Part 50

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Chiana gazed out from the terrace fronting the operations and office rooms of the abandoned warehouse. The view from the terrace stretched many miles, far across from the higher plateau of the once active space landing trade area called the Urlain Sector, to the tall structures crowding the currently more inhabited sectors. To her eyes, the velvet black and lime colored lights of the skyscrapers against the dead black skies resembled vertical metal strips, standing on an unseen deep foundation and reaching great lengths until they were broken off at the upper ends.

It didn't bear any resemblance to the Nebari styles she'd known, which struck her as both a relief and strangely sad. She sighed and rested her forearms on the terrace railing. The deteriorated railing broke, falling a story onto the walkway below. Fortunately, there was no one down there, and probably rarely was anymore.

Looking beside her, she saw that Sikozu had finished donning the fancy clothes Chiana had traded hers for. "Still not you" Chiana remarked.

"I don't know what is" Sikozu hoarsely whispered and tossed her head defiantly. The Kalish looked out at the same view. Her badly bloodshot eyes sank down in thought. Chiana thought she suddenly looked near to tears.

Chiana looked aside at Sikozu with a slight grin. "It's not so bad, there's great things in finding out."

Sikozu looked up for stars, but there was only an artificial satellite in view. "I could not express what it meant to find you."

"But you don't know....?"

"Why, or what I thought of you, or if we were allies or adversaries, or what to do now that I have found you" Sikozu completed the thought. "All I had after waking was a vague memory of escaping capture and a data chip."

"We" Chiana paced a few feet "we escaped capture too, maybe we were together at some time, I don't know. What was on the, that data chip? Do you know?"

Sikozu let out a raw exhale. "All the chip contained were some images of some people I could not remember, and a part-Scarran man speaking to Sikozu Shanu, who I assumed to be me, warning of a PeaceKeeper leading a Scarran squad after John Crichton and Chiana, and that I was to prevent them."

"Didn't know who you were? Frell."

"No. I didn't know who John Crichton and Chiana were either, but I eventually learned of the myths and the rumors of your being seen here at the Minister's Estate and exploited them. There are allot of Fenas among those in and out of incarceration."

"Yeah, wish we knew much more than that" Chiana whispered. "What happened to that chip?"

"Nebari took the chip soon after I had woken, when I unknowingly infracted their ridiculous laws" Sikozu tossed her head back and tried untangling her hair.

"Stole transport?" Chiana smirked. Sikozu looked down at her with wide eyes. "Yup" Chiana nodded. Her smile faded. "They torture you?"

"Yes" Sikozu replied, plainly. "For over a cycle. That doesn't matter now. What matters is that, finally, I have succeeded in what I know I was intended to do. There is no obvious purpose for me now" she whispered, her throat catching.

"Purpose? You are" Chiana answered, smiling and looking over the view again. "You'll find your own."

Sikozu clasped Chiana's hand, forearm to forearm, and pressed her forehead to Chiana's for a moment. Sikozu walked to the empty doorway back into the offices and stopped. "There must be something I can do for the moment."

"Don't speak, just eat, drink, rest, and recover before you finally collapse in ruin?" Chiana proposed.

"I cannot sleep, I cannot eat, I do not want to rest, I need something to do" she replied, nearly trembling with frustration.

Chiana swallowed hard. She too couldn't seem to let herself relax. It was all too fresh. "Mend the split in the seat of those flashy pants?" Chiana suggested.

Sikozu felt the back of the pants and groaned. "Fine, I'll sew. That should be exciting."

"There's enough males" Chiana teased. "Any of them I'm not busy with you're welcome to-"

"-No not that" Sikozu irritably replied. She kept facing away from Chiana. "I don't think we were friends."

"No we weren't" Chiana agreed. "We are now."

Sikozu turned. Chiana turned her head. Sikozu smiled, seemingly an unfamiliar expression to her, although it was sincere. Her head bowed slightly. "Thank you" she said, leaving the doorway.

Chiana caught her at the doorway out of the offices and stood in the way to the side. "M-maybe we're better than we were" she suggested.

Sikozu's plain look said that she had been thinking anything but that. Her neon colored eyes seemed to light in thought and she smiled a broad, goofy smile for a microt before continuing with more verve than she'd had coming up. Chiana watched her walk along the landing then down the metal stairs to the warehouse below, where everyone else except herself and John were.

Chiana stepped back into the offices. "Don't trust her?" she asked into the darkness.

"Guess not" John admitted, walking out onto the terrace. Chiana joined him. "An old proverb, keep your friends close and your enemies closer, kept popping into my head."

"Maybe she's the kind that'll come through in the end" Chiana suggested.

"Maybe" John considered. "We'll see, Chi. But!" he poked her remarkably hard rear. "Speaking of butts, I'm glad you swapped clothes. The red, white and green kinda goes for her, she sort of looks like she'd pass out coupons at some upscale fashion store's Christmas spectacular. All she needs is a fake brass trumpet and elf ears. Besides, I'd rather see your gray backside" he slid his hand along her rear and under the pants.

Chiana slid in front of him. "Really? Well, there isn't much more arse back there than she had on hers."

"Didn't say there was more" John patted her hip and slid his hands down to an upper thigh. "Don't knock yourselves. Maybe there isn't as much beef, but there's more room around here" he slowly slid his hand up to her crotch.

"Trying to be flattering?" she asked, sliding her hips back and forth on his hand.

"Give a dude some credit" he kidded "besides, it's true. Comfortable fit for three fingers."

"No problem" she pertly replied, her hips taking on a figure-eight rotation "the whole way."

"Yeah but there's five fingers" he whispered in her ear as he slid his finger tips around her amazingly reflexive clitoris.

"Might have to work on that" Chiana smirked. Electric pillows seemed to coddle her sex as he lovingly caressed all around her crotch. With each rocking, his fingertips played deeper, finally sliding inside, leaving trails of a delayed fiery sensation as he slid three of his fingertips around the inside, tugging apart as he went. Jolts of cresting pleasure threatened to raise her to climax at any instant, but she held back, focusing on the anxiousness he was releasing with his fingers.

"Damn forgot what I was going to think" he whispered to himself as she rolled her head back and moaned. "I mean say" he corrected himself, sliding his three fingers deeper inside and his other hand onto her firm abs to hold her as her hips began to reflexively buck.

Just as the sensations were raising to an ecstasy with edges of pain, his efforts deepened. A gasping holler started, rocking to a choked scream. His eyes closed as he tuned into the lusty sensitivity of the being in his hands and against him and felt his other anxieties bleed out. Finally a loud, strained exhale sounded from her as she shuddered in her release. He drew his fingers from her, but was only aware of the stress, the hurt, and the wounds, the many things that felt mutually experienced and now pronounced over.

Snapping out of a dizzy spell against her back, he realized how exhausted and possibly delirious he was. "Pip, I gotta go, um, get some shut eye."

"What?" she breathed. "M-m-m but we...."

"Reeeeest" he emphasized, patting her sweaty bare rear. He almost wavered again, but turned away. "Going to get rest. When I wake up, I hope I'm back working at the IASA, only, with you as my riding partner, yee haw!" he slapped his hand on her rear. "Night, Pip."

John turned to walk from the terrace, but Chiana slid her hand under the shirt of his new-old borrowed clothes. "Just gonna start me and leave?"

"Yeah. I mean, later" he assured her "we'll....save it for later."

"Aw you've slept arns already" Chiana protested huskily into his ear "how long you expect me to wait?"

"Until I feel less like a zombie, come on Pip, gimme some slack huh? You can-"

"I have it!" Mish burst into the offices and hurried onto the terrace. "The Bannik, Kastara, he got it from the Estate, he had it" Mish breathlessly explained "but at first the ancient thing couldn't be read, then it went into algorithms, but I found a key pattern simulating fading and got it to read all recoverable data!"

Chiana gaped at him and blinked for a moment. "You're right, maybe sleep's a good idea...." she said as she shifted from one foot to another and then started off with John.

"Huh?" Mish scrambled to intercept them at the door. "Drieth Transcription! The, the excerpts from the lost Aurora Extractions!" Mish then sank a bit. "Oh you two know all this yeah...." he muttered, walking out of the room.

Chiana and John looked at each other.

"Aurora?" John muttered.

"Extrac- ....sound, sounds familiar" Chiana seconded.

Both Chiana and John snapped into action, ushering Mish back in. "Now now now, hang on" John began. "Okay, we've heard about these Dryer and Brendel Transcriptions from Oshana."

"Drieth and Brenl Transcriptions you mean?" Mish corrected.

"Yeah yeah those, one is gibberish and the other is supposed to have the only visual evidence of what Pip and I are supposed to look like. Fenas and rebels everywhere want them, but they're lost. What's this other?"

"They're not lost. I think Perkunas knows where the Brenl Transcription is being kept and Larran had the Drieth Transcription. Well he claimed he did, but Kastara actually found it and saved it, and here it is!" Mish held up a small, discolored data chip.

"Which one is this, the Polaroid or....?"

"When people had tried to read this one, they couldn't make any sense of it" Mish explained.

"Why, it's gibberish?"

"That's because it's from you" Mish explained. His eyes flew wide. "I-I mean-!"

Chiana laughed, her eyes roaming up and down Mish, frankly finding him cute. John covered her mouth. "Yeah yeah, so it's notes to self or what?"

"Nobody knows that" Mish shook his head "but it is the text or verbal based excerpts, where the Brenl Transcription is visual excerpts."

"From the Aurora thing" John looked twice, seeing Chiana's pants were where he'd left them, too far down. He quickly tugged them up, but she started batting his hands, thinking he was going to get handsy while she was busy listening. "Oh so uh what was that?"

"Aurora Extractions, fek, nobody knows what they were, now, except they were actual records made first hand from the Sister or someone involved personally, and that they were taken from the Sister's dying hand. About the whole universal order, or something profound. Some people got illegal access to them from time to time and tried getting information from them. In the purges, the frelling Establishment destroyed them to prevent future spread of dangerous ideas, like the truth. But two of the attempts to read from the originals were saved. This is one! So krew" he nearly cooed.

"Oookay I'm near to epilepsy here" John said, for more reasons than one "but don't tell me, it's actually just a bunch of computer farts?"

"Somebody must have gotten something from it" Mish supposed "because it's been fought over for centuries."

"Let me see then" John took the data pad. He kept his eyes closed for a moment, then, braced, opened his eyes. His eyes widened and his brow rose. "It's gibberish."

Chiana let out a breath and her head sank.

"But it's English gibberish" he added, pointing at it with a finger. "Nobody would know this. But us" he looked at Chiana, whose eyes widened looking back at his.

"You can't read any of it?" Chiana asked, taking a deep swallow.

"Not so far....somehow it's from me, maybe I did some kind of code. Which is smart, real smart, 'cause I lost the frickin key. Or maybe it's mixed up but there may be some kind of pattern?"

Chiana breathed heavily and scratched the back of her head. "Maybe you'll remember something, it'll come to you, yeah. Sex."

"What?" both guys nervously asked.

"Sex" she nodded agreement with herself. "Lots of sex. Help your mind. Clear your thoughts. Yeah."

"No....no no Pip, what this old man needs is some shut eye and good old recuperation. Mish" he handed the pad back to him "I could use one of these mobile PCs and some copies. Make sure you make a crap load of complete copies, and keep this original safe. I think it's up to Chiana and I to figure this thing out, if anyone's ever going to." He rubbed his temple with one hand and tugged Chiana's pants further down in back with his other hand. "Okay beat it, you two, I'm gonna find a place to call my pad and make like Rip Van Winkle."

John sleepily smiled, watching Chiana's bare rear as she talked with Mish on the landing outside of the office. After a few moments, she came back in and walked with John back onto the terrace. John heard a sound like someone falling over on the landing and looked back to see Mish getting up in a daze. "Thud" John said to himself.

"Hey I'll get you some blankets, they found some" Chiana offered. "We can lay out here for now."

"Sounds sweet" John resisted the urge to put his hand on her rear and forced himself to sit down.

After a few moments, Chiana bent over and put her face up near his. "You alseep?"

"Uuh" John guessed "not yet. Hopefully soon, hopefully soon. I ever tell you that you smell like mountain air?"

"No....that good?" she sniffed his neck.

"You bet" John winked. "Just gonna stand there?"

"Can't relax" she admitted, standing up beside him and looking out over the view.

"Might want to try, Pip, I have a feeling time is gonna be its usual big factor. Well, have you figured anything real short term then? Like....where do we go from here?"

"Not very clear on it" Chiana softly replied. She heard him snore and looked down at him for a moment. Then she looked back over the view of Metropolise Nirthrian Prime. They'd both been damaged goods, as he'd put it, probably half tinked by now, she thought with a twitch on one side of her lips. But now she found herself feeling tested and confident. In the face of anything and everything, she felt as if she could smile without a qualifying smirk or the edge of loneliness.

The soft, distant din of the city was numbing. Chiana began chanting to herself, her mind turning to recalling what one of the weird creatures in John's mind had sung in a strange rhyme. A creature with her face.

"Twas a Bra-ca and an Aeryn Sun
Did a guile with Scor-py out the way
All a Nim-seek wore a quarter robe
And the nome raths pass a Grrray-za"

"Whafth?" John groggily said.

"Nothing, keep snoring like a Hynerian with crelets" she affectionately told him.

"You were good, Pip" he half mumbled. "Really, you were. I'd be lost without you."

"Me too" she teased. "Love you."

"Didn't forget" he slurred. A moment later he snored.

She had to smile. Smiling almost felt new. Despite all of the wear and exhaustion, in some senses, she felt renewed.

Chiana smiled over the city and let her thoughts go free.

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The End