Written for: The Gen Battle 2009 on livejournal; prompt: River, pi
"3.14159," she says when Simon takes the thermometer from her mouth.
"That's nice, mei mei," he replies, distracted already by the overflowing file of notes that balloons every three days, and twice on the sixth. He checks and double-checks and updates like clockwork but the ship's chronometer adds fourteen seconds every five days, which will definitely become problematic.
River points her toes at the door and the waiting area beyond. "265358," she tells him.
Simon hums and types, then sighs and scribbles as he tries and tries to make her numbers make sense. River hops off the exam table and walks a tightrope out the door and down the corridor. The hull is cool against her fingers, the dark vacuum of space just centimeters away, ready to pull her inside out.
Kaylee's engines thrum like a heartbeat, or like drums! River knows they're just waiting for a melody to float above them and spin out into the darkness between the planets.
She obliges; her mother didn't have much to teach her but she learned the lessons anyway. She sings it like a lullaby, "979323846264," and Serenity settles around her.
The galley is redolent with spice and cursing and laughter. Wash lobs a packet of protein at Zoe, who retaliates with a kiss and a smack on his behind. River calculates the terminus of the protein's trajectory if it weren't for Zoe's hand. She smiles and sings, "3383."
Book is dozing in his room, his hair lurking under the pillow and ready to leap out at any moment. River slides his door closed and puts both hands on the paper screen. "27950," she soothes, "2884197."
His hair subsides with a low grumble and she moves on, singing her song and Serenity's.
The Captain is quiet in the cockpit, hands steady on the controls. He glances back with a smile when she tiptoes to the copilot's seat.
"I'm just getting ready to bring us down into a low orbit," he tells her. "Calculations are a might tricky this close to the double moons."
"I know," she says. "I was helping."