“You want a history lesson?” Simon was surprised.

Mal leaned back in his chair at the dining table and smiled a little. “You’ve read Dr Bell’s books, and I know you’ve taken a look at the data disk. I had a notion you could give us a bit of background, without getting into all the begatting, of course.”

“I don’t actually know who begat who.”

“Good. So you can be brief.”

“Well, I -”

“Try.”

Simon pushed his plate away, and looked around the table at the crew’s faces. Kaylee’s was bright, expectant, while River seemed to be trying not to laugh. Hank was encouraging, Zoe placid. Jayne wasn’t quite surly as he finished the last of the food. Most of the children were sitting wide-eyed, listening to every word. Only Freya seemed vaguely troubled. “As it happens I have been doing some research, so I suppose I could … but if I get too long-winded or boring, let me know.”

“Don’t worry,” Mal said, smiling. “We will.”

For a long moment Simon gave him a cool stare, then began. “According to all the history books, the sect that settled Aegis was started by a man called Levi Bailey. He was a priest back on Earth-that-was, with some radical ideas on religion.”

“Like what?”

“For one that no-one should own anything. That it all belonged to the church, and the man in charge would apportion it out according to need. His intentions weren’t bad, but that kind of thing is open to all sorts of corruption.”

“Most good ideas are,” Mal muttered, then waved his hand. “Go on.”

“Anyway, the radical ideas would probably have stayed that, just ideas, except at that point the generation ships were leaving. Bailey took the followers he had and got himself a place on board. He knew he’d never see a blue sky again, and it appears to have sent him … well, crazy.”

“Nothing wrong with a little craziness,” Jayne put in stoutly, and River squeezed his thigh.

“This type should have been treated, but it wasn’t. He became a zealot, a fanatic, and his ideas began to take on a fantastical turn. He