PITCH BLACK

     He looks for Pilgrim #3 but can't spot him. And when he turns
     back to the skull -- a face is staring through the combing. But
     it's only...

     INT. SKULL - BONEYARD - DAY

     Pilgrim #3, inside the skull. Johns enters and chases him out.
     About to leave, Johns notices...

     Bone-chippings piled on the ground. It could be nothing, but
     still...

     Johns double-checks shadows, probing with the muzzle of his
     shotgun. Satisfied, Johns exits. Now BOOM UP to reveal...

     Riddick. Hidden in a sinus cavity.

     EXT. SKULL - BONEYARD - DAY

     Trailing the others, Fry pauses to change out the O2 on her
     breather.

     INT. SKULL - BONEYARD - DAY

     Riddick drops to the ground. His arms and hands are now pierced
     with shards of boneyard ivory -- fashionable little body talons.
     Spotting a shadow on the combing, he draws closer. And sees Fry.
     Alone.

     EXT. SKULL - BONEYARD - DAY

     Johns doubles back to Fry. He takes a hit of scotch, offers her
     some.

                              FRY
               Probably makes it worse. Dehydrates you
               even more.

                              JOHNS
               Probably right.

     They drink anyway. Moving out of the sun, Fry leans up against
     the combing. It brings her within arm's length of...

     INT. SKULL - BONEYARD - DAY

     Riddick. He pulls a bone-shiv, freshly chiseled.

                              JOHNS (O.S.)
               You know, I woulda played road dog for
               these guys. You could've stayed back.
               Pro'bly should've -- because, you know,
               if we don't find water....

     "We may not make it back."

                              FRY (O.S.)
               No, no, I wanted to get away.

                              JOHNS (O.S.)
               So I noticed. Never seen a "captain"
               quite so ready to leave her ship.

     Just as Riddick eases his blade toward Fry's neck...

     EXT. SKULL - BONEYARD - DAY

     She steps away.

                              FRY
               Better keep moving....

                              JOHNS
               What'd Owens mean? 'Bout not touching
               the switch?

     Fry searches his eyes, wondering if she can trust him -- and
     again she leans back on the combing. We can actually see Riddick
     now. They could too, if they would just TURN THE FUCK AROUND!

                              JOHNS (CONT'D)
               Hey. You can tell me, Carolyn.

                              FRY
               Promise me. Swear to me you won't --

                              JOHNS
               You see anybody else here? Just between
               you and me.

                              FRY
               During the landing...when things were
               at their worst...Owens was at his best.
               He's the one who wouldn't let the pilot
               dump the passenger cabin.

     Johns blinks, stunned. "Are you shittin' me?"

     INT. SKULL - BONEYARD - DAY

     Trying again, Riddick reaches out with his shiv -- and deftly
     slices off some of Fry's hair. A locket. A souvenir. That's
     all he wanted.

                              FRY (O.S.)
               So now you know.

                              JOHNS (O.S.)
               Fuck. Guess I'm more glad to be here than
               I thought.

     Riddick watches them move off -- then looks at the scotch bottle,
     left behind. It's still got one good swallow.

     EXT. START OF GAUNTLET - DAY

     Leaving the boneyard, the scouting party reaches a cleft in the
     hills. Ahead is a canyon.

                              JOHNS
               Hold up.

     He jumps onto a rock, puts the scope to an eye.

                              JOHNS (CONT'D)
               Didn't bite.

                              FRY
               What?

                              JOHNS
               Thought he might be coolin' it in the
               boneyard -- could either double-back to
               the ship or slip in behind us. So I left
               the bottle out as bait.

     SCOPE POV: PANNING the boneyard. FINDING the bottle. It's
     still got that one swallow.

                              JOHNS (CONT'D)
               But nah. Didn't bite.

     EXT. BONEYARD - DAY

     CLOSER on the bottle. Only we see that the scotch has been
     emptied -- and replaced with sand.

     EXT. GRAVE SITE - SPIRED HILLS - DAY

     Working under the shade of a tarp, Zeke digs a communal grave.
     Three wrapped corpses wait nearby. He keeps a sight-line on...

     The crash ship. Shazza waves. Zeke waves back.

     EXT. RIBCAGE - THE GAUNTLET - DAY

     The scouting party transits a narrowing canyon. Lined with rib
     bones, it makes us feel like we're in the belly of some beast.

     Fry squints at the ridgetops. More of those spires are visible
     on the canyon rims, looming like silent sentinels. "What are
     they? Just mineral deposits?"

                              PILGRIM #1
               Captain...captain....

     The Chrislams have found what appears to be a small desert plant.
     Leathery petals are spread wide, revealing a round stringy core.
     ARABIC DISCUSSION. Desert fruit? Is it edible?

                              FRY
               Wait, wait, wait....

     Fry takes the "plant," pushes the "petals" back down over the
     core. They all stare. It's a baseball.

                              IMAM
               We are not alone here, yes?

     They look ahead, wondering what awaits them. But Johns is
     looking back.

                              JOHNS
               Never thought we were.

     EXT. SETTLEMENT - DAY

     HIGH ANGLE: An old WEATHER COCK CREAKS in the wind. Fry,
     Johns, and the Chrislams enter FRAME far below.

                              PILGRIM #1
               Assalamoo ahlaykum!

     The GREETING ECHOES through the settlement, built from stacked
     shipping containers. Tattered sun-shades flap in the wind. A
     rusty bike lies on the ground.

                              PILGRIM #2
               Assalamoo ahlaykum!

                              JOHNS
               Long gone. Whoever they were.

     They move around a building -- and pull up short. Before them
     looms a moisture-recovery unit, a hulking machine in disrepair.
     Old jugs litter the ground.

                              IMAM
               Water...water there was here....

                              PILGRIMS
               Allahu Akbar....

                              IMAM
                         (translating)
               "God is Great," yes?

                              JOHNS
               I'm born-again.

     Fry manages a weary smile -- but soon her eyes revisit the
     abandoned buildings. "Who were these people? Why did they
     leave so much behind?"

     INT. MAIN ROOM - SETTLEMENT - DAY

     Through a window, we see the Johns and the Chrislams crawling
     over the moisture-recovery unit, assessing repairs. PULL BACK to
     include Fry inside the settlement, inspecting...

     Refectory table. Place settings out. Years of dust.

     Photos on the wall: Settlers working modest gardens. Playing
     baseball. Posing with children.

     INT. LIVING QUARTERS - SETTLEMENT - DAY

     Fry enters a dark room.

                              FRY
               Lights.

     No response to her command. She pats around for old-style wall
     switches. Nothing. Perceiving black-out blinds on a window, she
     throws them open to reveal...

     A man standing right outside.

                              JOHNS
                         (through window)
               Hey. Don't go too far, huh?

     Fry nods. Johns smiles, leaves. Just as her heart settles,
     SOMETHING CREAKS behind her.

     It's an orrery, a mechanical device that shows the motion of the
     planets around their suns. Solar powered, the orrery starts
     turning, CREAKING. One planet seems always to have sunlight.

                              FRY
               No darkness. No lights because no
               darkness....

     EXT. PORCH - SETTLEMENT - DAY

     Fry reaches a porch. It looks out over the rear of the
     settlement and more unforgiving terrain. She starts back
     inside -- but something glints at the edge of her vision. Fry
     turns back...parts clothes on a laundry line...and sees the
     source of the glint.

     Excited hits on her breather.

     Fry vaults off the porch -- and starts walking as if on magnetic
     bearing. Soon she's running.

     EXT. SETTLEMENT - DAY

                              FRY (V.O.)
               Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!

     Johns and the Chrislams trade looks.

     EXT. SKIFF - DAY

                              FRY
               Allahu Akbar!

     Fry stops on a groomed runway, out of breath. The others catch
     up. They too marvel at...

     The skiff, a light-duty vehicle of hybrid technology -- part bush
     plane, part space craft. Its fabric wings are wind-torn -- but
     the hull looks intact.

     EXT. TOP OF CRASH SHIP - DAY

     CLOSE on caviar being added to toast-points.

     A SCRABBLING SOUND stops Paris in mid-bite. He eases out of his
     rocker, moves to the rear edge of the ship and looks down on...

     A shadow ducking under him. Small rocks still trickle down a
     dirt rampart just climbed by...someone.

                              PARIS
               This now qualifies as the worst fun I've
               ever had. Stop it.

     No response.

     EXT. CRASH SHIP - DAY

     War-pick in hand, Paris eases to ground-level. He checks the
     perimeter, looks inside the ship. Nobody. Is he being fucked
     with? Again? He hopes?

                              PARIS
               Audrey? Oh, Audrey....

                              AUDREY (O.S.)
               What?

     Paris spins. The voice came from the cargo hold -- and not where
     he expected.

     INT. CARGO HOLD - DAY

     Blades of sunlight stream in through cracks in the hull. Paris
     enters to find Shazza and Audrey cutting open containers,
     searching for usable goods.

                              PARIS
               Tell me that was you.

                              AUDREY
               Okay, it was me. What'd I do now?

                              PARIS
               Assailing my fragile sense of security,
               that's what.

                              SHAZZA
               What're you goin' on about? She's been
               right here for the last....

     They all see it: Sun-blades are momentarily blocked by something
     passing outside. Someone.

                              SHAZZA
                         (a quiet probe)
               Zeke?

     No answer. Audrey springs to the other side of hold, puts an eye
     to a crack there.

     HULL-CRACK POV: Far away, Zeke finishes digging the grave. He
     starts toward the ship.

     Audrey whirls back, mouths a silent alarm: "RIDDICK!"

     Paris goes bloodless. Shazza grabs the war-pick out of his
     frozen hands, moves catlike to the main doors and poises there,
     ready to strike. Audrey follows with the hunting boomerang.
     All eyes watch as...

     The sun-blades, winking off and on, chart Riddick's approach:
     We feel like we're inside a magician's sword box, watching the
     blades shave closer and closer to us. Suddenly he appears...

     And Shazza swings hard.

                              AUDREY
               No!

     Facing them is a TOTAL STRANGER -- burned, half naked, one hand
     still clutching the emergency-release lever of his cryo-locker.
     Shazza stopped one inch short of killing him.

                              TOTAL STRANGER
               I thought...my God, I thought I was the
               only one who....

     He lurches toward Shazza, trying to embrace her -- and sees blood
     and brain-bits BLAM-BLAMMING against her. His own. The stranger
     sinks bonelessly to the ground. FAST RACK to reveal Zeke in the
     background, pistol leveled. He reads Shazza's horrified face --
     and understands what he's done.