CH 97

After breakfast in the morning, Johnny drove them back to the farm. He and Peggy stopped in her parents' house to let them know they were back, then got to work. Lily went back to her family. Eddie and Darrel were coming out to start their day.

"Lily!" Eddie asked. "How'd it go?"

Lily cast them a weak smile. "Honestly? It felt like a punch in the gut."

"Someone hit you?" Darrel cried.

Lily chuckled and shook her head. "No, nobody hit me. It's just what it felt like. Eddie, you have no idea how brave you sister is."

The rest of their family came out to hear how Lily's night went.

Lily told them about what Joan did, causing their mouths to drop open. She then said, "We've all seen pictures of alligators, right?" Everyone nodded.

"Those are the big reptiles that live in the water, right?" Darrel asked.

Lily nodded. "I met one. As close as you are to me now."

"On the other side of a barrier?" Darrel asked.

Lily shook her head. "No, no barrier, we were all in the yard. Peggy fed it. I was terrified, but Peggy fed it and then sat down right beside it. She wasn't the least bit afraid. Neither was Johnny. Johnny told me she had to see me with them, so it wouldn't attack me."

"And it didn't eat anyone?" Ellie asked in a squeak.

"Their house is real nice," Lily offered. She let out a giggle. "When they came in from band practice, they were singing. They're giving a concert, they want us all to come. After dinner, Peggy showed me the bedroom we slept in. It was huge, the bed alone was the size of our bedrooms. We went back down to see what Johnny was doing." She then looked at Eddie. "Daniel was sword fighting with Jackie, but they weren't angry, they were smiling, having a good time. Jogging back and forth with those long blades, trying to stab each other. Cameron was happy, somehow, she managed to ruin five Chinese ships, sinking one, and she never left the house. She said it was punishment for paying that man that Joan chopped the head off of, to do his dirty work. She'd not done punishing them yet."

Looking at her family gaping at her she said, "So much was kind and loving, and much was scary and brutal. Like I said, it felt like I got punched in the gut."

"You can't want to live like that," Ellie asked in a gasp.

Lily told them, "I talked with Peggy, she told me I have to decide if I can live in an environment like that. She also said she feels safe with them. I can understand that. If anyone tried to hurt her, they would find hell raining down on them. Maybe that's why they get along with that alligator, why it can sleep in the yard and no one cares. As odd as it seems, that alligator is family too. They are just like it. Claws and teeth to attack any who threaten them or their family."

"It sounds like you would be safer staying with us," Darrel said firmly.

Lily looked at Eddie. "Remember your older parents died, shot in their bed? It was the same man responsible who killed Joan's fiend and tortured Allison. I have to wonder if they had tried that at the Connor house, if those men would have even lived long enough to get inside. I'm sure even if they did get in, they wouldn't be leaving alive."

Lily smiled and added, "When I was in that big bed, I slept like a baby. Even though it was a strange house with strange people to me at least, I knew I was safe. No one was going to bother us."

"What have you decided?" Eddie asked.

"I haven't. It's extreme there. The good and the bad. "

"And about Johnny?" he prodded.

Lily cast him a brief smile. "I understand him better now. He grew up in a world of extremes. Where when you love, you do it with everything you have. Total commitment. Same as when you hate, it's total war until the enemy is gone. There are no half measures, no backing away or ignoring it. Like that one song they sang, I won't back down. They don't back down to anything. I have to decide if I'm strong enough to do that."

.

Today, Cameron was looking at Chinese finances. A high ranking and influential banker she noted liked his girls on the side. Young girls. He also likes skimming money of the top. Being who he was, he was able to get away with that. She decided to turn up his selfishness. A large payment marked to go to the Communist party, she reduced to a handful of money and paid his underaged girls well for their abuse. He also gave himself a huge raise and paid for it by reducing workers wages. She sent out a flier from him that instead of focusing on loyalty to the Communist party, it headed the same, but then stressed lip service to the CCP, then secret meetings for how to change the government and explained how to make homemade explosives and plant them where they would be the most effective. She also added a few communications to imply his board members and he were looking for a good assassin to take out the seven most influential members of the CCP.

Tomorrow would be the artillery practice. The changes she made were still in place. A top ranking army official was also landing at the airport they were targeted on. It would suck to be him.

Looking through government computers, she found they were developing a virus to take out the systems of democratic nations. A few minor changes and strengthening the virus, and as soon as they called it up to work on it more, it would go off and wipe out Beijing's computers before it destroyed the one it was on.

In several prisons where human organs came from, she issued a halt by the order of the president to cease organ harvesting until further notice. And if they pooped that virus and took down all the computers i the capitol, she was going to have control over the whole country.

Eat this, China.

.

Austin went to Dallas for their first exhibition game against Seattle. Neither the Coach nor the team thought there would be much attendance due the fact this game didn't matter in the standings. In the locker room, Coach Baker instilled loudly to Joan that if asked anything about the Horton incident all she was to say was 'no comment, the case is under investigation.' Allison also told that to Joan, several times.

Knowing Seattle played hard and knew what they were doing, The team trained hard and were ready for them. They got ready to go out on the field. Coach Baker came back up the tunnel grinning an announced. "We're on, lets go!"

Running out, the first thing Joan noticed was their tunnel exit was bracketed on both sides by cheerleaders dressed in Austin's colors, cheering and shaking their pom-poms. She recognized some of them. These were the Cowboys cheerleaders!

Running out onto the field, the large screens above stated in flashing script, 'Austin is back!'. The roaring of cheers came from the crowd that looked to fill every seat. The stadium was packed. Heading for their benches, Joan say reporters were already there. Behind the benches the whole Dallas Cowboy's team stood applauding and cheering.

She also saw Kendra, the Seattle quarterback was there by the reporters. Kendra had the mike.

"I, and many others are happy to see you guys back on the field!" Kendra announced, her voice coming over the loudspeakers above. "Now get ready and give me an exciting game!"

The crown roared again as Kendra jogged back over to her own bench. The reporter then talked to Coach Baker.

"Coach, first of all, Like Kendra said, it's great to see your team back in play! You had a horrible year earlier. Have you recovered from that?"

"Not completely, the death of Carla Santos hit us all hard. Getting Allison and Betty back, we are very grateful for. Frankly, I was considering scrapping the rest of the year, but like we all talked about, if Carla was here, she'd tell us to get back out there and do your best."

"Allison was the one who was scalped by those kidnappers?" she asked.

"Hair skin and all," he agreed. "Thankfully, the graft took, and she's even getting her hair back. Even injured badly, it was Allison who broke free and got Betty away from the kidnappers before they could harm her too."

"Allison, what can you tell me about your experience in the hands of those kidnappers?" the reporter asked.

Allison winced, "All I can say it was really horrible. I knew that if we didn't escape, we'd be dead."

"Do you know why they took you?"

"I'm sorry, the investigation is still ongoing, I can't say anything else about it," Allison told her.

"Well, we're all very glad you got away, and sorry you had to live through that." The reporter said then turned to Betty. " Betty, what can you tell me about your experience with those kidnappers?"

"Like Alison said, it was really horrible. The only thing I can add is Allison is my hero. She got us away from them at great injury to herself. I have never seen anyone covered in so much blood! She could have just left, but she made sure she got me out too. That is the mark of a true friend," Betty then hugged Allison.

"After that horrid, and I'm sure terrifying experience, you're ready to play football?"

Betty grinned, "More like chomping at the bit to get out there."

The team cheered Betty's words. Joan announced, "This game is for Carla!" they all cheered again.

"Then I better let you get to it. Thank you for speaking with me."

They lined up for the National Anthem, Everyone in the team felt proud and happy they were getting such a great response to their come back. They were going to play their hearts out.

.

John interviewed his third replacement marine biologist to replace Dana. He'd driven to Galveston to talk to Deek Critendon. By his resume, Deek had a Masters in marine biology, was working on his doctorate and had worked as a apprentice in the Marine Biological labs there.

Finding Deek's apartment John went up and knocked on the door. A bespectacled young man peeked out, the chain still on the door.

"Yes?"

"Deek Critendon? I'm John Connor. We discussed your possible employment?"

The eye looking at him widened. "Oh yes, come on in!'

The door shut then fully opened. Deek was a sandy haired young man. He quickly said, "I never thought you'd come here, Mr. Connor! I was expecting to have to go to the interview, I'm not really dressed for that right now."

"Don't care what you're wearing," John told him. He tapped his head, "I care about what's in here."

A half clad blonde got up off the couch and hurried into another room.

"Girlfriend?" John asked with a smirk as he came in.

"Yeah, Julie and I have been together for a while. Please, sit Mr. Connor."

John nodded. "So is Julie a marine Biologist also?"

"She is, we went to college together." Deek said happily.

"You two are tight?" John asked. He picked a chair across the couch to sit on. The chair was shaped like a human hand. He sat on the palm.

"Yeah, we are. We were talking about getting a job at the same place, ya know, so we could work together."

"Then get her out here," John told him.

"Really?" Deek asked. He then raced back to get Julie.

John heard them talk in hushed voices. Julie let out a squeak, then they came back in. Julie and put a dress on and was finger combing her blonde hair on the way out.

Hello, Mr. Connor, it's a honor to meet you," she said meekly.

"A pleasure to meet you too, Julie. I understand you would like to work together?"

"We do! We don't know if it's possible though. Even in the same lab would be great."

John leaned forward, elbows on knees pose. "Do either of you know who Dana McGregor was?"

Deek asked, "Wasn't she the one who was researching mermaids?"

"Yes, I saw that TED talk she did," Julie agreed. "She brought an alligator out on stage with her."

John grinned. "She did. One she raised from pretty much a hatching. His name was Chomper."

Julie frowned slightly, "Mr. Connor, you said 'was'. Did something happen?"

"It did," John replied. "Dana was working for us. Someone, we don't know who, kidnapped Dana and shot her multiple times, by what the police found. They got their theories. Our theory is some less than noble person wanted to know where those mermaids, or as she called them, Homo Aquaticus, were. She refused to say, so they killed her. Whoever it was, is still out there. You need to now that first."

Both their faces went a little pale. John said, "Dana knew the location of those Mers could not be known except for a small, select group of people. She died to keep that a secret. She also died because instead of just phone and fax conversations, she went on that TED talk, and now those who are greedy got to put a face to her name."

Deek looked down, "Yeah, I can see that. There are some horrible people in the world."

"I wanted to let you know that this job I'm offering has it's dangers," John said firmly. "You will have a complete lab to work in, an extension off your house, and you will get paid, medical is free. But, you will also have to be very careful. That is why I came to see you, instead of you coming in for an interview." He watched them for reactions.

"This is serious shit, isn't it?" Deek asked.

"Very," John agreed. Picking up on how Cameron read people, he knew Deek was nervous. Julie was absorbing what was said, she was nervous but also by her face, very curious. At least neither of them were truly afraid.

"So, you want us to pick up where Dana left off?" Julie asked.

"That's right. No one has been inside that house after Dana was killed. There's a guard on it," John explained. "All Dana's research is still there. Fifteen hundred a week and free medical, and whatever equipment you need in exchange for researching and ensuring the .. populations we show you remain protected."

"And we get to research real mermaids," Deek said.

"Homo Aquaticus," John corrected. "And there is more than just them we need research on. If you decide to take the job, I'll fill you in. Did you want to talk about it between yourselves for a while?"

"We'll take it!" Julie said quickly. Turning to Deek, she said, "This is a chance of a lifetime! Hon, this is doing real research on our own, not having to just sit and work on things we're told to do! And it's on a very rare species."

"It's also hazardous," Deek reminded her.

"If we do something dumb like Dana did!" she replied. "This is our chance to make a difference. A real difference!"

"You can say who you are, just not let others see you, or know where you live," John reminded them.

"What if someone does a drive by and shoots up the house?" Deek asked.

John smirked. "With a posted guard and inch thick steel walls under the siding of your house, I think that is highly improbable. We do have that place monitored. That is, if someone finds out where you live."

"Mr. Connor, I want the job," Julie stated firmly. "Deek, come with me."

"Deek?" John asked.

"We'll be fairly safe?" he asked.

"So long as you follow our guidelines, yes," John told him. "If you go off to give a talk somewhere or meet someone like Dana did, we can't help you."

Deek looked at Julie. He nodded, "OK, so, where do we go?"

John nodded. These two were what he was looking for. "Great, you're hired. Go and get any personal stuff you have from your workplace. Turn in your resignations. Don't tell them where you're going. Then come home here and pack. I'll be waiting at the coffee shop across the road. Do you have a car?"

"Ahh, no," Deek admitted.

"Then I'll drive you. We can get you a car after we get there."

"Umm, could we get a ride to the labs?" Julie asked meekly.

John chuckled "Let's go."

.

John led them out to where he parked Christine. Delilah had insisted he take her since he was going by himself. Upon seeing Christine, Deek and Julie stared.

"How old is that car?" Deek asked.

John motioned to the passenger door. "Christine was built in 1957, modeled as a 58. Careful, this is my wife's car, she will go ballistic if it's even scratched."

"I'm surprised she let you even take it out on the road. This car is an antique." Julie said.

John got in and petted the dash. "Christine is truly unique."

Julie got in the middle, eek got in the passenger side. The radio came on.

Don't you

step on my blue suede shoes!

You can do anything but lay off of my blue suede shoes

You can knock me down

step on my face

slander my name all over the place

Do anything that you wanna do

But uh huh honey lay offa my shoes

now don't you

step on my blue suede shoes

"Radio got a short or something in it?" Deek asked.

John grinned. "No, that's just Christine. She does that now and then."

"That's strange," Julie said, looking at the radio.

John chuckled.

.

The game against Seattle went pretty much like the last one. This time, Austin received the kickoff, and instead of coming at then full force randomly, Seattle arraigned themselves into a squad of four in line, followed by three behind them. Charging at them, she got it, the four were only to block her blockers. it was the three behind they that were to take her down. Joan skidded to a stop to let Patty and Allison run past. She ran to the side. The three in back followed her.

It wasn't easy getting through them. One player led, two followed. Joan bend low like she was going to bounce them off, then at the last second, she jumped and did a flip over the first tackler. Landing she barely had time to jump to the side as the next one charged. Running across the field, the pack was right in front of her, the third one, right behind her. She had to time this right. As they closed, she ducked low again and shot off up field. As she had hoped, the tackles ran into each other. Joan wasn't in the clear yet. Allison blocked away one coming at her left. Another on her right was intercepting her. Joan ran to the left, keeping the closest one at bay.

The roar of the crowds was all Joan heard as she was racing up to the out of bounds line. The last tackler was still close. Joan had to turn to run straight up field to keep from going out of bounds. Pushing hard, she managed to gain some distance between them. She crossed the goal line and stopped to raise a fist. That was the toughest tackle attempt she'd ever seen. The girl that had chased her was one of their safeties, and she ran like the wild.

Joan did a line jump for one extra point. She made it, but barely. A Seattle player also jumped right after she did and grabbed her leg. Joan was dragged down. Seeing the goal line right in front if her, she extended her arms. her face hit just before the goal line, but her arms and the ball made it in.

It was an exciting game. A long bomb attempt was jumped at by the fast safety. She grabbed the ball but it bounced out of her hands at an angle. Allison ran to retrieve it, and rushed over to get it before it hit the ground. She just missed. Incomplete pass.

Both sides fought hard for yardage and and to complete plays. When Seattle did try a pass, it was accurate and this time, Allison leaped up to catch it. She got fingers on the ball but it bounced out of her grasp and went into the stands. Score for the first quarter was 18 to 18. It was anyone's game. Seattle was stopped and had a turnover on downs. Right after that Joan fire a short pass to Allison, a Seattle player jumped up to grab it full in the chest with her arms around it. She was knocked backwards by the impact, but Seattle got the ball back. After ensuring the gasping girl was all right, they resumed play.

The entire game was like that, both sides playing like demons and thinking hard on how to outwit the other team. At halftime, the score tied 49 each, they really needed the rest.

It wasn't until late in the third quarter, Seattle missed an extra point. Kendra stopped and spun to throw and slipped, and Patty was on her. Normally in a game, one point would not make not break a win. In this game. every point mattered.

They went into the fourth quarter 63 to 62, in favor of Austin. 9 touchdowns each and that one miss at the extra point was haunting Seattle. This game, Austin had scored first, putting pressure on Seattle to keep coming back with their own touchdown. At 1:40 on the clock, Austin made their last touchdown, it was time for Seattle to respond an even the score.

Austin tried hard to stop Seattle again, but Seattle made their slow, running drive down the field. Down to 31 seconds on the clock and eight yards to go, Kendra did something Austin didn't expect. Staring from the shotgun, She raced at the ball when it was hiked and jumped up to do a flip with the help of a team mate's shoulder and flew over the line. By the time the stunned Austin defenders saw it, she was headed for the goal. Allison and Betty ran at her and didn't get to her in time. Touchdown.

Allison patted Kendra on the back and praised her for her creativity. Seattle tried for a single extra point, and running low, they managed to get the ball in the end zone.

22 seconds to go in the game, Seattle was back to one point behind, and Austin had the ball.

"Take a knee," Coach Baker told Joan.

Joan shook her head. "Not in this game."

In the huddle, Joan told her team what she was going to do. They thought she was nuts, but this was Joan. They broke he huddle and formed into a 'V'. Joan hiked and squatted. The Seattle defenders paused , knowing she'd taken a knee. Then Joan jumped up and charged the line straight on. A couple in the center of the Seattle line noticed she had squatted down not knelt. They ramming into her to tackle. Joan pushed against them hard, trying to power through. Once it dawned on them she hadn't taken a knee, Austin blockers and Seattle tacklers descended on Joan. In the center of the growing pile, Joan managed to keep her feet for 21 seconds before she was forced to the ground.

The buzzed rang, game over.

Both teams came out on the field, as did the field side reporter and her camera man.

The teams had their helmets off, shaking hands and giving brief hugs. Kendra came up to Joan the same time the reporter did. The reporter asked the question Kendra had.

"Joan Connor, why did you do that? There wasn't enough time left on the clock to do anything meaningful from this end of the field."

"I know," Joan told her. "I said at the beginning, this game was for Carla," she said with a sniffle. "And like Carla, and Allison, I wanted say we to keep fighting to the bitter end."

Kendra hugged Joan. "You are nuts. You won, dummy!"

"It's the thought that counts," Allison said and hugged Joan. Listening, the crowd cheered.

.

Deek noticed something. "Mr. Connor, we're driving inland?"

"We are," John agreed. "We're going to Driftwood, a little south and west of Austin."

"That's where your main office is?" Julie guessed.

"You could call it that. It's where your house is also."

Deek frowned, "But if we're going to research these Homo Aquaticus, shouldn't we be living closer to the coast?"

"If that's where they were, yes," John agreed.

Julie asked, "Where are they?"

"In the last place anyone would suspect," John told her. "You see, my wife and Dana came up with a theory. Long ago, Texas was mostly under water. The seas receded, or Texas rose up. Either way, the ones who lived here were corralled into smaller and smaller bodies of water. Most of them probably made for deeper water. Some didn't move until it was too late and they were surrounded by land. Cameron and Delilah did some exploring in the caves the Mers call home. Yes, part of it is dry. They found what they think is a plesiosaur skeleton and a real big turtle shell with bones in it."

He glanced at their intent faces watching him. "See the land we bought 12 years ago, we got at a real good price because it's not fertile enough for grape farming, which most of the farms in the area are, and it's out of the way, far enough from Austin that no one wanted to build there who wasn't a farmer, and there are plenty of rattlesnakes and alligators around. It was perfect for us for those very same reasons. The place is hard to get to and wild. There have been rumors of Mers, but the sheriff has insisted the 'finds' were fake, and went though great trouble to keep them so, because he knows the truth. Our girls love to swim in their mermaid tails so that's a perfect cover. If anyone 'sees' a mermaid, it's one of our kids, and not real."

"They're in a lake?" Deek asked.

"In our lake. There is a bigger lake that people use for recreation, and it's more developed so our lake never got may visitors except for random hunters and fishermen. With the danger of being bitten or killed by a hungry gator, it was easier and safer to go to the big lake," John told them.

"What happened to the alligators?" Deek asked.

"Nothing. They're still there. We usually have one hanging out in the yard. So are all the snakes, and we do have some big snakes around too. Remember to keep your doors shut, or you might find a surprise of a snake looking for a den. They like curling up under chairs and beds. When you're out, watch were you're going. Gators like hunting along the shore, so be extra careful near the water."

"And you think this is safe?" Deek asked.

"Long as you watch your step. Boots, at lest mid calf high and hats. We'll get you some once we get there. Got a leather store in town that sells good snake-proof boots."

"We're going to dress like cowboys," Julie said with a chuckle.

John thought briefly, then said, "Pretty much."

"So, how do we find the Mer people?" Julie asked.

"You can try taking Dana's boat out. They might get close enough for you to see before they see you are not Dana and swim away. Or, you can wait til Sunday when we have our float party with the pontoon boat. Usually half a dozen or so show up, some with freshly skewered fish for the grill." John glanced at them and said, "They do like grilled fish. Especially catfish. Their kids like jumping off the boat too. Their kids and ours swim around the boat, chasing each other around. Like I said, it's a float party." John chuckled, "Long as Joan's alligator doesn't join us. They are still nervous of her."

"A Joan's Alligator?" Deek asked.

"The original one that Dana did the DNA study on. We called it Joan's Alligator because that thing is damn nearly like her dog," John told them. "We had a birthday party outside. Joan and Jackie held it up, it's front paws in their laps so they could feed it birthday cake." John chuckled. "Scared a few guests, and they found out an alligator has a hard time eating cake. It mushed around all over in it's mouth, it got down and went back to the lake to wash it's mouth out. Jackie laughed her ass off, she said it was like feeding peanut butter to a dog."

"You're telling us stories," Deek accused.

"Nope, You'll meet everyone soon. We should get there just after dark. We got spare bedrooms at the house, so you can sleep at our place tonight. I'll take you to your house and labs in the morning."

.

In was night time in Texas, but early morning on China. Cameron was tapped into the military computers at the practice gunnery site. The man in charge ordered all guns aimed and the coordinates checked. All guns were zeroed in on their ordered coordinates, right at the airport.

She did intercept an incoming message. General Wang would be arriving at 07:45 and expected all guns to be firing. She added onto that message, 'and completely covering the targeted area so completely a rat could not survive there.'

She grinned, the barrage was due to start at 07:30.

"Hey Cam, how's it going?" Delilah asked.

Cameron grinned and pointed at the times and true destination of the artillery shells.

Delilah returned her grin. "That's going to cause a mess. No one has picked up your manipulations over there?"

"Negative. They are seeing mistakes and glitches here and there but what I'm doing is too far apart for each event, for them to put together a pattern. They are blaming human error on the events. Like all good Communists, any act of treason is dealt with immediately. In two cases so far, the traitors were shot before the evidence was scrutinized. Again, the events were too far separated for them to consider related."

"This one could be fun to watch. John Henry have a satellite view?"

Cameron replied, "Image will be coming up in ten minutes, directly after they begin firing."

"Maybe I should get some popcorn to watch the show?" Delilah dragged a chair over and sat by Cameron.

A few minutes later, John called out "I'm home!"

"We're in the small lounge!" Delilah called back. The time was close, she watched the screen with Cameron.

John came in to see his wives looking at the blank screen. "Ah, let be guess, you're watching a black cat in a dark room?"

"The satellite video should be coming on in 30 seconds," Cameron replied.

"Of?" John prodded.

"A Chinese artillery practice barrage. I moved their firing coordinates to aim at..."

The screen now showed an airport. "That airport 31 miles away from their location in China."

"You hacked them," John stated.

"I did. They like to kill our people with sneaky methods, I'm showing them what sneaky is."

"You can do that?" another male voice behind Cameron asked.

"Yes, don't misbehave, or that might be you," Cameron stated.

Deek paled. On the screen billows of gray smoke were rising around the airport. 40 guns were shooting down in the place. A plane coming down the runway was hit, exploding into a ball of fire. Another one by a terminal went up with part of the terminal breaking apart into flying debris. The gray clouds billowing up became thicker. Here and there, there were more explosions. Mrs. Connor was sitting here in Texas, and using Chinese artillery to destroy one of their own airports.

"I knew I should have brought some popcorn," Delilah said as she watched a hanger go up, blasting a ball of fire out from the front.

"They are destroying that place!" Julie cried.

"Hopefully they killed their General too," Cameron said. "And after the data is looked at, the officer in charge will probably be shot for gross incompetence, and killing all those people at the airport, including his boss."

The scene of destruction went on for another few minutes, then blinked out.

"Darn, front row seats are gone," Delilah said with a fake pout. "Guess we'll just have to find out how bad it was from news broadcasts, if they dare broadcast it."

"They won't," Cameron said. "China doesn't like bad news about their military to get out." She turned to see the new arrivals who were staring at her.

John offered, "Cam, this is Deek and Julie, our new Marine Biologists. Guys, my wives, Cameron, and Delilah."

"Wives?" Julie asked weakly.

"Welcome," Delilah said as she got up to face them. "Did you have dinner yet?"

Julie shook her head. He'd said wives, as in both?

"Well come on out to the kitchen, I'll get you something. Cam will take you down to you lab and house in the morning, after she gets her fill of blowing up bits of China."

"Won't that cause a war?" Deek asked.

"Naw," Delilah assured him, "It's their own systems and people that's causing the problems, and they are isolated problems. Cam is spreading the wealth around. Getting a few ships sunk, getting a banker in trouble with his party, a mayor accused of treason, she's already been shot. Getting organ harvesting off live prisoners suspended, an artillery practice misdirected. You know small things that happen in China. Well, most of them anyway."

Deek had to wonder what they had gotten into.