Blah, blah, blah. Not mine, not mine, not mine.

“Simon, tell us what needs to be done and the safest way to do it,” Mal says. “I know it’s gonna take a while to get us clean, so let’s be getting’ started. Kaylee, see if you can figure how to get water out of that wellhead for starters, ‘cause I think water’s gonna be a big part of this.”

“Kaylee, wait before you go to the well, so you can hear what steps we need to take.” Simon sounded assured, perhaps a little more assured than he felt. What if, in the end, they couldn’t make Serenity safe to fly in again? It wasn’t as though they had access to much in the way of supplies.

“First, I want everything made of fiber off Serenity: All your laundry, clean or dirty; pillows; blankets; bedding of all kinds; the one tablecloth; everything. Bring it out and pile it on the ground. Then, anything loose needs to come off, anything that’s not bolted down. Spread all that out, too. And Mal, all that horse equipment has to come off, too. I think the airborne spores came out of our water, but we can’t take a chance that it’s now growing in the bedding and hay.

“Then, once we have water we’ll start flushing the water lines on Serenity. I don’t have anything like a sanitizer in the quantities we need, so we’re going to have to hope that volume will do it. The thing to remember about the mold spores is that as long as they are not concentrated and aren’t flying around we’re reasonably unlikely to get as sick as Zoe and Gowan. We need to open up every port and access so we can get as much air as we can blowing through – the airborne concentrations inside don’t seem particularly high so I think we may not need to scrub every inch of Serenity.”

“Okay, people – start by clearing your cabins,” Mal nodded at the crew and Inara.

“Simon, does my shuttle need to be emptied in the same way?” asked Inara. “I heard you say that the shuttles seemed less infected.”

“Everything needs to be brought out into the sun,” said Simon. “I think that’s safest. We’re lucky there’s a good breeze here, as the mold spores dry they’ll be blown away.”

“Mal, I can empty Wash and Zoe’s cabin,” Inara offered diffidently.

“Inara, your cabin has fifteen times what the rest of the cabins put together have. You just deal with your own.” Mal was curt, turning away as he spoke.

“Cap’n, that was a kind offer,” Kaylee reproved. “But he’s right, Inara, you do have a lot of pretties to clean. I’ll do Wash and Zoe’s and mine once I figure out the well.”

Within 15 minutes the dry grass in the compound was covered with clothing and pillows and blankets, piled in heaps waiting for washing. Within three hours, every moveable object was off the ship. They all found themselves looking up at the sky every time they came down the ramp with an armload or a muleload. It was not clear whether they hoped to see Wash, although everyone knew he could not possibly return until nearly midnight, or whether they feared to see someone else.

In the meantime, Kaylee went to look at the wellhead, to see whether it had a pump or piping or anything that would allow them to get water out. They could use the spring, but it did not really have the capacity they would need for flushing Serenity’s water system.

A whoop of joy startled everyone. Kaylee came running up to Mal.

“It’s artesian, Mal, it’s an artesian well!”

“And?” Mal looked baffled.

“It means that when I open it water spurts out. I don’t quite know how it works myself, I only ever saw one before. I think the water’s just under so much pressure that it bubbles out on its own. So I don’t need to rig a pump or nothing – we got all the water we c’n use.”

“Well, now that is shiny news. Go on now and get started on emptyin’ out those dorms. Get goin’.” Mal’s face shed a little of its tension with Kaylee’s announcement. He had been worried that they would have trouble getting water out of the well and that without water they could never get Serenity safe to fly.

“Jayne, you get started on the hay and bedding and feed. Stack the baled stuff in that shed over there, dig a hole and bury the used. Make sure you keep everything dry. You might as well start by bringing out those eight boxes lined up there. These horses need some attention now.”

“Wodema, Mal, there ya go agin. Worryin’ about them horses.” *** Simon came out of the infirmary shed.

“Mal, Gowan’s awake. You can talk to him for very briefly, but please try not to frighten him to death by looming over him and shouting.”

“Why would I frighten him to death?” Mal asked. “What would be the use in that?”

“None. Just go in, sit down and whisper your threats.” Simon gave Mal a nod and pointed toward the door.

“Mornin’, son,” Mal said quietly from the chair Simon had directed him to. “You feelin’ any better?”

“Yessir,” the boy whispered after he moved his oxygen mask aside.

“Good, because I’m not. My first mate nearly died last night and I can’t be havin’ that. I take great exception to having my crew murdered. So let’s back up and hear some truth from you so’s nobody else has to die. Starting with you. I know you ain’t got much breath, so I’m gonna tell you what I think I know and you c’n nod or shake your head.”

Mal paused to look closely at the boy’s face. It didn’t have the closed look of someone trying to figure out a plausible story; it had the look of a boy waiting for the inevitable blow.

“Now, I think you don’t know nothin’ about the boy who was supposed to be on my boat. You just took the opportunity offered when I thought you were him – so far, so good?”

The boy nodded. “I was supposed to book passage to wherever you was goin’,” he whispered.

“’S’what I thought. So, I believe somebody sent you to do us a damage. My guess is old Ath Wing or dear Mr. Niska.”

“I dunno Niska,” he said.

“So we’ll assume Ath.” The boy nodded. “So you dumped some gou se in the water system, supposed to make us all good and sick.” Mal paused and looked closely at the boy.

The boy nodded.

“So I know all that. But what I don’t know is what was supposed to happen next and whether you’ve done anything else to my boat. You plannin’ to tell me the truth? I know you’re good a creatin’ a plausible story on the fly. How are you at tellin’ the truth?”

“Good, sir.” The boy took as deep a breath as he was able, causing Simon to stand and peer over at the pair. Seemingly satisfied that Mal was not frightening the boy at the moment, he sat back down.

“It wasn’t just the stuff in the water. Four boxes a stuff in the vents, too. Pushed back pretty far.” He paused and took several breaths. “Full a some kinda wet, raggy stuff but dust blows off it. I dunno what it is.”

“Can you tell me which vents?”

“Nossir. I just picked ‘em random.”

“Shiny,” Mal snapped. “Another gorram thing to look for.”

“Nobody’s supposed to get sick so soon,” offered Gowan diffidently. “They said it’d take a while and that when you were sick, they’d come for me.”

“Any idea where they were planning to come and get you?”

“That place you was headed – Hal, Hal, Hal-whatever.” The boy had talked too much, too quickly and his breath was coming short and ragged again, and his eyes closed against his will.

“Mal,” Simon stood behind his chair. “Enough. I heard what he said, we need to find those boxes and then see how the spore concentrations look. You can continue your little interrogation later.” He fitted the oxygen mask back over the boy’s sleeping face; Gowan didn’t stir.

Mal stood and nodded. “Yeah, I got enough to go on. Seems like we didn’t need to send Wash out with that decoy, but I haveta say I’m still kinda glad we did. C’n I look in on Zoe?”

“Yes, but not for long. She’s still on oxygen and she’s very tired.”

“Hey, there,” Mal carried his chair right up to Zoe’s bedside, sat down and took her hand in his. “Good news all around. Wash’s on his way with the decoy, Kaylee figured out how to get us all the water we need, and Jayne’s gotta wash all his dirty clothes. You any easier? – just nod, don’t try to talk.”

Zoe nodded. The white oxygen mask emphasized the blue circles under her eyes and the ashyness of her complexion. The fight she had put up to keep breathing had left her exhausted and, somehow, physically smaller. Maybe it was the nightgown – when had anyone ever seen Zoe without her vest and sidearm?

“That boy, Gowan, just told me where he hid a bunch more of that poison that got you. I’m hopeful that once it’s off the boat, she’ll be safe to fly. ‘Nother thing, seems like this was a present from ol’ Ash Wing but that he wasn’t planning to check on how we received it ‘til we made Halcion. Way I figure it, we’ve got a good chance to put ourselves back together here at Book’s health spa ‘fore we face those tamade hundan. So you start getting better. Soon’s you’re able, we’ll take you out into the fresh air and sunshine. ‘S’not the prettiest place I ever saw but it has got a little patch a green grass to rest your eyes on. And a course, those horses, they improve any landscape.” Mal squeezed Zoe’s hand and nodded at her. She nodded back and squeezed as well as she could. It was a frighteningly weak squeeze.

***

“*One bright mornin’, when this life is o’er*,” a warm baritone voice sang. “You stand still there, miss, I ain’t hurtin’ you a bit. Pick up that foot, yes, that one. Good girl. *I’ll fly away*.”

“Is that Mal singing?” Kaylee asked Inara.

“I think it has to be,” Inara answered in tones of disbelief. “Simon’s in the infirmary, Book just went to get another load off Serenity, Wash’s still gone, and Jayne’s right there. It has to be Mal.”

“I tole ya he’s lost his tiny, little mind over them horses,” Jayne grumbled. “I never saw such troublesome beasts. Got to be kep’ dry but they got to have plenty a clean water. Got to have their jackets put on at night, got to have ‘em taken off in the mornin’. Got to be cleaned up after all the gorram time. And now he’s doin’ their hair and singin’ to ‘em, like a girl with a baby doll.” Jayne stalked off muttering.

River came up to where Mal stood grooming one of the mares. He held a round, rubber curry comb in his left hand, and a stiff, long-bristled brush in his right. He made vigorous circles on the horse’s back with the curry comb and followed it with the stiff brush in his right, flicking the dust and loose hair raised by the comb off with the brush. Unaware of River he continued to sing almost under his breath. “*Just a few more weary days* –“

“Why do you sing to them?”

Mal jumped. “Are you ever gonna understand you oughtn’t startle a armed man?”

“Right now you are only armed with brushes. Why do you sing to them?” River said.

“I didn’t realize I was singin’.” Mal snorted.

“You were. Do they like it?” River persisted.

“I reckon they must – nobody’s bit me yet. I guess it’s just an old habit, Momma always sang when she groomed,” Mal answered. “Don’t you have work to do?”

“All done. Not much in my cabin. Can I help you, otherwise Kaylee and Simon and Inara will make me wash clothes. I do not want to wash clothes,” River was adamant. “Why did your mother sing when she brushed the horses?”

“Wodema, I don’t know. So they knew where she was and didn’t kick, I don’t know,” Mal was dismissive, brusque, as though he was ashamed of mentioning his mother in the first place. “You wanna help here?” Mal asked.

“Yes, please. I like them and I do –“

“Not want to wash clothes. I heard you. Well, I could use some help. Cleaning up eight horses takes some time. Lemme see your feet. That’s what I thought – go put some shoes on those bare feet; put on your boots. It’s dangerous to be around horses without good boots on your feet – horses’re heavy and these horses all have shoes on, that’ll make it hurt worse if they step on you. Put on some pants, too, and I’ll let you ride around a little,” Mal nodded at her and smiled. “Come right back, ‘cause there’s plenty to do.”

River smiled incandescently and ran off.

“*Like a bird who prison bars have flown…*”

*** Henry Exline reached a point where he could see into the old Alliance base and lifted his binoculars to his eyes. What was going on down there? There was a Firefly class transport parked there, and sure enough, he could see that the shuttle on the side nearest him was gone. That must have been the shuttle he saw earlier.

Well, this needed further investigation. Exline began to pick his way down a little closer, to where he could set up camp and observe without being observed. He was glad he had thrown a bedroll and some rations in his pack; he didn’t plan to leave until this boat left.

*End of part 7*