Shrugging off her overcoat, Luisa straightened her red cocktail dress, turning to examine herself in the entrance mirror.  She felt odd dressed like this, complete with small diamond stud earrings and her mother's favourite pearl necklase...she would have felt more at home in her grungy mechanics overalls, elbow deep in grease, spare parts and an Capiean 38 engine that needed to be rebuilt.<br/><br/>But orders were orders, and she been told that the party was semi-complusory.  Apparently this party was meant to be the big shindig before they headed out into the black to expand the reach of mankind into the 'verse.<br/><br/>Luisa shook her head at the imagery and wondered again at the ease with which she had been accepted into the Exodius Project.  She knew she was skilled in management and finances, but her true love and talent lay with mechanics, especially propulsion systems.  She had an undeniable aptitude with engines, no an almost preternatural understanding of how the engine wanted to operate, and instinctive appreciation for how every ball-bearing, every washer and every screw, twisted and turned...still that didn't answer the question why she, Luisa Ravenstein, unqualified mechanic, petty criminal and postgraduate dropout should be here, dressed to the nines and apparently expected to mix with some of the best scientific minds in the 'verse.<br/><br/>Knowing that a drink or two would take off the edge, Luisa walked to the bar as a very attractive couple left the bar and made their way to the dance floor.  Her analytical mind shuffled through the memorised crew roster and she remembered their faces...a couple of the superbrains...Luisa vaguely remembered that the girl...Suzie...Susan...Sarah! was some kind of teenage genius with robots or some such thing.  Luisa didn't know alot about robots, except in a mechanical sense, but she knew that Sarah was all kinds of beautiful.  The guy wasn't too bad either and she idly fantasised about bedding either one of them...<em>Shucks girl, you're gonna have to wait twenty years before you get to play...not that you'll remember it...</em>.  Luisa wondered if she would be able to convince one of the cryo engineers to run some form of bio-stimulation while she was on ice so that she would be enjoying herself...she chuckled and ordered a double vodka on the rocks.<br/><br/>Taking her first sip of alcohol since Charlie had been killed, Luisa began to carefully scan the large room, looking for any talent that might provide a distraction to the looming thought of 20 years of unconsciousness and a leap into the great unknown.