"Station commander, you WILL cooperate fully with the Vrul council!"

"I AM cooperating fully. Just look around, check anywhere you like. He was here when I left."

Riss could hear the voices rising up from behind him and through the vent, echoing over the walls and washing down the corridor. He was outside the room now, and likely outside of thermal range, but that wasn't a chance that he wanted to take. So, he kept sliding forward quick and quiet as fast as he could.

"If the council is to find that you aided in his escape...."

"You'll do what? Terminate me?" The man's voice rose burring and rumbling as the human's voice grew deeper and more menacing.

There was a silence and the man continued with his train of thought, "The Vrul council has no jurisdiction here past what I am willing to give them. As a sovereign nation they may be allowed to do what they want on their planet, but this is MY station and I will not be bullied by a government that is not my own. Now I did NOT aid in his escape. I did not life one finger to help him, and I will search for the escaped prisoner, but your actions have hardly endeared me to your cause. If you will excuse me."

Riss heard the man's footsteps receding into the distance both through the pipes and as the man left the room behind him.

He wasn't able to hear what the other Vrul were saying as he turned another few corners and entered the mazer of air ducts that made up the station. The space inside the vents was tight, too tight for any adult humans to follow him, but there was plenty of room for a Vrul to follow. Sooner or alter they would notice the air vent, depending on who they sent. If it was a simple Beta sent after to capture him, he was sure that he was in more than capable of outsmarting them, but if it was an Alpha? Or worse yet, a Kappa, he knew he was in trouble.

He needed to get out of these vents as soon as possible, and so followed the tunnel down a passage and peered through the nearest grate into an empty office. He reached out and opened it up with his fingers slowly climbing out before closing and sealing it again.

Now what was he going to do?

He stood in the dim office surrounded by a desk on one side and a few chairs on the other and wondered where he was to go from here. He was probably the only Vrul on the entire station beside the ones who were hunting him. He would be easy to spot, annoyingly easy.

But that was when he saw it.

Turning on the spot he became aware of a large human jacket draped over the back of one of the chairs. It was a thin material, bright pink in color and around his height, and sitting just next to it, was a strange recreation of an earth animal.

A stuffed animal.

He had read about them on his study of human psychology, knowing that human children often wore bright colors and carried toys around with them.

And that jacket was around his height.

Would it work?

Not if anyone looked to closely.

But was it worth a try?

It was really his only option.

He reached out and grabbed the jacket, slinging it down around his shoulders and pulling the hood up over his antennae.

This was going to have to work.

He zipped up the jacket, and grabbed the stuffed animal. The jacket was so large that it dragged on the floor around his feet, but that was ok. He stuck both of his arms through the single sleeve, hopefully to make himself look mor substantial, and then poked his head out of the doorway into an administrative corridor.

There was no one here.

He stepped out quickly into the hallway and continued forward as silent as possible clutching the stuffed animal to his chest like a talisman against being caught.

So far it was doing it's job.

He kept his head low and his face mostly covered, using his thermal vision to see through the fabric and make his way into the crowd. He caught the attention of some humans of course, but the way they smiled, tilted their heads and looked after him with bemusement gave him hope that they simply assumed he was one of their small offspring.

The further he went into the station, the larger the crowds grew, until he was being buffeted about in all directions by moving people dragging suitcases. It was hard not to get pulled along by the tide, but he knew where he needed to go, and hopefully when he got there he could figure out what the next plan of action was.

Looking up he made eye contact with a wide eyed small child holding a similar stuffed animal.

He stared at her and she stared back.

He gave her a tentative wave, and she responded in kind, a look of near confusion on her face as he ducked and continued forward.

Overhead there was a sudden flashing of red light.

WARNING: Station command reports wanted subject loose on station, all flights are hereby grounded. Please follow the blinking lines to nearby holding areas.

The humans and aliens alike had all drawn to a stop and were looking upward. There was a collective muttering from the crowd around them as the humans grumbled. Some of them looked almost worried, while the vast majority of them simply seemed annoyed.

"I have a meeting in eight hours!. One of the humans exclaimed turning to the nearest station employee.

The look on their face was one of defeat as they watched a line of angry people and aliens begin to form before them.

Riss used the anger and confusion to push through the crowd as his own accusatory face stared down at him from the wanted signs.

"Hello there, where are your parents."

He turned, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from, and found a tall, plump, and pleasant looking lady staring down at him from above. He paused not wanting to appear rude, but also not wanting to be noticed.

"here why don't we take you to the help desk and-"

He shook his head and pointed towards one of the other terminals.

"Are your parents over there."

He nodded

"Can I come with you to make sure you get to them safe."

He paused and then nodded again. The best idea to keep out of sight was going to be to hide with a human. She reached down a hand to him, and he gave her the end of his sleeve to which she seemed rather bemused, but walked him through the crowd more quickly than he might have managed by himself.

She talked to him while she walked.

"Better to keep you safe when there is a dangerous people about."

Riss nodded.

"You don't talk much do you."

He nodded."

"Can you talk."
He shook his head.

"Oh I'm sorry sweetheart. I hope you don't mind me talking for the both of us then."

He shook his head.

He was to learn that she was a very nice lady, coming back from visiting family on the Bramble colony. She told him all about her grandkids who she was sure he would just love. One of them was a little girl who loved riding horses, and the other was a little boy who really loved to color ad paint. She told him all about the strange and interesting alien plants she had seen. She owned some sort of flower nursery back home, and she loved learning about new plants.

She had wanted to take an alien plant with her, but was informed that they were not allowed through customs without a special permit, but that was ok because she had taken plenty of picture while she was there. Plenty of pictures of her husband and her grandkids and she was going to put them all up in one of her albums when she got home.

She knew that albums were a thing of the past, but she did love having those pictures in hard copy. It was nice to have something she could hold in her hand. Riss found himself surprisingly interested in this woman and hoped that things were going well.

"Have you seen this Vrul."

His head jerked to the side and he looked over to see a team of Betas and their corresponding deltas going around trough the crowd and holding up his pictures. People would shake their head and step away as they moved onto the next person turning children to face them and even prodding at people luggage.

The humans looked rather annoyed at all of this and refrained from answering.

They were getting closer.

Riss tugged forward trying to drag the woman with him, and she went without argument still talking.

This time it was about her dog.

His name was Memphis and he was a St. Bernard, a very good boy.

And then as they were walking, they were cut off by a large group of the betas.

"You there."

The woman pulled up and then dragged Riss behind her body tensed, "What do you want."

"Have you seen this Vrul?"

The woman shook her head, "Of course I haven.t'." Her voice had gone from pleasant to harsh.

"You there." Another one pointed at Riss, "Take off your hood."

"This little darling doesn't have to do anything you shameful bullies."

Riss shrunk in on himself, which was completely out of fear, but also served to make him look more pathetic

The woman patted his back, and he hid against her leg, "It's ok sweetheart, they were just going." She glowered down at them and took a step forward, "Don't make me turn on the lord's Hymns, I know you creatures can't stand that."

They hesitated.

"On the count of three." She began

And they quickly scattered.

She pulled Riss through the line and towards the terminal he had indicated.

"Creepy little critters, back in my day I used t be a university professor. I taught government. Retired a few years ago to have more time with family, but I remember learning about those Vrul. Needed to be able to teach my students about them, and boy.... Is that one group of people I don't trust half as far as I can throw them, because I bet I could throw one a pretty good distance. Termination orders." She scoffed, "What a barbaric practice, and they think WE are the dangerous ones."

She had a point.

He hadn't looked at it that way until recently, but he was sure that he agreed with her for certain. There were plenty of reasons to call humans barbaric, but at least that was one thing their government didn't do.... At least not openly anyway.

"Come on then, lets keep going."

They encountered a few more groups of Vrul as they went, but every time they did the nice woman shielded him behind her back and told them off, sending them on their way before anyone could see anything suspicious.

Eventually they made it to a more secluded area of the terminal.

"Where are your parents she asked."

He pointed towards some random couple hoping she would buy it, but before he knew what was going on she pulled him to the side and into one of the little shops dragging him behind a stand of chips before turning him to look up at her.

Their eyes met for the first time.

She seemed surprised, but not nearly as surprised as he had expected her to be.

He waited for her to call out to the guards, to have them come descending down on him like predators from the sky, but she stayed quiet.

"Do you know where you're going."

He just stared at her.

She shook him a little.

"Do you know where you're going."

He shook his head in fear.

"They won't let you out of this system without a passport, but if you take transport D-10 out to the UNSC observatory you can probably ask for admiral Vir without any problems. I am sure he could help you, he saved that other Vrul after all.

Riss nodded and the woman pulled his hood back over his head.

"Be safe."

She went to turn away.

"Wait.... Who are you?"

"You can call me Linda, Linda berry, stay safe."

She turned and then vanished back into he crowd. He stared after her not sure how he was supposed to feel. She had saved his life and he wasn't entirely sure why. Two humans had already done that for him, and he didn't even know them.

He peered out from behind the stand of chips, and hurried to catch up with a coupe walking past keeping close to their heels as if to make it look like he belonged to them. They were heading towards the exit doors.

Station Lockdown Sequence Engaged

The sound overhead had him cursing and hurrying forward as fast as his legs would carry him.

The last thing he needed was to be trapped here. Up ahead the man and woman began to jog. He did his best to keep up but was falling behind. The door were beginning to close, giant metal blast shields and the man and woman were running. He was falling behind.

They slipped through.

He wasn't going to make it.

And then one of the security guards grabbed him and tossed him through, likely thinking he was the child of the running couple. He sailed through the doors just as they were closing and came to a halt on the outer deck of the station where the last few busses were just picking up and dropping off.

"There he is!"

Riss turned in shock and consternation ready to be descended upon by a group of Vrul ready to take him back and terminate him.

But instead he turned to find the station commander standing and nodding towards him.

Standing next to him was Dr Krill and Admiral Vir both looking less than concerned, the human almost looking amused.

"That coat looks good on you Dr." The human said, smiling.

He turned to the station commander, "Thanks for giving us a call."

"Glad to help." The two men shook hands

Dr Krill floated forward, "Let's make the pleasantries quick before they suspect. The Amiral nodded and walked over pushing the hood back down over Riss's head and taking his sleeve in one hand, "Better find this little one's parents." He said sarcastically.

The station commander smiled, "Oh yes, there are dangerous people about, you should be on your way."

The man nodded and waved a hand

Riss relaxed.

Now would be a good time to pass out from stress, he thought.

It was hopefully.

Over.