Wonderer's Wish World 2: Evolutionary Rebirth

Courageous Cat

Day 34

Time: 7:13 PM

Location: Nightlight Hotel, Nightlight City

"I'm confused..." the little girl said, her voice hushed, as if whispering. Darius had to concentrate to catch her voice. "What does this guy have to do with your gods?"

"What indeed?" the old man replied, and Darius felt the same surge of annoyance the girl must have felt then. He could hear it in her brief huff of breath.

"Well, at least it's interesting," she muttered to herself, sarcastically. Darius could imagine her, or what he thought she was, rolling her eyes.

"Quiet now," the old man warned. "We all need to hear this."

'All'? Was he talking about Darius, too?

Nevertheless, the girl quieted down, and a new voice came from the speaker, a rather familiar voice that took Darius aback.

"We've been lucky, all things considered," Hammond was saying, in that overly familiar, laid back but also overly confident voice he had used in the whole six hours Darius had been watching him. The one that could, he supposed, feel familiar and warming, but had started to grate rather quickly. After a while, it started to feel less friendly and more... condescending.

Still, even Darius could tell that there was something different in what Darius was hearing now, against what he'd heard today. What was it?

"The crew are all worried apparently... those asteroids have been flying by with scary regularity, more so than in years," Hammond broke himself off, chuckling to himself. "Some are getting too scared to do it, calling it 'unsafe' and the such. So far, though, I've been able to shut down any unions forming. Well, Luya has. Knew I picked a good one for that job. As irritating as he-no, sorry, they are, they get the job done well."

"I see," another voice spoke, and Darius tilted his head at it. Maybe it was just him, but didn't this voice sound a little... young?

The little girl must have been confused as well, but when she tried to ask the old man who that was, he quickly shushed her.

"Good," the voice continued. "How long do you think it'll take them, now? When I looked, it seemed almost complete."

"Why yes, it is," Hammond said, sounding proud. "Originally, we thought it'd take two years, but at the rate Luya's taking them, we might actually finish in the next few months!"

The other voice hummed. "And have you seen them yet? Any of them?"

"No," Hammond replied. "None of them have pinged my radar. I'll keep looking, but they seem to have-."

"Slow it down again."

Hammond paused, and Darius blinked. "I-What?"

"Slow it down. Make it take longer. A few weeks... that's too short. A few months, though... they'll get there in a couple of months."

"I... of course. Whatever you say, of course," Hammond stuttered, for the first time sounding out of his element. "But... if I may ask... why do they need to be up there? What exactly are you planning, if I may ask?"

"Don't ask."

The was a shuffling noise. Darius suspected it was Hammond, shifting uncomfortably. "Yes, of course. I'm sorry. But, sir, this moon base, it's very important to, well, the company, I suppose, so at the end of this-."

"Yes, Hammond, you'll get your moon base," the other voice snapped. Then, with a hint of smugness, it added, "You'll get all the moon bases you want. I thought you knew by now not to question me."