“I’m sorry, Mal, you broke up a little there,” Freya said, grinning at the other women on the bridge. “What did you say?”

Mal, sitting dejectedly on the fallen tree in the middle of the jungle, surrounded by his bickering crew, sighed. “I’m lost. We’re lost. As in, I have no idea where we are.”

Freya couldn’t help it. She laughed. “Oh, Mal …”

“That isn’t helpful.”

“Why don’t you let Jayne lead? He’s the best tracker.”

“Fine. Then we can stay lost. ‘Cause he doesn’t know where we are either.”

Jayne, watching Hank drop his sock as far away from himself as possible, shrugged. No point in hitting someone for telling the truth. Well, not if it was the captain.

“Okay. Like I said, just head for the mountain that looks like –“

“Jayne, yeah, I know. I still can’t see the mountains.”

“Aw, hell,” Jayne said, turning to the tree he’d been defacing and undoing his belt.

“What are you doing?” Simon asked, horrified.

“Gettin’ us out of this.” The big mercenary whipped his belt around the tree and, with a speed and agility that surprised them all, he was up the trunk, into the canopy before anyone could speak.

Simon stared. “Man-ape-gone-wrong-thing,” he muttered. “I knew it.”

“What’s going on?” Freya asked over the link.

Mal shook his head, then remembered she couldn’t see. “I'm not sure you’d believe it. Not sure I do.”

Jayne dropped back down. “Thought she was insulting me,” he said jovially. “But there is a mountain looks like me. That way,” he pointed.

Hank pushed his foot into his boot and stood up, grimacing.

“So you know which way to go?” Freya’s voice filled the small clearing.

“So it appears,” Mal confirmed.

“Don’t need our help anymore?”

“You could do me a kindness and tell me how far we still have to go.”

“About six kilometres.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” She paused. “Oh, and Mal?”

“Mmn?”

“Let Jayne lead.”

Freya switched off the com then turned slowly to look at the other women. “Any idea what just happened?