He circled even closer and she resisted the urge to run for the door. The way he stared and the way he was invading her personal space made the bile rise in her throat, burning its way to her mouth.

“Now you’ve got it.” He congratulated her.

Trying to be circumspect, Romy scoped out the storage room. After a week here, she knew the place back to front—literally. There was one way in and one way out. And it was on the other side of this man. Unfortunately, the room was long and narrow. It would be hard to get past the soldier.

She decided to take the Critamal by the pincers. “What do you want?” Romy said flatly, arms crossed over her chest.

The soldier rushed at her. Before she had time to scream, he was right in front of her. Romy couldn’t help stumbling backwards in fright.

“I wouldn’t mind a few things from you, darlin’. Pretty sheila like yourself. But for now, you’ll be telling me all about how you came to land here on Earth.”

A deep, consuming beat drummed in her ears. He was under Tina’s orders. Did Tina work for the Mandate? Atlas’s warning never to reveal the truth echoed in her ears.

“We’re here on research,” she said. The monotone reply sounded like a lie even to her.

The man reached for a strand of her hair and she swatted his hand away, moving along the wall to put distance between them. She was loath to step on top of any of the papers. These were historic documents. Easily damaged historical documents.

“We both know that’s a lie, darlin’,” he said. The man rested his finger on the trigger of his weapon. The message was clear.

“Surely Tina told you why we're here,” she pressed. There were other consequences the soldier couldn’t understand. By telling him, Romy would betray her knot. And that was something she was physically incapable of doing.

“You better get out of here right now, or Atlas will be hearing about this,” she said calmly.

The man laughed and Romy faltered. “You think Atlas will listen to you? He’s shoved you in this junk pit for a reason, you stupid bitch.” He kicked over a pile of books, which thudded onto the floor, spines contorting in a splayed sprawl.

For the first time Romy felt more anger than fear. But she knew showing her anger was a grade-A bad idea.

Atlas hadn’t placed her here because he disliked her. That she was sure of. But doubt nipped as she wondered if this soldier was right on one count. Would Atlas listen to her? He always brushed off her questions.

And he thinks I’m a child.