Future Shock: Chapter Ten-The Ice Planet Date: 2 Years + P.B.
Teyre 4 had once been a beautiful planet, a paradise of gardens and beaches. It
was
populated by the Bim, a race of hyper-evolved human beings much like the Iyysh
or the
Siouavari who had been irreversibly changed by the alien atmospheres of the
planets
they chose to settle. But, unlike the Iyysh and Siouavari, the Bim were all but
extinct
now, killed along with the rest of Teyre when, due to a decaying orbit, the
planet’s twin
moon descended from the sky and collided with the surface. Now Teyre was cold,
dead, kept inhabitable only by an atmosphere net which provided its citizens
with
breathable air though did nothing to improve the harsh weather conditions.
Raye looked up at the inky blue, wondering where the moons would be if they were
still keeping their silent and lonely orbit as she rubbed her hands together to
keep the
biting chill away. Her breath escaped her mouth in a milky white crystalline
cloud
everytime she exhaled and her fur-lined parka was doing little to keep the cold
from
creeping into her bones. She turned to marvel at Riddick, who wore only his
normal
clothes with the addition of a flimsy flight jacket. He wasn’t even shivering
as he
negotiated a parking permit with the landing commissioner. “Fine, fine,”
Raye
overheard the commissioner, a roly poly little man not suited to such frontier
assignments, blurt out, anxious to get out of the cold. “Your deal is
acceptable,” he said
as he handed Riddick as red, square card. “Stay as long as you like, though I
have no
idea why you’d want to stay too long. Most people come through here just doing
business, y’know. Don’t get vacationers around these parts. You’ll find
everything you
need out in B-06, mainly because it’s the only place that has anything on this
forsaken
ice cube! Goodday to you.”
Riddick sauntered over to Raye, a hint of a sharp smile twisting his lips. He
ran his
forefinger along each of her frostbite-reddened cheeks, then let his fingertip
come to
rest on the tip of her nose. “Raggedy Ann,” he grinned softly.
She laughed, rubbing her palm against her nose, trying to warm it up. “They
are a bit
read, aren’t they?” His smile broadened as he agreed with her, his uncovered
eyes
glittering like jewels in the low light.
“Come on, let’s get going before you freeze,” he told her, nodding towards
Rogues’
City. As if the cold wasn’t enough of a challenge, it was nearly impossible to
walk the
thick sheet of ice that shrouded the entire planet. Even two as graceful as they
had to
struggle to reach their goal.
The city itself wasn’t exactly a city by Earth standards, but was certainly
larger and
more sophisticated than most of the older colonies. It reminded Riddick of the
frontier
towns of Earth’s past, forgotten and feared and, as a result, lawless. Places
like this are
where you went to escape to the fringes of society, to disappear, to get lost.
The
resistance to the Company’s Tyranny started on planets like this one.
While Raye checked them into a local motel, Riddick hit the bar next-door for
information. “I’m looking for someone,” he told the bartender who told him
response
‘you and everybody else’. Unfazed, Riddick continued, “A woman, short, a
bit on the
scrawny side. Think she’s a blond, came in on a passenger ship about three
months
ago.”
“Uh, I don’t know. Lot’s of people come through Rogues’. It’s
difficult to remember
each and every one,” the bartender stalled. Riddick greased his palm with a
couple of
creds to jog his memory and the bartender suddenly brightened, “You’ll want
to talk to
the one they call The Patriot. She can help you, she keeps tabs on everyone who
comes in or goes out of Rogues’.”
“Great, where can I find her?” Riddick asked and the bartender pointed
towards a
darkened, secluded corner of the dining area. “Thanks, man.”
Riddick made his way through the throng off sweaty bodies that filled the joint
past
capacity over to the table the bartender had indicated. A single, solitary woman
sat
there, her long gray hair falling around her like a tangled cloak as she swayed
to the
pulsing beat of the dive’s background music. Riddick approached her. “Are
you the one
they call The Patriot?” The woman merely cackled her amusement, opening her
mouth
and showing off her broken and crooked teeth. “No, I’m The Patriot,” a
feminine voice
said from behind him. He spun around and came face to face with a tall woman
dressed
in a simple blouse and trousers, her wispy golden hair cut to shoulder length.
Riddick’s
breath caught in his throat. He recognized her instantly, the curve of her full
lips , the
quirky twitch of her eyebrow. Taking a deep breath he uttered in amazement and
shock
the name that for years he could not bring himself to speak aloud. “Hana?!”
The woman frowned. “Do you know me?”
Meanwhile-
“Jackie, are you awake?” Janes’ voice whispered through the invisible
partian of her
makeshift cell. Jackie shivered. It was cold and dark and she’d been there for
about an
hour in silence and total blackness, alone and lonely. And the last person in
the world
she wanted to talk to was Janes. “Jackie, just answer me. Are you alright?”
“You lied to me,” she replied in a small bitter voice. “You said no one
would get hurt if
we co-operated, but Damien killed all those survivors. We’re all that’s left
now.”
“I didn’t know, Jackie,” he pleaded with her. Dammit, he kept saying her
name! She
hated it, and wished he stopped! And yet she couldn’t wait to hear him say it
again and
feel the shiver that ran down her spine when he did. “He lied to us, Jackie,
Sian and me
and all the rest of us,” he insisted. She made it clear to him so was no
longer willing to
listen by turning her back to the direction his voice was coming from.
“Audrey, listen...”
The hair on the back of her neck stood as he repeated the forbidden name and her
shoulders tensed. She was listening again. “Listen, we’re leaving, a bunch
of us, the
Rangers, we’re defecting. They have you in low-level security so I think I can
get you
out without Damien noticing...”
Jackie’s head was swimming. “What about Imam and Mona? I can’t leave
without
them!”
Janes sighed irritably. “That’ll be harder. Your friends are in high
security, Damien
suspects them of being involved with this Riddick person. He’s not going to
let them go
easily. It’d be best for all of us if we just leave them here.” Jackie
scoffed disbelievingly,
folding her arms across her chest. Janes sighed again. Stubborn, he thought to
himself,
beautiful but stubborn! “Okay, okay, I’ll ask Sian if there’s something
she can do, she
has more experience with things like this than I do. But we’ve gotta leave
now, with or
without them!” Reluctantly Jackie agreed. She could here him typing a
code(probably a
false one) into the control panel next to the partian. “Got it,” he said
triumphantly,”let’s
go!” Ten minutes later they were on his shuttle and gone.
* * *