But not tonight, Edith decided firmly. You'd be giving him totally the wrong impression if you flopped in the sack with him tonight.

Doug let his hand drop from the wall panel and turned to face her. "Well, there's a couple of hundred choices available. And that's even with Earthside communications blacked out."

"You can't get anything from Earth?" Edith asked.

"They're not transmitting to us. Even the commercial commsats have gone dark."

"That's pretty damned rotten."

"All's fair in war."

"Still… what harm would it do to let you see commercial TV?"

Doug smiled. "It might do us all some good to be without commercial TV for a while. Improve our minds maybe."

"Thanks a lot!"

"I didn't mean news broadcasts," he apologized quickly.

"No, you're right. News is just as bad, almost."

"I'm sure you're a top-flight serious journalist," he said.

He was sitting inches away from her. She could touch his knee merely by moving her leg slightly. Don't do it! she warned herself.

Doug could smell her perfume: like the flowers Lev grows in the farm. She certainly is beautiful, with those big green eyes. But she's an important news reporter back Earthside. She probably thinks I'm just a kid. Or worse, a freak stuffed with nanobugs.

Yet Doug saw her strange half smile, as if she were waiting for him to say something, do something.

"I'm not contagious, you know," he heard himself say, surprised at his own words.

She blinked, as if stirring from a dream. "What?"

"The nanobugs. They won't contaminate you if we touch, or… er, kiss. You can't catch anything from me."

Edith laughed, softly, gently. "Shee-it, back Earthside you've got to be worried about catching all kinds of diseases from the guys you date."

Doug raised both hands. "I'm disease-free, believe me."

"You look pretty healthy."

"And you look very lovely," he said.

"I'm a lot older than you."

"Does that bother you?"

She hesitated only a moment. "No, I don't think it really does."

Doug moved next to her on the bunk and put his arms around her. Her lips felt soft and warm on his.

That voice in Edith's head was still warning her not to do this, but she almost giggled in the middle of a kiss as she answered, What's the matter, you scared he won't respect me in the morning?

What the hell, Edith said to her voice. And then she stopped thinking altogether.

Out in the corridor, almost exactly thirty meters from Edith's door, the mercenary let his back slide down the stone wall and hunkered down on the floor.

Goddamn, he said to himself. Looks like the kid's going to spend the night with her.

He draped his arms across his upraised knees and rested his head on his arms. Get some sleep. Maybe he'll come out before the morning shift starts to come through the corridor.

But he felt pretty certain that Doug was the kind who would spend the whole night.