EVE 2.0

As Eve's new lungs filled with life giving oxygen for the first time, her long slender arms stretched wide as if she awoke from a restful night's sleep. "Hey baby, it's good to see you." she said, peering up at Toombs standing over her as if it were any other ordinary morning. Then, as if turned to stone, she froze, caught in the realization she was whole again. Leaping to her feet as if suddenly possessed, she swirled the golden shroud around her midsection, hopping up and down like a giddy child.

A rhyming song spilled from her glistening lips like a child singing beneath a midsummer's sun. "I have my body back, so I can jump around. I have my voice back, so I can make a sound. My legs are back..." she shrieked, feeling them in utter disbelief.

Without the slightest warning, she dove at Toombs as if diving into the deep end of a pool. Spread eagle, her body sailed through the air, all four limbs outstretched. Eve wrapped her arms around his neck as the full weight of her new body struck him mid-chest, knocking him back against the nearby stasis pod. His knees buckled. Gravity reached up as she landed, straddling his torso. Pinned on his back, bruised skull throbbing beneath the rising welt, fueling the look of shock contorting his face, Toombs looked up helplessly.

She stretched her arms upward and said, "So I can jump down."

"Apparently, she didn't get your everyone just stay calm memo." Riddick whispered to Kearyn with a slanted grin. He was actually having a ball, watching her knock Toombs to the floor like a rag doll. He thought about doing just that at least a half a dozen times in the last hour.

Eve reached down, cupped Toombs' face in both hands, showered him in a barrage of slippery kisses as he studied the flying eagle birthmark on the top of her left hand. It's you, he thought. "You're alive." he said, barely getting out the word as a reverent silence stole his ability to express the thanks filling his aching chest.

Then, to Toombs and Riddick's surprise, a partially naked Eve jumped to her feet, shroud falling to the floor revealing a form fitting black armor beneath. Without warning, Eve's body transformed from skin to obsidian armor, both hard as rock and pliable as silk. She was, in a word, stunning.

"Neat trick," Riddick said, leaning towards Kearyn with a coy grin. "What's with the magic clothes?"

"Eve's new body has a biomorphic epidermis. And that is not fabric covering her; it is the most advanced bio-engineered armor ever created." Kearyn explained as Riddick stared back without expression.

"Shapeshifter, huh?" he said, head tilting to the side, as he inspected her seamless form "So... technically she's naked?"

Kearyn exhaled sharply, hot scowl contorting his leathery face, "Try to contain your exuberance."

"Naked clothing." Riddick thought aloud, studying every inch of her skin tight armor. "Where's the fun in that?"

"You will see for yourself, soon enough."

Riddick scanned the stars outside the med bay window. Kearyn's warning sparked a sense of foreboding. Something was out there.

Kearyn cleared his dry throat sharply, the rasping sound of mummified tissue grating across itself broke the hold Eve's backside had on Toombs love starved imagination. When Toombs met his eyes, Kearyn gestured for him to get off the floor and compose himself before Eve saw him staring up at her like a teenage schoolboy ogling a cheerleader doing a high kick. Toombs did so, rubbing his head and stretching his convulsing back.

"Baby." Riddick said, smirking at him.

Eve turned to the sound of Riddick's taunt, saw Kearyn standing beside him and shouted, "Kearyn!" Taking off at a frightening pace, arms opening wide, she ran at Kearyn. Riddick shoved him out of her path like a matador flourishing a cape just as the prize bull rushed past, missing its target by a fraction of an inch.

"Young lady," he warned, swinging around to throw a finger in her face. "Cut the shit before someone gets hurt." After hearing the words escape his mouth, he thought about the Reverend Mother and shook his head, wondering when he became the voice of reason. It made him feel old.

"Hey," she countered, with a protruding lower lip fit for a spoiled princess of three

"I only wanted a hug."

"Hug time can wait." he warned, ensuring Kearyn remained partially behind him until she calmed down.

"You're not my father, so you can't tell me what to do. You're not my father, so I say... F you." she sang, extending a finger of her own.

"Eve Logan, you come here this instant." Kearyn commanded, pointing at the floor in front of him like a displeased parent preparing to discipline a misbehaving child. Eve hesitated and Kearyn added, "Do not make me ask a second time."

Riddick laughed at Kearyn, remembering his days living at the orphanage. "You sound just like her."

"Thank you." Kearyn replied. "I can think of no higher compliment than being compared to a woman who dedicated most of her life to the wellbeing of children."

"Then, you were at the orphanage?"

"When I was a boy." Kearyn answered, staring through him at the memories of a childhood he had long put to rest.

Riddick laughed and said, "Was she old back then?"

"The first time we met the reverend mother was a frail old woman who knew me better than I knew myself; the second time, she was a young power hungry Necromonger queen filled with a desire to conquer the Universe."

Riddick's expression darkened. Kearyn had spoken blasphemy. He glared at him through slits, slammed his fist into the pods, denting its pristine surface. "That's a lie! She was never one of those..."

"Her belief in that faith was not of her doing." Kearyn said, realizing the tarnish he cast on the Reverend Mother. On the only mother Riddick had ever known. "They deceived her; much as they did you."

"I will never believe that." The former Lord Marshall said, knowing the history of the Necromongers hierarchy while he was their leader and never once heard of the Reverend Mother; young or old.

"I would not believe it myself, had I not witnessed her savagery and avarice with my own eyes."

"I don't believe you."

"You should, you have seen her treacherous misdeeds with your own eyes." Kearyn said, watching Riddick searching his memories, trying to piece together the truth for himself. "All you need to do is look at the night she brought you before the quasi-dead. You will find her waiting there covered in the scent of… What was it you said? Ah yes… the scent of beautiful."

"It can't be." he growled, remembering the night he met Lord Marshal Zhylaw after the battle for Helios Prime. Kearyn had used his own words to point him right at the memory he needed to prove the Reverend Mother was Dame Vaako. He saw the shadow of the old woman on the tight, smooth face of a woman he knew well. A woman he hated. The vision made his legs feel heavy and stomach flip round. How could it be true? How could the woman who tried to kill him repeatedly care for and protect him as a child?

"Therein lies the reason I will never tell you what you want. Your unwillingness to accept the truth prevents you from believing anything I tell you." Kearyn explained, still pointing at the spot on the floor. "Therefore, I must drag you both willingly and unwillingly beneath the light of truth."

"Kearyn," Eve said, breaking into their conversation soon to be heated and maybe even out-of-control conversation.

"Yes, my child."

"Why have I never seen your face?"

"Because it is hideous, my child. I must now and forever more keep myself hidden from a universe that would fear and hate me."

"Don't hide from me."

"As you wish." he said, pulling down his cloak revealing the withered face inside.

Eve stood transfixed on the emaciated form before her and, to everyone's surprise, especially Kearyn's, she leapt forward, hugging him around the neck and weeping. "I know what it feels like to be cut off from the world."

Kearyn wiped away her tears and said, "Weep, not for the piteous creature standing before you, my child. For it is a vessel of my creation."

Vessel, Riddick thought to himself.

"But why do this to yourself?"

"That I may atone for my sins and those of the evil that created me."

"You really are a holy man." Riddick said, shaking his head.

"Was there ever any doubt?"

Eve placed her head on Kearyn's chest and said, "Thank you for all you have done for me. I don't deserve it."

Kearyn stroked her hair. "I did no more for you than I would do for my own child." He said, looking at Toombs. He gestured at the nearby pod and added, "Alexander, if you would be so kind as to check on the second pod to ensure it is still in working order. Eve's awakening was exuberant."

"Sure," he replied, heading towards the pod.

"You will want to help him see to the wellbeing of the person inside as well." he said to Riddick, still pointing at the adjacent pod. "In fact, she is the reason I sought you out. Much in the way Alexander needed my help to save Eve, I need your help to save her."

"I came for information." Riddick said with a scowl. "Not to help fight your Necro battles."

"Indeed," Kearyn admitted. "However, before you refuse the request, I suggest you look inside the pod. I believe the occupant may interest you." Kearyn stepped away from Eve, gestured to a nearby table and said, "Please Eve, have a seat on the examination table, I need to check your progress to ensure your... makeover is complete."

"Who is she?" Eve asked, making her way past a hesitant Riddick.

"She is my..." Kearyn paused, as if the last word was too painful to speak.

Riddick walked to the pod, stared through the view port and whispered to himself, "He was right. She is still alive."

Toombs looked from the pod's observation port to Riddick. He recognized the young auburn hair woman inside from Crematoria, but he did not know who she was.

"This can't be true!" Riddick fumed. "She died in my arms. I watched the light fade from her eyes." Riddick's stomach tightened, his breathing quickened, and the room spun around him as the guilt of that moment - the moment of Kera's death - circled him like vultures picking away pieces of his soul. He didn't want to admit he caused her death; the death of another person he loved.

"Who is he talking about?" Eve asked.

"Kera," Riddick answered. "But this isn't her; It can't be her." He peered in through the glass, blue streams trickling down his cheeks, raw energy drawn from his eyes by the uncontrolled guilt swimming through his guts. "She's dead, Damn you. What have you done?"

"You are wrong. Kera did not die that day. She was only near death." Kearyn explained, helping Eve onto the examination table. "However, thanks to Siberious Vaako's wife, we can still rescue her from her captivity."

"She did this."

"No." Kearyn answered. "The Reverend Mother had nothing to do with Kera's current condition. That was- fortunately for Kera- all Dame Vaako's doing."

"I'll kill that concubine bitch for this."

"Kill the sinner; kill the saint." he replied, shaking his head at him. "How many more need die because you act without thinking of the consequences?"

"GOD DAMMIT!" he raged, driving a blackened fist deep into the steel wall plating the hull. The imprint oozed blue blood that dripped down the wall, fizzing and peeling the paint as it stretched almost to the floor. "So... this thing... whatever it is… it isn't her."

"That is no more Kera," Kearyn explained, gesturing towards Eve, "Then this body would be Eve, had I not placed Eve's consciousness within it." He looked at Eve's momentary shock and added, "A few minor upgrades, my child. But you are still you."

"It's empty?"

"For the time being." Kearyn replied, continuing his examination of Eve. "But if Kera is to survive, her spirit will have to do so in that body. Her current resting place has become… untenable."

"And how do you plan to get her into this thing?"

"Unfortunately, spiritual transference is not a gift my father passed to me."

"Then who can?"

Kearyn smiled at him. "Before we get to that, I believe we may want to rescue her from where she is being held."

Riddick remembered his vision of Vaako on Pegrino 3. "Being held?" he asked, already knowing the Necromongers had her and he would have to confront his tormentor to get her back. Everything Vaako told him in his vision was coming true. He knew where they were going and what he would have to do.

As Kearyn examined Eve, he spoke with Riddick. "In all the time you spent living as one of them, as their high and mighty Lord Marshall, why did you never try to learn more about their perverse fascination with death?"

"Fear and loathing," he replied. "They feared what I might make them do, and I loathed them for taking her from me."

"But surely you must have suspected they would try to kill you."

"Absolutely." he said with a smile. "They did. It was the only fun I had the whole time I was there."

"That's your idea of fun?" Eve asked, watching the blue blood etch away the paint.

"It's my idea of cleansing the Universe of scum." Riddick replied as the lights in the room dimmed. His darkening skin drew energy directly from the ship's batteries. "Whether it's one by one or a thousand at a time, the Universe is better off without their rotten stench filling its nose."

"Nonetheless," Kearyn interjected. "Did you actually believe they would allow you to mock their beliefs? Your hatred of what they did to her, weakened their growing foothold on the Galaxy and by refusing the position you earned with spilled blood, you set us all on this course."

Riddick reeled around, chrome eyes blazing bluish fire. "I asked no one to follow me. And I told Kera to stay away from me. I never wanted this. I never wanted to be responsible for another life."

"I can see how the events on Sigma 3 clouded your judgement." Kearyn replied, shining a light into Eve's eyes. "Much of what has transpired sunset then is not your fault. But it falls to you to fix it."

"What would you know about Sigma 3?" Riddick asked, his words carrying a tone of warning.

Kearyn ignored his veiled threat and answered, "Like the Reverend Mother said, true knowledge only comes from seeing. And at my age, I have seen so very many things. Things that would make lesser men fail."

"So, what comes next?" Eve blurted.

"My dear girl, I would hope you are not one of those who cannot wait for the climax."

"Oh," Toombs said, with a coy grin. "She can wait for the..."

"How about not finishing that sentence?" Kearyn snapped, throwing a rubber hammer at Toombs head. He dodged, and Eve snickered.

"Real smooth, Merc." Riddick said, shaking his head.

"Be honest with yourself." Kearyn said, continuing Eve's examination. "You left her with Imam because you knew she adored you. So, you ran off to your frozen wasteland because you couldn't understand how a girl you barely knew could make you care about anything again."

"Not true." Riddick replied, turning towards the window.

"It is not your fault. At least, not all of it. The thought that you may feel again terrified you. After the events you put in motion on Sigma 3, you swore no one you loved would ever die again."

"Bullshit."

"There was something else, though, wasn't there?"

Riddick said nothing.

"Admit it. You saw a piece of your demon in her." Kearyn said, absentmindedly squeezing Eve's forearm. "You saw it when she murdered Antonia Chillingsworth." he continued, throwing up a dismissive hand. "But it was already too late. And your refusal to acknowledge that connection led to this point." Eve sat on the exam table, eyes closed, arms stretched wide, alternately touching her index fingers to the tip of her nose in rapid succession. Kearyn tapped her leg, signalling for her to stop and said, "You knew Kera had the heart of a warrior."

"I didn't want this life for her." Riddick protested, furrowed brows signalling his guilt. "She still had a chance at a normal life."

"Who are you to say what is normal?"

Riddick protested, but Kearyn cut him off. "I was there when Kera killed Antonia, I saw the beast in her eyes, And I saw the expressions on your and Imam's faces when you both saw it too."

"What are you talking about, holyman? There was no one there but us." Riddick spat through a grimace of doubt.

"Arrogant bastard. You do not know what powers I wield. Did you really think you were the only one who walks in darkness?" Kearyn picked up a small rubber mallet and tapped Eve's knee harder than intended, launching her foot sharply into his groin.

"Sorry," she said, brows raised as the look of shock distorted her face.

"That form of attack lost its potency long ago." he reassured her. "While I commend your efforts to shield Kera from your... darker influence. The moment your paths crossed on M6-117, and you told her the tale of how you had your eyes shined, you set her on a course leading straight to her demise."

"I tried to make her understand it wasn't safe to be around me."

"And I thank you for that. A lesser man would not have cared." Kearyn replied, placing the flashlight down beside Eve as its beam illuminated Riddick's face. "But the beast had awoken within her and there was no putting it back in the cage."

"Look… look what I've done to her." Riddick said, peering into the pod.

"I want eyes like his." Eve said, watching Riddick's pupils flash.

"If he ever tells you a story about 20 Menthol Cools, don't believe it." Kearyn told Eve, turning to frown at Riddick as he tapped her other knee with a rubber mallet. "You do not know the bond you share with Kera. Although, I believe you feel the power of that connection in every fiber of your being, even if you are unwilling to admit it."

"Just tell me what they did to her and how we can get her back."

"If Vaako could not kill you; he would have to control you."

"He could try."

"And try, he did." Kearyn countered, returning to his examination. "That is where Dame Vaako's plan to use Kera against you came into play. Fortunately for Kera, she was well aware of the connection you share."

"Fortunately." Riddick repeated the word, his sudden rigid posture hinting at his disapproval of the word.

"Had Kera been anyone else, she would be beyond our reach. She would be dead." Kearyn explained. "But even in a state of near death, your enemies knew her imminent demise would benefit them in the future. That is why Lady Vaako instructed Krone to place Kera in a quasi-chamber before she died and why, neither of them tried to kill you after he did."

"So. She is dead." The lights dimmed, Riddick's skin darkened, and the anger spreading through his bulging veins electrified the air like a thunderstorm growing on the horizon.

"Physically Yes." Kearyn replied, teetering head signalling there may yet be a chance of hope. "Although her spirit remains trapped on this plane."

Riddick glared at Kearyn, overwhelmed by his need to strike out at anything Necromonger. He walked over and grabbed his cloak. "What aren't you telling me." he demanded.

"The consequences for dying beneath a death shroud are severe." Kearyn explained. The tone of his voice warned none would like what they heard next. "Such an unholy act traps a victim's soul on this plain."

"But what about you?" Eve asked. "You died beneath a shroud."

Riddick stared at Kearyn, anger and hatred for all things Necromonger searing his guts like a wildfire consuming a thousand acres of dry tundra. His mortal enemies had murdered the woman he thought of as a kid sister, and the thought left him buried beneath a planet of guilt.

Kearyn looked to Eve, opened his cloak exposing the skeletal form beneath and explained, "When a soul becomes trapped within its own corpse for too long the spirit within, wanting to survive, feeds on its own cage." Kearyn let his cloak fall shut, turned to Riddick and added, "I fear, if we remove her shroud now; her spirit will cease to exist."

Riddick's tenuous demeanor belayed the maelstrom of frantic emotions swirling through his brain. "I presume you have a plan that doesn't involve losing her?"

"I do." Kearyn admitted with a nod. "In fact, I created this body so you could place Kera's soul in it." He threw up a gloved hand, cutting him off before he could protest. "I know you cannot do that, currently. But I also know you have seen a soul torn from its host before."

"Yeah." Riddick replied with an ominous look. "Zhylaw tore some guy's soul right out of his chest. Didn't look like an enjoyable experience. Although, it rallied the new recruits around their leader."

"You've gotta be shittin' me." Toombs blurted as everyone in the room turned to him in unison. He pointed at Kearyn and continued, "I asked why we came out here and, he said…" Toombs raised his hands, made quotation marks in the air and announced, "We're waiting."

"You should have your meds checked." Riddick said. "They're not working."

"And." Toombs continued as his look of proud peacock melted in the heat of Riddick's glare. "We didn't just come out here to complete Eve's treatment or meet in secrecy; we came out here because he found an alternate entrance into the underverse."

"And." Eve said.

"And...it's simple. Kearyn wants to give Zhylaw's powers to him. Then we can return to the armada, rescue Kera and have him place her spirit in this body."

Riddick desperately wanted to believe it was all an elaborate scheme conjured up to trick him into dropping his guard. But somewhere deep in the swirling pit of his flopping stomach, he knew it was the only way to save Kera. "Your plan is to turn me into the one thing I despise the most. A Lord marshal. You want me to become king of the fucking Necros. The high scum of half-deads."

"I assure you, if you want to save the girl, you will accept the gifts that are tours for the taking."

"And, if I don't want them?"

Kearyn gestured at the hatch and said, "Then your ship is but a few short paces away. By all means, if you run now, you may get back to Planet UV before the cold season ends."