"Shut up and strip." Yes Master," mumbled Hala and she slowly removed her smock, revealing an interesting, but undernourished body which bore signs of... a recent beating."Why were you whipped?" he asked."It was our Master's pleasure to beat us," she replied, "Please do not kill us. We will work hard and keep your house clean." Both virgins, eh?" Yes Master." On the table with your legs open."This command set them off crying again, but an open handed slap on the rump had Hala on the table. It might not have access to the computers, but I don’t think you need them to fire the dang thing!”I nodded. “How long before the laser is ready to fire again?”“Five ... six minutes?” Tabby guesstimated.“How long to build a spacesuit from what we have here?” I asked.“Ten!” Tabby said, brightly, then swore. “Damn it!”“Ten is longer than five,” I said. “Okay. I think I know what to do.” I kissed Tabby on the cheek. “Smoke me a kipper, I’ll be back for breakfast.”“I, what?” she blinked. “Where are. With that, she took my hand, and we said goodbye to everyone else as we left the pool. As we walked along the gravel pathway Mandy was telling me all about herself, and how she lost her husband five years ago in a traffic accident. I could see tears welling in her emerald green eyes, and her grip slightly tighten in my hand. I leaned into her and kissed her cheek. “Would you rather leave the Coffee, and I’ll let you have some time to yourself?” “No please stay with me, I will be ok, besides I. Jessie and I were at the same dance and we watched as Keith led Cindy out of the ballroom onto the upstairs verandah to ask her in a more private setting.They were absent for almost an hour, returning just as the music started up again after the band's recess. The dance was a quadrille and Jessie and I were in the same set. While he and I were standing side by side waiting for the women to come across, he said, "Cindy turned me down. She said I was too much a brother to her to be more. That was.