"Is that..." I narrowed my eyes at the screen, "Us?"

I pointed at the computer and used my other hand to point around the room until the screen showed my fingertip pointed straight at it, snapping my head in its direction I was met with a fake plant, its leaves shiny with wax but when I looked closer.

"That's so-

"Creepy," Astra shuddered.

I assessed the small hidden camera with awe "I was going to say cool."

"No, it's super creepy. Look." I turned back around to see her focused on another frame. "There are cameras in the bathrooms, in the street outside, apartment rooms, restaurants- stars," She gasped flicking through each frame quickly "There's at least one viewpoint of, I could guess, every corner in this dome."

I grabbed a rolling chair and sat in it, wheeling myself up next to her "How do you of all people find this creepy, isn't your whole thing about watching people."

"Protecting," She corrected me through clenched teeth "I protect them. I watch them in the way a guard dog watches its family, I don't peep at them when they're in the toilet."

I put my hand over hers, stopping her from tapping to the next angle "Hey, relax, this is the security room right?" I used her hand to scroll up and close the video footage "They probably doing it for safety reasons too. And if it truly upsets you so much, I assure you no one is watching each of these at the same time, all day every day."

She pulled her hand away from mine, shaking her head "No you don't get it, this footage, these cameras, are simply a way to keep tabs on everyone when they think no one is watching. Someone set these up not to watch all the time but intending to be able to look back at them whenever they want to," She pressed her lips together "It's not safety Sol, it's control. A way to take away people's private thoughts so that even when they say something when they think they're alone they aren't. They never really are."

I leaned back into my chair, taking in the weight of her words "Then why set it up?" I asked, "If it's about control why not straight tell people they're always watching? Why leave them to believe they're alone? Who's idea was this? And what are they so afraid of being said when they're not around?"

"Grab the bottles from the top shelf," Astra spoke from behind me, "The ones at the back so people don't see you took them."

I rolled my eyes, reaching my arm to slip three of three methylated spirit bottles between my fingers and picking them up. I eyed the purple dark liquid and held it up to the light. "Is this some sort of healing liquid?"

She flicked the back of my head and tried to jump to grab the bottles, but I moved them higher out of her reach, "No, idiot, it's a cleaning liquid. It's going to be the first thing you pour on my wound and your hands too."

I passed her two of the bottles and kept the third one, opening its cap and holding it to my nose before flinching.

"Smells bad huh?" Astra asked as I tossed her the bottle, my nose still twitching.

I shook my head, "It smells like it's going to be painful," I corrected her before chuckling, "But you're getting the hang of that aren't you?"

"The bandages are next," She ignored me, turning her eyes down to the list of things she claimed we needed to help her, "They should be over there."

I turned around to see where she was pointing and sighed before sinking to my knees. "This place is so badly organized," I huffed, pulling out a roll of what looked like wrapped up pieces of cloth. "This it?" I dropped the roll into my lower left arm and bent it backwards so she could see.

"Yup that's it, grab like five," She instructed me.

"Your arm isn't that big," I grumbled but bent over again regardless to look for it.

"Yeah, it's not, but I don't want to even risk the chance of any blood peeking through."

The room went suspiciously quiet as I was looking for the fourth one which made me look back to see what had finally shut her up. What I saw made me laugh, "Pervert."

Astra's eyes that had previously been caught in a trance on my backside snapped out of it and she blushed furiously, "I wasn't-

"Sure, you weren't," I cackled, shuffling out of the shelf I'd buried myself in, "Well bad news for you," I decided against standing up and instead rested on the floor, "Can't find a fifth one."

She looked skeptical, getting onto her knees too, "That doesn't even make sense, why would a medicine storage room run out of bandages?"

I gestured to her to go ahead, "See for yourself, I'm sure I'll enjoy the view."

"Shut up," She scoffed and shoved me, but I could see the glow of silver begin to fill her cheeks again. Letting out a large sigh she flopped on the floor right next to me, flinching slightly when she hit her arm on the cupboard. She blew a white curl out of her face, "This is a mess."

"A mess of your own making," I reminded her, putting the bandages in her lap and patting them.

She didn't even glance down at them, "I didn't ask for any of this?"

I lifted my right elbow to put it on one of the shelves nearest to me before resting my head on it, "Oh yes," I replied sarcastically, "What did you say it was again? Wrong place wrong time?"

"It was!" She argued, getting angrier by the lack of belief on my face, "It's just a long story," She began to sizzle down, embarrassment suddenly blooming on her face.

"Most of them usually are," I mumbled, a shiny glint in a box stuffed into a corner catching my eye. "C'mon," I reached for the box and pulled it to me with my lower left arm, "Out with it then."

"Out with what?"

I rummaged through the box absentmindedly, "The story you claim will restore your innocence."

She crossed her arms over her chest, sinking slowly into the floor, "You won't believe me."

"Try me."

She groaned, turning her face away from me, "I slept with a someone's wife."

It took a second for me to register what she'd just said but once I did, I slowly turned my head to face her only to see she'd begun peeking at me subtly through her curls. "Astra," I gasped, "How scandalous!"

She crossed her arms tighter and moved her body away from me completely, "I knew you wouldn't believe me."

I bit my lip to stop myself from bursting out in laughter, "I never said I didn't believe you," I told her, still biting back my amusement, "I just don't think your sex life is what landed you in the worst prison in the galaxy."

"I knew it wasn't a valid reason!" She said like I was confirming the biggest question in her mind, "But I had no say, her husband pulled some strings to get me there. I was supposed to spend just a couple of nights behind bars but obviously I found another way."

"I bet next time you'll keep it in your pants."

She elbowed me, "I didn't know she was married."

I turned my attention back to the box, "Famous last words."

"No, honest," She explained, "Marriage is different on Earth, you can see it on someone if they're married but apparently the large mark down her back was supposed to tell me that," She put her fingers on her brow, "I just thought it was a sick tattoo."

"Large mark down her back?" I frowned, "You fucked an Elekdyte?"

"Yeah?" She now looked at me, "You know them?"

"Of course I do," I got closer to her, "When she came, did she electrocute you?"

Astra's eyes widened, "I'm not answering that."

"She did, didn't she!" I screamed, wiping invisible tears from my eyes, "Stars, they're the worst fuck in the galaxy."

"So yeah, I definitely didn't commit any crimes."

I grinned, "Only guilty of being irresistible."

"As charged," She smiled back, before shaking her head, "How about you?"

"I promise you do not want to hear about my sex life Astra," I told her honestly, finally discovering what the shiny thing in the box that'd caught my eye was.

"Not your sex life!" She sounded almost outraged that I'd asked, but I heard the tinge of curiosity behind it too, "Why were you in the worst prison in the galaxy?"

"I mean it's nothing as wild as seducing a married woman-

-She seduced me!"

I sent her a look, "But" I dragged the T, "It's not something I think you'd want to hear, definitely not something I'm proud of."

The dark blue in her eyes softened, "It's okay," Understanding was wrapped in her tone, "I won't judge."

"I'm not afraid of you judging me," I assured her, "It's just, saying it out loud makes what I did more real," I swallowed, "Look, if you're still interested in me when we're not chained to the hip anymore, I'll tell you."

"No rush then," she told me, not moving to comfort me which I was grateful for. "And stop trying to pull out that bottle I can see you."

I rolled my eyes slipping the bottle of alcohol back in the box, "Why leave it here for me to find then?"

"This definitely isn't the time to be getting drunk," She giggled, "And Sol?"

"What?"

"She even caused a blackout in the city."

"I knew it!"

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