"Aeryn?" "Yes, I'm still here but I can't get to you." "Doesn't matter." "D'Argo's unconscious." "Crichton!" "I've been discovered." "I'm under attack." "I'm reading eight Prowlers, four Marauders and there's more on the way." "And they're all firing at once!" "Get off me!" "Get off!" "Aeryn, get the hell out of there." "I can't!" ".." "I can't!" "No..." "Aeryn!" "Aeryn!" "Damn!" "Zhaan, that is where heart attacks come from." "My circulatory organ does not seize up." "Mine does." "Oh, I'm sorry, John" "I just can't seem to shake these visions, no matter how much I meditate." "I'll offer it again... talking about it could help." "I doubt it." "Suit yourself." "How long until Moya returns?" "About an arn." "Oh crap!" "Okay," "I've got a problem." "Some... joker decided to store his Keedva barbeque in the Nav linkage." "Rygel" "You betcha." "Can it be repaired?" "It's pretty messed up." "DRDs are gonna have to rip the whole thing apart." "Then we wait." "We wait." "Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you." "Sweet dreams that leave your worries behind you." "But dreams whatever they be, dream a little dream of me." "I was." "I keep seeing you die." "John, have Chiana or Rygel spoken to you about what occurred on Litigara?" "No, not a lot" "Chiana said it was best to talk to you about it." "After you destroyed the Gammak base," "I was terrified of what might have happened to you" "Well, we would have called, but Scorpy was still in the neighbourhood." "For twenty solar days, we searched every planet we thought you might have reached." "The last one we discovered was Litigara" "What happened there?" "Something you don't wanna talk about." "Got it." "Something I don't want to remember." "Zhaan?" "You have to understand, John, we were all under incredible stress, and Moya was anxious to leave and search for her offspring." "I was growing desperate." "You'd remember them if you'd seen them" "I wish I could help you." "Listen to me." "A Sebacean, a Luxan and a hum another Sebacean" "Look we haven't had any Sebaceans in here ever." "And a..." "Luxano," "I don't know what you're talking about." "Are you sure?" "This is very important." "I'm sure." "Comprame una copa, hermosa" "Getting dren- faced is not helping, Rygel." "Well, it's helping ME." "What?" "Leave me alone!" "Get outside, both of you." "Have you found someone?" "I'm onto it now." "Please obey the signals." "For your own safety, all traffic is monitored" "Pilot, please tell Moya she must be patient" "This is the last inhabitable planet within range of Aeryn's prowler." "If Crichton, D'argo and Aeryn managed to get away, this is the last planet they could have..." "Moya understands." "But she feels she's been patient." "She now demands that you return to the ship at once." "Demands?" "She feels she has been more than accomadating in your search." "Perhaps... it is time to accept that their fate, whatever it may be, does not include us." "Tell Moya we'll be begin the search for young Talyn as soon as we return." "What?" "You can't be serious!" "I want a vote!" "Silence, both of you!" "I've seen the way that you two have handled your anxiety over the fate of Aeryn, Crichton and D'argo!" "I hate to think of how you're now going to handle your grief, and your loss!" "Attention pedestrian, do not cross, do not cross" "You may proceed" "Zhaan!" "You!" "Halt!" "Don't move!" "Remain where you are!" "Something the matter?" "On your feet!" "what?" "Get your frelling hands off her!" "Back off!" "What the yotz do you think you're doing?" "Shut up!" "What did she do?" "Your friend's ours now." "She's gonna pay for her crime" "Crime?" "What crime?" "My name is John Crichton... an astronaut... radiation wave hit me..." "I got shot through a wormhole... lost in some distant part of the universe... on a ship a living ship full of strange alien life- forms... help..." "Listen please..." "Is anybody out there who can hear me?" "I'm Being hunted by an insane military commander..." "Doing everything I can..." "I'm just looking for a way home." "Pilot, tell Moya she's just gonna have to blez out!" "I will try to keep Moya calm." "But you must relay to Zhaan that Moya is ready to bolt to look for young Talyn at..." "any moment!" "Zhaan" "You shouldn't have come." "You and Rygel shouldn't still be here." "Hey, his royal frogness might still be back in the transport pod sleeping it off" "But take a look, I'm here okay?" "I wanna help!" "Do you even know what you're charged with?" "Failing to heed a pedestrian signal light." "Who are you?" "Name's Dersch, Maiden Dersch." "And you are... no need to tell me." "Zotoh Zhaan the offworlder" "What are you?" "I'm a public counselor." "Specifically her public counselor." "What are you, relative?" "Friend" "Whatever" "Let me run this down for you." "This your first time on our planet?" "Doesn't matter." "Dersch." "Yeah." "Hold on, hold on." "`Failing to heed'...it's garbage." "Plus that you're an offworlder and didn't know the laws." "Good judge and a good hearing, I'd say a minimum sentence." "Ten solar days and you're on your way home!" "No, no we can't stay here ten solar days." "Yeah, talk to me." "Don't worry," "Zhaan." "Look - maybe we should get a different lawyer." "Well, you're welcome to try." "There's plenty of them around." "Ninety per cent of our population are lawyers" "Just get me out, now!" "Your case comes up tomorrow." "Tomorrow?" "I'll see you then." "I need you to listen" "What?" "I need you to listen" "Come on, speak up." "I'm okay..." "I don't know what's wrong with me." "Chiana" "Everything is ready to go" "We proceed as planned." "But Rhumann, you know it's dangerous for me to be on the streets tonight." "Your personal problems mean nothing to me." "You'll be there tonight." "We found the perfect subject" "You've done well." "Well, look who's here." "You need a lift, lady?" "You're alive!" "It wasn't easy." "We've got quite a story to tell." "Later." "Now we're going to get you out of here and get off this rock" "We've been looking for you everywhere" "Hoping praying!" "The last fifteen solar days have been unbearable" "Hasn't exactly been a trip to Disneyland for us, either." "At least you're finally here." "What are you waiting for?" "Fire!" "You're here to rescue me." "I need you here to rescue me." "Get away from me." "Get away" "Oh, I wish you were really here." "I need you so badly" "The chances that we'd survive, that you'd find us, were ten million to one" "You knew that the moment you Starburst away." "You're just refusing to accept it." "Now you must" "All this time since we escaped from the Peacekeepers..." "I drew my strength from you and the others." "Now I find myself incarcerated again." "Without you to help me" "Oh, John" "I am so... deeply alone." "And afraid" "You're not alone." "You have Rygel, and Chiana." "They're like children." "How can I be responsible for them, and for Pilot and for Moya and for myself?" "Not without you." "But it must be without us, now" "Rough night?" "Hmm?" "You want to escape?" "This is your chance." "This will show you how to get out of the building, how to get back to where your pod is docked" "Why are you doing this?" "You want out, or you want answers?" "The guards will be back at their posts, any microt." "A second chance to escape isn't going to happen" "Chiana!" "Rygel!" "Zhaan?" "Stay where you are!" "Halt!" "You're under arrest, alien." "For murder." "Well, the good news is you're no longer facing trial on the traffic violation." "Do you have any idea who it was you murdered last night?" "I didn't murder anyone." "I was set up." "His name was Wesley Kenn, if you care." "He was a rising young equal rights advocate for the Utilities." "Utilities?" "What... the ten percent who aren't lawyers?" "The case against you is that you busted out of here, and as you were fleeing, you came across Kenn, panicked and crushed his neck with your bare hands." "Now I can't say people are too broken up about it." "He had some radical ideas about the law." "Sweeping reforms for the Utilities bit of a trouble maker, really" "What are you going to do for her?" "There's not much I can do." "As far as the law is concerned, it's a done deal." "Three solar days from now... she's executed." "Well..." "you've gotta defend her, she... she didn't do it" "What's her defense?" "It's just her word." "You're a lawyer... make something up!" "Do you know what would happen to me if I put on a bad face in this?" "You might win?" "I put on a defense I even suspect of being false, and I suffer the same punishment as my client." "I'll see you in court." "This is a very ass- backwards world!" "They don't have monarchs, political parties." "They have ruling law firms." "The law firm currently in power is Rhumann, Willian... something" "Anyway, Ja Rhumann, their senior partner, the man in charge, is him out there" "W...well can't you get to him?" "He's these people's supreme leader!" "He's never alone!" "You wanna tell me how?" "We convien in the name of that which is most holy," "The supreme law of the land" "Quite" "Amet" "Amet" "And the offworlder is aware of the charges for which she has been brought before this court?" "She is, your honor." "Having examined the evidence and eyewitness accounts of the events of evening last de los hechos de la pasada tarde, and after weighing all such admissions, this court..." "Does it not matter that I am innocent?" "Are you entering a plea of not guilty?" "I am guilty of so many evils your... your honor, but of this infraction I must protest my innocence!" "Have you discussed this with your attorney?" "NNo, she has not!" "Mr. Dersch," "Do you wish to represent your client in a plea of not guilty?" "Absolutely no, your honor." "I'm afraid, Mr. Zhaan, without concurrence with your counsel," "I cannot enter such a plea." "Unless... there is someone else who would be willing to advocate the defendant's cause?" "Without a volunteer," "I see no other course than to proceed" "I hereby find the defendant guilty..." "Wait!" "...as charged..." "I will, uh..." "This is pure dren!" "You're about to condemn an innocent woman to death." "I will not permit this." "What are you trying, Chiana?" "I won't have you dragged in with me." "Return to Moya immediately" "Your offer stands, your Honour." "You are now counsel for the defense." "All those are law books?" "This is only the peak of the mountain." "Oh, I doubt we really need them." "Well, you could at least say thank you." "For what?" "Assuring your own executions in two solar days along with mine?" "What's this?" "If we put on a defense that includes falsehoods or, or can in any way be construed as bad faith, then we share the same punishment as our client." "You never told me that!" "How could you never tell me that?" "thought we might even pull this off." "But you and me, not lying?" "not lying?" "Are you mad?" "Guard!" "I demand to see the judge!" "Rygel!" "It's done." "The way it lays out now that either we're all leaving this planet together," "or none of us are" "This is...ridiculous!" "We aren't lawyers" "We are now" "Shut up and read." "Watch it!" "You clumsy fool." "Damn Utilities." "Don't deserve any frelling rights at all" "You guys get a lot of that?" "He's a lawyer; it's his right." "They have rights." "That's why Wesley Kenn, and the reforms he was advocating, meant so much to my comrades..." "And me" "My friend didn't do it" "But can you prove it?" "Under our law?" "Damn it!" "Why does your system gotta be so frelling complicated?" "It wasn't." "It's only grown more complicated over the centuries" "You mean to say your laws weren't always such a mess?" "This book, the Axiom, is the basis for all of our law" "All of these other books exist merely to expand on what's in here." "How did that... become this?" "As more and more people devoted themselves to the law, the law had to grow more complex to justify them all." "This is the only book you really need." "Please don't do this to me." "I don't wish you" "You're not really here," "You're just a figment of my imagination." "Why'd you leave us, Zhaan?" "I didn't... leave you." "A few more microts and we all could have been aboard Moya, we all could have StarBurst to safety together" "You told me to go!" "If Moya had been captured, we would have all perished." "I came back for you!" "I've been searching." "Where are you?" "Where...where are you?" "This must not go on." "Zhaan, what are you doing?" "This trial must not be allowed to continue." "I confess" "Zhaan!" "Are you insane?" "I am guilty!" "I committed that murder." "I crushed that man's throat" "You admit that you are guilty?" "Zhaan" "Don't do this" "What's the matter with you?" "Do you want to die?" "I do not want you and Rygel to die with me." "I refuse to carry the guilt of any more deaths into the afterlife." "We haven't lied yet." "Of course, the trial's only been on for a few microts." "Rygel!" "You will." "In light of a full confession on the part of the defendant," "I..." "Wait!" "Yesterday, you refused my client's'not guilty' plea until her attorney had concurred with it." "Well, we do not concur with our client's confession of guilt...." "Do not listen to them, your Honor" "I do not want their counsel" "I crushed that mans throat." "I am guilty" "Gag her!" "Your honor, I insist that you gag my client for her own good!" "You can't do this!" "Execute me, and let those live!" "They don't know what they're doing!" "This trial will proceed!" "And I would put the time of death, at between the tenth and eleventh arns of two evenings past." "The cause of death, strangulation" "You're supposed to be some sort of expert, in your field?" "I am considered to be Litigaras preeminiant expert in forensic science, yes." "I don't understand how you can call yourself an expert, when we know for a fact, that the time of death couldn't be when you said, because..." "You cannot.... lie" "Actually, my question goes to the cause of death" "Would it shock you to know that we have experts of our own, who are prepared to testify that..." "No" "No" "No questions, your honor" "I was on duty two nights ago." "The accused definitely looked desperate to get out and join up with her friends" "Objec..." "Okay." "So uh...so you were the guard on duty that night?" "One of them, yes" "How'd my client manage to slip past you?" "Any idea?" "It was while we were changing shift." "There's a short period of time where that particular cell block isn't fully attended." "But even with that, don't you think somebody...would like..." "You little toad!" "You had to go and fart helium now?" "I'm nervous, it happens!" "We're in court, so sue me." "I was on duty at the station when numerous telamissions came in from citizens, about a suspicious looking offworlder running down back alleys." "I mobilized some men and proceeded to a spot where we hoped to intercept the offender, for questioning." "When we got there, we found the accused" "kneeling over the body of her victim." "Pilot?" "We need more time." "Moya will give you one more revolution of this planet" "Then she is leaving." "And I cannot promise we will ever come back" "Just tell Moya we've either got Zhaan, or...," "or Rygel and I will be headed back on the transport pod without her" "Look at him" "That's the frelling cop that arrested Zhaan." "He'll probably get a promotion out of this." "What the yotz is wrong with his face?" "He has blue eyes" "So?" "My second wife had blue eyes." "Fifteenth and twenty third wives, too" "It was a dual full moon the other night." "Really?" "Litigarans with blue eyes usually stay inside." "That's what burned his face." "They have an aversion to it" "So, he's not only a bastard, he's stupid." "Well I don't think he's stupid." "think he knows a lot." "What are you going to do?" "Oh, nothing to worry about partner." "Just doin' what I do best...." "Makin' a new friend" "I'm going to end up defending them both." "You want something?" "Well, I just hate to see ya sittin' there all by yourself." "Oh, listen honey, if you think I'm gonna help you with your case..." "The case is over." "Isn't that obvious after today?" "We're pleading guilty tomorrow, anyway." "Besides, you've already testified." "I've been reading about a strange concept in this Axium of yours." "The Light of Truth" "Pretty interesting, isn't it?" "Is it?" "Some sort of stick that you people used to think told if someone was telling the truth or not." "It goes back to the very origin of the law" "It was believed that if you held a burning torch up to... someone who was giving testimony and it burnt brighter, it meant that they were lying." "I don't need to know somebody's lying," "I need something that'll let me lie," "Just a little." "So tell me all about tell me all about being a police officer." "Oh!" "Blue eyed, redfaced sack of..." "There." "This is this him." "The guy that got murdered." "Right?" "There" "Wesley Ken." "Let's go, Chiana." "Up- up- up." "Court's just about to reconviene" "Zhaan's off visiting some happy place, and I need you awake." "I told you everything the cop told me." "My head's just fine here." "Nobody'll notice." "Nashton Cleansing Pills" "Take one now, one at the mid- meal and one if you need it, tonight" "We conviene in the name of that which is most holy." "The supreme law of the land." "Yes your honor, yes, I have questions for the witness, yes I do" "Oh, oh I definitely do." "Oh I definitely, definitely do." "Did I say I did?" "Because I do." "Did you testify yesterday that Mr. Zhaan, the defendant, Mr. Zhaan," "Mr. Zotoh Zhaan, the woman standing there, right there" "Do you see her?" "Because I see her." "Do you see her?" "Hm?" "She escaped during your shift." "Is that correct?" "Is it?" "Is it?" "Yes Ma'am that's" "Correct!" "And that you also stated that she escaped in a very short, very small, very minimal interval in which you and your guards, or you and your your guard buddies were were switching shifts." "or changing shifts." "Take it or leave it, some of them went on, some of them went off..." "Okay, so if I were to..." "Your honor," "May I have a word with my co- counsel?" "Please do." "You took all three of the pills, didn't you?" "Oh you have... you have no idea how frelled up I felt" "No idea!" "Was there anything unusual about that night, the night of the murder?" "Unusual?" "Having to do with your two moons." "Oh, yes, yes." "Now I..." "I see what you mean" "Uh, there was a full dual moon that night as I recall." "And as I understand it, certain Litigarans, specifically those with blue eyes, are very careful not to go out on such nights." "The burn they get is very painful" "Your complection!" "It looks like you've got yourself quite burn, there" "I got it the night of the arrest." "Well, yeah, you've got blue eyes." "Hm." "You were out that night and so was the victim." "But you got burnt, and he didn't." "You became a city police officer how long ago?" "Oh no, no, that's right." "You told me last night." "You've been in the force what, eight, almost nine cycles?" "And before that, you said you worked in the private sector." "Is that right?" "As a security officer?" "Am I right?" "For the law firm of Rhumann, Willian and Mandell." "Is that right?" "The law firm of Ja Rhumann?" "Come on, Pilot, you gotta tell Moya to wait!" "It'll do no good." "She is charging her calorics right now, preparing to break orbit." "I'm heading back to the transport pod." "I wanna talk to her so she can see my face!" "She won't listen to you, Chiana, she isn't even listening to me!" "You've gotta do this for me." "For Zhaan." "There's nothing I can do." "Moya is leaving." "Pilot?" "Pilot!" "Pilot!" "Wellcome, Counselor." "I am Ja Rhumann, senior partner in the currently governing firm." "A law firm?" "Is it part of your law to electronet somebody, and drag them to your office in the middle of the night?" "I was impressed with your showing today." "With little understanding of our very complex legal system, you managed to kindle doubt about your shipmate's guilt." "It's not a lawyer's way to be long winded, so let's get right to the point." "You will not win this case." "You will lose." "And your client... will be executed." "Frell you." "This no longer about Zotoh Zhaan." "It's about you and the Hynerian." "You will not call any more witnesses" "You will not pursue the line of questioning you began today." "If you do, you and the little slug will find yourself up on charges." "False charges." "That will, nevertheless, keep you locked up here in Litigara for the rest of your lives" "You see, this is all about Utilities rights, my dear." "Utilities don't need any more rights." "They need to work harder." "That's my concern" "Your concern is your own life" "And where you're going to spend the rest of it." "You won't be needing..." "your communications device." "You won't be returning to your ship unless I allow it." "You have my offer you do your part tomorrow and I'll do mine" "Trust me" "I'm a lawyer" "You seem to have gotten yourself into quite a fix, without me" "Sweet D'argo." "This is not the first time you've had to endure a cell like this one." "It's not the first time you've had to experience the sense of... hopelessness." "You survived it then, in fact you flourished." "I had the Delvian Seek" "My spiritual quest was the only thing that stopped my soul from shattering while imprisoned by the Peacekeepers." "But I have set aside the Seek." "Set aside my place as a Delvian Pa 'U." "You set them aside, yes, but you haven't abandoned them." "Zhaan," "Crichton, Aeryn and I, we..., we can't help you anymore." "Whether you survive this ordeal or face your execution tomorrow." "From now on you must confront your demons alone." "I don't know if I have the strength to start again, D'argo" "I have known thousands of warriors, on countless worlds" "But you," "Zotoh Zhaan.." "you are... the strongest individual..." "I have ever known." "Where the yotz have you been?" "How is she?" "Worse if you can believe it." "She won't respond at all now, and she's begun this incessant mumbling." "Here, let me have your comms." "I've got to call Pilot." "You were supposed to have talked to Moya already!" "I got grabbed and taken by Ja Rhumann" "Rhumann?" "The Rhumann?" "Pilot?" "Pilot?" "Are you still there?" "I am here, Chiana." "Moya has chosen to give you a little more time." "Thank you, Pilot." "Do not thank me" "It's entirely her doing." "Your comms were open all the while you were speaking with that man." "That Ja Rhumann." "She could not leave you like that." "Moya wants to know," "I want to know if stay...will you be able to save Zhaan?" "I think I may have a way." "It's chancey, and will require lashings of deception and trickery" "Finally" "You and I get to play to our strengths" "Have you any further witnesses to call?" "Only one, your honor." "I call..." "Ja Rhumann" "Do you vow to speak what is true, all that is true and only what is true, by the sacred Axium?" "I so vow." "Mr. Rhumann." "Yes, counselor?" "Let's start with that oath you just took" "It's pretty important, isn't it?" "So important that you take it with your hand on this... most sacred book." "It's the most sacred oath a Litigaran can take." "So lieing in court is... really bad." "To lie before the law is unthinkable." "So, Mr. Rhumann, remembering that you are under this most sacred oath, if I were to ask you what you know about the slain" "Utilities rights advocate, your response would be...?" "That I know no more about the unfortunate and untimely death than any other ordinary citizen." "Namely that your client did it." "Counselor!" "You know what this is?" "A stick of wood?" "Oh, anywhere else, yeah." "But in this court room, it can be used as an instrument, for dividing fact from fiction." "The defense designates this... the Light...of Truth." "The Light of Truth is a parable!" "A parable?" "But it says it so in your own ancient text" "Your honor, it's ordinary wood" "Oh, a lot of truth is only ordinary wood." "Only when it is near a witness under oath Does it react with special properties." "Proceed." "But I warn you, do not mock our law." "We've just got a couple more questions for ya." "I have nothing to hide" "The death of the Utilities rights advocate." "That benefited your own firm greatly, did it not?" "It weakened our chief opponents, yes." "But it doesn't necessarily follow that my firm had anything to do with it." "So if you wanted this guy out of the way, waiting for an offworlder to blame it on, would make a lot of sense to you, wouldn't it?" "Speaking hypothetically, yes." "The night of the murder." "The officer who arrested our client and who used to work for your law firm, got a bad moon burn." "But the victim didn't!" "Well, could that be because the victim was murdered someplace else, and his body brought to the alley by the people who killed him?" "knowing that our client would be there?" "Again, speaking hypothetically, I'd have to say...yes" "Are you speaking hypothetically?" "Now, Pilot." "Yes, of course I'm speaking hypothetically!" "The night of the murder, did you send somebody to our clients cell to help her escape?" "No!" "Did you arrange for the police to discover our client with the victim, the already dead victim, in the alley?" "No!" "Did you plan and order the murder that our client now sits accused of, in this court?" "No, no, no!" "Maximizing!" "Your honor, are you going to believe the protestations of an obviously guilty man, or the very symbol of your law, your world, your truth?" "Arrest Ja Rhumann." "All charges against Zotoh Zhaan, are dropped." "The prisoner... is free...to go." "So they nailed Rhumann for murder?" "I'm not certain." "I know I was exonerated." "And we left immediately, and soon found you" "But you still have nightmares?" "Yes," "I keep seeing you and D'argo and Aeryn dieing horrible deaths." "I can't see past the fear" "I lived, Zhaan." "Touch as proof." "I know." "But... the experience proves to me that my spirituality was lacking." "Is that why you re- committed yourself to the Delvian Seek?" "Then maybe it was worth it." "Even though my studies failed to benefit the rest of them?" "Oh, who says that?" "Well, at various times, Rygel, D'argo and Aeryn" "Screw 'em, Zhaanie" "You're a tenth level Pa U, you get to eleven, we get a t. v. ministry." "If I may be honest John, most of the time I have no idea what you're saying." "Neither do I." "Crichton, Zhaan, are you there?" "Sparky!" "We're drifting dead!" "How could you possibly frell up on a frell- proof transport pod?" "I don't know." "Thought maybe you could tell me." "Something to do with a stash of Keedva barbecue in the Nav linkage?" "Oh, come on Crichton." "What would you really expect from Rygel?" "Nothing." "Aeryn, it's good to hear your voice" "Likewise" "We have you on Moya's senses." "Estimate your retrieval in a quarter arn" "Can't wait to see ya." "You okay?" "I think so." "Thank you for your compassion" "No, thank you for yours."