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Clare smiled and brushed past me as she disappeared into the house

Back in the cool of the living room I foundbroadcast from out over the ocean Penny&039;s half-watched video had finished and the tape had automatically stopped, rewound and ejected itself from the player

&039;So what do you think about all of this?&039; I asked Clare as she passed me my drink and sat down

&039;Not a lot,&039; she replied abruptly It was clear that her nonchalance was honest and heartfelt

&039;You&039;ve got to be excited by it?&039; &039;Have I?&039;

&039;Christ, yes Bloody hell, for the first tient life form This could open up so many possibilities for us&039;

&039;What do you ent life forent? Jesus&039;

&039;But there&039;s going to be so much we can learn from theht be able to&039;

&039;The only advances I&039;m interested in,&039; she interrupted, &039;are advances on e and keep a roof over our heads What&039;s it matter to me if they show us how to build spaceships or?&039;

&039;It ht not matter now, but what about the future?&039;

&039;What about the future?&039; she sighed &039;Look, I don&039;t want to rain on your parade, Tom, but I&039;ll be honest with you because I always a in the next street, the next town, the next country or even the next bloody galaxy All that I&039;irl has what she needs and that she&039;s happy I&039;ve got to put her first because no-one else ever will, will they? No one gives a flying fuck about her but me&039;

I had obviously touched a nerve I hadn&039;tI&039;d wanted to do It didn&039;t take a genius to see that she was still s from what her husband had done to her and Penny She hadn&039;t deserved any of it No-one deserved that kind of treat, don&039;t you?&039; I said, struggling to find somy friend &039;I&039;ll be around if you want hed &039;I&039;m sorry, I didn&039;t mean to offload at you I know you&039;re here for both of us but&039;

A moment&039;s silence

&039;But what?&039; I asked cautiously

&039;But it&039;s not the same, is it?&039;

&039;How do you mean?&039;

&039;I don&039;t want to offend you, To to express her feelings

&039;Doesn&039;tto save her the effort (and myself the hurt)

&039;Please don&039;t take this the wrong way,&039; she continued, &039;but you can&039;t take the place of the man I married No matter what he&039;s done he&039;s still Penny&039;s dad and there&039;s still a place for hi to take anyone&039;s place,&039; I began pointlessly &039;I just want you to know that&039;

I let my words trail away into an aard silence To e in the picture on the television screen brought a welcome distraction It was another United Nations press conference I picked up the remote control and turned up the volume so that I could hear the news

An extre official stepped up to a plinth to deliver more extraordinary news He cleared his throat and shuffled his papers

&039;Further to the facts that were released earlier thisyou an update on the present situation A thorough inspection and exa the last few hours The visitors have now concluded that the dae to the ship is beyond repair To this end contact has been made with the alien home world today and a rescue mission has been dispatched It is estimated that this will arrive within the next ten ap in his delivery was seized upon by the hordes of athered around He held up his hands to try and calm the crowd

&039;Bloody typical,&039; Clare hissed under her breath &039;I suppose that&039;s it now, they&039;ve got their feet well and truly under the table&039;

&039;What?&039; I grunted, half-listening

&039;We&039;re never going to get rid of theet rid of theet rid of them,&039; she replied &039;I don&039;t like the about the about theue with her logic The United Nations spokesreeues arrive It&039;s hoped that both the visitors and ourselves will be able to take advantage of this tiether in order to learn about each other&039;s planets, technologies and societies This is an extree in both the history and future development of both races&039;

&039;Bullshit,&039; Clare interrupted again &039;Who the hell are they trying to fool? What are they going to learn fro to be a fat lot we can tell them that they don&039;t already know Bloody hell, look at the state of their ship We&039;re still crashing planes&039;

Again she was right I wondered whether Clare really was as anti-alien as she sounded, or perhaps her veno at the present ti ) distraction An unnecessary complication of her already unnecessarily complicated life

The man on the screen had still more to say

&039;Finally, after several hours of discussions with the commander of the alien ship, it has been decided that the vessel will be destroyed There is a very slight danger of a leak froines and so it has been decided that it is in the best interests of all concerned if the ship is destroyed Arrangements have been made to launch the vessel away from the planet and into the sun We are certain that this will have no detrimental effect on the sun and it would see and potential danger Furtheret to hear the official&039;s last sentence Clare switched the television off

&039;Sorry,&039; she sighed, sounding tired and harassed, &039;I&039;ve heard enough for one day&039;

I forced a smile and then looked deep intoto ask you this one ht?&039;

For a fraction of a second I thought that Clare was about to become even more annoyed and defensive than she already had been But instead she ed a smile and relaxed She reached across and squeezed hed &039;I&039;m sorry I&039;m such a miserable bitch, it&039;s just that&039;

&039;You don&039;t have to explain,&039; I interrupted &039;As long as you&039;re okay, that&039;s all that matters&039;

&039;I&039; a trail of mud and dirt on the carpet behind her Clare&039;s face fell and, sensing that she was about to explode, I decided totowards the front door &039;I&039;ll see you both soon&039;

&039;Okay,&039; Clare said as she followed me out &039;Thanks for what you&039;ve done today I really appreciate it&039;

&039;It&039;s fine And if you need anything else&039;

&039;I&039;ll call you&039;

&039;Promise?&039;

&039;Promise&039;