Abyss Deep. Ian Douglas

he said, grinning as he dropped into the chair at the compartment’s small desk. “I don’t mind at all!”

      Privacy was always tough to come by on board a Navy vessel, but we did have an answer. The compartment’s rack-­tube hatches occupied the bulkhead to the left of the door, four circular openings that cold be sealed shut with a thoughtclick. At just a meter wide, they were a bit on the claustrophobic side for two, but it could be done. I helped Joy into mine, gave the leering Tomacek a dirty look, then skinnied in next to her. I thoughtclicked the hatch shut, and we were alone.

      Each rack-­tube had internal lighting, Net connection pads, environment controls, and a flow of fresh air from hidden vents. The padding was warm and soft, as was Joy. I took her in my arms and we snuggled close.

      “Just like the hoteru,” she said, smiling into my face.

      “Well, except for the gravity, yeah.”

      Rabu Hoteru was the Japanese honeymoon hotel in Geosynch. Joy and I had spent a ­couple of nights there on liberty once, just after we’d come back from Bloodworld. Zero-­gravity sex is a lot of fun, but it helps if you and your partner are … restrained, somewhat. In microgravity, every movement has an equal and opposite reaction, and what is euphemistically called “the docking maneuver”—­and staying docked—­can be a bit tricky.

      The answer was softly padded tubes in the honeymoon suites, where you and your partner could get plenty of purchase for your more energetic acrobatics. The ends were left open, so you could look toward the head end of your tube and see the endlessly wondrous spectacle of Earth hanging in star-­clotted space.