Watching

Author: 13thNight
Contact: jfcyr13@starpower.net
Timeframe: During the long hiatus after ACN

There were a dozen people drifting along the long street of houses that Chiana walked down. Pausing about halfway, she quickly turned around. Was that a shadow of someone ducking into a doorway? She slowly turned back around and continued walking.

The street opened into a square with booths lining the outside. There were more people here, wandering about, looking at and buying the wares proffered. Chiana glanced around for a familiar face. She skirted around the food booth located in the center of the square and spotted the backs of two long black leather coats ahead of her.

The breath that she hadn’t realized she was holding released in a rush and she pasted a smile on her face. She walked jauntily up to them and insinuated herself between the leather coats, not that there was much room. As they stepped back to make room for her, Chiana glanced at the woman, then focused her attention on the man, “Hello, Mom and Dad!”

Crichton looked down at her with a puzzled, but amused, expression.

“What have you done now, Chiana?” Aeryn asked.

“Are you in some kind of trouble, Pip? Someone after you?” Crichton added, looking around while pulling back his coat to reveal the pulse gun holstered on his thigh. Resting his hand on the gun he squinted through the bright sunlight to observe the others in the square.

“No, I’m not in any trouble.” Chiana sounded exasperated, although secretly she was glad that Crichton had taken this posture. She didn’t have to look at Aeryn to know that she had mimicked Crichton’s movements. It never hurt to look like you had PeaceKeeper protection.

“Soooo,” Crichton said, returning his gaze to her. “What ARE you up to?”

This time her exasperation was real, “Crichton, why do you think I’m always ‘up to’ something? You’re as bad as D’Argo.”

“Because you always ARE up to something and where IS D’Argo?”

“Someplace else,” she responded annoyed.

“Crichton,” Aeryn interjected, “you find out what trouble she is in, I’ll look for the console part.” Crichton nodded at her and watched her walk away before returning his attention once again to Chiana, raising his eyebrows questioningly.

Chiana started to protest her innocence to Aeryn’s back, then realized that she wanted Crichton to herself anyway, so she let Aeryn walk away.

Looking up at Crichton, she grabbed his arm and pulled him to the side of the booth so they wouldn’t be overheard. “Crichton, someone’s following me.”

“Who?” he asked, looking across the square. “A shopkeeper? A guard? Someone you stole from?”

“Stop that.” She looked up at him, knowing that behind that blue-eyed stare was the person most likely to believe her, to give her suspicions credence. “Crichton,” she said, drawing his attention back to her, “someone is following me. I don’t know who, I don’t know why. I just know he’s there.”

“What’s he look like? Which one is he?”

Still holding his arm, she could feel the tension in his body. “I haven’t exactly SEEN him. I’m not even sure it is a HIM. I’ve just got this feeling…” She felt him relax slightly. “You have to believe me, Crichton.”

He heard the pleading and fear in her voice. “I believe you, Pip. Hell, with Scorpy following me around in my brain, I can hardly discount anyone else’s paranoia.” He grinned at her. “Hey, you know what they say, ‘Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they’re not out to get ya.’”

Chiana was going to ask who ‘they’ were, but decided that Crichton was just trying to lighten the mood. She smiled weakly back at him. No need for pretenses with Crichton. She knew that he would protect her from imaginary demons as well as the real ones. “You think I’m crazy?”

“’Too’, you mean?” He smiled, then, seriously: “The life we live, Chiana, we can’t afford NOT to take any ‘gut feelings’ seriously.” Her smile a little stronger this time, she rested her head against her friend’s arm. “So, tell me what’s going on,” he prodded.

She lifted her head. “After I got mad at D’Argo,“ she paused as she noticed his questioning gaze. “He kept watching me like I was going to snurch something! He doesn’t trust me! And don’t give me that look!”

“Well, Chi…”

“Nevermind. So, I left him in the shop, went off on my own. And there was someone. Something. Behind me. I kept seeing just glimpses, never really saw anyone.”

“Could it have just been D’Argo? Following you, checking up on you?” He paused as she shook her head no. “So, what are your impressions?”

“What do you mean?”

“You never saw him, but you got the impression that it was a ‘he’. How about height? Color? Blue, green, …really, really white…”

“Ummm, I’m not sure about the ‘he’, but I do think it was short. Yes, definitely short. Maybe Rygel’s size. But thinner. Golden? But that could just be the clothing.”

“Short, skinny and shiny. Sounds charming. Hey, Aeryn,” he greeted the approaching figure.

“So, what’s the problem, Crichton?” Aeryn asked, indicating Chiana with her head.

“I told you,” Chiana said quickly, “there’s no problem, uh, I just…”

“Chi and D’Argo had a fight,” Crichton helped. He wasn’t sure why Chiana didn’t want Aeryn to know about her suspicions, but assumed it was because Aeryn would just roll her eyes in disbelief. Which she did anyway with the information she was given.

“Fine. We’re finished here,” Aeryn held up the package to indicate that she had made their purchase. “Let’s get back to Moya.” She turned around and started leaving the square. In two steps, Crichton had caught up. She glanced over at him and saw his blue gaze searching the area.

Rushing, Chiana caught up to Aeryn’s other side. “It’s not like you and Crichton never argue,” she teased, then skipped ahead with a laugh. Then, as if remembering something, Chiana slowed down to lessen the distance between them.

Aeryn glared at her back, then peeked over at Crichton again. He was still looking around as if searching for something. She sighed, hoping it was whatever Chiana was lying about and not more Scorpius visions. There was a stutter to her step as she wonderingly stared at Crichton and realized that she had been able to tell that Chiana was lying, but not him. She wasn’t sure she was comfortable with this realization that Crichton, usually without guile, could trick her more easily than the Nebari.

<<<<>>>>

D’Argo was putting the last load of supplies on the transport pod when he noticed the trio approaching. “Chiana!” he exploded. “Where have you been?”

“Why? Worried about me? I got arrested for stealing some silly trinket. They were going to execute me in the middle of town, but Aeryn and Crichton ran in, shooting everyone and rescuing me. Half the town is dead and you’re here nonchalantly loading food cubes.”

D’Argo sighed and looked at Crichton. “John?”

“Lots of dead bodies. Blood. Guts everywhere. It’s a mess. More importantly, all we got is food cubes?”

D’Argo shook his head, decided he wasn’t going to get a straight answer, and said, “No, Rygel managed to purchase some other food.”

“Any ice cream?”

“I still don’t know what izesgreem is, Crichton,” Rygel stuck his head out of the transport door. “But we did get some Hynerian modules.”

“Sure, Sparky,” Crichton teased. “Always manage to find that salmonella-carrying Hynerian food-dren, don’t ya?”

“Food fit for a dominar, Crichton. Of course, I don’t expect you to understand that,” Rygel huffed. “What are they arguing about, now?” he indicated D’Argo and Chiana, then disappeared without waiting for an answer.

Crichton laughed and looked over at Aeryn. Her back was to the transport pod and she was searching the horizon as if on guard duty. Crichton used his hand to shield his eyes from the sun’s glare and looked where she was staring. “Whatcha looking for, Sundance?”

“I have no idea, John,” she answered, turning her gaze to him as if waiting for him to answer his own question.

Crichton moved his head closer to hers and teasingly said, “Then I doubt you’ll find it, darlin’.”

Aeryn closed her eyes to count to ten like Crichton told her to do when she was frustrated or angry. She got to two. Stepping closer to him, barely any space between them now, she asked softly, “What’s going on, John?”

Crichton responded quietly, “It’s okay, Aeryn. Chiana will share when she’s ready.”

Aeryn nodded, relieved that it WAS Chiana and not something in John’s mind. John tilted his head and gave her a look and she realized that he had read her thoughts. Hezmatta, he did that too easily these days, she despaired. She sighed and, with one last glance around, entered the transport pod, pulling him in behind her.

<<<>>>

There was an icy quiet during the return trip to Moya after Aeryn threatened to shoot D’Argo and Chiana if they didn’t stop arguing.

Zhaan joined them as quickly as Rygel deserted them after landing on Moya. As they unloaded the supplies, Chiana grabbed a box of food. “I’ll cook dinner for those of you who appreciate me,” she declared, glaring at D’Argo. In response, D’Argo just grabbed a crate of supplies and grumbled as he left the room.

“If you are cooking a meal, Chiana, everybody eats,” Aeryn ordered.

Zhaan picked up another box of food. “I will help you prepare the meal, Chiana,” she said as she steered Chiana towards the CenterChamber before an argument could ensue.

“Crichton,” Aeryn accused, “why don’t you help in situations like these? You are one of the few people Chiana SOMETIMES listens to.”

“Right,” he responded. “So why waste it on who she cooks dinner for? Why do YOU try to start an argument?”

Aeryn put her hands on her hips. “You’re taking HER side?”

“No, and it looks like you might get that argument you wanted if we don’t change the subject.”

“Fine. What was the problem on the planet?”

“You mean besides that whole ‘killing half the town’ thing?” he grinned at her, picking up a crate of supplies and heading towards the storage chamber to put them away.

Knowing once again that she wasn’t going to get an answer from Crichton, she picked up a smaller crate of supplies and followed him, unable to keep the answering grin from her face. Frell! He turned around and caught her at it. She tried to look at him sternly, but that only caused his grin to grow larger.

<<<>>>

Chiana was just putting the food on the table as Crichton followed Aeryn and D’Argo into the CenterChamber. The other two joined Rygel at the table while Crichton followed Chiana back to where she had prepared the food. “Need help, Pip?” he asked.

“No, this is the last bowl,” Chiana answered, then more quietly, “It’s here, Crichton.”

He tensed beside her. “Huh? What? Whatever was following you on the planet? Did you see something?”

With a glance back to confirm that the others were involved in their own conversations, Chiana whispered, "I feel it. It’s here.”

“But,” he clarified, relaxing a little, “you didn’t see anything.”

“Aren’t you the one that said that that doesn’t mean it’s not there?” she accused.

“Okay, okay, but if you really feel there is something on board, we should tell the others.”

Chiana looked over at the table. “They won’t believe me.”

“Maybe not, but they’ll still look. They’ll be aware and maybe ready if something happens.”

Chiana looked at her friend and sighed. “You tell them. After dinner.”

“Sure, fine,” he agreed and took the bowl from her and brought it to the table.

Chiana nodded her head once, satisfied. Like her, the others trusted Crichton. He could usually get them to accept his ideas, even if they didn’t believe in them. Chiana knew that when Crichton first joined the crew, the others had thought him inferior and he had had to earn their respect. They still teased him, but it was with underlying deference and affection. Chiana marveled at how HER first impression was that Crichton was the captain of this haphazard bunch. Even though she now knew that he wasn’t, she also knew that everyone turned to him in his or her own way, following Crichton’s quiet leadership.

She was glad the seat on the opposite side of Crichton from Aeryn was empty, and she promptly sat in it. She wanted his protectiveness if the others ridiculed her.

<<<>>>

“This is just a ploy for attention!” D’Argo exclaimed.

“And whose attention do you think I want?” Chiana loudly challenged. “Yours? You flatter yourself. Why would I want…”

“Perhaps it is someone ELSE’s attention you wish!” D’Argo accused, glancing at Crichton.

“Perhaps someone else DESERVES my attention…”

Crichton held up his hand, starting to interrupt when Aeryn added her opinion, “I’m sure Chiana THINKS she is being followed. I would think the same thing if I were constantly doing something that required watching.”

“What does THAT mean?” Chiana cried.

“It means, Chiana,” Aeryn continued, “that you probably ARE being followed by every lawkeeper on every commerce planet…”

“I’m sure she is,” D’Argo agreed. “But they wouldn’t be on Moya.”

“My point exactly. She just still THINKS they are following her.”

“I DO NOT!” Chiana screamed. “It’s NOT lawkeepers. Well, it could be lawkeepers, but I didn’t steal…”

Crichton leaned forward, “Everybody, SHUT UP!” He paused, waiting for some semblance of order. “Pilot!” Crichton called over to the shell screen, where Pilot’s image soon materialized.

“Yes, Commander?”

“Have any of the DRDs or Moya reported any sightings of new critters aboard? Or critter droppings?”

“No, Commander, nothing has been reported. Shall I have the DRDs perform an active search?”

“Yes, please,” Crichton agreed. He looked back at the group around him. “Whether or not you believe Chiana’s suspicions…”

“I do not,” D’Argo flatly stated, folding his arms across his chest.

“Whether or not you believe Chiana’s suspicions,” Crichton repeated firmly before Chiana could counterattack, “I believe we should err on the side of caution. We need to perform a shipwide search.”

“Didn’t Pilot just send the DRDs to do that?” Rygel balked against the labor.

“Doesn’t mean we can’t help, Your Eminence,” Crichton said pointedly to Rygel.

“John is right,” Zhaan agreed and Chiana jerked her head in a nod of approval. “Caution dictates that we take an active stance.”

“Fine,” Crichton said, knowing the others would join suit. “We should search in pairs for safety.”

“I’ve got Crichton!” Chiana cried, grinning, and latched onto his arm.

Aeryn shot her a murderous glare. “Come on D’Argo,” she said, standing.

“No, Aeryn,” Crichton stopped her. “If there is trouble, we need to have the three of us on separate teams.”

“There’s not going to be trouble, John.”

“Humor me, Aeryn.”

“Fine,” she sighed. “Let’s go, Zhaan. We’ll start in the storage chambers,” she informed them as she and Zhaan left, thus leaving Rygel with D’Argo.

“Great,” D’Argo said.

“You could take Pip, D’Argo,” Crichton offered. “Maybe work a few things out? Sparky and I…”

“No, John, YOU take ‘Pip’,” D’Argo said sarcastically. “Do whatever you want with her.”

“Whoa! Whoa, Big Guy,” Crichton protested.

“He COULD do whatever he wants with me!” Chiana countered. “And he doesn’t need YOUR permission. I’m sure he’s more imaginative than…”

“All right! STOP!” Crichton demanded. “We’ll start in Quarters, you go…”

“Private Quarters?” Chiana asked seductively, running her hand down Crichton’s chest and resting her chin on his arm.

Crichton rolled his eyes. “You take Quarters,” he told D’Argo. “We’ll start on the top tiers.” He grabbed Chiana’s arm and dragged her out of the room. “What the hell are you doing?”

“What?”

“Your little game to make D’Argo jealous only strengthens his argument that you are just trying to get attention.” He stopped and turned her toward him. Leaning down and staring into her black eyes, he asked, “You aren’t doing this to get attention, are you?”

“No, Crichton.” She stared defiantly back into his eyes. He seemed unsure. “I wouldn’t lie to you, Crichton. Well, I would,” she amended. “But I’m not.”

They stood that way for a few more seconds, and then Crichton seemed to make up his mind. “Fine. Let’s get hunting.”

<<<>>>

After a couple of arns of searching, Aeryn’s voice was heard over their comm badges, tired and exasperated, “Zhaan and I are finished. Has anyone found ANYthing?”

“There is nothing TO find,” came D’Argo’s answering voice. “The only thing Rygel and I have found is that Chiana keeps the messiest room aboard Moya.”

“I do NOT!” was Chiana’s reply. “I just cleaned before we went down to the commerce planet. If you’ve trashed my room, D’Argo…”

“Anything I moved in your room could only have made it neater.”

“Okay, kids,” Crichton cut in. “D’Argo. You’ve seen Chiana’s room before. Is it worse than usual?”

Chiana glared at Crichton, “Worse than usual?”

“Shhhh,” he warned. “D’Argo?”

“Yes, John. It looks like she had a tantrum.”

Crichton answered before Chiana could continue the argument, “Right. We’re on our way. Come on, Pip.”

<<<>>>

Everyone was already in Chiana’s room by the time Crichton and Chiana got there. Chiana gasped. “D’Argo! What did you do?”

“Me? This is just another attempt on your part to…”

“Will you two STOP!” Crichton demanded. He looked around at the articles strewn about the room. “I take it, it doesn’t usually look like this?” To Chiana’s responding glare, he added, “Right. Well, is anything missing? Anything new? Any critters hiding in the debris?”

Chiana looked around, picking up her possessions. “I don’t know. I’ll have to clean up. FRELL!”

“What? You see a critter?” Crichton reached for his gun.

“My Bamatani!” she cried, holding up an electronic device. To Crichton’s questioning look, she replied, “It’s a game. It’s broken.”

Crichton exhaled loudly. “Let me see it.” She handed it to him and he examined the pieces. “I might be able to fix it. It’s kind of like a GameBoy. I’ll try, Chi,” he told her and was rewarded with a grateful smile.

“I’ll help Chiana clean,” Zhaan announced.

“Are we finished searching?” Rygel asked. “I’m hungry.”

“Yeah,” Crichton answered. “I’m going to the maintenance bay to work on this,” he indicated the game. “Aeryn?” Aeryn nodded that she would join him.

“The food’s still out, Ryg,” a dejected Chiana said. “Thanks. Everyone.”

<<<>>>

“Chi wouldn’t have trashed her own room, D’Argo,” Crichton tried to reason as they and Aeryn walked down the corridor. “Or broken her game.”

“Maybe she knows you can fix it,” Aeryn said.

“Or, she could just steal another one,” D’Argo added. “Maybe she already has. That one could have been broken for a while.”

“I don’t think so,” Crichton said. “She…”

“John,” D’Argo cut in, “Chiana can be very manipulative. She also knows you can be…”

“She manipulate you, D’Argo?” Crichton asked. “What’s going on between you two? This is way too much arguing just because you tried to stop her from stealing something. Of course, you could just be arguing for the make-up se…” Suddenly aware of Aeryn on the other side of him, Crichton changed his thought. “Se… Sessions. Make-up sessions.” He cleared his throat and glanced at Aeryn. Noticing her raised eyebrows, he knew he was going to get quizzed on this later.

“Yes, I know, John. I feel it is ending,” D’Argo said sadly.

A cry from the direction they were leaving caused all three to turn at once and draw their weapons. They ran back to Chiana’s quarters. Crichton was the first one through the door.

“The vent!” Chiana cried. “I saw it! That thing that’s following me!”

Aeryn lay on the floor for a better view into the vent. “I don’t see anything now. Are you sure, Chiana?”

“Of course, I’m sure. I saw it. It was, uh, peeking through. I saw its face, all gold and sparkley.”

“Sparkley?” Crichton repeated. “Well, none of us can fit in that vent. Better send some DRDs to hunt down the Disco Dwarf.”

“Pilot,” Aeryn called into her comm badge.

“Yes, Officer Sun?” Pilot responded.

“Can you get some DRDs to search this area?”

“Of course, Officer Sun. Right away.”

“Thank you.” She turned toward the Nebari. “What did it look like, Chiana? It didn’t look anything like Scorpius, did it?” Aeryn asked sarcastically.

“Cute, Aeryn,” Crichton said dryly.

Aeryn looked contrite as Chiana answered, “Ummm, short, around Rygel’s size, but thin. Its face was really round. And gold. Sparkley. I think it was wearing gold, too. I really only saw its head.”

“Did you see it, Zhaan?” asked D’Argo.

“You think I’m making this up?” Chiana took offense.

“No, Chiana,” D’Argo answered, exasperated. “I wondered if she had more details. DID you make it up?”

Zhaan answered before the argument gained any more momentum. “No, unfortunately, I was cleaning on the opposite side of the room.”

“Right, well, there’s nothing we can do now,” Aeryn said. “I’m tired. I’m going to bed.”

“Alone?” Chiana asked.

“Excuse me?” Aeryn responded, incredulously.

“I mean, with that thing running around the ship…”

“Oh.” Aeryn was a little embarrassed about her misinterpretation. “I’m not worried…”

“Maybe we should sleep in pairs, Aeryn,” Crichton kidded. “Just in case.”

“Fine, Crichton. You sleep with Rygel.”

“Well, I don’t want to sleep alone,” Chiana declared.

“Okay, everyone, bring some blankets to Command and we’ll take shifts watching,” Crichton decided. “Someone contact Sparky about the pajama party.”

Aeryn sighed as she and Crichton headed towards their own Quarters. “This is unnecessary, Crichton.”

“Unless there IS something here, Aeryn. And it wants to harm us.”

“Maybe it only wants to harm Chiana.”

“Only?”

“Hmmm,” she answered. Then she looked at Crichton teasingly, “I was thinking about your ‘sleeping in pairs’ idea, but, now that we’re all going to be together…”

“Yeah,” Crichton teased back, “but I had to sleep with Rygel.” He pretended to shudder.

<<<>>>

The sleep cycle commenced without incident; …without incident from Chiana’s creature. There WAS some bickering. Chiana vs. D’Argo. Chiana vs. Aeryn. Rygel vs. everyone. Eventually, everyone settled down while D’Argo took the first watch, losing at ‘Rock, Paper & Scissors’ once again.

<<<>>>

It was Crichton’s turn on watch in the darkened Command when Aeryn awoke. She opened her eyes and saw him sitting, straddling a bench, tossing a silver ball from one hand to the other. She lay there watching him, trying to fathom what was going on in his mind. The depths of her feelings for this complicated man were becoming more aware to her each passing day and she found she was frightened for him. For what he had endured, how he endured it. Even knowing all the resilience he had shown in the past, she knew there had to be a breaking point.

She stood up, walked over, and sat in front of him. “Hey,” she said quietly, glancing at the others sleeping.

He tilted his head at her, smiled, and said, “Hey” back to her.

She smiled wanly, then whispered, “I’m sorry about the Scorpius comment yesterday, John.”

He tossed the ball straight up into the air and caught it. “I know.” He looked into her eyes. “It’s okay, Aeryn. No big deal.”

Aeryn looked down into her lap and her hair fell over her face. Crichton freethrow-style shot the ball onto his blanket, now folded next to Aeryn’s disheveled one. He brushed Aeryn’s hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear. Then he reached his arms around her waist and pulled her against him. “You think I’m going crazy, don’t you?” he asked softly, resting his forehead against her head.

She leaned into him, taking his strong hand and sandwiching it between hers, intertwining their fingers. “No, John, I don’t think you’re going crazy,” she answered firmly. “I think you’re trying to deal with a lot of pain. I want to help you, but…” her voice trailed off.

“This helps. This. Just being here with me, Aeryn. Knowing you’re on my side.”

“Always, John.”

He kissed her temple and she relaxed into him.

<<<>>>

The next time Aeryn woke, she was lying on her blanket on the floor. She had drawn the last shift, the one after Crichton, and thought her internal PeaceKeeper clock must be waking her up for her turn. She raised her head and looked around. At first glance, it seemed she was the only one in the room. Confused, she looked around and saw Zhaan meditating behind her. ‘I slept through my shift?’ she thought. ‘Why didn’t Crichton wake me? Why should he have HAD to?’ Her thoughts of how comfortable her new life sometimes made her feel, how it tended to make her occasionally lower her guard, made her lose her PeaceKeeper edge, caused her to recall the last thing she remembered of the night: leaning against John. ‘That Human really HAS contaminated me,’ she thought. She wanted to be angry, started to be angry, but found herself grinning by the time the thought completed itself. Crichton…

Zhaan interrupted her thoughts, “Ah, you’re awake, my dear.”

“Why didn’t anyone wake me?” she asked sternly.

“John wouldn’t let us. He said you needed your sleep, that you were tired. It appears he was right.”

“Where is he?”

The subject of their conversation appeared in the doorway. “Morning, Sunshine!” he called.

“Crichton! Why didn’t you wake me?” she accused.

“You looked too pretty sleeping,” he answered, leaning his shoulder against the doorframe.

Flustered, she sent him a warning look that indicated that Zhaan was in the room. Crichton just grinned. Then he said, “Breakfast’s ready! Scrambled eggs, bacon, orange juice.”

“What’s that?”

“Really? Scrambled something-resembling-eggs, sort of, something else that fried up nicely, and something almost orange-colored to drink.”

“Sounds delicious,” she responded mock-sarcastically, standing up and starting to fold her blankets.

“Here, I’ll do that,” he offered, walking over to her. “You go eat. You too, Zhaan. Get it while it’s hot.” Zhaan bowed her head in agreement and gathered her things.

“No, I’ll do it,” Aeryn waved him away. “I need to stop by my Quarters, anyway, and can drop them off.” She paused. “Why do I have four blankets?”

“You can drop two off in my Quarters. Hurry to breakfast,” he added. “Don’t know what this stuff will turn into when it gets cold.” He started to follow Zhaan out of the room.

Aeryn realized he must have added his two blankets with one of hers to make her sleep more comfortable against the hard floor. “John!” Aeryn called. He turned around. “You should have awakened me for my shift. Now you will be tired.”

“Nah,” he said. “If nothing interesting happens to keep me awake today, I’ll take a nap later. Care to join…?”

He was interrupted by Chiana’s agitated voice coming through his comm badge. “Crichton! That frelling thing was here again!”

“Well, it looks like something interesting may happen today,” he said to Aeryn. Speaking into his comm badge to Chiana, he asked, “Your Quarters, Chi?” To her affirmative answer, he said, “We’re on our way.”

<<<>>>

D’Argo arrived at Chiana’s room shortly after Crichton and Aeryn. Aeryn was again checking the vents and Crichton was standing in the middle of the room looking at the walls.

“Does this say anything?” Crichton was asking. The translator microbes didn’t always interpret everything, oral or written.

“Not to me,” Chiana answered, looking at the gold markings scratched over two of her walls.

D’Argo looked around in disbelief. “Chiana, what…?”

“D’Argo!” Crichton interrupted. “Even you have to admit that this is going too far for someone just wanting attention. Let’s work under the assumption that there IS a creature on board and for some reason has targeted Chiana’s Quarters for vandalism.”

D’Argo nodded and Crichton touched the wall markings with his little finger. The gold was wet and stuck to it. He sniffed it and tasted a tiny speck. “I’ve got nothing,” he said. “Let’s get some scrapings, get them to Zhaan, and see what she can figure out.”

As Chiana found a container and started scraping some of the gold into it, Zhaan entered the room and looked at the wall writings.

“Does any of this mean anything to you?” Crichton asked.

“No,” she replied, “but isn’t this symbol Nebari, Chiana?”

D’Argo glared at Chiana as she hesitantly walked over to where Zhaan was looking.

Chiana gave a barely perceptible nod.

“Pip?” Crichton tried to give Chiana an opening to explain.

“I didn’t do it!”

“Chiana!” D’Argo accused.

“All right, all right!” Crichton interjected. “Zhaan knew what it was, so it stands to reason that someone else could have too. Zhaan, could you analyze the sample of paint?” He indicated the container in Chiana’s hand.

“Of course, John,” she responded, taking the vial from Chiana and holding it up in the light. She walked out of the room saying, “Although I suspect that it won’t be any different than the gold paint that Chiana bought a few monens ago.”

Aeryn raised her eyebrows at Crichton, who sighed. D’Argo continued to glare at Chiana.

Chiana just glared back, fists clenched by her side, sure that nothing she could say at this point would prove her innocence.

“All right,” Crichton sounded tired. “Everybody to neutral corners. For the sake of safety, let’s assume we need to be on our guards against ‘something’.”

Aeryn moved to stand next to Crichton. “So, what do we do now, Crichton?” she asked. “We could do another search, but, if it exists, it seems very good at hiding. Even the DRDs haven’t detected its presence.”

“We could post a guard on this room,” D’Argo offered. “When it returns perhaps someone could capture it.”

“Or it could be listening to everything we’re saying and decide to paint some other room,” Crichton reasoned. “But I guess, if we have no better plan… Who wants first watch? D’Argo?” Crichton gestured for him to try ‘Rock, Paper & Scissors’ again.

“Never mind, John. I’ll just do it. Until I can figure out how you cheat at that frelling game.”

Crichton laughed. “You can’t cheat at it, D’Argo. You have to be able to read your opponent and outwit him.”

D’Argo sighed and waved them out of the room. Chiana said she would see if she could help Zhaan.

Aeryn looked questioningly at Crichton in the hallway.

He grinned at her. “Nah, it’s pure luck. Let’s see if breakfast is still edible.”

<<<>>>

After eating, Crichton and Aeryn wandered Moya’s corridors together for arns; not really searching, but not really NOT searching.

Zhaan’s analysis of the gold had revealed nothing more telling than a generic dye, easily purchased on most commerce planets.

Aeryn insisted on taking the next watch, since Crichton had pulled a double shift during the night. Actually, she called it ‘the next useless watch’ since it didn’t seem that the creature would return if someone were in or near the room. She had decided that she would sit outside the room, looking in, and maybe the creature, if it existed, wouldn’t notice her and show itself. Before heading to Chiana’s Quarters, she turned to Crichton. “Why don’t you get some rest?”

“I’m not tired, yet. I’m going to the maintenance bay and see if I can fix Chiana’s game.”

Aeryn nodded and they parted.

<<<>>>

For the next few arns, Crichton worked meticulously on Chiana’s game, trying to figure out how it worked. At some point, Chiana joined him. Aeryn wouldn’t let her in her Quarters and she didn’t want to be there anyway. Not until all this was over.

Chiana sat on the bench beside Crichton and talked to him about everything and about nothing. Most of it was mindless chatter and Crichton paid more attention to the game he was working on than what Chiana was saying. At one point he tried to steer the conversation toward Chiana’s problems with D’Argo, but she waved him off, telling him not to worry about it, they would make up eventually and then fight again. Crichton decided her attitude was probably the correct one for the situation. D’Argo and Chiana had many differences and, even though they shared an affection for each other, he wasn’t sure they could bridge the gaps for the long run. He just didn’t want either of his friends to be hurt when, if, the final breakup occurred.

Chiana continued chattering, and Crichton lifted his head from his work and looked over at her with an amused expression.

Chiana noticed the change. “What?” she asked.

“Nothing,” he answered quietly, and went back to his work smiling.

He had noticed that this had felt very comfortable, very familiar. Then he had suddenly remembered years ago, when he was a teenager, sitting at the workbench in the garage, tearing apart every machine and mechanism he could get his hands on, to find out how it worked. Many times, his little sister, who adored her big brother, would sit next to him and chatter away about all the important things in her young life. It had just been background noise for him, but he found himself remembering more than he ever thought he had paid attention to. He also found that he missed his sisters more than he had thought. Especially his younger sister, who still called him, as recently as a week before the FarScape experiment, when she had something she just HAD to tell someone; had to tell her still-beloved big brother. He tried not to wonder how she had taken his disappearance; his presumed death.

Crichton tuned Chiana in long enough to discover that she had gone back to talking about HER big brother, Nerri, from whom she had been separated. She had just finished describing an adventure they had had, when Crichton turned to her and handed her the game.

“Hey!” Chiana exclaimed. “You fixed it!” She leaned over and gave Crichton an appreciative hug. “I knew you could!”

He smiled at her and stood up, stretching. “I’m going to relieve Aeryn now,” he told her.

Chiana nodded, gave him a little wave, and started playing the game. Without thinking, Crichton leaned over and kissed Chiana’s cheek, just as he had his little sister, hundreds of times.

Chiana looked up, surprised, and watched him leave the room, adding a little dance strut as he dodged a few canisters sitting on the floor. Chiana grinned. “That’s Crichton,” she said, and went back to her game.

<<<>>>

“Hey, Sundance!” Crichton greeted Aeryn.

“What does that mean, Crichton?” she responded.

“Sit with me awhile, I’ll explain.”

“All right. Just let me get something to eat first.” She paused, looking at him. “Have you eaten, John? Have you rested? You look tired.”

“Nah. Got Chi’s game fixed though.”

“I’m impressed, John,” she said, although she realized she wasn’t really surprised. “I’ll bring some food back for you.”

“Thanks,” he said as she left.

When she returned, she saw that he had pulled the padding from Chiana’s bed and brought it into the hall to sit on. ‘Why hadn’t I thought of that?’ she wondered, after sitting many arns on the hard floor. She decided that her PeaceKeeper training didn’t include allowing for comforts when on duty.

She sat next to him on the padding and they arranged the food in front of them. “Just like a picnic,” Crichton said.

She thought she would save that one for later. “So, tell me about ‘Sundance’,” she said.

He told her the story of Butch Cassidy, the thinker, the planner, and the Sundance Kid, the ‘quick-draw’, the ‘warrior’, and she liked the comparisons.

Then they sat in companionable silence for a long while. Until Chiana came down the hall.

“Anything happening?” she asked. “Hey! The creature’s not making enough mess of my room, you’re tearing my bed apart?”

Crichton smiled. “It was already kind of a mess, Pip.”

“Yeah, I guess.” She plopped down next to Aeryn. “Now what?”

“There must be some way we can flush this thing out,” Crichton said.

D’Argo’s voice came over their comm. badges, “John, Aeryn, could you come here?”

“Where are you, D’Argo?” Crichton asked as he and Aeryn stood up, then moved in the direction that D’Argo indicated.

<<<>>>

D’Argo finished explaining the strange noises he had heard through Moya’s walls in this corridor and they started looking for access points to the inner walls. Crichton was looking at Aeryn when a flash of light flew past his head. He jerked his head reactively and stepped back into D’Argo.

D’Argo pushed him away as he drew his Qualta Blade.

Regaining his balance, Crichton pulled his pulse gun from his thigh and noticed that Aeryn already had her rifle in her hand and was inching her way up the corridor in the direction the shot came from.

“Careful,” Crichton whispered, closing the distance between them and touching her arm to let her know where he was.

They approached a turn in the corridor and five shots rang in quick succession down that corridor.

Aeryn looked at Crichton. He nodded and Aeryn turned the corner, pointing her rifle down the corridor toward the origin of the shots. Simultaneously, Crichton sprang past Aeryn to the opposite side of the corridor, ramming his shoulder against the wall and pointing his gun in the same direction. D’Argo strode into the center of the hall, between them.

Nothing.

They cautiously walked forward. More shots rang out in the cross-corridor ahead. They quickened their pace, stopping short of the turn. Aeryn looked at Crichton again, he nodded his readiness, they glanced at D’Argo and they all repeated the same procedure they had used at the previous intersection.

Standing at the other end of the corridor, holding a pistol in both hands and pointing it steadily at them, was Chiana.

All four weapons remained firmly aimed as they all tried to process the information. Aeryn was the first to recover. “Put the weapon down, Chiana,” she ordered.

“Huh?” Chiana asked. “What?”

“Chi,” Crichton quietly and gently commanded. “Drop the gun.”

Chiana looked at the weapon in her hands and in an equally quiet, yet puzzled voice, repeated her mantra, “It wasn’t me.” Then, noticing the expressions of the threesome in front of her, quickly dropped the gun.

Aeryn strode toward Chiana, raising her gun higher. “Face the wall, Chiana. Raise your arms and lean them against the wall.”

Crichton saw the fear in Chiana’s eyes as Aeryn approached her and he rushed to stand between them. “Whoa, whoa. Hold up here. Let’s calm down, think this through. Talk…”

“Talk? Talk, Crichton?” Aeryn countered. “Even you would have to admit that talking isn’t always the answer, John.”

“Yeah, I get that Aeryn,” he responded soothingly. “But this IS Chiana we’re talking about.”

Aeryn raised her eyebrow in response.

Crichton sighed. “Right, yeah, but she wouldn’t shoot us.” He cocked his head, his eyes asking her to be reasonable.

Aeryn relaxed. “Fine.” She looked at the Nebari girl. “Talk, Chiana.”

Chiana took a deep breath and released it slowly. “I heard the shots. I was trying to find out what was happening.”

Aeryn used her own weapon to point to the gun on the floor. “The gun?”

At Chiana’s confused expression, Crichton explained, “You usually don’t have a gun, Chiana.”

Chiana looked back and forth between Crichton, Aeryn and D’Argo. “But I do keep one in my quarters.”

“I can vouch for that,” D’Argo spoke for the first time since the shooting started. After a pause, he continued. “If it WAS Chiana, it doesn’t appear as if she was aiming at anyone. At least, not one of us.”

Chiana became defiant again now that no guns were pointing in her direction. “I wasn’t the one shooting. I HEARD the shooting, then I…”

Suddenly, an explosion came from a room behind them. Guns were once again drawn.

“Chiana’s quarters!” D’Argo shouted as he led the group down the corridor.

Crichton retrieved Chiana’s gun from the floor and put it in the waistband in the back of his pants before catching up with the others, entering the room together.

Aeryn crouched down and ran a finger through the soot mark on the floor.

“Aeryn,” Crichton said getting her attention. He held up a mangled piece of metal. “Look familiar?”

“Part of a pulse rifle,” she answered, standing up and taking the piece in her hands. “Should be familiar to you, John,” she teased. “The markings and damage are consistent with overcharging the pulse chamber.”

Crichton rolled his eyes. “Right. You don’t think Chiana did this, do you?” He motioned around the room. “To her own room?”

“There’s not that much damage, John. It appears that someone emptied most of the chakkan oil first.” Aeryn looked at Chiana.

“There’s ENOUGH damage!” Chiana protested.

Everyone was looking uncertainly at each other when Pilot’s voice was heard over their comm badges.

<<<>>>

“Commander Crichton! Officer Sun!”

“What is it, Pilot?” responded Aeryn.

“Something is in the maintenance bay! And an energy source is charging.”

“My Prowler?” exclaimed Aeryn, starting to run.

“My module?” Crichton countered, close behind.

“Something else,” Pilot responded.

“We’re on our way,” D’Argo announced.

By the time they reached the maintenance bay, the doors to the outer chamber were closing. D’Argo stood with his Qualta Blade in his hand, looking for something to shoot.

“Pilot! Don’t let that thing get away!” Crichton ordered.

“I can’t stop it!” Pilot exclaimed.

Everyone stood in place, looking around and seeing nothing. “Why not?” Crichton asked.

“It doesn’t exist.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s not anywhere on Moya’s sensors. The only reason we even knew it was there was because a DRD got a visual.”

“Huh? How is that possible?”

“I don’t know, Commander.”

“So, it’s gone?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I guess we should be glad, but it seems sort of anticlimactic. Pilot, can we see the visual the DRD got?”

“Of course. Viewing now.”

They looked up at the shell screen. There was a little gold man, just as Chiana had described him, smiling at the DRD camera. He grinned widely, did a little dance, and held up a handful of little discs, nodding vigorously at the camera. Suddenly something made the man jump, turn around and run. He dropped one of the discs, turned back to retrieve it, looked up, thought better of it, and continued running.

He ran through the open door and disappeared.

D’Argo looked around in the area that the little man had run and picked something off the floor. “Maybe this will provide some answers.”

“What?” Crichton asked.

“Data disc. We’ll play it in Command,” he announced as he strode out of the room, the others following. Pilot informed Zhaan and Rygel of the events.

<<<>>>

The crew of Moya gathered around the console in Command as D’Argo inserted the data chip. They listened to the recorded voice:

*Notes for Assignment 40, Lesson 7.8: Group Reaction to Controlled Stimuli Effected on Single Member of Group; Subject Prime: For this assignment I selected a Nebari girl found on Commerce Planet 13N. Contrary to type, this Nebari appeared at times to be agitated and emotional…*

“This was someone’s Psych homework assignment?!?” Crichton asked incredulously.

*…first observation of this Nebari, I noted that she placed an item from a shop’s counter into a small bag that she carried. She subsequently vacated the shop without purchasing that item. The Luxon who attended her became belligerent and…*

“I knew you stole something!” D’Argo yelled at Chiana.

“And you were ‘belligerent’,” Chiana yelled back.

“Shhhh,” the others warned.

*…met two PeaceKeepers in a crowded stall area. They seemed very protective of the Nebari, especially the male.*

Chiana grinned and playfully punched Crichton on the arm.

*For only a few shiny baubles, I convinced a Hynerian I had seen talking to the Luxan to tell me what he knew of this group. He said that they were all from the same crew and that they had a ship.*

“Rygel!” Chiana cried.

Rygel put his nose in the air, “They were very nice baubles.”

*…if I boarded this ship to execute my experiment, I would have to remain alert and wary, especially with two PeaceKeepers on board. The male appeared to be of a higher rank, possibly even the captain of the crew. He seemed more intelligent and responsive to the surroundings…*

Aeryn snorted. “If he puts THAT in his report, no one will be convinced he knows anything…”

Crichton put his face close to Aeryn’s, looking very serious and making his voice stern. “That is insubordination, Officer Sun.”

Chiana laughed. “Captain Crichton!” she crowed. “Well, he’s played the part enough. I like the sound.” She laughed again. “Captain Crichton!” she repeated appraisingly. Aeryn gave her a harsh look and Crichton grinned at the mocking exchange.

*…test the trust relationship between the crew, using the hesitant trust they have of the Nebari as catalyst. Note: Interestingly, the captain seems to believe the Nebari more than the others. Observe to see if crew reactions more reflect their views of the girl or the captain. They are loading their transport pod now; I must ready my craft.*

They listened to silence for a while before Pilot appeared on the shell screen and told them there was no other data on the disc.

“Interesting,” Zhaan said. “Subjects in an experiment. I wonder what his final report was.”

“Interesting?” Crichton questioned. “We were rats in a maze! Pavlov’s dogs!”

“I know what his final report was: This crew should trust the Nebari more!” Chiana offered.

“I’m sure he spent an entire disc amending his opinions about a certain Human,” Aeryn said, smiling at Crichton’s attempt to look offended.

“Perhaps,” Zhaan mused. “Perhaps. Or maybe he reported that under our self-serving façades, we are a united crew.”

“All for one and one for all?” Crichton added.

“Hmmmm,” Zhaan bowed her head, liking the phrasing.

“I’m hungry,” Rygel broke in and steered his hover chair toward the door.

“I’m sure THAT made the report,” D’Argo dryly commented. “Chiana,” he started hesitantly, somewhat chagrined at not having believed in her. “I’ll help you straighten your room.”

Chiana cocked her head. “Yeah. Okay.” They walked out of Command together.

Zhaan smiled at Crichton and Aeryn. “In all the excitement, I have been neglecting my Seek. I shall join you later,” she said and went to her Quarters.

Crichton leaned on the console, then rubbed his face with his hands. Aeryn leaned next to him, shoulders and arms touching. “You look tired, John,” she said.

“Yeah, maybe I’ll go rest.” He put his face inches from hers and looked deeply into her eyes. “Want to keep me company?” he challenged. She stared back into his expressive blue eyes and a smile started to form on her lips.

“Commander Crichton!” Pilot’s panicked voice urged as his face appeared once again on the shell screen.

“Oh, hell.”

THE END