"Why?"

"Franco was supposed to be your welcome guide. Someone must have really wanted to stop you from finding the colony."

"What?"

"Not 'what' - you mean 'pardon'."

"Don't lecture me on flippin' grammar, Dante."

"Okay, okay. However it's going to be important when you get brought before the Committee. I'm only trying to help."

"Well don't. I manage just fine."

"How did you get to be such a stubborn tyke, Poll?"

"In the infamous words of the late, great Lady Gaga - I was born this way."

"I liked you better when I didn't understand what you were saying."

"Dante- the feeling's mutual."

Throughout our ridiculous exchange, Marco watched us carefully. His head moved from one to the other, entertained by this volley of words. I got the impression that arguing with Dante was not an everyday occurrence. I snatched the opportunity to get a mouthful of pastry in, while Dante took a minute to gather back his composure.

"It won't be easy to get you into the colony. I'm not supposed to be here."

My mouth full of food, I mumbled back. "Why?"

"Don't speak with your mouth full."

Spraying flakes around I replied. "Give it a rest, man. Tell me."

"The lifestamp should have changed last year. I escaped from the Spanish colony and made it across the border with Marco here."

"So Marco is a seven too?"

"No, he's a free man. The World Union State only receives selected people for the colonies. Where were you told you would be transferring to? You're way too young to be relocated without a family member - and you're definitely not a genius of any sort! Is there something you're not telling me?"

Avoiding his scrutiny I swallowed my food and tossed back my hair.
"How do you know that I'm not a genius? You don't know anything about me."

Dante sighed. Marco continued to watch, fascinated even if he could only understand the language on Dante's side of the argument.

"Listen, tyke, grow up a minute, stop being such a spoiled brat and tell me the truth. Why did they select you for a colony? The selection and reanimation process is wasted on a little girl like you. What aren't you telling me?"

I didn't want him to know. Why did he have to dig this up now? I didn't want to have this wonderful, handsome man learn about my past. I concentrated on scoffing the last of my pastry, then I snatched his half as well.

Dante sat back and let out a long breath. He looked at Marco while he spoke.
"It has to be some other selection point. I can't see you being from a line of royalty, or government official, and certainly not a spy. How on earth did you manage to..?"

Marco raised his eyebrows as he and Dante came to the same conclusion together.

"Really?" Dante asked him. Marco glanced at me, then slowly nodded his head. I kept eating, there was no way they would guess.

Dante turned to face me again. This time his expression didn't look so open and friendly.
"You're one of them, aren't you, Poll?"

"I have no idea what you mean."

"One of the providers. It's the only explanation I can think of."

The atmosphere in the kitchen was getting thicker. The room became smaller. I cleared my throat and brushed the crumbs from my sweater.
"That depends - what's a provider?"

Dante watched me carefully. He concentrated on my every movement and facial response.

"They're the women who have their unborn babies taken for the production of spare parts."

"So that's what happened to my pregnancy! Not that I wanted to keep it, but at least now I know why I'm not pregnant anymore."

I was so relieved to finally know the truth that I let this burst out of me before I could stop myself. Staring intently at the crumbs on the table I realised what I'd just said.

Marco got up and left the room.

Dante still looked at me. I could feel the weight of his gaze. I wished the ground would open and swallow me whole. He talked to me gently, but his voice was clipped.

"I've heard about this happening, Poll. In Spain, it's one of the reasons why I didn't want to be repatriated to that Colony. My cousin had agreed to be a provider for a repatriation to Denmark. Don't ask me to tell you the reason behind it. She told me that the World Union State was desperate for new providers to come forward. The pregnancy rate has reached a dangerously low level. She had overheard two officers at the naval base."

I licked the tip of my finger and pressed on the crumbs to clear them up. I was determined not to look at him yet. I dreaded the expression of delusion I'd be bound to see there.

"The officers talked about how they'd arranged to kidnap one of the new colonists to Germany and take her foetus before she arrived there. I honestly didn't want to believe her when she told me that. Later I got to see first-hand the lengths that the World Union State is willing to go to for the continuation of the program. My wife is a scientist."

I stopped picking at the crumbs, my finger paused in mid-air.
"Your wife?"

"Yes. Cristina. She's from Seven like me. They needed her for a research center in England, but she didn't want to leave me."

"Oh. That's nice." My voice rang dull and lifeless. My heart sank into my stomach.

"They took her one night. It's always done at night. They said they'd monitor me and if I ever mentioned it they would come to relocate me too. We were lying in bed when I woke up to a gun pointed at my head. They put a mask of gas over her face to keep her unconscious."

Without looking at him, I softly took his hand. It was cold.

"As with all unwilling repatriations they would have cleared her short term memories and scorched off her first layer of skin. To remove the contagious elements of the colony. The lifestamp would have been reset to three - Denmark's code."

We sat in silence for a while. My hand in his. A stray ant appeared on the table and scampered across to gather a tiny flake of pastry. Dante breathed heavily, his hand became warmer and I knew he was crying.

Eventually I broke the silence, my throat dry, my voice soft.
"So I've been living in a colony all my life?"

"Yes. You must have come from a different colony to be relocated in number eight. Didn't anyone else in your family have the same lifestamp?"

"Not that I remember."

"Ah, now I get it."

"Get what?"

"It's one of the memories they take from you at repatriation. Probably no one remembers seeing the lifestamp on anyone else. That way you have no idea which colony you have come from."

"Yes. That's clever."

"What I can't understand is how you came to be repatriated twice? Yes, this last time we can understand that you were used badly and illegally. I'm guessing that you had legally applied for the repatriation due to pregnancy by a World Union State officer?"

I whispered my reply.
"Yes."

"Nevertheless, it was supposed to be a legal process. They were in the wrong. We can't let the neighbours know about it. The man and woman who live here - they're spies for the number seven location. You should have been going there. Marco did this tattoo for me, so that I could infiltrate their group."

"Is he one of them?"

"World Union State? No, not anymore. He was an officer in five, but like me, he got out. He's risking his life to help people break free. You wouldn't believe the ignorance of the world around you, Poll. Everything is monitored. Under control and kept in order."

"Is that so bad? Don't you remember the stories of the vaccine wars? I can't see how the human race would have survived without the World Union being formed. We would have destroyed each other!"

"It's not so simple - well maybe to a tyke like you it is - but how do you explain your first repatriation? From wherever to eight? What did they do to you that time? Was it the only time you were repatriated? Can you be sure it wasn't the only time? Did they take another baby from you? Maybe that time it was the result of a loving relationship? How do you know, Poll?"

"How can anyone know?"

I finally turned to look at him. His cheeks were still damp, his eyes angry and sad at the same time. I smiled at him, he gave a flicker of a smile back.

"What I do know, Dante, is that we are here, we are free and we have found each other."

He touched my face gently and lightly kissed me on the forehead.