"Now," I say, seating myself at the briefing table. "Here is where we're going." The picture of the ship and the moons comes up on the projection table.

"Wow," Linaeve whistles. "Looks, uh," she glances at me. "Uh, it looks interesting."

"Yeah," I say. "Anyway, we're due there in about two hours. So, see if anything needs to be fixed or repaired on the ship, then get dressed up, this is a fancy one. I'll be in my quarters."

"Maha?"

"Yes, Linaeve."

"What is this meeting for? Anything interesting? At all?"

"Unlikely. They want to congratulate us on 25 successful missions. And make sure we're not nuts yet." I stand up. Sitting is annoying.

"Anything else?"

"Yes, sir," Frayne stands as well, holding up some piece of computer equipment that looks remarkably like a vibrator.

"Frayne?"

"Well, sir, it's the diagnostic unit. It shut down when it was supposed to reboot.
Now I just can't get it up."

I jump a bit. "You what?" It takes me a full five seconds to realize what he's talking about. "Oh. Well, maybe we can pick up a new one at the store on the other ship. So, then, I guess the next two hours are free time for you both then. Do as you will.

"Dismissed."

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