." He held up the scroll. " ... proves I was a far better Ambassador than you will ever be."He left the office, leaving a shocked look on Mandas' face...in his wake.Gedric had guessed right that Riddon and his crew would be put out enough by the loss of their slave girl that he would not be allowed to spend the voyage in the relative comfort of his room. They put him to work at the crack of dawn, and by the time the sun rose high in the eastern skies, Gedric had stripped down to his waist,. There is a hot couple playing cornhole that keeps catching our eye. You can tell they are local; they both have a bit of a hippy vibe. He’s tall and built but trim with long brown hair and a scruffy face; she has a long sundress that accentuates all her curves including her braless tits. They are all smiles and have this crazy sexual aura emanating from them. Not sure if they noticed us noticing them, but they approach us and ask if we want to play the next game with them. We both nod excitedly. Then I’ll talk to Commander Olivet about these ships he’s buying.”That afternoon I cleared my calendar and headed to flight operations. When I came into the maintenance bay, it was just like Lucy had said. Every bay was filled with a variety of ships, big and small. All of them were old and in sorry condition. I even saw our old heavy tug. The one Tom Olivet was so anxious to get rid of. On each of the ships, there were up to 10 people working. Access panels and cowlings were open, and the. City trash, the lot.”“Think that’ll collapse on him?”Right off he knew what I was talking about. “If he gets too rambunctious it will.”“Might kill him?”“Life’s lessons are learned by the survivor. And here he is.”And there he was, walking up from the stream ... covered in dust and hacking up a lung.“You bastard ... you coulda warned me!”“I did. I told you it could fall.”I stepped in, “I’d say you’re lucky to be alive.”“Who the fuck are you?”“The bloke what’s going to kick yer arse you don’t.