Chapter 3

Instead of responding, Tara screamed. With a yell and a gun shot, Tara went
under the water. There was loud feral cry of an alien, and Riddick debated
going down. Self-preservation won out. Turning around, Riddick ran the way
he had come, hoping he could catch up with the others, before they got more
of themselves killed.

Jack was out of breath. While with Riddick, she had exercised regularly,
just to keep up with his long strides, but what she had just done in the
past two hours beat out anything she'd done in the past year.

There was a loud crash, and Jack ducked behind a trash can, her breath
coming in harsh grasps. Leaning against the wall, she heard the others
calling her name, but she didn't hear Riddick, or know where he was, and she
couldn't call out, because if one could find her, the monsters could.

There had been a junction, one of many, and Jack had gone left. Or right,
she couldn't remember. Bob had been grabbed, and the group had scattered,
losing half their lights. Now she was hopelessly lost, and the feelings of
déjà vu were coming back, stronger.

Above her came another sound, and she shrank back trying to breathe
smoothly. As something ran by, Jack saw it was Richard.

"Richard!" she hissed. There was a loud boom of a big gun around her, and
something began to drip down in front of her. As the acid fell, instinct
told her to shrink as far into the small hole as she could. Backing up,
there was another loud boom, and suddenly, Richard was in front of her, gun
raised. Backing up even more, there was a loud cracking noise behind her,
and Jack let out a squeak of surprise as she fell backwards, into water.

She heard Richard yell her name, then she heard gun fire. Running back the
way she hoped she'd come, she heard something splashing behind her, and ran
harder. Suddenly, with a loud shriek, Jack felt something grab her legs.
Turning and kicking, determined to go down fighting, she saw she had just
given Richard a black eye.

"Are you trying to kill me?" he demanded, holding a hand to his face.
Richard grabbed Jack with his free arm, hauling her upward. "We've got to
go."

"What's wrong?" Jack asked, falling into him as another tremor shook the
level they were on. "Why does it keep shaking?"

"I don't know. There's something wrong with it, or something."

As the two teens sloshed through the water, on constant alert for the
aliens, Jack noticed Richard was crying. They weren't sobs, yet, but as he
walked, a steady stream of tears fell across his cheeks.

"Richard?" Jack asked, and she stopped their walking.

"It's not fair. Bob didn't deserve that."

Jack hung her head. "I know, but we can't help him. Hopefully, the others
are fine."

"You seem all dandy about this! I thought you'd actually have a conscious,
but you're not even thinking of the dead!" Richard pulled away from her, and
Jack shook her head.

"When that government man said two other's have survived something like
this, he meant me and Ri-Murphy." Jack paled slightly at her slip. She'd
almost given Riddick away!

"What happened?"

"It doesn't matter. What matters is that we got away, and the problem is
the government knew from the beginning! They probably had cameras up around
the entire place, watching us all get eaten! They probably saw that Riddick
was on the ship, and then decided 'Hey, he's tough, let's see what happens
when we pit him against something like this!"

As Jack fell against the wall, sobbing, Richard paled. "Did you say
Riddick? As in the escaped con?"

Jack didn't answer him, cursing her stupidity for getting emotional. Wiping
tears off her face, she stood. "We have to find them, and get off this
planet."

"Did I hear you right?" Richard demanded.

"Yeah, you did," Jack whispered.

"Shit!"

Jack turned away and started to walk through the water. After a moments
hesitation, Richard followed her. When they reached the end of the
basement, they were given a choice: up a set of stairs that looked like they
were corroding, or back the way they had come.

"Up or back?" asked Richard, waving his gun in both directions. There was
an alien shriek from behind them, and both said "Stairs," sprinting up the
wobbly pieces of metal.

Another shriek followed them up the staircase, and the splashing of water
sounded the arrival of a defender of the nest. Going quickly through a
doorway, as the alien landed on the top of the stairs, the teens tried to
close the metal sheets that made up the door.

As the monster got closer, Richard cursed, unslinging his gun. Aiming for
the head, he used his last bullet to pierce the aliens head. It exploded in
a shriek of anger and acid. They ran.

Riddick was in trouble again. He had followed the scents, mostly aiming for
Jack's, until he had come to a body. It was Bob, the back of his head gone.
Here was where the scents scattered. There were five junctions, instead
of the usual two. This was where Tara had fallen through the floor, and how
she had gotten underneath them all. The others had split swiftly, probably
in a panic. Closing his eyes, Riddick shifted through the smells until he
found Jack's scent. Right.

Jogging off in her direction, he made it quite a ways, before he saw the
hole. It was the only one in this hallway, and it had a bit of a human look
to it. He took a deep sniff of the air, and Jack's scent hit him, along
with fear, aliens and Richard.

On the other side of the wall was a water, and Riddick cursed his luck.
Like a dog, he couldn't smell over water. Hoping there were no junctions,
Riddick jumped into the water, heading the only way he could.

They had turned so much, Jack felt dizzy. There were several large holes in
this section, along with many bones of humans that had met a grizzly end,
but what had gathered the attention of the teens were the cocooned bodies of
humans, people with faces you could still make details out of. All were
dead, of a similar bloody hole in their chest, leaving no question as to
their fate, but the last few were the surprises: They were still alive.
What's more, they were the people of their own party. Stephanie was there,
with Cynthia next to her. A few bodies down, Kasha and Oscar. Between the
two was a body without a red patch, and Jack stepped closer.

She reached out a hand and wiped away the off-color resin that coated the
person's face. When she saw who it was, she backed into Richard's arms with
a cry of fright, as he looked away from Nikki's face. Her face looked like
death warmed over, but she didn't have the hole in her chest.

"We gotta go," Richard muttered, turning Jack away. As he looked back, he
saw Nikki's eyes pop open. "Nikki!" he yelled, racing back. Jack followed
slowly, watching the dying woman's lips.

"Kill me."

Tara hated water. Even before this backwater planet, even before slogging
through nearly a mile of crappy water that had who knew how many little
critter's crawling around in it, Tara had carried a dislike for swimming.
Showering was one thing, but those were always short and efficient. It
wasn't that she was afraid of water, it was just that she had a natural
repellent to the stuff. Now, with the baby in a make-shift sling over her
back, Tara was desperately in need of a towel, and a warm vent.

"I hate children," she muttered for the hundredth time that minute. It was
also a decree, she remembered, decided years ago, that she wasn't allowed
near children who couldn't defend themselves. Of course, some *adults*
couldn't defend themselves against her, but that was besides the point.
Standing next to one for three minutes was one thing, but taking care of one
was something she couldn't do. She had no patience for them.

Lucy gurgled, and Tara blanched. She couldn't even pretend the child was a
backpack, and leave her behind, because she had already tried. Two minutes
of cold concrete made the child cry; Tara had timed it.

Tara stopped. The water sloshing around her legs had dulled her senses, but
she was sure she had heard something else moving around. There it was
again. Someone was running through the water. Climbing onto a ledge, one
that barely held her feet, Tara watched Mark come around the corner, holding
a small gun in one hand. Unfortunately, it was his only hand; the other was
gone. But instead of blood, a white liquid gushed out of the wound, and a
few wires hung out loosely.

"A synth!" Tara hissed.

"Tara!" Mark gasped out, and she stiffened. How had he known...?

Mark pointed behind her, just as an alien appeared around the corner, using
its tail to spear him. Feeling every nerve tighten, Tara let her ears work.
There was a low hissing behind her. Drawing a pistol, she turned slowly,
ready to shoot at an alien. There was nothing there, save a large
brown...thing. It almost looked like an exotically ugly flower, the way
it's four petals were spread.

It wasn't more than a breath of air, Nikki's whisper, but they both heard
it.

"We can't. You're gonna be okay," Jack whispered, trying to scrape away
more of the goo.

"No, she's not."

Both teenagers turned in surprise. Richard even raised his empty gun. It
was Tessa, a large gash across her leg.

"Why not?" Jack whispered, going again for Richard's arm again.

The bound woman gagged, and the three standing people backed up to the
opposing wall. Something was moving Nikki's chest, undulating it, making it
quiver. With a pitch forward, Nikki cried out, as a blossom of blood spread
over her chest. With a high-pitched cry, something burst through the
woman's chest.

Jack screamed and jumped back, running into Richard, who tripped and fell.
Tessa yelled and drew a gun neither teen had seen before, blasting the young
alien in the head.

"That," the Vampyre motioned to the dead monster, "is how aliens come
around. They hang people up, impregnate them, then kill the hosts. Shall we
go?"

"Duck!"

Tessa hit the ground, covering the two teens, as Riddick used his new found
weapon to incinerate the alien above the trio on the floor.

"Are you nuts?" he yelled. "Now is *not* the time for a biology lesson!"

The alien behind her screamed, and Tara spun. It was dead. Mark had killed
it, somehow.

Checking around for more, but not letting go of her pistol, Tara stepped
into the water, going for Mark. There was an angry squeal behind her, and
she turned, to see an oddly shaped thing jumping for her. Screaming
herself, Tara fell back into the water, the thing right on top of her. She
coughed under the water, and her lungs began to fill with liquid.

As the thing tried to latch onto her face, Tara took the pistol with her
free hand and shot it. She heard the scream loud and clear under the water,
but then she heard and felt something else. The baby! Lucy was still on
her back. Struggling to her feet, Tara burst through the surface, coughing
and gagging up water quickly dragging the now-silent baby from her back,
Tara looked at her in despair.

"She's moving!" Tara whispered in relief, as an arm twitched. Quickly
turning the baby onto her stomach, Tara tried to massage the water from
Lucy's lungs, but wasn't sure how to bring a baby back to life.

"Here."

Drawing up her pistol, Tara nearly shot Mark, who was next to her.

"Hold her like that, and let me do it."

Tara stared as the baby was massaged, until she started to cough. Water
spilled out of the tiny lungs, and the next tiny breath sounded like a roar
in Tara's ears.

"Thank you," she whispered to Mark, who smiled.

Another roar filled the little hallway, and three more aliens spilled from a
side tunnel.

"I say we continue this conversation elsewhere," Riddick suggested, bringing
up another gun.

"Where's the others?" Jack asked Riddick, who shrugged and kicked a large
hole in the vents.

"I don't know. Last time I saw Tara, though, she had Lucy, the baby with
her."

The vents were large, big enough for two people to walk abreast, but the
small group of four decided on single file. Riddick took the lead, followed
closely by Jack. Richard was next, and Tessa brought up the rear,
continually scanning their backs for more aliens.

"They're coming," Tessa decided. "I say, on the next fan shaft, we go up."

"But the fans aren't working," Jack said.

"That's why we can go through them."

"Here's one," Riddick announced, stopping unexpectedly. Jack ran into him,
and Richard ran into her, making Tessa laugh. "I wish I had a camera," she
smiled.

"A what?" Jack asked, turning. Riddick hoisted himself into the tall
opening, then held out a hand for Richard.

"A camera. Something that records an image in it's memory. Then you can
print them out later. You've never seen one?"

"I've never *heard* of one. That sounds like our holo-pix."

Tessa sighed. "I'm way outta the loop."

"Look at this vent-" Richard began, grabbing Riddick's hand.

"No time to sight-see, kid. Let's go!" Riddick said, hauling him upward.

"No, look at it! It's been charred, or something."

Riddick *had* seen the damage, but had hoped that the others wouldn't. He
held a hand out to Jack, who accepted it, then to Tessa who smiled and
jumped up, like a cat.

"So? It's not hot now, is it?"

Richard glanced at the bigger man, than remembered who he was. "Riddick?"
he asked, and Riddick turned.

"Yeah?" he asked. Jack gasped when he turned.

"You're the mass murderer, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"A mass-murderer, huh?" Tessa asked. "And I thought drinking blood was
bad."

"Hey," Riddick's protest reverberated off the walls.

"Why are you saving us?" Richard continued, and Jack hit him on the arm.

"It doesn't matter!" she told him, and he smiled crookedly at her.

"What does he do to you to make you so loyal?" Richard asked Jack who drew
back.

"What?" she asked. If it had been another day, Jack would have caught on
immediately, but in a dark tunnel, surrounded by monsters, her mind was far
from the gutter.

"I mean," Richard responded in a tone one would talk to a small child with,
"What does he do to you?"

Riddick's head snapped around, a hand already on the boy's throat. "Watch
what you say," he snapped.

"He doesn't do anything to me," Jack told the other teen. "He never has."

"And he never will? Don't bet on it."

The hand on Richard's throat tightened, until he saw spots. Riddick wasn't
saying anything, just squeezing. Richard knew he could die at any time,
with any of the words he was saying on his lips, but that didn't seem to
bother him.

"Look," he whispered. "You're young. What, fourteen? But you're
developing. Why do you think I've been sticking to you like a burr?
Because I'm attracted to you. And you think he's not? I'll bet-"

Richard's words were cut off entirely, as Riddick's hand got tighter.

"No, don't!" Jack protested, throwing up her hands, as if to stop the giant
man who she had come to trust.

As she scaled a wall, Tara kept glancing back at where Mark had sunk below
the surface. The synth had been very explicit in what he would do if she
didn't leave him, but she had promised only after making him teach her how
to disconnect him.

Taking a deep breath, Tara set her mind set to one of old combat. Instead
of aliens, she was battling the Company's spies, and Lucy was the
information she had to smuggle out.

There were gears up ahead, and Tara grunted. She had absolutely no idea
where she was, headed, and gears usually meant middle or end. Judging the
space between herself and the first gear, Tara jumped, landing just as it
turned once.

"What the hell is this?" she muttered. "It looks like a twentieth's toys."

Jack grabbed the arm strangling Richard, while Tessa leaned against the wall
and watched.

"Let him go!" Jack insisted, pushing on Riddick.

"Why? You know what he says isn't true."

"I know. But he doesn't. Give him a chance."

Riddick stared at her, then finally loosened his hold. Richard fell against
the wall, gasping, hands to his throat, eyes closed.

He opened them again when Jack slapped him, her hand already up and aiming
when he met her eyes.

"How could you say that?" she demanded, and he shrugged, still gasping.

"Let's go, children," Riddick snapped, striding off. Tessa smiled and
sauntered after him.

Richard grabbed Jack's hand and kissed it. "Please don't slap me again."

She looked away from his eyes and followed the adults, ignoring him when he
caught up.

Up. Down. Duck. Swing. Jump. Tara's thoughts were monosyllabic, as she
slowly made her way through the large gears. She figured she was half-way
across the works by then, but what she couldn't figure out was why the gears
were there in the first place. They had no point.

Standing in the center of a large gear, so that she didn't have to worry
about other things, Tara checked the baby on her back.

"I know you're hungry," she murmured tot he cranky baby. "As soon as I get
up top, I'll find you something to eat. Maybe," she muttered, popping her
neck joints. She still had the second half of the machine to go.

"How long have we been walking?" Tessa asked finally, stopping at another
hole.

"Not long enough," Riddick said. "Can't you see the light? It's just up
there."

Riddick stopped walking again, but this time there was no pile-up. Grabbing
a piece of loose metal, he pulled back, revealing the inside of the
building.

And above them was an elevator.

"Can you see that?" Riddick asked no one in particular, but his three
companions crept forward, to look out.

"That's Thompson!" Richard exclaimed.

"And Anya and Lorna," Tessa continued.

"With Jana and Sonia," Jack finished.

Tessa smiled briefly, then let out a sharp whistle. The others looked up,
but when they couldn't see anything but metal, they continued on their way.

"How are we supposed to get down?" Jack asked, glancing around at the are
surroundings.

"We jump?" Richard asked.

"You can," Riddick told him. "I'd prefer to take those stairs." He pointed
at the steps leading downward.

"We could do that, too," Richard murmured, bringing up the rear in the train
of people.

"Hey!"

Lorna heard Riddick first, then Anya. Jana heard last, and touched Sonia's
arm gently. As they stopped and turned, Thompson kept walking, not turning
around until she heard the others talking.

"Where have you been?" she asked, interrupting the general group greetings.

"Sight-seeing," Riddick told her, tilting his head so that his shined eyes
glittered.

Thompson narrowed her eyes at him, then a slow smile spread over her face.

"Right. Seeing. You know, I haven't heard of many civilians getting a
shine job; why'd you do it?"

As the newcomers fell into place, Riddick raised an eyebrow.

"I was young. And stupid."

"I heard shining is a version of splicing. If you were young and stupid,
why didn't you go all out? Get a full DNA switch; become a Katt or Dawg?"

"I'm allergic to fur," Riddick told Thompson, and Lorna snorted, getting an
odd look from Jack.

"What about the others?" Anya asked, as they pushed the down button on the
elevator.

"We still have about three hours, and I'm hungry," Thompson agreed. "Why
are we going to the top now? We should just wait here for them.

"I doubt they're alive," Anya said. "If anyone is, though, it'll be Tara."

"You think you're gonna find food down here?" Tessa asked Thompson. "All of
it's topside."

"So we go up, find food, then come back down. What's so hard about that? I
mean, Tara seemed capable of taking care of herself. And if she's found
somebody, she'll protect them."

"She has a point," Richard said.

~I'm hungry, too,~ Sonia told Jana who nodded.

"~I think we all are,~" she spoke and signed.

"So we go up?" Anya asked. The others nodded.

At last! Tara was free of the large gears. She clenched her eyes shut in an
effort to stop the queasiness in her stomach, and the lurching feeling in
her head, from standing still instead of spinning. As Tara purged the
sickness from her skull, she heard more machinery start to run, and frowned.
For a ghost planet, the machines seemed to be working pretty well. And she
didn't think Tessa spent her spare time as a grease-monkey.

Opening an eye, Tara smiled. It was an elevator that was making all the
noise! An elevator that went up. Leaning over the platforms edge, Tara saw
the lift begin to move, and felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. Shifting
the baby, she shook her head, trying to clear the voices that were floating
around in her head. They didn't even sound like her normal group, but like
the people she was trying to get to. Tara stopped, her eyes riveting to the
ring on her left hand, with it's broken hinge, the top jewel lying somewhere
in the building, leaving the communicator open.

There it was again. Jack, then Riddick.

"Hello?" she asked straight into the ring, and the voices stopped. "You
guys?"

The voices on the other end became frantic, but none came any closer to the
rings than before. Moving forward, Tara avoided another pipe.

"Tara?" It was Riddick's voice, coming in loud and clear through the ring's
small transmitter.

"I'm down here with the baby," she told them. "Are you one the lift? Just
put it on hold, and I'll be up."

>From her view-point, she saw the elevator move up several more feet, then
stop. Glad her gamble had pulled off, she jumped down from the large gear
platform and ran, ignoring the aliens snapping underneath her, as they tried
to get at her through the thick metal bars. As she got closer, she noticed
an incline, making it easier to get to the lift. That, and it seemed to be
heading downward. It was!

By the time Tara, coughing up blood from some internal wound caused by an
enemy, got to the shaft entrance, the bottom of the lift was level with her
head.

As Tara prepared to jump for the lift, something rocked the level she was
on, making her lurch.

"Hurry!" It was Tessa, holding out a hand, while Lorna held onto the
Vampyre.

With a cry and another lurch, Tara threw the baby, and Tessa caught her
deftly, handing her quickly over to Lorna.

"Jump!" the Vampyre shouted, holding out her hand again.

Tara backed up a few spaces, then took a running leap for the lift. With a
wild cry, an alien appeared, landing in front of her. Recoiling, Tara
half-turned in the air, and hit the ground running the other way. As she
reached the gears, Riddick saw the creature grab her leg, and lift her
upward.

"Not again!" he snarled, grabbing one of Anya's guns. Leaping down, Riddick
climbed down the large trestle behind the elevator, as he heard Tara's
scream. Running for all he was worth, Riddick started in surprise as he
heard gunshots from Tara's direction.

Bursting through the doors that the monster had for some reason closed, he
saw Tara, a jagged wound along her right leg, her arm bandages ripped and
flowing, showing off old scars and fresh scabs he could have sworn they'd
prevented.

Shooting an alien in the head, Riddick tapped her on the shoulder, and
ducked as she turned and shot, not even noticing who he was. Blinking in
surprise, she smiled slightly, then turned and shot an alien in the eye.

"What took you?" she asked, her stance wavering.

"I didn't know you were gonna sight-see, or I woulda objected sooner," he
answered.

"I don't think they like being objected to," Tara told him, taking a step
back. Riddick caught her as she fell, then picked her up entirely, throwing
her over his shoulder.

"I'm not down!" she shouted, as they made their way back to the elevator
shaft.

"True, but can you run?"

"Good point. Hand me that gun, will you?"

As Riddick began to climb up the shaft, Tara kept up a continuous stream of
fire, aiming for the head. As two of the monsters exploded, Tara yelled
when a few drops of the acid blood landed on her open wounds. Brushing it
off quickly with a ripped piece of cloth, she automatically tried to back
up, only to have Riddick stop her.

"What are you doing? You can't move, remember?" he said gruffly.

"And I know I'm not light. I can climb. There's nothing wrong with my
arms, or my left leg."

"We'll talk about your arms later. Are you strong enough?"

"Are you? You can't possibly carry me to the surface."

"Yeah, I can."

She tried to back away again, and he exerted pressure on her leg wound,
making her fall back, gasping.

"Nope, you're too weak to climb yourself."

"And you may be able to carry me, but what happens at the top?" She backed
away again, and he let her get to the trestle, before turning her around.

"Listen," he hissed. "When we get to the top, you can run, but not if you
use up all your energy climbing. You *will* let me carry you. All you have
to do," he handed her several guns, "Is cover my ass while I get us out of
here."

Knowing she could have objected more if she hadn't been wounded and
bleeding, Tara strapped the extra guns within easy reach, and cocked the
plasma gun.

"Why the plasma gun?" he asked, beginning to climb again.

"Because the pistol is for people."

"You plannin' on shootin' us all when we get topside?" he asked, after Tara
had shot another alien.

"Maybe Richard, if he opens that mouth of his," she dead-panned.

"They're not coming."

Thompson glanced over at Richard as he paced.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked.

They had arrived on the surface, and had quickly found a small land skimmer,
an old earth type, run-down and in need of repair, but it had a working
security system, and a computer, which Thompson insisted was important.
Jack was sitting near the front, glaring at Thompson, while Jana and Sonia
had crept under a table, and were now fast asleep. Anya was near the front,
guarding their door. For some odd reason, no aliens had followed the group
out, instead opting to go after the two left below. Lorna, with her two
babies, was sitting in another chair, trying to comfort her cranky charges.

"I mean, they're dead. We should just go."

"No!" Jack shouted, making the boy jump. "I know Murphy! He'll be here."

"Yes, but the question is, will the girl be with him?" Tessa asked, her eyes
flashing.

Jack turned around slowly. "I don't know," she said softly. "He may not
have been able to save her."

"Are you saying you believe he went back to save her?" Thompson asked in
shock.

"Why the hell else would he go?" Jack demanded.

"I don't care!" Richard snarled. "I don't think he's coming back. I say we
just go."

"If there wasn't a chance to save her, he wouldn't have gone!" Jack snarled
back.

"Children, if you please," Anya said calmly. "Tara is a survivor. If
Murphy can't save her, she'll save him."

"You're a little optimistic, don't you think?" Lorna asked. "I've seen him
fight. Hell, I've fought him! If he didn't make it, how will she?"

"She will," Anya insisted.

"And he's survived things like this before," Jack told them. Richard turned
his back on the girl, but the others gave her their attention, much to her
dismay.

"What, like an attack from monsters?" Jana asked.

As Jack nodded, she realized what she'd said, and paled.

Thompson turned casually. "When?" she asked in a voice that made Jack
shiver.

"Actually, not like aliens. Like cross-breeds. It was a gang war, a long
time ago," she back-pedaled quickly.

Thompson chose to ignore Jack's mistakes of what exactly had happened.

"How long ago?" The voice still had sugar in it, but the venom underneath
was rising. "How old were you? You couldn't have been very old. How long
have you been with him?"

Jack backed up, as the questions fell, until she was against the wall, with
Thompson coming forward.

"Uh," was all the girl had time to say, before she was interrupted.

"You're lying, aren't you?" Venom, laced with steel.

There was a report of a gun, ad Jack's eyes went wide, as she watched
Thompson fall to the floor, her sightless eyes splattered with blood from
the hole in her head.

"Of course she's lying," Riddick said in a gruffer voice than usual, as Tara
lowered her pistol. Everyone stared at the two survivors, as Riddick
carried Tara to a bench. Their acid and blood stained clothing showed
several wounds, though Tara's leg wound was by far the worst.

"See," Tara murmured, as she was placed on the rough seat, "I told you I'd
use it up here."

Anya immediately removed Tara's black pants, then ripped a swathe from the
bloody material, and tried to wipe away some blood.

Tessa lifted up Thompson's hand, then let it fall. She began to search the
body, casually tossing weapons and papers in a pile.

"This reminds me," the Vampyre said, "Where did you get all your weapons,
Anya? You certainly couldn't have fit all those guns in that tiny little
backpack."

"I didn't," was the response. "It's called a mini-black hole, courtesy of
our resident witch." Anya continued to clean off Tara's leg.

"Yeah," coughed Tara. "I can fix you up with almost any spell you need.
This may be a technological age, but witchcraft is still popular."

With a grunt, Tessa hefted the body of the former merc over her head.

"Anya, darling, could you open this door? My hands are full."

As the door began to open, there was a loud cry, and an alien's face
appeared. Tessa screeched and threw the body at it, striking the nose. The
alien jumped back, but was soon trying to enter again.

"They're all over the place!" Anya yelled, continually pushing the close
door button.

"They usually are," Tessa muttered.

Tara sat up from her new bed and winced at the vertigo. "Is there a defense
system?" she asked Anya, who shook her head.

"How should I know? I do guns, not computers!" she shouted. Tara, with a
bit of trouble, staggered over to the main computer. She swept her gaze
over the computer, then pushed a button. The land-skimmer lurched forward,
sending the aliens scattering. As the beasts began gnawing their way
through the hull, Tara pulled up a menu and began clicking things on the
screen.

"There," she said finally, pushing a button. There was a little flicker in
the inside lights, then a charge of electricity coursed over the skimmer.
The aliens, the ones on the machine, anyway, screamed as the volts shot
through their bodies, making the others shy away.

"How much longer till we get help?" Tara called, putting the skimmer in
motion.

"Three hours," Anya called.

As the computer hummed quietly while it's defense system was put to the
test, Tara exhaled sharply, sitting in the chair she'd previously ignored.
She pulled down on a lever, and the skimmer went silent. "We have three
hours. I doubt we'll find food, so I suggest we get some sleep." She stood,
and the others parted. Tara half-staggered to her make-shift bed, then
reclined with a grateful sigh. She was asleep in a few seconds.

Tara awoke to Jack shaking her. "What?" she mumbled, half-sitting up.

"They're fighting!" the girl said, a panicked look in her face.

"Who?" Her mind was still fogged with sleep.

"Anya and Tessa!"

"Anya?" Tara murmured. She sat up fully, and stretched.

"The blonde....?" Richard said sarcastically.

"I know who she is."

The brunette walked into the next section, to see Anya fall back, a long
slash on her arm. Tessa had her Ankh knife out, a sliver of blood on it.
Her eyes flashed as she leapt for the taller woman. Tara, without a
thought, jumped for the Vampyre, tackling her. She was immediately thrown
off, but it had given Anya enough time to draw a gun.

"Now," Anya said with a smile. "Don't object, just sit there."

"Why did I do that?" Tara asked, as Richard helped her up.

"You trust me more than you trust her, remember?" Anya told her.

There was a loud clapping sound, and they all turned to see Riddick leaning
against the wall.

"Personally, I was betting on the Vampyre, but then Tara came in."

Anya bristled.

"Truthfully," Tara asked. "Why were you two fighting?"

"She lied to us," Anya said, and Tara snorted.

"No shit, Tammy. And we lied to them, and each other. What's your point?"

With a snarl, Tessa was up, leaping for Jack, who yelled and fell over a
chair, inadvertently throwing the Vampyre over her body, straight for
Richard.

Riddick was suddenly there, his hand around her throat. He threw her back,
but only a few feet. She sliced at him with her nails, then tried backing
away.

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