"Excuse me!" Harris and the female Terran said simultaneously.
His training reminded him that simultaneous outbursts were cause for laughter on Earth. He laughed. So did she. Then she said, "I guess I didn't see you. I was hurrying along the corridor and I wasn't looking."
"The fault was mine," Harris insisted. Terran males are obstinately chivalrous, he had been told. "I opened my door and just charged out blind. I'm sorry."
She was tall, nearly his height, with soft, lustrous yellow hair and clear pink skin. She wore a black body-tight sheath that left her shoulders and the upper hemispheres of her breasts uncovered. Harris found her attractive. Wonderingly he thought, Now I know they've changed me. She has hair on her scalp and enormous bulging breasts and yet I feel desire for her.
She said, "It's my fault and it's your fault. That's the way most collisions are caused. Let's not argue about that. My name is Beth Baldwin."
"Major Abner Harris."
"Major?"
"Interstellar Development Corps."
"Oh," she said. "Just arrived on Earth?"
He nodded. "I'm on vacation. My last hop was Alpheratz IV." He smiled and said, "It's silly to stand out here in the hall discussing things. I was on my way down below to get something to eat. How about joining me?"