XOVER: Betrayal - part 5 of 5
Dawn341@AOL.COM
Thu, 11 Jul 2002 18:38:44 EDT
Betrayal - part 5 of 5
For disclaimers and warnings, see part 1.
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Richie woke up feeling much better than he had the night before. He got
up, stretching as he headed for the shower. He still had a small
headache, which kind of surprised him. Surely his immortal healing
should have taken care of that. He frowned as he remembered waking in
the night with his head pounding so bad he couldn't sleep. He'd gotten
up, planning on finding something to dull the pain, but he couldn't
remember anything else. He didn't even remember going back to bed.
He sighed, but figured he must have done so. After all, he woke up in
his own bed, so he must have come back here. Or maybe he'd changed his
mind and just gone back to bed without taking any drugs.
He showered, then changed into clean clothes. His stomach growled,
reminding him that it was time for breakfast, and he walked over to the
door, waving his hand over the opener. Nothing happened. He waved his
hand again, and still the door refused to open.
Richie tapped on his communicator. "Pilot, my door won't open. Is
something broken or am I doing something wrong?"
"I will tell Crichton that you are awake," Pilot responded.
"That didn't answer my question," Richie said. "Why am I locked in?"
"Crichton will explain."
Richie paced around his room, while he waited for the other human to
show up. Why had he been locked up? What was going on? He hurried over
to the door when he heard the sound of footsteps. A moment later,
Crichton and Aeryn came into view.
"What's going on?" Richie demanded. "Why am I locked up?"
"Do you remember last night?" Crichton asked.
Richie sighed. "Yeah, we had dinner then I came down here and went to
bed. What's the big deal?"
"You don't remember anything after that?" Crichton exchanged glances
with Aeryn.
"Well, I remember waking up with a headache, but that's about it." There
was no reason to tell them about not remembering how he got back to bed.
"Do you know who Kristov is?"
"Kristov?" Richie's legs went rubbery and he quickly sat down on his
bed. "How do you know that name?"
"Who is he?" Crichton persisted.
"He *was* this really bad Immortal. He kidnapped me to force a friend of
mine to kill someone. Except he refused to play along."
"Why would you think you were Kristov?"
"Um..." Richie glanced nervously at Aeryn. She didn't know the whole
truth about Immortals and the Game - he'd only told Crichton. How could
he explain this without giving up his biggest secret? "Can we talk about
this in private, John?"
"No. You're going to have to tell both of us. Last night you called
yourself Kristov while you were choking me. You said I had disappointed
you, and you were going to punish me. Before you had a chance to follow
through, Aeryn showed up and helped me out."
"Oh, man," Richie moaned, resting his head in his hands. "I'm sorry,
John. Did I hurt you?"
"No. You also acted strangely at dinner last night. Kept going on about
us having to pay for our crimes."
"Mako. It had to be Mako." Richie shook his head in disbelief. "I don't
remember saying anything like that. I don't remember being Kristov,
either."
"Is this Mako another Immortal?" Aeryn asked. When Richie nodded, she
continued, "Why are you acting like them?"
"Because I took their heads," Richie stated. "I hold their Quickenings.
When I was in Scorpy's chair, I kept flashing back to their memories -
as well as other Immortals who I've killed."
"How do you kill someone who is immortal?" Aeryn asked.
"You chop off their heads," Crichton replied. "That's when you get their
memories, right?"
"Yeah, but I've never heard of anyone being controlled by an Immortal
they'd killed - well, except for a Dark Quickening." Richie jumped to
his feet. "Maybe this is like a Dark Quickening! Maybe I won't recover
from this!" He hurried over to his bag, drew his sword out of it.
Aeryn quickly pulled her pulse pistol. "Drop it, Ryan!"
Richie stopped where he was, then held up a hand in entreaty. "No, I'm
not going to use it. I want John to take it." He flipped it around, and
passed it through the door, hilt first. "If I don't get better... I
can't stand the thought that I might... Just use it if you have to."
"I'm not going to do that!" Crichton stared in horror at the sword.
"What's a Dark Quickening?"
"It's when the Quickening changes the Immortal who receives it. They
become overwhelmed with evil, and set out to hurt anyone they can."
"Well, you're not acting that way - at least not yet."
"Take the sword, anyway. Use it if you have to. Or use D'Argo's. Just
don't let me hurt anyone. Promise me that you won't let me hurt anyone."
When Crichton still didn't take the sword, Aeryn stepped forward and
took it for him. "I promise, Ryan," she said.
"So, now what?" Richie asked, then gasped as his head seemed to explode.
"Richie, what's wrong?" Crichton asked, worry evident in his tone.
"My head," he managed to get out. He fought against the pain, trying to
not give in to it. He could hear the voices in his mind clamoring at
him, trying to break through. Finally, the pain receded, and he crumpled
to his knees.
"Who are you?" Crichton asked.
"Still Richie. I think."
"Good. Maybe this is only temporary," Crichton said, then tapped on his
communicator. "Pilot, could you post a DRD down here to keep an eye on
Richie? Let us know if he does anything strange."
"I'll send one down immediately, Commander."
Richie slowly got to his feet, then went back over and sat down on his
bed. "If I don't get better, promise you'll take my head," he pleaded
with his friend. "I don't want to keep changing into different people."
"I promise," Crichton replied. "For now, how about some breakfast?"
"Sure, why not? I don't have anything else to do."
"I'll bring you a tray as soon as I can. Try to get some rest, Rich."
"Okay." With that, Richie stretched out on the bed.
*****
"Do you believe him?" Aeryn asked as they walked back down the
passageway. "Especially the part about chopping people's heads off?"
"Yes, he told me about that before, but asked me to keep it a secret. He
didn't want everyone to know how he could be killed. He also explained
about how Quickenings were the strength and knowledge of the other
Immortal. So, I guess it makes sense that he'd have their memories."
"And now they're controlling him, just like the neural chip that
Scorpius implanted was controlling you."
"It's not quite the same thing. Scorpy didn't really control me first. I
was just seeing him all over the place. It wasn't until the end that he
took over. And even though the neural chip was removed, he's still
there, but I'm the one in control."
"But there's no neural chip to remove in this case - or maybe there is."
"We have no way of finding out whether there is or not. Maybe Rich just
needs to have some time to recuperate."
"Maybe, but he's going to stay locked up until I'm convinced that he's
all right," Aeryn stated firmly.
"I agree."
*****
When Richie woke up, the first thing his eyes settled on was the new
decoration in his room. He bolted out of bed and stared at the wall -
and the artwork he'd apparently created using the meal he'd been brought
the night before. He remembered setting it aside because he hadn't been
hungry. The tray was still there, but the bowls held just traces of the
same colors on the wall. "Oh, man," he moaned, sinking down to sit on
the floor.
"Want to explain that?"
Richie turned quickly, and saw Crichton standing in the passageway. "I
must have flipped over to Kristov, again. He had this idea that he was a
great artist, but he wasn't. I guess that explains why my head still
hurts. Do you know how long I was doing it?"
"Not too long. About an arn. It was quite a show watching you crush your
food and mix things together before you hand-painted the wall. Then you
collapsed again, clutching your head."
"So, I'm not getting any better."
"I don't know. The episodes are getting further apart. It might just
take a little more time."
"I'm glad you think so. I'm not so sure."
"Think positive, Rich." With that, Crichton walked away.
Feeling the need to do something, Richie got to his feet, and began a
kata. By concentrating on his movements, he could keep from thinking
about the personality switches. He struggled to keep his mind blank, but
then he realized he was going about this all wrong.
He'd never been big on meditation, but maybe that's what he needed here.
After taking a Quickening, he'd found that it helped calm his mind down.
He'd never understood why, but now he had an idea. Maybe the meditation
helped him integrate the dead Immortal's Quickening. Maybe that was what
he needed to do here. Put all those Quickenings and memories back where
they belonged.
He got comfortable on his bed, legs crossed, hands resting on his knees,
then he closed his eyes and concentrated.
*****
"He's been like that for four arns," Pilot stated.
"And he hasn't moved at all?" Crichton asked as he stared at Richie.
"Not at all."
"What is he doing?" Aeryn asked.
"It looks like some kind of yoga or meditation. Maybe we shouldn't
interrupt him. Maybe it's something he has to do."
Four arns later, nothing had changed. Crichton didn't know what to do.
Should he try to do something to bring Richie out of it? Or should he
just let him be? Before he had a chance to decide, he heard Richie take
a deep breath. Looking into the cell, he saw his friend open his eyes.
"You all right, Rich?" Crichton asked.
Richie stretched. "Yeah, I'm great." He smiled at his friend. "My
headache is gone, and I don't think you'll be seeing any other Immortals
showing up."
"How do you know?"
"I locked them back up. As long as I stay out of that Aurora chair, I
should be fine, but don't take my word for it. Keep me locked up until
you're sure."
*****
One week later, they held another feast. This one was totally different
than the last one. And they had another reason to celebrate. Richie had
not had another episode with his personality being switched. Today was
the first day he'd been out of his room since he'd been back.
Crichton looked around the room, glad to see everyone in such good
spirits. The only ones missing were Jool and Crais. Jool would never be
one of them again, and he still didn't trust Crais, so he didn't miss
either of them.
It was good to see Richie being accepted by the rest of Moya's crew. He
had no idea what their future held, but at least they would face it
together.
"Excuse me," Pilot's voice broke into his thoughts. "I hate to
interrupt, but I'm receiving the strangest message."
"What is it, Pilot?" Aeryn asked.
"It's not on any of the normal frequencies. That's why I didn't notice
it before now. I don't know of anyone who uses these frequencies, at all
- except for your module, Commander."
"The message, Pilot," Crichton urged him on.
"It starts out with this - 'Earth calling John Crichton'."
"What?" Crichton jumped to his feet and stared at Pilot's holograph.
"Are you sure, Pilot?" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Richie come
to stand beside him.
"Yes, I am sure."
"Can you track where the signal is coming from?" Richie asked.
"Yes, and I estimate it will take us ten solar days to get there."
"Let's do it!" Richie almost shouted.
"What if it's a trap?" D'Argo asked.
"We have to risk it," Crichton said. "We have to find out for sure."
"But how could we be receiving a signal from Earth?" Richie asked.
"Could we be anywhere close to it?"
"I don't know. Is everyone with us on this?" Crichton asked the rest of
the crew.
When everyone agreed, Crichton said, "Let's go, Pilot. Follow that
signal."
To be continued...