Night Alarum

It was late evening onboard Serenity. Mal was on the bridge, checking the settings for the

auto pilot. 'Most everyone else had settled into their bunks for the night. The lights flickered, then blacked out completely. The ship bucked, then settled as her

main drive died.

Kaylee's voice cut thru the dark silence. " Doctor ,to the engine room. Doctor , to the--

Help!" There was a note of fear beyond fear in her voice, almost total panic. Mal turned,

trying to find his way in the dark, cursing. Then the emergency lights cut in.

Zoe got to the engine room first, buttoning one of Wash's shirts around herself, but

carrying her mare's leg, loaded and cocked. Mal pushed Wash out of the way: the pilot was

hobbling on one foot, trying to pull on a pair of pants, and barefoot, limping and cursing

about a stubbed toe. Book and Inara were there before him, and Jayne, checking out Zoe.

Simon came running up the stairs, carrying his medical bag, with River following. Kaylee was standing on tiptoe, one arm dragged into the frozen engine up to the shoulder,

the other hand grabbing at an Emergency Stop button just within reach. There were

disturbing blood stains on the engine casing.

Kaylee was crying, little mewling sounds, mixed with faint mumbled Chinese curses. Her eyes

were wide and blank, staring off somewhere light years into the black. Simon stepped up. "Kaylee? Kaylee? Kaylee, can you hear me?" She made no response.

Simon had dealt with hysteria before, in fact since his first year at MedAcad. He drew back

his arm to slap her, then hesitated. There were too many armed folk in the compartment,

friends of hers. The question was not would he be shot if he slapped her, but how many

times, and how much would it hurt before he died.

Another idea struck him. He leaned forward and kissed her, hard and prolonged, on the mouth. After a moment , shortness of breath silenced her, then her awareness snapped back.

Disturbingly, she began to kiss back. He pulled away.

"Kaylee, can you hear me?'

She smiled a little, weakly."Oh, hi, Simon. "

"What happened?"

"You kissed me."

"NO, before that."

"Oh, I was trying to fine tune the catalyzer. Ya gotta do that while the engine's runnin'.

And my lucky wrench slipped outta my hand. I tried to grab it, and somethin' on the engine

caught me."

"Can you feel your fingers?"

"Simon, I don't wanta arm wrestle right now. "

"No, Kaylee, are your fingers all right?"

"Oh, sure, but I got hold of my wrench, and it's stuck."

"What will happen if you let go?"

"My wrench will fall."

"Where?"

"Out the bottom and thru the deck and down below."

"And so, then?"

"Well, we'd have to climb down and get it. OH--". There was a tinkly rattling noise , and

Kaylee's arm came out of the hole. Simon quickly grabbed it in a pressure hold to stop the

bleeding, and carried her off to the Infirmary.

*****

The next few minutes were busy. Mal and Wash got the engine running again, and life support

back up. Everybody else gathered around the Infirmary. It only took Simon a few minutes to

determine that the cut on Kaylee's hand, though bloody and messy, was really minor, and

required nothing more than a little antiseptic and a bandage.And then Mal arrived.

"Kaylee, do you know how DUMB that was? You coulda got really bad hurt. Don't ever do that

again." He paused. "Or at least, if ya gotta, do it in the daytime, and have somebody here to watch yer back, dong ma?"

"O.K., Captain, I will. I'm sorry."

"'Cause if ya do that again, I'm gonna hafta punish you. Maybe give ya a spanking."

Jayne spoke up. " Just don't have th' Doc do it, Mal. She'd like that."

Everybody was still giggling, except Kaylee and Simon, who were both blushing, one with

desire and one with embarrassment, when River arrived a moment later. "The Shepard says he's

got hot chocolate in the dining room, which is what you all need to get relaxed and go to

sleep."