" Damned straight!" I said. "Isn't it clear to you yet that I'm more than interested?" I'm talking about sex," Sandy said.Her sudden directness was a ...hock to me, but I tried to roll with it. "Well, you won't hear any objections from me," I said."Great," she said."So -- can I stay the night?" I asked her."Tonight? Oh, no! No, not yet. I haven't broken up with my boyfriend yet." Couldn't we -- get started, and you could break up with him tomorrow?" No. That won't work. I would never sleep with. We were going to have to get us one going in the bus, and soon. It wasn't so much that I didn't like going to Carl's camper every morning but it was getting a little crowded in there. It was inevitable that we'd soon have to start eating in more or less family groups. I wasn't sure whether I liked that idea or not, but couldn't see any way around it.No matter, today it was Carl and Jane's place for coffee and breakfast. Since I'd parked the bus as close to Carl's camper as reasonably possible. Sandrine was a quick learner, observant, and asked questions when she needed to. For her part, Geraldine welcomed the attentions of an eager student. They were not friends, that would be asking too much of a relationship that had barely begun, a relationship between a native of Oxford, white, and a former slave, born in the Caribbean and black, but it was a first step.That night in bed Sandrine and Amélie traded stories about what they had learned. Amélie had been to the markets to see what. Some of the techs left with us, to form a viable body in that system, and would be led by Susan and Amy. The sleepers did all of the work this time, and my wives seemed to be a little disconcerted at not being required to help. Their hesitation at coming near, was and indication of Susan's hold on them.A few major ships fled at our approach to the system. We gave chase and captured them without any shots being fired. Their captains must indeed be new or untrained, to flee at only one.