Kaylee didn’t much care to be out here, either; surrounded by the black, Hera there huge and swirling green above her, like she was going to grab Serenity and drag her down; and below her feet Serenity with her gaping wound, only magnetic boots and a lifeline keeping her secured while Wash made his adjustments.
And she really wanted to scratch her nose.
She should come up with a way to wipe one’s brow while wearing a pressure suit. It really couldn’t be that hard to do. Then she could work on a way to scratch one’s back.
Okay, never mind, back to the job.
Kaylee laid out the welding gear, and the pieces of scrap she’d found in the hold, and eyed the big wound that was, if not her biggest problem, then at least the next one she had to fix if she was to get to the others.
She started filing away at the jagged edges. “I’m sorry, baby,” she murmured.
“Is Kit your real name?”
“Why would that matter?”
“Don’t figure it would, just asking. So, how d’you see this working?”
“You mean, getting me back into the hands of my people while you go on your way?”
“Yeah, that’s what I mean.”
“Or do you mean how am I going to bring down Sakarya now that I’m off the world and my cover’s blown.”
“I might mean that, too.”
“Or maybe how I’m going to singlehandedly end all poverty, injustice and disease in the ’verse, including among as yet undiscovered alien species.”
“That’s less likely.”
“You never know.”
“How is it going to work?”
“Get on the Cortex, I’ll give you the code, you arrange a meeting with an Alliance vessel, we make the transfer, you go on your way.”
“Okay, second idea.”
“And the problem with that is?”
“They know about us.”
“You sure about that?”
“Jayne told them he had the Tams. The Locals have connected Serenity with the Tams. All the Alliance—”
“Serenity,” he said.
“That’s the name of the boat.”
“I was there,” Kit heard himself saying.
“What?”
“Serenity Valley. I was there. Some of my first intel training—sussing out your positions, trying to figure any weak spots. They made me… it was tough.”
Mal didn’t say anything.
“You made a hell of a fight,” said Kit.
After a moment, Mal said, “All the Alliance has to do is tap into the Locals’ comm, which is about the first thing they’d do, yes?”
“Yes.”
“After that Jayne could put it all together. I’m not getting next to an Alliance ship, whatever guarantees you give me. If they need to, they’ll lie to you to get to the Tams. Won’t they?”
Kit hesitated, then nodded.
“So,” continued Reynolds, “what’s your next idea? We can set you down somewhere, either on Hera, or somewhere else, and then let them know where you are.”
“I guess that’s what we’ll do, then.”
“You hungry?”
“Starving.”
“Me, too. We have protein in nine different flavors and some dried apricots. I’ll show you where the kitchen is, then I’m going to go check on my mechanic, see how she’s doing.”
Something went off in Kit’s head, then—that feeling that, all of a sudden, he had all the pieces if he just put them together. He nodded to Reynolds, and followed him to the kitchen, his mind racing.
Captain Reynolds knew; there was no other explanation.
And that put an entirely different light on things.
The captain headed down toward engineering. Kit followed him absently, but his mind wasn’t on it. He needed to think this through.
The airtight door opened, and Kaylee was standing there, still in her pressure suit, but helmet off.
“Fixed?” he asked.
“Sort of,” she said. “Still needs some work, and she isn’t going to take to being put on the solid with half the starboard extender missing, but—”
“Get some rest, Kaylee. Rest, eat something, relax.”
Kaylee leaned against the bulkhead, closed her eyes, and nodded. “Okay, Cap’n. What are you going to do?”
“Try to come up with the right questions, so I know where to put all these answers I got.”
Kaylee shook her head. “That almost made sense.”
“Yeah,” said Mal. “That’s about how I’ve been feeling for some time.”
Kaylee stepped up and kissed him on the cheek, her pressure suit bumping his collar bone. “It’ll work out, Cap’n.”
“Now we got two witches on this boat?”
She just smiled, shook her head, and thunked off toward her bunk. For one crazy moment, he wanted to follow her. Not to sex her, but just to lie down and close his eyes and be next to her for a bit.
He took a deep breath and let it out slow, then made his way to the Med Bay, the fed still with him. As expected, River and Simon were both there, River staring up at the ceiling with a glazed look; she just barely responded when he walked in.
“River, you did good today.”
“Captain,” said Simon, “she needlessly risked—”
“No needless about it, Doctor. We were humped down there. You planning to fly the shuttle to get us?”
“Wash could have—”
“Wash left the bridge a minute, and this boat’d be scattered all over the world, and you with it.”
“I don’t want her—”
“Your wants ain’t got too strong a hold on my intentions, Doctor. I’d think a bright young fellow like you would have sussed that out by now.”
The doctor stared at him for just long enough to let him know how he felt about that, then said, “River says they’re coming.”
“Who?”
“She didn’t say. She just said, ‘they’re coming.’ ”
“Well, lest she’s just spouting gibberish, I’d guess it’d be the feds, and we were figuring hard on that already. Now, if she knew when they were coming—”
“Tomorrow, early afternoon,” said River.
Mal looked at her, then at the doctor, then back at River. “Something creepifying about you,” he said.
River didn’t answer; she seemed to have fallen asleep.
Mal shrugged, turned, and made his way up toward the bridge. As he walked, he noticed that the fed was still with him, and still looking impenetrable.
“Well, any thoughts?”
Kit looked up. “Plenty. How would you feel about letting me make contact with my people?”
“Your people means the Alliance, don’t it?”
“Yes.”
“I told you about—”
“Not to arrange a pick-up. I just want to make contact.”
“Don’t seem like that would be in my best interest.”
“Doesn’t seem like it, but it would be.”
“You want me to just trust you?”
“Yes.”
“When do you need to do this?”
“Before you do whatever it is you’re going to do.”
“I’ll think on it. Meantime, I’m heading toward the bridge. You can be in the dining room, or your quarters. I catch you anywhere else on my boat and I’ll kill you.”
“You don’t need to threaten me, Captain. I know where I stand.”
“Do you?”
“I told you, I was there.”
“Yeah, you did at that.”
Mal left him in the dining room and headed up to the bridge.
“Don’t mind me, you two. I’ll just stand here and wonder why there are two weapons in the co-pilot’s chair.”