Pink and Blue: Pink and Blue read the souls of the premiers. “Damn!" said Pink. "It's complicated!" "Yeah. I was expecting them to be black all over, just like those psychopaths we have judged." "We need time to work this out..." "I know, how about we ask Esmeralda for some time out?" Time froze. Scattered petals still drifting down from the sky hung still. The breeze stopped blowing. "These premiers" said Blue. "They actually, really, believed that they were doing the best for the people. That their brand of strength and leadership would create the best of possible worlds." "But, still, their idea of a good world is certainly not our idea. I don't think most people like the idea of being told what to do." "And most people certainly don't like the idea that they could be sacrificed if need be." "These premiers definitely did conspire together to set that suitcase bomb." "Hmm, they also deliberately chose a spot, not only to maximise the damage, but to remove their sole witness, Lex." "Well, I suppose that's a point in their favour." said Pink. "An extremely minor point, mind you." "No matter what, no matter how noble they thought their motives were, they still were intent on ruling even if they had to kill a lot of people to do so. I mean, if they really believed in their own aims, they could have cooperated together. No civil war and they would have started with a fully functioning city and country, from which to expand." Silence for a minute or two. "Is there any doubt that they deserve to be judged with extreme prejudice?" asked Blue. "No." said Pink. "Ok, Esmeralda, start up time again and..." The premier's bodies dropped to the ground, falling heavily and awkwardly. Just as well they were already dead, otherwise it would have hurt. A lot. The premier's souls remained standing, looking at horror at their bodies. "What the!" said Watson. "We're dead, that's what." said Johnson. "Those damned teenagers. I knew they were weird, but not this weird. How the hell are they able to call on an Angel of Death to do their bidding?" "How would I know...? Wait, they can still see us!" It was obvious that the generals, and the teenagers and the three adults, were still watching them. Both premiers straightened out, and removed the looks of fear and terror from their faces. They did not say anything, but it was obvious to the observers that they were both thinking: Damned if I let those kids see me suffer! "What do we do now?" said Johnson. Watson by chance looked in the correct direction. "Ah, I think that's our welcoming committee." he said, pointing. Unlike on the previous occasions that Pink and Blue had witnessed, this time the welcoming party was willing to wait at a respectful distance. The premiers did their best to glare at the teenagers. Then, still acting as confidently as they could possibly manage, they walked off towards the waiting figures, alpha males to the end. Pity that the public could not see any of this. The premiers and the figures all faded out. Seven figures standing and two bodies crumpled up on the ground were left behind. As the premiers faded from sight, the two generals looked back down at the two bodies. They each took a deep breath, and stood to attention, in their best parade ground manner, feet slightly apart, firm stance, ramrod straight bodies, eyes ahead, gazing slightly past Pink and Blue. Waiting for their sentence. Pink and Blue read the souls of the generals, and went back into time out. "Hell, they are even more complicated!" said Pink. Blue picked an incident from Paterson's past. "Yeah! Look at this one! He ordered the bombardment of a small town, thus killing thousands of people. Because he was ordered to. Even though, by that stage in that conflict, he suspected that his political masters were corrupt and there was no just cause for the warfare." "And then, that very same afternoon, he risks his life saving a group of citizens of that same town, after they crashed their bus trying to escape the firebombing! What's more, his troops supported him in the rescue. The same troops that initiated the bombing in the first place." said Pink. She shook her head in disbelief. "The same for McIver!" said Blue. "One morning he obeys orders to attack a civilian ship, and sinks it. But a week later, his ship tows another enemy civilian ship to safety, when it is damaged by a mine." "Right. Time to take a deep breath." said Blue. "We have plenty of time." said Pink. They sat down, leaning against each other, and looked the pink and blue flower petals, laying still all around them. "You know, I think this, right now, is what Esmeralda was aiming for. What she was preparing us for. To act on her behalf because she is prevented from acting herself." said Blue. "I would have to agree. She must have foreseen what was going to happen, and took advantage of the circumstances." "Trouble is, we are struggling with this judgement. The generals' lives, and the decisions they have had to make, are so far out of our experience that there is almost no common ground." "But, Esmeralda has gotten us to this point. She has selected which memories we can see. So we must have all that is required for us to act." Sigh. "True. Ok. Ok. So, what exactly were the generals thinking when they were making those decisions?" said Blue. "From what morality were they acting?" Blue and Pink took a breather. Their radio links to each other were fully functional. They didn't know exactly know how this was possible, when Earth Watch Prime was presumably out of the loop due to the time freeze, but nonetheless. So they could easily communicate to each other which memories of the generals they were currently examining. "The highest ideals, the highest of motives." said Pink. They had been looking at the memories of General Paterson's formative years. "Yeah. And McIver had similar formative experiences. Look! He even read the same book, Starship Troopers!" said Blue. Giggles from Pink. "Actually, so have both of us." "Hmm, did they maintain those ideals?" said Blue. Sort of. But not quite. There were too many deaths. Too many dubious orders from on high. Too many compromises required. "I think, no matter what the motives a human starts with, once they start killing like this, then their souls are invariably tainted. And they will have to answer to an Angel of Death at the end." said Pink. "I'm finding these memories to be, ah, hard to deal with." said Blue, leaning against Pink and putting his arm around her. "Yes. They are. I don't think that either of us, back before we met each other, could have coped as well as we are now." "Esmeralda definitely took advantage of circumstances to toughen us up. But still, I think I'm going to request that Esmeralda fades out the memories of all of the deaths that that generals caused, after this is finished." said Blue. "Good idea, so will I. But, in the meanwhile, we need to get back to the topic. And no, I don't think the generals maintained their lofty ideals. But they didn't become too bad. After all, look at all of these memories, where they manage to rein in the worse of the premiers ideas. And the suitcase bomb affair. They didn't know about its planning, and they placed themselves in harm’s way to help the evacuation." said Pink. "I wonder, what else the generals did. What were their private lives like?" said Blue. A few minutes going through the soul readings. "Not all that much. Interesting that they both prefer men, not women." said Pink. "But they never had any relationships that lasted more than a month or so." "Pretty sad, that." said Pink. Naturally, both Pink and Blue were heavily biased towards long term committed relationships. "So, have they enough blackness in their souls to justify being judged like the premiers?" said Blue. "Definitely. But do they also have enough goodness to justify us letting them live on?" said Pink. "Also definitely. But only if they bust their guts working to fix the mess left behind by the premiers, and to always maintain the peace there after. Maybe that will be enough to atone for their sins. After all, they will be meeting with Esmeralda, one way or another." "So, how do we make sure that they act that way..." said Pink. They looked into each other’s eyes and smiled. "Of a course. Earth Watch Prime can keep track of them. Via implanted radio links." said Blue. "But, I don't actually want the generals on my personal link..." said Pink. "No problems. Prime totally controls the links, so he can set it up so that the generals can only communicate with each other, and with him. And with any of the others, but only if the others wish for it." "You know, I think we are getting somewhere. The generals commit themselves to re-uniting the armies, and help out in the future. But, who is going to be actually running the country? Those two premiers" she pointed to the two bodies on the ground "Have sort of been opted right out of that." "Indeed, who? How about you. Premier Pink. Or maybe, Empress Pink. And I will be your faithful consort." Pink looked at Blue. "Oh yeah?" "Sure. You are well known, and in many circles highly popular. You have the backing of an alien super power. You can call down fire power from the skies and rain terror upon all of those who might oppose you..." At this point Pink shoved Blue in the chest. He went over backwards and would have landed heavily, but Pink shuffled herself around even faster and caught his head and back. They were both still on the ground for a moment, then he ended up lying, with his head in her lap. She put a finger to his lips. "That sounds like absolutely no fun whatsoever. And, while Prime is eager to exert his influence on you humans, I think he will draw the line at anything like that." "Ok, dear, I was just throwing out that idea to see how it would land. In this case, with a splat. So, in that case, the only other choice is..." "That's right." They both spoke in unison. "Molly the prostitute." "Well, really, ex-prostitute." said Blue. "Think she will wear it?" said Pink. "Why not. She's been prejudged. She's been agitating for social justice of one type or another continuously since then. And she has the backing of that alien super power. She's a natural." "Of course, remember we don't want to just install her as premier all by ourselves. She has to be democratically elected." "Easy, have a three month period. All political positions declared vacant and elections at the end. Molly, with the help of the generals, forms a provisional governing party, and they hand control over to whoever is elected. And Molly will no doubt use those three months to, not only get the country running again, but to advertise herself. Personally I don't think anyone else stands a chance against her for the premier's spot." Contemplative silence for a while. "Actually, Molly doesn't need to have just the generals to help her, she can also have our two police officers. They are well known, and also put themselves in harm’s way during the evacuation." said Pink. "Fine, fine, they can be acting leaders of the police forces until normal government is resumed. Then they go back to being the station boss and whatever position Charlie normally holds." "Hmm. This all sounds pretty good. But, how is all of this actually going to happen? I mean, we can't just suddenly start ordering a whole country around and get them to do what we want, you know." said Pink. "Well now, I don't think we need to worry too much about all of that. Remember we have the backing of Esmeralda. Who obviously planned for all of this. So, I guess, there will be a series of minor miracles, unnoticed by the public at large, and things will just happen in just the right way, and it shall be so." Pink raised her eyebrows. "If you say so..." "But, we still need to work out how to get the generals on board with all of this. If they suddenly start hearing voices in their head, it might not turn out all that well." said Pink. "Well, in that case, why don't we have our very own Angel of Death have a few words with them? I'm sure she would love the chance to give them a few choice words." "Ok, in that case, my guardian might like to give them a few of those choice words also. After all, Prime has been going to a lot of trouble on you human's behalf, and these generals were going to just obey orders and really stuff things up. And we would need to introduce Horatio to them, anyway." "Right, so we request that Esmeralda and Horatio both appear. They can work it out between themselves what they say to the generals. I'm sure they will have plenty of ideas. And, for that matter, let Janet and Charlie and Molly watch." "I think we have covered everything we can..." said Blue. "Except, considering how alike they are, do you think they could, you know, get together?" said Pink. Blue rolled his eyes. "Girls, always thinking of romance. You got that from Martha, didn't you?" "Sure did." They talked some more, making sure there was not anything that they could add. Eventually, PInk spoke aloud. "Very well. Esmeralda, if you could make this so." The generals remained frozen, but the three others came to life. There was some high speed communications between them and Prime, then after only a few seconds they nodded their heads in agreement. Next the generals were unfrozen. They were still standing stiffly, from their point of view no time had passed; they were still watching Pink and Blue. Although both teenagers seemed to have flickered and instantaneously moved to different positions. Bang. A flash of light. And there before them, one either side of Pink and Blue, were two extra figures. Standing next to Pink was a man, dressed in some sort of last century nautical costume; he was much taller than her. His eyes were glowing red, his cape was swirling in the still air, he smiled at them with the sort of smile that a tiger gives its prey, they could feel an icy cold draft blowing across their backs. Earth Watch Prime was pleased. He had not a clue as to how Esmeralda was doing this, but he was present even though his physical body was frozen in time, a hundred kilometres above his head. Esmeralda was also supplying all of the theatrical effects; he merely had to wish for them. Esmeralda was also present, larger than life, a sword in her hand, standing next to Blue. He eyes also glowed, her wings visible, spanning six metres either side, without, however, getting in anyone's way. Which was a strange optical delusion in its own right, but the generals were not in a position to take much notice. "General Patterson and General McIver" said Horatio, in words like tombstones, thudding into the ground one at a time. The generals jerked in shock and shuddered with each word, their stomaches churned, their bodies trembled, their sense of balance was causing them to stagger. In other words, they were terrified. All special purpose effects courtesy of Esmeralda. "I am Horatio. Pink's guardian. You, and the premiers you were obeying, have caused me a great deal of trouble, and would have caused a great deal more. Here I am, a member of an alien data species, trying to help you humans, while you, actual humans, were doing your best to destroy yourselves and all those around you. We calculate that the resulting strife might have killed many many millions of people, and set your civilisation back decades or more." Horatio leant forward, Esmeralda turned up the special effects even more. "And, of course, you would have ended up killing Pink, plus all those she loves." The generals were sweating. "You know, you are really very lucky that Pink was so kind as to let you live. Aren't you?" "Y-Y-Yes Sir!" said two voices. "I certainly wouldn't have been so kind!" Silence for a little while, just to let the generals sweat. "You will be hearing a great deal more from me in the future..." There was a distinct hiss to Horatio's voice, like a snake threatening a defenceless little animal. Gulp. "Argh, y-y-yes" "But now, I will turn you over to Esmeralda and let her have her turn." Horatio stepped back and seemed to become less threatening, less overbearing. The generals relaxed, just a little. The worse was over, and it appeared that they would continue to live. Esmeralda stepped forward. Her sword flashed with angry fire, they could feel the heat of it on their bare skin. Her eyes flashed red, her judgemental glare, carefully regulated, insinuated itself into their souls. They could feel the pressure, for the first time in their lives, they could actually feel their own souls, and the link to their own bodies. A link that was now being stressed and stretched. Not so far as to sever the link, not quite. They realised that their talk with Horatio was just a gentle stroll in the park, with fluffy white clouds above, little puppy dogs rolling in the grass at their feet. They both wet themselves. It was, after all, hours since they last had a chance to relieve themselves. "McIver. Patterson." The generals could only quiver. "I am an Angle of Death. I would have been very happy to judge you and send you to the same place as the premiers." "But, you are indeed very lucky. As Horatio said, Pink and Blue must be feeling very kindly today." "Nevertheless, you almost did cause immense destruction. All due respects to Horatio, but he only is only a mortal. His ability to estimate what might have happened is deficient." "In actual fact, in the resulting warfare, one of you would have rapidly killed the other. And then the surrounding countries would have become involved. And like a row of dominos falling, like metastatic cancer that spreads, the strife would have spread out to this entire continent. Then overwhelmed and engulfed the word. Several billions of people would have ended up dead. It would have taken two or three centuries for civilisation to recover and to start painfully regaining lost ground." The generals were leaning against each other for support. They were panting in terror. Fortunately, Esmeralda didn't ask for any agreements, as they would have been unable to offer any. "However, you have been allowed to live. You will answer to Horatio, and whomever he directs you to obey. You will work to undo the mess you helped to create, and then you will devote your lives to saving people. Remember, you will be meeting me again. For real. No one will save you the next time. Except yourselves. Atone for your sins and I may, just may, decide to let you pass." "Is that all right?" In a deceptively gentle voice, with more than just a hint of power behind it. She increased the power of her glare, just a little. They felt it. Gurgle, gulp, "A-a-argh..." They both managed to nod. "Good. Then I shall be seeing you!" "Oh, and if at your final judgement you are able to bring some committed, enduring love to the table, then that will also be of help in your judgements." This was said in a much lighter, calmer voice. The two generals, bodies shaking, managed to turn their heads to look at each other. Then they collapsed on the ground. They froze, leaving Pink and Blue and the three adults still in the little time out bubble. Horatio and Esmeralda adjusted their appearances to be their usual ones. "Well, my children, you have done very well." said Esmeralda to Pink and Blue. "But I regret that this will be the last time I appear before you. Until your final judgements, of course. I hope our performances just now didn't scare you too much?" "Hmm, ah, well, I suppose, nowhere near as much as it scared the generals." Pink managed to say. Blue nodded in agreement. "Ah, well then, I, err, we, thank you for your, ah, generosity and help." said Blue, stammering just slightly. "Thank you." Esmeralda looked at the three adults. "So, we all meet again. You all have my blessing. Goodbye for now." And with that, Esmeralda faded out. Time resumed. The pink and blue petals drifted down from the sky. And the watching public saw the generals collapsing, but still alive, in front of Pink and Blue. "What in hell did she just do?" could be a valid summary of the comments of several million people. A week passed. For Pink and Blue, it was not so bad. They stayed home, along with all of the other students. For Molly and Janet and Charlie and the two generals, it was an exhausting endurance run. Straight after their judgement, the generals had been carried to the police station and they received their radio implants. There after all five of them, coordinated by Earth Watch Prime, worked to restore the city to some semblance of its normal state. The school opened again. First on the programme was a school wide assembly, with Pink giving the main talk. "Our country is going back to normal. Things will be difficult, but for us at school, we can leave most of that to the adults. We have to merely concentrate on doing our studies, passing the end of year exams, and getting on with each other." she said, plus more to that effect. They all went to their classes. It was very of obvious that the other students tended to treat Pink and Blue with a certain amount of caution. "Pink glared at the premiers and they dropped dead!" "I don't want to drop dead if I should say something wrong!" "I think we should be very careful what we say to her." "Just what is Pink, and Blue for that matter, anyway?" Fortunately, they had Teresa, Jeffery, Rebecca, and James on their side. These four continued to interact with Pink and Blue has they always had, well the students were surprised that Jeffery seemed to be on some sort of good terms with Teresa, but still. With this acting as an example, the students gradually adjusted and life at school more or less returned to normal. Apart from the presence of a police guard, that always seemed to accompany Pink and Blue now a days. Those two teenagers were of extreme interest to various members of the public, and they needed the protection. Three months passed. On this evening, most of the people on the radio link were at Pink's residence, watching the election results on her big screen. "It's now official; Molly has a clear majority of votes. The only excitement left is in finding out who else was elected..." went the announcer. A small cheer and various expressions of approval from Pink's friends. "There never was much of a doubt was there?" said Reynolds. "Nyah." said James' father. "Especially considering most of the previously elected politicians from before panicked and ran for it, after seeing what happened to the two premiers." They drank a toast. For once the teenagers were allowed a small glass of the same champagne that everyone else was drinking. Naturally, the two police officers were not present; they were busy with crowd management. Nobody bothered to congratulate Molly directly; she was too busy giving her own congratulations to the newly elected politicians. And, with the help of Prime, making appointments for meetings. A lot of meetings. After a bit, the excitement died down and the people at Pink's election party started socialising between themselves. "So... Now that you teenagers have all graduated from school, what are your future plans?" asked Charlie's wife. "I've decided to do chemical and biochemical engineering at university." said Jeffery. Everyone was politely ignoring that fact that Jeffery and Teresa tended to stay on opposite sides of the room from each other. "With my implant enhanced studying abilities, plus Horatio backing me up with any information I might need, I can easily do a double or more major. And, of course, Prime is going to be introducing a lot of new technology over the next few years; I can be at the forefront of that." "Actually, that implant enhanced studying ability is a real boon to us also." said Rebecca. "I'm going to do medicine and James is going to do medical engineering. We'll both be making full use of our link to Prime." "And I'm doing psychology and related studies. After all, I also have a link to the top expert in how human brains and minds work." said Teresa. All eyes turned to Pink and Blue. "Well, after much discussion, we've decided it's a bit pointless us going on to further study. We're too well known. The last months at school were bad enough, but since they knew us from before the students weren't too afraid. However, the idea of starting all over again at university, where they don't know us, is just too much. And, besides which, I can study whatever I need all by myself, with a little help from Horatio. And Pink can just have extra knowledge implanted directly into her brain as she wants. So, it's not as if we won't be learning anything new, we'll just be doing it at our own discretion." said Blue. "And besides which, having no university or work commitments makes it easier for us to do odd jobs as Earth Watch Prime dictates." said Pink. Pink and Blue: Odd jobs What sort of odd jobs? Prime might not be able to find dramatic cases like Esmeralda could, but he had a lot of information at his metaphorical fingertips. Sometimes he could contact Janet or Charlie and let the police deal directly with it. And sometimes, it was more appropriate to use other means. As for example, a week after the election night: Bill had been struggling with the mortgage payments, and the costs of bringing up his young daughter all by himself. To provide a little relief, he had gone to a gambling joint, had a few sessions to distract himself..., and ended up with a gambling debt. After a few calls from the boys from the casino, he had embezzled some money from his employer. Only it was not enough. "But I can't get any more!" he said to the casino's owner. "You will get more. After all, you and your child don't want to be kicked out of your house, do you?" "But - but -" At this point in the conversation, Pink walked into the room. The door was supposed to be locked, but somehow it just opened. The owner froze. The couple of boys backing the owner froze. Bill stared, wondering what the hell was going on. "Hello, everyone!" said Pink, in a cheerful voice. "I’m here to discuss some business." He turned to the owner. "If you check your account, you will see an extra payment has been made. This is not the full payment you were wanting, but considering the exorbitant interest rate you were charging, it is more than adequate. In my opinion." "So, I’m suggesting that you take it and forgive all remaining debts to Bill." said Pink. "And, Bill, we are suggesting you never go gambling again. Ok?" "Ah, yes" said Bill. The owner got his wits together and accessed his account via his mobile. "And what if I refuse to take anything but the full amount?" "Ah, just check you emails?" said Pink. Still very cheerful, just as his phone gave a beep. "Funny, I could have sworn I had put it on silent mode..." He read the latest email, and very carefully kept a neutral expression on his face. "Ah, ok, fine, it's a deal." Pink left, taking Bill with them. They met up with Blue outside. "Also, we have arranged the replacement of the money you stole from your employer. So there's no worry there." said Pink. This time she was no longer cheerful, in fact she reminded Bill of his third grade teacher, telling him off yet again from some infraction. "We won't be giving you another chance." said Blue, as they left him on the street corner. "Ah, err, thanks." Pink and Blue, holding hands, waited at the train station for the next train home. "Prime, do you think he has learnt his lesson?" said Blue. "Time will tell, but probably. Maybe. At the very least, we have reduced the chances of him stuffing up his daughter's life in the future." The Generals: A few weeks later, late at night, the two generals were walking home. [Well, things have settled down since the elections.] said McIver. Silently, over the link. [Yes. It looks like our new station in life won't be too bad, after all. Even if our souls are being held ransom to our future deeds.] said Patterson. [But really, I suppose the souls of everyone are in the same position. It's just that we know it beyond a shadow of doubt.] [Yeah, we got a second chance. We didn't deserve one, but we got it.] They walked in silence for a while. They had already had many talks about this topic, without getting very far in their understanding. [Just how did Blue and Pink get to command a Judgement Angel, anyway?] said McIver. Patterson didn't even bother to answer. "Oh, that's right," said McIver out loud, "He who used to be my helicopter pilot sent me an email inviting us to his wedding. He's marrying the lady who used to be your pilot." "Good, good. We had better make room for it in our calendar." [Prime, if you can do the honours…?] said McIver. [Done.] They continued walking home. Hand in hand. Teresa: Not going to be left all alone Teresa picked up her backpack and her picnic blanket and hopped out of the car. It was just after noon on a bright sunny day. [Thanks! Janet.] she said, via the link, as Janet drove away. [No probs!] said Janet. Teresa walked through the entrance to the cemetery. Knowing the way, she walked along tree shaded lane ways, past beds of roses, and ended up in another lane. Small plaques were set into the ground on either side, and flowering plants grew behind them. She stopped in front of one of them. "Hi, Jennifer. I've come to visit you..." She was suddenly aware that someone else had come from the opposite direction. A lady, in her early twenties, also carrying a picnic basket. "Oh, ah, I'm visiting my mother, just here." she said. "I'm sure it's no problem. Also, I'm Teresa." "And I'm Sarah." By the time they left, the sun was getting low in the sky; they had already exchanged contact details and arranged to meet for coffee in a couple of day’s time. Pink and Blue: Pink and Blue were walking through the shopping district. "Hello, what's this." said Pink, pointing to a shop. It had a sign saying it was a book shop. Through the windows could be seen a disorderly array of bookshelves and tables, piled high with books. And on the window itself was also a sign saying 'For sale'. "Hmm. I like books." said Blue, standing with his nose against the shop window. "If we are going to be doing lots of odd jobs for Prime, it could be useful to have a base from which to operate. Separate from our home. And where we can have some contact with members of the public." said Pink. [Ok, I get it. I'll get in contact with the sellers, see if I can arrange a visit.] said Prime. A month later, they owned it. Earth Watch Prime's financial resources were very handy. They spent a week cleaning it up and sorting things out. "See this, we have the main shop display room, where half of the books are kept, in reasonably good order." said Pink, showing off to Rebecca and James. "And this second room we stock with all of the old books, rarities, anything literary which is somewhat unusual. If we like our customers, we can invite them into the inner room. And we supply free tea and coffee." said Blue. "Of course, we will be using Earth Watch Prime's capabilities to take care of the sordid details like the cataloguing and keeping the accounts." said Pink. Later that night, lying in bed. "Blue, can you give me another back massage. All of that moving books around has given me some sore muscles. "Sure." Pink took off her pyjamas and lay on her tummy. Blue ran his hands down her spine. "Yep, that's the spot!" said Pink, aloud. At that point, vary annoyingly, Blue stopped moving. "Hey, massage slave! What happened to my massage?" "Hmm. You know, I was just thinking, you have a very attractive body. Very attractive..." said Blue. "Huh?" Pink twisted her torso and head around, to look at Blue. She raised her eyebrows. "Really? Is that so?" "Yeah" Rebecca and James: The following day, in the afternoon, as Rebecca and James travelled by bus from their university. [So, Blue and Pink are now in a full relationship.] said James. Silence for a bit. [I think it is time to have a little talk with our respective parents. About arranging our own accommodation.] said Rebecca, eventually. [At last.]