He extracted himself from between the two beauties, got dressed, and went to his office. Sitting at the desk, he instructed the drink synth to make a ...up of black coffee. It was nice just to sit at his desk and go over the daily reports with Cricket, almost like things were going back to normal.The only unusual item in the daily report was a contact that had appeared on the edge of the scanning range along the route near Rift 13. It stopped for several hours and then moved out of scanning. Sarah’s best mate July appeared with her boyfriend who at 18 was 2 years older than both girls. Sara’s mate looked said” it takes a war to get you to school” Sara replied ” yeah and if we had not been evacuated because the builders dug up that old bomb I would not be here” July’s boyfriend took her by the arm and walked off down the roof. Sara finished her smoke got up to go see July but after a few feet got a surprise there was July kneeling on the floor her tee shirt beside her Mark was. I ... thought ... the number would be smaller when I started that sentence,” Ember admitted.June sighed. “All right ... let me think.”“I can help-”June lifted her hand, in the age old gesture that June used to mean ‘let me think, be silent.’ Ember opened his mouth – but she waved her hand dismissively. The message was clear: Let the smart one think. Ember started to walk away, crossing his arms over his chest. He sighed, slightly as he looked out at the vast forests – trying to play through the. At least, Ithought, I'll go out the way I wanted to be dressed, because no matterwhat, he could not take that away from me. I heard the footsteps, then,there he was, standing right in front of me. I stood like mom told me,my hands folded in front of me, my ankles and knees together, the verypicture of a teenage girl. I smelled of perfume, which reached his noseas his eyes took me in from head to toe and back, the soft swell of mybreasts making the sweater look so feminine, my nylon wrapped legs.