Forgotten Past: Chapter Twenty Six-No Evil
“Sister?” Jack questioned, leaning forward in her seat and resting her
elbows on her knees. “What sister?”
Carolyn leaned back into the soft chair and took a swallow of the warm
cognac. “I have a little sister,” Carolyn began slowly, unsure how much
she should tell Jack.
“After I left for flight school, Eden, my sister, went on to college. She
became a powerful woman, and I was proud of her. We kept in touch.
“Eden had a strong sense of right and wrong, and after becoming a
Universal Peace delegate, she went on to bring about the destruction of
the Company.
“The night before she was to speak out to the representatives of Earth’s
nations and the space colonies, she disappeared. No one has seen her
since.” Carolyn drained her glass and set it down with a loud clank on
the small table beside her.
Jack shifted slightly. “Eden Fry...” she murmured. “I don’t remember
her,” she said finally, lifting her silver eyes to Carolyn’s.
Carolyn shrugged. “That’s to be expected. You might not have been
born yet. How old are you?”
“How do you mean? Cryo-years?”
Carolyn shrugged again. “Both.”
“Eighteen in cryo-years. About... twenty-two paper years I’d guess.”
“Oh, yeah. That was before you were old enough to know anything
goin’ on in the world. Fifteen years ago... that’d put you at ‘bout seven
years old, maybe less in cryo-years. I was twenty-six paper.” Carolyn
shook her head, as if shaking off a bad memory. “That’s not the
problem, though. I know the Company had something to do with
Eden’s disappearance, and since the Company is who we’re all after,
I’m gonna find out what happened to her.”
~~~
Sleke lay shuddering on the examination table, her leg being readjusted
and set. She lifted her head from the table and looked at Martina, who
was laboring over her at the moment.
“How do you feel?” he asked, trying to take her mind off the setting
process. She needed a mend chamber something fierce.
Sleke groaned her answer and allowed her head to drop back down.
She bit down on a cry of pain as Martina placed his hands on either side
of the break, one above and one below, and snapped the bone back into
alignment.
Martina slid one hand under her knees and one behind her shoulders
and lifted her up. “Let’s get you in a mend chamber,” he murmured as
Sleke slid her arms around his neck and leaned into his chest, her wild
hair spilling over them both.
He slid her into the mend chamber and pulled her hair over her
shoulder, securing it with a leather strip. Her head fell back limply on
the padded wall of the chamber and Martina closed the glass hatch and
programmed in the necessary information to get the chamber working.
A low hum came from the tube and he left, his mind buzzing over the
fact that the first thing Sleke had mumbled when he’d pulled her out of
the mind probe was, “It worked.” Then she’d promptly passed out.
“How much does she remember, though?” he wondered out loud,
slightly worried.
Would she resent him for being the one to inject her with the mutation
chemical? He wasn’t sure. She didn’t seem to be angry with him now,
which was a first.
Martina shook his head wearily. “Whatever,” he mumbled and headed
for his quarters. It was time to get some sleep, then he would look into
contacting the resistance so he could get out of the Company for good.
~~~
Riddick woke up sweating, the feeling of clammy hands still grasping
his hot flesh in the form of twisted bed sheets.
Muttering a dark curse, he swung his legs over the edge of his bed and
planted his feet on the hard, cold floor. He scrubbed his face with the
palms of his hands then ran his hands over the short stubble on his
head, the rough sound rasping through-out the room.
The dream had been to real. Dangerous and dark, but Riddick couldn’t
figure out what it meant.
Who had been the woman with the crimson claws and the strange long
hair? The woman that pleaded for Carolyn’s help and lashed at the
monsters ravaging her with a tiger’s tail?
Riddick groaned and pushed away from the bed and reached for his
pants, tugging them up over his bare thighs before pulling on his boots
and leaving his quarters, heading for the cafeteria. He needed a drink.
Whiskey, straight. Now.
Bare-chested, a fine sheen of sweat still glistening on his skin, Riddick
entered the near deserted cafeteria. He was surprised to see Jack
staring aimlessly out the view-screen window, gazing at the passing
stars.
He saw Jack’s muscles tighten slightly at his first step and knew she
knew that he was there. Deciding that now was as good a time as any,
he headed in her direction.
Riddick hooked a chair with his boot and pulled it out, taking a seat
across from Jack. She reached out blindly and picked up the glass near
her side, taking a sip of what smelled like Jack Daniels to Riddick. She
didn’t turn to him.
Initiative sucks, he thought darkly, then opened his mouth to speak.
“What are you doing in here?” Great start, jackass, he cursed himself.
Get her on the defensive, then she’ll want to talk to you.
Jack didn’t turn though, instead opting to drain her glass and set the
empty container on the table.
“What do you want from me, Riddick?” she breathed quietly, flicking a
distracting strand of hair away from her face, then turning cold, silvery
eyes to him.
Riddick leaned back in his seat and propped his booted feet on the edge
of the table, crossing them at the ankles before answering her question.
“You know what I want, Jack,” he answered in a low growl.
No expression change. “No, I don’t. Tell me, All Mighty Knowing One,”
she taunted, her voice harsh in the dim room.
There were only two other people in the cafeteria, and they weren’t
paying any attention to the man and the young woman sitting in the
back corner.
He rasped a hand over his scalp before saying impatiently, “I wanna
know why the hell you disappeared like that. That’s what I want from
you.”
She shrugged indifferently. “Sick of taking order,” she replied calmly,
once again turning her face to the stars.
Lunging across the table he grasped her wrist where it rested by her
empty glass. “Why’d you leave, Jack?” he demanded, his fingers like
steel bands on her wrist.
Jack shoved her chair back violently and attempted to wretch her arm
free of Riddick’s iron grasp. He held fast, yanking her forward so her
stomach was pressed against the rounded edge of the table.
“Talk to me,” he rasped, tightening his fingers until he saw a flash of
pain cross her features. He loosened his grip slightly as he watched her
resistance fade.
The next time she attempted to pull away he allowed her to do so and
sat down in his seat again.
Jack sat as well, watching Riddick warily, as if she didn’t quite trust
him not to grab her and beat her.
“You understand this,” she began, her voice low but determined. “Not
being wanted. Wherever you go, no one wants you. Doesn’t matter how
hard you try. So, you give up. Take to your own way.
“That’s where I was going when I got on the Hunter-Gratzner. I was
starting new. They didn’t care,” she hissed, her voice condemning this
nameless “they.”
She lifted her emotionless eyes to his and her lips twisted mockingly. “I
was so naive. I thought maybe you were different. That I’d found
someone that understood. But you weren’t different. You were the
same. You didn’t want me around, either. I left.”
Riddick didn’t flinch. Maybe she was right, though. But he’d told her
he cared about her. That she was important to him. He said so.
Jack shook her head in a self-deprecating manner. “Yeah? So? My
parents said the same thing to me. ‘Ah, honey. Of course we love you!
How could you think anything else?’” she quoted sarcastically.
“Bull shit. I was an inconvenience in an otherwise easy life. Flakes. All
they cared about was their social gatherings and flighty friends. Dress
the kid up like a princess and use her as a prop for the perfect family
picture. Screw them.” Her voice was strained and harsh, showing her
true emotions if her face wouldn’t.
“A little girl can only take so much.”
Riddick sighed. “I get it,” he said after a strained silence. “Empty
words. But do you actually think I’m capable of that? Of empty words
just to make you happy? No matter what the odds, haven’t I always
been straight with you?”
Riddick stood to his feet, his chair scraping over the metal flooring.
“Listen, Jack. I get why you took off. To many rules, to little attention.
Tough shit. I’m no more capable of feeding an emotionally starved kid
than I am of gnawing my own arm off at the shoulder.”
Jack was on him in a second, lips pulled back in a feral mask of anger
and frustration. “What I was and what I am are two different things.
Guess I can’t expect the same from you, though, can I, Riddick? You’ll
always be a stone cold sonofabitch. A two bit murderer with no
conscious and less emotion.” She finished her tirade by spitting in his
face.
When she turned to storm away Riddick snapped. He grabbed her arm
and spun her around, pulled back his fist, and slammed it into the side
of her face. Hard.
Jack went down , her hip and shoulder slamming into the ground. But
he’d trained her better than that.
Quickly regaining her balance, she spun on her shoulder, moving her
hands below her and going to sweep Riddick.
Riddick’s feet were knocked out from under him, but he hit the ground
in a roll and was immediately on his feet. Jack was on him again in a
second. Her right fist connected solidly with his jaw and he saw stars,
but he could see that her eyes were glazed from the punch to the face
and he had the upper hand in skill, strength and speed.
She got in another punch with her left, connecting with his mouth
before he grabbed her. She jerked around wildly when he tackled her to
the floor, using his weight to subdue her flailing limbs.
He shook her hard and the back of her head bounced off the metal
flooring. “Jack!” he roared, shaking her again.
Jack arched, trying to throw him off, but he was to big. “Get off me,
you bastard!” she screamed.
“I don’t know what the hell is wrong with you. You know what I am!”
He shook her and her head bounced again. Her eyes were clouding over
with pain and he wondered if she had a concussion. It was possible.
“I hate what you are! Savage! You’re just like every other ass hole in
this fucking universe! Get off of me, dammit!” She continued to buck,
but he stayed his position, waiting for her to wear down.
It took close to twenty minutes before her stamina and endurance ran
out. All she had left were her curses and accusations. A nasty bruise
was forming around her eye, the skin swelling and puffing out from the
punch he’d inflicted.
One silver eye still gazed at him hatefully, if a bit dazed. “Get off me,”
she whispered.
“I’ve taken a lot, Jack. I’ve been beaten, captured, treated like an
animal. For a long time, I *was* an animal. But that’s over. I’ll never
be what you want or need, though. You want a father figure? Find your
own dad. If one bastard didn’t want you, why would another?”
His gaze was hot and his voice low. “Never, and I mean *never*, spit on
me again. I swear on all that I am that I’ll kill you. No matter that I’ve
saved your ass before. Nothing will stop me. No false sense of
responsibility or loyalty. I will kill you.” The last phrase was said with
slowly and deliberately, each word separate from the one before.
Then he was off of her and stalking on silent feet out of the cafeteria,
the straight whiskey he’d come for forgotten. Along with the dream and
the fatherly feeling for Jack he’d once though he had.
Riddick was cold inside.
He left her there, on the cold floor, falling into unconsciousness.
~~~
Jack awoke to a blinding light, a pounding headache, and the sensation
of being blind in one eye. The light suddenly turned off and she heard
low voices murmuring close by.
“What’s goin’ on?” she coughed, her throat burning.
The on board doctor’s face swam into view, blurry at first then coming
into sharper focus. He wore inferred shades to see in the dark.
“How you feeling, Jack?” the doctor asked quietly.
“Like I got hit by a battle cruiser at full speed,” she answered slowly,
closing her eyes again. “Aspirin,” she pleaded.
Two were pressed into her hand along with a glass of water. The doctor
lifted her head, and helped her down the pills and the water before
laying her back down.
“What happened, Jack?”
Jack cracked the working eye open, lifting her hand tentatively to feel
the swollen skin obstructing the vision in her left eye. “Can we talk
about this later, Starr?” Jack mumbled wearily.
There was a frustrated sigh from the doctor before he nodded. “All
right. But when you’re working correctly, Creed wants to see you.
Don’t keep her waiting.”
Jack closed her eye and dozed off. When she awoke again, Craig Starr
was gone and Jack was alone.
She was always alone.
~~~
Carolyn spelled blood. Her nostrils flared and she flinched away from
the smell.
At least I’ve got that much, she told herself darkly. They loved blood, I
hate it. Rancid.
She smelled and heard Riddick before she saw him and wasn’t
surprised when he entered the room. She was surprised to see blood
dried to his lower lip.
“Who split your lip and gave you that first sized bruise on the side of
your jaw?”
Good old, Carolyn, Riddick thought. Never beating around the bush.
“Does it matter?” he asked, sitting in the seat next to hers.
“It does if it happened on my ship,” she answered, turning back to the
star charts and statistics before her. A few more charts popped up
followed by a live news transmission feed. It was about the war waging
on between the resistance and The Company.
The volume was muted, but Riddick could read the male reporter’s lips.
“... and tensions are running high as the resistance fighters face off
against the well known Company.
“The Company has been known everywhere in the known universe for
running almost all trade operations, law enforcement in space, and a
good number of the space stationed prisons. The last hundred years
have belonged to The Company...”
The feed continued, but Riddick turned away, missing the rest. Carolyn
was still pounding away at the keyboard, awaiting his answer.
Riddick conceded, knowing she wouldn’t give up till she had at least
some of the details.
“Jack and I had a bit of a disagreement,” he said quietly.
“That explains why Jack is in the infirmary for a concussion. Not to
mention her left eye is swollen shut. Did you have to punch her?”
Riddick didn’t feel like explaining himself, so he stayed silent, letting
Carolyn draw her own conclusions.
Carolyn sighed loudly. “I don’t know what the hell it is between you
two. So, she left. Big deal. Whether you agree with her for leaving or
not, it wasn’t your decision. She’s an adult now.”
Riddick opened his mouth to reply, but Carolyn interrupted him.
“I don’t wanna hear it, Riddick. This is between the two of you. Maybe
it got settled last night, and maybe it didn’t. In either case, anything
that’s happened to you two since the crash is your business. But what
happens on this ship is my business. Anything and everything.
Including disputes between my crew members. You wanna battle this
thing out with Jack in a physical form? Take it to the ground.”
“Who says I’m part of your crew?” Riddick asked in a deadly soft
voice.
“It doesn’t matter if you are or not. Jack is, and you’re along for the
ride, at least for now. You don’t like the rules, get the hell off my ship.”
Carolyn turned back to the screen and called up a photograph of a
young woman that looked slightly like her.
She had startling green eyes and honey colored hair that framed her
face. Full lips and a cheerful grin, her eyes echoing that smile.
Riddick let out a hiss of air. It was the woman from his dream. Her eyes
and hair were different, but it was her.
“Who’s that?” he demanded.
Carolyn turned to face him. “That?” she asked, pointing at the image.
He nodded mutely, feeling like he’d been punched in the stomach.
“It’s my sister,” she answered quietly. “I suppose you’ll want to hear
the story as well.”
Riddick nodded again. “Yes.”
So Carolyn told Riddick the same tale she’d told Jack the day before.
When she was done he sat silently in his seat, hands folded across his
lean stomach.
“I’ve seen her,” he said quietly.
Carolyn nodded. “On HV, some years ago, I’m sure.”
“No, that’s not what I mean. I had this dream last night and she was in
it. It was the sort of dream I haven’t had in a long time. She’s in
trouble.”
Carolyn leaned forward, her face tense. “What do you mean?”
“It’s hard to explain. I don’t want to talk about it. But I will tell you
about the dream. She looks different now. Her hair is so blonde it’s
almost white, with black streaks running through it. Her eyes are bright
orange and she’s got claws and a tail. Looks like they injected your
sister with that aluthium alloy mutagen. And she’s in trouble.
“In the dream,” he continued, “she was surrounded by some sort of
creatures and she was calling your name.”
“I knew she was in trouble, and I knew The Company must have her.
She’s still alive...” Carolyn trailed off unbelievingly. “I can’t
believe it. I
thought they’d just assassinated her and dumped her body somewhere
along the outer rim.”
“If she’s alive, we can find her,” Riddick stated. “And maybe she’ll
want revenge for what The Company did to her, too.”
Carolyn looked pained. “No. She won’t remember. You remember what
the frog/man said. You lose your memory. They don’t even give you a
name.”
“Talk to him. Maybe he’ll know something. I know what she looks like.
I can draw it. You take the drawing to the frog/man and we’ll see what
he comes up with.”
Carolyn nodded. “All right. You get the drawing put together and meet
me in the cafeteria 1700 standard.”
Riddick nodded then stood. “All right,” he answered shortly, then left
the room.
Carolyn leaned back in the leather bucket seat and stared absently at
her sister’s image, grinning back at her happily. She pulled up another
photograph, of herself before the crash of the Hunter-Gratzner, her
arm around the waist of Jacob Nolan, her fiancé before leaving for her
final piloting mission.
She’d been planning to quit after that. Her and Jake were going to get
married, have kids. Be normal.
“Normal,” she hissed scathingly. Pain lashed through her heart and she
slashed at Riddick’s still warm chair with her claws, tearing the fabric
of the chair easily, reducing it to shreds.
A sudden memory came to her, of Jake and his job with the Company.
He’d just be promoted, and he was part of the Company’s military
force. Carolyn had been naive then, not knowing what the Company
really was. Jacob Nolan was a lieutenant with the Company.
“Oh, God,” she groaned, bending double. Jake was working with the
Company... but just maybe, if she could find him, she could get him to
leave the Company and come with them. Then she’d have a man on the
inside.
~~~
“There is no good and evil. No right or wrong. Just two different views
to the same conflict. You can have an enemy, but not because they’re
wrong and you’re right. Only because you both stand on different sides
of the same argument.”
Sleke heard the voice of her father in her mind, echoing another of his
words of wisdom. “But there is evil...” she whispered, her eyes staring
sightlessly through the glass door of the mend chamber.
“There is evil, and I’m going to fight it.”
***