Babylon 5, Season 1: Signs and Portents

[Thomas "Jinxo" Jordan tells his story, and the story of the "Babylon Curse," to Aldous Gajic.]

Jinxo:
I was too young to fight in the Minbari War, so when I got the chance to work space construction, I jumped for it. The day I went to work on the Babylon Station-we didn't number them at first, you know-I thought that was the best day of my life! I worked a few months, had some leave, so I took it. And the station's infrastructure collapsed. Sabotaged. They never found out who.

Aldous Gajic:
I remember.

Jinxo:
So I went to work on the second one. The firm still owned my contract until the station was finished. I took leave a second time, and that station was sabotaged. And then when B3 blew up, well, that's when I got the name Jinxo. When I went to work on B4, I didn't take any leave! I was there every minute until we finished it. I thought the Curse was gone. But as I was leaving on the shuttle, I looked back…and the station just sort of…wrinkled, twisted like putty, and then just disappeared. The minute I left. So then when they decided to build B5, I had to work on it. And I have to stay. I have to!

Aldous:
I'd say that you have the wrong nickname. They should have called you Lucky!

Jinxo:
How do you figure?

Aldous:
To have escaped the worst each time, that's a blessing. You're a very lucky man. Perhaps each time, you were exactly where you were meant to be.

Jinxo:
[slowly smiling] I never thought of it like that.

Aldous:
We never do.