“What in the tyen shao duh…!”

“C-c-cold…so cold…”

“Kaylee!!”

“Yes, Cap’n?”

“Kaylee. Why are Wash and Simon shivering like we left ‘em on St. Alban’s with no ruttin’ clothes on?”

The mechanic looked over the two half-dressed men huddled near the passenger lounge, wrapped in the thickest towels on board Serenity. “I…I don’t know…”

“Best be lookin’ to find out. I don’t need icicles on my boat.”

“What…happened?” Kaylee asked, kneeling down towards Simon’s shivering teeth.

“Sh-sh-shower,” the doctor said. “So c-c-cold…”

“You’re sayin’ we just ran outta hot water?” The young woman giggled a little. “Aw, that’s nothin’…”

“Oh, no,” Wash called out, his cheeks a pale shade of blue. Zoe was next to him, quickly rubbing down his chest and back to generate a little heat to warm her husband up. “Not ‘ran out’.”

“Whad’ya mean, not ran out?” Kaylee stalked over to the pair of shower stalls and turned one of the heads on full blast. Reaching her hand in the fine spray, she quickly pulled it out again and waved it in the warm air of the ship to regain a little heat in it. “What the…?”

“I-it’s sh-shock,” Simon chattered, reaching for another towel. Kaylee ran over and handed the warm fluffy object to the young man, and watched with more than an appraising eye as he tried to ‘change’ his wrappings as discreetly as possible. “Th-the sudden cold p-put our b-bodies into a st-state of sh-shock. I-it’ll take a while…”

“You hear that, zhangfu?” Zoe said. “Rest.”

“And leave who, exactly, to land the ship in four hours?” Wash retorted. “I’m tellin’ you, someone did this on purpose.”

“Right. Someone wanted you off the bridge, and the doctor out of the infirmary.”

“Hey,” Wash said. “Some people juggle geese.”

“It’s not that big a fix,” Kaylee called out, her head now closely inspecting the shower heads. “Someone just put a crimp in the hot water lines—nothin’ real noticeable at first, unless you turn on the water.”

“St-still,” Simon chattered, his teeth rattling less every minute. “Who would do such a…” The surgeon’s voice dropped as a light went on in his head. “Oh.”

“Oh?” Now Zoe’s ears perked up. “Something you might want to share?”

“Uh, I…I think I might…”

“Who was supposed to clean the showers?” Wash asked. “If it’s Jayne, so help me, I’ll turn a barrel roll with the grav controls off in his bunk while he’s asleep!” The normally cheerful man groused a bit as he muttered more things he might try with his flying expertise.

“I was.” Three pairs of eyes looked at a quickly reddening Simon, whose crimson color was masking the cold chill that threatened to envelop him.

“And you thought…” Wash goggled, thunderstruck.

“I didn’t get a chance. There was that job I patched up last night, then dinner, then medicine handouts…I just…didn’t get to it.”

Zoe then turned and walked out of the room. “Where’s she going?” Simon wondered. Wash just shrugged, but also looked curious.

In the kitchen, the first mate found what she was looking for—a seventeen year-old girl quietly amusing herself with a large pad of paper and a pack of drawing pencils. “River, did you…?”

“Simon couldn’t. She wanted to help. Clean and sparkling. No touching the hot.” The child never looked up from her drawing, which looked to Zoe like a large portrait of some kind.

“Uh-huh.” Walking over to the chore list, Zoe carefully added a name to the bottom of the list. “Next time, you do the chores next to your name, dong ma?”

“No touching the sharp. No touching the hot.” River looked up at Zoe and beamed. “She will remember.”

“Good. Now how about you start by fixin’ up what you broke, hmm?”

River sat her drawing pencils down and reached for a pair of needlenose pliers that sat near Kaylee’s usual seat at the table. “Yes, ma’am.” She then scampered off towards the showers, humming a bright but odd sort of tune.

Zoe then looked down at the picture the girl had been drawing. The sight of the nine faces meticulously drawn around the table made the soldier woman break into a strange sort of smile. Might be needin’ a frame for this, she decided. I’ll add it to the list.