The plot bunnies came out again. It seems like every time I think they are hiding they like to come and throw sharp pointy objects at my head. On a practicality issue, this story is still very much in need of a beta, so if anyone wants or knows anyone that would be willing to beta for me I would really appreciate the help. All my beta requests thus far have been ignored. =( Thank you Moody Muse, Dayzejane, Rachet, ArtLightLove, and Sere011 for the reviews, they mean a lot to me. =) Again this is all for fun, so don't sick the lawyers on me.
After a few very tense moments the Holy man is the one to break the silence. "What do we do now child?"
River's POV
The girl looks in the direction of the Holy man, there is a crack in his wall and his instincts are taking over.
"The girl has calculated as many possible outcomes based on the present variables. First order of business is power. We require four more fuel cells from the Hunter Gratzner in order for the emergency shuttle to receive optimal power. But getting them back will pose the most difficult problem. We need the solar powered transportation for the quickest and most optimal route."
"Why don't you go help with that Paris," Riddick states, he wants to clear the room.
"Don't look at me, the only thing I know is economics," the feckless man says.
"Well go try and help her, dong-ma?"
He skirts out of the room after that, more terrified of the stare from the Riddick than anything he said.
The Holy man realizes what the Riddick is doing and nods his head. "Hassan, Suleiman, please go gather what you can, candles, flashlights, anything." The Holy man says to his charges. The two young boys do as they are asked and depart to begin a futile search. The girl knows they will not find anything here.
After that it is just the girl, the Riddick, and the Holy man are left.
"What are the outcomes that you have calculated, child?"
The Riddick growls at this, "Does she look like a gorram child to you old man? Stop calling her one."
"We are all children in the eyes of God Riddick."
"We've been over this before." He growls, his tone is laced with warning, but the Holy man just huffs and glares back.
"Please Riddick, I wasn't always a man of the cloth, your various growls don't scare me."
The girl just rolls her eyes at the testosterone in the room.
"Gentlemen, evaluation of present conditions are more important than discussion of false logistics in broken book." This gains their attention but they are still glaring at each other.
"The girl has calculated at least eleven possible outcomes. But more may present if variables change."
"How many of them good?"
"Eleven. Important number. Prime number. One goes into the house of eleven eleven times, but always comes out one."
"So, a nine percent chance of making it off this planet?" The Holy man asks.
"Affirmative."
Riddick's POV
There is a pause before I ask the next question. "You got a plan then?"
"Negative. More calculations are needed once the group returns to the Hunter Gratzner. The use of the Sand cat is primary concern. We will need it to reduce the time needed to return the seven kilometers."
With this I stomp out of the room, she doesn't need to read his mind to know where I am going. Once outside I can see that Paris has indeed gone to help Shazza, even if it is just to keep me from slitting his throat. It seems like she has things under control though. I can hear the boys scrounging around the equipment left behind. Despite the robes they wear the tang of fear rolls of their skin. They won't go into the other buildings now. That just leaves one pilot and one blue eyed merc. I wonder where they scampered off to…
River's POV
The Holy man watches him go before turning his attention back to the girl.
"I have been meaning to ask you about…"
"Trauma... Frontal lobe damage."
The Holy man is taken aback by not having to complete his question and her willingness to answer
She rolls her eyes at this, "Reader, remember?" And he nods as he comes back to his senses.
"Do your parents know child?"
At the mention of parents she become rigid, her jaw clenches, and there is a fury welling up inside the girl. A whisper is all that comes out of her throat.
"They are the ones that did this to her."
Riddick's POV
She's doing a run-up on the hull of the ship. Ol' Billy badass has just left to go see about the Sand cat, perfect. I have been meaning to have a little talk with one Caroline Fry for a while now. I creep into the shuttle before she closes the doors to do a hull check.
"Looks like we're a few shy…Power cells" She stiffens when she hears my voice.
"They're coming." She tries to keep her cool, tries to focus on what she is doing.
"It's strange,…not doing a run-up on the main drive yet." Her hand still for a second and I know what she has been told.
"Unless he told you…the particulars of my escape." I say this as I begin to walk closer to her. Her muscles stiffen even more. She's afraid of me, good.
Then I can see her pull herself together, trying to play her part. "I got the quick-and-ugly version."
"You're worried about a repeat."
"It has entered our minds." I catch her use of the plural and quirk my head to the side.
"I asked what you thought." I gravely say.
"You scare me. That's what you want to hear, isn't it? Now can I just get back to work?" Again she tries to busy herself with anything within reach. Apprehension is hanging on her skin.
"I've been meaning to catch up with you…alone…Unrestrained."
"What the little girl turn you down? Thought you could get something here?" She challenges.
Even though she cannot see them behind the goggles, my eyes narrow into slits. But I let nothing show.
"You think Johns…is a do-right man?...You think I could trust him to cut me loose?...Why? What did you hear?...I guess if it were 'trickeration,' he'd just…'X' me out….He'd kill me." Her eyes go wider by the second as I continue talking. "Then again…I am worth twice as much alive."
And that's when it hits her, the look of comprehension crawls across her face before she tries to regain her composure.
"You didn't know that?...Your Johns ain't a cop….Oh, he's got that nickel-slick badge…And that blue uniform….But he's just a merc. And I'm the payday. That's why he won't kill me, see?...The greed is the creed."
"Don't waste my time," Fry says as she tries to pull herself back, back from the edge of looking at the truth. "We're not going to turn on each other, no matter how hard you and the little brat try."
Again my eyes turn into slits. She and Johns really should learn to not insult what's mine.
"I don't truly know what's going to happen…when the lights go out…But I do know once the dying starts…this little psycho-fuck family of ours…is going to rip itself apart."
The hull integrity check is complete and the doors begin to open. I move away from her now and begin to turn and leave.
"Ever wonder why Johns shakes like that? Why he snaps at the little slip?... Ask him….Ask him why your crew pal had to scream so painfully before he died…" And with that I turn and leave. Time to see what the girl and the preacher are talking about now.
…Reality Shifts…
The girl is standing in her old room, but this time she is on the outside looking in at the scene unfolding before her.
A twelve year old River is in her room, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 16 in A Minor: Allegro Molto Moderato plays on her portable cortex. Simon left for the Med-Academy a few months ago. Things had progressively gotten worse since he left. She hears the screams despite the volume of the music.
"Gabriel she needs help! She is an embarrassment to this family! I took her to lunch with me and the ladies the other day and she kept glaring at Cynthia Phillips."
Regan Tam's husband flinches at this. He had been having an affair with Cynthia for some time and he didn't need his daughter telling anyone.
"Then she has the audacity to tell Meredith McKenzie her son is cheating at school! I mean really, the things that come out of her mouth! It's disgraceful!"
"What do you expect us to do Regan? Send her off to a mental institution? How would that look?"
"What about this new school, the one for gifted children the Alliance is sponsoring? Couldn't you make a call?"
"She doesn't want to go there, remember! I vividly remember the tantrum she threw."
"But she is becoming unbearable!"
There is a lull in the conversation. The girl can see her former self stop the twirling in her room. She sees the melancholy begin to form. All she hears in her head as she closes her eyes is Gabriel Tam's reply.
"I'll make a call."
…Reality Shifts again…
River's POV
The Holy man looks at her with care and concern, something she has never seen in the eyes of her parents. She can see the crack in his wall a little more clearly now, and see the darkness peering through.
"From childhood's hour I have not been...As others were; I have not seen…As others saw; I could not bring …My passions from a common spring."
"Alone by Edgar Allan Poe." The Holy man merely replies.
"Affirmative."
"From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
And all I loved, I loved alone.
Then- in my childhood, in the dawn
Of a most stormy life- was drawn
From every depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still:
From the torrent, or the fountain,
From the red cliff of the mountain,
From the sun that round me rolled
In its autumn tint of gold,
From the lightning in the sky
As it passed me flying by,
From the thunder and the storm,
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view."
The girl just looks at the Holy man as he finishes the poem. Feeling waves of acceptance for the second time in a very long time.
"Child we all have our demons, the only thing we can do is believe in something, whether it be God or ourselves. I don't care what you believe, just believe in it in these dark times, and know you are not alone."
The Riddick walks in now, the girl can feel a smug satisfaction rolling off him. She can also feel a very disturbed butterfly, and sees all the little sharp ideas he has put in her head. Ah yes, divide and conquer. "You two going to stay here then while we all leave?"
The girl turns and nods at the Holy man and then proceeds to get up and walk away. She pauses and turns before she reaches the Riddick though.
"Thank you Derrial Book." The shock on his face makes her smile and with that she turns and glides towards Riddick. "Bad man, you didn't let the girl have any fun." The girl winks at him and then skips out the door. But instead of turning right to go outside, she turns left. The girl knows what will be needed and goes to procure it.
Taken aback by the use of his name from the girl that had previously referred to him as Sheppard or Holy man and the last comment the girl made. He looks at Riddick as if for some explanation. All he says is "Readers," and shrugs his shoulders and walks out. Those two are so alike it scares him a bit. Derrial Book says a silent prayer and then walks out.
The Sand cat has started and Shazza sits behind the wheel waiting for everyone to climb aboard. Paris and the boys are first, followed by Johns, Book, and Fry. Last to climb on is Riddick. River is noticeable absent.
"Where's the brat? You finally get sick of her gou-shu Riddick?" Johns asks.
Just then she appears from a side door and climbs on "Present," River replies.
"Where the hell did you go?"
"Last minute preparation," she says as she hands Riddick a piece of metal she has fastened leather straps to as a handle. A shiv, and a smile threatens to spread to Riddick's lips.
"I thought I said no shivs."
"Shivs? This?" Riddick says looking towards River.
"Personal grooming appliance." River says nonchalantly.
Shazza just rolls her eyes and takes off back to the crash site.
Riddick's POV
Everyone just sits in silence on the way back. But I don't need to be a reader like the girl to understand what each of them is thinking. Most of them are just hoping the girl's calculations are wrong. They are praying for more sunlight, refusing to look up towards the sky, afraid of what they can, a slowly graying sky. But Johns? No. He's got the shakes bad now, trying to hide it too. Needs another shot, but hasn't gotten the chance to escape the prying eyes. And Fry? She just keeps glancing at him, eyeing him. She is thinking about what I said. Thinking about it long and hard.
I look over at the girl seated across from me now. She just stares at me, smirk plastered to her face. She nods as if to confirm my suspicions about the others. She's just happy there is music again instead of static. Figure if the girl gave me something shiny, she deserves a little music for the drive.
But as the drive progresses I keep trying to startle her with the 'music' I pull into my brain.
My first kill. "1812 Festival Overture, Op. 49"
My sixth. "Fugue for Solo Guitar, in A Minor"
My time in the Slam City. "Bolero"
My last escape. "The Planets, Jupiter"
Her scent changes depending on the music she claims to hear, and I can taste her emotions on my tongue, but never allowing my face to register anything. All she does is smile at me more and riddle off a name of a song after the memory has finished.
"Gorram, why do you keep naming songs?" Paris is exasperated by her voice since she is the only one talking.
"Naming the songs that she is listening to."
"Well Bi zui! Gorram moonbrain little girl!"
"Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music."
"And stop with the riddles! They are giving me a headache!" Johns yells at her. Man I wish I could just stick the shiv the little slip gave me into his sweet spot. Do us all a favor and shut his junkie ass up. Less dead weight to carry around too.
The girl just shrugs her shoulders and continues to roll her fingers back and forth in the air, like she is the conductor of a symphony.
I have to say I am a little perturbed and a little turned on that nothing violent I bring into my mind scares her. Even with Alliance training she should show some trepidation around me. She just smirks as if to challenge me and an evil grin spreads across my face and I begin to play back one more memory…
River's POV
Silly man, he should ask the girl what music her mind plays back. Thinks his memories will startle me. Please, the girl is the dancer of death, wo hu chung long, the Iron Queen. Orpheus smirks now, but…
Riddick's POV
Her smile is slowly fading from her face. Her eyes are glassing over, and the lavender scent in the air seems to wilt, as if there is no water left to keep the flowers alive. I quirk an eyebrow to ask the name of what she hears now.
"Night on Bald Mountain"
But as the memories continue, the wilted flowers replaced by the smell of burning cloves in my nostrils. The glassy eyed little girl is replaced by something else, something sharper, smoother, more lethal.
We have reached the crash site now and everyone jumps and runs to gather the power cells. Paris skirts off in the direction of the container carrying his goods, mumbling something about us not leaving without him right?
No one is around us now, Johns has finally scampered off to get his next fix. Fry hot on his heels though. River and I just stay seated, both not willing to turn away from what we see unfolding before us.
She finally breaks the silence "To whom shall I hire myself out? What beast must I adore? What holy image is attacked? What hearts shall I break? What lies shall I maintain? In whose blood tread?"
I quirk an eyebrow to ask.
"They will pay." And there is a dangerous flash in her eyes, and I growl in satisfaction. Ah yes, my kind of woman.
He takes the ampoule from the false cartridges for his gun. With shaking hands he loads it into the syringe. He then carefully places the needle in the corner of his eye. In his line of work it's better to not have track marks. He can feel the drugs hitting his blood stream. Feel the relief in his mind.
"You're not a cop, are you?" Fry says as she walks into the cockpit where Johns is seated.
"Never said I was."
"No, you didn't." Fry acknowledges begrudgingly.
"Never said you were a hype, either." There is bitterness in her voice as she sees how much medication he truly has at his disposal.
"You have a little caffeine in the morning and I have a little morphine. So what?" He is too high to really care anymore.
"Here you got two mornings every day. Wow, were you born lucky."
"It's not a problem unless you're going to…"
"No, it becomes a problem... ...when you let Owens die like that! You have enough drugs here to knock out a mule team!" She is screaming at him now.
"Owens was already dead. His brain just hadn't caught on to the fact." And all she can do is gasp at his words.
"Is there anything else I should know about you?"
"Yeah, look to thine own ass first, right?" And with that she turns and leaves; disgust on her face.
He gathers up his cartridges and his guns, and turns to leave. On his way out though, something in the wreckage catches his eye. It's his electronic log. He bends down and looks at it, thinking how worthless it is now, but the proverbial light bulb in his head flashes on, and he begins to fiddle with it, looking through his records. She's a bit younger in the picture, a little less gaunt in the face, but there is no mistaking that it's her. And a grin that would rival Riddick's creeps onto Johns face. Wheels in his mind slowly picking up speed.
Book, Shazza, and the boys are dragging the four fuel cells towards the Sand cat when the stop dead in their tracks. The sky is growing grey, the light of the last rays of sunlight licking the tops horizon line. All they can do is watch in awe and horror.
As Fry and Johns emerge they too stop to watch the light fade. For the first time in her life, River hears nothing in her mind.
But that's when the noise starts. Softly at first; barely above a whisper. But then it grows louder, punctuated by a screech that sounds like nails across a chalkboard. Then the beating of wings can be heard, and the group watches as what appears to be thousands of bird looking things rise up from the holes in the earth. Like locusts in a swarm.
It's Paris, still at the container portion that breaks the revere.
"People, just a suggestion, perhaps you should flee!" He screams at them.
And with that they all take off in a run towards the only part that can be closed off.
"Come on!"
The boys, Book, and Johns are the first to reach the container. Fry and Riddick follow shortly. Shazza and River are the ones trailing behind.
"Get down!" Fry yells as the rest of the group watches in horror and sick fascination as the things swarm towards them.
Shazza and River dive a hairs breadth before the swarm of creatures flies over them. The reverberation of the creatures' flight feels like a wind tunnel on their skin. They pass over the two, and they both lay there for a moment contemplating what to do.
Riddick's POV
"No stay down!" River yells to Shazza. But Shazza doesn't seem intent on listening. Thinks she can make the 50 odd yard meter dash. I couldn't care less if she lives or dies, it's the slip of a girl slightly behind her that I am only interested in.
Her eyes close, but I can see her pupils running back and forth. I can tell what she's thinking. Can see her running the calculations in her head.
Shazza makes a move to get up, rising up on her arms. But as she does River darts up like panther, and throws herself on to Shazza, weighting her down, hairs breathed before the things fly over them. And this just pisses me off. Girl should not being putting her neck out on the line for these gorram fools. Going to have to have a little 'discussion' about this behavior later once she gets her skinny ass in here.
River's POV
"When the girl says something, listen!" The girl hisses at the older woman, who just stands there, amazed, confused, and terrified.
"The girl will accept thanks in form of chocolate or apples at a later date. But now we must move before the monsters return." With that she flashes a smile at the woman, and they run to the safety.
The girl just rolls her eyes when they reach the threshold. The Riddick is not happy with her, is questioning her judgment. His mind is screaming at her in rage for an explanation.
"Percentage for error was marginal. Risk taken acceptable by girl's calculations."
He doesn't say anything, and the static returns, which earns another eye roll. Orpheus will learn to trust in the dancer, the Queen soon enough. With that she moves to enter the temporary sanctuary, hearing the static follow.
As Riddick turns to follow River in a new sound can be heard, a clicking echo from the darkness creeping in, and he removes his goggles as he turns towards the horizon.
"Beautiful," is all Riddick says as the darkness consumes the landscape.
Author's Note: Okay, so I couldn't resist placing another piece of the larger puzzle in here, [smiles a very Riddick like smile LOL] As you can see, things are beginning to stray from the Pitch Black plot a bit more, but this doesn't mean it's going to be a walk in the park either ;) As always feedback appreciated.