The All-Important Disclaimer: Joss Whedon is Lord and Master. Firefly and Serenity are his sandpit – I'm just playing in it. I promise that I'll put everything back the way I found it when I'm finished.
Sisyphus Rising
Earth-That-Was could no longer sustain our numbers, we were so many.
We found a new solar system – dozens of planets, and hundreds of moons.
Each one terraformed, a process taking decades, to support human life.
To be new Earths.
Professor Rao, Serenity
Prologue
…just like every other morning before
Los Angeles, California, United States
January 19 2012
7:35am Pacific Standard Time
Matthew Donovan's Thursday morning started just like any other.
"Daddy…Daddy…"
He cracked one eye open to see his daughter peering at him from her perch on his stomach, one little finger touching the tip of his nose. "Ree?" he asked, his tone concerned. He raised himself up on his elbows so that he could see her better. "What's wrong baby?"
"My ear hurts," she said. She pulled down on her right earlobe and let out a quiet, pained whimper.
"I know, baby. I know." He reached up and twisted one of Rhiannon's blonde curls around a finger. "Did you have your medicine yet?"
Rhiannon nodded. "Uh-huh. Mommy gaved it to me."
"Rhiannon! Where are you, you little monster?"
Father and daughter looked at each other, and Matthew raised an eyebrow at her. "What did you do this time?" he asked.
In response, Rhiannon pressed a finger to her lips. "I'm hiding," she whispered from behind it.
"Rhiannon May Donovan, what did you do?" he asked sternly.
"Matthew, is Rhiannon in there with you?"
Through the partly-opened doorway poked a head topped with a shock of wild auburn curls, and Matthew lifted a hand and waved. "Here's the monster," he said unnecessarily.
Celeste let out an exasperated sigh and stepped further into the room. "I left her alone in the kitchen for one minute," she said as she picked Rhiannon up and settled the three-year-old on her left hip. "One minute, Matthew. And when I came back into the kitchen she was about to bring the frying pan down on top of her head."
"What were you doing leaving her by herself?" Matthew asked as he sat up and pushed the bedcovers back.
"Lucas was screaming. I think he's got another tooth coming in."
"And you couldn't take her with you?"
She gave him one of those 'I haven't slept in three days, I haven't showered in weeks, there's a horrible monster waiting behind that door to scatter my intestines around the room, and all I've got to fight it with is this cheap plastic light sabre. I need chocolate' sort of looks. Matthew raised his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, don't bite my head off. I'll go look after Lucas. You finish up breakfast."
Lucas was standing up in his cot, tiny hands gripping the bars, when Matthew stepped into the nursery. He was crying loudly, face screwed up and tears leaking from his eyes. "Hey Lukie," Matthew said over his son's wailing. In one hand he held a teething ring he had swiped from the refrigerator. "Hey, shh..." He stepped up to the side of the cot and picked Lucas up with one arm. "I know it hurts, kid." Lucas' wails only increased in intensity and volume, and Matthew closed his eyes. "Lucas, c'mon..."
He put the teething ring down on the top of Lucas' dresser and started rubbing Lucas' back in small circles to soothe him. With his free hand he gently poked a finger into Lucas' mouth and started to probe carefully for new teeth, finding one beginning to break through his son's upper gums. "Lukie it's okay, you've just got another tooth coming through." He picked the teething ring back up again and handed it to Lucas, who grabbed for it and shoved it in his mouth. "There we go," Matthew said, laughter in his voice. "That feels better, doesn't it?"
Celeste was dishing out the pancakes from the frying pan onto a plate when Matthew brought Lucas into the kitchen. He sat his son down in the highchair and walked up behind Celeste, quickly kissing her cheek. "Thank you," Celeste said gratefully when she realised that Lucas had stopped crying. "He was driving me crazy, I swear. Rhiannon was never like this."
"I think we'll have to get used to it, unfortunately," Matthew said. Celeste placed the plate holding the pancakes in the middle of the table, and he speared two pancakes onto a separate plate. "And we still have one more round of it at least," he added as he started to cut them up into bite-sized pieces for Rhiannon. His gaze drifted quite pointedly toward Celeste's midsection.
"Don't remind me, please," Celeste groaned. She placed one hand over her stomach and closed her eyes. "How did your mother stand it?"
"I still haven't worked that out, to be honest. But I figure she got used to it pretty damn quick after Josh came along." He glanced at his watch and quickly speared three pancakes onto his own plate, drowning them in maple syrup before starting to eat.
"When do you think you'll be home?" Celeste asked after breakfast. The breakfast dishes were rinsed and in the sink, Lucas had been settled in his playpen, and Rhiannon was happily watching cartoons on TV. Matthew, meanwhile, was dashing around the apartment like a man possessed, tossing all manner of bits and pieces into his messenger bag.
"I honestly couldn't tell you, CJ – Ryan might need me to work back later than usual tonight. I'll probably text you when I know how late he needs me to stay."
Matthew saw her bite her bottom lip in response to this. "Oh, hey, c'mere," he said, and put his messenger bag down on the couch so he could embrace her. "You know I love you, right?" he asked, and Celeste nodded against his shoulder. "And you know I absolutely adore Ree and Lukie, yeah?"
"Yeah, I know," Celeste whispered. "I just...I have a feeling something's going to happen today. And it's not a good one."
"I'll come home CJ, just like I always do." He pulled back from the embrace a little and pressed his forehead to Celeste's. "I promise."
Firefly-class transport ship 'Sisyphus'
Kitchener Docks, Sandford Downs, Greenleaf, Red Sun System
January 19 2512
7:35am Border Standard Time
A discordant clanging not unlike that of a gong reverberated around the bridge of the Sisyphus, startling pilot Sebastian Lock out of a very sound sleep. "Aīyā tiān a," he mumbled, and started fumbling around blindly for something to shut off the noise. The third switch he flipped replaced the clanging with silence, and he breathed a long sigh of relief.
He opened his eyes a few moments later, blinking against the winter sunlight that streamed in through the bridge windows as he tried to focus. A glance downwards at the Cortex console, and he saw just why the alarm had gone off.
CORTEX ALERT: ALL HUNTER SHIPS IN BORDER TERRITORY
SMUGGLER LEOPOLD ROXBURGH AND ACCOMPLICES HAVE SKIPPED OUT ON BAIL
LAST KNOWN WHEREABOUTS SHANXI LOCKUP, JIANGYIN, RED SUN SYSTEM
REWARD FOR CAPTURE AND RETURN 5000 PLATINUM
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION RESPOND WITH NAME/S, SHIP TITLE AND CURRENT LOCATION
As was normal for all waves, the message was repeated in Mandarin underneath the English text.
"What the dìyù was that noise?"
Sebastian spun around in his seat to see the other two crew members of the Sisyphus standing behind him. Closest was Marcus, his older brother and co-pilot, while peering over Marcus's shoulder was the ship's cook, part-time medic and token female, Sarika Corbeau. Both Marcus and Sarika looked more than just a touch annoyed at having been roused from their sleep.
"Language, Marcus," Sebastian scolded mildly as he turned back to face the front of the ship, his tone almost absentminded. "Rika doesn't need to hear what comes out of your mouth."
"I've heard worse," Sarika said. "Hell, I hear worse whenever I have to patch up either of you two idiots after a job." She stepped out from behind Marcus, walking up to stand directly behind Sebastian. "So what is it this time?"
"Work, possibly, if we take it up. Good payoff for this one – few thousand platinum." He leaned back in his seat and tilted his head back far enough that he could see Sarika and Marcus upside down. "Nĭ rèn wéi zĕn yàng? Want to do it?"
Marcus stepped up beside Sebastian and bent down to read the Cortex screen. He let out a soft whistle when he spotted the figure being offered as payment. "That's good," he commented. "That's really good."
"Stating the obvious, as per usual," Sarika muttered. Here she raised the volume of her voice a couple of notches. "So are we doing this or not? Because I'm in if you two are."
"We're doing it," Marcus decided.
Sebastian slid a keyboard out from beneath the dashboard and started typing a response.
Sebastian and Marcus Lock of Sisyphus, at Sandford Downs, Greenleaf. Awaiting further instructions.
He hit the SEND key, sat back and waited. Bare moments later a new wave flashed up on the screen.
SISYPHUS, PROCEED TO TAIYUAN DOCKS IN SHANXI, JIANGYIN
DERRICK WILDER WILL MEET YOU AT THE FOUR WINDS CAFÉ
RESPOND WHEN RECEIVED
Beneath the wave was a photograph of their contact, along with his contact details. Sebastian tapped an icon on the screen, transferring the photograph and details into the ship's database. "How far are we from Jiangyin, do you think?" he asked, turning back to look at Marcus. Sarika was nowhere in sight, and Sebastian could only assume she had wandered off down to the kitchen.
Marcus frowned, and Sebastian swore he could see the cogs, gears and wheels turning in his head. "About half a day at full burn, I should think."
"Think we'll need to refuel before we head off?" Sebastian asked. He leaned forward to peer at the fuel gauge and answered his own question. "Yeah, we need to refuel. Probably a whole lot of other things we need to get as well."
"I'll get Rika to make a list," Marcus volunteered. He snagged his datapad and its accompanying stylus off the dashboard and hurried off the bridge. Sebastian watched him go before typing out a new response.
Wave received. We will be at Taiyuan Docks in approximately fifteen hours. Please inform Derrick that we will wave him upon our arrival. Sisyphus out.
He sent the message, slid the keyboard back out of the way, and got up out of his seat. "That's the last time I fall asleep at the bridge," he mumbled as he stretched, his joints groaning in protest at being forced into use. He ran a hand through his messy hair and glanced down at the Cortex screen one final time before going in search of breakfast.
After breakfast, a shower and changing into clean clothes, he felt considerably more human. "I've informed Central that we'll be in Shanxi in around fifteen hours – well, it's fourteen now," he amended. He, Marcus and Sarika had gathered in the kitchen for their usual pre-flight meeting. "Gives us two hours to get the ship refuelled and stocked up. Marcus, I'll leave the refuelling in your capable hands. Rika, you stock up the kitchen. We'll leave at ten."
"Aye-aye, cap'n," Sarika replied, snapping off a mock salute. Both she and Marcus left the kitchen, heading for the cargo bay.
Half an hour later, Sebastian had set himself up on the loading ramp of the ship with an old lawn chair and his datapad. Loaded onto it was an episode of an old Earth-That-Was television program, one that went by the name of Supernatural. Earth-That-Was had always interested him – its long history and its myriad cultures were truly fascinating, especially to someone who had spent all their life flitting from planet to moon and back again. Someone like Sebastian, for instance.
A loud bang startled him just as he was beginning to enjoy the episode, filling the square in the middle of the docks with a dusty haze, and he dropped his datapad in shock. It hit the loading ramp with a muffled thud. "Gorram it," he muttered, bending forward in his seat to pick it back up. As he straightened up the haze cleared, and he could see something lying on the dusty ground not far from another Firefly.
Or rather, someone. And they weren't moving.
He switched off his datapad, shoved it in a pocket and got up from his seat, taking off down the ramp at a run. "Someone fetch a medic!" he yelled as he bolted.
He had no idea right at that moment, but his life was just about to get a little more interesting.
Translations
aīyā tiān a: merciless hell
dìyù: hell
nĭ rèn wéi zĕn yàng?: what do you think?