" Laurel giggled then let out a loud gasp "is Grace going to be there?" with a loud sob "Grace thinks I'm a whore, Nedra understood me, Nedra knows I'... not a bad person, she said I was just naturally sensuous. It's not my fault women don't like me."Alex grabbed Laurel's shoulders "listen to me Laurel, it doesn't matter if Grace is there or not, I know you're not a whore and I never once thought it, this Nedra person was right so ignore people like Grace." Laurel flopped back on the bed "I want. I finally dragged my eyes up from her partially exposed bosom and was ready to mumble some sort of lame apology before getting the hell out of there! ‘Do you want to come out for a drink Astrid,’ I said in a strangely calm voice. Panic ran through me. What had I just said? Was I mad! What would she say?! ‘Yes that would be nice David. I’ll just put my jacket on,’ she replied with a warm smile, equally calmly before getting up and reaching for her suit jacket, but leaving it open and each. "I panicked coming back to reality. How would Kelly and her friendsreact? Even I didn't recognize me now with the overdone makeup. I was ashow girl strutting my stuff. I hesitated."I can't go out there like this," I said turning around to face thegirls. They were now all getting ready for their act. I was forgottenand in their way as they changed into their outfits and brushed on morelayers of makeup.Jaz took me by the arm. "Let's go," she said. "It'll be great. Kellywill be pleased to meet a. His new command.He stared again at the little list of twenty-four names displayed on his ready room wall. All of those 23 other names were his responsibility, and where he was going, his alone — he would have nobody to share this grand responsibility, nobody to blame if things went wrong. It was, he admitted to himself, a trifle scary.PositionRankNameConcubineCaptainCMDRKoenig, WilhelmLizaExecutive OfficerLTQuinn, SamuelKathrynEngineerENSO'Brien, VernonSarahNavigatorENSGreene,.