”I stammered as I said, “Oh shit, Clark, I’m, uh, uh, so embarrassed, and sorry that I’ve been watching you guys. It’s just that, uh, I saw ...you that first day by accident, and well, uh, it was hard to look away. I run every day at the same time and finish off with a cool down in these woods.”Clark was still gripping his shaft, and shuffled a little closer, as he replied, “You’ve been watching us for weeks, and you must be hungry for some man meat. And shit, this is a good way to get even with. With the package from my company, I could take a vacation at my own pace, the whole summer and more. And who didn't want to surf off the California coast? I flew out and spent the first few days settling in. Manny knew a guy who knew a guy and got me a good deal on a used car so I could get around on my own. I was a little homesick at first and in every comparison I made with Ithaca, California fell short. I figured I just needed a little more time to get used to things and decided to give. At least Sisanna deserved her fate and filed teeth, having served time for beating up a friend who told her she would fail the Grojan selection ritual, which more or less guaranteed she would fail.Varna's only fault was she had been rather lippy to the assessor, but he had provoked her. She found out afterwards it had been part of the stupid test. Having failed, her teeth had been filed, and she had been banished by her family.Even though her failure had shamed her family, her father, who she. She could surmised, then, that this was not a strictly Betan issue, but that she had been captured by a ship based in this sector.Kat didn't have a clue what their goals were, or, for that matter, what their motivations were, unless you took the anarchistic mantras they fed to the public as gospel. It was obvious that this force had some serious financial backing. Ships like this, even worn old Military rejects, still cost millions of credits. Refitting an old ship, especially when one took.