be here for you soon,” the guard said, eyeing her restless motion. She made herself still and waited until she saw Regina moving toward her on the other side of the gate. She was dressed in long skirt and soft blouse, her usual attire. Jaguar always wondered about it. Such soft clothing for a woman with such secure control over her particular realm. But it probably put others off their guard, made them suspect she was herself soft, until it was too late.
“Jaguar,” she said warmly as she approached, “I hate to say it, but it’s good to see you.”
Jaguar smiled and let Regina hug her briefly, returned the squeeze and released her. Regina kept her hands on Jaguar’s shoulder and surveyed her, her face full of sympathy.
“I know,” she said, “it’s horrible for you. But selfishly, it’ll be nice for me to spend some time with you.”
“You’d be the only one here who feels that way, Regina,” Jaguar said.
“You’re probably right. But we’ll make the best of it.” Regina nodded at the guard. “Have someone bring Dr. Addams’ bags to her room,” she said. “Harris corridor, room 131.” She took Jaguar’s arm and led her forward. “Much better,” she said. “Now we can stroll unencumbered. You remember Harris corridor?”
“I was there for three months when I first got here.”
“You’ll find nothing’s changed, except there’s a new coffee shop around the corner at Jenkin’s Market. But how are you, Jaguar? Not just now, but in general, I mean.”
“Outside of this, I’m fine Regina. Work’s going great, and all’s well with the world.”
Regina smiled, bringing up dimples in her round face. “I believe you. You seem. . . .relaxed. Even here. But work’s what you think of first. What about the rest of your life?”
Jaguar paused, smiled at her blankly.
“Social life, love life, personal growth, family and friends—the rest of your life, Jaguar,” Regina prompted.
“Oh. That. Well, that’s fine, too. I’m singing a lot with Moon Illusion—when I can, of course. Gerry’s pretty upset when shit like this happens and he has to do his own singing.”
“And?” Regina asked.
She was fishing for something, and Jaguar thought she knew what. Regina, perpetually single, always encouraged her workers to establish solid relationships, even to start families, though more often than not that meant they left their work here. Jaguar tried to take the conversation elsewhere.
“My people on the Home Planet are well. I was there recently with—” she stopped herself, realizing she was about to say with Alex. “With an assignment,” she amended. “You really have to let me take you to Thirteen Streams sometime. You’d love New Mexico.”
Regina laughed. “Don’t try your evasive tactics with me. I won’t let you wiggle out of this. The grapevine says you’ve taken a lover.”
Jaguar offered a cool smile. “Do they think that’s a first for me?”
“Oh, Jaguar. This is me. You and Alex—are you together now? At last?”
She wanted to say yes, wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to share her joy, especially with Regina, mentor, model, and the closest to a mother she’d ever had. Her example showed Jaguar how a woman might find her power within this very male system. She and Diane spent quite a few nights sitting at Regina’s table after hours, drinking wine and arguing with enthusiasm about various theories of rehab for prisoners. They’d come to be seen as a triumvirate of powerful women, some of the men referring to them as the three witches, asking how their last cauldron had gone, the sharpness of their fear cloaked within a jovial, joking manner.
And Regina, who’d seen her pain at Diane’s abandonment, also saved her ass from being fired altogether. She’d sent her to Alex, and would certainly be glad of her happiness with him. But Jaguar was reluctant to give up any secrets here. Too many ghosts, and all of them listening. Too much knowledge might put Regina in a bad position at some point. That was either paranoia, or her finely honed instinct for danger, her capacity to pick up on the smallest signal of it in a face, in a gesture, in the air. Either way, she’d listen to it.
“People have been talking about me and Alex for as long as I’ve been on Three, Regina,” she said. “I’d think they’d get tired of it by now.”
Regina showed clear disappointment. “Then it’s not true?”
Jaguar was a lousy liar, but she had a talent for evasion, and she used it. “I can get sex anywhere,” she said, “but a really good supervisor is hard to find. You think I’d risk it?”
Regina sighed. “I’ve said this to you before, Jaguar. Love is worth a risk or two.”
Jaguar grinned. “Yes, Mother. I remember. And our work should be part of that love, caring for the prisoners as if they were our own children.”
Regina laughed. “I remember saying that. Vaguely. How much wine did we drink that night?”
“Too much. And some tequila got in there somehow, I think.
“Those were good days,” Regina said, sounding wistful. “But—well, if you’re happy, I’m happy for you. Are you? Happy?”
“I’m happy to be alive,” she said. “Happy my hair is looking as good as it is. Happy about a really good tequila. How’s everything with you? Anything interesting going on?”
“I’m getting old, Jaguar. The most interesting thing in my life is waking up in the morning.”
Jaguar laughed. “Not this week.”
“You may be right. Ah—here’s the scanning station.”
They passed into a small grey room, where red lights blinked as they were scanned for weapons, drugs, any suspect object. Jaguar’s glass knife passed through undetected, as always. For as many new sensors that were invented, humans came up with a way of sneaking past them.
“That’s fine, then,” Regina said, when the lights all turned green.
They moved through the open space beyond the entrance checks, and from there into what served as the streets of the bubble domes—broad corridors banked by housing facilities. They were the equivalent of hotel suites, row upon row of numbered doors that all looked the same except for the small decorations some people put on their doors to help them find their own rooms after a night of carousing at one of the pubs or lounges.
“Do you need anything before we get to your room?” Regina asked. “We can stop at the market.”
“I just want to settle in. I can shop tomorrow—I mean, I think I can. What’s my routine here? Has a schedule been set for me, or am I supposed to wing it?”
Regina chuckled. “Nobody would dare let you improvise, Jaguar. No, we’ve got a pretty full schedule laid out. Piles of records to go through, tours, interviews with Diane’s co-workers, sessions with Francis. And you’ll be attending daily meetings so you’ll understand our system as you investigate.”
She stifled
