Holly sniffed. “I’m not in the habit of sleeping with strange men,” she said stiffly.

    “Neither am I!” Sybil said tightly. “Not that I don’t have a perfect right to do so if the mood strikes me, damn it! I’m single and I’m an adult and, if I have to take on the responsibilities of an adult, then I also have the same freedoms as any other adult!”

    “I saw you leave with Anka-we all did.”

    “So? I saw you drag back in this morning, and Powell and Kushbu, so don’t take that ‘holier than thou’ attitude with me! At least I’m not married!”

    “I am not married either!” Holly said angrily.

    “Well, I wouldn’t brag about it!” Sybil snapped. “What are you, forty? And Powell damned sure is!”

    “I was married,” Holly said defensively. “I’m divorced. It isn’t disgraceful for a woman who’s been married before to… uh… consider finding another husband!”

    “Says who?”

    “Everybody! Single young women shouldn’t… well, they aren’t used to living with a man and it’s different when you are.”

    Sybil gaped at her. “When were you born? Where were you born, for that matter?”

    Holly glared at her but apparently decided to keep the rest of her opinion to herself. Sybil just wished she’d kept all of it to herself! She stewed over it for a while and finally realized she wasn’t nearly as angry at Holly as she was upset by what had happened between her and Anka.

    He’d been cool and polite but he hadn’t unbent even a little when she’d apologized. That could mean only one thing as far as she could see-he regretted everything and he was trying to build a barrier to keep her out.

    The urge to weep swept over her again, but she beat it back, refusing to give in to her emotions.

    She decided after a while that he was probably right. They shouldn’t have done it. The situation was already a crisis waiting to happen. Allowing themselves to get emotionally entangled was only going to complicate things further.

    Not that she thought he was in any danger of that! She couldn’t actually blame him for trying to protect himself and the interests of his people, though.

    Well fine! If he wanted to pretend it had never happened, she could pretend with the best of them, damn him!

    The creepy droids arrived about the time she finished arguing with Holly, scanned her ankle and wrapped it. She guessed that meant it wasn’t broken. It was just a sprain, which she’d thought all the time-meaning she’d permanently fucked up her tendon. She refused the medicine they offered for the pain. She thought it was probably alright, but she didn’t want to take the chance of being knocked senseless and being defenseless.

    Of course, it didn’t appear that Spencer would be allowed to cause any more trouble, but no one was exactly friendly and if Holly, Major Powell, and Dr. Kushbu were going to be hatching a story to cover their asses, she damned well wasn’t going to be left out!

    She was left out, though. When meal time rolled around, one of the creepy droids brought her food to her. Everyone else left to dine in the mess hall. Trying not to feel like Anka had ordered it just to steer clear of her, she ate what she could, set the tray aside, and lay down to stew.

    Almost the worst of it was that she couldn’t even enjoy the night she’d spent with him- not now. It embarrassed her when she finally remembered what she’d said to him-which was probably why he was avoiding her like she had leprosy now!

    “For crying out loud!” she muttered angrily. “I was half asleep, damn it!”

    Of course she’d meant it-in a way, but she sure as hell hadn’t meant to say it! And it wasn’t completely true anyway-just sort of. The truth was that she’d had to work twice as hard to make it in the service than she would have if she’d been swinging a dick. Anybody could say any damned lie they wanted about ‘equality’ but there was really no such thing. She hadn’t dared get involved with any of the service men, fearful that it would show up on her record and earn her a reprimand that would go against her the next time she was up for a promotion, or a demotion, or maybe even a discharge. She’d had a few interesting encounters, but never interesting enough to make her lose her head and that went for her time before she’d entered the service. She figured if they couldn’t convince her there was no point in ‘doing’ it.

    She certainly hadn’t consciously made a decision to ‘save’ herself! She supposed, after a while, though, she’d begun to think that way, to figure that she’d already missed the boat, so to speak, and she might as well wait until some guy came along that really tipped the scales.

    And wasn’t it just typical that he wasn’t even human? Talk about unattainable!

    She frowned at the thought, wondering if she’d been subconsciously considering that as a point in his favor. After all, it wouldn’t be something that could come back to haunt her. At least, it shouldn’t have been. Now she wasn’t so certain. Unless everybody else decided to keep their guilty little secret about romping with the aliens, she could be in deep shit! Especially if they were willing to lie through their teeth like Holly, swear they hadn’t done a thing, and that she had.

    Not that they could prove she had, but if they ganged up on her… Hell, if Powell decided to report her she’d be cooked!

    It dawned on her abruptly that there was no way it wouldn’t come out, regardless of whether Powell and the others decided to keep quiet about it. Spencer certainly wasn’t going to… unless he decided to use it to blackmail them into dropping all charges against him. Given the situation, his behavior was mutinous, not just insubordination, and his attack on his superior officers, both her and Powell, would also carry heavy charges. He would be looking at spending years in the military penitentiary. Considering his personality, it was almost a foregone conclusion that he’d try to blackmail them, she realized.

    So they were screwed!

    She sighed, covering her face with her hands, trying to figure out how one innocent adventure in exploring her sexuality could go so nightmarishly wrong! How was it that other people managed to have sex without landing in such an awful predicament?

    She should’ve just had the damned thing sewn shut! She couldn’t even have sex one damned time without it turning into a fucking galactic incident!

    It wasn’t fair! It just wasn’t fair! And, unfortunately, railing against fate wasn’t going to do her any good at all.

    Hearing a commotion of arrival outside her door, she immediately thought about Powell and decided to get up to see if they’d brought him back. Hopefully, he wasn’t in too bad a shape and he could think what to do. He had more riding on the outcome, after all, than she did. It would be his career and his marriage!

    She’d only managed to hop about half the distance between her bunk and the door, however, when it opened and Anka appeared in the doorway. She halted abruptly, trying to keep her balance on one foot. His lips tightened. He surged toward her and caught her before she could fall. “I thought, maybe, it was Powell coming back,” she said uncomfortably. “Is he alright?”

    “He’s being treated for a concussion. We need to transfer him to your facilities, however. This is why I came. Your base commander wishes to speak directly to you.”

    Sybil went cold all over. She gaped at him in horror. “Me?”

    He frowned. “You are second in command of the mission and Powell is no condition to speak to him.”

    Sybil nodded, feeling like she might throw up.

    “With your permission, I’ll carry you.”

    There was no warmth in his eyes or in his voice. It was as if he was speaking to a complete stranger. Sybil felt like crying. “I can manage, thank you,” she said stiffly.