SCIFI.COM | Farscape: Journey Logs

After 10 solar days of indulging Crichton's tedious — and fruitless — wormhole quest, I was startled to find myself almost wishing for the stimulation of a crisis. Still, I would never have wished for what happened next.

Shortly after we passed through an apparently benign electromagnetic cluster, Crichton began insisting he had bled from nonexistent wounds. The crew and I suspected that Crichton's recent lack of sleep was causing him to hallucinate. I even speculated that perhaps his DNA had been damaged during his "twinning" aboard Kaarvok's Leviathan (see "Eat Me"). Regardless, I doubted that the Human's troubles had anything to do with the electromagnetic cluster.

My doubt disappeared abruptly when an energy being from the cluster seized violent possession of my body. The being, called Tallip, was pursuing a young member of its species. The child had slipped aboard Moya and into a member of the crew. Unlike normal members of the species, who enjoyed brief, harmless "sips" of passersby, this child was diseased. It had no intention of relinquishing its hold on a physical body, even if the body's rightful owner died as a result. Tallip was determined to destroy this diseased "energy rider." To do this, it needed to borrow a corporeal body; as the most advanced creature on board, I was its logical choice.

Tallip began hunting for the alien invader discretely, which caused the crew to experience missing time but accomplished little else. Tallip decided to intensify its efforts just as Crichton and the crew arrived in my Den to find me possessed. The being within me was now prepared to "taste" each of them individually — a process that was potentially deadly. And I could certainly testify that it was painful.

Crichton and D'Argo forced Tallip to release me just long enough to confirm Tallip's story, which I did. Tallip then explained that the person possessed might not remember personal details. If, using this clue, the crew could find the rider on its own, everyone could be spared the dangerous "tasting" process.

I wasn't surprised to hear later that the search did not go smoothly. Jool suspected Crichton, since he had shown symptoms first. D'Argo and Crichton suspected Chiana until she grudgingly revealed her brother's name. Chiana announced that Jool was possessed when Jool's personal history didn't mesh with what she'd told us before.

Tallip, impatient, tasted Jool. The process nearly killed the young Interion, and yielded inconclusive results.

Communicating through a DRD, an increasingly desperate Moya led Crichton and Chiana to the Starburst Primary Reaction Chamber below the Neural Cluster. There, she had them initiate a miniature flash of Starburst. In the residual energy, Crichton glimpsed the rider possessing Chiana.

The exposed rider begged for help, insisting that Tallip was the cruel one, not it. Crichton wasn't sure whether to believe this rider or not. Nonetheless, he and D'Argo offered Tallip a compromise: If Tallip returned to the cluster, they would reveal where the rider was hiding. Tallip, who was becoming dangerously comfortable in my body, rejected this idea and tasted D'Argo instead.

Meanwhile, Jool hunted down Chiana and betrayed her to Tallip. The rider in Chiana fought viciously, attacking both Jool and Crichton before Tallip finally killed it.

Chiana was free, but our problems were far from over. Impressed with my mind and body, Tallip now refused to leave — ever.