It was a large bedroom, plainly butexpensively decorated. There was a double bed, covered by a dark,velvety bedspread, and a large, fitted wardrobe t...at was open- inside Isaw a man's suits and jackets, ties. There was a dressing table, achair, a few magazines. I strolled over and looked at them- innocent enough! This was obviouslyLeo's room. Remembering one of Harold's lessons, I looked under thebed, and gently lifted the mattress off the base- the usual place forporn. Sure enough, there. Ecstasy was the most ancient colony this far out in the solar system. It had been built on an earlier design for human colonies where the emphasis was rather less on building a sustainable ecosystem than on cramming as many million people as was possible into the confines of a space colony. And sustainable the colony most certainly had never been. Its continued survival relied heavily on machinery to manufacture its atmosphere and biosphere. As this was very quickly consumed, the colony. ‘Wardrobe — why would I want a wardrobe at the office?’ ‘Miss Hartford, have you not had a senior consultancy appointment to a top executive?’ ‘Well so far…’ ‘I thought not. The sofa is for sex, the bathroom is for cleaning up and you’ll need to keep a range of clothes here in case Charlton decides to take you away for a naughty weekend or even a week with skiing, boating and hiking thrown in. It’s common business practice,’ ‘Oh yes, so I recall,’ Becky lied. God the man was a brute, she was. I had not felt excluded and thought it provided them a deeper security. Brittany suffered deep bouts of homesickness and would slip into a lethargic melancholy. I observed Jennifer get sexually aggressive with Brittany when she was in this mood.The complex and constant barrage of stimuli of modern American life was lacking here. This simple primitive existence refocused your needs. The appreciation of our few pleasures had grown. We savored the company of each other. Talking, touching and sex.