4:45 P.M. Sovereign Cruiser

"Here you go, sir. Enjoy," said the Lounge waitress as she handed Bryan his favorite drink, a Fedrellon Glazer.

Bryan smiled. "Thank you."

"I think it is," Maxie was saying seriously to Hannah Renkins. "Money doesn't grow on trees."

Bryan rolled his eyes. "Could we drop this please? There are some people here trying to have fun."

Maxie glowered at him. "Excuse me, but if you don't want to listen to us, then stop."

Bryan back off in surprise at her fierceness. "All right, all right. Not tryin' to be mean." He picked up his drink and took a tiny sip. The sweet taste was still as exhilarating as the first time he had tried it. And God knew how many of these he had had in the last eleven years.

As he expected, Maxie's glower broke into a playful smile. "I'm just kidding."

He answered her with a smile of her own and shaking his head. Then, for the time being, he swung his gaze to the large observation window. Outside it was the planet Orlader Six, a blue and green jewel that resembled Earth in a shocking way. Even the continents look similar. Bryan saw the peninsula that practically matched Florida, and the odd shape of Australia floating in one of the planet's oceans. He never really got over the resemblance. It amazed him every time he came to the beautiful world.

For a moment Bryan though he heard voices in his head, voices calling his name. But then he heard a full sentence: "I think we lost him." That had sounded like Justin. Followed by another voice that sounded a lot like Maxie's half-shouting "Bryan!" Bryan started, his head snapping around in response. His eyes did a sweep around the table–Justin, Hannah, Maxie, Kevin and Evan Silliger, Clara, and Isaac Brauer–and he soon realized that it was Maxie who'd been calling name just a few moments ago, judging by the weird look she was giving him. "Where do you go when you zone out like that?"

Bryan shrugged. "No where really. It just seems like I do. You'd be surprised how easy it is for me to get lost in thought."

Maxie exchanged weird looks with the rest. "Riiight," she said.

"Oh shut up."

"Hey, I'm just wonderin,' all right? It looks weird."

He shrugged again. "Oh well, so it looks weird."

"Yeah," the grinning Kevin Silliger responded, "But some people don't like weird. That's all we're sayin,' right bro?"

"Yes, sir," Evan answered, looking sympathetically at Bryan. "Maxie?"

"Oh hell yeah. I know I don't."

Bryan made a face at her. "Oh will you be quiet. You don't like anything that doesn't....involve you, and as for what–"

"–Hey–!"

"–you guys said; you mean woman don't like weird, didn't you, as insinuating about my personal life?"

Kevin and Evan backed their chairs away from the table. "– Wait now–..–hold on here, man–...I said nothin' about your personal life–...–calm down..."

Isaac took a sip of his drink and laughed. "This is getting good."

Hannah nodded at him and continued to giggle.

"Damn Bryan," Justin commented. "Cuss 'em out why don't you?"

Bryan beamed and chuckled lightly. He raised his glass and took down a large gulp this time.

"You get offended by everything, don't you? God..." Maxie asked sarcastically.

He shrugged again in response.

"'Gosh!'" Justin shouted, impersonating Napoleon Dynamite.

"'Gosh!" Maxie repeated, in a voice much worse than Justin's.

"'Frickin' idiot!'" The both finished, chuckling afterward.

"I saw that again the other day," Justin said, really to nobody. "I love that movie..." He gulped down half his glass, smacking his lips when he was finished.

"But yeah, your personal life would be better if you paid more attention to your dates then what's out that window, all that–you know–....space," Kevin criticized.

"Okay..." Bryan muttered. "If I ever get a date than I will. Don't worry, I only do that around my friends, although that appears that it's a bad idea. But hey, I can't really help it sometimes."

Justin snickered. "'No, can't stop...looking at....spppace. It's...pulling me in...'"

"Quiet, boy." Bryan snapped at him, raising his glass again

"You could get a girl to like youBryan, if you actually tried," Clara added. "I mean, do you still sleep with that gun under your pillow? That's what turned me off."

Bryan's eyes bulged, and he slammed the glass down to the table. His chest heaved with laughter, and his lips tightened shut, desperately trying not to spit out the liquid in his mouth. All at once, the entire group broke out into furious laughter.

Justin sat back in his chair and was looking at the ceiling, mouth wide open, laughing hysterically, hands holding his stomach. Isaac was in the opposite position–hunched over in his chair, face hidden behind his scalp, fist pounding on the tabletop, shaking it with every slam. Maxie was the only person sitting up besides Clara, practically convulsing, her upper body bobbing up and down, face scrunched and beaming wildly. Next to her, Hannah was sitting sideways in her chair, hand in her face, as if she was trying to hide, eyes caving in on themselves. Lastly, the twins had their palms flat on the table, scalps in between and on the table itself, backs heaving like Bryan's stomach, Evan's face tilted to his right cheek.

Clara just smiled widely, her full mouth of pearly-white glowing in the light, and giggled.

Maxie grabbed her glass and held it up at Clara. The other woman picked up her own and the two "clinked" glasses in good fun. She then exchanged low fives with Isaac and the twins. All the while, Bryan struggled furiously to try and swallow the drink in his mouth. Eventually, he managed to stop laughing long enough to do so, though he barely forced it before he continued.

But Justin was the first to speak. "Where did that come from?" he asked rhetorically.

Bryan coughed once and pointed his index finger, impressed, at Clara. "That was good. That was really..." he let the sentence trail off as he heaved with laughter again.

"Yes, that was very creative," Justin added. He stretched his hand out over the table and shook hands with her. "Nice one. What's your name again?"

"Clara."

"Nice one, Clara. I haven't laughed that much in a long time."

"Thanks. He makes it pretty easy though."

Hannah began wiping tears out of her eyes.

Bryan now sat back, still smiling, so widely that it was starting to hurt. "Tell me, Clara, exactly how many drinks did you have before you came here?"

Clara's smile only widened some more.

No one spoke for a while, still enjoying the pleasure of a good laugh.

When the silence finally broke, it was Isaac who spoke. "So Bryan, what was she–what was she referring to there?"

He grinned derisively at him. "Nothing. That's her idea of a joke I guess. A good one, yes, but still only a joke."

"Or so he says," Justin muttered, exchanging suspicious glances with Maxie.

"Oh shut up."

"Do you really keep a gun under your pillow?" Hannah asked.

Bryan hesitated, sitting back again. "Yes I do, and the only reason Clara knows that is because I told it to her once as part of a story. Right, Clara?" He stared quizzically over at her, hoping that she didn't take this joke any further.

Knowing that the spotlight was, for the moment, again on her, Clara smiled, using that as a response instead of actual words. "Yeah, sure," she finally answered.

Bryan rolled his eyes again and sighed, giving in, taking another sip of his Glazer.

Justin shook his head, eyes looking across the room still smiling. "This is great."

"You sure, there, Bryan?" Isaac asked, grinning. "Your sure you didn't only tell her?"

The General glanced over at him inquisitively. "Yeah, Isaac, I only told her. However, your girlfriend knows about it too, and I didn't tell her." He grinned slyly. "She found out the hard way." He took another, very small sip, as that little joke set in, without somewhat good results. They seemed to have like that. "Yeah," he continued, acting as if he was looking back on a good memory. "Her face accidently slammed down into it that one night..."

Immediately, Justin keeled over onto the tabletop, both hangs on the sides of his head. "Ahhh, scary image! No, no, get out of my head!" He shouted in agony. Nonetheless, he was the only one that reacted in that way. Maxie, Hannah, and the twins all sneered at the joke, not impressed. Clara just took down a portion of her drink, hiding her reaction. And in good fun, Bryan raised his drink and touched glasses with Isaac.

Meanwhile, Justin was still keeled over on the table, trying harder than he should have to get rid of whatever image he kept seeing.

Bryan scowled over at him. "Oh, knock it off, you big baby. Can't be that bad."

"No, dude, it is." He finally raised his head, looking Bryan directly in the eye. "Don't you ever say that again."

Bryan shrugged defensively. "Hey, I didn't start all this." He pointed over at Clara kept his eyes on Justin. "That would be her that did that."

"Yes," Justin agreed, "But her's was creative, not disgusting like yours." he shut his eyes for an instant and shook his head. "No, dude, just don't ever say that again."

Bryan smiled, amused, inside his glass as he took in his final sip. As he watched his old friend continue to shake his head, his thoughts momentarily shifted back to a funny event that at first Bryan hadn't believed. It was hard to believe that a man with such an abstract attitude was once believed to have been a god...