“Do you really think they’ve found something?” Jarrett asked, following his brother towards the tunnel entrance, the other men spreading out to cover them.

“Well, they’ve not come out. What do you think?” Aiden scanned the surrounding area. “There’s mines and all sorts around here. Maybe they’ve come across an untapped seam.”

“So what do we do?”

Something groaned in the darkness ahead of them, sounding all too suspiciously like a wooden prop shifting.

Aiden licked his lips and said, “I think we wait. They’ve gotta come out again.”

Jarrett nodded hard. “Yeah. I think so too.” He sat down on a convenient boulder, the sweat dripping from his straight black bangs to stain his yellow shirt.

---

The main access to the shuttle was open, but only just. Jayne tried to force it, but even his strength wasn't enough.

“Help me,” he said, and the other two men put their shoulders against the hatch. It squealed loudly, the sound filling the cavern, but its old metal couldn’t withstand their combined assault. It tore from its upper hinges, falling back and leaving enough room to get through.

“It doesn’t look like Ingleby got this far,” Simon said.

“Nope,” Mal agreed. “So maybe we’ll be in luck and find something. Maybe even beyond our wildest dreams.”

“I don’t know, Mal,” Jayne said, forcing his bulk through the opening. “I got some pretty wild dreams.”

“Thanks, but I don’t think I wanna know.” He followed, while Simon stood back to allow the River and Freya to precede him.

Their torch beams illuminated an airlock like that on Serenity, only smaller, but this time the doorway at the back was open. The inky darkness inside was complete.

“Okay,” Mal said, swallowing slightly. “Now I know I ain’t claustrophobic like Hank, but … everyone stay together.”

“You thinking there might be ghosts?” Jayne joked, but River silenced him with a hand on his arm.

“Always are,” she whispered, keeping as far away from the metalwork as she could.

---

“Shit.” Jarrett, who had bee