"The Message" is the twelfth episode of the science fiction television series Firefly created by Joss Whedon. It is the second of three episodes (Trash, The Message and Heart of Gold) that were not broadcast in the original 2002 Fox run.

A former Independence soldier, who had served with Mal and Zoe, returns in a dramatic manner, with a vicious Alliance officer chasing after him for some unusual smuggled goods.

The show opens on a space station, and a barker extolling an exhibit featuring "proof of alien life". Inside the exhibit, Simon and Kaylee stare at a tall, illuminated cylinder that holds a strange and apparently dead creature. The doctor declares that it is a mutated cow fetus, not an alien. Simon uses this moment alone with the engineer to attempt to get closer to her, but when he mentions that the other women he knows are either married (Zoe), professional (Inara), or related to him (River), Kaylee leaves in a huff. As Kaylee departs, Zoe and Wash enter. Back in the concourse, Inara tries to convince Mal to let her help fence the Lassiter they stole in "Trash", but Mal insists on keeping her out of that side of the business. Mal checks in with the station postmaster, who passes along two packages along with Serenity's mail.

Jayne arrives to find that his mother has sent him a home-knitted cap, and he proudly dons it. The others observe the headgear with a mixture of amusement and sarcasm. The other shipped item is a huge crate addressed to Mal and Zoe. They open it to discover a dead body, the corpse of Private Tracey (Jonathan M. Woodward).

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