Of What Measure is a Non-Human (Invite Only)

[Jilak]

Simon was confused, to say the least. River had gone from being in the middle of a rather chaotic fit to... being incredibly calm. Almost, from the looks of it... ponderous? Well, that was... that was something, he assumed. At least she... at least she calmed down. Makoto was still pretty tensed up from what Simon could tell, but... at least River had calmed down. Making heads or tails of the remark that even she didn't seem to understand, though, would be a bit more difficult.

"If Shadow's a planet, then... perhaps that's where the captain's been brought to? If we plan to rescue him, I think we need to find a way back to Serenity." Simon stated, working from the conclusion that Shadow was a planet. He still had no idea that it was Malcolm's home planet, but he was at least making a start at working out the details. He then turned a compassionate eye towards Makoto. He was... basically alone here from the looks of it. And this crew was known for taking in individuals in need...

"Makoto, are you going to be alright? Is the... pain gone?" Simon questioned. He... wasn't really sure what to ask. But from the way the two had screeched, he assumed they'd been in pain, and worked from this.

[mugenginga]

River turned towards where Jayne had gone as her brother spoke, and she had a kind of annoyed frown. Was kicking him off the best idea? Simon held her on a bit of a pedestal, but one had to remember she was a teenager... they'd have been better off killing him. Letting him go... she had a strong feeling that it was going to create problems later. She didn't know how, but...

Simon addressed Makoto and River pushed herself to her feet, walking over to him before Simon could catch her to stop her. Makoto had tensed up as he heard Simon, but was giving a frightened look towards River as she walked over. She stopped and dropped onto the ground, looking at Makoto with a confused look. Makoto gave an exaggerated blink and looked back at her, his shaking stopping.

Zoe looked at Simon as if expecting an answer.

[Jilak]

Simon was quite confused at this turn of events. Before he could stop her, River had walked towards Makoto. He had no idea what to expect, at this point. He trusted River, he trusted her with his life. But with everything going on at the moment... everyone was a bit stir-crazy. So needless to say, his caution was warranted. Logically, it was completely sound. But as a brother, the fact that, in those brief seconds, he was so nervous... it just killed him inside.

In any case, after a brief moment, he realised that there was no situation to be defused, invalidating his former worries. But it was an intriguing event all the same. River, his genius younger sister, seemed almost... confused by Makoto. Not to mention, Makoto's shaking stopped. While Simon assumed he was still far from calm, this was the calmest he'd seen the boy in a while.

"Um... River, this is Makoto. He's... a friend." Simon said, after giving a slight, helpless shrug to Zoe. This hadn't been his best week, what with his momentary insanity earlier and his utter confusion now.

"What's our next move... captain?" Simon asked, turning to Zoe.

[mugenginga]

Zoe, for once, actually seemed startled out of thoughts by Simon's question. She jerked a bit and looked towards the good doctor as he asked the question. She frowned at him, "I'm not the Captain yet, Simon."

And then did't give him a response. She turned back towards River and Makoto. They were still just sitting there, staring at each other. Makoto looked a little frightened and worried, but he seemed otherwise calm. River had a neutral and impossible to read expression on her face. Zoe just watched them, and after a few moments...

"I won't talk for you," River stated, still looking at Makoto.

[Jilak]

Simon didn't quite realise his transgression until Zoe's reaction. Right. It was probably not the best of ideas to defer to her directly after Captain Reynolds had, well... exploded. Poor taste, and all that. He gave a slight nod at her response, averting his eyes. It was an uncomfortable position, and his question went unanswered.

"You're right. I'm sorry." He said, turning his attention towards the two younger individuals. It was a strange turn of events, this. River, with a neutral and impossible to read expression on her face. And Makoto, though still seemingly slightly vexed, actually looking slightly calm. He didn't want to ruin it by speaking up, interrupting the only quiet moment they'd gotten since land. Luckily, River soon did it for him.

"Makoto, if you... want to say something, it's fine. None of us will hurt you. Well, Jayne might have. But he's gone now."

[mugenginga]

Makoto's eyes widened as River spoke out loud, and he tried to scoot backwards in surprise. He ended up impacting his injured hand on the ground and lifted it up with a jerk, but not removig his gaze from River the entire time.

"H-how do you... but... _psychic..."

River screwed her face up into an expression of annoyance and turned towards Simon, "Something's wrong with Shadow."

Zoe indicated Makoto with a nod of her gun. Makoto gave a worried frown and looked down, but there was no significant jump over Zoe's waving gun, "Is he okay?"

"Mal's in danger..." River said, looking worried and completely ignoring Zoe's question. She looked at Zero, "Two by two... and him..."

[Jilak]

Simon put his fingertips together, assessing the situation. The captain was gone, Zero had gone rogue, Jayne was gone, and Zoe, whom Simon had assumed to be their final hope for some form of order and coordination, didn't seem as if she wanted to lead. It was a time where he'd have to do one of the things he didn't like doing. He'd have to take charge. He'd never been the leader-type, Simon. He'd never had to be. But they needed to get it together.

"Zoe. Do you still have your communicator with you? If so, could you try to get a signal out, please? If we know anything about Kaylee, she'd head to the place she felt safest. She'd head for Serenity. You might be able to hail her. River, Makoto. Whatever took the captain, he was probably taken back to our 'Verse. We'll need to find a way back, and the only way to do that is to see if we can find the thing that brought us here. I'll need one of you to come with me. And one of you... probably needs to stay behind and watch Zero." Simon stated, hesitantly.

"I mean, if... if that's alright with everyone." He finished.

[mugenginga]

Zoe looked back towards Simon as he asked his question, and gave a frown. Well, maybe. It was hard to tell. She seemed serious. Simon would possibly catch it, he'd been on the crew with her long enough, but it was clear that if it was there it was internal. She nodded and reached into her pocket, one eye kept on Zero and the teenagers as she pulled out the unit.

"I don't think you should seperate those two, and if it comes to Zero being shot, it's better if someone who is able to do it is around," she paused with her finger over the communicator button, "No offense."

River's eyes widened for a moment as she contiued to frown at Makoto. She seemed quite surprised by something. She narrowed her eyes for a moment and stared at the other teenager, and he seemed to wince and curl up into a ball again. He put his head in his knees. Zoe, meanwhile, had pressed down the button. No response. She frowned to herself for a moment before speaking.

"Captain, this is Zoe," she didn't know if Simon would catch her reasoning for referring to Mal rather than Kaylee. The truth was the last any of them had heard about the ship was that it was impounded. If there were Alliance crawling around on it... better to keep them in the dark abou this end of the situation. And if it was Kaylee, she'd pick up and they could go from there.

[Jilak]

Simon waited on somewhat baited breath in the moments between Zoe's attempt and any form of response. It had been one of the things he'd been keeping at the back of his mind. One of the many things he had to worry about, with so little time to worry about them. But it was there, and now was the time to address it. He was worried about Kaylee. They'd all found each other on this strange island... all of them except Kaylee. It was quite distressing.

Not as distressing as the voice that came after a slight crackle, however. He had no idea whom he should be expecting. He'd hoped for Kaylee, maybe even captain Reynolds. But he knew both were unlikely. He'd have even been okay with a disgruntled Alliance soldier. He was not, however, okay with one of the prior two Hands of Blue.

"Hello, Mr. Tam. Mrs. Washburne. Or is it Miss, now? After Mr. Washburne's... untimely departure. As I'm sure you're aware, we have the captain. And, as luck would have it, we have your engineer. Tell me, Mr. Tam. Is your sister with you?" Agent X's voice sneered from the communicator.

"...she isn't, no. She... went to gather supplies. We might have to stay here a while, so we should at least be stocked up." Simon responded after a brief pause.

"Now, now, Mr. Tam. You and I both know that's a lie. After you went through all the trouble of breaking her out of a heavily guarded facility, you expect me to believe that you would just let her run off on her own? You're too over-protective for such a thing. So I'll present the deal. Give us the girl, and you get your young engineer. Give us both of them, and you also get captain Reynolds back. She's the last bit of data we need for our... collection." The voice responded.

"I don't think that's going to be possible. Even if we suddenly lost all moral value, we're still stuck here." Simon responded.

"There's an industrial park, near Void City. There you'll find an abandoned lab, and the first component you'll need to build a portal generator. Once you have it, we'll be in touch. Oh, and the security's still up. So Zero's assistance will be essential, I'm certain. Unless any of you are suddenly brilliant hackers?"

"You're sending us on a glorified fetch quest, at the end of which you expect us to hand over my sister and Makoto?" Simon asked, arms crossed.

"It would seem that you have no other choice, Mr. Tam. Once you're done, come unarmed. Just you and the children." Agent X responded, crisply.

"How do we know we can trust you? How can we be sure they're still alive?" Simon asked, furiously.

"Ah, if you'd like to hear from the captain..."

"I want to hear from Kaylee. The captain's strong-willed, I trust that he's okay."

"It's too bad you opened this com-line addressing the captain. Else, you'd have gotten your wish. Alas." Shortly after this exchange, there was another momentary crackle, before Mal's voice boomed through. He sounded like he was in pain.

"Zoe... don't let the doc do somethin' stupid. You stop him, d'you hear me?" Malcolm put forth. It was here that the communication ended.

[mugenginga]

River's eyes had widened have a second before Zoe's communication had been answered, and she was on her feet and backing away from the communicator by the time the answer came. Makoto jumped in surprise and his own eyes widened. Once again he'd be curling into a ball, and if anyone pried his knees away from his face they'd see tears streaming down. He was muttering something indistinguishable past his knees, and River's mouth was mouthing words as the conversation carried on.

Zoe narrowed her eyes and the expression in them alone made it clear no one wanted to talk to her until it passed over the mention of Wash. She kept a firm enough grip on the communicator that her knuckles were fading a bit as the conversation went on. She was staring at the communicator with a harsh look that fit the "warrior goddess" look Wash often described her as having as communication cut out. She looked at Simon as soon as it did.

"What can Zero do?" she asked. She definitely seemed to be in charge of the situation now... and then...

"Simon, we can't go! It's them!"

And Makoto...

_{"Twobytwohandsofblue...."} He seemed to be crying, making his squeaked out words nearly indistinguishable.

[Jilak]

The entire current situation was far too hectic. Mal was usually the one to keep everyone in line, or Zoe. Even Jayne. But Mal and Jayne were gone, and Zoe was... Zoe deserved a break. He couldn't hand over River or Makoto, that much was obvious. But finding the bits for the generator was their only hope of getting back. So he had to get to work.

"I know, mei-mei. I'll never let them take you, or Makoto. You have my word. Zoe, I need you to watch them while I'm gone. If and when Zero wakes up, he and I will head out to find what we need. I'll need to borrow your gun and communicator." Simon reached out his hand as he said this, breaking his warm look towards River to give a slightly worried one to Zoe.

"I know he's a... bit of a homicidal maniac, but the captain trusted him. So now I need you to trust me. We can do this. We just have to work together. all of us." As Simon finished, he gave a slight glance towards the direction Jayne had been. No, getting rid of him might not have been a good idea at all.

But they'd knuckle through.

[mugenginga]

Zoe stepped forward quickly as Simon got up, cutting off his path. She shook her head.

"I didn't ask what you were going to do, I asked what he can do," Zoe said. Definitely the "shit has gone down" Zoe mode at the moment. It was a bit intimidating, and there was no room for argument in her words, "Before he said that you'd need Zero because of electronic security? What can he do?"

River didn't look much less frightened at Simon's attempt to calm her. She seemed a bit transfixed in her spot, but she did look over and put her hands over her ears and close her eyes as Makoto muttered. Her mouth was moving but no words were coming out, like before. She wanted to tell Simon to just stop, but she knew she couldn't. He couldn't, could he? And it wouldn't be fair ot ask him but...

Two by Two.

[Jilak]

It was quite obvious to Simon that, at this point, Zoe was in control of the situation. He wouldn't be out of this clearing without explaining himself. Problem was, even he wasn't sure he believed it. And right now was not the time for Zoe to assume he was joking. But it looked like he'd have to explain it as he understood it.

"Zero told me he was some sort of sentient virus, before slitting his wrists. I didn't believe him at the time, but after what he did to the captain, I'll buy it. If his powers work the way I think they do, he can infect anything, people or computers. When we were together, captain Reynolds dropped word of something called 'deleting'. I assume that's what he tried to do to the captain. If he can shut down the security, I can find what we need, and he might be able to put it together. If he trusts us. Which is why I need to borrow your gun as well. I'll only use it if I have to." Simon responded, continuing to hold his hand out.

He knew nothing of these agents, other the fact that River seemed horrified by them. Perhaps they were directly involved in her... schooling. Perhaps not. Either way, he didn't think they'd be okay with being forced to wait. They needed a plan as quickly as possible.

[mugenginga]

Zoe held out the communicator, dropping it in Simon's hand. She then unstrapped the smaller of her two guns and looked at it for a moment before handing it to Simon. The man had not shown skill with guns before, and odds were if Zero tried to do what he did before to the Captain, he wouldn't have a chance to use it. She then handed him a bunch of bullets.

"Get back here before you do anything else," she said, "If that man can 'delete' computer information, we may have options regarding using the Alliance's own power against them."

She didn't wait for a response before walking over to where Zero lay, still unconscious. She crouched down in front of him, her larger gun still handy, and looked towards Simon, "Do you think methods of waking humans up will work on him, then? He seems human enough."

[Jilak]

Simon was honestly not quite sure where to go from there. He hadn't expected Zoe to actually give him her gun. On the one hand, he knew he might need it. On the other, he had poor experience shooting one. As Book would say, he hadn't shot someone yet. But regardless, he made sure the safety was on before putting it in the back of his pants. When he was younger, and would watch the occasional historical film, that was how police officers from Earth That Was would conceal their firearms. As for Zero, though...

"I believe so. Earlier, when he slit his wrists, I had to operate on him, and he had a few broken ribs. If he has an actual bloodflow, which he seemed to, I should be able to wake him up." Simon broke off, consulting what form of medical bag he had. It wasn't much, but it was everything he could knick from the makeshift hospital. He'd be sure to repay them when he could.

"A bit of smelling salt should be enough to bring him back, but he might be a bit disoriented. I'd suggest keeping your gun handy. River, Makoto, stay back. I don't want either of you getting hurt." That said, Simon waved the bag under Zero's nose...