The following morning, immediately after the breakfast trays were collected, Belle came in to brush Marlon's hair. She was anxious to bring Marlon up to date while he sat cross-legged on the bed for her.

"I couldn't make contact with your Proctor," she said directly. "Do you know which station he operates out of?"

Marlon shook his head. "No. I was in the back of a closed van, so I've no idea. However, it's in the same building complex as the court I was taken to. Perhaps you can locate it that way."

"Good idea. Now, do you want to come out, today? What's your exercise schedule?"

"I've got treadmill a little later on. I did promise Martha I'd go and tell the girls all about it. I can't say I'm looking forward to that, but it needs doing. And," he caught Belle's eye, "I'll be careful."

When the doors were released, Marlon walked down to the lounge and entered. At once a babble of questions erupted, but it quietened down almost immediately when they saw the look on his face. Marlon told them what had happened the previous day, and there was universal sympathy for his predicament, and not a few wet eyes. He promised to keep them updated about the progress of their investigations and he made them promise not to cause a fuss over his circumstances.

Several of the women felt fairly strongly about what had happened to him, and he had to make them see that almost anything they thought to do to support him might have unfortunate consequences for all of them. It was with some relief that he went back to his room to change into his sports gear for the treadmill session.

After lunch, he went along to Talya's room. He was surprised to find the door slightly ajar - not actually closed, but not wide open either. He still decided to knock on the door and wait for her.

"Do come in," she said, opening the door. "I've been waiting for you."

"Have you any further news?" he asked, as he sat on the seat beside her.

"Not really," she replied, shaking her head. "I've been looking for this procedure they carried out on you, this 'regression therapy', but I've not been able to find out much. Your medical history is of course locked."

"Would Sophia be able to get into it?" Marlon suggested.

"Maybe. She might not be permitted, or willing, to tell us what we want to know, though. Patient records are confidential, even from the patient, especially in a place like this."

"Have you tried to contact her?" he asked.

"I did, but she was out on the Decks when I tried. I left a note asking her to call."

"When I saw 'regression therapy' in my file," Marlon said, "I assumed that it would involve sessions with a shrink, not wholesale body modification. Is there anything else we can do to find out what it is? What about the reference databases?"

Talya nodded. "Possible. I did have a quick search this morning without finding very much."

"What about just looking for 'gender reassignment'? That should give us the basics, surely?"

"Good point." Talya turned to her keyboard, and the two spent the afternoon learning about things they never knew existed, and didn't particularly want to know about. By the time the evening chime went, their heads were spinning with the information overload, but Marlon at least had a vague idea what had been done to him. He went back to his room satisfied with the progress, if not happy with what they'd discovered.

The following morning, Marlon was surprised when his door wasn't released after breakfast. He had considered contacting the watch station, but before he could set up the call his door was opened and Sophia came in.

"Service, Sophia."

"Service, Marlon. I hope you are well?" she asked.

"As to that, have you spoken to any of the Shepherds recently?"

"No, you're nearer the entrance than they are, so I haven't got to them yet. Why, is something up?"

Marlon went and sat on the bed, and patted beside him for Sophia to sit down.

"I had a, don't know what I might call it, perhaps a 'moment of truth' would come quite close, day before yesterday," he explained. Sophia looked at him curiously. "Notice anything different about me?" he asked her.

"No, why?"

Marlon stood up, and stood by the door so she could see him full length properly. He turned to the side.

"You're looking better," Sophia said, finally. "I can't see any other differences. What do you want me to see?"

"I had to go down to Stores three days ago, because my clothes wouldn't fit me - again. They gave me all new outfits to wear, including bras. I need bras because I've got breasts. I've got breasts because I now have the body of a woman - mostly. I shouldn't have the body of a woman, or breasts, because I'm not a woman. I've never been a woman. Why have you done this to me? What's 'regression therapy'? We tried to find out what was going on yesterday, but we can't get at the information because it's medical. What's going on, Sophia?"

Sophia was taken aback by this blast. "I-I don't know," she said quickly. "I don't know the exact details of each detainees' treatment, I just go round and make sure everything is all right. Are you saying this shouldn't have been done? That you're not supposed to be having this treatment?"

Marlon calmed down. "We just don't know, Sophia, because we can't get at the information to make a judgement. But we thought you might be able to do the research for us. Even if you can't tell us much, because it's confidential, you might be able to confirm or deny our suspicions."

"I, well, possibly, I don't know. Who is this 'we' you keep referring to?"

"The Shepherds have taken an interest. And I've been spending time with Talya, who knows a bit about court procedure."

"Talya? Talya? You mean you've been in her room? How did you manage that?"

"She seemed interested in miscarriages of justice."

"You got Talya to open up? I'm impressed." Sophia got very still. "But if you are making an allegation then you must be very careful. The State does not make mistakes in matters like these."

"I'll withdraw or press any allegations when I have enough data to make a decision with," replied Marlon. "Will you help me find out more? It's my own body we're talking about, here."

"Maybe. You'll have to let me be the judge of what I can tell you, though. What's that therapy you mentioned?"

"Regression therapy. It's mentioned as one of the sentences I received. What exactly is it, and am I undergoing it?"

"Will you let me look for you?" she asked.

"Certainly. That was the object of the exercise."

Sophia stood and seated herself in front of the personal terminal. She found his record, and drilled down to the medical detail.

"Yes, you are receiving regression therapy. I didn't know you were. I've no idea what it is. I'm sorry, I'll have to go back to the office and find out for you. I won't be able to do that until this afternoon, as I'm on my rounds until lunchtime." She looked at Marlon. "In fact, this may delay me a little."

"Would this therapy involve drugs, and hormones, do you think?" he asked.

"I don't know. Possibly. If what I see in front of me is the result of this therapy, then almost certainly. But it is on your sentence sheet, you know. If it's been prescribed by the court, we have to do it."

"Even if my case is still in appeal status?"

Sophia swung round to face the still-standing Marlon, her expression one of astonishment.

"Are you serious?"

She swung back to the terminal and worked her way back to the top of his file, checking his status.

"You are serious." She shook her head. "This should definitely not have happened."

Sophia let out a long breath, and at that moment Elena opened the door.

"Sophia, could I have a word, please? Out in the corridor."

"Why, yes, Shepherd." She got up and joined Elena outside, closing the door behind her. After about ten minutes she reappeared, her expression hard.

"Citizen? Elena has explained much to me. I can't spend any more time with you, unfortunately, because my time on any Deck is limited, but it looks like you may have a case - several cases, in fact. When I get back to Sick Bay I will spend some time finding out for you what I can. This might be tricky, as it appears a superior of mine might be involved, so it may take time. Rest assured, I'll tell you what I can, as soon as I can."

"Thank you, Sophia," Marlon answered.

"Right. Now I have to go and rapidly check everyone else on E Deck. If you'll excuse me, citizen?"

"By all means. Am I free to leave my room now?"

"Elena's here, I'll ask her." She turned in the doorway and spoke to Elena, before turning back to Marlon and nodding. "Yes, you are. Service, citizen," she added, then left.

Elena came in and offered to brush Marlon's hair before he left his room, to which he agreed. As she did so, she told him that the Shepherds had been disturbed by recent events, and had held a meeting where they had researched and reviewed as many of the regulations as they thought might be relevant, and had come to some conclusions, which they were keeping to themselves at the moment. She refused to say much more, except that they viewed his position favourably, and that it could be some time before any change in his status might happen, so he should be patient.

The rest of the morning dragged slowly. The detainees in the lounge wanted to talk of his predicament and nothing else, but his previous warnings forced them to skirt the subject, so the conversation was somewhat low key compared to usual.

Eventually, lunch came, and shortly afterwards he knocked on Talya's door. Once comfortable inside, he brought her up to date with the latest discoveries by Sophia. Talya nodded.

"It's much as we suspected, although it's nice to have it confirmed. In some respects," she added, "what's been done to you is not as important as the fact that something has been done to you. And I'm interested to learn that Sophia understands the implications of doing that while you're still in appeal status."

"Yes. She also understands that it could implicate one of her seniors. It may take some time to make any further progress, though. Have you managed to learn anything more?"

Talya shook her head. "No, not much. I'm expecting your Proctor to be the big breakthrough, although I'm also looking at other angles in case we can't get hold of him for some reason."

"Understood. In the mean time, why don't you tell me something about why you're in here? You did say you would."

Talya immediately became defensive. "This could be difficult for me." She paused, trying to find a way to explain. "I made a big mistake," she said eventually with a sigh, "I got romantically involved with the wrong person. Everything seemed to be working out so well, and then he started asking me questions about what I did during the day. Turns out love really is blind, he was a known criminal. He did tell me, though, that his interest in me was real, that he did love me, I don't know if that's true any more. Trouble is, my position as a court clerk was too good an opportunity for his associates to pass up. They pressured him, and he pressured me, and I changed a few things I shouldn't have. I'm not clever enough to do that without getting caught, and so I got caught. So did he, but his associates got away."

She smiled wanly. "Everything seemed to be going along just right, and then, bang! Suddenly, I'm on the wrong side of the dock, and I end up in here. I begin to understand how you must have felt."

"Only partly," responded Marlon, "until that day I'd never even seen the inside of a court room. I didn't even know why I was there."

"True. But for me, as for you, it was still a shock, as I saw myself as part of the forces of law and order, and suddenly I'm a criminal. Now I'm in limbo, because the system won't trust me any more, so I can't go back to my job in court, and the criminals don't trust me either, since I helped to put many of them into the Facilities."

"What are you afraid of, in here? That someone will kill you? I think instead you'll find a lot of sympathy for your position."

"How so? I'm part of the system, in their eyes."

"You're also a woman, and you've fallen in love, which most of them - and myself - can relate to. When love comes along, reason goes out the window. You know that. So do most of the women up here. I think you're being far too harsh on yourself," Marlon said.

"You think that? You're not exactly an expert on what goes on in these places. What makes you think you know how they'll respond to me? Besides which, I feel guilty for having betrayed the people and the system I worked for," she replied.

"Firstly," Marlon explained, "I know, fairly well, all the detainees on E Deck who are allowed out of their rooms, yourself excepted. There are four up here who aren't let out at any time, in my opinion those four should be in a hospital, but I digress. Yes, I can promise you you're not in any danger from any of them. Especially if I guarantee it, and I do."

Talya's eyes grew round. "You can do that?" she whispered. "Perhaps I've been sticking my head in the sand for too long." She looked at Marlon. "You said, 'Firstly'. Is there more?"

"Yes, in addition, practically everybody on E Deck, and probably most of those in the rest of the facility, has been betrayed by someone or by the system. We can all identify with your guilt, your anger and your frustration. You're one of us, all right."

Talya looked troubled. "You may well be right. I don't know what to do about it, though. I don't even know if I want to do anything about it. I've shut myself in here for so long I've probably made myself agoraphobic. How can I face the outside world again?"

"You have to do it slowly, just like I did," he replied. "Take it a day at a time. I suggest that I bring people to visit you, one at a time, so that you aren't crowded. I'll stay and help, if you like. Or you could ask one of the Shepherds to stay. Do you trust the Shepherds?"

"Yes and no. I don't have a lot to do with them if I can help it."

"You're missing out on a great deal," he said. "I've had nothing but friendship and goodwill from them since I've been here. I don't say they'll treat everyone the same, but the ones on E Deck, at least, have no reason to treat anyone up here badly."

"You paint a picture of life outside my door which is quite different to the one I had imagined," Talya admitted, "You've given me much to think about. You really do see things clearly, don't you?"

"So they tell me," Marlon said with a smile. "Are you interested?"

She thought, and then said, "I'll talk to you again tomorrow, if you don't mind. I'm going to have to do some serious thinking of my own tonight. But," she added, "I'll make sure I don't neglect what I've been doing for you. Your predicament is much more important to deal with than mine."

"Perhaps it's time I went," he decided, "and left you to sort yourself out. I'll come by tomorrow afternoon, then."

He let himself out of her room and walked back to the watch station. Linda looked up at him as he approached.

"Progress?"

"No and yes," he replied. "Not much more to add to my own file, I think, but I may have just talked Talya into rejoining society."

"You've done what?" asked Kristina, her eyebrows raised.

Marlon held his hands out, palms down. "Don't get excited. It's an ongoing project. It'll probably take some time, perhaps a week or two. But I've given her a lot to think about, and she sounds receptive."

"You're amazing, you know that?" Linda said. "We tried for months to get her out. Even Sophia tried. I can't imagine how you did it."

"Perhaps it's my sisterly touch," he suggested with a twinkle. Linda spluttered.

Kristina said, "Seriously, you do have some kind of touch. Have you given a thought to what you might do when you leave here? I can't see you going back to heavy engineering, myself. Why don't you think about some kind of career as a counsellor, or something like that? You'd need to go on a course, I don't know how you'd manage the theoretical side, but I don't see a problem for you if you wanted to change career like that. Might even get State help."

"Hmm. I haven't given any thought about what happens when I get out, probably because I thought I'd still got more than four years before that happens. But your suggestion has merit, I'll consider it."

He walked into the lounge in a totally different frame of mind from the last time he came. He explained to the group there about his visit to Talya, and her fears. He had difficulty getting them to understand that her mental view of the facility was completely different to theirs, and how he had talked her into gradually opening up - he hoped. The women expressed concern at Talya's attitude, and assured Marlon that they would co-operate in his project to bring her into the community.

That evening, after dinner, Alex broadcast to the Deck, saying that the low numbered end, where Marlon was, would be kept locked in the following day, as they would be taken individually down to Sick Bay for breast and cervical screening. She apologised for the short notice, as the schedule had been brought forward.

The following morning, after breakfast, Marlon had nothing to do except wait, so he used the time investigating the courses which were on offer to the detainees. Most of these were fairly basic, as the general intelligence of the average detainee wasn't that great, but there were one or two courses which interested him, and he was reading the prospectuses when the door opened.

"Citizen. Time to go for your yearly breast and cervical screening. Hands in front."

His escorts were two medical orderlies, whose jobs were apparently just to convey the women up and down to Sick Bay. When they reached it, he was led into a different area to normal, where another detainee was standing, along with her own pair of orderlies. Shortly, the other detainee was taken away, and a little while later, he was led to an examination room. His cuffs were removed.

"Underwear off, citizen."

"Pardon, Shepherd?"

"Your underwear. You don't need to take anything else off for this first examination."

Marlon reached up under the skirt of the dress and pulled down his briefs. One of the orderlies held out a tray, and he dropped the briefs on it. Then he realised what they were about to do.

"I don't think there's much point in me doing this, Shepherd," he said.

"Everyone gets tested, it's the rules." The two orderlies moved towards him. Marlon held up his arms, slowly, to show he obeyed, walked quickly towards the examination chair and lay on it. The two orderlies strapped him down, not being particularly gentle about it. As they did so, a harassed looking woman came in through another door carrying a bowl with some test sticks in it.

"Good morning," she said without looking at Marlon. "This won't take long, and then you'll be taken to have your breasts scanned. Will you adjust the chair for me, please?" she asked one of the orderlies.

Marlon was tilted back and his legs raised and separated. The orderly pulled Marlon's skirt up out of the way, and then stopped, staring at the exposed pelvic area.

"Doctor -"

"What?" The woman was pulling up Marlon's record in the room's terminal. She turned round, and jumped when she saw what the orderlies were goggling at.

"What nonsense is this?" she said, "Is this some kind of joke?"

"If you'd bothered to look at my record before you put me in this chair, you'd have found out that I was a man when I came into this facility," Marlon said, greatly daring.

The woman peered at the blank space between his scrotum and his anus, and then turned back to his record.

"I'll forgive your impertinence, since you're substantially correct," the woman said after a good look at his file. She gestured to the orderlies. "Let her, I mean him, go."

Marlon was released. He stood up and straightened his dress, collected his briefs and put them on again. The woman spoke again.

"What about those?" she asked. "Are they real?" She pointed to his breasts.

"Yes, Shepherd. They're not that big, but they're real."

She looked at him suspiciously, trying to decide whether he was being impertinent again.

"Very well, looks like you'll be having them scanned." To the orderlies, she instructed, "Take him outside and wait for the scanner as normal, would you?"

Without another word, she picked up her bowl and departed. The orderlies cuffed him again, and took him back to the waiting area. One of the orderlies looked at him curiously.

"If you're really male, what are you doing in here, then?" she asked.

Marlon replied, "It's a long story. It's also medically privileged information, so it would be best if you don't discuss what you saw here with anyone, if you get my meaning."

"Of course, citizen," the woman said, "but it was just a bit of a shock seeing those, especially as you look just like any other woman in here."

"Yes, well, I didn't look anything like this when I arrived here," Marlon said.

Before he could say anything more, a door opened and Sophia poked her head round.

"Next! Oh, service, Marlon. Come on through."

They followed Sophia through the corridors of Sick Bay until they came to a large room almost filled by a big machine which Marlon recognised as a body scanner.

"I'm going to have to ask you to strip in order to feed you into the machine," she explained. "You can keep your briefs on. Cuffs, please, citizens," she instructed the orderlies. "You can relax," she added to them, "Marlon's not going to be any trouble to us."

Once he stripped off, he approached the machine. Sophia spoke with a note of apology in her voice.

"I'm sorry, you're going to be strapped into this beast. It's not for security, this time, it's because we don't want you to move about while the scan is happening." Marlon stood by the table. "You are going to have to lie face down, as well."

He noticed that the table on rails on which the patient lay had a section of the upper body area missing. He supposed this would allow the patient's breasts to dangle down so that they could be scanned more efficiently. Sophia helped him to lay on the table. She rested his arms by his sides, and strapped them there. Straps also went in the usual places - waist, upper torso, thighs, ankles. His head rested in a padded ring, face down, so that he was looking at a section of the painted surface of the table under the padding. A pad was placed either side of his ears, and a strap was passed over all to firmly lock his head in place. He found that a lip at the bottom of the ring held his jaw in place. The only things he could move were the tips of his fingers, and his toes.

Sophia's voice came to him, which would have made him jump if he had been able to. There were obviously headphones inside the ear pads.

"Right. The machine's going to pull the table inside, and then we'll begin the scan. When I'm ready, I shall ask you to hold your breath for a short while, so your rib cage isn't moving. Understood?"

Marlon managed a grunt in reply, and then the table was drawn into the machine.

"Just hold your - Director. What can I do for you? I'm in the middle of a scan."

Of course Marlon couldn't see anything that was going on. He couldn't hear the person Sophia was speaking to, either, apart from a murmuring.

"Yes, Director, but that will delay us. I've got several..."

(murmur)

"I know he's a special case."

(murmur)

"Let me get this straight. You want a full scan of torso and abdomen as well as the normal breast scan?"

(murmur)

"What about arms, legs and head, then?"

(murmur)

"Send the scans through in the normal way, then?"

(murmur)

"Yes, Director, I will send them direct to you."

There was a delay of a few seconds, and then Sophia said, "Marlon? Sorry about that. Now, hold your breath for me, please."

The machine started up, with a high-pitched whine that made Marlon's teeth ache.

"And relax. Now the Director wants me to do a scan of your body. Much the same as before, except you'll have to hold your breath for longer. Ready?"

Marlon grunted again, and the whine began again.

"Now, hold your breath... fine. Five seconds longer, please... and relax. The scan will take a little longer to complete. Good, we're finished." The table began withdrawing from the machine, and the orderlies started unstrapping Marlon as soon as the buckles came within reach.

Sophia insisted on helping him to dress again, and he realised it was no coincidence that found her mouth next to his ear.

"You heard the conversation, yes? Something's going on. Tell Elena what happened down here."

She turned to the two orderlies, and Marlon presented his wrists for the cuffs.

"Take him directly back to E Deck, please, as quickly as you can. I would suggest that you use the stairs this time. When you get there, take him directly to the watch station."

"Yes, Doctor. At once."

Marlon was rushed back to E Deck, his thoughts turning over what had happened in Sick Bay, and what the events might mean. For Sophia to issue instructions like that, implied she was very concerned about what was going on. He realised it was no coincidence that the mike had been left open during the Director's visit, and that Sophia had wanted him to overhear the conversation.

He reached the watch station, and the orderlies released him and went to collect their next detainee for scanning. The look on Marlon's face, and the fact that he hadn't been returned to his room, alerted them to the fact that something had happened.

"I feel faint," Marlon said, "Would one of you walk with me for a while?" He looked at Elena meaningfully.

"Sure," she said, and, taking his arm, led him through into the far end of the deck. She put her arm round his waist, and as they walked slowly to the end, Marlon told her what had happened.

"That gives a strong clue as to who or what's responsible for your changing into a woman," she muttered. "The fact that she's interested in your internal organs as well as your external ones leads me to suspect she might want to take a direct hand. You did want to keep your genitals as they are, didn't you?"

Marlon, who hadn't put two and two together, was shocked. "You think she's meaning to hijack me and chop them off? That's terrible! No, I don't want to be changed. Or if I did, in the future, I would want it to be my decision, not someone else's."

Elena nodded. "As I would expect. This goes far above neglect or incompetence, and starts to look more like malice. We have to take steps to protect you. Time for a council of war, I think. We'll need Talya. Do you think you can entice her out? We'll use the Treatment Room."

Elena walked back to the station, and he returned back up the corridor to knock on Talya's door. Behind him, Elena was whispering in the ears of the other day Shepherds.

"Marlon?" Talya said as she opened the door. She had been doing the channel twelve exercises, and was red-faced. "I didn't expect you until this afternoon." Her eyes asked a question.

"I decided, that if perhaps you wanted to mix, a good start might be to have a walk up and down the corridor while it's quiet," he said carefully. He stood right in the doorway and beckoned, in such a way that the video pickups would probably not see it. Talya's eyebrows shot up. "It's important, I think," he continued. "You need to adjust to larger spaces."

She stared at him for a second, and then said, "You're probably right. So long as I'm not out too long."

"I'll look after you," he said. Talya walked out into the corridor and blinked.

"I do come out here on occasion," she said, "when I get my hair done, for instance, and when I have to go to Sick Bay. When I go on the treadmill."

"Yes, but today's a bit different," Marlon said. "Put your arm round my waist, Talya."

"What?"

"Just do it. It'll look better on the video pickups." He wrapped his arm round her waist, and, after a hesitant pause, she put her arm round his. "Comfy? We'll walk slow so you don't get tired quickly."

"What are you on about?" she said, mystified.

Ahead of them, Marlon saw the Shepherds, one by one, wander into the Treatment Room. By the time they reached the grille separating their section from the watch station only Linda was left. She completely ignored them, and Marlon realised that there was probably a rule against leaving the watch station unoccupied. He turned, and they ambled slowly along until he gave Talya a slight push to change direction and they entered the Treatment Room. Talya was surprised to find three Shepherds there. Belle closed the door behind them.

"Come over here and face the window. That way they can't lip-read you. This room is monitored, but it's likely no-one will think to check it's record until we have this sorted out," said Elena.

Elena brought Talya up to date, and Marlon went over his trip to Sick Bay again so that they could analyse it further for any additional clues.

"The whole breast and cervical scanning thing was due in a couple of weeks," Elena said. "I can't think of a reason why it was brought forward, except to permit the Facility Medical Director to get up-to-date scans of Marlon's body. Sophia obviously smelled a rat as well. Thank the stars that she was doing the scanning! Anyway, there's a risk that someone may come and spirit Marlon away for some more drastic body modification, and given that we suspect that it's all against the rules, we have to prevent that."

She looked at the other Shepherds, and they nodded agreement.

"Firstly, if someone does come for him, I want you to refuse to hand him over. Refer them to me if you need to. Marlon, I want you to spend this afternoon in Talya's room, assuming Talya doesn't mind. That should delay them finding him long enough for us to organise a defence. But I don't want Marlon's ID anywhere near Talya's terminal, understood?"

Talya and Marlon nodded.

"We'll alert Alex and Sandy when we change over this evening. Now, there's a possibility they may come in the middle of the night, which might be difficult to handle. So, after dinner, I will get one of the evening shift to bring you along to this room for the night. You'll have to sleep in the chair, I'm afraid, and there's no toilet facilities. You can handle that?"

Marlon nodded again.

"As far as the evening and night shift is concerned, if someone asks for you, you've already been taken, and no-one knows where. We'll fetch you and take you back to your own room as soon as we get here tomorrow morning, and you should be able to have breakfast in your own room."

She took a breath, and turned to Belle. "Have you been able to get hold of that Proctor?" she asked.

Belle shook her head. "It's not possible. He works at the same time I work, and we can't call out from here. I tried yesterday evening, but of course he'd gone home. I did leave a message, but I'm afraid it wasn't much more than 'call me', and if he does that in the daytime, I'm not going to be there. I have an idea, though. I need Alex's messaging address. When I get home tonight, I'll compose a message and send it to her at her apartment. When she gets home tonight, she'll find it and she can call the Proctor tomorrow during the day before she comes in for her shift."

"We can do a certain amount of priming her at shift changeover," Elena said, "but you're going to have to spell everything out to make sure that when Alex does get through, she can put a coherent case."

Belle nodded. "I know, I'm working on it in my mind already. What else can we do?"

"Talya?"

"If you want to stop the doctor in her tracks, you have to use the appeal flag on Marlon's record and take that to the Facility Controller. This afternoon, if you can," she replied.

"Yes," said Elena, "that's what I thought. I'll see if I can do that this afternoon. It'll mean more work for the rest of you," she indicated the Shepherds, "especially with all the to-ing and fro-ing to Sick Bay. Anybody think of anything else we can do?"

There wasn't much more, and the group dispersed very slowly so as not to cause interest to anyone who might be watching. Marlon took Talya back to her room.

"Thank you, Marlon. That was interesting. I've decided you were most likely right about me. We'll have to put off any visiting until after we get over this little problem, but I'm willing to try if you'll help me. And," she added, "one forgets how comforting physical touch can be. The right kind of physical touch, that is." She sighed. "Of course, the last person who gave me the right kind of physical attention is now in a men's facility, and I don't know that I'd be that interested in seeing him again. Still, I've made a start. I'll see you after lunch."

Marlon managed barely five minutes in the lounge with the detainees from the 'far end', who of course had been allowed out of their rooms, before the chime went for lunch and he had to go back to his own room. As soon as she was able, Belle let him out afterwards and he made his way to Talya's room, where he sat on her bed and they talked.

She told him about Gregor, and also about the two partners she had had before him, and he told her about Anna, and what had happened to her. Their discussion widened to general male and female relationships, including the question about what might happen to Marlon when he was released, whenever that might be. Marlon asserted that in his head, he was still all male, and therefore was interested in women, and not at all in men. He conceded that the hormones, if maintained, might cause him to change his mind in the future, but it certainly wasn't that way at present.

"Which is just as well," said Talya. "You do realise you have an admirer on the Deck?"

Marlon looked blank. "Have I? Who would be interested in me, knowing what I am?"

"You're thinking a lesbian wouldn't be interested in you, because you have male genitals, and that a hetero woman wouldn't be interested in you, because you look like a woman?" She smiled. "There are many people who wouldn't mind what you look like, and I know one who obviously doesn't care."

Marlon saw a problem, and waved his arms. "Don't say anything! I can't afford to get involved in any relationships, especially not at the moment. I don't want to know. If there's time, you can tell me later, assuming there is a later."

Talya nodded reluctantly. She'd wanted to present Marlon with this juicy titbit, but now was obviously not the time to do it. They moved on to other subjects.

The chime went for dinner, and Marlon returned to his room to eat his meal. No sooner had the trolley with the trays disappeared into the lift than Alex came to his room. He paid a quick visit to his wash room and then followed her down to the Treatment Room, where she locked him in.

"Sorry about this," she whispered before she left, "it's going to be a boring evening for you. Good night."

Marlon settled into the treatment chair and mulled over what Talya had said. Who could it be? Talya barely knew anyone on E Deck, because of her own enforced isolation, except the Shepherds. Perhaps it was one of them? If it was, it was something that Talya had noticed which he had not. In other circumstances, he might be interested, but not at the moment, it was a distraction he could do without. Who was it? Eventually, he turned out the light and drifted into sleep, slightly chilled without his quilt to cover him.