TBAY: harmless little innocent question to MDDT

[Dan Feeney]

No: HPFGUIDX 72226

"I thought the VICE SQUAD kicked you back into your closet, 
interloper?"

The members of the MDDT broke out into sinuous laughter, as they 
peered through the darkness toward the pier where Darkthirty had been 
standing for some minutes. He had known better than to try getting 
their attention by flicking BIC LIGHTER, so he had just waited 
patiently.

"Well, actually, I've been negotiating with them about a
couple things."

"Oh really? They negotiate with you? That's interesting, if 
unsurprising
" remarked a grey-looking man.

Darkthirty stood on the pier and waited for the snickering to 
subside. It was rather too soon to reveal the nature of those 
negotiations.

"You all hate meta, pretty much, I've been told, so I've
had to think of a way to ask you something, without transgressing."

The MDDT, lounging on the deck of the bulkiest ship in the harbour, 
which seemed to have been on a bit of journey recently, looked rather 
bored at the prospect. At last, one of them, Darkthirty thought it 
was Melody, but it might have been someone else, said, "okay, 
interloper, ask your question."

"It's just a simple little question, really. Was big wig
really afraid when the boy, thinking the coast was clear, and the 
battle over, moved, in the atrium of the MoM? Or was it an act? 
Because I don't understand what the boy's moving had to do with
anything. I mean, their enemy certainly knew the boy was there. Was 
muck-a-muck afraid of something unconnected with the boy's movement, 
and the boy's moving was coincidence? If so, what was he afraid of? I 
thought you guys might have the answer. Or rather, I thought I'd ask 
you first, since you're the experts."

No one was responding. Perhaps they were still too busy incorporating 
recent events to consider such elementary questions, Darkthirty was 
thinking. After what seemed like some minutes, the grey-looking man 
said, "Okay, well, you've asked. Night."

Darkthirty shuffled off into the darkness, toward the farthest end of 
the bay, where his new scow with a wardrobe stuck in the middle was 
tied up to a small tree.