Hal watched Tiara with bated breath as the scientist examined the mag heâd given to her, carefully inspecting it as she cradled it in her hands. The concerned expression on her face didnât give the FOmar much hope, but he still remained cautiously optimistic. If Sunni had managed to find the magâs signal on her own, then it was his sincere hope that the mag had some semblance of âlifeâ left and could be saved, both from a humanitarian standpoint, and from the standpoint that it contained vital data pertaining to his mission. Finally, after some time, Tiara assessed the situation, letting Hal breathe a sigh of relief.
âThank goodness. I was really worried. I just saw how beat up it was and I feared the worst,â he stated, looking off to the side. Spacing out just a bit, he barely caught the mousey girlâs next question.
âIf you donât mind me asking, do you have any idea how this happened? The damage doesnât seem to match up to local wildlife...â
After a momentâs pause for thought, Hal answered.
â...No, unfortunately not. I didnât see what couldâve hurt it. My mag, Sunni, actually directed me towards the little guy. It was hidden amongst the bushes in the clearing where our target was last seen. Iâm inclined to believe that itâs from the missing hunter we were sent after, but I suppose I canât be too sure. Either way, I fear for what happened to the owner. I imagine itâs not often a mag is found like this.â
After another short paused, Hal continued speaking, a weak smiling forming on his face.
âBut, youâre an expert, right? So Iâm confident youâll get it fixed up and good as new in a jiffy,â he added.
Tiaraâs next statement about the connection port didnât exactly bode well, the frown on the FOmarlâs face giving away that the prospect of the little guyâs survival just dipped down a bit. She continued to prep the mag on the work bench until the FOcaseal, Lucy, managed to sneak up on her.
With a healthy amount of curiosity, Hal watched the scene unfold as Lucy seemed to go into a trance, mimicking what Hal assumed was a conversation of some sort. It all seemed like gibberish until the FOmar started piecing together just what he was hearing. No, this wasnât just any regular conversation. This was what the mag heard. Gilâs mission mustâve been to set explosive charges for a single parcel, and that silence mustâve been when he...well, Hal wouldnât make the assumption that he was dead just yet. Either way, the âvoicesâ after that were definitely the perpetrators. And the last part...didnât make much sense. âWater... water not right... Man no water...â Could that be why the mag abandoned its master? Was that the magâs actual thoughts invading into the conversation he heard?
Lost in his thoughts, Hal nearly missed Tiara addressing him once more.
âIâm sorry about that. Iâm not sure what happened to her. Iâll work on repairing the mag as soon as possible... W-well, as best I can amongst my other jobs...â
Hal nodded, but decided to add some input of his own before the girl went back to work.
âI actually think I know just what happened. Well, sort of anyways,â he stated, crossing his arms. Her incredulous look made him a little less confident, but he continued anyways. âIf my assessment is correct, I believe what Lucy just rattled off is its ownerâs situation from its point of view, the mag only able to record what was said by the parties involved, as well as its own thoughts.â He put a finger to his chin in thought. âThe only thing I donât get entirely is the end. Water...the only reason I figure itâd mention something like that so alarmingly would be...well, itâd be the reason it abandoned its master and hid itself in the bushes.â
Hal leaned forward, examining the damage to the mag. Tiara was right. It didnât look like local wildlife. Not entirely anyways.
âIf youâre right about the damage, and Iâm right about that âconversationâ, then weâve got a seriously bad situation on our hands. We mightâve just stepped in something a little bigger than the both of us...â he gave Tiara a serious look before he went back to smiling. â...Then again, we both could just be overanalyzing things. No need to get into conspiracy theories just yet, right?â He laughed. âHopefully repairing the mag will get us some visual data and help us negate our suspicions. But for now, I figure the two of us need a little break. After all, I promised weâd talk over coffee sometime, right? Might as well be now, if youâre not too busy.â
All this stuff was getting a little heavy, and Hal felt he needed to help both him and Tiara lighten up a bit. A nice coffee break would do just the trick, or so he thought.