2. Jack: Getting The Call

“Lights,” Jack muttered, entering her apartment. Nothing happened. “God damn it, lights on!”

One cheap halogen bulb finally flickered to life, illuminating her grubby one-room efficiency. Jack kicked the door shut behind her and pulled off her uniform. She smoothed it out carefully and hung it in her meager closet, trading it for a pair of sweats. She had four hours to sleep before her next shift started.

In the three months since her arrival in New Ecuador, she’d converted almost everything she’d owned into hard currency, including most of her clothes. There wasn’t any point in keeping them under the circumstances, and she needed the money. Even the combination of waitressing and working as a hospital porter while the agency clucked over her file was barely letting her scrape by. New Ecuador, that exciting, glowing, cosmopolitan planet, was prohibitively expensive to live on.

She’d calculated how long it would be before she couldn’t even afford to keep this place, and she had another month and a half left. Only a month if she wanted to have enough for the fare to New Mecca. Imam’s offer, as little as she wanted to accept charity, still stood. She could go live with him if nothing came through in the next four weeks.

She’d come to the conclusion that the agency had no real intention of placing her. They were abetting Jarvis and his military cronies, stalling her until she was destitute and had to trade her integrity for her survival. Didn’t matter. They wouldn’t get her to do it, no matter what.

She curled up in the lumpy bed and closed her eyes. Sleep was something she’d come to regard as a necessary evil. The nightmares had started again a month ago, the ones in which she was fleeing through the darkness, winged horrors at her heels. Only now, the creatures had Jarvis’ face as they pursued her. She ran, crying for Riddick to save her. He would appear out of the darkness, calling to her that she was safe now... only to be impaled on the Jarvis-Creature’s arm-spikes—

“NO!”

She bolted up from her bed, sweating and shaking. That final image still swam before her, Riddick staring at her in astonishment and betrayal as he realized he’d been killed, realized that she’d led his killer to him.

“Never,” she whispered, wiping away the tears that spilled out of her eyes. “I’ll never betray him...”

She flung herself back down on the bed. “Fuck you, Jarvis!” she shouted at the low ceiling.

She still had an hour until she was due to leave for work, but she knew she wasn’t going to get any more sleep. After a moment she dragged herself out of bed and headed for the shower.

She used almost no hot water; it was too expensive. After three months of shivering she had grown used to it, although she would never like it. It reminded her of that other rain, as she and her friends had fled through the louring darkness toward a salvation that not all of them would reach. She washed as quickly as she could and stepped out, wrapping a towel around her. At least New Ecuador was a warm planet.

She examined her face in the mirror for a moment. Not too bad. Dark green eyes, light brown hair with natural glints of blonde in it, curling halfway down her neck. She’d been so proud of herself when she’d shaved it off, but she’d been even more touched when Riddick asked her to grow it out. She wondered how long she would let it get. It was so thick it already gave her a lot of trouble.

The eyes were still a little bit red from crying, she noticed. Oh well. There would be no sign of that by the time she reached the hospital. She still had more than half an hour, though. Might as well call the Herkimer Agency and harass them again. She made a point of doing it once a day, ever since she’d come to her conclusion of their true intentions. If they thought ignoring her would make her go away, they were in for a surprise. At least, for one more month they were.

She pulled on some clothes at random – didn’t matter what she wore, she’d be changing into scrubs when she got to work – and headed for the comm unit. It surprised her by beeping before she could touch it. Someone was calling her.

It was probably a wrong number, but she might as well answer it. She hit the “Receive” button.

“Jack Kowalczyk.” Occasionally she toyed with the notion of answering the comm by calling herself “Riddick’s Bitch,” but she’d never gotten up the nerve.

She was astonished to hear Matthew Saunders’ voice on the other end of the call. “Miss Kowalczyk, I’m glad I caught you at home. We may have a position for you with a small merchant vessel, if you are interested.”

Was she interested? Damn right she was, but after three months of neglect she wanted to play the game right back at him. “How small?”

“The only other crew member is the Captain. He’s looking for someone trainable and cheap.”

Fuck you too, asshole.

“He’d better not be looking for a playmate on off-hours.”

“Nothing like that, Miss Kowalczyk. Our agency has nothing to do with such transactions, I assure you.” Man definitely had some kind of rod up his rectum.

“Sorry,” she responded, not quite letting him know how sorry she wasn’t. “It was that ‘cheap’ part. Wanted to make sure you didn’t mean what it almost sounded like.”

A pause. Saunders was reconsidering his phrasing and maybe realizing how rude it was. She doubted he’d apologize, though. He’d made it clear that he thought she was beneath dirt back when they’d first met.

“So what kind of shipping does this guy do?” she prodded. “Is this deep space or small hops?”

“A mixture of both, apparently. He’s been in the business for about two years, according to his ships’ records. We think he may be a smuggler trying to go legitimate.”

“So is that the reason he’s not spooked by my history?” She knew that they probably routinely told anyone who perused her file about her connections with the most dangerous escaped convict in the galaxy.

“He said it might even come in handy, actually.”

Great. Just what she needed, someone hoping to capitalize on her shady past. Still... it was this or another month of rice and beans and sixteen-hour workdays before she took a trip to New Mecca.

“What are the terms?”

“He’s offering full board and fifteen percent of the net profits.”

Fuck it. She was off of this rock right now. Riddick had taught her a few useful moves before they’d been separated; if this guy was a perv she’d deal with him. She wanted out of here.

“Done. Where do I meet him?”

Yet another pause. Had Saunders actually thought she’d turn it down? Too bad for him if he had. “You will need to travel to Seti Station. His ship is berthed there undergoing repairs.”

“Seti Station’s two star-jumps from here. Is he paying for my flight there?”

“He’s paid for a round-trip ticket, Miss Kowalczyk. He said that there was always the possibility that you would choose not to join him once you met, and he didn’t want you to worry about being stranded if that happened.”

Smart man. She liked him more and more, even though she’d never met him. She had a feeling she wouldn’t be using the return ticket, suddenly. People who showed you where the exits were generally were safe to be around. Another thing Riddick had taught her.

“When can I leave?” She realized that she was actually starting to get excited about this. Adventure at last!

“The next ship we can put you on is in two hours. Can you make it?”

“I’ll be there. You meeting me at the station, or should I just ask for my ticket at the counter?”

“I’ll see you off, Miss Kowalczyk.” He sounded a little too relieved.

“See you soon, then.” She hit the disconnect button and punched in the hospital code. Time to tell them that she was shipping out.

She gave the diner the same courtesy, and then grabbed her meager possessions and tossed them into her pack. Ten minutes later she and all of her remaining worldly goods were on their way. On the way out the door, she coded the lock so that the landlord would know his tenant had vacated permanently. He could start fleecing someone else any time he wanted.

So long, New Ecuador... the planet had kinda sucked for her, anyway.