Chapter 2

Cursing his getting soft, Riddick blinked. Had he seen that...? For a
second, she had seemed to shimmer. He noticed a small silver box on her
belt, and saw a small blinking green light. It *was* a cloaker. He had
been right. He dropped the shiv on the floor, and raised both hands.

"Get back," she growled, and he nodded. Heading away, Riddick suddenly
dropped, kicking out backwards. The girl went down with a loud noise and
Riddick was up and in the center of the room. He pulled open the baby's
door and grabbed her, as the baby wailed, and the stranger pulled up short.

"One more step, and I kill her," Riddick growled, holding his hand over the
baby's face. He knew he was bluffing, but the girl didn't have to know that.
Riddick was simply interested in how the girl worked, how she fought. And
of course, he was interested in who she really was underneath her cover.

She met his silver eyes squarely, and took one step forward.

'Interesting,' he thought, shrugging at her. 'She'd even sacrifice the baby
for this little secret of hers.' Turning the baby away from the woman's
view, Riddick reached into the baby's bundle, slowly running a finger over
her forehead.

"No, stop!" she said, backing up several paces. "What do you want?"

"Well, now. That's more like it."

"What?" she demanded.

"Why do you have a cloaker on?"

She paled. "It's to protect me and the child."

"What's to protect? Any good merc could find you. Like the one on this
ship."

"It's just to get her home."

"Who is she?" Riddick looked at the baby. In the dark, she looked
brownish, but Riddick wasn't sure.

"She's...She's a princess, a lady of the Litchfeld's, a minor realm on old
Earth. I was present at her birth, and I swore to protect her."

"So why are you protecting her on a second-class ship, instead of in her
royal cradle?"

The woman looked away. "Her family was attacked. They jettisoned us into
space. Unfortunately, most were killed, except for her brother. I need to
get her back to him."

Riddick came to a decision. "Turn the cloaker off."

"Please, no," she whispered.

"You knew I was up before the baby woke up. No human wakes up to a baby
talking in its sleep, especially in hypersleep. What are you?"

She reached for the small device on her belt. "My name is Lorna Tazha," she
pressed the top button. "And I'm a Katt."

Her hair was the same, he noticed, short, and of a bright color, but her
eyes were light, probably the yellow of the species. The were two black
stripes on her otherwise pale face, and her hands and breasts were of a
human design, but it was her lower that probably caught people's attention.
Her belly was covered in light fur, and her legs were covered in the black
stripes of a tigress. Her tail was long, nearly half as long as she was,
and her feet held five claws instead of toes.

"Are you satisfied? Will you give her to me?"

Riddick turned his head to the side. "Maybe."

"Please!"

There was a change in the air, and both Riddick and Lorna turned. There was
a loud noise outside the ship, but before either could react, the ship
rocked forward. Lorna stumbled, and Riddick dropped as several boxes fell
over. A loud beeping filling the air, a warning that something was wrong.

Something else was going on, Riddick felt, and he didn't like it. Running
past the other cryo-tubes, Lorna hot on his heels, Riddick made it to the
bridge. The captain and the pilot were up already, with a man in a suit
Riddick didn't remember.

"Cover," Riddick whispered harshly, passing the baby to the Katt.

She hit the button on her belt, instantly making her into a young woman with
a baby.

"Look, just land there," the suit man was saying, pointing at the screen.

"I can't 'just land' without a proper ID of the planet. Who knows what's
down there?"

"I've been here before. It's safe. There's even a colony."

The captain looked dubious, which was when Riddick entered the room, as if
just shaken awake.

"What happened?" he asked, holding a hand to his head. There was an
ulterior motive to this: The harsh light of the cockpit hurt his
ultra-sensitive eyes.

Lorna groaned behind him, following closely.

"You're up?" the captain asked, obviously worried, either about his own ass,
or for his passengers safety, Riddick wasn't sure.

"What did you hear?" The suit man demanded.

"Hear?" Riddick played dumb. "I just woke up. Something rocked the ship."

"It woke me, too," Lorna said, in surprisingly now dulcet tones.

"Well, now. We seem to have been hit by something. I think there's a leak
in the hull, but I can't fix it until we land," the captain explained in
gentler tones.

"Where are we?" Riddick asked, still affecting innocence.

"I don't know. We're off course. There's some backwater planet on radar,
and I think we'll land there."

Every alarm in Riddick's head went off, as the ship began it's descent, and
he had to fight the urge to wrestle controls from the captain.

The ship going down woke Tara up, and as she stretched, she realized they
were still moving. Untying herself, she stepped out, just as Lorna stepped
into the back room.

"We're landing," she told the sleepy person in front of her.

"Why are you up?"

"Something happened. One of the other passengers attacked me and my child."

"Who?" Tara asked, astonished. Glancing around, she noticed Riddick's tube
was also empty.

"A giant man, with a very good sense of smell. He's up front with the
captain and another passenger."

Lorna wasn't looking, and she evidently didn't expect an answer, as she
helped some of the other passengers down, including a pregnant woman,
another woman with a baby, and several teenagers, so she didn't see Tara
blanch.

'Great. Can't even let him alone for a second,' she thought crossly.

Tara wandered over to Jack's cryo-chamber, as the young woman was crawling
out.

"What happened?" she asked, yawning.

"Something happened to the ship. We have to land," Tara answered, then saw
Jack pale.

"Déjà vu," Jack muttered, as the ship landed, pitching them all forward.

"Where are we?"

By the time Tara and Jack arrived in the cockpit, this question was what
they heard the most.

There were 24 people in the front, including the crew of three, and they all
wanted answers.

"Look, we don't know where we are. The ship has been hit by a projectile,
most probably an errant meteor. We landed here before we crashed. As soon
as we, meaning I and the crew, patch the ship up, we will be on our way,"
the captain was saying.

"Is the air even breathable?" The pregnant woman asked, and the man in the
suit smiled.

"Yes. They have an atmospheric processor. There is even a colony that
could help us. The captain has told me that we are going to be here for
about a day. We might as well sleep in a guest room in the colony, rather
than in a cryo-tube."

As he talked, a small girl wandered over to a small panel on the wall, with
several small bumps on it.

Motioning to the woman with her, she tried to tell her something, but the
older woman brushed her off.

"Not now, Sonia. We're all busy."

One of the teenagers, a girl, noticed the child's motions at her companion,
and waved her hands in her friend's face. The other nodded and the wandered
over to the girl.

"What is it, sweetie?" The shorter one asked, also making motions with her
hand.

~What does this say?~ The little girl asked in sign language, and the older
one smiled. Cocking her head she frowned at the dots.

~I think it says Class C, but I'm not sure.~

The third girl nodded, and the second smiled.

~I haven't had to read Braille in a long time.~

~Why is it in Braille, anyway?~ The taller asked.

"What are you doing to my niece?"

The entire group of people stopped what they were doing at the shrill voice
of the woman, who was heading straight for the three girls.

"Helping her read this sign."

"They're dots. You can't read dots."

"It's Braille, and most blind people can read it. My sister and I were
helping her see it."

"A deaf girl who can read Braille. Pretty impressive," Riddick commented.

"What's even more impressive is a seeing, hearing, speaking girl who can do
both sign language and read braille. Where'd you learn it?" The suit man
asked, and she drew back.

"My younger sister Stephanie is deaf," she motioned to the girl next to her,
"and my older brother's blind. I learned both so they couldn't talk about
me behind my back."

"Does that mean you're dumb? You know, deaf, dumb and blind?" One of the
male teenagers asked. She glared at him as he and his friends cackled. She
signed something to her sister and the little girl, both who snickered.

"Hey, what'd you say? What'd she say?" He turned to the three girls, all of
whom smiled back.

"I think we should leave, now," the suit man suggested, and the older woman
agreed.

"Come, Sonia," she grabbed the child's hand, who rolled her eyes.

"You can't understand sign language!"

"I don't have too."

"You're escorting a deaf person, but you can't speak SL?" The girl sounded
angry.

The woman narrowed her eyes. "After the surgery, she will be quite capable
of hearing. And I know she can read lips."

~Leave it be, Jana.~

~I can't, Steph. It's not fair.~

~No shit,~ came the reply.

Outside, where the others had gathered, a fierce wind had picked up, and a
bank of fog was slowly rolling in.

"There's the shelter," a man shouted above the blowing, his wife covering
their child.

"Let's go." It was a spry old man, who seemed on the verge of smiling.

"Sir, are you coming?" Shouted a tall blonde, her ice colored hair tied up
in several small knots. The suit man shook his head, staying on the ramp.

"No. I think I'll stay here."

"But we don't know where we're going!" shouted Lorna.

Riddick felt a slight shiver go up his spine, and knew what would happen
next.

"It doesn't matter." Suddenly, there was a gun in the suit man's hand, and
he smiled, waving the weapon around.

"You have all been selected to be in a government project. Two of you have
already survived a project like this, but we needed a much more....diverse
selection."

"What do you mean?" Riddick yelled. He never should have left the ship!

The man continued, ignoring Riddick. "A ship will be here at the base in
twelve hours, to pick up those who survived. Goodbye."

He disappeared into the ship, as Tara calmly stalked up to the ship. She
pulled back her arm, and threw something casually through the bay doors,
making no movement to get on board herself. The hatch closed, and she
growled.

Everybody watched as the ship took off quickly, but Tara pulled another
detonator out.

"No, don't!" Riddick grabbed her hand. "They're our only chance."

"Fuck that!" She pushed the button. The ship rocked slightly, but remained
in the air.

"You bitch! That was our way off!" One of the teenagers began to yell, and
Tara turned on him, a gun suddenly in her own hand.

"He didn't specify which ship would pick us up," the tall blonde said
quietly.

Glancing around the former passengers, Tara snarled. "We go in."

"Didn't he say something about surviving?" The woman with a baby strapped to
her chest asked, leaning against her husband.

"I refuse to go anywhere with someone who plays with guns!" The shrill
voiced woman announced, her hand gripping her niece's arm tightly.

"Then don't," Tara said calmly. "He said we have twelve hours until they
come back, and I don't intend to be soaked through when they do come back."

"And he *did* say survive," the blonde agreed. "I'm Anya," she introduced
herself to Tara, who smiled slightly, taking the offered hand.

"Katya," she said, making Jack frown, and Riddick glance her way.

"I'm Richard," one of the teen boys said, holding out both hands to the
women, who turned in such fluid unison it made Riddick look twice at their
mannerisms. Richard flushed, but his hands didn't waver, and both Tara and
Anya gripped opposite hands.

"Who are your friends?" Tara asked, nodding to the two other boys leaning
against the wall.

"Mark and Bob."

There was a general greeting traded, then Tara turned.

"I'm going in. Who's with me?"

"Me," Jack said, and Riddick inclined his head. 'What the hell,' he shrugged
mentally.

"Me."

The girl who could read braille, and her sister, raised their hands, along
with the three boys.

Lorna shrugged and stepped forward, strapping her charge on her back,
keeping a small package in her hand.

"Anyone else?" Tara asked, and the man and his wife stepped up, along with
the pregnant woman.

"My sister-in-law is pregnant, can't you see that? We can't just run
around!"

As the man talked, there was an extrinsic sound that surrounded the
castaways, and the pregnant woman glanced around.

"I can make it," she decided. "The guy said this was a colony. We'll just
find a room, and wait for twelve hours."

"Yeah, he also abandoned us here in the first place," Riddick muttered,
absently making sure his shiv was still in his belt.

Tara glanced at him, but gave no other indication that she knew either him
or Jack, already distancing herself from the people she had freed out of
pity.

The older man, about seventy, stepped forward. "It appears that the door
has been rusted shut. How will we get in?"

"Easy," Anya said, pulling a large gun from her backpack.

Blasting the door at the door, there was a large shrieking sound, but other
than that, the door did not give.

"Looks like guns won't work this time, Anya," Tara commented.

"I wish I had a rose with me," Anya sighed. "I could get in so easily with
a rose."

"It's always easy to hack into things with a rose," Tara agreed.

"Is a rose a type of computer?" Mark asked. "Because I've never heard of
that type."

"Roses are new. Not many people know about them," Anya said.

"Yeah, but we don't have a rose. And last I heard, you weren't allowed near
technical stuff."

"You heard right."

"Wait a moment. You two have met?" It was the older man, the one using a
cane.

"Maybe. I've never met Anya before-"

"As I've never met Katya."

The man smiled broadly. "Well, in that case.... My name is Franklin."

"No last?" Was Tara's question.

"No. No last."

"So, anyway, how are we going to get in?" Jana asked, at the same time
signing her question.

There was a lull in the conversation, until Anya snapped her fingers. "How
stupid am I? If guns won't work, maybe..." She reached beneath her shirt,
to reveal three strings of tiny white pearls.

"Ashka, remember these?" Anya asked, pulling a sphere off a string.

The purple-haired woman turned at the different name being used, and Riddick
blanched inwardly. 'She's not good at this name thing, Anya isn't,' he
thought.

"Pearl bombs? How could I forget," Tara smiled.

Planting a pearl underneath a crack in the door, the duo stepped back,
urging the others to do the same.

There was a minor explosion, and the door fell over, eliciting a scream from
something alive in the building.

"I think we'll stay outside," the suit-woman said, still holding Sonia's
arm.

"I don't think you will," Riddick announced. "If we go in, you go in."

"We can't split up," Jack insisted, coming up behind him.

"Yeah, but do we actually want to go in there? I mean, whatever screamed
sounded dangerous," the purple-haired woman said.

"Anything that screams usually sounds dangerous," Jana said.

"Depends on the context of the scream," Bob leered, and Jana sniffed at him.

"Are we going in?" Mark asked, ignoring his friends flirting. When they got
home to the colonies, he resolved to teach his friend how women *liked* to
be treated.

"Yeah," Riddick said. "We are."

As he moved forward, shiv now in hand, Jack grabbed a loop in his fatigues.

"Wait up," she said, and he slowed down half a step, just enough for her not
to have to run to keep up. Two feet into the dark room, and Riddick pulled
off his goggles, watching the darkness for predators his dreams wouldn't let
go of.

Jack glanced behind her only once, to see if the others were following, and
saw them bickering, the suit woman still clutching Sonia's arm, moving
steadily forward.

Tara winked at her, but Anya stared until she looked away.

"Do you have any sense of direction?"

Riddick glanced at the suit-woman. "Do you have a name, lady? Or do I call
you suit-woman?"

Jack flushed in the darkness when she heard the name she'd been using, and
when Riddick's silver eyes flickered towards her, she knew he knew he had
guessed right at her thoughts.

"My name is Cynthia. This is my niece-"

"Sonia," half the group intone, and the woman narrowed her eyes.

"Back to my question, do you have any idea where we're going?"

"Nope. In fact, I think we've found the kitchen."

"Are we staying here?" The woman with the baby across her back asked. Her
husband looked toward Riddick expectantly.

"You're eyes are shined!" The purple-haired woman exclaimed, and Jack
winced. Not that many people had shined eyes, and probably every merc from
here to the Mhaz galaxy knew about Riddick and his eyes.

"Yeah, they are," Riddick responded dully.

"*That's* why I didn't hurt- Why you never trip over anything," Lorna
connected her fight with Riddick to his fluency in the darkened cavern.

"Anyway, I think we're wasting our time. I don't think anyone lives here,"
Purple-hair said.

"Gee, ya figure that out for yourself, merc?" Anya asked, as another odd
sound reverberated off the walls.

"Call me Thompson. And I'm not a merc," she added as an afterthought.

"I say we stay here," Jana said, and several of the people nodded.

"It'd be easier, if we all just stayed in one place, until the hours are
up," Tara said.

The group slowly nodded, even Cynthia. Riddick still didn't like it. The
suit-man had said that two others had survived something along the lines of
what was happening, which meant Jack and himself. Wondering what lurked in
the darkness in *this* place, Riddick turned his attention to the others,
who were trying to find proper bedding for a shelter.

Avoiding another bunch of wires, Franklin headed around a corner. The
others had left him behind, his bad leg making him an easy target for
slowness. But now, he was happy that he could move at his own pace.

"Did someone see this?" he called, heading for a large hole in the wall.

"See what?" Kasha asked, going toward him. She, too, had been left behind,
in her family's effort to stay with the group.

There was a low growl that she barely picked up on, and when she turned back
around, the old man was gone.

"Franklin?" she called, moving forward. she saw his cane, leaning against
the wall, and picked it up. Making a face at the slimy liquid it was
covered in, she stepped into the dark hole.

"Where's Kasha?" Nikki Maxwell, Kasha's older sister, had agreed to take
her sibling home because she would be able to see her mother and father
again, not because she cared all that much for her sister. But when her
baby sister was gone more than five minutes, she became worried. Even
pregnant, that woman could move.

"What is it?"

Nikki jumped and turned, to see the dark man, with his silver eyes looking
at her. Wondering where Oscar was, she shrugged.

"My sister, the pregnant one, is missing."

The big man cursed, and the girl that followed him like a love-sick puppy
looked over, a frightened look on her face.

"I'll be back," he announced. "Nobody leave."

Thompson began to protest, but stopped as she realized who his description
fit, the one that had driven her crazy since she'd first seen him, and why
her current employer had given her a ticket to this flight. Prepping her
secret weapon, Thompson watched him go after the pregnant woman.

Riddick was the first one to hear the scream, but only because he was
closest. He jogged down the hallway, but stopped short as he saw the cane,
still twitching on the floor. With his shined eyes, he saw the monster in
the darkness, hissing over a body on the floor.

Backing slowly away, Riddick ran faster than he had getting to the hole in
the wall, slamming into the kitchen.

"Do you have any torches? Or welding stuff?" he demanded of Anya, as he
pushed the door closed.

"Yeah, why?"

"Because there's something nasty out there."

"Like what?" Thompson challenged him, a gun drawn.

"Why do all you people have weapons?!" Cynthia shrieked.

"This wasn't exactly a legitimate trip, lady," Bob muttered.

"Yeah. They didn't search us when we got on," Jack said, and about
everybody agreed.

Anya, after digging through through her back, produced three small machines
that looked like lighters.

"Shit, dude! If I'd known you wanted those, I coulda handed you my own,"
Richard said, pulling out two lighters.

"They're not, lighters, they're compact torches. But I could use the fuel."

"No!" Jack protested. "Don't use it all up at once. Once it gets dark...."
she trailed off, as the others stared at her.

"Whatsa matter?" Bob sneered. "You afraid of the dark?"

Jack shuddered and backed up, the teen's words so hauntingly close to
Riddick's.

"Can you hear that?" Riddick asked. Everyone immediately hushed at the
gruff voice. Even Anya, who had loaded the small welder, was silent,
listening for whatever it was he heard.

A faint clicking noise was heard, and it was coming from above them.
Instantly, several guns were trained upward, trigger's ready to be pressed.
One of the grates depressed, in the middle of the room, and suddenly, it was
falling, a short woman landing in the middle of the room.

Landing on her feet, she stood and hissed loudly. Drawing a dagger, she
inspected the others in the room, as she brushed her black hair out of her
green eyes.

"Who are you?" she snarled, circling, and Jack wondered how she wasn't
getting dizzy.

"Who are you?" Riddick asked in retaliation, stepping forward.

"I asked first."

"We have more ammo," Anya said lightly.

"And you think a *bullet's* going to stop me?"

"No, but several might," Thompson said.

"What's on your dagger?" Tara asked suddenly, staring at the design.

The stranger frowned at the strange switch of topics, then briefly flashed
the hilt.

"Ashka, you're not Tasha!" Anya said.

"Who's Ashka?" Thompson asked.

"Me. Who'd you think it was?" Tara said. "It's an Ankh," she told Anya,
who paled, and lowered her gun.

"Your name is Katya," Thompson said.

"One of my names."

"Maybe called you Ashka, back there," Jack said.

"You took them to Maybe?" Anya asked.

"Maybe what?"

The stranger, feeling the pressure off her, pulled out a capsule. It was
then that Riddick jumped, pinning her against the floor.

"Now, I ask again: Who are you?"

"My name is Tessa," the small woman kicked up, landing on her feet, as
Riddick landed on his.

"I'm....Murphy."

Suddenly, a third arm, loaded with its own gun, appeared over Thompson's
head, her left arm grabbing Mark.

"Will someone please tell me what's going on, before I hurt this kid?"

"Ma'am, I am not a kid."

"Shut up, boy."

"He's not that, either," Richard muttered, and Bob elbowed him.

"You could have asked politely, merc," Riddick chided, shaking his head.

There was a loud hissing noise above them all, and Tessa glanced around.
"I'm trying," she said out loud. "But they won't stop paying attention to
themselves."

There was roar, and the sudden silence was deafening.

"What was that?"

Tessa smiled over at Thompson.

"That was an alien. They have lived here for over six hundred years."

"So who are you?" Oscar asked, a large pipe in his hands, Nikki behind him,
holding their baby close.

"She's a Vampyre," Tara and Anya said in unison.

"And you know that how?" Jana asked, while Stephanie and Sonia nodded.

"Because I knew one a long time ago," Anya said.

"And I said my last farewell's to him, just recently," Tara said.

"Frankie?" Riddick asked, and Tara nodded.

"You took them to Frankie?" Anya asked. "Is nothing sacred?"

"We were there," Tara shot back.

There was a loud bang, and scream, from both Cynthia and Sonia, as the older
woman disappeared through the ceiling.

"No, wait!" Tessa shouted. "Give me more time! That's all I need!"

"What the hell was that?!" Jack exclaimed, sprinting to Riddick, and
surrounding his waist with her arms. He briefly squeezed her shoulders, but
didn't disengage her.

"That was an alien," he said softly.

"You need to leave, before they come back, and take more of you."

Sonia turned rapidly, her small hands flashing wildly, as Jana and Stephanie
tried to translate in their heads what she was saying.

"Who exactly are you?" Thompson demanded, shaking Mark's neck.

"Like the two ladies said, I am a Vampyre. I have lived here for about
three hundred years with those creatures, if not in peace and harmony, in a
respectful unity. I keep the humans away, and they don't kill me. Up until
now, they're the only ones who have had to uphold their end of the bargain."

"Why here? Why not on some distant planet, where other humans live?"

"Because I'm not human!" she snapped. "If you hadn't noticed, I really
don't like the light. This is an ideal world."

"Which brings us to another point," Riddick said, aiming a look at
Thompson's third arm. "You're not exactly human, either, are you,
Thompson?"

"Oh, I'm human, I just had a little surgery, to help me with my work."

"What's she saying?" Richard whispered to Jana, making Riddick frown.
Somehow, the five children had gotten together without his noticing.

"She said she's not leaving. Then she talks about none of us leaving."

"None of us are going anywhere," Thompson announced. "We only have about
ten hours left. If she can survive 300 years, we can survive that much
time."

"Only one problem. She's immortal, and we're just a bunch of humans.
Including you," Lorna snapped.

There were several more screams, and suddenly Oscar was through the wall.
Through the flimsy wall that they had thought would protect them.

"Can we go?" Jack whispered.

"No. We cannot. We are staying here until our time to leave has arrived,"
Thompson snapped.

She shook Mark again, more for reassurance that she had power, than for
anything else.

"Who the fuck cares!?" Nikki screamed, heading for the middle of the floor.
"My husband is dead! He's gone, and in a few fucking hours, we'll all be
dead!"

She huddled down on the floor, sobbing over her baby.

As the others slowly moved toward the center of the room, Tessa snarled.

"Dammit, these things can go anywhere. The only reason we're not all dead
is because they trust me to get rid of you!"

"So, why haven't you?" Anya asked quietly.

"Because this is the most stimulating conversation I've had in awhile,
that's why. In fact, this encounter might last me another three hundred
years."

There was a loud howl, and Tessa blinked. "On second thought, I'll settle
for two-hundred." She raised the knife again, and Jack squinted at her
hands.

"Are her nails-" she began.

"Yes," Riddick answered.

Tessa's nails had just grown an inch, making them more like claws. She
hissed loudly, and her canine teeth were suddenly longer. She crouched in a
predator's stance, preparing to spring on whoever was in her view-point.

There was another roar, and the Vampyre stopped, and looked up. An alien
came through the floor, right in front of the screaming teenagers. With one
swift move, it grabbed Stephanie, and pulled her through the hole it had
made. Jana screamed, grabbing at her sister, while the two boys grabbed
her, preventing her from following. They half-picked her up, and ran to the
door they had previously welded shut.

"Everybody freeze!" Thompson screamed. "None of you are going anywhere. We
are staying here until help comes. That is final!"

She glared straight at the most dangerous people in her mind, Riddick,
Tessa, Anya and Tara, while she only paid cursory attention to the
teenagers.

There was another clanking sound, and Thompson snarled.

"Will they ever give up?" she asked Tessa, who growled lowly.

"Only when they've killed us all," she responded. "They've now given up
faith in me. I never knew they were so impatient. I could have taken care
of you from the start."

The door- the strategically placed, reinforced with fire, previously torn
open door- clanged loudly, and everyone stepped back. One glance at the
door said that it wouldn't last long, especially with that large dent in it.

"Through the roof," Tessa hissed, and kicked up, grabbing the edge of the
hole. Holding out her hand, Riddick began to hand the other people up,
Thompson reluctantly handing over her hostage. Mark practically flew threw
the opening, grabbing the gun Richard handed him.

Nikki had been trouble, until Riddick had taken her baby, refusing to give
her back until she climbed up. As he boosted himself up, there was one more
crash into the door, then it caved in. Three aliens tumbled in, as Riddick
followed the others. Half turning, he fired Tara's large gun, aiming so the
bullet ricocheted off the walls, striking all three beasts at once.

By the time he came to the first junction, the only way he could tell which
way they had gone was from their smells. Unfortunately, two smells went
left, but twelve went right. It was Nikki and her baby, he deciphered, that
had gone left. Feeling torn, he took a step to the right, then ran left.

At the next turn, he didn't hesitate, following the smell of sweat.
Unfortunately, the sweat mingled with the smell of the aliens, and the alien
smell was stronger. Slowing to a fast walk, he heard several screams from
the other group, and hung his head. He should have been there to protect
Jack, at least.

No matter what he said and did, he had grown fond of the girl. He would
never admit it, but that was another subject.

There. Up ahead was the woman. Grabbing her, Riddick ducked as she reacted
by swinging around with a new-found piece of pipe.

"Hey!" he barked. "It's okay. It's just me. It's okay," Riddick murmured
finally, as she lowered her weapon. "We have to go back," he told her, as
she collapsed in his arms. As he glanced around, he saw the baby, on her
hands and knees, crawling aimlessly around the large holes in the floor.

"What's your kids name?" he asked, trying to decide if he could leap over
the hole with his passenger, or if he would have to put her down.

"Lucy," came the tired response. "Please, go get her. I'll be fine."

Against his better judgment, Riddick set Nikki against the wall, knocking on
the concrete. Judging the space between him and the baby, Riddick leapt over
the large hole, landing directly behind Lucy, who turned at the vibration.

Grabbing the kid by the straps of her overalls, Riddick shook his head at
how heavy she felt, for such a little thing. There was a faint rumble above
him, and Riddick turned just as Nikki screamed, disappearing through the
large hole in the wall behind her.

"Shit," Riddick whispered, bringing Lucy closer to his chest.

Backtracking, Riddick realized he wasn't sure where he was when he got to a
locked door he didn't remember passing. Trying to pry it open was
impossible, but he strained a few seconds anyway, before he noticed a lever
next to the door, pointing upward.

Setting the baby down, Riddick grabbed the lever with both hands, pushing
down with all his strength. There was a heavy groan, and the metal broke off
in his hand. "Shit!" he cursed quietly. There was a faint cry and a splash
of water behind him, and Riddick turned, to see the baby nowhere in his
vision.

"Lucy?" he called, feeling stupid as he did so. The baby couldn't answer
him with words, and she wasn't crying.

"Riddick?"

He whipped around, then realized that it was below him.

"Riddick?" The voice came again. It was Tara.

"Tara?" he yelled.

There was a flash of light, then she was there....with the baby.

"Did you drop something?' she asked, holding up her prize.

"Yeah, pass her up!"

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