with apologies to Robert Heinlein for the bastardization of one of his titles…

previous story segments: pt 01,pt 02,pt 03,pt 04,pt 05,pt 06,pt 07

- - - - -

Simon had heard the cargo bay doors opening, and had even yelled down to Kaylee to find out what was happening. He had started to climb down when he felt the ship shudder beneath him. Looking around quickly, he found something that he could use for hand and foot holds that were not too far away, and he managed to get to them and grab on for dear life before the ship rose, turned, and swiftly headed west.

The force from the wind alone was almost enough to knock him from his unsteady perch, not to mention the shaking from the chassis and River’s somewhat erratic flying techniques. He held on tightly, his knuckles turning white, as a sharp corner behind him dug painfully into his back.

‘River, I am outside the ship,’ he thought, trying to use her abilities to get her attention. ‘Please don’t let me die out here.’ An emotional beacon of distress and helplessness was broadcast from him as the ship flew on into the wild countryside of Boros.

- - -

River knew where her brother was, but did not have the time to properly warn him because Mal and the others had been in a hurry to escape the security sentries. She had to keep the ship steady but get out of there as quickly as possible. As she turned to fly west, she was hit with an over-powering feeling of distress and helplessness from her brother, two feelings she had rarely if ever felt from him. It worried her as she focused on keeping Serenity steady and the rendezvous site that was ahead.

Mal walked briskly onto the bridge, speaking quickly, “River dear do you know your brother is outside the ship?”

“Yes, Captain, and he will be ok right where he is in the short time it will take to get to the loading spot.”

“If you say so, shiny. Here are the coordinates.”

“You mean these?” she asked with mock innocence, slight smile on her face at confounding him again as she pointed to the screen. “We’ll be there in a couple of minutes Captain, you guys just be careful on the ground.”

It irked him a little that she eerily had already known the coordinates, though he had only looked at them once after getting back on the ship. Still, he figured it was worth being irked every now and again if it was the only trade-off for the numerous occasions on which she had saved their lives.

River approached the landing pad, setting Serenity down as gently as possible and hoping that Simon wasn’t too shocked to get down on his own.

- - -

Simon felt the ship land, the sudden jolt from impact driving the sharp, uncomfortable corner into his back one final time. When he was finally able to relax the muscles holding him to the ship, he let out an audible sigh of relief. He began to feel around for his way to get down, though just falling off seemed like a perfectly viable option as well.

- - -

Kaylee was the first one out, leaping down before the cargo bay ramp was even halfway down. Looking at the side of the ship she hurriedly contemplated climbing it herself until she heard his shoes against the metal of Serenity’s outer hull.

She ran around to where she could see him climbing down, visibly shaking as he struggled to hold on to the grips on the side of the ship. Kaylee got under where he would land if he happened to fall as Mal came over to help, Zoe right behind him. They climbed up to meet him, supporting him all the way to the ground.

“Doc, you ok?” Mal asked, supporting him as he got his bearings. “You look like you’ve had one hell of a ride there.”

Simon glared at him, not able to do much more at the moment. He was practically laying on Kaylee and Mal as he got steady on his feet.

“Kaylee, can you help the good doc into the infirmary, and help him get himself feelin’ better?” Mal asked, chuckling, a half grin on Zoe’s face behind them. “We are gonna load up the cargo and get off this rock, barring any more adventures in privacy by your sister.”

Mal and Zoe joined Jayne at the end of the cargo ramp, and headed off to pick up the crates as Kaylee helped an exhausted Simon to the infirmary.

- - -

What if he tries to take the shiny present?

It is his, I just found it.

I’ll tell him that I fixed it.

He is mad that I locked the ship, that’s why Simon is hurt.

I hurt my Simon, I didn’t mean to.

It will cheer him up that I fixed it.

It will make him mad that I found it.

I can find someone to buy it; that would make him happy.

Then I would have no more shiny present.

He can get me another shiny present for finding him a buyer.

…

Why can’t I just go home?

Serenity is my home now.

…

Daddy, where are you?

- - -

The cargo was stowed and secured as River broke atmo and took them out of the world. Simon had gotten over being shaken up enough to clean and stitch up Mal’s newest wound.

“You know, you somehow manage to get hit in all the right places Mal. With the exceptions of the salvage captain shooting you and the sword that the Operative put in you, both in your stomach, you’ve been lucky when it comes to the holes in you.”

“Yeah, well, fate must have a twisted sense of humor, because I keep managing to get hit.”

Simon closed the wound with one final stitch, wiping his brow. He cleaned the wound one final time, then sat down and held his head in his hands, looking at the floor.

“How about yourself doc? Still a mite shaken up after your flight?”

Simon nodded, not looking up. “I was so sure that I would die, that I wouldn’t be able to take care of River anymore, that I would never….” he hesitated, not wanting to talk to Mal about this right now, “never…see Kaylee again.” His voice was hardly above a whisper, and Mal had to strain to hear him.

After a moment of silence that seemed to stretch on forever, Simon stood up, heading out of the infirmary. “Keep it clean and there shouldn’t be too much of a scar,” he said, over his shoulder, then left and headed up the stairs, lost in his own thoughts.

- - -

River felt Mal making his way to the bridge, knowing what he wanted to talk about. She kept her focus forward, looking straight out into the Black. She knew that she had upset them, and she honestly wasn’t sure what made her search the ship, besides a whim and the faint memory of shiny Christmas mornings with her family. She longed for those times, knowing that they would never be possible again, her thoughts lingering on her father and wishing she had taken more time to get to know him.

“Little one, you feelin ok?” Mal asked, caution in his voice.

She could feel it when any of them had to talk to her in any manner besides a happy one. Even since discovering the power of one of her memories, they had been hesitant to do anything that might seriously upset her. She smiled slightly to herself, stretching her arms above her head, and turned to face Mal.

“I’m fine Captain. I was going to go talk to Simon after you came up here to have your talk with me.”

She could feel bits of anger coming from him, thoughts that the lives of his crew had been put in unnecessary risk. He was also slightly annoyed that River was able to always know what he was thinking and how he was feeling, though that was becoming more of a complacent acceptance than anger.

“Well, little albatross, I am sure you have your reasons for what happened, but that doesn’t make it any less important that people’s lives, your brother’s included, were put at substantial risk.”

“I…I…was looking for shiny presents” she blurted out, looking at the floor, unable to bring her eyes up to meet his. “I know it’s not in the spirit of the season, but I knew there was one here and I wanted to find it.”

Mal was taken aback at her announcement, the conversation already skewed from the way he had intended it to go. She had piqued his interest though, so he nodded for her to continue.

“Mal, don’t be mad at me, I was just curious.”

Not used to hearing his name from her, he thought about all possible meanings of what she had said, his mind settling on the one thing he was sure she was talking about.

“Yes, that’s the one. I found it. And I fixed it.”

With this proclamation, Mal’s eyes widened and his jaw opened slightly. He remembered when he had first seen it on the pedestal on Bellerophon, it had been so beautiful. He had been a little heartbroken when Inara told him it didn’t work, trying it out several times himself with the same result. He still had yet to find a buyer, and what good was a laser pistol that you couldn’t shoot or sell?

“Show me,” the only words escaping his mouth as she retrieved it from a crate, setting up a smaller box on top. She stood across the bridge from the crude target, pointed, and pulled the trigger, keeping her eyes on Mal the entire time. A thick blue beam erupted from the end of the pistol, instantly incinerating the smaller box. River smiled, her eyes glittering, and kept her gaze locked onto Mal.

“Now, we need to have a serious talk about respecting others’ property and privacy…” he started, not able to take his eyes off of the priceless artifact, “…and locking the ship is definitely out of the…” He was distracted again, his gaze traveling to the pile of ashes that used to be a box. “Well, at any rate, please don’t lock the ship unless I ask you to. We got mighty lucky this time, but it could have been much worse.” He almost spat the last part out, obviously trying to get it all out without getting any more distracted.

River stood in front of him, holding the pistol at her side. Mal stared at it longingly, not realizing he had gotten lost thinking about it.

“May I, uh, may I hold it?”

“Sure Captain, it is yours anyhow. She handed it to him, a smile on her face akin to that of a child having successfully talked her way out of being caught. She left the bridge to find Simon, leaving Mal with his new toy as the ship flew quietly into the Black.

- - -

Simon was in the kitchen, attempting to finish making a simple dinner in-between stolen kisses from Kaylee. River waited for them to disengage, standing with a patience that could endure until the end of time.

“Simon, I’m sorry I knew you were up there no time to get you down Mal and others in such a hurry being chased and I hope you are ok.” River couldn’t seem to control her emotions, breaking down and crying as she blurted out everything in one breath.

Handing Kaylee a large soup spoon, he quickly moved to River’s side, putting his arm around her.

“Mei-mei, don’t be sad. I‘m right here. I understand why you had to take off suddenly, just not why you had the doors locked. Did you see something? Was it another dream about the Academy? Do you want to talk about it this time?”

She looked up at him, tears still in her eyes, and gave him a weak smile. “I was looking for the shiny presents,” she sobbed, then looked up into his eyes. “I found one, Mal didn’t think I could, but I found it. I fixed it too.”

Comprehension lit up his face as he gave her another hug. If anyone on this boat could have made that damn laser work, it was his beautiful, talented, whimsical, and especially bratty sister. “The next time you feel the need to go treasure hunting, can you at least leave a door open so I can travel inside the ship, not on the outer hull?”

He hugged her again, then returned to the stove to put the finishing touches on dinner. River started setting out bowls and spoons, and soon the delicious smells had drawn all of the ship’s inhabitants. They sat down, one or two at a time, until Kaylee was the only one left in the kitchen. Simon had placed a plate of hot bread on the table, and River had prepared tea. Kaylee walked over to the table, carrying a huge pot.

“I hope y’all like duck soup,” she said as she began to ladle the steaming liquid into everyone’s bowl.

- - -

The streamlined ship careened through space, the purple light of the thrusters illuminating the sleek outer hull. Inside, its two occupants were as still as the dead and staring into the Black in total silence.

THEY WENT TO PERSEPHONE AGAIN.

HER MIND IS GROWING STRONGER.

THEY ARE STILL NOT A THREAT, SHE CAN’T TALK ABOUT US.

HER RESISTANCE IS GROWNG STRONGER, SOMETHING UNKNOWN IN HER NOW.

WE MUST GET TO HER BEFORE THEY REALIZE.

WE WILL MAKE THEM SUFFER.

ALL OF THEM.

- - - - -

pt 09

- - - - -

Translations ( from http://fireflychinese.home.att.net/episode.html ):

mei-mei – little sister