Transvestia

the makeshift apparatus there, with obvious contempt for the workmanship and design, but considerable respect for its unexpected effectiveness. She verified that Steve's collapse and the resulting tearing off of wires had not damaged it, and then, with exaggerated care to avoid changing any of the controls, cut off the power switch and replaced the blown fuses. Then she picked up her purse, which apparently had seen it's best days as the ball in some sand-lot league, put a pair of thick-rimmed but non-functional spectacles on her nose, and set forth with a peculiarly stoop- shouldered lope for the laboratory.

The success of her de-glamorizing costume was evident everywhere. She slipped among the general population like an invisible ghost, and was greeted by her classmates with an apathetic "Hi". They, all much younger than she, clearly regarded her as nothing but a slightly lumpy male who needed a haircut, and treated her as such, When her work required that she and another student practically climb into a panel chassis together, he showed no more emotion than it it had been Steve himself with whom he was rubbing hips. But, of course, had he thought of her as the lovely Ivory Carter, whose act he took in whenever he had accumulated enough money from skipping lunch, he would have been totally incapacitated as far as elec- tronics was concerned!

Maria was clearly in love with her work, and the hours flew by for her. She was even able to forget completely the intruder in her mind. Steve, on the other hand, lost interest rather rapidly. Compared to his own lab, with it's shining glassware and bab- bling liquids, this was a dull one, where silent mono- maniacs spent endless pains soldering up intricate networks for some obscure purpose no one ever ex plained. So he welcomed the chance to let his mind

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