She leaned her hips against the edge of the desk and folded her arms.

“Haven’t seen you before,” she said.

“I’m one of the new guards from Station Headquarters,” I explained, and sat on the edge of the desk beside her. We were close; my shoulder touched her shoulder. She had to turn her head to look at me.

“I’ve seen you somewhere before,” she said, a puzzled, curious look in her eyes.

“I saw you yesterday,” I lied glibly, “I was manning the barricade when you passed.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You look like that new mortician in the P.M. room,” she said.

I grinned. “He’s my brother. We’re often mistaken for each other. He’s fatter in the face than I am, and he hasn’t a way with women.”

“You have?” The sneer in her voice was pronounced.

I winked at her. “I go for women in a big way. They go for me, too.”

“Maybe that’s why you came sneaking up to the women’s quarters,” she said.