I timidly opened my eyes and saw the head of my mother bobbing very slowly. It was momentarily withdrawn and then taken in again. Once more opening my...eyes and now saw Matthews head in a similar position. Mom looks up at me, stroking Matthew hair, and smiling. As the minutes passed I was more confident and less timid. I no longer stood as a passive participant and reached down and sank the fingers of one hand into Matthew thick dark hair, the other into my mother's. I watched as the alternated. The chime of an incoming holo call sent Pallas diving under the table just as the smiling, mustachioed face of Cedric Hyde-Mathis appeared."Good fortune all." "Good fortune, Cedric," the women chorused, Sith bared his fangs in greeting."What do you have for us today, Cedric?" Rae asked."A series of puzzling thefts have been occurring over the last four Universal months," Hyde-Mathis began. "To date, four Class IX Mining Barges and six fusion drive motors have been stolen from used spaceship. “Let me guess. The box with a branch sticking through half of it is the radio.”“That’s right.”“Any chance of cell coverage?” Betsy asked while pulling out her cell phone.“We’re in the middle of nowhere.”Betsy frowned.“It will take my Dad at least a day to find out I’m missing. It could be the next day before he learns that I was on a plane that crashed. He’ll call Annette, and she’ll find us. The earliest we can expect to be found is in a day or maybe two.”“Some woman will find us?. Brad carefully parked the Shelby at the hospital, far away from other cars. They walked hand in hand from the summer heat into the cool air-conditioned hospital. Alone on the three-floor elevator ride, she couldn’t resist Brad’s kiss and placing his hand on her breast.“Hi, I’m Abby Kendall. I’m supposed to be here for a 4 o’clock liver test,” she said to the appointment clerk.“Yes you are,” she replied confirming the time on the computer screen. “Unfortunately, Abby, with Bellville’s liver.