As I finished my mental inventory and took a deep breath, I heard her coming down the steps. She had a pitcher in one hand and a couple of glasses in...the other. “Why do you still have that shirt and your pants on. Get down to your underwear; I want to see what I am working with.” She walked over to a second small table and set the glasses and poured a drink into one of the glasses. As she lifted the drink to her thin lips, she turned and watched me with those eyes that crackled with. "Wow," said Jana. "How many units do you guys have on board here?" "About four thousand," I replied, "but this is just the elite squadron deck. 500 here and the rest are packed in tight on the deck below this one." We crossed the metal walkway through soft purple LED glow to the forward wall to where ten slightly larger cubes were arrayed. I placed my palm on a black plate and the door slid open silently. Once inside, I flicked the illumination strips to life and polished metal and colored. I feel like a fifth wheel with all those young marrieds.”“Why don’t you call Hal, see if he wants to go with you?”“Mom, you are out of touch with my old circle of friends. Hal is off the market. He’s dating Alicia Webber these days.”“Hmmm. Imagine that! Alicia Webber. Well, I guess you couldn’t expect him to wait around two years for your return.”“Didn’t expect him to, didn’t want him to. Hal was just a friend, Ma, nothing more.”“Well, I’m sure your friends would like to see you.”“When I see. In short, our relationship was not of the best and yet here she was looking to me to do something for her, and not just any old something either — she wanted me to pretend to be her husband. I was tempted to do what I've heard that Muslims can do; stand up, point at her and say, "I divorce thee, I divorce thee, I divorce thee" and then walk away from her, but at the last second curiosity got the better of me and I decided to play along at least until I could find out what was up.From the way.