Week One

The sun was starting to set against the dusty plain as I headed over towards the ship, and I could only see its squat, friendly proportions by shading my hand against the light, which was awkward with all that I was carrying, but I *wanted* to see it. This firefly transport was going to be my home, for... well, I didn't rightly know how long I'd be staying with her and her odd crew, but I could hardly wait to get started. Between the box and the hand-shading, I completely missed Bester as he came up from aside me, shaking me by my shoulders so that the box fell on the dry packed ground. He even raised his hand and threatened my face, but seemed to realize that he'd be hittin' a girl and thought better of before letting the slap land at least.

"You truly ARE a prairie harpy," he muttered. "Why'd you have to go and spout off about the grav boot for? I... I knew that it wasn't that, but I had to tell old man Reynolds SOMETHING..."

For a second I was really worried, then spotted somebody watching from the open cargo bay of the ship and heading over. Whoever it was, wouldn't let Bester hurt me, I was somehow sure of that, and I used the safety of that to give him a piece of my mind. "I didn't tell your Captain... my Captain now I guess, nothin' but the truth. Ain't my fault if you don't know a bad reg couple from your own big toe! I won't apologize neither for showin' you up, not if it got me this opportunity. If you took care of that there Firefly right, and nothin' would have happened to your job. But you didn't, an' she was cryin' out for someone who would put her to rights. I'm just the one that heard her, is all."

"Very poetic," Bester sneered. "But what am I to do now? Reynolds threw me off, nothing but the clothes on my back and half a week's pay he owed me. How am I gonna find more work on a fleapit moon like this one?"

I smiled very slightly, and didn't step in to defend my home world, because there was some truth to the line that there was little work to be had, especially for lazy st