A New ‘Verse-I-Changes

The times they are a changin’. That had never been truer, thought Captain Malcolm Reynolds as he sat in the pilot’s seat, staring out into the vastness of space. Since the message about Miranda had spread the times had begun to change. Some of the change was slower than could be imagined, some was faster than anyone supposed was possible. Other changes were barely imperceptible across the Verse but made a difference to millions. And there were millions of other changes, small changes that only affected a few. Like the death of Hoban Washburn, the most fearless pilot this side of Shinon. His death, the removal of his conscious being from the ‘Verse, was an event that only directly affected a handful of people. But those handful were not just any random handful of space wanderin’ folk, not simply part of the lost multitude who roved the blackness searching for something…more. Or for nothing at all. This handful were the very ones who set all these changes in motion. Along the way they had lost friends, lovers, confidants, people they could trust. But they were still here. And they were still flying.

Their actions had changed the face of the Verse, in all probability forever. When the wave about Miranda had gone out, the government’s reaction was panicked, to say the least. One councillor denied that such an event ever happened, a second blamed the incident on independent terrorists, still another came forward and apologized for the entire incident. It had been hidden from the people ‘for their own safety’ and ‘the greater well-being of the peoples of the Allied Planets’ he had said. The peoples reaction was sudden and often violent. There were riots in the streets, burning buildings, screaming, howling crowds, pulsing with anger and betrayal. More than once the police and soldiers sent in to quell these riots simply refused to subdue the citizens. There was still order, for the riots were not an everyday occurrence, but slowly everything outside the Central Planets was slipping from Alli