The trick is, once you're inside, walk like you own the place. That plus some judiciously forged documents will get you pretty far.

All the way to where River's room should be, even.

The doors on the hall - well spaced apart, never two across from each other - are made of a cool, smooth plastic pretending to be glass, set firmly into their frames. They're opaque, frosted, no indication of whether there's a light on inside or any inhabitants. No labels on the doors. No consistency, even, to the internal layout. No maps for emergency evacuation. There's a keypad hidden in the wall by each door - Ellie had to forge quite a bit more than just documents to get a physical key, a password, and then her biometrics into the system without raising any flags. The biometric scanners can detect signs of nervousness, she was warned. They won't let anyone who doesn't seem perfectly calm, sober, and alert through. 

The hallways are dim, lights behind thick shatterproof glass, with frequent doors of the same material as the room doors requiring her to scan through. She's seen one of the rooms checked, in passing - the door can be turned until transparent, one way glass. They're incredibly, harshly bright inside, and the workers examining them wear mirrored glasses. (She didn't see or hear the room's occupant.) There's no cameras, though. The scanners on the doors report access, but on a randomized delay - usually short, but long enough to be very strange for what's clearly a high security facility. 

Ellie hears nothing but the tap of her own boots, the beating of her own heart, when she isn't near the staff, and what little noise there is doesn't echo like it should. She hasn't seen a single vent, and the air feels stale, thin.

(The people who helped her in profess no knowledge of what's going on in here. It's a black box, and so far anyone who's gotten in has just vanished. They didn't tell her much at all, because of that. No sense in giving a dead woman walking the potential to leak information, is there? But a desperate sister is convenient enough, and if Ellie survives, they have indicated they'd appreciate information.)

Here's River's room, indistinguishable from the others. Ellie knows it only because she has been counting turns and doors. The keypad is in the same location as the rest have been, and - hopefully - the system will keep assuming Ellie belongs here. 

(She knows it because it feels right, like a familiar whisper, a gut instinct that led her along the tenuous chain all the way here. She knows it the same odd way River's letters leapt out at her in a code no computer could break. It whispers help.)

She slides the keycard through the scanner, punches in the code-

-takes a moment to steady her breath, still her heart-

-places her palm on the scanner.

The door goes transparent. 

And in the blinding white room - 

Ellie's little sister, strapped into a chair, blindfolded, a mask over her mouth - head turned towards Ellie as much as she can with the chair facing sideways from the door. Her body language feels happy, though. Something relieved in the line of her shoulders.

Ellie's contacts didn't know how to get the 'students' out of the rooms, once you get this far. Ellie can tell, though - it feels obvious, which new sequence will open the door.

She can't react just yet because she still needs to fool the scanners.

Ellie impatiently inputs the code to open the door.

It slides open. 

There's a nicely obvious catch on the straps, tucked away behind the chair. River's tense. 

"River, it's me," she says, striding quickly into the room and around the chair. "I got your letters." She releases the catch for the straps, fiddles with the gag, the blindfold.

They come off.

"Knew you would," River mutters, voice cracking, expression distant and hazy, almost stunned. "You always will."

"Always." She moves around to the front of the chair. "Always, always. Can you stand?"

"...Maybe. Is fuzzy. Stand - we'll stand - " She squints. "...Wrong planet, where we're standing."

"We need to - leave, don't we?"

She is going to come back with explosives and tear this building down. She is going to hunt down everyone involved and kill them slowly, with a knife.

"Yeah, River. We need to leave. Here, take my hand."

She takes Ellie's hand. 

"A sniper rifle will work better than a knife," she tells her sister, solemnly. "They'll be dangerous to get close to."

-she didn't say that out loud, she thought-

"But I want to see them bleed." She pulls River up, hugs her close.

"I'm sorry I didn't come sooner."

Snuggle. 

"It doesn't work sooner," she says, sounding exhausted. "I don't know enough, sooner." She turns her head into Ellie's shoulder, crying. 

Ellie pats the back of her head. "Shh, shh. I'm going to get you out of here now, okay?"

"Yeah. Okay."

"All right. Let's go." Ellie will mostly carry River out, if she needs it.

River needs only a little help walking. 

- And she starts issuing instructions to Ellie, though they're sometimes garbled. Right here. Wait here. Left - walk quickly...

Ellie will trust her sister's guidance.

They seem to be passing very near people a lot, especially towards the end - River drags them through a kitchen in a brief quiet spell between people, someone coincidentally facing away - 

And, finally, a fire door. 

"It screams," River whispers. "But quietly. But there's no people. We can run."

"Stay close." Open the door, and out.

She clings to Ellie, giving rapid - but increasingly fragmented - directions, heading towards a part of the city that's less well monitored - and there's a commotion behind them, someone yelling -

"Time to run now. Ready?"

"Ready," she says, a bit wavery.

"Here we go."

Running.

Running! River is actually surprisingly good at this for how much she was leaning on Ellie earlier - she's stopped talking, pulled ahead of her sister, weaving through alleys, mostly avoiding people...

Dropping them into the roads near the port. She's not even breathing hard, despite the rather long run. 

"Should go."

"Berth three-fourteen. We've passage out, if we make it before dawn."

She nods - and leads her sister, more slowly, at a nonsuspicious walk - they'd stopped running very close to the ship, actually, and soon enough they're where Ellie can get them back to it. 

River's tense, eyes darting around.

It's a smuggler's ship, but Ellie's paid them enough to be reasonably sure of them, with a promise of more to come after they're away.

River's very quiet as they're getting on - and the smugglers don't bother either girl, just note Ellie's return. 

(River would like to hide, now. In Ellie's room, if she has her own, but - she needs to hide. She's shaking.)

The cabin's a locker and a bunk and a space to get out of it, but they can squeeze in.

She nods, and takes a step deeper into the ship, giving Ellie an uncertain look. 

"I'm right behind you," Ellie says, moving up to take her hand.

Into Ellie's bunk, then, where River is apparently determined to do her best to merge into one creature with Ellie, from how tight she's clinging.

Yeah, Ellie is all right with this.

It's been far too long.

River starts crying, silently.

Oh no, she's going to set Ellie off.

"I am so, so sorry."

Whine.

"Gotta be. Quiet. Or they'll hear us, if we think too loud," she whispers.

"We're taking off soon. The crew pays their own bribes on top of what I gave them. There's no reason for us to be stopped."

"Won't matter if they know."

She's still whispering.

Soothing hairpets.

"They won't."

She's clearly fighting not to get agitated. 

"They can. Know lots. Everything you don't keep very small and quiet and secret in your head."

"This was very secret. Promise."

Small whine. Her grip tightens on her sister. 

"Please. Until - far. Not here."

"Okay. Okay."

Calm snuggle.

Snugs.

The ship takes off without interference. Ellie's probably going to get uncomfortable sooner or later, but River is being extremely clingy, and basically unwilling to let her up -

Until there's the distinct jolt of a ship passing through a wormhole, and River tilts her head, furrows her brow, and says: "They can't hear anymore."

"Good."

"Told you we'd be fine."

"'Cause we were quiet."

"Quiet and safe, together."

Nod.

"Love you."

"Love you too, River."

"Best sis."

"That's me."

"But best sis needs to use the washroom, if you can bear to let her go for five minutes."

Grumph. "Okay."

Cheek kiss. "Be right back."

Ellie disentangles herself and steps out.

River curls up small in her bed for a moment. 

...Then gets up to follow her sister. She thinks she needs the washroom, too, maybe. 

It's single-occupancy, but she can have a turn as soon as Ellie's done.

Okay. 

She's in there for a while, but does eventually emerge and go looking for her sister. 

Sister: is doing some stretches in the small open area in the hold.

She goes to clamber up on some crates, get her back to a corner, and watch. 

Ellie waves as she switches which way she's bending over.

She waves back and then pulls her knees up to her chest, crossing her arms over them and resting her chin on her forearm.

(She's... Possibly some kind of physically uncomfortable, but she can't figure out what.)

River's sister is not psychic, so she may have to say something out loud when Ellie finishes stretching and strolls over.

"Hey."

"Hey."

She squints at the path down from her perch, then moves from a curl into a crouch - and then springs off, landing smoothly on her feet beside Ellie.

"How are you doing?"

Shrug. "...Something hurts? Dunno what."

"Are you injured?"

"...Dunno."

"Do you want me to give you an examination?"

"...Maybe."

"We can go back to the cabin for that."

She nods, slowly. 

"Or not, if you don't want to?"

"...Might be okay. If it's you."

"All right. We'll go slow. If you want to stop, all you have to do is say, okay?"

Back to the cabin?

Back to the cabin. 

Being in this small of a space, where she can't help touching her sister, does seem to soothe River a bit. 

Ellie gives her a brief physical. The med school their parents paid for might as well be good for something.

River doesn't flinch when her sister touches her. She does, however, go very, very still, if the touch seems at all medical.

Ellie can hit a more familiar tone, though, less of a doctor's demeanor, that gets her relaxing. River has trouble figuring out which body part Ellie is touching without looking, though (sometimes even when she's staring at Ellie's hand), apparently getting her senses jumbled. She doesn't report increases in pain at any press or movement - even things that should hurt, like rubbing her sternum. Her other nervous system checks are clear, though, and it's not at all obvious why River is having trouble with processing sensory data.

Her range of motion is much higher than it should be, but her muscles all seem strong and her coordination is good, and Ellie can't detect any strain or weakness around her joints.

Ellie's best guess - without any instruments, since River nearly panicked at seeing even a stethoscope - is that River is hungry and thirsty, and that she's been on some sort of drugs that are clearing her system, but River can't recount what they had her on - still, her pulse is uncomfortably close to dangerously fast, the throb of blood through her carotid (she won't let Ellie touch her wrist) nearly violent, her attention jumping around. Her pulse does calm a bit when her mind does, and she doesn't seem to be in emergency straits, but Ellie's training would insist she should be getting River's heart checked more thoroughly if she was in an actual hospital. Just in case. 

Well, for now, they can just get some food and water, and Ellie will keep a bit of an eye on River's condition.

Okay.

They won't be on this ship too long. Just until the next port. After that... is there anywhere River wants to go?

"Far away."

"All right. I'll see what we can do about that."

"'Kay."

"Think the Rim's quieter."

"That is one of its defining qualities, according to many."

Giggle! "Not lots known out there."

"You and me and a wild frontier."

"Sounds fun." Snuggle.

Snuggle.

"You- probably don't want to talk about what happened, but if you ever do- I'm always here."

Cuddles. "I know. Love you."

"Dunno all the words, they're in my head but not in my mouth. But I - want you to know them."

"When you find them, then."

Grmph. "Words are annoying."

"Useful, sometimes."

"Only sometimes. They're lossy."

"It's the best I've got."

"Could get better."

"How's that?"

"Don't you - " 

Frustrated noise. 

"The other stuff. The unwords stuff. Don't you hear it?"

"Unwords...? No, I don't hear anything like that."

"But you hear me."

"We're talking."

River isn't rolling her eyes, technically, but, also, she is totally rolling her eyes.

"You hear me all the time."

"Unless you count that high-pitched echo of your voice in my head every time I see a cat..."

Giggle!

"You're being silly."

"Oh, am I?"

"Think you are. You feel silly."

"I have no idea what you mean by that." She's not silly, she's entirely always serious.

She scrunches up her face at her sister.

"I knew you when you were a teenager, silly. I know you aren't always serious. Just think you are."

"Psionics. That's why they took you."

She tilts her head. "Duh."

Ellie makes a face at her. "Not 'duh', this is the first time I've seen anything I trust that corroborates the theory."

"'cause all the stuff they say's trustworthy is only published 'cause they want it said. They're not gonna tell people."

This is a Very Sarcastic Sister right here.

Ellie is re-evaluating some of the conspiracies she's heard about right now. "That and everything they don't want said gets buried."

"And anyone who'd say it well enough."

"Guess so."

Snuggle. "We'll keep each other safe."

Snug.

"So are you in my head now?"

"As the voice cooing over cats," she teases. "But you're really quiet, usually, and hard to hear, and you don't listen well."

"Should I be trying to listen better?"

"It'd be nice." Lean. "You listened better when we were small... I could hear you better, too, even if you mumbled."

"I need elocution lessons, then."

"Speak very clearly and precisely," she says, somehow sounding exactly like the ancient chorus teacher they both had in grade school. 

Ellie laughs.

Giggle.

She rubs her cheek on Ellie's shoulder a bit. 

"Maybe when we're away it'll all be quieter... You'll be able to listen better."

"Maybe. I'll try."

"Best sister."

Hug.

Snuggle!

"...I wanna eat something spicy," she mutters. "Wanna celebrate."

"Might have to wait til we land for proper food."

"Probably."

"And we shouldn't stay in the Core too long."

"We won't be. Moving on as soon as we can."

"Yeah. Get supplies, a ship. Go."

"A whole ship might be a little much."

Giggle. "Passage on one, then."

"Much more achievable. Probably better to take several, even, to confuse the trail."

"Weave towards a different Border cluster than we're planning to head into the Rim from, too."

"We'll be tricky."

"Use some of your brains."

"Only some of them, though. Not all."

"Can use them all only so long as you keep whispering," she teases. 

"I'll be sure to."

Tight hug and nuzzle. "So you're finally acknowledging my wisdom."

"You're finally saying wise things."

She sticks her tongue out. "You're finally recognizing wisdom."

Poke.

"And brats. I'm recognizing a brat right now."

"I didn't know this room had a mirror."

Poke poke. "Sass! From my own sweet baby sister, no less." Poke.

She giggles, squirming. "Sassy sis?"

"Sassy sis. Riotous River."

She laughs, louder than Ellie's heard since - even a few years before the Academy, actually, she'd been getting tense and quiet in the time leading up to it.

That's her sister!!

She leans into Ellie, happily.

"When're we gonna arrive?"

"Not long. Another day or two."

"Okay."

"This's a nice ship, then..."

"And a fortuitous arrangement of wormholes."

"Yup. We're gonna wanna find a ship with a bigger cabin for us when we're in the Border. Or, worse, the Rim."

"Yeah. Won't be as constrained in choices, then."

She nods. "In any choices. Except maybe choices of restaurants with very odd cuisines."

"Most of those aren't worth staying for anyway."

"More creative than good."

"Yep."

"Creative is sometimes nice, though."

"For a change of pace," Ellie allows.

Nudge. "Maybe we'll see a new kind of creative in the Rim. All the fancy restaurants don't tend to be very original when they're getting creative."

"That'd be nice. Taste of a different culture."

"Hopefully with better food than the rumors say."

"Maybe the government is suppressing the cuisine like they do psionics."

"That'd be a pretty silly goal."

"You're right, it sounds like something I would do."

"But if you knew about secret good cuisines, you'd tell your favorite baby sis."

"Maybe if I had one of those..."

She boops Ellie's nose. "You need your brain checked, if you don't know about your favorite baby sis."

Nose: is boop.

"I have a baby sis. Dunno about favorite so much."

"You wouldn't have come for me if I wasn't your favorite."

"Best, most special, ultimate favorite."

Giggle. "Of course."

Flop.

She pulls Ellie over top of her, snuggling contentedly under her sister's weight. 

They spend a rather long while weaving among the Core worlds, keeping their heads down and moving fast, spreading the money Ellie stole from their parents as thin as possible. It takes them three weeks to get firmly into the Vermillion Bird Cluster - a logical place for anyone looking to oppose the Alliance, given the long history of guerilla opposition scattered among the systems, nebulous and resilient in a way the Alliance has been thoroughly unable to crush. Ellie's allies in rescuing River help, here, once Ellie gets the information she gathered and what little River can articulate to them - and smuggling political dissidents out of the Core is their specialty.

The Alliance, of course, can guess where they'll go, and the dissidents have their own uses for the sisters besides - but with River, slipping away again is easy, away from both revolutionaries and oppressive government, cutting sideways into the White Tiger cluster. It'd stayed independent longer than anywhere else, and is still under tight military control - but there's a system at the crux of Vermillion Bird, White Tiger, and a defuse tangle of Rim worlds, popular enough with smugglers and deeply corrupted enough that it's rather trivial for River to find enough holes in the Alliance's net - and River has a feeling that this is their best bet for escape.

...Or, well, she had. River's been worse some days, better others, but clearly in need of medication to control her sometimes dangerous symptoms - her heart rate has a way of spiking, she sometimes gets so dizzy she falls over, she's spent multiple days in hallucinatory episodes... But she's lucid enough right now to get them through, though it leaves her with a bad headache and a dazed expression.

The Persephone System is rather busy, skies and orbital stations thronged with traffic. The system's only inhabited planet has a jagged, rocky surface, much of the planet prone to dangerously strong winds across its wide plains. The surface cities - including every approved port - are in deep craters and valleys, thin skyscrapers built to sway and twist in the gales, though supposedly most of the permanent population lives in low buildings studded into the prairies. Despoina is the biggest port city, and their best bet - for both anonymity and for passage into the near Rim. The docks are extensive, built on the small mountain in the city-crater's center, though many ships (including the one they come in on) are forced to park in orbit while crew, supplies, and passengers take elevators or shuttles down.

There's a lot of people looking for passengers, of course. Most of them not very aggressively - there's a lot of potential passengers, too.

Still, one woman strolls up to Ellie as she's examining the ships allowed to park on the actual docks, smiling, and asks, "Looking for passage?"

"Depends where you're going."

"Adventure, a new start, peace and quiet, freedom, excitement... Okay, I'm out of fancy advertisements for 'assorted places in the Rim.'"

"How big are your cabins?"

"Depends how much you feel like paying. Smallest's a bit over two by one and a half meters - so the bed takes up most of it when it's folded down - and biggest's more like two by three. And there's nothing stopping you from getting two cabins."

"Except money. It'd be passage for two."

She glances at River. "Shared or separate cabins?"

"Shared." Ellie's picked up by now that River is generally calmer when Ellie is close.

River nods a little.

Thoughtful hum. "You'll probably be most comfortable in the biggest, then, especially since Rim trips can take a while." She names a pretty good price.

"Deal. Which ship?"

"The Serenity; she's a Firefly class - that beauty over there." She points to a rather beaten up mid-small ship down the row.

"Nice ship." The ship does not look all that nice.

River giggles a little, cracking her eyes open and raising her face from 'buried in Ellie's hair' (she's had a photosensitive headache all day). "I like glow-worms. They're pretty."

"'Glowworm' makes it sound like something out of a cave," she says with a small laugh. "I've always called them starbugs." She shakes her head a little. "The Firefly ships are reliable, though, and pretty fast - though not so cutesy as you'll see in the Core, I'll admit."

"As long as it flies, right?"

"Does a bit better than just 'flies.'" Shrug. "Captain's gonna wanna talk to y'all before any money changes hands, make sure you know what's allowed or not while on ship, but you can sit down over by it until she's back."

"All right. What's your name?"

"Sara Frye - I'm the ship's engineer. What're yours?"

"Ellie. This is River."

"Welcome aboard, then," she says, leading them over to the ship and pointing out where they can sit. "I'm still looking for more passengers, but the Captain should be along soon."

"All right." They'll wait.

And she wanders back off, weaving through the docks in search of more vaguely lost looking people who might want a ride to the Rim.

Such as perhaps the older man in the priest's smock, examining the Serenity from a little ways off?

"Morning!" she calls, waving to him. "Are you looking for passage?"

"I believe I am, yes. Do you represent this fine ship?"

Laugh. "I keep her flying - and cap's asked me to find passengers to fly in her."

"I suppose that means there's a berth available."

"More than one," she says, "If you want to pick and choose some."

"Oh, I don't need much. Just a spot to lay my book." He chuckles.

"Small room with shelves it is, then."

"My thanks."

"My pleasure."

"Captain will want to talk to you before anyone trades money or promises, of course. She's in town talking to some fancy folks right now, but she should be back soon."

"I'll wait for her, then. The name's Book."

"Good to meet you. I'm Sara Frye, engineer." Back to the ship with another success! She's been having pretty good luck so far - all three seem like pleasant people, though the one girl was acting kind of hungover. (Teenagers.)

And Book settles in to wait.

River lifts her head off Ellie's shoulder to squint at him. "You're quiet," she whispers. 

"So are you," he whispers back.

Quick grin. 

"Everyone else is loud."

"It took me a long time to learn to be quiet."

"So you're old and wise now?"

"Old, at least."

She clamps a hand over her mouth to cover a giggle. 

"Most people are less wise than they think, but maybe you're the opposite," she whispers after a moment. 

"It would be nice to think so."

"But if you ever start thinking you're very wise, you'll become secretly not wise."

"That is the catch. The best one there is, in fact."

"It's some catch, that catch twenty-two."

"Ah, a fellow scholar of the antiquities! That book is almost as old as this one." He taps his Bible.

Shrug. "I like to read."

"Catch-22 is less than a thousand years old," River says, rolling her eyes. "The Bible's way older, unless you just mean a specific translation or canonization."

"Just about contemporary to me then, isn't it?"

She squints at him.

"You don't look like an immortal elf. Or a vampire."

"Hm, I must have lost touch with the younger generation in the abbey. Time was everyone under twenty thought everyone over forty grew up scratching sticks together in a cave."

"Oh, no, raising kids in caves is the latest childcare trend," she says, entirely deadpan. "The ultimate way to get them off their screens. It's the old people who have all the technology."

"I see," he says gravely.

"We were abandoned by our parents with the babysitter, Ms Wolf, though, so maybe other families did it differently," she says, just as gravely.

"I will continue to be open to new information, then."

Bright grin. "New information is the best."

Smile. "Indeed."

She grins and goes back to curling into her sister.

Sara Frye returns after a bit, with a fourth passenger.

Who introduces himself as Lawrence Dobson - a bit awkwardly - and doesn't seem inclined to chatter as Sara heads into the cargo bay a bit.

Not that he has much time to stand there looking uncomfortable - three women walk up shortly after, heading for the ship. The one in the lead has the odd sort of smooth-aged appearance that some of the life extensions based in gene therapy get in middle age. She's wearing a somewhat worn brown trench coat that doesn't do much to conceal the pistol holstered at her waist (not that her companions are concealing their guns even a little), her other clothes equally weathered - though she has a bright red floral scarf peeking out from under her shirt, which looks much nicer than the rest of her outfit. 

"You four looking for passage?" she asks once she's in comfortable talking range (fairly close, with how noisy the docks are), her two companions stopping a few steps behind her.

"That's right."

After general confirmations from the others: "I'm Bina Miryala, Captain of the Serenity there. We're heading into the Rim, to the Athens system - planned stop at Whitefall, but there's some other technically inhabited moons there we might swing by. After that, we're looping towards Neza. We won't be coming back towards the Border for a while, and we don't have a set itinerary, so if you've got somewhere specific to be in a hurry, this probably isn't the best ride for you."

"That will suit fine, Captain."

She nods. "Okay."

"Some ground rules - basic ship safety. Don't open doors or containers marked as crew only unless I or my second mate, Zoe Washburne," she gestures behind her to the woman on her right, "Say you can. Don't try to get into or through anything locked. Don't fire guns, set off explosives, use fireworks, light fires, or anything similar on ship without permission. If you need a match or a lighter - don't. Even if it's a tiny candle and this is your super important religious ritual." And then a list of things they are definitely not to touch unless told otherwise or there's an emergency.

"And if me, Zoe, or Sara Frye tell you to do something, do it."

Nod. Simple enough.

"Great." She settles prices and payment - and which cabin each person wants, and of course they're allowed to look at the cabins first - and then shows them the ship, going over any separate things to know for the kitchen and such (ranging from 'meal times' to 'don't eat out of containers labeled with other people's names' to 'this tap tends to get stuck'). "Do you four need anything while you're settling in?"

"No, thank you."

She glances at the others, too, then after receiving no affirmative responses, says, "Cool. I'll leave you guys to it, then - I need to check in with the pilot."

Off to settle into the cabin.

"Quieter here..." River mumbles.

"Is that good?"

"Yeah. Is."

"Picked the right ship, then."

Nuzzle. "Definitely. 's a good one."

Bina, meanwhile, heads up to the cockpit after letting Sara know they're having a crew meeting.

Wash definitely didn't just wake up from a nap, no sir.

"Hey Cap. What's up?"

Small smile, then: "We've got four passengers, so, be nice around them, don't let them where they're not supposed to be, all that. In less rosy news - Badger's being a dick, so we're running our supplies to Whitefall instead with a hope of selling to Patience."

"I thought she hated us."

"Yup."

"Oh. Cool. How much of a hope are we talking, then?"

"I'm very sure she'll want the supplies - Whitefall's most recent drought hit their harvest, and they're running a damn thin margin on starvation this year. I'm also decently sure she'll try to pull a fast one on us."

"You and Zoe'll have time to plan something, at least."

"Yup. Though we'll want to both be at the deal - Patience will think we've betrayed her otherwise. Still, she won't be on the lookout for where Jayne, you, or Sara are."

"You thinking a counter ambush?"

"Mostly thinking 'hamstring anything she sets up for an ambush,' but, yeah, we should be ready to counter if she's being slimy."

"You got it. I'll get our course set up."

"Thanks."

"Sara dig up any really weird ones this time?"

"Well, there's a preacher man who Sara thinks is actually sincere, which's pretty weird," she teases. "And two girls - younger one was acting weird."

"Pretty sure she's just hung over, honestly. She had that 'someone turn off the sun' look whenever she opened her eyes."

"Can't say I'm excited about drunk teenagers, either."

"If she tries to get into my stash, there'll be trouble, I don't care how much they're paying."

"Already told them not to go into crew-only or locked areas. I'm assuming you haven't left your stash lying out on the kitchen counter."

"No."

Small smile. "If they break rules, we'll drop them off at the next planet."

"Can't ask for fairer than that."

"Waiting that long is downright nice of us."

"Dumping people out the airlock is littering, Zoe."

"Only if you do it where they could end up in an inhabited orbit. Otherwise it's responsible trash disposal."

"Every orbit is a potentially inhabited orbit. Have you seen the way some of these people fly? Reckless."

"Well, better a body than an asteroid. Maybe they'll learn a lesson."

"Always teaching, huh?"

"Gets any urge to teach out of my system, so I don't start thinking taking students is a good idea."

"Perish the thought."

"Probably what would happen to anyone I taught."

Snrk.

Bina snickers.

"So, run a few final checks, then head out."

"Aye aye, captain."

"Roger," says Sara, already turning to head back toward the engine room.

"I'll leave you guys to it, then."

Yeah, whatever. Leave the eggheads to their nerdy shit. Jayne's gonna go put her feet up.

No one bothers her in doing this, and the ship gets into the sky and out of atmo without a hitch. It's a long ways to the wormhole, this close to the Rim, and dinnertime reaches them before they're through. 

"Hungry, River?"

"...Yeah. Really."

Which, given she'd been too nauseous to eat breakfast and had barely picked at lunch, isn't surprising. 

"All right. Let's go see what the food we've signed up for is like."

"Bet it's boring space food."

"It's the first night out. Maybe they'll ease us into it."

"Use up anything fresh now."

"Yeah."

Snuggle. "Let's go, then?"

To the dining area.

River's still out of it, still clinging, but she's getting more curious about their fellow passengers, and she is definitely very curious about the food. 

And Bina's curious about all of their passengers, though the fourth, Dobson, hasn't come to dinner. 

"How do you two know each other?" she asks the Tams after a few long awkward moments.

"She's my sister," Ellie says.

She nods, only a little bit awkwardly. "That's - good."

Okay, very awkwardly.

"Is she alright?"

"Photosensitive migraine. It's gotten a little better since this morning."

"The dorm lights aren't on dimmer switches, but I can rig something up so you can have it dim but not pitch dark in here, if you want."

"That would be helpful, thank you."

"No problem."

Ellie pats River.

She giggles a little, snuggling into Ellie's side - and snatches a strawberry off her plate. (River's already finished all of her own fruit.)

"Hey!"

Mmmm! Very good strawberry. Excellent. River will eat it with tiny little nibbles, she thinks. 

Ah, but this gives Ellie time to snatch it back.

River lunges for it after Ellie so rudely takes it out of her hands, ending up half in Ellie's lap.

Ellie pins her down with her free hand and eats the strawberry.

Whine! "Betrayed. By my own sister."

"Say rather a just punishment. Keep your hands to your own plate."

She flops in Ellie's lap, pouting. "But strawberries."

"My strawberries."

"I'm yours, too! So what's yours is also mine. It's a transitive property."

"Sorry, dear. The graph is acyclic."

Pout! "But you're supposed to share with your baby siblings."

"I am very generously sharing the priceless lesson that you can't have my strawberries."

Such pout. Then she brightens.

"You know, a graph where you own me and the strawberry, and I also own the strawberry, is a directed acyclic graph, because neither I nor the strawberry own you. So, really, you haven't provided any proof that it isn't also my strawberry."

"Except for the part where you didn't ask if you could have the strawberry."

"Can I have a strawberry?"

Ellie plucks one off her plate, takes a small bite out of it, then offers it to River.

She takes it into her mouth - not bothering to take it from Ellie first, she is absolutely willing to get spit on her sister's fingers here. 

Ellie will wipe the fingers in question off on her sister's shoulder.

Snuggle as she finishes her strawberry. "Good sis."

Pat pat.

She pushes her head into Ellie's hand.

They're kind of cute, actually. Not drunken louts at all.

She turns her head a bit and grins at Anna.

She grins back.

"I like your ship," she says.

"Her ship, technically," she points at Bina, "but thanks."

"It's cozy."

"Key attribute of any good ship, that."

"Very." She leans into her sister. "How'd you end up here?"

"I was seduced into service." She sighs dramatically. "It was very romantic."

"Oh?"

"Zoe saved me from pirates. And then got me flowers."

"Aw! Cute. Were they nice flowers?"

"Very pretty, yes."

"We were taking cover in a flower shop," Zoe says, tone dry. "I didn't exactly buy anything."

"It's the thought that counts."

"Well, you did have a nice smile when I pushed you under that azalea display..."

"It was very forceful of you."

"I was in a forward mood."

"Good thing, too."

"Would've been right tragic if you'd gotten shot."

"Yeah, who would have driven the getaway car? Bina?"

"I am a pretty good getaway driver, you know. When I need to be."

"And it's better for everyone else in the car if that happens as little as possible."

"Or if we're in a tank at the time."

She gives them an unimpressed look. "I am a very excellent tank driver, I'll have you know."

"I'll bet you are!"

"I learned to drive in a bulldozer," she says, far too cheerfully.

"That makes a lot of sense."

She laughs.

The rest of dinner goes on much the same - the crew seem content to chatter without input from their guests, but Bina at least is fairly friendly when the passengers do want to say something.

They won't be getting through the wormhole until the next day, and there's another three systems to pass through before they get to Whitefall. Luckily, going straight from wormhole to wormhole is usually relatively fast - unluckily, the second stretch is longer, the wormholes placed rather inconveniently far apart. Their arc takes them fairly close to the inhabited part - a gas giant with several lightly inhabited moons, mostly turned over to mining. The ship's big enough to not be too claustrophobic even for the long trip, though, and they swing by one of the orbital stations around the gas giant for light trade - as long as it's on their way, doesn't hurt.

The fourth passenger, Lawrence Dobson, is quiet and reserved. He doesn't show up for meals, instead eating in his room. He doesn't spend much time in the common areas, either.

Except, well - this night, when they've just left the orbital station, as Ellie's walking back to her and River's room, he seems to be doing something in the cargo bay.

Something like... what?

Messing with - some kind of radio, maybe? He's tucked out of sight; she's lucky she saw him.

"Who are you calling, all the way out here?"

He jumps and turns, hand falling to his gun, eyes narrow. "What are you doing out here?" he demands.

"I asked first. If you wanted privacy, I would have recommended somewhere you can close the door. Perhaps your quarters."