The Treasure of Lei Fong Wu

Chapter Forty Seven

GAMMA TEAM -57.19

“So. Are we gonna wake her up, then?” Mal asked quietly.

“Do you know how?” Inara replied, also quietly.

“I woke River up,” he reminded her.

“You opened a box,” she corrected him.

“She woke up,” he pointed out.

“You opened a box,” she repeated with exaggerated patience.

“So maybe we should open up this one,” he suggested.

“This isn’t a just a box,” she observed.

“Yeah, it’s round,” he observed.

“It’s a delicate piece of equipment,” she insisted.

“That’s lasted at the core of a gas giant for a hundred years,” he countered.

“Inside the toughest warship ever built,” she reminded.

“But she’s still alive,” he pointed out.

“But you could kill her trying to wake her up improperly,” she predicted.

“How hard could it be?” he speculated.

“Do I really need to answer that?” she said, rolling her eyes.

“It couldn’t be that hard, or there would . . . be a sign,” he decided.

“A sign? Saying ‘don’t wake occupant unless you know how?’” she proposed skeptically.

“Yeah, a sign. The lack of one is indicative of an uncomplicated process,” he pronounced.

“And you run a spaceship,” she said in mock disbelief.

“Can’t be that hard,” he determined, ignoring the dig.

“Apparently not. But this might be. It’s a complicated piece of medical equipment, not a rattletrap transport,” she scoffed.

“Hey! That’s Serenity you’re talkin’ about!” he objected.

“And its this hibernation chamber and this young woman’s life I’m talking about, too!” she insisted. “These things haven’t been in general service for years!”

“It has lots of easy-to-read buttons on the front,” he perceived.

“That you don’t how to use,” she corrected.

“You position finger, like this, and push in a pointedly direction, thusly,” he demonstrated.

“I still think you could kill her. Better to wait for someone . . . better,” she advised.

“I think they probably built these things to open easy, like a beer can,” he supposed.

“And how is this th