Two days later Scott Murphy sat on the nicely made bed feeling slightly out of place. For the last seven years he had lived in a extremely shitty rental, choosing to save every penny for a rainy day. Well the storm clouds were brewing and this one looked like being a real shit storm. The global change that was sweeping the government was looking bad. There was a lot of talk about security and cleaning up the various metropolis. Scott had worked hard to keep to himself, but the new legislations being forced through the senate, were going to make his life an impossibility. Apparently, people with his condition were a public security risk. He didn't know if five years would be enough time for things to blow over but he was willing to gamble seven months of his life to find out.  

A woman appeared in the doorway to his suite, breaking his chain of thought. Not that he minded, it was going down a dark path anyway. Not having had a woman for seven years had put a strain on his system to say the least and he couldn't help but look her over.  

"Hello." She cooed, most politely. "I'm Dana... Looks like we will be spending some time together."  

"Scott." He replied shaking her hand without removing his glove. "At least it looks cozy enough" He bantered, while motioning to the furnishing. 

"I'm glad. I didn't exactly like the idea of being cramped in a tin can for seven months but this is nice." She bubbled all friendly. 

Scott took another moment to take in her curves while she gazed about the room. With short red hair and freckles she wasn't the picture of beauty that society pushed. Saying that, she was far from ugly and her pleasant demeanour made the whole package quite pleasant.  

"What attracts you to the time travelling game?" Scott asked, sounding corny and regretting opening that can of worms instantly.  

"Well you know... life gets you down and you feel like your not going anywhere but the time is ticking by, meanwhile your waiting for things to happen." She replied dreamily. "With the election and the government being all shit, I don't want to wait around to watch it all fall apart. I dumped my guy and quit my job and now I'm looking forward to a holiday. How about you?" 

"Yeah I don't have a lot for me here, so I figure things will be better in the future." It sounded lame even as he said it. Scott wished this Dana chick would just leave him be, his left fingers were numb and he needed to do something about it soon. 

"I was just wondering, why you paid three times what I did is all." She asked the question like it was innocent but it got his attention straight away. "I'll be honest Scott, I like to cover my bases and know what I'm dealing with. But when it came to you, I drew a blank."  

"That's just the way I like it." Scott smiled while his insides readjusted themselves. 

"Not an easy thing to do in this age, I was impressed." 

"Thank you. I guess since you tried your best you will give up now then?" Scott tried knowing it was useless now that the game was on. If there was one thing he hated it was playing cat and mouse. 

"I could I guess. But it doesn't do much for our trust does it?" Dana smiled sweetly making her exit.  

When she was gone Scott pulled of his glove and checked his fingers. They were pale and no amount of shaking was going to fix them. Pulling a black case from his luggage he moved into the en-suite. Opening the case revealed a field amputation kit, compact but a little savage. It was a bad time to lose fingers but he didn't really have a choice.