Space, unforgiving, cold, and black. ‘In a matter of hours I’ll join it too,' he thought 'and end up being as cold and dark as the Verse itself.' A man could lose his mind staring into nothing for too long, except this man, whose mind had been gone ever since he could recall.

So the time passed, and all the man could do was curse the crew of that rotten ship. They weren’t warriors, well most of em’ anyways. How was going to explain, this...

He chuckled, reporting failure was the last of his worries. He resigned himself to the black, let it tell him just where he was to be. It was sort of like pugatory, except there was no pearly gates, or fiery torment beyond, just sterile space, and the occasional sun.

“Well…here I am.” Jubal Early said, with all the conviction of a man with little hope and less fortune. How the hell had the little girl gotten the best of him? He was always a step ahead, always early. Here, a pint-sized female, with all the appearance of a retarded stepchild had bested him at his own game, and her arrogant brother and the gorramn dog of a captain made sure he ended up…here.

As his breath got shallow Jubal made the startling realization that he was down to less then 2 minutes of air. As he began to see the first signs of oxygen deprivation, Jubal let his mind wander into what had gotten into this mess…

------------------- “She’s not exactly my usually quarry.”

“River is an extraordinary girl, Mr. Early, and we want her back. The price is fair I take it?”

“Why all the secrecy, seems to me you could have asked any number of Operatives to do your dirty work. Why me?”

“You’re a unique man Mr. Early, your days in our program helped us learn a lot about the way potential brains operate. You have a better chance then most…”

“I seem to recall that I didn’t do a lot of operating on your table Doc, seems more like you did. I think your afraid, afraid that your bosses might get a little…jittery if they know you lost her and couldn’t get her back. Now you want me to bring back this girl so you can what, finish turning her into a weapon?”

“We increased your reflexes, and even opened your mind to the thoughts of others, albeit one at a time. I would think you’d be grateful.”

“So you take my brain, swirl it like a humpin’ milkshake and I’m supposed to say thanks? That seem right to you?”

“This girl has several times the abilities you display Mr. Early, she simply doesn’t know it yet. She is a prodigy, and her brother is no slouch either.”

“This just keeps getting better…yet the pay doesn’t change?”

“It’s still more then enough to let you live comfortably for quite some time. Will you take the job or not?”

“You already know I will.”

“Yes, but I like to hear the verbal confirmation. Keep this quiet…”

---------------------- “Damn!” Jubal said as the alarm on his suits air controller sounded.

It was then that he saw it…it was small at first…glinting like a sliver of black gold in the distance. A ship.

His shook his mind. How close was he? Might he have a chance? The ship came nearer, closing fast, and as it got closer, he had to wonder just what god in heaven saw fit to spare him…or perhaps it was the jolly old devil himself. Either way he was going to live…

As the ship came within a hundred yards, Jubal pulled a small item from his waist. The grappling hook extended with a silent snap, and slowly he pulled the line of cord from its position. He would have to time this just right.

He jammed a button on his suit and a small rocket like flare jetted from the rear of the hook. It slide through space with ease, and hit it’s mark catching an engine strut. The medium sized vessel now carried and extra passenger, one that had been in space for two days, was tired, hungry, thirsty, and pissed beyond belief. As Jubal pulled himself forward, and let his boots hit metal, he noticed the ship had an odd look to it, it wasn’t entirely whole, as if someone had gone to the trouble of tearing chunks of it’s hull off. The Rocket shaped hull was also reddish, almost like the color of…

“Oh gorammit, you’ve gotta be kidding.”

Their beneath him dangling back and forth was the skeleton of a human form. Of all the ships in the verse, Jubal Early had hitched a ride with Reavers. He had to admit the irony was killing him.