Author's Note: Well, here you go. Sorry if there's any grammar/spelling problems. I'm finally starting to get into this story. Yeah! I wanted to say thanks to all that reviewed! Especially all my loyal ones who've been reading this since the first! Read/Review, please!
Chapter Seven, Never Too Prepared
I looked at the chrono on Jack's wrist, brow furrowing. I rechecked the date and time and looked to Jack with a raised brow. Just what was I supposed to see here?
"Well?"
"Well what?" I asked, turning away from her, forcing my gaze not to linger on Jack as she wore my shirt. I tried to ignore the fact that I thought she looked pretty damn good in it…What the hell am I thinking? This is Jack here!
I heard a short, harsh bark of a laugh. "The date, Riddick. It'll be twenty-two years to the day by tomorrow!"
I swallowed a growl, still not facing her as I moved away to look through some of the cloth bags nearby. I couldn't get into the Plaztec boxes at this moment and in all reality, I knew I was just trying to avoid conversation with Jack.
And besides…I was tired of the word games. And while not always so sweet and short, I wanted to get to the point. "What're you talkin' about, Jack?"
"Riddick!" It was almost a cry. "It'll be twenty-two years to the day by tomorrow that we first came here. Don't you understand?" She paused, taking a breath and before she even started speaking again, I thought I did. I almost wished she didn't open her perfect little mouth to tell me what I thought I already knew…but she did. "It's going to be pitch black by tomorrow around 1600 hours."
I stiffened, unable to help my body from going totally rigid. If I were a lesser man, I'd be dwelling on how unfair the universe was…but I wasn't…So fuck the universe! I never have had much luck in my life and knew I probably wouldn't get any now. I don't need all that spiritual or whatever the hell you call it bullshit…The only one I could trust to rely on, apparently, was me.
And look where the fuck you are now, Riddick-boy! Your life's just one big cosmic joke anyhow…
Bet ol' Johns is laughing in his grave right now.
"This wasn't supposed to happen! I mean, I prepared for it, but it wasn't supposed to happen. Captain Danner! I thought he looked a little anxious to see us get off the ship. No fucking wonder! He must have arrived off-schedule…" She was almost babbling, but I didn't even feel like doing anything to stop her. I was too busy laughing at myself for being so idiotic as to come along with her.
"Bastard…He didn't even tell us…If I hadn't checked my chrono, we would've been in for a major surprise." Jack said, voice almost bitter.
"Doesn't matter." I told her finally. "We're here and we might as well get things done. Get some clothes on and then tell me what all you brought."
There was silence for a moment, then, "Sure."
I walked over to the hover terran, the plexi surface dull so as to not reflect light. A quick flash of naked Jack spread out on the hood flashed through my mind before I pushed it away. I had almost taken her…Hell, I didn't even know if she was a virgin or not. But, with her being almost twenty-seven in a few months, the likelihood of it was incredibly slim.
My old self wouldn't have given a flying rat's ass if she was or not. Fuck, I would've delighted in taking her virginity if she had had it. After all, living life regardless, or perhaps in defiance, of the consequences was pretty damn liberating. And I'd enjoyed nothing but reaping the benefits.
But things change. You changed, a voice whispered in my head.
The thought was enough to spur a little anger up from the depths I usually kept for such emotions as that.
Fuck you, I said back to it.
I turned my attention back to the hover terran, seeing that it was a newer model. The vehicle was over twelve feet long and 6 feet wide (in its widest area) and had the pointed front that helped increase speed. The back end was the widest, rounded to almost an ovalish shape and used for storage or other passengers.
I moved around to the driver's seat and got in, feeling under the dash for the plastic card I knew was hidden. My fingers slid over the smooth surface until they came upon a slight bump and I pushed against it. The compartment opened and out dropped the access card.
Never fails, I thought, a smile coming briefly to my lips.
I straightened in the seat, sliding the card into the computerized reader slot and sat back as the system came online. My eyes moved over the speedometer and I saw that it could reach about 65 mphs.
Good.
I checked the rest of the system and other features the hover terran had. Cover top, sled and sled puller, a light column called a Maglamp (a three foot high extending pillar of HardLight, that usually covered a circular area of fifteen feet around the terran), and also air conditioning.
Even better.
I turned the hover terran off, ejecting the card from the slot and placed it in the pocket of my pants.
"Okay. I'm ready. We're going to need to move all the equipment and supplies to a safer location when we're done though." Jack said, voice interrupting me.
I exited the terran and looked at her on the other side of the car. She had my shirt in hand and threw it back to me when I looked to it. I caught it and pulled it on, noticing that she had changed into all black. Her shirt was tight, with no sleeves, and even the pants she wore fit her snugly before flaring just slightly at the bottom to fit over her boots. A silver necklace with an odd symbol I had never seen before lay upon her breasts, glinting in the light. She looked good.
How the hell had little Jack grown up to become this without me knowing?
First of all, you went away. Second, you know it was for the best that you did.
"Alright." I moved around to the other side to stand next to Jack. "Tell me what we have."
She glanced up at me, some odd emotion moving through her eyes and then nodded. She gestured for me to follow as we went to one of the Plaztec boxes and she typed in seven-digit code, telling it to me as she did so. "One Twenty-three, Forty-five, Ninety-One. The code should open all the boxes."
I grunted to her, assenting, and she began to tell me all that we had to work with.
"I'll start with the perishable items. Water and food, enough for two people for three weeks. Hopefully, we won't be here for that long. Medi boxes, full of the standard material: pain killers, wraps, morphine, Crystalcasts, and all the other shit." She stepped back and revealed the things she spoke of. She left that particular box open and they moved to a new one.
She spoke as she opened the box, "Liquid oxygen canisters and small sip IVs. Here," Jack said, lifting out the half-vest with the small, silvery canister on its back. "Put this on."
I took it from her, glancing it over and saw it was a more refined version of what we had had before. I pulled the black half-vest on, snapping the catches shut, and found it fit me nicely. I shifted in it and found that my movement was hardly inhibited at all.
Jack followed suit.
"They're four more canisters in there, should for any reason, we need them. I only brought two extra sip IVs, so we're going to have to be careful with them. The canisters are here for, ya know, in case we don't acclimate as fast as we should." She paused, glancing up at me for a moment, then continued. "Those ten boxes over there, the ones that are marked, are all light; lightbars, tracer cables, alcohol…remembered what Paris said. Anything over 45 proof burns good. I didn't expect us to be caught on this planet during the eclipse, but I never was one to assume things would go perfectly. Obviously, they didn't."
We went to a different box. "Weapons. 450Ms AA keiver pistolas, 3200PW automatic blasters, magnetic pulse shotguns, and standard 42HP handguns. Those in case we run into trouble, human variety. For the rest, flames throwers and Light Blazers. I figured the flame throwers were a little ancient, but thought, what the hell. They'll cook those bastards any day. I also ordered some blades; shivs, old Bowie knives, razorcuts, and stilettos. And then there's this," She held up her wrist, showing me the wrist brace there. I raised as brow as she turned her hand, showing me her open palm. There was a small hard plastic bubble covering what looked like pressure pads beneath it and it was situated in the middle of her hand.
"What is it?" I finally asked, curiosity getting the best of me.
"Something I thought up. I remove this cover here," She tapped the plastic bubble, "And all I have to do is press the pads beneath. They control the time between light bursts of the Maglamp. I tinkered with the Maglamp so it'd cover more area and have more powerful light strength. Now the light'll surround us on all sides, including up now, for about forty feet. I suggest for you to not look into the lamp, for the obvious reasons."
"Obviously." I murmured.
Jack paused, and I could see the heat flood her cheeks. I gave a short laugh and motioned her on.
"This box," She told me, "Has most of the electronics plus all of my clothing. I had extra clothing for you in that box over there." She pointed and I nodded. "I brought a topical screen map. It'll show the layout for up to five miles. There's two tracker consols with bit chips that'll have to be injected later. Just in case we lose one another, we'll always now where the other is."
She turned towards a box, bigger and thicker than the ones surrounding it. "And that, right there, is how we're going to stop the Newtonian Institute. Acid Flare Bombs…" She paused, not saying anything for a long moment and I wondered what she was thinking.
"They're the only ones left of their kind. After they were outlawed years ago, they stopped producing them. They did too much damage and were too unpredictable to help either side. Those right there…they're the ones left over from the Wailing Wars and as far as I know, we hold the last of them. I had to go through several lines on the black market and not even the distributors wanted to deal with them much. Said they caused too much attention to be directed on them."
"We'll have to be far away before we set those things off, you know." I commented.
Jack looked to me, then back at the huge, thick box. "I know."
She sighed belatedly, then finished the assessment with this. "All the canvas bags you found hold clothe material or flare guns."
I didn't say anything to this, but found that Jack had pleasantly surprised me. I hadn't expected her to be this prepared, much less this thorough. But, then again, when it came to this planet, you could never be too prepared.
I glanced to my left at the two suns, one red, one yellow, and had to squint just slightly beneath my goggles. A thought hit me, one that I had had earlier, and I frowned against the memory.
Jack had ES now. Her vision would be totally gone in the dark if she wasn't wearing her specs. Fuck.
By the end of tomorrow, I figured, something is going to go wrong and I know that Jack's going to be on the wrong end of the deal.
Just what I need. Now I'll be babysitting when the time comes.
I wondered if she even realized how much of a handicap those eyes were to her. I glanced over at her, watching the solemn expression upon her face as she looked over all the supplies.
Perhaps she did…who knew. Right now though, I didn't want to deal with it. So, I'd talk to her about it later.
"You said we needed to move everything to a safer place. Got one in mind?"
"Yeah. There should be a shallow dead-end cave about twenty miles from here, due south, but I'll check the screen map before we go. Once there, it should be about a day's ride to the relocation ships the Newtonian Institute sent. They won't be here for much longer though. They'll stay for another three or four days, collecting as many of those things as they can and then they'll leave. Who knows if they'll come back for more, considering that planetary breakdown is happening right now, though it won't become fatal until another thirty-five, forty years from now."
I digested this information, wondering how bad this was going to get before we got off this planet.
If we do get off, that is.
"Okay. Let's start piling things on the sled and get out of here." I took up the small sip IV and placed it in the corner of my mouth, taking a quick hit and going to an opened box. It was the weapons one. I pulled out two shivs, placing one in each boot before I slid the lid shut. After it closed with a small hiss, I hefted it up and went to lay it next to the hover terran while I slid the access card back in and started it up. I ejected the sled from the back and hooked it to its metal catch.
That done, I started loading the boxes, taking a hit of the liquid oxygen every now and then. I noticed Jack was doing the same, only taking the lighter boxes and putting them aside so I could put the heaver ones beneath first.
It seems like Jack had a great deal of common sense, only, the fact that she was even on this planet said otherwise. I didn't know how someone so smart could be doing something so stupid, but then again…
Look at me.
