Epilogue
Carolyn eyes flew open as she clawed at the bedding, machines beeping wildly, as medical personal rushed into the room, a blur of activity.
Dozens of voices were chattering, talking to her, asking her questions, "What did she remember? Did she know who she was? What happened? Did she know the whereabouts of Richard B. Riddick?" breathing faster and faster, her head spinning, she was thankful when darkness claimed her.
6 months later
Carolyn lay quietly, watching the stars that could be seen from her open bedroom window, rubbing the thin silvery scar that ran across her right palm. After having spent a sufficient amount of time at the hospital for her physical injuries, the company moved her to this faculty to evaluate her mental health.
She met daily with psychiatrists, psychologists and counselors of every sort, insisting till she was blue in the face, that no, she did not know the current whereabouts of Richard Riddick, nor did she know if he had survived.
However, what had become more curious, in the minds of her physicians, was when she would randomly begin speaking in ancient languages, or ask when she could visit with her parents, Charles and Elizabeth, when her records clearly indicated that her parents were John and Ellen Fry, both deceased, or waking the rest of the patients as she cried out for Riddick to save their son.
She would randomly call the orderlies' names like Nigel, Thomas and Simon, preferring the name James, most of the time. She insisted on calling the Chrislam Imam that visited, Nickolas and cried for hours when she learned that her personal nurse was in fact named Agnes. This, of course, was after hours of convincing her that they were not lying to her and Agnes plugging in her ID card for Carolyn to see herself.
Four months ago she had stopped talking for a week upon learning that she was ensconced in the Kingsbridge mental hospital on Ardana.
She did her best to keep her answers about the events surrounding the Hunter-Gratnza truthful and consistent and her perseverance had paid off. Tomorrow she would finally go before the company's review board. Carolyn desperately wanted it over. There were several outcomes and short of her being released, none of them were good. The Company had already bought out her contract, making a lump sum deposit into her accounts, which she had transferred into a newly opened account under the name Sasha Fry. She might be hospitalized, but money still talked.
Riddick woke with a start, swinging his legs over the side of the rented bed. The dream had been crazy; no doubt a result of his constant planet hopping since ditching the girl and the holy man. He wouldn't consider the possibility that guilt might play a small role in it as well. Standing, he walked over to the viewer, flipping it on as he headed to take a piss, a name stopping him in his tracks. Turning around, he pushed the button to replay the current story.
"Carolyn Fry, the junior pilot of the ill-fated Hunter-Gratzner, has regained consciousness at an Ardana medical facility. After six weeks in a medically induced coma it is unknown if she remembers the events of the crash, or the fate of convicted murderer Richard B. Riddick who was on board the Hunter-Gratzner, being transported to a nearby correctional facility. Sources are saying that Ms. Fry will appear before a review board at some future date to answer questions regarding the fate of the ship and her passengers. You'll remember that the Hunter-Gratzner crashed two months ago in the M-344/G system with no known survivors other than Ms. Fry, who was found when a passing ship responded to the emergency beacon. Ms. Fry will remain on Ardana until the matter has been resolved to the New Oslo Shipping Corporation's liking."
Starring down at his palm, that he had been distractedly rubbing while the story had played, the silvery line stood out harshly in his night vision. Clenching his hand into a fist, Riddick looked accusingly at the bed with a frown, the voice of a woman telling him he would remember when the time was right, ringing in his ears. Looking back at the viewer with a growl, he pulled up a map.
Carolyn shut the door quietly behind her, still shaking from the events that had just transpired. Moving to the window, she stared sightlessly at the white flowering tree in the distance.
"Carolyn."
Carolyn closed her eyes to the voices in her head, silently cursing the events that had her hearing them in the daylight.
The review was over and her sentence had been handed down. While there was not enough physical evidence to hand her over to the civil authorities for murder, she had lost her space flight license as a result of her questionable judgment during the events leading up to the crash.
Raking a hand through her hair, pins went scattering as she ruined the elaborate coif that Agnes had styled her hair into that morning.
"Carolyn."
"NO!" Carolyn screamed aloud, covering her ears with her hands. "It's not real! it was just a dream!"
Having already heard the results of the mornings events, Riddick wondered just how unstable she actually was given their current location. Circling around to stand in front of her, he reached out taking her hands in his, removing them from her ears.
"Carolyn, open your eyes and look at me."
Carolyn screwed her eyes shut even tighter and shook her head.
Riddick chuckled. "Why not."
"Because it was just a dream. You're just a dream."
"If it was just a dream, then why do I have a scar on my hand as well?"
Carolyn's eyes flew open, not looking at him but down at where he was rubbing her scar with a thumb. "Show me," she whispered.
Riddick never took his eyes from her face as he slowly turned his hand over holding it next to hers. A shaking hand flew to her mouth, as her feet went out from under her. Catching her around the waist, Riddick swung her around to the wall behind them. Tiny whimpers escaped from her mouth as she reached up to stroke his face, his eyes hooded. "I buried you under the Ravensheart tree," she whispered, pain flashing through her eyes as she tilted her head against the wall, moaning their son's name.
Riddick stayed silent.
"How is this possible?" Carolyn whispered.
"I don't know. It took me this long to get to you, so that I could find out for myself."
"Find out what?' Carolyn asked.
"If it was real."
"I woke up from a coma with a scar that looks like it's been there a lifetime. I'm plagued with dreams of Charles and Elizabeth, Nigel and Jeffery, Isolaude.."
"And James," Riddick said picking up where she left off. He took a look around the spartan room. "Are you ready to go?"
"Go where?"
"Home." Riddick said simply.
"I'd like that very much." Carolyn said slipping her hand in his.
Riddick didn't think twice about it as he led her from the room.
In another corner of the Universe, a ship landed on a long dead world; one of the early casualties of a conquering race of killers known as the Necromongers.
A man and woman emerged from the hold, carrying packs of equipment. With the woman setting the pace, they soon found themselves in a burial yard near the ruins of an ancient temple.
"Are you sure we're in the right place?" The man asked after hours of inspecting tombstones.
"Yes! These are the exact coordinates listed in Sasha Fry's journal."
"Well, there's not much more to search. We're just missing that corner over there."
"Over here!" The woman shouted from where she stood in front of a crumbling arch placed directly underneath a massive flowering tree.
"I still can't wrap my head around it." The man said as he began photographing the ruins.
"What's so hard to understand?" The woman asked. "Sasha and Adrian Fry had to sacrifice their daughters so that the Riddick name would carry on. Otherwise the Richard B. Riddick alive now would have never been born to stop the Necromongers from destroying the universe."
"And having read the massive amount of records we've acquired on him since birth, I just know he'll be thrilled when he figures out that little piece of the puzzle." The man responded.
"Just be happy you're not the one that has to explain it all to him" the woman answered taking a brush as she began the tedious work of cleaning of the stone between the twin graves.
"Do we know how long he's been missing this time?" The man asked, suddenly feeling uncomfortable as he looked around.
The woman shook her head. "There's been no sighting since he and Carolyn Fry disappeared from Kingsbridge."
"What does it say?" The man asked nodding towards the stone as the woman sat back on her heels to inspect her work.
"For the world is hollow and we have touched the sky"
The End.