. you were cute but probably not too smart. You looked ... vacuous.”“Whoa,” I said.“It was just a first impression,” Jill said quickly.“No... I’m just shocked a bimbo would know such a big word,” I replied. “I’m betting you’ve been called that a lot so you had someone explain it to you.”“I see why Liz calls you a dick so often,” she said.“I always knew,” I replied.“You did look ... a little blank at the convention center,” Jill said.“I was distracted and I was ... uncomfortable,” I admitted. “I. The light dawned pretty quickly and Captain Young looked like he had just bitten into a lemon, “Us, huh?” With a sigh, he added, “Damn it, I had hoped to never get caught up in that crap. All right, I guess since we have far more Marines than a standard colony transport, it’ll be easier and safer for us to do it. I’ll get my Marines on it as soon as your AI gets me the data on who we are grabbing.”“Thanks, Captain, these people really need and deserve it after what they’ve been through,”. The dwarf, without a word, activated it. Then we were off, hurtling down the dark tunnel lit by regularly-spaced lights.They whooshed by. It was scary at first as the lights rushed up, flashed, and then were gone. But soon I grew used to it. This cart seemed to be traveling down the tracks for longer and longer than last time. Then it burst out into the sunlight.The day’s warmth fell on me. It wasn’t even noon, and I gasped at the heat. I had spent the last four days in the cool cells. I had. Some services nail the promotion insignia on with a lick on the stripes, in the Navy they throw your ass in the water. I was lucky that the only water available was a sump about 15' deep at the Supply Office, placed there for fire protection. Of course everyone in the whole office who was not actively dunking my ass was pointing and giggling. Except for Gus. She just had a smile and a promise on her face, and the night we had would have been a wedding night, if other well-meaning people had.