He reviewed all these facts in his mind again, sometimes looking at her beautiful sleeping form to complement the growing awareness of the inner workings of her mind, and at other times closing his eyes and recalling the gorgeous radiant beauty of her relaxed expression on the hammock the day before, again with his new understanding of her thought processes combined in his mind with that image.

“It’s not fair,” he suddenly realised, “She knew I couldn’t help but be lured by the whole thing, and yet she never even considered me as being a long-term boyfriend for her. She knew I was just a boy a few months ago. She dressed this dinner arrangement up as the ultimate thrill, and it certainly is. But I’ve grown up a lot in the last few months. I want more. I want some way to have this thrill, and yet still survive to convince her to stay with me after the thrill has been enjoyed. There’s no way I can think of to do that now, but I have to delay our dinner date, until I can think of such a way.”

He looked across at her sleeping form again.

Colleen had planned all of this for many years, and dedicated years of scientific research to making it possible.

She would never give him what he wanted, even if it became possible somehow. For her, a significant part of the encounter (in fact the same significant part that aroused him for so long) was the inescapable nature of the dinner date that she had prepared him for. The more he wanted to escape, the more she would want him to be inside her stomach facing the fact that he would not be able to avoid it.

He knew what he was walking away from, knew it far more clearly than he had known when he had walked out of the first interview. Yet he had to walk away. His only chance was while she slept.

He slid gently off the pillow, being sure not to wake her, and walked to the edge of the bed. He looked down at the floor. The fall was nothing trivial.

He stared down, trying to think of a way to get down without becoming a human splat.

“Trying to give reign to your second thoughts?” came her voice behind him.

He spun around and saw her fingers approaching.

“Keep back!” he said.

She stopped advancing her hand, but did not withdraw it.

“There’s no way down the side of the bed,” she said, “The sheets are tucked in tightly. So is the blanket. I thought you’d begun to take in the full significance of this, when you were so silent on the hammock for a while yesterday. I was sure, when you asked me about going steady. There’s no resignation from this employment, Patrick. You have the rest of the day to remain in anticipation of the fact that you’re going to be my dinner.”

“Get your hand back, or I’ll jump off!”

“And hit the ground?” she laughed, “You won’t survive that.”