This time, however, she was wearing a men's dark blue suit with a doublebreasted jacket. In fact, when I entered the hall and saw her from afar,standi...g by the throne, I thought it was the King. The nearer I got, themore I thought that the King looked different - bigger somehow, perhapstaller, and more powerful. I put it down to the padded shoulders of hisjacket until I realized it was actually the Queen."Your majesty," I said as I bowed deeply before her - another custom sheintroduced at the. Me my Mum and Carl my step dad, had gone to the Italian lakes on holiday. About 3 days into the holiday, just after lunch, mum and he had gone up to the apartment for a nap. I stayed down by the pool for another half hour or so enjoying the heat of the sunshine on my skin, then decided to go to my room to get some cash for an ice cream. I walked out onto the balcony where I'd left my purse and heard some moaning and groaning coming from the partly open patio door to their room. Not sure what it. She led me downstairs to a room that served as her quarters. There were several girls there and some did not speak our language but I was welcomed by them and taken to a well appointed bathing chamber. At its centre there was a pool full of refreshingly cool water. I did not hesitate getting in as the journey from the palace had been a dusty one. Of course it was nothing compared to what I was soon to endure, but I must not digress, gentle reader.The girls, my new companions, were all beautiful. “We plan to clear the circuit point and make it through the First Cross system and into the First Cross Prime circuit point. From there, we’ll have to secure some fuel and then make it another three jumps to the Redreams system. That is the first system with a significant groundborn planetary population.”“Redreams Four,” Yank said, nostalgia showing in her eyes. “I spent two cycles there once.”“Yes,” said Gath, “I hear it’s a really slaggy place. So ... anyway...”“That’s not entirely true,”.