Disclaimer: The original characters and plot of this story are the property of the author. No infringement of pre-existing copyright is intended. This story is copyright (c) 2010 Penny Lane. All rights reserved.

"Ah, I think you'd better put another skirt on, love," Belle remarked as Marion came in to the living room for breakfast.

"Why?" Marion asked, hastily looking down. "Have I got a mark on it? I hope not."

"Er, no, dear. You're showing a slight bulge in a place no woman has a bulge. You'd better find a skirt that isn't quite so tight."

"What? When did that happen? I can't see anything."

"No, you probably won't when you bend forwards. Go and look in the mirror."

Marion stumped off and returned a little later in another skirt. She sat down at the table and started on the toast and coffee.

"I suppose that's happened because of the hormones," she remarked. "It's made things a little more prominent, let us say. And I hadn't realised that all my skirts are so straight and close-fitting." She looked accusingly at Belle. "This is just an excuse for another raid on the shops, isn't it?"

Belle looked offended. "You turn up here in a storm like a waif, clutching your little bundle of clothes, I take you in and this is the thanks I get? I don't need an excuse to take you shopping, you need more of everything just to get your wardrobe started properly." She upended her coffee cup to drain it and reached for the pot. "Yes, we must get you some more clothes, of course. All we did before was the bare basics, just as I told you then." She emphasised her point by waving the pot alarmingly over the table. "You need more of everything, it just takes time. If we're going to become part of the social scene round here, you're going to need a good selection of things to wear. Don't get me started on what we'll need to buy you in a few months when the weather changes and we have to prepare you for winter."

"I know, I know," Marion conceded. "It just seems like it's incessant."

"It is," Belle replied. "We're not called 'high-maintenance' for nothing, you know. And part of the point of going on heavy shopping trips is so that we don't have to spend every week-end buying things. I noticed you changed your top as well."

"Well, yes, I had to. This skirt doesn't go with the top I was wearing before. At least to my eyes."

"No, it doesn't, I agree with you. It looks like you're finally beginning to get your eye in where colour combinations are concerned."

"Maybe. It's not as if I have a huge range to select from at the moment." Marion sighed. "I guess I'm going to have to be more careful when my wardrobe is filled better, aren't I? I think I can do the obvious colour clashes, but then there's fabrics, patterns and cuts to take into account as well, isn't there? I'm not so certain I can cope with all that just yet."

Belle smiled fondly. "That's why you have me, dearest. Of course, like most girls I learned such things from my mother, and you have to do it the hard way, so my job is to help you along. Some coffee?"

*****

"Service, Marion, Talya."

Alison came through the office door followed by Wanda, the new Medical Orderly, who was pushing a trolley. Marion recognised the equipment on the trolley as the laser hair removal device.

"Service, Alison, Wanda. That for me?"

"Yes," Alison said. "I have to go and do some of the women on J Deck, but it occurred to me I could do you in your own treatment room first, if that's okay with you." She frowned. "Sophia did tell me you needed some tidying up?"

"Yes, I do. Come on through."

Marion stood and led the way through the connecting door into her Treatment Room, which up till now had been left unused.

"Do you use this room at all?" Alison asked.

"Not at the moment," Marion said. "I did wonder if I could use it for face-to-face interviews, but it's probably easier if I just use a spare room on the relevant Deck, if the detainee isn't already in a single room. I also thought that Talya might have had to go in here, but I think the arrangement we have currently is probably better. I certainly need my hand held at the moment, till I understand how this system they set up works."

Alison's eyes flicked to the connecting door.

"Everything working so far?" she asked.

"So far, yes," Marion replied. "We've only been going a day, and that was a bit of a strange day, but so far I've got no complaints."

Wanda meanwhile had wheeled the trolley next to the chair and taken the power cord off to plug it into the wall.

"What about you, Wanda? Is Sick Bay living up to your expectations?" Marion asked as she settled herself into the chair.

"It's been quiet so far, thank you Counsellor," the blonde woman replied. "I like it that way, it'll give me time to find my way around before it's necessary for me to do something in a hurry." She pulled down the big light over the chair and touched the switch. Alison nodded thanks.

"Let me have a look at you," Alison said to Marion, leaning in towards her face. "There's quite a lot here, isn't there? Is that because of..?"

"I was on a female hormone regime until I got released eight weeks ago," Marion explained. "That kept most of this down, but since they were stopped my normal male hormones have resurfaced. Sophia's supposed to be sorting me out a new course of meds sometime today."

"Ah, that explains it. Can you put these eyeshades on, please?"

Alison carefully and methodically lasered all the hairs she could find on Marion's face. Once she had finished, Wanda dabbed some lotion on to sooth the inflamed skin. Marion winced as the lotion was spread on her top lip.

"I'm sorry," Alison said, "those bristles on your top lip were quite tough, I had to turn the power up somewhat. Does it hurt very much?"

"I'm trying not to squeal like a stuck pig, but it probably doesn't hurt as much as when Sophia originally did it," Marion replied. "Mind you," she added, "it took five sessions over nearly two weeks the first time. It was probably just as well I was in isolation at the time, I must have looked a right mess."

Alison moved the light so that it lit Marion indirectly, and examined her face.

"I think you're going to have to sit today out in your office," she pronounced. "If you go on the Decks looking like that, everyone will run away screaming." She smiled at the appalled expression on Marion's face. "I wouldn't worry, it should all have gone away by the end of the day. You won't have to creep out of here with a bag over your head."

"If you're wrong," Marion said with feeling, "I shall come looking for you with the first blunt instrument I can lay hands on. I still have reservations about passing as a woman in the first place, without looking like a plague victim as well."

Alison grinned. "That's what I like to see in my patients, a little fire. Good. Now Wanda and I can go and disfigure some poor unfortunates on J Deck."

The two women made their way out of the treatment room into the corridor and Marion returned to her desk. Talya looked concerned.

"That looks bad, does it hurt much? I'm sorry, that must be a stupid question."

"It stings somewhat," Marion replied. "It probably looks worse than it feels." She gently tested the skin with a fingertip. "Alison is right, though, I'm going to have to stay in here today to allow it to recover. Oh, well, there's plenty we can do between us without me going anywhere, isn't there? We can get right into some of those cases you flagged. First of all though, there's no mirrors in either of these rooms, so I'm going down to the bathroom to have a look at my face."

She stood up and began to walk towards to door.

"Marion, wait!" Talya called. "You don't have to leave your desk, you can do it all from your terminal."

"Pardon? What do you mean?"

"Come here, I'll show you." Marion returned, seated herself and pulled her chair towards Talya's desk. "No, you'll need to do this from your own terminal. You see this pick-up here?" She pointed to a barely visible hole in the top edge of the frame. "That's what sends your picture to the other end when you make a video call. There's a standard function which allows you to use it to show your own face to yourself, didn't you know that?"

"No," Marion replied. "I know you can get your own picture up when you do a call, but that's all. Is this something that only the facility terminals can do, then?"

"No, Marion, all terminals can all do it," said Talya patiently. "Look, go to the main menu, then tools, then utilities, then pick 'Self Reflection'".

Marion complied, and found she was looking at herself.

"Well, I never realised that! All this time, and that function was sitting there and I never knew it."

"It has advantages over a mirror," Talya said, "This slider at the bottom controls brightness, that one does contrast, and the slider on the left side controls magnification. Much better than having to get the light just so when you do your hair or make-up."

"You're right," said Marion, experimenting. "I do look bad, don't I?" She shrugged. "As I said, we have enough to keep me busy today without me exposing other people to this wreckage. I just hope it's calmed down by tonight, that's all."

Marion and Talya worked for the greater part of the morning, developing some of the cases she had already started for various detainees. They were making good progress when Sophia poked her head round the door.

"Marion! Got five minutes?"

"Yes, of course, Sophia."

"Will Talya be okay while you're gone?"

Talya nodded. "Thank you, Director, Marion and I have been looking at some of her existing cases and there's plenty for me to do on my own."

"Good. I won't keep Marion long."

Sophia led the way back to her own office and shut the door behind them.

"What on earth has happened to your face?"

"Alison lasered off those hairs I told you about last week."

"Ah, I'd forgotten about that. Now, I've had a message from Professor Malenski concerning your hormone treatments," she continued. "She's run down the possible treatments she thinks are suitable for you, but she's left the choice up to you and me."

"Oh? I get a choice?"

Sophia nodded. "Yes, it depends on how much male functionality you want, basically. The treatments I can prescribe for you essentially fall into two parts. Firstly, female hormones to ensure your breast development completes, and to keep your skin tone and body shape properly feminine. Secondly, and this is the optional part, androgen blockers to stop your body being taken over by the Testosterone you're still producing. Take the blockers, stop being able to produce sperm, amongst other things. Don't take the blockers and you can continue having penetrative sex with your partner."

"I get the feeling it's not quite as simple as that," Marion observed.

"Yes, that's so. If you take the blockers, you'll go back to essentially where you were when you were released, no sperm, no erections, testicles reduced in size, reduced body hair. If you don't, then there's a battle within your body between the two hormone types trying to pull you in both directions. We'd probably have to prescribe you stronger female hormones and that could have other consequences. Don't get me wrong, it's doable, there are a number of people out there with your physical configuration who do just that, but there's always the possibility that with high levels of both male and female hormones it would leave you open to complications. Breast and prostate cancer, for example."

"So you're saying that I could do that, but you wouldn't advise it?"

"Not in such strong language, but more or less, yes. There is another slight complication, that if you're needed to give another sperm sample, we can't start the androgen blockers yet. Professor Malenski did mention that in her message, the delay will probably only be a week or so before they know whether they have enough. I can start you on the feminising hormones straight away though. It should help keep your skin tone up, although you don't really seem to need that at the moment."

Marion nodded as she thought through what Sophia had just told her. She and Belle had discussed possible futures, and they would both accept the situation if things went back the way they had been at the start. It would just make the present time that bit more special to them. She understood that she couldn't have both male and female hormones running through her veins for any length of time, she would have to choose one over the other, and the choice had really already been made.

"The choice practically makes itself," she said to Sophia. "Start me on the female stuff, and then once we know I have enough sperm on deposit, so to speak, we'll move straight on to the blockers as well. As I told you previously, I'm not going back, so apart from the legacy aspect I've no significant interest in retaining any male characteristics."

Sophia nodded in turn. "I more or less guessed that would be your choice, so I've already been to the pharmacy for you." She pulled open a drawer in her desk and pulled out three blister packs of tablets. "You'll need to take these at home, one from this pack first thing in the morning, and one from this pack before you go to bed."

"And the third pack?"

Sophia looked at Marion. "Did you ever hear of period synchronisation?"

"Um, no, can't say I have. Periods? You want me to have periods?"

Sophia smiled faintly. "Fortunately for you, you lucky person, you lack the equipment to fall foul of the woman's curse," she said. "But it's a well-known fact that if you get a group of women together for an extended period of time, their menstrual periods tend to synchronise. There must be evolutionary reasons for it, I'm sure, but it does have social benefits as well. What I'm saying to you is, you should stop taking tablets from these first two packs the day that Belle starts her next period, and for the next seven days take one from the third pack instead, in the morning. That should help to ensure that you two remain emotionally compatible."

"Ah! I see. Well, I see some of what you're saying, doubtless it will all become clear once the months progress. How do I know which pack is which?"

"They're labelled, of course. These are the same packs we use for women who are unable to accept a contraceptive implant such as Belle has, which performs much the same function. The staff, that is. Detainees get medications in their meals as you know."

"Thank you, Sophia," Marion said as she accepted the tablet packs. "It occurs to me, we're in a big building full of women, does that mean they're all synchronised together?"

"Fortunately for those who designed the waste removal systems of the facility, not quite. I shudder to think what would happen if we all started periods the same day. No, what happens is each Deck tends to synchronise within itself. Sometimes the Deck staff sync to their detainees, but their work patterns generally prevent that, although they can sync to each other. Most of the other staff are just random because they are moving about all the time."

"I see," Marion said. "Is there anything else the Professor said about me?"

"Not today. She said she'll probably have more on your other problem by tomorrow unless she gets side-tracked. I'll call you when I get news."

"I'd better be getting back to Talya, then, we've not long to go before lunch." Marion stood.

"Ah, I want you to take two of the morning ones with your lunch today, please, to give your body a good boost, and two of the evening ones tonight, then you can reduce to one each time. Unfortunately, you were left a little long without them, so we need to make up time. I'll review the dosage in three months, I think."

"Speaking of side-tracked, have you thought about what I said yesterday?"

"Yes, I have," Sophia replied. "I have to talk it over with my partner tonight, but I think you can guess which way I'm leaning." She smiled. "I really don't like this job, and I'll be glad to get back to doing some proper work for a change."

Marion returned to her office and she and Talya worked solidly through until the lunch trolley arrived. She checked her pack and swallowed two of the morning tablets with her drink before starting on the food. After the trays were collected Talya remembered that they had arranged to discuss working hours, so they spent some time trying to figure out a suitable timetable without success. Until Marion had covered more of the facility, it just wasn't possible to determine how long her sessions on the Decks would take or how many cases she might end up with. They were discussing the possibility that she might have to visit some Decks after the evening meal, during lockdown, when her terminal chimed with an incoming message.

"Service, Counsellor here."

"Service, Marion." It was Controller Brand. "I have Proctor Julian on the line, about Detainee Sutton's case. He's given me a summary of current progress and he wants to speak to you."

"I can talk to him now, Controller, it's convenient. If you would put him through?"

The picture switched to show the Proctor.

"Counsellor, Service! I'm sure you will be interested to learn what I've found. Thank you for alerting me to this, by the way. I'm almost certain that there will be one or two other victims of this particular crime still in the system that we haven't discovered yet." His face became serious. "But Citizen Sutton's case is slightly different from what we have found so far."

"Proctor? The person in the video looked to me exactly the same as the one in my own case."

Julian nodded. "Indeed it is. But she couldn't have been responsible in Sutton's case. You see, the date that this particular incident happened is the same day that the person responsible for your own crime was arrested. If you remember, I told you about the arrest and the circumstances of the crime the day you were exonerated. However, Citizen Sutton's incident happened clear over the other side of the city, and to commit that and to be where we arrested her fifteen minutes later, Citizen Rosenberg would have needed access to a military jet."

"Ah. Does this imply that there were others using the same mechanism to commit similar crimes, Proctor?"

Julian frowned. "We're just not sure at the moment. There are aspects of this that are puzzling. For example, how did a video of Rosenberg get into the record of the other crime? Does this mean that other unknown persons have been tampering with transaction records? We don't know at this point."

"Time stamps?" asked Talya, who had been listening, and who knew all the details of Marion's case.

"Who's that?" asked Julian. "Is there someone else in the room with you? I assumed you were alone."

"I have an assistant now, Proctor. She only started yesterday, and she's a trusty, but she is an expert on legal matters and was the person who helped me crack my own case." Julian raised an eyebrow. "With your permission, can she join the conversation? She may be able to contribute better than I can."

"A trusty?" Julian stared at Marion for a moment, then nodded abruptly. "I trust you, and if you trust her, then I guess I could listen to what she has to say. But you must both understand that this is a crime investigation in progress, and that all these conversations are privileged. Technically, I shouldn't be talking to a trusty at all, let alone about such matters."

"Thank you, Proctor," Marion said, and turned to Talya, who had gone white.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be interfering," she said shakily. "Perhaps I should leave the room while you speak together."

"No, you stay there," Marion instructed. "You started this, so you're involved now. Now, remind me how we make this a three-way."

"Trusty." Julian greeted Talya.

"S-s-service. M-m-my name's Natalya Makrova, Citizen Proctor," she replied. "Everyone calls me Talya."

Julian nodded. "Very well, then. You have something to contribute?"

"Yes, Proctor. If it is possible that the video was falsified in this new crime, is it also possible that the time stamps could have been changed? In other words, perhaps it was the same person, but not at the time you believe the crime was committed?"

The two went into a long and technical discussion about the two cases and ways in which the records might have been falsified, Marion contributing very little. Finally Julian turned his attention back to Marion.

"My apologies, Counsellor. Your assistant has demonstrated to me that you made a wise choice in selecting her. She has given me a number of alternative possibilities to investigate, for which I must thank her." He nodded his appreciation. "You do understand that what we have discussed might mean that Citizen Sutton may not actually be innocent as we originally thought. I may have to come to the facility and interview her. I will keep you informed as the investigation progresses."

"Understood, Proctor. And thank you for informing me in any case."

"My pleasure, Counsellor. End call."

Talya sagged back in her chair, relief plainly washing over her.

"I'll remember to keep my big mouth shut in future," she muttered. "I have enough problems as it is."

"I think you did quite well, considering," Marion said. "Don't forget, these are cases you have detailed knowledge of, and you could probably explain yourself to the Proctor much better than I ever could. In the future, though, we'll have to be much more careful."

"I know. I understand that your job here requires that some regulations be changed or amended, but I'm still not sure that he should have been able to speak to me," Talya considered. "Perhaps it was a bad idea to have me as a trusty."

"Not from where I'm sitting. Let's just proceed as we have been, but being extra cautious, and we'll have a review at the end of the week. Assuming one isn't forced on us before then, of course."

Distracted, they turned back to the case files and continued where they had left off before lunch. At four a trusty arrived with a trolley of tea and cakes. After serving them, she stood hesitantly in the doorway.

"Your pardon, citizen," she said, addressing Marion. "I understand that you help detainees with problems. Would it be possible for you to listen to mine? I'm sorry, I can't stay long."

Marion put on a big smile and beckoned the woman in again. She was probably in her early forties but looked older.

"Sit down, and tell me briefly what the problem is. Once I have an outline, I can work on it. I might be able to visit you in your room, I don't think I can follow you around while you're serving tea and cakes, can I?"

The woman perched nervously on the edge of the seat and spoke.

"It's my partner. He used to bring my children to visit every week, but I haven't seen him for three weeks. I'm allowed to send him messages, but there's been no reply to any I've sent since I last saw him. I'm worried something might have happened."

Out of the corner of her eye Marion noted that Talya had already brought up the trusty's record.

"We have your record here," Talya said. "I can see the date of his last visit to you, and the address he gave where you lived before you were sent here. Is he still supposed to live at that address, citizen?"

The woman switched attention to Talya, uncertain as to how she fit into Marion's role in the facility.

"My assistant," Marion explained. "She handles my administrative work better than I ever could."

"Oh. Yes, he still lives at that address, as far as I am aware."

"The Counsellor will make some enquiries and we will try and determine where your partner and children now are," Talya said. "I've made a note of your room number, a message will be sent there when we have some news. Will that be satisfactory, citizen?"

"Why, yes, citizen," the woman replied, rising from the seat. "Thank you for your time and attention. I'd better be going." She left the room and resumed pushing her trolley along the corridor.

"We might get something finished today if people didn't keep dropping in," Marion complained. "How many interruptions is that today?"

"They've all been for entirely different reasons," Talya pointed out. "And you wouldn't have turned away a potential client, would you?"

"Truth. How would you propose to handle this current case, then?"

"Like most of the other cases that might be classed as welfare, we'll have to ask Site Security to contact the Building Supervisor of the block where her partner was, to start with. He or she should be able to either confirm his status or connect us with someone who can."

"Assuming he's not someone like Hirsch was," Marion said. "I've put out enquiries in a number of cases so far, and had indifferent responses from some of them."

"The fact that you can't talk to them directly is hampering us," Talya said. "It's also unclear who has jurisdiction sometimes, housing, justice, social services, education, health, even the Department of Defence in two cases."

They were discussing the basic problem which Marion faced, which was that it was difficult for her to contact agencies outside of the facility without going through a tortuous route. They were trying to come up with answers to this problem when Donna Khiskov walked into the room, closed the door and sat down.

"Service, Director."

"Service, Marion, Talya. What's happened to your face, Marion? Do you know it's all red around your chin and under your nose?"

"Yes, Director," Marion said. "Alison lasered off some facial hair this morning. What can we do for you?"

"You both know why I have come here," Khiskov said.

"Yes, Director," Marion said. Talya had gone pale again, and she had sat back in her seat, away from her terminal. "I guess so. Unfortunately, there was nothing either of us could do about it before it was too late. Proctor Julian called the Controller, she transferred him to my terminal, and he began speaking before I had a chance to let him know I wasn't alone. I'm not sure how we could have handled the circumstance even with warning."

Khiskov nodded. "Oh, neither of you is to blame, so relax. I have reviewed the video record of what happened, and it was Proctor Julian's responsibility to proceed once he understood the position. Nevertheless, it leaves us with a problem, namely, what to do when it happens again. Next time might not be a case which your assistant should have access to, and there is still the basic principle that a trusty should not be involved when a call is received from outside the facility."

"We briefly discussed the situation, Director. The situation is difficult, as some of my inquiries involve communication with outside agencies. Unfortunately, we've been beset by interruptions today, so I haven't had a proper opportunity to think about the problem. We always knew that my job here would have unexpected consequences, this is one of them."

"Indeed. My primary responsibility is to maintain security for the whole facility as both of you well know, but I do appreciate your problem - a little. We, meaning the Facility Board, need to work out some kind of overall policy framework under which you operate, Counsellor. I will be asking the board to discuss this when we meet later this week.

"Meanwhile, we've come up with a work-around. I didn't think it would be fair to send your trusty out of the room whenever you had an incoming call, the poor woman would never be here long enough to sit down. Equally, she shouldn't be able to listen to sensitive calls without the caller being aware that she is present. So we've fixed your terminals so that, if she is in the room when a call is made, both your terminals will automatically go into a three-way. That should make it plain to the caller that she's here. Then it's up to the three of you if she needs to leave or not. Fair?"

Marion considered, and thought she could live with the limitation. After all, the two terminals were next to one another anyway. "Yes, Director."

Talya swallowed. "Thank you, Director. I apologise for my earlier actions."

"No need to. I reviewed the recording, and both your records, and realised that your own case - that of falsifying court records - meant that you were uniquely qualified to help the Proctor when he called. You have my permission to talk to Proctor Julian if he should call again, but," she emphasised, "to him and no-one else, and about those cases and no others. You understand me?"

Talya bobbed her head and replied, "Yes, Director. Thank you, Director."

Marion came to a decision. "Talya, we're not going to get much else done today. Why don't you go back to E Deck and relax for the rest of the afternoon? Can you make it back on your own?"

Talya promptly shut down her terminal and stood. "I think so, Counsellor. I'll see you down here tomorrow morning, then." She left the room, closing the door behind her. Khiskov raised an eyebrow.

"You wanted to talk to me privately, Counsellor?"

"I do, and the poor woman is frightened enough by your presence as it is. Frightened enough to be prepared to go back to E Deck on her own."

"She's a trusty, though, isn't she? She should be able to travel around on her own, surely?"

"Yes, but she's Talya, she's only been a trusty for a day, and she has her own difficulties." Marion described how Elena had suggested that she try to get help from Talya when Marion's own problem became apparent, and how withdrawn Talya was, and then how she had started helping with other cases that Marion had discovered. Talk then moved on to Marion's work, and how some of the cases had been handled, with specific emphasis on the way in which Site Security had helped or hindered the process. Khiskov described to Marion the general philosophy which governed the running of the facility with regard to security and the conversation broadened from there.

A knock came at the door, and a woman partly opened it to show her head through the gap.

"Director! You have a visitor waiting for a five o'clock meeting, did you forget?"

Khiskov started. "My goodness, have I been talking for an hour?" She stood. "Counsellor, I didn't believe Sophia when she said how good you were, my apologies. I think I understand your problems much better now, but I'd like to continue this conversation another time, if I may. I have to leave you now though. With your permission?"

"Of course, Director."

Marion had barely resumed working at her terminal when Alison came back in the door.

"Good, I see you're finally free. Mind if I check your face? I'm almost certain that the redness will have gone down by now."

Alison came round the desk and examined Marion's face at close quarters. She frowned.

"I guess I was being a little optimistic," she commented. "It's not bad, but it could have been better. Oh, I suppose the texture of your skin is going to be a little different to a woman's, isn't it?" Alison lifted one of Marion's hands and felt the skin on her forearm. She nodded. "It's quite nice and soft, actually, more so than I was expecting." She released Marion's hand. "I would think that by the time you leave tonight your face isn't going to excite much comment. By tomorrow morning you won't notice anything has been done to it at all."

"I'm glad of that," Marion said with a smile. "This morning, I wasn't feeling too pleased about the whole exercise, if you remember."

Alison nodded. "Yes, my apologies, I should probably have been more careful." She considered. "Thinking about it, of course, as you started off as a man you may have hair elsewhere on your body you might not wish to have now. Is there anywhere else you might want me to have a look at?"

"Ah, no, thank you Alison," Marion said hurriedly. "Fortunately, I don't have a lot of body hair, and I think the hormone treatments have prevented me growing too much more. I will, however, do a survey tonight when I undress and let you know if there's anything more you can do for me."

"Fine, just thought I'd ask."

She headed for the door with a muttered farewell. Marion slumped back in her seat. To think she had wanted to get back to work to have a quiet time! She looked at the half-cup of cold tea on her desk and made a decision, shutting down her terminal and standing. Time to go up to E Deck and grab a hot drink there, and to have a talk to her friends. The day's activities had given her much to think about.

*****

"You did what?" Belle asked as they walked from the tram stop towards the Enclave. "I have to give it to you, you don't just break regulations, do you, you blow them away with explosives."

"That's a huge exaggeration, Belle, and you know it," Marion protested. "Besides, you wouldn't let such things stand in your way, would you?"

"I suppose not," Belle agreed. "What do you think will happen now? Will they send Talya back to the Deck, do you suppose? It'll be hard on her, being able to help you has made her so much more alive than she used to be."

"I do hope not. As I told them at her interview, I need someone with her depth of knowledge. Trish knows how to run rings around the systems, but she's very little knowledge of legal matters or procedures at all. I'm not sure where I'd find someone else who does."

Belle grinned. "You could always ask your friendly Justice Minister."

"It's a thought. But given how much work I've already made for the man, I think I'll keep that as a last resort, if you don't mind. I'd rather keep Talya."

"What about the rest of it? Your job has turned out rather different than you first expected."

"We're all realising that. The big thing is, tough though my first five weeks have been, it's definitely shown that there's a need for my services. I just hope we can figure out some kind of structure that will allow me to do my job and keep everyone else satisfied."

They went through the gate into the Enclave, waving as usual at the guard.

"I suppose you want to stay in tonight," Belle stated. "Your face is much better than when I first saw you, but it probably needs overnight to settle properly. So, what do you fancy for dinner?"

They were clearing the dinner things away when the door announcer chimed. Belle and Marion looked at one another because they weren't expecting any callers. Belle put down the dirty plates she was holding and went to the door intercom, returning shortly.

"That was Arthur, Matteson is on his way up, he says he has news!"

Belle opened the door while Marion finished clearing away.

"Service, Belle and Marion. My apologies for the short notice, and for interrupting your meal," he began as he joined them in the living room. "I have discovered things today that I thought you ought to know as soon as possible. I can't stay, I'm late enough as it is and Annelise will have dinner ready and waiting."

"We've just finished, Marcus," Belle said. "Please continue."

"Gosh! What an amazing view," he said, distracted by the view of the park, laid out before him in the light of the setting sun. "I'm sorry, that is some view, perhaps the idea of your apartment being a prime property isn't so strange after all."

He turned back towards the two women. "It occurred to me that one way of resolving your position here would be to alter the existing Certificate of Exception to include all children of Founders as permissible residents," he explained. "That would qualify all of the nine children who live here, and their families would qualify under the existing rules, which would then include Marion. So I went to the Certificates office to register my proposal for consideration, to discover that another proposal had already been made, and one which might exclude Marion for other reasons."

The two women looked at him, stunned. Belle was the first to speak.

"Does this mean that there is some kind of conspiracy against us?"

Marcus nodded. "On the face of it, yes, although if it is it's buried quite deeply. The proposal was made by the Education Minister with responsibility for first and middle schooling, there's no obvious connection with yourselves. I would guess that he's been put up to it."

"What does the proposal say?" Marion asked. "Is it permissible to tell us?"

"Oh, yes, of course. The proposal is that only Party members may live in the Enclave. A quick check shows that Marion isn't a Party member, and to go through the procedure to become one would take some months, and there's plenty of scope for rejection along the way."

"I'm a Party member," Belle said slowly. "It made things easier when I enlisted, there's very little other reason. I'm not active, or anything like that."

"It didn't make any difference either way to me," Marion said. "I don't have any political pretensions, I was just a worker in a factory. Not even on the factory committee, either."

"That's what I thought," Marcus said. "You do realise what this means, don't you? Either both proposals get voted through or neither do."

"How so?" asked Belle. "Don't you just veto his, and it's dead? Isn't that what you explained to us the other night?"

"Yes," Marcus said patiently. "But then he'd just veto mine. It's a kind of Mexican stand-off. It's a favourite tactic of someone who wants to oppose a particular proposal, put up another one which puts a different obstacle in the way, and then threaten to veto if the original proposer doesn't support yours."

Belle pulled a face. "Nasty. Is there anything you can do about this, Marcus? Or are we stuck trying to get Marion into the Party in order to qualify her?"

"We need more information, and unfortunately we have very little time to gather it. One big problem is that I have no idea who I can trust at ministerial level or just below. I can't talk to people in case they are on the other side. However," he smiled suddenly, "I do have an inside source who may be able to help. Annelise works in the Defence Secretariat and knows some people who know people, if you take my meaning."

"That's an idea," Belle mused. "But can she do enough in the time available?"

Marcus shook his head. "I've no idea. At the moment it's the best I can come up with. Anyway, you now both know that the other side, and we can assume from this proposal that there is one, has made their counter-move. I'd better be getting home now." He turned to go.

"Marcus?" Marion said, stopping his movement towards the door. "If this other proposal goes through, do you have any idea how many people it is likely to affect? I can't imagine that every partner or child of a permitted resident is a Party member."

Marcus looked thoughtful. "You raise an interesting point. That proposal could backfire big time if so, but of course it might be too late by then to help Marion. I wonder how I can find that out? I don't know if Annelise has the right connections into State Security."

"She might not," Belle pointed out, "but why don't you ask Jane? She's the right person in the right place for that task."

"Jane!" Marcus put on a big grin. "Yes, of course! Let me go away and see what I can do, citizens. I'd better go, I'll be having cold scraps if I don't. Service to you both, I'll see myself to the door."

"Whew!" Marion breathed after Marcus had gone. "That puts a different complexion on things, doesn't it? Looks as if I was right, there is someone actively working against us."

They retired to bed early that evening, Marion being tired after her disrupted day and feeling the effects of the double hormone doses. She didn't feel the need to be male any more, she just wished that that part of her life was finally over with. She was also concerned that her job was now becoming entangled with the inevitable bureaucracy of the system, and might not even survive the process. Both women were disheartened by the fresh news that somebody was attacking Belle for some unknown reason, and that their new, closer relationship might be threatened. They clasped each other tightly for comfort as they lay in the darkness, wondering if the situation could possibly get worse and hoping desperately that it wouldn't. Sleep came with difficulty that night.