It was more than what you endured with Pradu.”“Way more,” I said and forced myself to my feet. My face felt sticky from the drying sweat. I just... wanted a bath. I would love to soak my arm in warm water. That would feel amazing to just let the soothing liquid wash away this ache. But instead, we had to press on and conquer this task.I led us the way forward, trying to ignore the dull throbbing in my left arm. I went back to look for traps or signs of ambush. There had been nothing any of us had. Situation normal. Or was it?She'd fallen in lust, but Nora knew lust wasn't the only emotion she'd experienced that weekend. Her time with David was idealistic, honeymoon-like, but unreal, like his weird but wonderful ability. A bacchanalia, for sure, but more, much more. She'd never felt so wanted or adored. It was only three nights and two days, but she feared he'd spoiled her for other men, and that frightened her. Falling in love with David frightened her, too. She railed against the. I wanted to make a good impression but not to come off as too preppy. I had made us reservations at a favorite restaurant where I knew they would not mind what I wore. So I slipped on a pair of Dockers and a navy cashmere sweater. I had my car pull up out front of her family’s Park Avenue apartment. The doorman stood aside as she swept regally out and moved right into my car as if she owned it…or perhaps me. She was dressed in her usual elegant manner…a Donna Karan dress and shoes, carrying a. At the precise moment the Masi'shen technician triggered the energy burst from the communications dish, precisely positioned with the coordinates of the Masi'shen home world at the exact moment of optimum planetary alignment, a SeaVire helicopter approached at one hundred fifty knots. The geyser erupted out of the ice pack and rose fifteen hundred feet before falling and spreading in a downward arc to cover the surrounding snowpack. It left a hole in the ice six hundred feet across.The eruption.