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preferences.
    Turning away, she dumped the cat off her gown, then started toward the main desk. The cat immediately returned to his seat on her train. She tried to ignore Leith’s chuckle.
    The few men who looked at her seemed more amused than admiring. She must be quite a sight with her uncombed hair and too-long gown, hauling a black cat along on her train.
    The women were a different matter. They riveted their attention on Leith like a rocket’s homing device. She supposed there was a certain residual fascination with the primitive male animal. Even she felt it…a little…very little…so little it wasn’t worth mentioning.
    She stopped at the desk, then coughed to get the whiteshirted attendant’s attention. He stared at her with wide-eyed interest, obviously too polite to ask questions. A big improvement over Neanderthal Man behind her. “Do you have a…”—she searched her memory for the rightword—“newspaper?” Thank heavens she’d studied all those history disks.
    The man pointed toward a metal dispenser. “Fifty cents.”
    “Never mind,” she murmured, and started to turn away. Another problem. Humans still used money in the year 2000.
    Leaning over the counter, the man peered at her train, and his polite expression changed to a grin. “How’d you get the cat to stay there?”
    “We glued him.” Still dragging the cat behind her, she walked back to where Leith continued to gawk at his surroundings, while every woman gawked at him.
    “Umm. Sir?” Leith turned at the attendant’s call. “You can’t leave with hotel property. You’ll have to return it.”
    “Hotel property?” Leith stared blankly at him.
    “The phone receiver. You have the hotel’s phone receiver.” The man’s face was turning an interesting shade of red.
    Phone. Fortune searched her memory. Of course. Phones were primitive communication devices used before…she smiled up at Leith. “He wants your weapon.”
    As Leith’s expression darkened, she moved to head off an explosion. “Give it to him. We can’t afford to make a scene and call attention to ourselves. You can find another weapon.”
    Leith’s intense gaze made her want to squirm. Finally he nodded. “Aye. Ye’re right.”
    They walked back to the attendant, and Fortune didn’t know what surprised her more, that Leith gave up his weapon without a fight or that he’d actually agreed with something she’d said.
    Once the attendant had the phone receiver, he dismissed Leith with a supercilious smile and turned his attention to Fortune. “Exactly what did you intend doing with this?”
    Fortune glared at him. Salian slug. She didn’t know why his patronizing attitude toward Leith made her mad, but it did. She could see Leith’s thunderous expression. Uh-oh.
    She grabbed Leith’s arm and turned toward the door. Luckily, Leith allowed her to guide him. Glancing over her shoulder, she smiled sweetly at the attendant. “We were expecting an important call.”
    They’d leave the rest-over now. And as unreal as this place seemed, it felt safe compared with what they’d find outside. Fortune controlled the urge to race back to their room, then curl up in a fetal position on the sleeping pad. She was scared. She’d never known danger. There was nothing to fear in the year 2300, except perhaps the calm predictability of each day. Sometimes she’d wished for excitement. Perhaps she’d wished too hard. Perhaps this really was a dream. “Pinch me. I have to make sure this isn’t a dream.”
    Leith’s eyes lit up like those of a child presented with a season pass to Planet Play. “Yer bottom is nicely fleshed. I’ll pinch ye there and ye’ll ne’er feel it.”
    “Pinch my bottom and you’re space trash. Here.” She pointed to her arm. “I’d do it myself, but it’ll be more convincing if someone else does it.”
    He shook his head. “ ’Tis useless. I think ye know this isna a dream.” The light in his eyes faded, and she glimpsed turmoil in