Moses had willingly accepted Garius' offer of somewhere to rest, and now he was in his apartment anxiously waiting for Anfry's device to activate again.
In spite of everything, he felt a little more relaxed after the latest developments and, even if Roy's next destination remained unknown and could involve other hidden dangers, he now knew that the chances of tracking his grandson down had increased considerably.
Anfry would have got the message, he thought, and soon he'd do whatever he had to do to allow them to locate Roy.
Moses was extremely proud of his creation. Anfry had been created as a simple servo-equipped unit to help perform small tasks and domestic surveillance, but over time he'd become indispensable, and in some cases irreplaceable. The way he'd developed from the original model made him unique, possibly the first real sentient artificial life form, capable of making rapid decisions and even of displaying human emotions.
Now more than ever, the hare was the key to everything: personally involved, through no fault of his own, in Roy's incredible journey and maybe, soon, the author of his recovery.
Over the last few hours his stress levels had risen dramatically, now that they'd dropped down he felt extremely tired, all the strain and effort would have deprived anybody of all their energy, even someone younger and fitter than him.
The Professor let himself drop onto the comfortable terrestrial style sofa which Vitalius had made available for him, while Wendi took advantage of the situation and snuggled up next to him, falling asleep instantly. Tex would have done the same, but there wasn't any space left on the sofa, and he'd had to make do with curling up on the soft rug at the scientist's feet.
Not far away from them, Martika sat at a table and relaxed in her own way, disassembling and cleaning her gun with slow and precise movements.
The apartment was large and comfortable, equipped with a large transparent wall made of polarized glass which allowed them to look out over the lunar surface, where the sun's rays outlined clear cut shadows.
Stephanie, who would have preferred to go to her own apartment, had stayed there with them at Wendi's request and was now gazing at the panorama before her, lost in thought.
«So, this is where you live?» Moses asked, distracting Stephanie from her deep meditation, as he looked at her inquiringly.
«Yes, more or less» the girl answered, with a hint of a smile, «I've got a house on Dreamkey too, but I've passed a lot of my time here.»
«What about you parents, if you don't mind me asking?» the scientist asked, slightly embarrassed.
«They died, when I was very small. It's as if I've never known them.»
«I'm very sorry... And they were, I mean...»
«Are you still asking me if I'm a human or just an alien that looks like a human due to some sort of mutation or experiment maybe?» Stephanie guessed what the Professor was about to ask.
«Sorry, I... maybe I shouldn't have...» said Moses, lowering his head.
«Anyway, my parents were humans» she confirmed, «and this is my real appearance, I'm not an alien dressed up as a terrestrial girl.»
«How long have you lived here?» Martika stepped into the conversation, with the intention of curbing Moses' typically tactless curiosity.
«Since I was a child. I was nearly two years old.»
«How long have you known Roy?» the woman enquired, without taking her eyes off her gun.
«Not long, only this summer, in truth.»
YOU ARE READING
Roy Rocket - Beyond infinity
Science FictionRoy is just a teenager falling in love for the first time in his life; all he wants is to be close to the beautiful Stephanie. But a mysterious alien artifact literally tears him away from the world he knows and throws him headlong into a new, incre...
