. what if... how can I live without him?" she wailed, crying on the diminutive's shoulder."Don't go imagining things that we don't know. Let's see wha... the doctors can tell us," she replied as the doors opened at their floor and she helped Sheila to her feet.They made their way to the waiting room where Jan helped Sheila to a seat, then went to the nurse's desk."I'm Jan Tompkins, Michael Tompkins' wife. What can you tell me?" she asked.The head nurse, an older woman, looked at Jan with a. Sign your name here. With your signature you verify you have received all your basic gear, complete and in good condition.”“Should I not check it first before I sign it?”“Yes regulations actually require, that you take the print out and check every item, but your gear has been assembled by robots.” He sighed.” We usually skip this part since it would slow things down even further!”“I sure don’t want that!” I said and signed it.After this a Saran officer supervising a machine attaching a blank. I ask "do you want to play" but he shakes his head, no. In a few moments he shuffles and leaves.A few people come and go and another guy steps into the next cubicle. I can peek that he's started to wank and I'm feeling braver. Without pulling up my pants I open my door and make a move to next door. My belt buckle makes a racket on the floor and I become very self conscious but I keep going. I knock on the door and the guy whispers "yeh?" "Do you want a hand" I reply and with that he lets me in. A smile ghosted across his lips. "My generals did not know why I would trust a woman," he said. "In Rome women do not play as active a role as you have." What a loss for Rome." I nodded toward a stool. "May I sit?"He nodded and rang for a slave. The man brought a small flagon of chilled wine and two plain cups. "Your health," Octavian said, filling both cups and raising one to me. I returned the salute. "You are wondering why I asked you here," he said without preamble."I did not think I would.