"So you are a magician as well as a god?" she asked, picking up a large, perfectly ripe strawberry, the stem an almost impossible green. In its perfec...ion it matched the rest of this place she found herself in, with its soft sands and clean water, sweet air and peaceful breezes. The birds were singing quietly here, no raucous, screaming gulls searching for handouts or crying on the winds. The insects were nothing more than a quiet buzz, almost as if they were an afterthought."And what do you. Gad, what an ugly thought! * * *As I watched in the view port, the Imperial planet of Chaltem grew larger.My heart was beating rapidly. Unbelievably a subspace order to all ships hadgone out forcing the return of almost a hundred deep space vessels. The costfor such an order had to be prohibitive and that didn't include lostshipping time for the vessels or late charges! I was hoping against hopethat the reason was something other than my escape. I wasn't that. Another 5min went by and then it happened: I heard Dan sneakily move his hand inside his boxer. I knew because i heard the distinctive sound of the elasticband. I was in doubt what i should do, but i thought this would be my chance! Silently i waited if he was really going for it or just scratching. I heard him reposition himself a bit and then he whispered very very soflty: "yo Rob". I was frozen. I kinda knew he was double checking if i was really asleep, but wasnt 100% sure. I decided i. "Would you two ladies like anything else?" They were asked. Angie looked up at their waitress then gazed at Shelly and softly asked her. "Do you want anything else?" Shelly immediately looked at the waitress. "This is our first date, and if i dared order anything else i would need someone to help me stand up as it is! I don't want to turn her off before we even left!" She covered her own mouth with a hand as she giggled. Angie spoke very softly replying to Shelly's statement. "That is not going.