Less than an hour after they were off-world again, a short bulletin appeared on the Cortex concerning Simon’s death in captivity. After Mal, Zoe and Wash had read it, Wash looked over his shoulder and shot his wife a relieved look. Mal couldn’t say he disagreed; this was getting close to being a fortunate turn of events. With any luck, it would keep the Feds off their trail until they could get to River. Mal knew that after that, it was a fair bet that all hell was gonna break loose.

Mal glanced at the capture of Simon that was showing in a loop on the screen. “I’monna go check up on the Doc, see how he’s doin’. Let me know if anything else happens,” he said as he turned and headed for the passenger dorms.

Kaylee came walking out of Simon’s room, a worried frown etched on her face, just as Mal was about to enter. She gave her captain a fleeting smile. “Hi Cap’n. He’s still a bit drowsy, what with all the stuff he took. I was gonna look after him, but I really gotta go check the atmo feed, and then fetch Cara. I asked Jayne to keep an eye on her.” Kaylee grimaced to emphasize her point, before returning to her usual cheerful mode. “Take good care of Simon, Cap! Make sure he gets some sleep, okay?” she said before padding back upstairs.

Mal knocked on the door softly before sliding it open. “Hey, how’re you feeling?”

Simon turned his head and a smile appeared on his face. “As well as can be expected, I suppose,” he said, rubbing his eyes to shield them from the light that flooded in. Mal quickly closed the door behind him and moved to stand next to the bed, while Simon screwed his eyes shut and started coughing uncontrollably.

All of a sudden, Mal felt himself getting very angry. “You know, for a smart fella, you can be right stupid sometimes. What if I hadn’t gotten to you in time, huh? You woulda frozen to death, that’s what!” It came out angrier than he had intended, and it seemed like Simon was a bit taken aback as well.

“I couldn’t stay there, Mal. I would have died,” Simon said in a small vo