My ears have finally stopped ringing, and I can pretty much hear all of what Linaeve is saying about some ancient art form. Frayne's in my quarters fixing whatever went wrong with the holo-vid.

I just wish I could get some time alone, for God's sake.

"Look at this one! Oh my god, it's so funny!" Linaeve is giggling at something on the screen. I focus on what she's looking at, and see huge, cartoony boobs.

"See, they're hiring a secretary, and she's a gorgon, but Tim doesn't notice because he never actually looks at her face!" Linaeve giggles again. I'm still stuck on the boobs. I can feel myself blushing.

Linaeve looks up at me, blowing a wisp of hair out of her eye, and says "Hey, is it hot in here, or is it just me?" She picks up a vidscreen and fans herself. "You know, sometimes I just wish I could be like Nesuko and run around the ship naked all the time."

"What? Who? No!" I find out I can blush even more.

"Well, aside from the scientific interest of it all, it wouldn't affect me," Frayne says from the doorway. "Maha, your holo-vid is--"

"Fixed!" I say, jumping up to meet him.

"Um, no." Frayne looks uncomfortable. "It's stuck showing these colorless, silent...films? I think they called them films. With this scruffy looking guy with a tiny mustache, baggy pants, and a cane. I can't get it to stop."

"Charlie Chaplin movies?" Linaeve sounds far too excited.

I smack myself in the forhead. "Hijo de tu chingada madre! Pinchi maquina pendeja! Deseo solamente culiar! ¿Por qué, dios, por qué?"

Linaeve snorts laughter. "Hey, leave my mother out of this! She's been dead for forty years!"

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