“*Warning,*” the message repeated from the beginning. “*Warning. Hull breach has occurred. Please move to the nearest secured cabin in a calm and orderly fashion.*” “Um...” Jayne voiced. “Are we *in* a secured cabin?” “Follow me,” was Gabriel’s response. He led them quickly back in the direction of the lift; however, instead of entering, he moved past to a hatch. Beyond the hatch were steps. “In case we lose power,” he explained. Another level down, the group was hurried into a third laboratory, then down another dim corridor and to an airlock. “There’s a shuttle here,” Gabriel informed, peering through the window. “Nope, there ain’t a shuttle here.” “Why did you think there was?” Zoe inquired. Gabriel appeared confused, yet thoughtful. “Because three days ago, there was a shuttle here.” “Well,” Jayne ventured, “if there was a shuttle, why din’t’cha use it to leave?” “*Shuttle*, you imbecile. Short range.” “Oh, yeah.” “Dante must’ve taken it when he rigged the booby trap on the other airlock,” Gabriel pondered. “*Warning,*” the voice spoke again. “*All airtight levels will be automatically sealed in twenty seconds.*” Again, the message was repeated in Chinese. “We’ll be trapped on this level,” Gabriel explained, “but we got an airlock, so maybe if we can get Serenity, or at least Inara’s shuttle...” “An’ how we gonna do that?” Kaylee inquired. “Not with Mal.” Gabriel had no answer. “We’re humped,” Park announced dejectedly. *************************************************************************

“There’s no way we’ll catch him,” Sera voiced, standing behind Damian. “Not unless our fuel outlasts his.” “Quiet.” Damian was working things out in his head. There were two possibilities. One was that Dante had found and incapacitated Davin, and was now taunting them with the fact. The second possibility was that Dante was merely playing a game with them, and did not, in fact, have Gabriel. Unwilling to risk entertaining the second possibility, Damian’s ship was now in a distant pursuit and was gaining distance. “Sir,” Tull stated, “if we continue at this pace, we will not have enough fuel to reach any of the nearby systems.” Damian continued to stare out the forward window at the position in the blackness where Dante’s ship would be. “Sir!” Sera barked. “Did you hear Agent Tull’s statement?!” That’s what Damian liked about Sera; not only was he the most skilled member of the team, but he voiced his opinion even if it meant incurring the wrath of his superior. Sighing, Damian shook his head. “Change course. Abandon pursuit.” He sank back into his chair. *I just can’t risk getting stranded, no matter the chances of Dante telling the truth.* “Find us a berth. We can refuel, resupply, and update Foster. We are *not* mentioning this incident to the bastard, regardless of whether or not we believe Dante.” Even with that piece of information absent from his report, Damian was not looking forward to the shouting he would hear from his employer. *************************************************************************

Ray Foster strode into his office. The tour of the lab floors had been quite productive, and much research had been acquired and recorded. Certain enterprises were beginning to look quite fruitful, and this cheered the man somewhat. On top of that, a new idea had occurred to him as he had finished a bit of testing and first began his walk-around. He’d been mulling it over ever since. Sliding into his padded desk chair, Ray punched Ritter’s number into the keypad. The mercenary’s face appeared on the desk-set screen momentarily, looking to be a bit surprised. “*Doctor,*” Damian greeted. “*What a coincidence. I was planning a report in the very near future.*” “Do you have Davin?” Ray inquired. “No? I thought not. Never mind it, then. If I was in a tremendous hurry, I would capture the man myself, because apparently, I am the only competent man in the galaxy.” He wrapped a knuckle condescendingly against the screen. “I have an addendum to your mission.” Damian leaned forward, his curiosity piqued. “*I’m listening.*” “The Tam girl,” Ray continued. “Of course, in order to even attain access to her, you’d first need to *find* that damned ship! However, you have accomplished this menial task once, and Davin slipped through your fingers. Should this situation arise once more, and you fail to acquire the target, your target agenda will instantly transfer to Tam. She is not to be killed under any circumstances, but is to be brought here the same as Davin.” Damian’s demeanor remained as cool and smooth as ever. “*And the purpose of this is to use her as a replacement.*” Although it was posed as a statement, Ritter meant it as a question. He did that from time to time. “No,” Ray replied. “She would be bait. As such, her... condition, as it were, would require less intactness. I think you know what I mean.” “*Of course I know what you mean,*” Damian returned. “*No force that is unnecessary, but no less force than *is* necessary.*” “Exactly,” Ray confirmed. “I have other matters to attend to,” he decided dismissively. “Do not contact me again unless you’ve located Serenity.” He switched the Comm off and toyed with his goatee. “I’m going to find that son of a bitch,” he spoke to the empty room. “Even if it costs me half of my fortune.” *************************************************************************

“We need a plan,” Simon observed. “This level would be cut off from the air processors,” Kaylee decided without even asking Gabriel for a ship layout. “We’re in the same spot we was when we got stranded in the middle of nowhere last year. Limited air.” “Heaters’ll keep us fine,” Gabriel mentioned. “That won’t help us when we run out of oxygen,” Zoe reiterated. “We won’t run out of oxygen,” Gabriel corrected. “He’s right,” River piped up. “Asphyxiation occurs when there is far more CO2 in the atmosphere than the body can process.” “That’s why we shut down,” Simon finished. “With CO2 scrubbers to cleanse the air, we’d last much longer before we finally did lose our oxygen.” “Do we have CO2 scrubbers?” Zoe inquired. “Um...” Gabriel answered. “No.” “Then all three of you shut up your brainiac nonsense and let me think.” Zoe frowned. “Do we have any spacesuits?” “No,” Gabriel replied. “Not a one. On this level, anyway.” “Go se.” “I can fix this,” Gabriel assured, limping across the room and staring around at the corners of the ceiling aimlessly. “I just need to figure it out.” There were several moments of silence as they moved down the corridor and back to the latest laboratory before Inara ventured to begin an idea. “Is there *any* way to contact Serenity? Maybe it would be possible for Mal to crawl to the cockpit and dock the ship.” “He’s still too weak and in too much pain,” Simon returned. “And too doped up,” Jayne added. “Even if he *could* force himself to the pilot station,” Zoe explained, “there’s no way he’d know we were callin’ from layin’ in the infirmary.” “Go hwong tong!” Gabriel growled. “It’s all null an’ void, anyhow, ‘cuz there *ain’t* no way to call *nobody.*” He pounded a fist against a bulkhead, the steel shuddering violently all along the wall from the freakishly severe impact. “I *can* do this!” he shouted, speaking to himself and to no one else. “I *know* I can fix this!” “You *can’t* fix this!” Inara objected, moving to place a hand lightly on his shoulder. “Gabriel, Mal can’t fix everything, and neither can you.” Gabriel’s features were clouded with frustration. “But I *know* I can!” “You can’t.” “Actually...” Simon began. He stopped himself, turning to study the nearest device. “Simon,” Zoe warned, “if you got an idea, we need to hear it.” “No,” Simon replied, clipped and a bit too quickly. “I don’t have one. I was just thinking aloud.” “You’re a bad liar,” Zoe shot back. Simon sighed, and River grabbed her brother’s arm. “No! We *can’t!* *You* can’t!!!” “Yes, he can!” Gabriel exclaimed. “Wait... What’s he talkin’ about?” “River, I think we’ll die either way,” Simon told his sister. “At least this way, we have a chance.” Instead of arguing, River just started to cry. “Tell me,” Gabriel directed calmly. River sank to her knees, sobbing intensely. Simon closed his eyes for an instant, gathering his courage and his calm. “This...” He halted as his voice began to waver and crack. He swallowed thickly and tried again. “This... This is an experimental device for synthetic hemotransfer. Thus far, all tests have been complete and total failures.” “And that means somethin’?” Jayne grunted. “Synthetic hemotransfer,” Gabriel repeated. “Sounds like somethin’ to do with blood.” “It is,” Simon confirmed. “It’s replacing your blood with synthetic blood.” Unable to stand it any longer, Kaylee stepped forward, crouching to hold the distraught River. “That don’t help us a damn bit!” Jayne exclaimed. “Yeah,” Gabriel agreed, “I don’t-” His concurrence was brought short, and his eyes widened. His skin became ashen and pale. “I know,” Simon said in turn, noticing his younger friends’ reaction to the realization. “You know what he’s talkin’ about, Gab?” Zoe queried. “We need warm clothes,” Gabriel uttered, ignoring his captain. “We need *lots* of warm clothes.” He turned to look at something, but Zoe’s fingernails were suddenly digging into his bicep. “*Tell* me,” she growled as if she were about to bite him. Gabriel opened his mouth. He closed it and shrugged, unable to make the words fit together. “A space walk,” Simon stated. “Out of the question,” Park interjected. “He already said we don’t have a suit.” “I know,” Simon intoned drearily. He looked as if he were about to commit ritualistic suicide right there in the laboratory. “I’m saying a naked space walk.” The reaction was one that was to be expected. It was silence. “We don’t have time for jokes,” Zoe finally warned. “This is serious.” “He *is* serious,” Gabriel said. “Vacuum freezes the flesh and boils the blood. Well, freezes the blood, but the effect is, essentially, similar to boiling. Synthetic blood could, potentially, withstand the cold of vacuum for a short period of time.” “No more than thirty seconds,” Simon informed. “Perhaps not even that long. And even if the person were bundled up with sixty pounds of cold weather gear, their eyes would still freeze instantly. They wouldn’t be able to see a thing then, or ever again, for that matter.” “I found thermal packs,” Gabriel stated. “Still couldn’t see, but I might save my eyes if I wrapped one around-” “Wait!” Kaylee exclaimed. “Why’s it gotta be you?!??” “All previous tests with synthetic blood were failures for only one reason,” Simon lectured. “The body’s organs could not be sustained. In further relation to the organs, bodily rejection would begin to occur, white cell build-up would take over...” He nodded to Gabriel. “His organs are artificial.” “*His *brain* isn’t artificial!!!*” River screamed, the neural stripping she had endured rendering her unable to restrain any emotion. “I’ve read the studies,” Simon replied, trying and failing to keep his voice even in the face of his sister’s hysteria. “The blood is processed through the lungs, liver, and kidneys. These are the organs that usually fail during testing. I would bet that, as long as his synthetic processing organs can support the blood, his brain will endure just fine.” “There’s gotta be another way,” Jayne voiced. “This can’t be the only option.” “I agree,” Zoe decided. “We have to go through all options before trying anything this insane.” “Any way we can jar the air doors open and go down to the air processors?” Kaylee inquired. Gabriel shook his head. “I may be a freak, but I ain’t strong enough to bend steel. Sorry.” “Kao,” Zoe muttered. She shook her head in utter anguish. “I can’t think of a thing.” Gabriel regarded Simon ominously. “We’re gonna hafta try it,” he concluded. “Wait, wait, wait!” Kaylee interjected. “I may not have a clue about medical stuff, but I know hydraulics. It’s all fluid pressure, pumps and valves, if you ignore the actuating facet. We may be able to give Gab robo-blood an’ bundle him up against the cold, but his blood stream’s still got pressure, an’ as soon as it hits a no-pressure vacuum, science will take over an’ his veins an’ arteries will pop like tube balloons.” “Very true,” Gabriel returned, ignoring the fact that someone, once again, called him, ‘Gab’. “Although... it ain’t robo-blood, ‘cuz the slang of robo makes it sound metallic. From what I’ve read of synthetic blood, it’s more of a petroleum-similar fluid plasticine. ‘Sides that...” He shrugged, turning to Simon. Simon shook his head. “I dunno. I’ll have to think about it for a bit.” “What about a rubber suit?” Inara suggested. “Right,” Jayne agreed sarcastically. “Put ‘im in a giant, antique condom from the twentieth century. That’ll keep ‘im from poppin’ fer sure.” “Leave it to you to know about ancient forms of birth control,” Kaylee criticized. “I’m serious!” Inara growled. She turned back toward Simon and Gabriel. “If we could envelope him in rubber, but suck all of the air out of it, thus, pressing it tightly against the cold weather gear he will have already donned, it may give him an extra minute or two.” “I thought the doctor said thirty seconds,” Park ventured. Zoe arched an eyebrow at their captive officer. “A thirty second *journey,*” she pointed out. “The average airlock in these days takes a minute and a half to depressurize or repressurize. That’s three minutes of changing pressure and vacuum. Add the thirty seconds of travel, assuming that the venturer can hit the opposite hatch dead-on and punch in the open code, and we’re lookin’ at four to five minutes of exposure.” “He’d die,” Kaylee decided. “We can’t even try it. He’d just... *die.*” Without answer, Gabriel moved toward Kaylee and River. “Jayne,” he ordered, “look around this level and gather every single rubber glove and every roll of tape that you can locate. Don’t grab anything latex; it breathes, and would do me absolutely no good.” Jayne jerked his head. “Ya gotta be shi-” “Jayne!” Zoe shouted, wheeling toward the man. “Do it!” Grumbling and muttering all the way, Jayne exited the laboratory to fetch the appropriate items. “River,” Gabriel spoke softly as he crouched before the frail girl whom Kaylee cradled. “River. I need you for this.” Still weeping, River nodded. Gabriel stood. “She’ll be ready,” he announced. “What’s she going to do?” Zoe inquired. Gabriel faced Zoe, becoming quite stern, yet informative. “River and I got a... *unique* relationship. Ever since I boarded this ship, I’ve been thinkin’ to her as well as talkin’ at her. Being psychic, she would recognize certain thoughts as bein’ meant specifically for her.” He took a breath. “As of recently, River has developed the talent to project thoughts into *others’* minds.” The room turned to stare at River for an instant. They then turned back to Gabriel, eager to hear the rest of the explanation. Gabriel sighed, closing his eyes. “I won’t be able to see a gorram thing out there. I’ll be completely sealed in. If River can manage to pull off projectin’ *images* into my brain, ‘sides just thoughts, she can guide me to Serenity.” “Good thing she’s a genius,” Kaylee added. “In order to hit one of Serenity’s top hatches from here, his positioning and launch would hafta be totally *perfect,* math-wise, an’ he’d hafta be able to find the access panel to punch in the buttons to open the hatch. Once inside, he’d hafta trigger the airlock to repressurize. A lot of if’s, startin’ with the suit integrity an’ then with River’s bein’ able to pull off the image projection.” “Up to the airlock part, River could guide you by merely watching through a window,” Simon continued in his lover’s stead. “Again, if she can pull it off. The trigonometry from a sharply-angled space-side window view is just simple math, in her mind, however. Beyond that...” He shrugged. “Assuming we could get you fitted properly for space travel, and assuming you could gain access to the ship...” He pursed his lips, thinking to himself. “...you’d have to be able to dock the ship with this vessel, and I’ll tell you this right now. You will be in *no* condition to operate *any* sort of equipment.” “What about Mal?” Inara inquired. “Is there any chance Gabriel could get to him, warn him, and maybe Mal could...” She nearly choked on her words. “*...force* himself to the cockpit and dock?” Simon shook his head, exasperated. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I hope so, but it’s doubtful.” “Well,” Gabriel decided, “I certainly hope so, ‘cuz I’m about to go for a little walk.”