NirSighted Chapter Nine: The Air Near My Fingers

Mal awoke to a noise he couldn't discern. He opened his eyes blearily and peered into the half-dark of his bunk. In the light from his table lamp, he could see a tablet, two styluses, a handful of chocolate beans, his Rosy Cheek Fern, and a map. Nothing amiss there.

He got out of bed, shrugged into a shirt and his holster, and climbed up the ladder to the main deck. Wash and Zoë's bunk was still closed. Kaylee's bunk was open, but he knew that was only because she was sleeping in the engine room, having had to get up around one that morning to deal with the pressure stabilizer before they'd landed on Snozlund. He quickly checked in the bridge; no one except Wash's dinosaurs was occupying the space.

The galley was empty. Doc and his sister were slumbering in their bunks. So were Catie and the scientist. 'Nara was still in her shuttle, he could tell that even without looking, as the door was still closed and latched.

He wound his way down to the cargo bay. Everything looked in order there; Dr. Burk's cases were still stacked in two large piles and they looked untouched. The cargo bound for Irving-Keene, barrels of Brisbane sugar for the sugar-drink makers on the moon, looked intact as well.

Having found nothing, Mal was just about to go back to bed when someone began to bang on the outer door. "Mal! Let us in, fer cryin' out loud, it's cold out here!" Jayne's voice yelled through the door.

As Mal went to open the doors to the airlock, a movement caught his eye. But as soon as he turned his head, the movement stopped. Nothing was there. Nothing was hidden in the piles of sugar barrels. He moved towards the airlock doors, hit the orange opening button, and waited.

The door opened to reveal Jayne and a very pregnant Jimena. Jayne was pushing a cart in front of him; a quick glance at its contents revealed luggage. "Welcome, Jimena," Mal said.

"Hello again, Captain Reynolds," Jimena replied.

"Didn't think anybody was gonna be up," Jayne said as he pushed the cart to a stop near one of the barrels of sugar.

"Thought I heard somethin', thought I'd get up 'n check it out," Mal informed him. "Nothin' goin' on, though. Everythin's quiet." To Jimena, he said, "I hope you'll be comfortable here. Ya need anythin', ya just ask anybody. We'll get Doc t' give ya an exam soon as he can, if that's all right with ya."

"That sounds fine," Jimena said.

"I'll show her t' her bunk," Jayne offered. "Yer gonna have one o' th' passenger bunks fer now," he informed Jimena. "We ain't married as o' yet…"

"No, that's fine," Jimena interrupted. "I'd really just like to sleep."

"Right. Right," Jayne agreed. "This way, up th' stairs."

They left and Mal was alone in the cargo bay again. He yawned and ran his hand through his hair. He was just about to head back to his own warm bunk when a movement caught his eye again.

He whirled around and was just in time to see the figure of a little girl disappear behind one of the larger barrels of Brisbane sugar. "Hey!" he cried out, and darted towards the barrel. He reached it, looked behind it, but the girl was gone.

Now Mal was puzzled. Where had she gone?

"Captain Reynolds," a voice said from behind him.

He turned and saw the little girl there. She was quite petite in stature, and maybe came up to his waist. Her hair was waist-length and pulled back in two severe braids. Her eyes were intelligent and green, looking at him with curiosity. She was wearing a purple T-shirt with a cartoon character on it, a pair of black leggings, sturdy boots, and a pack. "Who in th' ruttin' hell are ya and what in the gorram 'verse are ya doin' on my ship?" he bellowed.

The little girl didn't appear fazed by his yelling. "Captain Reynolds, we don't have time for you to yell at me."

"Again, who in th' hell are ya an' what are ya doin' on my ship?"

She sighed and removed a tablet from the pack she was wearing. She flattened her hand against it, then handed it to Mal.

He scanned the tablet, reading what was scrolling there. Then he looked up at the girl; for some reason he thought she had disappeared, but she still stood in front of him. "Ya ain't a little girl?"

"I am not, but this corporeal form has been through a lot, and it has its limitations; therefore, I often appear as much younger than my age."

"Yer not Alliance?"

"I am not."

"So who in the hell are ya?"

"My name is Niriel Shatter-Glass, as it says there," she informed him, "but you can call me Nir."

"Not Alliance?"

"Still not Alliance; I haven't changed my allegiance since the last time you asked," she agreed.

"What are ya here fer?"

"I have reason to believe that you and your crew are in certain and grave danger due to the presence of one or more passengers on your boat."

Mal thought about this for a moment. "Ya ain't here t' take Catie away, are ya?"

She shook her head. "Catie is of no interest to me. She seems safe here with you, and I am reasonably confident that you will make the right decisions regarding her safety."

"River?"

She shook her head again. "No. I would not dream of taking Miss Tam away from her brother. Besides, both of them, and Catie, will be needed before the week is through."

"Jimena? Is this about the baby?"

"It is not, or if it is, I do not know of it yet."

"You a Reader too?"

"I come from a long line of them," Nir agreed, "and genetic predisposition is nothing to argue with."

"We have enough Readers," Mal informed her.

"I will not be staying long," she replied. "I am here to do my duty and then I will be no more, at least for you."

She took her tablet back from Mal's stunned hands and returned it to her pack. "I would not worry, Captain Reynolds. You will hardly know I'm here. I am, as my father used to say, the wind beneath all of our wings."

With that, not waiting for him to respond, she simply disappeared.

Stunned, Mal waved his hand through the air where she had been only a moment before. Nothing. It had apparently not been a trick.

Scowling, he went back to the galley and found Kaylee at the table drinking strong-brew. "Ever' thin' all right, Cap'n?" she asked, setting down her mug.

Mal shook his head. "We got a new 'un on the boat, and she's a right mystery."

"What're ya talkin' 'bout, Cap'n? Jimena?"

"If I was talkin' 'bout Jimena, I woulda said Jimena," he grumbled at her.

She looked up at him, puzzled. "There's somebody else on board? Who is it?"

"Another girl," he said, pouring himself a cup of strong-brew. "And this one's even weirder than the other two."

He sat down across from her. "By th' way, what did you 'n Li'l Albatross buy back on St. Florin's?"

She smiled as though she'd been waiting for him to ask. With a quick rummage in her coverall pockets, she came up with a yellow netting bag, small enough to fit in the palm of her hand. She slid it across the table to him.

Mal picked it up and undid the lace at the top, spilling its contents onto the table. A glimmering stream of gold greeted his eyes. "Li'l Kaylee… what is this?"

Kaylee grinned and reached forward to pick up one of the gold pieces. With a calculating fingernail, she scraped the layer of gold off it and showed him the dark, exposed underside. "Choc' lat," she informed him with a grin, and dropped it into her mouth.

"Why, li'l Kaylee, I hadn't expected ya t' know exactly what I wanted ya t' buy," Mal said with a pleased smile. He took one of the chocolate coins from the pile and peeled off the gold. "And m' favorite flavors, no less."

"They only had two," Kaylee replied, swallowing her mouthful of chocolate. "Was a close-out. Now, what's this 'bout a new passenger?"

"A girl… she just appeared t' me right after Jayne brought Jimena on. Said her name was… somethin' odd, she's here t' protect us."

"From what? We in trouble with th' Alliance 'gain?" Kaylee asked, reaching for another chocolate coin.

"She says she ain't Alliance, and fer some odd reason, I believe her." Mal swallowed another mouthful of strong-brew and grimaced. "This is some strong-brew."

"From Shepherd Book's stash," Kaylee informed him, drinking her own with nary a groan. "Got it on Battleboury last time he was there, or so he told me."

"Ahh," Mal said, not wanting to say anything else about the dear departed Shepherd. He finished his strong-brew and stood up. He was about to tell Kaylee he was going back to sleep when a scream shot through the ship. "Gorram it," he muttered.