XXIX.

A silent alarm chirped through sickbay.

"Vital signs are on a critical level, further medication required immediately." the ship's computer voice announced.

"Hope, please, don't give up. You have to fight. We don't have any further medication we can give you." For the first time in his life he actually pleaded.

"Vital signs are on a critical level, further medication required immediately."

"Goddamn, woman, fight!"

"Vital signs are on a critical level, further medication required immediately."

**************

Hope found herself in the middle of a green landscape, flat und quiet, endless nothing till the horizon; it didn't look as if anything or anybody lived there. She was confused … how did she get there? The last thing she could remember was the clock on that bomb counting down. No, wait, there was more … she remembered running. And pain. Excruciating pain.

"Hope!"

She turned around to see a woman standing behind her. She looked vaguely familiar but she couldn't put a name to her. She knew she had seen her before but she couldn't remember when and where.

"Who are you?" Hope asked and the woman smiled.

"I'm Shirah, and yes, you know me."

And despite that mysterious answer Hope knew she was saying the truth.

"Where am I? And what the hell am I doing here?"

"You are on the threshold between alive and dead. You have to decide now. Do you want to live or do you think you already have arranged your affairs?"

Hope stared at her. "You are kidding me, right?"

Shirah shook her head. "I'm afraid not."

"Then where's the light? I thought there'd be a light?"

"That's another religion … you don't need the light to find your way where it is predicted."

"What then?"

"You'll see when your time has come."

"Hasn't it already?"

"Has it?"

Hope started to get a bit impatient. "Now what are we discussing here?"

And then Hope remembered. "You are the woman I've seen in my dream. In cryosleep."

"Yes. And now I'm here to help you with your decision, to guide you."

"I'd have thought that would rather be a job for that pesky Elemental." Hope muttered

"I'm sorry, you are stuck with me."

"Can't I just rest for a while and decide later? I'm so tired."

"I'm afraid that's not possible."

"So I really have to choose? Well, I just brought grieve and harm to everybody I came near." She paused for a second, thought of all her failures. "Aereon told me that it's my faith to reunite the Furyans … Furya's retrieval is on its way … they can easily proceed without me. My job is done, I'm ready to go." she stated.

"You sure? Aren't you dismissing your life a bit too easy? Isn't dying a coward's choice? What about Riddick?"

Too easy?! She was ready to die but not to get reprimanded by a sassy woman knowing nothing about her and her constitution or the real reason for her decision; but she'd give her at least one.

"I'm no coward! Do you know how much it hurts to get blown up by a bomb? I don't think there is a single unbroken bone in my body. And Riddick … he wouldn't care. I don't even know where he is. He went and left me alone without as much as a goodbye. If he'd care for me he wouldn't have left. Or he would have contacted me once in a while. Or at least not refused to take my calls. Wouldn't have hurt him. For all I know he could be dead or in slam or with another woman, I don't know. And I don't care. And now get out of my head!"

Shirah was completely unimpressed. "Now you have got to be kidding me. Don't you think that there could have been a good reason why he wasn't able to hail you? Don't you know the truth by now?"

Hope got angry with that woman ... how dare she and call her a fool?

"Because you are a fool. Did you really completely forget about George?"

"George? Oh. Oh! That little bastard! Maybe I should die just to be able to kick his but. I wasn't able to do that before that lousy little stinker died."

Shirah wasn't amused. "That's not funny."

"Yeah, tell me, it's my death we are discussing here."

"Truth is that neither you, nor Riddick is able to live without each other. He has his little failings but never would have left you to live with another woman. Faith, Hope. You should have faith in him; that's a lesson the both of you will have to learn. Shall I show you what will happen if you die now?"

"They'll bury me. Or not ... I don't care. End of story."

"The little you know. Turn around."

The landscape had changed into Defiant's sickbay. She saw herself lying on the med bed, pale and bruised, tubes attached to her arms and a blinking med device on her forehead. The Defiant? How did she get there? Riddick was sitting beside her, his face a mask of hurt. He was holding her hand, stroking it with his thumb and talking to her. Riddick?

She turned to Shirah.

"What are you trying to do? Do you think I choose life because you simulate a picture of a caring Riddick? You can't fool me with your tricks. And just so you know I didn't give up easily and I didn't commit suicide as you perfectly well know … I got hit by a frigging bomb. And now I'm just fucking tired."

"Nice language."

"What? I can curse as much as I want, nobody can hear me."

"I can."

"Yes, but you are not real, you are a dying woman's hallucination and you don't count."

Shirah sighed. "Maybe, maybe not. Are you really willing to take that risk? But that's not the point anyways … that's no simulation. He landed on the planet right on time to watch that storage room explode. It was him who found you and carried you to the Defiant. Serenity has treated your injuries but as long as you are not willing to fight for your life she can't succeed."

In the doorframe Hope could see Laney and Kerry; they were sobbing violently and hugging each other.

"And how do you explain Laney's and Kerry's presence?" Hope asked with an impatient sigh, already knowing that Shirah also had an answer to that.

"You've arrived at Furya yesterday. Riddick was hoping that being at home would help to heal you."

Hope could hear their voices now. The crying of Laney and Kerry. The computer voice telling them that her vital signs had reached a critical level. And Riddick, pleading her to fight for her life, shouting at her when she didn't comply immediately. How typically Riddick.

"I'll show you what exactly will happen if you choose to die now … Watch closely and tell me if you like the outcome."