He heard it before he saw it. In fact, he smelled it before he saw it, a dark odour that drifted to him on the wind. It was followed by the sound of undergrowth being mashed.

“Stay down,” he said to the boy with him. “And keep back. Ain’t no telling what he’s like to do.”

“I will.”

He could hear the tension in the boy’s voice, and smiled. Lifting the rifle, the one his Daddy had taught him how to use when he was younger than the boy, he moved forward carefully, just enough so that he could see his prize. It was a huge buck, horns spreading wide, and as he sighted along the barrel, his mouth began to water at the idea of venison roasting slowly on an open fire …

Jayne hugged the pillow and grinned. Rolling over he twitched, the dream having such a strong hold on him that he didn’t notice the other side of the bed was empty.

In the corner of the shuttle, River was huddled on the floor, her arms around her knees, hugging as much of herself around her belly as she could as she sobbed silently.

---

“… and that adjusts the attitude thrusters. Otherwise we could be flying upside down.”

Ethan, sat on his mother’s lap as she showed him the bridge controls, chuckled. “Can we fly upside down?” he asked.

“Maybe we are,” Mal said from the other seat, Jesse held in his arms. She was playing with his suspenders, a game she found neverendingly interesting.

“But we’re the right way up,” Ethan insisted.

“Your daddy’s right,” Freya said. “Because Serenity has her own internal gravity system, it’s only when we’re in relation to something else that you can tell if we’re not the right way up. At least, to them.”

“Them?”

“Whoever.”

“But who -”

“ANYWAY …” Freya raised her voice just a little, experience telling her that Ethan could go on with questions like that for hours if left to it. “That’s the autopilot.” She pointed to a switch.

Ethan leaned forward. “What does that do?”

“It keeps us on course when there’s no-one on the bridge.”

“Like when we’re sleeping?”

“T