The remainder of the day passed more or less harmoniously for the group. Everyone got introduced properly...
Collin was a mineral expert from Scotland.
Inigo was chief security officer for the geological mission and used to be an interrogator during the Spanish Inquisition of the 16th Century.
Henri was also security, but he started out his life as an architect and a painter during the Renaissance in France.
Daniel Marin was the last of the vampire group. Blonde-haired and blue-eyed with boyishly handsome features, he almost could have been Johns' long-lost brother. However, Daniel was infinitely more likable. With the exception of Angela, the others were pretty stand-offish from the humans. Giving orders, teaching them how to perform a particular task, but not really interacting with them. But Daniel smiled, joked, and pretty much acted as if everyone here was on equal standing. His way of thinking was, Mortality, schmortality. We can die too, it's just a little harder.
Daniel was the resident mechanic, harking back to his days as a diesel mechanic in 20th Century California. He was in the middle of trying to move the water pump indoors, and enlisted Imam's help when the holy man offered his own technical experience with the job.
Henri was in charge of fortifying the building. There was one last pillar to build before everything was complete. Riddick helped him with the muscle work of flying a chunk of cut rock to its position, whereupon Henri would layer cement on the rock and its placement and help Riddick shove the rock into place.
Jack and Ali helped by stirring the cement in a 50 gallon drum to keep it from drying out too quickly. Though, the youngsters were hard-pressed to concentrate on their given task. They would stare fascinated as Riddick hefted a boulder onto his shoulders with very little visible effort, then float upward to where Henri was slathering the cement. More than once, they got yelled at, and they would give the cement a hard stir before once again becoming entranced by the sight.
Collin made the cement for them. They had long ago run out of the cement they had originally brought with them. He used his mineral expertise to find stones with similar enough properties to make a homemade cement. He took Shazza under his wing and taught her what properties to look for in the rock samples and what proportions they were to be mixed in.
Every hour or so, Shazza would take a couple of pounds of dry mix and some water and dump it into Jack and Ali's drum. She'd help them stir until it was smooth enough for them to do it alone. Every time she was about to leave them, Henri would glide down and smile at her, then ignore her in favor of refilling his bucket and trowel. She would immediately turn and go back to her station with Collin.
Hasan and Rashad helped Collin with his other assignment. Not only did Collin make the cement for the building, he made pigments for Henri's mural. Quite soon after the first eclipse, Henri had proclaimed that if he wasn't able to express himself creatively, or at least have something to do with his spare time, he would go stark raving mad. So Collin offered to make him some paint. A tricky task since most paint pigments came from plant sources, and those weren't exactly in abundance. But he'd prevailed, and Henri began painting his masterpiece on the back wall of the barracks. It was a landscape of his native French countryside, very peaceful and green. It almost made them forget that they were in a desert wasteland with monsters living beneath their feet.
Angela was in charge of what little plant life they did have. A large corner of the room was sanctioned off for the few flowers and even some vegetable plants, all potted on the floor or hanging from the ceiling. They added to the effect of Henri's mural. Fry tended to the potted plants, while Angela cared for the plants hung too high for Fry to reach.
Only Inigo and Johns had no specific chore to do. They floated around from station to station seeing of what help they could be. Inigo would help Riddick with an especially large rock, or snap at the kids to keep stirring.
Johns had the hardest time of it. No one wanted his company. The vampires had taken their cue from Riddick: he's a pest to be ignored. The humans decided they couldn't trust a junkie with a gun who loses his temper so easily. He made a round of the stations, and at each one, he was told, "No thanks, we don't need you," or "Thank you, but we've got things under control here." In short, he was very politely shunned.
In a huff of frustration, he laid on one of beds and grabbed the book sitting on a nearby table. Dante's Inferno, read the leather-bound cover.
"Just don't lose my place," Henri called to him from the ceiling. "I've just gotten to the funny part." A round of chuckles greeted the joke.
Resigned to the fact that no one wanted to work with him, he opened the book and began reading.
Riddick smiled at the irony of it. He knew Johns had quit secondary school when he was fifteen to join the MAE. A lot of mercs were high-school drop-outs with violent streaks. At least he's finally getting some higher learning, he thought.
After a few hours of labor, Jack and Ali's arms were ready to fall off. Rashad, Hasan, and Shazza were no better off after grinding rocks into powder. Even Riddick was beginning to feel the burn from lifting boulders.
A cry of triumph echoed in the room. All eyes turned to see Daniel and Imam turn on the water pump. The water poured into a large cement basin and drain through the pipes in the floor. Daniel addressed the room, "Ladies and gentlemen, we now have indoor plumbing."
There was a small round of applause, then Angela spoke, "This calls for a celebration."
"Yeah," Riddick agreed, moving away from the rock he'd been about to lift. "Besides, some of us need a break." He ruffled Jack's hair, and she smiled back.
"Whatsa matter, Richie?" Johns didn't even look up from the book. "Picking up pebbles too big a job for you?"
"You try lifting those things up there," he grated. Johns only snorted a laugh. Riddick stalked over to him, slapped the book away, and dragged him up to eye level by the throat. "And don't call me 'Richie'."
"Richard," Angela warned.
Riddick snarled, showing his fangs, then dropped Johns back on the bed. "You should take the time to thank the lady, Johns. She's the only reason I haven't killed you yet."
"Thought you'd never suck my sorry hide?" He reclaimed the book from the floor.
"I don't have to eat you to kill you."
Angela pulled Riddick away. "That's enough, both of you! The temper tantrum game has gotten old, Richard. The two of you are acting like preschoolers...Daniel and Imam have the water flowing; you and Henri are almost done with the last pillar. Let's take a break and be thankful for what we've got, instead of measuring to see who has the biggest dick in the room!"
Her tirade over, she stormed over to her bed and yanked a guitar case out from under it. Hyped up from her anger, she nearly tore the lid from its hinges opening it. She pulled out the guitar, sat on the bed, and began strumming a simple melody. Soon, the angry creases on her forehead smoothed out as she relaxed.
Johns went back to Dante. Riddick ignored him and lounged on the bed next to Angela. Everyone dropped their chores and either got a glass of water or gathered to listen to Angela play.
"We'll need more beds for everyone," Riddick noted.
"After break, we'll dig up a few more," she responded.
"Do you think the eclipse has happened yet?" Jack asked a little fearfully.
Henri patted her head. "Not quite yet, petit, but not much longer."
"Are the beds far from here?" Fry didn't want anyone too far away, in case Angela's calculations about the eclipse were off.
"Nah," Collin said. "They're just across from the ol' mess 'all, next te the skiff."
Shazza looked up sharply. "Skiff? You have a skiff?"
Angela stopped playing. "Don't get your hopes up. The power cells were fried in a lightening storm, along with most of the wings. We could patch the wings, but it still wouldn't have any juice."
She moved to start playing again, but Riddick slapped his hand over the strings. He turned to Fry, "What about our ship?"
"What about it?" she frowned, then her eyes widened with the realization. "We have power cells on our ship."
* * * * *
Fry, Johns, and the vampires made a quick flight to the crash ship. Everyone else stayed behind to patch the wings.
Fry ran to bowels of her ship and gave the cells a quick once-over. Some of them were damaged, but for the most part, they seemed intact. She started unlocking them from their holding places and passing them to whoever was nearby.
Riddick grabbed the first two cells and took off for the skiff. Once there, he jury-rigged the electronics of the skiff to the cell and began doing a systems check. Nothing glaringly amiss other than the wings, and Shazza and Imam had very nearly finished the wing patches. He did a quick calculation and figured they would need a total of five cells to get this crate in the air.
Inigo dropped the second two cells off. "Are we good here, Ricardo?"
"We'll need one more cell to get airborne. A few extras wouldn't hurt either. I still need to do a hull integrity test."
Inigo nodded and took off to tell the others.
"So we'll make it, right?" Jack asked from the open hatch.
"If this thing passes an HI test, yes" He booted up the computer for the test, but it bleeped an error message at him. He looked back at Jack, who was still standing on the hatch. "Either get in, or get out. I need to close the door."
Jack walked in, and the door automatically closed after her. Riddick sighed. Note to self: Never give children an option. They always choose the most annoying one.
Jack flopped into the co-pilot's seat. "'S'ere anything I can do to help?"
"Just stay out of my way," he said as he got up to check the pressure monitors. The gauges slowly made their way up. So far, so good, he thought.
"So, how old are you?" Jack asked.
Riddick sighed again. He thought about giving a caustic remark or simply telling her to shut up, but he was afraid that it would burst that little bubble of hero-worship she had for him. Not that he wanted to be anyone's hero, but he was going to be cooped up with her in a small space for a while until a larger ship found them. He didn't want her depressed or giving him sad puppy eyes that whole time.
"I was a Ranger in the American army during World War II."
"Wow, that's what, a century older than your sis?"
He chuckled. "Actually, she's the older sibling. I call her my little sister 'cause she looks younger than me." He smiled mischievously. "Besides, it annoys her. We annoy each other a lot."
"Like the way she calls you Richie?"
"Don't call me that," he said tersely. "I hate that name."
Jack clammed up and pretended to read the panel in front of her.
"So tell me somethin', kid..."
"Yeah?"
He looked her squarely in the eyes. "Why do you pretend to be a boy?"
Her jaw dropped, and she blushed scarlet. "How - how did you know?"
"Vamps can smell blood like a shark." He looked back at the monitors, pretending not to notice the deeper shade of red on her face. The gauges reached 100%, and the hatch hissed open. "Yes!" he crowed. "We are off this fuckin' rock!"
"Glad you've decided to take passengers," Johns droned. He held a cell in his arms. "Now why don't you let a real pilot do this. Fry," he motioned her to the pilot's seat and set down the cell. Six more cells joined it, making a total of nine. They weren't taking any chances.
Fry took her chair and did a run-up on Riddick's HI test. It checked out perfectly. "We're go," she said happily.
They started yanking out the old power cells to give themselves a little more room. The skiff was built to hold eight passengers, plus a pilot and co-pilot. There would be fourteen people in a space built for ten...tight fit.
"C'mon, kid," Riddick motioned Jack outside. "We'll need to gather rations for our trip."