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quickly.” Jenkins left.
    Roberts and I finished up in silence and the minute we stood, Jenkins joined us. He waved for us to follow him which, of course, we did, and then led us to a door.
    Inside, there were two rows of bunk beds, some double and some triple. It seemed to me there were a lot more people than beds. We stepped over people sleeping in the aisles, and saw lots of people sleeping two to a bed. There were people standing in the aisles almost shoulder-to-shoulder. Even the sleeping people looked tired.
    Jenkins led us to one corner that had dirty tape on the floor. Inside the taped area were more beds than people.
    “Demolition team section I take it?”
    “Yeah.”
    We crossed the tape and the area was not crowed, like on the other side. There was room to walk without touching the people around you.
    Jenkins walked over to a bed and pointed at it. “This is Alpha leader’s bed, my bed. Don’t ever let me catch you in it. If you need something after we’re done here, this is where I’ll be. You’re new, and nobody cares about that. Don’t bother people and they won’t bother you, much. Find yourself some beds and get some rest. No one will bother you until we start work.”
    I spied an open set of bunk beds against a wall; most of the beds against the wall were empty. I took Roberts in tow. She resisted, at first, but followed easily after a step, or two. “We’ll sleep here,” I informed her.
    “Fine, do you want the top, or the lower bed?”
    “We’ll both be in the bottom bed.”
    “No. We have two beds.”
    I smiled, then leaned close to her ear. “I just punched their boss in the jaw for touching you. We’re joined at the hip, clear?”
    “About that, I don’t need you or anyone else defending my honor. I can smile at anyone I decide to, clear?”
    “Here’s the problem. You’re my ticket off of this planet, so until then, you don’t smile at anyone but me. You sure as hell don’t share a bed with anyone but me, and you do not sleep alone if at all possible.”
    Roberts looked around the room at the men and women in and out of the taped off demo section.
    I could see she had now taken notice how many eyes were on her, not us, but just on her. They all watched the new female of the area. “Yeah, you got a fan club,” I pointed out to Roberts.
    “Okay, I’ll take the inside next to the wall.”
    “Hate to do this to you, but no. No one in this place is going to put a knife in your back to get to me, but they will try to go through me to get to you.”
    Roberts looked around at the crowds of dirty people. Their lives were unpleasant which made most of them, if not all, hard people. Putting a knife in one person’s back for something they wanted was not out of the question with these folks.
    “We’re each other’s shield.”
    “Yes.” I crawled into the bed up against the wall.
    Roberts followed me. She tried to keep her distance in our bed and still be comfortable.
    I pulled her close. “The bed isn’t big enough for us to sleep apart. I’ll be a nice guy, we need each other.”
    “What’s the bundle I’m feeling, pressed against me, Mr. Nice Guy?”
    I smiled, reached to the bundle and showed her.
    “Where did you get that?”
    “I got it on the ship when Nelson was ordered to join the mission and he punched me. He pushed the weapon into my hands while I was doubled over. He likes to cheat and probably thought to get it back down here, but our team got split apart right away.”
    “What’s the charge level on that Taser?”
    “I hope full, but I haven’t had a chance to take a look yet. When everyone has settled down we can check out the bundle and see.”
    Roberts nodded. She tried not to yawn, but that never works.
    “Get some sleep. I slept a lot on the trip here. I want you awake and alert tomorrow for this demo team business.”
    “There must be a high turnover rate, and not many, or any people willing to join up.” She twisted toward me and shifted her