“I see.” The man nodded thoughtfully at Vreta’s description of the attack. “Is this true?” His eyes drilled into Freyr. She nodded shakily. “Yeah, pretty much. I’m sorry...who did you say you were again?” The man smiled. “I wouldn’t worry about that right now, Dr Lang. The main thing is that i’m here to help - both of you.” He looked at Vreta again. “I also wouldn’t worry about this place. It will be a fortress by dawn tomorrow. We have our best terraformers on it.” The man gestured for both of them to walk through the glass doors into the transit station as they slid open. “Please, after you.”

The large, bright, sparsely furnished room Freyr had arrived in only an hour or two ago had been totally transformed. An entire command centre of holo-consoles and other equipment was being set up around the outside, leaving an open space in the middle for people to spawn in and out. Freyr could see a wide variety of people milling around. There were engineers and technicians in white jumpsuits, connecting up even more gear. There were at least half a dozen terraformers in whatever clothes they’d decided to program in. Freyr also spotted a few other people in the same black uniform as the man with the augmented eyes, who had now followed them through the double doors. These black-clad people all turned to stare directly at them, making Freyr feel incredibly vulnerable.

“Please, take a seat.” The man with the augmented eyes urged, walking past them to sit at an ornate wooden desk. There were two chairs facing him on the other side. After a split second, the man exclaimed. “Ah, of course, the chair!” He loudly snapped his fingers and a nearby terraformer turned around. The man gestured to Vreta, and after sizing him up for a moment, the terraformer hit a few options on her holo-interface. One of the chairs seemed to disassemble and reassemble in a flurry of half-digital moving parts. When everything settled, Freyr could see a large stool, presumably suitable for tailed reptilians. “Please.” The man smiled, gesturing to the seats again. Freyr sat down, growing slightly uneasy.

“Now - this creature you speak of. Is it the same creature as the ones who abducted those Skinners?”

“Yeah.” Freyr nodded, slightly thrown off by the fact that this man knew about the abductions.

“It came back? Why?”

“I uh, I don’t know.” Freyr turned to look at Vreta. “You said that it was doing something with a device when you found it. What kind of device?” 

The man looked at Vreta as Freyr spoke, his facial expression completely unfathomable.