“Exploring isn’t what it used to be” said Bob, “they used to pay us to get out there and find stuff, pay us good, I remember when good ol’ Pat found that icy asteroid. Shit, they paid him a ton.”
He paused, and sighed.
“Now nobody cares about those things, I loved it though, and I’ll tell you who else does too, my son!”
“Where is your son anyway?” asked Hank.
“Well, he had always wanted to follow in my footsteps you know? He wanted to be an explorer like his daddy, I told him though, I did, I told him that job wasn’t any good no more, but he wouldn’t listen.”
“He saved up for years, and finally two years ago he bought himself one of them C series models from SpaceX. He told me he’d freelance it, and he left”.
“Good for him”, exclaimed Ned.
“Yeah, I miss him you know? I do, but he writes me every once in a while, he tells me he’s had a few good finds, enough to keep him going, I can’t help but worry, but you know what? He’s living the dream, and hell if I’m going to deny that to my own son”.
The waiter walked by them, “Is there anything else you need?”
“Yeah, get us another round, this’s gonna be a long night”.