i am all right. your hand will require attention. an identical round was used in the shooting of a newcomer named hubley, two days ago. perhaps because even the larger caliber handguns aren't always effective against my people. excuse me. we have met. yes, sir. sergeant. i'd like to thank you for what you're doing. i am george. my true name is ss'tangya t'ssorentsa'. that is exactly so. it is like your name. sykes. i'm sure it doesn't bother you at all that it sounds like "ss'ai k'ss", two words in my language which mean "excrement" and "cranium". "shit. head". his body was discovered three days ago, in an alley off of central avenue, near downtown. through the chest. rupturing both the primary and secondary hearts. he was employed at the northwest petroleum refinery in torrance. he was manager of the methane facility. he was also a principle partner in a real estate venture to develop low- cost housing for newcomers. there was no wallet. but he was still wearing a watch and two rings. the murder at the mini-mart is not our case. the captain said-- yes. and as my partner, i ask you to respect me and my desire not to break with procedure. what is wrong? well. yes, quite possibly. yes. no, it is not unreasonable. although i-- have you identified this one? nothing. shouldn't we examine their personal effects? what is this? and that fits? and still it fits? it is a resin. newcomers working near methane gasses at oil refineries must paint it on their boots to protect against sparks. a large number of my people were hired by refineries because the methane fumes are not harmful to us. my spouse's brother is one. i believe i should interview the widow alone. mrs. porter is not taking her husband's death well. a week ago two men came to see her husband. after they left, he was very frightened. she identified one of the men from a photo i showed her. it was hubley. she didn't know him. but she said her son might. he has not been home since that day. but she told me where to find him. i am the first. we'd like to ask you about a business associate of your, warren hubley. why did you do it? agree to work with me? you don't like me. you don't like any of us. you have nothing but contempt for us. and yet you become an outcast from your club of detectives by making me your partner. at the end of the bar. no, matthew. i believe this is the one you want. uh, matthew. but i-- . screw you. you don't want to know. your mother mates out of season. matthew, you don't have to-- . enough. from quarantine, when my people first arrived here. he and i were housed together. in the camps, we were lodged four to a room. the selection process was entirely random. we did not get to stay with our friends. or families. you don't know what your father and these two men were arguing about? i am sorry about your father. if i may make a suggestion. we have different weak spots than you do. next time, a blow to the nerve plexus under the arm, here, will produce the effect i think you were looking for. three months. we learn quickly. we adapt. it is our strength. what we were bred for, to adapt to hostile environments. thank you. this is mole. it's good. our bodies do not assimilate the nutrients if the food has been cooked. ss'loka'. it means literally "small but intelligent creature". it loses much in the translation. ss'trokya ss'lato 'na'. you are cassandra? we are with the police department. this is sergeant sykes, and i am-- the young woman at the front said you might know where he is. i am going out to the car. i will meet you there. todd watson. the assistant manager. we are looking for your employer, joshua strader. why did you run? when will strader return? i believe he is probably lying. would you mind? my wife? she worries about me. you are married? we mate for life. divorce. is a strange concept to us. your home is quite disordered. i thought perhaps you had been burglarized when i walked in. human children can be very beautiful. getting married? congratulations. you will be taking sunday off, then. i must show you. and this is richard. my son. he's four years old. we named him after the former president, richard nixon. in the other man's rectum. ta ss'trakyona'. there is so much our two peoples don't understand about each other. you humans are very curious to us. you invite us to live among you, in an atmosphere of equality we've never known before. you lay before us a beautiful green world, full of freedoms and opportunities. you give us ownership of our lives for the first time. and you ask no more of us than you do of yourselves: to live by the rules. rules that aren't made to keep one people subordinate to another, but rules that exist to preserve equality. you aspire to very high ideals here. i hope you can understand how special your world is. how unique a people you humans are. so it us all the more painful and confusing to us that so few of you seem capable of living up the the ideals you set for yourselves. we don't understand the hatred, the contempt. but we must bear it. we must not react in anger. because our situation here is still fragile. the separationists would see us returned to the quarantine camps. the fundamentalists say we have no more human rights than dogs or cats. but the prejudice we face here is so insignificant compared to the pain that we've known before. and that is why we are so grateful. only on fridays. i'm going home. hold this. i feel very terrible. a man, a human, was wiring it to your car. i didn't get a good look at him. i must call my wife. she's going to divorce me. she's very progressive. i'm certain she's considering it. to the. to the beach? stop the car. please, i must get out here. stop the car! thank you. what was that about? warren hubley was in middle management at a refinery. joshua strader operated a successful bar and nightclub. is bentner here? i must speak with him. it is nothing. you must leave me alone on this. no. i cannot involve you. this is not your concern. it is called ss'jabroka'. to us it is a potent narcotic. like your cocaine, i suppose. the "high" lasts several hours. we would receive small amounts of it. as a reward for our labor. we all did. no. i am sure not. that is why i am so concerned. someone must now be producing it here. but none of my people know how to make it. the process was carefully guarded. your people don't know about this part of out past. and they can't know -- it would threaten our entire existence here. i must trust you, matthew. i cannot stop this without you. now the store owner, please. cecil porter. quarantine. they had months in quarantine to develop the plan. porter, with his chemistry background, must have somehow come up with the formula for the drug. hubley manufactured it -- at the refinery. strader, through the nightclub, established a distribution network. and harcourt-- if the drug is here, we must destroy it. where is the drug? where have they taken it? where?! stay out of this, matthew. tell me where the drug has been taken or i will crush your lungs against this wall. how much? where have they taken it? the fifty kilos, matthew. i have to find it. i can't let it get out on the street. fuck procedure. i am here to take harcourt. where is he? show me. to get you and that-- -- i would do it. everyone up against that wall. very slowly. except you. the charge is murder. and conspiracy to commit murder. hubley, porter, strader. probably others. nooo! this way! slow traffic on your right. you're clear at the left rear. careful, red light ahead. yellow light ahead turning red. red light! red light! green light, matthew. green light! ss-ai! there! with harcourt and kipling dead, i assume you will be requesting reassignment now. you are certain this is the route they would have taken? there! go back. down that side street. no! we must do this alone. wiltey, no. it's harcourt. no he's not. not if he overdosed on the drug. massive amounts trigger a. a change. your body functions seize up, you appear to be dead, but it's really a state of incubation. when you emerge you're. we can't let him get away. because. because of what will happen if humans see what we are capable of becoming. you understand that. but how many others will? wiltey! on that boat -- out there! take it down! take it down! all the way! take it up! you look very good. that is all right, matthew. after all, you are only human.