Chapter 4
"First of all," Voz said, "where's Imam?"
Inwardly, Riddick was relieved. He didn't know what he had expected the explaining to be about, but the idea that Voz just wanted to be filled in on what had happened hadn't crossed his mind. "On the Libra, he stayed to go to New Mecca," he answered.
Voz nodded her head. "Why didn't Jack go with him?" she asked after a minute when she remembered that the girl was with them when they had boarded this med station.
"She refused to," Riddick said. "She insisted that she wouldn't go with him. Can't blame the kid. Would you go to New Mecca when you could be with a convict and a…"
"And a what, Riddick?" Voz asked when he trailed off into silence. She grinned. "What am I?" I'd like to hear this one. She crossed her arms and looked at him expectantly.
"I haven't quite figured that out yet." Riddick glanced at her and their eyes locked.
Voz broke the silence. She couldn't stand the look that Riddick was giving her. Voz feared a repeat of the episode in the coring room on the desert planet. But she also wanted it to happen…in way. No, she scolded herself. No, you don't want that. Even if you did, now's not the time. "Why didn't you say Jack was your brother?" she asked. "I mean, she's got the looks for it."
"When authorities start lookin' for us, they're gonna look for a boy, not a girl."
"Authorities?" Voz looked at Riddick questioningly. "What're you talking about?"
"It was a merchant ship with forty plus passengers. Someone is gonna be a little concerned when no contact can be made with it. They're gonna go to any ships that are or were near the place that anything was last heard from the Hunter-Gratzner. The Libra's one of those. As far as they know, there were four of us and one was a teenage boy." There was silence again. "Is there anything else?"
"Well, I was gonna ask you 'What do we do now?' But—"
"Now, it's time for you to get some rest, Missy." The nurse came in again. She shooed Riddick out of the room and fussed with Voz's bandages and whatnot. Finally, she left and Voz reluctantly drifted off into the world of sleep.
***
The Phoenix had the lighting turned off to create "night." Voz was restless, though. She'd been sleeping all day, and now she felt refreshed. She had to get up and move around, do something.
Voz got out of bed and, rummaging around in the drawers below the bed, she found a pair of navy-colored pants. She opened the door to her room and stepped out into the corridor. It was devoid of people. She decided to just wander down the hallway until she felt like going back or someone else told her to. Voz went to her left, and, unknowingly, toward Riddick's room on the Phoenix.
Voz hadn't taken more that a few steps when she heard a blood-curdling shriek come from a room somewhere down the corridor. Riddick heard it, too. He jumped up from his bed quickly; he hadn't been asleep at all or anywhere near it. Riddick crossed the hall swiftly and entered Jack's room, where the scream had come from. He entered the room and the girl literally jumped into his arms. Riddick stumbled and landed sitting on the bed with Jack sobbing into his chest. Not knowing what else to do, Riddick allowed this.
And this is how Voz found him. As soon as she heard the scream she dashed down the hall as best she could since she was still recovering and not in the best of physical health. She came to an abrupt halt when she reached the room. She nearly stopped breathing. Riddick had his back toward her, but all the same Voz could tell it was him nonetheless. There sat one of the most dangerous men Voz had ever known in her life holding a teenage girl with an identity crisis. Her own life had been threatened by him at least three different times. Then, again, a persistent voice told her, how many times did he save your ass? She stood by the doorway for a moment, staring at the scene. Then, quietly, she turned and left to go back to her room.
Voz puzzled over the sudden, unknown emotion that had washed over her. What was this feeling? It was a lot like how she had felt when she saw Riddick with the now, most probable, deceased Fry. Even then, she couldn't quite place what it was. It was something like she had felt when she saw other people. Happy people. But that had been so many years ago, when she was living on the streets. Then the Militia got her. Not six months into her recruitment and the feeling of…jealousy…was quickly replaced with one of numbness.
She'd begun to make friends. One day four of them were shot and killed for no apparent reason. She never made any more friends, except for one, and stopped talking to the ones she had. Voz remembered that day vividly. But like everything else of importance to her, it was becoming fainter and less clear. She was putting it behind her, forgetting it, convinced that the only important thing in life was that she was still alive. But Voz would forever have a burning hate inside her for everyone that had ever brought harm to her, ruined her life, even if she couldn't remember exactly what had been done. One day, she'd get her revenge, even if in doing it her days were done.
With those thoughts in mind, Voz returned to her room. The thoughts brought on another feeling: self pity, one that she hated. Each time that feeling crept up on her, Voz reprimanded herself with, You're stronger than that! or, Grow up for God's sake!, or something of the like. She didn't achieve sleep that night. She fought with herself until the next morning.