The Elephant Ep2.9: Things Have Changed P1: Closer To Where We Started

Zhaan turned around to check on her escorts. They had stayed back when she entered the detention area. "Is someone watching you?" She shook her head at the question and then ran down the corridor. Sure enough, four soldiers stood quietly against the far wall and nodded when she peeked her head out. One of them lifted his comm as she retreated back into hallway. Zhaan didn't have time to worry about that now. There had to be some way to get Aeryn and Meryl out. "You'll have to hold on a little longer. I would attract too much attention right now." Inside the cell, Meryl gritted her teeth and looked to her companion. "I don't have a little longer."

Scorpius sat at the computer and typed furiously as teks moved around behind him. He had not said a word to them about what he was doing. Better to get it finished first. "Sir, we're picking up some large readings on the radar." He waved the man off and continued working. Nothing would distract him from this now. "I am nearly there." Each sequence appeared on the screen and locked in. Loud groans from the wormhole machine could be heard on the monitors. His creation was finally going to work. "Forgive me for interrupting again sir. The objects are getting closer."

Three Regulator ships flew out of the wormhole that had formed beside the gammek base and descended towards it. Moving in odd patterns, they approached but made no move to strike. The external defenses came on automatically and shielded the area. Confused only momentarily, the action seemed to anger the brown ships. One picked up speed and brushed past the base. The ensuing shockwave shook it violently and sent the inner confines into chaos.

Zhaan felt herself being thrown forward by an incredibly powerful force. Her head smashed against the cell's metal door and she fell to the floor. "Aeryn." Another wave came and pushed her across the hallway. This time the impact was much worse and the priestess blacked out. Aeryn watched the scene from her place at the door. It had taken all her strength to hold on to it. Her two friends had not been that lucky. Meryl lay face-up on the ground with an angry expression on her face. "Where have I felt that before?" Aeryn knew.

Scorpius growled furiously as the monitor in front of him flickered and then went out. Turning to the nearest tek, he reached out his hands. "What the frell was that?" The man's eyes were open wide and a look of fear crossed his face. "The large objects sir. They're here." The hybrid moved to the large windows that bordered the lab and looked outside. The sight was more discouraging every time he saw it. Brown ships of incredible size flew across his view. "Them again. How are this place's defenses?" The tek shook his head. "Not enough sir."

A brilliant explosion rocked the base as part of the exterior defenses were lost. The Regulator ships made quick work of the weapon structures and soon the shield was completely gone. Now open to direct attack, the gammek base was unprepared. Alarm bells rang in every corridor and lab. A frenzied mobilization had begun. Troops rushed through all the important labs and removed data stores. Scorpius sighed to himself as the computer equipment around him sparked and burnt out. "They're following me." The realization came much too late.

<<<<>>>>

Moya raced away from the scene as quickly as her engines would take her. In his den, Pilot cried out several times as his share of the pain was given. "Will it heal?" The ship did not answer him immediately. She was much too frightened to think clearly. Many of the life support systems went on and off in short bursts. Moving his claws as fast as possible, Pilot fought to stabilize her. The comm systems were still working and soon calls were coming in. "Pilot! What's wrong?" He shook his head angrily. "What the frell do you think?"

Rygel sat quietly in his sled as chaos erupted around him. The view he was looking at lurched from side to side with each movement of the leviathan. He didn't care about all that. The words that the Hynerion crew had spoken burned deeply into him. "Wayward cousin." They had called him that. Feeling strong hands take hold of him, he turned and looked into D'Argo's concerned eyes. "What about you?" Rygel shook his head sadly. "I'm fine." The Luxan moved on to check on Chiana.

The Nebari skidded across the floor and came to a stop against the wall. The scar above her eye became aggravated by the fall. The feeling of stinging needles passed through her forehead. She glanced up to see D'Argo standing over her. The look on his face gave her a small spark of hope. "Worried about me?" He smiled. "I thought you could take care of yourself." Chiana shrugged. "Sometimes it's good to have a strong man around." Both of them checked the view outside and saw the Hynerion cruiser. It was severely damaged and sat idly in space.

"Moya is feeling better. It should be alright now." Pilot's words came just as the shaking stopped. The ship seemed to return to its stable position. "We're moving forward again." Chiana nodded her agreement and went to check herself in the mirror. No major bruises marked her face. D'Argo walked over to the silent dominar and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry Rygel. That could not have been easy." There was no response from the Hynerion. "Pilot, how is the other ship?" Moya's scanners turned on. "Weak life-signs only."

D'Argo turned back to Rygel. "If you want, we can board and look for maps, news reports." The little green creature looked up at him and gave a sad smile. "That will not be necessary. They are Hynerions. They would never let that happen." Just as he said the words, the cruiser exploded in a flash of consuming fire. The blast rocked Moya gently but caused no further damage. Rygel shook his head and left the room quickly. "I know how he feels." Chiana walked up to him and nodded. "Me too."

<<<<>>>>

Aeryn helped Meryl off the ground and together they slammed against the door. It was far too heavy and strong for them to move. "Zhaan! Can you hear me?" There was no answer from outside. The Delvian still lay unconscious on the floor. "What the frell do we do now?" Meryl's question was interrupted by another wave of shaking. Everything seemed to turn sideways and then straight up again. A loud crunching sound came from behind them. Aeryn turned and noticed something in the back wall. Small fissures ran through the stone and converged at a single spot. "This way."

The wall crumbled quickly after their repeated attacks. Crashing through the stone pieces, the two women found themselves in a large room filled with machinery. Sparks flew everywhere and a low humming sound permeated the air. "Is this good or bad?" Meryl stepped forward into the room and looked around. "There's no one in here." Aeryn didn't like the sound of that. Any soldier was taught to stay away from dangerous areas during an attack. "Try to find a door. Someway out." The ex-captain nodded and went deeper into the maze of machines. Her hunger suddenly forgotten.

Zhaan opened her eyes and felt the pounding headache obstruct her thoughts. The situation came back to her quickly and she rose to her feet. There was no time to sit around now. She had to find a way to free Aeryn and Meryl. Walking over to the cell door, she looked through the hole and gasped. The back wall had fallen out to reveal a room beyond. "Aeryn! Are you out there?" No answer came back. The sound of footsteps down the hall caught her attention. Zhaan turned just in time to see a man in white lab uniform running towards her. "Who are you?"

"I am Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan." The scientist took a few moments to figure out exactly what that meant. He glanced down at her hands and noticed the lack of a weapon. This was good because he did not have one either. "What are you doing here?" Zhaan decided it was best to let him know. "My friends were accidently imprisoned. They have escaped from the cell and into the room beyond but I cannot contact them." Suddenly agitated, the scientist rushed to the door and looked inside. "They shouldn't be in there."

Aeryn heard her companion call out to her and responded. "Did you find anything?" The ex-peacekeepers both gave back negative responses. There was something wrong about this place and they could both feel it. "We shouldn't be in here." Meryl nodded her agreement and stumbled slightly in her stance. The hunger was coming back even stronger. "I don't suppose you found a stash of food?" Aeryn shook her head and glanced upward. "Did you feel that?" Before either could say anything else, an explosion went off somewhere nearby and a bright light filled the room.

"My name is Morris. I work in that lab." Zhaan did not understand his fearful expression. "Is it dangerous." He groaned. "This is a peacekeeper base. Of course it is." Looking back through the hole, the man gasped. "Something's wrong." The floor beneath started shaking again and the sound of an explosion rocked their ears. Trying to stay standing, they grabbed on to the cell door and waited. "Oh no." Morris saw the bright light first. It rushed through the broken wall and hit them with full force. The door fell away and threw them to the ground. Zhaan forced herself up into the lab and called out to her friends. There was no one there.

<<<<

Aeryn felt very dizzy for a moment as the room spun on its axis and then stopped abruptly. She tried closing her eyes but the tactic didn't work. Then the feeling went away and all was still. Opening her eyes, she saw that the scenery had changed. The peacekeeper machines and noises had been replaced by something far more familiar. The golden arches of Moya's hallways stretched out before her. "Frell." Aeryn could think of nothing more to say. Somehow she was back here. Voices from down the corridor made her freeze in place.

John Crichton was walking down the hall towards her. That same goofy smile that always served to equally annoy and amuse her. He looked up and saw her. His face seemed to change instantly. The smile was replaced by a stern nod. "Hello Aeryn." The sheer coldness of the word stung her. As if there was nothing between them. Unable to hold back the emotion any longer, she leapt forward and kissed him passionately. John kissed back but suddenly pushed her away. "What the hell are you doing?" Aeryn's eyes widened as she noticed him more closely. He was dressed in the astronaut uniform.

Turning on her heels, she sped down the opposite way until he had disappeared from sight. Aeryn ducked into a crawl space just as something even more bizarre passed by. She saw herself walking down the hallway. Still dressed in pilot uniform, the other her had an angry look on her face. "That's me." The words felt silly out loud but still she repeated them several times. Past Aeryn shouted out something. "Crichton!" He came running towards her with a confused look on his face.

"What was that?" John stopped her and pointed towards his lips. "What was what?" Past Aeryn narrowed her eyes at him and waited for an explanation. He got even more exasperated. "You kissed me!" She balked. "I did no such thing." They continued to argue about it for several microts as Future Aeryn looked on amused. John made the expression that she remembered well. Almost as if every part of his face was moving in a different direction. Finally, the other two stopped yelling.

Past Aeryn put her hands up and pushed John up against the wall. "You were imagining things." Looking into her cold blue eyes, he consented. "You're right. I don't know what happened there." He shrugged and turned to go back the other way. "Can we go now?" She nodded and followed him.

Aeryn watched them go as the feeling of confusion began to die down. This much was clear. She had somehow been transported to the past. What she was supposed to do now was uncertain. Standing up, Aeryn went after the two of them as quietly as possible. Now she needed to know when exactly this was.

>>>>>

Zhaan looked back at the nervous scientist behind her. Morris stood quietly in the doorway while the scene in front of him returned to normal. The white glow vanished and left everything the way it had been. Except for one major problem. Aeryn and Meryl had gone away with it. There was no sign of them anywhere. "What just happened?" Zhaan shook the man roughly to wake him up. He blinked at looked at her. "I have no idea." She got angry now. "What do you mean you have no idea? It's your lab." Morris nodded dumbly. "Yes, but we didn't know what it did yet."

<<<<<

Meryl felt the dizziness go away and looked around the room. She recognized the place immediately. "What the frell is this?" The medical facility on home world as it had been many years ago. The sound of a man whispering to himself could be heard not too far off. Turning towards it, she saw something even worse. Kodetova, the man she had left for dead, was walking towards her. He was dressed in a surgery gown and headed for the door that she stood beside. "Delivery." Meryl read the name. "Dren."

Kodetova stopped to look at her. The stare of confusion on his face gave her more information. He didn't know who she was. "How did you get in here?" Her mind raced with possible things to say. "I've been sent to oversee the surgery." He shook his head. "I doubt that but it doesn't matter anyway. The procedure is complete." Angered, Meryl reached her hand out and took hold of his neck. "What the frell did you do?" Kodetova tried to speak but couldn't get the words out. She let him go and burst through the door.

A woman sat quietly on the surgery bed and lovingly brushed the child in her lap. Meryl pulled her pulse pistol out and stepped back into the waiting room. The speechless doctor on the floor looked up at her and raised his hands in surrender. "Please, the child could go at any time." Her thoughts froze as the realization came through. That was her in there. The woman was her mother. "Get in there right now!" Kodetova stood and ran into the room as she ordered. Meryl followed and picked a syringe off the operating table.

"I want you to stick this into her stomach and drain the fluid." Kodetova stared back at her with a look of shock and confusion. "You're mad. That would kill her." Meryl lifted the gun to his face and growled. "Do it." He nodded slightly and turned back to the woman. Lowering the needle, he licked his lips nervously. Meryl's mother watched the scene with a glazed look in her eyes. She must have been highly medicated. Kodetova inserted the syringe and began sucking out the liquid.

"How did you know?" He looked up at her again as the syringe filled with black abortive medicine. She kept her gun trained on him and didn't say a word. "The entire dosage has accumulated in this one spot. It would have killed her." Meryl allowed herself to smile at his words. "Would have." Suggesting that it was no longer the case. Her mother stirred a bit and looked from one to another. "Who are you?" Meryl had no idea what to say.

>>>>>

Zhaan and Morris tumbled to the ground as another quake shook through the base. Explosions and screaming could be heard off in the distance. The tired priestess looked to her companion. "How much longer can this place stay functional?" He did not appear to be as concerned. "If the attacks follows the same pattern as the others, we should still have an arn or two before it goes down. Maybe." She breathed a sigh of relief and glanced back at the empty lab. "Wherever you are, get back quickly."

<<<<<

Future Aeryn followed her counterpart and John all the way to the hanger without further incidents. It was at that point that things started to fall into place. The conversation that was going on struck a cord with her. She remembered the arguments on both sides. Something about D'Argo thinking this was a waste of time. "Hold on, I forgot my pack." She raced back the way she had come as Past Aeryn retraced her steps as well. Apparently she had moved faster in those days because the other caught up to her.

They stood there staring for several microts without saying a word. Just the awkwardness of the situation was enough to send the both of them into stunned silence. Finally, in one simultaneous movement, each pulled her respective gun. "What is this?" Past Aeryn was having more trouble than her future self. The two of them moved in a tense circle as Future Aeryn tried to figure something out. "You didn't get much sleep last night. This is a hallucination." Perhaps out of the need to disprove what she was seeing, Past Aeryn nodded. "Yeah, ok." Then, without another word she turned and went back the way she had come.

Aeryn sighed with relief as her younger self took the bait. Watching her run away, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the person she had once been. Emotionally closed off and ignorant to so much. This were different now. "You still have a long way to go little girl." The words made her smile. It felt good to smile. Then something clicked. The pack that Past Aeryn was carrying in her hand. There was only one event in her memory that jumped out. "The flax."

Racing towards the hanger with incredible speed, she crashed into stubborn walls and doors. The opportunity to stop a potentially dangerous situation had come to her. Sure, it had worked out the first time. But who knew how her presence might change things. Aeryn arrived just as the other two stepped into the transport pod. "John!" He didn't hear her that time. It gave the nervous ex-peacekeeper a moment to think. What would happen if she stopped this. That situation with John that she remembered so well. "You are the female of your species right?" It had been the beginning of something.

Aeryn watched the transport pod lift off the ground from her place in the hanger. It flew off down the cavernous outer hanger and into black space. Somewhere out there Zenetan pirates waited with sinister intentions. She turned and walked slowly back towards the room where she had arrived. "I didn't do it. Take me back now." Aeryn had no idea what she was doing but it felt like the right thing to say. Much to her surprise, a bright white light filled the room and she started to feel dizzy again.

>>>>>

Meryl opened her eyes warily and found herself lying on the floor. It was stained black by what seemed to be explosion residue. Within seconds of her arrival, Zhaan was there and whispering soft words. "Are you alright my child? The baby?" She shook her head. "I'm fine Zhaan. What about Aeryn?" The Delvian shook her head. "Nothing yet." Those two words brought back a memory of what had just happened. Meryl glanced around the room and then looked at herself. Somewhat sadly, she spoke to herself. "Nothing changed."

Aeryn felt several pairs of hands grabbing at her as she woke from the strange sleep. Looking upward, she saw Meryl and Zhaan shaking their heads. "What's wrong?" The priestess spoke up first. "We need to leave now." She nodded and tried to lift herself up. An odd memory floated out from her subconscious. "The flax?" Zhaan stared at her with a confused look. "What about it?" Aeryn waved the question off. "Let's get out of here."

<<<<<>>>>>

It had taken quite a while but they had found Moya before Meryl's strength gave out. The leviathan had been mildly damaged in some sort of encounter but none of the crew were anxious to talk about it. Zhaan had explained her odd behavior to the others and asked for their forgiveness. "But you didn't do anything to us Zhaan." She had insisted anyway. They had not pushed the issue. Soon after, Pilot had initiated starburst and whisked them far away from the range of peacekeepers. The gammek base was left to fend for itself.

Fully rested and fed, Meryl stepped out of bed after a long night's sleep. She walked over to the mirror and gazed silently at the slight change in her appearance. "I'm big." Her stomach wasn't anywhere near full capacity but a small growth had occurred. The curvature had risen a bit to accommodate the child growing within. Walking back to her bed, Meryl pulled on her shirt and captain's jacket. They didn't fit as loosely any more. Then she grasped her leather pants and started putting them on. "You're kidding me!" She tried repeatedly but the sides would not reach. "Aeryn!"