Stairmount keeps his promise. After several hours, about eight hours later, he has been back into his hiding place. But eight hours, although to make a fake passport tablet is counted as a short time, after all, it is too long for Daphne who keeps waiting on him anxiously.
“Mom, he has gone for so long. Is he…”
“I believe, God always protects good people, sweetie…” Her mother soothes her.
“Well… I hope so…” Daphne keeps her hands folded on her chest. “If something bad happens to him… after all… he’s doing this all for us…”
Right at that moment, she hears the sound of a car. Daphne turns her gaze. Stairmount is getting out of his car.
“Sir!” Daphne yells happily. She quickly approaches Stairmount, then grasps his hands tightly. “Thank God! You can go back in safety!”
“Not only I can return in safety.” Stairmount holds up three translucent electric green tablets which, when being pressed, glow and emit a bright radiance revealing the screen of faces and identities. Stairmount hands two tablets to Daphne and her mother. “Here’s your ‘passports’.”
“Wow, Sir, you are so great, you are able to get the passports of these three people so quickly!… but, how about the real people?…”
“The real people never know that we have duplicated their passports.”
“Really?!”
“Indeed, this is a risky act. Any misfortune can happen, for example, the real person can pass by together with us, or maybe they have already evacuated and it then makes the officers suspicious… but this is the only idea that I can get right now. I just hope, this way can work.”
“But you can get this great idea in such a short time, it’s really amazing! How incredible you are!”
Stairmount smiles. “Don’t be too optimistic. We have to be prepared for the worst so as not to get frustrated if the worst becomes reality.”
“It won’t fail. Everything you do, it will work!”
Stairmount laughs. “I’ve never met such a girl as optimistic as you before. Are Plutonian girls always optimistic all the time?”
Copyright © by boundless_universe
Perhaps, what makes me optimistic is my great admiration for you, Mr. Rivers, Daphne talks to herself. She was about to express her thoughts, but something quickly holds her back. Daphne is not someone who can express her feelings openly, we can even say that she is an introverted and quiet young woman. The hobbies she likes are indeed similar to other young women of her age, but that does not mean she is a cheerful and sociable woman. Besides, it has become the custom of a Neptunian woman to be more serious and by then have to cover up her true feelings. That is why Daphne chooses to put that admiration back into the bottom of her heart.
And listening to Stairmount who continues in a serious manner, “Don’t waste time anymore. Be prepared, we’ll go to Mars. By the way, have you and your Mom had breakfast? Have both of you had enough rest?”
“We have, Sir…”
“Good. Now, let’s go…”
“And how about you? You look tired, you should take a rest for a while.”
“Don’t worry about me. I get used to living under pressure…”
“Then Sir, you should rest first!…”
“No problem. Come on, don’t waste time!…”
“But!…”
A very loud crackling sound immediately makes the two of them startled. Stairmount automatically raises the gun he was always carrying just in case the enemy appears to interfere in a sudden, this points it at the source of the sound.
“Damn it, it’s just a weasel!” Stairmount wipes its forehead as a weasel dashes across the street. He lowers his gun. Heaving a very long breath, he turns his face to Daphne. “The longer we stay here, the more insecure we’ll be. The sooner we leave, the greater our chances to avoid the enemy. That’s why I said, don’t worry about me. We can relax as long as we want when we have been in Mars.”
Daphne bites her lip. She then turns around, then runs to Mrs. Yalle, and calls her out. A few minutes later, they have been inside the flying car.
On this unknown Planet, the flying car has a unique shape – it has the form of a tiny jet, has no wheels but hovers inches off the ground, and is propelled by a rocket in the back of the car.
Copyright © by boundless_universe
