{"id":850,"date":"2024-11-12T19:43:47","date_gmt":"2024-11-13T00:43:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/?p=850"},"modified":"2025-01-28T23:20:52","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T04:20:52","slug":"the-changeling-game-chapter-82","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/the-changeling-game-chapter-82\/","title":{"rendered":"The Changeling Game, Chapter 82"},"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> 82\/?<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> As Kyra\u2019s choices narrow in the years before, one false move results in an outcome that may be too ghastly for even Riddick to handle. Jack B. Badd to the Rescue?<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='6aac38a4daeb64045622108' value='6aac38a4daeb64045622108'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-more-text-6aac38a4daeb64045622108' value='Long post is long. Click to read the story.'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-less-text-6aac38a4daeb64045622108' value='Hide the story again.'><button id='bg-showmore-action-6aac38a4daeb64045622108' 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-6aac38a4daeb64045622108' ><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"chapterhead\">82.<br \/>\n<u>The Misnaming of the Rose<\/u><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">In a way, Kyra reflected ruefully, she was lucky. For a certain value of \u201clucky\u201d that still equaled \u201cfucked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Before the shuttle even reached Lupus Station A, the mystery of the fire in the overhead compartment had been \u201csolved:\u201d a tearful, apologetic boy had admitted to everyone\u2014to his parents\u2019 horror and his older brother\u2019s fury\u2014that he\u2019d squirreled away half a dozen packs of Marlboros inside his carry-on and hidden within his toy box for his brother, along with just as many functional, old-fashioned isobutane lighters with flint-and-sparkwheel igniters. The spaceport security staff had missed all of it in their cursory examination of his bag.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Maybe, Kyra thought, that was why the fire had burned so hot and fast, starting in her own bag and spreading to the kid\u2019s\u2026 and then going wild when it encountered the lighters. Everything in the compartment had been charred to the point where there was no sign that the fire <i>hadn\u2019t<\/i> started in the boy\u2019s bag. By the time they docked, everybody seemed to have a theory of how the lighters had managed to spontaneously ignite. But nobody was even glancing at the last passenger to board. Although \u201cMallory Glynn\u201d was taken aside for a moment by spaceport staff during debarking, it was only so they could offer her a thousand-UD bearer card in compensation for the loss of her property and ask her if she wanted to file a claim for a larger amount.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She\u2019d lost roughly ten thousand UDs worth of bearer cards and belongings to the fire, but she shrugged, accepted the card, and told them that it should cover the damages. She needed to get the hell off the station before General Toal\u2019s goons took a closer look at the accident or the passenger manifest.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Since the new bearer card, conveniently, had no possible ties to Kali Montgomery, she used it to buy her ticket to New Queensland. She didn\u2019t bother purchasing any replacement clothes or toiletries; she\u2019d be in cryo within a matter of hours. Replacements would be cheaper once she was on an actual planet again. While she waited for the <i>Komodo Dundee<\/i> to begin boarding, she worked at programming her new comm with every bit of data she could dredge from memory. She was pleased with herself when she managed to recall the ID and password for the Merc Network account Tizzy had created for her, which would allow her to see who was hunting her, how much her bounty was, and where people thought she was hiding. But she couldn\u2019t recall the ID and password for the message drop.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Fuck.<\/i> If she could remember <i>that<\/i> one, she\u2019d be able to reach out to Tizzy for help reconstituting the rest. Her little sister had all of the data backed up in her <i>brain<\/i> and could rattle any of it off from memory at a moment\u2019s notice\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>We never should have split up,<\/i> she admitted to herself. She should have especially realized it was the wrong thing to do when <i>Toal<\/i> had embraced the separation. <i>Divide and conquer\u2026 what if she\u2019s been calling for my help this whole time?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She was almost relieved to climb back into cryo and get away from her thoughts.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Six more months in cryo meant countless more repetitions of her dreams, which had taken a darker, sadder tinge somehow. While she still caught a glimpse of Tizzy in the mirror of a settlement house on the crash planet, she <i>knew<\/i> that her sister had been lost to her, taken from her. The Jack that had been Tizzy was dead.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>She was weak\u2026 she couldn\u2019t cut it\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">And, her conscience screamed when the cryo sedatives didn\u2019t prevent it, it was <i>her<\/i> fault that Jack was dead. She hadn\u2019t been vigilant enough, had allowed them to be separated.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Which meant that the Jack that was part of her\u2026 was dead too?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It felt true.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">By the time she woke on New Queensland, having landed at the New Brisbane Interplanetary Spaceport, the narrative had solidified around the idea that Tizzy had died sometime during the adventures they and Riddick had gone on, at the hands of either Imam Abu al-Walid or General Toal, their shared \u201cJack\u201d identity dying with her\u2026 because Riddick had left them and Kyra hadn\u2019t been strong enough to protect her little sister\u2014<i>she was weak, she couldn\u2019t cut it<\/i>\u2014on her own.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">When she really stopped and thought about it, the narrative made absolutely no sense. But trying to think about it awakened elaborate knots of anxiety and guilt. It was easier to move on, move forward, not look back.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">New Queensland was a semi-rustic world, with places where \u201cMallory\u201d could find work she liked, work that suited her temperament. She spent half a year as a ranch hand, working with cattle, riding horses, feeling free and hopeful, before an incident with a handsy supervisor got her fired. Things got harder after that, and nobody seemed willing to give her a shot anymore. There was mining work to be had, but she had no guild membership and no way to afford the requisite shine job without an income stream already in place.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Twenty menthol Kools my <b>ass<\/b><\/i>, she inwardly grumbled when she found out how much the procedure would cost her. She could pay for it, but it would dip too deep into her reserves, her \u201cbug-out money.\u201d If she didn\u2019t find work soon, though, she\u2019d have to pull from that fund anyway just to survive.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Once a week, she did a routine check of her record on the Merc Network. By coincidence, the first thing she saw during her next sign-on was a want ad, put up by some crew out of Lupus Five.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The bounty for Kyra Wittier-Collins was \u201cpending updates.\u201d She had no idea what the hell that meant. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Her next stop was her employment application account, which had one new message.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;margin-top: 1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><tt>Dear Ms. Glynn,<\/tt><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 20px\"><tt>Thank you for your interest in our job listing. We regret that we are unable to offer you a position at this time. We will keep your application on file in case any new positions open up.<\/tt><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 1em\"><tt><b>P.S.<\/b> You should remove the New Gold Coast Cattle Ranch from your employment history on future applications. They\u2019re saying really nasty things about you to anyone who calls them to verify your job record. I\u2019ve talked to some other women who used to work there so I know what probably really happened, but the head of HR still had to remove you from consideration because of what they said. I\u2019m really sorry! <span class=\"text-nowrap\">\u2014Jeni.<\/span><\/tt><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Fuck. <i>Fuck.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">A day later, after kicking the shit out of several gym punching bags and two would-be muggers, Kyra came to her decision. Opening the Merc Network back up, she found the want ad and followed its application link. It wasn\u2019t ideal, but it was work, and it wasn\u2019t like she didn\u2019t know how to outwit mercs if she needed to. She and Tizzy had demolished an entire platoon of them once.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The application was easy enough; they were looking for new recruits, promising to teach them the trade and offering a good cut even during the apprenticeship. Aside from the basics, she didn\u2019t have to provide a whole lot of information besides education and existing skills. Like Kali Montgomery before her, Mallory Glynn had allegedly attended a military academy; she could simply claim that she\u2019d been traveling for a while before looking for work after graduation and not put down <i>any<\/i> employers, least of all the New Gold Coast Cattle Fuckers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">But\u2026 even if Mallory Glynn\u2019s reputation with employers hadn\u2019t been poisoned, the military academy angle was an issue. She no longer had the backup documents to prove that she\u2019d attended one, and she\u2019d lost all of her notes about exactly which fictive names to put down as references\u2026 not to mention access to those references\u2019 messaging accounts to reply to inquiries. Could she really even use that name anymore? Was it any less toxic than trying to use Kyra Wittier-Collins or Kali Montgomery? Maybe it was time to use a new name on applications, starting with that one.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It was a moment of recklessness, a \u201cwhy the hell not?\u201d that would prove all too costly. She no longer had the ability to create a new identity, but there was one more name that she had a claim to that, she thought in that moment, had far less poison attached to it. She felt a twinge of worry, a hint of foreboding, as she put it on the application instead of Mallory Glynn:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;margin-top: 1em;margin-bottom: 1em\"><tt>Jack B. Badd<\/tt><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She almost didn\u2019t hit <tt>send<\/tt>, almost pulled back and put the Mallory Glynn name back on it. But she took a deep breath, told herself not to wuss out, and submitted the application.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">A few hours later, the crew responded, offering a meeting and interview in New Brisbane. She picked an interview time a few days out and got her ass back to the capital city barely in time to make it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The man who interviewed her was some employment agency guy fielding candidates for the mercs; there was little more to glean from his thoughts than she already knew. He asked her standard questions, had her spar against a local martial artist who was there to evaluate each recruit, and then\u2014after a short comm call\u2014informed her that she met all of the crew\u2019s qualifications. He gave her a contract to sign\u2014several pages long, but he flipped right to the signature page without stopping\u2014and then drove her to the mercs\u2019 vessel at the spaceport.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She\u2019d barely stepped onto the boarding ramp before they had her in cuffs.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The next week, spent in one of their miniscule holding cells, was wracked with both anxiety and fury, and a lot of self-recriminations as she realized what they were doing and why. Jack B. Badd was a <i>known associate of Richard B. Riddick<\/i>; how the fuck had she <i>overlooked<\/i> that angle? Her conviction that Jack was <i>dead<\/i>, and that somehow the whole \u2019verse should know that, made no sense suddenly. Why the hell had she thought it would work to use a dead girl\u2019s name? Why the hell had she thought anyone <i>else<\/i> knew Jack was dead?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">And how the fuck had she forgotten all about Alexander motherfucking Toombs?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He walked into the room, alone\u2014no sign of Eve Logan, anyway\u2014and frowned at her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWho the fuck is <i>this?\u201d<\/i> he demanded of the mercs. \u201cThis ain\u2019t Jack B. Badd.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt\u2019s the name she put on her application,\u201d one of the mercs objected. \u201cYou sure she\u2019s not the girl?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cGod<i>damn<\/i> sure.\u201d Toombs walked closer, studying her carefully. \u201cBut you give Eve Logan a call. This might be the girl <i>she<\/i> was looking for, last time I saw her. Kyra Somethin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra Somethin\u2019 restrained a groan, struggling to keep her expression deadpan and challenging. <i>I really fucked myself.<\/i> Every name at her disposal was poisoned, but at least \u201cMallory Glynn\u201d didn\u2019t have anyone hunting her. She should\u2019ve stuck with \u201cMallory Glynn.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Eve Logan, as it turned out, wasn\u2019t interested.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cApparently,\u201d the leader of the mercs told her with a smirk, \u201cKyra Wittier-Collins\u2014if that even <i>is<\/i> you, \u2019cause your ID says Mallory Glynn and my checks say it\u2019s one hundred percent legit\u2014she ain\u2019t a fugitive anymore. She\u2019s been exonerated. Those pissfucks at Amnesty Interplanetary got all the charges against her dropped or vacated. Ain\u2019t no money in turning you in anywhere, even if you were her. You ain\u2019t even got an outstanding parking ticket, Mallory. So the question is\u2026 what do we do with you now?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">They\u2019d already filled up their crew, every berth on the ship except their bounty cages taken, and had only offered her an interview so they could capture Jack B. Badd for Toombs.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Why the fuck had Toombs said Jack was <i>someone else?<\/i> She\u2019d recognized him; why hadn\u2019t <i>he<\/i> recognized <i>her?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Another of the merc team laughed, the sound humorless and cruel. \u201cThe contract she signed gives us a lot of leeway, you know. Who cares what name\u2019s on it? She signed it, we have video of her signing it\u2026 it\u2019s valid even if she never did read what she was signing. Paragraph fifteen says we can subcontract her services to whoever we want.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">There was no escaping the cell. New Queensland, on Elsewhere\u2019s side of the threshold, was an airless rock. The vacuum would kill her before she could drop down to the ground and isomorph back. She toyed with trying to isomorph the whole goddamn ship over to Elsewhere and then come back alone, but the biggest thing she\u2019d ever moved across a threshold was a piece of driftwood. Tizzy had always done the heavy lifting, and <i>she\u2019d<\/i> fallen into a coma for several hours the time she\u2019d moved a ship that size.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra was stuck. And, very likely, fucked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">A day later, four men arrived at the ship and looked her over.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNot bad,\u201d one of them said, smirking.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI like some more tit on a girl, myself,\u201d another grumbled.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Their minds were full of filth. For the first time since she\u2019d been tossed into the cell, Kyra felt real terror.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWell, you already got you a girl picked out anyway,\u201d the third said. He studied her with a nasty smile. \u201cShe\u2019s got her some spirit. Gonna have <i>fun<\/i> breakin\u2019 her in. We\u2019ll take her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It took five of the mercs to get the chains on her. She fought the whole time, costing two of them teeth in the process, but probably would have lost a lot sooner if they weren\u2019t under strict instructions not to \u201cdamage the merchandise.\u201d Finally they had her immobilized and loaded into another vehicle, which trundled her over to another launchpad. She\u2019d barely been hauled onto the next ship before the man who\u2019d talked about breaking her appeared, a vile grin on his face, <span class=\"text-nowrap\">and\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Riddick sprawled backward onto the floor, scrambling off of the dais, heart hammering.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Fuck! <b>Fuck!<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">His mind had recoiled so powerfully from Kyra\u2019s ordeal that it had completely broken the connection with the Quasi-Dead.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Are you all right, Lord Marshal?<\/i> they asked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cFuck no,\u201d he growled. Suddenly he found himself almost agreeing with the Moribund\u2019s barely-veiled desire to wipe out <i>all<\/i> of humankind in retribution <span class=\"text-nowrap\">for\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He forced himself to calm down, to take deep, long breaths. He\u2019d suffered through countless tortures, himself, when he\u2019d been even younger than Kyra was in her memories, before he\u2019d cut his tracker out and gone on the lam\u2026 but he\u2019d never been abused <i>that<\/i> way and couldn\u2019t bring himself to experience it with her. His mind shuddered away from reconnecting with the Quasi-Dead.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThose men who bought her contract,\u201d he growled after a moment. \u201cThose mercs, too\u2026 any of them converts?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>No,<\/i> the Quasi-Dead told him. <i>None of them are among the ranks, nor have any of them been in the past. They are all unknown to us.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Damn. He would have liked to make one of <i>them<\/i> live through what she had, over and over and over again until the fucker\u2019s mind collapsed under the weight of the horror she\u2019d experienced.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat about that motherfuckin\u2019 rancher?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>He is unknown to us as well.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Fucking hell.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><i>Why do you wish to punish someone for a crime not committed against  you?<\/i><\/b> the Moribund asked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhy are <i>you<\/i> still destroying worlds after four hundred years?\u201d he countered, trying to center himself.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><i>You know what will happen if I stop.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah,\u201d Riddick conceded, letting out a gust of air. \u201cI do. Gonna try to find a way to fix that for you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><i>You cannot. That is not your role in this. My brothers and sisters believe that is <u>her<\/u> role. I still doubt. Humans too are weak and treacherous to have so much faith in one of them.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Her? For a moment, with Kyra in the forefront of his mind, he thought that was who the Moribund meant. But no, the rogue <i>Apeiros<\/i> was speaking of Jack. Jack\u2026 who could never, <i>ever<\/i> know what her sister had been put through after their separation.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSo what <i>is<\/i> my role in the war against your Demons of the Darkness, exactly?\u201d Riddick stopped and shook his head. \u201cNo, never mind. Don\u2019t tell me. All this destiny bullshit\u2026 just tell me this. Are you just avenging <i>yourself<\/i> here? Not your brothers and sisters? One of the first things you said to Jack was something about \u2018a trillion deaths\u2019 for every one taken from you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He could recall the exact wording if he wanted to stop and think about it, but right now he didn\u2019t want to delve into his own thoughts. Or anyone else\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><i>No. I am not just avenging <u>myself.<\/u><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThere\u2019s your answer, then. Maybe I feel the same way where Kyra\u2019s concerned. Those fuckers helped drive her to her death.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><i>I understand now.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He needed to recover, get some distance, before he tried to continue, although he was going to have to ask the Quasi-Dead to skip forward when he did.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHow much time\u2019s elapsed since I came in here?\u201d he asked them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Two hours,<\/i> they replied.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Fuck. He hadn\u2019t even gotten all that far into her memories, even. She\u2019d spent thirteen months in cryo and roughly another eight months out; the date on her merc contract had indicated that she\u2019d signed the document in mid-February, 2519 and been slaved out before the month ended. Still roughly two and a half years until he\u2019d found her in Crematoria, still roughly two and a half years before his attempt to rescue her got her abducted, converted, and killed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He still needed to deal with the rest of the converts he wanted to take back\u2026 but he needed, more than anything, to spend some time with Jack. She, at least, had managed to survive knowing him without being destroyed. The impulse to stay far away from her before he managed to <i>change<\/i> that was back, strong as <i>fuck,<\/i> but\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>I need her. More than ever.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He closed his eyes, reaching for some of <i>her<\/i> memories to counter the horror he\u2019d just faced. Jack in a bar while on a weekend ski trip with her roommate, legally an adult but still too young to drink\u2026 fine with avoiding the issue by ordering an iced tea while Janice worked at \u201cgetting sloshed\u201d at the other end of the bar\u2026 speaking to a man whose surface appearance was not dissimilar to <i>his<\/i> and inviting him to go skiing with her\u2026 later, after the skiing, being invited back to his cabin to warm up\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She\u2019d had a number of creative ways to warm up, and no reservations about employing them. And while most of her had been firmly in the moment, a tiny part of her had imagined that it was her reunion with <i>him\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He could feel himself calming as he explored her memories, paying attention to the ways she liked to be touched and held, the positions she preferred, the places on her body that could ignite her senses. Aside from occasional moments of discomfort and annoyance if one of her partners tried something she discovered she <i>didn\u2019t<\/i> like, there was almost nothing negative in her experiences. After \u201cDave\u201d and \u201cLars,\u201d she had become adept at spotting and avoiding men whose agendas were potentially hurtful to her, finding instead men who just wanted to have, and share, a good time. One of her partners, as a kindly-intended joke, had labeled her a \u201csport fuck,\u201d and she\u2019d liked the term.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She\u2019d avoided commitment, sticking to \u201csport fucking,\u201d because part of her was hoping to reunite with either him or Ewan Zdan\u2014and she had, realistically, assumed that it wouldn\u2019t be <i>him<\/i> she reunited with, even if she chose men who reminded her of him almost half the time\u2014and she\u2019d wanted to avoid any entanglements that would potentially prevent that from happening.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">An hour of meditating over her experiences finally calmed the part of him that wanted to unleash mayhem\u2014far too late to be of any use\u2014upon Kyra\u2019s tormentors, and finally made him feel like it was safe for other people to be around him again.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Okay. Time to deal with the other recruits\u2026 and then I think I need to talk to <b>her.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The group he\u2019d left in one of the suites adjacent to his rooms perked up as soon as he walked in.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe\u2019re picking Door Number One,\u201d one of them said. It was no surprise that <i>he<\/i> was their spokesman again. \u201cWe\u2019re all in. What do you need us to do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">All nine of them. Good. Everyone looked enthusiastic, too. Even better.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat I\u2019m about to do to each of you is gonna hurt. You braced for that?\u201d Making sure they knew that, were okay with that and <i>prepared<\/i> for it, was more important than ever suddenly.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI\u2019m in.\u201d Their leader stepped forward. He was in his early twenties at most, his dark brown skin hiding the corpselike pallor of a Necromonger, closely buzzed hair sporting tiny curls instead of the box braids Riddick had seen in Jack\u2019s memories. \u201cDo me first, whatever it is you need to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">One by one, he brought them back from their undead states. It got easier and easier each time, the pain of his conditioning eroding away. Finally, all nine of them were human again, revived and looking astounded.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cMan,\u201d the leader\u2014Antonio\u2014said, after the last conversion was undone, \u201cI had no idea what you were gonna do, but you could ask me to do <i>anything<\/i> now and I\u2019d be in. There\u2019s no way to thank you enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">His friends murmured agreements around them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThat\u2019s good to hear. Now, let me tell you why I picked you.\u201d He was feeling increasingly at ease, the darkness of Kyra\u2019s experiences retreating for the moment. \u201cYou remember, about five and a half years ago, a pair of girls coming out of the spaceport to talk to you about doing a special performance? One of them told you her brother had fucked up his relationship with his girlfriend\u2014Gina\u2014and she wanted you to serenade Gina on his behalf to help win her back?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He could see recognition spreading over their faces\u2026 and <i>delight.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cRemember?\u201d Antonio said as his face split into a huge grin. <i>\u201cDamn!<\/i> We made <i>so much scratch<\/i> that day thanks to her! Got some primo <i>gigs<\/i> out of it, too!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cPretty sure the lady we sang to had no clue what was going on, though,\u201d one of the women in the group\u2014Nichelle, a soprano\u2014laughed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAww, who cares?\u201d the group\u2019s tenor, a guy named Malik, laughed back. \u201cIt was still <i>gold<\/i>. How do <i>you<\/i> know about it, though, Sir?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThe girl who asked you to do it,\u201d he told them, \u201cis someone special to me. You\u2019ll get to see her again soon. I\u2019m wondering if you can put together a little show for her. And then maybe you can also be in charge of getting some actual <i>life<\/i> into this flying crypt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat\u2019s your friend\u2019s name?\u201d Antonio asked, grinning. \u201cWe\u2019ll need that for the show we put together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The name was an issue, wasn\u2019t it? There were multiple possibilities. But only one, he realized, that was safe to use, given who else was on board this ship. Everyone there already knew that he had been seeking his \u201cJack.\u201d Connecting that name to either of the others that popped into his head could be incredibly dangerous.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Jack it is,<\/i> he decided. He hoped she\u2019d go along with it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cShe liked to go by \u2018Jack\u2019 back then. That work for you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe\u2019re on it,\u201d Antonio promised. \u201cWhen do you need us to be ready?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cGimme a day. Still a few things left to do. And it\u2019s a surprise. I\u2019m gonna ask you to move into some of the suites right by mine, but not to cross paths with her until it\u2019s time for your performance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe need to worry about her overhearing?\u201d the group\u2019s contralto, Nomiki, asked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNah,\u201d he told them. \u201cThese walls are pretty thick stone. You should be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Weird thing for a spaceship\u2019s walls to be made of, now that he thought about it\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He took a few moments to talk to the crews getting the other suites ready and instruct them to determine with the team\u2014apparently called the Ennead Kids back when Jack had encountered them, and they\u2019d never changed the name\u2014how they wanted to arrange and divide up four of the suites between them. With five men and four women in the group, things might get tricky, so he told the crews to let him know if any additional rooms were needed. He\u2019d ordered almost the entire wing vacated after the first few assassination attempts against him, so there was space to spare. Soon, he told the crew leaders, the women who would occupy the remaining two suites would come to speak to them as well.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Okay. Enough dawdling,<\/i> he told himself. <i>You need to talk to Jack.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Yes,<\/i> Lucy said from somewhere nearby. <i>You have centered yourself in the light again.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He groaned. <i>There you go, talkin\u2019 about me like I\u2019m the good guy in this story\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Surely you don\u2019t believe that you\u2019re the villain of the piece?<\/i> There was a hint of both amusement and sadness behind her words.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">No wonder, he reflected, Kyra had said that she hated not being the bad guys. Jack had reflected on that, too, contemplating how much better the \u2019verse would be if only they were the worst villains in it\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">And now he needed to tell her. Fuck.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>C\u2019mon, you asshole,<\/i> he prodded himself. <i>This is Jack. She ain\u2019t gonna bite you unless you ask nice.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">But, he thought with a sinking heart, she might <i>cry<\/i> when she heard what he had to tell her. Hell, no \u201cmight\u201d about it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He forced himself to return to his quarters. By the time he reached the doors, there was no sign of his reluctance, his hesitation\u2026 no sign that he was in any way bothered by what he had to do next.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Four women were talking and laughing together as he walked in. Someone must have told a really funny joke, because it took them a moment to recover their composure. None of them looked at all discomfited by his entry, though.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He didn\u2019t bother asking what the joke was. He knew, from Jack\u2019s memories, just how raunchy women\u2019s conversations could get when no man was around, and he didn\u2019t feel like embarrassing them by making them explain it all to him.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack stood up and walked over to him, her smile bright, and gave him another hug. He held her close, not trying to hide just how much he needed to hold onto her for a spell.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Apparently they <i>all<\/i> could tell.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe should go for a while,\u201d Lola said, surprising him. He\u2019d expected her to start trying to run interference.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He lifted his face from where he\u2019d buried it in Jack\u2019s hair. \u201cI have a pair of suites being readied for you three. If you go talk to the crew preparing them, they can get things ready the way you want them. Talk to Olwyn or Jean-Paul. The guards outside know who they are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The three women filed out of the room without another word, leaving him alone with Jack.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cJust the three of them, huh?\u201d Jack asked him, her expression amused, not trying to pull back from the tight circle of his arms.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He nodded, still trying to decide what he should tell her first.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSo,\u201d she continued after a moment, \u201cI guess it\u2019s time for us to talk about things?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He nodded again, wishing he wasn\u2019t feeling so tongue-tied, wishing he dared open up his mind to her without all of the things that he never wanted her to know about pouring out amid the things he was struggling to say.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Her hand on his cheek was warm and gentle. \u201cShould we sit down?\u201d Her expression had taken on a look of concern.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He was choking on the words he needed to get out. Keeping her close, he walked over to the entry into the bedroom and led her through, sitting down on the edge of the bed with her beside him. \u201cThis\u2026 ain\u2019t easy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt\u2019s okay.\u201d The girl reached over and took his hand. \u201cWhatever it is, you can tell me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Deep breath\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Oh for fuck\u2019s sake, just <b>tell<\/b> her already\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt\u2019s about Kyra.\u201d He watched her as she nodded, her expression expectant. Oh fuck, this was gonna be bad. \u201cYou know I found her last year, right, when I was looking for you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cShe\u2026\u201d Fuck. <i>Just say it\u2026<\/i> \u201cShe was killed during my fight with the old Lord Marshal.\u201d He forced himself to meet Jack\u2019s eyes as he said it. \u201cShe\u2019s dead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack blinked, her expression becoming confused. In a moment, he was sure, her face would crumple as the pain hit. \u201cThat\u2019s\u2026 not possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt\u2019s the truth,\u201d he said in the gentlest voice he could manage.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The girl shook her head. \u201cNo, Riddick, I was with her just this morning. She\u2019s not dead. The <i>Apeiros<\/i> have her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Title: The Changeling Game (Formerly Identity Theft) Author: Ardath Rekha Chapter: 82\/? 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 82: \u201cThe Misnaming of the Rose\u201d","bgseo_description":"As Kyra\u2019s choices narrow in the years before, one false move results in an outcome that may be too ghastly for even Riddick to handle. Jack B. Badd to the rescue?","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-850","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\/850","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=850"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1132,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850\/revisions\/1132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}