The plot bunnies have been 'bribed' into submission with cupcakes [I know, go figure, right?] and are now quite happy ;) Anyways, so this chapter and the next are going to answer some of the questions you have all been asking, so I hope I don't disappoint. Thanks for all the lovely reviews. And again, this is only for fun, so please don't sue me.
Once the door to the outside had been slid into place and locked in place the survivors took a minute to breath. The only illumination that lit the hallway was the faint light from Paris's lighter and Johns' flashlight. Nothing could be seen down the dark corridor.
"Are these the only lights we have, is this everything?" Paris nervously asked.
"No there should be a cutting torch on the floor somewhere, I just can't find it," Fry replied as she searched.
That's when they heard it; the echoes that had filled their ears outside could be heard in the darkness.
"Quiet please, everyone." Book says as he leans against the thin metal wall separating them from the outside.
"Why do they do that?" Shazza says as she mimics him and presses her ear to the metal.
River's POV
"Specialized inner ear function and primary sensory neurons coupled with enlarged auditory cortex allows for the processing of different noise characteristics when reverberation occurs."
"Why the gorram hell can't you talk normal girl?" the blue eyed devil asks. Agitation is becoming apparent with the girls mode of communication.
"She means it's how they see, it's echolocation" Book answers trying to diffuse the tension growing between the blue eyed devil and the girl.
"Well then why in the gorram hell can't she say that?"
"Don't be such a boob, girl explains things on a scientific level, if you are the one who does not comprehend, not the girls problem."
"Little girl I am getting sick and tired of your fucking attitude, dong-ma?" He says as he takes a step toward the girl. Everyone now moves to get in between the two.
Something can be heard rustling in the darkness and they all quite and look down the corridor.
"Could be a breach in the hull. I don't know." Fry says.
"Come on, Johns. You got the big gauge." Riddick taunts.
"I'd rather piss glass. Why don't you go fuckin' check?"
"I'm not staying here one more second," Paris says as he moves away from the fray. The whelp goes to unlock the door the group had just passed through as Book pulls him away.
"Where are you going? Sit down Paris!" The butterfly almost screams.
"You don't know what's out there," Shazza tries to reason, fear laced in her voice. She is still shaken from her very close brush with death.
"I know what's in here!"
Book wedges open a container and they all begin to hurriedly move inside it. He quickly locks the door behind them.
"Now we're trapped in a much smaller space, I hate this! I am never flying coach again!"
There is a moment where there is complete silence, and then a blade like digit comes through the metal door Book had just closed. Everyone anxiously moves away from the door, and in the meantime Riddick has found the cutting torch and has begun slicing through the metal wall of the next container. Again everyone rushes into the next compartment.
River's POV
The others move to block the makeshift door, hoping the debris they pile will keep the furies at bay. The girl knows further data is needed to complete calculations, and begins to move into the darkness in search of the missing numbers. Variables, numbers, statistics, and calculations begin to run through her mind, and the girl fails to notice the two other figures walking into the darkness...
Riddick's POV
I watch as the others cram as much crap as possible in the hole we just ducked through. I know it wouldn't be enough to keep those things out, but it's better than nothing. That's when I notice the scent of lavender getting fainter. Where the gorram hell does that girl think she is going?
River's POV
The girl stands in the container, transfixed by what she is watching, studying. They have stumbled into the container with the hull breach and one of the monsters sits perched on the container a few yards in front of her. The girl takes in the anatomy of the creature, memorizing every detail.
It looks like an amalgamation of earth-that-was animals that she has seen in her cortext. A head similar to Sphyrna Sphyrnidae, the talons of Aegypiinae Accipitridae, feather-less wings and tail of a R. rusticlus Falco. But what was most startling was the torso, which resembled the exposed muscle structure of an adult male human.
The mind of the fury is fragmented in the girl's head, it chants of desire to feed, wants to gorge on the soft flesh it desires.
And that is when realization dawns, the girl knows these creatures, has seen them before. Their tormenters, the one's that hide behind their righteousness, are to blame. They were monsters, the girl was a prize. While they had been discarded, the girl was made to be something 'special,' something that could only live in corrupt minds. They are all one in the same, Two by Two, and the girl knows where to find the last one, the missing piece…And the girl cannot help but stand transfixed in the shadows, fury beginning to bubble in her veins, and Requiem Mass: Lacrimosa in her ears.
Just as River has melted into the shadows, wrath bubbling under her skin, Hassan timidly steps into the space a few feet from her. He would have continued walking but the creature has rustled loose material with its talon, and Hassan is alerted to its presence. He too, just stands there transfixed.
Riddick's POV
I can smell her scent change again, smell the cloves rise up. She really thinks she has reason to be mad at me? This girl is more twisted than I thought.
I am about to start my tirade on her earlier actions, shouldn't stick her neck out for people who wouldn't do the same for you, people quick to label you and throw you away, but when I round the corner the words and growls die in my mouth. There on the containers sits the beasts from the outside. I can see River, just an arm's length out of reach to the right, and one of the Holy man's charges to my left.
"Extremely inconvenient timing," is all River whispers.
Hassan looks like he is going to piss himself, and he starts to shake a little.
That's when the other thing appears, just above our heads. It's slowly extending its talons towards the boy, and just as it goes to lash out, Hassan turns and runs. Before I can even realize what I am doing, my mind is made up and I grab River and pull her towards me, just out of reach of the monsters that go past us chasing after the boy.
Damn things just won't go away though, and another one pops its ugly head out of the shadows, and I begin to pull the girl behind me as I break into a run to where the others are.
Riddick and River are running down the passage way, the thing following close behind, when the light from Johns' flashlight hits them. Riddick fails to shield his un-goggled eyes in time and collapses from blinding pain as the light hits his uncovered eyes, pulling River down with him.
That is when the others see what is chasing the duo, and the screams they emit match the shriek of creatures. Johns fires his shotgun blindly. And a few seconds later the creature falls flat at their feet and they scream again.
"Is it alive?"
"What's happening to its skin?"
"Light actually hurts them."
"Where is Hassan?"
"We'll burn a candle for him later. Come on let's get out of here. You two coming with us, or you getting cozy down in here?" Johns asks River and Riddick who are still lying on the floor. They get at this comment and the others begin to move into the next container. As River goes to move past Riddick though he grabs her by the arm to turn her to face him.
Riddick's POV
"Don't. Even. Start. Richard." And that just makes me pissed off even more, who the gorram hell does she think she is? Don't start my ass!
"What the fuck were you doing? You have a death wish I need to know about?"
"Data was needed for calculations for survival of group, the girl went to procure it."
"Girl you need to be more concerned about your own neck than these Fei fei pi gu." I growl.
"Negative, survival depends on the combined effort of all. Your behavior is the unacceptable of the two." She places a hand on her hip in a way that communicates her challenge to me. And with I cannot help but lose some of my cool.
"My behavior! What the fuck are you talking about?"
Now she is whispering to avoid revealing what she is about to say to the others nearby. "Girl knows what you did a moment ago. Knows you chose to protect the girl instead of save the boy. The girl would have been capable if left to her own devices. The Riddick's behavior was unacceptable."
All I can do is growl. Girl's shia suo is grating on my nerves.
"Listen girly, I do not care about those other fuckers. You? I just want to see what you can do before you go get yourself mutilated by one of those things. Dong-ma?" But I know this is a lie. The animal in me wants her, wants to explore every inch of her, and know what she tastes like.
"Affirmative, but the Riddick lies to the girl, he likes the girl more than he wants to admit to her, the animal calls to her, wants to lay claim to what it sees as his. It is like old earth-that-was melody, dangerous, slow, explosive, explicit, an Assassin's Tango." She says with a feral grin that pisses me off and makes me want to take her up against the nearest wall.
The former emotion wins out and I am about to protest, about to verbally smack that stupid grin of her face, but ol' Billy badass interrupts. "You two done with your lover's quarrel, or you going to move over here so we can seal this hole up?"
She skips to where the others have seated themselves. Yeah, girl is definitely getting me all kinds of twitchy, and she knows it too. Damn readers.
River's POV
The girl skips over to where the Holy man sits. She takes a seat to his right and folds herself into a lotus position, closing her eyes and begins to concentrate.
"Child, have you found the other information you needed?" He asks her softly, mournfully after what has just occurred..
"Affirmative. Calculations can now be completed." And with that the girl closers her eyes and loses herself to the numbers, the puzzle; the quandary.
Riddick moves and sits across the room from the girl, and Book watches as the other man just stares intently at her, as if studying every feature of her. He appears conflicted, torn between wanting to strangle or ravage her, and book is not sure either outcome would be good.
"Affirmative." The girl next to him states, barely above a whisper, never opening her eyes or changing her position. She is confirming his thoughts.
"Do you think it wise to tempt the beast child?"
She smiles a very wicked grin at this. "Affirmative. The beast calls to her, he just doesn't want to admit the girl is right. Over abundance of pride."
"Don't you think he's too…"
"Irrelevant. The man and girl have much in common despite physical appearances. They were made what they were by the same hands. The same hands that made you too, Derrial Book." She says as she opens her eyes and stares directly at him.
He wonders what she means, wonders what could possibly connect the three of them. And she answers his questions before they even leave his mind.
"All will be revealed in time."
"So we've got one cutting torch. We've got two hand lights. There's got to be something we can rip out of the crash ship."
"Spirits. Anything over 45 proof burns rather well." Paris chimes in.
"How many bottles you got?" Shazza asks.
"I don't know. Maybe 10."
"Johns, you've got some flares. Okay, maybe we got enough light." Fry says, barely keeping her calm.
"Enough for fuckin' what?" Johns practically yells.
"We stick to the plan. We get the four cells back to the shuttle. We're off this rock." Fry's calm is slowly becoming more undone with every word she takes.
"I hate to ruin a beautiful theory…with an ugly truth…but that sand cat is solar. It won't run at night." Paris dejectedly replies.
"So we carry the cells, we drag them." Shazza says. The fear has disappeared in her voice, replaced by determination to live now that River has given her a second chance.
"You mean tonight? Are you fucking kidding? Let's think of it this way, now how long can this last? A few hours? A day, tops?"
"Why don't we ask the girl?" Book says, turning towards the girl at his right. And all eyes soon follow him.
River's POV
"Current planetary alignment will remain in effect for the next 16.72 weeks."
"And how do you know that little girl?" the blue devil sneers.
"Calculations based on further data collected."
"And why the fuck should we listen you your 'calculations' anyways? You have been nothing but a Fang zong feng kuang de jie from the beginning with all your damn riddles."
"Don't use her like that." the gilded butterfly says.
"Like what?"
"As a punching bag. Deal with your own fucking fear." But the girl knows this is a mistake, knows the blue devil is looking for a 'sweet spot' in the would-be captain.
"Fuck you Caroline. Girl is feng lei and you know it."
"Hey she's the captain, listen to her." Shazza yells at him.
"Listen to her? When she was willing to sacrifice us?"
There is a collective "what?" heard around the small room from the others.
"This doesn't help Johns," the butterfly says fear creeping into her voice.
"The crash. She tried to blow the passenger cabin, kill us in our sleep."
"SHUT UP YOU STUPID HYPE!" the butterfly says as she pushes the devil, but loses her footing and falls to the floor.
"I may be a lot of things Caroline, but I wasn't the one who wanted to kill us off."
But she should have known better than to trust him in the first place. The girl does not feel all that sorry for her secret being exposed, she warned the butterfly it would not be her to spill her secret; she should have listened.
"We are disposable. We're just walkin' ghosts to you?"
"Fine, you made your point John," Book replies. The girl feels the sadness seeping into their veins now. She feels the betrayal in their eyes.
"What do we do now then?" Shazza says, trepidation now taking control of her voice.
"The girl has a plan."
"Shut your mouth little girl I am sick and tired of hearing the gou shi coming out of your mouth."
"Girl does not speak gou shi, that's what you inject in your eyes." The girl cannot help but smirk at exposing his little secret. Tit for tat, he is damaging the calm, and the girl does not want a head ache.
And before anyone can barely blink Johns is aiming at River with his shotgun. But in the time it takes for him to raise the gun Riddick has moved in between her and Johns, tapping the shiv River made him on his thigh.
"Okay, okay."
"So you are a fucking hype then?" Shazza asks. The blue devil just glares in response.
"Isn't a lawman either, just a fuckin merc." Fry says, the confidence coming back as she sees the tables turn.
"That's enough! All of you! Anger only dwells only in the bosom of fools!" Book says to quiet the room. Once there is a lull he continues.
"Now the girl says she has a plan, so let her speak," he says, and the girl sees another crack appears in his wall. She smiles at what she is beginning to hear, it is a song similar to the Iron Queen and Orpheus's; a song of darkness.
"We let Orpheus lead the way, and we use the borrowed light to shield us from the night."
"Who?"
"Who's Orpheus?"
"She means me." Riddick calmly replies.
"And how do you know that?" Book says a little stunned.
"She hears the music in my head. Why do you think she was saying all those names before?"
"Shen sheng de gao wan she is a reader!" The girl just rolls her eyes at the whelp man's lack of listening skills. Men can be such boobs.
"Boldly they rode and well, Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of Hell. That what you saying girl?" Riddick asks as he stares at the girl. The girl nods her head. However, his question raises surprise in the Holy man, who openly gaps at the Riddick.
"What? You got a problem with what I am saying old man?"
"No, just amazed that you quoted Tennyson to say it."
"I can read Sheppard, what else do you think I did for two fucking years in the slam?"
"An ordinary man can surround himself with two thousand books and thenceforward have at least one place in the world in which it is possible to be happy." The girl says with a smile. But then just rolls her eyes at the others inability to imagine him a learned man. The girl stands corrected, men and women are such boobs.
"So we get some make shift lights and blindly follow Riddick into the dark? You got to be kidding me girly." The dancer should really just shiv the blue devil, he grates on her nerves.
"Affirmative."
With that Book seems to take control of the situation. "Alright let us all search this container and the other for sources of light before we move to the other crash site to collect the fuel cells."
Johns wants to protest but seeing the Riddick play with his shiv makes him think better. They all nod and begin their search.
Author's Note: More puzzle pieces falling into place, Ohh exciting! ;) As always feedback appreciated.
