Laura lay in the pilot's lumpy bed, trying to muster the strength to get up.

It had been four days now since the crash, and things were getting progressively worse. They'd had to cut their food rations again yesterday, and Laura could feel hunger gnawing at her stomach under the flimsy bedsheets. She did her best to ignore it – they were down to one meal a day now, if you could call it that, and it wouldn't be distributed for another three hours.

The water situation was slightly better, but there certainly wasn't enough for anyone to take a bath or shower – a cold spongebath was the best they could hope for. Depending on Lee and Melissa's progress with the repairs it was quite possible that even that option would vanish soon, though.

Speaking of the repairs, they really weren't going too well. Melissa's knowledge of the ship's systems was rudimentary, Lee's even more so, and even if they had known exactly what they were doing they wouldn't have made rapid progress given the limited supply of materials they had to work with. Bill was helping them out and had gotten the reporter – whose name, Laura had finally discovered, was Sebastian Woods – to take a look at the communications system as well, but it was slow going, and with their lack of expertise nobody wanted to make more than the most conservative of estimates as to when exactly they might be able to contact Galactica or at least get into space again.

Unfortunately these conservative estimates well exceeded the time Laura calculated their food and water could last for.

And then of course, as if they didn't have enough to worry about, there were their two Cylon suspects.

They had questioned each woman three times now, twice alone and once together, twice with Sebastian recording the interrogation and once without, and they were no closer to determining whether it was Tory or Dee who was lying. Each had accused the other of 'doing something' to the communications panel, and each had said that they had questioned the other and received a perfectly rational explanation, which had given them no reason to pursue the matter further or tell anybody else about it. Dee was the one who had tried to stop Lee from doing repair work on the panel, it was true, but it was Tory who had made the arrangements for the shuttle trip in the first place. Looking at the bigger picture, Dee would certainly be in a strategically useful position if she were a Cylon operative; she was married to the Admiral's son, and before that could have been able to influence Laura through Billy – but Tory's position as Laura's aide could be seen as equally valuable.

In short, they were at a dead end.

There was a knock at the door, and Laura started – she had completely forgotten that she was supposed to be getting up. "Come in," she said, propping herself up on an elbow and pulling the sheets closer around herself.

The door opened and Bill appeared in the doorway. "I didn't realize you were still sleeping," he said when he saw her lying there. "I'll come back." He turned to leave.

"No, Bill..." She sat up properly and reached out to turn on the lights, squinting in the sudden glare. "I was just... daydreaming. You can come in."

She saw him hesitate, eyeing her clothes hung across the back of the chair by the desk. Why yes, Bill, I am almost naked under these sheets, she thought, suppressing a smirk at his obvious discomfort. She really shouldn't torture him like this, she knew, but he could be so very proper sometimes and considering the direness of their situation she decided she was going to get her amusement where she could.

"What brings you here?" she asked, watching bemusedly as he decided not to use the clothing-draped chair but to sit at the very foot of the bed instead.

"Something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Mmhmm." Laura pulled up her knees under the sheets so she could hug them loosely and nodded for him to go ahead.

"Dee and Tory..." he began, watching her closely. "Just talking to them isn't working. We need to up the ante."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" she asked, watching him just as closely as he was watching her. He was uncomfortable, and it wasn't just Laura's lack of clothes...

"Cut their water rations in half," Bill stated. "Cut their food rations by three quarters. It'll still be enough for them to survive, and frankly the rest of us could use it."

"Barely enough to survive, Bill."

He smiled sadly. "That's kind of the point, Laura."

Laura pursed her lips. "No," she said eventually. "I don't like it. One of them is innocent, and whoever it is we're doing her enough damage already."

Bill looked away. "Laura," he said slowly, "Has it occurred to you that they may both be Cylons? Think about the way we have no more evidence against one than the other, how they told us what amounts to the exact same story with reversed roles... what if they let us catch them on purpose, to distract us from the real issue of fixing the ship and getting off this rock?"

"So you think we should just keep them locked up and deal with them when we get back to the fleet?"

"...No." Bill sighed. "If we can find out who the Cylon is, whether it's one or both of them, we can stop wasting food rations on them and used them to feed the rest of us for another day or two. And if we can establish that Dee is not a Cylon, not only would it make my son immeasurably happy, but she could help us repair the communications system. I say we soldier on."

"Alright." Laura regarded him evenly. "But I still won't agree to cutting their rations."

"Laura—"

"And speaking of your son," she continued, "I think it's high time he took part in his wife's questioning."

"We can't force him to him do that."

"Yes," Laura said. "We can. If the other option is cutting her rations, I'm sure he'll cooperate."

"Laura..."

"Bill." She looked him in the eye, allowed him to see her sympathy. "You know we have to."

He sighed, dropping his gaze. "Alright. I'll talk to him." He stood and went to the door.

"No." Laura put a hand on his arm as he reached for the door handle. "I'll do it. I can afford to get on his bad side more than you can." She offered him a smile.

With still a glimmer of hesitation, Bill nodded and left.

Laura let out a sigh and buried her face in her hands for a moment. Why did the painful tasks always fall to her?

Because you just volunteered, Laura, she reminded herself.

…Ah. Right. That would be it.

Giving herself a mental push, she finally managed to get out of bed. Pulling her clothes back on – she would have to investigate the clothing in the hold, she decided; she was beginning to look more than rumpled – she brushed her fingers through her hair and hoped she appeared at least almost presentable. Then she put on her Presidential face and stepped out into the main cabin.

Melissa and Sebastian were working on the communications panel, and they both looked up and nodded as Laura walked past them heading for the cockpit. She smiled in return, then regretted it when she realized the smile had come across as far weaker than she'd intended. It was a bad sign when she couldn't even keep up appearances, and she resolved to try harder.

Lee was on his back under some piece of machinery with a mess of wires spilling out of it in the cockpit, and his father was kneeling next to him with a supply of tools at the ready. The click of the door as Laura closed it behind her got their attention, and they both stood.

"Lee," Laura said without preamble, "I need your help."

She could tell he knew he wouldn't like what she had to say by the way he hesitated before saying, "What can I do for you, Madam President?"

"I need you to talk to Dee."

He looked away. "I'd really rather not."

Laura nodded, acknowledging his reluctance, but pressed on. "I know what I'm asking won't be easy for you, but unless we get some results from our interrogations soon we will have to resort to more… invasive methods."

That got his attention. "She's innocent, Madam President."

Laura held his gaze. "Then prove it."

They stood there for a moment, eyes locked, before Lee sighed and said, "How? If I start asking her anything she'll think I believe that she's a Cylon."

"I'll leave that for you to figure out." She held his gaze a moment longer, trying to cement his commitment. "I'll have her brought down to the hold – we'll be waiting for you there."

Eventually he nodded. Laura turned and left.

Being the two people with the least technical expertise when it came to spacecraft, the job of guarding the airlock and its two occupants had fallen mostly to the two Quorum members. They regarded her now as she approached them, and Laura steeled herself for yet another frosty reception from Mr. Gillan, who clearly thought such things as guard duty were beneath him.

"How are they doing?" Laura asked, addressing Madam Vardon, who thankfully was a far more practical person than her associate.

"The Lieutenant has done her usually morning press-ups, although I think she did a few less than yesterday. Tory's been pacing on and off. Nothing out of the ordinary." Madam Vardon stole a glance through the small window, as if to check that the prisoners weren't attempting anything behind her back while she was distracted by the president. Her devotion to the task she had been set comforted Laura somewhat.

"Alright," Laura said in acknowledgement. "Madam Vardon, I'm going to need your help escorting Lieutenant Dualla to the hold."

"Of course." Madam Vardon retrieved a length of rope which was lying on the floor and keyed in the code which would open the airlock. The seal hissed open, and Laura and Gillan guarded the door while Madam Vardon went inside and gently took Dee by the arm, saying something to her in a low voice that Laura couldn't quite catch. Laura keyed the airlock shut again as Madam Vardon tied Dee's hands together. Then they set off for the hold, leaving Gillan to guard the airlock alone.

On previous occasions Dee had glared at Laura as she was led away from the makeshift cell. Now she was showing no signs of wanting to struggle and the expression on her face was more resigned than venomous. Laura couldn't decide if this was good or bad; she just hoped that if she was innocent Dee would be able to forgive her – and, more importantly, Bill and Lee.

In the hold, Madam Vardon tied Dee's arms to another rope which had been fastened around a large crate. At a nod from Laura, she then left the two of them alone.

Dee watched almost indifferently as Laura pace their cramped quarters. Laura wasn't sure if she should speak to the Lieutenant or not before Lee arrived – if he even came. Gods, she hoped he would come… She hoped he would come and get some kind of frakking evidence at last, so that they could end this charade, set the innocent woman free, space the Cylon and get back to the more important issue of survival. The uncertainty in this was killing her. Every time she felt a twinge of sympathy for either woman she thought wait, what if she's a Cylon trying to manipulate you, and every time she said or did something aggressive to either of them something inside her died a little because what if she's innocent…

There was a clank as somebody stepped onto the ladder, and looking up Laura was relieved to see Apollo. She looked back at Dee to see her reaction – the Lieutenant looked like she was about to burst into tears.

"Dee," Apollo said, stepping toward her.

By the time he had reached her she was sobbing, and Lee wrapped an arm around her shaking shoulders, covering her bound hands with one of his own. Laura felt like she was intruding, but resolved to stay unless she was asked to leave.

"Where have you been?" Dee cried, burying her face in her husband's neck.

"I'm sorry… Dee, I'm so sorry… I thought if I came and started asking you questions you'd think I thought you were a Cylon… I thought you'd think I agreed with this!"

Laura wasn't sure if that was a shot at her or not, but it stung her like one.

"I know you don't love me, Lee, but I needed you… I was in hell and you abandoned me!"

The look on Dee's face was too much for Laura to bear; she had to turn away.

"Shh… Honey, I'm sorry. I'm an idiot."

"Too right." There was just a hint of humor in Dee's voice now, and Laura could hear Apollo's sigh of relief from all the way across the hold.

"It's gonna be okay, I promise. Madam President," he said, turning to face her. "Could we have some time alone?"

Laura nodded kindly. "Of course." She turned to climb back up the ladder.

She managed to maintain her composure until she had rounded a corner and ascertained that she was alone, at which point she burst into tears.