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Alicia looked at me with a speculative look in her eye. “You looking for a new berth?”

Brill said, “Hey, no poaching. He’s mine!”

I found I quite liked the way she said, “He’s mine.”

Alicia giggled and gripped my hand a little more firmly. The temperature rose in the bar by about ten degrees Celsius with that giggle. She looked back at Brill then. “Okay, can I borrow him for a few stans, then? I’ll bring him back, I promise.”

“Okay,” Brill replied warily, “but don’t break him. I need him on watch tomorrow night.”

I confess, it felt a little odd, being bargained over like that, but the comment that Diane had made at dinner about what it means to be a spacer hit hard just then. Something must have shown on my face, because Brill asked me, “You okay, Ish?”

“It just struck me what you said earlier about civilians.”

She nodded knowingly, even a bit sadly. “Have fun, Ish.”

Bless her heart.

“Don’t wait up,” I said and let the fascinating Alicia Alvarez lead me out of the bar.

Chapter 20

DUNSANY ROADS ORBITAL
2352-APRIL-17

Alicia Alvarez led me out of Jump! and straight to the lift. I found it quite pleasant, walking along hand in hand. I enjoyed the looks the other spacers gave us and I think Alicia did, too. She had a little smile on her face as we threaded our way through the clots of people flowing erratically through the promenade.

“You don’t have to do this, you know,” we both said at once and laughed.

“Okay, you first,” she told me.

“You’ve already given me a night I’ll never forget. It was a sucker bet.”

“You think I’m paying off a bet?” she asked gently as we waited for the lift and she looked up at me.

“No,” I said just as gently. “Now, your turn.”

“You don’t seem quite as sure of yourself as you did earlier.”

“It’s a cultural thing. I’m still adjusting to life aboard I think.”

“A case of be careful what you wish for?” she suggested.

The lift arrived then and we got on with a rowdy group who rode up two levels and then fell off at the docks. She punched number seven and we kept riding up.

I shook my head. “No, I don’t think so. You’re a fascinating and stunning woman. I don’t know you except remotely because of Pip.”

“Of all the women in that bar, you picked me because of Pip?” she asked with a little grin. “Why pick any? I’m sure you could have attracted some all by yourself.”

“Murdock was a set up,” I told her.

The lift stopped on level seven, and we stepped off, strolling along the curved passage, still hand in hand. I had no idea where we were going or even if we were going anywhere at all, but her hand felt nice in mine and that was enough.

“What?” Her brow furrowed into a quizzical scowl.

“Murdock was a setup. She was supposed to latch onto me and take me out for a spin.”

“What makes you say that?”

“I overheard more of a conversation than I was supposed to. Some people who care about me very deeply were trying to take care of me in a way they couldn’t.”

“You mean Brill set you up to get you laid?”

“Yep, I think so. She knew Murdock from when she was aboard the
Lois
. I can see why Murdock didn’t fit there. I think that’s why Mr. Maxwell was willing to trade her for Pip.”

Her mouth twisted into a wry grin. “I’m not sure she fits on the
Duchamp
either, but you didn’t hear it from me.”

“Anyway, Brill was pretty sure that if Murdock got anywhere near me, she’d latch onto the fresh meat. And she did.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Diane and Bev were livid about it, but Brill is a powerful force in her own right. I think that by the time Diane and Bev found out, it was a done deal and the meet-up at Jump! was only a matter of timing.”

“And you got pissed because they set you up? Is that why you unloaded Murdock?”

I shook my head. “A couple of days ago, I probably would have been. This is going to sound strange, but something happened up at Henri Roubaille’s—some kind of odd bonding. The whole thing was surreal. I think we became friends. Not just shipmates, but real friends.”

“You think? Isn’t that something you know?”

“Probably for most people, but I’m handicapped in that way.”

She gave me a crooked grin. “I dunno, Ish. You look pretty healthy to me.”

I laughed. “Yeah, physically. But I wasn’t kidding about my mother the lit professor. We lived in the university enclave on Neris almost all my life. Just mom and me. I wasn’t just an only child, but I was also an outsider in my peer group.”

“Have you always talked like that?”

“Yeah, pretty much as long as I can remember. Why else do you think I was the outsider in my peer group?” I teased her.

“Point taken.” She released my hand then and took my arm. It felt nice.

“Anyway, the nearest thing I remember to having a friend was Angela Markova about a lifetime ago. She left when her father went to work for another company.”

“Oh, my. Please pardon this next question…”

“No, I’m not a virgin,” I said with a crooked grin.

“Whew, I’m feeling guilty enough about cradle robbing without having to deal with that, too,” she said teasingly.

“I said I didn’t have friends. I knew a lot of kids. Some girls are turned on by brains—even some of the pretty and popular ones. They just wouldn’t talk to me when anybody else was around. I haven’t been a virgin since I was fourteen. I don’t even remember her name.”

“Good grief!”

“So, the upshot is, I’ve read about best friends. I know the idea of the boon companion. I’ve just never had one. It’s kinda weird.”

She looked me in the face. “You’re serious.”

“Very. Being aboard the
Lois
has almost been like being pulled out of solitary confinement. I mean, I had a life but it was just me and my mother and her occasional lovers. Life in the enclave was intellectually stimulating but emotionally bankrupt.”

“You seem pretty well adjusted,” she commented.

“Thanks. I’m very aware that my youth, while odd, carried a lot of advantages that many people never had. I was never hungry or beaten. We always had a roof over our heads and something interesting to do. I hear horror stories of people who grow up hungry, hurt, and abused, and I feel really lucky. My only problem is I never had a friend.”

“So you think that you and Brill and the others are friends now?”

“Yeah.” I paused and took a slow breath while I thought about it. “Something like that. And I think they see me as a bit of a shy backwater nerd who needed a little help in making a sexual connection. And I think they thought it should happen before we get underway again.”

“Why would they think that?”

“This is the first time I’ve been off the ship past 22:00 since I came aboard last September. They know I haven’t been sleeping with anybody on board and they know I haven’t had any opportunities in port. Pip got injured at my first port of call and I never even got off the ship for over three months. When I did, it was just to go out to dinner so I could have a meal I didn’t have to clean up after.”

“Yet you still seem relatively sane. I’m impressed.”

“Yeah, well, that’s open to debate,” I said with a grin.

“And you think they set up Murdock?”

“Oh, I know they set up Murdock. That’s a given. And I’m pretty sure they did it because they thought I needed it and Murdock was a sure bet. Distasteful, but certain. I think Brill provided the opportunity but left the outcome up to me. Murdock was there, she was available, and if I wanted it, I could have it.” I shrugged.

“And you didn’t want it?”

“Of course, I want it. I’m as healthy as anybody. I just didn’t want it with her.”

“Well, then why me?”

“Because you were the sexiest woman in the room and just watching you was driving me crazy.”

“And because you figured if you could get me, you’d prove to Brill and the others that you didn’t need their help.”

I shrugged. “Well, perhaps as a side benefit, but that wasn’t the main reason. I’ve been looking forward to tonight, to the possibilities, ever since the other day in Chez Henri. I really didn’t think I would wind up with you on my arm like this. I was prepared for you to cut me off at the knees.”

“Well, then why?”

We stopped and I turned to her. “I’ve been cut off at the knees before. It’s not that bad. And there was the possibility of something magical happening.” I took her face gently in my hands and moved close to hers, feeling her breath on my skin. I smiled but did not kiss her. Instead, I turned back and tucked her arm back under mine and started walking.

“You bastard!” she said with a shaky laugh.

“So? I found you fascinating, sexy, powerful, and beautiful—not necessarily in that order, and I thought I’d like to leave the bar with you at the end of the night. Is that so bad?”

“Thought? Past tense?”

“Semantic trap. I thought that then because it is in the past. That has nothing to do with the way I feel about you right now.”

“And how do you feel about me?”

“You are a fascinating, sexy, powerful, beautiful woman, and I’m enjoying every instant I’m with you. Now it’s your turn to be on the hot seat. How do you feel about me? Why did you let a common engineman dance with you?”

“Oh, that’s easy…because you asked, and very nicely, I might add. And you should probably know that you are not a common engineman.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because a common engineman wouldn’t go to a bar wearing Henri Roubaille.”

“Okay, you got me there. But why cradle robbing? You got a thing for young stuff?”

“Truthfully, I was just dancing until we sat to talk. I had no intention of leaving so early with anybody when we sat down.”

“What happened?”

“We didn’t talk.”

“I remember.”

“I don’t know the last time somebody just sat with me without trying to impress me, get into my pants, or kiss up for one reason or another.”

“Well, for the record, I was trying to get into your pants,” I said with a grin. “I was just waiting for an invitation.”

She laughed again, and I found that I liked her laugh a lot. “Damn, you are good.”

“I interrupted, please continue.”

“Anyway, it was refreshing, so when we did start talking, and you still weren’t trying to impress me, it had the opposite effect. The more you weren’t trying, the more impressed I was. I’m still in awe over Roubaille and then to learn that you’ve talked to Bresheu as well. And you’ve impressed Brill beyond anything I’ve ever seen—and Al! My god, you impressed Al! I don’t know what’s more astonishing—Al or Roubaille.”

“Well, I should probably not be telling you this, but she was my fallback.”

“What?”

“Next to you, she was the most fascinating woman in the place. And she said she’d take out some of the sharper bits of steel.”

“She didn’t!”

“Have I lied to you yet?” I asked.

“Not that I’ve been able to tell,” she said warily. “You would have gone?”

“Are you kidding? If you’d turned me down? She’s a fascinating woman!”

“I think you’re pulling my leg, but anyway, after that I wanted to leave with you quickly before anybody else got their claws in you. Once word gets out that you were at Chez Henri, they’ll be knocking down your door.”

“They’ll have to get through Brill, Diane, and Beverly first, I think.”

“And that was the most impressive of all. Seeing Brill look at you like that. She’s not an easy person to get close to.”

“Believe me, I know.”

We walked along quietly arm in arm for a few ticks. It was quite pleasant.

“Was?” she asked at last.

“Excuse me? Was what?”

“You said, ‘I was trying to get into your pants’ before. You’re not now?”

I considered this for a moment. “In the first place, that’s another semantic trap. It’s past tense because it denotes action that occurred in the past.”

I stopped and turned to her again. “In the second place,” I said, bringing my face close to hers and again teasing her with my breath and inhaling the delightful smell of her. “I think we’ve already established that. At the moment we’re only negotiating time and place.”

I started to pull back again, but she caught my head and pulled me to her. “Not this time, you bastard.” Then she kissed me. Hard. Teeth were involved. Hers and mine. There were some other things that involved her sliding her arms up under my coat and holding onto me very tightly with those arms. I’m pretty sure, a leg was involved as well. It took a tick for my vision to come back afterward.

“Well,” I said a bit breathlessly. “I think negotiations are almost over. You seem to have made a decision.”

She grinned at me. It was a hungry grin. “Oh, yes. Some time ago. Have you?”

“Here?” I asked indicating the corridor.

“No,” she said emphatically. “I’m not in a mood to share you. At least not tonight,” she added with a very naughty smile.

She took my arm and we walked a few meters to a small hotel where she had a room.

“Planning ahead?” I asked mischievously.