New to Other-Terrestrial? Check here! Or if you need to, jump to the beginning of the episode here!

---

The real world came back into focus.

The server room was cold, and Urle took a deep breath of it, savoring that it was real and not merely simulated.

His body had been breathing, but when he’d been in the digital world he’d not felt any of it.

As he had promised to JaxIn, he went into the server logs, hiding all traces of himself and obfuscating the data even more to keep his hidden world a secret.

He was not sure what to make of the man and his selfish dreamworld, but he had given his word and he would keep it.

Kell was peering down at him, and Urle got to his feet.

“Let’s get out of here, and then I’ll tell you everything,” he said.

Ten minutes later, using the same gaps in the defenses as before, they were free.

“I need to sit,” Urle said.  Kell offered no objection as they went to an automated noodle kiosk and took a seat at the bar.  Only one other person was here, a man had two mechanical legs and a hand, his bare head pale and scarred.  He paid them no mind, and Urle scanned the noodle drones for spying equipment, but found them to be as simple as they appeared.

He told Kell what he’d found, the being listening in silence.

“. . . There’s a lot of data to pore through,” he concluded.  “But I’ve got the key stuff.  There’s a man we’re looking for, but we only have an alias, not his real name – Ji.  It’s pretty common as a name, but the right people will hopefully know who we mean.  We’ll have to hit up the information brokers.”

Kell was considering.  “So the man had no issue with the fact that he had been murdered?” he asked.

“No.  It wasn’t . . . ‘him’, so I don’t think he cared.”

“An interesting point of view,” Kell said.  “I am not sure how I would feel if I was murdered.  I believe that I would want revenge.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure this guy was just selfish as hell,” Urle grunted, taking his cup of noodles and eating a few.  They were surprisingly good, he thought.

Kell drank down his cup in a single swallow.

“Do you know how to find these information brokers?” he asked.

“I know some ways,” Urle replied.  “The only real issue is that they’re real picky about their customers.  Don’t want to get caught dealing in stolen data, you know?  So follow my lead.”

Kell gave him a curt nod.  “I broke my earlier promise to you, about hurting no one.  I will not again.”

Urle found himself very surprised by the seriousness with which the being had taken its earlier flippant remark.

“Well . . . thanks,” he said.

He hesitated.  It really wasn’t the only reason he should be thanking Kell.  Despite how traumatizing it had been, the Ambassador had saved him.

“And also – thanks for helping me.  You saved my life, and I haven’t exactly been grateful about that.”

Kell’s expression was mildly confused.  “You do not need to thank me.”

Urle looked back down to his noodles, stirring them around.  He felt oddly humbled.

---

< Ep 7 Part 34 | Ep 7 Part 36 >