Suddenly a voice echoed across the bridge, snapping her thoughts back to the present."Ma'am, turret one has exploded, we have heavy casualties in sect...ons alpha one-nine and one-ten. We have collateral damage to turrets two and three. Missile batteries one through three off line and no answer to hails. Sensors say the bays are intact, could be the com units have been knocked out. Shield generator one is off line, and we have lost the scuttling charges. Decoys have been deployed."Maria took a. My history term paper on the Battle of Monterey was done by late afternoon. I included a brief account of the local Lancaster County West Point graduate who had commanded the howitzers that breached the city walls. He had been brevetted to major for his gallantry. His efforts made the storming of the city possible. He was born, raised and buried a few miles from my house.I showered, shaved and changed into some nice clothes for my evening out. I stuffed four condoms in my pants pocket before I. “Look. That one looks like Jimmy falling off the water-skis, legs and arms all over the place.” She took another bite of her ham sandwich and pointed, “And that one looks like you as an old man fishing off the dock and still not catching anything. See?”She took another bite. “If you look at that one...” She pointed. “ ... you can see Wile E. Coyote. See? There’s his eye, and there’s his snout and arms.”This was amusing. Cloud staring was better than a Rorschach test.“And that one is a woman. I rolled over on my bed and tried to go back to sleep. Even if I could have, the knock at the door would have woken me up five minutes later. I opened my door. "He turned off the mic. I didn't cut him off," I told the official. "I know. He wants to see you," she said. "And I already said no." "If he doesn't touch you, he's still within your menu options. I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist." Mother fucker. "Where?" "His room." He had a room? He was richer than rich. "Who's going to.