Zoë and Wash broke their clinch, Wash giving Mal something of an annoyed look.
Zoë said, “Keeping them out of Jayne’s hands.”
“Ah. Good decision.”
“Thank you, sir.”
He said, “Just letting you two know that we need to be out of here by tomorrow afternoon, according to a highly reliable source I don’t trust at all.”
“Mal,” said Wash, “can you tell me why we aren’t leaving this place now?”
“No, I’m not sure I can.”
“Oh. Well. All right, then. That’s all I needed.”
“There’s some things that got to be settled on that world.”
“Why?”
“’Cause,” said Mal.
“She’s handling a little better now,” said Wash. “Kaylee did something.”
“She’ll do that,” said Mal. “Can you get us on the ground as things stand?”
“Not sure,” said Wash. “But we’re two and a half days from Tagwyn.”
“Tagwyn?”
“An orbiting repair dock, around—”
“No, on the ground here.”
Wash stared at him. “Are you serious, Mal?”
“Just want to know if you can do it.”
“Mal, I can’t keep my eyes open any more. I can’t land a handkerchief on the floor. I could maybe, if I got lucky, punch in the coordinates to Tagwyn and start us there, but without being here to monitor—”
“Go to bed, Wash. We’ll talk in the morning. Zoë and I can take shifts keeping us in the sky.”
For once, Wash had no remarks. He raised his arm, and Zoë took and hauled him to his feet, kissed him, and escorted him toward the door.
“I’ll be back to work out shifts after I’ve put my exhausted man to bed,” she said.
“Exhausted?” said Wash. “If I sleep for five years I might make it up to exhausted.”
Mal nodded and sat down in the pilot’s chair, and stared at the line of dawn on Hera through the front window—an ugly world, full of sickly greens and oppressive blues. Yuva appeared down and off to the right; in Serenity Valley, away on the other side, the sun would just be setting.
He watched Hera like a snake watches a rabbit.
Then he tapped the intercom for the dining room. “Anyone there?” No response. He tried the room he’d given Kit, the Shepherd’s old room. “Fed? You around?”
Kit’s voice came back. “I’m here.”
“Once we’re on the ground, come on up to the bridge and make your call,” he said.
“Good morning, sir.”
“You’re a good relief, Zoë.”
“Anything?”
“She’s doing a bump and grind; you have to knock off the autopilot, bring her back to the grid, then turn it on again; seems like every twenty minutes or so. It isn’t too bad.”
“All right.”
“Wash?”
“He was snoring before he was horizontal.”
“He did a good day’s work. A good week’s work.”
“Yes, sir.”
He stood and stepped out of the way so she could take the pilot’s seat, then he picked up the two pistols and held them while he sat in the co-pilot’s seat.
“I’m going to talk to Jayne,” he said.
She barely nodded, concentrating on checking the auto-pilot’s settings, and the position grid.
“Zoë, I want this guy.”
This time she made no pretense of nodding; just continued checking the board.
“Zoë?”
“Yes, sir?”
“You know why, don’t you?”
“The war’s over, sir. I seem to remember hearing you say that once or twice.”
“It’s not about the war.”
“Of course it’s about the war, sir.”
He leaned back, and stared out as Hera drifted slowly from his right to his left, until he was staring into the black.
“You don’t think it’s maybe about what’s happening on that there very piece of ground below us?”
“No, sir. I don’t.”
“So, I take it you want no part of it, Zoë?”
“I didn’t say that, sir.”
“Then—”
“I’d just feel better going into this if you knew why we were doing it. I’ll back you either way. But I’d rather you knew.”
“Ain’t no one to tell me. Maybe if the Shepherd were still here, he’d explain it.”
“You’d ignore him, sir.”
“Most like I would. So, you going to tell me?”
“I would if I could.”
“I just know I got to do this. I can’t let it alone. It’s everything. It’s the war, it’s the… it’s everything.”
“You’re bringing Jayne back on.”
“Might be.”
“And working with an Alliance agent.”
“Yeah.”
“What do you believe in any more, sir?”
“My crew.”
“And what does this do for your crew?”
“Wo zenmayang bei la dao zhege huati dang zhong?” He stared out into the black. Serenity lurched; though buffered by the artificial gravity, he could still feel it. Zoë killed the auto-pilot, re-settled Serenity on her course, and re-engaged the auto-pilot.
She turned the pilot’s chair and faced him.
“I have to put it away,” he said.
“Sir, three days ago, you didn’t even know—”
“Yes, but now I do. And it makes it all different. All of it. All the way back, and what’s happening here and now. It isn’t one thing, it’s all of it.”
“Yes, sir. But what about the fed?”
“Funny you should ask.”
“Sir?”
“He’s just been trying to figure me out.”
“Ah. I see. Well, that must have been entertaining.”
“I did figure him out.”
“Sir?”
“I figured out why he’s doing this.”
“He wants to take down Sakarya, because he likes beating bad guys?”
“That’s part of it.”
“And the rest?”
“Simon and River.”
“He wants them?”
“No, he wants them to get away.”
“I don’t—”
“He went and found out who we were, and who they were, and he figures it ain’t right for the Alliance to come down with all the law and everything for someone who decided to drop out of school.”
“But he’s Alliance.”
“Yeah, he is. Puts him in a nasty spot, doesn’t it?”
“So, he’ll help us?”
“Not directly. He can’t. He’s a believer.”
“He still believes, even though—”
“Even though.”
Zoë shook her head. That sort of conflict couldn’t happen in Zoë’s world. In Zoë’s world it was people, not ideas. For people like the fed it was both, and it was no fun when they smashed into each other. That was a feeling Mal could understand.
“Zoë?”
“Sir?”
“Thanks.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’d best be about my business.”
He stood up and looked at the two holstered pistols in his hands; it took him a moment to remember why they were there.
He and Mal had the place to themselves.
“Go ahead, Jayne. Sit down.”
“I’d been about to, but thanks for the invite.”
Jayne sat heavily.
“Okay,” said Mal. “Let’s talk.”
“Why are you worrying about me when you have a gorram fed ten feet away from loony girl?”
“Because the fed ain’t never been on my crew, Jayne.”
“Yeah. What you want to talk about?”
“They offered you a deal?”
“Who, the Locals? Yeah, I told you. I didn’t take it.”
“I’m still working on calculating why not.”
A few lies went through his head, but there was Mal, looking at him, and… “I didn’t like how they asked me.”