I've realised that it's not fair of me to keep punishing you anyfurther." What do you mean, mummy?" I asked. "I thought you said I had to be agirl for...a whole year, so that you could be sure I'd learned to be verygood." Yes," said mummy. "I did say that. But I've decided that it would beselfish of me to keep you as a little girl when you've come so far. SoI've decided to end your punishment now. It's time for you to stop beinga little girl, Barry."I stared at mummy, and then burst out crying.. Tears streamed down her face as she struggled to control herself."What's so damned funny?" Angus snarled."You," Marion finally managed. "You and your son. You sounded like somethin' out of a bad movie. That poor little man didn't know what to do or say when you went all macho on him." She was wiping her face with her hands as she tried to get ahold of herself.I saw the grin on Rance's face, then the same on Angus. I knew then that they'd put on an act for the poor man, but I couldn't blame. By midnight, Ryan had blown out theflame.For the first time I could remember, I dreamt that night. I was at thehead of a dark cliff. I was staring out, and down, and the whole worldwas dark. Not the kind of suburb dark I was used to, where even if thestreetlights aren't working, you still get some glow from some businessopen 3 blocks away. This was middle-of-nowhere dark. I jumped off thecliff, but I'm not sure why. Flash! Woodchips. Did I smell woodchips?Flash! I was in a clearing,. What do you have?”“Rear turret is out as well as the port one. Repair shows another thirty minutes on the rear turret and an hour or more on the port one. Our tactical sensors are out and I’m beginning the cold startup procedure for Icky. Once he’s online – if I can get him online – he should be able to greatly increase the effectiveness of our repair efforts.”“In other words, we’re fucked if the enemy comes calling right now,” Arlene almost snarled.“Well, we did hit the water at something like.