Marx was about to meet the first barrier. He had no identity. He was stranded at the ITS because he could not travel without a wrist watch. That was when he realized that everyone had one.
He felt like he could shed tears. If he got arrested fo lack of one, he was going to be in deep trouble.
"Was this what you were talking about?" Marx asked almost giving up hope.
Marx already felt a headache. But it was not that he expected his journey to be easy. He would just go with the flow and take things as they came.
"So, what about the wrist watch? Will you still not help me?"
Marx could already sense blackmail. He was going to regret this in the near future for sure.
"I promise."
Marx did not want to get punished by the system. He knew just how bad it was the last time.
"I won't."
<...>
Marx felt something form in his hand and it turned put to be a wrist watch not more than a centimeter wide. It fit tight in his arm and he felt it connect with his cells...
"What did you do?"
Marx had been sitting on one of the benches inside the ITS. When he saw the notification, he stood up and went to the reception. He found a lady around 5'6 standing there dressed in a black suit and glasses. In her hands were gloves.
"I want a ticket," Marx said to the lady who raised her eyes when she saw him.
"Where to?" She asked.
"Orca," Marx said without hesitation and the lady raised her brows once again. Marx noticed all this but he could not just understand why.
"Let me scan your ID," she said and Marx was confused. What was she talking about.
"Don't you have an ID boy?" Marx felt his world stop. What was an ID? He cursed but he maintained a cool appearance outside.
"What is an ID?" He asked. The lady raised her brow once again and chuckled.
"You are very funny young man. Give me you left hand," the lady said and Marx raised his hand. Marx had not expected the black black gloves she was wearing could be this advanced.
Marx who had placed his hand on the table saw a blue light from the palm of the glove and scan his wrist watch. If he could see what she was seeing in her glasses, he would stop underrating the human technology.
Age-17 Education-... Parents-... Residence-... ... ...> The lady once again raised her brows. All those missing details. Not to mention his missing last name. These were things that were usually filled on their own. The fact that he was missing even the education was enough proof that his background was not as simple. Also the fact that he did not know that this was the ID meant that he was probably one of those higher echelons who never used the IDs. These people usually had their background a mystery. She knew of them but never had she seen one in her life. "This is your ID," she said pointing at the wrist watch and Marx scratched his head. He tensed up just because of nothing. "How will you pay?" Marx pretended to insert his hands in the pockets and he removed the UMC. The lady almost had her eyes pop put of their sockets. Even her glasses seemed to loosen and slide down her nose. She dared to make someone of his caliber pay for the ticket? Then she was asking for death. "Here is your ticket," she said and generated a ticket from the glove on the other hand. Marx did not seem to understand this change but he just picked the ticket and turned to walk away. He took a few steps and stopped to look at the lady. He was surprised to see that she was bowing. "Well thank you for your help," he said and turned to walk but remembered he did not know where to go. "Would you please show me where the portal is?" Marx asked looking at the lady who was still bowing. When the lady heard his words, she stumbled as she hurried from the counter. She stopped in front of Marx with her hands clasped forward. "This way please," she ushered and led to one of the entrances to the portals. There were a total of five portals in this place. But one of them was larger than the rest. She led him to this one. The glass entrance opened like a membrane breaking and after passing, the glass recreated itself. Inside this room, there was only one a screen. The lady inserted the coordinates of the Planet. She pressed enter and the portal started glowing. It appeared to produce and orange glow at its centre. "Walk into the portal," she said as Marx headed towards the raised platform. He walked insideth6e portal and his eyes closed instinctively and he held his breath. He felt his body get sucked in and then against the turbulence he expected, it was smooth and after ten seconds, he appeared on the other side. It was still another teleportation station where he appeared. Marx walked outside the portal and headed towards the exit. He did not miss the gazes he kept receiving. Especially when they saw his monkey. His pants and boots were supposed to be eye-catching but with the t-shirt and backpack, they could be said to be artifacts and should have been in the museums. If Marx heard their thoughts, he would shed tears. These were one of his best clothes. Marx decided that the next thing he would do was to have a change of clothes then later go and have Jerry registered as his familiar. He finally found the exit and he stood at the road side. People still stared at him just because of the two reasons. No cab shuttle could stop for someone who was dressed as him but the familiar on his shoulder was enough for them to bend at his word. He ended up walking but luckily for him, the mall was not as far from the ITS as he had expected. Marx walked to the reception and asked about the clothes sector and he was pointed to go upstairs. He did not hesitate and walked towards the clothes sector. He stared at the price tags but they were very cheap. The highest he saw was marked as 100A. He did not want cheap things so he went for the most expensive ones. Some he saw even had their prices at 0.002789A. He ignored them all and picked around ten t-shirts of various colours. He did not need pants or new shoes. He had one that he could use forever without it getting dirty. He then went to look for a backpack. They were all not more than half the size of his backpack. But they were expensive than the t-shirts. At least, they were all 200A. He picked the expensive one which was 350A. To call this expensive was like an insult. 350 was really a small number. On his way down the stairs, he saw a dirtbin and he dropped his backpack inside together with the old t-shirts and then removed the t-shirt he was wearing and he put on an orange one. He changed in front of all those who stared but he acted like he did not notice them. But he did not even notice the guards who were getting ready. Just how expensive his clothes were. From his clothings, he was probably a poor boy. They even saw him pick a backpack that was twice their monthly salary. Marx then went to the reception and when he stood in front of the lady, five guards stood behind him. "Do you know how expensive the clothes are? Do you think you can afford them? It will take you a whole lifetime for you to earn enough money to buy them," the lady said trying to as polite as possible. "What exactly is expensive? I don't understand why you are making such a big deal out of such cheap objects. I could even buy the whole collections if you keep selling at such cheap prices," Marx did not know the gravity of his words. It was like he was insulting the owner of the mall. Even those who heard him saw him like a boy from those backway planets that did not know the way of life out here. The backpack alone was enough for some of them to live for a month or two without having to work. Yet he was saying that that was cheap. They just pitied the boy as the watched the guards approach him rolling their sleeves. Without even warning, the started harassing him dragging him outwards. Marx was angry. He had said that he could buy their entire collections, what did they think he was? A fool? They irritated him too much. He just did not want to catch attention yet but these guards were going to pay for harassing him. The two guards who were dragging him by his hands stopped when Marx did a backflip and stood in front of them. They were all dressed in black suits and glasses. They did not understand just how he had freed himself from their grasp. It was impossible. "I said I will pay. But so do the five of you have to," Marx almost raised his voice as he said these words. " Listen boy, we are..."