River sat in the pilot's chair with the dinosaurs all lined up neatly on the consol according to when it lived, the species, and the size all exactly three millimeters from the edge of the consol—her side not the side towards the window—all facing front three centimeters apart.
Flying could be boring.
She started spinning around in the chair as quickly as possible, four revolutions clockwise and then another four counterclockwise.
Really, really boring.
She giggled. "I wish I would have been there. Simon should have known. Captain is very likeable."
The toys told her everything she needed to know. They didn't keep secrets from her. Well, triceratops didn't tell her anything, but it was just sulking because it was wrong.
"Captain thinks something isn't quite right up here," she nodded with a gesture towards her head. "Nothing is wrong. First mate was right. Just a number. See what happens. Hmm…" she switched directions. "Can't be too forward. Might scare him. Can't back off either. Conundrum."
She stopped and tried to focus her eyes on the stegosaurs. "He doesn't think I'm crazy?"
It looked back at her. She smiled. "He doesn't think I'm crazy. But Jayne," she made a face and stuck her tongue out. "Mean stupid man with a girl's name."
She resumed spinning, mentally clocking her velocity.
"You're gonna get dizzy," Mal commented when he walked in. She stopped and looked at him with a crooked grin.
"Nothing else to do."
He returned a nervous smile. "So I was comin' by to check on when we're gonna be settin' down."
"Twenty-seven hours, nineteen minutes, fifty-one seconds, and two milliseconds. Approximately."
He should know not to be surprised by her genius-ness, but it still freaked his freak sometimes. "Okay. Thanks."
He stood there awkwardly without moving or even blinking. She just smiled at him.
"Just numbers."
"Wha…what?" he asked worriedly. Surely she didn't know about his conversation with Zoe…did she?
"The time it takes to get us there," she explained.
"Oh."
She loved making him nervous. He motioned to the door. "Stuff to do."
"Somewhere else," she finished. "Bye Captain."
"Bye darlin'."
"Just see what happens. You never know."
He stopped in the doorway. "What was that?" he croaked.
"With the contact. You never know what might happen."
"Right. Yeah. With the contact…"
She smiled. She had him right where she wanted him…almost…
