Episode 14 Broadcast #10

Plot
The show opens with a shot of Serenity flying by a planet, and then zooms into the ship and through its passages to end on River, who lies in bed listening to not-quite-audible voices. She arises and takes a walk through the ship's rooms and corridors, encountering her shipmates in varied conversations with each other. Simon and Kaylee are relaxing in the common room, the doctor telling the mechanic an amusing anecdote about medical school. River suddenly "sees" them looking at her, with Simon telling her that he'd "be there right now," apparently implying she is responsible for taking him away from his successful medical career. Finding Jayne and Shepherd Book in the kitchen, she "hears" Jayne guiltily repeat his confession to Mal about selling out the Tams on Ariel, and Book mutters an angry but cryptic statement hinting at a sadistic past. River continues to wander the ship and is moved by the sound of ocean waves as Zoe and Wash passionately kiss on the nearby bridge. Above the cargo bay, as Mal and Inara discuss her impending departure, River sees their unspoken frustrations over their unrequited relationship. Fleeing the intense emotions, River runs down to the unoccupied cargo bay, where she spots a tree branch.

Picking it up, she sees herself on leaf-strewn ground. She tells herself, "It's just an object. Doesn't mean what you think." Suddenly, the real world returns and she finds that she is holding one of Jayne's pistols while the crew surrounds her in a panic, trying to get her to drop the weapon. Mal takes the gun from her and discovers it is loaded and ready to fire. When Mal admonishes her for handling loaded weapons, River runs off, shouting incoherently.

The image cuts to a small vessel closing with Serenity, aboard which is a man reviewing wanted bulletins for Simon and River. Meanwhile, the crew discuss the dangers of River's presence on the ship. When Zoe muses whether River has ever handled a gun, Kaylee reluctantly tells everyone about her experience during their assault on Adelei Niska's SkyPlex, when she was unable to return fire, and how River easily killed her attackers with single shots. The crew begin to speculate that River may be a "reader," having psychic powers. Though Simon objects, they begin to question whether she is a danger to them.

While talking, the crew are being listened to: above the room, on the hull of Serenity, the mysterious bounty hunter is tapping into the hull, and below the room, in the cargo bay, River is listening through the floor plating.

Mal decides to sleep on the matter, and the crew breaks for the "night". Kaylee follows Simon out as he goes to "check on my assassin." She apologizes for having to point out the danger River presents. Simon, however, is more sad than angry, believing his sister feels that Serenity is "more home to her than any place she's been." He openly admits his regret at not practicing medicine (using the exact words that River "heard" earlier) and tries not to blame it on River herself, but on her unknown experimenters.

Once the crew goes to sleep, the bounty hunter boards Serenity. He runs across Mal and quickly knocks him unconscious, dropping him into his cabin, and then locks the rest of the sleeping crew in their cabins. He surprises Kaylee in the engine room, and uses psychological terror - specifically threatening to rape Kaylee - to force the frightened girl to surrender. Next, the intruder drops in on Book, disabling him instantly with a brutal kick to the head. Simon hears a noise and arises to check on his sister, only to be attacked by the stranger, who addresses him by name. The two men engage in verbal sparring; the bounty hunter, Jubal Early, waxes imaginative on the nature of things while he demands to know where River is. Though Simon refuses to help Early at first, the bounty hunter threatens to kill him and rape Kaylee if he refuses, and the doctor reluctantly agrees.

With Simon "helping" in the search, Early checks out the cargo bay and shuttles, commenting on the nature of "objects in space" while doing so. When Inara tries to appeal to Early's emotional side, he smacks her across the face, and then locks her in her shuttle. The two men finally arrive on the bridge, where Early settles on a direct threat, announcing loudly to the ship that he will kill Simon if River doesn't reveal herself. River then responds over the ship's intercom, telling Early about how she was unwanted on the ship but could not bring herself to leave, so she simply "melted away," becoming part of Serenity.
In the engine room, River's voice comes over the intercom, reassuring the bound Kaylee and asking for her help in a task. Meanwhile on the bridge, Early is openly skeptical about River's claim, but her voice returns to reveal uncanny knowledge of the bounty hunter's own weaknesses. River's verbal probing, aided by Simon's wry humor, gradually convince Early and the others that she has joined with the vessel. She sends Kaylee, now free, off on a mission to unlock the cabins. Zoe prepares an assault, but River insists that they do not use guns and instead tells Mal of an alternate plan.

On the bridge, River continues her banter with Jubal, relentlessly hinting at his own insanity. Finally, Early realizes that River is not part of Serenity, but has managed to sneak onto his ship. River reassures the frantic bounty hunter that she will go with him. She compares her own dangerousness and instability with his, and she weighs the hearts of her shipmates with her words about not belonging with them, and that her departure will allow them to get on with their lives. Simon refuses to let Early escape with River, and tries to stop him, but in the process is shot in the leg. Hearing the noise, Jayne wakes up and pulls the curtain off from his gun cabinet in a resolute and heroic way, revealing numerous weapons, before covering himself with the curtain and going back to sleep. Leaving Simon in the cockpit, the bounty hunter starts his EVA back to his ship, but finds Mal outside, waiting in ambush. The captain shoves Early off into space before welcoming River back aboard Serenity.

Later, in the infirmary, Simon directs Zoe as she patches him up. Just outside, Mal and Inara start and fail again to deal with their implicit affection. In the cargo bay, Jayne mocks Book's failure to defeat Early, despite "all them years of priest trainin'" when Book expresses regret at not being able to do anything to help. Kaylee and River play jacks while Kaylee relates a sexual anecdote from her past. River picks up and examines the bouncing ball, with its swirling, multicolored surface, which recalls the multicolored planet Serenity flies by in the opening shot. The camera pans down through and out of the ship to show Serenity sailing off into space.

The show ends on Jubal Early, tumbling through space: "Well... here I am."