9
"You won't harm me," River announced, watching him make preparations for the battle to come. "But…I don't know if you're good or bad."
"I won't harm you," he agreed, moving crates that should have been too large for him to budge. "I never wanted the crew mixed up in this, and I will do everything in my power to keep the ship and its contents intact. This is not your battle."
"My ship," she said, and he knew that wasn't entirely true.
"They won't care about you unless you show them you're a threat. The worst thing they might decide to do is use you…but I don't think they will."
"How come?"
He smiled at her. She had adapted quickly to the idea that there was a different mind functioning behind Jayne's eyes. "Because you're human." He stood surveying the job he'd done in the cargo bay, and then headed for the galley.
"Super-human," she gloated like a little girl who believes she is an angel or a princess because of how many times other people have told her so.
He paused. "I know what you are. I know why you are. I even know how the idea behind your transformation came about long, long ago."
"You don't know me."
He smiled.
He raided the galley for protein, and knowing that he only had River's cooperation so long as she was willing to give it and no actual control over her whatsoever, he failed to banish her while he further prepared himself.
"Jayne wouldn't like that," she observed, sitting on a nearby countertop.
He had removed Jayne's shirt and footwear. "So long as I survive, he'll get his body back intact."
"How do you-" she tried to ask, pantomiming a hopping gesture around her head.
"I have abilities…innate to me. I was born human…but also…underwent a transformation."
She reached to touch his arm and he gave her a peculiar look. The only thing she'd feel was Jayne's skin. He was aware of her psychic reach and was able to interpret what she experienced using his own abilities. "You want what I have," he mentioned quietly.
"I am…," she struggled for the most satisfying word.
"Astounding, superior, nigh invulnerable, mighty?" he suggested in a slightly teasing manner.
"…but you have more…."
"Different," he corrected. "From what I can tell just by studying you," he said, reaching to touch her brow over her right eye with his fingertips and trace the line of her eyebrow with a faint caress, "you surpass me in thought speed and efficiency and your body reacts to situations in a way I can only describe as...controlled involuntary movement. Most of your psychic ability seems to stem from your extraordinary powers of observation—I mean, I've never met anyone who was constantly aware of all five senses simultaneously—and your enhanced reasoning and deductive skills backed by an already impressive intellect allows you to make startlingly accurate predictions regarding events to come."
She plucked his hand away to turn it and study his palm. Then she tapped the center of it. "Can you come out of there?"
"Yes."
She looked at him and shook her head. "No…I mean, completely."
He gently withdrew his hand. "While I dearly wish we had the time to fully explore each other, I'm afraid I will soon be making a quick getaway."
"Kaylee will have rudimentary repairs completed soon."
"Then I need you to contact them and tell them it is not yet safe to return to this vessel."
Offering a slight crooked smile, the girl skipped off and the stranger worked to complete his odd preparations before the newcomers arrived to abduct him or worse.
