She watched briefly, enjoying the scene, then crept back downstairs and left the teens alone.That night she slept in her own bed, with her own husband... and made plans.It was a Friday night, the last one before Labor Day, the very beginning of the long weekend, the last big holiday before the fall started and school began again. The Romans were celebrating in a most carnal fashion, by closing all the draperies and locking all the doors, and then spreading comforters and pillows all over the. I worked with Neil and as a result had got to know Nikki quite well too, we often socialised together as couples with me and alison regularly meeting up with them on a saturday night. Unfortunately unbeknown to most people Neil was a heavy drinker when alone at home, and more often than not he became moody and violent with Nikki when in this state. One night she called me to say that he was in a particularly drunken state and that she needed a hand to get him to the bedroom because he was. ‘The new gardens. We should do that . . But it’s still raining.’ I pointed out. ‘Ah, come on.’ He encouraged. ‘You love the rain. Get dressed, I need some fresh air.’ He hopped up and went to get dressed himself. He was right. I did love the rain. I loved the smell of the wet soil and the sounds. Especially the sounds. The thud it made when it came down in thick, sparse fat drops. The whooshing noise when the wind blew it hard against the windows and the shushing sound it made when it was a. It wasn't blood but a strangely viscous black liquid that seeped out of her mouth, from the stumps of her arms and from a torso that was sliced apart just below her bosom, or at least the single breast that remained intact.It was obvious now. Colonel Vashti hadn't lied. Beatrice had been an android all along. This was the wreckage of a machine whose technological sophistication far exceeded anything that could be manufactured in the Solar System. The skeleton that supported the body was made.