Only it wasn't Kirsten. At some point Samantha had joined me and Kirsten had left."You're awake," she noted, "how are you feeling?" Much better. That ...was the most mental manipulating I have ever done at one time and I had no idea how draining it would be."There was still a bit of lethargy, but I saw no need to worry her."You probably should have spread it out a bit more, maybe just one or two a day." Hindsight's twenty-twenty. But I'm glad it's done. There's no way I could have slept while any. I can't drink, you know," she said, patting her belly."Of course. No problem, I'll be right back." I went into the kitchen and brought back two sodas.As we sat drinking our sodas, I asked her, "So how far along are you?" Almost eight months now. It's getting hard to do the things I need to do to. Just going to the grocery store today was exhausting. It's been really hard lately. It was so nice of you to invite me to dinner–I wasn't looking forward to cooking on top of everything else."I wasn't. Any unnecessarily delay could mean you won't make it, but if you don't, no one else will have the authority to access either the ship or this craft." If I don't make it back, could someone else—say someone from the Earth—access the ship?" Josh asked with concern."There are numerous safety protocols, but with a prolonged effort and no authorization to defend itself, they could gain access." And the ship can't defend itself?" Only once it's fully powered up and authorized." Damn, that's what I. Going back downstairs she mentally ran through the things she needed totell the staff at the Monday morning meeting. But in truth, now thequarterly results were done and the performance reviews completed, therewasn't anything special to be done this week. The pressure wastemporarily off and things were back to normal. Although the staff wouldbe busy working on their current assignments and phoning contacts to tryand drum up more business, she herself would be at a loose end for achange even if.