Normally, it took me a long time to feel secure around another person, but something about Diane clicked. “What if I get it wrong? Funerals are important.”
Diane grinned. “Wouldn’t be the first time, Bella. As long as we don’t actually kill anyone, it’s good. I mean, they’ve mostly died and then travelled back to life anyway. There are no endings in space.”
“But what if I get the funerals wrong? I don’t have much experience. Well, any, really.”
She laughed a warm sound, like coffee and cake. “Doesn’t matter. We just send everything back in time and do it again.”
“I’m a bit nervous. I apologise sincerely if I mess up,” I said.
Her face went puppy. “Aw, B. Stop worrying. No need for nerves. We’re good. Don’t fret. The last five workers were third-hand bots. Not that I’ve got anything against them, but the last one tried to kill me.”
She eyed me from the side, expression difficult to decipher. “You’re so cute. I wasn’t expecting you to look different.”
I had no clue what answer would be acceptable. “Sorry,” I hazarded. “I meant to have a haircut.”
She winked. “No, I just mean, you know, normally, you’re less stressed. Don’t frown. You’re doing great.”
“I am?”
She reached forward and tugged my hair. “At the end of your first day, you can go home and tell Fluffy you’re an extemporary employee.”
“Exemplary,” I muttered, wondering how she knew about my cat.
* * * *
Diane took me on a guided tour of the building, linking her arm through mine. “We’ve got a funeral in half an hour. They arrive, usher them in and smile. Normally, they want the service over with before we hand out food and whatever naughties they request.”
“Naughties?”
“Yeah, you know.” She winked.
The pressure of her body close to mine sent me dizzy. The last time I’d been so close to anyone was two years ago when I had to go to the space hospital.
And she didn’t let go of my hand. “They come for the service and pretend to be sad. Maybe in the olden days of yore, they actually were. But now we got the sheens, why be sad about death? It’s easy enough to shoot back in time and live again.”
My voice was deeply affected by what Diane’s fingers had begun doing to mine; shivery circles and tingly squeezes. “Yes.”
She grinned.
I waited for her to put her head on one side. She always did it while flirting. Next, she’d hold me by the waist…How I knew such things was beyond me.
Diane cleared her throat. “What was I saying? Our job is very simple. We welcome the customers. I run the program. We fire the coffin into space. The customers pay and then leave.”
By now, her hands were holding my waist, and I was hopelessly lost and endlessly confused.
“Keep an eye on the sheen,’ she went on. “If a corpse arrives, you have to make sure they don’t mingle with the guests. Very important. Take them through the exit and up to the vantage viewing area above. The customers can’t see them. It’s against the law. Okay?”
Her body was so close to mine that our suits began interacting. We swayed from left to right as if in readiness for more dancing.
“Isn’t it cool?” she breathed. “We’re attuning.”
“Urgh. Yeah?”
She stood up on tiptoe and pressed her lips to mine. “I know we agreed to wait until the end of the day, but I just have to.”
Kiss. That’s what people called a meeting of lips, swapping of mutual lusts, a prelude to sex. Kiss. Shooting through space on a cable, headlong crazy, shouting at stars.
A battering from the front doors broke the moment. Diane led me to the sheen, though I’d have followed her to any galaxy.
