CHAPTER 5 Throwing caution to the wind, Zoë limped to the comm box, switched it to the frequency of the Captain’s walkie talkie, and sent a few beeps. If he was safe, he would respond. If he wasn’t safe, she may have inadvertently given away his position to the enemy… or worse. Zoë often had to remind herself that, despite the quirks of her job, she was no longer fighting a war. “Go ahead, Zoë,” Mal’s voice responded a half a minute later. She could hear the buzz of people in the background, and wondered if he might be in the commercial district already heading back. “Captain, we are running hot,” she said simply, keeping to code. Her eyes resting heavily on the cargo. Mal was silent a moment, letting the information sink in. “Zoë, take the ship, get off the world.” She was surprised by the urgency in his voice, but also the straight-forward talk. That confirmed he was currently safe, but the tone of his voice belied imminent danger. He was asking her to leave them behind. “Understood, sir. We’re still looking for Jayne.” “No time. We’ll find him and meet you at the rendezvous. You have about five minutes. Prio’s goons are coming.” “We’re good as gone, sir.” She hung up the comm and turned to Kaylee. “Kaylee, lock us up. We’re leaving.” “What about the others?” “They’ll find their own way to Persephone.” Zoë hoped they’d been paid well for the Lassiter. With the right money, they could book passage easily enough. Using the railing as a crutch, she sped toward the cockpit two steps at a time. “Wash, take us out of the world, now.” Wash fired up the engine. “What about Inara?” Kaylee persisted, following Zoë into the cockpit. “Captain will contact her.” “He sounded like he needed help himself. How can you just leave?” Zoë turned giving Kaylee her full attention and stopping the engineer dead in her tracks. Irritated, Zoë explained tersely, “Captain says leave, we leave.” “We’re not abandoning him,” Wash interjected, realizing that Zoë had given all the explanation she cared to. “It just means the safest place for us to be right now is off world.” Kaylee opened her mouth to protest, but no words came out. Finally, she stomped her foot in protest and stalked out of the cockpit. “Ta ma de hun dan!” Wash cried suddenly. “What is it?” Zoë asked. “Port Authorities aren’t giving us clearance.” “Why are you even asking for clearance?” “We’re landlocked without it.” “Ta ma de hun dan is right! You have three minutes to fix it.” “Sweetie, this ship is not leaving the world in three minutes.” “Then we need to leave the ship.” Reluctantly, Zoë picked up the comm again, running the alternatives through her mind. Prio was coming and Mal had urgently insisted that they leave world as soon as possible. “All hands to the cargo bay,” she commanded. Wash grabbed a walkie talkie and darted down the steps ahead of Zoë. “Now what’s going on?” Kaylee demanded angrily. “Put the trailer on the mule, we’re getting this cargo out of here.” “Wha—” “No time for questions, just do it!” Book and Wash pulled the trailer across the cargo bay to the crates and began loading. Kaylee brought the hover mule over and considered the situation. The trailer had been designed for the old land mule and she hadn’t yet considered how it would work with the hover mule. A single hitch would cause too much stress between a hover vehicle and a land locked vehicle. As time was limited, she went for the brute force heavy chain attachment. Zoë opened the doors, letting in the daylight. “Where is River?” Zoë asked. Kaylee looked about, realizing she hadn’t seen River all day. “I don’t know.” “Go find her,” Zoë commanded. Kaylee checked the hook on the chain to make sure it would hold, then dashed from the cargo bay, trying to figure out where to look first. Zoë headed out the door. “Where are you going?” Wash called, running after her. “Jayne may still be close. We good to go?” “Loaded and ready,” Wash confirmed. Book was already in the driver’s seat, starting the engine. Carefully, he eased forward, testing the hitch. Zoë banged the comm box impatiently. “Kaylee! River! We have to go now!” A moment later, Kaylee came running across the top catwalk. “River ain’t here! She ain’t anywhere!” “Kaylee, get down here. Wash, take Book and Kaylee and find a spot to lay low.” “Wait, we can’t—” Kaylee began. “Enough talk! Go now!” Zoë ordered, limping out the door. Kaylee climbed onto the hover mule, looking uncertain. “Zoë, wait,” Wash called, running to catch up with her. She didn’t meet his eye. “I’ll meet you at the gate at sunset. Go now.” Wash lowered his voice to a whisper. “Zoë, I’ll stay. You go with the cargo. Keep them safe.” “This is not a debate.” “It just became one,” Wash replied, touching her waist gently. “Your leg is slowing you down. I can circle the perimeter and check all of River’s hiding spots on Serenity much more quickly. Like you said, they’ll be here soon.” He leaned so close that their foreheads touched and she couldn’t help but meet his eye. Making a firm decision, she handed him the shotgun. “Zhu yi. I’ll come back to the gate at sunset.” Wash nodded quickly and ran back into the ship. “If we’re not here, we’ll be at the museum.” “Which one?” Zoë asked, then remembered. “Oh, right.”

*~*

Book pushed the hover mule as fast as possible. Loaded down with three people and a ground-trailer, the initial down-ramp was a physics nightmare and every turn he took stressed the makeshift hitch. Instead of leaving by the main entrance, he headed east into the fallow end of the space port. At first, the roadways were aligned with empty cargo crates, but those gave way to a small reclamation yard. Signs were posted on a line of repossessed ships that would be auctioned off at the end of the week. If anyone was working, they were out to lunch at the moment. The exit gate was triggered to open automatically; apparently the authorities only cared about unauthorized entry into the yard. Once in the streets, Book made a bee-line for down town. Being so close to spaceport, cargo transport was not uncommon through the commercial district. However, cargo transport by a Shepherd and two rustic looking women on an open ground-trailer jury-rigged to a hover mule was bound to gather a few looks. As they crossed main street, they could see an unorthodox concentration of unmarked black vehicles near the entrance to the spaceport. “Wash… River,” Kaylee whispered, watching in trepidation as the cars entered one at a time. Zoë kept her eyes averted. Book wanted to speak, to comfort her, but he could not break his silence for another hour. The afternoon sun barely cut through the canyon of buildings. He thought of reaching out to Kaylee, but she was in the back seat, facing backwards, keeping an eye on the trailer hitch. “Shepherd, I think we should be goin’ out of town,” Zoë said, noticing the thickening of shops and people. He held up a hand as if to say trust me. Zoë didn’t look particularly inclined to trust at the moment. She eyed a local law enforcement officer, who leaned against a shop wall munching a pastry. She was sure they would be cited for any number of violations, the simplest being their lack of safety restraints. But then she looked at Shepherd Book, dressed in the attire ascribed by his order. For all anyone knew, he was a humble man of God transporting food to the needy. If that cover failed, he still had a mysteriously powerful ident card. “Shepherd, we need to get as far from here as possible.” Book only nodded this time, keeping his eyes on his destination. He drove with swift determination and dead-set eyes. Zoë realized he wasn’t looking for direction; he knew exactly where he was going. *~*

Mal leaned heavily against the wall, wishing he had a view of the sky so he could see Serenity off. The money they had could get them to Persephone easy enough, but leaving a core planet with a fugitive would require careful planning. And they still needed to find Jayne and warn Inara… that meant losing a perfectly good shuttle. “Now what?” Simon asked. “You wanna watch the show?” “But Prio knows we’re here.” “No, he knows we were here. Hopefully he thinks we’re not crazy enough to stay.” “Are we crazy enough to stay?” “You’re right. Let’s go walking through the streets again with our expensive suits and large bags of money.” Simon sighed and leaned on the wall next to Mal. “My arms could use a rest.” Simon stroked his goatee, unaccustomed to the thick, course hair on his face. He thought briefly of River, hoping that she made it safely off world. Suddenly, Mal’s comm came to life again. “Captain, you safe?” “Zoë,” Mal whispered. “Tell me you’re off world.” “Book has some local friends. We’re heading into the shadows for a spell.” Mal recognized the code, remembering they were on an open channel. Was she giving him a direction? “You’ll leave the window open for me?” he asked. “Certainly, sir. We left mine circling to look for the other two.” Two? Mal wondered. “Lost a button?”

“The one everyone is looking for.” “Understood. We’ll meet you as soon as we can.” Mal put away the comm again, feeling a headache coming on. Simon was looking on anxiously. “What did all that mean?” “They’re going to a church. We’ll meet them there.” “There are a hundred churches in Andover.” Mal thought through the conversation, trying to differentiate the directions from the report on the crew. “How many on the west side of town in some kind of circle?” “You mean Midtown Abbey?” “That has to be the one.” Mal picked up the money and started walking. “Guess we’ll catch the show another time.” “What did the rest mean?” Simon persisted, picking up his two bags and jogging to catch up. “Your sister’s gone missing.” Simon stopped dead in his tracks, nearly dropping one of the money bags on his foot. “What? Riv—” “Hush, now. Seeing as you’re both wanted fugitives, and we’re in a theater, I’d think twice before yelling her name. Wash stayed behind to look for her. Chances are she was hiding on the ship somewhere. They couldn’t just wait for her to come to herself and sit there like ducks.” “I never should have left her,” Simon murmured. Mal walked and Simon followed, his feet going at a snails pace compared to his mind. “Did your sister say anything to you about leavin’ the ship?” Mal asked “No… just… all those pictures she’s been drawing of our childhood home. Maybe she went there.” “Maybe she did. Possible if Jayne saw her go he’s with her right now.” “Possible he’s trying to collect the reward on her right now too.”

*~*

River had not stopped babbling since they had left her parents’ home and it was really starting to tick Jayne off. “They eye cannot see the eye,” she explained, excitedly. “I saw clearly, but through the wrong filter. A polarized lens cuts off the light and two polarized filters at right angles extinguish all vision. The sun is completely blocked and there is no fire because the fire is not a conflagration!” “Will you stop muttering nonsense!” Jayne exploded. His outburst gathered a few annoyed glances from passers by, but for the most part the crowds ignored them. Still the crowds bothered Jayne. All it takes is one to recognize River and then they’d both be in trouble. River, however, did not miss a beat. “Not nonsense! It’s clearer now. Contradicting clues. Can’t hide here. I ran away from the fire, not towards it.” “Seems like a bright idea,” Jayne commented, only half paying attention. River pointed left, down a cross street. “Mother is coming to pick us up. We’ll have dinner and ice cream, and then she’ll pick us up at ten.” Jayne rolled his eyes, pushing her arm down. River was pointing to a museum with a very large, very phallic display of rockets on the front lawn. “This is no time for sight seein’,” Jayne grumbled, pulling her along now. At least she had stopped talking. Jayne glanced around at the city. River’s mention of dinner only reminded him of how long it had been since breakfast. On Stolte moon, he’d acquired a fresh stash of apples and Book owed him a pie. It seemed right to request the pie today as Book wasn’t talking and couldn’t make excuses. Jayne checked the sky. Though he couldn’t see the sun, the clouds over the buildings were turning deep crimson. It was getting late and Jayne wanted to get back before Mal. They’d get their first payoff from the Lassiter tonight. Jayne picked up the pace and nearly plowed into a policeman. River stopped only a few steps behind him, keeping her eyes down as Jayne considered the lawman carefully. A new crossroads. River. The lawman. The reward for River was more than double anything he’d be making on this job. In addition, bounty hunting was the only reasonable excuse he had for carrying so many illegal firearms (not to mention the legal ones). The lawman raised his eyebrows at the sight of Vera, the assault rifle, and Jayne’s calculating smile. “Evenin’, officer,” Jayne said, weighing his options. River wasn’t about to wait for the final measures. She tugged Jayne’s wrists and smiled at him innocently. “Come on! Dinner and ice cream.” Realizing that turning River in at this juncture would mean a further delay in eating, Jayne reluctantly allowed himself to be pulled back toward the space port. As it turned out, dinner was not meant to be. The entrance to the spaceport was cluttered with dark vehicles and crawling with unfriendlies. River walked toward them unconcerned, but Jayne grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back. “We ain’t walkin’ through that fire, girl.”

*~*

Wash had made the quickest run of the perimeter as possible before locking himself onto the ship. Even as the hover mule disappeared into the back roads of the space port, he could see the enemy pressing in and up. He broadcast a quick announcement to River, warning her to stay hidden if she was still onboard. Then he started crawling through the bowels of the ship himself, looking for a hiding spot. He had wriggled into an access shaft for the grav drive—although calling it an “access” shaft seemed rather generous at the moment. The area was so tight and difficult to reach that he only knew of its existence because Kaylee had gotten stuck in it the week before. Of course, Kaylee had been carrying a very bulky vacuum pump at the time. After three hours, Wash’s legs began to cramp and his neck ached. He wished he could have traded his watch for food. At least then, he’d be wondering about the time instead of counting the minutes. He could hear Prio’s men searching the ship, yanking panels off the walls, circling, yelling, frustrated. He hoped his occasional muscle spasms would not give away his hiding spot. He knew now how the crewman on the Vostok had felt after circling Earth That Was in a garbage can. Wash closed his eyes and thought of Zoë. She had been behaving oddly of late—ever since Newhall. He thought of her long legs, of her head resting on his stomach as they cloud watched. He smiled at the memory of the headless cloud-duck, wondering if maybe his wife was pregnant. His smile grew as he imagined her, Washling in one hand, shotgun in the other, still giving Badger a run for his money. Stifling a laugh, Wash enjoyed the game. Thinking of Zoë seemed to open the tight little hiding spot into a world of possibilities. Suddenly a muscle spasm! Wash’s head jerked back hard against the panel. He wrestled his arm around to touch the back of his head. Yep. He was definitely bleeding. “Gou shi.”

*~*

******** Go to Chapter 6