Trama

Serenity encounters a ruthlessly professional bounty hunter, Jubal Early, who will stop at nothing to retrieve River. But River, feeling unwelcome on the ship, takes a novel approach to escaping from the Alliance.

As River's insightful mind wanders, she inadvertently stumbles across one of Jayne's weapons, believing it to be a tree branch; suddenly she awakes and sees Mal and the crew scared. River overhears Mal and the crew talking about her and she feels rejected. Meanwhile, the ruthless bounty hunter Jubal Early, who has tracked down River, boards the Serenity while everybody is sleeping. He subdues Mal and locks the crew in the cabins; ties Kaylee up in the engine room; hits Shepherd Book on the head; and he finally captures Simon to force him to deliver his sister. However River is missing. Out of the blue, she says through the communication system that she felt rejected and had melted away, becoming part of Serenity. The skeptical Early does not believe her at first, but soon he is convinced she is telling the truth. What will happen to River?—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The Alliance has placed a bounty on River Tam's head and a bounty hunter named Jubal Early sets out to claim the bounty and tracks down the Serenity crew. Jubal sneaks on-board the Serenity while the crew is asleep to capture River and Simon and return them to the Alliance, so he can be paid for their capture and only River can stop him.—Daniel Williamson

Serenity flies through space, and onboard River hears the crew talking. She leaves her quarters and finds Simon talking to Kaylee about the stunt he and his classmates pulled at the academy when they were drunk. Simon looks up and sees Kaylee, and she "hears" him thinking that he'd be there now if not for hear. River gets the message and walks off, and finds Jayne and River in the gallery talking about Book's sex life as a priest. She telepathically reads their minds, with Jayne saying that the money was too good and Book thinking that he doesn't care if Kaylee is innocent or not.

River leaves and finds Wash and Zoe on the bridge, kissing. She feels their passion and leaves. Mal and Inara are in the cargo hold talking, and Inara thanks Mal for not telling the others she might leave. River "hears" their thoughts, with Inara thinking Mal should ask her not to leave, and Mal thinking it doesn't matter. River goes and steps on a tree branch, and picks it up and says that it isn't what she thinks. The others arrive and Mal takes the gun from River, and tells River not to touch any guns. She walks off, saying that it's getting crowded, and Simon tells Mal that River's medications are breaking down. Mal tells Simon to take good care of River and leaves.

A ship pulls up behind Serenity and approaches it. The man inside, Jubal Early, turns on the autopilot and looks at a wanted poster of River.

On the Serenity bridge, Wash and Zoe are talking as Wash checks the control. He says that he's getting a weird heat flux in their wake. Mal and Jayne come in, and Jayne insists it's not his fault that River got hold of his gun. He says that he didn't want River on the ship, and Mal tells the others that River is in her room and they may lock her in. Zoe says that River won't hurt anyone, and Kaylee joins them and says River has used a gun before.

Jubal dons a suit and comes over to Serenity, and peers in through a portal. Meanwhile, Kaylee tells the others about River shooting Nisha's men, her eyes closed. She says that River did the math, and Kaylee says that nobody can shoot like that who isn't a person. River is in the corridor below listening, and Kaylee says that afterward River smiles at her like they were playing, and it scared her. Simon figures that River didn't know about it. Mal says that they have to think about whether River is a danger to them. Inara says that it's not a joking matter, and Mal figures that River is psychic. Simon doesn't know for sure. Jayne wonders what they plan to do about it, and Simon says that River never would know about it. Mal tells the crew that he's not going to make a decision yet, and they all should get some rest.

Kaylee talks to Simon privately and says that she had to say something. Simon tells Kaylee that he's not mad at her, and River considers Fly her home. Kaylee asks about Simon, and he says that he thought the hospital as home, and he'd be there now if they had left River alone. When Kaylee asks Simon if there's anything about the place he likes, Simon looks at her and starts to reach for her face. Book passes by, interrupting them, and Simon goes to his cabin.

Mal goes to his quarters, and Jubal climbs down from a hatch, removes his helmet, and draws his gun. He makes his way through Serenity, holsters his gun, and Mal confronts him and throws a punch. Jubal dodges it and easily subdues Mal, knocking him unconscious. He dumped Mal into his quarters and seals everyone in their rooms.

Kaylee is working on the engine and hears someone moving. She goes to investigate and Jubal confronts her. He says that Serenity is good-looking, rambles on about bringing presents, and looks at the engine. Jubal casually asks Kaylee if she's been raped, and says that everyone is locked in their quarters, and no one can help her. He tells Kaylee to say that nobody can help her, and she does. Jubal says that he's going to tie her up, get rid of a problem she has, and she'll be unharmed as long as she doesn't try and stop him. He ties Kaylee up and asks her where River sleeps.

Book is in his quarters after a shower, and hears someone moving in the shadows. Jubal knocks him out, waking up Simon nearby. Simon goes out to investigate, and finds River gone from her quarters. Jubal ambushes him and draws a gun, and tells him to sit down. The bounty hunter says that he has no intention to kill Simon, and asks where River is. Simon says that he doesn't know and asks Jubal who he works for. Jubal rambles on and says that the plan is to take River and collect the reward. When Simon says that he's not going to help Jubal found her, Jubal talks about how functional his gun is and he'll shoot Simon if he can't find River. Simon says that he won't betray is sister, and Jubal says that Simon will play along to try and find a chance to stop him, and otherwise he'll kill Simon and rape Kaylee.

The two of them check the rooms and find the unconscious Book, and says that Book is no shepherd. They go to the sickbay and Simon says that River doesn't like it because it reminds her of how they cut up her brain.

Jubal and Simon continue searching for River, and Jubal draws a gun on Simon when he tries to sneak up on him and says that it isn't Simon's moment. The bounty hunter says that they'll check the shuttles, and they find Inara. She says that she doesn't know where River is hiding, and Jubal tells Inara that he's going to seal her in. When Inara says that he could walk away, Jubal pistol-whips her and tell her not to visit his intention, and then leaves with Simon.

The two men go to the bridge, and he calls to River to show herself or he'll kill Simon. River speaks over the intercom and says that the crew didn't want her there and she couldn't force herself to leave, so she melted away and joined the ship. She says that River is gone and they're talking to Serenity, and Serenity is very unhappy.

River talks to Kaylee in the engine room, and says that Kaylee is going to be okay and she's fine. She tells Kaylee to be brave, and tells the engineer to get something sharp to free herself and not be scared.

Jubal figures that River is someone on Serenity with a com, playing games. River giggles and talks about Jubal's mother, and how she died. She says that Jubal likes hurting people, and Jubal tells Simon to speak for him. He tells River to come out so he won't shoot Simon, and River says nothing.

River talks to Mal as he wakes up, and she says that she needs him to trust her.

Kaylee frees herself and leaves the engine room.

Jubal complains that River is troublesome, and taps into the ship's locators. Simon warns him that they won't help.

Kaylee makes her way to the bridge and messes with the controls.

Zoe says that she can take Jubal out, and River warns her that Jubal is faster than her, and all of them. She tells Mal that she's close to Jubal, and tells him to go. The lights go out and River tells Jubal that he's not welcome there. She figures that he likes to hurt people, and that's why he took the job. His mother knew, and she's relived because she saw the darkness in him. River continues to taunt Jubal, describing his childhood and how he tortured the neighbor's dog.

Jubal realizes that Zoe is in her ship. She says that all the buttons are interesting, and tells Jubal to put the gun away. Simon points out that he isn't, and Jubal really puts the gun away. River says that he has issues, and Jubal hastily agrees. She tells Jubal that she's going with him, and she doesn't belong there because she can't be controlled or trust. As the crew listens, River says that the others could be who they really want to be. River tells Simon that she'll be fine, and she'll be Jubal' bounty and then fade away.

Simon jumps Jubal, who shoots Simon in the leg. As Simon lays on the floor clutching at his wound, Jubal leaves the bridge and Mal jumps him. Jayne wakes up for a moment, hears the noise, and then goes back to sleep.

Jubal knocks Mal down and then gets into his suit and goes over to his ship. Ml comes up behind him and knocks Jubal into space. River sends Jubal's ship on its way, and then jumps out. She asks for permission to come aboard, and Mal says that she might not be right. She smilingly agrees and he tells her to go inside.

Later, Simon directs Zoe in removing the bullets from his leg. Mal and Inara look on, and Mal figures that Jubal couldn't have survived with the little air he has left. Inara walks away, while Book complains to Jayne about not taking out Jubal. Jayne complains that he slept through the whole thing. Kaylee and River are playing jacks, and Kaylee concentrates on the ball and then wins.

Jubal floats through space, resigned to whatever happens to him.