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painkillers,’ Kit said, appearing as Fox got to her feet.
    ‘No, I’m going to change and go out for a run. The air will clear my head.’
    Fifteen minutes later, circling around the northern side of The Lake, the headache was not shifting. Fox was beginning to think that either the air in the metro was not as clean as the air quality indicators said or it was down to all the legalese floating around in her head.
    There was so much of it! Some of it was actually pretty good, even some of the things put in by Wayden. They had filed an amendment which would require NAPA to give access to live case information when requested. Fox thought it was a little unlikely to pass given that the reasoning was dubious, but the board had agreed to press for it and come up with some stronger reasoning. For once, the request looked like something Wayden wanted, rather than something Wayden were doing for NIX, but it was one of the few.
    Of course, there was no way to know just how deep Wayden was in things with NIX. They were certainly being influenced, but Fox got the impression it was more than that. She was wondering about looking into Wayden’s financials and history when she heard the scream.
    Up ahead of her on the track she was running along, a man in a hoodie was charging toward her with a bag in his arms. The hoodie was grey and dirty, but the bag was new, in cream leather, and it really did not go with the outfit. Fox slowed, waited for the man to get within striking distance, and snapped her arm out, clotheslining him into a crumpled heap at her feet. She put her foot down on his chest before he could move.
    ‘Hey! What the fuck?!’
    ‘Yeah, just lie there and shut up, asshole,’ Fox told him. Inside her head, she added, ‘Kit, get NAPA here on the double, would you?’
    ‘Emergency call made and acknowledged,’ Kit replied almost immediately: the joy of digital transmission. ‘That was very impressive.’
    ‘Thanks.’ Fox pressed her foot down a little harder as the victim rushed over. Fox suspected there was about to be some gushing. She smiled. ‘Now that got rid of the damn headache.’
    ~~~
    Marie worked her jaw, trying to get the ache out of the muscles which felt as though it was likely there for life. It was time for chores, specifically for cleaning the dorm room, but that was easy, almost therapeutic. Classes were another matter.
    ‘You okay?’ Marie looked up at the other white-clad figure in the room, Sister Gilly, a bright, perky blonde who was helping with the common area set between the two blocks of beds. ‘The work’s not too much?’
    ‘This?’ Marie lifted the minivac she was using to clean over surfaces. ‘Oh no. This is my day job, though my skirt isn’t usually this short when I’m cleaning.’
    Gilly frowned a little. ‘They told us you were an actress…’
    Marie did not classify herself as the greatest of people-readers, but suddenly some of the tension she had noticed on meeting her dorm-sisters leaped into sharp focus. ‘More like “aspiring actress,” though I guess I should stop calling myself that. This is going to be my first role and until we start filming, I’m really just a maid with aspirations.’
    ‘Oh!’ Gilly’s eyes widened a little. ‘But Sister Naomi herself came to tell us you’d be joining us, so we figured you knew her, and… um…’
    ‘My friend knows her. Sam Clarion?’ From the slightly dreamy smile Gilly developed, Marie figured that the novice knew Sam. ‘And when I got the part and asked him about the profession, he introduced me to Sister Naomi. Just lucky, but this is a really great opportunity to make the role work.’
    ‘Wow, yeah, I bet. So, if it’s not the work, why the faces?’
    ‘Period three.’
    Gilly giggled. ‘Oh, yeah. I’d kind of forgotten what it does to your face. I’d say it gets easier, but you’re only here for the week.’
    ‘Huh. Chewing lunch was a real chore, but at least I’m learning something.’
    ‘Well,