I realized late last night I had failed to comment on two other submissions. Since I was frustrated and wrestling with the Antares ship sections by Moebious, I decided to wait till later. Storm: I read it a bit different than Ram did. 'Course, not the first time I may have been off-base, though. I feel the storyteller is female and, to put it bluntly, is in dire need of, well, errrr, hmmmm. Let's forget the bluntness. Assuming I'm not entirely wrong, I think you did a great job of showing how "hot" things can be. Oh, and was the "...smooth even stroke as the cue slid between his fingers" phrase intended to be suggestive or was it just my dirty mind? Ram: When someone writes something, I think it means a lot to them when a reader is touched. When you can find that thread connected to the tear duct and tug ever-so-slightly on it. FEAR, PAIN, and whatever the emotion one feels when they are trapped in a situation. HELPLESSNESS? Great job.