The mutie woman opens her eyes. She looks around the chamber, obviously still quite disoriented. Reaching out with her talons, she grabs the edge of the tube and pulls herself into a sitting position. A look akin to fear crosses her exotic features as she spots the man holding the Desert Eagle.

He slowly backs away from the tube. Usually, upon seeing a mutie such as the one sitting before him, his first reaction would be to pull the trigger and send her to buy the farm. But for some reason he cannot fathom why, he holds back. His aim never wavers.

The female doesn't even seem to be aware that she is naked. She looks around the small room, her eyes covering every inch, not missing a single detail. Her gaze finally comes to rest on the blood and gore covered control panel.

"What kind of mutie are you?" The man asks out loud, barely registering the fact that he actually spoke his thoughts.

His voice grabs her attention the way a bird grabs a worm from the ground. She swings her long legs over the edge of the tube and stands, nearly losing her balance. Steadying herself with her talons, she stares the man straight in the eyes. "Did you kill that?" She motions with her head to the corpse slumped below the panel.

Many of the rad hell spawned mutants across the Deathlands cannot speak, or if they do it is usually in grunts or growls. The normal sounding voice belay's neither trait. She sounds perfectly normal to his ears. The surprise prevents him from speaking for several seconds.

"Well?" She asks, her voice still steady, but betraying a hint of fear.

"Yeah, I did. If I didn't chill it, he and his tribe would be feeding off my corpse right now." He notices her gaze has dropped and is resting on the blaster he is holding. Without realizing he is doing it, he lowers the barrel until its pointed at the floor, and not at the woman.

She takes a step towards him, her legs shaky, unsteady. She walks as if she has been asleep for a long, long time. Immediately the barrel rises and is aimed at her midriff. Her eyes widen in fear. "No, please, don't shoot. I won’t hurt you."

The weapon unwavering, he takes another step back.

"Where are the doctors? Mathew, could you please get Mathew?" She asks, the fear in her voice replaced by the beginnings of panic. "Please, sir, I beg you, don't shoot."

Sir? That’s a new one He thinks. The few times he has ever heard a mutie address him it was usually Outlander, asshole, or something equally rude. Once again, the barrel of the weapon lowers towards the ground. "Alright. Dark night, mutie, just stay where you are." He looks around the chamber, trying to see if there is anything that she can use to cover herself. With his free hand, he gestures to the dead mutie. "Take his clothing."

As if someone turned on a light switch, she realizes that she is naked. She lets go of the tube and covers her small breasts and genitals. Her legs, still too weak to support her, collapse under the strain of taking the full weight of her slight body. With a startled yelp, she tumbles to the floor.

The man takes a step towards her as if to help her and then stops. He still remembers the time that Lee Charnock, off war wag two tried to help a old sickly man who stumbled and fell. Turns out the man was part of a Cannie tribe. As Gary took his arm and helped him to his feet, the old bastard drove a hidden survival knife deep into his guts, laughing as Gary's hot blood gushed out over his hands. The laughter stopped as J.B. Dix put a single round through the old mans face.

The strange muties shoulders shake, as if she is crying, but no sound escapes her prostate form. He makes a decision, hoping that it isn't the wrong one. But he has never been able to stand and watch a woman cry. Call it a weakness, and many of his companions have, but he can't help himself.

He holsters the blaster and steps up to her. At such a close range he notices that some sort of nearly invisible film covers her skin. Knowing that there is no place for the mutie to hide a weapon, he reaches down and gathers her small form into his strong arms. The woman is tiny, but surprisingly heavy. He is quite a powerfully built man, and almost has to strain to lift her.

She buries her face in his chest and continues to sob quietly as he carries her out of the room. Remembering the clothing he found earlier, he heads towards the dormitories. She has a sharp, metallic odor, probably from the gel coating her. Holding her, he finds himself becoming aroused, but quickly fights the feelings down. This woman is far to mutated to consider. A few minutes later, he opens the door to the room. By this time, the sobbing has ceased and it seems as if the little mutie has fallen asleep.

He places her on one of the beds and sits down across from her, his thoughts racing. What the hell am I doing? How can I possibly help this rad spawned freak? He looks over at the small form and sighs. She is awfully cute, he thinks. Standing up, he covers her with a blanket. He gets up and leaves the room, closing the door. A quick jog down the hall brings him to the mess hall, where he grabs a pile of self-heats and pull-tabs of water. He returns to the room.

The woman is still sound asleep, so he places the food on the floor next to her. He then blocks the doorway with a chair and heads into the washroom to change the bandage on his throbbing shoulder. For safety sake, he leaves the door to the bathroom open.

"How did you get the injury?" He hears coming from the room.

:He glances at the mirror in front of him and sees the mutie is sitting up, covering herself with the blanket. "One of those muties bit me a while back."

She nods her head in understanding. "Does it hurt?"

He nods. "Yeah, fireblasted mutie had some sort of acid in its mouth. Burned like a double firestorm. Good thing I learned first aid. I can handle the pain. Had a lot worse over the years fighting in Trader's convoy." He notices her studying his scarred face, his left hand unconsciously reaching up to touch the mass of lines crisscrossing his features. She doesn’t mention it.

"Where are the doctors? And what year is it? Is Mathew still alive?"

He is about to put on his shirt when the question causes him to pause. The man is relieved that she doesn't bother to ask about his disfigurement. He turns around and studies her. "You sure speak funny for a mutie."

She blushes. "I'm not your average genetic mutant."

"So I see. Well, it's late March 2096. As for the doctors, they've been dead for nearly one hundred years. Who ever Mathew is, I'd have to say that he bought the farm a long time ago." He pulls his shirt on and walks into the room, taking a seat on the bed across from the woman.

The woman buries her face in her talons and begins to weep yet again. Between her sobs, he can barely make out the name Mathew she keeps repeating over and over again. Must have been someone special he figures. Patiently, he waits until the flood of grief passes.

Finally, she wipes her red rimmed eyes dry, her sorrow spent. She holds out her four-talon hand. "My name is Gedoena."

He takes her hand and shakes it. Her grip is surprisingly strong. "So what's your story. How'd you end up in that coffin." He asks. He reaches down and grabs a self-heat and hands it to her. "Here, its steak and potatoes. You look like you could use some food."

She takes it and breaks the seal, causing the chemicals in the packaging to heat the food contained inside. "That wasn't a coffin. It was a cryonic chamber."

"I've never heard of that before. What is it?" He asks, watching as she wolfs down the food. Being the gentleman he is, he grabs a ring pull of water and opens it. He hands it to her as she continues to speak.

"It is used for placing a person into a deep sleep, where they can sleep for years without waking up, or without aging. A person in cryo sleep doesn't need food or water either. It was an experiment carried out by the government just before the war occurred. The original premise was for putting people who were suffering from incurable diseases, or who were badly injured on ice, where, sometime in the future they would be revived and healed." She takes the offered water and drains half the can before continuing. "The scientists were also testing it for deep space exploration."

He sits, entangled in the web she is weaving. People from before the skydark, being frozen. Only problem is that, according to the mutant, these people were sickies. Dark night, she might be a plauger! He then realizes that if she was carrying any sort of disease, he's already been exposed to it. "Why were you in the tube then? You don't look sick to me."

She smiles in between bites. "I'm fine. Don’t worry, I am not sick or carrying any sort of disease." She puts down the package. "God, I am so tired." She leans back against the bed frame and closes her eyes.

Reaching over he takes the empty package from her lap. "You wanna get cleaned up and dressed? I found some clothing here, but with that tail, don't know if they will fit."

She opens her bright purple eyes and gives him a smile. "Yes, please. That would be nice." She holds out her hand. "I can sleep later. To quote S. Weaver, I've slept enough."

Who's that? He wonders to himself. He takes her talons and helps her to her feet. She is still quite shaky and weak, but he places his arm around her slim waste to support her. He helps her into the washroom. She leans up against the counter and he turns on the shower for her. She smiles at him and steps in. Figuring it wouldn't be a good idea to stand around and watch the woman bathe he steps outside and goes to the locker where he had found the clothing.

Nearly forty minutes later, she comes out of the washroom, a towel wrapped around her breast and genitals. Her shoulder length deep brown hair is dripping wet. He points out the clothing he found. "Here, try those. Might have to cut open the pants for yer tail though."

She puts on the bra. It fits perfectly. She then chooses one of the gray T-shirts and slips it on. He turns his back as she drops the towel and pulls on the panties. "Could I please borrow your knife?" She asks.

He pulls the wickedly curved blade from its scabbard and turns around, holding it to her handle first. Without realizing, his right hand grips the butt of his desert eagle. If she noticed, she doesn't say a thing about it.

"Thank you." She uses the edge of the blade to break the rear seam of the jeans. Cutting nearly to the crotch, she widens the hole until it looks like it could accommodate the tail. Standing up, she looks to the man. "Would you please help me? My legs are not steady enough." She indicates the jeans lying on the bed next to her.

He pulls her to her feet once again and holds her steady, his hands around her waist. She slips the jeans on. They seem to fit just fine. "Was there a belt with the pants?" She asks, pulling out of his grip.

He notices for the first time how tense she seemed to be when he was holding her. Must still be afraid of me, he muses. "I'll check." He goes over to the locker and looks in. Sure enough, a thin leather belt is lying in a coil on the bottom. He picks it up and tosses it to her. "Here. Looks like yer lucky day."

She slips the belt through the loops. It works perfectly. She looks at herself in the mirror. "Never had clothing like this before the scientists got a hold of me." She takes a step towards the bathroom, and staggers, nearly falling. The scarred man is right there, taking her arm in his hand, steadying her.

"Better sit down, you still seem double weak."

She nods her head and leans into him, allowing the man to help her over to the bed. She sits heavily and sighs, then leans back against the wall. "Thank you."

"No problem."

"Finish your story on how you ended up in the cryo tube." He prompts, his face showing interest in learning more about the strange mutant sitting across from him.

"Maybe later. I'm feeling quite fatigued." She stretches out and pulls the covers over her body. "Please, lets talk about this tomorrow."

He's silent for several seconds. She's evading the question, and he knows it. He simply nods his head. "Alright, get some sleep then." He pulls out his blaster and holds it to her, butt first. "You know how to use a hand blaster?" He asks.

She opens her eyes and glances at the weapon. "No, I don’t. I've never held a firearm before."

His eyes roll back into his skull. Great! Just fucking wonderful, he thinks but keeps his comments to himself. He thrusts the weapon towards her. "Take it. Its simple enough to use. Point the barrel at who ever is threatening you, squeeze the trigger, and hope for the best. Don't try for anything fancy, just aim for the center of mass." He points to his chest. "This is the largest target on a human body. Don’t worry, that weapon delivers one hell of a punch, and should stop just about anything in its tracks."

Slowly, hesitantly, she reaches out and takes the weapon.

"I'm gonna head out and check out the armory to see if I can get you a blaster of your own. I checked it out pretty carefully a while back, but it seemed to be pretty much stripped of all everything useful." He shrugs his massive shoulders. "But, you never know. Might have missed something."

"Ok."

Unlimbering the scattergun, he pops the magazine, checking to make sure it's fully loaded. "I'm also going to see if there are any more of those muties lurking around the redoubt. I gotta check the entrance, see if there is someway to lock it from the inside. Don't want any more of those critters coming in uninvited. Keep the door locked, and prop a chair under the knob. That way, no one should be able to break in."

She gets up off the bed and grabs the door. Before he can react, she grabs him and gives him a powerful hug. He is tempted to push her away, but holds off. After nearly half a minute she lets go. "Please be careful." She lets go and gently pushes him out of the room, then closes the door. He stands outside the door for a moment, totally confused. At one moment she is terrified of him, then at the next moment, she's hugging him as if he was a long lost brother.

What the hell is the story behind this woman? He has never encountered a mutant like her before. With a shrug, he checks both directions before heading towards the entrance. At each and every intersection he is careful to check every direction, just in case more of the muties may be waiting to ambush him. He is pretty sure that he's safe, because of the fact that he has encountered only a handful of the taints since he entered the redoubt.

Eventually he comes across the entrance. To his surprise, it is closed. He figured that it would be open because of the mutants he encountered. He takes a grenade and pulls the pin. Jamming the gren in the handle, he makes sure that the spoon will be released if anyone tries to open it.

Satisfied that this will discourage any more of the mutants from entering, he turns and heads back into the redoubt. Re-entering the armory, he searches through the trash. To his disappointment, he can't find anything that Gedoena would be able to use as a blaster. Checking his wrist cron, he sees that it is just a few minutes before one AM. Stifling a yawn, he heads towards the dormitory where Gedoena is resting.

He reaches and tries to open the door. It's locked. Good he thinks, she did exactly what he told her to do. With the hilt of his blade, he taps against the doorway. The sound it makes reminds him of small blaster fire bouncing off the armored sides of War Wag One.

"Is that you?" He hears a muffled voice coming from behind the door.

"Yeah, its me. Open the door." He shouts, making sure that she can hear him.

The door opens a minute later and he steps inside. He is surprised to see that the woman is wearing nothing but a sheet. "Not smart little lady. Should always sleep with yer cloths on. You never know when you might have to book out fast."

She blushes. "I'm sorry. I'm just not used to sleeping in normal clothing. I looked for some night cloths, but couldn't find any." She steps away from the door to give him the room he needs to enter. "I'll dress if you want."

"Be best. 'Sides. I don't need the distraction." His voice betrays his mischievous side, few have ever heard. Her blush deepens even more. He gestures with his hand. "Go on, get dressed and go back to sleep." He waits for her to pass by. In spite of himself, his gaze lowers and he watches with admiration. He has to force himself to pull his eyes off her firm rear end to close and lock the door.

The door secure, he grabs the bunk closest to it. Placing his scattergun beside the head, he kicks off his boots and lays back, his hands crossing his chest. His eyes close and he is about to drift off to sleep when a voice cuts through the encroaching darkness.

"Good night. And Thanks."

"Yeah, good night." His last conscious thought is the fact that he is sleeping in the same room as a mutie, and it feels right. He has always had a special insight, call it instinct. Some people think that he may be a partial doomie, but he has always scoffed at the thought. He simply has learned to listen to and trust his instinct. His instinct is telling him that he is safe around this unusual woman. He figures why should he start ignoring it now? Darkness claims him.

The next morning the smell of self-heats pulls him from his slumber. He opens his eyes and glances around the room. He spots the woman sitting across from him, eating. He pushes himself into a sitting position, and his hand darts towards the SPAS 15 rifle. Her eyes widen in fear as he points the barrel at her torso. Then, as if someone turned on a light, he lowers the weapon, realizing what he did. It takes a moment for him to recognize the woman seated before him. He is unable to help himself. Over the past twenty-nine years he has learned to react to anything he doesn't recognize with a blaster drawn. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."

Her lower lip begins to quiver, tears filling her eyes. "Please, don't do that. I promise I won't harm you."

"Never say yer sorry. It's a sign of weakness." He says, quoting one of Traders many sayings.

With the back of her talon, she wipes the tears from her face. "Ok. But please, don't point your weapon at me."

He places the room broom on the bed. "Alright, I won't. Didn't mean to scare you." He glances at his wrist chron. It's just after seven in the morning. "You get enough sleep Gedoena?" He notices that she is fully dressed.

"Yes I did. Thank you. I feel a lot better now." She rewards him with one of her smiles.

Slapping his legs, he stands up and grabs a self-heat. "Good! Now, you were telling me about how you got into that cryo tube I found you in."

She stares at the floor for several minutes without speaking. Finally, with a sigh, she begins to recount her tale. "I was born in 2085 in a tiny ville just to the east of the Pacific Ocean, where the old state of California was devoured during the nuking. My parents were part of a tiny ville of thirty odd people. We must have been near a hot spot, because quite a number of the kids born in the ville were muties like me. Thing is, I found out a few years after my birth that most of the muties were killed quietly at birth."

He nods his head, knowing well the practice. So many villes across the Deathlands would rather see mutant children killed right after birth than allow them to live. He remembers a small ville on the coast of Georgia where Trader had stopped a few years back. A woman had just given birth to a baby who had three arms, and a mouth full of jagged teeth. All things considered, a baby shouldn't be born with teeth. They threw the mutie into the Lantic and let it drown. "So, why were you spared?"

"I was the only child of five to survive. The others were all horribly deformed, and died at birth. Or, at least, that’s what my parents told me. I may look strange, but they fought the other families and I was allowed to live."

The man does a quick calculation in his head. "So, how come you look older than twenty. If you were born in 2085, that would make you eleven right now."

She sighs heavily and leans back against the bed frame. "That's where the story gets complicated." Her big purple eyes lock on his scarred features. "I'm the only successful Time Trawl victim that came from the future."

"Time Trawl?" He asks? "What's that?"

"I was taken from the future when I was only seven years old. The scientists brought me back in the past to 1998, three years before the birth of the Deathlands."

His mouth drops open, unable to hide the surprise and disbelief. "Dark Night! What kind of stupe do you take me for?"

"Please, believe me. I have no reason to lie to you about this." She leans forward and reaches out. Taking his callused hand in her taloned hand, she gives it a gentle squeeze. "Let me explain."

"Ok, Explain."

"You see, the government of the time was doing heavy research into new types of technology, such as matter transmitters, energy weapons, artificial life, and time travel. Time travel was only a small part of the experiments carried out. The scientists tried several times to bring a person from the past, as well as from the future. In all instances except for two, what remained of the people they brought back didn't live long. I, and another man, someone named Tanner, were those two." She finally releases his hand, and leans back into the bed.

His mind reels. She's from the future? But, according to her, if she was taken when she was only seven years old, she disappeared in 2092, four years ago. Could what she is saying be true? Over the time he's spent travelling across the Deathlands with trader and the convoy, they saw evidence of high technology everywhere, in every redoubt they found. Hell, he's even see the rusted remains of living metal, robots that one redoubt in Kentucky had been using as guards. It's obvious that this redoubt has been abandoned since the long winters, and that the cryo tube she was in had remained untouched. Once again, his instincts tell him to believe what she is saying.

"So, your really only eleven years old, and you were taken into the past, just a few years before the skydark by a bunch of government white coats. That’s the gist of it, right?"

"Pretty much. Technically, I am actually nearly fourteen. There is something about the Time Trawling that causes some of the victims to age. I heard that happened to the other successful experiment. When I woke up in the trawling chamber, I was in the body of a twenty-year-old woman. The scientists were unable to explain what happened to me."

The thought of finding a time travelling machine intrigues him. The possibilities that such a piece of tech could provide. "So, is this time trawling chamber located somewhere in this redoubt?" His voice belays the interest he feels.

"Heavens no. I was trawled up in Maine, in the Acadia National Park Ile Au Haut redoubt. Seems that this redoubt was sort of a nexus for quite a number of their experiments, and was rumored to have a separate gateway to a base hidden on the far side of the moon, or possibly on the moon itself." The longer she talks, the more animated she becomes.

"Never been in Maine before. But thanks for the information. Sounds like yet another redoubt to exploit. But, if that’s where you were time trawled from, how'd you end up here?" He feels like a triple stupe for asking such a question, knowing the answer should be as obvious as a bullet wound.

"Its quite simple. The scientists used the Matter Transmitter gateways to take me all across the states, to various redoubts." She pauses, seeing another question forming on his face. Before he can ask, she continues. "I think I know what your going to ask. Why were the scientists taking me all over the states. That’s what you were planning to ask, right?"

He nods, a little surprised at how easily she read his features.

"They were not expecting to bring back a mutant from the future. They did all kinds of experiments on me to determine what caused my mutations. I tried to explain to them that their world was destroyed during the nuclear war, but their arrogance wouldn't allow them to accept that. They figured that they would be able to detect and destroy any incoming enemy missiles with the high tech spaced-based weapons they had in orbit."

"Sounds like what I learned over the years. The government figured they were untouchable, indestructible. Guess the stupes learned the hard way that they were just as vulnerable as the next guy." He answers, agreeing with her.

"Yes, that they did. Anyway, they figured that somehow they must have opened up a hole in the dimensions and brought me in from an alternate reality, one where the war had occurred and the world was nearly destroyed. They did a lot of studies on me and opened up a new branch of research, one into dimension jumping. I don't believe they got very far."

Dimension jumping? Alternate realities? What the rad blasted hell is she talking about? He wonders. The terms she is using mean next to nothing to the man. He knows how to read and write, which is a lot more than most people in the Deathlands can say, and he knows arithmetic, but other than that, he has no real education.

"Whoa, slow down a fireblasted second lady. Yer getting ahead of me here. I have no idea what your talking about. Call me a stupe, but you gotta explain to me what your talking about."

She smiles shyly. "I'm sorry. I'll try and explain it to you the way they explained it to me. You see, the scientists theorized for many years that this world we inhabit is only one of millions of alternate earth's that exist at the same time, but in another place, one that we cannot reach. They called these places that we couldn't reach Dimensions. After bringing me back from the future, they began to delve into finding a way to break these dimensional barriers, so that they could gain access to these alternate earth's." She looks at him, hoping that he understands what she is trying to tell him.

He shakes his head. "It's hard for me to understand, but I think I get the Gist of what your telling me." He figures it would be best if he changes the subject. Maybe then he can understand what she's saying to him. "So, how'd they treat you?"

"For the most part, pretty good. They were cold and distant, simply because I was both a mutant and an experiment. They did give me an education though. Taught me how to read and write Physics, Mathematics, a little computer programming, and several other subjects. I guess they had to do something to keep me occupied in between their tests and experiments."

"How'd you end up in that cryo chamber I found you in then?"

"Ah, that. Well, one of the younger scientists, a man named Mathew, took a serious liking to me just after I was brought to this redoubt. I arrived here in mid September 2000. In fact, he was the only one I could really call my friend. He'd spend time with me when he was off duty, bring me books and magazines from the outside, and generally tried really hard to make my time here a little nicer."

"A little humanity among the cold hearted bastards that destroyed the world." He says.

She nods her head sadly. "When the redoubt commander got the evacuation signal from the chain of command, he was able to pull me aside in the chaos generated as the base was evacuated. The other scientists were far too busy trying to save their own lives to be concerned about a simple experiment. Anyhow, he took me the chamber you found me in, got me to take off my cloths and then covered me in that gel you found."

"And the rest is history, as they say." The scarred man interjects.

"Yes. He said that if everything was ok, that he'd come back and release me. Told me that I had nothing to worry about, that the Cryo chamber was the latest model they had been working on. Said that the freezing and de thawing procedure were not only a million times faster, but far safer than the earlier experiments. He kissed me, then closed the lid on the tube. Last thing I remember seeing is him mouthing the words 'I love you', before the chamber put me to sleep. Then, I wake up with you standing nearby." Tears gather at the corner of her eyes, realizing that the first man who ever said those words to her has been dead for nearly a century.

Well, that explains a lot he figures. Her reaction to him when he woke her up, the questions she asked, and the tears she shed. All makes perfect sense to him, now. He simply sits and stares, waiting for her to continue, unsure what he should say or do.

Suddenly, an idea comes to him. "Hey, Gedoena. You want to go home and see your family? You've been gone for only four years by their guess. If you know of any redoubts near where they live, we can use this Matter Transmitter tech you mentioned and get there double fast."

Her eyes light up. A beautiful smile is his reward for the suggestion. "Yes, that would be wonderful! I miss my mother and father terribly, as well as my baby brother. But then, like a chem storm covering the sun, the smile vanishes. The Mat Trans chamber in this redoubt was down for repairs when the war occurred. And besides, I don’t know the codes to any of the redoubts in California. I was never privy to that information."

He mentally throws up his hands. "Well, so much for doing it the easy way." He sighs. "But…."

"But what?" she asks, some of the light returning to her purple eyes.

"But, I'd be willing to help get you across the Deathlands, on foot if we have to. If we can find a wag, that would be ace on the line, but odds of that happening are about the same as a Stickie ignoring a fire."

She studies the man for several moments. "You'd do that for me? Why?"

He smiles. "Seems like the right thing to do." He is thinking about trying to get back with Cohn and the others, but by now, they are long gone. Hopefully, they might be able to cross trails again sometime in the future.

He doesn't have time to react as the lithe mutie launches off her bed and slams into him. Her arms enfold him and she kisses him passionately. "Thank you, oh, thank you so much. You have no idea what this means to me." She hugs him tightly, and he can feel the strength hidden in the small form.

"Urgh…. Ok, ok, let me go. Yer breaking my fireblasted ribs!" He grunts.

She smiles sheepishly, and lets go. "Sorry, I don't know my own strength some times." She steps back, but doesn't let go of the man. "When can we go?"

"In a few hours. I want to finish exploring the redoubt first, and then see if we can find some back packs so we can load up on food, water, some general equipment. I also want to search the armory a little more carefully, make sure that I get all the ammunition we can use gathered up." He unbuckles the gun holster from his belt and hands it to her. "Here, strap this on your belt."

She takes the belt and straps it on, making sure that the fit is both tight and comfortable. "Thank you." She says, smiling yet again. She turns and heads towards the dormitory door then stops. Slowly she turns around. "Say, you know my name, and everything about me, but what about you?"

"Me?" He asks, grinning mischievously. "What do you want to know?"

"For starters, your name."

"Maverick." He replies. "Brett Maverick"

End of Part Two.