"Everything's set," Inara said as she floated down the stairs.
"Thank you," Simon called over his shoulder from his place in line. Serenity's seven crew members, minus Inara who was hurrying to her position were all lined up, Zoë, Wash, Jayne, Kaylee, Simon, Book: like the crew of a cruse ship to welcome passengers. Simon couldn't shake the feeling that it was more like lining up for a firing squad.
Mal was also looking at Inara, her dress, which seemed to be a random composition of silken scarves and sashes, flowing behind her. He had to force himself to keep his mind on business, "She ain't gonna get out?"
"River understands the situation," Inara said, taking her place at the end of the line, next to the Shepherd. "She has plenty of food and that big book. There's nothing out here she needs."
Simon glanced behind him, towards the door to Inara's shuttle. "Right," he said very softly.
Kaylee slipped his hand into his and squeezed comfortingly, "Don' worry," she said softly. "This'll work."
"And you locked it?" Mal asked. "From the outside?"
"Yes, Mal, I locked it," Inara sighed.
"I just . . . I hate to think of her alone, all the time," Simon continued in a whisper. "She does so much better when there are people to talk to."
"She don't hardly ever talk to anyone but you," Kaylee pointed out.
"Still," Simon said. "I think she needs to see people. If I'm here, if I'm real, then she can know that the nightmare's over."
"Would you two stop whispering?" Mal said sharply, turning to glare at Simon and Kaylee.
"Yes sir," they both muttered.
"Now remember, we're a perfectly respectable crew doin' a perfectly respectable job. We ain't hiddin' nothin' and we'er glad to be helpin' out the alliance. Is that understood?"
Everyone nodded, with the exception of Jayne looked straight ahead, icily, and Zoë who offered a crisp, "Yes sir."
"Good," Mal breathed. Turning back around to see an Alliance patrol, looking very much out of place at the lower rent docks, escorting a very affluent, stiff woman and a gaggle of well behaved boys with blond, curly hair in matching suites, whose age seemed to range between six and sixteen. There was also a pair of soldiers carrying a young girl on stretcher As Mal sussed up the family he couldn't help but hope that his first impressions were not accurate. If they were, this was going to be one of the worst weeks of his life.
Regardless, he stepped forward, offered the entire company his most congenial smile and said, "Mrs. Kubat, welcome to Serenity."
The stiff woman looked up at Mal and seemed disappointed. "You are the captain?"
"Yes, ma'am, I am," Mal said, bowing slightly, not letting her coldness chill his warm demeanor. "Cap'in Malcolm Reynolds, this here's the first mate Zoë . . . ."
"Perhaps later," she said dismissively, as her eyes scanned the seven people lined up before her. Once her gaze found Simon, she smiled, "Ah, Doctor, come here."
Simon felt his heart stop, he couldn't breath. He would have stayed still, frozen in terror if Kaylee hadn't whispered, "Go on, Simon," and pushed him forward gently with her elbow.
"Ah, ye--yes?" Simon said, swallowing his fear as best he could as he walked down the hatch towards Mrs. Kubat.
"This is Evangeline," the stiff woman said, nodding to the girl lying, semi-conscious, on the stretcher. "These men will take her to your infirmary and you will make sure she is properly cared for."
Simon found he could breathe again. He took a more confident step towards the girl, "What's wrong with her?"
"I wish to get off this disgusting planet as soon as possible," Mrs. Kubat snapped. "Do as I say!"
"Of . . ." Simon stuttered, glancing somewhat fearfully at Mal, who could do little more than shrug at the boy. "Of course. If you, ah, gentlemen will follow me." Simon led the two men carrying the little girl past the rest of the crew and to the back of the ship.
"I, ah, I wasn't aware that we were going to be transporting someone who required medical attention," Mal said, trying to smile at Mrs. Kubat.
"You didn't need to know," Mrs. Kubat said formally. "Now, if your crew would load our luggage, my children and I would like to see our quarters."
"Course," Mal clipped, still smiling, although that exercise was becoming somewhat taxing. He turned to the line of crewmembers, "Zoë, you heard the lady, gotta get their bags on board."
"Yes sir," the first mate said. "Wash, Jayne, Kaylee."
"I'll help too," Book volunteered.
"Fine, Inara, you can come with me to show our guests their quarters."
"Of course, Captain," Inara said.
"That's the companion?" Mrs. Kubat said, sucking her breath in with obvious distain.
Inara, ever the lady, ignored the older woman's poor manners. "My name is Inara Mrs. Kubat. And anything I can do to make your trip more . . ."
"Don't tempt my boy's, seductress."
Inara's composed smile faltered just a bit.
Mal cleared his throat, "She don't service crew or passengers, Ma'am," he informed her. "Strict policy, never broken."
"It's better that way," Inara said, having regained her flawless composure. "Sex too often complicates situations that need to stay simple."
"Good," Mrs. Kubat said icily. "Now, if you please."
"Of course," Mal said, leading her and her entourage past the laboring crew, through the cargo bay, and towards the passenger's quarters. "Serenity is the most dependable ship you could hope to travel on. She ain't flashy, but that's all for the better. Real reliable make, Fireflies."
"How fast does she go?" the second tallest boy asked.
"Well, in deep space she can make about . . ."
"Don't ask the captain questions," Mrs. Kubat said forcefully. "He's a very important man and should not be bothered. Now apologize."
"I'm sorry Captain Reynolds sir."
"Ain't no problem," Mal said, more than a little startled by the woman's severe reaction. "I don't mind the questions."
"Indeed," Inara said smiling broadly at the family. "I can't think of anything Mal likes talking about more than his ship."
"You call him by his first name?" Mrs. Kubat asked, almost accusingly.
"Ah," Mal said, "Nara's been shipping out with us nearly a year now. With such a small crew can't help but be friendly."
"I don't want you being friendly with me, Captain. Me or my family."
"No worries there Ma'am," Mal said. "I'm sure the crew will be as, ah, unfriendly as you want us."
"I'll be holding you to that, Captain."
"Right," Mal muttered, wondering how he could convince Kaylee to be unfriendly as he led the family into the common room. "Well, this here's the common area," Mal said. "It's a niceish sized room. While y'all are on board you can use it as much as you like for just 'bout anything you like. School lessons or, whatever."
Mrs. Kubat looked over the room and didn't comment, Mal, feeling the need for someone to say something, kept talking. "And, ah, as you can see this here's the infirmary. Seein' as your daughter might be needin' ta be in there for, ah, for some time, I figure you'll be glad ta see it's so close."
"Captain, our rooms." Mrs. Kubat said, her patience was clearing growing thin.
"I, ah, I actually didn't set that part a it up. Inara,"
The companion smiled and stepped forward. "I'm afraid that the orders we were given were unspecific in terms of how many rooms you would be needing. Kaylee was under the impression you needed ten?"
"You're mechanic was wrong," she said solidly. "I will require a room for myself, four rooms for my boys, and a room for my husband."
"Yer what?" Mal asked.
"Husband," Mrs. Kubat said coolly.
"I thought you were gonna go meet yer husband," Mal said. "Over on New Dallas."
"Who said that?" Mrs. Kubat demanded.
"Well, ah," Mal stuttered. "No one, I guess."
"Most of these rooms are singles," Inara said calmly, trying not to react to the news that an Alliance Prefect would be on the ship. "But there are a few that can be opened and changed to doubles. It will only take a minute."
"My husband and I will not be sharing a room, not under any circumstances," Mrs. Kubat said with unquestionable firmness. "Now, I want to make sure that my boys are settled before their father arrives."
"Of course," Inara said graciously. "If you'll just follow me . . ."
* * *
River sat in the pilot's seat of Inara's shuttle and watched the world disappear behind her. She toyed with the idea of overriding the lockouts and taking off. The ship was rising at a speed of three hundred miles per hour, which meant she had approximately six minuets until they reached the edges of the atmosphere. She could easily override the lock out by then, as well as hack into Serenity's computer and override the air locks there.
She wouldn't be able to hide her escape, she reasoned, the sudden weight and balance change would be immediately apparent so close to a gravitational field. But she wasn't convinced that would matter, because she wasn't convinced they would come after her. They might come after the shuttle, that much was true, but she could easily dump that and start out on her own. Inara had enough money saved in her account to facilitate a fairly comfortable, if not extravagant life, on a backwater planet for years, and it couldn't take more than thirty seconds to use the cortex to hack Inara's account, and another minute to set up one of her own and transfer all the funds. Simon would have to repay the companion, naturally, but that was all right. Simon wouldn't mind because, with River gone, he could marry Kaylee and have a happy life. River could live alone in a small cabin, grow her own food, and not talk to anyone. Well, except her cats. She would have to have cats if she was going to be living alone in a small cabin in the middle of a backwater planet, otherwise she'd go totally insane.
River was defiantly tempted. But she was also afraid. This was nothing new; at the Academy fear had become her constant companion; fear of pain, fear of feeling nothing, fear of the things she saw, fear of the things she didn't see, fear of the noises, fear of the silence, fear of tomorrow, fear of memories of yesterday, fear of everyone and everything. She's lived and breathed fear for almost three years. And then Simon had come, and the fear was gone. She could remember before the fear, and Simon had been there too. Simon was the only one who'd ever been able to keep the fear at bay. He didn't conquer it, he didn't slay it, but he pushed it away at arms length, and kept her sheltered behind his back, where she could pretend there was nothing to be afraid of.
Even as she pondered the implications of leaving Serenity, leaving Simon, her hands started to tremble and her breathing started to come in gasps. This was a horrible, horrible thing to consider. She would die without Simon. Whatever that big blackness was that whispered her name in her darkest nightmares, it would reach out and get her if her noble brother wasn't standing over her, defending her, a knight in armor, an epic hero.
"'I am sinking beneath my troubles,'" she muttered, quoting from her very large volume, which was lying open on Inara's bed. "'Send me my brother!'"
No one heard her. Simon didn't come.
To Be Continued . . .