Chapter sixteen
Malcom was separated from Niska by the presence of the operative between them. There were others present, all females, and though they seemed demure, in a very Japanese sort of way, where they polite, shy, eager to serve, it seemed evident to Malcom they were capable of killing. They were at the edge of a Zen rock garden, and a man who was up on a rock meditating finally descended in dramatic way, and approached bowing to each of them.
“Ah, my friend, must Malcom be tied?” the man asked.
“For his own safety,” the operative said.
“Ahh, of course,” the man said. He motioned for the operative to withdraw. He withdrew, leaving Malcom and Niska standing side by side. “Mr. Malcom Reynolds.
You’re even more famous than you were during the war. How is it being a celebrity?”
“Who are you?” Malcom asked.
“You don’t recognize me? Kim Li, a member of Parliament, first tier, brought on by the coalition of Zecata?” Li asked.
“I am sorry, I don’t follow politics,” Malcom said.
“I am not sure I believe you, but I was a bit before your time,” Li said. “How old do you suppose I am?”
“I don’t know, fifty?” Malcom asked.
“I am two hundred and twenty years old, three days ago,” Li said.
“You look good for your age,” Malcom said.
“I am blessed,” he said, bowing to Malcom. He turned to one his girls and accepted a sword. He removed it from the sheath and handed the sheath back, examining the blade. “Do you believe in a higher power, Mr. Reynolds?” “Yes, Sir, I do,” Malcom said.
Li pointed the sword at Malcom. “That’s nice to hear. We’re probably going to need some help before this has all played itself out,” Li said, and a quick motioned with the sword, and Niska went to his knees. A line of blood formed on his neck, and then he collapsed forward, and bled out on the ground.
Li accepted a cloth and cleaned the blade. He returned it to the sheath, handed it to his servant, and then bowed to her. She bowed and withdrew. He dropped the towel on the pooling blood.
“Untie Malcom,” he said to another. She bowed to Li, then to Malcom, and removed his restraints.
Malcom rubbed his wrists.
“So many things wrong with this Verse,” Li said, studying Malcom. “People get things backwards. These women don’t serve me. I serve them. Do you know where you are, Mal?”
“I do not,” Malcom said.
“You are standing on the furthest planet from the core. You could not go further without leaving this galaxy. Of course, no ship in the entire galaxy could transverse the distance between here and Andromeda. You couldn’t carry enough fuel, for starters,” Li said. “But we built a colony ship. A big ship. Powered by solar sails. And we’re driving it up to the speed of light even now, pushing it with lasers. This planet we’re on, it’s basically a planet size transmitter, every quarter, we transmit a burst of radio wave energy and hit their sail and drive them a little closer to the speed of light, and maybe, maybe, if everything goes just right, in a little over two million years, our package will arrive. We have sent several. I personally would have liked to have had River on one of them, as the only way to speak with ships at distance in real time is with telepathy. That, and she would have given them a survivor’s edge. And they need that. We need that.” “I don’t understand,” Malcom said.
“You think Alliance won the war, Mr. Reynolds,” Li said.
“Well, the Independents didn’t win the war,” Malcom said.
“No one won the war. Maybe if we had unified as a species sooner, we could have won and guaranteed our place, but we lost Earth, and we may lose this galaxy before it’s all done, and the small arks carrying humans to Andromeda, maybe they will arrive and give humanity another foothold, but most likely, even they will be changed and they won’t be anything like us. Change is coming, Malcom. It’s not going to be anything like it was,” Li said.
“Everything has it’s season,” Malcom said.
“True enough,” Li said. “But one season is just not enough.” “Sometimes, it’s all you got,” Malcom said.
“I like you Mr. Reynolds,” Li said.
“I am pleased to hear that. And if it’s all the same with you, I’d like to be getting back to my ship,” Malcom said.
“Would you like a job, Mr. Reynolds?” Li asked.
“Such as?”
“Niska’s absence has created a vacancy,” Li said.
“Oh, no, I think I will just stick to what I know best,” Malcom said. “I like making my own way.”
“I could use a personal transport, for special cargo,” Li said.
“I am weary of hurting your feelings, and appreciate your generosity, but quite frankly, I am not sure it’s safe flying for you,” Malcom said.
“Fair enough,” Li said. “My friend will take you back to your ship. I will give you ways to contact me if you change your mind.”
Li bowed to Malcom. Malcom bowed and started to retreat.
“And, Mr. Reynolds,” Li said. “I like River, but there isn’t a place in this galaxy where she will be safe. She may have a way of knowing things, but so do they. There will be a couple more opportunities to head out into the deep, if she wants. Hell, I could make room for you and your people, if you ever just want to get away from it all.” “That’s mighty tempting, but that colony stuff is hard work. I have hard enough time planning for this week, much less 2 million years from now. I’d rather just keep doing what I am doing,” Malcom said.
“Have a good life, Mr. Reynolds,” Li said.
♫♪►
There were two ships, on a dry lake bed. One was a Firefly. The other was Early’s. “I think we should change the name of Early’s ship,” Ely said. “I don’t know, maybe Ely’s ship.”
“How about Patience,” Kaylee said. “Serenity’s sister?”
“How about we stop trying to avoid the elephant and acknowledge he ain’t coming back,” Jayne said.
“He will be back,” Inara said.
“Yeah, well, how long should we wait?” Jayne said. “Cause I am tired of waiting.”
“Got somewhere to be?” Zoe asked.
“Anywhere would be better than here,” Jayne said, kicking at dirt. “I got a wood for some more tree huggers.”
“Do you want to be buried under this lake bed?” Zoe said.
“What? I am not allowed to talk about sex?” Jayne asked.
“You can talk, just talk respectful like,” Zoe said.
The sound of thunder drew their eyes to the sky. Kaylee, who was in her chair, holding her umbrella, stood. As they stared, Jayne’s hand lighted on his firearm.
“That’s Niska’s ship,” Kaylee said. Jayne cursed.
“It’s slowing,” Zoe said.
Sure enough, the engines were spooling down, and changing pitch, and the ship was rotating around, clearly aiming to land, as opposed to completing a strafing run. A door opened and ramp lowered and the man who descended before the ramp was even solidly still was Malcom. Inara ran to him. They spent a moment and then joined the others. Niska’s ship powered up, and returned to the sky.
“Niska?” Zoe asked.
“He’s dead,” Malcom said.
“Who’s piloting?” Kaylee asked.
“No one of consequence,” Malcom said. “In fact, I didn’t even learn his name. So, sorry, we didn’t get paid.”
“Oh, I think we’re going to get paid,” Zoe said.
They explained that there was such a huge fight going on at Roco station, that they had time to steal some containers and they acquired some products that might go for a pretty penny at any one of a dozen start up worlds.
“And we got two ships,” Jayne said. “We could set up shop and maybe double our business. Might even take some time cleaning up some of those rabbit pellets before someone else comes in and takes that claim.” “That might be profitable,” Malcom agreed.
Jayne seemed confused. “You’re agreeing with me?”
“Times a changing,” Malcom said. “We go back, take as much refined ore as we can find between our two ships, go back to hippy world and get some unmarked supplements, and I recon we could maybe make enough to get a third ship? Now that Niska’s dead, there’s going to be some squabbling for territory and people are going to need some supplies while powers that be sort that mess out. Unless you guys want to settle down, make a base, start a charter service.”
“I’d rather fly,” River said.
“In other words, we’re going to go get into more trouble,” Simon said.
“To the best of our ability,” Malcom said. “Ely, River, Simon, you take that one. The rest, with me. Meet you at the rabbit hole.”
“We haven’t come up with name for her yet,” River said.
“Charity,” Inara said.
The ship properly christened, they went back to work. But not before Ely buried his viewer.
“You sure?” Malcom asked.
“I carried them as far as I could,” Ely said. “It’s time to let go.”
They all stood there, then turned and went to their ships, and the ships left.