83) Night Turns To Whatever We Want

River had gotten the bright idea of auctioning the compost they'd collected, in several lots, and the plain old manure in another couple of lots. She and Kaylee had made a simple cortex for buyers to enter their bids with a minimum amount for each that would cover the cost of the fuel used to get to Dyton. Of all things they'd gotten a job that required them to get sand and it was going to glassworkers on Boros.

Carolyn had wondered if New Melbourne would like sand too, it was an ingredient in concrete, and since that planet was mostly ocean, anything to extend the docks or land mass was a good thing. That got River on the cortex to arrange a shipment of dried fish and rotting fish guts to bring back to Dyton on their next run.

The entire cargo hold might've reeked of manure, compost and fish guts but for the sealing crates River and Carolyn had been buying up at Zoë's behest. When they weren't full of whatever smelly stuff being shipped they stacked inside each other, lids flopping over the edges and took up maybe eight to ten square feet of deck. Line 'em with plastic sacks and they didn't even need to be washed out between loads. And whoever bought 'em was happy to take the sacks and not worry about how to transport the smelly stuff they'd bought.

Mal had been left with Zoë and Carolyn to take charge of the auction. Zoë had her mares' leg and Jayne was conspicuously armed behind her to discourage fights from breaking out or someone thinking they could just take the goods and not pay.

Everyone else had taken the shuttle to go and gather sacks of sand. It would probably take a few trips to get all they needed but they had the time. Mal had figured to spend at least a day on Dyton, that would give River time to find out where Bea had decided to go.

"Kaylee, that smells like heaven," Mal looked up from cleaning his gun as Simon entered the galley complimenting his fiancée with a smile and a kiss to her cheek. River followed her brother with a cortex and took a seat at the table. When Simon joined her, the Reader pointed at the screen. "Mèi mei I'm not saying that it can't be done. It most certainly could, but we can't do it while we're flying."

"Can't do what while we're flyin'," Mal put his gun back together and cleaned up the maintenance implements so he could start setting the table.

"Eye-shines and lens implantation," River told him. "See?" She turned the screen towards him and obligingly Mal looked.

"Uh huh," The Captain nodded at the chart and mess of numbers. "What is it I'm lookin' at?"

"She made up a schedule," Simon told him. "Allowing for meals and rest because doing more than four surgeries in a day is irresponsible and dangerous. But on this schedule over four and a half days, she thinks we can get every member of the crew an eye-shine and adaptive lenses implanted. Including me."

"You," Mal blinked. That was a surprise. "How d'you think to manage that?"

"She will do the surgery on Simon, with assistance," River was clearly bracing herself. "This is why she is the last on the first day, to grow accustomed to the sight."

Rick had clearly heard about the plan, and he shook his head, "Are you sure you wanna do this." He sat next to her and tugged on the braid hanging down her back. "You'll lose the full spectrum of color." Mal had never seen the man so openly tender, "Baby you're an artist."

"Actually," Simon looked at the huge man apologetically. "When they stole the tapetum from the hospital they stole the latest version of it."

"It's a Core hospital," Mal nodded. "Only the best for fine upstanding Alliance citizens."

"Well, they've managed to perfect it," Simon explained. "The night vision as I understand it, that is as it's always been, those shades of purple and grey. But with the adaptive lenses, in the light, colors should appear completely normal."

The relief on Rick's face, not for himself, but for River; Mal hadn't seen that kind of expression much and it seemed so private it was almost uncomfortable. Like he was intruding somehow. "So, what's the problem then Doc," He asked in order to distract himself from the two lovebirds in front of him. They weren't gooey sweet like Simon and Kaylee thankfully, but they were definitely lovebirds.

"It's not possible to do this safely while we're flying," Simon shook his head. "We'd have too many people incapacitated at once if there's any sort of emergency. The surgeries won't take long because I won't be correcting something done in crude conditions by a talented amateur, but the recovery times will vary and if something goes wrong?"

"Yeah, we have problems with the engine, and everyone is recovering or adjusting to their new eyes," Rick agreed with a shake of his head. "I'm good but I can't be in two places at once."

"We set down somewhere we're sitting ducks for anyone cares to try us though," Mal shook his head.

"Three choices," River said quietly. "Sail back to Dyton, find the loneliest piece of desert there is, and set down. The planet side opposite of the penal colony and Slam is completely uninhabited. Can pick up another load of sand when we're ready to go off-world. Of the three options, that is the…most palatable."

"Uh huh," Mal frowned. "An' the other two?"

"M6-117," River shrugged. "Also desert, no population to stumble over us, but the possibility of mercs trailing Riddick or investigation from Oslo Shipping regarding the crash." She shrugged, "The last is Mister Universe's moon." She met Mal's eyes as Kaylee heard that and a spoon clattered against the pan in frightened reaction. "Don't think that will be well received from anyone."

"Uh, no," Mal shook his head. "That's off the table." He rubbed his chin, "Head out to M6-117 would cost us a week's worth of fuel and time." He looked at Rick and Simon, "Either of you think of any pressin' reason we oughtn't go to Dyton?"

Rick shook his head, "Safest bet I'd say. The ship is known there, but not for anything illegal, and we'd have cargo and a reason to be there."

Simon took the cortex from his sister and examined the schedule again, "You'll need to add another half day to this." He keyed in a few things and the altered chart came up.

Rick blinked as he took that in, "You think Jack ought to have one too?"

Mal frowned, "I ain't against it, not as such, but I thought her body needed to settle more."

Simon made a so-so motion with his hand, "Her eyes haven't changed in the last nine months. Her growth is healthy, and she's achieved her full height. If anything was going to happen with her eyes it would have already." He half smiled, "I didn't like to say anything because I know that was one of the things she really wanted, and you'd put the kibosh on it for her behavior."

Mal nodded, "All right." He took a deep breath, "I can't deny it'd be handy for this crew to be able to work in the dark without problems." He glanced at Kaylee who was just about done preparing the meal, "Let's get all this put away, talk about it after dinner tonight."

"So the sum of it is, if you want eyes to see in the dark, no reason you can't have 'em," Mal finished. "Means spendin' time out in the desert where nobody'll be thinkin' to look for us but ain't like we aren't used to the desert by this time."

"I'm in," Carolyn said immediately and Mal nodded his understanding. He'd guessed she'd be one of the first to volunteer, that time in the darkness with predators all around her… Hell he was seriously thinkin' about it just for the advantage it'd give him on night jobs.

"I'm thinkin' seriously of doin' the same," He glanced at Zoë. "You've got to admit it would've come in handy durin' the war. Scoutin' at night and not needing hand lights or lanterns? Being able to walk in full dark like it's plain as day?"

"That's true," Zoë nodded. "Would we be in a position that we can take care of Emma though?"

Simon spoke up then, "River has volunteered to be the last, so that we have another pilot if Rick is needed in the engine room while Kaylee is recovering, assuming you'd like a shine job sweetheart," He added as an aside to his girlfriend. "Emma will be fine. Rick doesn't need another surgery, and anyone waiting for their turn will be able to help out."

"You said you could do four in one day," Mal recalled. "So River and Carolyn, and I'm thinking it's a good idea for myself too."

"One more slot for the first day," Simon was filling in the schedule. "Allowing for a day and a half of recovery, more or less. On the third day I can do another three, and then River will need to do mine."

"Will be observing as much as possible," River nodded. "Take the last slot on the first day so she may observe."

"All right," Simon changed some things around. "Anyone else?"

Kaylee nodded, "I ain't forgot gettin' stuck high up in the engine room when we've had to go dark. Couldn't get back down."

Mal tilted his head, "So that's four of us. An' we'd all be recovered and ready to work again when?"

Simon consulted the chart, "If there are no complications, you'll be up around the morning of day three, give or take a bit depending on how well you recover." He looked at the rest of the crew, "At which time I can do the surgeries on the rest of you if you like."

Mal regarded Jayne, Jack and Zoë, noting that Jack was biting her lip and looking quietly miserable. As far as she knew, Jack was still banned from getting her shine job due to her poor behavior. "Jayne, you interested or is it something you'd rather not do?"

His gunhand (as opposed to the gunhand/pilots also on his crew) nodded slowly looking at Rick, "Night vision good enough to track game, find a trail, that sorta thing?"

Rick smirked, "I can see in the pitch black what most folks miss during the midday sun. If you could track it in daylight, you can do it with the kinda night vision I got."

That decided Jayne, "Yeah, I'm up for it."

So that left Zoë, Jack and the Doc. Mal looked at his First Mate and got a nod of confirmation, "I'm in. Anything that gives us an edge is a good thing so far as I'm concerned."

Mal nodded, "All right Doc." He half smiled. "I know you're the last surgery of the day, so you fit Jack in there whenever is a good time."

Jack's surprised squeak of joy might have been a yell, but she clamped her hands over her mouth to spare their ears. "Really? A shine job? You're not just messin' with me Mal?"

"No point in the rest of us havin' one an' leavin' you vulnerable," He shrugged as if it were no big deal. "Simon tells me that your eyes are settled enough that the surgery'll be safe for you. No chance of anything detaching or whatnot further down the line."

Jack wasn't like Kaylee, who when given good news nearly bounced with happiness. But her smile could have rivaled Kaylee's sunniest grin for the pure happiness on her face. "Thank you! This is such dà biànhuà!"

Mal chuckled, "River, how confident are you that you can pull of Simon's surgery after the rest are done?"

"The infirmary is the most appropriate venue even if she dislikes the cold white and steel," River murmured. "Will need help. Not for the surgery, but to maintain equilibrium."

"Technically speaking it's not a difficult operation really," Simon elaborated for her. "With River observing three surgeries, and studying the techniques while she recovers, then observes three more, by the time it's my turn she'll be an expert with a shine job and lenses if nothing else."

"Maybe we do something to warm the infirmary up," Zoë suggested. "No reason we can't cover the white and as much steel as we can with something else, so long as we keep the surgical field sterile right?"

"Betcha we could find some sheets cheap," Jack piped up. "Wash 'em real good, could hang 'em like curtains?"

River beamed at the girl, "The observation windows are part of what causes discomfort. Curtains or blinds to make them feel more homey will compensate greatly for the environment."

Jack blinked, apparently understanding that she'd said a good thing but not exactly why and Simon chuckled kindly, translating into Captain Dummy talk. "It's a good idea, makes the room look less like an infirmary on a hospital ship."

"We don't even hafta hang 'em inside," Jayne pointed out. "Get some magnets, attach 'em to the steel over the windows on the outer walls? That way if they get dusty, ain't a problem."

"Kaylee you done a pretty job of paintin' the galley with these vines and flowers," Mal gestured to the walls around them. "Might be you could do somethin' similar in the infirmary? Cheer it up some? We seal the paint well enough, won't be any more of a problem than the white that's in there."

"I can do that, got some real pretty green an' pink an' purple," Kaylee nodded. "River you're good at drawin', we could do flowers an' stuff? Maybe that'll help? You makin' some of the changes?"

River smiled, "Will be happy to try, perhaps gradual acclimation on the way to Dyton."

"Might come in handy in emergencies too," Rick commented. "If you're not so uncomfortable in the med bay."

Mal nodded, "We'll take it one day at a time." This would be interesting, everyone on the crew able to function as well in the dark as during the light. Opened up all sorts of possibilities.

Author's Note: This is something I think would be very helpful for Mal and the crew, especially if it means they can sneak around and not need hand lights or lanterns.

Chinese Translations:

mèi mei (little sister)

dà biànhuà (Big change