Chapter 27 - Marvin's Friends

Tom returned from the tunnel right as the sun started to shine on the face of the earth. His clothes were all dirty, giving testimony to the night he spent working hard.

'This tunnel alone will take at least a week or two,' Tom thought, raising his face to the dome visible in the distance. Its black, curvy walls threw shade at a considerable part of the farm fields attached to the farm itself.

"Worst case scenario, that's a motive," Tom muttered, resting his back against the doors of the farm. The cut of well between one and two hours of daylight would make for a perfect motive.

'If only I was a farmer who would care for such stuff.' Tom smiled at his thoughts. He then wiped his forehead with the dirty sleeve of his shirt.

A sound of the engine reached Tom's ears. He slightly twitched, not prepared to hear it so early in the morning. But, it wasn't even the day yet for most of the comfortable adults across the world.

The bike arrived at Tom's gate roughly a minute later.

"Are you ready?" Marvin asked while pulling his riding helmet off. Sitting on the bike fully relaxed, he didn't give off an aura of someone who woke up recently.

"What are you up to," Tom groaned. All he wanted right now was just a cup of warm, bitter coffee. A drink just right to wash off his exhaustion.

"Did you forget already?" Marvin hung the helmet on the bike's handle and then leaned on it. "I told you I would introduce you to some of my friends, didn't I?" he asked, putting an excited smile on his face.

"Oh," Tom jerked his head to look at his friend. "That did happen," he added before hiding his face within the palms of his hands. "Sorry, man, I completely forgot about that!" he shouted, genuinely troubled by the matter.

'I was so focused on my plan, I even forgot we discussed it,' Tom thought, gathering the strenght for the inevitable.

"Okay then," he started after a few moments. "Give me a few minutes to clean up," Tom asked before rushing inside the farm.

After the entire night at the mine, Tom's clothes were in a sorry state. Tattered and dirty all over, they pretty much summed up Tom's physical state as well.

'But I can't be seen tired.' Tom tightened his jaws as he grasped at the edge of the washbasin. He turned the faucet and flushed his face.

Along with the streaks of cold water trickling down from his face, Tom's exhaustion slightly subsided. Raising his head, Tom looked at the reflection of his face in the mirror.

"Well, let's kill it. It's too good of an opportunity to just ignore it," Tom encouraged himself before slapping his cheeks twice. Then, a moment later, he ran out of the farm while pulling out a fresh shirt down through his head.

A few minutes after Marvin arrived, Tom already sat on his own bike while securing the helmet on his head.

"So, I once I told them you used to be some kind of bigshot back in the city, they were more than happy to meet you," Marvin boasted as soon as the connection between the inbuilt communicators in their helmets fired up. Without this little feature, it would be impossible to talk while driving.

"Are you sure it was a good idea?" Tom inquired in a voice muffled by his mouthpiece. "It's not like I'm coming back home victorious," he added after a moment of consideration.

'It's not hard to figure out why they are willing to meet with me,' Tom thought to himself. 'After the show, I did of parading right into the auction and buying off the stuff without batting an eye,' Tom thought before releasing a deep sigh.

"Tell me, man, are you sure this is really what you want?" Marvin asked, bringing back their discussion from back at the small reunion party they had.

"I already did my part touring the dungeons," Tom replied, putting a sad smile on his face. As ingenious as this communication device was, it only transferred the voice, not the facial expressions. "Now it's time for me to lay down and bank on my achievements so far," he added with a smirk.

"So you are retiring?" Marvin asked. Even though only his voice was transmitted, Tom could tell he was reluctant to believe in such a possibility. "You know, you never struck me as one who just wants to laze around," he added, even though Tom didn't express any need for an additional explanation.

"It's not about retiring. I consider it more of a promotion," Tom spoke softly, killing the guilt of lying to his old friend. "I did the groundwork. Now it's time for me to move on and earn from my fame. You could say," Tom smiled to his own thoughts, "I'm only upping my game now."

To a degree, Tom didn't lie. He was really upping his game. The problem in the situation laid in fact, that trying to get into the elite echelons of the local hub was just a way to hide his real mission.

A mission that required Tom to have full and undetected access to the hub near his farm.