The orange flame of Heinlein simmered just below the edge of the eastern horizon. With their duffels and instruments slung over their backs, Anna and Wray trundled through the dewy grass up to the loading ramp of Serenity. It was a few minutes before 7 a.m. They had said their goodbyes last night to the troupe which had been their home, their family. Now they were on their own. Anna stumbled slightly as she went to rest her duffel. Wray was at her side, instantly concerned. He helped her lower it off her shoulder. She smiled tenderly at him. “You’re sure you brought it?” he asked. She nodded. The clang and creak of metal signaled the opening of the ship’s door. Mal stuck his head outside. “Well, good mornin’ to you, travelers. Welcome aboard.” He waved the two on. Wray grabbed Anna’s duffel before she could and followed her up the ramp and inside. He took a look around the spacious hold, laying their baggage on the floor. “You must be the husband,” Mal wandered over for introductions. “Yes. Wray. Wray Shen.” He shook the captain’s hand. “Glad to have you and your wife aboard, Mr. Shen. Now, before we get you settled in, I’m gonna have to ask for your fares up front.” “Of course.” Wray reached into his pocket and withdrew ten platinum, placing them in Mal’s outstretched palm. “Much obliged,” Mal smiled broadly. “Excuse me a moment while I seal up the airlock here, then I’ll show you to your room.” Wray nodded. A look passed between him and his wife as Mal headed for the control panel. He slapped on the com. “Zoe, passengers are aboard. How we lookin’?” “Everything’s green up here, sir. We’re ready to go when you are.” “That’s what I like to hear. Nothin’ like an early departure.” He retracted the loading ramp. “Cargo bay sealed. Take us out.” The hull shivered as the whine of Serenity’s jets gradually increased. The deck lurched a little and Wray and Anna grabbed each other for balance. “Nothin’ to worry about folks,” Mal assured them. “Just a little jolt ‘fore the gravity kicks in. As you can see, we’re runnin’ ahead of schedule, so might get into New Melbourne a little earlier than planned. As it is though, it’ll be at least eight days ride. So, let me show you where you’ll be spending those eight days.” Wray gathered their equipment and they followed the captain towards the passenger dorm. Inara was in the common area and rose politely as soon as she saw the new arrivals. “Inara,” Mal introduced. “This is Wray and Anna Shen. This is our resident…” Inara shot knives at Mal. “…Companion.” “So nice to meet you,” Inara shook each of their hands with a warm smile. “Inara’s room is next to yours, but don’t worry too much about…” “I’m on hiatus,” Inara interrupted before he could make any further comment. “You can put your things in your room here,” Mal ushered them forward. Inara razed him with a glare. He raised his hands in innocence, giving a hurt look, then smiled comically. After the Shens discarded their luggage, Mal led them upstairs to the dining area. “Your fare pays for all your meals as well, so feel free to fix yourself somethin’ to eat whenever you like. Just be sure to clean up after yourselves. The crew have different schedules depending on duties, so we don’t often have regular meals, but there’ll probably be someone around if you’re lookin’ for company. That way is the engine room, and that way is the crews’ quarters and bridge. Those areas are off limits to you, but you’re free to roam wherever else you wish. Just mind yourselves and don’t touch nothin’. Any questions?” Wray and Anna were silent. “Great. I got duties to attend to, so’s probably best you stay in the passenger area until we’re out of atmo. Then you’ll have the opportunity to meet the rest of the crew.” “Thank you, Captain,” Wray nodded. He and Anna descended the stairs towards the common area. At the helm, River felt a niggling distraction at the back of her mind. It was a pressure, almost like a physical tugging at the base of her skull. She rubbed her scalp, trying to brush it away, but it remained. Wondering, she craned her head around to look down the foredeck. The only thing she saw was the Captain making his way towards the bridge. A pocket of turbulence rocked the ship. She whipped her eyes forward again, gripping the control stick tight. “Hey, you payin’ attention?” Zoe asked from the co-pilot position. She nodded. “What was that?” Mal asked, ascending the bridge stairs. “Turbulence. We’re almost out of atmo,” River explained. On cue, the clouds dissipated and the blackness of space opened up before them. A few seconds later she reached over and cut the jets. “Got our course programmed?” “Yes, captain.” “All right. Lock her down and get ready for burn.” She secured the control stick to the console and tapped out the command on her keyboard to engage the nav computer. “Helm secure and course locked.” “Kaylee,” Mal called through the com. “Fire her up.” “Aye, Cap’n.” With a distant rumble, the main engine powered up. Serenity’s aft began to glow like its namesake, and then she rocketed into the black. Chrysabel strode into her office with a steaming mug of coffee. The sun laid a trail of liquid fire across the ocean as it broke in the east. She smiled, enjoying the view and her drink in a few moments of tranquility before getting to work. When she turned to her desk, she found a message waiting for her on the com. She punched it up. Sellers’ frantic face appeared on the screen. “Ma’am, I don’t know what happened! They were there last night, and now they’re gone! The raid went as planned, but they didn’t find them. The others told the Alliance that they left this morning on a ship that was berthed just outside of town, bound for New Melbourne. I’m sorry, ma’am, I…” Chrysabel turned off the video. Her mug sat forgotten on her desk and a stone had settled in the pit of her stomach. All traces of the tranquil morning were shattered. She stared at the blank screen in disbelief. Months of research and digging and bribes, the careful planning and reconnaissance, all to have it collapse at the last moment. Unless… No, it was not possible. The man was not that stupid. Unless he had been playing her the whole time. Fury, hot and red, boiled inside her. She felt her cheeks flush. The rage alone behind her eyes would have flayed him where he stood had he been in her presence. She decided she would give him one chance that, however unlikely, he had some highly suitable explanation for his actions. Otherwise, Malcolm Reynolds was a dead man. With Serenity safely on course, River took her leave from the bridge. She wandered towards the rear of the ship, hoping to find Kaylee and go meet the new passengers with her. Kaylee had gushed all night about them, relaying the little concert she and Simon attended during her escapades at The Elephant’s Tusk. River was intrigued. She wanted to hear them play, hoped maybe they would indulge her with a song or two she could dance to. She had not danced in so long, and, albeit a bit hazy, the night at the bar reminded her of the joy it used to instill in her. It was one piece of her life before the Academy that she was able to recapture, and she clung to it. The engine room was empty of everything but a low thrum as they cruised on momentum. She presumed Kaylee must have already sought out their guests. As she headed towards the commons, she still could not shake that nagging tug in the back of her mind. She wondered if yesterday’s hangover left any lingering effects on her. She descended the first few steps but had to stop. The tug dramatically increased to an uncomfortable pressure. Dizzy, she wavered on the stairs, clutching the banister. A name whispered through her thoughts. -No…- Without warning, an explosion of images swept through her mind. Needles and injections and exam rooms. And the pain, sometimes excruciating, sometimes just a distant, numbing throb, but always there. They were her nightmares, alive and in her waking mind. Shaking like a leaf, she watched, unable to stop them. Behind it all she heard that voice, calm and sterile, giving the commands to dig into her brain like she was some lab animal. He was here. -No!- Unbridled rage consumed her. Her jaw clenched so hard she bit her tongue. Blood oozed forth, salty and metallic, but she barely tasted it. Without making a sound, she crept back up the stairs, not even aware of the colors slipping away. In the commons, Inara, Simon, and Kaylee were getting to know the Shens. The conversation naturally turned to music, and Inara and Wray had delved into a debate over which era of humanity had created the greatest musical works. “I’m not saying the symphony format is the best format for music, but it’s lasted the longest and remained largely unchanged.” “Chinese traditional arrangements go back centuries before the development of the symphony,” Inara argued back. “Some of the musical tones they use do not even exist in symphonic music.” “True, but how many of those traditional arrangements are played the way they were seven, eight hundred years ago? Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, they’ve all survived intact for that long.” “That’s only because the Europeans kept better records,” Inara countered. “Boy, you sure know a lot about history for bein’ a gypsy,” Kaylee commented. Both Simon and Inara colored with embarrassment. It was just an observation, and Kaylee was too honest to realize it might have been insulting. Fortunately Wray did not take it as such. He smiled at her, a little regret touching the corners of his eyes. “I wasn’t always a…” His words cut off and his head snapped up like prey sensing a predator. At almost the same instant, Anna bolted upright, back rigid and tense. Simon and Kaylee looked between each other, confused. “What is it?” Inara asked, a half smile still on her lips. “Shen bu …” his lips whispered, a horrified look passing from him to his wife. Moving so fast to be a blur, something plunged down from the upper deck and flew at Wray. Only the fact that he was already moving when it leaped prevented him from being impaled. Kaylee and Simon were rooted, staring dumbstruck at the knife in River’s hand, sunk to the handle in the couch where Wray had been sitting. Inara and Anna fell back while her eyes passed over them and locked onto Wray as he stumbled towards the cargo hold. She scrambled to her feet. “River!” shouted Simon. He reached to grab her but she effortlessly pushed him away. She followed Wray. “Simon!” Kaylee’s voice shook as she reached for him. “Wha… what’s…” “River!” he shouted again, brushing off Kaylee’s attempt to hold him back, and went after his sister. Inara recovered enough of her composure to run up the stairs and shout for help. “Mal! Get down here! River’s trying to kill one of the passengers!” Mal and Zoe exchanged the briefest of glances before rushing off the bridge. “Jayne!!” Mal cried as they ran through the foredeck. In the hold, River advanced inexorably on Wray. Her face was stone. Simon ran to her and grabbed her by the shoulders, but she elbowed him in the stomach hard. He fell on his back, gasping. Like an automaton, she turned her attention back to Wray. She raised the knife, tip menacingly extended towards him. Mal and Zoe halted on the catwalk above. “What the hell…” Mal pronounced at the scene before him. “Zoe…” his voice brimmed with urgency. She turned and ran back to the front of the ship, running into Jayne and dragging him with her. “River! What the hell are you doin’!?” His words had no effect. Kaylee and Inara stood in the doorway to the commons, helpless and terrified. Anna thrust through them. “No!” she cried, flinging herself at River. With astonishing speed, River caught the woman by the arm, yanked her back into herself, and had the blade pressed against her throat. “Anna!” Wray cried. Zoe’s gun cocking froze everyone. The muzzle was trained steadily on River. Jayne came running behind her, passing a pistol to Mal and taking a flanking position down on the landing. River looked up at the barrel of Zoe’s gun without the least bit of concern, and turned back to Wray. “Maybe you would like to know how it feels when they cut on someone you love?” The voice that came out was not River’s. It was harsh, dispassionate, almost inhuman for its lack of emotion. Chills went down Mal’s spine and gooseflesh popped on his arms when he heard it. He swallowed, heart racing. “River, I don’t know what’s goin’ on, but you put down that knife right now,” he forced some calm into his voice. She did not respond. “That’s an order, gorram it!!” Still no response “Safe word!” Simon hissed, still gasping on the floor. River whipped Anna and the knife around to face Mal. “Don’t say it, Captain.” She pressed the knife closer to Anna’s throat, scoring a thin red line. Mal’s blood turned to ice when those cold, dead eyes turned on him. He saw no trace of River anywhere. “Sir?” Zoe waited for his command, gun never wavering. “Anna,” Wray called to his wife. The only indication to Mal that something was about to happen was the instant of shock on River’s face. Then a whirlwind tore the cargo hold apart. Debris flew through the air. Crates, dust, and anything small enough and not anchored down. With a roar, the impossible wind slammed into River and Anna, ripping them apart. It flung Anna across the floor towards her husband, himself thrown backward against the airlock. River soared through the open space behind her and slammed hard into the rear wall, pressed there like a bug against a windshield for a few seconds before slumping into a heap. The wind knocked Mal and Zoe off their feet, and threw Jayne over the railing of the landing. Above them all, the mule screeched and swung wildly on its moorings. Then, as abruptly as it began, the wind ceased. Eerie silence settled over the cargo hold. “Zoe?” Mal called for his first mate as he struggled to his feet again. “Sir.” “Jayne?” “Unngh,” Jayne’s groan wafted up from somewhere among a pile of crates. Mal looked down, assessing the situation as best his overwhelmed mind could. Simon, still doubled over from the blow he took, crawled over to River’s inert form. She was unconscious, a little blood trickling from a cut at the back of her head. “She’s out,” Simon wheezed in between coughs. “Simon!” Kaylee rushed to help him. Wray tended to Anna, who lay limp in his arms, also apparently unconscious. Mal looked at the disaster zone around him as he descended to the floor. “Someone wanna tell me just what in the name of all the hells in all the ‘verse just happened?” The throbbing was what worked its way into River’s awareness first. It was only slightly less intense than the headache from her hangover. Her mind moved like tar, taking a long time to convey the message to her eyes to open up. When they did, the glare was so bright she closed them again. She heard a groan, not realizing at first it came from her. She tried to sit, but could not move her arms enough to push herself up. She chanced opening her eyes again, but her pupils had trouble focusing. Squinting at her arms, she discovered they were bound to the armrests by handcuffs. Dread panic flooded through her. She jerked against them, struggling to see where she was. “Simon?” she called in a tiny, terrified voice. “Easy. You’re in the infirmary.” Mal appeared in the doorway. His presence allowed some of the panic to fade, but fearful confusion replaced it. “Why am I like this?” she asked him. “Just a little matter of you tryin’ to murder our passengers.” She would have thought it a joke any other time, but Mal was not smiling. He was deadly serious. “You wanna explain to me what happened?” “I… I don’t know…” “You mean you don’t know why you did it, or you don’t know what happened?” She shook her head to both questions. “Let me jog your memory a bit.” Mal stepped close to her, leaning down and locking his eyes with hers. And she saw. She saw herself standing in the cargo bay, holding a knife to a woman’s throat. Saw herself turn to the captain, felt his blood run cold as she threatened him with the woman’s life. Then, impossibly, she saw debris flying round as a sudden rush of air threw him to the ground. “You see all that? It help you remember yet?” Mal’s words were not kind, but she was barely hearing them. Her eyes darted erratically around the room as she tried to process his memories. “Now, can you explain to me what happened?” he asked again. She stared at him, utterly lost and on the edge of breaking. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “The let’s go with what you do know.” She struggled for control, tried to recall the last thing she remembered before waking up in the infirmary. Her gaze fell inward. “I… I was coming down the stairs. There was a pressure in my head, and I heard a voice, a name. And I remembered…” she closed her eyes and swallowed, unable to deal with those images again. She fought to compose herself. “I thought he was here,” she looked at Mal, hoping it was enough. “Who was here?” “Dr. Matthias.” Mal leaned back, folding his arms, not sure what to make of it. Simon appeared in the doorway behind him. “Simon!” River cried. He limped to her side. “Are you alright?” concern flooded her. Simon turned to Mal. “She don’t remember it,” Mal stated. “What happened?” she asked her brother. She searched his face, aghast as she saw the memory clearly. “Oh, Simon!” she broke into tears. Simon cradled her head against his shoulder. “What’s happening to me?” “Shh, mei mei ,” he soothed, but the words held little comfort. He was just as confused and lost as she. “She’s confined to her quarters,” Mal ordered. “She don’t go nowhere without supervision by either you or myself. I relievin’ her of her duties, and she goes back on the meds. This ain’t happenin’ again on my ship.” Simon did not protest. River knew that, beneath the controlled anger of Mal’s words, was a fear, very real and very terrifying. She saw an image of her, standing before him with that cold dead stare. And she saw Mal shoot her, because he had no choice. She buried her face in Simon’s shoulder and cried. Mal left the infirmary, dark thoughts clouding his eyes. In the common area, still in disarray, Inara tended to Jayne on the couch. She was gingerly wrapping his ribs with medical tape while he pressed a cold pack over the right side of his face. “How you doin’, Jayne?” “I been thrown off some stairs and done a face-plant into a pile of gorram crates. How you think I’m doin’?” Mal shifted his attention to Inara. He read the controlled fear in her eyes. She was rattled, but she was holding together. He gave her a grateful glance, thanking her silently for her strength. Then he headed for the passenger rooms. Zoe stood guard outside the Shens’ quarters, her stoic calm a small rock of stability in the suddenly treacherous sea this voyage had become. He nodded to her and knocked on the door. “It’s the captain.” “Come in,” Wray called. Mal stepped inside and slid the door closed behind him. Wray sat on the edge of the bed, Anna lying beside him. He was tense, nervous. Mal figured he would have been, too, had a psychotic girl just tried to kill his wife. “How is she?” he nodded towards the woman. “Doctor says she’s fine. Just bruises, maybe a little soreness. I think it overtaxed her system, though. He gave her somethin’ to put her to sleep.” “Good. Glad she’ll be okay.” He let a short silence fill the space. “Captain, what happened?” “I’m not rightly sure.” “Who was that?” Mal had debated how to answer that inevitable question. He decided honesty was better than any story he could make up. “That was the doctor’s sister. She’s a bit touched in the head. Doc looks after her as poor girl ain’t got no other family. Normally she’s sweet as can be. Never done nothin’ like this before. Don’t know what got into her. I can’t explain it.” It was mostly true. The man nodded, accepting. “I’d like to apologize for all the trouble she’s caused you. The girl’s restrained. She’ll be locked in her quarters for the duration of the trip, so not to worry. I’ll gladly refund you your fare and drop you off at the nearest world if you like.” “I appreciate that, Captain. I don’t know if anyone can ever explain what happened.” He had the far-off look of a person who had just seen something too incredible to believe. In truth, he had. They all had. “I saw it and still my mind reels…” he shook his head. “I’d just like to forget about it for now.” “I understand. You need anythin’, you give the doctor or myself a holler.” Wray nodded and Mal quietly exited the room, leaving them to themselves. River trudged like an inmate from the infirmary to her quarters. Mal and Zoe followed behind her, conspicuously armed, with Simon trailing them. Simon had protested that this was unnecessary and went too far, but it fell on deaf ears. The procession halted at River’s door. Without a word or glance at anyone, she swung onto the ladder and descended into her room. She took a seat on her bed, eyes downcast. Mal pulled the hatch closed and pressed the control panel. The red light illuminated “locked.” River twitched just a bit as the locking mechanism engaged. She heard the footsteps retreat, and then silence. Small sobs shook her shoulders and she wrapped her arms about herself and rocked. After a while, she swallowed and wiped the tears away, raising her head to look her newly painted prison cell. She closed her eyes, imagining she was in a garden instead, full of blooms all around her. She replaced the steel walls and cold floor with blue sky and smooth, green grass. A bird chirped somewhere. She felt the breeze kick up, and stray leaves danced around her. She followed one with mindful precision, tracing its path, trying to predict where the wind would carry it next. -Please, grow for me. Be my Eden. Overspread my prison. Show me how to break free from this place. Your roots break through the walls, shatter my chains. Don’t leave me here. Please grow… Please hear me…- Mal gathered his crew in the mess. The silence was leaden, every face harboring shadows and doubts. No one looked at each other. “Seems like we been here before,” Mal opened. It was not a jest. Eyes slowly raised. Mal took all their gazes in. They were all thinking the same thing. “Simon, you think you can shed some light on this situation?” Simon sighed, slouching forward. “She said something about a Dr. Matthias.” “Who is that?” Inara asked. “I’m not sure. But my best guess is it was one of the people who were experimenting on her at the Academy.” Inara looked down, disturbed by that thought. “Something happened that made her think he was here, or she mistook one of the passengers for him.” “Mistook?” Zoe asked, hard-edged. Simon started to retort, but Mal held up a hand to silence them both. “Why would she think that?” “She’s having nightmares, flashbacks of what they did to her. It’s different from Miranda. That was her ability confusing what were her memories with those she picked up from others. She’s adjusted to that now, mostly. This is her mind trying to deal with the torture they put her through. It’s like a soldier re-living a battle.” He gave Mal a full look. Mal understood, remembering their conversation a few days ago. He had promised to help then. He still meant to keep that promise, but not at the expense of his crews’ lives. “Well, all’s I know is she’s stone cold crazy,” Jayne inserted his opinion. “This ain’t the first time she’s come at someone with a butcher’s knife, remember? No matter how much better she gets, she could still snap on any one of us.” “I’m of a mind to agree with Jayne,” Mal said. “Flashbacks and nightmares are one thing if she was normal,” he looked at Simon. “But she ain’t a normal girl. Alliance conditioned her to kill. When she takes to that, ain’t nothin’ any of us can do to stop her.” “There’s the safe word,” Simon added quietly. “Then we all just learn the safe word. If each of us knows it, we can stop her before she gets out of control,” Inara suggested. “And if that don’t work?” “Why wouldn’t it?” she asked. “Doc?” “It should work.” Simon affirmed, but there was less than certainty in his voice. “But if it don’t…” Jayne appended. “Then the only way to stop her is to put a bullet to her.” Mal finished the unspoken thought around the table. Heavy silence descended again. “There’s another option,” Jayne broke in. “Get her off the ship.” “No. We can’t do that,” Kaylee spoke up for the first time. “Why not?” “’Cause she’s family, Jayne,” Kaylee protested. “Ain’t my sister.” “There’s no place she can go,” Simon told Mal. “I know that, Doc. Trust me, I’m hopin’ with all my being that it won’t come to that. For now, though, I think we go with Inara’s idea. Each of us’s gotta learn the safe word.” There were nods of agreement. “Now, the other thing I want to know is why there was a windstorm inside my cargo hold?” It was the white elephant in the room. It was unexplainable what happened, and yet it had happened. They had the injuries to prove it. No one spoke up. Everyone looked away. Mal could see, though, their eyes held fear. “Simon?” Mal looked to the doctor again. “What? You think River could have done that?” he shook his head, refuting the idea. “Well?” “No. It’s not possible.” “You sure about that?” Zoe spoke for the first time in a while. “You didn’t think it was possible she’d be psychic either, yet she is.” “Maybe they gave her that teleke-whatsits,” Jayne offered, almost as a joke. “Telekinesis,” Inara corrected with a stern look at him. “It’s fantasy,” Simon said. “The ability to summon up a windstorm out of nowhere? It’s like saying she’s got magic or witchcraft.” “She’s been called a witch before,” Mal reminded him. “She’s not a witch.” “Maybe it was ghosts,” Kaylee suggested. They all looked at her. “Well, she’s psychic, an’ psychics can talk to the dead, right? Maybe she was talking with some spirits or something.” Simon gave her a patronizing look and she dropped her eyes to the table. “Well whatever happened, I don’t like not knowin’ what it was. You keep an extra special eye on her for anything more peculiar ‘n usual,” Mal instructed Simon. “There’s got to be a logical explanation for it,” Simon iterated. “I’m sure there is, but until I find it, I ain’t gonna make no assumptions. Meantime, I want you to teach everyone the safe word before they go to bed tonight. All of you, write it down, keep it in your pocket, memorize it. I don’t care what you do, but have that ready in case you need it.” Mal rose, signaling the end of the meeting. Simon walked over to Kaylee who was heading for the engine room. He attempted to put an arm around her shoulder, but she brushed it off. Confused, he drooped in defeat and let her walk away, going back to the table. Inara gave him a small smile of half-pity and headed downstairs to her room. Mal and Zoe headed for the bridge, Jayne following them, climbing into his bunk along the way. “Things never are simple,” Mal muttered. “No they aren’t,” Zoe agreed. On the bridge, Zoe noticed the blinking light on the console first. “Someone’s tryin’ to wave us,” she frowned. “Looks like they been tryin’ for a while.” “Who is it?” Mal stepped over to have a look. “Doesn’t say. Code’s private, encrypted. “Hmmm…” Mal rubbed his chin. “Go ahead and take it.” He sat down at the helm while Zoe accepted the call. Chrysabel’s visage appeared on the screen. “Well hello Miss Chrysabel. I…” “Malcolm Reynolds, you wu wu yu wa son-of-a-bitch! You stole my reward money.” “Uh…” Mal droned, completely confused and taken aback at the verbal assault. “You will turn your ship around and get your ass back here or I will terminate your contract, your ship, and your life.” “Whoa, now. That’s pretty harsh. Especially for a man who’s innocent and has the foggiest what the hell you’re ravin’ about!” Mal let some of his pent up emotions loose. He knew it was not smart, but he was feeling a little stressed about the day so far. “Don’t lie to me, Captain. I spent months workin’ on this, gettin’ it all planned out. I call up the Feds yesterday, ready to collect, and this morning I find you’ve up and double-crossed me.” “Woman, you are completely off your rocker!” “You got something that’s mine,” her manner took on a more deadly calm. “You will turn around and bring it back to me, or I will have the Alliance pick you off like a prairie hawk pouncin’ on a shrew.” Realization dawned on Mal. He cut the microphone off, turning to Zoe. “Simon and River.” “She tipped the Feds,” Zoe said, thinking the same thing. “Gorram it, how did she find out? I knew it! I knew I shouldn’t ‘a trusted her. She knew too much.” He turned the mic back on. “Look, I don’t care who you are, or how much o’ your precious time and money you put into trackin’ ‘em down. They’re part of my crew, and they ain’t goin’ nowhere. You can’t live with that, we may just have to part ways.” “How could they be part of your crew? You just picked them up this morning.” “What?” “Your gorram passengers! I want them back!” “Wait, you’re after… the, the passengers?” Chrysabel studied him for a moment. “You really are clueless. This is unbelievable,” she shook her head. “Uh, I’m startin’ to be convinced of that myself.” Chrysabel heaved an audible sigh. “It might just be your dumb luck, Captain, that’ll save you. I’m uploading a file to you now. Take a look at it.” She tapped something on her com station. Zoe brought up the file on another screen. She and Mal looked it over. It was a standard Alliance fugitive bulletin, something they were familiar enough with. The first thing Mal noticed was the reward amount. One million credits. His eyes widened. The second thing he noticed was the photograph. It was the portrait of a smiling man with neat, close cropped hair and thick, rimless glasses. It did not take his mind long to discard the glasses, replace the trim haircut with long, wavy locks, and add some facial hair to come up with a face he recognized. It was Wray Shen. The last thing he noticed sent his mind reeling. Beneath the portrait was the fugitive’s name. Dr. Matthias Harder. He stared at it in disbelief. “Well, Captain? Do you get it now? Can I have my fugitive back?” “Uh… I’ll, uh… have to call you back.” “Wha…” Mal terminated the wave. “Matthias,” Zoe said. “River.” He spun out of the seat and marched off the bridge. “Jayne!” he shouted, banging on the man’s hatch. It slid open. “What?” Jayne growled up. “Grab a piece.” “Trouble?” Jayne asked, but he was already moving. “More ’n enough of it.” “Sir, I seem to remember mentioning somethin’ about takin’ on passengers and trouble.” “Zoe, I’m sure one day we’ll be lookin’ back on all this, and we’ll laugh, and you’ll tell me ‘I told you so.’ But right now I’d really appreciate if you’d shut the hell up about it.” “Yes, sir,” but the faintest edge of a smirk clung to her mouth. Jayne hustled out of his bunk, armed, and Mal marched on. The three descended the stairs to the common area, weapons drawn. “Either o’ you gonna tell me what’s goin’ on?” Jayne hissed. Neither did. They paused in front of the Shens’ compartment. Mal motioned for them to cover either side. Then he slammed open the sliding door and thrust the muzzle of his autorevolver right into Wray’s stunned face. “You lied to me,” Mal gritted through his teeth.

Shen bu- "Oh god" mei mei- little sister wu wu yu wa- dirty; filthy; impure