Chapter 4: Robbery and Reavers


"Kaylee! Kaylee, what the hell do you think you're doin'?"

Cap'n would always fuss just when she had no attention for him. "Everything's shiny, cap'n, not to fret!" Kaylee tried to make it sound as cheerful as she could, but she was more than a little worried about exploding just now. Things falling off the ship weren't ever good, especially when it was the primary buffer panel.

"You told me those entry couplings would hold for another week!"

"That was six months ago." She didn't take his angry tone to heart. He was jumpy on account of River's goin' on about the ants on the job, was all, and 'cause he and Simon had been fighting again over whether or not River was going. Wasn't much up to either of them, the way Kaylee saw it, since River was a grown girl and well able to decide for herself, but they would insist on struttin' about and bein' all manly at each other.

It was kind of cute watching Simon be manly, jutting out his chin and all. He didn't do it often, and it irritated Mal something fierce. Kaylee liked it, though... he was so sweet and quiet most of the time that you could almost forget he had strength and will enough to get himself from Osiris to Persephone to half-way to Whitefall practically alone and with River to fret on besides.

"My ship don't crash. She crashes, you crashed her." Mal waved his finger at her, but she paid him no mind. Most of her attention on Serenity, she ignored the sound of him and Simon starting to bicker again in the corridor outside.


"We're robbing the place, Jayne, not occupying it."

Wash heard his wife's exasperated voice - and Jayne's whining about grenades - but didn't pay overly much attention to it on account of he didn't want to hit the planet and explode. Zoe came up behind him and kissed the top of his head, which he appreciated, but she didn't interrupt him or try to talk, which he also appreciated. His wife knew when a man's concentration shouldn't be broken, and now was such a time.

Apparently Jayne didn't. "Hey, Wash, we gonna crash?"

"Only if someone distracts me from what I'm doing." Wash had found his calm place and was determined to stay there. They would be fine if only he could stay in his calm place. When he was distracted he sometimes got nervous, and that damaged his concentration.

"Oh." Jayne grunted. "Well, don't crash if you can help it. Zoe'll get pissed if you crash, and Mal'll be all 'you stupid person who ain't me, this is all your fault, 'cause it sure ain't ever mine'."

Wash laughed, more than a little surprised, as Jayne clumped away. The man-ape had a sense of humour. Rudimentary, sure, but it was there. And he'd certainly pegged Mal - brave and noble as the captain was, when a job was on and he was tetchy he was inclined to spread blame around with an even and liberal hand.

The moment of humour helped him to stay calm as he finessed and cajoled Serenity into landing in one piece.


River knew Simon didn't want her to go. She could feel/smell/see his pale concern oozing over him, cutting him off from Kaylee's sweetness and Inara's comfort. It wasn't that he didn't think Jayne and Cap'n and Zoe would protect her, but he knew that she knew that something was going to go wrong, and he was afraid.

River was afraid too. The ants were back, and even Jayne's warm, stolid presence couldn't calm them. It was hard to think, harder than it had been in a long time, and she had to take off her shoes and lie down in Serenity's arms for a while before they would quiet down even a little.

"River, honey, you okay?" Zoe crouched beside her, and River opened her eyes to look up at her.

She smiled a little, because Zoe was treelike and River liked her, but the ants made controlling her facial expressions difficult. "Ants crawl through my brain and nibble on my receptors," she said, watching with some interest as Zoe pursed her lips and ruffled her foliage.

"Uh... huh." Zoe nodded and looked past River to the captain. "She's not getting any more coherent, sir. And she's still going on about the ants."

"Jayne, see what you can do." Captain was worried, River knew. He didn't like that she was drifting when he needed her to be solidly anchored.

Jayne finished loading ammunition into the box on the back of the mule and clomped over. He hadn't talked to her as much as he usually did over the last eight days. She was too distracted by the ants to be able to tell why. Only in her dreams of him did her mind calm a little. "Hey, xiao gui, you sleepy?"

"They seem to move randomly but they don't. Chance is not chance when ruled by whim." River wasn't quite sure what she meant, but she knew it was important.

"Ants ain't random." Jayne squatted beside her and tapped her head with the hilt of his hunting knife. "They just look like they are. They have little roads and houses and everything."

"They eat of flesh. They take all that falls and drag it down into the dark." She could feel sense creeping around at the back of her mind, but she couldn't make it come out where she could see it so she could understand what the ants meant. "I won't wear my boots. I can't hear if my feet don't touch the ground."

"Not even your shoes with the beads on 'em?" He looked at her bare feet, and even over the rustling of tiny random legs she caught the tail end of a thought that the slippers suited her best, flowers on light, dancing feet. He was embarrassed by the thought but it comforted her, helped quiet her racing mind a little.

"Not today. I need to listen with all of me. The ants are so loud in my head, but my feet can still hear." She held up one foot, examining it. "They're at the other end from ants. They're less bothered by the noise."

"If you say so." He looked at her thoughtfully, then shrugged and picked her up, tucking her under one arm so her arms and legs dangled. River laughed and swung her feet. Jayne was inclined to just move her around if she wasn't moving herself, and she permitted it because she liked it when he carried her. It reminded her of her dreams. "You got your weapons?"

"Yes." The pistols were in the mule, now, ready to be strapped to her legs. The LeMat was already on her hip, comforting in its weight. "Boadicea," River said, as Jayne plopped her into the mule.

He frowned. She was disturbed that his puzzled-idiot expression was beginning to seem cute. "What?"

"The LeMat. I have decided to name her Boadicea."

"Why?" He climbed in beside her and handed her a pair of goggles. "Here, wear these. You got enough trouble keeping what's going on straight without gettin' blinded by grit."

River put the goggles on. "Boadicea was a queen from Earth-That-Was. She was a fierce warrior who slew many enemies. Even when she was tortured and her daughters violated, she did not surrender."

"Huh. Good name." Jayne nodded. "You gonna name the other two?"

"Individual names might damage their unity." River laid the two pistols in her lap. "They believe they are identical."

"They ain't. They're reversed." Jayne helpfully pointed out the flower that faced left on the pistol for her right leg, and right on the pistol for her left leg. "Like... in a mirror."

"Mirror-image twinning. The heart is on the other side." River pondered whether she should switch the pistols over in order to preserve symmetry of legs and flowers, but concluded that they wouldn't like leaving their own holsters for a new and reverse-image home.

"River, be careful." Simon reached over the edge of the mule to pat her leg. "Especially with the guns." He gave Jayne an anxious look. "You're sure she's all right with those?"

"She's fine. Good shot." Jayne shrugged. "You worry too much."

"She's been getting twitchier and twitchier for the last two days. Tell me you aren't at all worried."

"Well..." Jayne gave River an uncertain look. "Admit I might feel a touch calmer if she seemed to know what it is that's coming."

"We all would," the captain said from the seat in the front. "Still, I'm inclined to take knowing that something is coming as being a damn sight better than no warning at all. "We all ready?"

"I'm set, sir." Zoe was cool blue, as always, serene until such time as agitation was called for.

"Jayne? Tiny crazy person?"

"I'm good."

"Size is no indication of mass."

"I'll take that as a yes. Doc, let go and stop frettin'."

Simon didn't stop fretting, but he let go and stepped back. "River, remember what I told you about running away."

She remembered, but would not obey. Waving solemnly as the mule swept out of the hold, River knew that her inconvenient attachment precluded sensible self-preservation. Jayne had such a bad habit of getting shot, or stabbed, or punctured in some way. She had to look after him. She had promised, after all.

"You are not to get shot," she told him, wanting to make sure he knew her opinion on this subject.

"Ain't planning on it." Jayne shrugged and glared at the back of the captain's head. "Mal wouldn't let me bring my grenades."

"The captain likes to assert his authority before job begins. He flaunts his crest and waves his tail to show he is dominant." River opened the small storage space beside her and pointed silently to the three grenades she had smuggled onto the mule while the captain was occupied with getting his inoculation. She wasn't sure if they'd need them, but their presence would calm Jayne and she badly needed him to be calm.

Jayne's eyes widened and then he grinned. "That he does."

"I do not wave my tail." The captain sounded offended. "I have never in my life waved my tail."

"You did on Bellerophon."

She felt hot pink embarrassment rise up in the captain, who cleared his throat uncertainly. "You... ah... know about that?"

"Observed." Thinking about something besides the job helped. Besides, the captain had been rude a lot today, and deserved a little embarrassment. "Didn't know the captain had a tattoo."

"Oh." The captain cleared his throat again. "Didn't see you there."

"Often don't." The captain's nudity had been of purely academic interest at that time. It still was, unfortunately. A crush on him would have been much less problematic.

"Ah. Right. Zoe, are we nearly there?"

"Not quite, sir." Zoe was amused, though she tried not to show it.

Jayne sniggered, enjoying the captain's embarrassment, and River was pleased to see his equilibrium restored. She laid her head on his shoulder, sighing. The ants were getting worse. "Jayne, tell me a story."

Jayne didn't notice or didn't care about the startled colours in the front seat. "Any particular one?"

"Tell me about the LeMat."

"Ain't so much of a story." He slouched back, letting her head settle more comfortably on his shoulder. "I was on... uh... think it was Dyton. I'd just lost a job on account of the captain got taken in for questioning regarding some old warrant and the ship was impounded..."

River let the soothing story of successful theft thread through her ears into her brain, ignoring the captain and Zoe's puzzlement. By the time it finished, they were almost there.

River walked barefoot through the frightened people, and the floor told her feet when one stopped listening to his fear and reached for his gun. Her hand pointed where her foot told it the gun was, and all the time the rustling in her head got louder and louder.

She pushed her mind out, but left part of it behind to watch Jayne pace. He was nervous, just a little, the way he always was on a job before things got wrapped up.

He fired Lux, who rattled happily in his hands. Lux loved to dance and rarely had the chance. (The rhyme was involuntary, but it amused her for a few seconds)

Outside, a child heard Lux dancing and told his mother. His mother turned and a Reaver was there, slashing down with a blade made of ice and hate.

River screamed and felt her body fall. There was hard floor and grit under her as pain filled the world, and then big hands snatched her up and held her and she forced her eyes open to meet Jayne's anxious gaze. "Reavers!"

He swore, and bellowed for Mal as he held River protectively to him. She felt his fear and it made her tremble, because it frightened her when Jayne was afraid.

The Reavers were everywhere, clogging up her mind with pain and hate and the stink of foul joy. She clung to Jayne as he summoned Mal and Zoe, shifting her so he could grab a bag of money with one hand and carry her with the other. River buried her face in his neck, holding on tightly, not wanting to see with her eyes what her mind couldn't shut out.

Jayne set her in the mule, letting her hold onto his hand as he climbed in beside her. The captain pushed a man off the mule, his mind clanging with fear for His Crew, his children, his family, his responsibility gorram it and he shot the man before the Reavers could eat him. Jayne's arm wrapped around River, holding her comfortingly, and she knew he would shoot her before the Reavers could take her.

Then the Reavers were behind them and she drew Boadicea with shaking fingers. The LeMat was too small to be of much use against another vessel, but she managed to shoot one Reaver in the head through a tiny opening. He fell, but there were too many more.

Jayne shouted at her. "Grenade!"

The captain questioned but River ignored it, handing Jayne a grenade. He pulled the pin and threw it, but it bounced away before damage could be done. "Gorammit!" River swore with him, and reached for another. His aim was better this time, and the Reaver vessel dipped and swayed, buying valuable seconds as it slowed for a moment.

Zoe was talking to Wash. River decided she could leave navigation in Wash's hands. He would tell Zoe the right thing to do.

Then River screamed as a harpoon punched through Jayne's leg - they had harmed her Jayne! - and he was yanked backwards, barely catching the back of the mule.

"I won't be et! You shoot me before they take me!" His fear made her teeth chatter, but she nodded. She would not let him be taken, just as he wouldn't let her be. Then Jayne's eyes widened. "Well, don't shoot me first!" The captain wouldn't shoot him, of course, but fear caused Jayne to lose a certain amount of perspective.

She pulled out the last grenade while Mal took far too long shooting a simple rope. The moment Jayne was no longer attached to the Reaver ship, River pulled the pin on the grenade and threw it. Calculating the vector and adjusting for relative velocity was so easy as to be instinctive, and she knew before the grenade left her fingers that it would fly through the exact center of the near-side engine vent, an opening barely larger than the grenade itself.

The explosion was very satisfactory. The Reaver vessel fell down on its belly and burned. Inside it, the blood-tacky ravening things screamed and fell silent.

"Uh... honey, no need to rush," Zoe said, after a long moment of quietness. "We're not being chased any more."

"You're sure?" Wash tasted worried and tinny.

"They blew up a little."

"I thought I said no grenades," Mal said weakly, helping Jayne back into the mule.

"You said I couldn't bring grenades. Didn't say nothin' about the ni zi." Jayne's teeth were gritted. "You couldn'ta warned me about this?"

"Didn't know." River curled up beside him, allowing herself to touch his stubbled cheek. The touch soothed and disturbed her both at once. "Reavers don't think, only react. There was no intent to fire until firing was being done."

"Oh." He was creased with pain, but the ants were gone now and she knew he forgave her for not being able to warn him. "Good throw."

"Imminent death concentrates the will."

"Always does for me." Jayne nodded, shifting and wincing. "Zoe, I'm kinda bleedin' here. Maybe they could rush a little."


"So what happened?"

That was Kaylee, worming in under Wash's arm to peek at Jayne and make concerned noises. Simon had insisted on dragging Jayne into the infirmary to get stitched up, so Mal had found himself holding what he still privately thought of as a debrief while sitting on a cold bench-top, watching Simon clean out the hole in Jayne, who once again seemed more annoyed than pained at being perforated again..

River was watching Simon work with apparent fascination, holding one of Jayne's big paws in both her little hands. Jayne didn't seem averse to either that or Kaylee's cooing - not that Jayne was a man ever to turn down female fussing when it was offered.

"Well, we got the payload and we got away, so overall I'd call today a success." There was no pleasure in it, though, and he saw by the faces around him that they knew that. What was almost certainly still happening on Lilac saw to that. "Had it not been for River, we'da been taken before we even knew the Reavers was there. Couldn't hear shit down in that vault, even after the yellin' started."

"The ni zi saves the day again." Wash looped his arms around his wife's waist and smiled at River. "I, for one, am more than grateful."

"As are we all." Mal nodded, and River beamed proudly. "I take it the Reavers caused the ants? Or were the ants, or some such?"

"I think so." River sighed, and gave him one of her fleetingly lucid looks, like she was suddenly all the way present just for a moment. "I'm still new at this."

"Can't nobody argue with that, nor ask more of you than you done." Mal glanced at Simon, whose mouth was primmed up unhappily. "Doctor, I take it you realize that I won't be hearin' any more arguing on the subject of River going along on jobs."

"There will be times when she won't be able to." Simon frowned, his young face creasing with worry. "And I'd argue until you threw us both off the ship if you were making River do anything she didn't want to." He gave his sister a loving, anxious look. "But she wants to help. So I guess it's up to her... unless I truly believe she's not up to it, and there will be times when she's not. When she's... less well."

"Reasonable enough." It pained Mal, sudden and unexpected, remembering how very young Simon had looked when first he'd joined them and seeing how worry and strain were already wearing lines into his face. He'd seen it often enough in war (Bendis returned to his mind, young and scared, and Mal dismissed him with the ease of long practice), and he misliked seeing it in a young man who had never taken a life nor, so far as Mal knew, so much as lifted a hand in anger without being driven to it. River had taken to crime like a little duck to a large pond. Simon was an irritating but fundamentally gentle soul and shouldn't have to face such decisions as this. "You have my word I'll be cautious on that. Won't do nobody any good if I take her out when she's wanderin' in her mind or got another fit of the shakes."

"Precisely." Simon nodded, seeming to relax a little. "And in that same vein... I won't forbid it, because I know you'd do that very thing at once just to show me you can, but I would strongly advise that you never take River out of the ship without either me or Jayne."

"Yeah." Jayne nodded, and Mal thought he squeezed River's little hand just a bit. "She'll take your orders, Mal, but you ain't no hand at keeping her calm."

"Can't argue with that." Mal would have liked to be better with River, but he was wary of letting her get too close. She and Simon would be moving on, soon or late, and there was no sense in letting himself get all taken with the child.

He had a sneaking suspicion that he might lose himself a mercenary, when that day came. Jayne was enjoying training River up, and with her and Simon to do the planning and Jayne to carry out the plans in his inimitably brutal fashion they'd probably do reasonable well for themselves.

"Criminal mastermind." River looked at him, grinning. "I'd be good at it."

"That you would." Mal couldn't help smiling at her. She was so proud of herself for helping. "You mind you take care of them, it comes to that. Ain't either of 'em over-burdened with common sense."

"They take so much looking after." River sighed, just as she had when she said the same of Simon not too long ago.

"Who takes looking after?" Kaylee looked puzzled.

"Just a thought. Ain't no great matter." Mal shook his head. "Wash, we headed back to Beaumonde?"

"At good speed, but it'll still take us at least three, three and a half days." Wash shrugged. "Could go faster, but Fanty and Mingo aren't paying us extra to hurry and fuel costs, so..."

"So we proceed without undue rushin'. Good." Mal nodded. "That being so, I'd suggest we all call it a night. We've had a busy day."

Wash and Zoe left quick enough, and Inara and Kaylee followed after making a few more fussy noises over Jayne, which he seemed to like. River didn't move, and Mal went over to pry her loose from Jayne and send her on her way with a gentle push between the shoulders. "Go get some sleep, ni zi. Jayne'll be fine."

"I told him not to get shot at all." River gave Jayne a reproachful look.

"I didn't get shot, I got... punctured." Jayne looked down at his leg. "Anyway, I'm fine now. Got hurt worse'n this loads of times."

"All right." River nodded and slipped soundlessly away.

Mal waited a moment, then went out to check that she was gone before closing the door. "Got something else I conjure is best discussed with the two of you," he said quietly. "Jayne, how much of what River knows did you teach her?"

Jayne, predictably, looked puzzled. "How much of which?"

"She shot four people in less time than it'd take me to aim that well at one, when we was on Constance. Didn't think much on it at the time, knowing you'd been workin' her to targets for a while. But did you see what she did with the grenade?"

"Yeah." Jayne frowned. "Didn't teach her that, Mal. Ain't ever let her handle anything more dangerous than a pistol. Far as I know today's the first time she ever touched a grenade."

"River touched a grenade?" Simon frowned.

"Not only touched, doctor, but threw through a six-inch hole in a moving Reaver skiff from the front seat of a moving mule. A throw not me nor Zoe nor even Jayne could have made." Mal scowled. He'd really hoped Jayne had taught her that one. "Now, I know you told us when you first came on board that River had a way of just bein' able to do things right off, but throwin' a top-heavy, lumpy thing like a grenade ain't something you do that well on the first try."

Simon's mouth went tight. "You think this is another indication that she's been trained. That she's some sort of... of assassin."

"Maybe as that's what they intended." Mal nodded. He hated to burden the boy further, but there was no kindness in lying to him. "And I think they must be more than a mite concerned about that, these days. Were she like to go mad and kill you - or anyone else helping her - then I would suspect they're thinking she'd have done it by now, and they'd have got wind of it. Since she ain't... well, if I were them, I'd be powerfully worried about my own hide this very moment. If I'd created an psychic assassin, tortured her and driven her mad besides, I imagine I'd be shaking in my shoes for fear that she'd get back enough sense to come after me personal."

"Mal's got a point." Jayne rubbed his chin. "I know I wouldn't want her comin' after me, and I don't even know all've what she can do yet."

"Nobody does. Not even River, I suspect." Simon looked more than a little unhappy. "But she wouldn't turn on us. She just... wouldn't."

"Don't think it likely my own self." Mal was glad he could agree honestly, and lift at least some of the load off Simon's shoulders. "She's had more'n a few opportunities, now, and the only part of me she's endangered thus far is my eye, which I'll own as I had comin'. Of course, there was the stabbing incident..."

"That ain't nothin'." Jayne shrugged, seeming most uncharacteristically willing to shake off damage done to his person. "Had it comin' myself, what with trying to turn her in and all."

That, somehow, hadn't ever been discussed since Mal had found out Simon knew about it. Seemed like the best moment to do so. "I believe you two made some sort of understanding over that... Simon as well. Without, might I add, any of you telling me about it, which I still think you should have."

"We've discussed my reasons for that already." Simon glanced at Jayne, looking a mite embarrassed. "Although we never covered yours for not telling me."

Jayne had hung his head, looking ashamed of himself, and Mal waved a hand at him. "That's why. Thought about throwing him out the airlock - was about a minute from breaking atmo with him inside it, as it happens. He tried to deny it, and then he tried to beg off, and I wasn't inclined to be merciful on either count. But then he asked me not to tell anyone. To make something up, so's they... and you... wouldn't know what he did. First time I've ever seen Jayne Cobb truly ashamed of himself, and that ain't a small thing. Considerin' as he did save your lives, even if he was the one put them in danger first, I figured as one more chance might be warranted."

Jayne looked like he wanted to sink through the floor. "I got stupid," he mumbled.

"No argument from either of us on that, I'm thinking." Mal shook his head. "But River's right. I would've made more of the stabbing if it had been someone else, and that wasn't just either. You've made good since, and I ain't holding a grudge over it. Let bygones be bygones, and all that." He was uncomfortable getting so soft at Jayne, of all folk, but it was deserved.

"I agree." Once again Simon impressed Mal where Mal hadn't expected it, smiling lopsidedly and holding out a hand to Jayne. "For River's sake, I think we should at least call it a truce. It upsets her when we argue."

Jayne looked at the hand a bit uncertainly, then shrugged and shook it. "Sure. Truce it is." He grinned suddenly. "Does she pout and hit you too?"

Simon returned the grin, lifting a hand to rub the back of his head. "When I'm rude to you? Oh, yes."

Mal had a suspicion that somewhere something was seriously askew in the universe. Simon and Jayne should not be getting along - wasn't it a violation of some kind of law of nature?

On the other hand, having been on the receiving end of a punch from River himself...


Jayne wasn't at all surprised to find River sitting on the stairs in the hold when he was limping back to his room. She'd taken to being bothered when he was hurt, and since she was the only one who really was - well, except Kaylee, but Kaylee would fuss just as much over a wounded mouse - he kind of liked it.

It wasn't that he liked it because it reminded him of the affectionate way she twined around him in the dreams. 'Cause that wasn't River in the dreams, not really, and anyway he didn't think of her like that. Not really. Not while he was awake.

"I protected you," she said, beaming at him and holding out the twisty piece of stick she'd cut for him last time he had a bad leg. That meant she'd been in his bunk again, but Jayne was of no mind to complain. The stick'd make getting up all them stairs a damn sight easier. "I told you I would."

"Yeah, you did." He put as much weight as he could on the stick and the discomfort in his leg eased up. Simon had given him something for the pain, but it hadn't kicked in all the way yet. "You wanna shift your skinny ass so I can get past?"

She got up, smiling. "You're cross because Simon got mushy."

He snorted. "Simon was born mushy." "He was. He's soft-hearted." She stayed beside him as he limped up the stairs. "But he can be hard if he has to be."

"I know." It always came as a surprise, when Simon's spine suddenly firmed up and he stuck out his chin like he didn't know that Kaylee was probably the only person on board couldn't take him in a fair fight. Jayne would never admit it aloud, of course, but he admired the little man's guts, even if his personality was annoying as hell.

"He's not good with people." She sighed. "He tries, but he isn't."

"Don't have to be a genius to see that." Jayne shrugged. Simon wasn't a particularly interesting subject. He had been wondering, though... "Why ants?"

"They eat, and hunt, and are mindless. They scuttle and crawl and bite with their jaws." River made a little jaw-biting motion with one hand.

"Ain't like Reavers, though. I mean, ants don't hate or nothin'." Every time he thought he was getting her figured out, she surprised him again. Of course, blowing up the Reavers who were chasing them was the good kind of surprise. Maybe her insistence on protectin' him wasn't as funny as it had seemed at first.

"The Reavers hadn't happened yet. Until they were there, there was no certainty." River shrugged, pushing her loose hair back over her shoulder. It shimmered just the way it did in his dreams. "So they stayed ants."

Jayne nodded, sort of getting that. River could sort of tell when things might happen, but they didn't clear up until they did. That made sense. It was like when he just knew something didn't feel right but couldn't pin it down.

"Just like that." River nodded. "The thought must be real before it can be read."

"I know that feelin'. Wouldn'ta called it ants, but it does kinda itch." Jayne shrugged. "Guess maybe it's stronger for you."

"It is." River tilted her head. "You don't mind."

"Don't mind what?"

"That I answer things before you say them."

"Huh? Oh." He'd stopped noticing in there somewhere. She did it so often, and he'd gotten sort of used to it. Made it a damn sight easier to talk to her than it was to most people, actually, since she usually knew what he meant even if the words came out wrong. "Do you do it on purpose?"

"Sometimes." She pulled her knees up, resting her chin on them. "Sometimes it's just hard to tell auditory input from cerebral. It's all so loud."

He remembered when he'd first gone into the black, on an old merchant junker that creaked and jangled and vibrated nonstop. The noise had almost driven him crazy, and the rest of the crew had all been so used to it that they didn't seem to understand him when he talked about the noise. He figured it was like that in River's head, but all the time. "Nah. Doesn't bother me. Just don't go diggin'."

"I won't." She smiled at him. She wasn't a beauty like Inara or Zoe, but she had a pretty smile. Bright and shiny, like Kaylee's. "But your thoughts smell good."

"They do?"

"Like brandy and purple."

Jayne kind of liked the sound of that. He liked the smell of brandy, too, warm and rich without being sweet. He liked sweet fine on girls, but he didn't wanna smell that way.


Teng - flying dragon

Yin hui - obscene, coarse

Ni Zi - little girl

Biao xiong - male cousin

Dong ma - you understand?

Wu Ji - dancing girl

Hun dan - bastard

Bai Chi - idiot

Bu Jing Chuan - whaling ship, whale-catcher