Moya, Above (and on) the Water Planet.

[stykera]

Some time later, Chiana, Jothee, and Rygel were in the Center Chamber. Chiana had half-dragged the still silent Stark there in an attempt to get some food into him. She was certain he hadn't actually eaten anything since they'd arrived back on Moya. Her attempts at feeding him were meeting with little success.

"Here Starky," she said, offering up a spoonful of something Noranti had concocted as if the Banik were an infant. Still no success. He didn't want food. He didn't want anything. He just wanted to be left alone in his head until things made sense again. Which they almost did. Almost. Maybe there was a way. Maybe.

He was close to having a handle on the remnants of Yondalao in his head. The Eidelon's voice had been unbearable at first. Too bright and too loud and altogether overwhelming. Given enough time, time he should have been given before assisting Yondalao to the other side, Stark had been able to acclimate to this as he had done with the thousands of other souls that had been his responsibility at one time or another. None of those had ever carried so much with him as Yondalao had. The Eidelon had deliberately given more than was usual to the Stykera because he had to. The peacemaking ability had to be shared with the modern Eidelons. Stark had understood this on some level even while trapped with the dying Yondalao onboard the Decimator. But a theoretical understanding was no match for the painful reality of it. That reality had taken time to process and an accord had to be reached with Yondalao. That the man's remaining spirit had offered something of an apology to Stark for the necessity and violence of it all went a long way toward reaching that accord. Stark's face gave no indication of this. He appeared to simply be staring off into space as he had spent so much time doing of late. What lay under his mask would have shown far more.

"I don't remember him being like this," Jothee said, but he was referring to Rygel and his tears rather than Stark's unresponsiveness.

"Nobody does," Chiana answered. "Toad, what's with the waterworks?"

"I miss the baby!" came the response from the still tearful Rygel.

"What baby?" Jothee asked, understandably confused. "He had a baby?"

"It's kind of a twisted story," Chiana said, moving another spoonful of food toward Stark's

"It's the chemical imbalance in his system from carrying the child," Stark explained quietly and unexpectedly, still staring at something that wasn't there. "He will recover eventually."

Chiana and Jothee stared. Rygel, shocked that not only was Stark speaking but making sense, ceased his crying.

"Stark, are you all right?" Chiana asked.

"I'm quite fine," Stark answered hesitantly, a confused expression on his face, nearly as surprised as she was at the answer. Chiana beamed at him. Unable to return the smile yet, Stark instead reached for the bowl of food she had been attempting to feed him from. "But I think I may be hungry after all."

Mere moments later the began to Scarrans attack not only Moya but the water planet they had just begun to orbit. Unable to find a clear path to Starburst to safety, Moya entered the atmosphere and dove to the planet's surface. And then kept diving, finally settling at the bottom of the ocean. But Leviathans are meant for deep space, not deep water.

In the confusion of the attack and the emergency water landing, it took a few moments for the others to notice that Stark had disappeared when he heard the Scarrans were attacking the Eidelons on the planet below. His sanity, never a sure thing, was more fragile than ever and he had panicked and run.

[The transcripts on Terra Firma are to be thanked as always. And we're closer still to the end. Whee?]