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Rika and Gamun jogged down the hallway, panting slightly as their rakkan lope quickly ate up the distance, -much like it had eaten the distance across the base. Both of them were late, and Rika hoped that they had a good enough excuse not to catch hell. In the civilian world she knew both of them would have been fine, the soot and smell of burning insulation on their environmental suits serving as satisfying evidence, but this was the military and she had learned early that logic wasn't always used.

She found an open door, the smells of familiar people wafting along with the scent of several strangers.

[Terribly sorry we're late, sir!] Rika called as they entered. She was shocked to see that everyone was in civilian attire; many in just shorts. A tall, dark furred rakkan in shorts and a vest shot her a severe look.

[So you think you can just waltz in here twenty minutes late, and 'sorry' is going to make it ok?! I would not expect such extreme disrespect from NCO's. Who is your commander?]

Both Shave and Tack were staring at their soot covered engineers. Rika's black face and ears only added to her burnt appearance.

[What the fuck happened to you two?] Demanded Tack.

[We were fighting a fire,] explained Mallet. [In Rika's avionics bay.]

[WHAT?!] yelled Shave. [How? Damage report, now!]

[The extent of the damage is unknown sir.] Said Rika. [The fire started in the flight control computer, then moved to the arrays before we got it contain with the pad suppressant. We were about to call base fire, but Mallet crawled in from the belly bay with a second halon hose and with both of us we got it out. Once we were sure it was cold we left and came here. FCC is boned, command computer is cooked and most of the arrays are too, but I don't know what else was damaged by smoke or heat.]

Shave looked like he was about to have an aneurysm.

[Positions.] He growled.

[Yes sir.] They replied, scrambling to take chairs behind their respective crews. Even from the back of the room she could see Shave brooding.

[Are you ok?] Whispered Lost.

Rika nodded. [Yes. I love my Enviro-suit. Never thought I'd say that.]

[Now that we're no longer interrupted,] said the rakkan at the front of the room, giving her a hard look. He seemed familiar to Rika, but she couldn't peg from where. [Ah, where was I? Oh, yes. As I mentioned before you'll be assigned an individual mentor to expedite the process. In this way we hope, with effort from you, to have everyone fluent in the dialect of your host nation several weeks before you deploy.]

Rika wondered who their host nation was. Now that she had fur and was going to keep it she really hoped it wasn't someplace hot like India or Southeast Asia. Her gaze shifted around the front of the room, looking for some evidence on where they might be going. It was just her pad in the room, so she assumed that they were all going to the same location. Maybe there was a flag or-

For the first time since entering the room she noticed the row of figures seated across the front of the classroom. Most of them were obscured by the bodies and heads in front of her, but she could see the person on the end closest to her. A dark grey rakkan with reddish-grey ears. He met her gaze and winked at her. Grenkle. They were going to North America. She turned her attention back to the instructor, trying not to smile.

[-Therefor do not get upset if your instructor refuses to use anything but english. Are there any questions?]

Rika raised her hand.

[Yes?]

"Is it possible to test out?"

The instructor stared at her for a moment, then looked at his roster. He didn't look happy when he looked up.

"No, it is not. Instructors may not test out of their own course... Bendrin. Save me some trouble and pick a student. One that is NOT from your own family."

"Sergeant Yasoud sir."

"It's patches off in this schoolhouse, Rika. It's how to function in their society, not pretend how in our own military."

"Understood. Gamun Yasoud then."

"Thank you."

Rika relaxed back in her chair, with many of her pad mates giving her odd looks. Gamun leaned over and whispered [What was that about? Am I in trouble?]

[Definitely,] muttered Rika. [I got myself assigned as your language tutor.]

The instructor began reading off names Rika recognized from the Voramn family, followed by the name of someone in the room, crew by crew. Finally the crew of the Farrom 8 were all that were left and he paused, looked at the seated figures, then at Lost, and a sadistic smile crept across his face.

[Matthew Voramn, Niedka Yasoi; Grenkle Voramn, Bagom Yasoi; and myself, Saska Voramn, with Ungow Yasoi. Instructors, you have them.]

Niedka spun around and Rika's grin confirmed his worst fears.

[Oh god. I have your dad, don't I?]

Rika nodded slowly.

[Help! There is going to be enough pressure as it is... he's gonna kill me! Please, ask him to switch with- fuck here he comes.]

Rika stood and Matt gave her a warm hug, then plopped himself down in the empty desk in front of Gamun; side ways to face Lost.

"How's it going kid? Has Sloberchops here been treating you ok?"

"Very well, actually. I'm quite happy to be his."

"Is that so? He sure looks worried." Matt gave him a stern look. "Almost like he was afraid I'd find something out."

"If I had come home with him on Earth and told you we had eloped you would have congratulated me on snagging a good one."

Matt raised an eyebrow in her direction. "Is that so?"

"You would be proud to have him as a son-in-law."

"Hmm," he regarded Niedka sternly. The rakkan tried his best not to wilt. "You do realize this means I'm going to have to give him a hard time, right? I only give shit to people I like."

Rika grinned, "I would be disappointed if you didn't."

"How long do you think we should keep him worrying?"

"I think it's been long enough. I have to give fluffy-butt behind you a hard time too."

"Are you going to get to walk in your old skin again for this?"

"Nope. They say they don't trust the stability of my translation enough to test it like that."

[Ah, that's a shame,] said Matt. [I was really hoping to you would.]

He turned back to Niedka, who was visibly shaking.

[You, on the other hand, received a glowing report. Apparently I should be proud to have you as son-in-law.]

[Oh?] He said nervously. [What's a son by law?]

[On Earth, it's the daughter's husband, and he usually is in a lot of tension with the daughter's father. So for Rika to give you that praise, and I know she wouldn't exaggerate or mislead me, is extremely high indeed. I'm glad my letter was pointless.]

Niedka sighed, slumping in relief. [I'm glad too.]

[So,] said Rika, turning to her friend. [Any last questions before I start stealing your words away one-by-one?]

Gamun gave Rika a blank look. [I don't remember that part of the brief. Just the part where you only speak english.]

[That's because we missed it. Grenkle over there,] she nodded towards where the offending rakkan was discussing something with an uneasy looking Bagom. [Taught me how to speak arlomic on the ride over. I'll be using the same method since it worked well for me and is likely the same thing they're using again here.]

[Oh. So I'm going to have to deal with you babbling along in your language, AND you forbidding me from using my own.]

[As we go.] Said Rika. [Once you know a word in english, I'll cut you off from the arlomic version.]

[Fuck, Rika.] Gamun looked worried. [All of this on top of being split off from Grum and the others... I'm really not looking forward to sleeping alone again. I know it doesn't bother you, but-]

[But I know, Mallet.] Rika smiled, [Lost has taught me more about rakkan culture and biology from where you left off. You won't have to sneak onto my bunk.]

She looked slightly relieved, but only slightly: [I'm still going to be so alone, with not being able to understand you... you're going to do this for the whole two months?]

"Yes." Rika grinned.

[Aw shit.] Groaned Gamun. [What does that mean? No?]

"No."

[That's a different word. Does that mean no?]

"Yes. No oni."

Gamun sighed. [Well, here goes thorns. I take it "Yes" is yes?]

"Yes!" Smiled Rika. "No etsh."

[I was afraid of that. I guess it's only inevitable.] She looked around the room. [Are we just going to yak in here all day?]

"Beats me." Said Rika. She was handed a blank sheet of paper by Saska and a pencil. In front of her, Matt was drawing rakkan body parts and naming them in english. Other pairs seemed to be using the paper to do similar naming tasks. Rika sketched a crude hammer in one corner.

[What's that?] Asked Gamun. [A hammer?]

Rika shook her head, pointed at the drawing, then pointed at Gamun. "Mallet."

"Mallet" Gamun chewed the word a few times, then looked at the drawing again. [Is that my callsign in english?]

"Yes," said Rika. "No [Mallet]."

[You... you stole my name.]

Rika shook her head. She held out a hand. "Gamun." Then she held out her other hand. "Gamun." She moved her hands up and down, repeating the name, as if she were weighing them.

[Well that's a relief,] Gamun said with a sigh.

Rika looked around the room for Saska, eventually giving up and tapping Matt on the shoulder.

"Yes, O' daughter of mine?"

"Is there a set agenda? I was preoccupied for the first part there."

"Nothing that's been shared with us. Obviously you two have your work cut out for yourselves on the flight line, but everyone else is at the mercy of their torturer- I mean tutor. We'll likely all wander around the simulation village enjoying ourselves and getting acquainted with the 'human experience' over the next few weeks."

Rika snorted. "Typical officers."

"Hah!" Matt laughed. "I thought the same thing. I might drag in-the-sauce here over to help you out later."

"He'd like that. Is there anything keeping us here then? We missed lunch. I'm getting hungry."

"Not that I know of. -Oh! After the fourth week is when they're going to put on their sheep's clothing, so you'll be free for that week- assuming you're not still slaving away trying to put that charcoal briquette back together."

Rika nodded. "We're going to eat I think."

"We'll be out soon too."

"Gamun," Rika said, mimicking eating with a pair of chopsticks. "Food?"

[What does "food" mean? Eating?]

"No."

"Nawath?"

"Yes! No 'nawath'."

[Aw, fuck.]

"Fuck."

[Fuck?]

"Yes. Fuck."

"Fuck."

"Yes! Only fuck now. No [fuck.]"

Gamun sighed.

[Shit, not another one.]

"Shit."

["Shit" is shit?]

"Yes! Only shit from here on out. No [shit]."

Gamun broke into a smile. [At least you're teaching me the important words. I am so glad you're not a prude. "Yes", I would like some "food."]

Rika stood, and motioned her friend towards the door.

"Let's go."

"Let's?" said Gamun, following Rika. Rika shook her head.

"Go."

"Go. [What is] go?"

Rika exaggerated her movement down the hallway, pointing where she was to where she was heading.

"Go!"

"Go [means walking?]"

Rika shook her head, repeating the motion.

[Travel?]

Rika wagged her tail, gesturing that Gamun was closer.

[What then? Move? Go?]

"Yes!" barked Rika, bouncing along the hall. "No more [go]!"

#

Gamun found lunch to be hell. She had lost more words, and grown relatively silent as she became hesitant to be corrected. This frustrated Rika, who was dependent on Gamun interacting with her to learn anything. It took her a few minutes at lunch, watching Grenkle teach a rather frustrated Bagom that she had an idea, and mercifully taught Gamun a phrase that saved her from being corrected if she forgot a word.

[Rika,] said her friend with a sigh. She held up her cup. [I forgot the word for this again.]

"How do you say this?" Said Rika, trying to smile kindly.

[I thought it was shorter. That's awfully-]

Rika shook her head and gently put the cup back on the table. She picked up her own cup and repeated:

"How do you say: ___?" She held up the cup. "How do you say: ___?" She held up her plate. "How do you say: ___?" She held up Mallet's PDA. Then she pointed at Gamun's mouth.

"How"

"How." Repeated Gamun.

"Yes! Do"

"Do."

"You"

"You."

"Say"

"Say."

Rika ginned.

"How-do-you-say?"

"How. Do. You. Say?"

"Yes!" She held up her plate. "How do you say" she gave it a little shake.

[That's called a "Plate"]

"Yes!" Rika put Gamun's cup back in her hand and held it up, then motioned for her to speak.

"How. Do. You. Say?" she gave the cup a little shake. Rika pointed to the drinking vessel.

"Cup."

"Cup."

"Yes!"

Gamun's eyes grew wide. [This is how I can ask for words?]

"Yes," said Rika. She held her hands wide apart.

[More than words?]

"Yes. More than words."

She had used it nearly non-stop after that, less concerned about loosing words now that she could simply ask for them instead. That afternoon while they pulled apart the burned avionics rack with Matt and Lost, Gamun had not only picked up the names for most of the tools, but had begun putting them together into crude phrases. They were knocking the soot off of removed components when she shocked them all.

"Computer is finish." Said Gamun, setting down a rag and a fine brush. Rika looked at the rakkan in surprise. She hadn't taught her "is" or word order.

"Want know English, I said you." Gamun, seeing the surprise on her face.

"I told you, I want-ed to know English." Rika corrected.

"Holy fuck!" said Matt, shocked at Gamun's progress.

"Fuck!" Mimicked Gamun cheerfully.

Lost cocked his head to the side. [What does "fuck" mean?]

Rika and Matt laughed while Gamun made a lewd gesture.

Three weeks later found them once again in the classroom. This time Rika and Gamun were almost fifteen minutes early; before the other members of either crew had arrived. They took the same seats they did had before: fourth seat from the front, side-by side, to allow for their respective crews to sit in front of them. In front of the class a young rakkan, possibly even younger than Rika, was putting up pictures of american traffic signs up across the front of the reactive board.

"Nervous?" She asked Gamun.

"A little, yes. There's nothing like sating on a tank filled with explosives and burning it in front of you while traveling fast on balloons to feel safe."

"Sitting," corrected Rika.

"Sitting. Sitting on a tank."

"Yes. It's not that scary once you get used to it. People on Earth would find flying a few feet away from a nuclear reactor terrifying."

"Nuclear? Reactor?"

"Makes power on a Farrom. Uses Hydrogen. Reme-"

"Oh! I remember! Yes. Nuclear Fusion Reactor. What does terrifying mean?"

"Terr is a word root that means 'extreme fear'. Terror is the fear its self. Terrify is to cause someone that fear."

"So terrifying means something that causes fear."

"Exactly."

"I should have let you teach your commander," said a voice above them. Rika looked up to see Saska standing over them. Ungow was nowhere in sight.

"He's struggling?" Asked Rika.

Saska shook his head. "He's not giving any effort. I'm shocked at how little he takes seriously. It's like he doesn't care. I'm jealous of your pupil."

"He's going to be fucked if he doesn't know english." Said Rika. "And Gamun's enthusiastic because I finally can't hold back teaching her. She's been pushing me for over a year."

"I hope the rest of you can kick some sense into him. If he doesn't pass the test after translation I'm going to have to report him to both your Commanding Officer and to Trachana."

"I would tell Trachana now." Said Gamun. "Skipper has small- No. A little pull on him, but Trachana has a way of lighting his tail on, um..."

"Fire." Said Rika.

"Yes! Lighting his tail on fire."

Matt slid into the seat opposite and kitty-corner to Rika.

"Did you teach her that?" Asked Saska.

"Teach what?"

"Skipper for commanding officer."

"Oh. Yep. Her and Rika. We already checked with Colonel Oontini; he was fine with it once I explained the history. Where's ding-dong?"

"Same place he usually is: the vault. I'm pretty sure he goes in there simply because he knows I can't follow him. Oh, speak of the devil." Saska moved to a seat two spots in front of Matt as Ungow entered the room.

"Rika, what does 'speaking of the devil' mean?"

Rika was distracted by Matt sliding something across her desk. She looked down as he withdrew his hand, and her jaw fell open. On her desk was a thin, dark durable pamphlet adorn with a crest and the name of a country she hadn't seen in a long time. She opened the passport to see the picture of dopey girl with brown hair, half-awake red eyes and light complexion. Her name, birth place and birthdate were printed in capitol letters beside the photo.

A plastic card fell out from the pages. She picked it up to see a similar picture; her driver's license number and former Earth address printed beside it.

"That's you!"

"It is, Gamun."

"You look sick."

"Drugs." Said Matt. Gamun cocked her head. He explained. "Chemicals. Make you feel really good, then really bad."

"Ah. [Drugs.] Is that why you bring Rika here?"

"Brought Rika here. And yes, it is. I thought the military would straighten her out."

Gamun gave Rika a contemplative look. Rika wilted, her ears sweeping back in shame.

"You made the right choice." Said Gamun. "I think we are very good for her. Thank you."

"You are welcome," said Matt. "I think so too. Thank you for helping to turn her around."

"You are welcome," Gamun smiled. "I have a great friend from it."

Rika gave her a sheepish smile. Matt reached over and tapped the driver's license.

"I would keep those to yourself for now," he said with a wink, "but Bar was adamant that I give those to you before class."

Rika gave an exaggerated nod.

"Gotchya."

"Good morning," said the rakkan in the front of the room. "I am Corporal Voramn, and-"

"AHEM." Said Saska.

"Apologies. My name is Seleaik and I will be teaching you Earth civilian vehicle operation and traffic laws of the United States. Are there any questions?"

Rika's hand shot up.

"Yes?" Seleaik looked mildly surprised.

"Rika Yasoi. May I test out?"

He laughed. It was almost mocking. "Without any instruction? Hah. I don't think so. Now, the first part of this course will cover the signs and signals used to direct traffic. It is impor-"

"I'll bet you a case of Cratza I'll pass. Big bottles. Not the small ones."

The corporal stared at her a moment.

"A pallet." She added. "I'll have it delivered to your front door. My commander will make sure I get it there."

The corporal shook himself out of shock, then looked at Shave. Shave was shaking his head in disbelief. Lost leaned back.

"Rika, have you lost your, uh, head?" he whispered.

[I'll keep her to her word,] said Shave.

The corporal opened his desk, withdrew a packet of paper and a pen, and handed them to Rika.

"This is the first part. Old style. No PDA, no cheating," he said with a grin. "Oh, and you have to get them all correct in order to pass. You have thirty minutes."

Rika looked down at the paper. It was multiple choice, written in english. She had to get everything right to get her license initially, and this was no different. It took her ten minutes to finish. She looked it over, then handed it back. He appeared slightly amused, took it, looked over it, and barely contained his surprise. It was short lived however, as he quickly glared back at her.

"There's more to books in this. Next is a practical. For the rest of you we will begin our familiarization now instead of signs. I was going to do that this afternoon, but I'll switch for today."

Rika looked up in shock. Did they have cars here? How the hell did they get them aboard a ship, and was it really worth hauling a few thousand dollar hunk of plastic and steel half way across the galaxy just for a driver's ed course? Now that she was an engineer, she appreciated how much energy it took to move things like that.

"That's right," said Seleaik, misreading Rika's look of shock. "You have to drive correctly to pass too. Everyone, please follow me out to the parking lot."

The parking lot was rather large, about the size of the lot in front of a grocery store, and abutted what Rika recognized as a mock road system. She could make out "buildings" in the small town, along with street signs, traffic lights, and lane striping, and in the distance she could see what might have been an on ramp to a small loop "freeway".

"Rika," whispered Gamun, "Are those human, uh, human.."

"Cars?" She whispered back. "Yes."

There were five vehicles parked in a line, backed into stalls in the back of the lot. The first was a small coupe; silver in color and it would have been newer when she left Earth. The second was a large sedan, early 2000's, baby blue, and in pristine condition. She wondered momentarily what old fart they had bought it off of, and if it still smelled like cabbage and cigarettes inside. Parked slightly crooked beside it was a red sports car from... Rika guessed the early nineties. Then there was a large, worn looking white passenger van, followed by a...

Rika stopped. Ten yards in front of her an early eighties ford ranger sat, wheels slightly askew and a light coating of dust on the windshield. The rust spots, the dents, the crack on the grill, the crumpled spot on the driver's side quarter panel where someone had tried to fix a dent, the bent antenna, the number on the Wisconsin plates, all of it she knew too well. This was Matt's truck.

"Please familiarize yourselves with the vehicles." Said the instructor. "All of you but Rika may have a pamphlet describing the operation and general controls. They differ from vehicle to vehicle, so I encourage you to locate where everything is. Rika, let me know when you have selected a vehicle to take your road test in."

Rika barely heard him. She made a beeline to the little truck and Gamun followed, full of curiosity. The door was unlocked. She opened it, and the musty smell of old vinyl flooring, dirt, and general forest loam washed over her. She could smell Matt here. She could smell-

Blood. Matt's blood. And Grenkle. And there was no scent of her at all. Her eyes darted around the cabin. It looked just like Matt's truck. Even a thorough cleaning wouldn't be able to remove her scent completely from it, and she knew now that she could rely on her nose. Yet she recognized the crooked shift pattern on the stick handle, the broken vent, the cracked forking on the sun-baked dashboard, the place where she had scratched her name on the-

She froze. Her name wasn't on the glovebox. She had etched it there not too long after Matt had adopted her. It had earned her a short lecture on taking care of things, but that was it. Matt had never brought it up again. Rika liked the etching, and she had a sneaking suspicion Matt did too.

Only now it wasn't there. There were the same wear marks on the knob; the flat spot where the ridges had been worn off; and the bent corner that meant you had to give it a little extra push to get it to close. She paused for a moment, then opened to glove box and withdrew what she recognized as the registration. It had expired over ten years ago, but her eyes quickly found the name. The passenger door opened, and a dark furry head poked it's way in

"What's with this car, Rika? It looks a lot older than the rest. Can it-"

Rika shoved the registration in front of her friend and pointed a claw at the name. Gamun read.

"Matthew Bendrin... whoa."

"Yeah."

"This is the car you drove then?" She asked, shoving her head further in, sniffing fervently. "I don't smell you in here. Well, not the human you."

"No. And that's puzzling. Also, I etched my name here," Rika said, pointing to the glove box door."

"Weird."

Rika caught the hood release and pulled. Gamun followed her to the front where she lifted the hood and set the prop. Below her was spacious engine compartment, nearly identical to how she remembered. Even the missing paint on the valve cover. It suddenly hit her as her eyes scanned over the valve cover, then across the exhaust manifold. She realized why the engine on the truck she remembered always looked a little funny. This engine had bolts. The one on Earth didn't.

She had a funny feeling that the truck she had ridden in and learned how to drive hadn't been made on Earth. Still, if it had been made too look nearly perfectly like this original she was willing to bet it functioned like it too, making this the optimal choice for taking her road test in. After all, it's what she passed it the first time in.

"I'll be using this one," she announced to the instructor. She looked at the tires to see that they had pressure and adjusted the mirrors. She pulled the dipstick to make sure it had oil. The instructor came up as she closed the hood.

"You're taking the test in this?" He had almost an air of disgust. "You do realize this... machine is an antique, and very difficult to drive. It has a completely different technique than the others and requires a lot more skill."

"Well-" started Rika.

"No backing out now." He said, sneer forming on his face. "Let's go."

Rika climbed in the driver's side, tucking her tail to the side and stuffing it into the crevice where the seat cushion met the backrest. She closed the door with a rattle and Seleaik handed her a key. She took it and he leaned back in his seat, fastening his seatbelt while giving her a crocodile smile. She put the key in the ignition, figured out how to work the pedals with digitigrade feet, stepped on the brake and clutch, and turned the key to "Start".

There was a "clack" and the lights dimmed, but that was it.

"You broke it!" Laughed Seleaik. "How are you going to pass if you damaged the vehicle?"

"Because I didn't damage anything," said Rika, leaving the key at 'on' and rolling down her window. "Hey Mallet, Lost, can you give me a push?"

"The whole course?" said Lost. "The machine won't go?"

"No." Said Rika. "Just get me up to jog and let go."

She held in the clutch but took her foot off the brake. She felt them slowly creep forward as Gamun called for more hands.

"You don't actually think they can push you through the whole test, do you? The test is several miles long, and you'll need to get up to highway speeds for part of it, not to mention the hills. Call it now and you can just give me a case."

"Nope."

She snapped her foot off the clutch and lightly stepped on the gas. There was a screech of tires, and then the engine roared to life with a visceral vibration the truck on Earth lacked. She quickly put the clutch in again, and then drove to the exit of the parking lot before stopping.

"Where do you want me to go?"

Seleaik sat stunned.

"Uh. Left. Go left."

Rika signaled, checked for traffic, and turned left. It turned out to be a fairly thorough driving test, but nothing out of the ordinary. On the "interstate" they had holographic traffic to practice merging, passing, and following distances on. She caught him by surprise when she went to pass an exceptionally slow truck. The ranger was, to the average person, underpowered. In fifth gear passing was out of the question, but Seleaik had apparently never thought of grabbing a lower gear for more toque.

The engine roared at Rika downshifted and stepped on the gas, passing the vehicle with grace (yet far from in accessive speed). He instructed her to get off at the next ramp, and she did. His shock from earlier was wearing off, but his stupidity wasn't. She could see the lot ahead: the road leading up to the back entrance separated by a large, wide section of pavement that looked darker than the rest.

"This is a skid pad," he said. "You need to put the vehicle into a slide, then recover, and if we're still on the pavement and going straight pull into the parking lot and back in and we'll be done."

In northern Wisconsin they drive on the lakes in the winter, and Matt had used it as fun tool in teaching her winter safety. She had it in the hat. One skid, one recover, and Seleaik was stewing as she backed into the space she had started from.

"I... I'll start your paperwork," he said through a set jaw as she set the brake and turned the engine off.

"No need," she said, slapping a small plastic card into his lap. He picked the card up and looked at it, then at her, his eyes narrowing.

"You... Your his daughter. If you think I'll tolerate you making a fool of me... If you think I'll sign off your license after this-"

"I don't give a shit," said Rika. "My license is still good, and my military ID has a pre-translation picture on it."

"I ought to confiscate this."

"I can just get a replacement while I'm there. It's not like it has expired."

A large human leaned into her window. He was grinning.

"So, what's it like to drive the original?"

"It makes me wonder why they bothered to copy this pile of bolts."

"Nobody expects a tiny, archaic pickup to do the secret things the other one can do."

"Oh."

"Hey Seleaik, how did she do? Does she owe you booze or are you going to give her that license she doesn't need?"

"No. Not after a stunt like this. I'm confiscating this card, too. It's no longer valid as she's no longer a citizen of Wisconsin."

"But I am." Rika showed him her passport. "And I can always get a replacement from the DMV when I'm there. I have all the documentation I need between this and my military documents."

Seleaik reached for the passport.

[Confiscate that and you'll not only miss the next deployment, but spend it in the brig.] Bar grumbled through the passenger window. [You don't have the authority to take either of those. Try that on Earth and you'll end up in prison.]

"If you don't get yourself thrown off this deployment, Seleaik," said Matt, "you'll find yourself surrounded by people who know a lot more and have a lot more experience than you do with everything you teach. The whole team has told you to slow down, pay attention, and be mindful of what you don't know. You didn't know Rika grew up human. You didn't know that she learned how to drive on a copy of this very truck on Earth. She could have taken you to the cleaners, but instead she only deflated your ego. I know they call us professionals when it comes to operations in North America, but you need to remember that what you call a profession, they call every day life. Now I put Rika up to this, so dump that grudge you're nursing and realize that you have a resource to exploit. Rika has been there and lived it. Use her experience to bolster areas you are lacking in, and share some experiences she has had with both you are your students. On top of that, Rika can teach stick, something you haven't picked up yet."

Seleaik sighed, then offered his hand to Rika, palm up.

"I'm sorry."

Rika took it, twisting it until it was vertical, and shook it.

"Apology accepted. Do you want help?"

He handed her license back.

"I do. Can you take half? I'll handle the senior officers since, as you know, they don't do much driving."

"No problem."

Bar backed up and he got out. Rika made to do the same, but Matt didn't move. His face had taken on a new level of seriousness.

"Tune to FM 105.7, cassette eject, play, and honk the horn."

"What?"

"If you ever find yourself in an emergency and have my truck, my other truck, tune to FM 105.7 and hold down eject, play and the horn. We had to sell the truck to get out of a bind last time, but we plan on buying it back when we're down next."

"Assuming it's still around."

"It will be. It won't die, you never fuel it, and you can't even dent it. Once the owner finds that out I'm willing to bet he won't give it up for the newest sports car. Armed aliens with money, on the other hand..."

He backed up and she got out. Gamun was waiting for her. They talked as they followed the group back in. Lost shadowed them, listening in.

"What was that about?" asked Gamun.

"Matt had me knock someone off their high horse."

"A high horse?"

"I humbled someone."

"Oh. Good." Said Mallet. "He had an ego. Can you help me with these signs? I still can't read well and I'm nervous."

"You don't need to read. All the signs have unique shapes and colors and pictures. The ones that have words you don't need to read to understand, except for navigation markers."

Lost breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good. Your writing makes no sense at all."

Rika laughed. "Yeah, it's a pain in the ass."

#

Sparks relaxed into his chair, lifting the footrest before setting his drink on the end table. He had miraculously been placed in an apartment to himself. Housing was extra tight on and off base: Most of it had been damaged or destroyed in the Skinny attack and an aircraft graveyard wasn't exactly high on the list of priorities when it came to rebuilding bases.

He had a two bedroom- almost too big for him, but he didn't mind the extra space and he sure as hell wasn't about to say anything about it. Extra spacious sure beat the cramped conditions aboard the carrier.

He picked up his tablet and began reading the news, but it wasn't long before his mind drifted back to work. They were going to participate in a huge exercise occurring in their backyard. It echoed the "Red Flag" of years gone by, and since they were making little headway on tactics against skinnies, neither the CO or he saw a reason they shouldn't participate.

Shepard, on the other hand, had been livid.

"You set us up to do WHAT?!"

"It's like Red Flag, only the mock aggressor is supposed to emulate the skinny attack."

"How?! Reports say they destroyed F-22's like they were nothing. We have nothing to teach, and we're stretched thin just trying to put these zombie craft together while supporting your flight schedule."

"We're the squadron that's supposed to be developing those tactics, Shepard! It's not like we can sit it out."

"We're barely up and running. We have half the airworthy aircraft a squadron normally has, and half of those are usually down for one thing or another."

"We don't have to commit everything," he had told her. "Just enough to show we're not vacationing out here. Besides, Skipper wants to use this exercise to work the rest of the kinks out of our jets before the six month school starts. He's not expecting miracles."

Her protests had been minor after that, but he understood her concern: it took a tremendous amount of manpower, time, and effort to get a jet airworthy from the boneyard, and not much was left over to support flights and repairing the flying aircraft they had. Maybe he could contact this "Commander Ungow" and see about pushing the start date back a month to give them time to recover. If he-

There was a knock at the door.

"One minute!" he said, getting out of the chair. He opened the door. Echo was there, covered head to toe in dust except where the sweat had washed parts of it away, forming ribbons of mud that flowed down his face and in patches on his filthy flight suit. Over his shoulder was slung a scratched and torn sea bag.

"What the hell happened to you?"

"Officer's barracks collapsed while we were at work. Lucky nobody from nights lived in that bombed out piece of shit. You got a spare room, right? Everywhere else is full."

Sparks raised an eyebrow. "We're not supposed to mix grades, Echo."

"I know, but even Avi and Ordnance Tops are sharing a room with senior chief, and Skipper, Sniper, and the Sergeants Major are crammed into the same place. I don't know how you got a place to yourself, or why it hasn't been filled yet."

Sparks stepped aside.

"I guess if you take the other room we can't get in trouble."

"Thanks, Sparks," Said Echo, knocking as much dust as he could off himself before coming inside. Sparks was moving a worn-looking bookcase into the living room when there was another knock at the door. This time it was Shepard standing there, coated in dust and sweat-mud and a rather irritated look on her face. Over one shoulder was a ripped seabag, over the other was what Sparks guess the sleeping system and pad from her field gear.

"Officer's barracks?" He said. She only nodded. Cypher walked up behind her and Sparks sighed.

"Echo!" He called, "Put your shit in my room! We're filling up."

He closed the door and sighed. At least he knew these people, even if they were likely to be sick of each other before the end of the month. He paused, then pulled up the phone roster on his tablet and looked for a number, then dialed. With any luck he could get a working party in the morning to dig some mattresses out from the rubble. If not, well, they'd all done field exercised before. At least his apartment was air conditioned.

#

There was a thump, followed by an "Ow!" from inside an open floorboard, just past the threshold of the Farrom 8's back room.

"You alright?" Asked Matt, peering into the hole.

Rika rubbed her head on a spot between her ears.

"Yeah. Fucking bracket got me."

"They'll do that. Bastards."

"Heh. Those assholes. Can you hand me the head-swage please?"

Matt poured over the open toolbox. "All these weird tools of yours. What size bolt are you securing?"

"Nine sixteenths!" Called Rika.

Matt snorted, "Right. Sure thing. Are you sure it's not metric?"

"Ha! Give me a four thirty three."

He handed down the tool, peering into the hole as he did.

"So how exactly does this thing work?"

His daughter reached up to take the tool, a goofy canine grin crawling across her face.

"Fucking Magic."

"I thought that was the case."

"It's not too bad, actually. I already showed you the reactor when we shot the wires for the sensor and control modules. That takes hydrogen and runs it down to... well, most of it goes to iron or nickel. We siphon oxygen off if we need it since most of the energy is out of it by then anyway. The grungy job last week was, well..."

"You mean all those 'wicks' or whatever you called them? They need to figure out how to make a paint with them in it. They'd be easier to install."

Rika's barking laughter could be hear echoing in the belly.

"Yes, those. They scavenge all the waste heat and send it back to the iron containment unit. Releasing iron plasma is how we get rid of our waste heat. It's a lot more efficient that radiation, though we can do that too by reversing the wick flow. It's handy in atmosphere where we can use convection."

"That's got to be a hell of a lot of heat for the maneuvering you talk about."

"It is. Even at 70% efficiency it's a lot. But it's also our main weapon."

"The heat?"

"The iron plasma. We can run it through an accelerator that strips electrons off it and accelerates it close to the speed of light."

"An ion engine."

"Right. But with iron instead of hydrogen. Much heavier. Now, do you know what a Parthian shot is?"

Matt started to nod, slowly. "So you just flip around, kick on the after burners and... how much mass do you dump?"

"We can loose about a kilogram of iron in a second at full tail."

"Holy fucking shit! That's like a small nuke!"

"Yeah. Like I said: main weapon. But we also have a... hold on, converting units... two? Gigawatt, three millisecond laser, and five missile bays underneath. We can take light Nightmares, Maulers, and Couriers or some combination of the three, but that's it."

"And no armor."

"None. Just the eddy currents from our massive engine, which is enough for deflecting micro debris but not much else."

"Yesh. That sounds unnerving. It's like flying in a soup can with a laser pointer at one end, a blowtorch at the other, and a flare gun or bottle rockets taped under the middle."

"Not bad when you're the fastest thing out there. Well, sans an M-238. Aircraft don't have any armor either, and our role is to chase down and intercept communications, and make first defensive contact with enemy. Hit-and-runs are our specialty. Nothing especially heavy-duty."

"That's true. I guess it's not bad when you put it like that."

"Here," she said, handing up the head-swage. "Can I get a... let's try a five fifty one."

Matt traded tools with her.

"I'm curious about this engine of yours. No exhaust, no nozzles, not even positioning vents. How the hell do you move out there, fast thoughts?"

"Hah! No, though when I started engineering school I wondered the same thing. You see this big ass cylinder?" She gestured to a cylinder about as big around as a 55 gallon drum that ran from tip to tail of the farrom, just under the floorboards of the cabin. Fluid lines, wire harnesses and fiberoptic cables ran the length of it.

"Yeah."

"I'm not sure exactly how it works, because if anything goes wrong with it we pull it and replace it-"

"Even out in the system?"

"Yep. It needs some extra specialized equipment and the tolerances are too tight to tune off the ground. If it goes bad in flight we're just fucked. Thank God it's really two separate systems in one, so if one goes pear-shaped we can limp it home. Anyway, it focuses... I think we call it the Strong Force and Antistrong Force-"

"You mean weak force?"

She shook her head, handing up her tools.

"No. Like antimatter. Antistrong Force."

"Gotchya. How does one generate strong force? Isn't that in a nucleus?"

"Again, no clue. Like I said: if it breaks we pull it and turn it in for a rebuilt."

"Oh. Ok. You were saying?"

"It focuses several, well, beams I guess- of these forces in front and behind. Where they converge a gravity well is created, or if Antistrong Force is used, a gravity hill. Then they can be tuned in magnitude and shape."

"Oh wow!"

"I know, pretty cool. Hand up?"

He grabbed her hand and hauled her up out of the hole.

"Thanks. Now I need to find an inspector."

"Isn't everyone in translation right now?"

"Nah," said Rika, "Farrom 4 was just towed onto our pad. I'll have Pip or Flop or Socks inspect, and then Flick can pro it. With a little luck I'll deliver Shave a ready vessel tomorrow when he wakes up."

"I bet you're looking forward to that. You and Gamun are like two peas in a pod. Did they tell you what time they'll let you back in?"

Rika's expression frosted over.

"No. And I don't care."

"No? You were pretty adamant about staying with her and Niedka." Said Matt, his expression betraying some of his curiosity.

"And then they called Trachana and had him keep me out of there."

"You were going to spend the whole week sitting with sedated people! They have medical staff there to watch over them, they didn't need you wasting your time with them."

"Gamun did it for me," grumbled Rika. "She was by my side the whole time, day and night."

"I'm sure she appreciated you wanting to do that for her-"

"I'm not even allowed to visit, dad!!" She snapped. "You spend three years with someone at your side, going through bullshit with each other, and then have that person and your spouse kick you out for over a week, and not even let you visit them while they slept! Do they think that just because I'm human I don't bond with people? They can have it their way then! Fuck them! Fuck them both!"

"Rika, I'm sure they didn't mean it like tha-"

"I don't give a rat's ass what they meant. My whole life has been being kicked away from one person I thought I could count on to another. You're the only one who took the care to make sure I was only a baton pass to your own family. I don't have to work with Gamun if I don't want too, and I've seen enough shitty marriages on Earth to know how to get away from a person."

"He'll get your matriarch involved."

"And what's he going to do? I don't have to physically push Lost away, just make him find he doesn't want to be around me."

"You don't want to tear that apart Rika, it won't end well in the-"

"I'm not tearing people apart!" She shouted. "They already tore us apart! Do you have any idea how much this fucking hurts?! It would be one thing if it was beyond their control, but they are the ones that made it happen! I can't even visit!"

Matt leaned back, regarding her with that same thoughtful expression he had given her after the cement incident.

"Do you want in? I can get you in if you want."

"How? There's two matriarch's in there. Three if the skipper is visiting."

Matt grinned mischievously.

"I'm notorious for a reason, Rika. I'll ask you again: do you want to visit?"

"No. It's the day before. It's the damage is done and it's too late."

"Well then, how can I help?"

Rika was silent for a few minutes. Several ideas came to mind, and she weighed the morality of them. Finally:

"Can you keep Lost off the flight line for the next week or so? And awake. I want him to feel the time passing."

Matt regarded her for a moment, then a cruel smile crept across his face.

"Oh yeah. A week. No problem. Maybe even two. Less than that will be a challenge."

"No problem. Just... don't injure him."

"I won't. Planning on burying yourself in your work?"

"Yup."

"Just make sure not to keep your wounds from healing Rika. Holding them open out of anger or spite hurts yourself far more than everyone around you, and they don't have antibiotics for that kind of infection. I'll see to it that you get the solitude you need to recover."

"You're not afraid of your handlers interfering?"

"Who? Grenkle and Bar?" He broke into a grin. "They're accomplices half the time. Saska's the only one who tries to control me anymore, and when I have those two helping me he can't get much traction. I used to keep them on their toes, but my acts are far more appropriate and thought out than in my younger years. I've learned it's easier to get them on board than out maneuver them. Especially when they start learning your tricks."

He stood and dusted off his pants and shirt. "I should be going. I'm planning on visiting the infirmary this afternoon."

"I thought we were going to go out with Grenkle after this. Something pop up?"

He smiled and winked at her. "You could say that."

#

Lost perked up as he heard the hiss of the ward door. Gamun sat up, and a few seconds later he saw a familiar face moving at a determined walk down the isle. If Matt was paying attention, he didn't show it. He didn't even budge from where he slouched with his hat over his eyes, novel balanced on his knee.

[Rika!] Called Niedka, [Where have you been? I've been missing you badly! Why-]

Rika ignored him, blasting by like a rivulet of poured liquid nitrogen. She stopped a few beds away, rummaging around in the stand next to it.

[Rika, come here! If there is something wrong we need to talk.]

Rika ignored him. She found whatever it was she was looking for, and powered back towards the door again.

[RIKA! Come here NOW!] Demanded Niedka. The only reply was the door cycling at the end of the ward.

[What the hell was that?] Said Lost. [I asked that she be allowed back in, is this why she hasn't visited me?!]

[She's been like this for the past week.] Said Mallet. [Ever since I woke up. She is perfectly normal everyone else. You and I though: Arctic wind.]

[WHY?!]

[Trachana said she was pretty upset at being kicked out of the infirmary and even more angry at not being allowed to visit.]

[She was going to sit with sleeping bodies for a week!] Cried Lost. [What the hell was I supposed to do, let her waste her time in boredom and misery?]

[She didn't see it as a waste,] said Matt. Lost and Mallet both jumped.

[But she spent time with you rather than doing nothing,] said Niedka.

[She lived with me for only a little longer than she's known Gamun. We cast our relationship as father daughter, but with you- both of you- she met in the furnace of trying times, and in that fire you forged your relationship with her. Forged. Not just cast. I adopted her as an orphan; an unwanted in society. She has never had a relationship as strong or as close as she has had in either of you, and in not letting her be with you she feels that you rejected her. In her mind you've repeated what she's been told her whole life: That she's not wanted.] He stood, knocking his book and hat to the ground in the process.

[You.] Said Lost. [You did this. You messed with my adaptation. You kept me in the hospital.]

[You know Niedka, after she told me how much it hurt I asked her if I should do anything. She made me promise not to hurt you.]

[What did you do to me?!]

[I kept my promise, Lost, both of them. I need to go. The Trisona takes a lot longer to get to Earth than your photons from hell, and she's leaving tonight. Good luck in fixing things with her.]

And with that, Matt picked up his book, put on his hat, and walked towards the door.

[Come back here, you fucker!] Yelled Lost. [What did you do?!]

The door cycled.

[Fuck, Lost!] Said Mallet, her hands groping for ears that were no longer there. [No visiting; no wonder she's pissed! Why did you do that?]

[We were going to be unconscious! What point would it be to come in and listen to breathing? She doesn't even want to sleep together, why should being apart from sedated sacks of meat matter so much to her? Now that we're awake she's acting as if we were still sedated. Does she not realize how much it hurts us to be kicked away like this?]

[I think her point is that she knows all too well,] said Gamun. [Humans are weird, Lost. Just because they don't want to sleep as a whole or always be around each other doesn't mean the time they do spend with you is any less meaningful. When she was translated I was forced by the CI's to literally hold her hand for every day of it. Even though the CI's wouldn't give us any other choice, she still took a lot of meaning in that. I knew it did at the time, but wasn't until this past week that I comprehended the magnitude of what that act meant to her. She wanted to spend that week with us to show we mattered; that we were worth a week of her time doing nothing else. We told her we didn't want her love, so now she with holds it all.]

Lost stared at the floor and sighed.

[I fucked up.]

[Yeah you did. Are you going to talk to Trachana to see if he'll make her stop?]

[Already did. He told me "You made your mattress, now sleep in it." or however that fucking phrase went.]

[Ouch.]

[Yep. So now we think of what else we can do reach out to her. I need to resolve this before we deploy -assuming I'll be able to.]

[I don't think we can do anything,] said Gamun. [You can tell her you hate her and she's worthless and she won't stay angry more than an hour. She's used to words being hollow, but she takes actions seriously. We hurt her at her weakest point. Neither of us can do anything until she's ready, and that might take a long time.]

Lost cradled his head in his hands.

[Oh god. I'm so sorry for cutting the legs off of your friendship.]

[It's not all your fault. I approached Trachana too about getting her out of the ward before they put me under. I didn't realize how grave of a mistake it was until I woke up and she avoided me like taxes. Do you think Trachana knew?]

[Of course he knew. He asked me if I was sure, and that should have made me think twice but I didn't. He's the kind of guy that will let you light yourself on fire if you want to do it.]

Gamun sighed, standing off the mattress.

[I hope they release you soon. I have a feeling this is going to be a rough deployment.]

[Thanks. I hope she warms up to you soon.]

[I don't have my hopes up. This is the end of the week and she hasn't budged.]

[If only there was some way to show her we knew how badly we fucked up and regretted it.]

They were silent a moment. Then Gamun looked up.

[Actually, I might know of a way. I've been reading about human mythology -weird stuff; I like it- but I read something in one of their sacred texts. It's not practiced anymore according to Rika, but she'll understand the symbolism without a doubt.]

[Oh?]

[Yeah. I'll see you around. I'm off to find the nicest thing I have.]

[To give to her? I don't think she'll receive bribing-]

[No,] said Gamun, shaking her head. [To destroy in front of her.]

[What?!]

[Like I said, it's weird, but it's something she won't take lightly. Like I said, she takes actions seriously. So if she ignores it, well, then we'll know where we stand then, too.]

#

Smokey sighed and leaned back against his console.

[Well that's a relief. I'm glad he'll be back so soon. I was worried we would be pulled from the deployment.]

Shave paused in the main hatch of the Farrom.

[So was I. I've already filed for a flight tomorrow afternoon to put the crew back through the paces. We're going to go through re-qual for everyone on everything.]

[Sir, our qualifications haven't expired.] Said Rika. [You were only out one week and it's been but two since our last maintaining flight.]

[I know,] said Shave, [but I want everyone to be the sharpest they can be for this deployment. We'll be doing this every day until we depart. -the whole pad.]

With that he turned and climbed down the ladder. Smokey gave her a friendly smirk.

[It's a good think you did all that grooming maintenance!]

[Half of that time was just fixing this thing after the fire. Holy shit, Smokey, that's an eight hour flight every day! I can't sit those out -I'm going to be violating crew rest just trying to keep up on this thing!]

There was the sound of someone stumbling outside, and Rika turned an ear in time to hear a curse in Gamun's voice. She reached up at hit the large hatch close button on the bulkhead beside her. The footsteps became a sprint, and she cursed silently as she heard Gamun jump and clear the door before it sealed its self shut. Smokey looked impressed.

[That was a nice leap there, Mallet.]

[Thanks. 'morning Smokey,] she panted. [Rika.]

Rika didn't move, instead she glowered over something on her console.

[Rika, this is a Merhizmah. It's a sacred vase made with clay that's unique to my parent's original planet, and it may only be made by hand and by a Walker. Traditionally a person makes or purchases one with the first money they earn themselves. In it is placed anything that is to be offered to the spirit that is, including things you cherish, prayers, and the ashes of anything you loose off of your body; like a hand or tooth. When it is full it is placed on top of a mountain or buried in a swamp. There aren't many Walkers around anymore, so it took me almost a year to save up for this.]

Rika ground her teeth. If Gamun thought that she could just be bought off-

SMASH!

Rika didn't need the look off horror on Smokey's face to know what had happened. She spun around, jaw agape in shock. A pile of destroyed pottery pay at her friend's feet.

[Gamun... what... Why?]

It was then that she saw her friend's face. Tears ran from her eyes. Her face scrunched and quivered.

[I am so sorry for hurting you Rika!] Gamun broke down crying. [Please! Cut this shit out and stop pushing us away! We didn't know how much being there with us meant to you or we would have never stopped you.]

[Why did you break this Gamun?! You might not be able to get another!]

[To make you listen. I know you listen to actions, even if you ignore everything else, and I needed to show you I was sorry. You're killing me Rika! I have no other friend like you! I know now how much Lost and I hurt you. Please,] Gamun's voice quivered, and fresh tears began leaking down her cheek. [Please stop.]

Rika stood and wrapped her friend in a hug.

[I forgive you. And I'm sorry for acting so childish.]

[I don't blame you. Matt told us your past, and why it mattered so much to you. Lost is pretty torn up too. We should probably go see him before he hangs himself. You know how soft he is.]

Rika looked up at Smokey, who only smiled and waved them off.

#

Lost had shorts on and was trying to figure out human shoes when they came in.

[Mallet!] he said, [They're letting me go a day early- oh! Hello Rika!]

Rika walked briskly up to him dipped down, and drove her fist into his stomach as hard as she could. Niedka crumpled to the floor, coughed, threw up, and then dropped to his side, groaning while curled into a ball.

"Don't you EVER pull that shit again, you hear?!" Rika snapped, before turning and walking away.

[Wha -What *gasp* the fuck *cough* was that?!]

[That,] said Gamun, [was 'I love you'.]

He groaned and shakily began climbing back to his feet.

[Have her send a card next time.]

[Rika doesn't say important things in words, Niedka. You should know that.]

A few moments passed where Niedka did little but sit on the bed and hold his stomach. Gamun wiped the little bit of vomit off the floor with a bed sheet. Suddenly there was a clamor at the door; Shave and Smokey walking in. Shave looked especially cheerful.

[A day early Lost! That's great! I got us a short flight this afternoon to knock the corrosion off... What the hell happened to you?]

[Rika forgave me,] said Niedka with a cough.

[Looks like it hurt,] said Smokey.

[It did. But Gamun says it's over with.]

[Good,] said Shave. [Because once it interferes with mission I was about to write her up. If Trachana won't do anything about it then I will.]

The door cycled again and Rika walked back through. She had some clothes over her arm.

[Here, furless one,] she said, holding out a pair of pants. [It's not warm enough to wear shorts outside.]

Lost looked at the other three human-looking rakkan, all wearing pants of one form or another.

[Oh. Thank you.]

[Yup. And I couldn't find you a long-sleeved shirt, so here is a jacket.]

[Thanks.]

[See?] Said Gamun, [Forgiven. Your FlatFace is back. As ironic as that callsign is now.]

[You should have brought a flight suit,] said Shave. [I got us an afternoon sortie since he's coming back a day early.]

Rika gave him a flat look.

[I'll go set us up then, sir.]

[Great!]

She dumped the coat and a pair of socks onto the bed and left.

[That's a bit of a jerk move springing that last minute don't you think, Shave?] Said Smokey.

[It is, but she needs to grow up. The way she acted was not acceptable.]

[You do realize what I did-] Said Lost.

[I know, Lost. I also know Matt sabotaged your adaptation. I pressed charges, but he's either got damaging intel on everyone or his family protects him like gold. I even talked with him, and he doesn't hide that he did it- which I would expect a human to. I wanted to tear his throat out. The he told me why. It still wasn't right, but can see his reasoning.]

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