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Chapter 43: Goblins
XXX
River's POV
…Reality Shifts...
She was floating…drifting…she could feel her mind in the mass of nothingness. It was neither suffocating nor comforting…it was simply…empty. Things begin to blur…she feels the edges become jagged…and something feels...off. She attempts to focus, but every time she tries it just blurs more…like needles in her eyes.
She hears whispers, but they aren't the ones she has come to know. They are like goblins, hushed voices that are trying to say something but she can't quite hear them.
…eat them all the time...
She sees Serenity come into view and works hard to pull her mind back…back into her sleeping body. Feels her mind being ripped through the labyrinth of wires and pipes and spaceship innards…twists and turns…until she sees her sleeping form below her…
She wills herself to wake up.
…Reality shifts again…
"We're all just floating…" she says as she stares at the ceiling.
Her dreams are usually unsettling, but this one has left a bitter aftertaste in her mouth. Like vinegar and bay leaves. She reaches out for Riddick, but only finds an empty space beside her…
She rises and sits on the edge of their bed. She grabs the first dress she sees and pulls it onto her thin frame. She doesn't bother with shoes as she turns to the ladder leading out of their bunk. Laughter pulls her in the direction of the common area.
She moves slowly…everything feeling foreign to her…and she traces her fingers along the walls to steady herself. She finds Kaylee and Simon in the common area, sitting together and laughing…
"Oh no! What'd you sing?" Kaylee asks with keen interest.
River takes a step to approach them but suddenly everything in the room seems to pulse and she hears static in her ears…and the same goblin voices from before….
…they will blow your mind...
The laughter that filled the room a moment before is replaced with coldness and static…River blinks several times and shakes her head to dislodge it….
Simon notices her and looks at her inquisitively. "River? Something wrong?" He asks.
"…Nothing…." She stammers out. The static is gone as soon as it came and River quickly turns and starts up the stairs.
She continues to touch the walls as she moves…hoping the chill of the metal would steady her. She finds Shepard Book and Jayne, engaging in cards.
"Two cards for me." Book says as he throws two down.
"Two fer you, and one fer me." Jayne says as he deals.
Again River tries to approach…but the goblins' voices begin return and she quickly runs the other direction.
…Wo hen jiaonian diu lian…
It's like a yellow fog following her…licking its tongue into every crevice of the ship. She feels it trying to cling to her brain…she stumbles down the steps and looks around wildly as she walks toward the lower deck looking for Riddick…and just as she is about to escape, it catches her and she hears a twig snap underneath her feet.
She gingerly takes her foot off, and then bends to look at it…She picks it up…it fits well in her hand…and she studies it...
"Just an object…" She says as she wills her brain to fill in the missing pieces…."It doesn't mean what you think…"
It flashes before her eyes…like something from a film reel…"Nothing here is what it seems. You are not the plucky hero, the Alliance is not an evil empire, and this is not the grand arena…"
Riddick's POV
I'm just walking into the cargo bay to work out when I see her. River, stark white, holding one of my blades in her hand, blood dripping from where she is holding the blade.
"River?" I ask cautiously as I walk towards her.
She opens her eyes as wide as an animal caught in headlights and stares at me, almost as if she'd never seen me before.
"River…" I repeat again as I walk towards her. "You alright?"
She shakes her head as if to clear her thoughts. "Yes…she just…saw something…that could have been."
"Want to explain why you have one of my shivs then?"
She looks down at her hand as if surprised. "I found it here."
"Come on bao-bei, let's get that brother of yours to take a look at your hand."
We both walk back up the stairs towards where we hear people laughing.
XXX
River's POV
She can hear them…but her mind is elsewhere. She cannot shake the feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"I don't get it mei-mei, from what I have seen you are much more capable with weapons than this." Simon says as he begins to stitch up her palm.
"We sail within a vast sphere, ever drifting in uncertainty, driven from end to end."
"What's that supposed to mean River?" Riddick asks the girl.
"Irrelevant." She says as she looks down at Simon finishing the stitches. "May she go now?" She asks solemnly.
Simon nods in the affirmative. "Try not to move it too much." Simon says as she hops off the table and leaves the infirmary.
XXX
Riddick's POV
I wait until the girl leaves before I turn to talk to the Doc.
"Did you find anything in the files on her?" I ask.
"Nothing that would explain this…Based off their notes the medications are erratic, there's not one that her system can't eventually break down, and you have to recalibrate –"
I'm annoyed by his lack of help. "I want a lot of medical jargon thrown at me, I'll talk to a doctor." I say to shut him up.
"You are talking to a doctor." He says with equal annoyance.
His tone grates on my nerves. I turn to face him now, and to his credit he doesn't back down. "Listen…I know you and I don't see eye to eye. But you're going to have to get your head out of your ass."
"Oh really? So I'm just supposed to roll over and act as if your relationship with my sister doesn't bother me?"
"Since when do you care about your sister anyways Doc? In my eyes you're almost as culpable as those dead parents of yours for her torture."
He lets out an exasperated sigh and runs a hand through his hair. "Look I admit, I may not have liked that River was smarter than me, or how she acted…but I read the files. I know what they did to her. And I'm trying to make up for it."
As much as I hate to admit it to myself, the kid isn't lying. He may be a core yuppie, but he isn't a liar. I'd smell it on him a mile away.
"Look your sister and I are something that you are going to have to deal with. Where she goes I go, and we're still in deep space, Doctor…Corner of No and Where. And we're very much alone out here. So while you may be tryin', you're going to have to try a little harder." I say as I turn and walk out of the infirmary.
XXX
…On the Bridge of Serenity…
"Wash ring up your old friend…see if he's got any more crime for us to be doin." Mal says as he paces the bridge. He's shaking his arm out, trying to loosen the scar tissue from the Doc reattaching it.
"Waving him now." Wash says as he calls up the cortex and enters in the secure code.
It takes a minute, but Mr. Universe pops up on the screen soon enough.
"Hello Wash… and Captain Reynolds…glad to see you are in one piece again." He says as he twists in his chair.
"How did you know?" Mal asks with mild surprise.
"I've been enjoying watching the security vids from Niska's space station…You guys always brings me the very best violence."
"There any news on that?" Wash asks hopeful that there isn't.
"There is no news. There is only the truth of the signal. What I see. And, there's the puppet theater the Parliament jesters foist on the somnambulant public…Niska's space station did not make the puppet theater, but there has been some chatter…don't worry though, I wiped his security feeds after I downloaded them."
Wash and Mal both let out an audible breath they didn't even know they were holding. "Much obliged by that." Mal says.
"So…where is that foxy little minx of ours anyways." He says inquiring about River.
"She is here." River says as she enters the bridge.
"My dear you are an artist and you paint beautifully with blood." He says with a little too much glee for Mal and Wash's comfort.
River merely giggles at the compliment. "Thank you."
"So I take it this isn't a social call." Mr. Universe says.
"Captain Daddy wishes for more crime." River answers quickly. Mr. Universe cracks up at this.
"GORRAMIT GIRL! How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that!"
"You think he'd be used to it by now." Wash says under his breath.
"Well I ain't!" Mal says as he lightly smacks Wash's seat.
"Oh dear, River. You truly are a gem. As a matter of fact I do have some crime to be done. A simple little job, but the pay is decent. It'll take me a day to arrange, but I'll upload the details to your secure account tomorrow."
"We'll be waiting." Mal says.
"See you soon." River says as she waves goodbye to the funny little man.
"Might as well power her down Wash. No use wasting' fuel if we don't have to." Mal says as he exits the bridge.
XXX
…A little while later…
Everyone except Wash and River are sitting around the dining table. They are laughing hysterically. Even Riddick and Jayne, but that could be because there they had nearly killed a jug of Kaylee's inter-engine wine each.
"No! That is not true. No." Zoe says thru her hysterics.
"I swear it is!" Book says as he catches his breath.
"Surely one of you must have told him!" Inara asks as she regains a semblance of composure.
"No! Not one among the brethren had the heart to say anything. He was so proud!"
With that admission the entire group breaks into hysterics again. Wash and River enter the room as the laughter erupts.
Wash turns and looks at River. "What? What was he proud of? Who he?"
"Hermes was telling funny stories about his life at the monastery." River says as she moves to take a seat next to Riddick.
"Monastic humor. I miss out on all the fun." He reaches for the serving bowl but is dismayed to see it is empty. "And all the food, too, apparently…"
Zoe chuckles. "Just who do you think you're married to?" She lifts a napkin off a plate piled with food. "Voila!
Wash smiles. "I love my wife." He says as he lightly pecks her cheek.
XXX
River's POV
"So we clear?" Mal asks the girl.
"Affirmative. We should be secure in this position without running into any Alliance patrols. Or a single living soul, for that matter."
"Good. Way it should be." Mal says with satisfaction.
Kaylee moves to take some dishes away from the table, and Simon immediately jumps up.
"Let me help you with that…"
The girl inwardly smiles at this…she can tell her ge-ge fancies Kaylee, doesn't even need to be a reader to see it. Everyone else does too. Unfortunately for both Kaylee and Simon it is likely to take impending doom for Simon to do more than act respectfully to her…And despite Kaylee's best attempts her brother is too dense to pick up on her signals.
"No no, I got it. It's your turn."
Simon looks at her a little clueless. "My turn…?"
"She wishes to hear a funny story about your time at the hospital Simon." The girl says in reply.
"Ohh. Right. A funny story…"
"Yeah, 'cos sick people are hi-larious." Jayne says as he takes another swig of wine.
Simon nervously laughs. "Well, they can be... uh... "
"Now Inara…" Jayne starts to say but the girl is quick to cut him off.
"Ape man…you are drunk, if you wish to keep sitting at this table without receiving bodily harm you will quit your line of thinking." She says as she brandishes a shiv.
The girl may have trouble thinking of the companion as her mother, but that does not mean she wishes to see all of the things running thru the ape man's head.
"River put the gorram shiv away, and Jayne just do as she says." Mal says in hopes of avoiding any bloodshed.
"Whatever." Jayne says and takes another swig of wine.
River narrows her eyes at the big man, but does as Mal asks and put the knife away.
"I have a story." Simon says to the surprise of everyone, even River slightly.
"Well let's hear it." Kaylee says quickly before anyone can spoil the moment.
"I was an intern, this one time I was working the E.R. and this, this, uh, fellow, this very upright sort of citizen, was brought in from a car accident. It was relatively late at night and no one else was on call so I was the one to examine him. It was obvious the man's leg was broken, so I told him we would need to cut his clothes off to avoid moving his leg and get him an x-ray and into surgery."
"There a funny part in here Doc?" Riddick asks. The girl lightly elbows him for his rudeness.
Simon continues. "Well, when I told him this, he demands to leave. Even threatens to call his solicitor if I try to hold him there."
"Why'd he do that?" Wash asks.
I roll my eyes. "He's getting there, go on Simon."
"Well it takes a while but sure enough his solicitor comes down and I pull him aside to explain that his client needs surgery. He goes to the man and the man eventually relents. Turns out he had woman's lingerie on underneath his clothes."
Everyone begins to erupt in laughter now.
"Your kiddin'" Zoe says.
"No, the solicitor made me sign a non-disclosure form."
"Why in the hell would he wear that?" Jayne asks between chuckles.
"Turns out the man had a fetish for it."
XXX
…Elsewhere…
He watches his target as readouts come over the screen. There is a heat scan of Serenity, indicating where everyone is on the ship, a blueprint of Serenity showing the layout, names the rooms, shows points of egress, and lists components and operating systems.
Suddenly a message flashes: TRAJECTORY SYNC COMPLETE. LOCKED ON TO FLIGHT PATH.
He picks up the printout in front of him. A warrant for River labeled FUGITIVE, and at the bottom, REWARD 200,000 CREDITS, Alliance Bond Standard. WANTED ALIVE.
Nearby there is an old beat up picture of an older black woman with two small children and a dog on a lawn.
XXX
AN: Hope you guys enjoyed this update. As always feedback (good or bad) is appreciated.