“To see a what?” He arched an eyebrow. “We have no treaty with the … You aren’t even organized enough to be called the Earth Alliance. Nor are our peoples at war. You, my dear, are a spy. A potential terrorist captured during one of our military exercises. What rights do you presume you have? Here, you have no rank, no personhood, no name. You are little more than a disposable sack of meat. The sooner you understand that, the sooner you will understand the nature of your situation.”

Fela appeared to let the words sink in. Silence settled between them, slow and deliberate, another test he formulated for her. Silences never bothered her, however, since they allowed her time to gather her thoughts. Her mind focused on the room. The door. The hallway. Guard shift changes. The number of steps to the door. The thrum of the power conduits that ran through the walls. Methods of evasion once she escaped this room. Because she would escape this room.

The door opened with the grinding creak of unoiled hinges. A woman swept in, attended by two more guards. Her blond hair, brittle from so much dye, pulled back in a bun; a mercurial smile framed by too much lipstick; white teeth, row upon row, like a shark; all on an angular face whose every muscle was taut like a painting that had been refurbished many times.

“She doesn’t look like much,” the woman said.

“Luckily, I believe she’s under. Or else we might find out how formidable she is. As it stands, the truth crawler has attenuated to her.” The pale man’s face grew solemn, distant, while he studied her. Fela’s thoughts became muddled, a sun’s light obscured by the gentle haze of clouds. The pale man circled her twice, without her reacting to his movements. “Will you allow me to remove your restraints?”

Her thoughts dulled, Fela held up her wrists before she was conscious of her action. The gas lowered her resistance. The hostiles were either resistant or wore an unseen air filter. Fela noticed the guards, how they observed her without trying to look like they were. She didn’t return their gazes, no defiant hard eyes, which seemed to satisfy them. They retreated to the far wall. The woman paced about, the sole person onstage. Once the restraints were removed, the lead guard stepped aside, and the woman faced Fela.

“Your name?” The woman scanned her. A holovid of Fela’s image floated between them. Telemetric data streamed alongside the image. The woman projected another series of holovids alongside them. She checked a file, a proctor with the exam answers in front of them. She hummed a discordant melody while she perused a file.