Kaylee brought River back to Serenity to find the captain looking like a cross-eyed cricket. He was cranky for her not telling him where she went and why, even though Simon and Wash and Book knew. And then things were worse when he saw River—like Kaylee thought, she had snuck out, and nobody knew that she had gone planetside. But what did Mal expect from her?

Kaylee tucked the schematics behind a box and showed him the fruit she had earned, but that didn’t seem to help much. River was acting odd too, she didn’t seem to want to stay on the ship and wasn’t paying attention to people when they talked to her.

But there was good news. Inara had waved back, she had already found Annelore’s friend and made an appointment with him. He had wanted to check her references, but Inara didn’t expect trouble there—a fact that seemed to have some significance for the captain. Anyway, with any luck, Annelore’s friend would be ready to hop on board when they landed at Pfalzenhoffer.

“Speaking of which, Captain,” Zoe said. “Shouldn’t we head off soon? The cargo’s loaded.”

“And it’s perishable,” Mal agreed.

So everything was ready to go, and Kaylee was excited about seeing Inara again and meeting Annelore’s friend.

But then Simon piped up with, “So, you’ll be going directly there and then coming back immediately?” and Kaylee knew, just in the pit of her stomach, that he was going to ask to stay. And sure he had his noble reasons: He was wanted to give the Li sisters a crash course in basic medicine, since they would be losing their doctor. But everyone knew that he also wanted to spend time with Annelore.

And could she blame him? No, she couldn’t blame Simon for caring about a sick friend, any more than she could blame him for not having romance foremost on his mind after he got shot by that bounty hunter. But it got under Kaylee’s skin. She could feel whatever it was they had had slipping away. It was like an engine—some build-up here, a loose belt there, and all of a sudden you weren’t going nowhere.

She kinda hoped the captain’s bad mood would quash the idea, but he was agreeable. Kaylee wondered if they’d had an argument or something and Mal just wanted to get rid of Simon for a spell—that certainly seemed to be Jayne’s reaction, he didn’t even bother to conceal his joy at being without Simon and River for four whole days. Book had been sought out by some of the settlers who wanted him to preach for them, so he wanted to stay too.

Then there was a clanging against the cargo doors, so Kaylee went to open them and discovered Lawman Jude looming in the entrance, giving them all a look of disappointment and disapproval that made her want to apologize about closing the doors to the ship behind her.

The lawman headed straight up to Mal. Behind him were a group of settlers who fanned out into the hold —Kaylee recognized a couple from her time off the ship, and they gave her quick smiles and tiny waves like it was something they weren’t supposed to do.

“So, I understand you’re leaving for Pfalzenhoffer.” Lawman Jude said it like an accusation.

“We’re heading there, and then we’re coming back, we hope with Annelore’s friend,” said Mal, a tad defensively.

“Yes, you are,” said the lawman. “We’ve arranged another trade with Smith. He said he was quite pleased that your crew had made such an impression on his trading partners.”

“Well, that’s just wonderful,” the captain replied. “We didn’t know that, but some of my crew have already asked to stay, since the rest of us will only be running over to Pfalzenhoffer to get help for Annelore and then running back with that help as quick as our ship will take us. During that brief interval, Shepherd Book hopes to stay with you.”

“Ah, you’re leaving your shepherd behind,” said Jude. “How unexpected.”

“And our good doctor Simon is staying, since he hopes to help train people to take over from Annelore if we have to take her someplace else to help her. Which we’d be willing to do. And his sister is staying as well.”

“Darlene?” one of the settlers asked.

“Girleen!” River shouted out from behind some of the cargo.

“Anyway,” Mal said, “three of my crew—including our medic—want to stay here. With you. For the period when we’re gone. Which won’t be long because we will soon be coming back with help.”

“How very noble of you,” the lawman said. His expression hadn’t changed a jot since he walked into the hold. “In that case, I’ll just stay here until your three crewmen get their gear together. And remember to bring warm clothes—at night, it gets cold.”

No colder than this fellow, Kaylee thought.

So Simon and Book went back to their quarters, accompanied by several settlers. One of them, an older man who looked kinda familiar even though Kaylee knew she hadn’t met him, walked up to Jude instead. “Ready, Jedediah?” Jude said.

And the two pulled out two sets of string from their pocket and began walking around the cargo and braiding. Kaylee was set to let them make their lanyards or whatever they were doing, but when Jedediah walked out from behind a stack of citrus crates, River followed, closely.

He finally noticed her, so Kaylee stepped over. “She’s just curious about what you’re doing,” she said. “So am I, to tell the honest truth.”

He looked at her.

“Shhh,” River said. “He’s counting.”

He looked at River and smiled. He held out the lanyard for them to see.

“There,” said River, pointing out various-colored knots in the lanyard. “Those are oranges, and those are lemons, and those are tangelos. It’s a symbol.”

“It’s a contract and a record,” said Jude. He was standing behind Kaylee, but she didn’t hear him come up, so she jumped a bit. “One’s for Smith, and one’s for us.”

He held out his lanyard. “That,” he said, pointing at the large, elaborate knot at the bottom, “that is my signature. I put it at both ends, so that if you try and alter it, say in order to conceal a little theft of the cargo, we’ll know.”

He glared at Kaylee. Her mind instantly replayed every piece of food she had ever snuck off with as a kid.

Thankfully, Simon and Book and the other settlers walked back into the cargo hold, carrying their gear and River’s. The three of them left the ship along with all the local folk—the two fellows looking a mite worried, River grinning sort of like a maniac.

Serenity took off for Pfalzenhoffer, and after checking on the engines and some of the conduits, Kaylee headed to her room.

And there, waiting on her bed, were the flowers—big, beautiful, colorful flowers, at least a dozen of them, all different types. Some were like super-daisies and some were trumpets, some were a single big blossom and some were puffballs made of tiny flowerets, and they were purple and orange and yellow and blue and dark red and white with little orange spots and purple stripes.

Simon, she thought. How did he get these? Just when you thought he didn’t hold you in his heart….

* * *

“Simon! Oh my God! Simon Tam! Oh my God!”

Annelore had forgotten about Simon again, and judging from the near-hysterical pitch of her voice, she hadn’t brought any of her notes with her during her visit to one of the more pregnant residents of Determination, so he was quite the surprise to her. Again.

“I know this man! I can’t believe it! Simon Tam!”

They were going to have the exact same conversation again, Simon knew it. Which meant at least another half-hour of telling Annelore about how his finished medacad and glossing over everything that happened afterward before he could get back to Jain Kang’s anatomy lesson.

He didn’t want to think it, but in some ways dealing with Annelore was shaping up to be the most tiresome aspect of his stay on Glory of God. Her ability to form memories was seriously impaired—even if he stayed where she could see him, after about an hour she would forget everything he told her about his life after she graduated from medacad, and he’d have to tell it to her all again.

And he couldn’t stay with her all the time—River couldn’t even be in the same room as her. She appeared to be picking up on some of the damage that implant had done, or perhaps was still doing, to Annelore’s brain. The first time she saw Annelore, she grabbed her head and wailed, saying there was a storm in Annelore’s head, it was hurting her, and telling Annelore to make it stop.

So Simon couldn’t be with them both, and while Book and the Lis and the lawmen seemed willing to look after River, Simon was loathe to leave her alone for long—another reason why Annelore’s quite genuine enthusiasm to see him and talk to him and be with him was more of a burden than it ought to be.

Other than that, Glory of God had been a reasonably pleasant place to spend time—no worse, really, than anywhere else on the Rim, and it was nice to take a little break from ship life. The Lis had rooms in their back of their inn for guests, which Kerry Li showed them with Jasmine reluctantly in tow. Their guests were rarely visitors from ships; instead, they were more often visitors from the coal pit or the huntsmen and herdsmen. But Kerry told them that they would in all likelihood be alone, assuring them somewhat cryptically that “’Durance is providing the meat just now.”

The accommodations were primitive but adequate; the scarcity of wood meant that the furniture were either metal (Simon suspected that Kaylee could identify the machinery welded together to make the room’s lone chair), or like the beds, rope woven onto a metal frame.

They had a bathroom two doors down with running water, and although one couldn’t adjust the temperature, it was reasonably warm at night and cool during the day. The water pipe ran alongside a pipe that carried steam to heat the rooms at night. The residents of the cave hedged their bets when it came to power, relying on coal to make steam heat, but using solar sheeting housed on top of the cliff to power electrical lights and equipment. Simon would have preferred if everything was electrical; the steam heat was noisy and could be adjusted only by throwing a blanket over the pipe.

Simon, Book, and River shared a room, although Kerry insisted that River’s sleeping area be curtained off from the men. She also offered, with some insistence, to put River up with the sisters and Annelore in the Li family home. River had apparently decided that her name now was Girleen—“Girleen River” if pressed—and she told Simon that Girleen would sleep with the women. Simon and Book told her that she was River and should sleep with her crewmates, which seemed to convince her to room with them.

The remainder of the daylight hours had been largely uneventful, with the three settling in, and Simon exciting Annelore with the mere fact of his presence. The main exception had been the theft of some flowers. As Xastare had mentioned, people in the settlement took their horticulture very seriously. While growing flowers was considered merely a hobby, the florists of Fortitude were a particularly intense bunch, and the disappearance of about a dozen prime blooms was not taken lightly by any of them.

What to Simon was the most disturbing element of the crime—the blossom thief had taken some of the flowers from inside people’s homes—excited the least commentary among the locals, since doors could be bolted but actual locks were a rarity. But the theft itself generated considerable passion among its victims, and since Simon, River, and Book were outsiders, a certain amount of suspicion fell their way. Such a booty, however, would be impossible for them to hide in their belongings, and the florists soon began muttering about some of the love-struck youths inhabiting the cave.

Simon quickly applied himself to the task of finding out what Jain Kang and Jing Mei did not know about medicine and determining what would be most useful to teach them. Annelore was a natural teacher, but as Simon had suspected, her instruction of the Lis had been haphazard—if they had asked about something, Annelore had explained it, but if they hadn’t, she had not.

Both women were adept at first aid; they noted that they had “a fine hand” before Annelore came along, and like many a medical student they had discovered that skills developed in handicraft translated pretty well into setting bones and stitching wounds. Jain Kang had a particular fascination with germs and what they called “smittlish conditions”—i.e. contagious disease—while Jing Mei was a more-than-competent midwife, a field in which she had been making a name for herself even before the arrival of Annelore. But as far as their knowledge of physiology and biochemistry…well, Simon shuddered to think of either woman trying to concoct and prescribe strong medications.

His efforts were periodically assisted or interrupted by Annelore, depending on the status of her memory. The other major interruption happened shortly after night fell—or after dark fell, as they said here, since they had one “night” that took place in broad daylight. Apparently field work was lagging a bit and it was starting to get cold outside, so the lawmen went through the cave and rounded up everyone who was idle to help out.

And Simon got caught up in the sweep. It was pointless to object that he knew nothing of farming—in response, Jian Kang told him, “There’s a simple rule here: You don’t sow, you don’t reap.” That meant if Simon wanted to eat food while on Glory of God, he should assist in the growing of it.

River chose that moment to behave like a perfectly rational individual, so she too was pressed to help. They worked together, in theory so that Simon could keep an eye on her. But River seemed to know exactly what to do, showing Simon how to put up what in the daytime had served as sunshades, as well as erecting temporary walls of fabric, essentially making large tents for the crops. Then a lawman went through and activated the smudge pots, which glowed orange in the night through the fabric hives that surrounded them.

River tapped his shoulder. “Come on, Simon,” she said, and gestured. He followed her as she led the way through the crop tents, wondering if she was actually experiencing lucidity or if she was pretending to be lucid because she was pretending to be Girleen, and Girleen would be lucid. If she was pretending, was it good for her? Or would playing the part of a sane person lead to some disastrous identity crisis further on down the line? A breeze blew on Simon’s face, carrying a sharper cold than the still-pleasant coolness outside and bringing Simon’s mind to the fields around him.

They had walked through the tents and were now standing in a clear space, surrounded on all sides by the fabric walls, white under the moonlight. A figure walked up to them. “Ah good,” Xastare’s voice sounded beside them. “I was just waiting for a couple of extra people, and here you are now.” She handed them buckets.

They followed her to a pump, and she filled their buckets with water. Then they walked to where the ground had been dug into shallow trenches. The trenches shone slickly.

“It’s lined with plastic,” said River, as she poured her bucket into a trench. “Be gentle.”

It’s ice, thought Simon. We’re making ice.

He poured carefully.

* * *

Boop. Boop. Boop. Went the ship.

Time to get up, thought Wash.

He sat up at the side of the bed and shook his head. This was the downside of rushing to a planet—you couldn’t pace your trip so that you got a full night’s sleep. Wash turned the light on, took a breath, and stood up. The cobwebs quickly cleared as he pulled on his pants and thought about all he was going to have to do to land on Pfalzenhoffer. Getting up was never that hard for him.

For Zoe, however, it was another matter. She moaned and turned onto her stomach to get her face away from the light. “Time to get up, sweetie,” Wash said, pulling on his shirt.

“Nmwmmph,” Zoe replied.

“You have to,” said Wash. “I have to get up so that we don’t get shot down by the Alliance or crash into the planet. And you have to get up so that I have company, and so that you can stand around and look tough when we meet Smith’s men.”

“Jancnlooguff,” said Zoe.

“Ah, but Jayne can’t look tough the way that you look tough,” said Wash. “He just looks scary. You, dearie, look both dangerous and sexy.” He smacked her butt, and she turned over to protect it.

Her eyes were still closed, but she was smiling and he knew she wouldn’t fall back asleep now. He leaned over and gave her a kiss. “When you look tough, you’re intimidating and madly attractive. It confuses them and throws them off their game, giving us an immeasurable advantage. We can’t rely on Jayne for that.”

She chuckled and cracked open her eyes, putting her arm around his neck. “I think we should stay here,” she said, and gave him a more serious kiss.

Oh, to not be approaching Pfalzenhoffer and its phalanx of heavily-armed Alliance ships. Wash pulled away. “We’ll be back here soon. Count on it,” he said, and climbed up the ladder to the hallway.

Thanks to Smith’s well-drafted forgeries, they were legitimately (cough-cough) transporting a hold full of fruit, so instead of sneaking off to some isolated spot in the woods, they were cleared to land at one of Pfalzenhoffer’s cargo docks where they could unload and load openly. Wash hailed Inara and gave her their coordinates—Annelore’s friend had apparently been satisfied with her references and had agreed to come to Glory of God with them, so Inara was going to pick him up in her shuttle. He also hailed Smith, who was already waiting at the dock with his men.

They landed, and Smith satisfied himself that the cargo was full of juicy, germ-free goodness. Mal gave him the lawman’s string with a laugh. The fruit was off-loaded into a refrigerated transport, and the new cargo for the settlers—some more heaters and equipment, including something what looked like a washing machine—was loaded on.

After Smith and his crew left and before Inara showed, Wash and Zoe had some, um, quality marital time in the cockpit. As much as Wash missed the others, it was nice sometimes having fewer people around to walk in on them. Of course, they could just save it for their room, but when you were married to someone like Zoe, self-control was surprisingly weak as a force. Especially after Zoe did her dangerously sexy thing.

Inara did arrive, however, so they broke it off to go back to the shuttle and meet Annelore’s friend, Sisyphus Ting. He was a small, small man. And thin. And with stooped shoulders—kind of rabbity-looking, actually, with a quiet voice, too. The wire-rimmed glasses and thinning hair weren’t helping much either, although when Sisyphus mentioned that he was a tax lawyer, Wash decided that it was probably a good thing that he looked about as harmless as a man could look—most people weren’t eager to trust their finances to someone who looked like a knuckle-buster.

“Luckily at this time of year, it’s not difficult for me to take an impromptu vacation,” Sisyphus said.

“So, did Inara bring you up to speed?” asked Zoe.

“More or less,” Sisyphus said. “I’ve made some inquiries—discreet inquiries—but I wasn’t able to find out much more than you already know. Annelore traveled around a lot, she was sort of a roving medic. Initially she worked with a lot of charities doing relief work on the Rim; she’d visit places where there was an outbreak and provide assistance. But she got disenchanted with that work—I think she felt like she wasn’t able to improve people’s lives in any meaningful sort of way. She stopped working for the charities and started traveling on her own. I think she was kind of depressed, frankly. She was certainly bitter, and she didn’t much care for my choice of career. We had a lot of arguments about it. The last time I spoke to her was when Simon Tam asked me to contact her. I wound up leaving her a message on the Cortex, which she picked up, I think by chance. I’ve been wondering what happened to her since then—it sounds like she’s in pretty bad shape.”

“I think she’s fine physically,” said Mal. “The doctor’s just not sure what’s going on with her brain.”

“I can’t imagine there’s much in the way of advanced medical care on a backwater like Glory of God. From what I hear, faith healing is their notion of advanced technology,” Sisyphus smiled.

“They certainly don’t have all the fine and fancible equipment available to the residents of Pfalzenhoffer,” said Mal, unsmiling. “You know about the serious need Simon has for people not to go chatting about him.”

Sisyphus held up a hand and smiled wider. “Then let’s not chat about him. Captain, I’m a tax lawyer for the uberrich. I know all about discretion. I also suffer from a very useful medical condition—I’m selectively blind. For example, I don’t even see whatever it is you’ve got in your cargo hold down there.”

“That is useful,” Mal said.

“Captain!” Jayne yelled up from the hold. “Visitor!”

They all headed down the stairs, except for Wash, who stayed on the catwalk in case he needed to get to the cockpit in a hurry. Looking over the railing, he saw a well-built young man with long, curly hair pulled back into a sloppy ponytail. Sisyphus was dressed well, but this fellow was a regular peacock, wearing a slightly-askew velvet tunic decorated with gold medals.

“So this is Serenity!” said the young man. “Well, it’s about what I expected. Dirty hold, flea-bitten crew, and oooh, questionable cargo—I don’t suppose you have papers on this stuff? Not like those lovely forged documents you had for your fruit?”

Zao gao, thought Wash.

“You look too rich to be a Fed,” said Mal.

“You think I could possibly be a common soldier? I’m insulted,” said the man, and walked past the captain a little unsteadily. Renci de Fozu, thought Wash, He’s cappernoited.

“You must be Inara!” said the man to Inara, who looked utterly baffled. “No dear, we haven’t met. But I feel like I already know you, I’ve heard so much about you. I heard you met my lovely stepmother, and I certainly heard about your visit to my extremely excitable sister.”

“Spead?” Inara said. “Spead Amate? You should call Xenia—she’s quite worried about you.”

“Of course she is, that’s her job! And a good companion always does her job, even when it doesn’t pay anymore,” he leaned forward and grabbed Inara’s arm. “Tell me, compannie, do you like what the future holds?”

Mal grabbed Spead’s arm and pulled him off Inara—luckily the young man moved easily.

“Here’s a question to you,” said the captain. “Why are you on my ship?”

“Because I’m your passenger, that’s why!” exclaimed Spead, suddenly giving the captain a hug. “I’m tired of the drinking and the partying and the drugs and the nubile heiresses—”

“Why would you get tired of that?” asked Jayne.

“And I want to start a new life. A clean life. On Glory of God. And you can take me there! I’ve got money, even,” he groped around his tunic for a spell, pulled out a small velvet bag, and presented it to the captain with great ceremony. Mal snatched it with none and looked inside.

“There’s only enough in here to get you there,” said Mal.

“I’m not coming back!” said Spead, trying to give the captain another hug, which he sidestepped. “I’m going to become a new man!”

“Look, I don’t think this is a good idea. This man is obviously drunk,” it was Sisyphus.

“I’m not drunk. Who the hell are you?” asked Spead, instantly hostile.

“Oh, I’m Sisyphus Ting, I’m a tax lawyer with Burken, Tao Shui, and Burken. I’m staying at the Boahira estate,” Sisyphus put his hand out.

“So you’re the help?” the ferocity of Spead’s contempt startled Wash. “And you’re going to tell me what to do? Listen, help, I’m not at anyone’s estate, I’m not even allowed on my father’s estate, but I don’t have to leave Pfalzenhoffer—do you know why? I was born here. My father was born here. His father was born here. I’m an Amate, for the love of Buddha, and do you know something? With just one single call I can make it so you are never allowed to set foot on Pfalzenhoffer again. You’ll be kicked off the planet, disgraced at your firm—we’ll see what happens to your career after that, help.”

Sisyphus looked like he’d been slapped. Even from where he stood, Wash could see the thin man’s hands shaking.

This man can really do that, thought Wash. What can he do to us?

“Look,” said Spead, suddenly jovial again. “I’m not trying to ruin anyone’s good times, OK? I just want to go to Glory of God, and Wolf told me you were going there. I don’t care about anything else, and I’m paying! It’s all happy and marvelous. I just want a chance to try a new outlook on life.”

Mal looked at Inara. “You know his family?” he asked. She nodded. “Let them know who our passenger is—I don’t want any missing persons bulletin going out.”

“Mal,” Inara replied. “He’s drunk.”

“Well, Glory of God ought to sober him up a bit.” He shrugged. “It’s not the worst choice of options for him.”

“Hooray!” said Spead, throwing his arms in the air. Everyone walked away.