"Uh, guys? Somebody?" Jack squeaks. The creature slowly stalks out of the sheltering darkness to follow her.
Carolyn is the first to notice Jack's peril. "Johns!" she shouts as she grabs a flashlight and runs to help Jack, but the creature is faster. It lunges for her. The girl screams and scrambles underneath a pile of bones. The creature begins tearing through the pile to get to her. Jack huddles against the cliff face, watching in terror as the creature burrows into the bone pile after her. Carolyn runs up to the back of the creature and waves the beam of the light over its back. The creature screams and whirls around to face Carolyn. She shines the light directly in its face. The creature screeches and lunges for the woman. Two controlled bursts from Johns' gauge throw it back.
Unfortunately, another of the large creatures swoops in on Suleiman and Imam. They are pinned against the rock face with no where to run. Imam puts the boy behind him, determined to save his last child.
"Get back, demon!" shouts Imam, waving a flaming bottle at it. The beastie screeches but is not deterred. It snaps its jaws at Imam, biting at the light.
"Mr. Johns, Imam could use the assistance of your gauge!" shouts Paris. Johns turns and takes aim at the second creature, only for the gauge to click empty. He cracks the barrel and digs out more ammo.
The flaming torch is not deterring the creature. It continues to lunge at Imam and Suleiman. Shazza has jumped out of the way, but now she watches in horror as the creature slowly, with every snap of its jaws, conquers its fear and pain of the light. Its jaws are coming dangerously close to Imam. In disbelief, she watches Paris edge closer to the creature from the side with only his bottle of spirits as his defense. He's jumpy but continues to sidle up to the creature. He fishes the wick out of the bottle.
"Paris, have you gone insane?" hisses Shazza.
"Dear woman, I think I have," mutters Paris. He lifts the bottle of spirits to his lips and takes a mouthful. When he is just on the edge of the creature's peripheral vision, he lifts the flickering wick to his mouth and lets out a fine spray of spirits over the sputtering blaze. An eruption of flames jettisons from Paris and hits the creature. It screams and leaps back in shock. The side of its face is scorched. With a snarl laced with pain, it leaps into the air. Paris watches it disappear and experiences a moment of relief.
"Nice trick," says the shadows behind him. Paris jumps and nearly drops his bottle. He whirls around to find Riddick. He has his shiv out.
"So if that hadn't worked, you were going to step in?" asks Paris.
"What gave you that idea?" asks Riddick moving past him to start work again. Paris shakes his head and takes a long swig of his bottle, feeling he has earned it.
Paris has barely replaced the wick before Imam rushes up to him and takes his hand in a hearty shake, "Thank you, Mr. Ogilvie. That was worthy of a warrior of God." Paris sputters ineffectually, for once at a loss for words, taken aback with the praise.
Carolyn helps Jack out of the bone pile. "I'm beginning to really hate this place." The girl tells the pilot.
"All the more reason to get back to work," replies Carolyn. They quickly finish shifting the heaviest bones out of the way and pile back into the sand cat. Riddick begins leading them again as Shazza steers the sand cat through the canyon. Everyone is quiet as they listen to the teeming darkness around them. Everyone's eyes face forward. They don't look up or left or right. The only thing that matters is what's ahead. They wear mental blinders to everything around them. That is the only way they will survive. A collective groan goes through the group as they see Riddick raise his hand for them to halt again, and the lights pick out the brittle whiteness of bones in the path. Shazza shakes her head morosely and presses her forehead against the steering wheel. Maybe she should have watched where she was going a little more carefully.
"All right everyone, the same as before, but be more careful. Keep plenty of light around you, and call out at the first sign of trouble," orders Carolyn as they all climb reluctantly out of the sand cat.
"Yes, captain," sneers Johns. Carolyn shoots him a look but doesn't respond to his insulting tone.
This pile is larger than the last one. Shazza's really regretting her reckless driving now. She has a permanent scowl on her face. She hefts a large chunk of bone and tosses it to the side. Suddenly, she feels very lightheaded. She bends over with her hands on her knees. Spots flash in and out before her eyes. She may have claimed to acclimated, but all the running and heavy lifting is swiftly proving her wrong. Someone comes up to her side. A large hand holds out a breather unit.
"Here," says Riddick.
Shazza lifts her head wearily to look at the man. She shakes her head and pushes the offered breather unit away. "No, you need it more. I'll be all right."
Riddick won't take no for an answer. "Use it till you get your breath back. Wouldn't be good if you passed out now." Too tired to argue further, Shazza takes the breather unit. She lifts the plastic tube to her lips and takes a long breath. Riddick watches her take a few more breathes then goes back to work.
"Well, aren't we the good little Samaritan," says Johns having watched the exchange.
"Shut up, Johns," says Carolyn for Riddick. Johns scowls. He doesn't like how everyone keeps stepping up to defend the convict. First the kid, now Fry, and Shazza had given the convict the breather unit in the first damn place. He really needs to get off this rock and hopefully with Riddick in chains. Johns raises his head to look around the group. Suleiman and Jack are resting in the sand cat. Imam and Paris are working together to move some bones. When the time comes, it will be seven against one. Riddick has weaseled his way into everyone's good graces. They'll try to stop Johns from taking custody of Riddick because of the deal. He's pretty sure he can take care of them but not positive. He needs to thin the herd, but how to do it? He could really use a pick-me-up. He nervously fingers a red shotgun shell. If only he could slip away for a few minutes.
Carolyn notices Johns' pause in work to think. She sees his hand in his pocket. She's pretty sure what he's thinking about. A ghostly echo of Owens' agonized scream rings in her ears. She roughly shoves a bone to the side. He didn't have to die that way. He could've gone with some peace if Johns had shared his morphine. She almost laughs at herself. Yeah, the druggie should've offered some of his shit to help another. Being mad about that is like being mad at a dog for not sharing his food. If she's going to be mad at Johns, she might as well be mad at Riddick for not offering to cut Owens' throat to end the pain with a single slice of his shiv. Still Owens didn't have to die like he had.
Carolyn gives herself a quick shake. Be truthful, at least in your own head, she tells herself. He didn't have to die at all. He died protecting them from her. She's the reason he ended up with a rod sticking out of his chest. Her desperation to survive had killed him. The fact that his death gave her more guilt than the almost murder of all the passengers do not faze Carolyn. She knows why. The passengers had been nothing to her then. They were cargo. When she'd been trying to jettison the passenger compartment, her mind's eye hadn't been seeing individuals in deep sleep but boxy cryo chambers that were keeping the Hunter-Gatzner from lifting its nose. Her survival instincts had blocked out the humanity within the heavy containers. Owens had been a crewmate. Maybe not a friend, but she'd known him. She knew she could rely on him. Unfortunately, Owens could not say the same of her. Her mind sneers at that thought. No, Owens couldn't say that, but then he couldn't say anything at all, now could he?
Things are different now. Carolyn knows she can't simply turn her back blindly on the people who are struggling to safety alongside her, but when things get difficult, and they are out of sight, she fears her survival instincts will conveniently forget them again. Oh, be honest, Carolyn chides herself, it's not some cold survival instinct that lets you turn your back so quickly on them when the going gets tough: It's cowardice.
Carolyn's breath comes out in a silent, "Huh." She's finally admitted it. She's a coward and somehow in charge. How had that happened? Oh right, because the rest of the crew's dead. Carolyn shakes her head.
Shazza returns to help clear the pile. She sees Carolyn silently shaking her head. "You feeling all right?" asks Shazza.
"I don't know what I'm doing," mumbles Carolyn. Sensing that this is more than a simple complaint, Shazza motions for her to follow her away from the men.
"What's the matter?" asks Shazza.
"I haven't told anyone except Johns, but I almost killed everybody during the crash."
Shazza's brow furrows. "The crash almost killed everyone. You got us down safely. We're lucky to be alive, though the present circumstances might make some wonder."
"I almost jettisoned the passenger compartment to save my own ass."
Shazza reaches over and squeezes her shoulder. "But you didn't," she replies gently.
Carolyn draws away. She doesn't deserve the friendship and trust being offered by Shazza. The prospector still doesn't understand. "No, I pulled the lever. I did everything I could to get the airlock to work. Owens jammed the hatch and kept the jettison from happening."
Shazza's eyes widen. "Oh."
Carolyn watches the other woman struggle with the news. "I'm a bigger monster than Riddick," she says softly.
Shazza's eyes snap to her. "No, you're not. You had a moment of panic. Everyone does. When I thought Riddick had killed Zeke, I wanted to tear him apart with my bare hands. If you hadn't pulled me off him, I would have. I regret my blind rage, especially now that I know he wasn't the one who slaughtered him. Hindsight is always 20/20, Carolyn. Regret is natural, but you can't let it cloud your vision as you look ahead. You've proven yourself since then. You've kept us focused. We're going to get off this rock, and you're going to be the pilot."
Carolyn stares at Shazza for a few moments. Shazza's little speech almost comforts Carolyn, but her self-reproach is too strong. She tilts her head down to hide her eyes. "What if I try something again? What if my survival supercedes everyone else's again?"
"Did you suddenly develop a case of short-term amnesia? You faced down one of those monsters an hour ago and saved Jack's life. Also you're the one who came up with the plan to get back to the skiff and get off this rock. A coward would've wanted to stay at the crash site waiting for someone to save us." Shazza throws her eyes disdainfully in Johns' direction. "You're much braver than you let yourself think, and believe me, all of us are grateful for it."
Carolyn nods finally. She gives the prospector a slim smile to tell her she feels better and walks away to get back to work. Shazza watches her go with a touch of worry. God only knows what will happen to them if Carolyn begins stumbling under the weight of leadership. They need her to be strong. The prospector curls her hands into loose fists and closes her eyes. She misses Zeke so much.
Several loud claps sound behind her. Shazza whirls around and perceives Riddick standing there. He claps his hands twice more.
"What do you want, Riddick?" she asks.
"What? No words of solace for me? Not going to tell me a man can redeem himself no matter the circumstances?"
Shazza's jaw clenches. He'd heard her and Carolyn's conversation. Shazza frowns and adds eavesdropping to his list of crimes. She just hopes he doesn't use what he'd heard somehow to his advantage. "If you want redemption, I suggest you talk to Imam," offers Shazza coolly. She pushes past him, leaving him with the breather unit. Riddick watches Shazza's retreating back with a sly smile. He wonders how long it will take them to notice Johns has wandered off.
"I think we're done," announces Imam. He's right. The path is clear.
"Well then, let's kick off," says Carolyn. Everyone heads gladly back to the sand cat.
"Where is Mr. Johns?" asks Imam.
"More importantly, where's his gauge?" adds Paris.
Carolyn looks at Riddick. "You were with him last. Where'd he go?"
Riddick just shrugs his shoulders.
"Dammit Riddick, where'd Johns go?" demands Carolyn.
Riddick opens his mouth to answer but is interrupted by the sudden burst of gauge blasts.
"God damn it!" cries Carolyn. She snatches up a light. "Everyone get into the sand cat!" she orders as she races off after Johns.
"Wouldn't it make more sense if she were to go with us in the sand cat to save Mr. Johns?" asks Paris.
"Just get in the sand cat," orders Shazza. She starts the engine, and when everyone is onboard, they follow their pilot. Her eyes flick to Riddick who has taken shotgun. He's still smiling.
"You better hope nothing happens to Carolyn," Shazza mutters.
"Why? I can pilot the skiff."
"Not if both your arms are broken," replies Shazza.
Riddick's smile broadens. He's beginning to really like the prospector. She should worry about that.
#
Carolyn takes heaving drags from her breather unit as she races toward the sound of gauge fire. At this rate, Johns was going to use up all his ammunition fast. She wondered how a man with such poor aim could be a bounty hunter, but then being a morph fiend would seem like a logical disqualifier too. How did he catch Riddick anyway?
Her errant thoughts stop when she goes around a bend and sees Johns. He's surrounded by a group of seven creatures. They're taking turns swiping at him. The gauge blasts are barely holding them off. Carolyn stands there panting, trying to see someway to pull him out. She hears the sand cat approaching.
"Johns!" she shouts.
Johns' head jerks around to her. A creature tries to snatch him while his head's turned. He fires a round at it. "Come to watch me die, Fry?"
"Can you move this way? The sand cat's coming. Its light will push them back."
"I don't know. I'm kind of boxed in here," he says. Carolyn takes a few instinctive steps forward. She can't just watch him die. It would be Owens all over again. Just then one of the creature's claws rips into Johns' arm and catches the gauge. The gauge goes flying away. Johns stares at his useless arm in dumb amazement. As Carolyn rushes forward, the sand cat catches up.
"Shit," says Shazza surveying the situation. The night flyers are closing in on Johns while Carolyn runs towards the monsters. She turns to everyone sitting in the back. "Hold on," she orders as she guns the sand cat to catch Carolyn. She barely notices that Riddick has disappeared from his seat, but she doesn't have time to wonder where he has gone. The sand cat plows forward.
But even as they charge to the rescue, the creatures close in on Johns. In the light of the sand cat's beams, Johns is ripped apart. The creatures take their pieces and flee the light.
"Carolyn, get in the sand cat!" shouts Shazza. Carolyn continues to go forward. Her brain won't process the fact that Johns is dead. The creatures are swooping everywhere, crazed for meat.
"Carolyn!" Shazza screams. Riddick reappears. He comes charging out of the shadows. He grabs Carolyn by the waist, and throws her into the back with the others. He jumps into the passenger seat.
"Drive!" he yells.
Shazza quickly turns the sand cat toward the pass. The creatures are converging on them like sharks in chum full waters. Their bloodlust has overwhelmed their fear and pain of the light.
"Everybody lie down," Shazza orders. The creatures are swooping down, buffeting the sand cat, churning around it. One crashes into it. The sand cat lifts off the ground on one side before righting itself.
"They're going to tip us," mutters Shazza.
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Riddick reach back and grab a couple of the burning liquor bottles. She has an inkling of what he's planning.
"We need to save all the light we can," she says.
"Light won't do us any good if we're dead," he replies. Shazza doesn't argue. She hits the brakes as one of the creatures lands in front of them, blocking their way.
"And stopping is no longer an option," continues Riddick. He rises out of his seat and hurls one of the bottles at the creature. It shatters against it, and the creature erupts in flames. It screams and flaps into the air. Shazza starts the sand cat again.
There are hundreds of these creatures, and they are all closing in on them.
"Just keep driving," orders Riddick. He has grabbed another flaming bottle. He watches the creatures around them, but the threat of flames can't deter the pull of gravity, and knocked off course by one of his brethren, one crashes into the side of the sand cat. The sand cat tips over onto its side.
"Paris!" screams Jack. The antiques dealer has been thrown from the sand cat and any protection the light might offer. He gets up dazed by the crash and looks toward the others only to be swept away in the next instant by the creatures. He doesn't even have time to scream.
"Everyone out of the sand cat!" shouts Riddick.
"We can't leave it! The light is our only protection!" protests Imam.
"We're not leaving it. We're tipping it back over. Now get out and put your fucking backs to it!" orders Riddick. Everyone scrambles out of the sand cat. They push as hard as they can and with muscles screaming, they get the sand cat righted, but they can't start immediately because the power cells flew out of the sand cat when it tipped over. Riddick sees them several yards away.
"Throw this thing in reverse. We need to pick the power cells back up."
Shazza nods her head and changes gear. The sand cat starts backing up slowly. Riddick stands in his seat watching the creatures. When one gets too close, he hurls a bottle at it.
"Imam and Suleiman, help Riddick haul those things in," orders Shazza. The two Chrisolims jump out. Riddick hands Shazza the lit glass bottle.
"Watch our backs," he says. Shazza nods and stands in her seat to keep an eagle eye on the men. The nightflyers are a constant cloud around them now, and the sand cat is the eye of the storm.
Riddick heaves the power cells up onto the sand cat like a weightlifter doing clean jerks. Everyone would've been amazed by his physical strength if the threat of death weren't looming closer with every second he took to work.
Carolyn lies in the back of the sand cat in the exact position she had landed in when Riddick had rescued her. Her mind is in a haze. The image of Johns being shredded is frozen in her mind's eye. She can't believe it. They are all going to die. She jumps when a power cells thumps down beside her. Jack crawls over to her.
"Hey, are you all right?" she asks.
Carolyn shakes her head. Not in answer but to clear her head to answer. "Yeah, how are we doing?"
"Riddick almost has all the cells on board. We should be on our way in a minute."
Carolyn starts to nod her head when she feels a drop hit her scalp. She looks up suspiciously at the churning flesh cloud above them. She raises her hand to the spot where she was hit. She expects to find blue blood covering her fingers but instead the liquid is clear.
"Shazza--" Carolyn begins to warn her, but the downpour erupts ahead of her.
"You have got to be fucking kidding me!" Shazza screams in exasperation as she looks up. The flame of the bottle begins to sputter. She growls and hurls the bottle at a creature lurking five yards away. It screams in pain as it is engulfed in flames, but the rain quickly dampens it. Imam and Suleiman heft a power cell onto the sand cat as Riddick hurls the last two into the back. Shazza drops back down into the sand cat's driver seat.
"Gun it," Riddick orders as he retakes his seat. Shazza floors the pedal and the sand cat kicks sand up. It fish tails a little but quickly gains traction, and they're off.
"How much further to the damn skiff?" demands Shazza.
"Another mile," replies Riddick. Shazza grimaces. The rain is coming down hard. She's worried the vehicle will flounder. She keeps this to herself though. Worry will not get them to the skiff any faster. Concentration will. She jerks the sand cat sharply to dodge by a night flyer. They skid some, but swiftly straighten out. Concentrate Shazza, she tells herself. Her hands feel like claws on the wheel. She's gripping it so hard, she's not sure if she'll be able to let go when they reach the skiff. A heavy hand falls on her shoulder. Her surprise almost makes her lose control of the vehicle.
"The canyon splits up ahead. Take the right path," Riddick tells her. She nods. Her eyes comb the distance ahead for the fork in the path. Riddick's hand stays on her shoulder. She considers shrugging it off but decides it would take too much of her concentration to make the effort. Riddick's hand tightens on her shoulder the instant the fork comes into view. She veers right.
"We're almost out of the canyon," Riddick tells her. Shazza silently nods. The convict turns back to the others. He tells them the plan. "When we reach the skiff, Carolyn starts the preflight check. Imam and I get the power cells in the ship. Shazza, you manage getting the cells hooked up. Suleiman and Jack, I want you to strap yourselves in and be quiet."
Jack looks like she's about to argue, but the sand cat jumps a sand swell and lands heavily. Suleiman falls out.
"No!" yells Imam. He jumps out the back of the sand cat.
"Goddammit!" Shazza snarls. She slows the sand cat.
"Keep going!" growls Riddick.
"We have to pick up Suleiman and Imam," she protests.
"They're already dead. We will be too if we don't get our asses on the skiff," argues Riddick. Shazza doesn't listen. She throws the sand cat into reverse, but the wheels only spin. The ground is too wet. They have no traction.
Imam, with one of the lights, has run back to Suleiman. The boy is slightly dazed by his hard landing. Together they begin to make their way back to the sand cat. They are twenty feet away when a night flyer flies between them and the sand cat.
"What are we going to do?" Jack asks desperately. She looks back at Imam and Suleiman. They've stopped dead and eye the night flyer warily. Imam flashes his light at the beast. It hisses, but the rain swiftly soothes any burn that the light causes.
"I'll go distract it. Shazza, get this damn thing unstuck," Carolyn orders as she leaves the sand cat.
"Carolyn, no! Come back!" Shazza shouts, but Carolyn doesn't listen. She creeps around to the left side of the beast.
Shazza pounds the steering wheel. This is no good. She shifts into low gear and the sand cat lurches forward a couple of feet but stops again stuck in the soggy sand.
"Get this thing moving!" Riddick orders.
"What do you think I'm doing?" demands Shazza.
Carolyn edges around the creature. It hasn't seen her yet. Imam watches her silently. He has been desperately shining his flashlight into the creatures face, but instead of sending it off, it only has made it angrier and more determined to stay. Carolyn catches Imam's attention. She motions for them to edge around toward the sand cat. Imam nods and with one arm around Suleiman, they begin slowly turning toward the sand cat. The creature follows them. Carolyn sees a long bone half buried in the sand. She grabs it and a nearby rock. When the two Chisolms' backs are toward the sand cat, Carolyn hefts the rock.
"Run!" she shouts. She throws the rock and hits the back of the creature's head. It roars and whirls around on Carolyn. Imam pushes Suleiman toward the sand cat. He stays behind determined to help Carolyn.
The creature lunges at Carolyn with jaws wide. She swings the bone and hits it squarely across the jaw. The creature's head twists to the side violently. Carolyn's face splits into a feral grin at the solid hit, but she's quickly scrambling back as the creature shakes off the sting and snarls at her. Her hands scramble in the sand for any type of weapon. She grabs another rock and throws. It whizzes past the creatures head. What a time to go girlie her mind snarls at herself. Imam is shouting and waving his light in an attempt to distract the creature back to him.
Meanwhile at the sand cat, Shazza stands in her seat and looks at the ground around them. "Everyone out and push this thing. We need to get it out of this rut."
"What are you going to do once this thing gets moving? You can't stop it again," Riddick asks.
Shazza turns and gives him a smile that's slightly unhinged. "Don't worry, I won't leave you behind."
Riddick's eyes narrow behind the goggles. "What are you planning?" he asks in a voice that's swiftly going to permanent growl.
Shazza shrugs. "Either something incredibly brave or incredibly stupid, just get me moving, and we'll find out." Riddick does not like this idea but reluctantly joins Jack and Suleiman behind the sand cat. They all put their shoulders to the sand cat, but its Riddick's muscle that does most of the work. Shazza eases her foot over the accelerator. When she feels the slightest lurch forward, she increases her weight on the pedal. Finally the sand cat surges forward. Shazza gives another of her triumphant whoops. She quickly gains momentum and twists the sand cat into a one-eighty. She's now pointed at the nightflyer. She puts the pedal to the floor.
"Imam, get out of the way!" Jack shouts.
Imam turns around and is startled to find the sand cat barreling down on him. He leaps out of the way. The nightflyer is still trying to get Carolyn so does not see the large vehicle racing to it. Shazza keeps her foot to the floor. The sand cat doesn't falter and rams into the nightflyer with a resounding crunch. The nightflyer screams and tries to escape, but the sand cat's momentum carries it over the beast. The nightflyer is left in its wake crippled and bleeding. The sand cat turns into a skid a few feet from Carolyn. Shazza is struggling with the gears.
"Well, what are you gawking at? Get the hell up here, we've got a flight to make," she shouts at Carolyn. Carolyn leaps into the sand cat, and Shazza turns the sand cat around back toward the others. She doesn't stop, merely slows as she gets closer to them. Carolyn leans over the side and hauls first Imam up and then with his help, hauls Suleiman and Jack into the sand cat. Riddick swings into the passenger seat without any help.
"Nobody, sure as bloody hell, better fall off because I'm not stopping again," Shazza says.
It's a straight shot now to the skiff across open terrain. The nightflyers don't seem to favor the open air. None land to challenge them. It's good too because Shazza would've just made road kill of them. She now knows the sand cat can go over them. She hadn't been so sure that first time. She'd been guessing their bones were hollow and rather fibrous to fly in this thin atmosphere.
They reach the skiff quickly. The original plan is still in affect even after the little detour into nightflyer hell. Riddick and Imam instantly go to the back and heave power cells. Carolyn goes to the cock pit to start the preflight prep. Shazza goes to get the wiring ready for the cells to be hooked up, and Jack and Suleiman strap themselves into two of the ship's jump seats without a word. After three trips, Riddick and Suleiman have the cells in the ship. Imam, seeing his usefulness come to an end, straps himself into a seat beside Suleiman. He begins to lead Suleiman in a prayer. Jack bows her head and silently follows along. As Riddick raises the hatch to close the ship, Shazza takes a moment to look out one last time at the sand cat. A frown of regret crosses her face.
"I wish we could take her with us," she says meaning the sand cat.
"Yeah, she did her job real well," Riddick says glancing out at the machine where it sat. They'd left the one cell on it that had all the lights hooked up to it to save time. Shazza knows that the cell had plenty of power for the lights to burn for a long while. The idea of the machine just sitting there all alone glowing in the dark after they were gone is sad to her. She mentally chides herself for getting melancholy over a machine. She doubles her efforts to hook the cells up, but she knows that if she ever sees another sand cat she'll have a warm feeling for the machine.
The last of the power cells are hooked up. Shazza and Riddick go and strap themselves in. Carolyn is at the controls, revving the engines to get them ready for take-off. "Is everything tied down back there?" she shouts.
"Yeah, let's go," Riddick says.
"All right, let's blow this fucking joint," Carolyn mutters. She turns on all the exterior lights to the skiff burning the night flyers that have crept closer and pushes the throttle. The skiff blasts off taking all the nearby night flyers with it. Carolyn gets a grim satisfaction listening to them scream over the growl of the engine. The skiff leaves the ground and races up into the sky. Everyone sits back and braces themselves against the shaking.
When they finally reach space, the weary survivors unstrap themselves. Carolyn sets a course for the nearest shipping lane. Hopefully a larger ship will quickly come upon them and pick them up. Only after what she had just been through, could keep Carolyn from feeling anxiety over the uncertainty of being picked up by a larger deep space ship. It's enough to know that they are safe for the moment. She climbs out of the pilot chair to go back to the others. She stops short when she sees them. Imam and Suleiman sit together with their heads bowed murmuring prayers. Jack sits near them, not quite with them but clearly interested in what they are doing. Shazza and Riddick sit side by side but with space between them. Shazza is staring ahead, clearly deep in thought. Riddick has his head slightly bowed maybe in thought too.
Jack notices Carolyn first. "How we doing?' she asks with a slight grin.
Carolyn returns the smile. "We should reach the Sol-Track 17B shipping lane within a few hours. Then we coast, let the beacon do its work and get a star jumper to give us a lift."
Shazza rouses at this news and looks over at Riddick. "What do we do about you?"
"What's there to do? I'm just a bounty hunter who lost his quarry on that planet," he said.
"So Riddick's dead?" Jack asks.
"Yeah, Riddick died on that planet."
"Do you want us to call you 'Johns'?" Carolyn asks with a slight grimace at the name.
Riddick eyes narrow. He doesn't like the idea much either. "No, call me Daniel."
Carolyn nods her head. "I didn't know his first name."
"What are we going to do until we're picked up?" Jack asks. She feels wired and not ready to sleep.
"We could all pray and give thanks to Providence for seeing us through this difficulty," Imam offers.
"I found a pack of cards in the settlement. I think I still got them," Shazza counters standing up to pat down her pockets.
"Need help looking for them?" Riddick asks with a leer.
Shazza shoots him a frown. "Can it. We have children present."
"Where?" Jack demands turning her head wildly to look around. Shazza smirks at the kid and finally finds the cards in a zippered pocket. She sits down on the floor Indian style. Jack scrambles to sit beside her. Riddick lowers himself across from the prospector. Shazza lifts her head to Carolyn who still stands back. She lifts an eyebrow and expertly shuffles the cards.
"Well captain, care to join us?" she asks.
Carolyn looks down at the group, and reality finally hits her. They'd made it. Well scratch that, not all of them, but the fact that any of them had made it was a miracle, and as she looked at each of the survivors, she realizes that there were six miracles on that ship. She moves and sits by Imam. Shazza doesn't comment on her unspoken decline of cards. She merely finishes shuffling and begins to deal.
Imam smiles kindly at Carolyn, and almost as if he's read her thought, he says, "The universe can be wondrous in its improbability can't it?"
Carolyn nods and tilts her head to look at him. "But were those things really God's doing?"
Imam's eyes grow distant. Those monsters had taken two of his small charges away. They were innocent boys. He has not had a chance to truly process his grief and anger over their deaths, but he is always a man of faith even in the darkest and bleakest of moments.
"God created all and one of his creations was an angel named Lucifer, the Morningstar. Lucifer went against God, and in his fall, he gained the name Satan, the Adversary. God knows all and directs all, so he must have known Lucifer would turn against him, but maybe even God needs adversity so that He may prove Himself. We faced great adversity on that planet, but I don't think God places adversity in our path which He thinks we cannot overcome. By overcoming adversity, we show God belief in His plan."
"But what of those who didn't survive?" asks Carolyn.
"Death is not failure. We all must die someday. The act of death is merely an end to a lifetime, and it is the lifetime that God looks at and judges, so we must all concern ourselves with life and not death to show God our joy in his creation."
Carolyn nods and looks down at the group on the floor. Imam pats her arm.
The group has just finished its first hand of poker. Jack had a pair of tens. Riddick trumped her with three kings. He moves to sweep up the pool of nuts and bolts they'd betted with. Shazza stops him with a boot on his arm. "Not so fast, convict."
She lays down three aces. Riddick sighs and sits back. Shazza gathers up her winnings. Carolyn is amazed at herself when she laughs. Imam joins her. Riddick gives them a sour look. Shazza grins devilishly. Jack and Suleiman look at each and shrug their shoulders. Adults could be weird at times.
Thirteen hours after activating the distress beacon, the six survivors are picked up.