"But before I could have a look the speaker blasted out."Unidentified ship," said a female voice we both new so well. "Stand clear. Any unauthorized s...ip coming within 10 klick of us will be blasted. You've been warned." That's Rachelle," said Candy."It certainly is," I said."Hi," I replied. "This is Starlight 299." Captain is that you," Rachelle screeched."Sure is Rachelle," I confirmed."Please don't come any closer," she warned. "Even you must stay away from us." Yeah, right," I said pulling. Lee on the other side of the door."Hello. How can I help you?" Hi. I'm Rebecca Tomaslovic." None of that Texas drawl today, she was all business; she even had conservative shorts and a golf-type shirt on. "I go to school with Lisa. Can I come in?" Excuse my manners. Of course you can. I'll call Lisa." He held the door for her.Rebecca came in just enough to see that Lisa wasn't around. She dropped her voice to a near whisper: "Are you the US Attorney?"Andrew Lee, Esq., was rarely surprised. But. You still have to climb the fucking tree.After snapping the climbing strap around the tree, he used the carabiners to attach it to the climbing belt. Shaking the rig, he stood thinking. I’ve done this before, but dammit, I’m more uptight about climbing than I was last time.“Fuck it,” he said aloud as he slammed the spike strapped to his right foot into the tree, tested it, then did the same with his left foot. Snapping the strap up, he made the next step.He didn’t have to rest before getting to. . Enough of that. The last of the stampeding herd was long since gone, shadowed by its halfglimpsed pursuers, and no more herds seemed to be in his immediate vicinity. He hadn't gotten a good look at whatever had set off this particular stampede, only enough to know that the creatures were huge! He was just as glad that they hadn't come any closer to him, since it meant that they hadn't seen him, either. From the glimpses he'd gotten, he'd preferred to keep it that way.Right now the golden.