The first voice he heard was Ken's.The first voice he heard was Ken's. "Who the Hell is... Nickolai!" Nickolai looked in to see Ken, P'nyssa, Aaden, Furry, and Molly sitting around a board with hands (or in P'nyssa's case, mittens) full of cards. Furry turned, her eyes wide. "K... Kolya?" She leapt to her feet and ran, slamming into him so hard he was tossed against the far wall, her arms around him, her face buried against his chest. "You're back! Oh, it's so good that you're back! I'm so happy to see you! I was so worried!" Nickolai smiled and pulled her close, hugging her. "I missed you too." "Missed me? MISSED ME? Do you know how long you've been gone?" "About three days?" "More like eight!" she said. "I've been gone for eight days?" Nickolai looked up, surprised. "Yep," Ken said, smiling and clasping him on the shoulder. "In fact, while you were gone you missed an Interstellar War over you." "I what?" Nickolai stared up at Ken, then across the room at everyone else, then down at Furry. She was staring up at him, smiling with tears in her eyes. "The opening of the Hall was regarded as an act of war," Aaden said lightly. "But we managed to talk them out of economic suicide, especially when we pointed out to the Samans all the new technological edges they would need to come up with for the new species of Terran humans. |