- “Finally!” the station attendant exclaimed irritably as the two police officers stepped into the departure hall.

One of the officers walked up to her while the other stayed back a little to keep an overview and to be ready to intervene if anything unexpected happened.

- “Here are the stowaways,” the attendant continued. “They tried to sneak onto one of the shuttles up to the station in orbit.”

She pointed upwards, indicating that she meant the station for intergalactic traffic orbiting the planet, almost as if she thought the officers didn’t know about space travel. The officer nodded while listening to the account of what had happened, all the while studying the two children: a girl, maybe ten years old, and a boy about five. Both looked dirty and tired.

- “Tickets or ID?” asked the officer.

- “No, if they had those, we’d just have directed them to the correct departure.”

- “We ain’t talkin’ to no coppers!” the young girl interjected defiantly.

The station attendant sighed and pushed the children toward the officer, as if to show that they were no longer her problem. The officer ignored both the girl and the attendant and instead crouched down in front of the boy.

- “What a nice stuffed animal you have,” she said, pointing at the dirty and worn-out toy he held in his arms.

The boy lit up and held the toy out in front of him.

- “This is Bo-bo.”

- “Well hello, Bo-bo. My name’s Sandra. So, are you two going on a trip?” she asked the toy.

- “We’s goin’ to mommy,” the boy replied.

- “Oh? And where is she?”

- “She’s on a star.”

- “That sounds beautiful. What’s the name of the star your mommy is on?”

- "Uhh…” The boy hesitated a little but quickly added, “It’s the biggest ‘n most sparkly star in the whole sky.”

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Sandra nodded and smiled as the boy continued talking.

- “That’s quite a long journey to make on your own. Are you and Bo-bo up for it?” she asked.

- “We’s not ‘lone. Steff takes care’a me, and I takes care’a Bo-bo.”

The boy quickly glanced up at the girl, and so did Sandra. The girl stood there silently, no longer looking as defiant, though she fought to keep up the tough front. Sandra assumed that she was Steff and turned back to the boy.

- “It’s good that you’re takin’ care’a Bo-bo. Everyone needs someone to take care of them, ‘specially on long journeys. By the way, what’s your name?”

- “Kev,” he answered after a slight hesitation.

- “Nice to meet you, Kev,” Sandra replied.

She smiled at the dirty boy and got a big grin in return.

- “Kev, couldn’t your mommy come pick you up so you wouldn’t have to travel alone?”

- “No, she’s gotta help the unihorns,” the boy said quickly.

- “Unihorns? What’s that?” Sandra asked, looking a bit surprised.

- “They’s like horses but with horns, and they gots rainbows ‘n lotsa glitter ‘n colors. Mommy has a big castle with lotsa unihorns and… and… lotsa flyin’… fjllillies. Steff says the unihorns are super nice.”

Sandra looked up at Steff, and now the girl averted her gaze. She could see that Steff had tears in her eyes.

- “Steff, your mommy, she’s gone, isn’t she?” Sandra asked gently.

Steff blinked but didn’t answer but the tear running down her cheek were answer enough.

At that moment, Sandra’s earpiece buzzed with an incoming call. It was her colleague, who was still staying back.

- “I scanned the kids. Neither of them is chipped, and their faces aren’t in our database. They’re Blanks.”

Sandra gestured with her hand, indicating she’d received the message. Blanks — people who weren’t registered or chipped, the ones who lived in the shadows of society and more often than not caused trouble. They were invisible, those who didn’t really exist.

She turned back to Kev.

- “Do you live here in the city?”

- "Yeah… uh… no… not anymore.” Kev hesitated a bit and glanced at Steff before he continued, a little more confidently now. “We’s goin’ to mommy.”

- “But isn’t there anyone here who will miss you? Your daddy or someone else you’ve lived with?” Sandra asked.

Kev looked up at Steff again, but she could no longer meet his gaze.

- “We haven’t lived with nobody.”

Sandra looked up at Steff again.

- “So you’ve been livin’ all by yourselves since your mommy… went to her star?”

Steff nodded silently. The defiant girl was now completely gone. Instead, she was just a tired, defeated, and sad child. Sandra sighed quietly to herself as she pondered what to do with the two children.

- “Are you hungry, Kev?”

- “A little, but I gots a bun.” He started rummaging through his jacket pocket and eventually pulled out a half-eaten, dry bread roll that he proudly showed to Sandra.

- “Kev, if you’re goin’ on a trip, I think you should save the bun for later. You know what? I’m gonna get you both some warm, yummy food so you can fill up. Then I think you and Bo-bo need to get washed and put on clean clothes so your mommy will recognize you.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Sandra saw Steff stiffen, as if she was about to make a run for it. But when Kev reached up and took Steff’s hand in his, she slumped back down again.

Together, the two officers and the two invisible children walked toward the patrol’s hovercraft parked outside.