Mal wandered towards the window and gazed down on the planet below. "They're callin it Fornax. Shepherd Book told me that it's a desert, the whole planet. Not sure why we're here, but I'm told that we're allowed to go down to see it if we want. I'm goin down in a few days."
He glanced up at Lydia. Something in her face gave him that uncomfortable feeling he sometimes got around River. It was the look of a child who was deeply, profoundly unhappy and frightened. Book was right, he figured. Nothing they could do to change what was, so they just had to live with it. "We gotta make our homes here, now.
"I been here about 24 hours or so. But bein' here in the black ain't nothin' new to me. Been flyin' round the 'verse more years than I care to remember."