One Man's Trash, Part 3b
Ip makes a wave, Jayne catches up with an old friend, and Mal and Zoe and the Purplebellies are still at it.
"…I got a terrific data set," Ip continued, his excitement apparent to the man on the cortex screen. "I had all kinds of equipment set up on the hull of the boat, and the Captain plotted a course that took us within five thousand miles of Shadow's surface. The view was stunning."
"So have you solved the mystery of the terraforming accident on Shadow then?" the man asked, with an amused smile at the young man's gushing enthusiasm.
"No, certainly not yet," Ip responded, sobering a little. "It's a very complicated case. The accident that happened there should not have happened at all. While it's theoretically possible for a single event like a bomb to trigger a cascade that led to catastrophic failure of terraforming, the likelihood of that event is just…"
"Improbable?" suggested Brother Chan 'eil Càil an so a' Faicadh.
"Beyond improbable. It's so unlikely that it's not even worth considering. I'm sure it was not a factor that the original terraforming engineers of Shadow even worked into their calculations. Especially since Shadow took so readily to terraforming in the first place. And yet this extremely improbable event seems to have happened on Shadow." Ip paused, and looked saddened.
"What is it?" his friend asked with concern.
"It's just—well, it was harder than I ever imagined it would be, to see how the return to Shadow affected the Captain."
"What do you mean?" the man asked, with every appearance of surprise.
"Did you know the Captain is a native of Shadow?"
The Operative knew it perfectly well, but he shook his head.
"Yes, he is, and seeing his destroyed home world up close triggered some traumatic flashbacks. It made me terribly sad to see it." Ip paused, gathering his thoughts. "He was very brave, plotting that course and sticking to it, knowing how close it would bring him to the world he lost." He looked his friend directly in the eye and said somberly, "The Captain lost everything he ever had when Shadow was destroyed."
The Operative nodded sympathetically. Ip Neumann had no idea just how much the Captain had lost. The moment of silence hung between them.
Ip shook off the oppressive mood. "I should tell you, though—the excitement of gathering data on Shadow was completely eclipsed by what happened next."
"Why? What happened?" Despite all his training, the Operative was unable to maintain a calm demeanor.
"As we approached perigee, we came upon a fleet of transport vessels. Hundreds of them. Then we were chased by a stealth vessel. I'm thinking maybe a guard ship to chase away anybody who got too interested in the transports."
Brother Chan 'eil Càil looked sharply at Ip. Ip had not seen such a look on his friend's face before. "Hundreds of transports? What were they doing there?"
"I really don't know," Ip responded. "But I suspect something illegal. They were within the embargo zone."
"Landing? Taking off?"
"I suppose they were. We really didn't get to look for very long, because that's when we got chased by Reavers."
"Good gods!" Stealth trackers, fleets of vessels, Reavers—Malcolm Reynolds seemed to attract this kind of attention like a magnet, the Operative thought, forgetting for a moment his own involvement in the Captain's last encounter with Reavers and a large fleet.
"But that's not the biggest surprise." Ip actually relished the telling. "All those spectrographs and scanners I had on the hull of Serenity yielded some interesting information about the transport fleet."
The Operative was all ears.
"Those transports were carrying linthicum ore. There's a huge illegal extraction operation going on, on Shadow."
The man on the screen considered carefully for a moment. Then he asked, "Do you have hard evidence of that?"
Ip nodded. "Yes, I do. As far as remote-sensing data can be considered hard evidence."
"Have you considered the implications of this evidence?" Brother Chan 'eil Càil asked carefully.
Ip considered a moment. "I think it's likely that a crime is being committed on Shadow."
His friend nodded. "I agree. What steps have you taken to safeguard this evidence?"
Ip hadn't taken any. "Does it need safeguarding?"
"At the very least, you should make a back-up copy of that data. Store it at a secure, off-ship location." He paused, as if in thought, then added, "You may have uncovered something here that's key to building a case against the culprits."
Ip hadn't considered that there might be a criminal case brought against the illegal miners. "Oh. You're right." He considered a moment. "Where are you now? Still on 尘球 Chén Qiú?"
"Not any longer," Brother Chan 'eil Càil replied. "You're waving me from Beylix? I'm four sectors away."
"Would you keep a copy of the data for me?"
"I could do that," he answered neutrally. He was careful not to betray any special interest in the subject to Ip Neumann. Then he added, "What would you want me to do with it? I could contact law enforcement—"
"No," Ip answered quickly. "Just store it. Keep it safe. In case of accidents." After a little reflection, Ip added, "I think there's more to this story than we've uncovered so far. I agree that this is a significant piece of evidence, but there's more to it than meets the eye."
"I believe you're right," the Operative answered with conviction. He knew he would have much to do as soon as the data set was in his hands.
Ip nodded. There was something else on his mind. He hesitated. He really shouldn't divulge the Captain's private business to an outside party, especially since River had explained the problem to him in confidence. But it seemed to him that his friend might be able to help—he seemed to have connections. After all, he'd been surprisingly forthcoming in working political contacts on Persephone on the Captain's behalf. Ip made his decision. "Have you ever heard of a credit account being flagged?"
. . .
Jayne sat in the booth in a cozy corner of the Friendly Inn with his new friend snuggled up to his side. Or not-so-new. Turned out they was already acquainted. Well-acquainted in fact, up to and including biblically. And she was willing to treat him. Beylix was a shiny, wonderful world.
He had been astonished when this well-endowed piece of womanhood had thrown herself at him right there on the street, soon as he started window-shopping. But she'd been anything but astonished.
"Jayne Cobb! It's really you!" she repeated breathlessly, between kisses. "I knew it! It's karma." She stepped back just a bit to have a good look at him. "And just as handsome as I remember." She then noticed a tall, thin stranger stopping nearby and regarding Jayne with an odd look. "This 'un on your crew now, Jayne?"
"Well, he's, uh—" Jayne began.
"Dr Ip Neumann," Ip introduced himself. "Jayne has kindly agreed to accompany me into town. And you are—?"
"Janice," she replied, saving Jayne a world of trouble. "Me and Jayne know each other from way back, on Higgins Moon. Betcha hardly knew me, eh Jayne?" she asked, elbowing him in the ribs, as Jayne squirmed uncomfortably at the truth. "I clean up good, don't I?" she beamed at Jayne, not in the least noticing his discomfiture. "Last time we saw each other," she told Ip conspiratorially, "I was covered with mud. Not that the Hero of Canton minded a bit of mud-wrestling." She made it sound so salacious.
Jayne was puttin' two and two together and comin' up with a home run. Janice. Huh. She was that Mudder woman that'd given him a good time—a gorram good time—that night in Canton. "Whatcha doin' on Beylix, Janice?" he asked.
"Fixin' to have me a good time with the Hero of Canton," she answered. "C'mon, handsome. Let me buy you a drink." And she hauled an unprotesting Jayne off to the Friendly Inn, leaving Ip Neumann standing on the sidewalk.
. . .
They killed the bottle and were well into the next, while Zoe single-handedly killed the seltzer. Nguyen was getting loquacious. "If I'd met Browncoats like you back in the day, I don't think I could have fired a shot. But still, I can't reconcile that with the atrocities you all—I don't mean you two—the Browncoats—"
Mal interrupted. "What atrocities you talkin' about?"
"地狱 Dìyù," she replied. "I don't know how to say it. Don't be mad—I'm not blaming you in particular—but only someone inhuman could have done what was done to our troops at Rovaniemi."
"What was done to them?" Zoe asked, considerably ruffled.
"I don't even want to say. It's sick. Look, it probably wasn't your regulars. You all just seem like normal people to me, what I would expect in any infantry unit. But what was done at Rovaniemi, that was the work of some sick mind."
"What do you mean?" Mal asked.
Nguyen looked for help from her comrades. "Well, they weren't just killed. The women were raped—"
"—and the men—" Sullivan inserted.
"—and then they were tortured."
"Flayed alive."
"Most of the bodies had parts missing," Haxton added, in a disgusted voice.
"牲畜污秽淫乱! Shēngchù wūhuì yínluàn!" Mal exclaimed. "You saw this?"
"We saw the bodies, afterwards," Haxton replied. "But we heard of other incidents like that, too. Hard not to howl for the Browncoats' blood, knowing they had units trained to do that kind of thing to human beings. Please, no offense to you. Not your fault Independent Command had some sick ideas."
"We heard of the same kind of atrocities," Zoe stated coldly. "But we were told it was the Alliance that done it. Against us."
"What?" "没做 Méi zuò!" "Never!" the three exclaimed.
"It weren't the Alliance," Mal asserted. "I never believed them stories, Zoe. That was just the propaganda machine, using them sad incidents to stir up the fight in people. Those attacks were all done by Reavers."
. . .
Zoe and Mal made their way back to Serenity. Mal was perfectly ambulatory, but his navigation skills were a little tweaked. Zoe steered them steadily homeward.
"'M beginnin' ta think we spent th' war fightin' th' wrong people," Mal observed.
"You mean we shouldn't a' fought against the 42nd?" Zoe asked, referring to Haxton's regiment.
"Mean Blue Sun," he replied. "Everythin' points ta Blue Sun. They're everywhere. Come outta the Black, bite ya on th' 屁股 pìgu."
. . .
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glossary
尘球 Chén Qiú [name of a world]
地狱 Dìyù [Hell]
牲畜污秽淫乱 Shēngchù wūhuì yínluàn [Filthy fornicators of livestock]
没做 Méi zuò [No way]
屁股 pìgu [ass]
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