Firefly carnival, p.13
Firefly--Carnival, page 13
“I ain’t grabbin’ her arm, I’m keepin’ her teeth away from me, dǒng ma?”
But Kaylee was paying him no mind; all her attention was now on the girl. “Sweetie, it’s okay. I know he looks like a mean old man, but he ain’t so bad once you get to know him. I mean, he’s an interferin’ idiot who ought to know better, but his heart’s more or less in the right place.”
“Thankin’ you kindly for that testimonial, Kaylee.” Mal looked down at the girl. “If I let go, will you keep on tryin’ to bite me?”
She shook her head.
“Will you run?” said Mal.
The girl glanced at Kaylee, who said, “I’ll help, even if he won’t. Please, honey, don’t run.”
“All right,” the girl said. “I won’t run.”
Mal let go of her and she pulled away from him. Kaylee opened her arms to her and the girl fell into them and began to cry. “That’s right, sweetie,” she said. “You let it all come out…”
The girl cried on. And on, and on. Mal, conscious of time passing and everything that was at stake, said, “Any chance you could turn off those waterworks before tomorrow?”
The sobbing got even louder.
“Mal!” scolded Kaylee. “You’re being a real hún dàn today!”
“That ain’t nice, Kaylee.”
“You’re scarin’ her even worse—”
“Scarin’? I ain’t scary—”
“You just scared off the two men who were comin’ after her and she was terrified of them!”
Despite herself, the girl gave a laugh. Kaylee squeezed her arm round her more tightly. “That’s more like it,” she said. “Sweetie, we’re not from around here. Maybe we can help. We’ve helped already, haven’t we?”
“I guess…”
“You hungry?”
“Uh huh,” said the girl.
“How about we start by getting you somethin’ to eat?”
The girl nodded. “Please,” she said. “I’m starvin’.”
“Okay, we’ll find you somethin’ to eat, and you can tell us your story. How’s that for a trade?”
The girl laughed, weakly, and said, “Okay. I’ll trade.”
“Kaylee,” said Mal, “it’s mighty fine you settin’ us up with a dinner date, but we’re on a schedule here—” Kaylee turned on him, eyes flashing. Mal took a step back. “Woah!”
“She’s a kid, Mal,” Kaylee shot back. “She’s all on her own and there are some bad men after her. You know, I didn’t ask you to come after me, Malcolm Reynolds, so if you want to be on your way, that’s fine. You be on your way and leave me and this girl alone and we’ll see how we get on when those two apes turn up again and decide to do whatever it was they were tryin’ to do before you came and stuck your oar in.”
When did Kaylee Frye get this much fire in her belly? Mal, who knew when he was beat, frowned down at the girl, who stared back with huge wet eyes. Now he thought about it, she did look a mite peaky. He didn’t like the look of that. Didn’t like the look of the bruises on her arm, neither. And he knew he ought to know better, and that he had enough ruttin’ problems of his own to be gettin’ on with, but the truth was, he couldn’t leave this kid out here by herself.
“All right,” he groused. “Somethin’ to eat.”
“Back to Serenity?” asked Kaylee.
“No, not if them fellas are still around. Don’t want ’em scoutin’ out my ship. We’ll find somewhere round here, fill this one, put her somewhere safe, and then she can be on her way. If that sounds satisfactory to you, Kaylee?”
“That’ll do.”
They found an all-day diner a couple of blocks away. “Get what you like,” said Kaylee. “Mal’s payin’.” Mal opened his mouth to make it categorically clear that this was not under any circumstances going to be the case, and Kaylee moved in for the kill. “’Cause I ain’t been able to make any money today.”
Mal gave up. The sooner they fed this child and found her people, the sooner this wholly unnecessary delay would be over and done with. The girl didn’t stint. Kaylee too decided she could manage another breakfast, but: “Coffee,” growled Mal, when the waitress turned to him. “Black. Strong. Hot.”
Pancakes arrived, piping hot and slathered in sweet syrup and strips of bacon and little berries, and the girl burrowed her way in. Kaylee stole a couple of the strawberries. Mal, catching the wholesome scent of the food, began to regret his abstemiousness. The girl ate her fill. When she was done, she looked up at them both, and seemed to remember her manners. “Thanks. Thank you. This was… This was kind of you.”
Suddenly her eyes were full of tears again, and Mal had to say as how he didn’t like the way she was surprised folks around her were being kind. “All right,” he said, voice gruff. “You’ve had some supper. So now here comes the price tag.”
She went stiff. “I ain’t got no money, mister. And I won’t pay any other way—”
“What?” said Mal? “No, no, no! No need to be talking about payin’, not in a cash way and certainly not in a…” He swallowed. “Not in any other way you might be thinkin’ of. All I was hopin’ was that we might get your tale out of you now.”
“Oh,” said the girl. She stared down at her empty plate.
“Maybe,” said Kaylee gently, “we might be able to help you.”
The girl shook her head. “Don’t think you can do that.”
“You never know. You can trust us,” said Kaylee. “But we can’t help you until we know a little more about you…”
“We know those two fellas didn’t mean you well,” said Mal.
“No,” she whispered.
“You know who they are?”
She shrugged. “Met ’em yesterday. Don’t know their names.”
“Can we get you back to your ma and pa?” said Kaylee.
The girl looked at her blankly. “They’re dead.”
“Sweetie, I’m sorry—”
“S’okay. Died years back.”
“Then where’s home?” said Mal.
“Grew up in Evansville. Up the river in the Croker Valley.”
One of the mining settlements, Mal thought, recalling the name from the maps he’d seen. “Go on,” he said.
“When they died, Aunty Eve, mamma’s sister, took me in. Then she died and Uncle Nate… Well, he said as how we weren’t kin, not really, but he’d look out for me till I was fourteen, and then I was my own business.”
“Uncle Nate don’t sound like a very nice man,” said Mal.
“No,” she whispered. “He ain’t.”
“How did you find yourself here in the city, sweetie?” said Kaylee.
“My fourteenth birthday came, he said he’d got me a present. A special present. Found me a job here…” She began to cry.
They got the rest of the story out of her in bits and pieces. They got her name, Ava Jones, and found out as how she felt scared and ashamed. Seemed to think the whole business was her own fault somehow. Turned out Uncle Nate had got her a job all right—sent her off by train down to the big city, and when she arrived, those fellas were waitin’ to grab her and make use of her.
“They were goin’ to give me a needle,” she said. “Somethin’ to make me sleep.” She shuddered. “I knew it weren’t right,” she said. “I knew what they were plannin’ for me…”
Kaylee put her arm around her. Mal knew what they’d had planned for her too. Get her hooked on some drug or other; keep her locked up in some whorehouse workin’ for her next fix. Uncle Nate, thought Mal. Evansville in the Croker Valley. I think I might be payin’ you a call, when this is all done. Give you a special present in your turn…
“How did you get away?” said Kaylee.
“Bit one and ran like… Well, ran like the Devil himself was after me, which I guess he was. I hid away and then…” She bit her lip, as if not sure as if she should carry on. She took a look at Kaylee’s encouraging and kindly face and continued.
“A friend of my aunt’s,” she said, “when she heard I was comin’ this way, she gave me a card to use on the vidphones. Said if I was in need, to use it to make a call. So when I got away… When I got away, I did just that. That was yesterday. They folks on the other end told me to come out here, to the motel up the road, and there’d be someone to help me… But I had to get there at the right time. And when I got there, them two fellas were outside, and they saw me…”
So she’d run.
“Mal,” said Kaylee. “We have to help.”
Mal stared down into his cup. The coffee had gone cold. One little girl, and a couple of big fellas going to a great deal of trouble. It all sounded very familiar—and Mal had to admit he did on occasion have cause to regret taking in the Tams. And today he had enough to worry about. Zoë and Book were still in Roberts’ hands, and the clock was ticking, and they were nowhere near layin’ their hands on the platinum they needed…
“Captain,” urged Kaylee. “We gotta do something. Get her where she’s meant to be goin’.”
“And where’s that, Kaylee? Sounds like she missed her chance at that.”
“There’ll be somewhere she can go,” she came back.
“I thought you didn’t think I should be interferin’ in other people’s business—”
“You know what I meant by that. And it ain’t this.”
Mal sighed. Because Kaylee was right, of course—and no way was he leaving this girl out here, with people like that after her. But still he wondered—all this for one little girl. What was that old expression? “No good deed goes unpunished.” River Tam—one little girl—had brought a whole heap of trouble along with her. Mal sure as hell hoped he wasn’t going to regret this particular good deed either.
“All right,” he said. “Let’s start with what we’ve got. Show me that card you were given.”
“Mal,” said Kaylee. “Try to be nice.”
“Please,” he added.
Carefully, unwillingly, Ava took the card out. When Mal reached for it, she grabbed it away. “No,” she said. “Ain’t nobody getting their hands on this but me. It’s my lifeline and besides…” She glanced at Kaylee.
“She was trusted with this, Mal,” Kaylee said. “Someone trusted her not to give this to anyone else.”
“All right, all right!” Mal threw up his hands. “But we ain’t going to get far without usin’ it again. Look, there’s a vidphone over there. Ain’t no harm givin’ it a try—”
“But they told me what time to call,” said Ava.
“Well, and now I’m tellin’ you the time to try again is now, dǒng ma?”
“Don’t let him bully you, Ava,” said Kaylee. “He’s a mean old man. But I think he might be right. How about I come with you?”
The girl agreed and Mal watched them head over to the vidphone near the back of the diner. The waitress came over, took a look at the state of his coffee, and brought him back a fresh cup and a bacon sandwich. He’d wolfed that and drunk half the coffee by the time Kaylee and the girl came back.
“We reached someone,” said Kaylee. “She’s given us a new location. We’re to take Ava there as soon as possible. But…”
“Go on,” said Mal, heart sinking.
“It’s a little way outside the city.” She carried on quickly before he could speak. “I’m takin’ her, Mal. You can come or not, whatever you prefer, but I ain’t lettin’ this girl go off on her own—”
“Kaylee, chances are they won’t want strangers like us seein’ their safe house or whatever it is out there. Chances are they’ll not want to let us go and that’ll be two more of my crew held hostage, one of them me, and I ain’t overly fond of being held hostage—”
“Mal! Will you just shut up for a minute?”
Mal shut up.
“You can do what you like,” Kaylee said, and he could tell by her expression that there was going to be no persuading her. But I’m takin’ her there.” She turned to the girl.
“Come on, Ava, honey. I’ll get you there. Captain Meanie can go f—”
“Kaywinnet Lee Frye!”
“Go fend for himself.”
* * *
Late afternoon was tipping over into early evening. Carnival was here. Sitting in the car, Inara watched Katarina fiddle with the bracelet on her wrist. To Inara’s eyes, the other woman seemed very uncomfortable. Perhaps she didn’t enjoy dressing up and going to parties. Not everyone did. Inara had gotten the impression that Katarina, like Simon, would rather be at work this evening. Still, she could try to make the other woman feel more at ease.
“I’ve not visited Bethel before,” said Inara, her voice light and pleasant.
“I suppose it’s a little off the beaten track,” replied Katarina.
“Most of my work until now has been on the central worlds,” agreed Inara. “But I’ve noticed that people seem to be drawn out to the border worlds, one way or another. Perhaps the central worlds are too safe, too routine. Perhaps people like a little adventure in their life. Is that what drew you here?”
Katarina shrugged, and kept on playing with the bracelet. “Strange to see Simon Tam out here. If there was anyone fitted into life on Osiris, it was him. Hard-working, compliant… Not really the kind of person you’d imagine taking risks.” Katarina shook her head. “Not Simon.”
If only she knew, thought Inara. “Life on the central planets may be safe, but it can become very stressful in its own way,” said Inara. “I don’t know Simon very well—we’ve only really been acquainted a few months—but from what I’ve seen I get the sense he’s over-achieved for most of his life. Eventually the strain shows.” And while this was not what had happened with Simon, whom, Inara guessed, would still be happily at home back on Osiris were it not for River, she’d seen this kind of thing happen to friends in the Guild. Life became too structured, too imprisoning, and they had to break free.
“Simon always struck me as someone who loved his work,” Katarina went on. “Someone who would choose to practice medicine even if the money was bad. I mean—the money certainly helps. But medicine was a vocation for Simon. Everyone used to say that about him. That he’d become a doctor because he cared. Strange that he should leave that world behind, to go travelling…”
Perhaps all this interest in Simon was merely someone trying to understand the decisions of an old friend, but Inara was starting to get the uncomfortable feeling that she was being questioned. Simon— and River—had to be protected. “Juggling that vocation with the politics of a big hospital must have become too much for him.” said Inara. “This is just conjecture. I haven’t pressed him for answers.” She tried to shut this line of conversation down completely. “Like I say, we haven’t known each other long, and it’s his own affair.”
But Katarina still pushed. “This ship you’re on—they didn’t mind taking on board someone using a fake ID?”
“The captain’s a forgiving type.” And while that was not, in fact, the first word that Inara would use to describe Mal (those were not repeatable in polite company), he was certainly minded to be merciful when it came to people causing trouble for the Alliance. Whatever else Simon might have done, there was certainly no doubt that he had caused, and was continuing to cause, a great deal of trouble for the Alliance. That alone would keep Mal on side, for a while at least. But would it last? What would Simon do, if Mal ever decided enough was enough? How long would he and River last, out here? Perhaps, Inara thought, Simon should be making plans that way.
“Yet Simon trusted you enough to tell you his name? His reasons for leaving?”
“People trust companions not to give away their secrets,” said Inara. Would Katarina take the hint now and stop pressing her on this?
It seemed she did, since no further questions came. Inara looked out of the window. The sky was darkening, and the city lights begin to blaze. She studied them for a while. Was it her imagination, or were they becoming more distant? She said, “I thought that the Guild House was on the Platinum Mile.”
“It is.”
“But we seem to be heading away from the city?”
“Traffic’s terrible, first night of Carnival,” said Katarina. “That whole area around the Mile is more or less sealed off for transport. Not even these city cabs can get through.”
“Yes, but we do seem to be going a very long way round—”
There was a pause. Inara felt the first cold trickle of alarm.
“The place we’re going to is out of town,” said Katarina.
“The head of the Guild House goes out of town on the first night of Carnival?”
“Her house—her private residence, I mean, not the Guild House—is out of town. And that’s where the party is.”
“I see…”
For some reason, Inara had gotten the impression that the party was happening at the Guild House, but perhaps she had misconstrued. Still, something else was nagging at the back of her mind. Her client for the following day was a wealthy businessman, and he had asked her to come to his private residence to collect him. This was located on the east side of the river. She’d taken the time to look at a map of Neapolis to get a sense of how the city was laid out. The Platinum Mile, the big hotels, the streets behind with the smaller venues and less well-appointed hotels, they were all on the flat plain that lay on the west side of the river. On the east side, the ground rose up, and this was where the private residences tended to be located, perched on the hillsides away from the noise and bustle of the rest of the city, looking down across the Mile or out to sea.
But they were not going that way. Rather, they seemed to be heading out into the country. Looking behind, Inara could see that bright lights of the Mile were slipping ever further away. Inara felt suddenly extremely vulnerable. Quietly, surreptitiously, she reached out to try the door of the car.
“That won’t open,” said Katarina, “if that’s what you’re trying to find out.”
“No,” said Inara. “I thought it might not.” She took a deep breath. “Are we really going to meet the head of the Guild House?”
“No, I’m afraid we’re not.”
“Can I ask then where you’re taking me?”
“You can ask.” Katarina looked at her sideways. “I was wondering when you were going to work this out. Took you longer than I expected, to be honest.”
