Slow time

Sometimes ship transit times between planets goes pretty slow. I do my exercises most days, tai chi; marital arts, and weight training. It seems like big Jayne just goes in for weight training and a bit of running in place. Shepard Book likes to do weight training and meditation. Inara has me giving her some tai chi training, although I’m hardly a master. She is impossibly graceful, however, and learns quick. Indeed, I find myself seeking excuses to lightly touch her to adjust her body to the next pose. Sure, she’s young enough to be my daughter, and mentally I know nothing will ever come of it, but my body still has enough of the young buck to make the sap flow.

I’ve also taken to playing chess with River. I reckon I’m no match for her, but I sense that she enjoys it. She’ll giggle away when she makes a clever move, and do a make-believe pout on the rare occasion when I make a good move. Some times we’ll just sit and talk. She’ll ask me about other planets and other cultures, and I do my best to educate her that way. Jayne and I sometimes will sit and talk about weapons, but in truth he does weary me. Seems like Mal thinks a lot and seems to plan things, although it sounds like, according to Zoe, most of the time they have to do a lot of contingency stuff.

Kaylee spends much of her time fussing with the internals of the Serenity. She’ll occasionally surface to make eyes at Simon. I should take that lad aside and instruct him in the ways of women, but I reckon I have better things to do. ‘Sides, that’s one of the things Shepherds ought to be doing. I don’t see Wash too much, guess he’s to busy doing his piloting thing. I spend quite a bit of time writing on my little electronic note pad. My journal takes some time, and then I’m also working on something I’ll call my memoirs. Been here and there, met a whole passel of folks, seen some strange things out there. Figured I’d write some of it down. Maybe I’ll get to be famous. Heh, more n’likely infamous.

Who’s Playin’ Chess?

Mal and Zoe came back around evening, with Jayne showing up around midnight. He surely did have a smile on his face, so I reckon he had a good time. Mal had been starting to mutter about Jayne being late and all, causing the other members of the crew to chuckle. From what I hear, this is a pretty common occurrence. I had hung out in the dining area, casually chatting with Zoe and Wash most of the time. Watching them, noting the interplay between them, makes me kinda jealous. They have each other. Me, I have my memories and my thoughts.

We blast off into the dark skies, the Captain having gotten some kind of contract to carry some goods. I doubt that they’re legal, but that’s not for me to say or care about. After the all-clear, I went back to the dining area. River was there, all by herself. She was a-playin’ chess, apparently against herself. She’d move white and mutter something that sounded like “Murphy”, and the skip over to black and say something like “Fisher”. I sat down and watched her for a while, noting her concentration and studying her features.

I reckon she coulda been my grand-daughter. She’d be the right age, had I married and had a kid or two. Hell, I’d been proud of her, too. She perked up her head and looked straight at me for a long moment, a little smile playing around her features. “Me too”, she finally said. She does have some surprising ways about her, I’ll admit, but I’m getting used to it. I watched her for a while longer, her skipping around from one side of the chessboard to the other, then I went off to my little room. I got out my little electronic notebook and checked my finances. Yeah, I’m good to go. Living indoors and eatin’ regular has always been one of the things I wanted to keep doing with my life. No need to go back to work. Leastways, not yet.

Easy time in the town

The law came by a bit after that to ask about all the shooting. They checked the dead ones, looked a the live ones, asked a few questions, and then went away. It sounded like the dead folks were members of a troublesome crowd of folks that the local constable were silently thanking us for getting rid of them. I usually try to work with the law, as it surely does smooth the road for me. It was sorta interestin’ that they didn’t show up until well after the shooting, but that gang doubtless had more firepower then the law.

All the bodies, alive and dead, were hauled off shortly after, then the four of us plus Kaylee went into town. There was a local junkyard that Kaylee wanted to poke around in, something I reckon she does every planetfall. Jayne wanted to go find him a woman, while Zoe and Mal was going to see about some cargo that a local bigwig wanted them to haul. Me, I just wanted to get out, breathe fresh air, and stretch my legs a mite. First place I stopped was the local post office. Even though I’m retired, I still like to keep up with all the wanteds. The price has gone up on the Tams, I see. I stashed that in my memory and wandered out to see the town.

There were three bars in town. One was damned noisy and one seemed to attract better dressed folks, so I naturally gravitated towards the middle one. Damned near every place has a decent kind of beer, so I ordered a pitcher and selected a quiet table where I could watch the other customers and sip my beer. A pretty miss came by after a bit and asked if I’d like something to eat, so I ordered a good steak. It even tasted like honest beef. I finished my meal, leaned back in my chair, and quietly finished my beer.

I ambled out of the bar after a while, stretched, and then headed back towards the ship. When I got there Kaylee was sitting, cross-legged, right by the open cargo hold. She had some gadget in her lap and was operating on it with a screwdriver. She looked up and gave me a sunny smile, then went back to fiddlin’ with the gadget. I chuckled at that, found myself a good spot to sit on the other side of the cargo door, and sunned myself for a while. I’m a-getting to the age where I like to soak up the sun some, just warming my bones.

Shoot-em-up, Serenity Style

A voice, I’m guessing it was the captain, came a-blaring over the little intercom system of the Serenity. It said that we’d be hitting atmosphere in a few minutes, and would be landing in a bit after that, and we’d all better strap ourselves in. I always take those warnings to heart, as a buddy of mine one time got his head stove in when the ship bounced one way and he bounced the other. He never was the same after that.

After some jarring and bouncing around, things finally quieted down and it was announced we were planet-side. I planned on visiting town, so I snugged a little automatic under my left arm and put on my bush vest. I slicked my hair back, smoothed a little wax on my moustache, and headed for the cargo bay. Jayne, Mal, and Zoe were already there, with weapons handy. I paid that no nevermind, figuring that was just normal behavior. The cargo door thumped down, and damned if there weren’t a whole bunch of mean-looking fellows a-waitin’ for us, with their weapons drawn. Their leader kinda grinned and allowed as how he’d caught Mal with his pants down, then told all of us to put our weapons down. Since I didn’t have no visible one and they weren’t paying attention to me, I guess they figured I didn’t have one.

Mal and Jayne hesitated, and about that time River and Simon started to come down the stairs. The leader saw them and pointed, bellowing something like “There they are”. I saw Mal go for his gun, so naturally I hauled mine out as well. There was a whole bunch of shootin’ and yellin’ right about then, with men scattering every which way. I nailed about four of them with my automatic and snapped the neck of a fifth one when he got too close. Jayne did a right smart job of mowing with his piece, Zoe worked her lever-action to good effect, and Mal accounted for a couple others. The smoke cleared and the noise abated shortly thereafter.

Mal came out of his crouch, holstering his gun. Zoe slid her cut-off carbine into its holster, and big Jayne lowered his piece. Some of the bodies did stir and moan a little, so Simon came over and sorta tended to them. Jayne looked around, smiled, said “nice fight”, then started checking the bodies. I reckon he was a-thinking about looting them. Me, I didn’t care. Mal came over about then, said thanks for the help, and then chided me for having weapons. Jayne was squatting down by a body, a-using my bowie to cut a belt. He laid the knife down for a moment, so I naturally scooped it up. Mal saw it but didn’t say a word. He’s a smart man, as I still had my blood up a little and might not have taken too kindly to a demand for the knife.

Zoe, Wash, and memories

I taped River’s drawing to the wall, right by my bunk, just so’s I could look at it from time to time. I ain’t as fearsome-looking as some folks have said. Why, look at the twinkle in my eye and the big gray moustache. Hell, I look like someones kindly grandpap. I leaned back in my bunk with my hands behind my head and pondered a few things. Would more money matter to my retirement? Do I want to stay retired? Damn damn damn. All them questions and me without any easy answers. Well, ain’t that the way it always is. I scooted down a bit to ponder things some more and closed my eyes. Maybe the one true path will reveal itself, as Chiun would say now and then. Wise old coot, he was.

I meandered down to the mess for the evening meal. Zoe and the pilot was there, kinda jokin’ with each other. She saw me and gestured towards the red-headed guy and introduced him as Wash. She paused, then added “my husband”. I shook hands with him, said I was Lafe, and helped myself to some mystery food. On board a ship like this, man doesn’t ask too many questions about what he’s eating. Wash grinned over at me while Zoe was off looking for something in the galley cabinets and asked me if I ever made it with a warrior woman. I eyed him for a moment, quirked a smile, and reckoned that I hadn’t. He allowed as how there was nothing like it, then clammed up when Zoe came back. Interesting couple, I thought.

The rest of the meal I listened to the byplay between the two as I ate. Curious, I reckon. They had their personal lives and their professional lives. Kinda interesting how they work their different lives. Zoe is the hard-nosed exec, always ready to do battle for the captain, but at the same time she’s tied to her man. Wash flips back and forth between being a young guy playing around with an exotic woman and being a real professional pilot, able to make instant decisions. I’ve thought about getting’ a woman to settle down with, but seems to me it’d be unfair, me never knowing when I might be planted, the hunter becoming the prey. And her never knowing when I didn’t come home, if I’d breathed my last on some far-off planet or if I’d just tired of her and moved on.

I shook my thoughts out of my head. Starting to think like I’m old, just wondering about the way things might have been. Yeah, coulda, woulda, shoulda. I remember long ago, when me ma would sing something about yesterday being dead and gone, and tomorrow being out of sight. When I would hear that, I’d always know that it’d be about time for a new ‘uncle’ to show up for a month or two. Hell, maybe I ought to hunt up Book and confess all my sins. Take the rest of the voyage and then some, most likely. I got up, stuck my plate in the recycler, and headed back to my bunk. I think I need to be planet-side for an hour or two. Never did like being cooped up like this.

Lafe gets sketched

After all that exercise, I was feelin’ kinda mellow, so I slowly drifted back up to the mess hall just to see if I couldn’t scare up a little talk. Inara brushed past me on the way, and her perfume near made my knees weak. I smiled at her too, but she was a-looking stern. Sure enough, here comes the Captain in hot pursuit. They start yapping at each other, so I made myself scarce. Listening to other folks air their dirty laundry ain’t my idea of fun.

The young girl was sitting at the mess table, drawing something on a scrap of paper. She looked up at me, smiled, and drew some more. I fetched me a cup of brown-colored hot water that claimed to be coffee and took a seat at the table. She finished drawing after a while and showed me the result. It was me, and a helluva good likeness. I properly admired it for a while, then tried to give it back to her. She refused, a-telling me she wanted me to have it. I took it, and then she started telling me all about the artistic styles of a batch of people I’d never heard of. Probably folks from Earth-That-Was.

She stopped, abruptly, when the dude came in, smiled at him, and then introduced him as her brother, Simon Tam and herself as River Tam. He was making shushing noises at her, then sighed when she’d finished. He sat heavily down and put his head in his hands. I spoke up then, telling him that I was retired, and I knowed who they were for a while. Simon looked at me, like he was trying to figure out if I was telling the truth or not. I ‘spect I could have been just setting them up, but… I wasn’t. Leastwise, it wasn’t the uppermost thought in my mind. Sure, I’ve let a few folks go, even though they had paper on them, ‘cause it just didn’t seem right. I’ve capped a few others that didn’t have paper, just because they pushed me too hard and it didn’t seem right them breathin’ the same air I did. I’m trying to keep being retired and all, but the thought of one more big reward does keep pushing on me. I sighed, took the drawing, and went back to my bunk. Just doesn’t seem right, the Alliance wantin’ that young girl and her brother so bad.

Kata in the cargo hold

I felt the need for some exercise after having them Reavers pass so close to us yesterday. I headed down to the mess, where I spotted the Captain. He was chatting with the Shepherd, Zoe and the pilot, and it sure looked like they were having a good time about something, just laughing and all. I waited until Mal noticed me, then asked if he minded me in the cargo bay doin’ some exercise. Before the captain could say anything, the Shepard spoke up and said that he needed to go there to do some lifting and would be glad to accompany me. Mal, he scratched his chin for a moment, then nodded.

The Shepherd, on our way to the cargo bay, stopped and stuck out a hand. He said his name was Shepherd Book. I shook it, and said my name was Lafe. Book chuckled and allowed as how he already knew that. I grinned at that and we proceeded down the stairs to the bay. There were a bunch of cargo boxes and crates in the back and a folded up cargo handler to one side. I thought it looked like a pretty efficient setup, too. Book showed me where the weight bench was, then told me he wasn’t trying to tell me my business, but this sure looked to him like a poor place to bounty hunt. I repeated to him that I was retired, but he did look like he wasn’t quite sure about that.

I took my shirt off and proceeded through my normal exercises. I start with some tai chi, just to warm up a bit and stretch my muscles some, then I slip into my kata. I surely do like to do that, as I find it relaxes and clears my mind. Old Chiun helped me put the kata together, must be 30 years ago. He said it combines elements of a lot of different fighting styles. Reckon that’s so, as it seems like I can whip many folks even now by just figuring out what kinda thing works best against whatever they’re trying to do to me. Not braggin’ any, just stating a fact. It sure doesn’t mean I can’t get whupped, just increases the odds some. Then I finish with a little more tai chi, just cooling down a little.

Book, he watched me go through all that, from the tai chi to the kicks, punches, blocks, and whatnot of the kata, then cocked his head to one side as I went through the slow-motion ‘dance’ of tai chi again. He told me, as he was spotting for me on the weight bench, that it almost looked like ballet. Big Jayne came up about then and laughed. He said that ballet was just for sissies. Book chuckled and said he knowed a dancer that had such long legs she coulda kicked the big man right under the chin. Jayne leered at that and said that he likes his women to have long legs. I can see where talking with him could get real limitin’ real fast.

Something wicked this way comes

I woke up suddenly, sitting up with my gun in my hand with no real memory of what woke me. I looked around my dimly lit room, glanced at the door, then put my gun away. I’ve heard tell that older folks can have imaginary enemies. Well, I’ve got real ones a-plenty without dragging in no imaginary ones. Still, there’s something poking in the darker recesses of my mind. There’s something not quite right somewhere close.

I slipped on my pants and stepped out into the hallway, gun still in my hand. I could hear tense voices towards the bridge, so I sidled up that way. Most of the crew was already up there, a-looking out the window at another ship passing close by. Zoe saw me and alerted the captain by saying “sir” and slanting her head my way. Mal shot a quick glance at me, shrugged his shoulders a little, and went back to watching the ship. I saw Jayne there, with a sidearm, looking pale. Kaylee and the Shepherd were standing by the door, staring out the window as well. The young girl padded up behind me, eyes wide in terror. “Reavers”, she whispered. I’d only seen a couple of Reaver ships, and that was enough to keep me away from them. Reavers looked like humans, but anything that is cannibalistic, vicious, and just plain evil is surely beyond my understandin’.

We all watched them until they faded off into the distance, no one saying much of anything. I put my shooter in my waistband, not wanting to flaunt it, hung around there a bit more, then turned to go back. The young girl glanced up at me with a knowing look and told me that I knew who she was. I gave her a smile, told her I reckoned so, and added the same theme that I’d been a-saying for some time now, that I was retired. She reached up to my face, her touch light as a butterfly’s wing, and told me that I had a nice moustache. She then sorta giggled and ran off. I went back to my bunk with more puzzles to ponder. I ‘spect I was more comfortable when things were more black and white. Huntin’ down folks is easy; bein’ retired seems to be harder than I’d have thought.

Doc and his sis

I woke up, dressed, and headed on down to the mess to see if I could scrounge something to eat. Usedta be I could go for quite a while without eating, but not any more. When I got there the galley was empty, so I just helped myself to a cup of coffee. I’ve heard tell that the coffee is synthetic, but somehow a hot cup of it still seems to start the morning off right. I was just sittin’ down to enjoy it when that fine-looking lady came in. I stood back up, as I always do, until she sat down. She smiled and introduced herself as Inara. We made some small talk, then she happened to mention she was a Companion. I told her that’s what she might do, but what she was, was a lady. She seemed to be pleased at that pronouncement.

The Captain made an appearance about then, nodding a greeting to me and murmuring something to Inara. She smiled back and softly said something in Chinese to him. One of the other things about being a bounty hunter is that you learn to read people’s faces. I could see that there was a certain attraction between them, and I was just as certain it was something they might be hesitant about pursuing. I was just about to get up and leave them be when the dude and that young girl came in. The girl was chattering about something, using lots of big words, while the dude was bobbing his head like he understood what she was talking about.

Inara interrupted her small talk with the Captain to introduce the two, just as “the doctor and his sister”. Well, I had figured out who they probably were, but thought it would be impolite of me to say so. The girl looked at me for a long moment, cocked her head, then proceeded to tell me the inner workings of the Firefly drive, using lots of technical terms. I blinked at the torrent of words, puzzled as to what the hell was going on. The doctor came over, sat down alongside his sister, and started trying to calm her down. If they weren’t brother and sister they did a damned good job of acting like it.

I had dinner, and idly listened to Mal talk to the crew about some contract he’s thinking about taking up, and observed the other folks. How I’d take them out if I had to, as that’s something I ponder a lot. Jayne would be easy. He’s big, strong, and good with weapons, but he’s a fool. The pilot comes across as being immature. Kaylee would fall apart, and the doctor and his sister aren’t even worthy of consideration. That leaves the Shepherd, the Captain, and Zoe. They’re worthy of a bit of thought, all right. I tucked that away in my memory, said my good nights, and went off to my bunk. Lots to ponder,

They take my bowie

I just get sat down and start to rock my chair back when a well-dressed, exotic-looking woman walks in. No, scratch that. She’s a lady, I’ll be taking my oath on that. I stood up until she sat down, earning me puzzled looks from the others but a gracious smile from her. She shot a little sidelong glance at the Captain, just like she was a-tellin’ him that’s how a real gentleman behaves. The Captain just gave her a blank look, then leaned over in response to a quick whisper from the dude.

Yep, the Captain is no slouch when it comes to drawing his shooter. He no more than stood up when I was looking right down the barrel of his gun. He asked me straight out if I was carrying a weapon. I had to admit that I was, but it was just habit, nothing personal. He glanced over at the dark woman, Zoe, but she had her little sawed-off carbine already out and pointed at me. He got a little half-smile on his face, probably pleased at that swift reaction, and told the big man to come over and take the bowie. Called him Jayne, too. Peculiar name for a big guy, Jayne, was my unspoken thought. I told him where the knife was and admitted that I was kinda puzzled just how they spotted it. Jayne grinned at that question and slanted his head towards the young girl, saying simply “She knows things”. He took the bowie, patted me down quickly yet professionally, then went back to his seat.

Mal holstered his gun, then looked at the rest of them and hooked a thumb in my direction. He said that my name was Lafe and that I was a professional bounty hunter and probably pretty good at my job. I spoke up then, telling them that I was retired and had no interest in anything else other than my destination. Don’t think that really set anyone’s mind at ease, but it might have helped a little. After that bit of excitement things seem to settle down a little, as Kaylee and the Shepherd served dinner. I didn’t hang around there after eating; just headed on back to my bunk. I surely do wish they’d have let me keep my knife, as I’d spent a fair bit of time getting the blade sharpened and the handle worked until they were just right. Maybe I’ll also get a chance to talk with the exotic lady soon. She could fill my dreams anytime.