THE GROUP WAS WELCOMED back with open arms. That is to say; Tom and company greeted them, although they had eaten most of the edible foods, drank most of the good drinks, and they bore the returning group no gifts. Tom had taken care of the food and drink problem. He had earlier used the credit card that he had swiped from the absent Sage to order more food in the form of pizza and subs and drink in the form of soda and alcoholic beverages from one of the bootleggers who lived down the street, and for some reason was set up to take credit cards.
Markus and Vera headed straight for the morning's newspaper. There were two sets of memories that were related but significantly different from each other dancing through their heads. They remembered that the Mar's mission was nearly to the planet
