Beyond the suspension bridge, the group entered Fourside. Unlike the other towns they'd been to so far, Fourside was tightly packed with tall buildings with narrow streets between them. Where the other towns had been sprawling communities with businesses stretching outward, here people plainly had decided to build up. A quick glance at the map showed a pub, a hotel, a theater, a bakery, a museum...and two massive buildings towering over everything else, the Department Store and the Monotoli Building. "Looks like there's a lot to do here," Jeff observed thoughtfully as he examined the map.
"We should hit the department store first," Ness suggested. "That's what my Mom was coming here for, and she said she had some stuff for us."
"Then let's go!" Paula declared happily, taking Ness's hand with a smile and a faint blush. "I'm looking forward to meeting your Mom." Ness blushed as well, rubbing the back of his head nervously.
Moondancer rolled her eyes at these antics. Why do I suddenly feel like ruefully declaring 'Young people' to the world at large? she silently asked Buzz Buzz. I'm not that much older than them, am I?
In years, I'm not certain, Buzz Buzz allowed. Not certain how old you are physically, either. But that's not the only way to measure age. It probably wouldn't be as frustrating for you if you had someone to feel about the way they do each other, though.
Moondancer blinked thoughtfully, an odd image of almost-memory crossing her mind. ...why did you suggesting that make me picture some sort of purple and green reptile? she asked, trying to make sense of it.
Hey, it's your mind, Buzz Buzz countered quickly. Why are you asking me to make sense of it if you can't?
Shaking her head to banish thoughts she couldn't make sense of, Moondancer focused on following the group to the department store...only to frown in confusion as Jeff groaned in frustration. "What's wrong?" she asked him curiously.
"The Department Store's closed for renovation," Jeff explained ruefully, gesturing to a sign on the doors to the store. "So much for our only lead-"
"'Check out a show at Topalla while you wait'?" Paula read curiously, tracing words below the main message of the sign with one finger. "Is that a lead?"
Ness looked at the writing closely. "...considering that's Mom's handwriting, I'd say so."
"But how would a show at a theater be a lead?" Jeff asked curiously. "Hidden message in the lyrics? Visions of future dangers concealed in the choreography? The pattern of notes on the sheet music hiding a blueprint for an ultimate weapon Giygas' forces are constructing?"
"Or maybe the Runaway Five are just in debt again and need us to bail them out?" Buzz Buzz suggested somewhat sarcastically.
Moondancer glanced at Buzz Buzz thoughtfully. "I can check rather easily," she offered helpfully. "Just someone keep track of my body for a bit. I need to step out of it to make things easier."
Jeff gently picked Moondancer up and set her in his Robo-Pack. "It can hold quite a bit in there, and the spatial compression takes the weight off my back."
"Could you fit all of us in there?" Ness asked excitedly.
Jeff rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, maybe...if I make a few modifications..."
Leaving Jeff to his speculations and Ness and Paula to marveling, Moondancer stepped out. Floating along in the ether, she extended her awareness to feel the mental signatures of-
Yup, there they were. Alinivar, Larice, Col. Saturn and the others. Following the trace of their thoughts, she found them in the back room of the theater, the UFO/Van parked in a garage behind the theater and locked in so it couldn't be accessed from outside. Deciding to be more direct than before, she simply sent a thought pulse inquiry to Larice, hoping to determine what sort of plight they were currently in.
Alinivar is *whrrr* not good with Earth money, Larice sent back instantly, his thought-tone filled with rueful frustration.
How in debt are you this time? Moondancer asked curiously.
Unknown, Larice responded apologetically. Earth numbers do not properly compute. Knowing this wasn't helpful, Larice added the location of the manager's office in the theater, so she could investigate more directly.
Silently phasing into the office, she positioned herself over the female manager's bleach-blonde hair, and opened her mind to simply listen to her surface thoughts. She didn't expect to get direct answers this way, but hoped to at least learn where she kept the Runaway Five's contract so she could investigate...or failing finding a solution, destroy it and all copies.
I can't believe any band around this long can be such fools when it comes to contracts! Sure, everything in the contract is strictly legal and above board, but no entertainer worth their star on the walk would have agreed to terms like that! Now between room service bills and all that other junk they've requested, they owe me over a million dollars...and having them locked in as entertainment here until they pay it off will make me even more profits since they're so popular! New entertainers will want to get their start performing with them, and I can use that to get them under contract here too! And it's not like they'll be able to pay it off anytime soon. Heh, not unless they find buried gold or something...
Moondancer floated out of the theater. While the thoughts she'd picked up had given her the whole situation and a potential solution, it seemed just a little too pat to her. The one they needed to pay off thinking about 'buried gold' just after they did a favor to a gold miner? It fit too well together, and left her thinking someone was pulling strings somewhere.
A quick shift and she was floating over the foreman from the desert, who had dug a lot deeper by now. She could already hear his thoughts as she listened.
Oh crap oh crap oh crap! Monsters in the mine! Oh, I never should have agreed to go looking for gold for that photographer! He promised me adventure, excitement and wealth as long as I gave some of what I found to that kid! How'd he even know I'd end up missing lunch one day so a kid could walk up and give me food out of the goodness of his heart? Well what am I supposed to do now, wait until the kid comes back to beat the boss monsters so I can get back to mining, then give him some? Oh, what did I get myself into...?
The photographer? Moondancer thought to herself as she shifted back to Fourside. Why would the fuzzy pickles man have interest in our endeavors to set this up? How would he even know? ...I need to get his story someday... Returning to her body, she popped her head out of Jeff's Robo-Pack. "We need buried gold to pay off their debt this time," Moondancer explained aloud, derailing whatever conversation had been happening.
Jeff rubbed his forehead. "Then I guess it's a good thing Ness was kind to that miner...though I certainly never expected dividends this quickly."
Moondancer said nothing. She had the feeling Ness, Paula, or Jeff would not approve of her listening to people's thoughts like she had, and she didn't want to distract them with a mystery.