Chapter 3

River landed the second shuttle next to Inara's. Unable to raise either Inara or Jayne by com she had finally tracked Inara's shuttle to the ice field outside town. Having to focus so completely in order to fly through the blizzard had enabled her to ease up on the crazy killer mode and maintain her ability to function.

Zoe buttoned up her heavy coat and pulled on half gloves that left her trigger finger uncovered so she could use her weapons. She pulled out her mare's leg and checked it for about the 15th time. "River you hold here, be ready to come cover me if needed or fire up the shuttle and get us the hell gone if things go south.

"I don't feel anyone near but its not something you should rely on, I haven't felt any of what has happened today." River directed the outside spotlight onto the shuttle lock. "It looks like Inara's shuttle is open."

Zoe opened the door, mildly surprised that it opened easily, apparently River had positioned the shuttle precisely so that the wind would be blocked.

"Shouldn't be surprised", River said into the com. Then realized how closely she had been monitoring Zoe's thoughts. "Oh, sorry, with so many that I can't feel right I've been listening to the rest of you more closely than usual." River flinched at having answered Zoe's thought.

"Honey far as I'm concerned you go right ahead til we figure things out." Momentarily Zoe's mind flashed to the blue glove she had found near the Captain. "Go Se!"

River gasps, "NOO!"

"Stop it girl, only reason I didn't mention it is cuz I need you functioning. You hold it together. Inara needs you, Jayne needs you, hell we all need you!"

"I...I'll try."

"You do better than try River, far as we know ain't no one dead or even bad hurt yet, lets try and keep it that way." Zoe gave her a few seconds to recover, "I'm about ready to go into Inara's shuttle, you with me here? You able to do whats needin if it happens fast?" Zoe had reached the end of shuttle two and had a small gap filled with blowing snow and gusting wind to dash across before she could enter Inara's shuttle.

River took a deep breath, the planes of her face hardening, not quite into crazy killer mode, but more focused and clear, "Ready now, thank you."

Relieved at the confidence in River's tone Zoe dashed across the opening into the doorway pointing her flashlight into the shuttle. The insides of the shuttle where in major disarray. Zoe couldn't tell whether it was from the wind whistling around or something done by people. Her footsteps crunched as she walked on the beautiful tapestries that usually hung on the walls. She searched anywhere that might hide a body. "No one in here, gonna see if the shuttle's still working."

Zoe closed the door and headed for the pilots compartment. With a flick of a few switches the lighting came on and the shuttle began to power up. "Seems ok, once it gets powered up I'll follow you back to Serenity. We can look it over good once we get it back."

"Lift when you are ready and I will take the lead." River lifted the shuttle up and hovered about 50 feet away slowly rotating the light to watch the area around Inara's shuttle.

Inara's shuttle locked onto Serenity with a clank. Zoe took a deep breath and let out some tension, flying in the blizzard had been a wáng bā dàn. She headed down to the infirmary to check on the Captain. She'd let the shuttle thaw out a bit before they checked it out to see what they could find.

"How's he doin' Doc?", Zoe asked as she looked Mal over.

"Pretty much the same, he should start waking up before long. I haven't been able find much out about those unknown chemicals. I've been building a baseline on his metabolic effects on them to see how long they will be in his system, so I should have a solid idea on that by the time he wakes up." Simon frowned as he compared two readouts. "It's odd, they don't seem to have been administered in the same way as the drug cocktail that knocked him out. "

"Probabilities exceed 74.38 that unknown drugs correlate directly to unknown effects hiding him from me," River stated. "Not really enough for surety but enough for starting hypothesis." River glared at Mal as if she could bore through the nonsense in his brain if she focused hard enough.

"That does make sense", Simon agreed. "I'll run some tests focusing on his brain and see what I can determine. We really don't have the equipment to get detailed information, but I'll try."

"Do what ya can Doc." Zoe activated the com, "Kaylee you able to come up to the infirmary right now?"

"Sure Zoe, Cap'n's ok, ain't he?" Kaylee's natural cheer couldn't hide her worry.

"Doc says so, just want a little meeting."

"K, I'm on my way"

Zoe paced, slapping her gloves against her hand and thinking. She would stop every once in awhile and stare at Mal. They needed to start looking for Inara and Jayne but with the Captain down her resources were mighty slim. She'd feel a gorram site better out in the black where no one could come up on them. Seemed like someone was making a big run at them and the blue glove implied who. But the method was very different from the way the blue hands had operated in the past, much more obvious. And they weren't gonna find Inara and Jayne from out in the black.

"River you read any change in Jayne?" Zoe asked.

River shook her head, "No I'm pretty sure its the same as Inara and Baba, it is identical to what he was thinking before. No surety though."

Zoe wished she knew for sure if Jayne was down or just drunk.

Kaylee came in and went straight to Mal and gently grasped his hand in hers. "He gonna be up soon?" She looked at Simon.

"Yes, sometime in the next hour I think."

"Any of you hear Inara's client's name? Need to get some idea where or when she went missing n I reckon that'd be the place to start." Zoe stopped her pacing.

All three shook their heads.

"The were orange like they always are before she sees a client but no name." River stated emphatically. The crew had long been able to decipher Rivers color coded statements.

Kaylee rubbed Mal's chest with affection, "Wish they'd get themselves sorted out, tain't healthy for neither of 'em."

Simon grinned at Kaylee and blushed. He and Kaylee had gotten "sorted out" a few months previously when an uncharacteristically aggressive Kaylee had cornered him in his room and to quote her "chewed him out and jumped his bones". Actually what she had done was walk in to his room close the door, get undressed and climb right into bed with him and told him flat out she didn't want any more courting. They was either gonna get to the sexin or not but either way no more courting.

"River see if you can hack Inara's waves and see who she was talking to, Kaylee you and me are gonna search her shuttle see what we can find."

Zoe stopped at the door, "Doc you let me know soon as he starts to wake."

Kaylee's idea of searching the shuttle was to wander through picking items up and think back on her times in the shuttle with Inara. She loved Inara and the shuttle, they represented all that she imagined the core to be, glamorous, sexy and full of beautiful things.

Zoe was much more focused so saw it first when Kaylee picked up one of the tapestries and caressed it as she wrapped it up in her arms. Jayne's gun and gun belt had been lying on the floor under the tapestry. Tied to the trigger guard of the gun was a blue glove.

River spun around in the pilot seat where she had been hacking Inara's comp. Tears filled her eyes and her chin was shaking.

Jolted out of her memories by River's quick movement, Kaylee looked where River was staring and gasped jumping back like she had seen a poisonous snake.

"River! They ain't here so no need to get yourself all worked up." Zoe commanded.

River frowned at Zoe.

Shrugging Zoe stated, "Somehow can't picture them hun dan's wandering around peeling off their gloves all dainty like and dropping them just for us to find." Zoe tried desperately to ease River's mind.

The image in Zoe's mind of a man wearing blue gloves prancing about all girlish and peeling off gloves caused River to give a tense little giggle.

"Could be its just some folks that know a bit about things is all."

River rolled her eyes at Zoe giving her a 'yeah right' look.

"I know, it'd be a lot for them to know, but it don't mean They're here. Right now we don't know much of anything." Zoe picked up the gun belt casual like and wandered over to the pilot console. "Speakin of not knowin, you find anything?"

Turning back to the console, River called up a picture, "I was able to get into her logs and this is the man she contracted with, his name is Jonathan Randolf. Oddly the contact id doesn't work so I am currently searching the planet's directory to see if I can find a different id."

Zoe said, "I don't think your gonna find anything for him River."

River looked up.

"That's the hun dan I killed that was draggin the Cap'n off."

"Zoe! I found another glove!" Kaylee held up Inara's teapot which she had found under the edge of the couch. Tied to the handle was another blue glove.

"Well that's three." Zoe looked around the shuttle. "Don't look like we're gonna find out much more here, looks like wind did most of this mess don't look like any strugglin took place."

The computer beeped and River checked the screen, "There is no listing for a Jonathan Randolf within the last six months." River shrugged, "But..."

"Yea doesn't seem likely to help out much. We can always search further back later if..."

Simon's voice crackled out of the com, "Zoe he's coming around."

By the time the three of them could get near the infirmary an argument about whether or not Mal should get up yet was in high gear.

"Fine but if you fall down and crack your skull open don't come running to me to sew it up," Simon shouted. He continued more calmly, "But I want you back in here every six hours or so. I need to check on those other chemicals I told you about. We need to know whats going on with them."

Zoe grinned despite the situation, seemed like when Mal found an argument he liked he used it every chance he got. Man didn't have but about three whole arguments in im, maybe four, he had two for doc, one for Inara and one for Jayne. He'd whip one out and pick at people so he could yell when he was frustrated. Wasn't a gorram thing getting up right this instant would help.

"Couldn't agree more Doc," Mal was holding on to the door jam, obviously just making sure it didn't run away since he was fine.

Mal caught site of Zoe and gave her a quick nod by way of 'thank you for saving my ass'. "Doc here filled me in a bit on whats been going on."

Kaylee ran up and gave Mal a big hug almost making him lose his grip on the door jam. "Cap'n" she squealed. She frowned up at him, "You feelin ok?"

Mal stroked her hair giving her a little hug, "I'm fine mei mei, little wobbly is all and a couple little men with big pick axes pounding on my gorram head." He spotted River lurking back peeking around the corner. "Why you hidin' back there Ni Zi, you ok?"

"It's my fault, couldn't see you. Couldn't help." River ducked back around the corner.

"Aw it ain't your fault River! Tell her Cap'n." Kaylee went to River and gave her a hug and pulled her out from behind the corner.

River stood in her arms not returning the hug, her head hung low.

"She's right mei mei, I know you're kinda used ta knowing everything before it happens but I conjure it sure ain't your fault when ya can't." Mal let go of the doorway and wobbled before grabbing it again. "I'd come hug you but some hun dan keeps moving the walkway around and I'm afraid I'd fall over." He held out his arm for her to come to him.

Normally River would have tasted Mal's emotions to know if he was being truthful but since she couldn't feel him she was more lost than usual. With a little push from Kaylee, she moved slowly towards him, her arms stiff at her side.

Mal leaned his back against the wall and pulled River into a big two armed hug, his hand rubbing circles on her back to comfort her. "There now things'll be fine," he said as she finally began to return his hug and sniffled against his chest. "Ok, now that we've got that settled, Zoe, what do we know?"

"Nothing good Sir," Zoe pulled the three gloves out of her pocket and showed them to Mal, then proceeded to fill him in.

Mal took the gloves from her.

"I can't think of much else to do but try and find where Jayne was when he got took. He wouldn't a gone far bein' its so cold out an all. Might could check a few more of the bars and whorehouses further from the port."

Mal shook his head, "I don't think that'll do any good. Hell for all we know they could be off the bèn tiānshēng planet by now."

"Don't think so sir, if they'd a been headed to the black don't think they would've taken Inara's shuttle down to the ice field. Figure they changed to some other transport."

"Whats not there makes it obvious that what we seek is here."

Mal looked at the other three hoping someone else had a clue.

"River, honey, you mean you can still feel them like before?" Zoe asked.

River nodded.

"Wait, I thought she couldn't feel us anymore?" Mal asked. If it hadn't been for the situation Mal would've been pretty happy with that occurrence. He had a lot of unpleasantness floating around in his head it just didn't make him happy to have River see.

"No sir, she can't read you all but she seems to see something going on in your heads."

Mal frowned, "Zoe, I generally look to you for clarity, that didn't help much more than what she said."

Zoe's lips quirked up in the tiniest of smiles, "Camouflage sir, you can see the camoflage, just can't see whats behind it."

"Thats better." Mal pondered for a moment, "Mei mei, can you see where the camouflage is?

River shook her head, then brightened up, "I can examine the probabilities based on travel modes, the direction of the shuttle from the city and extrapolate pathways." She grinned proudly as the other four looked at each other helplessly. "Search grid based on types of transportation they may have used from the shuttle." She had gotten better at rephrasing her more confusing statements. It was mostly her thinking out loud, now that she could keep track of what she had said she could dumb it down for the rest of them.

"Gorram fine idea, you get on that, we'll get ready to take shuttle two hunting." Mal wobbled toward the shuttle.

"Sir, there is a full on blizzard blowing out there right now, won't be able to search for anything til that dies down, might want to get some rest while River does her thing." Zoe caught the Captain under his shoulder and held him up as he tried to turn and look at her.

"Blizzard? Didn't no one say we had a gorram blizzard on top of everything."

"Sorry sir, thought you knew, you were out in it when I found you."

"Oh, right, so I was, wasn't thinking so good there for a second."

"Yes sir, perhaps you should rest some to help that out." Zoe said.

Mal studied her face for any indication of sarcasm, "May be right at that, you get that shuttle ready and wake me up soon as we can go." He put his hand against the wall, I'll go rest a little in the infirmary." Much as he hated to go back in there to lie down after just arguing with Doc about getting up, he wasn't a big enough fēng le shăguā to go and try to climb down the ladder to his bunk.