Episode 402: Shepherd's Hope, Part Three

Jump to:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Epilogue

On the way out the door, Kiera stops as an idea hits her.

Kiera: Should we sedate the catatonic one, in case he goes bugnuts on us halfway there?
Arden: Well, he may be sedated and that’s why he’s like this. You might want to be careful about sedating him before we run some tests. Maybe we should tie him up.
Kiera: That might be a really good idea.
Nika: Secure him. Take the ropes that held him and secure his hands behind his back. And then to his body. At least for this walk.
Rina: Good luck with that.

We approach him with the rope and his eyes focus for a second. On someone’s firearm.

Joshua: (to us) Okay. Back off. Everybody back off, please.

We back off and Joshua gently addresses the man.

Joshua: Can you walk? If you can walk, you can walk with me. We’ll get you someplace safe. (a beat) Look, we don’t want to tie you up. I would prefer not to tie you up. We need you to be able to walk and we need to know you’re not going to beat me over the side of the head as we walk to our ship.

No response. Joshua turns to the rest of us, telling us to get the others on their way back to the ship.

Joshua: Give me a little space to walk with him.

Okay. We sling our firearms, put two people to a stretcher and haul out of there. Joshua gives us a minute or two headstart and follows at a slower pace with his charge. Joshua keeps his hands out where the man can see them when the man cowers.

Joshua: If you can walk with me, walk this way. If you take my hand, we can walk.

Joshua offers his hand. The man doesn’t respond at first but after a beat, he puts his hand out very slowly, visibly trembling. When he finally makes contact, he squeezes Joshua’s hand… and collapses into the steward. Joshua staggers a bit under the sudden weight but manages to keep them both upright and slowly they start following the others. The man is clearly traumatized and leans into Joshua for support.

Nika’s with Arden and she slows her pace to keep our group from getting too far ahead. Even so, she and Arden disappear around the corner of one of the buildings before Joshua and his charge reaches it. And it’s when the party is split in two that a battlecry rises from the building and a bladed object comes flying for Joshua.

Joshua is hampered by the man he’s helping but manages to deflect the weapon somewhat. Even so, he takes a hit and gets wounded on the left arm. Joshua manages to stay upright and notices something odd about his attacker.

Joshua: What the hell…?

It’s a ten year old girl. And not just any ten year old, but one that’s kitted out like a, well, a ten year old Reaver. Only without the mutilations Reavers normally inflict on themselves. Her face is smeared horrifically with paint or something like paint and grease and grime has been run through her hair. She’s got a weapon that looks like a pitchfork with knives duct taped to the tines. It’s the same weapon she’s wounded Joshua’s arm with and the weapon pretty much broke on impact. She’s screaming like a hellion and it’s obvious that she’s trying to mimic Reavers.

Joshua tries speaking to her in Chinese. Then in English.

The rest of the crew hears the high-pitched battlecry and Joshua’s startled response. Nika immediately drops her end of the stretcher and makes tracks around the building. Rina sets her half of the stretcher gently down before Kiera can protest, and she takes off at her Captain’s heels. Rina rounds the corner with her rifle up and ready.

Meanwhile, Joshua’s charge has managed to stumble backwards away from the confrontation. Joshua is engaged in dodging the pitchfork as the girl stabs at him with it. The knives she’s duct taped to the tines have fallen off in all the action but the tines themselves are dangerous. They’re long enough to go right through a man and a pitchfork through the torso is a nasty way to die. Joshua keeps himself between her and the catatonic man, trying to disarm her in a way that won’t have her running past him to attack his charge. He talks to her as he dodges.

Joshua: (carefully) I don’t want to hurt you. We’re not here to hurt you.

Joshua manages to yank the pitchfork away from her and she stumbles back as Nika and Rina round the corner.

Joshua: (to the girl) We don’t want to hurt you. (to the women) Don’t shoot her!

The women stand down and Rina reslings her rifle before approaching. Nika guards the rear from the corner of the building. The girl freezes when she sees them and then bolts back into the building she leapt from. Rina gives chase. Inside the building the room is an obstacle course of tables and chairs and heavy things designed to slow down pursuit. The girl eels and scrambles around, under and through the furniture. Rina is a small woman herself and she crawls and wiggles through the obstacle course right behind the girl. The girl may be smaller but Rina is stronger and the engineer gains on her.

Joshua drops the pitchfork and goes to the catatonic man very carefully, already assuming that any rapport or progress he’s made with the victim has been swept away by the attack. The victim certainly appears to have backslid and is edging away from Joshua.

Joshua: (sincerely) We’re here to help. You’ll be safe in our ship. Come this way. We’ll get you safe.

The man stops edging away but doesn’t seem inclined to come closer. Around the corner, Kiera looks at Arden and asks which patient is worse off and needs to be moved first? Arden’s patient is slightly worse off and she leaves her patient to help Arden transport his.

Nika takes in everything from her post at the corner and sighs.

Nika: Joshua. You got him?
Joshua: Yeah, I got him. I got him.

Nika moves to the doorway and looks inside. It’s a jumble of furniture. Somewhere in that mess she can hear Rina and the girl scrambling. And in that mess Rina’s nearly got her hand on the girl when the girl pulls a fast one and slips into a crawlspace beneath the floor boards. Rina follows.

Score: One catatonic guy = perfectly safe. One patient = lying in the street. Doctor and Passenger = hotfooting it to the ship with a stretcher. Engineer = chasing a feral kid. Steward = babysitting catatonic guy. Captain = glad things are going so well.

Beneath the house, Rina’s following the girl and damn—! The girl manages to crawl outside before Rina can catch her. The girl takes off running across the grassy back lot and Rina’s hot on her tail…and Rina’s longer adult legs and strength win the day. She tackles the girl to the ground and she rolls onto her back, holding onto the girl as the girl struggles to get away. The girl screams, kicks, bucks. Rina hangs on. The girl abruptly goes limp.

Spaghetti kid.

Whew. Rina sits up and turns the girl around in her arms. The girl’s eyes are closed but Rina knows she’s faking.

Rina: (softly) Wake up.

No reaction.

Fine.

Rina rises to her feet and tucking the limp girl under her arm like a football, she carries her back to the party, legs and arms dangling, her hand on the back of the girl’s neck to restrain her if she explodes.

Back at the house, Nika falls back to the corner of the building so she can keep an eye on the patient and the stretcher as well as Joshua and his charge. For himself, Joshua has got the man in hand again and tries to Read him. All he gets is the panicked surface emotions of ‘Oh my God, we gotta get out of here’, ‘Reavers’, and pretty much nothing much else. Joshua knows he’s going to pay for the psychic overload later but is determined to try to find out what happened to the man and maybe find a way to help him as a result. He tries again and gains the man’s attention. Joshua Reads deeper and the man starts pulling back.

Rina arrives with the girl and Nika’s momentarily distracted. She turns and freezes at the expression on Joshua’s face:

Psycho monster. Gonna eat this guy. Rip off a hunk to share with.

Gan ni niang bu hao can! (Chinese: Motherf—ker don’t look good)

Nika: Joshua?!

Nika’s rifle is up and aimed before she’s even aware of it, with Joshua dead in her sights. For his part, Joshua sees the rifle and turns to look behind him for the threat. There’s nothing there. He doesn’t realize what his face is showing and by the time he turns around the expression is gone.

Joshua: (puzzled) You can put that away.

Rina had her hands full of spaghetti kid and missed the weirdness. All she sees is Nika with her rifle pointed right at Joshua. Or it could be the catatonic guy. Either way—What? Rina hitches the girl higher on her hip as she approaches Nika.

Rina: Got her.
Nika: (grim) Quickly. Get back to the ship.
Rina: (askance at rifle) Okay.

Nika’s eyes never leave her target. Rina doesn’t question her Captain’s tone but obeys without delay. Nika steps between Rina and Joshua, her rifle up and aimed, covering her engineer and the girl.

Back on the Gift, the first patient is installed in medbay and Arden sends Kiera out for the second. Kiera trots right back out for the second patient. Kiera passes Rina on the way over and pulls up short when she sees the Nika-Joshua standoff. Joshua is frozen where he stands, confused, and Nika’s planted stock still with her rifle.

Kiera: (drawlin’) Did I miss somethin’?
Joshua: Apparently.

Kiera sees where the rifle is pointing and can’t really tell if it’s aimed at Joshua or the man next to him. Neither apparently can Joshua.

Joshua: Nika? You’re going to scare him.
Nika: I’m going to scare him?
Joshua: You’re gonna scare the guy.
Nika: You’re scaring the bejeebers outa me!

Okay, not something Kiera can do anything about.

Kiera: Um…I’m going to get the one that’s dying while y’all … deal … with the living … ones?

And being no dummy, she ducks out. Joshua twigs something’s wrong but damned if he can’t figure it out. He’s getting frustrated and angry, now.

Joshua: Nika, go help with the dying one. Why are you giving me that look? Go help the dying guy so I can get this guy—(gestures at catatonic man)—into the ship.

Joshua looks totally normal now and Nika backs slowly with her rifle around the corner to help Kiera. She grabs the rear end of the stretcher and hauls it to the ship with Kiera, turning her head every few yards or so to check for Joshua.

Kiera: Cap’n? Did I miss somethin’?
Nika: (sincerely) I don’t know.
Kiera: All right. Did that guy try somethin’?
Nika: Joshua looked weird.
Kiera: I think he’s a little bit upset.
Nika: Yeah, if upset covers he looks like he’s going to take a chunk outa the guy’s arm and share it. Like it’s a chicken wing.
Kiera: Oh. Well, that is a little bit upset, in’t it? (a beat) Run faster.

Kiera picks up her pace and Nika matches her. She keeps looking back but she matches her. Joshua, meanwhile, is trying to get the man to follow him to the ship. Maybe it’s because Joshua’s expression is normal or maybe it’s because Nika’s removed herself from the scene and taken the gun with her. Whatever the reason, the man is much more compliant to Joshua’s urgings to follow.

Joshua: Come on. We’ll get you settled. We’ll get you settled on the ship, somewhere safe.

Rina’s already aboard the Gift with the girl. Since the med bay’s full of gore, Rina’s settling the girl in a jumpseat in the passenger lounge and strapping her into it. There is no one else available to watch the girl while Rina leaves to get the first aid kit, so the engineer duct tapes the buckles shut on the straps. If the girl wakes and goes ape, it’ll take her a few minutes instead of mere seconds to win free. Assured she’s got about 90 seconds, Rina grabs the kit and soap and a washcloth. When she tries washing the crap off the girl’s face, the girl goes ape and starts screaming again. And growling and baring her teeth. Rina’s glad she thought of the duct tape first. She leaves the girl to scream and goes straight to med bay and sticks her head in the door.

Rina: Arden. I need a sedative patch for a twelve-year-old girl.
Arden: I’m kind of in the middle of something.

Or in the middle of someone. He’s got his hands inside his patient.

Rina: Fine.

She starts rooting through the supplies drawers for what she needs. Kiera and Nika bring in the second patient and come in on the last half of that exchange.

Nika: Did you leave her alone in the passenger lounge?
Rina: (rummaging) Yeah. She’s taped in.
Kiera: What’s wrong with her? Why are you trying to sedate her?
Rina: She’s freaking.
Kiera: Okay… And duct taping her and sedating her…?
Rina: (slams drawer shut) Never mind.
Kiera: Rina, bring me my bag.

Rina does as ordered and Kiera pulls out a filled syringe.

Kiera: Half dose. How much does she weigh?
Rina: (no hesitation) Fifty, sixty pounds.
Kiera: Pfft! Drop it to a third. You give her any more than that, she’ll be out for days.

Nika, meanwhile, has crept aft to the doorway of the passenger lounge and is observing the girl from behind. The girl herself is sitting quietly in the jump seat and is looking around, taking everything in. Nika gives the girl a moment more and then comes up next to her.

Nika: (quietly) You know, you don’t have to act crazy. We’re not going to bite you—
Girl: RARRRRRAHHHHAHAHHGHHHHH! (gnash! kick!)

Rina steps in and shows Nika the syringe she’s got tucked in her palm.

Rina: A third of this will do it.
Nika: (oh, hell no) You’re not sedatin’ her. She’s a kid, scared to death. She doesn’t know us from Adam. You ain’t sedatin’ her.

Fine. Rina slips it into a sleeve pocket next to her pen. It can stay there til it’s needed. At this point, Joshua has to guide Catatonic Man through to the second class cabins. He hears the girl’s screaming and calls ahead: is there an adult present, is the girl secure? Rina calls back: she’s secured in a jumpseat with the strap buckles duct taped shut. Joshua relays this information in turn to his charge, stressing the girl is safe, she isn’t going to do anything, he’s going to be taken to his own cabin which he can secure for himself. Joshua leads him forward and interposes himself between the man and the girl. However, the second the man crosses the threshold, the girls stops screaming and stares at the man’s face. And he stops and stares right back.

She looks scared. He looks cold and emotionless.

Rina: (softly) Oh, no…Not exactly the daughter/father moment I was thinkin’.
Nika: (as softly) I don’t think that’s her father. (a little louder) Joshua? Make sure he’s secure.
Joshua: I’m going to sit with him for a while.
Nika: That’s secure enough for the moment.

Joshua settles the man in a second class cabin and the man sits quietly on the bunk. Joshua sits with him and hails the ship over his comm.

Joshua: If somebody could bring me some food, that would be great.
Nika: (responding) I’ll be down in a minute.

In the jumpseat the girl has gone quiet and Nika hunkers down and addresses her softly.

Nika: Are you hungry?

No acknowledgment from the girl that Nika’s even there. Nika straightens.

Nika: Lemme go bring Joshua some food and I’ll bring some stuff back, some water and some things for her.
Rina: Okay.
Nika: And I’ll check in on Arden and see how surgery’s goin’.

She turns and from the foredeck corridor beyond she spies a blinking red light on the bridge console.

Nika: Oh, crap.

Nika get to the bridge and shuts the hatch behind her. Rina still hasn’t fixed the sensor array all the way so our range is only about 100 kilometers and it can’t tell us much more than there’s something coming in. There’s no way to tell what sort of ship or if it’s running hot like a Reaver ship but Nika’s able to ballpark figure the ETA.

It’s coming in pretty fast. We have maybe a minute.

She hauls ass off the bridge and hits the lounge.

Nika: Rina. We got incoming. There’s a ship coming down.
Rina: On it.

Rina hauls ass for the engine room to get things spinning. Nika comes over the engine room PA.

Nika: We got about sixty seconds before they hit us.

Oh, is that all? Tons of time. Thanks, Cap’n.

Back in the lounge, Nika squats in front of the girl.

Nika: As far as I can tell, that ship is what did this to your town. If there’s anybody left alive in there, you need to tell me if there’s anybody left alive. Because otherwise we’re leavin’ them.

The girl looks up.

Girl: (thinly) There’re other kids.
Nika: Where?

The girl starts to pant, struggling to speak but unwilling to give the secret away.

Nika: Cuz I ain’t leavin’em for Reavers if I can get’em.
Girl: (whispers) The school…
Nika: Under? They have a basement down there that they’re hidin’ in? How are they keepin’ away from the Reavers?

More panting, a quiet thin voice.

Girl: He… We have just one, comes around every now and then.
Nika: He? One? There’s not a bunch’uv’em?
Girl: Not… anymore.
Nika: So he comes on the ship by himself?
Girl: He doesn’t have a ship.
Nika: Okay, we gotta ship incoming.
Girl: (crying now) Maybe they’re all coming back.
Nika: Oh, God.

Nika realizes she’s gone too far and there’s no more time. She runs to second class and bangs on Joshua’s door. Joshua’s out like a shot.

Nika: We got a ship incoming. I need a hand.
Joshua: What do you want me to do? Stay here?
Nika: No, that’s not going to work. (jerks chin toward Catatonic Man) He’ll probably just cower there anyway.

Catatonic Man doesn’t seem to notice, being more interested in the surface of the cabin walls. Joshua ducks back inside and reassures him.

Joshua: I’ll be right back, okay.
Nika: (from outside) Thirty seconds!
Joshua: I’ll be right back.

Joshua leaves without even bothering to shut the door, no wanting the make the man feel he’s captured. Joshua hauls ass to the bridge and straps into the copilot seat to assist Nika. There’s not much time to do anything before the ship screams in, pulling a military-style sweep and loop around the town and us. It doesn’t look exactly like a Reaver ship though it has some Reaver elements to it. It’s strangely colored, for one. We also get a look at its turret. It has a weapons package, with a gun pointed right at us.

Nika: It’s got a dangler.

The ship hovers over us a second and then our comm spits static. We’re being hailed. A deep male voice issues from the speakers. It sounds blessedly sane.

Man: (drawling) You don’t look like Reavers.
Joshua: Praise be. At least he’s, like, coherent.
Nika: (thumbs comm) Who’m I talkin’ to?
Man: Who’m I? Who’m I talkin’ to?
Nika: This is the Summer’s Gift. We landed here with a cargo for the town. We found the carnage you’re lookin’ at.
Man: Power down.
Nika: (switches channel) Rina. Power it down.
Rina: (over comm) Yes, ma’am.
Nika: (to Joshua) It’s not like we had time to go anyway.
Joshua: Yeah.

Our girl spins down and her engines fall silent. From the bridge, Nika’s trying to suss out the make and model of the other ship. It’s wedge-shaped, quasi-military, but not entirely civilian. It’s not a cargo ship. It’s more like a scout ship.

A scout-y ship.

It’s painted up like a Reaver ship, or a ship looking for Reaver camouflage. More than that, Nika just can’t tell before it flies behind us and settles down on a flat space across the river running alongside Shepherd’s Hope. Back on the Gift’s bridge, Nika and Joshua have thrown off their straps and are already moving.

Joshua: Before we get, you know, boarded or anything, I’m going to get some food to the guy.
Nika: See if the girl’s going to stay calm enough to let her loose. See if you can get her to talk, why she was lookin’ at the guy that way.

Joshua gets that food over. Catatonic Guy looks but makes no move for it. Joshua expected as much.

Joshua: If you need to eat, there it is. I’ll go check on a couple other things and I’ll be back.

He checks on the girl next. She’s crying and whimpering now, because somebody told her that Reavers are coming to finish everyone off. Joshua crouches in front of her.

Joshua: We’re okay. We’re okay right now. It’s not Reavers. Um… I need to know… If I let you loose that you’re not going to go crazy on me.
Girl: What about you?
Joshua: Yeah. I know. All I want to do is make sure you’re okay. I’d like to get you some food, I’d like to get you settled. But I can’t do that if I think you’re gonna rush at me and try to attack me or attacking the rest of my friends. We’re going to try to keep you safe here on the ship.

No answer.

Joshua: Okay. Whenever you’re ready to get loose, tell me. Say, ‘I’m ready to get loose’ and I’ll take that as agreement that you’re not gonna go crazy and rush us.

Still no answer.

Joshua stands and heads back to the bridge where Nika’s waiting for him. Before he can leave the lounge, however, the girl says to him in a soft voice:

Girl: It’s best not to run, anyway.
Joshua: (turning back) What do you mean?
Girl: They like it when you run.

Jump to:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Epilogue

Go back to: Hot Cargo, Cold Cash | Go forward to: Catalysts and Constraints
Back to Season Four: Trials and Errors
Back to EPISODES or TIMELINE