Messenger I turned to see what was happening to make such a stir in this hole. And I was taken aback. In all my travels I'd never seen one before but I'd heard of them. It looked human but is not. No one really knows what they are. But they do know that you never mess with one. Apparently this was not the first one that had been around the Pot. The silence about the place and the fact that no one tried to get "friendly" with it told me that. An Iskar from the Dark Worlds! They seem to sense and sometimes to take pleasure in emotions. I've heard it said that if you annoy one it will leave you alive but you won't be you anymore. Just a biological machine with no sense of self or awareness. The ignorant call them "Soul Eaters." What looked like a smile played on it's face as it glided across the room. It stopped in several places and spoke softly in a musical voice that I couldn't make out over the sound of the ventilation. I looked back at the empty bottle in front of me and tried to think if I should order another one. It was getting late and the place would fill up soon. Maybe I'd find out if anything was going on that I could turn to a profit. I was running out of coin and I was running out of time. I laughed bitterly to myself. Perhaps I was even running out of hope. I'd already checked over the jobs listings on the public terminal. None of them were for pilots. All the rest required that I be able to show myself as an upstanding citizen. I was hardly that here after that set up with port security. Thinking was becoming an exercise in chasing my tail around in circles. I was interrupted by a wait woman sweeping the empty from in front of me and replacing it with a bottle of good stuff. I glared at the wait woman. "I didn't order that," I growled. She just stepped away. "This one did. Do you not want it?" The Iskar slipped fluidly into the seat opposite me. It looked at me with gold-flecked purple eyes and a slightly mocking smile. "Depends on what its going to cost me," I growled. I was answered by musical laughter. "Words, star farer. If the words are agreeable possibly it will pay you rather than cost you. Do you not think that a small enough price to pay?" I considered the phrasing of that reply. "What words could I possibly have that would interest the likes of you?" I asked. "Ah, your perplexity this one now understands. Tis not this one who is interested in the words that you might have to say. It is an understanding that you are known as Christopher Blankmen. Did those this one ask here mislead?" it's melodic voice seemed almost mocking.. "That's my name," I cautiously agreed. "Then my....employer...wishes to exchange words with you. This one does not understand fully the seeming folly of this but that is not the place of this one to determine. Drink, then follow. This one would be done with this employment." I don't know why it hesitated like it did, as though it was choosing a word that would reveal less than whatever arrangement existed between it and it's employer. I didn't know if that would be worth finding out about or not. Deliberately taking the bottle in hand I savored every last swallow of the smooth and soothing beverage I had once enjoyed when I first fell into the Pot before I found out how very thin a wallet could be down here. Leaving the empty bottle on the table I followed as the Iskar rose fluidly and walked towards the door the crowd parting magically in front of it. I hoped I would not see this hole again. But I'd hoped before. To be Continued...