"Tell me again why this is a good idea?"

Simon eyed the piece of machinery the Doctor had set up on the counter of the med bay. It did resemble a med scanner, but it didn't look like one, inside. At least, not the most up-to-date ones he'd been checked out on.

"Trust me, Doctor Tam, I'm doing you a favor," said the Doctor. "Well, more River than you, but I'm sure you'd agree," he said, making another adjustment with a small wrench, "anything that helps her would give you greater peace of mind."

"Right," said Simon. "And that's the reason you've wired it into almost every socket on the main power array... I just hope we don't need that anytime soon."

"Well, of course it's going to need power!" said the Doctor. "By the standards of your time, it's rather demanding, energy-wise. Now, let's see," he said. He punched in a complex code on a keypad, his fingers moving far faster than Simon could follow. "Ah yes, that should do it," he said. "It's now keyed only to River's genetic signature."

"Uh. Why would you do that?" said Simon.

"It's fortieth-century Human technology," the Doctor replied. "I shouldn't even be giving this to you at all. By keying it to a single person, though, it should be all right."

"Well-"

"I'm not breaking the laws of Time," he continued, "but I am bending them a little- hrmph." He frowned and stared off for a moment.

Simon eyed him. "Right. Okay." He took a step away. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," said the Doctor. "Just a touch of deja vu. It's not important." He worked the controls a few more seconds, then stepped over to inspect the power cords.

"Should I call her in?" said Simon.

"Hm," said the Doctor. "Not necessary."

"She's right behind me, isn't she..."

River stepped from the doorway, eying the Doctor's machine warily.

"Hello," said the Doctor. "I'm not sure how much of the description you heard, but this is sure to help, at least to find exactly what was done to you. Now, if you'll just stand here - "

"No."

"Eh? But why not?"

"No tests, machines, needles." She looked over at Simon. "He's going to fix me."

"I see," said the Doctor. His face sagged in disappointment. "I don't suppose I could force you to, anyway-"

"You couldn't," said River.

"-but I assure you, it's completely non-invasive," he said. "It runs on several systems not developed yet, on neuroscience principles that won't be discovered for at least a thousand years. It really could help."

He looked over at Simon. "I don't suppose you could convince her to try it?"

"I could try," said Simon. "I don't know, though. I barely understand that thing myself."

"Standing right here," said River suddenly.

Simon turned toward her. "I'm sorry, mei mei-"

"You keep talking about her like she's not there, but she is. Not all there, but..." She clutched at her head.

Simon started forward. "I'll help you back, you need to rest-"

She straightened up suddenly, staring at the Doctor. "The echos," she said.

The Doctor just looked at her, concerned.

"The echos. Walls, holding the madness, but echos, echos of triumph and nightmare. Echos from you and back to you and I won't call him it I won't I won't!"

She was past them, out the door and down the hall before either man could react.

"Simon."

"Just a minute-"

"See to her. And inform the captain there may be some trouble on this moon."

Simon stopped and turned. The Doctor was already busy again, pressing panels and turning dials on the device.

"Trouble. You... you understood what she said? What did she mean by that?"

"If we're lucky, it's just some bounty hunter lying in wait," snapped the Doctor, continuing his work. "Or perhaps an Alliance battalion. I'm sorry, but I can't tell him myself. If this isn't powered off in the right sequence, it could cripple the ship's entire electrical system. That could end our trip rather sooner than expected, don't you think?"

Simon shook his head, blinking. "Wait, what you're saying about this supposed danger - that's kind of vague. Bounty hunters, soldiers- if we're lucky?"

"One thing at a time, Doctor Tam," said the Doctor, as he kept hitting buttons. He flinched back from the device as a large blue spark arced across a panel, and glanced over at Simon.

"One thing at a time."

"Mal, wave from Badger."

Mal rolled his eyes. "Wonder what he wants now," he said. He ducked the door into the cockpit to see Badger's bowlered head on screen, smarmy grin plastered on his face.

"So what do you want?" he said.

"Straight to business as usual, I see," said Badger. "One small problem wiv that. I ain't callin' to talk to you. Got some info for that Doctor friend of yours."

Simon, who caught the end of this coming onto the bridge, froze. Mal noted his reaction from the corner of his eye, but didn't even glance in his direction.

"I'll see if I can get him, but Smith's been kinda busy lately." Simon's shoulders seemed to relax a bit at this. "Maybe you could give us the message, an' I'll pass it along."

Badger's smile widened, and he actually gave a little laugh. "Oh, Mal," he said, "you are a card! I can't just give you what's been bought an' paid for!"

Mal's brow furrowed. "He's payin' you for information?"

"That's right! Wouldn't be proper to just be tossin' the man's property off to any tin-plated soldier that asked. So, why don't you just march off like a good little sergeant and -"

Mal stepped forward, fists clenched. "Why don't you just-"

"Sir," said Zoe quiet-like, placing a hand on Mal's shoulder. She turned toward the screen. "He's been busy on a project; he asked not to be disturbed. When he's out, we'll let him know to contact you."

Badger's grin had widened at Mal's reaction. "Well, I suppose I'll 'ave ta let that go at that," he said.

Wash's hand went up to shut off the feed, when Badger's expression on-screen abruptly changed. "There is one piece of info I can give you," he said, the grin dropping away.

"What's this?" said Mal. "Free info? Or are you going to take it out of our next payment? That's assumin' we ever work for you again."

"Neveh mind that. This is important."

All of the crew on the bridge suddenly looked alert, except for Simon, whose expression had gone from alarmed and slightly lost to... pretty much the same thing.

"I'm listenin'," said Mal.

Badger paused.

"Ya didn't hear this from me," he said. "Word's out - someone's lookin' for Smith. Layin' down some rather large figures for any intel."

"Who's looking for him?"

"No idea. In fact, I'm not a bit curious. Don't want 'im taking an interest in me, too. You see, it ain't just the normal informants he's working with. He's got other sources lookin' as well. The money he offered them must have been... exceptional."

"What other sources?"

Badger looked around off-camera, then leaned in closer. "Like military. You know, Alliance? Like the type you'd rather stay off the bad side of. Don't know what 'e's gotten 'imself mixed up in, but do yourselfs a favor and watch your backs. After all, can't make any money off 'a ya if you're dead."

He touched the brim of his hat, and the connection cut off.

" 核鱼," said Mal. "Hope he's sensible enough to stay on the ship when we tell him."

"Ah, Captain," said Simon, "I was just talking to River and the Doctor, and we may be walking into more concrete trouble than that."

Mal turned to Simon. "What's this now?"

"River came into the med bay and said something about echos and something..." he shook his head. "I couldn't make anything of it, but the Doctor said it means something's waiting for us on that moon."

"That's pretty broad," said Wash. "Couldn't he pin it down more than that?"

"Surprisin' he was able to make out that much, knowin' how she talks," said Mal. "Alright, we'll add this in with our plannin' when we land. Might just be that Jed got wind of our arrival time from someone else. Just brings our meetin' with him kinda sooner rather than later."

"I'll go make sure the hold's ready," said Zoe. Mal nodded

BEEYooop.

Just then, the lights flared with a vengeance. Sparks shot from a couple of light fixtures and the main controls as gauges and lights blew out.

Wash threw up his hands to protect his face, and shouted in pain as he felt bits of metal rip through the sleeves of his flight suit.

A loud warning klaxon blared to life, and red emergency lights flooded the room.

"Zoe! Zoe, check-" said Mal. He turned to find her already beside Wash, cradling his head as Simon used her knife to cut away his sleeves.

"What the 灼烧的灾害 just happened?" said Jayne, sticking his head into the doorway.

"Jayne, check the breakers. Break out the fire gear." Jayne nodded then turned and was barreling down the hall. Mal waved away some of the smoke and hit the intercom button. "Kaylee, what's goin' on down there?"

Silence.

" 'Comm's offline, Mal," said Wash. Simon had bandaged up his arm the best he could, but that wasn't much.

"I have to check on River," said Simon, dashing out the door. Mal didn't spare him a glance. "Computer still online? We got a damage report?"

Wash winced as he punched in some commands, and a screen came up. "Looks like we blew almost every fuse we got," he said. "Most of this can be fixed once we land, though."

"Most of it? Come on, Wash, don't exactly have time to get coy. We got two hours 'fore we hit atmo."

Wash shifted in his seat and looked over at Zoe. She nodded, reached over and punched in some more commands. A new screen came up. Mal looked it over.

"Guess we shouldn't have got those cut-rate fuses for flight control," said Wash. "Pretty much shot."

"We've got our course laid, right? Still got the main engines?"

"Oh, we've got engines, all right," said Wash. He indicated a section of the main console. Most of the indicators, save a few green and yellow, were either bright red or blown out.

"Unless we get that board green before we hit the gravity well, all our lovely engines will let us do is make a bigger hole in the ground. If we're really lucky, we might hit another ship instead and litter the Black with our pieces. Be a bit of a traffic hazard-"

"Well, neither one o' those is acceptable. We're gettin' this gorram ship down safe if I have to get out and carry it down!"

With that, he left the bridge, making his way toward the engine room.