Disclaimer: anything recognizable is property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc. The story is mine though. I had to take a couple creative liberties, but only on things never explained in the series. I also used my own translator for the Manderin, so it may not be perfect (although either way, it is comical).

I climbed out of my shuttle. Waiting directly in front of me was Serra Ng, a doctor about thirty years old. She agreed to meet me on a rooftop the in middle of the night. “Zero-Zero-Zero, I presume.” I nodded. She continued. “You are in grave danger. I contacted a friend to tell him we’d be coming.” “No!” I screamed. “I’m not going back!” Serra came over to me. “What in shang di de ming zi did they do to you?” “Not going back!” I held on to my shuttle. “No, I’m getting you out of here.” She stopped in front of me. “Please, I know about the program. In fact, I work in bio-mechanics myself. I just want to help.” I stared at her. “You have good thoughts.” I looked around. “I wish more people were like that.” I let her into the shuttle. She took the pilot’s seat and powered the shuttle up. We stayed silent for about twenty minutes until we were over a flat area where we set down. A person came up to us. “I have your ship. You got the money?” Upon closer look, he was a salesman. We were in a used shipyard. She pulled out a small pouch and tossed it to the man. “Yes, all of it.” I stared ahead. “Mid-bulk transport. Standard Radion Pulse drive. Class code 00-K64. Firefly.” Serra looked up. “Yes. Your Firefly.” I turned to her. “Her name is Liberty. It will free people from the Darkness.” I looked back to the ship. “Free yourself. Escape the Darkness.” “I will be okay. They won’t know what I did, or where you are. They’ll never find you on board a Firefly.” “I will repay you.” I faced her again. “I can tell by your thoughts you don’t believe me, but I will. No matter what danger it may put me in, I will repay you.” She walked with me to the open cargo bay. The ship was already powered up and ready to go. Serra must’ve had the salesman make sure of it. “Wait, what’s your name?” I thought deeply on that. “I… don’t know. I can’t remember. I… it hurts.” I felt her reaching deep into her mind. “I’ll call you Eddie,” she said. “You remind me of an old friend.” “Oh,” I replied. “My name is Eddie.” I stared around at a city on a world I’d never see again. It was the last time I would look upon Londinum before walking into the cargo bay and-

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“Penny for your thoughts?” “Wha-” I came out of deep space when I heard that. Serra stood next to me on the catwalk overlooking the entire cargo bay. “You still have that daydreaming problem.” “Yeah, I don’t think that’s something that’s ever going away.” I changed the subject. “So, where do you want us to drop you? Or better yet, do you want to stay?” She looked surprised at the last question. “You really wouldn’t mind having me?” “I figure it’s the least I can do after all you’ve done for me.” I looked down into the cargo bay where Libby was just walking in. “Plus, I need someone to keep Libby out of trouble.” “Sounds good. Where are we headed anyway?” “Depends where Libby’s flying us.” I shouted down to Libby. “Any news?” Libby yelled back up. “We got work! Job on Ares!” I spoke to Serra again. “’Bout damn time. I think you’d like it here with us. Many worlds to see. Better than being cooped up on Londinum or Ariel.” She headed toward the dining room stairs. “I look forward to it.” With that, Libby came up the stairs toward me on the catwalk. “We’re to meet a guy named Geraldo in five days in Ares City. Once we arrive, we set the rendezvous point to our convenience.” “Good. That’ll put us there six hours before the meet. We can top off our fuel, maybe grab some ammo, money permitting.” I paused for a second. “Serra’s staying with us. Maybe she’ll be able tack on some upgrades for you.” “Yeah.” She sounded beat. “Look, you’ve come a long way in four years. From a small talking computer, to a walking computer to help me run the ship, to a thinking machine, to a human body. You’re practically sentient.” I looked at her, and quickly, put a small kiss on her cheek. “How did that feel?” She thought about it for a moment. “I didn’t feel anything. I mean, I know you just kissed me, but nothing registered.” I chuckled. “Look on the bright side. In a few years time, you may be more human than me.” She walked with me toward the dining room stairs. “It’ll give me bragging rights.” “You wish,” I said laughing with her. Alright, my life has gotten a little crazier in the past few days. I suppose that comes with adding three new people to your regular life. But at this point, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Five people, all looking for liberty, on one small boat. This was gonna be interesting…