Starhoppers

20 - The Siren Song

We walked aimlessly for a while after detonating the Warden, placing as much distance between us and the parasite as possible. Our party had nearly doubled since the last time we'd slept, a wandering convoy of weary hearts pressing blindly across an alien world.

Our absentminded conversations had quickly diverged into pockets of disorderly chatter.

"That hair is really something," Ezra murmured, glancing at Faith's scalp. "It almost reminds me of the color of red velvet cake."

"God, Ez," Ralph groaned hungrily behind us. "Why'd you have to bring up red velvet? You know how I feel about that."

"Oh, you'll be fine," Ezra waved the man away. "Thinking about it is almost as good as tasting it, anyways."

Ralph scoffed as Faith chuckled. "Yeah, I suppose you could say I've never been the type to settle with their appearance. My hair's been more colors than you could name."

"The tattoos, and those eyes," Ezra shook his head as he peered into her purple irises. "You're like a walking art exhibit."

"What happened to your arm?" I cleared my throat anxiously, nodding towards her metallic limb. "If you don't mind me asking."

"A few too many drinks, and a bet from some friends," Faith responded, smiling at my discomfort. "It was an entirely cosmetic choice, just like the rest of it. My old arm worked fine, but that one wasn't made of metal, so..."

"I've never seen someone with so many mods," I scoffed. "I knew someone growing up with a metal leg, but he didn't have much of a choice."

"You're from Seihiri, Zach," Ezra laughed, nodding at Faith. "The planets in her neck of the woods are known for pirates, booze, endless parties, and... that's about it, really."

"You're damn right about that," Faith chuckled. "All of the planets you can stand on, and some of the ones you can't."

"I used to frequent those parts back in my youth," Ezra smiled, peering over his shoulder. "Ralph'll tell you all about that, kid."

"You should visit sometime, Zach," Faith said. "These mods are nothing compared to the ones you can find on some of my friends back home."

"I'll hold you to that," I replied with a smile, peering over my shoulder at Ellie as she walked beside Calpurnia, her gaze somewhere out in the forest.

Ramsey groaned loudly, halting. "Jesus! What are you people even talking about right now?" he shouted, peering angrily back at us. "Where the hell are we going? We've been walking for hours - I can't listen to this blabbering anymore."

Ezra scoffed. "What's your problem, man? Would you rather we stop and hang around until the parasite finds us?"

"No," Ramsey said. "But I'd like to have some semblance of a plan. Are we planning on walking until we hit the edge of the world?"

"We walk until we're done walking," Ezra narrowed his eyes. "Unless you have any better ideas?"

"I don't, but that's the benefit of having almost a dozen of us here," Ramsey shouted. "We can think things through together. Talk each other through it, right? Otherwise, we'll wear our legs down to our knees just heading in a straight line to nowhere."

"Well, I certainly can't think of anything better," Ezra continued. "In case you'd forgotten, somebody took control of the last ship in this solar system and left it up in space. Where the hell is it now, anyways?"

"We untethered your ship before flying down to pick you up," Ramsey crossed his arms. "We didn't plan to be down here for long... the Tourist is probably orbiting the planet as we speak."