That had worked well, by the gods!

    She had smiled at him, laughed at his stupid attempts at humor, looked him over with frank admiration, and he had completely forgotten everything that he’d worked out so carefully in his mind and allowed her to lead him off by his cock!

    Sybil stirred in his arms, dragging him abruptly from his mental rebuke and pitching him into a mild state of panic as it dawned on him that he’d been too busy berating himself to figure out how to handle the situation.

    “Is it morning?” she asked sleepily.

    “What passes for it here,” he responded more harshly than he’d intended. “We slept through the rest period.”

    She lifted her head and studied him. Her hair-the beautiful sunlight colored hair that he’d admired-was tousled from sleep, her pretty face flushed, her lips soft and inviting and his cock leapt up like the mindless beast it was. “You didn’t sleep well?”

    He swallowed a little convulsively. “Like the dead.”

    She smiled. It took all he could do to refrain from leaning down to capture her lips with his own and explore her mouth. “We have trampled the customs of two cultures and lain waste. I should return you to your quarters.”

    She uttered a half laugh before something horrendous apparently occurred to her. The smile died. Her eyes widened. “Oh god! It’s morning?”

    “I said that.”

    She tore from his arms and leapt from the bed so fast he was stunned. “My clothes! Where are they?”

    Bemused, he searched the bedding and finally produced the top. She snatched it from his hand and began struggling to tie it while he searched for the rest. He found her panties and the skirt beneath him. Dismay registered on her face when she saw the crumpled clothing. “Oh! Jesus! No way in hell are they going to be in any doubt… Never mind! Do you have a comb? A brush?” she added, raking her hands absently through her hair.

    “In the facilities,” he said, nodding toward the wall.

    She whirled and dashed in that direction, almost slamming into the wall before he could leap from the bed and prevent it. “The doors only respond to us.”

    Nodding distractedly, she pulled free of his hold and dashed inside. Still bemused, he watched her as she grabbed his brush and began raking it frantically through her hair. “I could do that for you,” he murmured, unable to resist the urge to touch it.

    She shook her head. “No. It’s fine. I need to get back before…”

    He could no more understand the anxiety that had her dancing with impatience than he’d been able to understand why she’d allowed him in her bed-allowed him to take her into his. He felt her urgency, however, and escorted her as quickly as he could, refusing resolutely to run even though he could tell she wanted to.

    They arrived at the quarters set aside for the humans to find Dr. Rains and Ensign Beckt embracing against the wall. Hearing their approach, Dr. Rains pushed him away frantically, threw them a wide-eyed look of horror, whirled, and slammed into the wall when the door didn’t open for her. Beckt caught her arm, turning her to face him so that he could examine her for injury. “No! I’m fine! Really!”

    She glanced at him and Sybil in dismay as they stopped. “I was just talking to Beckt… uh…” Apparently, she wasn’t in any condition to cook up a believable story. “I should go.”

    Sybil glanced at him. “Yes. Good idea! Well… bye!”

    Anka frowned, catching her arm before she could escape. “A moment…”

    “I have to go in!” she growled at him and then forced a smile. “We can talk later.”

    They were both distracted by sounds of new arrivals and turned to look as Powell and Kushbu strode toward them.

    Sybil gaped at the men, too dismayed to be caught outside the observatory with Anka, at first, to really register their condition. Their hair was standing on end, however, a sure sign of bed head. Both men had a day’s growth of beard and both of them had bags under their eyes as if they hadn’t actually done a lot of sleeping in the beds they’d climbed out of.

    Powell’s face darkened with color as he reached them. He nodded curtly. Kushbu studied the floor as he passed them. Sybil threw Anka a look he had trouble interpreting. “I need to go in now.”

    Reluctantly, he released her. Dr. Rains snatched her arm free of Beckt’s hold and dashed through the door before Sybil could, nearly knocking her down.

    Anka stood frowning at the door for several moments after they’d disappeared and finally looked at Beckt. Beckt looked as confused as he was. He shrugged. Abruptly remembering himself, he stiffened, saluted and headed down the corridor at a brisk walk, leaving Anka in the hall alone and wondering what the hell had happened.

* * * *

    Holly beat Sybil to the facilities and leapt into the shower. After glaring at the woman through the opaque material surrounding the shower for several moments, Sybil left and returned to their sleeping quarters. Plopping tiredly on the edge of her bunk, she stared at the floor, trying to empty her mind. Thoughts swarmed like a flock of carrion feeders, however, determined, relentless.

    Foremost in her mind was the ‘walk of shame’, which she, unfortunately hadn’t been able to avoid despite the fact that she’d given it her best shot. She supposed she shouldn’t feel too embarrassed about it since she hadn’t been the only one, but she couldn’t tell that she was any less embarrassed from encountering the rest of the crew outside of the observatory. True, they were hardly in any position to make a judgment on her, but that didn’t change the fact that they knew exactly what she’d been doing.

    It sucked that she’d managed to think up a really good lie to cover herself and had been thwarted from using it by the circumstances!

    Holly was still dripping when she left the bath a little bit later. Without glancing at Sybil, she headed for her bed. Jolting to her feet, Sybil headed into the bathroom. When she came out again, Holly was either asleep or pretending to sleep. She wasn’t sure which, and she didn’t particularly feel any need to rest herself. Discovering the moment she poked her nose out of the room, however, that Spencer was pacing the observatory like a caged lion, she headed back to bed.

    For a while after she lay down to stare up at the ceiling, the only thoughts rambling through her mind were of the embarrassing encounter with her fellow crewmembers. Slowly, however, the endless round of questioning what she might have done differently wore itself out and she began to remember her behavior in a totally different light.

    What must Anka think of her odd behavior, she wondered?

    What could he think, she realized in dismay! That she was ashamed of what she’d done and embarrassed that her fellow crewmembers knew what she’d done!

    God! She wouldn’t even talk to him, or look at him!

    She hadn’t meant to leave him with impression! She’d just been too caught up in her own distress to consider that it might make him feel badly!

    She just hadn’t wanted them passing judgment on her, whispering behind her back! It wasn’t that she was ashamed of him or what they’d done together! It wasn’t! It had been… beautiful! More wonderful than she’d ever imagined it possibly could be!

    Tears clogged her nose and throat at the thought that she’d ruined it by behaving like a silly child caught at something they shouldn’t be doing and fearful of punishment. God! She was twenty eight years old! She was damned well old enough to make her own decisions about her life! It wasn’t any of their business at all! Why should she care what they thought?

    She did, though. Actually she didn’t, not really, but she did care about being shunned.