Jump 592 (part 1)
There was a young woman dancing in the dusty road, well Rose thought it was dancing. Everyone else would think that she was spinning in circles but Rose could see the patterns the girl was weaving in the dirt. Now that Rose though about it a bit more maybe she was drawing.
The girl's height was average and her hair was a dark brown. Her dress was plain and swung about her knees in a fluttery manner. She wasn't a startling beauty but her looks gave her this fragile feel or sharp, like a weapon, depending on the lighting. But at the moment she was giggling and trying to get her friend to come and dance with her. Her friend was several years older. The girl, looking sixteen to her friends mid-twenties. Both were waiting outside a beautifully held together ship that Rose just might decide to have a closer look at. It was what had drawn her to the area to begin with.
Before she knew it the girl had stopped spinning (dancing/drawing) and had flitted over not making a whisper of a sound that a human would have heard. Rose wasn't human, so didn't react at the girl's sudden appearance. She just continued to take in the ship's song.
"Can you hear her singing?" the strange girl asked.
While not surprised by her appearance she was surprised by her question. It didn't stop her from answering her.
"Of course I can hear her, but we would be closer than most," Rose said.
"The ship inside the girl," the young woman said while nodding. She then tilted her head to the side like a bird and continued, "two hearts and minds separated by walls of nothing but you are still fantastic despite the pain."
"I don't know how to be any other way. If I was I would finally loose him forever and I promised that to him a long time ago. Rose Tyler, by the way," Rose didn't worry about giving out her name. She would have felt the danger before if there was going to be a problem.
"A moving body of water," the girl smiled. All impish playfulness, she had decided to play with Rose.
"Right, that narrows it down. So it's either Brook or River as far as names go but I might just call you Stream for the fun of it," Rose teased.
"No," the word was broken up by giggles but their moment was wreaked by the girl's friend.
"River, sweetie, who's your new friend?" The twenty something was brown hair, brown eyes, girl next door beautiful and dressed up a bit in a green Chinese patterned shirt and a plain white skirt, as if she were trying to attract attention but in a salesmen sort of way.
The girl leaned closer to Rose and 'whispered' to her. "This is Kaylee; she hears Serenity's song too."
It wasn't surprising to Rose now that Kaylee was closer. Kaylee had the beginnings of an ability that wouldn't be recognized officially for another couple hundred years. It was very weak but more than likely her descendents would be well sought after if it continued to grow stronger. Miss Kaylee was a technopath. She had a low level psychic ability that allowed her to empathize with technology and machinery.
"Bù hǎoyìsi?" Kaylee said in confusion. (I'm sorry?)
"Don't worry about it. River and I were discussing how wonderful Serenity is. My name is Rose by the way." Rose introduced herself again.
"Yeah, Serenity's a beauty if I ever saw one. She's the best ship in the 'verse, if I'm a judge. I wouldn't trust any other ship to carry me through the black," Kaylee said sweetly.
So that's what she's selling. It made sense that during this rough period in history (it was only the 26th century after all) that people were trying to make ends meet anyway necessary. Kaylee was hunting for passengers.
Rose debated for a moment on whether she really wanted to take the slow path in traveling. A part of her screamed that it would feel like being trapped in a small box for who knows how long. On the other hand, she could hear the young Traveler trying to inter-phase with this tech and struggling with its interior dimensions. There was no polyphasic shell to keep its interior dimensions within its exterior and Rose could help it through those first growing pains. In another eight hundred years it might even become time worthy, which was sort of like sea worthy but a lot more dangerous and frankly, messy.
"You looking for crew or passengers?" Rose asked.
Kaylee looked startled for a second and opened her mouth to say something but River beat her to it.
"Serenity already has one heart but she's supposed to have two. And…and no matter how hard we try we don't have the right connection." River looked upset but was trying to keep it out of her voice.
Rose took in Kaylee and focused on the smaller details to figure out what River was talking about. The girl was right in saying that Serenity needed two hearts, Kaylee was one of them. But River, no matter how brilliant, was wrong. The ship's second heart was in the engine were it would have direct contact with Kaylee because there was no way that Kaylee wasn't the ships mechanic.
It was the smell of grease and oil that no matter how hard she tried Kaylee couldn't wash off. Her hands were hard with calluses from working constantly and there was a little grease stain that was on the back of her neck right by her hair line. Definitely the ship's mechanic.
"River, Serenity doesn't need a second heart, she already has one. What she needs is a dance partner. Someone who can follow along up here," Rose said while tapping River's head. "You're just not listening to the right song. So all you need to do is learn how to listen and I can guide you through that, yeah? So no worries."
River nodded and then spun as if she had heard someone approach from a different direction and took off with an excited giggle and yell of 'Simon!' Rose couldn't hear what was said between the two of them but did notice the young man's gaze.
"You're good with her," Kaylee noted. "I don't understand half the things she says but I recon you do. Still, if you want passage you're gonna have to come up with something. We don't really have any openings with the crew but the Captain would know better."
"I'm not exactly looking for employment, but I can cook a decent meal if that helps. Are there any cash points around here?" Rose could easily find out which universe she was in by just accessing the Torchwood network because no matter how far into the future this jump had taken her she still knew that Torchwood existed.
After getting directions Rose worked the computer system, not only give her a substantial amount of money but also a brief history of the local time stream. Not too bad, there was a central government that was in serious need of an overhaul. She might have to make a stop in that direction.
What was the most worrying was that there was no alien life (to humans anyway) to be seen and no record in the system. The reports from the local branch of Torchwood on this particular moon said that despite what the government propagated there were at least two hundred different species in the city alone. So this forgotten colony had regressed back to thinking that they were the only sentient life forms out there. How typically human.
Besides the cash Rose needed identification. She then spent the next hour cutting through red tape (it was amazing how the Tyler name still worked) and go her very own I-dent card. Using her real name outside of Pete's world's Torchwood and with her family was going to take some getting used to. Everything perfectly legal looking, Torchwood was still the best. Plus, it seemed that somewhere in the past there had been a Rose Tyler that had an account set up a long time ago. Lots of money just sitting there, waiting to be used.
Rose downloaded the rest of the information into her hopper to be looked through later and then went shopping for food. She bought quite a bit of fresh stuff that was good, even as it burned a whole through the cash that she had picked up. Rose then divvied up the rest for passage and preserved food. Everything that Rose bought was very carefully stowed away in her bag (transdimensional). She paid a kid to help her carry the canned goods to the ship.
When she reached the ship and after making sure everything she bought was actually there, Rose looked to see who else was there, both passengers and crew. Simon was within the cargo area talking with River still, while Kaylee was making her way over to Rose to help with the food. There was a dark haired man that towered over everyone holding a gun and looking board. Nearby was a dark skinned woman that had to be a warrior and standing next to her was a man in a brow coat that had to have been a soldier. They were both watching the proceedings with a barely veiled suspicion. The man nodded to the woman and walked over.
"I hear you're our new cook or pilot. Funny thing about that was that I didn't even know I needed one considering the little albatross hasn't steered my ship wrong yet. Now where would she get a notion like that, hmm?" The man said without preamble
"First, Rose Tyler, nice to meet you," she held out her hand for him to shake. He stared at her a moment then cautiously shook it. "Second, I can cook but I'm not a cook, yeah? So don't expect professional gourmet meals. And third, River was the one that wanted help, but I don't need to go anywhere near the cockpit, bridge, or helm or whatever you call it to do that. I won't go where I'm not wanted. All I want is a bunk, safety from other passengers and crew alike, and privacy when I ask for it. If that's going to be a problem then keep the food and I'll be on my way. I wouldn't be able to carry it anyway." Rose was a bit abrupt but the man had been rude and she only really put up with that from her family.
"Shénme? Now hold on a moment-," The man started but she interrupted him.
"No, because you didn't know me and was a complete arse anyway. I'm not after your crew, I usually travel alone. I'm not after your ship because I don't need it, even if she's the second most beautiful ship I've ever seen. I don't need a job, I have one. Someone needs me here so here I am and as soon as I help them the sooner I leave. If it makes you feel better I'll tell you the complete truth whether you believe it or not is up to you."
"Fair point, Captain Malcolm Reynolds," he introduced himself. "Now why don't you tell me about the fact that for some reason that a member of my crew told you that there was an opening for a pilot?"
"Mr. Reynolds," Rose started.
"It's Captain or sir to people I don't know or trust," he interrupted.
For a moment all Rose could see was a handsome smile with dimple and twinkling blue eyes. Sometimes she missed Jack so much it hurt. In all the jumps she had done and the different Doctors that she had met she never once ran into Jack and it ached to think that he was lost or alone.
The Captain in front of her was giving her an odd look which meant that Rose had been lost in thought. "Right, sorry you reminded me of someone that… well, someone. Captain Reynolds," she started again and almost added the 'sir' and a mock salute but figured that it wouldn't go over well. "River doesn't think that she's good enough. For some reason she thinks that it because she can't make a mental connection to Serenity. She wants me to teach her how to do that. Like I said before I won't go anywhere that you don't want me to go." She left out the part that it would eat her alive because of her over stimulated sense of curiosity, but he didn't need to know that.
"You said you already had a job, so why should I hire you on as crew?"
"My job is to find someone because we need his help. His name is the Doctor, just the Doctor. So if you've come across him tell him two words, Bad Wolf. He'll understand what it means. But until I find him I need a way to search for him. And if it's too much of a bother to be hired as crew I'll pay my way as a passenger. What would really work out well I guess would be to rent one of you shuttles if there is one available. That way I could look for the Doctor while you could do whatever you do."
"That sounds a bit more agreeable. Mayhaps we can come to an accord just so long as no harm comes to me and mine," Captain Reynolds said.
"No, what I'm going to do is keep that little girl's mind from burning into a crisp or her accidently doing the same or worse to someone else. River wasn't born with her abilities and is very lucky that she met me before she met something else like me."
"Something?"
"I'm a natural born empath and telepath," Rose responded. She wasn't about to tell him her status as non-human, not that he would believe her anyway.
"Not many people would admit to that so readily. How do I know I can trust your word," Captain Reynolds asked.
"Xiāohàn, you're a paranoid one. River would have never let me near you if you couldn't trust me." Rose gave Mal an exasperated and tired look, which had him nodding in acquiescence.
"Fare point, I'm sure we can work out a price," the captain said.
A half an hour later Rose was now a resident of a shuttle aboard Serenity.