“I can assure you dear lady—I’m many things, but never crude.” At least Sardar had enough self-awareness not to deny the rest of what Mira had said, Beth noted. The man smiled at Mira before Sally grabbed him a little roughly by the arm and escorted him into the building.<br/><br/>“I can see why he never dates other pilots,” Beth noted dryly to the younger woman. “It would probably end with his girlfriend bringing the foot of her mech straight down on his smug little face.” She then smiled. “By the way, that was nicely done—pretty soon we’ll have the whole MBF afraid of you.” She offered her arm to Mira and then escorted her inside.<br/><br/>Once they were inside, a servant took Beth’s present for the birthday girl and stored it in a room that appeared to be full of gifts, large and small. The women were then lead into the main ballroom. “Please enjoy yourselves,” the servant said. “Your seats are at table seventeen. Guests are welcome on the second floor balcony, and outside on the patio, the grounds, and the hedge maze. The outdoor areas are temperature controlled for your comfort.”<br/><br/>The ballroom itself was cavernous, mostly white with a high, vaulted ceiling. There were giant windows, a large dance floor, numerous round tables surrounded by chairs, and a large number of servants wandering around with hors d'œuvres and glasses of champagne. Only about a third of the guests appeared to have arrived so far, but even that was still quite a number of people.<br/><br/>Also in this room was a wide staircase leading up to a landing, and beyond that the balcony. There were also exits out onto the patio. “Look at this place,” Beth said, amazed but also a bit put off by obscene extravagance. “It’s like, the Oscars ceremony crashed Jesus’s wedding, or something.” She shook her head. “Looks like we’ve still got a while before this thing really starts. Want to see anything? Anyone you want to meet?”