He was a lanky and somewhat ungainly boy, an excellent student in every class but gym. Girls never noticed him, and the guys either laughed at him, or... tried to force him to do their homework. It wasn't that he liked being alone--he was a red-blooded teenage male, after all--but he didn't seem to have many options. Barring a miracle, he was beginning to feel his books and games would continue to be his only real companions until he was done with college at least.He paused his morose musings as. And I'm just not. And shespends hours teaching me how to do my makeup and nails, and it would be aSHAME to let that go to waste. So I'm going to practice on you." What if she comes home!" I panicked."What if she does? That would be GREAT. She could see how much I'velearned, and you would be totally embarrassed."She began my matching a base to my skin tones and putting it all over myface and even down onto my hairless chest. She next worked on my eyeswith shadows of purple and blue. Next she. "You intend to take her into slavery, then?" Yes. Then to sell her on after training so that some of the financial matters can be resolved." Ah. And the problem?" Two problems. First; she is American. This increases the risks you understand. Others may be content to work far from their home in places where they cannot exercise influence but for me this has usually been unnecessary. The old Empire certainly. Europe, yes. But beyond? The problems become greater the further away you are. My last report was still a couple of hours from being received, Amethyst4 being about five light hours from our current position.With a slightly heavy heart on my part, Sam and I undocked and started back towards the outer belt.Weeks later, I was studying a basic micro-circuitry repair text. I knew I'd never be an engineer, it really didn't interest me enough, but if I could do small repairs to my weapons and equipment, I could save a little money.It had taken five days for the salvage tug to.