Act 3
As they departed the Conference Suite to head to their stations, Elia hung back with Abebech for a moment. "Thank you, Commander. I know it was hard for you as well and I know that you normally don't talk about such things. But it meant a lot for you to confirm and support me on this issue. It must have been very hard for you. Or perhaps it would have, once upon a time, at least. I know you have seen much."
"Thank you, Commander Saumarez. That is correct. There was a time when this would have badly disturbed me. I hope, in the main, there was a time when this would have badly disturbed anyone. However, I am fine right now, and the only wisdom I can offer is that by remaining utterly focused on your moral objectives, the principles which drive you to endure these sights, you will, in time, handle these matters more calmly."
"That's why you're as scary as hell to a lot of people, Commander," Elia smiled wryly. "Most people think that…"
"The characteristic of a fanatic, I know." Abebech actually smiled back. "The difference is that I still have a sense of humour and make-or at least keep-friends across the aisle. But the objective remains the same. Commander, you're a brave and capable woman. The memories of others are an ultimate form of dwelling in the past. The future is clean and pure, unwritten for anyone. Dwell in the future, and the memories of the past will fall off your mind like water off a duck's back. They can't hold purchase over someone who is optimistic about the future. It is an attitude which takes a virtual lifetime to develop…"
But you have it, Abebech, so you're clearly rather old.
Abebech grinned before she turned away to head to the Heermann. This time, she actually answered. A bit older than the norm, you're quite right. But I promise I wouldn't be offering advice you couldn't use.
Well, I'll try to take it, but it may require a grace greater than any I've had before. I also never expected you to join in a ship's cheer.
Oh, come now. These things matter to people. Unity of strength and purpose make for a better crew and officer corps, and my privacy does not prevent my heart from stirring with my comrades.
With a dry wave, she left, but for a change, Elia felt much better about it.
Abebech, as silent and reserved as ever, got in the 'lift and called up the Heermann dock. As it traveled, she pulled a builder's plate out of her pocket that she had taken from the captured ship, and looked long and hard at it, cupped in her gloved hands.
Weyland-Yutani Corporation.
"We Build Better Worlds."
Heavy Shipbuilding Division
Union of Allied Planets Navy
Enforcement Cruiser Ioannis
Laid at Londinium Geostationary Dockyards
Oct 14 2510.
Gripping it tightly, she put it back in her breast-pocket as she left the turbolift.
The Huáscar hadn't suffered appreciable damage. The nature of the battle had been such that only light autocannon fire had hit the hull, and the armour had easily rejected all of it. The only internal damage had been from shock, and the repairs to those systems had been completed, with the re-mounting of the shield generators having been the most aggressive effort by Commander Poniatowska. Despite the seriousness of the attack, they had suffered only eleven wounded. The nineteen wounded during the boarding operations were also mostly minor; armour helped.
The great ship came about to intercept the new contact with alacrity. Redlight muted the environment of the bridge, and everyone was at stations. They were taking no chances now… They would have to make an impulse burn for twelve hours to escape the warp interference area. Doctrinally that left them hideously vulnerable to attack even as the great shining hull suggested a power and energy which nothing they had encountered in the system so far could match.
"Comms, Hail them."
Tor'jar was at his station and sent the signal. "Unidentified vessel, this is the Allied Systems Cruiser Huáscar. We wish to make peaceful contact."
"They're turning away and increasing speed," Elia reported with almost a sigh.
"Pursue. Get them to pay attention to us," Zhen'var directed.
Violeta brought the Huáscar up to full power and watched a kilometre of durasteel steadily build her speed onto her speed. The massive vessel she controlled was something like an armoured cruiser of the early 20th century, capable of fighting in the battle-line, conducting independent operations, and transporting a division of troops. Never had one of the class been this utterly alone before, a month from resupply or reinforcement, and this sorely tested by a situation that defied understanding. But when Violeta brought the drives to power, the ship's staggering ability reinforced her status as the biggest, most dangerous thing around. Within seconds they had leapt from a distant image to a looming giant to the crew of the unidentified ship.
"This is the Allied Systems Cruiser Huáscar, please identify yourselves. We wish to make contact."
"Alliance ship," a man's voice finally came back on an open comm channel, "are you detaining us or not? If not, we'd like to be left alone."
Zhen'var barely stopped from putting a palm to her forehead. Of course, the names of the central government here and our own government are so similar the Captain thinks we are a Government ship. And he is an outer systems man this far out, who isn't particularly interested in the government. Maybe even opposed to it. She activated her own interface to the line. "Commander unidentified vessel, this is Captain Zhen'var. The Huáscar serves a foreign government to your system."
"Captain Zhen'var," the voice came back, "Don't play games with me. There is nothing beyond the 'Verse."
"Captain, that's emphatically not true. You came from Earth."
"Earth-that-was. It's dead, just like the name says."
"The reports of Earth's demise have been exagerrated," to put it mildly, but I need to get them to sit down and talk before revealing everything! She muted the channel. "Leftenant, pull us ahead of them at point-blank."
"Captain," Violeta acknowledged and brought the Huáscar's drives to power again. She grew nearer and nearer to the tiny independent merchant. The vessel repeatedly tried to evade, but Violeta stayed on her tail and then overhauled her, keeping formation with her evasive manoeuvres and looming massively over the cockpit windows of the small transport, casting her entirely within the shadow of the kilometre-long star cruiser.
"Commander unidentified vessel, does this look like a ship of your central government?"
"No, but I reckon if they could build it, they would. It doesn't matter, though. I would say I am in a position where I have to listen to whatever you want to say, Captain Zhen'var, so go ahead and say it."
"We will bring your ship aboard and meet. There is much to discuss between your humanity and the Allied Systems, Captain… May I have your name?"
There was a long and pained hesitation, but the Huáscar had his ship dead by rights, and if they wanted him, they'd have him. "Reynolds. Malcolm Reynolds."
The ship, it turned out, had a crew of five aboard, three women and two men-and one of the women was carrying a newborn baby with her. The leading man, rather obviously Captain Malcolm Reynolds, looked exhausted, and his crew stressed and pushed to the limit. They also gazed at her with the obvious suspicion of people not in isolation suits confronted with someone who was.
All of that changed when Nah'dur completed her medical scanning and pulled her helmet off, shaking out her shoulder-length bob of red hair, the honour guard drawn up in full pressure suits. "There's nothing air or aerosol transmissible of consequence, the bay air will be switched to general circulation," she ordered via her omnitool, and then addressed the five. "I am Surgeon-Commander Nah'dur, welcome to the Huáscar on the behalf of Captain Zhen'var."
Mal's shock was evident on his face. Then a rather accusatory look fell across his chiseled features. "You told me you were from Earth-that-was!"
"...Maybe cat people took it over after humans died out there?" One of the shorter women in the crew, in simple spacer's overhauls, was staying wide eyed as she blurted it out.
"Oh, neither. We said we knew that people had survived on Earth-which is true, there is a small remnant population. We also have humans aboard - from several places. But half the crew is my species, the Dilgar."
A dark-haired woman who looked a bit like mother-Ka at a younger age, the same ethnicity anyway, took a hesitant step forward, understandable because of the child held in her arms. "And the Captain is as well?"
"You're very observant with our names. Yes, she is," Nah'dur answered matter-of-factly. "Please, this way, we have a conference suite." She watched the second man stay close between the two shorter women, his eyes tracking everything, wide and thoughtful. Nah'dur knew another intellectual when she saw one. "Sir…?"
"Oh. Doctor Tam, Surgeon-Commander Nah'dur," he answered, and hesitated to put out his hand.
She reached forward and took it anyway. "A pleasure to meet you, Doctor Tam. We actually have much to discuss. Well, if you're a medical doctor, that is. Other people will be interested if you're a Doctor of Laws, and I suppose someone will even want to talk if you're a Doctor of Art History, though I don't know who off the top of my head."
"Oh, no, I'm a medical Doctor. It sounds you're the equivalent?"
"Yes, though Surgeon-Commander is not exactly the same. But I do also have a doctorate in Genetics."
"All right, all right," Mal held up his hands. "We've got a lot of ground to cover, Surgeon-Commander, and it's not about genetics."
"As you say, Captain, but most of your questions will be answered momentarily." With something of a sigh, she led them into the conference suite.
The presence of four Dilgar, one Dorei, and four humans in the conference suite left little doubt. It would be absurd to imagine the Alliance intentionally faking this; they had no reason to. And the power of the ship was testament enough to it as well.
Will started the explanations for the crew of the ship they had already learned was named the Serenity, with a heavy use of holo-slides, because he hadn't had the time to do anything better than steal the standard Public Affairs template.
But as he spoke, with the others entranced, River Tam was staring across the table at Abebech and Elia. It didn't take long for the two of them to be totally focused on her.
Why can't I feel her mind at all? River was musing out loud, and both of them and then Hygienist Va'tor could feel it as well, the Dilgar woman also turning her attention to River.
She doesn't want anyone to, Elia answered automatically.
That doesn't stop me other ti- River cut off abruptly and looked sharply at Elia. You just talked back.
I'm a telepath, and so are you, Elia answered.
"They're like me!" River suddenly exclaimed about as loud as she could in the meeting, looking with eagerness and surprise over to her brother. "They're like me!"
Will stopped talking. Simon looked at River. "River…"
"I would assume that by logical induction, your sister is a telepath?" Nah'dur, holding a cup of stimulant meat broth looked to Simon. That so matter-of-factly completely derailed what he was about to say.
Simon's expression froze. He stuttered.
He's an awesome brother but it gets ridiculous sometimes, River said matter-of-factly to Elia and Abebech and Va'tor. So, who are you? I think we're very alike? She looked very hard at Abebech. Elia caught that it meant something more than telepathy.
A private person, Abebech answered. And you have been cruelly ill-used, River Tam.
Her eyes flared, and her lips pursed, and River looked for a moment almost like she wanted to cry. Elia reached out. Abebech's got her own way, River. I'm Elia, and I was raised in an entire society of other telepaths. We've got people here who can help you.
We need to understand what the Alliance is doing, River answered. I was going to have Simon put me in an induced coma to recover my memories I can't access. But I think you can help me.
The third of the minds at that table following the conversation p'spoke smoothly, with the alien tones of her mind. I certainly could, Va'tor offered simply.
"So, telepathy is a normal, established ability in the wider multiverse?" Simon finally recovered.
"Emphatically so. In my universe Espers have a history of thousands of years, in Commander Saumarez's, hundreds; telepaths have manifested in others, too, like that of Leftenant de Más," Abebech answered for the others, leaning back. "Doctor Tam, we are considerably advanced in knowledge of self-control and discipline of the mind in telepaths, and psychosurgery techniques and cybernetic enhancements which could be of material benefit to your sister."
Simon looked to River, who smiled faintly. "Abebech is really standoffish, but Elia is nice, and Va'tor sounds like she knows what she's doing. I don't think either of them is lying. They can help us without putting me in a coma, too."
"As a matter of fact, other than a lack of training and what I suspect is physical damage to the structure of the mind, I don't think she has any mental health issues," the Dilgar Mental Hygienist explained matter-of-factly. "Doctor Tam, we can be of great, material assistance."
"We'll need a brain scan to figure out the exact treatment plan," Nah'dur interjected, "but there shouldn't be any true issues. What's this about putting her in a coma, though?"
"She has memories of her time in Alliance captivity, they experimented on her," Simon explained, "and there's information we need. In an induced coma, it can be recovered with the technology that we have, but she can't consciously access it herself right now."
"There's no need at all for that, Doctor Tam," Nah'dur answered matter-of-factly. "Hygienist Va'tor can handle accessing blocked memories straightforwardly, indeed, it's quite likely Commander Imra or Commander Saumarez could as well. Here, we've covered the particulars of the Multiverse, so let's all decamp to sickbay and while your sister is treated we can talk about this damned ridiculous exotic hydrochlorate I found in your star system."
The entire table slammed to a screeching halt again, metaphorically. "You found Pax?" Simon stared. "So you've already encountered the remaining Reavers?"
"They found Pax? Well then they know what the Alliance is up to," Mal countered. "...Do you know what the Alliance is up to?" He asked Zhen'var a moment later.
"We fought the Reavers. We have sixty of them as prisoners aboard and we secured two of their vessels as prizes," Zhen'var answered. "And Pax… Peace."
"The original function of the hydrochlorate!" Nah'dur exclaimed. "Oh brilliant, these people were idiots!"
"You have Reaver prisoners on your ship?" Kaylee looked aghast, horrified, and a bit terrified.
"We have stun weapons," Elia explained laconically.
"Still. They're as dangerous as all hell, Captain, and if you know a thing or two good for your crew, space 'em right now," Mal almost shouted, getting half out of his chair. "They're the result of a failed experiment by the Alliance to create a truly peaceful utopia. You can see the consequences."
"A totalitarian's utopia, I take it," Abebech remarked. "Captain, it appears we have our suspect."
"Do you have any proof, Captain Reynolds?"
"Proof?" Mal laughed. "Yeah, I got proof. You better believe I got proof-and I already beamed it to the entire 'Verse. That's how our current troubles started…"
Zhen'var's eyes got a peculiar glint. "Do tell, Captain. Maybe I can help."
"Right, but first, I've got a problem you can help me with." He gestured to the infant. "Little Emma's mother was taken prisoner by the Alliance in her hospital bed. And I want to get her back."
A few hours later, the Huáscar's senior officers had assembled in Conference Suite 1, back close to the bridge. Zhen'var's expression was particularly grim. Will was sombre. Abebech looked coldly reserved, and Commander Goodenough exchanged a look with Lieutenant Ca'elia as they both arrived from the Heermann, the ship having finally stood down to Condition Yellow, Modified Zebra again.
"Comrades," Will began. "The Union of Allied Planets." The holo-projector stabilized on the vast expanse of five true stars and six Solformed Brown Dwarfs. "Seventy habitable planets, all but two of them terraformed without prior ecosystems. A single system with as much habitable groundside as the Earth Alliance-with terraforming companies almost as good as those in the Aururian Imperial Federation and an ability to cause solar ignition of Brown Dwarfs which has never before been documented."
"Ancestors," Fera'xero looked perturbed. "That is technology far beyond us."
"And yet they use primitive sublight drive systems," Will answered. "They are also a form of totalitarian democracy, a regime which has nominally free elections in the central planets, but rules the colonies with an iron fist, and actively represses its people through a sophisticated propaganda structure and corporate/deep-state control of the outcome of results."
"In short, just like the Earth Alliance back home," Zhen'var added dryly. "It is the next part which presents justification for a posture of direct hostility. Commander?"
"Quite." Will wiped his sandy blonde hair off his forehead. "Seven months ago, during the 'Battle of the Universe Moon', a major pirate broadcasting centre transmitted detailed, authenticated documentary evidence of what happened at the remote planet Miranda, at one of the outer Brown Dwarfs. The population of the planet was used as a human experiment for exposure to the Pax chemical, which was supposed to eliminate aggression from humans."
"We are the priests of the Temples of Syrinx; all the gifts of life are held within our walls," Chief Dugan muttered down at the end of the table.
Abebech pointed and smiled grimly. "Exactly, Chief. The ruling clique in the Alliance regards the Solar Federation of Syrinx from the inestimable Rush song as something of a desirable end state for human civilisation, and is willing to commit crimes equal to those of the Nazis to achieve it."
"Fucking abominations," Violeta hissed, trembling. She was angry. Why the hell is the rest of the multiverse so screwed up?
"Calm, comrades, calm," Will spoke smoothly, leaning down to brace his hands on the table. "Let it burn, let it burn nice and hard. This story isn't over, but when we understand all of it, we'll know what to do."
"Exactly, Ladies and Gentlemen," Zhen'var affirmed. "They also experimented on, and are currently experimenting on, telepaths. We have a young lady aboard our ship right now, that's where Commander Saumarez and Surgeon-Commander Nah'dur are presently, operating with Hygienist-Commander Va'tor to restore function to her, because an experimental program to induce telepathic abilities involved, among other things, the severing of all connections between her amygdala and prefrontal cortex."
"That's why all the indigenous peoples survived on Earth, isn't it, Captain?" Stasia abruptly interjected. "Because they were abandoned by the forefathers of these bastards?"
"Possibly so, though we don't have evidence of that yet, Chief Héen," Zhen'var answered sympathetically. "But let us continue. We know they have an experimental program to conduct tests like that-proving telepathy by intentionally damaging the brains of children and then observing how telepathic abilities bridge the damage to allow a modicum of continued functioning. We also know those tests are ongoing, in addition to the massive chemical experimentation on entire colonies. The Reavers resulted from the later; the Pax drug worked on 99.9% of the humans on the planet, the other 0.1% became Reavers and have brutalised the outer colonies ever since. There was a rebellion against this government by the outer colonies-unsurprisingly-but it was crushed seven years ago. There have been signs of a renewed incipient rebellion since the Universe broadcast, as one might expect if there were anyone sane or brave here."
"And the crew of the Serenity, which includes some former rebels from the last insurrection," Will added, "were the ones responsible for saving River Tam from human experimentation and getting the evidence of the Miranda experiment out to the entirety of the so-called 'Verse', this expanded system. They're with us now, except that one of their crew-members who experienced complications giving birth has been seized by the Alliance on a nearby medical station that serves an asteroid mining community while receiving medical treatment."
"Captain Reynolds' price for cooperating with us is simple," Zhen'var smiled, and it was very catlike. "Since his First Mate is incapacitated, he requested asylum on her behalf, and I have sufficient evidence to declare that the seizure of any individual for detention by the Alliance represents a sufficiently serious risk of human rights violations to allow us to act. We'll be going in to recover Ms. Washburne. Fei'nur!"
"Captain, Ma'am!"
"Prepare your troops for station assault!" The smile was still on Zhen'var's face as she folded her hands together. "We will call the ship to stations when the medical procedure for Ms. Tam has been completed, so as not to distract what may be a delicate operation."
"Ma'am!"
Stasia leaned across the table as they broke to that militant note, and made a savage grin to Violeta. "Attention all planets of the Solar Federation, we have assumed control…!"
Chief Dugan started laughing. "Hell yeah."
"Not quite so fast," Zhen'var interrupted as she rose, and before the others had left. "While we are launching this operation immediately to gain the trust of our allies, we will withdraw immediately after it. We still have no good answer about the subspace jamming field, and I want it disabled before committing to general action. As soon as this action is completed, we will resume our original course, and rendezvous with our prizes which are still burning for it, albeit considerably more slowly."
"What are we going to do with those floating charnel houses, anyway?" Will asked, as they finally headed out together.
"Oh, they're clearly of no use to us. These Browncoats, on the other hand, certainly can't afford to be picky. I suppose we'll just have to leave them abandoned in space." She folded her hands behind her back as they walked. "As for the Reavers, the REC came back favourable, so we'll let Nah'dur try her best. I think Fei'nur's brig practices and the sedatives are perfectly adequate for now, the sincerity of Captain Reynolds' advice notwithstanding."
"A risk, but a calculated one."
"We're in the business of calculated risks, Commander."
In sickbay, Nah'dur had gone in first. Once she had reliable imaging of what had happened to River Tam's brain, she had gotten very quiet for a moment, and then matter-of-factly reported the details and the inevitable conclusion to the Captain. Then she had gone to work. Nah'dur's ability to come up with a surgical plan in the space of a few minutes as good as if she had spent several days preparing for the patient let her perform on a rush basis surgeries as complex as most surgeons would undertake on patients with substantial planning.
The plan for how much functionality Nah'dur expected to recover for River was carefully coordinated with Va'tor, and she explained at the correct level-the moment she had ascertained the sophistication of Simon's medical training-the details of what she was going to do. The positronic implants she used were carefully and precisely grafted along the lines of most intact tissue, using micro-transporter surgery.
Once that was done and the appropriate drugs to avoid brain inflammation were administered, Va'tor and Elia went in gestalted together. They worked on separate tasks, but with a unified awareness to avoid damage to the psyche. Va'tor's objective was to integrate the new circuitry and assist the recovery of full function by pre-priming the brain to use it, while directing backup pathways around the direct connections that would augment the less effective cybernetics and guarantee a full recovery.
Elia, since that fell within her training, focused on the removal of the memory blocks from River and the reintegration of the memories of her time being experimented upon, as she had requested. The experience left her amazed at how highly functional River actually was; through a combination of telepathy-which wasn't insubstantial, she was a P-8 or maybe even a weak P-9-and natural resilience, she had integrated horrifying memories, including interfacing with the Reavers as she engaged in something very much like Centauri precog to fight them, which indicated her telepathy was tantalisingly broader than that of the human baseline for her own universe. The girl was a natural genius, maybe on the same level as the famous Jarod of the Aurora-an actual Pretender-and the combination was amazing, spectacular. Elia felt joy at having her in her little community. And River Tam badly needed a community.
Outside in the waiting area next to Nah'dur's office, the Dilgar Surgeon-Commander returned in uniform and a lab coat, carrying a massive bucket for the crew of the Serenity. "Chicken," she announced. "Salt and Pepper Chicken, in fact. I assume it still exists here."
"Xièxiè," Kaylee responded automatically, and reached for some the moment the bucket hit the table. "I was really famished, Doctor…"
"Surgeon-Commander," Nah'dur corrected automatically, but felt bad at the woman's blush. "At any rate, I had assumed so. Dilgar are preferential, but not obligate, carnivores and I have been browsing my way through human food using the replicator."
"Matter reorganisation into food." Inara was thought. "It seems like magic."
"I have heard that several times, but it is science, if absurdly profligate of energy," Nah'dur replied.
"Well, then, we're glad for the treat. Of course, we're all worried about River, Simon most of all," Mal nodded his way.
"Oh, I think I'm doin' some of the worryin' for him," Kaylee insisted, and got a faint smile from her beau.
"Well, Va'tor is one of our best mental hygienists.."
"That name sounds rotten," Mal countered. "Wasn't exactly the best part of this, even if she seemed decent."
"Well, sometimes things are lost in the translation from alien to human languages, Captain, and I do admit, the Dilgar Imperium was a totalitarian state for quite a long time. It was my mother who reformed our survivors-on the outer colony of Rohric. We are like your own Independent Planets types, those who valued independence enough to live on a world where spores would make you cough up your lungs on a regular basis. There are other Dilgar, refugees from Omelos, in the Union these days, but it is very much the spirit of Rohric which infuses our culture and government."
"You lost your homeworld as we lost earth?" Inara asked.
"Yes, though rather more comprehensively, as it turns out," Nah'dur replied, munching on chicken, and occasionally glancing at Inara.
Mal noticed that and started frowning, but Simon spoke first with a question. "Surgeon-Commander? I've been thinking about a rather significant issue since I've had access to your databanks."
"Go ahead and ask, Doctor."
"Your records suggest Earth-that-was was destroyed about thirty-five hundred years ago by runaway climate change. But according to our own records it was only four hundred years ago, at most."
"I assumed it was due to the fact that you stopped counting time while you were all in suspended animation," Nah'dur replied.
"We were supposedly still so close to Earth-that-Was that suspended animation wasn't required," Simon answered, feeling uncomfortable.
"...Interesting. You're eighteen hundred lightyears from Earth. Did you know that Commander Atreiad also comes from a version of this system? It's called Cyrannus there, and his people are also humans who have a deeply flawed and incorrect history of how they came to be there, forgetting that Earth was even their homeworld. But it's much more minimalist than you system; twelve primary inhabited planets with four stars. Now, six of your stars are artificial, but the fifth of the natural ones shouldn't be in this system. Someone moved it."
"All well and good, but what about River, Doctor?" Mal interjected.
Simon turned away, deep in thought.
"I can't speed it up, and to be honest, I should just stay out of the way. Psychosurgery is not my speciality. There's lots of other things to attend to, anyway." She glanced to Inara again.
"And why do you keep lookin at the Lady?"
Nah'dur rose. "Oh, that. Miss Serra, could you accompany me, please? I would like to speak privately."
Inara smoothed down her clothes-she had ditched her dresses for spacer's gear in the circumstances of their shared exile, but she had an inner dignity about it all-and rose. "Of course, Surgeon-Commander." There was a hesitancy in her step, and Mal was frowning, but she carried on and followed Nah'dur into another part of sickbay.
Mal shook his head as he watched them go. "Do you get the feelin' that Doctor is too smart for her own good?"
"I haven't woken up from the part where she's a catwoman," Kaylee answered.
"My sniffers detected the very high end drug you brought onto the ship," Nah'dur said matter-of-factly to Inara as she entered the consulting room, activating one of the screens and authenticating through to load a chemical sequence file. She turned to Inara. "Would you like to talk about it?"
"No, I wouldn't, Surgeon-Commander," Inara answered coolly. "I don't think I'll get the choice, though, and choices have become an increasing problem for me of late. The ones I make have left me with fewer and fewer others. Once I was a Companion, and now, at long last, I am a rebel, though I did not ever think I would call myself that."
"Sometimes, in the end, all you can do is die with honour," Nah'dur answered levelly. "I am not unfamiliar with the concept of brilliance caged by circumstance, though I wouldn't consider it to apply to me in the slightest."
"It certainly doesn't. You have a brusque bedside manner, you know," Inara smiled more gently. "I know where this is going…"
"Do you? The fact that the drug in question is normally used to treat Kylarn-Syraxi, a sexually transmitted disease in S0T5?"
"That's what it is," Inara agreed. "The drug prolongs life, and allows me…"
"To keep your profession," Nah'dur nodded simply. "It is the foolish, uncaring, unknowing infected clients who pose the risk, yes, I understand how this goes, though among my own people prostitution was banned as being contrary to the dignity of our race. With other species, it was attended with the death penalty. We were once great believers in blood purity like that, I can see that at least your government is a little more sensible."
"Enough about that, Surgeon-Commander. I would not expect you to have the customs or laws, such is the way of living. The disease. Why does it have the same name in two universes, I wonder?" Inara pressed.
"I don't have the slightest idea," Nah'dur answered, shaking her head. "But it's most assuredly not native to Old Earth, so it shouldn't be shared at all. But it's here. And I have a much more high-end treatment from Solaris that can remove it from your body."
Inara sank back on the examining bed. This brusque know-it-all young catgirl had also just calmly and matter-of-factly offered her life back. She could return to the Core, alive, with a long life ahead…. And she didn't want to. Mal was too important now; they were lovers, and lovers they would remain.
It was very appropriate of the way the wheel of dharma worked. She had been led down the path she was meant to walk long enough to encounter a miracle in the form of a starship; when the blessings were dispensed, the one thing that she would have done with them for most of the past two years, she no longer wanted.
But a life with Mal, she very much did want.
The two returned to the waiting area, just in time for Elia to come out, with bloodshot, exhausted eyes. "Doctor Tam, Captain Reynolds," She leaned against the bulkhead. "You can come see her now. The surgery was successful-both surgeries were." She turned back in, at their eagerness, to where Va'tor was gently brushing River's forehead.
"She's still sedated?" Simon asked as he moved up to the other side. "Your non-invasive techniques for the physical portion are amazing."
"Not sedated, but encouraged to sleep. Sedation may be required, though," Va'tor explained. "Also months of rehabilitation to make full use of the work that was done tonight."
"We can handle that," Simon Tam smiled, and glanced to Kaylee, who was grinning brilliantly. "We can handle that."
Elia gently waved for Mal and stepped over to a quiet corner of the ward. "I have the information. There's hundreds of them, in fact, and the experiments… They had genetic samples for telepathy; I'm not clear on how. This was part of a broad-based effort to enhance human thought in many cognitive areas. It involved torture and experimentation which led to brain damage of countless children. There's a few dozen success stories who are alive and in various stages of experimentation or utilization."
"Utilization." The word twisted up Mal's face. "Yeah, that'll do. Especially with your help. How long until we get back to the station, Commander?"
"Two hours," Elia answered. "I'm going to get some rack time. Turn in all-standing, frankly. Try to catch a caulk yourself, Captain. But we'll get your Mate back. Huáscar fears nothing." With a sad smile, reflecting the inner pain she felt from River's memories, Elia stepped out. She had to be ready to face them. And she would be. Because they were all in it together.
Behind her, Mal turned to look to Inara, who was smiling warmly. "So… Where are our guest quarters, anyway?"