No Answer

'Cures the hurt, leaves the pain.'

He wasn't kidding. The adrenaline kicker was enough to get her home but then she hurt nearly as much as before. Riddick told her to take it easy for a few days so the nanos had time to finish the repairs.

And to stay away from the captains.

Then he left her alone with a final curious look at Nor...

...and the voice in her head.

You've got to stop.

She didn't bother to reply.

This is just a new mask.

If she talked back then she'd really be crazy, right?

You had to survive the moment, when your whole world and future collapsed. But revenge? Genocide? That's not the now, that's not survival.

Min pulled the cloak off.

That's part of the mask too, but it's no more you than Min is you.

Now that is crazy.

You're trying to build a Riddick mask. What will you call yourself then?

I'm still Min.

You haven't been Min in over a week. Min was the mask of a child. Now you fancy yourself all grown up -but fantasize about killing millions?

What else is there to do with the rest of my life?

But the voice didn't answer.

Min didn't spend the next few days following Riddick's movements about the ship or the course he set the armada on. She knew he'd had to kill one of the Lords, a commander who moved too soon to truly have the support he thought he had. Politics was still more interesting to her than their destination. But mostly she thought about what the voice had said to her.

You're not a killer, it would whisper to her unexpectedly, then not answer her response.

I killed my mother!

But she couldn't keep the truth from herself. She felt bad about killing her mother, she always would. It didn't make her stronger.

No! She shouted in her head, daring the voice to argue. I'm strong. I can be Lord Marshal!

The voice didn't answer.

The Witch! The Witch was going to be a problem. Riddick had left her in her cell but eventually she would be a problem. She knew too much about Furyans, and whatever it was didn't matter to her now. She had found the captains. She would find other Furyans. Together they would destroy all the meddling Elementals and...

You're not a killer. It's just a mask.

I'll kill the Witch.

If Riddick wanted her dead he'd have done it himself.

First you tell me not to be a lackey, a vacant eyed lackey! Then you tell me I'm not a killer and I can't be Lord Marshal. What do you want?

But the voice didn't answer.