The Edge

Arian: Part Seven

Arian moved a safe distance away before changing his appearance again. This time, he modeled himself off a picture of Dad from back when he was in his twenties. He could've stuck to his own appearance, but it would be sure to attract attention, and he'd spend way too much time explaining adoption. Better to look like a bio-sibling, get the info he needed, and run back to the ship before anyone noticed he was gone.

It did occur to him that he'd have to explain to everyone how he'd gotten any potentially useful information he was about to learn. He'd have to figure out how to do it without letting slip that he'd done the thing Helen told him not to do. Or maybe he'd just admit to it and get it over with. If the information really was good, they might be willing to give him some leeway.

Maybe.

Meh. That was a problem for future him. Right now, he had to focus on getting to the meet up location.

Said meet up location was a little coffee shop in one of the more friendly-looking parts of the station. Well, okay, friendly-looking comparatively. It still had the weird vibe of an airport or commercial spaceport, places with better lighting and stuff to do, but that still felt...off.

Liminal spaces. That was what Cassandra called them. In-between, transitory places. Sometimes it felt like his whole life had been nothing but transitory places.

The coffee shop was pretty decent. A little pricey, but most shops in places like this were pricey. They only got so much traffic, and it was probably a bitch shipping the ingredients all the way out there. Arian ordered a regular black coffee and started dumping creamers and sugar into it while he wanted for his contact to show up. She'd passed along a description: blond hair, but fake blond, and I'll be wearing a purple sweater.

It was a simple description, but very accurate. The girl who stepped into the shop had hair far too fair to be natural outside of shifters, and her sweater was the most vivid royal purple he'd ever seen. Arian raised a hand as she looked around the space. "Hey, here from the chat room...?"

The woman jogged over and sat across from him. "Hi!" She sounded friendly, but wary. That made Arian relax a little. If she'd been too chill about meeting a stranger in public, that would've been a hell of a red flag. "Uh, Arian, right? The one Alistair sent?"

"That's me. Thanks so much for meeting up. What should I call you?"

"Ursa is fine." That probably wasn't her real name, but that was fine. He didn't need to know everything about this girl; just what she knew about Cassandra. "You really haven't heard from Tru in a while? Sorry, Cassandra."

Arian shook his head. "No, not in a few weeks. She just up and vanished on us. We're all really worried. I don't suppose she said anything to you about that...?"

Ursa shook her head. "Not concretely. She said she felt like something was missing and the only way she could find it was by going further. I didn't want to discourage her. Everyone's on their own spiritual journeys, you know? We should uplift each other in that."

...Right. Sure, Ursa. "What does the radio station have to do with her...spiritual journey?" He managed to say that part without cracking up. Points in his favor.

"She thought he might have some answers. The host addressed her by name during one of the broadcasts." Ursa's voice became quietly awed, almost wistful. "That doesn't happen often."

Arian's skeptic brain immediately supplied him with the many, many explanations for that. He shoved them aside just as quickly. All that mattered was that Cassandra believed in it, for whatever reason. And if Cassandra believed in it, there had to be something there. That or she's completely lost her marbles and gone off the cult deep end, but here's hoping not." Do you know what episode it was? Are there recordings?"