| Just minutes before, his sister Erica has finished leading a czardas with a zest that might make any Mittel European homesick. |
| Erica looked at the screen which twinkled and displayed the image of the Chancellor on the background of his cabinet in the Palace. |
| Those assassins who had tried to shoot Erica on the launch platform now captured a starship. |
| Eight minutes later, Erica came jogging down the corridor to where they were. |
| Erica pleaded, tears streaming from her closed eyes, making thin watery tracks down her pale cheeks. |
| Erica looked pryingly and Thomas began to tell her about most of the days events. |
