Manella said thoughtfully, "I guess I won't be seeing you anymore, Planchet."
    Raych was drying himself after his shower. "Why not?"
    "Gleb Andorin doesn't want me to."
    "Why not?"
    Manella shrugged¹ her smooth shoulders. "He says you have important work to do and no more time to fool around. Maybe he means you'll get a better job."
    Raych stiffened². "What kind of work? Did he mention anything in particular?"
    "No, but he said he would be going to the Imperial Sector³."
    "Did he? Does he often tell you things like that?"
    "You know how it is, Planchet. When a fellow's in bed with you, he talks a lot."
    "I know," said Raych, who was always careful not to. "What else does he say?"
    "Why do you ask?" She frowned a bit. "He always asks about you, too. I noticed that about men. They're curious about each other. Why is that, do you suppose?"
    "What do you tell him about me?"
    "Not much. Just that you're a very decent sort of guy. Naturally I don't tell him that I like you better than I like him. That would hurt his feelings-and it might hurt me, too."
    Raych was getting dressed. "So it's good-bye, then."
    "For a while, I suppose. Gleb may change his mind. Of course, I'd like to go to the Imperial Sector-if he'd take me. I've never been there."
    Raych almost slipped, but he managed to cough, then said, "I've never been there, either."
    "It's got the biggest buildings and the nicest places and the fanciest restaurants-and that's where the rich people live. I'd like to meet some rich people-besides Gleb, I mean."
    Raych said, "I suppose there's not much you can get out of a person like me."
    "You're all right. You can't think of credits all the time, but you've got to think of them some of the time. Especially since I think Gleb is getting tired of me."
    Raych felt compelled to say, "No one could get tired of you," and then found, a little to his own confusion, that he meant it.

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