"Yes… this should more than do the job," Simon said with satisfaction as he went over the results of the tests. "Whomever designed this did a masterful job, there are any number of diseases, genetic and otherwise, this will cure."
"New diseases will pop up," The Leewit warned him. "Mother Nature never stops innovating."
"I'm quite aware of that," Simon replied, "but this should at least slow her down a little."
"What does all that mean?" Kaylee asked curiously, as Simon looked up from his reader.
"The genetic modifications package that I've extracted from The Leewit's blood, takes care of a number of health problems that people on the rim tend to suffer because of the faulty terraforming methods used." He frowned thoughtfully. "Well, I shouldn't say faulty, they've actually been wildly successful when they've had the resources, it's the worlds where they've cut corners that have had problems."
"The terraforming process is amazing," The Leewit said as she scrolled through the information she'd downloaded. "My people never got into the habit as they found tons of worlds that were near enough to Earth to not need it, but if it's this easy, I expect that'll soon change."
"Your people must have gone in another direction entirely than our colony ships," Simon said. "Wish we'd found tons of worlds that didn't need terraforming. I have a sneaking suspicion that The Alliance did less than stellar jobs on several worlds as a means of keeping control and not just to save money."
"Do you really understand all that?" Kaylee asked The Leewit, as she found most of the material going over her head, being far outside her area of expertise.
"Not remotely," The Leewit replied. "I can understand the final results they expect from each process, since they outline it in detail, but what they are actually doing to get there is completely incomprehensible to me. Of course just because I don't understand it doesn't mean my people won't."
"Oh, good," Kaylee said with a sigh, "I was feeling a bit slow being around you two."
The Leewit grinned. "Hey, Simon."
"Yes?" he asked.
"If the ship's engine was stuttering regularly every several seconds, what would you do?"
"Get Kaylee," he replied.
"What? But a regular stutter like that is just a sign that the magnetic flux on the fuel intake is slightly off, you could fix that in a jiffy," Kaylee said.
"I have no idea what you are talking about," he replied. "I know nothing about engines."
"You always seem to understand me when I'm talking about them," Kaylee said, "you smile and nod."
"Yes, because I am confident that you understand what you are talking about and I love listening to you, I understand very little myself," Simon told her.
"What? Really?"
"Yes," he assured her, "I studied medicine. If it was something to do with the human body I'd understand what was being said, outside of that…" He shrugged.
"Oh," Kaylee said with a bright smile.
The Leewit set her reader down and turned towards the door, opening her arms much to the pair's confusion, just before the door opened and Harry entered, throwing his arms around her and almost knocking her over.
"I was drinking with Jayne, it was a lot of fun, but beer seems to make everything spin a little and then I helped make the room a little less cramped and I'm tired now," he rattled off drunkenly.
"Yeah, I think it's time for bed," The Leewit agreed, reddening slightly in embarrassment, but not willing to do anything that could possibly make Harry feel unwanted, knowing he was working at somewhat diminished capacity at the moment and might misinterpret things even with their link.
"I'll show you to an open cabin with a couple of bunks," Kaylee said, trying not to grin and failing, thinking the two looked just so cute together, making The Leewit blush even more. She lead them through the ship to an empty room next to the one where River was sleeping; it had a pair of small beds and dressers attached to the bulkhead. It was obviously a room meant for passengers though it resembled a jail cell as temporary quarters often do, since everything has to be both sturdy and secured down aboard a ship.
"I can get you some blankets," Kaylee quickly offered, realizing the room hadn't been prepared for passengers and could probably use some cleaning as well.
Harry waved a hand and the dust in over half the room vanished, causing Kaylee's jaw to drop. He yawned loudly and a blanket slithered out of his pack like a snake to spread itself on the bed. "It's fine," he mumbled.
The Leewit rolled her eyes and relieved them both of their packs, sliding them under the bed, before making Harry lay down and taking off his boots. She kicked her own boots off before laying down next to him and belting them together. "Night," she told Kaylee.
"Night," Kaylee replied absently as she turned off the light and left, still in shock about what she'd just seen.
The Leewit was just about to drift off when the door opened and River quietly slipped in, closing the door behind her. The slender young woman laid down next to them, wrapping her arms around The Leewit and passing out like a switch had been flipped. The little blonde witch was tightly sandwiched between the two and contemplated how her life had changed recently, she'd gone from spending most of her time alone in the woods to being squeezed between two people, one of which she had just met.
Privately she could admit the reason she'd retreated from everyone and spent so much time alone was because her sisters were gone, married and moved out, leaving her feeling alone and unneeded. It was nice to be needed. The Leewit slowly fell asleep with a smile on her face.
0o0o0o0o0o0
The Leewit blinked and looked around, it was hard to think, everything seemed… fuzzy. She couldn't feel her connection to Harry and the thick mass of klatha surrounding them was slow to respond to her. The room was familiar, but it took her a few seconds to recognize it. The naked boy standing next to her grabbed her attention as he looked a lot like Harry… but he was bald and seemed to have been fed properly.
"The Leewit," Dr. Li greeted her.
"Yes," The Leewit agreed, before examining herself and noting the lack of hair, "or possibly not. Synth?"
"Indeed," she agreed with a hint of amusement. "You'll notice you are a fully functional human female, as we know you value that, and your bones have been modified to allow for normal growth. You are, in fact, the second The Leewit we have created, as a large bird made of flame grabbed you and Harry mere minutes after you were both created and vanished in a burst of flame exactly the same way it arrived."
"Pardon?" The Leewit asked as she extended threads into the new Harry, who silently stood next to her. A third of the threads were absorbed by the knot of klatha in his chest which was rapidly rebuilding itself thanks to the dense fog of klatha that seemed to be filling the room. She was pleased to see that Harry was perfectly healthy and that she could feel his consciousness develop rapidly.
"We created a pair of you and while we were speaking a bird arrived in an explosion of flames, possibly made of flames, and vanished with the two of you in the same way it had arrived," Dr. Li explained. "I was hoping it was something you would have knowledge of."
"I can't say I have any knowledge of it," The Leewit admitted. "The only bird made of flame I know of is the phoenix and that's just a myth."
"Maybe Harry will know," Dr. Lee said thoughtfully. "How is he progressing?"
The Leewit examined Harry closely, noting he'd begun to grow hair, though it was a dark red, unlike his normal black mop, and she could almost feel the knot of klatha in his chest expand and contract with each heartbeat as it pulled in the klatha from their surroundings. "He's developing quickly, much more quickly than the synth you showed us. It probably has something to do with all the klatha in the room. We need some clothes and to see any footage you got on our other selves disappearing."
"Sally and Linda have been sent to retrieve jumpsuits for you both, they should be back any moment now. Footage is on the terminal," Dr. Li said, waving her over to the computer.
The Leewit found the footage already keyed up and ready for viewing, watching the creation of herself and Harry, or rather a previous synth version of herself and Harry… It wasn't anything she'd ever expected to witness. She smiled at how happy the half aware Harry was to hold her in his lap and stared in disbelief at the large bird appearing in a burst of flame and vanishing with them. She replayed that section several times, slowing it down until she was watching it frame by frame. "Yeah, this isn't something I know anything about. Not sure how we'd get them back, but you can be sure we will, even if I have to get Talla and have her use her talents."
"Talla?" Dr. Li asked curiously.
"A… friend of mine, her talents lie more towards gathering information than mine do," she explained with a thoughtful frown. "It's not something we need to handle immediately anyway, as I'm going to need some time to regain my edge before I even attempt to swim anywhere."
"Swim?"
"It's how we describe our form of transportation. Why did you feel the need to create us?" The Leewit asked as two familiar synths entered the room.
"The Leewit, Harry!" Linda exclaimed and shoved the clothing she was carrying into Sally's arms before rushing over to sweep the pair up in a hug.
"Nevermind," The Leewit said from Linda's tight embrace.
"No bird is taking you this time!" Linda declared.
"You're smaller," Harry noted as he looked at The Leewit, a slight trace of awareness in his eyes.
"No, you're bigger," The Leewit corrected him, pleased he was developing so quickly.
"Linda, let them go so they can get dressed," Sally ordered.
Beta by: Abyssal Angel & Mist-of-Shadows
AN: And now we have three sets of the two! While I'm normally not in favor of timeskips, I believe I am going to use one next chapter as two sets of our favorite characters practicing to get their skills back up to snuff would be a tad boring not to mention the training the crew of the Serenity will be undergoing. Training montages for all!