"Mister Halter," said Pied as he approached Rybold. "You don't know me, sir, but I'm crew on the Tecumseh. I was wondering, since this combo has a fin... beat, if you would like to dance a number." Rybold swiveled on his stool, turning his back to Pied, then muttered into his drink, "Leave me alone." "But I'd love to watch you dance." "I don't dance anymore. Now please, leave me alone." Pied sauntered back to Swipe, saying, "He won't even hear it. Another drink, bartender! Such a shame; the. I backed the truck a little further off the main street and we went scouting.We walked around staying out of plain sight but not trying to waste energy hiding. I wanted to get a flavor of the area. We were headed back to the truck on a back road when I heard a click and a voice said, "Neighbor, I don't want to shoot you. Stay put." I had slung my rifle over one arm but slowly raised my free hand. Jane and Bethany did the same. A man and a woman came out of a house. He said, "Not too many people. Apparently he needed privacy as he had some hush-hush ‘deal on’.He always had some ‘deal on’.Then he would be at a football match all Saturday with his drinking mates, lie in bed until noon on Sunday, fall asleep snoring in the armchair watching the football on television and wake up in time only to take them home.At Mum’s, Clay and she would hear all about what excitement Mum and Jake had got up to at the weekend without them.In Dad’s car, Jennifer remembered that Clay had summed it up in. "Base test complete. Outer shell curvature is at 9.395 meters per second squared, inner shell at negative 50,000 gravities. Kalea, we are right at the edge of losing the inner-shell hologram." I confirm..." said Mayoni, staring at her own displays.Kalea turned and nodded at her sister. "Mayoni, this was your idea. Want to take control?" Yes... Thank you..." Mayoni took a deep breath. "Ajax, please begin elliptical deformation of the inner holographic manifold." Acknowledged. Targeting base.