Some reader responses to start us off....

Katesfriend, thank you very very very much. Between the suspense, the tension and the mystic River, the party's just gettin' started. ;)

PhyreLight, aw, hell, I'm a fan of all seven (so far). ;) Always thanks for beta-ing!

darbymonster, hey, good to see ya again! And go you - I was wondering if somebody would recognise that Shakespeare quote! Sorry to hear you've had trouble with the Real-Life Reavers, but it's my hope that you have some fandom grenades to help deal with 'em.

yinyang....ehh....let's say 'one-time' love of trains. ;) They've gotten to be a real pain in the pi-gu to work on lately. So here I am drawing on the days worth remembering. Thank you for stopping back in!

Angellemarcs, well, I'll just have to try and work in something uniquely Ange-friendly, won't I? ;)

Woonsocket, they always say to write what you know, and here it really helps. I know Firefly and I know trains, and it's really good and helpful to know they work well together in this fic. Thanksamuch, good to see you on board! :D

Jane0904, aye, who's coming indeed. We shall soon see. I try to be descriptive without being too verbose, so knowing how you see it....well, if I ain't doing something smart, maybe I'm doing something right. ;) Thanks a great heap.

mal4prez, here I remember a favourite quote from Star Trek III: "The more they overtake the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain." Thus the basic technology, which I find works a great deal better than the more modern junk we all have to work with. Thank you, thank you, and thank you. (Gotta find me a fandom grenade to throw at the Real-Life Reavers, then I'll drop you another E-mail.)

And an extra thank-you to everyone who commented on Mal's memories of Shadow. It's a sad state of affairs that we never got to see what really happened there and how it affected Mal's character because the show was so damn short-lived. I've already had some