Chapter 4 - Anticipation
Jack managed to eat her lunch, half listening to the conversation as her friends talked about their love lives, work, the newest feature at Virtual Fantasies that week. Normally she'd have been engrossed in the conversation, joking with her friends, teasing Alejandro for his unhealthy obsession with the virtual babe-of-the-week. Not today. Today she had other things on her mind. *Who am I to talk about unhealthy obsessions?*
"Hey, Orion to AJ, you in there girl?" Cassie laughed as Jack shook herself from her thoughts. Cassie Simmons was Jack's almost complete physical opposite. The other girl had short dark hair cut into a stylish bob where Jack's wavy blonde hair was long, though she usually kept it pulled back into a braid. Cassie was curvaceous and petite, with a heart shaped face that gave her the appearance of a rather buxom Kewpie doll and garnered her more than her fair share of whistles and propositions. Jack, on the other hand, always felt like she was all arms and legs, though Cassie assured her she was lithe and athletic and always bemoaned that she wished she were built like Jack. But despite their physical differences, the girls found they had a lot in common and had become good friends since joining the crew of Orion Station.
Jack smiled sheepishly at her friend. "Sorry, Cay, I guess my mind's somewhere else." She stuffed some noodles into her mouth so she wouldn't be obligated to say any more. She was glad Cassie didn't push her any further on the subject.
Carson rolled his eyes. "Yeah, her mind's on that guy she nearly ran over."
Jack shot him a look that would have killed if it had been possible. "No, it's not." And even if it was it wasn't anyone else's business but hers.
"Oh, come on AJ. I saw the way you were looking at him as we left," Carson was teasing, but there was the slightest hint of hurt in his voice. "You looked like Alej does when he finds out they have a new program at VF." This earned him a kick under the table from Alejandro.
"Come on, chica," Alejandro prompted, "spill." At 5' 11", Alejandro Reyes was barely an inch taller than Jack. He was proud of his heritage and had the looks that made most women swoon. He tried very hard to play the role of Latin lover, but his problem was that he always panicked when faced with an actual woman, hence his love of the virtual reality beauties that Virtual Fantasies offered. Some of the less kind men in their department had come to call him Crash and Burn Reyes. That had stopped abruptly when Jack had made a great show of going off with him one night at a party. She'd returned the next morning with tales of his sexual proficiency, none of which she'd actually sampled first hand (though no one but she and Alejandro knew that). Since most of the men in the department had, at one time or another, tried to get into her pants only to be shot down for their efforts, the ribbing had stopped and Alejandro had become one of her very best friends.
Jack could feel the heat rising in her cheeks and knew she was blushing. Had she really looked like that? *Oh that's just great, Jack. Blushing? Could you be any more juvenile?* Best way to deal with her friends and nip this conversation in the bud was to tell them what they wanted to hear. "Yeah, you're right," she told them, giving her best, smart-assed grin. "Right after he handed me my ass for nearly killing him I was going to jump his bones. Tear his clothes off and do him right there on the concourse, are you happy now?" The mental image she had in her mind of doing just that sent heat to other parts of her body. Lord, God, she was going to have to pull herself together before she went looking for him. She gave them what she hoped was a look of bored disinterest. "Now can you pass me the vegetable lo-mien?" After a few good-natured jibes, the conversation drifted to other, safer, subjects for which Jack was exceedingly grateful.
The rest of the workday passed so slowly Jack was beginning to wonder if they'd become the victim of some sort of weird time/space distortion. She had to fight to keep her mind from drifting to Riddick. That was no easy task, especially when she could almost feel his eyes on her. Was he watching her, or was it just her overactive imagination?
Finally it was time to clock out. She'd never been so glad to leave work since she'd moved to Orion Station. Showering quickly, she dressed in the workout clothes she'd brought with her, having intended to stop by the gym on her way home, and slung her backpack over her shoulder. She called goodbyes to her co-workers and headed for the transport tube. Where to begin in her search? In the end, the best she could come up with was to start where she'd last seen him. The Pavilion.
If she'd hoped to find him just waiting there for her, she was disappointed. Not that she really expected that, but it would have made things a hell of a lot easier. Sitting down on one of the many benches spread throughout the park, she opened her backpack. She pulled out her small, handheld computer, exceedingly glad that she'd thought to pack it that morning. For what she was doing, she didn't want to use the public terminals. Uplinking to the station's computer system through the integrated comm-link, she quickly by-passed the system's security measures and was soon in the customs' office datafile. Jack was pretty sure he must have been coming from the customs department when she'd nearly run over him. If that was the case, then that meant he'd come on a personal transport. Anyone coming in on a commercial flight had to go through the station's equivalent of an immigration department. The customs office was just for people who had ships docked at Orion.
It had been a toss-up while Jack was at college whether she would major in computer sciences or engineering and physics. She loved them both. As a teenager, Imam had instilled in her a healthy respect for the hands-on aspects of engineering, hoping to channel her youthful exuberance into something constructive. In addition to being something of a holy man for his people, he was an engineer, and growing up she had learned a lot from him. In the end, she had gone into her current vocation partially out of respect for her pseudo-father, and partially because she truly enjoyed the aspects of finding a problem and fixing it. That didn't mean she didn't still love computers, she just focused those interests into more entertaining things, like learning how to hack through security systems.
It didn't take long to pull up the list of ships that had docked at this particular spacedock that day and the names of their captains. There were ten. Of course he wasn't going by Richard B. Riddick, so the names didn't really help her much. She was able to eliminate three of the ships as they were captained by women, and that was one disguise he'd NEVER be able to pull off. That left seven. Of those, only two had arrived before lunch. And of those two, only one listed a one-man crew. James Torrence, Captain of the Persephone. A miner on the way to Tau Omicron IV. She thought back to the way he'd been dressed and the image fit. "Bingo." Jack smiled triumphantly as she made note of the berth the ship had been assigned to. Backing out of the system the way she'd gone in, she turned off the small computer and slipped it back into her bag. *Now what?* she asked herself, hitching the backpack higher. *Just go up and knock on the door? See if someone's home?* Since she didn't have any other options, she'd have to go with it.
Jack could feel the excitement building within her. She was close, so close to seeing Riddick again. How many times had she dreamed of this? How many times had she wondered where he was, what he was doing? And now he was here and she was going to have the chance to see him again. What would they talk about? Would they talk? Would he even care what had been going on in her life? Maybe he'd just blow her off, or worse. A hint of doubt inched its way into her mind. What if everyone else was right about Riddick? What if she was completely wrong and her memory of him was nothing more than a child's fantasy version of the real man. No, she couldn't believe that, she wouldn't believe that. Carolyn Fry had thought he was worth trying to save, even at the risk of her own life. Imam had known him then too, and he knew that there was more to Riddick than what most people saw. And, besides, what kind of coward would she be if she didn't take this opportunity? Settling her backpack on her shoulder again, she walked out of the park, too engrossed in her own internal conflict to sense the eyes that had been watching her the entire time.
Jack managed to eat her lunch, half listening to the conversation as her friends talked about their love lives, work, the newest feature at Virtual Fantasies that week. Normally she'd have been engrossed in the conversation, joking with her friends, teasing Alejandro for his unhealthy obsession with the virtual babe-of-the-week. Not today. Today she had other things on her mind. *Who am I to talk about unhealthy obsessions?*
"Hey, Orion to AJ, you in there girl?" Cassie laughed as Jack shook herself from her thoughts. Cassie Simmons was Jack's almost complete physical opposite. The other girl had short dark hair cut into a stylish bob where Jack's wavy blonde hair was long, though she usually kept it pulled back into a braid. Cassie was curvaceous and petite, with a heart shaped face that gave her the appearance of a rather buxom Kewpie doll and garnered her more than her fair share of whistles and propositions. Jack, on the other hand, always felt like she was all arms and legs, though Cassie assured her she was lithe and athletic and always bemoaned that she wished she were built like Jack. But despite their physical differences, the girls found they had a lot in common and had become good friends since joining the crew of Orion Station.
Jack smiled sheepishly at her friend. "Sorry, Cay, I guess my mind's somewhere else." She stuffed some noodles into her mouth so she wouldn't be obligated to say any more. She was glad Cassie didn't push her any further on the subject.
Carson rolled his eyes. "Yeah, her mind's on that guy she nearly ran over."
Jack shot him a look that would have killed if it had been possible. "No, it's not." And even if it was it wasn't anyone else's business but hers.
"Oh, come on AJ. I saw the way you were looking at him as we left," Carson was teasing, but there was the slightest hint of hurt in his voice. "You looked like Alej does when he finds out they have a new program at VF." This earned him a kick under the table from Alejandro.
"Come on, chica," Alejandro prompted, "spill." At 5' 11", Alejandro Reyes was barely an inch taller than Jack. He was proud of his heritage and had the looks that made most women swoon. He tried very hard to play the role of Latin lover, but his problem was that he always panicked when faced with an actual woman, hence his love of the virtual reality beauties that Virtual Fantasies offered. Some of the less kind men in their department had come to call him Crash and Burn Reyes. That had stopped abruptly when Jack had made a great show of going off with him one night at a party. She'd returned the next morning with tales of his sexual proficiency, none of which she'd actually sampled first hand (though no one but she and Alejandro knew that). Since most of the men in the department had, at one time or another, tried to get into her pants only to be shot down for their efforts, the ribbing had stopped and Alejandro had become one of her very best friends.
Jack could feel the heat rising in her cheeks and knew she was blushing. Had she really looked like that? *Oh that's just great, Jack. Blushing? Could you be any more juvenile?* Best way to deal with her friends and nip this conversation in the bud was to tell them what they wanted to hear. "Yeah, you're right," she told them, giving her best, smart-assed grin. "Right after he handed me my ass for nearly killing him I was going to jump his bones. Tear his clothes off and do him right there on the concourse, are you happy now?" The mental image she had in her mind of doing just that sent heat to other parts of her body. Lord, God, she was going to have to pull herself together before she went looking for him. She gave them what she hoped was a look of bored disinterest. "Now can you pass me the vegetable lo-mien?" After a few good-natured jibes, the conversation drifted to other, safer, subjects for which Jack was exceedingly grateful.
The rest of the workday passed so slowly Jack was beginning to wonder if they'd become the victim of some sort of weird time/space distortion. She had to fight to keep her mind from drifting to Riddick. That was no easy task, especially when she could almost feel his eyes on her. Was he watching her, or was it just her overactive imagination?
Finally it was time to clock out. She'd never been so glad to leave work since she'd moved to Orion Station. Showering quickly, she dressed in the workout clothes she'd brought with her, having intended to stop by the gym on her way home, and slung her backpack over her shoulder. She called goodbyes to her co-workers and headed for the transport tube. Where to begin in her search? In the end, the best she could come up with was to start where she'd last seen him. The Pavilion.
If she'd hoped to find him just waiting there for her, she was disappointed. Not that she really expected that, but it would have made things a hell of a lot easier. Sitting down on one of the many benches spread throughout the park, she opened her backpack. She pulled out her small, handheld computer, exceedingly glad that she'd thought to pack it that morning. For what she was doing, she didn't want to use the public terminals. Uplinking to the station's computer system through the integrated comm-link, she quickly by-passed the system's security measures and was soon in the customs' office datafile. Jack was pretty sure he must have been coming from the customs department when she'd nearly run over him. If that was the case, then that meant he'd come on a personal transport. Anyone coming in on a commercial flight had to go through the station's equivalent of an immigration department. The customs office was just for people who had ships docked at Orion.
It had been a toss-up while Jack was at college whether she would major in computer sciences or engineering and physics. She loved them both. As a teenager, Imam had instilled in her a healthy respect for the hands-on aspects of engineering, hoping to channel her youthful exuberance into something constructive. In addition to being something of a holy man for his people, he was an engineer, and growing up she had learned a lot from him. In the end, she had gone into her current vocation partially out of respect for her pseudo-father, and partially because she truly enjoyed the aspects of finding a problem and fixing it. That didn't mean she didn't still love computers, she just focused those interests into more entertaining things, like learning how to hack through security systems.
It didn't take long to pull up the list of ships that had docked at this particular spacedock that day and the names of their captains. There were ten. Of course he wasn't going by Richard B. Riddick, so the names didn't really help her much. She was able to eliminate three of the ships as they were captained by women, and that was one disguise he'd NEVER be able to pull off. That left seven. Of those, only two had arrived before lunch. And of those two, only one listed a one-man crew. James Torrence, Captain of the Persephone. A miner on the way to Tau Omicron IV. She thought back to the way he'd been dressed and the image fit. "Bingo." Jack smiled triumphantly as she made note of the berth the ship had been assigned to. Backing out of the system the way she'd gone in, she turned off the small computer and slipped it back into her bag. *Now what?* she asked herself, hitching the backpack higher. *Just go up and knock on the door? See if someone's home?* Since she didn't have any other options, she'd have to go with it.
Jack could feel the excitement building within her. She was close, so close to seeing Riddick again. How many times had she dreamed of this? How many times had she wondered where he was, what he was doing? And now he was here and she was going to have the chance to see him again. What would they talk about? Would they talk? Would he even care what had been going on in her life? Maybe he'd just blow her off, or worse. A hint of doubt inched its way into her mind. What if everyone else was right about Riddick? What if she was completely wrong and her memory of him was nothing more than a child's fantasy version of the real man. No, she couldn't believe that, she wouldn't believe that. Carolyn Fry had thought he was worth trying to save, even at the risk of her own life. Imam had known him then too, and he knew that there was more to Riddick than what most people saw. And, besides, what kind of coward would she be if she didn't take this opportunity? Settling her backpack on her shoulder again, she walked out of the park, too engrossed in her own internal conflict to sense the eyes that had been watching her the entire time.