Whatever else I could say about him, I could never accuse Frankof not being careful with me.I move into the living room, outof his way, and I hear Fra...k screwing the blast door shut. Stretch–themuscles in my neck and shoulders are in knots–and bend down with straightlegs to touch the floor. Most of the van's arsenal is hidden, from the casualglance–which means it's tucked in the floor, in the wheel wells, andunder the seats. Good for secrecy; uncomfortable for extended sitting. I'dneed an ass. ’ That address sounded very familiar. But Liberty didn’t pursue that – she was thinking about how nice it was having a knee against her lower thigh – a man’s knee! She’d like to take that knee home with her. The taxi stopped and she found why the address sounded so familiar – they were outside the Starlight Cinema that looked abandoned and ready to crumble. ‘Is this hostile torture?’ ‘Isn’t all torture hostile?’ She guessed he had a point. Her question remained unanswered, or so it seemed.. "Hiiiiii, Laura. I know it's not fair for me to call you after I ran out on you like that. I hope you've forgiven me by now... I just got out of the shower. I couldn't help remembering..." Then she began to cry softly. "I... oh never mind... I shouldn't have called. I... wish I could erase this." Then she had hung up.Laura had not heard from her since. Now, listening to this message again, she was almost overcome by heart pangs of an entirely different sort. She didn't know exactly how to. "A new colony, as always, needs a structure that everyone agrees with and will sign up to, and a civil administration that will implement the laws and the social and economic backbone of the new colony. Poor people are unlikely to have the background for this administrative task, so either we do as we are doing for our own offshoot colonies, or we hire men and women from Earth to set up the administrative structure that is needed. To avoid these experts becoming a dictatorship, there needs to.