Chapter 11

Space Time

The Quarantine Zone / Riddick's improvised safe house

"Before I tell you what I know," Martin said, sitting on the other end of the couch with his tablet at the ready. "I'd like you to tell me when you first realized something was different."

"It was after escaping Not Furya." Riddick replied, thinking about the day Dahl and Johns saved him. "I was on Santana's ship, headed back to the Necro Armada to settle up with Krone and Vaako."

"What tipped you off?"

"I needed to plot a course back towards the armada and noticed a discrepancy in the star date; it was a year off."

Martin looked shocked and said, "I knew you were missing for a while, but a year?"

"Longer than that." Riddick corrected him. "If you add the year I can't account for with the time I can remember. I lost 18 months."

"Any idea where the time went?" Martin asked, already knowing the answer.

"After Krone dumped me off a cliff my leg was shattered, I had internal injuries and a pack of dogs were out for my blood."

"Sounds dire. But that's not why you lost the time."

"No." Riddick said, staring through the windows at the rain flowing down the glass like sulfur eels wriggling around his body.

"You know what happened."

Riddick sat on the couch replaying the fuzzy memory in his mind. "At the time, I thought it was just a hallucination."

"And now?"

"Sitting here 2 years later, I'm not sure of anything anymore. In the message I sent you, I told you about the obelisk, but I never told you how I found it."

"You never mentioned that."

"It was Vaako."

"Vaako; Siberious Vaako, the reigning Necromonger Lord Marshall."

"That's the guy." Riddick answered, nodding his head. "Vaako was standing on top of the chamber; he's the reason I made it to safety; the reason I found the chamber and took refuge under the obelisk. He's the reason we're talking today."

"You're saying you owe your life to the Necro who ordered your death?"

"That's what I'm saying."

Martin looked puzzled. "Did he say anything?"

Riddick shrugged his wide shoulders and answered, "Just get over here and get in there."

"That makes no sense." Martin thought out loud. "Why save you if he ordered Krone to kill you?"

"That's the thing." Riddick replied, looking through Martin at the man standing on the chamber. "I don't think it he did."

So… it wasn't Vaako?"

"Not the Vaako I know."

"Then who was it?"

"It's like what's happening here." Riddick replied, shaking his head.

"How so?"

"Ginger may look and sound like your mom, and Shazza Montgomery. But she's neither of them, or… maybe she's both." Riddick said in a tone signifying he was trying to convince himself more than actually explain it to Martin. "It was Vaako. But not the same Vaako."

"It's like Ginger playing 3 different roles; in 3 different places and at 3 different times. As if she's being recycled over and over."

"Seems like," Riddick replied, pointing out the window as if he were gesturing to Not Furya. "I'm certain the man I saw there, wasn't the man I knew aboard the Armada. The person I saw on Not Furya was no more Necro than you or I."

"It still doesn't add up," Martin said, scrunching his face into a puzzled expression. "if Vaako, or whoever he was, was trying to help you, why didn't he stick around to make sure you were OK?"

"Beats me?" Riddick replied "All I know is there was no one there when I reached the roof of the chamber. I thought it was in my head."

"And now?"

"I get the impression whoever he was, he wanted me to find that obelisk; to go in there."

"That may be the first good news I've heard all day."

"Why?"

"Because your would-be savior knew the obelisk would change you and most likely, who put it there."

Riddick thought about Ginger, he believed she had no idea what was happening than anyone else did. "These replicants have to be connected somehow." He said.

"I think that's a safe assumption." Martin said, nodding his head with a raised brow.

"Am I one of them?" Riddick asked, taking a drink. "Is that all I am, a copy?"

"You're no copy."

"How do you know?"

"Am I a copy?" Martin asked, looking him straight in the eyes.

"Of course not." Riddick answered as if the question was foolish.

"You know that feeling you have right now. The one that tells you I just asked you a stupid question. Because you'd know me anywhere? That's the same feeling I had when you said you're a copy." am who you think I am,"

"How else do I explain what happened on Not Furya."

"I admit something profound happened there. But you're no damn copy."

I thought I was so clever." Riddick said, holding out his arm to show the shimmering glow beneath the skin. "But now… I know it wasn't luck. I didn't have any food, water or medical supplies, and yet somehow I crawled out of that hole without any injuries."

Martin pushed the left side sleeve of Riddick's t-shirt up over his shoulder revealing the clear skin beneath. "I see more than just your injuries vanished while you were beneath the obelisk. It appears the Ranger tattoo you got on Sol Lucia, is gone, as well."

"Every injury I have ever sustained is gone, and more." Riddick replied, staring through the commotion in the kitchen as if the recruits weren't even there.

"And more?"

"I went to a clinic and had a full body scan." Riddick explained, lifting his t-shirt up to show the right side of his abdomen.

Martin examined the skin beneath and said, "Your appendectomy scar is gone."

"Fucker, you milked that for weeks when we were kids."

Riddick laughed at the thought and said, "The scan showed I've never broken any bones; I'm not missing any teeth and I still have an appendix." Riddick said, handing Martin the scan results. "It seems I have the insides of an 18 year old."

"Lucky you, mine probably look like hell." Martin said with a laugh.

"This isn't luck; this is fucking impossible." Riddick replied. "Shit doesn't grow back or vanish without a trace"

"Yet here you sit, Mr. miracle." Martin replied. "I think, at the very least, you should reevaluate the word impossible."

"Maybe," he replied. "But… The star charts don't lie."

"No they don't."

"I was stranded for 18 months and most of it is a blank."

Martin turned on his tablet and said, Then I think the time has come to tell you what the team learned."

Riddick looked from Martin to the data pad and back again. "If that's so, why is the look on your face saying I shouldn't ask?"

Martin threw up his left hand signaling Riddick should wait. "Let them out first."

Riddick pressed a button on the control perched on the arm of the couch and followed the cage upward with his eyes. When it reached its apex, Riddick said, "I suggest you stow your weapons somewhere I can see them." He gestured to a nearby corner and added, "And then go grab some food out of the kitchen so your squad leader and I can finish our talk."

Martin nodded for them to follow his instructions and they proceeded stripping down as they walked towards a bank of cabinets. As the oversized armor hit the floor it quickly became apparent they were indeed just boys. Riddick was right; they hadn't had the injections; they weren't N7s yet.

On the way to the small makeshift kitchen the group leaned their rifles in the corner, after which, they proceeded to ransack the cupboards like ants attacking an unguarded picnic basket.

"And stay out of the beer." Riddick called out.

"Right." Zims said under his breath.

Riddick leaned over towards Martin with a smirk and whispered at a volume he was sure they could hear, "There are laws about underage drinking in this system and I don't need the beer police after me too."

"Twinkies," Private Sullivan shouted, holding the box over his head for all to see. "I love these things."

Riddick stared at the boys wondering if he should tell them the unopened box was left behind by the previous tenants, nearly 75 years earlier. "Were we ever that young?"

"Sure," Martin answered, looking over at the boys. "ten lifetimes ago."

Martin called for his team to come over and when they arrived carrying drinks and confections, he said, "You chose to be in this story."

"I didn't choose anything." Private Sullivan replied. "I was following orders."

"Not mine." Martin countered with an angry glare. "You bugged me; you disobeyed me; you followed me. So, this shit is on you."

"What story?" Zims blurted.

Martin looked to Riddick with a raised brow. "According to tests performed on your dagger, I'd say it's the oldest story ever told."

Riddick's forehead wrinkled as his brows dropped. "What's that mean?"

Martin removed a black dagger from his upper breast pocket and tossed it to Riddick. "It was a good idea keeping that little memento. Although, it has sparked quite a lot of debate."

"Debate?"

Martin spun the data pad around showing the screen to Riddick and answered, "How and where life began." He gestured at the knife. "Your dagger changed everything we thought we knew about the origins of mankind."

Zims laughed and spoke up, "Not possible."

The lights in the room dimmed as if the generator was losing power and Riddick said, "Shut… the fuck… up." The growing shadows filling the room highlighted his changing features. Features that stunned everyone. The skin on his body transformed into a blackened lava that appeared to have neon blue magma pulsing beneath the cracks.

Zims reached for his sidearm and the others moved back as if preparing to run to the weapons leaning in a nearby corner.

Martin saw their reactions and cleared his throat loudly before they could move. He shook his head no and the visibly shaken young men stayed their ground. After a few uneasy moments, both the lights in the room and the skin barely containing Riddick's anger, returned to normal.

"Kid," Riddick began, "I'm doing my best to control whatever this is. So… when the adults are talking, keep your thoughts to yourself."

Zims looked furious, but he could see speaking out again would lead to disaster.

Martin rolled his eye, shook his head as if Zims were a spoiled child and turned to Riddick with apologetic shrug. "Radiocarbon dating was inconclusive. The findings suggest the dagger is older than our universe."

"How old?" Riddick demanded.

"No way of telling." Martin answered, with a look of uncertainty. "It's not from any known geological formations. The obelisk is an engineered composite constructed using a weave of graphene covering a dense substructure of rare subatomic particles."

"So…" Zims blurted and everyone turned to Riddick waiting for his reaction.

Riddick laughed to himself and said, "Shit, they really are like us."

"Unfortunately," Martin replied, "it would seem so."

Martin turned to Zims with a warning glare and continued, "So.. Pfc. Dumbass, that means his dagger is potentially 20 billion years older than our Universe. And so too, is the obelisk it came from."

"Great," Riddick said, gripping the hilt of his dagger so tightly the tendons in his hand creaked like stretching leather. "What next?" Riddick asked himself.

"A lot," Martin replied, showing everyone the readout on the screen. "That's why my team was tasked with recovering the obelisk."

"Typical," Riddick said, kicking the ottoman. "The Company wants the technology for themselves."

"Undoubtedly," Martin replied, signaling for his team to come closer. "But I have to ask, what did you expect was going to happen when you contacted me?"

"Help."

"I came."

Private Sullivan raised a hand as if he were standing in the back of a classroom and Riddick said, "If you want to ask a question, go ahead."

Sullivan stepped forward and said, "I was wondering, if Not Furya is an uninhabited planet, who put the obelisk there in the first place?"

"That's the question everyone wants answered."

"How long was it there?" Zims asked.

"Shortly before Riddick's arrival."

"What!" Riddick said.

"Afraid so." Martin said, turning to Riddick. "Someone knew you were coming."

"It could have been a coincidence." Zims said.

"No." Martin replied, gesturing to Riddick. "The obelisk was left for him."

Every jaw in the room dropped and a very confused Riddick said, "How'd the lab rats figure that?"

"I've gone over the logs a dozen times. The obelisk was programmed with recognition software that allowed it to sample DNA." Martin replied.

"Whose DNA?" Riddick asked, squeezing the arm of the couch hard enough to make the wooden support crack.

"Yours."

"His." Zims blurted.

"How'd his DNA find it's way into a devise that old?" Sullivan asked.

Martin turned to Riddick and explained, "Isn't it obvious, someone put it there."

"He's that old?"

"Not," Riddick countered, gesturing at Martin. "We grew up together."

"We met when we were 10," Martin replied. "You could have come from anywhere."

"I come from Furya."

"You do." Martin admitted, peering around the faces in the room. "But I find it strange, how there are no known records of where Furya is located."

"It's lost."

"Is it?" Martin replied. "Because as far as I can tell, there is not one shred of information that your homeworld exists.; that it ever existed. At least, not here."

"Aereon said…"

"Aereon is an unreliable source."

"I remember Zhylaw…"

"Who's Aereon?" Sullivan asked in a whisper.

"An elemental." Zims replied.

"And Zhylaw?"

"Necromonger Lord Marshall."

"Quiet!" Martin said. "I don't doubt you came from Furya. I doubt Furya is a lost colony."

"That's absurd. I have memories of…"

"Strange, how those memories showed up when Aereon did."

"Your point?"

"Absurd is thinking you can lose an entire planet and your memories all on the same day."

"What day?" Sullivan whispered.

"The day I was born." Riddick said, wearing an expression that said shut up.

"He's got a point." Zims said.

"Are you…" Sullivan paused to ponder the words traveling towards the tip of his tongue. "really that old?"

"Impossible," Riddick said, scoffing at the idea.

"Is it?"

Zims stepped up, frowning at the lot of them and said, "It's not enough we're supposed to believe the impossible, but now, you're throwing time travel in the mix, too."

Riddick closed his eyes and began messaging his forehead as if the conversation was causing a headache. He looked up and said, "Kid, there's no such thing as time travel."

Martin cleared his throat loudly cutting him off. When Riddick looked over, he nodded yes and tapped the datapad screen. "I'm afraid that's the most plausible answer."

Riddick slammed his fist on the arm of the couch and a cloud of dust rose into air engulfing his face making him cough. Zims and Sullivan stifled their laughter in favor of not meeting the angry blue Riddick again.

"Listen," Martin began, mustering as much empathy as possible. "Here are a few facts we know for certain. You tell me if any of it sounds plausible."

"Go ahead."

"The obelisk was tested for age and each time the results were inconclusive." Martin said, showing him a readout of the test results. "Older than our Universe."

"If you say so." He replied, still rubbing his head.

Martin pulled up a schematic of the obelisk and explained, "An advanced A.I. was molded into the obelisk during its construction."

"If you say so."

"I do." Martin snapped, losing his patience. "To upload your DNA into the A.I. before the obelisk was created, someone, or something, would've had to have had access to a specific DNA sample."

"Who's?" Private Sims asked.

"His." Martin replied, pointing at Riddick.

"Makes sense." Riddick said.

"I know you're not that old, but there is evidence your DNA was there at the time the obelisk was created" He held up his hand before Riddick could argue and added, "So, if you weren't brought here from that time, someone had to bring your DNA back there from this time. Either way, it proves time travel is possible." Martin jammed his finger in Zims' face and added, "Now, are you starting to understand why that rock caused scientist to redefine the origins of man and why this is the oldest story ever told?"