"Snakes," giggled River Tam as her brother approached her with a syringe of today's med cocktail.

"What was that, mei-mei?"

"Boa constrictor imperator," answered River with a smile, sitting up and pointing towards the crew cabins.

Simon let go of his sister's arm and swallowed hard. He didn't like snakes, even the mention of them made him feel nervous.

"There..there ain - aren't any snakes on Serenity, River. We're far far away from any possible snakes."

"Jayne."

"Well, yes, he's a kind of a snake, but the human kind and I'll make sure that he never hurts my beautiful little sister,"

Simon approached River once more and gently pushed on her shoulder.

"Now you just lie back and let me give you your medication before the crew comes tramping in here to get inocced. Why the Captain wants to be setting down on a plague-ridden moon like Mazon is beyond me but I'm going to make certain they don't bring back more than the cargo."

~*~*~*~

"This is your Captain speaking. We hit dirt in 30 minutes. Jayne..report to the infirmary for innoculation. The rest of you stay to your cabins when we land. We shouldn't be but a few tics on this swampball and then back out into the black before you can blink."

Mal left the bridge, leaving Wash and Zoe staring at the horizon they were rapidly approaching.

"Honey, remind me again why we're setting down on such a piece of go se moon? Naught here but swamps and mosquitos as big as your head"

"You're not seeing the big picture, dear. There are also near as many types of trees on this moon as there were back on Earth-that-Was. Trees that produce all sorts of interesting products; some legal, some not so much."

"I take it our cargo ain't chewing gum."

"You know, you're so cute when you play the reluctant smuggler." Zoe kissed her husband on the forehead and headed out towards the infirmary.

Wash called out after her, "Don't let the comically-huge bugs bite!"

~*~*~*~*~

"All right now. Marcie, Velma, you two be good girls while Daddy's out o