~~ * ~~ * ~~
"No! Scorpy, leave me alone! No! Ahhh!"
John's anguished cries rang through the corridors of Moya, the living ship that had been his home for nearly two cycles. Zhaan was abruptly wrested from her meditation at the sound. As she pulled on her robes, she heard other booted feet race through the halls to the Human's quarters. Zhaan moved quickly towards John's agonized screams, repeating the same prayer to her Goddess that she had been chanting every day since Aeryn had finally confided in her about John's visions of the sadistic Scarran-Sebacean Scorpius. Grabbing up the sedative injector that she had been keeping at constant readiness, the Delvian moved swiftly towards the room of her tormented Human crewmate.
Zhaan arrived at John's quarters to find both Aeryn and D'Argo fighting to keep the Human from hurting himself. He was thrashing around on his bed, trying desperately to strike himself about his head, screaming at Scorpius to get out of his head. Zhaan could see several self-inflicted dark bruises and bleeding cuts on his neck and face. Chiana stood just inside the open doorway, her dark eyes wide with horror. Rygel hovered just outside in the corridor, a look of concern on his normally haughty face.
"John! John, stop it! " Aeryn leaned over the struggling Crichton, her hands gripping his head, trying to get him to look into her eyes, to recognise her.
D'Argo held the Human's arms. He looked over his shoulder to see the Delvian enter with a sedative in her hand. "Hurry, Zhaan!"
Just as Zhaan came closer, John kicked out at the Luxan with his feet, knocking D'Argo away from him and into Zhaan. They both went down in a tangle of arms and legs and the injector skittered away from them across the floor.
Aeryn ignored them and pulled John's head up, placing her face right in his. "John! John! Calm down! Scorpius is not here! It's me! It's Aeryn!" Her hands held his face gently but firmly.
Some of the wild panic went out of John's eyes. He gazed up into Aeryn's concerned blue eyes, his own filled with fear and desperation. Sitting up, he reached up and covered Aeryn's hands with his. "Aeryn, he was here! Scorpius was here! He's always here! And he's going to get me! He keeps saying he's going to get me!" He slid his arms around her waist and buried his head in her neck, sobbing like a child. Aeryn cradled him to her, her eyes filled with sad compassion.
Zhaan dragged herself up from the floor with Chiana's help and retrieved the injector. Her eyes met Aeryn's as she came up behind the weeping Human and pressed the tip of the injector against his neck. He did not even react, simply clinging to Aeryn, shaking with the force of his sobs. Aeryn held him until she felt him begin to relax in her arms. His arms loosened from around her waist and slid down as he slipped into the unnatural drugged sleep. Finally, Aeryn laid him carefully back down on his bed, her hands gentle as she covered him. Then she sat beside him and softly caressed his damp brow and cheeks. She looked up at the others with a sorrowful smile. "I'll stay with him. The rest of you need to get your sleep."
"We'll take shifts, Aeryn. You need your sleep too," Zhaan stated firmly, her tone brooking no argument. She shepherded the others out into the corridor then looked back at the sight of the former PeaceKeeper soldier taking John's hand in hers and bowing her dark head in obvious despair.
"How long are we going to put up with this, Zhaan?" Rygel demanded.
Zhaan shushed him and pointed down the hall towards her quarters. She ushered them all inside, then closed the door and drew the privacy curtain. She turned back to her fellow crewmates, whose eyes all reflected the same question that Rygel had merely put into words.
"He's becoming dangerous! One night, he could kill us all in our beds!" Rygel accused.
"You know John would never do that, toad!" Chiana protested, but D'Argo cut her off.
"Much as I hate agreeing with his Royal Pain-in-the-Eema, Rygel has a point." Chiana's face tightened. "I don't think John would kill any of us, but he is becoming a danger to himself."
Zhaan sighed, recognising the truth to D'Argo's words. "Yes, D'Argo, I'm afraid you*re right. I'm concerned as well. These constant visions of Scorpius are worrisome. And we can't just keep drugging him. Overuse of the sedatives will become detrimental rather than helpful." Zhaan sighed and gazed over at the leather mask she kept by her bedside. "I wish Stark were here. His experience with the Aurora Chair could help us help John. And he was the only one who seemed to be able to calm him." She picked up the mask and cradled it to her, her fingers tracing lovingly over its contours.
"Aeryn seems to be doing okay in that department," Rygel observed with a smirk. "Ow!"
Chiana smacked him across the back of his head. "It's not funny, slug-face. Did you see the look on her face? She's hurting as badly as Crichton!"
Rygel had the grace to look contrite. Zhaan looked at the others. "Chiana is right. John's illness is taking its toll on all of us, but Aeryn is suffering the most. She feels more helpless than the rest of us."
D'Argo met her eyes, seeing where she was going. "And if Aeryn feels helpless, she may do something desperate. In her own way, she's even more reckless than Crichton," he said, remembering her rescue mission on the Gammack base when she should have been resting and healing. But nothing they had said then could stop her from charging in to rescue her Human companion.
"So what do you propose, Zhaan?" Rygel asked impatiently.
"I will go over John's scans yet again. Perhaps I have missed something. I've checked everything physical. The scans have shown nothing. Perhaps there is a psychological reason why John keeps seeing Scorpius," Zhaan mused.
"In the meantime, we will have to be particularly vigilant," D'Argo added. *Both for Crichton's protection and our own,* he thought but didn't say out loud. He moved over and opened the doors to Zhaan's quarters
"I'll work with Pilot and go through Moya's data base," Chiana volunteered. "I know he's Human, but perhaps there are records of similar trauma suffered by PeaceKeepers. They may have some treatment."
"Not likely. PeaceKeeper treatment usually consists of administering a lethal injection," D'Argo growled, but Chiana would not be dissuaded.
Then they all turned towards Rygel, not really expecting him to help. "I'll keep an eye on Aeryn," he offered, surprising them all. "What? I'll have you know I was considered quite a compassionate Dominar. I'm not completely selfish." He lifted his nose, offended, and glided out of the room. The others shared a tired grin and then moved back to their beds to salvage what sleep they could from the remaining sleep period.
~~ * ~~ * ~~
"Zhaan! Zhaan, get down here!" Chiana's excited voice carried through the comm. "I think I found something!"
Zhaan was roused from her meditation by the summons. She hastily apologised to her Goddess and rose from her cross-legged position. Carefully replacing her Bru'ar crystals in their hiding place (safe from any pilfering Hynerian or Nebari fingers), Zhaan pulled on her robes and went to see what had gotten the little Nebari so excited.
When she got down to Pilot's chamber, she saw with dismay that Chiana had summoned Aeryn as well. The ex-PeaceKeeper should have been sleeping. She had been spending every possible microt with John. And her health was suffering. There were dark circles under her eyes. She moved with less than her usual military precision, even now leaning tiredly against Pilot's console. Her hair, which she had once more taken to keeping in its tightly controlled braid, was uncharacteristically dishevelled, several tendrils escaping to curl softly around her cheeks and temples.
Chiana was chattering away enthusiastically, growing even more excited when she saw Zhaan. "Zhaan, I really think I might have found something to help Crichton!"
Zhaan looked at the symbiont who nodded his agreement. Then she turned to the weary Sebacean. "And how are you holding up, my dear?"
Aeryn looked at her sharply but saw only concerned caring in the Delvian priestess's eyes. "I'm fine, Zhaan," she replied automatically.
Zhaan sighed, not really expecting anything else from the aloof ex-PeaceKeeper. "So tell me, what has you so excited, Chiana? Pilot?"
Chiana jumped right in. "I was going through Moya's records with Pilot and we found this old reference to a treatment to reverse the affects of cranial interrogation. It seems that about seven cycles ago, Moya was pressed into service to retrieve and transport a seriously injured disrupter. The agent had been captured by the Scarrans and tortured until uncoherent. A team of medtechs was sent along to try to restore the disrupter's mind."
"And why would PeaceKeeper High Command even bother?" Aeryn asked contemptuously. "It is not their policy to heal those captured or tortured. In fact, they are considered irreversibly contaminated and given a death sentence." Aeryn's voice cracked on the words 'irreversibly contaminated' even now, after all these cycles.
"Yeah, your people have quite the reward programme for injury in the line of duty," Chiana shot back.
Zhaan placed a restraining arm on Aeryn. "So why did they try to heal him?"
"Her," Chiana corrected. Under her hand, Zhaan felt Aeryn shudder, knowing what kind of torture a female PeaceKeeper would have had to endure from the Scarrans. "Apparently, the disrupter had uncovered very important information that High Command needed desperately in its war against the Scarrans. They had to restore the disrupter's conscious mind to get it."
"And did it work?" Aeryn asked anxiously.
"According to these records, yes," Chiana declared proudly.
"So what did they use?" Zhaan asked.
Pilot took over, reading the screen in front of him. "Apparently a rare and powerful drug called Othelymon. They modified it somewhat and were able to restore the disrupter's conscious mind. The data is all here."
Aeryn turned to Zhaan hopefully. "Do you think it might work on a Human?"
Zhaan met her anxious gaze with a slight smile. "I will have to check to make sure that it will do no harm to John's system, but I have heard of this drug. It is indeed rare." She looked at the others sadly. "It will cost a great deal of money, I'm afraid."
Aeryn was already on her way out of Pilot's chamber. "I will do whatever it takes to get a hold of this drug," she stated emphatically. Then she paused and came back to the console. She laid her hand over one of Pilot's claws. "Thank you, Pilot. I'm sure that this drug will help John."
Pilot looked at her with kind, compassionate eyes. Then they slid to the Nebari perched on his console. " You're welcome, Aeryn, but Chiana really did all the work."
Aeryn turned to face the white-haired young Nebari. She reached out and took Chiana's hand in hers. "Thank you, Chiana," she said with soft sincerity.
"You're welcome, Aeryn," Chiana replied, her dark eyes wide with surprise. "You're not the only one who loves John," she added, then groaned inwardly to see Aeryn's open face close over, her emotions once more masked. Miserable, she watched the ex-PeaceKeeper leave Pilot's chamber. "Frell!" The Nebari turned in frustration to Zhaan, who had watched the exchange. "I shouldn't have said that, Zhaan. Now she's mad at me."
"No, she's not mad, Chiana. She's just afraid to lose John," Zhaan said sadly.
"As are we all, Zhaan," Pilot replied. The two women bowed their heads in agreement.
~~ * ~~ * ~~
Aeryn moved purposefully through Moya's corridors to return to her watch over her Human shipmate. Her mind was in turmoil. She vowed to check out Moya's database as soon as she was relieved of her vigil, but for the first time in several monens, she was starting to feel optimistic. * John will get better,* she vowed to herself. *He has to!* she added, but still shied away from the real reason why his health -- his life -- was so important to her.
She entered John's room, relieved to see that he had not awakened in her absence. She went over and sat down on the side of his bed, checking to see that he was sleeping peacefully. He looked relaxed. His breathing was steady and there was none of the tell-tale flickering of his eyelids that she had come to recognise as a sign that he was dreaming or suffering visions of Scorpius. Aeryn leaned down closer to him, her eyes softening at his vulnerable appearance. With a gentle hand, she lightly traced his brow, down over his nose and strong chin, then along his whiskered jawline. Finally, her fingers lovingly caressed his lips, remembering the few time she had felt them against her own. Unable to resist, Aeryn bent to press her mouth softly against John's.
She gasped in surprise as his warm lips moved under hers, responding to her kiss. Before she could pull away, John's arms came up and wrapped around her, pulling her down on top of him. His tongue slid out to trace along the line of her lips before she let him press into her mouth with a sigh. For a microt, Aeryn relaxed into the intimate kiss with John, then she stiffened and pushed herself up and away from him. She stared down into his laughing blue eyes in confusion.
"Hey!" he said gently, enjoying putting her off-balance.
"Hey, yourself!" she said, letting her annoyance cover for her embarrassment at getting caught kissing him. She glared down at him, but was unable to maintain her anger. Her sapphire eyes softened. "How are you feeling?" she asked, placing her cool hand on his brow. Unconsciously, her thumb caressed his cheek.
"Fuzzy," John replied, closing his eyes, letting his pleasure at her touch flow through him.
"Yeah, I guess you could do with a shave," Aeryn teased, deliberately misunderstanding him. She pulled her hand away, but John caught it and threaded his fingers through hers, reminding her of the time when she had been prepared to leave him to protect Talyn. She closed her eyes at the remembered pain.
John brought her hand to his lips and pressed a tender kiss to her long slender fingers. "Thank you, " he whispered.
"For what?" Aeryn asked, her eyes flying open.
"For keeping Scorpy at bay."
Aeryn's eyes darkened in pain. "It ... it wasn't me, John. Zhaan gave you a sedative ...," she explained quickly.
John closed his eyes. "Zhaan's drugs put me to sleep, Aeryn. But it was you -- your presence -- that kept Scorpius away. I could feel you here with me, and I knew he couldn't get me as long as you were here." He opened his eyes and gazed up at her, his love and trust as clear as the blue of his eyes.
Aeryn's heart wrenched in her breast at his confidence in her. She knew she would do anything to protect this man. But she was desperately afraid that her efforts would not be enough. She felt tears springing into her eyes at the thought that she was unworthy of his trust. Unconsciously, she moved towards him. Then she caught herself with a sharp hiss. She sat up, all business once more. "Zhaan and Chiana think they have come up with a drug that will heal you."
John gazed up at her, disappointed at her withdrawal. Then he sighed. "Anything, Aeryn. I'm willing to try anything." He closed his eyes in resignation.
Aeryn laid her cool hand on his warm brow once more. "Everything will be all right, John. I promise."
~~ * ~~ * ~~
END PART 1a/5: "THE GAME"
PART 1b/5: "THE GAME"
