Part I

Simon read the file again with an attempt at an objective eye. He knew most of its contents by heart but the horror of it still struck him anew.

Inara had the file and all the medical reports forwarded to him. He had every x-ray, every drug test, every surgery on video and typed. It was astonishing that Inara could wield such influence simply by her position.

He looked over the file again. Three months. He'd spent three months in that prison. They hadn't been able to piece together all that happened but from his injuries and the substances found in his blood they could surmise a great deal.

Burned. He'd been burned.

Whipped. It must have been daily.

Cut. Beaten. Starved. Poisoned.

Worse, he had been sedated with a muscle inhibitor so that he could not fight back, could not even tense his muscles against the pain.

When they'd been able to reach him at last and he was released he'd had broken bones in almost every place in his body. It had taken a month in the on site hospital just to release him from intensive care. No one could see him for risk he contract an infection in his weakened state.

Victim escaped mortality by hours the report concluded. Victim is physically rehabilitated but completely unresponsive. No damage to brain tissue detected.

He was awake but he would not eat. Would not sleep. Would not speak or move. He did not respond to pain or pleasure of any kind.

Simon realized, as the on-site physicians had, that with the pain threshold surpassed by so much, his mind had simply disconnected from his body. The consciousness, in instances of extreme torture, retreated to a safe place in the mind. Simon hoped to learn what the place had been and bring him back.

There was only on person he knew who could see into the mind and discern such information: River.

And so, physically healed, he was returning to the ship where River waited, eager to help him. He was coming home at last.

At that moment River appeared in the doorway to say the medical shuttle had just waved.

"They're docking. He's here."

Simon rose to follow her to the cargo bay. At last, after all their waiting and worrying, the Captain was coming back onboard.