" Who was I to refuse. The new number started and Paula continued to gaze into my eyes. I was putty. I would have done anything she wanted. Suddenly s...e looked over my shoulder just as Mike was tapping me on the shoulder. Paula looked puzzled but I knew what was going on."Cutting in," said Mike. Reluctantly, I separated from Paula."Is it OK?" I asked Paula. She nodded but looked unsure. I stepped away as Paula and Mike embraced. It was nothing like our embrace, however. Mike is a little shorter. At the end of the first week and the first rotation of the crew on shore leave there was still no sign of the lost inhabitants of the planet. Mason had allowed exploration of the cities which were found to have been abandoned at least several decades in the past. Oddly the only damage found in any city was that due to the decades of abandonment. No sign of any attack could be found anywhere, and no alien corpses were found anywhere on the planet. The fate of the former inhabitants remained a. When he reached the bottom he looked up and saw her.“Hello, young lady. What are you doing out in this weather.” His voice was soft and very deep. It resonated in the large room. “Nothing much, I just wanted to get away for a while,” Julie replied.“Get away from what?” he said and sat down heavily on the chair at the desk.Instead of answering his question she asked one herself. “Where is Mrs. Whitehall?” “She went to see her sick mother. I’m Mr. Rush, but you can call me John. Would you like a. I had more wrinklesand age spots than I had ever dreamed I would see on my face. Although Iwas only 48, I felt like I looked like I was 70 years old. As a man Ialways got compliments on my youthful looking face. But as a woman, Iknew the standards were much stricter. You were supposed to have thesmooth, soft, blemish-free skin with a radiant glow of a teenage girlyour whole life. Never mind that most teens had acne, or that the yearsaffected woman's skin too. Men didn't like seeing wrinkled.