"That's going pretty fast, isn't it?"
"Some of us have found that we don't have all the time we should like. We must go fast, or not at all."
It was a platitude, slightly jumbled, but none the less true. Beth was looking up at me. There were things she might have noticed; that my skin was uncommonly smooth, and that I hadn't even the faintest trace of whiskers.
She didn't notice those things. She was looking into my eyes. I found myself enjoying this experience.
"Will you come in for a while?" she asked slowly.
I relaxed. Everything was all right, for the present. She was taking me at face value. She liked me and I liked her. The operation was proceeding smoothly.
We walked into a large room, pleasantly furnished. On a couch opposite the doorway three men sat talking. Two others stood before them. The moment we entered, the conversation stopped abruptly.
"Beth?" said a tall, graying man. He was already stuffing papers into a bag. "Back so soon?"
He wasn't really listening for a reply and Beth didn't make one. When he had the papers in the bag he locked it, then snapped it around his wrist and put the key in his pocket.
"We'll continue this at the lab," he said to the men. "I'll be along in just a few minutes." Then he came up to us.