There was an investigation, and they eventually said the driver bailed and ran, but I knew. She knew. She told me as she died.”“Oh God, John! Y...u were there?”“No, my love, no. I was thirty miles away in a recording studio. Life-mates learn to understand how each other thinks, just like mortal couples do after a while. We just take it a lot further. Many life-mates can talk to each other freely from half a globe away. All we have to do is listen. I heard her panic in my mind. She knew. It was the first indication we had of what would come with a world's new found freedom. There was simply no structure or organization left behind. Chaos was the order of the day.The trick was to start the seeds of society, without giving the people reason to think their old master had been replaced by a new one. We hadn't had this problem on the other planets, at least not to this extent. Jarth had been the best, as the ones living in the waste provided a basis for a fresh start. A sort of. “Like what you see, do you, Helen?” he said quietly.She blushed.“It’s okay, Helen,” he said as he reached across with his hand. “Feel free to touch, I don’t mind. Anthea can’t keep her hands off it.”His hand gripped hers and pulled it across to his lap pressing it over his bulge. “It’s all yours for the next few hours,” he told her as he let go of her hand and returned his to her thigh.She found herself squeezing his bulge gently as Ben pulled back the hem of her skirt. She glanced down and. It didn't resemble that instrument of torture that good Christians were so fond of wearing around their necks. My cross was in the shape of a giant X. It was attached to the wall in such a way that I could slide the legs out and she wouldn't be quite vertical. She could recline slightly and there was a wooden head support so that when it was adjusted out from the vertical her head wouldn't just loll back. It wouldn't be comfortable. But at least she wouldn't have to stand up all night.I made.