Just outside the room in the corridor, Simon confronts Mal to find out exactly what it is they do. He asks why Mal is so afraid of the Alliance. Mal warns him against pursuing this line of questioning. Simon suggests that Mal would probably sell him out for a pat on the head, and theorizes that Mal would make a good Alliance bellboy. That, of course, is Mal's cue to give Simon another closed-fist love tap. For some reason, the punch sounds like a gunshot.

Cut to Dobson, tied up in his quarters. Mal rips off the duct tape gagging him and starts interrogating him about how much information he passed on to the Alliance. Jayne's there, too, looming over them both. He's standing on a step we can't see, making him look like he's eight feet tall. Anyway, Mal explains that he's given Jayne the task of getting the information from Dobson. Jayne pulls out a knife and says, "He was not specific as to how." Mal stage-whispers to Jayne that he's not to hurt Dobson, just scare him. Jayne observes, "Pain is scary." That depends on who's -- sorry.

After Mal leaves, Jayne walks over to Dobson, who tries to warn him of all the trouble they're in. Jayne sarcastically observes, "Gee, I've never been in trouble with the law before." Dobson explains that Simon's cargo is considered very valuable. Jayne reveals that they all know the "cargo" is actually a girl: "I don't think she's all there, you know. Of course, not all of her has to be." How lascivious. Thankfully for the HoYay crowd, he's expressed far more fascination with Simon than River since then. Dobson warns Jayne that even if he kills him, the Alliance will continue to pursue them. Jayne playfully slaps Dobson on the thigh with the flat of his knife blade and insists that he's not going to kill him. He's just going to cut Dobson for a while, until Dobson reveals how much he told the Alliance about them. Dobson spits out immediately that the Alliance knows everything about them. Jayne reads Dobson's face for a moment and determines that he's lying and that the Alliance doesn't know a damned thing about them. Jayne mocks Dobson for being an officer of the law and not being able to withstand an interrogation and tell a decent lie. Dobson switches gears and tells Jayne that River's worth a lot of money. If he helps Dobson, Jayne could get enough of a reward to get his own ship. Jayne asks if helping Dobson out would require him turning on the captain. Dobson tells him that it would. Jayne looks at him meaningfully. So that's why they had that stupid fight at dinner. They want to make us think that Jayne would betray Mal, though we already know from both "Ariel" and "Bushwhacked" that any attempt to sell out Simon and River hinged on his not getting the rest of the crew in trouble.