She had excellent taste. That blouse was real silk and impeccably tailored, the top two buttons left open to reveal just a hint of cleavage. The deep forest green was perfect for her and he felt heat clench in his gut as she picked up her drink and walked around the bar to take the seat next to him, looking into the tank as she slid onto the barstool.

“You picked a good spot. Better view of the Zurich bench from here. Okay if I join you?”

“Be my guest.” He gestured to her almost empty glass. “Guinness?” Definitely natural skin. The soft musk of her perfume was almost painful.

She smiled and nodded absently, eyes glued to the tank.

He caught a waiter’s attention and gestured at her glass. A moment later a fresh Guinness arrived. He pressed the price of the drink and a healthy tip into the waiter’s hand immediately, leaving the boy no excuse to linger over the woman Worth hoped he would be taking home.

“Thanks.” She took a sip of the fresh glass of stout and licked the foam off her upper lip.

“So are you a big Zurich fan?” he asked.

“Nah. Toronto.” She grinned. “Well, okay, and whoever’s playing Montreal.”

A slightly sick twinge bit into the pit of his stomach. Same team as mine. Too convenient? Or is it just the warning from the Tir’s office making me paranoid?

The broadcast broke for a commercial. Some things even technology couldn’t change. A pair of small, black-and-white still holos in one corner of the tank depicted a sixtyish man with a cane and a slightly older woman in a wheelchair. The main section of the tank showed the same pair, in full color and motion, healthy and fit and looking about twenty, in tailored BDU’s and each sporting a brand-new grav-gun, walking through a waving field of wheat hand in hand.

“Tired of being old?” A cool but somehow friendly female voice asked, “Dead-end jobs taking the romance out of your relationship? The Epetar Group is looking for aggressively minded human colonists to join a multirace world reclamation expedition. Age and health no barrier, standard contract…”