A/N: Updated chapter, again. Added more to Johns. Heh, gotta love Johns. ;) Also, I've changed the Port where this takes place to Scorpio One to account for Audrey's telling Shazza and Zeke she is from there

I don't own this so don't waste time suing me.

A Passage 2:

The birth of Jack…

The tired attendants unloaded the latest shuttle from Outer Conga. They were all looking forward to a day or two of time off, seeing as the waking passage had take two days and all their energy. The passengers consisted of the usual crowd, businessmen, tourists, pilgrims, and even a family or two relocating from one system to another following work. None of them paid any attention to the shorthaired child that looked to be about ten that attached herself to one of the families until the crowd had dispersed into the large spaceport. At least this one had been quiet in comparison to the one 8 days before. For that they all counted their blessings.

The shorthaired child was too busy to count much of anything. Her eyes darted here and there, always active for trouble. There was little that could be viewed as blessing-like in her experience anyway. She lugged her last carryon case as she moved through the port, scanning the prices of tickets and noticing that the cost of taking luggage nearly doubled the price of passage. Survival was her first priority and she lacked anything that smacked of luxury enough to be extra. Something would have to go, though. There was no way she could afford the case if she was to make it farther away from her demons. If they caught her… Well, she'd kill herself before she went back to that place.

Spaceports like this one were no place for a child to be alone. Space travel was a dangerous business in and of itself but the planetside bits of wakefulness could be hellish even for the experienced. Innocence lost, she had learned the lesson about dangerous individuals several months back at the spaceport before last. There she'd been caught unaware, pinned down by a local group of older boys wanting some fun. Luckily enough the encounter had been out in the open and one of the janitors had chased the gang off. Shortly thereafter she'd gotten much more careful, changed her clothing and hair, and adopted more of a boyish attitude.

The picture she presented was one of a tomboy. Because this port was well guarded she let her eyes drift over the girlish things that she'd never had as she wandered about; poking into the shops and in general acting like a tourist waiting to leave. Besides the small carryon case, she had a backpack, yet even that little was too much if the ticket prices were any indication. Maybe the backpack could be overlooked though, tucked between her feet perhaps? But the case? She'd have to ditch it. Damn, all her best clothes were in that case. Nearly everything good she owned was in that case. Fighting back tears, she hauled the bags with her as she looked around. She'd have to look over her meager belongings and decide what fit into the backpack. A short detour into a woman's restroom and a tearful goodbye to the various memories associated with each item she convinced herself that she had no use for later, she felt ready to do what needed to be done.

The port lacked the gangs that she was watching out for. Still, the place made her nervous. The time she had to be here would hopefully be short. Only hours had passed since she'd arrived, but having no place to go staying put appeared to be the best choice. She stuffed her last piece of luggage into a locker and fooled it into releasing the key. It was a handy trick she'd been taught back home by a fellow whose name she never bothered to learn. She shouldered her backpack and took in her surroundings. Hunger gnawed at her gut. She needed to scrounge up some food. The odors from the various eateries threatened to drive her to distraction. Having gone hungry before, it was nearly second nature to scheme about how to acquire food, for she would not have survived this long otherwise.

It was a nicer place than the last one she'd been through. Outer Conga's port looked like it had been hit by a bomb run and never cleaned up afterwards. In contrast to this clean and tidy port, it had been a slum. Even so, this port was old. She could see it was patched up and glossed over. There were spots on the walls that had been painted over to cover graffiti, threadbare tracks and stains in the carpets, mismatched chairs where those broken had been either repaired or replaced, and the furniture that wasn't mismatched was sun bleached or faded.

While hunger was a problem, her first stop would be the men's restrooms. Scope out the place; find out if she could make a few more UD's, and hunt out the supply rooms gather what she could… only once she was reasonably sure of her way around would she venture to eat. It was mid-afternoon here and the flights were spaced rather far apart. She guessed that the task would take the better part of the remaining day and keep her mind from wandering back down the already worn dark paths of her memories.

Her feet found the restrooms easy enough. She slipped inside unseen and looked around. One of the men's restrooms was perfect. She marked down its location in her mind before venturing to locate the supply areas. Those were slightly more difficult to find, but if she timed it right she could slip into the employee area unseen and rig the doors just so, making it easier to access the supply rooms later. Then came the task her stomach was grumbling about. Getting some food usually required some pretty fast footwork on her part.

She could scrounge in the trash if necessary, sure, but hot food meant either catching an eatery as they were closing for the night and being suitably pathetic or swiping something before the person who'd paid for it could come get it, without being seen doing so. With the latest load of people waiting to board an evening flight the task was accomplished easily and the resulting argument that erupted behind her between the clerk and customer totally ignored her role in the missing order. She slipped away to a quiet corner to eat the first food she'd gotten in several days that wasn't pre-packaged glop.

She ate slowly, keeping an eye out for trouble. Then she made her way back to the restrooms and tried her luck at swiping a few UD's from some of the richer looking folk that ventured into her reach. That occupied her until the last flight for the night boarded and she was left with nothing to do there. It was time to venture back into the storage rooms. Once there she looked for various things that might be useful. Her goal was to simply take stock of what was there and figure out how much she could get away with before being noticed. A mental inventory of the supply racks took several hours.

Yet, once the necessary things were done there was still too much time. This spaceport, like most others, stayed open even if few used it in the middle of the night. She couldn't do much when there weren't people around. She couldn't stay awake forever. The memories haunted her sleep. Echoes of what could have been but for the heartlessness that taunted her life. Even so she suffered pangs of homesickness when she heard the precious youthful voice that was forever gone…

The source of the heartsick ache she felt were her earliest memories of her mother's voice, "Audrey…" The sound had been so sweet once. So tender and full of love. She must have been happy then. Sometimes she remembered feeling a kiss on her forehead in the dark. Large, strong hands that made her feel so safe. And a rich warm scent, comforting, loving... If only it still existed that way, if only… Even in her sleep she tried to clutch to the happiness as it evaporated through her being like some mist drying out of the air in the face of an angry, hot sun.

It always sounded like a wreaking ball smashing into a house, getting closer…the noises becoming clearer. Voices shouting. The fights started… Screaming, objects breaking, hitting… Silence in the dark followed by, "…Audrey…." A plea, a whispered plea… a moan of pain, suppressed only when the hypo hissed… Whispers in the dark. Wasted whispers. Secrets never told. The happiness faded, becoming a dull struggle for survival laced with sharp thorns of bitterness. Her feeling of safety left. The scent somehow went away, replaced by sickly sweet sweat, stomach churning, mind numbing, cold...

Maybe her mother did not remember those secrets anymore, secrets of when there was love between them. Maybe it was too painful. Maybe it was the haze she wrapped her mind in. The haze Audrey bought her every time certain men stopped by for a favor… The haze that allowed her to survive the horror of her existence, the silence of her loss, the words she could never speak. It had been that way for most of her life, the fourteen years she knew that had passed because her next oldest sibling, her half-brother, would be turning 13 within a few weeks. It was an occasion that Audrey hadn't wanted to miss, and yet… everything had changed. Audrey understood now that she'd stayed because her mother had needed her and fled only after it was clear that she didn't need anything anymore. Now that her own life was her only care her feelings for her mother were becoming dull but at one time the duality of them had been sharp like blades cutting into her heart.

Audrey's feelings about her mother had been so mixed. Love and Hate, equal parts. Audrey went to see her just before she fled home, after struggling with the double nightmare of the twins and her pops' horrible abusive wrath for nearly a month while the Medics tried to wean the drugs out of her mother's system. Drugs that Audrey had bartered her skills to get. Mom looked so frail…. Wasted. Audrey had cried. 'Would the alternative have been better?' She had to wonder through her bloodstained tears. It seemed to rouse the woman in the hospital bed. "Audrey…." She remembered frail hands pressing yellowed paper into hers. Paper with a bank account number. A way to flee the nightmare, a way to leave… In the end her mother had given everything she had, and that paper was the last thing keeping her clinging to life. Alarm bells roused the hospital as she'd slipped away… Audrey had fled into the night, never to return.

Growing up had been rough, on that mining world, Sigma 3…. She had hated the place with a passion. It was dirty, smelly, and filled with drunken men that passed for guards. Anything of beauty had been destroyed there long before she was born. Only two classes existed on Sigma 3, those with papers, and those without. Pops had papers; Audrey and her mother did not. They were privileged slaves and not much more. She hated the fact that everyone worked for the man raising her. Or, rather the man waiting for her to grow up for his own evil purpose. She hated him for, well, everything. It would not have been bad, she reflected, if only he had treated her better. All the other kids in the family were doted on, but not her… Oh, no, she was the one who had to be responsible, pick up after the flock, make sure food was cooked, and the quarters were clean…. Because Mom was too wasted to lift a finger, Pops would beat worse her if stuff was not done, and, as he often reminded them both, they had no papers.

She had put up with everything until the twins were born, just seven months ago. Mom's habit had cooked their brains in the womb… they would always be helpless screaming bundles of pure agony. And the very day they had been born, hours after the medical verdict, Pops had come to her room…. Crimson pools on her pink-flowered sheets…. Crimson with her blood. He beat her for her deception, for calling the medics when Mom had gone into labor in a pregnancy he'd not known about, for not wanting to submit to his plans for her. Yet, she had tried to stay, for nearly a month... She had tried. Until he came to her room with his nightstick. Then she knew Mom was not coming home, and if she did not want to take her place she'd have to leave. So she ran…and was still running.

Her dreams always replayed the events of her life as if someone was trying to make her remember some part she was overlooking. She was still dreaming of the panicked dash away from the hospital, through the darkness and local flora, when a vacuum buzzed under her chair and jolted her awake. "Sorry, honey." The voice was tired, rough from too many smokes, and came from behind.

Audrey rubbed her eyes. "It's okay. I'll move," she looked around the spaceport. Somehow, she made it this far over the last half year. She had managed to make it to the Scorpio System. That in itself had to be a record of some kind. The speakers crackled with an announcement and a few moments later people were entering in through one of the docking gates. Perhaps there would be and opportunity for her to gather a few more UD's. Her mother's account had just enough for her to get this far. Audrey wasn't even sure the account had been her mother's, really. The clerks at the bank where she'd accessed the account used her fingerprint to open it up and remarked that it had been sealed for nearly a decade and a half. Whoever it had belonged to had left it so that only she could access the funds inside. Audrey withdrew all of it.

By sheer luck she found a ship that was safe to stow away on, one that kept life support on in the storage area. She had nearly frozen to death, but she'd been able to breathe and had plenty to eat. It had gotten her from Sigma 3 to Outer Conga. Five months of sneaking around in the ductwork of the ship and hoping to not get caught by the crew had tested her resourcefulness to the max. Somehow she survived it, managed to make the port entrance at the last stop, and had been lucky enough to not get raped a second time… After the encounter with the gang, getting off Outer Conga had been worth any cost. Maybe that had been a stupid decision. She'd caught a seat on the shuttle here, but the cost had reduced her finds to the point that she was realizing that any of the next stops were out of her reach. She was scrounging, desperate. Trying to make what she had go farther. Ditching whatever she could to make the ticket to the next stop cheaper. She worked the crowd, eyes darting among the bedraggled sleeper passengers still trying to come to grips with their abrupt exit from cryosleep as she moved over to the "help" area hoping to get lucky…

She picked her targets with care, spotting a woman with a girl about her size looking for the entire world like she'd lost all her possessions, "Hey, Lady! I got some girls clothes I'll sell you." Audrey had cut her hair to her shoulders some time back, and then to chin length at Outer Conga. Not safe to travel as a girl alone she'd discovered. Her boyish appearance was furthered with a careful walk and layered boys clothes. What she had arrived with should sell nicely. They were her best things and barely worn. The woman and her daughter looked at her with some surprise. "I'm not charging much… 25 UD for three dresses and a pair of shoes, hardly used…" She grinned at the girl and said, "They'd go nice with your earrings, want to see them?" Overcoming their surprise, they agreed. She led them back to her locker. "I'd sell you the luggage too, if you want it."

"It is yours and not stolen?" the brown haired and skinned woman cautiously asked.

"Yep, it's mine. I can't afford to purchase space for luggage, and my next trip will be in cryo anyhow. Plus you look like you need the clothes," Audrey pulled off her cap and gave them her best 'girl' smile. The other girl laughed, her dark eyes crinkling at the corners. She looked up at her mother with a pleading look. Meanwhile, the woman had looked over the strange girl and decided that she was on the up and up. The smile reassured her and she sighed with relief. "See I even rented a locker," Audrey pulled out the key and put it in the lock.

"How much then for the luggage?" the woman asked.

"Well, it's a bit beat up. Maybe 5UD's?" She let the woman and her daughter look over the clothing, the shoes, and the luggage for a few minutes.

Then the woman pulled out her wallet and counted out 28 UD's, "I don't have enough, what about I give you this and buy you breakfast? I have credit."

"Sure, that's fair. I'll take 28 cash and a meal." Audrey took the money and let the girl carry the bag as they walked over to a food shop. The woman ordered a well-rounded breakfast on a bun, juice, and a bag of dried fruit and gave it to Audrey. "Thanks. I hope your stuff arrives."

"Thank you, dear. I hope you get to where you are going safely." They mother and daughter walked away, the new luggage in hand. Neither noticed the tears in Audrey's eyes. She just wished she knew where that safe place would be. So where could she go from here? The real question. She wandered off to look at the various loading gates. Most of the names were the wrong direction. A few were total unknowns. After staring at the fifteen or so choices that were within her budget Audrey ventured to ask the clerk at one of the unknown places if the stop was closer to the Helion system. The clerk looked at her like she was stupid. Tangiers, she was informed, was the direction she needed to go if New Mecca was where she was looking to end up. Audrey headed back the direction the clerk pointed. Tangiers was out of her budget. 100 UD's more than she had for the cheapest, most dangerous, death box ticket and no luggage space. And the next flight was nearly 2 days away. It might as well be a thousand UD's… But there was no sense in moping. She'd either get stuck here or she'd find a way to get on that flight.

Audrey sat down and stared at the news wave soundlessly flashing by as her mind worked over the situation and sought the best solution. Scenes of mayhem and gore flashed unnoticed in front of her as she focused on her personal problems. She hated to steal, but what other solution was there? Could she hack into the systems and fake a set of hardship papers? Not likely… at least not here. She'd just have to get the 100UD's… And she already knew where there was a perfect place to wait for stray wallets. She decided to scrounge in the restrooms and see what showed up. Slipping into the men's bathrooms, Audrey picked a stall and locked the door. Soon some smuck would come in and let his pants down. It was easy to pick most pockets that way. Although sometimes she didn't have to, once in a while she would "happen" to find a fellow's wallet and get a few UD's for returning it. She settled in to wait. It was not long.

A man came into the john; "Your next ship for Tangiers leaves when?" He was talking into a com link. "Yeah, but I got a commercial ship leaving in a less than 44 hours. I can't afford to wait until next week." He stopped at a urinal and went about his business there. As the tinkling reached her ears, Audrey peaked out the cracks of the stall and noticed his tall frame, cropped red hair, and blue company uniform. "I got to take a shit." He told the person on the other end of the line. He turned and looked at the stalls…Audrey ducked back. She had picked the nastiest looking one; complete with an out of order sign, but the stalls to either side were the cleanest of the bunch. "No. It's not a matter of cost," he said as he moved toward the stall on Audrey's left, "It's a matter of time. The longer I sit here, the more likely the son of a bitch will…Oh, fuck you. It doesn't matter how I caught him. All that matters is that his eye-shined ass is mine, and so is the bounty." The man's pants crumpled to the floor and the seat creaked as he sat.

By this time Audrey had nearly forgotten about the UD's. 'Eye-shined….' The news headlines flickered in her mind's eye. There was only one person who had ever been proven to be 'eye-shined' and that person was the escaped convict, Richard B. Riddick. 'Hadn't he been found on the outer planet of the Conga system, a week before? Was this the Officer who had caught him? Didn't I just see that at the newsstand? Hell, I was just there two days ago...' The man shifted his leg and his pants disgorged his bank-fold at her feet. Or had she lifted it? She stared at the worn brownish leather, frozen for a moment, waiting to see if the item would be noticed by its absence. Several minutes passed as the man continued to talk. "Well, fine…You can't hustle up a ship, what about a secure cryo-chamber?" He was scratching - Audrey could only imagine where - after a lengthy pause the one-sided conversation continued, "Great, yes. I'll settle for the chamber. Can I get it like really soon? Several hours? Yeah, Okay. Let me text you the address," there was a rustle of clothing followed by beeping. He was so occupied that he had not noticed the missing billfold.

'Right, wallet…' She snatched it up. The man sighed as a wet plopping noise concluded why he was in the stall in the first place. Audrey squeezed her eyes closed tightly and sat still. Now the only decision was if she should take the UD's or return the wallet and hope for the best. Somehow she doubted that returning the wallet would get her anything…. But stealing from a Cop could get her into deep shit. He still hadn't noticed it was gone. The toilet auto-flushed but the man remained in the stall. His clothing rustled like he was putting away his com-link. His pants did not move. He was in no hurry to get up.

She had no desire to remain where she was listening to him wank or whatever he was doing either. Yet, if she moved and alerted him to her being there, the consequences would be very very bad. The seat protested under the man's weight but he still wasn't coming out. She held her breath for a moment longer. Then unable to stand it any longer Audrey made a decision.

Very quietly she slipped out from under the door. Then she made like she was coming in. The man remained in the stall. He was not coming out. She heard some small clicks that sounded vaguely familiar. 'A hypo?' but there was no hiss. Audrey pulled out a small balloon that she'd filled with water and tinkled it into a urinal, making sure to zip, tinkle, flick and zip. The man in the stall blew his nose and spat on the floor. His seat creaked as he settled his full weight into it. After a few minutes Audrey left the restroom. She had expected the man to come out of the stall, but it seemed he was intent on taking a nap in it.

For once in her life Audrey was unsure of what to do. The billfold had more than enough to get her to Tangiers and beyond. Something was not right, though. If she dumped the wallet after taking the UD's she had a feeling that she'd be caught. So, she still had the wallet. Trying to act like she belonged at a certain spot for a long period of time was quite a challenge. She finally settled down and made it look like she was napping under some old papers. Hours passed before the tall flame-haired man in a blue company uniform emerged from the washroom. Audrey studied him as he passed her without a second glance. He was not an ugly fellow. Rather striking really, for a hype. A drugged-up cop, what a combination! Her past gave her plenty of experience with this and she knew the look - the glassy eyes, the somewhat gaunt face, the slightly off sway to the walk. Oh, too well. If she was going to return the wallet the best time was when he was not likely to remember her face, 'Now or never,' she thought. 'At least he won't be thinking clearly.' Audrey slipped in behind him and followed him the length of the terminal. They were almost to the door when she finally spoke, "Hey, mister… You lose something?"

The man stopped and turned, a 'shove off,' response ready on his lips, until he saw the wallet. Audrey noticed that his blue eyes were still sharp even if his reaction was slowed somewhat. He was aware enough for a look of recognition to flicker over his drug-hazed expression as his eyes focused on the folded leather in her hand. "Um, maybe, kid…. Where did you find that?" The tilt of his head revealed immediate suspicion and Audrey could picture him reaching for his sidearm as he walked toward her with a slightly unsteady sway in his swagger. Any lesser girl might have dropped the wallet and run but Audrey stood her ground. There were layers of messages in his eyes. He was a killer -- dangerous, violent, and ruthless -- and he hid behind his nickel-slick badge. There was coldness to his eyes, coldness that called up images of the man who raised her. Fear would not do, not now. Audrey focused on his shiny star pinned to his deep blue jacket. It read 'Johns, William J.' Even though she was fighting it; something fluttered in Audrey's chest like a captured wild bird with its wings beating against the bars of a cage. She forced herself to breathe. Then the man gave her a slow smile that did not reach his eyes, "I imagine, kid, that you'd like something for giving that back."

Audrey's mind screamed for her to cut and run. Johns wore a nightstick in his boot. She forced herself to ignore the familiar shaped handle and the phantom pain her body seemed unable to forget. "No, mister," She lied, "Just returning what isn't mine. How about you tell me something that should be in here so I can make sure that it's yours?" Somehow she found the strength to meet his blue eyes with her honey colored ones. She was shocked at how suddenly clear they seemed to be. Her gaze stopped his advance. They stood an arm's length apart, facing one another. Her words must have sounded truthful.

Actually to Johns, it did sound truthful. It seemed like the most honest thing he'd ever heard. And it stayed his violent impulse to choke the life out of the child standing in front of him. Still he couldn't shake the impression that this kid was up to no good. The conflicting signals made his head spin and him quick to answer, "My ID. Should match the badge. You didn't take that did you?"

Audrey tore her gaze off of him and opened the flap to the cardholder. She flipped through it, ignoring his question. She knew exactly where his ID was, but it would not benefit her to flip right to it. Johns continued to watch her very closely. His eyes burned into her as she slowly worked her way toward his ID card. Her heart fluttered around again. Johns was not as drugged out as she originally believed. She stopped at the ID and showed it to him. "William J. Johns, huh? Hey, ain't you the guy who was just in the news?" Audrey managed an excited tone. "Wow, I never thought I'd meet someone who'd been a story." She made a show of closing the wallet back up without looking at the amount of UD's in it before handing it back. "So, could I get an autograph Mr. Johns? I mean— well. No, its too much bother…"

The leather was still warmed by the kid's fingers as Johns snatched the wallet away. He could clearly see when the youth confirmed the ID that the money in the wallet was still there. So the kid had been honest and trying to do the right thing by telling him his wallet was missing. He closed his eyes feeling just a bit blurred. Could it be that he'd nearly screwed up and choked the life out of a kid trying to do the right thing? He felt his pocket and noticed that the top edge was torn slightly where Riddick had grabbed him. It was entirely possible that the wallet had fallen out on its own. Then to top it off the kid was asking for an autograph… Okay, he was flattered, for sure, by this boy handing back his billfold. Still, the last rise was not quite mellowed out yet and he really wanted to be off in his own world. He struggled to maintain a coherent idea about what was going on. The conflicting signals he was picking up had to be the dope. This boy was a good kid, he determined…might as well reward the good behavior, "Yeah, Okay, kid…Here." He opened up the wallet and dropped an uncounted amount of UD notes on the ground. That should do it but just to make sure the boy didn't try to follow him out of the spaceport he added, "Now, leave me alone, alright?"

Audrey hustled to collect the cash before someone else scooped it up. She knew Johns was walking away and not even looking back at her. Her heart settled back down. 'Ass,' Audrey thought. She couldn't believe she'd actually asked him for his autograph like some big fan. She also was astonished that he'd fallen for it. Johns was a crooked cop at best, a Merc at worst… But he'd surprised her with the reward, slight as it seemed to be. Only a tiny fraction of what he was carrying around ended up on the floor. There was a handful of UD's, all singles it appeared. Well, then she was a handful of UD's closer to that ticket. Audrey stuffed the bills into her tiny holder and retreated back into the spaceport to search for another loose billfold.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Johns made his way out into the thin, chilled, overly harsh daylight. At least he knew that his bounty would not be leaving the location he'd left him at without eye protection of some kind. It took him over an hour to make his way back to the hotel using public transport. The cryo chamber would be delivered to the port in the morning but the security cage should be waiting for him in the lobby, and getting Riddick into it would let him catch at least one night's normal sleep.

Walking into the hotel lobby was like walking into – a war zone. He was quickly informed that an employee had noticed his high security door was ajar and placed the floor into lockdown. Only problem was that the security sensors on that level had been knocked out and they had no way of knowing if the problem guest was still there or not. Local authorities refused to get involved unless Riddick was declared to be out of Merc boundaries. Johns could feel the throb start back up in his spine. "Cage?" He asked.

"Your delivery is waiting in the securing room, Marshall. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to charge you for any damages that have been incurred on the 4th floor," the manager informed him.

Johns pinched the bridge of his nose, "Yeah. I figured as much. You got my tab info?" The manager nodded. "Put it there. You'll get paid faster that way."

"Very good. Here's a security key to bypass the locks on the access doors. The cage shall be delivered via the far lift, and you'll need your Guild ID to open the door."

Johns took the security key and made his way up to the floor he'd rented. If Riddick was smart he'd realize that there was no way out and that Johns had rented here just because the hotel was set up to deal with this type of situation. But then, Riddick never thought inside the box, so to speak. Johns spent the remainder of the day and the better part of the night just looking for the ex-ranger. He ended up paying some of the other mercs in the facility to provide extra firepower to convince the con that playing nice was the only way he'd survive. Riddick must have seen something in the blue-eyed devil's claim that he was looking at passage in a body bag because shortly before dawn he gave up and allowed himself to be secured into the cage.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Her luck was bad. Twelve hours wasted. She camped out in the storeroom she'd slipped into the first day. At least the door hadn't been fixed yet. Her pack was uncomfortable so she pulled everything out and rearranged it. She stopped and stared at her small moneybox. It was a small sized mint tin, really. She flipped it in her hands, looking it over before opening it. Counting her UD's sometimes made her feel better. Right now she needed an emotional lift. So how much was she worth? She counted the bills she had remaining from the account and then added the reward she'd gotten from Johns. Yep an additional handful of singles, but wait…some of them were kind of new and sticky. She got a plastic glove out of a box and worked up some static. One was larger than a single. She stared at the bill disbelieving her eyes. She rubbed them, blinked and looked again. It was the 100UD note she needed. Tangiers was within reach. And she had less than 24 hours to wait. So her luck wasn't so rotten after all. She decided to go back out to the loading gates and wait for the ticket clerk to arrive in the morning.

Audrey must have dozed off again as she waited near the ticket counter for the flight heading to Tangiers. She woke with a start as the lady setting up opened the blinds behind her allowing the bright morning sun to cut into the seating area. Audrey had wondered how the seats here had gotten bleached out…now she knew. She blinked into the light for a moment then decided that her first course of action this morning would be to get a cheap ticket to Tangiers. The clerk didn't much care. She didn't bother with the standard warnings that the flight would come without insurance unless she upgraded. Audrey knew already what the risks were. There was no one who she cared about enough to pay the extra for anyhow. The woman shoved a stack of papers toward her. "You can fill them out over there." The woman pointed. "Please take the time to read what you are signing, as the company reserves all rights listed within. If you do not fully sign all the papers your ticket will be void." The woman sounded like a recording. It was not like anyone actually checked these things, Audrey thought. But if she was to travel as a boy she'd better sign everything with a boy's name. So who should she be? 'Um, Jack B. Badd. Haha…god, how clever,' such drippy sarcasm. Still she could come up with nothing better, so Jack B. Badd was what she signed on every page. She approached the counter, turned the papers in, and paid for her ticket. The woman at the counter never even looked up. "Here you go." Audrey took the ticket, walked the length of the spaceport and settled down for a day's wait. Her mind wandered…

It wandered back into all of those dark places that she hated to go. It seemed no matter what she tried to think about there are always something bad associated with it. She tried thinking about some lady's floral print skirt and drew comparisons to the rather dead conditions she'd left behind. Flowers need dirt. Sigma 3 had plenty of dirt, but no flowers. Then she tried her new name: Jack… Angered male words floated in her mind, "You don't know jack!" Audrey couldn't recall how many times she'd heard that saying, for 'you're really stupid.' She heard screams and sobs – fighting. Her mind just couldn't let it go. She was back in the baby's room with the other kids hiding in the back closet. The lights were off. "You don't know jack-shit, woman!" The man of the house was yelling it at her mother. Again. She tried to back off from the memories, to put a third person perspective to it. She forced herself to reframe the sounds she heard into a descriptive passage so it was not her life. 'Please let it not be my life. Just a bad dream, yeah, those sounds, that scared little girl, not me. It's not my mom getting beat up. Not my ears hearing sounds of flesh hitting flesh, sobs, and hushed pleas for him to stop. Not me….'

What surprise was there that it began to work a bit? Jack was floating above the scene, not part of it, 'So that's where you got my name, huh? What else should I know about you Audrey? How about you let me see your greatest fear?' For a moment Audrey felt threatened by this new voice in her head. Then it said, 'Oh, come on! You created me. Let me protect you. Show me what you're scared of so I know. I'm not gonna hurt you.'

She wanted to believe it. Really she did. 'Okay, Jack. Here it is.' Silence. The dark house filled with silence. She had been never been more fearful than during the stone silence of those last nights. The medics had refused to release her mother from the hospital, even though he had demanded it. There had been a deadly silence in his voice as he spoke over the comm. She was cold. She couldn't move. 'Not me…Please let it not be me…'

Jack popped out of the scene. That little girl, so tiny, so still. The man walking down the hall. Jack could see it like the roof was missing on the house. The girl paralyzed in her bed in the dark and the man coming into her room, his nightstick in his hand. Somehow Jack knew what the man was thinking, what his plan was. That girl would replace the woman he'd lost control of. Nothing Jack could do about the past, now. But at least he knew why they were running. Poor little Audrey.