The scene--the roof of the Mospheiran apartment building. The sky is dark, and the only light comes from streetlights. One person-shaped shadow sits silently, until up over the edge of the roof climbs another.

Officer 2: "Most people use the stairs."

Miss Mospheiran: "Out for a walk this evening?"

Officer 2: "You’re right, it is lovely."

Miss Mospheiran: "So am I still under suspicion? I thought that business was all cleared up."

Officer 2: "It is. Mostly. He’s still on probation. I doubt it’ll keep him out of university, but still, I have to hand it to you. How much did you get from The Bitter Truth?"

Miss Mospheiran sits beside Officer 2.

Miss Mospheiran: "How much what?"

Officer 2 laughs.

Officer 2: "Their ratings went through the roof. Not that they weren’t milking it for all it was worth. I hope you at least got a job offer."

Miss Mospheiran: "Well, that, yes. But I don’t think I’ll take it. The anchor offered to have sex with me, like it was some kind of huge favor or something. That is so lame, I can’t even tell you."

Officer 2: "Somehow, I think you could handle him."

Miss Mospheiran: "Yeah, but then I wouldn’t have a job to pay his medical bills with."

Officer 2 laughs again.

Officer 2: "Have you given any thought to what you want to do when you get out of school?"

Miss Mospheiran:  "I’ve thought of a couple of things, but nothing seems right. I don’t know."

Officer 2: "How about the police?"

Miss Mospheiran makes a derisive noise.

Officer 2:  "It’s not all like the Hanks business. That sort of thing doesn’t really happen very often. And even then, sometimes there’s a way around it."

Miss Mospheiran: "No, I don’t think so."

Officer 2: "How about the military?"

Miss Mospheiran: "What’s the point of that? So I can fight atevi? I don’t want to fight atevi. And somehow I don’t think the Mospheiran military is going to matter much against this Alien Menace we’re waiting for, either."

Officer 2: "So the police is out, the military is out, television is out---what’s left?"

Miss Mospheiran: "I didn’t say television was out. I said I didn’t think I’d take a job with The Bitter Truth."

Officer 2: "Fair enough. What else, then?"

Miss Mospheiran: "I’m thinking about fashion design. Or maybe restaurant management."

Officer 2: "Not Foreign Studies?"

Miss Mospheiran: "I’ve thought about it."

Officer 2: "Work on the station?"

Miss Mospheiran: "I don’t think so. My brother likes it. But...I don’t know."

Officer 2: "That’s a surprise. Why wouldn’t you? Let me guess--you don’t want to leave your boyfriend behind."

Miss Mospheiran: "I don’t have a boyfriend."

Officer 2: "You don’t? What about the one you went to Prom with?"

Miss Mospheiran: "What do you know about who I went to Prom with?"

Officer 2: "You were still under suspicion then, remember?"

Miss Mospheiran: "Huh. Well, he’s not my boyfriend."

Officer 2: "So what happened?"

Miss Mospheiran: "Angie told me Lana heard Jim tell Steve that he was seeing Amy behind my back. So I, like, totally confronted him with it. And he said the relationship was damaging to his self esteem."

Officer 2: "What?"

Miss Mospheiran: "He took a psychology course this summer. So anyway, I asked him what that meant, and he told me that going out with a girl who could kick his ass undermined his sense of self-worth. Then he told me I was rejecting my humanity and my femininity, and Amy gives him the emotional support he needs."

Officer 2: "In other words, Amy plays helpless, laughs at his jokes, and swallows."

Miss Mospheiran: "That is so lame, I can’t even tell you."

Officer 2: "The boy’s got the brains of a fish stick."

Miss Mospheirans: "Why should I have to put up with that kind of thing? I bet Jago doesn’t, not even from the paidhi."

Officer 2: "Somehow I don’t think the paidhi would ask her to."

Miss Mospheiran: "Not if he knew what was good for him."

Officer 2: "It’s pretty late. Don’t you have school tomorrow?"

Miss Mospheiran: "Yeah. I guess I should go in."

Officer 2: "Probably."

Miss Mospheiran: "Bye."

Officer 2: "See you around."