In a moment the shimmering figure of a man stood before her."What is this?" Kim was startled."You have freed me." The voice of the shadow was faint an...d weak. "So long have I been imprisoned." What is this? Who are you? What kind of joke is this?" Kim was puzzled and a little frightened, but her scientific curiosity took over and so she watched, observed, and listened."I am Sulan. Long ago my brother, a great magician, imprisoned me in that jar. My brother was the ruler of our clan and he. " How do, Ma'am? I'm John Aikens." Well, Mr. Aikens, the first thing I need you to do is get me some more fire wood for the stove. We need to boil some more water. Here's the stuff you will need to get the water to heating. Boil as much water as you can in that pot and those two kettles. While you are doing that, I'll start preparing Jed for the operation. Come back to the surgery to help me as soon as you can."I left Aikens in the kitchen and went back to work on my patient. I began removing. And Tuck was right; the Mexicotal had been as stupid as the Zarthani had been, near Outpost. Judy nodded, sure Tuck was right."And if you make a mistake?" Tanda demanded from Tuck."Then they die, I die, you die, Judy and Tazi die. We all die. But what happens if we win? The Mexicotal road will have been cut for three hundred miles. Three hundred miles, Tanda! They won't be able to move forward this year, and if we do our jobs, they might have trouble next year. Count Tellan wanted two moons.... Even if we are going slowly, it is something. It’s not very creative, I know, but …”I walked to her, took her in my arms, and kiss her on the neck several times. I felt her shiver, which pleased me. “We’ll get more creative, Miss Dori.” She pulled back her head and looked at me. I smiled at her, “Thank you for directing me, Miss.” Her smile in return had some tension in it, but not negative tension. Her eyes moved between my eyes and my lips. She was thinking about it, I could tell. The tension.