Parked

For nearly two days now Serenity sat parked nearly fifty million kilometers from the giant craft. The sheer size of the object made the mind reel. How could anyone, anything, build a ship of this size. From all the measurements they were able to make the ship was over eleven billion kilometers long! Even more stunning was the fact that its volume was about 6 x 1038 cubic kilometers and yet it registered no gravitational distortions whatsoever. Its mass was unfathomable.

Simon stood on the catwalk of the cargo bay watching Jayne, Kaylee, Zoe, Wash and his sister playing their favorite game. The ring suspended from the ceiling swayed back and forth with each miss of the big inflated ball. Book walked up and leaned on the railing next to Simon Tan.

“How’s she doing Simon,” Book asked, as a smile crossed his face watching Zoe knock down Jayne.

Simon raised his eyebrows, “She seems…fine. Nothing has changed in her body except that her brain is producing more serotonin than she normally does. Other than that, she is no different than one of us.”

“Is it dangerous for her brain to produce that chemical,” Book asked, genuinely concerned. These people were his family now.

“Well,” Simon continued, seemingly confused, “since I have been able to monitor her levels, River has never produced the average amounts a young woman her age is supposed to. I don’t know why her brain has decided to do so now.”

Book looked at the young woman running around the deck and laughing, “She seems very happy in spite of all that’s happened.”

Simon was watching her too and his eyes welled up, “It’s like when we were kids. I haven’t seen her this happy since we were playing at home. That was before everything went out of control. It nearly seems like a lifetime ago, yet I know it was only 5 years.”

Preacher Book smiled and put his hand on Simon’s shoulder, “Maybe we ought not look a gift horse in the mouth. God knows River deserves this shot at normalcy. I for one am gonna enjoy watching her play.”

Simone looked at t