry. And that one day I'll return, and make it up to you both.

Chiana: I'll tell him.

D'Argo inhales shakily and sobs a little, but he makes no effort to stop Jothee. Instead he takes the union tattoo to a disposal bin and sets it afire. Bright yellow flames flare briefly and illuminate his tortured face - before dying away abruptly and leaving him standing in the dark. Alone.

THE END