"Commander Mars, what is that?" Cyrus asked. Mars was sitting on the settee, holding a small white packet. "Is it a state of the art memory key that can hold a TB of RAM?"

Mars giggled. "No, sorry Boss. It's a new lip gloss that I bought".

"Ah," said Cyrus. "Yes".

Mars opened the cardboard packet and took out the tube of lip gloss. "What do you think it tastes like?" she asked Cyrus.

Cyrus picked up the packet and read the description on it. "Strawberries," he said.

"Hmm, let's see if it really does. I hope I haven't bought a shoddy product".

Mars carefully rubbed the gloss onto her lips. Cyrus stood there, wishing that the gloss had been a state of the art memory key that could hold a TB of RAM. Mars put the tube down and licked her lips.

"I think it does," she announced, "but I'm not quite sure. I think…I need a second opinion".

Cyrus saw Mars gazing at him and realised that she was hinting at something. He thought hard and a flash of inspiration came to him.

Cyrus picked up the tube and put some of the lip gloss on his mouth. Then he licked his lips.

"Yes," he said. "It does taste of strawberries".

Mars made an explosive noise. Then she laughed. Before Cyrus could ask her what she was doing, Mars grabbed him and pulled him close. Startled, Cyrus fell onto the settee next to Mars, which gave her the perfect opportunity to kiss him.

Cyrus wasn't displeased about this and he returned the kiss. Although he did wonder exactly what had caused Mars to become so affectionate. As Cyrus put his arms around Mars, he simply assumed that it was because he had given her the second opinion that she had wanted.

The End