The Treasure of Lei Fong Wu

Chapter Three

“You must promise me,” Zoe begged her husband. “You can never let me leave this bathtub.”

“It ain’t a bathtub, sweetie, that’s a gorram swimming pool.” He wasn’t far from wrong. It was a large sunken tub in pretty pink and green ceramic mosaic, with elegant fixtures, complicated controls to several jet massagers, soap, shampoo and bubble dispensers, and temperature control. A cortex connection was nearby, and when called into service it projected a moveable holographic screen into the middle of the tub. There was a sound system that they discovered could put a symphony orchestra in the tub with them. It was large enough to sit four people comfortably.

Nearby was an ornate lacquered cabinet that contained the biggest, softest, fluffiest warm towels in the whole ‘verse. At the touch of a button, though, warm, subtly scented air from a vent in the ceiling could blow you dry.

Hump Nirvana and Heaven combined, Zoe thought. Paradise was this bubble bath.

“What are you doing?” she called out. Wash had headed right for the big, king-size bed the moment his baggage hit the floor. He had a pilot’s love of sleep – any profession where you often took four-hour-on, four-hour-off shifts was going to invite that. For herself, Zoe could sleep on hard ground with a rock for a pillow as easily as anywhere else. She appreciated comfort, but she was no slave to it.

A bath, on the other hand . . . during the War there were times when she would go three months without bathing. Three months in mud, dust, snow, ice, sweat, blood, tears. Around corpses weeks dead. There were times when she thought she’d never be clean again. Though things were certainly better on Serenity, she still did not get the soul-cleansing rose scented catharsis she craved nearly often enough. Every chance she could, she indulged. A bath was worth more than silver and gold.

Wash was certainly an enthusiastic supporter of her therapy. He loved sitting nearby and watching her soak, so