醫務室
(Infirmary)
Chapter 3
Simon Tam sat in the sterile white surroundings of his infirmary. He nursed his sore nose, checking to see if anything was broken. Maybe, but not bad enough to worry about, it would heal up in a day or two, only a nasty bruise left for the crew to mock him about for the next week. At least everyone else had either gone out or gone to bed. Now that the ship was quiet, and Simon was finally alone with only the blinking lights of his medical equipment to keep him company, he could turn to his computer and begin looking over the results of his tests. He had just finished another scan of River's brain and he had a lot of data to sift through. The only thing he needed was some peace and quiet to actual analyze the data. However, peace and quiet was something of a rarity aboard Serenity as of late.
Everyone knew that The Alliance had been playing with River's memories, implanting new ones and removing things that didn't fit their profile. But something else had happened to her mind as well. It was like River could gather information simply by being near someone. Like she could hear thoughts and absorb them, like a dry sponge in a pool of water. He just had to figure out...
"Jayne's just a big bully." Came a voice from behind Simon. He jumped scattering his stack of notes in the process.
Kaylee entered the small infirmary quickly and bent down to help Simon pick up his mess of papers. "Oh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't a startled ya like that. It can get awful creepy down here after the Cap'n shuts all the lights off. I've scared myself something terrible before, tryin' to get back to my room or whatnot when it's dark. Cap'n says I shouldn't be so jumpy but I just…"
"No Kaylee, it's alright… I was just concentrating on my work and I didn't notice you standing there. How long were you standing there anyway?" Asked Simon.
"Oh you know, not very long, just passin' by, weren't like I was starin' at ya or somethin', not the you ain't worth starin' at, but... well… I was just wonderin' how yer nose was doin' after Jayne hit ya earlier?" Kaylee asked awkwardly, her cheeks bright red. She gave Simon a smile, but it didn't help to hide her embarrassment.
"Well, it's broken, so I guess not that good. It will heal fine though, probably won't even leave a mark. It will just be swollen for a couple days." Simon answered distractedly. He bent down to finish picking up the papers he had scattered.
"Oh ok, well that's shiny. Wouldn't wanna have to worry about the Doctor needin' any fixin', would we? " Kaylee began to make her way out of the infirmary. Simon continued to pick up his papers, barely acknowledging Kaylee as she left.
"Well, night Simon, glad you're ok."
"Huh, oh yeah…" Simon continued shuffling through his papers. Finally he got everything put back where he wanted it.
"Dope."
Simon looked up as a voice came from the air vent above him.
"River, what are you doing up there? I thought you were in bed."
"Can't sleep, too much work, have to keep an eye on you, make sure you don't miss it." River replied as she climbed down from the vent.
"Miss what, Mei-Mei?" Simon asked.
"You wouldn't make a very good rabbit would you, Simon? Too much work not enough fun. You are never going to reproduce. You need help." River turned and walked out the door.
"Wait, River, what are you… where are you going?" Simon yelled after her. "River?"
River turned back to Simon, "Obviously someone has to do all the dirty work around here, and since you are too dumb to do it yourself I'm going to do it for you."
"River, I don't want to 'reproduce' with Kaylee." Simon replied angrily.
River looked back at him like he had just drooled all over himself, obviously she knew something that Simon didn't think she did, or maybe he didn't even know it himself yet…