The Return – Part 8

Serenity was in an underground hanger just below the surface of the moon, where some of the survivors of Earth’s once teeming masses remained. From all contact so far, Serenity’s crew had learned that these people were low on supplies and in desperate need of their ship, so desperate that they had captured Mal, Jayne, Simon and Kaylee in a bid to gain control of Serenity. Prepared for a confrontation with Commander Jackson in order to negotiate for the release of her crewmates, Zoe was stunned and overjoyed to find Mal at Serenity’s cargo bay door. Now he was talking about making a deal with these people.

“What kind of deal, sir?” Zoe asked the question on all their minds.

“Not the best I ever made but it will do for now,” Mal began. “I suspect they are listening to every word we’re saying so best keep any plans you all have to yourselves for now and listen for a spell.”

No one said a word so Mal took it they understood what he said. “Good. These people are running out of food and what they grow here won’t last them forever and it’s just a basic fair of fruits and vegetables and some grains I’m guessing. This Jackson fellow sees himself as the new leader of humanity so wants to check on Earth for survivors and see if a return to Earth and a new beginning are possible. Barring that, they want to come with us to our neck of the verse.”

“So it’s possible to send us home? He wasn’t lying about that?” Zoe asked.

“Don’t know and can’t tell. They got a scientist here who says he created this wormhole and can do it again. All I got is his word for that.”

“And the fact that we are here,” Book added.

“Then there’s that,” Mal said, guessing the Shepherd was no longer believing his God brought them here and it wasn’t a point he felt the need to argue about, not now anyways.

“So here’s the deal. Jackson already told you he wants some of his people and some of our people to take Serenity to Earth. In no way does he get control of Serenity. He was a bit not too pleased with that part till I reminded him that we really would like to go home and his bunch are the only ones that can help us and we really don’t have anywhere to run to. To keep the faith some of us have to remain here. I need Wash and Kaylee on board and Simon too for any medical emergencies. He wanted you to be in charge Zoe with his head of security, some Chinese fellow, but I nixed that plan. I’m going or the boat ain’t moving. We pull a piece out of the main engine and he’d never get the boat off this rock again. I know just the piece, too.”

“And the rest of us?” Inara asked.

“We stay here on the base,” River said and Mal nodded.

“With Jayne. Seems he made one too many threats against Jackson’s life to trust him outside of a lockup. I did too for that matter. That’s the deal.”

“That’s the deal?” Wash said with a grin. The others were also smiling.

“Why you all grinning for? It ain’t that good a deal.”

“Sorry, sir, it’s just, that’s exactly what I was hoping to negotiate with Jackson.”

“Well, great minds think alike,” Mal said. “Two things I also negotiated. His folks aren’t allowed any weapons on board and I see that ours are stowed away already so let’s make sure they stay that way. We provide any security for an Earth excursion if necessary. In exchange, I promised to let his chief scientist examine Serenity.”

“Don’t like the sound of that,’ said Wash. “Could be he learns enough to fly it without me…ah, us.”

“Not his intention. Wants to see if it’s possible for Serenity to do the wormhole trip again.”

“Why wouldn’t it?” Book asked in surprise. “We’ve done it once.”

“See, that’s the part I don’t get yet,” Mal said. “And they weren’t too forthcoming.”

“I just got a bad notion, sir. What’s to stop them from keeping us in this hanger and pulling the atmo and letting us rot here?”

“Oh, not to worry. I mentioned that and said if he pulled a stunt like that I’d fly one of the shuttles though his airlock or hanger control station and vent the whole base to the vacuum in here. Sides, take a month or more to starve us out and he doesn’t seem like a man willing to wait that long. Any more questions?”

No one said anything. “Okay. You all got ten minutes to pack things you want for your stay. Could be one day, could be many. Take a change of clothes, toiletries, something to read. Don’t take any food. You’ll be on a sort of diet here but we need to keep what supplies we have on board ship. Never know what we’ll find on Earth. Book, could you get some things for Jayne, too?”

“Of course, Mal.”

“We aren’t going to be…locked up, are we?” Inara asked a bit worried. She didn’t want to be a hostage and had been hoping for some kind of apology from Mal for her and the others since they were becoming hostages but none was forthcoming. It was an order, not to be negotiated.

“No, except Jayne. I said his people would have the run of my ship, to some limitations, and that you should have the same here. He agreed but some areas are off limits. When you’re all ready Wash and I’ll go meet them and figure out where they want us to take the boat once we reach Earth. They said they want to load some supplies on board. Zoe, you take care of that.”

“Yes, sir. Anything else we should know?” Zoe asked and Mal knew she was driving at something. River was staring at him and Mal felt more than a bit uncomfortable.

“The truth,” River said to Mal.

“What you on about little sister?”

“Kaylee said they seemed to know an awful lot about us, and Jackson knew my name, knew the name of the ship, mentioned a chat he had with you,” Zoe said.

Mal knew he had to tell them and knew River had already probed his mind. They get out of this he was gonna have to set up some rules for little sister and who and what she was allowed to read. Course, he had no real control over that anyways. “Well, truth is, the real truth, they shot Jayne and me full of something and well, we, we couldn’t stop blabbing.”

“A truth serum,” Book said in an even tone.

“The truth? From Jayne Cobb?” Wash said in surprise.

“It was kinda horrific,” Mal answered.

Inara was looking at him with wide open eyes. “You didn’t tell them I was…a Companion, did you?”

“That wasn’t the exact word used but they got the gist.”

Inara flung a dirty look at Mal. “I’d like to be there next time they question you. I got a few I’d like to know the answer to myself.”

“Funny. Jayne said same about you. He’d like to know the big mystery behind your being on this ship.”

Inara was a bit embarrassed now. “What are you talking about? There’s no mystery. I needed a place to do my business and Serenity was available. No mystery at all.”

“Right,” said Zoe. “Okay, if you two are done we need to get ready.”

“I’ll stand guard. And bring me my boots will you, Zoe? These damn slippers are too comfortable.”

That’s when they all noticed the white fuzzy slippers he was wearing and they had a good chuckle as they went off to get ready to leave.

Mal turned and locked the door again. He took Book’s rifle and stood by the door, thinking on whether it was a good deal or not. It was, in reality, the only way he could get out of that locked room and get the freedom he needed to work out a solution to this mess. Jackson would have to die if it came to it cause he wasn’t any use and was just in the way. Above all, Gregori Kovalev had to survive. Jayne was sure going to be pissed that he had to stay behind and be locked up.

Zoe came back to the cargo bay after a few minutes with his boots. She also had two small pieces of paper. After he got his boots on she handed the first piece to Mal. It said, “Do they know River can read minds?” Mal shook his head “no” and handed back the first paper and took the second. After a few moments of reading he looked at Zoe and gave her a thumbs up, and handed back the paper. It was Zoe’s plan of attack once inside the base.

*************************************************

After breakfast was brought to them Kaylee and Simon were separated again as Simon was taken to the medical section to check on his patients. Again he didn’t want to leave her and she convinced him he had to do it, to help these people. Reluctantly he left and then Kaylee was all alone again, but not for long. About an hour after Simon left the door opened and her Capt’n walked in. Kaylee leaped up and ran into his arms.

“Oh, Capt’n it’s so shiny to see you again,” she said as she tried to kept control of her emotions. Then she stood back. He was wearing his boots and had his pistol at his side.

“What’s going on, Capt’n?”

“It’s all right little Kaylee, everything’s gonna be fine. Serenity is in the hanger bay and I talked to the crew. I made us a deal and we’re getting out of here,’ Mal answered.

“Simon and Jayne, too?”

“Simon, yes. Jayne, well, he’s gonna have to stay a while. Made one too many comments in regard to harming Jackson for folks around here to trust him. Where’s the Doc, anyway? They said he was in here, too.”

“Off looking at the sick people. Doing his job.”

Mal was looking around the room for the second bed and there was none.

“Simon spent the night…in here?”

Kaylee felt a little embarrassed, almost as if her daddy was questioning her choice in boyfriends. But then she remembered that Simon had said he loved her so none of that mattered. “He sure did. We even slept in the same bed.”

“What? Kaylee, they got cameras and such in these rooms.”

“Really? Well, I guess someone got themselves a good show last night. Just couldn’t keep our hands off each other. And other parts, too.”

Mal stood back and looked at her and could tell she was pulling his leg. “Good one, little Kaylee, good one.”

“Would it have been so bad if we had done that?”

“Ain’t a man to tell you who you can and can’t sleep with but you know how I feel about ship board romances, despite the fact of Zoe and Wash being married.”

“We ain’t aboard ship here. And Capt’n…Simon and I…we love each other.”

That threw Mal for a loop. On top of everything else he had to deal with he now had a love sick doctor and mechanic on his hands. “He said that?”

“Yup. And I said it back.”

“Well, I’ll be. Don’t know what to say.”

“Wish us happiness.”

He smiled at her. “Course I wish you happiness, little Kaylee. Just hope you and Doc know what you’re getting into that’s all. Alliance is still after him and River.”

“I know. My choice.”

“Good enough. Now come on.”

“But what happened? What’s this deal you made?”

“Tell you the details on the way.”

*********************************************************************** Simon and Doris the head nurse went from bed to bed, checking the scanners and making sure all five patients were doing well. Aside from repairing Captain Papusha’s damage left lung, Simon had to fuse another patient’s broken right forearm, and a third one had to have some pieces of metal removed from her intestines. Simon kept a careful watch on her because infection was a real danger, despite Doris’ praise for the anti-biotics they had. Simon had gotten a chance to examine their medical supplies and the cupboard was almost bare, it being two years since they had any re-supply. As he finished looking over the scans and computer chart readings for the last patient, someone called his name.

“Doctor Tam?” It was a guard but he wasn’t armed. Simon had noticed how there were distinct differences in the attitudes of these medical people and the few guards he had encountered and it was very likely that all the guards were military. They were all very formal, using clipped phrases, and all had the short hair and erect posture of soldiers.

“Yes?”

“You are needed in the hanger bay, sir.”

After a short walk to the main corridor and then another short walk they arrived at a door marked “Hanger Bay Control Center”. The guard opened the door from a keypad on the side, punching in a code and then the door slid open and Simon entered, shocked to see Mal, Kaylee, and Wash standing around a table with Jackson and Kovalev. At the sides were four armed guards. What was more shocking was that Mal was armed and no one was trying to take his gun away from him.

“Come in, Doctor Tam,” Jackson said politely. Kaylee came to his side and took his hand.

“It’s okay. Capt’n and the Commander reached an accord.”

“Of sorts,” Mal said. “Need you for the planning part, Doc.”

But Simon wasn’t listening to any of them. He was staring past them at a station where many controls were and a young woman sat and the big window that was just above her station. There in the hanger bay was Serenity. Zoe was standing on the ramp, also armed, as several of the Alliance people were loading large white plastic looking boxes on the ship. Off to one side were a few of the guards who were armed but no one was pointing any weapons and everyone seemed to be getting along fine.

“Doc?” Mal repeated.

“Where’s River?” he said first, suspicious about what was happening.

“Still on Serenity,’ Kaylee said and knew he wasn’t going to like what came next. Simon was staring at Mal.

“What kind of ‘accord’ did you make?”

As Mal explained Kaylee could see Simon wasn’t liking his plan one bit and he interrupted him when he got to the part where River had to stay on the base.

“Why does River have to stay here?”

Kaylee squeezed his hand. “It’s gonna be fine, Simon. Nothing to worry about, right?”

This last comment she directed toward Jackson. “No problems. She won’t be locked up and will have run of the base. Within limits of course.”

Mal was getting a bit angry. “Doc, we got us a deal and it’s the best were gonna get without blood being spilled. I know you don’t want that to happen unless you got a need to get in some practice at taking bullets outta folks.”

“Some plan, Mal. You just traded some hostages for more hostages.”

“You will have some of our people on Serenity when you go to Earth, da?” Gregori said. “Including Tanya, my daughter. Her husband you are treating now and we are grateful for your help, Doctor.”

“I need you on the ship and River stays here,” Mal said in his “this is an order” tone, not liking this attitude of Simon’s when they were in such a delicate situation. And it wasn’t like he could tell him how crucial it was to have River on this base for their plans to work.

Wash had stood back and said nothing this whole time but now felt he should ease Simon’s worries a bit. “Zoe, Book, and Inara are also staying. I don’t like it either, but, we have few choices.”

“It is apparent that we need each other,” Jackson said. “But there is also much mistrust, for which I am mostly to blame. Captain Reynolds and I have reached an agreement which I expect him and his crew to honor. No harm will come to your crewmates, Doctor Tam, especially not your sister.”

Simon just sighed and looked at Kaylee. She smiled at him “I’m going to be on Serenity with you, Wash and the Capt’n.”

“And what about Jayne?”

Jackson answered this one. “Mr. Cobb will continue to enjoy our hospitality for the time being.”

“He means Jayne ain’t allowed out of his cage just yet,” Mal said.

“I can’t imagine why,” Simon added sarcastically. “Seems I don’t have much choice. Where are we going?”

“That’s what we have to decide now,” Wash said. “We need your medical opinion.”

Simon looked at Gregori. “Do you have any data on the radiation?”

“No, our scanners cannot detect it at such a range. I want to see what data your ship has from its recent trip.”

“We’ll get to that soon,” Mal said and Simon sensed Mal didn’t want this scientist examining anything on Serenity.

“The northern hemisphere is out of the question,” Simon said. “From what we saw and analyzed, the radiation is still too deadly.”

“We have excellent anti-radiation protective suits,” Gregori stated in his heavily accented English.

“Serenity is not equipped for decontamination of those suits when you come back on board,” Simon said. “No, somewhere in the south would be better. Do you have a map?”

Gregori had his laptop on the table and hit buttons and turned it to Simon. Gregori pointed first to South America, then South Africa, and then southern Australia. “Any of these would do.”

“Some nuclear weapons also went off at the major cities in the south so it would be too hot near them. Wait. What’s this place here?” Simon asked, pointing south of Sydney, Australia.

“It’s called Melbourne,” Jackson answered. “It wasn’t hit by any weapons. I spent a vacation there once. Lovely city. Perhaps it still is.”

Wash looked the map. “Both Sydney and this city, Canberra, were hit by nuclear detonations, I think, from what I remember from our fly over.”

“What information do you have on weather patterns, winds, ocean currents for this area?” Simon directed toward Gregori.

Again Gregori hit keys and streams of data came forth. They examined the data and argued back and forth over whether Melbourne would be free from radiation poisoning.

“Why do we have to land near a city?” Kaylee asked. “We can just as easily land in the open area far away. Bet there’s less radiation there.”

Jackson answered this one. “The cities would have storage areas and food warehouses and so on. If the survivors have not already taken everything, that is. But I suspect that there are such few survivors that we should be able to find the supplies we need and may even be able to return to live in one of these cities.”

Gregori was staring at him but said nothing and once again Mal got the feeling the two men disagreed on their future plans. Mal didn’t give a good gorramn what they did long as they could send Serenity home again.

“Guess we really won’t know till we get there,” said Wash.

“Suppose that’s the best idea,” Mal said. “We make for Melbourne, enter atmo, do a slow fly by and recon, than land and have a look about. Let's get to work.”

************************************************* The four spacesuits Serenity’s crew had worn were now back on board the ship in the storage locker along with five more suits from the moon base. They were silver and white and very advanced compared to Serenity’s suits. The boxes that had been loaded on Serenity were now in the cargo bay. As they came aboard Book had the Alliance people open each one and Book examined them for weapons but found none. Inside were radiation suits and many scientific instruments but no weapons. One box contained fresh apples, oranges, kiwis, and melons and also some dried ones. Another contained potatoes, carrots, lettuce, and tomatoes and a third had some barley, beans and hard biscuits. Book guessed that they had some kind of farming going on under the moon but again it didn’t seem like very much of a diet. There were no milk products and no meat, fish, or eggs so protein was sorely lacking. It wasn’t an unhealthy diet and in fact was probably a lot healthier than what Serenity’s crew ate, but Book didn’t know how much each person got per day and how much they had in storage and what the cycles for growing and harvesting were. From the looks of the people they weren’t starving but then no one was overweight. Perhaps they also took mineral and vitamin supplements but such items wouldn’t have lasted long here without any re-supply from Earth.

On the bridge Wash was dealing with Gregori Kovalev and his daughter. Again and again he asked Wash to explain what happened when the wormhole appeared. How long did it last? What happened when you tried to avoid it? How long was the journey? Gregori kept shaking his head and was talking in speed Russian to his daughter and they seemed to be arguing.

“But it’s impossible, papa!” she said at one point in English. “Such things are theories. It’s nonsense.”

“What’s going on?” Wash asked.

“Don’t know, don’t know,” Gregori mumbled. “Something doesn’t make sense. The data, in your computer, da? Please let me down load to mine.” He indicated the laptop he held in his hands. “I must carefully check everything”

“Ah, sure, if you can. I mean this is a transport so we don’t have much computer memory capacity for scientific stuff. Use computers mostly for nav sats and Cortex operations.”

“Not a problem. I just need wireless interface…ah, it’s okay. Downloading now.”

“Cortex?” Tanya asked curiously and Wash explained what the Cortex was which greatly intrigued her by the looks of it. She was quite the beauty Wash thought and than wished he hadn’t had that thought cause Zoe would surely make his life hell if she even had an inkling he was looking at another woman.

“Did Mal say this was okay?” Wash asked Gregori, a bit worried. “I mean, everything about Serenity is in here.”

“Yes, I did,” said Mal as he stepped on the bridge. “But only you fly the boat, Wash.”

“Captain,” Tanya began. “We are scientists, not power hungry madmen. We do not wish to take over your ‘boat’. We must analyze the wormhole data in order to send you back to your homes. Also, the radiation data you gathered from Earth is critical to study to see if it is lessening or staying at the same intensity.”

“Oh, I got it, not to worry,” Mal said. “Just making sure you folks know that I own the ship and my crew runs it.”

“You’ve made that quite clear, Captain.” Tanya said.

“Okay. I’m finished,’ said Gregori. “Let’s go to engine room next.” Mal told Wash to get the boat ready for take off and then escorted the two scientists to the engine room where he left them in Kaylee’s hands.

Kaylee stood like a sentinel at her engines, making sure Gregori or Tanya didn’t touched anything without her say so.

“It could work, could work,” Kovalev said as he scratched his head while walking around looking at the engine. “This is a radon core accelerator engine, da? It is based on five hundred year old design from Earth.”

“Yeah, she ain’t that old but still she’s a bit out-a-date,” Kaylee said. “They got shinier ones on the newest ships.”

“Shiny or dirty is not important as long as it runs,” Tanya said.

“Ah, no, what I meant… ‘shiny’ is how we say…’great’, ‘wonderful’, ‘nice’, and so on. It’s kind of slang, I guess.”

“Oh. That’s ‘shiny’,” said Tanya and she and Kaylee had a little laugh.

“Laughing is for when all is well,” Gregori said a little crossly. “Now is time for examining the engine.”

“Papa, it will work. We will make it work and Kaylee will help us.”

“I don’t understand. Make what work?”

Gregori and Tanya looked at each other and then he nodded. “Tell her. We will need her to help us so she must know. During the trip you can make a plan.”

Tanya began to explain. “Kaylee, our wormhole needs the power of a nuclear based engine to function. You see, it’s the ship and its engine that make the wormhole.”

Kaylee was just stunned for a moment but then was intensely curious about all this. “How?”

“Ah, it’s so difficult to explain. It took papa and twenty other men thirty years to perfect the equipment and the theories.”

“So many mistakes,” Gregori said in disgust. “Now I am the only one left.”

“But our ship came through your wormhole and we don’t have any special equipment.”

“No. But our ship did,” Tanya said. “We were attempting to fly to your quadrant. The wormhole opens on both ends at the same time.”

Gregori answered. “While we were studying it and examining the data…”

His voice trailed off and he just shook his head, so Tanya took up the story. “We had an accident. The engine couldn’t take the strain and…exploded. We crashed on the moon.”

“We didn’t know how long the wormhole lasted. We lost touch with it when we crashed. And the time fluctuations can cause discrepancies. Our side may have lasted several minutes while your side could have lasted several…years. But Wash said it was very brief also.”

“What he saw of it anyway. And now you want to do the same to Serenity? I don’t know about that.” Kaylee was beginning to feel very protective of her engine and didn’t want anyone in here mucking about with it.

“That ship had been damaged previously. It was used to attack our base during the war.”

“I saw the bodies in the surface base,’ Kaylee said quietly.

“Yes, there was a fight," Tanya began. "The ship was captured yet was damaged. We couldn’t move it to the hanger so it was repaired on the surface, very difficult in such conditions. Jackson and the engineers took almost two years to repair it. We had to hand make many of the parts. My father and Jackson argued endlessly about using the ship to go to Earth or go to the stars. The ship is similar to yours. We need fuel for take offs and landings to deal with gravity and a nuclear based engine for internal power and long range voyages. There was very little fuel left in the ship, enough for a single journey to Earth or for a few takeoffs and landings from the moon. Jackson reluctantly agreed to the test. If it worked, if we could get through and then come back, then the ship would land and we would prepare to leave. We knew there was one world in your quadrant that could support life, one world the travelers went to so long ago.”

“Londinium we call it,” Kaylee said. “It’s the original point of settlement and where the Alliance government is.”

“Londinium,” Gregori said with almost longing. ‘Captain Reynolds told me this. Is it beautiful?”

“Don’t know. Ain’t never been there.”

They were surprised. “But, it’s your main world, the center of power and I’m sure everything else,” Tanya said.

Kaylee was a little bit unsure how to explain it so just told the truth as always. “I’m guessing Capt’n told you we have two main areas, the Core and the rim. Folks on this ship are from both parts. I’m from the rim, moon called Taos. Never had a chance to go to Londinium. Was on a Core planet once, called Ariel.”

“But you were near Londinium when you encountered the wormhole, da?”

“Ah, no. We were far away. Few days from place called Greenleaf. That’s about two weeks or more from Londinium.”

“Boshe moy,” Gregori mumbled and shook his head. “The calculations were wrong.”

“But you will fix them Papa. Now you have Serenity’s data and navigation fixes of the stars in that region, you can fix it.”

“Da. It will be so,’ he said and seemed to regain confidence from his daughter.

Then Mal’s voice came through the comms. “Kaylee, time to get ready to leave. Taking off in ten minutes.”

********************************************************************* Five members of the Alliance stood in the cargo bay. Among them were Tanya Kovalev and the Chinese man who had captured Kaylee. He was Lieutenant Chin, Jackson’s head of security and Mal had reservations about taking him on board but it was part of his deal with Jackson. The others were two men and a second woman, the two men specialists in radiation detection or some other scientific field Mal couldn’t fathom. The two men were elderly, in their fifties or sixties. The woman was the blond Jayne had spotted the first day and she was an expert in environmental conditions on Earth and meteorology. Kaylee got one looked at Lt. Chin and took Mal aside and told him that was the one who captured her and Mal made a note to give Chin a good smack when all this was done.

In the hanger at the bottom of the ramp Book, Zoe, River and Inara stood, all with a few personal items in bags or in their hands. Many armed men were nearby and Mal was getting anxious to get away. He stood at the top, well armed, as Simon and Wash said goodbye.

“Be careful,” River said to Simon.

“I should be worried more about you. Now, Zoe has your medication and the instructions on how much and when to give it to you.”

“I’ll be fine. Least you are with Kaylee.”

“Ah, sorry?”

“Everyone knows, Simon. We’re not stupid.”

“Right. Guess no point hiding it.”

“Hiding what?” said Kaylee as she came down the ramp and up behind him and put her arms around his waist. “You mean us?”

She said it real loud and Simon almost winced and turned a bit red as everyone looked at him with Kaylee holding onto him. He just smiled. “Okay, guess no secrets around here.”

“Not many,” said Book. “But some secrets are best kept that way. Doctor, we’ll be keeping an eye on your sister so don’t worry none.”

Simon nodded, said thanks and gave River a hug and then he shook hands with the others and went up the ramp and took one of Mal’s guns. Kaylee gave them all a hug, also. Inara held her tight.

“Be good, mei mei. And don’t wear out the Doctor.”

Kaylee just smiled. “Been so long for both of us take a while to wear us out. See you in a few days” Then she could see that Inara wasn’t so shiny with all that was happening. “It’ll be fine, you’ll see. When has Capt’n not come up with a good plan?”

“Too often,” Inara answered without a trace of sarcasm.

“Yeah. But it all works out in the end,” Kaylee said as she squeezed Inara’s hand one last time. Then she went up the ramp and stood next to Simon and Mal.

Zoe gave Wash a kiss and told him to keep his eyes on his job and not the women on board and he acted like he didn’t understand what she was talking about but she just gave him one of those looks and he quickly agreed.

Mal took Zoe’s weapons and then stood with them for a moment. “Hate leaving you all like this and you know I wouldn’t if I had another way.”

“Is this an apology?” Inara said.

“Closest you’ll get to one. Going to be least two days till we’re back so keep your heads and everything’ll turn out all right. Zoe, you know what to do.”

“Yes, sir. Not a worry.”

Zoe nodded to the others and then the four turned and went off into the base, all of them looking back one last time before entering the base, Inara with what Mal thought was a look directed right through his heart.

Jackson and Gregori came out and approached Mal.

“Captain, I trust we don’t need to make any threats. You’re a businessman and a deal has been made. Keep your end of it and I’ll keep mine.”

“Fair enough,” said Mal and Jackson put out his hand to shake but Mal just smirked and refused it. “You ain’t made amends yet, Commander.”

“Understood. You know, we are more alike than you want to admit, Captain. We both are responsible for others lives.”

“Goes with the job,” Mal said as he turned to the scientist. “Can you send us home?”

“I will work out the calculations while you are gone. It will take few days to prepare everything.”

“Guess I’ll take your word for that,” said Mal. “Now if you excuse me gentlemen, got a ship that needs its captain. We’ll keep in touch.”

With that he turned and entered Serenity and the ramp came up.

************************************************ Serenity cleared the moon’s gravity and was on course after a short while. Mal had Kaylee and Wash set power for half speed and at that rate they would be close to the Earth in about two hours. While Wash manned the bridge Mal assembled everyone else in the dining area after the food the Alliance people had brought on board was brought up from the cargo bay. Kaylee made tea and coffee for everyone and the Alliance people thought they were in heaven, their supplies of tea and coffee running out many months ago and Jackson had refused to let them grow any since all space was needed for growing food.

“Let’s get a few things straight,” Mal began. “This here is a joint expedition but I’m in charge. I say do something you do it, no questions asked since this is my ship you all are passengers far as I’m concerned.”

“I was told I would share command, Captain Reynolds,” Chin stated firmly.

“Well, you were told wrong. And if you don’t like it you can go back to the moon right now.”

After a brief moment of stunned surprise one of the scientists laughed and then every one except Chin had a grin on. “Don’t worry, Lieutenant,” Mal said. “I ain’t gonna throw you out the airlock. But I’m in charge and that’s that. I got seven years experience running this ship in all kinds of situations and I got another seven years in the military before that. So unless anyone here has spent more time in space and in charge of something, then that’s the end of that.”

No one said a word so Mal went on to the next topic. “Kaylee’s in charge of the engines and you all stay away from them less she gives the OK. Same goes for the bridge. No one is allowed on the bridge without mine or Wash’s permission and don’t touch anything up there without our say so. Same with the infirmary. That’s Doctor Tam’s area and if you all are feeling poorly you see him. You have free run of the cargo bay, passenger rooms and lounge, the dining area and kitchen here. Kaylee will do the cooking and I have to say she does a mighty fine job of it, too.”

“Thanks, Capt’n. I think tonight some chicken stew might be in order. Sound good?”

“Real chicken?” asked one of the elderly scientists as he licked his lips.

“Yup,” said Kaylee. “The real thing.”

“Do you have any…alien food animals?” asked the other scientist.

Tanya Kovalev added her own question to this one. “No aliens were ever found, were there?”

“No,” Simon answered. “Not one alien life form was found with the exception of some trees and plants. It was later determined that Londinium was a fairly new planet and sophisticated life forms hadn’t had a chance to evolve yet. All farm animals are from Earth. Their DNA was encoded and used to form clones when the traveler’s arrived at Londinium. The first herds of cows were all clones of the many DNA scripts taken of cows. Same for the pigs and the rest. I guess most of the plants were cultivated on the farming ships during the voyage and transplanted on arrival.”

“You know so much of this story,” the blond lady asked. “How?”

“They wrote their history,” Simon replied. “I can lend you my book.”

“We would like that very much,” Tanya said.

Chin spoke up next. “Now, Captain, we are tired since our day was ending when we left. I think we should rest for a few hours.”

“Simon can show you to the passenger rooms,” Mal said.

“We’ll eat before landing,” Kaylee said as they left the dining room with Simon.

After they were gone Kaylee told Mal what had happened with Tanya and her father in the engine room.

“Knew something was fishy about this wormhole thing. They already screwed up their ship and now they want to do the same to Serenity? What do you think?”

“Won’t know till I know what needs to be done,” Kaylee replied.

“You and Tanya figure it out. Last thing we need is two busted spaceships and no way to fix them.”

**************************************************

After entering the moon base and watching Serenity leave, Jackson addressed Zoe and the others. As Jackson talked River was staring at him and Gregori and Zoe knew she was trying to get inside their heads.

“You will be shown your room shortly," Jackson said in his clipped miltary way of speech. The door will not be locked but if you wish to move about the base you must have an escort.”

“And we want privacy. Turn off the damn cameras and listening devices in our room,” Zoe demanded.

“There are none. Those other rooms were for new arrivals to the moon, places where they could adjust and the cameras and listening equipment were necessary.”

“Good enough,” Zoe replied but she’d check the room out for sure when she got there.

Soon after Zoe and the others were shown to their room, which was down a corridor marked "Living Quarters" just off the main corridor. The room was big, had four beds, a table with chairs, a device that played music and vids, and an attached bathroom that included a shower. A note on the shower wall warned people to limit themselves to a shower every second day and for less than five minutes. Just like on Serenity, Inara thought. How is a lady supposed to stay clean?

“You will be staying here,” the guard said. “The door will be unlocked but two guards will be outside. If you wish to move about we will call an escort.”

“Thank you,” said Book but he was already feeling a bit uncomfortable, looking at the lack of privacy in a room he’d have to share with three women. “Ah, there is another one of our crew here, Mr. Cobb. Perhaps I can bunk with him?”

“Suit yourself,” said the guard. “But he isn’t allowed out, you understand?”

“Perfectly,” Book answered.

“Shepherd?” Inara looked at him with a smile. “We can trust you.”

“Of course. But my pact with God does not allow me to enjoy a night in a room with three women, especially such lovely ladies as yourselves.”

“You are a priest?” the guard asked in surprise. Book looked to Zoe and she nodded, almost unnoticeable.

“Yes, my son. Are you in need of a word with the Lord?”

He nodded. “Been a long time, Father.”

“Shepherd, please call me Shepherd. It is the term we use for a man of God where I am from. Now, why don’t we talk about this while you take me to see Mr. Cobb?”

After Book left, Inara and River sat on the beds while Zoe examined every inch of the room.

River was looking around, staring at the walls and ceiling of the room and seemed to be off in a dream world. “Anything?” Inara asked, feeling that River was trying to sense if they were being monitored.

“Yes,” said River and she made a sign to be quiet. Then River went to the music/vid device, picked it up and smashed it on the floor with all her strength. It shattered into many pieces.

Zoe had been in the bathroom and was startled by the noise. “What the hell…?” And then she stopped as River bent over and picked up what looked like a tiny microphone of some sorts.”

Zoe took it and without a word crushed it under her boot just as a guard opened the door.

"What happened?" he asked in a worried tone.

"Something got broke," Zoe said. "Tell Commander Jackson we don't care for the music provided."

The guard didn't know what she was talking about and after standing under Zoe's whithering glare for a few seconds he retreated out the door.

"Ain't no real soldiers here,' she mumbled as she and the others began searching for more devices.

After an hour they found no more and Zoe felt satisfied that all was well when River couldn’t sense any more either. Then they sat at the table, all three of them close together and Zoe turned to River and whispered.

“Okay. Tell us all about Jackson.”

************************************************* Book’s conversation with the soldier proved most fruitful. Indeed there were many people who needed spiritual guidance on this base and Book thought a prayer session was the best thing for all and asked if the soldier would organize it. He enthusiastically agreed and would call on Book when all was ready, perhaps in the morning. Then they arrived at Jayne’s room.

Jayne had been stewing for hours wondering why Mal didn’t return and was sure he was either dead or in trouble. Jayne was standing by the door ready to bash the head in of the first guard through it. If Book hadn’t been aware this might happen and had been ready to duck he would have been on the receiving end of a Jayne Cobb haymaker.

“Shepherd? What the gorramn hell is going on?”

“Nice to see you again too, Jayne,” Book began and he handed over the things he had brought for Jayne, a change of clothes and his toothbrush, and then told the tale of things so far, leaving out the parts about Zoe’s plan, since Mal had told them this cell was bugged.

“Mal made a deal that didn’t include me getting the rutting hell outta here?”

“Seems you have been perceived as a threat. I wonder why,” Shepherd said.

“Beats me. Guess it’s my winning personality.”

“So we are to remain until Mal returns and hopefully this scientist can send us back to our home section of the galaxy.”

“That scientist guy, he’s a real prince. Like to put a bullet or two in him, also.”

“Do that and we’ll never get home.”

Then came a knock and Book answered it and it was the guards with food. This time there was some cooked barley, pieces bread, fresh tomatoes, carrots, and celery, and water.

“I think you forgot the spoon or fork for the barley,” Book said.

“No utensils allowed,” the guard stated and then left and locked the door.

“I’m so hungry I’ll eat with my hands,” Jayne said as he reached for the tray.

“Wait!” Book said. “I just got an idea.” He placed the tray on the table and got Jayne to stand over it. With both big men standing over the tray, they blocked any access ceiling cameras would have, or the Shepherd hoped so at least. Then he began using the barley kernels to spell out words and thus tell Jayne the plan.

************************************************* After two hours and a nice meal, which all loved, and praised Kaylee for, it was time to orbit Earth. Kaylee had hoped to have some private time with Simon but the Capt’n kept both of them busy, Kaylee running engine checks and then preparing supper and Simon examining the radiation suits to ensue their safety. He protested that he was no expert and was sure they were fine but Mal insisted in that way he had. Kaylee had a chance to give Simon a brief kiss when she came down to the cargo bay to check on him before Mal called her up to the kitchen. It was almost like there was a conspiracy to prevent them from sleeping together.

Mal allowed all the scientists and Chin on the bridge as they approached Earth. They were in silent awe as they observed their home world up close for the first time in many years. Wash took the same route as before, climbing up toward the North Pole to avoid the debris field of smashed satellites and derelict spacecraft. One of the elderly scientists sat in the co-pilot's chair after Mal asked if anyone thought they could operate the sensors. He quickly caught on to how Serenity’s sensors worked. After ten minutes he managed to establish a link between Serenity’s and the moon base and data was fed to the moon’s scientists.

“Radiation levels still too high,” he observed.

The blond scientist, whose name was Christine they learned, gasped as they passed New York and they surmised it was her hometown.

“We were so stupid,” she said, almost in tears, and Mal and the others felt bad about what had happened to these people.

And so on around the world they went, going from night to day, day to night, making radio contact with the moon when they were aligned, sending back the data also, until finally they were over Melbourne, Australia.

“Okay, everyone get strapped in,” Mal said and then looked at the elderly scientist in the co-pilot’s chair. “Sorry, didn’t catch your name?”

“Dr. Fred Walker,” he said. “Radiation specialist.”

“Dr. Walker, you’re at the sensors. Everyone else strap in the dining room. Simon take care of that. Kaylee, engine room and hang on tight.”

“Roger, Capt’n,” Kaylee said and they all left the bridge. After a few moments her voice came through to the bridge that all were strapped in and she was at her station. Mal sat in the third chair and looked at his pilot.

“Wash, take us to Earth.”