After just a week of preparations being started, the refuge was already beginning to feel so much safer than it had before. Miguel decided to help out with getting the supplies for building the sort of cannon, Nredoza's alarm system was up and running, and in order to not set it off when entering and leaving the refuge, one would need an elsnibalt-based ring. She had visited the site of the elsnibalt piece and collected just enough to make thirty so any newcomers would be able to not cause a scene whenever they came in. Every home was adequately armed for any sort of situation. They all felt safe as they huddled by the bonfire for warmth, talking about all the progress they had made in the past week. At least, they thought all was going well.

A loud siren began to wail from the end of the street. The sound of tires rolling on gravel built up, causing everyone to scatter into the nearest home, which happened to be Rephana's.

People jumped out of cars, knocking on every door. Based on the amount of steps, Hazel could guess there were no more than eleven people. Her breath was shaky as she heard them come up to the front door. Heart racing, she ducked behind the couch, tension building. It felt as if her stomach was about to lurch out of her chest. There was nothing that she could do at that point. If she went to fetch one of the plasma guns, she could be seen.

There was a loud knocking on the front door.

"CSIS, open up! We know you're in there!" a powerful male voice shouted.

Nobody dared to move.

"I said open the damned door!" he called again, pounding on the door.

Once again, nobody moved. Hazel didn't even breathe.

"We have reason to believe that someone is housing dangerous extraterrestrials in this place! If you comply, there will be no difficulties!"

In a surge of adrenaline, Hazel rushed to the door to open it, ending up face to face with a uniformed federal agent, who immediately noticed her three eyes. She tried to ignore his questioning looks by starting up a conversation.

"Alright, we're here, but we're just trying to not be killed. We all- er, most of us, speak English and are in fact at least half-human, so technically, we're where we are supposed to be."

"I don't think you understand what we mean when we say dangerous. We don't care how passive you are. We don't care that you're half human. You are at a higher risk of carrying diseases that humans have not been exposed to, and you haven't been exposed to human diseases. No Canadian medical office has adequate tools and equipment to give medical care to anyone not hu-"

"Correction: we are all humanoid. The only difference is that we are technically different species but we're all built in the same way. If one of us gets injured, that is our problem. However, I can agree with you on the diseases."

The man cleared his throat and continued to speak.

"Good. Our medical team must perform a basic examination and sterilization to make sure that you are free from any diseases that could be passed on to others. Then, we will need to give vaccinations against many human illnesses that could possibly infect you. The basics," he continued.

Hazel nodded, offering to go first for the examination. A sterile area was being set up around the living room, where a portable exam table was placed. When it was finished being put together, Hazel was instructed to sit on the table to be put under general anesthetic.

She awoke lying on the couch, everyone else in the same situation. The results of the examinations were posted on sheets of paper with photos of each of them paperclipped to the front page, which included the vaccinations given and what had to have been done. Hazel flipped over her left forearm, seeing something that she never thought she would in her life. A tattoo of two parallel lines going horizontally and a third arrow pointing up towards her wrist was fresh on her skin. She attempted to rub it off in case it was just done with a marker, but that was not the case. It was real.

Hazel turned over the others' arms. Each of them had one. Breaths quickening, Hazel grabbed her sheet of results and glossed over all of the information, until at the very bottom, a note was scrawled in messy cursive handwriting; subject branded with a symbol to better identify it, procedure done on each of them.

She checked out the window to see if any of them were still there, but the roads were empty. They were alone once more, but Rephana was nowhere to be seen. Hazel flipped through hers, seeing another handwritten note scrawled at the bottom of her report; subject taken to the nearest medical center to be euthanised due to extreme necrosis and rapid tissue death.

Tears welled up in Hazel's eyes. She was gone already, though Hazel knew that it would be for the best. She wouldn't be in pain when she passed, but instead would die peacefully. Aside from that, the wording of the reports and the fact that Rephana would be euthanized, Hazel could tell how they viewed extrauniversals. They were seen as nothing more than animals that would need to be under control and a burden on society.

Hazel woke up the others, informing them on what had happened. It didn't take long for everyone to start crying. Rephana had been a crucial member of their community, and it would be a very long time for her absence to be seen as normal. Everything that she had done for them, from her designs to her leadership in the harder times of the last month, would not be forgotten.

Marigold Ununquadius, in her childhood innocence, yawned and spoke up in her sweet high-pitched voice.

"Can we build her a statue? We can make it just as pretty as her!"

Hazel couldn't stand not doing it for any longer. Tears running down her face, she gave her half-sister a soft hug, promising that they would make Rephana look "very, very, very pretty." That seemed to please her, and she sat back down on the floor and smiled at everyone.

"I guess this means that I'll take this over. I'm the oldest out of all of us," Daniel said, wiping away a few stray tears.

"That I would not mind," Miguel said, giving him a thumbs-up.

Slowly, everyone put in their agreements, and from that point forward, their Exan refuge would undergo serious developments in all areas, with the Ununquadius family leading not away from them, but by their sides at every moment.