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For some reason, adult fanfic writers tend to favor Cally and Kerr Avon as a pairing over the seemingly more obvious Jenna and Blake. Why? Here are a few choice selections of dialogue, listed sequentially, to whet your appetite and make your imagination salivate. Or not!
[Avon is working in the teleport bay. Cally watches him for a moment before coming forward.]
AVON: Our leader seems a bit piqued.
CALLY: What are you doing?
AVON: A little private research.
CALLY: (Moves to stand next to him) Why?
AVON: All knowledge is valuable.
CALLY: (Touches her temple as if listening) Which are the forward detector links?
AVON: What? (Pause) Oh, uh.... (Pause) Those two there. Why do you want to know that?
CALLY: I'm interested in your work.
AVON: (Pause) Yes. (Pause) Well, I suppose I'd better go and see what it is that Blake wants.
BLAKE: ...You know what's happening, don't you?
VILA: Happening?
BLAKE: Avon and Cally.
VILA: What about them?
BLAKE: Paired up. Mutual affinities.
VILA: You mean?
BLAKE: Oh, it's been going on for some time now. I didn't realize it had gone as far as this.
VILA: ...But you're suggesting....
BLAKE: Oh, betrayal, treachery, piracy--call it what you will. That is what Avon and Cally are up to.
CALLY: Since when has a personal vendetta been a good enough reason for going anywhere?
AVON: The trouble with the people of Auron is that they all suffer from a superiority complex.... Too good to become involved with the rest of humanity.
CALLY: That's not true. Just because we happen to be neutral doesn't necessarily--
AVON: Neutrality or passivism, it all boils down to the same gutless inanity.
CALLY: You're wrong...Some of us wanted to participate in galactic affairs.
AVON: Yes?
CALLY: [firmly] Yes.
DAYNA: So what happened? Were you overruled?
AVON: The great passive majority psyched them into line. Telepathic communion is a wonderful thing. [Smiles]
CALLY: I joined a group of freedom fighters...defending the planet Saurian Major from the Federation... We're not all gutless, you see.
VILA: And the Aurons punished you for your defiance, didn't they?
TARRANT: Were you exiled?
CALLY: Yes. Why do you imagine I've never gone back? Affection for him? [referring to Avon]
CALLY: So you're Shrinker. He doesn't look like much.
TARRANT: It depends on what you paid to get him.
AVON: He cost me enough.
CALLY: Was it worth it?
AVON: I'll let you know.
...
CALLY: Are you sure you want to go on with it?
AVON: Yes, I'm sure I want to go on with it. Look, Cally, I know you don't want any part of this. All right, I'm not going to give you any part of it. You're out. This is mine. I'm doing it.
CALLY: And what am I doing, Avon? Just following orders, like him?
Later, Cally is still ambivalent, though the crew are going along with Avon's plan. Her final comment in this exchange is cutting. Perhaps she is disturbed by his behavior because she is fond of him and does not want him to endanger his emotional health? and is harsh because she does not wish to appear overtly concerned?
AVON: I'm going down alone.
TARRANT: Not this time.
AVON: This has nothing to do with you--any of you.
TARRANT: That's true.
DAYNA: On the other hand, you are something to do with us.
CALLY: We've talked about it and discovered we care what happens to you.
TARRANT: Within reason, of course.
DAYNA: We're as surprised about it as you are.
VILA: Not to mention, embarrassed.
AVON: I stand a better chance alone.
TARRANT: No, you don't. Are you coming?
DAYNA: We'll try not to get in your way.
CALLY: What's the matter, Avon? Are you afraid of witnesses?
When Anna asks Avon if there is "someone else" in his life, he replies, "No, no, there's no one else." Of course, this statement begs the question of whether he and Cally got together after this episode ended! It is Cally who warns Avon that Anna is about to shoot him by calling his name, an action which enables Avon to kill Anna first.
[Inside Cally's cabin on the Liberator. She is sitting in a chair, holding a sheet of paper]
AVON: [voiceover, out of shot] Cally.
CALLY: What is it?
AVON: [voiceover, out of shot] Well, it looks like a door. And it's closed. [Cally lays the paper on a table then opens the door and he enters the shot.] Zen's fixed the orbit of the mineral asteroid that Tarrant was talking about. We have half an hour to decide if we go after it.
CALLY: Why not? It's something else to chase. [Avon picks up the paper and looks at it.] A sketch of a place I used to know.
AVON: Auron.
CALLY: Yes, Auron. And it's pointless to think about it. I'll never see it again.
AVON: That's why you've been shut in here for ten hours? Thinking about Auron and how you'll never see it again?
CALLY: That's why.
AVON: I wish I could promise you that the sparkling company on the flight deck would take you out of yourself.
CALLY: [smiles ruefully] I'm all right.
AVON: No, you're not. [He rests his hand on her arm.] But you will be. Regret is part of being alive. But keep it a small part.
CALLY: As you do?
AVON: [Smiles] Demonstrably. [Cally smiles, pats him on the chest, and exits. Avon lays the paper down and follows.]
VILA: Look, you don't have to give reasons. You don't even have to explain. Whatever it is, we'll back you up.
CALLY: Or, if you want one of your own cold, rational explanations, we can't afford to lose you.
AVON: Sentiment breeds weakness. Let it get a hold of you and you are dead....
Tarrant: Vila rescued me?
Avon: You were injured trying to rescue Cally. He rescued you. Suddenly I am hip deep in heroes.
Tarrant: Where is Cally?
Avon: Cally is dead.
Tarrant: Are you sure?
Avon: (pause) Yes, I'm sure.
Dayna: He went back in.
Tarrant: You wanted to be a hero too?
Avon: We needed Orac. (disgusted, throws down tool into the interior of Orac) We still do.
Vila: (enters carrying wood for the fire) Orac got a bit dented. For which he blames me. It seems I rescued the wrong one.
Avon: First light, we'll make for the high ground to the south.
Am I the only person to see "Sarcophagus" [see description of scene] as evidence that Avon and Cally were not lovers? I don't think the alien would have been as convinced that Cally would abandon the others, nor as vulnerable to Avon's method of breaking its hold, if they had been.
I think there was an emotional relationship, and a very strong one, but it hadn't got as far as them doing something about it physically. That to me seems the point of "Sarcophagus." I could be wrong, 15 years on and I still haven't made up my mind what happened on Virn.
I also think that no sex was by Avon's choice, not Cally's.
As to how Tanith Lee [writer of "Sarcophagus"] saw the C/A relationship--the other possible evidence is in Kill the Dead, if you think that Ciddy and/or Cilney are Cally avatars. (Helen Patrick)
Well, partly I like that interpretation because it's so tragic. But I think it fits the canon well. I agree that the "Sarcophagus" alien's remarks fit better with an unconsummated relationship than a consummated one.
Also, Avon tells Anna in "Rumours"--in front of Cally--that there's not anyone else. I don't think he's lying. But when I'm in the B/A mood, I assume that he means there's no one else now that Blake has left him. :) (S.E. Thompson)
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