A few taps on the machine, his colleague pointed at the screen and grumbled, "I see the problem."
"What's the problem?" The guard asked.
His colleague tilted his head towards me. "Those earrings."
Both guards looked at me and I asked, "Should I take them off?"
Better to offer than to argue. The 'earrings' will come back once the coast clears.
I made those earrings of droids, and shaped them into silver studs, separate from the control of Arabaki's droid swarm.
The weapons on me wouldn't be as useful as these two separate droids. Never ever enter a planet without several back ups.
"Nah, don't bother," the colleague said as he continued fiddling with the panel.
*Beep*
Whatever problem they had with their electronic database system appeared resolved from the elated looks on the faces of both guards.
"There is it. Just remember Deridian ear accessories are problematic," the colleague reminded the other before returning to his counter.
I almost heaved a sigh of relief, but held myself back in time, when the guard gave me a dirty look and begrudgingly handed the card to me.
"Ok. Cleared."
I strolled out of the secured area, grateful for the ordeal to be over, and stepped into a small busy mall area.
The large logo of the Great Swirl Council hung up high on the archways of the mall, with a cringeworthy wreath shaped into the Haolean written script of Eden's name.
Next to it were screens displaying galactic standard time and the different times of the other three consortiums' main capital planets.
The mall placed a large holographic display of condolences to the Inti under the archway as a show of compassion.
Many who went past didn't even give the sad holographic display a second look.
The Haoleans planned the mall strategically to create a tourist resource collection trap of Eden souvenir shops, overpriced convenience stores and cafes for arriving and departing travelers.
The Haolean architects connected the mall to three ship parking garages, including mine, to create the feel of a station for Sector 111.
I pulled out a pair of dark glasses from my jacket and wore them to reduce the glare from the lights. My optical implants and eyes needed a respite.
A group of three Haolean men in fancy suits walked past, trailed by six bodyguards.
Haoleans are easy to spot with their classic dark freckles on forehead and their varying shades of olive complexions, an evolutionary outcome from long-term exposure to their orange dwarf star.
Groups of travellers crowding the areas outside the shops made way for them because of their presence.
Probably a mega corporation's senior executives because their bodyguards don't look like military guards. Their arm patch on the side of the uniforms bore a different logo from the Great Swirl Council's.
I weaved through the crowds and headed towards the exit.
At the exit way, a disorganised group of twenty unruly Velesian teenagers in school uniforms stood together on the other side, looking bored while their two teachers droned on to them. Something about safety precautions in Eden.
Judging from the unique horns curved halfway around the ear, a Velesian teenager is too easy to spot if they didn't cover their ears with hair.
The adult's horn curved all the way around their ears, like the frazzled teachers and the earlier Velesians. Of all the humanoid species in the quadrant, no one figure out why the Velesian horns exist as they are.
Some scientists even speculated that the horn, made of multiple hardened layers of keratin, acted as a defensive mechanism to protect their skulls. Mostly likely before the prehistoric Velesian ancestors started evolving into bipedal humanoids.
Maybe some nasty predator in their home world had an obsessive habit of hitting their ancestors' temples quite a lot. That would make more sense.
Two of the teenagers in their untidy uniforms leaned on the pylon of the station with their arms folded.
Three others loitered around, jostling each other playfully.
"Teach! There's a cool dude behind you." One teenager called out suddenly.
The punk used me as an excuse to disrupt his teacher, who was busy reciting a list of instructions from her tablet to her disinterested audience of teenagers.
The flustered lady turned around and started apologising profusely to me, creating a minor scene.
I hurriedly waved my hand at her to stop the snivelling.
Too many eyes made me jittery. Two patrolling guards watched us for a while before continuing on their rounds.
"HEY YOU, TEACH IS SINGLE!" another teenager yelled at me.
Any of my business that she's single?
The teacher started sobbing. I retreated.
The other teacher came to the defence of her poor harassed colleague and yelled at them, "SHUSH ALL OF YOU! OR I'll FAIL THE LOT OF YOU!"
Oh, by the fragging damn galaxies, those two couldn't even babysit their own little group of horrors.
Her flailing arms, while yelling like a crazed woman, made matters bad to worse.
This pack of teenagers could smell a chance at adding fuel to the fire. I don't like it when being used as the fuel, especially when those young punks began blocking my way again.
They are lucky that they are in Eden, not in the Narakan system.
Many got shot dead in the Narakan system because of that behavior. Eden is all civilised and whatever propaganda shit the Haoleans want to project.
"Cool black jacket," the one leaning on the pylons reached out to touch my jacket while his friends surrounded me.
From the side of my eye, the teachers, one sobbing in tears and the other too distracted to see their little breakaway group taking advantage of the situation to create more chaos.
The bystanders only stopped to gawk at the disorder of teachers and students.
My hand instinctively grabbed the teenager's hand before it touched my jacket and I pulled him towards me.
"I prefer blades," I whispered to the side of his face, and side eyed his stunned expression.
I pushed him away and said, "careful now, balance."
He felt the hard edge of the weapons holstered on me while against me earlier.
The kid was smart enough to understand my hidden threat. His face turned pale as if it wasn't already white enough, with beads of sweat breaking over his forehead.
"Everything okay here?" A busybody Haolean asked while approaching us.
This wannabe hero is looking for a good story to brag to his friends.
I forced on a smile and patted the teenager on the back while he jumped slightly, much to my satisfaction.
"Good grief, kids, quit misbehaving!" the Haolean snapped at them and gave me a knowing nod.
I returned a courteous nod of thanks, as the now silent teenager stepped back and signalled to his friends to back off while the Haolean went on his way.
Looked like it wasn't the first time a Velesian school trip turned rowdy in Eden.
They retreated to their dishevelled teachers, who looked like they stood on the verge of a mental breakdown, about to crack.
I looked at them again before heading out.
At their age, I was gunning down intruders, like space pirates, in a fighter.
My old call sign of 'Space Punk' brought a smile to my face.
I, once too, was like them at their age.
Instead of organised group school trips like theirs, my excursions are more private with my handler, a senior military class Kamuy, and I, a cadet then, on reconnaissance or long distance assassination missions.
Instead of hassling strangers, I shot them down to defend Kamuy territory. I remembered venting all my anger and frustration by pressing non stop on the rapid fire trigger. Sometimes against orders to stand down.
No pass or fail grade on some lousy excursion.
Failure to us meant being killed in action. Not unusual to see familiar faces vanish on roll call.
Out of the exit, an open square awaited to welcome all to the gateway of Sector 111, hoping to impress all first timers to its holographic billboards, alongside the highway of passing hovercrafts.
The highway connected the garages directly to the main shopping strip of skyscrapers squeezed together.
It rubbed me the wrong way each time to see the natural jungles replaced with hideous jungles of structured metal, concrete, and glass monstrosities.
Free of rebellious teenagers and a shopping crowds now, the exit still posed the second obstacle course of touts and a variety of individuals, ranging from decent to absolute dodgy criminal element.
The touts ran about, offering their tablets displaying services to those who walked out of the building, only to get shooed by most of the approached travellers.
I noticed a few shady males in over the top flashy clothes, leaning on the pillars of the mall before heading down the short flight of stairs into the open square.
"I saw that. It's pretty cool," a female voice said behind me.
Must not be me. I ignored the remark and continued walking downwards into the main square, only into a woman bumping against me.
Instinctively, my hand grabbed her wrist once I felt her fingers sliding behind my jacket at waist level.
Maybe I shouldn't have done that.