That day at breakfast, no-one seemed particularly hungry. Mal was pushing his food around his plate, and Kaylee was drumming her fingers.

“Kaylee, I’d take it as a kindness if you could stop doing that?” he asked, dropping his spoon back down. “If you’ve finished go find something to do.”

Kaylee looked up apologetically then down at her still-drumming fingers. She pulled her hand back under the table. “Sorry, cap’n. Don’t rightly know what’s wrong with me. I feel …” She couldn’t find the right word, and looked to Simon for help.

“Apprehensive?” he suggested.

“Maybe. Like something’s about to happen. Maybe a storm.”

Zoe looked at her across the table. “I checked the weather this morning – there’s no sign of any change.”

“That’s just what it feels like,” Kaylee explained. She looked around the table. “And I think you all feel it too.” From the looks she got back she knew she was right.

Mal shook himself. He wasn’t about to admit he had been wondering himself why he felt so – antsy. Instead he said. “Well, we don’t have time for any conjecture. Kaylee, you have that part to fix. Doc, you need to get those supplies in. The cargo will be here at noon and I want to take off immediately it’s stowed. We’ve been here longer than I would reasonably have liked anyway.”

The others nodded and muttered, pushing away from the table and ambling out of the dining room. For a long minute he sat, staring at the uneaten food on his plate, then he cursed in Chinese and stood up abruptly. He needed to get his head back from wherever it had gone.

---

It was gone noon, and the cargo had been settled into the bay. Kaylee said they were good to go, and their new pilot, Hank, was itching to get Serenity into the air. And still Mal felt a strange reluctance. He stood at the open cargo bay doors, staring out at the bright sunlight, not really seeing the mass of humanity trundling by.

“Sir?” Zoe came up behind him. We’re all set.

“Hmmn.” He sighed. “Yep. Guess we are.” He followed he