In the Bay

Meanwhile, down in the Maintenance bay, a bunch of Pods are...at Chiana's back (and right in front of her)....

Hey, remember, you have several analogs of the same woman here! Same person in a sense, but separated by the virtue of being from different (though similar) realities which are in different phases of the young woman's life, shall we say.

Chiana (aka "Greyscale")

"That's got to be the most fahrbot thing I've ever heard," Rygel the 16th, the toad growls, "The events your talking about happened well over three quarters of a cycle ago AND it happened differently! It was Crichton who got Twinned and...."

"That's enough," D'Argo growls, grabbing the Hynerion bodily from his throne sled and walking back over to where the others had gone off to give the Chianas time to talk amongst themselves. "Didn't you hear the part where Inquirer said that we were from different realities? Where events unfolded differently?!"

"Let go of me you stupid Luxan!" shouts Rygel, objecting to this treatment of his royal Dominar self. One would think he'd have gotten used to such treatment, considering how long he's been running with us...er.....his version of me and the others of Moya!

Hm, I think he might have not been paying attention at that part of the explanation, being that the incidental music kind of was getting on everyone's nerves. It had started up immediately upon the moment I set my boots on this old Leviathan's deck.

Eh, well, everything inside had started up when I had stepped onto the deck anywhere, but that's another story!

After the explanation that the Doctor gave over what was going on here (gotta hand it to that Timelord's power of persuasion, I'm having a hard time swallowing what's been going on and I've been in it since the start), he'd looked at me and my sisters and noticed that I and they needed to be . . . alone for a bit. A little bit of time to . . . you know!. . . . sort things out amongst ourselves. Or rather, between us and our newest sister who'd just landed.

She's got . . . issues that I've got a sinking sensation in my gullet I know what is her issue. In my discussion with Betty and Ragan one thing had come up which had mentioned how broken up inside I was . . . . would have been (well, my TV counterpart, but still) when I would have found out I was "too hot" because of some Commandant having put a BIG bounty on my head (and my mate's from Moya). The movement that Nerri had belong to had pushed me away, fearing the PK attention (and possible interference) my presence within would cause. See, this struggle was a Nebarri affair and we did NOT want outsiders interfering, especially when the outsider has the history it has in eventually taking OVER planetary affairs like the Peace Keepers do!

Finally, with the toad Rygel out of our hair and we all having a semblance of privacy we turn our attention to sibling matters. Namely, we need to find out why the newest Chiana is so . . . standoffish with us, despite the doppleganger thingy having happened here.

"So. . . . what's the matter with you?" Pip asks, hands on hips, looking annoyed at the new Chiana's continuing belligerence.

.....

What in the FRELL is she doing?! If somebody talked to ME in that manner I sure would....

Oh frell. Keep forgetting about this doppleganger stuff. What it means! Pip mouthing off to the newest Chiana is exactly what I would....

Well, surely I would do it in a more diplomatic matter. I mean, what in the yotz will....?

"What's the matter with me?" the newest Chiana shoots back, twitching her head in annoyance. "You want to know what is the mater with me, besides there being more of ME running around than what I'm used to?! Here, let me show you what is the matter is wrong with me!"

She pulls out a wanted beacon from a pouch, slams it down on a nearby table, and activates it! A holographic image of a PK woman appears above it and begins to speak.

I recognize the figure from photographs I saw from several of Betty's DVD Farscape collection. It's Commadant Cleavage (aka Grayza). The image then changes to a full length shot of Crichton, dressed in PK leather. Like all holo-wanted pictures from the PKs, it then shortens to a medium bust shot of John and flashes up facts and figures. The "crime" listing is rather impressive, actually, especially when I read....

Oh frell! He actually destroyed a PK COMMAND CARRIER!? I'd thought that Betty had been KIDDING when she'd said that....! I mean.....

"An unprecedented reward is offered for information leading--" it begins until the newest Chiana presses a control on a small handheld control to the beacon and the images speed forward, showing a full length image of D'Argo, shortening to a medium shot of the same image. The vocal quality does not translate in the fast-forwarding, sounds a dranit in heat, sorta. It then slows down when the new Chiana presses the control again.

"...Dead-or-alive price..." Grayza's voice continues, showing a rather familiar figure. "...of five million currency pledges rests on the Nebari... Chiana, who was last seen... " The image now shows a full-length shot of me (or rather of the newest Chiana, if you want to be technical), shortening to a medium shot. "...of five million currency pledges rests on the Nebari... Chiana, who was last seen..."

"That's like three times the amount for us we heard of back on that one Commerce planet!" Chi blinks, looking over at Pip. "You know, the one where we'd been trying to get . . . information out of that one guy about Jothee!"

"Yeah, the one where we barely avoided getting captured by that bitch Varla," Pip adds, nodding, frost in her voice as she remembers. "She'd really been after Nari on his run for the Opposition but I. . . .we . . . threw her off the trail. Even got to see brother again and offered to join up with the Opposition, but he...."

A look of hurt tells everything.

Oh hezmanna. If this Nari is like just a misnamed analog of my Nerri, then....

....

Damnit, my brother would NEVER do that to me, no matter HOW hot I was!

....

Yeah, with it appearing that I had died it had been him who'd become self destructive. A reverse of what had happened in that one Farscape episode, Taking the Stone, yeah. We're "cut from the same cloth" as the old Earth saying goes, you know. Kinda figures that once the Establishment collapsed due to the combination of my frelling with the Mindclensing treatments and the Company frelling with everything else that Nerri could not throw himself into his work to smother his grief, so instead....

Well, nevermind that!

....

Their Nerri....Nari turned them away?!

....

"You too?" the newest Chiana breaths, staring at Pip and Chi, taken aback and open (for the moment). "That happened to you?"

They nod and share with this hurt sister their tale (which happens on a Merchant planet that was mentioned in passing in that one tale Betty told me about, A Clockwork Nebari) and I see that we are winning her over. Even tell her about me and how they'd met me and the other Champions. Tell her about the doppleganger thing. All done in a shorthand that if I think about it shouldn't make any sense, but so very much does. Takes a lot smaller bit of time than it would have taken if we'd done all the talking in longhand.... I'm just being nice and putting this all in a format you can follow. Don't thank me, just enjoy.

Finally, the newest Chiana (must remember to suggest we switch over to the numbering system) turns to me. Something in her eyes tells me that while my sisters seemed to have guess PART of her story

"You know, don't you?" she asks, seeing something in my eyes.

1. "Yes," I sigh softly. "About the energy rider....about the 'fun' the security forces had with you after confiscating your winnings....about the flashes evolving. Yeah."

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