River sat in the pilot’s seat of the shuttle, curtain closed tightly behind her, gazing idly at the activity beyond the window. She raised her cup to her lips without drinking and set it down again.

Behind her, she heard a deep male voice say, “Apologies for my late arrival, Lady. There were… formalities at the dock. We’ve had word of the arrival of criminals of the worst sort, and security between station and all vessels is rather tight right now.”

“Not at all,” Inara answered smoothly. “I’m pleased to see that you exempt no one from your rules. It shows you believe in what you’re doing.” A clink, probably from Inara’s visitor; the Companion, River was sure, would never be so graceless. “If it pleases you, our time together will begin at my door, rather than the appointed hour.”

“That would please me very much, Lady.”

The two chatted idly and graciously, their voices becoming quieter as they progressed into more intimate conversation. River split her attention between the room behind her and the bustle among the gantries and fabrication modules. As she gazed outside at the station and the stars, she felt faint impressions from the pair inside. She saw Sung through Inara’s eyes: a middle-aged aristocrat of military bearing, stern and alone and in desperate need of someone around whom he could relax without fear of indiscretion. She saw Inara through Sung's: a child-goddess of love and pleasure, beautiful and otherworldly, seeming to glow with an inner light as she led him to a couch. River noted that Inara had altered her respirations to fall in synch with her guest’s, and wondered if it was some arcane practice of Companion discipline meant to draw them closer. While these thoughts pressed at the back of her mind, she studied the various activities outside, matching what she saw with her academic knowledge of terraforming operations.

After a time, a spacesuited figure climbed hand-over-hand up a boom in the middle distance, legs free and bent in zero gee; with a human figure to give it perspective