BLUE SUN ROOM FAN FICTION - GENERAL

CBSTEVE

The Return - Part 10
Monday, April 21, 2008

River has a chat with Jackson and Mal and his gang have a close encounter with some Earthlings.


CATEGORY: FICTION    TIMES READ: 2423    RATING: 9    SERIES: FIREFLY

The Return – Part 10

Serenity was parked amid the devastation of Melbourne, Australia’s airport, the once city of millions now a ghost town with the only signs of life Serenity’s crew and the accompanying scientists from Moonbase Armstrong. Three of the scientists were gathering data on radiation and meteorological patterns from several pieces of equipment that none on Serenity’s crew had seen before or could easily understand. Wash came down the cargo bay ramp toward the three scientists and their instruments. They were standing and gazing at the sky and the sun, breathing deeply, not even looking at their equipment.

“Nice day, isn’t it?” Wash said nonchalantly.

“Our first in more than two years,” said Christine and Wash could feel the emotions from her and the others as they enjoyed this rare moment.

“Three years for me,” Fred added.

“It’s so clear and fresh,” Miller said. “It’s...unbelievable.”

Wash just nodded. “Pollution I’m taking it. Know all about that. I grew up on a place with lots of pollution, factories, burning stuff all the time. It wasn’t very pretty.”

“And now it’s…gone,” Christine said in awe.

“Not entirely, I’m afraid,” Miller commented as he looked toward the dead. “What are we going to do about them?”

“Nothing to do,” Fred said somberly. “There’s just too many. In time, if we return to stay, we will deal with it.”

“Will you return to stay?” Wash asked. “Seems to be on your commander’s mind from what we have heard and learned so far.”

“It’s our hope. Some of us,” said Miller and then his face turned a touch angry. “Others wanted to follow that fool off to the stars.”

“The wormhole works,” said Christine defensively and the good mood of a moment ago was disappearing. “And without that ‘fool' Serenity would have never come here and we wouldn’t be able to return to Earth.”

“But the cost. Six more dead,” Fred said sadly.

They were silent for a moment. “Commander Jackson wants you to make a report before we lose radio contact,” Wash told them.

“Yes, I’ll do it when we are ready,” Fred said. “Mr. Washburne…”

“Wash…just call me Wash.”

“Wash, how long will be out of radio contact with the moon when the Earth rotations?”

“Don’t know exactly. Could be 8 to 10 hours so you’d best get that report off soon, cause it’ll be a while before we make contact again.”

*************************************************

On Moonbase Armstrong all was quiet for the night as their day came to an end. Only a few people were awake, manning critical stations such as communications, environmental controls, power relays, and the guards on Serenity crew’s doors. Jayne had dropped off to sleep after once again trying to persuade Shepherd book to divulge his secrets and once again Book deflected such attempts. Then they decided to find those microphones and cameras and had examined every inch of the room but came up empty. An equally intense examination of the door and bathroom revealed no way to get out. Jayne almost punched a wall in frustration but Book stopped him and persuaded Jayne that the best thing to do was get some rest and wait until morning. Inara and Zoe meanwhile were still sleeping soundly and nothing and nobody disturbed them through the night.

The same could not be said for River Tam. She dreamed she was being carried down a long corridor back at the academy on Athenian Island on Osiris where she had been a prisoner for three years until Simon had rescued her. She couldn’t move, was powerless to stop these people who carried her. They wore the blue uniforms of the Alliance and the greenish medical garb of the scientists and doctors. She was carried into a room and placed on a table that was raised till she was at a 45 degree angle, her arms and legs strapped to the soft, padded table. Devices were attached to her head and arms and several people were examining scanners on walls. Then River suddenly realized it wasn’t a dream, she was sleeping in a room on a moon base near Earth, and the Alliance was in control. Her eyes were partially opened and all that she saw was happening, now. River opened her mouth and screamed.

“She’s awake!” said a female voice. “Those drugs were supposed to last eight hours!”

“Maybe she didn’t eat the food!” said a male, his face covered in a doctor’s mask. “Get me the hypo!”

“Blood! So much blood! You people are drowning in it!” River shouted. “He killed them all! He fired the missiles!”

“No, don’t put her to sleep. Give her the serum,” said another voice, calmly, and River knew it was Jackson. She looked around but he wasn’t in the room but then she heard his voice again. “We will do this now.”

River felt a pinch at her left arm and then a warm flood of peacefulness entered her bloodstream and heart and brain.

“River, can you hear me?” Jackson asked.

“Hear you all the time, your voice is everywhere, outside, inside, in the walls and the ceiling. Microphones, little bugs, gathering people’s thoughts and hopes and dreams. Control, power. Some killed themselves, couldn’t stand it anymore. No hope, no hope.”

“River, tell me what plans your crew has made?” Jackson asked, seeming to ignore her ramblings to get to the questions he had.

“Crew, I don’t have a crew, no crew. Mal’s captain, I’m just a girl, science advisor he said. Made me feel good. But they hate me, they all hate me. Want to kill me or sell me.”

“Who wants to kill you or sell you?”

“All of them.”

“Even your brother Simon?”

“No, no, he’s such a good man. Simon loves Kaylee, Kaylee loves Simon. Does anyone love River?” she said in a giddy voice. “Maybe Jayne. He’s such a lout, too old, but so many muscles. Shepherd needs a haircut. Mal, too. I like Wash’s hair. Inara has such lovely hair. Zoe has nice lips, but don’t tell her I said that. Anything else?”

“What is Zoe going to do?”

“Nothing, wants to go home, have babies, loves Wash so much. We need to go home. We don’t belong here, it’s not supposed to happen this way.”

“How is it supposed to happen?”

“Not this way.”

“Why were you held in a government facility?”

“Rutting pigs wanted my brain. Picked it apart, fed me lies, trained me to be something I’m not. I’m just a girl.”

“What did they train you to be, River?”

“Her synaptic signs are going off the charts!” the female med tech shouted.

River didn’t answer for a few seconds. Then her voice was calm and emotionless. “Want me to show you?”

There was a tense few seconds as all the med tech people stepped back, thinking River was about to do something. But then she just relaxed and laughed and her brain scans returned to normal.

“Perhaps another time,” Jackson said calmly. “You had a conversation with Dr. Philips. He said you knew the war started on this moon base. How did you know that? He didn’t tell you, did he?”

“Yes, he did, I remember his voice, I heard it, telling me how you fired the missiles while the attack was under way.”

There was a long silence. “River, can you understand people’s…thoughts?”

“If I could I’d know the next question, wouldn’t I?”

“Medulla cortex functions rising. She’s resisting the serum,” said the female med tech.

“River, you want to tell the truth, don’t you?”

“What is truth? What you tell these people on this base so they won’t bash in your skull and send you out the airlock? What those fools in our quadrant and yours tell people so they follow them blindly? There is no truth, only what you perceive to be truth. You want some truth? I have some truth for you. Simon loves Kaylee, Kaylee loves Simon, Shepherd needs a haircut, Mal too, Zoe’s got…”

“Enough!” Jackson said impatiently, his irritation obvious in his tone. “River, you don’t want anything bad to happen to Simon and the others, do you? So tell me the truth. You know you want to.”

“Nothing will happen to them. You think you are a tough man who has had to make tough decisions? Malcolm Reynolds is, too. Except he cares about us, loves us, all of us, in fact, but would never admit it. He will die before letting you harm or kill one of us. Would you do the same for your people?”

“There is nothing to be gained by this,” Jackson said wearily. “Put her to sleep and monitor all functions. We’ll get to the bottom of what she is one way or another.”

River was injected with something else and after a few minutes was peacefully asleep.

************************************************* After more searching Mal found a dusty layout of the airport printed on some engineering plans in the airport’s environmental service department. The shock at having discovered they were two years in the future hadn’t lessened but they had things to do and Mal got them back to work. After the discovery of the engineering plans they quickly found out where the fuel supply for the airport was and started back toward Serenity.

“My father is making the calculations right now,” Tanya said, walking beside a very distraught Kaylee and a deeply concerned Simon. “He has all the data, he has all the navigation information from Serenity. He will make it work.”

“Just like last time?” Chin said as he and Mal walked behind them. Tanya turned on him with a vicious look.

“That was not his fault. That ship could not take the strain.”

“And you think my ship can?” Mal said and Tanya looked to Kaylee.

“I had to tell him, he’d find out eventually,” Kaylee said a little guiltily.

“No, Kaylee, its fine, he must know so why not now,” Tanya told her and then turned to Mal. “My father wanted to explain it all in person, Captain, when he had finished his calculations. Serenity will be able to take it.”

Simon was catching on now. “You mean that ship that crashed, that made the wormhole?”

“Seems like it,’ Kaylee told him.

“If there’s any doubt,” Mal said. “I think I’d rather stay here than be blown into bitsy pieces on the other side of a wormhole.”

“It will work,” Tanya said and then they were back at the ship.

The scientists had just finished making their report to the moon base and Wash told Mal what Zoe had said and announced that they would be out of touch for many more hours to come.

“How do things look?” Mal asked the scientists.

“The radiation levels are stable, so far,” Miler stated. “But we won’t know more unless we have some long term data.”

“The same for the meteorological readings,” Christine began. “All indications are that this is a normal winter day for southern Australia and all the data is historically within norms. But like Dr. Miller said, we need to do some long term studies.”

Fred then offered his opinion. “There is no precedent for what has happened here. The radiation from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs did not last long and only the people immediately exposed to it and its fallout became ill. However, those were two low yield nuclear detonations in small cities.”

“So the gist is we can stay for now but you don’t know how long and won’t know till we’ve been here a while,” Mal said, trying to put into plain words what they had said.

“Essentially,” Miller said. ”But it’s more complicated…”

“Don’t care for complicated,” Mal cut him off. “Let’s just load up the boat and get that fuel and look for some food and any survivors. That’s why we came here mostly for.”

No one disagreed and soon they were on Serenity again, leaving their instruments on the ground to keep monitoring the conditions. Serenity lifted off and went a short distance across the airport to the fueling station. As they went Mal, Kaylee and Simon stood on the bridge and filled Wash in on the notion that they might be two years in the future. He took it in his usual way, making a joke about how that was two wedding anniversary gifts he didn’t have to buy Zoe and also said that he was now two years older but didn’t even feel it. Kaylee grinned at this last one and then remembered how everyone they knew thought they might be dead and then had a sudden thought.

“If its two years in the future here is it the same back home?”

No one answered her at first, all struggling to put into perspective these time fluctuations. Then Simon spoke up. “Time is a relative notion, from the observation of the person. The wormhole was create in July 2520 here and appeared in June 2518 on our side of the galaxy. There are two possibilities. As Kaylee suggested, perhaps the count of time is different in both quadrants as we are really in the same actually time, just that it is perceived differently. Like a man in one house whose clock says 12 o’clock and a man in another whose clock says 2 o’clock at the same time. The second possibility is a time distortion or time travel if you will. Did the wormhole go back in time for two years? Did we travel ahead for two years during the wormhole trip? This…we can’t explain or perhaps ever know.”

“One thing I know,’ Wash said. “Serenity’s system clocks still think its June 2518.”

“Don’t touch them,” Mal ordered. “It’s the only reference we have for getting back to the right time.”

As he said this, Wash maneuvered the ship in for a landing near the fuel area. It was easy to see from the damage nearby. There were several fuel trucks, some intact, others destroyed by fire and perhaps explosions. They landed and after a quick search they found the fuel pumping stations and Tanya found the correct fuel tank’s above ground access point.

“Ah, this tank should have the liquid rocket fuel for sub-orbital craft. It has a different mixture than the commercial jet fuel, for use in low oxygen, no oxygen environment.”

Kaylee used an acetylene torch to cut off the locks on the access point to the underground tank Tanya indicated and then a long rope and a small container on the end were used to retrieve a sample.

“It’s what we need,” Tanya announced as she and Wash inspected the sample.

“Sure looks like it,” Wash said and Kaylee agreed with them.

“Wasting our time,” Miller muttered under his breath, but loud enough for Mal to hear.

“You’ll be eating those words,” he said with a glare. “Kaylee?”

“Not a prob Capt’n. Here’s the main pumping station. Built solid, not damaged or worn out by the looks. Just needs some power. We should be able to run a cable from Serenity’s main engine and rig it up. Give me thirty minutes and we’ll be ready to go.”

Thirty minutes later fuel was pumping into Serenity’s tanks. Miller just stood there with his mouth open staring at Kaylee as Mal said to him “told you so”.

“You must have some wonderful engineering schools in your quadrant,” Miller said to Kaylee.

“Don’t know,” she replied as she wiped grease and dirt from her hands. “Ain’t never been to one.”

Simon was grinning, proud of what Kaylee had done. “Think you deserve a reward.”

“I’m still waiting for the one you promised me already,” she said with a sexy look and she put an arm around his waist.

“You two mind your jobs and you’ll get that chance,” Mal said has he walked by. “But now we got to do a recon of the city. Wash and Kaylee stay with the boat, get her fueled up and stay by the comms. Doc, Tanya, and Chin, with me in shuttle two. Everyone else, just take it easy and get some rest.”

Everyone moved to follow Mal’s orders, Kaylee and Simon having a brief moment to say goodbye and give a quick kiss at the shuttle doors after he loaded some medical supplies on board. Mal was the last aboard as Kaylee stood by to close the door.

“Capt’n, don’t get in no trouble.”

“I’ll look after him, so don’t fret none, little Kaylee.”

“I know. Just come back if any folks are about. I got a feeling any survivors be mighty unhappy to see anyone in an Alliance uniform.”

“Maybe not have a kind word for us either since we’re with these Alliance folk, helping them out and all.”

“Yeah, but we didn’t cause all this mess.”

“First sign of trouble and you know me, I’ll be running right back to the boat, with bullets flying behind me.”

“And not hitting anyone. And don’t you kill no one if you don’t have to. Ain’t that many of them left.”

“Your heart is always in the right place, you know that?”

“Someone’s has to be”

“Be back soon. Be nice if food was on the table when we do.”

“Think I can handle that.”

He gave her a reassuring grin and then stepped aboard and Kaylee made sure the door was sealed tight. She then went outside to watch them take off. Shuttle two lifted off its cradle on the port side of Serenity and headed toward the city.

************************************************* Mal picked out the closest shopping center to the airport after examining the map of the city before leaving Serenity. Up ahead from the shuttle’s cockpit windows they could see a large four story concrete and glass building in the midst of apartment blocks. On the building was in bold multi-colored lettering “Gateway Shopping Centre.” A large parking lot in front was jammed with many vehicles and hundreds of bodies. Mal scanned the area until he found a place in which to land the shuttle. Once more a grim passage was made through the mess of crashed vehicles, and dead bodies. Everyone carried a sack or two to load anything useful they found and flashlights for the dark areas. Mal, Simon, and Tanya also carried the weapons from their previous excursion.

Inside they found a large atrium that ran down the center of the building and extended to the roof above, with a set of now still escalators in front of them and a bank of equally useless elevators off to one side. Many shops and signs were on display as were quite a few blank vid screens. It was dark and dusty, with some sunlight filtering through the overhead skylights and the front of the building. Dead bodies were here and there, merchandise was scattered about and there was broken glass in many places and several shop windows were destroyed on this ground level. Chaos must have reigned here, and it looked like looting was a part of the final days of any semblance of a civilized society on Earth. Simon wondered if the rest of the areas that were directly attacked had an equally sad ending.

After a quick examination Tanya found a store map near a dry fountain.

“Mostly clothing, electronics, shoes, household goods, bookshops, some restaurants, banks, two drugstores, and a supermarket.”

“Banks?” said Mal a bit too enthusiastic.

“Ah, Captain,” Simon began. “Money doesn’t have very much use here about. It’s food and medical supplies we need”

“Suppose so. Then again, might be worth taking a look. Folks hide lots of shiny stuff in banks.”

“What are you guys anyway?” asked Chin. “Criminals or something?”

“Nope,” said Mal. “Criminals are folks doing time on penal colonies. We’re just trying to make an honest living.”

“They are criminals,” said Tanya, not too surprised and Mal figured her father must have told her a thing or two from his and Jayne’s interrogation.

“People have been saying that,” said Chin.

“Have they?” Mal said with a touch of a smirk. “Well, guess you two about to join the ranks of us brigands once we loot these shops.”

“It’s not the same thing,’ Chin replied a bit defiantly. “We’re doing this to survive.”

“Yes it is the same thing but you folks wouldn’t know nothing about real survival,” Mal replied and Simon sensed a fight coming, knowing Mal had hit people, including himself, for much less.

“Not that it matters much here,” said Simon with a sheepish grin trying to get their minds back on the job. “I think I’d like to check out the drugstores, Mal, see if anything useful is still here.”

“Sounds like a plan, Doc.,” Mal said, not taking his eyes off Chin, and his glare got to him and the lieutenant went off ahead of them as Tanya gave out directions.

The first drugstore was in disarray and many common items were gone, bandages, aspirin, and the like. A locked backroom revealed a nice haul of all kinds of medicines and Simon quickly examined the bottles and vials and started filling one of the sacks they carried. The second drugstore had an equal haul and Simon began to realize that if there were many survivors they wouldn’t have left such supplies behind.

“I don’t think we’re going to find anyone here,” Simon said as they moved toward a supermarket.

The supermarket was dark so they had to use flashlights to see and the first things their lights revealed made them all a little happier. Although much had been taken and most of the rest was scattered about, there were still many canned, bottled, and packaged goods in a variety of kinds, both simple and luxurious goods. Further examination revealed that all the meat was gone or spoiled, just the bones remaining and a foul but not overpowering stench emitted from the now warm meat lockers. Likewise, there were no edible bread or pastry products, no vegetables or fruit, just the rotting remains that had long since been reduced to almost nothing. But there were many edible products in cans and bottles and packages and Mal and Simon could see the hunger in Chin and Tanya’s eyes as they saw luxuries they hadn’t eaten in a long time.

“Let’s go shopping,” Mal said and they all started taking what they wanted.

Tanya began gathering pasta and jars of tomato sauces and tins of coffee and boxes of tea bags as Chin got busy filling a sack with canned meat and fish, while Mal and Simon found their way to the alcohol aisle where many bottles were still on the shelves and the floor. Mal opened a bottle of beer and as he popped the top there was a loud fizz and the bottle instantly became cold.

“Nice touch,” he said and took a long swig. Simon said what the hell and took one himself. It was a green labeled brown bottle called Victoria Bitter and the cold beverage felt good going down his throat.

“Surprised any of this stuff is still here,” Mal commented.

“The radiation and chaos would have swiftly killed a lot of people,” Simon said between swigs of beer. “And as people started getting sick I’m guessing a lot of people took what they had at home and made their way to the countryside, only stopping at shops on their route. Cities with a rising death toll will breed all kinds of disease. There was no one to collect bodies, no electricity, no running water, nothing. Pet animal would have been reduced to eating the corpses once their masters died or left. So leaving as fast as you could was the best option. There are probably a few people still here, living day to day. In the countryside we might find some sort of organization. But I still think there will be lawlessness here for a long time to come.”

“Good thing we got lots of experience with lawlessness. Nice being in a shop where I don’t gotta worry about how much I’m spending or having to pull a gun to get what I need. Let’s get a bunch these bottles back to the boat,” Mal told Simon. “This stuff will go a long way toward making life more bearable on Serenity and the moon.”

He and Simon started loading bottles of vodka, sake, whiskey, rum, and gin into a sack.

“We should get some wine for the ladies,” Simon suggested. “Kaylee’s inter-engine fermentation system doesn’t exactly produce the best quality vintages.”

“Ain’t that the truth. Could use that stuff for all kinds of mechanical and medicinal purposes,” Mal said and Simon quickly agreed.

“So, you and Kaylee?” Mal said after a few more minutes, bringing up the topic now that he had a moment alone with Simon.

“Yeah. Surprised me, too,” Simon started. “I mean, I was just trying to protect River, get her away from the Alliance. I never thought I’d find someone…special…for myself.”

“Special she is and don’t you ever forget it,” Mal said almost like a father or brother.

“I won’t,” the Doctor replied. “I think I’d rather die than be away from her.”

“Guess it is love,” Mal commented as he grabbed some more of the self-cooling beer bottles, knowing Jayne would be mighty sore if they didn’t have one for him when they got back.

“So, you and Inara?” Simon said suddenly, wondering how far Mal would go with this topic and instantly found out.

“That subject ain’t up for discussion,” Mal firmly stated and Simon got the feeling it never would be.

“I hope all is well on the moon,” Simon said as he closed his sack and tied it tight with its draw string.

“I got a feeling that they won’t be there long,” Mal said just as he finished his beer and set the bottle on a shelf. “Once they get word that there’s food and a supply of fuel we’ll be able to make a few runs to the moon and back, bring everyone down, help them set up a life here.”

Tanya overheard them speaking as she came up the aisle with her sack full. “Yes, I think I would like to stay here and bring my father, also. He would be invaluable for us. I just have to convince him to stay behind when you go back to your home quadrant.”

Mal decided he now had to broach a subject that he had planned on speaking on later. “Tanya, I want you to understand that no one is going on Serenity when we return to our quadrant except me and my crew.”

She was stunned for a moment. “But why?”

“You got ninety some people on that base and some of them I just don’t like and others want to stay here. But the main reason is that you all are Alliance and in our area the Alliance is no friend of mine or my crew. I take your people there and I’ll have to drop you off somewhere remote cause I sure ain’t pulling into a Core planet Alliance government center and say, hey, look who we found. You got no ID, no records, no cash, nothing. No one will believe your story, they certainly won’t believe me, and I and mine ain’t gonna stick around and tell the Alliance about our journey to Earth. They’d throw us all in the bug house for sure. And finally, if this wormhole thing works, I sure as hell don’t want the Alliance getting their hands on the equipment and your father. They got a way about them of using what best suits them and they don’t have a care for how they get it.”

Tanya just took all this in and then she nodded. “What you say makes sense in a way. I was afraid of this. My father will be disappointed. He so wanted to go to the stars.”

“It’s not like we don’t care,” Simon added. “We are very grateful for your help. But the Captain is right. It’s just too…complicated. And all he said about the Alliance is sadly true.”

“We are scientists. The Alliance offered the best hope for funding and research for my father’s work. We are not the same as those people in your quadrant.”

“Didn’t say you were,” Mal said in a kind of apology.

Chin appeared then with two more sacks full of cans that he struggled to carry. “I think we got all we can handle.”

“Let’s head back to the boat,” Mal ordered.

*************************************************

The shuttle’s return was greeted with gladness by those left behind and more joy arose with the news that there were supplies available. After unloading everything they sat down to a late afternoon lunch Kaylee had prepared. After the meal Serenity went on a test flight to check the new fuel and Kaylee and Wash gave thumbs up for its quality. As the sun was setting Mal ordered them back to the airport where they landed near the scientific instruments and began to shut down the boat for a rest after the scientists spent some time checking the readings of the instruments. It would be a few more hours before they could contact the moon so Mal decided to open a bottle or two and everyone had a few drinks and relaxed. Mal typically stayed sober despite having a few drinks and his mind was on what to do next and he hoped like hell Zoe had control of the situation on the moon.

After one drink Simon excused himself to sort out the medicine they had recovered and as he left the dining table he gave Kaylee a lingering glance. After a few more moments she also made some excuse about checking the engine. Mal and Wash just looked at each other and both knew what was up.

“I know you hate shipboard romances but give the kids a chance,” Wash said to Mal, a little bravely and probably wouldn’t have said it like that if he hadn’t just had three cups of sake.

“Already talked to Simon and Kaylee about that, so let it go,” Mal told his pilot.

“They are in love?” Tanya ventured.

“Hell, yeah,” said Wash and he began the story of the Kaylee/Simon rocky road to where they were now, which brought more than a few chuckles from the moon base people.

“Yes, the path to true love can be a long road,’ Tanya reminisced. “Me and my Joseph, we hated each other at first. He was a test pilot for a ship I designed and he had nothing good to say about it. After ten months and many monumental fights we were married.”

She suddenly stopped talking and grew very sad. “He will be fine,” Christine said. “Dr. Tam did very good work the nurses told me.”

“Yes, I know, but he’s up there and I am down here. Captain Reynolds, when will we return to the moon?”

All eyes turned to Mal. “Tomorrow we load up the boat with as much as she can carry. Like to do survey of the coastal area try to find some survivors, see if we can find someone who can give us some information. Also, Simon can examine them and see if there are any long term radiation effects. After that, we can go.”

“It seems strange, but I miss the base already,” said Miller. “It feels more like home now.”

“This will be our new home,” said Fred and the others, even Miller, quickly agreed.

“And then we will send you home,” Tanya told Wash and Mal and all raised their glasses and gave a toast for new homes and old.

************************************************

Kaylee had raced down to Simon’s room where he was waiting for her and she jumped into his arms. Long delayed passion overcame them and soon they had removed their clothing and lay in each others arms in his bed, exploring each others bodies, touching kissing, holding and loving each other. Kaylee moaned with delight as he brought her to the first of many orgasms with his fingers and mouth and then he was inside her and it was heaven. Simon didn’t last long the first time but the next few were long, slow leisurely voyages on a sea of pleasure. After several hours they were spent and lay exhausted in each others arms.

“I love you,” he said to her for the tenth time and she replied that she loved him, too. Kaylee ran her hands over his body, letting her fingers go everywhere and Simon stroked her hair and kissed her forehead.

“Well, Doctor, how was I?” Kaylee asked as her mind still reeled from their love making.

“Incredible,” Simon breathlessly replied. “And a bit noisy.”

“That was your fault.”

“I think the whole ship heard you,”

“I don’t care. I want the whole verse to hear me.”

She snuggled into his arms and lay her head on his chest. “What’s going to happen to us?” Kaylee asked after a few moments. “What if we can’t get home?”

“We’ll get home.”

“But what if we can’t?”

“We’ll make a life here.”

“Your parents and my daddy ain’t here. Maybe they think we’re already dead.”

Simon didn’t have any magical words of wisdom for her so just stuck to the truth “Kaylee, I don’t know anymore than you do. We have to trust Kovalev and hope for the best.”

“I know. Just worried. But I’m glad you’re here.”

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,' he said and they had a long, passionate kiss and hugged each other tightly.

Then suddenly their moment of happiness was rudely interrupted by the proximity klaxon shrieking its shrill sound throughout the ship.

************************************************************************ “What is it?” Mal said to Wash as he came on the bridge and Wash shut off the klaxon. The sun had set and it was pitch black around Serenity. Only thirty minutes ago Mal had ordered Wash to set the proximity warning for the night and now it was going off. He and Wash had been sitting with the scientists at the dining table answering their many questions about technology in their quadrant. Tanya was particularly interested in spacecraft design and manufacture and they were surprised at how old Serenity was. Tanya had even commented that Serenity was better built than most of what they had on Earth. To say they were shocked when Wash informed them that Firefly was considered by many to be an outdated class of ship would have been an understatement. Then the klaxon went off.

“Don’t know yet. Let me check thermals,” Wash said as he moved to the co-pilot’s position and began scanning their surroundings. The moon base people now joined them on the bridge. Mal grabbed the mic.

“Kaylee get to the engine room pronto,” he said into the intercom system. Simon answered.

“She’s on the way. What’s happening?”

“Don’t know. Get to the bridge.”

“Roger.”

“Getting some readings, about a dozen readings, approaching the ship,” Wash said.

“Might be animals,” Christine suggested.

“Could be,” said Mal. “But they looked organized. See how they are in a semi-circle, very tight. Wash, hit the floods.”

Wash threw a switch and suddenly the area directly in front of Serenity was bathed in light from Serenity’s flood lights. Something had been there but when the lights came on they or it or whatever had run back out of the way.

“What was it?” Tanya shouted.

“Looked human,” Miller replied and there was an edge to their voices.

“Calm down folks. Lets get armed and go take a look,” Mal ordered. “Fred, stay with Wash and man the sensors. Wash, get Kaylee to have the engines ready. Rest, come with me.”

“Do I get a gun this time?” Chin asked and Mal just looked at him.

“You pull any funny stuff I’ll be adding your body to the piles outside.”

“Understood, Captain.”

They met Simon on the way down and Mal told him to get his gun and med kit. After a brief stop at the arms locker and a weapons check all of them headed to the cargo bay ramp, everyone armed and ready, including Chin and Miller, who looked decidedly uncomfortable carrying a weapon. Simon hit the open button and down came the ramp.

Mal walked out first and told the others to stay behind. The floodlights filled the area with light and Mal could sense something on the edges of it.

“We ain’t gonna hurt no one,” he shouted into the cold night air. “Fact is we’d like to talk to you all.”

There was a silence and then a male voice shouted from the darkness. “Who are you?”

“Name’s Malcolm Reynolds and this here’s my ship Serenity.”

Another voice, female, “Where the bloody hell you get a spaceship, mate?”

“It’s a long story.”

“We got time I reckon,” said the man. “Ain’t nothing on telly no more. First off, where you from? You sound like a bloody American to me.”

“Too right he does,” said the woman. “And them’s all Alliance.”

“I ain’t Alliance,” Mal answered.

“Ain’t Alliance he says?” the man shouted. “Then who the bleeding hell is that behind you in the blue uniforms? The fucking Pope himself, is it!?”

“Listen, you all want to chat out here in the cold all night that’s fine with me. I got me a nice warm spaceship and lots of food and booze so I think I’ll just head back inside stead of standing here while you all make up your minds to trust us or not. Have a nice night.” With that Mal turned around.

“Now, now, mate,” the man answered. “Let’s not be too hasty like.”

A figure walked into the light. He was a large man, easily as tall as Jayne and as big and he was carrying a machine pistol, pointed at the ground. He had long black hair and wore blue jeans and combat boots with a camouflage jacket on top and a khaki bush hat on his head. Mal reckoned they were the same age at first glance.

“Names Jones, Will Jones and I’m leader this here group. And this airport is our territory so you all are trespassing.”

“That a fact,” said Mal. “Seems to me ain’t too many in charge of anything here anymore. We took some fuel so guess we’ll have to pay you when money becomes useful again.”

“How the fuck you get fuel out of them tanks when there’s no fucking juice anymore?” shouted another woman from the darkness.

“We figured it out.”

“That so?” said Will Jones. “There’s other ways to pay. Like giving us a ride in your ship.”

“Where to?”

“Don’t matter. Ain’t no where else safe in Oz except here. Rads burning up Sydney and Canberra. Serves them fuckers right, throwing in with the Alliance. Just like to go for a ride. Never been. Seen lots of ships but yours is a right fancy rig, too. What is she? Russian?”

“Not exactly.” Mal said. “Listen Will Jones, I’d sure like to talk and find out what’s going on down here.”

“What you mean ‘down here’? You all come from the moon or something?”

“Let’s chat first. We got us a doctor aboard, take look at any sick folk you got.”

“A real doctor?” the woman said and now she came into the light. She was short and blond and carried a shotgun and bandoleer of shells that seemed to weigh down her lithe frame.

“Yeah, he’s real all right.”

More people started drifting into the light until Mal counted about twelve. All were armed and wore a variety of clothing and there were six males and six females. Mal quickly observed that two of the females were pregnant.

Will Jones walked up to Mal and stuck out his hand and as they shook said, “Welcome to Australia, mate.”

************************************************ As Simon examined the pregnant ladies and a man with an arm laceration, the rest of Will Jones’ people sat in the cargo bay on crates and chairs and Mal had Kaylee and some of the others bring some food and drinks for them. Mal wasn’t about to give them the tour and they seemed reluctant to part with their weapons so the party would have to be here or no where. After introductions Kaylee went off to help Simon in the infirmary. Mal was sure to keep hid the fact that Kaylee was a mechanic, calling her a medic's assistant, and he hoped the rest of his group got the hint.

“You all been to Gateway Shopping Centre, eh?’ said Will, looking at the label on one of the food packages they had brought out. “That’s Markham’s territory. He’ll be pissed you took some of his stash.”

“Who’s Markham?” Mal asked as he swigged a beer.

“He runs the next sector where the shopping centre is. Most of the city is divided now, gangs like us, armed and trying to survive. Each gang is small or the food would run out real quick like. We got us two supermarkets nearby, mostly empty now. Spend most of our time guarding them. But when we saw you landing, just had to come have a look.”

“There was no one in the shopping center,” Chin told him. “No one we saw anyway.”

“That so?” Will said after a swig of cold beer. “Christ, that’s good beer. Been a while. Well, maybe old Markham was hiding seeing as you all were strangers or maybe he got bumped off by another gang. He’s a selfish bugger anyway trying to hang onto that mall by himself. Enough there to share with everyone. Guess we’ll take a look see tomorrow.”

“How many people do you think are still here?” Tanya asked next.

“Don’t know. We’re just twelve. It’s a good number. We’re all paired up, all couples see. Look out for each other, keep each other warm at night now that its winter. Be expecting a few babies in the spring or summer.”

“That’s good,’ said Christine. “We need more babies.”

“That’s for sure,” said the small blond with Will. “Be my turn next, right love?”

“Right you are, love,” Will said and he gave her a kiss.

“Has anyone died of radiation illness,” Miller asked and Will gave him a dirty look.

“You British, mate?’

“Yes, from London actually.”

“Fucking bastards, the lot of you. And you bloody Americans too and the Chinese and the Russians, started this mess. Fucked the world you did and this is all that’s left.”

He was mad now and Mal was on edge waiting for an explosion, his hand on his pistol.

“You all are guests on my ship. That can change mighty quick.”

“Sorry,” said the blond as she lay on hand on Will’s arm as he calmed down. “We just…everything is gone, all we knew, most of our friends and family. I had a brother and my mother. All of us lost someone.”

“So did we,” said Christine. “My parents were in New York. Now it’s gone.”

“Sorry, lass,” said Will and Mal felt like he meant it. “How bad was it? Have you seen the rest?”

“We have,’ said Mal and he and Wash and the others told the story of the devastation of the parts of the Earth they had seen and the Australians just listened in stony silence, a few of them weeping.

“That’s first news we had in two years,” said Will, his voice heavy with emotion. “You’re from the moon base, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” said Mal and decide to lie just a little cause it would be too complicated to talk about wormholes and where they were from. “Took us two years to repair that spacecraft.”

“But you said you ain’t Alliance?” said the blond. “And this is your ship.”

“Was civilian transport, made the last run to the moon before the war,” Mal lied again and they seemed to accept this explanation. “Guess it’s the only one left on Earth.”

The blond looked at Will and then he looked to the others before replying. “Er, that ain’t exactly true mate.”

“What do you mean?’ said Tanya with hope in her voice.

“We know where there’s another one. Spaceship, that is,” said Will. “In good shape. But she got no power and no fuel, so she’s pretty useless.”

“Oh, not to worry,” Miller said, a bit tipsy after one too many drinks. “They have a secret for such occasions.”

“Miller, shut it,” Mal said, rising to his feet from the crate he was sitting on.

“What sort of secret?” Will asked all curious, he and Miller not noticing Mal stand up.

“Her,” Miller said as Kaylee walked into the cargo bay from the infirmary and then Mal punched Miller out cold with one stunning blow.

“I told you to shut it,” Mal said, the anger clear in his words and tone.

“Good one, mate,” Will said with glee. “Never liked them pommy bastards anyways.”

Everyone else sat in stony silence looking at Mal in shock. “Capt’n? What’s going on?” Kaylee said as she saw what just happened.

“It’s all right folks. Dr. Miller and I just had a disagreement. Wash, could you and Fred put him to bed?”

“Sure, Mal,” Wash said with a slight grin and he and a wide eyed Fred lifted Miller up and carried him off to the passenger rooms.

“I wish I had punched him,’ they heard Fred comment as they left.

Chin was staring at Mal. "There was no call for that, Captain."

"I told you all to do as I say and do it fast and he didn't listen. Now you see what you'll get if you do the same."

Chin just shook his head and walked out of the cargo bay toward the passenger rooms.

"He's a right stuck up asshole, ain't he?" Will said with a chuckle.

"That he is," Chirstine added and Mal figured they meant Chin was a monkey's butt hole and quickly agreed.

After some more chitchatting and a few drinks Simon came out with the injured man all repaired and the two pregnant ladies and announced all was well. He then asked what Miller had asked earlier. “Is there any rad sickness?”

Will and the others recounted how at first many, many people got ill and died. Many went underground but the attacks were so sudden and no one was prepared so they were soon forced to emerge to find food and water. There were so many dead, the stench was everywhere, basic services shut down, and there were some fires and riots. A mass exodus began out of the city when the water supplies were too fouled with the dead and with chemicals from spills. Will had left at first and gradually gathered his band in the countryside. At least there was clean water and some food out there but the animals were ill and dieing and the crops were almost all failures the first season. Only last year they heard were good crops brought it, but it wasn’t like in the past.

Will and his band gravitated toward Melbourne again and fought a few battles till they had their own small corner of the desolated city. He told them how they found the spaceship and it was one of their hopes to get it operational again but they had no one with any engineering or mechanical training. Will had been a famous pro wrestler, “Big Willy” he was called before the war, and the others had a variety of jobs but no one could fix the ship or any of the many abandoned cars and vehicles. But as for rad sickness they hadn’t seen a case for six months now and Simon and the others took this as a good sign.

“So, Mal,” Will said a little drunk now. “Think your ‘secret’ can fix up my ship?”

“Not without me and my guns standing nearby,” Mal said and was already regretting letting these people on board. “Hate to be inhospitable, but it’s time my folks got some rest and we ain’t such good friends yet I’ll let you stay aboard.”

Will stood up and picked up his gun and slung it over his shoulder and all his people rose. “Well, Mal, we're thankful for your hospitality. Time we went and checked on our place anyways. Like to drop by tomorrow if that’s all right, mate?”

“We got plans for the day but when you see us return, just knock on the door.”

Will agreed and then led his people off the ship after some hand shakes and goodbyes. They seemed very friendly and honest and that made Mal even more suspicious.

“You don’t trust him, do you?” said Simon to Mal as he shut and locked the door.

“Not for a second.”

“Why did you hit Miller, Capt'n?” Kaylee asked.

“Cause he got a big mouth and told these folks that you have mechanical talent. Not directly but they got the point.”

“But I’d be happen to help them out,” Kaylee said. ‘And we sure could use another spaceship.”

“That we could and I known you'd help anyone needs it Kaylee, but they might find you a bit too valuable to let go,” said Mal and then they all got what he was driving at. “You too, Simon. People with your expertise are sorely lacking these days, here at least. Last time we offer any assistance to anyone unless they're dieing. In fact, let’s take off right now. I think I’d rather spend the night in orbit than here. Wash, Kaylee.” And his pilot and mechanic went to do their jobs.

“But our instruments,’ Fred said with almost a pleading tone. "They're still outside."

“Let them be,” Mal said. “That there gang is likely to be waiting to ambush us right now and this area got too many hiding places they know about and we don’t.”

Mal headed for the bridge and as soon as he was on it he told Wash to take off. Twenty minutes later and they were in a low Earth orbit just inside the debris field of space junk.

“Time to call your wife,” Mal said to Wash as the moon came into view over the horizon.

***********************************************************************

COMMENTS

Monday, April 21, 2008 11:51 AM

AMDOBELL


I really REALLY hate Jackson but cheered with how River was defying him so he got no information out of her. As for the folks they found on Earth, it doesn't look like they will turn out to be friendly or trustworthy either. This is one big can of worms and I am worried for our people. Ali D
You can't take the sky from me

Wednesday, April 23, 2008 4:56 AM

LEIASKY


I'm really liking this a lot. I'm on the edge of my seat wondering what's going to happen next.


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