Fragile by Proxii Bleu
VIII
River stood over Simon, watching him sleep. Usually it was the oldest Tam who engaged in this ritual, but this time it was her turn. Normally, River would have been asleep, her mind quiet for once, instead of being filled with all of the static from the crew, but after her encounter with Selma Ennes she had keys now to unlock the floodgates. Now her ocean was nearly whole, just one lock left to be opened, but she knew that she wasnt ready yet.
Her trepidation over crossing the final bridge between wellness, and illness was not due to her inability to adequately control the gifts of her mind, before Ennes that had slowly started to fade away as a problem. But her hesitation was caused by fear, the uncertainty about whether or not she would lose control again, and that was what kept the last gate locked.
However, there would come a time when she would no longer be able to hide, and she would have to come out of the darknes. For now, her condition provided her a unique opportunity to be seen as someone weaker, if only for the purpose of examining someone who was stronger.
Slipping out of the room she shared with Simon, River stepped into the hallway, and looked about cautiously. She really didn't need her eyes, but it was a force of habit, and one that she was most likely never to give up.
Jayne was asleep, dreaming of odd things such as naked women, and credits beyond even the wild dream he was having now. Wash was enjoying the fruits of fatherhood, Zoe was throwing up in their bathroom, and Shepard Book was roaming the halls of the salvage ship trying to think of a way to visit Selma without being caught by Mal who was asleep in the mess hall slumped over the table.
Kaylee was blanked out, something that happened when she saw something interesting to stare at, Inara was reliving the memories that made her so sad, and Simon was dreaming of Kaylee. That pretty much accounted for everyone, except Selma herself who was awake unlike her son Jordan who was sleeping peacefully in his room.
Creeping down the hall, River stepped over Jayne's inert form, and pushed back the sliding door of the room. Miss Ennes sat there on the edge of her bed meditating, the blue eyes snapping open as the young girl cautiously entered the room.
"You came to see me."
"I could say the same about you." Replied River as she sat down on the floor across from the other woman. Selma smiled quietly, and adjusted her seat on the bed.
"You came to me for answers to questions never asked."
"Maybe."
"I came here to help you, to give you the tools you needed to make yourself whole again so that you could begin to understand the things that you learned at the Academy."
"Why?"
"Because it is my job."
"You know more than you're saying." Selma smiled, and resituated herself. She could feel River pusing at the edges of her mind, but she hadn't been around for so long wihtout learning how to create a few defenses of her own. Taking a breath she opened her mouth to say something when Jayne pulled the door almost off the track revealing himself, Simon, and Mal. The doctor rushed for his sister to take her out of the room, but this time River wasn't going without a fight. The captain and the mercenary watched as the two siblings entered into a knock-down-drag-out tumble with River having the upper hand.
"RIVER YOU'RE NOT SAFE HERE!" A low screech was the reply, punctuated by a swift kick to the ribs. Simon flew back against the wall, and crashed into the lamp knocking it over. Getting up he made for his sister once more when Selma stood, and both siblings dropped to the floor as if some invisible force had knocked them down.
"Enough!" Selma closed her eyes, and rubbed her temples. Something of this magnitude was too trying on her nerves, and it taxed her reserves. "Your sister came here to me in order to find answers, and so that I could help her. If you can't see that, then you really are an idiot."
"You were hurting her!" Selma's eyes blazed.
"If you know so much then how come your Captain is the only person on this ship who understands her better than her own brother? How come he can interpret the code she talks in, and you still think that she's babbling incoherently?" Simon opened his mouth to say something else when Mal stepped into the room.
"What is she talkin' about?" Asked Jayne. Mal rubbed his eyes, and stared down at Simon who was still lying on the floor. He would have gotten up a long time ago, but it seemed as if his mind could rightly remember how to do that at the moment.
"River can't talk like a normal person because whatever the Alliance did to her made it so that her words come out in this code nonsense. It doesn't keep her from writing things down clearly, see when she says 'purple elephants are flying' she's talking about Alliance personnel, and that ocean she keeps mentioning is her mind." Simon glanced over at River who was glaring at him from the far corner, Selma, and then Mal.
"Why didn't you tell me this?"
"I thought that you already knew, I mean come on Wash figured it out first, and I think everyone on this ship here knows how come she had information that no one told her about." Selma sat down hard on the bed, the movement somehow coinciding with Simon's recovered motor skills. Shakily he pulled himself to his feet, and stared hard at the archaeologist.
"You said that you were helping her. How?"
"She doesn't have a disease Simon, it's nothing you can treat with drugs." Tam opened his mouth, but Mal stopped him. His mind had already started down the right track when he pointed out River's unique talents to her brother just a few minutes ago, but now the rest of the pieces of the puzzle were starting to fall into place.
"River, you said that Selma here is like you, but not briken right?" River nodded, her brow furrowing as she picked up on what the captain was getting at. "And you also said her ocean was calm, and deep, with life." Mal looked over at Selma.
"You're a seer like River."
"Give the man a prize." quipped the woman, before she passed out, and rolled onto the floor.
"Guess she didn't see that coming." said Jayne idly.
***
"Is she dead?" Zoe stood in the doorway of the medbay staring at Ennes who was lying unconscious on the table. In the past five hours she had yet to regain consciousness, and her prolonged unresponsive behavior was starting to worry Simon.
"Not as far as I can tell, but it does seem as if her mind has shut down. The only areas that appear to still be operating are the ones geared towards life support."
"Is she sick?"
"No, it doesn't look physical. This state she's in started right after Mal identified her as-as a seer."
"She's like River?"
"No...weaker...." Both turned to look at Selma who was slowly moving in an effort to pull at the IV in her arm. Simon immediately dashed to her side in order to stop her from removing the lines, and motioned for Zoe to get Mal. Ennes opened her blue eyes carefully, and stared inquisitively at the good doctor.
"You're afraid of me now." Simon shook his head, but inside he knew that the woman was right. It did scare him the possibility that River was something capable of reading minds, it was disturbing, and-
"That's the same way the Alliance thinks about people like me and your sister, its why when they find and capture us, we are treated as though we are less than human. Careful doctor, that empathy you show for your patients may be something more than you could ever understand." Paling slightly, Simon stepped back out of the way as Mal entered the room, and sat down on the counter to the right of the archaeologist. He had finished his first run a few hours ago, and now Serenity was on her way to Fairhead to unload her other cargo. Soon, all that would be left was Selma and her son.
"I want answers," he said flatly. "And none of that mumbo-jumbo crap that you try to pass of as answers. I want to know everything." Selma smiled, and pulled herself into a sitting position.
"Oh, if I were to tell you everything Mal, you would never sleep again. But, I can tell you the things that you need to know for the time being."
"Fair enough, so long as it's the truth."
"Most seers don't lie, we can never truly be sure of whether or not we are in the company of one of our own. What do you want to know?"
"Why the Alliance is after River so badly."
"That is a two-sided tale, but the main reason is because of what she is. Little do you know captain, but one out of every five people within the core worlds of the Alliance are born with River's abilities. That means that there are millions of people with PSI capabilities, but out of that multitude very few are actual telepaths. This means that the Alliance cannot control everyone, but strategically remove the ones that pose the greatest threat." Simon who had been listening, chose that moment to interject.
"What you're saying is that nearly seventy-five percent of the Alliance population is empathic in some way."
"It's higher out among the Independent worlds, out here one in every two people is born with the ability. It is another reason why the Alliance started the war in the first place, unification was a convienient cover story."
"You're saying the war we fought wasn't for soverignty, but rather the right to exist as some sort of mistake by nature?"
"Crude, but accurate. There was more going on that you know captain, there still it, but you aren't ready to know that part of the agenda yet. To put it mildly, there are fewer normal humans, than psis being born with each generation, and honestly-" Mal nodded. "Sterility is also occuring at higher rates within the normal populations, than in the ones possessing these gifts." Zoe let out a low whistle, Simon swallowed thickly, and Mal just shrugged.
"Okay, say I believe this, what does this have to do with me exactly?"
"I came here because when Simon freed his sister from the Academy, he cost my particular group-"
"Wait group?"
"As I said Captain, there is more going on here than you know, but I can tell you we are not the Alliance, and we certainly don't spend our time trying to hide information from one another. You should read the information on the Cortex more often, if you did you would see that there is a power shift taking place, and more information on Alliance misdeeds is making it's way to the press."
"What kind of power shift?"
"Again, need to know only. Anyway, Simon cost us an operative, one that would have been able to help River the moment she left the school be able to fuction relatively normally once they were outside, but the agents for the Alliance were quicker."
"Who do they work for?" Selma just stared. "I see. Need to know."
"As I was saying he would have been able to help River, but he was executed. I was sent to check on her condition, make sure that this environment was suitable, and warn you of any dangers to watch for from others."
"What would have happened if this place wasn't good for her?" asked Zoe. Selma looked down at the floor.
"An extraction team would have been sent to collect River and Simon, but as I said I don't see any reason for her to be removed." Mal nodded, and stepped away from the counter.
"Seeing as how you're a seer and all, you know what I'm likely to do to you if you're lying to me."
"In detail. I must warn you Mal, as I said one in every two people is born with a psi ability captain. Some of these people go one to become productive citizens, and other become monsters who feed off of the pain of their victims."
"I don't need a seer to tell me that." said Mal.
"Yes, you do because you have already met such an individual." Mal looked up from the floor, and stared hard at Selma who was lying back down on the bed again. Her blue eyes drooping as the blackness began to calime her once more.
"Who?"
"I believe that River called him the vulture." she mumbled before finally passing out. Zoe creased her borw at the statement, and Simon just wondered, but Mal felt like the world had just dropped out from underneath him. Niska was one of these people? Shaking his head, the captain stalked out into the hall in order to check on the status of his cargo. They were only about a day away from Fairhead, but he didn't want to waste any time.
VIII
River stood over Simon, watching him sleep. Usually it was the oldest Tam who engaged in this ritual, but this time it was her turn. Normally, River would have been asleep, her mind quiet for once, instead of being filled with all of the static from the crew, but after her encounter with Selma Ennes she had keys now to unlock the floodgates. Now her ocean was nearly whole, just one lock left to be opened, but she knew that she wasnt ready yet.
Her trepidation over crossing the final bridge between wellness, and illness was not due to her inability to adequately control the gifts of her mind, before Ennes that had slowly started to fade away as a problem. But her hesitation was caused by fear, the uncertainty about whether or not she would lose control again, and that was what kept the last gate locked.
However, there would come a time when she would no longer be able to hide, and she would have to come out of the darknes. For now, her condition provided her a unique opportunity to be seen as someone weaker, if only for the purpose of examining someone who was stronger.
Slipping out of the room she shared with Simon, River stepped into the hallway, and looked about cautiously. She really didn't need her eyes, but it was a force of habit, and one that she was most likely never to give up.
Jayne was asleep, dreaming of odd things such as naked women, and credits beyond even the wild dream he was having now. Wash was enjoying the fruits of fatherhood, Zoe was throwing up in their bathroom, and Shepard Book was roaming the halls of the salvage ship trying to think of a way to visit Selma without being caught by Mal who was asleep in the mess hall slumped over the table.
Kaylee was blanked out, something that happened when she saw something interesting to stare at, Inara was reliving the memories that made her so sad, and Simon was dreaming of Kaylee. That pretty much accounted for everyone, except Selma herself who was awake unlike her son Jordan who was sleeping peacefully in his room.
Creeping down the hall, River stepped over Jayne's inert form, and pushed back the sliding door of the room. Miss Ennes sat there on the edge of her bed meditating, the blue eyes snapping open as the young girl cautiously entered the room.
"You came to see me."
"I could say the same about you." Replied River as she sat down on the floor across from the other woman. Selma smiled quietly, and adjusted her seat on the bed.
"You came to me for answers to questions never asked."
"Maybe."
"I came here to help you, to give you the tools you needed to make yourself whole again so that you could begin to understand the things that you learned at the Academy."
"Why?"
"Because it is my job."
"You know more than you're saying." Selma smiled, and resituated herself. She could feel River pusing at the edges of her mind, but she hadn't been around for so long wihtout learning how to create a few defenses of her own. Taking a breath she opened her mouth to say something when Jayne pulled the door almost off the track revealing himself, Simon, and Mal. The doctor rushed for his sister to take her out of the room, but this time River wasn't going without a fight. The captain and the mercenary watched as the two siblings entered into a knock-down-drag-out tumble with River having the upper hand.
"RIVER YOU'RE NOT SAFE HERE!" A low screech was the reply, punctuated by a swift kick to the ribs. Simon flew back against the wall, and crashed into the lamp knocking it over. Getting up he made for his sister once more when Selma stood, and both siblings dropped to the floor as if some invisible force had knocked them down.
"Enough!" Selma closed her eyes, and rubbed her temples. Something of this magnitude was too trying on her nerves, and it taxed her reserves. "Your sister came here to me in order to find answers, and so that I could help her. If you can't see that, then you really are an idiot."
"You were hurting her!" Selma's eyes blazed.
"If you know so much then how come your Captain is the only person on this ship who understands her better than her own brother? How come he can interpret the code she talks in, and you still think that she's babbling incoherently?" Simon opened his mouth to say something else when Mal stepped into the room.
"What is she talkin' about?" Asked Jayne. Mal rubbed his eyes, and stared down at Simon who was still lying on the floor. He would have gotten up a long time ago, but it seemed as if his mind could rightly remember how to do that at the moment.
"River can't talk like a normal person because whatever the Alliance did to her made it so that her words come out in this code nonsense. It doesn't keep her from writing things down clearly, see when she says 'purple elephants are flying' she's talking about Alliance personnel, and that ocean she keeps mentioning is her mind." Simon glanced over at River who was glaring at him from the far corner, Selma, and then Mal.
"Why didn't you tell me this?"
"I thought that you already knew, I mean come on Wash figured it out first, and I think everyone on this ship here knows how come she had information that no one told her about." Selma sat down hard on the bed, the movement somehow coinciding with Simon's recovered motor skills. Shakily he pulled himself to his feet, and stared hard at the archaeologist.
"You said that you were helping her. How?"
"She doesn't have a disease Simon, it's nothing you can treat with drugs." Tam opened his mouth, but Mal stopped him. His mind had already started down the right track when he pointed out River's unique talents to her brother just a few minutes ago, but now the rest of the pieces of the puzzle were starting to fall into place.
"River, you said that Selma here is like you, but not briken right?" River nodded, her brow furrowing as she picked up on what the captain was getting at. "And you also said her ocean was calm, and deep, with life." Mal looked over at Selma.
"You're a seer like River."
"Give the man a prize." quipped the woman, before she passed out, and rolled onto the floor.
"Guess she didn't see that coming." said Jayne idly.
***
"Is she dead?" Zoe stood in the doorway of the medbay staring at Ennes who was lying unconscious on the table. In the past five hours she had yet to regain consciousness, and her prolonged unresponsive behavior was starting to worry Simon.
"Not as far as I can tell, but it does seem as if her mind has shut down. The only areas that appear to still be operating are the ones geared towards life support."
"Is she sick?"
"No, it doesn't look physical. This state she's in started right after Mal identified her as-as a seer."
"She's like River?"
"No...weaker...." Both turned to look at Selma who was slowly moving in an effort to pull at the IV in her arm. Simon immediately dashed to her side in order to stop her from removing the lines, and motioned for Zoe to get Mal. Ennes opened her blue eyes carefully, and stared inquisitively at the good doctor.
"You're afraid of me now." Simon shook his head, but inside he knew that the woman was right. It did scare him the possibility that River was something capable of reading minds, it was disturbing, and-
"That's the same way the Alliance thinks about people like me and your sister, its why when they find and capture us, we are treated as though we are less than human. Careful doctor, that empathy you show for your patients may be something more than you could ever understand." Paling slightly, Simon stepped back out of the way as Mal entered the room, and sat down on the counter to the right of the archaeologist. He had finished his first run a few hours ago, and now Serenity was on her way to Fairhead to unload her other cargo. Soon, all that would be left was Selma and her son.
"I want answers," he said flatly. "And none of that mumbo-jumbo crap that you try to pass of as answers. I want to know everything." Selma smiled, and pulled herself into a sitting position.
"Oh, if I were to tell you everything Mal, you would never sleep again. But, I can tell you the things that you need to know for the time being."
"Fair enough, so long as it's the truth."
"Most seers don't lie, we can never truly be sure of whether or not we are in the company of one of our own. What do you want to know?"
"Why the Alliance is after River so badly."
"That is a two-sided tale, but the main reason is because of what she is. Little do you know captain, but one out of every five people within the core worlds of the Alliance are born with River's abilities. That means that there are millions of people with PSI capabilities, but out of that multitude very few are actual telepaths. This means that the Alliance cannot control everyone, but strategically remove the ones that pose the greatest threat." Simon who had been listening, chose that moment to interject.
"What you're saying is that nearly seventy-five percent of the Alliance population is empathic in some way."
"It's higher out among the Independent worlds, out here one in every two people is born with the ability. It is another reason why the Alliance started the war in the first place, unification was a convienient cover story."
"You're saying the war we fought wasn't for soverignty, but rather the right to exist as some sort of mistake by nature?"
"Crude, but accurate. There was more going on that you know captain, there still it, but you aren't ready to know that part of the agenda yet. To put it mildly, there are fewer normal humans, than psis being born with each generation, and honestly-" Mal nodded. "Sterility is also occuring at higher rates within the normal populations, than in the ones possessing these gifts." Zoe let out a low whistle, Simon swallowed thickly, and Mal just shrugged.
"Okay, say I believe this, what does this have to do with me exactly?"
"I came here because when Simon freed his sister from the Academy, he cost my particular group-"
"Wait group?"
"As I said Captain, there is more going on here than you know, but I can tell you we are not the Alliance, and we certainly don't spend our time trying to hide information from one another. You should read the information on the Cortex more often, if you did you would see that there is a power shift taking place, and more information on Alliance misdeeds is making it's way to the press."
"What kind of power shift?"
"Again, need to know only. Anyway, Simon cost us an operative, one that would have been able to help River the moment she left the school be able to fuction relatively normally once they were outside, but the agents for the Alliance were quicker."
"Who do they work for?" Selma just stared. "I see. Need to know."
"As I was saying he would have been able to help River, but he was executed. I was sent to check on her condition, make sure that this environment was suitable, and warn you of any dangers to watch for from others."
"What would have happened if this place wasn't good for her?" asked Zoe. Selma looked down at the floor.
"An extraction team would have been sent to collect River and Simon, but as I said I don't see any reason for her to be removed." Mal nodded, and stepped away from the counter.
"Seeing as how you're a seer and all, you know what I'm likely to do to you if you're lying to me."
"In detail. I must warn you Mal, as I said one in every two people is born with a psi ability captain. Some of these people go one to become productive citizens, and other become monsters who feed off of the pain of their victims."
"I don't need a seer to tell me that." said Mal.
"Yes, you do because you have already met such an individual." Mal looked up from the floor, and stared hard at Selma who was lying back down on the bed again. Her blue eyes drooping as the blackness began to calime her once more.
"Who?"
"I believe that River called him the vulture." she mumbled before finally passing out. Zoe creased her borw at the statement, and Simon just wondered, but Mal felt like the world had just dropped out from underneath him. Niska was one of these people? Shaking his head, the captain stalked out into the hall in order to check on the status of his cargo. They were only about a day away from Fairhead, but he didn't want to waste any time.