It isn’t long until the Deep creates a crisis on board, as for the first time, the crew faces real black - essentially empty space – no planets or moons, and the only stars tiny dots in the distant sky. For the first time ever, the crew is totally alone in a much bigger universe than any of them ever expected to experience!

The emptiness is scary enough as they sit, apparently unmoving, pointing toward a tiny dot that looks no different from any other as space on both sides takes on a distorted, multi-coloured appearance. But what’s worse is that it brings out thoughts of four more years of nothing before they reach Oasis. No stopovers to meet new people, no place to land in an emergency, no communication with anyone outside the ship, and no place to pick up supplies.

That last point begins to sink in. Zoë decides it must be confronted head on; “Mal, have you given any thought as to what we’re goin’ to eat? I know we have holds plumb full of Badger’s food, but even he claimed it was only about two years’ worth. Any idea how we’re gonna survive the last two years? And how do we know what’s available at Oasis? And how would we pay for it if we get there?”

The entire group is silent, trying to absorb the reality. River sits totally still almost hypnotized. Zoë suggests mildly that they should consider going back, but Jayne and Simon begin to lobby fiercely to return. But Mal just keeps saying, “To what?”

Mal brazens it out; “I think there’s enough to make it, if we don’t go to eating big the whole time…” But it’s clearly something that he hasn’t thought through, and he looks distinctly uncomfortable as he speaks.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Then River, sitting in a back corner staring out the window, starts a singsong verse; Einstein discovered that time Varies so much it’s a crime Travel nearly at light, And to your delight, You'll get home while still in your prime.

Jayne is exasperated; “There she goes with those ruttin’ songs again!”

Simon suddenly sits up and says; “No, she’s giving us the answer! Einstein’s Theory of Relativity doesn’t matter much in our ‘Verse, over short distances and moderate speeds, but out here we’re traveling much faster than we did there. Our subjective time will be much shorter!”

Mal’s eyes him in thought; “Oh yeah, I remember that… But I never needed it before, and it was long ago. I don’t recall how to figure the difference…”

Simon says; “Well, give me a few minutes…”

But that’s not necessary. River is fully conscious again. She straightens and then says, “We’ve been travelling for five days now. At our top speed, and allowing for deceleration, we will arrive in just about seven more weeks, ship time.”

Everyone looks her over in amazement, both at her ability to perform the calculations in her head, and what it means in terms of travel time!

Now the discussion resumes, with a whole new set of facts to consider. Most of those who wanted to turn back still do, but their arguments are not nearly so strong.

The discussion bogs down, and Mal breaks it off. “Let’s call it a night. We’ll decide in the morning…”

As they sleep, Serenity keeps accelerating, and in the morning the spatial distortions have become much stronger. Oasis’s star is lost in a blue clump of stars in front, the ‘Verse a red fuzzy object growing dimmer behind, and most of the rest of the sky has become completely blank. The lobbyists on both sides are awed into silence until Simon, staring forward from the bridge, quietly comments; "Somehow knowing the theory doesn’t prepare you for the reality."

That breaks the ice, and everyone is full of questions about the new universe in front of them, and why they're going.

Diana offers her opinion; “I think we should carry on. Who knows what other wonders we will find out there? And we know what’s behind us.” There is no disagreement.

The next seven weeks drag, with much anticipation and little immediate action. Everyone’s time becomes filled with alternating moments of quiet reverie and long discussions on just what they will find at Oasis, with imaginations getting stranger and stranger as they approach the system.

But all take some time to do things they’ve been unable to get done in the last couple of weeks of whirlwind action.

Simon rebuilds his Infirmary, dumping out of date drugs and then cleaning, sterilizing and indexing everything.

Diana reviews all of Derrial’s material that she picked up from Revelation, and gets a better idea of what foodstuffs are available for future meals – everyone appreciates the difference as she expands their menus.

Jayne lovingly reloads the guns on their new shuttle, and studies the books about the armament on the little ship with a passion he usually only reserves for nudist Cortex sites.

Zoë displays a level of domesticity none have ever seen from her before, cleaning and tidying first the cargo bay, then the common areas, commandeering whoever she can for each project. Soon she becomes the person everyone avoids as often as possible.

Kaylee finally has time to straighten out her engine room, which has been in turmoil since the system was rebuilt. That is, when she and Simon can spare the time from more physical activities.

Nobody’s too sure just what River’s doing, but it seems to involve laying out Firefly blueprints and physics texts over top of all their new maps from Revelation, and spreading all that paper over every flat surface in the bridge.

With Inara’s business as a Companion ended, at least for now, and the crew keeping themselves busy, Mal and Inara finally have enough time to reflect, and for each other.

Near the end of one particularly romantic evening, Mal begins to think out loud; “Inara, we’re at the beginning of a whole new life for the whole crew. Maybe you and me should also start over, maybe get married?”

Inara is startled to hear Mal say what she has been thinking for some time, and is not sure how serious he is, so for the moment, she decides to keep the talk light. She smiles enigmatically as she says, “Who would perform the ceremony? It should be the Captain, and that’s you. It would take a lot of running back and forth around the pulpit to marry yourself!”

Mal looks rueful, and then returns her smile: “Well, if we can’t have the marriage, maybe then we’ll just have the honeymoon.”

Inara agrees enthusiastically, and the rest of the crew sees little of them for much of the next week. Mealtimes are full of knowing looks…

Inara has not forgotten the almost-proposal. < There must be some way to get it done. > But after several days, she’s afraid the moment has passed, and she finds herself unaccountably shy about bringing the subject up again.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Over six weeks have passed, and suddenly the game of “basketball” is interrupted by a shudder and then the sound of the inertial dampers straining to max. With everyone fearing the worst, there is a stampede to the bridge to see – that they’ve arrived at the Oasis system! It’s still quite distorted, but the sun and several planets are visible, and the ship’s sensors pick out several more. It seems strangely barren to anyone used to the ‘Verse, with just one sun, 6 or 7 planets, and only one planet and one moon suitable for humans. The planet seems Earth-normal, and must be Oasis, but they have no record of its partially–terraformed moon.

As they slow over the next few days, spatial distortions disappear, and more details can be distinguished. Oasis itself comes into focus, and Mal gets very nervous: “It looks a lot like Earth – and it has just the one big moon. Are you sure –“

River answers, “It’s not Earth – continents are wrong. Slightly smaller, but more dense. Gravity and atmo very much like Earth, but not terraformed at all. First colonists looked for worlds like this before they set out, they could move in directly. Probably settled before the ‘Verse.”

But Mal is still edgy; “Them cities are pretty small, lots of high tech. They seem much like Core cities back home. And look at those neat and tidy little farms around each one. No way could they feed any normal size population. No, there’s more happenin’ down there than meets the eye.”

Zoë appears on the bridge, “Mal, I think you’re right. We would be better off trying the small fry first. Dealing with a whole city, especially one we don’t know, could lead to a whole heap of troubles we don’t need.”

She and Mal start surveying the less civilized looking areas, with very small villages with sod houses and tents. As they narrow down their choices, Inara joins them; “I think you two are forgetting that I was invited to visit. It’s highly unlikely that invitation came from someone living in a mud hut!”

As could be expected, Mal wins out: “We’re going to land in that little village. But I promise we’ll look up your latest suitor as soon as we get the lay of the land.”

They choose a flat spot just outside of one of the more substantial villages, but as they touch down, they are suddenly bombarded with sticks, stones and shouts of virtually incoherent rage, mostly in what seems to be a mix of Russian and Chinese.

Mal shouts over the steady thunder of rocks hitting the hull; “Wo de Ma! (Mother of God!) what have we set ourselves into? Inara, try talkin’ to them in a nice soothing voice. Even if they don’t understand the words, maybe the tone will settle them down!” He switches on the outside speakers and points to the mike.

Inara picks it up and begins, “Greetings, friends, we have come to learn -” A combined scream of hatred from outside drowns out the speakers! Whatever Inara said, it’s exactly wrong, driving the mob to an incredible frenzy!

“дьяволы машины” (Machine Devils!)

The rock throwing redoubles, to the point that Mal becomes concerned they might actually damage Serenity; “I don’t know what you said Inara, but I don’t reckon you convinced ‘em of our good intentions!”

After a few moments, the shouts and rock throwing slow down. Zoë looks at Inara and says, “Either you really did convince them, or they’re just gettin' tired.”

Whatever, Mal wants to take a chance. He rounds up Zoë and Jayne, and after a sharp reminder to Jayne, “Pointing Vera at the first native we see is not likely to convince them of our peaceableness.” he reaches for the bay door open button.

A shout from Kaylee stops him in mid push; “Cap’n, I don’t think you ought’a do that! They’re rollin’ up a big ol’ cannon!”