Chapter one- Of Shoes and Ships
Disclaimer: the right hallowed Sir Joss Whedon and Tim Minear are Really Nice People. They also created Firefly. These two facts may or may not be related. I also ask that the reader does not take offence at this writing, and that they know that I make no money from these endeavours. Also, the chapter titles are from Lewis Carroll's 'The Walrus and The Carpenter'
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Sitting at the head of the somewhat rowdy dinner table in the kitchen, the captain briefly tuned out of the thread of conversation. Looking over his laughing, amiable crew, he had one of those moments of perfect contentment. Smiling, he paused in his eating for a moment and indulged for a moment in the quiet pride that came with having such a well trained, tight knit crew.
Inara locked his gaze, matching his smile, and Mal ducked his head to return his attention to his food. Wash finished the anecdote he had been telling and there was a ripple of laughter around the table. As Kaylee reached for some sauce and Zoe responded to her husband's story, Mal had a sudden flash of premonition. His head shot up, only to find the scene before him remaining absolutely normal. Well, almost. After a moment, he noticed that River had a look of something bordering pain on her face.
'What is it captain?' asked Book, noticing Mal's slightly wild look. The rest of the table fell silent looking at him. Mal opened his mouth to explain feeling he had had a moment before, but then an immense pressure seemed to envelop him. Gasping, he tried to draw breath into his lungs as his ears radiated shards of pain. From a long way away, he heard the worried 'cap'n?' from Kaylee. Then with a pop and a rush, the pressure released. Mal flopped slightly as a strong wind swept through the kitchen. River had fainted into her food.
Now chairs were tipping over as crew members hurriedly rose. With the wind, a body had appeared seemingly from thin air and thudded hard into the wall. Whoever it was slid to the floor, and laid on her back motionless. Simon was there first, the captain quickly recovering to kneel at his side. Everyone else clustered around.
It was a lanky, barefoot, teenage girl, her long, streaked blond hair covering her face. As the doctor brushed it back, it became apparent that, despite her lack of movement, she was not dead. Blood dripped out of her nose and she made small whimpering sounds as she attempted to suck in air through an open mouth. Not looking away from his patient's wide green eyes, Simon gave his diagnosis, even as he began to check for broken ribs. 'She's winded, probably from smacking the wall like that. Kaylee, can you run to the infirmary and get my red bag please?' Without pausing to breathe as the mechanic nodded and dashed off, Simon now addressed his patient. 'Relax, try for small breaths.'
There were choking sounds, but no breathing. Kaylee returned, the unzipped bag in her hand. Simon barely acknowledged her as he dug quickly through it and withdrew something that looked like a stiff white balloon, with a mouth piece attached to it. He fitted the mouth piece into her mouth and proceeded to pump air in and out of her lungs using the apparatus. After a minute, she pushed him away and struggled to sit up, rasping a bit as she took a few deep breaths. Looking at the people clustered around her, she managed to gasp out a thanks, then wiped the blood from her nose off on the sleeve of her dark blue cotton shirt. 'Don't sit up, you might have broken something' fussed Simon.
'I'm fine doc, you all were just going a bit faster than I expected.' She had become more alert now, and a single hand placed flat on the floor gave indication of preparedness to run.
'Well that's all OK then. Oh, just one thing. What in rutting hell are you doing on my ship?' demanded the captain, less inclined to be gentle than the doctor. 'She flew' murmured River, who had quickly regained consciousness. 'Shut it crazy girl' muttered Jayne, at the same time as the captain raised a questioning eyebrow at the teenager in front of him. 'It's a long and complicated story that none of you are going to believe' she shifted uneasily.
'Try us'
'I teleported here.'
'It wasn't that long.' That was Wash, craning to see around the captain. The girl shrugged then winced. 'We should get you to the infirmary, you might have internal bleeding.' The doctor interceded, a rare firmness in his voice that made it more than a suggestion. Mal nodded permission. 'Can you stand?' Simon asked her. A look of uncertainty crossed the girl's face and she made a valiant effort to rise. Shaking his head, Simon sent a look to the captain, who rolled his eyes. 'Jayne'
At the single word, the mercenary stepped forward and easily lifted the teenager to her feet with a hand under each arm. She grimaced in pain at his touch, but did not make a sound and stayed unsteadily on her feet when he let go of her. Somehow, despite the fact that it was now obvious that she could barely stand, she seemed ready to bolt. At every movement of someone towards her, she would go to pull away, only just controlling herself.
With Mal supporting her on one side, Simon on the other, and the rest of the crew trailing curiously behind them, they made a very slow journey to the infirmary, where the girl cautiously lay down on the table. Simon began to prep the one scanner that Serenity's infirmary boasted. 'Who's your pilot?' she asked Mal. Wash raised a hand as the captain looked at him. 'The jump will have scrambled the systems a bit. You won't be on course any more.' She addressed him almost apologetically, her voice weak from the blow she had taken.
'I'll go look at it' replied Wash, ducking out of the somewhat crowded infirmary. 'Lay back' commanded Simon, bringing the scanner to bear. She complied and he gently pushed her shirt up to reveal her flat stomach. As he ran the ultrasound over her skin, staring fixedly at the screen, the captain studied the girl. Her head was laid back against the pillow and her eyes were closed. She looked pale and weak. It reminded him of something, although he could not pinpoint it for the moment.
'I'm Malcolm Reynolds, and this is my ship, Serenity.' He spoke, having realised that no real introductions had been made.
'They call me Zephyr, because of my tendency to stir up air when I jump from place to place. And the only thing I own now are the clothes on my back.'
'They take everything' whispered River from where she crouched outside the door.
'Hands of blue can be cut off my sister' replied Zephyr without looking up. River nodded thoughtfully, her eyes wide. Simon reacted somewhat more strongly to this statement. 'You're from the academy' he accused, taking the scanner off her skin. She opened her eyes, met his stare, and gave a single nod, muscles tensed to scramble in case this admission stirred up trouble.
Around the room there were varying degrees of shock at the affirmation. The bare feet and the clothes clicked into place, Mal realising that they were a sort of institutional uniform. Seeing their looks, Zephyr decided to explain her presence more fully. 'I have no memories,' she started. 'Before a certain time, about two years ago, I have no memories. I have been in the academy all that time. I guess that they erased them to keep me there...' her eyes misted over and she ceased to speak.
'But if you can teleport, how can anyone keep you anywhere?' asked Kaylee when it became clear that the girl was not going to continue. 'I can only teleport if I have a point of reference. I... I found out a few days ago that River had escaped somehow. So I figured that anywhere she was had to better than where I was. And I came here.' There was a long moment's pause. 'You're not crazy' said Simon, half a question, half a statement.
River blew a raspberry at her brother from where she crouched. Zephyr smiled for the first time. 'Luckily they didn't want me for my brain. Didn't stop all the lovely experiments though. 'm afraid I'm a bit weak at the moment. You helped there captain, thank you for the boost.'
Mal abruptly remembered where he had seen her look before. When River had first come out of the cryo box, she too had worn the slightly sick and pale look. Too sick and pale to use her own energy to teleport apparently.
'That was that pressure right before you appeared?' he asked, trying to keep the recrimination out of his voice. Inara tilted her head on one side as she looked at the captain, realising the origin of his 'premonition' before. 'They never found out I could do that' Zephyr mumbled almost wistfully, seemingly staring into the past. Snapping back to reality she turned a suddenly piercing gaze on the captain. 'I'm sorry; I won't do it again. You just happened to be the clearest signal near to River.'
Mal nodded his acceptance of this apology, wondering what she meant about his 'signal.' Simon chose that moment to intercede. With a small torch he checked her pupil reflexes and did a few tests for concussion. Having heard Zephyr's story, Book decided to clear the small infirmary a little, and ushered Zoe, Jayne and Kaylee out to wait in the area just outside. River remained peering in the doorway.
'You remain remarkably uninjured,' stated Simon, having finished his tests, 'although you will be very sore for the next week or so.'
'Everything moves, the wheel turns, but relative to a firefly, she was half a g too slow. ' River let this out at a rapid fire mutter. 'So that would be what, five hundred kilometres and hour?' asked Zephyr, a wince in her voice. River nodded sympathetically.
'Get lots of rest' said Simon firmly.
'No argument here. They don't let you have sleep-ins at that place'
'We dock at Persephone in four days. We'll let you off there.' The captain's tone brooked no argument, but River let out a mewl of protest and Inara narrowed her eyes at him.
'I'm not turning this boat into a half-way house for alliance fugitives' he said in response, stalking out of the infirmary, heading for the bridge to check with Wash on how Serenity was doing. Simon glanced at Zephyr and gave her an apologetic shrug. 'It don't worry me doc- I'm not looking to be a burden on no one. Just wanted to live in the type of world where they don't stick needles in your eyeballs.'
'I'm going to leave yo in here to get some rest now. I'll give you a smoother to help with the pain.' Zephyr nodded assent and he gave her the shot. Exiting the infirmary with Inara, he closed the door and looked at the people he shared the ship with.
'She'll be fine. The smoother means she'll be sleeping for the next four hours at least.'
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To Be Continued.