All disclaimers apply
Ch. 19- Too Many Secrets
Mal decided that maybe once again he'd been too trusting. "Jayne, Zoe," he started.
"I'm on it," Jayne replied, stomping out to the cargo bay, Zoe following. The others rose and followed them out. As they entered the bay, Jayne appeared across the way, carrying a crowbar. He strode over to the wall where he and Mal had stored David's crates and helped Zoe pull the panel off. Mal stepped forward, and one by one they hauled all the crates out.
"Any particular one ya want me to start with?" Jayne looked to Mal.
"All of 'em."
Jayne nodded, smiled, and proceeded to lever the crowbar through the top slats of the crate in front of him. They popped off easily, and everyone crowded around to look inside. There was bubble wrap everywhere surrounding the contents.
"Wash, River, start hauling it out. I want it all out on the deck where I can see it. Every last piece of it. Jayne," Mal nodded towards the next crate, "Let's go." They moved on.
River and Wash started pulling out the different sized containers. Zoe started unloading the second crate as Mal and Jayne moved on to a third. They peeled back layers of bubble wrap as the piles grew. Soon there were computer parts everywhere. Monitors, keyboards, servers, power units, software packs. They dug and peeled quickly, the piles growing larger as Mal grew more agitated.
"Tamade! If it turns out this guy is completely on the level…" he paused as Zoe stood up, holding out a small, smooth black box with no markings or indentations of any kind.
"Wash, honey, what's this?" Wash and River walked over to her to look at the device. Jayne and Mal paused to look over.
Wash carefully took the box from Zoe and turned it end over end looking for a latch, a button, any indication of what it could be. River reached out suddenly and, taking the box from Wash's hands, she turned it sideways, and with her thumbs, she popped it open along a barely visible seam. The top end rocked back on a hidden inside hinge, and there, inside, propped up in the center, was another smaller black box.
Wash carefully held the larger outside box as River lifted the smaller one out. She gently pulled the sliding top off and stared inside. And smiled.
"What?" "What is it?" Mal and Jayne asked as they dropped the pieces they were holding and started to walk over.
River looked up and smiled. "It's everything. Anything and everything."
&&&&&&&
Back in the mess, Jayne leaned over the table to get a better look at the inside of River's small black box. Or, rather, David's. All he saw was a slim piece of metal with some wires and tiny screws and what looked to be colorful little cylinder-shaped beads. Wash and River were chittering excitedly over it.
"Never seen a board configured like this before, what do you think he's doing with this?"
"Asymmetric key encryption algorithms need dual channel assimilations," River answered excitedly, fingers tracing over the little circuit board.
"Don't get what ya'll are so excited over a little piece of scrap," Jayne mumbled. This was the part that bothered him, the part he kept telling himself shouldn't bother him, but it did. That this was territory he couldn't keep up with her in. River suddenly looked up at him and touched his arm.
"Different strengths," she murmured calmly. "Kaylee!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. Jayne jumped back, startled at the quick change in female vocals.
Kaylee was already striding into the mess on Simon's arm to get some breakfast and was stopped by the mess of tiny tools scattered across the table. "What're you guys up to?"
"Ooh, Kaylee, we could sure use your help," Wash looked up from where he was stripping a few wires. "We're trying to figure out what this does." He paused, then looked at River. "I think we need David's laptop."
River dropped some wiring onto the table and crossed over to the kitchen counter, filled up a coffee cup, and started to leave the mess in the direction of the infirmary. "I'm on it," she stated confidently.
&&&&&&&
The low knock resounded like a cannon off the inside of David's head. He struggled to sit up as the rice paper door slid back and River slipped into the room. He pulled the sheet a little higher up his torso and grimaced.
"I guess I got a little tipsy last night," he mumbled. "I hope I didn't say or do anything untoward." He looked hopefully up at her through his eyelashes.
River smiled at him and sat down on the edge of his bed. "No, no, of course not. You were a perfect gentleman. Here, I brought you some pain reliever." She practically pushed the pills up into his nose in her eagerness.
David slowly, gratefully, took the pills from River and downed them. "Thank you."
"You are very welcome. And now you should lie back down until you feel better. I'll bring you some food later. Maybe some nice over easy eggs with the yolk all runny?" He groaned. "Or some oatmeal with prunes and pureed turnips?" He groaned louder. "I know, some nice minestrone soup with those little black and white beans, you know, the ones that look like eyeballs?"
That did it. David jumped up and ran for the bathroom. River waited until he pushed the door behind him, then quickly reached under his bed to pull his laptop out. She leaped over to the door of his room and slid it just outside onto the floor, quickly pulling the door shut again. She was just settling back onto the end of the bed when the bathroom door opened.
"Sorry, about that," David mumbled shamefaced.
"That is okay, gastrointestinal system is not ready for food just yet. Why don't we get you settled back down here for a nice nap." She jumped up and pulled back the blanket while he crawled back into bed. She tucked him in, then stepped back to leave.
"Thank you, you're so nice to me, not many women are," he said softly. "In fact, almost none at all," he sighed, then drifted off. River stepped back over and smoothed his hair out of his face. She felt badly that she was being deceitful with someone whom she knew wasn't a threat, but her loyalty lay with her family, the one who protected her and put up with her when no one else would. She would just have to make sure that no harm came to him, then she could justify the lies she was playing now. Oh, and the sleeping pills as well. She said he would feel better, she just hadn't said how.
&&&&&&&
Kaylee and Wash were finishing twisting some wiring together and attaching it to one of the monitors from the crates when River came flying back in. She pushed past Jayne and Mal and put the laptop in front of Kaylee.
"Okay, let's see what we have," Kaylee murmured as she connected the relays between the portable computer and the strangely configured circuit board. She clipped the last one into place and clicked a button on the laptop. Nothing. Wash slid the laptop over to himself as Kaylee began to clip and try different combinations. Still nothing.
After a couple of minutes of this trial and error ending in all errors, Mal started getting fidgety again. "Well, we gonna see some action, or are we all gonna be tryin' to put everything back exactly like we found it before you all tore it out of them crates?"
River and Zoe gave him full-on glares, interrupted by a loud beep. Wash jumped. "Kaylee, try that one again."
Kaylee moved the clip back one step, and there on the board was one line of what looked to be some kind of code. Mal looked excited, but Wash just shook his head. "It's garbage."
Kaylee went on down the line of connections. Suddenly Wash yelped. "Stop! Right there." Everyone bent forward. Wash had the laptop screen facing him and they had turned the other monitor so that everyone else could watch as well. There again on the screen was the one line of garbage code.
"Thought you said that was no good," Zoe began.
"No, not there, go back," Wash interrupted. Kaylee moved the clip over.
Suddenly, the screen was completely filled with quickly scrolling code. Everyone hissed and took a step back.
"River," Wash called, "come over here." River hopped over the bench to sit next to Wash, who slid the laptop in front of her. She started typing rapidly.
"Simon, what's the passcode for the Alliance Federal Reserve Parliament Bank?" she casually inquired.
"Well how would I know a thing like that, mei-…" he trailed off as they all stared in amazement at the monitor screen. As River sat back and crossed her arms with a self satisfied smirk, the code began to rapidly disappear one symbol at a time and was replaced with the home page of the Bank's premiere account withdrawal consent form.
The intake of breath was collective and loud. River began clicking away again, and suddenly the screen was offering a choice of passenger liner manifests: cargo and people.
Wash grinned. "Anyone wanna take a free cruise?"
River bent back over the laptop and seconds later the code was again disappearing to be replaced by graphics labeling military deployment around one of the Core planets. As another group gasp occurred, Mal stepped forward.
"Shut it off, shut it off right now." His voice was cold. Wash looked disappointed, but River looked satisfied.
"Now you see," she said, looking the Captain straight in the eye. "There are other ways to win, ways that don't require a gun."
"They'll be comin' after him," Mal said, running a hand through his hair.
"They already are, Sir," Zoe stepped forward. "Those cops back there had to have some idea of why they were even looking for Cosmo in the first place."
"People would definitely kill for this," Wash added. "Whoever has this could get into any system in the known 'verse. Financial, private security, government…"
"No more secrets," River added.
"Apparently not," said David from the doorway.