Chapter 7

Simon bent closer to look at the chip. "It's a computer chip." He said. "You just plug it into a computer and data comes up. From the looks of this it's a video chip." Mal nodded, then got up from the table.

"Right then," he said calmly, "Let's go and watch it. From what this one says, it's an explanation." He turned to go, then paused and looked at Jayne.

"Keep an eye on her." He said, jerking his thumb at Tiri, who quickly glanced at her feet. Ignoring Jayne's complaining Mal walked out of the kitchen and to Inara's shuttle, which had the best video screen on the whole ship.

Several minutes later the whole crew was sitting around the screen, with the exception of River, who was sitting off to the side with Tiri, and Jayne, who was eying them with a mixture of fear and anger.

Noticing this, River gave Jayne an extra wide smile.

Slowly, the video started up, and the whole room leaned in to listen.

There was a room, medium sized with two normal looking beds. On the closest bed sat Tiri and River. River wore a white shirt and jeans, her hair not quite as long. Tiri wore a black shirt and black jeans. Both girls were smiling, and Tiri was sitting on one side with River on the opposite.

Leaning forward, Tiri grinned at the camera.

"Hello random person who I don't know." She said, her smile growing.

Rolling her eyes, River grinned at her. "It's Simon," she hissed loudly. Tiri nodded sagely.

"Simon is a person who I don't know."

"Yes, but he's not random." River waved at the camera. "He's my brother."

"Right, and I'm sure he's not going to be creeped out by two girls making a video, right?" Tiri asked sarcastically.

River smiled again. "We're doing this for our counselor." she said. "It's to make us feel 'well-adjusted and to decrease your feelings of homesickness.'" Tiri leaned closer to the camera.

"I think that they're secretly spying on us." She whispered.

"Simon, this is Tiri." River explained. "She's special."

Tiri laughed. "Right, I'm not the one wearing that train wreck of an outfit." River gasped, then slapped Tiri. "Bitch!"

Tiri ignored her and moved towards the camera again. "We're supposed to talk about our day here and that stupid stuff."

"So, we did Orientation." Said River, "And Physics, which was kind of fun. One of the kids called me a little mouse, so Tiri called him an ugly toad." Tiri smirked.

"That shut him up."

"Then we had P.E., which was basically us playing dodgeball, which we owned. Then we went to lunch, and the food is actually good."

"Unlike that crap you're probably eating." Broke in Tiri. River gave her friend a long-suffering glance, then continued. "And I had my dance lesson, which was fun, and then we came here to do this."

"Boring!" sang Tiri. River groaned, then leaned forward. "Bye Simon! Talk to you later! And remember, you promised to write!"

The tape shut off with a click, the whole screen going dark.

Simon looked at River. Before he could say anything, she reached forward and put her finger across his mouth. "There's more." She said.