My Own Kind of Freedom by Steven Brust (ebook reader color screen txt) 📖

“tell me how it went” look. Next to her was an empty space.

“Zoë, let me know when they get here.”

“Yes, sir.”

Jayne headed up the stairs toward his quarters. Mal followed him, then continued up toward the bridge.

“Hey, Mal,” said Wash. “How did it go?”

“Long and boring. Anything here?”

“An invasion by seven-foot tall clones with americium in their veins, but I fought them off with the laser cannon. We going to unload?”

“No, the client is sending his people.”

“You going to supervise?”

“I expect I will.”

“Good. During the loading, I just ended up standing there looking like an idiot.”

Mal stared at him. “You supervised the loading?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought Jayne was going to do it.”

“He asked me to. Said he wanted to run an errand.”

An errand? What sort of errand could you run on Paquin? All they have there is … .

Without another word he stood up and left the bridge, heading toward Jayne’s quarters. Halfway there, he started running. By the time he reached it, he was cursing as well.

He pushed open the door and climbed down the ladder. The big man was looking over his shoulder at the door, facing his cupboard, and holding a canvas sack.

“Yeah, Mal?”

“What’s in the sack, Jayne?”

“Huh? Nothing. Just some stuff.”

“Let’s see what stuff.”

“Mal, there’s no need—”

He crossed the three steps and grabbed the sack. Jayne didn’t let go of it, but there was no need to; it was open.

“Well now,” said Mal. “Those’ll bring a good price.”

“Just a little private enterprise oper—”

“Just a little matter of stealing from a client.”

“Hell, Mal. We steal all the time. What’s the mei you shenma liaobuqi?”

“And what’s going to happen next time we want a job there?”

“One gorram spot on one gorram moon—”

“That we’ll be going back to after this job to return the ginseng.”

“I’ll return the stuff when houzi cong wo gangmen feichulai.”

“We’re returning it as soon as we’ve finished our business here.”

“There’s no ruttin’ way I’m giving this stuff up.”

“Why are we still talking about this—”

Jayne pushed past him, climbed the ladder, and started down the hall, still holding his sack.

Mal climbed after him. “Jayne!”

There were times when he could deal with Jayne, and just accept it as part of the job. And then there were other times.

Jayne stopped and faced Mal. Mal kept his voice even. “You leave this boat with those goods, you won’t be coming back on.”

Jayne stared at him, jaw clenched. Mal met his eyes and waited.

Serenity: Catwalk

“Captain, do you have a minute?”

“Until they show up for the cargo, I have nothing but time.”

Simon nodded, opened his mouth, closed it again. “I—”

“Spit it out, doctor. What’s on your mind?”

It was so difficult talking to the Captain; one never knew how he’d react. In a way, his worldview was as skewed as River’s, which made it as big a challenge to find the right words as when speaking with Kaylee.

He said, “I don’t know if this is any of my business, but I—”

“Just say it, doctor.”

Simon took a breath. “I saw Jayne walking out, looking like … well, carrying a couple of duffel bags. Big, full bags, like, maybe, everything he—”

“Jayne has left the crew.”

“Oh,” said Simon.

“Anything else?”

“I … yes. I’m wondering if his leaving will … that is, I’m afraid—”

“You think he might sell you out to the Alliance?”

“Well, we’ve never been exactly best friends. And his ideas of loyalty are, let’s say, idiosyncratic. So, yes, I’m worried he might inform the Alliance about us.”

“So am I. In fact, I think it’s pretty near a sure thing.”

“Oh. Well, then.”

“Anything else on your mind?”

“Uh, no, that about covers it.”

“Good, then.”

Simon hesitated for a moment, then went back to check on his sister.

Yuva

After stowing his gear at the local depot, he spent an hour wandering around Yuva. In that time, while he failed to spot a police station, he did find a small shack that said, “Security” at the west end of North Street. Well, that was going to be easier than walking into an actual police station, anyway.

He made sure his pistol was concealed by his shirt, took a deep breath, and went in.

Two bored-looking security guards sat behind two tiny desks, one over-crowded with smart paper, the other with comm gear. They both looked up at him as he entered; neither seemed especially interested.

I could take them both, he thought.

One of them, wearing a hat and a pot-belly, said, “Yeah?”

“I need to use your comm to reach a fed.”

They stared at him for a moment. “This a joke?”

“Do I look like I’m joking?”

“Who are you, anyway?”

“I’m the guy looking to reach the feds. You the guys gonna tell them why you wouldn’t let me?”

He saw that shot hit. They looked at each other. “What’s your name?”

“None of your ruttin’ business. Are you going to hook me up with the feds, or not?”

They looked at each other again, then pot-belly nodded at the other, who played with the comm setup for a minute, put on the headphones, then spoke into the mic. “This is Station HE nine three six six one, requesting code seven authorization … no, a civilian … He won’t give it… I don’t know …all right.”

He held out the mic and the headphones to Jayne. “Okay, it’s all yours.”

He put the headset on and spoke into the mic. “You there?” He waited. “Hello?”

The man behind the console cleared his throat. “You have to push that button down to talk.”

“Yeah,” said Jayne. Then, “Anyone there?”

A voice crackled from the headset. “Identify yourself.”

“No ruttin’ way. I got the location of a fugitive you want bad. Her name is River Tam. Now, if you don’t want her, just say so, and I’ll be about my business.”

The pause was very satisfying; it lasted most of a minute. Then there was a new voice. “Where is River Tam?”

“Where is my money?”

“Tell us where she is, and you’ll get your money.”

“You guys tried that with me once before. I got humped, and you still don’t have the girl. I see the money before you get wo zuo gaowan de suozai.”

There was another pause, then: “All right, what do you propose?”

“You know what town I’m in; how soon can you get someone here?”

“Wait a moment.”

“Take your time. I have all day.”

This time, the pause was a good five minutes, which Jayne spent leaning on the desk and giving the two security guards the eye. Then, “All right, we have someone there.”

“Already?”

“He can meet you at the canteen in an hour. If you prefer some other place, we’ll accommodate you.”

“No, that’s fine.”

“You’ll negotiate a price with him, and the payment arrangements.”

“Someone you trust, eh? All right, be there in an hour.”

Jayne took off the headphones and the mic, and tossed them back to the security guard. The one in the hat said, “What, the Alliance has an agent here? Is that what they said?”

“Guess so,” said Jayne. “Burn on you guys, eh?”

He chuckled and headed out the door and toward the canteen.

Serenity: Catwalk

“What a perfect, magnificent ass.”

Zoë looked around and spoke over her shoulder. “I hope you’re talking about me, and not one of them.”

Wash came up next to her and looked down at the cargo area. “I don’t know. That one by the ramp is kinda cute, in a big, hairy, bearded guy sort of way.”

“I was just thinking that.”

“Can I borrow that big, hairy, ugly gun of yours for just a minute? I’ll give it right back.”

“Now dear, you know we’re not supposed to murder the help.”

“Speaking of murder, what’s up with Jayne?”

She shrugged. “I asked the Captain. He grunted. But it looks like Jayne’s gone.”

“Gone. What kind of gone?”

“Gone gone.”

“Oh.”

She looked at her man. “You seem disappointed. I didn’t think you were that fond of him.”

“Sweetie, I’m fond of people who help keep you alive and with all of your moving parts intact. Not to mention the motionless parts, which have their own charm. Any idea what happened?”

“No. I imagine we’ll hear about it eventually.”

“It’ll make great dinner conversation. Sweetie—”

“Hmm?”

“What’s wrong with Mal?”

“That is the question, isn’t it?”

“No, honey. The question is, why won’t you talk to me about it.”

Zoë reached over and squeezed his arm, then stepped to the intercom. “Sir, they’re here to unload the ship.”

“I’ll be right down.”

Wash said, “Honey—”

She just shook her head, and he fell silent.

Company Headquarters

He was both at “work” and at work when his belt buckle started vibrating. He liked it when he could do both at once; it made him feel that the ‘verse was behaving the way it was supposed to.

The “work” part he could do with only a portion of his brain: download tonnage of dirt moved, download percentage of pay dirt, download content of pay dirt, download produce futures, download bauxite futures, run the projections, break them down, generate the report. Tedious, but, once you’ve learned the system (and Kit learned systems quickly and easily), there was nothing to it.

The work part was more entertaining, more important, and just the least little bit scary: monitor everyone else in the office without ever being caught doing so, wait for someone to be sloppy with a keycode, sniff around in places he wasn’t supposed to have access to, look for the fact, the hard number, that would add another layer of sealant to the case he was building. And, if he were very lucky, maybe he’d be able to get to Miss Wuhan’s system, and then he could just walk out the door and be done with it.

What he did not want was anything to break him away from both activities at once, and that’s just what it meant when his belt buckle started vibrating.

Gorram them anyway; this better be important.

He got up from his desk, stretched, put on his jacket, and made his leisurely way to the men’s room. That was just the sort of thing he would notice if someone else did it: Why is that man putting on his coat to use the men’s room? But it wasn’t likely any of his co-workers would twig to it; they didn’t have his training.

He closed the stall door, and removed his C-box from the coat pocket. He fired it up, selected a reasonable mask, and made the connection.

After his identity was established and confirmed, they didn’t waste any time.

New instructions. Top priority, abort current operation if necessary. There is a man you have to meet … .

Five minutes later, he was out the door, leaving everything undone behind him and trying not to think about the feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Serenity: Cargo bay

Only the smell of fresh-cut wood was left in the empty hold.

“Still going smooth, sir,” said Zoë.

“We haven’t been paid yet.”

“I noticed that.”

“So let’s go do it now.” He looked up. Wash was there, leaning on the rail. “You’re in charge,” he called up. “Supervise.”

Wash nodded, but didn’t make any remarks.

Kaylee’s voice came through the intercom. “Can I go out, Cap’n? I want to see if there’s a junkyard here with a monolock for the gravboot.”

“Okay. Don’t take too long. If we manage to get paid, I want to be off the