" The line goes dead before I can answer. I panic. I don't have time to change. I pull my jeans on and a jean shirt over my leotard. I pull into the l...t. I look for the truck. I spot it in a dark corner. I walk in and see Pete. He points to the truck and gives me a sign of five minutes. I rush out to the truck. I open the door and see Amber in her usual pose. She has jeans on with a red silk top. I see her feet they are stretching the nylon that covers them to the farthest point before blowing. Not only that, I cannot say how devastated I am that I did not believe you when you said you had slept with no one but the colonel.That just emphasises how little I knew or understood my own child. Over the years I have come to hate myself and the kind of religion that made me put their rules before my love and concern for my daughter. It has been a great struggle for me to stay with your father all these years and keep my wedding vows and I cannot leave now, for as you probably know he is. But I don’t think I’ll do it in the forces though.”“If Cass thinks you have the aptitude then I’m pretty sure you’ll be good at it,” Torun replied.“The AIs say I’m good at micro-hypercircuitry,” Hilli told us. “They want to educate me further in AI core design.”“Wow! That’s seriously impressive, Hilli,” I answered. “Very few people can do that as most of it is handled by the AIs themselves.”“Yes, Aunt Vilgra was telling me that as well. I was planning on joining Ground Force, but Kirim said. Somewhat shaken – I stepped forward, and realized in front of me was a young man – unnaturally spread eagled to the point of almost doing the splits. His arms were strapped to the table by leather gauntlets, his head bent back over one edge of the table, and his tail bone flush with the other side. His legs stretched out either side by ropes. His lower half was concealed by a black silk sheet, its sheerness clinging to his body – he was clearly flaccid beneath. His arms were stretched out.