Somewhere, beyond Serenity’s shimmering form, lay Darcie’s body. Nestled amongst Sihnon’s capital city’s shining skyscrapers, buried in its seedy underbelly, Darcie lay broken. Her face was pale, skin stretched tightly across her bones, her eyes rolling in their sockets. Her fingers would twitch from time to time, as if performing some invisible task, her mouth uttering words and phrases inaudible to those figures that stood about her. Like dark clouds of grey they clustered around Darcie’s figure, tapping on nearby computer screens, monitoring fluid intakes, watching her intently. Darcie knew that she was close to death, that there was little more sustaining her than the people and computers which surrounded her. From time to time she knew that she cried a little, feelings that manifested themselves somewhere on Sihnon, far away from Serenity. The burning pain that Darcie had felt when she had arrived on Serenity had persisted and grown worse gradually, accumulating in an attack that day in Jayne’s quarters. Her body had shaken and convulsed back on Sihnon, blood had cascaded from her nose and mouth as she had gasped for breath. The clouds of grey proceeded about their work however, unperturbed by how rapidly their subject was deteriorating. Her mind continued to function, her body was inconsequential. Right now all they had to do was perpetuate her life, something that required minimal effort. So they witnessed Darcie melt away in nothing but a shadow of her former self, a memory she maintained in the mental projection that now roamed about Serenity. “Kaylee? You in here?” Kaylee’s head popped out from inside her hammock, her body neatly disguised by the rolls of fabric. “Hey Darcie! What’s up?” She said with a grin, swinging her legs out. “Oh, you weren’t caught up in all that arguin’, were you? I can’t understand what’s goin’ on with Jayne today!” Darcie quirked a smile, drifting over to Serenity’s engine and examining it closely. “You know, I heard something mighty odd when I was passing by here, Kaylee. Sounded like a hissing noise, Serenity is OK isn’t she?” Kaylee furrowed her brow and tilted her head, listening intently to the sound of the engine. She dropped out of her hammock and closed the door of engine room, looking intently at Darcie’s face as she listened to Serenity hum. “Everythin’ is singing as it should, why, what you hear?” Darcie shrugged. “I dunno, just there was this odd noise, I’m not a mechanic, just thought I should ask you, you know?” She passed back over the other side of the engine, peering intently at its inner workings. Kaylee followed and found herself staring at the engine, looking at it like she had no idea what it did. “Maybe I’m missin’ something, Serenity usually talks to me and I know if somethin’s up, but I coulda…” she paused, and focussed on two interlocking fuel lines that lead all the way around the engine into the ship itself. As she followed them along Kaylee sprung back in shock. “Go se! How the heck did I…!” The young mechanic jumped into action, climbing up a nearby railing and flicking two switches on the wall. The engine emitted a moan and slowly wound down, the lights and air throughout Serenity briefly flickering as the main power shorted out and the auxiliary cut in. “KAYLEE! WHAT THE GOOD GORRAM HELL IS HAPPENIN’ WITH MY BOAT?!” Kaylee yanked the door opened and responded in a similar fashion. “THE FUEL LINES ARE AS GOOD AS CORRODED CAP’N, WE’RE CLOSE TO LEAKIN’ FUEL AND CAUSIN’ A MAJOR PROBLEM!” The familiar stomp of Mal’s combat boots echoed up the corridor as the Captain, already in a very bad mood since the morning, came up to Kaylee. “What do you mean? How did that happen!” He exclaimed, smacking his hand against Serenity’s bulkhead. “You meant to be keepin’ us flyin’ Kaylee, not shuttin’ us down!” “I know Cap’n, I don’t know what happened, she just suddenly…broke” Kaylee said, struggling to hold tears back. “Correct me if I’m wrong but things don’t just corrode, that’s somethin’ which happens over a long time, shia?” “Cap’n I…” Mal narrowed his eyes at Kaylee, anger and disappointment registering on his face. “How do you get us flyin’ again?” “We need to land, somewhere where there’s parts…I can keep her together ‘til then” Kaylee coughed and tasted salty tears upon her lips, searching for some sympathy from her captain, but his face was cold, his expression unwelcoming. Mal looked over to Darcie, who had hung back quiet the whole time. “Sihnon is the closest planet to here, ask Wash he’ll tell you the same” Darcie said quietly, looking up at Mal with big doleful eyes. He nodded, turned on his heel and barked another order at Wash to get them flying again. Kaylee whimpered, hot tears streaming down her face, looking back at the engine she avoided Darcie’s stare, immersing herself back in Serenity’s engine. Darcie fell back slightly against the wall, her hand slipping through a console as if it were made of nothing. She walked quickly out of the engine room, comforted by the thought that the closer they got to her planet, the stronger she’d get.

***

Inara hurried up the stairs to the living area, leaving Simon watching Darcie’s room in case something should change. It was a ridiculous notion, just something inside told her that Darcie could, well, change things if she wanted to. Where the feeling came from she wasn’t sure, but it was growing stronger every step she took. “Mal, Mal!” “I haven’t time for chit chat Inara” Mal said flatly, moving up to the cockpit. Zoë fell into step behind him, her expression as concerned as Inara’s. She glanced over to the Companion and shook her head as she passed, Inara read it as a warning against talking to the Captain at this particular time. In her absence things seemed to have fallen apart more, she swore that she could hear someone crying somewhere down the corridor. “I wouldn’t if the matter is not pressing, Inara.” The Shepherd said, gently gripping her on the arm. He drew her back into the living area, sitting her down on the table. “Things aren’t exactly harmonious around here right now.” He sighed, rubbing his neck. “I’ve never seen a relationship disintegrate so quickly.” Book nodded his head over to the engine room from where Inara could now hear audible sobbing. “Is Kaylee alright?” She said breathlessly, getting to her feet. “I think she needs some space, apparently she let something slip and now Serenity is headed for dry dock. The Captain was quite unforgiving about it.” “That qing-wa cao de liu mang…what is going on around here!” She exclaimed, but before Book could answer she remembered why she’d entered the battleground in the first place, she had to speak to Mal immediately. “What’s so urgent?” Book asked. “There’s something very wrong here, Shepherd.” Inara answered cryptically. As she moved over towards the front of the ship she slowed down, and on turning her head she noticed Darcie standing in the opposite doorway. “Inara? What’s so urgent?” He repeated. Inara furrowed her brow, she wasn’t so sure anymore. “Maybe, it can…yes, it can wait I’m sure” she answered, shaking her head and moving out back to her shuttle. If she had forgotten then it couldn’t have been too important.