‘Oh Lena, thank god, Cheesecake was refusing to let me in and he was kind of being a jerk about it,’ Jeff joked, his heart skipped a beat when she...smiled. ‘I keep telling you, he’s a cat, cats can be jerks sometimes,’ she said. The smile fell off her face as she asked her next question, ‘What are you doing here Jeff?’ He ignored the little voice in his head that told him that he should just leave and held up the groceries. ‘I was hoping we could talk over coffee and snacks,’ he said. Many a night, the pair had stayed up until the wee hours of the morning, just chatting away about what was pertinant in their lives at the moment. They helped each other with relationships, schoolwork, parental issues, anything really. It got to the point where they knew practically everything about each other. What each others dreams were in life, who the latest crush was, how many people each had slept with, there was nothing big enough for the duo to keep secret, as ironically, the distance. "Later, at the party with eight ten year olds, three boys and five girls, Joanne announced that she could read minds and could prove it."It's some kind of trick," said Wally."No, it's not," Joanne lied. "Look everyone get a piece of paper here and write down something on it and fold it up and don't let me see it and then I'll guess, no, I'll know what's on each piece of paper before I unfold them."Joanne had to explain again, but without mentioning the part about being in cahoots with. They had brought construction equipment and mining equipment with them, along with ground vehicles, support equipment, and housing. This equipment was optimized for the harsh Martian environment, but it was adequate for their immediate needs. Some new tools were sorely needed; chainsaws, weapons, and ammunition topped the list. The shuttles would be very busy delivering the equipment to this colony site, and the two others, when they were finally established.The distant sonic boom interrupted.