“Sounds good. Want some help?” She started to rise.

“You’re more valuable where you are.” Cloaking the words, he let his voice drop to a caress. “What I want has little to do with it. Later, Inea, I’ll fulfill my promise.”

With icy calm, she asked, “What am I to you, a decorative possession or a person?”

“That’s unfair. Have I ever given you cause to-”

“Yes.” She kept her voice low, but ferocious. “This morning you wanted to protect me, and expected I’d stand by and let you get ripped apart by a mob rather than speaking up for you. And your only reason was you didn’t want to risk me, as if I were an object you own. Now you order me to a technician’s job when I could be better employed doing astronomy. Okay, I have to sub here because of the reporters. But you didn’t know they’d be coming when you sent me off to learn this stuff. Whyever you did that to me, it wasn’t to advance my career. It wasn’t from professional respect. So I rubbed your nose in it a little this morning, flouncing off like that, but I didn’t really mean it and it was in private. Now, right in the middle of the lab, you start telling me what you really want me for. And it isn’t to write astronomy programs. A person writes astronomy programs.”

Stunned, Titus shook his head.

“Person or object,” she reiterated. “That’s the rock on which all my other relationships foundered. I want it straight from the beginning. What am I to you?”

“I don’t want to make love to a decorative possession. I’ve never understood men who did. You don’t know how it turned me on to discover your toy program may save this Project’s funding. You don’t know how I’ve searched for a person like you, but you’re one of a kind. I should have known that. I should have gone back to you years ago.”

Her lips trembled and her eyes sparkled. “I hope you mean that. I hope you know what it means to say that.”

“You’ll teach me. And I promise-as soon as this job is done, you’ll be back in the observatory. I never wanted to send you away. It was an administrative decision, and you did admit you needed some space to think it all through.”

“Titus, I’m not going to kiss you here. No matter what. Understand? It wouldn’t be professional.”

“I suppose that’s best. I’ll see you late tonight.”

After that, he couldn’t concentrate on his model calculation. It was as boring as concocting exams for undergrad courses. It simply wasn’t real. But Inea’s presence out in the lab was so real he couldn’t keep his mind off it. He wondered if she’d considered that treating her like an object-like an orl. It was the most disturbing thought he’d ever had.

When he’d finished his program, he used the Brink’s code key to check on Sisi Mintraub. He found nothing of great interest except that she was in charge of the equipment that kept the dormant luren in an isolated and chill environment.

He could see why Abbot cultivated her with as light a touch as he used on Colby. It would be dangerous if she became suspicious, but even worse was the way Security monitored her. They’d notice any inconsistent behavior.

He looked up Sisi’s apartment number. It was in the same dome as the shopping mall. She was the only one of Abbot’s spies he’d yet found, and since she wasn’t Marked, it was no crime for him to use Influence on her.

From his desk, he gazed out his door at Inea working beside Shimon. If he Influenced Sisi, would Abbot retaliate on Inea? But Inea bore no trace of Titus’s Influence. Abbot couldn’t conceive of any luren feeding on a human without Influence. That might be all that will save her if Abbot discovers I’ve been at one of his humans.

Still-if he Marked Inea, Abbot couldn’t touch her. No. I won’t Mark her without her consent. For that, he’d have to tell her the whole story so she’d know why she had to be Marked. But he was scared of losing her. It was worse since he’d tasted what they might have. But which was the greater risk, Abbot taking her, or him alienating her by being too hasty? Either way, he’d lose her. To protect her, he’d try to approach Mintraub without arousing Abbot’s suspicions. At least that’s not treating Inea like a possession!

Decisively, he went to Mintraub’s apartment, but she was out. Deciding he’d rather go hungry until Inea was free than go home and drink dead blood, he went to the shopping mall.

The lift doors opened on a curving mezzanine with an arch of sky blue overhead. Large, lush green bushes were set along the promenade. A sparkling fountain splashed over moon rock at the far end. Leaning over the railing, he saw a Skychef doughnut shop with tables set on a transparent floor, lit from beneath. He didn’t believe his eyes when he saw the first fish. Then a school or large ones flashed by, and he realized he was looking into the breeding tank where Skychef bred all the fresh fish served on the station.

He went down the broad steps, aware that the architects of the Station had designed the public areas to be lavish and the private rooms spartan so people would socialize.

He browsed through some shops. He had heard about the prices, but he was surprised at the small selection, and how the stock was crammed into the tiny shops. In one store, robes hung from shoe boxes stacked up to the ceiling. In another, tables were crammed with swim suits and underwear. Under the table, shirts were stacked by color and size. The clerks wore Skychef uniforms, and minded the shops as second jobs. They all looked very tired.

Titus remembered how, on arrival, he’d been threatened with a kitchen assignment. He’d escaped that only because now there was staff for the extra duties.

Titus scanned the crowd for any sign of Abbot’s Mark or Influence, and noticed many familiar faces. There, strolling with Suzy Langton, was one of the cooks from the Gourmet Lounge near his apartment. The ebony statue of a weight-lifting instructor was leaving with Abner Gold.

In the back of the fifth store, Titus found an array of cooking utensils for microwaves, and some picnic equipment.

He bought a dark gold Thermos and mug set, with a case. It was rated for microwave use, but apparently the people who had no kitchenette used them for take-out food. He wouldn’t be conspicuous carrying his blood from his microwave to Inea’s place. Somebody else bought a plug-in warmer, saying that a group of techs were chipping in for it so they could all eat hot pizza while watching tapes.

In a lingerie shop, he found a filmy thing so nearly massless it hardly cost more than it would on Earth. He thought of Inea walking into the bathroom this morning. Though he’d enjoyed we view, he thought she’d appreciate a robe. He chose one in her favorite shade of pink-he hoped it was still her favorite-and a berries set. “Wrap it and deliver it tomorrow morning,” he told the clerk.

He was examining a rack of Glynnis brand sportswear when he spotted someone who looked like Mintraub just leaving the doughnut shop, munching on a long twist. He’d only seen her in her helmet, and then later in official photographs. But it looked like her. He worked his way closer. She was wearing a green gym suit, and had her hair bound up in a pink band. She strode along as if following the shortest path to a goal.

But he lost her when she squeezed into a full elevator. He took the next one and got off at her apartment, but she wasn’t there. Back in the elevator, he tried the most popular stop, the connecting corridor to the other domes. She’d been dressed for the gym, so he headed that way.

Signing in, he circulated through the busiest areas, and checked the swimming pool from the observation lounge. He was turning away when he noticed Abbot’s Mark. Other than Mirelle, it was the first he’d found.

The woman in question was a slender, statuesque blonde wearing a white bathing suit designed like a plain tank suit. She climbed the highest diving platform and sailed off it, taking advantage of the gravity to execute a marvelous series of maneuvers before slicing cleanly into the water.