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Evolution is a change in the population. It leads to a more thriving, surviving species. Human beings are no exception. When Earth was literally on the brink of extinction, the human species evolved. Too many people on the planet - there had to be a way for the Earth to survive. With the Earth surviving, so did humans.
It started off as two. Two babies, two children from the Philippines, being born with little numbers on their wrists. It was the exact same numbers.
21:136:400:10
The doctors were reasonably confused. It was only after more children were born with these numbers, different numbers, on their wrists. It was only after the numbers started counting down that they realised. These were timers. Timers to what, no one knew, but many speculated. Eventually, it was figured out that they were counting down to when these children would meet for the first time.
The Soulmate Evolution. That’s what they called it.
Some soulmates were years apart, but their timer’s matched up perfectly. A 4 year old child’s timer could read the same exact numbers just as a new baby was born. That meant that they were matched.
But no one person’s numbers counted down to 0:0:0:0 unless it was with that 1 person. The Soulmate Evolution deemed that only two people were meant to be. And you knew. You knew when you met that person. A feeling would go through you. Some described it as a jolt of electricity, others described it as a small fire burning, others said it was like waking up from a deep slumber.
Didn’t matter the age, the gender, the race.
x
x
Unfortunately for the Earth, the Soulmate Evolution came too late. The Earth got all used up. And people packed up and spread out to the ‘Verse for new Earth’s. New places that could hold their life.
But it didn’t matter that they were no longer on Earth. The evolution had taken hold of everyone. Everyone had a timer.
x
x
Year 2511
“You paid money for this, sir?” Zoe looked around with a critical, disbelieving eye before turning back to Mal “…on purpose?”
Mal looked back at her incredulously before turning to the cargo hold of his new ship, habit causing him to scratch the inside of his right wrist.
“Wh-whoh, come on, seriously Zoe, what do you think?”
“Honestly sir, I think you got robbed.”
Zoe’s deadpan deliverance never failed, but Mal was sure she was fang pi.
Serenity was a beaut, and his first mate would love it.
Eventually.
But first they needed a pilot.
Weeks later, Mal noticed that his usual un-agitated first mate was looking…well, mighty agitated.
Since Zoe was his first mate and best friend, Mal decided to talk to her about this in a calm, reasonable fashion. It would do no good for anyone if his right hand looked like she was about to put a bullet into someone’s brain pan.
“Zoe, what’s wrong?”
She looked at him, before turning back to organize the crates in the cargo hold.
“Nothing is wrong, sir.”
“Really, now? Is that why you look like you’re ‘bout a second away from g'en ho tze bi dio se?”
“Eloquent, sir. Really, very charming.”
Mal rolled his eyes at her sarcasm. “No, seriously, Zoe. You look like you’re ‘bout to break someone’s arm iffen they look at you wrong.”
Zoe gave a big sigh as she set a crate down. Turning fully towards her Captain, she simply rolled up the sleeve to her right arm and presented it to him. Mal looked down with furrowed eyebrows, before realization set upon his face.
0:19:532:54
“Gorram, Zoe, you’re ‘bout to meet ‘em!” Mal couldn’t help but smile broadly and started to tease her in good fashion, “Zhufu ni, mei-mei! You name your children yet? Cn’ you name one after me?”
Zoe’s lips twitched ever so slightly, “I’m older than you, sir.” And with that, she turned back to the empty crates.
x
Days passed, and in the hustle and bustle of trying to find a pilot good enough to fly Serenity, the eventuality of Zoe meeting her soulmate soon was at the back of their minds.
“Zo’! We gotta interview this pilot now! He gotta long list o’ recommendations, Tanaka gorram loves this guy! Come on up, now!”
Mal pounded on his first mate’s bunk before heading up to the bridge where Hoban Washburne laid under the control console. He felt Zoe come up behind him just as Wash (he insisted he call him that, “hah! No one in the ‘Verse calls me Hoban!”) pulled himself up.
There was a beat. Between the first mate and the soon-to-be pilot of Serenity as a feeling akin to soothing waters bombarded their senses. Mal was oblivious. The Captain just continued to look on with hope that this man, this man with a long list of recommendations as long as his leg, could be his pilot.
“So you’ll take the job then?” Mal tried to not sound excited. But gorram, he heard this was a good pilot.
Wash tore his eyes from Zoe’s, as he tried to inwardly calm himself. His right hand itched to scratch the inside of his left wrist. And oh, the Captain asked a question?
“Might do…might do! Think I’m…starting to get a feel here!”
The beautiful brown goddess turned away fast. But whoo-wee, it gave Wash a good look of her backside. He tried to avert his eyes. He succeeded in turning his eyes to the numbers on his wrist that now read 0:0:0:0. His heart started to beat fast, a fluttery feeling encompassing his chest.
Mal, still oblivious to what was going on, held back a smile. “Good! Well, take your time. Make yourself at home. Just uh, fiddle around with the dials there, we’ll be nearby.”
He followed his first mate out of the bridge, finally letting a smile take hold of his face. Just as they reached the middle of the forward hallway, he turned to Zoe, the smile on his face still there. “Great, ain’t he?”
“I don’t like him.”
Mal was taken aback, “What?” He asked incredulously.
Zoe shook her head, “Just somethin’ ‘bout him…bothers me.”
“What?! What about him bothers you?”
Zoe gave him a look, before pulling up the sleeve to her right arm.
Mal looked down, then up at her face, her raised eyebrow seeming to say “see, that’s what gorram bothers me ‘bout him.” He looked down again, then back up, then down.
“Huh.”
x
x
Year 2516
“Sir?” Zoe poked her head into the dining room when Mal just took out a ration pack to munch on, “one of the people who was lookin’ at rentin’ the shuttle is here.”
“Great! Tell ‘em I’ll be there in a bit. Oh and tell your husband to get Kaylee and go get some parts for Serenity.” Zoe nodded as she turned away. Mal watched his first mate leave, stuffing the ration pack into his pockets before heading towards the shuttles.
The thing about Mal was, with a life like he had, he didn’t much pay attention to his timer. To him, it was just a set o’ numbers that was just there. Ain’t nothing much to it. In fact, he damn near forgot ‘bout it. Until he got up on the catwalk and headed towards Shuttle 1 where a woman dressed in black, wearing a black lacy headdress thing (honestly, fashion these days, Mal thought with derision) was waiting.
Mal damn near forgot about his timer.
Until the woman turned around and their eyes locked.
Wo de tian a, he felt like he just got hit by a tidal wave and just woke up from drowning, as he stared at beautiful brown eyes.
Inara held back a gasp as she set her eyes upon the Captain. Her left hand clenched into a fist. But she wasn’t a trained Companion for nothing. She can hold her composure. She cleared her throat, “Captain Reynolds, I presume?”
Mal took her in with everything. Fancified clothing, fancified accent. She was from the Core (but gorram, was she beautiful). He took in a deep breath and stuffed his right hand into his pocket.
“Uh…yeah. You here for the shuttle?”
She let out a laugh that sounded like tinkling bells in the wind, “Yes, my name is Inara Serra.”
Mal started to walk closer to her, his heart beating faster and faster. Once he reached her, he nodded his head, “Well, you ‘ready know my name. Captain Malcolm Reynolds, at your service.” This close to her, he could smell the scent of jasmine coming from her. He cleared his throat and gestured his arm towards the shuttle “Uh, shall I show you?”
Inara smiled sweetly before nodding her head. Mal gave her a small smile before heading towards the shuttle. “Say, what is it you do anyway?” he asked her, curious on why a Core-bred woman such as herself would want to rent a shuttle from a Firefly-class ship.
“Oh, well, I’m a Companion.”
Qing wa cao de liu mang
x
x
Year 2517
“Inara has our timetable, she should be checking in.” Zoe said matter-of-factly. Her husband chimed in just then.
“I can tell her to cut it short. Meet us at the docks?”
Mal cleared his throat before shaking his head, “No, no. Don't want to get in her way if we don’t have to.” He turned away from the bridge to head to the cargo hold, muttering under his breath, “Somebody on this boat has to make an honest living.”
Zoe and Wash gave each other a look before Zoe kissed the top of her husband’s head. “Head us towards Persephone, husband.”
x
“Kaylee! When we get to Eavesdown, I want you to get some passengers, got it? We need us some honest people on this boat so as to not look suspicious.”
“Got it, Cap’n!” the mechanic smiled sweetly before going to get her chair to set out in front.
After the Captain, Zoe, and Jayne left to meet with Badger, Kaylee thought gathering some passengers was going as shiny as it could. She smiled cheerily as she looked at the numbers on her left wrist. 0:0:15:36. It was only a few minutes before it reached 0:0:0:0. Ever since she knew what it was, she’s had dreams of meeting her prince. He’d sweep her off her feet. He’d love her all sweet and gentle and there’d be no one else in the ‘Verse for him ‘cept her. Likewise, there’d be no one else for her ‘cept him.
‘Course, that didn’t mean she could have fun. She had all sorts of fun before she joined on with Serenity but after…well, there ain’t plenty of men to have a tumble around with in the Black. Wash was married, the Cap’n was just off-limits, and although handsome in that rough kinda way, Jayne just seemed too much of a brother to her.
But her timer was almost at 0:0:0:0. She kept it a secret from the men on the ship, but Zoe and Inara knew. She giggled with them (well, Zoe didn’t really giggle, but so much as smile fondly as she traced her own timer that said 0:0:0:0), giddy that she would meet the prince of her dreams soon.
At first, she thought it was the nervous looking man that decided to board with the Serenity. Then she thought it was the bonafide priest that decided to come along as well. She gave out a relieved sigh at that.
Not that there was nothing wrong with the Shepherd! Oh no, he was a sweet man, but he was a bit…too…old for Kaylee’s taste. She looked up at the bustling Eavesdown docks, and let a contented smile work on her face, her right fingers circling around her left wrist.
It was then she looked to the left where Wash was talking to a man wearing a suit that looked all sorts outta place on the dirty docks. The man nodded his head before pointing towards a big metal crate behind him. Wash shook his hand before steering the utility vehicle and both him and the man loaded (with some obvious difficulty) the crate onto it. The pilot then pointed towards Kaylee.
This was all fine and dandy - Wash did this all the time, finding other passengers. If a passenger had cargo too big for them to carry themselves, the utility vehicle worked well. Kaylee didn’t even notice her timer was at 0:0:0:3 until the young man took off his sunglasses and looked in the direction Wash was pointing at.
Kaylee’s eyes met his and it was like waking up from a dream. All the air seemed to leave her as her jaw dropped open and she looked down at her wrist.
0:0:0:0
She looked back up at the young man, his own mouth gaping as he continued to stare at her. He turned away as Wash addressed him, gesturing to the metal crate. The young man nodded his head before putting his sunglasses on once again. He seemed to have taken in a deep breath before walking towards Kaylee and Serenity.
Kaylee exhaled and smiled widely as he came closer and closer.
x
Jayne thought Mal was an idiot.
Jayne thought most everyone on this boat was an idiot.
Mal on account o’ he couldn’t even be with his Soulmate cause ‘Nara was all fancified and didn’t want to give up her whoring job. The twitchy little passenger who they brought on who looked like he wanted to piss himself fierce when he saw Jayne’s massive figure. The doctor who, as it turned out, was now Kaylee’s Soulmate. He was an idiot, ‘specially, ‘cause Jayne ain’t never been the smartest person in the ‘Verse, but even he could see that Kaylee looked at him like he hung the stars in the Black. ‘pparently though, the doc ain’t got time for the Soulmate go se on account o’ some mighty suspicious stuff he ain’t telling ‘em.
Got Kaylee all heartbroken, but she bounced back twice as fast saying how she’d wait for him to settle his things.
Jayne ain’t see why. Doc had a good point. All this Soulmate shit was tian di wu yowng. Jayne ain’t never seen the point o’ it. He wore a black bandage ‘round his right wrist just cause he ain’t wanna see that go se no more. All that thing told him was that soon, he was ‘bout to be tied down. And Jayne don’t get tied down to no one.
He didn’t even know when he was ‘posed to meet his “soulmate”. Hell, he might as well even met her already, but he don’t rightly care. His damn timer could say 0:0:0:0 right now, but he ain’t ever gonna peek.
It made his Ma mighty angry that he was hiding his timer, but she was back home, and she don’t really have any say on what he could do in the Black.
Jayne was just leaving his bunk when he heard Kaylee calling his name in the engine room. She did that sometimes, if something was too heavy to move, she just got Jayne to lug it around for her.
“Yeah?” Jayne asked, looking around the engine room, wondering where the hell Kaylee was until her head popped up from the side of the engine.
“Cn’ you pick this up? Cap’n laid it on the wrong side of the engine, and I need it over there” she pointed to the other side. Jayne shrugged his shoulders before heading to where she was, looking down at a heavy piece of metal that went somewhere Jayne had no idea. He grasped it easily with both hands, walking to the other side of the engine and setting it down.
“So, you all excited ‘bout your new man?” Jayne leered as he teased Kaylee.
Her cheeks turned pink before turning away “Yeah, he’s all kinds a shiny, ain’t he?” she said dreamily.
Jayne snorted, opening his mouth to say something when they heard yelling coming from the cargo hold. “What the gorram hell is going on?”
Kaylee looked confused as well, “I ‘unno, we should go see.”
It all happened too fast.
Kaylee was just leaving the hallway, a question on her lips as to what was going on, then next thing Jayne knew, she was shot.
Zhen dao mei
There was some arguments going on, but Jayne rightly couldn’t follow it. Kaylee was laying there bleeding, and all he got was that the Dobson turned out to be a lawman and the doc didn’t want to get caught by the Alliance some how. Mal eventually told Wash to go for hard burn.
It all happened too fast.
When the doc finally got ‘round to helping Kaylee, confirming that she should live, Mal looked like he was ‘bout to put a bullet in the doc’s brain pan. Jayne didn’t blame him. The doc was yi da tuo da bian and he at least deserved a good beatin’ for tryin’ t’wager Kaylee’s, his gorram soulmate's, life like that.
“I want to know what’s going on here.” Inara said, clearly trying to hold back this mess of anger and sadness of seeing one of her friends on the infirmary table. Mal gave one last look at his mechanic laying there helpless, his eyes turning to steel.
“Well then, why don’t we found out?” Mal gave a hard look at the doctor before turning out of the infirmary and heading towards the cargo hold.
Jayne held the doc back as he feebly tried to stop Mal from opening his big metal crate. The merc supposed there might be some gold in there. Rich kid like him? Gotta have killed his folks and ran off with the money.
But when Mal kicked open the crate, it revealed a person in there. A girl. A cute one too. Mile long legs and long brown hair - Jayne ain’t seen much tho’ on account o’ Mal blocking most everyone’s view. But the fact that there was a person in there? Loosened Jayne’s grip just enough for the doc to let loose towards the girl.
Turned out to be his sister. She ain’t looked older than 17, still all kindsa’ young - looked even younger as she cried on her brother’s shoulders.
Then she looked up at the crew, tears still in her eyes. She looked at Mal first, then Inara, then Zoe, then Wash.
Then she turned her big, brown eyes towards Jayne and their eyes locked.
Jayne felt air leave his chest as he felt some kind of fire consume his right wrist all the way to his heart.
Tai kong suo you di xing qui dou sai jin wo de pi gu
It all happened too fast.
x
x
Translations:
Fang pi = Accusing someone of lying, a ridiculous notion, or talking out of one's ass
G'en ho tze bi dio se = Engage in a feces-hurling contest with a monkey
Zhufu ni, mei-mei = Blessings on you, dear sister
Wo de tian a = Dear god in heaven
Qing wa cao de liu mang = Frog-humping son of a bitch
Go se = crap, shit
Tian di wu yowng = completely useless
Zhen dao mei = Just our luck, what terrible luck
yi da tuo da bian = a big pile of shit
Tai kong suo you di xing qui dou sai jin wo de pi gu = Stuff all the planets in the universe into my ass