"How much longer?" John looked nervously from the viewer to Kezia. The Scarren rolled his eyes and frowned. "You've asked me that question ten times in the last arn." Seeing his companion's obvious agitation, John chose to ignore it. "Humor me." Kezia turned to the human in confusion. "What?" The other shook his head. "How long?" Punching up the radar on the computer, he checked. "Approximately two arns." They kept quiet after that and placed their full attention on the space outside. In the back, the third member of this temporary crew was nervous.

Bob paced back and forth in the hanger. He could not decide whether to leave or see this thing through. The crew on Moya had to be saved. That much was certain. But would it do any good for him to see to it himself? A light argument had broken out between the two men in the cockpit. After that, the entire ship had been silent. Bob took in the terrible beauty of the room. Its design was meant to instill fear in all who saw it. At that moment, he hoped it would work.

<<<<>>>>

Aeryn watched in amazement as the space outside seemed to curve and then straighten itself out. The lights came back on with incredible power. She was blinded by their strength. "Pilot! What's going on!" She covered her eyes and dove to the ground as the entire ship lurched. "All my control, restarted. All internal systems are out of alignment!" His voice boomed throughout the ship and forced her to cover her ears as well. After a few moments, the lights seemed to stabilize and return to normal. Aeryn looked back outside and saw a flash of energy depart from the gigantic ship. "Notify me when they board!" She ran towards the hanger. "Officer Sun, they are already here."

Meryl and Chiana picked themselves off the ground and sat on the bed. All of the Nebari's things were strewn around in the cell. "What the frell was that?" Chiana shook her head and tapped her comm. No one answered. "This is Moya. You better get used to it." She headed for the door and left her confused visitor on the bed. Meryl watched the girl go and tried her own comm. There was nothing. Not even static. She followed Chiana outside but was too late to catch up with her. She was about to walk back to her own cell when she saw it. A brown streak shot down the corridor. "What now?"

D'Argo and Zhaan let each other go and tumbled to the ground. It had taken their combined strengths to stay standing. He raised his qualta blade and inspected the area. "No damage." Zhaan reached her hand out and touched his face. "But you are bleeding." He felt for the blood and smacked it with his hand. It came out clear. "Just a scratch." They stood and walked slowly down the corridor. As they reached a junction, the priestess held out her hand and stopped the warrior. "There is something here D'Argo. I can sense it all around us. All around Moya."

Tom ran into the kitchen and found Rygel lying asleep on the floor. He hesitated a moment before poking the green creature with his finger. "Wake up sweet prince." He shook his head and brushed the old memory away. "I am a Dominar, not a prince." Rygel stirred and looked up at the surprised human. His eyes darted around the room in fear. "Where did it go?" Tom looked around and saw nothing. "What?" Standing himself up, the little Hynerion brushed the dust off his coat and frowned. "Where is my throne?"

He opened his eyes and searched for the woman. She and her gun were gone. No one remained in the passageway except for himself. A strange blue glow was the last thing he remembered. And then everything had started to shake. Picking up the sled, he quickly realized that it was much too small for him now. He tucked it under his arm and looked in both directions. With no idea where anything was, either side would be a gamble. He picked one at random and started walking.

<<<<>>>>

Bob felt it not long after they had come within an arn of the leviathan. He understood the necessity for expediency but something much more troubling had presented itself. From the beginning, he had assumed that Scorpius's creation was the danger that the crew was facing. But it seemed that something new had interjected. A presence strong enough for even his primitive sensors to pick up. For Crichton's sake, Bob hoped that no one on Moya would be quick to use violence.

<<<<>>>>

Aeryn charged into command with her pulse pistol ready. The creature standing inside was much larger than the baby they had been searching for. It wore some sort of organic cover suit that prevented her from seeing it completely. But there was definitely something under there. It raised a hand and her instincts took over. The pulse blast bridged the gap between the two of them in seconds. Aeryn was shocked as the impossible happened. Once the shot reached the creature's vicinity, it vaporized into a thousand different sparks and disappeared. The hand rose to point at her. She prepared herself for the blow.

Pilot watched in desperation as the creature placed Officer Sun under some sort of trance. He attempted communication but it had cut off all lines to the comms. All he could do now was watch. While he waited for speech to become available, Pilot entered the creature's image into Moya's memory. She had never seen anything like it and as far he could tell, no other leviathan had either.

Aeryn watched the battle in her mind. She saw herself attack the creature with all her might and find it not enough. Whatever it was had amazing force and easily overpowered her. A knife appeared in its hand and it drove it into her back. She saw herself die. The creature released her from the vision and dropped its hand. Aeryn watched with her mouth hanging open as it turned its back on her. She let her gun fall to the floor and walked forward to meet it. As she raised her own hand to signal it, the creature turned and spoke.

Zhaan felt the pain that Aeryn would have felt if the situation had gone differently. She saw the scene play out in her head and breathed a sigh of relief when it showed her the true outcome. D'Argo tapped her on the shoulder. "Zhaan, are you alright?" She smiled warmly and took his hand in hers. "We have a very important visitor. I must go to welcome him." She took off happily down the corridor without waiting for the confused Luxan to reply. "What now?"

Meryl entered the kitchen and found Tom and Rygel arguing. "What happened?" They looked up at her with the same bewildered expression. "The comms aren't working." Tom stood and allowed her to sit in his place. She gave him a strange look and sat down. Rygel laughed to himself said nothing about it. "The last I heard, that frelling mutant had escaped its crib. Then everything went farhbot." His words held little grace as usual. Meryl nodded and looked out the window. Something was blocking the view. She stood quickly and ran to get a closer look. "That's the biggest ship I've ever seen." The other two joined her.

<<<<>>>>

"Are you sure?" John looked down at the screen again. Moya had been registering for half an arn now. And then, without any indication, the ship just vanished. Kezia nodded and looked out into the darkness. "If its still there, we should be able to see it soon." John frowned and looked back towards the other man in the back. Bob seemed awfully calm. "Could they have starburst?" He turned back to the Scarren and shook his head. "I don't know. They didn't know we were coming." Bob finally came up to the cockpit and looked outside. He turned to John with hesitation. "They are still there."

"You're telling me that there's a ship out there so big, that its keeping Moya off the screen?" Bob nodded and ignored the two men's looks of disbelief. John sighed. Something completely impossible was being told to him. What else was new. He thought of another question. "How do we get around it?" Bob wasn't so calm now. "We don't. Just wait until it goes away and hope that your leviathan is still there." This did not comfort John at all. The last thing he wanted to hear was that they would have to wait even longer.

<<<<>>>>

The divided crew joined once again outside the doors to command. All they knew was that one of their own was inside with whatever had come aboard. "I sense it inside." Zhaan had calmed down considerably. Aeryn's spirit could still be felt strongly inside the room. She was alive and well for the moment. Meryl gripped the doors and attempted to pull them back. "There's no use." D'Argo's tone was that of a warrior defeated. He knew only too well how stubborn Moya's structure could be. She let go and put her hands on her hips. "So we wait."

The translator microbes could not even begin to decode what the creature said. All she heard was a jumble of sounds. It tilted its head at her and a look of impatience spread across its face. Reaching its hand out again, the vision began. Aeryn saw Moya as she had been not too long ago. Starburst was being engaged but something else happened. She saw the wormhole open up around the ship and engulf it. Then the phenomenon burst outward and disappeared. The scene evaporated and she was back in command. The creature shook its head. Aeryn understood.

D'Argo watched in amazement as the doors opened up in front of him. Aeryn stepped out with a large brown creature in tow. Neither of them said anything. They just walked past and down the corridor. "What is happening Aeryn?" She stopped and turned around. "We screwed up D'Argo." Without another word, she led the giant creature away. Tom looked at the confused Luxan. "Should we follow?" He shook his head. "No, I will. You go see if Pilot's alright." He ran after the other two and left everyone else standing there.

Tom and Zhaan entered Pilot's den and found him as he always was. "Are you hurt?" He asked the question more out of politeness than anything else. Pilot was obviously ok. "Yes, fine. Moya is frightened but stable." Tom circled around the console and stepped up next to him. "Can you see what they are doing?" Pilot nodded and punched the visual up on the screen.

Aeryn led the creature into the neural cluster and then stood back. It moved towards the jumble of wires as if it had been there before. Moving quickly, it dove its hand into the chords and a bright flash of light appeared. In the den above, Tom and Zhaan watched in horror as Pilot's eyes stopped moving and turned white. "What's happening to him?" Tom shouted the question again. "I've never seen anything like it." Zhaan's own experience could not prepare her for what she was seeing. Then, without warning, Pilot's eyes returned to normal. "What was that?" He murmured the words and shook from side to side.

D'Argo ran into the neural cluster with blade drawn. "No, stay back!" Aeryn waved him away and pointed towards the creature. She knew there was no point in fighting. As she spoke the words, it turned to her and began to glow. After several seconds, the glowing stopped and it walked towards her. "Your ship can no longer use wormhole technology." Aeryn nodded but couldn't open her mouth to speak. "Do not attempt this again." The creature seemed to fluctuate and then disappeared altogether. Aeryn and D'Argo were alone in the neural cluster.

<<<<>>>>

John shouted to the others. The ship or whatever it was had vanished. The space in front of them was clear and Moya registered immediately. "You are lucky John Crichton. They are not always so forgiving." Bob looked down at the confused human and smiled. "I will explain soon." Kezia watched them both with both amusement and annoyance. He had grown tired of secrets and lies. "Your ship is hailing us Crichton." The comm system crackled to life and Pilot's face appeared. "Commander, what are you doing on that ship?" John smiled. "Don't worry Pilot. Open the hanger doors." Pilot obeyed and Kezia steered the ship inside.

<<<<>>>>

They spotted each other immediately as he disembarked. Despite the rush of angry emotions, Aeryn let him take her in his arms. "I'm glad you're not dead." He said the words softly. She looked up at him. "Why would I be dead?" He shook his head and pulled her close. She was just closing her eyes when Kezia stepped out. Her gun was out instantly and trained on the Scarren's chest. "Aeryn, wait!" She glanced over at John. "What?" He grabbed her gun and lowered it. "He's with me." She relaxed and Kezia breathed a sigh of relief.

They were all assembled in command. Tom and Bob had said their hellos and now everyone's attention was focused on the reluctant Nyid. He watched them watching him with anxious curiosity. "What was that?" Aeryn asked the question that they all had in mind. Bob nodded and thought about where to start. "Wormholes have existed since before any of our races inhabited this universe. It is a highly volatile power that gives great superiority to any one who possesses it. There are beings out there whose history spans farther back in time than anything we can imagine. They have wormhole technology. They understand its ramifications." John understood immediately. "Like the Ancients." Bob nodded.

"Wishing to keep the us from gaining this dangerous force, they created a species whose sole purpose was to prevent such an occurrence. Unfortunately, with so many of us, that is not always easy. And to make matters worse, certain elder races have leaked this information." He looked at John. "The Ancients, for example."

The others stared back at him with shock and disbelief. They all found it impossible to believe that higher powers were controlling their destinies. On this ship, such forces were not looked upon well. Bob continued. "The Nyid were not always the poor people we are today. Our reign once spanned across hundreds of planets. But our ability to maintain this empire relied on one thing. The discovery of wormhole technology. Without it, our ships could not travel fast enough or far enough. Everything was fine until the Regulators came. They took Wormholes from us and left the Nyid empire destroyed. Now we are merchants and slaves."

<<<<>>>>

He felt himself growing bigger. The process was almost complete. Somehow the clouded fog in his mind had begun to fade. A single name kept repeating itself in his head. "Scorpius." Who that was and what it meant, he could not discern. But finding out was the key to his survival. He looked at the big ship sitting in the hanger. It looked fearsome. "Find Scorpius." He would board this ship. He would find Scorpius.

<<<<>>>>

The Scarren vessel floated beside Moya. Two of its three passengers were already on board and waiting for the third. John Crichton and Aeryn Sun stood side by side in command. They watched the ship move slowly across the window. "You are going with them?" She faced away from him. Looking in his eyes would break her uneasy composure. "Yes. I'm going to meet up with them in a few arns." He tried to get her to turn around but she wouldn't. Aeryn was determined not to let him get the upper hand. "Why don't you go now?" John frowned. "I was hoping to spend some time with you." She laughed at this. "What makes you think I want to spend time with you?"

Chiana and Rygel sat together in the kitchen. They had been there for over an arn but neither had said anything. What the Nyid said had stirred old questions. Finally, Chiana broke the silence. "Do you think they actually-." The Dominar shook his head and looked out into space. "I don't know. I don't want to know." She reached out and scratched his head. He almost purred. They both looked up as Zhaan entered the room. "You two look troubled." She smiled at them warmly and sat down. She might be just the person to comfort them.

Meryl and D'Argo walked quietly down the corridor. Everyone seemed to have split up into their own groups. These two had no where else to go. "Why don't you go find Tom?" He didn't really want to be alone. But her mind was not on the conversation they had been having. "He went off by himself. I will not follow him around." They smiled at each other and continued walking. A low noise down the corridor caught their attention. It seemed to be coming from the first cell on the right. Meryl pushed the door open and looked inside. Crichton's tape recorder sat on the table. It was emitting some sort of distorted sound. Tom moved to it in ways that they had never seen. "Is he dancing?" She frowned and turned to her companion. He returned the gesture of confusion. "No."

Pilot fought with all his might to remember what exactly had happened. Moya was perturbed as well. Something had been taken from them. Something important. He searched the data logs and found no record of what the creature had done. "No, I don't remember either." The leviathan was persistent and would not quiet down. "Of course I would tell you." Nothing either of them had ever seen could explain it.

John knocked on the door and was immediately allowed in. Pilot was happy for any distraction after all that had happened. "What's the matter with you?" Neither of them were particularly happy. "Are you leaving us again?" Pilot's question caught him off guard. He did not realize that it would affect him. "Yes, in a little while." The other nodded and continued working at the console. "Listen, Pilot, if us using the wormhole technology on Moya hurt you somehow....I'm really sorry." Pilot looked up in surprise. "Wormhole? What is that?"