Ep2.2: Frozen in Sunlight

John let one of his legs slide slowly out of the ship. They felt rubbery and refused to cooperate for several seconds. Finally, in a show of force, he jumped out and hit the hard desert ground. Small pebbles crunched under his feet and harsh sunlight beat down on his face. He turned in circle to get a better look at the place. The only sign of civilization was a green poster down the road. He jogged forward until the white letters on it sharpened. "Palm Springs?" It said they were about fifteen miles from the city. "Miles not metras." John practically giggled at the thought. This was Earth. "We're home Tom." He ignored the complications of the statement and pulled the cryo-pod out.

The sun was out in full force and the only thing keeping him from dropping to the ground was a cool breeze that slipped gently across the open spaces. Off in the distance John could see the tops of buildings beginning to appear. "Almost there." Dust swirled up around his knees as he walked. A far-off roar caught his attention. Turning back the way he had come, John saw a big eighteen wheeler heading his way. "Truck, that's a truck." He grinned like an idiot and ran out into the road. Waving his arms like a wild man, John flagged down the weary traveler. "Need a ride someplace?" The trucker looked to be about forty years old. With a dirty beard and large gut, he was a beautiful sight. "Yeah, I need to get my friend to a doctor." The man bent his head to the side and looked at the pod. "It'll fit in the back."

The truck stopped about a block away from the hospital. John thanked the man and jumped out the passenger door. He walked to the back and pushed up the cover. The cryo-pod had stayed in place rather well. John checked the gages. Everything looked normal. "We're good!" He smacked the truck's side and it sped off. The trucker looked back at the odd-looking twosome and shook his head. "Tourists."

Dr. Michael Gutierrez stepped out the ER doors and pulled a cigarette from his pocket. He sparked the old lighter in his other hand and lit the cancer stick. "Sweet heaven." Incoming patients passed by him with harsh stares. He shrugged the ill thoughts off and enjoyed himself. Then he recognized one of his own patients. "Hello Mr. Smith." The old man nodded curtly and pushed his heavy respirator behind him. Mike cursed himself for being an ass and dropped the cigarette into a nearby trash can. As he moved to reenter the hospital, something caught the doctor's eye. A strange looking man in leather was wheeling some sort of silver coffin up the ramp towards him.

"Are you a doctor?" Mike stared at him for several seconds without uttering a word. John stepped forward and grabbed his collar. "I asked if-." He pushed him back and nodded angrily. "Yes, I am. Do you need medical assistance?" John shook his head and pointed to the container. Tom's frozen body stared upward from inside. "What did you do to him?" The doctor did not get a response. His rude inquirer walked past him and into the main entrance. "Hey wait!" Mike wanted to see this.

John pushed past the doors and into the waiting room. Everywhere around him, patients and doctors moved about at a frantic pace. He could hear someone yelling in the background and nurses arguing with angry sick people. "This is Palm Springs right?" The doctor outside came in after him. "If you want someone to take care of your friend, get out of my way." He obliged and let the man have a look. Mike stared at the container with a confused expression before turning back to John. "How do you open this thing?" John stepped forward and pushed several buttons on the side console. A hissing sound erupted from inside and suddenly Tom was awake. "Ahhhh!" Tom lifted his head slightly to look around but doubled back in pain. "John? What the hell?" As he moved, there was no feeling in his lower body. Mike yelled to one of the nurses. "Call surgery. We need to get this guy up there right away."

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Zelaya opened her eyes and looked around. The Nyid had disappeared and apparently wasn't coming back. She turned her head from side to side, searching for any way to break free. After several microts of frantic movement, one of the creatures stepped into the room. It walked up to her and undid the restraints. She slid quickly to the floor and gasped for breath. The strain on her arms was finally gone. "Thank you." The creature did not reply. It reached a hand down to her and pulled. Zelaya stared at him for a moment. There was no point in trying to escape. It never opened its mouth but somehow she got the idea pretty quickly.

She was led down a twisting hallway and into a much bigger room. Its ceiling rose high above her head and ended with murky blackness. Zelaya gritted her teeth as the head pains returned. They seemed to be getting weaker each time but the pain still remained. The creature spoke, breaking the silence and surprising her. "You understand the task?" She did. "Then you may go." A long and thin brown ship descended from the darkness above and stopped beside them. Its hatch opened up revealing an array of computer screens and buttons. "Downloading DNA file." The robotic voice was replaced by a green laser line that scanned over her body. "Welcome Zelaya." She looked from the creature to the ship. "Yes, um, hi."

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Gutierrez loaded the odd machine into the first available elevator and pressed the up button. "What's his condition?" Startled, he looked up to see one of the surgeons with a coffee mug in his hands. "Your nurses make better coffee." The surgeon pointed at Tom, noting the lack of case file. "I'm not exactly sure. He was just brought in outside. The skin coloration made me think of an internal problem." Even as he said the words, a shiny object on Tom's torn sweatshirt caught his eye. Mike pulled it off and tapped it with his finger. "He needs a blood transfusion!" He jumped back at the sound. "Did you hear that?"

John heard the open channel and shouted back instructions. He wasn't sure if the doctor had heard or what the consequences might be. Right now there were more important things to worry about. He raced to the elevators despite objections from the front desk. There weren't any on his floor. Spotting a doorway marked "Stairs," John went for it and slammed the door as he passed. "I'm coming Tom. Don't die without me." He tore up the stairs as fast as he could go. Finally, after the stairs had seemed to go on forever, John saw the sign for surgery on the wall ahead. He pushed open the door just as Tom was wheeled into one of the rooms. Watching through the window, John tried to keep from looking away.

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2 weeks later

Moya had been traveling peacefully through the uncharted territories for some time now. Depending on who you asked, this was a good thing. The only disturbances happened at night after the resident expectant mother had gone to bed. Aeryn didn't know much about pregnancy. For women in service, the process was usually a calm one. Special drugs were used to control the side affects and strengthen the unborn soldier. Meryl didn't have any drugs and they certainly weren't going to go looking for them. The pregnancy would be a natural one. Whatever that meant. D'Argo, the only person on the crew who had experienced such an event, had no ideas. "Lo'lanne had the drugs." He said the words with more than a hint of sadness in his voice.

Meryl went to bed every night feeling fine. The process was not far enough along yet to manifest external changes. Her body felt heavier but according to the others, she looked the same. The sweating would start soon after her eyes closed. Then her entire body seemed to cramp up and she let loose with piercing screams. "Someone plug that bitch up!" Rygel's desperate pleas were ignored. Well, no one dared say otherwise. With Zhaan to the rescue, herbal mixtures were cooked up to soothe her. "Kill me Zhaan, please." Looking into her crazed eyes, the Delvian believed every word.

Aeryn was looking in on one of these sessions when the call came. "Officer Sun, I have a message for you." She frowned at the creature's perplexing words. "From who Pilot?" While Meryl screamed in the background, she waited for a reply. "Him." Now she was angry. Aeryn stepped out of the room, grabbing her pulse pistol as she passed. Better to keep it away from her tortured friend. "I'm on my way." D'Argo saw her move with determination towards the lower decks. "I can't believe we haven't killed him yet." Aeryn shot him a menacing look before disappearing around the corner.

Scorpius lay on the floor of his tiny cell and breathed what he considered his last breaths. He had lost count of the days quite a while ago. Down in the deepest parts of the leviathan, all he could hear were distant screams. "Just a little longer. Don't go like this." He cursed himself for ending up like this. The once confident man in charge reduced to a burning heap of pale flesh. The coolant system had gone unchecked for far too long now. The only reason he wasn't already dead was because of the lack of activity. Someone knocked at the door. "Scorpius? What is it?" Aeryn watched him sit up slowly through the bars and gave her silent approval.

"I need help Aeryn." She scowled at him. "You will address me as Officer Sun or not at all." Scorpius nodded with amusement before collapsing back to the floor. "As you wish." Aeryn grunted a reply and let the doors open. Holding her gun out, she stepped inside. "What do you want?" The hybrid looked up at her through dead eyes. "My body temperature, it's much too high. I need a new coolant rod." At his words, she grinned mischievously and put her gun away. "I believe there is a solution to your problem." Scorpius felt strong hands grab him as he was picked up off the floor.

Chiana was washing a new stain off her coat when the commotion started. The sound of Aeryn's commanding voice boomed in from the hall and caught her interest. "Chiana, please step away from the fountain." She was confused now. "Sure Pilot. Why?" Her answer came quickly. The dispenser began to rumble and shake slowly. Large and small chunks of ice poured out of its exit holes and filled the circular container. Scorpius marched in with a hand on his neck. "What the frell?" Chiana watched as Aeryn led him to the fountain and dunked his head into the ice.

Scorpius felt the excruciating pain for a moment before sweet release came. He felt his head being thrown forward and then the smack of ice against his face. Now completely submerged in it, his temperature began to plummet. "Thank you." The words came out as bubbles under water. Officer Sun did not raise him up again. The air in his lungs began to fade and a new burning sensation took over. Outside, Aeryn finished counting and lifted him up. "What's the matter Scorpius? Peacekeepers are trained to hold their breaths longer than that." He spit out an ice cube and glared at her. "It's been a long time since the academy."

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"Sir, we've arrived." The peacekeeper ship soared forward through the darkness and neared the gammek base. It was destroyed beyond repair. Captain Grisham stood from his chair and looked out through the glass shield that protected him from space. He was more than a little disturbed. His ship, the Artanis, was a science vessel. The main structure was a giant glass globe surrounded by steel rings which housed labs and containment centers. Grisham wasn't worried about defense though. The arsenal at his disposal was more than enough to deal with any problem that arose. His crew should worry about him. "Bring us in for a close examination and start the scan."

Lt. Ness, a veteran of more wars than any of his superiors combined, nodded in understanding and pressed the buttons. Immediately, a laser line shot out from one of the ship's analyzers and ran over the base. He looked up at his new commanding officer and noted the man's uncertainty. He liked Grisham, but the man was green. Kicked up after General Chernov's disappearance, Grisham was a tek dressed in captain's clothes. "Reporting one life sign sir." The Captain acknowledged him but remained quiet. Ness waited for a reply. "Shall I send a team down to investigate?" Jolted from his thoughts, Grisham shook his head in agreement. "Yes Lt., thank you."

Zelaya stepped through the rubble doorway and into tek Feyd's lab. The place had been hit hard by her new employers but a few of the machines appeared to be intact. She stopped in front of the main computer and lifted its monitor up. The screen was smashed and no power ran to it. Picking up a shard metal that lay by her foot, she pried off the back cover and found what she was looking for. An emergency storage device. Used to retrieve data after an accident. Any cautious tek had one. "What do we have here?" Zelaya slipped it into the mini-computer she had brought along. A little green blinker came on. "Frell."

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Aeryn came back up to command after delivering her prisoner back to his cell. D'Argo was waiting for her there when she got back. He sat against the wall with a piece of paper in his hands. As Aeryn came in, he tucked it away and looked up. "Scorpius says the ice won't work for long. We need coolant rods." The Luxan grew angry at her words. "Do you hear what you're saying? He's not our guest Aeryn. Why don't you just kill him and get it over with?" Without warning, Aeryn pounced forward and grabbed his tentacles. Lifting him to his feet, she stared right into his eyes. "We agreed to wait for John." D'Argo shook his head. "But Aeryn-." She cupped a hand over his mouth. "Are you ready to accept that he's not coming? I'm not." She let him go and he fell to the ground in a heap. "There's a place nearby." Aeryn stalked out of the room.

The transport pod's hatch stood open as some of the crew waited to depart. Aeryn and D'Argo were already inside when the call came. "Wait for us!" She glanced out the window and saw Chiana running towards them with Meryl close behind. D'Argo shook his head. "I can tell them to stay if you want." Aeryn saw the look in Meryl's eyes and decided to not to interfere. The woman hadn't slept in days. Her hair was a mess and the red rims around her eyes did not look good. Chiana, unofficial nurse, helped her up the stairs despite the ex-peacekeeper's insistence against it. "I can function on my own." The Nebari didn't back away. "Get the frell away from me or I'll kill you." This time she listened.

The commerce planet was unlike most the crew had frequented in the past few years. Vast cities filled the landscape in all directions. Each one with its own towering black building in the center. These were the market places. Floor upon floor of stalls and specialty shops filled with anything anyone would ever need. The pod landed in the huge lot alongside and exited. Chiana looked up into the sky and gasped. "I can't even see the top from down here." D'Argo shot a look at her. "Don't get comfortable. We're only going to be here for an arn." She ignored his dark mood. "What's wrong with you today?" He turned to look at Aeryn. "I'm fine."

While Aeryn and D'Argo helped their pregnant friend into the main entrance, Chiana scampered forward to browse. Feeling the weight of money in her pocket, she disappeared into the crowd leaving the others behind. "Chiana!" Aeryn shook her head angrily as the girl left her sight. "Let her go. She's just restless." She frowned and looked at D'Argo. "What's with the two of you lately? He didn't respond. Something across the room caught his eye. "Aeryn, do you recognize that species?" She followed his gaze. "Yes, I do." There was a loud snapping sound and then the entire floor was plunged into darkness. "Now what?"

Chiana stopped in front of a stall and ran her hands over a pair of shiny blue crystals. "How much for these?" The merchant behind the counter looked her over and nodded. "One hundred ingots each." She pulled her hand away but didn't leave. There was something odd about the man. He was wearing the black cloak of a minister. Chiana was about to say something to him about it when another item caught her eye. "Is that a leviathan?" A stone tablet hung from the roof of his stall. Etched into it was a picture of what looked like Moya. "Yes, five hundred ingots." She reached out to touch it but her slapped her hand away. "No touching." Then the lights went out and gunfire echoed from somewhere down the corridor.