"Oh, it can take off just fine--oh yeah! Plates!" he said, distracted with the memory of bringing her toys and showing her his.
"Uh, yeah. The take off's not the problem. It's the City. Bastard's got something around everything that makes it impossible to get out of whatever passes for atmosphere here. Guess people before me have tried a might more to get through, but I've been taking a look myself," he said and touched Bruce's back as he made it to the display in front of the pilot's seat.
"I've mapped the whole atmosphere. That's where the bubble is. The ship says the barrier is solid but damn if I can see it, even up close in a shuttle," Wash said pointing out the readout's interpretation of whatever barrier was surrounding the City's skies.
"The ship, well Serenity's more than capable of breaking atmo and sailing in the black for a good amount of time if Tony's little blue nightlight lasts as long as he claims. It's the whole the City-is-an-asshole vendetta that's keeping her in. It's not worth even bringing Serenity herself into the sky if I can't get her past the star-line. It's kind of like bringing a fish to water and saying that it can look real hard at it but not jump in. Or, better yet, bringing Maxine soy ice cream and telling her she can't have any," he said, ruffling Maxine's hair, "This kid has some faces that are more powerful than a gun pointing to your head to motivate someone! If we could only harness the manipulative power of those big blue eyes..."