Chapter 46: The Great Old Ones Promised Me Special.

No interference between here and the sky. Find the satellite and log in with Nara's codes. The downloads and uploads are boring but easy. Good to have the keys to the encryption kingdom.

Scroll down the messages. One is titled "Likely vehicles Riddick stole." Top of the list: "The Tanngrisnir, owned by Cyrus Borson, registered in Nidavellir. Went missing a few days after Riddick arrived at Secundus. Borson's children have posted an award for any information about what happened to him."

"What'd old one-eye do to you anyway?" Fry says from the co-pilot's seat, eating lime and chili-dusted taco chips at me. "Other than have something you wanted and give it a silly name? By those lights, you should be on Mercer killing what's left of Jack's family."

Slide my eyes over to her. Hella tempting, really. Really should have fucking renamed this ship. Stupid name. Delete that message. Scan through the rest. Nothing that seems inculpatory. Set course back for the Colchis base.

At first it wasn't so bad, the pain. It drove away the lingering hunger and some of the shame of the first violation. She pulled restlessly against the straps. "That's the lowest setting. Oh, look, that jumped the seizure risk," Toombs said, sounding interested.

Toombs took his time ramping up. When she started screaming against the bit, he'd stop for a moment, smiling down at her. He'd grip her feet or stroke her face lovingly before starting up again. But the increasing agony was inexorable.

After an eternity, the door opened. Jack opened her eyes in fear and hope. It was Nara, and she was angry. "What in Erishkigal's hells is going on here?"

Mercifully, Toombs switched off the pain. "Just doing some prep work for our Riddick hunt. Making him a little video card to encourage him to get his ass down here."

"This stops now. I am in charge of this project, and I will not allow you to torture her."

Toombs grinned. "How exactly will you stop me, boss?"

Logan intervened. "We got good stuff, Alex. Let's leave a little to the imagination."

"Jesus," he said. "We barely got to 50% of the potential." Jack closed her eyes again, shuddering. The diagnostic bed pinged. "Oh, you were right, darlin'. That did trigger a seizure."

Everything went white.

She was bleeding on the dark sands by that ancient ocean. Someone had crossed her wrists behind her and lashed them together with a cord that was cutting deeply into her skin. Same with her ankles. She tried to do what Riddick taught her; to dislocate her thumb and free herself. She couldn't. She was tied too tight. She curled into a fetal position, sobbing in the dark night.

There were boots in the sand before her eyes. She looked up in fear and hope. Radne crouched beside her in dark green night combat fatigues, her dreadlocks tied back. The stars behind her burned coldly and wrong. "Oh, my sister. I am so sorry. If I was the strength I was of olden days, I would rain fire down upon them for this." She pulled a curved knife out of a sheath that could not possibly have held it and slit the cords. Wet leather dropped away. Radne pulled Jack up onto her knees and embraced her, her weapons digging into Jack's body.

Dion was there too, or maybe it was Riddick. He was too far away for her to tell them apart, standing in the waves, a naked blade in his hand and tentacles rising around him. "You should have let the ocean take her. Death by water is better than the eldritch horrors coming for her . . . when the stars are right." Some of the tentacles reached towards her. Dion stroked one, grinning hungrily.

"Fear death by water," Radne murmured. She stood and moved between Jack and their brother, leaving Jack kneeling and feeling very alone. "You do not deserve this. I love you. You never should have been abandoned on the sands." Radne handed Jack a heavy circle of woven metal. Jack turned it in her hands. It was beautiful. It was brutal. "I am sorry, little sister. It is too heavy for your brow. But we have no one else to bear it."

"I don't understand," Jack whispered.

Radne smiled down on her. "Put on the crown, jump bravely into the dark," Radne said. "Climb the tree. I will help you as much as I can."

"Everything hurts," Jack whispered again, still turning the woven metal crown in her hands. "I miss my dogs."

"I know. You lay on a bed we made. I will send you something that will give you strength. Put on the crown, jump bravely into the dark, climb the tree. We will see you soon."

"Very soon," Dion promised, or maybe it was Riddick. "The Great Old One promised me special."

Jack put on the crown. Woke in a bright cold room, still bound to the bed.

When she came back to herself, only Logan was there, playing solitaire. "Welcome back."

Mercifully, the bit was gone. "Where's Toombs?"

"Nara made him go build you a workbench. She's pretty mad. How do you feel?"

"Everything hurts. How long was I out?"

"Only about 20 minutes. Might be over the worst of the seizures." Logan won the game. Jack was pretty sure she cheated. "Doc-in-the-Box prescribed you something." She picked up a needle.

Jack tried to shrink away. The restraints were unyielding. "What?"

"Gaberpentan, hydrocortisone, metafentanyl, some B-vitamins, a muscle relaxant, some other stuff I don't remember. It'll make you comfortably numb for a spell."

"Please don't," Jack said, alarmed. "Just give me a minute."

"Don't fret. We need to get some work out of you today." Logan pushed up Jack's sleeve and inserted the needle, applying a steady pressure. It seemed to have a quarter cup of fluid in it. It hurt. Logan smiled down at her like she cared. "It'll make you feel better and the hydrocortisone might keep you from getting PTSD from the photoshoot. We got it after the nasty missions back in the day."

"Oh, goody. Saved by drugs from yet more industrial strength therapy."

Logan laughed. "Might not go that far. Sorry about that, by the way." Jack gave her a tight nod. Logan seemed disappointed not to get absolution. She pulled the needle out and dropped it into a recycler.

"Riddick will kill you if he sees that tape," Jack said, fast, like she was telling the merc something she shouldn't. "He killed men for looking at me wrong. Even if he doesn't care about me anymore, he's gonna care that you hurt me to get to him."

Logan just shrugged. "He's welcome to try. How are you doing?"

Jack was about to say something nasty when all of a sudden the world dropped away. She felt like she was at the top of a mountain and all the pain and heartbreak were far away. There was a moment of nausea, then everything was fine. "Comfortably numb. Thank you." Logan smiled, unstrapped her. Jack sat up cautiously, rubbing her wrists. They were cut in a way she couldn't figure out how the broad leather straps could have done. "I'd really like to shower and put on every piece of clothing I can get my hands on."

"You can have a quick shower. I'll see if I can scrounge you some more clothes. And I would really love it if you could turn on the heat."

Well that didn't work, Jack thought, again.

The mercs and Nara had built her a reasonable workbench in the command center. The room was now lined with equipment and tools she'd asked for, before she'd bolted down the tunnel and had her dark night of the soul.

Toombs had finally grudgingly allowed her to program the nanites, after Nara got tetchy with him. She had them building increasingly elaborate interfaces between every type of console, handheld, or computer she could get her hands on. Nothing worked.

She was dimly aware that she was hungry, the same way she was dimly aware that she was cold and in a lot of pain. But that drug cocktail the Doc-in-the-Box prescribed left her comfortably numb.

Or maybe my sister sent it . . .

No reason the computer system couldn't talk to the diagnostic bed. Might even be original equipment.

Toombs was watching her, hungrily, especially any time she took a scan of the table. Like he was waiting for her to mess up so he could hit those buttons. She was really ready for him to take a pee break so she could dip her fingers in.

Think this through. The problem is the amount of energy that was blasted through me. I need to find a way to reduce the flow. Ideally, to have it manifest through a device in front of me, not inside of me.

Or maybe a crown . . .

She shook off the thought. Crazy, to be taking design ideas from a seizure dream.

Unless it wasn't a seizure dream. "Sure I can't just dip in a finger?" she asked.

Toombs just rolled his eyes at her.

The mercs had brought her a lot of wire scavenged from Colchis and Audhumla, including some that was uninsulated. Some of it was beautiful. Most of it was meticulously wrapped on spools or small pieces of card. Some was in loose balls like yarn. Something about that tickled. Nothing else is working. And maybe Radne did talk to the diagnostic bed. Weirder things have happened to me in the last few days.

She scanned each bundle of wire carefully. Most was copper. There was also steel, aluminium, silver, gold, platinum, and, to her surprise, quite a lot of bronze. She'd never worked with bronze.

She wrapped a piece of copper wire around her palm three times, dimly aware that Riddick was back at last. He was watching her quietly from the door. Maybe it was the drug cocktail, but she looked at him and smiled like she might have smiled at him as a child when she caught him watching over her. Niobe's tears, I've missed him standing there. He visibly relaxed. He held out a message chip to Nara. "Got the mail."

Nara startled. She was so deeply engrossed in the data dump she hadn't noticed him looming. "Thank Hera," she said. "Mr. Richards, can you stay with Jack? I have some things to do and I don't want to leave her alone with . . . anyone else here right now." She stayed here to protect me, Jack realized with a dim spasm of gratitude. But she has work to do and she thinks she can hand me off to Riddick. Because that way I'll be safe. It seemed funny. She laughed low.

"Yeah," he said, slowly. "What happened?"

Nara gave him a hard look. "Mr. Toombs and Ms. Logan were getting ahead of themselves. I put a stop to it. Unless you need me, Jack?"

"No, I'm good," Jack said. "Thank you." Nara left, gripping Jack's shoulder as she did.

Jack snipped the copper wire, leaving about ten inches loose and protruding from her hand. She touched it carefully to the table. Felt something stir, interested. Rested it there for a moment. Pushed slightly and the table sucked up the loose wire, pulling her hand with it.

"Careful, darlin,'" Toombs said. "I will zap you again if your hand goes into that thing."

She could feel Riddick's shifting gaze and rising anger. She caught his eye and shook her head, slightly. Nodded at Toombs. "Got it," she said, absently.

Riddick came close. "How can I help?"

"I'm going to try this with the different metals. Going back to basics. Would you start forming the steel wire into a loop I can slip my palm in?" He nodded. She tried silver. Again, the table took up the loose end and she had a feeling almost like communication pulse through her. The table pulled her hand towards it, letting go when she resisted. They tried with each of the other metals.

"My god you're boring all of a sudden," Toombs said.

"Sorry," she said mildly. "Don't you have video to cut?"

He snorted. "That's what Logan's doing. I'll offer helpful suggestions once she's done a pass."

Riddick looked from one to the other, head tilted in a question. She shook her head again. I do not have the capacity to have that conversation with him right now. Maybe ever. "Hold these. She handed him the ends of nine pieces of wire. Using her fingers, small pliers, and wire cutters, she started braiding the metals together and weaving them into a crown. At some point, Toombs got bored and started reading again. She wound a little piece of copper wire around her ring finger like a finger sheath. Slipped it into a pocket while Toombs was yawning.

At long last, she had a fairly substantial circle of woven metal with strands trailing off. "Hold this?" she asked, handing it to Riddick. He took it silently, questions burning in his eyes. She smiled at him, distantly, making adjustments as he held it steady. When she was satisfied, she clipped the last strands and braided them loosely. Put the tools in her pockets.

"Wish me luck," she murmured. She sat down at the head of the table and took the circle from him. Put it on her head. Fed the trailing pieces into the table and closed her eyes.

Something happened to Jack while I was gone. When I left she was full of fire, grief, and rage. She wouldn't look at me. Now she seems like she just left a fucking Pilates class in the parts of town I get escorted out of.

She doesn't smell right. She's not moving right. She's layered on clothes that don't fit; enough to bind her or trip her if she had to run or fight. It's cold, I get that. And it's bothering me a lot she did that. I taught her better.

It's bothering me a whole lot that she's acting like it's no big thing, what happened this morning. It was ripping us apart before I took my little trip to the sky.

Her eyes aren't right. Pupils are too wide, and they aren't moving right. Like she acquired nystagmus in the last two hours.

Nara's cryptic statement makes me crazy.

Really wanna talk to her. Really don't like that she's acting like there's nothing to talk about.

Radne was back. "Well done, little sister."

"Using a crown as an interface device doesn't make sense."

Radne smiled. "It's close enough."

"Show me everything."

Radne did.

"Hastur's scaly balls," Toombs says and throws down his handheld like a toddler. "She did it again. Go get Nara."

"No," I say. " Boss-lady said loud and clear you don't get to be alone with the kid for a while."

Toombs snorts. "Kid? You're the who's fucking her." I grunt. He keeps talking. "And boss-lady? I pay better."

"Not hardly." Jack's eyes are moving behind closed eyelids, like she's in REM sleep.

"What the fuck happened while I was gone?"

He grinned. "I'll show you the video when Logan gets done cutting it. We recorded a little 'get your ass over here' video for Riddick and my hairy palms. Demo-ed the collar. Nara came looking for us after she saw you off. Wasn't happy about it."

All the air goes out of the room. "You tortured the girl," I say, flatly.

"Just a little bit. Hey, I gave her the choice. Promise to help us bag and tag or spend the next hour screaming."

My stomach clenches. They tortured Jack because we're playing this ridiculous game that I'm not Riddick and they're not all going to die. And she laid back and took it because she's so fucking committed to staying here and saving these assholes. I was fucking wrong. I thought if they hurt her, she'd want to come with me. Fucked that one up big time. Poor Jack. "So why does she act like she's coming out of a brunch date with her lady friends?" I ask.

He shrugged. "We had her strapped to the diagnostic bed for it. She had a seizure. Doc-in-the-Box prescribed a pretty potent drug cocktail. Don't think she's feeling much of anything right now. Hey, did the heat just turn on?"

Everyone shows up in our little room after that. Seems the heat hasn't been on in this place since forever. Systems are waking up and shutting down and waking up again all over the base. All but communications.

Nara is pacing, she's so antsy. Toombs makes noises like he's going to shock Jack to wake her up. Nara shuts that shit down fast. Maybe I'll let her live after all.

After a while, Dahl heads off to cook us all dinner. Far too long after that, Jack opens her eyes at last.

"Holy Persephone's sacred journey, you're back," Nara whispers. "Did you get the systems back online?"

Jack looks at her like she's coming from a long way away. Feel for her. "Some. We need more power, Kthanid help us. We need to fix the solar array."

Who the fuck is Kthanid? "How do we do that?"

Jack takes off the headpiece and sets it down carefully on the edge of the table like she's not quite in her body. "I'll send the nanites to start. But there's a lot of stuff that just fell onto the panels over the years. We'll need to go out there and clear them."

"It's almost dinner time," Toombs says. "And you ain't leaving the base except locked in a cryotube or all gift-wrapped for Big Bad."

Jack looks at him like she's forgotten he existed. Then she looks around the room like she's confused. When she gets to me she does a double take. "You okay, Jack?" Logan asks, "this is about the point you had a seizure last time."

"Elder Gods," she murmurs. "Lot of new stuff in my head. Just - just crowded out some recent events." A big shudder goes through her.

"You should write a report as soon as you can," Nara says with shiny eyes. "I'm going to turn on a recorder if that's okay."

Jack nods. "Go ahead." Another big shudder goes through her. "But I can't think straight enough right now to write a report. And I'm starving." She looks at Logan. "Did you drug me? Or was that another nightmare about all the scary things that happen to me when I get tied up?"

Logan smiles. "Yeah, I drugged you, kid. Seemed the thing to do."

She nods. "I think it's wearing off."

"We got a few minutes before dinner's gonna be ready if you wanna see if the Doc-in-the-Box prescribes another." Jack looks haunted. Don't think she wants to go back to that room. Logan sees that. "Hey, I just gave you the shot the Doc-in-the-Box prescribed. It was mostly anticonvulsants. If the Doc-in-the-Box thinks you need another dose, I think you should go take it."

Jack rubs her face. "Okay. But this time, absolutely, positively, no one gets to strap me to anything."

"No promises," Toombs says with a grin.

"That's why you're not going," Nara says. "Mr. Richards and I will."

Jack stumbles against me as soon as she takes a step. Steady her, help her down the hall. She leans into me like she's forgotten this morning. Suspect she hasn't and is just making the best of it. Nara has a running litany of questions as we make our way to the med lab. Jack answers like she just took a big handful of valium.

The med lab is not like it was when I left it. The diagnostic bed's in the middle of the room, not the cozy corner, and I can almost see the camera drones circling it. Jack lays down on the bed with a sigh. She don't wanna be there. Nara keeps asking questions. Jack keeps answering. Don't think Nara's asking the right questions, but what do I know?

After way too long, Doc-in-the-Box beeps. Diagnosis: dehydration, fatigue, low blood sugar, significant soft tissue injury, stress, emotional trauma, and a temporary seizure disorder. It dispenses a needle crammed with gabapentin, hydrocortisone, meta-fentanyl, a muscle relaxant, and a bunch of stuff I don't recognize. I frown at it. Go to hand it to her.

She just looks at it, still laying on the bed. "Ri-Richards, all the things I learned in my life, I never learned how to give myself injections."

Grunt. "I can do it. Pull up your sleeve."

She tries, but the layers of clothes are too tight. She sits up, stiff and awkward. Rotates so her legs are dangling off the side of the bed and very slowly takes off the ugly sweater and the ugly shirt she had on underneath it. Wanna help. Don't. She pulls up the sleeve of her dress and I almost lose it. The bruises around her wrist are livid and the skin is actually fucking cut, like someone tied her too tight with rough rope. I touch her wrists gently. She flinches.

They're dead. They're all fucking dead.

"Gibbotted god," Nara says. "What happened to your wrists?"

Jack shrugs, painfully. "Something during filming. I don't know how. Maybe there was some grit from the tunnel that got ground in." She looks at Nara. "Thank you - thank you for making them stop." My gut clenches.

"You're welcome, Jack. I know what it feels like. I can't imagine how much worse it must be when they're recording it for posterity. I'm so, so sorry."

Posterity and Toombs's jerkin' off needs. Sit beside her. Force my hands not to clench hard, clean the inside of her arm, cradle it in one hand, and insert the needle as gently as I can. Have an almost physical memory of cradling this little arm two weeks ago and slicing the skin so our blood could spill into each other's veins. "Sorry I left you with - them." I say.

Jack laughs. It's tinged with hysteria. "Thank you." She shakes her head. Then she looks up at me, really looks. Her voice drops. "Thank you."

Nara looks from one of us to the other. "Cyrus, you do care about her, don't you?"

"Yeah," I say, in my real voice. Jack stiffens ever so slightly. "Don't want Toombs to know its more than just fucking."

Nara looks between us. "Will it be a problem?"

"Only if we don't find Riddick," I say. "I accept she'll pick him over me. She thinks the stakes are too high for her to do anything else. But if they don't find him, or he don't step up, I won't let her end up with Chillingsworth's people. Best case scenario there -" my voice cracks. "Is not good."

Jack takes a deep, shuddering breath. Leans into me like she did when she was a little girl. My eyes prickle. Nara looks at her. "Jack?"

"It's like he knows me," she says, softly. "I'm selfishly glad he's here. It's been . . . nice, sometimes, having someone who's not just treating me as a means to an end. I feel really bad he got dragged into this. And - I'll lay back and take it for Helios. But I was in Antonia Chillingsworth's torture porn art studio once. If it would save people, I'd volunteer to be an exhibit. But it won't. It's just cruelty."

Grunt. Pull out the needle. Press a piece of cotton over the spot for a moment, then bandage her up. Pull her sleeve down around it carefully.

Nara nods again. "Your secret is safe with me. I think you two need a minute. I'm going to go make an archive copy of this recording in case something happens to my handhold. I'll be back in about ten so we can go to dinner together. Be ready, okay?"

"You got it, Doc," I say.