Station Nation

"You okay, Dan?" Suki asked. She was standing over him with a bottled water. The orb had stopped orbiting around her and was perched on her left shoulder like a parrot waiting for a cracker. "I forgot to mention the side effects."

"What happened?" Dan asked. He was staring straight up at Suki. The fluorescent light made her features seem soft. He tried sitting up but vertigo hit him hard.

"You blacked out," she told him. "We shifted. It's a side-effect from shifting."

Dan was lying on a subway platform.

Visitor

There was a knock on the door. Dan went over and answered it. He opened it a crack and saw a gangly looking kid in a huge trenchcoat standing there. He should know this guy; in fact the kid had a look of familiarity about him.

"Darius?" Dan asked. That was the first name that came to his mind.

"Huh," the kid replied. "I thought I'd drop by to see how you are doing."

"I'm fine," Dan replied. The kid was waiting for the invite in. Dan stood there, the door opened just a crack, trying to obscure the view inside. He didn't want to reveal secrets. He couldn't explain it either and as if on cue he could feel pressure in his temple; it was a sign that another headache was coming on.

"Well, you didn't seem yourself the other day," the kid said. "I just wanted to know that you were okay. And wanted to talk about what's going on next in the campaign, if you don't mind."

"Honey?" Suki said coyly, from behind the door. She was still at the computer. Her fingers dancing away on the keyboard. Her vision focusing on a certain page and a huge smile on her face.

The kid smiled and nodded. "Ah. Oops, my bad."

Dan awkwardly smiled and shrugged, his face tinting red like a log as the flames died down.

"I see that you are entertaining," the stranger said. "Give me a call later, okay?"