All the usual disclaimers. Just keepin' 'em exercised.

****

Mal walked silently into the improvised infirmary. Simon was awake, sitting with a single candle.

“How is she?” Mal whispered.

“She’s back with us. She was conscious when I went in to see her about an hour ago. She’s weak, but she’s going to make it.” Simon’s relief was palpable. Like Mal, he had wondered how any of them could possibly survive without Zoe.

“Good. And the boy?”

“Still out, but beginning to stir and moan. I think he’ll make it, too.” Simon answered.

“That is good news, because I surely would like to know who set this devil’s snare on us.” Mal nodded at Simon before turning to leave the building.

Mal stood in the dark outside the tent Kaylee was sharing with Inara. He called in on the side he hoped Kaylee was on.

“Kaylee, Kaylee. Wake up, darlin’, I need to talk to you. Kaylee, Kaylee, Ka-a-a-y-l-e-e-e-e-, wake up, come on, please wake up. Don’t make me come in there after you,” Mal called in a loud whisper.

Kaylee shot out of the tent flap, careering straight into Mal. “Oh god, Mal, is it Zoe?”

“No, no, it’s not Zoe. I just saw the doc and Zoe’s conscious. Simon says she’s weak but that she’s gonna make it. No, I’ve been thinking about whoever did this to us. They’re gonna be looking for us and we need to keep them from findin’ us for as long as we can. What I’m wonderin’ is, could you take Serenity’s navigational signaler off the boat and rig it so it would keep signalin’ just like we were with it, when we were someplace far away?”

“I think so, Mal, but we gotta have that signaler or the Alliance’ll pick us up on suspicion. You know how they hate boats not announcin’ who they are and what they are every minute of the day,” Kaylee was suddenly wide awake. “The Alliance is the least of our worries right now. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Mal dismissed the Alliance with a wave of his hand.

“Okay, then, if you think you can rig that signaler here’s what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna tow the signaler in whatever box you can fix up for it way out as far as we can get it using a shuttle. We leave the signaler out there, we lie low here, get Serenity clean, get Zoe well and by the time whatever bunch of wangba dan this is shows up, we’ll be ready. Dong ma?”

“Ma shong. That’s a good plan, Cap, but it’s gonna take a little time. And I’ll need some kind of transport box to put it in. There might be something in one a these sheds – I’ll nose around. Three, maybe four hours?” Having a problem to solve and work to do always went a long way towards making Kaylee forget her troubles. She was already walking briskly away from Mal toward the dark bulk of Serenity.

“Mal,” Inara called softly. “Is everything all right? Do you need me?”

“Everything’s shiny. Zoe’s come to. I don’t reckon I need you. You go on back to sleep, I’ll call you when folks need to get started.” How in nine hells was he supposed to answer the question of ‘did he need Inara?’ Need and not-need didn’t really seem to be the best way to look at the issue.

*** In the half-light before dawn, Mal went out to the horses and put their halters and lead ropes on them. He led them up towards Serenity, where some old posts stuck out of the ground at random angles. He checked the ground around the posts for broken glass or loose wire or anything that might injure the horses before tethering them and going back to where the temporary fence had been installed the night before.

He worked steadily to take down the fence which had been roughly installed around the seeping spring and the area of bright green grass. Once it was down and the wire coiled neatly over one shoulder, Mal laid out the scrounged up, motley bits of wood he was using as fence stakes in a rough rectangle well away from the green grass and the water. He rebuilt the fence and by daylight more than half was done.

“Gorramit, Mal, what in shensheng de gaowan are you doin’! Do you think we don’t have enough work to do without having to tote water for them damn horses?” Jayne was bellowing so loudly that Simon came out of the infirmary and glared at him. “Don’t glare at me you ni meiyou langun, Mal’s done lost his little, tiny mind,” Jayne shouted at Simon.

“Too much green grass’ll founder these horses. A little’s good for ‘em but too much, too soon’ll near kill ‘em,” Mal answered evenly. “I also don’t want ‘em standing on wet ground, it’ll rot their feet. They need someplace we can fix up some shade and I don’t want to tote water for ‘em any farther’n you do. You quit bellowin’, and rollin’ your eyes like a dyin’ calf in a hailstorm and get yourself a hammer.”

“’Rollin’ my eyes like a dyin’ calf in a hailstorm.’ Wodema, Mal, these horses are makin’ you talk like a cowboy agin. We got a entire boat to scrub as I see it and you’re worryin’ about these gorram animals.” Jayne’s volume was, if possible, even higher.

“Bi shui. When I told you these animals were worth more’n you I wasn’t joking. These eight horses’d probably bring more than Serenity at open auction. We need to keep ‘em happy and healthy or we’ll be in debt for the rest of our lives,” Mal answered.

“That says more ‘bout Serenity, mebbe,” Jayne wasn’t eager to back down, or tote water.

“Bi shui and this time I mean it.”

Jayne apparently did believe he meant it, because he disappeared briefly before reappearing with a protein bar and a hammer.

“All right. You finish the fence while I check on Zoe and Kaylee. Then turn the horses loose in here and bring ‘em water. Take the water buckets off Serenity and scrub ‘em good before you refill ‘em. Get busy, dong ma?”

“I heard ya.” Jayne was as surly as he thought he could get away with, facing a captain who was holding a hammer.

*** “Simon, how’s Zoe this morning?” Mal asked Simon quietly.

“Sleeping quietly. I think she’s over the worst. You can go see for yourself, she’s behind that sheet.” Simon had strung an extra sheet between two exposed beams and from behind it Mal could here the hiss of the oxygen system.

Mal peeked around the sheet to see Zoe looking up at him. Wash was still asleep, lying on a pallet on the floor next to the bed.

“Mornin’, sunshine. ‘s good to see you lookin’ better.” Mal knelt on the floor on the other side of the bed from Wash’s prone body. He took Zoe’s hand and put his head close to hers. She moved the oxygen mask aside before speaking.

“Morning, sir.” Her voice was thready and insubstantial, but she had a voice this morning and her steely intelligence had reappeared in her eyes. “What happened after Persephone?”

“Don’t try to talk. Put your oxygen mask back on and I’ll get you caught up.” Mal told Zoe briefly all that had happened since supper the day before. He also told her about the plan to tow Serenity’s nav beacon out as a decoy.

“Shiny, sir,” she whispered.

“Now I got to wake Wash up before he wakes his self up and tries to kill me for talkin’ to you before he could,” Mal squeezed Zoe’s hand and stood up, backing away from the bed.

“Hey, pilot, hey there, Wash,” Mal called in a normal speaking voice.

“Do not shout and disturb my wife.” Wash sat up to glare at Mal and then glanced over to see that Zoe was awake. “Wodema, Zoe, oh, lambytoes, you look good. How are you baobei?” Wash leaned over the bed and took both Zoe’s hands in his.

“Mornin’ husband,” she mouthed through the oxygen mask. She nodded at Mal and closed her eyes.

“She’s gonna be real tired for quite a while, Doc says, and I need to talk to you, so give her a kiss and come on out of there.” Mal smiled at Wash and pointed outside.

“Wodema, Mal, I thought she might not make it, last night,” Wash said when he came outside. “I always thought it would happen that you wouldn’t bring her back from some job so I could hate you. I never thought she could die of some sickness.”

“She didn’t die and so far I’ve always brought her back, and I plan to keep doing so,” Mal grinned at him. “Now, speakin’ of that sickness, I been thinkin’ about whoever did this to us. They’re gonna wanta to come snoopin’ around and see what their little present has done to us. I wanna make sure they don’t find us so easy. I’ve got Kaylee settin’ up the nav beacon so it’ll broadcast somewhere far from Serenity. I want you to take it out into the black and leave as far from here as you can get it with one of the shuttles. How far do you figure you can get it?”

“If I’m lucky, maybe six hours out. Both shuttles are fueled up, but are they safe to fly?”

“The shuttles test nearly clean and now that we’re down we’ll scrub the filters and hose out the spare shuttle. You willin’ to do this?” Mal stared at Wash fiercely.

“I’m the pilot. Flying things is what I do. I think it’s a terrific idea to keep the bad men who hurt my wife very far away. How long till Kaylee’s decoy’s ready?” Wash responded.

“Should be ready any little while.” Mal nodded at Wash. “Go sit with Zoe but don’t you wear her out, now.”

***

“Kaylee, how you comin’?” Mal located Kaylee on Serenity, her face covered with a respirator at Simon’s demand and her lap full of multi-colored spaghetti wires and a small metal box.

“Shiny, Captain. I just got to wire this into that barrel there and we’re good to go.” Kaylee nodded at a 55-gallon barrel neatly lettered with the Alliance insignia and a warning that misuse of Alliance property carried a mandatory prison term.

Mal read the label on the barrel and laughed.

“I feel safer already. Mebbe whoever did this to us’ll get picked up and charged with misuse of that barrel.”

“Mebbe so, but I hope they just run out of gas out there tryin’ to figure out where we’re hidin’. Okay, we’re ready.” Kaylee stood up and stretched her back.

***

An hour later Wash kissed Zoe and said “You be here when I get back, understand? No running off on some job. It’ll be a while before I’m back and you might get bored, but I want you to stay right here.”

“I think I can promise that this time, husband,” Zoe whispered and blew him a kiss.

The shuttle took off on a low path and quickly disappeared. Everyone stood watching it go, and continued to stand watching where it had gone until Mal clapped his hands.

“All right, folks. Let’s get this boat clean.”

***End of part 5*