"What's the excuse this time?" she said. She was sitting on the front edge of her desk, with one long, creamy leg crossed over the other, the front of her lab coat's hem split to show smooth leg above the knee.

If Paul had known it was going to be like this, the strict schedule, the interrogations, he never would've gotten involved with Dr. Blensch, career or no career. At this point, however, it was a little late for second thoughts.

"I just overslept," he lied, shutting the door behind him.

"Lock it," she said.

He winced, but did as she asked.

She put a long-nailed finger to her glasses and pushed them down her small, thin nose. She peered at him over them. "Is something wrong, Paul?"

"No, of course not," he said.

"It's not your new roommate, is it?" she asked icily.

"We've been through that a million times," he said, his face coloring slightly. "She needed the room and I needed to split the rent with somebody. End of story."

Dr. Blensch pursed her lips. "She is a very attractive girl, though."

"End of story," he repeated.

"But something is bothering you. I can tell. What is it?"

There didn't seem to be any way around telling her something. "I'm starting to worry about getting out of here," he told her. "I mean, I'm beginning to wonder if I'm ever going to get my degree."

The professor sighed and smiled, showing him her teeth. "Now, why should you worry about a stupid thing like that? Of course, you're going to get out and your going to have your Ph.D. and a fine post-doc. Didn't we discuss that at the very start?"

Paul nodded. "Sure, we discussed it. Only that was a long time ago and I haven't got squat done on my thesis. The only work I've done under your guidance has been of a non-academic nature."