You submit to the guardswoman and allow yourself to be taken away, following after Sarah and her guards down a set of stairs which lead from the landing pad down into the fort.

You risk a glance at Terra and see nothing but a hard expression on her face, as if she’s trying to be as unyielding and unfeeling as possible. A second later, she disappears from view as you and Sarah descend into the warren like structure of the base. You’re led wordlessly through hall after hall, down stairs and around corners until finally you arrive at the cells. They’re not pleasant to look at. The one you and Sarah are bound for is about six feet by six feet, contains two bunks and a toilet behind a half-wall. The door is a thick metal plate monstrosity with two slots in it. This is grim.

They put Sarah in it first, then you. Sarah has been totally silent since being put into custody, but once the external bolts slam shut, she looks at you with a glimmer of something you can’t quite place in her eyes and asks you a question.

“So, how much do you hate her, yet?”

“Hate who? Terra?”

“Yeah,” Sarah sits on the bottom bunk. “The thing is, she seems so nice at first, you know? Then you do one little thing and you end up somewhere like this.”

“We might have done more than one little thing,” you say, moving to sit next to Sarah.

“What did I do, exactly?”

“You, uh… you were… hm.”

“Exactly. She didn’t like my attitude.”

“You did rough that guy up a bit,” you point out.

“He was an aggressor. I hardly touched him. And I didn’t do anything when Boris got captured. I could have,” Sarah says. “I could have taken care of all those assholes in about two minutes. But no. I knew Terra wouldn’t like that. So I let them live. And here I am, in a cell with you.”

“Yeah, well,…” you sigh. “I guess she’s in charge or whatever.”

“You better get used to cells,” Sarah says. “You have good instincts. You found a weapon and you came to help. That was the right thing to do. You keep following those instincts and you’ll keep the people you’re sworn to protect safe. You’ll also spend a hell of a lot of time behind bars.”

“I hope not,” you say, leaning back. The mattress is rubber and covered with a scratchy blanket. This is not going to be a comfortable night.

“So you slept with her?” Sarah’s mouth keeps moving and the questions keep coming.

“What? No,” you say. “We weren’t having sex.”

“You will,” Sarah says confidently.

“How do you know?”

“Because you want it.” Her eyes slide over to you. “Being in this cell probably makes you horny. You like being punished.”

“None of that is true. But even if it was, wanting it doesn’t mean Terra is going to sleep with me.”

“She wants it too. She likes to punish, and you like to be punished.” Sarah slides her fingers together. “It’s a perfect fit.”

“Uh huh,” you murmur, figuring that’s the safest thing to say.

“Climb up to the top bunk,” Sarah orders suddenly. “I’m going to get some rest.”

You look at her. She’s acting like she outranks you. Physically, she does. She’s a super clone soldier, capable of tearing you limb from limb. At the same time, you’re not sure you want to set the precedent of her ordering you around.