Chapter 20

The Answers I Never Expected

"There you have it, just the way my team relayed the story to me." Johns said, leaning back in his seat. "Any thoughts?"

Riddick sat across the table studying Johns expression as a smile crossed his face. "Did you have a good time on Sol Lucia?"

"Out of everything you everything I told you the team encountered on M6-117, that's what stands out in your mind?" Johns replied, leaning forward with a frown. "My trip."

"It is," Riddick replied, his tone growing darker. "I've seen the way you keep the Dahl close. Hell, you treat her better than you did your own son."

"Dahl is family, and how I treat her is none of your damn business."

"Everything happening is my business." Riddick countered, staring him down. "But I get the impression, you already know that."

"I do. But…"

"But nothing," Riddick interrupted. "You read the company report before you sent your team there, and still, even knowing what was waiting for them, you sent them anyhow. You sent them into a shit storm that could have killed them all and you were nowhere to be seen."

"I prepared my team with the best intel I could find." Johns replied, gesturing over his shoulder at the closed door. "I have to ask myself, what's with your sudden concern? You didn't give a shit what happened to the team down there."

"Not them," Riddick replied. "Her."

"You should know we can't always do what we want. Not even for those who mean the most."

"I do."

"Then it's simple, I needed actionable intel and I had a way to put boots on the ground to get it. It wasn't a perfect plan and it was most definitely dangerous. But I knew I could trust my team to get it done."

"Really," Riddick said, getting up to stretch his legs. "You trust them to keep her safe?"

"You've been a loner for so long you can't even remember what it feels like to trust anymore, can you?"

"People let you down."

"They do," Johns admitted, gesturing between them. "We all do."

"Who's pulling your strings, Johns." Riddick asked, sitting back down. "Who told you to send them? What were they really looking for?"

"We all answer to a higher power, Riddick." Johns replied, scrolling through the images taken on M6-117. He hesitated on of the figure standing on the Hunter Gratzner Engine compartment. "Even if we don't want to admit it." He pulled up Lockspur's metallurgy scan of the Hunter Gratzner's aft tail section and added, "If you think I sent my team there to learn what happened to Will, you're wrong."

"Give me some credit, Johns." Riddick replied, rudely closing the lid on the data pad. "I know your team wasn't just searching for what brought that ship down. Why don't you tell me what it was?"

"I suppose you have no idea who shot the ship down?" Johns replied, ignoring the question.

"I had no idea we'd been shot down. Let alone, it could've been because of me."

"I can't say for sure, if it was because of you. But I double checked the report." Johns said, the tension in his voice bubbling to the surface. "Other than Sharon Montgomery and you, everybody else onboard was a nobody. And she was traveling under the alias, Shazza. No one would have known she was Robert Montgomery's daughter."

"Your point."

"Someone went to a great deal of effort to down that ship and make it look like an accident."

"Agreed." Riddick said, his foreboding tone driving the conversation.

"So, why let the only person of any real value die?" Johns asked, pulling up Lockspur's analysis of what downed the Hunter Gratzner. "Shazza Montgomery would have brought tens of millions in ransom and then there was you. The most wanted man in the Universe. Why let her die and you live?"

"Maybe it's my devil may care attitude or my rugged good looks."

"Or your warm and fuzzy sarcasm." John replied, frowning at him. "

"That too." Riddick said, with a smirk.

"Either way," Johns said, waving him off. "You were the only other high value target aboard the Hunter Gratzner."

"That was years ago, long before I was a high value anything." Riddick said, sitting back in his seat, centering himself on Johns. "Although, in hindsight, if I'd known who Shazza was, I would have done more than stare at her ass."

"Cute."

"She was," Riddick replied with a coy grin. "in a, my leather pants are so tight I'll never get them off again, kind of way. But who noticed."

"Apparently someone did."

"As much as I'd love to sit around reminiscing about Sharon Montgomery, I still want an answer to what your team was looking for?"

"You mean who," Johns said, meeting Riddick's stare head on. "Who were they looking for?"

"Ok, I'll bite," Riddick replied, sitting back in the seat. "Who were they looking for?"

"They were looking for my…" Johns paused, pressing a few buttons on the data pad and swiping a finger across the screen. "stepdaughter."

"Carolyn Fry was your stepdaughter?"

"You know who they were looking for, Riddick. And you know it wasn't Carolyn Fry."

"Are you saying they went there looking for…" a sudden lump in Riddick's throat prevented him from finishing the sentence.

"Kera," Johns said, finishing the sentence for him. "Yes. I did warn you, our stories are linked in ways you wouldn't believe."

"She's your family?"

"Kera is a special young woman, Riddick. She has many families. Someday you'll learn for yourself just how special she is."

"I already did." Riddick replied, shifting on the edge of his seat. "But she's gone."

"About that," Johns said, showing no reaction to the news of his stepdaughters demise. "I have it on good authority, Zhylaw didn't kill Kera."

"Then your good authority isn't worth shit." Riddick blurted, with a terrible frown. "Because she died in my arms."

"That's the thing" Johns countered. "I don't think she did. I was told you were lead to believe she had died."

"You were told wrong!"

"Well then," Johns said, shrugging his shoulders. "It would appear we've reached an impasse. Because there's nothing I can say to make you believe Kera is still alive, and there is nothing you can say that will ever make me believe she is not."

"I was there!"

"I know." Johns said, with an air of empathy in his tone. "I can hear the guilt in your voice and I am truly sorry you had to live with that hanging over your head. But it's not true."

"Why torture yourself with a delusion that she's still alive?"

"Hope is not torture. It the one thing that gives us strength and the one thing that was taken from you long ago."

"And when your precious hope is gone."

"Hope is never gone."

Riddick laughed and said, "Some of us have to live in the real world, Johns."

Johns studied him for a quick moment and countered, "You said it yourself. You live in a world where something has been manipulating you since the day of your birth."

"The day of my birth." Riddick thought out loud.

"Seems like," Johns replied. "If you want to control someone's destiny you'd need to start at the beginning."

"Aereon said…"

"I know what Aereon said." Johns cut in. "What I don't know is if she's involved in what's happening to you."

"You don't trust her?" Riddick asked.

"No." Johns admitted. "I do not. But then again, I don't believe you do either."

"Why do say that?"

"Because I've gone to a great deal of trouble to research your history, and nowhere have I found any evidence to support her claims."

"About that, Johns." Riddick said, leaning forward in his seat. "Why go to so much trouble to find out who I am? You haven't been shooting ships down have you?"

Johns studied him for a long while before finally answering, "The resources needed to pull something like that off are beyond a single individual's reach."

"Just sayin'," Riddick countered, sitting back again. "You seem to be overly preoccupied with me, wouldn't you say?"

"I'm just a guy who saw something no one else did." Johns replied. "Speaking of noticing things. Have you noticed how some people in your life keep coming back around?"

"What people?"

"The dead one's."

"That just started."

"You mean you just started noticing."

"No." Riddick replied, the heat in his voice pierced the air like a knife. "I mean it just started."

"When did it start? Exactly."

"I told you already. It starts in the future."

"No." Johns said, showing him a readout on Martin's datapad. "I think it started down there."

"That shouldn't be there." Riddick said, grabbing the pad and pulling it closer. He stared into the screen, light reflecting off his pupils. "These are the data files Martin down loaded off the company's mainframe."

"They are."

"But how?" Riddick demanded. "These tests won't even be performed for another 18 months."

"There's a lot going on that defies explanation."

"This is nuts."

Johns laughed at Riddick and said, "Says the man who claims to have been pulled back in time 2 years." Johns went to the monitor on the wall, turned it on and continued, "What about Ginger?" He pulled up a picture of Sharon Montgomery.

"What about her?"

To Riddick's dismay, Johns pulled up a second image of Ginger in the back alley beside the club neutrino. The photo had been taken from the roof directly above were Riddick would stand 2 years in the future. It clearly showed him and Martin standing in the shadows behind the dumpster.

"I knew somebody was up there."

"I was given this photograph years ago, when I went to Sol Lucia."

"That's not possible."

"None the less, here it is." Johns countered. "When I was given this photo, I had no idea when or where it was taken."

"It didn't make sense."

"I couldn't wrap my mind around where and when you and Sharon Montgomery could have been together. Let alone, why she was wearing a get up like that."

"It's because it hadn't happened yet."

"It's because this isn't Sharon Montgomery." Martin said, gesturing to Ginger. "For years I racked my brain trying to figure it out. That is, until 3 days ago, when Dahl pulled you up and you started telling your story."

"You believe me."

Johns nodded and said, "Now I understand, what is happening."

"It's real. I really was pulled back in time." Riddick said to himself.

"Yes, you were." Johns admitted, zooming in on the image. "You said it yourself, Ginger was the spitting image of not one, but two women you knew were dead."

"How is this possible?"

"I don't know." Johns replied. "But it's not just happening to you. Something happened to me and the others when Dahl pulled you into the ship."

"What?"

"Hard to explain." Johns said, scrolling through the files on the data pad. "It's like a million tiny little changes happened to me all at once creating an altered present. It's like 2 lives stacked on one another."

"How can you tell?"

"When I came here looking for you, I was an out of control drunk, hell bent on revenge. I remember wanting you dead and I would have happily let Santana cut your head off."

"I remember that guy."

"Me too." Johns admitted. "And that's the problem. I'm not that guy."

That doesn't make any sense." Riddick said, his demeanor changing for the worse. "Was everything you told me all a lie?"

"No." Johns said, trying to get Riddick to quiet down. "That's why I sent Dahl out of the room. I think I'm the only one who remembers the other past."

"You're still not making sense."

"I know." Johns admitted. "I never saw that photograph or sent my team to M6-117, before we came here. I didn't go to deep storage or go looking for answers after that. But as soon as you came aboard, those memories came out of nowhere. Add to that, this datapad showed up in my room without explanation."

"But what about the first time I came on board, why didn't this happen then?" Riddick asked in a whisper.

"I don't know." Johns said. "Maybe something happened in your future that reset everything in this past."

"If that's true, why are you the only one that realizes things changed?"

"I don't know," Johns said with a foreboding expression. "But with every passing minute, the alternate past I do remember, is slipping away, and this new reality is becoming all I know."

"That sounds insane."

He turned around with a smile and added, "Everything about this is insane. But that doesn't mean it's not happening."

"And what happens when you forget?"

"I've spent the last 3 days creating detailed vid files explaining everything that's happened. I figured if the story comes from me, then maybe I'd believe it."

"Or not." Riddick replied.

"If we're right, and there is something out there that can move through time and space, then the Necromonger invasions are the least of our worries."

"That's why I need to leave for a while." Riddick stressed. "All this shit started when the Necros showed up."

"I agree," Johns said, walking over to the wall panel beside the door. "But I don't want you going alone this time."

"I work best on my own."

"I couldn't agree more." Johns replied, opening the comms. "Dahl, you can come back inside now." Johns walked back to the table and waited for her to come in.

"I'm going alone."

"No. you're not." Johns replied. "This isn't just about you anymore. This thing – whatever it is – is fucking with us all. I need someone to have your back if this shit goes south."

"If you haven't noticed, the people who hang with me usually end up dead."

"Then I strongly suggest you do better. Because I'm sending Dahl with you to get killed."

Dahl entered the compartment wearing a mask of annoyance. "Did the big strong men finally deem the little girl worthy of being part of their conversation?"

Johns looked to Riddick and said, "On second thought, maybe I was a bit hasty."

"It's a work in progress." Riddick replied, standing up to leave. "But I don't care what you say, she's not coming."

"Hey," Dahl interrupted. "Screw you cue ball, I can take care of myself. And what makes you think I'd go anywhere with you?"

"It's not that I don't want you there. But everyone I care about ends up dead."

"Wow," Dahl said. "Do you get a lot of girls like that?"

"Tell her she can't come."

"What!" Dahl said, staring between them. "You're best buds, now?"

Johns and Riddick looked at each other and both scoffed and said, "No."

"You could've fooled me." She snapped, kicking a chair again.

This time Luna was prepared, he vaulted the chair with little effort and swung it around and set in it.

"Should I start a hot shower for the two of you?" Dahl raged.

"Are you finished?" Johns said, frowning at her as if she were a child.

"Don't patronize me." Dahl replied. "I'm as capable as anyone on this team."

Riddick grabbed her by the arm, swung her around and slammed her against the wall. "You're trying to hurt the only person I have left in this Universe."

"I'm not trying to hurt anyone, you goddamn lunatic." Dahl said, shoving him off her. "What are you talking about?"

"He's talking about you." Johns explained.

"Me!"

"Yes. He was telling the truth when he said he's from the future."

"You too!"

"No." Johns said. "I'm from this time and I know whatever happened to me when Riddick came aboard, happen to you, as well. What I don't know is how his arrival affected you."

"It didn't," she replied, staring at her feet.

"Bullshit." Johns said, looking at Riddick with an ominous scowl.

"All right!" Dahl snapped. "But this is gonna sound crazy. I can remember when you were a mean drunk and a son of a bitch."

"Anything else?" Riddick asked.

"I get bits and pieces of a future where we're together. But that's not possible. No one can see the future."

"Is it fading?" Johns asked.

"No." Dahl replied, looking to Riddick. "if anything, the visions are becoming clearer."

Johns turned to Luna and asked, "What about you?"

"Nothing memories." Luna replied, holding up his bible. "Just the ones I already had."

Johns turned to Riddick and said, "Whatever's going on, it's different for each of us." Johns gestured to everyone in the room adding, "Riddick remembers two different realities, Dahl remembers bits and pieces of an alternate future, my memories are fading and Luna didn't get anything."

"That's not quite accurate." Luna said, gesturing at Riddick. "When Dahl pulled Riddick up, I was struck by an overwhelming sense we'd all done this before. The sensation lasted for hours."

"Déjà vu´." Dahl thought out loud.

"Kind of," Luna replied. "But way more intense. I didnt2 think it would ever go away."

"Are we really saying this is happening?" Dahl asked, looking around the room.

"We are." Johns replied, pulling up a schematic of the Pegren System. "Look here," he instructed, highlighting a single planet. "This is Pegreno 3, its in the heart of the forbidden planets region. I've secured you a safe house where you can blend in."

Riddick pointed at his eyes and said, "I don't exactly blend in."

Johns handed him a small black case and Riddick open it and saw a pair of contacts lenses. "Those should help." Johns replied, taking the case back. "You can wear these in public. That should keep suspicions at a minimum."

"And her," Riddick said, gesturing at Dahl.

Johns turned to Dahl and said, "I set your covers personally." Johns chuckled to himself. "You're newly weds, married less than a year, Dahl is a security expert working for a covert Company software firm and you're…" He laughed to himself and added, "A phys-ed teacher. Your specialty is girls softball. Apparently, you love kids." Johns laughed again and added, "Who knew?"

"Funny," Riddick replied with a frown. "Very funny."

Johns looked up with an empathetic grimace. "I know, it's not a frozen wasteland teaming with well armed mercs out for a fight. But I'm sure you'll find something to keep yourself amused."

"I'd rather face a legion of mercs rather than stand in a gym full of girls."

Dahl looked at Riddick and asked, "Does it seem like he's enjoying this a little to much?"

"Definitely."

"One more thing." John added, gesturing towards Luna.

"What now?"

"He's going along as a second set of eyes."

"Me!"

"Yes." Johns said, turning to Luna. "I secured you a position with the local clergy."

"When did you have time to set this all up?"

"Apparently, I did it before we arrived." Johns said, shrugging his shoulders. "I guess it's one of the perks of living two separate lives simultaneously."

"In what Universe did you think I would agree to any of that plan?"

"None," Johns replied. "That's why no one will come looking for a P.E. teacher out in the forbidden planets region."

"Makes sense." Dahl said, teetering her head and offering a halfhearted grin.

Johns looked at Luna and said, "Prepare Santana's ship for immediate departure. Take whatever supplies you need."

"Affirmative," Luna replied with a nod.

After Luna left the compartment, Johns said, "A warning before you go."

"There's more." Dahl replied, rolling her eyes at him.

"There is," Johns warned. "If you want a future together, then I strongly suggest you leave the past where it belongs."

"What aren't you telling me?" Riddick asked.

"All the things I believe you already suspect. But don't want to hear spoken aloud."

"Is she…"

"Choose your next words carefully," Johns warned, cutting him off before Riddick could continue.

Luna called over the comms, "Dahl can you come help me for a minute?"

She didn't want to go but Johns nodded at the hatch signaling for her to go help Luna. After Dahl had exited the compartment, Johns continued, "You have a choice. The same choice you had when you left Martin in that warehouse."

"What choice is that?"

"Where you choose to go from here." Johns said. "Do you move ahead with Dahl or do you try to change the mistakes of a past long beyond your reach.""

Riddick didn't reply, he just looked from the hatch Dahl had exited through to the window in the hull.

"The mistakes of the past are more often than not, beyond our ability to make repairs." Johns said getting up and walking to the hatch.

"That doesn't excuse them."

"No it doesn't." Johns replied, openings the hatch. He peered over his shoulder and added, "If it's forgiveness you're looking for, then you should begin by forgiving yourself."

"I've tried," Riddick replied, with a shrug of his wide shoulders. "It didn't take."

"There in lies the problem with being raised by nuns."

"Martin told her I was dead."

"He did."

"You knew that?"

"I did."

"Is she all right?"

"She survived the night and moved on with her life." Johns answered, looking Riddick in the eyes.

"Did she forget…" Riddick said, pausing mid-sentence unable to finish.

"Did you?"

"So, now you know your choices." Johns said, leaving Riddick to his thoughts.

Riddick sat alone weighing his options. Leave with the woman who knew the man he had become or return to the woman who remembered a man who didn't exist anymore.