Disclaimer: The Characters of Jack, Riddick and Iman belong to USA Films, David Towhy, etc. I'm just having a little fun here. OK, I confess. I'm doing this because it's the only way to get the Muses off my back G.
Riddick's Death
Copyright 2003 By Cassandra Houston
Chapter Seven: I.G.P.S - The InterGalactic Penal System
Silva was Caliga's forested moon. Because of the way the planet of Caliga moved in conjunction with its single small sun and two moons Silva's days were lopsided to the average person. The days were thirty-one hours long and the sun shone on the planet only eleven of those hours. The forest covering the moon was denser even than the forests on Caliga and the sunlight rarely hit the ground.
In other words, it was an ideal home for light-sensitive creatures.
Jacqueline and Riddick built a home for themselves. It was fortified against the moons two primary predators. But they were not a problem for the Riddick's. They were able to live in relative harmony with the moon they'd adopted as their home.
They left Caliga almost immediately after the Johns brothers were killed by the planet's giant spiders. Authorities did come searching for the Riddick's but when they discovered the few remaining bones of the Johns brothers they concluded correctly that the spiders had killed them, not Richard or Jacqueline Riddick.
Iman had been campaigning ever since the Johns brothers began their search for Riddick to have him pardoned. His argument being that Riddick had saved as many people as he could and showed himself to be rehabilitated. The word of his success reached him shortly after the Riddick's left Caliga.
"You are truly a free man now, Benjamin." He told them when he came to Silva to deliver his news.
While Riddick was grateful, he did not return to Caliga. "Silva is as good as it gets for me." He told Iman. "I have everything I need here. Food, water and Jack."
Iman suggested and helped arrange for the Riddick's to buy the moon outright using modern galactic homesteading laws. And so the Riddick's became owners of their own moon.
But the Riddick's stayed close to Iman and the Caliga Pilgrims. They visited Caliga about every 40 Silvia days. The colony did very well. They lived very simply. They farmed and fished the lake.
The Riddick's went often into the mountains to hunt the spiders, which occasionally wandered off of the mountain range and scared the pilgrims badly. The spiders' eggs became a favorite food of the Riddick's.
It was not until the pilgrims decided to offer themselves for "God's work" that the Riddick's life became interesting once again.
Riddick landed the shuttle on the pad and shut it down. He frowned slightly out of the front viewer. "Bit busy today." He murmured.
Jacqueline nodded. She made a sweeping mental count. "There are more people here than there were a month ago." She said.
Riddick made ready to disembark. "Iman told us there might be." He said, standing. "But those uniforms."
"They are IGPS uniforms." Jacqueline said, following.
They donned their dark glasses and left their shuttle, entering the village, which seemed to have doubled in size in only 40 Silva days.
They entered the marketplace, which was teeming with complete strangers. Riddick estimated he recognized about one in ten faces in the crowd. Most of the strangers were wearing dark green and black uniforms, which Riddick recognized from his time in the slam. His unease grew with each step.
"Jack!" A voice called. Jacqueline looked around and took a moment to see little Rose Shin struggling her way through the crowd to them. She reached them and stood panting slightly with the exertion of her travels. "You've come on Market Day." She said.
Jacqueline was still slightly stunned. "Rose." She said. "What is this?" She waved her hand at the crowd. "These are all IGPS personnel."
Rose smiled broadly. "We are a penal colony now." she said brightly. Her smile faded slightly as she watched the reactions of her friends. "We voted to become one. To try and save some of those poor lost souls who can get so lost in the penal system." She began to look a little confused. Jacqueline and Riddick were looking at her, dumbstruck. "We can bring these people some salvation." She said, hopefully.
"You have got to be fucking kidding." Riddick said, slowly.
Rose looked very shocked. "Benjamin Riddick." She said, causing Riddick's eyebrows to rise at the maternal tone her voice took on. "I would think that you of all people would understand what we are doing here."
Riddick opened his mouth, and then suddenly closed it. Jacqueline quickly took his arm and asked Rose. "Where is Iman, Rose?" She said. "I think we'd better talk to him."
Rose shrugged. "He's in the main IPGS administration building." She said, a bit taken aback. "He's the prisons spiritual advisor."
"I'll just fucking bet." Riddick murmured, drawing more daggers from Rose's eyes. "Where is it, Rose?" He asked, shortly.
Rose shifted her basked full of vegetables from one arm to the other. "It's on the western hill." She said, stiffly.
"We'll talk later, Rose." Jacqueline said as Riddick effectively dragged her away from her.
The newly constructed IGPS Administration building was the most modern looking building Riddick had seen in some time. It stood looking arrogantly over the village, far enough away that the village could continue to grow quite a bit before it would spill onto the pristine lawn of the building.
They entered the building noting as they did that not everyone was dressed in the dark green and black uniforms. Several people in the market had been wearing light gray. One of these people stopped the Riddick's at the door, asking if he could help them in any way.
Before either of them could answer a voice from behind them said, "That's alright, George. They are authorized."
Jacqueline turned and saw a smallish man in plain clothes standing before her. Riddick turned and saw him too. He said. "Dr. Romyl." He sounded partly surprised and partly pleased.
Dr. Romyl smiled when he saw Riddick. "Richard Riddick." He said. "I thought you were dead. Then I found out you were only pardoned."
Riddick gave him a small half grin. "Same thing, they say." He said, dryly as the two men shook hands. "This is Jack. My wife." He said, inclining his head towards Jacqueline.
Dr. Romyl's eyes opened wide. "Wife?" He said. He smiled and shook Jacqueline's hand. "Now I have seen everything."
Jacqueline smiled. "I have heard a lot about you, Doctor." She said.
The doctor looked at her glasses. "Birds of a feather?" He said, the curiosity in his voice obvious. "Hard to find a woman who has had a surgical shine." He said. He looked like he wanted to remove her glasses. "Please, come into my office. I'd love to take a look." He looked at Riddick again, carefully. "At both of you." He said very slowly.
Riddick bit his lip, but he and Jacqueline followed the doctor up two stories to the third floor of the building. This was obviously the buildings hospital wing. They turned at the top of the stairs and entered an office. Dr. Romyl immediately closed his shades and turned all but one of the lights off.
"I have not seen Riddick here since." He began, leaning against his desk.
Riddick slowly took his glasses off. "Since you did the job on me." He said, looking at the doctor with his silvery eyes.
Jacqueline also took her glasses off. The light was low enough not to bother their eyes.
"It was a big slam." Dr. Romyl said, grinning. "I am just now seeing the effects of my work." He went to Riddick, who allowed him to look at his eyes. The doctor looked at both of them, carefully. He eventually stood back. "Riddick did a hell of a job on you, young lady. I couldn't have done it better myself." He smiled softly. He took a deep breath. "Have you been noticing the side effects of the chemicals? They have been illegalized, you know. No longer to be found, used or manufactured."
Riddick nodded. "I know." He said. "And yes. I have noticed the side effects. Both in myself and in Jack." He sighed. "Interesting side effect for people who have had all sorts of people waiting for the peace that my death will cause."
Dr. Romyl smiled and nodded. "You look almost the same as you did when I did the shine job on you, Riddick. Maybe a year older. How long has it been? Twelve years?"
"Fifteen." Riddick said, mildly. "Jacqueline isn't aging much either. I've known her for almost ten years now. I did the shine job about six years ago. She looks the same as she did then."
"You look like you're eighteen." Dr. Romyl said, smiling. "Riddick still breaking laws?"
"I was eighteen when he did the shine job." Jacqueline said. "And that was a little more than six years ago. I am more than halfway through my twenty-fourth year."
The doctor nodded. "I see." He said. You'd better put your glasses back on. They did and the doctor turned on the room lights. "It's amazing." He said. He shook his head and sat down. "So tell me, what brings you here."
"We're here to see Iman, actually." Riddick said. "We don't get here much. We have been gone a little while. There have been a lot of changes. Iman didn't mention any of them the last time we talked."
Dr. Romyl laughed lightly. "In your holy man's attempt to gain you a pardon, he also campaigned against slams in general, and the one we were in in particular. The Ferra Mines have been closed, Riddick. And underground prisons have been illegalized. Again."
Riddick said nothing, just nodded slowly.
"Anyway, he convinced his people that the best way to make use of this new world of theirs was to open it up to rehabilitating the fallen." Dr. Romyl continued. He chuckled. "He has faith. Can't deny that." He shrugged. "Caliga is now a low to medium security prison planet. Those spiders in the equator mountain range keep the minimum-security prisoners nicely segregated. Food and shifts are changed every thirty hours. The minimum-security prisoners live on this hemisphere and are allowed to work and live among the original settlers. Upon release they will be given the opportunity to remain here." He shrugged. "I can't deny that it is a million miles away from Ferra."
Riddick conceded. "Maybe." He said. "But I don't know about this. You know how IgPigs operate."
Dr Romyl bit his lip but said nothing. He put a smile on his face. "Enough about that." He said. "I can show you to Iman's office now. I'm sure I've taken enough of your time. It is good to see you, Riddick. And to meet you, Jack."
Jacqueline smiled. "You will have to come to see us someday. We don't often invite people to see us. You are an exception."
"I would have visited before now." Dr. Romyl said. "I didn't know you lived here."
"We don't." Riddick said. "We live on the forested moon."
"Ah," Dr Romyl said. "Of course. It has to be dark as hell up there. Perfect for you. And you only come down occasionally to visit the colonists you brought with you."
"Exactly." Riddick said.
"I will come and visit with you. In the meantime, let's see if we can find the holy man."
"We'll get over it." Riddick said twenty minutes in Iman's new office. Off of the office was a doorway leading through an underground tunnel and to the brand new Temple. The Riddick's declined the offer of a tour.
"You won't let this keep you away from us, will you?" Iman asked, half frowning.
"You'll have to forgive me, Father." Riddick said dryly. "I don't like slams. I don't care how pretty they are or how well intentioned the rehabilitation program is."
Iman nodded. "I understand that." He said. "What we are doing here is divinely inspired. I could not say no to God."
Jacqueline smiled. "We understand that, Iman." She said. "And you understand where we are coming from. We will have a very hard time feeling welcomed here. It is a prison now. We don't like prisons."
They started to leave Iman's office. Riddick suddenly stopped and turned again to Iman. "Keep them off of our moon, Father. I understand now why you insisted we actually buy it. It's a private planet now." He looked again at Iman. "If you need us, you know where we are."
And the Riddick's left the building and the planet without speaking another word to another living being on Caliga.
Riddick's Death
Copyright 2003 By Cassandra Houston
Chapter Seven: I.G.P.S - The InterGalactic Penal System
Silva was Caliga's forested moon. Because of the way the planet of Caliga moved in conjunction with its single small sun and two moons Silva's days were lopsided to the average person. The days were thirty-one hours long and the sun shone on the planet only eleven of those hours. The forest covering the moon was denser even than the forests on Caliga and the sunlight rarely hit the ground.
In other words, it was an ideal home for light-sensitive creatures.
Jacqueline and Riddick built a home for themselves. It was fortified against the moons two primary predators. But they were not a problem for the Riddick's. They were able to live in relative harmony with the moon they'd adopted as their home.
They left Caliga almost immediately after the Johns brothers were killed by the planet's giant spiders. Authorities did come searching for the Riddick's but when they discovered the few remaining bones of the Johns brothers they concluded correctly that the spiders had killed them, not Richard or Jacqueline Riddick.
Iman had been campaigning ever since the Johns brothers began their search for Riddick to have him pardoned. His argument being that Riddick had saved as many people as he could and showed himself to be rehabilitated. The word of his success reached him shortly after the Riddick's left Caliga.
"You are truly a free man now, Benjamin." He told them when he came to Silva to deliver his news.
While Riddick was grateful, he did not return to Caliga. "Silva is as good as it gets for me." He told Iman. "I have everything I need here. Food, water and Jack."
Iman suggested and helped arrange for the Riddick's to buy the moon outright using modern galactic homesteading laws. And so the Riddick's became owners of their own moon.
But the Riddick's stayed close to Iman and the Caliga Pilgrims. They visited Caliga about every 40 Silvia days. The colony did very well. They lived very simply. They farmed and fished the lake.
The Riddick's went often into the mountains to hunt the spiders, which occasionally wandered off of the mountain range and scared the pilgrims badly. The spiders' eggs became a favorite food of the Riddick's.
It was not until the pilgrims decided to offer themselves for "God's work" that the Riddick's life became interesting once again.
Riddick landed the shuttle on the pad and shut it down. He frowned slightly out of the front viewer. "Bit busy today." He murmured.
Jacqueline nodded. She made a sweeping mental count. "There are more people here than there were a month ago." She said.
Riddick made ready to disembark. "Iman told us there might be." He said, standing. "But those uniforms."
"They are IGPS uniforms." Jacqueline said, following.
They donned their dark glasses and left their shuttle, entering the village, which seemed to have doubled in size in only 40 Silva days.
They entered the marketplace, which was teeming with complete strangers. Riddick estimated he recognized about one in ten faces in the crowd. Most of the strangers were wearing dark green and black uniforms, which Riddick recognized from his time in the slam. His unease grew with each step.
"Jack!" A voice called. Jacqueline looked around and took a moment to see little Rose Shin struggling her way through the crowd to them. She reached them and stood panting slightly with the exertion of her travels. "You've come on Market Day." She said.
Jacqueline was still slightly stunned. "Rose." She said. "What is this?" She waved her hand at the crowd. "These are all IGPS personnel."
Rose smiled broadly. "We are a penal colony now." she said brightly. Her smile faded slightly as she watched the reactions of her friends. "We voted to become one. To try and save some of those poor lost souls who can get so lost in the penal system." She began to look a little confused. Jacqueline and Riddick were looking at her, dumbstruck. "We can bring these people some salvation." She said, hopefully.
"You have got to be fucking kidding." Riddick said, slowly.
Rose looked very shocked. "Benjamin Riddick." She said, causing Riddick's eyebrows to rise at the maternal tone her voice took on. "I would think that you of all people would understand what we are doing here."
Riddick opened his mouth, and then suddenly closed it. Jacqueline quickly took his arm and asked Rose. "Where is Iman, Rose?" She said. "I think we'd better talk to him."
Rose shrugged. "He's in the main IPGS administration building." She said, a bit taken aback. "He's the prisons spiritual advisor."
"I'll just fucking bet." Riddick murmured, drawing more daggers from Rose's eyes. "Where is it, Rose?" He asked, shortly.
Rose shifted her basked full of vegetables from one arm to the other. "It's on the western hill." She said, stiffly.
"We'll talk later, Rose." Jacqueline said as Riddick effectively dragged her away from her.
The newly constructed IGPS Administration building was the most modern looking building Riddick had seen in some time. It stood looking arrogantly over the village, far enough away that the village could continue to grow quite a bit before it would spill onto the pristine lawn of the building.
They entered the building noting as they did that not everyone was dressed in the dark green and black uniforms. Several people in the market had been wearing light gray. One of these people stopped the Riddick's at the door, asking if he could help them in any way.
Before either of them could answer a voice from behind them said, "That's alright, George. They are authorized."
Jacqueline turned and saw a smallish man in plain clothes standing before her. Riddick turned and saw him too. He said. "Dr. Romyl." He sounded partly surprised and partly pleased.
Dr. Romyl smiled when he saw Riddick. "Richard Riddick." He said. "I thought you were dead. Then I found out you were only pardoned."
Riddick gave him a small half grin. "Same thing, they say." He said, dryly as the two men shook hands. "This is Jack. My wife." He said, inclining his head towards Jacqueline.
Dr. Romyl's eyes opened wide. "Wife?" He said. He smiled and shook Jacqueline's hand. "Now I have seen everything."
Jacqueline smiled. "I have heard a lot about you, Doctor." She said.
The doctor looked at her glasses. "Birds of a feather?" He said, the curiosity in his voice obvious. "Hard to find a woman who has had a surgical shine." He said. He looked like he wanted to remove her glasses. "Please, come into my office. I'd love to take a look." He looked at Riddick again, carefully. "At both of you." He said very slowly.
Riddick bit his lip, but he and Jacqueline followed the doctor up two stories to the third floor of the building. This was obviously the buildings hospital wing. They turned at the top of the stairs and entered an office. Dr. Romyl immediately closed his shades and turned all but one of the lights off.
"I have not seen Riddick here since." He began, leaning against his desk.
Riddick slowly took his glasses off. "Since you did the job on me." He said, looking at the doctor with his silvery eyes.
Jacqueline also took her glasses off. The light was low enough not to bother their eyes.
"It was a big slam." Dr. Romyl said, grinning. "I am just now seeing the effects of my work." He went to Riddick, who allowed him to look at his eyes. The doctor looked at both of them, carefully. He eventually stood back. "Riddick did a hell of a job on you, young lady. I couldn't have done it better myself." He smiled softly. He took a deep breath. "Have you been noticing the side effects of the chemicals? They have been illegalized, you know. No longer to be found, used or manufactured."
Riddick nodded. "I know." He said. "And yes. I have noticed the side effects. Both in myself and in Jack." He sighed. "Interesting side effect for people who have had all sorts of people waiting for the peace that my death will cause."
Dr. Romyl smiled and nodded. "You look almost the same as you did when I did the shine job on you, Riddick. Maybe a year older. How long has it been? Twelve years?"
"Fifteen." Riddick said, mildly. "Jacqueline isn't aging much either. I've known her for almost ten years now. I did the shine job about six years ago. She looks the same as she did then."
"You look like you're eighteen." Dr. Romyl said, smiling. "Riddick still breaking laws?"
"I was eighteen when he did the shine job." Jacqueline said. "And that was a little more than six years ago. I am more than halfway through my twenty-fourth year."
The doctor nodded. "I see." He said. You'd better put your glasses back on. They did and the doctor turned on the room lights. "It's amazing." He said. He shook his head and sat down. "So tell me, what brings you here."
"We're here to see Iman, actually." Riddick said. "We don't get here much. We have been gone a little while. There have been a lot of changes. Iman didn't mention any of them the last time we talked."
Dr. Romyl laughed lightly. "In your holy man's attempt to gain you a pardon, he also campaigned against slams in general, and the one we were in in particular. The Ferra Mines have been closed, Riddick. And underground prisons have been illegalized. Again."
Riddick said nothing, just nodded slowly.
"Anyway, he convinced his people that the best way to make use of this new world of theirs was to open it up to rehabilitating the fallen." Dr. Romyl continued. He chuckled. "He has faith. Can't deny that." He shrugged. "Caliga is now a low to medium security prison planet. Those spiders in the equator mountain range keep the minimum-security prisoners nicely segregated. Food and shifts are changed every thirty hours. The minimum-security prisoners live on this hemisphere and are allowed to work and live among the original settlers. Upon release they will be given the opportunity to remain here." He shrugged. "I can't deny that it is a million miles away from Ferra."
Riddick conceded. "Maybe." He said. "But I don't know about this. You know how IgPigs operate."
Dr Romyl bit his lip but said nothing. He put a smile on his face. "Enough about that." He said. "I can show you to Iman's office now. I'm sure I've taken enough of your time. It is good to see you, Riddick. And to meet you, Jack."
Jacqueline smiled. "You will have to come to see us someday. We don't often invite people to see us. You are an exception."
"I would have visited before now." Dr. Romyl said. "I didn't know you lived here."
"We don't." Riddick said. "We live on the forested moon."
"Ah," Dr Romyl said. "Of course. It has to be dark as hell up there. Perfect for you. And you only come down occasionally to visit the colonists you brought with you."
"Exactly." Riddick said.
"I will come and visit with you. In the meantime, let's see if we can find the holy man."
"We'll get over it." Riddick said twenty minutes in Iman's new office. Off of the office was a doorway leading through an underground tunnel and to the brand new Temple. The Riddick's declined the offer of a tour.
"You won't let this keep you away from us, will you?" Iman asked, half frowning.
"You'll have to forgive me, Father." Riddick said dryly. "I don't like slams. I don't care how pretty they are or how well intentioned the rehabilitation program is."
Iman nodded. "I understand that." He said. "What we are doing here is divinely inspired. I could not say no to God."
Jacqueline smiled. "We understand that, Iman." She said. "And you understand where we are coming from. We will have a very hard time feeling welcomed here. It is a prison now. We don't like prisons."
They started to leave Iman's office. Riddick suddenly stopped and turned again to Iman. "Keep them off of our moon, Father. I understand now why you insisted we actually buy it. It's a private planet now." He looked again at Iman. "If you need us, you know where we are."
And the Riddick's left the building and the planet without speaking another word to another living being on Caliga.