Sweet Tooth

Sweet Tooth "e;Doctor Corrigan? Your refreshments are here."e; He rolled a cart inside and then departed. Dani and the others made their way back to the entrance. On the cart was a bottle of brandy and three small glasses. Dani and Roni looked at the beverage, and then looked toward Blake Corrigan. "e;What?"e; Blake said, "e;I didn't order it."e; "e;Can I have some, Dad? I think I need it."e; Dani requested. Corrigan looked at his son. Even in the strange lighting of the display room, he looked slightly pale. "e;Well, why not? We're celebrating something anyway."e; Corrigan opened the bottle and filled three glasses. "e;To space flight!"e; Blake raised his glass. "e;And youth!"e; Roni added, lifting his glass also. "e;And us!"e; said Dani, "e;God bless us, every one!"e; "e;Hear, hear!"e; Blake responded. They clicked glasses and drank. Dani emptied his glass, and reached to fill it again. "e;Dani, I don't believe I've ever seen you touch alcohol before,"e; his father said mildly. "e;This, sir, is processing fuel."e; Dani looked up with a smile. "e;I am doing an inordinate number of intensive calculations."e; He poured a second generous helping. Ten minutes later, Dani got a second display message. SECONDARY PROTOCOL INITIATEDACCESSING EXPANSION PROCEDUREDOWNLOADINGDani felt as if his head had become a communications hub. He could almost hear the data traffic colliding and coursing through his inputs. Was the imaging information from Malcolm being recorded inside his own brain? Momentarily, he felt a little flushed. He continued to wander, and to sip. After perhaps another half-hour, Dani got a final message: DOWNLOAD COMPLETE* * * Bobby G. Wells