PART TEN

Bring me my broadsword and clear understanding...

Bless with a hard heart those who surround me.

Bless the women and children who firm our hands.

Put our backs to the north wind. Hold fast by the river.

Broadsword – Jethro Tull

*

And we made truth together, where no one else would.

I smiled through her fingers and ran the dust through her hands,

the hour-glass of reason on the summerday sands.

We sat as the sea caught fire.

Waited as the flames grew higher in her eyes,

Summerday sands. - Jethro Tull

*

River made brief introductions, after which Mal got Hori to set Serenity down on the headland nearby, after which he initiated a round-the-table discussion.

“Okay, lad; Zhang. Please tell us your story.”

“First off, I'm an orphan. Born probably on Ariel and taken when I was about five by the Alliance for the experimental procedures at Whitefall. One of the scientists was a Zen and martial arts master; she was kind and I learned a lot from her. They fed us, gave us schooling, clothed us and eventually started experiments on us.”

Simon blanched, “Wuh duh ma; huh choo-shung tza-jiao duh tzang-huo!”

Zhang turned to him, “You can probably understand the next part better than most. We were deliberately infected with genetically modified plagues. All the other kids died, sooner or later. But what I think they hoped for happened with me; my immune system kicked into overdrive and fought back. You name the disease and my body has encountered it, fought it and defeated it. I heal very quickly as a result. I think my white blood cells – maybe other parts of me – mutated slightly. I haven't put it to the test, but if I were to break a limb, I think I'd heal in days, not weeks. Maybe even hours.”

River smiled at Zhang, “He's like me; been through the machine and come out stronger. I could hear him calling for me; for *anyone like him, but I wasn't a hundred percent sure until I saw him.”

Zhang nodded, “My mind developed exponentially along with my body. When the final plague got out and everyone w