She looked down at the ground, then around the room alittle, as I awaited her response, but she gave none. After a minute ofwaiting, I gave up.Then, ...he spoke: "Natsuko-sama, can I ask you a question?" Miki-chan, you can... what... yeah, sure." Am I... bad?"I looked over at her. "What?" Am I bad?" She leaned closer to me. "I've been reviewing some of theoptical sensor data from this body, and I realized something: I've beenreally mean." She leaned in even closer, nearly to the point where. I don,t remember who played, but doubt that mattered as it gave everyone a chance to get to know each other better. When the match finished the others faded away till it was just Sarah, Frank and I left. Once we,d tidied up the mess Sarah made coffee and served us with the fresh apple pie she,d baked earlier. “I,m roasting! Must change into something cooler.” DEsPITE being late January the weather had turned unseasonably warm so soon she came back dressed in just her nightgown with black lace. .” Kayla started.“Don’t, Kayla.” Aaron’s eyes were hard, and he showed his teeth in a parody of a smile. “We will settle accounts with Miss Luisa McDaniel just as soon as we can get to Twenty-Eight Librae. If she tells the Terrans about the map, we are all screwed. In fact, she may have already told them for all we know.”George cleared his throat. “What do you want us to do, Admiral?”Aaron sat upright in his chair. “You two will clean all of this up so we can present it as evidence,” he said in. So you're out of luck, I'm afraid." There was no encouraging smile.I was stunned for a moment. Nicola had done it again. This time she had burnt her boats. This was a calculated insult."I'm sorry I've troubled you," I said. "Would you be kind enough to tell her when you see her that I came calling as she asked, and not to bother calling me any more. Kevin Connors is the name."She nodded and shut the door.I stood before the closed door for a moment, trying to make sense of what had transpired..