Moving slowly, not wanting to disturb her, he padded into the bathroom, closing the door carefully. He washed his face with cold water, staring at him...self in the mirror as he did so, thinking once again that he did not deserve to be so lucky. He toweled his face roughly, and looked again at his reflection. The mirror showed him the truth of his age, the receding hair, grey at the temples; the slight pouchiness under his eyes; the failing elasticity of his skin; and the belly. Not a bloated gut,. ” Lyla said, smirking a little.“Oh ... I’m really sorry about that.” I said.“Who was better?” Lyla blurted out.“What?!” I was dumbfounded.“You heard me.”I just stared at her, looking for some sign that she was joking, there wasn’t any. I looked at Shelby, hoping she would say something, but she just looked back at me, awaiting my answer.“You’re different, not better or worse.” Was all I could come up with quickly, but it was the truth. “If one of you was better, then I wouldn’t have kept. She was at least 5 years older than Rita—and me and Gino—and judging by her manner held a higher status job than Rita, who was a clerk in the local council. She sat on the edge of the bed and gave me an appraising look."I've often heard Rita being shagged, but I've never heard her make as much noise as that. She said you got her to come at least twice?"I shrugged deprecatingly. "Just the right chemistry maybe. I don't profess to be a super stud or anything; I just try to give a girl a good. We watched the news from earth until, suddenly, things quieted down. The silence was ominous. Janna and Milla moved their sensoring up a notch. They detected another star ship leaving earth for our system. This one transitioned into our system quite close to our planet and jettisoned two items and then transitioned again. Janna and Milla quickly captured the two packages and transitioned them close to the ship that had sent them. At that point, we began to examine the packages remotely.The.