Ben walks out of the shower, towel-drying his hair as he hears the patrol return to base.  He pulls on his olive-green field-duty uniform and walks out, seeing the Blizzard float on by.  His eyes narrow again as he sees it curve into the parking space.  Ben saunters over to the hanger, bringing his "watch" to his mouth.  "Elsie, unlock the diagnostic EQ."

Ben enters the hanger to see the upper doors hissing open.  "Ah com'on, Ben.  Doin' MORE work on Betty?"

Ben walks up to computer and reachs in under the screen, showing Elsie in a blue swede suit.  "Oooh....big no vote on that outfit Elsie.  And no......not working on Betty this time.  Someone else needs some help." Ben pulls something the size of a laptop out of the computer area and punches in a code, opening the lower-right door.  He pulls a small satchel out and shuts the door again, making sure it hisses, making air seal.  "Seal back up, Elsie," he says, not having looked at her again to see what she changed to.

"You're going to want ME to help a STANGER?" Elsie asks, her voice now coming from his repeater (watch) in a hostile manner.  Ben sighs gently and straps the satchel over his shoulder, walking out of the hanger and towards the Blizzard.

"Yes, Elsie.  A stranger.  I know you have problems with strangers, but not all of them are evil cannibals who want to eat me up."

"Strangers are not to be trusted," Elsie quotes from her long-time problematic programming.

"I know you think that, Elsie," Ben says resignedly, as if running through a long -term arguament.  "But that is simply a bug in your programming."

"No, Ben.  It's healthy distrust," comes the reply.  "They are not to be trusted."

Benjamin sighs, wondering why he even bothers.  "Ok, Elsie.  I won't ask you to trust.  But you WILL be on your best behavior.  Do you understand me, Elsie?  BEST BEHAVIOR.  You will treat her with courtesy."

"HER?  Huh.  I know what YOU want to help her with."

Ben puts his hand to his head in resignation.  "Elsie.  I saw the Blizzard maneuver.  Her control systems are inconsistant from the way she flew.  My life depends on this unit and every vehicle in it.  I want everything running perfectly."

"Oh?  Well why not let that Smoked Rabbit do it?  It IS his job after all."

"Who do you trust to do the job better, Elsie?  Me or him?"  Utter silence is his response and he smiles happily.  "Best behavior starting now, Elsie.  Best behavior."

Ben leaves the hanger and starts walking towards the Blizzard.

Dallas ducks out of the small side hatch of the Blizzard, carrying a small noteputer.  He looks up at the sky, then turns and starts in the direction Ben is coming from as the small hatch whispers shut.  He spots the pilot and his face lights up with a smile.  "Hey there, flyboy!" he says with a smile and a friendly slap on Ben's shoulder as he continues past although they haven't had much more than cordial hellos before.

Ben turns with Dallas' pat and smiles.  "Hey, dude.  How's it hangin'?"  He stops for a bit, looking Dallas in the eyes.  "Uuuhhhh.....am I the only one who noticed that control flucuation?"

Dallas continues on, talking over his shrug-elevated shoulders.  "Hey, I don't drive, I just kill stuff.  Ask Becka about the finer points."  He grins, still walking away.  "I did notice I got a bit more airsick than normal!"

Benjamin walks up to the Blizzard, opens the door and steps inside, seeing half of Ribecka sticking out from underneath the main control panel.  A loud curse is followed by a nasty series of knees to the front of the control panel, a series that would have surely broken ribs or at the very least knocked the wind out of an enemy if that's who was on the recieving end of the attack. 

"Piece of shit!" she shouts, the sound amplified by the painfully enclosed walls of the APC.  Her tone softens for a moment.  "That's not true.  You're my baby."  Her tone hardens in anger again, "It's those fucking techs!  There's no way our drop shook you enough to do this, and this planet sure isn't abnormal.  I thought I kept them away from you, but SOMEONE got to you!" Her frustration causes her knee to come slamming home once again.  A large red spot, sure to become a bruise, is already forming on her bare knee.

"Um, hello," Ben says softly trying not to startle her. "I was wondering if you wanted any help with your control systems."

She begins to extract herself.  "What!? What do you..."  She pauses.  Brushes a few strands of hair from her face which turns bright red.  "Hey," she says quietly.  "I'm sorry, I thought you were...I thought I was alone.  I sort of talk to myself sometimes." 

She looks down at her feet stretched out in front of her, avoiding his gaze.  Normally, she'd be forward and unhindered, but he saw an embarrassing side of her, throwing her off character, making one wonder how much of her real character the bold, hollow, arogant woman really is and how much of it is her real person.  "Um, I'm kinda busy.  I should really try and figure out what's wrong with the Chariot.  On Outreach it was clean, I mean crisp and right on.  Here, he drifts, swings.  Something's off kilter."  She begins to slide back under the console, partially in an attempt to hide her burning face.

"Well.....I have some EQ here that might be able to help you."  His eyes follow her movements back under the consol and then go back to the floor.

He lowers himself to his left knee and puts down the satchel and "laptop", and opens the satchel.  "I've got some stuff here for testing control runs.  I use it in my fighter to make sure everything is online and functional.  This computer has a small gyrocompass for calculating movement, and the cables here," he says pointing in the satchel, "can test the control runs so I can figure out what the console is sending and what the thrusters are actually receiving.  If you've got any problems, I think I can help you."

Ribecka cranes her head and comes back up under the console, her face still bright red.  She looks questioningly at the computer and EQ.  "I don't know...I've never used that stuff.  I've always done by...you know...feel. I'm not sure how to use that stuff.  Would it even work on my hover?  I mean..."  She looks away, obviously rattling off whatever comes to her mind.  "I'm not sure if you want to help me with that stuff."

He looks at the floor again and swallows.  "Actually...........I was HOPING I could help you."

She grins and looks down at her lap, her hair falling in front of her face, covering up another flush.  She scratches her left forearm, smudging some sort of black slime that was on her fingers.  "Well," she looks up with her eyes, through her hair, "then please do.  If you think it'll help, I trust you."  She lifts her head.  "Just don't break my Chariot."  Her words are spiked with a sweet twinge and she reaches out as she speaks, bumping Ben's nose with her index finger.  Some of her control returned, but she was still bright red, sure that Ben could hear her pulse as loudly as she heard it rushing in her ears.

"Well, my fighter uses standard control transmission cables and my testing cables are designed for that.  But I also have some adaptors that will fit them to other standards....and if we get really desperate, I've got alligator clips."

Ribecka looks distant for a moment until Benjamin mentions the alligator clips.  The mention of the words light her up.  "OK, I was lost there for a second, but NOW you're talking my language!  If you have the alligator clips, I have the electrical tape."  She obviously knows her way around mechanical structures, but it's a knowledge given her by herself.  Fixing things with duct tape and string, but fixing them none-the-less.

Benjamin laughs softly, then looks past Ribecka to the console.

"Mind if I take a look underneath?"  Ben's eyes scroll over to look at her square in the face.

She hesitates.  "Yeah, I...yeah, go ahead.  Just...well, just be careful, it's just..." she flusters.  "Go ahead," she concides with a smile, obvously feeling silly for protecting her hover from someone that obviously knows what he's talking about, regardless of the fact he's a stranger. But he's still a stranger and it can make her uncomfortable if one is poking around her machine.  It's either that, or Ben's smile is what has her flustered.  "Just tell me before you do something, OK? I'm curious how that thing works."  She sits up in the control seat and lifts her legs for him to pass underneath, with the intent of squeezing in beside him once he's in place.

Benjamin nods and opens up the "laptop".

"Ok, Elsie.  Make connection.  Best behavior."  He arranges the small computer so that the camera attached to the screen can see Ribecka.  "Say hi to the lady, Elsie."

Well-dressed in a business-like suit, she appears and looks at the vehicle pilot carefully. 

Ribecka looks at the screen and coos in delight.  "Oh, she's so pretty!  This is the cutest little thing!"  Obviously oblivious to the fact that Elsie would probably take exception to being called cute by some other girl, a stranger no less.  In fact, probably oblivious that the AI could hear her words, or at the very least understand them.  The closest she's probably been to AI is the Blizzard's onboard monitoring system that warns of critical hits and target locks.  Simple pre-set voice commands, nothing as sophisticated as Elsie's matrix that allows her to interact.

"Hi," Elsie says curtly.

"Don't mind her," Ben says as he squirms underneath the console to see how the cables are hooked up to the console.  "The Elsie III is a rare system.  Actually never reached commercial markets.  They have a pathological belief that any and all strangers are untrustworthy."  He grunts and squirms a bit, trying to get a look at what is in there.  "Nuts.......of all the stupid--"  He squirms
back and out, face beat red.  "I...ah...." Ben clears his throught.  "I forgot my flashlight.  You got one I could borrow?"

He recieves a look that implies she didn't like something he said and he pauses, trying to think of what he might have said wrong.  However, her squinted eyes and pursed lips that would normally be considered filled with attitude cannot hide the amusement she's feeling.  A flashlight is held in rather accusing manner, pointing straight at his face, turned on.  She hands it to him and then sidles in beside him, shoving him playfully with her hips to make room before sliding under the console.

"Uh.......thanks," Ben says trying to maintain his composure.  "Oh.....and ah....Elsie don't like being called cute," he finishes trying to think of something to say.

"Oh, but Elsie's beautiful," she says, meaning solely the woman on the screen.  "The little computer is cute, haven't seen anything like that, especially that size.  Elsie has a point about strangers," Ribecka continues, keeping Ben off beat.  "Don't trust 'em."  She pauses and grins, her teeth glittering in the ambient light of the flashlight.  "And don't expect them to know REAL craftsmanship when they see it.  Especially men, right Elsie?"

He shoots the flashlight up under the console, instead of continueing a losing conversation, and sees the wiring.  "Hmmm.....not as neat as I'd do it......but it definately looks like it should be functional."  He tests to make sure the wires aren't loose.  "Hmmm......nothin' there to account for the wobblin'."

Ben looks down from the underside of the console to look enquiringly at Ribecka.  "What all have you ruled out so far?  What have ya checked?"

She pauses a moment and points.  "I was checking out the links there, like the throttle control system.  On Outreach I had this puppy crisp, after I fixed that.  It still looks fine.  I was about to check the fan drives, if maybe one was getting a bit too much juice, or not enough, shimmying me like that.  I'm not sure if it's in the wiring.  At least not yet."  She lets a few more moments pass before talking again, hopefully taking away any suspicion that the topic is nothing more than casual small talk.  "So, is Elsie a picture of someone?  You know modeled after like a wife or girlfriend?  Maybe a sister or friend?"  She reaches across his face and twists the cap of a loose wire.  "Don't worry about that one..."

Ben lays his head on the floor and smiles, his eyes glazing over the light.  "Girlfriend?  No.......what I was SEARCHING for once upon a time....yes.  Back in high-school me and some friends thought it would be cool to do 3-d models of our dream girls......that was mine."  Ben snorts softly and looks at Ribecka. "That was a long time ago.  Before the wars........." Ben exhales slowly. "Before the deaths.......Before I my absence from the Marik Commonality was 'requested'........Before I found that there is more then what meets the eyes when........."

Ribecka's head is propped up by her hand and elbow off the floor.  She stares at Ben for a moment as if contemplating some great mystery and reaches forward.  Her hand, wiped clean on her pants, opens and lightly pinches and pulls his nose.  She takes it away and a dark smudge is on her thumb and forefinger, a smudge apparently left there earlier when she touched him.  "Soot." she whispers.  "From the burnt wires," the explanation follows, also in a whisper.  

Ben shakes his head, trying to shake the ghosts away, then changes the subject.

"Well....it's up to you what you want to check.  I can hook up my EQ there and we can test to see what your signal loss is between here," pointing at the bottom of the consol, "to there," point to the back, "is.  I might even be able to give you some small boost in control clarity transmission.  It's what I do to give me better handling on my bird.  Not sure if it's possible on this. Otherwise, I could help you check the rest.  If nothing else, I'd like to set Elsie up getting a pull off this control system and go for a ride.  she could use that data along with her onboard gyro to collate projected and actual maneuvering differences.

"Maybe give ya a general part of the craft or system to look at.  If this craft always swerves when a certain system is called upon, Elsie will be localize that.  We may not know WHAT the prob is, but we might know WHERE it is.

"Your call," Ben finishes, looking at her.

Holding back questions she wants to ask him, she forces her mind back to the business at hand.  Her regular voice returns.  "My call is this: let's hook Elsie up wherever you think she can see the most and let's take the Chariot for a ride."  She then remembers she's talking to a military man.  "I'll, uh, get clearance first, of course. After we see what she tells us, if that doesn't fix it, I'll try something else.  After all, if she's good enough to keep you in the sky, she should be good enough to keep me off the ground."  Simply because of the short amount of time that has passed, all of her skepticism hasn't left her, but she'd give Ben the benefit of the doubt.  Besides, she knows if Elsie can't do it, Ribecka herself can in the end.

Ben puts his hand on Ribecka's hip for balance and sqeezes out of the confined space.  Suddenly his face goes beet red.

"Ah.........forgive my manners.  I've been.....distracted....lately." Benjamin looks around the cabin for a bit trying to think of something to say, then returns his eyes to Ribecka, exhaling softly.  "My name is Benjamin Pryde.  My friends call me Ben."

She just grins at his embarassment, thankful that someone ELSE'S face is beet red.  "I know who you are," she says cryptically, not offering an explanation.  "Ribecka Elise Newton.  Hover Queen Extrordinaire. 

Ben nods and waves his hand the computer rattling on.  "This here is Elsie.  At least that's what I call her.  Her full name is Elsie Fine MK III.  That's actually spelt F. E. I. N. E.  It all stands for ELectronic Super-Intelligent Enhancement For Existing INteractive front Ends, Mark III.  To all intents and purposes, she's a very intelligent program that can learn how to act in a given situation.  She isn't an actually Artifical Intelligence though.  She can't CREATE new things.  Simply refine existing protocols.

"I like to buy upgrades for her whenever they come out.  Even though the Mark III was never released, they still support the Marik II and she is designed to be able to use the upgrades for that system.  So she gives the ILLUSION of being Artificially Intellegent.  A pretty good one too.  She fools me alot of the time."  Ben laughs quietly, then his face closes as something occurs to him.

Ribecka waves her hand around in the general direction of everywhere.  "This is the Chariot of Fire, my baby.  There isn't nobody that can out-do me when it comes to ground effect craft.  At least nobody I've met.  Can't introduce you to anyone as fancy as Elsie there, but the Chariot talks to me when he wants attention."  She turns her attention to the APC and pushes a button, to which the Chariot responds in a soothing male voice with a Davion (british) accent.

"Main power: Deactivated.  Status: Diagnostic check."

She turns back to Ben.  "See?  He loves me."

"Soot?" Ben looks at Ribecka in realization. "Burnt wires?  How often does that happen?  And do you think it could be related to your probs?"  He is staring directly at Ribecka now.

She watches Ben with amusement as the soot, a seemingly important matter, finally forces its way back to the front of his mind. "Oh, the soot's been there as long as this thing's been around.  A laser blast, bad jar...whatever makes wires short out and smoke.  Nothing serious, it's always been there, probably not just soot...dirt and everything else. I think there is something in one of the drives, if I were to guess.  And unless we hook up Elsie and go, it looks like guessing is just what I'll be doing.  Are you willing to put your money where your mouth is?"  She grins, slipping past him to a rear internal access to some more electronics, presumably protected access to the drive electronics and computers.

"Ok."  Benjamin grabs the satchel and pulls it over beside him.  "I'm gonna be careful here.  See if Chariot here has one of those standard hookups I told you about.  If he doesn't, I'll use everybody's favorite jury-rig to get her into the system."

Ben drops to his back and wiggles under the console again, pulling the satchel with him.  "Ok, Chariot," he mutters.  "What's yer story.  Are you designed for this or do I have to jury-rig."  He looks at the underside of the console, and something else occurs to him.  "Hey, Ribecka!  Does this computer go wacko if he's on when you unplug these cables?  If so, you may want to turn him off."

Ribecka nods at Ben's question and smiles.  She saunders over to the command chair and flips a jury-rigged switch marked with a marker on tape that says "Peace".  Apparently she's had to shut the Chariot up before.

Ben reaches into the satchell and pulls out box.  He prys the lid open and pulls out an adapter.  He unplugs one of the control wires tries to hook up the adapter.  "Nuts," he mumbles.  A minute later, the fifth and last of his standard adapter's plugs in perfectly.  "AhHA!  Haven't seen anyone who still uses this old standard in new construction in several years.  Thank frag I've GOT it at least.  Sometimes it's GOOD to be a packrat."  Ben looks at the underside of the console again and thinks a bit.  "You know.....I hope I have enough these."  He quickly starts setting the adapters in place, running through his supply of adapters.  "Nuts.  Ok.......I've got five left......Now where did I put those alligator clips?"  His hand rummages through the satchel and pulls out a small bag.  "AhHA!  Don't try to hide from me you little buggers!"  He pulls out five of them and clamps them on the control cables, below the base of the console.

"Ok.....now for the cables.  His hand darts into the satchell again and pulls out a large spool of wires.  The satchell collapses as the majority of it's cargo is taken out.  He winds out a couple feet of the thick cable that ends in a lot of smaller cables.  He plugs each smaller cable into an adapter or alligator clip, leaving several not used, and then wiggles back out.  He pulls another few feet from the other end of the spool and plugs all of the cables into the top of the computer (where laptops have a keyboard).  "Ok, Elsie. Query the system and figure out which ports are active.  Some are not plugged in.  And five are on alligator clips."

"Ah, com'on, Ben.  How do you expect me to diagnose a problem with ALLIGATOR clips?"

"Elsie....if you localize a problem on any of those wires, I'll switch them over to an adapter and put the alligator clips on something we know works.  OK? Now PLEASE query the system, Elsie."

He turns to look at Ribecka, an exasperated expression on his face. "Sometimes I wouldn't mind having a computer that only talked back when I WANTED it to. Then I remember there wouldn't be anyone to talk to when I'm working on Betty other then...Betty." Ben laughs and waits for Elsie to get done talking to the system.

"Ok, Ben.  Everything locked in."  He turns back to the small computer and sees several familiar screens flash past faster then Ribecka would be able to read them.  He picks up the important part of each screen and smiles.

After watching and listening to his preperations with a slight look of worry on her face. She watches the incomprehensable screens flash across the monitor, just shaking her head at the speed Elsie handles her precious APC. 

"We have lock, Ribecka.  Any move this guy performs, Elsie will be able to log."  He smiles at Ribecka.  "You ready to take me for a ride?"

At Ben's statement of readiness, a large smile creases her face.  "Now, you're talkin'.  Buckle up and hold on tight, honey."  She climbs into the command couch and turns the switch.  After setting it to the correct possition, he presses the ignition button, the ICE engine firing up and a shudder passing through the Chariot as the drive fans create lift and stability.  Pressing her facemask to her cheeks without putting it on, she calls out on the traffic channel. 

"Pounder Two to control.  I'm heading out, North gate. Clear me a path."  She turns to Ben. "See?  Told you I'd get clearance." She drifts out to the gate, making sure to politely keep from blowing everything everywhere.  As soon as the Chariot passes the gate she turns to Ben again.  "Hope Elsie's ready."

Pushing the control sticks forward, the Blizzard's thrust fans whine as it is shot forward down the road, a bit of a drift enunciating reaching full speed.  "See?" she asks loudly over the fans since she didn't bother to don the helmet with internal communications. "There's some of it.  Keep watching."  The blizzard leaves the road and crosses a small pond, still full speed, Ribecka juking it this way that that to show Ben all of the problems.  "Anything yet?"  she hollars.

Benjamin holds onto the copilot chair so tightly his knuckles go white as he sees the Blizzard drifting towards a boulder.  The Blizzard slids past, then starts wandering over towards a tree.  "Look out for......"  They are already past it.

He shuts his eyes and sings quietly "He's got the whole world......in his hands.....he's got the whole wide world.....in his hands........."

"Ok Ben," Elsie starts...the realizes that Benjamin isn't listening.  "HEY BENJI!" she screams at the speaker's maximum output.  Ben opens his eyes nervously and looks down at the screen.  The screen starts shifting as various information is highlighted and brought in and out.  The report stops with two flashing red areas on the wireframe model of the Blizzard.

Ben nods and swallows slowly.  "Thanks Elsie," he mutters. "Ah.......Ribecka!" he says loudly.  "Ssslow down...please.  Elsie...thinks she found....the problem.  Could we ah.....get back to.....base?"  His eyes go wide as they skirt another boulder and his knuckles go even whiter.

Ribecka, a grin splitting her face, laughs in glee as the Chariot,while still moving at full speed in one direction, rotates 360 degrees.  "Had enough all ready?  From what I heard you like going fast this close to the ground."  She grins wider at him, giving a good natured barb that related to the sim every was talking about back on Outreach.  The Chariot slows to a crawl and hovers in place. 

Ben relaxes his death grip on the seat arms and smiles weakly at Ribecka.  "Yeah.....I do.  When my hands.....are on the stick.  Being a passenger.......ain't the same."  He laughs hesitantly, trying to mask his fear, and takes a deep breath.

"Elsie figured that out quickly.  Let's go see if she's right."  She turns the Chariot around and heads back for base at not-quite top speed with regards to Ben's nervousness.  Ben shuts his eyes and tries to relax on the way back to base, but every slip tenses him up again.

Once on base, the APC slows to an acceptable level and drifts into it's designated area.  Powering down, it lightly lowers to the ground without more than a shuffle.  "What's she got?"

He exhales in relief as the hovercraft comes to a stop, and the skirts make contact with the ground.  His tongue lips dry lips and he smiles over at Ribecka.  "Ok, Elsie.  Show the lovely lady what's up with her vehicle."

"Ben, are you alright?"

"Yeah......in a few minutes....I will be."

"Ben," Elsie responded. "This isn't like then.  It only felt like it."

Ben's eyes shut again and his head leans back against the headrest, remembering.  A slight shudder goes through him, and then is gone.  He breaths deeply, then exhales slowly.  His eyes open and a sad but real smile returns to his face.  He puts a finger to his lips and then touches it to screen, over Elsie's face.  "Thanks, Elsie."  He breaths and exhales again.  "Thank you."

He looks over at Ribecka, suddenly remembering she is here, and quickly averts his eyes.  Ah......Elsie.  Lets show her that......ah....diagram that you came up with."  Ben looks as several screens flash past, glad to have something else to think about, before the schematic with the two rudders flashing read returns.

"It looks as though the craft is sliding when the controls call for use of these two control planes," he says, pointing at the screen.  "I'd suggest we take a look at those."  Benjamin stands up, still trying not to meet Ribecka's eyes, and half-bows to her.  "My lady," he says waving his arm towards the door.

Ribekca follows Ben's arm out the door and proceeds to the rear of the Blizzard.  "Well, shi--shoot.  I didn't even get outside of the Chariot yet. I had those smoothed out before the transit.  Must be a gritty atmosphere or something.  I don't remember anything during transit that would have done...that!"  She looks at the left rudder which was supposedly centered, but is obviously aimed in such a way that will make the Blizzard's tail yaw to the right.  "The rudders are smooth, it must be something messing with the control system.  Anyway, thanks for the help, I think I can handle it from here...uh...don't tell Smoke...Smoke, whatever his name is.  But if you'd like, I could use a hand." 

She realizes she won't be inside the shade of the Chariot, but rather out in the sun.  She pulls off her pilot's jacket and a long sleeve shirt, leaving her in her fatigue pants and a white teeshirt.  "Ah......I'll help," Ben stammers.  Starting to feel warm himself, he unclasps his field duty jacket and hangs it on the Blizzard's engine cowling.

She climbs up using non-labelled, but well memorized hand and foot holds.  Kicking the rudder back into place, she squats down to open the access panel and get to work.  Ben follows her up the side of the Blizzard carefully, trying to remember where the foot holds are, and levers himself onto the top of the craft, dog tags hanging out of his grey tank top.  A quick crawl gets him across the access panel from Ribecka and he looks down at the control runs.  The optical control
cables terminate in an assembly of gears and cables that hook up to the main flaps.  He points at a series of cables that appear loose, then looks back up at Ribecka.  "I'm betting that's yer problem.  I wonder how it happened.  Should prolly check the clamps to see if they are letting the cables slip."

Ribecka smiles in an impressed sort of way.  "You're right, that's the problem."  She stands back up without fixing the problem.  "I'm impressed Mr. Pryde," she says.  The normally formal usage of familiar is actually rather intimate considering she bypassed his rank.  "And I thank you, Ben.  Tell you what.  If you do me the favor of fixing this for me, I'll be happy to take you on a much more...entertaining ride."  She smiles again, not revealing if she's messing around, testing Ben, or just being herself. 

He looks back down at the Blizzard's hull, and swallows in an embarassed way.  "So," he responds calmly.  "What kind of restaurants do you like?"

"Don't tell all of the other Capellan haters here, but I like Chinese food.  Of course, you can probably find the type of Chinese food I like anywhere ECXEPT Capella...  But anyway...  I'm a sweet and sour kinda girl."  The sly grin that appears makes the play on words obvious.  "But I'm always open to new things.  Try everything once, that's what I believe."

Ben's eyes widen as he looks up at her.  He looks back down into the mix of control runs and breaths carefully.  "Um.......I think food sounds good," he says quickly.  "General's chicken for me......I like it....a....spicy."  He quickly reddens even more, and his eyes look around furtively.  "How about....a.....after fixing this.....a.......would you like to go into town and.......a.....get something to eat?"

Ribecka grins and kicks him lightly in the leg.  "I'd love to...assuming you can fix my Chariot that is."  She turns around and looks towards town.  "You think we can find a decent place in this town?  I'd like to try some of that General's Chicken.  I wonder if there's anything else to do here?  I'm basically done for the day as long as I stay within emergency range."  She reaches down and holds her hand out in a regal way, "So are you officially asking me out, Sir Ben?"  A grin that is dangerously close to being Cute Beyond Belief breaks out on her face.

"Umm......" Ben looks down at the Blizzard, then back up at Ribecka.  He exhales slowly, then reaches up for her hand.  "Yeah."

back to Ben and Ribecka