For the first time I saw myself properly in my new clothes - the shoeslooked clean and bright. The leggings clung to my thin legs snugly,making them l...ok elegant, not gangly. The black top, its glittery dotssparkling in the sunlight streaming through the hallway, made my bodylook less weak and weedy and more slender and toned. My hair, freshlywashed for a change and wildly tumbling down my shoulders, looked thebest it had done in weeks. I actually looked into my eyes, and saw therethe shock and. And when I heard how many sets of remains of poor young girls they found in that clearing I quickly stopped having nightmares."I don't even think about it now. So you have nothing to feel bad about. Well, there is one thing. Don't I still owe you a spanking?"She laughed quietly, apparently not scared in the least.After a few minutes of silence she changed her position, turning until she was leaning on the armrest. She rested her hand on my upper thigh and lightly moved her finger tips over my. “Debris in section 98-A!”“Rodger,” a clipped, heavily accented voice – Russian, she thought – said.In the illusory stateliness of microgravity, the strut continued to tumble. Tumbled ... towards her.Vidya took a step backwards, instinctively, and felt the tether keeping her attached to Ceres grow taut. She guesstimated the speed, the kinetic energy, of the tumbling spar and decided to risk trying to dodge just by weaving and bobbing. If it hit her, she wanted to be securely attached. She just. Not that Harveen wasn't, and it was best he stop that train of thought now.His Grace stopped at the end of the dock, those behind following suit. The waiting leaders bowed, the deepest ones perhaps the least sincere. King James bowed his head. Well, more of a nod. One of the Watu stepped forward, an intricate feather toga covering his grey fur. He spoke, unintelligible chirps and growls floating back to Liuz. He could understand the tone. It made him want to turn around and leave these people.