“There hasn’t been a new warrant out in months,” Mal said to Zoe over his shoulder as he descended the steps and turned toward where the infirmary was located. “And we ain’t seen no indication that the gou tsao de project goonies are still tracking us. I’m all about bein’ cautious, but we can’t hide in the black forever, and our next job is on Persephone, which just happens to be closer to the Core than we’ve ventured in a spell.” He stopped outside the infirmary long enough to turn and look Zoe in the eyes. “I wager it’s worth the risk.”

“I ain’t disagreeing with you, Sir,” Zoe assured him. “I just felt it my duty to point out the facts.”

“And you’re well within your rights to do so.” With that, Mal entered the infirmary, where Simon was comparing diagnoses. “What d’ya know, Doc?”

Simon stopped scanning long enough to glance at the Captain. “Nothing useful yet, but I’ve gotten a lot of data. It seems that my new study has had extensive surgery throughout his entire body. There are hairline scars on every limb and organ, and numerous cuts were made all over both sides of his torso.” He wandered across the room as he spoke, the way he tended to do when giving the captain reports. “Additionally, although I’m sure they never tried anything with him the way they did River, he has definitely had at least one lobotomy. The purpose of that, however, I have yet to determine.”

“Mmm,” was Mal’s only response on that sentiment. “So, any idea what they did to him?”

“Some of it, yes. From a small biopsy I performed, I discovered that his muscle tissue is unlike anything that I would call typical of humans. The pattern of the strands is different, although I have no idea what kind of procedure could accomplish such a task, let alone the reasoning behind such a...” He trailed off at Mal’s bored look, and rephrased his explanation. “His muscles are weird. Does that help?”

“Keep it simple, and get the point across, Doc. Sie-sie, shr ah.”

“That’s not all that I found,” Simon continued. “Several of his organs have be