Chapter 5

Watcher and slayer did not meet up again until just before lunch. Giles came back to Buffy's room to get her to find that she had abandoned the diaries she was reading and was instead curled up on the thin mattress with the Danielle Steele.

"Having fun?"

She startled, dropped the book and sat up, looking guilty. "Sorry. I...I did get partway through the other thing. I just..." She sprang to her feet and began pacing off some nervous energy. "Just having trouble focusing is all."

"Oh?"

"I'm bored, Giles. Who would ever have thought I'd be on an actual spaceship, and be bored? That sounds wrong, doesn't it?"

He tried to follow her busy steps with his eyes, but was still not recovered from the dimension travel. Her pacing was making him dizzy.

"Oh sure, the doc was by earlier," Buffy ranted. "Seemed like a nice guy, asked if there was anything he could do for me. Offered to play a game of poker with me, but the cards were all weird and had pictures of fruit on them. Kadaari, as it turns out, is even more boring a writer than you are, and this room is just...just so small. And the ship, it's just...so...shippy, you know? I keep looking for a window I can crank open for some air or something. It's just so..."

He frowned with renewed critical interest in her state. "Are you certain you're feeling quite all right?"

"No, I'm not, that's what I've been telling you, Giles! I'm just so...so stuck, you know? I need some air. I need to train or something, burn off some of this...some of this being stuck, in here, with you!"

She sat down quickly with a guilty blush. "Sorry. I...I didn't mean that way."

"I know you didn't. Buffy, take some deep breaths, won't you? The dimensional jump can be a draining process, and it's only been a day. I had hoped you would not develop cabin fever quite this early, but I assure you these feelings will pass. We can talk to the captain at lunch, see about getting you access to the cargo deck. I saw some gym equipment there...perhaps we can train some?"

She exhaled, breath still a little shaky. "That would be good."

--

They headed for the kitchen, where most of the crew was already settling down to eat.

"Bout to come looking for you," the captain said.

Giles and Buffy took their seats. "Just finishing up some business," Giles answered.

"Oh? And how is that business progressing?"

"Actually, I have some news in that regard," Book interrupted.

All eyes turned to him. "Oh? Best share it with the rest of us, preacher."

"I had intended to, Captain." To Buffy and Giles, he said "I got a WAVE this morning from the elder I had contacted. He is familiar with your gem."

"And does he know where we might find it?" Giles said.

"In a matter of speaking. He knows...where you might find...well, a part of it."

Buffy frowned. "I don't understand."

"A power like your gem is not a burden the order assumed lightly, and they had some concerns about its potential should it fall into the wrong hands. So they kept the gem in a locked, guarded vault---but they extracted the power from it first, and concealed that in a separate form. To make the gem active, one would in theory collect the two halves and link them up again."

"Okay..."

"The order still maintains control over the gem itself, and a contact will be meeting us at Antigone with it. But as to the other half, the one with all the power...well, it would appear that's missing."

Giles closed his eyes, breathing deeply, barely containing his fury. "That gem was entrusted to them for the safekeeping of the universe itself," he said.

"So it's no big," said Buffy. "We just go to where they had it, retrace the steps..."

"I don't think that will be an option," said the shepherd. "The place where they had it was the same academy that had River."

Simon paled. "Captain, we can't!"

"On that, I agree. Mr. Giles, if you be needing to go to that place, it can't be us that takes you, not for all the sacks of gold in the 'verse."

"I'm not sure where I need to go," Giles answered. "I'd best meet the shepherd's contact first."

"We aren't going there," said Simon again, more to his sister than to the rest of them. "River, you don't ever have to go there."

For once, the girl looked calmer than her brother did. "Look into the light," she said.

"Hush, -mei-mei.-'"

"Look into the light. Green light. Shiny. It goes into you."

"I'm here, I'll protect you."

She nodded calmly. "Green. Shiny." Then she picked up her fork and resumed her eating.

--

Back in Buffy's room, Giles was thoughtful. "Does it seem at all coincidental to you that we would land on a ship with a girl who happens to have gone missing from the same place where our power source went missing?"

"No," said Buffy. "Giles, I need to train. I..."

"Light. Green. Shiny. Maybe she's seen it? Maybe, if we talk to her, she'll know where it might have been taken?"

"Giles, the girl is insane. They did things to her, they tortured her. Simon was telling me when he was in here before, they cut into her brain and half the time she doesn't make sense! You can't exactly question her on much of anything."

"Maybe so. But it just seems to me like..."

"Seems to me like if I don't do something, I'm going to go crazy. Giles, did you talk to the captain about me training?"

"Hmmm? Oh, yes. He said it shouldn't be a problem so long as you're supervised. Perhaps we might prevail upon that doctor you've become so friendly with?"

"I hope so. Giles, I have to get out of here," she whined. "Screw laying low, I just can't..."

"Um hmm. Well, if you wish to fret instead of helping me with my research, please do so quietly. Bloody impossible to concentrate with all of the..."

"Well, excuse me if the travelling through space, in another dimension, is wreaking havoc with my body, here! Giles, do you hear how fast my heart is beating?"

"More from anxiety than from anything physical. It's just cabin fever, Buffy. A panic attack. Nothing more."

"Easy for you to say! Does the council actually breed you to be so unflappable? Or was it that special training, like that creepy girl Inara had?"

He put down his book with a resigned sigh. "What on earth are you talking about?"

"Simon was telling me more about that special school they go to. It isn't just meditation, Giles, they learn about human behaviour. How to read people. How to separate their emotions from their jobs..."

"Ah. Is that what this is about?"

"They have their own special council too, did you know that? The guild, they call it. And someone might be living their life and doing their thing, but then the guild comes along and calls them back, and they have to go."

He sighed again. "You know things are different now. The old guard..."

"...are the same people that trained you, are they not? You're telling me you're really not running it the same way they did?"

"I'd like to think I've evolved beyond that."

"I'd like to think so too. But somehow I am not sure disregarding your slayer's feelings and trying to kill the one person who stayed loyal and was working to protect her when everyone else turned against her, is very good evidence of that."

"Good lord, Buffy. How many times must we talk about that? As I explained to you on several occasions, I really did believe I took the action I did regarding Spike for your protection!"

"My protection. Right. Cause I'm just a slayer and I can't protect myself or anything. Cause you and your council who had not even been near the hellmouth in months know better than I did..."

"We don't know anything!" he snapped. "Good god, do you really have no idea? We don't know anything, Buffy. So we research, and we try, and we learn...and we muddle along as best we can hoping we don't screw it up too badly. Do you really think I'm enjoying this that much more than you? Hurtling through the darkness to some strange world to meet a man who might or might not know how to help me fight forces that are far beyond my control? Did you really think that I, with my non-slayer constitution, no less, was having an easier time with this little trip than you?"

That chastened her some. "You aren't feeling well?"

"Of course I'm not. It was four in the morning when I jumped dimensions too, you know, and unlike some people, I've spent my time here actually working. And let me tell you, Buffy, several hours staring at tiny printing in a little dusty book does nothing for a headache that could pulverize a brick and a that stomach feels like it's turning inside out. And to top it all off, I've got you mad at me now!"

He flounced to the bed, and she sat down next to him. "I'm sorry."

"Thank you."

"When Simon comes, I can ask him to give you something for your head."

"Oh, yes. Because strange drugs from another dimension will surely make things so much better."

"I'm trying to be nice here, Giles." She took a shaky breath. "I'm feeling like crap, and I'm not completely sure that underneath it all, I'm not really mad at you. But I'm trying to be nice."

"That's very generous."

"So what do you say you put down that dusty book of yours with all the tiny printing, come to the infirmary and get your headache looked at, then see if we can persuade the charming Dr. Tam to let us into the cargo deck for a little tussle?"

"I say that sounds lovely. Following a short vomit, of course."

--

Simon was looking at some scans on a large display when they made their way to the infirmary. Buffy greeted him with a friendly smile. "Are we interrupting?"

"What? Oh, I was just looking at some of River's scans again. It can wait." He switched off the computer. "Well, this is a surprise."

"No it's not," Buffy said.

"Well, okay, it's not---I do know firsthand how boring laying low on a ship like this can be, but anyway, um, what can I do for you?"

She nodded to Giles. "He's not feeling well."

Simon snapped instantly to doctor mode and kicked out a stool for Giles. "Symptoms?"

Giles obediently sat. "It's not serious. Just a bit of trans-dimensional jet lag---that kind of travel is rough on the system, and I..."

"Yes. I imagine it would be. Rough how, exactly?"

"His head hurts," supplied Buffy helpfully. "You can tell it does because he's so grouchy."

"Will you stop it already?" he snapped. "Buffy, honestly..."

Simon pulled a pen light out of his pocket and shone it in his patient's eyes. Giles pulled back with a violent wince. "Must we?"

"Well, that answers that question," Simon said, switching off the light. "Anything else giving you trouble?"

He looked almost as uncomfortable by the attention as by the pain. "Nothing I can't handle."

"I didn't ask if it was something you can handle, Mr. Giles. I asked if it was there. Buffy?"

"His stomach is bothering him," she said. "Not sure if it hurts or if he's just space-sick or something, but there was...he was sick. Before we came here."

Simon rifled through a small drawer and pulled out a metal device that looked like a tongue depressor which had been adorned with tiny Christmas lights. "Open?"

Giles opened his mouth, and meekly submitted to the exam.

"Well, the good news is you weren't sick enough to get yourself dehydrated just yet," Simon concluded. "But you've got to promise me to keep up your fluids. Space travel can be stressing even in the best of times, and with the...the trans-dimensional stress on top of that, you really must be diligent about taking care of yourself."

"Fine."

"I can give you something for the headache, if you want," Simon said, tweezing a large needle in readiness.

"With that?" Giles squeaked.

"Well, how else would we do it? Pills are expensive, and perishable. A vial is forever. Oh, come on. I may be from another dimension, but I'm still a human. I promise you, this will be safe."

Giles pushed aside the doctor's arm with an irritable grunt. "I'll manage. Thanks."

He stalked out without another word, and Buffy shrugged, then turned to Simon with a bright smile. "So...Giles was going to talk to you about getting me into the cargo deck?"

to be continued...

Chinese translations:

mei-mei (little sister)