Promises To Keep

Snapdragon

Chapter 10

Mal and Jayne carried the long, heavy strongbox while Zoe played bodyguard, rifle ready, scanning the area for any members of the gang who might have survived. Simon picked up Kaylee in his arms and carried her back to the ship. A situation that Kaylee was enjoying immensely. As they entered Serenity's cargo hold she notice River staring intensely at a chain looped onto the bulkhead. "Put me down! I need to talk to River!"

Simon set her down. "I'm sorry. I don't have time to do your leg."

"I understand, lives are at stake."

He smiled gently at her. "You're very brave, Kaylee."

As he went into the sickbay to pick up some items he needed she felt a flush of shame and embarrassment. If only he knew what a sniveling coward she really was. Kaylee turned and limped over to River.

"This chain has one thousand, one hundred and eighty three links."

Kaylee threw her arms around her. "Thank you!"

"Why do you thank her? She didn't do anything."

"Thank you for . . . just being you!"

River turned to stare into her face. "Your eyes are all red and splotchy. The blood vessels have dilated." She traced her fingers down Kaylee's cheek and smiled. "They're so beautiful." She whispered.

Kaylee pressed her forehead against River's. "Yeah, I just had one of the worst days of my life. I'm just gonna go to sickbay and lie down 'til your brother gets back."

River just stared into her eyes. "The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep. And miles to go before I sleep. And miles to go before I sleep."

Serenity gave a gentle bump as she landed near the ranch house. Kaylee watched Simon trot down the cargo ramp and toward the house followed by Shepherd Book. She then turned, limped toward sickbay for two steps and stopped. Something about what River said. Promises to keep. Miles to go before I sleep. A man was dying over there. A man she was rather fond of. Too many people died today. Polychrome, Cecilia, Snapdragon, that kid either she or Gary shot, the rest of the bandits who died in the crash. And she caused a good number of those deaths. As much as she can kid herself about it being an accident she really did kill those people.

She really should go to sickbay. She was wounded, exhausted, her stomach felt nauseous. Her leg hurt so bad! She'd been walking on it all day. Every step was agony! There was blood on her hands. Her friend, Polychrome got her brains blown out right in front of her! It was taking every ounce of willpower she had to keep from curling up into a screaming, weeping, ball of crazy. But something was pulling her toward the ranch house. Maybe there was something she could do to help. Maybe she could comfort the family. She began limping toward the open cargo bay doors. Promises to keep. We make a deal, we keep a deal. Miles to go before I sleep. And maybe a chance to find some redemption. Besides, Gary was in sickbay and she really can't stand that guy.

When she limped though the front door there was no sign of Simon. He must be in one of the bedrooms with Mr. Strober. Shepherd Book was standing in the corner talking quietly with Ellen Strober. There was a still form lying on the floor covered with a bed sheet. A large puddle of blood. The whole room had the metallic smell of fresh spilled blood.

Kaylee caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror. Is that what I look like? She looked like a zombie from one of those movies Wash was so fond of. Wash, good idea. She limped into the kitchen. A bar of soap next to the sink. She started with her arms and moved on to her face. Then she wet her hair and rubbed the bar into it trying to lather it. A bar of lye soap isn't as good as shampoo but after cleaning and rinsing it three times it should be clean enough. Kaylee combed her wet hair and limped back out to look into the mirror. She's not going to win any beauty contests but she won't scare the dogs away either. Kaylee limped over to the table and slumped into the "Seat of Honor." Her leg was throbbing, her head was throbbing. She couldn't think of a single inch of her body that didn't ache. And wherever total exhaustion was she had gone way past that into a whole new state of weariness. Kaylee folded her arms on the table to rest her head. Just rest her eyes for a few minutes.

There were voices in her head. Is that you, River? No it was Simon's voice. Could he do it too? She tried to focus.

"I'm sorry Ellen, I've made him comfortable but I'm afraid he doesn't have very long."

"Isn't there anything you can do?" A feminine voice.

"He really needs a pacemaker but I don't have one with me. Even with the ship I doubt that we can get him to the Emerald City Hospital in time."

Kaylee wanted to slip deeper into sleep but a nagging part of her conscience struggled to wake up. Promises to keep. Miles to go before I sleep. Make a deal, keep a deal.

"What's a pacemaker?"

Kaylee's sleepy voice startled Simon. He had been surprised to see her in the house when he came downstairs but she had been snoring lightly and he didn't want to disturb her. "It's a medical device implanted in the chest that delivers small electrical shocks to the atrium and ventricle of the heart to keep a rhythmic beat.

Kaylee didn't have the slightest idea what parts of the heart the atrium and ventricle were but she figured that was Simon's problem. "And a heart beats seventy five times a minute, right?"

He remembered months earlier when he had given everyone on the ship a complete checkup. Kaylee had been really enthusiastic about the experience unlike some people he could name. He had let her put on his stethoscope and time her own heartbeat. He had no idea she remembered her beats per minute after all this time. "That's normal for a woman. A man's heart is usually bigger and beats about seventy times a minute."

"Got it." Kaylee's eyes were flickering around the room and she chewed lightly on her lower lip. "That's a nice watch, Mrs. Strober. It's an Hourglass isn't it?"

Ellen distractedly fingered the gold, electronic watch on her wrist. She was still stressed out by her stepdaughter's murder and her husband's imminent death. "Yeah, it's their new Forever model. Sebastian gave it to me on our twentieth anniversary."

Kaylee nodded. "That's so sweet. It must mean a lot to you." She held her hand out. "But I'm gonna need you to give it to me and I'm sorry but you ain't gonna get it back."

Without a word Ellen Strober removed the watch and handed it to Kaylee who produced a small screwdriver from a pocket and began prying the back off. Sebastian was shocked. "Don't tell me you're going to try to turn a lady's watch into a pacemaker!?"

"Okay, I won't tell you. Ellen, if you take the back off that holoprojector you'll see an orange thing in the upper left hand corner. It should snap right out. Bring it over here please." The watch was made of real gold. That's good. Gold doesn't oxidize and people's innards tend to be rather damp.

"But a pacemaker is a precise medical instrument! Sixty seconds ago you didn't even know what one was!"

Kaylee had the back off and was using a pair of tweezers to remove a small chip the size of a grain of rice. "And now I do. I'm gonna need your help and advice on this, I can't do it by myself, but too many people have died today. Nobody else dies if I can help it! Ellen, after you get me the orange thing, hand me that comm unit by the lamp. Then you can go sit with Sebastian."

Simon was torn with indecision. The Doctor Simon Tam who was a leading surgeon on Osiris wouldn't dream of implanting a makeshift device hastily built by a half educated mechanic into a man's chest. Even to save his life. Even if it was successful, he would be sued, have his license revoked, end up disgraced, financially ruined, and arrested. But out here the rules have changed. He was already disgraced and financially ruined. His license had already been revoked. And if anyone wanted to arrest him they would just have to get in line. He lost everything but the one thing he treasured above all else. And while that other Dr. Tam had known several brilliant researchers he had never known one as imaginative as this undereducated genius sitting in front of him. She was right. Too many people have died.

"Zoe." He said into his comm unit. "I need you to bring my surgical instruments here and sterilize them." Zoe would assist him with the operation. She wasn't squeamish and had the ability to stay calm under the most stressful circumstances. He then leaned over the table peering over Kaylee's shoulder. There were now pieces of watch spread out on the table and she started taking apart the orange thing. He had no idea what she was doing but he would tell her what it had to do in the end.

Two hours later

Sebastian Strober sat up in the bed looking at the new scar stitched on his chest. Gathered around the bed were Simon, Kaylee, Ellen, and Zoe. "It seems to be working." He muttered.

"Hourglass's Forever watch is designed to recharge itself with the body's own electrical field." Kaylee said. "It may be using a little more power now than usual but the battery should last at least six years. I programmed the alarm to go off whenever your heartbeat drops below 70 beats per minute. The alarm is set to go off every second and sends a small charge out. I also reprogrammed the watch to think there are seventy seconds in a minute. It's an expensive watch with a lot of extra features that don't work on a pacemaker and just suck up power so I removed or burned them out. I also removed the voice activation because I don't want your heart to stop just because somebody says the wrong thing."

Sebastian nodded. "That's a good idea." He said dryly.

"It's still a makeshift affair at least four times larger than a modern pacemaker." Simon remarked. " It's even bigger than the first generation pacemakers of the mid Twentieth Century. I do recommend that you go to the Emerald City sometime and get it replaced."

"I'll get it replaced in my own hospital! The groundbreaking's next week!" Sebastian paused. "St. Cecilia's Hospital. There is a Saint Cecilia isn't there?"

Simon nodded. "Yes, I believe she's the patron saint of music."

Sebastian nodded sadly. "Yes, she always did like music."

Kaylee's eyes were nearly shut and she leaned against the wall, her face was very pale. "The comm unit and the holoprojector can both be repaired. I just took a few easily replaceable parts from them. But I'm afraid the watch is now a pacemaker and it ain't never gonna be a watch again." Her voice was barely above a whisper.

Ellen squeezed her husband's hand. "It's quite alright Kaylee. I'd much rather have the man than the watch. And I thank you from the bottom of my heart."

"S'Okay." Kaylee replied weakly. "Now if you don't mind, I think I'm gonna pass out now." Kaylee collapsed against Simon. He picked her up in his strong arms and carried her back to the ship. She never woke up when he took her to sickbay and gently removed her torn, dirty workpants. He injected her thigh with a local anesthetic, removed the bullet, then cleaned and bandaged the wound. She was just sleeping with a slight smile to her face.

The next day Mal went back into the ranch house with Simon and Kaylee. Kaylee leaned heavily on Simon somewhat exaggerating her limp because she enjoyed his arm around her. The sheriff was supposed to come by today to pick up Morgan West and take statements. As they stepped off Serenity's ramp they noticed a hover truck approaching. It came to a stop in front of the house and David climbed out.

"Don't worry, I'm okay. Is everybody else okay?"

Simon made sure Kaylee could stand on her own then stepped toward David. "You gorram coward! You left them to die!" He raised his fist to punch David but Kaylee grabbed his arm.

"No Simon! Don't hit him!" She couldn't let him hit David for being a coward. After all, she was the biggest coward out there.

Simon turned to look into her eyes. They had cleared up a lot since yesterday. He touched her cheek gently.

"Okay Kaylee, I won't hurt him." Meanwhile Malcolm brushed past them and slammed his fist into David's face knocking him to the ground.

"Captain!" Kaylee shouted.

"Were you talkin' to me? I saw you talkin' to the Doc but I didn't know you were talkin' to me." He turned back to the sobbing man on the ground and beckoned him. "Get up you gorram coward so I can hit ya some more!"

Suddenly Wilson Strober stepped between Malcolm and David and stared Mal in the eye. "If you got a problem with one of my people you come to me! Not him!

Mal glared at the young man. He knew he could beat the tar out of this kid in thirty seconds but the kid knew it too. And he was still standing his ground. Defending his people. The way a leader should. The anger drained out of him. "Okay, I apologize." Jabbing his finger into Wilson's chest. "To you! Not to him!" Waving his arm at the man on the ground he turned on his heel and strode to the ranch house. Kaylee gave Wilson a smile before she and Simon followed him.

Inside the house Sebastian was sitting in a wheelchair waiting for them. "The sheriff should be here in another hour to pick her up." He nodded at the sullen young woman handcuffed to the chair.

Malcolm took a seat. "Dr. Smith saw the same things you and your family saw so I don't see any reason to bore the sheriff with repetitious stories. You can tell what happened here and Kaylee will cover what happened on Snapdragon."

Sebastian smiled. "I understand why Dr. Smith won't want to bore the sheriff. He can wait in the other room."

Malcolm glanced at Morgan. "So, are you'all gonna hang her?"

"Of course not! Out here we traditionally use a firing squad. After a fair trial of course"

"Do you hafta shoot her?" Kaylee asked. "She's not much more than a kid. And growing up in that awful family, she never really had a chance!"

"I don't need any sympathy from you, bitch!" Morgan snarled.

Kaylee glanced at her, somewhat annoyed then looked back at Sebastian. She tried to give him the puppy dog look that sometimes worked on Malcolm when she was trying to get parts. "Please."

"If you were anyone else I would say no but for you Kaylee I'll see what I can do. I do have some influence around these parts. The best she can hope for is a very long prison sentence. Probably life."

Kaylee smiled "Thank you sir!"

"Captain Reynolds, why don't you and your crew stick around a bit? The groundbreaking ceremony for the hospital is next week. You'll be guests of honor."

Malcolm shook his head. "As much as I'd just love to stick around for a week to watch you and your buddies shoveling ceremonial bits of dirt around a field, we really have to move on. We more than kept our end of the bargain so we'll be collecting our scrubber and moving on. "

"If you can stick around for a couple of more days I have some cargo for you if you have room to squeeze it in."

Malcolm thought about his empty cargo hold and rather vague plans for the future. "I guess we could squeeze you in. What is it?"

"I've got eighty five cows."

"COWS!" Malcolm's voice went up at least three octaves.

"Yeah, they're being butchered and dressed as we speak. They should be ready the day after tomorrow."

"Oh, dead cows!" Malcolm relaxed. "We can squeeze them in. Destination?"

"Wellington Station. Ship's provisioner named Clymer. The Emerald City government decided beef was too expensive so they put a price ceiling on it. Not only that but we have to pay them a hefty tax for the privilege of selling it to them!" He shook his head. "Naturally there's a shortage of beef there now so they outlawed all exports. We can't even make an honest living anymore."

"I got no problem with takin' them off world for you."

"You'll have to set the cargo hold on freezing."

"That'll cost a little extra." Actually Serenity's life support system worked very hard to keep the cargo hold from freezing but since Sebastian took advantage of him in the first deal Malcolm didn't see anything wrong with taking advantage right back.

A couple of days later Sebastian watched the ship taking off. He knew Serenity's crew made a tidy profit but the real money was down here. The hospital is only the first step. He'll plead for leniency for Morgan West but only if she revealed the location of the gang's stash to him. The West family had been robbing and killing for over a decade and they should have quite a bit of money stashed away. With her confession he should also pick up a reward for their bodies.

His mind moved quickly. Rent some train cars to haul what's left of Snapdragon to the smelting plant in Emerald City and he'll make a sizable sum. And that was just the beginning. This moon is near Earth sized but only about eight percent of it was inhabited. Ninety one percent of the population lived in the Emerald City and they were content with being the only city on this rock. Having a monopoly on nearly everything. They taxed us to our eyebrows without spending a dime of tax money outside the city limits. The only reason they built the mag trains out here was to make it cheaper to get their groceries to them. Just last month they raised our taxes again to pay for the Emerald City Opera House! Most people out here are never going to visit the Emerald City much less the Emerald City Opera House!"

He glanced behind the house at the two fresh graves out there. That Shepherd Book did a nice funeral for Cecilia and Polychrome. Things were going to change around here. The Emerald City government only looked within. The Strober family looked out. Sasebo was on the best natural harbor on the Nonestic Ocean but there weren't any place for ships to go. They'll start a shipyard, build some ships and start some mining and farming colonies. Maybe a University. The big thing will be when they build the spaceport. Sebastian grinned. The government will throw a fit over that! But what can they do? Send out the Emerald City police department? If they push too hard we'll declare independence. Sasebo will become a major city and the Strober family have already bought up most of the available land in and around the town. Whatever we spent we'll make back a thousand fold. It'll take decades. He won't live to see it but perhaps his kids and grandkids will. The Strobers were going to establish a legacy.

Epilogue

Kaylee sat on the edge of the bunk in her nice party dress while River fixed her hair into a bun. She had attached amplifiers to the hull. Serenity's song was stronger now. After ten days her leg only gave slight twinges when she climbed the ladder out of her quarters. All her chores were done for the day. She had just finished doing routine maintenance on all the rebreathers on the space suits. Malcolm still wanted six more cry babies but they can wait till tomorrow.

"Thank you for fixing my hair River."

"Grooming each other is how apes establish social contacts."

"Well it's still nice of you to do it."

River finished. "I asked Shepherd if Snapdragon went to Heaven. He said he didn't know but he really thinks it's silly and impossible." She shook her head. "But his Bible is full of silly impossible things because Creator God likes it that way. If Creator God wants Snapdragon in Heaven then he can put Snapdragon in Heaven."

Kaylee smiled. "Well I'm not gonna tell God who he can or can't let into Heaven. If he wants her there then she's there." She stood up and looked in the mirror. "You got the tiara?"

River held it up and looked at it. "It's just carbon with a silver, copper alloy."

Kaylee's eyes sparkled as she took it from her. "But it's so pretty." She admired the workmanship. The jeweler did a very good job. She knew how hard it was to make things and this was a labor of love. An hour earlier River "borrowed" it from Captain Reynolds's quarters and she just had to try it on. Once it was on she tilted her head slightly to watch the small diamonds sparkle and flash. Usually she was content to be Kaylee the tomboy, Kaylee the grease monkey. But sometimes she just wanted to be Kaylee the woman. She knew the tiara didn't belong to her. It didn't belong to Malcolm. It really belonged to Serenity. In two days it was going away. Malcolm found a fence who was going to buy it for less than half of what it was worth but that's how things were when you were selling things that technically aren't yours. The money would go to fuel, crew's shares, parts, and maybe some real food in the galley. The gasket on the outside dorsal airlock door kept leaking. No matter how much repair gel she put on it. It would start leaking again in a few days. The fact was all the airtight gaskets were old and brittle. Should have been replaced decades ago. The tiara would buy new gaskets among other things.

"You are going to wear it to dinner tonight." River wasn't asking a question, merely stating a fact.

"They'll laugh at me."

"They can laugh at us but they can not stop us. No power in the 'verse can stop us."

Kaylee admired the tiara. "Yes, no power in the 'verse can stop us. Nice things are meant to be enjoyed. Not hidden away and sold to fences. I will wear it!"

River hooked her chin over Kaylee's right shoulder and laced her fingers over Kaylee's abdomen. Kaylee enjoyed the feel of River's soft hair on her cheek. The warmth of her body pressing against her back. The feeling of their ears gently rubbing together had a strange sensuous sensation. She put her hands gently on River's.

"She loved you." Kaylee had no doubt who River was referring to. Her smile faded.

"I killed her."

"No you didn't, you brought her to life. She was dying. Nothing you could do could stop it. You gave her death meaning. A chance to be useful again. One last chance to kiss the sky. To serve and protect the only person in the whole 'verse who really cared for her."

"She was a good ship."

"You have to tell the story."

"I don't know if it's the right time."

"They're sisters. Sisters care about each other."

"Yes, you're right. Sisters care about each other." Kaylee went back to her bunk with River. They sat down and Kaylee picked up a hairbrush and began gently brushing River's hair. She didn't care what apes did.

"Serenity, I'm going to tell you a story about one of your sisters. Her name was Snapdragon and even though she was a very good ship her captain and crew didn't love her, One day . . ."

The End

Author's note: River gives a quote from Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening by Robert Frost. Copyright 1923. She's had a very good education. So this is the end of my very first Firefly story. I hope you liked it.