Learning to Dance

always been rubbish at dancing. He was suddenly glad they
were alone, and fervently hoped that no one else was
planning a late-night workout tonight. He'd never hear the
end of it.
“Uno, dos, tres- no, la izquierda! Left!” Taz dropped his
hands in exasperation. “You’re useless!”
“At least I’m making you look good,” he offered.
Punching him lightly in the stomach, she took his hands
again. “Okay, left, right, left – no, move back. Try again.”
Up tried, but somehow managed to misstep so
spectacularly that his legs entangled in hers and they both
toppled to the mat. For a moment, Taz looked annoyed, but
then she started to giggle. It was such a funny, girlish sound
coming from her than he laughed too, and soon it became
hard to stop. Both of them lay on the floor, gasping for air
and clutching at their sides.
Taz finally pushed herself up, still taking deep,
shuddering breaths. “That – is the last time – I try to teach
you anything, Lieutenant Up!”
Reality, and the reason he’d subconsciously come
looking for her tonight, came crashing back to him. He got
to his feet, slowly. “It’s Lieutenant-Commander Up now.”
Something in his voice must have caused her to turn to
him with such a searching look. “You got a promotion?”
“I got a new assignment,” he said.
“You get new assignments every other week,” she said.
“This one – this one’s different, Taz.” He swallowed.
“It’s a recon mission, into deep space. This is top secret, so
don’t go spreading it around, but they think they’ve found
the location of the robot’s base star.”
Her eyes widened. The G.L.E.E. had been looking for
the heart of the robot’s rebellion for years, since they’d
picked it up and moved it out of their own solar system.
“They’ve found it?”