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Scyrix listened in for the girl's voice. She seemed to be asking what on earth a camera was. Surprised, the assassin poked his head above the chimney, making sure to keep himself invisible. The child was still running on the ground, not using her powers at all. Scyrix felt a pang of guilt. Perhaps it wasn't quite right to use his powers when she did not. Snorting, Scyrix leaped gracefully from the chimney, retracting his tentacles and landing perfectly behind a dumpster.

This made the game more challenging anyway. Now he'd have to keep unseen without the use of his tendril-whips. It was, if anything, good practice. He wondered exactly how good the girl was at playing hide-and-seek...

A camera looks like this--Scyrix showed her a mental picture of his last glimpse of a security monitor--and bad people use it to spy on us. So we must not be seen by one. Otherwise the bad people will come to get us.

Nellesethai, Scyrix rolled the name over and over in his mind. What a strange name. He could hear her voice clearly now, she must be close!

I only wanted to know your name, he responded, because you know mine. It seemed strange for me not to know yours, too. We are friends, right? His last question sounded hopeful.

Anyway, subdue means to bring under control, he replied absentmindedly to the child's final question. And a if you are shot with a tranquilizer, it makes you sleep for a while. He did wonder why the Nellesethai had asked such off-topic questions....

Scyrix knelt silently behind the dumpster, grinning bemusedly. He knew he must look rather foolish playing a child's game. But at the moment, he didn't really care. It was good to have someone to talk like this with. Kari talked about boring things like paperwork and missions mostly. She never had time to have fun. Scyrix often found himself zoning out during these conversations, with the result being that Kari usually shut up and went about her business. He didn't think much of paperwork, actually.

Their talks over missions were far more interesting, because they usually involved a task of some kind for him to perform. Missions filled Scyrix with excitement, and he looked forward to them. Scyrix answered Nel's question about the 'bad people.'

Those people are Technocrats, replied Scyrix informatively. They work for the Bydo, which means they cannot be trusted. He was rather elated that Nel thought him friend-worthy. Most people were scared of him, as she had been at first.

The joyful feeling passed however, when the child asked him why he could not talk. Confused, Scyrix repeated the question over and over in his mind, making sure Nel couldn't hear. Earlier he had tried very hard to speak... why was that again? Ah, yes. To help Nel not be afraid of him anymore. The last he recalled, he had woken up at Nel's feet after havinig tried to voice his thoughts aloud. Scyrix winced, remembering the pain he had felt as he opened his eyes. Was this pain what other people experienced when they spoke?

It hurts when I try to talk, Scyrix communicated slowly, uncertain. Does it hurt when you talk, Nellesethai?

Scyrix smiled imperceptibly, though of course Nel couldn't see it because the man was hidden still. His head poked around to gaze at the girl. She certainly did look like a Bydo, but Scyrix had been in contact with her long enough to be sure beyond any doubt that she was human.

You are human. He could say this with absolute certainty, which he hoped would quell the little girl's fears. The Bydo invaded Earth. They lied to us when we were able to use magic. They said that the technology--machines--they gave us was the reason we could use it. The Bydo kill people. That is why they cannot be trusted, and why we fight the Technocracy that works under them.

Scyrix looked at the girl from a distance. She was smiling. He cocked his head curiously, wondering why. The smile lifted somewhat as she gazed at the sky.

I do not know..... Scyrix had never considered why he couldn't speak. It was just something he couldn't do. Maybe it had something to do with--with something that happened. Scyrix reached for the memory, but it eluded him, as it always did. He remembered the pain he had felt earlier and decided against trying to talk again. But why couldn't he? If other people didn't suffer the same pain he felt when they spoke, it didn't make any sense. Was he different, then? Perhaps it was he that wasn't human. Uncertain, he tried to contact Kari, but she seemed busy....

The lass gave a relieved sigh when her new friend assured her that she was indeed a human.

"Do all humans have those... umm... mmm..." Nel was referring to the tendrils she had seen before on the man's back, but was at a loss of what to call them. The symbol had figured out that she was different from others... although there did seem to be two types of humans. However, despite the different kinds of humans with different colors, she had never seen anyone with tentacles. Maybe everyone kept them hidden, just like Scyrix did.

"Who are the Tek-no-krats and why did the Bydo invade the Earth? It doesn't really look invaded..." Nel questioned and though after Sci's brief explanation. "Why... why do they kill people?"

Peace, peace, peace... what was it that she tried to remember? Nel frowned, looking at her small feet. Why did she feel in some way connected to the Bydo? According to Scyrix's words, the Bydo were bad. Was she bad for having something to do with them... even though she couldn't remember what it was?

"Magic?" the girl asked "Isn't that just fairytale and kid stuff?"

Scyrix grinned sheepishly at Nel.

No, I don't think anyone else has anything like these. He extended the tendrils briefly, now sitting crosslegged in front of the dumpster. It didn't seem he was too interested in their game anymore. Just talking was fine with him. And the Technocrats are humans just like us. The reason Earth does not look as though it has been invaded is because the Bydo want to maintain order. Though if you look closely, they control much of our lives. Those security cameras for example would not be here if the Bydo had never come. Things would be different. I do not know why they came here, but they must have had a reason. Scyrix pondered the information he had obtained from Radus earlier. Exactly why had the Bydo come?

The Bydo kill anyone who resists them. When they started the invasion, many people were killed because they did not want to lose their homes or land, or their family members. But they made it look to everyone else like they wanted to restore peace to Earth, so a lot of people do not know about these deaths. They are full of deception and trickery. I just wish I knew what they wanted with Earth and why they are here.... Scyrix trailed off, obviously thinking, though he could come to no conclusions. There simply wasn't enough information.

It was somewhat strange how Scyrix could be as playful as a small boy at times, yet he retained his intelligence, and used it when it was needed. He served well in missions, and offered detailed explanations for things. Yet it was obvious the man wasn't entirely sane. He was also unpredictable, which was why Kari had to keep a close eye on her comrade; though Scyrix always acted with a definable reason--at least in his eyes.

You are thinking, continued the assassin, of the kind of magic that is found in storybooks. The kind where a wizard waves a wand. Magic is a name we give to these powers we do not understand. I do not know why I can become invisible for instance. I just do it. He finished this explanation simply, looking at Nel placidly.

Well, just because there was no one like Scyrix, it didn't mean that she was unique...

"Hey Sci... are there people like... mmm... me?"

She was hesitant... why wouldn't she be? After all... this would probably be her first encounter with the truth about being different... which Nel hoped would not be the case.

The part about these "teknokrats" confused her. "If the Tek-no-k-rats are just like us, then why are they bad?" asked Nel, moving her hands behind her back and doing something which looked a lot like some bouncy moon walk all they way to her friend.

"Well, I don't think that they control our lives..." Nel started, remembering anything she could. It was true that her life was more or less free but perhaps she was a rare case. "Well... why don't we change everything back?!" the symbol pronounced with a rising tone. This was a new idea that just sparked up within her head. "Why don't we just take the cameras and hide them, so it would be like... before..."

"Before..."

The child did not know a "before the Bydo". She was much younger that Scyrix and most of the people that were somehow affected by the presence of the alien race... the girl was born to an Earth controlled by this species... it was not known to her how the "original" world looked like.

Nel made an effort to hide the sadness she felt because the world in which Scyrix was born in was unfamiliar to her. In the girl's eyes, the Bydo have always been.

"It's not fair that they kill people, just because they don't want to give up something that they own." This was a good day. Another idea popped up into the girl's head. While a bunch of grown ups couldn't figure something out, she was a natural genius... or that's what she though... well... that's what counts, right?

"What if they lost something and came here to look for it?"

It was a pretty simple solution... however the question as to what was not known. Was this a start of a detective game? Perhaps it was... perhaps it was...

She was unique then... according to Sci's knowledge at least. Was it good or bad? Nel knew that she was "special" now. Her face lit up, her "cheeks" rosy, flaring within.

The lass looked up at the sky. "Don't they know that the Bydo are bad?" Nel asked. Her interest in the topic was quickly fading. A child after all... the attention spam lasted only for so long.

"I'm bored..." she finally stated after a few minutes of consideration while trying to do a ballerina spin and creating a horrible grating noise from the rubbing between cement and metal. The noise was too painful for the symbol to continue. At this moment, the entity wanted to break free of her shell and fly... but... her newfound friend was right there and Nel didn't know how much he knew of her... uniqueness. The last thing that the girl wanted was to scare him away. Then, even though the shell was in a form of a nude body, for her it was more like clothing and breaking free of that was not an option... not when someone was watching.

Another question popped into her head. "Hey Sci, who is that you're always talking to?"