Chiang Goff paused at the cross-junction, checking left and right before continuing straight ahead. He’d encountered hardly anyone, not even guards, and in a perverse way that piqued his interest more than anything. When Quintana had given him the tour, he’d specifically said this corridor led to deeper layers, but more unstable and liable to collapse.

“We wouldn’t want you walled up down there, would we?” Quintana had joked, but something in his manner had been a little off.

What was more odd, though, was the lack of security cameras. He’d had a hard time avoiding them on his way from the docking area, but then he hadn’t always been a Member of the Alliance Parliament, or even a politician, and the training he’d received as a young man had certainly come in handy. He was ready, and more than capable, of taking someone out if he needed, but he considered that grossly over the top. Perhaps it was these long dormant skills that were tickling his curiosity now, but he was sure Quintana was hiding something. And he was going to find out.

---

Jayne watched in disbelief as the cattle raced towards them, and he felt his horse began to panic. It was only his quick reflexes, honed from years of shooting first, that kept him alive this time. Leaping for the fence next to him, he managed to catch hold, hooking one foot securely around an upright, before leaning down and grabbing the back of Mal’s shirt, hauling him to comparative safety as several thousand tonnes of beef on the hoof thundered past.

Mal clung to the rickety-feeling corral fence, exchanging a grateful look with the man who saved him, at the same time yelling angrily, “River!”

Little souls, big world.

What the diyu do you think you’re doing? It was amazing the amount of fury he could get into his thoughts.

Diversion? came the little voice back.

Did you have to turn us into hamburger to do it?

They won’t hurt you. They promised.

He raised a mental eyebrow, visualising what he was going to do to the