// The entirity of this story was roleplayed in skype. This is a slightly modified transcript of a skype log.
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Manhattan airspace - Near Fort Bragg - The Navy's secondary Manhattan Headquarters.
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The sabre known as the Devil Unicorn entered the atmosphere slowly, the pilot seemingly unsure as to where to go.
[color=#33FFFF]'Poor girl' thought David Hale to himself as he slowed his upholder and hailed the ship
"Miss Concordia, follow me if you could. The Commodore will be arriving shortly, she's a little distance behind me."
"Hmmm okay!"came the responce form the cheery-voiced girl in the sabre.
He sat back and sighed, guiding his bomber down towards the Fort Bragg landing pads and as he opened up radio comms with the planetside ground crew for docking clearance, the sabre following him closely.
Concordia laughed in the cockpit. "You should clean that bottom of that ship a bit..."
A Guardian joined the two ships, and followed them down towards Fort Bragg in silence. Hale looked over at the new contact, smiled to himself and raised an eyebrow at Concordia's comment about his upholder.
"It's a military ship, Miss. The old cupholder doesn't get an easy life." "Hmmm... I guess..."
The guardian fell into formation and the pilot, Christina Robinson, listened in on the comms chatter, expressionless as she watched David Hale slowly put his Upholder down on his reserved pad.
"Your sabre is cleared for pad 19, next to the collection of executioner fighters you can see down there." "Okay!"
Hale opened up the cockpit canopy and stepped out watching the sabre land uncertainly, and not quite where he'd asked. He sighed and looked up for the shape of Christina Robinson's approaching guardian. "Hurry up Christy, I'm not entirely sure I can do this only own" he muttered to himself before grabbing his makeshift walking stick out of the cockpit of his ship and walking slowly towards the sabre.
Concordia decended into the cargobay of her sabre and opened up the airlock doors, staying inside and looking out across the landing pads. The huge complex of Fort Bragg bustling with activity, as ground crew refueled a wing of Executioner heavy fighters.
Hale turned around, watching the shape of Christina Robinson's guardian landing next to his own ship, smiled to himself and stopped walking, waiting for Christy to catch up.
She hopped nimbly out of the cockpit and walked towards the Fleet Admiral with a neutral expression on her face. Christina was clearly in business mode, not that Hale noticed, greeting his old friend with a smile.
"You have no idea how glad I am you agreed to come. It was you or Christopher and uh... Hmm. You know Chris..." "What's that supposed to mean..?"
He turned towards the zoner sabre and started walking again, trying to keep pace with Christina, despite the ankle injury and stick. The young zoner spotted the two of them moving across the landing pad and waved.
"Hey!" she called. "She really has no idea, does she, David..." whispered Christina. "None..." He stopped infront of the sabre. "Miss Concordia, if you could follow us please." "Hmm, Okaaay. I didn't know Christie honey was that cute..."
She gave a nervous laugh and looked up at the sky, not noticing Christina's stern look as Hale started leading them towards a small building by the side of the landing pads, a slightly pained look on his face. This wasn't going as he'd hoped, and annoyance was already showing on Christy's face. "I think we'll take the monorail."
Christina nodded as a confused look spread across Concordia's face. "Mono... rail?" "That would make this go faster, yes. I don't have a desire to walk kilometers across this base." "A planetside transportation system... And uh..." He pointed to his ankle with the stick "I really don't feel much like walking." "Hmmm...." Concordia looked at his ankle. "What happened to you, honey?" She leaned closer "Uhoh..."
Christina made a sound which could have been a cough, or perhaps a growl... "A cruiser missile... Nothing worth thinking about." "Keep a respectable distance." "Uh?" The girl looked confused and leant back. "I did something wrong?" "That's why you're here." snapped Robinson as Hale lead them onto the platform and towards a waiting monorail carriage. "We'll get somewhere slightly less public before we talk about that, I think." "Rmmmm" responded the girl, scratching her lower lip. "Okay!"
The monorail carriage moved off. Hale sat in silence, watching the passing landscape of Fort Bragg as they moved towards a large complex of buildings. Concordia looked around, curious at her surroundings. "Wao, it's funny here." "You get used to it..."
Christina sat in silence, watching the young zoner girl out of the corner of her eye as the carriage pulled into a small tunnel in the side of a large building and came to a halt at a platform.
Hale, Robinson and the young zoner girl stepped onto the platform and the carriage moved off. [color=#33FFFF]"Only a little distance from here, I thought Greenson's office would do, given she's away on duty..."
"Green...Son? Who is that?" "Someone you don't know."
Concordia smiled "He's cute?"
Hale sighed..."Commander Jasmine Greenson, she's a good officer... After you Commodore." "Oh? That's a girl? She's cute?" "That should be the least of your concerns." snapped the Commodore, impatiently.
David started moving towards a elevator and hit the button on the wall panel beside it. "I don't really think that's an appropriate question to answer right now Miss Concordia... And less appropriate to ask..." "Hmmmm... You think?" She pondered this absently. "We know. But aside from that, we should be nearly there."
Hale glanced at Christina and shrugged before following her towards an office on the fourth floor of the building. Concordia lagged behind a little, looking around absent-mindedly as they reached the door to Jasmine Greenson's office. Hale punched in the access code and the door unlocked with a soft click. he pushed it open and stepped inside.
"Mm, this is cozy. Gives me a few ideas for..." "Whooo! It's nice here!" Concordia stood in the middle of the room dancing a little, humming a tune, seemingly oblivious of the two member of the Navy's admiralty watching her with mild confusion. "Be still!"
Concordia stopped, mid dance and looked around. "We're not here for fun and games." said Christina, her voice slightly softer. "Please take a seat." Hale pointed to the two chairs infront of the desk and sits down on a third behind it, putting his makeshift stick on top of the table.
"Hmmm" Concordia sat down on the chair David had indicated and looked at the both of them quizically. "You are so serious... What's wrong?" "You'll find out soon enough." "It's quite a serious situation, miss... Which explains why we're both so serious about it."
Concordia nodded. "Okay okay. Sorry!"
Christina took a chair and dragged it a little distance from the others before sitting down. "Sorry? Hmph, like that's good enough." she muttered under her breath.
"A few days ago, I got a report from an officer under my command about a zoner sabre flying around in zone 21... Your sabre."
Hale sighed. "Now... Zone 21 is a very dangerous place, and we don't let anyone who doesn't have permission to fly around in there, or fly through the jumpgate which is in the middle of it..."
Concordia looked at David, then to Christina, a look of puzzlement on her face. "Zone 21?" "The big minefield near Norfolk shipyard. Very dangerous place..." "Yes, that." "Rmmmm.... So you want me to tell you what happened?" "I think you telling us exactly what happened would be a good start." "Okay"
Hale leant forwards, his arms resting on the desk as he listened, casting a brief glance over to where Christina sat and waited for the story to unfold.
She looked at them both.
Why were they so serious? And why weren't they smiling?
She beamed at Christina Robinson who replied to that big smile with a look that could be interpreted either as 'Don't push your luck' or 'Just give me one reason to..'...
A bit disconcerted, she then glanced at David Hale who was currently looking rather sad.
Those two were never smiling?!
The girl pouted
"Sooooo..."She started, trying to remember it all. "I was in '49 when i met again that cute boy.... James?"She grinned, looking at them innocently.
David was trying to look focused, Christina was making a somewhat neutral face, showing a tad of disapprovement.
"He wanted to go to Crete"She continued"Annnnnnd... He proposed me to go with him so we went there while talking. He's such a sweetheart!" The girl smiled softly, day dreaming during a few seconds.
David coughed. "Oh! Anyway! We arrived to Crete and he had to go so i decided to meet Rosendo but he wasn't there. Sooooo... "She shrugged, grinning, and kept talking... "I wanted to visit a bit omicrons and then i met...." David tried to stop the flood of words coming out of her. "Omega 49?" She finally stopped and answered him. "Yay! I went there to meet Lyra!"
David successfully contained a sigh. "Right... so you got to the omicrons... You know the omicrons are an extremely dangerous place, right?" She thought for a while"Uhoh... I dance often in the omicrons... It's dangerous.... But i have some friends there!"
Christina, crossing her arms, leaned back on her chair. "And I suppose you're blissfully unaware that people die every day as well there?" David ran a hand through his hair and looked over at Christina, hearing that.
The girl looked quite sad, looking into their eyes alternatively"I know a lot of people die. I would like to help them but... It's not possible! Annnnnd... Anyway! I decided i wouldn't cry anymore so i won't cry because of them!" David tried to speak, hoping she would stop to listen to him... "We do try... but regardless, carry on. We need to know how you..." "Anyway... Where was i..." He lapsed into silence and listened to her.
"Soo...Ah Yes! I went to Minor and found a little hole as i was wandering. I decided to jump to see what was there. The jump was a bit shakie..."
David shook his head "You went to Omicron Minor... Jesus, Christy... she went to Minor..." Christina looked quite displeased"How do people like you even survive? If a raider doesn't kill you, a bloodthirsty Nomad surely will, and will save us the trouble of wasting our time on ignorant children like you."
David sighed and looked into the girl's eyes. "Concordia, there are things out in the omicrons which really don't like... people. All people. They really don't want anyone to be there..." "Annnnnd...."She stopped, thinking about David's tirade. "Ohhhhhh? Ah!"She girl beamed"I know about Blue sweethearts... I talked to them sometimes. They are funny!" They raised an eyebrow at this remark but didn't add anything.
Tilting her head, Concordia continued"Anyway Rmm... Where was i?... Oh yes! Sooooo... The unicorn arrived in one piece! That was a weird place! It reminded me a bit of hmmm..."She thought for a while... "Minnnnnesauta?" "Minnesota... like Minnesota, with the same ice formations?" "mmm yay! ... A bit like in Kappa!"
Christina narrowed her eyes.
Finally. She had enough of all that gibberish. They were coming to the interesting part. "So tell us then, what do you remember of that place?" "Right... can you tell us what you saw in that place?"added David at the same time.
The girl struggled to remember... "Oh hmmm.... Well... I was a bit lost!"She laughed and continued "I found some funny little buoys there and i followed them for a while. I then bumped into some weird station and they did some fireworks when i approached!" David raised an eyebrow again at this remark, giving a side-look at Christina. "I was a bit scared and i followed a lot of buoys until i found a gate and used it..... Then... The unicorn told me i was in New York and a sweetheart started to yell at me"she finished, scratching her lips.
"so, where was that? When you went from the jump-hole, which direction did you go... when you found the strange station?" She thought for a while and finally shook her head"Hmmm... Maybe you could ask to the unicorn honey? I don't quite remember!"
Christina waited a few seconds and then said"David, Im pretty sure this means we don't have much choice...." Suddenly, Concordia added, cutting Christina short : "Oh! I remember the station was a little square however!"
David gathered his thoughts and finally talked, avoiding Christina insistent look. "Right...Okay, we'll have someone check over your sabre's mapping systems and flight recorder. There may be some things we have to delete from it..." Christina mumbled a quite soundful"Uhm." Crossing her arms, she then said : "We've got to confiscate all the navigational equipment, David."
"Oh? You won't hurt the unicorn right?"Said Concordia, looking quite concerned.
"There must be a way of sorting this out without her losing all her nav data Christy..." Concordia was trying to understand"hmmm... You mean you would make 'him' forget everything? Even me?!"
Christina ignored the zoner girl"And you're willing to take that risk are you, David?"She gave him a stern look and added : "For the good of this idiot, you're willing to risk all of the investment that's gone into those projects?"
Confused, she asked"hmmm... What do you mean, Christie honey?" Christina barely favored her a stare"That's none of your business."
David looked over at the girl sitting in front of them and sighed. "Concordia, can you just give us a minute, please..." She nodded, smiling. "Okay!"
David stood up and picked up his stick. He then stepped into the corridor. "Stay here, please, we'll be just outside the door... Christy?" "Im coming." Christina then stood up as well, giving a somewhat hostile look at the girl who was already busy playing with some objects lying on the desk. She then followed David...
David waited for Christina to join him and then closed the door.
He studied her for a few seconds and finally whispered : "Christy, We can just delete the records of alaska, and Z21, and then hand it back to her... I wouldn't be able to live with myself if she went and got lost somewhere like say... Yukon, as a result of us taking all her nav gear... can you imagine what the rogues would do if they came across her drifting around in space?"
He sighed and gave a side look at the closed door. "She's got a memory like a goldfish herself... I doubt she will remember our names in a few hours time..."
Christina glanced at him coldly and finally replied : "Get a grip, David. There's more at risk here than the well-being of one girl.
You know as well as I do that her life is as far as the law is concerned, already forfeit."
She stopped, letting her words sink. She finally added. "That's all well and good, and suppose she does have a flash of memory and spreads it with the wrong people?" David shook his head imperceptibly. "The wrong people already know the map of that place..." Frowning, she took an ironic tone. "Well then we might as well open it up as a tourist destination!" "They might know their way around, doesn't mean they can see anything..." "Hence, opening it up as a tourist destination."
He rubbed his forehead and winced slightly as he put too much weight on his ankle. "Look... she's just a girl, Christy." Christina repressed a pout. "I can see that, clearly." "Naive and stupid, and... mindbogglingly innocent." "And our duty takes those into account, does it?" "It takes protection of the innocent into account, yes."
She kept her neutral expression, staring at him. She finally looked away, repressing a gesture that usually ment she was annoyed... Or about to be... "It doesn't say on the Zone-21 public description that there's an exception if you're innocent, stupid and naive." "No, it doesn't..."
Giving him an insistent looks, Christina then added : "If you want to start setting such a trend, that should be added there." "She'll get fined and pay... The TAZ are more than capable of covering that." "A comparative slap on the wrist, and you know it."
David seemed to be rather embarrassed. "Look, can we take the nav data, and replace it with a clean version..." "Or we can take all the equipment and get the TAZ to replace it themselves." "Or that..." "Which is what I was talking about."
They suddenly heard some humming coming from inside the room.
David nodded to the door"Just..."He sighed"Right... Lets just tell her what is going to happen. And I'll arrange for some transport to somewhere, or call Triton."
David opened the door but Christina held his shoulder. "Im not done yet."
He gave her an inquisitive glance and finally closed back the door.
Crossing her arms, she looked at him. "Right, I fear that you're going to be setting a trend by being overly nice." "She has -no- idea what she's done." "That diminishes what she's done how exactly?" "There are no warning signs on the Alaska jump-hole in minor."
Christina ignored his remark, elaborating her point of view. "If somebody kills somebody else, but has no idea what they've done, or that it's wrong, that doesn't diminish the crime at all. Somebody still died, and here, a very restricted area was still breached." "Not in the least, but that's for the courts to work out." "Courts don't deal with national security matters, the Joint Chiefs do. What do you think the LSF would do to her if she breached Ellesmere?"
David remained silent during a few seconds, thinking. They heard the girl singing from the inside of the office. He sighed once again. "Can we go with a lie detector? Ask a few leading questions, and see if she's keeping anything from us." She shrugged. "I don't trust that detector." "It sounds like she just blindly wandered around with no comprehension of what she was seeing." "Oh, I dont doubt that. But if you save her now and she doesn't learn her lesson and sober up, it's just shifting the problem on to someone else." "So what would you do? lock her up?"
Christina held back a gesture of impatience. "You're too nice but I doubt the Director of the LSF has such moral restrictions. I'd do whatever was necessary to teach her responsibility, and in respect to your wishes, release her after that."
Chuckling, she added coldly. "If it was my choice alone, she'd be locked up and the key thrown away. So would everybody else who breached that system."
David shook his head, looking rather sorry. "Well... Maybe we can teach her a little responsibility now..." "You think? She's singing her heart out in there!"
They stopped again to talk. It seemed the girl inside was now singing a quite old love song, with not much talent, David had to admit.
He lowered his head and sighed. "I remember you, in a disciplinary hearing when we were at the academy, whistling through getting yelled at by talon for that time we crashed the... never mind." "I don't remember that.." "You must remember when we crashed the... wait. No. That was Sarah"
Christina face-palmed. "But listen... It's just, even so, that happened, we made a mistake and it was done out of innocence, and Talon still gave me his job however many years later, didn't he?" "Well, both of you got a job high up, but I'd say that only carried a fifty percent success rate." He sighed.
"Forgiveness is all well and good, property can be repaired. But people don't forget. Not unless you put them through some pretty brutal therapy." "Christina, I'm going to talk to that little girl in there, and explain that there are things in this universe which are far larger than her or me, and some things we just can't and won't ever comprehend. And that's why sometimes there are places not to go. And then we go through all the legal proceedings. I'll get the nav data stripped out and contact Triton to pick her up."
She pouted, showing fair amount of disapproval. "Hmph. You're not going to go any further than that, are you?" He raised an eyebrow. "It's not in my hands, is it..."
"It's absolutely in your hands. The defense secretary put it there." "The JCoC will do what they do, and I'm only one voice in twelve and so are you." "Depends if they turn up. If it's up to the JCoC, then I hope to see her release get passed through there before it's made official. If they are willing to take the risk you are, then maybe I am wrong."
Hale glanced at Christina in a slightly affectionate manner.
"If you didn't disagree with me, there would be something wrong with the universe." "That's true. So if I start agreeing with you, we need another chat."
That said, David opened the door and stepped in the office, followed by Christina...
David entered in the office and sat back behind the desk, soon imitated by Christina.
It seemed Concordia took advantage of the time she was alone to work on some choreography and the two officers found them shaking her hips while humming.
Turning her back to the door, the girl kept dancing, seeming to be unaware of their presence.
David glanced at her, a bit confused, and finally took a deep breath. "Right... Concordia... Please sit back...? Thank you." "Oh you're back?"She said cheerfully. "So what were you two talking about, uhhhh? Something funny?! Oh i know!" The girl sat and leaned forward, studying them both while smiling softly. "You proposed to her, didn't you?!"
David felt Christina staring at him. Repressing a sigh, he ignored the question. "First... let me explain what exactly you did wrong. I think it's important you understand this, so that you know why we are taking it so seriously..."
Christina crossed her arms and her legs, remaining silent and letting David do the talk while staring unkindly at the girl facing them.
It was better for her to not interfere at this point... As she would certainly lose her temper and slap that ignorant and stupid child sooner or later...
The girl focused, looking at them both and making a somewhat soundful "Hmmm?" "You trespassed in restricted space. That means that the only people who are allowed to go where you went, are Liberty navy and LSF personel. The reason for that is that very dangerous things happen in Zone 21 and the system you flew through to reach it... Very dangerous."
"Uhoh..."Said the girl again, tilting her head. "Alex honey told me that! She made me promise i would not do it again." David continued"There are also some other reasons that we keep people out of that place. Sometimes we have to keep some secrets from people like the Rheinland government. because we are at war with them, and letting them know about all the things in there, could give them an advantage, which would result in a lot of people dying."
He sighed once again, and glanced at Concordia, making a short pause. "Now, it's very lucky for you, that you didn't see much... But Commander Gennard, who is the man who stopped you, from the South Bend... He -could- have just ordered all his gunners to open fire on you, and destroy your ship."
The girl was looking at him, appearing to be quite worried. "Uhhh...! You mean i endangered some sweethearts?" He nodded"Yes, you did."
The girl was now looking quite scared. "Rmmm...But.. I didn't want to!"
David glanced over at Christina and then added. "And the people you endangered could have been me, or Commodore Robinson over there, who is a very good friend of mine..." She gave a look at Christina who was remaining stonily indifferent. She then focused back to David. "Uhhh... Buuut... I love you two... I would never harm you!"
David kept talking, hoping to make her understand for good. "...Or Christopher Hood, or Joshua Ashfield, or any of the navy pilots who you have met flying around Liberty." "Hmph..Or someone else you might not know, who has a family and friends. You or anyone else going into that system can inadvertently reveal information that causes people to die."Added Christina, seeing David was in need of some backup by looking at the zoner girl expression.
Concordia didn't talk during a few seconds, thinking... "Hmmm... I don't get it!"She finally said, appearing to be quite confused."Why can it put in danger people?"
David shook his head. That wouldn't be as easy as was hoping it to be...
David suppressed a sigh and patiently tried another approach.
"When you are at war with some other people, they will try and find out everything about you, so that they know how to kill you... But if they don't know anything about you, then they will find it very hard to kill you." "The more you know, the more dangerous you are to those people. Why is it so hard to understand...." Christina was about to add something not so nice but she finally kept it for herself.
"Uhuhhhh..."The girl was scratching her lower lip and suddenly asked with a big smile "Why not stopping the war then?!" David smirked sadly"If only is was that easy..."
"We would like that....But wars start for many reasons. This particular one was because the Republic of Rheinland couldn't resist making a territorial grab on Bering and Hudson. We guaranteed their safety, and until those systems are safe again, we cannot back out of our obligation."explained Christina, looking at the zoner girl. Not like she was expecting that dumb head to understand a word anyway...
David gave her a few seconds to consider all this... However it didn't seem to sink in... "So....Concordia, we need to take the nav data from your sabre, so that the rheinland government don't find anything out about it." "Hmmm.... But it won't hurt him or make him sad, right?"she asked, still somewhat lost in her thoughts.
David looked at Christina, slightly confused. In response, she shrugged. "Uhm... no, we won't." "Hmph...I wonder..."was muttering Christina to herself...
Concordia was still thinking.. She finally nodded"Okay then! If it's done to not endanger some sweethearts!" "And then there will be a group of people who decide what will happen. Now, we know that you do not know much about the place you visited.... So that will help you..."
"Uhoh... What will happen? What do you mean?!" David considered the options and finally said"Well, I expect that the TAZ, or you, will have to pay some money to our government, for all the time and effort we've had to go to in order to clear up this mess.... And to make it so that you do not do it again."
"Uhuhhhh...."The girl pretended to search in her pockets and stuck out her tongue"The only little thingy dingy is... Well... I'm always broke... Could i pay in kisses?" Christina closed her eyes and sighed.
David was glancing at Christina, looking a bit puzzled"...What?!"He then rubbed his forehead.
"oooooor"added the girl, smiling mischievously while thinking"I could dance in navy bars for a while?" "It might be a bit of a sad reflection on society, but I don't think that will work, or be deemed appropriate."
"Hrmmmm.... Mom' could pay buuuut..."The girl rolled her eyes, grinning"I -really- don't want to call her!" "... How old are you Concordia?"
The girl thought for a while"I'm not sure?" The two officers glanced at each other, perplexed.
Seeing that she laughed "Mom' used a discordian calendar to count my years.... Annnnnnd... Not sure of how it matches with current time thingy dingy!"
David looked at Christina with a slightly worried expression. "I'd say... 17?"She finally asked, after thinking for a while."Orrrr... Maybe more?" "F-..."He stopped short of saying anything. "Hmmm?" Christina was closing her eyes again.
She finally said"I do -not- know what to say." The girl looked at them both, quite confused"What's wrong?"
"Christina, if her mother is the legal guardian..." "Yes?" "Then I think that she really needs to know about this... and the trespass..." "Well of course she does. And hopefully she will teach her some maturity." "You will call mom'?"Concordia was really scared now."I don't want to see her!"
"We will have to Concordia. Liberty law means you can't be treated as an adult in the eyes of the law..." Christina contained a smirk"Well, actions have consequences..."
The girl was now shaking her head"She is mean and will do those weird things to me again!" David raised an eyebrow, looking quite confused. "You shouldn't have been where you were then.... Don't get all mushy now David."She added when she noticed David expression.
The admiral finally said : "Right... We are going to contact Mr Triton to pick you up, and we will return your ship to you when our engineers have done what they need to do." "Hmm Okay. I like Xavier. He's very shy. That's funny!"the zoner girl replied while grinning innocently.
David lowered his head. He didn't ask. When he looked back at her, he blinked.
She was busy pulling faces at Christina to make her smile, without much luck so far. "Hmmm...I think you'll find that most people are more shy than you."
She nodded, stopping her attempts, and tilted her head, wondering... "True! Which is weird! Why people don't enjoy their life?"
David stood up and picked up his makeshift walking stick from the desk. He then moved towards the door. "There's plenty more reasons for that."
The girl was glancing at him, still thinking... Finally she looked around, appearing to be a bit lost "Soooooooo... I have to stay here? Where is the bed?!" "Not here. I'll have some quarters arranged for you down in the guest wing, and then I think Christina and myself will have to talk about what happens next." "Hmm okay, love."
She suddenly Smiled teasingly, glancing at Christina, and back at David... "I have a question though..!"
David looked over at Christina for a second and then back to Concordia.. "Go ahead..." "Here we go." Mumbled Christina.
"Rmm rmmm...."The girl was tilting her head to one side while scratching her lower lip. "I was wondering..."She then smirked innocently and continued "Did you two... You know?"
"... no?"finally replied Christina, quite clearly not amused at all.
David was slightly surprised for a second but then he -nearly- laughed. "... No, Concordia, we didn't."
"Uhoh...? Why not?!" "Hmpf... Because our relationship is professional and friendly."Christina was crossing her arms, looking daggers at the zoner girl. "Can I give you a little bit of advice, Concordia?" "Hmm? What is it, sweetheart?"
David sighed. He talked slowly, with a reasonable tone, to allow the girl to focus easily on his speach. "When you talk to people, you will find a lot of them are rather hesitant to answer questions about their personal lives. Now, the reason I don't answer questions like that very often, and choose to ignore them, is because I can't even sneeze without all the newspapers and television networks writing a heap of complete trash about me dying of phneumonia, when infact all I had was a slight cold."
He shrugged and looked back at her. "So if I answer questions like that, then people make a lot of rumours which are not true, and then talk about them like it's a fact... And that's not really fair on me, or on any of my friends."
"Rmmm ... That must be boring..."She said, putting her head on the desk as if she was about to sleep. "You have no idea how boring it is..." "But!"She leaned back all of a sudden, a big smile on her face.
"Didn't you try to spread false rumours to laugh a bit? That would be funny!"
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