Things changed quickly in the habitat after Natalia seized the reins, more quickly than I had assumed possible. She had the construction bots erect a wall around the residential neighborhood, and evicted me from it. I had to move into my office.
If it weren't for the Architect's requirement that all humans hold jobs in town, Natalia would probably have told the construction bots not to bother building a gate, and forbid everyone from leaving. Whenever I spotted Natalia on her commute, she seemed agitated, which given the amount of sleep she'd been getting was easy to understand. She and her crew enforced a sunset curfew on all the women, and patrolled at nights to arrest stragglers. Any measure she thought would enhance their odds of making it through the year with fewer than six defectors, her regime adopted with vigor, no matter how draconian.
But there was one woman exempt from the curfew, who I ran into by chance. I had broken into the police station after dark, through the roof-access door, to search Natalia's desk and computer for anything I could use against her--blackmail material, strategic intel, or at least interesting gossip--and while flipping through files in her desk drawer, I heard a scuffle in the dark. I flipped the light switch. In the station's one cell, alone, was In-Joo, wearing only her bra and underwear.
Natalia had left no blanket for her, nor any sheets for the cot, and in the evenings without the heat on, the station easily dropped below freezing. I could see bumps on In-Joo's skin from the cold. Why would Natalia take this risk, leaving her here alone and underdressed while everyone else slept behind the walls? My first guess was that it was a badly calculated indulgence, simple and cruel humiliation of a fallen political rival. But I didn't quite believe it. I had underestimated Natalia once already.
"Why are you here?" That was In-Joo's first question. She rapped the cell bars with her knuckles when I didn't immediately answer.
She was skeptical when I acted surprised by her presence, but eventually I convinced her I had come only to search Natalia's things and didn't know she'd be there.
"So you're against her?"
"Of course I'm against her. I want to win."
In-Joo stared into my eyes, challenging me to admit it if I were lying. I stared back, and she nodded. I'd passed her test. "Check the top-left drawer."
I thought I would find in it some compromising document for my purposes, but instead I found the cell key. She raised her eyebrows at me and pointed at the lock.
"She'll look for you," I said.
"You'll hide me."
So I hid her. I hauled a mattress up six half-flights of stairs in my building and gave her the office's third floor to herself. I could feel as I was arranging this that it was stupid not to just offer half of my own bed. Two months had passed since I arrived in the habitat. An entire sixth of my chance to win had already elapsed, and there I was tucking In-Joo in without any sense of urgency, asking if she wanted a glass of water from downstairs before she dozed off.
But I'd made a fast move earlier, in my first week, and it sparked a political revolution that robbed me of all bit the tiniest ray of hope. I thought it was time to plan slowly now.
By morning In-Joo had become comfortable, and joined me for breakfast in the lounge. When we started talking, I learned her view of the town's happenings differed from mine.
In-Joo thought Natalia's totalitarian approach doomed the town to a rebound of suppressed sexual yearning impossible to reign in or coordinate--an explosion rather than the graceful and controlled release of pressure. To avoid this rebound explosion, In-Joo wanted to arrange a system in which there was a legal outlet for sating their desires, a system that didn't endanger their victory in the habitat.
"You mean like what Minh and I did."
In-Joo sat up straighter. "What did you and Minh do?"
"She didn't get any come on her, but I can assure you she left here quite sated."
When In-Joo only stared back in confusion, I recalled it was she herself who had confidently asserted to me, in this same room over a month earlier, that Minh would never succumb to my temptations. My claim that Minh had, it challenged In-Joo's faith in victory. It was the first time I'd seen her unsure of herself. But then, finally, she said, "I don't believe you."
"I'm telling the complete truth."
In-Joo stood up, began to pace. I had not until then appreciated how tall she was, almost a foot taller than myself. "I want to hear it from her. Because if I was wrong about her, I might be wrong about this. My whole idea. It's founded on just my intuition for people, and if that's wrong, well, hmm."
"That's a risk, to invite Minh. She's... Not how you might remember from before your imprisonment."
Minh, in the time since our encounter, had fallen in with an ideologically hostile sect of Natalia's regime. She volunteered for the early morning patrol, and wore her uniform even outside of patrol hours. I visited her store shortly after the wall was erected, and she refused to respond to anything I said. Pretended I wasn't there.
"I'll write her a message," she said, "and you'll take it to Minh. She'll accept our invitation once she reads it."
I let In-Joo write a note, and fold it, and may God reward me I did not read it. I took it and delivered it to Minh at her sale counter still folded. Minh still wasn't responding to me, of course, so I tucked it into her chest pocket and winked.
Afterward, I had an errand of my own to run, to Town Hall, the same place Natalia petitioned for the bots to erect a wall around the residential neighborhood. She received a favor from the Architect, so why shouldn't I? Until I had In-Joo hiding in my house, I didn't know what to ask for, but when she doubted my story about Minh, it came to me: a scoreboard.
