There is a police wagon of some sort chasing the creature about the grounds. I'm standing with one of the orderlies, and the place is like a huge pennetentiary, but very loosely goverened. The critter is running about; it's like a primate but becomes human as I watch.

I have no particular interest - until the orderly beside me starts firing a high-powered rifle at the creature. I move up after the third shot, call something out to the perp, then pick up the little one and go with him. I'm hurrying but not running, and the critter is now a toddler in my arms. He is defective in some way, I am to understand, and that is how they will rid themselves of him.

I go indoors, which is an expansive plant of untold rooms. It is well lit, and obscure settings like cloth-colored pools litter the rooms.

I wait for someone to challenge me, to realize I am not supposed to be carrying one of their charges. Someone speaks, and I reply, and this one thinks it the funniest remark ever. I go on.

Now I can't find the toddler. I call to him. He is under one of the canvas coverings. I hear his reply. He is in no major distress.

Niki J will not be happy I am bringing home a new little creature, but I don't know what else I can do. I think of my shoes. Where are they? Where is my bike? I must leave this place, with the child, even if I lose all I have brought with me.