“After I got tired of brooding over all the things I had to brood over and hearing people say, "Hey, Robinette, you're looking great!" I went there. It was called Level Babe, Quadrant East, Tunnel 8, Room 51, and for several sick and scary months it had been my home.
I went there all by myself I didn't want to take Essie away from her old Leningrad buddy, and anyway, the part of my life that was wrapped up in that dirty little hole was not a part she had shared. I stood gazing at it, taking it all in. I even actuated perceptors I don't usually bother with, because I didn't want to just see it. I wanted to smell and feel it.
It looked, smelled, and felt crummy, and I almost drowned in the huge, hot flood of nostalgia that washed over me.
Room 51 was the cubicle I had been assigned to when I first came to Gateway-Jesus! Decades and decades ago!
It had been cleaned out some, and redecorated a lot.
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