As it turns out, Jenavia is a Peacekeeper spy, assigned to watch Clavor and kill him if he takes the throne.

Since she has decided that Crichton must also be a Peacekeeper, Crichton plays along. Jenavia says she admires his dedication – she would not agree to be turned into a statue for 80 years.

"Interesting coincidence," Crichton comments. "I was just having the same thought."

That worries her. "Are you wavering?" she asks.

"And if I am?" Crichton says.

She leans in close to him. "Would you hesitate to kill me if I jeopardized the mission?" she asks.

Crichton demands a few concessions: Princess Katralla can marry whomever she wants, while Prince Clavor will give up the throne and get Scorpius off Crichton’s back.

Ro-Na pokes her head in as Crichton leaves. Clavor orders her to get his mother.

When Councilor Tyno arrives, he is outraged to learn that Crichton has been slapping a prince around -- especially since Jenavia disintegrated the assassins' bodies, removing all evidence that Clavor ordered Crichton’s death.

It doesn’t help that Crichton refuses to name the person who rescued him from said assassins. However, the real reason Tyno doesn’t believe Crichton is that the entire royal family "abhors personal violence."

Moments later, Princess Katralla grabs Crichton, slaps him and orders him to follow her into the next room.

Once they’re alone, she slaps him again. Since Clavor has complained to Empress Novia about Crichton’s "obnoxious" behavior, she feels humiliated.

Katralla and Novia can’t believe Clavor would try to kill Crichton either. The family’s intrigues have always stopped short of murder.

"I cannot believe that he would participate in such a heinous act," she says. "If so, then you’re lying, and I cannot marry you."

Moya is still in the nebula, being explored by the entity who created her.

"Be calm," says Kahaynu. "I am the ship’s deity, not yours."

Kahaynu has inspected Moya, and found her in good health. However, because she has given birth to the gunship Talyn, he intends to decommission her.

Aeryn refuses. She claims that Crichton "knows what he needs to know."

Dregon interrupts their conversation. He’s noticed Aeryn and Crichton’s difficulties, and offers to take her on a trip to the Barren Lands as a diversion.

"Besides," he points out, "you never know. We could be extremely compatible."

He offers her a vial of the compatibility-testing formula, and she throws it into the river.

"Now don’t feel bad," she tells him. "It’s not you, it’s me. I don’t like you."

Katralla still doesn’t believe Crichton’s story. As they discuss it, a spherical robot enters the room.

The robot begins emitting a smoky gas. The door is locked; they’re trapped.

Crichton pulls Katralla down to the floor to avoid the smoke. Even so, they’re on the verge of succumbing when Ro-Na the tailor comes to lead them out through a secret exit.

After their close call, Katralla apologizes to Crichton for doubting him.

"Aren’t we past that?" Rygel asks. "You posture and deny any longer, and we both lose what we want."

He suggests stashing Crichton somewhere secret, and Novia has an idea. Ro-Na’s people have placed a barge full of gifts in an obscure orbit, providing a perfect place to hide him.

They quickly work out the details. Only they will know where Crichton is, and Novia will send Ro-Na and a couple of her best paladins to guard Crichton.

Rygel says, "You are most wise, Empress."

"And you are most manipulative," she replies. Both seem to enjoy having a political equal to spar with.

Rygel has just one more concern: Ro-Na. Novia assures him that she is completely trustworthy.

Novia is wrong. At just that moment, Ro-Na is busy receiving a down payment and a trans-sequence ident wafer from Scorpius.

After she leaves, Scorpius orders her death. He doesn’t want any witnesses to Crichton’s capture.

Friendly, cheerful, up to no good

Crichton boards the pod with Ro-Na and his guards. Ro-Na convinces him to install the device Scorpius gave her, which will alter the ship’s transponder.

Moya is shutting herself down. Zhaan tries to convince her to live.

"Whatever this Kahaynu has done to you," she says, "it is not in your self-interest."

Kahaynu appears again and tells Zhaan Moya is shutting down of her own free will. Zhaan does not believe him until Moya speaks to her.

In a strange, songlike voice, the ship tells her it feels "fulfilled" by carrying out her creators’ wishes.

"This is an abomination," Zhaan says, only to wail in despair as the lights go out on the ship.

The others have discovered that Crichton is gone.

Ro-Na and Crichton talk about the cargo ship they’re approaching. When he learns it’s full of wedding presents, Crichton offers them to Ro-Na, telling her "somebody should use the stuff while the warranties are still good."

Ro-Na says that her culture frowns on acquisition. "I often wonder what I would do with wealth," she says.

Crichton says that he used to miss the possessions he left back on Earth, but he’s adjusted to not having them.

Girl talk

In a lavatory, Jenavia and Katralla primp and exchange insults. Aeryn interrupts, slamming them both against a mirror.

She warns them that if they hurt Crichton in any way she "will personally take revenge on your overly made-up faces."

Clavor rants at Cargn about being hit by Crichton. Each suspects the other of the robot attack on Crichton and the princess.

Chiana walks in unannounced. "It’s so, so hard to conduct a conspiracy without privacy," she comments.

If anything happens to Crichton, she tells them, they should "expect retribution. Yeah, retribution."

Realizing how silly she sounds trying to face down a Skarran twice her size, she retreats quickly. Cargn decides that Moya’s crew doesn’t know where Crichton is either.

The transport pod docks with the ship. A burglar alarm sounds as Crichton and the others board, but Ro-Na quickly silences it.

"A little reunion is in order, don’t you think?" says Scorpius’ second-in-command.

Nowhere to run

Braca detaches the transport pod. A Peacekeeper Marauder will arrive soon to pick Crichton up.

Meanwhile, Ro-Na demands the rest of her payment. When Braca transmits his report to Scorpius, the Skarran/Sebacean half-breed orders him to "reward" her.

Crichton asks the holo-image, "Why don’t you leave me alone, Scorpy?"

"Because the wormhole technology locked in your brain makes you – to my knowledge – unique in the galaxy," Scorpy says. He ends the transmission.

"Unique," Crichton muses. He begins flipping switches.

Braca orders him to stop, and threatens to shoot him. Crichton begs him to do just that.

"I don’t think Scorpy is going to give you your badge of commendation if you shoot ‘unique’," he says.

Braca threatens to shoot him in the knees, but Crichton tells him that due to his human biology he’ll bleed out and die if he’s shot even once.

"Let’s do this thing!" he suddenly shouts, showing Braca all the best places to shoot a man. "C’mon, shoot me! Right here, right here!"

Pressing the gun to his hand, he tells Braca to "kill my sex life!" Then he throws Braca aside and returns to the controls.

He engages the cargo ship’s weapons, and the planet’s hypersensitive orbital defense system notices immediately. Defense satellites approach the cargo ship and demand that it identify itself.

The satellites open fire on the ship, which begins taking heavy damage. Crichton dances maniacally among the sparks and smoke.

Mad scenes can be bad for your health

Ro-Na panics, trying to tackle Crichton and bring him under control. In the struggle that follows, Crichton accidentally tosses her into some exposed wires and she is electrocuted.

Braca tries to escape, but Crichton grabs him.

"We have to get out of here," Braca shouts, and Crichton agrees. He prepares to throw Braca out of the airlock.

"Do you want us both to die?" Braca asks.

Crichton replies, "You didn’t think I was going to go alone, did you?"

At the airlock, Braca grabs his helmet and clouts Crichton with it. He puts on the helmet and jumps out the airlock, leaving the ship to Crichton.

Crichton tries to call off the defense satellites, but the communications system has been destroyed. He staggers through the ship, looking desperately for a way to escape.

A voice in his head tells him to focus. "You must survive," it says. "You’ve come too far to die."

Crichton thinks. He picks up one of the fallen guards’ pistols, and begins to hyperventilate.

"You never get off the boat," he tells himself -- but he jumps out the airlock without a spacesuit anyway.

As the cargo ship explodes behind him, he guides himself to the pod using the recoil from firing the pistol. He climbs inside the pod, collapses on the floor and screams in agony.

Zhaan in darkness

Zhaan searches for Kahaynu. "I will speak with you now," she shouts.

He appears before her, and tells her she has the spirit of a warrior. She accuses him of being an executioner, but he calls her recriminations "pointless."

Kahaynu is unconcerned by Moya’s death. He won’t even provide a new ship for Pilot, who will die with Moya.

"This is wrong," Zhaan shouts. "I will not allow this!"

She charges Kahaynu, but he is insubstantial.

Crichton has returned to the planet. As a machine on his face repairs the damage from being exposed to hard vacuum, D’Argo tells him that the Empress isn’t going to do anything about Scorpius.

She is tightening security – again – but good diplomacy prevents her from expelling a foreign power at such an important event as a coronation.

Crichton is surprised that D’Argo can appreciate this political imperative. Rygel has been teaching D’Argo the fine art of politics.

According the Luxan, Crichton has two choices: run or stay. Either way, D’Argo will back him.

Aeryn steps in, and D’Argo leaves them alone to talk. She’s proud of Crichton for not giving up.

Crichton tells her nothing has changed. Marrying the princess is still his best chance for survival, and he also feels he has an obligation to prevent the disasters that will occur if Clavor takes the throne.

"I’m tired," he says. "What am I supposed to do when there’s no fight left?"

"You run away," Aeryn tells him.

"With you?" Crichton asks.

She can’t commit to that. "With all of us, together," is the only answer she can give him.

He turns away.

"You can’t just quit!" Aeryn shouts.

"I’m not quitting," Crichton says. "I just can’t go on."

Aeryn walks away and finds Dregon. She tells him she is going to explore the Barren Lands – he can come along if he can keep up.

Crichton sits alone in his room.

Moya drifts. Pilot’s life is draining away, and Zhaan tries to comfort him.

He tells Zhaan not to feel sad. He and Moya had good lives and feel fulfilled.

The wedding ceremony is about to begin. Jenavia wishes Crichton good fortune, and Scorpius tells him he’s making a mistake.

Crichton tells Scorpius, "I had one request for a wedding present – that you be banned from this planet forever."

The bride enters. Everybody kneels except Empress Novia and Crichton.

The empress begins the ceremony.

Laughter and pain

As the ceremony continues, the empress warns the royal couple that their position will be more obligation than honor. They both accept this, "without hesitation."

The ceremony concludes, and the Empress introduces her successors to the people.

"Magnificent," Rygel murmurs. "I smell power again."

A moment for congratulations and good-byes follows. Crichton gives D’Argo messages he has recorded for Zhaan, Pilot and Aeryn.

Katralla has already stepped into the transformation machine. She calls out to Crichton – telling him that she will stand beside him for 80 cycles with love in her heart – and is turned into a statue.

Now it’s Crichton’s turn. Tyno warns him that the machine is calibrated for Sebaceans, asking him to endure the pain and rule wisely when he is revived.

As Crichton steps up the platform, D’Argo shares an important truth with him: sex with Chiana is "fantastic." Crichton can’t help but laugh, and D’Argo joins in.

The laughter turns to a cry of pain as the transformation takes effect. Crichton staggers and becomes a statue.

To be continued . . .