"THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS" "I will change my opinion if someone offers a better one." "Until then, I am leaving Moya at the next planet with shipping traffic." "Pass me those and don't help yourself." "We're stronger as the sum of our parts, kids." "We are under no obligation to function as a unit, John." "Zhaan, I understand that, we all have separate goals, but..." "Oh...sala manila, what the hell is that?" "That's krawldar, a delicacy, even for pagans." "Yeah?" "How long was it under your butt getting delicate?" "Wait a minute,  whatever the rest of you decide," " I will not abandon Moya." " Good, suit yourself." " You've got nowhere to go anyway." " I confess my consternation at agreeing with D'Argo." "But if Moya is no longer able to Starburst then we are all at risk, hmm?" " Can I say something?" " No!" "Look, Moya has been very good to us, and now you want to abandon her?" "I want to see my son, and that is not likely to happen aboard a pregnant biomechanoid ship." " RygeL, what do you think?" " Well..." "Moya has been, for as long as I can remember, our protector, our home, our companion, and our friend." " Amen." " However, as relationships grow they also change." "Do you think we can trade her for a faster vessel?" "Moya is not a possession, Your Lowness." "if you ignore the messenger,  which is effortless, the message is sound." "Perhaps we have outgrown our usefulness of..." "Who made this shellack?" "The recipe called for chicken all I had was space rodent." "Moya is protecting her baby, D'Argo!" "Do you blame her?" "That is selfishness masquerading as reason." "He's right, you know, we all want to leave the Uncharted Territories and return home, but you..." "Yes, you would be more content to stay." "I want to get home as badly as anybody else, and this is where the wormholes are." "Fine, so stay, but be honest about your motives, Crichton." " I'm sorry, you're on their side now?" " No." "I know, I just got here, but can I please say something?" " No!" " No!" "Excuse the intrusion, but Moya and I would Like a word about your deliberations." "That's what I've been trying to tell you guys." "The DRDs have ears." "No wonder you guys have been flying around in circles." "Moya is aware of your concerns over her condition and regrets not being more responsive to your needs." "Please don't misunderstand, Pilot, we...we simply..." "Do not wish to be captured because of her pregnancy." "Yes." "We're just having a discussion, Pilot." "That includes thoughts of abandoning us." " You want us to stay?" " Of course, we are most fulfilled when serving others." "Your presence is gratifying and comforting." "Let us talk a little while longer, Pilot, your points are well taken." "You may talk all you want, but please prepare for immediate Starburst." "I..." "I thought Moya couldn't Starburst for another 50 arns." "Her energy is low, however, she shares your concerns about being recaptured, and wishes to prove to you all that she is capable." "Ah no, that won't be necessary, Pilot." "Starburst in 5 microts." "Now, this really is... my favourite on the table." "Smoked pronga sinew." "It's quite easy to make, really." " Are you alright?" " We must have hit something." "In Starburst?" " What's that noise?" " Zhaan?" "Zhaan?" "Are you okay?" "It's my arm, the fibres are torn." "Pilot, what's happening?" "Pilot?" "Pilot?" "Pilot!" "I'm alright, Chiana, I'll heal." " Where's Rygel?" " Rygel?" " Where is he?" " Rygel?" "What the hell is that?" "I'll check Command." "You, look after Pilot and you, you do damage assessment." " D'Argo!" " D'Argo?" "He can't just disappear like that." "Pilot or Command?" "Command." "You, fix her arm and then straight to Command." "Go." "Aeryn?" " John, what's happening?" " I don't want to die!" "Pilot, are you there?" "Crichton, where are the others?" "You tell me what happened?" "I'm unsure...still running analysis." " Is that a star?" " Unknown..." "Attempting to close radiation filters..." "D'Argo, Aeryn and Rygel have disappeared..." "What happened?" "Did we hit something?" "Still unknown, quantify 'disappeared'." "Here one second, gone the next Disa" " Elvis has left the building- appeared." "These readings are all over the map." "Whatever's happened,  most systems are out,  propulsion, guidance, comms." "Even my DRDs aren't responding." "This is nuts, nothing seems to be working." "How's Moya?" "Frightened, and in great pain." " What is that out there?" " I will labour to discover that once the DRDs reestablish internal tracking." "I show Rygel on Tier 8 and Officer Sun in Maintenance Bay 3," " Still searching for D'Argo." " Keep lookin'." " I said no, Chiana." " You can't stop me!" "I know how to fly a Transport Pod, and I'm getting off this ship." "Not without everyone else, you're not..." "How's the arm?" "Oh, useless until the fibres regenerate." "Pilot's found Aeryn and Rygel." " Does he know what's happening?" " Not yet he's still a little freaked out, so he could probably use some company." "Okay, I'll go straight to the den." "The comms don't work." "Rygel is on Tier 8." "You'll have to find him on foot." "Me?" "Get frelled!" "Listen 'sunshine', you want to be part of this crew?" " On your good days." " This is one of the good days." "I thought you were junior Miss, tough Chick of the Universe?" "Yeah, when I can kiss or kick or cry my way out of it." "This is way, way, way different." "You bet your ass it is and Pilot can't get the outer doors open, so you can fly that pod around on its pad." "Chiana, it's going to be okay." "Pilot's on the job." "Tier 8." "Rygel." "Aeryn!" "Aeryn, where are you?" "Oh come on, Aeryn." "Give me some kind of sign." "Pilot!" "Aeryn, are you here?" "What the hell is this light?" "Pilot!" "Zhaan!" "Pilot?" "Pilot?" "Is anybody here?" "Is anybody here?" "Crichton..." "Crichton!" "I..." "I can't..." "Crichton..." "That's the same noise...as the Maintenance Bay." "Aeryn!" "Aeryn!" "Aeryn!" "What the hell?" "No!" "No!" "Can't you hear me?" "You okay?" "Can you hear me?" "You, you're alright?" "You're okay?" "My head's hurting." "Yeah, yeah." "Have you found D'Argo?" "What?" "D'Argo?" "No, no..." "Have you seen..." "Rygel?" "Rygel?" "Little guy?" "Have you seen him?" "Come with me." "There are doors between the Moyas." "This way!" "Come on!" "Yeah..." "Look for D'Argo." "Yeah, and Rygel, yeah." "A- e- r- y- n!" "Well, look at you!" "Rygel!" "Yellow light." "Doesn't hurt." "I can hear, this is...this is good." " What's so damn funny?" " You!" "You!" "You're making less sense than usual, but in a cute way." "Cute?" "I don't know what you've been smoking, buckwheat, but we've got a serious problem here." "Nothing a good meal won't solve, I'm sure." "What is up with you?" "Up?" "Everything's up!" "Everything's up, up, up!" "Rygel, listen to me, Moya has a serious problem." "Whatever she hit caused some kind of...kind of fracture." "I don't know, I mean, we're all here, but we're not in the same time or place, in space." " Have you seen D'Argo?" " D'Argo?" "I don't know, nobody's here, not even Pilot." "I was quite frantic at first, then I realised I quite like being on my own." "Yeah, that's what we usually prefer too, but right now we stick together." "And then the Trawlian Priest turns to the Calanese Cleric and says, doesn't bother me." "You should have seen her mother." "No, no, no, no!" "His mother?" "Oh, what am I doing?" "Entering into the spirit of things, I'd say." "Rygel, look around at this place." "Do you remember what happened?" "Yes!" "Nobody liked my cholian curd salad." "No, no, no, no, no, no." "Afterwards, there was a collision." "Yes, there was a collision, yes, but we survived, so why worry?" "There's...there's something happening to Moya...and us." " You don't make jokes." " No, no, I don't tell jokes." "And I don't laugh at them, it's this place, it's doing something to us." "Yes, yes, it is doing something to us but we'll both feel better once we've eaten." "Where there's a way in, there's a way out." "Hey Guido, you see that?" "Yes, I did." "It was an hallucination, Crichton." "Just an hallucination." "It was real, Rygel." "It was real, I mean, we both saw it." "But it didn't come back, and it didn't hurt us, didn't take the food." "We can find a way out of here." "It's hard to find, you've got to listen for a weird, strange noise, something out of the ordinary." "Weird noise..." "Does my stomach count?" "No, that is not funny, that is not funny, Rygel." "Look, I gotta get out of here before I end up like you." "What, handsome with a great sexual prowess?" "Shut up..." "Just shut up." "No!" "I gotta get out of here." "Either help me, help me?" "Leave me alone!" "I'll be in the galley with the food, and the monster." "There's my noise." "Okay, Alice, once more into the looking glass." "We can't find them, Pilot." "False information yet again." "The DRDs still show Officer Sun on Tier 2." "Rygel outside the Centre Chamber..." " D'Argo in..." " Competent!" "You got it wrong, Four Arms, they're nowhere." "Your inability to locate them does not negate the fact that they are there." "Then why can't we see them?" " Because..." " Because you don't have x- ray vision, do you?" " John, where have you been?" " Right here." "Pilot, what do you know about parallel realities?" "Temporal shifts?" "Objects occupying the same space at the same time?" "More information, please." "There are at least three other Moyas right here, right now." "Do you know the mathematical hypothesis, Dimensional Schism?" "Light and sound disjointed into base elements." "Red, blue, yellow." "Hypotheses don't just materialise, Pilot." "Tell us what's happened to us." "Starburst is technically the seam between space- time dimensions." "Moya's power cells allow us access, and we simply ride out the energy stream until we're pushed out, at random." "Pushed out at random?" " Not now, Chiana." " What do you mean, not now?" "We go into this Starlurch thing and we don't even know where we're going?" "At the next appropriate moment, you are welcome to leave." "Tell us what happened, Pilot." "In her haste to accommodate so you wouldn't abandon us," "Moya entered Starburst without adequate thrust." "At the moment, we appear to be..." "Stuck." "Wild guess here." " We're still in Starburst?" " Regrettably, our insertion vector was wrong and subsequent fluctuations..." "Screw the science lesson, Pilot." "You should have told us that we're still in Starburst." "Now we are stuck into what?" "Whatever's on the other side." "You saw a creature?" "What kind of creature?" "Well, the kind we eat, or the kind that eats us?" "Is it possible that you saw a fragment from another dimension, John?" "If what Pilot says is accurate, yeah." "I've always wondered what could be beyond height and width, depth and time." " Nausea." " Spirituality." "That's a good wish." "Pilot says we don't have enough power to pull free." "What are we going to do?" "First thing, protect ourselves in case that creature is the eat us kind." "You two find some weapons, I'm going to work with Pilot." " What do you have in mind?" " Get the others, bring 'em back." "Follow this sequence exactly,  and when the ion backwash reaches maximum, funnel it all to reverse propulsion." "I'll try." "Any deviation will result in failure." "I said I'll try." "Look Pilot, why is Moya being schismed off by this deal, but not you, me, the others?" "Relative densities..." "The heavier the substance, the more pronounced the fissure." "Even now, connected to Moya as I am, the effects are becoming noticeable." "And we are being drawn further in by the moment." " And when we get pulled apart?" " Molecula dispora..." "You know Pilot," "Moya did not have to go into Starburst until she was ready." "Now is hardly the time for recriminations, Commander." "It wasn't a recrimination." "We should have been more up front about our feelings." "How's she doing?" "Same as us...scared." "Well, we'll do what we can." "She knows." "You'll be happy to know we have a plan." "I'll be happier to know if it works." "First thing, we find the others." " We?" "We're going with you?" " D'Argo and the others may be injured, Chiana." "Do I get a say in this?" " No!" "Look out!" "We stay together, the whole way, Chiana, no roaming." " Yes, mother." " No, Mom, plan has changed." "You stay with Pilot, if that creature comes back, just...shoot it." "Even if I was still a full Pa'u, I wouldn't hesitate." "Right here..." " You ready, Pip?" " Ah..." "Pip means?" "My favourite travelling companion." "Before I got here, did they believe anything you said?" "I thought you said this red light hurt your head?" "It does." " Well, not to me." " I'm so glad." "Come on, let's get..." "D'Argo!" "You're alive." "Barely, this light affects thinking and motor functions." "Not to me." "I saw you earlier on." "What the hezmana happened to you?" "It's way too much to go into right now." "Suffice it to say that Moya had a little problem during Starburst." "She's wedged herself into another dimension and split off into at least four distinct parts." "Have you ever heard of anything like this happening before?" "D'Argo, I haven't heard of anything like anything before." "My planet doesn't even go to the moon anymore." "I've heard of it... my...my people's weapon scientists once... once poked a hole through another dimension." "Once it widened, they lost control." " Yeah, what happened?" " No one's sure, but a whole solar system, four populated planets, dissolved into tiny chunks." " That's why I want to get out of here." " We will." "That thing help?" "Barely, I only retch every once in a while now." "Look... we gotta get the engines started... in each of Moya's four incarnations in order to get out of here." " Pilot isn't here to operate them?" " It's alright..." "He told me what to do." "I was going to tell you about that." "Look!" " It's trying to come through from the other side." " Let's discourage it." " Know how to use that thing?" " I'm scared grotless, not stupid." "One, two, fire!" "What happened to three?" "We did it." " Does not feel like a victory." " Not at all." "No, no, no button, then lever slide." " Look, I can stay, you go get Aeryn and Rygel." " You are in no condition." " Well you've been here longer." " You can barely stand." "Now you, you say that this light doesn't affect you." "Yeah..." "No...no..." "Yes, this light doesn't affect me." "No, I won't stay alone and no, I won't stay alone." "Just take the girl, I'll be okay." "Well, you know how to get out in case something goes wrong?" "Yes, above the Strategy Table, now go!" "Alright, give us half an arn, then fire up everything in reverse." "I remember from the first seven times that you told me." "Not here, go!" "Go!" "I do not want that here." "Doesn't affect me." " Are you sure about this?" " Just go up!" " What if the creature's waiting?" " Then piss it off!" " How?" " Pretend it's me!" "Okay, mu...much better." " Are you alright?" " Aeryn, this is genius." "I modified flight headsets to block out acoustic wavelengths, that's all." "It's not bad for the girl who hates to do homework." "Well, it's military tech, it's battle tested." "Why did you not shoot at that thing?" " I don't know." " You don't..." "Brilliant instinct, Crichton." "Have you seen my Prowler?" "Oh yeah, I was here for that show, you missed it." "Look, Pilot thinks Moya's been wedged into another dimension." " That thing's trying to get into ours." " Yeah." " Have you found the others?" " Well," "Moya's separated off into separate environments." "D'Argo's in one, Rygel's somewhere else, and we're here." "Clearly, you found a route to get through." "Yeah, but it's not going to matter if we get sucked in any farther." " Is there a plan?" " Yep." " Well?" " Pilot needs more power." "All the engines have to be on full reverse at the same time." "That should have been the first thing you told me, Crichton." "Yeah, I know, I was busy." "Aeryn wait, let me show you what to do." "I know the sequence for full reverse." "Get on to the others!" "Pilot was pretty specific about what he wanted." "I have some of Pilot's DNA, remember?" "Pilot was...very specific." "Rotate blue crystal, trim yellow disk, extinguish orange light, open copper, rods, black handle pressed halfway, dial tri- connector open, hot progression purple green, orange gold lights," " green knob..." " maximum, thrust." "It's going to be harder to doubt you in the future." "Well I apologise for my strengths." " Give me half an arn then fire it up." " Got it!" "Chiana?" "Sparky..." "Sparky?" "Careful, careful, don't slip and fall and die." "I'm so glad to see you two are safe." "He said you'd have that look on your face." "Well, I was worried about you." "Well I found Rygel, and I managed to bring him here and then we started talking, and..." " Do you know any good jokes?" " Not besides the one I'm living." "Alright, Mister Serious, what are you doing?" "Putting Moya's propulsion system into full reverse." "Oh!" "Reverse." "Ha!" "No Dominar from the House of Rygel ever travels in reverse!" "Well, turn around and pretend you're going forward." "You stay here with Napoleon and if for any reason the engines shut down," " restore the green knob." " Ignore the green slob." "Restore...the green...knob." "Do that, and I'll let you take a Transport down to the next planet, okay?" " Crichton, that's outrageous!" " Green knob." "Good girl." "Hang tough Sparky, enjoy the personality." "Oh, there is no expanse of the mind, the will cannot traverse or physically the distance laid across the universe." "There's blessings, many in the stars,  save one lamented curse,  that 16th Rygel, glory me, must travel in reverse." "There's a little dance that goes with that, but I can't do them both at the same time." "I wish you people would stop pointing guns at me." "When you didn't show, I was beginning to think I was in the wrong place." "Pilot reports full reverse power you did it, John." " What about the creature?" " Well, I keep shooting at it but it keeps coming back." "Well, we've got to hold it off until Pilot can get us out of here." " Your vestments?" " I suddenly realised I had forsaken priesthood," " but not in my soul." " Why did you put them on now?" "I..." "I fear we may die here soon." "Whole sections of the ship are being swallowed up." "Pilot, it's getting worse." "Crichton." " Pilot, report." " Not good." "Despite Moya's best efforts we're still being drawn in." " There is one very long shot." " Anything, Pilot?" "Moya could, willingly, lose the baby." " No!" " No way!" "It will definitely increase her power quotient,  though I'm not sure if it is enough to get us free." "Pilot no, we cannot ask Moya to make that sacrifice." "We should not have attempted Starburst when we did." "Our insecurities have brought us to this place, besides, the baby cannot survive if we don't." "Pilot, listen to me...whatever happens, we go together...we keep the baby." "John!" "Shoot it!" "Moya is very scared, please shoot it!" "Don't fire." "It's coming through." "John, the hole's widening!" "Prime numbers..." "These scratches are grouped in prime numbers." "3...5... 7...11...prime!" " It's trying to communicate." " You bet your blue ass." "This isn't an attack, Zhaan..." "It's an invitation." "I urge you to shoot it!" "It's trying to communicate." "I know it..." "It's not attacking." "John, no!" "What if the hole closes up?" "Then I'll be dead a few minutes before you." "That's all." " Who are you?" " Unimportant..." "Your container has breached our existence." "Is that where I am?" "In your dimension?" "There can be no overlap." "This is the expanse between... your mental organ is unable to interpret the chasm to your existence." "You got that right, pal." "My function is to repair breaches." "Does this happen a lot?" "Never before with living material." "Bad news, pal, we are living." "Can you help us get out?" "I must destroy all material." " The breach is fatal." " Whoa, whoa, hang on, give us a chance." "We're trying to back out." "That path will tear the rupture beyond restoration." "So what are you saying, there's no way?" "Forward." "Forward?" "I thought you said we can't exist in your existence?" "I will attempt to conduct you back to the space you began..." "Starburst?" "I can guide." "You must provide your own thrust forward." "Wait, wait, wait!" "What if we don't have enough power?" "Forward..." "Wait!" "Did you hear it?" "Did you hear it?" "Hear what?" "You barely got your head inside the hole and out again before it closed." " The creature, I talked to it." " Commander..." " there wasn't time." " There was for me." "You've got to tell Moya to stop resisting, she has to go forward." "Starburst forward." " I will not..." " We don't have a choice." "You tell me what to do and I'll relay it to the others." "Pilot, trust me." " Reverse the final four controls." " Right." "Give me 500 microts, then go." "John, John, what if you're wrong?" "Oh, you were going to pray anyway." "500... 499... 498... 472...471..." "The engines are in full reverse." "Did it work?" "Shut it down!" "Wrong direction." " We have to go forward." " No, no, that is suicide." "No, it's the same control sequences, just reverse the last four commands." "Can you explain to me how you arrived at this decision?" "No, no, no time, just wait 300 microts, then forward." "I have no time keeping device." "One mississippi one...one mississippi two... one mississippi three...three hundred, forward." "One mipipippi...two mipipippi, three mipipippi...four mipipippi..." "Aeryn?" "Aeryn, are you there?" " Where have you been?" " On the run." " Where are you?" " I'm trying to get out of here." "I didn't know if you were coming back." "I'd never leave you." " Something the matter?" " Yeah." "We got it wrong, we have to go forward." " Just tell me what I have to do." " A 150 microts from now... full...maximum thrust." " You know how to do that?" " Yes, of course I do." "Hey look, this dimension thing's chopping up the whole ship." " Do you know a way I can get to quarters?" " Well... the lower levels have gone, you might want to try Tier 7 through the Ion Backwash Chamber." " I'm going to head back to Pilot's." " A 150 microts..." " A 130 now, good luck." " Back at ya, baby." "52...51..." "Oh there you are!" "The other runners came through here arns ago!" "Still auditioning for Star Search, I see?" "No, I have a new philosophy, Crichton." "What used to be important isn't and what should be important never will be." "Great, that way when this whole thing screws up and we die, you're not going to be whinging in my ear, right?" "Hey!" "Why don't you relax?" "Join in the fun?" "Give me seven seconds, baby." "We'll come or go together." "4 3" "2 1" "Oh hell, we're screwed." "Should I disrobe so it's memorable?" "Yes." "I'm alive." "I fail to see the source of your amusement." "No, no, no, you did not say that." "I did, I was very shameless in my youth." " And that worked?" " Of course not!" "The girl screamed and I was almost arrested." "And when they didn't give it back, we beat the gris out of them." " Should I be telling you this?" " My dear, I've kicked more ass than you've sat on." "Oh yes, I spent all evening listening to them gripe and whine about me but of course, they didn't realise I was their Dominar." "I admire your openness to criticism, Rygel, when did you tell them who you were?" "At their trial, of course!" "Everyone is it just me, or is this the best food that we have ever had?" "Nothing like the taste of death to clear the palate?" "I suppose there isn't a thing here that I couldn't live on for a cycle." "Except...except maybe this." "Now I was assuming that because of the lack of taste in that." "That it was a garnish." "Those are Grandmother Crichton's famous buttermilk biscuits." "What's in them?" "Self- raising flour...salt... shortening, buttermilk, touch of honey." "But we have none of those ingredients, John." "Yeah, maybe that's the problem." "I'm sorry to interrupt your meal, but... how can you all be so jovial after our near miss?" "We were affected profoundly by it, Pilot." "How are you two handling it?" "Well enough to alleviate your concerns about our Starburst problems." "There's been a change in the status of Moya's baby." " Is she in any danger?" " Doing fine." "Actually...more than fine." " We're going to have a baby?" " Yes..." "There's no exact timetable for Leviathan gestations, but Moya feels confident the day is coming." "Well, in that case, tell her if she's so inclined, when it is born she can name it after me." " That would only work if it was a runt." " Watch it, girly!" "This is one of the good days, people." " To a healthy...happy...baby." " Yeah..." "Yes..." "Thanks."