Synopsis
Aeryn is being held captive aboard a Scarran freighter captained by Jenek, a ruthless and ambitious Scarran of the Ruling Order. Along with a traitorous Sebacean nurse, Vreena, Jenek questions Aeryn, using powerful drugs and Scarran heat torture.
After discovering that Aeryn is pregnant, they want to know the identity of the father. Aeryn is able to resist only by recounting stories of her time away from Moya – apparently spent with other lovers.
Meanwhile, having made a deal with Scorpius, Crichton travels back to the mixed-up version of Moya that he visited in Unrealized Reality. Crichton believes that Sikozu/Stark on this alternate-Moya knows the location of the secret Scarran base called Katratzi.
Back on normal Moya, a Command Carrier appears in the distance. The crew decide, with much argument, to hold their ground and try to disguise themselves, although some think that they should starburst immediately.
Through the wormhole, Crichton finds the alternate Moya and her crew, but he and Scorpius cannot extract the information they need from Sikozu/Stark unless she is crossing someone over to the next life.
On the Scarran freighter, Aeryn meets Morrock, a pregnant woman who has been imprisoned there for cycles. The Scarrans have been impregnating her over and over again, hoping to harness and enhance the unique traits of her species in her offspring. Jenek kills Morrock's unborn child while Aeryn watches in horror.
Morrock assures Aeryn that hoping for rescue is futile, but Aeryn is determined to protect her unborn child. At first she withstands the Scarrans' relentless drugging and torture. Finally, though, she confesses that her only true love is John Crichton – the father of her unborn child.
On alternate-Moya, Scorpius cold-bloodedly kills one of Sikozu/Stark's crewmates, but discovers she can only cross over those she loves - forcing John into a decision to kill alternate–Moya's Aeryn/Chiana. It works, and they return to normal Moya in time to escape the Command Carrier.
On the Scarran freighter, Aeryn gives a final display of her tenacity by forcing Morrock to admit she is a Scarran spy and killing her. She is then thrown into a cell to await arrival at Katratzi, where surgeons are awaiting to remove her unborn child.
