I'm a bit parched, this desert heat can reallyget to a person."Tom offered Crystal his hand to help her up. He led her into the casino,he had just th... hint of a limp. Entering the casino proper, the cool airwas a welcome relief. The two made their way to the bar area. Tom foundan unoccupied table and pulled a chair out for his date. Crystal sat andalmost swooned at the way he was being treated. Tom was acting theperfect gentlemen, despite the lust Crystal detected in his eyes.Tom sat. "Well, obviously, it's a star," Baris volunteered. "Judging from thedarkspots, it's Sol, probably from a few days ago. The primary is goingthrough a major darkspot cycle right now, and those planet-sized flaresare common during such cycles." You're half right."Baris stared at Idra, flummoxed. "I mean no disrespect, Luminary, but Iknow Sol's experiencing a maximum darkspot cycle. It's been all over thenews, even out here in the Kuiper Belt." Oh, don't get me wrong: You're correct about the. It had been founded, and was still run, by women. However, men were heavily recruited and many were offered scholarships. The student body was about 51% female and 49% male, not a bad balance. The promotional literature said that all students would be given many opportunities to learn more about themselves and to integrate the many different facets of their personalities. This all sounded like nonsense to me, but I wasn’t paying for it. According to the brochure there were two dormitory. It was bounded on two sides by a state forest, and the nearest neighbour was nearly a mile away, so you couldn’t even see their house. Believe it or not, it was a little like the house she had talked about living in as a kid, and Sandra and Greta and I spent a lot of time out there, getting away from it all. Even though it was only a half-hour drive from my place, you felt like you were a thousand miles away, and the kids could run wild in the state forest, having all the fun in the world. We.