A/N: Thanks to dragynfyre18, Alyce DreamEater, Flowerchild23, Gremlin Jack, shadowoftheblackdeat, Pirateweasel, WendyLeaf, BrySt1, Bloody-Asphode11 and two guests for their kind comments! Wow. I think this is the first time I got so many comments for one chapter, in all of my stories.

I wrote this down on Word in less that 30 minutes! Well... I had already written it all on a sheet of paper, which makes my achievement somewhat less impressive...

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So, this is super cool. The new spaceship that has arrived is the one who's probably coming to save us all. The people who came out of it earlier (I've counted them properly this time, and there are six of them) are rounding up everyone, and from what I can guess, asking for our help in carrying stuff around. A lot of the people I've seen and interacted with, the ones from the broken spaceship, are grumbling and stuff because they're being forced to carry heavy objects.

What they are doing is basically taking things from the second spaceship, the recent arrival, to the first. It's all electronics and stuff, so it must be for repairs. One guy from the second spaceship tried to make me do something useful, except when he realized I couldn't understand a word out of his mouth, he basically just left me alone. I believe he told his colleagues to do so too, because nobody has bothered me since.

I look around and, since I don't know what to do, I wonder if I should just go back into the spaceship, as there's less sun there. Right now I'm sweating way too much and I prefer avoiding any more burning sunrays before I begin stinking the whole place up with my body odours.

Unfortunately, everybody is moving about in the first spaceship, the one that crash landed. So, in order to be in peace, I decide to head towards the second one. In case I'm not allowed to go there (I wouldn't know, since, well, duh. No English), I'll just play the 'clueless foreigner' card, and hopefully they'll let me go. I don't think I'm doing anything terrible, and I'd rather head towards the new spaceship that is virtually empty of people, than enter the first one, full of people moving about and carrying stuff.

Discretely, I head for the second spaceship, making sure no one sees me, because while I think that I'm not doing anything wrong, it might be, not-allowed or even against the law to enter a repair spaceship (help-spaceship? Whatever are they called?), and I'd rather not be scolded, thank you very much.

You might ask yourself: Why am I going in if it might not be allowed?

The answer? This desert is killing me, and I need out of this heat.

Nobody sees me. I go inside and notice immediately that this spaceship is fundamentally different from the one I woke up in, when I first came to this strange, futuristic land. It… Well, this ship is smaller, for one, and there's a lot less space. I don't see any of those rooms with those plexiglass coffins, and the walls are covered in leather belts with buckles and stuff, like some kind of leatbelts in case of turbulence.

I look around, not knowing what to do to occupy my mind.

Generally, I always bring a book, or my phone, with me whenever I leave the house, even if it's just to buy some groceries. I love reading, you see, and I'm one of those that read ginormous texts in no time at all, literally devouring it all. That is why, as I am right now… It is not something I am used to. My phone has very little battery, and I didn't think to bring a book.

Though luck.

I move about inside the ship, and try to find a nice place to sit down. It's dark, and I have trouble seeing clearly (my glasses are dusty), so I simply settle down on the floor. As I do so, I accidently disturb somebody. I look over, a "désolée" already on my lips, when I see a boy there.

Oops. I might've unknowingly sat on his hand.

"Sorry," I say.

The boy says something. It takes a few seconds for me to realize what it is:

"It's okay."

I think he just said 'no problem', or a variant. The word 'okay' is in it, so it can't be anything else.

Time to use my fantastic English skills to make a good first impression.

"Hello!" I chirp, smiling brightly.

I must've committed some sort of faux-pas, because the boy looks at me like I'm deranged. I attempt to rectify this by pointing at myself, and saying my name.

The boy points at himself and says, very slowly (as if talking to a child):

"Jack."

Uh. This is all very 'Me Tarzan, you Jane'.

The kid looks kind of cute in a kid-ish way, and appears to be in his early teens, at most. We shake hands, and just as we do so, the whole ship starts moving. I fall down, and the boy, Jack, nearly does the same. Luckily, he manages to catch himself on time to avoid flattening me. He has managed to grip one of the countless thick belts hanging off the walls for support.

The ship is moving.

Why?!

Don't tell me… We're taking off?!

I barely have the time to let out a little gasp, before I feel it. The ship disconnecting from the ground, going up in the air. I didn't mean for this to happen. Why is the ship flying away? Nobody came back in it, and they haven't finished repairing the first ship! So why? Nobody should be in it, except for me and the kid!

Jack seems just as surprised as me. It could mean that either he is completely ignorant, or, this ship isn't supposed to be flying away.

I finally manage to get back back up on my two feet.

"You okay?" I ask the boy (Jack, have to remember his name, Jack).

Gosh, I really hope my English is understandable enough.

Jack nods, and he heads towards a door next to us. I don't know where it leads off to, but Jack seems to know what he's doing, so I follow. He presses on some sort of keypad next to it, and the door opens.

We enter a slightly larger room. I see it is the piloting room, to command the spaceship. Seated in the pilot's ship is the bald man, the one with the strange… sun-goggles. And he's piloting the ship, away from the planet we were on.

Abruptly, the man becomes aware of our presence, and so he lobs something at us from over his shoulder. I barely move in time to avoid an enormous knife. It sinks, inches from being hilt-deep, into the metal wall. God, I don't want to know how much strength that took.

I squeak, extremely scared.

"What are you doing?!" asks Jack. "This, this ship isn't supposed to leave! The others still need things off it!"

The slave, who is still piloting, says:

"I wasn't planning on waitin', kid."

His voice is super deep, a beautiful bass that makes me, as a member of a choir and Soprano, want to hear him sing. Unfortunately, it would be rude if I asked the man to sing for me. And it would be creepy.

I don't get what's happening. I just know that the slave has an a-may-zing voice.

Jack seems enraged, and yet happy at the same time. I didn't know that mix was possible. He's looking at the slave in awe, as if the man is something special (yes, he has a great voice, but he can't be that exceptional, right?), and at the same time, the tone of Jack's voice shows his anger. He's very unhappy indeed, with something beyond my comprehension.

"You've doomed them all! They will die on that planet!" Jack shouts.

The man simply scoffs.

"It's them, or me. Guess which I chose?"

"You can't just do that!" Jack says, looking personally betrayed. "That's…" He doesn't seem to be able to find the right word. "That's mean."

"Tell me, boy, what, exactly, did you expect? I'm a criminal, on the run. Did you really think I'd allow those people the chance to come after me? There's a reason why I was put behind bars, and that ain't 'cause I'm all about saving puppies and smiling and shit."

From where I am, I can see a faint smirk on his face. Still, it doesn't help me in the least when it comes to guess the topic of conversation.

Jack seems to have lost his words. He opens his mouth soundlessly, and nothing comes out but air.

I decide to interrupt this, because it feels tense and angry, as if Jack is about to start shrieking like a girl at the slave.

"Hello," I say, trying to smile brighter than when I'd introduced myself to Jack (because that last time hadn't gone too well). Like previously, I introduce myself by pointing at my body and saying my name. Then, I add for his benefit: "No speak English."

The bald man turns around, just for a second. His earlier smirk is still present on his face, and he looks even more amused.

"What is this?" he asks. He looks me up and down, then turns to Jack. "Is she one of those… slow people?"

"Don't talk about her like that!" says Jack. "It's not her fault; she doesn't speak English."

Well, apparently my try at dissolving the tension didn't work, because they're still fighting. But just as I've nearly given up on trying for a discussion, the man looks at me again, and says:

"Richard. Richard Riddick."

I recognize 'Richard'. It's a name. And I have heard 'Riddick' a lot – is it his surname? Or something else? Since I am not sure, and it would be rude to call him 'Riddick' if it is not his surname, I decide for a compromise.

"Hello Richard!" I say, my smile back on my face again.

The man snorts, as if I've said the funniest thing in the world.

"Yeah," he says. "Real bright, that one."

Since, from his amused expression, I must've made a good impression, I simply beam wider.

This room has a huge rectangular window. Since the room is circular, the window basically shows outer-space from every side but where the door Jack and I came in from is. If I angle my head just right, I can see the desertic planet I was on barely moments ago. It's grown very small.

Suddenly, I feel very scared indeed. What will happen to me now? Where am I going to go? How will I feed myself? Where will I sleep? I won't be on this ship forever – at some point, we will land, and I will be stranded in a populated area, without money, food or lodgings.

I can't even convey my distress to these people due to the language barrier. Jack is only a child, and won't be able to do much. But Richard seems like a nice, understanding man. Being a slave himself, he must know how it is, to live with no money, and could probably help me. But he looks so very intimidating. I can barely form a coherent English sentence, and I don't think I'd have it in me to ask for his help.

I also wish to ask… well… Where are we going? But, stuck with my French, I can't do anything.

Jack and Richard are arguing again. I feel put out, and excluded from the conversation. I don't want to let it show. Instead, I head for the door, to return to the other room. I open it, and turn to the two others.

"Buh-bye!" I say.

And, funnily enough, Jack looks at me and Richard twists around from the pilot's chair to do the same, and they both hold the exact same incredulous expressions, as if I did something completely unreal.

I give a little awkward wave, wiggling my fingers at Richard, who's eyebrows are climbing even higher up, and leave the room.