26. Wife Soup, or, We Gotta Go to the Crappy Town Where I'm A Hero

“River,” Mal said. “We should go.”

“Not yet,” River said.

“River. Ain’t nothing here. And Polyphemus may come back.”

River thought there was something there, but Mal was a knowing sort too, even if he only knew things subconsciously; even if he hadn’t had those barriers stripped out of his brain the way that River had. So she activated the thrusters, preparing to turn the ship about.

A light blinked on the console – incoming comm.

River smiled, and opened the channel.

Wash’s voice flooded the bridge. “You guys weren’t planning to leave without me, were you?”

Inara and Kaylee cried out with relief; Simon and Jayne shared a look of surprise.

Mal said, “Wash? Where are you?”

“Down here on the surface, under a ledge,” Wash said. “I didn’t see you until you moved. Wait there, I’ll come to you.”

They saw one of Lemon’s shuttles lift from the surface of the moon – her port shuttle, Mal noted. Same one of Serenity’s shuttles that Mal had destroyed, to cover their tracks at the lawforce station. Well, he thought with a certain satisfaction. That worked out pretty well, I guess.

His crew were standing around the bridge, slapping themselves on the back and celebrating. He pushed into the middle of the knot of them, and shoved them apart. “What are you all standing around here laughing like a pack of hyenas for?” he scolded. “Somebody go find Zoe!”

“Right.” “Of course.” “Sure, Cap’n.” and they dispersed, each one hoping to be the one who brought Zoe the good news.

Mal, who didn’t really want to be the one who found Zoe, went to the port shuttle lock to welcome his pilot home.

**

Everybody was glad to see Wash – well, Jayne seemed a bit discomfited, but he shook Wash’s hand and said he must have done some mighty fine flying to get away from that destroyer, but everybody else seemed unreservedly happy – except Zoe, who was n