Starhoppers

21 - Answers Questioned

"Jesus... deer-people, melted flesh monsters, and now hiking?" Ralph heaved as he stepped over a rock jutting out from the mountain's face. "What next?"

"Oh, calm down, Ralph," Ezra shook his head, peering over his shoulder. "You could probably use the exercise."

"Of course, I could use the exercise," Ralph shrugged. "But if I wanted to climb a mountain, I'd have done that a long time ago. We've got mountains back home... I took this job so I wouldn't have to climb giant rocks."

"Hey, you volunteered to come with us. There was plenty of space for you back on that beach."

"Yeah, well..." Ralph's voice trailed off into a heavy sigh. "I guess I'd just hoped this signal would be closer to the bottom."

"How far is this signal, anyway?" Faith asked, wiping sweat from her forehead. "It can't be much further now, right?"

"I'd estimate another half mile or so," Serena nodded from her position in Ezra's palm.

"Are you sure?" Ellie murmured beside me. "I don't see much of anything up ahead."

"Just hold on a minute, alright?" Ezra shook his head. "We can worry about nothing being there after we've taken a closer look."

"Maybe it's underground," Ralph nodded to Ellie. "That's what I'm trying to convince myself of, at least."

"Sorry if it seems like I have no faith in you, Ezra," Ellie shrugged. "After these past few days, it's kind of hard for me to keep a positive attitude."

"Well, someone's gotta stay optimistic around here," Ezra sighed. "If that has to be me of all people, then so be it."

Ellie rolled her eyes, peering back at me for a moment before shifting her gaze past my shoulder. "Well, at least we have that view going for us."

I turned, staring out over the churning black waters of the ocean down below. Faith chuckled. "There's always a bright side. Sometimes you just gotta dig for it."

"Guys... I know we just talked about this, and I hate to bring it back up," Ralph murmured, pointing ahead of us. "But it really doesn't look like there's much going on up there."

A large cliff face stared back at us from up ahead, a cluster of trees peeking over the ridge up above. Faith scratched at the back of her neck as she hopped up onto a nearby rock. "We are going in the right direction, right?" she murmured.

"We grow closer to the source of the signal with each step," Serena nodded. "I'm certain of that much."

Ralph sighed. "Maybe this device is hiding away in the rocks somewhere... but who knows what we're supposed to be looking for."

"Can you give us anything else?" Ezra pleaded with the AI. "Something that could point us in the right direction, hopefully?"

"Not really," Serena sighed. "Sorry, Ezra. We're playing a game of Hot and Cold at this point - and we're very hot right now."

"Great," Ezra sighed, peering over his shoulder at us. "Start looking, people."

I rubbed at my chin as I stared up at the cliff face, Ellie stretching tiredly before me. "I don't even know where to begin," she sighed, kicking a small rock.

"Just look for anything unnatural," Ezra shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine, kid."

Ellie shook her head, peering at me. "Do we really think this thing is going to help us if it's so small we can't even see it?"

"Plenty of useful things can't be seen," I shrugged. "Besides... it's communicating with whatever's under the ocean, remember? That's miles away from here."