Treacherous

He was gone.

Bell had known it would come to this point. Hell, her entire adventure on T2 had been like a providential honor. She’d MET Riddick. Other than the most obvious reward of living through the encounter, she’d also come away with more than she’d ever expected. She felt like she’d been reborn. There was truly no comparison between herself now and the woman that had booked passage on the Hunter Gratzner.

Ramsay stood beside her, her mostly silent companion. He was helpful and thoughtful, and diligently present. In essence, the perfect male. If too many more like him were manufactured there would be no need of the human model.

Jack stood beside her as well. The youth that had masqueraded as a boy was gone. It seemed more than one person had found some form of freedom at the back end of space. No lace and frills, but also no more of the heavy baggy clothing that revealed nothing of the budding teenager.

The girl looked even more miserable than her to discover that their reluctant benefactor had fled. Unshed tears pooled in her wide eyes. Her silence alone was indication of her cheerlessness. Normally the talker of the group, but now trembling lips uttered no words.

“You are welcome to stay,” Imam was saying.

Ah, yes. Not only had Riddick neatly flown the coop, but he’d abandoned them to charity. That bothered her more than his predicted departure.

“No, Imam. I don’t belong here.”

She saw him preparing to argue, but then remaining silent. In the end she figured he didn’t really care.

“Will he come back?”

It was the first words Jack had spoken since taking post at the window staring at the empty spot the ship had sat.

Bell and Imam exchanged glances, his more concerned than hers. The adults had conferred on the ship before reaching Helion Prime about Jack’s growing adulation of Riddick. Removing her from Riddick’s presence for her own benefit had been the consensus.

“No, child. It would be too dangerous,” Imam told her.

Bell stepped closer to Jack. She didn’t readily agree with the pronouncement that Riddick was gone permanently. Or maybe she just didn’t want to. She could relate to Jack’s sadness. Riddick wasn’t just a man, a person. He was a force. Comparable to the wind or sunshine. His absence didn’t make you MISS him, it made you miss the FEEL of him.

“Jack, it would please me if you came with me,” Bell said softly. She knew that while leaving wouldn’t bring closure to the hurt the girl felt, it would distract from it. Or she may want to just remain behind where Riddick had left her. Bell could relate to the temptation of that as well.

“Where are you going?”

“Nowhere, everywhere. I don’t have a home if that’s what you mean. I suppose now I’ll get a ship, but before I just traveled. I do repo’s.”

The girl looked at her like she’d just handed her the key to her cell. “Yeah, I wanna go with you.”

A few calls, a trip to the local financial institution and they were ready to travel. After explaining her desire to her company they arranged for her next pickup to be a permanent one. Company perk. After this one she would move into smaller retrievals so she’d never have to leave her ship behind. While she didn’t think Jack would mind traveling so much and Ramsay wouldn’t have a problem with it, Bell herself was starting to detest living out of bags and playing Russian roulette with mattresses. Plus, there was always the chance that she would need a more stable environment now.

The farewell with Imam was both sad and relieving. Riddick had helped to save the man’s life, had helped rescue him from that hellish planet, but still he didn’t share the sense of mourning of the two women.

As they’d left T2 Jack had asked Riddick what they were supposed to tell people about him when they encountered anyone. His response had been to tell them that Riddick had died on that planet. Now, it felt like it. He was as good as dead to them.

With a new ship Bell stayed in the back lanes. She was well off. Her company had always paid for everything, leaving her to save nearly all of her earnings. Now she was able to pick and choose her assignments with no fear of going broke too soon.

Jack didn’t seem to mind the brief and far between stops on inhabitable planets. They slowly became friends, which was quite a feat for two such normally loner people.

When Jack asked if they could make a stop and pick up one of her friends Bell didn’t see a thing wrong with it. Kyra was obviously from the streets like Jack. Orphan or runaway, she didn’t volunteer too much info.

Bell did a few retrievals in the first months after T2. First the ship, then a few smaller repos. A trip to the dealer to drop them off and she headed for deep space. The girls didn’t question it. They were content to study or just lie around talking.

Slowly Bell’s condition showed itself. Kyra seemed truly pleased, giving Bell one of her rare, but beautiful smiles. Jack was anything but thrilled. She’d walked away from them when the news had come to surface. Days passed before Bell saw her again.

“Is it his?”

Bell looked up from the star charts she’d been investigating. Right to the heart of the matter, that was Jack.

“You know it is.”

“Does he know?”

“How would he?”

The younger female seemed to digest this, nodding slowly. “I envy you. If he ever knew…”

Having her leaving it unsaid both thrilled and terrified Bell. What would Riddick do if he knew she carried his child? Whatever his response would be, it would most likely be extreme. Indifference. Rage. Possession. None appealed to her out of hand.

Jack walked to the door and Bell figured the conversation to be over.

“Don’t let Kyra know whose it is.”

Bell frowned, but slowly nodded. Chances were the girl had already guessed, but it made no difference to her if Kyra knew or not. “Okay.”

With that Jack was gone. Ramsay brought her the news while she napped that both girls truly were gone.

Bell had kept one of the repos as a hobby. It had needed some repairs and she had needed something to do. She’d just gotten it running and now the bay that it had sat in was empty. She was hurt that they’d left so abruptly. No farewells.

Ramsay stroked a hand gently over her taut shoulders as she left the bay.

A downed ship.

No big deal. A passing news flash within the realm of important financial, economical, and political drivel that normally topped the news. Bell seized on the occurrence.

Her first concern was that it was the girls. But no. Too far, too soon, and in the wrong direction. Her ship’s radar and picked them up headed out of deep space, back towards civilization, if you would. The ship in question had crash-landed on a rather inhospitable and uninhabited planet nearly a week’s distance from her current location. She homed in on the location and reset her course for the U. V. System.

“Did they find a flight recorder? Wreckage? Survivors? Anything?” Bell was asking Ramsay.

“No. The search appears to have been brief. A snow storm forced their ship off planet.”

“Snow? How unique. It’s been a while since I’ve seen snow.”

“It will be a while longer.”

Bell laughed at his quick comment. She knew he would never allow her to land on U.V. 6, but that didn’t keep him from going down. Shame the searchers hadn’t thought to bring a synthetic man. They may have found something.

When they arrived at the icy planet that rarely saw full daylight, Bell put the ship into orbit and sent Ramsay down. She waited impatiently for hours, scanning and scanning again with the bio-scanner. No signature heat came from anything below her. It was like the entire planet was made of ice and rock and snow.

Ramsay stepped into the observation room where she’d remained glued to the thick window with a view of the planet below. She didn’t move, didn’t even look at him. He stopped beside her, joining her in looking out into space.

Finally she couldn’t stand it, “Well?”

“It’s the right ship.”

Bell closed her eyes, her hand coming up to rise on her slightly protruding belly. For a few moments she couldn’t breath, her heart thumping heavily in her chest. “And?”

“He’s here.”

Shivers racked her spine and she opened her eyes to look down at the planet. She didn’t realize she was touching the glass. “Did you see him?” Her voice was breathless.

“No.”

That hurt. Some definitive proof that he was here and alive would have helped, but wasn’t truly necessary. Knowing Riddick he would survive until the end of time, not even allowing time or age to take his vitality or life. One small icy planet was no match for him. But why here? Yeah, he’d needed to disappear. But crashing the ship was as good as a slap in her face. He didn’t trust her. She understood, but she didn’t like it. There never would have been any way for someone to trace him. Accept through her, that is.

Guilt gnawed at her. Just being where she was put him in danger. An unidentified ship crashing in the asshole end of space hadn’t alerted anyone. No one cared. But if another ship was in the area it might draw attention and suspicion. She didn’t want that.

“I want a package delivered.”

“No.”

Bell turned on him, “What?”

“He wouldn’t want it and he won’t accept it.”

She knew Ramsay was right, but she’d be damned if she’d leave Riddick to chance and fate. Not only did she want to do some tiny bit to help him, she wanted to make some sort of contact. He’d know who made the drop-off if he didn’t already know Ramsay had been there. Accept it or not, she’d make sure it was available.

“I don’t care. You will go down again, or I will. Don’t land in the same place and don’t get out. Just make the drop and take off again.”

“And what will this package contain?” His sarcasm was plain.

“Just a few necessities.”

They spent an hour getting together a collection of ‘necessities’. Blankets, food packets, a pair of goggles, instant warmers, medicine, bandages, a set of stacking pots and pans, a knife, chemical cooking packs, and other various things. The calling card that Ramsay blatantly ignored was a dozen cans of peaches and an opener. Just in case the low temperatures had caused the man to lose some of his wits, it would be obvious who’d been to visit.

“Go a couple miles out from the crash site and mark your location.”

Ramsay only nodded and left her without a word.

When he returned he was just as silent. Bell let him sulk in his disapproving way. She set their course and got the ship underway before she approached him.

“Thank you. I just want to do something,” she started.

“Oh, you’re doing something. Pissing him off most likely.”

Bell grinned. God, she could just imagine the look on Riddick’s face when he realized she knew where he was and was free to drop in on him. Which in turn reminded her of how isolated he was. Why had he chosen to virtually imprison himself on a hostile planet?

The answer was obvious. For them. Even in Riddick’s reasoning a world without him in it was a better place. How truly sad and pathetic. But she didn’t agree, and she’d make sure he wasn’t on U. V. System’s Planet 6 to commit suicide.

“I just have to make sure he can survive.”

“From what I’ve seen of the man a couple cans of peaches and a blanket won’t make the difference.”

Bell nodded, “Yeah, but it will help, and then he’ll know.”

“Know?”

“That he’s not alone,” she whispered, not able to stop the tears from welling and falling.

When Ramsay put his arms around her she didn’t hesitate to return the hug. She just didn’t want to stand alone, and the person she wanted to stand with did.

“Oh, God, Ram, I miss him. Isn’t that stupid?”

“No. You became friends. That’s not such a surprise.” His hand stroked down her back, feeling better than anything she’d felt recently.

“You’d be surprised how much of a surprise that was,” she whispered.