"If you wish to blink, now would be the time." "Just do it if you're going to do it." "Are you all right, John?" "Yeah, sure." "No problem." "Happens all the time." "Needle in the eye." "No sweat." "All finished." "Which of you is next?" "You go next." "I told you, I'm not participating." "But, uh..." "Park it in the chair and get this over with so we can get out of here." "You're not comfortable here, my dear?" "Is it my reputation?" "It's your reputation, NamTar, that led us here." "Yes, it certainly is an honor to meet such a learned scientist as yourself and to take part in his grand experiments." "You sure that this is worth a stick in the eye?" "You do want to go home, don't you, John?" "NamTar may have data that Moya is lacking." "Data that we're desperately in need of." "You're looking for a DNA sample, right?" "Can't you just take a skin scraping?" "If I were working merely at the double helix level, yes." "But to provide you with the information you desire..." "Is this going to take long?" "Moments, mere moments." "Kornata, your assistance." "I will do each of you in turn." "But beautiful Zhaan, I have chosen to do yours first." "Go ahead, Zhaan." "Enjoy." "My genetic database holds information on nearly eleven million species." "It is simple for me to take a genetic sampling of a particular being and pinpoint the location of its origin." "That's my home." "You're going to do this for me too, right?" "Provide you with a genetic map to your home world?" "A map that will allow you to make the journey and avoid any Peacekeeper jurisdictions along the way?" "That is what you came here for isn't it?" "I am delighted I have the very thing you each desire so strongly." "I believe I told you when I first contacted you that our resources are somewhat well..." "limited." "You arrived here aboard a Leviathan ship did you not?" "You want our ship?" "My interest isn't in your ship, but in your ship's Pilot." "What do you want with him?" "My research will be greatly enhanced by genetic material from such an extraordinary species." "You mean, a sample like you took from us?" "A sample, yes." "But I'm afraid I'm going to need a bit more than I asked of you." "How much more?" "I will require... one of your Pilot's arms." "My name is John Crichton, an astronaut a radiation wave hit and I got shot through a wormhole..." "Now I'm lost in some distant part of the universe on a ship, a living ship, full of strange alien life-forms..." "Help me..." "Listen, please." "Is there anybody out there who can hear me?" "...being hunted by an insane military commander doing everything I can..." "I'm just looking for a way home." "Don't you want to analyze it before..." "You're usually so careful about these things." "Neurotically careful." "What's wrong?" "I have to get back to you on that one." "You know, you're no worse off than you were a couple of arns ago." "So NamTar didn't have Earth on his data stores." "Eleven million species." "Eleven million, and he couldn't at least narrow it down for me?" "I mean sure, he can't pinpoint the exact location but am I even in the neighborhood here?" "He sure as hell pinpointed the others, no problem." "What's your problem?" "Hey, you know, you didn't even let him poke you in the eye." "You don't even know if he's got your home world in his big ball of wonders." "Have you forgotten?" "You and the others are trying to get home avoiding Peacekeeper territories." "My home is Peacekeeper territories." "It's just that I can't ever go back there." "Ever." "Have you forgotten?" "NamTar's demand." "I mean, unless Pilot volunteers one of his arms, we're all going to be blasting out of here together in about one hour." "One arn." "You saw the looks on the other's faces." "What makes you think they're going to wait for Pilot to volunteer anything?" "What do you think you're doing?" "Pilot, please." "I'm implore you, just listen." "Listen to what?" "How dare you!" "NamTar has offered us something we cannot obtain anywhere else." "Think about somebody else for a change." "I will help ease your pain." "Now, D'argo." "No!" "We have upheld our end of the bargain, NamTar." "Yes, you have." "Splendidly." "And I will uphold mine." "It will take me a short while to load the cartographs to all three of your home worlds into the crystal." "How much of a while?" "I sense you don't completely trust me." "But you needn't worry." "The crystal will be delivered to your ship shortly." "We will await your messenger." "Kornata." "Let us hope the Pilot DNA shows better results." "Thank you, you are finished." "I said you are finished." "Don't concern yourself, Crichton." "I will be fine." "My species has superior regenerative capabilities." "So you, um... you let them cut off one of your arms." "I didn't exactly let them." "They have the opportunity to go home." "The drive is very strong." "I will never understand you people." "How can you not be angry?" "Insanely angry?" "When one of my species is bonded to a Leviathan, we give our lives to the service of others." "Ship first, then those who travel aboard her." "No matter what those aboard do to you?" "My species is incapable of spaceflight on our own." "If we wish to journey beyond our home planet, this is the tradeoff we make, for the chance to see the galaxy." "I consider it a perfectly equitable arrangement." "Do you have something to say to us?" "The decision was a hard one, Aeryn." "Our actions even harder." "But it is done." "How could you?" "Pilot is defenseless." "Compassion?" "From a Peacekeeper?" "For a comrade." "You attacked one of your own." "Would you do the same to the rest of us?" "Of course." "Well, you have your maps now." "What makes you think you can just take this ship wherever you want to go?" "These maps are precisely what we've been longing for." "Our way home." "Pilot will not help you after what you have done to him." "Pilot is a servicer." "He'll get over it." "I'll see to it." "I know what is troubling you, my dear." "You'll never find your way home." "But please, do not deny us all our chance to find our own." "They're getting their maps." "Pilot says he's going to be okay." "It's only one of his arms." "Hell, he's got four." "I guess that makes you and me the odd men out." "That means they're going home, and we're not." "Hey." "You know, even with the maps, it's still going to take them some time to make the trips." "And then it's just you and me." "Look, you know, I'm not entirely useless here, you know." "I happen to be learning." "Aeryn?" "What's the matter?" "They are going home." "And someday, you will, too." "Yeah." "Sure." "I mean, if I ever find a way home, yeah." "I was born a Peacekeeper soldier." "I've always been one among many." "A member of a division, a platoon, a unit, a team." "I've never been on my own, John." "Never been alone." "Ever." "When I find a way home, if... if I find a way home, I'll, I'll take you with me." "Me on a planet full of billions of you?" "Get out!" "Out!" "Ah." "So sorry." "I came to inform you that the data crystal is on its way." "What is all this?" "Mmm, just items that I've procured since our escape." "To aid us in our bartering." "Of course, when I return home and reclaim my birthright," "Offal such as this will no longer be allowed to offend my sight." "A box of food cubes?" "My emergency supply." "In case something came up." "How long have you had these for?" "Were they in your possession when we were without food for nearly two weekens?" "You see?" "Something did come up." "If you like them, they're yours." "You have not reclaimed your birthright yet, little man." "I did not expect Aeryn to share our excitement, but Crichton's attitude surprises me." "If NamTar's knowledge had extended to Crichton's pathetic home world, you can wager that he would have offered up his own mevonks, useless as they are." "Would you, if that had been the price demanded?" "Fortunately, it was not." "Only a female would make light of such a thought." "I was not making light." "And you." "What would you have given?" "I would risk my pneuma for the chance to go home." "NamTar has no use for that out here." "I'm surprised that he has stayed out here in the Uncharted Territories." "His knowledge could bring him great fame and power." "Even great wealth." "It could change the entire basis of astronavigation." "It would change the basis for war." "One single prisoner and you would have the ability to strike at their very heart." "Their homeland." "You would pervert NamTar's genius to a weapon?" "Why not?" "Somebody will." "Why shouldn't it be me?" "You still feel pain from the needle?" "It's nothing." "And soon forgotten, once we're on our voyage home." "On Delvia the filgran will be just coming into bloom." "My parents will be preparing for the festival of Pedrark." "There is no need for them to keep my seat vacant at this cycle's festival." "If you reach there this cycle." "The crystal will be arriving from NamTar within an arn." "I don't doubt." "But there are decisions to be made, about our course." "Without my Qualta blade, you would not have been able to give NamTar what he wanted." "I will make the decisions." "To suit yourself." "But it is not as easy as you wish." "This is a time for logic and reason." "Unless of course you wish to find yourself at odds with everyone on the ship, not just Aeryn Sun and Crichton." "And what do you suggest?" "A fair compromise." "This is still not right!" "What?" "!" "NamTar, your anger!" "Release me." "Please." "There is someone to see you." "I was here earlier." "Yes." "Of course." "You are looking for my help?" "I wish to participate in your research." "Excellent." "What made you change your mind, my dear?" "I know that there are other Sebacean colonies beyond the known territories." "I want you to find me one where I..." "I can..." "Fit in?" "Then we will look for it together." "You understand what I'm about to do?" "You will take some fluid from my eye." "Exactly." "Remain absolutely still." "It's burning." "Only for a moment." "Is that it?" "It is done." "When will I know the results?" "It won't be long at all." "I, of course, will return home first." "You?" "Hmm..." "I bartered for the coordinates to this asteroid." "I made the first contact with NamTar." "I struck the deal." "I go home first." "D'argo and I have spoken." "Whoever's home is closest, that is where we will travel to first." "You two have spoken?" "Hmph, without consulting me?" "What am I?" "Chopped mellet?" "Of course not." "I can stomach chopped mellet." "Blue-assed bitch." "What did you call me?" "A blue-assed bitch!" "You guys getting all this?" "We don't have to get all this." "Moya is." "Moya isn't." "Pilot, how are you?" "The yotz with pleasantries." "What do you mean, Moya isn't assimilating the data?" "Is that her doing or yours?" "I have nothing to do with it." "Pilot is right." "The data is being processed directly by Moya." "But there is too much." "There is a great deal of data but Moya will have to..." "Moya can do nothing about it." "It appears your crystal is useless." "Lucky for you, you didn't trade anything of real value to get it." "We can access one of the maps but... only if we destroy the other two." "Well, we'll just go to NamTar and ask him for three individual crystals." "Ask NamTar for further help?" "What will he demand of us then?" "If he should ask for it, what body part are you willing to offer, your eminence?" "Rygel!" "What the hezmana do you think you are doing?" "Aeryn!" "Where the hell have you been?" "Look, there's some major crap going down here." "Shh!" "Not so loud." "Yeah." "Fine." "Look, we may have a real problem." "The map thing." "NamTar's magic crystal?" "Well, Larry, Curly and Moe just found out they can only use one of the maps." "Two of them ain't going nowhere." "I tell you, it's like a regular family feud up there." "You sweating?" "This isn't a Sebacean heat thing, is it?" "This is not a Sebacean thing." "Well, you've got to give me a clue here, Aeryn." "Is this something new or is this just your usual PMS, Peacekeeper Military Sh..." "Frell you!" "It's no use, Luxan!" "The crystal is well hidden." "And will remain so until you and Zhaan are ready to listen to reason." ""Reason" being that we return you to Hyneria." "That's the very definition of "reason."" "I'll find the damn crystal myself." "No, I assure you you won't." "I have places in this cell that even the Peacekeepers scent hounds couldn't detect." "If you return to Hyneria you will want to wrest your throne from your cousin." "And I will." "But your cousin is in control of your armies." "He himself is probably heavily guarded." "My palace sentries are inferior to none." "His palace sentries." "However, if you side with me against Zhaan to return to my home world first, imagine returning to your palace with a whole contingent of Luxan warriors at your command." "But you're a fugitive." "Your own people imprisoned you." "My leaders imprisoned me, not my people." "If you return me to my people I promise you that you..." "You'll be very forgetful of your debt to me the instant you were safely amongst your own." "That's also a Luxan trait." "And that." "When you're ready to engage in that "reason" discussion we talked of before, you know where to find me and the crystal." "Stay in there with your crystal as long as you wish." "Until you starve." "You think I'm not prepared for such eventualities?" "You forget, your rectal eminence, you've been doing some housekeeping." "What have you done to me?" "You are hurting me, my dear." "I have temporarily turned my nerve receptors from pain to pleasure." "This is not like what you did to the others." "Oops." "What have you done to me?" "Please... push harder." "You're in the latter part of phase one, I suspect." "Phase one of what?" "Please." "I don't want to ruin the surprise of phase two for you." "Hynerians are extremely devious beings." "I don't doubt for an instant that Rygel has that crystal so well hidden we will never find it on our own." "If only I could lay my hands on him." "You would do what?" "Whatever it takes to secure that crystal." "We are forced to face the truth." "Rygel has been a very useful ally in the past." "But now he is enemy." "Agreed." "You and I must remain strong no matter what it takes." "And unified." "Unequivocally." "Yes, Officer Sun?" "You in pain, Pilot?" "Nominal." "I will be fine." "There is clearly something wrong." "May I ask what?" "It's the DRDS." "DRDs?" "Where?" "Everywhere." "Over this entire ship." "But it's just not the DRDs." "It's the ship's power generator, the hydraulic fluids..." "You hear all that?" "Not so much hear it as sense it." "But how?" "It's not so much the noises as my own thoughts." "It's like they're all happening at the same time." "Aeryn!" "Come on." "I want to take you back down to the planet." "Hey, Pilot." "I want to see if maybe we can find somebody down there who can figure out what's wrong with you." "Maybe this NamTar guy..." "No!" "Damn it, Aeryn, I'm trying to hel..." "It's NamTar." "He took some of Pilot's DNA and he... and how did, um...?" "I went back there." "I wanted him to find me a place where I could belong." "I didn't want to get left behind." "I'm so scared." "Ah, Rygel, what a surprise." "I see you're having something to eat." "Is that your third helping or your fourth?" "Well, I'm always ravenous when I'm about to take a long journey." "In this case, to my home world." "You know, Rygel, there's no reason why you and I should be at odds with each other." "You know, D'argo will leave you here to starve." "Only D'argo?" "You know Delvian Pa'us such as myself are open to... all manner of experience." "Are you saying what I think you're saying?" "I'm not saying anything." "I believe talk is very overrated as a means of connection between two consenting beings." "Uh... you know," "I'm not really a body breeder." "I mean, well, I'm not made that way." "But you do understand pleasure." "I know the Hynerian earbrow is very sensitive." "I can be very gentle." "This can be a very remarkable journey for you." "Journey?" "Hmm... to Delvia." "Delvia... of course." "Rygel... the crystal." "Oh... ha-ha..." "Is safely hidden, where it will remain." "You honestly believe that I could find you appealing?" "I mean, you're so... so... blue." "If D'argo and I don't get that crystal you will starve." "Starve?" "Not for a while yet, I'm pleased to say." "Come on." "We're going to get some answers." "Oh, no, no, no, no." "Remember what Pilot said about the noise, about your thoughts." "String them." "Separate them in your mind." "Easy for him to say." "He's been doing it all his life." "I'm losing it, John." "I'm completely losing it." "Answers coming up." "Come on." "You got a minute?" "Kornata, isn't it?" "You must let me past..." "What?" "What's wrong with you?" "With all of you?" "So glad to see you again." "Whatever you've done to her, NamTar, it wasn't part of our deal." "Deal?" "You felt we had a deal?" "A deal connotes reaching some point of equality." "I'm afraid there's never been anything equal about us." "How are you progressing?" "You should be nearing the end of phase two by now." "Hmm..." "You're coming along wonderfully." "All of these physical affectations are superfluous." "I assume, though, that you are also developing the heightened perception and multi-tasking capability?" "Please stop this." "Stop it?" "You don't know what you're asking." "You, my dear, are making a phenomenal contribution to the approach of sentient life toward perfection, and you want me to stop it?" "Aeryn, no!" "He may be the only one who can help you." "That's quite an impressive weapon you've got there." "Rygel..." "D'argo and I have spoken." "We realize all this infighting is serving us nothing, except to keep us frozen in orbit around this asteroid." "We, uh, we acknowledge that you're in control of the crystal and without it, we can do nothing, so, uh..." "So we agree to take you home to Hyneria." "We'll find our own way home from there." "You have our oath on it, Rygel." "Rygel?" "He did not hear our offer... and I hereby rescind it." "Mmm..." "I didn't hear all you were offering, I'm afraid." "But then, I guess it's a moot point anyway isn't it?" "How did you get out?" "You really think that I could spend all those cycles locked in one of these cells and not have a secret means of sneaking in and out as I please?" "Now, if you'll excuse me," "I have a little trip planning to do." "Rygel, wait!" "You're wound is shallow." "You'll be fine." "Leave this place now, while you still can." "Wait!" "I'm going to help her." "You've got to help me help her." "NamTar needs your friend too badly." "He wants to isolate your Pilot's multi-tasking capability through Aeryn." "He'll do anything to get it." "Why?" "Why does he need it so damn bad?" "Because it's an ability he doesn't possess yet." "Wait a minute." "You're saying he grafts the genetic traits of other species onto himself?" "That's what he set up this lab to do?" "He didn't set up this lab." "I..." "You did?" "I was the project leader." "These were my research team, facility employees." "We were working on theories of quantum genetics, isolating, identifying the origins of intellect, the essentials of thought itself." "NamTar started to use your discoveries on himself?" "I increased his intellect." "At least at first." "Then when he became smart enough he began doing it on his own." "He was a test subject." "He was one of my laboratory creatures." "He drew genetic material from all the species I had catalogued." "He increased his physical size." "He gave himself the best traits of life-forms from a thousand different worlds." "Now he's using Aeryn as his own lab rat." "He used us all." "Is there anything we can do to help her?" "He controls my lab, all my equipment." "If I'm away for more than an arn he comes looking for me." "He knows that I am the only..." "Is there?" "Is it necessary to reduce me fully to the final stage?" "You are in no way being diminished." "You are being given a gift." "You are experiencing a level of intellectual processing few beings ever approach." "I feel what you describe, but..." "I am slipping away." "I feel that, too." "You must be willing to push off from the riskless shore in order to reach heady new lands." "But as soon my body reaches the saturation point you will take the DNA features you desire and discard the rest." "I look forward to experiencing the insights you obviously already possess." "D'argo, look, just stop." "Don't force it." "Just let me try." "You've been trying." "A decoy." "How did such a great warrior fall for such an obvious trick?" "You blame me?" "If I hadn't listen to your frodank of an idea about a deal..." "You had no better idea." "I wanted to kill him, and I swear that when I get out of here I will enjoy watching him die." "When you get out of here?" "Well, to this point your assistance has been worse than useless." "You gave your word we work together." "And you gave yours." "I saw you leaving this corridor earlier." "I was merely asking Rygel to see reason." "A deal that you didn't bother to mention to me." "Had I succeeded, of course I would have discussed it with you." "Had you succeeded, you would be on your way to Delvia." "Crichton!" "Aeryn!" "You're wasting your time." "I do not wish to grow old here watching you scratch at that lock like some scabrous scent hound." "Pilot, this is Kornata." "She's here to help Aeryn." "You're magnificent." "Pilot, we don't have a lot of time." "In fact, we have no time." "We need your assistance." "Without hesitation." "I need a titus scan of each of the last three inert mixtures." "Also, the expanded graph matches the latest spectral analysis and all final recounts of the cyyto-batch data." "Working on them all." "Look, if there's anything I can do..." "Shh..." "Crichton, I think you should know." "Rygel has nearly finished reconfiguring the data on the cartographic crystal." "The crystal that NamTar gave you?" "Yeah." "Why?" "NamTar wanted to make certain you couldn't leave even if you wanted to." "If you try to import the maps into the ship's data store it'll erase everything that's in there." "Erase Moya's memory?" "Rygel?" "Rygel!" "Damn!" "No!" "Crichton, this is..." "What have you done?" "It would've destroyed all of Moya's data." "It was never meant to work." "Crichton?" "Pilot here." "Yes, Pilot?" "It's ready." "Where have you been?" "The final stage serum is nearly complete and I need your help." "If you've come to attack me yet again," "I warn you, I don't have time for you now." "I will need to simply kill you." "I'm not here to attack you." "I know there's nothing that I can do to you." "I'm here to see Aeryn." "I'm afraid your friend Aeryn is no longer here, but there is someone else you may be interested in meeting." "Rise." "Step forward." "Don't be modest." "John." "How can you do this to her?" "Is that how you speak to someone who is fast approaching perfection?" "You're a long way from perfection, NamTar." "But nearer, possibly, than any other corporeal being has ever come." "Give credit where credit is due." "You expect credit for using innocent life-forms as specimens in your research?" "You, of all people, should understand the horror in that." "You know of my origins?" "Yeah." "What I didn't understand then is all species are seeking perfection." "That's what evolution is, the road towards perfection." "How many generations of your species have lived and died to lead to you?" "How many will die after you?" "All in the name of achieving a state of perfection." "You don't think I understand you, do you?" "Oh, I understand." "No, believe it or not we've had men like you on my planet." "Educated men." "Men of science and medicine." "Men who were searching for some self-described ideal and willing to maim and murder untold thousands to find it." "There was one." "His name was Mengele." "To him, anyone was fair game as a subject of his experiments." "The weak, the handicapped, men, women, children." "The quest for perfection demands our unwavering devotion." "This Mengele sounds like a visionary." "He was a monster." "For this betrayal, you will die." "John..." "Help me!" "Kornata." "No!" "For her, it must be the eye." "Oh, no, what have I done?" "What have I done?" "What have you done?" "You've saved her life." "It's a happy face." "They're food cubes." "No, see the pattern, it forms a..." "Never mind." "Food still tastes funny?" "What was the worst part?" "Aeryn..." "I've always thought of myself in terms of survival." "Life and death." "Keeping the body alive." "But what NamTar did to me, it wa... it was me." "Inside." "The real me." "You would've fit in on Earth... just fine." "Your arm." "Is it healing?" "Of course." "You understand why I did what I did?" "Your motivations were perfectly clear." "And you understand that if I was faced with the same choice again" "I would do exactly the same." "I have no doubt whatsoever." "I also know that Luxans are not given to apologies." "It's the device you've been working on so diligently." "What do you call it?" "It is a Shilquen, and it is finally finished." "And... what manner of weapon is it?" "It is not a weapon."