Future Shock: Chapter Eight-Sigma's Elite (Date: 7 Years-P.B.)

Riddick had found him purely out of curiosity. Daniel Searcy, Hana’s brother. He was a Company Ranger too, stationed in the remote Sigma galaxy. There was no reason for Riddick to go there, no reason to request the assignment in the Godforsaken place other than utter curiosity.

He didn’t tell Danny who he was, not right away. He wasn’t sure if he still had contact with his sister, or even if he ever had, but Riddick didn’t want to taint the chance at a first impression with whatever Hana might have told her brother. Danny was a petite man with his sister’s build, quick witted, bright, with a mischievous smile and a soft sadness in his dark eyes. He was destined for great things as an Elite or possibly even an official. He flashed Riddick a thin but sincere grin as he shook his hand for the first time. “So, you’re one of the rooks they sent us, huh?” Danny said dryly. “Well, it’s not exactly paradise here. The days are hotter than hell, the nights stink like sulfur and the local population is... well, less than hospitable, but... it’s home to the likes of us.Welcome.”

Suddenly, a hideous shriek pierced the heavy, humid air. No one in camp looked
startled as a woman with Company regulation gear ran towards them, holding her left arm tightly to her body. As she cam closer, Riddick could see why. The skin on her arm was burned and shriveled to the bone, only a thin layer of the charred stuff remained covering the skeleton. The woman fell to the ground, still screaming and writhing.

“Barbecue,” Danny whistled quietly through his teeth. Then he turned to Riddick and explained, “The, uh, ‘local population’ I spoke of before. Rangers like to call ‘em spitfires. They haven’t exactly taken to the miners.” He patted Riddick on the shoulder, “That’s why you’re here, buddy. Shame about Katie though.” He turned back to the burnt woman who now remained silent in shock. “She was one of our best. But I think you’ll like her job just fine.”

What Riddick had seen his first day on Sigma 3 haunted him for several nights
afterwards. The sound of her screaming, her writhing in terror as everybody just stood around and watched indifferent and helpless to do anything to ease her pain, echoed throughout him everytime he closed his eyes to sleep. That would not, however, be the last or the worst of the horrors he witnessed there, many more were still to come. Horrors that would have a serious impact on the rest of his life.

“My sister’s dead,” Danny whispered mostly to himself as he and Riddick lay awake in their bunk. Cold shock ran through Riddick like a river of ice. The remark had been completely unprovoked, he hadn’t had the nerve to reveal his connection with Hana to Danny yet. So the comment and all of its grim implications hit Riddick like a sucker punch to the stomach. ‘I’m sorry,’ he replied quietly, not letting the terror he felt rage inside his heart leak into his voice. Danny seemed surprised for a moment that anybody had been listening to his confession. He turned to face Riddick in the oppressive darkness, shaking his head slowly. “They tell me... that she just disappeared, they never found a body and that she probably just ran away.” He chuckled softly, sadly.
“Naw, not my baby sis. Never knew her to run away from anything. I think her bastard partner had something to do with it.”

Riddick felt a chill run up his spine. Steerpike. He balled his fists in frustration and rage but said nothing. Danny continued, “I hadn’t talked to her in years, not for the longest time. I don’t even know what kind of person she turned out to be, I left when she was eleven. I was supposed to take care of her. Guess I did a real bang up job, huh?”

‘You and me both,’ Riddick thought to himself. ‘You and me both.’


Date: 2 yrs. + P.B.

Raye slouched down in the pilot’s seat, resting her feet up on the control console. “I’ve got Teyre on the screens,” she said aloud, sighing. Riddick drew back the curtain that separated the bridge and the bunking area and came to sit in the co-pilot’s couch. He keyed up the informational display and a 3-D holographic image of the ice planet appeared hovering a couple of inches above the console. A red laser shot up from the side of the display, pointing towards a spot on the solid blue sphere’s south pole. “that’s where we’re headed, “ Raye told him, “rogue settlement B-06, affectionately known as Rogue’s City. I’m still not sure what you hope to find on this giant ball of ice, but if there’s anything worth finding, it’ll be there.”

Riddick was silent for a moment, deep in thought. “Y’know,” he spoke finally, his voice resonating with all the pain and damage he usually did not let bubble to the surface, “I’ve been living with one ghost or another for so long. I don’t know, maybe that’s all I’m doing. Chasing ghosts.”

“Than what better place to find one,” Raye responded softly, “than on a dead planet. Can’t run from the past forever, you know, so you might as well run towards it while you have the opportunity. Who knows what you’ll find.” She looked at him, his eyes shimmering in the darkness like an animal’s, his pupils metallic and lovely like silver. She took his hand and, gently stroking his knuckles with her thumb, glanced towards the bunk. “We still have some time before we get in.”

Back to Menu