11:47 A.M.
December 31st, 2518
Over the planet Houston
“All hands, prepare for landing,” Captain Reynolds voice came over the intercom.
Chuck looked up from his reading. Dr. Tam had given him an electronic book reader, and Inara had been able to supply him with access to a database of electronic books. It turned out that Orson Scott Card had written 22 books post-2007, so Chuck was getting caught up a bit.
Chuck thought for a moment about the previous six days. Kaylee had been very shy around him since the incident in his quarters, though she always smiled (and then proceeded to turn bright red) whenever she saw him. This had made her the object of some gentle teasing on Mal and Zoe’s part. Jayne, on the other hand, had simply taken to giving Chuck looks of death whenever he saw him, and Chuck wasn’t sure the primary cause – Kaylee’s obvious attraction to him, or the fact that he had told Jayne about Casey’s job.
The descent to the planet was a little bumpy, but Chuck had experienced worse on the L.A. to San Francisco shuttle when he was going to Stanford. OnceSerenity had come to a stop, he rose from his bed and headed out, going toward the cargo bay.
He arrived there just as Captain Reynolds and River Tam entered. “Welcome all to the planet Houston. It's not my home, but it's almost as good,” Reynolds proclaimed. “Though Houston may be part of the Alliance now, it will always be a proud member of the Republic of Texas.
“So, just one word of advice to enjoy ringing in the New Year,” he continued. “Don’t mess with Texas. Remember that, and you’ll be just fine.”
“They still say that?” Chuck muttered to himself.
“What was that, Chuck?” Mal asked.
“Nothing… never mind.”
“Alright,” Mal said. “Since Chuck is a newbie to not just this planet, but to our time, I think we need to have somebody stay with him, make sure he doesn’t get into any trouble, start a war, you know, that kind of thing. So, I would like –“
“I’ll do it,” Jayne growled.
“– Kaylee to keep an eye on him.”
Jayne growled something unintelligible, while Kaylee turned red (yet again), smiled and whispered something under her breath that Chuck wasn’t positive about but could’ve sworn sounded like she said Shiny.
5:59 A.M.
Saturday, December 29th, 2007
Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
“Houston, this is Vandenberg Control. We are t-minus two minutes to launch.”
Sarah looked over at Casey. He did not appear to be having a good time. Suited up in his spacesuit and strapped into a seat, essentially lying on his back, his face had gone pale and he had what would’ve probably been a white-knuckle grip on his arm rests, had Sarah been able to see his knuckles.
“Casey,” she said. He didn’t respond. “Casey!”
He turned his head toward her. “Yeah?” he said, his voice cracking.
“Calm down!” Sarah exclaimed. “You look like you think you’re about to die.”
“Sarah,” Casey hissed, “all due respect to your well-developed sense of calm, but has it occurred to you that we’re sitting on top of several million gallons of combustible gasses that are about to combine to create a contained explosion roughly equivalent to the Hiroshima bomb, which will generate the force necessary to push us into the cold, unforgiving void?”
Sarah shook her head. “You have absolutely NO sense of adventure. It’s no wonder you drove that stupid Ford.”
A little bit of color returned to Casey’s face. “Don’t you dare talk about her that way!”
“Her?” Sarah asked, incredulous. “Casey! It was a 22 year old ex-cop car!”
“That car was my pride and joy. I made her shiny, and then Chuck blew her up!”
“Get over it,” Sarah said, rolling her eyes. “If you want another one, tell the NSA… I’m sure they’ll pony up the dough for another 1985 P.O.S.”
Casey opened his mouth to talk, but was cut off by the controller. “T-minus sixty seconds and counting. Fifty-nine…”
The pilot – a Major Lorenz, USMC – spoke to them for the first time since they had boarded. “Alright, you folks ready to go back there?”
“Looking forward to it!” Sarah replied.
“Roger that,” Casey grumbled.
“It’s gonna be a little bumpy on the way up,” Lorenz said. “We don’t launch out of Vandenberg, well, hardly ever because of weather concerns, but we really had to this time. Once we reach orbit, it might take you a while to adjust. A lot of first timers in space have some nausea problems.”
Alarmed, Sarah looked over at Casey. “Please tell me you didn’t have pastrami for dinner last night.”
“Nope,” Casey assured her.
“T-minus ten… nine… eight…”
“I just had a big plate of bacon and eggs before we left, though.”
“Oh, Christ.”
“Four… we have booster ignition… three… two… one… we have primary motor ignition… we have liftoff.”
10:02 P.M.
December 31st, 2518
Houston City, the planet Houston
Chuck and Kaylee strolled the streets of downtown. It had been awkward for a little while after they landed, but Kaylee opened up after about half an hour, and Chuck had been barely able to get a word in edgewise since.
“Never thought I’d celebrate the New Year in Texas,” Chuck said when Kaylee paused to take a breath. “Let alone Texas on another planet.”
“It’s really something, isn’t it?” she asked, still speaking with a little too much energy and enthusiasm. “I mean, I just love celebrating the New Year with locals on a planet, and Mal always insists that we go to a planet that was part of the Republic of Texas before the war, because he’s from Texas, and Texans, well, they’re just like that –“
Chuck laughed. “Some things never change, then. Texans are like that in my time, too – thinking Texas is God’s gift to mankind.”
“Aren’t they just like that, though?” Kaylee asked, laughing along with Chuck. “My very first boyfriend – he was from a Texas planet. Thought he was just the greatest thing women had ever encountered. Maybe the greatest ego women had ever encountered, but that was about it.”
“Captain Reynolds doesn’t seem like that, though,” Chuck said. “I mean, yeah, there was the whole ‘Don’t mess with Texas’ bit, but he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who goes on and on about how everything’s bigger in Texas.”
“You’ve clearly never seen him drunk,” Kaylee snarked.
12:02 P.M.
Saturday, December 29th, 2007
In low-Earth orbit, currently over Texas
“Ohhhhh…” Casey moaned. He was curled in a close approximation of the fetal position, clutching a barf bag.
Sarah felt bad for him, but she couldn’t help but feel a little bit amused, too. Here was Casey, the big bad NSA agent, spacesick and miserable. She didn’t say anything, though. She didn’t feel like raising Casey’s ire to provoke revenge when they were back in a gravity field.
“Alright, folks,” Major Lorenz said. “We’re getting ready to engage the jumper. I have no idea what it’s going to feel like, so you definitely want to be strapped in.”
“Check,” Sarah replied.
“Aghghoohhh…”
“Casey says check, too.”
There was silence for a moment, while Major Lorenz and his co-pilot, Captain Tweedum, USAF, worked on getting the jumper ready to go. Sarah looked out the window at the blackness of space. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that she would ever be traveling through time and space. Being a CIA agent was crazy enough in and of itself.
“Alright, we’re engaging the drive in ten seconds. Nine… eight…”
“Sarah… please… kill me now…” Casey moaned. “I will never touch a pork product again, I swear it.”
“Three… two… one.”
Major Lorenz pulled a red lever. All the light in the shuttle went silver. There was a moment where Sarah felt odd – like she didn’t exist, almost. Then, the lights went back to normal, and they were in space. But the Earth was no longer present out the window. There was, however, a smaller, sort of Earth-looking planet, but much further away.
And then, a transmission came crackling over the radio.
“Unidentified spacecraft, this is Alliance cruiser Columbia. Release helm control and prepare for docking.”
“What the hell?” Casey gasped. “What do we do now?”
“Well,” Major Lorenz said, “I say we release helm control and prepare for docking, like they said.”
“Oh like hell!” Casey snapped, color beginning to return to his face. “We can’t do that!”
“We can, and we will,” Lorenz said calmly. “I am the mission commander, and you will obey my orders as long as you are on this shuttle.”
“Yeah, order this,” Casey grunted, pulling his gun.
“Casey!” Sarah shouted. “Put your gun away!”
Casey shot her a sideways look of death, but complied.
“Our mission is to rescue Chuck. Maybe this Alliance can help us find him,” Sarah said. “That transmission sounded American, so let’s not get concerned just yet.”
The Enterprise was slowly pulled into a docking bay. Sarah could feel gravity return as they entered the Columbia’s gravity field.
When Major Lorenz opened the hatch, a voice from outside called over a megaphone. “Leave any weapons you have on the floor of your spacecraft, and exit the vehicle with your hands up!”
The two astronauts and the two spies complied. They were greeted by an individual who appeared to be an officer.
“Your vehicle is unregistered with Alliance control, you do not have proper identification, and your markings are years… no, centuries out of date.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know why I feel like my ship is being targeted by crazy people. I’m going to have to hold you until we can get this sorted out.”
He looked directly at the four and addressed them. “You are under arrest for operation of an illegal mode of transportation. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you wish to waive these rights?”
Nobody responded directly, but Casey muttered, “They still Mirandize you in the 26th century?”
“Fine, then,” the officer said. “Take them to the brig.”
They were handled rather roughly through a set of corridors to a door that said, appropriately enough, brig. The door was opened, they were shoved inside, and the door was shut again behind them. And then, Sarah got the shock of a lifetime.
“Fancy meeting you here.”
Sarah whirled around, unable to believe her ears. Yep, there was Bryce Larkin, sitting on a bench against the wall.
Casey groaned. “Aw, son of a bitch.”
11:52 P.M.
December 31st, 2518
Downtown Houston City, the planet Houston
“The year’s almost over,” Kaylee said. “I can’t believe another year’s almost over.”
“Oddly enough, I can say I understand what you mean,” Chuck replied. “I left 2007 on Christmas Eve, arrived here on Christmas Eve, so it’s not like I’ve added any time or missed any time.”
“What did you do for last New Year’s?” Kaylee asked.
“You know, I went to New York with my sister, Ellie, her boyfriend, Devin – well, we call him Captain Awesome – and my best friend, Morgan. We went to Times Square and watched the ball drop. It wasn’t as cool as it always looked like on T.V., but it was still an unforgettable experience.”
“I saw video of the ball drop once,” Kaylee said. “It was from the last time they did it, on New Year’s Eve 2199. In March of 2200, a gigantic hurricane practically wiped out New York City.”
Chuck stopped short. “Wow. That… that’s kind of lame.”
“Yeah,” Kaylee replied. “There’s so many things from old Earth I wish I could’ve seen.”
Sensing the conversation take a turn for the morbid, Chuck asked, “What did you do last New Year’s?”
“Well,” Kaylee said, “my friends Wash and Shepherd Book had both just been killed a couple weeks before, so I really wasn’t in much of a partying mood. I got completely wasted to drown my sorrows, and woke up on the morning of January 2nd dehydrated and sick with a killer hangover.”
Chuck just stared at her, mouth agape. “Um… um…”
Kaylee smiled. “It’s okay. I get to spend this New Year’s in a happy place with… well, with you.”
Chuck smiled, and yes, even blushed a little himself. “Well, if I had to spend this New Year’s out of my own time, I can’t think of a place I’d rather be.”
In the town square a block away, the music playing at the party there died away and an announcement was made that it was one minute to midnight.
“Did you ever figure you’d spend New Year’s so far from home?” Kaylee asked him.
“I’ve never been any further away from home than New York for… well, anything,” Chuck said. “So, I guess that would be a qualified ‘no’.”
“Talk about an interesting first experience!”
“Thirty seconds!”
Kaylee cast her eyes toward the ground. “You know,” she said, her voice softening, “it’s traditional, where I come from, that when the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Day, you’re supposed to kiss whoever you’re with.”
Chuck looked up at the sky. “Yeah, that’s tradition where I’m from, too, although I didn’t observe it last year – didn’t really feel like kissing Morgan.”
Kaylee laughed softly, then reached out and gently took Chuck’s hand in her own.
“Ten… nine… eight… seven… six… five…”
Chuck placed his other hand under Kaylee’s chin and lifted her face to look at him.
“Four… three… two… one…”
Chuck leaned in to Kaylee, and she closed her eyes.
“Happy New Year!”
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