All the usual disclaimers. Not mine, just playing nicely with the toys.

“Zoe, lamby, what’s the matter? Zoe, ZOE!”

“Simon, get up here!” Wash’s voice rose to a shout over the intercom.

Simon came at a run, followed by Mal.

“What is it, Wash?” Simon asked.

“I don’t know! Look at her -- she can’t breathe. She’s wheezing and sweating, and I don’t think she can hear me.”

Zoe lay in the bunk she shared with Wash, eyes closed, hair sweat-drenched. Her breath came in quick pants and she grunted with every exhalation

“How long’s she been like this?” Simon asked calmly.

“I don’t know. She was like this when I came back down from the bridge. I was up there maybe three, four hours; she was sleeping when I left, just coughing some. She was fine when we went to bed last night, maybe a little bit of a cough. She figured it was haydust and she’d be all right once it settled.” Wash was clearly terrified but holding hard onto his composure.

“What d’you think it is, doc? Do you reckon it’s contagious?” Mal asked.

“I can’t tell anything until I get her up to the infirmary. I don’t like the sound of her chest but I can’t really tell anything until I run some tests.” Simon’s mouth was set hard and it was clear he was a little uneasy.

Mal picked Zoe up from the bed and clambered up the companionway. Wash was right behind him, noticing in spite of his fear for Zoe that Mal hadn’t even asked whether he should carry Zoe. And also noticing that he would have asked Mal to carry her if he hadn’t simply scooped her up.

As soon as Mal laid Zoe on the medbed Simon moved smoothly into action. He fitted an oxygen mask first and as soon as it began to feed Zoe’s breathing grew noticeably less labored. He draw blood and started analyzing it, stopping often to listen to Zoe’s chest, his face impassive. He swabbed inside her cheek and examined the sample under the microscope.

After nearly an hour he turned to Mal and Wash, who both stood over the medbed. Wash holding Zoe’s hand. Kaylee peered in from the d