Unfinished Business -- Chapter Four
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Old Friends and Old Songs
CATEGORY: FICTION TIMES READ: 3946 RATING: 9.0 (G) SERIES: FIREFLY
Unfinished Business
Chapter Four
River brought Serenity down on the wide plateau after darkness had already fallen on the remote location. Not that she had trouble finding the spot – there were already several ships parked around the edge of the plateau, and their running lights and incidental illumination – not to mention the bonfires – gave her plenty of notice where the Reunion was to be. She circled the plateau once and then settled in as gently as anyone could ask next to a lumpy looking Coventry Astrocruiser with garish teal stripes.
“Welcome, Travelers, to the end of the line, scenic Bumfuck, Muir. Please have your travel documents prepared for the inspector, and declare all fruit and other agricultural products on Form ZZ-211 as you leave.” With a satisfied sigh she started post-flight procedures automatically while the others opened the hatch and started setting up.
The Reunion, proper, was set up under a huge circus-type tent at the north end of the plateau. Smaller tents ringed it in an impromptu bazaar that was traditionally known as “downtown”. It was where the floodlights were set up and the main party happened. But that didn’t keep the south end of the plateau from being lively, as each ship opened up its cargo hatch and decorated its entrance as creatively as possible.
Mal had put Kaylee and Inara in charge of Serenity’s ornaments, and River was glad to pitch in and add her own arcane touches. Kaylee had transplanted her paper lanterns and Christmas lights to the hatch, and added a hand-made poster declaring that Serenity was ‘the friendliest ship in the Black!’ River took a matching piece of poster board and fashioned a giant origami crane that they suspended from the middle of the hatchway, where it drifted lazily in the cool breeze.
Kaylee also added a little shrine in memoriam to Wash and Book, and included a notebook where people could write their sympathies. While Book hadn’t been as well-known to the Rim folk, Wash had been a popular pilot, and many people stopp
I liked this and liked the look at Mal's past, his idealism and the sharp contrast between it and his cynical 'verse view at present. Very interesting!
I'm hoping you'll surprise me and not drag it out.
I did like Simon trying to act cold and menacing and people really not paying much attention - when they really should. I wouldn't want to piss off the doctor who probably knows more ways to kill a body without one even knowing it than the ways Jayne could kill someone with his precious gun.
I did like the description Mal gave to Inara about the Reunion as well.
I really enjoyed Mal in this one. He has such a laid-back attitude to people who shot him and people he'd like to shoot. It's rather nice to see him really get into the spirit of comeraderie, even going so far as to hand Simon a clue when he needed it(although Lord knows he enjoyed watching the Doc squirm as he told the story).
Simon's protectiveness is certainly over the top, but he does have a point in there somewhere - Bester's not the finest catch ever (ranking somewhere below Jayne, even), and River really isn't all there. His analysis of Bester is actually spot-on, as is the type of woman the guy likes. Yes, Kaylee dear, if the shoe fits...
So here's hoping Kaylee applies the brain before she does something she regrets. She's certainly not above petty revenge: she pretty much spent an entire episode punishing Simon for a slight ("The Message"). Getting blasted and boinking the first set of dumb-but-manly spacers she comes across (pardon the pun) is within her character.
Nice to see Simon is as good as bein' intimidatin' as me....
I hope Kaylee gets her head back on straight again soon. She usually has before.
And finally... well done for keeping Zoe without hope. Y'know, in a nice way. Too many folks would find a way to a miracle for her. Though I guess there's plenty of time for that yet...
Even though I am still reading TTOLFW, once I saw that you had started Unfinished Business I had to check in. Have read the prologue and all four chapters and am in love again. Love both the characterizations and the dialogue, particularly when River is in the mix. Missing Wash tho. Particularly found the 'verse response to Earth that was "Don't Tread on Me" from an earlier revolution interesting. Thanks for the entry into another great ride!
And I sadly have to agree with ManicGiraffe. Kaylee's gonna get all pissed and hang out (or more) with a studly spacer or two who won't act like an ass in the way Simon does. Cuz for all of Kaylee's seemingly liberal behaviour....she doesn't take slights very well. Just hope Simon can have a "Kaylee's worth more than I could ever afford cuz she's special (caring, mechanically gifted, extroverted, etc.)" moment against some nooby spacers;)
BEB
Just finished reading Spellmonger.
My first fantasy read... ever, so I don't really have anything to compare it to. I really enjoyed it though. I read it all in three days straight, and I'm a slow reader.
I loved the main character, Minalan, and I hope you will continue the series :)
I'll see what I can do about spreading the word.
You really do need a website though.
Oh, and of course the firefly fic is amazing. I check in every day.
About the "stealing from others" thing: It should not be a source of shame.
I am a programmer, so my perspective on this may be skewed, but in programming there are two very different worlds: That of Open Source and that of corporate closed source, patents and copyrights.
I definitely belong to the first.
The feelings of the Open Source community are that ideas should be shared freely. And since almost every idea ever concieved was built on ideas and concepts that went before; they should be free to reuse and modify as well.
Like I said, I am a programmer and I tend to see the world in the terms of code and algorithms, sometimes even when it is not called for.
But the way I see it, fanfic is not just unauthorized fiction based on ideas from copyrighted works (incidentally, that could be said about Linux too), it is the open source of the literary world. It is the free sharing of ideas, in the language of humans, of stories.
Now, in the world of storytelling there seems to have evolved some kind of social stigma about "stealing ideas". But can ideas really be stolen? Computers and the internet has taught us that all information can be copied, and that copying is different from stealing. In Open Source, re-using ideas, re-using code, is a source of pride. Less code means less maintenence, cleaner design and fewer bugs. I hope that one day, it will be the same for all ideas, be they expressed as algorithms in code, or stories in human language.
Of course there is the problem of taking credit for someone elses work, but that is not what you did.
One could argue that stories are different than computer programs: Re-use can be aesthetically displeasing in stories. But that is only true if done inelegantly, and avoiding that is part of what makes a good writer. In our cultures we see the same stories repeated again and again. The settings and the details change, but many core ideas re-appear across cultural and generational boundaries.
So my message to you is: Do not worry overly about re-using the works of others, and don't apoligize, just give credit were credit is due and let the stories speak for themselves.
Sorry for the rant, I was just annoyed by your comment on the "borrowing Mal's past" issue, and incidentally, I did actually notice the fact even before reading your comment and it did not bother me.
Keep up the good work! Keep the signal flowing...
b
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