Jayne Cob reviewed his mental checklist of weapons he would take on the job the next day. After Miranda he never went anywhere without grenades. Unfortunately Vera was too big to take, so he had to decide on whether to take Maggie or Pearl as his primary weapon. After spending quite a bit more time to decide, he put the decided weapons neatly in a bag, locked up the rest, and headed for the mess. .

He climbed up the ladder, stepped into the hall, and closed the door behind him. He listened and could tell the captain and Zoe were in the cargo bay makin sure the truck didn’t have any problems that Kaylee would have to fix beforehand. He could hear Kaylee from what sounded like Simon’s room and suspected from the little giggles that escaped that she’d probably be spending the night there. Shaking his head, he took a step towards the Mess then stopped. He craned his head and swore he heard the sound of someone crying. Frowning, he followed the noise up the stairs and onto the bridge. He didn’t see anyone in the pilot’s seat or in the front, but he turned and his eyes widened when he saw River crumpled in the corner against some sorta machine, her forehead pressed against her knees and her little body shakin.

“What is it, girl?” he asked, crouching down and she looked up through tear-filled eyes.

“Can’t stop the sounds….crawl out of the canyon and reach for you….millions of them, pulling you down and down till you can’t see what’s up or down….the voices, they claw at you…rip away pieces and pieces because they won’t stop because you can’t stop them….I….can’t…I can’t stop them,” she said dissolving into tears once more and Jayne frowned.

“Can’t stop who?” he asked, and looked around.

“The voices,” she replied. “So loud when so close together…not like the sky.” Jayne frowned.

“You mean the people, here on Faemont?” he asked, and she nodded. Comprehension slowly dawned on him, and he realized for once what she meant. They had just landed on Faemont, a heavily populated world, a day early to gather