She lay still, quietly, not looking at him.“Mom,” Jerry said, squatting down and putting his hand on her shoulder.Debra’s breath caught in her t...roat as she stiffened up.“Aw, come on, Mom!” Jerry said soothingly. “It was only a hand-job. It doesn’t mean anything.”Debra shuddered, taking a deep breath. She lifted her head and looked into his face. Her hand darted for his crotch.“A hand-job!” she hissed. “It was only a hand-job, was it? Jerry, I want more than some goddamn hand-job!” She squeezed. Reg should be able to pay for the lessons, if you want it that way. Thanks, Daddy. I’ll sort Reg out in the meantime, to prepare for what you can offer. Bye for now.”The evening meal was almost ready, but Erika collared Frances before she sat down at the table.“Frances, I was thinking about Reg’s insurance money. He ought to put most of it away in investments, just like my dad did with the money he inherited. My folks live off the income from the investment fund. I know Reg’s sum is nothing. I had a lot of alumni eager to intervene for me, so I pretty much had the run of the entire gravitics school, outside of the actual labs of course. Even all the McKesson pull in the world wasn't going to get a fifteen year old girl into a room with a bare fusion reactor and unshielded gravity generator. I spent my evenings visiting Oscar Menendez and people like him. People who had been friends of my grandparents back in the early days of gravitics on Earth. That included spending time with. ’ She let the bishop guide her onto a street where she paused to look around in wonder at all the strange sites.“Wonderland is well named,” she said softly, so that only he could hear her.“This is only a taste, Alice. It’s a strange place, and not all the wonders are harmless. You would do well to stay close.”His warning seemed dire. Trembling, she pressed against him, taking comfort in his presence.“What would the town be called?”“Phefferton-on-the-nusse. And just beyond are the Tulgy Woods..