Chrispushed his way to the bar and bought a couple of pints. It was justabout possible to have a conversation without shouting, and they talkedabout t...e game and how bad it had been. Rick began to notice how Chrisused his hands a lot and how tactile he was. He would touch Rick's armor shoulder when they were talking, and although Rick assumed that Chrishad always done this, with what he now knew, every gesture assumed a newsignificance.As Rick went back to get them a second pint, there was a. I shook my head, trying to clear it and moved to his room to distract myself from these thoughts. I took his pants and some other clothes that were around the room and threw them in the laundry to be washed later. I went and straightened out his bed a bit, getting it ready for when he came back. Figuring it had been long enough I went back to the bathroom and knocked lightly on the door. "You about finished in there?" There was a moment of silence and then he replied."Um, not exactly. I'm. Colin pondered the problem, it would take about thirty seconds to get the particle beams up to working status but doing so would be easily detectable as his own energy signature fluctuated. If he kept them off line it would give the approaching corvette at least one shot without a return. However, energising his beams could be considered a hostile act and that would allow the incoming corvette to claim he was operating in self-defence.“No, don’t do that,” said Colin, “We’ll play it cool until. About 6 o'clock, he knocked on the bedroom door again."Honey, the dinner is almost ready, and I have a glass of wine for you. Would you please come out and talk to me?"To his surprise the door opened. Natalie was standing there with her eyes red and swollen from crying. John tried to hug her but she pushed away from him and walked to the kitchen. John followed and busied himself getting the dinner on the table while Natalie took her glass of wine and went into the family room.When everything.