," But, I was already up and headed for the stairs.The Starlight was not fancy: a bed, a couple of chairs, a bathroom and a closet; but for the moment...it got me away from her. And, it had the added benefit of being close to work. I'm an accountant for Horowitz and Gamble Inc. I handle high end clients with a penchant for wanting their incomes sheltered even if it has to be offshore. Income $250K, perks very good. Life'd been good to me, that except for a too pretty wife, who really didn't care. At this moment though, he chose to be the voice of doubt."Jupiter is a lot further away than Mars. It will take much longer. Maybe even a whole year away from Earth."Yes, it threw a little cold water on the collective buzz. Maybe it was my nuts & bolts side showing, but we needed the dose of reality right now."Fred is right." I said. "There will be more room for error, and help will be much, much further away." We would not be able to use the two orbital transport ships as our emergency escape. " Okay, I'll leave them in the back-room. See you in the new year."That suited us. We'd be back at the salon by about a quarter to two sowe continued eating. Then it started to snow, and snow and snow andsnow.At two o'clock the appointments cancelled their bookings. At fouro'clock Dawn phoned to say her flight had been cancelled due to badweather."So why are you calling us?" wondered Simone."Cos I'm going to be stuck in New York all on my own, I haven't evengot any food in my apartment. I ran. “Watch the road,” she instructed John quietly, catching him gawping at her intimate touch. She re-fastened her seat belt.John’s head whipped back round to the road just as he lost control. The tyres screamed as he tapped the brakes, fighting to keep all four wheels on the blacktop and heading forward. There was some serious steering and counter steering required. Down past a hundred, ninety, eighty … leaving a good few hundred bucks worth of smoking snaking rubber on the road behind them.Kate.