When the crew returned after restroom and coffee-pot visits, the bureaucrats were conspicuously absent and now the real substance of the session could... begin.First, what would the voyage itself entail? Ship's captain Margaret Ziang offered a detailed description to which her audience, with no starfaring experience, now paid rapt attention. Shuttles would ferry them to the orbiting starship Gardener, she said (the ship had been re­christened for the mission, von Braun—its original name—not being. She'd even met a guy and started having aspirations about becoming a wife and mother. That is when her life fell apart. Somehow her passwords were used to steal massive amounts of money from client accounts she had sole access to. The funds, which totaled just over $87 million, were never recovered, and since she wouldn't return the money she was given the maximum sentence allowed by the state."Can you believe it? I have to stay in this hell hole for fifty fucking years. My life is ruined," she. The bike was my horse ... beautiful, powerful yet fragile, and would kill you if the rider didn't stay in control. I was a biker and the road in front of me was more important than what was behind. I was in control of my life. The bike did as I instructed it to do. My safety was my responsibility. These thoughts became integrated into my life philosophy.As I rode, I could smell the rhythms of life around me, feel slight temperature variations as the hills and valleys rose and fell while the. Everyone stops work in the afternoon, so how in the world could I go job hunting anyway? My parents were a little dumb.It was six o'clock in the afternoon. The sun was setting on the horizon, the air quickly cooled, and the sky near the sunset turned bright pink and red.I walked passed Lily's house and stopped to think. I was banned from ever babysitting the girl ever again, which made me sad in a way. From where I stood I noticed that Ella's bedroom window was wide open, so maybe I could climb.