Hejerr "Qwerty" Opalen rushed through the departure hall. Winair flight 6558 to Ciria, departing from gate 68. Last call. The ridiculously calm computer voice annoyed Qwerty. He was usually not this late, but last night he had had an inspiration for a new feature for his beloved Stream. Even though he had stayed up all night, he still had not had the time to finish his new code. He had wanted to finish so badly he had missed several buses. When the first "back-up bus" was about to leave the stop below his window, his normal consciousness had overcome his programmer consciousness. He had of course missed that bus, but the buses were frequent, and he had managed to catch the very last of his "back-up buses".

"Jui... Qw... I mean... Are you boarding, tevv*?" The woman at the desk by the gate was starstruck, seeing one of the most famous Sedunners just pop up in front of her, and had just barely avoided calling Opalen by one of his characters' names, and his nickname.

Qwerty had to catch his breath before answering. A simple "yes" was all he managed while exhaling loudly. The woman checked his boarding card that he held in front of her with great effort. "Enjoy your flight" she said with a ridiculously large smile.

Qwerty reluctantly started to walk, and slowly boarded the plane. Deprived of one whole night's sleep, he almost immediately dozed off as he sat down in the comfortable seat.


* Tevv is the Sedunnic equivalent of Mister or Sir, and is used when the person's title or occupation is unknown or impractical to use.