The Message:

For once, the crew of the Serenity are having a quiet day. So far. They've docked at a space bazaar to have a little fun and collect their mail. There's a side-show, exhibiting the "only captured specimen of alien life" and Simian and Kaylee are staring intently at it. But as Simon says, it's nothing but a mutated cow foetus. It looks like they're finally on a genuine, honest-to-goodness date. Except that Simon has to go and say something crass, that's guaranteed to offend Kaylee.

Simon every other girl I know is either married, professional or related to me, so you are more or less literally the only girl in the world.

Zoe and Wash walk into the booth, just as Kaylee is storming out. Zoe recognizes what's just happened, though Wash is too busy communing with the strange thing in the specimen jar. Simon confesses that he's just not very good at talking to girls. Zoe is not surprised. Meanwhile, Mal and Inara are bickering, again, over Mal's inability to sell something he has "acquired". Inara wants to help by asking around her contacts, but Mal, for once, is concerned about how that would affect Inara's career. It's a day of surprises, as Jayne has been sent a package from his mother; River and Shepherd Book have been having fun together at an ice cream stall, and a large box has arrived, addressed to Mal and Zoe.

Jayne They didn't have rounds for the Bhunder, but we're ammoed up pretty good. Got a discount, too, on account of my intimidating manner.

The large box is a man-sized crate and while Mal starts to open it, Jayne opens his own mail. At the same time, Inara discovers a small package for her, which she quietly hides without anyone noticing. Especially as everyone is transfixed by Jayne's gift from his mother: a knitted hat in lurid orange, complete with ear flaps and a pompom. As Wash says, only a truly brave man would wear that in public, as Jayne proceeds to put it on. Mal has got the crate open, and is stunned to see the corpse of a young man, lying with his arms folded, inside.

We're treated to a flashback now, back to the war. Their group are pinned down inside a Buddhist Temple. The dead young man, now alive, is revealed to be Private Tracey, green but gutsy. At the moment, he figures he's safe enough to open a can of beans. But Zoe saves his life by killing the Alliance soldier who was creeping up on him.

Zoe 'Bout thirty troops behind those buildings. Mortars, but not rollers yet. I expect they plan to pick at us a spell before they charge. They had two scouts sniffin', about ten yards out, but I took 'em down.

Before they can start to pack up and leave, tanks burst through and there's a gun battle. Tracey is hit in the leg, but Mal helps him to safety, carrying him over his shoulder. And now we're back in the bazaar post office, looking down at the dead body of that same bright, laughing lad. They decided to take him onto Serenity and Book moves to help, but Zoe cuts him off with a cold word. For the moment, she's lost in memories of that earlier time and the current crew have nothing to do with it. At last Simon arrives and tries to find out what's happened from Kaylee. But Kaylee is as cold as Zoe was a moment ago.

Back aboard Serenity, they open the crate and Zoe finds a tape recorder. She turns it on, and Tracey's voice is heard. Tracey asks them, hoping it is Zoe and Mal who are listening, to take his body back home, to his family on St Albans.

Tracey You two carried me through the war. Now I need you to carry me just a little bit further. If you can, tell my folks I wanted to do right by them, and that I'm at peace and all. When you can't run anymore, you crawl and when you can't do that...well, you know the rest.

The whole crew is affected by his sad speech. Wash goes, without a word, to start Serenity up on the voyage to St Albans. Kaylee is pensive, as is Simon, perhaps thinking about the homes they left behind and family. Even Jayne is respectful, taking off his mother's hat while the message plays. Tracey has brought sombre thoughts with him, about the end of life and who would be left to carry them home in their turn.

And now things start to get really interesting. Back on the space bazaar, as Serenity takes off, an Alliance short range enforcement ship arrives. Three men disembark; three tough looking thugs, to be honest. Not like the sleek, well groomed and supercilious Alliance officers we've seen up to now. Their leader is a man called Womack, who's been around the universe a few times and killed a few times too. His henchmen are Fendis and Skunk, and well named. They menace Amnon, the poor post officer, threatening him with prison for unlawfully transporting human cargo. They want Tracey and they want him now. But Amnon crumbles easily, telling them that Mal Reynolds has got the body and everything else he can think of. Womack is not impressed and orders Skunk to set Amnon on fire. Unless, of course, he promises not to warn Mal about their visit.

Back on Serenity, Kaylee is still feeling lonesome and sad. She sits in a hammock in the engine room, listening to Tracey's message once again. Unknowing, that Simon is also listening, standing at the doorway. He watches her a while, and then leaves, knowing that he's forfeited the right to comfort her. Book is keeping vigil over the body in the cargo bay, while Jayne gets on with some exercising behind him. Jayne is keeping vigil in his own way, getting the sadness out of his system by lifting barbells.

Jayne Me, I see a stiff -- one I didn't have to kill myself -- I just get, you know, the urge to do stuff. Work out, run around, get some trim if there's a willin' woman about.. Not that I get flush from corpses or anything. I aint crazy.

Book Makes sense. Looking to feel alive, I would venture.

While they're philosophising, River is now crawling onto the coffin. She stretches, moving her head in an odd way, as if she's listening to something. She lies flat on her stomach, with her arms by the sides of the coffin. Jayne is shocked, but Book reckons it's just her way of coping with the death. Meanwhile, Mal and Zoe are sharing tall tales about their time with Tracey, for the amusement of Inara. They're celebrating, or at least holding a wake, as they're all well away into the drink. They're interrupted in the middle of a particularly funny story about Tracey and the Colonel's moustache, when Serenity is attacked. It's Womack and for a moment, Mal thinks he's after the Lassiter (See the episode "Trash") until Womack mentions the crate and the proverbial penny beings to drop.

Mal and Zoe search frantically while the rest of the crew watch. Jayne even smashes up the wood of the crate just in case there's something hidden between the planks, but finds nothing. Zoe can find nothing in Tracey's pockets either, so Mal decides that it's time to get Simon to do an autopsy.

Mal Using corpses for smuggling is a time-honoured repulsive custom.

As the body is undressed, Simon realises that someone has opened it up before. He finds fine scars on the chest and prepares to cut along them. And Tracey wakes up screaming.

You can imagine the horror. Everyone backing away from this screaming reanimated corpse, while Tracey attacks Simon. They struggle, sending medical instruments flying all over the place. Mal gets the jump on Tracey and pins him to the ground, and there's an awkward moment when he realises that he's straddling a naked man. Simon attends to the wound and Tracey's nausea, and then it's time for explanations.

Tracey has a good story. He is running homewards, that is the truth. But he is in possession of stolen goods; namely a lot of spare organs. Everything that was his has been removed and replaced with specially grown, artificial organs. Tracey is supposed to transport them inside his body, to a clinic on Ariel, where they would be removed and his own put back. So that he can then go and do it all over again. But he was offered more money, three times as much, to smuggle them. Enough money to set his family up in a better place. As the people who originally paid him are now after him, he decided that it would be safer to be "dead". It is just his luck that Womack was set on his trail, instead of a lesser agent who would have given up the chase by now.

And now, as if on cue, Womack is demanding the return of the smuggled organs, firing on the Serenity again. Luckily, they are just a short distance from their destination, so, after giving Wash a scare with the sight of the walking dead, Mal orders Kaylee to look after Tracey while they get on with the business of landing on St Albans.

Womack Reynold's I'm a dangerous-minded man on a ship loaded with hurt. Why you got me chattin' with your peons?

Kaylee takes Tracey to her bunk, which is the natural place to take him, since she's been giving him the eye since she saw him clad in nothing but a towel in the sick bay. The ship lands on St Albans, with a bit of a bump and a thump. Conveniently so, as it gives Kaylee a chance to fall into Tracey's arms. *sigh* Could there be a little romance startin' here? Meanwhile, back in the real world, Jayne starts getting his guns ready and Book seems to have found something strange about their pursuers. Namely, that they have not contacted the local fed station since they broke St Albans' atmosphere. Wash steers Serenity straight into the ice canyons.

And Kaylee and Tracey are making eyes at each other, talking about this and that. Tracey laughs at the idea of Zoe being married and having emotions and all. Zoe's husband is doing what he does best; having fun and swinging Serenity into an ice cave. He's normally so calm in dangerous situations, but this time he's letting himself go with the emotions. River is counting between what she thinks is lightning and thunder to see if the storm is coming or going. And Inara is strapped into the pilot seat of her shuttle, looking at the little package that she got in the mail. Womack is throwing mag-drops down to scare them out, but Book has come up with a plan.

Book's plan is simple: call out the bad guys, fly out of the canyon and let them board. From the looks everyone is giving everyone else, they can see that there is some other plan underneath that is even more clever. But curious Tracey, having left Kaylee's bunk and come looking to find out what is going on, only hears this part and jumps to all sorts of conclusions.

Mal You mailed your ugly business to Zoe and me, Tracey, cash-on-delivery. I'll go to hell before I watch you turn and bite us for the favour.

Now all heck breaks loose on the bridge. Tracey shoots Wash, but luckily only grazes him, more by accident than design. But Zoe shoots back, in the moment that Tracey shot at Wash. Her bullet hits Tracey square in the chest, wounding him. As Tracey backs away, shocked that his old friend and once colleague would actually shoot at him, he bumps into kaylee, who has come looking for him. Mal shouts at her to get away and in that moment, Tracey realises that it's the new crew of the Serenity, not old friends, who matter here. He grabs Kaylee and drags her in front of him as a hostage. And all his apologising and swearing that they had a "moment" does not persuade her to do as he asks and fly him out of there. She digs in her heels and stops at the shuttle's entrance.

Mal catches up with them, and Zoe moves into position behind him. As Mal talks to Tracey and keeps his attention on him, Jayne slowly eases onto the catwalk across the bay with his gun to the ready.

Tracey You know why I picked you and Zoe? 'Cos you're saps. You're repped out as stone cold killers, but I still remember old Sarge with his stories and his homilies, honour and glory.

Tracey panics some more when Mal points out the silence. Womack's gang have stopped firing, he says, because they've already been called. At that moment, Jayne cocks his gun. As Tracey whirls round to the sound, Kaylee breaks free and Mal takes the shot, hitting Tracey another round in the chest. It's all over. Wash races to get Serenity in the air again. They meet the Allied police on an ice plain, the two ships nose to nose. Womack and his gang swagger onto the ship, but Jayne is waiting with a gun cocked at them. Tracey stands above them on the catwalk, blood dripping from him. Womack threatens them all with arrest, but Book steps out to point out the odds and a few little facts.

Book There's nine armed and dangerous desperadoes on this ship. You count in at three. Why is it you didn't call in for back-up? There's a fed station eighty miles from where you're standing. You got your command stripes at the Silverhold colonies. Puts you about eight solar systems away from your jurisdiction.

Womack backs away with his men. This had been Book's plan all along: bluff and counter bluff, and it would have worked too. But Tracey was none too bright and never had been. And now he dies on the catwalk, with the Sarge at one side and Zoe gently brushing his hair from his face on the other. And then we're in the snowbound homestead of Tracey's folks. His body is carried reverently down the ramp by Mal and Zoe with the others following. The amily stand in the falling snow, waiting for their lost boy. The coffin is open and Tracey's Mother does what every mother would do, fuss with his hair. Kaylee hands over the tape recorder to the family and as they all listen to the last message of the green but gutsy soldier, Kaylee slips her hand into Simon's.