text: [Themes: sci-fi, female protagonist, science fiction]
  
  With the deadly tooth now planted inside my lower jaw, I am pretty much locked into this course of action. But there is no time to dwell on regrets or consider options; lest I forgetfully chew on something and end up killing myself, I need to go find Gideon Redlaw and let him deliver me to Colonel Green.
  
  Cephis shows me the nearest way back to the promenade, but I still have to rush to make my meeting with Gid at the time we had previously arranged. I am five minutes late by the time I find him at the foot of the stairwell leading up to my column of residential pods.
  
  "Where is your friend?" is all Gid says.
  
  "She, ah, chickened out," I say.
  
  "Oh?"
  
  "Yeah. I tried to persuade her, but she was starting to panic. I had to leave before she made a scene."
  
  "That's unfortunate. I can't refund you the cost of the second visa, of course, but where you're going you won't need solaris anyway. Right?"
  
  I don't respond; after what Cephis told me, I realize there are multiple ways to interpret Gid's words.
  
  So I follow my old friend, a person I want to trust but who I've now been told intends to sell me out. I had expected him to take me to some seldom-visited corner of the city, where some half-broken-down lift would take us to a small airlock guarded by some friendly guard willing to stamp my visa without much scrutiny. Until I met Cephis and his subcommittee, that was how I had envisioned my escape tonight.
  
  But instead, Gid walks me toward the Government Annex, where we works. This used to be the local UESPA headquarters, but after his "revolution" Green took it over. No one not affiliated with Green is allowed here, so as we approach the first guard station he grabs me by my hand and holds it like we were lovers.
  
  There is nothing I can but play along with whatever sham Gid has planned. A moment later the guards allow us to pass into the annex, and then we are alone together in a lift.
  
  "How far away will the Americans be?" I ask. It seems like a perfectly valid question, as we are clearly heading upward, in the direction of the planet's surface. As as he knows, I still believe we are heading toward an airlock.
  
  "Not far."
  
  That's not much of an answer, so I add, "How many people can they fit on their ship?"
  
  "Best not to ask too many questions, OK?" is all he says. He has not held my hand since we entered the annex, but that's fine as far as I'm concerned. Even though it's been a while since I've had much friendly contact with another human being, I do remember that a palm as clammy as his was regarded as unpleasant.
  
  My tongue rolls over the awkward feeling of the false tooth in my mouth. The lift slows to a stop and the doors part. Instead of an airlock, of course, I see a posh penthouse.
  
  And there by an enormous window is Colonel Green. Instead of his customary uniform, though, he is wearing only a satin robe.
  
  Gid pushes me out of the lift toward the colonel, following close behind me.
  
  "This is the girl?" Green says, looking past me to my old friend.
  
  "Yes. I think you'll like her, sir." Gid and the colonel are talking to each other like I were just a statue to be admired. So at least now I know that of all the stories people have been telling me recently, Cephis's version of events is the most accurate.
  
  Green circles around me, casually holding a drink of some kind in his left hand. He is inspecting me, although even in my clean overalls I can't possibly be making that good of an impression.
  
  "No family?" he asks Gid.
  
  "None. We took care of that a while ago."
  
  "I thought there was going to be a second one. What was her name? Azalea or something?"
  
  "Axelia, sir, but don't worry: this is certainly the more attractive of the two."
  
  Soon Green is no longer content to examine me with his eyes. "Redlaw, you are a genius. I do like her!"
  
  "I'm glad you approve, sir," Gid says like a practiced toady.
  
  "As far as I'm concerned," Green says, "you are the new Senior Administrator for your registry. Congratulations! You've truly earned it."
  
  "Thank you, sir. I am honored."
  
  Then the colonel turns to me. "Now my darling, I don't care who you are or where you came from. I shall call you Susie, and so long as you please me, you shall share in this pleasurable environment. If you cease to please me, then you may get dragged up to the surface after all... with or without an EnviroSuit. Do we have a deal?"
  
  > be patient, let Green come to you.
  Colonel Green is eager to get me alone — that much is obvious in his leers — but he has enough self-control to pull himself away from me and attend to necessary matters first. At just the moment I had considered releasing the deadly gas, he turns to close the deal with Gid.
  
  "You did good, Redlaw," he says. "Your promotion is effective immediately. And, of course, Senior Administrators are granted living quarters here in the Annex. I will have someone arrange a space for you."
  
  "Thank you again, sir."
  
  "And who knows? Maybe someday you'll have someone delivering you a hot young beauty to your door. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to unwrap my presents."
  
  As he speaks, the colonel has been walking Gideon back toward the lift. When the door closes, I am left alone with the most hated man in U.P., the mere colonel who once mutinied against his own generals and seized control of this spaceport, turning a once-lucrative colony into a personal cash cow.
  
  "Now, Susie," he says to me, "I am eager for us to get to know each other better. You must be sick of those overalls by now; why don't you take a peek in the next room and see the surprise I have laid out for you. I'm sure that it will fit beautifully."
  
  I can only imagine what "surprises" this prick has in store for me, and to be honest I'm not thrilled with the idea of having a poison-filled tooth inside my head. I'd rather get down to business myself.
  
  "I am honored that you chose me, sir," I say demurely, taking a guess that's one of the qualities he likes in women. But at the same time I step closer to him. "My only wish is that you will find me pleasing."
  
  Green gives me a strange look. But if he has any misgivings about the sight of his newest consort acting so directly in her first few minutes alone with him, his libido quickly douses those concerns.
  
  "I do foresee much pleasure for both of us in the very near future," he says. By now I am standing right in front of him again. "Perhaps that future is nearer than I thought. Are you sure you—"
  
  I can't stand this any longer, so I throw my arms around his shoulders. He's a bit taller than me, so in the effort to reach I probably appear even more amorous than I really intend. But before he can say another disgusting word, I seal his mouth with my own lips.
  
  And that's when I do it.
  
  I clamp my teeth together, feeling the false one crush under the pressure. Then I exhale all over the colonel's face before pushing myself away from him.
  
  I hold my breath as I stumble away, but for the colonel it's too late. The colorless gas has filled his hairy nostrils and is burning its way into his bilious lungs. He stumbles, grasping toward a floor lamp to maintain his balance but bringing it down with him as he falls. And there he lies for what seems like minutes, gasping for breath like a fish on dry land. I feel no such physical distress in my own lungs; I must have gotten away from that poisonous breath of mine just in time.
  
  So what do I do now? As the colonel lies dying on the rug, I consider what my next step might be. The thought occurs that if I'm found here like this by someone loyal to Green, I'm apt to be executed on the spot.
  
  Just then I hear a commotion outside one of the doors to the penthouse. It bursts open, and in comes Cephis and his four companions. He regards the gasping body, then he looks at me.
  
  "It was successful?" he says.
  
  "You can see well enough for yourself," I say, finally feeling a note of relief that perhaps this entire ordeal is over. Not just what I went through tonight, but for everyone.
  
  "You did good work, Willamon. We will protect you, but we all need to get out of here before Green's loyalists arrive. But not to worry: we've seized control of the drydocks and the power facility, so U.P. is practically ours. Soon everyone will learn what you did here."
  
  So, I won't be leaving U.P. today after all. But it seems quite possible that my situation here is about to improve greatly. For the moment, though, what else can I do but follow my secretive conspirators and trust they will lead us all to victory, and not just a firing squad?