Easy Tickets: Chapter 2/25
Disclaimers and notes:
Obviously, it all belongs to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and the rest. I’m just playing with it.
For your ease, mouse-over Chinese for English translations.
Many thanks to Guenever, vera2529, and LEEH from fireflyfans for doing beta.
Start over: Easy Tickets: Chapter 1/25
Previous series: The Fish Job: Chapter 1/19
Easy Tickets, Chapter 2/25
by: mal4prez
The bad guys continue planning… The crew goes hunting/gathering, River communes with nature, Kaylee and Inara talk sex, and Serenity has a problem.
Will hummed to himself as he followed Ray down the barren hillside. He could read annoyance in the tense set of Ray’s shoulders, but that just brought a loose smile to Will’s tanned face. Ray was a good contact, and it tickled Will to no end that Ray’d brought him in on this job, but the guy really needed to lighten up.
Will glanced up the sky, the most interesting thing to look at on this crappy rock. It was near midsummer, so the sun stayed well above the planetary rings all day. The curving section of the rings directly below the sun reflected white light brightly, then faded off into the blue of the sky to either side. The crystalline outer rings were the impressive; the minerals in them scattered sunlight into a pattern of colors, forming a spectacular arc that could be followed from horizon to horizon.
His toe caught on a crag, reminding him to watch the ground under his feet. No matter how shiny the sky, the land wasn’t something to be taking your eyes off for long. The stone was uneven and hard, with no soil to cover it. Dead brush and fallen tree limbs never rotted here, they just dried up into dust and blew away.
He hadn’t seen what the world was like Before, as locals referred to it, but now the whole gorramn place was a crematorium, slowly shriveling away to nothing. He’d never have chosen to come here; no one in their right mind would spend any more time on this dead planet than they had to. But he went where his orders told him to go. So far, his stay on this world had been on the dull side, but that looked to be changing in the very near future.
The two men reached a last rough outcrop and Will followed Ray’s example, crouching and using his hands to scramble down. They found the others where they’d left them, gathered in the shade of one of the few trees still standing, dead though it was.
“Gather up,” Ray said to the others, motioning to the ground in front of him.
Ginger was reclining on a rock, her shoulder length grey-brown hair pinned back out of her eyes. She was looking over her rifle, frowning at the dust which she could never be free of on this world. That woman cared for her weapon like it was her firstborn. In a way, Will knew, it was.
He nodded to her. When they first met he’d had to salute. She’d been in the service a good five years longer than he and could have earned command of their unit, but Ginger wanted nothing more than a comfy place to sit and a target to aim at. That was just one of the things he liked about her: the lack of complications. She’d gotten a little plump since the war ended, and her hair had greyed, but she shot true as ever and was just as lively in the sack. Or, against the wall. He couldn’t hide a smirk and he stuck a thumb in his belt, recalling the morning’s play.
Hank sat apart from Ginger, the dusty ground around him spattered with pools of spittle from his chew. The man hadn’t been anywhere near a razor, a brush, or likely a bar of soap in a long while. He stank to high heaven. He was a strange one, hardly spoke, but rumor had it that Hank was the best shot around. Quick and cool on the draw. Will didn’t know about all that, but Ray said the man did what he was told without arguing, and that was enough.
The boy Jase was over by the old transport pod that had brought them out from the city, slouching in the dust with his black hair hanging over his face. He was still in his teens, sixteen he’d said when Will asked. Will hadn’t believed him at first; Jase looked younger than that on account of his small size. But, like Ray, Jase’s eyes showed that the times he’d survived added up to more than the years he’d been alive. Also like Ray, Jase didn’t smile much.
Ginger and Hank gathered around Ray, who nodded to Will. Ray wasn’t much of a talker; he preferred to let Will lay out the plan. Will nodded back and crouched in the dust, using a stick to draw a rough schematic of the Firefly. He’d spent time on one before; he knew the layout.
“Ginger,” he said, keeping his tone impersonal, “set up out front so you can see into the bay, and help out if it comes to shooting. But mainly you need to keep watch in case the shuttle or the hovercraft come back. Do what you need to scare them away.
“Hank, you’ll go in the front with Ray. You two have a nice friendly palaver with whoever you find while I go in the top way. Be ready to draw, but don’t kill anyone unless you have to. We may need them alive to help out later.”
Will pulled his bandanna out of his back pocket to pat the sweat off his face as he studied Hank, trying to see if the man had caught all that. Hank looked like he should be headman of some loony cult. Behind his thick brows, his eyes narrowed in what might have been disappointment, but then he shrugged and turned away to spit.
Will shoved the bandanna in his back pocket and continued telling what he knew. “They have at least two on board. One’s the Browncoat I met in town; he’s got a gun, and he’s sure to know how to use it. The other’s an old man, no gun but take care; he’s seen action.”
“Uh… Will?” Jase asked tentatively from where he still sat against the transport. “What’m I doin’?”
Will looked over, noticing how the kid’s lip had swelled up since the morning, but the question wasn’t Will’s to answer.
Not for the first time, Will wondered about the story behind Ray and Jase. With straight black hair and tilted green eyes, Jase didn’t look a bit like Ray, and they sure didn’t act like family. For a brief time, Will had supposed that the old guy was sly and liked his sport young. Wouldn’t be exactly rare; the Cartel that had done the terraforming on this planet kept business largely in the family, and that didn’t include Chinese. Most black-haired folk on this world had been imported for specific purposes: mostly grown men for labor and young women for wives, but there were always other things some folks would pay for. Not too many reasons for a boy Jase’s age to be here with no family to take care of him.
But that notion had died quickly. Ray avoided Jase like a bad smell. The man was quick with a heavy hand when the kid did something stupid - like just that morning - but other than that didn’t talk to him or even look at him if he didn’t have to.
Ray spoke up without looking away from the diagram in the dust. “Stay with the transport. I’ll send for you after we’re in.” Ray didn’t wait for a response; he glanced around at the rest of his bunch. “We got real lucky `bout the small crew, gotta get in and get gone quick. Let’s move.”
*
*
*
Four days ago
Mal roused Zoë, Jayne, and Book just before sunrise. After a visit to the weapons locker and a brief hunting safety lecture (delivered by Mal, mainly addressing Jayne), stressing the importance of not shooting in the direction of the ship, Book and Jayne set off in one direction and Mal and Zoë in the other.
Kaylee and Wash came down the ramp an hour later and went about setting up a filtration system and a series of pipes to fill Serenity’s water tanks. The conversion of atmospheric oxygen to liquid form for storage was more complicated than the water filtering; they had to take turns watching over it while it ran, constantly chipping off ice that formed on the connectors.
Simon had his own task, with River to assist him. He brought out his handheld computer loaded with a horticultural encyclopedia and searched the area around the ship for greenery to round out the crew’s diet until they could stock up on supplements.
Simon was feeling pleased with River’s state. Ever since they left New Melbourne nearly a month ago, she’d been remarkably stable. Almost like the little sister he remembered. He’d kept her on a steady dosage of smoothers, and her system hadn’t broken them down yet. It had been a weight off his shoulders to see her happily passing the days playing games with Kaylee on the ship, and even to see her swimming with Jayne the day before.
“River, I found something!” he called after a while. She skipped over to him, and he showed her a plant and its picture on the screen. She plucked a leaf and chewed a corner of it, then made an expressive face.
“It’s better than scurvy,” Simon said.
“You’ve had scurvy?”
“Well… no.”
“Then how do you know?” She spat out the leaf and made a face like a gagging cat. “Tăo yàn.”
“Fine. See if you can do better.” He held the little computer out to her.
River’s eyes narrowed at the challenge; she took the computer and turned away. Simon worked on stripping leaves from the plant he’d found and putting them into a bag; by the time he finished, she’d disappeared. He left the bag of leaves on an outcrop and went looking for his wayward sister.
He found her a short distance into the woods, standing on the edge of a clearing, the little computer held loosely in her left hand. Her head was tilted to the side and her eyes were unfocused. Simon felt worry tighten his stomach; he hadn’t seen that look on her face in weeks. He took the computer out of her hand before she could drop it.
“Mèi mei, did you find something?” he asked cautiously.
She started out her reverie and looked at him. “Belong here.”
“Who does?”
She held up her right hand; it was balled into a fist. She squeezed and watched with detached interest as a rivulet of red ran down the underside of her arm and dripped off her elbow.
“River, what did you - ” Simon grabbed her wrist and forced her hand open. A rich, sweet smell rose from a pulpy mass of dark red lying on her palm. He smiled in relief. “Raspberries.”
River studied the crushed fruit in her hand. “Have all they need. Sun, water, food. Belong here, all together. Have a job to do.”
She shifted her eyes toward the clearing beside them; it was filled with heavily-laden berry bushes. Simon’s smile widened. “Ai ya! Everyone will be so happy! Especially Kaylee.” He started to congratulate her with a hug, but she stopped him, a look of growing desperation in her eyes.
“I just found them,” she said. “Didn’t make them. The bushes make the berries.”
“Of course you don’t make berries, you pick them,” Simon said, confused.
“You don’t understand. It’s not what I - ” She tipped her hand so that the crushed berries slid to the ground, then looked up at the treetops in frustration. He saw that her eyes were sparkling with tears.
“I’m sorry,” Simon told her. “If you could just explain to me, I want to under - ”
“Can’t explain! Don’t know.” She wiped at a falling tear, leaving a red smear over her cheek and mouth. Simon didn’t have anything to wipe her face with but his sleeve. He tried, but she pushed his hands away.
“Don’t you see?” She stared into the clearing again as she tried to speak evenly. “They are… what they are. Don’t need to fight. Well, fine.” She held her hands up and shook her head like she was arguing with someone. “Weeds, bugs. It freezes or it doesn’t rain enough. But they know about that. That’s all… how it is. Natural. Nature.”
She paused and licked at the juice on her lips, then her fingertips. She turned to him with a teary smile. “See? Sweet. Wholesome and sweet because it’s what they do. How they work. In their nature.” Her eyes on Simon’s were full of the need to understand and be understood.
“I’m sorry River, I don’t… I’m not sure - ”
She cut him off in a forceful voice. “I am not a raspberry bush, Simon.”
He took a breath to respond, but was unsure of what to say.
“It’s not what I do!” Her face twisted with a wrenching look of frustration, then she gave up and turned away.
“River, wait!” Simon called after her. He followed as she ran through the woods, but she was quicker and lighter on her feet and outdistanced him. She sprinted past Kaylee and Wash where they worked by the ship, then paused at the edge of the water to yank off her boots and dress. Before Simon could catch up she dove in and was swimming away, her head underwater so she couldn’t hear him calling after her.
* * *
Zoë and Mal returned an hour before high noon feeling mighty; Zoë carried two fat rabbits and Mal proudly slung a wild turkey. They found a fire burning in a pit a safe distance from the ship, where Kaylee and Book were building a large smoker out of an empty cargo canister. Back toward the trees, Jayne was cleaning out a bear carcass that had to weigh damn near twice as much as he did. Mal frowned as he looked at his skinny turkey, and Zoë held up her rabbits, squinting as she compared them to the bear.
“I think he won, sir.”
“Pffft,” Mal replied in disgust. He set his turkey next to Jayne. “See to this when you’re done. Crew’ll be thankful to have a little fowl after all that greasy bear meat.” Jayne looked up with a grin; Mal wasn’t fooling him a bit.
Zoë stayed to help deal with the game while Mal checked on Wash’s progress. The water tanks were full, but the oxygen chiller would need to run for much of the afternoon. Then Mal noticed Inara and Simon sitting on the rocks near the sea and headed their way.
“You’ve got the greens?” he asked Simon.
Simon looked his shoulder. “Yes… well, I found some edible plants but I haven’t gathered them yet.”
Mal looked out over the water. “I understand the scenery is real pretty, but you have work to do, Doc.”
“He’s not looking at the scenery, Mal,” Inara interjected. “River’s been in the water for nearly two hours. We’re keeping an eye on her.”
Mal looked out and found the face, hands and feet of the girl floating in the water. “She all right?”
“She was upset about the raspberries,” Simon said distantly.
Mal arched a brow in disbelief. “Raspberries are upsetting?”
Simon didn’t respond, but Inara rose to her feet. “It’s all right, Simon. You watch River, I’ll take care of it.”
“Take care of what?” Mal asked, turning to follow her toward the firepit.
“He told me where the patch is; I’ll gather some berries for lunch.”
He shrugged. “Fine. I’ll come along,” he said, his tone casual.
Inara smiled graciously. “That really isn’t necessary.”
“You can’t go out there by yourself.”
She stopped at the pile of supplies next to the firepit. “I won’t. Kaylee was planning on coming with me.”
“Huh?” Kaylee said when she heard her name, and looked up from the door she was attaching to her improvised meat smoker.
“You were planning on coming with me to pick raspberries,” Inara explained.
“Ras - ? Oh, raspberries! Yeah, that’s right I was!”
“Kaylee, you have work to do,” Mal said firmly.
“I’m sure Book can handle it,” Inara said as she found a large basket out of the pile of goods, then she turned to the Shepherd. “Can’t you?”
“Actually, we are about done here, Captain,” Book said, taking a screwdriver from Kaylee.
Mal glared at Book before he replied to Inara. “As Jayne has discovered, there are bears out there, and they do like berries. `Specially as appetizers to tasty humans such as yourself.”
“Tasty?” Jayne asked with a curious look at the Inara, then back at Mal.
Mal stammered a bit. “I just meant that she’s… human, and humans are… tasty. To bears.”
“There will be no tasting, bear or otherwise,” Inara said sweetly. She set down the basket and picked up her crossbow. Within seconds, she had loaded it and sent a dart over Mal’s shoulder, hitting the center of a knot in a tree thirty meters behind him.
Mal turned to look at the tree, then back at her. “Very nice.”
“Thank you.” She had the crossbow reloaded already.
“`Course, predators do tend to move a little faster than trees, and I don’t see a dart doin’ too much more to a bear, other than makin’ it mad.”
“I can handle large moody mammals growling at me. I’ve had a lot of experience with that in the past year.” She gave Mal a pointed look.
Mal scowled at Jayne’s chuckle, and saw Zoë trying unsuccessfully to hide a smile.
“Inara - ” he started.
“Stop worrying, Mal. At the very least I can slow a hungry beast down enough for us to run back to your nán zĭ qì protection.”
Kaylee stayed clear of the tiff, picking up the basket Inara had dropped and started toward the woods. Inara set her crossbow on her shoulder and followed while Mal ignored the grins from the rest of the crew.
* * *
“Thank you for playing along with that,” Inara told Kaylee as she carefully pulled a plump berry off of a thorny branch.
“Wha’d’ya mean?” Kaylee asked with pink stained lips. More berries were ending in her belly than in the basket.
“About you planning to come along.”
“I wouldn’t even think of tellin’ on ya.” Kaylee snuck a look at Inara’s serious face. “So why don’t you wanna go on a walk with the cap’n?” Kaylee voice was all innocence, but when Inara paused in her berry picking to study the girl, Kaylee couldn’t help but smile.
“I know what you’re thinking, Kaylee, but there is nothing between Mal and me.”
“`Course not,” Kaylee said, still smiling.
Inara didn’t answer, and they picked quietly for a while before Kaylee asked, “Inara, you ain’t had a client since that chairman on Oeneus, right?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“It’s been near a month.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“So… ain’t you gettin’ a little… antsy?”
“Antsy?”
“You know… when you get used to doin’ it all the time and then you don’t get to no more?”
Inara looked at Kaylee’s blushing face and realized the conversation was no longer about her and Mal. “Are you having a difficult time?” she asked with a gentle smile.
“Wŏ de tiān, á! Swimming with the doc yesterday… but he ain’t even interested.” Kaylee let out an impatient sigh. “I tell you what, Inara - these days even Jayne’s startin’ to look good! Did you see him yesterday?”
“Everyone saw him; he made sure of that.”
“Yeah. An’ if he’s lookin’ good I know I got problems.” Kaylee scratched her nose and left a little raspberry juice on it. “I mean… he does look good, but he’s just so… so Jayne! `Sides, I couldn’t go without the kissin’.”
“Sounds like you’ve thought about this.” Inara pointed at her own nose; Kaylee got the message and wiped most of the raspberry juice off her face.
“No! Well, yeah, but that’s only `cause I been all caged up. It ain’t natural, livin’ like this. And them as could help are just…” Kaylee gave a little harumph of frustration, then looked up at Inara again. “Ain’t it tough for you?”
“What I do is for my clients, not for me.”
Kaylee’s eyes widened in shock. “What? You mean, with your clients, you don’t ever…” She raised her eyebrows and nodded suggestively.
“Of course I do.” Inara laughed. “I guess I could pretend with quite a few of them, but there are those who would know.”
“So you always do?”
“Always.”
“Then you gotta be missin’ it.”
“It’s a controlled response,” Inara said with an indifferent shrug. “It’s enjoyable, but it’s not something I need.”
Kaylee sat still for a bit and thought about that, then she got up and carefully made her way deeper into the prickly bushes. When she settled down, the majority of the berries she picked were gathered into the folded down top of her coveralls. She was too busy with her thoughts to snack.
“That’s a shame, Inara,” Kaylee finally said in a soft voice.
Inara responded quickly, as if her thoughts had followed a similar path. “Why? It’s my job. A professional chef is trained to analyze the flavors in a dish instead of mindlessly enjoying them, and so he or she experiences food differently than the rest of us. It’s the same with a Companion and sex.” She’d clearly used this argument before, in her head if not out loud.
Kaylee paused and sat back. “But how `bout that one time? You know, when I …”
Inara smiled and relaxed. “That was different. Special circumstances. It was… not really me in a way.”
“Maybe it was more you than you think,” Kaylee said without looking up.
Inara looked at Kaylee in alarm, “Kaylee, are you saying…”
“No, Inara, don’t worry about me. I know what I want, even if he don’t. I’m just worried `bout you is all.”
“You don’t need to be. I’ve chosen my life and I’m happy with it.”
Kaylee answered in a small voice. “Maybe you just don’t know what you’re missin’.”
Inara sighed. “Please, Kaylee, enough.” She licked her red stained fingers and changed the subject. “So this… thing that you want - how exactly is that going?”
Kaylee shook her head. “I can’t seem to get the message across. We have all this fun swimmin’, but then he goes off like I’m just some play pal. And not the good kind of playin’.”
Inara smiled knowingly. “Smart people are notorious for being stupid. Especially men. Especially doctors.”
“Think he’s sly or somethin’?”
“I think he’s in over his head and he’s lost. Be patient, he’ll come around.”
“Hope so.” Kaylee sighed wistfully, “I’m wearin’ myself out waitin’.”
Kaylee sounded so forlorn that Inara had to laugh. “Be patient, băo bèi. Good things are worth the wait.”
“Well then, this is gonna be really, really, really good when it happens….” Kaylee couldn’t finish without breaking into a laugh too. She came back over to Inara to pour her gathered berries into the basket.
“So, Inara, why don’t you wanna be alone with the cap’n?” Kaylee asked. Inara looked away with a frustrated sigh, but Kaylee continued. “And I ain’t talkin’ about gettin’ all sexed. I thought you two was friendly now, after what happened. After you helped him get better.”
“Kaylee, it’s… complicated.”
“Can’t be that complicated.”
“Can’t it?”
Kaylee nodded in understanding, then smiled sadly. “Yeah, guess it always is.”
* * *
Book finished filling the smoker with strips of bear meat and closed the door. Jayne had set up a spit over the fire which currently had several large steaks sizzling. Zoë and Mal had taken the rest of the meat onto the ship for storage in the freezer; it was a good haul for one morning’s work.
“I saw you spent some time with River yesterday,” Book said to Jayne.
“What?” Jayne looked up with an open mouth. “What’d ya mean?”
“Swimming.”
“Oh, yeah.” Jayne returned to poking at the fire.
“Did she seem all right?” Book asked.
“Yeah, other than bein’ weird. But that ain’t nothin’ new.”
Book stepped up on a rock and looked toward the water, where Simon was still watching over River. “I hope she hasn’t taken a step back.”
“Back?”
“Yes. She had a bit of an… episode while you were out hunting.”
Jayne snickered. “Too bad. It’s been all right, her not bein’ nutso.”
Book looked over in surprise. “How so?”
Jayne shrugged. “I dunno.” He scratched his head, then looked at up Book again. “She’s been kind’a fun, I guess. Helluva lot more than when she’s comin’ at me with a knife.”
“I can’t disagree with that.”
“Kind’a like a li’l sis or somethin’.”
“Yes. That she is.” Book nodded with a fond smile, then stepped down from the rock and sat down. “Do you have any sisters?”
“Just Matty, my little brother.”
Book didn’t answer. He watched Jayne throw a few more small logs on the fire, spreading the heat to make the meat cook evenly.
“I had one once,” Jayne said after a spell.
Book had to backtrack, to remember what they’d been talking about.
“A sister?”
“Yep. She passed since I left home.”
“Oh… I’m very sorry.”
“No need. Long time ago.”
They sat in silence some time before Jayne asked, “So what d’ya think sets her off? Makes her get all nutty?”
Book glanced back out toward the water, but all he could see was Simon, still sitting watch. “Apparently, it was a patch of raspberry bushes.”
Jayne snorted and shook his head. “Nutjob.”
* * *
The crew finished a lunch of meat grilled over a fire and sat back in the shade of the ship to enjoy their full stomachs. The bear meat was the first real food they’d had since Ricky Lu’s seafood ran out, and no one had any complaints.
Although he kept the idea to himself, Mal was thinking that this could become an extended vacation. There was food and fun a’plenty, and no Alliance patrols or troublesome locals to worry over. But experience had taught him the need for pessimism and caution.
During the afternoon, he had Book watch the oxygen chiller, sent Simon to finish with the gathering of greens, and dragged Kaylee and Wash into the ship. It had been quite a while since they’d had her shut down and could run a full check.
It turned out to be a good thing that they did one.
“It’s `cause of the grapplin’ on the servo powerin’ the artificial grav drive,” Kaylee explained in the engine room, shining a flashlight into an open panel under her hammock. “It’s all brittle, just `bout worn through. Probably not ever been replaced.”
Mal nodded, not overly surprised. If the crew’s needs were seen to and no one was currently trying to kill them, the only place for the problem to arise was the ship. Always had to be a gorram problem somewhere.
“Can you fix it?” he asked.
“I’ll weld some braces on the grapplin’, n’ that’ll hold up fine. But it’s been puttin’ strain on the axle, and it don’t look good. Tiny little part, Cap’n, but it’s real special. Can’t fix her without replacin’ the whole servo.”
“Define ‘don’t look good’.”
“Greasy spots. Nine of `em.”
Mal raised a brow at her and she explained. “Axle goes, we’ll lose internal grav. No big deal if we’s settin’ still or in orbit; we just float around. But if it goes while she’s at full burn, acceleratin’ at all, we’ll be squished `gainst some wall or `nother.”
“tā mā de hún dàn,” Mal swore under his breath.
“That’s for sure. Can’t be goin’ `tween worlds with it like this, not if we wanna move fast. Can’t be doing any fancy maneuverin’ neither. Gotta be real careful.”
* * *
Mal wasn’t about to sit around camping while he knew that his ship wasn’t spaceworthy. He delivered the bad news at dinner: they’d have the night to rest up, and in the morning they’d go looking for the part Kaylee needed.
“On the way in, Wash picked up some EM noise,” Mal explained. “It’s the only sign of tech life on this rock. We’ll hunt it down, see if they got anything Kaylee can use.”
“And if they don’t?” Jayne asked sulkily.
“Ain’t your problem to worry over. You just finish curing your bearskin if you wanna take it with, I don’t want it stinkin’ things up. Wash?”
“Humm?” Wash looked up from where he was cuddling with Zoë.
“If you two really plan on spendin’ the night under the stars, you need to rig up some kind of security. It smells like meat out here, and I don’t want any of you bein’ late night snacks for the wildlife.”
“Right, Captain,” Wash replied as he tipped his cheek against the side of Zoë’s head.
“See to it now, Wash.”
Wash sighed and started pulling himself out from under his wife. “You know you worry too much, right?”
“That’s my job,” Mal said, and looked at Wash like he was daring him to argue.
* * *
In the end, everyone except Inara and Mal decided to camp out for the night to take in as much fresh air as possible. Simon didn’t seem overjoyed at the prospect, but River was insistent and he wouldn’t let her stay outside without him.
They took advantage of the soft floor of pine needles in Book’s natural ‘cathedral.’ Wash set up a small perimeter of electric wire around a shallow dell, meant to be private space for himself and Zoë. Book and Kaylee made a larger area for the rest of the campers.
Mal made sure his crew was set up with fire pits and blankets and checked the smoker before he returned to the ship. He had taken a little razzing from Jayne about being a pansy, like he was afraid to sleep out of doors, but that wasn’t why he didn’t join them.
It wasn’t about needing the comfort of his own bunk, wasn’t even about wanting to watch over the ship. He hadn’t been sleeping so well in the past few weeks. He doubted that even the cool air of the forest would do the trick, and the last thing he wanted was to lay awake all night listening to Jayne snore. He figured he could enjoy the peace just fine sitting by the cargo bay doors, watching the light of the two local moons on the water.
Before that, he had one order of business to take care of.
* * *
Inara finished rinsing out her suit, still wet from her post-dinner swim, and was just hanging it in the shuttle’s head to dry when there was a soft rapping on the shuttle’s hatch. It had to be Mal; there was no one else on board, so she was surprised at the knock. But it allowed her a moment to twist her damp hair in a chignon on the back of her head and pull her robe tight around her.
Sure enough, it was the captain. He stood outside the hatch looking at the floor like he was hesitant to bother her.
“To what do I owe the courtesy of the knock?” she asked.
“Wasn’t sure if you’d be sleepin’.”
“Not yet, though it won’t be long. There’s nothing more tiring than a good long swim.” She motioned for him to come in, then stepped back.
“Suppose not,” he said as he followed her.
She walked to the center of the room, but Mal stayed by the hatch, not closing it behind him. “Would you like to sit?” she asked.
“No thanks. Just got a few words to say, won’t take long.”
“All right.” Inara was put on her guard by his formal air. He looked a little… not nervous, but taut?
He cleared his throat. “Look, I, uh…” He paused and took a heavy breath.
“Yes?” she prompted. His unsure manner was almost amusing.
He looked away from her smile. “It’s about you takin’ Kaylee off today.”
“Oh?” Inara’s amusement faded. Had he followed them? Overheard? She tried to remember exactly what she’d said to Kaylee, but she let the polite smile on her face change, or the light tone of her voice. “What about it?”
“It... it wasn’t `propriate.”
Appropriate? Good lord, what had she said? “I must not be fully aware of the propriety of berry picking. Could you explain?”
“Inara… I meant what I said about the danger.”
“You mean - all the hungry beasts? You were serious about that?”
He had the grace to look a little embarrassed, but he didn’t back down. “Bears don’t tend to faint dead away on account a’ gettin’ hit by one little crossbow dart. And we don’t know what other kind’a hungry critters are out there.”
In truth, Inara felt more than a little relieved, but she needed to be sure. “So… did you follow us then? To stand guard?”
“If I’d a’followed you the whole crew would’a been on my back. You saw to that.”
“I didn’t think you were serious!”
“I was. We know nothin’ `bout this place. And it ain’t just wildlife. Don’t be forgettin’ about people. There’s no law out here, and just `cause a place looks empty don’t mean it is.”
This is ridiculous, Inara thought, her relief turning to annoyance. “But we were hardly fifty meters from the ship! Picking berries!”
“Which would’a made it all the more idiotic if you and Kaylee got dead or hurt doin’ it.”
“Mal, do you understand the meaning of overprotective? If not, you might want to take the time to look it up.”
That struck a chord in him, and not a good one. He looked down at the floor for a second, and when he raised his eyes they were so fierce she almost took a step back.
“Inara, you’re all kinds of good at arguin’ and pointin’ out the things I don’t know. But, in the future, if I’m doin’ anything that concerns the safety of my crew, don’t you ever question me.”
Inara couldn’t look away from him. Though he hadn’t changed his stance, there was suddenly a tension in his body that suggested violence. This man had nothing in common with the grinning prankster she’d seen in the water yesterday.
“I’m sorry,” she told him softly, still holding his intense stare. “I… I didn’t know.”
It didn’t matter which one was the real Mal; the overbearing tyrant in her shuttle right now was the side he needed for survival, and would always be there. She couldn’t let herself forget it.
“It won’t happen again,” she said, and after a second she added, “Captain.”
He watched her closely, as if he was waiting for her to add something sarcastic or flippant. When he realized that she meant what she said, he looked away and the tension left his body. She thought she saw a hint of regret in his face, but when he looked at her again, it was only to give her a short nod before he ducked back out the open hatch.
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Translations
tăo yàn: disgusting
mèi mei: little sister
nán zĭ qì: manly
wŏ de tiān, á: dear god in heaven
băo bèi: treasure
tāmā de húndàn: Mother humping son of a b****
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On to Chapter 3/25.