Go Tempro before they enter normal space!" There was a familiar whine then they were in trans-warp. Two seconds later they were outside the system. "G...ood this ought to be far enough."Walking to the tall man Derrick helped to get the man to his feet. Still a little in shock the man asked, "What the hell was that? Worse than that time my vest took three slugs!" That was an electric shock. Yeah I know, leaves a bad taste in your mouth." Derrick told the man with a smile. "So how about an. We were running fast and there wouldn’t be much chance to push and shove like the heat races. With two laps to go the car in second place spun taking out the number three car with it. Sissy had called it. I had nothing but open track in front of me now and I opened up my machine. I glanced in my rearview to see the two cars involved in the spin slide into the infield. There would be no stopping the race. I made up distance quickly against the higher-powered car by taking a lower line and going. My somber mood caught Sandra by surprise. She asked, "Do you think you might have been happier if you had stayed here with your friends? None of those girls said anything about a girl you might have left behind. They all said how hesitant you were around your female classmates."I told Sandra, "I wanted to be a Marine from the time I was about three or four. Dad taught me how to walk, march, and carry myself like a Marine as I grew up. His buddies would come by and drill me with silly things. Through ups and downs, joys and disappointments, we were friends. And we loved each other. Sure, there were reasons never to have reached that unlikely result. I was old enough to be her father. We were married, although to other people. However, we were also a lot alike, subject to the same weaknesses, dealing with the same sources of unhappiness. Struggling with frustrations that seemed mirror images and getting into trouble as a result. We saw each other through our ups and downs. But we did.