{"id":514,"date":"2024-07-20T06:58:54","date_gmt":"2024-07-20T10:58:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/?p=514"},"modified":"2025-01-28T23:40:56","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T04:40:56","slug":"the-changeling-game-chapter-48","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/the-changeling-game-chapter-48\/","title":{"rendered":"The Changeling Game, Chapter 48"},"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> 48\/?<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> M<br \/>\n<b>Warnings:<\/b> Adult themes, controversial subject matter, harsh language, violence<br \/>\n<b>Category:<\/b> Gen<br \/>\n<b>Pairing:<\/b> None<br \/>\n<b>Summary:<\/b> >With their departure creeping closer, Jack and Kyra try to find ways to gift something meaningful to those they must leave behind.<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='6aac0bd09e07d5018775903' value='6aac0bd09e07d5018775903'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-more-text-6aac0bd09e07d5018775903' value='Long post is long. Click to read the story.'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-less-text-6aac0bd09e07d5018775903' value='Hide the story again.'><button id='bg-showmore-action-6aac0bd09e07d5018775903' 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-6aac0bd09e07d5018775903' ><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"chapterhead\">48.<br \/>\n<u>Tizzy the Terrible<\/u><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou\u2019re mine now,\u201d Ewan murmured into Jack\u2019s ear. \u201cI can\u2019t let you go\u2026 ever\u2026\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He began to move against her, his hands pinning her wrists to the bedroll he\u2019d spread out beneath her. She wrapped her bare legs around his naked waist, letting him have his way, groaning softly at the pleasure he was stirring in her. He\u2019d taken her from the house without warning, without a word, and brought her into the mountains, refusing to accept that they might never see each other again. Now her past and future fell away and there was only this moment, only him\u2014<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cTizzy. <i>Tizzy.<\/i> Keep it <i>down<\/i>\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack\u2019s eyes flew open.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The tent canvas that had been above her just seconds ago was gone, replaced with the ornate tiled ceiling of the bedroom in the <i>ait Meziane<\/i> house, barely visible in the gloom.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra, herself only half visible in the predawn darkness, was sitting up next to her and watching her with a smirk. \u201cDamn, girl, that dream of yours got <i>me<\/i> all hot and bothered, and I don\u2019t even <i>like<\/i> sex,\u201d she snickered.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Fuck.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cPlease tell me I didn\u2019t call out his name.\u201d Jack groaned, now with embarrassment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI woke you up before you could, but I think you were about to.\u201d Kyra\u2019s smile was positively <i>merry.<\/i> \u201cI figured you wouldn\u2019t want that to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack sat up in the bed, aware that she\u2019d been on the verge of feeling something incredible, which had now receded unfulfilled. \u201cThanks, I think\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah, sorry about <i>that.<\/i> But you\u2019re really gonna need to learn how to not talk in your sleep before you return home, you know.\u201d Kyra\u2019s smile turned wry. \u201cGonna have a bunch of people, who are <i>very<\/i> interested in picking up any clues they can about where you\u2019ve been, listening in once you\u2019re there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cFuuuuuuck\u2026\u201d Jack flopped back against the pillows. \u201cIs that something I can even learn how to do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cProbably. Maybe you can ask the General if that device he\u2019s bringing us will help you do that. Who knows?\u201d Kyra lay down next to her again, sighing. \u201cI\u2019m sorry you can\u2019t stay, you know. I wish we both could. It\u2019s all happening so fast now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">That, weirdly, had been the driving force behind the dream. She\u2019d \u201cawakened\u201d in it to find Ewan beside their bed, taking her hand and putting a finger to her lips when she started to ask what he was doing. He\u2019d led her down to the garage and to a large, rugged vehicle, strapping her in without speaking, and driven them out of the city and into the mountains. Rather than give her up, he had decided to abandon his career and reputation and claim her as his own <i>right then\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It was all very wish-fulfillment but was absolutely the opposite of what the real Ewan would ever do, she thought. Even given how devastated he\u2019d looked after dinner.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cGod, part of me wishes that hadn\u2019t been a dream\u2026 that it had been real\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHe wouldn\u2019t be the man you\u2019re hung up on if it had been, you know,\u201d Kyra sighed next to her. \u201cPart of what you\u2019re in love with is the fact that he\u2019d never do something like that. Never actually hurt you. And doing that <i>would<\/i> hurt you. Trust me, it really would.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI know\u2026\u201d Jack grumped. \u201cI really do know that. Sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">And sometimes, she thought ruefully, she started to convince herself that she\u2019d be able to handle it, that she was plenty adult enough to offer and receive such things. Only after those moments passed would she realize, yet again, that those were some of her most childish thoughts of all.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She\u2019d had similar fantasies about Riddick, half a year earlier. Sometimes she wondered if that was why he\u2019d disappeared on her, because he knew what she felt for him and was worried that, if she offered herself to him the way she\u2019d sometimes fantasized about doing, he might take her up on it. Had crushing on him driven him away?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>I just wish he\u2019d said good-bye\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">But part of her was dreading how hard it was going to be to say good-bye to Ewan.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Another part of her wished she\u2019d never started crushing on <i>him<\/i>, either, or whatever it was she was feeling. She missed Ewan\u2019s hugs, missed resting her head against his chest or shoulder and having him hold her close, missed the affection, teasing, and intuitive understanding of each other\u2019s ideas that they\u2019d been able to share those first few days\u2026 before any touch, any glance, had started setting her body on fire. The desire she felt, and couldn\u2019t control, had become a barrier that was cheating her out of one of the most powerful <i>emotional<\/i> bonds she\u2019d ever found.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">And now it was too late to find a way to fix that.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cTime fixes it,\u201d Kyra said, as if replying to spoken words rather than her thoughts. \u201cYou won\u2019t be a bundle of hormones forever. Or maybe you\u2019ll just figure out how to handle them. Not sure. I read up on some of that stuff at the hospital, and actually talked about it with one or two of my therapists. Mostly I was trying to figure out why <i>I<\/i> feel so <i>dead<\/i> inside about the whole thing\u2026 turns out a lot of rape survivors do. But I read about what <i>normal<\/i> sex drives are supposed to be like, too, especially when they\u2019ve just kicked on\u2026 and it\u2019ll get easier to handle. In time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cFuckin\u2019 time,\u201d Jack groaned. \u201cI\u2019m almost out of that\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNuh uh,\u201d Kyra snickered. \u201cYou\u2019re just going home for a while. Once you learn how to handle it all, and the \u2019verse says you\u2019re a legal adult\u2026 look out worlds, here comes Tizzy the Terrible!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOh, my <i>God\u2026<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHey, it\u2019s a step up from Jack B. Badd. Isn\u2019t that really your dad, anyway?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah,\u201d Jack admitted, laughing. \u201cThe more I think about it, the more I think I stole <i>his<\/i> childhood nickname.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAnd now you have your own,\u201d Kyra grinned.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She had to admit, she <i>liked<\/i> being \u201cTizzy\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI can\u2019t take it with me, though,\u201d she found herself musing. \u201cIt\u2019d connect me to here. When I get back home, I can\u2019t ever be either \u2018Jack\u2019 or \u2018Tizzy\u2019 anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah, not if you want to ever come back here someday,\u201d Kyra said after a moment. \u201cI can\u2019t take \u2018Dihya\u2019 with me, either. Fuck, I\u2019m gonna miss that name\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cMaybe one day you\u2019ll get to use your own name again, though,\u201d Jack said. \u201cOnce you\u2019re eighteen, New Dartmouth law says your criminal record as a minor gets sealed, even if the statute of limitations isn\u2019t up and even if they haven\u2019t had a chance to prosecute yet. I looked it up. Once you turn eighteen, they can\u2019t touch you. So, like, two years from now\u2026 you can tell the whole \u2019verse your real name if you want.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah,\u201d Kyra replied, her voice wistful, \u201cbut the whole \u2019verse already knows who that is. It\u2019s still gonna be the same deal\u2026 they\u2019ll think I <i>should<\/i> be in jail anyway. And if I want to come back here in a few years and try to network with those officer friends of Tomlin\u2019s, it definitely can\u2019t be as <i>me.<\/i> Toombs made sure of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cFuckin\u2019 Toombs\u2026\u201d Jack found herself wishing she\u2019d sent him on his wild goose chase on a much more inhospitable world than Shakti Four. There was a frigid, desolate, barely habitable planet she\u2019d heard about a while back, UV-6, that would have been perfect. She could have made him freeze his ass off the whole time he was chasing his own malodorous tail. Too late now, though\u2026 \u201cWell, maybe in a few years, Kali Montgomery can do that networking instead, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah, she\u2019s even got a military background. It\u2019ll all work out\u2026\u201d But Kyra was shielding her thoughts from Jack again. She could feel the barrier that had gone up.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAre you okay with me knowing that name?\u201d Jack asked, wondering if <i>that<\/i> was the problem. \u201cBecause I can show you how to make a new ID if you want.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNah, it\u2019s all good.\u201d Kyra shook her head and quirked a smile at Jack. \u201cI like that name. Picked it myself. It\u2019s fine. I\u2019m really not worried about <i>you<\/i> getting caught and interrogated. You\u2019re an escape artist. People go to grab you and whoosh, you\u2019re somewhere else. That was true even before you learned how to isomorph.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOkay.\u201d Jack sighed, still wishing she knew what Kyra was hiding. \u201cAre you okay with what I did last night?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat\u2019d you do last night?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhen you were having a nightmare. And I stopped it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra frowned quizzically at her. \u201cI had a nightmare? I don\u2019t remember. Well, thank you for stopping it, anyway. But I just remember having a really\u2026 nice dream.\u201d An almost-goofy smile crossed her lips. \u201cNearly as nice as the one you had.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Maybe that was the only part she remembered?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">When Jack had taken over the dream, she\u2019d depicted Riddick single-handedly slaughtering all of Red Roger\u2019s men, drawing from the spectacular combat moves she\u2019d seen him use when he\u2019d battled the shrylls, and then gutting Roger Fiennes himself while Kyra watched. Then he had offered her his hand and told her that he was taking her away from Canaan Mountain and the New Christy Enclave, enacting every facet of the rescue that she\u2019d always wished for.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">At that point, she had let Kyra start \u201cdriving\u201d again and withdrawn from her sister\u2019s mind. Where they\u2019d gone from there, she didn\u2019t know. She\u2019d needed some sleep of her <i>own.<\/i> Steering someone else\u2019s dreams like that had turned out to be hard work.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou\u2019re welcome,\u201d she told Kyra, grinning. \u201cAs long as you got a good night\u2019s sleep, right? I was thinking\u2026 when we take Sebby back\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Reee?<\/i> Sebby lifted his head. He had been sleeping down by their feet.\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah, you, sweetie. Don\u2019t worry. We\u2019re gonna take good care of you, I promise. But I was thinking we could ask Tafrara where she buys the plants she puts in the courtyard, and buy a little olive tree to take with us. Maybe even two. So Sebby can eat olives forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra\u2019s eyes lit up at the idea. \u201cOh my God, Tizzy, that\u2019s <i>it.<\/i> That\u2019s also the way <i>we<\/i> can leave something behind <i>here<\/i> for the family. We can plant something in the courtyard, and to everybody else in the \u2019verse it\u2019ll just be another plant, but <i>they\u2019ll<\/i> always know it came from <i>us.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Sebby squeaked and bounced up the bed to them, catching their enthusiasm and chirping happily. Jack could tell he had olives in mind now, and that they\u2019d better bring some up for him when they came back from breakfast with his crickets.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOh <i>shit<\/i>. I don\u2019t think Izil is gonna buy enough crickets!\u201d Sebby had more than doubled in size, after all.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHe will if we catch him before he goes,\u201d Kyra said, climbing out of bed. Jack hurried after her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Izil had already left, but Lalla, hearing the problem, put together an \u201cappetizer\u201d plate of Sebby\u2019s favorite <i>human<\/i> foods for him, including an abundance of olives, to compensate. Breakfast was still half an hour off, but almost everyone was up, and they all wanted to see how Sebby had grown and take a look at his exuviae. Jack led the way, carrying up the tray, while Kyra talked to Tafrara about buying some olive trees and the idea of planting something special in the courtyard.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Focusing on keeping the tray balanced, Jack didn\u2019t realize that Ewan was the one walking beside her until he opened the bedroom door for her. He seemed unusually subdued.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou okay?\u201d she asked as she went through the door, forcing herself <i>not<\/i> to brush up against him in passing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYes\u2026\u201d Ewan\u2019s smile was dim in comparison to the ones he usually flashed her. \u201cI just didn\u2019t sleep very well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Sebby chirped in curiosity as everybody filed in. He seemed a lot less nervous about the whole family crowding the room.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201c<i>Baraka,<\/i> he\u2019s grown so big!\u201d Takama marveled.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIzil needs to see this when he gets back,\u201d Safiyya laughed. \u201cHis degree is in zoology. He will love this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHe\u2019s going back up into the New Atlas Mountains soon, isn\u2019t he?\u201d Jack asked. When Safiyya nodded, she turned to General Toal. \u201cCan\u2026 can I give him Sebby\u2019s exuviae to take with him? Would that be okay? It wouldn\u2019t be anywhere near New Marrakesh, and it doesn\u2019t have any quantum connections to Elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">How, she suddenly wondered, did she know that last bit?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAs long as he can be discreet about it,\u201d the General answered slowly, \u201cthat should be all right. Sebby\u2019s morphology is quite alien, in truth, but if he is willing to claim that it was sent to him from somewhere offworld, and promises not to publish any articles about your pet\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe\u2019ll make sure he agrees to that,\u201d Cedric told the General.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">If for some reason they couldn\u2019t return Sebby to Elsewhere, Jack decided, Izil should be the one to take custody of him. He was, after all, a zoologist, he\u2019d been fascinated by Sebby from the beginning, and he\u2019d taken it upon himself to keep their rambunctious crustacean well fed. She glanced at Kyra and saw her knowing nod of agreement.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Sebby, meanwhile, was happily chomping olives and squeak-mumbling softly to himself.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Breakfast was subdued, the mood from the prior evening carrying over. Kyra and Tafrara continued discussing plants and refining the idea for the garden. They decided that she and Jack should each pick out a plant for the courtyard when they went to get an olive tree or two, and once they had picked out their plants, Tafrara would determine the best locations for each one in the courtyard.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe can never tell anyone outside of the family who planted them, of course,\u201d Takama said as they finished solidifying the plan, \u201cbut it will be a nice thing for all of us to know. I have spoken with the other tribal representatives in the Rif, and they have all agreed to our story. Two distant cousins from our tribe, Dihya and Tislilel, came to town in preparation for the engagement Moussem, which of course ended up being canceled after the explosion. In an unhappy turn of events, they then fell ill with Atlas Fever shortly after Brahim\u2019s memorial and had to be sent home once they recovered enough to travel. And that is as much as anyone in the Rif will ever say about you\u2026 aside from that you were lovely, pleasant, polite girls whenever you came to the market. Which at least means they will have something true to say.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It felt, to Jack, like an <i>epitaph.<\/i> By the look on Ewan\u2019s face, he felt the same way.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Izil joined them at the end of the meal, cricket box under his arm, and was immediately excited to hear about Sebby\u2019s molt. Kyra led him upstairs to see, telling Jack that she\u2019d been practicing the isomorph trick and wanted to try it with the crickets herself. Jack, Ewan, and Tafrara followed not long after.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Izil and Kyra were sitting by the tub, watching Sebby play with his food and talking quietly. Izil stood up as Jack entered the room.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDihya tells me that you two feel, if you are unable to return Sebby to Elsewhere next morning-day, that I should take him with me into the mountains when I go,\u201d he said, taking her hand. \u201cI am honored. I <i>do<\/i> hope he can be released among his own kind, but I promise to take very good care of him for you if he cannot be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThank you.\u201d It was a relief to know that, no matter what, Sebby would be safe. Now she just had to figure out a way to stop worrying so much about Kyra.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAfter dinner,\u201d Tafrara told her and Kyra, \u201cwe will go pick out plants. My favorite nursery is open into the overnoon hours and that\u2019s the best and quietest time to find things, so we\u2019ll go there shortly before we plan to retire for sleep ourselves. In the meantime\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe want to spend as much time with you today as possible,\u201d Ewan said, his eyes on Jack.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She could see how hard he was trying to hide the full depth of what he was feeling. For a moment, she imagined she saw an echo of her dream in his eyes.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The first thing they did was Kyra\u2019s physical therapy session, which now incorporated Tai Chi. Jack was fascinated. Ewan led them, while Tafrara moved between her and Kyra to correct their balance and posture. He began with breathing and balance, and then had them lift their arms and legs into specific positions, holding them and slowly moving from one to another. The way Jack felt herself concentrating reminded her of the way she had focused to keep the floor of U1 beneath her in Elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">An hour passed, almost before she knew it. As Kyra had said, she could <i>feel<\/i>, in the aftermath, how much work her body had actually been doing, even though each moment had felt easy and natural. She didn\u2019t feel it in an achy or uncomfortable way, though. She felt as if she\u2019d tapped into something powerful.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>No wonder meditating kept Riddick from going crazy in his cryotube\u2026<\/i> Maybe the way that meditation condensed time had countered the way that cryosleep drugs stretched it out.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>I need to keep doing this.<\/i> She wondered if there were classes back on Deckard\u2019s World.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSo, what would you two like to do next?\u201d Tafrara asked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cTizzy\u2019s been telling me the story of the <i>Hunter-Gratzner<\/i> crash,\u201d Kyra said. \u201cI was hoping she could finish telling it before we have to split up\u2026 although maybe she should start over if you guys are gonna hear it, too?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It was, Jack thought, a <i>kind<\/i> of souvenir she could leave behind with Ewan, Izil, and Tafrara: the story of the accident that had ultimately brought her, and Kyra, to their doorstep. A truth that few knew, given the lies that had begun to circulate since then. They could be trusted with it. And who knew; one day, one of them might come face to face with Richard B. Riddick himself, and the story they knew might just save their lives.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She didn\u2019t start from quite the same place that she had with Kyra, though. General Toal had made it clear that she wasn\u2019t allowed to reveal anything about where she had come from or where she had been trying to go, after all. So\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI would have come to the Tangiers System on the <i>Hunter-Gratzner<\/i> a few months before I ended up getting here, if it hadn\u2019t crashed,\u201d she began instead. \u201cBut it came out of one of its Star Jumps and crossed a comet\u2019s path on its way to the next Jump Point, and got holed by a bunch of micrometeors. That\u2019s what the inquiry afterwards figured out. Most of the crew died in their tubes, except for the navigator and the docking pilot. The ship crash-landed on a planet with an outpost that had lost contact with the Federacy about twenty-two years ago. But I didn\u2019t know any of <i>that<\/i> until much later. The first thing <i>I<\/i> knew, I was waking up in my cryotube, lying on my side, and couldn\u2019t get the doors to open\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">This time, as she spoke, she conjured vivid mental images for Kyra, matching them to her words. Pounding on the box, wondering if it was now her coffin, until Shazza and Zeke had appeared through the glass and begun cutting her out\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra had her eyes closed, focusing on the visions Jack was feeding her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack skipped over some things, like some of the conversations she\u2019d had with Paris while they rummaged through his storage compartment for supplies and, later, weapons once Riddick escaped into the desert. For some odd reason, she felt weirdly possessive of that relationship, maybe because she\u2019d begun drawing upon some of the things he\u2019d told her about running museum heists for her own excursions into burglary. Plus, more practically, those were conversations she\u2019d portrayed as happening <i>before<\/i> the cash, the first time she\u2019d told the story to Kyra. As she retold the parts Kyra had already heard, doing imitations of each person\u2019s voice and mannerisms as she reproduced dialogues, Kyra began saying <i>her<\/i> lines for her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHow do I get eyes like that?\u201d Kyra asked softly, as Jack described Riddick glancing over at her after his chained lunge toward Fry.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou gotta kill a few people,\u201d Jack answered in her Riddick imitation, not bothering to correct her sister\u2019s wording this time, either.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOkay, I can do it\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Maybe it should have worried her, but it was fun to have Kyra participate that way. She let it slide, moving forward with the tale.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The eclipse had descended over the crash planet, Hassan had died, and the survivors had adopted Fry\u2019s plan to return to the settlement as the lunch hour approached in New Marrakesh. Now she was coming up on the part of the story that still had her fuming, all these months later.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe got to work making as much light as we could, from everything we could find. Paris had me find him a bunch of these weird tubes that he could use to make wicks for the liquor bottles. And Fry told me to start pulling these big, glowing fiberoptic cables out of the bulkheads,\u201d she said, unable to keep a grumble out of her voice. \u201cThose things were glowing <i>really<\/i> brightly, and there were a <i>ton<\/i> of them, and I thought maybe there\u2019d be enough light to use them to power the Sand Cat. They were talking about pulling everything on a <i>sled<\/i> and draping the cables over our shoulders as we ran, and nobody\u2019d stop to listen to me, even if just to tell me they\u2019d already thought of it and it wouldn\u2019t work\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cFry,\u201d she\u2019d said, holding up a glowing coil, \u201cdon\u2019t you think this\u2019d be enough to run\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNo, Jack, pull it all down. We need all of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThat\u2019s not what I\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cEl-Imam, I need to talk to you for a second,\u201d Fry said, walking off without another word to her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cJohns,\u201d she\u2019d tried again. \u201cI was thinking if we coiled enough of this up around the\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cLook, kid, I\u2019m busy. Talk to Fry if you need something.\u201d He had one of his shotgun shells, a bright red one, in his hand and was turning it over and over as if that was the most important task in the universe.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBut she\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cTalk. To. <i>Fry.<\/i>\u201d The glare he\u2019d given her had driven her back.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cParis, I was wondering\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cJust who I wanted to see. Do you think you can carry some of the food supplies in your backpack? We won\u2019t need them until we get to the skiff.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSure, but\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBrilliant. Here we go. Now, I still have to figure out how we\u2019re going to bundle up and pull all of these bottles.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBut that\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to t\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cMust run. So much to do before we set off\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cImam, I have an idea\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cChild, have you finished coiling up the cables? We really are in a hurry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBut we won\u2019t <i>have<\/i> to be if you would just\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cStay on task. Suleiman!\u201d He switched to Arabic, which she hadn\u2019t understood at the time but now could parse from memory. \u201cHave you disconnected the secondary power generator? Hurry!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI just wanted to tell them,\u201d Jack concluded for her audience, \u201cthat the fiberoptics could produce enough light to switch the Sand Cat\u2019s photovoltaic collector back on <i>and<\/i> probably have enough left over to ring its perimeter. We could\u2019ve <i>driven<\/i> the whole way back if they\u2019d just stopped to <i>listen<\/i>\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDidn\u2019t <i>Riddick<\/i> listen to you?\u201d Kyra asked, odd longing in her voice.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHe was busy, too,\u201d Jack moped. \u201cHe passed by me once, talking to Fry as he went. He <i>did<\/i> say something to me, but he was gone before I could reply. He said \u2018check your cuts. These bad boys know our blood now.\u2019 I didn\u2019t have any <i>cuts<\/i> but\u2026 I think he knew I was having my period and was warning me that the things outside would know, too. Fuck, I hate being too young to be listened to\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe will always listen to you, Tislilel,\u201d Ewan said. His hand on her shoulder, for once, didn\u2019t send a jolt down to her core but filled her instead with wistful yearning for the peace he was offering. She had less than one Tangiers day left before he would be gone.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYes,\u201d Izil agreed. \u201cAlways.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra took Jack\u2019s hand and gave it a squeeze, maybe feeling her sudden, stricken longing. To find this kind of acceptance and respect, and to have to give it up, leave it behind\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWould it have worked?\u201d Ewan asked Tafrara. \u201cUsing the fiberoptics?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI think it would have,\u201d she said after a thoughtful moment. One of her degrees, Jack had learned, was in Engineering, much like John MacNamera\u2019s. \u201cThey had their own power source, yes? Which you had to drag? I\u2019ve seen the kinds of fiberoptics you speak of. They could have been more than sufficient. Especially with direct application, coiling around the collector as you describe. What color of light was the photovoltaic engine designed to work under?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAll colors, I think,\u201d Jack sighed. \u201cThe twin suns were red and yellow, made everything look real orange when they were up, and the third sun was blue like the fiberoptic light. It ran under both kinds of light, so it should\u2019ve been fine. I figured if we piled enough lit coils onto the collector\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYes,\u201d Tafrara told her, looking sympathetic and a little sad. \u201cIt would have worked. What did they do instead?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe put the generator powering them onto this sled they made out of a piece of the ship\u2019s outer hull,\u201d Jack muttered, trying hard not to <i>whine<\/i> about it. Her eyes and nose were stinging. \u201cAlong with the rest of the power cells we needed to launch the skiff, and a bunch of Paris\u2019s liquor bottles, some flashlights, and other stuff they\u2019d scavenged. It was so heavy. Then we wrapped the fiberoptics around our bodies, all connected to that one generator. Riddick ran ahead, and Imam and Johns grabbed onto rope handles on the sled to drag it, and the rest of us ran alongside the sled to keep up with the generator and surround each other with light. And we followed Riddick into the darkness\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">And, she thought miserably as she followed everyone downstairs for lunch, four more of the crash survivors, three of whom she had genuinely bonded with, had <i>died<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">But what was worse, she thought as she sat down at the table, was that even if maybe they <i>should<\/i> have listened to her about the Sand Cat, what happened after that\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u2026was all <i>her<\/i> fault.<\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Title: The Changeling Game (Formerly Identity Theft) Author: Ardath Rekha Chapter: 48\/? 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 48: \u201cTizzy the Terrible\u201d","bgseo_description":"With their departure creeping closer, Jack and Kyra try to find ways to gift something meaningful to those they must leave behind.","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-514","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\/514","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=514"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1176,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514\/revisions\/1176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}