* * *When she handed me the cup the heat soothed the itching caused by thenannites repairing my palms."I came over as soon as I saw your neural readin... go off the chart. Youlooked seriously messed up. What did they do to you?"Christen stayed a respectful distance as I told her about the techniquesthey had used on me all day. She looked horrified, and after I hadfinished my rendition she took the cup from my hands and drew me into herbosom."No wonder you mind is reeling from the shock."The. Most others are criminals that are beyond banishment, but still they are treated much more fairly than those had been on earth. It is not unlike the way the Vikings of old did with those they captured, but we learned to treat them far better than they were treated in Earth’s Past.”“I think I understand sir,” I replied, “but what crimes would constitute that level of punishment?”“Rape, arson, and theft are the primary ones, though there are many others that would also land someone there.”I. What do youwant me to do first?? What they wanted me to do wasmake the Friday tea. Mum had left all the ingredients for a spaghettibolognaise, not out of a jar as she would do these days, but individual bitsand pieces that, if put together correctly, should feed the three of us verynicely indeed. Looking back, it?s a good thing Iwas in charge of the tidying up as well as the cooking. No one would havewanted to follow me into that kitchen. Gradually though, as the weekends wenton, I became much. That's me. Do you know much about her?" Not really. She's studying both German and French because so much art history is in those languages. And apparently she reads and speaks Italian." Different end of art from yours." Mmm."Alf was standing by his ute when we drove into the lot near Summer Salt. After greetings, we were seated."You're looking well," I told Alf."Yep. Thanks to you. I took your warning seriously. Those jackasses made fun of me believing in abo superstitions. I'm not sure.