It's a Sorry 'Verse

Chapter Forty-Eight
It’s A Sorry ’Verse

Kaylee looked up sharply as Mal strolled into the dining room. “He woke up?” she demanded.

“And it’s mighty nice to see you this evening, too, Kaywinnit Lee,” Mal said. “I’m doing fine, thanks for asking.”

She rolled her eyes, impatient with the captain’s games, even while she relaxed since he wouldn’t be playing them if he was still worried. “I’m always glad to see my captain,” she assured him. “Especially when he can answer little questions like: How’s Xander?”

Mal sighed and shook his head. “You seein’ this disrespect?” he demanded, turning to Zoë.

“It’s a sorry ‘verse,” she agreed calmly.

Before he could continue with his whinging, Wash came in, looked around, and immediately said, “Mal! Did Xander wake up?”

“See this? I’ve been relegated to courier! Do I look to you like the boys standing on street corners shouting the news?”

Jayne looked up from his food and said, “Somethin’ like. Only older.”

Mal glared at him. “Now, I—“

“Mal,” Zoë interrupted.

He looked over at her.

“How’s the boy?”

Kaylee giggled at his betrayed look, but was glad that he finally nodded.

“He woke up. We exchanged a few words.”

They waited, then Kaylee exploded, “Is he okay?”

“I said he woke up, didn’t I!”

“Maa-aaal…”

“Doc think he’ll be okay. Not gonna have much use out his hands for a time, but he’ll pull through. That leg you shot up’s a bit of a mess,” he added, with a glance at Zoë.

“You said to cover him,” she pointed out.

“I didn’t tell you to shoot him in the leg if he tried to save Kaylee from a monster, did I?”

Zoë rolled her eyes.

“He say anything about the axe?” Jayne asked anxiously.

Kaylee couldn’t help the giggle that escaped her as she glanced over at the big man and saw the head of the axe, now clad in leather, peeking up over his shoulder from the sheath he’d rigged on his back for it.

Mal raised his brows. “Didn’t say much ‘bout nothing. Just tried to feed me some story ‘bout us gettin’ attacked by some guy doped up on somethin’. Told him we weren’t buyin’ it.”

Kaylee shuddered at the reminder, again seeing the thing moving towards them with arms like something she could’ve built except she’d never build anything so horrible. It had been unnatural in a way she’d never imagined, because she didn’t even much care for nature, she liked her machines and thought artificial fabrics were more comfortable than natural and while sometimes she liked the fresh air smells of outside, Serenity’s canned air always felt safer. But that thing had been unnatural in a way that bypassed any sense of God-made or man-made, and went straight to something bigger, something scarier. The way it moved had made all the bitty little hairs on the back of her neck stand up straighter than Zoë in soldier-mode, and even now she could feel it there, watching her, moving towards her. Threatening in that awful voice she could just barely understand to suck her marrow out of her bones.

“Kaylee!”

She jerked around at the shout, and looked up. “Captain?”

“Don’t want you thinkin’ ‘bout it no more, Kaylee. It didn’t hurt you. Didn’t hurt none of us past fixing, and that’s about all you can ask from a day.”

“But it was unnatural,” she said.

“Well, I won’t go arguin’ that. Sure didn’t seem like nothing ought to be in the ‘verse. But then, neither do those dinosaurs of Wash’s. Once Xander wakes up, we can maybe get some answers, but, till then, there ain’t a whole lot to do about it. So I want you focusing on what’s real. And that’s keeping my boat in the air, you got that?”

“Yes, sir,” she agreed. Then, though she tried not to say the words, they came out anyway. “But it was real too! Wasn’t it?”

Mal glared at her. “We’re focusing on my boat, Kaylee. That thing ain’t my boat, is it?”

“No, captain.”

“Then how ‘bout we not focus on it.”

“Well it’s not exactly easy to not focus on,” Wash pointed out reasonably. “It’s an eight foot tall monster with two arms but eight elbows.”

He was taking it the best, which Kaylee figured was ‘cause the first time he saw it, it had already been dead. It was still awful, lying there sprawled across the cargo bay with the arms going first one way and then another and then another, but it wasn’t the same. It didn’t have that awful sense that made her want to bury her head under the covers and never come out again ever.

“Wish the shepherd was here.”

She looked over, surprised at the words even though she knew Jayne liked Book. But it hadn’t occurred to her that he might ever want someone to be there who wasn’t. It always seemed kinda like anything he wasn’t looking at didn’t exist to Jayne.

“What?” he demanded, when everyone else turned to stare at him too. “Shepherds deal with all that unexplained stuff, don’t they? Tell ya if it’s God’s will or just the Alliance playin’ round cutting things up and putting ‘em back together weird.”

Mal’s face hardened. “Wouldn’t put it past God to have a will like that, but it ain’t welcome on my boat any more than He is. If we’re done playin’ Cross-Examine the Captain, I wouldn’t mind actually swallowing a mouthful or two of food,” he added.

“Did he say anything else?” Zoë asked.

The captain paused with his fork halfway to his mouth to glare at her. “Not much. Some nonsense ‘bout how he shouldn’t’a throttled it and coulda got us all killed. Didn’t talk much sense. Mostly he was just hurting.”

“Doc have any idea when he’ll wake up for longer?”

He took his time chewing deliberately before he answered. “Sometime tomorrow maybe. Might be longer. Might be sooner.”

Zoë nodded, satisfied, and turned to focus on her own meal, the others gradually joining in, though there was none of their usual chatter, just like there hadn’t been for the last three meals.

Kaylee ate a few bites, but then shuddered and pushed her plate away as the icy fingers trailed up her spine again. “I’ve gotta get some work done,” she said, pushing away from the table. She couldn’t feel the eyes on her when she was in the engine room. The warm, familiar sounds of the engine pulsing and turning and moving around her assuring her that she was safe. She wasn’t sure she could believe its promises anymore, not after first Early and then that thing had reached them right inside Serenity, but even if she wasn’t sure it was right to trust it, it still felt safe. And right now, that was enough.