Freyr was secretly pleased that the soft spoken alien liked her rationale. He seemed very knowledgeable, and it was so refreshing to share ideas with someone from an advanced species like the Rothians. She did have one other theory that had been gaining momentum as the data pieced together in her mind. It terrified her, but it didn’t pass her lips, as something told her to stop. Perhaps it was the medication, granting her clarity of mind, but she suddenly realised she’d said quite a lot. Her work wasn’t officially ‘classified’ top secret, but she had been instructed not to divulge technical information about the Cradle to anyone outside the ‘need to know’ loop. Vreta’s charming mannerisms and leading questions had gently teased information from her drugged up head like an angler fishing in river rapids.

Freyr was thinking of ways to get the conversation into safer territory when something, or rather [i]someone[/i] caught her attention. The man who had locked eyes with her a few moments before was looking her way again. He turned his head to track them as he walked across the market through thinning crowds, heading vaguely in the direction of the arch Freyr had entered from. When he saw Freyr was looking, his lips twisted into a malicious grin. Time seemed to slow and Vreta’s voice faded out. Freyr felt this must be the medication again, heightening her concentration. The man crossed his hand up to the left side of his face, by the cheekbone. His digits were all clenched apart from the index finger, which was crooked like a hook.

Pressing that crooked finger against his cheek, the man slowly dragged it down the left side of his face, ending at the chin. The sickening smile never went away.

A hooded figure sat on the bench next to them quickly got up and knelt down in front of Freyr, who wrenched her eyes away from the display to look down at them. The figure pushed their hood back slightly, and Freyr recognised the blonde female agent who’d showed up at her place with the pills and the body bag. “Dr Lang, listen to me very carefully ok? The Skinners are here. They’re here for you, so we need to get you out of here right now. Do you understand?” Freyr’s mouth hung open in astonishment. Why would they be here for her? What had she done to them? “Wait, why are you he-” Freyr began, but the agent obviously had no intention of replying as she quickly spoke to someone via her comms over the top of Freyr. 

“Five Nine Five calling in a Skinner sighting at Boycott park. Have VIP seventy ten, need urgent extraction, over.” She obviously didn’t like the answer, gritting her teeth before looking back at Freyr. “I need to get you to get you to your apartment, right now. Lets go.” The agent pulled a sleek black silenced pistol out from her long coat. She looked up at Vreta. “Will you help me? I think we both want Dr Lang to make it out of here alive.”