Meanwhile, with Duo…
CAVE DRACONIS DORMIENS
Video Call Conversation between Maxwell, Duo and J., Howard. Database D208AC, file extension ax52v8.txt.
"Hey Kid, you there?"
"HOWIE!!! What's up, Gramps?"
"Don't call me Gramps, Brat!"
"Don't call me Kid, Old-Fart!"
"Neophyte!"
"Old Goat!"
"Little Pain-in-the-Ass!"
"HA! Who you callin' LITTLE?!? I'm taller than YOU old man, an' you KNOW it!"
"…"
"A-HEM…anyway, Kid, got something for ya—you ever hear of Epigne Electronics?"
"Nah, why? You gotta 'nother salvage job for me?"
"Not exactly, Brat. This line private?"
"Pssht, yeah, Howie. Why, what's up? Problems?"
"Well, not exactly. I meant, are you alone right now? It's sorta a private thing
just for you, y'know? Don't want anyone gettin' the wrong idea now…"
---sound of an exasperated snort--
"Just spit it out, old man. What've you got?"
"Weeell, it's like this: me 'n' the sweepers know you've been keepin' your eye peeled for a new ship—one of yer own, y'know? And we know how it's hard bein' a pilot and all and not havin' nothing of yer own to, eh, use. So me an' Jim—you remember Jim? Well, we've been keepin' the eyes peeled, and well, we found somethin'. Jim checked it out already—and it's kosher, but we wanted ya ta have first crack at it, a'fore the other sweepers got their paws on it ta buy it…"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down there Howie. Ya found a ship? Details man, I need some details."
"I'm sending them to you now. Thing is, it's a really good deal—it got stuck in escrow, and well, all you'd have to do is pay off the Mortgage, since the company's sellin' off most of their stuff because of a Merger with your ol' buddy."
"Quatre? He's buyin' Epigne?"
"Shh, shhh, it's on the real down low, y'know? We wouldn't know 'bout it either,
'cept that we're 'interested in buying up old stock' parties, right?"
--low whistling sound--
"Wowie, Howie---it's pretty reasonable! I dunno how I'd pay for it all, since I haven't got that much money lyin' around, but I could maybe make payments or something, right?"
"Well, yeah, and well, me an' the guys were thinkin' we might help you out a bit,
seein' as you got us that big bonus we needed on that last job we did together…"
"Shit, Howie… you sure about that? I mean, it looks like a nice ship, but I'm just not sure…I'd have to think about it."
"Yeah, yeah, that's okay. I'll give ya a few days—but only a few, okay? Otherwise we'll just add it to the fleet…give me a ring back when you're sure about what you wanna do, okay Kid? And it's your decision, y'know. I know you like the Hilde-gal, but you gotta think about your future and what you can do with YOUR skills, y'know. 'Sides, it's always been your dream to have a ship of yer own. …and quit callin' me Howie. Name's Howard."
"Yeah, yeah, ol' man. I'll give ya a call. Give my love to the guys."
"Bye, Brat."
"Bye, …Fogey."
"DUO!!! You little----------!"
--click--
Hmmmm...Duo is starting to have options in his life--no more ho-hum boring salvage yard job with other Sweepers work on the fly for whenever life gets too stifling. Wouldn't you want your own ship if YOU were a pilot?
Ps: ARG, I hate this formatting thing on It sucks--it won't display any non-standard characters. WTF?!?
Cheers!
