FOUR WEEKS AFTER BOROS

"Simon, you gotta talk her outta this." Jayne stood at the infirmary door, as if to bar entry.

"I tried. I'm sure you did too. It's her life, Jayne."

"Gor-rammit, you people are stubborn. The fella we took to Boros. That was your pa, wasn't it?"

"Yes."

Jayne's eyes hooded. "He wasn't what I expected."

"Me neither. Let's go in and give it one more try." They went in together, brushing the jamb with their shoulders.

River reclined on the exam table, waiting. "Yes, I'm sure. Two down, twelve to go. No guarantees, no safety net, just close my eyes and jump. Get on with it. You know I hate needles."

"You're doing so well. Why risk it?" But Simon filled the syringe as he spoke.

"I'm better, but I'm not cured, and I never will be if I stop now." Her voice changed. "A girl can get awful tired of people askin her who she is today, specially if she's not sure herself. I want a real repair, Simon, not just a workaround." She made a face at the needle, then closed her eyes. "All aboard." As Jayne hovered over her and Simon inserted the needle, she said, "Love both a ya. See you on the other side."

FOUR MONTHS AFTER BOROS

“So, Meester Reynolds. You come to gloat, yes?” The voice was the same, Mal noted. Niska looked across the table in the visitors’ room at him, still wearing his glasses, dressed in a suit instead of the prison garb his two hulking bodyguards wore. He looked just as he had when he’d stood over Mal, taunting, while he’d applied sharp edges and electricity to his bound and beaten captive. But there was a brittle quality to him that hadn’t been there before. Mal figured being sentenced to prison at a trial that had been waved all over inhabited space might have something to do with that.

“Not hardly. You’re not gettin half what you deserve.”

Niska showed a little tooth, but the gesture wasn’t a smile. He rose. “Take a walk with me, Mr. Reynolds. I am deweloping taste for fresh air, and it is on the way to the front gate. Your visit will be brief, I th