{"id":1019,"date":"2024-12-17T19:40:46","date_gmt":"2024-12-18T00:40:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/?p=1019"},"modified":"2025-01-28T23:11:00","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T04:11:00","slug":"the-changeling-game-chapter-90","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/the-changeling-game-chapter-90\/","title":{"rendered":"The Changeling Game, Chapter 90"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\">\ntt {\nfont: .857em menlo, monaco, consolas, monospace;\nmargin: auto;\n}\nh2 {\ntext-align: center;\n}\nh2.chapterhead {\nmargin-bottom: 2em;\ntext-align: center;\n}\n  .nowrap {\n    text-indent: 0;\n    display: inline-block;\n}\n<\/style>\n<p><b>Title:<\/b> The Changeling Game <small>(Formerly <i>Identity Theft<\/i>)<\/small><br \/>\n<b>Author:<\/b> Ardath Rekha<br \/>\n<b>Chapter:<\/b> 90\/?<br \/>\n<b>Fandom:<\/b> <i>Pitch Black<\/i> (2000); <i>The Chronicles of Riddick<\/i> (2004); <i>The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury<\/i> (2004)<br \/>\n<b>Rating:<\/b> X<br \/>\n<b>Warnings:<\/b> Adult themes, controversial subject matter, harsh language, allusions to sexual violence and torture, murder<br \/>\n<b>Category:<\/b> Het<br \/>\n<b>Pairing:<\/b> Riddick\/Jack<br \/>\n<b>Summary:<\/b> Kyra struggles with her growing suspicion that she never was Jack, even as Riddick seems to decide it doesn\u2019t matter and invites her to break free with him.<br \/>\n<b>Disclaimer:<\/b> The characters and events of <i>Pitch Black,<\/i> <i>The Chronicles of Riddick,<\/i> and <i>The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury<\/i> are not mine, but belong to Universal Studios.  I just <i>wish<\/i> I were in charge of their fates.  No money is being made off of this.  I\u2019m writing strictly for love of the story.<br \/>\n<b>Feedback:<\/b> Absolutely, the more the better!  Shred me, whip me, beat me, make me feel grammatical! I post \u201crough,\u201d so I can always use the help. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n<input type='hidden' bg_collapse_expand='6a8e93a1883232068439854' value='6a8e93a1883232068439854'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-more-text-6a8e93a1883232068439854' value='Long post is long. Click to read the story.'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-less-text-6a8e93a1883232068439854' value='Hide the story again.'><button id='bg-showmore-action-6a8e93a1883232068439854' class='bg-showmore-plg-button bg-green-button  '   style=\" color:#D9ECFB;\">Long post is long. Click to read the story.<\/button><div id='bg-showmore-hidden-6a8e93a1883232068439854' ><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"chapterhead\">90.<br \/>\n<u>Follow the Lightbringer<\/u><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra ended up taking five hearts, along with others of the \u201chellhounds\u2019\u201d favorite organ meats, to their cages. All they wanted to talk about was the appearance of a \u201clightbringer,\u201d but they remembered to thank her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>At least somebody around here has manners,<\/i> she mentally grumbled as she headed for the lower levels. Soon, she knew, the guards would \u201cpop the cork\u201d on the prison, blowing out the accumulating sulfurous fumes and somehow pulling in fresh air.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Part of her was tempted to just stay on the Elsewhere side. Only return to the prison to pilfer food. Give up on humanity altogether. The secrets she was keeping wouldn\u2019t matter if nobody could find her, and if Riddick hadn\u2019t even come here looking for her\u2014<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cKyra.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Speak of the fucking <b>devil\u2026<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Riddick was nearby, looking around, frowning quizzically.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI know you\u2019re near. I can feel you. Come out. I just wanna talk.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Fine. Fucking <b>fine.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She hoisted herself onto one of the pillars of stone and isomorphed back into U1, dropping down as if she\u2019d been there the whole time. \u201cYeah?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He studied her for a moment. She got the feeling that he was struggling with how different she was from what he expected, but that he also found her somehow <i>familiar.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cKid\u2026 I\u2019m sorry I went off on you.\u201d Damn, that had taken him some effort to say. She could feel his unease at using those two little words. \u201cWanna try again? Maybe\u2026 tell me what happened after I left?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She really didn\u2019t want to talk about that. At all. It was a part of her story, her memories, that never made sense, never held together. One of the parts she tried not to look at. She hadn\u2019t <i>been<\/i> with Riddick, Imam, and Tizzy when they reached Helion Prime. Somehow she\u2019d been waiting for Tizzy in Aceso. She\u2019d been separated from them before their ordeal on the <i>Kublai Khan,<\/i> but she didn\u2019t remember how. They\u2019d left the crash planet together, but then the next time she\u2019d seen <span class=\"nowrap\">Imam\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She didn\u2019t understand.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She hadn\u2019t seen Tizzy until Aceso. Why did their reunion in Aceso feel like a first meeting? The way coming face-to-face with Riddick in <i>here<\/i> had felt like <span class=\"nowrap\">one\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He was watching her intently.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cRiddick, I\u2026 when did Imam tell you where I was?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBeen three days, maybe four, since the Necros took Helion Prime, about. So a little longer than that. By a few hours.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cTwo years, Riddick. He let me rot in here for two <i>years<\/i> without letting you know. Without even trying. So. Why do you <i>think<\/i> I left that shithole?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He sighed. \u201cFair enough. So. You left New Mecca. Were you looking for me the whole time?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It had been an idea that had come to her at the eleventh hour, a last-ditch way to stay together with Tizzy that she floated way too late. Tizzy hadn\u2019t wanted to find Riddick. She\u2019d committed to returning to her life before him, severing ties to all possible evidence that she\u2019d ever <span class=\"nowrap\">been\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2014Jack?<\/span> Had <i>Tizzy<\/i> been <span class=\"nowrap\">Jack?\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2014to<\/span> ensure that the Quintessa Corporation would never discover the secrets she was keeping. The lives she was protecting. She had committed to the course. It had hurt to hear her <i>say<\/i> how thoroughly she was cutting those ties, though. <i>Jack\u2019s <span class=\"nowrap\">dead\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">But Kyra had never really gone looking for him herself, in truth. Thought about it, but without Tizzy it had seemed hopeless somehow.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She shook her head. \u201cIt was the easiest thing to tell Imam. Maybe\u2026 I figured he\u2019d be more likely to get a message to you if I said that, like that was why I left and not because he was a Grade-A dick.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Her clearest memory of him was the sight of him stalking over to the Aceso guest elevator with a scowl on his face, while Tizzy emerged from the visiting rooms looking as if someone had drained her of every last drop of <span class=\"nowrap\">blood\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Riddick\u2019s breath hitched. She glanced over at him, not sure what she was seeing on his face. He might be angry, sad, horny, amused, or all of the above at once and she\u2019d never be able to tell between that smirky deadpan of his and that tight mental shield he had.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou figured he\u2019d be more likely to contact me,\u201d he observed after a moment, \u201cif he didn\u2019t know how low your opinion of him was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cFigured it was worth a shot. Guess he proved my opinion of him right, instead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHow long did you stay on Helion Prime?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She shrugged. This was another place where things got murky and weird in her head. \u201cFelt like years. I left on February 12, 2517. I know that because it was the launch date on the logs of the ship I stowed away on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">And because Tizzy had drawn her attention to the date later on. Tizzy, sitting in their apartment, the late afternoon sun spilling over her hair and gilding it while she cuddled Sebby and talked about numbers like they were comprehensible\u2026 and, for the first time, they <i>were<\/i>\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Riddick\u2019s breathing hitched again for the barest moment. \u201cSo a little under five months.\u201d <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She shrugged. \u201cI guess.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He nodded. \u201cYou go alone?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Jesus fuck, just ask about Tizzy if you want to know so bad.<\/i> At the same time, she didn\u2019t feel like volunteering anything. He wasn\u2019t going to find out anything about her sister unless he admitted that <i>she<\/i> was the one he\u2019d really come for. Not that there was all that much to tell; General Fucking Toal had made sure neither one of them knew where the other was going when they separated. <i>Divide and fucking conquer\u2026<\/i> \u201cNo, it\u2019s safer not to travel alone if you can help it. We kicked around a few places before we split up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She couldn\u2019t say they\u2019d been on Tangiers Prime, not after already telling him the date she\u2019d left Helion Prime. Only one ship could have made that journey, and officially it had no survivors. Hundreds of additional people had died so that the Quintessa Corporation could make sure no one blamed it for those deaths; more would die if the Corporation ever realized she and Tizzy had saved all but eighteen of their fellow travelers. Millions might die, if it discovered that the Imazighen were hiding the rest of the survivors. Millions\u2026 starting with the Mezianes. Kyra <i>liked<\/i> the Mezianes.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She wondered what Riddick would do if she told him Tizzy had fallen in love with one of them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHow\u2019d it all go wrong?\u201d he asked after a moment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cLike I told you. The mercs. I\u2019d run out of other options. I needed a job and they were the only ones hiring. But they decided the only part of me that was worth anything was between my legs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHmm.\u201d It was almost a low growl. \u201cSo you killed a few people, but got caught and nailed for their murders.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Seventeen. And that\u2019s just on New Queensland.<\/i> She was pretty sure his kills hadn\u2019t hit the double-digits until he was at least eighteen, and she\u2019d hit that level at age sixteen while on Tangiers Prime. \u201cThat about covers it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">His deadpan had, somehow, become even more of a blank than ever. \u201cAnd nobody was at all concerned about a kid being slaved out.\u201d He didn\u2019t precisely sound skeptical, but she felt like he was trying to poke a hole in her story.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cMy ID didn\u2019t say I was a kid. And there wasn\u2019t anyone left to prosecute even if it had. Except me for killing them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cLotta mitigating circumstances, though,\u201d he observed. \u201cHow\u2019d you end up in the asshole of creation?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOne of them was related to somebody important. He insisted. Plus Ursa Luna got word I might know you, and they refused to take me if that was true.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Riddick nodded. After another moment, he seemed to come to a decision. \u201cWhen it hap&#173;<span class=\"nowrap\">pens\u2014\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThere you two are,\u201d the Guv said, emerging from one of the tunnels. \u201cI\u2019ve been looking all over for you. Word is, the rest of the Moles are dead. No one knows how. There\u2019ll probably be another \u2018feeding time\u2019 within the day, once the guards realize.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhy the delay?\u201d Riddick asked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNone of the beasts are acting hungry, apparently,\u201d the Guv told him with a slight smile. \u201cHow <i>did<\/i> you tame that one?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Figuring out a way to get into the creatures\u2019 good graces had long been a project of the Guv\u2019s, Kyra knew. If she were a better and more loyal friend, she would probably have helped him with it. But even after two years, in which he\u2019d helped her enormously time and again, she couldn\u2019t bring herself to break the promises she\u2019d made on Tangiers Prime and share her secrets with him.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Riddick shrugged. \u201cDidn\u2019t tame it. I\u2019ve always had a way with animals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">There was a kaiju from a bunch of centuries-old movies, Kyra recollected, who was a \u201cfriend to animals and children.\u201d She wished she could remember its name.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Riddick glanced her way, his lips twitching as if he was suppressing a laugh for the barest second.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The Guv, she realized, was out to recruit Riddick into his gang, the way he\u2019d recruited her two years earlier. She doubted it would work. Especially if her suspicions were correct and Riddick had only come here to spring her\u2026 or Tizzy\u2026 and had no intention of staying past that point.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>But he isn\u2019t gonna let go of it yet. Damn.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It was the end of a chance for a real conversation, at least for a while. Kyra did a fade while the Guv monopolized Riddick\u2019s attention, making it literal once she was sure she was alone. She climbed onto \u201cher\u201d pillar, near the two men but not within sight of either of them, lying down in her little \u2019verse-straddling nest so she could listen to them while breathing the fresher air on the Elsewhere side. Things were getting stuffy enough on the U1 side that the guards would have to do an air exchange <span class=\"nowrap\">soon\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Well, speak of the lice-ridden devils\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Above her, the command center was rising up as the guards got ready to \u201cpop the cork.\u201d Once Kyra was sure no one was looking her way, she isomorphed back to U1. The air exchange was always fun to watch and to feel happening as the wind flowed past her skin.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSo they <i>do<\/i> go topside,\u201d Riddick rumbled below her, \u201cto swap out air. Interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The Guv, Kyra figured, hadn\u2019t made much headway in his recruitment efforts, and hadn\u2019t gotten any insights on befriending the \u201chellhounds.\u201d His unease and awe was increasing, as was his certainty that <i>she<\/i> wouldn\u2019t be part of his gang anymore if Riddick beckoned her away. \u201cWho the hell are you?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Funny how law enforcement, and the military, knew all about Riddick, and somehow <i>Stacey<\/i> had known, too, but other convicts seemed to have no idea who he was.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Then again, kinda hard to get word of mouth going among the crim population if they\u2019re all stuck in prisons that nobody, except the one guy who doesn\u2019t talk much about himself, can escape from\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He was his own kind of phantom.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>You listening, kid?<\/i> his voice sounded in her head, as real as if he\u2019d spoken aloud.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>I\u2019m listening.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhen it happens,\u201d he repeated, \u201cit\u2019ll happen fast. Stay on my leg when I cut fence, or stay here. For the rest of your unnatural life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">So he\u2019d decided to invite the Guv to join him, too. Interesting. It hurt a little\u2014would it ever just be the two of them?\u2014but she figured he knew how much she owed the Guv. She\u2019d probably have died sometime in the last two years if it hadn\u2019t been for him. A thank-you was in order.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNobody outs this place,\u201d the Guv was warning Riddick. \u201cNobody.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">A moment later, Riddick was gone, not bothering to reply.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHe ain\u2019t nobody,\u201d Kyra said, wondering if the Guv had even realized she was still nearby, that she\u2019d stuck close to listen the whole time.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She slid her little knife out of her mouth, wondering if soon she might not need it. Its absence created a weird feeling for a moment, a sense of an empty space, as if she\u2019d pulled out a tooth.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The air exchange was dropping the temperature; she\u2019d need her coat soon if she wanted to stay in U1. Normally, she just transitioned part or all of the way into Elsewhere until the temperature normalized; on that side, the airflow was a gentle constant and all of the weird mining work people did in U1, releasing volcanic gases in the process, was irrelevant.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">But she was staying in U1 until whatever it was, that was going to happen fast, <i>happened.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It <i>did<\/i> happen fast.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Less than an hour later, with the \u201ccork\u201d back in place, shouting broke out in the control room followed by the sounds of gunfire. And then <i>Toombs<\/i> jumped down through the hole in the control room floor, sliding down the sharkbait rope.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>What the hell is he doing here?<\/i> Had he brought Riddick?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Even as Toombs managed to halt his descent, something <i>exploded<\/i> up above in the control room. In its wake, everything went quiet. But not for long.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNo!\u201d Toombs suddenly shouted. \u201cRiddick, <i>no!\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">As she watched in astonishment, Riddick launched himself from one of the caverns, flying straight at Toombs. He crashed into the merc, snagging Toombs\u2019s bulletproof vest with one hand and pulling himself up until they were at eye level. The merc was straining under the additional weight, struggling to maintain his grip on the rope.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cShould\u2019ve taken the money, Toombs,\u201d Riddick said before grabbing onto the rope and hauling himself upward, not bothering to be gentle about the footholds he found on the merc\u2019s body. Did he know that Toombs was the one who had brought her here?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She watched his effortless-looking hand-over-hand as he climbed up into the control room, feeling amazed. Tizzy had told her that Riddick was a \u201cFuryan,\u201d although neither one of them knew what that really meant other than that most of the Federacy\u2019s trained Operatives were Furyan, powerful espers and maybe something more than that. Were all Furyans like him?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Wait, Tizzy had been trying to go to Furya\u2026<\/i> She remembered her little sister sobbing in her arms because something had stopped her from getting there. Stopped her from reaching her father\u2026?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It was only a minute or two after Riddick disappeared inside the control room that an alarm sounded and all of the locked gates opened.\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Yeah, that was pretty fuckin\u2019 fast\u2026<\/i> She headed for the stairs, noticing that Toombs was struggling to climb back up the rope as she went.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The Guv had led the way up, his men already primed to follow, waiting for the signal. She wasn\u2019t far behind them. Other convicts, mostly point men from other gangs, were following more cautiously behind <i>her.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDon\u2019t bother,\u201d she heard Riddick saying as she reached the control room. \u201cGuards ain\u2019t there. They figured out the Necros are comin\u2019 for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">What the hell were \u201cNecros?\u201d He\u2019d mentioned them before. Said they\u2019d \u201ctaken\u201d Helion Prime? Just a few days earlier\u2026?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cPlan was to clean the bank, ghost the mercs, break wide through the tunnel,\u201d Riddick was telling everyone. \u201cAnd then somebody got a lucky shot off with this rocket launcher, here\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He nudged the weapon with his foot, sending it spinning into the scattered detritus of playing cards, pistachio shells, and bullet casings littering the floor.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u201c\u2026and<\/span> took out the sled,\u201d he continued. \u201cGuards took off on foot but rigged the door so no one could follow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Everyone was following <i>him<\/i> away from the door in question, toward the kennels. Kyra turned away for a moment. She wanted to see the rocket damage for herself.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Toombs hauled himself back into the control room, grunting with the effort, his face red and sweaty from exertion. Kyra picked up a discarded pistol and armed it. Just in case he thought he had any say in what was happening.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThey\u2019ll take the one ship in the hangar,\u201d Riddick continued, ignoring Toombs\u2019 return, \u201cand leave everyone else here to die.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHow come you know all this shit?\u201d Toombs demanded as he regained his feet. He seemed determined to ignore the multiple guns pointed his way. \u201cYou weren\u2019t even here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201c\u2019Cause it was <i>my<\/i> plan,\u201d Riddick said, moving on without another word.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThe fuck he mean by that?\u201d a runner for another gang, a man who everybody called Ratface, grumbled.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDunno,\u201d Kyra told him. She had some ideas, but she wasn\u2019t going to float any of them where just <i>anybody<\/i> could hear them. \u201cOh, holy shit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">A familiar woman was sprawled on the ground near the sled track door, her breathing shallow and rapid.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cLogan. Hey. Eve Logan.\u201d She knelt down next to the merc lady, aware that the rest of the convicts were staring at her. \u201cYou in there? How badly are you hurt?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Logan groaned, opening her eyes after a moment. \u201cThink I\u2019ve got some broken ribs\u2026 hurts to breathe but not, like, inside my lungs\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cMind if I feel it out?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Logan focused on her. <i>\u201cKyra?<\/i> You\u2019re still alive\u2026 thank God\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She nodded. \u201cLet me check you out, okay?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She remembered the way Ewan\u2019s hands had moved over her after he\u2019d finished patching her up, as he told her he was doing a quick check to make sure she didn\u2019t have any other injuries that needed tending before they took her out of the apartment. There were very few men in the \u2019verse whose touch she could stand, but she was pretty sure he was still one of them. He\u2019d made her feel <i>impervious<\/i>. Now she moved her hands the same way, opening up Logan\u2019s armored vest so she could skim her ribcage and keeping an eye on the way the woman reacted to the contact.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cLooks like you probably have two or three cracked ribs,\u201d she said after a moment. \u201cAll on your left side. None of them are out of place, though. What do you call those\u2026 hairline fractures? We get you bandaged up, you take it easy, you\u2019ll be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhy the fuck is she gonna be okay?\u201d Ratface demanded.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201c\u2019Cause I just said it,\u201d Kyra told him, rising up from her crouch. \u201c\u2019Cause she\u2019s the closest thing you have to a bargaining chip with the Guild to keep them from just starving everybody out instead of sending any more supplies here. You wanna live, you\u2019ll take <i>good fucking care of her.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHey,\u201d Toombs called out. \u201cI can be a bargaining chip, too!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra ignored him. She owed Logan a little humanity, but she owed Toombs <i>nothing.<\/i> \u201cSomebody get Sawbones up here, get him workin\u2019 on her. Get those boys in the Scree Team up here, too. They know electronics. You fix things up and she can put out an official call for relief here. Maybe the Guild will send some actual <i>human<\/i> guards next time around.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWho the fuck are you to tell us what to do, bitch?\u201d Ratface was turning sullen and stupid.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI\u2019m the <i>bitch<\/i> you\u2019ll have to <i>thank<\/i> for it if you\u2019re still alive this time next year. That\u2019s who.\u201d She fixed Ratface with a stern glare. \u201cAll you need to know is this. Without her, you\u2019ll all be dead in under a month. Even before the food runs out for <i>you<\/i>, the hounds\u2019ll break loose and start hunting when it runs out for <i>them<\/i>. You take good care of them and good care of <i>her.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhere <i>you<\/i> gonna be while all this is goin\u2019 down?\u201d he demanded.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWith him.\u201d She nodded at Riddick, who was leading a group toward the \u201chellhound\u201d cages, Toombs trapped in their grasp. \u201cNow go get Sawbones like I told you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Even if he didn\u2019t know how to do a shine job, Sawbones was a decent enough doctor. Logan would recover under his care. Not that she\u2019d actually enjoy his company; nobody did. The only part of himself he ever washed was his hands before a surgery.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Ratface grimaced, but then nodded and headed for the stairs.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cGuys,\u201d she told the men still standing around her, some of whom had intimidated her in the past, \u201cgrab a body and haul it after that little party headed for the cages. The regular \u2018hellhound chow\u2019 will last longer if they get a big meal out of these fuckers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It took some negotiating, most of it while Toombs roared out Riddick\u2019s name over and over and dodged his cage neighbors, but she got the \u201chellhounds\u201d to agree <i>not<\/i> to hunt live humans as long as they stayed well-fed.  At her instruction, the convicts hauled the bodies of the mercs and guards into their lair.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Tell the Lightbringer that we remember,<\/i> one of them said to her as she was leaving. <i>Ask him to remember us.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThe lightbringer?\u201d she asked, confused.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">And then she saw him, in her head, from <i>their<\/i> perspective: Riddick. Glowing with power. The Lightbringer.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cKyra!\u201d she heard him roar. \u201cGet your ass into the control room, now! We\u2019re goin\u2019 topside!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cKeep Toombs locked up with the hounds for a day or two,\u201d she told one of the convicts. \u201cHe <i>is<\/i> right that he\u2019ll be a good bargaining chip with the guild. We just need a decent head start.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The man nodded and she turned away, running back into the main control room. In another side room, she could see Sawbones already tending Logan. Her debts were paid.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Now it was time to find out what Riddick had in mind, especially given the head start the rest of the guards had on <i>them.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She realized that, in some ways, it didn\u2019t matter to her what his plan was. He wasn\u2019t just the hounds\u2019 Lightbringer; he was hers too. Whatever he\u2019d come up with would probably be just as crazy as, and maybe even more brilliant than, one of Tizzy\u2019s schemes. Whether it worked or not, whether they lived or <span class=\"nowrap\">died\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2026she<\/span> <i>had<\/i> to see how it played out.<\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Title: The Changeling Game (Formerly Identity Theft) Author: Ardath Rekha Chapter: 90\/? Fandom: Pitch Black (2000); The Chronicles of Riddick (2004); The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury (2004) Rat","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"\u201cThe Changeling Game\u201d 90: \u201cFollow the Lightbringer\u201d","bgseo_description":"Kyra struggles with her growing suspicion that she never was Jack, even as Riddick seems to decide it doesn\u2019t matter and invites her to break free with him.","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fan-fiction","category-the-changeling-game"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1019"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1119,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1019\/revisions\/1119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}