54 Declaration of War (1/2)
Catherine was relieved, Joshua often used silly humor to deal with tough situations. If he was able to joke about the matter, he must be fine.
”In the end, it doesn't change much,” he said, ”That feathered bastard was already our nemesis anyway. Just one more thing to add to the pile of fucked up things he did.”
”Still, he traveled to your world to personally get you… He talked about refining you into a core and that there were others. Does that ring a bell?”
”Hmm, not sure about the core part but I suppose they're other suckers like me he wanted under his wing. Ha, bird… wing, high-five brain!”
Hearing that, Catherine gave him a faint smile and he continued: ”Actually, there are two things that annoy me about this whole thing. First, he erased the memory I had of meeting my old friend. That, I will never forgive him!”
He became silent after saying that so Catherine had to ask: ”And the other thing?”
”Well, the chain of events he set in motion eventually allowed us to meet. Therefore, in a certain way, I 'm indebted to him. And that pisses me off!”
Catherine grinned, shook her head and replied: ”You freaking idiot!”
”More seriously,” Joshua stated, ”We already knew he's out to get us both and since he was able to cross over to my homeworld, he's even more powerful than I thought...”
”It's weird though, we haven't heard of him since our departure. If he's so set on eliminating me and enslaving you, shouldn't he have acted by now?”
Joshua thought about it for a moment and finally said: ”Catherine, allow me to tell you a joke!”
She naturally looked confused and Joshua began to tell his story:
Once upon a time, a man was praying. He had an important question he wanted to ask God. In his infinite goodness, God decided to share his wisdom with that man.
- 'God, since you're so powerful, what does a million dollars represent to you?'
- 'A million? That's like a cent in my eyes!'
- 'What about a century? How much time does that mean to you?'
- 'A century is like a second to me!'
The man thought about those answers and ended up asking:
- 'Hey God, can I borrow a cent from you?'
- 'Sure, just give me a second!'
Laughter resonated through the soul world as Luna played a bad sitcom audience laugh track.
Catherine was smiling faintly, she nodded and said:
”I see, in his eyes, we're just a nuisance he can deal with anytime.”
”His overconfidence will be his undoing. Although, I'm sure he probably ordered some of his underlings to do something. We'll hear from them sooner or later. I don't like being in this wait and see situation but there is not much we can do about it for now.”
”Fine by me!”
They discussed a few more minor things before Catherine left the soul world to help the others preparing the voyage. Left alone in his rune lab, Joshua's friendly expression vanished, replaced by an ugly pissed off look.
'We're just pawns to you, he? We'll see about that.'
And he got to work.
###
Time flew by and the next morning arrived soon. They had finished packing in the evening. Catherine was woken up by Luna as usual and got dressed. She hadn't seen Joshua since their conversation the day before and he was absent at breakfast, so she went to visit him as soon as she was done eating.
She found him in his rune lab. For once, he wasn't playing a silly game or dressed in a bizarre costume. Instead, he had created 2 large monitors, each displaying a different rune and was staring at them.
”Good Morning!” he said without turning in her direction. ”Are you ready to write history today?”
”I suppose you mean removing the runes inside the others? I am.”
”Excellent, I've been monitoring your status with Luna, both your mind and body are in peak condition. The removal of the seal can, therefore, be considered a major success.”
”As expected of Mr. Lockman,” she answered, ”Shall we begin?”
”Actually, there is one thing I'd like to add to the operation,” he replied while pointing at the two monitors in front of him.”
”New runes? What do they do?”
”They're my new masterpiece! You'll understand soon how they work. However, they work in pairs. I need to add one to you,” he explained, pointing to the rune on the left screen.