Thomas Jerome Newton |D.R.J. Bowie

The night had fallen over the city like a thick gray veil, and even the neon lights seemed dim, as if it were not the city that was illuminated, but its shadow. In the dimly lit hallway of the Consortium's private laboratory, Thomas Jerome Newton stood leaning against the wall, his movements slow and his gaze empty. After the experiments, he could barely see, with blurry spots in his vision and each step a struggle. He knew that if he stayed there for another hour, his mission to save his home planet would be lost.At that moment, the door quietly opened. On the threshold stood a girl - Marla, a lab assistant, whom everyone considered invisible. She rarely joined in conversations, kept to the side, but it was this habit of observing from the outside that helped her to see what others missed. More than once she noticed how Newton looked out the window, as if trying to see through the glass something infinitely distant. There was so much loneliness in his eyes that one day she could not stand it and began to look for answers in the closed files. Now she knew the truth: he wasn't a criminal or a threat, but a prisoner whose only fault was that he wasn't from here.—Follow me,— Marla whispered, holding out her hand. Her voice was trembling, but her resolve was firm. — The security corridor is empty for exactly three minutes. Then the shift.

Newton nodded slightly. He didn't trust people, but he didn't have a choice right now. Marla led him past the cameras, deftly avoiding the security zones. In her pocket was the pass she'd stolen from the shift supervisor, and a tiny flashlight that she shielded with her hand.

"Why are you doing this?" Newton asked quietly as they turned down a narrow service corridor. His voice sounded uncharacteristically vulnerable."Because no one should be a thing," she replied without turning around. "Even if he's from another planet."

They ran outside, and the night air hit them like a promise of freedom.