The line was long, but they had gotten in place early so with luck, they would be able to board quickly.
Although the Atrium waiting area was beautiful, it made Alekai buzz with nervous apprehension. He kept waiting for someone to tap him on the shoulder and take him down for using someone else's passport when he should, by definition, be dead.
In front of him, the girl wearing his dark brown beanie cap to cover her blonde head stood without fidgeting. Her small shoulders were squared and stiff, as if she was standing at rapt attention.
Put a Space Force uniform on her and she would look every bit the Second Lieutenant of the Black Warrior Team 5883JCAV, in action and on duty. But standing in front of him, facing forward into the unknown future, she was just a scared young girl, not yet even of legal age.
Alekai suppressed a smile. Jesse was wearing one of his white tee-shirt. It was so long that it reached her knees, looking like a cute little summer dress. Her dark green leggings and combat boots only made her look more like a little pixie.
The little pixie with the baby blue eyes turned around and looked up at him.
"You doing okay?"
He nodded and gave her a casual wink. "They're opening up the sky bridge. Get ready, Muriel."
Jesse's eyes crinkled up with laughter. She turned back around and began the slow shuffle behind the other passengers ahead of them.
Alekai's eyes grew serious as soon as she was no longer looking at him.
He had to act nonchalant around her so she would not be nervous, but the truth was, his heart was racing a million miles a minute.
They were almost at the front of the line when the thing he feared the most happened.
"You!" An officer pointed at him. "Get that tall guy out of the line!"
Two officers came towards him and pulled on his arms. They were a full head shorter than he was and nowhere nearly as big.
As large as he was, Alekai could have flattened them in seconds, but then what would happen to Jesse if he fought back against the officers. At least, they weren't targeting her and she could hopefully board the ship.
"What's going on?" Alekai tried to ask, but they were not listening. "What am I being arrested for?"
The arresting officers ignored him and began their Miranda shpiel in a mindless droning tone of voice.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you? With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak to me?"
He shut his trap and went without resisting.
As he passed Jesse, he shot a warning glance at her, hoping she would take the hint and get on the starship, with or without him. She had that chance. Nobody was bothering with her.
They yanked his arms backwards and handcuffed him. Then they led him away from the line.
Alekai breathed a sigh of relief as he caught a glimpse of Jesse being allowed through the entrance of the sky bridge. In seconds, she would be safely onboard.
"Move it!" One of the officers bang on his shoulder with a cudgel. It didn't hurt but Alekai was annoyed.
This little shrimp with a baton was trying to bully him in the only way he could, by using his uniform and his sanctioned cudgel to beat up on a guy who had no weapons, with his hands cuffed behind his back.
The two officers led him back into a hallway located between two weeping Atlas cedars. The hallway stretched on for awhile until they reached the end of the corridor where it abruptly dead-ended into a set of double doors.
The guy to his right banged on a large square button on his side and the doors swung open of their own accord. They poked their cudgel into his back to prod him to move forward.
In minutes, he was through the doorway and standing alone as the two shrimp officers slipped back out into the hallway.
The room was fairly large and permeated with the smell of a sweet Cuban cigar. To his left side, several people were at their desks, working away on their virtual monitors, completely ignoring his presence.
On his right was a seating area with comfortable sofas and scattered chairs surrounding a large monitor displaying the latest basketball game for no one to watch, in a silent cacophony of visual noise.
He stood there for a few minutes, waiting for someone to acknowledge him. After five minutes, he had gotten bored of the whole thing.
Heaving a sigh, he pulled the hand cuffs off his wrists and dropped them into the potted plant to his right. If no one was coming for him, he was outta here.
He was about to reach for the door handles when someone reached out to tap him on the shoulder.
Instinctively, Alekai ducked under the hand and kicked out with his leg, sliding under the body that was, at that moment flying through the air.
"Ouch!!!" The man gasped as he hit the floor. He groaned and slowly sat up, rubbing his backside.
"What was that for???"
"Who are you?" Alekai threw back.
The man grimaced and slowly stood up. "My name is Warren Paul and I am head of the security team for the Anastasia."
Alekai stared at him with a morose look. Whatever he had been arrested for, it stemmed from this man.
"Why am I here? What is the reason for my arrest?"
Warren Paul stood up and stretched his back. It popped in a few places and he grimaced.
"You're under arrest for being a fake dead snake."
Alekai crossed his arms and stared down the man who was not much taller than Jesse.
"Pardon me?"
"You heard me, Mr.—what did your passport say your name was?"
"Cletus Omswick." Alekai prompted.
"Oh yea. Cletus Omswick. The Cletus Omswick who crawled through our system and ended up as a DEAD SNAKE." He spat the words out with disgust.
He turned an appraising eye at Alekai. "How is it that you were able to fly under our radar for so long, Cletus Omswick? I've been flushing your kind out of hiding my whole entire twenty-three-year career."
He turned and glared at Alekai with a grin. "You're even a local LA kid. How he hell did I miss seeing your bloody tall ass all this time?"