Ariel
(SERENITY - KITCHEN AREA)
(Jayne is cleaning a gun. Inara sits on a couch next to Kaylee -- they are playing a game, Mah Jong -- and Simon dishes mush into a bowl for River, who stands next to him.)
River: I don't want any.
Simon: River, you have to eat. It's good. It tastes like... (uses chopsticks to eat some) ... It's good.
Jayne: Smells like crotch.
Kaylee: Jayne!
Jayne: Well, it does.
(Wash and Zoe enter through the corridor, conversation in progress.)
Wash: We don't even have to go someplace fancy. We can just go to the park or something. Feed the pigeons.
Zoe: Sure. (puts arms around Wash) Feed the pigeons. Probably get the firing squad for littering. (walks into room)
Wash: Come on, it's not that bad.
Zoe: It is. It's a Core planet, it's spotless. It's got sensors, and where there ain't sensors, there's feds. All central planets are the same.
Wash: Could you please tell my wife the fun she's missing out on?
Inara: (laughs) Ariel's quite a nice place, actually. There are some beautiful museums, not to mention some of the finest restaurants in the Core.
Wash: But ... not boring, like she made it sound. There's a .. .. Um, ah, um.
(Wash looks to Simon for help.)
Simon: There's hiking.
Wash: Yeah!
Simon: And you can go swimming in a bioluminescent lake.
(Wash nods encouragingly.)
Zoe: I don't care if it's got sunsets twenty-four hours a day. I ain't setting foot on that planet.
Mal: (walking into room) No one is setting foot on that fancy rock. I don't want anyone leaving the ship. Come to think of it, I don't want anyone looking out the windows or talking loud. We're here to drop off Inara, that's it. (dishes mush into bowl)
Jayne:(assembling his gun) What's the point of coming to the Core if I can't even step off the boat?
Mal: You could have got off with Shepherd Book at the Bathgate Abbey. Could have been meditating on the wonders of your rock garden by now.
Jayne: Well it beats just sitting.
Wash: It is just sitting.
(River is looking at Jayne as he licks his knife.)
Kaylee: (to Inara) So, how long you gonna be planetside?
Inara: Shouldn't be more than a day or two.
Wash: Big stop just to renew your license to companion. Can I use companion as a verb?
Inara: (laughs, plays game) It's Guild law. All Companions are required to undergo a physical examination once a year.
(Jayne hocks and spits on his gun.)
Simon: (pauses eating in disgust) Could you not do that while we're... ever?
(Jayne spits on his gun, looking straight at Simon. Simon stares at Jayne, appalled, then looks away and starts to get up from the table.)
Wash: (to Inara) So, two days in a hospital? That's awful. Don't you just hate doctors?
Simon: (standing right here) Hey.
(River walks to the cutlery bin.)
Wash: I mean, present company excluded.
(River takes out a big knife, no one notices. Simon sits.)
Jayne: Let's not be excluding people. (smirks at Simon) That'd be rude.
(River walks up to Jayne, we can see a flash of reflected light on his smiling face just before River slashes him across the arm with the knife.)
Jayne: (in pain) Sonofa GAH!!
Wash: What the hell?!
(Kaylee and Inara jump up from the game table. Jayne’s face contorts with anger and he backhands River across the face. River falls to the deck, the knife is knocked out of her hand. Jayne looks down at the bloody gash across his shirt. Simon runs to River.)
Simon: River! NO!
Kaylee: Oh my god!
Inara: He's bleeding.
Zoe: That's deep.
Kaylee: Are you okay?
(Simon helps River sit up, she's bleeding from the mouth. Everyone else is crowded around Jayne.)
Simon: River?
Jayne: (in shock and pain) Oh, uh.
River: He looks better in red.
(Everyone stands around in confusion and shock. Mal looks between River, who seems surprised by the fuss, and Jayne, who is seething with anger.)
(INFIRMARY)
(Jayne reclines on a gurney, bare-chested, while Simon stitches his wound. Mal stands back.)
Jayne: (gasping in pain) Gorram freak's completely off her axel.
Simon: I'm sorry about this. I don't know what--
Jayne: (to Simon) Shut up, I ain't talking to you. (to Mal) She's gotta go. Both of them's gotta go. Ariel's as good a place as any to leave 'em. Might even pick us up a reward for our trouble.
Mal: No one's getting left.
Jayne: She belongs in a bughouse. You don't pitch her off this boat right now, I swear to you...
Mal: What? What are you swearing, Jayne?
Jayne: They don't get gone, you better start locking up your room at night. Next time little sister gets in a murdering mood, might be you she comes calling on. Maybe Kaylee. Or Inara. You let them stay, we're gonna find out.
Mal: (leans in very close to Jayne) Finish your work, doctor. (Simon turns away) This is my boat. They're part of my crew. No one's getting left. Best you get used to that.
(Jayne looks at him, swallows visibly, looks very unhappy as he gets up from gurney, pushes bloody shirt at Simon, who clutches it to his chest.)
Jayne: (to Simon) You owe me a shirt. (Leaves room)
Mal: (walks over to Simon) She's to stay confined to her room, at all times, no exceptions. (Simon nods, unhappily.) Take her to the kitchen, the infirmary, whatever, you ask me first, understand?
Simon: I do.
Mal: When I took you and your sister in, the deal was you keep her in check. You can't hold up your end, we're going to have to revisit the deal. (Simon nods, looks down. Mal looks away.) She's getting worse, isn't she?
Simon: Yes.
(ARIEL – DAY)
(Serenity is landing in a futuristic city, full of gleaming spires and flying cars.)
(SERENITY - CARGO BAY)
(Kaylee and Inara walk across the catwalk. Jayne and Mal are below.)
Kaylee: Just look at the bright side. Maybe you'll meet a young, handsome doctor and he'll ask you out and... (beat) What's the Companion policy on dating?
Inara: (laughing) It's ...complicated.
Kaylee: Mmmm. Well, that figures.
Inara: Stay out of trouble.
(They hug and kiss on the cheek.)
Kaylee: You, too. Bye.
(Inara walks towards her shuttle, while Kaylee walks down the stairs.)
(LATER)
(Mal and Jayne are playing horseshoes in the cargo bay.)
Jayne: Ah! (he's thrown a ringer) How're we going to find a job if we don't leave the ship?
Mal: (lines up throw) It's Alliance territory. Ain't any jobs worth having.
(Wash sits on some barrels, Zoe standing beside him.)
Wash: Nor the last three places we've been.
Jayne: (makes a throw, missing) My pop always said, 'anyone who can't find work ain't looking hard enough'. (walks over to gather up horseshoes) We ain't even looking at all.
(Kaylee walks down to the Cargo bay floor. Simon enters.)
Simon: You can stop looking. There is a client. (beat) Me. (They all turn to look at him.) I have a job for you.
Mal: You've got a job for us?
Simon: One that will pay for itself ten times over.
(Everyone circles close to Simon.)
Jayne: Aw, forget it. We ain't that desperate.
Simon: (holds out a vial) You know what this is? It's a common immune booster called ivoprovalyn. Street value for a dosage this size, fifty platinum. (Jayne looks intrigued; Kaylee and Mal exchange looks.) Maybe twenty credits. (Zoe takes the first vial; Simon holds up another vial.) Propoxin, maybe eighty. (Jayne takes that vial. Simon gives another to Wash.) Hydrozapam, two hundred. And all of these are just from the medkit I had with me when I came on board. At a hospital like the one in Ariel City, they'll have shelves of that stuff. Whatever the take, it's more than enough payment for what I have in mind.
Wash: So, the medvault isn't the job?
Simon: That's the payment. I tell you how to get in, get out, and what's worth taking; if you help me get River into the hospital's diagnostic ward.
Mal: What's in the diagnostic ward?
Simon: A 3-D neuroimager. If I can get River in there, I might be able to figure out what they did to her at the Academy.
Mal: So we get you and your sister into the whatchathing and you tell us how to clean out the hospital.
Simon: Yes.
Kaylee: Not to be negative, but, don't the hospital need that medicine?
Zoe: Government run facility. They'd be restocked in a matter of hours.
Simon: She's right. They'll never miss it.
Mal: Plus, folks on the rim sure could use it.
Wash: You know, it's all very sweet; stealing from the rich, selling to the poor, but you're talking about breaking into a highly secure Alliance facility. How do you on plan getting around security?
Simon: It's not easy; but it can be done. (Simon reaches over and takes the vials from the others). You see, like all Core hospitals, St. Lucy's has its own dedicated security force.
(KITCHEN AREA)
(The others stand and sit around a table looking at schematics while Simon walks around.)
Simon: (continuing his speech.) A small battery of local Alliance Federals substationed here. (he points at a computer screen, the others look) Now, every floor, every doorway is equipped with sensors, and at all points of entry - patient ident scans. However, once clear of those checkpoints, movement within the facility itself should be relatively unhindered. (Everyone seems rather nonplussed at Simon the planner) Now, the standard layout should put the medvault somewhere...
Mal: (interrupting) Now, let's go back to the ident scans. You and your sister are tagged fugitives. How do you figure we're going to get you in the building?
Simon: Through the front door. (Mal scoffs) Believe me, Captain, getting the two of us in is going to be easy. The rest of you, that is going to be the real trick. We'll need to procure a few items off ship. I've made a list. Now, given my status as a fugitive, someone else will have to – (Kaylee, Jayne, and Wash all raise their hands, grinning. Zoe smiles at Mal.) We have some volunteers. Good. Now, before we ever make it to the front door we're going to have to breach the perimeter. Only official vehicles are allowed in, so, we'll need one.
(Mal lifts an eyebrow.)
(ARIEL CITY - JUNKYARD – DAY)
(Kaylee is looking at engine parts.)
Simon: (vo) Now, obviously we can't steal what we need. Any illegal activity in the planning stages could end this thing before it starts. St. Lucy's Hospital contracts with the local municipal dumpyard for all its large disposals.
Kaylee: Figures. First time on a Core and what do I get to do? Look through trash. (walks over to Wash, who is looking through trash) Couldn't he send me shopping at the Triplex, or Oooh! (picks up a piece of pipe) Synchronizers!
Simon: (vo) Big hospitals mean big waste, so we shouldn't have any trouble finding what we're looking for.
(Wash walks around a corner and throws a piece of junk, hitting a small ship. He gestures to Kaylee, pleased at his discovery.)
(SERENITY - KITCHEN AREA)
(Simon walks around while the others sit at the table.)
Simon: We'll have to look like we belong.
(ARIEL CITY – DAY)
(Jayne is off ship, signing off at a Telefonix console. He waits furtively, watching the crowd pass by.)
Simon: (vo) All we have to do is slip a couple of bills into the right hands. (A man in a beret drops two duffel bags near Jayne. Jayne stands and picks up the bags as he walks by. Successful trade off.) That gets us uniforms, ID badges and keycards.
(SERENITY - JAYNE'S ROOM)
(Jayne dumps contents of duffel bags; uniforms, medical equipment.)
Simon: (vo) A little creative forgery and we've got ourselves a working alias.
(Jayne takes out a knife and starts cutting pictures of the crew.)
(KITCHEN AREA)
Simon: Now, all of these items are easy to obtain. They'll get us up to the door. Now, in order to get us in...
(INFIRMARY)
(Simon is seated. Zoe, Mal, and Jayne stand in front of him trying to learn their lines.)
Mal: The patients were cynical and not responding and we couldn't bring them back.
Simon: They were cyanotic.
Mal: They were cyanotic and not responding --
Simon: (with Mal) Not responsive.
Mal: Responsive.
Simon: (coaching) And we were unable to ...
Mal: (together) Res.. Res...
Zoe: (together) Resuscitate them. Yes!
(Jayne looks confused.)
Simon: Resuscitate them.
Mal & Zoe: (together) Resuscitate them.
Simon: Good.
Mal: They were cyanotic.
Simon: (to Zoe) What methods did you use?
Zoe: We tried pulmonary stimulators and-and cardiac... We ...
Simon: Infusers.
Zoe: Infusers... Infusers. Pulmonary stimulators and...
EVERYONE: ...and cardiac infusers.
Simon: (to Jayne) What about cortical electrodes?
Jayne: Oh! Uh, we forgot 'em.
Simon: Let's try that again.
Mal: Yeah.
(CARGO BAY)
(Kaylee and Wash are working on the old Medical transport.)
(INFIRMARY)
Mal: Pupils were fixed and dilapidated --
Simon: Dilated.
Mal: Dilated! Dilated! (pounds table, swearing in Chinese) Frog-humping sonofabitch!
(CARGO BAY)
(Kaylee and Wash are still working on the old Medical transport.)
(INFIRMARY)
(Throughout this scene there are several different cuts of the speech, giving the impression that this is being done many, many times. Mal stands, sits, walks around; Simon looks on, gesticulates, coaches, looks long suffering; Zoe paces, sits; Jayne watches, sits, stand, writes.)
Mal: We got there and the patients were cyanotic... Not responding.. Non responsive... And we tried to reviv...Resuscitate them.. And, despite our best efforts.. Ah, they kicked... Despite our best efforts. Ah, they...
Simon: (to Zoe) Which methods did you use?
Zoe: We tried pulmonary stimulators and cardiac infusers.
Simon: (to Jayne) What about cortical electrodes? (sees what Jayne has been writing) What is that? (takes away what is presumably a crib sheet, balls it up)
Jayne: (looks up) We applied, we applied the cortical electrodes. We used them electromagnetic...Reacted from... We were unable to a ...We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either... Unable to get a neural...(pounds table, swears in Chinese)
Mal: Response.
Jayne: Response... Hell, I don't know. If I had wanted schooling, I'da gone to school. I'll get it.
(Zoe stands in a prayerful pose.)
(CARGO BAY)
(Simon walks into the cargo bay, standing between Wash and Kaylee.)
Simon: That's amazing! You two did an incredible job.
(All three walk toward a fully restored ambulance ship.)
Kaylee: And now, for the finishing touch.
(She presses a button, opening the shuttle door. Out steps a uniformed Zoe, Mal, and Jayne, all looking very medical, indeed.)
Simon: (smiling) If I didn't know better I'd say you were ready to save some lives.
Mal: Now all we need is a couple of patients.
Simon: (losing his smile) Corpses, actually. For this to work River and I will have to be dead.
Jayne: (smiling) Huh. I'm starting to like this plan. (chuckles)
(RIVER'S ROOM)
(Simon and River sit on her bed.)
Simon: We're going to be asleep. Captain Reynolds and the others will have to pretend we're dead to sneak us into the hospital. But once we're inside, we'll wake up. Everything will be fine. You understand?
River: You're going to suspend cerebral, cardiac, and pulmonary activity in order to induce a proto-comatose state.
Simon: (nodding) That's right.
River: I don't wanna do it.
Simon: I know.
River: (getting upset) I don't wanna go to that place. I don't want to die.
Simon: No, now, no one is going to die. It's okay. The others will take care of us while we're asleep, and when we get back -- (River begins moaning in fright) Shh, shh. River, it's okay. It's okay. This, this could be what we've been hoping for. When this is over, I'll be able to help you. I'll be able to make the nightmares go away. Okay?
River: (nods, whispers) Okay.
Simon: Okay. (takes a deep breath) Lie back. (She reclines on the pillows. Simon fills a syringe and prepares to inject River as she looks on.) It's time to go to sleep.
(She nods, crying silently.)
(ARIEL CITY – NIGHT)
(Establishing shot.)
(AMBULANCE SHIP)
(The salvaged ambulance ship, the faces of the crew are light by interior panels; Jayne's lips are moving, there are beeps and rattles and other background noise.)
Mal: We speak only when spoken to, we avoid all unnecessary contact, and we stay together until we reach the morgue. Understood?
Zoe: Yes, sir.
Jayne: (mumbling) We applied the cortical electrode...
Mal: Jayne?
Jayne: (mumbling) ...were unable to get a neural response. (louder) Yeah, yeah, I got it.
Mal: Are we gonna have a problem?
Jayne: I know what I gotta do.
Mal: That's not what I'm talking about. Am I gonna have a problem with you and Simon?
Jayne: That's up to him.
Mal: Look, you got a little stabbed the other day. That's bound to make anyone a mite ornery, so I figure --
Jayne: (interrupting) It's a good plan.
Mal: What?
Jayne: The doc did good coming up with that job, don't mean I like him any better. Nothing buys bygones quicker than cash. Maybe I'll give him a tattoo while he's out.
Mal: Let him do his thing, and then you get him out. No messing with him for laughs.
Jayne: Don't worry about me, as long as I get paid I'm happy. (mumbling) We applied the cortical electrodes and were unable to get a neural response. We applied the cortical electrodes...
(ST. LUCY'S HOSPITAL - LANDING PAD)
(The ambulance lands outside the hospital. The door opens. Mal and Jayne, Zoe and Wash each load a casket onto a gurney.)
Wash: We've only got a few hours left before the morning shift.
Mal: Won't be an hour.
(Wash returns to the ambulance; The others wheel the gurneys past some guards, into the hospital.)
(EMERGENCY ROOM)
(Inside the hospital, very sterile and white; people milling about. Mal walks up to a nurses' station, where a Receiving Doctor is standing there in her scrubs.)
Receiving Doctor: What do you got?
Mal: Got a couple of DOAs, by the time we got there...
Receiving Doctor: (interrupting, uninterested) Take them down to the morgue.
(Mal looks back at Zoe. She starts to push the gurney forward.)
Jayne: We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.
(The receiving doctor looks at Jayne for a second, then looks down, still uninterested. Mal grimaces. They head toward the morgue.)
(MORGUE)
(White, bright, a few bodies on gurneys, draped with blue mesh cloth. They open the caskets, move River and Simon to gurneys. Mal injects River in the left arm.)
Mal: That should bring them out of it in a few minutes. Once they're up, get them to the imaging suite. (injects Simon in the right arm) Let Simon do his thing, and haul it back to the rendezvous. Fifty minutes.
(He and Zoe take the empty caskets out of the room.)
Jayne: Got it. I'll just sit right here.
(Jayne sits back, looking around uneasily. Sighs, stands, and leaves the room.)
(CORRIDOR)
(Jayne goes to a terminal and swipes a card, pressing the screen to reveal the Telefonix logo; he's making a call. A man in an Alliance uniform comes on screen.)
Agent McGinnis: (Chinese greeting) How are you?
Jayne: I'm in.
Agent McGinnis: Do you have the fugitives?
Jayne: You got my reward?
Agent McGinnis: Yes, just like we talked about.
Jayne: Then I got your fugitives.
Agent McGinnis: Good. We'll see you shortly. Congratulations, you're about to become a very rich man.
(MORGUE)
(Jayne walks into the morgue, looks into an empty holding drawer. Behind him, River sits up.)
River: (smiling) Copper for a kiss.
Jayne: (spinning, startled) Jesus! What did you say?
(River looks confused. Simon starts to cough convulsively, thrashing.)
Jayne: (to Simon) What the hell's the matter with you?
Simon: (coughing) Nothing. Just the after effects of the drugs. I'll be fine. Just give me a second.
Jayne: Well, your sister seems okay. (Over Simon's coughing we can hear retching and splashing. River is vomiting. Jayne shoves some white clothes at Simon.) You've got to get dressed. We gotta move.
(CORRIDOR)
(Zoe and Mal push the caskets off of an elevator, moving down the hall.)
Mal: Two lefts, two rights, and we're there. You see anyone, smile.
Zoe: I don't think anyone smiles in hospitals.
Mal: Of course they do, it's the Core. Everyone's rich and happy here, why wouldn't they smile?
Doctor: (coming up behind them) Excuse me. (they keep walking) Excuse me.
Mal: (smiling) Hi.
Doctor: Where're you taking those bodies?
Mal: (pointing) Just downstairs to the morgue.
Doctor: (pointing in opposite direction) Downstairs is that way.
Mal: (looking) Right. Must've gotten turned around.
Doctor: (snorting) Let me see your badge.
(The doctor looks at Mal's badge; looks at Zoe's badge.)
(RECOVERY WARD)
(Jayne walks with Simon, dressed as a doctor or orderly, as Simon pushes River, who is in a hospital gown in a wheelchair. They are passing through a recovery area, doctors, nurses, patients in beds.)
River: They're doing it backwards; walking up the down slide.
Jayne: (whispering, to Simon) Keep her quiet.
Simon: (whispering, to River) This is the recovery ward. This is where patients come to get better.
River: They're going to die.
Simon: No one is going to die.
River: (pointing to a bed) He is.
(Simon looks where River's indicating. A fortysomething man lies in bed, a young intern tending to him.)
Simon: No, he's not. That man standing next to him is his doctor, he's going to help him.
River: He's not going to help him right.
Simon: River, the doctors here are the best in the system. This is one of the top hospitals in the Core or anywhere else.
River: Where you should be.
(Simon does his best to not react to that. River grabs the wheels on the wheelchair, effectively slamming the brakes. She starts to get up; Jayne won't let her.)
Jayne: Uh-uh. No wandering off.
River: (to Simon) You have to help him.
Simon: River, we don't have time to --
River: (loud) He's killing him!
(The monitors by the patient start beeping, alarms going off. And now River is struggling against Jayne, trying to get up out of her chair.)
Young Intern: Code blue!
River: Help him help him help him...
(Nurses converge on the trauma area, some of them taking note of the frantic girl trying to wriggle free of the large EMT. Simon knows the only way to calm River is to appease her.)
Simon: (to River) Stay here. Don't move. (With a look to Jayne that says "watch her", Simon jumps into the fray.) What do we have?
Young Intern: Forty two year old, double bypass post-op. Prognosis was positive --
Nurse: BP sixty over twenty, pulse is thready.
(Simon rips the patient's gown open, listens to his heart.)
Young Intern: (to Simon) Who are you?
Nurse: He's crashing --
Simon: (to Nurse) Get the cart.
(She moves to get the crash cart; that's when a long, constant beep starts coming from the EKG.)
Nurse: We have flatline --
Young Intern: We gotta crack him --
Simon: (stern, to Intern) We're not cracking a post-op. (to the Nurse) Get the infusers and point-four of atropine. (to Intern) What did you give him?
Young Intern: Just twenty of alprazaline push.
(Simon gives him a look. The nurse hands Simon a hypo and a pair of pen-like devices. (These are cardiac infusers. Simon puts the hypo between his teeth, applies the infusers to the Patient's chest.)
Simon: Clear! (PHUMP! A blip on the EKG, then back to flatline.) Clear!
(PHUMP! A blip on the EKG, this time it keeps blipping, but another alarm sounds. Simon gives the infusers to the nurse.)
Young Intern: (an accusation) He's going tachy.
(Simon takes the hypo from his teeth.)
Simon: (dismissive) But his heart's beating.
(He plugs it into the IV, pushes in the atropine. Instantly, the alarms stop. A beat, then the EKG blips become slower and more regular. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief, especially the Intern.)
Young Intern: (willing it) He's okay...
(Simon gets in his face, genuinely ticked off.)
Simon: Explain to me how you justify administering a vasoconstrictor to this patient?
Young Intern: Alprazaline's a painkiller, not a --
Simon: Unless you combine it with droxine, which any first year should know is the standard prep medicine your patient was taking before his surgery. Your patient should be dead. And you'd be standing here scratching your head as to why.
Young Intern: I -- I'm... sorry, doctor.
Simon: Good. (He moves back to River and Jayne. River's practically beaming. Jayne's not unimpressed.) Let's go.
(CORRIDOR)
(Mal and Zoe and the Doctor, moments after we left them. The Doctor examines Mal's ident badge carefully.)
Doctor: (moving towards a vidphone) Walk with me a minute.
(Mal gives Zoe a look -- better do something. She sidles over to a crash cart.)
Mal: Where we going?
(The Doctor stops, actually seems offended at the question. He holds up his ident card.)
Doctor: You see this badge? It says "doctor". I say walk with me, you walk with me.
(Mal stays put -- he already hates this guy.)
Mal: Yeah, but... where we going?
(Now the doctor is really ticked off.)
Doctor: You must be new. (Mal doesn't deny it) Don't get comfortable; your type doesn't last long here. When your supervisor hears about the rude and disrespectful attitude you just --
(PHUMP! The Doctor collapses to the ground. Zoe stands behind him, a pair of cardiac infusers in hand.)
Zoe: Clear.
(IMAGING SUITE)
(Simon and Jayne push River into the suite, Jayne hanging back and looking both ways out the door before shutting it. Simon crouches next to River, as soothing as he can be.)
Simon: Ready?
(Although clearly apprehensive, River nods.)
(ANOTHER CORRIDOR)
(Mal and Zoe push their gurneys down the corridor, stop at a door.)
Mal: Twelve oh-five. This is it. (He looks around, makes sure the coast is clear, then swipes his keycard through the scanner. A red light flashes on the scanner -- the door won't open. He tries again. Again, red light.) Zoe.
(Zoe tries her keycard. Twice. Same thing: the light blinks red.)
Zoe: They must've been de-mag'd.
(Mal pulls the tab on one of the bodybags -- it opens to reveal the Officious Doctor, who is moaning but unconscious. He snatches his keycard, slides it through the scanner. The door opens.)
Mal: His works.
(IMAGING SUITE)
(Simon helps River onto the steel table and she leans back, her eyes staring straight up. This place clearly scares her.
Simon moves to a podium-like control column, wheels it over close to River. He inserts a PLASTIC TAB into the column, then presses a few buttons, turns on the machine. The entire room starts to make a WHIRRING SOUND.
River closes her eyes. Jayne simply watches.)
(SUPPLY VAULT)
(This is thief heaven. The shelves are lined with vial upon vial of medicine. Mal dumps the Officious Doctor on the floor, and he and Zoe start filling the body bags with drugs. They quickly, efficiently clean out the room, cramming as many vials as they can into the body bags, reading labels and tossing away the worthless ones before sealing the jammed packed body bags again.)
(IMAGING SUITE)
(The whirring is a little louder now. Simon works for a moment longer.)
Simon: River... I'm going to start the scan now. You okay? (River is trying very hard to keep together; she's on the brink of freaking. Her lips are moving fast, but no words are coming out.) River?
River: (snapping) Just do it.
(Simon works the controls and a holographic image appears, a three-dimensional scan of her brain floating above her like a bizarre rain cloud. Numbers and wave-graphs flank the central image of her brain.)
(CORRIDOR)
(Just outside the supply vault. Mal and Zoe push the gurneys back out into the corridor. Mal shuts the vault door with the Doctor still inside.)
(IMAGING SUITE)
(Jayne sits in a corner, watching Simon work at the control column. (An LCD window on the column reads Downloading Data.) Simon mans the controls like the professional he is -- rotating the image, punching up new numbers and scans. He's riveted by the flood of information, stares at the images before him in disbelief.)
Simon: (in Chinese) Goddamn monsters. (in English) How anyone could do this to another person... she's seventeen... (Jayne remains impassive, not wanting to be drawn into this. Nonetheless, Simon turns to him.) They opened up her skull. Look -- (Using the controls, he highlights (Madden-like, but slicker) a straight line drawn across River's temporal lobe -- an incision line.) That's a scalpel scar. They opened up her skull... and then they cut into her brain.
(Curiosity gets the best of Jayne.)
Jayne: Why?
Simon: The only reason to make an incision in someone's brain is to lobotomize them -- you go in to remove damaged tissue. Why someone would cut into a healthy brain. (He lets it hang there -- the answer is beyond him.) They did it over and over.
(The downloading window switches to Download Complete. Simon absently takes the plastic tab out of the machine, pockets it. A moment, as Simon looks at something else.) (in Chinese) Jesus. (in English) They stripped her limbic system...
(Jayne doesn't really want to hear this.)
Jayne: We should get moving.
(Simon misreads Jayne's hurry for incomprehension, starts to explain.)
Simon: You know how... (how to explain) You get scared. Or worried, or nervous. And you don't want to be scared or worried or nervous, so you push it to the back of your mind. You try not to think about it. The limbic system is what lets you do that -- it's like a filter in your brain that keeps your feelings in check. (beat, disturbed by this) They took that filter out of River. She feels everything. She can't not.
(That's as perturbing to Jayne as it is to Simon, but he's not going to get drawn into River's problems.)
Jayne: That's fascinating. (grabs the tab, puts it in Simon's coat pocket) We should get moving.
Simon: (looks at a wall clock) We still have twenty minutes.
Jayne: Plan changed when you were out. We're meeting out the back way in five.
(River’s eyes snap open. The holographic image begins to change furiously as River's brain starts firing, going berserk. Greens go to red, levels spike, warning lights flash. Simon has his back momentarily turned, addressing Jayne.)
Simon: I could use another couple of minutes. I'm sure if we contact Captain Reynolds --
Jayne: Captain gave his orders. We play it by the book.
(River lets out an ear-splitting scream of terror. Simon turns, sees the hyperactive hologram. He shuts off the machine and rushes to River's side. She's in full freak-out mode now; her dialogue overlaps with everyone else's.)
Simon: River -- it's okay, you're okay.
Jayne: Get her in the chair and let's go.
River: No, no, no -- they come out of the black. They come when you call.
Simon: It's okay, it's over. (looks at Jayne) We're leaving.
(River fixes Jayne with a look -- like she sees right into him. It's wigging him a bit.)
River: Your toes are in the sand.
Jayne: (defensive) And your head's up your ass. (to Simon) Make sure she keeps her mouth shut. We don't need her screeching while we're trying to make a quiet getaway.
(Jayne goes to the door, looks around outside, then looks back at Simon and River. She's in hysterical tears, her hands clutching his shirt. He's stroking her hair, cooing, trying to calm her. Jayne is starting to look a bit guilty.)
(RECOVERY WARD)
(Jayne leads the way as Simon pushes River in her wheelchair. Her lips are again moving soundlessly.)
Simon: (quietly, to Jayne) You should've let me know when the plan changed.
Jayne: I told you when you needed to know. (off Simon's look) What are you griping about, you got what you came for.
(They turn a corner into a corridor.)
(CORRIDOR)
(The reach the back exit doors, are about to push through when River puts the brakes on the chair.)
River: No... can't go back, don't want to go back...
Simon: Shh, it's okay. We're just going back to the ship. We're almost home.
(River reluctantly allows herself to be pushed through the doors.)
(HOSPITAL BACK EXIT)
(The doors aren't even shut behind them when spotlights spark to life, pinning Simon, River and Jayne in their crosshairs.)
Agent McGinnis: Federal Marshals -- don't move. (They shield their eyes... just enough to see that they're surrounded by armed Feds. Lots of them, and moving cautiously towards them, rifles raised.) River and Simon Tam. By the authority of the Union of Allied Planets, you are hereby bound by law.
(The Feds come up to Simon and River, who offer no resistance as they're patted down and cuffed, their hands behind their backs.)
Agent McGinnis: Take them to processing.
(The officers start ushering Simon and River away, another comes to cuff Jayne, who plays along, takes a slow step towards McGinnis.)
Jayne: (sotto) So... you gonna take me away for questioning now, or how d'ya wanna play it?
Agent McGinnis: You're under arrest for aiding and abetting federal fugitives. Better get a lawyer.
(Jayne almost laughs. McGinnis doesn't.)
Jayne: You're kidding, right? (McGinnis says nothing. Jayne gets ticked off.) Where's my rutting money?
Agent McGinnis: You mean my money? For apprehending the three fugitives? I expect I'll be getting it soon.
(With that, McGinnis walks away. Jayne realizes he's been double-crossed. He yanks free of the Fed cuffing him (one cuff on, one off), lunges at McGinnis, when FOOMP! -- a Fed fires his sonic rifle at Jayne. A wave of compressed sound slams into Jayne like a wrecking ball, sending him flying hard into a wall.)
(E.R. LANDING STRIP)
(Mal and Zoe trot the gurneys out towards the ambulance shuttle. Wash hops out and helps them strap the body bags to the outside of the shuttle. He reacts to the weight of the bags.)
Wash: How much did we get?
(Zoe smiles at Wash -- it's a lot. Mal downplays it.)
Mal: Enough to keep us flying.
Zoe: (psyched) Can we fly somewhere with a beach?
Wash: Maybe a naked beach.
(Wash and Zoe kiss.)
Mal: Cut it out. Job ain't done till we're back on Serenity.
Zoe: Sorry, sir. Didn't mean to enjoy the moment.
Mal: (to Wash) Where are the others?
(SECURITY SUBSTATION – RECEPTION)
(FED #1 escorts Jayne, Simon and River into the reception area. He sees them to a bench, shoves Jayne onto it. Simon and River take their seats and the Fed departs. In the background, McGinnis talks to FED #2, prepping paperwork.)
Simon: (to Jayne) I saw what you did out there.
(A long beat, as Jayne wonders if he's busted. He gets defensive.)
Jayne: I didn't do nothing.
Simon: (kicking himself) More than I did. If those officers hadn't been armed, I think you'd have had a chance.
Jayne: Guy shoved me, I shoved back. Not like I was trying to mount a rescue.
Simon: Still. I appreciate you trying.
Jayne: You know what I'd appreciate? If you'd stop flapping your pretty mouth at me. I'm trying to think of a way out of here and I can't do it with you yammering.
(Simon shakes his head -- that's what he gets for thanking Jayne. River turns to Jayne.)
River: They took Christmas away.
Jayne: (what the hell now?) Christmas?
River: Came down the stairs for the shiny presents, but they took the tree and the stockings. Nothing left but coal.
Simon: River, what are you talking about?
River: Christmas. You can't open your presents before.
Jayne: (to Simon) Shut her up.
River: (to Jayne) And don't look in the closet, either. That's greedy. It's not in the spirit of the holiday.
Jayne: (very harsh) Shut. The hell. Up. Right now. Or so help me I will shut you up.
(AMBULANCE SHUTTLE)
Mal: Time.
Zoe: Ten minutes past rendezvous.
Mal: Something happened.
(Wash opens a communication channel with Serenity.)
Wash: Kaylee, are you linked?
(SERENITY - BRIDGE )
(Kaylee's on the bridge, in the pilot's seat. She taps a few buttons and the cortex pops up on the helm screen.)
Kaylee: I am now. What do you need?
Wash: Find out if there's been any kind of security alert in the hospital.
Kaylee: Hang on...
(AMBULANCE SHUTTLE)
Zoe: Could be they're just late.
Mal: Not this late. Jayne would've sent up a flag.
(SERENITY – BRIDGE)
(Kaylee gets what she's looking for.)
Kaylee: Nothing from hospital security. Nothing on local pipeline, either. Although I'm getting some weird babble on the official two-six-two. Sounds like they're talking about... ducks?
(AMBULANCE SHUTTLE)
Zoe: (to Mal) Code?
Mal: (nods) Feds got 'em. Kaylee, bring up the hospital schematics on the cortex. Find me a way into the security substation.
(Zoe ducks into the ambulance, tosses Mal his gun. He tucks it in his vest; she lifts up her pant-leg and straps her shotgun to her calf with bandage tape.)
Wash: Wait a minute, you really think there's Feds in there?
(Now Zoe places an earwig in her ear, hands one to Mal, who does the same.)
Mal: Most like. (presses the earwig into his ear) Check.
Zoe: (re: her earwig) Coming in clear.
Wash: And you're just gonna walk into the security station through the front door?
Mal: No. You're gonna find me a way round the back.
(They shut the ambulance doors and move off.)
(SECURITY SUBSTATION – RECEPTION)
(Simon and River sit on the bench, her head on his shoulder. McGinnis walks up to the bench, Feds 1 & 2 following with Jayne in restraints.)
Agent McGinnis: Get up.
Simon: What's going to happen to us?
Agent McGinnis: I said get up.
(McGinnis grabs Simon by the arm; he yanks himself free, remains seated.)
Simon: Agent McGinnis, I'm certain you're working under a superior who's keeping close tabs on this case. I'm certain of that because important people don't usually do field work. I'm also quite certain your superior wants me and my sister alive. Now, I'm not going to move from this spot until one of two things happen: you answer my very simple question, or you shoot me.
(McGinnis bristles, but has little choice but to answer.)
Agent McGinnis: We're transferring you to a holding area until you can be retrieved.
Simon: Retrieved... by whom?
Agent McGinnis: By people who want you alive. People not me. (to the Feds) Take 'em.
(HOLDING AREA)
(A security door opens and two Feds escort Jayne, Simon and River through the holding area. The Feds usher the prisoners around a corner and towards a cell. River and Simon file in, as does Jayne. As Fed #2 goes to shut the door, Jayne springs – slamming his head into Fed #2's nose and shattering it, knocking him out. Fed #1 raises his rifle, but Jayne rams into him shoulder first, practically lifting him off the ground and crushing him against a wall. The impact is such that both men go down, the rifle skittering away. Jayne quickly wriggles his cuffs past his feet. His hands are in front of him now. He grabs Fed #1 with both hands, one hand on his mouth, the other on his throat.
The following is dirty, ugly and almost completely silent: Jayne squeezes hard, crushing his windpipe. The Fed tries to pry Jayne's hands off him, but Jayne's too strong. So the Fed bites down on Jayne's hand; blood streams down, but Jayne keeps his hold on both mouth and throat. Simon goes to help Jayne, but hears Fed #2 stir -- he's coming to. Simon moves to him, kneels on his throat. He won't make a sound. Still wrestling on the ground, Fed #1 gouges at Jayne's eyes, gets him pretty good, causing Jayne to look away and allowing the Fed to flip Jayne on his back. Fed #1 straddles him, proceeds to SLAM Jayne's head repeatedly on the marble floor. River watches the violence.)
(RECOVERY WARD)
(Mal and Zoe are running through.)
Mal: Wash, a little direction, please.
(AMBULANCE SHUTTLE)
(Wash talks into his transmitter.)
Wash: Working on it... (He talks into the com.) Kaylee, whaddya got?
(SERENITY – BRIDGE)
(Kaylee's looking at the hospital blueprints on the cortex.)
Kaylee: Tell them to make a left when they get to radiology. They'll see a door --
(HOSPITAL - RECOVERY WARD)
(Mal and Zoe are moving fast.)
Wash: (on comm) -- go through that door and down to green level.
(Mal and Zoe go through the door.)
(PURPLE STAIRCASE)
(Mal and Zoe descend the steps, taking them two and three at a time.)
Mal: This is exactly what I didn't want. I wanted simple, I wanted in-and-out, I wanted easy money.
Zoe: Things always get a little more complicated, don't they, sir?
Mal: Once, just once, I want things to go according to the gorram plan!
(They reach the bottom of the steps, head for the door.)
Wash: (on comm) Um, guys... you might want to hurry.
Mal: Is there a problem?
(AMBULANCE SHUTTLE)
(Wash looks out the window, sees an ominous-looking shuttle descending towards City Hospital and landing on its roof.)
Wash: The reinforcements are here.
(SECURITY SUBSTATION - HOLDING AREA)
(Jayne knees the Fed in the nuts -- it's enough to try to flip on top of him. They roll around, Jayne repeatedly taking punches as he tries to squeeze the life out of this bastard. Finally about to run out of breath, the Fed reaches down to his ankle and pulls a knife. He's about to bring it down when Simon flies into fram, tackling the Fed off Jayne... who holds on to his grip. SNAP! The Fed's head is on backwards. Simon takes the keys off the Fed, without hesitation.)
Simon: Come on. (Jayne grabs the rifle and he and River follow Simon (who undoes cuffs as they go) around the corner to the reception door. Jayne goes for the door.) Wait -- you can't go through there.
Jayne: Why not?
Simon: There's at least four armed Feds out there.
Jayne: Six. (holds up the rifle) I know.
Simon: (re: a corridor) We run. We'll find our way.
Jayne: I ain't chancing that -- you got no idea where that goes. I can handle the feds.
River: Doesn't matter. (Jayne and Simon turn to her. She's hugging her arms to her body as if cold... actually, she's just terrified.) They're here.
(RECEPTION)
(McGinnis stands by reception. The camera is on him, we don't yet see who he's talking to.)
Agent McGinnis: We did everything just the way you asked. They weren't hurt. They weren't drugged. They're in perfect health, sitting in their cells, waiting for you.
(We then see that he’s talking to two men. Relatively non-descript, except for the blue gloves they wear. They will henceforth be known as the Blue Gloves.)
Blue Glove #1: We appreciate your cooperation.
Agent McGinnis: No problem at all. The kind of money you're offering, it's the least we could do. (McGinnis is expecting some small talk in response. Gets nothing but silence. So he just keeps talking.) I have to say, though, that girl's a real piece of work.
Blue Glove #1: I'm sorry?
Agent McGinnis: That girl. She kept rambling about the weirdest stuff. I mean, just... crazy.
Blue Glove #2: So... you spoke to the prisoner?
Agent McGinnis: We didn't interrogate them – just like you said. She was just talking her nonsense while we were processing her.
(Blue Glove #2 reaches in his suit pocket, pulls out a thick rod-like device. He squeezes it and a thin spicule extends from each end.)
Blue Glove #1: Did your men also speak with her?
Agent McGinnis: Much as I did.
(A trickle of blood drips from McGinnis' nose. He feels it, dabs at it with his hand, sees it's blood. He reacts to the sight, merely curious. Then he notices his hands. His fingernails, to be specific. Blood is seeping from under them. He looks up at the Blue Gloves... and all the color drains from his face. A drop of red blooms out from his pupil... he screams... whatever is happening to him is excruciating... until the red spreads over the entirety of the eye... and a tear of blood trickles down. He collapses face-first onto his desk. Dead. The sitting Blue Glove stands. The standing Blue Glove puts away his device.)
(HOLDING AREA)
(Jayne, Simon and River react to the continued screaming.)
River: Hell is coming to breakfast.
(Simon looks at River, not certain what that means, but certain he doesn't like the sound of it. Screams come from beyond the door. First, just the one. Then more -- all in the same agony as McGinnis when he died.)
Simon: We're not going out that way. (Before they can debate, River bolts, running hell-bent-for- leather down a corridor.) River!
(Simon looks to Jayne as if to say "so much for that decision," then follows. Jayne reluctantly falls in behind Simon.)
(RECEPTION)
(McGinnis is very much dead. Then, the camera through the reception area... finding another Fed. Also dead, also bleeding out of many orifices. The camera finds more feds, all dead. We see the Blue Gloved men walking through the carnage, completely unaffected. They walk up to the separator door, walk through.)
(HOLDING AREA)
(The Blue Gloved Men walk in, past the separator door and into the cell area. There, they find the two laid out Feds Jayne took out. First Blue Glove takes the pulse of one, Second Blue Glove the pulse of the other.)
Blue Glove #1: Dead.
(He looks in the direction Jayne and the others went.)
Blue Glove #2: This one's alive.
(He takes out The Device from his pocket.)
(STEEL ROOM)
(River leads Jayne and Simon into the guts of the hospital. This space is more industrial, less pristine. She keeps moving fast, Simon and Jayne following.)
Jayne: Where the hell's she taking us?
Simon: She must know of an exit this way.
Jayne: I don't see any exit, and I got no intention of running around like a rat in a maze till we're dead. We're going back.
(From behind them, they hear the sound of a door opening and closing.)
Simon: You want to find out where River's leading us... or you want to find out who that is?
(HUM ROOM)
(River runs down the steps, Jayne and Simon following.)
River: (calling back) We're almost there. (She reaches the bottom of the steps, keeps running, Simon and Jayne gaining... then she finally stops at a large steel door.) This is it.
(Jayne tries the door -- locked. A faint tapping can be heard in the distance. Jayne looks in its direction fear starting to become evident in his face.)
Jayne: Stand back. (He takes aim at the door with the sonic rifle, BLASTS IT! In these echoey halls, it makes an enormous reverberating boom!But it does nothing to the door. When the sound subsides, the tapping starts to get closer.) (in Chinese) Cow sucking (in English) high tech Alliance crap.
(Jayne looks towards the tapping sound... about to freak... turns the rifle around, starts wailing on the lock with the rifle butt, to no avail. Then -- BLAM! That's the sound of a shotgun blast ripping through the lock from the other side. The blasted door drifts open... and there stand Mal and Zoe, guns in hand, Zoe's shotgun pluming a bit of smoke. Jayne has never looks so relieved to see anyone.)
(SERENITY - CARGO BAY)
(The ramp is in the process of opening as Kaylee comes down the stairs from the bridge, runs into Inara coming out of her shuttle. She peers out the ramp as she addresses Inara.)
Kaylee: Hey, 'Nara. How was your checkup?
Inara: (dismissing it) Same as last year. (re: her peering) What's going on here?
Kaylee: Well, let's see. We killed Simon and River, stole a bunch of medicine, and now the captain and Zoe are off springing the others got snatched by the Feds. (Inara's jaw drops.) And here they are now!
(The ambulance shuttle flies in. As soon as it touches down, Mal, Zoe, Wash, Jayne, Simon and River spill out. Kaylee and Inara join them on the floor, Kaylee moving to the control panel to close the ramp.)
Mal: Tell me we weren't followed.
Kaylee: Nothing on sensors.
Mal: (to Wash) Take us out of the world. The quicker, the better..
Wash: We'll be out of atmo in five minutes.
(Wash books towards the bridge, Zoe in tow.)
Mal: Hey. How was your thing?
Inara: As advertised. Lots of needles and cold exam tables. I heard you had some excitement.
Mal: Nothing much. Just... got into a bit of a scrape ourselves.
Jayne: Next time we come to the Core, I'm staying with the preacher.
Mal: (nonsense!) You hadn't come, you wouldn't be getting your big pay day. (Jayne looks to Mal -- is there something behind that seemingly innocuous statement? Mal just turns to Simon.) Did you get what you needed?
Simon: I think I did. I have the information I downloaded from the imager. I just have to g o over it and... (pauses, hint of a smile) I'm hopeful.
(Kaylee notes the injuries to Jayne's face.)
Kaylee: What happened to your face?
Jayne: Got it shot.
Kaylee: With a gun?!
Jayne: (said with disgust) One of them "non-lethal" guns.
Simon: It was a sonic rifle. He was amazing. I can't begin to tell you... we wouldn't be standing here if it weren't for him. (to Jayne, means it) Thank you.
Jayne: Hey. You're part of my crew.
Mal: I think I might cry. (then--) Jayne, help me with the cargo. Everyone else... make yourselves useful. You got jobs, go do 'em.
(Everyone disperses but Mal and Jayne who unload the body bags from the ambulance, haul them over to the smuggling hold.)
Jayne: Gotta be one of our best takes ever.
Mal: Doc had a good notion. Boy's got a decent criminal mind.
(Jayne kneels by the hold, not noticing that Mal is wrapping one of the hoist chains around his fist -- the ultimate brass knuckles.)
Jayne: What're you buying with your cut?
(WHAM! Without warning, Mal strikes Jayne with his chained-up fist.)
(EXT. SERENITY)
(As she takes off and shoots towards the atmosphere.)
(CARGO BAY)
(Mal stands by the airlock doors as Jayne comes to, realizes he's stuck between the airlock and the ramp.)
Jayne: (almost inaudible) The hell are you doing?
(Mal goes to the intercom.)
Mal: We'll be in space in another minute or so. (He hits a button and the ramp begins to open.) Figured it was a good time for a chat. 'Fore it starts getting cold out there.
Jayne: (via intercom) You out of your gorram mind? Let me in.
Mal: You called the Feds, didn't you?
(With that, the fight goes out of Jayne. He knows he's busted. No use in lying to the captain. A long beat, then Jayne tries to explain himself.)
Jayne: Money was too good to pass up.
Mal: I should've shot you the second I found out what you did.
Jayne: That would've been the right thing. (Jayne takes a long moment, looking at the ramp. He really thinks he's going to die here.) What are you gonna tell the others?
Mal: About what?
Jayne: 'Bout why I'm dead.
Mal: Hadn't thought about it.
Jayne: Do me a favor... (beat, genuine) Make something up. Don't tell them what I did.
(A long beat. Then Mal hits the controls and the ramp starts to close.)
Mal: Next time you decide to stab me in the back... have the balls to do it to my face.
(With that, Mal goes, leaving Jayne between the ramp and the airlock doors. Jayne doesn't bother calling after Mal; he knows he's lucky to be alive. He simply sits. Someone will come let him out... eventually.)
(RIVER'S ROOM)
(River sits at a table, scribbling on a pad. Simon enters, a hypo kit in hand.)
Simon: Hi. (sees her scribbling) What are you doing?
River: Drawing.
(Simon looks at her pad -- she's drawn a very well-rendered sketch of a matryoshka (a nesting doll), each layered doll lined up from big to small.)
Simon: That's really good.
River: (re: the hypo kit) What are you doing?
Simon: Oh, I... brought some medicine. You remember why we went to the hospital.
(River nods.)
River: Is it time to go to sleep again?
Simon: No, mei mei. It's time to wake up.
BLACK OUT