Chapter 10
As far as Del was concerned, they couldn't get off the ground quick enough. But she also knew that she couldn't leave her only bargaining chip lying in the desert.
Zoe was doing her best to give aid to her new hosts, offering her experience as a field medic to help Fram.
"Emma. Keep pressure here. Right above the wound," Zoe instructed her daughter. With a careful, firm hand, Zoe removed her scarf and pressed it into the wound on Fram's upper leg. Blood soaked through the frabric, covering her hands. Things were worse than she thought. "It's no good. Let's get him to the infirmary."
The hog-mule was in bad shape too, with three flats and several bullet holes. It was still running, but it was going to need help to get back into the cargo bay. Del started barking orders.
"Whisker, get upstairs and start warming the engines. Jayne! Quit worrying your wound and get the hoist chain. We'll drag the mule back on."
Minutes later the hog-mule, with its sled of bots still attached, was pulled onto the cargo ramp by the mechanical crank. Not wasting a second, Del began closing the cargo ramp with the bots barely inside. As the ramp rose higher, the flat metal plate slid down the ramp, dumping the bullet riddled robot bodies on the cargo bay floor.
"Whisker! We're on. Go!" Del shouted into the intercom.
Whisker, on the bridge, keyed in the final start up sequence with the switches above his head, and ignited the turbines. The Firefly jolted and jarred more than usual at his hands. The need for an urgent departure outweighed smoothness at this particular moment. Jaggedly, the pilot lifted them all into space. He plotted his course away, with no specific destination, and blasted the engine.
Del exchanged a glance with Jayne as she aimed for the infirmary to check on her more seriously injured friend. The irritable look in Jayne's eyes let her know he was going to live.
The captain entered the infirmary in time to catch the last of a conversation.
"Now, please," said Zoe in a sober, motherly voice to Emma. Her order clear, the young teenager grudgingly exited the room to follow her mother's orders.
Fram lay unconscious on the gurney in the center of the room.
"How is he?" Del asked.
"He's stable, I think. Digging the bullet out wasn't easy. He'll need blood."
"I'll add it to the shopping."
The young skipper watched as the stolid woman rinsed her bloodied hands in the sink. Seeing her now, Del understood Jayne's fear. She stood tall and rigid, with a calm, steady demeanor. If she made a decision, it was for a precise purpose all her own. And if that decision was to kill you, she would assuredly find a way to do it, before she died.
"Thank you. For saving him."
"Uh-huh," was all Zoe offered in return.
Del was not one to leave a bear sleeping in her bunk undisturbed. She decided to give a poke, and dive right in.
"So. You wanna kill Jayne?"
This gave Zoe pause.
"Let's just say I owe him," said the avenger.
"Yeah. He strikes me as someone who collects debts."
Zoe turned to meet the conversation.
"Listen, ..." She paused, waiting for Del to fill in the blank.
"... Del."
"Listen to me, Del. That man out there, can't be trusted. He cares only for himself, and serves only himself. You should toss him before you learn that the hard way."
Del can see the sincerity in Zoe's eyes. But she passes over the warning anyway. "So you're not sticking around then?"
Her warning ignored, Zoe moved on. "Emma's calling Simon and Kaylee right now," she said flatly. "There's an old rendezvous we have for these sorts of things. It's not far from here. If it's no trouble."
"Sure. Let my pilot know."
"Thank you," Zoe returned. Thinking the exchange was over, Zoe made move to leave.
Del doesn't know why she chose her next words. They just came out.
"You're right. He's a lying bastard. But he's our lying bastard. So stay the hell away from him." The two women stood their ground, one with the steadiness of experience, the other with the fire and confidence of youth. Neither wanted to give the other the satisfaction of standing aside. They both tacitly agreed to leave the fight there. For now.
Zoe exited up the stairs, on her way to the bridge, and Del returned to the cargo bay. She was now twice mad with Jayne. One, for improving her shooting, and two, for making her his advocate.
"Are you done bleeding yet?"
"I don't-"
"Well hurry up about it. We've got a mess here to fix."
"Did you reach them?" Zoe asked, stepping into the cramped guests' quarters.
"Yeah. They'll have to go see River, so we might have to wait for them."
"And did you apologize for running off and leaving them to worry?"
"I did," said Emma. Then she added, "But I'm not sorry." The defiant teen was clearly looking for a fight.
Zoe carefully stepped to the shoreline to see where this path was leading.
"Do you have something you want to say?" she asked.
"Why do I have to go back? Why do you care where I'm at?"
And there it was. The beginning of a conversation Zoe was ill prepared for. The first step into rushing water, that wanted to pull both mother and daughter in.
"Because, I'm your mother. It's my job to raise you right, to know what's good and solid, and what isn't."
"How would you know what's good for me anymore?"
The initial shock of her daughter's words knocked the warrior woman off balance. Zoe felt the torrent of the undertow threatening to pull them under.
"Kaylee and Simon are kind folk. But they're not my parents. He's not my father ..." Her words cut deeply. "... and she's not my mother."
Zoe tried to keep them from flowing down river. "Emma, it's best, for now, that you have a stable place to call home. Not straying all over the 'verse. That's what your father wanted for y -"
"No!" Immediately Zoe was looking at a two year old Emma again. "I know what's best for me now. It's you. Where ever that is." Zoe does not have a response ready for this. "If you leave me there again, I'll run again."
Her threat was not meant to scare Zoe, but to force her hand. Whatever her intent, though, Zoe was unprepared for it. "We can talk about it more when - ." Emma, unsatisfied, stormed out, not staying to hear Zoe finish.
Left alone, sitting in silence, Zoe felt Wash's absence heavy beside her. And she could't tell if this break in momentum with her daughter was because they had found respite on a river bank or gone over the falls to crash on the rocks below.
Interlude II
" . . . You gotta bury them deeper. Especially 'round here. The top soil is so dry and hot . . ." Kaylee was kneeling in the dirt, digging up bulbs and burying them deeper. River and Simon stood off to the side of the garden, out of the farm girl's way.
River was counting the minutes as patiently as she could. They had arrived thirteen minutes ago and they were still making pleasantries. Neither Kaylee or Simon had asked about what they came for.
"I'm afraid we city kids are poor gardening students," Simon said.
"They need a cool, damp place to take hold," Kaylee continued, standing to dust off her hands. "If we get you a longer hose for your rain barrel, we can run in it under the ground and keep the bed soil wet-"
"We need to fix the G-line," River interrupted.
Simon was baffled by her outburst. Kaylee understood what her friend was saying immediately. But she didn't know River's reasons, though.
River tried to help her brother catch up:
"I know, ... ya know."
"Mei-mei, I don't understa-"
"I know ... what you gave up. How many times others warned you to turn back ... but you didn't. For me. ... I know that dad ... I know he told you. He doesn't want us back. I see it ... like a book. In here." River placed a hand on the side of Simon's head. "And in here." She touched her own head. "And in here." She put her hand over her brother's heart. "I was lucky. ... I had a brother ... a brother who came for me. Those ones that you saw ... the ones that survived ... They're still there. Don't they deserve ... someone to come for them?"
River knew almost instantly that her decision had become clear in their minds. She was decided. The three of them would be leaving together.
But first, there's newly discovered repairs to make. That meant someone was going to have to go back to the house ...
Simon reappeared at the head of the trail, huffing, nearly out of breath. Over his shoulder was the bag of tools and small parts Kaylee had sent him back for. She and River had spent the time of his absence relaxing and laughing on the porch.
"Well howdy stranger. Long time no see," Kaylee chided him.
It had taken a few hours for him to scale down the foothills, get the parts, and then return. He ran as much as he could.
"Did you get everything?"
"... yes ...", he said between breathes.
"Alright then. Let's get this puppy back in the air."
Hiking to the rear side of the cabin, the three travelers each silently delighted in their upcoming task. Kaylee undid its tie-downs, while River pulled back the large sheeting to reveal their ship. The mechanic's smile broadened. It had been a while but the old ship still held a shine. Inara always took better care of her shuttle than Mal did the rest of Serenity. And he loved Serenity.
"So ... G line huh?" Kaylee said. "Gimme about 30 minutes and we'll be flyin' in no time."