The Sun's Radiance

Chapter Three

speech that is italicized is telepathically spoken. Thoughts also happen to be italicized but, you know, speech is in quotations while thoughts are not.

"Up. They're going to leave without you. And Johns is less than pleased with the turn of events." A whispered voice in my ear. It's been awhile since I've heard from you.

I intentionally roll off from the venting I was sleeping on top of and make my way out, placing my coat into my bag. When I get outside, one of the prospectors is putting a gun into his belt. Johns starts walking towards the singular blue sun. Fry, Imam, and his children start after him. A ghostly figure lays a hand on my shoulder and walks backwards into the cargo hold. It's nice they didn't tell me they were leaving.

I jog a few steps to catch up to everyone else. We walk in barren silence until we get to the hills. Some rocks tumble down the hill. Johns immediately pulls his gun and looks around the hill tops. Imam's children start throwing rocks back up the hill that the original one fell down.

Imam and Fry are talking, Johns is climbing a hill. I expand my consciousness to the surrounding area. There are a multitude of creatures under our feet. Riddick isn't anywhere nearby. A sudden spike of fear. My head turns in that direction. Fry. Johns pointed a gun at her.

"You told the others your name is Auri, yes?"

I jump slightly as Imam's voice pulls me back. I open my eyes to look at him. "Yes, I did." I brush some hair behind my ear before putting it back. "I don't think we have officially yet, though."

"Right, I am Abu al-Walid. You may call me Imam. These are my wards, Suleiman, Hassan and Ali." He points to each boy as they are introduced.

I bow slightly, "a pleasure to meet you all."

"If I may, what were you doing before I spoke to you?"

"You may. I was listening."

Imam pauses, "I don't hear anything."

"Exactly. This place is dead for a reason, aside from all the radiation and heat from the suns. I don't think we want to stick around to find out why."

~~

We eventually make our way to what everyone had thought were trees, but even plants have some kind of capacity for thought. The bones. They were huge. Larger than any beast these people have probably seen. They must have been something else. How would the spines connect? Did they have legs or did they slither, like a snake? Was the planet always barren? If so, how long could they go without eating? Carnivores, omnivores, herbivores?

I climb into a skull as Johns passes below, searching for Riddick. I can fit inside the medullary cavity, the bones are so large. I peer into the bone, moving my head a little inside of it to take full advantage of my odd ability to see in the dark. Free of creatures. Good. I slide into cavity feet first. There's a break in the spine. I can see Riddick standing there with a shiv. Fry is sitting on the other side of the rib cage.

Riddick backs away as Johns comes around the skull of the thing. His head tilts up to where I am currently sitting. I almost have to wiggle my way through the break. I hang there. I'm not tall enough to reach the ground without making noise.

Riddick is still looking at me but seems less than inclined to help. I brush his mind and enter it surprisingly easily. "Get over here and help me."

"And why should I?"

What a surprise. "You do wish to continue listening to them right?"

He walks silently over to me and wraps an arm around my waist. I am then gently set on the ground. The arm Riddick has around me stays, keeping me against him.

Please don't do anything further. Please don't do anything further. Please don't do anything further. I take a slow, deep breath.

"I've never seen a captain so ready to leave her ship." Johns says.

"I think we should keep moving." Fry tries to redirect the conversation and step away, but Johns stops her.

"What did Owens mean about not touching the handle? It's just between you and me, Carolyn. I promise."

She shakes her head. "I'm not your captain. During the landing, when things were at their worst, Owens was at his best. He's the one that stopped the docking pilot from dumping the main cabin. The passengers."

"And the docking pilot being?"

Fry doesn't give an answer. That bitch. Tried to kill me. All to save herself. A fruitless endeavor, she'll die one way or the other.

"I guess I'm a little more glad to be here than I thought." Johns drops his hat onto Fry's head as they walk off, a bottle a alcohol left behind to glisten in the sun.