“What in the tyen shao duh…!”

“C-c-cold…so cold…”

“Kaylee!!”

“Yes, Cap’n?”

“Kaylee. Why are Wash and Simon shivering like we left ‘em on St. Alban’s with no ruttin’ clothes on?”

The mechanic looked over the two half-dressed men huddled near the passenger lounge, wrapped in the thickest towels on board Serenity. “I…I don’t know…”

“Best be lookin’ to find out. I don’t need icicles on my boat.”

“What…happened?” Kaylee asked, kneeling down towards Simon’s shivering teeth.

“Sh-sh-shower,” the doctor said. “So c-c-cold…”

“You’re sayin’ we just ran outta hot water?” The young woman giggled a little. “Aw, that’s nothin’…”

“Oh, no,” Wash called out, his cheeks a pale shade of blue. Zoe was next to him, quickly rubbing down his chest and back to generate a little heat to warm her husband up. “Not ‘ran out’.”

“Whad’ya mean, not ran out?” Kaylee stalked over to the pair of shower stalls and turned one of the heads on full blast. Reaching her hand in the fine spray, she quickly pulled it out again and waved it in the warm air of the ship to regain a little heat in it. “What the…?”

“I-it’s sh-shock,” Simon chattered, reaching for another towel. Kaylee ran over and handed the warm fluffy object to the young man, and watched with more than an appraising eye as he tried to ‘change’ his wrappings as discreetly as possible. “Th-the sudden cold p-put our b-bodies into a st-state of sh-shock. I-it’ll take a while…”

“You hear that, zhangfu?” Zoe said. “Rest.”

“And leave who, exactly, to land the ship in four hours?” Wash retorted. “I’m tellin’ you, someone did this on purpose.”

“Right. Someone wanted you off the bridge, and the doctor out of the infirmary.”

“Hey,” Wash said. “Some people juggle geese.”

“It’s not that big a fix,” Kaylee called out, her head now closely inspecting the shower heads. “Someone just put a crimp in the hot water lines—nothin’ real noticeable at first, unless you turn on the water.”

“St-still,” Simon chattered