Story code: ST-001305
Part 3: The Ultimatums
I walked back into the VIP Dining Room. The crystal chandeliers reflected off the polished synthetic marble floors, but the air felt thin. My mother, Clara, smiled at me as I took my seat.
“There you are, Leo,” she said, smoothing her formal blue silk dress. “Your father was just telling me about the launch window adjustments. It’s almost time to head to Gate Four.”
Richard sat down next to her, adjusting his cuffs. His face was a mask of corporate confidence, but I noticed the slight tremor in his hand as he picked up his glass. Under the table, he nudged my knee with his foot.
“I’ve updated the boarding sequence,” Richard said, his voice smooth and conversational. “Leo, you will scan immediately after me. The automated gate will request a secondary familial confirmation scan. You just need to press your thumb to the reader when the prompt appears.”
I looked at him, keeping my expression neutral. “And what happens to the secondary registry profile if I scan?”
Clara looked up, her brow furrowing. “What secondary profile, Leo?”
Richard laughed, a dry, rehearsed sound. “Just technical logistics, Clara. Leo is nervous about the biometric sync. He wants to make sure his credentials align perfectly with mine.” He turned back to me, his eyes cold and steady. “I’ve locked the queue, Leo. Your biometric signature is now hard-linked to the Delta-Four slot. If you don’t authorize the link at the gate, the discrepancy will trigger a mismatch. The system will flag both of our tickets as compromised.”
He was giving me an ultimatum. If I refused to help him smuggle Marcus onto the ship, my own boarding pass would be voided along with his. The dream I had sacrificed my youth to achieve-the years of physical training, the atmospheric simulation tests, the isolation protocols-would end at the threshold of the Departure Archway.
“You’re using my ticket to shield your fraud,” I said, keeping my voice low enough to stay beneath the chatter of the neighboring tables.
“I am securing our family’s future,” Richard whispered back, leaning in close. Clara had turned to wave at the chief operations officer, leaving us in a tense, private bubble. “All of it. If you break the link, the security logs will register it as a deliberate tampering attempt by you. You will be quarantined in the terminal. I will remain the sponsor, and you will remain on Earth. Choose.”
He reached into his breast pocket and tapped his datapad, finalizing the gate queue. I watched the status light on his pad turn green. The physical duplicate titanium pass sat in his jacket pocket, its metallic edge glinting under the dining room lights.
“Attention, VIP Cohort One,” the terminal’s automated announcer chimed. “Pre-boarding verification is now open at Gate Four.”
Richard stood up, offering his arm to Clara. She took it, beaming with pride, entirely unaware that the husband she adored had built a parallel life in the lower domes. Richard looked back at me, his jaw set in a hard, uncompromising line.
“Let’s go, Leo,” he said.
I stood up, my boots heavy on the floor. In my pocket, my fingers closed around my own titanium boarding pass. I knew what I had to do, but the price of exposing him was my own ticket to the stars.