It was tough waking up after the cryo-stasis system opened.
"Welcome Passenger, Arlow Tsai. Please exit the life support area."
Hardly a breath later.
"Mandatory sterilization is scheduled to commence. We show it would damage your biology. Please go to the station waiting area."
Arlow grabbed the thick coat off the lid and covered his one piece bodysuit. After getting into the slip-on shoes, he exited the room.
The room buzzed blue as soon as the door closed behind him.
He rubbed his hand over his face. Wanting coffee and knowing it just was not available. No caffeinated drinks of any kind.
He was trying to remember the decorum rules. Never give the false impression of illness. It was tough.
Across the large, mostly vacant expanse of the waiting area, he heard a sound.
Shoes on a hard floor surface. Shoes moving fast.
One of those tall, beautiful aliens. She is looking directly at him. Moving faster than humans can.
Arlow lifts into the air. A Lan field system has him hovering above the floor.
The tall woman snatches his head in both hands and kisses him. Full and passionate. Like a soap opera kiss. Like an erotica kiss. Still walking forward at full speed.
Her hair billows behind. Her expression is .. something.. something hard to express.
With a swoosh, we push into a curtained privacy space. Her hands holding my head softly against a soft wall.
Her expression changes as the curtain stops swinging. She kisses me again, but with tears on her cheeks.
"I am sorry. You are not him. I know that."
I drop gently to the wall bench. She sits with her face turned away and hands folded to her lap.
"We.. him and I.. were belongers.. uhm married."
On a side wall a projection of a moving images appears. Like kids pretending a mock marriage. Husband, bride, witnesses. All of them adults.
Arlow lays his hands atop hers. "I understand. If I saw my dead wife today, would rush to kiss her too."
Both she and I let out a laughing sigh and smile.
She turns to face me with droplet-streaked cheeks, "Let me tell you everything!"
In her talking and explaining, I saw this person. A radiant beauty. It really struck me what a luck guy that other Arlow Tsai was. To have found a girl like this.