If good news travels fast then bad news must travel at light speed. Before Zoë was even able to fully comprehend the depth of the problem, the entire ship knew. Granted there were only six of them but she thought Mal could keep his mouth shut tighter then that.

She had set out relaying messages to various outposts and ships asking for doctors and any relevant information regarding ‘Dredge’s’. So far, nothing. Or at least, no one was willing to help.

The biggest mystery seemed to be exactly where he could have picked up the nasty little bug. They’d only been to two planets in the last week and both of them had never had outbreaks. If they were on the ship then the odds of only one of them getting infected were staggering. These things lived in colonies. Everything she read about them indicated they would burrow through steel if they even thought a host might be waiting on the other side.

“Can I help?” Kaylee asked, sneaking up behind her.

“I’m not sure what you’d do,” Zoë sighed, “I’m not sure what I’m suppose to do.”

“Well, can I help you look things up, about the, what were they called?”

“Dredges. They’re called Dredges, but that’s not the scientific term. Biggest problem I’m having is that no one knows the scientific term and without that I can’t access anything past folk lore.”

Kaylee could here the tension in Zoë’s voice. That in itself was unnerving, not to mention this whole infection business.

“Is he going to die?”

“Tell you what,” Zoë said, avoiding the question, “why don’t you go to his bunk. I need the transmission code for that woman Lee. She may know something. Be careful Kaylee. We don’t know if he picked this up here or on planet. If it was here, then the nest is somewhere nearby Wash’s room, that would be the only explanation as to why he’s the only one sick. Just go in, get the code and get out. Quickly.”

Kaylee nodded and headed towards the room in a hurry. In a way she didn’t think she should leave the woman alone like this, but in another she was