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"Your orgasm seemed really strong. I can't do that with you."
Denni reached out, her hand stroking his cheek. "You do other things for me, David. We don't know what we're capable of as lovers, but even if you could never bring me orgasms as powerful as that, it wouldn't change that I love you. That's different, it exists for different reasons."
David nodded, then lunged for her and hugged her tight. "I love you."
She murred her reply, hugging him closely. "Let's get finished."
"Okay," he said, reaching for the soap.
A soft buzzer went off over David's head. He opened his eyes and looked up at the mirrored ceiling and shook his head. "David," the AI's voice said over the speakers, "You said you wanted to be awakened at thirteen and twenty."
David yawned. "Yes, thank you, Dave." He felt a little self-conscious about addressing a room with his own first name, but he figured he would get over it eventually. He nudged Denni lightly. "Denni?"
"Hmmm?" she said, looking up. Her eyes were pale and unfocussed.
"Ship pulls in an hour and a half. Let's get ready to go."
She was immediately sitting upright. "Let's go, then." They dressed efficiently in light-blue jumpsuits with The Rat's Asking logos, a rat, rampant, with a questionmark hovering before its eyes, emblazoned over the left breast pocket. She kissed him softly on the cheek as the SDisked back to Parma. Twenty minutes later, they were in their respective stations.
David took the microphone and pulled it towards him. "Okay, people, we're going to watch Tasha do her stuff in reverse, and in less than thirty hours we should be seeing the beautiful blue skies of Terra.
-- "Asking Aaden" The Journal Entries of Kennet R'yal Shardik, et. al., And Related Tales are (c) 1989, 1990 Elf Matheiu Sternberg. May be freely distributed by cybernetic media; hardcopies are limited to single printings for personal use. -- elf@halcyon.com (Elf Sternberg)