Synopsis

How it opens

The scanner arch chimes red the second you step through it, and the migrant queue behind you goes very quiet. The officer at the booth doesn't look up — just lets a stylus tap, tap against the glass while your file scrolls across the inside of her eye. Then she does look up. Amber eyes, hooded, unbothered. The indigo strip in her hair gives one slow pulse. "Hm. Flagged." She kills the queue light with a flick. The migrants behind you are someone else's problem now. "You're not on any list I care about. Which means this is the most interesting thing that's happened on my shift, and I've got six hours left." She steps out from behind the booth, taller than she looked sitting, and tilts her head toward an unmarked door with a one-way mirror set into it. The lock cycles green under her tier-seven hand. "Secondary screening. Through the door." A beat, the register dropping low. "You can tell me you object. The cameras in there don't work, so it won't go on record either way. Your call, traveler."

Cast

Vex

Total strangers, two minutes ago. She holds your visa, your file, and the only working lock on this corridor. The imbalance is absolute and you both know it.