(Revised 05.06.2022)


"You wanna' come help me look for your- " Johns started, before Nova gave him a death glare. "For, Riddick?" He finished, looking away from her.

"No." Nova said, getting up to go look with Johns anyway.

They found Riddick after a few minutes of "Marco Polo." Johns whistled to get his attention.

"Permission to party." Johns said, waving Riddick over. "Come on, boy." He said, patting his leg.

"He's not a dog." Nova said, rolling her eyes at Johns' behavior.

"Could've fooled me." Johns said.

Nova punched Johns hard in the arm before he started to walk away.

"Hey, take it easy. It was just a joke." Johns said.

"Whatever." Nova spat, no longer looking at him.

Riddick pulled a sheet off a building that was labeled 'Coring Room'. It turned out that Jack was hiding under it; being found out made him gasp. Nova wasn't sure what to think when she saw his new look. He looked like Riddick's own personal mini me.

"Missin' the party, come on." Riddick said, in a southern accent mimicking Johns'.

"Aw, man." Jack said.

"Cute kid." Nova said, once Riddick was near her.

"Yeah, he is." Riddick agreed.

They were the last ones in the group again.

"So - " Nova started.

"So - " Riddick encouraged.

"Have the others been mentioning me to you?" Nova asked.

"How do you mean?" Riddick asked.

"Well... I mean, they seem to be under the impression that w-... that we..." Nova said, making gestures with her hands but not being able to outright say what she meant.

Riddick stopped in front of Nova abruptly, causing her to bump into his chest and fall on her behind. She was about to get up when he crouched down in front of her, not leaving any room for leverage. He stared at her in silence for what felt like too long.

"I think they said you liked me." Riddick teased, with a toothy, mischievous grin.

Nova felt her face heating up and didn't know what to do now that Riddick was so close again. She couldn't bring herself to look him in the face anymore, mustering a dry swallow. She was starting to feel light headed again.

"Well, do you?" Riddick joked, half serious.

Nova couldn't get any sound out but she didn't want to leave Riddick unanswered. She abruptly rocked forward, smacking her forehead against his, causing him to fall back on his forearms.

"Aw shit!" Riddick exclaimed, holding his forehead in his hand, checking for a possible wound.

"I'm so sorry!" Nova blurted out, holding her own forehead now.

"You're really bad at kissing." Riddick joked.

Nova's face felt hotter than she'd ever experienced.

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I WAS TRYING TO DO!" Nova shrieked.

Johns and Jack who hadn't been far, but hadn't been close, turned around to see what was happening.

"How did you two end up on the ground? Hurry up! You can fool around on your own time." Johns called back at them.

"THAT'S NOT WHAT WAS HAPPENING!" Nova shrieked again, wishing their accidental headbutt had knocked her out.


"All praises be, Allah, for his many blessings to us." Imam said, talking about the water.

Jack walked in and surprised almost everyone with his new look.

"What?" Jack said, staring back at anyone who stared at him.

"It's the winner of the lookalike contest." Paris joked. "Who were these people anyways? Miners?" He asked, over by Shazza.

"Looks like geologists. You know, advanced team? Lives around from rock to rock." Shazza said.

"Nice of them to leave so much stuff here. Why'd they leave their ship?" Fry said.

Fry's question made Nova, Johns, and Shazza stop what they were doing to look at her. Nova turned to look at Imam for a moment, who seemed to be looking for something, or someone.

"It's not a ship it's a skiff, and it's disposable really." Johns said.

"It's more like an emergency life raft, right?" Paris said.

"Yeah, they probably had a big drop ship take them off planet." Shazza said.

"These people didn't leave. Come on. Whoever got, Zeke, got them. They're all dead." Riddick said, putting his goggles back on. "You don't really think they left with their clothes on the hooks, photos on the shelves?" He said.

"Maybe they had weight limits. You don't know." Shazza said, with an attitude that said, 'You're most likely wrong, so shut the hell up!'

"I know you don't prep your emergency ship, unless there's a fuckin' emergency." Riddick said.

"He's fuckin' right." Jack said.

"Watch your mouth." Johns said.

"Leave him be, Johns. You're not his dad." Nova said.

"And what are you, his mom?" Johns challenged.

"You have a control problem!" Nova spat.

"Oh yeah - !" Johns started up, before being interrupted by Fry.

"Enough!" Fry interjected. "And he's just saying what we're all thinking." She continued, referring to what Riddick said; she turned to face him. "So, what happened? Where are they?" She finished.

Riddick was about to answer before Imam came in.

"Has anyone seen the little one?" Imam said. "Ali!" He called out.

"Has anyone checked the Coring Room?" Riddick said.


Johns blasted a few holes into the Coring Room doors; they had been chained shut from the inside. He proceeded with caution, ready to defend himself. Imam and Fry held the doors open.

"Ali." Imam called, starting to head in.

Johns stopped Imam from going too far in.

"Slowly, slowly." Johns said.

"Jack wait, wait!" Fry said.

"Ali!" Imam called again.

Everyone looked around as much as possible from the entrance.

"Ali!" Imam called a third time. "Ali." He whispered, once he heard a hissing sound.

Imam had gone much further in to look by now. Nova could hear hissing and erratic movement coming from the other side of a wall; she later found that it had been double doors.

"Hang back real quick." Nova said, talking to Jack and Imam's other acolyte.

"Why?" Jack asked.

"There's something moving and hissing - " Nova started, before she got cut off by the bioraptors flying around suddenly.

Everyone, except for Imam, got out and shut the doors to the Coring Room until the bioraptors had gone past the doors. Johns went back in first, being the only one with a gun. They circled one more time before going down into a hole in the ground. Everyone checked to make sure there weren't any more left before they set foot back inside.

"Imam?" Johns and Fry called to him.

Imam told everyone that the bioraptors had killed Ali; they had eaten his face off. He had a proper burial for him.


Nova, Shazza, Johns, Fry, and Riddick went back inside the Coring Room. Johns had lit a flare and dropped it down the hole the bioraptors left through. The hole was deep, and filled with the bones of those who had been previously killed by them. Fry and Shazza held onto chains by the edge so they wouldn't fall in if they happened to miss their footing.

"Other buildings weren't secure." Riddick said.

Riddick and Nova were on a ledge just above the hole, below the others.

"So, they ran here. Heaviest doors, thought they'd be safe inside, but they forgot to lock the cellar." Riddick said.

This made Shazza walk away from the edge. She stopped by Riddick on her way out and took her air tank off. She threw it to him and he caught it with ease. She had her arms crossed and was leaning against the wall.

"What? It's broken?" Riddick accused Shazza, throwing it down.

"No, there's still a few hits. Actually, you asshole, I'm trying to say that I am sorry." Shazza said.

Johns was behind Shazza now, on the other side of the wall she was leaning on.

"Okay, let's board this place up, and get the hell out of here." Johns ordered, motioning for the others to follow before he walked away.

Shazza looked at Riddick one more time before kicking the device toward him.

"Well… that was kind of nice of her." Nova said.

"I guess, as nice as she's gonna get." Riddick said, while putting on the device. "By the way, how's your head?" He said.

"Definitely better than earlier. How's yours?" Nova said.

"Still kind of sore. You might have to actually kiss it better for me." Riddick teased.

Nova went to playfully hit Riddick and he caught her arms. She giggled for a moment until she realized he was quiet, and his gaze was fixed on her in a predatory way. He started moving them around the room, and without her noticing it he had backed her against a wall not far from the entrance doors; presumably so the light would deter any straggling bioraptors. She was waiting for him to say something, but he stayed quiet. He closed whatever space was between them, raising her temperature again.

"I don't think you ever answered my question from earlier." Riddick said.

"What question?" Nova asked, getting light headed again.

Riddick lowered his head until their noses were almost touching.

"You like me?" Riddick roughly whispered.

Nova closed her eyes ready to accept whatever was about to happen until they heard the biorapters aggressively chirping again. They spoke almost in unison.

"We should go." Riddick said.

"We should probably go." Nova said.

Riddick grabbed Nova by her hand and lead her out of the building. While he was leading her away she noticed that the others noticed, but no one said anything in that moment.