Disclaimer – Everything either does belong to Joss or it should. I’m just borrowing his shiny ‘verse for a while.

The 21st Lancers belong to the British Army so I’m borrowing them too. I hope they don’t mind

* * *

University of Toulouse – Toulouse – 2519AD

Simon deactivated the Console and detached the data cube on which he had been storing his research to. It had been eight weeks since Serenity had landed on Toulouse and he had been spending much of his free time using the University Library which by tradition was open to all.

An added bonus of the system of universal access meant that in addition to the shelves of books, and the racks of ROM Data Cubes on every conceivable subject, there were numerous unregistered free-access Consoles which he could use to obtain any neuroscience journals not available in the Library itself. There were plenty of medical students studying here before going to the Core Planets to finish their training so the downloading of such material would not arouse the suspicions of Alliance personnel and AI programs which monitored the Cortex. It was the first opportunity he had had for in-depth research into his Sisters condition.

Simon put the cube into his jacket pocket and went to meet Kaylee. They had arranged to rendezvous for lunch and he was running a bit late. He knew he’d still likely be there before her but tardiness bothered him.

The Café where they arranged to meet was just down the road from the University and less than a five minute walk if he cut across the grounds. It was a very pleasant environment in the traditional Campus style with well maintained parks and gardens usually filled with students debating, laughing, arguing and making out. Simon found the entire scene very reminiscent of his own days as a student, except for the making out because talking to girls had never been his strong suit, and he was probably happier now that he had been since leaving his previous life in order to save River. He had even sat in on a few lect