Part 33

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From the warehouse window across the street and down the block, Perkunas gazed through Chiana with a belief strewn across a wasteland. Over Perkunas' shoulder, in the full shadows, Inton prepared a precision pulse rifle with reverent diligence. Perkunas waited, sharing the same respect for the moment as the resistance marksman behind him.

Neither Perkunas nor Inton had any interest in hearing the speech Larran seemed to have brainwashed the poor broken girl into reciting so implicitly. It seemed wrong to speak over the voice, at least for the time being. Larran no doubt had a verbose address to deliver, allowing plenty of time. Any time would suffice. And a possible death at the hands of the throngs packing the street outside was not something to rush to.

So the shot was delayed.

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Resting with his hands behind his head, John whistled and held a distracted stare into the void he was suspended in. Chiana formed variously like himself or a giant vague image of herself, apparently depending on mood. She sighed wearily as he floated through her. John waved nonchalant when he passed through under her giant face. "'ey."

Chiana gaped, her eyes widening. "Yeah" she simply said, drawing back.

"Hm?" John asked.

"Yeah...." Chiana repeated, absorbed in some revelation.

"Hey look" John gestured at a gigantic rabbit hole facing them some distance away. "That a way out?"

"Maybe...." Chiana floated alongside.

"Kinda would be helpful to know where it led to, if it is. Or nutsy's trying to shuffle us off to buffalo."

"Mm- I'mm going to stop him" Chiana appeared to stand.

John sat up, more or less. "Huh? How? Spooky's after the body snatcher. I'm sure she'd tell us when she's ready. Hey, don't you trust her? Didn't you tell me to trust them?"

"Well. I trust them with my own eema" Chiana nodded her agreement with herself.

"All right then!" John put his palms up and out, exasperated.

"Crichton!" Chiana appeared more his size and sort of stomped up to look him face to face. "Larran's got my eema!"

Crichton raised a finger and opened an angry mouth before stopping himself. "Good point" he agreed, scratching his chin. "Got another one. We're stuck here out in the middle of nowhere."

"Not me" Chiana frowned and shook her head. "Gonna go back."

"How?! That rabbit hole could be a long drop to a world of your own, Alice. They've got us stuck here and-"

"-won't be expecting it" Chiana smiled. "Felt how we got here, just gonna feel that way back. I'm used to making myself feel things" she remarked a bit wryly.

"Then what? You'll broker a timeshare? Think it through, Pipmeister. You're probably going to be throwing Spooky for a loop, without her help how are you planning on beating him?"

"Don't have to" Chiana looked aside and nodded with a bright look of genius and madness. "He did that himself. Long time ago. Just doesn't know it yet."

John reached to her when she turned. "Wait!" She turned again, impatiently. "Don't leave me here. Gad just" he cupped the side of her face, more or less.

"Then come with me" she smiled.

"Huh?"

"Yeah" she wrapped her arms around his and he felt them sinking, melding into....something.

---

"Mac, you should see this place!"

"You climb around up there and break your own scrawny legs, Scampi, I'm staying on the stairs" Mac replied, carefully working up damaged stairs. Mac made it up a distance to an area of level ground and walked over the dense grasses to wait for Scampi.

"This place is awesome" Scampi said, tumbling from a perch on a patch of bamboo to land on his back looking up at Mac.

"Hm" Mac stood with his arms folded. Mac turned around to the two locals that had guided them to this place. "Sebacean biodome you say?"

"Yes, from the Sebacean integration, not long after the time of the Sister" the male replied, gesturing to his female companion. "Sheyza saw them leave our area."

Sheyza was preoccupied studying the shiny new jacket she wore and feeling the silken undershirt. The man patted her for her attention. "Yes, that's right" Sheyza looked at them all with wide eyes.

"This is the only way they could have gone."

"Then we go up there?" Mac asked gesturing to stairs leading into the massive wall the biodome sided, just visible for all the overgrowth.

"Oh well" the man scratched behind his ear "you can't."

"Hu!" Scampi scurried up with his mouth a round O and his black eyes brightly astonished. He was held back from trying the get into the other Nebari man's face by Mac's arm.

"Knew there was a catch to it" Mac said, narrowing his eyes on the other man. "Is that what you told all those people I see camped around here?"

"Well yes" the man replied, unphased. "You see, that enters the estate grounds of the Minister of the Urlain sectors. Assuming you could get by the energy barrier, I don't think any of the likes of us would be welcomed uninvited. As I said from the start, I could take you where the Sister was last seen, and you are free to wait where you choose, as long as you choose."

"Then how would she have gotten past an energy barrier?" Mac folded his arms.

The man kept a pleasant face and looked to the ground. "My assumption would be that the barrier was down to allow a search by the guard. The Sister and her servicer had just escaped from their captivity, after all."

Mac unfolded his arms and gestured to the stairs. "Then they could have escaped right back into captivity in there. She could have been subject to cleansing, taken away or simply killed anytime between then and now, right?"

"Word is that she is in there. Beyond that it's just, excuse me, hearsay. I'm not making you promises, only taking you to where I know she was last seen. It is your path from here. One hundred virth?"

"Fifty."

"Fifty per" the man gestured to Scampi with his out held hand.

Mac shook his head to himself and handed the currency to the man. The man walked away counting it. "Why did I let you talk me into this?" Mac complained at Scampi.

"Me?!" Scampi gestured to himself. He patted Mac's chest, and the Fena necklace he knew was underneath the shirt. "We. She was here...."

"Right here...." Mac's voice trailed off in thought, looking around himself.

"Korash" Sheyza grasped his arm while she walked away with him "do you think that unfortunate is still alive?"

"Without question the best thing ever to happen to us, since meeting? It'd be just too bad if she should have met misfortune. It isn't in our hands, Sheyza. But if this kept up for another monen, we could buy the Minister's estate and find out!" he laughed.

Sheyza laughed too. Laughing and holding currency. They'd known so little of either. He clapped his hands and hopped with excitement. He turned to her. "Sheyza, let's go."

"Now?" her face was frozen with glee.

"Yes! Stick with me, I said, we'll go places."

"Actually" she corrected, brushing off his shoulder "you said I'd be going places if I were on my own."

"You could. We'll move into someplace inexpensive for now, way into the inhabited region, get out of these waste areas. Find our way" he looked around "before the enforcers show up. Hey maybe we'll even spot the Sister when it goes over the Minister's fancy hovel" he winked. "We're ready. Let's go." Korash stopped at a ladder that led up to the ramps for commuters to use the transport train station above. He held his arm out.

Sheyza looked up, picturing the dismal, lonely station she'd often watched the transport pass through. Countless times she had imagined it taking her along its line. Leaving the lonely station high above this squalid, officially uninhabited slum, gliding along the clean black rails where they crossed over the buildings ringing the Minister's estate to give a view of the great main garden biodomes. High above the streets, it'd lead her to the inhabited regions, past the factories and facilities and into the bustling hearts of the Metropolise. She had only heard of the throngs of people, great structures, and variety of things to do and see in the more successful areas. For the first time in her life she could ride the transport away to the somewhere else she'd only imagined it went to.

Sheyza took his arm. "Korash...."

Korash pursed his lips, tears in his eyes. He gave her a boost and she climbed the ladder. He climbed up after her. Once on the ramp, they straightened their new clothes. "Just someplace inexpensive" she repeated.

"Sure" he agreed. "Let's go places."

---

Tannac ran to the room that she remembered from the briefing of the known floor plans to lead onto the nearest primary balcony. Storming in with multi-facility pulse rifle at the ready, she was met with an empty room excepting John, or, apparently, Oshana in John, huddled with knees under chin in a corner against the wall. A couple of seats and some other items were scattered around on the floor, suggesting Oshana had withdrawn after a fruitless struggle with Larran.

Her eyes then focused beyond the room to where Chiana, or, apparently, Larran in Chiana, was obviously addressing the crowds. A deep swell of disgust wanted her sweating hand to pull the trigger and blow Larran to bits, even taking all hope of restoring Chiana with him. But after holding back the urges long enough to think twice, it struck her that doing so was even more appalling than what was occurring. She broke the drive to fire the rifle with a shudder and jerk of her shoulder to her ear. "Innngh, fortunate Bursamen's locked away" she muttered, taking swaying steps over the overturned chairs to Oshana.

John's blue eyes snapped open at Tannac's approach, his eyes looking up to her, sorrowful, wide and child-like. Tannac smiled a pat smirk. "Hey pretty, would you mind revealing everything about the situation to a frightening, naked, untrustworthy, disturbed rebel you've never met before? I know it sounds crazy, but really it's wonderfully appropriate for my life."

"You talk like him" Oshana timidly pointed, staring at Tannac's approach. She closed her mouth a moment. "Then talk with him" Oshana decided.

The world seemed to pour around Tannac, liquidly rushing by, or perhaps it was she pouring into the blue eyed gaze. When all was stable again, her senses felt more normal than real. Tannac looked around at the underground tunnel she was now seated in. Circular and rough, the tunnel looked as if it were the hole of a burrowing rodent larger than herself. Here and there, root fibers and rocks stuck out from the dirt. She didn't notice John Crichton seated next to her until he spoke up. "'sup Doc?"

"What....?" Tannac blinked at him a moment before looking down at her restored clothes.

"We're out of our minds. But you knew that, right eh huhu eh huhu" John nudged her with his arm and took a bite of a tapered orange root in his other hand. "It's like a teenage fantasy. One moment I think I'm going somewhere with this awesome girl, next moment I'm stuck down this rabbit hole. I don't know, Tonic, but I think you're either a figment of my imagination, you're the visitor of the week in my head, or we both got stashed in Oshana's cubby."

"Krew" Tannac nodded. "So what does that mean?" she asked.

"The usual" John observed. "Carrot?" he offered her the thing in his hand that he was eating.

"Frell" Tannac rested her chin on her hand. "No. Would you mind telling me what is happening?"

"Right" John agreed. He started looking around. "Where's that flashback button?"

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