The scene--a room in the station infirmary. Bob sits on the bed knitting, one casted leg propped up. Master Mospheiran enters.

Master Mospheiran: "Hey, Bob."

Bob: "Hey! You’re early."

Master Mospheiran: "Yeah. I wanted to talk to you about a couple of things."

Bob: "Shoot."

Master Mospheiran sits down in a nearby chair.

Master Mospheiran: "Well, ah, the first thing we need to discuss is...alternative methods of payment. I know we’ve done different trades, if people didn’t have cash, or they had something else we wanted. And so far it’s worked out great. But, well, the other day I got this offer and it...it really bothered me."

Bob: "What was it?"

Master Mospheiran looks around, then leans over and whispers in Bob’s ear.

Bob: "For a pair of socks?!"

Master Mospheiran: "For four pairs of socks."

Bob: "Did you take it?"

Master Mospheiran: "No. I couldn’t possibly have given you your half. I mean, no offense, but...."

Bob laughs.

Master Mospheiran: "Besides, somehow it’s not the same. I mean, I like the attention, and God knows I like sex, but I want to be liked for me, not for my socks."

Bob: "I know what you mean. And here we are, with something everyone wants, you know, we’ve got lots of people trying to be our friends. You know, the ones who come up and make the offer, that’s easy to turn down. It’s the ones who don’t say straight out what they’re after that we have to watch for."

Master Mospheiran: "Yeah. Yeah, you’re right."

Bob: "So how are the knitting lessons going? She sure has a lot of questions. That’s like, what, three times this week Atevi 1 needed you to show her something?"

Master Mospheiran: (blushes) "Oh, they’re fine. She’s trying to adapt the cable pattern and she had some...questions."

Bob: "She hasn’t started asking for free socks, has she?"

Master Mospheiran: "No!"

Bob: "No problems there, then."

Master Mospheiran: "No, no problems. In fact, she had an idea."

Bob: "She seems pretty smart to me. I bet it’s a good one."

Master Mospheiran: "It seems like it to me. She suggested that it’s to our advantage to teach people to knit. Because, see, we’re the ones with access to the yarn. We get as much of it as we want for free, the way things are now."

Bob: "We’ve already talked about that, some. We’d still be making sales, but it would be less work for us."

Master Mospheiran: "Exactly. In fact, she suggested that she and her associates sell their own work, and buy their materials from us. We can submit it to the paidhi’s office, you know, a regular business deal. No more hiding from station security and freezing our tails off right next to vacuum. A real, legitimate business venture."

Bob: "But how do we explain it to the paidhi’s office, when we aren’t supposed to have enough contact with atevi to come up with something like this?"

Master Mospheiran: "Atevi 1 has seen humans wearing sweaters. She’s seen my sweater, which she favors, which my mother designed and made. It would be perfectly natural for her to ask the paidhi’s office about what it was made from and how it was made. And the paidhi’s office would, of course, come to us about it."

Bob: "If the paidhi approves."

Master Mospheiran: "What’s not to approve?"

Bob considers this for a few moments.

Bob: "Well, there’s no reason not to give it a shot, is there?"

Both Bob and Master Mospheiran are silent for a few moments.

Bob: "But none of that is really what you wanted to talk about. Something’s bothering you. What is it?"

Master Mospheiran takes a deep breath.

Master Mospheiran: "I feel kind of stupid for not realizing this sooner. I know you’ve had some bad luck in the past, but the whole time I’ve known you there hasn’t been a problem. Until lately."

Bob is silent.

Master Mospheiran: "I was on the other side of the bay when the whole yarn thing happened, and I’m sure that was really an accident, but ever since then--well, we don’t go a week without visiting the infirmary for one thing or another. You know, when we came in with your leg broken, one of the nurses told me how relieved she was to see you--they’d been worrying about us, because they hadn’t seen us for nearly five days. That is truly insane, Bob. It’s Cindy Singh, isn’t it. Why don’t you just ask her out?"

Bob: "I can’t! Ever since the yarn incident, station administration won’t let me go anywhere without you. Which is smart, because somehow things always go okay when you’re around. But..."

Master Mospheiran: "Why didn’t you just tell me what the problem was? I’m sure we could have come up with something."

Bob: "I nearly lost my mind. I was sitting there, you know, waiting for the doctor, and she walked in. She’s the most beautiful woman I ever saw. And then when she talked to me...I swear, I never thought anyone like her even existed."

Master Mospheiran: "Well, she’s very nice, I like her. But I wouldn’t think she was worth purposely breaking my leg for."

Bob: "I don’t think she even knows I exist."

Master Mospheiran: "Bob, they’ve got a whole box of bandages and sutures with your name on it. They leave your file out on the counter, because there’s no point putting it away. You know the entire medical staff on the station on a first name basis. They keep a change of clothes here for you, for God’s sake."

Bob: "You know what I mean."

Master Mospheiran: "I know you’ve got it bad. And I know you have to do something about it. You can’t just keep breaking bones to be near her."

Bob: "No, I can’t. It’s only temporary. The cast comes off in the morning."

Master Mospheiran: "Look, don’t worry about the rule. Ask her out. If she turns you down, you can at least stop hurting yourself and move on. And if she doesn’t, well, we’ll come up with something. I’m sure if they..."

Enter Cindy Singh.

Cindy: "Hi, guys."

Master Mospheiran: "I’m going to get some supper. You think about what I said, and I’ll see you in the morning. Okay?"

Bob: "Okay. See you."

Master Mospheiran: "See you, Cindy."

Cindy: "See you."