“What’s the name of this place again?”

“ Ling Miao , sir.”

“That just means mausoleum.”

“I believe they buried their dead here, sir.”

“Cheery.” Mal gazed up at the columns carved from the sheer rock face, the sunlight throwing stark black shadows behind them as the heat burned down. “How’d they manage this, anyway?”

“It’s said men carved it out with their bare hands.”

“Now, why’d they do that, I wonder. Not using tools ‘n’all.”

“It made them closer to their god, sir.”

“Their god? Not ours?”

“I didn’t think you believed anymore.”

He touched the gold cross on his chest. “Not a case of believing, Zoe. Trust, now, that’s a different matter.” He stood straighter. “Anyway, that’s beside the point. There something going on here I don’t know about?”

Zoe hid her smile. “According to River, they considered their god separate from any others. Greater than. The God.”

“Huh.” He shook his head. “You mean they were heathens?”

“The Alliance allows for the practice of all religions,” Zoe pointed out.

“That’s magnanimous of ‘em.” Mal snorted slightly. “Maybe that’s why they ain’t wiped out the Reavers. They’re of a mind that they’re maybe a religion all by themselves.”

“Certainly a lot of praying going on when they appear, sir.”

He glared at her. “Did you just crack a joke?”

“No, sir. Must have been somebody else.”

He looked around at the empty gorge around them, the equally empty plain just visible through the mouth. “Like who?”

“Wouldn’t like to say, sir.”

“ Look, can you just admit I’m the funny one and get on with it? ” Hank said into their ear-pieces.

“You sure these things are gonna work inside?” Mal asked, fiddling with his. “I really wouldn’t want to get stuck in the catacombs.”

“ Painful. And Kaylee says with the transmitter you’re leaving at the entrance they’re better than the coms at getting through the rock. Just shorter range .”

Mal looked up to where Serenity sat, her nose just hanging over the lip of