Unfinished Business

Chapter Five

“I don’t know why you had to come along,” Simon said, sullenly, as the shuttle took flight, River at the stick.

“Cap’n ain’t about to let his shuttle go wanderin’ off without some . . . responsible supervision,” Kaylee replied, looking out the window. “Don’t take it personal. He wouldn’t let me take it out alone, either.”

They sat in a stony silence as River adjusted her altitude. She wore her ‘piloting’ helmet, with the goggles up, and hadn’t said a word since the other two had entered and strapped in.

They were still fighting.

Kaylee had found some old friends that she barely knew and had gotten thoroughly drunk, stumbling back to Serenity in the meager hours before dawn, incoherent but unmolested. She had protested mightily when River had shaken her awake this morning, but she had promised she would go with her. In truth she was still a bit drunk.

For his part, Simon had taken a few extra shifts in the first aid tent, where he saw to all manner of minor wounds that happen when you mix alcohol, drugs, and heavy equipment together out in the middle of the rugged wilderness – mostly sprains and cuts. He actually enjoyed it more than he thought he would – it was the closest thing to an emergency room he’d seen in a year, and he didn’t have to worry about the Feds coming after him while he practiced medicine. And, of course, the utter lack of paperwork made it professional bliss.

He was surprised at the mixed proficiencies of the other two medics on duty – they had extremely strong clinical skills, but their scientific knowledge was lacking more than he was used to in colleagues. One had been a field medic during the war with a mobile surgical hospital, the other had been a commercial corporate transport medic until he had been caught smuggling narcotics, and had to enter the demimonde. Still, Simon learned a lot about ‘space medicine’, as the two talked shop, telling war stories all night.

He got to bed significantly earlier than Kaylee, and had