Susan forced her sudden anger down. "Just a minute," she said, not bothering to hide her contempt. Earth-side, her nudity would have gone unnoticed.

She went into the bathroom, pulled a towel from its rack beside the shower, and dried herself. Toweling her hair, she returned to the bedroom and went to the closet. She dropped the wet towel on the bed.

Reaching into the closet, she took down a red Fleet jumpsuit uniform with gold captain's stripes on both sleeves. She stepped into it and sealed the pressure- sensitive fastener up its front. She drew matching boots from the closet and pulled them on, then fastened a utility belt containing numerous small pouches about her waist. She checked the middle pouch for her LIN/C, then snapped it closed again.

Log and Interface Neuro/Computer-a highly sophisticated, smart-card device functioning as both personal log and human/computer interface. An outgrowth of late twentieth century technology, at first the LIN/C had contained merely medical and payroll records, but later also held a complete service history. More and more was added, until by the year 2100 it included myriad sensors and a microminiaturized transmitter.

Each member of Fleet, as well as the civilian Survey Service, carried a LIN/C. It served not only as a personal memo and computer tie-in, but also continually transmitted a powerful locator signal to either the Fleet or the Survey Service computer on Luna through a network of satellites scattered throughout the solar system.

Again Susan positioned herself before the phone's lens cluster. Taking a final tug at her uniform, she brushed a stray wisp of hair back over her shoulder and announced:

"I'm dressed. You can re-activate visual now."

The date-time display vanished, and once again the young corporal sat facing her. His face was still red as he cleared his throat and spoke.