Weeks Five and Six

I could tell by the feel of Serenity by now that she had lifted off and left Cara Dawn behind us, climbing through the atmosphere of Ezra. Satisfied that the engines were happy, I left the room and up a ladder to the observation porthole set at the top of the ship, next to one of the emergency locks. From this vantage point, I could only see a little bit of ground, more or less behind the ship, but above us, the blue sky was already thinning to black, and I caught sight of a structure hanging up there, still a long way above us - a sort of a spiral disk made out of metal and glass. The skyplex. I was glad that we hadn't had to dock Serenity there - this time, at least.

But things had gone well for the business on Ezra, at least. The Winfield clan were all aboard, and we'd taken off soon enough to suit them well. Mal and Niska's lackey had finally agreed on a price for the jewelry, and it was enough money to keep us flying for a while, as Mal had said. There was more work coming up, and... and I was wondering how long it would be before I could sneak off with Jonny Winfield again without anybody noticing me gone.

"Kaylee? Get to the passenger dorms, on the double!" Well, it wouldn't be for a little while I guessed. Hurried down the nearest stairs and aft, wondering what had gotten Zoe so concerned. I wasn't there before my nose started to give me a notion.

"Nothing quite like this has ever happened since I've been on the ship," Zoe complained, indicating the foul smell that seemed to be coming out of the nearest vents. "And our passengers are rightfully displeased," she added in a lower whisper. "Fix it NOW. Is there anything I can do to help?"

Now I was glad that I'd managed to do as much cramming on the various systems of Serenity as I had, because the key points of the life support system flashed up behind my eyes, as it were, and I reviewed them in order of increasing difficulty as Zoe and I worked together to open up the wall panels that would let me get at the actual gear.