“*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 pursu