Terrence stood in shock looking at the bodies around him. Then sense reasserted itself and he knelt down to find a pulse in Roger’s neck. Relieved to have found the pulse, Terrence stood and went into the stall that had held the big sentinel. A quick check told him that Caleb was dead, and Terrence ignored the body to check on the sentinel. The big sentinel was unconscious and hanging from the bars by his bound hands. Removing the key from his pocket, Caleb released the sentinel’s hands then his feet and laid the sentinel on the straw covered ground. Terrence frowned when he noticed that the sentinel’s left shoulder appeared to be dislocated. Terrence took the time to replace the sentinel’s pants that were bunched at his ankles, and then left the stall locking it behind him to go and get his resident doctor. He checked first to see that the psychic girl was still awake staring intently at him with her dark eyes. Terrence wouldn’t admit that there was touch of fear in his heart. “My employer isn’t going to be happy about this. He didn’t want you bonded to the sentinel.” Terrence told her. “Mine.” She said. Terrence nodded at that and left to retrieve the doctor.

When they came back, the sentinel was still out and the young psychic girl was seated cross-legged on the ground humming a wordless tune. The doctor, Henry Jieter, walked into the stall that held the sentinel with Terrence and two of his ranch hands with him just in case the sentinel awoke. Dr. Jieter fixed the sentinel’s shoulder putting it back in place then bound the arm to the sentinel’s chest to allow the muscles and tendons to heal. Then a quick check told him there was nothing else wrong with the sentinel. “I suspect its backlash. She used the channel between them to kill Caleb with her mind. By doing that she forcefully opened that small channel wider forcibly bonding him to her.” The doctor told him. “What a waste. Any competent guide could have bonded to this sentinel without wasting a powerful psychic. The mental shock of the rape would have brought his natural shields down long enough for Caleb to bond him, then Caleb could use the bond to train and control him. Now he will be impossible to control without somehow controlling her.” Terrence speculated. “The bond is there, it can’t be broken, not without permanently damaging the sentinel and possibly her. “ Terrence shook his head.

River watched the men and listened to them as they took care of Jayne, removed the body of the guide and then left. She followed the paths of her mind to the link she now had with the mercenary. The small bond that she had slowly been establishing with the sentinel was now fully open, and though it was raw from being blasted open it would eventually heal and stabilize. It had taken months to develop the small bond with the sentinel, but fortunately she had had the advantage of not only being a natural guide, but now a psychic as well. When Jayne had betrayed them she knew it was only a matter of time before he did it again, after all he was following his natural sentinel instincts to protect his ‘tribe’ and despite Captain’s order, Jayne had not thought of River and her brother as part of the Serenity tribe. So she had begun slowly using her psychic abilities to begin bonding Jayne to her. A natural side effect of doing so was that the bond and the intentional use of her abilities had begun to slowly stabilize her own fractured mind. Enough that she had been more aware when Jubal Early had come aboard and could trick the bounty hunter. She had even been able to use the slight bond to keep Jayne asleep in his bunk, knowing that his sentinel instincts would have him trying his best to take on Early despite the fact he would have died. Now the bond was fully established, and while she was not fully healed from what had been done to her mind, she was much more cognizant than she had been and could now use her abilities to heal herself. The only left to do was find someway out of their prison and get back to Serenity before their new ‘owner’ showed up.