It's Like McDonalds in Manhattan!

Thomas grinned from ear to ear, staring at the vast room. Rows and rows of pens stood and columns, placed close together allowing vertical walkways to be their openings. The place was loud with the sounds of bellows and grunts and stomping of the creatures locked in pens. They were large blue-colored things. Each with two pairs of eyes, two pairs of nostrils, and two pairs of ears, and two sets of legs. A purple ball attached to the top tip of the upper ears of some while others carried none and kept a darker color to their skin. The fur on their backs also stood higher and was of more abundance. These large-bodied, darker colored creatures stood a farther distance away from their uttered companions, keeping to themselves and glaring at all those who passed, sometimes biting at them.

The cow-like creatures, like all creatures, gave off a fetid scent in their cluster. Thomas stared at one of the huge beasts. It grazed in a small tub that contained what looked like slop and grass. It ate slowly, eyes fixed on the task. He wondered briefly if they were eating these things.

"Ew!" He commented with the smile still on his face, laughing at the prospect of eating such an oddly colored thing. The animal flicked its tail, whipping away something he couldn't see. He watched it eat for a few more moments before he went away from it to look at the other ones about. Going down the veritcles he came upon one of the cow-animals whose posture drew him to it. It was one of the bright-skinned ones, head low and staring out of the pen. As he arrived it lifted its head timidly and then stepped away, jerking when it hit its rump on the back of the metal gate. It stared at him as if waiting to see what he'd do. Thomas smiled at it and then waved. It tensed a little and looked at him as if it were waiting for something.

"Hey," he said. It grunted and shuffled nervously. "Why the long face?" It didn't answer as it couldn't answer, continuing to stare at him. He frowned and started thinking about this little predicament. Now what could be the problem here? He approached the cage and immediately it pressed itself closer to the back of its pen, rotating its body to get as far away as possible, eyes wide and never taking them off of him. Thomas found this behavior peculiar. "What are you acting like that for!? You're the big alien here, not me!" It didn't seem to matter to the blue cow, it still tried to create as much distance between them as possible. Thomas tried to figure out where all the discomfort was coming from. Maybe it was one of those shy kind of animals! He remembered back on Earth there was this neighbor girl with a shy dog. It always avoided him when he saw it, but after a while it started to warm up to him. All this guy needed was some warm up time!

Thomas leaned on the door of the gate, watching the animal. Maybe if he stood here long enough... He leaned there for the longest time, the cow moving from its spot only a little and then retreating when he made the slightest movement. Only moments passed but it felt like hours standing there and waiting. This was boring! Where was the fast forward button when you needed it? What they needed was something more interactive. Being cooped up in that pen must have sucked and it sucked standing around the thing too. Thomas grabbed the gate door, pulling on it with no success and then pushing on it with less positive results than the first time. He kicked the gate, startling the blue cow into jumping and making a noise, disturbing the ones around it. The door was locked. It needed some kind of pass code to open.

He stared at the lighted screen and key pad, trying to think up a possible code. He tried all the preliminaries like 1,2,3,4,5...; or 0,0,0,0,0...; or 9,8,7,6,5... None of them worked. He tried pressing in random numbers too, but none of those worked either. Frustrated punched the keypad which made it screech and put all the animals into a momentary frenzy.

"Sorry," he muttered to make up for his accident. Thomas glared at the keypad, staring at it with a fury and then at the gate. "C'mon! Why won't you open!? Just open!" The keypad suddenly light up green, chiming and flashing. With a click the metal door unlocked and swung open, allowing easy access and exist. He gaped at the gate and then grinned. "Thanks!" If he had a hat, he'd tip it.

"Well? Aren't you gonna come out?" Thomas asked while the cow stayed still. He frowned, took a few steps back, and then waves his hands and arms in the traditional "Follow me!" fashion. It didn't budge. He sighed irritably. He had to remember: Shy. It probably didn't want to come out with him standing there. Fine then! He'd let it come out by itself! He knew it was tempted. He shrugged."Fine, don't come out," he said walking away from the pen, "I'll just be over here, don't worry about me." Getting to the corner he ducked behind it, peering over the side of the farthest gate to see if the big bodied animal had made a move. "Ya gotta hide me, Bessie!" Thomas whispered to the animal he stood behind that kept moving into inconvenient spots. This waiting thing seemed to take longer than the first time he did it, but his determination kept him stuck in his spot. It was several eternities before anything actually happened. His excitement peaked when he saw the creature's blue body begin to timidly emerge from the pen. It was slow, only a snout and then a head and the rest of the body. It would look out and then go back in and then come out a little bit more and then go back in. The moment was exciting. It took all Thomas could to stop himself from running over there and ruining everything.

Once out the cow looked afraid, checking around it for any possible attack from hostile beings. The others still locked in pens looked to the cow with curiosity, aggression, and laziness. Thomas was unsure of whether he should approach the animal that stood in the middle of the hallway with a stupid look on its face. If he did, would it run back in? Probably. Maybe he could follow it around and then get it somewhere it couldn't hide. It'll be like catching squirrels!

The blue animal began to wonder about slowly, poking its head into other pens and nudging who Thomas could only call its friends and standing in one place for varied amounts of time. It was a very repetitive beast and may have done this if it hadn't been distracted by the big double doors. It went up to the door in tiny baby steps, stretching its neck forward towards the windowless, blank, silver panels. It jumped back when the doors suddenly slid open, making some sort of deep bark and exciting the others nearby. More attention was put on the individual. It waited while the doors closed and nothing happened then stepped forward and watched them open again. Tentatively it began to look out the exit and wonder into the hall, disappearing when the door closed.

Thomas stole from his hiding place, going towards the door and then stopping a feet feet away from it. Wait a minute. He was following behind it, right? You can't just leave as soon as they did, that was suspicious! Thomas tried to remember all of the spy movies he watched. His thoughts were interrupted by the ruckus of all the animals that kicked at the doors and groaned and barked and wrestled with the things in their pens. What was wrong with them? It took him a short second to think up a reason from the looks on their faces and the manner of their actions. They just wanted to come out! Of course! Left out from all the fun. He'd be trying to get out of his cage too if everyone else got to explore around the hallways! He just wasn't thinking about the whole of the group!

"You guys want to come out too!?" He asked excitedly. He took their restlessness as the affirmative. It was all at once that the screens on the keypads flashed a vibrant green and all at once every keypad for every pen screeched a piercing noise, startling Thomas and the now free animals. They bellowed a harmony of terrified screams, running out of their pens to escape their invisible assailant. Thomas was stuck bewildered as panic filled the room. The blue beasts closest to the door ran past him and through the sliding doors. His eyes widened as he realized the stampede coming towards him. Turning on his heel he ran out the doors and into the hall. The cow aliens that had already left were far ahead while the one who had left first watched them curiously. It looked back and saw him and became immediately terrified. It ran away, but Thomas didn't pay it much mind. Floating easily near the door was a silver board. A vibrant blue illuminated from the base and on the curved edges. He jumped on the board and jammed a rear button, sending the board speedily ahead. The rush of stomping large feet thundered behind him with amplified loudness and bellows nearly drowned all senses. Thomas' ears hurt from the volume. He couldn't hear his heart but he could feel it beating like lightning.

This was bad, this was really bad! He was going to be in so much trouble for this! They were going to call his mom and then boom! he'd be on an express trip back home. His mom was going to kill him! He'd have to go back to summer school! Thomas pressed a front button, speeding up his pace. All he'd have to do is clear the hallway and get back to his room before anyone saw him. He overtook the leading cows. He was in his room the entire time! He had nothing to do with this! He could fool them, he just had to look cool, oblivious. Cows? There are cows here? That had to work!

OOC: Aforementioned "Cow": http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/8/7932/balooga_copy.jpg

Post is choppy. Bad ending is bad.

Imagine waking up to the sound of a thousand bulky bison crying out at the same time. This was Nero's alarm clock. The noise was the signal was to wake up and get to the War Room within five minutes. They were secondmen... Was that what they were called? He doubted it, but wasn't one to go look up an answer on a monitor. Nero, day after day, tumbled from the top of his three-tiered bunk bed to the uneven floor below, and crawled out of the door. He was meant to get dressed in his combat gear or be made to run laps, but he rarely did either. Usually, he just skulked around the Station until there was no time to get to the War Room and still be able to practice, of course he'd end up doing some remedial training, but whatever. Nero would escape the darkness of his below bottom room to the blinding brightness of the Station's closely packed halls.

But today would be different! Nero had pledged himself that he would get to training on time for once, and not dawdle in the halls looking for cheap entertainment. The ginger was on his way already, dressed head to toe in his gear (minus a very crucial bullet proof vest). He faked a march as he tapped out a rhythm in his head. He stopped for a second. Realizing how silent it had gotten around him. He couldn't see a person in sight. He stomped his foot on the ground, his face scrunched up into a frown. Why did everyone have to move so fast? "Whatever... I didn't want to do their pussy training anyway..." he muttered to the nonexistent dust. He kicked a wall again, just as a hollow bang echoed through the halls, along with an ominous rumble. "What the..." he looked around but saw nothing. With a shrug he stuffed his hands down in his pockets and stiffly walked through the corridor.

He listened as his footsteps clattered on the tiles, the sound of the echo was like music to his ears. He wondered if there was a type of music that was just like this... Wait, what was he thinking about? He paused in mid-stride, though he could hear his footsteps continue on. Was there an invisible man on the station, or he had he finally gone deaf from the silence? And then he saw it, the first baby blue flank of a calf. Nero turned his head at a breakneck speed that gave him whiplash. Instantly, he was bounding towards the creature. The thing was a sluggish creature that was moving slower than he had been. He paused in his steps, as he felt the floor beneath him shake. And then almost out of nowhere, brothers, sisters, cousins and other extraneous family members rocketed past the slowpoke. The word for this was just on the tip of his tongue, he could almost feel it... A, um... STAMPEDE!

He stopped running and stood still as he watched the pack move down the tight halls. His face was an ugly mess of confusion. What were these things doing just wandering around the hall? And an even better question was what was that kid doing walking away from it all. With thoughts brewing, he hastened his steps until he was right in front of the kid. "HEY!" he called to him in an overly loud voice, but he needed to, just so he could be heard over the drumming hooves, or paws, or whatever those beasts rode around on.

Nero stared down at the boy that had turned right into him. The thug leaned against the marble walls around him and beamed down at him. His jagged teeth betrayed his sincere grin. Nero was just big enough to block the boys escape, which he was prepared for, even though his attention was being split between the herd of cattle that was rolling through the Station, and this kid who looked awfully suspicious. Nero was no snitch. In fact, he prided himself on his record of 0 snitches to the minimum five thousand things he could have snitched about. He was spotless. Porcelain. "Wazzup, kid." The blue balls of fluff that stampeded past the pair in a seemingly orderly fashion was a familiar sight. Supposedly, they were creatures from the Fandors. He didn't care to remember which number

This place was big. Seriously. Big. He'd never been in a building bigger! And with more hallways. Thomas no idea where he was running to on his little board. He couldn't remember where his room was. Never did actually. He always had to ask on of the guards to take him back over there.

The roars of the alien cattle didn't help him out either. The sound bounced off the walls an into his ears. They'd be ringing for days after this! Thomas looked behind him at the big monsters. Just like the last time they'd gotten closer to him. Gaining! Before he knew it they would trample right over him! Ahead of him a hallway opened up. He took the turn, pivoting his silver Excel into the turn. Almost immediately someone popped into his view.

Thomas had a split second to stop before collision. He tired. He failed. He turned the direction of the board. He weight down the back end of the Excel and snapped the board to the right. His actions caused him to press on the heel buttons, speeding the board forward. It threw him flat on his back when it jerked forward. There was a loud tap of metal that barely crawled above the sound of stomping and in an instant it flew back, zooming above Thomas' body. He sat up quickly, the image of the thing cutting off his head from its speeds flashing through his mind. There was another metallic sound before he felt pain strike his back.

Thomas shut his eyes and cut off an exclamation of pain. He rubbed a hand over the point of impact. He hoped it wasn't bleeding. Remembering the presence of someone else he got up quickly, wincing as the pain in his back stuck him like needles. He looked up at the red head dressed like he was about to go off into the battlefield... Or cast in the newest G.I. Joe movie. He leaned on the wall in the recognized coolguy fashion.

Thomas picked up his board and put on the best casual smile he could. This was normal. "What's up?" Or was it wazzup? Just play it cool. He glanced behind him at the dying stampede, only the slowest of the raging animals coming by now. "Pretty weird, right?" He asked in the most easygoing way he could muster, pointing behind himself with a thumb. Yeah, pretty darn tootin' weird.

Nero scowled at the kid. He may be the equivalent of a one month old, but he had the brains to know when he was being lied to. Or at least know when someone was holding back some valuable information. He also seemed disinterested in the fact that there was a freakin' herd rampaging down the halls. Nero looked at the boy and then at the... plank of steel in his hands. What in the world was that thing. Nero craned his neck to get a better look at the thing. Through his boundless knowledge of time wasting activities and gadgets, he discerned that it was in fact a hoverboard. Designed for the enjoyment of alien children all across the galaxy. Why did he still call them aliens? They were as normal as any flesh sack humans around the spaceship. In fact, the majority of the crew were 'extraterrestrials', and he sure knew more about them than any of his so called 'brethren' on this craft.

"That's a nice... Hoovarrrboard ya got thar. Mind if uh... Take a spin?" He wasn't looking for a yes or a no. His hand was already reaching for the machine, and he knew if the kid put up a fight, he could easily knock him out with the old One-Two.