"At Captain Jeryth's nod, Rand pressed another key, replacing the system diagram with a brightly colored vista. In the background was an expanse of wa...ter, studded with islands. Closer at hand, clusters of multicolored bubble domes nestled among stringy vegetation. The village seemed to have been built partially under water, the buildings becoming larger and closer together as the sandy soil sloped down to a protected beach. The colors were normal for an E type world; splotchy pale green. By the end of each session, Béla was nearly insane with grief and self-loathing.Once a day, Béla was escorted to the communal baths. Her escort was equipped with a personal thought dampener so that she remained in isolation even in the corridors leading to the baths.Elaine volunteered, as Béla's roommate, to return to the great ship and allow the Praetor to probe her mind as a kind of character witness. Elaine and Béla had mind-linked almost every night they had roomed together during the long. ‘He shook his head at me and told me to look again. I told him a maple tree log.’ He chuckled again, taking Alex’s hand and leading her to sit in the rocking chair. ‘He told me to stop being obtuse.’ He started the chair rocking as she let her hands glide over the smooth wood of the chair, impressed with the workmanship. ‘I was fifteen and I had no idea what he wanted. I told him so. He shook his head and told me to listen. He took the log out of my hands and ran his hands over the rivulets in. .. look at the time. I have to run. See you on the beach later ok Jen? You too Randy?"The way he almost left me out of the loop there had me fuming by the time the door closed on him."What the hell were you two talking about while I was in the shower and how long was he there anyway?" Don't get mad at me Randy. It's not my fault Don was here. He had the cart and pushed it in the room. He identified himself as the hotel waiter with our breakfast. I didn't even know he was here." Yeah? Why did.