"So did you mean it?"
"Huh?"
"Did you really mean it when you said you were gonna sell him?"
Mal turned to his pilot with an almost dead stare.
Mal, Wash and Zoe had each congregated back to the cockpit after the ordeal in the cargo hold, waiting to find some random planet to land on or to hopefully find another shipwreck to salvage from for the past fifteen minutes, which added to a grand total of fifteen minutes of time wasted.
Zoe took a deep breath and leaned against her husband's control panel, awaiting an answer as well, careful not to disturb his model dinosaurs.
Mal sighed and swiveled the copilot's chair so he was facing his two worried crewmates.
"Yes. And no."
"You're going to have to be more clear, sir," Zoe deadpanned.
"Look," Mal rose from the chair, "I don't have to tell you about the position we're in. Badger backed out on payment-"
"Again," Wash delightfully added.
"Right," Mal continued. "I truthfully don't wanna sell the kid. You know I don't. But the money could be put to good use. Kaylee's been just about chewing my arm off about a new compression coil for Serenity. Besides, I don't think we need another mouth to feed around here, do we?"
"Now, if I'm not mistaken, which I usually am, actually, but I believe I am not this time," Wash spoke up, "but is that not what you also said about Simon, River, and the Shepard?" He counted off the three of them with his fingers.
"They've each proven their worth . . . Well, the girl's got a ways bit to go before she can be considered one of the normal such as us, but I'm confident in the doc's guidance. Plus, once that boy wakes up, I'm sure young Simon will have that well under control too."
Static came over the speaker before Simon's panicked voice was heard.
"You guys might want to come down here . . . now."
Mal smothered his face in his hands and let out a deep, somewhat calming breath.
"Of course my faith in him has been tested before."
Without another word, Mal and Zoe sprinted out of the cockpit and down the hall, leaving Wash alone to pilot the ship. The two of them made their way down the flights of steps until they entered the medical room where a shocked Simon and Kaylee resided, as well as a vacant operating table where Mal was almost positive was an unconscious young man not a half hour ago.
Simon looked to the captain and Zoe with a dropped jaw.
"You wanna start explainin' just about what the gorram hell happened in here?"
"I have no idea!" Simon admitted. "I gave him a few sedatives so that I could ease him out of comatose, but he suddenly went berserk and attacked me!" He gestured behind him to the spilled liquid and broken glass on the floor.
"Is it just me, or is the doc getting more and more bad luck when it comes to some sleepin' yutz on his own medical table?" Jayne's voice suddenly made him heard. He was now leaning against the doorway, dressed in an orange shirt and his yellow and orange winter cap. He entered the room.
"So where did he go?!" Mal demanded.
Kaylee pointed out the door. "Out there."
"And you didn't go after him?" Zoe wondered out loud.
"He caught us off guard. He hurt Simon!" Kaylee defended, pointing to Simon's arm. It was only then that Mal saw the large chunk of glass sticking out of his left forearm, blood dripping from the wound and mixing itself in the spilled liquid on the floor.
"Either way, there's no way the sedative I gave him would have brought him out of comatose so abruptly and violently," Simon elaborated, turning behind him and digging through the drawer and picking out a few viles and syringes, holding them in front of his face, studying them. "I've never seen such a reaction to-" He cut himself off, his once inquisitive face instantly turning into one of horror.
"What?" Kaylee asked.
Simon remained silent for a few moments more before his found his voice again.
"This isn't a sedative."
"Well what is it?" Zoe asked.
". . . It's adrenaline."
"So let me get this straight," Mal said impatiently, rubbing the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "There is an absolute stranger hopped up on crazy running around in my ship because you mixed up the ruttin' medicine?!"
"I-I didn't! I set my relaxants in this drawer so they're easily accessible. Someone must've came in and rearranged . . ." He trailed off, a look of sudden realization crossing over his face as his eyes drifted to the entrance of the room.
Mal, Zoe, Jayne and Kaylee followed his gaze and found River poking her head in from the side, her forehead and eyes the only thing visible as well as her dangling mess of hair.
She straightened out and stepped one bare foot inside, then the other.
"It didn't make any sense," she said with her usual 'far off' tone.
"What?" Simon asked agitatedly. "What didn't make any sense?"
"How you had it arranged," she cleared up. "If you're losing a patient, you need to keep them active. You need to have your adrenaline closer. It makes more sense."
Simon let out a calming breath, not making any more eye contact with his sister.
Mal turned away from the scene and addressed the rest of his crew. "Alright people, we've got someone aboard this ship who's unarmed and presumed crazy. Split up and find him. Kaylee, you stay and help the doc."
With that, Mal, Zoe and Jayne ran out of the room, leaving a still bleeding Simon alone with Kaylee and his sister.
"Are you mad?" River asked innocently.
In reply, Simon let out another breath. "We'll talk about that later. For now, just . . . stay outside. Kaylee, help me clean this up, would you?"
Meanwhile,
Book took a deep breath as he exited his bunk, tilting his head as to not bang it against the top. He had a small stack of boxes in his hands that he had promised the captain he would bring up to the kitchen.
He entered the hall and took another breath, recollecting what had happened just a few minutes ago in the cargo hold.
Surely the Captain wouldn't just sell that young man, would he?
While I guess I wouldn't be shocked if he did, but he's a man of honor. There must be something else he has in mind.
Before he could feed his nagging thoughts any more, he was hit hard in the chest by a blunt force that sent him and his boxes of canned goods to the floor. Disoriented but unharmed, Book rubbed his head and brought himself to his knees, trying to find what caused the collision.
What he found almost took his breath away again.
He found a young man on his knees as well with a head of messy red hair, a white tank top and black shorts. The young man from the cryogenic tube in the cargo hold.
Book did a double take to make sure he was seeing it correctly. The young man groaned and held his head in his palm.
Book slowly reached out to him.
"Excuse me, son. Are you-"
Before he could finish his question, he was interrupted by a loud, genuinely horrified cry from him. Wasting no time, he clambered back to his feet, jumped over the hunched down Shepard and climbed up the ladder that lead to the catwalk right over their heads.
Book was left speechless as he watched him disappear onto the next level. He jumped slightly at the sound of Inara's concerned cry coming from behind.
"Shepard! What happened?"
She came up to his side and slid her arm under his, helping him rise to his feet. He dizzily stood on his own. "The . . . The young man. The one from before, who Mal and the others brought onboard. He's awake . . . And quite confused as it seems."
Later,
Run.
Run fast.
Run faster!
That was all that was going through his brain at the moment.
Well, there was that, as well as, 'where am I?', and, 'who are all these people?', and of course, 'how did I get here?"
But with his heart racing a mile a minute and his muscles seemingly reacting on their own, he had no time to dwell on any of those questions.
He simply had to go.
He had to run.
He had no idea where to. He didn't even know where he was. He just has to.
After jumping over the old man, he found himself in what looked like a kitchen with decor and appliances that looked like it came straight from the 1970's. After that, he exited and found himself inside a hallway. As he ran, he didn't even see the trap door beneath his feet.
At the same time,
"Tian Di Wu Yowng Doctor," Mal grumbled to himself as he climbed up a small flight of stairs. He only paused once he heard the noise of more footsteps other than his own approaching from behind.
Hoping to find the escapee, he only found a worried Inara trailing up behind him.
Letting out a disappointed breath, Mal fully faced Inara.
"I don't have time for another lecture, Inara. We've got a-"
"So I've heard," she cut him off. "I ran into Shepard. He tells me we've got a man on the run inside Serenity."
"It wasn't my fault!" He defended. "The Doc-"
"It was your idea to bring him onboard! It was you who thought he could handle all of this if it got out of control! And guess what? It did! Now he could be anywhere in this ship!"
Before Mal could argue any further, the two of them looked behind to find a white blur tumble and fall down the stairs on the catwalk system right across from them. The young man finally came to a stop at the bottom, his form writhing in pain and moaning.
Mal turned back to Inara.
"Or he could be, ya know, right there."
The young man looked up, all traces of pain suddenly disappearing at the sound of a new voice. He saw Mal and Inara walking cautiously in his direction.
Panic seizing his heart, he shot back up to his feet and ran in the opposite direction.
Mal let out a disgruntled breath. "Would you slow down, gorrammit!? We ain't gonna hurt you!"
The two of them chased the young man through the system of catwalks until they entered the cargo hold. The raging and panicked young man all but jumped over the steps and landed to a running start on the catwalks below, looking down at the large, open space below him, not even noticing the two people behind him climb down the stairs and run after him once more.
"Hey!" Mal shouted.
Against his expectations, that got the young man's attention. He turned to face him and raised a shaking hand in front of him, not wishing Mal or Inara to come any closer.
Mal instantly slowed himself down to a walk, prompting Inara to do the same. Mal held his arms up at his sides to show that he had no intention of harming him, but he either didn't believe him, or was so panicked that he couldn't process the gesture.
"Just . . . Just take it easy now," Mal cooed gently, arms still out in front of him. "Her and I," he said, gesturing to Inara behind him, "we ain't gonna hurt you," he repeated.
Mal's reassuring tone fell upon deaf ears as the young man shook his head spastically. Turning on his heel, he was about to dart in the opposite direction, but froze in place at the sight of a large, burly man with a black goatee and yellow and orange winter cap blocking his way.
He was trapped.
"P-Please," he pleaded, holding his hands up in both directions as Mal, Inara and Jayne slowly began inching their way to him. "D-Don't touch me."
"We ain't here to hurt you," Mal said again. "Just calm yourself. Take a deep breath, and- don't touch that!"
As Mal tried to make another attempt at calming him, the panicked man swung his arm around, not noticing the control panel that was resting on the railing.
His arm swiped the lever and it fell down.
Up above them cam a loud click. The four of them looked over the cargo hold in time to see the Mule detach from the hoist and plummet to the floor with a massive CRASH!
The loud noise echoed in the large space for what felt like forever, everyone's ears ringing in protest.
Mal opened his eyes that he didn't even know he closed to see that everyone, including him, had their hands covered over their ears. Jayne and the man removed their hands and looked down, a shocked expression dawning on Jayne's face as he looked, causing Mal's heart to plummet.
Don't look.
Gorrammit Mal, don't look.
He peeked over the railing.
His heart fell further.
The Mule is a crumpled mess, the metal was twisted and contorted in awkward angles and multiple metal shards lay on the floor.
The young man, still looking over the edge, didn't even notice as Jayne snuck up behind him and wrapped his large arms under his arms and get him into a full nelson. His eyes went wide with horror, his hands wrapping around the larger man's arms in a futile attempt to loosen his grip. Jayne's arms had veins visibly bulging out, Mal could almost see the life leaving his eyes.
Mal ran forward. "Jayne! Let 'em go!"
Jayne looked at him confusedly. "Why? You saw what he did! This ruttin' bastard jist destroyed the-"
"Jayne!" Mal Barked. "Let. Him. Go."
Jayne rolled his eyes before looking down at the horrified face in his arms. "Whatever."
He let go. The young man fell to his hands and knees, coughing and grasping his throat.
Mal glared at his employee. "The hell is the matter with you?"
Jayne shrugged. "S'the only thing I could think of."
Mal shook his head before kneeling down to face level with the panting kid. He placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Okay, now we ain't gonna hurt you. Just . . . Just breathe. Yeah, like that. Keep doing that."
Once he caught his breath, he looked up and looked Mal in the eyes. Mal could see the red lines in his eyes as well as the tears beginning to tear up.
"Please," he panted. "Where . . . Where am I?"
Later,
After the commotion, everyone relocated back to the infirmary, standing outside and looking in through the windows. Only Simon and the new man were inside, everyone else waiting anxiously outside. Mal peered inside and could see both their mouths moving rapidly but unable to make out what they're saying. The man sat on the table while Simon stood in front of him, his chin resting on his fist.
River stayed in the corner, sitting on the couch and staring guiltily at her feet.
Mal stood impatiently at the door with Wash, Zoe, Jayne, Kaylee, Book and Inara waiting alongside him in rapt silence.
The doors slid open.
Simon stepped out, his chest rising slowly in a long breath. The doors closed behind him.
"I, uh, don't know how to say this."
"What is it, doc?" Mal asked, growing more impatient.
"Um, where do I start?"
"How about a name?" Kaylee suggested.
"His name's Caleb. Caleb Van Houten."
"Where's he from?" Book questioned.
"See, that's the thing. I-It's not where, it's when. Wash, you weren't too far off. He's a time traveler. He's been frozen solid for five hundred years."
A/N: Holy long walk for a short drink of water, Batman! I usually don't wait over a month to update a story, especially when the chapter isn't that long, but life has taken over. Juggling three separate things during the week can be time consuming as it turns out. Plus, with all of these events, I had lost interest in this story for a short time. But don't lose faith! I haven't given up on this thing just yet. But I really need some help here guys. If there's still people out there who still want me to continue this crazy little brain baby of mine, leave a review. Even if you don't review that often, it'll really help. I don't usually leave author's notes, but I felt this time deserved a little more of an explanation.