Author's Note: So in case I've confused people, I posted chapters 4 and 5 before I posted chapter three. I noticed that yesterday so you're getting two chapters in two days, the catch is that in order to have the whole story you have to go back and read the new chapter three. I've labeled it new chapter so hopefully everything that's going on in the story makes a little more sense now. Sorry for the mix up folks. Bright side is the accelerated posting, downside, I still have a lot more to go before this is finished.
Oh and quick warning, there's some mention of self cutting in this chapter. It's not meant in the traditional sense of the word but I don't want you all to be taken by surprise.
6) That Point Me To Another Day
They'd gone through three more containers, River had stopped throwing her bombs after the second one since there seemed to be no end to the creatures and Simon suggested they might need them later. This container felt different to Riddick, the air was strange, a tang to it he couldn't place. Johns had kept the torch and was containing his terror by burning through the walls as quickly as he could. Riddick added his weight to Simon's as the doctor pressed against the crates. But the crates felt odd under his hand, he shook his head and moved a bit away from the others, lifting his goggles up so he could see in the darkness.
River looked around, catching Riddick's thought, and shook her head, "This is not a good place to be," She pushed Shazza towards Simon, "Stay with him, stay with the others…" She moved towards Riddick and then stared into the darkness beyond the crates where they stood. "Zāo gāo," She muttered quietly as she realized where they were.
Riddick looked down at the slender woman he'd claimed and caught burnt cinnamon drifting off her, "Nī zi ?" He asked questioningly.
River shook her head, "Just confirming what you already knew. Don't let the others know."
Riddick nodded and moved into the darkness, River following him until he found what he'd sought, reading it out of his mind. A predator was sitting on a crate eating one of the dead hatchlings, an ugly thing with a whip like tail tipped with a sharp tip, front legs clawed, spiky pointed teeth and an ugly bone crown on its triangular head. It didn't seem to really have eyes, the two indentations on either side of its head seemed useless, but spearing out from either side of its skull were two sharp extensions, possibly what the things used to catch returning sound so they could identify their prey.
River took a deep breath and stuck her sai between her teeth. Looking up she nodded and began to climb the wall, bracing herself until she was in the corner, in the nick of time as a larger predator dropped out of a hole in the ceiling and began to run its blade like front leg over Riddick's chest.
Hassan came around the corner and Riddick caught him in a viselike grip around his neck. "Extremely bad timing. Don't move kid," Riddick snarled and couldn't believe his shit luck. Then another predator joined the first and he knew that unless there was some sort of distraction they were all screwed.
River braced herself a bit more firmly and reached into her shirt pulling out the one bomb she'd hidden there after she'd stopped throwing them. She hadn't known why at the time but it had seemed like the right thing to do. "Distraction in five," She whispered to Riddick, "Hide your eyes."
"Four," He responded tightening his grip on the boy, silently counting down with River and squinting his eyes as closed as possible. Three, two, one. As distractions went it was a good one. River threw a bomb at the far end of the container hitting another predator and covering it with goop that exploded into flames when it was exposed to the air. The monster that had been dropping down to join its brother retreated into the night. And River launched herself onto the one that had been poking at Riddick, her sai driving deeply into its back.
It screamed and threw her off its back so she tumbled to the ground. Riddick let go of the kid and grabbed for River only to have Hassan run like hell. The wounded predator took off after the moving target and Hassan screamed as he was caught. Riddick picked up his partner and ran for the opening to the new container. He'd just made it when light flashed into his eyes and he stumbled into the container, falling and landing on top of River, knocking the breath out of both of them.
A third predator unseen by either of them dropped down in front of the opening and Johns, his trigger happy nature useful for once, blasted it twice with the shotgun.
"Hassan, where is Hassan?" Imam's voice was asking desperately.
Riddick wheezed in a breath and tried to move. So far he and River were being ignored in favor of the predator which had dropped dead from the ceiling. River poked him with a demanding finger, "Riddick is much heavier than the girl. This is not an equitable exchange as could be supposed from hypothetical constructs."
He was still a reeling from the light and lack of air and just shook his head, "Sorry what?"
"Heavy," River simplified her words, her partner didn't do well with bright light in his sensitive eyes and his head was sure to hurt, "The girl is smothering."
"Oh," Riddick rolled off her and lay on his back panting while she did the same, her head falling back to the floor now that the effort of speaking wasn't required. "Sorry."
"It is negligible now that she has access to oxygen once again," River assured him. She propped herself up on her elbows and looked through the forest of legs to the dead predator, "Interesting."
"What's that nī zi ," Riddick concentrated on deep breaths and controlling the urge to pull River on top of him and kiss her just to remind their animals they were alive.
"The night has a thousand eyes, and the day but one; yet the light of the bright world dies with the dying sun," River murmured. "The mind has a thousand eyes, and the heart but one; yet the light of a whole life dies when love is done."
"Sorry, didn't get that one," Riddick pushed himself up and reached down to help her.
"Perhaps her meaning was obscured," River conceded as she got to her feet and gestured towards the predator. "Light harms them, not like you, not an irritant to your eyes. Light burns their skin, erythema solare to the twentieth power."
"Huh," Riddick did his best to sound stupid mindful of Johns turning to look at him. "That's handy ain't it."
There was a sound from the other container of squabbling and Imam's face was a study in misery, "Is that Hassan?"
"We'll burn a candle for him later," Johns turned away, sensitive to grief as ever, "Come on. Let's get out of here."
Riddick leaned against the wall, River kitty corner from him was sharpening her sai with methodical strokes. He could tell she was using the repetitive motion to meditate, her eyes were focused completely on the blade. He spared a moment to think on when he could sharpen the sai she'd given him and shrugged, it would have to do as it was, letting Johns know he had it would only get it taken away. River moved slightly, her eyes flickering over him and he regretted the thought that had distracted her. Johns had screwed with her meditation earlier and she needed all the calm she could gather to deal with this bunch.
She moved then, shivered and walked over to stand beside him, paused a moment and then leaned heavily against his body. Her hand slid behind his back drawing his sai from its hiding place and replacing it with hers. Once his duller blade was in her hand she shivered again and nudged him. Riddick looked down at her and tilted his head, those gorgeous dark eyes of hers were looking up at him expectantly. With a mental shrug he draped an arm around her shoulders and snugged her tight against his side. That brought the expected objection from Johns.
"Girl get away from him, he ain't a gorram doll for you to cuddle," The merc snapped in annoyance.
River stuck out her tongue at him, "Cold. The big man is warm and doesn't mind sharing with the girl." She looked up at Riddick, "Do you?" A small smile played about her lips as she began to sharpen his sai.
"Nah, you're fine nī zi ," Riddick rubbed her shoulder. "Don' 'xactly got heaters 'round here." He looked at the boy, Suleiman thoughtfully, "You warm enough kid?"
The teenager nodded but smiled gratefully, "I am well thank you Mr. Riddick."
"And I don't want this gǒushǐ duī to get ideas," Johns snarled before Simon stepped in.
"Johns, right now I'd rather River stayed closer to Riddick than near you," Simon interrupted. "My sister has very good instincts and thus far on this planet they've proved right. He saved her life once already and he won't do anything to her while we're all here."
Johns sneered but turned his attention back to Fry who was inventorying light, "So we've got one cutting torch." She paused and nodded, "We've got two hand lights. There's gotta be something we can rip out of the crash ship."
"Alcohol," Simon suggested. "Anything over forty five proof burns rather well."
"How many bottles have we got?" Fry wanted to know.
"I don't know," The doctor shrugged, "Maybe ten."
"Johns, you've got some flares," Fry said thoughtfully. "Maybe we got enough light."
"Enough for fuckin' what?" Johns demanded. When Fry just tilted her head at him, Johns held up his hands as if to ward her off, "Lady if this is your right mind, I pray you go insane."
"We stick to the plan," Fry said in determination. "We get the three cells back to the skiff. We're off this rock."
Simon spoke reluctantly, shaking his head, "I hate to ruin a beautiful theory with an ugly fact...but that sand cat is solar. It won't run at night."
"So we carry the cells," The pilot retorted, "We drag them. Whatever it takes."
"You mean tonight," It wasn't a question no matter how it sounded as River spoke.
Shazza blinked in astonishment, "With all those things still out there?"
Johns held up his hand for everyone to pause a moment, "All right. Now how long can this last?" He asked looking around the room, "A few hours? A day, tops?"
Imam's voice was reluctant, understandable considering what he had to say, "I had the impression from the model...the two planets were moving as one and there would be a lasting darkness."
"These suns gotta come up sometime," The merc argued. "If these creatures are phobic about light, then we just sit tight and let the sun come up."
"I'm sure somebody else said that" Riddick drawled the words out in his darkest voice, "Locked inside that coring room."
"We need to think about everybody, especially the kids," Johns protested with false nobility, "They'll be scared out there in the dark."
"Don't use them like that," Fry sneered.
"Like what?" Johns rolled his eyes heavenward.
"As a smoke screen," The pilot lifted her chin, "Deal with your own fear."
"Why don't you shut up for two seconds," Johns' hands clenched into fists, "And let me come up with a plan that doesn't involve mass suicide?"
Riddick watched and knew that it wouldn't take long before Fry would drive Johns into doing something foolish. She wouldn't be able to help herself. She'd been ready to kill them all to save her skin, and now she wanted to save them all for the same reason. River's scent bloomed in tendrils of cinnamon and chocolate again, she really didn't like him thinking on Fry. "Tell you why later," River murmured in response to the thought.
Sure enough, it only took a few minutes before Fry was taunting Johns, "I'm waiting. How much do you weigh?"
"What's it matter?" Johns looked at her as if she'd lost her mind.
"How much?" Fry persisted.
"Around seventy nine kilos, if it's that important. Why?" Johns pushed a hand through is hair in frustration.
"Because you're seventy nine kilos of gutless white meat, and that's why you can't think of a plan," Fry smirked at him.
"Is that fuckin' right?" Johns snapped the shotgun up so it was all too casually aimed at Fry.
Riddick mentally sighed, knowing River wasn't going to like what he had to do, but if they were going to keep Fry as an ally, even temporarily, she was useless dead. He unwrapped his arm from River's shoulders and stepped between Johns and Fry, the shotgun rested both barrels on his sternum. "Think of the reward Johns," He smiled evilly.
"I'm willing to take a cut in pay," Johns snarled, pressing forward with the gun.
"And a cut to your gut?" Riddick pressed the point of the wickedly sharpened sai to Johns' belly. Most times bringing a knife to a gun fight would just get you shot, but with Johns, all bluster and bully and no brains or guts, that sharp tip against his flesh was all it took. He knew too well just how good Riddick was with a shiv.
"Trash baby you're gonna regret this move," Johns whispered but he backed off even as Imam pleaded for the men to see reason.
Fry spoke from behind Riddick while River seethed in her corner over her partner protecting the unworthy blonde woman. "They're afraid of our light. That means we don't have to be afraid of them."
"Yeah but," Shazza shook her head, "And you are sure you can get us there?" She looked around the container shadows all around, "Even in the dark?"
"No, I can't," Fry shook her head coming up right behind Riddick and laid her hands on his bare shoulder and bicep, "But he can."
Riddick was violently aware of River's eyes staring at Fry's hands on him. Cinnamon and chocolate were bursting off of her along with roses and sugar and threads of citrus. He frowned, the anger, jealousy he could understand, no other woman should touch him but her, he liked that she was possessive of him, her mate. But why would she be confused, and embarrassed? And hurting? He really needed to get his woman alone and talk to her about this. Moving out from underneath Fry's hands without a word he returned to River's side and touched a hand to her skin. She was cold again, the desert planet chilly now that the suns were gone. It would get colder before it would get warmer.
"He does not have to share his warmth with her if he does not truly wish it," River said in a small voice as Fry began marshaling their resources to create makeshift torches. "She has no wish to be an inconvenience."
Riddick took a look around the area and drew her slightly away from the circle of light so they wouldn't be seen talking immediately. "Are you doin' that thing where you try not to read me 'cause you think I deserve privacy?" He murmured into her ear. "'Cause every time you do that we end up in a fight 'cause of a misunderstandin' and this ain't the time or place for it zhì 'ài ." His lips touched the curve of her ear and tendrils of honey wove through her scent, sugar fading slightly, "You think I want that biǎo zi touchin' me?"
"I know you encourage the not-captain so that she does not turn to Johns," River spoke in that barely there whisper only he could hear. "I do not wish to make this more difficult for you, but to see her touch you…when I have to…act the child to have your touch, your comfort…" She shuddered and took a deep breath, "I thought if I didn't listen it would be easier to bear, seeing her touch my mate."
"All right, I got that," Riddick kissed her hair. "But you listen an' you'll be able to tell exactly what I'm thinkin' when she does that." He tipped her chin up so he could see her face and kissed her forehead, thinking clearly at her, 'Now what else is wrong zhì 'ài ? I know you're in pain.'
River shuddered and he could smell, as well as see, the tears that were streaming down her face. Before he could say anything else she buried her face in his shirt and sobbed, shoulders heaving, openly weeping like he hadn't seen in a year or more. Automatically he wrapped an arm around her and rubbed her back trying to soothe her as if she were still the little girl he'd comforted back then. A half moment later he was grateful he'd done so, glad River had hidden her face as Fry and Johns held up the hand light to see River crying into his shirt.
"What's wrong with her?" Johns asked with an ugly tone to his voice.
Fry narrowed her eyes and took in the relatively innocent position of Riddick's hands, and the extremely unsexy way River was crying and shook her head. "She's just a kid and he kept her warm Johns, she's probably just having the nervous breakdown we all deserve," The pilot said with a sigh, "You want me to get Simon?" She asked Riddick.
"Let's see if she calms some, she was goin' on 'bout hurtin' and worryin' him," Riddick gave a half shrug with the shoulder not holding River. "She smells like she's in pain." He patted River's back a little awkwardly, "Uh, nī zi , how're ya doin'?"
"Doesn't need an audience for her sniffling," River spoke clearly against his chest, though that she was still in tears was pretty evident.
"An' what am I?" Riddick shook his head a half smile curving his lips. His girl was all sortsa smart, he could feel her animal and his calming some even from this ersatz embrace simply because Fry was witnessing it.
"Tiger tiger burning bright, in the forests of the night, what immortal hand or eye dare frame they fearful symmetry," River spoke more clearly as she pulled her face away from his chest. "In what distant deeps or skies burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire, what the hand dare seize the fire? And what shoulder and what art could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, what dread hand and what dread feet? What the hammer? what the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? What dread grasp dare its deadly terrors clasp? When the stars threw down their spears and water'd heaven with their tears, did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the lamb make thee?"
Fry was completely bewildered and it showed on her face. Johns gave snort of disgust and turned away muttering about crazy girls. River had drawn the attention of the others with her words and Simon made a small noise of amusement, not quite a chuckle. He apparently was the only one who'd understood what River meant. "Doc," Riddick rumbled, "Care ta shed some light on the subject?"
"It's an old Earth That Was poem," Simon shrugged as he used his nimble surgeon's fingers to make wicks out of rags and a cork. "Tigers, like all cats, can see well in the dark. I think River was comparing you to a predator, one that is comfortable in the darkness." He smiled slightly, "Her way of giving you a compliment, and I suspect, thanking you for letting her cry. She's never been comfortable with weakness."
"Who is," Shazza offered with a nod of agreement. "River, nī zi , can you give me a hand with this?" She held up a coil of fluorescent tubing. River nodded and took Riddick's hand, trying to tug him along with her, much to Fry's amusement.
"Guess she thinks you're her pet tiger," Fry smirked to Riddick, adult to adult.
"Eh, there're worse things I could be than nī zi 's guardian tiger," Riddick smirked back and felt another wave of citrus come off of River. Her hand pressed to her belly slightly and he frowned, inhaling deeply. Blood, old blood. The shot Simon had given her had been too late, or it wasn't going to work completely.
River gave him a sharp look that only Shazza seemed to catch and the pioneer woman took River's hand and tugged her down beside her, "You all right?" The dark haired woman asked as she handed River some tubing.
"The shot is effective but I will still have pain and some…of that we were hoping to avoid," River murmured. "If I say anything…" She hesitated, her eyes flickering over Johns and Fry.
"Yeah, can see why you wouldn't," Shazza agreed. "Riddick seems to know something's up though, he won't say anything?"
"I think he…" River looked at Riddick who returned her gaze blandly as he spoke with Fry, "I think he knows, he can smell the change, but he won't say anything. Likes me more than Johns or Fry."
"Good," Shazza nodded, "Well here's hoping it isn't as bad as we think."
River nodded even knowing that it was going to be much, much worse.
River held the torch high over Imam as he shrugged on the first harness of chains. Shazza was helping him into it, making sure the straps lay flat. Johns was fumbling with the second harness and Riddick's hands reached for the chains, easily moving them and helping Johns. Simon was on the opposite side of the sled, Suiliman behind it; everyone held a torch or was carrying something. Riddick had a harness strung with a few small handhelds, and slung it over his body crossways so the lights were on his back like a beacon. Everyone was wrapped in fluorescent light tubing, leading like tentacles or webbing to the sled Imam and Johns would pull. River and Suleiman carried smaller bottles of whisky lit on fire for a wider halo of light to scare off the predators.
"I'll be runnin' ten paces ahead," The convict told Fry. "I want light on my back but not in my eyes. And check your cuts. These bad boys know our blood now." He looked at Shazza and nodded towards River.
"Are we actually going to do this?" Suleiman asked nervously looking around.
Simon turned and regarded the boy with calm eyes. "There was an old saying on Earth That Was, 'if God be for us who can be against us'," He offered with a half smile. "Even if I die, it will be enough to know that my sister and I are free."
"We stay together," Fry said firmly, "We keep the light burning. That's all we gotta do to live through this thing."
Johns looked at her as the pilot drew closer to the sled, "Are you ready?"
"Look, we're just wasting light here," Fry was clearly impatient to go. River wasn't sure she disagreed on this particular point but forbore from speaking. Johns always became more agitated when she talked and no one needed a twitchier Johns.
"You give him the cells and the ship," Johns told Fry in what he thought was a quiet voice, "And he'll leave you all out there to die." He stared at the pilot repeating the key words slowly, "He'll leave all of you."
"I don't get it," Fry shook her head at Johns, disbelief coming out of every pore. "What is so goddamn valuable in your life that you're worried about losing? Is there anything at all? Besides your next spike?"
Johns rolled his eyes, River fought the urge to do the same. Fry was irritating when she was self-righteous. She seemed to forget she'd tried to kill all of them and even if they'd made it to their destination, she was flying a slave ship. Her pep talks really weren't all that effective on people who knew the truth, though Imam, Suleiman and Shazza perked up noticeably.
Simon and River exchanged looks and River hefted her torch in one hand and kept her sai in the other. Riddick hadn't openly displayed his sai since his one threat to Johns, a wise move, the girl thought, considering Johns was nearly as afraid of Riddick as he was the other predators out there. For once Simon didn't have his bag with him, she'd convinced him it would be better to leave it aboard the skiff, hidden so Johns couldn't get at the drugs inside. Riddick had hidden it for her, that had been part of why he'd nearly been late for the sand cat.
"I think there's something wrong with the torch," Suleiman called as from behind the sled. River glanced back, they'd been running for the better part of an hour but the boy's bottle couldn't be empty.
"Let's have a look," Shazza dropped back, examining his bottle, "You've got to make sure the rag stays in the liquid right? Don't shake it about or it won't have any fuel to draw from."
"Stay close," Fry admonished and Shazza nodded coming up to jog next to River.
It wasn't long before the boy was calling again that there was something wrong. "Wait," He had unwound his shield of tubing until it was only a coil or two over his chest and was feeling for something in the darkness, a dropped flare.
"Stay in the light," Suleiman's wave of terror nearly sent her stumbling and she moaned slightly. Before she could get to the boy, or tell him to raise his torch, something snaked close in the shadows around them. River dropped her bottle on the sand and slashed out with her sai, blue blood spattered on the blade. "Suleiman, get into the light," She called urgently, picking up her bottle again to find him in the darkness. Suleiman stared at her, a curved appendage protruding from his belly, and reached out a hand. Before she could take it, he was gone, pulled out of the light and into the darkness with a scream of terror.
With Suleiman pulled away, his tubes had dislodged the little light generator on the sled, it fell to the ground, and everyone's shield of light died. River shuddered and reached for his torch, resting on the sand beside the sled, holding it up with her own to shield the others from the darkness. Shazza scrambled to grab another bottle and lit it on hers, light blazing through the darkness.
River shuddered as Suleiman died, and Fry hurried back to take the lost boy's torch. Simon's arms wrapped around River as she shook violently in the aftermath. "Luò jǐng xià shí ," She nearly wept the words. "God never listens or I'd beg to be a stone, please make me tiě shí xīn cháng," She knelt and covered her ears as if to block out the screams, "Too many dead all screaming at me."
Riddick turned at the sound of the commotion just in time to see River kneeling in the sand. Covering her ears was never a good sign, it meant everyone's emotions were too loud. Then there were the predators all around them, he'd gotten the distinct impression that she could sense their minds, which meant their hunger was pressing in on her as well. He moved quickly into the circle of light, only to be greeted sarcastically by Johns, "Well, it's good to see you're okay."
"Yeah whatever," Riddick ignored the merc to crouch by Simon and River, Shazza standing with a torch over the girl close by. "Hey nī zi ," He greeted River. "What's goin' on?"
"Loud, they're all very loud," River muttered, "They won't stop yelling and its worse because its not in my ears." She had fisted her hand but her sai lay bloody in the sand. "I need to do it, but the blood will call them. What do I do, what do I do, what do I do..." She muttered shaking her head.
"Doc, you think you can get her on her feet?" Fry called, more than a little irritation in her voice, "We're burnin' light here."
Riddick didn't bother to glare at the pilot, "Listen to me River," He put a hand on her arm and squeezed. "Listen to me." He repeated until she looked up and met his eyes. She always met his eyes; no matter how dark his goggles, she could always meet his gaze, it was just one more thing he loved about her. "You do what you gotta, you hear me? Whatever you gotta to get through this."
"Need a sword, axe, any blade will do," River spoke more clearly once Riddick touched her, his animal reaching hers, calming her so she could find her own animal beyond the mind numbing terror everyone else was feeling. "Need to become what they made me."
"All right," Riddick picked up her sai and closed her fingers around it, "Got your blade. What's next?"
"Blood," River stretched her arm out and drew the tip of the sai over her inner arm, drawing a delicate line in her flesh. A thin red line of blood rose up and she took a deep breath along with Riddick, inhaling the scent and using it to bind herself back into her own body. Bringing her arm to her mouth she licked the wound and took another breath. "All right," She gripped the sai in a far more business like manner and rose to her feet. "Thank you," She looked at Riddick. "I was getting lost."
"Do I even want to know?" Fry asked in exasperation.
River stared at her, dark eyes cold as the starlit sky, "I have been one acquainted with the night." She spoke in chillingly correct tones. "Shall we continue?"
"Are we gettin' close?" Shazza asked after another hour or more had passed. There was no moon, nothing to indicate the passage of time, just unending night.
"Can we pick up the pace?" Fry asked from her place by the sled, casting a wary glance behind her. The sound of a shotgun ratcheting jerked her eyes back to the front of the sled. Johns had shrugged out of his chains and with quick steps forward jammed the shotgun into the back of Riddick's neck. River could almost sympathize with Fry's exhausted and disbelieving tone as she asked, "You want to tell me what's goin' on?"
"We crossed our own tracks," Imam explained, casting a wary glance upwards and around them into the darkness.
"Why have we circled?" Johns demanded to know as Fry looked at the tracks on the ground. Shazza drew in a fearful breath while Simon visibly braced himself for the worst.
"Are we lost?" Imam's voice wasn't judgmental but neither was he pleased.
"Listen," Riddick's voice cut through the fearful babble that was rising around him.
"Do you even know where we are?" Imam demanded.
"You all speak and speak but you never hear," River cried out in frustration, "Listen!" She'd never heard anything like it, the sound of Imam's beads multiplied and magnified by a thousand thousands. The sound of ball bearings cascading down a metal staircase or, more ominously, Geiger counters riding next to an atomic bomb.
"Canyon ahead," Riddick said quietly in the dead silence that followed, everyone suddenly listening to the sound of doom riding the wind. "I circled once to buy some time to think," He shook his head.
"To think about what?" Fry shook her head, "What's to think about?"
"About how to kill us and still get these cells to the skiff," Johns aimed the shotgun at Riddick's head, "Gorramnit, we're just doin' the heavy lifting for this prick!"
"I think we should go now," Imam said calmly taking hold of his chains again.
"Oh, I don't know about that," Riddick shook his head. "That's death row up there. Especially with the woman bleeding."
"What?" Fry looked at him in astonishment.
"What the fuck you talkin' about?" Johns actually lowered the shotgun in astonishment to look at Fry, "She's not cut."
"Not her," Riddick's grimace of an expression clearly explained what idiots he thought the self-proclaimed leaders were. "Her." His eyes were glued to River.
"You gotta be kidding me," Johns groaned as if finally sank in how River could be bleeding, "Sào zhou xīng." Both Simon and Riddick glared at him while Shazza just sighed.
"The shot helped, bleeding isn't as bad," River shook her head, "But any blood is bad enough," She looked at Simon, "They would have left me there. You couldn't have stopped them, would have died trying. So I asked for the shot and hoped."
"Oh River," Simon wrapped his sister in his arms, "I'm sorry mèi mei."
"Are you really bleeding?" Fry asked quietly.
"You would've left me at the ship," River repeated with quiet certainty, "That's why I didn't say something sooner." She looked into the darkness, "Let those who are in favour with their stars, of public honour and proud titles boast, whilst I, whom fortune of such triumph bars, unlook'd for joy in that I honour most."
Simon blinked at her and then looked at Fry and Johns who both looked as annoyed as ever when River began speaking in poetry. Riddick however, wore a slight smile as he regarded the slender girl, almost as if he understood what she'd meant.
"They've been nose-open for her ever since we left," Riddick's tone was quiet as he spoke to Imam though matter of fact, but he cast a sympathetic look at River that no one except Shazza and Simon noticed, "In case you haven't noticed, they go off blood." No one spoke for a moment as the wind gusted and flames sputtered the sounds of the canyon ahead even more ominous on the rising wind.
"Look, this is not gonna work," Fry shook her head, "We're gonna have to go back."
"What did you say?" Johns had a new target for his rage and jitters and he jumped on it, "You're the one got us out here and made us into sled dogs."
"I was wrong." Fry shook her head, "I admit it." She spread her hands, "Can we just get back to the ship?"
"I don't know," Johns bit the words off in agitation, "Nice breeze. Wide-open space. I'm startin' to tā mā de enjoy myself out here."
"Are you high again? Just listen to yourself," Fry hissed fiercely.
"No, you're right," Johns sneered his anger with Riddick forgotten in the face of a new smaller and weaker target. "What's to be afraid of? My life's just a steaming pile of meaningless shǐ niào anyhow," He shook his head. "So I say, 'Mush on.' The canyon's only a couple hundred meters and after that it's skiff city." Johns pointed a finger at Fry, "Why don't you butch up, stuff a cork in this jiàn huò and let's go."
"She's the captain," Imam was once again the voice of reason, "Listen to her."
"Listen to her?" Johns looked at him in incredulous derision. "When she was willing to sacrifice us?"
"What?" Shazza's head snapped around, while Imam's face showed his shock.
"This," Fry's voice was faint as she tried to stop Johns' flood of words, "does not help us."
"The crash," Johns' voice rose over Fry's protest, "She tried to blow the passenger cabin, kill us in our sleep."
"Shut your mouth!" Fry shouted furiously.
"We are disposable," Johns shouted back, "We're just walkin' ghosts to you?"
"Bì zuǐ! Shut your tā mā de qiào !" Fry launched herself at Johns, her fingers like claws only to be hurled to the ground.
"Fine," Imam shouted, "You made your point." He looked at Johns, "We can all be scared." Turning, Imam was studied Riddick, River and Simon, none of whom had moved or reacted to the scene at all, except to keep a wary eye out for the predators. "You are not...surprised by this?" He asked quietly, casting a glance at Shazza who was pale.
Riddick shrugged, "Johns forgets sometimes that cryo don't work on me," He looked at the merc, "That's what happens to hypes, priorities get a little skewed. I heard the whole thing, more'n half the ship gone in less'n five minutes. Had to drop more load, get the nose down."
"And you two?" Imam regarded Simon and River.
Simon didn't quite smile, "I was in cryo, oblivious just like the rest of you." He glanced at River, "But my sister trusts me, and she told me everything."
River tilted her head and regarded Fry thoughtfully, "The painful warrior famoused for fight, after a thousand victories once foil'd, is from the book of honour razed quite, and all the rest forgot for which he toil'd: then happy I, that love and am belov'd where I may not remove, nor be remov'd."
"I'm sorry but I don't understand," Imam shook his head. Shazza drew closer to the four of them while Johns looked around, surveying his new domain, master and commander.
"She's talkin' bout reputation," Riddick said slowly. "Anybody stakes their rep on one thing, an' then fails at that thing, well, they ain't remembered at all after that." He shrugged, "This planet's a lot like Slamcity, one wrong move and you're done." He looked at River and nearly smiled at how neatly she'd distracted the shepherd.
"How much do you weigh now Fry? Huh?" Johns sneered at the near weeping pilot in the dirty sand. He looked at the rest of them and cracked a flare open. "The verdict's in. The light moves forward."
Author's Note: So we have dissension in the ranks and folks have seen some true colors here. How'd I do? Sorry about reusing the Blake poem but it fits so well. The fact that it confuses the hell out of Johns and Fry is a bonus. What do all of you think? Who's going to make it off this rock?
Translations:
Zāo gāo - crap/nuts/crud/literally 'spoiled cake'
Nī zi - little girl
gǒushǐ duī - a person who behaves badly; literally a pile of dogshit
zhì 'ài - most beloved
biǎo zi - whore
Luò jǐng xià shí - to hit a person when he is down
tiě shí xīn cháng - to have a heart of stone / hard-hearted / unfeeling
Sào zhou xīng - comet/jinx/bearer of ill luck
mèi mei - little sister
tā mā de - fucking
shǐ niào - shit and piss
jiàn huò - bitch
Bì zuǐ - shut up
tā mā de qiào - fucking hole/orifice
Quote sources:
The night has a thousand eyes, and the day but one; yet the light of the bright world dies with the dying sun. The mind has a thousand eyes, and the heart but one; yet the light of a whole life dies when love is done. - Francis William Bourdillon
Tiger tiger burning bright, in the forests of the night, what immortal hand or eye dare frame they fearful symmetry. In what distant deeps or skies burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire, what the hand dare seize the fire? And what shoulder and what art could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, what dread hand and what dread feet? What the hammer? what the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? What dread grasp dare its deadly terrors clasp? When the stars threw down their spears and water'd heaven with their tears, did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the lamb make thee? - The Tiger - William Blake
I have been one acquainted with the night - Robert Frost
"Let those who are in favour with their stars, of public honour and proud titles boast, whilst I, whom fortune of such triumph bars, unlook'd for joy in that I honour most. - Sonnet XXV - William Shakespeare
The painful warrior famoused for fight, after a thousand victories once foil'd, is from the book of honour razed quite, and all the rest forgot for which he toil'd: then happy I, that love and am belov'd where I may not remove, nor be remov'd. - Sonnet XXV - William Shakespeare