Tossing her hands up, Mandi softly exclaimed, "Okay. I give up. What the hell can I possibly do to make this terrible thing I've done up to you, Ed?" "Nothing, really," said Cade. "If something that big is coming, being as much like you as possible will probably increase my chances of survival. I just wanted you to know how I felt before you pulled the same 'oh, he won't mind' trick on someone else." The waiter arrived with food as Mandi sat staring at Cade. When the waiter finished placing food on the table, Cade told him to bring another lunch special. The waiter thought he meant for Mandi and smilingly nodded at her. Cade then told him to also pack one to go. "To go, sir?" "Yup. It's going upstairs with me." "Yes, sir. One more to the table and one to go." "You got it. Thanks." When the waiter had left, Mandi smilingly asked, "Why didn't Beth come down to lunch with you?" Digging into his food, Cade said, "She needed a nap. Why were you watching us last night?" Startling imperceptibly, Mandi thought, 'He DID know!' then she said, "When you didn't come back to the room, I thought maybe you'd gotten into more trouble." Around some steak, Cade said, "Uh, huh. Glad I'm wearing boots, ma'am." He cut another piece and said, "Got a question. Am I just processing mass into energy?" "Partly. You're being restructured, which requires quite a bit of both mass and energy." "So I could probably just drink a lot of water or eat a phone book and it wouldn't matter a damn to the process?" Mandi snickered and asked, "A phone book?" "Bulk. Mass. Something to convert. It doesn't necessarily have to be food, right? Just a steady supply of mass." "I suppose so. Will you want gravy on your phone book?" "Probably wouldn't be a bad idea. You seemed surprised that I squashed that rail in the stairwell. Why? Am I ahead of schedule or something?" Nodding, she said, "It would seem so. A little, anyway." "Why would that be?" Mandi shrugged. "Your system is accepting conversion easily and you're having sex with Beth." "What does sex have to do with it?" Filching his tomato slice, she said, "All human bodily functions are closely tied to the reproductive system. Stir things up and the process can speed up considerably." "Speed up only, or also enhance the process? Could I wind up being a bit more... 'super'... at the other end?" "Yes, you could. Others have, for the same reason." With a nod, Cade met her gaze and asked, "Do you want optimum conversion, or would plain old average do?" "Optimum would be nice, of course." Cade sliced off a chunk of meat and ate it, then said, "I think so, too, also of course. There's nothing quite like knowing your support people are as good as they can possibly be. Beth is good for another few hours, then she'll leave for D.C. or I'll become too much for her. Doesn't matter which; that'll be the end of it.