Two-Five opened
the pouch slung between his second pair of arms and removed a station map. The
map did not mark the locations of the observation devices the humans installed
at regular intervals along Tau Ceti’s outer ring, but he knew where they were.
His Slash First’s research had been thorough.

      Observation
devices could not be influenced, of course. He opened the map. The devices
pointed in his direction would only show the observers a lost Slash Second,
while he watched, waiting for the moment he knew was coming. In preparation, he
wove his left tail in the air around him with a simple message to obscure his
presence.

      The anticipation
made his right tail quiver.

      A nearby door
opened, and a stream of humans came through it. Inevitably, some of them blocked
the view between himself and the observation devices. During one of those
moments, he disappeared into the ventilation shaft.