The episode with Harmony coupled with other indications of Diana’s range of knowledge drives the speculation to new heights, to the point that it’s starting to interfere with the routine work on board. Finally Mal must arrange a “talk” with Diana and the crew.

Mal begins; “Diana, we’re mighty grateful you helped us at Persephone, and we’ve no problem leaving civilization behind for a time, but whenever we ask you for some idea of why we’re here, the atmo gets more than a touch foggy. We need to know a bit more.”

Diana looks about, and sees the same question on every face. “Well, I was hoping to put this off until we were there, but I guess I have no choice. My full name, at least the one that you would recognize, is Diana Book, and I am Shepherd Book’s ‘cousin’. He wrote to me years ago and talked of you people, and how much he enjoyed travelling with you. Since his death, I have followed your travels and troubles, and when I realized that you were landing near Southdown Abbey, I decided to meet you all.”

Jayne interjects; “Southdown Abbey? You don’t talk like no preacher.”

Diana chuckles quietly, “No, I’m not. But I needed a place until I found transport to the Belt, and the Abbey takes in relatives. When my sources told me of your troubles, it all came together – I could get to know some of Derrial’s old friends, and maybe we could help each other.”

Zoë’s next; “But why the fretfulness to go to the Scrap Belt? Seems an odd purpose for a woman with ‘sources’.”

“Well, one time Derrial told me of an old ship he flew years ago, and how it contained many valuable items from our ‘family’s’ past. It seemed like a good idea to retrieve some of his things and learn more about us, and perhaps discover what is so valuable.”

The questions continue, but that seems to be all she knows.

Her story still seems rather thin. Mal pulls Zoë aside; “I don’t recall the Shepherd ever mentioning the Scrap Belt, and if there were a ship out there, scavengers would have cleaned it out long ago. Do you believe her tale? Do we go on?”

“I don’t know sir, but she does seem to know a lot that’s hard to explain. And I’m considering if we break this trip off, we have nowhere else to go.”

Inara joins them, “If I may add an opinion, I think we should go on. The Alliance has almost completely blocked your ability to trade, and maybe if you stay out of circulation for a while, things may improve. And there’s no reason for me to stay near civilization either. I’ve made a few more calls, and it seems I‘m out of business as well.”

Mal considers his options, which are few. “Well Inara, you’re probably right. And if there’s anything at all to Diana’s story, I’m curious about what we’ll find at Derrial’s old ship.”

Mal tells the crew his decision, and no one objects. There's no choice but to press on to the Belt.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The long journey is nearing an end, and further out than they’ve ever been. As Kaldisa becomes a small dot behind them, everyone becomes nervous about the lack of planets. The only sign of humanity ahead is the Scrap Belt, and it projects a feeling of disaster.

Jayne seems particularly sensitive to the aura of the place, or at least he’s the first to mention it; “This whole Gorram place feels creepified, and older than ruttin’ dirt! Feels like there’s ghosts floatin’ everywhere!”

River drops into a singsong; “Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before; But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token…”

Jane snorts; “See? It’s driven her all crazy again!”

Simon tries to explain: “No, not really. That’s Poe.”

Jayne agrees, “Poe? Ain’t even that good, if you ask me!”

But Mal is having none of it. “I know the bunch of you are having all kinds of fun being spookified, but we’re here to find somethin’. We ARE here in the middle of all this Fei wu (junk) to find somethin’, ain’t we, Diana?”

And Mal is right. They are surrounded by junk. It’s time for Diana to come up with some new and useful answers.

They all gather on the bridge, and Diana reaches into her box of tricks, saying, “I hope this works…” and pulls out a 3D compass. In seconds, it’s pointing to a block of empty space, just at the edge of the Belt.

Kaylee sums it up best; “There’s nothing there! It’s pointing at a big chunk of Black!”

Zoë puts it all in perspective; “Pai an jiao jue! (Wonderful!) Now what do we do? We’ve just spent nearly a week travelling halfway across the ‘Verse looking at a whole bunch of nothing at all to find our very own private chunk of - Nothing.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Disappointment reigns, but they’ve come this far, and they have nowhere else to go anyway. They follow the needle, and suddenly it swings wildly, for no apparent reason.

They stop dead, everyone strains to see anything, and it takes some time to realize that one particular piece of Black is too black – there’s another ship! Mal turns on the searchlights, and they start to make out a faint shape… It’s a very old model Firefly, painted dead black and with some form of passive cloaking making it invisible to sensors unless they’re nearly right on top of it.

Simon says, “It’s almost like looking at a ghostly image of ourselves!”

Mal is more practical; “Any sign it’s still got power?”

Zoë is even more practical; “Jayne, help me set up the transfer tube, and we can go take a look.”

In half an hour, they have linked the two ships, connected the tube, and it’s fully pressurized. They simply have to walk over and…

“The Gorram door is locked!” Jayne is beating on the metal door, with no apparent effect; “How do you open this ruttin’ thing?”

Mal takes a somewhat more thoughtful approach, but the results are no better: “There’s no lock! Not even a handle, at least none like I’ve ever seen – just this odd shaped hole!”

But Kaylee thinks she has the answer; “The locks on them original Fireflies were electro-mechanical, like on Old Earth. It was called a special feature. Soon's there were enough Fireflies around thieves learned fast, and they went back to electronics. Let me take a look…”

After study. Kaylee says; “Well, I could maybe make a key, but it would take a while…”

But as usual, Zoë is the practical one: “I don’t think we want to wait – I have my own key.” She pulls out a tube of acid gel, and squirts a blob into the lock.

Diana is aghast! “Wait! You can’t do that -” But it’s too late, the lock is already losing its shape. Jayne yanks on the door, and it opens with a “Whoosh”.

Kaylee has watched the whole process in amazement… “Shiny! Captain, how do I get me one of those keys?”

Everyone wants to go exploring, but someone has to stay back and monitor the ship. Mal makes a decision which may cost him later; “I need you people to each look around for the things you know the best. Inara, there’s not likely to be much suited to your profession, so I need you to mind the store, at least for the first while.”

Inara knows he's probably right, but it means she's left behind. She looks daggers at him: “Yes Sir Captain. I will stay behind.”

As he steps into Revelation, Mal mutters to himself, “Sha gua (fool). There could be some cold nights ahead…”

Simon checks the air, and it’s surprisingly fresh, so there is a stampede as soon as he makes the announcement. As soon as they step on board, the lights come on, and they discover a few things immediately; the ship’s name is Revelation, and it is in pristine condition, far better than Serenity itself, although many functions are badly outdated.

Before Mal can say anything, Diana is off to find what she wants in Derrial’s quarters, and Mal turns to tell the rest; “Why don’t you all look about and see what - Well, I guess you know.” He’s talking to an empty room.

When they gather to discuss what they’ve found, they all tell of strange half-ancient half futuristic objects:

Mal and Zoë have found that the bridge has a whole series of maps and navigational instruments that seem to be of use only for deep space, and almost nothing relating to their ‘Verse. Mal thinks out loud; “This is Gorram strange. Fireflies weren’t around at the time of the Migration, and as far as I know, no one has left the ‘Verse since, so why were they ever needed?”

Simon looks more uncertain than ever before; “The Infirmary is full of equipment that I don’t understand. It’s so different I can’t even tell if it’s primitive or advanced, and I have no idea how most of it would be used. It would take months just trying to categorize what I’ve found before I could even begin to understand how to use it all.”

Kaylee, who had left with River in tow, comes back alone, and very puzzled; “They’s some kinda strange in that engine bay too… It mostly looks like Serenity, but somebody done ripped a whole bunch of the guts out and filled it all in with really old stuff what doesn’t look like it would work the same, and not near as good. Maybe if Diana looked at it too, between us we could make some sense of it all…”

Jayne had started out for the kitchen, but he discovered something amazing on the far side of the ship. With shining eyes, he announces; “We got a real interestin’ development back there. There’s a fancy modern shuttle stuck on the side, and that Gorram shuttle is ARMED! With some real big guns! And two kinds o’ rockets! We could surprise ourselves a few Feds with those!” Jayne is like a schoolboy with his first crush.

River then staggers in wild-eyed, and once again she is babbling, and once again it seems to be a series of mathematical formulas.

Jayne is not impressed; “There she goes again! Every time there’s some studyin’ to do, she goes to that ruttin’ shia suo. (nonsense talk.)”

Simon answers quietly but sharply, “And every time it helps our situation. Captain, I‘ll take her to our room, calm her down a little, and see if I can sort out what she’s saying.”

Mal looks around the room, and notices someone’s missing… “Has anyone seen Diana lately? She ran right off at the beginning, and I ain’t seen her since.”

Zoë volunteers to go look for her; “Diana was headin’ off to find the Shepherd’s quarters. It shouldn’t be hard to find her.” It doesn’t take long to find the room, and as Zoë steps in, it’s pretty obvious what has gone wrong, but not at all obvious why. There is a strange form of transmitter in one corner, and Diana is bent over it, touching one the controls, frozen in place.

Zoë punches the intercom; “Mal, c’mon to the crew quarters, we have a problem.” She then steps over to the frozen figure; “Diana, are you OK girl?” When she touches the woman there’s no reaction, and when she tries to lift the hand off the transmitter button, there’s no resistance… As the hand loses contact, Diana moans and collapses to the floor.

At that point, Mal arrives, and lifts her onto the bed. Diana settles easily, but she lies still, staring at the ceiling…

In the midst of all this, the ship’s intercom comes alive, and a heavily accented voice announces; “This is the salvage ship Gleaner on a collection mission, and we have monitored your arrival. We have ownership of everything in the Scrap Belt, which includes your ship and anything you may have found. Surrender your ship immediately, or it will be blasted out of the sky!”

Mal growls, “They don’t own MY Gorram ship! I’ll –“

But just then Revelation jerks, spins ¼ turn, and then makes an even more violent jerk as it stops, knocking both Mal and Zoë to the floor!

Zoë says; “Ai ya! (Damn!) Who did that? It sure can’t be this ship causing it, it’s not even powered up!”

Mal jumps up; “I’ll find out!” And he grabs for the intercom, looking for a link to Serenity. “Inara, what’s happening over there? Who’s throwing us around?”

Inara answers, tension in her voice; “I did it. The caller seems to be a heavily armed scavenger ship, and they’re heading our way. I didn’t think they knew exactly where we were, so I swung Serenity around to hide it behind you, and then went to blackout. With Revelation’s cloak, we should be safe for some time.”

That just brings up another question for Mal; “When this is over, I expect you’ll tell me how you know how to handle a Firefly, not to mention two at the same time.”

Inara answers sweetly, “I’ve travelled a lot, learned as I went.”

Jayne is ready for battle, “Lemme get ahold of that armed shuttle, and I’ll settle those ruttin’ scavvies d’rectly!”

But Mal would sooner lay low. “So far, those boys have no strong idea where exactly we are as long as we stay quiet, and I’d like to keep it that way. Let’s keep learnin’ more about this ship and what it’s got we can use, and let Inara keep an eye on our noisy neighbours.”

Everyone takes one last nervous look outside for the scavengers, but for the moment, all seems quiet, and they get to work studying this strange ancient/modern craft.

Inara reports that the scavenger has moved on, but there is no doubt it will be back. They cannot stay too long.