Act VII cont – Borodin

“Spying.” Zoe glared. “Care to enlighten us?”

Theo shook his head. “She’s mistaken.”

“No, she ain’t,” Jayne rumbled.

Etta touched her husband’s arm. “Tell them.”

He looked at her. “Etta –“

“Just tell them.” She looked like she was about to cry.

-

“There must be something you can do,” Saffron said, pushing her arm into one sleeve of Mal’s shirt and tying the other around her. “You’re the man here.”

“Glad you’ve noticed.” Mal sat down on the step and watched her. “But I figure it’s just a waiting game until my people come for us.”

“What if they don’t know something’s wrong?”

“They know,” Mal said confidently. Frey, you’d better know , he thought, somewhat less so.

-

“Mikel is … was something of a thief,” Theo began. “I found him one night trying to break into the safe on Cressida. He’d got as far as opening the door.”

“I take it you didn’t turn him in.” Zoe crossed her arms.

“No. After speaking to him, I … well, I found out what his life had been like. Offered him a second chance. He took it, and he’s been with us ever since.”

“That doesn’t explain what he’s doing, nor why he's been caught,” Simon put in.

“What’s he pinching?” Jayne picked up one of the knives from the table, and checked its edge.

“Information,” Etta said.

-

“Well, if rescue doesn’t arrive soon I'm going to die from pneumonia.”

“Any chance of that happening sooner rather than later?” Mal was trying to think.

“No-one’s coming.” She spoke as if to a child.

“Then we’re gonna have to get ourselves out of here.” He was concerned that he hadn’t been able to contact Freya, but then, they’d not actually tried it that way before. It had always been her dropping thoughts into his mind, not the other way around. After all, she was the psychic, not him.

“And how do you propose we do that? The door’s locked.” Saffron pointed to it.

He stood up. “Come on. There’s bits of this place we ain’t seen yet.”

“B