"Picture If You Will" One might think the crew would hesitate to let Chiana shop, after her recent purchase of an overabundance of crackers, but she and Rygel insisted upon visiting Kyvan's commerce ship. Still, despite what Aeryn might say, I lean toward blaming Rygel for visiting Kyvan. Perhaps that is unfair of me. But the events were quite upsetting, and it is useful to have someone to blame. Aboard the commerce ship, Chiana was given a portrait as a gift. Her own face appeared in it, beside a rendering of a necklace she'd lost. I had assigned a DRD to locate that necklace and, perhaps coincidentally, it found it the moment Chiana returned to Moya with the portrait. That coincidence, however, became a bad omen when the portrait altered itself to show Chiana breaking her leg. Seconds later, she tripped over a DRD and the image proved itself to be prescient. I found myself agreeing with D'Argo and the crew when they suggested destroying the thing before it caused Chiana further harm, but Chiana impetuously insisted upon watching it to see what would happen next. Crichton asked Zhaan to analyze a section of the portrait, in an effort to see what might have given it these strange properties. What Zhaan's analysis told her, we were not sure, but she became very frightened and told me and certain members of the crew that she might have to call upon us to do "exactly as she said," without question, at some point. I will confess to being frightened when Zhaan said that, but I trusted her enough to comply. The next change in the portrait was truly terrifying; it showed Chiana consumed by fire. Poor Chiana, convinced the image would again come true, begged to be locked in the freezer, where she was sure she could not burn. Not having a better suggestion, the crew asked me and Moya to allow this. I made certain that there was clean oxygen directed to the freezer, and I raised the temperature just enough that Chiana would not die from the cold. But while doing so, something ... happened. Flames shot up inside the freezer. Chiana shouted for help, but I could not get Moya to open the hatch and free Chiana. With the freezer door stuck between them, the crew watched Chiana scream and burn. Unable to find the malfunction, there was nothing I could do to save her. When we finally did get the hatch open, Chiana was gone — and the painting had already selected its next victim.... Chris Haywood  . . . . . .  Maldis & Kyvan Writer  . . . . . .  Peter Neale Director  . . . . . .  Andrew Prowse << Previous Log Next Log >>