Chapter Nine: Plans Change

Soundtrack suggestions: "A Change Would Do You Good" – Sheryl Crow, "Sabre Dance" – Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra

"Here's the plan," Mal said, unrolling a large sheet of paper on the galley's table. It was covered in diagrams and arrows, tiny type in small boxes all over it.

"You made a plan, sir? I'm strangely touched," Zoë remarked.

"Don't push it. Eddy made the plan fer me."

"When did he have time t' do that?"

Mal shrugged. "It's an old plan. We used it while ago t' rob th' Hoboken Junction. Figured it'd work just as well fer a museum."

"You robbed the Hoboken Junction?"

"It was the decade. Everybody robbed the Hoboken Junction."

"They did," Zoë agreed, "until it was shut down."

"What was shut down?" Jayne asked, strolling in.

"The Hoboken Junction."

"Aww, what a great place!" Jayne exclaimed. "Man. The girls I met there… hoo-wee! They were somethin' special, that's fer sure!"

"Jayne, not now," Zoë groaned.

"Got plannin' t' do," Mal informed his mercenary, indicating the sheet of paper on the table.

"Well, we gotta plan somethin', that's fer sure," Jayne said.

"Whaddya mean?" Mal asked.

"They're back," Jayne said simply.

"Who's back?"

"Yer passengers." Jayne gestured to the doorway. Sure as shooting, Kate, Nona, and Mother Mary were there.

Mal just stared, slightly stupefied. "I thought you was goin' t' th' housin' offices."

"We did," Kate answered.

"So why're ya back?"

"There isn't a place for us to stay," Kate replied. "Our house or apartment or whatever it is we were supposed to live in doesn't exist."

"Why not?" Zoë asked.

Kate shrugged. "I don't know. They couldn't say. The arrangements for our housing were made previously, when we were still on Seven Skyes, and they were supposed to have been all set by the time we arrived."

"Who arranged your housing?"

"A contact of Mother Mary's," Kate replied. "Sister Deidre."

"I knew she couldn't be trusted!" Mother Mary said, throwing her hands in the air. "When I get my hands on Deidre…"

"We need a place to stay," Kate said, a little apologetically. "We could stay on the ship…"

"No, no," Mal groaned, "that won't work at all. You kin stay with us at Parker's Playhouse. There'll be room enough. Or we'll make room fer ya."

"Thank you, Captain Reynolds," Kate said.

"When will you have a place t' live?" Zoë asked.

Kate shook her head. "They weren't able to give us a time estimate."

"Fine. You kin stay with us long as necessary," Mal said. "Right now, though, we're doin' business."

"Oh. Sorry," Kate apologized. "We'll go below. Come on, Mother Mary."

Before they could leave, Simon ran in, obviously distressed. "Jayne, I need help."

"Whaddya need my help fer?" Jayne asked.

"Well, there's some… never mind." He moved to run out again.

"What's goin' on, Doc?" Mal asked.

"It's River…"

Screams broke through the conversation. "Jayne, go help," Mal ordered.

"This way," Simon said, and he and Jayne left quickly.

In the infirmary, where Simon had left his sister, she was sitting on the floor, screaming. Simon had managed to restrain her hands, albeit fairly ineffectually. Jayne could see why – there was a knife on the floor in front of the girl, and she was obviously only moments away from using it on herself yet again.

"Hold her hands, will you?" Simon said, kneeling down in front of River. "Listen to me. Are you with me?"

"Go away!" River yelled. "Selfish lying good-for-nothing!" She jerked her hands forward, trying to grab the weapon before her. Jayne kicked it out of the way, and it scuttled along the floor, far from her reach. "I hate you! Get out of my head!"

"Shh, shh," Simon said. "It's all right. Nobody's going to hurt you."

"You can't stop me! I'm going to tell on you and you're never going to hurt me again!" She threw herself forward, trying to head-butt Jayne, who held her hands above her head with one hand and grabbed her around the waist with the other, pinning her against the wall. "It's all right, Crazy. Nobody's here t' hurt ya."

Panting, she looked up at Simon and Jayne. "I know who it is," she said.

"What?" Simon asked, not understanding.

"That woman we met today…" Her lucid moment was broken off by another scream. "It hurts!"

"What woman d' ya think she means?" Jayne asked Simon. "Wouldn't be… Sergeant Flavez, would it?"

Simon shot him a withering look. "Be serious. How could Jimena be inside River's head?"

"I'm just sayin'…"

"Fire all over, fire in my head, fire in my eyes, fire like lasers burning up my heart…"

"D' ya think it was one of those militia women? What'shername?"

"Charlotte -…"

"Oh, God!"

"… or Jillian?" Simon asked.

River threw herself backwards, smashing her head repeatedly into the wall. "River, no!" Simon said.

"Get out of my head," the girl begged. "She knows what you're up to and she's not pleased…you're all going to die and it will be all my fault…"

Simon moved around until he was sitting behind his sister, blocking her from hitting her head on the wall any longer. "Shh, mei-mei," he said. "It's all right. It'll be all right, I promise."

She threw her head back again, as though she had not recognized Simon sitting behind her, his arms around her waist, holding her to the floor but away from the wall. Her head connected solidly with his chin. "Unh!"

"Whaddya think's wrong, Doc?" Jayne asked, watching the siblings concernedly.

Simon shook his head as his sister struggled against him. "I don't know."

"She hears everything you're saying… turn me into a statue, let me go so I can't tell her what you're doing! Make me blind so she can't see through my eyes! I'm going to scrape out my eyes so you can't hurt me anymore!"

"Oh, River," Simon murmured.

"Jayne, can you get out here a second?" Mal yelled.

"Sure thing!" Jayne replied. "Be back in a sec, Doc."

Simon nodded as the thug exited.

He found Mal and Zoë still in the galley. With them was someone he had not expected to see – Sergeant Flavez. "What's she doin' here?" Not that he minded, of course. Sergeant Flavez was a right cute woman, maybe even pretty.

"Seems Sergeant Flavez has some urgent news," Mal replied, looking at the petite woman.

"Yes, very urgent in fact," Jimena added. "One of my officers, Charlotte DuBois, has absconded."

"Abs-what?"

"Absconded. She perpetrated a shootout only two hours ago at the Snozlund Militia offices, leaving two of our officers dead and our offices destroyed. I have no choice but to believe that she is now working for the other side, and she may have reason to come after you."

"Why d' ya think that?" Mal asked.

Jimena reached into the knapsack she had brought in with her and retrieved a thick sheaf of papers. "If you'll look through these, you'll see that she has outlined several plans for the downfall of the Snozlund Militia and she mentions your ship and crew several times."

"That can't be good," Zoë said, taking the papers from Jimena. "What exactly does it say she's planning?"

"She doesn't say," Jimena answered. "But we have some other disturbing news."

"More disturbin' than the fact that she's after m' crew?" Mal asked.

Jimena nodded, and produced a laminated sheet of paper with a raised seal on it from her knapsack.

"What's that?" Jayne asked.

Jimena held it up. "It is a license from the Snozlund Bureau of Mediums, licensing Charlotte Tess DuBois as a medium for all provinces in Snozlund. This wasn't reported on her application when she signed onto the Snozlund Militia, otherwise we would have put her in a special division."

"A medium?"

"A psychic, basically," Jimena answered. "We have reason to believe she may be using her psychic abilities to disrupt certain broad-wave signals."

It was as though the proverbial light bulb had gone off for Jayne. "That's what Crazy's talkin' 'bout!" he exclaimed. Upon Mal and Zoë's confused looks, he continued, "She says somebody's in her head. If this medium-whatever can disrupt signals, there's a chance she could be in Crazy's head!"

"What can we do t' stop it?" Mal asked Jimena.

Jimena thought for a moment. "D' ya have some foil?"