SCIFI.COM | Farscape: Journey Logs

Despite the intensity of their arguments, I never suspected Crichton and D'Argo might actually try to kill each other. I also never suspected that the strange alien craft we recovered at the Commerce Station, which had been sitting innocuously in Moya's hangar ever since, would try to kill us.

But the craft, which D'Argo had been studying, malfunctioned while Crichton was aboard. The Luxan exploded into a hyper-rage and chased Crichton out of the ship. In the heat of the moment, D'Argo shoved Crichton, who fell backwards and seriously injured his head. Moments later, the ship emitted a devastating electrical shock wave, wounding Moya.

While Jool assessed Crichton's injuries, I assessed Moya's: The wave had knocked out all of her active power conduits; her lights were out; she was deaf and blind to certain areas. Worse still, the alien ship had initiated its automated self-destruct sequence.

Moya's hangar doors were too damaged to open and jettison the smaller craft. Realizing that his hyper-rage had placed us all in this predicament, D'Argo became so frustrated that he threw his Qualta Blade into the depths below my Den. I was startled that he would abandon such a precious artifact, but I appreciated the sentiment, as our situation was extremely vexing. To even begin repairs, I needed the DRDs to rewire much of Moya, but a significant number of the DRDs were damaged and required their own repairs first.

Just about that time, the alien ship's engine-core energy increased rapidly and threatened to overload. D'Argo attempted to shut it down while Jool continued to do all she could for the still-unconscious Crichton, which unfortunately wasn't much, and then broke off to help D'Argo. Chiana, who can be remarkably mature when she must, struggled to repair the DRDs.

Then I discovered that we lacked the time we so desperately needed for this work. The alien ship would explode in less than an arn. I was forced to face the fact that Moya and I would be consumed by the alien ship's explosion, though the others still had time to escape. I instructed Jool to gather everyone and take survival supplies to Tier 16's treblin-side pressure hatchway. If I detached this self-contained section, it could temporarily function as an escape pod.

Then D'Argo's frustration overwhelmed him again, and he shouted an ancient Luxan curse at the alien craft. To his immense surprise and relief, the ship responded. It began speaking back to him in ancient Luxan. Unfortunately, it was not a dialect of the language that D'Argo understood.

At D'Argo's suggestion, I delved into Moya's limited library and accumulated samples of the dead language. I then arranged for the DRDs to create a supplemental Translator Microbe injection containing this new information.

Jool and Chiana, busy elsewhere preparing for the worst, moved Crichton to the hatchway on Tier 16. His condition was deteriorating, and there was nothing we could do. Like Moya and myself, it seemed he was doomed to die.

Against Chiana's advice, Jool risked her own life, as well, by confessing to D'Argo that she, not Crichton, had interfered with his ship. Thankfully, D'Argo did not lash out at her. Instead, he accepted the new Translator Microbes and began working on communicating with the ship. Though the microbes' translation was incomplete, D'Argo understood enough: To stop the explosion, the alien ship required him to prove his heritage by presenting a Luxan artifact — which, in D'Argo's case, meant his Qualta Blade.

Unfortunately, his Qualta Blade was under the dren somewhere in the massive cavern beneath my Den.

He, Chiana and Jool searched frantically. Jool even endured immersion in the reservoir of Hodian trill-bat excretions at the bottom of the cavern. But they could not find the blade.

And, unnoticed by us all during this crisis, Crichton's life functions had ceased.

As regards this aspect of the group's experience, Crichton wishes to interject a comment:

"Meep-meep!"

This sound means nothing to me, but Crichton states that it is the ritual vocalization of an Earth animal totem called a "roadrunner." Why Crichton considers it such an integral part of recent events, I cannot say.