Howard knew that Hannah was no old-school veteran of the revolutionary leadership but had been seen in the company of Beatrice in town a few times recently. They'd been together in bars and shops that they'd visited together with unidentified men, but the SMSIS (Special Masculine Spearhead Intelligence Service) reckoned those men were just for cover; he might have to find them later on and ask them a few questions. As for now, he felt Hannah could still be the lover of Beatrice and he might try to put a rift between them. She was marched into the open, her hands still cuffed on her back and a climbing rope pinning her arms to her body and running just under her breasts. Her powerful arms couldn't help her now - Masters, from his window on things, thought to himself "I'd love to see her flogging Beatrice, once I've broken her" - and her eyes were glowing like tiny black diamonds.

"Well, my dear" Howard began. "You haven't been staying with this little colony for very long, have you? I'm sure it's felt nice to you, digging the weeds in the garden and talking and planning your future. Who told you to come and live with Ms Butler, by the way?"