Then he had to push the buttons on the till, each marked with pictures of the various pieces of food on offer. And then shout the order back to the k...tchen. He had always looked down on the people who worked here as lazy idiots who couldn't be bothered to work for a good job like his.It had quickly become apparent when he had started looking for work that he was qualified for only two jobs. Serving burgers was infinitely preferable to a night-club or strip joint. So here he was, in a. I convinced the captain that discretion was the better part of valor, and that caution was a survival skill. He agreed. We reported in over Q-bit links, then returned to Tau Ceti to mine enough rare-earths that we'd pay off a respectable percentage of our ship's construction fees.We had asteroid mining down to an art form. We used the ship's reactionless drive in concert with our high-powered tractor beams to increase the density of areas in the drift. Then the mining ships went out to Hoover. As one, all the cameras turned skywards whilst the sheriff holstered his gun and frowned at me. "You lied to me Ruby." "I didn't sheriff. They really are my children. Well, ten of them anyway. The other ten are Beverly's and she's piloting that space ship." The sheriff knew my story well. When I had bought up the surrounding properties and created a private retreat for myself he had made his acquaintance and I had told him everything in the strictest confidence. He had always. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you,” I said. “Will you forgive me?”She nodded and took a couple of steps back towards me.“What can I do?” she asked.I took a deep breath to calm down before answering. Anger wouldn’t cut it now.“For starters, quit tying your self-worth and self-esteem to a stripe on your belt. You’ll never ever be happy if your self-worth and self-esteem depend on someone else’s opinion of you. Focus on being a good mom to Hope, a good friend to your friends, doing the best job you.