BLUE SUN ROOM FAN FICTION - GENERAL

ELDRITCHSANDWICH

Blue Moon Episode 106—Proof, Part 5
Saturday, February 23, 2008

In which Rachel surprises Daphne and Sir Anderson surprises everyone.


CATEGORY: FICTION    TIMES READ: 1444    RATING: 0    SERIES: FIREFLY

Daphne jumped up from the pilot's seat as she heard the frantic banging on the shuttle's airlock. As soon as she opened it, a flustered Rachel tossed the blocky object of their larceny into her hands. "Keep that here. Dex and Saul got pinched tryin' to get outta harm's way. I gotta go back in and fetch 'em before the Feds get here. Stay here; I want you ready to fly us outta here when Artemis comes back. Wish me luck." The captain slammed the door shut behind her, and Daphne stood in the middle of the shuttle, the priceless artifact hanging from her fingers. She blinked. "Uh…good luck." Dex ran his hands carefully over the edges of the device's surface, muttering to himself. The panels were well-assembled, but there were a few spaces where he could feel the tickle of static from the circuitry inside. A brilliant smile lit his face as he flipped open the control panel, mentally calculating the number of possible AI routing algorithms. He reached out, longing to press just one button, and Saul scowled. "The hell you doin'?" The mechanic suddenly cleared his throat. "Sorry." He turned around in the cramped quarters. "But, I mean, this thing's a marvel o' modern technological frivolity. You have any idea the kind of cross-typing you need to work out—" "Ai ya!" The former bounty hunter bound to his feet, a dangerous look filling his eyes. "We're locked…in a broom closet…about to get turned over to the Feds…and you're havin' an affair with the Gorram vacuum cleaner!" Dex looked at Saul as if the cook had just stabbed him. "Saul, it ain't a vacuum cleaner. It's a full-fledged DML-21-type household assistant. This thing could clean the entire manor unsupervised, the algorithmic detection's sharp enough for it to pick up the—" "Can…it get us…out of this room?" "No." Saul raised his eyebrows, and the redheaded mechanic sighed and resigned himself to leaning back against the trash-can-sized robot's side. "Hey, I ain't the one got us into this." "Oh, I beg to differ. Your little doodad didn't blow up, we wouldn't've had to make a run for it." "Oh, that's so typical, blame me 'cause you're sore that I told you they'd be comin' down through the maintenance tunnels, and that's exactly what they were doin'…" "A problem we never would have had to confront if your stupid plan had worked and we'd gotten back on Artemis like we were supposed to." "My stupid plan?" "Your stupid, xiaoxue plan." "Xiaoxue? You know, just because you ain't—" "Hey!" The bolt on the door clicked open as the bedraggled security guard who had been entrusted with them poked his head into the room. "Will you two shut up already?" The two men cleared their throats. "Sorry." "Sorry." "How we lookin', Mariah?" "We're clear. Patrol boat's heading toward the estate. I hope everybody's all right." "I'm sure they're fine. We just gotta lay low 'til…" "Wait." Mariah tapped the screens in front of her. "Something's coming up from behind…local security." Mona cursed under her breath, and Mariah found herself momentarily wondering where exactly the teenager had learned such uniquely colorful language. Then, the pilot leaned back on the controls. "Can't we outrun them?" "Not if we want to be able to get back to the Cap'n in time." Mariah sighed, but nodded. "They're hailing us." "Who is?" The two women started at the voice, but then Mona caught Mariah's eye. They turned to Sir Anderson, perched nervously on the edge of the bridge, and smiled. Rachel pressed her back against the wall as another pair of servants passed, and weighed her options. She could jump a maid and steal a uniform, of course, but then she'd have to keep said maid out of the picture for as long as it took to find and spring Dex and Saul. She could keep sneaking, but that got more and more dangerous the further down into the servant-filled lower areas of the estate she got. Or, she thought with a sudden sardonicism, she could just leave the two idiots to get pinched. She sighed. Maybe there was a linen closet somewhere down here where she could lift a uniform. "I apologize for our rudeness, your Lordship. While we are constantly expanding the number of estates on Bellerophon, we haven't had many new solicitations lately." Sir Anderson shook his head. "It is I who should apologize. I would have waved and set up an appointment, but my ship was in the area on unrelated business and I thought it a good opportunity to…come and appraise your offerings." The rest of Artemis' ersatz crew held back, Mariah and Mona staring on in abject shock while Leo merely smiled pleasantly. "I can't believe my eyes." "He's…great." Leo shrugged. "He is a barrister. What did you think he was good at?" Mona glanced up at the doctor's handsome face and bit her lip. "I don't think you want me to answer that." Mariah bit back a laugh. "Shouldn't someone be back on the boat so we know when the…others…need us?" The diminutive pilot cast the dilettante a pleading glance, eyes darting meaningfully over to the young doctor. Mariah sighed. "Fine. See you back here." Mona grinned, dragging the bemused nobleman toward his uncle and the beaming agent showing him around the model island, and Mariah shook her head, chuckling, as she walked back toward the ship perched on the estate's edge. "Mr. Hamer." As soon as Rachel heard the voice, she froze. Peering around the next corner, she caught sight of a liveried guard standing before a rather unassuming man in young middle-age. Her eyes narrowed. "Sir, a Federal patrol boat is inbound. They should be here in about ten minutes." Hamer nodded just as another guard jogged into the corridor. "Thank you." "Sir! We've finished the sweep. We haven't found anyone else, but the Lassiter's gone. Theses two must have been working with someone else." The nagging feeling in the back of Rachel's head grew worse when Hamer seemed to take the news with almost eerie coolness. "Search the grounds." "Yes, sir." The guards tromped down Rachel's end of the hallway, barely giving her enough time to slink back against the wall. She cursed under her breath. "All right, we can start fighting again, maybe get him to come back in, then we can take him out," Saul muttered under his breath. "Right." Dex nodded. "We weren't fighting, though. I mean, we had a mild and perfectly—" "Yeah, just like that." Dex shrugged. "Dui." "Okay…" Saul's eyes shot toward the door as it shuddered on its hinges, then inched open to let the security guard drop against the floor. Rachel looked at them expectantly. Dex cleared his throat. "Hey, Rach. We were just comin' to meet up with you." "Let's go. We gotta get back to Daphne now." Saul narrowed his eyes. "Problem?" Rachel sighed. "There's about to be."

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