NirSighted Chapter Ten: Trouble By Any Other Name
"Sounded like it came from below," Kaylee noted, setting down her mug.
"Best go check it out."
They hurried down to the passenger bunks just in time to see Simon emerging from his, bleary-eyed. "River?" he managed to ask.
"Dunno," Kaylee replied.
Simon undid the latch holding River in her room and slid the door open. His sister was curled up on her bunk, blissfully asleep and completely unaware of the world. Simon sighed, almost in relief. It wasn't his sister, so it had to be someone else.
"Catie," Kaylee said as Simon shut River's door and locked her in. "It has to be."
Simon nodded in agreement, moving swiftly to Catie's door and pulling it open. His heart sunk as he registered the empty bunk. "She's gone."
"Tzao-gao," Mal muttered. "Y' mean she's loose in m' ship?"
"I believe that's probably true," Simon agreed.
"Captain Reynolds." A voice broke through their conversation. It sounded as though it was coming from the galley. "Captain Reynolds, you might want to come here quickly."
"Who is that?" Kaylee asked.
"That's our new 'un," Mal replied. "Let's go."
They arrived in the galley to find Nir holding Catie's left wrist tightly. The larger crazy girl was trying to pull away from Nir, who was repeating something over and over in a language Mal couldn't understand, followed by, "Easy. Easy, Catie."
"What's goin' on?" Mal asked, approaching Nir and Catie.
"You may want to stay back, Captain Reynolds," Nir said, her eyes still on Catie. "Easy, Catie. Not here to hurt you." She held out her hand. "Just hand it over, shh, easy, easy, Catie. Not going to hurt you."
Catie jerked back on Nir's grip, but the little-girl-sized agent was stronger than her size suggested. The tugging did nothing to loosen Nir's wrist-hold, but as Catie's body reacted to Nir's stubbornness, something popped out of Catie's opposite hand and headed for the floor. Mal knelt to pick up the object, which resembled a small, red, rubber ball.
"NO!" Nir yelled. Startled, Mal's hand missed the object. "I apologize, Captain Reynolds, but it is in your best interests not to touch that!"
"What the heck is it?" Kaylee asked.
Catie screamed and threw her entire effort into getting away from Nir, and at last succeeded. The momentum knocked her off balance, and she hit the floor, landing on her back. As she fell, the ball began to roll away from Mal, leaving a wet indentation where it had previously been. Nir hurried over to the object and removed a swatch of cloth from her pack. Covering her hand completely in the cloth, she reached for the ball, picked it up, and wrapped it in the cloth. Those gathered in the galley could hear her sigh in relief.
But she wasn't done; she quickly moved to her pack and deposited the object in it, then ran over to Catie, who was lying on the floor, whimpering. "Doctor Tam, I will need your assistance," she said without looking at Simon.
Simon looked confusedly at Mal, who nodded. The doctor crossed the galley and stood next to Nir. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"Catie has been infected," Nir said, nodding to the girl's hand, which was now covered in large blisters. "She will need treatment as follows: fifteen grams of asybrinthe now, ten additional grams in twenty minutes by standard IV push. That should decrease the swelling and the pain. In an hour the blisters must be drained, a standard syringe drainage kit should take care of that. You must treat the remaining sores with anhydride brinsomill and bandage accordingly. Do not touch the fluid drained from these blisters; extreme caution must be taken."
"How do you know…?" Simon began.
"I was trained as a doctor," Nir informed him hurriedly. "There isn't time. If we are to slow the infection and save Catie's life, you must treat her immediately. Don't stop to think if you have the necessary materials; I am confident you do. Hurry now, help her. She cannot be moved now, you must go and get the supplies and bring them here. Miss Frye, help him if you would."
Simon and Kaylee, Simon giving Nir a backwards look, moved quickly towards the infirmary to collect the supplies. Nir knelt down next to Catie and brushed the girl's hair out of her glassy, pain-filled eyes. "Shh, shh, bao-bei, things will be all right in a few minutes."
"What the hell is that?" Mal demanded.
"That," Nir said, "was your first experience with a Non-Preferential Biological Agent Promotional Device, or a NPBAP-D. I believe that it has been placed on the ship to harm one of your crew."
"How d' we know ya didn't bring it on with ya?" Mal questioned.
"You may examine it if you do not believe me," Nir said, "but it is definitively Alliance make. Only a high-ranking official or someone with access to the supplies and weaponry could have brought this onto your ship. You know very well, Captain Reynolds, that I do not have the necessary credentials to procure such an object."
"What're we gonna do with it?" Mal asked, looking nervously to the pack slung cross-wise on Nir's body.
"It must be destroyed," Nir replied quickly. "I will take care of the necessary arrangements once Catie's treatment is seen to. This device could be hazardous to all of us here on Serenity."
Simon and Kaylee reappeared carrying supplies. Simon knelt next to Catie, snapping on gloves, and quickly inserted an intravenous port into the crook of her elbow. "You said fifteen grams?" he asked, looking up at Nir for guidance.
"That is correct, Dr. Tam."
Simon pulled a small hard plastic packet from his pocket and pulled two tablets from it. He tucked the tablets into a plastic IV bag through the plug on the front, then gently agitated the bag until the tablets dissolved. The bag was hooked to Catie's IV port. Simon watched as the asybrinthe flowed swiftly through the port, delivering the medicine to the girl.
"Catie," Nir said, leaning in towards the girl, who had closed her eyes. "Catie, can you hear me?"
"She hears," Catie whispered.
"Captain Reynolds, if you would be so kind, will you go and fetch Miss Tam and Companion Serra? It is important that I speak to them," Nir said, turning to look at Mal.
"Whaddya need with River 'n 'Nara?" Mal asked.
"It is not for you to know at this juncture," Nir replied snippily. "You would do well to fetch them for me, and in due time we will know exactly how much danger we are in."
Mal didn't much like being ordered around by a little girl, no matter her age, but he left the galley as he had been asked and brought River and Inara to the galley.
"Who's this?" Inara asked.
"Companion Serra," Nir greeted her. "My name is Niriel Shatter-Glass, but you may call me Nir. I need to ask you some questions regarding the stop made on St. Florin's yesterday."
"What about it?" Inara asked. The Companion was dressed in an ankle-length, sea-green chemise with matching slippers. A green shawl was thrown over her shoulders.
"What did your activities consist of from the time of landing on St. Florin's until the takeoff for, as it was then, Irving-Keene?"
"I'm not sure I understand."
"She wants t' know who ya were with," Mal said out of the side of his mouth, amused by Nir's interrogation.
"How is this any of your business?" Inara asked a bit frostily.
"Your crew is in danger, Companion Serra. A biological weapon was placed on this ship some time yesterday, while Serenity was in St. Florin's. A timeline of your events will help to place exactly when and by whom."
"Just tell her, 'Nara," Kaylee said. "It hurt Catie, whatever it was."
Inara looked down at the girl lying on the floor, her eyes closed, Simon's IV drip running into her. She thought. "We arrived on St. Florin's shortly after breakfast; it must have been around nine or nine-thirty. I had an appointment in the town at ten o'clock. I left the ship with everyone else, and I returned at twelve-thirty."
"Who was this appointment with?" Nir asked.
Inara looked from Mal to Catie. "It was with a scientist."
"That does not help me much, Companion Serra; eighty-five percent of the people on St. Florin's are scientists. If you are worried about this appointment getting in trouble with either my employers or the Guild of Companions, you need not; nothing you tell me will leave the ship. The information is solely to help me ascertain where the biological agent device came from." Nir gazed sternly at Inara, who made no move to speak. For a moment or two there was a stare down.
"If you must know, I was with Dr. Emile Brightman," Inara said at last.
"Thank you, Companion Serra," Nir replied. "Your honesty is appreciated."
"How did ya know she was tellin' the truth?" Kaylee asked.
"It is one of my many gifts," Nir informed her. "Miss Tam, I will ask you an almost identical question. What did your activities on St. Florin's consist of?"
River's blind eyes were flicking left, then right, quickly. One pale hand came up and tucked a strand of long dark hair behind her ear. Then she said, "Got off into the sunshine. Left me and Kaylee, went to the marketplace. Saw Love-Bots, not for me though because they're girls, not a Companion like 'Nara, don't actually need one. Bought chocolate. We came back home, went away, went to get Jimena."
"Miss Tam, did anyone approach Serenity while the crew was otherwise occupied?" Nir questioned.
River thought. "Bright flash, scurry-hurry, bright flash once more, then red, yellow, red, red, red."
"Who approached the ship, Miss Tam?"
"She can't tell you," Simon said from behind Nir.
Nir, who was as tall as Simon was on his knees, gave him a frown. "That's all I'm going to get?"
"Thought you was a Reader," Mal remarked sardonically.
"I am, Captain Reynolds," Nir replied. "And I am quite aware that Miss Tam is as well."
She reached into the pack she wore and removed a rectangular board. Laminated on the top in alphabetical order were large blue letters as well as many Chinese characters. Nir held the board up in front of River and gently brought the girl's hand down on the board. "Spell out the name of the person who brought the NPBAP-D onto Serenity. Can you do that for me, Miss Tam?"
"She doesn't answer to that," River replied. "Not a miss or a missus, simply a River."
Nir looked a little taken aback. "River, as it is, then. Is it possible for you to spell out the name of the person who…?"
"She's blind," Simon interrupted.
"I am well aware of that, Dr. Tam," Nir said without looking at Simon. "She is a Reader, the device is merely an augmentative communication board."
River's fingers were moving quickly over the board. At last her right pointer finger hesitated, then stopped on "B."
"B? Are you sure?" Nir asked.
"B," River agreed. "B is for baseball, book, bright."
"Okay. What's the next letter?"
River's fingers began to move again. Before she could stop on the next letter, Catie gasped.
"She seems to be in a bit of pain, um, Nir," Simon said. "Is there anything else we can do for her?"
"Did you give the second round of asybrinthe?" Nir asked, still watching River.
"Yes," Simon replied.
"You can give…" Nir thought. "You can give acacic drops for the pain if you have them, no more than five milliliters."
"We have acacic drops," Simon assured her. "I'll go get them now."
"What's the next letter, Miss… River?" Nir questioned.
River tilted her head back and ran her finger along the middle row of letters. Then she came to a stop on one of the letters. "No more," she said.
"What?" Nir asked.
"Can't tell anymore, too fuzzy, too bright." River took her hands away from the communication board.
Simon reappeared with a small bottle and an eyedropper. He administered the drops into Catie's mouth.
"What does that mean?" Mal asked. "If even she can't tell, what're the odds of us findin' out who did this?"
"The odds are still very high and in our favor, Captain Reynolds," Nir replied crisply. "There are now three Readers, a scientist, and a doctor onboard your ship."
"I'm all fer destroyin' that thing," Mal said. "How fast can ya do that?"
"Quite quickly." Nir moved away from them and headed towards the cargo bay. Mal, River, Kaylee, and Inara followed her. As she reached the airlock, Nir reached into her pack and drew out the fabric-wrapped biological weapon, moving to hit the "open" button.
"Hang on a gorram minute!" Mal demanded. "Ya can't just open up the airlock, we'll all get sucked out in ta the black!"
"Do you not trust me, Captain Reynolds?" Nir asked, a little mockingly.
"I trust ya, just not with m' airlock," Mal shot back.
"We cannot leave the NPBAP-D onboard Serenity or it will infect the rest of us," Nir informed him. "How else do you suggest we dispose of it?"
"There's always th' disposal chute," Kaylee suggested.
"Do you have one?" Nir questioned.
"We do," Kaylee answered.
River added, "Standard XL 8-15 disposal chute, manufactured currently by both the Dritz Company of Osiris and the Blackwell Company of Chute's Fall. Highest power level maximum drag seventeen-aught-eight."
Nir was nodding as River spoke. "Sounds as though it would be acceptable for our purposes."
"It's right over there," Kaylee said, pointing to a small hinged door on the side of the cargo bay.
Nir crossed to the disposal chute and opened it, revealing a small compartment, also hinged.
"Just set the… whatever it is in there and close th' door. The system'll take care o' the rest," Kaylee said.
Nir placed the fabric-wrapped object into the disposal chute compartment and shut the door. There was a hiss, then a clank as the opposite door opened, and when Nir reopened the compartment, the biological weapon was gone. The chute was empty. "Much thanks for your assistance, Miss Frye."
"Not a problem," Kaylee said.
"We best be gettin' back t' bed," Mal said, watching Nir. She had changed positions so she was leaning against the wall of the ship, and she looked completely exhausted. "Have ya traveled far, Nir?"
"Far enough, Captain Reynolds," Nir replied, closing her eyes. "And my time on Serenity has not been completely uneventful."
"Yer welcome t' bunk up with River," Mal said. "But we've all got t' get some sleep a'fore morning; there's work t' be done."
"Sounds like an acceptable plan," Nir agreed. "Thank you for your hospitality, Captain Reynolds."
"River, show Nir t' yer bunk," Mal requested. "The rest of us, let's get back t' bed."
"What about Catie?" Inara asked.
"Dr. Tam can take her to the infirmary or to her room, so long as he eventually removes the fluid from those blisters and treats the wounds with anhydride brinsomill," Nir said, not opening her eyes. "She is out of danger now, thanks to Dr. Tam's quick work."
"Sleep now," River said. She crossed the cargo bay and took Nir's arm. "Come sleep Little-Who-is-Not."
Nir smiled, opening her eyes. "That is not the first time I have been called by that name."
"She knows," River said knowingly, and led her second new friend in two days from the cargo bay.