The temperature in this sector had gone up enough for Nico to sweat slightly. He knew his people were doing the best they could, and did not fault them, but it made him irritable. Which, if he was honest to himself, was just as well given his current task.

Walking down the hallway, he remembered how lively this part of the station used to be. It was the low-cost housing area. Small quarters for not much money. Popular both with those whose fortunes had taken a downturn and people living alone and how caring much for luxury, either because they spent little time at home anyways or for personal reasons.

No other part of Bloom had a similar density and therefore, the hallways around the living spaces had attracted a number of small shops. Which in turn had been drawing people not living here to the area. These hallways used to be active around the clock. Now, they were deserted. Many of the doors to private quarters had, as Nico had told them, a note with the residents’ destinations. It served two purposes: That those looking for them knew where to search and for the station crew that would send people their belongings by cargo freighter once the evacuation was complete.

It was also where they had brought the two wounded Qyrls that his men had captured. Binary Bloom did, of course, have a jail. Not a big one, but it served its purpose. But it was designed to keep humans inside. 3D creatures. The Qyrl were 4D beings. They could step „over“, for lack of a better word, a 3D wall with the same ease as a human stepping over a line on the floor.

But this section was one of the earliest that had been built. When Binary Bloom started out, it was small, cash-strapped and improvised. Most of these quarters were built into the alien husk, re-purposing its structures, walls, floors, ceilings, any or all of those. A few quarters were essentially all alien. And the old alien structure, Nico knew from the scans they had made, were 5D. So he had his people clear out two of the quarters that had non-human structures all around, and put the prisoners there.

He turned around the last corner and headed straight for the first improvised cell. One of his men was stationed as a guard and greeted him: „Hey Nico.“

„All good here, Donovan?“, Nico replied.

„Calm and peaceful.“

„Good. I’ll talk to the prisoners.“, Nico said and opened the first door. A moment later, in the dim lights of the two-room apartment, he saw the wounded Qyrl slumped over on the couch. The medic had bandaged the creature, but nobody knew if it had sustained wounds in higher dimensions that were invisible to the human eye.

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Nico switched on the lights, to their brightest setting.

„I’ve got a bunch of things to say.“, he started, „But sadly your EMP attack has fried the few translation devices we had. So I hope you have one stashed away in a pocket dimension or wherever. Turn it on.“

The Qyrl looked at him, but showed no sign of understanding. Nico did not care much.

„You rat bastards have killed over a hundred of my people, including several of my staff. I want to know why and I want to know who to get even with. Where is your commander?“

He waited. The Qyrl continued to stare at him. It made no gestures, at least not that Nico could see. Maybe it was giving him the finger in the 4th dimension.

„Maybe you don’t understand or maybe you’re playing the stonewalling game. If you understand me, I want you to know that I’m well aware of the discomfort the Junkstorm is causing your kind. And that you will be staying right here until I have my answers. Your choice if that is hours, days, months or years. I’ll keep you locked up for the rest of your life, just to make a point. Clear?“

To his surprise, the Qyrl nodded. Its exoskeleton also changed color and Nico had read somewhere that this was their equivalent of facial expressions. But with all the small electronics fried, he had not had an opportunity to look up details.

„Interesting.“, he said, „So, you can understand me?“

The Qyrl nodded again, in the awkward way of someone who was essentially speaking a foreign body language.

„Right.“, Nico said, calming down slightly, though it was an icy cold calm, „But you can’t answer because you can’t produce human sounds, if I remember correctly.“

Another nod.

„So that’s that. You understood everything I said?“

The Qyrl shook his head in the weirdest way.

„Why? Oh wait, you can’t answer. Because I was speaking too fast?“

Nico could not figure out what the movement the Qyrl made as an answer could possibly mean. So he tried again: „Do you understand human language good?“

The Qyrl shook his head, again in that weird way.

„Ah“, Nico got it, „You understood some of what I said. But not all. Because your human is just basic?“

Another nod.

Nico raised his chin and curled his lip in a bit of a snarl: „I hope you got the important bits. I’ll let you rot here and maybe I’ll have an idea later how we can communicate better. Because I will get my answers, believe that.“

He turned around and walked out of the apartment, closing and sealing the door behind him. Then he stood in the hallway for a moment, trembling slightly.