Did what I could with this section, but not so much funny ha-ha as previous ones allowed. So I contented myself with a few tweaks from the original script and the usual context changes. Figure the spoofy goodness shall pick up over the next few installments.

All rights reserved for thems that own 'em, yadda yadda.

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INT. Serenity Trailer - CONTINUING

HFK

"Maguinan was more than gifted. She... she was a gift. Everything she did, music, math, theoretical physics -even-even dance -- there was nothing that didn't come as naturally to her as breathing does to us."

(smiles, remembering)

"She could be a real... brat about it, too. I mean, she used to hit me with her guitar all the time--"

HFK trails off for a moment. Maniac stands, going to refill his mug. At his movement, HFK collects himself.

HFK (cont'd)

"There was a... a school... a, uh, a government-sponsored academy, we had never even heard of it but it had the most exciting program, the most challenging. We could have sent her anywhere, we had the money, but she wanted to go. She wanted to learn. She was fourteen."

(long beat)

"I..."

A moment of bitter emotion, then he pulls it together.

HFK (cont'd)

"I got a few letters at first, and then I didn't hear for months. Finally I got a letter that made no sense. She-she

talked about things that never happened, jokes we never... it was code. It just said..."

(beat)

"'They're hurting us. Get me out.'"

Sarah

"How did you do it?"

HFK

"Money. And, and luck. For two years, I couldn't get near her. Then I was contacted by some men, some underground movement. They-they said she was in danger, that-that the government was... playing with her brain. If I funded them they could sneak her out in cryo. Get her to Smithville, and from there, I could take her... wherever."

Defender

"Will she be all right?"

HFK

"I don't know if she'll be all right. I don't know what they did to her, or why. I-I just have to keep her safe."

There is a moment.