Vox bristled a little at being called kid, even if he did walk himself into it by calling Husk an old man. He supposed kid was a little better than the alternative; he always had liked it when people forgot how old he actually was. So, he decided to pick his battles with that nomenclature and let Husk off with a light sneer.
“I do know what I’m doing,” he insisted. “Just because I haven’t shared it all with you doesn’t mean shit.”
He turned back to his computer, pulled out a circuit board, and felt his stomach drop. It was becoming more apparent that he would be better off rebuilding the entire thing from scratch just to get it up to the speed and quality that he is used to from his machines, and even with all the top-of-the-line shit, it would still only amount to but a fraction of what he had in the Tower. He held the board in both hands and almost snapped it in half in frustration before coming back to his senses and realizing that he still wanted any computer of any kind, and then he laid it down gently next to his thigh.
“Tell me something,” he said without looking up. As long as he was working out in the main lobby in full view of Husk’s bar, and as long as it was just the two of them, he might as well engage, say what’s really on his mind to a man he knew wasn’t a snitch. “You don’t really believe in this crap, do you? I mean, I know it technically can work.” He might not have believed it if it hadn’t been on TV.
He leveled his gaze at Husk then, suddenly, pointedly. “But for guys like us…? You don’t really believe that I…” Vox trailed off, not because he wasn’t sure of himself but because it was a waste of breath to finish a thought to which Husk already knew the conclusion.
