Future's First Marriage, Later Love - Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Mai Hai said with a smile, “It’s nothing; I just thought the stars were beautiful tonight.”

“Is that so?” Hearing this, Pollack also pulled open the French window and walked out. After looking for a few moments, he muttered, “They don’t look any different…”

Mai Hai chuckled twice and then said, “Hurry up and go back inside to lie down. You’re wearing so little out here in the wind; be careful not to get sick.”

“Mm.”

Rare Confusion (Part I)

Everything proceeded smoothly as usual the next day. Mai Hai and Pollack left the house together. Pollack was in a rush for a meeting, so according to their agreement from yesterday, he let Mai Hai hail a spaceship on his own to go to work.

Mai Hai’s psychological state was exceptionally good. Logically, at a time like this, doing something bad behind Pollack’s back should make him feel guilty or something, but the focus of Mai Hai’s worry was not there at all. Rather than himself, he was more worried that if Pollack found out, would his poor little heart be able to take it?

Today, Mai Hai didn’t go to Blues; instead, he went to Spinai’s house. Spinai’s house was in the suburbs with a very nice environment—very suitable for retirement. Most importantly, it was quiet here, making it very suitable for doing things that shouldn’t be seen.

After Mai Hai knocked and entered, he saw Spinai wearing “showy” pink pajamas, sitting leisurely on a beanbag chair with his legs crossed. On the low tea table beside him was a goblet filled with creamy reddish milk tea. A small white cat lay on his lap, its tail flicking contentedly.

Mai Hai walked over and, without being polite, picked up a glass. He pressed a button, and a muscular male robot immediately emerged from the kitchen to pour him water. Mai Hai looked at the robot’s retreating back with a look between laughter and tears, saying to Spinai, “Your taste really isn’t just ‘ordinarily’ heavy.”

“Is it?” Spinai propped up his chin, looking at Mai Hai pensively. “How about next time I switch to one with softer lines?”

His flirtatious tone made Mai Hai break out in goosebumps. With a dark face, he said, “Can you speak a bit more normally?”

Spinai clutched his stomach and laughed wildly. “Hehe, lately I’ve found this accent very fun.”

Mai Hai didn’t continue fooling around with Spinai and said seriously, “Is the equipment ready?”

Spinai made an “everything is OK” gesture. “Everything is ready; we just need the ‘East Wind’ (the final trigger).”

“Mm, then let’s begin,” Mai Hai nodded. ” I’ll decipher the codes, you keep up the connection.”

Spinai agreed, “Alright, let’s go.” As soon as he finished speaking, he picked up the little cat with both hands and placed it on the floor. He called out something Mai Hai didn’t understand, and the muscular robot in the apron came out from the kitchen carrying a pet dish filled with fresh, creamy white milk, carefully taking over the task of looking after the cat.

Spinai led the way, and Mai Hai followed him through a mechanized door. The various instruments inside made Mai Hai’s head spin, but they weren’t unfamiliar to him because Toffler had taught him about these back on Planet Pandora… Originally, Mai Hai had high hopes, but after looking closely at the equipment, he said to Spinai with no small amount of worry, “These things of yours look quite old…”

“Cough, cough…” Spinai made a helpless gesture toward Mai Hai. “There was nothing I could do. This is already the best equipment I could get my hands on.”

“No way…” Mai Hai felt like a deflated balloon, losing even the strength to speak. “Didn’t you say the defense system of the Giant Planet is powerful? How could you possibly break through using this obsolete junk?!”

Spinai made a gesture for Mai Hai to stay calm and then said, “Don’t be in such a hurry. I’ve remodeled these things. Why don’t you try them out and see the performance for yourself?”

Mai Hai nodded and turned to sit at the secondary operation station. Once Spinai turned on the power, all the small lights on the console lit up. Mai Hai watched the flashing lights and began waiting for Spinai.

Spinai walked slowly to the main console and pressed the start button. After the equipment started, they began waiting in silence. After about half an hour, the printer beside them suddenly made a clack-clack sound. Immediately after, many numbers and letters were printed out—a full ten or more pages. Spinai walked over, took the stack of papers, and handed them to Mai Hai. “Here, it should be the network entry password.”

“…Phew.” Mai Hai let out a breath and rolled his eyes, complaining in his heart: There sure are a mother-lode of them.

But he resignedly began to look through them. However, there was no pattern at all to these numbers and letters. Mai Hai looked for a long time but still couldn’t find a breakthrough. Finally, he gave up and threw the stack of papers onto the console. Leaning his head back, he said listlessly, “What on earth are these things?”

“What’s wrong?” Spinai looked at the dejected Mai Hai, a flash of indiscernible craftiness appearing in his eyes.

Mai Hai sat up straight and took the data again. “Wait until I get back to Pandora; I definitely have to ask Nesbit what he’s being paid for! How can something with no pattern whatsoever be called a password?!”

Spinai comforted Mai Hai, saying, “Doesn’t this just show that Planet Pandora’s defense system is well-made?”

“I’m curious, how exactly did you escape from there in the first place?” Mai Hai stared at Spinai. “Shouldn’t you have been caught at the border?”

Spinai rubbed his forehead. “During a mission once, I escaped by faking a spaceship explosion.”

“Oh.” Mai Hai still had some doubts in his heart because he was starting to find that many things didn’t seem right… but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what was wrong for the moment. He cast another suspicious glance at Spinai.

Being stared at by Mai Hai made Spinai feel a bit of a chill down his spine. For most of the day, the two of them kept trying to send a message to Planet Pandora, but it was all in vain.

It was already past noon when Mai Hai said to Spinai with exhaustion, “Let’s eat first.”

“Phew, I finally waited long enough to hear those words.” Spinai looked like he had been granted a general amnesty. He immediately stood up, stretched his limbs, opened the room door, turned off all the machines, and went out with Mai Hai.

Lunch was eaten in the small courtyard behind Spinai’s house. The food was prepared by Spinai’s intelligent muscular nanny. The little cat seemed to like Mai Hai very much; during lunch, it stayed perched on Mai Hai’s lap. No matter how much Spinai called, it refused to go to him. Furious, Spinai pointed at the cat and cried “traitor,” then acted pitiful toward Mai Hai.

Mai Hai ignored Spinai completely. He picked out a piece of fish, removed the fine bones, and fed it to the cat. The person and the cat finished the meal at a very slow pace.

After eating, Spinai said he was very sleepy and wanted to nap for a while. Mai Hai said he would go back and fiddle with the equipment to see if Spinai had missed something, but Spinai said, “It’s best if you don’t.”

“Why?” Mai Hai asked strangely. This was the first time he had seen Spinai look so flustered.

Spinai said, “We worked on it with high intensity this morning. Let’s wait a bit this afternoon. You can take a walk, and we’ll do it again after I wake up from my nap.”

Since he put it that way, Mai Hai felt it seemed reasonable, so he didn’t continue to argue. However, a seed of doubt began to grow in his heart: was Spinai hiding something from him? Since arriving on this planet, he had benefited much from Spinai’s help, but it seemed he was becoming a bit too dependent on him…

Spinai gave a couple of dry laughs, told Mai Hai to make himself at home, and yawned as he slipped upstairs.

Once upstairs, Spinai entered the bedroom and locked the door. He casually turned an inconspicuous decoration on the wall. Suddenly, a large door appeared on a wall painted with a starry sky. Spinai walked over and pressed his finger to the keypad. Once the keypad opened, he quickly entered a string of numbers. With a ding, the door opened, revealing a spiral staircase. He followed the stairs down, passed through another door, and arrived back in the room where he had just been with Mai Hai.

Spinai walked to the console and sat down. He took out a small device and placed it into an inconspicuous notch under the main console. The device immediately underwent a great change. Then, on a screen directly facing the main console—slightly higher than the console itself—television static appeared. Before long, a man in a military uniform appeared.

Spinai greeted him with a miserable face: “Nesbit…”

Nesbit looked at Spinai and asked irritably, “What’s with the long face? Are you that sexually frustrated?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m just waiting for you to come…” Spinai winked at Nesbit.

Before he could finish his sentence, another man suddenly appeared on the screen. He looked at S.