AN: Hello, everyone! I'm sorry for not updating as much as I'd have liked. Contrary to popular belief, summer isn't the most popular time for me to update. Two reasons: I've had to move, and I'm lazy. Sadly, with school starting tomorrow, my updates will be even less frequent, even though everyone is clamoring for more. Just have patience, follow my story, and you'll get an email when I finally get around to it. I will also be attempting to make the chapters longer, to your fangirlish desires. Also I have it kinda planned out, but I could use some suggestions where it could go. Thanks for your time!
Lieutenant Matthew Scott opened his eyes, feeling perfectly awake, yet as if he had just woken up from a short nap. It wasn't so short considering the three or more years he had been in stasis. He blinked and took a step forward, glancing to his left left to see Eli, his good friend for over a year, hunched over the nearby console.
Eli glanced upwards, Matt's movement having caught his eye. "Good morning, sunshine" Eli smiled, looking back down at the console, "good news, going on a month past our due date, so all our friends back on Earth are still alive and my plan worked, believe it or not, except..."
Matt looked around at the other active pods, quickly making the intended assumption Eli was likely hinting at, "we're the only ones out" He looked at Eli, "any particular reason why?"
Eli tilted his head, "not really sure, maybe insufficient power. Makes sense, considering we've just spent three years in FTL." Eli tapped on the console, something bringing a frown onto his face, "also that we've been running the stasis pods this whole time and this console has very limited access to the rest of the ship" Eli looked up at Matt.
Matt stared back at Eli, his Icarus base uniform still as fresh as the day he stepped into that stasis chamber. "So we don't have enough power to turn the stasis chambers off, even though they've been running this whole time?" He asked incredulously.
"Look, Look, that's not exactly how stasis chambers work, they're not like light bulbs. Light bulbs require a small spike of energy to get them working and a lesser constant stream to keep them running. The stasis chambers are similar, but a stasis pod you actually have to give it more power to actually revive the person than it takes to maintain the light bulb because unlike a light bulb you don't just cut the power keeping the person alive. That make sense?" Eli explained.
Matt sighed, scratching the back of his neck, "I don't suppose a cup of coffee could help me understand that any more than I did?" He said, a smirk just barely hidden on his face
"Well, maybe when we get Brody awake, I can give you a science lesson" Eli retorted, eliciting a chuckle from the two of them as they walked out.
"Did you really have to grab a gun, Matt?" Eli asked, as Matt caught up from the armory they passed by, jogging slightly to keep up as Eli listed forward.
"Hey, no harm in grabbing one" Matt slipped the gun into his vest, "besides, you know when you get that feeling?"
It was Eli's turn to look incredulous, "what? Like a spooky premonition? You know that's not-"
"I know" Matt looked around, "still, I know I shouldn't need it, but..."
Eli nodded, "I get ya"
Matt nodded in agreement, "so, we gonna figure out the mystery now?"
"Right," Eli turned, "nearest consoles are in the gate room, so...this way"
Matt followed Eli down the corridor.
Matthew Scott glared down at the strange man in front of him, not sparing any regret for his previous acquisition of a handgun before they left.
Eli, on the other hand, could do nothing but raise his hands in surrender, looking anxiously down the barrel of the dark-skinned woman's rifle in front of him.
There was a tense moment of silence as both parties evaluated the other, contemplating their next moves. The young boy in the red shirt was clearly not a threat, Zoe presumed, but best to keep an eye on him anyway.
The other man however, had a gun, an immediate red flag to Mal that signified danger, especially given it was raised in his direction. The only comfort Mal had was that his gun was raised as well.
"Matt" Eli broke the silence, "you remembered to lock the door when we went to sleep, right?"
Mal and Zoe might as well have rolled their eyes at Eli with the look they gave him, Mal looking back at the other young man, "why don't you start by tellin' us who you are and what the qing wa cao de liu mang this ship is doing here?"
Scott looked at Mal in curiosity, "was that Chinese?"
Mal hesitated, not sure why the man would ask, "well...yeah, now why don't you get to answering some of our questions and we'll do our best to answer yours." Scott didn't want to argue, this man had an air of authority rivalling that of Colonel Young's.
He sighed, the gun lowering slightly, but not by much. "I'm Lieutenant Matthew Scott, and this is Eli Wallace, our...computer boy"
"Hey!"
Scott ignored Eli's outburst, "your turn, what are your names? And if you wouldn't mind, perhaps we could all...lower our guns?" He made eye contact with the woman pointing the gun at Eli.
Mal gave him a warning look, "I'm not inclined to disagree there. I've no interest in a shootout here, though I wouldn't mind too badly if one did happen." Mal slowly lowered his gun, as did Scott, prompting Zoe to do the same.
"Now" Scott continued, "your names?" He reluctantly holstered his gun, watching the intruders to make sure they mimicked him. Instead they held onto their guns, but in a defensive fashion, not one where they were planning on pulling a fast one. Scott took this as a good sign, and made a point not to aggravate them.
"Name's Malcolm Reynolds, captain of Serenity" Mal began, "this is my second, Zoe, and" he took a step to the side to reveal Kaylee hidden behind them, who waved in a nervously friendly manner, "our mechanic, Kaylee"
"Always a pleasure to meet new people" Zoe said dryly, fingers still wrapped around her rifle.
"Serenity?" Eli asked, "interesting name for a ship." He remarked, "Moving on" Eli took up the conversation, "why ar-"
"I actually think it's our turn for a question" Mal interrupted Eli, putting him to a stammer.
"well...ah, sure. Go ahead"
Matt smiled as he faced Mal's question, "What's this ship? and how come we ain't never seen anything like it before?"
Eli and Matt shared another look, longer than the previous one, of complete uncertainty in how to proceed. "See" Eli looked at Matt, "this would be an excellent time for those video recordings I got when I first got into this stuff"
"so these...ancients...they built a ship that's flown all the way across the universe in several billion years" Mal asked, as the group of them walked through the ship on their way to the bridge one very lengthy explanation later.
"but that ain't possible" Kaylee looked at the two men, Kuh Ai as they were, "how'd it get all the way back here if it left from earth so long ago?"
"Well...we don't know" Eli said
"We've just spent three years in stasis for while we travelled to the next galaxy" Scott informed them, "sometime after that we somehow got transported back to the milky way galaxy, and we just woke up, we don't know what happened." A sudden thought occurred to him, "what year is it?" He asked the captain, nearly stopping in his tracks.
Mal looked at the two young men. He had been about to verbally ask aloud why they wouldn't know the year when he remembered they were in stasis for the past three years. "2518, why? What year do you come from?"
Eli and Matt exchanged a look described back on old Earth as an 'oh shit' face.
"Hey!" Mal nearly exclaimed as the group strode into the bridge of the Destiny, the door having lowered just moments ago, which Kaylee took an immediate interest to. Mal almost would've gotten angry right then, but managed to keep it under control.
The reason, of course, was because sitting at one of the consoles in the front, calmly tapping away at the buttons was none other than River Tam, who appeared to be peacefully ignoring the visitors.
Matt glanced away from the young girl and at the captain, "she one of yours?" He asked warily. He didn't assume the 16 year old girl to be a threat, but something seemed off about her right from the start.
Mainly the fact that she was talking to herself. Before Mal could reply, likely to say yes to Matt's question, given his slightly relieved body language, River giggled. "I've been in a wheelchair before, it didn't seem that bad"
Eli looked at her, puzzled, "is she...?" He waved a finger over the side of his head that meant 'crazy'
Mal didn't pick up on the gesture Eli did, although he did seem to catch the meaning. "Why yes, she is indeed crazy." He said, taking the necessary first steps towards her, "you get used to it"
River frowned, "yes, that must be horrible. Everything done by another person." She mused, oblivious to Mal's approach.
A moment later he stood behind her to the side, "River," he said, her head turning around to notice him for the first time, "are you alright?" He asked out of concern for her condition.
"Never better" she smiled, "Inara wants to talk to you" she turned back around to do her work.
"Go shi" he muttered under his breath. Mal had forgotten that he had turned the communicator off. Now Inara was possibly furious that he'd been silent too long. As much as he had stood up to the gorgeous companion in the past, he didn't exactly enjoy the lashing she gave him. There was also the fact that, in panic, she might have been doing something that would only serve to upset the delicate situation. The two men seemed peaceful and trustworthy, but he didn't want to chance it. He pulled the communicator from his belt and walked out into the hall, calling behind him, "I gotta take this!" He turned it back on, "Inara-"
"Mal, what the hell's been going on?" A harsh voice shot right at him, interrupting him, "you've been out of contact for over ten minutes now! We nearly came to get you!"
The fact that she hadn't sent the four men was a relief, they would be walking blind into a situation they knew nothing about. "Inara, nothin' too horrible's been goin' on, we've just been having some real polite conversation with some aliens here," he said, attempting to ease her worry.
The line was silent for a moment. "...Aliens, Mal?" Inara said slowly.
"More like humans. From Earth-that-was" Mal bit back an sarcastic remark.
"That explains the vest we found." Simon's voice came through. "we found a military vest that was made in the year 2012, also weapons that were Earth-that-was era as well." There was a pause, "have you found River?"
Mal admired that boy's concern for his sister, he really did. "Yeah, she's here, and she's fine, and she seems to be talking to some imaginary person in a wheelchair." He could almost picture Simon's look of relief, "we're in some place looks could be the bridge. Why don't you head on up here, if you can figure out exactly where we are." Mal said, glancing down the hallway.
As Mal left the bridge, Eli found himself curiously drawn the crazy teenager, who seemed to be expertly manipulating the controls of the ship's systems without any hint of hesitation. "Umm...hi" he said awkwardly, the girl giving no reply. Eli continued, "I'm Eli, Eli Wallace" he held out his hand, again eliciting no reaction. He glanced at Matt, who was talking to the two women, the smaller one seemingly a lot more chatty than the other.
Eli tried a different approach, glancing at the screen. "Are you...flying the ship?" He said, noticing exactly what she was doing.
"I'm old enough to drive" came her vacant reply, expertly banking left.
Eli smiled as she finally replied, "so you know Ancient?"
"I do now" Eli remembered her name was River, "I learned it when I got here"
Eli frowned slightly, "didn't your captain say you guys got here a couple hours ago?"
"Approximately one hour, 32 minutes, and 9 seconds since we came onboard." River replied, never having taken her eyes off the screen.
Eli immediately saw that as strange, as she didn't seem the jokester type. The beep of an alert distracted him as River pressed another button, a low hum beginning to build up. His eyes widened, "hey, you're taking us to FTL!" He said a little louder than intended, attracting the attention of the others.
"I know" River replied.
"What the tian xiao de is that girl doing?" Eli heard the captain's voice as he ran back in.
Then there was nothing but the warping of the universe as, for a split second, nothing was nowhere.
Jayne gripped Vera tightly, "the gorram hell was that?"
"I don't know" Wash mused, "but I doubt it warrants the use of your gun"
"Let's just keep going" Inara attempted to control them, "we'll meet up with the captain there, and we'll figure out what's going on"
Several hallways later, they were lost.
"I told you, we were supposed to turn left back there!" Simon argued, as Inara got out the communicator.
"Mal, we're lost. Care to send someone down here to help us out?" She tried to ignore Simon.
"I'll send Zoe and one of our new friends down there. We're having a bit of a dilemma up here" came Mal's annoyed reply, although it didn't seem to be directed at the fact that they were lost. Inara couldn't blame anyone for being lost in the huge derelict. It was indeed more massive than anything else she'd been on.
"I'm going to guess it has something to do with that...thing that just happened?" Inara said, unsure what to call it.
"Unfortunately it does. Our favorite little reader activated something called an FTL...somethin'. Apparently it does that"
"Wait" Simon cut in, "As in, faster than light?" Everyone looked at him. "What? It's been a subject of research for centuries"
"Yes, that." Mal said after a moment.
"Well, we'll stay here until someone comes to get us" Inara said, also informing him of the approximate place they were in the ship.
"They'll be right there, Sit tight." Mal finished.
"So we just wait here?" Jayne scowled his usual expression.
"Apparently, if that's not too hard for you" Simon replied casually, disliking the mercenary's usual attitude.
"Did you hear something?" Book interrupted the exchange.
"Quit trying to scare us, preacher!" Jayne barked at the older man.
"No...I hear something too, shut up" Inara said, the others surprisingly quieting at her order. The silence heralded nothing for several moments before footsteps could be heard.
Simon sighed in relief, "about time"
Book frowned, "that seem a bit quick to you?" He said, exchanging a glance with Jayne.
"What?" He answered coldly, not getting the hint.
Inara took a step forward, then halted in her tracks as an alien came around the corner, bearing translucent skin of blue.
How'd you like that cliffhanger? Review, people!