The address was a blue smoke den and the Amazon droid that opened the door was everything the designer felt a woman should be. They followed her through a common area filled with dazed smokers and sex droids to a curtained room behind the bar.

"Welcome. Come and sit. Queen," the man addressed the Amazon, "bring a couple of tubes for our guests."

"We didn't come here to smoke. Are you Hanes?"

"I am. Too bad, ours is a rare product." The man took a long draw on the flexi-tube and exhaled a cloud of blue smoke.

"I'm sure. Look we came here because you implied on the message you could help. We're looking to find a location for a Dr. Frost. He's at one of the Empirium's research centres."

"Hmm, that's always a difficult search."

"Yeah, I know. Just tell me the cost and let's not dance."

"Okay, my friend. One hundred credits - no guarantees. Three hundred, solid gold."

Hunter shook his head. "You can't resist the dance, can you? Okay four hundred credits but I want delivery by tomorrow."

"That's part of the gold, friend." Hanes smiled a foggy smile and they shook hands. "Sure you don't want a tube?"

"We're sure." Hunter pledged the amount and sent it to Hane's pad then he and Diane left.

"Can we trust him?"

"Yeah, their reputations are their livelihood. We just have to see how much gold my four hundred credits buys."

"I'll give you some toward that. Won't be too much, I'm not employed."

"You pay for some food then and we'll go back to Hargreave's and wait for our friend to call."

"You said tomorrow."

"I know . . . is there a problem?"

"Tomorrow might be a problem, yes." Diane strode off toward a nearby restaurant.

********

The room light was minimal, providing just enough to see without straining. They sat on the bed again, the food container between them.

"I didn't realize how hungry I was, this is good, Dr. Sommers."

"Surprisingly, considering the choices. The formality doesn't change the situation, Hunter."

"I even found a bottle of liquor Hargreave had stashed in his desk." He talked right past her comment. "Would you care for a swig . . . no glasses, I'm sorry."

"No thank you. I suppose we are fugitives now."

"The security droid won't be a problem. I completely destroyed any communication or memory data. The cab will have a record of the charge, but then someone would have to know enough to look for the right cab."

"They'll know you weren't at work."

"Yep." He gave a small smile and took a swig from the bottle. "Guess this will be my new home for a while."

Diane got off the bed and paced around the room nervously. She knew she could go home but staying here . . . with Hunter . . . "We need to make some kind of arrangement if we are both hiding out here."

"You aren't going home?"

"I- I think we should stay together at least until Hanes calls."

He looked around the room and scratched his ear. "I suppose I could share the bed."

"Hunter!"

"I'm teasing, Diane." He stood up and started searching through cupboards and the solitary dresser. "Here's a bonus - clean sheets. I wonder if that was Judith's other job."

"Judith?"

He nodded toward the sheet on the floor.

"Oh . . ."

"Look, Diane, there is no other place to sleep except the floor and a sheet doesn't make much of a mattress. It's not like we have the sleeping pods or your old unit's amenities."

"You're suggesting we sleep together."

"We did once before - it wasn't so bad was it?"

Her face pinked and she folded her arms stubbornly.

Without an answer, Hunter kept searching through the drawers and shelves. Two uniforms that Judith must have worn for some occasion or other were folded neatly in the corner of one drawer and he took one out and held it up.

"This might even fit if you think you need a change." The look was volcanic. "Okay, well there are two if you want."

By evening, the bed had been remade, the room dusted to some extent and the food finished. Hunter turned on the video screen and found the Empirium broadcast station. There was no mention of them, the security droid or the outbreak at HEEP.

"That's promising, unless they just don't want us to become news."

"More like they don't want news about what they are planning to get out. If they can secure that slime somehow they will be able to use the first stage to store it indefinitely."

"I'll bet CRS and the military are working hard to accomplish that."

"Hunter what are we going to do?" Diane sat propped up on the bed with a drink she had finally accepted.

"We wait until Hanes calls then we see about finding Frost and comparing options."

"What if he doesn't find him?"

"He will." Hunter set his glass down and sat on the bed.

"What if we can't get to him?"

"We will." He patted her shin.

"Why are you so sure?"

He held out his hand for her glass and kept a grip on hers. "Because it's better than the alternative." He pulled her toward him.

"Hunter . . ." She slipped down onto her back.

He leaned across and kissed her.

********

Hunter stood by the dirty window and read the message on his wrist pad. Hanes had come through with a home address for Dr. Frost and a warning that he was under Empirium surveillance. He blew out a long breath and turned to see Diane looking at him.

"Morning. Didn't mean to wake you. That was Hanes, we have Frost's home address."

Her face brightened and she sat up in bed, the sheet slipping down to her waist.

"Can we go see him?"

He stared, suddenly aware of his own nakedness. The previous night in the dark only provided imaginary images . . . daylight was something else.

"Uh- Empirium is having him watched." He moved toward the bed. "Diane, you are beautiful . . ." The bed sagged as he joined her.

"Shouldn't we be making plans?"

"I am."

********

The autocab sat under a large shade tree a few hundred feet down the street away from the building where Frost was quartered. Hunter used the monocular scope he found at Hargreave's to study the building and particularly the second floor window they calculated to be Frost's unit.

"He'll be at work."

"I know. I'm trying to see what type of surveillance they have on the building."

"It's probably internal like it is at HEEP."

"I know, and if it is we could signal him through his window."

"How?"

"A simple laser pen would get his attention."

"Then what?"

"Diane, I'm making this all up as I go. I can't answer questions like that yet."

Diane poked his shoulder. "There's an airbike security guard coming up behind us."

"Damn. I can't afford to destroy another one, not around here anyway. Guess we're going to be humiliated again."

Before Diane could react, he grabbed her and planted a firm kiss, grappling her back onto the padded seat. The rap on the glass broke the embrace and they both looked suitably embarrassed.

The guard scanned the cab number then made a gesture telling them to move along.

"You seem to be making a habit of that lately."

"It did the trick anyway," he grinned. "Except he took the cab number for a report. We'll have to ditch this one and get another to come back later."

"That's a long time yet. What are we going to do?"

"Let's pick up a laser pen and a wrist pad decrypter. Just hope Frost has one on his."

"I imagine he would, researchers all use them to protect their material."

"Have you got one?"

"No. It was cancelled when I was released from HEEP."

Hunter gave the cab directions instead of a destination, so the trip wouldn't be programmed. A workaround used by almost everyone that the Empirium seemed to ignore. They left the cab on a busy street and walked.