Chapter 15
Previously…Riddick nodded and leaned against the bay doors while Mal stood watching Cobb through the diamond shaped window. Cobb's voice came through to him though he doubted Mal could hear it, "Hey! What the hell're you doing?"
Mal tapped the window and pointed down at the hand comm before speaking into his, "The job's done. Figured it was time for a little chat."
Mal paced back and forth as Jayne futilely pounded on the door controls before the Captain hit the button that opened the exterior bay door. Jayne's pounding took on a panicked frenzy.
The sound of wind rushing by filled the airlock as Mal spoke, "Seems to me we had a solid plan. Smooth, you might say. But what I can't figure out, is what you were doing 'round the back exit." He leaned against the door.
Cobb's face filled the window, Riddick just out of his view as the merc's voice came through the radio, "What? I couldn't go out the front, I had to improvise. Open the damn door." Riddick kept his snort of disbelief to himself; he didn't even have to smell Cobb to know that for a lie.
"You called the Feds," It wasn't a question.
"What? I got pinched!" Cobb protested.
"Which is what happens when you call the Feds," Mal pointed out evenly.
Riddick sighed as the merc continued to lie, "No. I would never do that, my hand to God, may he strike me down as I'm standing here."
"Well, you won't be standing there long. The minute we break atmo…you'll be a lot thinner once you get sucked out that hole," Mal gestured towards the open bay door.
The door alarm went off as Cobb pounded on it, "Oh, come on, Mal."
The cortex chimed in, faint but fairly clear, "Leaving atmosphere in two minutes. Zài liǎng fēn zhōng nèi lí kāi dà qì céng."
"That ain't no way for a man to die," The merc protested.
Serenity's warning was probably clearer inside than from out in the airlock, "Secure cargo bay door at once. Lì jí gù dìng huò cāng mén."
"You wanna kill me, shoot me. Just let me in," Cobb pleaded.
Riddick smirked as Mal continued to speak, "You know, I hear tell they used to keelhaul traitors back in the day. I don't have a keel to haul you on, so..."
Cobb finally got it, "Okay. I'm sorry, all right?"
Now the predator in Mal came out, the one Riddick had always known was in there. Nearly every human had it, although not everyone knew to use it. Mal did, rare as it was for him to bring it to the fore, he knew, "Sorry for what, Jayne?" Mal seized on the words, like a cat pouncing on a mouse and looked at the merc through the window, "I thought you'd never do such a thing?"
Now they came down to it, "The money was too good." Mal's face didn't change and Cobb continued, "I got stupid. I'm sorry, okay? Be reasonable." The Captain's expression remained cold and set with fury and Cobb's tone became more desperate, "What're you taking this so personal for? It ain't like I ratted you out to the Feds."
Riddick sighed; the idiot still didn't quite get it. The reason Cobb was still even alive, the reason Riddick had brought Jack back to this boat. To Malcolm Reynolds, those he took as crew he took as family. People he'd bleed and die for. Protect until the light left his eyes. For a man who'd lost everything, the people he chose were just as (maybe even more) important than the family he'd been born to. That rare quality…that had been why Riddick returned to Serenity, why he'd brought Jack to this boat. She'd be safe here. If something happened to Riddick, if mercs took him again, Mal would protect her.
Rage bubbled through Mal's voice, hot as the engines at hard burn, "Oh, but you did. You turn on any of my crew, you turn on me. But since that's a concept you can't seem to wrap your head around, then you got no place here." Implacable he repeated, "You did it to me, Jayne. And that's a fact." He paused a moment to let that sink in, "Riddick's a convict, a killer, admits it flat out, but he didn't turn on you, didn't rat you out back on Higgin's Moon did he?"
"He sure as hell didn't help me either," Cobb shot back.
"No, if they'd caught you, he mighta been content to let you die there, reap the consequences of your own actions," Mal nodded. That hot rage still boiled through his voice and scent, "But he didn't bring them down on you, didn't tell any prod or guard who you were, didn't turn on you. He didn't try to stop me from helping you. There's a difference Jayne. But you don't seem to see that."
He walked away from the door and Cobb's voice came through the radio, "What're you gonna tell the others?"
"About what?"
"About why I'm dead."
Mal stopped walking and held the radio to his mouth, "I hadn't thought about it."
It was a lie; Riddick could smell it on him, but Cobb didn't know that. The merc actually sounded repentant, "Make something up. Don't tell 'em what I did."
Mal turned and stood for a moment then pressed the button to close the outer bay door. Serenity stopped sounding her polite alarms and Riddick waited. The Captain looked at his merc through the window, "The next time you decide to stab me in the back...Have the guts to do it to my face."
He dropped the hand comm on the window ledge and began to walk up the stairs. Riddick waited a moment and moved into Cobb's sightline, picking it up and speaking into it. "I'm gonna make it as plain to you as I possibly can Cobb. I don't care what happened. I don't care if River provoked you. You would have turned an innocent girl over to the people who'd tortured her. There's no excuse for that. So I'm going to be watching you. And if you're even half tempted to revisit this stupidity; I will kill you as slowly as I can. I will make it last weeks. Because if it was left up to me, you'd already be dead."
He dropped the comm back where Mal had left it and took the stairs to the upper deck two at a time. Better to clean the blood off his skin before it dried sticky (yeah, okay, stickier). Cobb's voice echoed through the radio from below, "Can I come in?"
Jack was being given a tour of the boat by Simon, Kaylee and River, when Riddick caught up with them. Her expression as Kaylee waxed poetical about 'her girl' was half disbelieving half amused.
"Serenity ain't like other boats Jack," Riddick smiled. "She's a home."
"Different is all," Jack nodded. "Been sailing cryo ships most of my life." He nodded his understanding. It was an adjustment. Good. But still an adjustment. Cryo boats always felt temporary.
"C'mon in the galley, have some tea," He suggested. "Simon, you and Kaylee can fill me in on what's been going on while I've been gone. How long has it been? Get put in cryo you tend to lose track of time a bit."
"Almost five and a half months," Simon answered as they went from the engine room to the galley. That wasn't so bad considering. First time he'd gone into cryo (as an adult) travel had taken years, decades sometimes.
"See you got that implant taken out," Riddick regarded River thoughtfully. She was wearing some of Kaylee's cargo pants, easy to tell with the teddy bear patch on the knee. She'd borrowed one of Simon's shirts and tied it around her waist, exposing a sliver of midriff.
"About a month or so after you were taken," Simon nodded. "The last sixteen weeks haven't been enjoyable for any of us. But Zoë and Mal have continued her training."
"Glad to have Lóng Wáng back on the boat," River's voice was lower, almost husky. Her accent was just as correct as it ever was even if her grammar left something to be desired (not that he had a lot of room to talk). Her voice matched how she'd sounded in his visions with Shirah. It argued for his brain extrapolating how she'd sound from her younger tones or for those visions being more based in reality than he'd completely realized. Though the keystone and the Wrath's destruction of the Necros had argued for that.
"Lóng Wáng?" Jack frowned as Riddick made tea and Simon pulled down cups while the girls sat at the table.
"I'm either Odysseus, also Ulysses, or the Dragon King," Riddick shrugged. "Not sure which."
"Odysseus was a king," River said simply. He could feel dark eyes on his skin as he worked and looked over at River curiously. She tilted her head and tapped her temple. Ah, she'd been Reading him, seen the visions.
What she'd make of them he'd be curious to hear, but first he wanted to know what Serenity had gotten into while he'd been on his enforced leave of absence. "So you made it to Greenleaf after the mercs left with me I take it?" He poured the tea and took his usual place at the table.
"Yep, even got another job after, heading out to Verbena to deliver more cargo," Kaylee nodded.
"Problem was someone bombed the newly completed factory while we were there," Simon rubbed his forehead as if the memory pained him. "So many people hurt. There was a fair to celebrate…"
"Lot of people," Kaylee added softly.
Riddick looked at River and she shrugged at him, "Lots of Purplebellies, Alliance tóu miàn rén wù, some hurt badly."
"Big wig," Riddick translated for Jack, that phrase he'd heard before. "Anybody recognize you two?"
Simon's hesitation was as good as a lie and River looked down, her lips turning down, eyes darker. "Tóu miàn rén wù died before any alarm could be raised." She said finally.
Meaning maybe Simon hadn't done his best for the man, because if he had and the man lived, River would be right back where she started and Simon along with her. "That happens, even with the best doctors. Sometimes things that get broke can't be fixed."
"I'm sure you did your best Simon," Kaylee was trying to be reassuring but she'd chosen the wrong method.
"I wish I could be as certain," Simon murmured.
Riddick looked at him, "How many other people did you have that needed help? Medicine, bandaging, and surgery?"
"Dozens upon dozens with more that had been killed, and even more with superficial wounds," Simon had a faraway look in his eyes.
"And how many people would have died if you hadn't helped them, concentrated on one bigwig?" Riddick persisted.
"At least three dozen I can think of immediately," The trauma surgeon rubbed the back of his neck.
"So is it that he died that bothers you? Or is it knowing that you could have done more but there were other people who needed you, and he died because of that," He looked at the younger man. Simon seemed years older, not just five and a half months.
"It's that I had drugs that could have saved him, put him out, kept him out for a surgery he insisted on being awake for, and I didn't use them," The Doctor sighed. "I let him decide and I shouldn't have. I knew the consequences. But I still let him decide. And he died."
"Would have had you arrested afterwards, for defying his orders, despite saving his life," River murmured. "The medicines you would have used on him saved others."
"Sometimes people die of their own stupidity," Jack commented. "Feeling guilty that you didn't stop him… Realistically what could you have done?"
"Not much more than I did at the time," Simon sighed again. "At least all that conditioning and training you had me doing gave me more stamina. Serenity doesn't generally run to battlefield surgery."
Kaylee smiled at him, "If we did, you'd keep us alive Simon."
"No doubt," Riddick agreed. "Anything else go on while we're gone?"
"Did another job for Sir Harrow," Kaylee grinned. "More cows. Worked a lot better with official lookin' papers. River an' Book did real good on 'em."
"Everything go smooth?" He glanced at Simon and River for their opinion.
"As smooth as anything ever does when Mal makes the plans," Simon chuckled, and his sister smiled.
"Cows still did not like the Black," She shrugged. "But none wounded.
Mal, Zoë and Wash came into the galley at that point and Kaylee looked around, "Where's Jayne?"
"Oh he's…contemplatin' his sins," Mal shrugged with a half-smile as he poured himself some coffee. "Rick, maybe you might could introduce us? Seein' as the lady don't know half our names?"
"Kaylee you've met," Riddick nodded at the mechanic sitting next to Simon. Kaylee waved at her cheerfully and Jack smiled. "Told you about Simon and River," He pointed them out.
"Which is which?" Jack deadpanned and got a smile to crack Simon's face.
"I'm River," He snarked back and his little sister giggled.
"This is Wash, he's the pilot," Riddick pointed him out. "Zoë, she's First Mate, married to Wash."
"Inara's in her shuttle resting," Mal explained. "She said those appointments make her want to meditate. So you can meet her later."
"And that's Mal, he's Captain of the boat." Riddick jerked his thumb at the man in question.
"Malcolm Reynolds," He offered his hand to shake and Jack clasped it a bit hesitantly, her nod firmer than her grip.
"Jack," She offered.
"No last name?" Zoë asked thoughtfully.
"None I care to use," His sister shook her head.
"All right…" Mal exchanged a look with his second and Riddick sighed.
"Mal she went looking for me and ended up in a slam," He explained. Jack sent him an alarmed look and Riddick shrugged at her, "If he doesn't know he can't help keep you safe."
"Take it mercs'd be just as interested in her as they are in you?" Wash took his seat.
"She's not as well-known as I am," Riddick shook his head. "But she is wanted."
The Captain sighed, "Right. So. We're a working boat." He looked at Jack, "Got any experience with this type of ship?"
Jack shook her head, "Mostly sailed in ships that put you in cryo." She spread her hands, "I'm good in a fight. You can ask Riddick if you don't believe me. I can handle being a co-pilot in a pinch."
"She's not bad with a cortex and machines either," He agreed. "Wouldn't ask her to play the honey pot but she's another hand with a gun and she doesn't lose her head when the shooting starts."
"At this rate I'm gonna have more gun hands than non-gun toting folk," Mal rolled his eyes. "But the way our luck goes, ain't like that's necessarily a bad thing."
Jack's back had gone ramrod straight and Riddick looked at her, "Easy." He muttered.
"Seems like she'd be a good fit to fly the other shuttle for us sometimes," Zoë offered. "Good with a gun, fair pilot, levelheaded. If Rick vouches for her you know she's good."
Mal was nodding his agreement, "Which is why I'm not throwing the idea out the airlock and calling her a passenger." He looked at Jack, "You'd have to bunk down in the passenger dorms though, Rick got the last crew bunk. But Simon's crew and he bunks down there too, closer to the infirmary." That sharp gaze scrutinized Jack thoroughly and Riddick could see her want to squirm under it. "If you want to sign on we'll give it a try. Crew gets ten percent of every job Serenity gets the remainder, goes to food for us and the boat, and parts to keep her running."
Jack looked at Riddick, startled at the abrupt decision and he grinned at her. Mal wasn't an idiot and he knew quality when he saw it. "Okay… let's give it a try."
"One thing," Riddick held up a finger. "When Jack is asleep, it's like me being asleep, don't shake her to wake her up. Don't touch her if you can avoid it. Knock on the door, make a noise, something, but don't sneak up on her."
"Hell, that's half of us," Wash shrugged the caveat off. "Been known to wake up surly myself. I woke Zoë up by shaking her once, had a black eye for a week afterwards."
"I said I was sorry," Zoë spoke as if the words were often repeated.
"And I told you it was no big deal, I knew what I was getting into when I married a warrior woman," Wash shrugged. "Just making a point is all."
"He's right," Mal nodded. "We all got…quirks." He looked at Jack, "Why don't we get your gear, see about getting you settled into a bunk. Rick, yours should be pretty much as you left it, though River's been in and out of it some."
"Meditation," River shrugged at him. "Peaceful."
"Yeah," He agreed. "Good idea." He glanced at Mal, "I told her to use anything she needed from my bunk before I left."
"I'll get dinner started while you're doin' that," Kaylee smiled at them. "I'll make beef stew with some of that jerky you got us before we parted ways Rick."
He grinned, "Sounds damn good. Been a while since I had your cooking and Jack's been eating slop for years."
He took five minutes to move his gear into his bunk, the keystone placed carefully under the bed where it couldn't be kicked and would be damn hard for anyone but him to move.
After checking the locations of all the passenger dorms Jack determined the one that suited her best was behind Simon's and slightly above it. The halls between the dorms were on an upward slope to fit more passengers in Serenity's hindquarters with six additional bunks stacked on top of them. Jack's dorm was a good compromise between one of the bunks above the first two rows, which required ladders to enter.
Her gear fit pretty well in the wall locker and River found her some hooks for the walls where she could hang her guns. Out of everything he figured it was the locking door that made her happiest.
He noticed that River didn't have a lot of new things, despite the fact that she'd obviously grown. Jerking his head at Simon he walked towards the lounge. After a minute Simon joined him there and he looked at the Doctor. "Simon, something I'm trying to figure out."
"I'm guessing this isn't regarding Jack's living quarters," Simon regarded him curiously.
"Noo…" Riddick looked at him. "Why were you and River at the hospital?"
Simon took a deep breath, "Mal and Zoë kept going with the training you started. They'd augmented it with every type of training they could remember. Zoë taught her to move quietly, well even more than she already did, a lot like you. Mal gave her the benefit of his leadership experience… I had her studying anatomy, field medicine… River was doing really well, I think she's halfway through a medical degree actually. She might never want to be a surgeon but she could act as a medic in an emergency." He sat down on the couch and Riddick took a seat across from him using the coffee table as his chair. Why the fuck did they call it a coffee table anyway? It wasn't like it was in the galley with the pot on it or anything. People were fuckin' weird as hell and so was the English language.
"Yeah?" He wasn't making the connection of one to the other.
"I'd taken the hormone regulator out," Simon continued. "River was maturing. I don't know if that was part of the cause… but when we set down on Ariel…we were all in the galley."
Riddick listened as Simon explained about Cobb's Blue Sun shirt and River slashing him across the chest with a knife. Considering her training Cobb was lucky that was all she'd done. Cobb apparently had backhanded her in reaction, which seemed typical. But the attack had likely been part of why he'd taken the plunge and sold them out. "After I stitched him up… Mal and I talked. He didn't blame River; we all knew the Blue Sun logos set her off, but he was worried that even after all the training she'd lost control. Even River was scared."
"Can see why she would be," Riddick looked in the direction of the Seer's room. "The point of the training was to get rid of the programming."
"I think it worked for the most part," Simon nodded. "But that was why we were at the hospital. I needed a three-dimensional neuro imager. It scans the whole body as well as the brain so I'd be able to see if there were any other implants I might have missed."
"That why she doesn't have any gear of her own yet?" Riddick looked at him.
"Part of it," Doc Simon nodded. "I have to study the results of the scan more thoroughly but… they stripped her amygdale."
"Sweet unholy fuck," Riddick forgot to curse in Chinese. He didn't think he could be shocked. Not after everything he'd been through, everything he'd seen. That she could function at all was no small miracle. "No wonder…" No wonder she could hear his thoughts. See things she couldn't possibly know. That had most likely been the goal of the experimentation all along.
"So I'm trying to figure out how to circumvent that," Simon sighed. "Unfortunately there's no way to regrow part of the brain that's been damaged. She doesn't react well to drugs."
"Right," He looked towards River's room again. "Tomorrow we start training again. You, me, Jack and River. Get a routine going."
"You think that'll help?"
"I don't think it can hurt," He kept his eyes on that room. "I don't think it's just her amygdale that's the problem. Lemme think about it a bit. I'll talk with Mal and Zoë, see if they remember anything else out of the ordinary. Maybe she's got a trigger or two we need to work on. Something beyond the programming from the implant you removed on Persephone. It would make sense honestly."
"I…" Simon shook his head. "I know she's never going to be the same as she was. I just want her to…to have a life. To be herself. She's got more of her own personality now than she did when I first got her out."
Riddick took a deep breath, "Yeah. At least she looks like she's seventeen now." He looked at Simon, "And for fuck's sake, keep Cobb away from her. What Mal was thinking putting him with you two on the job...I got no idea."
Simon nodded, "I've already spoken with Mal and Zoë. And I've asked River to avoid being alone with him."
"Good." Riddick stood, "I'm gonna go and talk to Mal."
He was on his way up to the bridge when he walked right into a vision. One moment he was in the hall from the engine room to the galley, the next he was in a field with Shirah. She smiled at him, peaceful, and the tension he hadn't realized he carried slipped away.
"You have found a place that pleases you," She observed. "Settled what you could of your past." Oh that wasn't ominous at all.
"Yeah, Necromongers are no more," He shrugged looking around the plains where he stood.
"The Seer's concerns, the possible prophecy, all avoided," Shirah turned and looked over the fields from his side.
"Yeah, Odysseus turned to Hades… didn't much care for the sound of it," Riddick nodded. "Or what she suggested could happen to me."
"The life you have found will keep the animal satisfied," Shirah confirmed. "The Furyan in you…learn to listen. Keep the primal in your heart."
"Little concerned that River ain't here with you," Riddick admitted what had been bothering him since he'd walked into this field. "She was before."
"She is here when you need to hear her words," The spirit of Furya smiled slightly. "You need no visions of her now, she lives in the world with you. Speak to her if you wish to hear her."
"And when I need to help her?" Riddick looked at Shirah, taking his eyes off his lost home world. "She's strong…might be as strong as I am."
"Listen to the primal, the animal, the Furyan," Shirah advised.
Part of him liked the idea. The animal knew just what he wanted to do with River Tam, and had ever since he'd seen her, a woman grown, painting a mural on the wall of his vision. The feel of her body pressed to his when he'd seen her again in that hospital had only encouraged that part of him. Was it the right thing to do, pursue her when she wasn't completely healed?
Shirah laughed in dry amusement as she walked past him, "Listen to the animal. Declare your intent. Follow your instincts and you will prevail. As will she."
He turned to argue with her and found himself facing Serenity's wall. A snarl of exasperation escaped him as he reoriented himself and stalked towards the bridge.
"Mal," He looked at Wash and Zoë, nodding a greeting. "What's this about River opening Cobb up with a knife?"
"Simon filled you in?" The Captain looked at him. "He mention how freaked out River got when she realized what she'd done? That she wasn't in control?"
"Yeah," Riddick nodded. "He did. 'S why I wanted to talk to you. Anything out of the ordinary happen beforehand? Besides Cobb wearing a shirt damn near guaranteed to set her off?"
Wash turned from the console, "Before we went in the galley, she was with me up here. We were going over some calculations, checking them against the cortex. A Blue Sun advert came up and she glared at it, but it didn't set her off." He considered, "Zoë and I started talking and River went back to the galley. We joined her after a few minutes, arguing about if we were going to leave the ship."
"Jayne was bein' his usual charming self," Zoë commented. "Spitting on his weapons so he could clean them." She tilted her head, "Where is Jayne anyway?"
"He's having some quiet time," Riddick bit off the words. "Where was everyone else?"
"We were all in the galley except Book," Mal took up the tale. "We'd dropped him on Persephone already. Inara and Kaylee were playing a game at the observatory table. Simon was trying to cook, sorta, and eating."
"Yeah he tried to help me convince Zoë that we should go out and see the sights once we got to Ariel," Wash nodded.
Mal rubbed his chin, "Inara mentioned restaurants and parks. Simon said hiking, swimming in a bioluminescent lake…"
"So everyone was talking about the Core, about Ariel, Cobb's wearing a Blue Sun shirt and River had just seen a Blue Sun advert on the cortex minutes before," Riddick frowned. "What's that sound like to you?"
"Wǒ cào," Mal got it first though Zoë wasn't far behind him.
"What?" Wash looked confused.
"He's talking about a trigger," Zoë's voice was tight.
"And that is trouble the likes of which we do not want," The Captain's voice had gone grim. "Pure dumb luck it ain't happened before."
"I don't think so," Riddick shook his head. "Blue Sun logos always upset her. I think part of her knows the trigger is there. She's been avoiding those logos for a reason. A reason besides Blue Sun having sponsorship of the Academy." He looked at the three of them, "I think it was a combination of seeing the advert, and then everyone talking about the Core, about being there, making plans."
"I'm not getting it," Mal shook his head.
"Think about it," Riddick leaned against the doorjamb. "You have a valuable asset. With a mind of her own. Genius intelligence. Dangerous. And you've been training her to be even more so. And you know, have to know, that there has always been the possibility of that asset escaping. Disappearing. But Blue Sun logos are everywhere. And only the Core has cameras and Feds on every corner."
"Oh…that's actually…" Wash got it, the first to understand this time. "That's brilliant."
"It really is. Insidious too. Only works if the right combination of stimuli occur," Riddick agreed.
"And since we're almost never in the Core we didn't have the problem before," The pilot agreed.
"Mind filling the rest of us in?" The Captain had gotten a bit testy and Zoë'd folded her arms.
"They planted a trigger in her that would only go off if she escaped, if she saw a Blue Sun ad, and if she was in the Core," Riddick explained. "In the Core with cameras, Feds and crowds. So she'd be easy to catch if she kicked up a fuss or attacked someone. On the Border and the Rim and beyond, there'd be no point. And that's where we're been pretty much the whole time since I've been on Serenity. Even when we were on Persephone, they didn't have so many cameras as Ariel. Part of the trigger is analyzing how successful it would be if triggered, that's likely the part that made her aware of it. We got very, very, lucky."
"But we hadn't landed yet, we weren't even on planet when we were talking—" Zoë blinked. "You're right, lucky it happened before we were dirtside. Us talking about it…that's what set her off. The ad, us talking and then Jayne's Blue Sun shirt."
"Which she slashed right across the logo," Mal reminded them. "Not his throat, not the femoral or the abdominal aorta, and with the size of the knife she had, and the training Rick and us'd been giving her, neither of those would've been tough. She killed the logo. And except for the creepy 'he looks better in red' line she seemed perfectly sane through all of it."
"So she was more in control than she realized," Zoë looked at the Captain. "She was so upset, so scared that she was getting worse. She actually apologized to Jayne. But she'd been fighting it off the whole time."
"Girl's got a strong mind," Riddick nodded, smiling slightly. "Tomorrow we're starting up the training again. Get a routine going. I think that'll help. I wanna see how good she's gotten, if there's any more I can teach her. Might have to improvise some more training, different weapons, figure out what to do about those triggers. But that trigger of a false positive…now we know it's there. We can try to find if there are others. That's going to be tougher."
"And after that?" Mal seemed to realize he had something else in mind.
"After that…" Riddick smiled dry as dust. Don't let on that you want to take the girl to bed and have since you started seeing visions of her as an adult (he would not recall her legs and spine as a fourteen-year-old either. Hard no on that). "Well…Rather keep that to myself for a while. Haven't really decided anything… and it ain't strictly Captain's business. Not yet anyway."
Wash chuckled and winked at him while Zoë and Mal had their backs to him. So maybe Wash had some idea of what was going through his mind even if the Captain and First Mate were clueless for the moment. Or the pilot was just having some fun. Either was equally likely.
Kaylee calling everyone for dinner got them all moving towards the galley, though Mal detoured down to the cargo bay to let Cobb back into the main space of the ship.
Kaylee had managed to make fresh bao, which Jack hadn't ever tasted before and beef stew that Riddick was hard pressed to tell had come from jerky. Cobb had slouched in, taken a seat, a bowl, mug and spoon and sat in silence.
"Had a thought," Riddick glanced at Mal and Kaylee. "Kaylee, do you keep any sort of logs on the maintenance you do on Serenity?"
"Logs, like writin' down the repairs?" Kaylee tilted her head.
"Yeah, like you checked the couplings on the primary buffer panel six months ago, or you had to rewire the bridge after Saffron screwed with it, that sort of thing," He nodded.
"No…ain't ever rightly needed to, always know what my girl needs when she needs it," The mechanic shook her head.
"What's this about Rick," Mal didn't seem irked (thankfully, an irked Mal was a difficult to deal with Mal), mostly just curious.
"It occurred to me that if I hadn't shoved Kaylee out of the way, when that fireball rolled down towards us, that she would have gotten hurt, bad most likely since she's a lot smaller than me," Riddick shrugged. "And an unconscious Kaylee can't exactly answer questions about what repairs were made and when. We wouldn't have had a clue where to start figuring out what was wrong."
"Ain't ever thought it'd be a problem," The Captain admitted contemplatively. "But I take your point."
"Wouldn't take much, cortex log of what's being done and when," He shrugged again, looking at Kaylee. "No one would ever doubt how much you love Serenity. Or that you're a genius with machines. But the rest of us, well, aren't. So we won't know instinctively that the compression coil's catalyzer is bad. Or that the reg couple is gone."
"I can start doin' that," Kaylee looked at Mal for permission. "And you might see why we need parts now and then if you can see what I'm doin' for Serenity."
"That is a downside," Riddick grinned at her. "We know Mal doesn't like to spend money he doesn't have."
"Okay, enough pokin' at the Captain," Mal grumbled good humoredly. "Kaylee, you start doing that. Even if it's just listing out what you're doin' each day. We'll go over it."
Riddick grinned at Kaylee and winked, looking down at his bowl as she grinned back. Helpful as it would be to Mal, it would be of more help to the mechanic, support for her arguments over parts.
River was eating quietly between Riddick and Simon, Kaylee on Simon's other side and Jack on Riddick's left. "Jack," He addressed his sister after he'd finished his first bowl of stew. "Tomorrow, me, you, Simon and River are gonna start training in the bay." He looked at Kaylee and Wash, "You two are welcome to join us."
Simon nodded, "Mal and Zoë have been working with us, so I don't think you'll find we've fallen too far from the standard you were setting before."
"You two can keep up with Riddick?" Jack looked past him at the two Core crew members. "Seriously?"
"Not me," Simon held up his hands in denial. "My sister."
Jack's expression was not so politely disbelieving, and River shrugged at her, "Should not let first impressions guide her so intensely. Not all are what they seem upon immediate perusal." She glanced at Riddick for a moment, "He will tell us the tale of his adventures? Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy. Always roaming with a hungry heart much have I seen and known—cities of men and manners, climates, councils, governments, myself not least, but honored of them all,— and drunk delight of battle with my peers, far on the ringing plains of windy Troy."
"Let us get settled in for a day or so and yeah," He nodded recalling the last time he'd seen her before the mercs had taken him off the ship. She'd been bruised, fingers splinted, but she'd accomplished what she'd set out to do. "How long did it take you to heal up?"
"Day and a half for bruises and contusions to heal completely," River gave him a prompt answer, "Full forty-eight hours for broken phalanges to mend. Straight and true, no difficulties."
"Nanites are good for something then," He nodded.
"Designed for genetic reprogramming, in addition to repairs," River shrugged. Both Simon and Mal stiffened, alarm in every line of their bodies, and River looked at them, "Worries are for naught. Nanites work to expand healing, recovery, stamina… take the baseline and improve upon it, modify the genetic code so enhancements are made permanent."
"That's why you seem to have a fever now and then," Simon blinked. "The nanites making changes."
"What are they using as a blueprint," Riddick asked her curiously. "If they're building up from the baseline, what are they trying to match."
"Furyan DNA," River dropped that into the conversation, and she might as well have dropped a bomb.
"Furyan DNA…" He frowned as Mal, Zoë and the rest of the crew, including Cobb stared at her. He guessed they were trying to figure out exactly when she would have collected samples.
River sighed as if they were all tiresome. "Forgets the implants. Programming. Her mind and body not her own. For months on months." She smelt nervous as she bit her lip, something that looked a lot more tempting now that she had the body of a woman and not a child, before she continued, "DNA is shed…constantly. Bio feedback, monitoring… selecting the most appropriate example to emulate. Nanites found Furyan DNA superior to the baseline… Augmentation began almost immediately. Wàng zǐ chéng lóng."
Simon was clearly disturbed by what he was hearing. "So, when you were trying to fight of the programming, when you couldn't, it would control you? And you'd collect samples of everyone's DNA."
"Collection of samples was easy; DNA is discarded near constantly." A softly nervous repeat. "Analysis was not difficult, but none were deemed suitably advantageous to warrant emulating until Richard B Riddick came to Serenity," River nodded her voice quiet. "Could not be certain… if the Wrath would stop it or not. But the theft occurred upon first acquaintance. Process begun, zhùdìng."
Riddick looked at her and put a hand under her chin, staring into her eyes, "The Wrath helped you." He realized, remembering the light in her eyes after she'd touched his chest, "It didn't stop it, it helped things along didn't it?" The Wrath had practically crawled over her skin as if eager to embrace her in that cerulean light.
More of what sounded like poetry as she struggled for words, "From childhood's hour I have not been as others were; I have not seen as others saw; I could not bring my passions from a common spring." She looked at them and plainly saw they didn't understand what she meant. "Without the Wrath, she is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing," River sighed. "But without compatible genetics the process would have failed. Nanites would move on to another procedure, another method of improvement."
"Wait, that means—" Simon blinked at her. "You're saying—" He stopped again, obviously trying to articulate his question.
"From the same source I have not taken my sorrow; I could not awaken my heart to joy at the same tone; and all I loved, I loved alone." River looked at Riddick, "Alliance knew of the Necromongers, knew of Furya, of lost worlds, sent ships to search for any survivors. Found a few, offered sanctuary. Found him, soft hands, prevent strangulation from being complete. Brought him to the Alliance with the other survivors." His newly recovered memories supported her theory.
"One of your grandmothers was one of the women they got off of Furya," Riddick guessed. That was part of why the Wrath didn't hurt her, seemed to like her. And why his DNA could be used by those nanites to make improvements to her own genetic code. She had the basics, her 'baseline' that could be amplified by the nanites once they had his DNA to replicate. That could also be why Simon never seemed freaked out about Riddick's eyes. And as much time as he spent in cryo, River being the grandchild of a Furyan woman wasn't as unlikely as it might first seem. One of her parents might even have been a child that had escaped the purge.
"On our mother's side," River nodded. "Very good at hiding. Blonde, dark eyes, tall." She shrugged. "Did not inherit her height or coloring."
That made a lot more sense. The damn machines that had been controlling her and improving her wouldn't accept anything that wasn't better than her own DNA and as even part Furyan she'd be exceptional. "That mean that the Alliance knows where my home world is?" He still had the data crystal from the Purifier but it would take time to go through all that information. (And a machine that could read the crystal.) Furya had waited this long, it could wait a bit longer. Now that he was back he wasn't exactly eager to leave again.
River nodded, "Furya can be found. Tagged with numbers, no name. Husking and research required." She looked down at her plate, "He is…displeased?"
"With you, no," He shook his head. He'd rather she'd gotten a choice about being augmented or improved or whatever, but it wasn't like it was her fault. "With the idiots who cut into your brain and stuck those damn things in you, yeah. I'd like to strangle them with their own intestines."
She shrugged, "Perhaps he will get his chance. But as for myself grant me a rapid convoy home to my own native land. How far away I've been from all my loved ones—how long I have suffered!" She sipped her tea and looked up as Inara joined them.
Riddick nodded a greeting to the elegantly polished woman and continued to study his apprentice. "So are you about done growing you think?"
"Will gain no more height," She wrinkled her nose in annoyance. "The rest is uncertain, but it is likely that she is fully grown."
"I'll know more about that tomorrow too," Simon offered. "Among other things I was checking your bone density and hormone levels. If you've matured completely, physically anyway, they'll have leveled off. You've been hills and valleys for months now."
"More like mountains and ravines," Wash half smiled at the girl.
"Yuàn Fótuó réncí, wasn't that a galaxy a fun," Mal muttered.
Riddick guessed that a hormonal teenage girl was not on the list of Mal's favorite things in the 'Verse. He'd have to get with Simon and hear about what had happened to give Mal that look of 'oh God please never again'. Jack looked at him and he tilted his head towards her, "Yeah?"
"Just taking it all in," She shrugged and spooned up more stew.
"I'll take you up to the bridge after dinner," Wash smiled at her. "You can get familiar with the controls. Once Rick is on the bridge I'll show you one of the shuttles. If you can fly Serenity a shuttle will be a piece of pie for you."
Jack gave him a half smile in return and looked at Mal, "That's all right with you Captain?"
"Sure," Mal shrugged. "You gotta learn sometime and while we're sailing is as good a time as any." He looked at his pilot, "She seems to be catching on let her have the wheel for a bit, switch the boat to manual, let her practice. Best to do that while we aren't in atmo."
That made Jack grin, "Because even a greenhorn can't crash into anything in space?"
"Pretty much yeah," Mal grinned back. Inara frowned catching Riddick's attention, her scent tinged bitter for a moment.
"How long did it take all of you to undo what River did to the shuttles?" He changed the subject and in response got a chorus of groans and River's giggle.
It turned out that it had taken Kaylee and Wash a day and a half to undo what River had done in the hours she'd been left unsupervised while he'd been unconscious. But that was mostly because Mal had been irritated enough that he'd told River to stay in her room as punishment.
As punishments went it hurt Kaylee and Wash more than it did River, since she pretty much slept for a day and then snuck out to give the pilot and mechanic advice on how to fix what she'd done.
"Didn't want it easy to undo," River had told him. "Or the tangle would be unraveled, and the Captain would send us off and go down with the ship." That had made sense. Of course it had made sense to him the first time she'd said something similar and he hadn't expected that to change. If he could figure out Mal's plan from the snippets of conversation he'd overheard between Zoë and the Captain, River coming to the same conclusion was pretty much forgone.
Now he was still thinking about what he'd learned in the past couple weeks. And remembering what Shirah had told him, being the same as he'd ever been with some differences. Try as he might, he couldn't figure out what those differences might be. Everything about him was the same as far as he could tell.
Jack could keep up with Simon easily, even outdistance him, on their daily runs through the ship despite the Doc's longer legs. River wasn't quite as fast as Riddick yet, but she was still adjusting to the new shape of her body. She outpaced Jack though, something his little sister didn't take too well. Especially considering that River was slightly shorter than Jack.
That was another thing settled, Jack would always be taller, because according to Simon's scans River had done all the growing she was going to do. No more growth spurts or hormonal storms, well, no more than any other seventeen nearly eighteen-year-old girl. Mal had heaved a not so subtle sigh of relief upon hearing that. One of these days Riddick would have to ask him exactly what River had done that was so awful the Captain visibly shuddered at the thought of teenage hormones.
After a week of putting the three of them through his version of basic he set Jack to teaching Simon the martial arts she knew. They didn't depend on her hands over much, more her forearms and legs, so Simon's hands wouldn't be damaged. As a surgeon the man was justifiably protective of his hands. And as someone likely to be operated upon Riddick felt more than a little protective of them too. Also, Simon and Jack could practice without Riddick, since he did still have bridge duty.
He'd also gotten the chance to ask Simon about River's compressed adolescence and what about it had given Mal the heebie jeebies (Kaylee's expression, not his).
Simon had groaned, "Well…let me think. What could possibly have made Mal, a bachelor with little to no experience with teenagers, want to pull out his hair or space himself, when faced with my genius little sister growing up in a hurry?"
"Put like that and it seems more like what didn't set Mal off," Riddick smirked. "So what happened?"
"Well one minute she and Kaylee would be playing jacks in the bay, the next she'd be crying over missing one of the passes," Simon began to tick off seemingly random incidents on his fingers. "When I needed her in the infirmary for an exam to see how she was progressing I had to find her first. She'd have a fit of the sulks when I found her, pout through the whole exam, something I didn't exactly like doing myself, and afterward flounce off as if she was the one inconvenienced."
Riddick shook his head, "I was kinda pissed the mercs took me off the boat and I wouldn't get to see her grow up." Maybe serendipity had played a part because seeing her go through her teenage years in a hurry, with the accompanying histrionics might have irritated him enough that he said something he'd regret. He'd told her though, that if she started to bother him that he'd say something. But whatever he said would have had to filter through hormones and confusion. Maybe the mercs had done him a favor.
"This was nothing you would have wanted to experience," Simon assured him. "Zoë and Kaylee were the best at helping her. Inara just seemed to grate upon her. Maybe because she looked so perfect all the time and River would lock herself in her room for a day if she got a pimple."
"Kaylee having grease or dirt from the engine on her must've been a comfort when River felt like that," He nodded. And Kaylee's sweet nature would soothe a Seer's fraught nerves.
"And Zoë would just wait for the tears to dry up and explained the practicalities of skin care in the Black and the things River would need to do to keep her skin from going from one extreme to the other," The Doc agreed.
"How'd Cobb deal with it all," Riddick set his jaw as he waited for the answer.
"Surprisingly in stride, apart from smacking her when she cut him open," Simon shrugged. "Book mentioned that Jayne has younger sisters so he'd likely experienced all of it before." He chuckled, "He actually rolled his eyes at her when she started crying because we wouldn't let her cook. Told her to dry up and stop pouting or he'd give her somethin' to cry about. Enjoy the time off the chores because when she settled he wasn't taking her shift on dish duty."
"What'd she do," He shook his head. Who'd've thought. Cobb being sensible.
"Well, considering that Mal had been trying to calm her down, Wash had run away, Zoë had actually gotten exasperated…" Simon tilted his head. "I was sitting with Inara and Kaylee and honestly just waiting for the storm to blow over. Book was cooking and he'd offered to let her help, so he was more than a little surprised when she started crying." He chuckled, "River sniffed, glared at Jayne as if he were the once causing all the fuss and assured him that when she was allowed to do chores again she would never expect him to help her. I swear, it was like seeing my mother reprimand the help. If she'd had a longer skirt she could have swept out of the room like Mother did."
"How'd he take that?"
Simon smirked, "Well she left, went to your bunk, probably to meditate and Jayne just shouted after her 'Good, gettin' sick an' tired a you actin' like a bāqí zǐdì. Hormones ain't no excuse to be a jiàn huò." He paused and translated, "Spoiled brat…and bitch. Which made Mal and Book tell him to watch his language and she might be a little worked up but she was going through four years worth of hormones at one time."
"Guess it was his turn to pout then," Riddick asked with a smirk of his own.
"Pretty much," Simon nodded. "River came out of your bunk when dinner was ready because Mal had laid down the law about that." He seemed to mentally backtrack, "River had missed a few meals in the early days and Mal spoke to her very seriously about eating and how she would be doing a lot of growing and he wouldn't have her getting sick because she just didn't 'feel like' coming for a meal. He made it a captainy order so she'd do it. Pointed out that you had talked about her routine and how she'd need to stick with it, especially when the implant came out."
"Good," Riddick nodded. "Gotta say though, smart as the girl is, she likely could've made an argument against it if she'd wanted."
"We were all grateful that the hormones and growing pains seemed to overtake her to the point of River not using her genius brain against us, well not all the time," Her brother nodded. "The growing pains worried me because you know River and discomfort, she tended to ignore it."
"I take it she couldn't just ignore the growing pains," He'd worried about that. Growing up wasn't comfortable in the best of circumstances. River's situation was as far from the best as it could be.
"No," The Doctor shook his head. "There were days that she couldn't even train because her skin had become so sensitized. Not often enough to disrupt everything badly but it worried us. That's part of why we were at the hospital."
Riddick nodded, "Well she seems to have gotten through it without killing anyone. Or with any of the crew trying to kill her."
"We did," Her brother shook his head. "Be glad you weren't here to overhear some of the 'conversations' she and Kaylee had. Or the weeping rants that none of her clothing fit. Or how ugly she looked. I seriously wanted to put in earplugs."
Riddick couldn't help chuckling, "Yeah…think I'm growing more and more glad about that the more I hear."
Author's Note: So this originally didn't have Simon describing River's 'compressed' adolescence to Riddick. Chisza pointed out that Riddick might change his mind about being sorry he wasn't there to see River grow up if he heard just how bad a teenage girl's mood swings could get.
Also, I'm a little distracted these days. Lost my job last week. Actually I didn't lose it. I know where it is. It's just not mine anymore. so I'm job hunting and working on my certifications a lot. I apologize if I don't respond to comments immediately. I hope you enjoy this.
Chinese Translations:
Zài liǎng fēn zhōng nèi lí kāi dà qì céng (Leaving atmosphere in two minutes)
Lì jí gù dìng huò cāng mén (Secure cargo bay door at once)
Lóng Wáng (Dragon King (mythology))
tóu miàn rén wù (leading figure / bigwig)
Wǒ cào (holy fuck)
Wàng zǐ chéng lóng (lit. to hope one's son becomes a dragon (idiom)
zhùdìng (to foreordain / to be bound to / to be destined to / to be doomed to / inevitably)
Yuàn Fótuó réncí (May Buddha be merciful / May the Buddha be merciful)
bāqí zǐdì (child of a Manchu bannerman family (nobility) / (fig.) privileged brat)
jiàn huò (bitch / slut)
Quote Sources:
Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy. Always roaming with a hungry heart much have I seen and known—cities of men and manners, climates, councils, governments, myself not least, but honored of them all,— and drunk delight of battle with my peers, far on the ringing plains of windy Troy. – The Odyssey – Homer
From childhood's hour I have not been as others were; I have not seen as others saw; I could not bring my passions from a common spring. – Alone - Edgar Allen Poe
Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing – Macbeth – William Shakespeare
From the same source I have not taken my sorrow; I could not awaken my heart to joy at the same tone; and all I loved, I loved alone. – Alone – Edgar Allen Poe
But as for myself grant me a rapid convoy home to my own native land. How far away I've been from all my loved ones—how long I have suffered! – The Odyssey – Homer