?" Cabbage diet." Ick." Yeah, I didn't like it much, either. No loss. It wasn't working that well. So how 'bout yours. Get any?" No, I didn't get any,... I answered, just as I had every Monday for the past year."You're smiling, though. Date?" No." I shook my head, conscious that I was still smiling."Tell me," Alison urged."Just a really good dream," I admitted."Buddy, we have got to get you a girl," she said."I keep waiting for you to see the light and dump Eric."This banter was another usual. It had been one of the hallmarks of their previous visits.But there would not be parity on another level, she recognized wryly. While the humans were indeed unarmed, the metal detector built into her small backpack told her the same was not so of the Edenites. Each carried what was almost surely a knife in the folds of his clothing."You must leave these here," said the first native, pointing to her backpack. The Edenites had realized on their previous visit that these were what powered the. "You mean 'sack him'?" Oui. C'est ça. Sack 'im. They are trying to sack him, and all the people in 'is club are stopping work too." His club?" You know. 'Is club of workers." Oh. You mean his union?" Oui. Oui. C'est ça." She sighed once more. "'Arry, I would like a drink. Would you like one?" I may as well. I'll pop to the dining car and get it. What would you like ... Erm ... I'm sorry, I don't know your name." Oh, mon Dieu. Je suis désolé. This is so rude of me. My name is Céline. Céline de. I guess that was my flaw. Without their insistence we be friends, I wouldn’t have really had any. I didn’t normally have the drive or confidence.I didn’t stick around after that news. It just reminded me even further how our best years were really ending. It seemed more and more I’d inevitably leave my friends behind. I arrived home early, and kicked the late January snow from my boots. I couldn’t get the thought of the game out of my head though. To think, after all these years, The Far Plane.