By sabremeister :

Moya hung in space, unmoving. The assorted crew were passing the time peacefully. It was a day of rest, relaxation, and inactivity for all of them. They had been having to make quite a few starbursts to avoid Peacekeeper patrols recently, and now, in this peaceful, unpopulated area, they were taking the opportunity to relax as Moya regained her strength.

Aeryn was restlessly stripping down her weapons and cleaning them. D'Argo was trying to recall a childhood tune on his Luxan harp. Sikozu was talking to Pilot about Leviathans. Noranti was mixing up something vile-smelling and even viler-looking, although presumably it had a beneficial effect. John was alternating between napping and trying to compose a new message to his dad. Of Chianna and Rygel there was no sign.

John finally gave up trying to think of something to put in his message, and since he was not remotely tired, called D’Argo. "Hey, Big-D! You doin’ anything?"

"I was," came the reply. "You broke my concentration. What is it, John?"

"Sorry, if it’s important, this can wait."

D’Argo sighed under his breath. "No, it’s not anything that can’t be attempted later. What is it?"

"I was just wondering if you wanted to throw a few on the hangar deck?"

Another sigh from D’Argo. "Why not? It’s not as though anything’s going to happen otherwise, is it?"

John was already up. "Better not," he replied. "I’ll see you down there." He went over to where he’d put his baseball and mitt that he’d brought back with him from Earth. And couldn’t find it. He cast about for a few minutes, and, still not finding it, called D’Argo again. "Hey, D’Argo – I’ll be a few minutes, I’ve misplaced my ball."

"Take your time."

John stood and thought for a while, and recalled Rygel snooping around last time he’d swept by. Rolling his eyes at how obvious the solution was when he thought about it, John called Rygel. "Rygel! Hey, Rygel!" Then, "Pilot, where’s Rygel?"

"I don’t appear to have a fix on him, Commander," replied Pilot, "is something the matter?"

"Nah – he’s just run off with my baseball, is all. I’ll catch him. Where’d you last see him?"

"DRDs last report seeing Rygel on tier six."

"Oh great. When?"

"About an arn ago."

"He could have gone anywhere in that time. D’Argo! Wanna play hunt the Hynerian instead?"

"What’s Rygel done now?"

"Run off with my baseball, Pilot last saw him on tier six an arn ago."

"I’ll help you look."

"Anyone else wanna help look for Rygel?"

"Why, what’s he done?" came Aeryn’s voice.

"Taken John’s baseball," D’Argo told her.

"Where was he last seen?"

"On tier six, an arn ago."

"May as well – it’ll be something to do."

"Sikozu? Granny? Chianna?"

"I’ll stop here with Pilot, thanks, I’m not done talking to him."

"I cannot leave my preparation at this stage in its’ preparation."

John sighed. "Chianna? Chianna?"

D’Argo broke in. "Pilot, let me guess - Chianna hasn’t been seen for an arn, either."

"A little more, Ka’a D’Argo. Last seen on tier five."

"Okay, so we’re looking for two missing persons and one baseball & mitt. I’ll see you guys on tier five in a few microts."

But after twenty minutes of searching, John, Aeryn and D’Argo had found no sign of Chianna and Rygel.

"You got anything at all up there, Pliot?" asked D’Argo.

"Nothing new," came the reply. "However, Sikozu has suggested something that will guarantee we can at least contact Rygel temporarily."

"Can you do it?"

"It will take a few more microts to implement, Commander. Ah – ready when you are."

"Proceed, Pilot."

"Done. You may try calling him now, Commander."

"Hey, Rygel? Where’ve you got to?"

There was no reply for maybe half a second, then the sound of Rygel growling, plus an occasional yelp from someone who could only be Chianna in the background, and a constant rhythmic "whump whump whump". Then the sound cut off, but not before Chianna was heard saying "Don’t you dare!".

"Is that it?"

"I did say ‘temporarily’, Commander."

"Okay, I get that. Did you get a location out of that?"

"The signal appeared to be coming from the ventilation hub."

"That’s on the other side of the ship," Aeryn remarked, "how did they get up there?"

"And what," D’Argo rumbled, "were they doing to make those noises?"

John looked sidelong at him. "You really wanna know? Come on, let’s go get my ball back."

The three of them made their way to the ventilation hub. Just before they got there, Rygel appeared through a door, at head height. He was going so fast he nearly ricocheted off the wall. He was dragging something large and white behind his chair. The little Hynerian came to an abrupt halt when he saw the three.

"Thank goodness you’ve found me! It was hell in there!" he said, shaking.

"Rygel," John began. "Why – and I realise this may be a silly question – are you wearing a bedsheet?"

"It’s a long story that I don’t intend to enlighten you with," he snarled, and sped off again in the opposite direction.

"Shall we get after him?" asked Aeryn.

"I think we’d better find out what happened to him first," John replied. "Besides, he’s out of whatever it is, and Chianna could still be in it."

"He came through this door," D’Argo said, striding forward. The door swung open as he approached, and the three of them crowded in the doorway.

On the far side, there was a miniature table, with miniature cups and plates, and several slices of what appeared to be cake. And Chianna, sitting sulking next to it all, by a pile of Rygel’s clothes and several assorted items of jewellery.

"What the frell has been going on here?"

Chianna looked up. "I wanted to have a tea party."

"It doesn’t appear to have been very successful."

"I didn’t have a dolly, so I used Rygel. He looked so cute in that sheet that I altered to be a dress, but he got away."

As D’Argo and Aeryn fell about laughing, John asked, "You didn’t happen to notice if he had my baseball on him, did you?"