One of the policemen took advantage of the fact that Alex was distracted, grabbed him by the throat and poked something hard under the shoulder blade, which caused the younger Favorra to wheeze, twitch and collapse in a bag right on the threshold.

“Excuse me, Commander Favorra,” the duty officer breathed, lowering the shocker that continued to crackle and trying to pull back his tunic, crumpled and warped in a fight, “we know that this is your younger brother, but order is order. You can’t enter the territory without a pass, they explained to him, they explained, but he, I beg your pardon, rushed.

The guy was a man, but...