 |
| Forge |
"You're right on time," said Forge, the only face tha recognized. "Welcome back Lyre. We're waiting for one more, so find a seat and make yourself comfortable."
Lyre did a quick mental survey of the strategic seating options. The table was long and narrow with six swivel chairs on either side, one on each end. One wall had abstract paintings with geometric shapes and colours. The other wall was floor-to-ceiling windows looking out at mid-canopy height into a forest of office towers. Downtown Vancouver.
Forge sat at the far end of the table. The best seating choices would be either side of tham, preferably the wall side for the window view, but those places were already occupied by the two shurpas.
 |
| Lincoln |
At the other end of the table was an older man dressed one tick more formally than Forge. Both the dress and distant table position suggested tha could be an upper management observer, possibly here to lend gravitas to the initial meeting. Tha probably would be a valuable connection, although this meeting would not be the right opportunity. Lyre gave tha a smile signalling: "I want to get to know you, later."
The third human was a 25-ish woman on the window side, third seat down from Forge. Tha had a lot of tech stuff spread out on the table and chairs beside her, as if trying to project extra ability, perhaps to compensate for being on the fringes of Forge's circle. Probably a new contractor with some exotic but ultimately irrelevant specialty.
For a moment Lyre considered taking the up-table chair beside tha, obviously the best open table position, although it would mean asking this woman to move thas coat and equipment, which could be interpreted as an incursion into staked territory.
While Lyre paused, the woman passed a folded piece of paper across the table surreptitiously to the shurpa on Forge's left. Oh, that's so romantic, Lyre thought, an old-fashioned love note. The woman looked up over thas shoulder at Lyre with a slightly apprehensive expression.
Lyre looked tha calmly in the face, reaching for the up-table chair and arching her eyebrows to make the implicit offer: I'll be your friend and ignore that note if you let me sit in this chair. The woman nodded agreement and started gathering her things. Lyre smiled back, satisfied that they had successfully concluded their first negotiation.
There was a light knocking sound and Lyre's face was among the six that now turned up as the door opened.