The missive finished, he found time remaining before Ellis, of Diplomatic, arrived to switch on the multisensory projection of his last evening with Yrml. The projection had been cubed in a Privileged Couples nook complete with real plants and hermetically sealed fountain, and near its close the two of them had sung the traditional Song of Parting from the ancient Tchulkione Serafi.
Ellis arrived all too soon, trailing an aura of Scotch, diplomatic enthusiasm and geniality.
"No time to waste," Ellis said briskly. "Little enough of it before you leave us, and you're going to see Earth from pole to pole. The three of us begin this evening with a sample of Denver night life."
"Three?"
"Came early to brief you," Ellis said. "Found a guide for you. Can't run about unescorted, you know."
He answered the door buzzer and admitted a young woman in evening dress. Rushed from the spaceport in what amounted to cloak-and-dagger secrecy, Mirrh Yahn y Cona had until now seen Earthwomen only on video and at indistinguishable distance, and the sudden appearance of this one in the flesh unnerved him completely.
The girl was small and slender, well under Mirrh Yahn y Cona's athletic six-foot height. She was warmly and roundly vital with a stunning abundance of life at which the two-dimensional simulacra of recorded soap-opera could only hint.
"Miss Leila Anderson," Ellis introduced her. "Member of Diplomatic, so it's all in the family."
She took the hand that Mirrh Yahn y Cona raised as if to defend himself.