What is the title and who wrote it? There is this big shelf called the San Francisco Public Library that lets me order stuff online.

It's Serenity, and it's by Keith R. DeCandido. The first chapter of it is online (I'm too lazy to google), but that's not the part that fixes the retcon, so you do need a text of the book. (It's also available in ebook form.)

Oh, cool that Keith got to do it! I know him from around.

Given that this is the spoilers thread, you could explain Keith's non-retcon for us here....

Agreed, that a Spoilers thread deserves some spoilers.

I talked to Keith in January (Boskone), and he told me he'd written the novelization then, and I forgot. He did say it was wicked juicy and he enjoyed writing it very much, and while I am mentioning it I might as well report to you all that Keith is a long-haired, man-size muppet.

Given that this is the spoilers thread, you could explain Keith's non-retcon for us here....

You make a good point. It doesn't quite fix it, but it's a good enough explanation.

From the episode Serenity:

Then I was contacted by some men, some underground movement. They-they said she was in danger, that-that the government was... playing with her brain. If I funded them they could sneak her out in cryo. Get her to Persephone, and from there, I could take her... wherever.

And then, of course, in the movie, we see him break her out himself. So, in the novelization, he funds these people, and they arrange everything for him. All he has to do is go in and get her. They provide him with all the objects he needs, transportation, costume, fake retinal scans, etc. It isn't perfect, but it at least makes it make sense to me that he would say the above when it was he that broke her out.

I highly recommend the novelization. It's like watching the movie again, but with new juicy bits because of the third-person omniscient perspective.

The hangup everyone is going to have is "If I funded them they could sneak her out in cryo." One pronoun and it's a retcon? Hard to say.

It took more than Simon to carry around that giant cryo tank in "Serenity," didn't it?

But if she's awake and active when he breaks her out, why bother putting her into Cryo in the first place? Wouldn't it be easier and less conspicuous to not have to cart a humongous box around?

Simon's behavior in "Serenity" the episode, seems very much like he's not aware there's a warrant for his arrest yet. He's using his real name, openly discussing where he used to work and what he used to do. If he had broken into an Alliance facility and knowingly ended up with his face on their security monitors, I think he would have tried to be a little more low-profile.

I'm also still bugged by the fact that I just can't see early Simon pulling off that kind of deception. But that could just be me.

He's got to have known there was a warrant out. Getting his sister out of a government facility isn't going to happen without someone branding him an outlaw for it. Otherwise it'd be a matter of signing for her and thank you, good day. I'd say he uses his real name and credentials in "Serenity" the episode because he's on a mid-bulk transport ship on his way to the outer rings, with no reason to believe he has to deceive anyone directly right this moment.

As for the deception, I see it as being entirely in keeping with his character, even in regard to "Serenity" the episode. As long as you appear to be in a station whose particulars would not be known to the people around you and as long as you maintain that bearing, people won't ask questions. Basically, people will obey anyone who appears uppity enough. It's proven true in real life, so I have no problem with Simon using it to his advantage. If you act like what you are, you don't have to do any further acting.