Week 9 (11.19.07) (UDC 2) – Melyan Family
41. Family
He was only half listening as his parents caught up with one another after so long apart, but Darvis was starting to wonder if he was the only one in the family who had actually been bored in the recent past. His father had gone on a covert mission for CorSec, and his mother had had a hand in blowing something up. Several somethings, from the sound of it.
"Darvis," his father asked, capturing his attention. "Is something wrong?"
Darvis sighed and got up from his chair. "No." He glanced at them directly once and then left the room.
42. Travel
Fosco watched as his son left the table and then turned to look at Moira. "There's more to it than that. I can feel it."
Moira sighed as she handed a datapad to him. "He's fine, mostly. Don't worry about it. Worry about this instead."
Fosco studied the information for a full minute before returning his startled gaze to her. "What is this?"
"Leftovers of terror. Wanna go?"
"You had but to ask," he said as he leaned in to kiss her. "Of course."
"That's what I thought you'd say."
43. Food
Darvis stared at the ration bar in his hands. He couldn't believe that they'd talked him into going along on this crazy mission. What was way out in the middle of a bunch of asteroids in the middle of nowhere called the Ninth Quadrant, anyway? It made no sense.
"Not everything has to make sense, son," his father murmured knowingly.
"It'd be nice if everything did, though, right?"
He was answered with a chuckle. "Yes and no. If everything made sense, there would be no questions to answer, and life would be boring."
Darvis looked away from the ration bar to look at his father. "Are you speaking in riddles on purpose?"
"Maybe."
44. Blessings
"It's a big rock," Fosco stated as the three of them stared at the looming mass from the comfort of their shuttle. "With lots and lots of weapons."
"So that's why you didn't tell me what we were going to do," Darvis said, not taking his eyes off the thing that could have easily passed for a planetoid. "How were you planning on destroying it?"
Moira smirked and held up a small device for him to see. "Small blessings from a friend."
"Huh?"
"Do you really want to know, or can we just do what we came here to do?"
He paused, taking in her serious expression. "Let's do this."
"That's my boy."
45. Thanks
Sitting at his desk and trying to concentrate on case reports, Darvis barely noticed when someone set a mug of caf down beside him. Once he did notice it, however, he blinked and stared at it for a full minute or so. Then he nodded to himself, picked it up, and savored the taste of the strong and bitter liquid. He hadn't been able to so much as look at the stuff since finding out some information that he sorely wished he hadn't.
He glanced up to find Elsie watching him with a calm, concerned smile. "Thanks."