"I believe we have gotten off on the wrong foot. Hello, my name is Burt. I'm the first human you've ever met, correct?" He refrained from sticking his hand out and instead opted for the customary Dudraali greeting of snorting three times.

The Dudraali eyed him warily. "And I'm Blaya. I would say it's a pleasure to meet you, but you have yet to explain yourself. Please refrain from changing the subject."

"Apologies," Burt replied. "I wanted to make the point that our two species have never met before. I know very little about Dudraali biology, and, it appears that you are unaware of human digestive systems."

Blaya nodded her eyestalk, acknowledging his point. "This is true. We were given a primer on human biology when we were notified of your arrival, but we simply haven't had time to go over the manual. There is never a slow moment in Border Control."

"Well, then, if you would like me to, I would love to explain," Burt continued.

"By all means."

"In order for us to obtain energy, we need to break to consume substances that are then broken down into smaller parts," Burt explained. "Once they have been broken down, we can then reassemble them into usable functional units."

This was a vast oversimplification of some quite complicated processes, but it would do. Watching Blaya closely, Burt could see that she was following along.

"Our stomachs, located in our midriffs, are responsible for breaking down whatever we consume. As such, they need to be highly corrosive to degrade all sorts of organic matter. This would explain the presence of the acidic pouch that is showing up on the scanner. The acid never leaves that pouch, else it would be damaging to us as well." Burt decided that heartburn could be a topic for another day. He didn't want to complicate things further.

"That sounds...dangerous," Blaya replied. "But this snafu is also partly on us. I will cross-check with the manual we were given, and if this all lines up, you will be free to go."

Burt nodded graciously. For all his calm demeanor, his nerves screamed at him to hurry up. He surreptitiously glanced at his watch as Blaya ambled back to one of the cubes in the Border Control office. It was 13:56 Universal Time...

After a minor eternity, Blaya came back out. "You're all clear," she said. Turning to the other Dudraali, she nodded her eyestalk in affirmation. "You can let the other human go. And make sure the rest of the officers are briefed on this!"

13:58 Universal Time. Burt wasn't sure how long it would take for him to sprint from Border Control to Scrog Boghimmer's office, but he hoped his lungs were up to the challenge.