We surfed for about three hours, ate lunch at one of the roadside stands offering real local food, and got back to the hotel tired and happy. We both ...anted a shower to wash the sand out of our bathing suits, then we were going to rest, maybe take naps, and text each other around 5:00 p.m. to decide where we wanted to go for my birthday dinner. It wasn't a big deal to me, I was just happy Sara was with me to share the day, and the next 13 days to follow. We went to our own rooms to shower, and. Come on, I know you got contacts, and I got the cash to pay ya."Dave took a deep breath. "I might be able to sort sommat awt," he said with a jaunty tone. "But I need two days." How much?" Five grand?" Five grand," Jamie cried out and then lowered his voice. "Five grand for a passport?" Don't ya want it to get ya out of this shithole. If ya want it ta fool the plod ya need to stump up cash."Jamie threw a bundle of cash at his old cell-mate and watched as Dave lit his cigarette and took a puff. Mendoza said the Delgados made the finest looking harnesses of any he had seen, and he would talk to them about making a couple of sets for us.The four of us walked through the back door at the appointed time, and stood staring in surprise. The dining room was gone. In its place was a formal meeting room, with paper and pencils at each of the thirteen seats around the table. Coffee and cool tea were on the sideboards, along with some fresh baked cookies.Anna walked up beside me putting her arm. ”The Betelgeusians had no need of names it seemed, or rather each member of the hive had its own subtly different scent that distinguished it from its fellows.Walker was no stranger to large women. Borealans were eight feet tall, and they weighed half a ton, but the Queen was even larger than that. It almost didn’t seem physically possible to mate with her. Then again it made sense. Not only were the Queens of social insect species like termites and bees far larger than their male counterparts,.