FTL shutdown, main engine start.”Ensign Porter went through his checklist and the main engines came back online.“All stations report.”“Conn, e...gineering, all systems GO, green across the board.”“Conn, sensors. No contacts, no hazards.”At least this time there wasn’t a welcoming committee waiting for us. The Silver Javelin would arrive in five minutes instead of being right behind us, one of the changes we had made to our plan. Not that it would give them any better warning if something was. Meanwhile, Brooke floated throughout the Johnsonhouse.Chatting in the security bubble created by Brooke, Kelly had no directknowledge of what Brooke's campaign accomplished. She could only see itseffects. First Kelly noticed increasing numbers of people circulatingthrough the living room, with thinly disguised pretexts (such as warmingthemselves up in front of the fireplace) to inspect "the transsexual" forthemselves.Slowly, a few of the high school girls had joined Kelly's circle. Mostly,they. One of the many jobs I’d delegated to others was assembling arrows for the men in the cave. Trika had agile fingers and she was good at securing arrow heads and fletching to the shafts that I produced. Sygor saw that work as a useful task, seeing as he needed arrows for the bow that I had made for him. He used the work as a way to start conversations. He thought he was being very clever about it. Every woman and a few men knew exactly what he was doing. It was therefore not overly surprising. Once I found that out, I let the farm stay up for sale but made arrangements with this home to get the proceeds. They have guaranteed me a place for the rest of my life and if there is any money left it will be split amongst my kids. My lawyer will review the bills monthly."Doug's Ma asked "Does that mean the you lose all help from the state or county?" No, I still get my disability and it pays for about 80% of the monthly housing cost here. This place is investing the money I gave them and.