Mal took the stairs up to the bridge two at a time. "Zoe?" She was leaning against the pilot's console and pointed at one of the screens next to her. It was blinking red with the words "Land Lock."

His brow creased. "Have you contacted Port Control?"

"First thing. But they said they would only speak with the captain."

"Well, did you tell them you were the captain?" He asked, as if this was the most natural next step.

"Tried that, seems their list shows the captain as a mister. Guess I don't make a convincing man, Sir."

He smirked at her. "Now, now, Zoe, they obviously just don't know you." Swatting him on the arm, Zoe moved so Mal could sit down.

"Jen dao mei. I did not need this today." He flipped on the vid screen and activated the connection.

"Santo Port Control." Came the rather wooden reply from the very bored looking official.

"This is the Captain of Serenity, you wanna tell me why you put a lock on my ship?"

"Ah yes, Captain?," the young bureaucrat on the vid screen looked down his list, "Captain Arnold. A warrant has been issued for your detainment concerning an incident on Boros."

"For Captain Arnold?" Mal glanced at Zoe who rolled her eyes.

"Yes."

Being careful to keep his temper in check, Mal answered, "Captain Arnold runs a ship called Serendipity. This is Captain Reynolds on Serenity."

"Oh?" The young man, eyes wide, checked his list again, verified the information on his computer and noticeably gulped. Clearing his throat he said, "Ah, yes. My apologies for the mix up Captain." The screen that had been showing the alert went green. "There we are. Sorry for the inconvenience. Port Control out."

"Jing-tzang mei yong-duh!" Mal threw up his hands. "They can't hardly find their own asses and yet, somehow, they won the war." Zoe bit back a smile. He sat for a minute, thinking things over, calming down, "That seem a mite too easy to you?"

"Was resolved kinda quick. It's not unlike local governments to make mix-ups, they just don't usually own up to 'em that simply. He must be new. Sorry to have called you all the way back for that."

"No, no, best you did, considering how our time on this hunk of rock has gone in the past. We might have needed to make a speedy exit." He grinned and thought about that for a second. "Still might need to, day's young yet. Did you contact Lee?"

"Yes, sir. He said he might have something for us in a week or so."

"But nothin' now?"

"Nothin' now." She confirmed with a shake of her head.

They sat and stared at each other. The money was running out, in fact, the next time they bought fuel, the money would be gone. Jobs were running scarce, what with so many of their contacts dead. The few who weren't, were taking a whole lot of convincing to deal with them. Hell, Badger wasn't even returning their waves, it had gotten that bad.

"Ok. We dig around here, see if anyone, or thing, needs transport to Persephone, since it's on the way and we have some extra time."

"It's getting on towards supper, Sir. We could check out some of the bars near by, they'll be filling up 'bout now. Maybe we'll get lucky and pick up a lead or two."

He sighed and stood up. "There's apparently no hurry, let's wait until Jayne gets back, take him and River."

"River? Are you sure that's a good idea? The last time she was in a bar things didn't go so smooth."

"She's been better since then. And she might pick up on somethin' we don't." Zoe shrugged, satisfied that she had voiced her concern, as Mal left the bridge and headed for the cargo bay. He figured Inara should be back any time now, and he wanted to finish their talk before the others got back. Before he talked himself out of it.

He was pacing, but trying not to look like he was pacing, when Simon and Kaylee came back. Kaylee was pulling a red child's wagon stacked with boxes. "Hey Cap'n!" Girl was grinnin' from ear to ear and bright enough to light up the whole ship. Of course, Mal thought that Serenity's lights shone brighter when Kaylee was onboard, as if the ship was smiling back at her.

"Hey there Kaylee, Simon. You two look like ya found everything ok. Nice wagon."

"I'n't it though? Gerald, at the scrap yard, said he'd been holdin' it special, just for me. Wasn't that sweet?"

Simon rolled his eyes. Mal had to laugh at that. "I'd say it was."

He wondered how long it would take the Doc to accept that anyone with a pulse couldn't help but flirt with their mechanic. He hoped that Simon took it as the complement that it was, her being with him, when it was so obvious, everywhere they made landfall, that she had other options. He also hoped that Simon didn't ever make her feel like his only option again. That last time had been enough to make Mal want to blow him out of the airlock. But ever since Miranda, he had noticed that the young man had seemed to figure out how to keep his foot out of his mouth, at least most of the time. Course that might have something to do with the two of them being attached at the lips more often than not. He did have to give them credit for trying to be discrete, but the ship was only so big and Kaylee wasn't exactly known for her discretion.

"Did you see Inara out there?"

"Nope, why is there something wrong?" Worry flickered briefly over Kaylee's face.

"Doubtful, don't you worry none. Y'all get those supplies stowed."

He watched them lift the wagon down the steps into the common area and then turned back to the open ramp. He was starting to get worried. By the time Jayne and River came back about a half hour later, he knew something was wrong.

"Did y'all see Inara on your way back?"

"No, but we weren't lookin' for her. Somethin' up?" Jayne paused trying to rebalance the bag and boxes that he was carrying.

"Don't know, she should have been back an hour ago. River?" River looked at Mal and then out into the gathering twilight, her mouth falling open slightly, her eyes going unfocused.

Both men watched the girl slowly pull back and shake her head, her brow furrowing. "Rotten apple, made Snow White sleep, waiting for a Lazarus kiss. Protests here and, gone. Gone empty. Gone." Her eyes welled up with tears. "Can't focus!" Her hands dropped the bag she had been holding and balled into fists on either side of her head. She started to cry.

Mal yelled towards the infirmary, "Doc!" and pulled the girl into a hug. "Shh. It's ok, calm down little albatross." Looking at Jayne, "She been like this all day?"

"Naw, Mal. She was normal, well, normal as she gets."

"Go, put that stuff in the kitchen. Get Zoe and get back down here." Jayne grabbed the bag River had dropped and then took the stairs two at a time.

Simon rushed into the cargo bay. "What happened?" When he saw River crying, Mal could see the familiar look of panic-stricken concern steal over his face. He transferred River into her brother's arms.

"Jayne says she's been fine all day, this started when I asked about Inara." He told Simon what the girl had said.

"Mei mei, has something happened to Inara?" Simon asked quietly. River gave him the look, tears still streaming down her face. "Of course, you already said so, didn't you?"

"Can't act, can't...I don't know! Can't...can't...can't..." She sobbed into Simon's shoulder.

Zoe and Jayne came back down the stairs and Kaylee appeared behind Simon.

Squashing the panic trying to claw its way through his stomach, Mal fell into full-on Captain mode. "Inara shoulda been back by now. River seems to think that something has happened to her." Kaylee gasped and covered her mouth. "Kaylee, I need you scouring the Cortex for any postings on this rock, kidnappings, missing persons, attacks, arrest warrants and any transmissions sent in the last two hours." Eyes wide, she nodded and ran up toward the bridge.

"Zoe, Jayne, we're going out to look for her, see if anyone saw something. Simon, shut and lock the door after us. And see if you can't get anymore details from River. Let's go."