[She sets the tablet across her knee and sweeps the curtain of her steel colored hair behind the lone of her shoulder as Cathaway turns her body toward her new companion. The woman is a series of easy lines, as natural in this place as the alien flora, the strangely organic lattice work at the edges of the stone bench.]

Because you were in danger and for the time being, this Station is safe from the creatures that hunt you. That's the simplest answer, of course. [Implying there's a complicated one.]

Usually we'd offer to let that explanation lay for a time to be considerate as you acclimate to the Station. Unfortunately, it seems you won't be here for very long.

[Her spidery hand moves over the face of the tablet, tapping rhythmically through a few screens as she speaks:] But to begin, let's say that you were being hunted because your physiology has a special quality to it that makes you dangerous to their cause.

[She shoots the younger woman a sidelong glance, something sly like a joke in the arch of her eyebrow.]

Familiar concepts, we're sure.