Big Damn Hero

19

As Simon was making another pot of tea — purely for something to occupy his mind — Zoë appeared in the corridor from the direction of the flight deck. He had seen her looking happier and knew she was not the bearer of glad tidings.

“Alliance is tracking us,” she informed him. “Wash just confirmed it. They’re coming out of deep space and their course is straight for us. We’re hanging a U-turn and looking for a rock to hide behind, but there aren’t any big enough in these parts.”

“Back towards Persephone?” Simon’s stomach clenched. “But they’re looking for us there.”

Zoë smiled grimly. “Simon, they’re looking for you everywhere,” she said.

She could have thrown him out the airlock in a spacesuit and he might have been only slightly more afraid. Dread rendered him speechless. He was paralyzed, rooted to the spot.

River will know, he thought. Get to River.

His heart was pounding so hard he was afraid it would bruise his ribcage. He tried to swallow, to respond. Zoë narrowed her eyes at him.

“Simon,” she said, “you’re having an anxiety attack. Take a breath.”

He finally managed to give his head a little shake. He made a rough cracking sound as he tried to clear his throat.

“Breathe,” she said. “They haven’t come for us yet. We have time to make you safe. But you have to snap out of it.”

You can’t make us safe. Don’t lie, Simon thought. But the crew of Serenity had taken him and River in, had protected them before. On their own, they would have already been caught.

He finally took a deep breath. Zoë nodded approvingly and took his arm.

“You all right now?”

“It depends on your definition of ‘all right,’” he said.

“Well, you’re talking, so that’s a start. Go find River.”

“Has Shepherd Book checked in about the captain?” he asked.

“Haven’t heard a word.” Zoë’s words were clipped, the way she sounded when she was very angry or tense. She tapped the bulkhead and said, “Stay on alert. We may need to get creative.”

“I have no idea what that means,” he said.

“Keep track of your sister.”

He went to River’s bunk, but she wasn’t there, and a paroxysm of fear shot through him. He was hurrying back along the corridor when he ran into Kaylee and Zoë coming the other way. Kaylee’s face was pale and her expression grim.

“It’s no good,” Zoë said. “They’ve caught up and they’re demanding to come aboard. Wash estimates they’ll make contact in about fifteen minutes.” She looked hard at Simon. “We need to get you and River off the ship.”

Creatively, he thought, and he guessed what she was driving at. “Right, like before,” he said, as a wave of queasiness rolled over him at the mere thought. “Going outside and attaching to the hull.”

“Can’t,” Zoë said. “We had the hull degaussed at the docks.”

“Zāo gāo, that’s right.” Kaylee turned to Simon. “See, that means we neutralized the ship’s magnetic field. We have to do that now and then to clean Serenity up. Like when ships sailed on the ancient sea and they scraped off all the barnacles.”

“So?” Simon didn’t follow.

“So there won’t be any way for you to cling to the hull,” Kaylee explained. “The magnets on your suit’s boots and gloves will be useless.”

“Well, you can tether us, or glue us, or we can just hang on,” he said. He was new to spaceflight, so he knew his suggestions might be off base, but the point he was trying to make was that the crew was very good at coming up with alternative solutions.

“We don’t have time for any fancy stuff,” Zoë said. “You’re both going to get in Inara’s shuttle and leave, pronto. Wash can lay in a course for you to take so that your readouts will be shielded by Serenity’s mass until the Alliance vessel closes in on us for boarding.”

Simon’s lips parted. “But I can’t even pilot a shuttle.”

“I can,” Kaylee said.

“Sorry, Kaylee, but we need you here,” Zoë said brusquely. “Inara will go with you, Simon. Now go wake up your sister.”

“She isn’t in her bunk. I was going to look for her.”

“Okay. Be quick about it, then get to the shuttle. Inara will meet you there.”

“But what if they come after us?” Simon said.

“Try to stay calm,” Kaylee urged, putting her hand on his forearm. “I know it’s hard not to be real scared.”

“I’m not afraid for myself. I’m afraid for River. What they’ll do to her.”

“We have to make sure they don’t have a chance to,” Zoë said. “Let’s move it.”

“Yes. Yes, all right.” Simon faced Kaylee. She was gazing at him with wide eyes, as if she were memorizing him.

As if she thought she might never see him again.

“You’re gonna be safe,” she said, bobbing her head and smiling through what were clearly tears. “And we’re gonna find the captain and… and…” She trailed off, struggling. She balled her fists and bit her lower lip, falling into silence.

“And it’s going to be fine,” Simon finished for her.

“Not unless you get in that shuttle now.”

Simon leaned towards Kaylee with the intention of kissing her goodbye. But Zoë was there, and Kaylee was… He didn’t know why his courage failed him. He rushed past her, into the dining room.

“Mèi mèi?” he called softly, as if the Alliance could hear him. “Where are you?”

She wasn’t there, either, or in the galley. Cursing under his breath, Simon hurried back down the hallway, checking the cabins on either side for River as he went. His sister had a habit of disappearing — or losing her tether — at the most inconvenient times. It came on like contrarian clockwork.

The voice coming from Jayne’s cabin gave him a rush of hope. The way Jayne was holding court, Simon was sure there was someone else in the room. When he stuck his head through the open doorway, he realized that wasn’t the case at all. Jayne had been talking to Vera as he cleaned her barrel with a flexible ramrod and a bit of oily rag, in a tender voice telling her what a good and proper girl she was. From his seat on the rumpled bunk, Jayne shot Simon a sour look.

And he thinks River’s crazy.

Simon moved on without explaining the problem or attempting to enlist Jayne’s aid. He had learned the hard way that Jayne Cobb needed a lot of explaining to in order to get the big picture — or any picture, even a sketch — and Simon didn’t have time to spare for the snail-crawling Socratic dialogue, the circular questions and angry accusations that were the meat and potatoes of Jayne’s conversational repertoire.

He found Zoë and Kaylee in the same spot he’d left them. Both looked surprised to see him.

“No idea where she’s got to,” he informed them, somewhat out of breath. “I looked in the other cabins on the way back here. She isn’t on this deck. She’s just gone!”

“Maybe she telepathed that you were going to leave in the shuttle?” Kaylee said, her expression dead serious. “You know, with her tested certified genius brain. Maybe she’s up there now, waiting for you?”

Zoë gave her a disbelieving look. “Simon, use the ship’s intercom,” she said. “Tell River to meet you at the shuttle. Hurry her up but don’t scare her too much. You know how to do it. Kaylee, you go check the shuttle to see if she’s already there. If she’s not, stay there and wait for her. Simon and I will search down in the cargo area.”

“River, this is your brother,” Simon said into the intercom microphone. His voice boomed out of the speakers scattered throughout the ship. He tried to sound calm, reasoned, not frantic and about to blow a gasket. “If you can hear me, we have a situation right now. Nothing to worry about. Just get to Inara’s shuttle. I’ll meet you there. We’ve got to leave Serenity. We’re going on a little trip, is all.”

There were a thousand places to hide on the ship. Places that without an infrared scanner — something an Alliance boarding party would certainly have on hand — would be difficult and time-consuming to check. River might be anywhere: ceiling ducts, gear lockers, any number of crawlspaces. She even could’ve climbed into a space suit and slipped out into the Black, for all they knew.

Simon and Zoë headed aft, going through the storage area, bypassing the cargo bay. Their searches of the infirmary and the engine room turned up no trace of her. Simon hated the queasy fear churning in his stomach, the ever-tightening pursing of Zoë’s lips as they came up empty everywhere they looked.

“Zoë, Alliance is nearly here,” Wash reported. “Why hasn’t the shuttle detached?”

Then Kaylee’s voice shrilled through the comm unit. “I’m in the shuttle with Inara and River’s still not here.”

“Roger that,” Zoë said. “Wash?”

He let forth with a string of epithets. “You need to hustle, my friends. Proximity scanner’s lit up like Christmas, Hanukkah, Diwali, and Kwanzaa all rolled into one. Ship’s ident is the I.A.V. Stormfront. Longbow-class mid-range patrol cruiser. More armament than a porcupine’s got quills.”

Simon blinked. “Zoë. The crates. She was playing the flute to the crates before. Maybe she’s there again.”

Zoë about-faced and began to run-limp in the direction of the cargo bay. She said through her comm link, “Inara, are you prepped for launch?”

“Yes. Standing by to uncouple,” Inara said.

“We can’t leave her here. We can’t,” Simon pleaded as he scooted around Zoë because he could move faster.

“Tell me something I don’t know,” she snapped.

Simon’s mind was racing ahead, kaleidoscoping with unsettling what-ifs. What if they couldn’t find River? What if the Alliance got there first? What if they found her hiding place but it was too late to escape into the Black without being noticed? There was no way a shuttle could outrun an Alliance cruiser or its ferocious armament. If they didn’t get off Serenity in time, they would get off her in chains and at gunpoint. And so much for saving his beloved sister.

He and Zoë rushed out into the ship’s dim, sprawling hold. Zoë hit the ceiling lights and the gray metal deck stretched out below them. The cargo bay seemed close to empty. Even so, there were lots of places to hide in and around the perimeter.

“There she is,” Zoë said, pointing.

Simon didn’t see her at first. He scanned each crate in turn. “Where? Where?”

Zoë pointed. River had prostrated herself on the lid of one of the crates, her arms spread out, clutching it like a life raft on a storm-tossed sea. Simon could hear her babbling away softly to the contents.

“Let’s go get her quick.”

Simon hurried after her, catching up as she crossed the deck.

“Hush, little high-ex, don’t say a word,” River crooned to the crate’s contents, her voice breaking with emotion. “Papa’s gonna stop you and your crazy whirl.”

“River?”

She looked up at him, wild-eyed and a little tearful, and said, “They’re coming.”

“Yes,” Simon said. “So we have to go.”

She sniffled. “If they open the crate, everyone will die.”

“They will?” he said. Beside him, Zoë grunted.

She nodded. “It’s all busy.” She flicked her fingers, imitating fireworks.

“What are you talking about?” Zoë said.

“Getting hot,” she said. “Getting busy.”

Zoë and Simon shared a glance. “We’ll look into it,” she said.

“Die,” River moaned.

“They won’t open the crates,” Zoë said.

“River, you and I have to leave now,” Simon said. “You have to come with me.” He took her hand and helped her off the crate. She didn’t resist. She seemed drained; her eyes had lost their luster.

“We have to explain,” she repeated. “They are dancing, Simon. Faster, faster.” She tried to pirouette on one foot but he stopped her.

“Zoë will convince them.”

“Simon, get her to the shuttle.”

“I can make the crates listen,” River said. “Tell them to stay calm. They have terrible tendencies. They must fight them.”

Zoë swore under her breath and rolled her eyes. She took River under her arm. Simon did the same. They crossed the deck, then took the stairs two at a time, supporting River between them. Zoë was limping hard. Each movement cost her. Not only was she in pain but she was putting weight on bones and tendons that needed a chance to knit.

What are we doing? Simon thought. We’re abandoning the crew.

He thought about offering to stay behind. If he turned himself in, surely the Alliance wouldn’t bother with examining the cargo too closely. But then Wash, Zoë, Jayne, and Kaylee would be taken into custody for harboring a fugitive. And if the Alliance found Simon Tam aboard Serenity, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume River had left in one of the two missing shuttles. A shuttle couldn’t hope to outrun an Alliance patrol cruiser hot on its trail.

“No, Simon, no,” River said.

Zoë said into her comm unit, “Inara, we found her and we’re coming in hot. Repeat, we’re coming in hot.”

“I copy, Zoë,” Inara said.

As they reached the high gangway, Simon stole a quick glance at his pocket watch to see how much time was left, but in his brain’s frazzled state found he couldn’t do the math. “Can we still make it?” he asked Zoë.

“Shut up and move!” she bellowed at him.

She bodily lifted River into her arms and raced for the shuttle. Gone was her limp. She was operating on pure adrenaline. Simon puffed to keep up with her, seeing stars when he didn’t round a corner as sharply as she and he slammed into the bulkhead.

Someone grabbed onto his shirt and dragged him along. It was Jayne.

“Tourists,” Jayne groused.

The large man easily kept pace with Zoë. Footfalls clanged as Zoë shouted, “Go, go, go!” and ran ahead. She disappeared inside the shuttle and came back out, circling around Jayne, who was on his way in.

Before Simon knew was what happening, Jayne flung him into the shuttle and the door slammed shut. The engine roared and the shuttle detached. The beautiful silk brocade curtain that was usually drawn closed to conceal the navigation section from Inara’s place of business was open and River was hunched in the seat beside Inara’s, who was guiding the shuttle out of its resting place on Serenity’s flank. River was muttering to herself. Simon staggered toward her, expecting her to be whispering about the hands of blue.

“Don’t blow, don’t blow,” she was chanting.

“River, băo bèi,” Inara said, “please keep quiet.”

“Where are we going?” Simon whispered.

“We’re staying out of range by remaining in the same spatial plane as Serenity,” Inara said. “We’re on the side opposite their approach so we’re out of their line of sight, shielding ourselves with the ship. We can’t maintain the position for long, but hopefully it’ll be long enough.” Seeing that he wasn’t following, she said, “Essentially, we’re hiding behind Serenity. Wash is pinging me the latitude and longitude of the cruiser. Each time it moves, I’ll correct my course to match it.”

He nodded. “River’s very worried about the crates.”

“I’m sure she’s not alone in that,” Inara said. She added gently, “Perhaps River would be more comfortable in my private quarters.”

Simon took the hint. Clasping River’s hands, he eased her out of the chair and guided her to Inara’s couch. He put his arms around her and rocked her.

“Kaboom,” she whispered.