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tamingthemuseTitle: Missing Persons Report
Fandom: Firefly
Prompt: Babylon
Warnings: None
Rating: G (so far)
Word Count: 998
Summary: The crew is making new friends and taking new jobs.
Mal smiled and tried to look innocent. He didn’t have much hope that the Alliance officers would believe his smile, but he had to try.
“Your friend ran out of here in a real hurry. What’s got him all fired up?”
“Well, now. It’s funny you should say that. I do believe that building across the way was struck by lightning and is smouldering a little.”
Eight startled pairs of eyes flew to the window. Six pairs of Alliance boots ran out of the building. Which wasn’t so good for Jayne and River, come to think of it, but at least it evened Mal’s odds up a little.
The two remaining officers moved a little closer to Mal. He took a quick glance at their hands – nowhere near their weapons or communicators. That was a good sign; he let himself relax marginally.
“The barkeep mentioned to us that you’ve been in here a lot the past couple of days, always sitting in the same booth and keeping a pretty close eye on that building. And now it’s been struck by lightning. That’s quite the coincidence.”
Mal thought fast, and put on his most earnest face. “The truth is,” he thought about saying sir, but the word stuck in his throat, “truth is, I’ve got vested interest in that little house behind the building. Your Dr. Leri, she and I knew each other way back when. Round about 15 years ago. And heard through a friend of mine that she’s here, on Cadence, and she’s got a boy with her, about 14 years old. I’m an old bachelor now, too old to settle down but it’d be right nice to have someone to leave behind. So I’ve been sittin’ here, drumming up my courage and hoping to catch a glimpse of the boy. Hoping I might see something of myself in him.”
He could see in their eyes that they’d bought his story. Probably family men, Mal thought, to fall for such a line.
“Well, you can’t be sitting in here all day. Wasting the barkeep’s time and filling up a seat a paying customer could use,” one officer said.
“You won’t find your courage in here, son,” the other said. “You need to march right on up and demand answers.”
“It’s probably time to do that,” Mal said. The two officers headed out of the bar, and Mal sank back into his seat with a sigh of relief. Then he bounded out of the room.
Jayne and River were still in the burning building.
Mal activated his communicator as he ran. “Simon! Your thrice-damned mei mei seems to have wandered off without you even noticing. Just saw her head into the lab. The lab that’s on fire. Jayne’s after her, but you’d best get your med bay ready to treat smoke inhalation, just in case.” He turned off his comm before Simon could sputter out something stupid.
The Alliance officers had at least done him the favour of getting the door open. They were just standing around watching now, waiting for the fire department or maybe just waiting for it to burn itself out, but at least he could get inside.
‘Course, it was black as hell and twice as thick, so getting inside didn’t help much. He covered his mouth and nose with his coat-covered arm to try and filter the air a bit, but his eyes were streaming and his lungs were burning. He got a sense of narrow hallways with several doors when he crashed into Jayne.
Jayne didn’t seem to be doing too well. He had River by one wrist and Isaac by the other. River at least was half on her feet, though Jayne seemed to be doing a fair bit of dragging her along. Isaac was completely unconscious, bumping along behind Jayne like a sack of rice. He was coughing badly, and moving slow, but he had a death grip on his two burdens.
Mal grabbed a fistful of Jayne’s shirt and started leading him out. He half expected to get clocked, grabbing Jayne like that, but Jayne was either too far gone or too focused on getting out to care.
It seemed to take forever to get back out to the fresh air. They were all coughing and hacking; all except Isaac. He lay on the ground, entirely too still. Mal cautiously reached out a hand to try and find a pulse when the whir of a mule caught his attention.
Zoe pulled up beside him and Simon jumped out. Simon was in full on doctor mode, passing by a gasping spitting River to check on Isaac.
“Seems like an exciting day, sir,” Zoe said as Mal looked up at her. “And it looks like you’ve made some friends.”
The Alliance officers he’d talked to inside were walking fast toward them. Mal snapped out his orders. “Load ‘em up and get ‘em back to the ship. I’ll stay here and chat with our new friends.” He went over to help Simon with Isaac.
“How’s the boy, Doc?” Mal dreaded the answer.
“His breathing’s pretty shallow right now, but he should be fine once we get him back on the ship and I give him pure oxygen.”
“Wo de ma. Thought he was a goner for sure.” Mal grabbed Isaac’s legs and helped manoeuvre him into the mule. “You keep Norton away from him as much as possible. We don’t know what we’re dealing with yet.”
River was still coughing as he helped her up, but she was muttering too. Never a good sign. “Babbling brook, singing, whispering, screaming, blab and babble, on and on, like the tower in Book’s book, babbling on, Babylon…” she was still muttering as Zoe turned around and headed back to the ship.
Mal walked towards the glowering officers, but his mind wasn’t on what to tell them. He had a feeling that whatever River was trying to tell him was the key to this whole mess.
Fandom: Firefly
Prompt: Babylon
Warnings: None
Rating: G (so far)
Word Count: 998
Summary: The crew is making new friends and taking new jobs.
Mal smiled and tried to look innocent. He didn’t have much hope that the Alliance officers would believe his smile, but he had to try.
“Your friend ran out of here in a real hurry. What’s got him all fired up?”
“Well, now. It’s funny you should say that. I do believe that building across the way was struck by lightning and is smouldering a little.”
Eight startled pairs of eyes flew to the window. Six pairs of Alliance boots ran out of the building. Which wasn’t so good for Jayne and River, come to think of it, but at least it evened Mal’s odds up a little.
The two remaining officers moved a little closer to Mal. He took a quick glance at their hands – nowhere near their weapons or communicators. That was a good sign; he let himself relax marginally.
“The barkeep mentioned to us that you’ve been in here a lot the past couple of days, always sitting in the same booth and keeping a pretty close eye on that building. And now it’s been struck by lightning. That’s quite the coincidence.”
Mal thought fast, and put on his most earnest face. “The truth is,” he thought about saying sir, but the word stuck in his throat, “truth is, I’ve got vested interest in that little house behind the building. Your Dr. Leri, she and I knew each other way back when. Round about 15 years ago. And heard through a friend of mine that she’s here, on Cadence, and she’s got a boy with her, about 14 years old. I’m an old bachelor now, too old to settle down but it’d be right nice to have someone to leave behind. So I’ve been sittin’ here, drumming up my courage and hoping to catch a glimpse of the boy. Hoping I might see something of myself in him.”
He could see in their eyes that they’d bought his story. Probably family men, Mal thought, to fall for such a line.
“Well, you can’t be sitting in here all day. Wasting the barkeep’s time and filling up a seat a paying customer could use,” one officer said.
“You won’t find your courage in here, son,” the other said. “You need to march right on up and demand answers.”
“It’s probably time to do that,” Mal said. The two officers headed out of the bar, and Mal sank back into his seat with a sigh of relief. Then he bounded out of the room.
Jayne and River were still in the burning building.
Mal activated his communicator as he ran. “Simon! Your thrice-damned mei mei seems to have wandered off without you even noticing. Just saw her head into the lab. The lab that’s on fire. Jayne’s after her, but you’d best get your med bay ready to treat smoke inhalation, just in case.” He turned off his comm before Simon could sputter out something stupid.
The Alliance officers had at least done him the favour of getting the door open. They were just standing around watching now, waiting for the fire department or maybe just waiting for it to burn itself out, but at least he could get inside.
‘Course, it was black as hell and twice as thick, so getting inside didn’t help much. He covered his mouth and nose with his coat-covered arm to try and filter the air a bit, but his eyes were streaming and his lungs were burning. He got a sense of narrow hallways with several doors when he crashed into Jayne.
Jayne didn’t seem to be doing too well. He had River by one wrist and Isaac by the other. River at least was half on her feet, though Jayne seemed to be doing a fair bit of dragging her along. Isaac was completely unconscious, bumping along behind Jayne like a sack of rice. He was coughing badly, and moving slow, but he had a death grip on his two burdens.
Mal grabbed a fistful of Jayne’s shirt and started leading him out. He half expected to get clocked, grabbing Jayne like that, but Jayne was either too far gone or too focused on getting out to care.
It seemed to take forever to get back out to the fresh air. They were all coughing and hacking; all except Isaac. He lay on the ground, entirely too still. Mal cautiously reached out a hand to try and find a pulse when the whir of a mule caught his attention.
Zoe pulled up beside him and Simon jumped out. Simon was in full on doctor mode, passing by a gasping spitting River to check on Isaac.
“Seems like an exciting day, sir,” Zoe said as Mal looked up at her. “And it looks like you’ve made some friends.”
The Alliance officers he’d talked to inside were walking fast toward them. Mal snapped out his orders. “Load ‘em up and get ‘em back to the ship. I’ll stay here and chat with our new friends.” He went over to help Simon with Isaac.
“How’s the boy, Doc?” Mal dreaded the answer.
“His breathing’s pretty shallow right now, but he should be fine once we get him back on the ship and I give him pure oxygen.”
“Wo de ma. Thought he was a goner for sure.” Mal grabbed Isaac’s legs and helped manoeuvre him into the mule. “You keep Norton away from him as much as possible. We don’t know what we’re dealing with yet.”
River was still coughing as he helped her up, but she was muttering too. Never a good sign. “Babbling brook, singing, whispering, screaming, blab and babble, on and on, like the tower in Book’s book, babbling on, Babylon…” she was still muttering as Zoe turned around and headed back to the ship.
Mal walked towards the glowering officers, but his mind wasn’t on what to tell them. He had a feeling that whatever River was trying to tell him was the key to this whole mess.
