"Infinite Darkness" - Part Three

 

Part Three

            It was the perfect trap.

            There was no telling which shadow was a regular one and which was the Vashta Nerada. Neither Mandy nor Fry ventured the risk of sorting them out. Still, they had to escape from the cavern before the one column of light they stood within shifted and left them to the shadows.

            Suddenly, a line dropped in front of them. “Grab hold!” a voice echoed through the spire above.

            It was Johns, who gave Mandy and Fry a way out of the domain.

            They wasted no time in climbing to freedom.

            Realizing Riddick was right about the Vashta Nerada – the real culprits of Zeke’s murder, he was immediately exonerated and released. Mandy enlisted in his help, along with the other Hunter survivors, to find Westlake. “There’s an abandoned geological research settlement not far from here,” he told Mandy and the group.

            “And how do you know about it?” the suspicious Johns questioned.

            “Because I found it with the rest of you the last time I was here,” Riddick divulged.

            “You still feedin’ that nonsense about bein’ from the future?” Johns ridiculed.

            “Mr. Johns,” Mandy addressed, “I think we’ve established the possibility of Mr. Riddick telling the truth with the Vashta Nerada on this planet, in addition to those creatures that almost attacked me and Captain Fry.”

            “Don’t worry about the Bioraptors,” Riddick advised. “They’ve already been devoured by the Vashta. Watch the shadows once we’re at the settlement…and then we can get off this planet as soon as possible.”

            “Other than the obvious threats, what’s your hurry?” Johns inquired.

            Riddick pointed towards the horizon, indicating the larger planets that orbited the one they were on. One such planet – that reminded Mandy and Clarence of Saturn – was the biggest of them all, and it began to eclipse one of the three suns. “Pretty soon, all three of those suns are going to be blocked out by the other planets, putting us in a prolonged eclipse. When that happens, we’ll be easy pickings for our shadow friends.” He then added as a reminder, “Oh, and be sure to bring power cells for when we get to the settlement.”

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            It took close to two hours to reach the research settlement Riddick spoke of. It was exactly as he described, especially the “abandoned” part. The only one there was Westlake, secluded in the shadows (the ones that weren’t yet claimed by the Vashta Nerada), driven even madder from the harsh environment of the planet. “I DON’T BELONG HERE!” he bellowed through his bandages. “The light…it doesn’t stop…too much…there’s too much!”

            “I know, Peyton, I know,” Mandy calmed him. “But you can’t hide in the shadows – it’s too dangerous.”

            “Yeah, Mr. Darkman,” Clarence pitched in. “You’ll get eaten up!”

            “Then where should I hide?!?!” Westlake roared.

            In the midst of Westlake’s rantings, Imam had wandered about the settlement in search for one of his missing acolytes. When he had no luck on his own, he approached Riddick, Johns, Fry, and Mandy and asked, “Has anyone seen the young one? Ali?”

            Suddenly, a scream rang out from another part of the settlement.

            It was soon followed by another.

            Fry noticed in that moment that Shazza, Suleiman, Paris, and Jack were also absent among them. The screams could have come from any of them. And then, Paris and Jack emerged from around the corner, running as if their very lives depended on it. “We’re being attacked!” Jack alarmed.

            “By what?” Johns asked.

            “You wouldn’t believe us if we told you,” Paris huffed.

            “Try me,” Johns challenged.

            “Alright – we’re being attacked by moving statues…angel statues, to be precise,” Paris told him. “Angel statues with wings.”

            Johns scoffed. “You’re right. I don’t believe you.”

            Hearing Paris’ description of the attackers, Riddick and Mandy responded accordingly. “We need to leave now!” the latter suggested.

            “And go where?” Johns balked. “What can a statue do to us?”

            Just as he asked that, the statue itself materialized seemingly out of nowhere close nearby. Mandy and Riddick got an eyeful of it, neither of them blinking once. It was the same purple angel statue that they both encountered. “You know how they say ‘It can only get worse from here’?” Riddick asked before pointing skyward.

            Mandy noticed how quickly it started to get dark.

            The eclipse arrived much sooner than expected.

            “How long is it supposed to last?” Johns found himself consulting with Riddick.

            “60 years,” Riddick said.

            Johns frowned. “You kiddin’ me?!” In his frustration, Johns unholstered his handgun and opened fire on the angel statue. None of his shots had any effect on it; every single bullet simply ricocheted off the angel’s heavily durable structure. Johns could barely believe it. “What’s this thing made of?!”

            The angel was the only thing blocking their access to the Skiff, a light-duty vehicle of hybrid technology – part bush plane, part space craft. It was in a state of disrepair with wind-torn fabric wings but an intact hull. It had no power cells, which was why Riddick insisted on some being brought along – he knew the Skiff (their only way off the planet) was there.

            There was only one place in the outpost for them to go: the coring room. It was the area with the most resilient doors.

            “Into the coring room now!” Mandy instructed.

            They rushed inside with her, following her lead.

            She used her sonic screwdriver to unlock the doors, allowing herself, Riddick, Clarence, Westlake, Johns, Fry, Imam, and Jack inside. Paris lagged behind; unfortunately, before he could reach the coring room doors, he was claimed by the darkness rapidly falling over the outpost. In seconds, his clothes and flesh were wiped clean off his bones.

            With Paris claimed by the Vashta Nerada, Mandy was left with no choice but to leave his skeletal remains out in the dark, sealing off the coring room with her sonic. There was a single overhead light that kept the room illuminated; however, there was a feeble amount of electricity running through it, causing it to blink in and out. At the center of the room was a vertical coring drill, a relic of the outpost’s former purpose.

            “We can’t stay holed up in here for sixty years, with those things outside!” Johns grumbled. His tone managed to frighten Clarence more than he already was, weeping into Mandy’s hip.

            “Mr. Johns, compose yourself!” she ordered him. “Not all hope is lost.”

            “OH, NO!” Fry suddenly yelped. Everyone turned her direction to see what she was so jumpy about, discovering that the purple angel had somehow breached the coring room. She and Johns attempted again at firing, and again it had no effect.

            The overhead light blinked out momentarily.

            When it blinked back on, the survivors found themselves swarmed by more angel statues – ones that were slate grey. They were average Weeping Angels to Mandy, and they were just as dangerous as the purple one – the Anti-Angel. Initially, Mandy believed all the Angels were leagued in together.

            That was before the Anti-Angel unleashed a wave of Nuage Energy that rendered all the Weeping Angels to dust. It was a perplexing attack, one that convinced Mandy that the Anti-Angel was acting as a rogue. Before she could analyze on it further, the Anti-Angel sought advantage from the blinking overhead light, moving in on the survivors.

            In one blink, they were sent away from the coring room and back outside.

            And yet, something was different about the atmosphere.

            The eclipse was gone. The neighboring ringed planet no longer orbited from the horizon. And instead of three suns, only one hovered in the sky, scorching another desolate planetary surface.

            “This isn’t where we were, a second ago,” Fry observed.

            “Which begs the question: where are we?” Johns asked.

            Riddick, on the other hand, recognized the new planet they were stranded on. Sullenly, he answered Johns, “Not-Furya.”