was the first time The Lord God had seen North since the battle, the meal's entire conversation was about North's flight and rescue of Morn.
71 "You poor thing," comforted one of the women at the table, "sick like that! How do you manage to keep going?"
72 "Yes," asked one of the men, "I would have simply fainted dead away, and why did the light panels go out? I thought they were virtually indestructible. I've heard a ship can freeze solid, but reenergize it, and warm it up, and the light panels come back on."
73 "Yes," agreed North, "the microscopic plants in the panels that produce the light are pretty tough, but they can only handle a little bit less gravity than we can. Our encounter with the ice field was just a little bit more than they could bear. They burst. Their light- producing organisms died, and we were plunged into darkness. It took hours to grow new plants from seeds in storage and recolonize the panels. We fought the entire battle by our emergency lights!"
74 "Perhaps the ladies," The Lord God remarked, "Would like to come with us tomorrow and see your men get their decorations in the Temple. Of course they can't enter The Temple Proper, but we could sneak them up to the inside balcony."
75 "Oh, could we?" pleaded one of the women, "Could we, PLEASE?"
76 "I'm sure it can be arranged! " The Lord God smiled. "Come, gentlemen. Let us retreat to my reading room. There are some matters I wish to discuss with our young heroes. You will understand, ladies, I am sure!" The Lord God continued, "We will rejoin you, later!" The women rose, bowed politely, and left.
77 "Your new wife," North mentioned to The Lord God, "is quite a charmer!"
78 "Yes," agreed The Lord God, "but she is nothing,

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