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She started to stutter as she tried to stop laughing: "S-so sorry… S-Sir…S-sorry"

She wasn't really apologetic and 748, Ron, knew it. She was mocking him for picking this kind of family name… It was quite an embarrassing moment for him. He was used to be laughed at but for his status not for his actions. It was the first time someone mocked him for this kind of reason.

It might have been a first but that didn't mean he felt good.

He hurried to say: "It was a joke, a joke"

Of course, the clerk was still laughing. They both knew he had been serious there. It took a few seconds before the clerk returned to a more professional state, though she kept a smirk on. It was already the best she could give her now.

But he was already out of ideas. Creativity was really not his forte. In the end, he decided to ask the clerk to pick for him. He was too bad at this.

She joked about it at first: "How about pickaxe, Sir?"

It was only after a few more teases that she gave him some random suggestions worth considering: "Hoff, Dokken, Lysne, Gubrud, Morgensen… Just pick whichever name you would like, Sir"

He settled on Morgensen. For no reasons except that it didn't sound too bad. Ron Morgensen. Yeah, he liked the sound of it.

Once this was done, she asked him for his birth date. He answered her that he was sixteen years old. She was feeling the headache coming once again. She didn't want to bother and checked the calendar. It was the 29th of the 09th month of the 5543. She subtracted 16 years and there you had it.

Two papers were then printed out and she handed them to the bum, now named Ron Morgensen. She spoke as he picked them: "This one is your board pass and this one is your identification paper. Have a safe trip, Sir"

He bowed as he gave her his gratitude. While she mocked him quite a bit, she was the one to give him the ticket to freedom he had dreamt of so many times.

There was still some time until departure but he couldn't help feeling excited. He walked around the station filled with expectations, and making sure no one was close to him or his bag.

Time flew by and the spaceship he was to take was going to depart. He went to the mentioned desk and was led inside. There were a lot of people inside the spaceship and many seats all over the place. He could see the exterior from huge windows on the sides.

He went to find himself a seat. It wasn't hard since everyone tried to dodge him like the pest. And soon, he felt a weird sensation. And he saw through the huge windows that the ship was moving up.

Little by little, the ship took off and as it did, his excitement rose along. It got higher than the city, then the clouds and finally, it entered space. He could see the entire planet from up here and the sight was breathtaking. A dark brown planet with patches of silver here and there.

After a moment, a voice resounded throughout the hall. It was the ship's captain warning everyone that they would enter hyperspace in five minutes and to take a seat. Ron already had one so he didn't move however he saw everyone rush around to grab themselves a seat. He wondered why they were so anxious about it.

He found out five minutes later as the ship entered hyperspace. Some kind of force pushed him further inside the seat. If he had been next to the chairback, he was now glued to it. And he couldn't move at all.

Outside the glass, he only saw flashes of light. It was both blinding and pretty. A sight he could have never experienced if not for the pond… He thanked his lucky star as he remained fixed on the sight outside the ship.

The voice of the captain resounded again: "We will remain in hyperspace for exactly 37 minutes and…22 seconds. We will then proceed to land in Imperholde on the planet Carix One"

After that, there was some music. Probably to make the trip more enjoyable, even by a little. At least, it did help on focusing on something else but the inability to move. Ron enjoyed it a lot. He hadn't heard such clear music for years. He felt peaceful and slowly but surely ended up drifting to the land of dreams.

…

He was woken up by a hand pushing his shoulder. An old man that had been sitting not too far was waking him with a smile as he said: "We've arrived, young man, it's time to go out"

He thanked the old man who left after a few words. Then, he grabbed his bag and went on his way as well. He only had to follow the crowd. They exited in a very orderly way and entered a special hall inside the space station they landed at.

That's where they would check whether they had papers. There were many who tried to enter the planet illegally. If those were found, they would end up being punished with slavery… Of course, he had his papers.

He was allowed inside with no problems. Only some glares and looks of disgust but that was the usual.