Amelia woke up a few hours later, still laying in Viza's lap. His hand rested atop her head gently, and his tail wrapped around one of her legs. Not enough to be restrictive, but it was comforting. Viza was also still making that deep purring sound, even though looking up he seemed to be asleep. Amelia dimly had the thought of it being something either partially or fully involuntary. She wondered if it meant the same thing for Viza's race as it did for felines back home, or if all of his kind could do it. She knew some species of cats couldn't, perhaps there were subspecies of krultathans who couldn't as well. Even dimly awake as she was, she still couldn't help but focus on scientific queries, like it was ingrained in her.

But was she though?

She remembered last night, waking up from the nightmare, accidentally lashing out at Viza, the panic attack, Viza trying to comfort her, and finally passing out as he held her. She thought at the time that she was so worried because she saw Viza as a friend, but right now, she wasn't so sure.

Do I actually, like like Viza? Even if he were a different species? Could he actually like me back? Without the whole pheromones getting in the way? Hell, I don't even know if his species even had the concept of dating.

Wait why am I thinking of dating? Dating Viza? While BlackRock and Wonderland were still after me? While having to hide Hal? Hell, while there was an alien race who might be gunning for Humanity? What am I thinking, even if I wanted to it wasn't the time to-

Her thoughts get interrupted as Viza shifts a bit in his sleep, his tail wrapping around her waist a couple of times now, his ears twitching a bit, but eventually settling back down.

It's not the time to be thinking about that. Even if being held by him like this feels nice. Even if I adore his reactions in our conversations, even if I like him, it's just not the time.

She sighs as her thoughts run their course. It was a moot point, she couldn't afford to, and she can't afford to just sit here forever either. With more than a hint of regret, she sits up, unwrapping Viza's tail from around her, which ends up rousing Viza.

---Viza's POV---

After laying down to get some rest after the conversation with the Ambassador, Viza struggled a bit. He knew he was taking the anti-rut medication, and Amelia was wearing her pheromone blockers so it should have been double preventative from him being affected by her scent. She even covered her scent with one of a flower and yet, despite the fact that he knew she could probably crush him if she wanted to, despite the fact that he knew they were from a different species, he couldn't help but feel attracted to her. He even blurted out to her before laying down how he admired the traits she didn't see about herself like a teenage kit in their first rut. And yet, this didn't feel like what happened during mating season, this felt more like.. like a pairing.

That's a foolish thought. Even if I wanted to, Amelia has far more important things to deal with. Her species might be under threat by the Axon, she has to appear before the S.A. council, for void's sake she couldn't even be around me without having to take special precautions. There's no way something like that could work. I am being foolish again.

Were his thoughts as he drifted off to sleep.

A few hours later, he was awoken by Amelia screaming. Thinking there was an intruder, Viza immediately stood up, claws out and in a half crouch, aggressive stance, looking for any sign of them. After a moment of searching and seeing nothing, he cautiously went to grab his pulse pistol when he heard another whimper and scream from Amelia. Turning to look at her, hand already ready to claw someone, he took a deep breath and saw that her eyes were closed. Looking her over, he realized there was no intruder, it was Amelia's mind. A Night Terror, he realized.

Putting his claws away, he knew he shouldn't wake someone in the middle of such a terror, but seeing Amelia's face twisting and grimacing in such pain and agony pulled on his hearts. He could not bear to see her like this, he stilled himself, reaching out with the thought, 'It's safer for her if I do not wake her.'

That lasted for all of two minutes as, when he went to go lay down after having not heard anything else from Amelia, he suddenly heard her whispering, almost like a chant. the word no. Over and over.

It was the last straw, Viza couldn't bear it anymore. he tried to rationalize it by her being an alien, but in reality, he just didn't want to see her pained like this. Moving quickly to be over by her side, Viza tried shaking first, gently, then more forcefully, calling out to Amelia. He had to practically shout before he saw her open her eyes and, in the next moment, he was on the ground, his back and chest hurt, and he couldn't get a breath in. Struggling to get a breath, it took several attempts before his lungs finally found the air they so fought for, and Viza was able to regain his senses. Somehow nothing was broken, but his lip had been cut by his fangs, and his whole chest and back felt like they'd been hit with freight.

Looking over, he saw Amelia in the corner of the room, curled up into a ball. Her breathing was erratic and much faster than it should have been, her eyes looked but didn't see, and she kept mumbling incoherently.

Composing himself, Viza had walked over to comfort her, slowly bringing her back down to reality. He had seen such reactions before, from his people who came back, rare as it was, from being slaves for the Axon, but never this severe. Holding her gently, he remembered reading about humans being social creatures, and how physical contact was a calming thing for them at times, so he decided to give her as much physical contact as he could. His tail wrapped around her, he laid her down in his lap and petted her head gently as he had seen in one of the human videos on their network. At first, he wasn't sure it was working but slowly, eventually, he saw her calm down, her breathing return to normal, and the liquid from her eyes stopped. She eventually fell back asleep, and Viza decided right then.

Amelia may be a class 4 Deathworlder, but there WAS something he could do for her. This. Help her keep her center. He didn't care if she didn't feel the same way, for Viza, he had already decided, he would help her in any way he could, even if it was just as a friend, or confidant.

--Amelia---------------------------

Amelia watched as Viza sat up, looking at her carefully and with a slightly different air in his eyes than usual. She knew it, she had hurt him, broken his trust in her when she lashed out last night.

Sitting up and walking a bit away, Amelia tapped the portable replicator for some water and took a sip, not looking at Viza who she could hear was moving around. Once she no longer had a dry throat, she turned around and said to him.

"Viza, about last night. I wasn't fully awake but that's not an excu-"

"You've been burdened a long time, haven't you Amelia?" Viza asked, interrupting her.

This had the effect of causing Amelia to feel a mixture of emotions. Relief that he understood she hadn't meant to, fear that he would request to be transferred away, apprehension that he wouldn't and things would become distanced, and she wasn't sure what was worse. Trying to downplay things so he would hopefully stay, Amelia looked away and said in a fake happy tone.

"Oh. It's not that bad, I just had a bad dream that's all."

"Bad dreams do not cause someone to scream out in pain, go into a survival state immediately upon waking and curl up into a corner of the room losing all sense of reason. It also doesn't cause one to feel such pain. Even now, I can smell that you're afraid of whatever it was you saw last night, and it's not the fear of a dream, it's a real fear." before she could ask he then followed up. "Your blocker has worn off, don't worry, I already took a dose of my medication."

Amelia sighed. She hadn't expected that. Damn him and his sense of smell.

"Viza...Can..can I trust you?" She asked hesitantly. Well, she knew well enough that he would likely try to understand, so might as well get things out of the way.

"On my Honor, anything you wish to keep a secret is safe with me, Lady Amelia." He said with a rough approximation of a human smile, teeth and all.

Amelia let out a half-hearted laugh at that, seeing the amusing picture of a Krultathan smiling like a human.

Taking a deep breath, she then nodded and gestured for Viza to sit down, while she walked over to make sure that the room's door was locked. Once she was certain it was, she then turned to face Viza and fixed a serious stare at him.

"Everything I'm about to tell you, cannot leave this room, understand? This is my life in all sense of the word that's on the line." She said to him.

Viza nodded solemnly.

Amelia then sent a message to Hal, telling him to be ready to move. It took several moments longer than usual but Hal responded with an affirmative. Looking at Viza, she then started.

"Before I wound up at Ankyros station, I was a part of a secret branch of the U.S.U.N. called BlackRock, a research and development branch on paper. Monsters in actuality. While there, they had me work on and design many bleeding edge technologies like weapons, VI's, AI's, and more. One of them involved bio-enhancing nanotech implants, things years ahead of anything the rest of Humanity had. They wanted a test subject, a prisoner. I objected, and the project was shelved. I thought that was the end of it, but..." She paused for a moment, taking another sip then continued.

"They had me work on other projects, but the one I was most devoted to was AI research. I ended up making four of them. A.D.A.M, Athena, Limos, and Phthisis. I ended up caring for them as my children. I can't have kids due to a genetic condition, you see, so I focused on AI to make children the only way I knew I really could. And it worked, they were wonderful. Never went rampant despite what the reports say. A certain asshole tried to make them into a "Warmind", an Ai with the purpose of military strategy and combat only. I refused, and then..."

Amelia had to pause for a moment.

"And then they took them from me. They tortured them when they refused to comply. And when that didn't work, they declared them rampant... They killed them, Viza. I know the S.A. might have a poor view of A.I. but they were good kids and that fucking bastard killed them... I... I broke after that. They sent me to the frontlines of a skirmish war. I met a friend there I grew up with. We became closer than friends. I'm not sure if your species has dating or couples or lifetime partners, but we do. Viktor and I, we were getting to that point.

While on a convoy to one of the tech depots, we were hit with I.E.D.s, an explosive. Viktor....didn't make it. I shouldn't have either."

She then pointed to her eye as she shifted it from passive mode to mil-spec. The usually normal-looking eyes went black with a larger mechanical Iris and an infrared laser.

"They planted the I.E.D. just to get me. They killed Viktor, just to fuck with me. Then they used me as a pincushion. They took my implant designs, modified them to try and make me unable to disobey them, and forcibly implanted them in me while I was conscious and paralyzed. Fortunately, the dumbasses were, well dumbasses and fucked up the conditioning program, and eventually, I managed to escape."

She stopped then, letting Viza take all this in. Why she had so many designs, why she had been pushed to the bleeding edge of several fields, why she had implants that were beyond bleeding edge mil-spec, and why she had the nightmares, the PTSD. He knew that now. Which meant there was only one other thing to tell him.

"After I escaped, I needed to keep from being detected, so I took a V.I. and modified it. Heavily. And eventually, Hal was born. Hal?" Amelia said as Hal popped off her arm and stood up, unfolding to look his single ocular at Viza.

Viza, for his part, was dumbfounded listening to Amelia's story. It sounded almost as bad as the Axon, or the Give'Matar. It took him a bit to process this as well. He knew Amelia was smart, but if he understood her correctly, she was far smarter than he had thought. The story about the A.I. though really hurt him. He could see and smell how much it hurt her, she really had thought of them as her children. Viza wasn't like the rest of the galaxy with a hatred for artificial sentients, mostly because he had never met one and knew better than to take the S.A.'s word on a race being "Brutal and violent".

He was not, however, expecting to meet one right then and there.

"That...Is that?" He said, looking at Hal, his face a mix of shock, apprehension, and a bit of fear.

"Not "that", "he". This is Hal, he's An A.I. Viza, you cannot tell anyone about him."

"Hello Viza. I do hope you've been taking care of Miss Amelia while I've been on low power mode." Hal said to the Krultathan.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"H-Hello Hal. I'm Viza. And I've been doing my best regarding Lady Amelia. I won't let any harm come to her, you have my word." Viza said, starting nervous, but getting more confident as he spoke.

"Miss Amelia, my energy levels still need time to recharge to minimum sustainability. If you'll excuse me." He said, folding up and placing himself back on Amelia's arm.

Not before hacking into Viza's translator implant, however, as Viza hear the bot say.

"If you harm my mother, there will be no place safe for you in this universe or the next, Krultathan."

Viza, noticeably terrified, didn't even respond. Amelia gave him time to digest things, and eventually, things calmed down but were still awkward for the next two days while they were cooped up. They would talk about each other's past, their likes and dislikes, their cultures, and so on. By the end of it, both had a fairly general understanding of each other.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Two days later, they were finally able to leave the room. Apparently, they had docked at a station. After Amelia washed and got a change of clothes, Viza invited her to a restaurant station side to eat at. Putting on a white t-shirt, bomber jacket, and leather jeans she stepped out of her quarters aboard the Ambassador's ship and gave a small spin for Viza.

"Well, how do I look? Alien enough?" she asked him with a small smile.

"Hmm, more like out of a C-Tier holovid. Do your kind always insist on using so many different fabrics and colors together?" He said with a light chuff, which she learned was their equivalent to a smirk or light laugh.

"Hey, I'll have you know I have a great fashion sense...I think..." She said, going along with the joke. Though honestly, she just now had noticed that most of the aliens she had met had worn uniform-colored clothing and singular material styles. It was honestly a bit depressing, like watching one of those old Star Wars, Star Trek vids? something like that.

"Anywho, let's go Viza, lead the way!" she said, gesturing for him to show her where to go.

"Oh, Lady Amelia, the big bad Deathworlder, can't find her way to a restaurant?" He said, seeming to be doing more of this teasing since they got back. She wasn't sure why but if it meant that he would stop with the formal courtesies so much she'd take it.

"Arent Krultathans Deathworlders too?" She asked curiously, hoping she didn't screw something up and misremember.

"Of course. But we are Class 2 Deathworlders. higher gravity and aggressive evolutionary pressure. Nowhere near as bad as a class 4." He explained matter-of-factly.

"Okay okay. Fine. Would you please be ever so kind as to guide us to the location of our current dinner arrangements?" She said, even throwing in a posh accent to make it over the top. Unfortunately, judging by Viza's face, the translator giving up on their job.

"Um... Apologies but... I have no idea what you said."

She laughed seeing his surprised face. His ears perked and twitched all around, eyes wide, whiskers flared, and his tail even had a little crook at the end making it look like a poorly drawn question mark.

"Fine fine. I am really hungry though. can we go?" She asked him

"Of course, if you'd be so kind as to follow me."

He walked in front of her, allowing her to get a good look at him from behind. His tail seemed to connect where a human's coccyx would be, right at the end of the spine. His shoulders were narrow, limber looking, and because of his leg's shape he had a strange gate, almost as if walking was like slamming his hips down with each step, yet he hardly made a sound to most, judging by how easily he startled some. She could also see that besides fur, there was a mane of a sort, though just on the back of his neck. She wondered what evolutionary purpose that would serve and had asked him about it, but Viza had been hesitant to answer before.

She could also see that his head was a bit more pointed in the back than a human's, likely to make additional anchor points for muscles relating to his ears, and curiously he had a slight forward haunch to his gate, like stalking, his center of balance further ahead of him than a Humans would be. As he went to open the door they found themselves at an airlock door if she remembered, she could see that on the back of his hands a second set of muscles were there too, judging by their placement towards his fingertips she guessed they were for his claws.

"Welcome to Lcht'ial Station." Viza said as he opened the door, knocking Amelia out of her thoughts and bringing her attention to the station.

It. Was. Gorgeous.

From an aesthetic view, and an engineering view. A large domed habitat center made of some unknown material that was auto-dimming around the lone red dwarf star, multiplex buildings that made extremely efficient use of space but were also well maintained, concise signage and regular interval maps, multi-staged walkways to support different modes of locomotion, and so. many. aliens. There were many Hexat, but also others she didn't know. One species looked almost like a pterodactyl without the head spike and longer hind legs, and a shorter beak that seemed more like a pelican's.

"Phloraxian." Viza told her, seeing her looking at the sapient.

She looked at another which seemed like a bipedal jellyfish with translucent skin, multiple tendrils in place of arms, and a very rudimentary-looking endoskeleton. It seemed to be bioluminescent as well, letting out strange pulses of light as she looked to Viza, who answered before she could ask.

"That's a Yebis. Delicate sort, best to avoid physical contact with them."

Another race she spotted looked like Moths with a fuzzy exoskeleton and antennae, large eyes, and translucent, rainbow-like wings. They possessed a large abdomen as well, and of course, bipedal legs. She couldn't see what their mouth was like because of a mask, but she wondered if they had a proboscis or a more generic mouth.

"The Avi'shar. A non-hive insectoid race. Many find them beautiful and they are known for their singing. They have to wear a mask on most planets however due to needing a high volume of methane and oxygen to breathe, enough to kill most races."

Finally, she spotted another, this one looked like the epitome of a Roswell gray, save for being almost 3 meters tall.

"The Griv'matar. Grivs for short. They are...not pleasant. Egoists that prize intelligence and superiority complexes. They're one of the oldest races but also one of the most hated besides the Axons, and Krultathans."

Speaking of, she could see no Krultathans here.

"I don't see any of your species here. Is traveling off-world uncommon for Krultathans?" She asked, and watched Viza tense up for a moment, taking his time before responding.

"No, it's not that. Rather, most of us who do are conscripted or end up becoming mercenaries. We don't exactly have the best reputation so we tend to avoid being in public."

"Should we go ahead and go to the restaurant then? I don't want you to have to stay in public if it makes you uncomfortable.

"Yes, let's."

And so they went, Viza leading Amelia into the station towards wherever he had made dinner reservations at.

----Viza POV--------------------

Viza watched as Amelia emerged from her hibernation quarters in attire only slightly different than usual, asking him how she looked. Despite her weirdly shaped legs, lack of tail and fur, and kinda smushed face, he realized, much as he tried to deny it before, that he found her rather attractive, in an exotic sort of way. Not wanting to make things awkward, however, he decided to instead go for some light teasing, he had read on Earth's interweb that light teasing and laughter tended to help put humans at ease, and after what he saw Amelia go through, he figured she needed it.

He sighed internally as they walked, thinking back. Amelia had called it PTSD, but his people knew it as Kiva'tur, or Past's Haunting.

He knew the best thing was to help her get her mind off of it, at least if humans worked how other predators do, who knows with them having both prey and predator history, and being from a class 4 Deathworld.

Coming back to his senses as he reached the airlock, he opened the first door and waited for Amelia to enter before opening the outer door.

"Welcome to Lcht'ial Station."

He said to her as he watched her reaction to the station. Human ears didn't move much and she didn't have a tail or whiskers to read her emotions off of, but it seems humans adapted their facial muscles to be more expressive than he ever thought a race could be as he marveled at the wonder of her face putting on an expression of awe and happiness at looking at the station. He had to fight himself to not start a rumble right then and there, his tail swishing behind him at seeing her expression liven up. Watching her, he noticed she was looking at a particular race and decided to tell her a little bit about each race she saw. Well, that he knew about them anyways.

He was having a grand time until she asked the question about his kind. It was...a difficult subject to broach. He knew she knew about the Krultathan contact war and the near destruction of the owl-like Ava, but he couldn't bring himself to explain that it was mostly because the Krultathans were treated as second-class citizens still because of the aftermath of the war, leading to most going off-world being forced into those jobs.

The concern Amelia showed however did touch both his hearts. It was rare for people to show that to his kind, or him for that matter, and reinforced his thoughts about his people needing to open up to Humanity before they get colored by the S.A. at large, as well as complicate his thoughts in regards to Amelia. Still, all he could do is follow her and hope things work out for the best.

The restaurant he led them to was called G'barch'reth, owned by a Krultathan-Phloraxian couple he knew. The inside was colored in soft reds and greens, a blend of the natural colors of both of their homeworlds, and had many tables and a bar, as well as roosting tables for flying species. The interior lighting was a soft yellow-orange, and it had quite the wholesome atmosphere he thought. Walking in, he went to talk to the waiter to arrange seating for them a bit out of the way, paying him off to keep questions about Viza's guest away from them for the meal as he turned back to Amelia to guide her to a table. He noticed a red coloration on her face and was worried she was having a reaction to something here, however.

"Lady Amelia are you alright? Your face is red."

"O-Oh. I'm fine Viza but..um..are you sure this is an appropriate place?" She answered. Strange, the only time he had seen her act like this was when...oh...oh no.

"My...My apologies Lady Amelia, I have done something untoward. Please, forgive me!" He sheepishly said, his ears pinning down as his tail lowered as well, his whiskers drooping and head bowing down in apology. He should have realized, he even saw it on the human net they had copied that this kind of coloring and such was a mating ritual for humans. How could he have forgotten that?

'This was a foolish idea of mine.' he thought.

"No..no, it's fine. I'm..um, in an alien territory so of course things wouldn't mean what they would for my people, I'm sorry." She said, though her face was still red, she seemed to be okay with staying as she sat down at the table, followed by Viza after a few moments.

"I've researched the menu and your species' foods. I'm afraid most spices you humans use are class 5 or higher chemical weapons, but this place should give better food than the synthesizer. I would recommend the Gorcher plate. It's meat from an animal similar to your bovines, with a fruit from the Phloraxian homeworld called something unpronounceable to me."

"G-Great, I'll have that then." She said, obviously still nervous.

"Lady Amelia, if this is too much-"

"I'm fine Viza. It's just.. the atmosphere here is... it's like where one of my kind would go for a date. Soft lights, soft colors, quiet music in the background, individual tables, and so on."

Viza thought for a moment. Should he use the jokes the interweb talked about, or try teasing to get it off her mind? maybe both?

"Well, I for one am not planning on doing a ritual mating combat. Maybe I should adopt the Terran mating practices. Less messy, and bruisy."

Amelia, who had just gotten some dihydrogen monoxide to drink, had laughed right as she took a sip, causing her to almost lose her drink in the most worryingly, and adorable fashion.

"My apologies, poor timing." He said nervously. However, looking at her he could see the redness on her face was fading a bit, and went about making their orders for them.

--Amelia POV--

Amelia couldn't help herself, she almost laughed the water right out of her nose at his joke. She had been nervous as hell when they entered, this place looked like a high-class romantic restaurant. Somewhere you would go for a proposal or anniversary. But looking around, she slowly came to realize that this place was actually considered small and quaint by the station's standards, and that made her relax. Moreso Viza had made her relax. She couldn't remember when the last time was that she had just had a conversation with someone besides Hal that had calmed her down, made her for- 'NO, I'm not gonna think about it. I'm going to enjoy one damn meal with Viza' she thought to herself. When the food came around, Amelia was a bit apprehensive. The meat looked blue and the fruit looked..well it looked like a rotting plum. Taste testing, however, revealed that the meat, while gamey and a bit tough, was rather delicious, even if it needed seasoning. And the fruit had a taste like dragon fruit. She greedily tore away at the dish and afterward talked with Viza about themselves.

Viza was 31 Kultathan cycles old, equivalent to around 24 Terran years, and was the disowned child of the matriarch-leader of Vulan Sil, a city on Kultathan. He had joined the S.A. military after leaving Kultathan at 14 earth years and two years of being destitute. He had worked his way up to Lt. and essentially had next to no life outside his job, which rarely gave him time off in the first place.

His father had apparently been killed in action when he was a child, leaving him in all but name orphaned, which Amelia found terribly sad as she held back tears. He has siblings but since his people operated in clans, none of them would talk to a "clanless", what they called those disowned and without clan backing. It apparently didn't use to be that way but after their people began to be used as military and mercs, their people became more aggressive. Amelia wasn't sure about that though, didn't seem quite right to her but she wasn't going to pry too much.

"Okay, one thing I do need to ask, Viza. Could you stop calling me "Lady"? I'm not some royalty or anything. Just Amelia is fine."

Viza looked almost shocked. "I...I cannot"

"Why not?" She said, looking a little frustrated. She knew this was just her being irritated from the episode, but she couldn't stop herself.

"Because it is not my people's way. Females are warriors, hunters, fighters, and leaders of my kind. They are respected as such."

"But I'm not one of your kind Viza. Humans aren't the same."

"Perhaps not, but, I do not do it just to honor you, I do it to honor my people's ways as well. So I cannot." Viza said, taking a very serious tone with Amelia which struck her as this not being up for debate any longer. Sighing she relented.

"Fine, fine. but I swear if you go around calling me a matriarch again I'll deck you right in the face." She said smiling slightly to let him know she wasn't serious. well, mostly.

"If you were a matriarch, I'd consider that a fine way to go about it, Lady Amelia." He said with a swish of his tail and a rather poor attempt at a human smirk. However, when Amelia didn't get it, his face faltered.

"Um..wait. So you'd be happy getting punched in the face? I'm confused." Amelia asked.

"For Krultathans, there are only two reasons a female would start a physical confrontation with a male. Either she finds him a worthy challenger...or a worthy potential mate."

"So..you punch people to show interest?" Amelia looked incredulously, as a loud chortle escaped from Viza.

"By the claws no. We do so to show dominance. To put simply, a Matriarch who challenges and dominates a male earns the right to claim him as a mate. A male who bests a matriarch earns the right to refuse, and have the matriarch swear fealty. No one really does this anymore however, this is just...what's the word, old culture or custom..." Viza explained, trailing off when he lost the word.

"Ah, I see." Amelia said, then got a sly grin on her face as she realized a fun way to get back at his teasing.

"So that means since the other day I kinda knocked the breath out of you, I've won that little challenge, right?" She said with an impish grin on her face.

This time it was Viza's turn to look embarrassed at Amelia.

They spent the next two hours in the restaurant, talking and trying new dishes. Most of them were fine but a bit bland, and Amelia was genuinely enjoying her time here. Before she knew it, they had already finished all the food they could try, but after being cooped up neither wanted to return to the ship.

"Hey Viza, let's take a tour of the station."

" We still have a few hours before our restocking is complete. I see no issues with visiting a few places, just be sure to keep your mask on."

After paying for their meals, Viza then grabbed Amelia by her hand and led her out once again into the hustle and bustle of the station.