Part 2

“Do you think she’s a reader?” Mal whispered to Simon, not letting his eyes leave the girl.

“I’m not psychic”, the girl stated directly, “Simon and I grew up with each other. But he doesn’t seem to remember me.”

“Oh my God… Amanda?” Simon’s face flushed instantly.

“What happened to you? Who did this to you? Where are your parents? Your brother?

“They were all killed…by Alliance. The only reason I survived was due to the fact that a lieutenant took a liking to me.”

Both Simon and Mal stood with their mouths hanging open.

“They were looking for you, Simon. They thought we knew something. We obviously didn’t but..”

Till this point, Amanda hadn’t shown any emotion. She put her hands to her face and began to sob quietly.

“I…I haven’t spoken about them in such a long time…it was horrible…they….they made us watch while they tortured Dad…they…”

Simon put his arms around her. She was shaking so much that the tray of instruments next to the bed rattled. He looked up at Mal with defeat in his eyes. He never thought they would go after his past. He never thought that people that he hadn’t even seen in years would be affected by his decision to save his sister. A decision that he thought would only affect the two of them.

Mal motioned with his head that he needed to speak to Simon and now.

“I’m going to give you something that will give you a dreamless sleep.

This hiss of the injection filled the room and Amanda reluctantly closed her eyes.

****

Mal had congregated the crew in the mess. He had briefed them on what he knew but then again he didn’t even really know what he knew.

“Alright Simon. You wanna tell me what in the hell is going on or is this going to another one of your fun guessing games. I might want to add that I am in no mood to play any games.”

River rolled her eyes and laid her head on her arms. She already knew what was going to be said so she felt she didn’t need to pay complete attention…although Mal sometimes like to throw curve balls into her clairv