They were on their way back to Serenity. Wash had decided to fly over the large forested part of the planet, and everything fell apart. Murphy’s law says that everything that can go wrong, will go wrong. They planned on everything, everything that is, except a bad battery. The battery was a backup power device, in case the engine failed the pilot would still have electric power for the steering controls. This particular battery was a lead acid battery. As the acid changed back to hydrogen gas, some of the caustic substance leaked, removing the insulation from an electrical wire. More gas was produced, causing the life-support systems to activate the internal blowers too lower the percentage of hydrogen in the air. The increased power generated heat, which melted the damaged wire, and created a spark. When the spark hit the hydrogen, the world turned upside-down.

Wash was fighting with the controls, trying to find a safe place to land. Trees were everywhere but, wait, a clearing! If he could just bank a little to the right…

Next to him, Simon was pulling something out of his med kit for the burns that Jayne and Roberts had sustained, they were minor burns, but they were still painful.

Roberts was carrying his backpack and duffle bag with one hand while using a fire extinguisher with the other. Had their lives not been in emanate danger, all three of them would have been at least mildly impressed that Jayne managed to keep a steady stream of swearwords, in rapid succession, from until the crash, in which the only repeatable words were what, the, mother and moon-brain.

The shuttle crashed in the edge of the clearing. I say “in” instead of “on” because it went a good ten feet into the ground. Simon was the first one out, followed by Jayne, Wash and Roberts. The clearing was surrounded on three sides by the forrest, the north side gradually transitioned from small hills to short mountain peaks.

The only sign of life they could see, animal or otherwise, was a prairie dog looking at them from its hole in th