Free Beyond Heaven's River by Greg Bear

ship.”
“No, I mean where love is concerned.”
“You’ve had some good teachers, wherever you came from,” she said, smiling at him sleepily.
He stroked her shoulder and reached down to caress her breast. Her skin was soft, just taking on the matte texture that shows a woman is leaving girlhood behind. He found it much more attractive than the plastic tightness that usually brought approval.
“This means a great deal to me,” he ventured. “Where I come from, we believe in commitments.”
“Mm,” she breathed, snuggling against him.
“I know it’s a release … shared release of tensions.” His words sounded incredibly inept to him. “And I don’t think you’re trying to win me over.”
“Already have,” she said under his arm.
He shook his head and said no more.
The Centrum team visited Nestor’s lander the next day. Four men and six womenex officio judges took the case under consideration after listening to the depositions. Half of the proceedings were held aboard the USC lander, and a tour of the Waunter vehicle was made as well. The Waunters watched without expression, grimly confident — it seemed to Elvox — that they had no case at all. True enough, the Centrum was seldom called in to intervene on the behalf of individuals, dealing instead with entities like USC or Nestor’s far-flung operation.
The Waunters could not give up all hope, however. Alae prepared a deposition on her own, using what legal advice she could glean out of the lander’s library. The Centrum took it under advisement.
Nestor — in the presence of the judges — behaved according to strict protocol. Elvox was an officer attached to United Stars, she was a representative of separate interests. They were cordial but aloof.
The next evening, however, he was again a friend and confidant. They ate a late snack and made love. Before sleep, he realized how beautiful she really was. He had thought of her as moderately attractive before, but when she laughed, she went right over the line into beauty. It was like watching a monument turn into a living woman.
As they ate breakfast in the lounge — alone, as if by assumption of the crew and Kawashita — he felt a moment of emotional vertigo. It was worse now. Not only did he not care about duty, he hardly cared about returning to United Stars. He chastised himself for thinking like an adolescent.
“I’ve been working for USC for seven years,” he said.
“They must have gotten you young.”
“Nineteen. How does that stack up against your crew, in terms of experience?”
She shrugged. “Depends on what you’re an expert at.”
“General ship work, I suppose. Command of equipment watches, sortie captain.”
She cocked her head and looked at him. “Julio, you’re not thinking of transferring, are you?”
He didn’t know how to answer. “It crossed my mind,” he said finally. “I’ve been comparing services. Your crew —”
“Works very hard,” she threw in.
“Yes, but the work seems much more basic, important. In the action.”
“We’re both here. USC can’t be that far away from the good stuff.”
“And besides,” he said, “you’re here.” He chuckled knowingly but watched her expression.
“Close to the action, as it were,” she joked, eyes twinkling.
“Yes.”
“Indeed I am. Some of my crew never see me for weeks at a stretch.”
He felt like a fish being played on a line. Her words were double-edged. “I always honor my commitments,” he said.
“Yes, I would think that.”
“But a lateral transfer, with warning, is allowed in our contracts.”
“I could offer you a post,” Anna said. “The work’s hard, but … I think you’d fit in.”
He grinned broadly, caught himself, and felt his face flush. She laughed and patted him on the shoulder. “But I’m in command, and I’m not always reasonable. Sometimes I do monstrous, foul things — and make my officers drop years off their life-spans, right and left, like dandruff. You don’t