text:
Air Date: June 14, 2002
Written by Justin Monjo
Directed by Rowan Woods
Transcript by Xenajules2
Edited and put on-line by Bluey
Episode 4.02 - What Was Lost: Part 1: Sacrifice
Previously on Farscape (Voice of Rygel):
Scene One: from "Dog With Two Bones", Moya releases Talyn's remains into the Sacred Burial Space. She is closely followed by the rogue leviathan. The old woman watches from the galley window.
Scene Two: from "Into the Lion's Den, Part 2: Wolf In Sheep's Clothing", D'Argo and Rygel are in Moya's galley. D'Argo: "We all knew the time would come when we would split up."
Scene Three: from "Dog With Two Bones", John joins Aeryn in the hanger bay, near her prowler. John: "I'm coming with you." He drops his bag on the floor. Aeryn: "No. I'm sorry."
Scene Four: from "Dog With Two Bones", John sits alone in his module. Aeryn's face is just visible, in her prowler window. The old woman whispers: "Aeryn is with child." as Aeryn's prowler disappears.
Scene Five: from "Dog With Two Bones", Moya is falling into a wormhole while John, in his module, watches. Pilot comms: "Commander! Stay clear! We're being torn..." The transmission breaks up and the wormhole winks out, leaving the module all alone in space.
Scene Six: from "Crichton Kicks", a small ship crashes into a Leviathan. John points his pulse pistol at the red-headed female alien who emerges. Sikozu: "I suggest you aim that behind you. The creatures following me execute on sight.
Scene Seven: from "Crichton Kicks", A freshly shaved John says: "Chiana." Chiana: "Hey!" They kiss. Chiana: "Nice to see ya."
Scene Eight: from "Crichton Kicks", Rygel watches John shave. Rygel: "And you haven't seen Moya?"
Scene Nine: previously unaired: Braca is talking to Commandant Grayza. Braca: "If an officer superior to you ordered it, I would summarily execute you without hesitation." Grayza: "So says every one of your psychological evaluations, CAPTAIN Braca." Braca manages not to smile as he nods.
Scene Ten: previously unaired: Scorpius looks over Braca's head, at Commandant Grayza, as he speaks to him: "Grayza is a manipulator!" They are in a hanger, standing near a prowler. There is another Peacekeeper present. Braca: "I understand you no longer have a ship to command."
Scene Eleven: from "Crichton Kicks", the elderly Lady Pilot tells John: "We would like to repay our debt." John takes one of her claws and holds it: "You don't owe us... anything." Sikozu listens to this exchange. Lady Pilot: "Nevertheless, if we are able, you shall arrive at the planet your think your friends may be."
And now, on Farscape...
There are several sparks and flashes coming from the Lady Pilot's console. There are several soft, green blobby things sitting on top of it, giving off light.
John: "That do it?"
Lady Pilot: "Elack senses a planet, but the erratic weather patterns are interferring."
Rygel: "Oh, frell!" He is working near Sikozu and is struck by a sudden spark.
John: "Sparky! Can you fix... scan?"
Rygel: "I'm trying. Ahh!"
Sikozu: "Come here and hold this."
Rygel: "Hold 'em yourself. " He laughs as Sikozu is hit by a spark.
Lady Pilot: "Crichton... why are we searching for this planet? Arnessk is uninhabitable."
John: "No. Jool told us every few cycles the magnetics drop low enough for the dig team to remain there for a while."
Sikozu: "Help me! My hand is still too weak."
Rygel laughs: "Yah, right. Pull the other one and I'll whistle "Falle Loosen". He laughs again.
Chiana is leaning against the Pilot's console, twirling one of the soft, green glowing blobs and she laughs too.
Lady Pilot: "No life forms are registering on Elack's sensors, but I... but I... I'm so weak I... I... I cannot be sure."
John takes her chin in his hand: "Shhh. Rest. You rest, sweetheart. We're gonna go check it out."
From below, Chiana comms: "Hey, Crichton. Don't go done without me. I don't want to be here when psycho zapps the final zolk."
A transport pod descends towards the planet, flying in low over an ocean to some cliffs.
John walks through some ruins. There is a standing arch and a flat pad atop a rise. It is blue with a red circle in the center. It looks like it has been pierced by an arrow painted over it. Chiana investigates the inside of a building using a flashlight. John climbs up to the flat pad and Chiana calls up to him: "I don't see anyone. You see anyone?"
Chiana goes further into the building. It is very dark inside despite some lights high up on the walls, covered in wire frames, like emergency lights. John comes in and walks past Chiana. She is breathing very hard and holding her rifle up, pointing down the corridor.
John: "What's the matter?"
Chiana: "Just got a feeling."
John continues down the corridor a little way and stops: "Whoa. Is that a feeling feeling, or..."
Chiana: "Just a feeling."
John: " Okay." He nods and walks on.
They come to a part of the corridor that is under water, and keep walking.
John swings his flashlight around and looks behind him: "Okay, now I'm getting a feeling. You're not getting a feeling?"
Chiana: "Naw. No feelings."
John: "Hang on. Take this, take this..." He hands her his flashlight. "While I check on thise load."
John pulls out his pulse pistol and pulls out the ammo clip.
Chiana stops suddenly: "Then again..."
There is a male interion standing at the intersection of corridors, holding a rifle on Chiana.
Chiana: "... I might have had a feeling."
Male Interion: "Get back. Peacekeeper drop your weapon."
John, holding his arms out to his sides: "Ah, that's a common mistake. I'm not a Peacekeeper."
Male Interion: "Drop your weapon or the female dies."
Chiana: "He's not a Peacekeeper."
Jool appears around a corner: "Wait! Tarnat! Stop!"
D'Argo: "Ah, ha! Haha!"
Jool and D'Argo both start to run toward Chiana and John. D'Argo is laughing as he runs.
Jool grabs Chiana's arm as soon as she gets to her, but D'Argo runs to John, squishes him in a bear hug and lifts him off the floor.
John: "D'Argo. Hu-uh. You're breakin my back. Let go."
D'Argo puts him back down. Then he grabs John's face in both his hands and laughs again: "Look at you!"
Jool screams and hugs Chiana.
Chiana: "Yep, it's really me, Princess."
The male interon watches all the hugging suspiciously.
D'Argo hugs John again.
Jool: "Chiana!" She tries to jump up and down but Chiana stops her.
Tarnat: "Who is this Peacekeeper? And why is he with the tralk."
John and Chiana talk over each other...
John: "She's not a tralk."
Chiana: "He's not a Peacekeeper."
Jool reaches out and grabs the male Interion's arm: "Forgive Tarnat. He's new security here and he's just a little... gung... ho... about protecting the dig."
Tarnat, still pointing his weapon at John: "You've been warned. There are races that would kill for what we've discovered."
D'Argo growls: "Hmmm.
Jool: "Tarnat. These are my friends." Her hair is bright red.
D'Argo: "So, are Aeryn and Rygel with you?"
John: "Rygel, yah. Aeryn we haven't heard from. Has she contacted you?"
D'Argo: "No, not yet. But ah, you know, she will."
John: "... right." He puts the clip back in his gun and walks away towards some open archways. He puts Winona back in the holster and stands looking out of the building. There is a funny, large, bug-looking thing crawling on the wall near him. There are some symbols drawn or carved on the wall on the other side of him.
Chiana is still with Jool.
Chiana: "Is... is Moya here? We d... didn't detect her when we came aboard."
John walks over to look at the symbols as Jool talks to Chiana.
Jool: "...look for Aeryn, you know what? You've got to come with me..."
D'Argo sighs and goes after John.
John fits his hand over one of the symbols on the wall, a drawing of a stick-figure hand. He turns away from the wall when he hears Jool.
Tarnat: "...I don't think the instructor would want that... "
Jool: "Tarnat. Just put it back in your pants and calm down."
D'Argo comes to stand behind John, looking out of the building. He pats John on the back.
D'Argo: "Cheer up John. I have a lot to tell you about my travels." He puts an arm on John's shoulder and leads him back into the building, towards the girls.
Jool jumps up and down and squeals: "Can you believe it? We're here. We're here and we're alive and nobody is trying to kill us! Ahh! Come on!"
Outside the open arches, there is a pool covered in dense fog. A creature rises out of the pool and looks towards the building. It has a large, serrated cranium and webbed hands. It looks like it has pieces of seaweed growing on it's body. It turns away, sinks under water and swims off.
END OF PROLOGUE
John is standing in a doorway to a corridor.
Jool: "Check this out." She turns on a big bank of bright lights. "This is the most important planet in the Universe!"
John and Chiana follow Jool as she hurries down the corridor.
John: "Jool, Moya got spat out like a furball. How the hell does that happen?"
Jool: "Stop! That's all I remember. Please!"
They come out into sunlight, in a courtyard.
Jool: "D'Argo's gone to find the weird old lady and she'll explain what happened. She spoke to Pilot for arns. Okay?"
Jool points to a device mounted on an outside wall: "These sensors... are for the magnetics. When it's blue, the levels are safe. Red is bad. Red means, don't pack, fly." She hurries over to stand by another wall. Chiana goes to crouch near where Crichton is sitting, somewhere near the middle of the courtyard.
Jool turns to face them: "But this. This is what I was talking about. This is the greatest archeological discovery of the last one thousand cycles!"
Chiana: "This?" She smiles at John.
Jool: "Yah. I mean, it may not look like much to the untrained eye..."
Chiana stands up: "My eye's okay, Princess." She starts back up the corridor they entered through.
John and Jool both sigh.
She stops and turns: "Hey? Is that valuable?" She points to what looks like a blue glass sculpture that John is holding.
Jool: "I'm not sure, but I'll run some tests and check..."
Chiana picks up a check of fallen masonry, hurls it sidearm and smashes the sculpture out of John's hand. Jools screams.
John: "Nice arm."
Jool: "What are you doing?"
Chiana: "Fantastic as this is, I'll take the tour later." She turns and walks away down the corridor.
Jool comes and sits down next to John with a sigh: "What is her problem? What did I do?"
John: "Nothing. You did nothing. She just had a rough time away from Moya." He sighs again, then pats Jool on the leg. "Jool, if it's alright, I'm gonna find Grandma."
Jool: "No, no, no! Stay here. D'Argo's getting her. Please just wait here and let me show you all this? Please? Please?" She takes his hand and drags him to his feet. She leads him over to a wall.
Chiana goes into the building, looking around.
Chiana: "D'Argo? Wrinkles?"
She walks further down the corridor. It is quite dark, with spot lights on various parts of the walls, some with carvings on them. Chiana walks up to one of the carvings and touches it. As she does, a bank of spotlights suddenly turn on, with a flashing sound.
Chiana breathes: "Frell." She looks into the blinding lights. Something is moving behind them.
D'Argo: "It's remarkable, isn't it?"
D'Argo steps up beside the lights, so Chiana can see him.
Chiana: "You scared me. I don't know. We better go find Wrinkles."
D'Argo reaches over and switches off the lights.
D'Argo: "I was... I couldn't find her down by the cliffs so I thought she might've come here. Ss... it's good to see you again, Chi."
The creature from pool stands against a door jam, staring in at D'Argo and Chiana. It makes a quiet sound and retreats.
Jool can be heard talking to John....
Jool: "Twelve thousand cycles ago, Arnesskan priests worshipped."
Jool is holding on to John's hand as she leads him down some stairs: "Mystics. Somehow they maintained a truce with the Scarrans and the Peacekeepers for five hundred generations." They get to the bottom of the stairs and start down a corridor. The creature stands in a doorway and looks at them, then leaves. John looks back and then goes along with Jool.
Jool: "Imagine. Imagine if we could discover their secret for peace. No one knows how they achieved it because... one day they just vanished. And it's like everyone just left... in a microt... and no one knows why."
John finishes her sentence with her: "... knows why."
Suddenly, a bank of flood lights flashes on. John whirls and points his gun at them. A voice comes from behind the lights...
Female Interion: "I know why."
Jool walks towards the woman and turns to John: "This is Instructor Vella."
Instructor Vella comes down towards them, removing her gloves as she walks: "You're John Crichton."
John holsters Winona: "Yes."
Instructor Vella: "Tarnat said I'd find you here. I see why he mistook you for Sebecean." She circles John, giving him the once over. "Same size, weight, coloring. Though, the brain cavity appears smaller."
John: "Yah, but my choppers are first class, and I do an excellent turn my head and cough." He coughs twice into his hand. Jool puts her hand over her mouth too. He looks at Jool: "What?"
Instructor Vella: "I see you're not interested in any of this."
John: "I just have some unfinished business to attend to."
Instructor Vella snorts: "This is more fascinating than any business you might have." She walks away, and stops by a niche in a wall. "Believe it or not, this planet was once a paradise. Virgin water, panoply of life forms." She takes something out of the niche: "Three of these probes, which form the Darnaz Triangle, were launched by enemies of peace. They created magnetic summers that killed the priests and drove civilization away. You understanding any of this?"
John answers her with a fake Southern drawl: "We..el, I missed a couple of da big words, so maybe I should just... tsk... tsk... tsk... tsk..." He makes a hopping motion with two of his fingers. Jool grabs his arm to stop him.
Jool: "Instructor Vella has found two of the probes."
Instructor Vella: "Legend has it, if I find the third probe, I can reverse its damage." She sets the probe back in its niche in the wall. "...and so reactivate the Darnaz Triangle."
D'Argo and Chiana are still by the wall carving/painting from before.
D'Argo: "Jool started to drive you crazy yet?"
Chiana: "She... she just keeps going on and on about this place."
D'Argo rolls his eyes: "Well, it, uh... can be like an obsession. We've been working from dawn til dusk." He turns and walks a short way down the corridor. Chiana follows him. D'Argo hunkers down in front of a piece of the wall.
Chiana: "You and the Princess?"
D'Argo: "Um huh." He moves something on the floor that makes a clanking sound, like a chain dragging. Chiana comes over and hunkers down near him.
Chiana: "You and the Princess? Did the Peacekeepers... capture you and... and... and steal your brain and replace it with whatever you're using now?" What's the matter?"
D'Argo puts down what he was holding with a clank. He makes a noise and stands up. He walks away and Chiana follows.
Chiana: "They were always this far away from getting me, and they didn't get you?"
D'Argo: "LoLah hid me." He stands, looking outside the building.
D'Argo: "LoLah." He speaks in Ancient Luxan: "Viejtort! Hajescoompot!"
Outside, D'Argo's ship shimmers and becomes visible.
Chiana: "Your ship can disappear."
D'Argo nods: "For a short time." The ship shimmers and disappears again.
Chiana: "And you named her LoLah."
D'Argo turns and walks back into the building: "It's short for Lolan. In memory of my wife."
He walks back into the building. Chiana turns to follow him.
Aboard the dying Leviathan, Sikozu climbs out of John's module and sighs. She hurries over to a junction box on the Leviathan's bulkhead and opens it, looking inside.
John walks through a woods and comms Rygel: "Ryg. D'Argo and Jool are here and D'Argo's got his ship back. They expect that Moya's gonna be back sometime soon."
From the old Leviathan, Rygel comms back: "Well, she'd better hurry. I can barely hear you and the heat's knackered in here. Huuh. Crichton, this Leviathan is dying. We've got to get off it soon."
In the maintenance bay, Sikozu rips the wires out of the junction box, causing a loud crashing noise and a shower of sparks. Sikozu grunts.
In the Pilot's den, Crichton's answer is broken up and Rygel tries to reach him: "Crichton? Crichton!"
Sikozu: "Were you still talking? Sorry."
Rygel: "Connect me back to Crichton!"
Sikozu: "Cannot do it. External comms are dead. This ship is entering termination shutdown." She drags the wires clear of the junction box and over to John's module. "In case we need it in a few arns, I want to get this module started." She leans into the module, hot-wire in hand.
A Peacekeeper Command Carrier flies through space...
Aboard it, a hologram of Instructor Vella is intercepted by Commandant Grayza.
Instructor Vella: "Pilot of Moya. Crichton and the others are here on Arnessk. Their presence is a source of irritation. Retrieve them now, or we'll have to take our own steps."
Captain Braca turns off the transmission: "We intercepted this transmission to Moya sixty microds ago."
Grayza: "You were right. They did follow the Interion to the planet. How long will it take for our Command Carrier to get there?"
Braca: "Ten arns."
Commandant Grayza stands up: "Make it five..." Braca nods. "Captain." Braca smiles as she walks past him. She stops and Braca turns, no longer smiling.
Grayza: "But first... come and see this."
Scenes of Scorpius as a young boy flash across the screen. Scorpius is in the Aurora chair. Grayza stands behind him and Braca in front of him. His mouth is hanging open, and he is gasping for breath.
Scorpius: "I find your amateur attempts at... huuh... torture, to be quite pleasurable. I could resist it for cycles."
Commandant Grayza: "Maybe you can... or maybe you can't." She presses the button on the side of Scorpius' head and his cooling apparatus ejects. Scorpius gasps.
Grayza: "But this rod will make it a little more difficult."
Captain Braca pulls a rod similar to Scorpy's cooling rods out of a tube and holds it out to Commandant Grayza.
Scorpius gasps twice: "Don't do this, Braca. I made you."
Braca: "No." He pats Scorpius on the shoulder. "I made you."
Commandant Grayza: "I think now you will finally tell me all you know about John Crichton."
Scorpius screams, spittle flying out of his mouth: "I told you everything about John Crichton!"
Grayza puts the rod into the apparatus and presses the button so it retracts: "No, Scorpius. You hold onto secrets because you fear that when you finally do tell me everything, you will die. And you're probably right."
Braca activates the chair. Scorpius stiffens and cries out as the sound of the Aurora chair rises.
John is walking through the ruins, calling out: "Grandma!"
The faint voices of the Interions can be heard, coming from overhead.
Instructor Vella: "... response when I told him about the Darnaz Triangle."
Tarnet: "I still don't trust Crichton."
Instructor Vella: "... has no interest in it. Well, don't worry, it will be over soon."
Looking up, John sees Instructor Vella and Tarnat walk past, into the woods.
Instructor Vella: "Our last vector test will reveal the third probe."
John turns back towards the corridor and is startled by the Old Woman coming out of a side doorway.
John: "Oh, damn, Grandma." Behind her, he sees the creature peering out of another doorway. John leaps to the side and stands in front of the Old Woman, where he can keep an eye on the creature.
John: "The Creature from the Black Lagoon... sorta."
The creature sniffs repeatedly and audibly.
John: "Grandma, how're ya doin? You remember me?" He touches himself on the chest: "Me Crichton, you Grandma." He touches the Old Woman on the chest. When he does, the creature makes a noise and hurries out from the doorway, over to where they are standing.
The Old Woman talks to the creature: "Get away, Oo-Nii. Go on, scat."
John backs up a step and pulls his pulse pistol.
Old Woman: "Go on, go on, scat. Go on."
The creature goes back behind the doorwall and watches.
She looks at John and smiles: "I remember. You're hooman."
John smiles and nods: "Right."
Old Woman: "Crichton! Ohh!" She puts her arms around John's neck and cries.
John turns his face away from her: "Oh, ah, damn. You need a bath."
They seperate. The creature continues to watch closely.
Old Woman, shaking her hands in front of herself: "Never bathe, never bathe. Not your head. It washes off the juice."
John: "That's... more than I want to know. Listen, Jool said that you guys got spat out of a wormhole. She said that only you knew what happened."
Old Woman: "Ask Pilot. Pilot knows. I talked to Pilot." She turns to leave
John: "But now, Pilot knows what?"
Old Woman, turning back to John: "No, no, no. Ask him. I must follow Vella."
John: "Hey! I need to know about what..."
The Old Woman interrupts him: "How old are you? How old? I am two hundred and ninety three cycles. Anytime there is goodness, it will be destroyed by... by a cause. By Vella." There is a sound like men chanting. The Old Woman claps her hands over her ears.
Old Woman: "Ohh! Yes, yes, this is who it will end. Yes. Oh, no." The chanting continues. "I won't let Vella have any of it. It's the voices. The voices. They scream to me. The Darnaz Triangle must never be used again!"
John reaches out and gently takes her hands off her ears: "I don't hear your voices."
The creature, Oo-Nii rushes out to protect the Old Woman, yelling as he hurries over. The chanting continues, getting louder.
John points his pulse pistol at it: "Back off. Get back. Go on, get back." He gestures with the pistol.
The creature retreats behind the doorwall once more, cowering down.
John turns back to the Old Woman and holsters the pistol: "I'm not interested in your voices. You know what I'm interested in."
The Old Woman laughs and shakes her head: "Aeryn's child. You pierced my subliminal message."
John: "Yah. And I might've stopped her if I'd known sooner."
Old Woman: "Why would you want to stop her?"
John: "She's carrying my child. Well, my DNA."
Old Woman: "Oh, well, I didn't keep that secret from you, she did. I just wanted you to accept Aeryn's decision."
John rolls his eyes.
Old Woman: "But now, I can help you forget." She laughs as she reaches over to a wall and grabs a small bug off from it with her fingers. "Lakah. It's all over planet. Squeeze the juice meat out of it, and stick it up your nose." She squeezes the insect and a red part comes out. She holds it towards John and he leans away.
Old Woman: "You'll get a jolt out of it and Wham! and for five hundred microds, nothing bothers you. No think of Aeryn. Nothing."
John: "Get that thing away from me."
Old Woman: "Okay." She turns away again. "Away, away." She spins back towards John: "Ask Vella. If all the priests died here, why are there no bones?"
John looks at her. She stops and turns part-way away: "Why are there no bones?" She goes over to Oo-Nii and leaves through the doorway he is standing in. Oo-Nii snarls at John and follows the Old Woman.
John: "Okay." He shakes his head.
D'Argo has one of the Interion's blasters on his arm. Jool is standing behind him, leaning over him and helping him with it.
Jool: "Do you feel that?"
D'Argo nods slightly.
Jool: "Just let the tug of energy tell you how fast you can work."
The blaster is clearing away dirt from on top of some kind of painting. Jool is visibly sweating.
"Well, I guess now that Crichton's back, you'll head off with him again soon."
D'Argo: "Yah. No, I mean ah, perhaps. Being here I've... I've really enjoyed it."
D'Argo: "Yah. You know, I think we've really found something here. We should, ah, clean it up and show Vella."
Vella has come into the corridor and is standing behind them, watching and listening.
D'Argo: "Stick it up her nose." He laughs and Jool laughs with him.
Vella talks from behind them: "It's a prayer wheel. Found on every wall in the site."
Jool stands up, away from D'Argo, and puts her back to the wall.
Vella: "And it would never fit up my nose."
D'Argo: "Yah, well I didn't actually mean that I..."
Vella walks up behind D'Argo: "Now... why are you using that?"
D'Argo: "Well, for this..."
Vella takes the blaster from him: "In unskilled hands, a carver can be perilous. You see, Luxan. The process that strips away cycles of age, when it hits living flesh, absorbs the molecular signature of whatever it touches." She has been feeling and fondling the carver. She rests it on D'Argo's shoulder, pointing it at a small insect on a nearby rock. "Thus, that Lakah..." She shoots the blaster at it. "... is now rock." The insect has turned to stone.
Commandant Grayza is relaxing in a lighted tub. Braca is standing behind it, facing the back of her head. The symbol on the back wall of the room is a black circle with white flames in it.
Captain Braca: "Magnetic pulses surrounding the planet make it impossible for the Command Carrier to land. But, Mauraders with less sophisticated electronics can make it through."
Commandant Grayza: "How much longer will the dig site remain habitable?"
Braca: "Forty to fifty arns."
Grayza trails a finger in the water: "Closer."
Braca: "Well, that's Chief Scientist Dalax's best estimation, Ma'am."
Grayza: "No, you... closer."
Captain Braca climbs up a couple of steps and walks over to stand beside the tub. He clicks his heels and puts his hands behind his back and stands at attention.
Grayza: "Down. On your knees."
Braca turns his eyes upwards but gets on his knees next to the tub, still at attention.
Commandant Grayza: "Are there any other vessels near the planet?" She trails her hand in the water again.
Braca: "Just a dead Leviathan in decayed orbit. I am prepping a squadron now."
Grayza runs her fingers over what appear to be beads of sweat on her chest.
Braca swivels his eyes from side to side and takes a deep breath. He puts both hands on the side of the tub, to steady himself.
Braca leans towards her and she wipes the sweat from her chest across Braca's upper lip. His eyes roll up into his head.
Grayza: "Braca? Does it bother you, what has happened to Scorpius?"
Braca smiles down at her: "No." He looks away, his eyes darting from side to side.
Grayza: "We won't need a squadron. We'll go to the planet together." She runs her hand along the edge of the tub. Braca watches her hand.
Grayza: "You and me. Three mauraders, twenty soldiers..."
As she talks, not looking at Braca, he reaches out and takes the hand that is closest to him in both his hands. He starts to lift her hand. He shakes his head, to clear it: "Wh... wh...why... ca... ye..."
Grayza: "I always assumed John Crichton was just an outlaw. An excuse for Scorpius' mistakes."
Braca is staring at her hand. Slowly, he raises it towards his mouth. The tip of his tongue comes out to touch her finger. He licks her fingertip.
Grayza, still not looking at Braca: "But he destroyed a Command Carrier. The Scarrans desire him. Perhaps..."
Braca puts her finger in his mouth and brings it out again.
Grayza: "... somehow, I can use him. Perhaps..."
Braca moves his right hand down her arm. He lets it go, holding it only with his left hand, by her wrist. He breathes heavily and moves towards her head.
Grayza: "... Scorpius' enemy will be my... "
She turns her face upwards, towards Braca: "... friend."
As Braca's lips are about to touch hers, she brings up her hand to his chin and pushes him away.
Braca looks startled. He pulls back and gulps, loudly, staring off into the distance.
END OF ACT ONE
Instructor Vella and Jool stand beside a wall has what looks like a metal triangle mounted on it. Vella pulls on the triangle and it moves a panel on the wall.
Vella: "Grave robbers leave snares." There is a "thunk" sound when the panel moves. "Ahh. This has been opened." She turns to Jool: "Here." Jool approaches and puts both hands on the triangle, as Vella had hers.
Vella: "Make certain you turn your face away... "
D'Argo is at the end of the corridor, around a corner, listening.
Vella: "... and open it."
Jool turns her head and pulls outward on the triangle. The panel slides forward, out of the wall. A flash of flames shoot out of the open panel.
Vella: "Just a primitive jarnice flash. Only if it hits your eyes will it cause damage." She takes over from Jool and pushes the panel back into place.
Vella: "You're brave and listen well. Do you plan to keep studying when we leave the dig?"
They turn and walk towards D'Argo, seemingly unaware he is there.
Jool: "If I'm allowed, yes."
Vella: "And the Luxan?"
D'Argo sees them coming and moves further away.
Jool: "He is... he's my friend."
Vella: "But not your equal! Intellectually, Luxans are a sub-species. He will make mistakes, and you will be blamed for them."
Vella walks away. Jool stands still and sighs: "I know." She turns and walks the other way.
John stands on top of a cliff, holding his arm up, palm out, fingers extended, into the sunlight. Slowly he brings his arm back down to the side. He looks back over the dig site.
Suddenly, he hears the Old Woman's voice: "Crichton! He's arrested me!"
John holds up his hands as Tarnat approaches. He has the Old Woman in tow and his carver pointed at John.
Old Woman: "Shoot him!"
Tarnat: "Hands up."
Old Woman: "Shoot him!"
John: "Hey, yo, yo, hey. No need... no need for guns."
Tarnat: "The old lady told me how you plan to stop us." He has his arm around the Old Woman's neck.
John shakes his head, confused: "I didn't plan to do any..."
Tarnat screams as the Old Woman bites down on his hand. He lets go of her and she falls to her knees in the dirt.
Old Woman: "He's one of the defilers. They lie. They will not use the probes for good. Kill him."
John shakes his head: "No."
Tarnat: "Vella may not fear you, but I know you're their leader."
The Old Woman gets up and goes to stand by John.
Tarnat: "I've heard about you."
Old Woman: "Get him, Crichton." She dodges around behind him. "I helped you. I showed you Aeryn."
John turns towards her: "You didn't show me squat. Sit." He shoves her down to the ground. "Just sit." He turns back towards Tarnet and puts his hands back in the air. "Listen to me. Yeh... I don't even know this old lady's name. She came onboard our ship like a really bad smell that won't go away. I'm not a threat to you. I just want Moya to come back, so I can get the hell outta here. That's it. Cept one thing." He grabs Tarnat's carver and hits him in the face, knocking him down. John pulls his pulse pistol and aims it down at Tarnat.
John: "Do not point guns at people."
The Old Woman gets to her feet: "That's right! Hit him again."
John yells: "No!"
The Old Woman dances towards the supine Tarnat: "Oh, go on Crichton. Let me show you. Like this. And..." She hits Tarnat in the face with her fist, just as he starts to get up. "... Ohh!" She grabs her fist with her other hand. "See?"
John: "What the hell are you doing? What... why are you telling me to shoot people?" He puts his gun in its holster.
Old Woman: "Cause you have to. Vella will take the Darnaz probes and use them as a weapon. Why do you think she sent the rest of the dig team away?"
John: "I have no idea."
Old Woman: "There was peace here once. You must see what was lost here."
Old Woman: "I can't let this happen anywhere else."
John: "Would you..."
She reaches into her pouch and brings up a handful of powder which she blows into John's face.
John throws his hands up to his eyes: "Arrgh! Damn! No!" He spins around in a vain attempt to escape the powder.
Old Woman: "See. See the ancient world. See."
John continues to spin around and stops facing the valley of the ruins.
There are pyramids near where John is standing. The valley is totally covered in a dense fog. The fog begins to clear and John is walking among the ruins.
Old Woman: "See what I see."
There are priests walking among the ruins. They are dressed in long red robes with red headresses. They can be heard, chanting. John walks up the side of the valley and comes to the flat pad with the red circle drawn on it. There are priests nearby and a strange looking goat with four eyes is lying on its side, inside the circle. The chanting becomes louder. John stands by the goat as a priest brings a long, thin knife to it's throat. There are two other priests there, holding the goat still. John looks up, towards the cliffs.
John is standing on top of the cliff. There is no fog. He looks down and sees something. He drops to his knees.
Old Woman: "The children's tiles."
John reaches down and picks up a golden, metal pyramid with symbols carved on its sides.
Old Woman: "The peaceful thread within us all. It started here."
John rubs his finger over the carvings. He looks up, confused.
Old Woman: "See."
John stands back up.
The old woman watches him.
John turns, looking at the sky. There is the sound like a small explosion. Something appears in the sky. It expands like a ripple in a pond. There are three distinct points on the outside rim of the circle.
Old Woman: "See the Darnaz probes."
John watches as the circle continues to expand and the three objects fall to the ground. There is a large puff of dirt where one hits and a loud splash where another hits. A wave expands out from the impacts and pushes John and staggers him when it hits.
Old Woman: "See it all."
John staggers to the edge of the cliff and sits down. The old woman comes over to kneel beside him.
John: "I saw priests. A... a... and a goat. Probes... falling from the sky. I saw where they landed."
The Old Woman whispers in his ear: "Like a wormhole, back to the past. See. See the peace."
The Old Woman blows more powder into John's face. He throws both his hands up and falls backwards, onto the cliff. He lies there, his eyes rolling up into his head.
Old Woman: "Now, sleep. Sleep, Crichton."
John is floating, face down, in very clear water. Suddenly, air escapes from his mouth, he sinks feet down and his head breaks the surface. As he flails around, Oo-Nii appears in the water beside him. John starts to swim away.
Oo-Nii: "Crichton, wait. Wait. I just had to wake you." He swims after John.
John reaches the rocky shoreline and climbs out of the water. He is fully clothed.
Oo-Nii: "Wait. Wait, Crichton. Stop. I'm not going to hurt you." He climbs out near John.
John: "Oh! Hell. Scared the hell outta me. Thought you were a sea monster, creature, critter, somethin." John looks around at the now cloudy sky. "What's with this weather? I musta been out for a long time."
Oo-Nii: "Not long. You must stop old woman."
John shakes his head: "Oh, just let me... clear the anti-freeze outta my head."
Oo-Nii: "Vella! She has found the third probe. It's still under the ground. Your old lady, she swears she will kill Vella so she cannot use it as a weapon."
John: "Nah, nah, nah, she's... she's just nuts. She's not gonna do anything."
Oo-Nii laughs and points at John: "She... she take your gun."
John feels his holster and then looks down to confirm that Winona is gone.
John: "Granny!" He hurries off. Oo-Nii watches him and laughs.
The Lady Pilot is singing to herself, unintelligibly. Rygel puts one of the green glowing blobs on top of her console with a huff. She is startled and stops singing.
Lady Pilot: "W... what? Who is there?"
Rygel pats her claw: "It's all right. There's no one here. No one at all."
Jool comes down a corridor and sees D'Argo.
Jool: "Hey! Hey, what're you doing?"
When he hears her, D'Argo throws down a bottle he has been drinking from. He leans against a wall and looks at Jool.
D'Argo: "Why didn't you stand up for me?"
Jool shakes her head: "D'Argo... most Interions think Luxans are inferior. That's just the way it is."
D'Argo: "What do you think?"
Jool: "Don't ask me that."
D'Argo stands up straight and takes a step towards Jool: "What do you think?"
Jool has tears running down her face and her voice breaks: "I think... that you're unusual for a Luxan."
D'Argo: "Yah. Yah, I am that." He walks past Jool, down the corridor.
Aboard the dying Leviathan, Rygel comms: "Sikozu! Have you finished with that module?"
Sikozu jumps into the cockpit of the module.
The Lady Pilot groans. Rygel pats her claw and ssh's her.
Some lights flash inside the module. Sikozu does something, there is a clicking sound and the module's engines fire up. She smiles.
Jool follows D'Argo around a corner.
Jool: "D'Argo, you can't blame Vella if she thinks she's smarter than you."
D'Argo: "No, but I can blame you."
Jool: "I never believed that any of you cared... what I thought."
D'Argo: "I care." He walks back towards Jool. " And, just so you know, if someone had criticized you, or insulted you, called you a stuck up, arrogant little Princess, I'd have defended you." He walks past her, and away.
In the woods....
John is calling: "Granny? Granny!"
Inside the ruins, the Old Woman walks down a corridor.
John: "Granny, I just want Winona so I can get the hell outta here."
The Old Woman is holding John's pulse pistol up by her face and whispers: "Receive the spirit."
John stops and rubs his eyes. The Old Woman can be heard, whispering: "Receive the spirit... spirit... spirit."
The Old Woman looks around and heads down a different corridor.
John comes down into the ruins. There is a flash of bright light from behind him. John whispers: "Granny." He turns around and runs back out of the building.
The Old Woman continues to stalk down the corridor.
Old Woman: "Must stop Vella. Won't let her destroy another world."
D'Argo is staggering down a corridor inside the ruins. He comes upon the Serax Carver, lying on the floor of the corridor.
D'Argo: "The carver." He bends down and picks it up.
The Old Woman comes to the end of a corridor. The outdoors is visible through a doorway. She hears the priests chanting again.
Old Woman: "Have to protect."
Vella is working at something on a wall. She is all alone.
The chanting gets louder.
Old Woman: "The voices. The voices say... don't let them use it. Don't let them." There are other voices she can hear now, besides the chanting. She hurries forward.
Vella walks down a corridor. She stops and hangs up a tool she was carrying. She goes over to a shelf that has various pots and things on it. She hears a noise.
Vella: "Who's there?" She whirls around but cannot see anyone. "Show yourself... oh, what are you doing here?"
John stops in the trees and turns.
Vella: "Is this some sort of joke?"
John grabs a tree limb to help hurry himself along.
Vella puts her arms up in fear: "No!"
There is a flash of yellow light from below the path John is running on, inside the ruins. There is a funny, sizzling noise also. John hunkers down to look into the ruins.
John: "Grandma?" He climbs down onto a broken stairway and enters a corridor. He walks past the shelves with the pots and things on them and sees Vella's head and arms, apparently sticking out of the wall. They are the color of sandy stone. John walks over to her and thumps her forehead with his finger. It makes a hollow sound.
John: "Oh, boy."
D'Argo grabs John around the neck, from behind, and pulls him into another corridor. D'Argo has the carver mounted on his right arm.
John: "Uhlp! Damn!"
D'Argo: "Shh! Shh!"
John: "Wha? What happened here?"
D'Argo whispers: "Quiet."
John: "Turned my back for like five minutes..."
D'Argo: "Shh! Quiet!"
John: "What's Laura Croft doin in the wall?"
Tarnat comes into the corridor: "Instructor Vella. Are you all right? We saw..."
D'Argo jumps out and hits Tarnat, knocking him out.
John: "What're you doing"
D'Argo next grabs Oo-Nii. He shoves Oo-Nii up against a wall and holds the carver to his face.
D'Argo: "Now, don't say a word. Not a word."
END OF ACT TWO
The Old Woman is sitting on the ground near some trees. There is a small pile of stones on the ground infront of her and a statue a short distance away. She is talking and waving her hands over the pile of stones.
Old Woman: "Receive the spirit of Instructor Vella. No matter how selfish, how evil."
Inside the ruins, Oo-Nii is on his knees, rocking and crying: "Vel... la is dead."
Chiana tries to comfort him. John and D'Argo look on while Jool stands, stradle legged, over the supine Tarnat.
Jool: "D'Argo. You knocked him out."
Chiana gets up and goes to look at Vella's remains.
Chiana: "She's like... in the wall. What happened to the rest of her?"
Jool comes over to join her. Oo-Nii is still keening in the background: "Vel.. la is dead."
D'Argo: "She told me that if the carver hits flesh, it alters the DNA."
John: "No body cares about the DNA. Why did you knock that guy out?"
D'Argo: "If he'd seen me with her, he would have attacked and then he would be dead. I saved his life."
Oo-Nii: "Vel.. la."
Old Woman: "Receive the spirit..."
John: "We're still missing one person."
Chiana: "You think she did this? She can't even take a bath."
John: "She's been acting weird."
Onboard the dying Leviathan...
Sikozu sits in the cockpit of John's module. Its engine is running, but it is sputtering and smoking. Rygel floats up to Sikozu's level.
Rygel: "If you're planning to escape in that, I'm going with you."
Sikozu: "Does all your species have truncated spines?"
Rygel: "Don't play arky-arky with me, and I promise I'm smarter than you'll ever be."
Sikozu laughs: "Then... you should realize even with the combustion liquid I synthezied, this module would not travel for more than an arn, so no. I am not trying to escape in it."
Rygel climbs a bit higher, so he can see inside the cockpit. Sikozu does something with a control and there is some static and a squeaking noise.
Rygel: "What's that?"
Sikozu's eyes are big: "It's Peacekeeper code. Three mauraders are heading to the planet."
Rygel: "That receiver has never picked up coded transmissions."
Sikozu: "I know. I modified it."
Sikozu: "Go to Pilot's den. Get that hangar door open. Then hide in the neural cluster. That will shield your life signature should the Peacekeepers scan." She flips some switches inside the module.
Rygel: "What are you going to do?"
Sikozu: "I'm going to warn the others, so they can hide."
Rygel: "You're lying!"
Sikozu grabs him by the shoulders: "I told you. I would not last more than an arn in this. Now get those doors open. Move!"
Rygel looks startled but he moves away. Sikozu reaches up to close the canopy.
Sikozu: "Then send a secure comm to Moya. Stop her from coming until the Peacekeepers have gone." She closes the canopy.
John comes around the side of a statue. He has the carver on his arm, pointed at Tarnat who is walking with him.
John: "Do you smell Granny?"
John stops: "No. She's not here." Tarnat continues walking. John sniffs the air. They are atop a cliff and there are standing stones and statues all around them.
John: "It's weird."
John: "I've ... I've been here. Deja-vue. This... there." He points with the carver, to a spot in fron of Tarnat. John walks over: "How's this thing work? It's point and click, right?"
Tarnat backs up a step: "Keep it away from me."
John: "Hey, it's not a problem." He goes past Tarnat, stops and fiddles with the end of the carver. He starts it up and points it at a spot on the ground, right in front of a standing stone. A sort of flame shoots out of the carver.
John: "Under here there's something that has, I think symbols on it, most of them alien, one... maybe I recognize. Maybe."
John turns off the carver and kneels down. On the ground sits the child's tile he had held in his vision. He jerks it out of the ground and picks it up.
Tarnat: "How did you know that was here?"
John turns the pyramid shaped tile over and over, in his hands: "Holy crap. It's real."
Tarnat: "What is it?"
John: "Child's tile." He gets up and hands it to Tarnat. "You know any of these?"
Tarnat looks at the tile as John continues to run across the top of the cliff: "This one's Interion." Tapping the tile: "That one might be early Sebecean." He shakes his head. "Never seen the others."
John: "What do they mean?"
Tarnat: "The symbol is peace. Security."
John looks up into the sky: "Peace."
Tarnat: "You recognize any of the symbols?"
John: "One. Maybe. Egyptian. From my homeworld." He goes back over to Tarnat. "Come on. Got a change of plan." He takes the tile back, out of Tarnat's hand. "Let's go." They start back up the cliff.
D'Argo is sitting inside LoLah, flipping some switches: "Chiana, can you hear me?" The ship makes some beeping noises. "Chiana, I'm prepping for a fly-over to see if I can find the old lady. Can you hear me?" The ship starts making loud beeping noises. D'Argo leans over and looks outside. "Chiana, I'm getting some sort of proximity alarm warning. Can you hear me? Chiana?" He flips some switches and hisses. D'Argo hurries out of his ship, his qualta blade in his hand.
John and Tarnat are going down a corridor in the ruins. John has the carver on his arm and the tile in his other hand. Tarnat is in front of him.
John: "Do you know what this means? It means there is a link between my world and this one. Somehow, they're connected."
Chiana staggers around a corner and comes towards them. Her hands are behind her back.
Chiana stops and whispers: "Peacekeepers."
A helmeted Peacekeeper soldier appears behind Chiana. More come out of a corridor behind John and Tarnat. The one behind Chiana hits her in the back with his rifle stock and she falls face first to the floor.
Tarnat: "Peacekeepers." He turns and looks as if he is going to run. One of the Peacekeepers fires and shoots him in the chest. Tarnat cries out and falls to the floor.
D'Argo, qualta blade at ready, is inside a circular part of the ruins. He comms, quietly: "Chiana, if you can hear me, I think the ship's ... "
Sikozu: "The Peacekeepers already have them."
D'Argo stops when he hears her voice. He growls quietly.
Sikozu: "Stop the comms." She is above D'Argo's head, standing straight out from the top of the circle, hanging in midair. She has a pulse pistol pointed down at D'Argo's head.
Sikozu: "We must come up with a plan."
D'Argo lowers his qualta blade.
John is shoved to the floor of the corridor by one of the Peacekeepers. Chiana is pulled to her knees by another, but quite a distance away from John. She is facing him, however. and her hands are being held behind her.
Commandant Grayza appears and walks down the corridor towards John.
Commandant Grayza: "Remember me?"
John: "Oh, yah. I remember a couple of things."
Chiana pipes up: "Tell her to shove it up tall, Crichton."
Grayza lifts her hand and the Peacekeeper behind Chiana hits her and she cries out as she falls forward.
Commandant Grayza: "I can make things easy for you. And to prove my goodwill. Bracca?"
Captain Braca appears, leading a crawling Scorpius on a short leash.
Scorpius is shaking and gasping and spit is drooling out of his mouth.
Grayza: "He'll never bother you again." She turns towards Scorpius.
Grayza: "Scorpius. Scorpius." She pulls back her foot and kicks him hard in the side. Scorpius grunts and falls down. He looks up from the floor at John as he struggles back to his hands and knees with the help of Braca hauling on the leash. Grayza glances over to see how John is taking this. She puts her hand on Braca's shoulder, so she can raise her foot in front of Scorpius' face. Braca cuffs him a couple of times and Scorpius crawls forward and licks the bottom of Grayza's boot, drooling all the while. Grayza looks towards John again. She walks over to John: "Do anything you want to him. Anything at all." The smiling Braca leads Scorpius over to John.
Scorpius makes some gurgling noises, as though he was choking.
John sort of smiles: "No thanks. I don't think I can come up with anything better than that."
Grayza squats down beside him and looks him in the face. John looks away.
John: "What do you want from me?"
Grayza: "What I want..." She wipes her thumb along her cleavage, picking up drops of sweat "... may not be as bad as you think. You might even like it."
John flinches away from her hand as she brings if up by his face, but she follows the movement. She touches a finger to his chin, then brings her whole hand up near his nose. John makes eye contact with her, then reaches out and grabs her neck hard, behind her head. All of the Peacekeepers jump and cock their weapons. Grayza puts out a hand to the wall, to steady herself and holds the other hand up, to stop the soldiers.
Chiana: "What're you doin?"
John inhales through his nose and grimaces. Grayza stares him down as John grimaces and fights himself.
Chiana: "Crichton? What're you doin?" She gets pulled back by a Peacekeeper.
Finally, John succumbs and leans forward and kisses her. When it finishes, John looks down, his hand trailing down her breasts.
Grayza: "Wait an arn. Then we'll meet." Grayza gets slowly to her feet. "Secure the site." She and Braca leave with Scorpius.
Chiana is pushed down onto her face again. John sits disconsolately against the wall and sniffs.
END OF ACT THREE
Aboard the dying Leviathan...
Rygel is trying to wake the Lady Pilot up by hitting her on the nose.
Rygel: "Wake up! Wake up!" Rygel takes a deep breath and floats up a little higher. He bites the Lady Pilot on the nose. He growls and then she does too.
Lady Pilot: "Ahh! Awake. Ehh! What's the matter?"
Rygel: "Peacekeepers. We have to get a secure comm to Moya."
Lady Pilot: "Elack's transmission core is corrupted."
Lady Pilot: "Everything's dying. I can't do what..."
Rygel tries to interrupt her: "No, no, Pilot. Stay with me."
Lady Pilot: "... allahsela... "
Rygel: "Pilot! Pilot!"
Lady Pilot: "...thing hurts. I'm... I'm finished. I'm so..." she drifts off into unintelligible speech and finally sleep.
Rygel, quietly: "Pilot." He sighs and looks away, hand on chin, thinking.
Braca stands near Scorpius whose leash is chained to a wall. Grayza stands in a doorway, looking on. Braca leaves Scorpius and walks towards her.
Braca: "The orbiting Leviathan is empty. At present we've captured an Interion, a Nebari and an old Traskan."
Grayza: "What about the Luxan and the Peacekeeper traitor?"
Braca: "Uh, nothing."
She looks at a sensor on the wall and nods towards it: "And this?"
Braca goes over to look at the sensor: "The magnetics have spiked. According to this, we've got approximately 20 arns left and under these circumstances, I think we should leave."
Grayza holds out her hand and a Peacekeeper soldier puts a rod into it. She looks over towards Scorpius: "He's regaining motor stimulus. Change him." She gives the rod to Braca and he smiles.
Braca walks back over to Scorpius and presses the release on his cooling apparatus. Scorpius reaches out and grabs Braca's chin. He is able to make noises, but not speak. Braca laughs as he changes the rod.
Braca shows Scorpius the rod: "This is for all the times I had to say yes." Scorpius spits in Braca's face and bites down on the hand that is on his shoulder. Braca screams, quietly. Scorpius lets go with his teeth and looks at Braca. Braca presses the button and the apparatus retracts. He kicks Scorpius in the chest and he falls over, hitting his head against the wall. He then flops over onto his back, seizuring.
Oo-Nii is swimming underwater, through some submerged corridors. He gets out in a room that is partially submerged and walks over to a tile grate. He lifts the grate and reaches into a cavity. He brings out a Darnaz Probe and holds it.
Oo-Nii: "They're still here. The two probes are safe." He puts the probe back in the cavity.
Jool, Chiana and the Old Woman are together in some kind of a cell. There is a Peacekeeper soldier standing outside the cell, guarding them.
Old Woman: "He found a tile?"
Chiana: "Yah. The... the... then he saw something with that pad on that you hacked him with."
Old Woman: "A real tile?"
Chiana: "Yah. That's what he said. From the vision."
Old Woman: "Oh, no."
Chiana: "What?" The Old Woman walks away. "What's the matter?"
Jool: "When we first met... did you know I was on the run? Accused of stealing from a Noatian Gem Mine."
Chiana: "Okay. We've all gotta cheer up, okay? Because you are driving me nuts."
Chiana goes over and sits down by Jool.
Jool: "I stole things from digs, but things that I needed... to study, to learn more, you understand?"
Chiana: "I don't have a problem with that, Jool."
The Old Woman listens with interest to this exchange.
Jool: "But I never stole from here. There was this legend... of this glorious temple here, that touched the sky." Jool cranes her neck back, looking upwards: "And no one's ever found a trace of it. And I dreamed of discovering it and... now I'll never discover anything."
Chiana gets back up: "Thanks for sharing." She walks over to the other side of the cell.
Old Woman: "No. The priests will help us." She walks towards Jool. "You'll see." She reaches a finger out towards Jool's cheek. "You'll see." She goes to the bars of the cell: "Have to get Crichton."
Chiana whispers: "Crichton is nelly-whipped!"
Old Woman whispers to Chiana: "Give me a distraction and I'll save us all."
Chiana groans quietly: "Ohhh! All right. Okay, Wrinkles. Follow my lead." She goes to an opening in the bars and leans out.
Chiana: "Hey! Minya!" She gestures and one of the Peacekeeper guards takes a step closer to her.
Chiana: "Hey, ahh... the old lady, she's... ahh, she's got a problem... down below."
Peacekeeper: "What do you mean?"
Chiana: "She needs to go to the nooly!"
The first guard looks at the second guard. There is the sound of a weapon cocking. After a microt or two, the second Peacekeeper says: "Okay, go."
Commandant Grayza runs her fingernails over the beads of sweat on her exposed chest.
She and John are outside, standing facing each other. Grayza brings her fingertips up towards John's nose. John suddenly inhales deeply and his eyes roll back into his head. They close and he sinks to a sitting position. He is sitting and leaning back on some rocks. She is wearing a long, flowing black skirt. Below them is a cliff and the ocean waves are crashing against it.
Commandant Grayza leans across John to lay her weapon down on the rocks, just past where John's hand is sitting. John turns his head and watches her do it. He reaches his hand out to pick up the weapon, but his hand stops and hovers just over it. He brings his hand back towards his body. The veins in his arm are standing out from strain, as are the veins in his neck. He turns his head back and looks at Grayza. She brings her hand to his face, gently, and leans over to kiss him on the neck. John gasps and looks straight ahead, over her shoulder, his eyelids fluttering open and shut. Grayza lifts up her head and sees Captain Braca with Scorpius looking at them from behind a rock higher up the cliff. She half smiles. Scorpius quickly pulls his head back behind the rock.
Grayza stands back up and looks at John: "Do you like that?"
John whispers: "It's better than what Scorpius used to do." He looks up into her face.
The Old Woman is in the trees, talking: "Peace can only be maintained if there is sacrifice."
Grayza leans in towards John again, nuzzling his neck. His eyes roll up again.
John hears the Old Woman's voice: "Peace. Sacrifice."
Grayza looks at John, she has both her arms wrapped around his neck and is standing right in front of him.
Grayza: "Do you like that?"
John stares at Grayza.
Old Woman: "Peace."
Commandant Grayza climbs onto John, straddling him, and settles onto him. John gasps.
Old Woman: "Sacrifice."
John looks up at Grayza, grimacing: "Whatever you want. Whatever. You can have it." Grayza rubs her hands on his temples. The waves crash harder and louder against the cliff.
Old Woman: "Peace can only be maintained..."
Grayza leans John back against the rocks and begins to kiss him. Her gun is lying mere inches away from them, on the rocks.
Old Woman: "... if there is sacrifice."
END OF ACT FOUR
sits hunched over, his arms wrapped around his knees, on a rock near
the statue. The Old Woman walks over and stops near him.
Old Woman: "Never been real before."
Johh doesn't turn his head to look at her: "What are you doin here, Old Woman?"
Old Woman gathers her skirt and sits down, just behind John's
shoulder. He continues to stare down, over his crossed arms, at
Old Woman: "In the vision I enhanced, you saw a tile, a child's tile."
John: "Yah. Just like the one I found. What did you do to me?"
Old Woman, whispers: "Must be the magnetics. Pushes the vision further. Somehow the suggested turned real."
John continues to hug himself, rocking slightly.
Old Woman: "Does Grayza know you saw the Darnaz Probes?"
Old Woman: "Good. I have seen the carnage weapons of mass destruction bring. For Vella to have had one was awful to consider... but the Peacekeepers. They must never have it, Crichton. Do you know where the final probe landed?"
Old Woman: "This is my fault. I wanted only to show you the peace they had achieved. But somehow, I showed you... what you must not know."
Suddenly, the Old Woman blows some powder into John's face. He flings his arms up over his eyes and falls sideways onto the rocks. He grabs his face and gets to his knees. He rubs his eyes and nose.
John: "No. Again." He stands up and looks off into the distance, as though he can see something.
Old Woman: "The vision I showed you... "
John is lying on the pad near the sacrificial goat. There are red robed priests all around it.
Old Woman: "... became real." Priests can be heard chanting. This continues throughout.
John is standing on the top of a cliff, holding his arm and hand straight up in the air.
John stands by a wall that has symbols on it. He fits his hand to one of the symbols.
The Old Woman blows more powder into his face.
John looks up and sees the Darnaz Probes descending from the sky.
A red robed Priest brings down a thin bladed knife.
John reaches down and picks up the golden pyramid shaped tile. It has symbols carved on it.
With a shock wave, the Darnaz Probes land on the planet.
The Old Woman blows yet more powder into John's face: "Grayza can never know where the third probe is."
is standing on the cliff, by the pyramids. Many red robed priests
are gathered near the flat pad. They all turn to look at John.
John, still looking down, takes a couple of stumbling steps backwards.
The priests start to move towards John, although he is far away.
Old Woman: "You cannot tell her."
John takes another step backwards, towards the statue. He sees a red robed priest coming towards him.
Old Woman: "You must die."
The Old Woman is lying on the rocks, near where John was sitting. A red robed priest walks past her.
Old Woman: "Oh, forgive me."
In the trees, Braca looks down a long pathway. He stops and looks around. He begins running forward, followed by a Peacekeeper.
John keeps backing away.
Old Woman: "Forgive me. No other way. Forgive me."
Braca keeps running through the forest, followed by a Peacekeeper soldier.
Old Woman glances up: "Walk to the cliff. To the cliff go, now!"
John backs up. There are two red robed priests walking towards him.
The Old Woman is lying on the rocks, near John. There is no one else on the top of the cliff with them.
Old Woman: "Forgive me. Forgive me. Receive his spirit."
Braca and the soldier run down an overgrown path through some old pillars.
Old Woman: "Forgive me. Forgive me."
John grunts and struggles to keep away from the two priests, pushing them away.
Old Woman: "Forgive me. Receive the spirit of John Crichton."
John staggers alone, near the cliff's edge. He stops and turns, looking down at the ocean and the rocks below.
John turns back from the cliff and sees the two priests.
John and the Old Woman are alone on the cliff.
Old Woman: "He has to die. Ohh! Forgive me."
John faces the two priests.
Old Woman: "He has to die. Has to."
The priests' faces both look like the Old Woman.
Braca runs up onto the cliff and stops just behind the Old Woman. He is breathing heavily. He sees John standing alone, on the edge of the cliff.
The two priests both raise their hands and blow powder at John's face. He throws his arm up to ward off the white cloud. He sees flashes all of the scenes he has seen before... his hand on the symbols, the child's tile, the Darnaz Probes landing and the priest bringing down the knife. He sees the priest blow powder in his face.
His eyes roll up into his head. He turns and runs full out towards the edge of the cliff. Braca and the Peacekeeper soldier start to run towards him, but John leaps off the cliff, feet first, and falls, arms and legs flailing, towards the rocks and the ocean down below. Braca gets to the edge of the cliff and watches John enter the water, feet first.
Old Woman: "He had to die."
Braca looks back, a pained expression on his face.
Old Woman: "He'll never tell you now."
Braca looks back at the ocean. The sound of the chanting has stopped, but there is some tinkeling like a chimes.
Old Woman: "Never."
TO BE CONTINUED...


AN-32 crash: Rajnath Singh pays tribute to IAF personnel
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh paid tribute to defence personnel who lost their lives due to AN-32 crash in Arunachal Pradesh on June 3. The aircraft had crashed over the Rinchi Hill above Heyo village, about 30 km from Mechuka advance landing ground. In July 2016, an AN-32 aircraft went missing after taking off from Chennai for Port Blair with 29 people on board.
Updated : 21 June 2019, 09:45 AM


According to the Prosecutor’s Office of both Guatemala and the United States, Mauricio López Bonilla accepted money from organizations dedicated to drug trafficking, including the Los Zetas cartel, between 2010 and 2015.
The former minister used his “influences and authority” to facilitate drug trafficking operations in Guatemala. He reportedly gave them information on police operations and ordered National Civil Police agents to escort shipments of cocaine.
“These acts reduced the activities of the security forces and protected drug traffickers while transporting drugs within and through Guatemala,” a report explained, which establishes that he is officially accused of the crime of associating with criminals distributing five kilograms or more of cocaine, and with the knowledge that it would be imported into the United States.Steven Dudley wrote published an extensive report on Bonilla for InSight Crime in December. Guatemala's homicide rate has decreased for nearly the last decade. Some of that decrease might be explained by police and justice sector reforms. However, the arrests and allegations against several members of the former administration (Perez Molina, Baldetti, and Bonilla) must lead one to believe a large share of that homicide decrease was the result of a pax mafioso between organized crime groups, drug traffickers, and the government of Guatemala.
The explanation for the decrease in homicides is somewhat more complicated that simply a pax mafioso, however, given that the decrease began before Perez Molina took office and has continued since his resignation and arrest.


text:
Read an Excerpt
The most important questions are often the ones you didn't know to ask. Even the best doctors in the world can't give you the right answers unless you ask them the right questions first.
But how do you know what the right questions are? "Ask your doctor." You've heard it a million times, but do you really know what to ask? What if you don't know very much about heart disease, feel intimidated by your doctor's expertise, or simply feel overwhelmed by your diagnosis or the diagnosis of a loved one?
More than ten years ago when my mother suffered a major heart attack, I felt overwhelmed. As I nervously watched her vital sign monitors bounce around, it occurred to me that I didn't know what to ask the doctors about her condition. In that moment of total helplessness, the only thing I had was questions. But I just didn't know what to ask.
I vowed to learn how to ask better questions. When I started taking my mom to her follow-up doctor appointments, I spent time researching her medical options and planning questions for her doctor. I wanted to be a well-informed consumer for her sake so that I could make sure she was getting the very best care possible.
This experience sparked my interest in questioning skills. As I read about questions, I was surprised to learn how little attention most people pay to them. It seems that our society is so focused on solutions and answers that we rarely stop to consider the quality of our questions.
I started teaching questioning skills as part of my graduate-level business classes in Washington, D.C., and Perth, Australia. My students liked it so much that I developed the concept of "The 10 Best Questions" as a way for them to learn questioning skills, team dynamics, and research skills all at once. Since 2003, I've taught hundreds of students who have interviewed thousands of experts. For example, my students have researched what to ask when you buy a house, get married, adopt a dog, hire a financial planner, change careers, invest in stocks, retire, plan a wedding, talk to your teenagers, choose a university, and for great sex.
To learn their secrets, I conducted a series of interviews with top question askers. Helen Thomas, the legendary White House reporter, is famous for her press conference questions to every president since John F. Kennedy. She told me, "Before a news conference I would think, What's the best question to ask? I have the courage of ignorance in my questions. I always get nervous, figuring out what to ask a president. But I believe you have to be curious and keep asking why."
Dorothy Leeds, who has authored nine books on questioning skills, told me, "Everything in my life has come about from asking questions, every major change. It's amazing how questions can enrich your life, both from a career and personal standpoint."
Peter Block, an international management consultant and the author of the book The Answer to How Is Yes, said, "There's a deeper meaning to asking questions. It's a stance you take in the world, a desire to make contact and get connected."
I talked with many professional interviewers like Susan Sikora, a TV talk show host in San Francisco; Debbie Nigro, a New York radio host; and Richard Koonce, a journalist and consultant in Brookline, Massachusetts. Each responded with a version of, "You are only as good as the questions you ask." Since then, I've focused my consulting work on helping CEOs and organizations develop their own Best Questions.
For the information specific to this book, I interviewed two former U.S. surgeons general and the president of the American Heart Association. I also interviewed prominent experts in cardiology, heart surgery, cardiac rehabilitation, nutrition, exercise, women's cardiac issues, preventive heart health, stress, fitness, special populations, smoking and alcohol cessation, and personal and family relationships.
So, what are the traits of the best question askers? They are smart, curious, and fearless, yet humble enough to learn from someone else. They value listening and inquiry. Great question askers see every person they meet as a walking encyclopedia of valuable information just waiting to be unlocked by the right questions. And finally, as Albert Einstein once said, "The difference between me and everyone else is my ability to ask the right questions."
The 10 Best Questions in this book won't make you an instant Einstein. And as the Question Doctor, I certainly don't claim any Einstein-like brilliance. I believe that a good mind knows the right answers, but a great mind knows the right questions. Now that great mind is yours. This book is for "smarties," not dummies.
Each list of The 10 Best Questions is derived from as many as nine hundred questions from hundreds of sources, including books, journals, worldwide print media, Web sites, and expert interviews. A Best Question has to really earn its title of "Best." I've also included the "best answers" that my experts and research provided so that you'll know when you are hearing the full story. The information in this book should not replace medical guidance or professional counseling.
There is one more question per chapter that I call "The Magic Question™." A Magic Question is that one great question that even smart people rarely think to ask a gut-level question you usually think of when it's too late.
In writing this book, I've taken a practical and holistic approach to heart disease to make you an empowered patient. I want to help with your key decisions, choices, and relationships by suggesting what you can ask your doctors, medical experts, partner, family, friends, and ultimately yourself after a heart attack or the diagnosis of heart disease.
Your lifetime prescription for good health is to stay informed. As former surgeon general Dr. C. Everett Koop told me in an interview, "There's nothing that will lead to better medical care than a knowledgeable patient."
The 10 Best Questions in this book give you the actual script in hand for each major conversation and decision you are facing. Be sure to ask plenty of your own questions, too. Question guru Helen Thomas says, "There's no such thing as a bad question, only a lot of bad answers."
As the Question Doctor, I sincerely hope that this book will give you the strength, comfort, and knowledge you need to embrace a lifetime filled with good health and lots of good questions.
Copyright © 2009 by 10 Best Questions, LLC
Robert Benchley, American humorist
Heart disease can sneak up on you in the prime of life. Like a lion stalking its prey, it moves silently into your heart's arteries and waits to pounce as a heart attack or chest pains (angina). Most people don't realize they have heart disease until they develop symptoms, chest discomfort, have pain, shortness of breath, or have a heart attack.
You are not alone. In the United States, heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women. It takes another life every thirty-four seconds. Every year, more than 1.5 million people in the United States have a heart attack. About four hundred to five hundred thousand of them die. Half of the deaths occur before reaching the hospital.
A heart attack happens when the blood flow to a section of your heart muscle becomes completely blocked. If the flow of blood isn't restored quickly, the heart becomes starved for oxygen, is damaged, and begins to die. The medical terms for a heart attack are myocardial infarction, coronary thrombosis, and coronary occlusion.
The main culprit in heart attacks is coronary artery disease (also called CAD), which results when a fatty material called plaque builds up over many years on the inside walls of your coronary arteries (the arteries that supply blood and oxygen to your heart). An area of plaque can rupture suddenly, causing a blood clot to form on the surface of the plaque. If the clot becomes large enough, it can block the flow of oxygen-rich blood to the heart.
The diagnosis of a heart attack is made from your symptoms, the electrocardiogram, and blood tests taken during your initial evaluation. This chapter's Best Questions assume that you've already had a heart attack and are now well enough to have a conversation with your doctor. A loved one or a nurse can also ask these Best Questions on your behalf.
1. Did I have a heart attack? How do you know for sure?
The first step in diagnosing a heart attack is to be suspicious that one has occurred, especially if you didn't have the classic crushing chest pains or other typical symptoms. About one-third of all heart attacks lack dramatic symptoms, especially for women.
Your medical team is likely to be fairly certain. Tests can quickly confirm a heart attack, so emergency treatments can be started immediately to restore blood flow and minimize heart damage.
An electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) records the electrical abnormalities typical of a heart attack and can identify the areas of the heart muscle that were deprived of oxygen and damaged. Blood tests measure the cardiac enzymes (creatine phosphokinase or CPK, special subfractions of CPK, and troponin) that are typically elevated in the blood several hours after a heart attack. A series of blood tests during the first twenty-four hours confirms the heart attack and the amount of heart muscle that has died.
A heart attack is very different from cardiac arrest or sudden cardiac death. A blockage stops blood flow during a heart attack, as compared to cardiac arrest, when the heart suddenly stops beating due to abnormal or irregular heart rhythms (called ventricular arrhythmias).
2. Why did I have this heart attack? What caused it?
The definition of a heart attack is the death of heart muscle due to the sudden blockage of a coronary artery by a ruptured blood vessel that causes a blood clot. Coronary arteries are the blood vessels that supply blood and oxygen to the heart.
A blockage causes injury to the heart muscle, chest pain, and the feeling of chest pressure or other symptoms. These other symptoms include sensations like indigestion, burning, a tightness or heaviness, feeling like a band or belt is tightening across your chest, jaw discomfort, back pain, numbness in your arms, a shortness of breath, or unusual fatigue.
Blockages are caused by plaque buildup in a process called atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis has no symptoms, which is why heart attacks often surprise their victims and are called "silent killers." Symptoms from atherosclerosis generally occur only after the blockage is greater than 70 percent. But many heart attacks are caused by blockages of less than 50 percent that rupture. When this happens, the result is a blood clot in the artery that causes a complete blockage and results in a heart attack.
3. How much heart damage is there? Where is the damage located? Is my heart permanently damaged?
Time spent is heart muscle lost. The longer it took to get medical attention after the onset of your heart attack, the more heart damage there is. The heart muscle that has lost blood supply begins to die. The amount of damage depends on the size of the affected area and the time between onset and treatment.
If the blood flow is not restored within a few minutes, the affected heart muscle cells can suffer permanent damage or die. Irreversible death of the heart muscle begins within twenty to forty minutes from onset. But the heart is very tough and can keep working even if a part of it has died. The heart heals itself by forming scar tissue.
Future complications depend in part on the location of the damage (either the right or left ventricles, which are the lower heart chambers). Your outcome is worse if the heart attack caused significant damage to the heart muscle and resulted in heart failure. Heart failure can be treated with medications (see chapter 9) and lifestyle changes (see part 3). Ask your doctor to explain more.
In addition, heart muscle damage can result in damage to the electrical signaling system that tells the heart to contract. Some people need a pacemaker to correct this function of the heart muscle.
4. What is my ejection fraction?
The ejection fraction is a comparison of the quantity of blood ejected from the heart's left ventricle during its contraction phase with the quantity of blood remaining at the end of the left ventricle's relaxation phase. A normal ejection fraction reading is between 60 and 70 percent.
If the heart muscle is damaged during a heart attack, it has an impaired ability to eject blood. This reduces the ejection fraction, which can result in heart failure.
The ejection fraction is one of the most important predictors of your prognosis (long-term health outlook). People with a significantly reduced ejection fraction typically have a poorer prognosis. However, with time to heal and the use of medications for heart failure, your heart can improve its ability to pump blood.
5. Which tests, treatments, and medications was I given?
If you had a heart attack, you probably were in the hospital's intensive care unit (ICU) or coronary care unit (CCU) and may have needed several days in the hospital to recover. You probably received several different tests and may have had a procedure called angioplasty or coronary artery stenting to open blocked coronary arteries. Some people need emergency coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG). See chapter 10.
You most likely received oxygen and were hooked up to an ECG machine to monitor your heartbeat. You may have received blood thinners, aspirin, and other medicines.
Find out the details, write them down, and request that copies of your medical records be sent to your family doctor.
6. Please explain my treatment options for interventions, surgeries, or medications. Which ones do you recommend and why?
Dr. Paul Kligfield, a medical director at New York's Cardiac Health Center, says, "Some patients tell their doctors, 'If I have a heart attack, you take care of it.' But the patient really needs to monitor his own treatment, risks, side effects, and problems. Patients are the ones with the disease, not the doctors, so they need to be actively involved."
Another important question is, "What happens if I choose to do nothing?" Choosing to do nothing must be a conscious decision reached by you with your doctor, not a denial of your heart attack or diagnosis. It's only natural to want to pretend it never happened. However, for most patients after a heart attack or with unstable, progressive heart disease, medical or interventional treatment and lifestyle changes will reduce the risk of additional cardiac events.
Also ask, "How long do I have to make decisions about treatments?" Depending on your heart's damage and disease and the amount of atherosclerosis in your arteries, you may have more time than you think for some clearheaded thinking and research.
Ask (especially if you've had major heart damage), "Do I need a pacemaker or an implantable internal defibrillator?" These are implanted devices that help to regulate your heart's rhythm or prevent cardiac arrest. See chapter 10.
Be careful to follow your doctor's recommendations. Many heart attack survivors are vulnerable to complications, especially soon after their cardiac event.
7. What can I do to help prevent another heart attack?
Your doctor will discuss risk factors and possible medications, surgery, or procedures. There are actions that your doctor will take (like performing surgery or prescribing medicine) as well as risk factors out of your control (age, gender, etc.).
But the point of this question is to learn what actions you can take personally and proactively to heal your broken heart. Think of this question as the beginning of a lifelong conversation about the lifestyle changes you are willing to make to help yourself and your heart. See part three of this book.
Medical experts unanimously agree that the most important things you can do to prevent another heart attack are the following:
Get more physical activity.
Eat heart-healthy foods.
Maintain a normal weight.
Go to a cardiac rehabilitation program.
8. Which lifestyle changes are the most important and will make me feel better?
Even if you were dealt a bad hand due to a family history of heart disease, you can fight back by controlling what you eat and your physical activity. Better lifestyle habits can dramatically reduce your risk for another heart attack and even reverse heart disease. Hearing this from your doctor is your most important first step to inspire you to make changes during your recovery.
Of course, for most people these changes are much easier said than done, especially if you belong to the couch potato club. This is why starting and sticking with a cardiac rehabilitation program is vital. Your goal is to improve your lifelong health habits.
9. Will you give me a referral for a cardiac rehabilitation program? How soon can I start?
If you are talking with your cardiologist, ask for a referral for a cardiac rehabilitation program. If you are talking with a doctor who you aren't likely to see again, hold on to this question until you are with your cardiologist or primary care physician.
See chapter 12 to understand why this is a Best Question, especially if you are older, a woman, or a person of color.
10. Considering my age and physical condition, how long will my recovery take? When can I resume my normal activities?
You'll want to know when you can start driving, working, and exercising. Ask again if you aren't sure or if the doctor gives you a vague answer.
Also ask these other important questions:
Are there any activities I should avoid altogether? If so, for how long?
Will my chest pains, weakness, and other symptoms go away?
When can I safely have sex again?
Are my feelings (depression, sadness, etc.) normal?
How normal a life can I expect now?
Do I need someone to care for me when I first get home from the hospital?
When should I call you if I think I'm having symptoms?
Do I need nitroglycerine tablets?
The Magic Question
What are the warning signs of another heart attack? What should I do?
Knowing these warning signs can save your life.
A heart attack is a medical emergency. If you have the symptoms of a heart attack, seek immediate medical help by calling 911, even if you aren't sure. Don't wait more than five minutes.
Some heart attacks are sudden and intense, but most heart attacks start slowly with only mild pain initially. This is why some people wait too long to get help. Here are the warning signs:
Chest, neck, jaw, back, or arm pain
Upper body discomfort
Heaviness in your chest
Squeezing or a tight band around your chest
Shortness of breath
Nausea or vomiting
Kathy Berra, MSN, the clinical director of Stanford University's Heart Network, simplifies the list of "triggers" for heart symptoms or chest pains. She says, "Remember the four E's: exercise, exertion, exposure to cold, and eating a large meal. If you have any warning signs plus one of the four E's, be sure to let your doctor know immediately. If the symptoms don't go away with rest, call 911 and go to the nearest emergency room."
Women are more likely than men to experience the less common symptoms, like nausea or shortness of breath. See the American Heart Association's Web site (www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3053#Heart_Attack) for more information.
You can probably relate to management consultant Dr. Caela Farren's memory of her 2004 heart attack: "The background tape that kept running in my head was, 'This can't be happening to me!'"
The good news is that many heart attack survivors have an excellent prognosis thanks to modern advances. This is especially true if treatment is started within one hour of the onset of symptoms.
The most important factor in treating a heart attack is time. Dr. Spencer B. King, III, an executive director and the interim president of the Saint Joseph's Heart and Vascular Institute in Atlanta, says, "Time is muscle. Time is the key ingredient."
Dr. Timothy J. Gardner, president of the American Heart Association, concludes, "I want to make one thing very clear. There is well-established evidence that the emergency treatment of heart attack patients with emergency or very rapid catheterization or clot-busting drugs with catheters is the best treatment for patients with acute heart attacks."
Copyright © 2009 by 10 Best Questions, LLC

domain: medical


Woman traumatised after attack by stalker who scoured the streets for vulnerable women
Last updated at 15:13 12 November 2007
Albanian Irma Dragoshi, 34, was battered with a blunt instrument as she waited for a bus in Longford Village, west London, on December 16, 2003.
Giving evidence at the Old Bailey she said she was left in terrible pain and still suffered headaches as a result of the head injury.
She broke down in tears as she revealed she can remember nothing of the attack and only recalls waking up in a hospital bed.
Miss Dragoshi pointed out the spot on her head where she was hit and said: "It's still there. I can feel it."
Prosecutors claim her alleged attacker was 38-year-old Levi Bellfield who searched London streets looking for vulnerable women to attack.
He is said to have killed two and attacked three more victims between 2001 and 2004.
The court heard Miss Dragoshi had been dropped at the bus stop in Old Bath Road by her boss who had given her a lift from the Definitions hair salon in Slough, Berkshire.
She was waiting for the delayed number 81 bus to take her to her Hounslow home which should have arrived at 7.30pm, when she took a call from her husband Astrit.
"He used to ring me every night asking where I was and if I had finished work," she told the court.
Miss Dragoshi said she was on the phone between five and 10 minutes.
"What is your next memory," asked prosecutor Brian Altman.
Breaking down in tears she replied "I was in hospital. It was 11.30pm or 12am or more. I had a big lump on my head. It didn't fit in my hand it was so big."
The victim was hospitalised overnight and remained off work for a month after the assault.
Jurors saw a picture of Miss Dragoshi taken two weeks after she was hit, which showed her suffering from two black eyes and swelling.
She said: "I had strong pain from the back of my head from inside. I had very painful headaches. It hurt a lot.
"I still have them even now." It is claimed that nightclub bouncer Bellfield spotted Miss Dragoshi waiting in the dark as he drove past with a friend.
He stopped the car and shouted "watch this" before darting across the road and attacking her and running off.
Earlier Detective Constable Nick Deakin told jurors how Mrs Dragoshi was "wailing, screaming and crying" in a "hysterical" state when he arrived at the scene.
She told police officers at the scene she had been hit across the head after an attacker came from behind and tried to grab her phone.
DC Deakin, who was a uniformed officer in 2003, said: "She had the phone in her hand and indicated that someone had come from behind and attempted to move her phone.
"Her phone was apparently being reached for and she said she was struck on the head."
The officer said Miss Dragoshi was "on the verge of collapse" several times as they tried to get her to the ambulance.
He added: "She was trying to speak but her hysterics were almost preventing her from talking."
The prosecution claim Bellfield toured bus stops late at night to pick out vulnerable lone women to attack and used the illuminated interior of the bus to spot victims.
Bellfield is also accused of bludgeoning French student Amelie Delagrange, 22, to death as she took a shortcut home across Twickenham Green in August 2004.
He further denies mowing down Kate Sheedy, 18, the headgirl of a convent school, as she walked home from a night out with friends in Worton Road, Isleworth, on May 28, 2004.
His first attack is said to have been on 17-year-old Anna-Maria Rennie in Hospital Bridge Road, Whitton, on October 15, 2001.
Bellfield is accused of trying to drag her in to his Ford Mondeo, before she was able to struggle free and run home.
In all five attacks a vehicle belonging to Bellfield was seen near the scene, the jury has heard.
Bellfield, of Little Benty, West Drayton, Middlesex, denies two charges of murder, two of attempted murder, causing grievous bodily harm, kidnap and false imprisonment.
The trial continues.
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Who would have thought that a leather coin purse could look like a modish bag if you just put a strap on it? Take a look at this Givenchy Leather Coin Purse with Strap and you’ll know what we’re talking about.
Taking a simple yet fashionable approach, this downsized option with signature finesse that gives it a sleek fold-style silhouette is all you could ever ask for in a luxury coin purse. What’s more to love about this is that it made with genuine and smooth calf leather. We never thought that owning a coin purse could be this good!
And if that’s not enough, this minimalistic styled coin purse also comes with a removable strap so that you can easily transition it into a stylish mini bag for lunch-date days with your equally sassy girlfriends. It features a snap-buttoned fastening, which gives you easy access and a sense of security.
Measuring 3.5” x 3” x 1” (H x W x D) inches and the price is $450 USD, 370 euro, £320 GBP, $3990 HKD, $750 AUD
Bottega Veneta has done it again. This is such a special and truly unique bag that represents everything the house has to offer, from authoritative detailing to expert workmanship to obvious beauty. The use of intrecciato is nothing new, to say the least, but the Olimpia has something really remarkable going on: double rows of different weaves, as well as perfect, knot-style stitching nestled in between those two symmetrical portions of weave and the center panel of glossy python.
The strap is the ideal length to go over the shoulder just as easily as you can carry it as a top-handle bag, and it comes in at a nice size with an easy, open interior. Given all the artistry and craftsmanship, as well as the python involved, it’s a worthy investment. Compare it to a Chanel classic flap or Boy bag, coming in at the same price but in all leather with no finery or keen details. At least none like this. I don’t want to go so far as to say it’s a steal, but I’m willing to bet in five years, you will be glad you picked this piece up now. Just take a look at in person; marveling at this masterpiece up-close gave me goosebumps and a rush of profuse joy. If that’s not worth an investment, I don’t know what is. Bottega Veneta OlimpiaLouis Vuitton
During my most recent perusal of Louis Vuitton’s new arrivals on the brand’s website, I came across something that shocked even me: a crocodile version of the beautiful new Louis Vuitton City Steamer Bag, retailing for a mind-boggling $55,500. I have a couple questions, including, why couldn’t they leave off the $500 and make it a nice, round number?
My other major question was whether or not this is Louis Vuitton’s most expensive handbag of all time, and according to my research, it’s not. The Richest counts two special edition Louis Vuitton minaudieres at more than $100,000 apiece, but neither was made out of traditional handbag materials, so that seems like cheating. When you narrow the list down to regular handbags, the most expensive representative of which I can find record is the Dora PM in crocodile, which is close (but no cigar) at $50,000 currently; the most expensive previous version of the bag was $54,500. This bag, in my humble opinion, is leaps and bounds more beautiful than that one.
With that in mind, I’m comfortable declaring this bag the brand’s most expensive leather offering of all time, and for the most powerful luxury brand in the world, that’s worth noting. Louis Vuitton has been ramping up its leather and exotic offerings for years in an effort to charm the world’s wealthiest shoppers, and it seems clear this model is meant to compete head-on with the ultra-rare, ultra-expensive exotic versions of the Hermès Birkin. Someone had to take on that iconic bag eventually, and there’s perhaps no one more qualified than Nicolas Ghesquiere at Louis Vuitton.
Check out the bag for yourself at Louis Vuitton; to purchase, you’ll have to have your people call their people.Other Brands
What’s pink, fancy and chained to perfection? Yep, you heard that right, it’s the Prada Pink Leather Wallet on Chain! This pretty piece is such a big winner these days, coveted by lots of bag lovers who are on the look for big finds. You can’t help but be a big spender with this WOC.
Measuring 21cm x 10.5cm (L x H), this baby is ample-sized when it comes to storing all of your essentials. It comes in a beautiful Saffiano Metallic Gold sheen, which sparkles just as you do. Its pale rose color complements most outfits, giving out a pop of color everywhere you go. It has an extractable leather and chain shoulder strap, steel hardware and snap closure, keeping all of your stuff intact.
Inside, it has six credit card slots, a coin compartment with zipper and four document pockets – imagine all of the features on this thing! This bag is truly a gift that keeps on giving.
Priced at €900 EUR or £745 GBP, you can get your very own Pink Leather Wallet on Chain via Prada e-store.
We are swooning over Saint Laurent and their Leather Camera Bag! Like, why not? This leather babe has packed-on so much style points even with its simple and sleek design. We do get that there’s a slight similarity (in terms of shape and form) to the Monogram bag, but before anything else, we must correct that notion. It’s a whole different piece on its own, which doesn’t need much of an introduction.
READ: Saint Laurent Monogram Camera Bag
Tasteful in every way, the piece is a structured brushed leather bag with a tonal leather shoulder strap – the design element, which is the curb chain accent (for the black variation), is something which contrasts the whole thing beautifully. It has a two-way zip closure on its main compartment, which assures you that your stuff ain’t going anywhere. Inside, it even has a patch pocket, giving you additional room.
Measuring 6.5” x 5” x 2” inches (L x H x W), you can get your very own Leather Camera Bag for $1505 USD

domain: artistic


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Dr Pepper Gets a Buy from JefferiesBy Jason Carr
According to TipRanks.com, Grundy is a 4-star analyst with an average return of 4.3% and a 74.2% success rate. Grundy covers the Consumer Goods sector, focusing on stocks such as Spectrum Brands Holdings, Estee Lauder Companies, and Edgewell Personal Care.
Dr Pepper has an analyst consensus of Moderate Buy, with a price target consensus of $101.67.
Based on Dr Pepper’s latest earnings report for the quarter ending December 31, the company posted quarterly revenue of $1.58 billion and quarterly net profit of $165 million. In comparison, last year the company earned revenue of $1.47 billion and had a net profit of $182 million.
Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 96 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is negative on the stock. Last month, David Thomas, the EVP of DPS sold 5,695 shares for a total of $548,201.
TipRanks has tracked 36,000 company insiders and found that a few of them are better than others when it comes to timing their transactions. See which 3 stocks are most likely to make moves following their insider activities.
Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. engages in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of non-alcoholic beverages with a portfolio of flavored carbonated soft drinks and non-carbonated beverages. It operates through the following segments: Beverage Concentrates, Packaged Beverages, and Latin America Beverages. The Beverage Concentrates segment involves in manufacturing and selling carbonated soft drinks and other branded concentrates and syrup. The Packaged Beverages segment offers manufacturing and distribution of packaged beverages and other products through both direct store delivery system and warehouse direct delivery system. The Latin America Beverages segment includes manufacturing and distribution of concentrates, syrup and finished beverages. The company was founded on May 7, 2008 and is headquartered in Plano, TX.

domain: finance