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.He’d half-expected complaints about the food – the chips were stringy, while the beans looked as though they’d passed through the digestive system of a cow – but Helen merely started to eat without comment.It was another piece of evidence, he decided, that she was used to living in space.The spacers tended to eat algae-based ration bars and repossessed foodstuffs rather than anything planet-dwellers would consider edible food.And they tended to rewire their stomachs to make eating it easier for them.He felt his head swim, briefly, as the food interacted with the remainder of the drugs in his system.The tiredness faded, but he knew from bitter experience that it wouldn't be gone forever.He needed to get home and lie down before he collapsed completely, which meant taken Helen home with him and putting her in the guest bedroom.The food tasted as appalling as he’d expected, but at least it was edible.He looked up and saw her looking back at him, her pale eyes nervous.She had no idea, he reminded himself, what to expect from him.“We’ll go somewhere you can sleep,” he said, as reassuringly as possible.The dammed guardsmen who’d taken her into custody had a lot to answer for.She probably thought he intended to take advantage of her as soon as they were alone.“You won’t have to worry about answering questions for the moment.”Helen lowered her eyes, then opened her bottle of water and took a long swig.Glen did the same – the water tasted flat, as if it had been run through the purifier a few times before being bottled – and then replaced the lid and stowed the bottle on his belt.He knew, all too well, that they might be caught in a traffic jam when they drove back to his apartment and they might need the water then.“We’ll go back now,” he said, standing.“Do you need to go potty first?”“I’m not a child,” Helen said, crossly.“I can go to the toilet on my own.”Glen concealed his amusement, then showed her to the nearest toilet and waited outside for her to finish.Standard procedure insisted that no prisoner was to go to the toilet alone, but he had no intention of forcing her to go with him in the room or finding a female officer to stay with her.He’d never liked sharing a toilet, even during basic training.But he was starting to worry when she finally came out of the room, having washed her face and remodelled her hair as well as using the facilities.He nodded to her, then escorted her through the sealed doors that led out into the enclosed car park.His service-issued car was parked at the far end of the giant compartment.“You should use an aircar,” Helen said, as he opened the door for her.The rear was configured for prisoners, but he didn't see the point in chaining her to the seat.“I think that would get you home quicker.”“The Air Traffic Control system was taken down a day or so after we heard the news from Earth,” Glen said, as he started the engine.“Besides, I never trusted the system.We were having countless accidents each day even before the Nihilists went to work.”He drove out and onto the darkened streets.There were no non-official cars on the roads, but there were far too many vehicles that had been branded as official after the curfew had been placed over the entire planet.He noticed a handful of troop transporters making their way through the streets, carrying soldiers to replace the guards on the central government buildings and other places of importance.The curfew would have been difficult to enforce over the city, but the Governor had imposed it on the entire planet.There just weren't enough men to hold the curfew in place, let alone arrest everyone who might break it for one reason or another.Glen had a dark suspicion that the Civil Guard had been making quite a bit of money from catching curfew-breakers, then letting them go in exchange for cash.But nothing had been proven.“The stars look odd from down here,” Helen said, suddenly
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