The alien led him to a small gray room with small, round chairs and a flat, gray table. There were no pictures on the wall, or rugs on the floor. There were no flowers in vases or toys or books anywhere. "Well, this is where we live and this is where we eat."

They walked through the room to another small, gray room containing rows of little gray cots. Every cot looked the same. Dax wondered how any of the aliens knew which cot to use at night. The alien continued talking in his boring voice, "And this is where we sleep. And that's all. Everything's the same."