After the bar fight in the BDM (Big Damn Movie. i.e. "Serenity"), Mal tells Simon "You had a gorram time bomb living with us! Who we gonna find in there when she wakes up? The girl? Or the weapon?" Well, what if the doctors at the lab had inserted more than one trigger in River, each designed to ser off a different program? And if one was an empathy program that could, as always happens, pop into existence at the wrong time.

A spaceship in flight is never completely quiet. No matter how well maintained, no matter how spic and span, there's always noise. The rumble of the engines, the creaking of the hull, the murmur of the crew, all combine to provide a back ground noise all the time. And when a ship is as pieced together with spit and bailing wire like Serenity is, well, it's never even close to quiet.

Still, Kaylee wanted a bit more noise tonight. She had worked for nearly twenty four hours straight fixing one thing after another. It seemed as soon as she had one problem resolved two more cropped up. But now she was done, she was worn out and she was too keyed up to go to sleep. She needed to relax a little bit. She blushed, although she was in the room by herself. She had plucked her batter powered "Friend" from its hiding place and smuggled it into her bunk. It was fully charged and she admitted to herself that in some ways it was probably a lot easier to use than what she really craved, Simon Tam. That wasn't the problem. The problem was River.

River was a dear heart and Kaylee adored her. She defended her friend at every opportunity and not just because of the crush she had on River's brother, a crush that she knew was at least somewhat returned. She just couldn't figure out what was keeping him from responding to her increasing blatant overtures. Anyway, that wasn't what she needed to be considering right now.

Kaylee wasn't a prude. After all, the first time the Cap'n had ever seen her she was on her back having sex with the mechanic she ended up replacing. But the Cap'n hadn't meant anything to her, 'least wise not then anyway, and not like THAT at any time. But the closer she felt to someone the more embarrassed she was about showing that side of herself. Maybe that was why she couldn't come right out and tell Simon just how she felt. And because River was the best friend she had ever had she just couldn't let her know what she was planning on doing in her bunk tonight. So to drown out the sound of her "friend" as well as any noise she might make personally, she had set up a recorder to play some music she had bought the last time they were planet side.

(An hour later)

River Tam stretched out in her bed. As usual she was sleeping in a loose pull-over shirt and a pair of panties. The same basic outfit that Kaylee slept in, although with her usual insight into what was going on around her she had noticed the other girl was not wearing panties tonight. That meant Kaylee had her battery powered lover with her.

River sighed. She loved Kaylee, the best friend she had ever had, and she loved her brother Simon, who had sacrificed so much to take her from that lab the Alliance called an "Academy", but sometimes she just wanted to knock their heads together. They loved each other but Kaylee was too shy and Simon too dumb to tell each other. The pair of them should be in bed together, not laying awake thinking of each other and having to rely on themselves to relieve the tension.

The music was nice, but River's ears could pick up the buzzing sound of Kaylee's vibrator as well as the muffled moans the other girl was trying to suppress without a great deal of success. The image of what Kaylee was doing imprinted itself on River's mind and she held that picture fast even as her own hand snaked under her top and between her legs.

Then it happened. A completely innocuous song started and River froze. Her mind reeled. She was back in the lab for a moment. Doctor Mathias was doing something, something her mind shied away from as it usually did when her memories transported her back there. She could hear that same song and realized it had been used to trigger some reaction. She didn't know what the reaction might be. Could it be more violence? No, she would NOT hurt Kaylee no matter what. She clung to the image of Kaylee, fixing all her attention on her friend. She could imagine the other girl's night shirt hiked up around her neck, with one hand busy with the vibrator between her legs and the other at her breast. A warm sensation flooded over River as she felt what Kaylee was feeling. And it was delightful. And she wanted to share it.

As it happened this program was designed to allow River snoop in the feelings and emotions of someone else. As an interrogation tool combined with her telepathy it was priceless. But when the feelings were those of another woman approaching climax it was even better as an aphrodisiac. River slipped from her bunk and crossed the room, oblivious to everything but the squirming form of her friend.

Kaylee sensed River's presence and opened her eyes. The other girl was standing right by her bunk. The mechanic girl wanted to be embarrassed about being caught but somehow she wasn't A strange light was burning in her eyes, one that Kaylee had never seen before, as the other girl gently drew the blanket from Kaylee's body. River then held out her hand. Kaylee took it and the other girl helped her to her feet.

River's hand felt nice and for some reason Kaylee was reluctant to let go of it. It seemed perfectly natural then for her to take River's other hand and to stand almost nose to nose with the other girl. They remained motionless for a minute. Then River leaned forward and kissed Kaylee. It was only a soft quick brushing of lips, but it rooted the girl mechanic to the floor. All she could do was whisper the other girl's name.

"River."

The look in the passenger's eyes might have been frightening had it not somehow struck a responsive chord deep inside the crew woman. Kaylee could see the hunger there, building with every passing moment. Then River kissed her again. This time both pairs of lips parted and plucked at each other. Fingers tightened. Kaylee breathed that name again.

"River."

Her mind was a whirl. Images rumbled through her thoughts, one chasing another. She tried to bring Simon back to the forefront, recapture his face and the way she dreamed his body might feel against her own. She couldn't. Instead all she could picture was River, her slim dancer's body, the incredible gracefulness she displayed. Kaylee had occasionally been jealous of her best friend's cat-like moves. Now they didn't make her jealous, they made her tremble.

A third kiss. Mouths opened fully to each other now and tongues quested. Fingers released each other to allow the two girls to clutch each other. River's body plastered itself to Kaylee's more rounded form. A firm thigh slid between the mechanic's now parted legs.

A minute or two ago Kaylee would have been embarrassed for River to discover her lack of panties. Now it just meant there was one less obstacle between them, one less flimsy piece of cloth keeping their skin from touching.

This kiss was deep and passionate. Kaylee was on fire and could feel the matching heat radiating from River. Their hands reached for each other and found the night shirts in the way. By now Kaylee was as eager as was River to undress each other. When the shirts were gone all that remained was River's panties. Kaylee's fingers caught the waistband and pulled down sharply. River wiggled and the cotton slid down the long slender legs to the floor.