Nununununu... T. T is for Turtle. nununununu.
Chapter 1
Imam finished his prayer, his booming voice slowly fading to silence. Jack's head was bowed as she listened, her hands clenched tight in her lap. Her tiny body still shook from her weeping and Riddick watched as Imam placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. He felt a twinge of regret, unable to do the same without feeling fake. Instead he changed the bandage on his leg, quietly observing his companions interaction.
Jack wiped her eyes with her sleep and attempted a smile. Riddick was impressed with her spunk, trying to grin in the face of death. She knew the life-support would be gone soon, Riddick didn't see why she shouldn't. He and Imam debated over it, Riddick won, but he had to tell her. Seeing her eyes lose the sparkle, even momentarily, affected him. It was the same look Carolyn gave him before she was torn from him, leaving him bleeding in the rain. Now, as Imam held her, Riddick vowed never to see that look in Jack's eyes again.
A bleep from the navigational system broke his thoughts. He silently left the pair and sat, looking over the screens and out the window. He recognized this place, the way the planets were aligned. It was a non-hostile area, away from the main populace if he remembered correctly. Only one inhabited planet, and that was barely. He felt a pang of happiness as he studied the information laid out before him. They might just make it if the skiff could hold out long enough.
"Mr. Riddick." Imam announced himself, aware of Riddick's tendency to pull a shiv on who ever didn't, before he sat in the chair next to him. "The child is asleep now."
Riddick nodded. He could hear her soft snoring behind him. "I found a place for us to land,"
Imam's eyes lit up, hearing the good news, Riddick went on before he could celebrate, "But, it's mostly forest, relatively unpopulated. Seems like a good place to lay low till we can steal another ship."
Imam was getting used to Riddick's habits, no longer bothering to try straightening him out, but he questioned the 'stealing' part. Riddick groaned inwardly. He was sympathetic to the loss of Imam's boys, and he respected the holy man's strength, but damned if he wasn't ignorant as hell sometimes. He kept his temper in check though, unwilling to wake Jack, who hadn't slept much at all in the past week. The few hours she had slept were full of nightmares, waking her up screaming. She needed her rest.
Riddick kept his voice low as he explained the situation to Imam. The planet was much like Earth, before war and disease ravaged it. Full of life, but only slightly populated by humans.
"Why do we go there to 'acquire' another ship, if there's hardly a soul there?"
"Because it's a tourist attraction. The place is packed with the animals of Old Earth." Riddick explained in more detail, using what he'd learned way back when he was a kid in school.
Pragapati was discovered about 200 years ago, a planet with the same atmosphere as Earth. Much of the plant life and temperatures were similar, maybe larger and warmer, with minimal animal life. It was a paradise, dense forests and clear lakes all over. To make a long story short, some people decided they'd use this planet into a giant petting zoo. Human's already had four other planets all to their own, and thought it was about time the wildlife had one too, with little outside interference. Many of the native creatures of Old Earth neared extinction, suffering through toxic waters and unrelenting hunters, and the Council knew their days were numbers. So in a Noah's Ark type of project, they transferred shiploads of creatures from Earth to this new world.
A hundred years later, the planet and the animals were still doing well; adjusting to each other's needs like roomies in a new apartment. The animals flourished and the population grew. The council named the planet Pragapati after the Hindu Lord of Creatures.
Unfortunately, the council broke up 75 years later and the politicians moved in. The people who had once protected the interests of the planet were corrupted with dreams of money. Now, the planet's main attraction was its expansive hunting grounds. A group could go there and kill whatever crossed their paths, for a price. Hunter's could do anything they pleased with their kills. Eat it, sell it, decorate their walls with it, didn't matter. No limitations. As long as the politicians got their money, they were happy. But besides those rich hunters and the owners of the Lodges, the planet was empty.
Imam listened intently to Riddick's story, but curiosity got the better of him in the end. "Isn't a Hunter's planet a dangerous place for someone...like you?"
Riddick laughed, and then checked himself, Jack was still asleep. "No, wrong type of hunter. Mercs wouldn't bother with this place, not enough money in it. Besides, the odds of actually running right into a bunch of hunters that know my face are about a billion to one."
"Jack, wake up, we're landing." Riddick dodged her swinging fist and grinned. "Get up, Kid!"
Jack sat up slowly and rubbed her eyes. "Huh? Landing? Where?" She groggily got to her feet, scratching her belly and looking inquisitively at Riddick. He gave her a quick explanation and that snapped her out of it. "What?" Her face showed a bit of shock, making Riddick wary. "We're going to see ANIMALS?"
She jumped for joy and clapped her hands like a four year old. That reaction was not what Riddick expected, he blinked at her and shook his head. The resilience of youth, he thought with an inner laugh. She kept jumping around repeating "Animals, animals, animals!" in a sing-song voice and it was getting on Riddick's nerves.
"Yah, yah, animals. Now shut up and sit down."
He meant it to sound like an order, but the silly grin on her face and Imam's stern look made him waver a little. There's that sparkle again. He left Jack in a giggling heap and went to buckle himself in for the landing. It was going to be rough, the ship being almost powerless and still damaged. He only hoped he wouldn't kill them all by smashing into a tree.
The landing was just fine, and although missed the trees, they did smash into pile of boulders. Luckily nobody was injured, but opening the skiff so they could get out was a bit of a problem, dirt and fallen foliage blocked the exit. Jack left the two men to struggle by themselves, choosing instead to crawl through the broken window, a hole just big enough for her to squeeze through. She called out to them from outside and waved cheerily.
Riddick wanted to shake her but again restrained himself. Imam began pacing while Jack searched around for something heavy enough to smash the rest of the window. It took her a while; she was constantly distracted by everything around her. Riddick had to yell at her to get her back to the ship.
"Think this is big enough?" She asked, sticking her head through the hole and brandishing a good-sized log. Riddick acknowledged by pulling his goggles down over his eyes, taking a step back. Imam did the same.
Jack took a swing at the glass, and the impact caused the skiff to shake, but the glass didn't break. The reverberation must have hurt, he heard Jack cursing outside and her pained face as she sat on the ground made him grin. He laughed hard at her, so she flipped him off.
"Jack!" Imam admonished the girl but looked at Riddick's amused face and just shook his head. Riddick reached out the hole and grabbed the log away from Jack. The fresh air felt great on his skin, warm yet a little breezy. He couldn't wait to get out of the skiff.
He pushed Imam back with one arm and shouted a warning to Jack. A week ago you wanted to kill em, now you're protecting them from flying glass. Amazing how things change, he mused. He took a sturdy stance, hefting the log back and swinging with all his strength. It landed solidly, a bit of glass shattered, but the end result was a hole about the size of Riddick's fist. He hit it again with the same outcome and frowned. Jack raised an eyebrow at him as he swore up a blue streak, repeatedly bashing the window. "Shit!" Smack!
Imam just covered his ears and waited patiently. Eventually through Riddick's repeated bashings, the hole grew man-sized, just large enough for the two grown guys to squeeze through.
"What?" Riddick growled at Jack, who sat cross-legged against a tree, smiling up at him. She raised her hands in mock defense.
"Nothing!"
"Good." He stalked off to explore the area, brushing glass off of his leg, listening to Jack laughing at him. He felt like a big blundering idiot when she did that. He needed to get away from them before he did something irrational, like popping Jack's stubbly head off.
Calm down, you psycho. He rubbed his own bald skull and kicked a tree to vent his frustration. Changing from a hard-boiled mass murderer to a decent human being was proving difficult. He gave himself credit for making it through an entire week without acting on his temper. Especially stuck in a prison-cell sized skiff with a priest and a bitchy teenaged girl. Most 'civilized' men would be completely insane by now.
He'd been walking for about five minutes, not really noticing his surroundings, when he looked up he realized he was lost. "Shit." He muttered. A flock of birds took flight from the tree next to him, startled by his voice. He crouched and pulled his shiv, ready to do battle. The birds squawked at him in retaliation and Riddick laughed at his own paranoia.
"Damned birds."
He caught a glimpse of the sky through the trees and it held him transfixed. It looked so much like Earth, blue and cloudless and eternal. He breathed deep the fresh crisp air and leaned against the tree. He hadn't felt this kind of peace in years, almost decades. Complete freedom outside, surrounded by dense bush and wild animals, and complete silence.
He kept walking for a couple more minutes, taking his time to study everything. He only wished he didn't have the goggles, so he could enjoy the real colors of it. Memories will have to do. He took one last look at the river in front of him and smiled, then with a huff of regret he turned away and retraced his steps back to the skiff.
Jack had already found some wood; a pile of it was stacked against the side of the skiff. She was attempting to climb a nearby tree, grasping a branch haphazardly and grunting with effort. Imam was off to the side praying again, his hands on his temples singing with that distinctive humble voice. The scene looked ridiculous and Riddick wondered where exactly he fit into this little circus. When Jack lost her grip on the branch and went crashing to the ground with a shout, Riddick couldn't even pretend to hide his amusement. The Holy Man, the clumsy teenager and the reformed murderer. What a group.
Night came not long afterwards, and Jack put the wood to good use by starting a small fire. The three of them sat around it to keep warm, the only one unappreciative of the light being Riddick.
"You sure complain a lot for a hardened criminal." Jack stated matter-of-factly.
"At least I didn't fall out of a tree." He retaliated, trying to hide the grin from her, imagining her feet dangling again.
Imam chuckled softly at the childish war of words. "Children, please."
Riddick reached out and rubbed Jack's scalp, as close to an embrace as he'd allow himself. I am acting like a kid! Jack smiled and copied his motion. It's probably contagious.
Silence fell over the group, all three looking into the fire, Riddick thinking about the situation they were stuck in. It did seem rather hopeless, being ship-less, foodless and just plain exhausted, but flashbacks of their previous adventures quickly smartened him up. Food could be more easily found here than on that other planet. The ship problem could be solved, maybe not immediately, but it was possible. They just had to get past heavily armed men whose primal instincts were prominent. Great. At least the tiredness might go away; Riddick intended to have that taken care of as soon as the firelight faded.
Riddick yawned loudly, scaring Jack out of her daze. "You too, huh?"
"Yah. I'm gonna take a piss, then I'm going to sleep for a while."
Jack made a face at him, "Too much information, Riddick, but whatever."
"You want first watch?" She quickly shook her head. "Then shaddap!" he finished, pushing her over as he got off the ground. Jack fell flat and laughed. Imam shook his head again. "You keep doing that and you'll get whiplash."
Riddick left them conversing around the fire, hearing their words clearly yet ignoring them. Now turned away from the light he removed his goggles, relieved to have them resting on his forehead for once. He wondered if they left a crease in his face.
The woods looked different at night, more flashes of movement as the wind ruffled the trees and the nocturnal creatures wandered. Riddick found he jumped at every small movement and asked himself why he was so paranoid all of a sudden. Still jittery from the planet... those fucking things. He found a place suitable for relieving himself and settled in for a long one. He was about to whip it out and water the shrubbery when something distracted him, a stirring in the trees above him. His hand moved from his fly to his shiv as he scanned the vicinity. A perplexing ache in his gut told him he was being watched.