Chapter 17 Chapter Sixteen

"You may call me an ambassador, but I am not worthy of the title," said the Consu, "I am a criminal who disgraced myself at the Battle of Panshu, so I am ordered to come, in your language Talk to you. This kind of humiliation makes me long to die and get the punishment I deserve before being reborn. I hope that my current behavior will slightly increase my value in the eyes of everyone, so that I can get relief from death. It is for this reason that I defile myself to speak to you." "Nice to meet you, too," I said. We stood in the middle of a dome the size of a football field that the Consu had built less than an hour earlier.Needless to say, we humans are not allowed to set foot on Consu land, or stand anywhere where Consu are likely to tread again.After our arrival, the automata built the dome in an area of ​​Consu's space that itself had long since been isolated for uninvited guests like us.As soon as the negotiation is over, the dome will be detonated and shot towards the nearest black hole, so that every atom of it will never be able to pollute this piece of universe again.In my opinion, the heavy hand at the end was a little too heavy.

"We know you want to ask some questions about the Rye people," said the ambassador, "and you would like to earn the honor of asking them, as is our custom." "Yes." I said.Fifteen meters behind me, thirty-nine special forces soldiers in combat uniforms stood at attention.Intelligence told us that the Consu people would not consider this a meeting of equals, so there was no need to put on any special diplomatic attire.Besides, any one of them could be selected for a fight, and battle suits are essential.I did dress up a little.That was my personal decision; since I'm going to pretend to be the head of this little delegation, for God's sake I at least have to look like it.

Also far behind the Kangsu ambassador were five other Kangsu people, each holding two long, terrifying knives.Know what they're doing there without asking. "My great people consider it right that you have offered to follow our customs and have appeared as we demanded," said the Ambassador, "but if you had not brought the honor of our warriors For those who are sent to rebirth, we will still consider your request to be worthless and ignore it. Is that person you?" "That's me," I said. The Kangsu man paused, as if looking at me, "It's strange that a great warrior should look like this." The ambassador said.

"I feel the same way," I said.Intelligence said that once the Consu accepted our demands, they would keep their promises.We just need to fight according to the usual practice, as for the demeanor in the negotiation is not important, so I can do whatever I want.Here’s how the researchers put it: The Consu might have preferred us to be more casual, which would enhance their sense of superiority.I'm fine with anything, as long as it works. "We have selected five criminals to compete with your soldiers," said the ambassador. "Because humans lack the physical qualities that the Kangsu people have, we have prepared knives for your soldiers. If they want, they can Use. Our fighters are holding knives, and whoever they hand the knife to is the chosen one to fight."

"Understood." I said. "If your soldier survives, he can keep the knife as a symbol of victory," the ambassador said. "Thank you." I said. "We're not going to take the knives back anyway, they've become unclean," the ambassador said. "I see what you mean." I said. "After the fight, we'll answer all the questions you've won," the ambassador said. "Now choose your opponent." The ambassador groaned and let out a scream that was loud enough to lift the pavement off the road.The five Consu behind him drew their knives and stepped forward, past the ambassador and me, towards our soldiers.Not one flinched.Discipline is really good.

The Consu didn't spend much time choosing an opponent.They walked straight all the way, and handed two knives to the hands of the people directly in front of them.To them, any of us is the same, there is no difference.The knife was handed to Corporal Mendel, Private Joe Goodell, Private Jennifer Aquinas, Sergeant Fred Hawking and Lieutenant Jane Sagan.They took the knife without a word.The Consu retreated behind the ambassador, and the rest of our soldiers also retreated a few meters, keeping some distance from the chosen one. "You start the contest in turn," said the ambassador, retreating behind his fighters.Now, there are only me and two rows of soldiers standing fifteen meters in front and behind, waiting patiently to kill each other.I stepped to one side, still standing between the two rows of people, and pointed to the special forces and Consu people closest to me.

"Begin." I said. The Consu spread out its knife-like cutting arms, and the edges of its modified flat carapace were razor-sharp.Next, he extended his smaller, human-like, secondary arms and hands.With a scream that pierced the dome, he stepped forward.Corporal Mendel dropped one knife, took the other in his left hand, and walked straight toward the Consu.The two walked to a distance of three meters from each other.The movement after that was so fast that I couldn't see clearly at all, and there was only a blur in front of my eyes.Ten seconds later, Corporal Mendel was struck by the cutting arm, and the wound ran across the entire chest, reaching to the bone; but the soft part where the Consu's head connected to the carapace was deeply pierced by a knife.Mendel snatched into the Kangsu man's arms. Although he took a hit, he still hit the most exposed weak part of the Kangsu man neatly.The Consu twitched, and Mendel yanked the long knife and slashed open his nerve bundles, separating the secondary nerve plexus from the main brain tissue in the chest cavity and severing several major blood vessels.The Consu collapsed.Mendel drew his knife, pressed his right arm tightly to his ribs, and stepped back among the commandos.

I signal Goodell and his Consu opponents to start.Goodell grinned and jumped out dancing, dragging the long knife with both hands, the blade backward.The Kangsu rushed forward with his cutting arms spread out in front of him, roaring all the way.Goodell also sprinted forward, but at the last second he slid forward like a runner on base and slid under the Consu.The Kangsu swung his arm and cut off the skin and ear on the left side of Goodell's head.Goodall's knife swung upwards, severing one of the Consu's carapace legs.The leg snapped off like a lobster claw, brushed past Goodell, and flew away.Kangsu leaned over and fell down.

Goodell sat on the ground and turned, threw the double knives up, did a backflip, and landed on both feet, just in time to catch the double knives before they fell to the ground.There was a big gray clot on the left side of his head, but he was still smiling as he charged at the Consu.The Kangsu man is trying to stand upright like crazy.He slashed at Goodale, but the cutting of the arm was a step slower; Goodale turned, backhand thrust, and the first knife pierced the carapace of the Consu's back like a spear.Goodell turned his body again, and stabbed into the carapace on the Kangsu man's chest with his backhand.In the end, he made a 180-degree turn, faced the Kangsu people, and grabbed the handles of the two knives and violently stirred them.Shredded viscera rolled out of the Cansu's chest and back, and the Cansu convulsed and fell to the ground.Goodell grinned all the way, and danced a jig back to his side.He's clearly having a good time.

Private Aquinas didn't dance, and he wasn't in the same high spirits as Goodell.She and her Consu circled each other warily on the phone for twenty seconds before the Consu rushed forward with its cutting arms raised upwards, as if to stab Aquinas in the face Wear it up.Aquinas leaped backwards, fell, and groped backwards.The Kangsu lunged forward, and the left cutting arm pierced the soft part between the radius and ulna of her left arm, pinning her to the ground, and the other cutting arm also turned in front of her neck.The Kangsu moved its hind legs and got ready to chop off the opponent's head.With the help of his hind legs, he cut his right arm and moved back slightly to make room for maximum strength.

At the moment when the Kangsu people were about to chop off Aquinas's neck, she let out a muffled groan, and her whole body slammed in the direction where the Kangsu people cut it off.With this thrust, the soft tissues and muscles of her left arm and hand were torn apart.The force of Aquinas' impact remained undiminished, and he hit the Kangsu man with his whole body, knocking him down.Aquinas snatched into the Kangsu man's arms, turned around, swung the knife with his right hand, and stabbed the Kangsu man's carapace fiercely.The Consu tried to push her away, but Aquinas' legs clung tightly to his opponent's midsection and would not let go.The dying Consu slashed at Aquinas's back several times, but the two sides were too close for the slashing arm to be released.Aquinas barely shook off the dead Consu and walked towards his soldiers.She collapsed halfway and had to be carried away. I finally understood why I was exempted from fighting.It's not just about speed and strength, although the Special Forces fighters are clearly better than me at both.There is a saying called "acceptable loss". Their understanding of this sentence is very different from that of ordinary soldiers, and from this they have developed some combat strategies that ordinary soldiers would never adopt.Normal soldiers would not sacrifice their limbs like Aquinas did just now, because more than seventy years of life experience told him that limbs are irreplaceable, and losing one of the limbs will cause death.Special forces don't have this problem.Their experience is that lost limbs can always grow back.They also know how powerful their bodies are against blows, which is so powerful that ordinary soldiers can't understand it.This is not to say that special forces fighters do not have a sense of fear, but that they developed fear much later than we do. I motioned for Sergeant Hawking and his Consu to start.This time, the Kangsu did not spread his cutting arms; the Kangsu simply walked to the center of the dome and waited for his opponent.At the same time, Hawking bowed his waist, approached cautiously step by step, and weighed the right time to attack: move forward, stop, take a step across to avoid, stop, move forward, stop, move forward again - such thoughtful small steps go ahead.But the Kangsu people suddenly attacked with claws and teeth, and pierced Hawking with two slashing arms at the same time, picking him up and throwing him into the air.Hawking arced and fell, and the Consu slashed at him viciously, beheading him and cutting him in half down the middle.Hawking's torso and legs flew in different directions, and his head landed directly in front of the Consu.The Kangsu looked at the head, then picked it up with the tip of the cutting arm, and threw it in the direction of the human.The wet head hit the ground and bounced, spinning and flying over the heads of the crowd, spilling brains and smart blood along the way. During the first four rounds, Jane stood restlessly in the queue, tapping her long knife nervously.Now, she stepped forward to fight; and her opponent, the last Consu, was as ready as she was.I signaled them both to start.The Consu took a defiant step forward, swung his slicing arms wildly, and let out a battle scream that seemed loud enough to shatter the dome and suck us all into space.His jaw opened surprisingly wide as he screamed.Jane, who was thirty meters away, blinked her eyes, and then threw a long knife into the opponent's open mouth with all her strength.The force was so fierce that the blade directly penetrated the back of the Kangsu man's head, and the handle blocked the cranial cavity at the end of the mouth.The dome-shattering battle cry of the Consu stopped abruptly and was replaced by the sound of a large beetle choking on blood and long strips of metal.The guy tried to reach in and pull the knife out, but before he could do that he fell forward and finally let out a wet croak and died. I walked over to Jane, "I don't think they intended for you to use the knife like this." She shrugged and tapped the remaining knife in her hand. "No one ever said I couldn't use it that way," she said. The ambassador of the Kangsu people stepped forward, took two steps sideways, bypassed the fallen Kangsu people, and came to me. "You've earned the right to ask four questions," he said. "Now you can." Four issues have exceeded our expectations.We had hoped to ask three questions and were prepared to ask only two.We thought the Consu would be a bit more challenging.Of course, the death of a soldier and the dismemberment of his body is not a complete victory, but that is the way it is, and we have to accept it.Four questions can't keep up with five, but this result is not bad. "The Consu provided the Rye with the jump drive detection technology, right?" I asked. "Yes." The ambassador replied without elaborating.That's ok, and we didn't expect the Consu people to say much more than the necessary answer, but the ambassador's answer informs our questions below.Since the Rye got that technology from the Consu, they probably don't know the basics of how it works, so we don't have to worry about them expanding their use or commercially transferring the technology to other races . "How many Warp Thruster detectors did the Rye have?" We wanted to ask how many machines the Consu had provided for the Rye, but were afraid the Rye had built some themselves.It is better to ask the general situation. "One," said the ambassador. "Among the races known to mankind, how many have the technology to detect jump thrusters?" The importance of this question ranks third.We think the Consu know more races than we do, so it doesn't make much sense to ask in general terms how many races have the technology; likewise, it's useless to ask who they gave the technology to, since other races might invented the technology himself.Not every technology in the universe is handed down from some advanced races, and people will invent something by themselves from time to time. "No," said the ambassador.This is our good luck again.If nothing else, we'll have time to figure out what to do about it. "You can ask one more question," Jane said, directing my attention back to the ambassador.He stood there, waiting for my last question.My heart skipped a beat, fuck it. "The Consu can wipe out most races in this universe," I said, "why don't you?" "Because we love you," said the ambassador. "What?" I said.Strictly speaking, this should be regarded as the fifth question, and the Kangsu people do not have to answer it.Nevertheless, he gave an answer. "We value all life that has the potential to be Ungercut." The word "Ungercut" sounds like a car's fender rubbed against a brick wall. Taking care of you, all lowly races, sanctifying your planet so that those of you who live there can enter the cycle of rebirth. We feel our responsibility in your upbringing. Rye Think we are giving them the technology you are asking because they gave us one of their planets. But that is not the case. We saw an opportunity to bring your two races closer to perfection and jumped at it this opportunity." The ambassador opened a pair of slashed arms, revealing the hands at the front of the second-level arms. These hands made a gesture that was almost pleading, "Now, the time for you people to be eligible to join our ranks has been greatly shortened. Today you are dirty Dirty, even if you are loved by us, you must be reprimanded. But you should be satisfied, because you already know that one day, you will finally be free. Now I am going to die myself, because I used you The language of yours speaks to you and becomes dirty. But I can regain my place in the cycle because I move you people one step closer to the great cycle. I despise you and love you, You are my curse and my salvation. Go, let us destroy this place and celebrate your progress. Go." "I don't like this," Lieutenant Tagore said at the ensuing briefing, after my companions and I had recounted our experiences, "I don't like this at all. Just so they can fuck us up. That's what that goddamn beetle said. They're playing us like marionettes. Maybe they're telling the Rye right now that we're on our way to deal with them." "There's no need to tip them off," Captain Jung said, "the Rye people have jump detection technology in their hands." "You know what I mean," Tagore snapped, "the Consu aren't going to do us any good, and they're obviously hoping we'll go to war with the Rhei so we can 'progress' to the next cosmic level—I don't know the fuck What does the sentence mean." "Anyway, the Consu never did us any good, so don't mention them for now." Major Creek said, "We may be proceeding according to their established plans, but don't forget, in some To some extent, their plan is exactly the same as our own. The only difference is that the Consu people don't care whether we or the Rye win. So let's focus on what we do, leave Consu Su people's plan." My BrainPal clicked open; Crick sent pictures of Coral, and another planet, the homeworld of the Rye. "The trick of the Ruiyi people is to borrow handsome men from others, so we still have a chance. We will launch an attack on Coral Planet and their home planet at the same time, fast and hard." He said, "Just when we and Kang While the Su people were chatting, the spaceships of the colonial army had already arrived within the jump distance. We have 600 spaceships—almost one-third of our force—already in their positions, ready to start the jump at any time. After receiving our notice, The colonial army will start to move and launch an attack on Coral Planet and the home planet of the Rai people at the same time. Our purpose is to take back the Coral Star and suppress the potential rescue force of the Rai people. The purpose of attacking their home planet is to destroy the spacecraft there. At the same time, other Ruiyi spacecraft in space had to make a choice between reinforcing the coral planet or Ruiyi's home planet. "Both attacks depend on one thing: destroying their ability to predict our arrival. That means taking their tracking station and disconnecting the machine - without destroying it. The technology in the tracking station is colonization Technology available to the Army. Maybe the Rai can't figure it out, but our technology level is far superior to theirs. We can only blow up the tracking station when we have absolutely no other choice. Our mission is to capture the tracking station, Hold it until reinforcements arrive." "How long will it take for reinforcements to arrive?" Jung asked. "Four hours after we enter the space of Coral Planet, the troops of the colonial army will launch a coordinated attack." Crick said, "Within a few hours after the battle starts, the reinforcements will arrive. The exact time depends on the spacecraft The intensity of space warfare." "Four hours after we entered Coral space?" Jung asked, "rather than after capturing the tracking station?" "Yeah," Crick said, "so we better fucking take the tracking post, comrades." "Sorry," I said, "I think there's a small detail that's not quite right." "Please, Lieutenant Perry," said Creek. "The success of the campaign depends on our capture of the tracking station that can predict the movement of the ship," I said. "That's right," Crick said. "That's the tracking station that followed us as we entered Coral space," I said. "That's right," Crick said. "I once took a ship, if you remember, it was tracked into space on Coral," I said. "The ship blew up, and everyone died except me. Could it be?" Don't you worry that the same thing will happen to this ship?" "We've gone into Coral space before without being tracked," Tagore said. "I know it was the Sparrowhawk that saved me," I said. "Believe me, I'm very grateful for that. However, I think a trick like this can only be played once. But if we warp into It will take us several hours to reach the coral planet. In this way, the time calculation is very wrong. According to this attack plan, the Sparrowhawk must jump to the vicinity of the coral planet. I want to know How can we act on this plan and still expect the ship to be intact." "The answer to that question is actually very simple," Major Crick said. "We don't expect the ship to survive. We expect it to be blown up in the air. In fact, our success depends entirely on that." "What?" I asked.I looked around the table, expecting to see an expression as bewildered as I was.Instead, everyone seemed to be brooding.This is so wrong. "High orbit insertion, right?" Lieutenant Dalton asked. "Yes," said Crick, "by the way, the insertion method has been improved." I was dumbfounded. "Have you ever done this before?" I asked. "Not exactly, Lieutenant Perry." Jane said, and I turned my attention to her, "Yes, we have also used special forces to insert directly from the ship to the surface in the past, usually when the landing craft cannot be used .This time it is like that. We have special airborne suits that can insulate the heat generated when entering the atmosphere, but otherwise it is no different from ordinary airborne." "But this time, the fire from below will blow your ship away," I said. "That's a new little problem this time." Jane admitted. "You guys are crazy," I said. "This trick will work," Lieutenant Creek said. "If the spaceship is blown apart, the airborne will definitely be regarded as corpses among the debris of the spaceship. The colonial army has just sent a remote-controlled jump ship, bringing We now have new intel on the location of the tracking station, so we can jump directly to an optimal location over Coral to drop our fighters. The Rhei will think they've broken our attack. They won't until we open fire. Know we've arrived. And by then, it's too late for them to do anything." "Only if one of you survives the initial fire," I said. Crick nodded to Jane. "The colonial army has already won some room for us to maneuver." Jane said to everyone, "A while ago, they began to let the remote-controlled jump spaceship equipped with protective shields install cluster missiles and break into the space of Coral Planet. As long as the protective shields are attacked, The RC ships would fire missiles, and the Rae would have a hard time intercepting them. We've destroyed several Rae ships this way in the past two days. Now, they'll wait a few seconds for a precise lock, and then Open fire. We should have ten to thirty seconds before the Sparrowhawk gets hit. Not enough time for the ship to dodge the attack, but enough time for the fighters to disembark and perhaps allow the pilot to launch a distraction attack." "Will the pilot remain on board by then?" I asked. "We'll also be wearing airborne suits and controlling the ship with a BrainPal like everyone else," Major Creek said, "but at least until our first cluster missiles are launched, we'll stay on board. Once off the ship, we'll We won't be using BrainPals until deep into Coral's atmosphere. If the Rae are listening, using BrainPals will reveal that we're still alive. It's risky, of course, but everyone on board has to. Just going to mention you in passing, Lieutenant Perry." "Me?" I said. "Obviously you don't want to be on board when the ship is hit," Crick said. "You're not trained for this kind of mission, and we promised you'd be the only advisor. Our consciences won't let us You are requested to participate in this battle. After this briefing, we will provide you with a transport boat, and a remote-controlled jump ship will return to Phoenix with your coordinates, and ask them to rescue you. Phoenix always has The rescue spacecraft is stationed within the range of the jump, and you should be rescued within a day, but we will leave you with a month's supply of supplies. The transport ship itself is also equipped with an emergency remote-controlled jump plane, which can be used when necessary." "You're going to dump me," I said. "It's not against you personally," said Crick. "Someone should report to General Keegan on the situation and the consultations with the Consu. As our liaison with the regular colonial army, you He's the best person to do both of those things." "Sir, with your permission, I would like to stay," I said. "We really don't have a place for you, Lieutenant," Creek said. "You'd be better served on Phoenix for this operation." "Excuse me, sir, but there's at least one opening in your staff," I said. "During our negotiations with the Consu, Sergeant Hawking died and Private Aquinas lost half his arm. This kind of vacancy will not be filled for a while. Although I am not a special soldier, I am still a veteran, at least it is better than nothing." "I seem to remember you saying we're all crazy," Captain Jung said to me. "You're all crazy indeed," I said, "but you'll need all the help you can get to succeed. And, sir," I turned to Creek, "remember, I lost my All comrades-in-arms. I don’t think I can stand by and watch this battle.” Crick looked at Dalton. "How is Aquinas?" he asked. Dalton shrugged. "She's on an accelerated healing regimen," he said. "It's painful to regrow a limb so quickly, but she'll be back before we jump. I don't need him." Crick turned to Jane, who was looking at me. "It's up to you, Sagan," Crick said. "Hawking is your soldier. If you want him, he's yours." "I don't want him," said Jane, looking straight at me, "but he's right, I need someone." "Okay then," Crick said, "give him an intensive course and get him up to speed." He turned to me and said, "If Lieutenant Sagan thinks you're not up to the task, you'll be put in a traffic Boat. Do you understand?" "Understood, Major." I said, looking at Jane. "Very well," he said, "welcome to Special Forces, Perry. As far as I know, you're the first stranger ever in our unit. Try not to screw it up, or I promise you, the Rye people will You are only a pediatrician, and I am your big trouble." Jane came into my room without my permission.She can do that because she is now my boss. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she said. "You're short of one," I said, "and I happen to be alone. Figure it out for yourself." "I put you on this ship because I knew you were going to be put on a transport ship." Jane said, "If you'd been reassigned to one of the infantry units, you'd have been on an attack ship. If we didn't capture the tracking post, you know what would have happened to the ship and everyone in it. I just Knowing such an opportunity to keep you safe, you threw it away." "You can also tell Creek you don't want me," I said, "you heard what he said. He'd be happy to kick me into a shuttle and let me float in Consu space, Until someone came and got me back. You didn't dump me because you knew how crazy your little plan was. You knew you needed all the help you could get. I didn't know I'd be your man, you know, Jane. Had Aquinas not been ready, I would have served as Dalton's man for this mission. I didn't even know Hawking was your man until Crick mentioned it. All I know is this: to You need all the hands here to make this plan work." "Why should you care?" Jane said, "It's not your job, and you're not one of us." "I'm one of yours now, aren't I?" I said, "I'm on this ship. Because of you, I am here.Besides I had nowhere else to go, my whole company was blown to pieces and most of my friends were dead.Also, as one of you said, we are all human.Damn it, I, like you, grew up in a laboratory culture tank.At least this body is.I could totally be one of you.So, I stayed. " Jane suddenly lost his temper. "You have no idea what it's like to be one of us," she said. "You said you wanted to know me, what did you want to know about me? You wake up one morning with as much information in your head as you can get." Like a library, knowing everything from how to butcher a pig to how to fly a starship — but not knowing your own name, or even knowing if you even have one. Do you know what that feels like? You wonder how never Do you know what childhood is like when you set foot on some scorched planet and see a dead body in front of you? Is there another thing you want to know? The first time we talk to a new person, we really want to Beat him up because he talks, acts, and thinks so fucking slow, don't know why they're going to the trouble of drafting a guy like that. "Or you want to know, every special soldier dreams up a past for himself. We know that we are such monsters, we know that we are put together from the stumps of dead people. We look in the mirror and know that we see The only reason for our existence is other people, and the only reason we exist is that they no longer exist—we will never know them. But each of us is imagining the people our archetypes knew, imagining their lives, their children. , their husband or wife, which we know can never be ours." Jane approached me, "Want to know what it's like to meet your old husband? You can tell by his expression that he recognizes you, but no matter how much you try to react, you still don't feel it? You know he The desire to call you by another name; to know that when he looks at you, he sees decades of his life—and you know nothing about it; to know that he was with you, that he was one with you , who held your hand as you died and told you how much he loved you. You know he couldn't make you a real human being, but he gave you continuity, a past, an understanding of who you were The kind of guy that makes you know who you are. I want to keep it all, keep it at all costs — can you imagine what that feels like?" She is closer to me.His lips were about to touch mine, but he didn't intend to kiss me. "You've lived with me ten times longer than I've lived with you," said Jane. "You're the one who preserves my past. You can't imagine how much that means to me because You're not one of us." She drew back. I watched her step back. "You're not her," I said, "you told me so yourself." "Oh, my God," Jane snapped, "I lied. I'm her, you know that. If she was alive, she must have joined the colonial army too, and they will use the same bloody DNA to kill her." Make her new body, that's how they made me. My genes have been greatly mutated, but you're not fully human either. If she's alive, so is she. The human part of me is just like her. I All I lost were memories, all I lost was another part of my life." Jane came back toward me again, cupping my face in her hands. "I'm Jane Sagan, I know that," she said. "The last six years have been mine, and these six years have been real. It's my life. But at the same time, I'm Catherine Sagan. Perry. I want to go back to that life, and the only way to know it is through you. You have to live, John. Without you, I will lose myself." I hold her hand. "Help me survive," I said, "tell me everything I need to know to succeed on this mission. Tell me what to do to help your platoon complete the mission. Help me so I can help you , Jane. You're right, I don't know what it's like to be you or one of you. But I do, I don't want to be floating around in a goddamn traffic boat while you go through the fire. I You need to live too. Fair enough?" "Fair enough," she said.I took her hand and kissed it.

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