Yuko was confused. She didn't understand it all. The Vyxtra, the Exif with the magic sword, and more importantly, the symbol made of blood in the Mereen's control room. Why on earth would-- what's his name again-- Ja'qen put that on the screens? Why would he side with such brutal creatures? She couldn't wrap her head around it. While she was unconscious, she'd been put in a prison cell with a small, circular window to the north of her bed. She shivered from the cold and wrapped herself in her blanket. Nothing seemed to make any sense anymore. First the Mereen and now this. Her brows furrowed as she studied the plain, silver walls.

The Exif had been acting a little weird before they got into this mess. Of course they were always weird, but this was different. They seemed a little on edge, as if they expected something bad to happen. She'd heard some of them mutter amongst themselves in their native language, something that was extremely rare aboard the Aratrum since it was more efficient for everyone to speak the same language. So why had they been so tense? Did they know that this was going to happen? If so, why didn't they tell anyone?

The door to her cell opened and an Exif stepped in carry a plate with food in it. He was smaller than her and had really long hair that was as white as snow. He had really pale skin and long, nimble fingers that looked like talons at the ends. His hair covered most of the right side of his face but his left eye was pale yellow. He handed it to her and waited silently. Yuko looked down at her dinner. There was a strange grey colored pudding-like substance on one corner, assorted vegetables in another, and a small piece of unleavened bread. There was no drink or silverware that came with it. "How am I supposed to eat this without a fork?" she asked, glancing at her visitor. The Exif narrowed his eyes at her poisonously.

"Figure it out." She sighed and used the bread to eat the "pudding" which tasted plain, just like the bread itself. She could feel the Exif's death glare as she picked at her food and pushed a few vegetables around her plate. After a moment, she handed it back to him but he didn't take it. "Eat all of it," he ordered.

"I don't like aspar--"

"Eat it or I'll shove it down your fucking throat." Yuko flinched and begrudgingly ate the four pieces of asparagus on her plate.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked. "You're an Exif, not some rogue."

"What lies have they been telling you on that toxic ship? You really think that just because I'm biologically one of them means that I have to sell my soul to a planet eating beast and be as twisted as they are?" The Exif yanked the plate from her hands as he said, "Godzilla isn't the one you should be concerned about. It's your so-called allies who seek your demise."

"So why are you doing this?"

"Why shouldn't I?"

"Because you're hurting innocent people and it's wrong." His grip on the plate tightened as she said, "What you're doing isn't human."

"Human?" He stepped closer to her as he placed the plate on the bed. "Do you know what that word means? Do you know what it is?" He grabbed her blanket and leaned forward. Yuko wasn't sure if it was a rhetorical question or not so she stayed silent, wishing he would back off. "I know what happened to your pitiful planet. Do you know what happened to mine? Would you like to see a beast more fearsome than Godzilla descend from the heavens and obliterate everything that's ever existed?" His words became more aggressive as his lips twitched, revealing a pair of sharp dog-like fangs which Yuko hadn't noticed until now. A low, rumbling sound came from his throat as he glared at her. Finally, he let go of her and took the plate. She groaned as she felt a little queasy. She leaned over and vomited on the floor, startling the Exif who immediately stepped out of her way. He scowled at her as if she'd done it on purpose. "Damn Earthlings," he muttered as he left. He returned shortly with a bucket and two towels. He placed the soaked one over the mess and shoved the bucket towards her chest.After cleaning, he angrily handed the dried towel to her. Disgustedly, he picked up the dirty towel and left. Yuko placed the bucket on the floor, wiped her mouth with the towel, and laid in bed. She felt horrible. She wanted to go back to the Aratrum. Tightening the blanket around her, she closed her eyes and tried to go to sleep but the bright lights and AC were preventing her from doing so. Even with the blanket over her head, the light still bothered her. She sat up and vomited again into the bucket. As she did so, she felt like she was being watched despite the fact that she was alone. It's probably nothing, she thought to herself. It's just your imagination. It's all in your head. Pushing her hair back, she adjusted her headband and laid back on the pillow with a soft groan and closed her eyes.

When the door opened again and the Exif from earlier returned, she blinked open her eyes and yawned. Her visitor placed a bowl of oatmeal on her nightstand and put the bucket outside. "I didn't get your name earlier," she said.

"Why do you want to know such useless information?" he asked bitterly.

"It's important to identify a person with their name."

For a moment, she doubted he would tell her his name until he said, "My name's Xana. Sit up and eat your breakfast." She did as ordered. She noticed his impatience as he quietly drummed his fingers on the nightstand and pulled back a bit of his right sleeve to check a silver object wrapped around his wrist. Her eyes widened in fascination at the strange technology as a thin needle moved around in the flat sphere that was coated with glass. Xana looked up at her with his perpetual frown. "You look like you've never seen a watch before."

"That's a watch? I've never seen one like that before. It's so...old."

"Hurry up and finish."

"You've got someplace to go?" Xana did not respond. Yuko ate a little faster and handed him the bowl when she finished.

"Follow me and don't be slow."

"Where are we going?" She recieved no response as he led her outside. The hallways were wide and had other prison cells that were mostly quiet. After going down an elevator and down another hall, Xana opened a door on their left and let her go first.

The room he'd brought her to was large enough to fit about seven hundred people. Cages full of prisoners were lined up along the walls and hanging from the ceiling. Medical tables were placed in the center of the room with assorted items in trays on them. A few Vyxtra were scattered about checking stats and filling syringes with drugs. Yuko took a step back but was pushed forward. "What is this place?" she whispered.

"This is where you'll be staying from now on." Xana pulled her to a cage and shoved her inside. He stared at her for a moment in silence before closing the door and turning to leave.

"Xana," a Vyxtra called, stopping him. "Come back here. I need to check your health."

"I'm fine," he responded without looking back.

"Come. Here." He growled before briskly walking up to, who Yuko assumed was, the medic. The medic sniffed him and curled his lips. "Take your medications and get some rest. Don't let me tell you that again," he ordered. "For now, take care of these." He swished his tail to motion to the other prisoners in the cages. Reluctantly, Xana did as ordered and started refilling the food and water bowels in the cages. The medic walked up to Yuko and crouched in front of her. "My, you're a strong-looking one aren't you?" He opened the door, grabbed her chin to pull her closer, and used a claw to move her lips so he could look at her teeth. He made a quiet animalistic noise of approval and let go of her chin before closing the door. "Hmm, we'll see how far this one gets," he murmured before turning to pick up a syringe. After taking a sample of her blood and putting a band-aid on the wound, he placed the tool on one of the trays and chirped to a grey and red Vyxtra who responded with a series of clicking noises. Yuko figured that whatever they were talking about wasn't good news for her.

One of the prisoners beside her, a bipedal creature with smooth black skin, made loud alien noises and paced around its cage like a tiger. Angrily, it lunged forward, ramming its head against the bars in an attempt to break free. It's roar terrified her so she pressed her back against the opposite side of her cage where a humanoid sat. "I take it you don't travel to other worlds much do you?" she asked.

"No. Every planet we come across has been uninhabitable."

"Is that so? From what I've seen, there's plenty of habitable planets around these parts." Wait what? Really? Then...

"That can't be right. The Gematron Calculation--"

"You take orders from that thing? No wonder you haven't found any planets to live on!" Yuko blinked in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"It's most likely been leading you off course and taking you to dead planets. You haven't realized that?"

"No, how do you know all this stuff?"

"I've heard a lot of gossip about the Exif and what they're doing behind the seams. I heard that they're planning to summon their planet eating god to devour the universe or something like that."

"That's not true. They're helping us find a new home. How could they possibly do such a horrible thing?"

"Wow, Earthlings really are stupid. The Exif worship Ghidorah of all things." The humanoid frowned when she recieved no response. "Don't tell me you don't know about it."

"I've never heard of that thing before. Is it a monster?"

"A god for all intents and purposes."

"And he'll eat you if you don't shut up," Xana growled as he opened the humanoid's cage. "Get out, you little shit. It's your turn." A nearby Vyxtra came and escorted her to a separate room.

Yuko asked, "Who's Ghi--"

"Something much worse than Godzilla. Don't say his name unless you want to stare Death in the eyes."

"What exactly is this place? Why am I here?" She didn't recieve a response as he replaced the old bedding. "Is all that true?"

"Do me a favor and shut up." She sat at the back of her cage and watched him replace the blankets in the cage. She didn't understand why he was so bitter. As the Exif coughed into his elbow, he grimaced in pain. He muttered to himself as he slammed the door shut, skipping her and the next few cages. Yuko stared at the other prisoners who were thin, malnourished, and very unfriendly looking. Half of them looked close to dying. She felt butterflies in her stomach as she quickly realized that they all had numbers branded onto their necks.This must be a laboratory and we're the lab rats,she thought fearfully. She didn't want to be a lab rat. She didn't want to die. The bipedal alien, whose number was TS5830, curled up in a corner and stared at her with its multiple, red eyes. She wondered where Haruo was and if he was still alive. She hoped so. She hoped the Vyxtra hadn't killed everyone on the Aratrum and that Xana was wrong about his kind. The sick, bitter Exif paused by her cage and asked, "What's the difference between a man and a monster?"

"Huh?"

"What's the difference between a man and a monster?"

"I don't know."

"When you have the answer, tell me." He left her wondering why on earth he'd ask such an odd question. Weren't monsters only meant to cause despair and destroy everything in their path? Humans didn't do that. They helped each other and repaired stuff. Monsters weren't as intelligent as they were and show no compassion. The more she thought about, the more confused she became. What was the point of such a useless question that probably wasn't going to help her in this situation? She was trapped, a caged bird with no way to fly.