The deep tan he'd acquired in the Virgin Islands some weeks earlier still lingered, and when he sat up to receive the papers I couldn't help but marve... at his physique. His stomach was still flat and hard, greying hairs grew in a small clump in the center of his chest, his shoulders were broad and smooth, and when he reached for the papers his muscles rippled ever so slightly, just enough to indicate his strength. At once my imagination leapt back to the shower incident and filled in the. .." I began tosay when I felt tiny locks of hair begin streaming down the sides of myface. It was one or two at first, then an entire shower upon my ears,neck, and shoulders. I was still half asleep and didn't understand whatwas happening. I was dreaming, right?I heard the muffled words on the other side of the line as I tried toset the phone down and hang up. This was just too bizarre. But my handwould not let go. It was as if it were glued to my palm. I looked atthe fingers that refused to. "I kind of smiled at her sheepishly and shrugged my shoulders. "Justthought you should know." I won't see you for a while," she told me matter-of-factly."Why?" You'll see," she said, drawing out the words with a rather mischievoussmile. God, it looked so perfect on her face. "Bye." She swung the cabdoor shut and the car sped off. I turned around to head home.* * *And so that was that, I supposed. I had so so many amazing dreams aboutme and Kylie. I started doing my own sheets in the laundry. “Yeah, I guess it does look like a female,” Harry muttered.“Too much like a female,” Moralez grumbled. “You and me, we’ve done our share of fighting, we’ve probably killed enough Bugs between us to make a hive. You ever seen anything remotely like this before?”“Can’t say that I have,” Harry replied. “Drones are pretty uniform, and while there are some more unusual castes, they all share the same basic features. I mean, this one does too. It has the legs, the four arms, the horn. But ... I get.