������Jessie Devereux was worried. Okay, maybe anxious was a better description. Alright, close to outright terrified. She knew, just knew, this had been a horrible mistake from the start. "I've lost my mind," she murmured. Then caught herself in a laugh at the irony of this statement.Get ahold of yourself, she thought, this isn't helping. She counted to ten, then found herself well on her way to fifty before she mustered the courage to start moving her feet.
������She followed the rest of the passengers disembarking the transport towards the lines forming at customs. The station was bigger than she had imagined. Alot bigger. She tilted her head back to watch the enormous rounded, gleaming, metal walls come together high above her head. It made her feel extremely insignificant. And a bit nauseous. Gazing out into the crowd, almost in a daze, she saw a friendly-looking man in charge of one of the lines so she headed in his direction. "Have your Identicards and any pertinent documents out and ready please," he was saying. She gripped her flight bag, then tried to relax. Unzipping the bag, she started fumbling for her card. Looking around, she half expected to see an entire enforcement squad bearing down on her. All she saw was an elderly gentleman looking quizically at her. "Did you lose something, my dear?" She shook her head. "N-No," she stammered,"Long flights always get on my nerves. I'm not overly fond of them." He smiled at her." I know what you mean, especially these days." He patted his knee. "These old bones don't travel like they used to." He seemed about to say something else, then changed his mind as he noticed his wife headed in their direction. He gave her another smile and then moved off.
������Jessie let her breath out, not realizing she'd been holding it. Also, not aware it was her turn with the Security Officer in the customs line. "Ma'am?, May I have your card please?" She looked up into an amused pair of eyes. Flustered, she whipped her card out too quickly and promptly dropped it on the floor at his feet.She gasped, and dove for it before he could. "I'm, uh, I'm really sorry," she breathed, straightening up. He grinned,"It's okay, Ma'am, I've had worse things dropped at my feet in here." " And speaking of which.......," he held out his hand,"Would you like to try it again?" She almost giggled ,although she was sure it was more from her nerves and not so much from his stunning wit. "Oh sure, here," she passed him the card. Inside she was in a turmoil. Great way not to call any undue attention to yourself. She made a mental note to hit herself in the head later.
������"Miss Devereux," he intoned, sounding suspiciously pleased at the "Miss".He looked at the rest of her info while passing it thru the scanner. Unconsciously wringing her hands together, she waited for the order from him to carry her off to the brig or wherever it was they took people like her. What she actually heard was,"Well, Miss Devereux, this looks to be in order. Welcome to Babylon 5."
������Stunned, she opened her mouth and nothing came out. Finally, she managed to squeeze out, "Thank you, sir." He looked amused."Sir? That's not necessary Miss Devereux. I'm Allen. Zack Allen, Chief of Security," he held his hand out to take hers. She instinctively pulled her hand away, all the while processing what he just said. Chief of Security? Wonderful. She really knew how to pick em'. She might as well just get on the P.A system and announce to the whole staion who and what she was. He dropped his hand, seeming to sense he had done something he shouldn't, also sensing the rest of the natives were getting restless behind him. "Well, anyway, I see this is your first time on the Station, so if you need any assistance, don't hesitate to ask ." Jessie nodded then, perceiving, underneath her fear, that she was probably being read as extremely rude......or just stupid. She managed a pleasant look for him,"Thank you, Mr.Allen. I'll do that," she said, and walked off thru the gate trying to look as if she knew what she was doing.
������Zack looked down at his hand, still holding her card. He started to call her back but she was promptly swallowed up by the crowd. Then he smiled to himself , put it in his pocket, and turned to the next person in line to process them while motioning for one of his men to come and take over for him. "Thanks Robbie, I owe you one," he said when the officer got there. The short stocky Robbie just grinned at his superior officer. "Hey, no problem Chief."

������He hesitated then decided to say it anyway. "I saw her too. You better hurry up or you're gonna lose her." Zack gave him a withering look. "Stow it Michaels, I'm just returning her Identicard. She walked off without it." Robbie held up his hands,"Anything you say,Chief". He took the scanner from Zack, and watched him go. Another officer walked up to Robbie."So whattya want to bet, I say 20 credit chits she's not interested." Robbie laughed,"You're on. I think he's got an okay shot." The other officer looked doubtful. "Not a chance. Did you see the look on her face? Besides, you obviously didn't catch him in action at Earhart's the other night." They both started laughing until a few impatient coughs brought their attention back to their duties. Zack looked at the people milling about the terminal, studying station maps, trying to figure out which way they wanted to go. He had assumed it wouldn't be hard to spot her, with that pretty light auburn hair of hers. It had shone almost like a jewel under the lights. Reminded him of his mother's. His mother's, he thought, snorting. That wasn't exactly the image he was trying to conjure up.
������This was getting him nowhere. He decided to make his way to the reservation area. She'd probably be there, since she'd just arrived. Just then he felt a light tap on his arm. He turned around, expecting another lost Drazi conventioneer like the twelve he had helped this morning. The Drazi NEVER sent anyone to meet their people. It never failed to drive him up a tree. He practically froze, then, when he noted he'd just found exactly who he was looking for. Or rather, she'd found him. "Mr. Allen? You said if I had a problem.......," she trailed off. What was it with her, Zack wondered. She kept acting as if wolves were after her."Not at all,"he assured her. "In fact, I'm pretty sure what your problem is." He slipped his hand into his pocket and withdrew her card. "Looking for this maybe?" A look of relief passed over her china-white features."Yes, thank you, that's exactly it. I got up to the reservations desk and noticed it was gone." At which she'd immediately panicked. "I had no idea where to start looking and then, well, I saw you." She took the card back and put it in her bag. Zack saw she was getting ready to get away from him again. "So,how do you like the station so far?" Ooooo, that was real bright. Good one Zack! She looked at him like he was nuts, too. "Well, it's uh, it's very...big. I've only seen it from the outside so far though. And the terminal. I'm sure it's very nice." What was she supposed to say? A fresh wave of passengers engulfed them, business men checking their chronometers, a group of Pac-Ma- Ra headed for the Alien Sector. Zack thought Jessie looked a tad overwhelmed. She was. She'd never seen anything like this on the colony. They didn't get too many Aliens on Proxima 3. At least, not where she lived. "If you don't mind my asking, you don't travel much do you?"
������Swell, this was exactly what she'd been trying to avoid and here she was, getting grilled by the Security Chief. Maybe a lil truth wouldn't hurt though. "No, actually, I don't. In fact, this is my first trip alone. I feel kind of out of my element. Anyway, thanks again for returning my card. I appreciate it." She prayed he would just leave already. "Well, I've got some time on my hands, if you'd like some help, I can escort you to your quarters. You said you had reservations, right?" Zack was a student of the 'sometimes you had to take the bull by the horns' doctrine. Before she could say anything he hustled her up to the desk and took care of her arrangements. Afterwards he turned to her. "See, nothing to it. Did you have any other luggage?" She shook her head. "No, just this bag." Zack tried to hide his surprise. "Ah, a light traveler. Always smart around these parts. Shall we?" He indicated her to walk beside him. It didn't look like she had much choice. Besides, she really didn't have an inkling as to how to find her room. Her mother had always told her she had the worst sense of direction of anyone she ever knew.
������"How long are you staying?"he asked, even though he'd seen on her reservation she was staying a week. If he kept her talking maybe she wouldn't run out on him.

"Oh, uh, about a week. My connecting transport doesn't get here til Tuesday." "Really? Where are you headed?" She knew she better dodge that one. And fast. "No where in particular,"she lied. "I just thought I'd get out and have a look around. You know, like a vacation." He's never gonna buy that one. He didn't. He got a strange look on his face. "Kind of an odd time to be doing that, don't you think? A nice person like you could get yourself hurt, what with everything going on these days." "Oh no, my fa....someone booked everything for me. I'll be fine." Nice slip. Exactly why she'd been told, "minimum contact." She was NOT cut out for this. He didn't look like he believed her, and they were starting to tread dangerous ground anyway, so she changed the subject. "What's that up ahead?" She pointed, trying to look like an interested tourist. He followed her finger with his eyes."That? That's the Zocalo. Shopping district. All kinds of stores and booths and restaurants. A rather even balance between human and alien. Some of it's pretty exotic. Would you like to look around? I've got time. I don't have to get back right away." He warmed up to the subject. "You should see the Centauri jewelry kiosk. It's interesting to say the least. They've got some wild stuff. And over there we've got...." Zack went into tour guide overdrive. She cut him off. "No, that's okay, I'd really just like to get to my room." Zack's face fell. "I'm sorry, I've been talking your ear off. You're probably tired." She decided to take advantage of that. "Yeah, I'm real bushed."Jessie yawned for emphasis."I could stand a nap." "Don't worry," he said,"Your quarters aren't too far, now.We're almost there." He lightly touched her elbow and steered her towards the transport tube. "Just a couple of levels." She jumped at the contact. Okay, he thought, she really doesn't like to be touched. Better watch that. Inside the tube, she moved away from him and pretended to inspect her nails, hoping he would take the hint. It wasn't that she didn't like him. Matter of fact, she found him attractive, and he was being very helpful. It's just that her father had told her to keep to herself and not to attract any attention. The less contact she had with anyone, the less chance she would have for getting into trouble.
������Zack was not to be deterred. For some reason he really liked this girl. Maybe it was the White Knight Syndrome. She definitely seemed like a maiden in distress, if anyone did. It didn't hurt that she was a lovely woman, either. Something about her though, he mused. She sure didn't act like the type to go galivanting around the galaxy on "holiday" while there was a civil war going on.Then again, he'd seen stranger things during his tenure here.
������The doors opened, and they walked out, around the corner and down the hall.
������"This is the visitors' center. Your room should be on the left. Aaaand......voila'! Here you are. Number 774."
������He made an exaggerated flourish. She couldn't help laughing. He was trying so hard. It couldn't hurt to be nice.
������"Thank you noble sir. You've been extremely helpful." She curtsied slightly.
������He cocked his head. "I thought I told you to call me Zack."
������"You didn't." She answered with a half-smile.
������He grinned back . "Oh, well, I am now."
������"In that case, thank you Zack. Really, you've been a big help. I appreciate it."
������Zack considered putting his hand out then remembered what happened the last time.
������"So, do you know how to work the key lock and everything?" He was stalling for time.
������"Yeah, I think I can figure it out."
������"Okay then," he swung his arms back and forth,"I guess I ought to let you rest or whatever."
������Thanking him for about the umpteenth time today, she made a move for the door. He figured it was now or never.
������"Look, I know you just got here, and you're alone, so I assume you don't know anybody here and.....Alright ,I'm just blabbering here and about to make a complete fool of myself so could you save us both some time and have dinner with me tonight?"

������She felt caught between horror and delight. Everything in her was telling her to say no.
He saw her hesitate and took it as a good sign."There's this wonderful place called the Fresh Air. It's real nice, trees and plants, almost like an al fresco place back on Earth. You'd love it." He tried to think of a clincher. All he came up with was, "Please?"
������Against her better judgement, she was beginng to relax around him. But he asked alot of questions. If she went out with him.....it didn't seem like a good idea. On the other hand, what if she said no? He was very persistent. He might decide to look into her background. Being the Chief, he probably had all kinds of sources. Who knew what he could dig up? Maybe she'd be better off trying to placate him with a date. ��She lifted her gaze, then made her decision. "I....well....yes. Why not? I have to eat, and with my skills, I probably couldn't find a restaurant in this place if I had a bloodhound."
������Zack's whole face lit up. "Really?! I mean, um, great , that's really....great! So I'll come back around 18:00 hours? That'll give you a chance to rest and do, uh, whatever," he finished weakly. Jessie nodded,"Fine, I'll be ready. See you then." And quickly dissappeared thru the door.
������Zack couldn't believe she'd said yes so fast. He was convinced he was going to have to beg. Perhaps he was better than he thought. Either that or she was just very, very lonely and hadn't seen a decent male in a long time. Who cared? He had a date with a very pretty, if somewhat shy, young woman. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, trying not to appear too pleased with himself, and then headed back towards Customs to gloat.

   
Home    Next

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws