Location: Golden Door Motel, City Prime, Colonial 586
         Date: Cycle 170.15, 1035
         Everything about Colonial 586 is as miserable as I remember. The rain never stops, and everything not covered in plastite is awash in mud. I sit on a motel bed I suppose passes for clean, my eyes bleary from the fruitless data search on my portlink. No recent record of Carmina Azum-Aska, and no sign of her Devotion Egg.
         I fumble for my bottle of painkillers. As I dry-swallow two, Carmina's words come to me, as clear as if she were standing in the room: We must hope and pray we find our mate in this life. If not, each of us will be born again, to find each other in the next.
         I take ten more.

         Location: The Travois Mansion, City Prime, Colonial 586
         Date: Cycle 110.3, 1028
         "Be a dear and zip me up," said Wendy Travois, smearing on bright yellow lipstick.
         "With pleasure." I strolled across the plush carpet in Wendy's bedroom to her antique vanity. Standing behind her, I studied her liver-spotted back. Why didn't she get those ugly brown spots removed? Probably too cheap to have it done, despite her millions.
         I brushed my hand against her shoulder blades, then looped a finger under her bra strap. The party was going to be yawn. Maybe I could make her forget about it.
         She stopped applying her lipstick and looked at my reflection in the mirror. "We don't have time for that now, Ramon. The Greyson's party started twenty minutes ago."
         I smiled. I'd paid nearly a thousand t-credits for my lip enhancements, caps, and alignment. The smile killed her every time. "You're too tempting to resist." I rolled my r's, knowing she liked to pretend I was of hispano ancestry. In reality, I was a cocktail of off-world blood more mixed than a spliced-up fighting cock.
         "Edna would never forgive me if we missed the party." Wendy's voice was cold. Was I losing my touch with this old bag? I zipped up her dress.
         "Damn!" said Wendy as she fumbled around in her jewelry box. "Will you be a dear and run down to the nursery to ask the children if they have been playing with my mud pearl necklace again?"
         Wendy's little runts sat at a table with a woman in a white habit and a shapeless brown dress. Her eyes were so blue and proportionately shaped I wondered if she'd had them done by the same flesh enhancement specialist that did mine.
         "Who are you?" I asked.
         "Carmina Azum-Aska. I tutor the children in music and literature. Who are you?"
         "I'm Ramon, Wendy's companion," I said. "What's with the outfit? Are you a nun?"
         "No. I'm of the Beasset-Sect. We don't believe in ornamenting the body in a way that might suggest we value physical attraction."
         I laughed then leaned over and whispered so the children wouldn't hear. "I imagine that makes it pretty hard to groove it up with someone."
         Her lips turned up in an enigmatic half-smile, kind of like that old Earth picture that still gets copied by everyone: Mona what's-her-identity. "We don't engage in intercourse.'"
         I was stunned. I couldn't imagine a life without sex. While the pleasure of it had faded for me over the years, there were still times I actually craved it. More importantly, it was my ply in trade. Without sex grinding the gears of Colonial 586's economic system, the planet would probably fall apart. "How could you not?"
         "Physical pleasures of the body are a crude throwback to our animal ancestors. I place value only in a spiritual relationship-and, ultimately, I expect to derive far greater pleasure from it."
         I found the pearls and headed for the stairs. "Sounds like some pretty messed up priorities to me."
         She did that half-smile again. "You have other priorities?"
         "Yeah."
         "Such as?"
         "Getting off this ball of mud that some people call a planet."
         She laughed, delightful, unaffected laughter. "My priorities are messed up?"

         Location: Ebinra's Pawn, City Prime, Colonial 586
         Date: Cycle 110.5,1028
         "Pick anything you want," said Wendy, winking at me. "I'm going next door to the dress boutique. Tell Ebinras if you find something you like."
         I winked and flexed my pecs. She'd probably want sex later. I sighed. The things a man does for jewelry.
         The pawnshop was crammed full of glass display cases exhibiting a disorderly mishmash of jewelry and gadgets. I examined a blue ring of solid vitsi that had probably taken a Rethel-IV slave a lifetime to carve. Nice, but blue wasn't my color. The diamond cufflinks in one of the cases would go with some of my suits, but they didn't really grab me.
         "Can I help you find something?" An old man who smelled like medic-preserve stood beside me. Ebinras.
         "You don't happen to have a Universal Port Pass laying around somewhere?" I joked.
         Ebinras' pale lips curved up a little. He reached into his coat pocket. "You mean one of these?"
         I nearly hit the floor. How had the old man gotten his hand on one of those? Short of military service or ascension to G class, a UPP was the only way off Colonial 586. I'd dreamed of having one some day, even saved most of my money in case I had the opportunity to buy one. "How . . . how much?"
         "One hundred thousand t-credits."
         Whew. I knew it would be pricy, but this was stunning.
         "I'll give you fifty thousand." It was all I had.
         "Sorry." Ebinras slipped the shimmering gold card back in his pocket. "Perhaps I can find something else that would interest you."
         Damn my luck! I finally find someone with a UPP and I'm only halfway toward buying it. It had taken me ten years of increasingly rich mistresses just to get where I was. After another ten years, it would be a losing battle. A substantial portion of my t-credits would go to skin enhancement specialists just to keep the wrinkles from my eyes and the flab from my belly.
         "I doubt you can show me anything as interesting as that UPP," I said.
         Ebinras smirked, as if I'd issued him a challenge. "Let me show you our specialty section." He winked and led me to a door behind the counter and swiped his palm on the lock pad.
         The door opened with a hiss, and I was nearly overwhelmed with the antiseptic stench of medic-preserve. The small room was filled with glass boxes mounted on the walls, each with a perfectly preserved human organ floating in medic-preserve.
         "Holy crap!" I said.
         Ebinras smiled. "Impressive collection, if I do say so myself. Anything you could want."
         I studied the boxes. Lots of hearts, livers, kidneys, and a few brownish organs I didn't recognize. The next box made me stop dead. "Is that . . ." I couldn't bring myself to say it.
         "Yup." Ebinras chucked. "Some people can get pretty desperate when they need money. They'll sell anything."
         I reached down between my legs to reassure myself my main moneymaker was still there, then I quickly moved on, hoping to put the horrible image out of my mind. A jeweled golden box no larger than the tip of my pinkie finger lay in the final case.
         "What's that?" I asked.
         "Beasset-Sect egg. A collector's item. I'm the only one in City Prime with one for sale."
         I shrugged. "Just looks like jewelry to me." The box was engraved with religious symbols of some kind, diamonds, and a couple of other stones I couldn't identify.
         "Oh, it's much more than that to Beasset-Sect members. To them it's the most important thing in the world." Ebinras led me from the room and closed the door behind him.
         I frowned. I'd met a Beasset-Sect member recently. What was her name? "How much is it worth."
         "One hundred twenty thousand t-credits."
         I froze. Someone would pay more for some damned golden egg than for a UPP? Hard to believe. People were just nuts.
         "Find anything you like?" asked Wendy, returning with a bulging shopping bag.
         "Yes, but I need fifty thousand credits." Not that Mrs. Tighpurse would ever part within even a tenth of that.
         Wendy laughed. "I think you need to work on your bargaining skills. Nothing could be worth that much-at least nothing here."
         "I suppose I'll take the cufflinks," I said.

         Location: Outside the Tisdale Mansion, City Prime, Colonial 586
         Date: Cycle 110.10, 1028
         Carmina emerged from the mansion's entrance portal. I hailed her from mud-splattered window of a cab.
         "Mr. . . . Ramon?" She cocked her head, puzzled.
         "Just Ramon. Do you need a lift someplace?"
         "Uh, no, thank you. A public transportation stop is just down the street. Didn't you break up with Wendy?"
         "Yeah." No point in explaining that Wendy's purse strings had gotten a bit too tight for my tastes-and I already had an idea where my next score was coming from.
         "So why are you here?"
         "Honestly . . . I was looking for you." And if she had a spare Devotion Egg she wanted to give me, I'd be happy to take it off her hands.
         She laughed. "I don't know who you think I am, but those cufflinks you're wearing are worth more than I make in a year. I don't think we'd be a . . . compatible couple."
         She was still hiding her deep desire for me, but I decided to play along. I knew Carmina would be a challenge unlike any woman I'd met before. "Look, it's not like that. Let me take you to dinner, and I'll explain."
         I wasn't in the habit of paying for anyone else's dinner, but if my plan worked out, it would be worth much more than the price of dinner. I coaxed her into the cab and took her to Vern's. We made small talk at first, but it seemed she wanted to get to the point.
         "Ramon . . . why did you come to see me? I meant what I said the other day, about me not-what did you call it-grooving it up."
         Nobody could go without sex forever, especially when an opportunity like me comes along. "I've been thinking about the conversation we had a couple weeks ago about your beliefs. I admit I was a bit crass at the time but now I want to learn more about the Beasset-Sect. And I want you to teach me."
         "You should be taught by a Priest-Master. They are the only ones truly qualified."
         "But I'd only feel comfortable with you." It was a weak line, I knew, but it was the best I could come up with. Hopefully, she was naive enough to buy it.
         She stared at me. "Very well, Mr. Ramon. It would be against my tenets to deny someone the opportunity for sacred knowledge. But let me be very clear with you. I do not consider this an invitation to courtship, and you should not consider it an invitation by me."
         "Don't you find me attractive?" I asked. My plan would be an utter disaster if she was really the cold fish she pretended to be.
         "You have a commanding physical appeal, which means nothing."
         Ha! That was good enough for me. She didn't have a chance. I'd paid for every physical enhancement t-credits could buy, and I'd read everything on seduction I could lay my hands on. I was well groomed, well-tailored, and well-cultured. I could dance, cook, sing, even listen to boring stories as if I cared. I was every woman's definition of the perfect man, whatever her professed religion.
         I'd have her in bed within two weeks, and she'd be only too happy to give me a Devotion Egg as a token of her love for me.

         Location: Carmina's Apartment, City Prime, Colonial 586
         Date: Cycle 110.17, 1028
         Carmina met me at the door in the same brown bag dress, but without her habit. Seeing her without her headgear made me feel like I was looking at her naked-and I liked it. Her hair was so golden blonde it shined, and I was temped to reach out and stroke it.
         "What, no habit?" I asked.
         "Traditionally, we do not need to wear habits in our home, where we are allowed to be at ease."
         "Makes sense to me." I grinned. "You should go ahead and take that dress off, too."
         She closed the door behind me and nodded. "You catch on quickly. I'm wearing the dress for your benefit. Those not of the Sect are oftentimes distracted by another's nakedness."
         "No need to be uncomfortable on my account. Slip it off, if you want. I'll hardly notice."
         She met my eyes. "I don't believe you are being honest with me, Ramon. I believe you desire to see my naked flesh so you can better assess my physical features."
         Okay, she had me there. I'd see her naked eventually, so it was no use belaboring the point. "Suit yourself. Let's get going on the lesson."
         She gestured to a couch toward the center of her small studio apartment. Her bed, which I spotted in the corner, was narrow and made with a simple grey wool blanket, almost like something you'd see in a military barracks. Not very sexy, but I could make do.
         I sat on the couch, and Carmina sat across from me in a straight-backed wooden chair. "What would you like to know?"
         "The other day, I heard something about members of the Beasset-Sect and eggs. Do you know what that's about?"
         "When a Beasset-Sect woman finds a spirit mate she presents a devotion egg. The protective casing contains an egg from her ovary. Until such time as the spirit mate chooses to participate in the fertilization rite, the devotion egg is the couple's most treasured possession, for it represents their only chance for a child."
         "What do you mean by only chance?" I asked. "Can't they present another egg if the spirit mate turns out to be a dud?"
         "No. At the extraction rite, the Beasset-Sect surgeons extract one egg for the devotion and dispose of the rest."
         "Crazy."
         "No, pure. It is a single act of devotion that must be performed. If it is tainted by the possibility of a second chance, it loses its true meaning." She leaned forward in her seat, pinning me with her startling eyes. "Each of us only have one spirit mate, Ramon. We must hope and pray we find our mate in this life. If not, each of us will be born again, to find each other in the next."
         Something in her words made my heart beat faster. It was all nonsense, of course. Still, I left my first lesson without any attempt to seduce her.

         Location: Carmina's Apartment, City Prime, Colonial 586
         Date: Cycle 111.5, 1029
         I pressed the entrance portal call for Carmina's apartment. Five months ago, I had put my tailor-made suits in storage and donned the baggy white pantaloons and caps favored by men of the sect.
         Carmina answered the door naked.
         I couldn't help but look at her, just for a second. Wow! What an amazing body she'd been hiding under that baggy dress. Smooth, unblemished white skin. Round, firm breasts any club dancer would be proud of. Curves on her hips and thighs that just cried out for caresses by experienced hands.
         I almost blew it right then. I wanted to reach out, take her in my arms, and urge her into the little military-looking bed in the corner. She wouldn't have let me, of course. By then I'd figured out she was serious about the no-sex pledge.
         I forced myself to yawn.
         "Tired?" she asked.
         I walked past her into the apartment, resisting all urges to give her a second glance. "A little. I was up late reading the book you loaned me, A Life of Spirit." I took my usual spot on the couch.
         "Did you like it?"
         "Very interesting." I'd skimmed a little of it to make it sound like I'd read it in case she asked. Man, I still didn't know how Carmina could stand reading this stuff all the time.
         She didn't pull up the wooden chair. Instead, she sat next to me on the couch. For the first time, I noticed her scent. I detected something of the moist, purified air of the Tepatera-W botanic preserve. It was the only place on the planet where you could get a sense of what it was like to breathe before all the vegetation had been plundered and the oxygen generation plants had been constructed.
         "What am I learning about today?" I asked.
         "Ramon, you've been coming to me for six months. I feel like I've taught you all I can. I've told you that before, but you don't seem to want to hear that."
         What was she trying to tell me? That we were through? But I thought I'd been making so much progress. I was sure she had some feelings for me, if only she'd consider me one of her own. The Devotion Egg seemed so close, yet so out of reach. "I want to be in the Beasset-Sect."
         "You're in it."
         "What do you mean? Isn't there a ritual? Some sort of initiation."
         She laughed. "Ah, Ramon. Always making things more complicated than they have to be. You've taken the tenets of the Sect to heart: the primacy of the spirit, the illusory nature of the material, and taking pleasure from the simple things. If you live by those principals, you are Beasset-Sect."
         How strange to think I had already joined this odd religion without even knowing it. Or, at least, it appeared to Carmina I had joined. I had to admit that learning about the Sect wasn't nearly as excruciating as I thought it would be. Some of their ideas made sense, and it was pretty clear they worked for people like Carmina, who had no real aspirations. Every time we met, Carmina seemed very happy, despite her frugal means, her monotonous wardrobe, and her celibacy.
         But I wanted off the planet. I wanted a Devotion Egg.
         At least it wouldn't be as hard to pretend I was in love with her as I thought it would be. It was funny. I did feel close to her, perhaps closer to her than anyone I knew before. Too bad she was so ingrained in her religion. It would have been fun to take her with me when I went away.
         "Okay," I said. "I understand that maybe you've taught me everything. It's just that . . . I'm afraid to stop our lessons."
         "Why?"
         "I don't want to stop seeing you. Carmina . . . I'm in love with you."
         She studied my face with her piercing blue eyes. I was afraid she saw the lie. Then she stood in front of me, her arms spread wide. She was so close I could easily have reached out and touched her.
         "Look at me," she said. "Look at my body. Do you see the woman who you are in love with?"
         I'd learned enough over the past few months to know how to answer this one. Carmina was a good teacher. "No," I said.
         "Why not?"
         "I cannot see through your skin into your soul."
         She took my hand, ever so gently, and put in on her breast. "Do you feel the woman who you've fallen in love with?"
         It was excruciating. Her breast was soft and warm, so perfect beneath my cupped palm. I wanted to caress her, touch every part of her, take her in my arms, kiss her. Instead, I held my hand still. "No, I cannot feel through your skin to touch your soul."
         "You are not the man I knew six months ago," she said. "Let's spend more time together. Not as teacher and student, but as companions. I would like that."

         Location: Carmina's Apartment, City Prime, Colonial 586
         Date: Cycle 115.13, 1030
         I stood on Carmina's doorstep like some stupid G-class gentleman waiting with a vitsi engagement ring bulging in my pocket. Today was the day-I was sure of it. Carmina had told me to come over, that she had something important to give me. The only thing she had of any value was her egg.
         God! I'd waited so long for this. I should be excited enough to bust down the door, but I hesitated. The last few months had been-well-amazing. I'd courted Carmina without going to a single club, party, or pawn shop. We'd gone to her favorite places. The Medge Museum, the virtual fountain, the Tepatera-W botanic preserve. We stopped talking about religion and began to talk about our past, our dreams, our embarrassments. It sounds boring as hell, I know, but it went by quickly. Carmina had a way of making everything interesting. I had to admit I liked her. Lots.
         But I'd never forgotten about the Devotion Egg and the one dream-my real dream-I had stopped sharing with her. Escaping the planet.
         I finally knocked, and Carmina answered-naked, as usual, with the exception of a tiny gold box that hung from a necklace.
         She smiled, and my heart skipped a beat. It must have been because of the necklace.
         "I have a confession," she said.
         I blinked. What could she possibility confess to?
         "I have been a fool. I have been a teacher who has failed to follow her own lesson. I-I have known for some time that I loved you, yet I denied it to myself. At first I thought the love was an illusion. That I was unable to control my baser instincts because of a physical attraction to you. Then I thought perhaps I could not trust you. You were not raised in the Besset-Sect."
         Damn. She'd seen through me. Maybe it was possible to save this. "Carmina, I--"
         "Let me finish. All of that time, I was not listening to my heart. Only the heart can find a spirit mate. And my heart has found you." She took the necklace from her neck and placed it in my hand. "You, Ramon, are my spirit mate. Now and forever."
         I gripped Carmina's egg in my hand, stared at it. My heart was beating like crazy. Part of me wanted to hold her, stay with her. But that, I was sure, was the stupid, sentimental part. I'd had my goal in my hand. I couldn't let go now.
         I cleared my throat. "I'm not really your spirit mate. I only wanted this." I held out box.
         Tears glistened in her eyes. "You are my spirit mate, and I am yours. That will never change."
         "I'm leaving the planet."
         Another one of her Mona-what's-her-identity smiles. "Ah, yes. I remember. Your messed-up priorities."
         "There's nothing messed-up about it," I said. "Colonial 586 is devoid of anything truly natural. The vegetation is gone, and we are forced to breathe this dirty, recirculated air. The winters are numbingly cold and the summers unbearably hot. The only people who remain on this planet are those who can't afford to leave."
         "You hope to find happiness elsewhere?"
         "Damn right. You'd do the same, if you knew what was good for you."
         "But I have found happiness." She took my hand and put in on her naked breast. So calm, so sincere. "You. My spirit mate."
         God, even now, after I'd played her like a vizo-harp, she was so naive. I pulled my hand away. "Don't you get it? This was a set-up from the beginning. I used you just like a whole series of women I used in the past. Pretty soon, I'll be long gone."
         "But your heart will remain here with me."
         "I have no heart."
         "Not anymore. I have it."
         Even after all this, she seemed so sure. I felt a little knot in my stomach. I must have felt sorry for her, even though she looked at me like I was the one who had been duped.

         Location: Mimi's Cabana, Leon del Sol, Ariquite-G
         Date: Cycle 50.7, 1032
         Barefoot and drunk on dark rum, Mimi and I ambled toward her beachside cabana. Ariquite-G's silver-red moons hung low in the night sky, and a tropical breeze rustled the leaves of the quillaons lining the beach.
         Like most of the Ariquite-G homeworlders, Mimi was a stunning-looking woman. Her blue skin matched the crystalline waters of Sol bay, and the way her compact body was naturally fit, without the tell-tale signs of fat reduction modules or muscle stimulators. She could have posed for one of those Ariquite-G tourist vids. In fact, she probably had. I was right in the middle of some rift-sailor's wet dream, but I was miserable as hell. Go figure.
         Just inside the door, she pulled me to her lips. Her touch was soft, but insistent.
         "I've had my eye on you for some time, but you never seemed interested until tonight," Mimi whispered in my ear.
         I tried to think of a witty comeback, but instead the truth came out. "I've . . . been trying to get over someone." In fact, were I not perilously close to bankruptcy, I probably wouldn't have noticed her tonight either.
         "I bet I can help you with that." Her hands explored my body, then deftly removed my shorts and shirt. Her clothes followed revealing a flawless body. But when I saw her, I thought of Carmina answering the door naked, my hand on her breast . . .
         We'd been in her bed for an hour before Mimi reached down between my legs. "Humph, no go, huh? Let me get you a pill."

         Location: Sunshine Pawn, Leon del Sol, Ariquite-G
         Date: Cycle 140.8, 1034
         Raru-te, a native islander and proprietor of Sunshine Pawn, held the little vial of my blood in his thick blue fingers. "Sorry, mon," he said. "You inside organs no good. I can no sell dem."
         My heart beat faster. I had nothing left to sell, and I needed the spacefare back to Colonial 586. "I'm perfectly healthy," I said. "There must be some mistake."
         "No, mon. They process like the organs of a seventy-year-old." He leaned over the plasi-bamboo counter conspiratorially. "They say too many erectile dysfunction drugs can do that to a mon, huh?"
         Hell, it seemed my reputation preceded me even here. Every woman with some extra t-credits to her name knew I was a pill popper. It hadn't taken them long to get bored with me. "There must be something I can do."
         Raru-te glanced down at my crotch. "They say you a pill popper, but they also say you got a decent package."
         I felt faint. Cold. Could I really do this? Could I give up sex just as Carmina had? Could I give up the only profession I'd ever known? But I had known the answers before I went into the shop. I would do anything to be with my spirit mate again. I felt like I was living life as half of a person, torn apart from the inside. I'd tried everything I could think of on Ariquite-G to make me happy-or at least let me forget Carmina. Nothing worked. I had to find her.
         "Tell me what I have to do," I said.