Dave smiled. Jen was certainly having a good morning. He suspected that Will was too, though much more quietly. Good for them.Dave decided to just enj...y the unintentional eavesdropping as he drifted further awake. He was glad they had stayed. Last night's New Year's Eve party had been a fairly quiet affair—just the four of them and three other couples. While he knew that no one would drink enough to be seriously impaired, he had suggested beforehand that Will and Jen bring overnight bags so. Or so he had been told.“You are the first user to go online in over five solar cycles,” the unit replied politely.“Five years?” Torrand asked, dumbstruck. “Aren’t you monitored constantly?”“This ceased ten solar cycles ago.”“But ... why?”“Insufficient data.”“Is there anything out there responding?”“I am detecting alien transmissions. Nothing of Kingdom origin.”“Where from?”“The Lorca system,” the unit replied before going silent.“It must be picking up Imperial signals, they’ll no doubt be. ”“What kind of jerk-ass stunt are you trying to pull? You think you didn’t have to put any effort into my paper?”“Nora, simmer down. Let me see what he wrote on it.” After looking at hers, and then my own, I said, “I think the one I wrote for you is actually better than the one I did for myself. I don’t know what his issue is; sometimes it’s just arbitrary, I think.”“What I think is that you stiffed me; I don’t think you lived up to your end of the bargain. I almost wish I could take back. "Mac! You should really watch your language around impressionable young kids, you know?"Mac had grown up on the streets in a very rough neighborhood. Ever since high school I had ribbed him about his rough language, helping him smooth out some rough edges. In return, he taught me to fight dirty and about the hard facts of life in the real world. We both learned and improved, better individuals for our friendship.He punched my arm, the good one."Damn you, Lar, I've been stuck in here for three.