They stayed like this, savouring the feel of each others lips, and the taste of each other for minutes that seemed like hours, before breaking apart a...d looking deep into each others eyes. Melissa was so happy. She moved her body into his so that her back was tightly into his chest. Not a word was spoken as he dipped his head, and his lips found her neck, tasting her. Her head moved back resting on his strong shoulder so as to expose more flesh for him to move his lips against. God it felt so. He had to mingle and thank people for coming, he opened presents and ate cake. Some of the younger kids got drunk around us, but we didn’t talk. He’d come and stand near me or watch me from across the room, silently willing me to look at him. I always did and I think to myself even now that I must have looked like a shy little girl to him way back then… I remember driving to his place in a cold sweat and feeling nervous about what was to come. I didn’t know if he wanted me, or if he wanted to. Over 10,000 colonists had been killed across the planet when Dumitrescu had foolishly released the virus. Fewer than 1,200 colonists remained, many of them chameleons.The full impact would not be realized by many for some time. But frontier colonists were tough souls. New planets held unknown risks and novel ways to die; death was not unknown or rare. They knew not to dwell on the enormity of the loss, however unprecedented in their colony's brief history.The extent of the immoral actions. And in fact I did trust him. In spite of him calling me a faggot, I think I sensed that this guy had planned this meeting because he fancied me. Certainly I fancied him - manual labour had given him a body that I worked artificially for, the skinhead haircut accentuated the strong chiselled features of his face, the broad nose and generous lips - and the unexpected turn the evening had taken excited me. Plus he was black so that nothing could have emphasised the difference between us more.