"What happened to you?"
Ji-ho was asking about the healing burn scar that marred Ilya's perfect skin on his left cheek.
"Take a seat, Robinson," he gestured with a small movement of his gloved hand. "It's just a flesh wound I received whilst exterminating Livi's pet."
"The moon eater, right?"
"Yes. It was absorbing metal from the moon's crust."
"I knew it. No way would a creature of such massive mass have survived without feeding on equally large amounts of food. And what was the moon rich in that could have acted as a source of energy for the monster?"
"Metal, its primary source of nutrients," Ilya said with a bare hint of a smile. "You have deduced why they chose that moon in particular. But have you worked out what the monster was intended to be used for?"
Ji-ho hadn't thought that far ahead.
"Something nefarious?"
"Go on."
"I don't know."
Ilya looked at his watch and back at Ji-ho. "Make a guess."