‘I am sorry,’ my mother was saying, ‘but I had to call someone. I didn’t know where you were. I thought maybe you had gone to see him…’ �...Well….’ I said, not knowing how exactly to confess it all to her. ‘She did.’ My father spoke softly as he stepped into the room behind me. He must have quietly followed me inside. My mother gasped. Her hands dropped to her sides. I gave a little squeal of delight. ‘Oh God…’ she said, ‘I knew it…’ ‘Is this the man, ma’am?’ Officer Hunt took a step towards my. Then one morning when Vicki was about to leave Miss Lantern was complaining that she didn't have the right looking cardboard cutout for her latest video display. "Miss Lantern, I have an idea." Vickie said with a smile on her face as she began to tell her boss about the machine she and her husband used to make their love making special. "You know we'll need you for a whole week until the next new releases come out," Miss Lantern said. "In fact, if it rents well you may be flat for the whole. If I tell you to do something, you do it. If you don't, I have the right to punish you until you comply." Alright," I agreed precariously."Second, if you break your end of the agreement, if you refuse to comply even after punishment, you will move out immediately and never have contact with Charlie or I again. This is going to be an all-or-nothing deal. There won't be any re-negotiating out of it."I gulped and nodded.My father leaned back and leered at me for a few moments, then stood and said,. “They were quite thorough too,” I mused. “I’d guess the population is below half a billion now, possibly quite a bit below. Certainly there will be a lot more Orcs on Vultoq now.”“Athena has about a million, though setting up secure sites for them is time consuming and means a good few are still Loegrian side,” Kate piped up.“Yep,” I nodded. “Plus the large cities are mostly uninhabitable, potential sources of disease and returning to nature to an extent.”“Will take them decades to rebuild ....