Just as I knocked, the door opened."Is the magnatess here?" I asked the valet. He was a threateningly tallman, who didn't bother hiding his military p...sture and rudely evaluatinggaze.He nodded and took me inside. The decor was stylish and coherent, inspite of the plethora of valuable articles from distant places. If Ihadn't been on a more important job, I would have picked up a souveniror two, even if the footmen leering in the corner would have madepilfering difficult.Sitolytta slid into the. Then was one more realization, that she’d put her own hand up. Kimberly giggled at the teacher’s question and was starting to unbutton her shirt as the hands were going up. She had no doubt what the vote would be. Sandra bit her lip again, watching closely, occasionally glancing at the teacher or the other k**s to watch how they reacted. Kimberly being a pro at the exhibition and teasing acted quickly but turned her body slightly as she took off her shirt, so the k**s would have a good glimpse. Theship, still drawing fire, vanished into a warp hole.Wounded, spewing freight containers from the ugly gashes in the hull, theship popped out of its warp hole in a backwater of the galaxy, anuninteresting, backward system with one nondescript yellow star and onlyone reasonably habitable planet. First Tm'skor and his crew ignored thesystem. It wasn't on their route, and as such it held no interest totheir unimaginative minds. And because their orders said nothing aboutrecovering cargo lost. The Beast read the list to her, and had her repeat it back. “Good,” he said, “Now I have a couple of tasks to complete before I begin our dinner. Read back that list to yourself and study each word until you have committed it to memory. Then you may do as you wish until I see you in the dining room at seven.”“Thank you,” said Rose nodding and turning away to conceal a small smile. She hadn’t considered that The Beast was the house’s cook as well as its gardener. It was a little embarrassing to.