”If we die, I should think you’ll be very cross with me.” River spoke, and Kaylee was now even more terrified to see a mad kind of smile light River’s lips and eyes with a certain kind of peace that she really wished she could feel at that moment.

”*River!*” Kaylee screamed in abject panic as Serenity barreled at them up from the ground at escape velocity plus.

A jerk of the wheel and a turn and they felt the rumbling shutter of Serenity’s velocity wake slam into them, the other much larger ship having passed within talking distance of them (you know, were they on the ground and not going by one another fast enough not to have had time to blink). The shuttle rumbled and rolled, set to spinning and twirling uncontrolled. Kaylee got to the floor and held onto the back of River’s pilot chair for dear life itself as she felt gravity pull them around like an angry tide. Weightless one second, lurching in any which direction the next. The unmistakable sound of another ship, if anything, larger even than Serenity, crossing their wake shook the air and them in it with renewed force. Up was down, down was up and nothing in between made itself sensible. She screamed and held on. A scraping sound and something hard and heavy slammed into her backside.

The world went hazy and her vision seemed to blur. Her eyes watering, her whole body hurting, she felt herself kind of whimpering and wishing for anything she’d never seen the inside of a space ship and that she was back home nice and safe on the ground. People weren’t meant to live in space, the thoughts came. You’d think the coldness deep enough to kill would have given us the hint.

Hard to focus, time seemed to stretch unnaturally long and bendy in ways it shouldn’t, and still she held on. Images of running through her beautiful ship, laughing and having fun. Real fun with a really friend her own age like she hadn’t had is a long time. River’d stolen her apple, and she’d chase her to the ends of the ’verse to get it back. It’s just the way things had to be. She caught River and men tired to kill them for the apple. An apple is a rare and delicious treasure. People have killed for less. She was scared and she hid. ”Mustn’t look, mustn’t look” River said, taking her gun from her and going to her feet to face them. Three shots rang out and River smiled at her. ”No power in the ’verse…” They both started to say.