some faint exotic perfume in the corridor.

He unlocked his door and went in. Velmar Shonda, the Aldebaranese beauty, was sitting in the room, amusement in her golden eyes.

"Hello, Manning," she said huskily. "I told you I'd see you sooner than you expected."

"How did you get in here?" Manning asked.

She shrugged. "One of the bellhops. They are susceptible to feminine wiles and money. I used both."

She stood up and came close to him. Her perfume washed over him like waves of desire.

"Manning," she said softly, "I know that most Terran men like their females to be receptive rather than aggressive. But I have no patience for the tricks of Terran females. I like you—why shouldn't I say so? I have been here two months without any male of my kind—"

She leaned closer to him, her breasts almost brushing his chest. Her parted lips were a deep red and he could glimpse the white teeth between them. Her eyes were like melting gold—plus that something else which was almost familiar, but not quite.

"Manning—" she said, knowing that he understood and that the rest didn't have to be said.

Although he never admitted it to anyone but himself, it was a struggle. If Xelia hadn't been coming to the room, Manning knew that he might not have had the peculiar strength that it needed to shake his head at what was being offered.

"Honey," he said as lightly as he could, "you're a beautiful hunk of woman. Maybe you're in the right room, but it's the wrong time. My friend will be here any minute."

"Send him away," she said.

"I can't," Manning answered and the regret in his voice wasn't all pretended. "It's important. He and I have to talk."

She pouted and her yellow eyes seemd to get larger.

"There'll be other times, honey," he said. He didn't know whether he meant it or not; he did know that he had a feeling that it would be a mistake to make an enemy of her.

She straightened up and looked at him curiously. "There have not been many men who shook their heads at Velmar Shonda," she said. Then she shrugged and some part of the amusement returned to her eyes. "As you say, 

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