39) When The Morning Light Explodes

Mal glanced over at Simon who had been toying with his food more than eating it, despite it being one of the meals his nǚ péngyǒu (a description that made Mal flinch inwardly when he considered the ramifications i.e. Kaylee sexing Simon) had prepared. Kaylee was looking a bit unhappy and annoyed, which meant her smile wasn't as bright and cheery as usual.

Being on the opposite end of the table as the Doctor meant Mal couldn't give Simon a nudge (or kick) to make him look up at said girlfriend's unhappy face.

Rick though, he was kitty corner to the Doc and with that unerring instinct he had for potential conflict (really anyone would think he was the Reader instead of River) did something under the table that made Simon startle and wince, "What—"

"Eat your food instead of poking at it. It's damn good and if you don't want it, I know Jack and I'll both be happy to take it off your hands," Rick growled at him.

"And while you're at it, you might could enlighten all of us as to what's got you so distracted," Zoë commented.

Simon's face couldn't have been more startled, though the secondary reaction was more than satisfactory, "You will not take my plate. This is delicious." He put his arm on the table around his dinner a bit protectively before he looked at his nǚ péngyǒu sitting beside him. "I'm sorry that I've been too preoccupied to say so or do justice to the meal bǎo bǎo. It's wonderful." He kissed her cheek in a way that was a bit too affectionate to be strictly polite and Kaylee's smile brightened properly.

"Aw, that's okay sweetie," Kaylee beamed at him. "But what's got you so addlepated anyway?"

"When we pulled the hospital job on Ariel Carolyn and Mal got the lenses we need to give Rick his day vision back," Simon smiled. "I've been studying the procedure and making sure I have a thorough understanding of the complications that could develop. I wanted to be sure I knew all the variables before I got your hopes up." He glanced at Rick, "But I think we could do the procedure tomorrow, presuming nothing interferes."

"How long'd it take," Rick asked with a frown.

"And how long would he be laid up after," Zoë inquired.

Mal was interested in the answer to those questions too and now Simon was the center of attention while he tried to chew and swallow the dinner he'd been mostly ignoring. "The surgery," He began after he swallowed his food. "Would take five hours. A good portion of that will be making sure your eyes are in perfect shape to accept the lenses. They go between the portion that gives your eyes their shine and the rest of your eye." He shook his head, "Depending on how skilled the practitioner was that gave you the eye shine the process could be done as quickly as an hour or two. But if I need to actually correct the eye shine before I implant the lenses, it'll take every bit of five hours and possibly more."

"So we need to have a good block of uninterrupted time," Carolyn murmured and glanced at Mal. "Maybe while you and I are on back to back shifts on the bridge?"

"That's twelve hours," Mal nodded. "What's the recovery period generally speaking?"

"Rick would need a full day of resting his eyes after surgery," Simon replied firmly. Mal knew that tone. Simon's 'I'm a surgeon and a brilliant one at that and if you argue with me, I'm only going to keep giving you the facts until you give in or run out of arguments so just do what I tell you and save us all the time, breath and frustration' voice. "It could be as long as two, we'd remove the bandages and carefully test his vision after one." A wry smile, "Thankfully we have enough drugs that anesthesia and painkillers won't be an issue."

"Does that mean you know how to do an eyeshine too?" Jack's eagerness was palpable, and Rick frowned at her before Carolyn interceded.

"Let's hear the rest of what Simon has to say about Rick's eyes before we go asking about another procedure entirely," The blonde pilot suggested.

River nodded, "Recall in the first days on the boat, asked if he would get color back with the lenses."

Rick looked very interested in that answer and Simon swallowed his meal again before he replied, "I believe you'll have some colors back." He told them in a cautious tone, "I wouldn't expect perfection. Surgical interference with normal vision, adding the reflective tapetum and then adding the lenses…there's always some consequences."

"Yeah, wouldn't expect things to be the same as they were before the shine," Rick shook his head. "Right now, it's like black an' white an' greyish purple…"

"I believe you'll see a marked improvement there," The Doctor assured him. "You might not have the entire rainbow spectrum, but you'll see a great deal more than you do now."

"And my night vision won't be affected," Rick tilted his head.

Simon had just taken another bite and was forced to chew and swallow quickly before he answered, "Not at all. The entire point of the lenses was that those who'd gotten an eye shine be able to function equally well both day and night."

Mal nodded, "Well if nobody else's got any pressin' concerns, I'd say provided Rick agrees to it, you got yourself a surgery to do Doc."

"I'm game," Rick half smiled. "Be interesting to not grab these every time I go somewhere." He tapped the goggles he wore.

"Hang onto 'em anyway," Mal advised. "Never know when they'll come in handy."

Rick smirked, an evil curve of his lips that were he in anything other than a good mood, might've given Mal a chill, "I figure there'll be times we'll want people to say 'yeah, the fella what done it was wearin' goggles an' red shirt'. Take the goggles off, wear a coat or change my shirt and the 'suspect' is in the wind."

"It's like you read my mind," Mal chuckled.


By general consensus bridge shifts hadn't increased to accommodate Riddick's surgery. River and Kaylee gave the autopilot a good going over and pronounced it well able to function in an appropriate manner for six hours at least. So, what would have been Riddick's shift for the next couple days was now the autopilot's shift.

Carolyn had begun to find the bridge to be her favorite part of the ship. Mal had taken to joining her an hour before his shift, to talk or just sit in companionable silence. She guessed that Inara hadn't so much been the love of Mal's life as some who filled in the empty spaces and gave him something to think on that wasn't the ship, work or the war.

He wasn't doing that with her, at least Carolyn didn't think so. Mal wasn't acting the slightest bit romantic towards her, more like she was becoming a friend. Which, she'd decided (and almost convinced herself) she liked better. Getting to know someone before falling into bed with them was a good thing.

Though she wouldn't mind falling into bed with Mal. Had thought about it more than once, especially now that she and Riddick had stopped having sex. She got the impression that if she wanted Mal, she'd have to make the first move. And she wasn't quite ready for that yet. Mal wasn't someone who treated sex lightly, at least that was the impression she got.

But he was a good person to talk to, especially when it was a subject she didn't want to broach with Riddick. And Mal was very good at figuring out what was on her mind. Like now. He'd come onto the bridge, handed her a mug of tea, took a seat and smiled, "So how's Jack doing with Rick out of the passenger dorms?"

"She's not happy," Carolyn shook her head. "And now that Inara's gone, she's back to sulking her way through lessons with River."

"She don't quite see that she an' River ain't the same I think," Mal shook his head.

Carolyn sighed, "Yeah, I think that's a big part of the problem. She sees River, this tiny woman, slender and pretty and what eighteen or nineteen?" Mal nodded encouragingly and the blonde continued, "And she doesn't understand that three years or so is a huge gap."

"Funny," Mal remarked. "When ya'll first come aboard we all knew, Rick was dangerous, you were skittish…couldn't make heads nor tails of Jack she was that quiet. Zoë's the one told me, Jack would be more trouble than you and Rick put together, just by bein' what she is. Teenage girl."

Carolyn groaned and dropped her head back to stare up at the ceiling, "I remember that age, I remember not liking it much. Everything just…"

"Everything was extreme," The Captain agreed.

"I don't know what to do really," Carolyn confessed. "She's really…"

"I don't think Jack even knows what she wants really," Mal offered. "I know it ain't much comfort, but I don't see how you can be expected to help her or do anything when she don't even know what the problem is. 'Sides bein' angry down to her bones."


This would not help at all. Carolyn stopped in the hallway outside Riddick's old room. River was in there, talking with Riddick while he recovered. Just because he had bandages on his eyes didn't mean he could sleep the day away, he'd pointed out. Kaylee had fixed up a little radio cortex so he could fiddle with the dials and try to get different music.

But beyond that, man was bored to tears and there was nothing to be done for it. Carolyn had specifically asked Mal to keep Jack busy as much as he could because she didn't want the girl sneaking into Riddick's room and maybe getting her throat cut.

She'd been wrong, River wasn't talking, she was reading aloud, and Riddick was chuckling. The language was odd but Riddick seemed to enjoy it. As she neared the doorway River's voice stopped and she looked up from the book, "Carolyn." The diminutive woman smiled. "The patient is awake."

"And bored," Riddick added with a smirk.

"Attempting to entertain him," River tapped the page of the book.

"Ain't sayin' I don't appreciate it," He retorted. "Just not used to sitting still for so long."

"Speedy recovery time," She rolled her eyes at Carolyn and mouthed 'men'.

Carolyn grinned at her, "Well you're not missing much on the bridge." She leaned against the wall, "The Black, space, space, the Black, and more space. Not a planet or moon in sight."

"Well, if how I feel is anything to go by, I don't think I'm gonna be laid up for two days," Riddick sighed. "I really don't know how many more naps I can take."

"Should we leave and see if you can go for the record," Carolyn teased.

"Hell no," He scowled, slightly (but only slightly) less effective a look when his eyes were covered with bandages and gauze. "Less you need to hit the sack yourself."

"I can sit for a while," She nodded. "At least Simon let you rest in here, instead of making you stay in the infirmary."

"Small favors," Riddick agreed.

River smiled at Carolyn, "Would like to talk or she could continue reading."

"Reading sounds nice," Carolyn admitted. "Dunno how much of a conversationalist I'll be."


She was less of one than she thought, blinking out of sleep to find herself lying prone in Riddick's bed, minus her shoes, and covered with a quilt. Riddick had taken a seat on the end of the bed, angling himself like the bed was sort of a couch, still listening to River.

Riddick looked over at her and chuckled, "You were more tired than you thought." He must have heard her shifting as she woke up since she knew he couldn't see a thing at the moment.

"Yeah, must've been," Carolyn pushed her hair out of her eyes and sat up. "Time's it?"

"Four hours before the autopilot takes over for Mal," River smiled at her. It wasn't exactly what she'd asked but it would do.

"You oughta be getting some sleep too," Riddick told her.

"Guarding his virtue," River murmured with a smile and pointed to where Carolyn's shoes were resting in the corner, correctly guessing what she'd been looking for.

"You still need sleep," Carolyn agreed.

"And I can survive another eight hours until the bandages come off," Riddick added.

River nodded, her reluctance obvious, "She will see him in eight hours then."

Carolyn chuckled as River picked up her book and left the room as gracefully as she did everything else. "You feel like talkin' or you figure to get some rest while you can?"

"I've been awake for a while. If I at least look like I'm resting Simon won't fuss at me," Riddick chuckled. "I'll be fine Carolyn."

"Hmm… good night," She pushed her feet into her shoes and left the room, sliding the door shut behind her.


When Simon removed the bandages, in a cautiously dim room Carolyn watched as Riddick blinked, saw the tell-tale silver gleam of his eyes and a slow smile curve his lips. "Think it worked Doc, no pain when I open 'em."

"We'll see when we bring the lights up more," Simon glanced at him and carefully began to increase the brightness in slow increments, allowing Riddick to get used to what he was seeing. It was a slow process, with Simon stopping each time to examine Riddick's eyes.

But in the end Riddick was standing in the glaringly bright infirmary with a wide grin on his face. "Pretty sure they work."

"No pain," Simon was still in doctor mode. "No delay in your eyes adjusting?"

"Nope," Riddick shook his head. "Not even when you went from full dark to bright real quick."

"Then yes, I do believe the procedure was a success," Simon finally smiled.

"Does this mean I can get an eye shine now," Jack's excited voice was a little loud and echoed in the mostly glass room.

Carolyn winced and noticed that Riddick did the same. Even Simon seemed slightly disturbed, "It may be a little while." He cautioned. "I'll need to study up on the procedure. I don't know that it would be completely safe for you Jack. Your body is still changing, adjusting, and major surgeries are discouraged unless they can't be avoided."

"You mean I gotta wait like two or three more years," Now the girl's voice was loud with disappointment.

"Your eyes are still changing," Simon explained. "Once you're eighteen I think your system will have settled. I'll research the procedure and see if there are any adverse effects when performed on someone under eighteen." He promised, "If it can be done safely Jack, I'll do it just as soon as Mal says we've got the down time. Recovery from a shine job is longer than a lens implantation."

"Right," Jack nodded.

"Mal may have somethin' to say about this too Jack," Riddick cautioned her. "He's the Captain and what he says goes as far as who's first in line for a shine job and the lenses after."

Carolyn nodded thoughtfully, "Is it possible to do both procedures at the same time?" She looked at Simon curiously.

"That's another thing I need to familiarize myself with," Simon spread his hands. "These are complex surgeries."

"Hey, I appreciate it Doc," Riddick told him seriously. "It'll be nice to not worry about getting accidentally blinded if someone turns the lights up."

"It's not like any of us are suffering if we can't see in the dark," Carolyn added. She gave Jack a look and the girl nodded.

"Right."

Oh yeah, this was just wonderful. Now Jack was aggravated about this on top of River teaching her and Riddick taking a new bunk.


Author's Note: I always thought there had to be a way to reverse an eye shine or update it so that protective eye gear wasn't needed. And since we're not doing Furyans in this story and eye shines are surgical procedures it seemed logical that while knocking over a hospital the crew should steal the supplies to fix Riddick's eyes. Let's face it, practically speaking, it's not realistic to expect people to never go in the sun after they've had their eyes shined, especially if they're guards of some sort.

Chinese Translations:

nǚ péngyǒu (girlfriend)

bǎo bǎo (darling / baby)