"Having fun yet, Marguerite?" Roxton glanced in her direction, unable to hide the worry he felt for her in his eyes. Marguerite stubbornly kept quiet, though her eyes told him she was sorry, as well as relieved, that he had at least returned to the land of the conscious. While appreciative of the sentiment, he couldn't resist pointing out their current predicament was her fault. "As I recall it, you said, and I quote 'What could be worse than Raptors, T-Rexes, ape-men or lizard men? Let's go and explore this strange world and have some fun.' End quote."

"So I was wrong. But I don't seem to remember having to twist your arm to come with me on this trip."

Roxton turned his head away. "I admit I wanted to explore as well. But we should've asked Chiana what we could do and what to avoid." He looked back at her. "So, what happened after they knocked me unconscious?"

"They brought us here, chained us up and left us alone."

"They didn't say anything? Tell us what we did wrong, what they plan on doing with us?"

Marguerite shook her head. "No, they haven't said a word at any moment."

Roxton glanced down at himself. "Damn, they grabbed my communication pin." He looked at her. "And yours too. We might have warned the others, assuming we could have activated one of them."

Marguerite smiled coyly at him. "I still have mine. I managed to pin it inside my blouse while they were busy with you. You'll have to activate it though."

Roxton looked at Marguerite's blouse which appeared to be opened up further than normal. He still couldn't see the communication pin. "Where exactly, did you put it then?"

"I attached it to my camisole."

The matter-of-fact tone and the widening smile told Roxton that she was apparently looking forward to his attempt at activating the device. "A little more specific, perhaps?" Now he was looking forward to it as well.

"Left breast, just above my nipple." She smiled again. "Specific enough?"

Roxton just nodded and moved closer to her.

Marguerite started to giggle when her body was pressed up against his. "I should have pinned it a lot lower. That might have been easier for you."

Roxton shook his head and grinned. "I think this will be more fun." He tried to get as low as possible and dipped his head in the direction of her breasts. He smiled when he noticed Marguerite tried to get up as high as possible, causing his nose to end up between her breasts at the right height. Turning his head in the right direction he moved her blouse out of the way to finally come in contact with the device.

Roxton pressed his nose against the communication pin, eliciting a small moaning gasp from Marguerite, as it pressed firmly against her breast. "Uh, hello? Can anyone hear me?"

"Lord Roxton? Is something wrong with you and Miss Krux?"

"Uh, yes, Pilot. We have been captured and are locked up someplace."

"Hold on, I'll alert the others."

Roxton looked up at Marguerite who was looking intently at him, her eyes dark. Before either could say anything, another voice erupted from the pin.

"Congratulations! You got captured even faster than I ever was!"

Crichton was interrupted by his wife. "John, stop that. This is serious."

Crichton cleared his throat. "Alright, you two. What did you do and who got angry?"

Before Roxton could get a word out, Marguerite was already talking. "We weren't doing anything. These... people just came out, knocked Roxton unconscious and dragged us to... well, wherever we are at the moment."

There was a short pause before Crichton replied. "Well, Miss Indiana Jones, people are rarely captured without a reason, and usually the reason is you did something to piss off the locals. Or you have something they want." The last sentence almost came out as an afterthought.

"Well, whatever the reason, we'd appreciate if you could come and get us out."

"Don't worry, lady, the cavalry will be there shortly. We'll get ya out in no time." Again a short pause followed. "Where's Pip?"

"Still at the marketplace, probably. We sort of left to explore on our own."

Roxton and Marguerite heard Aeryn's muttering. "Frelling human habit!" It was followed by Crichton's request to his wife. "Aer, honey, could you go down there, get Pip and spring these two free?"

Finally Crichton addressed the two of them. "Alright, Aeryn and Pip will come rescue you. We've used your comms to locate you, so we should be there in less than a quarter-arn. That's about fifteen minutes. Just hang in there."

The communication device deactivated and Roxton looked back up at Marguerite. "Crichton did have a point. There must be a reason we were captured."

Marguerite shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"Chiana?"

The Nebari absentmindedly palmed her comms. "Yeah, whadda ya want, Aer?"

"I'm coming up on the space port now. Could you come there?"

"Why?"

Aeryn's sigh came over the comms. "To find out how to get these frelling humans out of prison."

Chiana whipped her head around to locate her companions, not seeing them at all. "Frell! I didn't even know they were gone!" She turned around and walked in the direction of the spaceport. "What the frell happened?"

"We're not sure. They left to explore on their own and they were captured. Neither of the two knows why."

"Well, there's gotta be a reason. Maybe... maybe it's because they look Sebacean?" She paused as she moved in between two streams of pedestrians. "Nah, there are enough Sebaceans here."

"We will find out when we go to where they are. I'm landing now."

"I'll be there in less than a hundred microts."

"I have not stolen anything!"

"I'm sorry, Marguerite, but in the past your... love for precious items has gotten us in trouble before."

"I know. But I didn't steal anything this time. There must be something else."

"Yeah, but what could it be? We were just walking and looking around. We haven't spoken to anyone, nor touched anything."

Veronica and Ned ran onto Command. Veronica looked around at the others before turning to John. "What happened?"

John shrugged. "Your friends have managed to get captured for no reason, and they've done so way sooner than I ever have."

"Captured? By whom?"

John turned to Challenger. "We're not sure. Most likely some law enforcement body, but one thing I've learned around here, is that you can never be sure of that." He turned to address the entire group again. "Anyway, the missus has gone down to see if she and Pip can straighten this all out and spring your buddies free."

"Wait, Gray wasn't captured?"

John turned to Finn. "Nope, because apparently your friends got bored and decided to stroll around by themselves."

"And she didn't notice them missing?"

John's expression grew more worried. "That bothers me, too."

Aeryn waited impatiently for Chiana to show up. The hundred microts Chiana said it would take to get to her had passed. Twice. Aeryn sighed out of frustration. "What's taking her so long?" Another hundred microts passed and still no sign of the Nebari. Aeryn palmed her comms. "Chiana! Get the frell over here, now!" There came no response. "Chiana?" Still nothing. "Pilot, can you locate Chiana? She doesn't respond to her comms."

"Certainly, Officer Sun."

Aeryn began walking in the direction of the spaceport offices, her impatience and worry for Chiana, growing by the microt.

"Her comms signal is coming from less than a hundred motras away."

"Which direction, Pilot?"

"At your Hammond side."

Aeryn turned in the direction. "Thank you, Pilot." She started to jog to where Chiana's comms signal was coming from. Arriving at the spot she didn't see any sign of her. She searched the area thoroughly and finally came upon the abandoned comms. "Frell," she muttered as she picked it up and activated her own comms. "John, I've found Chiana's comms badge, but she's not here. I think we may have a problem."

"Just our usual luck, I s'pose."

Aeryn nodded and gave a small smile. She was about to answer when she heard something behind her. She drew her pistol mid-turn and fired as she saw a weapon leveled at her. After that there was only blackness.

"Aer? You there?" Crichton began pacing Command. "Aeryn! Is everything alright down there?" When still no reply came, John stopped pacing. "Fuck!" He turned to the others and noticed their worried looks. "Seems like your friends just got caught in the crossfire between whoever's down there and yours truly."

He started pacing again and wondered how this mess could be resolved. He couldn't really go down there, could he? Leaving little D without both parents wasn't an option. So the others would need to go down. But none of them knew how to fly the pods. "Pilot, can Moya pilot a transport pod?"

"Yes, Commander, but not all the way to the planet's surface; its atmosphere filters out a Leviathan's natural communication channels."

"Damn! Sorry, Pilot, wasn't meant for you or Moya."

"Moya and I understand, Commander. Moya does have a suggestion."

"Yeah? What's that, Pilot?"

"You could fly the others to the surface and return immediately. That way, your offspring won't be left alone for much longer than a few hundred microts. The DRDs will watch over him during that period, of course."

"I dunno, Pilot. I'm not sure if I should leave these guys and gals alone on an unknown planet."

"We can take care of ourselves, Crichton." Ned interrupted. "We've been doing that for three years in a hostile environment and we're still alive."

John sighed. "Very well. We'll leave in five minutes. Pilot, please prepare a transport pod."

"Already done, Commander. Transport pod in bay two is ready."

"Alright, people. Let's go."

"I get the feeling it's not about us. Or not just about us." Roxton nodded his head in the direction of the only door.

Marguerite turned around to look at what John saw. Near the door, a struggling Chiana was being chained up. Eventually their captors succeeded in restraining her and one of them pushed a button on a device at his wrist. Immediately Chiana's verbal protests could be heard while she was being pushed towards them.

It took them almost two minutes to secure the still-struggling girl. The captors seemed totally unfazed by the continuous string of curses being thrown their way. Finally their captors left again, without having uttered so much as a syllable. The sound of their departing steps was cut off once again at the push of a button. Marguerite assumed some invisible wall was between them and the door.

Marguerite turned to see Chiana watching their captors leave. She turned to them with a graceful, birdlike motion and smirked. "Welcome to the Uncharted Territories."

"Okay, party-people, everyone got their stuff and ready to leave?" John looked at the assembled group and began having doubts again about leaving them on a planet that obviously harbored some as-yet-unknown enemy. He was reassured by the group, Challenger especially.

"We have all the weapons we could possibly need. Both our own earth rifles and weapons, as well as these pulse pistols. As long as our friends are in the same location, we should be able to get there and, as you say, spring them. We've done things like that before."

John nodded and turned in his seat. "Alright, ladies and gentleman, this is your captain speaking. Please fasten your seatbelts and put your seats in the upright position. Do not smoke until the 'no smoking' sign is off. We hope you'll have a pleasant flight." He piloted the pod towards the planet, trying not to worry about the many ways Aeryn might try to kill him if she found out he left little D alone aboard Moya.

"Frell me! They got Aeryn!" Chiana had been keeping an eye on the door the whole time the two humans told her what happened to them after they left her, for which they apologized. Nothing to give any indication why they were captured, though she agreed with Roxton's assumption it probably wasn't about the humans.

Aeryn had to go through the same process of being chained up, brought into the other section of the room and being secured to the wall. Chiana thought their captors didn't know by half how fortunate they were that Aeryn was unconscious at the moment. If they thought that she, Chiana, had been difficult to secure, Aeryn would've given the word difficulty a whole new meaning.

Like before, the captors walked out of the room without making any sound, except for their footsteps on the hard metallic floor.

Chiana turned back to Aeryn, nudging her. "Aeryn?" She gave up after a several more unsuccessful attempts to rouse the Sebacean.

"It took over fifteen minutes, uhm, a quarter-arn, before Roxton came to."

Chiana turned to Marguerite and acknowledged her comment. "Yeah, we'll just hafta wait."

"Alright, people, we've landed. Get your gear and head for the exit. I wanna go back to my kid as soon as..." John turned his seat back to the front, a frown forming on his face as he looked at the navigation console. "Damn it!" He started pushing some buttons but soon it became clear the transport pod had been deactivated. From the outside.

He sighed and turned back to the others. "Looks like I'll be joining you, after all." He palmed his comms. "Pilot, the transport pod's been deactivated by someone on the outside. I can't get back. Keep an eye on little D and get the frell out if someone comes towards you guys, okay?"

"Certainly, Commander."

John took out Winona and checked the chakkan oil cartridge. Luckily, it had a nearly-complete charge. He slammed the cartridge back in place and holstered the pistol. "Let's get this show on the road, shall we?"

"Just frelling wonderful." Aeryn had assessed their current situation and had quickly come to the realization they were properly secured. She turned to Chiana. "Chi, did you recognize the species?"

Chiana shook her head. "No. They kinda looked like Scarrans, but they're bigger."

"They looked like a hybrid between Raptors and T-Rexes, if you ask me."

Aeryn and Chiana looked at Marguerite for clarification.

"Two different species of dinosaurs." Marguerite paused and frowned. "I remember Crichton saying we killed a Scarran forefather after we killed a Raptor."

Chiana shook her head admiringly. "You really have been living dangerously all this time, haven't ya?"

Marguerite smiled. "It wasn't that dangerous. Most of the time. Besides, Raptors and T-Rexes aren't that smart. Now, ape-men and lizard men, those were far more dangerous, but usually they stayed in their own territory."

Aeryn decided to stop the nonsense. "So, did they say anything? Why we're being held, what they want? Do we know how many guards are placed outside, how many soldiers?"

Roxton raised his eyebrow and looked at Chiana. "Damn, is she always like that?"

Chiana nodded vigorously. "Yeah, especially when she's tied up." She paused, a mischievous smile forming. "Unless she's alone with Crichton."

Aeryn sighed and decided to ignore Chiana's last comment. Would she never live down that incident in the maintenance bay? "Well, excuse me for being practical in a situation like this. Now, does anyone have an answer?"

Chiana turned back, the smile still in place. One look at Aeryn's glare was enough to make the smile disappear again. "No, they haven't said a thing. There were four of them bringing me here, and three for you." Chiana noticed the unbelieving look on Aeryn's face and shrugged. "You were unconscious when they brought you here. I wasn't and was making things difficult for them." She shrugged again. "Anyway, I think the three who came with you were different from the ones who chained me up."

Aeryn sighed again. "Just frelling wonderful."

"He has arrived."

"Have we disabled his transportation?"

"Yes, he cannot leave. He should be easy to capture."

"Do not underestimate him. By now he and his new companions will be aware of what is going on. They will resist captivity."

John peered around a corner to ensure the coast was clear and then turned back to his companions. "Keep your eyes and ears open. We wanna get to our friends, but it'd be best if we got there on our own." He moved around the corner to the end of the street, trusting his companions would do the same. He peered around the next corner, straight into a weapon he didn't recognize. He didn't get more time to take a closer inspection.
"Here they come again." Roxton nodded towards the door.

They all watched three of their captors enter the other half of the room, but nobody came with them. The invisible wall was apparently opened again, as the sound of their footsteps could suddenly be heard.

Aeryn decided they needed some more information. "Who the frell are you and why did you capture us?"

One of the captors, a male, came in her direction. "Ah, the notorious Officer Sun."

"Sun-Crichton and I'm no longer a Peacekeeper."

The captor acknowledged her with a nod. "Very well. So, the rumors are true then. You've taken the alien known as Crichton as your mate. Tell me, is it true you now carry his offspring as well?"

"No, I'm not." Aeryn wasn't compelled to inform him the baby had been born already.

The lead captor now shook his head. "You should not lie to me. I respond badly to people lying to me."

"I'm not lying. Surely you can scan to see if I'm indeed carrying a child."

The lead captor contemplated that for just a microt. "Very well. I'll humor you." He signaled to one of his cohorts.

She came forward with a device in her hand and began scanning the area around Aeryn's abdomen. She turned to the male. "She's telling the truth. She's not carrying any offspring. The scanner shows she hasn't in at least the past three monens."

'Hah, they don't know about geometric pregnancies either.' Aeryn looked at the male. "See, no lying."

The male captor bowed lightly. "My apologies. Intel told us you were carrying offspring, and that was less than a monen ago. Obviously, our intel was wrong." He turned away from her and started pacing in front of the group. "It seems that despite our careful planning, your mate was still able to elude captivity." He turned to the two Humans. "Though he will undoubtedly admit he wouldn't have without the help of your friends."

'John, if we survive this, I'm going to frelling kill you for leaving our son alone. Slowly and painfully.' Aeryn was careful to not show her anger towards John to her captor. It would only lead to more questions. She plastered a smile on her face instead, hoping it would either reach her eyes or their captors wouldn't notice its falsity.

The male seemed oblivious and just continued. "We've been trying to locate him for nearly half an arn, but we still can't find him or your friends. But it doesn't matter. Perhaps we won't even need him. While you were here, we checked your DNA." He pointed in the direction of the two Humans. "Much to our surprise, you are of the same species as Crichton. We were assuming he was the only one of his species in this region, but now, it seems, we have a choice." He turned to Marguerite. "I've always preferred working with females."

"You stay the hell away from her!" Roxton struggled in his chains, attempting to keep this alien away from his love. He got struck in the face, hard.

"John!"

The lead captor looked curiously from Roxton to Marguerite. "Ah, you're mates. This can be helpful." He turned to Roxton. "Don't worry. I'll treat your mate like I do all females. You'll be able to view my administrations through the transparent partition."

At the same time a soft thud could be heard from the direction of the partition.

Earlier outside the building

"Thanks, guys."

Veronica shook her head. "I can't believe you survived this long if you can't even notice shadows on the ground."

John smirked. "You met Aeryn, right?"

Veronica sighed. "Great. From now on, we'll take lead. We seem to be much better prepared for this."

John shrugged. "Be my guest."

Challenger tapped him on the shoulder. "What did you do on the occasions your wife couldn't be there?"

"Depended on big D to cover my ass."

"I'll gladly take that duty," Finn responded, her eyes having again strayed to that area.

John turned to her, raising an eyebrow. "You met Aeryn, right?"

"Guys, maybe we could just find the others, now?" Ned interrupted. "Veronica's already waiting for us at the other end of this alley." Without waiting for a reply, he walked towards her.

The others followed him, quietly.

Veronica motioned ahead of them. "That's the building where our friends are being held." She motioned to the left of the building. "There's a small alley over there. We could either go there and see if there's a way in or go to the other side and use the main entrance."

John looked at the alley and then at the front entrance. "In my experience, main entrances are usually less well-defended than back entrances. For some reason, bad guys never expect anyone to be foolish enough come in through the front."

Veronica nodded. "I agree. There's a good chance that if there's an entrance in the alley, it's well-guarded. Still, there'll be guards in the front, as well."

Carefully the group made their way to the front entrance. They didn't see anyone, nor was there any indication of surveillance equipment around to protect the building.

Veronica tried the door but it didn't budge. Remembering Crichton's 'Opening doors in the UTs 101', as he had called it, she checked to see if she wasn't overlooking some mechanism. Ascertaining there indeed wasn't one, she turned back. "It's locked."

John unholstered Winona. "No problem, I've got the keys." He walked to the door and fired at the lock. He reholstered Winona and opened the door. He gestured to Veronica. "Ladies first."

Veronica shook her head. "What's wrong with you? Do you want them to know we're coming? They could have heard you shoot the lock!"

John shrugged. "You need to be near a pulse pistol to hear it go off. The sound of the actual blast probably didn't reach far beyond the door. Since no one's even in the main hall, it's unlikely they heard it. And no, I don't want people to notice us. I figured hanging around here is more likely to get us noticed than me shooting out the damn lock. Now, get in before people do notice us."

Veronica made a frustrated sound before briskly walking into the building. The others followed her, John last.

The explorers looked around the hall, wide-eyed and clearly uncertain on how to proceed. John recognized it for what it was. Reality came crashing in at the sight of the wide variety of alien technology and items. That combined with the fact they probably hadn't bothered to look at a detailed map of the building's innards had them at a complete loss.

He gestured in the direction they needed to go. "This way. We'll take a left at the first intersection, go down the stairs, head to the right, go down two flights on those stairs, go straight ahead and we should be looking at the door where our friends are being held."

The others looked at him in surprise.

"Don't sweat it. I've learned the hard way to prepare for these situations. I'm also no longer taken by surprise by my surroundings. Well, not often anyway." He looked at Veronica. "Still want to take point?"

Veronica shook her head. "No, you know the way. I'll be right behind you, though."

John nodded and headed in the direction he had indicated. He kept close to the walls and listened carefully. He was certain the opposition should show themselves soon. They may not have heard them breaking in, but they sure as hell would've picked them up on the surveillance camera he spotted in the corridor they'd just entered.

When he arrived at the intersection, he crouched down and waited until the others had stopped moving as well. He once again listened carefully for any noise. He thought he heard some movement, but wasn't sure if it came from the left or right side of the intersection. He turned to Veronica and whispered, "Did you hear that?"

Veronica nodded. "Yeah. I think they are at both sides."

John acknowledged her assessment. "You want left or right?"

Veronica grabbed both her knifes. "Let me surprise both sides first. You can take the left side, Finn will take right." She motioned to Finn who nodded her agreement.

John watched as both girls readied themselves, obviously enjoying the prospect of action. He looked behind him at the two males who were keeping an eye out for their backs. He turned back to the women and nodded to signal he was ready.

Veronica rolled into the intersection, throwing a knife in both directions mid-roll. At the same time, John and Finn moved around the corners, John firing Winona, Finn her small crossbow. Veronica rolled on to her feet and fired her pulse pistol in the direction Finn had fired. This gave Finn time to switch from her crossbow to a pulse pistol. It didn't take them long to eliminate the enemies.

The three of them looked around for a moment to make sure they'd gotten everyone, before signaling the two men they were ready to move again. Veronica went to gather her knifes back, before following closely behind John towards the stairs. They managed to get to the level the others were held without incident.

The level itself seemed eerily quiet as well. John frowned when he noticed no more opposition at the other side of the door separating the corridor from the stairs and turned to Veronica. "We didn't kill that many, did we?"

Veronica shrugged. "I think there were about ten of them."

John nodded. "Uh-huh, but we haven't seen anyone since. I seriously doubt those were the only baddies left in the building."

Veronica shrugged again. "As long as they're not here, it's fine by me."

"Damn."

John and Veronica turned around to see the reason for Challenger's curse.

Challenger was examining his clothes but noticed the looks he got from Crichton and Veronica as he looked up. "I've torn my pants in four places since we set foot on this planet."

John nodded, a grin forming. "Yeah, we need to get you guys to Bikers-R-Us as soon as possible. Leather is the fabric of choice around here; doesn't tear so easy." He looked at Veronica and Finn. "And you might wanna look in something to cover more of yourself. You don't wanna catch a cold."

"I can handle the temperature just fine," Veronica and Finn retorted in unison.

John arced an eyebrow. "Really? You're used to tropical temperatures, end up on a ship that's probably not even half the temperature you're used to, but you can handle it? Right."

Veronica looked down momentarily before looking back up at him. "Alright, I admit it's a bit colder than I'd like."

John nodded. "You could've told me, though. We probably have some old Peacekeeper stuff in storage somewhere."

"Perhaps we should rescue our friends first, before we start talking fashion?"

John looked at Ned and nodded. "You're right. Free friends first, go on shopping spree later." He opened the door further and moved through the corridor towards the door separating them from the others.

He waited until the others had gathered and whispered to them, "Let's assume there are guards in there, even though your friends didn't mention it when they first contacted us. We'll have to deal with them quickly so they won't turn on our friends."

The others nodded in agreement and John moved to the door and opened it. It took him less than a microt to see four guards and their friends. The guards had their backs towards them, and didn't seem to have heard the door open. John moved towards the leftmost guard at a run.

"Crichton, wait!"

John heard Veronica's warning, but it was too late. He ran straight into the transparent partition and it knocked him out cold.

Veronica shook her head. "Unbelievable. First he walks into an armed alien because he fails to notice the obvious shadow on the floor, then he runs into an invisible wall because he fails to notice he can't hear the obvious shouting and movement."

Aeryn nodded. "Believe it. He's done worse. Even after all the cycles he spent here, he's still not much of a warrior."

Veronica looked at Aeryn. "Yeah, but the thing is, when we got in we had no idea where to go, but he memorized the layout and knew the shortest route to you guys."

Aeryn grinned. "And you have no idea how often he got into trouble because he hadn't prepared like I and others had repeatedly told him to." She grew serious again. "So, what is the situation?"

Veronica also went serious. "We killed about ten in the first corridor and we haven't seen anyone else up to the moment we entered through that door."

Aeryn frowned. "Only ten and the three in here? Odd."

Veronica nodded. "Yeah, Crichton found that strange, too." She looked through the invisible wall again and jerked her head in that direction. "What are they going to do with him? They seem to be talking with him, not hurting him in any way."

Aeryn shrugged the best she could. "I have no idea, though chances are they want wormhole tech from him, or they want him to use it to their advantage. Either way, they may not harm right away, but they might start soon."

Marguerite shook her head. "That doesn't make sense." She looked at Aeryn. "About them being interested in wormholes. They were willing to settle for me or Roxton."

"Perhaps they believe that all Humans have knowledge of wormholes. Not many know that Crichton had been given the knowledge after he got here."

The group was very surprised when one of their captors, not the leader, came back, released them and gestured them to follow him to the area where the other two and Crichton were.

Crichton was in deep conversation with the female captor that had scanned Aeryn. He looked around her to the others. "Hey, guys." He focused on the explorers. "Don't you agree these people look like dinosaurs?"

Surprised and taken aback, Challenger nodded slowly. "Yes, I'd say a cross between Raptors and T-Rexes. Why?"

Crichton got up from the chair he had been sitting in. "Apparently, these people have been in this part of the universe for millennia, not knowing where they came from. The interesting part is that their DNA and ours have something in common."

The female nodded. "Yes. As some of you may be aware, in each part of the universe life started from a common gene pool, each pool having unique DNA strands. Much to our surprise, our DNA doesn't match with the strands of most of the species found in this part."

"So, you probably didn't originate from this part?" Challenger asked, his interest growing by the second.

The female, apparently a medically-trained person among her people, nodded again. "Exactly. We've been trying to determine which part we did originate from, but until we heard about Crichton, we never had any clue in which direction we should look."

"I knew it! It's about wormholes again!" Aeryn snapped.

Crichton went to her. "No, honey, it isn't. Let her finish, please."

Aeryn looked at him and nodded reluctantly. "Fine."

The female continued. "The medical data we were able to gather about him, showed his DNA have identical strands to ours. That shows that whichever part of the universe he came from, is also our birthplace."

"You're from Earth?"

The female turned to Challenger. "Possibly, or at least a planet within a two light-cycle radius from your home world. We want to go that part of the universe, find our real origins."

Crichton nodded. "Yeah, but I can't really help you, because I don't know which way to go."

The male leader sighed. "The other said the same."

Aeryn turned to the male. "Other? What other?"

The female glared at him, clearly unhappy about what he had said, before turning to Aeryn. "We've talked with someone else who showed indications of coming from the same part. But she, too, didn't know were she came from or how to get there."

Crichton frowned. "There's another species around here with origins in our part of the universe?"

The female nodded. "Yes, but that is all I can tell you."

The male leader gestured towards the door. "You are free to go. We've reactivated your transport pod's power supply."

The group walked to the door, but Crichton turned around. "What are you guys gonna do now?"

The male shrugged and sighed. "There's nothing we can do about our quest at this point. Without any new information, we will never learn where we were created. We'll return to the planet we've been calling home for well over fifty thousand cycles and continue to scan for new leads. Perhaps one day we'll find our original birthplace."

Crichton nodded. "Good luck. I hope you'll find it at one point." He turned back to the door. "Come on, guys. We need to buy some decent threads."

Marguerite looked down at herself. "What's wrong with the clothing I wear?" She looked back up and noticed Crichton and the others had already walked out of the room. "Crichton?! What's wrong with my clothes?" She walked after them. "Let me tell you these were decent when we went on our expedition. Crichton?" The edge of her long skirt caught on one of the sharp corners of the doorpost, creating a tear as she walked on.

A/N: That's all I have completed so far. Part 4 is in the making, but being rewritten at the moment (in between writing on my next 'Duped'-verse story). I'm curious if anyone here notices the link to another story I wrote. No one on the TF boards noticed it, and even my trusty beta didn't notice it (at least she didn't tell me she noticed).