The back cover art of the hardcover is broken up into panels
of images pertaining to the story inside. If you hold it in
the light at an angle, words can be seen printed over the
images. The words are fragments of dialog spoken throughout
the
story.
The story opens with Serenity approaching the
planet Carolan. This is the first mention of this world in
the 'Verse.
On page 3 of this chapter, Inara and the girls head to a spa
on Carolan in the hover-mule. The hover-mule was originally first seen
in the Serenity movie (see
"Triggered"), apparently having replaced the
ground-based ATV damaged in
"War Stories", suggesting this story takes place
sometime after
"War Stories".
Is there a PopApostle reader out there able to translate the
Chinese characters on the outside of the spa building on
page 4 of this chapter? I'm not sure they're even real
Chinese characters.
I have not been able to identify the song River starts to
sing on page 5 of this chapter. Her lyrics are "Oh, sisters,
let's go down to the river to play." Possibly it is a play
on the old 19th Century American spiritual song "Down in the
River to Pray".
On pages 6-7 of this chapter, Inara bemoans the unsteady
not-quite relationship she has with Mal. This would indicate
the story takes place sometime before the events of
"Leaves on the Wind"
Part 1, where Inara and Mal are seen to be in the midst
of a sexual relationship (though they still bicker).
On page 8 of this chapter, after being ambushed by Saffron's
introductory proposition, Inara says, "Unless you're
proposing I leave you in a garbage bin and call the
marshals again, the answer is no." Inara left Saffron
locked in a garbage bin at the end of their last meeting in
"Trash".
On page 12 of this chapter, Kaylee remarks that Saffron
tried to turn Serenity and her crew over to
pirates. This occurred in
"Our Mrs. Reynolds".
Also on page 12 of this chapter, Saffron calls Kaylee
"little mouse". River was also seen to be called by this
nickname by her fellow students at the Academy in
"The R. Tam Sessions".
On page 13 of this chapter, Zoe is reflecting on how Wash
wants a child with her. This implies that the story takes
place before she learns she is pregnant in
"Float Out".
Chinese translations
(Thanks to the
Firefly-Serenity Chinese Pinyinary for the
translations) |
|
Page # |
Chinese |
English |
|
4 |
Inara calls Kaylee baobei |
"sweetheart" |
|
12 |
Saffron calls Serenity "luh-suh". |
"garbage" |
|
13 |
Zoe says "gos se". |
"crap" |
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