10) Though You Can Fret Me, You Cannot Play Upon Me

And there is much music, excellent voice, in this little organ, yet cannot you make it speak? 'Sblood, do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, yet you cannot play upon me.

-Hamlet, William Shakespeare

Kitten was still on the cortex when he finally went to bed that evening. Her automatic searches had gone well enough apparently but now she was into manual husking. She was staring at the screens and lines of code and whispering to herself now and then in Chinese. He'd stuck a plate of food in front of her nose and she'd thanked him and begun to eat automatically but that was the most he'd gotten out of her.

He took a moment to be grateful they'd taken the time to set up in Universe's old area. It had been a pain to move all the cortex equipment from the hiding place but at least they weren't in a cave. There were actually windows behind the drapes covering the walls. The kitchen and bathroom worked still and once they'd scrubbed out the blood and replaced a cushion or two the couch was pretty comfortable. With the addition of a screen between the living area and the 'office' to shield his eyes from the glare of the cortex, it was actually a good space. With some research Kitten had managed to convert part of the couch to a futon type bed that folded out and claimed the office as her sleeping space, leaving the bedroom for him. The bedroom wasn't a bad space, about the same size as his cabin aboard the ship and once they'd gotten it set up with a mattress big enough for him it was pretty comfortable.

He'd argued against it, saying she'd sleep better with a locking door between her and the world but she'd shaken her head and said the moon was the one place she knew she was safe. Something about her emotional center being stabilized and the world being hers. He knew better than to continue the argument when she talked like that. And she did seem to enjoy lounging on the futon with Dog while she worked. She could go for days like that, a lot like now actually.

Morning didn't bring much of a change. Dog was sprawled across her lap while she used his spine as a desk for her keyboard and her hands flew over the keys. She didn't even seem to notice him in the doorway so he left her to it and went to make something for breakfast. She could go on for days like this, barely eating or sleeping as she followed rabbit trails all over the cortex in pursuit of the information they needed. It was times like these that he remembered why she needed him. He'd stick food and water in front of her, prod her into getting up and doing something physical to give her mind a break and in general remind her that she was more than a brain with a keyboard.

When Kitten finally emerged from her lair she was red eyed with fatigue but smelling triumphant on top of that. "No traps for us on the job for Patience, or on the Niska job that she could find." She told him happily as she took out the egg mix and began to whip it with water and powdered milk. "Can send a wave that we're interested in Niska's job after we land on Whitehall. Probably have to go interview, see Niska's show. Likes to display his ruthless nature. Sadistic old hún dàn."

Riddick nodded, moving to set the table and pour them both some tea. "Oughta see if we can find more tea when we stop on Regina."

"She will add it to the list." Kitten nodded as she prepared omelets with a side of hash. "Might want to look into some body armor."

"Dunno that we've got the cash for it but we can take a look," Riddick didn't think it was a bad idea. He might shrug off bullets but Kitten was tiny and something that was an irritant to him could blow a hole the size of his fist in her. "At least something for you."

"Both or none," She turned to frown at him. "Equal partners."

He sighed and didn't argue, pouring out Dog's food for him and sending a command to the ship via the cortex to flush out the lines and take on fresh water while he was thinking of it. When he returned to the galley Dog had wolfed down his own food and was eying the plates of eggs and hash hopefully. "No." He rolled his eyes at the animal. "You had yours."

Kitten sipped her tea and rubbed her eyes. "She will download all information to the ships cortex and nap for a bit. Then go over the particulars of the job on the salvage ship."

The crybaby was in place, ready to send out its plaintive wail of distress should they have the bad luck to have their precautions fail. River grinned as they shut the ship down, attached like a tick to the belly of the drifting derelict. "Easy as lyin'," She quoted Kaylee cheerfully and checked Riddick's suit while he did the same for her. Chances were they wouldn't even need the EVA suits to do the job but it was a good idea to have them on until they were certain.

"Yeah," Riddick's appreciation for her husking skills always took an upturn when they pulled a job like this. Hiding their heat signatures and life signs was no easy feat. "Dog's all snugged in."

"Keyed into their system. Hull is intact, secondary airlocks…intact. Flooding the ship with air…" She watched the calculator, figuring the amount of air needed to fill the ship and setting the Knorr's life support systems into overdrive to fill the derelict with enough air that they wouldn't need the suits to do their work. "Counting down…" The cortex beeped to signify its task complete. "Setting shut down sequences off now," She keyed the code into the cortex pad and stuck it to the velcro on the airlock wall. One by one the ship's systems went dark around them as they began to remove the EVA suits and the airlock opened as the final sequence ran.

The derelict ship's airlock hadn't sealed properly against the Black thanks to whomever had opened it last, but the inner doors were solid and thankfully, so was the third set. Triple sets of air tight doors, even if only from the official airlock into a hallway, were more the norm than the exception. The third door had probably kept the crew from being sucked into vacuum or dying of asphyxiation. Thankfully the Sanguine's airlock, with the modifications they'd made, would seal even to a slightly breached foreign airlock. It had been tricky and taken months of work but every time they pulled this type of job it was worth it. That was another time a genius cortex husker was handy. Riddick had appreciated the modifications even more when she said only Alliance ships usually had them. It gave them an edge over other boats. They made enough platinum off of salvage jobs that the time and trouble had been paid off several times over.

"What'n the hell happened to her?" Riddick wondered as they walked down the hall. Rooms along their way had furniture tumbled over, as if the crew had sprung out of their chairs heedless of anything but action. "Looks like everything's just abandoned."

River listened and frowned as the echoes of the ship bounced off the walls and back to her. "Pirates I think." She led him to the cargo hold. "They were smuggling genseed. But the cargo they were carrying more openly was rich enough for plunder."

"What were they carrying? Platinum?" Riddick frowned as he examined the cargo hold and its strange set up.

"Slaves." River pointed out the manacles and the cell sized crates with feeding slots. "Fèi wù hún dàns got what they deserved. Taken as slaves by the pirates along with the cargo of human flesh." She found the push mule and knelt where the job particulars had indicated the smuggling compartment would be. "Here."

"Let me," Riddick frowned and hefted the floor grate off the compartment door. "Gonna have to burn through that lock."

"Hmm," River nodded. "Probably right. I've practiced with locks, but it would take me too much time to pick it. Unless you've been holding out on me?" In answer, her partner reached into the satchel he carried and produced the sticky and burning gun, affixing the volatile putty to the lock and dragged the activating agent over it with the gun nozzle. A short while later the lock was easily removed from the door and they were loading their cargo onto the hand mule. Riddick had obviously not been holding back his superior lock picking skills.

"You wanna check the engine room for fuses and the like while I load this into our ship's airlock?" Riddick asked. "Unless we don't have time?"

Listening to the Black around them could be painful but this time there was nothing but silence for light years, except for… "Only one ship nearby. Hours before its even close. Even if we're scanned, no way to tell our ship from this one, not with all the debris around and no energy or life signs."

"Then let's scrounge." Riddick grinned at her. "I'll bring back another couple bags just in case."

"Good thoughts." She smiled back at him and replaced the grate over the compartment door. "I'll start with the engine room and then go through the bridge and galley."

They'd taken longer than they realized, scavenging through the engine room and making several trips back and forth to their airlock to load it with preserved foodstuffs, cortex workings and various parts that they could either sell or use on their own ship. Apparently, the pirates who'd taken the ship were so pleased with their score of slaves they hadn't bothered to loot much else.

River was trying not to laugh too hard at Riddick's exaggerated faces over the canned goods when she heard them. It was instinct to freeze into place, just as it was instinctive to look upwards. "What?" Riddick's voice was quiet. "Thought the nearest boat was hours away?"

"We've been here for hours." River told him tersely. She tilted her head, listening to the minds sailing above them. "We used our ship to provide this one with air when we docked, but no heat, no power…" Mentally she checked off their precautions as she spoke.

"Pried all the doors open manually over here, no power," Riddick murmured. "Ours is completely shut down."

"Atmosphere is cold enough that our body heat won't trip an alarm," River continued as she listened. "Pirates hid in the debris field and when the boat sailed near, boarded her. Debris, swept along in their wake, surrounds the derelict. The Purplebellies… know what this ship was. Know what hit them and don't care…"

"So they think there wouldn't be anything to loot," He nodded. "Surprised they don't want to tow it in for scrap."

"Prefer to leave it in place," She murmured as she listened. "A trap for unwary lawbreakers. Vultures picking over the dead."

"Sweet way of thinking," Riddick grimaced and she flicked her eyes over him with a half-smile.

"Not mine. Echoes of another's thought, found Serenity doing just such a thing." The Reader said quietly. "Bridge crew…all routine… bait seems to still be in the trap…Don't see anything out of the ordinary, running a sweep just in case…"

Riddick was a wall of tension beside her, both of them fully aware that now they'd have no choice but to trust their precautions would be enough. River kept one eye on her handheld cortex as she listened to the crew of the Alliance ship. "Scanning now…" Her cortex gave a tiny chime, confirming the scan and she smiled. "No heat, no life, nothing to indicate scavengers. Purplebellies are sailing onwards. Didn't even pause."

Riddick's slow sigh of relief was heartfelt. "Guess it's not paranoia when they're really out to get you," He grinned at her. "Anybody else gonna come knockin'?"

She shook her head, the abrupt absence of tension almost making her dizzy. "We can take our time. Go through the crew quarters for anything of value. Doubt there's much, them being taken by pirates but something could have been overlooked."

Riddick chuckled as they squeezed into their airlock. A Knorr's cargo bay doors weren't overlarge, but they weren't small either. Besides the gen seed they'd scavenged, the parts and food, he and Kitten had found a treasure trove of personal belongings in the secondary cargo bay. She'd paused and frowned over the various cases and trunks and he'd known something was wrong.

"Belonged to the 'passengers' that they chained. Paid their passage… paid for the privilege of being chained instead of taken to the Rim to be settlers." Her scent was angry and he guessed it was because of that betrayal, similar to hers at the Academy.

"So people signed on to be passengers, and got taken for a ride by slavers, and the slavers got boarded by pirates, who took everyone, including the slavers, as slaves," Riddick parsed through her explanation and shook his head when she nodded. "S'pose they got what they deserved then. If someone catches up to the pirates."

She sighed, nodding her confirmation even as she looked over everything. "Nothing for it. Might find something of value. Best to move everything to the airlocks and move it all quickly while our ship heats up again. Cold starts aren't good for the engine."

So they'd busied themselves moving everything they'd found to the derelict's airlocks and theirs and now barely had breathing room in the small space while she booted the ship up again. Once the Sanguine's doors opened moving back and forth transferring their finds kept them warm while the ship roused itself. The chill in the air didn't begin to fade until well after they'd left the derelict and fetched the crybaby from where they'd left it.

Riddick watched as Kitten picked up a boxy part meant for somewhere in the engine with a half-smile. "What's that?" He nodded at the part as he began to sort out the crates, trunks and bags.

"Reg couple," She turned the part in her hands. "Just…reminded me of something." She was still half smiling, part of her scent warm, matching her smile, while the salt of her sorrow threaded through her scent.

"Somethin' good or bad?" He began to pry open a crate. It would be time consuming to go through all the salvage they'd moved but worth it in the end. There were plenty of second-hand shops all over the 'verse and if they couldn't use it they'd sell whatever it was. And it wasn't as if they didn't have plenty of time in the Black.

"Bit of both actually," She put the part down. "You really want to know?"

He shrugged, "Gotta sort through all this junk while we sail towards Whitehall. Might as well talk while we do." Dog's whine of annoyance reached his ears, "Lemme let Dog out and then we'll get to work."

It took a few minutes to get Dog calmed down. The big animal never liked being alone on the ship and tended to sniff, lick and otherwise inspect his people when they returned to him. Kitten rubbed her hands over Dog's stripy coat and fluffy mane before patting him and sending him off to his box of sand. "Back when I was sailing with Serenity, there was…a problem."

"If the way you maintain the engine so religiously is an indicator it was more than a problem," Riddick commented as he began to work on the crate again.

"Catalyzer on the port compression coil blew," Kitten told him. "I wasn't in my right mind, so I really couldn't help. I was, however, morbid and creepifyin' whenever I could be. Discomforted the crew. Tongue wagged without thought, no sanity to curb the flow." She began to go through one of the bags. "We ought to make piles, things we can use for certain. A pile for you, one for me, one for the ship, then a pile for women's clothes, men's and children's. Sundries we can figure out as we go or just make another pile for them and sort through it after."

"Catalyzer…" He knew just enough about engines to know that part cost next to nothing and was easy to find. "You didn't have an extra?"

She shrugged, "I never did find out why, though I'm sure they have more than one now. But I got the impression that money was tight and Mal'd been putting it off for some time." She pulled out a shirt, regarded it dubiously and put it in a pile. "Mal is a man of strong emotions…and his memories… He'd been recalling when he showed Zoe, the first mate, the ship for the first time." Kitten's laugh was affectionately amused, "Like any man in love, Mal only saw the high points. Zoe was less than impressed. She called it a piece of zá wù. And a deathtrap. Prophetic considering our situation at the time." Her voice changed as she quoted, "Ship like this, be with ya 'til the day you die." She smirked and added, "'Cause it's a deathtrap."

"And people sailed with the man voluntarily?" Riddick succeeded in getting the crate open and grinned at the sight of a tea set. It'd be worth selling if they couldn't use it.

"Not a bad Captain, just… on the raggedy edge." Kitten shrugged. "And that was before most of our allies were killed." She kept working steadily as she spoke. "It was…interesting…I'd get pulled into his memories of how he met each of the crew. Wash interviewed for a job, and Zoe didn't like him at first. He bothered her. Inara rented a shuttle from him, and bargained him down on the rent because having a Companion aboard would be of value to a ship of uncertain circumstance."

Riddick grinned, "Good for her. Heard tell there's planets in the Core won't even let you dock you don't have a Companion on board."

"It's true. Osiris is one of them." She nodded and held up a shirt to her front, nodding and setting it aside in her pile before throwing a men's shirt at him to do the same. "Color looks well on you, a good deep red. Put it in the pile and we'll wash everything once we're properly docked somewhere."

He nodded, trusting her word and did as she suggested. "So I guess the Captain and the Companion didn't get along?"

"Like two cats in a sack," Kitten grinned. "Always sparking off each other." She smiled, "They met Jayne when he and his crew tracked them down to steal from them. And they made Jayne an offer which he took. At the time Jayne took self-interest to a new level and he had a very direct view of the 'verse. If it affected him and it was bad, he didn't like it."

"Well who does," Riddick chuckled. "Guessin' he turned on his old crew?"

"Took their offer and never made a move towards mutiny but because he'd turned on his old crew, he was…suspect. Took Miranda for him to be fully proven to the Captain." She smiled slightly, "Made a few mistakes but once Jayne learnt a lesson it stayed learned."

"You said your brother and the preacher came aboard as passengers, and you got smuggled on in a box." He recalled. He frowned as he recalled how much she hated cryo when she was sane, he couldn't imagine how much more disorienting it would be when she was unstable.

"Yes," Kitten giggled. "And when the Captain met Kaylee she was…involved, intimately, with his ships mechanic." She paused and slanted him an amused glance, "In the engine room. On her back, under Serenity's engine."

"In the…" He tilted his head, enjoying the scent of happiness she was exuding. "I can think of more romantic places, not to mention cleaner ones."

"Kaylee liked engines. Really, really, liked engines." Kitten explained, still highly amused. "Captain was irked at being parked on a rock for too long. Went looking for why. Mechanic was…not competent. But Kaylee had seen the trouble while she was on her back, and she fixed it. The reg couple was bad. Took it out and plugged the G-line right into the port-pin-lock and the engine began to turn."

"Sounds like she's a genius mechanic," Riddick whistled. "Not easy to keep an old ship running well."

Kitten nodded, her scent threaded with sorrow but her smile still curved her lips. "I'm a genius, I can learn…nearly anything. But Kaylee… machines just speak to her. Our engines, I can keep them running because they're simple. Because we've practically rebuilt them, so I know them in and out and if I needed I can make alterations with enough time to run the math. But it still takes me a certain amount of time to determine a problem, that's why I'm always running maintenance checks, so I catch anything before it gets bad. I'm good, but I'm not gifted like she is. Kaylee can tell just by listening to the engine what a ship needs."

"'Verse needs all sorts of geniuses Kitten." Riddick told her with a smile. "Dog an' I'll take you any day of the week."

Her smile was bright and sweet and he was glad he'd made the effort as the lines of pain around her eyes faded slightly.

Author's Note: So the salvage job went well despite a bump or two. I always thought that these two would be very careful regarding risk versus reward. Lots of preparation, lots of precautions. They've both got good reason to not want the Alliance to come sniffing around. Getting caught working 'salvage' when they're not licensed as a salvage ship would be very bad. Riddick has plenty of experience avoiding the law and River spent all that time on Serenity, she'd pick things up quickly once she got her sanity back. They're not perfect, but knowing that their lives would depend on the reliability of their ship, I figured they sank a lot of time and work and coin into making it what they needed. They're not quite on the raggedy edge but they're only slowly easing into something of a profit after nearly a year of partnership, because they invested so much in fixing up and fitting out their ship. Hence no body armor, salvaging everything they can and all those precautions.

Chinese Translations:

hún dàn (bastard)

Fèi wù (good for nothing)

zá wù (junk / items of no value)