NirSighted Chapter 4: Hide-and-Seek
"Ahh, the paradise of St. Florin's," Wash said, almost poetically, a few moments later. They had pulled off yet another almost-hitch-free landing. Wash and Kaylee had played their respective parts quite well and had saved Serenity from what Wash had been certain would be her destruction.
"Good job, honey," Zoë said, still a little breathless from the amazing landing.
"Right. Good job, Wash," Mal added.
"Anybody seen River?" Simon asked, sticking his head into the bridge. "She disappeared in the commotion."
Zoë turned to answer his question, but before she could speak, they heard someone counting in the hallway. "…Seven, eight, nine, ten! Apples, peaches, pumpkin pie! Who's not ready, holler 'aye'!" There was silence, so she continued, "Ready or not, here I come!"
"Catie?" Simon asked.
"The one, the only," the girl replied, smiling up at them. "Hide-and-go-seek. Going to win this time."
"Where's River?"
"If she knew, she would have won already."
Someone giggled, and Catie looked to her left. Nothing. She looked to the right, nothing. "Come out, come out, wherever you are," she murmured softly. "Going to win, going to beat you," she threatened.
"We ain't 'lowed to help, are we?" Kaylee murmured to Simon. When he turned, she smiled and pointed discreetly to the corner, where there was a barrel, supposedly empty. They both could see pale fingertips gripping the rim of the barrel. As Kaylee spoke, the fingers disappeared.
"Let's go," Mal's voice said into the corridor as he appeared, strapping on his holsters. "Jayne, no grenades."
Jayne, who had been in the process of stuffing two grenades into his pockets, said, "Aww, Mal!"
"We're pickin' up a passenger, whaddya need grenades fer?" Mal questioned.
"What if he's… y'know… armed?"
"He's a scientist," Zoë said, the voice of reason as always. "He won't be armed. He's goin' t' Irving-Keene, give the man a break."
"Ha!" Catie shrieked as she discovered River in the barrel. "Won this time fair and square."
"No syrup," River agreed, and tipped herself out of the barrel, sightless eyes and pale hands and dark hair all meshing together until she picked herself up.
"Let's go," Mal said on his way through the corridor. "We're gonna be late if we don't pick up the pace. Doc, you 'n the new girl is stayin' here with Wash. Don't let 'er outa yer sight, dong ma?"
"River can come with me," Kaylee offered. "C'mere, darlin'." She took River's hand in her own. "I'll make sure she don't run off, Simon."
"Thank you," Simon said as Kaylee led River from Serenity, following Mal. Zoë came behind them, still grumbling at Jayne, who was holstering up three of the biggest guns Simon had ever seen. And then they were gone.
"Game?" Catie suggested, looking at him. "Play game?"
"I'm not very good at games," he admitted. "River is much better than I am."
She thought. "Dinosaur man good at games?"
He chuckled at her description of Wash. "I don't know. Let's go ask him."
St. Florin's was not a large settlement, but it was large enough to be completely devoted to scientific research. Most of the scientists in the established community worked on finding cures for diseases, developing new medicines, and animal research and testing. Those outside the community worked on whatever they wanted, and did it both legally and illegally. Some of the outer labs worked on contacting "alien" races and other things as benevolent and harmless, and some worked on new ways to mutate children's bodies and brains. But no one ever caught them.
"Kaylee, ya take River t' th' marketplace an' don't come back 'til you've found the shiniest thing ya can," Mal ordered, putting three coins into Kaylee's hand. "If ya take 'bout twenty minutes, we should be finished speaking with Dr. Burk's superiors."
"Sure thing, Cap'n," Kaylee said. "Here, you can hold on 'ta the money, 'kay?" She pressed the coins into River's hands.
The sightless girl rubbed them with her fingers. "Ten, twelve, twenty. Nothing shiny for twenty credits."
"You'll find somethin', I'm rightly assured o' it," Mal said. "Jayne, Zoë, let's go."
They disappeared into a tall steel building. When the door had closed behind them, Kaylee said, "Well, what should we do?"
"Shiny?" River suggested.
"Nah, that's too easy. Cap'n doesn't really want us t' buy anythin', otherwise he wouldn'ta given us money. If'n he wanted us t' buy somethin', he woulda given us our pay early. What does he want?" Kaylee mused.
River had been listening to the various sounds of the hustle and bustle as scientists and lab workers passed them on their way to work in the various surrounding buildings. Kaylee took River's hand, the one without the twenty coin in it, and said, "Let's go."
River smiled knowingly; she knew what Kaylee meant.