The Return – Part 15

“It sounds…unbelievable,” was all the Shepherd could say after Mal told him about their chances of getting home at the exact place and time as they had left their quadrant. Simon and Book had returned late to Serenity, both with duties occupying much of their time away from ship, but they still bunked on board and Kaylee would have it no other way for Simon and neither would Mal for all the crew. Despite their friendship with Will’s gang there were other people in Melbourne who might not be so kind and Mal ordered everyone of his crew back on board ship every night. Will’s people provided armed escorts for moving about the city, especially for Simon, as he was the only fully trained doctor alive on Earth as far as they knew. Now the two men who had been absent from the meeting sat at the dining table eating a late supper as Mal, River, and Kaylee sat with them and tried to explain all Tanya and Gregori had said about time travel.

“It makes the head swim, doesn’t it?” Simon said as he barely lifted a spoonful of soup to his mouth. He was exhausted, Kaylee could see, and she decided to put an end to this meeting so her man could get some rest.

“Time for bed, mister,” she said in a commanding tone and Mal and Book looked at each other with grins.

“My doctor,” was all Simon could mumble as he stood and Kaylee led him away toward her bunk.

“He works too hard,’’ River said after they had left.

“Lots to do,” Mal replied. “And more to do yet. It’s time for getting a rest. I’m gonna lock up the boat.” Mal put his coffee cup in the sink and headed aft, leaving Book and River alone.

“Do you believe, Shepherd?” River asked him and he paused before answering, wondering what she was getting at.

“Believe? I believe in God, if that’s what you are asking. Did we time travel? No, I don’t believe in that. Time is relative to the observer. It does not exist except in our minds as a reference point in order to make our lives more organized. We cannot “time travel” anymore than a pig can fly. We are here now, and we exist here and now. This wormhole has brought us here faster than we could have normally, but we are here. The discrepancy in Serenity’s clocks and the clocks in this area of the quadrant is just that, a discrepancy. We have been here, now almost one month? Then that is how much “time” has passed in our quadrant while we are here. Did we upset the comic balance of the universe by coming here and changing the fate of the moonbase people and of Earth? Well, to believe that means that we must believe in a higher order of existence, that the universe has such a balance that can be upset in the first place.”

“Is it your God?” River asked a bit skeptically and Shepherd knew she took the Bible and religion as literal, which was not the best way to understand any religion.

“Perhaps,” Shepherd replied. “But God is also relative to what each person believes. If you do not believe in God, than he doesn’t exist. I know you have doubts about his existence and that is your way.”

“I don’t doubt you believe it Shepherd, but science tells me it’s impossible.”

“Science does tell us so. But religion has nothing to do with science and everything to do with faith. Our bodies are born, we exist, and then we die. After that our subconscious rests in whatever place we believe in. I believe in Heaven and Hell. For a long time River, I must confess, I had one foot in Hell. But I have seen the correct path that I strayed from and now I have one foot in Heaven. Or so I believe.”

Kaylee had been standing in the fore hall doorway and heard this last. “Shepherd, I believe, too.” And she came in and sat down and told Book and River what had happened to her when she had almost died.

“Then that is what awaits you Kaylee, a lovely field and your mother with open arms. This is your Heaven.”

“It was so…nice…I…didn’t want to come back.” And she cast her eyes away from them when she said this.

“There is no shame here Kaylee,” Book said as he laid a hand on her arm. “If I could see all those I loved who have gone on than I would be awfully tempted not to return to this life.”

“She said I had to come back because people needed me. Simon. My father. They need me.”

“We all need you, Kaylee,” River said softly. “You’re going to take us home, where we belong. And that’s what I believe.” After she said this River rose and turned and walked out of the room.

“She’s right,” said Kaylee as she stood. “We don’t belong here. Night, Shepherd.”

Book said goodnight and for a long time sat and thought about what they had talked on. He did believe in pre-destiny and their pre-destiny had been to come to this moon and save these people and set the Earth on a path of recovery. And now it was time to go home were they did belong, and he agreed one hundred percent with River and Kaylee on that. Time and God and religions were products of man’s mind. But the physical realities of the verse were not. Getting home was going to be hard and Book would say a prayer for all of them before Serenity left.

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

The next day Gregori learned of a super computer in the basement of a university in a neighboring gang’s territory. After some negotiations in which more food and weapons were traded, permission was given to work with the computer. A lot of electricity would be needed for it and after two more days a local generator was fired up. It was a hydrogen cell system and required minimum raw materials to produce electricity. Once the juice was flowing, Gregori and Tanya got the super computer up and running and began make the billions of calculations needed to send Serenity home to the exact time and place they had left their quadrant. That night, in the buildings near the university, electric lights shone again in Melbourne.

Meanwhile Will’s spaceship was deemed flight worthy by Kaylee and Tanya. Wash, Tanya, and Captain Papusha took Will aloft for its first test flight. All went well to the relief of everyone and Will took his first inter atmo flight lessons. Papusha landed the ship near Serenity at the airport and Kaylee began to do the finally checks before the ship could break atmo. Later that afternoon Will, Papusha and Tanya took it to the upper atmosphere and got into space and a low orbit around the Earth. After they landed Will was like a kid with new toy. He immediately christened the ship Dora and all agreed it was a shiny name, most of all his little blond firecracker of a girlfriend.

On the same day the water station was made fully operational and for first time in two years water flowed though the pipes of Melbourne. The engineers immediately got to work on the sewage treatment system next. Outside the city the agricultural scientists reported they had successfully planted the first crops of wheat, barely, corn, and tomatoes, getting the seeds from the few farmers they found by bartering some coffee, tea, sugar, and alcohol they had found in Melbourne.

Inara had kept herself busy helping Book with taking care of the dead, also spending some days at the clinic helping Simon. Rumors went around of her true profession and she had a few offers from some of the elderly scientists from the moon base and even from one of Will’s gang but she politely turned them down. Mal and Inara were back to their old ways, jabbing and sparing verbally and Serenity’s crew found it all amusing and wishing the two would just get over whatever it was that was preventing them from seeing they were crazy about each other.

River and Jayne also helped wherever they could and Jayne took it upon himself to train some of the moonbase people in weapons use. Christine took a liking to him and Jayne was late getting back to Serenity many nights and then one night didn’t return at all. The next morning when he did show up Mal sat him down and asked if he was crazy, getting involved with one of these people since he and she both knew they were leaving soon. Jayne said it was only about sex and nothing else and added that Mal himself might try it out once in a while.

************************************************** And so Serenity’s crew worked through the finally days on Earth until it was soon time to say good bye. Mal decided that the best way to end this adventure was with a fond farewell at a mighty big shindig. A dance hall was located in Will’s territory and Kaylee repaired its sound system. Some batteries were brought in and soon the sounds of music were flowing through the speakers. All the booze that could be rustled up was brought to the hall and everyone got to work making decorations and whipping up dishes from the canned and packaged goods they had recovered and the little fresh food they had remaining from Serenity.

About one hundred people, Serenity’s crew, the moonbase people, and Will’s gang, crowded into the dance hall on a Saturday night in late August 2520. Even the soldiers who had opposed them on the moonbase were here and Gregori had granted then amnesty from any wrong doing. Mal didn’t quite agree with that but they were his people so Mal didn’t feel he was in a position to contradict the Russian scientist. There were tables set up and a space given over for dancing and on one wall was a buffet and all the booze. They even managed to make some ice in Serenity’s freezer and all enjoyed cool cocktails and the self cooling beer. Jayne and Will began egging each other on who could drink who under the table and soon they were both feeling just fine. As music played Gregori Kovalev extended a hand to Inara and they danced the first dance and soon were joined by many couples, Wash and Zoe, Simon and Kaylee, River and Dr. Philips, Jayne and Christine, and Tanya and her husband Captain Papusha, whose leg was finally healing properly. The music was a mix of classical, pop, and rock tunes and many songs that Serenity’s crew had never heard before. Everyone was having a wonderful time and Mal sat back, staying sober as usual, and making sure all was well, even dancing few times with Inara and Kaylee.

About halfway through the party Mal told Wash to turn off the music. As the music died Mal stood at the front of the room and everyone settled down as he they realized he was going to give a speech.

“Got a few words to say,” Mal began. “Just like to say thank you to all those folks that helped me and mine the last month or so. We came through the fire and now we are here. Not all of us and sorry to say some folks died. Let’s hope you all can put the past behind you and move on. I was a soldier once, in a different time and place, and the military always made sure to reward its soldiers who performed above and beyond the call of duty. Well, I ain’t got any real medals but Zoe found these sports medallions in a shop so they’ll have to do.”

He held up a bunch of golden discs on blue, red and green ribbons and everyone wondered what the hell he was up to. He walked to the front of his table and then stood ramrod straight.

“The following people front and center. Zoe, read the names.”

“Yes, sir!” Zoe shouted in a commanding tone, almost making Wash spill his drink, as she stood with a piece of paper and read the names aloud. “William Jones, Doctor Gregori Kovalev, Jayne Cobb, Doctor Simon Tam, Kaywinnet Lee Frye.”

The five people whose names were called just looked around and everyone was cheering and yelling, the booze fueling the party atmosphere. They came to the front where Mal was and stood in a line. Mal walked up to Will first.

“For extending the hand of friendship when so many needed it, for fearless leadership in battle, and for his unswerving devotion to the exploration of space, we give William Jones this award.”

All the audience cheered, the Aussies louder than any others as Mal put the disk around his neck and shook Will’s hand.

“Right full of surprises, ain’t you?” Will said with a drunken grin, and then he took Mal in a big bear hug.

After Mal recovered his breath he turned to Gregori. “For scientific accomplishments beyond the scope of anyone’s understanding except his own, we give Doctor Gregori Kovalev this award.”

Everyone laughed at this, even Gregori as Mal put the disk around his neck and he shook Mal’s hand.

“You aren’t home yet, Captain.”

“Hoping this award be incentive for you to be on your top game when the time comes,” Mal replied to Gregori as he next turned to Jayne.

“You gotta be out of your gorramn mind,” Jayne started in a drunken rant. “Don’t want no medal for doing my job. Take more money, though.”

Mal ignored him as he spoke to the crowd. “For fearless prowess in battle and for enduring two days without any meat and only critter food for sustenance, we give this award to Jayne Cobb.”

And that brought an even bigger laugh as Mal put the medal on Jayne’s neck and they shook hands.

“And don’t forget that raise you promised me,” Jayne said.

“What raise?”

“Mal…” Jayne started getting angry but Mal just ignored him and moved on to Simon and Mal’s face grew a bit more serious.

“For unswerving devotion to his duties as Serenity’s medical officer, for treatment of wounded in battle conditions, and for saving the life of one of my favorite people in the verse, we give Doctor Simon Tam this award.”

This time no one laughed and everyone clapped, long and loud, especially Serenity’s crew and those who Simon had treated. Kaylee was standing next to him and she beamed with pride.

Mal placed the medal around Simon’s neck and they shook hands. “Thanks, Mal.”

“No, Simon. No need for thanks. We owe you a lot more than this little thing.”

Then Mal turned to one of his favorite people in the verse and Kaylee stood there all nervous, wondering what she was doing up here with the others.

“Capt’n, why…?” but he ignored her as spoke in a loud, clear voice.

“For unflinchingly putting her life in danger by remaining behind on the moon base to open the hanger bay doors so all of us could survive, knowing that any minute a nuclear explosion could end her life, we give Kaywinnet Lee Frye this award and our undying gratitude for her unselfish bravery.”

And this time the whole room stood and clapped for a long time. As Kaylee turned bright red, Mal put the medal around her neck.

“Capt’n, I don’t deserve any of this.”

“Yes, you do. Weren’t for you none of us might be here.”

Then he gave her a big hug and then she looked at Simon and he hugged her also. As the room settled down, Zoe shouted out one more name.

“Captain Malcolm Reynolds.”

Now it was Mal’s turn to be surprised as Zoe came up to him with one of the medals.

“For leadership in a crisis situation and for bravery under fire we give Captain Malcolm Reynolds this award.”

She put the medal around his neck and shook his hand as the room once more stood and clapped. Mal turned to them all and raised his arms for silence.

“Let’s get drunk,’ was all he said and everyone cheered as someone turned on the music again and the party began in earnest.

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

The party didn’t end till very late and the next morning nobody stirred for many hours. Simon and Kaylee were the first up, Simon staying relatively sober in case anyone at the clinic needed him. Kaylee had had one too many drinks and had dragged Simon back to the ship before the party ended, making sure she started paying her debt by showing him all kinds of naughty and nice things in the love making department.

One by one the crew woke up and came in for breakfast, all except River. Simon went down to her room and she wasn’t there.

“Anyone see my sister come in last night?” he asked with worry to the gathering at the dining table.

Everyone except Kaylee suddenly looked at their food or their coffee cups and Simon got a bad feeling. “What’s going on?”

“I’ll handle this,” Inara said to the others after a long moment of silence. “She didn’t come home.”

“I know that,” Simon said in exasperation. “Where is she?”

“With someone,” Inara said and they all waited for big brother to explode. Kaylee caught on immediately but she could see Simon struggling with the notion.

“With someone? What do you mean with….? Oh….I…understand.” He sat down and then turned to Inara.

“Who…with?”

Jayne was still a bit tipsy and decided to get one last shot in at the stuck up Doc before they left Earth. “Some fellow like you…doctor so and so. They was all over each other when you two left.”

“Jayne,” Mal said with a growl. “I still got notion to leave you behind sometimes.”

“Trying to get out a that raise you promised me?”

“Raise? What raise?” Wash asked. “If he’s getting a raise then…” And the table erupted in voices as Mal tried to explain the promise he made to Jayne and others asked for a raise also and Mal loudly said that one hundred percent was still only one hundred percent no matter how many ways you cut it. Simon just sat there, contemplating his sister as a woman. Kaylee put a hand on his arm.

“Don’t mean nothing happened,” she said with sympathy as they tried to make themselves heard over the argument.

“It’s none of my business, really,” he said slowly. “You know this guy?”

“Think so…Philips’ his name.” Then Simon remembered.

“I know him…nice guy.”

“Yeah. We’re leaving soon anyways…so…”

“Not my business,” he said again and then River was in the room walking to her seat. Everyone went real quiet.

“Smells good,” she said as she started eating some oatmeal and scrambled powdered eggs. “I’m starving.”

Jayne had that look of the devil about him and Mal knew he was going to say something stupid so shot him a deadly glare. Jayne’s words stopped just before they left his mouth and Mal was sure Simon might have hit him if he said anything crude. If the Doc hadn’t he would have.

“Ok, were all here now. Today is the day.” Mal said and that news sunk in and almost everyone was surprised.

“I thought Gregori wasn’t ready with the calculations yet” Kaylee said.

“Told me last night he was,” Mal replied. “So say your goodbyes today and were off at the about five in the afternoon. That’ll give us time to reach the correct spot for the jump through the wormhole at the right time.”

No one spoke for a long moment and Mal got the feeling something was wrong. “You do want to go home?”

Kaylee was the first to answer without any hesitation. “Yes.”

Book nodded. “Of course. As River has been saying, we don’t belong here.”

“We don’t,” River said in a sad voice. “But I wish we did.”

“I don’t know, Mal,” Jayne started. “We don’t know where we’ll end up. Maybe best to stay put.”

“The calculations will be correct. We will get home,” said River.

“It ain’t the where we end up got me worried, Mal,” said Wash. “It’s the when.”

“Been thinking about that,” Mal said. “And might be nice to have something to give us an edge when we get back.”

“What kind of edge, sir?” Zoe asked and got a feeling she knew what he was going to say.

“Awful lot of unguarded banks round here,” Mal said with a touch of a mischievous grin on his face. “Shame to leave it all behind.”

Jayne broke into a big grin. “That’s kind a talk I like to hear.”

Simon sighed. “Can’t we just go one place without robbing it?”

Kaylee gave him a sly look. “Like Ariel, you mean?”

Everyone chuckled at that one. “Ok, Ok,” said Simon as he raised his arms. “I’m a crook but a doctor first.”

And then Simon remembered that he wasn’t only a crook but also a fugitive. “The Alliance will be still looking for us.”

“Money go a long way to keep you out of their hands,” said Mal.

Book had a puzzled look. “Captain, I hate to be the bearer of an ill wind to this plan, but Earth money is useless in our quadrant.”

“All kinds of other shiny things in banks, Shepherd,” Jayne said, warming to doing some crime. “Gold, gems, jewelry, silver…all kinds of shiny stuff.”

“So today were going to make a nice… withdrawal… from Melbourne’s banks,” said Mal as he drained his coffee cup. “Here’s the plan.”

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

The plan was simple and went off without a hitch for once, mainly cause no one was around to guard the banks and Mal and Jayne had Will’s gang’s help in opening up the vaults, with a little safecracking from one of the moon engineers who was in for ten percent. The safety deposit boxes held just what Jayne had said they would and by late afternoon they had made several trips in one of the trucks they had got running and loaded up Serenity’s secret compartment with a lot of swag, including some gold and silver bars they found in one bank. Will told the engineer he was his best friend now and Mal could sense that a lot more banks would be empty soon.

Kaylee and Wash spent the day getting Serenity ready for take off. They helped Tanya and Gregori place a laptop computer with a large external hard drive on the bridge, hooking it up to Serenity’s nav computer and setting it to time with the engine wormhole system.

“All the calculations are in the hard drive,” said Tanya. “Once you activate the wormhole, everything will be automatic. Just let it take Serenity home.”

“Got it,” said Wash. There was a moment of silence then and Gregori sighed heavily.

“I wish…” he looked like he was going to choke up but then got control of himself. “I wish I was going with you.”

Kaylee smiled. “You are. Your engine modifications, your calculations, they are all going with us. The Kovalev Drive, I call it and if we get home and things don’t go back to normal, we just might use it to get back here.”

Gregori grew serious. “Kaylee you must make me a promise, da?”

She got a bad feeling. “What kind of promise?”

“If you arrive on the other side and if things are not back to the way it was before the wormhole, if this equipment still exists on Serenity, then you must destroy it and never come back.”

“Destroy it…but it’s fantastic,” said Wash in surprise. “We can’t destroy it.”

“If your Alliance is as bad as you say, you must destroy it!” the scientist said with vigor. “They cannot be allowed to learn this secret. Who knows what they will do with it?”

“But they could come here, help you,” said Kaylee.

Tanya put a hand on Kaylee’s shoulder. “Maybe. But maybe we are better off without Alliance interference. And what will they do with you when they take Serenity and learn all they can from you?”

Kaylee got cold all over. “Guess they won’t need us…oh God”

“Exactly,’ said Gregori. “Now you understand?”

“We’ll destroy it,” said Wash and Kaylee agreed.

Meanwhile Simon and River and Inara spent the day at the clinic saying goodbye to people. Simon held a small ceremony where he gave the two interns from the moon base people their certificates as full fledged doctors. They weren’t trained completely, but he felt they were ready as he could make them under the circumstances. They promised to train more medical people and after a lot of hugs and a few tears, the three returned to Serenity with two Aussie guards as escorts.

River walked ahead of the others and soon Simon joined her.

“Nothing happened,” she said suddenly. “We just kissed a lot.”

“Ah, okay,’ Simon stammered, now all embarrassed, knowing she had definitely read his mind. “Not…”

“Your business. I know, but you worry about me, and I like that. He’s a nice man, but we both know I was leaving so…he was a real gentleman.”

“That’s good,” Simon said and he could sense her sadness. “I’m sorry, River.”

“We can’t stay.”

“No, we can’t.”

While everyone was off doing these tasks Book held one last funeral service for some people that were brought from one of the apartment complexes near the airport. After he said his words over the dead remains and the fire was lit, Book and his work crew from the moonbase, which included most of the Alliance soldiers that had survived, just stood with bowed heads. David Hopkins suddenly shouted.

“Shepherd, look!”

They all looked to the north and they could see a large crowd of people, men, women, children, young and old, heading up the concrete runway toward their funeral pyre.

Book walked out to meet them and one elderly man stepped from the crowd of about one hundred. “I am Pastor Mason. We hear there is a beginning of a return to civilization here.”

“Yes,” Book said. “Welcome Pastor and your people welcome. Come and let’s find some shelter and food and water before night comes.”

Book got the story from them as he and the soldiers feed them and brought them water. Pastor Mason had been leading a countryside church outing from Canberra when the war started. They stayed away from the cities, moving south and living off the land and what they could find in abandon farms and buildings. He had lost quite a few to radiation sickness and marauding bands, but others had joined them. A few days ago at a farm they heard of the spaceship from the moon and that there were engineers trying to get Melbourne back on its feet.

“You can’t refuse these people shelter,” said Book to Will and Mal after they returned from a bank and unloaded their ill gotten gains.

“Food’s still a problem, Shepherd,” said Will. “First harvest is many months away. It ain’t like I want to but…”

“The Lord will find a way,” said Pastor Mason. “My people will not be a burden. We have school teachers, engineers, artists, plumbers, carpenters, all kinds of good people with all kinds of skills. We will do our part. And there are more in the countryside.”

Will thought for a moment. “Reckon we could do with bit more help. And it ain’t like there’s a housing shortage.”

After that all relaxed and got to work making arraignments for the new people. Soon it was getting close to five o’clock and time had run out for everyone.

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

A large crowd had gathered at the airport to say goodbye to Serenity and its crew. Gregori Kovalev stood before them all and held a prepared speech on a piece of paper.

“My friends, the stars brought you home to Earth, and you saved us from our moon base exile. For that, we have no way to repay you except to send you back to your homes and loved ones. With do this with a heavy heart, not only because of the bonds we have grown in such a short time, but also because we value your skills and knowledge at a time when the Earth needs them. But we have created our misery and we shall bear the burden of cleaning it up no matter how many generations it takes. Captain Malcolm Reynolds, Zoe Washburne, Hoban Washburne, Inara Serra, Shepherd Book, Jayne Cobb, Kaylee Frye, Doctor Simon Tam, and River Tam, these names will be etched into our history books and a tenth name will also be there: Serenity, the ship that brought our salvation. Now it is time to say goodbye.”

Gregori stepped forward and shook Mal’s hand and then soon everyone was hugging and shaking hands and saying goodbye to those they had made friends with and for some a little bit more than friends. Jayne went off with Christine for a short walk and then they kissed one last time before she turned with tears in her eyes and ran off, leaving Jayne a bit stumped as to why. Dr. Philips said a very polite goodbye to River and then she just grabbed him and planted a big kiss on the stunned doctor.

“So you never forget,” she said and then ran into the ship. Simon shook his hand.

“I’m sorry we’re leaving.”

“She’s quite the…lady,” Philips replied as he turned and also left, and Simon could sense the emotions the doctor was experiencing.

Will got a bit misty eyed as he shook Mal’s hand.

“Right good bugger to have in a fight, you are Mal,” Will said. “Gonna miss you, mate.”

“Like to take you with us. Lots of crime to be done in our neck of the verse.”

“Sounds tempting, but Dora’s in the family way and plenty of work for every man here.”

“Be a leader, Will,” Mal said seriously. “They need that more than anything. Make a decision and stick with it but don’t be too stubborn. Never back down from a fight but learn to run when you have to. Use that spaceship to scout about, find things you need, look for survivors. Above all, keep safe and keep your people safe.”

“That’s good advice. Ain’t too many of us left.”

“There’ll be more,” Mal said as he spotted the two pregnant Aussie women with Dora and Kaylee and Zoe and he just knew they were talking about babies.

Wash came up to Mal. “Now or never, Mal.”

Mal sighed and felt like his shoulders would never be without one burden or a thousand. “Okay, fire her up.”

Mal gathered his crew and last goodbyes were made and then they were on the boat. Kaylee had to wipe her eyes before going to the engine room. Simon found River crying in her bunk so just left her alone.

“Prepare for take off,” came over the intercom and few minutes later the VTOLs roared into life and Serenity left Earth.

“Godspeed, Serenity,” Gregori’s voice came over the comms, broadcasting from the comms station they had set up with the gear from the underground military bunker.

“Good luck, Earth. Serenity, out,” said Wash and then he moved the ship to the North pole and out and over the debris field before pointing the ship to the designated nav point where they had arrived about five weeks earlier.

“Fly’s different,” Wash said to Mal on the bridge. “Shuttle two is missing, makes it right side heavy in atmo.”

“We’ll get a new one when we get back,” Mal said as he left the bridge.

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

It took three hours to reach the designated position and the crew used the time to secure everything on the boat. Much of this had been done already in anticipation of the wormhole trip but they went about rechecking and inspecting everything.

They finally reached the point where they had to go now or recalculate everything. The crew got strapped into the dining lounge chairs, River coming from her room at the last moment. Kaylee set the engines to full burn and made sure the Kovalev Drive was activating before racing to get strapped in.

On the bridge Mal, Wash, and Zoe sat in nervous anticipation. “I hate this part,” said Wash and then the Kovalev Drive kicked in and Serenity shot away through the black, reaching just below the speed of light faster than the ship had ever traveled before. The old Firefly creaked and groaned and Kaylee silently told her lady to hold together and knew it would but needed to say that anyway. Even Jayne seemed to be praying as they all held hands where they sat in strapped in the dining room.

In front of the ship the milky white bluish cloud began to form and Zoe and Mal smiled at each other. “Old bastard knows his stuff, sir!” Zoe shouted above the noise of the rattling ship.

“We ain’t home yet!” Mal shouted back. Wash looked over at the laptop hooked into his nav computer.

“The clock is running…green across the board!” he shouted and took his hands off the control column.

“Time to go home,” River said and then Serenity was sucked into the wormhole.

The experience was exactly like it had been before and lasted just as long except this time they were ready and hardly anything fell or broke. The ship spun like a top and went through all kinds of gyrations, but all on board were safe and it was like a ride at an amusement park and would have even been fun if they didn’t worry so much on what was to come.

In less than four minutes it was over and they were floating in the black of space once again, power now down to fifty percent as the automatic drive from the laptop set the engines.

“We made it,” said Zoe with a sigh.

“Yeah, but where are we and when,” Mal said.

“Do you remember?” Wash said suddenly and Mal and Zoe got a cold feeling.

“Everything,” Mal said. “That ain’t good. Cortex, Zoe.”

Back in the dining room, after a moment of silence, Jayne undid his straps and started for the bridge. And soon everyone but Book and Kaylee followed him. The mechanic had only one place she needed to be and that was the engine room but she stopped and looked at Book.

“I remember…everything…we didn’t go back in time, did we?”

“No, Kaylee. That’s impossible,” the Shepherd said and Kaylee didn’t know what to say so turned and went to her station.

On the bridge Wash searched the nav computers, punching numbers and then his systems started to light up and he was getting signals from nav sats.

“We’re home,” he said slowly, in awe and Zoe laughed and then the bridge was full of people and all were excited that they were home.

“But when?” said Simon and Zoe got the Cortex up and running. After a few seconds she just stared at the screen.

“Oh my God,” was all she could say.

“What year is it Zoe? What month?” Mal almost shouted at her. She turned with stunned eyes on all of them as the truth dawned on Zoe first of all.

“It’s July 21, 2522,” she said and a gasp came from them all.

“How in the hell is that possible?’ Jayne said first as everyone was too stunned, even Book who had joined them in time to hear this last and suddenly felt like his notions of time travel may be wrong.

“Did we time travel…again?’ asked Wash and everyone looked to Simon and River.

“I don’t understand,” Simon said like a student who gets a C when expecting an A. “Gregori’s calculations…the supercomputer…we should be in 2518.”

“It’s the wormhole,’ said River softly and then louder. “We didn’t spend four minutes in the wormhole.”

Mal suddenly understood and then they all did. “We spent two years in the wormhole,” Mal said slowly. “Going and coming home.”

As they stood in silence contemplating this, a voice crackled through the radio.

“Firefly class transport, this is the Alliance cruiser Independence. Please identify. We read no transponder, over.”

As this new shocked hit them, Simon and River most of all, they looked out the cockpit windows and directly in front of them was the looming bulk of an Alliance cruiser, launching small fighters that were heading their way.

THE END

BUT -

TO BE CONTINUED – “The Return Home” the sequel to “The Return” will be coming as soon as it’s done. Stay shiny!