[ The smile she flashes isn't like any smile that Kitty Jones has ever turned on anyone, nor Lizzie Temple. Lizzie, the girl she usually pretends to be here, has a bright and toothy grin, something big and unrestrained. Kitty, meanwhile, gives a lot of crooked, secretive smirks that turn quickly into scowls of equal passion but no real malice. The girl that Kitty is right now, this Alice, smiles in a way that's polite, restrained, and empty. Her face is devoid of the energy that runs through Kitty like electricity does a neon sign. ]

Yes, ma'am.

[ Her voice is different, too, transformed by a flat American accent. Not perfect, but who'll call her on it in Zion's wild mishmash of dialects and tongues? ]

My name is Alice Fitzroy. I just got hired to work at a start-up newspaper, the Zion Herald, that's looking to cover the more human side of life in Zion. We're running a piece on the lifestyles of the people involved in the Zion Defense Grid, to let people get to know the people protecting them. Could I possibly take just seven minutes of your time?