What Begins with an Apple, Part 13a
Naked mole rats and Blue Sun.
A/N: Just want to take a moment to thank those who have left anonymous reviews or who have disabled PM's. I can't thank you personally, but I appreciate your comments!
Using Jayne's electronic door opener, she let herself out of the room. She carefully replaced the door opener in its secret cache, closed the door behind her, and slipped into the shower to retrieve the bolt remover. Not chancing the trip through the dining room this time, Saffron removed the bolts from a panel in the cargo bay, and gained access to the crawl space underneath the crew hallway. Gorrammit, this place was filthy! Probably hadn't been cleaned since the hull was laid down fifty years ago. Worse than the gorram chicken crate. In cortex dramas, when people crawled through secret ductwork, it was never this filthy! When she finally reached the panel leading up to the bridge, she waited, listening for sounds of activity. Her view through the holes in the panel was limited, but she could see the pilot's chair was empty, and the autopilot was engaged. She couldn't see or hear anyone, and after waiting and listening for a long time, she decided that whoever was on watch had left the bridge.
Silently she lifted the panel and pulled herself onto the bridge.
River, sitting with her feet drawn up in the co-pilot's seat, whipped a gun out and aimed it directly at her face.
"You're like a human weapon," Saffron gasped. "You're not going to shoot me now, are you?"
River cocked the gun.
"We could…talk some more," Saffron offered.
"Naked mole rat," was River's authoritative reply. The fingers of River's left hand were busy at the control desk, even as she held Saffron at gunpoint.
Saffron was completely confused by this irrelevant statement, but with the gun trained on her, who was she to protest? She tried edging away, but the barrel tracked her precisely. How did that girl do that?
"Eusocial rodent," River elaborated. "One female breeds with multiple males, keeps all the others in a state of subjection. Highly adapted to an underground life. Moves backwards as readily as forwards. Crawls through tunnels." River looked Saffron directly in the eye, the gun never wavering from its target. "Feels no pain."
Saffron quailed, though she tried desperately to hide it. The mad girl had the trigger partially depressed, and a breath was all it would take to complete the shot. "I…can feel pain," she whispered, unsure of how to play the game for once in her life.
"No. Can't," River answered. "Substance P deficiency in the skin."
At Saffron's terrified bafflement, River rolled her eyes and continued. "Substance P. Neurotransmitter. Without it, pain signals are not transmitted." She snorted and added, "Doesn't mean that you can't inflict damage." She locked her eyes on her target and focused her attention back to her aim.
At that moment, Saffron's attention was distracted by the arrival of the Captain and Zoe on the bridge.
"—that 神经病 shén jīng bìng loose on this boat—what the hell is this?" The Captain pulled up short at the sight that greeted him, and in an instant, Saffron had three guns trained on her.
She held up her hands.
"What are you doing here?"
"Came to ask directions," she offered.
"How'd you get here?"
"Naked mole rat. Crawled through tunnel," River responded.
Mal glanced over at the displaced access panel to the crawl space, taking in Saffron's apparent mode of entry, while Zoe covered the prisoner. "So how'd you get into the crawl space?"
"Wish I hadn't," Saffron replied, recovering some of her spunk as she engaged in the more familiar sparring with the Captain. "It's absolutely filthy in there. Do you people never clean?"
"Naked mole rats collect shiny objects and secrete them in their burrows," River inserted.
"Hush a moment, Albatross," Mal said, gesturing. "Asked you a question, Yo-Saff-Bridge. Waitin' on an answer."
"You'll be waiting a good long time then, 爱人 àiren," she replied, with a provoking smile. She made as if to lower her arms, but Zoe intervened.
"You just keep those hands in evidence," Zoe ordered. "And let's make this perfectly clear, sister: the Captain ain't your 爱人 àiren."
"Married me, didn't he?"
Zoe's response was sudden and unexpected. In an instant she had Saffron shoved against the bulkhead, the muzzle of her mare's leg pressed against her throat. "You 贱货的 潑婦 jiàn huò de pōfù, I will end you, you so much as—"
"Zoe, stand down," Mal ordered.
"Sir, she's a danger to the ship. Better off killing her and spacing the body." Zoe's eyes were flashing with murderous intent.
"Stand down," he repeated, reinforcing it with a look. His own weapon and River's remained aimed on Saffron. Tempting as it was, spacing Saffron was not an option. "Much as I'd enjoy watchin' you do it, it just ain't the thing to do right now…it'd leave too many unanswered questions." Such as, why is Saffron even on this boat? What's so important that she's willing to risk every kind of stand-off with us to do it? And—"Who put you up to this job?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"And why are you here?"
Silence.
"Can't just end her," he said in an aside to Zoe.
"Don't see why not, sir."
"'Cause she's—" he struggled to articulate his reasons without showing all his cards to that evil snake. It was those off-ship partners who were Saffron's protection. If she disappeared without explanation, likely they'd notice, and then there'd be hell to pay. He didn't want to reveal any of his speculations on the subject in front of Saffron. "Just…'cause," he finished, rather lamely. He cocked his head significantly and gave Zoe a pointed look, trying to convey the message.
Zoe was too angry to pick up on his unspoken communication this time. "I can't believe you still got a soft spot for that 潑婦 pōfù," she retorted.
"Zoe." His rising voice carried a warning. I am not havin' this discussion with you now. "This ain't the ruttin' town hall."
Zoe did not offer further argument, though the fire in her eyes was barely contained.
"Zoe, you get Jayne. Thorough search of Saffron's quarters and any place she's been on this boat. Dining room, head, cargo bay, engine room…and the gorram crawl space. I'll frisk her for contraband and weapons. Then call the crew for a meeting. River, helm's still yours." Focusing back on Saffron he added, "I expect your full cooperation, or you're goin' back into that chicken crate for the duration. Is that clear?"
. . .
Unfortunately, the search turned up very little. Saffron carried on her person another fuse filament of the type she had previously deployed in the cargo bay, and one other device whose purpose remained obscure. An electronic tracking code was found on one of the two chicken crates in the cargo bay, but it was unclear if this item was a legitimate part of the shipment or placed there by Saffron. The search of her room revealed nothing but an innocuous length of microfilament. Saffron kept mum while Zoe was watching, but whenever the first mate was out of range, she improved her time by harassing Mal with innuendo.
Mal made an excursion into the crawl space. The exploration yielded nothing but a missing sock and an inactive safety deposit box keycard he'd lost through the grating years ago—and one helluva lot of dust. (It really was filthy, and he put cleaning the crawl space onto his mental list of captain-y things to do. Damn Saffron for being right about something.)
Meanwhile, Saffron was very pleased. Although she hadn't yet enacted the main plan, things were going well. Sure, they'd confiscated a few of her toys, but that, after all, was part of the plan. She had brought plenty to act as decoys, and could afford the sacrifice. They still hadn't discovered her main cache, and her door-opening system was working like a charm. She'd been systematically besting each and every member of the crew she had dealt with so far—well, excepting that crazy girl…and perhaps that snarky doctor, too. But the others—she'd succeeded in messing them around so that they were all thrown off balance. And unless Mal was willing to do a full body-cavity search, he would never discover the really dangerous stuff. Oh yes, Malcolm Reynolds, you can miss a place you've never been.
. . .
Steeling himself for the onslaught he knew was coming, he unlocked the door and faced Serenity's resident goddess of discord, the tormentor of all aboard.
"Ah, the young scientist!" Saffron exclaimed with a bright smile. "I was wondering when I'd get to spend a little time alone with you."
Ip was disconcerted. Not to mention nervous. On the other hand, it wasn't that long since he'd faced the nameless lethal rod that the Blue Hands carried, looked into the face of death, and…seen his former friend Bill. Bill the Hitman. So, what the hell, could this really be any worse?
"Shower," he said tersely, and gestured for her to proceed down the hallway.
She looked so harmless, so much less menacing than blue-handed men in suits with lethal weapons, but he'd already seen her completely discomfit the Captain, push Zoe into a murderous rage, and knock Jayne out cold. If she could do that to the toughest people he knew, what was she going to do to him?
"You seem like an intelligent, well-educated man, Doctor," Saffron said.
"I am," Ip answered confidently, "but I don't let it go to my head."
"So I'm wondering, why are you on this boat consorting with criminals?"
Ip stared at her. Then he answered, in a quiet voice, "I'm on a mission."
She raised her eyebrows and stared. Ip made a subtle gesture for her eyes only.
Oh….This she did not expect. Recovering from her momentary surprise, she gave the Blue Sun countersign. He nodded, and they proceeded silently to the shower.
. . .
"So did it work?" River asked.
"Sure did," he answered. "Shut her right up."
. . .
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glossary
神经病 shén jīng bìng [insane person]
爱人 àiren [husband, lover]
贱货的 潑婦 jiàn huò de pōfù [cheap floozy]
潑婦 pōfù [floozy]
What is Saffron up to? Who is she working for? Any speculations?