Fantastic Journeys Through The Stars 3 Whitewood

This was Arthur's stop. So he prepared to disembark.

As did the monk.

"It looks like we share the same destination." The monk said.

"Ah, yeah. I'm just stopping here for a few days. Got a job interview." Arthur told the monk. Inwardly he thought, 'No need to give him any ideas.'

The monk smiled. He said with a pause, "We will meet again if fate wills it. Good day."

"You too." replied Arthur with a curt nod. He didn't delay anymore. He turned towards the exit of the compartment, not noticing the pondering look on the monk's face.

***

Arthur departed the station after collecting his luggage from the provided compartment. It had only been a few weeks since he last left Whitewood. Prior to that, he was away for many years due to his studies in university. A long time had pa.s.sed, but the scenery remained almost exactly as he remembered.

Whitewood was largely described by its own residents as a haven from the hubbub of the bigger cities on the moon. The archaic buildings were an amazing sight to see for many. Especially the old European architecture.

Some may even think the little town had stopped in time. Or it had somehow magically teleported to the moon from one corner of the European dark ages. This feeling was greatly amplified by the large number of senior citizens living in town. Most of whom dressed their part.

But they would be surprised by how much cutting-edge technology was used to create and maintain such an antique townscape.

The town itself was largely split into two main areas, encompa.s.sing a total of 5 regions. The north, south, east, and central region all consisted of the more modern parts of town. They were home to the town's industries, offices, entertainment centers, and other such establishments.

The west region was the original one. It was once called the 31st secondary lunar base. But they had since removed the base. Right after the dome was successfully constructed. It was to make room for town essentials.

It was called the Old Suburbs now. That's where Arthur grew up. His home was one of the westernmost residences, situated on West Orchard Street. It bordered the currently abandoned lunar orchard, which had gradually turned into a small forest about a thousand acres in area.

The train station was located at the junction of the Western and Southern part of town. So, Arthur opted to just walk back, rather than hailing an auto-shuttle.

The last few times he left this place, he thought he would be leaving for good. He thought he would reach his retirement age elsewhere. That he would only visit Whitewood on special occasions, such as new years or checking up on his property.

But here he was, returning to his roots.

The scenery of the town streets made him feel nostalgic.

Arthur had many memories of the place. Good and bad, but mostly good. He didn't have many close friends who still lived here. Those in his age group have mostly moved on to bigger cities. Some to pursue a better future; and some, to escape the inertia of this old moontown.

He wasn't forgotten though. Every old couple around the neighborhood still remembered the naughty little rascal called Arthur Tullett. The whippersnapper who became best friends with all the stray cats and dogs. According to one grandpa who owned a fish store, his antics were outrageous enough to be recorded in the town's history books.

'I never actually kept a pet though.'

The story of how there came to be colonies of stray cats and dogs in the moontowns was a strange one. It happened long before Arthur was even born. According to what he heard, their lineage predated back to when the moontowns were still just bases. They were descendants of pets the very first settlers brought along. Many of these pets outlived their owners because of how dangerous the business of building bases was.

After becoming full-fledged towns, the neighbourhood councils of the various settlements didn't get rid of the descendants of their pets. They even built stray shelters in every region, just for them. It should also be noted that these cats and dogs were strays, but definitely not feral.

Compared to most places on Earth, strays on the moon were well fed and housed.

In other words, the whole lot was semi-adopted by their respective moontowns. By all accounts, having a few stray cats and dogs living with their society gave the towns a more earth-like, authentic feeling, which was highly endorsed by the lunar cultural department.

He even spotted a few elderly people feeding the strays as he slowly made his way home.

'This place… really doesn't change.'

The trees, the white streets, the seniors practicing yoga and tai chi dances in the park, the groups of monks and priests loitering around the alleys.

'Wait a G.o.dd.a.m.n minute!' Arthur quickly double checked.

Yes, there they were again!

He spotted a group three bizarrely dressed monks, followed by a duo of men in black Christian robes, entering one of the alleyways. These monks were dressed differently than the gentleman he met on the train. They grey and white garments instead of orange and brown. They also seemed to be working together with the duo in black.

'Ugh… are these guys having some kind of religious convention in town?' According to Arthur's knowledge, religion wasn't a big thing on Luna. People still built churches, mosques and temples. However, very few people faithfully practiced their religion. It was just another slice of old era culture for them.

So, why were so many seemingly religious personnel gathering here?

Arthur took no chances. He started walking faster, his steps nearing that of a jog. He didn't want to get involved with whatever weird cults or religion these people belonged to.

So, after about 20 minutes of walking, Arthur finally reached home. Along the way he saw 3 more different teams of monks and priests, and one particularly eye-catching group of strangers cosplaying as a team of adventurers straight out of an JRPG. Two of those groups were even having a rap battle in the middle of the street. At least that's what it looked like to Arthur, by how much they were yelling at each other's moms and ancestors.

Arthur was pretty sure he saw a team of local news reporters in the vicinity too.

There was something fishy going on in town, and he wanted nothing to do with it!

All Arthur wanted was go home without incident, lie down in bed, and have a good night's sleep. The moon might have a 2-week day and night cycle, but the power of science made it so that he could still have a 'good night's sleep'.

***

The old home was built like a ryokan, which were traditional j.a.panese inns. The interior, however, was a mixture of both western and eastern styles. The whole residence was situated inside a walled area, with a 2-structure gate located beside main road. It served as the entrance to the front yard.

After a quick scan of his palm, the automatic gates opened.

And a bunch of stray cats ran out hissing. Following after them was a fat orange tabby lazily waddling out. It gave Arthur a disdainful look, scratched his shadow for a bit, then swayed away.

Arthur released the fist that he had subconsciously clenched.

"Cats..."

A bunch of stray cats had trespa.s.sed into the yard while he was away. He wanted to blame someone, but then he remembered it was his own fault.

Well, the security system was pretty dated. But Arthur himself might've changed the protocols to include stray cats and dogs as 'friendly'.

He even remembered that fat orange tabby. It was the 2nd in command of the stray cats around this area.

The delipidated doors of the main building were a ch.o.r.e to open, since they were mechanical in nature and not electronic. The lights automatically turned on as Arthur entered.

And then another group of stray cats ran out hissing.

"This is bad for my heart." Said Arthur as he tried not to huff.
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Not all the cats left though. There was one gray and white stray cat which was still sitting on the shoe shelf. It stated at Arthur with its sapphire eyes, while rhythmically swaying its tail.

'This won't do.' thought Arthur. He had plans to rent out the rooms. So, having stray cats living coming and going as they pleased would be detrimental for obvious reasons. Arthur made a mental note to update the security protocols later that day.

The cats seemed to have behaved though. As the place didn't looked like it was blitzkrieged by an army of strays. For some reason though, the ventilation had failed. Arthur noticed a thin layer of dust coating the place, with a lot of paw prints here and there.

There was still day light (or rather, sun-light) remaining. Arthur supposed had nothing better to do. So, he decided to clean the place up.

He had to unpack his things first though. He headed for the second floor because that's where his room was.

For some reason, the grey and white stray decided to follow Arthur up the stairs. Arthur recognized this cat. It was the local head honcho.

The cat gave a short meow and jumped up the stairs. Then it jumped down again, and poked Arthur's leg with its tiny nose.

'Aww.'

The last time Arthur was home, he remembered feeding the cat a bunch of dried fish. Because he was bored, and the cat was hungry. So why not? It was a win-win situation for both sides, and a business transaction he could be satisfied with.

The cat must've remembered him. More precisely, it might've thought that event as a gesture of submission from Arthur the lazy human. Maybe that's why it decided to bring over its gang, to take the place over.

Oh well.

Arthur gave it a smile, "Hey there little buddy."

He walked past the cat, walked up the stairs, and entered his room. The cat was content following after him.

"Well then. Let's clean this place up, shall we?"

All he got was a long meow in response.

***

It was already 5 PM by the time Arthur was done cleaning the first and second floor. Of course, if Arthur was doing the cleaning by hand, it would have taken far longer. The ryokan was huge. It would take a minimum of two days to scrub and mop every nook and cranny the old-fas.h.i.+oned way.

Arthur simply took out the auto-cleaners aka Roombas from the storage shed and let them loose inside the house. When his grandmother was still alive, she made Arthur's uncle supply the ryokan with all the latest home appliances. His uncle's company was just starting its operation back then. Now, it was one of the local up and coming stars in the tech industry.

'I wonder how Uncle and Aunty are doing. I really should have visited the when I was in the Capital.'

Though Arthur knew his uncle and aunt would've welcomed him with open arms, he was just too self-conscious to visit them. One party was a successful businessman, the pride of their family. While he was a washed-up bachelor cursed by some evil spirit (according to the monk). It was unsightly, but the inferiority complex he felt was real.

Arthur shook his head, shaking off those uncomfortable thoughts. He headed for the control panel to check why the ventilations, and auto-cleaners stopped working.

He didn't need to look far.

In the back yard there were a bunch of holes dug. Each ditch still had active Roombas buried in them. How did Arthur find them so fast?

Well before he went to check the controls, he thought he should check how many Roombas were left in the shed. If someone stole the Roombas active inside the ryokan, then they should have taken the ones in the shed too. Fortunately, no one broke in and there were still plenty of auto-cleaners remaining in storage.

That's where the cat came in. The moment Arthur turned on first Roomba, the cat pounced on it. It neutralized it in 5 seconds (flipped it over), dragged it to the back yard and started to dig a hole.

Arthur was more amused than angry. There was a turf war going on in his house between house cleaning AI and Cats.

"No, bad cat! Those aren't prey." Arthur had to drag the cat away from the Roomba. Digging up the victims also earned him a few long hisses and headb.u.t.ts. But no scratches! What a well-behaved bad kitty!

Arthur was starting to like the cat. Maybe he should keep it.